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## misskit

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, forcing residents to flee for their lives and leaving at least 40 Ukrainian soldiers and 10 civilians dead.

Russian air strikes hit military facilities across the country and ground forces moved in from the north, south and east, triggering condemnation from Western leaders and warnings of massive sanctions.

Weeks of intense diplomacy to avert war failed to deter Putin, who had massed more than 150,000 troops along the borders of Ukraine.

I have decided to proceed with a special military operation, Putin said in a television announcement in the early hours of Thursday.

Shortly afterwards, the first bombardments were heard in Ukraines capital, Kyiv, and several other cities, according to AFP correspondents.

Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.

President Volodymyr Zelensky declared martial law and said Russia was attacking his countrys military infrastructure but urged citizens not to panic and vowed victory.

The military said it had received orders from Zelensky to inflict maximum losses against the aggressor.

It said its forces had killed around 50 Russian occupiers while repulsing an attack on a town on the frontline with Moscow-backed rebels, a toll that could not be immediately confirmed by AFP.

 Sounds of bombing 

Kyivs main international airport was hit in the first bombing of the city since World War II and air raid sirens sounded over the capital at the break of dawn.

I woke up because of the sounds of bombing. I packed a bag and tried to escape, said Maria Kashkoska, as she sheltered inside the Kyiv metro station.

In the eastern Ukrainian town of Chuguiv, a son wept over the body of his father among the wreckage of a missile strike in a residential district.

I told him to leave, the man sobbed repeatedly, next to the twisted ruins of a car.

 The time to act is now 

Kuleba said the worst-case scenario was playing out.

This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now, he said.

Within a few hours of Putins speech, Russias defence ministry said it had neutralised Ukrainian military airbases and its air defence systems.

Ukraine said Russian tanks and heavy equipment crossed the border in several northern regions, in the east as well as from the Kremlin-annexed peninsula of Crimea in the south.

The Russian army said Moscow-backed separatists in the east had advanced by up to three kilometres (1.8 miles) into territory previously under government control.

The fighting roiled the global financial markets, with stocks plunging and oil prices soaring past $100.

The Russian ruble fell nine percent against the dollar after the attack and the Moscow Stock Exchange was down more than 25 percent.

 Unprovoked and unjustified 

In his televised address, Putin justified the operation by claiming the government was overseeing a genocide in the east of the country.

The Kremlin had earlier said the leaders of two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine had asked Moscow for military help against Kyiv.

Putin recognised the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics on Monday.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Zelensky after the Russian operation began to vow US support and assistance.

Biden condemned the unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces, and vowed Russia would be held accountable.

President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering, he said in a statement.

Biden was due to join a virtual, closed-door meeting of G7 leaders  Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States  on Thursday, likely to result in more sanctions against Russia.

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Russia faced unprecedented isolation and would be hit with the harshest sanctions the EU has ever imposed.

The Russian invasion also rattled other countries in eastern Europe once dominated by Moscow.

NATO member Poland said it was invoking Article 4 of the NATO Treaty, calling for urgent consultations among leaders of the Western military alliance.

Lithuania joined Polands call and said it would impose a national state of emergency.

 Drop NATO ambitions 

Ukraine has around 200,000 military personnel, and could boost that with up to 250,000 reservists.

Moscows total forces are much larger  around a million active-duty personnel  and have been modernised and re-armed in recent years.

But Ukraine has received advanced anti-tank weapons and some drones from NATO members. More have been promised as the allies try to deter a Russian attack or at least make it costly.

Russia has long demanded that Ukraine be forbidden from ever joining the NATO alliance and that US troops pull out from Eastern Europe.

Putin this week set out a number of stringent conditions if the West wanted to de-escalate the crisis, saying Ukraine should drop its NATO ambition and become neutral.

Putins aim is to end the existence of Ukraine, said Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of the political consultancy R.Politik Center and a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

It is possible that the east of Ukraine will come under Russian control, she said, adding: I cannot see anything that would stop Russia now.

Russia launches Ukraine invasion | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

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## HermantheGerman

Out of the eyes of the communist bastards:




> *Door to issue's peaceful resolution has not fully closed, spokeswoman says*
> 
>   China accused the United States on Wednesday of fueling tensions and  creating panic on the Ukraine issue, and urged all parties concerned to  be responsible and work for peace.
> 
>   "It is irresponsible to add fuel to the flames on the one hand while  blaming those who fight the fire on the other hand," Foreign Ministry  spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing.
> 
>   Unlike the US, which keeps sending weapons to Ukraine, China believes  the door to a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine issue has not fully  closed, and it will continue to promote peace talks in its own way, Hua  said.


US adding fuel to Ukraine crisis 'irresponsible' - World - Chinadaily.com.cn


What ever is left of the Olympics should be boycotted

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## harrybarracuda

WTF are the chinkies on about now?

Talk about thick as fuck.

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## misskit

*In photos: Russia launches major military assault on Ukraine cities*

Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine were facing a major military assault by Russian forces overnight, in what Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba described as "a full-scale invasion" that's killed dozens of people.


The big picture: Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" in Ukraine, Kuleba tweeted: "Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression." President Biden said the U.S. would impose further "severe sanctions" on Russia in response.

PHOTOS HERE. Photos: Russia attacks Ukraine - Axios

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## misskit

*Putin will decide when Ukraine offensive ends – Kremlin

*

Russian military action is the prerogative of the president, who makes the calls on its goals and terms, Kremlin said

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has set the targets for the country’s military attack against Ukraine and he will decide when the operation ends “based on results and expediency,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.


The operation “has its goals and they need to be achieved,” the official said, when asked by journalists when the offensive would end.


In his Thursday morning address, Putin said he’d ordered Russian troops to attack Ukraine to demilitarize and, as he put it, “denazify” the country. He claimed Russia’s national security was compromised by NATO encroachment in Ukraine.


He further stated that Russia was duty-bound to protect the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk from continued attacks by the Ukrainian forces. Moscow recognized the two entities as sovereign states on Monday.

Russia is determined to “neutralize the [Ukrainian] military potential, which was boosted considerably lately, including with the active assistance of foreign nations,” Peskov said.


He added that “ideally” Ukraine needs to be “cleansed” from neo-Nazi ideology.


Peskov rejected the idea that Russia was in the process of occupying Ukraine, saying the Russian operation had limited goals of protecting Russia and the separatist regions. He said the future of Ukraine will be determined by the Ukrainian people.


The Russian military launched a massive attack against Ukraine on Putin’s order right after his televised address. The defense ministry said it was targeting elements of the Ukrainian military infrastructure and sought to avoid civilian casualties. Multiple reports from the ground said apparent Russian strikes throughout Ukraine have caused damage to military bases, weapons depots and some arms factories.

Putin will decide when Ukraine offensive ends – Kremlin — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

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## misskit

*Russia denies warplane downed over Ukraine
*
Moscow’s Ministry of Defense has released a statement denying reports that a Russian warplane was downed in Ukraine, insisting that it has taken out all the Eastern European nation’s air defenses, after the Kremlin ordered a “special military operation” across the border.


In an official announcement on Thursday, the ministry wrote, “The Ukrainian Border Service is providing no resistance to Russian divisions. The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ anti-air capabilities have been suppressed. The military infrastructure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ air bases is out of commission.”

The statement also claimed that reports in foreign media of a Russian plane brought down in Ukrainian territory are not true.


Earlier on Thursday, Kiev claimed that five Russian planes and one helicopter had been shot down in the Lugansk region, near the separatist-held territory which Russian President Vladimir Putin officially recognized as independent on Monday. 


On Wednesday evening, the leaders of the newly recognized Lugansk People’s Republic and its neighbor the Donetsk People’s Republic formally requested military assistance from Russia. Hours later, Putin authorized the use of force for an offensive in the Donbass, and in a televised address to the nation, claimed that the goal was to “de-militarize” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine.


Kiev's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has since announced that a “full scale” invasion of the country is underway. “This is a war of aggression,” he said in a statement. “Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now.”


President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared martial law in the country, urging citizens to stay calm and stay at home.


Foreign leaders have condemned Moscow’s actions, with US President Joe Biden saying that Russia had declared a “premeditated war” that would lead to “catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.”

Russia denies warplane downed over Ukraine — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

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## misskit

*Moscow warns Russians against joining anti-war protests*

The Kremlin has warned Russians against taking part in anti-war protests after President Vladimir Putin decided to launch a full-scale military attack on Ukraine.


In a special televised address on Thursday, President Putin said, "People’s Republics of Donbas approached Russia with a request for help. In connection therewith, I made the decision to hold a special military operation." 


Russia had earlier this week decided to "recognise the independence" of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, which President Putin referred to as the People’s Republics of Donbas.

Russia-Ukraine war LIVE updates: Over 70 Ukrainian military targets destroyed, says Russia - India Today

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## misskit

*Dozens of Russian Anti-War Picketers Detained – Reports*

Dozens of Russians have been detained in cities across the country for protesting against the war against Ukraine, independent monitors said Thursday.


Solo pickets — essentially the only legal form of public protest in Russia — in protest of the war have taken place from the southern city of Tolyatti to the Far East city of Khabarovsk.


The police-monitoring website OVD-Info has reported nearly 50 detentions in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities for staging solo anti-war pickets.

Prominent rights activist Marina Litvinovich on Thursday called on Russians to attend a “walk” against the war at 7 p.m. Moscow time, including on Pushkin Square in central Moscow.


Soon after, authorities detained Litvinovich outside her home, the independent Dozhd broadcaster reported.


Later, several anti-war protesters who had gathered at the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow were detained.

In Russia's fourth-largest city Yekaterinburg, more than 100 people took part in an anti-war protest, according to the Znak.com news website.


Moscow prosecutors warned that unauthorized gatherings are illegal and will lead to “negative consequences,” and the federal Investigative Committee issued a special warning to “unpermitted” anti-war demonstrators.


The protests are among the many displays of public resistance to the military offensive on Russia’s pro-Western neighbor.


Russian pop culture figures, celebrities, journalists, cultural figures and scientists have all voiced opposition to the war since President Vladimir Putin announced it Thursday morning. 

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/...reports-a76559

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## misskit

*Zelensky ‘does not know how much longer Ukraine will exist’ – Austria*

The fate of Ukraine is looking increasingly uncertain as Russia launches a series of strikes across the country, President Volodymyr Zelensky has apparently told his Austrian counterpart, warning that the Eastern European nation may not be able to withstand the offensive by Moscow’s armed forces.


In a statement issued on Thursday, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer shared details of his telephone conversation with Zelensky. According to Vienna’s leader, Zelensky told him that “I don’t know how much longer my country will exist.”

Nehammer added that Austria “is not indifferent to breaches of international law,” promising that it helps wherever it can.

The remarks come after the leaders of the newly recognized Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics formally requested military assistance from Moscow to combat what they claimed was a spike in “Ukrainian aggression.” Hours later, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the use of force for an offensive in the Donbass.


Within moments of the televised address, rounds of explosions hit sites across the country, including military installations and airfields. Blasts also struck around major cities, including the capital Kiev.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba issued a statement in which he asserted that Moscow “has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.” In the wake of the attack, Kiev declared martial law after a meeting between Zelensky and the country’s National Security and Defense Council.


Western officials had been warning for months that Moscow’s armed forces were building up at the Ukrainian border ahead of an invasion. Until Thursday morning, Russia had denied that it planned to attack, and insisted its intervention in the Donbass would be defensive.

Zelensky ‘does not know how much longer Ukraine will exist’ – Austria — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

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## misskit



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## thailazer

Hopefully Zelensky is being hustled out of the country so he is not captured.   I think Putin may have bitten off more than he can chew this time as he has just become the enemy of the whole world, including many inside Russia.

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## misskit

There was a report earlier about the Russians having a number of people marked to be captured or killed. Hopefully, all those people have been spirited away from Ukraine.

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## misskit

*Lukashenko says Putin promises he would regard attack on Belarus as attack on Russia*

MINSK, February 24. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says he has received assurances from Russian President Vladimir Putin the Russian leadership would regard an attack against Belarus as an attack against Russia. A Telegram channel close to the Belarusian presidential press service released a video with Lukashenko’s statement to this effect on Thursday.


"We have a joint group. Part of it is on the western border of Russia. I asked him (the Russian president - TASS) to avoid using part of that group. To keep it in reserve just in case, if something happens. His reply was: ‘I promise you that any attack against or just one step across the border into the Belarusian territory would mean that they attack Russia’," Lukashenko cited Putin as saying.


"I would like them (in the West - TASS) to hear and understand this. And refrain from lying and coining fakes," Lukashenko added.


Also, he pointed out that NATO was quickly building up forces on the border with Belarus in Poland and in the Baltic countries.

Lukashenko says Putin promises he would regard attack on Belarus as attack on Russia -  Russian Politics & Diplomacy - TASS

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## misskit

*Putin Threatens Nuclear Response and Hypersonic Weapons*

A belligerent and rambling Putin on Thursday warned other states not to interfere following his invasion of Ukraine.


He threatened the use of nuclear weapons and restated the fact that the Russian armed forces possess hypersonic weapons that the West does not have: “Russia remains one of the most powerful nuclear states” with “a certain advantage in several cutting-edge weapons.”


He said that his target was not just Ukraine, but America’s “empire of lies,” and he threatened “consequences you have never faced in your history” for “anyone who tries to interfere with us.”


Meanwhile, imprisoned opposition figure Alexeï Navalny was able to state his opposition to the attack on Ukraine in court on Thursday morning: “I am against this war. I think this war between Russia and Ukraine is being waged to cover up the theft of Russian citizens and divert their attention from the problems that exist inside the country, from the deterioration of the economy… this war will cause a large number of victims, waste lives, and continue the policy of impoverishment of Russian citizens”.


In a phone call with President Emmanuel Macron of France, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called “for multiple interventions to support Ukraine.” Mr Macron had reached Mr. Zelensky on his mobile phone a few hours after the attack began, and promised him “all the support and solidarity of France.”

Putin threatens nuclear response and hypersonic weapons - NEWS.MC

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## helge

> He threatened the use of nuclear weapons and restated the fact that the Russian armed forces possess hypersonic weapons that the West does not have: Russia remains one of the most powerful nuclear states with a certain advantage in several cutting-edge weapons.


Fucking hell

What do one comment on such talk ?

Did they even threaten each other out loud during the Cuba crises ?


Is he insane ?

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## malmomike77

Of course he is insane, the whole invasion is driven by his paranoia and wish to make some sort of mark and legacy; he has wound the clock back 60 years.

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## malmomike77

> In a phone call with President Emmanuel Macron of France


Is he going to ask him to announce a 3rd diplomatic exchange?

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## misskit

*Russian troops ‘trying to seize’ Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Zelensky claims*

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted on Thursday evening that Russian troops are trying to capture the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the northern part of the Kiev Region. The plant was the site of the 1986 disaster, which caused massive contamination of the surrounding area and parts of Europe.


Zelensky claimed there was fighting in Chernobyl hours into Moscow’s “special operation,” which the Kremlin says was launched to protect the breakaway eastern republics in the Donbass.


“Our defenders are giving their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated,” Zelensky tweeted.

The adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister and former MP, Anton Gerashchenko, wrote on social media that Russian forces have crossed into Ukraine from Belarus and entered the exclusion zone set up around the plant after the disaster.

The national guardsmen, who are protecting the storage of unsafe nuclear waste, are fighting hard,” he claimed. Moscow has not confirmed or denied the situation so far.


When asked whether the Belarusian troops were also fighting in Ukraine, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said earlier on Thursday that “our troops are not taking any part in this operation.”


Russia said it began hitting Ukraine’s military targets on Thursday morning, insisting it was necessary to prevent Kiev’s attacks against the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics. Moscow recognized the DPR and LPR’s independence from Kiev on Monday, also signing treaties that include military assistance.

The DPR and the LPR have alleged they were facing a full-blown assault on the eve of the operation. Kiev has denied trying to retake the area by force all along, claiming Moscow’s attack was unprovoked and calling on other countries to impose sweeping sanctions on Russia.

Russian troops ‘trying to seize’ Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Zelensky claims — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

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## misskit

*UK's Johnson announces raft of new sanctions on Russia, bans Aeroflot*

Boris Johnson has outlined a range of further economic sanctions being imposed on Russia by the UK

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

UK's Johnson announces raft of new sanctions on Russia, bans Aeroflot — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

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## misskit



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## helge

Russian airborne troops north of Kiev

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## misskit

*Putin’s Declaration of War on Ukraine Was Filmed Three Days Ago, Says Russian Newspaper*

Vladimir Putin’s televised announcement of a “special military operation” against Ukraine, broadcast early Thursday morning, was filmed three days ago, according to Russia’s Novaya Gazeta. The newspaper, whose editor-in-chief shared last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, published on its Twitter feed what it said was metadata from the Kremlin website showing that the video was recorded on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. Moscow time. Separately, the Russian-based Conflict Intelligence Team pointed out that Putin was wearing the exact same suit and tie in Thursday’s broadcast as he wore when he announced that Russia was to recognize two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine—the prelude to all-out war. In the same Twitter thread, the CIT team also claimed that a NOTAM no-fly noticed issued by Russian authorities overnight was dated Feb. 22. “That could suggest that a mass invasion of Ukraine had been planned for February 22, but was delayed for reasons we do not know,” it said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/putins...-novaya-gazeta

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## DrWilly

> .He said that his target was not just Ukraine, but America’s “empire of lies,” and he threatened “consequences you have never faced in your history” for “anyone who tries to interfere with us.”



Gee, that’s reassuring…

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## malmomike77

Post Joe Biden's speech, and i agree. If the west and NATO are going to stand by then they should bring every means to the table to crucify Russia, their people will suffer but Ukrainians are dying.


After his speech on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Joe Biden was asked by a reporter why the US and its allies are not moving to block Russia out of Swift (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication).


“The sanctions that we have proposed on all of their banks are of equal consequence, maybe more consequence, than Swift,” Biden said.


He added, “It is always an option, but right now that’s not the position that the rest of Europe wishes to take.”


The West’s refusal to crack down on Russia’s use of Swift has outraged the Ukrainian government. The Guardian’s Daniel Boffey and Jessica Elgot report:


Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, voiced his anger as EU heads of state and government appeared likely to decide against blocking Russia from an international payments system through which it receives foreign currency.


With casualties mounting, Kuleba warned that European and US politicians would have ‘blood on their hands’ if they failed to impose the heaviest toll on Moscow by cutting Russia from the so-called Swift payments system.


‘I will not be diplomatic on this,’ he tweeted. ‘Everyone who now doubts whether Russia should be banned from Swift has to understand that the blood of innocent Ukrainian men, women and children will be on their hands too. BAN RUSSIA FROM SWIFT.’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2022/feb/24/biden-ukraine-us-russia-invasion-latest-news-g7-leaders-updates

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## pickel

Some better sanctions would be to seize all of the properties and yachts of sympathetic oligarchs and their families, cancel their residency visas, and put them in a taxi to the airport.

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## malmomike77

^ Agreed, state seizure and all assets sold and funds banked for a Ukrainian rebuild. The UK has been at the forefront of allowing this scum to wash their money and it should be at the forefront of a solution. I am embarrassed to admit the UK's past complicity, as such our response should be reflective of this imo.

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## Backspin

*An Associated Press poll has  found that just 26 percent of Americans believe their country should be  playing a major role in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.*

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## misskit

*Bomb strikes Turkish-owned ship in Black Sea; no injuries reported*

Turkish officials reported no injuries after a bomb struck a Turkish-owned ship in the Black Sea, The Wall Street Journal reported.


Turkey's Directorate General of Maritime Affairs confirmed the bombing on Thursday, adding that no one was hurt in the attack.


The latest attack highlighted concerns that Russia's invasion of Ukraine would disrupt vital shipping routes in the Black Sea, which carries most of the world's wheat and other agricultural products, according to the Journal.


This comes as Turkey has shown support for Ukraine during the ordeal, even though Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has a close relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.


"Turkey supports Ukraine's struggle to preserve its territorial integrity," Erdoğan said in an address on Thursday, adding that he also condemns Russia's invasion of the country.


Turkey has purchased weapons from Russia, but is also a member of NATO and has sold drones to Ukraine that were used in its conflict with Russian separatists, the Journal reported.


This comes as Putin announced that Russia has launched a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday.


In a televised address before the attack, Putin claimed the operation is aimed to protect eastern Ukraine from what he called a "regime."


The Kremlin has been building its forces along the Ukrainian border for weeks, also conducting joint military operations in Belarus.


The U.S. and its NATO allies have issued firm warnings to Russia to push back on their invasion attempt in the hope to lower tension in the region.


According to Ukraine's ambassador to Turkey, Turkey is also debating whether to ban Russian ships from entering the Black Sea through two straits that Turkey controls, the Journal noted.

Bomb strikes Turkish-owned ship in Black Sea; no injuries reported

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## sabang

As some local residents began fleeing Kiev early Thursday morning and rushing west while air raid sirens sounded in the Ukrainian capital, fears of war have grown palpably, catching global media attention and sending the world's markets tumbling, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in the Donbas region. 

As world leaders reacted to the quickly escalating Ukraine-Russia crisis, China once again called on the relevant parties to remain restrained and prevent the situation from sliding out of control. 

The situation of the Ukraine-Russia crisis has been changing rapidly over the past 24 hours. Putin on Thursday authorized "a special military operation" in the Donbas region, and Ukraine confirmed that military targets across the country have come under attack, according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

The operation has been described by the Western media such as Reuters and CNN as a "full-scale invasion," and Reuters called it the biggest attack "by one state against another in Europe since World War II." Explosions have been heard in Ukrainian cities including Kiev and Kharkiv, some media reports said, and Russia also closed all flights to and from 12 airports in the south of Russia. 

In less than 24 hours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared martial law in the country and urged Ukrainians to stay home, and he also announced Ukraine had cut diplomatic ties with Russia. An aide of Zelensky also told reporters on Thursday that more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers and around 10 civilians died in the first hours of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the AFP reported. 

In numerous videos and photos shared by Chinese nationals living in Kiev with the Global Times on Thursday, a heavy traffic jam was seen in the early morning as many local residents fled the city. Some residents started to line up to buy necessities and withdraw money from banks. Chinese Embassy in Ukraine also issued a security alert to Chinese nationals in the morning, asking them to monitor how the situation is evolving, laying out specific issues they should pay attention to in preventing from getting into a dangerous situation.

In response to the quickly evolving situation, the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine issued two security alerts to Chinese citizens and companies in the country within one day. The embassy said although their work and study had been affected, there were no "waves of panic." 

"Dark day for Europe" was how some Western media and politicians described the situation, and countries including the US, Germany, UK and Australia criticized the Russian government move. The US and its allies are poised to unveil further sweeping sanctions against Russia, with US President Joe Biden calling the military operation an "unprovoked and unjustified attack." 

However, in the eyes of Putin and most Russians, the latest move serves as a counterstrike against the Western squeezing of Russia's security room with extreme measures and a relatively large-scale showdown in wrestling with the US, a view that is also shared by the majority of Chinese. 

"Circumstances require us to take decisive and immediate action," Putin's order read. In an address to the public, the Russian president said he wanted to "demilitarize" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine, Russia Today said. Putin further said, "We have no plans to occupy Ukrainian territory."

"Demilitarize" could be understood to be putting down arms and surrendering, which can also be understood as incapacitating the opponent and rendering them unable to form a threat in a broader sense, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

"As a result, Russia will completely destroy the heavy weapons of Ukrainian troops, including warplanes, tanks and armored troops as well as defense forces, such as air defense missile forces and the navy," Song said. 

Russia announced it has destroyed Ukraine's airfields, air defenses and control systems just a few hours after it launched the military operations. 

"And as we take the measures announced by the president to ensure the security of the country and the Russian people, we will certainly always be ready for a dialogue that will return us to justice and the principles of the UN Charter," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said late on Thursday.

Yury Tavrovsky, head of the "Russian Dream-Chinese Dream" analytics center of the Izborsk Club, told the Global Times that Russia's military operations in Ukraine are "completely legal." 

Both chambers of Russia's Duma (parliament) had earlier approved recognition of Donetsk and Lugansk as "independent states." The Upper Chamber (the Senate) later approved use of armed forces outside the national borders, Tavrovsky explained.

The military operation was launched just one day after the US and Europe unveiled what is believed to be just the first round of sanctions against Russian individuals and institutions in response to Putin's signing of two decrees recognizing Lugansk and Donetskas independent and sovereign states.

As global markets tumbled steeply over the Ukraine-Russia crisis, some raised questions as to why Russia took this step, how the situation will evolve and whether the US will engage in a direct war with Russia.

Moscow's motivation

In a phone call with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained the development of the Ukraine situation and Russia's position, saying that the US and NATO violated their commitments by expanding east, refused to implement the new Minsk Agreements, and violated UN Security Council Resolution 2202, forcing Russia to take necessary measures to safeguard its own rights and interests.

Noting that China has always respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, Wang said that China recognizes the complex and special historical context of the Ukraine issue and understands Russia's legitimate security concerns.

China maintains that the Cold War mentality should be completely abandoned and a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism should be finally established through dialogue and negotiation, Wang said.

"China believes there should be mutual cooperation and sustainable security, and the reasonable security concerns of all parties concerned should be respected and solved," Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said during a press conference on Thursday.

China hopes all parties will not shut the door on peace, but continue negotiations and try to ease the situation as soon as possible, she said. 

Some Chinese observers said the US has continued its intensive containment of Russia, for example, by implementing more sanctions, finally forcing Russia to try to realize its security demands in this drastic way.

Russian elites such as Putin and Deputy Chairman of Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev believe that the Ukraine issue has reached the point where it must be resolved. 

"I believe Russia's military operation is a reaction by Moscow to Western countries' exertion of pressure on Russia for a long time, showing that Moscow can't tolerate it anymore," Yang Jin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"As to how the situation will evolve, I think we need to spend more time to observe it. First thing first, we need to focus on the attitude of the US, on whether Washington will launch a direct war against Russia," he said, noting that everything depends on how NATO and the US will react.

If the entire military operation goes smoothly, Russia could reach its target of fully controlling Ukraine, and what worries NATO most is whether Russia will then carry out further operations again the three Baltic countries, namely Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

The US and NATO are now observing how the situation evolves. The US and NATO have been training Ukraine troops since 2014, and it's time to see if they will confront Russian troops and for how long they will fight them. "As long as Russia does not engage in military conflicts with NATO members, there won't be direct confrontation between NATO and US [on one side] and Russia [on the other]," Li said.

Russia ready to talk after militarily paralyzing Ukraine in hours - Global Times

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## misskit

*US: Credible reports staff at Chernobyl nuclear plant have been taken hosta*ge

The White House is expressing outrage at “credible reports” from Ukrainian officials that the staff at the shuttered Chernobyl nuclear plant have been taken hostage by Russian troops.


Press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that “we condemn it and we request their release.”


Psaki says the US has no assessment on the state of the plant where radioactivity is still leaking decades after the worst nuclear disaster in history. But she says hostage taking could hamper efforts to maintain the nuclear facility and is “incredibly alarming and greatly concerning.”

Psaki spoke after Alyona Shevtsova, an adviser to the commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces, wrote on Facebook that the staff at the Chernobyl plant had been “taken hostage” when Russian troops seized the facility.

US: Credible reports staff at Chernobyl nuclear plant have been taken hostage | The Times of Israel

----------


## misskit

*WATCH: Russians Take to Streets to Protest Ukraine Invasion, Hundreds Arrested in Police Crackdown*

As Russia continued its invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, anti-war protesters in cities across Russia were being arrested by the hundreds by police.


Reuters reported as of early evening that some 549 people had been arrested in 39 cities across Russia for protesting the invasion, according to the OVD-Info protest monitor.


Russia under President Vladimir Putin has been known for detaining anti-government protesters in large numbers. CNN reported live from Moscow on Thursday as some of those arrests were happening.


“There isn’t so much of a central protest here. These are some leaders here in this central area of Moscow,” CNN’s Nick Robertson reported live in Moscow. “While we’ve been here for the last 45 minutes another person is being dragged out of the subway there, being dragged by the police, being arrested, pressed up against the vehicle. We’ve seen dozens of people being arrested here over the last 45 minutes.”


“The government says they’ve not authorized protests,” Robertson added. “They have warned people not to attend them. They say people can get arrested, that there will be legal repercussions, and the government even says if you GE a criminal record for criminal activity at one of these events, then that can affect you for the rest of your life.”


CNN anchor Erin Burnett signed off with Robertson, offering words of praise for the protesters, “It is bold, it is brave what they are doing.”


Scenes of Russian police cracking down on protests posted to social media here:

Russia Arrests Hundreds of Anti-War Protesters

----------


## Switch

> *Yury Tavrovsky, head of the "Russian Dream-Chinese Dream" analytics center of the Izborsk Club, told the Global Times that Russia's military operations in Ukraine are "completely legal."*


How odd that a pro Russian organisation should make this statement, when the Putin action is clearly NOT legal in terms of the international condemnation of such actions!

Its like saying our actions are legal, so we win, in an internet argument. Pathetic coming from the side that has built this into a war, which is not only illegal, but totally unjustified.

----------


## misskit

*Biden Authorizes Deployment of 7,000 U.S. Troops to Europe As Russia Continues Ukraine Attack*

President Joe Biden announced the U.S. will send a new battalion of American troops to Germany to bolster NATO in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


Biden held a press conference at the White House on Thursday to announce new sanctions the U.S. will apply to Russia in response to their military campaign.

“In addition to the economic penalties we’re imposing, we’re also taking steps to defend our NATO allies,” Biden said. “Our forces not, and will not, be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine. Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the east.”


As he spoke of NATO’s unity and commitment to mutual defense, Biden said he took action earlier in the week to have American forces in Europe reinforce NATO’s eastern flank.


“Now,” Biden continued, “I’m authorizing additional U.S. force capabilities to deploy to Germany as part of NATO’s response, including some the U.S.-based forces that the Department of Defense placed on standby weeks ago.”


Following Biden’s remarks, multiple journalists reported that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered the deployment of 7,000 U.S. service-members.

Joe Biden Authorizes Troop Deployment to Germany

----------


## DrWilly

> Some better sanctions would be to seize all of the properties and yachts of sympathetic oligarchs and their families, cancel their residency visas, and put them in a taxi to the airport.



That's also in process.

----------


## Joe 90

Drink da kool aid....

Ukraine crisis could push annual energy bills above PS3,000 for millions, expert warns | Business News | Sky News

----------


## katie23

There's this channel by Suchomimus (recommended to me by the YT algorithm) which shows citizens' clips of what's happening in Ukraine. Here are Russian tanks in the city/ town of Sumy. It's in eastern Ukraine, near Kharkiv. Kharkiv is the 2nd largest city in Ukraine. 




Destroyed Ukrainian vehicles near Kherson.

----------


## Switch

> There's this channel by Suchomimus (recommended to me by the YT algorithm) which shows citizens' clips of what's happening in Ukraine. Here are Russian tanks in the city/ town of Sumy. It's in eastern Ukraine, near Kharkiv. Kharkiv is the 2nd largest city in Ukraine. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Destroyed Ukrainian vehicles near Kherson.


The first video shows armored personnel carriers. They are wheeled vehicles equipped with light guns. Tanks usually have tracks and big guns.
The second vid shows what looks like light commercial vehicles and possibly tankers for fuel.
Just sayin like.  :Smile:

----------


## katie23

> The first video shows armored personnel carriers. They are wheeled vehicles equipped with light guns. Tanks usually have tracks and big guns.
> The second vid shows what looks like light commercial vehicles and possibly tankers for fuel.
> Just sayin like.


Yes, but if you're a person living in a peaceful city (peaceful until some hours ago) and then you see those armoured vehicles (foreign) travelling through your streets, providing a show of force, wouldn't you be scared? I know I would!

*******

I'm at my hometown now and have been discussing this invasion with my mom. She's been through the French & American occupations of Vietnam (south), and was there right before the fall of Saigon. My parents invested in farmland a year or 2 before the fall (because the South Vietnamese govt said that everything was OK and they were winning against the North). They had to leave it all behind and evacuate to PH with just a few hundred dollars on hand. (My mom's Viet, dad is Fil, for those who don't know).

My mom said she hopes she doesn't see war agaij in her lifetime. She's had enough of it in her younger days. I hope China doesn't invade Taiwan (or PH) while she's still here.

----------


## HermantheGerman

Funny how only our politicians did not see it coming

“The Bundeswehr, the army that I am privileged to lead, is more or less  bare. The options that we can offer the politicians to support the  alliance are extremely limited,” 
“We  all saw it coming and were not able to get through with our arguments,  to draw the conclusions from the Crimean annexation and implement them.  This does not feel good! I am pissed off!” Mais, a lieutenant-general,  wrote.

‘I am pissed off!’ German army official bemoans ‘bare’ forces as Russia invades Ukraine – POLITICO

----------


## malmomike77

Some strong words on BBC Radio 4 

Ukrainian MP: I'm staring at my AK-47 right now

We've heard an extraordinary interview just now on Radio 4's Today with Ukrainian MP Sviatoslav Yurash. When asked what his plan was if Ukraine's army fails to face off Russia's invasion, the MP responded that he was staring at his personal AK-47 rifle.

"This is a full-scale invasion intending to destroy the Ukrainian state and take it over," Yurash says, adding that all Ukrainians who want to help fight will be given the chance to do so.

"We are arming people who will be taking that fight to the Russians in every way. We are a nation of 40 million people and we are not going to just stand idly by as Russia does as it wants all across its borders. We will fight with everything we have and all the support the world can provide us."

----------


## misskit

What can be gained by taking Chernobyl? I find it frightening the Russians are traipsing around there.


*Ukraine says Chernobyl radiation levels 'exceeded,’ as Russia confirms its forces took control of the power plant*

The Ukrainian government on Friday warned that levels of radiation near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant site had “exceeded” control levels, as the Russian military confirmed it had taken control of the area but insisted radiation levels remained “normal.”


“The control levels of gamma radiation dose rate in the Exclusion zone were exceeded,” said the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine, a government body, in a statement early Friday.


Local experts “connect this with disturbance of the top layer of soil from movement of a large number of radio heavy military machinery through the Exclusion zone and increase of air pollution,” it added. However, it noted “the condition of Chernobyl nuclear facilities and other facilities is unchanged.”


Earlier Friday the body said that although data “from the automated radiation monitoring system of the exclusion zone” indicated that the control levels of gamma radiation had risen, it was “currently impossible to establish the reasons for the change in the radiation background in the exclusion zone because of the occupation and military fight in this territory.”

MORE MSN

----------


## misskit

*Russian FM Lavrov tells CNN "nobody is going to attack the people of Ukraine," despite continued strikes*

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that “nobody is going to attack the people of Ukraine,” despite the continuation of strikes by Russian forces on Friday, telling CNN that there will be “no strikes on civilian infrastructure.”


“I will stress: read what Putin said. No strikes on civilian infrastructure, no strikes on the personnel of the Ukrainian army, on their dormitories, or other places not connected to the military facilities. The statistics that we have confirm this,” Lavrov said.


“Nobody is going to somehow degrade the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We are talking about preventing Neo-Nazis and those promoting genocide from ruling this country,” he continued.


“The current regime in Kyiv is under two external control mechanisms. First, the West and the US. And second, neo-Nazis,” he said, repeating baseless claims that have been repeatedly rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Russia invades Ukraine:  Live updates

----------


## misskit

*Russian Military Base Blown Up as Ukraine Fights Back*

krainian missiles appear to have hit a Russian military base in Millerovo, a Russian town 16 kilometers from the border of the two countries, according to unconfirmed social media posts.


Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared war on Ukraine, a move that has drawn scathing criticism from most military powers except for China.


At least 137 Ukrainians have died, including civilians, and hundreds more have been injured as Russia continues its invasion. At least 800 Russian soldiers have also reportedly lost their lives.

MSN

----------


## sabang

The Ukrainian president has formally invited his Russian counterpart to engage in diplomatic talks over the current crisis

Speaking on Friday, the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, extended an olive branch to Russian President Vladimir Putin, proposing negotiations, as fighting continues throughout the country and clashes get closer to the country’s capital, Kiev.

_“I want to again address the president of the Russian Federation. The fighting continues all over Ukraine. Let’s sit at the negotiation table to stop human fatalities,”_ Zelensky said, following a statement from his adviser, Mikhail Podolyak, who claimed Kiev _“has always left and [still] leaves space for negotiations”_ despite a _“full-scale invasion”_ by Russian troops.

Earlier on Friday, Podolyak had stated that _“if negotiations are possible, they must be held,”_ making clear that Zelensky and his government were willing to discuss the nation’s _“neutrality status,”_ should Moscow demand it.

Alongside the offer of talks with Russia, Zelensky took a swipe at fellow European countries, which he claimed had not shown themselves to be ready to fight with his nation or to _“see Ukraine in NATO.”
_
Following Zelensky’s offer, Chinese Central Television reported that, in a telephone call with China’s president, Xi Jinping, Putin had stated that his government was ready to negotiate at a high level with Ukraine. No details were immediately released as to what concessions or assurances the Russian leader might seek to secure from his Ukrainian counterpart.

The statement comes as fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces continued overnight, after Putin ordered troops into Ukraine with the expressed aim of seeking to _“demilitarize”_ Zelensky’s armed forces. The EU, the UK, the US, and NATO have all condemned Russia’s actions as an _“unprovoked”_ attack, imposing sanctions on the country in retaliation.

https://www.rt.com/russia/550607-zelensky-suggests-negotiations-to-putin/

----------


## misskit

*^^^UN "gravely concerned" about civilian casualties*


The UN is "gravely concerned" about the situation in Ukraine, and is receiving increasing reports of civilian casualties, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani said Friday.


"Civilians are terrified of further escalation, with many attempting to flee their homes and others taking shelter where possible," Shamdasani said, adding that "the military action by the Russian Federation clearly violates international law. It puts at risk countless lives and it must be immediately halted."


The High Commissioner, she said, has stressed that "states that fail to take all reasonable measures to settle their international disputes by peaceful means fall short of complying with their obligation to protect the right to life.”


The UN Human Rights office said it is also "disturbed by the multiple arbitrary arrests of demonstrators in Russia who were protesting against war yesterday. We understand more than 1,800 protesters were arrested. It is unclear whether some have now been released," Shamdasani said.


She added that detaining individuals for exercising their rights to freedom of expression or of peaceful assembly constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of liberty and called for the protesters' immediate release.

Russia invades Ukraine:  Live updates

----------


## misskit

*Operations centre set up in Lviv to coordinate evacuation of Thais from Ukraine*

The Thai embassy in Warsaw, Poland, has established an operations centre at a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, near the border with Poland, to serve as a temporary shelter for about 253 Thais who may be evacuated from their workplaces in Ukraine, according to an announcement by the embassy.


The embassy in Warsaw said it has consulted Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and it was agreed that the operations centre should be set up, adding that embassy officials have already been sent to Lviv to book rooms in one of the hotels there.


The hotel is to be used as a temporary gathering point for Thai nationals, mostly employees of Thai massage parlours or spas in various cities in Ukraine. The Thais are then expected to be flown back to Thailand from Lviv or Warsaw.


The embassy also said that it has been in contact with the Thais’ employers to ensure their safety and to arrange for food, travel documents and, if possible, transport, to take them out of the danger zones.


The embassy said that the situation in Ukraine is very tense and volatile and some roads have been blocked, making travel over land by private and public transport very difficult. Car rental services in Ukraine and Poland are also reluctant to hire out their vehicles, it added.


The embassy promised that it will do its best to find a bus to collect some of the Thais in the country and bring them to Lviv.


Meanwhile, Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday issued a statement on the situation, saying “Thailand has been following developments in Ukraine and especially the escalation of tensions in Europe with deep concern. We support ongoing efforts to find a peaceful settlement to the situation through dialogue.”


Operations centre set up in Lviv to coordinate evacuation of Thais from Ukraine | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## misskit

US intel predicted Russia’s invasion plans. Did it matter?

WASHINGTON (AP) — For months, the White House made highly unusual releases of intelligence findings about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to attack Ukraine. Hoping to preempt an invasion, it released details of Russian troop buildups and warned repeatedly that a major assault was imminent.


In the end, Putin attacked anyway.


Critics of U.S. intelligence — including Russian officials who dismissed invasion allegations as fantasy — had been pointing to past failures like the false identification of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But Russia’s invasion so far has played out largely as the Biden administration said it would back i n December, with nearly 200,000 troops striking from several sides of Ukraine.

Lawmakers from both political parties on Thursday said the accurate predictions were a credit to the often-criticized U.S. intelligence community.


But whether the White House’s unprecedented public campaign delayed or limited Putin’s plans could be debated for years. And some say both Washington and Kyiv could have done more with the information the two governments had beforehand.

Ukrainians are fighting a vastly more powerful Russian army all over their country, with deaths reported on both sides and explosions in several cities. There are fears Russia may try to depose Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, even as Putin claims — in the face of the U.S. intelligence — that Russia is only trying to protect residents of two separatist territories in eastern Ukraine.


Announcing new sanctions on Thursday, President Joe Biden cited his administration’s moves to warn of what it knew of Putin’s intentions.


“We shared declassified evidence about Russia’s plans and false pretext so that there could be no confusion or cover-up about what Putin’s doing,” he said. “Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences.”


Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, noted several results of the public campaign: weakening any potential move by Putin to create a “false-flag” operation to justify war, undercutting any potential coup in Kyiv that might have appeared to be led by Ukrainians, and unifying allies who quickly denounced Putin’s aggression this week and backed tough sanctions.


“The intelligence community usually doesn’t like to share information; they want to hold it close,” Warner said in an interview. “What they’ve done is push the Russian timeline back. They’ve also, I think, allowed us to build this coalition that is virtually unprecedented.”

Ohio Rep. Mike Turner, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said the Biden administration’s declassifying of information was “incredibly important.”


“This has both impacted the international community’s view of Putin and has slowed his actions,” Turner said. “The goal in releasing intelligence is to permit Ukraine to plan, and any delay in Putin’s actions helped Ukraine in the planning to defend itself.”


But Turner said the White House should have provided more lethal weapons and air defense capability to Ukraine in advance. He also said that the White House was initially reluctant to provide some of its intelligence findings to Kyiv.


One U.S. official familiar with the intelligence gathering, who was not authorized to comment publicly by name, said the White House shared intelligence with Ukraine about Russia even before the troop buildup began last year and accelerated its sharing throughout the crisis. The official added that the administration reduced constraints to allow findings to be shared with the Ukrainians and more broadly with allies.


Still, Washington and Kyiv were often publicly and privately at odds about the nature of the Russian threat and what needed to be done.


Zelenskyy for months tried to publicly downplay American warnings of an imminent major outbreak, noting that Ukraine remained locked in an eight-year war over the eastern Donbas region fighting Russian-backed separatists. Zelenskyy did not call up military reservists until Wednesday, when he also announced a 30-day state of emergency.


“The one area that I wish we could have been more effective is convincing the Ukrainians themselves to further mobilize their troops, their reserves,” Warner said Thursday. “I’m not saying that would have stopped the Russian invasion. The Russian forces are so overwhelming. But it might have allowed a bit of a better fight.”


A Ukrainian government official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence said Kyiv was convinced about two weeks ago that Russia would invade. But the government publicly tamped down concerns about an invasion to limit damage to Ukraine’s economy and panic in the country, the official said. Any mass mobilization of Ukrainian forces could have given additional pretext to Putin, who repeatedly and falsely claimed Ukraine was planning to attack separatist-held parts of the Donbas.


The official also noted that only on Wednesday did the U.S. sanction the company that built the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Zelenskyy and lawmakers from both parties had long pushed for the sanctions on the pipeline, which would carry natural gas from Russia to Germany and bypass Ukraine.


“We wish it were a deterrence victory, not an intelligence victory,” the official said. “Unfortunately there was zero deterrence and now we have a humanitarian catastrophe.”


US intel predicted Russia'&#39;'s invasion plans. Did it matter? | AP News

----------


## misskit

*US Embassy in Kyiv again calls on Americans to leave immediately*

In a security alert posted overnight, the US Embassy in Kyiv again called on US citizens in Ukraine to “depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options,” and said those who remain “should exercise increased caution due to the potential for active combat, crime, and civil unrest.”


“U.S. citizens remaining in Ukraine should carefully monitor government notices and local and international media outlets for information about changing security conditions and alerts to shelter in place,” the alert said.


It called the security situation in Ukraine “highly volatile,” warning that “conditions may deteriorate without warning,” and noted that “on February 24, Russia’s forces attacked major Ukrainian cities, and the Ukrainian government closed its airspace to commercial flights due to Russia’s military actions.”


“Know the location of your closest shelter or protected space. In the event of mortar and/or rocket fire, follow the instructions from local authorities and seek shelter immediately,” the alert said.
There is no longer a diplomatic presence inside Ukraine. The small group of diplomats who had remained have been relocated from Lviv to Poland.

Russia invades Ukraine:  Live updates

----------


## hallelujah

Ukraine soldiers told Russian officer ‘go fuck yourself’ before they died on island | Ukraine | The Guardian

----------


## misskit

*Putin Ready to Send Negotiation Team for Ukraine Talks, Kremlin Says as Russian Troops Encircle Kyiv*

President Vladimir Putin is ready to send a delegation to Minsk for talks with Ukraine, the Kremlin said Friday as its military encircled Kyiv on the second day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


The negotiations could put an end to Ukraine’s NATO ambitions after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was willing to discuss Ukraine’s “neutrality” — a demand of Putin's — in his latest attempt to appeal to the Russian leader to negotiate. The Kremlin said it took note of Zelenskiy’s offer.

China’s foreign ministry also said that Putin told Chinese leader Xi Jinping by phone that “Russia is ready for high-level talks with Ukraine.”

“Vladimir Putin is ready to send a Russian delegation to Minsk in response to Zelenskiy’s proposal,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.


The delegation would comprise Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry and Presidential Administration officials, Interfax quoted him as saying.


Peskov added that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close Russian ally, welcomed the opportunity to host the Russia-Ukraine talks.


Minsk was previously the site of negotiations for an eastern Ukraine ceasefire in 2014 and 2015. Belarus is currently hosting thousands of Russian troops on its territory after joint military exercises ended on Feb. 20.


The Kremlin spokesman reiterated Putin’s stated goal of invading Ukraine to “help” eastern Ukraine’s pro-Moscow breakaway republics “including through the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.”


“This, in fact, is an integral component of [Ukraine’s] neutral status,” Peskov told reporters.


Putin’s unfounded claim that Ukraine is under neo-Nazi rule is a key part of the Kremlin’s justification for the war.


Putin recognized the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics as independent and mounted the military campaign against Ukraine after they requested his military assistance this week.

Putin Ready to Send Negotiation Team for Ukraine Talks, Kremlin Says as Russian Troops Encircle Kyiv - The Moscow Times

----------


## Troy

> What can be gained by taking Chernobyl? I find it frightening the Russians are traipsing around there.


I was expecting Chernobyl to be one of the first sites to be secured by the Russians. It prevents loonies from creating havoc in a fit of desperation. The radiation levels have risen but not to dangerous levels.

----------


## Backspin

> Ukraine soldiers told Russian officer ‘go fuck yourself’ before they died on island | Ukraine | The Guardian



Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

----------


## misskit

*Russian Tank Crushes Ukrainian Car With Civilian Inside in Shocking Video*

horrific video from the Ukrainian capital has shown the moment when what appears to be a Russian tank crushes a car with a civilian still inside.


Videos of the incident and the aftermath were posted on social media.


One of the videos, posted by Ukrainian journalist Alexander Khrebet, was recorded from some distance away on a rooftop in the Obolon district of Kyiv and showed the moment the tank crushed the car.

VIDEO Russian Tank Crushes Ukrainian Car With Civilian Inside in Shocking Video



( I did not look at the video. I don’t want to see people hurt.)

----------


## Joe 90

^just seen it, no one was killed.
Driver amazingly survived and was cut out with minor injuries.

----------


## misskit

^ Relieved to hear that.


*Central Bank of Russia increases supply of cash to ATMs due to "increased demand"*

The Russian Central Bank is increasing the supply of bills to ATMs after demand for cash increased in recent days. 


“In recent days, the demand for cash has grown,” the Bank said in a statement on Friday. “To meet the increased demand, the Bank of Russia increased the issuance of cash to banks, and replenishment of ATMs will continue this weekend.”


“All customer funds on bank accounts are fully preserved and available for any transactions,” the statement added.


On Thursday, Russian state news agency TASS reported that several banks had seen an increase in withdrawals – notably of foreign currency — following the Kremlin’s decision to invade Ukraine. 


The Russian stock market suffered massive losses and the country’s currency, the ruble, devaluated significantly after markets started reacting to news of the invasion. The markets have since recovered slightly.

Central Bank of Russia increases supply of cash to ATMs due to "increased demand"

----------


## hallelujah

> Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.


The "stupid games" started when a madman dictator invaded their country. You dick.

"Russian Warship, Go Fu*k Yourself": Ukraine To Honour Soldiers Killed On Island

Ukraine says it will posthumously honour a group of Ukrainian border guards who were killed defending a tiny island in the Black Sea during a multi-pronged Russian invasion.

----------


## pickel

Your link shows a different video. I saw the video elsewhere and It's an apc not a tank. And there is no Z on the side of it, meaning it might be Ukraines. There is a firefight that preceeds it showing a truck being attacked and a soldier shot. Comments have said the truck was Russian infiltrators that stole it to escape. Who knows in the fog of war and it's hard to tell which vehicles are Russian or Ukraine.

----------


## misskit

*Putin Calls for Ukraine Army to Overthrow Zelensky*

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on the Ukrainian army to overthrow the government whose leaders he described as "terrorists" and "a gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis."


Putin also accused "Ukrainian nationalists" of deploying heavy weapons in residential areas of major cities to provoke the Russian military, a claim that could fuel fears Moscow is creating pretexts for justifying civilian casualties.

In a televised address, he urged the Ukrainian military to "take power in your own hands."


"It seems like it will be easier for us to agree with you than this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis," he said, referring to the leadership in Kyiv under President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish.

Putin, who on Thursday ordered Russian troops to invade Ukraine, claimed that Ukrainian "nationalists" were preparing to deploy multiple rocket launchers to residential areas of Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv and the northeastern city of Kharkiv.


Ukraine's leadership are "acting like terrorists all over the world: they are hiding behind people in the hope of then blaming Russia for civilian casualties."


"It is known for a fact that this is happening on the recommendation of foreign consultants, primarily American advisers," Putin said.


Separately, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the alleged deployment: "We consider the situation to be extremely dangerous."


Putin and top Russian officials have said Moscow's troops are only targeting ultra-nationalists in Ukraine.


Putin also praised Russian troops saying they were acting in a "courageous and professional manner."


"They are successfully solving the most important task of ensuring the security of our people and our Fatherland," Putin said.

On a conference call to reporters, Peskov accused the Ukrainian authorities of refusing to hold talks with Russians in Belarus, as was previously suggested by Moscow.


"After a brief pause Ukrainians said they now want to go to Warsaw," Peskov said. "And now they have gone incommunicado."

Putin Calls for Ukraine Army to Overthrow Zelensky - The Moscow Times

----------


## malmomike77

> Putin also accused "Ukrainian nationalists" of deploying heavy weapons in residential areas of major cities to provoke the Russian military, a claim that could fuel fears Moscow is creating pretexts for justifying civilian casualties.


The whole war is driven by Kremlin lies to justify its actions.

----------


## pickel

Here's the link to the one i saw.

Reddit - Dive into anything

----------


## misskit

*'Aggressor Country': With Forces Outside Kyiv, Putin's Government Also Battling On The Home Front*

Activist Nikita Chirkov hit the streets of St. Petersburg on the first day after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with a small sign reading: “No War.” A few people passed by, he said, nodding or smiling in support. But after eight minutes, police appeared and hustled him off to the station for allegedly violating coronavirus restrictions.

He told RFE/RL’s North.Realities that he felt obligated to express his support for Ukraine and his disagreement with the policies of President Vladimir Putin.


“I feel fear and hatred toward Putin,” Chirkov said. “I am afraid for my relatives and friends who live in Ukraine. I am afraid of the uncertainty. After this, what will happen in Russia? For me, this war means that I live in an aggressor country with a deranged dictator.”


Chirkov was one of 1,831 Russians detained in 60 cities on February 24 for publicly speaking out against the war, according to OVD-Info, a nongovernmental organization that monitors political repression.


In the northwestern city of Pskov, Vladimir Kapustinsky stood on October Square with a sign reading: “Don’t Shoot.” After only a couple of minutes, a plainclothes police officer appeared and asked to see Kapustinsky’s documents.


“No comment,” the officer told RFE/RL when asked his opinion of the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin’s swift nationwide crackdown on the anti-war protests -- coming on top of severe repressions that intensified after the near fatal August 2020 poisoning of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny -- seemed to presage a new level of state control over Russian society.

“The authorities are going to tighten the screws and persecute dissidents,” said Ruslan Aisin, a political analyst based in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan. “[The state] “will fight against the anti-war movement, which will likely only grow. History shows that war euphoria quickly dies down.”

Lev Shlossberg, the head of the Pskov branch of the liberal Yabloko party, also anticipated a “reaction” from the authorities.


“There is a real chance that martial law could be introduced -- independent media banned, political parties shut down, elections canceled,” he predicted. “There will be a complete crackdown on all dissent, regardless of the political views of the people, parties, or groups. In the wake of the political aggression of the war, we will see total repression inside the country.”


Liberal former St. Petersburg city lawmaker Maksim Reznik agreed, saying the Russian people are “hostages to a junta.”


“In this situation,” he added, “we cannot be silent about the crimes of the junta. Our silence makes us co-participants…. We are living in a new reality.”

The state media-monitoring agency Roskomnadzor on February 24 warned all media to report only information about the war from official government sources under threat of being fined or blocked.


The federal Investigative Committee the same day warned the public against participating in anti-war demonstrations, reminding the public that “having a criminal record will mean negative consequences and will impact your subsequent life.”

Nonetheless, anti-war activity continued in Russia on February 25. Moscow-based journalist and activist Marina Litvinovich, who was the first to call for mass nationwide demonstrations the previous day and who was detained by police shortly after doing so, wrote on Facebook that the anti-war movement must take additional steps, including distributing flyers and posters, spraying anti-war graffiti, wearing and carrying clothing and bags with anti-war slogans and symbols, and so on.

The newspaper Novaya gazeta published its February 25 edition in both the Russian and Ukrainian languages. The paper’s editor, Dmitry Muratov, a co-laureate of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, wrote that it was done “because we do not recognize Ukraine as an enemy or the Ukrainian language as the language of an enemy. And we never will.”


“Only an anti-war movement of Russians can save life on this planet,” he added.


A group of more than 200 municipal lawmakers from across the country signed an open letter condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.


“We call on everyone not to participate in aggression and not to endorse it,” the letter states. “Please, don’t be silent: This war can only be stopped by mass public condemnation.”

Dozens of leading cultural figures, including writers, filmmakers, actors, journalists, also signed an open letter calling on “all citizens of Russia to say 'no' to this war.”


More than half a million people have signed a change.org petition denouncing the war and “announcing the beginning of the formation of an anti-war movement in Russia.”


“Become part of the anti-war movement. Speak out against the war,” the petition says. “Do at least something to show the entire world that in Russia there are and always will be people who do not accept the vileness being perpetrated by the authorities, who have turned the state itself and the peoples of Russia into instruments of their crimes.”

But it remains to be seen whether such calls will gain traction.


Many Russians support Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, with some believing the Kremlin’s false portrayal of the Ukrainian government as “fascists” carrying out “genocide” against Russian speakers.

“How many children have been orphaned!” said a retiree who asked to be identified only as Raya in Ufa, the capital of Bashkortostan, on February 24. “Half of what you read on the Internet is lies. I was in western Ukraine in Soviet times…and they even back then hated us because we spoke Russian…. It was the same in the Baltic states when I went on vacation there. And Russia gave them so much during the Soviet era.”

A retired former border guard in Ufa, who gave his first name as Azat, said that “if the decision on a military operation had been made in 2014, it would have saved a lot of lives.”


In addition, many of those inclined to protest have been put in difficult positions by the crackdown of the last years.


Yulia Morozova, a physical-education instructor in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, near Ukraine, told RFE/RL that she planned to join the anti-war protests on February 24 but was talked out of it by her friends. She has already served two administrative jail terms for participating in protests and a third arrest would certainly mean criminal charges. Meanwhile, her sister, elderly mother, and other relatives are in Kyiv.


“Right now, I’m so ashamed,” she told RFE/RL. “I feel so helpless and there is nothing I can do in this situation. I hope [Putin] lives to face a court and that he is condemned.”


Dina Nurm, an activist from Kazan, told RFE/RL's Idel.Realities that “it is morally very hard to be a citizen of an aggressor country.”


“We didn’t choose this war, just like we didn’t choose our leaders,” she said. “But we feel responsible for this military aggression. Over the last decade, protests have been brutally put down, and many people simply don’t believe that speaking out against the war can lead to anything other than fines…. But at the same time, we are hearing now from many people who earlier were silent.”

&#39;Aggressor Country&#39;: With Forces Outside Kyiv, Putin&#39;s Government Also Battling On The Home Front

----------


## misskit

*NATO sending more weapons to Ukraine – Stoltenberg*

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Friday that the group would be providing more weapons to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s military assault, and deploying parts of its combat-ready response force.


Soltenberg accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to topple the “democratically-elected government in Ukraine.”


“We see rhetoric, the messages, which is strongly indicating that the aim is to remove the democratically-elected government in Kiev,” he announced after a meeting with NATO leaders. 

Allies are committed to continuing to provide support for Ukraine, Stoltenberg added, including air defense systems. 


“We are now deploying the NATO response force for the first time in the context of collective defense. We speak about thousands of troops. We speak about air and maritime capabilities,” he also said. The response force is made up of special operations forces and land, air, and maritime forces. Only part of this 40,000 contingent is being deployed. 

Russia was slapped with numerous international economic sanctions this week from NATO members like the US and UK. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday that he was directly sanctioning Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. US President Joe Biden also announced this week thousands of additional US troops were being deployed to Germany to provide support, though he insisted they will not be fighting in Ukraine. 


Moscow announced their military offense on Thursday, saying they were moving forces into Ukraine to “demilitarize and denazify” the area after Putin had recognized two breakaway territories as part of Russia. The newly recognized Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics have sought Moscow’s aid, claiming they were facing an attack from Kiev, though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said no such plan was in place. On Friday, he said he was willing to negotiate to avoid further “human fatalities.”


NATO sending more weapons to Ukraine – Stoltenberg — RT World News

----------


## misskit

*Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defense hold defense of Kyiv city, enemy continues to suffer losses – General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine*


As of 4:00 pm on Friday, February 25, Russian troops continue their offensive operation against Ukraine in previously chosen directions with the support of long-range tactical aviation and the use of long-range precision weapons.


"Groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with the Territorial Defense Forces, hold the defense of Kyiv and previously defined lines. The enemy insidiously delivers air and artillery strikes on civilian infrastructure," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on Facebook.


Russian troops continue to suffer losses. According to the General Staff, since the beginning of the invasion of the Russian Federation, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have destroyed up to 80 tanks, 516 armored combat vehicles of various types, 7 helicopters, 10 aircraft, up to 20 cruise missiles and more than 100 vehicles. The loss of enemy personnel exceeded 2,800 people.


Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defense hold defense of Kyiv city, enemy continues to suffer losses – General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine

----------


## malmomike77

> Russian troops continue to suffer losses. According to the General Staff, since the beginning of the invasion of the Russian Federation, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have destroyed up to 80 tanks, 516 armored combat vehicles of various types, 7 helicopters, 10 aircraft, up to 20 cruise missiles and more than 100 vehicles. The loss of enemy personnel exceeded 2,800 people.


Seems high? but really who knows atm.

----------


## misskit

^ I thought so, too. Hope he’s not the Ukraine’s Baghdad Bob.

----------


## DrWilly

> Your link shows a different video. I saw the video elsewhere and It's an apc not a tank. And there is no Z on the side of it, meaning it might be Ukraines. There is a firefight that preceeds it showing a truck being attacked and a soldier shot. Comments have said the truck was Russian infiltrators that stole it to escape. Who knows in the fog of war and it's hard to tell which vehicles are Russian or Ukraine.



Has Backspit your password? Only a few Russian vehicles were painted with a Z

----------


## pickel

> Has Backspit your password? Only a few Russian vehicles were painted with a Z


It's more than a few from all the footage I've seen, and I also said "might".  

And if you compare me to Backspin again, I "might" have to red you for eternity.

----------


## sabang

*Western powers have realised Russia is largely immune to sanctions*

Phillip Inman Economics editor



The war against Russia is one western countries want to fight with only economic sanctions, not guns.

Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, despite its long gestation and planning by Vladimir Putin and his supporters in the Kremlin, was supposed to end quickly once financial retaliation began. Yes, there would be military skirmishes on the ground, but little more than a few casualties were expected once a range of penalties began to bite.

The western powers have quickly realised that unless they are willing to fire the financial equivalent of a nuclear arsenal, Putin has made sure Russia is largely immune, at least in the short term.

Over a decade, Kremlin policy has carefully reduced domestic public and private sector debt and allowed the central bank time to build a war chest of foreign assets large enough to shore up the countries finances for months, if not years.

This means that the sanctions put in place over the past couple of days by the EU, US, UK, Japan and Canada are unlikely to have any significant effect on the Russian economy or its financial stability.

Only the full package of measures used against Iran – shutting Russia out of the international payments system, Swift, while also banning purchases of Russian oil and gas – will do the trick.

As Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, the head of the European Centre for International Political Economy, said, Europe has allowed itself to become more integrated with Russia, while Russia has separated itself from Europe.

He said EU countries owned a combined €300bn of Russian assets that would be vulnerable to confiscation if a full-blooded financial war broke out. The UK owns billions more via firms such as BP, which has a near-20% stake in the Russian oil company Rosneft.


“Sanctions are one of the few options that European countries have in a conflict situation like this. If you disconnect North Korea or Iran from the international financial system, you do not expose yourself to that much damage.”

Speaking on BBC News, he added: “But while I don’t say it is impossible to envisage Russia being barred from the Swift system, it is a nuclear option that means you exterminate yourself along with your enemy.”

Swift (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is the main secure messaging system that banks use to make rapid and secure cross-border payments, allowing international trade to flow smoothly.

It transmits trillions of dollars’ worth of deals every day, but is coming under pressure from a Chinese government-backed rival, Cips, which Russia could use to conduct its financial business deals supplemented by direct transactions with counterparties.

It is also possible for the G7 countries and EU to ban the purchase of Russian gas and oil, but commodities analysts agree that while there is spare capacity in oil markets to make up for the loss of Russian supplies with a price rise limited to $140 a barrel, there is no hope of boosting gas output to fill a gap created by a Russia ban.

Shortages would quickly force countries in Europe to ration gas and the price would be likely to rocket back to nine times normal levels, as seen before Christmas, stirring memories of the 1974 oil price shock.

Andrew Kenningham, the chief Europe economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said that while some countries – the Czech Republic and the Baltic states – had pushed for bans on Russian gas, “others are more reluctant and it would presumably take much more devastating developments in the conflict to trigger such measures”.

Tom Mayne, a Russia expert at the thinktank Chatham House, said there was room to improve the current sanctions that allow a Russian kleptocracy access to London’s financial markets.

In a report last year, the thinktank said an effective anti-kleptocracy drive would “close legal loopholes, demand transparency from public institutions, deploy anti-corruption sanctions against post-Soviet elites and prosecute British professionals who enable money laundering by kleptocrats”.

Even the ramped-up sanctions announced by Boris Johnson fall short of this effective ban on illegal Russian money entering UK economic life. The UK is keen to go further than the EU with restrictions on Russian energy imports, but the EU has allowed itself to be much more dependent than the UK, limiting its appetite for further sanctions.

Without bans on gas and oil exports, and expulsion from international payments systems, the impact of sanctions will be limited.

Western powers have realised Russia is largely immune to sanctions (msn.com)


A very good article from the Grauniad.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The western powers have quickly realised that unless they are willing to fire the financial equivalent of a nuclear arsenal, Putin has made sure Russia is largely immune, at least in the short term.


So guess what's next.

----------


## DrWilly

> It's more than a few from all the footage I've seen, and I also said "might".  
> 
> And if you compare me to Backspin again, I "might" have to red you for eternity.



few or more than a few is largely irrelevant. The Z on a tank is not a unique Russian identifier. And therefore the absence of a Z does not mean the vehicle is not Russian. 

Sorry, called the post the way I saw it. The post sounded like a Russian misinformation propaganda post.

----------


## pickel

> more than a few but the Z on a tank is not a unique Russian identifier.


Do you have a link to a Ukrainian Tank with a Z on it?

----------


## pickel

"Take these seeds and put them in your pocket..."

lmao. Gotta love the Ukrainian Babushkas.

----------


## panama hat

> Good for you, does that make you feel good whilst Ukrainians are being killed.


He's a 'me me me' person . . . a perfect example of 'après moi le déluge"






> So where are the SWIFT sanctions? That was left off the table but it would have huge impact.


I'm sure that's next . . . hopefully the oligarchs will transfer their wealth out of the country . . . a SWIFT ban is then enacted cutting off these swine from them.




> *Why is the US reluctant to implement a ban?*One reason is that the impact on Russian businesses might not be so serious. The head of a large Russian bank, VTB, said recently he could use other channels for payments, such as phones, messaging apps or email. Russian banks could also route payments via countries that have not imposed sanctions, such as China, which has set up its own payments system to rival Swift. A ban on Russia using Swift could accelerate a the use of Chinas rival Cips system. There is also a fear that it could damage to the US dollars status as the global reserve currency, and accelerate the use of alternatives such as cryptocurrencies.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Wouldn't it be nice to see Putin in the Hague.

BERNAMA - Russian attacks in Ukraine ‘could constitute war crimes’ - Amnesty International

----------


## malmomike77

Some updates from the Beeb

198 Ukrainians killed so far - health minister

A total of 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed amid the Russian invasion according to the country's Health Minister Viktor Lyashko.

A further 1,115 people have been wounded, among them 33 children he wrote on his Facebook page.


More weapons to be sent to Ukraine - UK minister

More from UK Armed Forces Minister James Heappey - he says the UK and 25 other countries have all agreed to provide more "humanitarian aid or lethal aid".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the UK would now work with those nations to co-ordinate how the military aid is delivered and "put into Ukrainian hands" - but gave no further details.

He said that the Kremlin was likely to be "reflecting" on the stiff Ukrainian resistance it was meeting and conceded that there was a risk it would resort to heavier bombardments on Ukraine to compensate.

And he said British diplomatic efforts were continuing to persuade other countries to agree to have Russia removed from the Swift international bank transfer system.

"It's not a unilateral decision the UK can take - but our position is clear," he said.


Russia's Day One objectives 'still in Ukrainian hands'

UK Armed Forces Minister James Heappey has just been speaking to the BBC's Today programme - he says all the objectives Russia aimed to gain control of in the first day of its assault remain in Ukrainian hands.

Those Russian forces active in Kyiv are special forces units and paratroopers but the main Russian armoured columns remain some way north of the city, he said.

He praised Ukrainian resistance.

"What stands in front of Ukraine is days and weeks of utter brutality but they are doing an amazing job," he said.

----------


## Troy

> few or more than a few is largely irrelevant. The Z on a tank is not a unique Russian identifier. And therefore the absence of a Z does not mean the vehicle is not Russian. 
> 
> Sorry, called the post the way I saw it. The post sounded like a Russian misinformation propaganda post.


There was quite a stir on social media last night and some confusion as to whether it was a Russian or Ukrainian vehicle.

The latest I have heard is that Russian Special Forces had acquired the Ukrainian armour and were on their way to accomplish a mission when they came under fire from Ukrainian army. There is a video showing a military truck first and then the armoured vehicles with one seemingly losing control before hitting the car.

----------


## bsnub

> There is a video showing a military truck first and then the armoured vehicles with one seemingly losing control before hitting the car.


He did not hit a car, he ran over it and miraculously the person survived. 

Reddit - Dive into anything

----------


## malmomike77

​From the Beeb again

We don't need diplomatic ties with West - Medvedev

Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev says Moscow doesn't need diplomatic ties with the West.

It follows a wave of sanctions on Russia announced by Western countries.

Mr Medvedev, who was sacked as prime minister by Vladimir Putin in 2020 and now serves as deputy chair of Moscow's security council, wrote on the Russian social media network VK that it is time to "padlock the embassies".

He said Moscow will continue its invasion of Ukraine until it achieved goals defined by President Vladimir Putin. It is unclear what Mr Putin's exact objectives are.

Mr Medvedev also condemned Russia's suspension from the Council of Europe, but boasted that it offered Moscow an opportunity to restore the death penalty to Russian law.

----------


## sabang

> It is unclear what Mr Putin's exact objectives are.


Yep, and that is frustrating. Why doesn't the Russian government come out with this?

----------


## harrybarracuda

> ​From the Beeb again
> 
> Putin says We don't need diplomatic ties with West - Medvedev


FTFY.


None of these c u n t s think for themselves.

----------


## david44

> This is not over by a long shot.


You may be correct but I'll wager the occupation will be over by Songkhran.

= I hope I am wrong , if I'm wrong I'll eat your hat or send you a daily green.

There will be resistance but I think the remnants official Ukrainian army, Air Force eliminated, Navy scuttled or captured  or will have been "incorporated into the glorious motherland" unless NATO gets busy soon.

A lot of brave or conscripted folks will die , be maimed or scarred for life so Germans can have cheap gas.

----------


## david44

Some links from locals in English some embedded videos 

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Kyiv?src...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sumy?src...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/hashtag/UkraineC...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

----------


## misskit

*Russian forces capture Ukrainian city, Interfax reports, amid missile strikes
*
Russian forces captured the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol on Saturday, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, as Moscow launched coordinated cruise missile and artillery strikes on several cities, including the capital Kyiv.


Ukrainian officials were not immediately available for comment on the fate of Melitopol, a city of about 150,000 people. If the Interfax report citing the Russian defence ministry is confirmed, it would be the first significant population centre the Russians have seized since their invasion began on Thursday.


Earlier, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces fired cruise missiles from the Black Sea at Mariupol, also in the southeast, as well as Sumy in the northeast and Poltava in the east.


Kyiv authorities said a missile hit a residential building, and a Reuters witness said another hit an area near the airport. There was no immediate word on casualties. Gunfire erupted near city-centre government buildings at around dawn, a Reuters witness said. The cause was not clear.


President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking in a video message from outside his Kyiv office, was defiant.


"We will not put down weapons, we will defend our state," he said.


After weeks of warnings from Western leaders, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded from the north, east and south, an attack that threatens to upend Europe's post-Cold War order.


Putin said he had to eliminate what he called a serious threat to his country from its smaller neighbour and he cited the need to "denazify" Ukraine's leadership, accusing it of genocide against Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine.


Kyiv and its Western allies dismiss the accusations as baseless propaganda.


In a televised meeting with Russia's Security Council on Friday, Putin appealed to Ukraine's military to overthrow their "neo-Nazi" leaders.


"Take power into your own hands," he said.


'UNDER CONTROL'


Western countries have announced a barrage of sanctions on Russia, including blacklisting its banks and banning technology exports. But they have stopped short of forcing it out of the SWIFT system for international bank payments.


At the United Nations, Russia vetoed a draft Security Council resolution deploring its invasion, while China abstained, which Western countries took as proof of Russia's isolation. The United Arab Emirates and India also abstained while the remaining 11 members voted in favour.


The White House asked Congress for $6.4 billion in security and humanitarian aid for the crisis, officials said, and Biden instructed the U.S. State Department to release $350 million in military aid. read more


Russia's defence ministry said their forces used air- and ship-based cruise missiles to carry out overnight strikes on military targets in Ukraine, Interfax said.


It said Russian troops had hit hundreds of military infrastructure targets and destroyed several aircraft and dozens of tanks and armoured and artillery vehicles.


Ukraine's air force command earlier said one of its fighters had shot down a Russian transport plane. Reuters could not independently verify the claim.


Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the president's office, said the situation in Kyiv and its outskirts was under control.


"There are cases of sabotage and reconnaissance groups working in the city, police and self-defence forces are working efficiently against them," Podolyak said.


Ukrainian authorities have urged citizens to help defend Kyiv from the advancing Russians. Some families took cover in shelters and hundreds of thousands have left their homes to find safety, according to a U.N. aid official.


Ukraine said more than 1,000 Russian soldiers had been killed. Russia did not release casualty figures. Zelenskiy said late on Thursday that 137 soldiers and civilians been killed with hundreds wounded.


Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence at the fall of the Soviet Union and Kyiv hopes to join NATO and the EU - aspirations that infuriate Moscow.


Putin says Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, is an illegitimate state carved out of Russia, a view Ukrainians see as aimed at erasing their more than thousand-year history.


'READY TO TALK'


The United States imposed sanctions on Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The European Union and Britain earlier froze any assets Putin and Lavrov held in their territory. Canada took similar steps.


The invasion triggered a flurry of credit rating moves on Friday, with S&P lowering Russia's rating to "junk" status, Moody's putting it on review for a downgrade to junk, and S&P and Fitch cutting Ukraine on default worries. read more


But even as the fighting grew more intense, the Russian and Ukrainian governments signalled an openness to negotiations, offering the first glimmer of hope for diplomacy since Putin launched the invasion.


A spokesman for Zelenskiy said Ukraine and Russia would consult in coming hours on a time and place for talks.


The Kremlin said earlier it offered to meet in the Belarusian capital Minsk after Ukraine expressed a willingness to discuss declaring itself a neutral country, while Ukraine had proposed Warsaw as the venue. That, according to Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov, resulted in a "pause" in contacts.


"Ukraine was and remains ready to talk about a ceasefire and peace," Zelenskiy spokesman Sergii Nykyforov said in a Facebook post. "We agreed to the proposal of the President of the Russian Federation."


But U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Russia's offer was an attempt to conduct diplomacy "at the barrel of a gun" and Putin's military must stop bombing Ukraine if it was serious about negotiations.

Russian forces capture Ukrainian city, Interfax reports, amid missile strikes | Taiwan News | 2022-02-26 19 :23: 00

----------


## misskit

*Sorting fact, disinformation after Russian attack on Ukraine
*
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Associated Press journalists around Ukraine and beyond are documenting military activity during Russia's invasion. With disinformation rife and social media amplifying military claims and counterclaims, determining exactly what is happening is difficult. Here’s a look at what could be confirmed Saturday.


Activity with direct witnesses:


— Many checkpoints along the highways seen on the drive into Kyiv from the east. Checkpoints manned by uniformed servicemen and police and sometimes backed up with young men in civilian clothes, who appear to be in their late teens and are carrying automatic rifles.

— Low-flying planes that appeared to be Su-25 fighter jets are spotted patrolling the skies over Kyiv, but it couldn't be discerned if they were Russian or Ukrainian.


— Eerie quiet on streets of Mariupol, an Azov Sea port city and industrial center that is seen as a key target for Russia to seize. Police are frequently patrolling the streets. Air or artillery strikes can be heard in the distance. Soldiers are guarding bridges and blocking people from the seashore area.


— Explosions heard from central Kyiv, about 800 meters (half a mile) from the president’s headquarters.


— A tall apartment building in Kyiv hit by shelling, with major damage, on the eastern side of the Dneiper River that cuts through the capital, 13 kilometers (8 miles) southeast of the government quarter.


— Shooting near a main thoroughfare leading into central Kyiv from the south.


— Ukrainian soldiers evacuating an unmarked military vehicle damaged by gunfire in Kyiv, in the Obolon district about 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the government quarter.


— Ukrainian military establishing defensive positions at bridges around Kyiv. Armored personnel carriers driving through Kyiv streets. Ukrainian authorities have placed snowplows at some spots along Kyiv roads to force traffic to slow down.


— Russian missile launcher seen on the edge of the northeastern city of Kharkiv, shelling heard in the distance.


— A bridge destroyed at Ivankiv, some 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Kyiv.


Announced by Ukrainian and Russian authorities, and others:


— Two American officials with direct knowledge of conditions on the ground in Ukraine said Russian Airborne Forces attacked Ukrainian units on the outskirts of Kyiv early Saturday on three sides. Ukrainian forces repelled some of the assaults.


— Ukraine’s military said it shot down a Russian military transport plane carrying paratroopers near Vasylkiv, a city 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Kyiv, an account confirmed by a senior American intelligence official. It was unclear how many were on board. Transport planes can carry up to 125 paratroopers. Russia has not commented on the incident.


— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that Russian attempts to push into Kyiv have been repelled and that Russian forces have hit civilian areas and infrastructure. He claimed that thousands of Russian troops have been killed.


— French maritime officials say French marines have intercepted a Russian cargo ship, loaded with cars, in the English Channel on Saturday for investigation in the wake of financial sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine.


— Russia's military said it has taken over Melitopol, a city in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) off of the Azov Sea coast. The claim could not be independently verified.


— Ukraine's nuclear energy regulator said higher than usual gamma radiation levels have been detected in the area around the Chernobyl nuclear plant, site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, after it was seized by the Russian military. The International Atomic Energy Agency said the reported levels don’t pose any danger to the public. The Russian Defense Ministry said radiation levels in the area have remained normal.


— Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said gunfire and explosions in several parts of the city came as Ukrainian troops were fighting groups of Russian saboteurs. He also said five explosions hit an area near a major power plant on the city’s eastern outskirts. No electricity outages were immediately reported.


— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 137 “heroes,” including 10 military officers, had been killed. The Ukrainian military said it has killed over 1,000 Russian troops while fending off Moscow’s invasion. The Russian military hasn’t reported any casualties during the attack. Neither claim could be independently verified.


— The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said its staffers have so far verified at least 127 civilian casualties — 25 people killed and 102 injured — mostly from shelling and airstrikes.


— The Russian military said it took control of an airport outside the Ukrainian capital. The airport in Hostomel, a town 7 kilometers (4 miles) from Kyiv, has a runway long enough to receive all types of aircraft, including the biggest cargo planes. Its seizure allows Russia to airlift troops directly to Kyiv’s outskirts.


— The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces sealed the cities of Sumy and Konotop in northeastern Ukraine. It said they have knocked out 211 military infrastructure facilities. The claims couldn’t be independently confirmed.


— The mayor said a school building was hit by a Ukrainian shell Friday in the rebel-held city of Horlivka in eastern Ukraine, killing its headteacher and a teacher; rebels who hold Donetsk said the city's main hospital was damaged by shelling but there were no casualties.


— Moldova’s national naval agency said a Moldovan-flagged ship was hit by a missile in “neutral waters” in the Black Sea, leaving two crew members seriously injured.


— A U.S. defense official said a Russian amphibious assault was underway, and thousands of Russian naval infantry were moving ashore from the Sea of Azov, west of Mariupol. The official said Ukrainian air defenses have been degraded but are still operating, and that about a third of the combat power that Russia massed around Ukraine is now in the country.


Sorting fact, disinformation after Russian attack on Ukraine | Taiwan News | 2022-02-26 19:44:00

----------


## misskit

*Russia attack conjures up fears of new Europe 'iron curtain'*

Paris (AFP) – Russia's attack on Ukraine could herald a Cold War revival in Europe with two blocs armed to the teeth pointing nuclear weapons at each other across an iron curtain, politicians and experts say.




Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's statement that Moscow's assault on his country was "the sound of a new iron curtain lowering" has resonated in Western halls of power where many had assumed that Europe's post-war division into hostile camps led by the US and Russia was consigned to the history books.


From Hitler's defeat in 1945 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Europe was divided into two camps with the dividing line running through Germany.


The so-called iron curtain, a term coined by British wartime leader Winston Churchill, separated the western liberal, capitalist democracies from the communist countries in the east, each part of zones of influence that were mostly accepted by the other side.

'Shift borders'


But after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many of Moscow's former satellites turned to the West, joining NATO and the European Union if they could -- like Poland and Romania -- or at least liberalising their economies and political systems, like Ukraine.


Former German chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in communist east Germany, warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a quest to roll back that trend and re-establish Moscow's sphere of influence.


"Russia's war of aggression marks a profound turning point in European history after the end of the Cold War," Merkel said Friday.


Her successor, Olaf Scholz, echoed such concerns when he called the invasion of Ukraine "an attempt to forcibly shift borders within Europe".


US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Putin point-blank of wanting to "reconstitute the Soviet empire" or at least "reassert a sphere of influence".


French President Emmanuel Macron also seemed to be looking at the Russian offensive's long-term impact when he described the war as a "turning point in the history of Europe and our country" with "deep and lasting consequences for our lives".


Russia taking "Ukraine off the map of nations", as French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian fears it will, would dramatically lengthen the border NATO countries share with Russia, with a big rise in potential flashpoints -- and fewer buffers.


Already the United States and other NATO members are sending reinforcements to the alliance's frontline.


Once Washington stations the promised 7,000 extra soldiers, the US will have 90,000 troops in total deployed in Europe.


Among European nations promising more efforts, France has said it would accelerate its troop deployment in Romania, while Italy is to send 3,400 soldiers to its most exposed NATO allies.


'All kinds of repercussions'


Western experts have little doubt that victory in Ukraine would see Putin tighten his grip not just on Kyiv, but also on neighbouring Belarus, which has already served as a launch pad for Russia's attack.


"The war in Ukraine will have all kinds of repercussions on the line that runs from Baltic to the Black Sea," said Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier at the Thomas More institute think tank.


Belarus would "become a satellite again", he told AFP, and Russian pressure would grow on the Baltic countries and Poland.


Scholz called on Germany's allies to prevent the conflict from spilling over into other countries "with everything at our disposal" and warned Putin not to underestimate NATO's determination to defend its members.


France meanwhile expressed concerns that Russian tanks may also roll into Moldova and Georgia, two other former Soviet republics where separatists declared unrecognised statelets.


As tensions rise, the nuclear arms threat -- a key ingredient of post-war Europe's Cold War order -- is also making a return.


Le Drian has reminded Putin that "the Atlantic alliance is also a nuclear alliance", while the Russian leader threatened retaliation "like you have never seen in history" for anyone interfering with the war in Ukraine -- which many understand to mean nuclear reprisal.


Both Russia and the US have thousands of nuclear warheads at their disposal, with France and Britain adding to the West's atomic capabilities.


Ukraine, which emerged from the Cold War with sizeable Soviet-era nuclear weapons stocks of its own, gave up its arsenal in the 1990s.


Russia attack conjures up fears of new Europe 'iron curtain'

----------


## misskit

*Russia Bans Media Outlets From Using Words 'War,' 'Invasion'*

Russia's communications regulator on Saturday ordered media to remove reports describing Moscow's attack on Ukraine as an "assault, invasion, or declaration of war" or face being blocked and fined.


In a statement, Roskomnadzor accused a number of independent media outlets including television channel Dozhd and the country's top independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta of spreading "unreliable socially significant untrue information" about the shelling of Ukrainian cities by the Russian army and civilian deaths.

On Thursday, Russian leader Vladimir Putin unleashed a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that has killed dozens of people, forced more than 50,000 to flee Ukraine in just 48 hours and sparked fears of a greater conflict in Europe.

Citing a request from the General Prosecutor's Office, the communications regulator said the media outlets that also include Echo of Moscow radio will be blocked unless they remove the "unreliable information."


"Roskomnadzor also launched an administrative investigation into the dissemination of unreliable publicly significant information by the above-mentioned media," the watchdog said.


The offence is punishable by a fine of up to five million rubles ($60,000), it said.


Roskomnadzor also said that "reliable information" could be found in "official Russian information outlets." 


Moscow has not so far provided any details of Russian losses in the fighting in the face of statements from Kyiv that they have inflicted heavy casualties on Moscow's forces.


The invasion of Ukraine is taking place during an unprecedented crackdown on the Russian opposition, with top protest leaders assassinated, jailed or forced out of the country.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/...nvasion-a76605

----------


## misskit

*France seizes Russian cargo ship in English Channel*

A Russian-flagged ship carrying cars and headed for the Russian port city of Saint Petersburg from the French port of Rouen has been intercepted by French naval forces in the English Channel, DW has confirmed. 


The 127-meter (417-foot) vessel is "strongly suspected of being linked to Russian interests targeted by sanctions" local French official Veronique Magnin said.


The ship was then escorted by French boats into the nearby port of Boulogne-sur-Mer. French authorities suspect that its is connected to Russian companies that have been targeted by EU sanctions in the wake of the Russian invasion.


Russian news agencies reported that the Russian embassy in France has contacted French authorities to ask for an explanation of the incident.

Ukraine: Heavy fighting reported in Kyiv outskirts — live updates | News | DW | 26.02.2022

----------


## david44

BBC questions Zelenskys request to close Black Sa to Russian navy 

If Turkey breaks 1935? treaty to ban Russian Navy from Bosphurus.
Also Chechen fighters reported in Ukraine.

Will Turkey risk WW# blocking returning Russian warships by actually acting? Will Putin risk it?

Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia's Chechnya region and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Saturday Chechen fighters had been deployed in Ukraine, and he urged Ukrainians to overthrow their government.


Attention Required! | Cloudflare

----------


## misskit

*Six Russian government websites including Kremlin website down*

As of Saturday, State Telecommunications Service stated more than 6 Russian government websites including the Kremlins official website are down and inaccessible following reports of cyberattacks on various other Russian government and state media websites.

After the government of Ukraine has asked for volunteers from the country's hacker underground to help protect critical infrastructure and conduct cyber spying missions against Russian troops, according to two people involved in the project.

Aushev said the volunteers would be divided into defensive and offensive cyber units. The defensive unit would be employed to defend infrastructures such as power plants and water systems. In a 2015 cyberattack, widely attributed to Russian state hackers, 225,000 Ukrainians lost electricity.

The offensive volunteer unit Aushev said he is organizing would help Ukraine's military conduct digital espionage operations against invading Russian forces.

"We have an army inside our country," Aushev said. "We need to know what they are doing."


On Wednesday, a newly discovered piece of destructive software was found circulating in Ukraine, hitting hundreds of computers, according to researchers at the cybersecurity firm ESET.


Suspicion fell on Russia, which has repeatedly been accused of hacks against Ukraine and other countries. The victims included government agencies and a financial institution, Reuters previously reported.



Russia has denied the allegations.


The effort to build a cyber military force is coming late in the game, Aushev acknowledged.


A Ukrainian security official said earlier this month that the country had no dedicated military cyber force, the Washington Post reported. "It’s our task to create them this year," he told the Washington Post.

Reached late Thursday night in Ukraine, Aushev said he already had received hundreds of applicants and was going to begin vetting to ensure that none of them were Russian agents.

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

----------


## misskit

*Chinese banks limit financing for Russian purchases – media*

China’s largest public financial institutions are reportedly limiting financing to purchase raw materials from Russia under the threat of sanctions from the US and allies over the military operation in Ukraine.


The step, which might only be temporary, was taken by at least two of China’s largest state-controlled banks, ICBC and Bank of China, which are at major risk of secondary sanctions from Washington, Bloomberg news agency reported on Saturday, citing unidentified sources.

ICBC, the world’s biggest bank by assets, and Bank of China, the country’s largest commercial bank for currency trading, could potentially lose access to the dollar, as financing purchases of Russian commodities may be regarded as support for Moscow.


The news comes amid geopolitical turmoil after Russia launched a “special military operation” in the Donbass on Thursday morning, at the request of the region’s recently recognized Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics, vowing to “demilitarize” Ukraine and defend the people against “aggression” by Kiev.


Since the outbreak of conflict, the US, EU, and other allied nations have moved ahead with sanctions on various sectors of the Russian economy, blacklisting officials, and halting air service to and from Russia.


In recent years, China has increased purchases of Russian commodities, with nearly 30% of Russian oil and gas currently consumed by the world’s second biggest economy. The nations agreed to boost cooperation in the financial sector and on the supply of gas during the latest visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing for the Winter Olympics.


On Friday, China abstained from a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine, demanding the immediate withdrawal of troops, which was vetoed by Russia.

Chinese banks limit financing for Russian purchases – media — RT Business News

----------


## misskit

*Australia suspends RT broadcast*

Australia’s satellite operator, Foxtel, has notified RT on Saturday that it is suspending the channel's broadcast distribution in Australia as part of its services “in view of concern about the situation in Ukraine.” The operator will then further “consider” its rights under the channel license agreement, it added, without elaborating on any potential additional measures.


Foxtel is a satellite operator covering all of Australia’s territory and has its own over-the-top (OTT) server allowing media services to be offered to the audience directly via the internet. It has around 3.8 million clients.

On Thursday, Poland removed RT, along with some other Russian broadcasters, from its cable and satellite networks as well as internet platforms.


Every time a government or a certain organization calls for RT to be taken off air or bans its broadcast it only demonstrates “the fallacy of media freedoms” in the nation it represents, RT’s deputy editor-in-chief, Anna Belkina, said in a statement on Saturday, responding to the latest decisions by Australia and Poland.


“RT journalists tirelessly work to bring valuable facts and views to an audience of millions around the world,” she said, adding that “if ever there were a time to recognize the importance of all fact-gathering news … it is now.”


Even before the start of the Russian military operation, London had asked the regulator Ofcom to reconsider RT’s license to operate in the UK, accusing the company of being part of a “global disinformation campaign.” At that time, Belkina said that Ofcom had for a long time endorsed the channel as a license holder.

RT has been facing pressure for quite some time. European satellite TV operator Eutelsat took RT’s German-language channel RT DE off the air shortly after it was launched in December last year under pressure from the German regional media regulator MABB.


In early February, Germany’s top media regulator also sided with MABB and upheld a ban on RT DE's broadcast in the country, citing an absence of a locally-issued license. The channel previously obtained a valid pan-European permit in Serbia but the German regulators declared it void. RT DE now plans to appeal the decision in court.


In response to “unfriendly actions” against RT DE, Moscow announced it would halt operations of German state-owned broadcaster Deutsche Welle in Russia. 


Russia’s Foreign Ministry has previously warned that bans on RT broadcasting in foreign nations would be met with reciprocal measures in Russia. The ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, specifically said on February 23 that “if the UK follows on its threats against the Russian media, a response will not be long in coming.”

Australia suspends RT broadcast — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

----------


## misskit

*What is the death toll in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Here are the updated numbers*

As Russia’s invasion into Ukraine reached its third day on Saturday, Feb. 26, injuries and deaths continue to rise — but the Ukrainian president maintains passionate confidence in his country.


Here are the latest figures on casualties from the crisis in Ukraine, updated at 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday.


There have been 198 Ukrainians killed as of early Saturday morning, said Viktor Liashko, the minister of healthcare of Ukraine. That death toll includes three children.


An additional 1,115 Ukrainian citizens have been injured during Russia’s attack, with 33 of them being children, Liashko added. It’s unclear how many of the fatalities and injuries are of civilians.


A day earlier, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that 137 people had been killed and 300 injured in the first 24 hours of the attack.


“The real fighting for Kyiv is ongoing,” Zelenskyy said in a video message Saturday, according to an Associated Press translation. “We will win.”


Zelenskyy has remained in the Ukrainian capital during the invasion, turning down an offer from the U.S. to help him evacuate, CNN reported.


“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride,” he reportedly said.


Russian officials have not released causality numbers, but Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Zelenskyy, said more than 3,500 Russians had been killed as of Feb. 26, BBC reported. Ukraine has taken an additional 200 prisoners of war, the aide said, but the numbers are unconfirmed.


British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in an interview with Sky News that 450 Russian military personnel were killed in the first 24 hours of the invasion.


Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on three fronts early Thursday, Feb. 24, “bombarding cities, towns and villages” as forces advanced toward the capital of Kyiv.


Bridges, schools and neighborhoods have been struck with air and missile strikes by Russian troops, despite the country’s officials claiming Russia would only aim at military targets, The Associated Press reported.


“Whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to the consequences you have never seen in history,” Putin said Feb. 24, BBC News reported.


Ukraine, the second-largest nation in Europe by land mass, was part of the former USSR until it declared independence in 1991. It is not a NATO member.

What is the death toll in Ukraine? Look at deaths, injuries | Raleigh News & Observer

----------


## misskit

*Half of Russian invasion force now inside Ukraine: Pentagon*


Russia now has at least 50 percent of its massive invasion force inside Ukraine but is making slow progress due to unexpectedly stiff resistance, a senior US defense official said Saturday.


"We would estimate that more than 50 percent of the Russian force that Mr. Putin had arrayed against Ukraine ... has been committed inside Ukraine," the official told reporters.


"We have indications that the Russians are increasingly frustrated by their lack of momentum over the last 24 hours, particularly in the north parts of Ukraine," the official said, insisting on anonymity.

Live Updates: Half of Russian invasion force now inside Ukraine: Pentagon, World News | wionews.com

----------


## misskit

*Germany reverses ban on weapons sales to Ukraine: reports*

Berlin has reportedly given the go ahead for the Netherlands to sell 400 German-made rocket-propelled grenade launchers to Ukraine, EU officials told Politico. German government officials also confirmed the delivery to dpa and Reuters news agencies. 


"The approval has been confirmed by the chancellery," a German Defense Ministry spokesperson told Reuters.  


The move marks a U-turn on Germany's weekslong refusal to sell weapons to Ukraine due to the government's line against selling weapons to conflict zones.


Germany also has the power to block any weapon with parts produced in Germany, something which it has been doing much to the anger of the Ukrainians.


So far, Berlin had only offered some 5,000 military helmets and a field hospital to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion, an offer that has been mocked by some of Germany's frustrated partners.


Several NATO countries have pledged to give or sell weapons to Ukraine following the Russian invasion, including $350 million (€310 million) in military aid from the US.

Germany reportedly reverses ban on weapon sales to Ukraine — live updates | News | DW | 26.02.2022

----------


## misskit

Kyiv: Battle moves into capital as Ukrainians fight to keep control of their capital

Ukrainian troops held the capital Kyiv for the third day on Saturday, despite Russia's stronger military power, after a night of fierce fighting that punctuated the city with sounds of explosions and gunfire.


The country's President Volodymyr Zelensky remained defiant. Despite being a prime target in the invasion, he turned down a US offer of evacuation, the Ukraine embassy in Britain said Saturday on Twitter.


"The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride," Zelensky told the US, according to the embassy.


In a video posted on Twitter at dawn, Zelensky echoed the resolve of many Ukrainians -- some of whom have taken arms. "We will be defending our country, because our weapon is truth, and our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this," he said.

But as Russia's war of aggression moves to the streets of the Ukrainian capital, with the country's outnumbered and outgunned military continuing to hold back the invading forces in multiple locations, more reports are emerging of civilian infrastructure being hit.


Early Saturday, a large residential apartment block in the west of Kyiv was struck by a missile or rocket, as residents across the city were forced to seek shelter after a terrifying night of fighting.


Images and video from the scene showed a large impact some ten floors up in the building, with the cause of the strike unclear and the extent of casualties unknown. Several apartment units were blown out entirely, their outer walls and windows missing, leaving a gaping hole visible in the building's side, as residents were evacuated.

"Active fighting is taking place on the streets of our city. Please stay calm and be as careful as possible!" the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on its Facebook page Saturday, calling on residents to "hide indoors" and take cover to prevent injury from bullet fragments.


The resistance to Russia's invasion has seen civilians prepare to defend their capital in recent days, with officials arming reservists with 18,000 guns and ammunition in Kyiv alone and Ukrainian TV broadcasting instructions for making Molotov cocktails.

Ukrainian troops are fighting against a significantly more advanced military power. Russian defense spending is roughly ten times that of Kyiv's and its armed forces stand at some 900,000 active personnel and 2 million in reserve, versus Ukraine's 196,000 and 900,000 reservists.


Britain's Ministry of Defense said Russia has yet to gain control of Ukrainian airspace "greatly reducing the effectiveness of the Russian Air Force." Russia has also faced "staunch resistance" from Ukrainian Armed Forces, it said in a Saturday intelligence update shared on Twitter.


But it stressed that the bulk of Russian forces are now only 18.6 miles from the center of Kyiv, warning that casualties are "likely to be heavy and greater than anticipated or acknowledged by the Kremlin."


Kyiv's mayor, Vitali Klitschko, braced for a further night of fighting, imposing a curfew on the city, from 5 p.m. local (10 a.m. ET) to 8 a.m., from Saturday evening. He warned that civilians on the street after curfew will be considered "members of the enemy's sabotage and reconnaissance groups."


The Russian Defense Ministry has not reported a single combat casualty from the invasion, a CNN review of their news releases shows. But Zelensky has claimed that the country's forces have killed "hundreds" of Russian soldiers, without providing an exact figure. On Friday morning, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Russia had lost over 450 personnel.


Ukrainian officials have acknowledged casualties on their side.

There have been suggestions of efforts toward diplomacy to stop the bloodshed, with Zelensky's senior adviser, Myhailo Podoliak, on Saturday morning saying Ukraine would set conditions in any process, noting he didn't think the country had "weak positions."


A separate spokesperson for Zelensky, Sergii Nykyforov, late Friday said that Ukraine "has been and remains ready to talk about a ceasefire and peace."


Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a halt Friday to the Russian military's advance in Ukraine pending negotiations, but operations resumed after the government in Kyiv allegedly refused talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Saturday.


Zelensky spokesperson Nykyforov had previously denied any "claims that we have refused to negotiate."


"The sooner negotiations begin, the better the chances of resuming normal life," he said.


Western officials have been examining whether Zelensky could form a government in exile if he were to flee Kyiv, US officials told CNN. But those officials and a source close to Zelensky said the Ukrainian president has rebuffed those offers.


The Russian Ministry of Defense in a statement Saturday, claimed to have taken control over the city of Melitopol in southeastern Ukraine. This comes after a massive explosion at Melitopol Airport was captured in footage shared on social media.


Russia also launched cruise missile strikes overnight against targets in Ukraine.


There have been reports of apartment buildings and kindergartens being shelled, civilians being killed, and rockets being found in residential streets since the beginning of the invasion earlier this week.


Images analyzed by CNN confirmed that on several occasions densely populated areas have been hit by Russian forces around the country.


Russia's invasion has been followed by sweeping sanctions by Western nations, designed to damage Russia's economy and turn Putin into an international "pariah."


Saturday saw momentum in Europe to cutting Russia off from SWIFT -- a high security messaging network that connects thousands of financial institutions around the world -- with Italy and Hungary signaling their support.


Russia's decision to invade Ukraine has seen its allies like China struggle to balance its close strategic partnership with Moscow with its seemingly contradictory policy of supporting state sovereignty.


China, which has declined to criticize Russia's attack, abstained on voting for a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.


Humanitarian crisis


While the previous two nights in Kyiv were marked by the sounds of sporadic explosions coming from further away, Friday night in the capital was different for the residents who remained, with bursts of small arms fire and visible orange lines of fire going up into the sky.


Streets around the city center were also empty, with many who remained spending the night in subway stations and underground garages, seeking safe haven.


One Kyiv resident who gave her name as Olga said she had her young son Vadim, a kindergartener, sleeping in the bathroom.


"We are not going to the shelter, it does not guarantee 100% safety, and it can affect the psychology of a child. At home, he sleeps well, eats and thinks it's all fun," she said.


An unknown number of Kyiv's residents had already left the capital by Friday, leaving quiet the roads heading west of the capital that had been busy on Thursday. Refugees have been pouring into neighboring European countries in recent days, with international leaders warning of a humanitarian crisis.


Kelly Clements, the deputy high commissioner of the UN's refugee agency, told CNN more than 120,000 Ukrainians have fled Ukraine while 850,000 are internally displaced. Up to 4 million Ukrainians could flee if things continued to deteriorate, she said.


As the situation worsened, the international community has sought to find ways to stand with Ukraine without actively deploying troops to the country -- a move that both the United States and NATO have said they will not take.


In the late hours of Friday evening in Washington, the White House announced that US President Joe Biden had approved the release of up to $350 million in immediate support to Ukraine's security and defense.


This release, announced in a memo from the White House, comes after a 40-minute call between Biden and Zelensky earlier Friday, during which they discussed "concrete defense assistance."

MSN

----------


## DrWilly

> Do you have a link to a Ukrainian Tank with a Z on it?


Or show me the manuals that say a vehicle must have a Z or it can't be Russian

----------


## DrWilly

> ​From the Beeb again
> 
> We don't need diplomatic ties with West - Medvedev
> 
> Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev says Moscow doesn't need diplomatic ties with the West.
> 
> It follows a wave of sanctions on Russia announced by Western countries.
> 
> Mr Medvedev, who was sacked as prime minister by Vladimir Putin in 2020 and now serves as deputy chair of Moscow's security council, wrote on the Russian social media network VK that it is time to "padlock the embassies".
> ...


What a cbump.

----------


## pickel

The absence of a Z does not mean it isn't Russian. I never said it did. I said "might".

But you said:




> The Z on a tank is not a unique Russian identifier.


The Russians are the only ones putting a Z on their tanks, therefore when a tank has one it is Russian. Capiche?

----------


## misskit

Ant*i-war sentiment grows in Russia as troops close in on Ukrainian capital*

MOSCOW (AP) — As Russian troops were closing in on the Ukrainian capital, more and more Russians spoke out Saturday against the invasion, even as the government’s official rhetoric grew increasingly harsher.


Street protests, albeit small, resumed in the Russian capital of Moscow, the second-largest city of St. Petersburg and other Russian cities for the third straight day, with people taking to the streets despite mass detentions on Thursday and Friday. According to OVD-Info, rights group that tracks political arrests, at least 460 people in 34 cities were detained over anti-war protests on Saturday, including over 200 in Moscow.


Open letters condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine kept pouring, too. More than 6,000 medical workers put their names under one on Saturday; over 3,400 architects and engineers endorsed another while 500 teachers signed a third one. Similar letters by journalists, municipal council members, cultural figures and other professional groups have been making the rounds since Thursday.

A prominent contemporary art museum in Moscow called Garage announced Saturday it was halting its work on exhibitions and postponing them “until the human and political tragedy that is unfolding in Ukraine has ceased.”


“We cannot support the illusion of normality when such events are taking place,” the statement by the museum read. “We see ourselves as part of a wider world that is not divided by war.”


An online petition to stop the attack on Ukraine, launched shortly after it started on Thursday morning, garnered over 780,000 signatures by Saturday evening, making it one of the most supported online petitions in Russia in recent years.


Statements decrying the invasion even came from some parliament members, who earlier this week voted to recognize the independence of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, a move that preceded the Russian assault. Two lawmakers from the Communist Party, which usually toes the Kremlin’s line, spoke out against the hostilities on social media.


Oleg Smolin said he “was shocked” when the attack started and “was convinced that military force should be used in politics only as a last resort.” His fellow lawmaker Mikhail Matveyev said “the war must be immediately stopped” and that he voted for “Russia becoming a shield against the bombing of Donbas, not for the bombing of Kyiv.”


Russian authorities, meanwhile, took a harsher stance towards those denouncing the invasion, both at home and abroad.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, said Moscow may respond to Western sanctions by opting out of the last nuclear arms deal with the U.S., cutting diplomatic ties with Western nations and freezing their assets.


He also warned that Moscow could restore the death penalty after Russia was removed from Europe’s top rights group — a chilling statement that shocked human rights activists in a country that has had a moratorium on capital punishment since August 1996.


Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Kremlin human rights council, deplored it as a “catastrophe” and a “return to the Middle Ages.”


The Western sanctions imposed new tight restrictions on Russian financial operations, a draconian ban on technology exports to Russia and froze the assets of Putin and his foreign minister. Russian membership in the Council of Europe was also suspended.


Washington and its allies say even tougher sanctions are possible, including kicking Russia out of SWIFT, the dominant system for global financial transactions.


Medvedev was a placeholder president in 2008-2012 when Putin had to shift into the prime minister’s seat because of term limits. He then let Putin reclaim the presidency and served as his prime minister for eight years.


During his tenure as president, Medvedev was widely seen as more liberal compared with Putin, but on Saturday he made a series of threats that even the most hawkish Kremlin figures haven’t mentioned to date.


Medvedev noted that the sanctions offer the Kremlin a pretext to completely review its ties with the West, suggesting that Russia could opt out of the New START nuclear arms control treaty that limits the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals.

The treaty, which Medvedev signed in 2010 with then-U.S. President Barack Obama, limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, and envisages sweeping on-site inspections to verify compliance. The pact, the last remaining U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control agreement, had been set to expire in February 2021 but Moscow and Washington extended it for another five years.

If Russia opts out of the agreement now, it will remove any checks on U.S. and Russian nuclear forces and raise new threats to global security.


Medvedev also raised the prospect of cutting diplomatic ties with Western countries, charging that “there is no particular need in maintaining diplomatic relations.” Referring to Western threats to freeze the assets of Russian companies and individuals, Medvedev warned that Moscow wouldn’t hesitate to do the same.


Cracking down on critics at home, Russian authorities demanded that top independent news outlets take down stories about the fighting in Ukraine that deviated from the official government line.


Russia’s state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, charged that reports about “Russian armed forces firing at Ukrainian cities and the death of civilians in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian army, as well as materials in which the ongoing operation is called ‘an attack,’ ‘an invasion,’ or ‘a declaration of war’” were untrue and demanded that the outlets take them down or face steep fines and restrictions.


On Friday, the watchdog also announced “partial restrictions” on access to Facebook in response to the platform limiting the accounts of several Kremlin-backed media.


On Saturday, Russian internet users reported problems with accessing Facebook and Twitter, both of which have played a major role in amplifying dissent in Russia in recent years.

Anti-war sentiment grows in Russia as troops close in on Ukrainian capital | PBS NewsHour

----------


## misskit

*Massive explosion in Kyiv*

A very large explosion lit up the night sky to the southwest of Kyiv early on Sunday.


The explosion appeared to be 20 kilometers, or about 12 miles, from the Ukrainian capital's center.


The night sky lit up for several minutes.

Live updates: Russia invades Ukraine and Vladimir Putin news

----------


## misskit

*Russian health ministry documents show how Russia is preparing for casualties*

I have been given a copy of document issued today by the Russian Ministry of Health which shows it is anticipating a major medical event in which doctors have to be drafted from across the country.


It indicates Russia is anticipating a massive medical emergency and has ordered health organisations to immediately identify medical staff ready to relocate and work.


The document from the Russian Ministry of Health is signed by the deputy health minister and dated today - February 25.

It asks medical organisations to be ready "to be promptly involved in activities aimed at saving lives and preserving the health of people in Russia".


Russian medical institutions have been ordered by the Health Ministry to send a list no later than 6pm to the deputy health minister of "medical specialists and medical workers… indicating their full name, place of work,
 positions & contact details".


The document makes it clear these medics will be deployed somewhere and will be offered a "reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses, as well as payment of labour is expected from funds from the Federal Centre of Medical Disasters".

The letter has a long list of medics it is looking for: trauma, heart, maxilofacial and paediatric surgeons, anaesthetists, radiologists, nurses (including for operating rooms) and infectious disease specialists. 


The letter shows the Russian Ministry of Health is clearly anticipating a major medical event in which doctors have to be drafted from across the country. The letter is signed by Deputy Health Minister Plutnitsky. Following publication of the document, two Russian doctors confirmed that they have seen it. 

This order from the Russian Ministry of Health has been issued as Russian forces reportedly advance on Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine.


I understand doctors were gathered together yesterday and told to ‘get ready.’ Today, the document from the Russian Health Ministry arrived.

I am told this is highly unusual and almost unprecedented.


After viewing the document, tonight a Ukrainian military official told me it could indicate that the medics are being drafted to assist with casualties from Russia’s invasion in Ukraine.




"This letter clearly demonstrates that the Russians did not expect to face such a level of resistance and losses. They wanted to make a blitzkrieg operation and should have finished it by now, but they are still far from achieving their goals," the Ukrainian military official told me. 


This would tally with reports from a senior US defence official who said today "there is greater resistance by Ukrainians than the Russians expected," and that Russia is not moving on Kyiv as fast as they anticipated and that Russia may have lost a "little bit of their momentum".


The Ukrainian military official also expressed concern and said one interpretation of the document could be that 'Putin has the intention to go until the end, despite huge losses of personnel.'


Tonight I have asked Russian officials if it is true Russia is preparing for a mass casualty event and if it is because Russia has met more resistance than it anticipated in its operation against Ukraine.

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-02-25/...for-casualties

----------


## david44

News by Europeans for Europeans from Europe not some pundit in USA or Russia who may never have visited teh continent.

Many different reporters from all over Europe with English commentary no CNN no RT no ads

Live: Watch Euronews UK (English) from Un. Kingdom.

----------


## david44

Russians attack Gas pipe

Russian troops targeted gas pipeline in Danilovka district of Kharkiv Kharkiv - Ukraine Interactive map  - Ukraine Latest news on live map - liveuamap.com

----------


## misskit

*West Kicks Russian Banks Off SWIFT, 'Paralyzes' Central Bank Assets*

Major Russian banks will be kicked off the SWIFT financial communications network and Russia's Central Bank's assets will be "paralyzed," the EU has announced.


EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen outlined an unprecedented package of "massive" sanctions Saturday night as part of the 27-member bloc's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.




Russia’s financial institutions that have been sanctioned in recent days, including Russia's largest banks, will be ejected from the SWIFT network, thwarting their ability to conduct transactions internationally, von der Leyen said in a late-night press conference in Brussels.


She said the bloc would also “paralyze the assets of Russia's central bank.”


"This will freeze its transactions and make it impossible for the Central Bank to liquidate its assets."


The measures were outlined in coordination with the U.S., Britain and Canada.

In a statement the White House said the package would “impose restrictive measures that will prevent the Russian Central Bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that undermine the impact of our sanctions.”


Russia’s Central Bank has amassed some $643 billion in international reserves in recent years, largely through sales of oil and gas. The cash pile — the world’s fourth largest — was supposed to be Russia’s insurance policy in the event of Western sanctions.


But the measures have gone far beyond what the Kremlin could have expected from the bloc, which has previously been reluctant to impose sanctions that could hurt European economies.


“The Russian army is committing barbaric actions during its invasion of Ukraine. It is bombing and launching missiles, killing innocent people,” von der Leyen said.


“We are resolved to continue imposing massive costs on Russia. Costs that will further isolate Russia from the international financial system and our economies.”

The allies also agreed to impose restrictive measures to prevent the Russian central bank from "using international financial transactions to prop up the ruble", he said. 


Wealthy Russians connected to President Vladimir Putin's government will also no longer be allowed to use the so-called golden passport system to obtain European citizenship for themselves and their family members.

West Kicks Russian Banks Off SWIFT, 'Paralyzes' Central Bank Assets - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

*Russian loyalists clash with pro-Ukrainian protesters*



Australian-based Russian loyalists have clashed with pro-Ukrainian protesters and showed their support for the Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine outside the Kremlin's Sydney embassy.

The small group of supporters gathered outside the Russian consulate repeating the regime's propaganda, while bearing flags and insignia associated with the Russian military takeover.

The group appeared to be led by a Russian-educated pro-Putin activist Simeon Boikov, who goes by the nickname the Aussie Cossack.
He confronted several men protesting in support of Ukraine. 



The pro-Putin protesters displayed various flags to show their support for the Kremlin's invasion.

Full article- Russian loyalists clash with pro-Ukrainian protesters (msn.com)

----------


## bsnub

Looking dead-eyed into the camera on Friday, Vladimir Putin  gave one of the most bizarre speeches of his 22 years as Russia’s  leader, a directive that managed to sound alarming even in a week when  he has ordered tanks into Ukraine and missile strikes on Kyiv.

“Once  again I speak to the Ukrainian soldiers,” he said, addressing his  enemy. “Do not allow neo-Nazis and Banderites to use your children, your  wives and the elderly as a human shield. Take power into your own  hands. It seems that it will be easier for us to come to an agreement  than with this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”

The  speech seemed to be ripped from an alternate reality – or from the  second world war, where Putin appears to be spending more of his time as  he launches the kind of broad military offensive not seen in Europe for nearly 70 years.

All this week, Putin’s megalomaniacal tendencies have been on display like never before. He has summoned his aides for a surreal national security council that resembled a television reality show and launched tirades about Lenin and decisions made nearly 100 years ago.

He  has also, for the first time, spoken about his maximalist goals in this  war: regime change in Kyiv, toppling the government of Volodymyr  Zelenskiy and replacing it with a more pliant leadership. Putin’s call  for a coup in Kyiv indicates that if Russia wins this war, Zelenskiy will almost certainly not remain in power. How he achieves that is anyone’s guess.
A  number of analysts predicted this as Russia deployed more than 60% of  its ground forces to Ukraine’s borders and demanded concessions that  could never be granted.

But Putin’s unhinged appearances and apparent drive to war have raised questions of whether he remains a rational leader.

“Despite  Crimea and everything else, Putin had always seemed an extremely  pragmatic leader to me,” said Tatyana Stanovaya, the founder of  R.Politik. “But now when he’s gone in this war against Ukraine, the  logic in the decision is all about emotions, it’s not rational.”

Those  emotions are deeply rooted in history and the historical injustices  suffered by Russia. Dmitry Muratov, the editor of Novaya Gazeta, said he  saw Putin as a man with “a historical map in his mind and a plan to use  his military to achieve it”.

Central to that  map is Ukraine, which he has described as an artificial state. “Modern  Ukraine was wholly and fully created by Russia,” Putin said in a  historical sleight-of-hand, “namely Bolshevik, communist Russia.”

To  help picture it, state TV ran a map earlier this week showing Ukraine  cut up to represent which parts were “presents” from various leaders,  including Stalin, Lenin and Khrushchev. Some commentators said it  represents the partition that Putin himself might be imagining if he  gets his way.

While once the map may have been  viewed as fantasies or media trolling, a western diplomat based in  Ukraine on Friday pointed to his speeches and to that map as a serious  sign that Putin was weighing up a dismantling of the country.

“He is not pretending any more. For the first time I think he’s revealing who he really is,” the diplomat wrote.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ragmatic-image

----------


## Switch

> Well if _(IF_) that is true, CIPS just got a massive boost and they will be laughing all the way to the bank in China. SWIFT is no longer a monopoly.


More importantly, Putin is being frustrated by arms manufacturers back home. Rifles and ammunition are plentiful, but commanders are reluctant to use scares stocks of missiles and anti tank natures because they have already used up available supplies. Russian firms are predicting a 3 or 4 month backlog on new orders.

----------


## sabang

It would be good to see a link on that swatch. How long is Putin intending to be in Ukraine I wonder- or how long might he need to be.

----------


## bsnub

Russia has now pushed more than half  of the 150,000-plus troops it had arrayed around Ukraine into the  country, three days after an initial invasion that has met stiff,  determined resistance and run into logistics and coordination problems.

 The capital city of Kyiv has been  breached by small groups of Russian troops, but the main thrust still  appears to be on the horizon, as armored columns push from the north,  west and south in a bloody dash for the seat of government. A spokesperson for Russia’s Defense Ministry  said that as of Saturday morning “all units were given orders today to  develop the offensive along all axes in line with the operation plan.”

 No major cities have yet fallen to  the invading forces, as Ukrainian troops armed with Javelin anti-armor  missiles have managed to temporarily blunt the Russian move for Kharkiv  in the East, and several lunges toward Kyiv. The fierce resistance and  quick-strike guerrilla tactics have spoiled hopes Moscow may have  harbored for a quick, relatively bloodless fight. 

A U.S. official said Saturday that  Russian leaders appear “increasingly frustrated” with how their  long-planned invasion has gone so far.

 Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov claimed in a Saturday Facebook post  that his forces have killed around 3,000 Russian troops, destroyed 100  Russian tanks and shot down seven helicopters. He added that Russians  have killed nearly 200 Ukrainian civilians, including three children.  POLITICO could not independently verify those numbers, but the Ukrainian  side has had little hesitation about posting videos to social media  sites of damaged Russian convoys and dead and captured Russian soldiers.

 Ukrainian President Volodymyr  Zelenskyy has refused to leave the capital city, assuming the role of a  wartime leader and posting a series of videos criticizing the West for  not doing enough to help. His regular videos and statements urge his  troops, and country, to fight on.

 Russia has launched more than 250  ballistic and cruise missiles at targets across the country over the  past three days, and more tanks, armored vehicles, and electronic  warfare capabilities have been seen flowing into the country over the  past 24 hours. Ukrainian officials have posted images of a high-rise  apartment struck by a missile, underscoring the continued danger to  civilians.

 In response, NATO allies have  scrambled to resupply Ukrainian forces. U.K. Defense Minister Ben  Wallace held a donor conference Friday aimed at shoring up support, and  27 nations pledged to send more weapons. Germany, long resistant to  permitting European nations from sending weapons it made to conflict  zones, reversed its fence-sitting position on Saturday, permitting the Netherlands to transfer 400 rocket-propelled grenade launchers to Ukraine.

Separately, the Netherlands also said they would send  200 Stinger ground-to-air missiles to Ukraine, and a U.S. defense  official confirmed that American arms have continued to flow throughout  the fight. 

 President Joe Biden unlocked another $350 million in military aid for Ukraine  on Friday night, a package that will include more Javelins, the defense  official said. Belgium on Saturday also pledged 2,000 machine guns and  3,800 tons of fuel to Ukraine.

 Poland, Latvia and Estonia are also pushing more weapons into Ukraine via a bold new land bridge option using Polish border crossings, as the skies above the country are full of missiles and Russian warplanes.

 The rapid reequipping effort marks a  remarkable new moment in post-Cold War European history, with a  majority of the continent openly working to defeat Russian forces in the  field and showing no inclination to hide their intent to punish the  Kremlin.

 “It is remarkable that so many  western governments — the US, the UK, the Dutch — are *overtly* shipping  anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine right now in the middle  of its war with Russia. Not even hiding it. Publicizing it. Loudly,” tweeted Andrew Exum, previously a top Pentagon official in the Obama administration.

Zelenskyy claimed, after a call with  his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that Ankara would block  Russian warships from entering the Black Sea — an assertion the Turkish government denied.  A 1936 convention requires Ankara to permit foreign navies through its  waters into the sea. “In time of war, Turkey not being belligerent,  warships shall enjoy complete freedom of transit and navigation through  the Straits,” the Montreux Convention reads.

 Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, addressed the West in a video posted to his official Telegram page:  “Civilians are getting shot with rockets. With special operations,  civilians getting killed. And it’s happening in the heart of Europe,” he  said in English to maximize the reach of his message. “Get into action  now,” he added — tomorrow it could be too late. Klitschko also ordered a  curfew in the capital lasting from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. each day until Feb.  28.

 Meanwhile, the Russian advance  continues, though seemingly not without problems. Videos posted on  social media sites show armored columns held up due to the lack of fuel  or confusion over where they are. Ukrainian citizens also stepped in  front of advancing tanks to halt their drive toward urban centers.

 The Pentagon’s latest assessment is  that Russian commanders have had to “commit a bit more logistics and  sustainment capability, like fuel specifically, than what we believe  they had originally planned to do this early in the operation,” the  defense official told reporters Saturday.

 On Friday, NATO activated the NATO  Response Force, a 40,000 strong formation with air and artillery assets  attached, for the first time since its inception in 2014 following  Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.

 “Russia’s attack on Ukraine is more  than an attack on Ukraine,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.  “It’s a devastating horrendous attack on innocent people in Ukraine, but  it’s also an attack on the whole European security order.”

  On Friday, the U.S. and its allies  placed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign  Minister Sergey Lavrov. There’s a growing appetite on both sides of the  Atlantic to kick Russia out of the SWIFT global banking system, and U.S.  officials continue to debate whether to impose full blocking sanctions  on Russia’s Central Bank — which would all but cut off Russia from the  global financial system.

 President Biden and European leaders  have said their troops won’t enter Ukraine to fight Russians, but it’s  clear that the alliance is quickly building a potent defensive wall  along its eastern front, and the war that Putin entered by choice is  taking a toll on his forces, and the Russian economy.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/0...raine-00012089

----------


## tomcat

> On Friday, the U.S. and its allies placed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.


...not enough: all Russian government ministers/vice ministers should be hit with sanctions as they're Putin toadies...might as well throw in the directors of all defense manufacturing facilities...nail 'em all...

----------


## Troy

> It would be good to see a link on that swatch. How long is Putin intending to be in Ukraine I wonder- or how long might he need to be.


I first saw this in a Twitter feed but it had no verified sources. It has also been published in various media including the Daily Fail...




> Estonia's former defence chief Riho Terras  has now claimed that Putin's war is not going to plan because Russia is  fast running out of money and weapons, and will have to enter  negotiations with Volodymyr Zelensky's government if Kyiv holds off the  Russians for 10 days.
> 
> Russia's tyrant  has allegedly convened a meeting with the oligarchs in a bunker in the  Ural Mountains, at which it is claimed that he furiously vented that he  thought the war would be 'easy' and 'everything would be done in one to  four days'. 
> Citing Ukrainian intelligence sources, Terras claimed that  the war is costing Russia around £15billion-per-day, and that they have  rockets for three to four days at most, which they are using sparingly.
> He  claimed that Putin's plan has relied on panicking the country, firing  missiles at residential buildings 'at random' to 'intimidate' the  Ukrainians, trigger mass army desertions, national surrender, and  Zelensky's flight from the country. 
> 
> Terras also alleged that  Russian special operations have been near Kyiv since February 18, and  had planned to swiftly seize the capital and install a puppet regime.


Why Putin's 'PS15BILLION-a-day' invasion ISN'T going to plan | Daily Mail Online

----------


## malmomike77

On the Beeb live feed

Making Molotov cocktails in a park
Sarah Rainsford byline
BBCCopyright: BBC


On the day Vladimir Putin ordered his soldiers into Ukraine, Arina had planned a dance class after work and then a party. Three days later, the English teacher was making Molotov cocktails in a park.

I found her crouching on the grass with dozens of other women, grating polystyrene chunks as if they were cheese and ripping sheets into rags for homemade bottle-bombs.

Such scenes are unimaginable to most in Europe. They were unthinkable here too, once.

But Dnipro is now preparing to defend itself against advancing Russian troops.

"No-one thought this is how wed spend our weekend, but it seems like the only important thing to do now," Arina told me, the young teachers face and hair sprinkled in white dust from the polystyrene.

"Its pretty terrifying. I think we dont really realise what it is were doing; we just need to be doing something," she said.

A few metres away, Elena and Yulia told me theyd left their children with grandparents in order to come and help make these weapons.

"Sitting home doing nothing would be even scarier," Elena said, not pausing her grating even for a second.

She laughs and says that shes a good cook, and this process is not so different.

"I cant believe this is happening to us, but what choice do we have? No-one consulted us on anything," Elena said.

----------


## BLD

> *Russian loyalists clash with pro-Ukrainian protesters*
> 
> 
> 
> Australian-based Russian loyalists have clashed with pro-Ukrainian protesters and showed their support for the Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine outside the Kremlin's Sydney embassy.
> 
> The small group of supporters gathered outside the Russian consulate repeating the regime's propaganda, while bearing flags and insignia associated with the Russian military takeover.
> 
> The group appeared to be led by a Russian-educated pro-Putin activist Simeon Boikov, who goes by the nickname the Aussie Cossack.
> ...


That Simon bloke has a YouTube channel and goes about goading the police into arresting him for being places he shouldn't be during lockdowns etc,  very anti authoritarian. Reminds me a bit of a bloke we had here in oz called Jack van tongeran who was a racist who used to blow up Chinese restaurants. Doing about 30 years in jail now I think. Same kind off asshole

----------


## David48atTD

Related to Ukraine because of the current conflict where Putin used Belarus a an attack point for northern Ukraine.

He wants to follow the Russian and Chinese Dictators and rule forever.

OH ... he also wants Russian Nuclear weapons to be allowed on Belarus soil.

The Fucker ...

---

Belarus To Vote On Constitutional Changes Seen As Tightening Lukashenka's Grip On Power 


A  referendum on February 27 is expected to tighten authoritarian leader  Alyaksandr Lukashenka's grip on power in a vote denounced by opponents.

The regime of authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka is set to  hold a vote on February 27 with the aim of tightening his grip on power  in Belarus and possibly ending the country's nuclear-free status.

 Lukashenka, 67, has proposed amending the constitution, the third  time he has done so since coming to power in 1994, that would allow him  to rule to 2035, offer him a new lever of power, and abolish a section  of the document defining Belarus as a nuclear-free zone, possibly  paving the way for the return of Russian nuclear weapons to Belarus.

Belarus To Vote On Constitutional Changes Seen As Tightening Lukashenka&#39;s Grip On Power

----------


## bsnub

Three days after the  invasion there are signs that Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is not  quite going to plan. In the Sumy region, close to the border with  Russia, a local resident came across an extraordinary sight. On a  country road lined with birch trees, a Russian armoured vehicle had  broken down.He pulled up in his car and stopped. There was then a surreal conversation.

“Looks  like you guys broke down,” he said to three Russian soldiers, standing  by the road. “We ran out of fuel,” one replied. “Can I tow you back to Russia,” he joked. They laughed and asked him for news. “Do you know where you are going?” he inquired. “No,” they answered.

Further  along the road other Russian vehicles had conked out. The driver told  the hapless soldiers that “everything is on our side” and that Russians  were busy surrendering. No one from Putin’s invading army seemed to know  where they were going, or why they were even in Ukraine, he concluded.

It  is too early to describe the Kremlin’s operation to seize and subjugate  Ukraine as a failure. The war has only just started. Putin may yet  prevail. The Russian military enjoys overwhelming superiority over  Ukraine’s armed forces. It has numerous combat aircraft, a vast navy and  150,000 deployed troops.

And yet by Saturday,  it was clear Putin’s blitzkrieg operation to remove Ukraine’s  pro-western government had run into unexpected difficulties. Evidently,  there were logistical issues. Re-supplying troops in a vast enemy  country was proving a challenge.

So was  seizing Kyiv, Ukraine’s defiant capital, home in normal times to three  million people. The Kremlin’s original plan, according to Ukrainian  intelligence, was to encircle the city with land forces and, during a  night operation, to fly in 5,000 elite paratroopers.

They  would storm the Mariinsky presidential palace, detain or kill Ukraine’s  president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and take control over key government  buildings, including the foreign and defence ministries. Having mopped  up resistance, and arrested key figures, Moscow would install a  pro-Russian puppet administration.

This has  not happened. Instead, Kyiv remained under government control this  weekend after Ukrainian forces repulsed a series of attacks. Zelenskiy  has encouraged his citizens with homemade videos.  Meanwhile, Russian parachutists who tried to seize an airfield in the  city of Vasylkiv, as a bridgehead to grab Kyiv, were beaten back.

“Our 40th Brigade was powerful. It repulsed the attack,” Nataliia Balasynovych, Vasylkiv’s mayor, told the Kyiv Independent newspaper.  “They [Russian troops] landed with parachutes in the fields, forests  and villages.” She added: “The worst fighting was on Decembrists’  street. The whole street was on fire.”

Air  defence units said they had shot down an Ilyushin-76 transport plane  near Bila Tserkva, 80km south of Kyiv – one of several downed enemy  aircraft. Ukraine’s military command said it had wiped out an entire  enemy column around the city of Kharkiv, something video appeared to confirm.

Since  the invasion began on Thursday, Russia has lost 14 aircraft, eight  helicopters, 102 tanks, 15 heavy machine guns and one BUK missile, the  Ukrainian military said. It had also lost 3,500 soldiers, with 200 taken  hostage, it added.

These figures are hard to  verify. But they illustrate the almost universal hostility which has  greeted invading Russian forces. The Kremlin has had most success in the  south of the country, where it has captured large swathes of territory,  including much of Kherson province and the city of Melitopol.

Videos have shown some extraordinary acts of civic resistance. In Bakhmach, in the Chernihiv region, a resident tried to stop a tank with his bare hands. He knelt in front of it before his friends dragged him away. In another  viral clip, shared by Ukrainian media outlets, a man jumped in front of  a military convoy, with vehicles forced to swerve.

There are also numerous interviews with Russian soldiers who have  surrendered. On Thursday, Kremlin forces captured Sumy, 60km from the  Russian border. By Saturday, however, locals appeared to have taken some  of the city back, and to have captured a young Russian conscript, who  appeared dazed and confused

The invasion has  caused a vast human exodus, with tens of thousands seeking refuge in the  west of the country and beyond. It has also prompted a wave of  patriotic feeling. From Lviv to Dnipro in the centre and Kharkiv in the  east, volunteers have been picking up weapons, making molotov cocktails  or removing road signs to confuse the invaders.

“I’ve  had calls from 10 people asking how to help,” Lviv resident Olga  Bileychuk said. “Some of the girls wanted to make molotovs but were told  only boys could do it. It’s quite sexist.” Others were joining  defensive units, she said. One friend gave his Land Cruiser to a  Ukrainian soldier seeking to rejoin his brigade in distant Mariupol,  which has been holding out against Russian attack.

The  creative classes have also been doing their bit. Many have taken up  arms, having originally fought in 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea and  kickstarted an armed uprising in the Donbas region. Two standup  comedians were busy preparing food in a closed restaurant in Kyiv on  Saturday, as a curfew was introduced. Others shared anti-Putin memes.

So how did we get here? One explanation is the  increasingly erratic behaviour of Putin himself. Speaking before the  invasion, a senior Ukrainian intelligence official said Russia’s  president lived in a strange parallel reality. He had succumbed – like  dictators before him – to believing his own version of the world.

“Putin  thinks that Ukraine’s government is corrupt, western and irredeemably  Russophobic,” the official said. “He understood the Ukrainian people, by  contrast, would welcome Russia and intervention. He considers us to be  rural Russians.” Putin’s spy agencies had told him what he wanted to  hear, he added.

The official continued: “We have always understood Russians better than they understand us.” Other commentators noted that  Putin, an amateur historian, had forgotten one of the great lessons of  the second world war – that the best Soviet soldiers were Ukrainian.

It  is impossible to know if there is growing unhappiness within Putin’s  national security council over the decision to go to war. On the eve of  the invasion last week all of its members signed off on Putin’s plan to  recognise the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as  independent, an act that pushed the button on military action.

Western  defence attaches have claimed that Valery Gerasimov, Putin’s most  senior commander and the chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed  forces, had warned the president that invading Ukraine might not be  straightforward. And so it has proved. For now, though, Russia’s  military and political leadership are firmly behind the operation.

As  losses mount, difficult questions pile up for the Kremlin. In the face  of Ukrainian intransigence and resistance, how does it intend to govern  the country? Any Donetsk-style puppet government would lack legitimacy.  Even if Moscow succeeds in seizing Kyiv, months and years of problems  lie ahead. Nobody expects Ukrainians to capitulate. More likely is  partisan war.

The driver who came across the  broken-down military carrier best summarised Putin’s predicament. “I  asked the whole column,” he said of the Russian soldiers. “No one knows  where they are and where they are going.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...d-putins-plans

----------


## malmomike77

From the Beeb, the latest claimed Russian loses



BREAKING
Ukraine claims 4,300 Russian deaths so far

Ukraine's deputy defence minister has released an estimate of the losses she says the country's forces have inflicted on Russia so far.

Kyiv's Hanna Malyar said in a Facebook post that the numbers for the first three days of the conflict were preliminary and liable to change.

The BBC is unable to verify these claims - and Russia has not released casualty numbers.

Ukraine estimates Russian military losses so far to include:

4,300 deaths
27 planes
26 helicopters
146 tanks
706 armoured fighting vehicles
49 cannons
1 Buk air defence system
4 Grad multiple rocket launch systems
30 vehicles
60 tankers
2 drones
2 boats

----------


## bsnub

If you want to take a deep dive, reddit has some good stuff. I am looking at these;

Reddit - Dive into anything
Reddit - Dive into anything
Reddit - Dive into anything
Reddit - Dive into anything

----------


## misskit

*Ordinary Ukrainians Rally to Defend Homeland From Russia*
Thousands of civilian fighters volunteer their service, including many from abroad, as authorities distribute rifles and others assemble Molotov cocktails and coordinate support


In the battle for Kviv, Russian troops are facing not only Ukrainian armed forces but also thousands of civilians including a pizzeria owner and a political consultant.


Authorities say they have distributed 18,000 rifles to volunteers in the capital willing to fight. Websites and social media channels published instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails. Groups are spontaneously coordinating storage and distribution points for food, clothes and fuel. The battle is even drawing home fighters from abroad.


“I am fulfilling my duty as a Ukrainian citizen, a father and a son,” said Kostyantyn Batozsky, a 41-year-old political consultant who said he was brandishing a weapon for the first time.


Russian troops are closing in on Kyiv from the north and west, and gunbattles are already taking place within the city. Ukrainian officials said dozens of saboteurs who had infiltrated Kyiv had been killed.


“Stop the enemy everywhere, wherever you can,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a televised address late Friday. “Burn enemy vehicles with whatever you can.”

MORE Ordinary Ukrainians Rally to Defend Homeland From Russia - WSJ

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine says it downed missile launched by Russian bomber flying over Belarus*

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces have downed a cruise missile that was launched by a Russian Tu-22 strategic bomber from the territory of Belarus, Valery Zaluzhny, the chief commander of the armed forces, said on Sunday.

Ukraine says it downed missile launched by Russian bomber flying over Belarus

----------


## misskit

*Russia-Ukraine latest news: Belarus ‘to join Russian invasion’; fighting in Kharkiv – live updates*

IVE – Updated at 12:37


Ukraine’s former defence minister says there is information about airborne troopers from Belarus on planes bound for Ukraine.

Page not found - MSN

----------


## misskit

^A bad sign this war will spread.

----------


## misskit

*Putin orders Russian nuclear deterrent forces to be on highest alert*

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

https://www.rt.com/russia/550767-put...-forces-order/

----------


## misskit

^ Who does Putin think is going to whack him with a nuke?

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine Launches Website for Russians to Find Killed Soldiers*

Ukrainian authorities on Sunday launched a website to help Russian families track down soldiers who have been killed or captured fighting in Moscow's invasion of the pro-Western country. 


The site — 200rf.com — contains pictures of the documents and corpses of Russian soldiers Ukraine said had been killed since President Vladimir Putin launched the attack.  


It also has videos of soldiers Ukraine says it has captured. 


"I am talking to you in Russian because this site was created for you," Viktor Andrusiv, an adviser to the Interior Minister, said in a video posted on the site.


"I know that many Russians are worried about how and where their children, sons, husbands are and what is happening to them — so we decided to put this online so that each of you could search for your loved one who Putin sent to fight in Ukraine."

Andrusiv said that over the past three days Ukrainian forces had captured almost 200 Russian soldiers and more than 3,000 Russian troops had died. 


"We have documents, photos and videos of all of these people," Andrusiv said.

The name of the site references the well-known term Gruz-200 (Cargo-200) that was used by Soviet military for corpses being flown back from the war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. 


Russia's defence ministry has so far given no details of any military losses in Ukraine since launching a multi-pronged attack Putin called a "special operation" to protect two separatist regions. 


The head of the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, on Saturday became the first official to report the death of a Russian soldier in Ukraine. 


He posted a tribute on his official Instagram page, paying homage to an officer he said had been killed during the "special operation to defend Donbas."


The Kremlin has launched a major propaganda campaign to control coverage of the war in Ukraine and has ordered media to use only Russia's official versions of events. 


Moscow has long been accused of covering up losses suffered by its forces as they backed pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and fought in Syria. 


Lev Shlosberg, a prominent liberal politician, has suggested Russia's military was using mobile crematoriums to destroy evidence of those killed in Ukraine.

"There is no war. No dead. No tombs. People will just be no more. Forever," he wrote on his blog.

Ukraine Launches Website for Russians to Find Killed Soldiers - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*The Ukrainian commander in Kharkiv says dozens of Russians surrendered*

The commander of the Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv, Oleg Synegubov, has claimed that dozens of Russian troops have surrendered amid ongoing fighting in the city, which is about 20 miles from the Russian border.


He also claimed that the captured soldiers had complained of demoralization and misunderstanding of the mission, as well as lack of fuel.


Synegubov posted photos of some of the suspected Russian soldiers captured on his Facebook account, rtv21.tv reports 


He warned civilians to stay inside, saying: "Leaving their positions, Russian fighters are trying to hide among civilians, asking people for clothes and food."


Social media videos Sunday showed several abandoned Russian military trucks surrounded by Ukrainian soldiers in Kharkiv, while fighting was reported to continue after an overnight bombardment by Russian artillery.


Earlier Sunday, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said Russian forces had tried to "enter our cities." But the city of Kiev, the city of Chernihiv, the city of Mariupol, the city of Kharkiv, are completely under Ukrainian control. "Despite the fact that the Russians are sending their sabotage groups and they are shelling critical infrastructure, we have defended all our cities."21Media

Photos The Ukrainian commander in Kharkiv says dozens of Russians surrendered

----------


## malmomike77

^^^ just more proof as if it were needed that he's lost the plot. I wonder what his senior military officers are thinking, forget the security council sycophants.

Putin puts Russia's strategic nuclear force on 'special alert'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to put its nuclear forces on "special alert" - the highest level of alert for Russia's Strategic Missile Forces.

Speaking to top military officials, including Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, he said Western nations had taken "unfriendly actions" towards Russia and imposed "illegitimate sanctions".

We'll bring you an assessment of this move shortly. From the Beeb

----------


## misskit

*UK warns of Russia-NATO conflict*

Foreign Secretary says West should be ‘prepared for a very long haul’ in Ukraine and a potential clash between Moscow and the military bloc

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has warned that the crisis in Ukraine could spill over into a direct conflict between Russia and NATO nations if Western powers “don't stand up to Putin now.”


“If we don't stop Putin in Ukraine we are going to see others under threat – the Baltics, Poland, Moldova, and it could end up in a conflict with NATO,” Truss told Sky News on Sunday. 


“We do not want to go there,” she said.


The British FM’s comments come as Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine enters its fourth day. Moscow has insisted that it is targeting only military infrastructure in an effort to “demilitarize” the country and defend the people of the newly-recognized Donbass republics against aggression from Kiev. Ukraine says the attack was unprovoked.


Pointing to Russia’s “strong forces,” and Ukainians’ determination to “stand up for their sovereignty,” Truss also predicted the current crisis could last a “number of years.”


“We need to be prepared for a very long haul,” Truss said.


A number of European nations announced on Sunday that they were willing to supply Ukraine with more weapons and ammunition, following calls from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for more direct assistance. On Saturday, Germany backtracked on a previous refusal to send weapons to Ukraine, saying it would now supply Kiev with anti-tank missiles and ‘Stinger’ air defense systems “as soon as possible.”


Moscow launched its military offensive in Ukraine on February 24, prompting the West to impose a raft of new sanctions on Russia, ranging from airspace closures to the suspension of visas, and personal sanctions aimed at President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. 


The US, UK, and EU are also preparing to cut “selected Russian banks” off from the international SWIFT payments system.


On Saturday, the Kremlin said Kiev had rejected an offer for negotiations and resumed its military operation after a brief pause. Both sides, however, have indicated a willingness to negotiate, with Russia sending a delegation to Belarus for talks. Kiev, however, refused to send negotiators, saying that Russia has been using Belarusian territory to stage attacks on Ukraine.

UK warns of Russia-NATO conflict — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

----------


## malmomike77

Windows taped in Kyiv as city braces for attack

As we just reported, the mayor of Kyiv says there are no Russian troops in the capital - and that "saboteurs" have been "detected and neutralised".

But the city is a long way from normal. There is a curfew until Monday, and residents have taped their windows in case gunfire or explosions break the glass.

This picture is from Oleksander Dzenhilevsky in Obolon in the north of Kyiv.

----------


## misskit

*Street Fighting Rages in Ukraine as Talks Mooted*

Street fighting raged in Ukraine's second-biggest city on Sunday after Russian forces pierced through Ukrainian lines, as both sides said they were ready for talks to halt a conflict that has forced an estimated 260,000 people to flee their homes.


Machine gun fire and explosions could be heard in Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine and an AFP journalist saw the wreckage of a Russian armoured vehicle smouldering and several others abandoned.


On the fourth day of an invasion by Russia that has sent shockwaves around the world, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy turned down Moscow's offer of a meeting in Belarus, which has allowed Russian troops passage to attack Ukraine.


Zelenskiy said Ukraine had proposed Warsaw, Bratislava, Budapest, Istanbul and Baku as possible alternative locations for any talks.

"Any other city in a country from whose territory missiles do not fly would suit us," Zelenskiy said.


"The past night in Ukraine was brutal," he said. "They fight against everyone. They fight against all living things — against kindergartens, against residential buildings and even against ambulances."


Ukraine has reported 198 civilian deaths, including three children, since the invasion began.


President Vladimir Putin has defied crippling Western sanctions on Russia's economy and international pariah status for his country to press ahead with the air, ground and sea assault.


Apart from the attack on Kharkiv, located near the Russian border, Moscow also claimed it was "entirely" besieging the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and the city of Berdyansk in the southeast.


Ukrainian officials also said that a gas pipeline in eastern Kharkiv and an oil depot near the capital Kyiv were targeted overnight.


The claims could not be independently verified.


Many Kyiv residents spent another night in shelters, but the morning was relatively calm and a strict blanket curfew is in place until Monday.

Russia on Saturday ordered its forces to advance further into Ukraine "from all directions" but soldiers have encountered fierce resistance from Ukrainian troops, the intensity of which has likely surprised Moscow, according to Western sources.


Ukraine's army said it held the line against an assault on Kyiv, but was fighting Russian "sabotage groups" that had infiltrated the city.

"We will fight until we have liberated our country," a defiant Zelenskiy said in a video message on Saturday.


He also said Ukraine had "derailed" Moscow's plan to overthrow him and urged Russians to pressure Putin into stopping the conflict.


On Sunday, Ukraine's general staff said the 44-year-old leader was urging any foreigners to come to Ukraine "and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against Russian war criminals."


"There is no greater contribution which you can make for the sake of peace," the general staff said in a Facebook post, adding that the foreign fighters would form part of an "International Legion for the Territorial Defence of Ukraine."


'I was trembling'
Ignoring warnings from the West, Putin unleashed a full-scale invasion that the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) says has left at least 240 civilians wounded, including 64 killed.


The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) says more than 100,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries, while over 160,000 are estimated to be displaced within Ukraine.


In neighbouring Romania, Olga, 36, was among hundreds to have crossed the Danube river with her three young children to safety.


"My husband came with us as far as the border, before returning to Kyiv to fight," she said.


Thousands also made their way to Poland by train, on foot and in cars.


"Attacks were everywhere," said Diana, 37, who fled the Ukrainian capital.


"My mother is still in Kyiv."


Residents of the capital have sought sanctuary in subway stations and cellars and Zelenskiy announced a baby girl had been born on the metro.


Yulia Snitko, a pregnant 32-year-old, said she had sheltered in the basement of her Kyiv apartment block, fearing premature labour.

"It was more than one hour of huge explosions. I was trembling," she said.


Thousands around the world demonstrated their solidarity with Ukraine on Saturday.


Zelenskiy said he asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to strip Russia of its vote at the UN Security Council as punishment for the invasion.


The UN Security Council will convene later on Sunday to vote on a resolution calling for a special session of the General Assembly over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, diplomats have said.


The Ukrainian president has also thanked NATO members for sending weapons and equipment, while Washington announced $350 million of new military assistance.


Berlin said it would send Kyiv 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles, in a major U-turn from its longstanding policy of not exporting weapons to war zones.


Paris said it would deliver more arms to Ukraine.


NATO also said it will deploy its 40,000-strong rapid response force to Eastern Europe for the first time, but stressed it will not send forces to Ukraine.


Crippling bank sanctions
Responding to the invasion, the West said it would remove some Russian banks from the SWIFT bank messaging system, and froze central bank assets — essentially crippling some of Russia's global trade.


Speaking in Washington Saturday, a senior US official said the measures would turn Russia into a "pariah," adding that a task force will "hunt down" Russian oligarchs' "yachts, jets, fancy cars and luxury homes."

Germany had previously resisted the SWIFT removals over concerns Russia could cut off key gas supplies.


The Kremlin has so far brushed off sanctions, including those targeting Putin personally, as a sign of Western impotence.


Putin has said Russia's actions are justified because it is defending Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.


The rebels have been fighting Ukrainian government forces for eight years in a conflict that has killed more than 14,000 people.


Putin called the current conflict a "special military operation" and Russia's communications regulator on Saturday told independent media to remove reports describing it as an "assault, invasion, or declaration of war."

Street Fighting Rages in Ukraine as Talks Mooted - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russian Navy seize two boats as war goes to the seas - horror over ‘counter-terror-op’*

In a statement, the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service said the capture was part of a “counter-terrorist operation”. It comes as Russia seeks ceasefire talks with Ukraine in Belarus, which Kyiv is open to but wants to be held elsewhere.

The State Border Guard Service said in a statement: “Yesterday, announcing a ‘counter-terrorist operation’ in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, ships of the Russian Navy captured two more civilian Ukrainian ships.”


According to the service, the tanker "Athena", which was in the territorial sea of ​​Romania, 22 miles from Snake Island, received an open channel of communication and security of navigation command to approach the Russian warship for inspection. 


The ship-owner of the tanker "Athena" immediately informed all authorities in Ukraine.




At the same time, maritime border guards recorded the fact of a sharp and illogical change of course by another ship under the Ukrainian flag. 

The Princess Nicole dry cargo ship from Romanian waters was also headed for Snake Island.

The service then added: "Almost as soon as both civilian ships approached Russian warships, the AIS was turned off and they stopped communicating. 


“And this morning the automatic identification systems of ships showed their stay 18 miles from the occupied Crimea.”


The statement added Russian warships “once again defiantly violated the rules of international maritime law, under the guise of a self-proclaimed counter-terrorist operation, pirated two Ukrainian-flagged ships with almost 50 civilian crew members”.


The day before, the same ships in the Russian Navy reportedly captured the Sapphire, which went to Snake Island with a humanitarian mission.

In a bid to protect Ukraine from further naval attacks by Russia, President Volodomyr Zelensky has asked Turkey to close its entryways to the Black Sea.


On Saturday, a phone call between Mr Zelensky and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan saw the Ukrainian President thank his counterpart for his support amid the ongoing war with Russia.


In a post on Twitter, Mr Zelensky said: “I thank my friend Mr. President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the people of Turkey for their strong support. 


“The ban on the passage of Russia's warships to the Black Sea and significant military and humanitarian support for Ukraine are extremely important today.”


Turkish officials told local media that no decision had been made to do so.

Since Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, Kyiv has claimed 4,300 Russians have died, plus 210 Ukrainian civilians


Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, has said there are no Russian troops in the capital city, as it continues to defend itself from attacks.


He said “military, law enforcement and territorial defence” officials were continuing to “detect and neutralise saboteurs”.


Oleh Synyehubov, regional governor of Kharkiv, said Ukrainian forces have regained control of the city.


In a post on Telegram, he said: "Control over Kharkiv is completely ours!


"The armed forces, the police, and the defence forces are working, and the city is being completely cleansed of the enemy."

On Thursday, 13 Ukrainian border guards died after refusing to surrender Snake Island from a Russian air and sea bombardment.

Russian Navy seize two boats as war goes to the seas - horror over ‘counter-terror-op’ | World | News | Express.co.uk

----------


## helge

> From the Beeb, the latest claimed Russian loses
> 
> 
> 
> BREAKING
> Ukraine claims 4,300 Russian deaths so far
> 
> Ukraine's deputy defence minister has released an estimate of the losses she says the country's forces have inflicted on Russia so far.
> 
> ...


If this is to be believed, I'd say that the russian army has lost or will retreat soonish.

But the "information war" is on.

I know exactly as much as anyone of you.

Just about nothing

----------


## david44

Ukraine agrees to talks with Russian delegation at Belarus border without preconditions | The Times of Israel
Talks nr Chernobyl moot

----------


## malmomike77

> I know exactly as much as anyone of you.
> 
> Just about nothing


Of course, we are all getting this from media feeds. Its why i used the word "Claimed"

----------


## helge

> "Claimed"


Noticed

----------


## sabang

^^ Well that is certainly good news. Lets hope something comes of it.

----------


## misskit

*Retired Lt. Gen. predicts Russia will end up losing in Ukraine: ‘Putin’s got a real problem right now’*

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Keith Kellogg, a former Trump administration official, has predicted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is headed toward defeat.


Speaking on Fox News’ “Fox News Live” this Saturday, he pointed out that, objectively speaking, the Ukrainians have displayed far more zeal, passion and heart — three must-haves for winning any war — than their Russian counterparts.

“There’s an old axiom: It’s not the size of the dog in the fight — it’s the size of the fight in the dog that counts. And you’re seeing that with the Ukrainian fighting and the leadership of [Ukrainian President] Zelensky,” Kellogg explained.


Stunningly, he then added, “I think Putin is losing. I think Russia is losing. He’s thrown his first-line units against Ukrainians, and they’re beating him. The heart that they’re showing him is incredible.”


The Ukrainians haven’t stopped Putin’s stunning, unexpected invasion, but they have put a dent in his reported plan to topple the nation’s government within a few days.

MORE https://www.bizpacreview.com/2022/02...t-now-1206231/

----------


## misskit

*Fuel and logistics problems frustrate Russian advance - analysis*

Though Russia’s President Vladimir Putin likely envisioned a quick capture of the capital of Ukraine and quick capitulation of its President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian forces are instead unable to reach Kyiv. Not due only to fierce fighting, but a lack of fuel.


Russia invaded Ukraine early on Thursday morning, and on day four of the war has yet to fully capture any large cities and its main goal: Kyiv.


Though a small detail, the lack of fuel has left Russia in an embarrassing situation, and its vehicles and troops easy pickings for Ukrainian soldiers who have set fire to dozens if not hundreds of vehicles and captured Russian forces.

MORE Attention Required! | Cloudflare

----------


## misskit

*Putin orders "special service regime" in Russia’s deterrence force*

MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. In response to aggressive statements in the West Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued orders to introduce what he described as a "special service regime" in the Russian army’s deterrence force.


"Top officials in NATO’s leading countries have been making aggressive statements against our country. For this reason, I give orders to the defense minister and chief of the General Staff to introduce a special combat service regime in the Russian army’s deference forces," Putin said at a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in the Kremlin on Sunday.


Putin stressed that the Western countries were also taking unfriendly actions against Russia in the economic sphere.


"I am referring to the illegitimate sanctions, which are very well-known to everybody," he added.


The meeting took place against a backdrop of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, which Moscow began in response to a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics.

https://tass.com/defense/1412575

----------


## misskit

*Kyiv Mayor Says 31 Dead In Capital From Russian Attacks, As Two Sides Agree To Hold Talks*

Street fighting broke out in Ukraine’s second-largest city and Russian troops are squeezing strategic ports in the country's south following a wave of attacks on airfields and fuel facilities elsewhere in the country.


The capital, Kyiv, was eerily quiet after huge explosions lit up the morning sky and authorities reported blasts at one of the airports. Only an occasional car appeared on a deserted main boulevard as a strict curfew kept people off the streets.


President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on February 27 that the night had been brutal, with shelling of civilian infrastructure and attacks on many targets.

The situation in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, was dramatically different. Russian forces have entered the city, and the head of the Kharkiv regional administration, Oleh Sinehubov, said that Ukrainian forces were fighting them. He asked civilians not to leave their homes.

"Control over Kharkiv is completely ours! The armed forces, the police, and the defense forces are working, and the city is being completely cleansed of the enemy," Sinehubov wrote on Telegram.


Videos posted online by Ukrainian officials showed Russian vehicles moving across Kharkiv and a light vehicle burning on the street.


Reuters quoted a witness in Kharkiv as saying Russian soldiers and armored vehicles could be seen in different parts of the city and firing could be heard.


In Kyiv, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said 31 people have died in the capital from attacks by Russia as Ukrainian troops and citizens continue to band together to try and repel an invasion.

Klitschko said in a post on Telegram on February 27 that the capital was rocked with clashes and skirmishes overnight. "Russia is shelling residential neighborhoods in the Ukrainian capital," he wrote.


"Our military, law enforcement, and territorial defense continue to detect and neutralize saboteurs," he added.


Klitschko said there were no Russian troops present in Kyiv, adding that of the 31 deaths, nine were civilians.


Over the four days since the invasion, Klitschko said 106 people have been injured, 47 of which are civilians.

The developments came as Zelenskiy's office announced that Ukrainian and Russian officials will meet for talks at a venue on the Belarusian border with Ukraine.

MORE/VIDEOS Kyiv Mayor Says 31 Dead In Capital From Russian Attacks, As Two Sides Agree To Hold Talks

----------


## malmomike77

How did these scum do, i am hoping the Chechens meet the real SF from the west.




well they didn't hit heir target

----------


## malmomike77

Ukrainian Tanks




taking aim



Tough women



The reality of Russian incursion

----------


## misskit

*U.S. and NATO condemn Putin nuclear alert order*

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The United States and NATO on Sunday condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to put his nuclear forces on high alert as dangerous and unacceptable, while the White House said it was considering imposing new sanctions on Russia's energy sector.


In issuing the order to prepare Russia's nuclear weapons for increased readiness for launch, Putin cited "aggressive statements" from NATO allies and widespread sanctions imposed by Western nations that have already disrupted his country's economy.


The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said on CBS's "Face the Nation" program that Putin's actions had escalated the conflict and were "unacceptable."


Thomas-Greenfield said the United States welcomed the news that Russian and Ukrainian officials would meet for talks on the border Belarus, but that it "remains to be seen" if Russia is acting in good faith.


Asked if there was a threat of chemical and biological weapons being used by Russia, Thomas-Greenfield said of Putin, "Certainly nothing is off the table with this guy. He's willing to use whatever tools he can to intimidate Ukrainians and the world."


"This is dangerous rhetoric. This is a behavior which is irresponsible," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on CNN's "State of the Union" program, referring to Russia's nuclear alert status.


White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Putin was responding to an imaginary threat.


"We've seen him do this time and time again. At no point has Russia been under threat from NATO, has Russia been under threat from Ukraine," Psaki said on ABC's "This Week" program.


"This is all a pattern from President Putin and we're going to stand up to it. We have the ability to defend ourselves, but we also need to call out what we're seeing here from President Putin," Psaki added.


Ukraine said Putin's order regarding Russian nuclear forces was calculated to put pressure at the start of talks but that Kyiv would not be cowed.


The United States also has not taken sanctions targeting Russia's energy sector off the table, Psaki said.


"We want to take every step to maximize the impact of consequences on President Putin while minimizing the impact on the American people and the global community. And so energy sanctions are certainly on the table. We have not taken those off. But we also want to do that and make sure we're minimizing the impact on the global marketplace and do it in a united way," Psaki said.


The United States is open to providing additional assistance to Ukraine, Psaki said.


U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday announced $54 million in new humanitarian aid for Ukrainians affected by the invasion, which was in addition to the $350 million sent by the United States last week.


"This includes the provision of food, safe drinking water, shelter, emergency health care, winterization, and protection," Blinken said in a statement.


Ukraine calls Putin's order to put nuclear forces on alert a pressure tactic.

U.S. and NATO condemn Putin nuclear alert order | Nasdaq

----------


## malmomike77

He's trying his last threat, the loon is running out of ideas. I can only assume if he continues someone in the upper echelon is going to silence him on behalf of rightminded Russians.

----------


## pickel

> If this is to be believed, I'd say that the russian army has lost or will retreat soonish.
> 
> But the "information war" is on.
> 
> I know exactly as much as anyone of you.
> 
> Just about nothing


Judging from the amount of footage of destroyed Russian convoys, those numbers look closer to being the truth than an outright lie.

It appears that Ukraine is having quite a bit of success using Turkish made Bayraktar TB2 drones.




> Ukraine’s  air force confirmed two strikes on Russian targets by Turkish-made  drones, evidence that Kyiv is using the drones effectively against  Moscow’s invading forces.
> 
>  The chief of Ukraine’s air force, Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, called the Bayraktar TB2 drones “life-giving” in a Facebook post.
>  A video posted on Twitter by the Ukrainian Embassy in Ankara showed a  convoy of more than a dozen vehicles consumed by a fireball and a plume  of smoke. The embassy tweeted two more videos taken out the window of a  moving vehicle showing the charred wreckage of military vehicles.
>  The Ukrainian air force confirmed that one of these videos  depicted the result of a TB2 strike in the town of Chornobaivka, in  southern Ukraine, an area that has experienced serious fighting over the  past couple of days.
>  “Never a rose without a thorn,” the embassy wrote in one of the tweets. “Russian invaders have to put up with Bayraktar TB2s.”
>  The embassy called the strike “divine justice” for a Russian airstrike that killed 34 Turkish soldiers in Syria on this date two years ago.
> Ukraine began receiving shipments of the Turkish-made drones  in 2019 and has been using their high-powered cameras to view the  battlefield and laser-correct artillery strikes. The TB2 can stay aloft  for 24 hours, with an altitude ceiling of roughly 25,000 feet. A remote  pilot can fly the drone from as far away as 185 miles, weather  permitting.


Ukraine Says It Used Turkish-Made Drones to Hit Russian Targets

----------


## malmomike77

> It appears that Ukraine is having quite a bit of success


Actually, the Russians have been treading softly re full force commitment and advance clearance. God help Ukraine and Kyiv when Putin orders real frontal assault.

----------


## pickel

> Actually, the Russians have been treading softly re full force commitment and advance clearance. God help Ukraine and Kyiv when Putin orders real frontal assault.


You cut my sentence in half there to make it sound like I said something else. Now, are you saying the drone strikes aren't successful?

----------


## misskit

*'No to War': Thousands Detained in Russian Protests*

Russia on Sunday detained more than 2,000 anti-war protesters across the country, an independent monitor said, on the fourth day of President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine that took many Russians by surprise. 


OVD-Info, which monitors arrests at protests, said 2,114 protesters had been detained on Sunday. 

This brought the total tally of protesters detained since Putin launched the invasion in the early hours of Thursday to 5,250, the monitor said.


Thousands have defied Russia's strict protest laws to stage demonstrations in cities across Russia. 


AFP saw around 200 protesters being detained in Russia's second city St. Petersburg on Sunday. 


Around 400 people had gathered in the former imperial capital to protest the Kremlin's move on Ukraine.


Many held posters that read "No to war," "Russians go home" and "Peace to Ukraine."


"It is a shame that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of us and not millions," 35-year-old engineer Vladimir Vilokhonov, who took part in the protest, told AFP.


Another protester, 25-year-old Alyona Stepanova, had come to the protest with a packed bag in case "we get taken away."


"We believe it is our duty to come here," she said. 


Riot police tried to deafen their anti-war shouts by blasting out patriotic music. 


"I am against war. I was born in 1941 and I know what it means," said Valeria Andreyeva, born in the year Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union. 


Putin sent troops over the border after a flurry of Western leaders had for weeks tried to dissuade him from doing so. 


Many Russians were shocked by the decision, announced after officials had for months laughed off Western claims that Russia would attack Ukraine. 


In Moscow, AFP saw around 50 people detained on the city's Pushkin Square. Some appeared to be passers-by.


The statue of Russia's national poet on the square has long been a favorite protest spot in the capital.


OVD-Info said anti-war protesters came out in 45 cities across Russia Sunday.


Russia has been hit by massive international sanctions since its attack on Ukraine. 

'No to War': Thousands Detained in Russian Protests - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russia's war on Ukraine: Day four situation on the ground*


The focus of fighting on day four of Russia's invasion appeared to be around Ukraine's second biggest city, Kharkiv, which lies close to the Russian border in northwest Ukraine.


Here AFP describes the situation, based on statements from both sides as well as assessments by Western defense and intelligence officials.


Ground situation


Russian forces have pressed into Ukraine from the north, east and south since beginning their invasion on February 24, but have encountered intense resistance from Ukrainian troops which has likely surprised Moscow, according to Western sources.


Russian forces in lightly armored vehicles broke into the city of Kharkiv earlier on Sunday, according to the head of the regional administration, Oleg Sinegubov, and an AFP correspondent in the city heard machine gun fire and explosions. 


Sinegubov later claimed that Ukrainian forces had repelled the attack and were back in control, with wrecked and abandoned Russian armored vehicles later visible on the street.


In the south, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its troops had besieged the Ukrainian cities of Kherson and the city of Berdyansk in the southeast.


It also claimed that Russian troops had taken control of Genichesk, a port city along the Sea of Azov, and an airfield near Kherson.
None of the claims could be independently verified. 


Russia has so far not succeeded in fully taking any major Ukrainian city and does not appear to have full aerial superiority, although its forces have been bearing down on the capital Kyiv.


"You are beginning to see the weaknesses on the battlefield... the fact that they haven’t been able to occupy a city and hold on to it, that tells you something," Eliot A Cohen from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington told AFP.


A U.S. official, speaking anonymously to reporters in Washington, said Russia had now deployed about two-thirds of the 150,000-strong combat force it had positioned on Ukraine's borders.


The apparent Russian plan to quickly seize the two largest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, has faltered because of "creative" resistance from Ukrainian troops and the Russians' own fuel and logistical support issues, the Pentagon believes.


The main Russian force remains halted around 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the capital, which remains in Ukrainian hands despite overnight firefights.


Claims and counterclaims


The conflict has been marked by radically different versions of events from both sides.


Ukraine has claimed that 4,300 Russian troops have been killed and that many soldiers are surrendering.


The Kharkiv governor claimed that forces were abandoning their vehicles "in the middle of the road" and groups of them were surrendering to the army. 

"Since the beginning of the attack on Ukraine, they have not received food and water," the governor claimed. 


Russia admitted fatalities for the first time on Sunday, but did not say how many. 


Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that Ukrainians were surrendering "en masse."


As of Sunday, the Russian army said it had destroyed 975 military facilities in Ukraine and shot down eight fighter jets, seven helicopters and 11 drones.


What's next?

Western sources agree that days of fierce fighting loom for control of Kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy — who has insisted on staying in the capital — in physical danger.


Western intelligence officials believe that Putin's aim appears to be to divide Ukraine in two by taking control of Kyiv and the territory east of the Dnipro river. 


Fears are growing about the fresh firepower that Russia might bring to bear on territories currently defended by the Ukrainian army, with one-third of its invasion force on the border waiting, according to the Pentagon.


"That's a lot of combat power," the U.S. official said.


He added that Russian forces appeared to be positioning to launch a siege on cities it has not quickly captured, specifically Chernihiv northeast of Kyiv, putting large populations of civilians at risk.


For a siege to be successful, the official said, "you basically by design are going to be targeting civilian infrastructure and causing civilian harm."

Russia Attacks Ukraine: As It's Happening - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russia blocks website about captured and killed RF soldiers*

Ukrainian Internal Affairs website, "Search for Kin" (200rf.com) with data on captured and killed servicemen from the Russian Federation has been blocked on the territory of Russian. 


Source: Echo of Moscow


Details: The decision to block the site was taken by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. Roskomnadzor has entered the resource in the Register of Prohibited Sites.


According to the website, it was created by representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.


"On it you will find information about captured and killed Russian soldiers in Ukraine since the beginning of the occupation. Photos and videos from the battlefield will be posted promptly," the website reads.


A duplicate of the site was added to the Telegram channel "Search for Kin", and continues to operate. It includes photos and videos of the killed and captured Russian servicemen, as well as known information about them.


What preceded: Ukraine’s The Ministry of Internal Affairs launched the website 200rf.com, where it publishes photos and identification documents of the dead and captured occupiers so that their relatives can find them.

Russia blocks website about captured and killed RF soldiers | Ukrayinska Pravda

----------


## Joe 90

Putin will be dead within the year.

----------


## panama hat

> Putin will be dead within the year.


Within a day or so would be favourable.

----------


## Switch

Putin needs a 3 month cease fire to re-equip his vulnerable armed forces. He probably believes that Ukraine will not enjoy the same opportunity to re-supply, (via Poland with western resources of plentiful order).
He wouldn’t dream of trying anything on with a strong, well motivated Poland, who also happen to be a full NATO member. That threat is far more than subliminal.
It is a very real and serious threat that Putin has so far chose to ignore. Scary it is!

----------


## panama hat

> He wouldn’t dream of trying anything on with a strong, well motivated Poland, who also happen to be a full NATO member.


Hence Ukraine . . . who is being supplied with weapons and petrol every hour of every day.

Putin simply needs to die now.

----------


## malmomike77

Putin is feeling the squeeze, Socal's much lauded $600Bn+ of reserves are going to be dwindling fast, if he's even able to access them. 

Ukraine conflict: Russian rouble plunges after new sanctions announced

The rouble has slumped by 30% against the US dollar, after Western nations announced new sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The new record low for the Russian currency comes after some of the country's banks were banned from using the Swift international payment system.

On Sunday, Russia's central bank appealed for calm amid fears that there could be a run on the country's banks.

Growing tensions also helped push Brent crude oil above $100 (£75) a barrel.

The move by the European Union, United States and their allies to cut off a number of Russian banks from Swift is the harshest measure imposed to date on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict.

The assets of Russia's central bank will also be frozen, limiting the country's ability to access its overseas reserves.

The intention is to "further isolate Russia from the international financial system", a joint statement said.

Russia is heavily reliant on the Swift system for its key oil and gas exports.

"Unless the Russian central bank and Russia's largest banks - which have already been cut off from correspondent banking - find an alternative means of reaching the global financial system Russia faces Iran and North Korea-style isolation from the global economy," Ari Redbord from blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs told the BBC.

Mr Redbord was formerly at the US Treasury Department, where he was a senior advisor to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

Investors were also wary on Monday after Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's military to put its deterrence forces, which include nuclear weapons, on "special alert".

More: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60550992

----------


## hallelujah

What bravery from the Ukrainians. 

It doesn't sound like the average Russian soldier understands why they are there though.

Lives lost on both sides because of a crazed dictator.

----------


## Troy

Is there any more information on possible talks at the border with Belarus? There was no date or time given and this could be crucial to Russia saving face and both sides saving lives.

Russia is very much in a lose lose situation now with Putin having lost his gamble on Ukraine citizens siding with him and against their government.

----------


## tomcat

...an excellent article that explains how to increase Putin's pain:

*Can Putin Recover From This?*


The Fed and the European Central Bank move hard, fast, and together.

By David Frum (The Atlantic)




The European Central Bank (former headquarters pictured) will impose strict sanctions on Russia. (Andre Pain / AFP / Getty)

FEBRUARY 27, 2022

About the author: David Frum is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy (2020). In 2001 and 2002, he was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush.

The EU Commission announced this afternoon that the European Central Bank will deploy its most powerful financial weapon against Russian aggression. Several hours later, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the Federal Reserve will impose sanctions of its own upon the Russian central bank.
Central-bank sanctions are a weapon so devastating, in fact, that the only question is whether they might do more damage than Western governments might wish. They could potentially bankrupt the entire Russian banking system and push the ruble into worthlessness.

Russia is also being hit by a partial cut-off from the SWIFT system. SWIFT is a messaging technology based in Belgium that allows banks to talk to one another in secure ways, enabling the safe and sure electronic transmission of funds. SWIFT is not a bank, nor is it exactly a payments system. It is instead a way to guarantee that money moves where it is supposed to go. Countries cut off from SWIFT, as Iran was in 2012, are effectively cast back into the precomputer eraforced to rely on primitive barter transactions, or Breaking Badstyle pallets of physical cash, to fund their governments and their economies.

Details are still pending about the Western central-bank sanctions. To better understand the possibilities, I spoke with Michael Bernstam, an economist and Soviet-born analyst at Stanfords Hoover Institution. Bernstam has studied the potentially decisive impact of such sanctions since the prior Russian invasion of Ukraine, in 2014.
Bear with me as I walk you through some banking and currency technicalities. I promise the destination will be worth the trouble.
Suppose you are a Russian company that buys things from the outside world and sells them to Russians. You earn your income in rubles. You spend in euros, U.S. dollars, British pounds, Japanese yen, South Korean won, or possibly Chinese renminbi. How does that work, exactly?

Well, a Russian business or individual might convert the rubles earned inside Russia into foreign currency at a Russian bank. Orbecause the ruble has a strong tendency to lose value against foreign currencythat Russian business or individual might set up an account at a Russian bank denominated in euros or dollars. Both of those are legal to do in postcommunist Russia.

Most of these conversions from rubles into foreign currency take the form of computer clicks that credit or debit the electronic ledgers of financial institutions. The deposit of rubles into a bank is a click. The sale of rubles for euros or dollars is another click. The arrival of the foreign currency into the Russian customers account is only one click more. Very seldom does any actual paper money change hands. Theres only about $12 billion of cash dollars and euros inside Russia, according to Bernstams research. Against that, the Russian private sector has foreign-currency claims on Russian banks equal to $65 billion, Bernstam told me. Russias state-owned companies have accumulated even larger claims on Russias foreign reserves.

Despite the relative scarcity of physical foreign currency inside Russia, all of these clicks can happen because Russians generally have confidence that their banks could pay foreign cash if they had to. If every Russian depositorindividual, corporate, state-ownedshowed up at the same time to claim their dollars and euros, youd have a classic bank run. But Russians dont run on their banks, because they believe that in a real crunch, the Russian central bank would provide the needed cash. After all, the Russian central bank holds enormous quantities of reserves: $630 billion at the last tally before the start of the current war on Ukraine. In an emergency, the central bank would draw upon its reserves, provide cash to the commercial banks, and every depositor could be paid in full in the currency promised. With $630 billion in reserves, there is no way Russia would ever run out of foreign currency. Youve probably read that assertion many times in the past few days. I actually wrote such an assertion myself in an article published last week.

Not so fast, argues Bernstam. What does it mean that Russia has X or Y in foreign reserves? Where do these reserves exist? The dollars, euros, and pounds owned by the Russian central bankRussia may own them, but Russia does not control them. Almost all those hundreds of billions of Russian-owned assets are controlled by foreign central banks. Russias reserves exist as notations in the records of central banks in the West, especially the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve. Most of Russias reserves are literally IOUs to the Russian central bank from Western governments.

Remember the saying If you owe the bank $10,000, you have a problembut if you owe the bank $10 billion, the bank has a problem? We, the people of the Western world collectively owe the Russian state hundreds of billions of dollars. Thats not our problem. Thats Russias problem, an enormous one. Because one thing any debtor can do is  not pay when asked.

To finance its war on Ukraine, Russia might have hoped to draw down its foreign-currency reserves with Western central banks. The Russian central bank would tell the Fed or the ECB to credit X billion dollars or euros from the Russian central bank to this or that private Russian bank. That bank would then credit the accounts of Russian businesses or individuals. Those businesses or individuals would then pay Western companies to whom they owe money.

All of this requires the cooperation of the Fed or ECB in the first place. The Fed or ECB could say: Nope. Sorry. The Russian central banks money is frozen. No transfers of dollars or euros from the Russian central bank to commercial banks. No transfers from commercial banks to businesses or individuals. For all practical purposes, youre broke. It would be a startling action, but not unprecedented. The United States did it to Iran after the revolutionary regime seized U.S. diplomats as hostages in 1979.
Iran did not feel that freeze, however, because it was earning massive amounts of new foreign currency from oil sales. But if Russias foreign income slows at the same time as it is waging a hugely costly war against Ukraine, it will need its reserves badly. And suddenly, it will be as if the money disappeared. Every Russian person, individual, or state entity with any kind of obligation denominated in foreign currency would be shoved toward default.

Of course, long before any of that happened, everybody involved in the transactions would have panicked. Depositors would race to cash out their dollar and euro holdings from Russian banks, the Russian banks would bang on the doors of the Russian central bank, the Russian central bank would freeze its depositors foreign-currency accounts. The ruble would cease to be a convertible currency. It would revert to being the pseudo-currency of Soviet times: something used for record-keeping purposes inside Russia, but without the ability to buy goods or services on international markets. The Russian economy would close upon itself, collapsing into as much self-sufficiency as possible for a country that produces only basic commodities.

Russia imports almost everything its citizens eat, wear, and use. And in the modern digitized world, that money cannot be used without the agreement of somebodys central bank. You could call it Bernstams law: Do not fight with countries whose currencies you use as a reserve currency to maintain your own.
There is one exception to the rule about reserves as notations: About $132 billion of Russias reserves takes the form of physical gold in vaults inside Russia. Russia could pledge that gold or sell it. But to whom? Most potential customers for Russian gold can be threatened with sanctions. Those who might defy the threat couldnt afford to take very much: The entire GDP of Venezuela, for example, is only about $480 billion.

Only one customer is rich enough to take significant gold from a sanctioned nation like Russia: China.
Would China agree to take it? And if China did agree, would it not demand a big and painful discount for helping out a distressed seller like a sanctioned Russia? How exactly would the transaction occur? Would China be content merely to take legal ownership of the gold and leave the metal inside in a Russian vault? Doubtful. One ton of gold is worth about $61 million, so $139 billion would weigh about 2,290 metric tons. Its certainly conceivable for a locomotive to pull a train of that weight from Moscow to Beijing. But it would constitute a considerable logistical and security undertaking to load, move, unload, and secure the gold for a train trip across Siberia.

What would be accomplished by such a move? Russia already has $84 billion of assets denominated in Chinese renminbi. If Chinese-denominated assets were of any real use to Russia, Russia would not need to sell the gold to China in the first place. Russias renminbi reserves can certainly be used to buy things from China. But that does not solve the real problem, which is not to buy specific items from specific places, but to sustain the ruble as a currency that commands confidence from Russias own people. China cannot do that for Russians. Only the Western central banks can.

And here we bump into the limits of central-bank sanctions as a financial weapon: A weapon that altogether crushes an adversarys banking system may be just a little too powerful. The West wants to administer penalties that cause Russia to alter its aggressive behavior, not to crush the Russian economy. The central-bank weapon is so strong that it might indeed provoke Putin into fiercer aggression as a desperate last gamble. So the next question is: Is there any way to use the central-bank-sanctions weapon more incrementally?

Perhaps there is. Western banks do not need to freeze the Russian central banks accounts altogether. They could put the Russian central bank on an allowance, so many billions a month. That would keep Russia limping along, but under severe restraintasphyxiation rather than sudden strangulation. The West could not prevent Putin from spending foreign currency on his war or favoring cronies in the distribution of foreign currency. But the restraint would rapidly make the terrible cost of Putins decisions much more rapidly visible to every power sector in Russian society. Its not the full blow, but it might hurt enoughand of course, the full blow could be applied later.

The central-bank-sanctions tool will also deliver a humbling but indispensable lesson to Putin. Putin launched his war against Ukraine in part to assert Russias great-power statusa war to make Russia great again. Putin seemingly did not understand that violence is only one form of power, and not ultimately the most decisive. Even energy production takes a country only so far. The power Putin is about to feel is the power of producers against gangsters, of governments that inspire trust against governments that rule by fear. Russia depends on the dollar, the euro, the pound, and other currencies in ways that few around Putin could comprehend. The liberal democracies that created those trusted currencies are about to make Putins cronies feel what they never troubled to learn. 

Squeeze them.

----------


## malmomike77

> Is there any more information on possible talks at the border with Belarus? There was no date or time given and this could be crucial to Russia saving face and both sides saving lives.


No timing yet but this is on the Beeb news feed, lets hope they happen and things de-escalate

Posted at 9:139:13
Ukraine officials arrive for Russia peace talks
Abdujalil Abdurasulov
BBC News, reporting from Kyiv


Ukrainian authorities have announced that their delegation has arrived at the Ukraine-Belarus border to start peace talks with the Russian delegation.

The main issue on their agenda, they say, is a ceasefire and withdrawal of troops from the Ukrainian territory.

Earlier it was reported that the talks kept being postponed due to logistical and safety issues.

In his address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Zelensky said that he didn’t expect a breakthrough from these talks.

But, he added, they should try and use this chance even if it is small, so that no-one can blame Ukraine for not trying to stop the war.

----------


## David48atTD

> Is there any more information on possible talks at the border with Belarus? There was no date or time given and this could be crucial to Russia saving face and both sides saving lives.
> 
> Russia is very much in a lose lose situation now with Putin having lost his gamble on Ukraine citizens siding with him and against their government.


Ukraine officials arrive at Belarus border for talks; Russia central bank hikes rates to 20%.

36 Min Ago  *Ukrainian officials arrive at Belarusian border for talks with Russia*

A  Ukrainian delegation has arrived at Ukraines border with Belarus to  hold talks with Russian officials, the Ukrainian presidents office has  announced.
In a statement  on the Ukrainian Parliaments official Telegram account, the government  said Ukraines delegation included Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov,  Presidential Office Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak, and Deputy Foreign  Minister Mykola Tochytsky, among others. 

The main subject of the negotiations is an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine, the statement said.


---*

The Central Bank of Russia announced Monday that it would raise its  key interest rate to 20%, up from 9.5%*, as the ruble hit a record low  against the dollar.

The rate hike is designed to offset increased risk of ruble depreciation and inflation, the central bank said.
It  comes after attempts to halt foreigners bids to sell Russian  securities to contain the market fallout from a slew of sanctions  imposed on Moscow by the West.
The ruble fell as far as 119.50 per dollar on Monday, down a whopping 30% from Fridays close.


Russia-Ukraine updates: Ukrainian delegation meets Russian officials

----------


## misskit

*Wagner mercenaries in Kyiv with orders to kill Zelensky: Report*

The government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remains defiant as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine.


The Ukrainian military on Monday morning claimed “the Russian army has reduced the pace of the offensive in all directions, and the Ukrainian military is successfully repelling all attacks.”





Despite the Ukrainian claims, there are concerns in the West Russia remains determined to personally target Zelensky to hasten an end to the hostilities.


The Times of the UK reported on Monday “More than 400 Russian mercenaries are operating in Kyiv with orders from the Kremlin to assassinate President Zelensky and his government and prepare the ground for Moscow to take control.”


The Times reported the mercenaries are part of the Wagner Group, a private contractor that has operated in multiple conflict zones such as Syria, Libya, Mali and Central African Republic. The Times claimed Wagner Group mercenaries were flown in from “Africa five weeks ago on a mission to decapitate Zelensky’s government in return for a handsome financial bonus”.


The New York Times had then reported “mercenaries had been placed in the rebel territories to engage in sabotage and stage false flag operations intended to make it seem as if Ukrainian forces were attacking civilian targets.”

The mercenaries have been given a hit list with 23 targets including Zelensky, his cabinet, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir. The Times claimed “between 2,000 and 4,000” Wagner mercenaries had arrived in Ukraine in January, with different missions including operations in Donetsk and Luhansk.


Last week, Zelensky conceded he was “target no 1” for Russia and was at personal risk. The US had offered to evacuate Zelensky, reports said; however, he had declined.

https://www.theweek.in/news/world/20...ky-report.html

----------


## misskit

*Belarus Issues Dire World War III Warning as It Gets Ready to Send Troops to Ukraine*

The Putin-backed president of Belarus has warned that World War III could be about to begin as he reportedly prepares his troops to assist with Russia’s mass-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Washington Post reported Sunday that the U.S. expects Belarus to send soldiers into Ukraine as early as Monday, with an unnamed Biden administration official commenting: “It’s very clear Minsk is now an extension of the Kremlin.” If Belarus was to join the invasion, it could endanger talks between Ukraine and Russia which are set to be held at the Ukrainian border with Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned that the crisis in Ukraine could spark a global conflict, writing in a statement: “Russia is being pushed towards a third world war. We should be very reserved and steer clear of it. Because nuclear war is the end of everything.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/belaru...raine?ref=home

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine says Russia has lost 5300 troops, 191 tanks, 58 aircraft*

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced on Facebook that approximately 5,300 Russian personnel had died.


It claimed Russia had lost 29 aeroplanes and 29 helicopters, 191 tanks and 816 armoured combat vehicles among other equipment.


Ukraine also claimed to have destroyed two Russian maritime craft.

Ukraine's Zelensky says prisoners with military experience and those who want to fight the Russians will be released.

LIVE | Ukraine says Russia has lost 5300 troops, 191 tanks, 58 aircraft, World News | wionews.com

----------


## misskit

*Russian forces seize two small cities in Ukraine- Interfax*

Russian invasion forces seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday, but ran into stiff resistance elsewhere as Moscow's diplomatic and economic isolation deepened.


Having launched the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two, President Vladimir Putin put Russia's nuclear deterrent on high alert on Sunday in the face of a barrage of Western-led reprisals for his war on Ukraine.


Blasts were heard before dawn on Monday in the capital of Kyiv and in the major city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian authorities said. But, Russian ground forces' attempts to capture major urban centres had been repelled, they added.


Russia's defence ministry, however, said its forces had taken over the towns of Berdyansk and Enerhodar in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhya region as well as the area around the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Interfax reported. The plant's operations continued normally, it said.


Ukraine denied that the nuclear plant had fallen into Russian hands, according to the news agency.


As Western governments mustered more support for sanctions against Moscow, diplomatic manoeuvring continued with the Vatican joining efforts to end the conflict by offering to "facilitate dialogue" between Russia and Ukraine.


Ukraine said negotiations with Moscow without preconditions would be held at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. Russian news agency Tass cited an unidentified source as saying the talks would start on Monday morning.


U.S. President Joe Biden will host a call with allies and partners on Monday to coordinate a united response, the White House said.


The United States said Putin was escalating the war with "dangerous rhetoric" about Russia's nuclear posture, amid signs Russian forces were preparing to besiege major cities in the democratic country of about 44 million people.


British defence minister Ben Wallace said that he does not expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons.


As missiles rained down, nearly 400,000 civilians, mainly women and children, have fled into neighbouring countries, a U.N. relief agency said.


A senior U.S. defence official said Russia had fired more than 350 missiles at Ukrainian targets since it launched the invasion last week, some hitting civilian infrastructure.


"It appears that they are adopting a siege mentality, which any student of military tactics and strategy will tell you, when you adopt siege tactics, it increases the likelihood of collateral damage," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson by telephone on Sunday that the next 24 hours would be crucial for Ukraine, a Downing Street spokesperson said.


So far, the Russian offensive cannot claim any major victories. Russia has not taken any Ukrainian city, does not control Ukraine's airspace, and its troops remained roughly 30 km (19 miles) from Kyiv's city centre for a second day, the official said.


Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

Russian forces seize two small cities in Ukraine- Interfax | Taiwan News | 2022-02-28 17:55:00

----------


## misskit

*EU plans to grant Ukrainians right to stay for up to 3 years*

The European Union is preparing to grant Ukrainians who flee the war the right to stay and work in the 27-nation bloc for up to three years, senior EU and French officials said.


At least 300,000 Ukrainian refugees have entered the EU so far, and the bloc needs to prepare for millions more, they said. EU members Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary have land borders with Ukraine.


"It is our duty to take in those who flee war," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France 2 TV on Monday, saying EU interior minister had on Sunday tasked the European Commission with preparing draft proposals to grant them protection.


Ministers will meet again on Thursday to agree on the details.


The EU temporary protection directive, drawn up after the 1990s war in the Balkans, but never used so far, provides for the same level of protection, for one to three years, in all EU states, including a residence permit, access to employment, social welfare and medical treatment.


EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said most ministers had brought their support to the move on Sunday, with just some questioning if now was the time to do it or if it was best to wait a bit.


The issue, she said, concerns all of the EU.


"We already see a lot of Ukrainians leaving the countries of first entry and go to other member states, especially those that have a big Ukrainian population already," she told a news conference on Sunday. "Poland is one of them but also Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic."


"All EU member states are prepared to accept refugees from Ukraine," German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.


"This is a strong response by Europe to the terrible suffering that Putin inflicts with his criminal war of aggression: Together, we stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine."


Citing U.N. estimates, Janez Lenarcic, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, said four million Ukrainians are expected to flee the country as refugees.


With men of conscription age prevented from leaving Ukraine, mostly women and children are arriving at the border in eastern Poland, Slovakia and Hungary and in northern and northeastern Romania.

EU plans to grant Ukrainians right to stay for up to 3 years | Taiwan News | 2022-02-28 18:00:00

----------


## Shutree

> Russia is pushing towards a third world war.


FTFY, Mr. Lukashenko.

----------


## misskit

*Russia-Ukraine conflict: 352 Ukrainian civilians killed, 1,684 injured*

As the conflict intensifies, 352 Ukrainian civilians have been killed so far, the interior ministry of Ukraine said.   


These victims include 14 children. Around 1,684 people, including 116 children, have been wounded, it said.  

However, the statement of the ministry on Sunday did not give any information on the casualties among armed forces of Ukraine.  

Russia-Ukraine conflict: 352 Ukrainian civilians killed, 1,684 injured, World News | wionews.com

----------


## misskit

*Russia Blocks Number of Independent and Ukrainian Media Outlets*

Russia has blocked a series of independent media outlets for violating rules on coverage of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.


The Roskomnadzor state media watchdog announced that it was blocking RFE/RL’s Current Time Russian language TV channel, its Krim.Realii Crimea-focussed service, and the New Times news website.

The agency also blocked a series of Ukrainian media, including Interfax Ukraine’s Russian-language service.


Roskomnadzor had previously threatened outlets with blocks if they used any information apart from official Russian Defense Ministry announcements in their reporting on the war in Ukraine.


Russian state media have described the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a “special operation”, aimed at protecting Russian-speakers in the east of the country. Official Roskomnadzor guidelines ban use of the words “war,” “offensive,” and “invasion” to describe the events.


The independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper has said that Roskomnadzor has ordered it to delete an article for violating its rules.


Russia’s bombardment of Kyiv and other cities has not been widely covered by state media.


Until yesterday, the Russian Defense Ministry had not admitted suffering any casualties. On Sunday, the ministry announced that its forces had suffered an unspecified number of losses.

Russia Blocks Number of Independent and Ukrainian Media Outlets  - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Some of Russia’s Elite Oppose War in Ukraine*

A growing number of Russia’s business and political elite have publicly spoken out against the country’s invasion of Ukraine, in a rare show of defiance for Russia’s opaque and Kremlin-loyal elite.


On Sunday, Alfa Bank co-founder Mikhail Fridman, whose parents live in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, called the war in Ukraine “a tragedy” and said that the “bloodshed” must end.

The same day, metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska wrote on his Telegram channel: “Peace is very important. Negotiations must begin as soon as possible.”


Neither attended a Friday meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and senior businessmen in the Kremlin on Friday, where Putin claimed he had no option but to invade Ukraine.

Statements from business magnates were matched by signals from within Russia’s political elite.


On Thursday, as the war began, Tatiana Yumashev, the daughter of Putin’s predecessor Boris Yeltsin and a driving force behind his appointment as president in 1999 joined celebrities, artists and ordinary Russians in changing her Facebook profile picture to a black square, captioning it “No to war.”


She was joined by a range of other well-connected figures, including the daughter of oligarch Roman Abramovich, the son-in-law of Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu, and the son of RosTech chief and longtime Putin friend Sergei Chemezov.


Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s ex-wife and daughter joined the anti-war chorus, with both speaking out on Instagram. Daughter Liza Peskova, 24, shortly afterwards deleted her anti-war post.


On Sunday, the anniversary of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a Russian opposition activist and former deputy prime minister who opposed Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, provided a flashpoint for opposition to the war.

Anatoly Chubais, a 1990s era economic reformer who now serves as a special presidential envoy on climate change, posted a picture of Nemtsov on his Facebook page, a gesture widely interpreted as a veiled comment against the war.


Three Communist Party members of the State Duma, Russia’s Kremlin-loyal parliament, have also spoken out against the invasion.

Some of Russia’s Elite Oppose War in Ukraine - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

Seems all very Cold War like, really- but at heightened fever pitch. Who on earth is going to benefit from that, besides arms manufacturers and China? Savvy financial traders I suppose, and a few more niche arenas. But it would appear the so called 'peace dividend' has been pretty much entirely eliminated. Slower economic growth, higher energy costs, arms races, inflation and higher interest rates are the macroeconomic outlook now. In times like this, I am glad not to be a father.

----------


## malmomike77

From the Beeb live feed

Posted at 9:259:25
Ukraine claims more than 5,000 Russian soldiers killed

Kyiv's defence ministry claims that more than 5,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the first four days of fighting in Ukraine.

In a statement posted to Facebook, Ukrainian officials said approximately 5,300 Russian troops have been killed, and claimed that 191 tanks, 29 fighter jets, 29 helicopters and 816 armoured personnel carriers have been destroyed by Ukraine's forces.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these claims, though the UK's Ministry of Defence believes Russia has taken "heavy" casualties in the opening stages of the conflict.

The claims follow acknowledgements by the Russian defence ministry on Sunday that its forces have suffered losses, though officials did not provide an exact figure.

Meanwhile, independent observers said they had confirmed at least 94 civilian deaths during the first days of fighting.

It said the invasion had triggered "severe humanitarian consequences" and that casualties could be considerably higher.

----------


## misskit

*Ukrainian diplomacy mobilizes unprecedentedly broad anti-Putin coalition to support Ukraine – FM*

Ukrainian diplomacy has mobilized an unprecedentedly broad anti-Putin coalition to support Ukraine in the People's War, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.


"Ukrainian diplomacy has mobilized an unprecedentedly broad anti-Putin coalition to support Ukraine in the People's War against the Russian invasion. It currently includes 84 countries and 13 international organizations. Russia is already suffering unheard of losses. And this is just the beginning," the Foreign Ministry's press service quotes the words of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba in Telegram on Monday.


It is noted that during the first 100 hours of defense of Ukraine from Russian invaders, Ukrainian diplomacy mobilized more than $1 billion in partner assistance for the purchase of modern weapons and ammunition for the Ukrainian Defense Forces.


"The United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, the EU and other countries provide us with a large number of man-portable air defense systems, anti-tank installations, small arms, cartridges, mine-clearing equipment, bulletproof vests, helmets, medical kits, and fuel for military equipment. Now the issue of transferring combat fighter jets to our state is being decided in order to more effectively repel enemy attacks in the air," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry informed.


The Foreign Ministry also recalled that the anti-Putin coalition of states imposed three packages of painful sanctions against Russia, in particular, the list of Russian banks to be disconnected from SWIFT is being finalized, half of the financial reserves of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation have been frozen, restrictions have been imposed on Sberbank of the Russian Federation, a ban on the sale, supply, transfer and export of oil refining technologies to Russia has been introduced, dual-use export licenses have been suspended, and visas for Russian citizens have been stopped in some countries.


"The Russian ruble has already fallen to a historic low. For the first time in modern history, sanctions have been imposed against the incumbent head of state, Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian diplomacy is conducting an active diplomatic offensive towards a complete embargo on Russian oil and gas. Some 32 countries have closed their airspace to Russian airlines and aircraft," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said.


In addition, in Europe, the Russian disinformation channels RT and Sputnik are massively closed.


"The coalition is developing a sanctions offensive against the aggressor state. Preparations have begun for the fourth package of sanctions against Russia, which, in particular, will include the expulsion of some Russian diplomats, further strengthening of sanctions against the banking system and Putin's entourage. The EU is considering the creation of a so-called 'register of Russian corrupt officials,' which will include both government officials and businessmen close to the Kremlin who will not be able to have financial relations or do business with the civilized world," the report says.


The Foreign Ministry said that the partners had decided to provide financial assistance to Ukraine in the amount of more than $1.5 billion dollars.


"We have raised more than $160 million to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of Ukrainians affected by Russian aggression. The amount of this assistance is increasing every day," the message says.

Ukrainian diplomacy mobilizes unprecedentedly broad anti-Putin coalition to support Ukraine – FM

----------


## misskit

*Russian army attacks Kharkiv with Grad rocket launchers – A. Gerashchenko*

The Russian army massively shelled Kharkiv with Grad multiple rocket launchers, as a result of the shelling dozens of people were killed, hundreds more were wounded, Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, said.


"Kharkiv has just been massively shelled with Grad multiple rocket launchers. Dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded! This horror must be seen by the whole world! Death to the occupiers!" Gerashchenko wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.

Russian army attacks Kharkiv with Grad rocket launchers – A. Gerashchenko

----------


## bsnub

> Ukraine claims more than 5,000 Russian soldiers killed


With the torrent of evidence on social media, I would agree with them. Most of eastern Ukraine is littered with the burnt hulks of Russian vehicles and the bodies of dead Ruskies. This is going to be worse than Afghanistan for Russia.

----------


## misskit

*Zelenskyy: Ukraine should be immediately admitted into the EU by special procedure*

Alyona Mazurenko – Monday, 28 February 2022, 11:02 AM


President Volodymyr Zelenskyy requested the European Union to enact a special procedure enabling Ukraine to join the EU.


Source: President's address


In Zelenskyy’s words: "We are asking the European Union to immediately accede Ukraine by special procedure."

Zelenskyy: Ukraine should be immediately addmitted into the EU by special procedure | Ukrayinska Pravda

----------


## sabang

As I understand it, Russian heavy munitions are steadily trundling towards the front lines- including Kiev. If they can't arrive at some sort of peace, or at least cease fire, I can sadly but firmly opine right now this is gonna get considerably worse.

----------


## malmomike77

^^^ There was talk of the Russians bring their cremation lorries in, its kit they just load the bodies in, cremate then and pardon the pun, bury the evidence

----------


## malmomike77

> I can sadly but firmly opine right now this is gonna get considerably worse.


I fear it will to, the current progress is making Putin look bad and he won't have that for long - he'll order them to pound civilian targets.

----------


## bsnub

> As I understand it, Russian heavy munitions are steadily trundling towards the front lines- including Kiev.


It is a pathetic display. The anemic and archaic Russian military is dated and creaking along. Those young, scared conscripts are lambs to the slaughter. If the US was involved in this war, it would be over already and there would be massive Russian casualties. Incredibly inept tactics on display, as seen through a multitude of social media sources for those savvy enough to fish it out.




> I fear it will to, the current progress is  making Putin look bad and he won't have that for long - he'll order them  to pound civilian targets.


They already are desperate and have been shelling small towns. They are now using cluster bombs on civilian areas of Kharkiv.

----------


## misskit

The convoy seen yesterday.  Looks as though it would be too easy to destroy them all lined up like that.


*Satellite images capture 3.5 mile long Russian convoy heading towards Kyiv*

Satellites have captured what appears to be a huge convoy of Russian troops and tanks travelling towards Kyiv.


The images, which were taken yesterday by US company Maxar Technologies, show the 3.5-mile long deployment about 40 miles from the capital city of Ukraine.


When the photos were taken the convoy was located north-east of the Ukrainian city of Ivankiv, Maxar said.


Among the convoy are believed to be logistics and armoured vehicles, tanks, self-propelled artillery, infantry fighting vehicles and logistics vehicles.

MORE Ukraine: 3.5 mile long Russian convoy seen travelling towards Kyiv | Metro News

----------


## bsnub

> The convoy seen yesterday. Looks as though it would be too easy to destroy them all lined up like that.


I have posted some videos of rather large columns that have been completely destroyed. It should be noted that Russia has failed to achieve air supremacy, as the Ukrainians continue to use Turkish drones to a punishing effect on these columns. 

What we are seeing is an ailing, largely conscript army with low morale being ground up. Facing older, more determined fighters who are fighting for their homeland. It is worth noting that the best soldiers and generals of the USSR were all Ukrainian.

The next 24 hours could decide how this war turns out.

----------


## misskit

CNN’s video here. Live updates: Russia invades Ukraine

----------


## bsnub

> CNN’s video here.


That is days old. The only way you can follow the Russian defeat is on Twitter and tiktok.




> I have posted some videos of rather large columns that have been completely destroyed.


Sadly, my videos have been scrubbed from this thread.

----------


## malmomike77

> The only way you can follow the Russian defeat


I don't think that is very sensible language to use atm.

----------


## misskit

*Ruble plummets as sanctions bite, sending Russians to banks*

MOSCOW (AP) — Ordinary Russians faced the prospect of higher prices and crimped foreign travel as Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine sent the ruble plummeting, leading uneasy people to line up at banks and ATMs on Monday in a country that has seen more than one currency disaster in the post-Soviet era.


The Russian currency plunged about 30% against the U.S. dollar Monday after Western nations announced moves to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system and to restrict Russia’s use of its massive foreign currency reserves. The exchange rate later recovered ground after swift action by Russia’s central bank.


But later Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions that would immobilize any assets of the Russian central bank in the United States or held by Americans. The Biden administration estimated that the move could impact “hundreds of billions of dollars” of Russian funding.

MORE Ruble plummets as sanctions bite, sending Russians to banks | AP News

----------


## misskit

*Kremlin Says Russia Will Ride Out Western Sanctions*

A defiant Russia said Monday it could ride out Western sanctions over its invasion of neighboring Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin huddled with officials to discuss the economic turmoil of the five-day-old war.


"The Western sanctions on Russia are hard, but our country has the necessary potential to compensate the damage," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. 

He added that "today Putin will be working on economic questions" and meeting key ministers. 


"The economic reality has significantly changed, let's put it this way," he said, adding that Russia had taken steps to prepare for it.


"Russia has been systematically preparing for quite a long time for possible sanctions, including the heaviest sanctions that we are now facing," he said. 


The severe financial punishment imposed by the West has sent the ruble into a tailspin, with the Russian currency down 20% against the dollar in midday trading.

Moscow's stock market remained closed for the day, meanwhile.


The sanctions targeting the Russian financial sector are intended to change the Kremlin's calculus, but on the ground the roughly 100,000 Russian troops thought to be inside Ukraine continued their assault from the north, east and south.


Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, sending shockwaves around the world. 


Ukraine forces, backed by Western arms, are continuing to resist the Russian offensive, a day after Putin ordered the country's nuclear forces onto high alert.


Asked whether the Kremlin and Russia's military commanders were satisfied with the offensive so far, Peskov said: "I don't think now is the time to talk about any results of the operation or its effectiveness. You need to wait for its completion."

Kremlin Says Russia Will Ride Out Western Sanctions - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russia State-Owned News Site Tass Hacked With ‘Putin Makes Us Lie’ Message*

People logging on to Russian state-owned news agency Tass to get the Kremlin’s version of events in Ukraine got a shock early Monday. Instead of the latest lines from the Kremlin, the site showed an anti-war message that condemned President Vladimir Putin for forcing Russian journalists to lie. “Dear citizens. We urge you to stop this madness, do not send your sons and husbands to certain death. Putin makes us lie and puts us in danger,” the hacked site read. “In a few years we will live like in North Korea. What is it for us? To put Putin in the textbooks? This is not our war, let’s stop it!” It’s not clear who changed the site, but an Anonymous logo followed the message and it ended with the sign-off: “This message will be deleted, and some of us will be fired or even jailed. But we can’t take it anymore... Indifferent journalists of Russia.” After the hack was noticed on social media, the Tass website became unavailable. The Moscow Times reports that several Russian news outlets were hit by the hack.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tass-s...ssage?ref=home


When I tried to open Tass and RT this morning, they were down.

----------


## malmomike77

Love this.....from the Beeb new feed

Ukraine conflict: Russia blames Liz Truss and others for nuclear alert

Vladimir Putin put Russia's nuclear forces on high alert after comments by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and others, the Kremlin has said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "unacceptable" remarks were made about possible "clashes" between Nato and Moscow over Russia's attack on Ukraine.

It is unclear precisely which comments by Ms Truss Russia objects to.

On Sunday, she said if Russia was not stopped, other states may be threatened and it could end in conflict with Nato.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office source told the BBC: "I don't think anything Liz has said warrants that sort of rhetoric or escalation."

They said the foreign secretary had always spoken about Nato as a "defensive alliance" and that the UK needed to support Ukraine.

----------


## malmomike77

On the Beeb. Micron is at it again.

Macron repeats pleas for peace in Putin phone call

France's President Emmanuel Macron has spoken to Vladimir Putin on Monday, echoing international calls for Moscow to end attacks on Ukraine and stressing the need for an immediate ceasefire, according to a statement from the French presidency.

It says Macron asked the Russian president to halt all strikes and attacks against civilians and places of residences, preserve civil infrastructure and secure main roads.

Putin confirmed his willingness to commit to those requests, the French statement said.

However a Kremlin statement about the same telephone call says that Putin told Macron "a settlement is possible only if Russia's legitimate security interests are taken into account - including a recognition of Russia's sovereignty over Crimea, and a resolution of the objectives of demilitarisation and denazification of the Ukrainian state and ensuring it has a neutral status".

France said in its statement that Macron had also asked his Russian counterpart to stay in touch in the coming days to prevent an escalation of the conflict, to which he is said to have agreed.

----------


## malmomike77

From the Beeb. I think "Cluster bombs" will be featuring.

Posted at 19:5719:57
BREAKING

International Criminal Court to investigate invasion
​

The International Criminal Court will open an investigation into alleged war crime conducted by Russia in Ukraine.

"There is a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine," Karim AA Khan, the ICC prosecutor has said.

"It is my intention that this investigation will also encompass any new alleged crimes falling within the jurisdiction of my Office that are committed by any party to the conflict on any part of the territory of Ukraine".

----------


## Joe 90

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status...yqlMs9naQ&s=08



Drive by molotov thrown by women, Russians are getting battered.

----------


## David48atTD

*FIFA Indefinitely Bans Russia From 2022 World Cup; International Games*

----------


## Joe 90

Fifa took their time, corrupt as ever.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> including a recognition of Russia's sovereignty over Crimea


So he wants the world to say it's OK to invade sovereign countries and steal their territory.

One sincerely hopes the global community tells him to fuck off.

----------


## bsnub

London/Moscow (CNN Business)Russia was scrambling to prevent financial meltdown Monday as its economy was slammed by a broadside of crushing Western sanctions imposed over the weekend in response to the invasion of Ukraine. 

President  Vladimir Putin held crisis talks with his top economic advisers after  the ruble crashed to a record low against the US dollar, the Russian  central bank more than doubled interest rates to 20%, and the Moscow  stock exchange was shuttered for the day. It will stay closed Tuesday,  the central bank announced. 

The  European subsidiary of Russia's biggest bank was on the brink of  collapse as savers rushed to withdraw their deposits. Economists warned  that the Russian economy could shrink by 5%. 
The ruble  lost about 25% of its value to trade at 104 to the dollar at 12:15 p.m.  ET after earlier plummeting as much as 40%. The start of trading on the  Russian stock market was delayed, and then canceled entirely, according  to a statement from the country's central bank.

The  latest barrage of sanctions came Saturday, when the United States, the  European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada said they would expel some  Russian banks from SWIFT, a global financial messaging service, and  "paralyze" the assets of Russia's central bank.

"The  ratcheting up of Western sanctions over the weekend has left Russian  banks on the edge of crisis," wrote Liam Peach, an emerging market  economist at Capital Economics, in a note on Monday.

*Freezing reserves*

Putin's  government has spent the past eight years preparing Russia for tough  sanctions by building up a war chest of $630 billion in international  reserves including currencies and gold, but at least some of that  financial firepower is now frozen and his "fortress" economy is under unprecedented assault.

"We  will ... ban the transactions of Russia's central bank and freeze all  its assets, to prevent it from financing Putin's war," European  Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement Sunday. 

The  United States also banned US dollar transactions with the Russian  central bank in a move designed to prevent it accessing its "rainy day  fund," senior US administration officials said.
"Our  strategy, to put it simply, is to make sure that the Russian economy  goes backward as long as President Putin decides to go forward with his  invasion of Ukraine," a senior administration official said.

Peach at Capital Economics estimates that at least 50% of Russia's reserves are now off limits to Moscow. 

"External  conditions for the Russian economy have drastically changed," the  Russian central bank said, announcing its dramatic rate hike and series  of other emergency measures. "This is needed to support financial and  price stability and protect the savings of citizens from depreciation,"  the bank added.

Russia  is a leading exporter of oil and gas but many other sectors of its  economy rely on imports. As the value of the ruble falls, they will  become much more expensive to buy, pushing up inflation. 

The  crackdown on its leading banks, and the exclusion of some of them from  the SWIFT secure messaging system that connects financial institutions  around the world will also make it harder for it to sell exports —  including oil and gas despite the fact that Russia's vital energy trade  has not yet been directly targeted with sanctions. 

Finnish oil refiner Neste said it had mostly replaced Russian crude oil with other supplies. 

"For  a long time, Russia has been methodically preparing for the event of  possible sanctions, including the most severe sanctions we are currently  facing," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "So there are response  plans, and they are being implemented now as problems arise."

*A run on the banks*

But  analysts warned that the turmoil could lead to a run on Russian banks,  as savers try to secure their deposits and hoard cash.

"The  sanctions target Russia's domestic financial system, causing bank runs  and forcing Russia's central bank to continue hiking rates and/or to use  its foreign exchange reserves," the Institute of International Finance  said in a report published Monday. 

"Furthermore,  we believe that the [central bank] will have to institute strict  capital controls and possibly declare a bank holiday as bank runs  accelerate and demand for foreign exchange continues to rise sharply,"  it added.

One  early casualty was the European subsidiary of Sberbank, Russia's  biggest lender that has been sanctioned by Western allies. The European  Central Bank said Sberbank Europe, including its Austrian and Croatian  branches, was failing, or likely to fail, because of "significant  deposit outflows" triggered by the Ukraine crisis. 

"This  led to a deterioration of its liquidity position. And there are no  available measures with a realistic chance of restoring this position,"  the ECB said in a statement. 

Sberbank (SBRCY) shares listed in London fell by nearly 70%. Other Russian companies with foreign listings were also hammered. Gas giant Gazprom (GZPFY) dropped 37% in London trading. Shares in internet service provider Yandex (YNDX) were suspended from trade on the Nasdaq, alongside seven other Russian companies listed in New York. 

Nasdaq  declined to comment. But a person familiar with the matter told CNN  that the exchange was asking Russian companies whether they need to make  material disclosures following the sanctions announced in recent days  by the United States and other nations.

The  Russian central bank last week intervened in the currency markets to  try to prop up the ruble. And on Friday, it said it was increasing the  supply of bills to ATMs to meet increased demand for cash. On Monday,  the Russian government ordered exporters to exchange 80% of their  foreign currency revenues for rubles — a measure analysts said was aimed  at relieving pressure on the Russian currency. 

The  central bank also temporarily banned Russian brokers from selling  securities held by foreigners, although it did not specify which assets.  The government had also ordered a ban on foreign exchange loans and  bank transfers by Russian residents outside of Russia from March 1,  Reuters reported. 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/busin...ons/index.html

----------


## bsnub

Ukrainian  pilots have arrived in Poland to start the process of taking control of  fighter planes they expect to be donated by European countries, a  Ukrainian government official told POLITICO.
 The potential transfer of older  Russian-made planes to be used in combat against Russian forces could be  the most significant moment yet in a wave of promised arms transfers  over the past 24 hours that includes thousands of anti-armor rockets,  machine guns, artillery and other equipment.

 It’s not clear just yet what  countries are donating the jets, but European Union security chief Josep  Borrell pledged over the weekend that the EU would fund the transfer  the fighter planes from multiple countries.

  Borrell walked that back slightly on  Monday, acknowledging that any transfers wouldn’t come from the EU  itself, but would instead be donated “bilaterally” by individual EU  countries.
 Representatives from the Polish and  Slovakian governments did not immediately respond to a request for  comment, while Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov on Monday said he  had rejected the request.

Poland and Slovakia still fly Russian-made planes similar to those used  by the Ukrainian air force, meaning the pilots would not need much  training if the planes were transferred.

 In a move likely aimed at increasing pressure on Europe to act, the Ukrainian parliament on Monday tweeted that Europe was sending 70 fighter planes to Ukraine, including 28 MiG-29s from Poland, 12 from Slovakia and 16 from Bulgaria, along with 14 Su-25s from Bulgaria.

 The fighter plane drama came on top  of a flurry of announcements over the weekend that saw European leaders  promise a flood of new weaponry for the Ukrainian military to assist in  fighting off invading Russian troops, an overt and very public  acknowledgment of Europe’s newfound will to inflict pain on the Kremlin  for its military adventurism.

 With the air corridors to Kyiv  closed by Russian anti-aircraft weapons and fighter jets, U.S. and  European powers have started pushing weapons into the country by road.

 Poland, Estonia and Latvia were some  of the first to act, sending ammunition, Javelin anti-armor weapons,  fuel and medical supplies to the Ukraine border for hand-off to  Ukrainian forces.

 On Monday, Finland announced it  would join the club, pledging 2,500 assault rifles, ammunition, 1,500  anti-tank weapons and 70,000 ration packages to Ukraine. Sweden is also  readying a large arms and aid package, announcing the upcoming delivery  of 135,000 field rations, 5,000 helmets, body armor and 5,000 anti-tank  weapons.

 Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister  Mélanie Joly is heading to Poland Tuesday to coordinate the shipment of  100 Carl Gustaf anti-armor rocket launchers, along with 2,000 munitions  and other aid.
 Speaking with reporters before the  trip, she said “we will be able to make sure to send lethal aid to  Ukraine. My role in this is to make sure that this aid gets in the arms  of Ukrainian soldiers that are fighting for their life and fighting for  their motherland. That’s exactly why I’ve been able to get an agreement  from Poland to make sure that that delivery could be done through their  borders.”

 One of the biggest surprises in  recent European political history came Saturday, when German Chancellor  Olaf Scholz announced he was sending 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500  Stinger missiles to Ukraine, a reversal of the German post-war policy of  barring the transfer of arms to warring parties. He also pledged an  immediate $100 billion infusion into the German military.

 President Joe Biden also ordered the  release of up to $350 million worth of weapons from U.S. stocks to  Ukraine on Friday. Speaking with reporters at the Pentagon Monday, a  senior U.S. Defense Department official declined to go into detail about  what will be included, but said “there will be capabilities in there to  help them with both their ground defensive capabilities as well as  airborne defensive capabilities.”

Ukrainian pilots arrive in Poland to pick up donated fighter jets - POLITICO

----------


## David48atTD

^  That's interesting, encouraging, but also disturbing.

If they sortie from outside Ukraine and return to outside Ukraine for refueling and re-arming ... that's going to create serious sabre rattling from Putin.

BTW, all power to the Ukrainian people and FUCK Putin

----------


## David48atTD

^^ MiG-29






14 Su-25




Cough ... I'll be in the MiG thanks  :Smile:

----------


## Norton

> It’s not clear just yet what countries are donating the jets


Never know. It was Russian weapons that turned the tide against Russia in Afganistan.  :Wink:

----------


## David48atTD

Russian, Belarusian skaters banned from ISU competitions, governing body says

MOSCOW,  March 1 (Reuters) - The International Skating Union (ISU) said on  Tuesday that competitors from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to  take part in its international events until further notice over Moscow's  invasion of Ukraine.


The  move comes a day after the International Olympic Committee (IOC)  recommended that sports federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletes  and officials from taking part in events following the invasion, which  Russia says is a "special operation"

Russian, Belarusian skaters banned from ISU competitions, governing body says | Reuters

----------


## bsnub

> I’m surprised how vulnerable that very long convoy looks


It is, and it shows how incompetent the Russian military is. A lot has been learned from this conflict so far. The first being that Russia is no threat to NATO. As I have said before, a couple squadrons of A-10s and AC-130 gunships would make fast work of that convoy.

----------


## nidhogg

^ yeah, there was some retired general on cnn this morning, talking about that.  Think the term he used was "salivating" to be able to have a go at that column with a10s....

----------


## bsnub

> Think the term he used was "salivating" to be able to have a go at that column with a10s....


Just seeing that column shows that Russia is not a threat to NATO at ALL. Now I understand why the US has only one armored division left. US air power would more than decimate the Russian conscript army and let's be frank the Russians sent in the airborne early on, and they have been totally wiped out now. Video on Reddit, TikTok, and YouTube can verify.

----------


## misskit

*Russia pummels Ukraine's Kharkiv as 65-km convoy nears Kyiv*

KYIV (AP) -- Russian shelling pounded the central square in Ukraine's second-largest city and other civilian targets Tuesday and a 65-mile convoy of tanks and other vehicles threatened the capital, as Ukraine's embattled president accused Moscow of resorting to terror tactics to press Europe's largest ground war in generations.


With the Kremlin increasingly isolated by tough economic sanctions that have tanked the ruble currency, Russian troops advanced on Ukraine's two biggest cities. In strategic Kharkiv, an eastern city with a population of about 1.5 million, videos posted online showed explosions hitting the region's Soviet-era administrative building and residential areas. A maternity ward relocated to a shelter amid shelling.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack on Kharkiv's main square "frank, undisguised terror," blaming a Russian missile and calling it a war crime. "Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget.... This is state terrorism of the Russian Federation."


As the fighting reached beyond military targets on Day 6 of a Russian invasion that has shaken the 21st century world order, reports emerged that Moscow has used cluster bombs on three populated areas. If confirmed, that would mean the war has reached a worrying new level.


The Kremlin denied Tuesday that it has used such munitions and insisted again that its forces only have struck military targets -- despite evidence documented by AP reporters of shelling of homes, schools and hospitals.


The Russian defense minister vowed Tuesday to press the offensive until it achieves its goals, after a first round of talks between Ukraine and Russia yielded no stop in the fighting. Both sides agreed to another meeting in coming days.


Throughout the country, many Ukrainian civilians spent another night huddled in shelters, basements or corridors. More than a half-million people have fled the country, and the U.N. human rights office said Tuesday that it has recorded the deaths of 136 civilians, including 13 children. The real toll is likely far higher.


"It is a nightmare, and it seizes you from the inside very strongly. This cannot be explained with words," said Kharkiv resident Ekaterina Babenko, taking shelter in a basement with neighbors for a fifth straight day. "We have small children, elderly people and frankly speaking it is very frightening."


A Ukrainian military official said Belarusian troops joined the war Tuesday in the Chernihiv region, without providing details. But Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he had no plans to join the fight.


With Western powers sending weapons to Ukraine and driving a global squeeze of Russia's economy, President Vladimir Putin's options diminished as he seeks to redraw the global map -- and pull Ukraine's western-leaning democracy back into Moscow's orbit.


"I believe Russia is trying to put pressure [on Ukraine] with this simple method," Zelenskyy said late Monday in a video address, referring to stepped-up shelling. He did not offer details of the talks between Ukrainian and Russian envoys, but he said Kyiv was not prepared to make concessions "when one side is hitting another with rocket artillery."


As the talks along the Belarusian border wrapped up, several blasts could be heard in the capital, and Russian troops advanced on the city of nearly 3 million. The convoy of armored vehicles, tanks, artillery and support vehicles was 25 kilometers from the center of the city and stretched about 65 kilometers, according to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies.


"They want to break our nationhood, that's why the capital is constantly under threat," Zelenskyy said, saying that it was hit by three missile strikes on Monday and that hundreds of saboteurs were roaming the city.


Kharkiv, near the Russian border, is another key target. One after the other, explosions burst through a residential area of the city in one video verified by AP. In the background, a man pleaded with a woman to leave, and a woman cried.


Determined for life to go on despite the shelling, hospital workers transferred a Kharkiv maternity ward to a bomb shelter. Amid makeshift electrical sockets and mattresses piled up against the walls, pregnant women paced the crowded space, accompanied by the cries of dozens of newborns.


On the city's main square, the administration headquarters came under Russian shelling, regional administration chief Oleh Sinehubov said. Images posted online showed the building's facade and interior badly damaged by a powerful explosion that also blew up part of its roof. The state emergencies agency said that attack wounded six people, including a child.


Sinehubov said that at least 11 people were killed and scores of others were wounded during Monday's shelling of the city.


Russia's goals in hitting central Kharkiv were not immediately clear. Western officials speculated that it is trying to pull in Ukrainian forces to defend Kharkiv while a larger Russian force encircles Kyiv. They believe Putin's overall goal is to overthrow the Ukrainian government and install a friendly one.


In a worrying development, Human Rights Watch has said it documented a cluster bomb attack outside a hospital in Ukraine's east in recent days. Local residents have also reported the use of the munitions in Kharkiv and the village of Kiyanka near the northern city of Chernihiv, though there was no independent confirmation.


The International Criminal Court chief prosecutor has said he plans to open a Ukraine investigation and is monitoring the conflict.


Meanwhile, flames shot up from a military base northeast of Kyiv, in the suburb of Brovary, in footage shot from a car driving past. In another video verified by AP, a passenger pleads with the driver, "Misha, we need to drive quickly as they'll strike again."


And Ukrainian authorities released details and photos of an attack Sunday on a military base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv, saying more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed along with some local residents. The attack could not be immediately confirmed.


The Russian military's movements have been stalled by fierce resistance on the ground and a surprising inability to dominate Ukraine's airspace.


In the face of that Ukrainian resistance and crippling Western sanctions, Putin has put Russia's nuclear forces on high alert -- including intercontinental ballistic missiles and long-range bombers -- in a stark warning to the West and a signal of his readiness to escalate the tensions to a terrifying new level. But a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States had yet to see any appreciable change in Russia's nuclear posture.


Western nations have increased weapons shipments to Ukraine to help its forces defend themselves -- but have so far ruled out sending in troops.


Messages aimed at the advancing Russian soldiers popped up on billboards, bus stops and electronic traffic signs across the capital. Some used profanity to encourage Russians to leave. Others appealed to their humanity.


"Russian soldier -- Stop! Remember your family. Go home with a clean conscience," one read.


Fighting raged in other towns and cities. The strategic port city of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, is "hanging on," said Zelenskyy adviser Oleksiy Arestovich. An oil depot was reported bombed in the eastern city of Sumy.


In the seaside resort town of Berdyansk, dozens of protesters chanted angrily in the main square against Russian occupiers, yelling at them to go home and singing the Ukrainian national anthem. They described the soldiers as exhausted young conscripts.


"Frightened kids, frightened looks. They want to eat," Konstantin Maloletka, who runs a small shop, said by telephone. He said the soldiers went into a supermarket and grabbed canned meat, vodka and cigarettes.


"They ate right in the store," he said. "It looked like they haven't been fed in recent days."


As far-reaching Western sanctions on Russian banks and other institutions took hold, the ruble plummeted, and Russia's Central Bank scrambled to shore it up, as did Putin, signing a decree restricting foreign currency.


But that did little to calm Russian fears. In Moscow, people lined up to withdraw cash as the sanctions threatened to drive up prices and reduce the standard of living for millions of ordinary Russians.


The economic sanctions, ordered by the U.S. and other allies, were just one contributor to Russia's growing status as a pariah country.


Russian airliners are banned from European airspace, Russian media is restricted in some countries, and some high-tech products can no longer be exported to the country. International sports bodies moved to exclude Russian athletes -- in the latest blow Tuesday, Russians were barred from international ice skating events.

Russia pummels Ukraine's Kharkiv as 65-km convoy nears Kyiv -
                        Nikkei Asia

----------


## misskit

*Rapid escalation of Ukraine crisis fuels fear of confrontation between Russia and the West*

Russia, careening toward economic crisis under the weight of devastating Western sanctions, has put its nuclear forces on alert as the Kremlin’s siege of Ukraine intensifies.


The United States and its NATO partners have sent thousands of troops and advanced weaponry to harden defenses in the alliance’s eastern flank while funneling billions of dollars worth of military hardware to Kyiv — moves met by the Kremlin with threats of “consequences.”


There is no deconfliction line — nor, according to U.S. officials, does Moscow seem interested in one.


The rapid escalation, observers say, has made the once-theoretical risk of direct confrontation between Russia and the West a tangible possibility with little hope of the tension subsiding, maybe for years to come.


“My worry is that there’s a miscalculation, a misunderstanding, an accident, a mistake” that touches off more widespread conflict, said Jim Townsend, who managed Europe and NATO policy at the Pentagon during the Obama administration.


“How long could we have this kind of risk? … I don’t see it ending.”

Russia’s advance through Ukraine has brought the Kremlin’s forces closer to NATO’s borders. Should those troops remain, in Ukraine and Belarus, the “contact line” would shift “significantly west,” said Sam Charap, a Russia expert with the RAND Corporation. “And that changes the strategic landscape.”

“Poland has relied on Belarus to serve the function of a buffer,” he added. “If that’s no longer there, that’s just a totally different ballgame.”


Russia’s moves compelled Western officials last week to activate the NATO Response Force and its Very High Readiness Joint Defense Force for the first time in the alliance’s history. The mobilization, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, is meant to deter a Russian attack and prevent the war in Ukraine from spilling over into any NATO-allied country.

President Biden has ruled out putting U.S. troops in Ukraine, but he has authorized the deployment of an additional 14,000 military personnel along with elite F-35 fighters and Apache attack helicopters to allied countries in the Baltics and Eastern Europe, a sign of how seriously the United States hopes to ward off the Russian threat.


Yet while gestures and statements such as Stoltenberg’s and Biden’s are designed to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from intentionally challenging the alliance’s resolve, some wonder whether the message is getting through.


Alina Polyakova, president and CEO of the Center for European Policy Analysis, said the Russian leader may be “ready and willing” to test the alliance’s commitment to its collective defense. She pointed out that NATO’s 40,000-member response force “pales in comparison to Russia’s military capabilities” in the region; the Kremlin currently has about 150,000 troops in and around Ukraine.


What the U.S. military is doing in response to Russian actions in Ukraine
Russian forces have a history of playing dangerous games in NATO border areas. Recently, Russian fighter jets have conducted low or near-pass flights over U.S. ships in the Black Sea and U.S. surveillance aircraft flying over the Mediterranean. The potential for such maneuvers to result in a collision or confrontation — and for that incident to then spiral into a greater fight — grows exponentially greater amid an active war.


Ukraine’s land borders with four NATO countries — Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania — have also emerged as potential hot spots. Observers are particularly concerned about the potential for humanitarian calamities as more than 500,000 refugees use those routes to flee the country.

Absent a peace deal, few expect that Ukrainians will lay down their arms even if Russia assumes formal control of their country. The resulting insurgency would make the business of occupation “rough” for Russia, Townsend said, noting that Russian soldiers patrolling the country’s borders will be operating “on a knife’s edge … because they’re expecting a Ukrainian insurgent behind every tree.”


But it would take a “really serious incident” to touch off a wider war, cautioned Anthony Cordesman, a national security analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who said the casualty count would need to be so high or seem so deliberate that NATO could not dismiss it as a mistake.


Ukraine and its border territories are also not the only places that could precipitate the sort of direct conflict with Russia that the United States wants to avoid. The intensity of the Russian onslaught in Ukraine has prompted Finland and Sweden, which share borders with Russia in the Arctic Circle and have long adopted a neutral posture, to publicly contemplate joining NATO — a move that Russia warned last week would precipitate “military consequences.”


The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, meanwhile, exist in a constant state of geographical vulnerability to assault, due to shared and often snarled borders with Russia and Belarus. Certain roads crossing Estonia dip in and out of snippets of Russian territory; the Baltics as a whole, meanwhile, could effectively be cut off from the rest of Europe via the Suwalki Corridor, a 65-mile stretch of Lithuanian-Polish border that lies between Belarus and the tiny Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea.


All NATO members, meanwhile, remain potentially vulnerable to cyberattacks, which Russia has proven in recent years to be adept at manipulating to its advantage. The NATO secretary general has said cyberattacks could trigger the alliance’s collective defense pact, but it remains unclear what type or magnitude of assault it would take to warrant such a response.

How likely Russia is to pick battles along new fronts may depend on how long Ukraine can keep up its resistance. The more Russia is worn out from the fight there, experts say, it becomes less likely Putin will want to pursue other ambitions where the long-term risk of failure is far greater.


The moment of truth will come if and when a NATO member decides to call upon their allies to help battle back any direct Russian aggression. The collective defense pact has been invoked only once in NATO’s history, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. It is untested when it comes to a war in Europe.


“The credibility of the alliance is on the line,” Townsend said. “If our credibility is found wanting, if NATO proves that it’s not quite able to do the things that we’ve talked about being able to do, then that is a win for Putin.”


Yet even if the 30 NATO member nations are able to maintain the unity that they have found in recent weeks to stave off further Russian aggression, it is almost impossible to avoid some spillover effects from the Ukrainian experience thus far, observers say.


While officials are downplaying the risk of Russia’s recent nuclear threats, nobody knows what kind of backlash the free-falling ruble could create in a nation of 144 million people, most of whom receive their information through pro-Kremlin media. There are also global implications for financial markets that are often an afterthought in national security discussions, such as the agricultural sector, where Ukraine and Russia together produce over a quarter of the world’s wheat supply.


“No matter what happens now, there’s going to be some forms of spillover, whether … general instability arising from refugee flows or broader global implications because of Ukraine’s key role in some of these export markets,” said Polyakova of the Center for European Policy Analysis, predicting there will be “more conflicts that the United States and Europe have to manage.”


“That’s the reality we’re looking at already,” she added, “regardless of what exactly the outcome in Ukraine is going to be.”


MSN

----------


## misskit

*Western envoys, allies walk out on Lavrov speech to UN rights forum*

GENEVA, March 1 (Reuters) - More than 100diplomats from some 40 Western countries and allies including Japan walked out of a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the top U.N. human rights forum on Tuesday in protest over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.


The boycott by envoys from the European Union, the United States, Britain and others left only a few diplomats in the room including Russia's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, who is a former deputy to Lavrov. Envoys from Syria, China and Venezuela were among delegations that stayed.


Lavrov was addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council remotely, after cancelling his visit due to what the Russian mission said on Monday were EU states blocking his flight path.


Neutral Switzerland also imposed financial sanctions on Lavrov on Monday, a measure of the international revulsion over an invasion Russia describes as a "special military operation" aimed at dislodging "neo-Nazis" ruling Ukraine. read more


In his speech, Lavrov accused the EU of engaging in a "Russophobic frenzy" by supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine during Moscow's military campaign that began last Thursday.


A Russian armoured column bore down on Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Tuesday and invasion forces fired rocket barrages into the centre of Kharkiv, the country's second largest city, on the sixth day of Russia's assault on its neighbour. read more


'SHOW OF SUPPORT'


Among the diplomats who walked out, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod joined Ukraine's ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko behind a large Ukrainian blue and yellow flag.


"It is a remarkable show of support for Ukrainians who are fighting for their independence," Filipenko told reporters.


Filipenko said there had been "massive destruction to civilian infrastructure" in Kharkiv, adding: "The maternity wards are being attacked, civilian residential buildings are being bombed."


Russia denies targeting any civilian sites.


Canada's Joly said: "Minister Lavrov was giving his version, which is false, about what is happening in Ukraine and so that's why we wanted to show a very strong stance together."


Later on Tuesday Canada will petition the International Criminal Court over what Joly said were Russia's "crimes against humanity and war crimes". L8N2V44MO


She was referring to the Hague-based court where the office of the ICC prosecutor on Monday said it would seek court approval to open an investigation into alleged war crimes in Ukraine. read more


The U.S. envoy to the Human Rights Council, Michele Taylor, said in a statement: "This Russian war of aggression will have profound implications for human rights in Ukraine and Russia, and the leaders of Russia will be held accountable."

Western envoys, allies walk out on Lavrov speech to UN rights forum | Reuters

----------


## misskit

*Zelensky’s Stunning Appeal to European Parliament Was So Heartbreaking That Even the Translator Got Emotional*

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a passionate speech to the European Parliament in defiance of Russia’s ongoing invasion of his country. His words were so moving that the English translator could be heard chocking up.


Zelensky remotely gave his speech to Parliament on Tuesday as an extension of his call for Ukraine to be granted immediate membership with the European Union. In his address, Zelensky condemned Vladimir Putin as he invoked the Russian military convoy approaching Kyiv, plus the news that Russia has launched rocket attacks against civilian areas in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

“This is the price of freedom,” Zelensky said. “We’re fighting just for our land and for our freedom.”


The translator for the European Parliament became audibly emotional as he took Zelensky’s promise that “Every square today, no matter what it’s called, is going to be called Freedom Square, in every city of our country.”


“Nobody is gonna break us,” said Zelensky. “We are strong. We are Ukrainians.”


Zelensky continued to say Ukraine fights to be recognized as an “equal member of Europe,” even as he stressed that the country is now “fighting for survival” in the war with Russia.


“The European Union is going to be much stronger with us,” he said. “We have proven our strength…Do prove that you are with us. Do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you are indeed Europeans, and then life will win over death, and light will win over darkness. Glory be to Ukraine!”


Zelensky’s remarks were met with applause from the assembly.

WATCH HERE Volodymyr Zelensky Gives Speech to European Parliament

----------


## david44

> and Sweden, which share borders with Russia in the Arctic Circle


Oh dear Kitty do you actually read this propaganda it's almost as bad as CNN?

Please look at a map Sweden does not have a border with Russia , 

We expect these sort of lies from Spin , you can do better please.

Printing lies does not help the brave people of Ukraine

----------


## misskit

President Vladimir Putin banned Russians from leaving the country with more than $10,000 in foreign currency — the latest measure introduced to try and stem the worst of a looming economic crisis.

Russia Attacks Ukraine: As It's Happening - The Moscow Times

----------


## DrWilly

> President Vladimir Putin banned Russians from leaving the country with more than $10,000 in foreign currency — the latest measure introduced to try and stem the worst of a looming economic crisis.
> 
> Russia Attacks Ukraine: As It's Happening - The Moscow Times


It reminds me of the little Dutch boy trying to plug holes in the dyke

----------


## misskit

*More on how long Ukraine may withstand Russian assault*



A U.S. official tells CBS News that a tactical seizure of Ukraine is possible within the next 4-6 weeks, based on the assessments of what is currently taking place on the ground with the Russian military. 


As David Martin has reported, it is expected to take one week before Kyiv is surrounded, and another 30 days could elapse before Ukraine's capital is seized. This U.S. official says it is not clear whether Russia would gradually strangle the city or engage in street-to-street fighting. These scenarios were laid out for members of Congress Monday as the initial battle to destroy the Ukrainian military and government. It is also not clear whether Russia would then decide to go west toward Lviv or as far west as the Polish border.


The situation is dynamic, so this remains an estimate on what is militarily possible. This U.S. official also could not say when the sanctions that have been rolled out so far will have a practical impact on the Russian military. The low morale and shortages of food and fuel are not a result of the sanctions now in place. At some point, however, the Russian military will be impacted by the sanctions.


Given the durability of the Ukrainian resistance and its long history of pushing Russia back, the U.S. and Western powers do not believe that this will be a short war. The U.K. foreign secretary estimated it would be a 10-year war. Lawmakers at the Capitol were told Monday it is likely to last 10, 15 or 20 years — and that ultimately, Russia will lose.

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates...pdate-8de46653

----------


## David48atTD

Russian and Belarusian athletes banned, tennis players avoid tour exclusion


Skiing, volleyball, rowing, badminton federations ban Russian and Belarusian athletesTennis bodies bar athletes from competing under Russian, Belarusian flagAdidas suspends partnership with Russian soccer unionRussian Olympic Committee urges sporting bodies to 'refrain from politicisation of sport' 

March  1 (Reuters) - World Athletics on Tuesday joined a growing list of  sporting bodies to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes, while tennis's  governing bodies barred players from competing under the name or flag of  either country following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Since  the start of what Russian President Vladimir Putin has called "a  special military operation" last week, Russian and Belarusian teams and  athletes have found themselves frozen out from international  competitions across sports.  read more 

Belarus has been a key staging area for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russian and Belarusian athletes banned, tennis players avoid tour exclusion | Reuters.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Western envoys, allies walk out on Lavrov speech to UN rights forum*


I'm surprised they even bothered walking in.
At the end of the day he's just a ventriloquist's dummy with Putin's arm up his arse.

The only person who takes him seriously is Hoohoo.

----------


## misskit

*Russia says it has captured biggest Ukrainian city yet*

WASHINGTON/KYIV (Reuters) – Russia said it had seized its biggest city yet in Ukraine on Wednesday, while stepping up its lethal bombardment of the main cities that its invasion force has so far failed to tame in the face of strong Ukrainian resistance.


With Moscow having failed in its aim to swiftly overthrow Ukraine’s government after nearly a week, Western countries are worried that it is switching to new, far more violent tactics to blast its way into cities it had expected to easily take.


Apple, Exxon, Boeing and other firms joined an exodus of companies around the world from the Russian market, which has left Moscow financially and diplomatically isolated since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion last week.


“He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead, he met a wall of strength he could never anticipated or imagined: he met Ukrainian people,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in his annual State of the Union address to Congress.


U.S. lawmakers stood, applauded and roared, many waving Ukrainian flags and wearing the country’s blue and yellow colours.


Russia said it had sent delegates for a second round of peace talks in Belarus near the border, but Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia needed to stop bombing Ukrainian cities if it wanted to negotiate peace.


Moscow said on Wednesday it had captured Kherson, a provincial capital of around a quarter of a million people on the southern front. There was no immediate word from Ukraine but the regional governor had said overnight that it was surrounded, under fire, and Russian troops were looting shops and pharmacies.


It would be the biggest city to fall so far, with a strategic position astride the Dnieper River that divides Ukraine down the middle.


Also in the south, Russia is putting intense pressure on the port of Mariupol, which it says it has surrounded in a ring around the entire coast of the Sea of Azov. The city‘s mayor said Mariupol had been under intense shelling since late Tuesday and was unable to evacuate its wounded.


But on the other two main fronts in the east and north, Russia so far has little to show for its advance, with Ukraine’s two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, holding out in the face of increasingly intense bombardment.


“We are going to see… his brutality increase,” British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said of Putin in a radio interview. “He doesn’t get his way, he surrounds cities, he ruthlessly bombards them at night … and he will then eventually try and break them and move into the cities.”


Kharkiv in particular has come under intense shelling over the past two days, with more pictures overnight showing devastation in the city centre.


The roof of a police building in the centre of Kharkiv could be seen collapsing as it was engulfed in flames, in footage verified by Reuters. Firefighters fought the blaze on streets strewn with debris. Windows had been blasted out of the nearby buildings.


The regional governor said at least 21 people had been killed by shelling in the past 24 hours. Emergency services said four more people were killed on Wednesday morning.


In Kyiv, the capital of 3 million people where residents have been sheltering at night in the underground metro, Russia blasted the main television tower near a Holocaust memorial on Tuesday, killing bystanders.


Zelenskiy, in his latest update to his nation, said that attack proved that the Russians “don’t know a thing about Kyiv, about our history. But they all have orders to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all.”


Earlier, a tired and unshaven Zelenskiy, wearing green battle fatigues in a heavily guarded government compound, told Reuters and CNN in an interview that the bombing must stop for talks to end the war.


“It’s necessary to at least stop bombing people, just stop the bombing and then sit down at the negotiating table.”


Russia‘s main advance on the capital – a huge armoured column stretched for miles along the road to Kyiv – has been largely frozen in place for days. A senior U.S. defense official on Tuesday cited logistics problems, including shortages of food and fuel, and signs of flagging morale among Russia‘s troops.


“While Russian forces have reportedly moved into the centre of Kherson in the south, overall gains across axes have been limited in the past 24 hours,” Britain’s ministry of defence said in an intelligence update on Wednesday morning.


“This is probably due to a combination of ongoing logistical difficulties and strong Ukrainian resistance,” it added. Meanwhile, it said, Russia was carrying out intensive air and artillery strikes, especially on Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and the eastern city of Chernihiv.


Close to 700,000 Ukrainians have fled the country in less than a week, the fastest displacement of people in Europe for decades.


WEAPONS AND SANCTIONS


The United Nations General Assembly is set to reprimand Russia on Wednesday and demand Moscow withdraw its military forces.


The leading Russian opposition figure, Alexey Navalny, said from jail that Russians should protest daily against the war, according to a tweet from a spokesperson.


Putin ordered the “special military operation” last Thursday in a bid to disarm Ukraine and capture “neo-Nazis” he falsely says are running the country of 44 million people. Ukraine seeks closer ties with the West, which Russia calls a threat.


Vastly outmatched by Russia‘s military, Ukraine’s air force is still flying and its air defences are still deemed to be viable – a fact that is baffling military experts.


Washington and its NATO allies have rejected Ukraine’s request to impose a no-fly zone over the country, arguing this would lead to direct confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia. But they have been funnelling in weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, to help Ukrainians fight.


Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said the country was set to receive Stinger and Javelin missiles from abroad, as well as another shipment of Turkish drones.


The West’s main strategy is shutting off Russia‘s economy from the global financial system, pushing international companies to halt sales, cut ties, and dump tens of billions of dollars’ worth of investments.


Exxon Mobil’s announcement that it was quitting Russia followed similar declarations by BP and Shell, leaving France’s Total as one of the last big Western oil majors yet to announce a pull-out.


Apple Inc AAPL.O stopped sales in Russia. Boeing BA.N said it was suspending parts, maintenance and technical support for Russian airlines.

Russia says it has captured biggest Ukrainian city yet | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## helge

> Given the durability of the Ukrainian resistance and its long history of pushing Russia back, the U.S. and Western powers do not believe that this will be a short war. The U.K. foreign secretary estimated it would be a 10-year war. Lawmakers at the Capitol were told Monday it is likely to last 10, 15 or 20 years — and that ultimately, Russia will lose.


????

My thoughts were more like ceasefire, negotiations, russian withdrawel in less than 3 months  :Sad:

----------


## misskit

Hopefully, they are not just saving their aircraft for something worse.


*What happened to Russia's Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped*

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, U.S. intelligence had predicted a blistering assault by Moscow that would quickly mobilize the vast Russian air power that its military assembled in order to dominate Ukraine's skies.


But the first six days have confounded those expectations and instead seen Moscow act far more delicately with its air power, so much so that U.S. officials can't exactly explain what's driving Russia's apparent risk-averse behavior.


"They're not necessarily willing to take high risks with their own aircraft and their own pilots," a senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


Vastly outmatched by Russia's military, in terms of raw numbers and firepower, Ukraine's own air force is still flying and its air defenses are still deemed to be viable - a fact that is baffling military experts.


After the opening salvos of the war on Feb. 24, analysts expected the Russian military to try to immediately destroy Ukraine's air force and air defenses.


That would have been "the logical and widely anticipated next step, as seen in almost every military conflict since 1938," wrote the RUSI think-tank in London, in an article called "The Mysterious Case of the Missing Russian Air Force."


Instead, Ukrainian air force fighter jets are still carrying out low-level, defensive counter-air and ground-attack sorties. Russia is still flying through contested airspace.


Ukrainian troops with surface-to-air rockets are able to threaten Russian aircraft and create risk to Russian pilots trying to support ground forces.


"There's a lot of stuff they're doing that's perplexing," said Rob Lee, a Russian military specialist at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.


He thought the beginning of the war would be "maximum use of force."


"Because every day it goes on there's a cost and the risk goes up. And they're not doing that and it just is really hard to explain for any realistic reason."

The confusion over how Russia has used its air force comes as President Joe Biden's administration rejects calls by Kyiv for a no-fly zone that could draw the United States directly into a conflict with Russia, whose plans for its air force are unclear.


Military experts have seen evidence of a lack of Russian air force coordination with ground troop formations, with multiple Russian columns of troops sent forward beyond the reach of their own air defense cover.


That leaves Russian soldiers vulnerable to attack from Ukrainian forces, including those newly equipped with Turkish drones and U.S. and British anti-tank missiles. David Deptula, a retired U.S. Air Force three-star general who once commanded the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, said he was surprised that Russia didn't work harder to establish air dominance from the start.


"The Russians are discovering that coordinating multi-domain operations is not easy," Deptula told Reuters. "And that they are not as good as they presumed they were."


While the Russians have been under-performing, Ukraine's military has been exceeding expectations so far.


Ukraine's experience from the last eight years of fighting with Russian-backed separatist forces in the east was dominated by static World War One-style trench warfare.


By contrast Russia's forces got combat experience in Syria, where they intervened on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, and demonstrated some ability to synchronize ground maneuvers with air and drone attacks.


Ukraine's ability to keep flying air force jets is a visible demonstration of the country's resilience in the face of attack and has been a morale booster, both to its own military and Ukraine's people, experts say.


It has also led to mythologizing of the Ukrainian air force, including a tale about a Ukrainian jet fighter that purportedly single-handedly downed six Russian aircrafts, dubbed online as "The Ghost of Kyiv."


A Reuters Fact Check showed how a clip Fact Check-Animation miscaptioned as if to show video of Ukrainian fighter jet shooting down Russian plane | Reuters from the videogame Digital Combat Simulator was miscaptioned online to claim it was an actual Ukrainian fighter jet shooting down a Russian plane.


Biden led a standing ovation in support of Ukrainians in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, praising their determination and mocking Putin for thinking he could just "roll into Ukraine" unopposed.


"Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined. He met the Ukrainian people," Biden said.


The United States estimates that Russia is using just over 75 aircraft in its Ukraine invasion, the senior U.S. official said.


Ahead of the invasion, officials had estimated that Russia had potentially readied hundreds of the thousands of aircraft in its air force for a Ukraine mission. However, the senior U.S. official on Tuesday declined to estimate how many Russian combat aircraft, including attack helicopters, might still be available and outside Ukraine.


Both sides are taking losses.


"We do have indications that they've lost some (aircraft), but so have the Ukrainians," the official said.


"The airspace is actively contested every day."

What happened to Russia&#39;s Air Force? U.S. officials, experts stumped

----------


## Switch

I am hoping that the rush to get military hardware into Ukraine will leave enough space for rations, especially for the capital, which is soon to be surrounded by Putins War.

----------


## malmomike77

^ Word is they are struggling to get anything of much significance in via Poland, had a few ex-UK Gens on the radio today suggesting logistics is an issue on both sides atm.

----------


## misskit

*Some 2,000 Ukrainian civilians die during seven days of war - Emergency Service*

During the seven days of the war, more than 2,000 Ukrainians have been killed, not counting the defenders, the State Emergency Service has reported.


"During the seven days of the war, Russia destroyed hundreds of transport infrastructure facilities, residential buildings, hospitals and kindergartens. During this time, more than 2,000 Ukrainians have already died, not counting our defenders," the State Emergency Service reported on Facebook on Wednesday.


According to the State Emergency Service, it was possible to save the lives of more than 150 people, to eliminate more than 400 fires that arose after enemy shelling, and to evacuate more than 500 people. Pyrotechnists neutralized 416 explosive objects.


When performing tasks, 10 rescuers were killed and 13 were injured.


The State Emergency Service also announced that on Wednesday the process of transferring seven units of modern fire and rescue equipment to Ukraine, which will immediately go into service with rescuers, is being completed.

https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/805489.html

----------


## misskit

*Russia reveals number of troops killed and injured in Ukraine*

Some 498 Russian servicemen have been killed and nearly 1,600 wounded during the ongoing assault on Ukraine, Russia’s military claimed on Wednesday.


The Defense Ministry refuted reports that there have been “countless” casualties, branding the claims as deliberate disinformation originating from the adversary.


According to Russian military estimates, Ukrainian army units and far-right paramilitaries have reportedly lost at least 2,870 soldiers, while a further 3,700 have sustained various wounds. Some 572 Ukrainian servicemen have been taken prisoner, the ministry added.

Russian units involved in the offensive are comprised solely of professional soldiers, the military has said, refuting allegations that the invasion force consisted largely of “conscripts.”

The official casualty figures announced by Moscow differ drastically from the claims voiced by Kiev, which said more than 5,800 Russian soldiers had perished since the invasion began.


Moscow launched its offensive against its neighbor last week, claiming it was the only option left to protect the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in the country’s east. The “denazification” and “demilitarization” of Ukraine were among the other expressed goals of the operation.


Kiev has denied harboring plans to re-take the republics by force, branding Russia’s assault unprovoked. Donetsk and Lugansk split from Ukraine in 2014, following the Maidan events that ousted its democratically elected government. Ahead of the invasion, Russia had formally recognized the two republics as independent states.

https://www.rt.com/russia/551084-mil...es-in-ukraine/

----------


## misskit

*Some Russian Troops are Surrendering or Sabotaging Vehicles, Pentagon Official Says*

WASHINGTON — Plagued by poor morale as well as fuel and food shortages, some Russian troops in Ukraine have surrendered en masse or sabotaged their own vehicles to avoid fighting, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday.


Some entire Russian units have laid down their arms without a fight after confronting a surprisingly stiff Ukrainian defense, the official said. A significant number of the Russian troops are young conscripts who are poorly trained and ill-prepared for the all-out assault. And in some cases, Russian troops have deliberately punched holes in their vehicles’ gas tanks, presumably to avoid combat, the official said.


The Pentagon official declined to say how the military made these assessments — presumably a mosaic of intelligence including statements from captured Russian soldiers and communications intercepts — or how widespread these setbacks may be across the sprawling battlefield. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational developments.

But taken together, these factors may help explain why Russian forces, including an ominous 40-mile convoy of tanks and armored vehicles near Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, have come to a near crawl in recent days, U.S. officials said.


Besides dealing with shortages of fuel, food and spare parts, the Pentagon official said, Russian commanders leading that armored column toward Kyiv may also be “regrouping and rethinking” their battle plans, making adjustments on the fly to gain momentum for what U.S. intelligence and military officials say is an inevitable push in the next several days to encircle and ultimately capture the capital.


“They have a lot of power available to them,” said the Pentagon official, adding that 80% of the more than 150,000 Russian troops amassed on Ukraine’s borders have now joined the fight.


But U.S. analysts have been struck by the “risk-averse behavior” of such a large force, the Pentagon official said. Russia launched an amphibious landing to seize Mariupol, a pivotal port city on the Sea of Azov, but landed forces around 40 miles from the city. That allowed the Russians extra time and space to mount an invasion, but also gave the city’s defenders time to prepare. Overnight, Russian troops surrounded Mariupol.


Russia’s vaunted air force has yet to gain air superiority over Ukraine, with Russian warplanes thwarted by Ukrainian fighter jets and a surprisingly resilient and potent array of air defenses, from shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to much larger surface-to-air weapons, the Pentagon official said.


For Russian forces coming out of Belarus, logistics problems have proved stubborn, a European official said Tuesday.


Before the invasion, U.S. and British intelligence had raised questions about the supply chain for the Russian troops in Belarus. During military exercises there, some of the soldiers were getting inadequate supplies of food and fuel, according to independent analysts. But U.S. officials told allies that the Russians had fixed those problems by mid-February, which was one reason that U.S. warnings about the invasion intensified in the middle of last month, according to the European official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational developments.


But the challenges that Russian forces have faced show that their supply chain troubles have not been completely resolved, the European official said.


The logistics failures may help explain the presence of the long, slow-moving convoy of military equipment that is coming toward Kyiv, a tactical failure that is presenting a key target for the Ukrainian military, the European official said.


Russian officials, the European official said, expected to have secured air supremacy, at least around Kyiv. But the fact that Ukrainian air defense systems were still operating has put both Russian aircraft and the convoy of equipment in danger.

Some Russian Troops are Surrendering or Sabotaging Vehicles, Pentagon Official Says

----------


## misskit

*Russia steps up attacks on key Ukrainian cities, Biden warns Putin will pay a 'high price'*


Kharkiv faced fresh shelling and an overnight attack from paratroopers. In the south, Kherson was the subject of fierce fighting and a dispute over who was in control.

VINNYTSIA, Ukraine — Russia stepped up its assault on key Ukrainian cities Wednesday, as the seventh day of Moscow's invasion threatened to bring even greater violence and destruction to civilian areas across the country.


Russia intensified its offensive on four strategic cities: Kharkiv, Mariupol, Kherson and Kyiv, with a mileslong military convoy continuing to threaten Ukraine’s capital, though it appears to be stalled, a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday.


Its second-largest city, Kharkiv, faced fresh shelling and an overnight attack from paratroopers. In the south, the port city of Kherson was the subject of fierce fighting and a dispute over who was in control.


Ihor Kolykhaev, the mayor of Kherson, said his city was encircled Wednesday and pleaded for an open corridor to move in supplies, such as food and medicine. He said an open route was also necessary so that they could transport out the wounded and dead.


"Without all that the city will not survive," the mayor said.


President Joe Biden warned during his State of the Union address on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would pay a “high price” for his actions and declared that the Russian leader was "now isolated from the world more than ever."


Facing economic pain at home and fierce resistance on the ground in Ukraine, the Kremlin appeared to intensify its crackdown on dissent in a bid to limit news coverage of an invasion that was not proceeding as planned.

Russia steps up attacks on key Ukrainian cities, Biden warns Putin will pay a '&#39;'high price'&#39;'

----------


## david44

Slovakia ,Latvia and Czechs to jail Putin supporters, 

Of course your safe here a home for those who refuse to condemn child murderers and attack spelling etc

Jail Time for Czechs Agreeing With Russian Intervention – Consortium News

At least some find fascism unaccpetable like the destruction of the Bai Yar monument.

*Jail Time for Czechs Agreeing With Russian Intervention*

The supreme state prosecutor's office of the Czech Republic has warned Czech citizens that they can be imprisoned for agreeing with Russia's military operation in Ukraine, reports Joe Lauria. Similar Laws in Slovakia & Latvia By Joe Lauria Special to Consortium New The Supreme Stat
The supreme state prosecutor’s office of the Czech Republic has warned Czech citizens that they can be imprisoned for agreeing with Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, reports Joe Lauria.

Czech Ministry of Justice, Prague. (Packa/Wikipedia)

Similar Laws in Slovakia & Latvia
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium New


The Supreme State Prosecutor of the Czech Republic has warned its citizens that they can wind up in jail if they utter agreement with Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
“The Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office considers it necessary to inform citizens that the current situation associated with the Russian Federation’s attack on Ukraine may have implications for their freedom of expression,” began a statement from the office, dated Feb. 26.
“If someone publicly (including demonstrations, the Internet or social networks) agreed (accepted or supported the Russian Federation’s attacks on Ukraine) or expressed support or praised the leaders of the Russian Federation in this regard, they could also face criminal liability under certain conditions,” the statement says.
The laws the statement cites include prohibition against “approving of a criminal offense” and “denying, questioning, approving and justifying genocide.”  The Czech Republic is a member of both the European Union and NATO.

Radio Prague International reported that police have begun to monitor online communications to look for offenders.“The chief public prosecutor, Igor Stríž, has warned that public support for the Russian aggression against Ukraine expressed at demonstrations or on social networks can currently be considered a criminal offense. He warned citizens to respect freedom of speech and not to exceed its limits. Under Czech law support for crimes against humanity or genocide are punishable by up to three years in jail. At the same time, St?íž added that the legal assessment of such acts is very complicated.
Police Presidium spokesman Ondrej Moravcík confirmed that the police will monitor potential excesses not only at public gatherings, but also in cyberspace.”The Czech news site TN-CZ reported that:“Czech police are already investigating dozens of complaints from people who reported that someone had publicly approved and supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On Saturday, Attorney General Igor Stríž warned that he could face up to three years in prison for supporting Russian aggression, for example on demonstrations or social networks.”According to the Ukrainian embassy in Prague, two people have already been arrested under these statutes for supporting Russia. It tweeted, according to Google’s translation:“Czech law enforcement warns that public approval of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be classified as a ‘crime of denial, questioning, approval and justification of GENOCIDE. There are already two first cases of detainees incriminated in this paragraph of the Criminal Code.”ebruary 27, 2022Slovakia and Latvia Too
Slovakian television network RTV-Spravy reported:“In connection with the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, the police warn that in some cases, imprisonment for 10 to 25 years to life may be threatened for the promotion of the war. The National Criminal Agency (NAKA) will adequately address the search for such crime on the Internet. … “Whoever in a crisis situation intends to incite peace in any way, promotes war or otherwise supports war propaganda, is punished by imprisonment for ten to 25 years or imprisonment for life,” the police pointed to § 417 of the Criminal Code.”In Latvia,  news site Par Drasibu reported:
“This war also resonates in Latvia and the attempts of local supporters of the war to justify Russia’s aggression against Ukraine are also visible. In this regard, citizens are urged to report to the State Police and the State Security Service all statements and individuals who call for, support and justify Russian aggression in Ukraine.” 

Of course these little places will be the first victims while folks in west worry about fuel prices.

----------


## helge

> He warned citizens to respect freedom of speech and not to exceed its limits


 :Sad: 
Facism on the march

I thought this was exclusive to muslims pissed about some Muhammed cartoons

----------


## david44

Without air supremacy the Ukranian Army and many volunteers, young brave men without military training will be needlessly sacrificed, they are taking a knife to a gun fight or actually a Kalashnikov and few day ammo against artillery, tanks, thermobaric weapons, cruise missiles and possibly depleted uranium.

I see few good outcomes.

All Democracy support of ultimatum like 1939 requiring , if iNdian refuses remove them too from Swift weapons, Aviation, humanitarian aid etc, I'm sure once a few Tatas deported they'll wobble Langleywards.


Minimum immediate needs
1 Immediate cease fire. OCSE and neutral non European UNHCR and Peace keeping Paramilitary Force
2 Care for injured, children, refugees , orphans, displace elderly top priority
3 Restore damage, Secure all Nuclear, chemical and water resources
4 Prisoner exchanges
5 All combatants to return to status quo January 2022
6 UN to provide binding arbitration to the Donbas and Crimea issue that all sides agree to honour by binding International Treaty in advance

Sadly more likely
Like all bloody wars there will be in addition to crippling, death, permanent physical and psycological damage,  disease , hunger, homes , businesses , futures ruined .

Biden and Boris have said they won't start war with Russia, I cannot imagine Germans doing anything that costs a sausage ,perhaps Macron tempted to try to do something diplomatic going alone in an election cycle.
If and he is a remarkable politician ruthless , intelligent and ambitious he can engineer peace talks it'll secure his position and legacy.Even a failed attempt will play well with domestic electorate.

----------


## misskit

Mood darkens in Moscow as Putin presses Ukraine war, but West still largely blamed

For some Russians, the fighting in Ukraine is a distant distraction. But for millions of others, the war next door is already touching many aspects of daily life.


While no meaningful comparison can be drawn between the desperate wartime reality that Ukrainians now face and the reverberations being felt in Russia, the country’s abrupt transformation into an international pariah has already wrought changes that might have seemed unimaginable even a week ago.


The Russian ruble has tumbled to record lows. Long lines form at banks and ATMs. Aspirations to live, study or work abroad are suddenly imperiled. Stock trading has been suspended. International flights are almost impossible to come by. Retail clerks are rushing to replace price tags on imported goods. Parents of military-age sons are shaken and scared.


Millions of Russians with friends and relatives in Ukraine are heartsick, while others cling to the belief that Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing only what is necessary to protect the motherland against a perfidious West. Many people had accepted months of Kremlin assurances that there were no plans to attack Ukraine.


“I didn’t believe until the very end that a war was possible in the 21st century,” said Maria Zherdeva, a 23-year-old research assistant who lives in Moscow. “I just couldn’t take in that that was the new reality — that we’d talk about the beginning of a war while having drinks at a bar.”


The sea change that has taken place since hostilities erupted last week can perhaps most readily be seen in Russia’s cosmopolitan capital, Moscow, a city utterly transformed since the dour, cabbage-scented days of the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991.


In recent decades, Western-style trappings such as smartphones, posh shopping malls and easy, inexpensive travel outside Russia have come to be largely taken for granted, at least among a substantial middle class. But those lifestyle changes are now under threat, and that realization is growing daily.


Putin’s government has gone to enormous lengths to conceal the scope and ferocity — not to mention strategic stumbles — of its ongoing large-scale invasion of Ukraine, which was in its sixth day Tuesday.


In the narrative put forth by Russian state-run media, it’s not a war, it’s a special military operation. And it’s not an unprovoked attack on a neighbor; it is a necessary measure of defense against an aggressive, predatory North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the United States.


No mention is made of fierce Ukrainian resistance to a Russian military presence that Putin maintains is a natural consequence of two “brotherly” countries being one and inseparable.


“I think that so far, it’s been possible for the Kremlin to keep a very considerable degree of control over the media space, partly due to independent media outlets being closed or under tough pressure,” said Nikolai Petrov, a senior research fellow at the British think tank Chatham House. “Look how it’s presented — there is a kind of silence.”


He and other analysts point out that even among Russians who have misgivings about this war, there is widespread acceptance of Putin's insistence that the conflict was whipped up by the West.


But access to social media, even if curtailed, is giving many Russians, particularly younger ones, an unvarnished glimpse of what is taking place in Ukraine. Word-of-mouth accounts are spreading among the families of young Russian conscripts. People talk by phone and via messaging apps with loved ones in Ukraine, hearing harrowing tales of hardship under Russian bombardment of major cities.


And many Russians are experiencing the direct effects of the Western sanctions. That can be something as simple as suddenly being unable to use Apple Pay or Google Pay in the Moscow metro, which resulted in passenger traffic jams at some stations on Tuesday.

At least in some circles, there is a notable darkening of the mood.


“I see a rise in anxiety,” said Elena Lebedeva, a 57-year-old Moscow psychiatrist. “Patients call me and they cry. They are afraid and anxious.”


Lebedeva can understand that anxiety better than most. She has lived in the Russian capital for four decades since coming to the city for her medical studies, but she’s originally from the Ukrainian city of Lutsk and has relatives who are currently spending nights huddled in air-raid shelters.


“I still have very close friends and classmates in western Ukraine,” she said. “My parents’ graves are there. I’m very upset, as I don’t know when I will be able to go there again.”


The reality of isolation from the wider world is also setting in.


The European Union has closed its airspace to Russia, banning all Russian aircraft from taking off, landing or overflying EU territory. The U.S. imposed a similar ban Tuesday. Russia is all but cut off from the international banking system. Multiple Russian financial institutions have been blocked from Visa and MasterCard networks.


With many sports and artistic institutions curtailing or severing Russian ties, even the realm of popular culture is not immune. On Tuesday, Paramount Pictures announced it would suspend the theatrical release in Russia of the forthcoming films “The Lost City" and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” Disney, Sony and Warner Bros. had made similar announcements regarding the pausing of their own releases, citing the Ukraine crisis.


Some financial effects of the sanctions will take time to be felt, but others have dealt more of a sudden shock. With its reserves for the most part frozen, Russia’s central bank more than doubled its key interest rate to 20%. The ruble’s loss of about a quarter of its value means life savings and pensions in rubles overnight can buy far less in dollar terms.


Nearly a quarter of the country’s population is younger than 18, and a generation of Russians has no firsthand recollection of Soviet days when travel abroad was almost impossible for ordinary people. Now many fear those days have returned.


“I feel totally insecure about my future,” said Zherdeva, the research assistant. “I cannot continue with my life; I keep thinking that I urgently need to leave the country. This realization that I need an urgent escape from here is scary.”


As a result of the attack on Ukraine, a small but determined antiwar protest movement emerged. The rights group OVD-Info, which monitors arrests, has reported about 6,500 detentions in more than a dozen Russian cities since the invasion began.


In Moscow, there is a heavy security presence at sites such as the Ukrainian Embassy, where bouquets piled up in the initial days of fighting, and a monument to the famed Romantic poet Alexander Pushkin, a traditional gathering place for protest events.


This war appears less popular than the 2014 seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula — which was denounced outside Russia, but well received domestically — but even so, many analysts say the Russian leader still has a firm grip on the levers of state power.


Moreover, the outcome is still unknown. Concession by Ukraine to even some of Putin's demands could be painted as victory, even if Russian forces were unable to carry out the swift decapitation-style strike that Western intelligence agencies believe Putin's generals hoped for.


Still, parents of conscription-age young men are increasingly aware of the reality that their sons may be caught up in the carnage. Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations this week read out poignant text messages from a soldier who was killed, telling his mother that he hadn’t even known he was going to war.


That prospect “worries me sick,” said Tamara Panich, a 45-year-old Moscow homemaker who is the mother of an 18-year-old son. For now, he has a university deferment, but she fears it might not last.


“I am a pacifist and believe that the army should be only professional, for people who sign a contract, who choose a military career and like such work,” she said.


In previous bloody wars such as the ones in Afghanistan and Chechnya, bereaved military families made it hard for successive Soviet and Russian governments to conceal the fighting’s true toll.


Petrov, the Chatham House researcher, cited a grim workaround being used by the military to erase a prime symbol of individual and collective battlefield losses.


“They don’t really send them home in body bags now,” he said. “They cremate them.”

Mood darkens in Moscow as Putin presses Ukraine war, but West still largely blamed

----------


## Backspin

> It is, and it shows how incompetent the Russian military is. A lot has been learned from this conflict so far. The first being that Russia is no threat to NATO. As I have said before, a couple squadrons of A-10s and AC-130 gunships would make fast work of that convoy.


This was Russia's air coverage in Europe before the war. You simply have no idea wtf you are talking about

----------


## sabang

*Imran Khan strikes huge trade deal with Russia despite international outcry over war*



Prime minister Imran Khan has struck a deal to import natural gas from Russia – despite outcry over the invasion of Ukraine.

As countries impose sanctions and seek to isolate Vladimir Putin, Khan became the first leader to sign a new trade deal with Russia since the attack.

He said the pair had “great discussions” on his visit to Moscow last week, which took place as Putin launched the invasion.

They signed a bilateral agreement and Khan also agreed to import two million tons of wheat from Russia.

He defended the deal in a televised speech to the nation, saying Pakistan had needed it.

“We have signed agreements with them to import natural gas because Pakistan’s own gas reserves are depleting,” he said.

“Inshallah (God willing), the time will tell that we have had great discussions.”

Khan has expressed concern over the invasion of Ukraine, but fallen short of denouncing it.

A post-meeting statement said Khan told Putin he “regretted the latest situation between Russia and Ukraine” and had hoped “diplomacy could avert a military conflict.”

Now, the top diplomats of 22 countries have called on Pakistan to support a resolution condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in the United Nations General Assembly.

Last week, Russian state media broadcast images of Mr Khan and Mr Putin shaking hands and sitting down together in Moscow, hours after Putin gave a televised address effectively declaring war on Ukraine.

Mr Khan arrived in Moscow late on Wednesday, going ahead with a planned trip on the eve of the invasion.



Imran Khan has agreed to work with Russia, despite the deadly invasion of Ukraine

The prime minister was heard in a video clip telling Russian officials on his arrival that it was a time of “so much excitement”.

“What a time I have come... so much excitement,” Mr Khan can be heard saying in the clip shared on social media.

The US reacted angrily to the news of Mr Khan’s visit even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, saying the onus was on every “responsible” country to voice objection to Mr Putin’s actions.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/imran-khan-strikes-huge-trade-095103492.html

----------


## sabang

*Ukraine says its forces foiled assassination plot against Volodymyr Zelensky*




says its armed forces have foiled an assassination plot against President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Officials said that a unit of elite Chechen special forces, known as Kadyrovites_,_ were involved in the plot against the country’s leader and had been “eliminated”.

Mr Zelensky said after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine that he was Russia’s top target for assassination, and warned that “sabotage groups” were already in Kyiv hunting for him and his family.

“We are well aware of the special operation that was to take place directly by the Kadyrovites to eliminate our president,” said Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council chief Oleksiy Danilo.

He added that the Chechens had been divided into two, with one group eliminated in Gostomel and the other “under fire”.

And he said that Ukrainian authorities were tipped off about the plot by members of Russia’s Federal Security Service, who he claimed do not support the invasion.

Earlier, five people died in a Russian airstrike that damaged Kyiv’sTV tower, as Moscow urged the capital’s residents to flee ahead of what it claimed would be “high-precision strikes”.


The Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs said television channels would be off-air for a while after the explosion in the Shevchenkivs’kyi district, which took place near a memorial site commemorating the victims of Babyn Yar, one of the biggest single massacres of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust.

Exxon Mobil also announced that it would shut down its Russian oil production after the attack on Ukraine.


The Texas-based energy company announced that it would end its involvement in a large Russian oil and gas project, following companies such as BP and Shell in quitting the country.

Exxon had been developing the project on the eastern Russian island of Sakhalin along with the state-controlled company Rosneft, as well as partners from India and Japan.

Ukraine says its forces foiled assassination plot against Volodymyr Zelensky

----------


## misskit

*‘The Convoy Is Stalled’: Logistics Failures Slow Russian Advance, Pentagon Says*

A 40-mile column of Russian invaders has stalled on the way to Kyiv, opening itself to attack by Ukrainians, a senior defense official told reporters Wednesday. 


“We believe that the convoy is stalled,” the official said. “They are not moving at any rate that would lead one to believe that they've solved their problems,” which still include a lack of food, fuel, and spare parts. 


Some Ukrainian troops have also targeted the convoy, although in limited fashion, the official said.


On Wednesday, Ukraine’s security service posted a video of a captured Russian soldier who says he and his unit were sent across the border with only three days’ food. 


“Putin expected to capture Ukraine in three days,” Ukraine’s security service wrote above the video, which could not be independently verified. “By the order of the top Russian leadership, the phones and documents were taken from the fire brigades, removed food and water for three days and sent to war with Ukraine,” the agency said, according to the English translation of the post. 


Insufficient food is among the missteps that have slowed the Russian advance, and perhaps edged Russia into more ferocious and indiscriminate use of missiles and airstrikes. As of Wednesday, Pentagon officials had counted roughly 450 such strikes on Ukrainian targets.


The senior defense official said Pentagon leaders expect the invasion to accelerate as Russia adjusts and gets provisions to its forces inside Ukrain

The fighting and air strikes have been deadly for both sides, although it was impossible to verify casualty numbers. Russia state media RIA Novosti reported Wednesday that 498 Russian soldiers had been killed and 1,597 wounded as of Wednesday; the Ukrainian defense ministry said those numbers were far higher. 


In televised remarks Wednesday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that “in six days of war—this is without counting the losses of the enemy last night—6,000” had died, Zelensky said. “To get what? Get Ukraine? It is impossible.”  


Ukrainian officials also said 2,000 civilians had been killed through Wednesday, but did not say how many Ukrainian soldiers had died. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal captured video of Russian ambulances bringing wounded Russians to aid in Belarus. 


Russia has inserted about 82 percent of the forces it had arrayed along Ukraine’s border, the official said, and around some Ukrainian cities, seemed to be positioning for a longer-term siege. 


Those logistical and planning challenges seemed to reveal that Russian president Vladimir Putin kept almost all of his senior leaders, even his generals—who would have overseen the logistical needs—in the dark about his complete plans for Ukraine, several experts told Defense One on Tuesday. 


“It’s pretty clear the nature of this operation was kept secret from all but a close handful of people,” said RAND Corporation senior political scientist Sam Charap. 


U.S. observers are also surprised that Russia has not engaged in the fully integrated warfare tactics it has aggressively trained on as it modernized its military forces. 


“They don't appear to be integrating their combined arms capabilities to the degree that you would think they would do for an operation of this size and scale and complexity,” the official said. “We've been talking for weeks about the combined arms capabilities, armor, artillery, infantry, special operations, combat, aviation, logistics sustainment…the integration of these elements appears to be lacking.”

‘The Convoy Is Stalled’: Logistics Failures Slow Russian Advance, Pentagon Says   - Defense One

----------


## david44

> Does Biden know the difference between Ukrainian and Iraniun?


I'm pretty sure he know Ukraine is where his son don't shine while Iranium is your new Gulf whore 2 TINDR hook up the Persian version.

I suggest you ignore tweets from Ms Schehrazde Shittyshittybangbang, they are never as fragrant after 1001 Knights on Eccles.

Why not offer your treat seeking missile and services to newly arrive Canadian or Eurasian  ladies who seek are equally at home stripping wallpaper in a vast empty stadium  or cozy weekends BBQ roadkill and puncture repairs.

There's always close yer eyes let MilfoMikey or Reg have a fumble eh?

You deserve a thrill after being mishandled after the Peterboro celebrations.

If anyone knows those responsible for Chittys Date tape rape call Grime Stoppers

 :cmn:

----------


## sabang

*Ukraine asks China to mediate ceasefire with Russia*


Ukraine has asked China to use its ties with Moscow to convince Russia to stop its invasion of the country.

Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba made the request of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in a phone call on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Ukrainian foreign ministry.

The statement said that China’s Foreign Minister told Mr Kuleba that Beijing was ready to make every effort to help end the war through diplomacy.

A Chinese readout, that cites Mr Kuleba, said: “Ukraine is willing to strengthen communications with China, and it looks forward to China playing a mediation role in achieving a ceasefire.”

Mr Wang was also said to have been “extremely concerned about the harm to civilians” in the ongoing conflict.

China has grown closer with Moscow in recent years while also maintaining cordial diplomatic ties and strong trade links with Ukraine. The country has refused to condemn Russia’s attack on the country or to call its actions an invasion.

The call between the two is the first to have been reported since Russia’s attack on its neighbour last Thursday. It was initiated by Mr Kuleba, according to China’s foreign ministry.

Mr Wang repeated China’s call for a solution to the crisis through negotiations, saying it supported all international efforts that could help achieve a political resolution, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.

In January, Chinese President Xi Jinping marked 30 years of ties with Ukraine, hailing the “deepening political mutual trust” between them.

Ukraine is a hub in the Belt and Road Initiative, a sprawling infrastructure and diplomatic undertaking that binds China closer with Europe.

Ukraine asks China to mediate ceasefire with Russia



Also- 

*Russia Needs China's Help to Turn Its IMF Reserves Into Cash for War*


Russia’s narrow path for turning its $24 billion in International Monetary Fund reserves into cash hinges on Chinese authorities and may face additional constraints as it looks for resources to defend the ruble and fund its war effort.

Full Article-  https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/ru...193118907.html


Pretty obvious who the real Winner from this war is gonna be.

----------


## misskit

Janes has a good report on their website.

Janes | The trusted source for defence and security intelligence

----------


## misskit

NATO Countries Pour Weapons Into Ukraine, Risking Conflict With Russia

BRUSSELS — The Dutch are sending rocket launchers for air defense. The Estonians are sending Javelin antitank missiles. The Poles and the Latvians are sending Stinger surface-to-air missiles. The Czechs are sending machine guns, sniper rifles, pistols and ammunition.


Even formerly neutral countries like Sweden and Finland are sending weapons. And Germany, long allergic to sending weapons into conflict zones, is sending Stingers as well as other shoulder-launched rockets.


In all, about 20 countries — most members of NATO and the European Union, but not all — are funneling arms into Ukraine to fight off Russian invaders and arm an insurgency, if the war comes to that.

At the same time, NATO is moving military equipment and as many as 22,000 more troops into member states bordering Russia and Belarus, to reassure them and enhance deterrence.


The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought European countries together, minds concentrated by the larger threat to European security presented by the Russia of President Vladimir V. Putin.


“European security and defense has evolved more in the last six days than in the last two decades,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive arm, asserted in a speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday. Brussels has moved to “Europeanize” the efforts of member states to aid Ukraine with weapons and money and put down a marker for the bloc as a significant military actor.

MORE MSN

----------


## misskit

*Swedish Defence Minister Calls Russian Violation of Airspace 'Unacceptable'*

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Four Russian fighter jets briefly entered Swedish territory over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday, the Swedish Armed Forces said, sparking a swift condemnation from Sweden's defence minister.


Two Russian SU27 and two SU24 fighter jets briefly entered Swedish airspace east of the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, Sweden's Armed Forces said in a statement, adding that Swedish JAS 39 Gripen jets were sent to document the violation.

"The Russian violation of Swedish airspace is of course completely unacceptable," Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told news agency TT. "It will lead to a firm diplomatic response from Sweden. Swedish sovereignty and territory must always be respected."


Sweden's Armed Forces said the situation was under control and that the incident showed preparedness was good.


"In the light of the current situation we view this event very seriously," it said on its website,

Sweden on Sunday said it would send military aid, including 5,000 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, the first time since 1939 that Sweden has sent weapons to a country at war.

Swedish Defence Minister Calls Russian Violation of Airspace '&#39;'Unacceptable'&#39;' | World News | US News

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Imran Khan strikes huge trade deal with Russia despite international outcry over war*


Given the recent news about Pakistan's endemic corruption, Khan has not covered himself in glory, but those ruble notes he was probably rolling around the bed with are worth less than he thought they were.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Swedish Defence Minister Calls Russian Violation of Airspace 'Unacceptable'*
> 
> STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Four Russian fighter jets briefly entered Swedish territory over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday, the Swedish Armed Forces said, sparking a swift condemnation from Sweden's defence minister.



So join NATO you stupid fuck.

----------


## david44

> International flights are almost impossible to come by


Other than the  100_ plus from one of Moscows 3 Int Airports today , There are hundreds of other airports.

Plenty of flights to Israel China Dubai RAK etc and surprisingly Prague.

I'll try track this as I thought teh government had said all CZ to Russia flights blocked?

Aeroflot flight SU2024 - Flightradar24

Arrival also predicted 
Prague Vaclav Havel Airport (PRG/LKPR) | Arrivals, Departures & Routes | Flightradar24
Mayebe a system stuff up or they are still flying to talks, hosted bt Zemun, probably the most pro Eussian had of State in Europe excluding Serbia and Belarus  ?

to Istanbul
7:50 AM
SU2136
Istanbul (IST)
Aeroflot
773

Estimated dep. 7:
50 AM


8:05 AM
SU1860
Yerevan (EVN)
Aeroflot
77W

Estimated dep. 8:05 AM


9:00 AM
RL205
Antalya (AYT)
Royal Flight
77W

Scheduled

9:00 AM
SU4567
Delhi (DEL)
Aeroflot
757

Scheduled

9:05 AM
SU1460
Novosibirsk (OVB)
Aeroflot
320

Canceled

9:10 AM
RL7709
Antalya (AYT)
Royal Flight
738

Scheduled

9:10 AM
SU426
Sharm el-Sheikh (SSH)
Aeroflot
32N

Estimated dep. 9:10 AM

----------


## Switch

Aeroflot seeking somewhere with decent weather to park aircraft long term?

----------


## YourDaddy

Breaking news. Justin Trudeau just said he will be imposing sanctions on president Poutine.

----------


## david44

On March 4, Russia set to impose martial law – Ukraine’s NSDC secretary

Martial law tomorrow?

----------


## malmomike77

On the Beeb, its a disgrace that the people who run these orgs have to be told to do the right thing. They were going to allow them to compete until they were globally lambasted and even the IOC told them they were wrong.

Russia and Belarus banned from 2022 Paralympics


Athletes from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to compete at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing, the International Paralympic Committee has said.

----------


## malmomike77

Summary from the Beeb live-feed

If you're just joining us, here's an update of what we know on day eight of Russia's invasion of Ukraine


In Kyiv:


Four major explosions in the past few hours have been captured on video by witnesses, but it’s unclear what the targets were of if there were casualties, BBC correspondents say the blasts could be heard from two storeys underground in their bunker

A US defence official says a massive convoy of Russian military vehicles close to Kyiv has "stalled" due to fuel and food shortages

In the south:


Russian forces have seized control of the key port city of Kherson, according to local officials. It's the first major Ukrainian city to be taken since the invasion began


In the port city of Mariupol, hundreds of people are feared dead following hours of sustained shelling, the city's deputy mayor says. Ukraine's military claims the city remains in Ukrainian hands

In the NorthEast


There has also been heavy shelling of the country's second city, Kharkhiv

In other developments:


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released a late-night video, praising the courage of citizens in defending their country

More than one million people have now fled Ukraine since the start of the invasion, the UN says, with the number rising rapidly

An investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine has been launched by the International Criminal Court in The Hague

Russia has for the first time said it sustained heavy military casualties during its attack on Ukraine, with 498 troops killed and a further 1,597 injured. Ukraine has claimed that far more Russian troops have been killed. The BBC cannot independently verify these claims.

----------


## David48atTD

> Russia and Belarus banned from 2022 Paralympics


Links help in the News Forum  :Smile: 

Winter Paralympics 2022: Russia and Belarus athletes unable to compete at Games - BBC Sport

----------


## malmomike77

^ It was breaking news on a scrolling live feed at the time Dave.  :Smile:  Thanks for updating.

----------


## David48atTD

> ^ It was breaking news on a scrolling live feed at the time Dave.  Thanks for updating.



Actually I thought you had confused the facts, hence I went looking for the story.

Mainly because, less than a day ago, the commentary was ... "_Athletes from  Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete as neutrals at the 2022  Winter Paralympics in Beijing following the invasion of Ukraine._"

Winter Paralympics 2022: Russia and Belarus athletes classed as neutral after Ukraine invasion - BBC Sport

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine refugee count tops 1 million; Russians besiege ports*

KYIV (AP) — More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, in the swiftest refugee exodus this century, the United Nations said Thursday, as Moscow said it was ready for more talks to end fighting even as its forces pressed their assaults on the country’s second-largest city and two strategic seaports.


The tally the U.N. refugee agency reached Wednesday and amounts to more than 2% of Ukraine’s population being forced out of the country in seven days. The mass evacuation could be seen in Kharkiv, a city of about 1.5 million people where residents desperate to escape falling shells and bombs crowded the city’s train station and pressed onto trains, not always knowing where they were headed.


With a column of tanks and other vehicles apparently stalled for days outside the capital of Kyiv, fighting continued on multiple fronts across Ukraine. A second round of talks aimed at ending the fighting was expected later Thursday in neighboring Belarus — though the two sides appeared to have little common ground.

“We are ready to conduct talks, but we will continue the operation because we won’t allow Ukraine to preserve a military infrastructure that threatens Russia,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, adding that it would let Ukrainians to choose what government they should have.


Lavrov said that the West has continuously armed Ukraine, trained its troops and built up bases there to turn Ukraine into a bulwark against Russia — repeating Russian claims that it has used to justify its operation in Ukraine.


The U.S. and its allies have insisted that NATO is a defensive alliance that doesn’t pose a threat to Russia. And the West fears Russia’s invasion is meant to overthrow Ukraine’s government and install a friendly government.


Russian forces continued their pressure. Britain’s Defense Ministry said Mariupol, a large city on the Azov Sea, was encircled by Russian forces. The status of another vital port, Kherson, a Black Sea shipbuilding city of 280,000, remained unclear.


Russia’s forces claimed to have taken complete control of Kherson, which would be the biggest city to fall in the invasion thus far. Britain’s Defense Ministry said that was possible, though not yet verified. The mayor said there were no Ukrainian forces in the city — but he said the Ukrainian flag was still flying over it.


Overnight, Associated Press reporters in Kyiv heard at least one explosion before videos started circulating of apparent strikes on the capital.


Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had knocked out a reserve broadcasting center in the Lysa Hora district, about 7 kilometers (4 miles) south of the government headquarters. It said unspecified precision weapons were used, and that there were no casualties or damage to residential buildings.


A statement from the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces didn’t address the strikes, saying only that Russian forces were “regrouping” and “trying to reach the northern outskirts” of the city.


“The advance on Kyiv has been rather not very organized and now they’re more or less stuck,” military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told the AP in Moscow.


At least 227 civilians have been killed and another 525 wounded since the invasion began, according to the latest figures from the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Earlier, Ukraine said more than 2,000 civilians have died, a figure that could not be independently verified.

The U.N. office uses strict methodology and counts only confirmed casualties, and admits its figures are a vast undercount.


Still, the tally eclipses the entire civilian casualty count from the fighting in 2014 in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces — which left 136 dead and 577 injured.


Lavrov voiced regret for civilian casualties, insisting that the military is only using precision weapons against military targets, despite abundant evidence of shelling of homes, schools and hospitals. However, he tacitly acknowledged that some Russian strikes could have killed civilians, saying that “any military action is fraught with casualties, and not just among the military but also civilians.”


In his latest defiant videotaped address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to keep up the resistance. He vowed that the invaders would have “not one quiet moment” and described Russian soldiers as “confused children who have been used.”


Moscow’s isolation deepened when most of the world lined up against it at the United Nations to demand it withdraw from Ukraine. The prosecutor for the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into possible war crimes. And in a stunning reversal, the International Paralympic Committee banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Winter Paralympic Games.


Felgenhauer said with the Russian economy already suffering, there could be a “serious internal political crisis” if Russian President Vladimir Putin does not find a way to end the war quickly.


“There’s no real money to run to fight this war,” he said, adding that if Putin and the military “are unable to wrap up this campaign very swiftly and victoriously, they’re in a pickle.”


Several parts of the country were under pressure.


Ukraine’s military said Russian forces “did not achieve the main goal of capturing Mariupol” in its statement, which did not mention the another important port, Kherson, whose status was unclear.


Putin’s forces claimed to have taken complete control of Kherson, and U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Thursday that it was “possible — it’s not verified yet — that Russia is in control” there.


A senior U.S. defense official earlier disputed the Russians controlled the city.


“Our view is that Kherson is very much a contested city,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


]The mayor of Kherson, Igor Kolykhaev, said Russian soldiers were in the city and came to the city administration building. He said he asked them not to shoot civilians and to allow crews to gather up the bodies from the streets.


“We don’t have any Ukrainian forces in the city, only civilians and people here who want to LIVE,” he said in a statement later posted on Facebook.


The mayor said Kherson would maintain a strict 8 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew and restrict traffic into the city to food and medicine deliveries. The city will also require pedestrians to walk in groups no larger than two, obey commands to stop and not to “provoke the troops.”


“The flag flying over us is Ukrainian,” he wrote. “And for it to stay that way, these demands must be observed.”


Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said the attacks there had been relentless.


“We cannot even take the wounded from the streets, from houses and apartments today, since the shelling does not stop,” he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.


Russia reported its military casualties for the first time in the war, saying nearly 500 of its troops have been killed and almost 1,600 wounded. Ukraine did not disclose its own military losses.


Ukraine’s military general staff said in a Facebook post that Russia’s forces had suffered some 9,000 casualties in the fighting. It did not clarify if that figure included both killed and wounded soldiers.


In a video address to the nation early Thursday, Zelenskyy praised his country’s resistance.


“We are a people who in a week have destroyed the plans of the enemy,” he said. “They will have no peace here. They will have no food. They will have here not one quiet moment.”


He said the fighting is taking a toll on the morale of Russian soldiers, who “go into grocery stores and try to find something to eat.”


“These are not warriors of a superpower,” he said. “These are confused children who have been used.”


Meanwhile, the senior U.S. defense official said an immense Russian column of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles appeared to be stalled roughly 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Kyiv and had made no real progress in the last couple of days.


The convoy, which earlier in the week had seemed poised to launch an assault on the capital, has been plagued with fuel and food shortages, the official said.


On the far edges of Kyiv, volunteers well into their 60s manned a checkpoint to try to block the Russian advance.


“In my old age, I had to take up arms,” said Andrey Goncharuk, 68. He said the fighters needed more weapons, but “we’ll kill the enemy and take their weapons.”


Around Ukraine, others crowded into train stations, carrying children wrapped in blankets and dragging wheeled suitcases into new lives as refugees.


In an email, U.N. refugee agency spokesperson Joung-ah Ghedini-Williams told the AP that the refugee count surpassed 1 million as of midnight in central Europe, based on figures collected by national authorities.


Shabia Mantoo, another spokesperson for the agency, said that “at this rate” the exodus from Ukraine could make it the source of “the biggest refugee crisis this century.”

Ukraine refugee count tops 1 million; Russians besiege ports | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine Pounded and Exodus Mounts as Russia Seizes Key City*

Russian troops seized Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to fall in a war that has drawn global outrage and driven one million civilians from their homes, ahead of ceasefire talks Thursday.


With the diplomatic and economic costs mounting for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky extolled his own people's "heroic" resistance.


He said that around 9,000 Russian soldiers had been killed since the invasion began eight days ago. Announcing its own toll for the first time, Moscow said it had lost 498 troops.


"We are a nation that broke the enemy's plans in a week," President Zelensky said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging service.


"Plans written for years: sneaky, full of hatred for our country, our people."

However, after a three-day siege that left Kherson short of food and medicine, Ukrainian officials conceded the loss of the Black Sea city of 290,000 people.


While a huge military column is stalled north of Ukraine's capital Kyiv, Russian troops have been advancing on the southern front, and are besieging the important port city of Mariupol east of Kherson. 

The Russians "just wanted to destroy us all," Mariupol's mayor Vadym Boychenko said, accusing their forces of shooting at residential buildings. 


Ukraine's military authorities said residential and other areas in the eastern city of Kharkiv had been "pounded all night" by indiscriminate shelling, which UN prosecutors are investigating as a possible war crime.


Oleg Rubak's wife Katia, 29, was crushed in the rubble of their family home in Zhytomyr, 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of Kyiv, by a Russian missile strike.


"One minute I saw her going into the bedroom, a minute later there was nothing," Rubak, 32, told AFP, standing by the ruins in jogging bottoms and a fleece.


"I hope she's in heaven and all is perfect for her."


He sobbed, apologized, and continued: "I want the whole world to hear my story."


Junk status 


The UN says the war has displaced more than one million people, after Putin launched his offensive in a bid to demilitarize Ukraine and depose Zelensky's Western-leading government.


But the Russian president now finds himself an international pariah, his country the subject of swingeing sanctions that sent the ruble into further freefall on currency markets Thursday.


Russia's central bank — whose foreign reserves have been frozen in the West — imposed a 30-percent tax on all sales of hard currency, following a run on lenders by ordinary Russians.


The unfolding financial costs were underlined as ratings agencies Fitch and Moody's slashed Russia's sovereign debt to "junk" status. 

Its sporting isolation worsened as the International Paralympic Committee staged an abrupt U-turn and banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in the Beijing Winter Games.


The UN General Assembly voted 141-5 to demand that Russia "immediately" withdraw from Ukraine. Only four countries supported Russia — Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea and Syria — while China abstained.


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western politicians of considering nuclear war, saying it was in their heads "that the idea of a nuclear war is spinning constantly, and not in the heads of Russians."


The invasion has triggered a dramatic realignment of security policy in Europe, with NATO reinforcing its eastern flank and Germany planning a big increase in military spending. 


The German government is planning to deliver another 2,700 anti-air missiles to Ukraine, a source said.


US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the human costs were already "staggering," accusing Russia of attacking places that "aren't military targets."


"Hundreds if not thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded," said Blinken, who will travel to eastern Europe next week to shore up support for Ukraine — and for efforts to secure a ceasefire.


Kyiv is sending a delegation to Thursday's ceasefire talks, at an undisclosed location on the Belarus-Poland border but has warned it will not accept "ultimatums."


A first round of talks on Monday, also in Belarus, yielded no breakthrough.


Leaving everything behind 


Many Ukrainians have now fled across the border into neighboring Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova, according to the UN refugee agency's rapidly rising tally.


"We left everything there as they came and ruined our lives," refugee Svitlana Mostepanenko told AFP in Prague. 


"They're bombing even civilian houses where there are kids, small kids, children, they die now."


Nathalia Lypka, a professor of German from the eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, fled to Berlin with her 21-year-old daughter.


"My husband and son stayed... My husband already served in the army, and he had to return to duty," she said, before boarding a train for Stuttgart where friends are waiting to take them in.


"We thank Europe for its support."


Putin's long-telegraphed invasion has frequently appeared hamstrung by poor logistics, tactical blunders and fierce resistance from Ukraine's underpowered and outgunned military — and from ever-swelling ranks of volunteer fighters.


Scores of images have emerged of burned-out Russian tanks, the charred remains of transporters and of unarmed Ukrainians confronting bewildered occupying forces.


U.S. officials say the massive column of Russian military vehicles amassed north of Kyiv has "stalled" due to fuel and food shortages. 


Russian authorities have imposed a media blackout on what the Kremlin euphemistically calls a "special military operation".


The Ekho Moskvy radio station — a symbol of new-found media freedom in post-Soviet Russia — said it would shut down after being taken off air over its coverage of the invasion.


But Russians have still turned out for large anti-war protests across the country, in a direct challenge to Putin's 20-year rule.


Thousands of anti-war demonstrators have been detained, including several dozen in rallies in Moscow and Saint Petersburg on Wednesday.


"I couldn't stay at home. This war has to be stopped," student Anton Kislov, 21, told AFP.

Ukraine Pounded and Exodus Mounts as Russia Seizes Key City - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

Russia's Lavrov Accuses West of Fixating on 'Nuclear War'

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused Western politicians of fixating on nuclear war, one week after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.


"It is clear that World War Three can only be nuclear," Lavrov said in an online interview with Russian and foreign media.


"I would like to point out that it's in the heads of Western politicians that the idea of a nuclear war is spinning constantly, and not in the heads of Russians," he said.

"Therefore I assure you that we will not allow any provocations to throw us off balance," Lavrov added. 


On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's nuclear forces be put on high alert, accusing the West of taking "unfriendly" steps against his country. 

Moscow has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and a huge cache of ballistic missiles which form the backbone of the country's deterrence forces.

Russia's Lavrov Accuses West of Fixating on 'Nuclear War' - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Russia's Lavrov Accuses West of Fixating on 'Nuclear War'
> 
> Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday accused Western politicians of fixating on nuclear war, one week after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.


Someone needs to tell the stupid old twat who brought up the subject. What a fucking imbecile.

 :rofl:

----------


## misskit

^ Thought so, too. Bring your nuclear forces to standby, then blame the other side for being fixated on nukes. Almost as if it were intentional.

----------


## Shutree

> ^ Thought so, too. Bring your nuclear forces to standby, then blame the other side for being fixated on nukes. Almost as if it were intentional.


Exactly.

----------


## Shutree

A dangerous escalation.

----------


## helge

Heard today that a russian guy (rich) has put a price on Putin's head.

100 mill dorlassos

My neighbor told me

----------


## DrWilly

Link is broken

----------


## malmomike77

Its $1M, he'll be looking over his shoulder for the rest of the time until he get a whiff of nerve agent.



Russian businessman Alex Konanykhin has placed a $1 million bounty on the head of Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging Russian officers to arrest their president as a “war criminal.”


“I promise to pay $1,000,000 to the officer(s) who, complying with their constitutional duty, arrest(s) Putin as a war criminal under Russian and international laws,” Konanykhin wrote in a Facebook post earlier this week.


Konanykhin went as far as questioning Putin’s legitimacy as the Russian president, noting that “he came to power as the result of a special operation of blowing up apartment buildings in Russia,” while violating “the Constitution by eliminating free elections and murdering his opponents.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-based-russian-businessman-offers-1-million-bounty-for-putins-arrest/

----------


## helge

> Link is broken


Maybe he's drunk



> Its $1M


Yep, that's my neighbor in a nutshell  :Smile:

----------


## David48atTD

Airline software giant ends distribution service with Russias Aeroflot, crippling carriers ability to sell seats



*Key Points*

Sabre  Corp. on Thursday said it terminated its distribution agreement with  Russias Aeroflot, a move that Europes Amadeus followed suit.The Texas-based airline software giant provides ticket distribution and reservation services for carriers around the world.Sabres decision is the latest that has isolated Russias airlines since the country invaded Ukraine last week. 

Airline software giant ends distribution service for Russia'&#39;'s Aeroflot

----------


## sabang

_Ukrainian and Russian officials agree on a plan for safe corridors, backed by possible ceasefires, to evacuate civilians.


A second round of talks between Kyiv and Moscow has ended, with the two sides agreeing on a tentative plan to create a humanitarian corridor.Russian President Vladimir Putin says operations in Ukraine were going to plan.Russian troops have seized control of Kherson, in Ukraines south.Several other cities, including the capital, Kyiv, northeastern Kharkiv and Mariupol, in the southeast, continue to be attacked.President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraines defence lines are holding.The United Nations says more than one million people have fled Ukraine amid Russias assault.

Russia-Ukraine live: Kyiv, Moscow agree to humanitarian corridors | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera
_

----------


## malmomike77

> Russian President Vladimir Putin says operations in Ukraine were going to plan.


What is the plan?

----------


## sabang

_French President Emmanuel Macron says he fears the ‘worst is to come’ in Ukraine after a phone call with the Russian president.

President Vladimir Putin has insisted Russia’s military advance in Ukraine is “going to plan” as Kyiv and Moscow agreed to create humanitarian corridors for civilians to escape the Russian invasion.
After the fall of a first major Ukrainian city to Russian forces, Putin on Thursday appeared in no mood to heed a global clamour for hostilities to end as the war entered its second week.


Putin again said Russia was rooting out “neo-Nazis”, adding during the televised opening of a national security council meeting that he “will never give up on [his] conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.”
Reporting from Moscow, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said that Putin’s statements aimed to try to “convince the Russian population that things are absolutely going according to plan, reiterating the narrative that they are fighting a good fight in Ukraine, and that they are doing it for the security of their own country.”


‘Worst to come’

Putin earlier told French President Emmanuel Macron that Moscow “intends to continue the uncompromising fight against militants of nationalist armed groups”, according to a Kremlin account of their 90-minute call.
Following the call, a senior aide to Macron said the French leader believed “the worst is to come” in Ukraine.
“The expectation of the president is that the worst is to come, given what President Putin told him,” the senior aide old reporters on condition of anonymity.
“There was nothing in what President Putin told us that should reassure us. He showed great determination to continue the operation,” the aide continued.
He added that Putin “wanted to seize control of the whole of Ukraine. He will, in his own words, carry out his operation to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine to the end.”
“You can understand the extent to which these words are shocking and unacceptable and the president told him that it was lies,” the aide said.

Russia’s Putin says Ukraine advance ‘going to plan’ | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera
_

----------


## malmomike77

^ So its a dribbling nutter reducing a country to rubble and killing countless innocent civilians, all because he's lost the few remaining marbles he had during the COVID years. He's surrounded by an apparatus too scared to tell him he's taking his country into the dark ages as a result of his actions. Russia faces decades in isolation now and he's driven bordering countries closer to NATO, reinvigorated NATO and countries previously dependant upon Gazprom oil and gas will re-double efforts to seek alternant sources and de-carbonise at a faster rate.

Brilliant strategy.

----------


## misskit

*US Bars Russian Citizens From Piloting Planes Over United States*

The U.S. has barred all Russian citizens who own or lease aircraft in the United States from piloting those planes in the country's airspace. 


A Notice to Air Missions released Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration declares that “all aircraft, regardless of the state of registry, owned, chartered, leased, operated or controlled by, for, or for the benefit of, a person who is a citizen of the Russian Federation are prohibited from operating to, from, with ot through U.S. territorial airspace, except for aircraft engaged in humanitarian or SAR [search and rescue] operation specifically authorized by the FAA.” 

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that all U.S. airspace was closed to Russian aircraft, but the FAA’s announcement takes it a step further and bars any Russian citizen from even operating an aircraft in U.S. airspace. 


The notice grants exceptions to any Russian flight given diplomatic clearance by the State Department or an aircraft experiencing an in-flight emergency. 


Aircraft that do not comply “may be intercepted, and their pilots and other crewmembers detained and interviewed by law enforcement or security personnel.”

US Bars Russian Citizens From Piloting Planes Over United States  - Defense One

----------


## sabang

TBH, I think threats of Putin being 'hated by the West' largely fall on deaf ears. He's been hated by the West for years! More pertinent I reckon is how his domestic popularity is faring.

^ Kinda wish they had done that with Saudis back in the day.

----------


## misskit

*Top Russian general killed by Ukrainian sniper in major blow for Putin*


One of Vladimir Putin’s most senior paratroopers was gunned down by a “sniper” during a special operation in Ukraine.
Major-General Andrey Sukhovetsky, 47, was the deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District.


There has been no official announcement over his death but a military source confirmed: “This is true. Sniper.”


His funeral back in Russia is scheduled for Saturday.

Russia general killed by Ukrainian sniper in major blow for Putin’s war | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

----------


## Norton

> More pertinent I reckon is how his domestic popularity is faring.


Will hinge on the degree the sanctions effect your average Russian. His popularity jumped up and remained high when he invaded Crimea but little in the way of sanctions were applied. Different story with Ukraine invasion as the sanctions will no doubt impact your average Ivan hard in the pocket. Time is Putin's enemy. If this goes on and on for a lengthy period the impact will hit Russian folks very hard economically.

----------


## bsnub

> Different story with Ukraine invasion as the sanctions will no doubt impact your average Ivan hard in the pocket.


There has already been a run on the banks, most of which are out of money, especially foreign currency. The economy is in the midst of a total collapse.

----------


## Joe 90

> *Top Russian general killed by Ukrainian sniper in major blow for Putin*
> 
> 
> One of Vladimir Putin’s most senior paratroopers was gunned down by a “sniper” during a special operation in Ukraine.
> Major-General Andrey Sukhovetsky, 47, was the deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District.
> 
> 
> There has been no official announcement over his death but a military source confirmed: “This is true. Sniper.”
> 
> ...


That's a major scalp for the Ukrainians and just highlights the incompetence and complacency of the invaders.

----------


## Switch

> Will hinge on the degree the sanctions effect your average Russian. His popularity jumped up and remained high when he invaded Crimea but little in the way of sanctions were applied. Different story with Ukraine invasion as the sanctions will no doubt impact your average Ivan hard in the pocket. Time is Putin's enemy. If this goes on and on for a lengthy period the impact will hit Russian folks very hard economically.


I could be wrong about this, but the “average Russian” is not sufficiently powerful in the country to effect change.
Probably Russians a bit higher up the food chain have more influence and they are more dependent on keeping the internal money markets working.
Maybe the structure of Russian society is tweaked in their favour, and they can have more impact. Russia is already bottom of the G20 in terms of perceived corruption, so the little average person has no hope in society anyway.

I hope I am proved wrong on this, but it’s such a confusing and crooked society, I don’t know how it survives from day to day, just based on the circulation of dirty capital.
Maybe the bigger danger to Putin is losing the support of his general staff? His access to Air and Naval support seems very limited for what he’s trying to achieve?

----------


## bsnub

This week, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya,  read out before the General Assembly what he said were text messages a  Russian soldier sent to his mother moments before he was killed. They  were obtained, he said, by Ukrainian forces after the soldier died.

“Mama,  I’m in Ukraine,” the ambassador read. “There is a real war raging here.  I’m afraid. We are bombing all of the cities together, even targeting  civilians. We were told that they would welcome us and they are falling  under our armored vehicles, throwing themselves under the wheels and not  allowing us to pass. They call us fascists. Mama, this is so hard.”

The  messages — read out under the global spotlight of a high-profile United  Nations meeting — offered a poignant reminder of the human cost of war.  They also served as a potent example of how central the battle is for public opinion around the world in a lopsided war between Russia’s military machine and a scrappy, increasingly better-armed Ukraine.
Both sides’ efforts to influence the narrative and perception of the war are striking.

Ukrainian  officials are using the reports and images on social media of Russian  casualties to try to undercut the morale of the invading forces.  President Vladimir V. Putin, meanwhile, has described the government of  President Volodymyr Zelensky as “a band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”  And at least some Russian soldiers appear to have imbibed the  misinformation emanating from the Kremlin that their invasion would be  welcomed.

Ukraine’s  military, interior ministry and U.N. ambassador did not respond to  requests for more information to help verify the authenticity of the  messages read out at the United Nations.

Whatever  their origins, the messages allude to an undeniable theme of the war:  Fierce resistance by Ukrainian forces has denied Mr. Putin the quick and  easy victory Russia appears to have anticipated, while some among  Russia’s young military force have been ill-prepared for battle and  buffeted by bad morale.

On Tuesday, a  senior Pentagon official said that entire Russian units had laid down  their arms without a fight after confronting surprisingly robust  Ukrainian defenders. In some cases, Russian troops have punched holes in  their vehicles’ gas tanks, presumably to avoid combat, the official  said.

The decision to read the text messages, Russia experts and Pentagon  officials said, was also a not-so-veiled reminder to Mr. Putin of the  role Russian mothers have had in bringing attention to military losses  that the government tried to keep secret.

In fact, a group now called the Union of Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers  of Russia played a pivotal part in opening up the military to public  scrutiny and in influencing perceptions of military service, Julie  Elkner, a Russia historian, wrote in The Journal of Power Institutions in Post-Soviet Societies.

For Mr. Putin,  the rising death toll on the Russian side could undermine domestic  support for his Ukrainian incursion. Russian memories are long — and  mothers of soldiers, in particular, American officials say, could easily  hark back to the 15,000 troops killed when the Soviet Union invaded and  occupied Afghanistan, or the thousands killed in Chechnya.

Mr.  Putin has tried to counter assessments from Western officials that  Russia was running into greater resistance than expected. But on  Thursday, he acknowledged there had been losses, promising the families  of the fallen a special payout of 5 million rubles, or nearly $50,000.

Information Battle Over Ukraine Intensifies - The New York Times

----------


## pickel

*Ukrainian officials confirm huge nuclear power plant is on fire*
Russian forces shelled Europe's largest nuclear plant early  Friday in the battle for control of a crucial energy-producing city, and  the power station was on fire.

  Plant  spokesperson Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were  falling directly on the Zaporizhzhia plant in Enerhodar and had set fire  to one of the facility's six reactors. That reactor is under renovation  and not operating, but there is nuclear fuel inside, he said.

  Firefighters cannot get near the fire because they are being shot at, Tuz said.

  Ukraine's  foreign minister warned that if the plant explodes, it will be 10 times  worse that the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, when a reactor went into  meltdown and sent nearly 10 tonnes of radioactive material into the  atmosphere and surrounding regions about 100 kilometres north of Kyiv.  Two workers were killed immediately and another 30 died within weeks  from radiation exposure.

Ukrainian officials confirm huge nuclear power plant is on fire | CBC News

----------


## Mendip

0:37 (Friday 4th GMT +1)
*Europe's largest nuclear plant is on fire, say local officials
*
  A fire has reportedly broken out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.

  It appears to have been caused by "continuous enemy shelling of [the plant's] buildings and units", according to Mayor Dmytro Orlov of nearby Enerhodar.

  Orlov had previously reported intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces on the outskirts of his city, which is in the southeast.

  Russian troops had tried to enter the city in tanks and seize the plant, but residents and workers were seen congregating around the plant and its surrounding roads on Wednesday.
  Ukraine has four active nuclear plants including Zaporizhzhia.

  It also deals with nuclear waste at sites like Chernobyl, now under Russian control.

  The International Atomic Energy Agency said earlier today that it is consulting with Ukraine "and others with a view to provide maximum possible assistance to the country as it seeks to maintain nuclear safety and security in the current difficult circumstances".


1:13 (Friday 4th GMT +1)
*Alarms raised over attack on nuclear plant
*
  Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Russian troops are "firing from all sides" at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest plant in Europe. 

  As we just reported, local officials say that a fire has broken out in the plant because of these attacks.

  "Russians must IMMEDIATELY cease the fire, allow firefighters, establish a security zone!" he wrote on Twitter.

  Laura Rockwood, the director of the Open Nuclear Network non-profit, earlier told the BBC's Radio 4 that the war could have an impact on Ukraine's electricity grid, which depends on nuclear power. 

  She said military activity around a plant poses two direct risks to nuclear installations - potential damage to a plant's infrastructure and harm to its personnel, or much more serious damage that affects a plant's operational abilities that could cause a meltdown. 

Ukraine latest news: Zelensky asks Putin for talks as humanitarian crisis grows - BBC News

----------


## pickel

This is a live view. There is still smoke on the right, but this was a much bigger fire when I was viewing it earlier.

----------


## HermantheGerman

> I could be wrong about this, but the “average Russian” is not sufficiently powerful in the country to effect change.


The average Russian soldier is not very smart, this makes this war even more dangerous.

----------


## Switch

> The average Russian soldier is not very smart, this makes this war even more dangerous.


My quoted response was directed at Nortons post claiming that sanctions might cause the average citizen to revolt.
Russian soldiers are not much different the world over. Many are dumb, some are brainwashed, and some are smarter than both you and I together.
Now it seems even the dumb and brainwashed are smart enough to let family back home know about their doubts.

----------


## HermantheGerman

> My quoted response was directed at Nortons post claiming that sanctions might cause the average citizen to revolt.
> Russian soldiers are not much different the world over. Many are dumb, some are brainwashed, and some are smarter than both you and I together.
> Now it seems even the dumb and brainwashed are smart enough to let family back home know about their doubts.


Russia has a draft. Saw a report yesterday that Putin purposely picked young men from Siberia who had no clue to where and why they are going to Ukraine.

----------


## malmomike77

> Europe's largest nuclear plant is on fire, say local officials


Madness, the Russians were reportedly firing mortars at the plant. Insane, i'm sure with our age profile on here we all remember Chernobyl.


Ukraine warns of disaster 10 times larger than Chernobyl as biggest nuclear plant under heavy weapons fire The facility is one of largest in Europe

Missiles hit Ukraines biggest nuclear plant starting major fires.

Russian troops outside the city of Enerhodar are shelling the Zaporizhzhia power plant, Ukraines largest nuclear facility, and a fire has broken out, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian leaders warn the attacks are creating a real threat of nuclear danger at the power station, the largest plant of its kind in Europe.

We demand that they stop the heavy weapons fire, Andriy Tuz, a spokesperson for the plant, said in a video posted on Telegram. There is a real threat of nuclear danger in the biggest atomic energy station in Europe.

f the shelling continues, it could cause a nuclear disaster 10 times worse than Chernobyl, warned Ukrainian Foreign Affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba on Twitter on Thursday.

Fire has already broke out, he said. If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chornobyl! Russians must IMMEDIATELY cease the fire, allow firefighters, establish a security zone!

Elevated levels of radiation were detected near the plant, which supplies a quarter of Ukraines energy, an anonymous government official told The Associated Press.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday it is in contact with Ukrainian authorities about the reported shelling.

The facility has six total reactors. At least one reactor, which is under renovation and non-operational, is on fire and contains nuclear fuel, according to a plant spokesperson.

Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of Enerhodar, said on Friday on his Telegram channel that the plant was on fire as a result of continuous enemy shelling of buildings.

He added that Russian tanks had entered the town of 50,000, and their attacks had resulted in casualties.

Russian troops have been attacking the plant with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, as well as shooting at Ukrainian firefighters, according to US Senator Marco Rubio, vice chair of the Senate 

More: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/russia-ukraine-nuclear-plant-zaporizhzhia-b2028294.html

----------


## malmomike77

Going to make it harder for them to even fly to the only places they aren't banned from.

UK shuts out Russian companies from aviation insurance market

LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Britain will ban Russian companies from the multi-billion dollar aviation and space insurance market in London, the world's largest commercial and speciality insurance centre, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

Russian companies in the aviation or space industry will be blocked from accessing British-based insurance or reinsurance services directly or indirectly, the ministry said.

"The UK Government will bring in legislation to prohibit UK-based insurance and reinsurance providers from undertaking financial transactions connected with a Russian entity or for use in Russia," the Treasury department said.

"Further details of the legislation will be available in due course."

The sanctions only apply to aviation and space insurance but the British government has said it is constantly looking at new ways to isolate Russia.

The move on aviation insurance will leave Russian commercial airlines scrabbling to get cover elsewhere. Industry sources say this could include from Chinese reinsurers, while other Western insurers are likely to hold back from the business, fearful of other countries imposing similar restrictions.

The ban could lead to a sharp rise in aviation premiums because of the loss to the insurance sector, an aviation industry executive said.

Russian airline Aeroflot (AFLT.MM) is insured in the London market by a consortium led by underwriter Global Aerospace, two sources told Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-shuts-out-russian-companies-insurance-market-2022-03-03/

----------


## bsnub

> Insane, i'm sure with our age profile on here we all remember Chernobyl.


I was in Germany at the time and the USSR was mum the word on it for many days, even after NATO sensors had detected a large radiation cloud. Forces were put to high alert and military dependents were told to be ready to be flown back to the US. Scary time than that reminds me of the current day with this war on.

----------


## malmomike77

> Scary time than that reminds me of the current day with this war on.


Where i am in the UK atm, the Lake District only lifted restrictions on Sheep farming sales in 2012, it took 26 years due to the fall out contamination.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-18299228

----------


## bsnub

> the Lake District only lifted restrictions on Sheep farming sales in 2012, it took 26 years due to the fall out contamination.


Wow! Make this current situation all the more frightening.

----------


## Switch

> Russia has a draft. Saw a report yesterday that Putin purposely picked young men from Siberia who had no clue to where and why they are going to Ukraine.


That makes sense.

----------


## sabang

Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos has issued its latest round of threats in response to global sanctions, this time claiming Russia will no longer sell rocket engines to the United States. Most rocket launches in the US should not be affected, but the decision could change how cargo is sent to the International Space Station.

The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, announced the new policy in an interview with the Russia 24 TV channel. “Today we have made a decision to halt the deliveries of rocket engines produced by NPO Energomash to the United States,” Rogozin said in the interview, according to Russia’s state press site Tass. “Let me remind you that these deliveries had been quite intensive somewhere since the mid-1990s.” Rogozin also added: “Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don’t know what,” according to Reuters.

“Today we have made a decision to halt the deliveries of rocket engines.”

The decision would primarily affect two companies in the US: the United Launch Alliance, which is a key launch provider for NASA and the US Department of Defense, and Northrop Grumman, which periodically launches cargo to the International Space Station for NASA. Both companies rely on Russian rocket engines made by NPO Energomash to propel their vehicles to space. However, ULA claims it already has all the Russian-supplied engines it needs for its rockets, as it transitions to a new vehicle with an American-made engine. As for Northrop Grumman, this decision may pause future flights of the company’s vehicles.

Russia says it will no longer sell rocket engines to the United States (msn.com)

----------


## David48atTD

Russian forces seize huge Ukrainian nuclear plant, fire extinguished

LVIV,  Ukraine/KYIV/PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - A huge blaze in a building at  the site of Europe's biggest nuclear power station was extinguished on  Friday and officials said the plant was operating normally, seized by  Russian forces in heavy fighting that caused global alarm.

Officials  said the fire at the Zaporizhzhia compound was in a training centre and  not at the plant itself. An official at Energoatom, the state  enterprise that runs Ukraine's four nuclear plants, said there was no  further fighting, the fire was out, radiation was normal and Russian  forces were in control.


However  he said his organisation no longer had communication with the plant's  managers, control over the radiation situation there or oversight of  potentially dangerous nuclear material in its six reactors and about 150  containers of spent fuel.

Russia's  defence ministry also said the plant was working normally. It blamed  the fire on a "monstrous attack" by Ukrainian saboteurs and said its  forces were in control.

Russian forces seize huge Ukrainian nuclear plant, fire extinguished | Reuters

----------


## bsnub

> Russia says it will no longer sell rocket engines to the United States


Big deal. SpaceX will step in to that space.

----------


## misskit

* ‘No to war,’ says staff of Russian news channel as they resign on air*

After being ordered to shut down due to coverage of Ukraine's invasion, Russian television channel TV Rain (Dozhd) has suspended operations. The channel has been accused of showing "banned" content where they also referred to the conflict in Ukraine as a "war."


A video which has gone viral shows the staff resigning on air, after declaring ‘no to war’ in its last telecast. Journalists from the same channel decided to take a stand for peace. 

“No to war," said Natalia Sindeyeva, one of the channel’s founders. After this, the employees staged a walk-out from the studio.

The channel also played Tchaikovsky’s ‘Swan Lake,' referring to the moment from August 1991 when Soviet TV stations showed the ballet instead of the live civil unrest. 

Meanwhile, the Russian forces have seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine's southeast.


It is the Europe's largest nuclear power plant.


"Operational personnel are monitoring the condition of power units," it said on social media, while quoting the Ukrainian nuclear inspectorate.


This comes as intense fighting is going on between Russian and Ukrainian forces.  


On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), while citing the country's regulatory authorities, said that essential equipment at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was unaffected in the incident and there was no change in radiation levels.  


Ukraine had said that the plant in its southeast was shelled overnight, the IAEA added. 

WATCH Watch: ‘No to war,’ says staff of Russian news channel as they resign on air, World News | wionews.com

----------


## sabang

^ Interesting that, because the Ukrainian government banned them in January 2017!
Dozhd - Wikipedia

----------


## HermantheGerman

> Big deal. SpaceX will step in to that space.



Let the Germans have a go at it and you'll be flying to Neptune in no time.  :Smile:

----------


## Switch

I’m sure NASA will find something else to spend their money on.

----------


## Backspin

> Big deal. SpaceX will step in to that space.


Was supposed to have already back in 2015. But hasn't

----------


## Joe 90

Some interesting stuff on this Twitter account...

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos has issued its latest round of threats in response to global sanctions, this time claiming Russia will no longer sell rocket engines to the United States.


Elon Musk is already thanking them.

----------


## bsnub

Five Russian soldiers sit in a brick building. They are blindfolded: the latest prisoners to be captured inside Ukraine.  A Ukrainian voice interrogates them. Speak, he says to the groups  Russian officer. What message would he like to send to his soldiers and  to Russians back at home?

Frankly speaking,  they tricked us, the officer replies, referring to his military  superiors sitting in Moscow. Everything we were told was a fake. I  would tell my guys to leave Ukrainian territory. Weve got families and  children. I think 90% of us would agree to go home.

The  three-minute video was filmed under conditions of duress. The soldiers  are evidently scared. And yet there are numerous similar interviews with  Russian captives which have been circulating on Ukrainian social media  channels, expressing similar sentiments.

Asked what he would tell his commanders, one said bluntly: They are faggots. Another phrase frequently used is _oni obmanuli nas:_  they duped us. Eight days after Vladimir Putins invasion it is clear  that a significant number of his servicemen are demoralised and  reluctant to fight. Some have given themselves up.

Others  have abandoned their vehicles and have set off back towards the Russian  border on foot, lugging their weapons and kitbags, videos suggest.  These episodes do not mean that the Kremlin will fail in its attempts to  conquer Ukraine, as its tactics shift to brutal shelling of civilians.

But  low morale among invading troops might be one reason why Russias  blitzkrieg plan to overwhelm Ukraine appears not to have progressed at  the speed Putin would have wanted. The assumption in Moscow was that the  operation would be swift and successful. Soldiers were given food and  fuel supplies for only two or three days, the videos suggest.

The  Kremlin also appears to have had a totally fantastical idea of the  reception they would get. Several prisoners of war said they had been  assured Ukrainians would welcome them as liberators. Russian forces were  expecting flowers and cheers, not bullets and bombs, they said.

Some of them thought they were on military  exercises. They didnt anticipate resistance, Artem Mazhulin, a  31-year-old English teacher from Kharkiv said. A lot are conscripts  born in 2002 or 2003. We are talking about 19-year-old and 20-year-old  boys.

He added: Since 2014 the Russian government has been brainwashing its population with propaganda. They try and make Russia believe Ukraine is not a real country and say fascist monsters have captured it.

Mazhulin  said his uncle and aunt, Viktor and Valentina, had talked with Russian  soldiers when they rolled past their house in Kupiansk, in north-east  Ukraine, close to the border. The soldiers explained they were looking  for _Banderivtsi_, or followers of the second world war Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.

My uncle said to them: Where the fuck do you see _Banderivtsi_? My aunt told them to get off her flowerbeds, Mazhulin recounted. They called my uncle _Batya_ (Dad) and chatted with him about pigeon breeding, his hobby. Then they drove off on their tank.

In a video address on Thursday Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelenskiy   pressed home the same message: that Putin has sent his invading forces  into Ukraine without an understandable mission. They are demoralised.  They are doomed, he said, telling enemy soldiers to go home.

Ukraine  claims to have killed several thousand Russian troops. This figure may  be an exaggeration, but on Wednesday, however, even the Kremlin admitted  498 of its servicemen had died, with 1,591 wounded.

Alex Kovzhun, a one-time adviser to Ukraines  former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, said Russian soldiers could be  divided into two sorts: There are the young conscripts who are scared  shitless. And there are career guys who have fought in Syria and the  Donbas.

Kovzhun said the Russian general  staff had thought the invasion would be easy peasy, and a repeat of  the operations to seize Crimea in 2014, or their recent deployment to  Kazakhstan, which were largely unopposed. Instead, Ukrainian civilians  had stood in front of enemy tanks, blocked armoured columns with their  bare hands and had sung the national anthem in front of twitchy Russian  guards.

They shout expletives in front of  armed people. Ive seen the Russian faces. They are very uncomfortable  because its not what they expected. They were told Ukrainians were  imprisoned by mythic Nazis, he added.

Nick  Reynolds, a research analyst for land warfare at the defence and  security think tank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said the  Ukrainian figure for killed enemy soldiers was likely to be a more  reliable than the Russian estimate, adding that the footage of  engagements involving Russian forces available online suggested the toll  the Kremlin was willing to admit to had already been exceeded.

Nevertheless, he added, there is little to show  how the Ukrainian authorities have arrived at their own total. The  several thousand dead tally could itself be a slight exaggeration, he  said.
There is no doubt Ukraine is utilising  the discomfort of captured soldiers for propaganda purposes. Several  videos show young men calling their mothers back in Russia,  who have no idea their sons are fighting in Ukraine. The mothers  typically break down. The Ukrainian authorities have opened a hotline  for worried Russian relatives, in another PR scoop.

Nonetheless,  there is an authentic sense that many Russian servicemen regret ever  having come to Ukraine, a journey that has ended for some in death or  disillusionment. One interrogator asks a prisoner: So, what do you  think, are you soldiers of the strong Russian army or cannon fodder?

We are cannon fodder, the PoW replies.

Was it worth it? the interrogator says, by way of follow-up.

No, the prisoner says.

Demoralised Russian soldiers tell of anger at being duped into war | Russia | The Guardian

----------


## bsnub



----------


## Little Chuchok



----------


## Troy

Does anyone know what the Russian demands were at the negotiation table on Thursday?

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Does anyone know what the Russian demands were at the negotiation table on Thursday?


Unless it involves them fucking off out of Ukraine and staying out, tell them to fuck off.

----------


## Norton

> Does anyone know what the Russian demands were at the negotiation table on Thursday?


"Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said while his country was ready for talks to resume, Russia's demands had not changed and he would not accept any ultimatums.

Russian officials said Moscow's demands included Ukraine's recognition of Russia's hold on Crimea, independence for the separatist-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as "de-militarisation" and "de-Nazification".

Ukraine and Russia end second round of peace talks in regret, as reports dispute port city'&#39;'s fall - ABC News

----------


## nidhogg

> Does anyone know what the Russian demands were at the negotiation table on Thursday?


Hot tea and more vodka would be my guess.

----------


## malmomike77

Sadly i am not surprised.

From 2h ago
11:11

Mariupol evacuation postponed
Reuters has this update on the partial ceasefire in Mariupol:

Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol said an evacuation of civilians planned for Saturday had been postponed as Russian forces encircling the city were not respecting an agreed ceasefire.

In a statement, the city council asked residents to return to shelters in the city and wait for further information on evacuation.

Mariupols deputy mayor told BBC News about the difficulties faced by the citys civilians who were attempting to evacuate.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/05/russia-ukraine-war-latest-news-nato-gives-green-light-to-bombing-with-lack-of-no-fly-zone-says-zelenskiy

----------


## harrybarracuda

> "Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said while his country was ready for talks to resume, Russia's demands had not changed and he would not accept any ultimatums.
> 
> Russian officials said Moscow's demands included Ukraine's recognition of Russia's hold on Crimea, independence for the separatist-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as "de-militarisation" and "de-Nazification".
> 
> Ukraine and Russia end second round of peace talks in regret, as reports dispute port city'&#39;'s fall - ABC News


So yeah, tell them to fuck off.

----------


## misskit

*Cyprus refuses ships of Russian Navy to enter ports of island* 

The Republic of Cyprus has withdrawn its permission for the planned entry of Russian Navy ships to the port of Limassol, the Cypriot newspaper Fileleftheros reported on Saturday, citing diplomatic sources.


According to the newspaper, five Russian ships were to make a visit to the port of Limassol for refueling as part of an agreement between Cyprus and Russia. Among them are frigates and support boats.


"Diplomatic sources have confirmed to Fileleftheros that the Republic of Cyprus has not allowed five ships of the Russian Navy to anchor," the newspaper reported.

Cyprus refuses ships of Russian Navy to enter ports of island – media

----------


## misskit

*Bloomberg News Suspends Work in Russia, CNN Stops Broadcasts*

Bloomberg News announced Friday it was suspending the work of its journalists in Russia and CNN said it will stop broadcasting in the country.


The moves by Bloomberg and CNN come after Russian lawmakers passed legislation that criminalizes independent reporting.

"We have with great regret decided to temporarily suspend our news gathering inside Russia," Bloomberg quoted the news agency's editor-in-chief John Micklethwait as saying.


"The change to the criminal code, which seems designed to turn any independent reporter into a criminal purely by association, makes it impossible to continue any semblance of normal journalism inside the country," Micklethwait said.


CNN said the 24-hour U.S. cable television news network "will stop broadcasting in Russia while we continue to evaluate the situation and our next steps moving forward."


The moves came after Russian lawmakers threatened to impose jail terms for publishing "fake news" about the Russian army, part of an effort to stifle dissent over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.


The BBC announced Friday it was halting its journalists' work in Russia and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) said it was temporarily halting reporting from Russia.


"This legislation appears to criminalize the process of independent journalism," BBC Director-General Tim Davie said in a statement.


He warned that journalists could face "the risk of criminal prosecution simply for doing their jobs."

Bloomberg News Suspends Work in Russia, CNN Stops Broadcasts - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*U.S., Russian Militaries Set Up 'Deconfliction Line' — Pentagon*

The U.S. and Russian armed forces have set up a direct phone line to reduce the risks of "miscalculation" amid the war in Ukraine, the Pentagon said Friday.


The "deconfliction line" between U.S. European Command and the Russian Ministry of Defense was established earlier this week, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.


"I don't have any information about whether it's been used," Kirby told reporters. "It's only been in place for a couple of days."


The line is manned by "staff level officers" from U.S. European Command.


"We know it works," Kirby said. "When we tested it they did pick up the other end and acknowledged that they got the call."

The Pentagon spokesman noted that a "deconfliction line" had been used previously between the United States and Russia to prevent incidents in Syria.


"We want to be able to have a way of speaking directly at an operational level with the Russian Ministry of Defense," Kirby said.


"We think it's valuable to have a direct communication vehicle... to reduce the risks of miscalculation and to be able to communicate in real time if need be," he said.


He said it was particularly important because airspace over Ukraine is "contested by both Russian and Ukrainian aircraft" and the contested airspace "buttresses right up against NATO" countries.

U.S., Russian Militaries Set Up 'Deconfliction Line' — Pentagon - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Western Sanctions Are Like Declaration Of War, Says Putin
*

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated that his aims in Ukraine are to defend Russian speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of the country so that it became neutral.


London: President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war and warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be tantamount to entering the conflict.
Putin reiterated that his aims in Ukraine are to defend Russian speaking communities through the "demilitarisation and de-Nazification" of the country so that it became neutral.


Ukraine and Western countries have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for the invasion he launched on Feb. 24 and have imposed a sweeping range of sanctions aimed at isolating Moscow.


"These sanctions that are being imposed are akin to a declaration of war but thank God it has not come to that," Putin said, speaking to a group of women flight attendants at an Aeroflot training centre near Moscow.


He said any attempt by another power to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would be considered by Russia to be a step into the military conflict. NATO has rejected Kyiv's request for a no-fly zone, on the grounds it would escalate the war beyond Ukraine.


Putin said there were no conscripts involved in the military operation, which he said was being carried out only by professional soldiers.

"There is not one conscript and we don't plan for there to be," Putin said. "Our army will fulfil all the tasks. I don't doubt that at all. Everything is going to plan."


Putin dismissed concerns that some sort of martial law or emergency situation could be declared in Russia. He said such a measure was imposed only when there was significant internal or external threat.


"We don't plan to introduce any kind of special regime on Russian territory - there is currently no need," Putin said.

His government has clamped down on protests in Russia against the war.

Ukraine-Russia Crisis: Western Sanctions Are Like Declaration Of War, Says Russian President Vladimir Putin

----------


## hallelujah

This is heartbreaking

----------


## hallelujah

But this story hurts me more and more.

Younger brother of pink-haired girl shot dead with her parents in Ukraine has died | The Independent



I'm really struggling with this picture. I hope Putin is too.

----------


## misskit

^ Putin would just say it is fake news.

How to deal with such a liar?


*Putin Denies Bombing Ukraine Cities, Says Ready For Talks If Demands Met
*

Ukraine War: Putin further denied that Russian troops were bombing Ukrainian cities, dismissing such information as fake, the Kremlin said.


Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denied that Russian troops were bombing Ukrainian cities, dismissing such information as fake, the Kremlin said Friday.
Putin said reports about "the alleged ongoing air strikes of Kyiv and other large cities are gross propaganda fakes," the Kremlin said in a statement.


He added that dialogue on Ukraine would be possible only if Russian demands are met.


Putin "confirmed that Russia is open to dialogue with the Ukrainian side, as well as with everyone who wants peace in Ukraine. But under the condition that all Russian demands are met," the Kremlin said.


These include the neutral and non-nuclear status of Ukraine, its "denazification", recognition of Crimea as part of Russia and of the "sovereignty" of separatist territories in eastern Ukraine.

"Hope was expressed that during the planned third round of talks, the representatives of Kyiv will take a reasonable and constructive position," the Kremlin added.

The next meeting of delegations from Russia and Ukraine is expected during the weekend, according to one of Kyiv's negotiators.

Ukraine Russia War: Putin Denies Bombing Ukraine Cities, Says Ready For Talks If Demands Met

----------


## pickel

> Putin would just say it is fake news.


He'd probably say she was a Nazi.

----------


## misskit

*Ukrainian authorities accuse Russians of opening fire on civilian protest*

New video posted to social media shows at least one man getting hit by gunfire during a protest against the Russian military in the small town of Novopskov in northeastern Ukraine.


CNN has geolocated and confirmed the authenticity of the video.


"People tried to stop the Russians, but they opened fire on the unarmed people. There are three wounded, they are in hospital," according to Sergiy Haidai, the head of the Luhansk regional administration.
CNN cannot confirm the reported casualty figures.


The video from Saturday showed a crowd walking up a street carrying Ukrainian flags and chanting "Ukraine." A man in front of the crowd walked toward troops before shots rang out. He fell to the ground, apparently wounded in the leg.


"Everybody must leave the area now," a voice is heard saying in the distance.


A photograph from the scene showed a man with a bloodied leg being carried away; it appears to be the same individual.


A few sporadic shots rang out, and then a barrage of small arms fire followed as the crowd scatters. It's unclear whether the gunfire is being directed at or above the crowd.


Additional videos from the scene show that prior to the man being shot, the Russian military was firing their guns — not hitting the protesters — and giving apparent warning shots. 


One of the videos, taken before the protester was hit, showed the crowd walking forward toward the Russian troops, who have set up camp in an open-air market, surrounded by grocery stores and shop in the center of town. 


Despite the gunshots, the crowd did not move.

Ukrainian authorities accuse Russians of opening fire on civilian protest

----------


## misskit

*‘Depart Russia Immediately’: State Dept. Warns Americans Against Reprisal, ‘Severe Limitations’ on Ability to Assist*

The U.S. Department of State issued a new level 4 travel advisory warning against reprisal and “harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials” on Saturday.


The new advisory is an update to a previous level 4 warning issued about a week ago against travel to Russia and American remaining in Russia during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent increase in sanctions against the Russian federation and wealthy Russian oligarchs connected to Vladimir Putin.

“Do not travel to Russia due to the unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces in Ukraine,” it says, as well as “the potential for harassment against U.S. citizens by Russian government security officials.”


“The Embassy’s limited ability to assist U.S. citizens in Russia, COVID-19 and related entry restrictions, terrorism, limited flights into and out of Russia, and the arbitrary enforcement of local law,” are all listed as reasons for the Do Not Travel warning.


“U.S. citizens should depart Russia immediately. U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately,” it reads.


Air travel is becoming increasingly difficult, though some flights are still available, and “overland routes by car and bus are still open,” the State Dept. explains in the warning.


“There is the potential throughout Russia of harassment of foreigners, including through regulations targeted specifically against foreigners,” the advisory warns a second time.


It also warns against travel to or remaining in the North Caucasus, including Chechnya and Mount Elbrus, and course in Crimea.

In addition to airlines canceling incoming and outgoing flights, or abandoning travel related to Russia altogether, airspace across Europe has been affected by shutdowns of travel routes due to the conflict, further limiting the ability to depart.


Here’s the warning, emphasis in original.
Get Out: State Warns of Reprisal Against Americans in Russia

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Cyprus refuses ships of Russian Navy to enter ports of island* 
> 
> The Republic of Cyprus has withdrawn its permission for the planned entry of Russian Navy ships to the port of Limassol, the Cypriot newspaper Fileleftheros reported on Saturday, citing diplomatic sources.



Since he's spent all that money and effort bombing Syrian civilians, he can go and use his base in Tartus.
After all, that's what he was after. Fucking parasite.

----------


## misskit

*U.S. and allies quietly prepare for a Ukrainian government-in-exile and a long insurgency*


The Ukrainian military has mounted an unexpectedly fierce defense against invading Russian forces, which have been dogged by logistical problems and flagging morale. But the war is barely two weeks old, and in Washington and European capitals, officials anticipate that the Russian military will reverse its early losses, setting the stage for a long, bloody insurgency.


The ways that Western countries would support a Ukrainian resistance are beginning to take shape. Officials have been reluctant to discuss detailed plans, since they're premised on a Russian military victory that, however likely, hasn't happened yet. But as a first step, Ukraine's allies are planning for how to help establish and support a government-in-exile, which could direct guerrilla operations against Russian occupiers, according to several U.S. and European officials.


The weapons the United States have provided to Ukraine's military, and that continue to flow into the country, would be crucial to the success of an insurgent movement, officials said. The Biden administration has asked Congress, infused with a rare bipartisan spirit in defense of Ukraine, to take up a $10 billion humanitarian aid and military package that includes funding to replenish the stocks of weapons that have already been sent.

Should the United States and its allies choose to back an insurgency, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be the pivotal force, officials said, maintaining morale and rallying Ukrainians living under Russian occupation to resist their powerful and well-equipped foe.


The possible Russian takeover of Kyiv has prompted a flurry of planning at the State Department, Pentagon and other U.S. agencies in the event that the Zelensky government has to flee the capital or the country itself.


"We're doing contingency planning now for every possibility," including a scenario in which Zelensky establishes a government-in-exile in Poland, said a U.S. administration official, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive security matter.


Zelensky, who has called himself Russia's "target No. 1," remains in Kyiv and has assured his citizens he's not leaving. He has had discussions with U.S. officials about whether he should move west to a safer position in the city of Lviv, closer to the Polish border. Zelensky's security detail has plans ready to swiftly relocate him and members of his cabinet, a senior Ukrainian official said. "So far, he has refused to go."


Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, declined to describe any contingency plans Ukraine was making in the event that Russian forces capture the capital.

"One can only say that Ukraine is preparing for the defense of Kyiv as purposefully as Russia is preparing for its attack on Kyiv," Podolyak said.


"This war has become a people's war for Ukrainians," he continued. "We must win the war. There are no other options."


Volodymyr Ariev, a member of Ukraine's parliament from the opposition European Solidarity party, expressed confidence that the Rada, Ukraine's parliament, would continue to be able to meet despite the wartime situation and noted that many lawmakers remain in Kyiv.


"In our party, we didn't discuss any plan of evacuation, because we don't want to give up," Ariev said. "We are not in this government, but we have arms, and we will fight against invaders here, together with the people. This is the only plan we have - no evacuation, nothing."


Nevertheless, European diplomats, like their American counterparts, are starting to prepare for how to support the Ukrainian government if Kyiv falls or the country is entirely occupied by Russia. A United Nations resolution this past week condemning the invasion, which drew 141 votes, is one element of "laying the groundwork" to recognize Zelensky's administration as Ukraine's legitimate government and to keep it afloat even if it no longer controls territory, said a senior European diplomat.


"We haven't made a plan yet, per se, but it would be something we would be ready to move on right away," the diplomat said. "In our experience, it helps to know generally you have international support."


As early as last December, some U.S. officials saw signs that the Ukrainian military was preparing for an eventual resistance, even as Zelensky downplayed the threat of invasion.


During an official visit, a Ukrainian special operations commander told Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and other lawmakers that they were shifting training and planning to focus on maintaining an armed opposition, relying on insurgent-like tactics.


Ukrainian officials told the lawmakers that they were frustrated that the United States had not sent Harpoon missiles to target Russian ships and Stinger missiles to attack Russian aircraft, Moulton and Waltz said in separate interviews. The United States diverted some military aid to Ukraine that it had planned to send to Afghanistan, but that package mostly included small arms, ammunition and medical kits meant for a fight against the Taliban, not Russia, said Waltz, who served in Afghanistan as a Special Forces officer.


As the Russian military struggles with logistical challenges - including fuel and food shortages - Waltz anticipates that the Ukrainians will repeatedly strike Russian supply lines. To do that, they need a steady supply of weapons and the ability to set improvised explosive devices, he said.


"Those supply lines are going to be very, very vulnerable, and that's where you really literally starve the Russian army."


Moulton, who served in Iraq as a Marine Corps infantry officer, said that he is in favor of sending Harpoons and Stingers - the administration has decided to send the latter weapons, according to a U.S. official and a document obtained by The Washington Post - but that using them also will require training.


"You can't ship them to Ukraine at the last minute and expect some national guardsman to pick up a Stinger and shoot down an aircraft," he said. Continuing a resistance campaign will require continued clandestine shipments of small arms, ammunition, explosives and even cold-weather gear.


"Think about the kinds of things that would be used by saboteurs as opposed to an army repelling a frontal invasion," Moulton said.


Officials remain cautious about overt support for a Ukrainian insurgency lest it draw NATO member countries into direct conflict with Russia. In Moscow's eyes, support for a Zelensky government operating in Poland could constitute an attack by the alliance, some officials warned.


But Ukraine's leaders and its citizens aren't likely to be deterred by NATO's concerns.


"I doubt very much that the Ukrainians will not continue an underground resistance campaign even after the Russians establish control," said a senior Western intelligence official.


Moscow has "grossly underestimated Ukraine's ability to resist," the official said. "I'm reminded, especially by my eastern colleagues, about Ukrainians themselves. Ukrainians were some of the fiercest fighters . . . for the Soviets during World War II." He predicted that a resistance would continue for months and possibly years.


The United States has backed and fought against successful insurgencies. Veterans of such conflicts say that the Ukrainians so far have demonstrated the key ingredient.


"The number one thing you have to have is people on the ground who want to fight," said Jack Devine, a retired senior CIA officer who ran the agency's successful covert campaign to arm Afghan fighters who drove out the Soviet military in the 1980s.


If Russian and Ukrainian negotiators who have been meeting near the border in Belarus reach some settlement, that will likely diminish the momentum for an insurgency and support for it, Devine predicted.


Marta Kepe, a senior defense analyst at the Rand Corp. who studies resistance movements, said that they often change during the course of a war.


"As occupation progresses and extends for a longer time, what can start out as a more centralized resistance often changes into smaller resistance groups or units. It is not a negative thing," she said. "In fact, smaller groups allow more resilience."


NATO policymakers admire the spirit of the Ukrainian forces, but they also say that their ability to hold out against Russia is not unlimited, especially as stocks of ammunition dwindle and the Russian military extends its encirclement of major cities.


"Russia has more troops than Ukraine," said a second senior European diplomat. "Ukrainian troops are very brave, but they are already fighting more than a week."


Experts in resistance and urban warfare said Russian occupation forces will try to squeeze supply pipelines and cut off cities.


Rita Konaev, director of analysis for Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said Ukraine should be preparing its citizens for combat in cities accompanied by mass air and artillery bombardment, which Russia will use to try to reduce the amount of door-to-door fighting that taking cities requires.


Konaev said that Ukrainians should also lay in supplies in advance, because Russian forces will likely disable the electrical grid and cut off access to water in the cities, and that they should establish safe areas underground to survive the aerial bombardment.


Once Russian forces try to move into the cities, Ukrainians will have an advantage because they know the terrain, she said. They can build barriers, destroy bridges to limit entrances into the city, and place snipers on rooftops.


"In urban warfare, defense has the advantage," Konaev said.


European leaders have been trying to game out what Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept as a potential end state for a defeated Ukraine. Policymakers say they don't have a clear sense, although the first European diplomat said that Putin might attempt to reduce Ukraine "to a much smaller state."


Under that scenario, western Ukraine would remain independent. The other territories would be incorporated into Russia, occupied, or declared independent states, as the Kremlin has already done with the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.


But Russia's ability to impose that vision is "most improbable," the diplomat said, given the profound anger in Ukraine against the Russian invasion.


"This is a country of 40 million [people]," the diplomat said. The Kremlin "can try to have a strategy. But I think in our strategic calculations we are always forgetting one small obstacle, and that's the will of the people. Putin has forgotten how to be elected in a democratic way."


NATO leaders also say that even if Russia captures Kyiv, that would not end the resistance, nor the existence of the Ukrainian state.


"Russians cannot occupy all the country and subdue it," said Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks, whose country maintained a diplomatic service in exile for 51 years after it was occupied in 1940 by the Soviet Union. Washington never recognized the annexation of the three Baltic states.


"There will be a partisan war, there will be resistance. So even if Kyiv falls that does not mean the end of the war," Pabriks said.

U.S. and allies quietly prepare for a Ukrainian government-in-exile and a long insurgency

----------


## Switch

Putin’s War may take control of cities by force, but they are unlikely to be capable of sustaining such fragile victories.
Zelensky probably realises that his role will be defined by martyrdom, but the timing of his death will be seen as crucial to invigorating a resilient population.
He understands that government in exile is not the option his people want or need.

Making life difficult for Putin is a built in response for Ukrainian insurgents.

----------


## sabang

If Putin is seeking to Occupy, he deserves what he will end up getting. But is that his objective?

----------


## Switch

> If Putin is seeking to Occupy, he deserves what he will end up getting. But is that his objective?


He would like to reply to that question, but he is struggling to find an answer.  :Smile:

----------


## bsnub

Hector  served two violent tours in Iraq as a United States Marine, then got  out, got a pension and a civilian job, and thought he was done with  military service. But on Friday, he boarded a plane for one more  deployment, this time as a volunteer in Ukraine. He checked in several  bags filled with rifle scopes, helmets and body armor donated by other  veterans.

“Sanctions can help, but  sanctions can’t help right now, and people need help right now,” said  the former Marine, who lives in Tampa Bay, Fla., and like other veterans  interviewed for this article asked that only his first name be used for  security reasons. “I can help right now.”

He is one of a surge of American veterans who say they are now preparing to join the fight in Ukraine, emboldened by the invitation of the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky,  who earlier this week announced he was creating an “international  legion” and asked volunteers from around the world to help defend his  nation against Russia.

Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, echoed the call for fighters, saying on Twitter, “Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too.”

Hector said he hoped to train Ukrainians in his expertise: armored vehicles and heavy weapons.

“A  lot of veterans, we have a calling to serve, and we trained our whole  career for this kind of war,” he said. “Sitting by and doing nothing? I  had to do that when Afghanistan fell apart, and it weighed heavily on  me. I had to act.”

All across the  United States, small groups of military veterans are gathering, planning  and getting passports in order. After years of serving in smoldering  occupations, trying to spread democracy in places that had only a tepid  interest in it, many are hungry for what they see as a righteous fight  to defend freedom against an autocratic aggressor with a conventional  and target-rich army.

“It’s  a conflict that has a clear good and bad side, and maybe that stands  apart from other recent conflicts,” said David Ribardo, a former Army  officer who now owns a property management business in Allentown, Pa. “A  lot of us are watching what is happening and just want to grab a rifle  and go over there.”

After the  invasion, he saw veterans flooding social media eager to join the fight.  Unable to go because of commitments here, he has spent the past week  acting as a sort of middle man for a group called Volunteers for Ukraine, identifying veterans and other volunteers with useful skills and connecting them with donors who buy gear and airline tickets.

“It  was very quickly overwhelming, almost too many people wanted to help,”  he said. In the past week, he said he has worked to sift those with  valuable combat or medical skills from people he described as “combat  tourists, who don’t have the correct experience and would not be an  asset.”

He said his group has also had to comb out a number of extremists.

Fund-raising  sites such as GoFundMe have rules against collecting money for armed  conflict, so Mr. Ribardo said his group and others have been careful to  avoid specifically directing anyone to get involved in the fighting.  Rather, he said, he simply connects those he has vetted with people who  want to donate plane tickets and nonlethal supplies, describing his role  as being “a Tinder for veterans and donors.”

A  number of mainstream media outlets, including Military Times and Time,  have published step-by-step guides on joining the military in Ukraine.  The Ukrainian government instructed interested volunteers to contact its  consulates this week.

Several  veterans who contacted the consulates this week said they were still  waiting for a response, and believed staff members were overwhelmed.

On Thursday, Mr. Zelensky claimed in a video on Telegram  that 16,000 volunteers had joined the international brigade, though it  is unclear what the true number is. The New York Times was not able to  identify any veterans actively fighting in Ukraine.

The  outpouring of support is driven, veterans said, by past experiences.  Some want to try to recapture the intense clarity and purpose they felt  in war, which is often missing in modern suburban life. Others want a  chance to make amends for failed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and  see the fight to defend a democracy against a totalitarian invader as  the reason they joined the military.

To  an extent not seen in past conflicts, the impulse to join has been  fueled partly by an increasingly connected world. Americans watching  real-time video in Ukraine can, with a click, connect to like-minded  volunteers around the globe. A veteran in Phoenix can find a donor in  London with unused airline miles, a driver in Warsaw offering a free  ride to the border and a local to stay with in Ukraine.

Of  course, war is rarely as straightforward as the deeply felt idealism  that drives people to enlist. And volunteers risk not only their own  lives, but also drawing the United States into a direct conflict with  Russia.

“War  is an unpredictable animal, and once you let it out, no one — no one —  knows what will happen,” said Daniel Gade, who lost a leg in Iraq before  going on to teach leadership for several years at the U.S. Military  Academy at West Point and retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He said he  understood the urge to fight but said the risk of escalation resulting  in nuclear war was too great.

“I just feel heartsick,” he said. “War is terrible and the innocent always suffer most.”

The  risk of unintended escalation has led the U.S. federal government to  try to keep citizens from becoming freelance fighters, not just in this  conflict, but for centuries. In 1793, President Washington issued a Proclamation of Neutrality  warning Americans to stay out of the French Revolution. But the efforts  have been uneven, and often swayed by the larger national sentiment. So  over the generations a steady stream of idealists, romantics,  mercenaries and filibusters have taken up arms, — riding with Pancho  Villa in Mexico, ferrying arms to Cuba, battling communists in Africa and even trying to establish new slave states in Central America.

The  civil war in Spain just before the start of World War II is the  best-known example. More than 3,000 Americans joined what became know as  the Lincoln-Washington Battalion, to fight with the elected leftist government against fascist forces.

At  the time, the United States wanted to avoid war with Europe, and stayed  neutral, but the Young Communist League rented billboards to recruit  fighters, and members of the establishment held fund-raisers to send  young men overseas.

That effort, now  often romanticized as a valiant prelude to the fight against the Nazis,  ended badly. The poorly trained and equipped brigades made a disastrous  assault of a fortified ridge in 1937 and three-quarters of the men  were killed or wounded. Others faced near starvation in captivity.  Their leader, a former math professor who was the inspiration for the  protagonist in Ernest Hemingway’s novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls” was later captured and most likely executed.

On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, told the Russian News Agency  that foreign fighters would not be considered soldiers, but  mercenaries, and would not be protected under humanitarian rules  regarding the treatment of prisoners of war.

“At  best, they can expect to be prosecuted as criminals,” Mr. Konashenkov  said. “We are urging all foreign citizens who may have plans to go and  fight for Kyiv’s nationalist regime to think a dozen times before  getting on the way.”

Despite the risks  — both individual and strategic — the United States government has so  far been measured in its warnings. Asked during a news conference this  week what he would tell Americans who want to fight in Ukraine,  Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken pointed to official statements,  first issued weeks ago, imploring U.S. citizens in the country to depart  immediately.

He said: “For those who  want to help Ukraine and help its people, there are many ways to do  that, including by supporting and helping the many NGOs that are working  to provide humanitarian assistance; providing resources themselves to  groups that are trying to help Ukraine by being advocates for Ukraine  and for peaceful resolution to this crisis that was created by Russia.” 

That has not dissuaded a number of veterans who are all too familiar with the risks of combat.

James  was a medic who first saw combat when he replaced another medic killed  in fighting in Iraq in 2006. He did two more tours, in Iraq and  Afghanistan, seeing so much blood and death that 10 years after leaving  the military he still attends therapy at a veteran’s hospital.

But this week, as he watched Russian forces shell cities across Ukraine, he decided that he had to try to go there to help.

“Combat  has a cost, that’s for sure; you think you can come back from war the  same, but you can’t,” James said in a phone interview from his home in  Dallas, where he said he was waiting to hear back from Ukrainian  officials. “But I feel obligated. It’s the innocent people being  attacked — the kids. It’s the kids, man. I just can’t stand by.”

Chase,  a graduate student in Virginia, said that he volunteered to fight the  Islamic State in Syria in 2019 and felt the same urgency for Ukraine,  but he warned against simply going to the border without a plan.

In  Syria, he said he knew well-meaning volunteers who were detained for  weeks by local Kurdish authorities because they arrived unannounced. He  arranged with Kurdish defense forces before arriving in Syria. There he  spent months as a humble foot soldier with little pay and only basic  rations.

Tactically, as an  inexperienced grunt, he said, he was of little value. But to the people  of northeastern Syria, he was a powerful symbol that the world was with  them.

“I was a sign to them that the world was watching and they mattered,” he said.

A  few months into his time in Syria, he was shot in the leg, and  eventually returned to the United States. He came home and worked for a  septic tank company, then got a job writing about used cars. When he saw  explosions hitting Ukraine this week, the part of him that went to war  three years ago reawakened.

“Everything  here is just kind of empty and it doesn’t seem like I’m doing anything  important,” he said in an interview from an extended-stay hotel in  Virginia where he is living. “So I am trying to go. I don’t think I have  a choice. You have to draw the line.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/05/u...ne-russia.html

----------


## bsnub

The  U.S. remains in discussions with Poland to potentially backfill their  fleet of fighter planes if Warsaw decides to transfer its used MiG-29s  to Ukraine, four U.S. officials tell POLITICO.

 The ongoing talks, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleads with Congress for help,  underscore the frantic push to find weapons to equip Ukrainian forces  as they continue to fight off the massive Russian invasion.

 As Poland weighed sending its  warplanes to Ukraine last week, Warsaw asked the White House if the  Biden administration could guarantee it would provide them with  U.S.-made fighter jets to fill the gap. The White House said it would  look into the matter. The Biden administration didn’t oppose the Polish  government giving Kyiv the MiGs, which could potentially escalate  tensions between NATO and Moscow. Poland, for now, has held on to its  fighter jets.

  Discussions between Warsaw and  Washington are still underway, though authorization for new, replacement  fighter jets to Poland could take a long time.

 “We are working with the Poles on  this issue and consulting with the rest of our NATO allies,” a White  House spokesperson told POLITICO. “We are also working on the  capabilities we could provide to backfill Poland if it decided to  transfer planes to Ukraine.”

 Several Eastern European countries  like Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia retain dozens of Russian-made  aircraft in their inventories and have been hesitant to give up those  planes without guarantees from the U.S. that they could replace them.

 Poland has been modernizing its  aircraft fleet since 2006, when it first started flying F-16s, and in  2020 signed a $4.6 billion deal for 32 F-35s, the first of which will  arrive in 2024, making those older Russian-made planes expendable.

 The issue of sending aircraft into the fight is more complex than the effort underway by over two dozen European countries  to send anti-armor and anti-air defensive weapons to Ukraine. A steady  stream of U.S. and British military planes have been landing in Poland  in recent days filled with those missiles, along with other munitions,  rations, and small arms and ammunition.

  Over the past several weeks the U.S.  has sent 12,000 troops to Europe to backstop nervous allies along  NATO’s Eastern front, the majority of which went to Poland to join the  4,000 U.S. troops already stationed there. The troops are conducting  training missions with the Polish military, and could be called on to  assist with a humanitarian emergency if the flood of war refugees  overwhelms Polish and E.U. authorities.

 The White House has “in no way  opposed Poland transferring planes to Ukraine,” the spokesperson added,  pointing out how difficult an operation it would be to get the planes  into Ukraine. Russian officials have pledged to attack any convoys  carrying weapons entering the country.

 The issue of transferring American  F-16s to Poland is a complex one, given the sensitive avionics on  American planes that may not always be legal to transfer overseas.

 After Zelenskyy’s impassioned Zoom  call with senators on Saturday, during which he urged the U.S. to send  planes, drones and Stinger missiles to Ukraine and impose oil sanctions  on Russia, Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) sent a letter to President Joe Biden  throwing their full support behind backfilling Poland with F-16s if  they were to hand over their Russian planes, saying they would work to  ensure there was funding to finance the transfer.

 The on-again, off-again effort to  get MiGs into Ukraine started last weekend, when European Union security  chief Josep Borrell made the startling announcement that several  countries would soon ship fighter jets to the border for transfer to  Ukraine’s armed forces.

 Ukrainian officials told POLITICO at the time  that several of their pilots had already arrived in Poland for the  handoff, but the deal stalled out. Bulgaria and Slovakia also rejected  the idea, and the Ukrainian pilots left empty-handed.

 The U.S. has already shipped $240  million of the $350 million in military assistance Biden approved  recently, with the rest expected to arrive in the coming days.

White House weighs three-way deal to get fighter jets to Ukraine - POLITICO

----------


## David48atTD

> Hector  served two violent tours in Iraq as a United States Marine, then got  out, got a pension and a civilian job, and thought he was done with  military service. But on Friday, he boarded a plane for one more  deployment, this time as a volunteer in Ukraine.


The Language will be a issue for him.

----------


## Iceman123

> The Language will be a issue for him.


Any Polymaths on TD who could go with him?

----------


## HermantheGerman

March 5 (Reuters) - U.S. payments firms Visa Inc (V.N)  and Mastercard Inc on Saturday said they were suspending operations in  Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, and that they would work with  clients and partners to cease all transactions there.

Within  days, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will  no longer work outside of the country and any Visa cards issued outside  of Russia will no longer work within the country, the company said.
The move by the payments firms could mean more disruption for Russians  who are bracing for an uncertain future of spiraling inflation, economic  hardship and an even sharper squeeze on imported goods.

Visa, Mastercard suspend operations in Russia over Ukraine invasion | Reuters



This is great news!!

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Within  days, all transactions initiated with Visa cards issued in Russia will  no longer work outside of the country and any Visa cards issued outside  of Russia will no longer work within the country, the company said.


Going to really piss off all the Russians that are in Thailand hoping to avoid all this shit.

No doubt the Thais will be all over this like a cheap suit asking them to settle their bills tomorrow and pay in advance if they wish to stay.

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## nidhogg

Good grief.  That will hit hard.  Russia might need to start thinking about repatriation flights to a large number of very pissed off Russians (who will have been exposed to more than state propaganda).

----------


## sabang

Wouldn't you just max out your credit card if you are a Russian overseas and then... not pay? That's what I would do anyway- it beats starving. Sweet fa visa and mastercard can do about it either, in Russia- they've pulled out. But I'm sure the companies have budgeted for an expected surge in bad debts.

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## malmomike77

> Good grief. That will hit hard. Russia might need to start thinking about repatriation flights to a large number of very pissed off Russians


Except Aeroflot is only operating out of Belarus now and Lloyds have withdrawn their insurance cover also.

----------


## aging one

> Wouldn't you just max out your credit card if you are a Russian overseas and then... not pay? That's what I would do anyway- it beats starving. Sweet fa visa and mastercard can do about it either, in Russia- they've pulled out. But I'm sure the companies have budgeted for an expected surge in bad debts.


Cant use the cards here in Thailand. Nobody is accepting them. Pretty hard to max them out.

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## malmomike77

From the Beeb live feed, i don't think the mothers will like this.

2 hours ago07:49 Michael Curzon


Bodies of dead Russian soldiers to be ‘buried in mass graves’

The bodies of Russia soldiers killed in battle in Ukraine will be buried in “mass graves” in Belarus, according to journalist Ian Birrell.

In a post on Twitter, he said: “Ukrainian national radio is reporting that the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in battle will be buried in mass graves in Belarus.

“Families will just get a note informing them of their loss, thus avoiding thousands of funerals across the country.”

----------


## Switch

> Good grief.  That will hit hard.  Russia might need to start thinking about repatriation flights to a large number of very pissed off Russians (who will have been exposed to more than state propaganda).


Perhaps NATO could repatriate them to Belarus to help dig mass graves for all the Russian soldiers who were not killed in Ukraine?

----------


## misskit

*Russian war in world's 'breadbasket' threatens food supply*

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Russian tanks and missiles besieging Ukraine also are threatening the food supply and livelihoods of people in Europe, Africa and Asia who rely on the vast, fertile farmlands of the Black Sea region — known as the “breadbasket of the world.”


Ukrainian farmers have been forced to neglect their fields as millions flee, fight or try to stay alive. Ports are shut down that send wheat and other food staples worldwide to be made into bread, noodles and animal feed. And there are worries Russia, another agricultural powerhouse, could have its grain exports upended by Western sanctions.


While there have not yet been global disruptions to wheat supplies, prices have surged 55% since a week before the invasion amid concerns about what could happen next. If the war is prolonged, countries that rely on affordable wheat exports from Ukraine could face shortages starting in July, International Grains Council director Arnaud Petit told The Associated Press.




That could create food insecurity and throw more people into poverty in places like Egypt and Lebanon, where diets are dominated by government-subsidized bread. In Europe, officials are preparing for potential shortages of products from Ukraine and increased prices for livestock feed that could mean more expensive meat and dairy if farmers are forced to pass along costs to customers.


Russia and Ukraine combine for nearly a third of the world's wheat and barley exports. Ukraine also is a major supplier of corn and the global leader in sunflower oil, used in food processing. The war could reduce food supplies just when prices are at their highest levels since 2011.


A prolonged conflict would have a big impact some 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) away in Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer. Millions rely on subsidized bread made from Ukrainian grains to survive, with about a third of people living in poverty.


“Wars mean shortages, and shortages mean (price) hikes,” Ahmed Salah, a 47-year-old father of seven, said in Cairo. “Any hikes will be catastrophic not only for me, but for the majority of the people.”


Anna Nagurney, a professor of supply chains, logistics and economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said, “Wheat, corn, oils, barley, flour are extremely important to food security ... especially in the poorer parts of the globe."


With Ukrainian men being called on to fight, she said, “Who’s going to be doing the harvesting? Who’d be doing the transportation?”


Egypt’s state procurer of wheat, which normally buys heavily from Russia and Ukraine, had to cancel two orders in less than a week: one for overpricing, the other because a lack of companies offered to sell their supplies. Sharp spikes in the cost of wheat globally could severely affect Egypt's ability to keep bread prices at their current subsidized level.


“Bread is extremely heavily subsidized in Egypt, and successive governments have found that cuts to those subsidies are the one straw that should be kept off the camel’s back at all costs,” Mirette Mabrouk, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, wrote in a recent analysis.


War-ravaged Syria recently announced it would cut spending and ration staples. In nearby Lebanon, where a massive explosion at the Beirut port in 2020 destroyed the country’s main grain silos, authorities are scrambling to make up for a predicted wheat shortage, with Ukraine providing 60% of its supply. They are in talks with the U.S., India and Canada to find other sources for a country already in financial meltdown.


Even before the war threatened to affect wheat supplies in sub-Saharan Africa, people in Kenya were demanding #lowerfoodprices on social media as inflation eroded their spending power. Now, they’re bracing for worse.


African countries imported agricultural products worth $4 billion from Russia in 2020, and about 90% was wheat, said Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist for the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa.


In Nigeria, flour millers believe a shortage of wheat supplies from Russia would affect the price of products like bread, a common food in Africa’s most populous country.


“All of us need to look elsewhere” in the future, said Tope Ogun with Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, one of Nigeria’s biggest flour milling companies. “We might not get what we need to, and there is likely going to be an increase in the price.”


Nigeria has taken pains to reduce its reliance on Russian grains, with farmers moving to plant more wheat fields to try to meet 70% of the country's demand in five years, said Gambo Sale, national secretary of the Wheat Farmers Association of Nigeria.


“We have the land, we have the people, we have the money, we have whatever we can need in Nigeria" to grow wheat, he said. “All we need now is time.”


The disruption can be felt as far away as Indonesia, where wheat is used to make instant noodles, bread, fried foods and snacks.


Ukraine was Indonesia’s second-largest wheat supplier last year, providing 26% of wheat consumed. Rising prices for noodles, in turn, would hurt lower-income people, said Kasan Muhri, who heads the trade ministry’s research division.


Ukraine and Russia also combine for 75% of global sunflower oil exports, accounting for 10% of all cooking oils, IHS Markit said.


Raad Hebsi, a wholesale retailer in Baghdad, said he and other Iraqis are bracing to pay more for their cooking oil.


“Once the items stored are sold, we will see an increase in prices of these items," he said. “We will likely purchase alternatives from Turkey, and Turkey will no doubt take advantage of the situation in Ukraine and raise its prices."


Farmers in the United States, the world’s leading corn exporter and a major wheat supplier, are watching to see if U.S. wheat exports spike. In the European Union, farmers are concerned about rising costs for livestock feed.


Ukraine supplies the EU with just under 60% of its corn and nearly half of a key component in the grains needed to feed livestock. Russia, which provides the EU with 40% of its natural gas needs, is similarly a major supplier of fertilizer, wheat and other staples.


Spain is feeling the pinch both in sunflower oil, which supermarkets are rationing, and grains for the all-important breeding industry. Those imported grains go to feed some 55 million pigs.


Jaume Bernis, a 58-year-old breeder with 1,200 swine on his farm in northeast Spain, fears the war will further increase the pain his business is facing because of climate change and drought.


Since October, Spanish pork products have been taking a loss from high costs, Bernis said. Those costs are driven by China stockpiling feed for its pigs as it claws its way out of a devastating outbreak of African swine fever.


In the first two days of Russia's assault on Ukraine, the price of grain for animal feed jumped 10% on the open market in Spain.


“We are facing a moment of very elevated costs, and we don’t know what lies ahead,” Bernis said. “This is another cost of waging a war in the 21st century.”


Russian war in world's 'breadbasket' threatens food supply | Taiwan News | 2022-03-06 16:53:26

----------


## misskit

*'They shoot at anyone who tries to leave.' Ukrainians describe terror of living under Russian occupation*

Lviv, Ukraine (CNN)A volley of machine-gun fire erupted just as Andriy Abba's family raised a toast to celebrate his 30th birthday in Kherson. Wine glass in hand, he rushed with his parents and younger brother to the basement.


Outside, Russian troops were in the final throes of occupying their city -- the first to fall to Moscow since its bloody invasion began a week ago.
As the day wore on, Abba said, the rattling of bullets and thuds of explosion began to fade. At around midnight, silence descended on the city.
"And that's when we knew," Abba told CNN. "It was very sad."
Kherson, a key port city on the Black Sea, in southern Ukraine, was overrun by Russian forces in the early hours of Wednesday, after days of heavy bombardment and shelling. The Ukrainian flag was still hoisted on government buildings, and the mayor of the city, Ihor Kolykhaiev, remained in his post.
On Saturday, Kolykhaiev announced that Russian troops were everywhere, and the city of nearly 300,000 people was without power and water, and in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

Kolykhaiev said that the Russian forces had "settled in" to the city, and showed no signs of leaving.

"We have a lot of people here in need. We have cancer patients. Children who need medication. This medication is not currently getting through to them," he told CNN, adding that the Russians wanted to send aid, but residents were refusing it.
People living in Kherson under Russian occupation describe days of terror confined to their apartments and houses, fearful to go outside for even basic necessities -- their city now a dystopian shell of the home they knew and loved.

On Thursday, Russian forces shot two men at a checkpoint after they attempted to pass, killing one and seriously wounding the other, the official told CNN.
Russian troops have also prohibited ambulances from leaving the city's perimeters to reach villages in the province, according to the official. A woman going through a long and dangerous labor in the outskirts of the city had to resort to a panicked video consultation with her doctor because Russian forces had blocked a medical team trying to assist with the birth, the official said.
"After about a day of the local authorities begging the Russians, the mother and the child were allowed to pass to the hospital," said the official. "It was horrible."
Andriy Abba, who works as a tax lawyer, says he is determined to stay in Kherson regardless of the occupation, for as long as the Ukrainian flag remains flying on government buildings.
"Even if we wanted to evacuate women and children from here, it's just plain impossible," he added. "They shoot at anyone who tries to leave."

Ukrainian authorities have been working to establish the safe exit of civilians from besieged areas in ongoing negotiations with Moscow. Russia agreed to hold fire Saturday from 9 a.m. Kyiv time, and create humanitarian corridors allowing residents to escape the southern cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha -- the first tangible sign of cooperation.
But the agreement quickly fell apart, stalling evacuations, Ukrainian officials said. The government accused Russian forces of shelling the cities, and even targeting the evacuation corridors out of them.
"Surrounded cities that are being destroyed" are "experiencing the worst days," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement on Saturday.
"Humanitarian corridors must work today. Mariupol and Volnovakha. To save people. Women, children, the elderly. To give food and medicine to those who remain."
Yulia Alekseeva, a mother of a two-month-old, said she is struggling to find diapers and other baby products. "There are catastrophically few in the city. We also have a grandmother with dementia who needs diapers and medicines on an ongoing basis, which are also not available," she told CNN.

Like most of the city's residents, Alekseeva has hunkered down with her family, leaving her house only to search for basic necessities.
"We are in hiding. There is a curfew in the city, if people go out after eight in the evening, they shoot to kill. You can move in the company of no more than two people," she said.
But she remains defiant, adding: "The Ukrainian flag is still over Kherson, the city did not surrender to the invaders. The military said not to provoke them and everyone would be alive."
On Saturday, a large crowd of protesters took to the occupied streets of Kherson, waving Ukrainian flags and coming face-to-face with Russian forces. The troops appeared to fire live bullets in the air to disperse the crowds, social media video showed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba shared footage of the scenes on Twitter, praising the demonstrators. "Courageous Kherson inspires Ukraine and the world! Thousands of peaceful Ukrainians protests Russian occupation in front of armed Russian soldiers. What a spirit," he wrote Saturday.

From her apartment in Kherson where she cares for her grandmother, Svetlana Zorina told CNN she would stay in the city "for as long as the Ukrainian flag stands and the mayor is Ukrainian." On Friday, she went to the grocery store only to find empty shelves, and then headed to the apartment of her mother, who is abroad, where she collected pasta and rice.
"We are, here, very afraid that we will become part of Russia. We don't want history to repeat like with Crimea," she said, referring to Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. "We're less afraid to be under bombs than to become a part of Russia."
It's something Abba is convinced won't happen in his city. Though he is consumed with fears of Russian annexation, he argued that in contrast to Crimea, which fell relatively bloodlessly, Kherson has put up a stiff resistance to occupation.

VIDEOS
'They shoot at anyone who tries to leave.' Ukrainians describe terror of living under Russian occupation  - CNN

----------


## pickel

> Wouldn't you just max out your credit card if you are a Russian overseas and then... not pay? That's what I would do anyway- it beats starving. Sweet fa visa and mastercard can do about it either, in Russia- they've pulled out. But I'm sure the companies have budgeted for an expected surge in bad debts.


Visa is just a network to facilitate transactions. The debts will be on the banks that issued the cards.

----------


## misskit

Sweden advises its citizens to avoid all travel to Russia


The Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde tweeted on Sunday, advising its citizens not to travel to Russia because of the “serious and unpredictable security situation in the wider region.”

Live updates: Russia invades Ukraine

----------


## nidhogg

> Wouldn't you just max out your credit card if you are a Russian overseas and then... not pay? That's what I would do anyway- it beats starving. Sweet fa visa and mastercard can do about it either, in Russia- they've pulled out. But I'm sure the companies have budgeted for an expected surge in bad debts.


Dude.  Do you even have a credit card??  Transactions are authorized at the time of purchase.

----------


## misskit

*Putin Blames Kyiv for Failed Mariupol Evacuations*

Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a telephone call with the French president blamed Kyiv for failed civilian evacuations from the key Ukrainian port city of Mariupol which is surrounded by Russian troops, the Kremlin said Sunday.


Putin "drew attention to the fact that Kyiv still does not fulfil agreements reached on this acute humanitarian issue," the Kremlin said in a statement, after two agreements to evacuate Mariupol in south-eastern Ukraine fell through following allegations of ceasefire breaches.


Putin said "Ukrainian nationalists" prevented civilians and foreign citizens from leaving the port city of Mariupol and neighbouring Volnovakha on Saturday despite a ceasefire announcement. 


"And the pause in hostilities was again used only to build up forces and means in their positions," Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron.

Putin also assured Macron of the "physical and nuclear safety" of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant that was captured by Russian forces.


He also said Russian troops were in control of Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which is encased in a giant sarcophagus following an explosion in 1986 -- the worst nuclear accident in history.


"All this is being done in order to exclude the possibility of provocations fraught with catastrophic consequences by Ukrainian neo-Nazis or terrorists," the Kremlin added. 


According to the Elysee, the two leaders spoke for one hour and 45 minutes. 

Putin Blames Kyiv for Failed Mariupol Evacuations - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russia Detains Around 2,500 at Ukraine Conflict Protests*

Around 2,500 people were detained Sunday at protests against Moscow's military operation in Ukraine, Russian police said, 11 days after the assault began.


A police spokeswoman said 1,700 people were detained in Moscow after around 2,500 took part in an "unsanctioned protest", while 750 were detained at a smaller rally of around 1,500 people in the second largest city of Saint Petersburg, Russian news agencies reported.

OVD-Info, which monitors detentions at opposition protests, put the figure of detainees in 49 towns and cities across Russia at 2,575 people.


It said police had used electric shockers on protesters.


It also posted witness photos and videos on Telegram messenger service showing riot police beating protesters with batons and demonstrators with blood running down their faces.


Memorial, Russia's most prominent rights group, said that one of its leading activists, Oleg Orlov, was detained on the capital's Manezhnaya square as he held a placard.


Svetlana Gannushkina, another veteran rights campaigner who has been tipped as a potential Nobel Prize winner, was detained in Moscow on the day of her 80th birthday.


A police van carrying a group of detainees to a police station overturned in a road traffic accident, injuring nine, six of them members of the public, city police said.


In the second largest city of Saint Petersburg, with large numbers of riot police patrolled outside Gostiny Dvor, a building in the city centre where protesters usually gather.


These protests came after hundreds were detained at demonstrations further east, such as in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and in Yekaterinburg in the Urals.


Russian police on Friday had warned that all attempts to hold illegal demonstrations on Sunday would be "immediately suppressed" and organisers and participants would face charges.


The latest detentions brought the total number of demonstrators held to more than 10,000 since February 24, when President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine to carry out a "special operation".


Despite the official crackdown on demonstrations, and protesters facing jail terms, there have been daily protests since then.


On Friday, jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny urged supporters to stage protests on Sunday "on all the central squares of Russia and all the world".


He has called for Russians to hold daily protests, saying they should not become a "nation of frightened cowards".


Putin on Friday signed into law a bill introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for publishing "fake news" about the Russian army.


Police in the Kemerovo region in the Urals fined a man 60,000 rubles ($624) for calling for people to demonstrate against the "special operation to demilitarise Ukraine", state news agency RIA Novosti reported, saying this was the first known use of the new legislation.

Russia Detains Around 2,500 at Ukraine Conflict Protests - The Moscow Times

----------


## malmomike77

> Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a telephone call with the French president blamed Kyiv for failed civilian evacuations


Micron still on the phone, how many peace in our time memos came out of the Élysée before the tanks started over the border. Little Napoleon has lost his credibility, Biden probably still listens tho.

----------


## sabang

> Transactions are authorized at the time of purchase.


Exactly. So if you are a russki, or whatever nationality aware of the fact that your credit card issued by a bank in your home country is going to be effectively cancelled (well, suspended) in a few days time- as declared by Visa/Mastercard, wouldn't you load what consumption you could on it during that window of opportunity. Especially if you're gonna starve otherwise?



> Dude. Do you even have a credit card??


Duhhh, I'll give ya one guess. One thing that hasn't been made clear- does this apply to Debit cards too, or just credit cards?

----------


## sabang

*Russia-Ukraine live news: Vinnytsia airport destroyed*_Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says eight rockets completely destroyed the international airport.

Russia-Ukraine live news: Vinnytsia airport destroyed | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera_

----------


## sabang

To nobodys surprise:-


*Russian banks may issue cards with China's UnionPay as Visa, Mastercard cut links*



LONDON (Reuters) - Credit cards issued by Russian banks using the Visa and Mastercard payment systems will stop functioning overseas after March 9, Russia's central bank said on Sunday, adding that some local lenders would look to use China's UnionPay system instead.




Russian-issued Mastercard and Visa cards would be accepted within Russia until their expiry, the bank said,
The overseas ban also applies to cards issued by local subsidiaries of foreign banks, the bank said.

Its announcement came after U.S. payments firms Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc said they were suspending operations in Russia, joining the list of companies that are severing business links with Russia..
Full Article-  Russian banks may issue cards with China's UnionPay as Visa, Mastercard cut links (msn.com)

----------


## harrybarracuda

> To nobodys surprise:-
> 
> 
> *Russian banks may issue cards with China's UnionPay as Visa, Mastercard cut links*


Dead handy for travelling to China.


 :Smile:

----------


## misskit

*Russia Sending Syrian Fighters to Push Deeper Into Ukrainian Cities: Report*

As Russian forces attempt to invade Ukrainian cities, Moscow is poised to deploy Syrian fighters with expertise in urban combat, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the newspaper said Sunday that Russia has begun recruiting from Syria, though it is unclear how many fighters have been mobilized, or how close they are to entering the conflict. A Syrian publication said last week that Russian authorities were offering mercenaries between $200 and $300 to go to Ukraine “as guards” for six months, the Journal said. Though Ukraine’s major cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, remain under the control of Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, the recruitment of Syrian fighters has the potential to drastically escalate the scale of the conflict, according to experts. “The Russia deployment of foreign fighters from Syria into Ukraine internationalizes the Ukraine war,” Jennifer Cafarella, a national security expert in Washington, D.C., told the Journal, “and therefore could link the war in Ukraine to broader cross regional dynamics, particularly in the Middle East.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...-officials-say

----------


## misskit

*Putin’s Henchmen Rage About Getting Trolled With ‘Endless Photos’ of Dead Russian Troops*

While Russian President Vladimir Putin is raining bombs on Ukrainian cities, his top propagandists are most concerned about getting bombarded with text messages and losing the information war to Ukraine.


On Thursday’s episode of The Evening With Vladimir Soloviev, state TV propagandist Vladimir Soloviev complained that he and editor-in-chief of RT Margarita Simonyan are being terrorized by unknown individuals, receiving endless calls and texts about Russia’s military activities in Ukraine. He griped: “Margarita and I can show our telephones to demonstrate that we’re getting a thousand calls and texts per hour.”


Several days earlier, two other state TV propagandists, Olga Skabeeva and her husband Evgeny Popov, also reported a barrage of calls. Skabeeva, who hosts the state TV show 60 Minutes, angrily yelled that Ukrainians or their supporters have been “endlessly calling everybody, everybody, all citizens of Russia, including me and Evgeny!” Later in the show, she loudly interrupted a panelist to grumble about being subjected to a “mass attack that started at 2 a.m... we started getting calls from the territory of Ukraine, two to three minutes apart, Ukrainian and Polish phone numbers calling nonstop... And then, text messages with threats to kill me and my family, and photos—endless photos—of corpses, which they say are the corpses of Russian soldiers!”


The fact that the Russian military is experiencing heavy losses during the invasion of Ukraine seemed to be of little consequence to Skabeeva, who for years publicly agitated for war against Ukraine. She was, however, overtly angered by the messages, which serve as a reminder of the war’s consequences.


Meanwhile in Moscow, the Russian government has adopted new legislation to prevent the dissemination of “fake” information about the invasion, with state media describing worldwide condemnation of the Kremlin’s deeds as “informational carpet bombing.” Across state television, Putin’s attempted blitzkrieg against Kyiv is being entirely overshadowed by the Western response to the assault on Ukraine, including U.S. sanctions, which Russian lawmaker Alexey Nechayev described as “the blitzkrieg of the West against the Russian economy.”


Popular state TV pundit Karen Shakhnazarov conceded on Friday that, “It seems to me that we’re losing the information war. Our info-operation wasn’t thoroughly prepared, unlike the Ukrainian side—and whoever is standing behind them.” He, too, complained about getting trolled with strange phone calls. “By the way, I got a call from Zelensky. Well, at least it was his voice on my phone. Either a recording or somebody impersonating him. Other people are getting those too,” he said. “They’re well-prepared, with hundreds of thousands or millions of templates for things that are being disseminated.”


Appearing on Soloviev’s show on Thursday, Alexander Khinshtein, head of the State Duma’s information committee, said, “This is a blatant, overt information war that is being waged for hearts and minds, to make people not only abroad, but within Russia to believe in these horrors and to experience fear, panic and hatred, to start a psychological war over here.” He went on to describe “unprecedented” cyber attacks against Russia’s “infrastructure and its government websites,” claiming that they are “two to three times more impactful than any prior cyberattacks Russia experienced.”

Khinshtein claimed that the cyberattacks targeted all government agencies, all federal and regional utility services, energy and transportation systems, as well as “objects of critical information infrastructure, including all of Russia’s state-controlled media.” He blamed unknown attackers for sending out text messages, push notifications and snail mail that is being delivered to physical addresses in Russia, describing the contents simply as “horrors.”


Khinshtein concluded that the aim of the ongoing offensive is to “cause the infrastructure to crash and the public to panic.” Soloviev chimed in to clarify: “We certainly understand that Ukrainians are not the ones doing that and our doctrine clearly describes cyberattacks as casus belli. So what are we waiting for?” Unsatisfied with just one war in progress, Soloviev is agitating for another—but in all fairness, he believes that Russia is already at war with the Western world. He exclaimed: “Our war is against the West—a big, serious war... Ukraine is a proxy through which the West is fighting against us.”


The impact of the war on Russia’s economic crisis is already starting to manifest, as the government and major supermarket chains have agreed to restrict the amount of food staples sold to each customer in an effort to limit hoarding.


Alexander Babakov, member of the State Duma, said: “The current situation can be factually characterized as war. An economical war, a battle for survival... Look at what the West is doing. It’s destroying all logistics, it’s destroying us economically... Let’s not be shy about it, we intend to win this war.”


Appearing on Soloviev’s show on Wednesday, political scientist Sergey Mikheyev predicted: “The situation here, internally, may deteriorate once the people start to feel the impact of sanctions... even those people who agree with us right now... It won’t be enough just to tell them that this is our life now, because we had to undertake the denazification of Ukraine... We should have been preparing for this moment ten, fifteen years earlier, with a different economy, but even now, we need to communicate to people about this... We can’t just say that this is our new reality and we must live in it... We can tell them how hard this will hit America—which is also necessary—but that alone won’t suffice.”


Mikheyev added: “With all respect to our president, he always said that rising prosperity was the most important thing... Go ahead and explain, if the main thing in life is prosperity, then explain how we’re supposed to survive these sanctions.”


Without a hint of self-awareness, Soloviev boasted that he had no real concerns about the economic impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine—despite recently losing access to his two Italian villas, estimated to be worth a combined $8 million. The host bragged: “Myself, I’m well off.” He cackled: “I bought so much stuff in previous years that I don’t have to go to any stores for years to come.”


Even the most ardent Putin supporters sounded irritated with his government—not for waging war against Russia’s innocent neighbor, but for being unprepared to face the economic fallout. Andrey Sidorov, deputy dean of world politics at Moscow State University, noted: “Our government seems to be impotent. We’re never prepared for anything... How will people fix their cars without automobile parts?” Evoking the story of Cinderella, Soloviev bitterly pointed out, “And our phones are about to turn into pumpkins.”

MSN

----------


## Shutree

> Credit cards issued by Russian banks using the Visa and Mastercard payment systems will stop functioning overseas after March 9, Russia's central bank said on Sunday


A friend of mine in Phuket tells me that some Russian visitors are already having payment issues and some have been refused check-in because they can't pay. I don't know details of their problems but I do feel a bit sorry for ordinary people who have waited through 2 years of Covid then find their holidays turned upside down.
Apparently the money changers aren't taking Rubles. Bangkok Bank will still change cash - at half the rate of 2 weeks ago.

----------


## Switch

^^ Good news. Russia beaten at its own game.  :rofl:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Visa is just a network to facilitate transactions. The debts will be on the banks that issued the cards.


Visa runs an authorisation network and a settlement and clearing network.

It means the banks that pay out shops that makes sales will not be able to retrieve that money from the cardholder's bank.

And it means Russian cardholders abroad will not be able to get approvals when making purchases or withdrawing cash on their cards.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Russia Sending Syrian Fighters to Push Deeper Into Ukrainian Cities: Report*
> 
> As Russian forces attempt to invade Ukrainian cities, Moscow is poised to deploy Syrian fighters with expertise in urban combat, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the newspaper said Sunday that Russia has begun recruiting from Syria, though it is unclear how many fighters have been mobilized, or how close they are to entering the conflict. A Syrian publication said last week that Russian authorities were offering mercenaries between $200 and $300 to go to Ukraine “as guards” for six months, the Journal said. Though Ukraine’s major cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv, remain under the control of Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, the recruitment of Syrian fighters has the potential to drastically escalate the scale of the conflict, according to experts. “The Russia deployment of foreign fighters from Syria into Ukraine internationalizes the Ukraine war,” Jennifer Cafarella, a national security expert in Washington, D.C., told the Journal, “and therefore could link the war in Ukraine to broader cross regional dynamics, particularly in the Middle East.”
> 
> https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...-officials-say


Get a few Syrians from the other side in there. The Syrian army got their arses kicked until Putin started bombing everywhere from the air.

----------


## bsnub

> Apparently the money changers aren't taking Rubles.


Most likely because they are not worth anything.

----------


## bsnub

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Russian tanks and missiles besieging Ukraine  also are threatening the food supply and livelihoods of people in  Europe, Africa and Asia who rely on the vast, fertile farmlands of the  Black Sea region — known as the “breadbasket of the world.”

Ukrainian  farmers have been forced to neglect their fields as millions flee,  fight or try to stay alive. Ports are shut down that send wheat and  other food staples worldwide to be made into bread, noodles and animal  feed. And there are worries Russia, another agricultural powerhouse,  could have its grain exports upended by Western sanctions.

While there have not yet been global disruptions  to wheat supplies, prices have surged 55% since a week before the  invasion amid concerns about what could happen next. If the war is  prolonged, countries that rely on affordable wheat exports from Ukraine  could face shortages starting in July, International Grains Council  director Arnaud Petit told The Associated Press. 

That could create food insecurity and throw more people into poverty  in places like Egypt and Lebanon, where diets are dominated by  government-subsidized bread. In Europe, officials are preparing for  potential shortages of products from Ukraine and increased prices for  livestock feed that could mean more expensive meat and dairy if farmers  are forced to pass along costs to customers.

Russia  and Ukraine combine for nearly a third of the world’s wheat and barley  exports. Ukraine also is a major supplier of corn and the global leader  in sunflower oil, used in food processing. The war could reduce food  supplies just when prices are at their highest levels since 2011.

A prolonged conflict would have a big impact  some 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) away in Egypt, the world’s largest  wheat importer. Millions rely on subsidized bread made from Ukrainian  grains to survive, with about a third of people living in poverty. 

“Wars  mean shortages, and shortages mean (price) hikes,” Ahmed Salah, a  47-year-old father of seven, said in Cairo. “Any hikes will be  catastrophic not only for me, but for the majority of the people.”

Anna  Nagurney, a professor of supply chains, logistics and economics at the  University of Massachusetts Amherst, said, “Wheat, corn, oils, barley,  flour are extremely important to food security ... especially in the  poorer parts of the globe.” 

With  Ukrainian men being called on to fight, she said, “Who’s going to be  doing the harvesting? Who’d be doing the transportation?”

Egypt’s  state procurer of wheat, which normally buys heavily from Russia and  Ukraine, had to cancel two orders in less than a week: one for  overpricing, the other because a lack of companies offered to sell their  supplies. Sharp spikes in the cost of wheat globally could severely  affect Egypt’s ability to keep bread prices at their current subsidized  level.

“Bread is  extremely heavily subsidized in Egypt, and successive governments have  found that cuts to those subsidies are the one straw that should be kept  off the camel’s back at all costs,” Mirette Mabrouk, a senior fellow at  the Middle East Institute, wrote in a recent analysis.

War-ravaged  Syria recently announced it would cut spending and ration staples. In  nearby Lebanon, where a massive explosion at the Beirut port in 2020  destroyed the country’s main grain silos, authorities are scrambling to  make up for a predicted wheat shortage,  with Ukraine providing 60% of its supply. They are in talks with the  U.S., India and Canada to find other sources for a country already in  financial meltdown.

Even  before the war threatened to affect wheat supplies in sub-Saharan  Africa, people in Kenya were demanding #lowerfoodprices on social media  as inflation eroded their spending power. Now, they’re bracing for worse. 

African  countries imported agricultural products worth $4 billion from Russia  in 2020, and about 90% was wheat, said Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist  for the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa.

In  Nigeria, flour millers believe a shortage of wheat supplies from Russia  would affect the price of products like bread, a common food in  Africa’s most populous country.

“All  of us need to look elsewhere” in the future, said Tope Ogun with  Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, one of Nigeria’s biggest flour milling  companies. “We might not get what we need to, and there is likely going  to be an increase in the price.”

Nigeria  has taken pains to reduce its reliance on Russian grains, with farmers  moving to plant more wheat fields to try to meet 70% of the country’s  demand in five years, said Gambo Sale, national secretary of the Wheat  Farmers Association of Nigeria.

“We  have the land, we have the people, we have the money, we have whatever  we can need in Nigeria” to grow wheat, he said. “All we need now is  time.”

The disruption can be felt as far away as Indonesia, where wheat is used to make instant noodles, bread, fried foods and snacks.

Ukraine  was Indonesia’s second-largest wheat supplier last year, providing 26%  of wheat consumed. Rising prices for noodles, in turn, would hurt  lower-income people, said Kasan Muhri, who heads the trade ministry’s  research division. 

Ukraine  and Russia also combine for 75% of global sunflower oil exports,  accounting for 10% of all cooking oils, IHS Markit said.

Raad Hebsi, a wholesale retailer in Baghdad, said he and other Iraqis are bracing to pay more for their cooking oil.

“Once  the items stored are sold, we will see an increase in prices of these  items,” he said. “We will likely purchase alternatives from Turkey, and  Turkey will no doubt take advantage of the situation in Ukraine and  raise its prices.”

Farmers  in the United States, the world’s leading corn exporter and a major  wheat supplier, are watching to see if U.S. wheat exports spike. In the  European Union, farmers are concerned about rising costs for livestock  feed.

Ukraine  supplies the EU with just under 60% of its corn and nearly half of a key  component in the grains needed to feed livestock. Russia, which provides the EU with 40% of its natural gas needs, is similarly a major supplier of fertilizer, wheat and other staples.

Spain  is feeling the pinch both in sunflower oil, which supermarkets are  rationing, and grains for the all-important breeding industry. Those  imported grains go to feed some 55 million pigs.

Jaume  Bernis, a 58-year-old breeder with 1,200 swine on his farm in northeast  Spain, fears the war will further increase the pain his business is  facing because of climate change and drought. 

Since  October, Spanish pork products have been taking a loss from high costs,  Bernis said. Those costs are driven by China stockpiling feed for its  pigs as it claws its way out of a devastating outbreak of African swine  fever.

In the first two days of Russia’s assault on Ukraine, the price of grain for animal feed jumped 10% on the open market in Spain.

“We  are facing a moment of very elevated costs, and we don’t know what lies  ahead,” Bernis said. “This is another cost of waging a war in the 21st  century.”

https://apnews.com/article/russia-uk...73023b68d39a70

----------


## DrWilly

And in no surprise to anyone thinking, Russia’s economy is screwed. Again.

----------


## HermantheGerman



----------


## HermantheGerman



----------


## HermantheGerman



----------


## HermantheGerman



----------


## HermantheGerman



----------


## HermantheGerman

These are the pictures the War Criminal is afraid of.

Krieg in der Ukraine: Die erschutternden Bilder aus Irpin - WELT

----------


## HermantheGerman

*Paris, France:* Images of devastation from the Ukrainian  cities like Mariupol, Chernihiv and Kharkiv bring back memories of the  bloody sieges of Aleppo in Syria and the Chechen capital Grozny, both  razed on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Images of devastated Ukrainian cities resurrect memories of Aleppo and Grozny

----------


## malmomike77

Ceasefire and Humanitarian corridor take 3. Apparently they are trying again and news suggests there are two corridors, one from Kyiv but goes north to Belarus, one from Mariupol into Russia - not sure how teh Ukrainians will see those as leading to safety.

From the Beeb news feed


5:47
BREAKING
Russia says it will hold fire to allow civilians to escape

Russia will open new humanitarian corridors across multiple Ukrainian cities on Monday to allow civilians to evacuate, state media is reporting.

The ceasefire will take place from 10:00 Moscow time (07:00 GMT) according to Russia's defence ministry, with evacuation routes set up in the capital Kyiv, as well as Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy. All of these cities are currently under a significant Russian assault operation.

Ukrainian officials have yet to confirm this.

Over the weekend, two efforts to open a route to allow civilians to evacuate from Mariupol in the country's south-east collapsed.

Ukraine officials said this was because Russia continued to shell the city during the agreed ceasefire hours.

----------


## sabang

Erm, HTG this is not a Picture thread, and those are not News articles.  :deadhorsebig:

----------


## sabang

> Mariupol into Russia - not sure how teh Ukrainians will see those as leading to safety.


Most of the population in Mariupol are ethnically Russian. In fairness, even some of the Azov Battalion.  :yerman:

----------


## malmomike77

Update on the Beeb newsfeed "ceasefire", seems Micron is having trouble with his dealings with Putin, he's really not helping.

Posted at 7:507:50

Macron 'did not ask for corridors to Russia'

More now on the reports of evacuation routes heading to Russia and Belarus. French President Emmanuel Macron denies requesting for those corridors to lead into Russia, French news outlet BFMTV reports.

"The president of the Republic has neither requested nor obtained corridors to Russia after his conversation with Vladimir Putin," the Elysee presidential palace told BFMTV.

"The president of the Republic insistently asks to let the civilian populations leave and to allow the transport of aid.

"It's another way for Putin to push his narrative and say that it is the Ukrainians who are the aggressors and they are the ones who offer asylum to everyone."

----------


## sabang

China's Red Cross will provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine "as soon as possible", Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday, as he praised his country's friendship with Russia as "rock solid".

China has refused to condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine or call it an invasion while asking Western countries to respect Russia's "legitimate security concerns."

Wang said the causes of the "Ukraine situation" were "complex" and had not happened overnight, noting, using a traditional Chinese expression, that "three feet of ice does not form in a single day".

"Solving complex problems requires calmness and rationality, rather than adding fuel to the fire and intensifying contradictions," he told a news conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China's parliament.

China has already done "some work" to promote peace talks and has all along been in contact with all sides, he added.

"China is willing to continue to play a constructive role in pushing for peace and promoting talks, and is willing to work with the international community to carry out necessary mediation when needed."

China is willing to continue to make its own efforts to resolve the humanitarian crisis and the country's Red Cross will "as soon as possible" provide a batch of aid to Ukraine, Wang said, without giving details. It was the first time the country has announced such help.

China proposes that "humanitarian action" must abide by the principles of neutrality and impartiality, and humanitarian issues should not be politicised, he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Chinese President Xi Jinping hours before the start of last month's Winter Olympics in Beijing and they signed a wide-ranging strategic partnership aimed at countering U.S. influence and said they would have "no 'forbidden' areas of cooperation".

Wang said the friendship between China and Russia was "rock solid" and prospects for cooperation bright.

"No matter how sinister the international situation is, both China and Russia will maintain their strategic determination and continuously push forward the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era."

China to provide Ukraine humanitarian aid, praises Russia ties (msn.com)

----------


## sabang

Moscow continues to block independent news outlets and arrest protesters to try and control what information Russians see about the invasion of Ukraine.

And despite many protests sparking up across Russia, the Kremlin's disinformation campaign does appear to be working, with Ukrainians who have family members in Russia finding that their relatives are believing a completely different story from the reality of shelling and attacks in Ukraine.

According to a New York Times report, some Ukrainians are reporting family and friends in neighbouring Russia simply do not believe an invasion is underway.

Instead, they have been swayed by the Kremlin's messaging of a limited “special military operation” to "de-Nazify" parts of Ukraine.

"There are Russian soldiers there helping people. They give them warm clothes and food," Misha Katsiurin, a Ukrainian restaurateur, said his father had responded when he called him on the telephone to speak about the invasion.

"He started to yell at me and told me, 'Look, everything is going like this. They are Nazis.'"

Valentyna Kremyr also told the Times she had experienced a strange disbelief from family who lived in neighbouring Russia.

"They believe that everything is calm in Kyiv, that no one is shelling Kyiv," she said.

*It is estimated 11 million people in Russia have Ukrainian relatives.*

Russia ramped up its stifling of media today, blocking multiple independent online outlets, on top of dozens of others that were blocked last week.

Kremlin's disinformation campaign appears to be working (msn.com)


The Tik Tok war indeed.

----------


## bsnub

*Ukraine's army is using a nimble  'game-changing' drone called The Punisher that has completed scores of  successful missions against the Russians, say reports*


The Ukrainian military is using "game-changing" drones that can carry  3kg of explosives and hit targets up to 30 miles behind enemy lines, The Times of London reported.

Eugene  Bulatsev, an engineer with the Ukrainian designer UA-Dynamics, told the  outlet that the "game-changing" Punisher drones had completed up to 60  "successful" missions since the Russian invasion began.

"This is  the cheapest and easiest way to deliver a punch from a long distance,  without risking civilian lives," Bulatsev told the newspaper.

The  electric drones have a 7.5-foot wingspan and can fly for hours at  1,300ft and need only the coordinates of their target so they can carry  out their mission automatically, Bulatsev said.

A smaller reconnaissance drone called Spectre flies alongside to identify targets before the Punisher strikes.

After  the fighting started in eastern Ukraine in 2014, a group of veterans  launched the drone-making company, UA-Dynamics, according to an Haaretz report, last month.

"Three-quarters  of the company's employees are veterans with experience in special  operations deep in enemy territory," Maxim Subbotin, a marketing expert  and an unofficial spokesman for UA-Dynamics, told the newspaper.

Bulatsev  said that the main targets were stationary, including fuel and  ammunition storage, electronic and counter-electronic warfare stations,  and anti-air systems.

Different units in the Ukrainian military are using the drones, but  the number of how many and the locations where the Punisher drones are  being deployed is classified, Bulatsev said.

Bulatsev previously told The Sun  that stealthy Punisher drones had been "causing havoc behind  pro-Russian lines on Donbas for years because the enemy has no idea what  has hit them."
He told the outlet that the drone is relatively small and light and is undetectable to radars.

"What's  more, it can drop three bombs at a time or hit three separate targets  then return to base to be reloaded and sent back into battle within  minutes," Bulatsev told The Sun.

British defense secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News that Ukraine had  stalled Russian advances partly by carrying out a "very clever plan."

"We've  seen footage we can't verify but we've seen footage of Ukrainians using  UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to attack petrol train convoys, to go  after logistical lines, we've seen lines blown up, all the things you  and I think of when it comes to resistance," Wallace said.

Along  with the Punisher drones, the Ukrainian military is also using around 20  of the highly-rated Bayraktar TB2 drones from Turkey.

Videos shared by the Ukrainian military last week showed at least one strike from a TB2 drone appearing to tear apart a column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles.

The drones are deployed as the battle over Ukraine's skies continues following the Russian military invasion.

A senior US defense official described the airspace as "contested" and "very dynamic" earlier this week in an off-camera press briefing, despite Russia claiming to have gained control.

Although  Russia was expected to quickly knock out Ukraine's air defense  capabilities, in recent days, Ukraine has claimed to have shot down  Russian fighter jets, helicopters, and even troop transport planes.

Experts have been surprised that Russia has not deployed the full force of its air force, as was expected.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukra...reports-2022-3

----------


## malmomike77

^I was reading about that last week, interesting, sadly "necessity is the mother of invention" as they say.

----------


## bsnub

> I was reading about that last week, interesting, sadly "necessity is the mother of invention" as they say.


There is a lot of information yet to come out about this war and why it is unfolding the way it is. I think in the coming days, weeks and months we are going to learn a lot more about the innovation, heroism and determination of the Ukrainian people. Things that are completely lacking on the other side.

----------


## bsnub

Seems to me, Russia should be busy Denazifying Donetsk.

*Russian separatist warlord who led Neo-Nazi 'Sparta' mob is shot  dead during battle in eastern Ukraine town in fresh blow to Putin's  floundering invasion*

A leader of a rebel military group in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), blamed for brutal war crimes and shooting Ukrainian POWs since its formation in 2014, was shot dead in battle.

Russian  warlord Vladimir Zhoga, who headed the Neo-Nazi 'Sparta Battalion', was  killed in Volnovakha, Ukraine, following the eleventh day of Russia's invasion as Putin's troops fail to make big wins.

Zhoga's kill was yesterday confirmed in a Telegram channel post from Denis Pushilin, head of the breakaway DPR. 

He wrote: 'Today in  Volnovakha, the commander of a separate reconnaissance battalion  'Sparta' of the Guard, Colonel Vladimir Zhoga, call sign Vokha, died  heroically.

'He was mortally wounded while ensuring the exit of civilians.

'I have signed a decree on conferring the  title of Hero of the Donetsk People's Republic on Vladimir Artemovich  Zhoga posthumously.

'He died a heroic death, just a little short of victory. But his feat brought it closer.

'I express my sincere condolences to family and friends.

'Rest in peace, Brother!'

Zhoga  became the group's leader in 2016 after his predecessor Arsen Pavlov  died following an IED explosion in the lift of his apartment.

Pavlov  was accused of several war crimes, and in 2015 the Kyiv Post shared  audio of him, in a phone call with the news outlet, saying he shot '15  prisoners dead'. 

'I don't give a f**** about what I am accused of, believe it or not,' he added.

'I shot 15 prisoners dead. I don't give a f****. No comment. I kill if I want to. I don't if I don't.'

A  second attempt to evacuate refugees from Mariupol was scuppered again  today after the city was shelled just minutes into an agreed ceasefire.

Some  400,000 residents were hoped to be evacuated from 12pm today, with an  initial agreement in place until 9pm, but residents are now having to  take cover in bomb shelters without electricity and water.

It followed similar attempts on Saturday  when plans to evacuate refugees were halted when shelling recommenced 45  minutes into a ceasefire.

The  International Committee of the Red Cross said: 'Amid devastating scenes  of human suffering in Mariupol, a second attempt today to start  evacuating an estimated 200,000 people out of the city came to a halt.

'The  failed attempts yesterday and today underscore the absence of a  detailed and functioning agreement between the parties to the conflict.'

However, in a telephone call with French President Emmanual Macron, Putin blamed Kyiv for the failed evacuations.

Putin  instead claimed 'Ukrainian nationalists' prevented civilians and  foreign citizens from leaving the port city and neighbouring Volnovakha.

But  Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky today warned that Russian forces  are preparing to shell Odessa - a historic port city on the Black Sea  coast.

In a video address, the Ukrainian leader said: 'They are preparing to bomb Odessa.

'Russians  have always come to Odessa. They have always felt only warmth in  Odessa. Only sincerity. And now what? Bombs against Odessa? Artillery  against Odessa? Missiles against Odessa?

'It will be a war crime. It will be a historical crime.'

Russian warlord who led Neo-Nazi 'Sparta' mob shot dead during battle in eastern Ukraine | Daily Mail Online

----------


## S Landreth

What’s the difference between 1 US dollar and a Russian Ruble?

One dollar.


 
US Dollar / Russian Ruble

Russian stores limit sales of food staples as sanctions start to bite 

Retailers in Russia will limit sales of essential foodstuffs to limit black market speculation and ensure affordability, the government says, as sanctions imposed over Moscow’s military incursion into Ukraine began to bite.

The trade and industry ministry says there have been cases where essential foodstuffs had been purchased “in a volume clearly larger than necessary for private consumption (up to several tons) for subsequent resale.”

Trade organizations representing retailers had proposed retailers be allowed to limit the volume of specific goods sold to individuals at any one time, the ministry’s statement says.

“The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture supported the initiative of trade organizations,” the release says, noting that the organizations themselves would work out the policy.

Essential goods, whose prices are subject to state controls, include bread, rice, flour, eggs and selected meats and dairy products among others.

----------


## David48atTD



----------


## misskit

*Ukraine decries ‘immoral’ stunt after Moscow says it will let civilians flee – to Russia*


LVIV/KYIV, Ukraine, March 7 (Reuters) – Russia announced new “humanitarian corridors” on Monday to transport Ukrainians trapped under its bombardment – to Russia itself and its ally Belarus, a move immediately dismissed by Kyiv as an immoral stunt.


The announcement came after two days of failed ceasefires to let civilians escape the besieged city of Mariupol, where hundreds of thousands of people are trapped without food and water, under relentless bombardment and unable to evacuate their wounded.


The new “corridors” would be opened at 10 a.m. Moscow time (0700 GMT) from the capital Kyiv and the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumy, as well as Mariupol, Russia’s defence ministry said.


According to maps published by the RIA news agency, the corridor from Kyiv would lead to Belarus, while civilians from Kharkiv would be permitted to go only to Russia. Russia would also mount an airlift to take Ukrainians from Kyiv to Russia, the ministry said.


“Attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the whole civilised world … are useless this time,” the ministry said.


A spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the move “completely immoral” and said Russia was trying to “use people’s suffering to create a television picture”.


“They are citizens of Ukraine, they should have the right to evacuate to the territory of Ukraine,” the spokesperson told Reuters.


“This is one of the problems that is causing the humanitarian corridors to break down. They seem to agree to them, but they themselves want to supply humanitarian aid for a picture on TV, and want the corridors to lead in their direction.”


Russia’s invasion has been condemned around the world, sent more than 1.5 million Ukrainians fleeing abroad, and triggered sweeping sanctions that have isolated Russia in a way never before experienced by such a large economy.


Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians. It calls the campaign it launched on Feb. 24 a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and arrest leaders it calls neo-Nazis. Ukraine and its Western allies say this a transparent pretext for an invasion to conquer a nation of 44 million people.


Oil prices soared to their highest levels since 2008 in Asian trade after the Biden administration said it was exploring banning imports of Russian oil. Russia provides 7% of global supply and Russian oil accounts for about 8% of U.S. crude imports.


Japan, which counts Russia as its fifth-biggest supplier of crude oil, is also in discussion with the United States and European countries about possibly banning Russian oil imports, Kyodo News reported on Monday.


Europe relies on Russia for crude oil and natural gas but has become more open to the idea of banning Russian products, a source familiar with the discussions told Reuters.


The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Russian forces were “beginning to accumulate resources for the storming of Kyiv”, a city of more than 3 million, after days of slow progress in their main advance south from Belarus.


While Russia’s advance in the north on Kyiv has been stalled for days with an armoured column stretching for miles along a highway, it has had more success in the south, pushing east and west along the Black and Azov Sea coasts.


About 200,000 people remained trapped in Mariupol, most sleeping underground to escape more than six days of shelling by Russian forces that has cut off food, water, power and heating, according to the Ukrainian authorities.


About half of the people in the city were due to be evacuated on Sunday, but that effort was aborted for a second day when a ceasefire plan collapsed as the sides accused each other of failing to stop shooting and shelling.


Ukrainian authorities said on Monday the southern city of Mykolayiv was being shelled. Zelenskiy has warned that Russia’s next big target could be Odessa, an historic Black Sea port of 1 million people.

‘NO PEACEFUL PLACE ON THIS EARTH’


The official U.N. civilian death toll from hostilities across Ukraine is 364, including more than 20 children, though officials acknowledge this probably represents a fraction of the true toll.


Russia has acknowledged nearly 500 deaths among its soldiers. Ukraine says the true toll many thousands. Death tolls cannot be verified, but footage widely filmed across Ukraine shows bombed out wreckage of Russian armoured columns and Ukrainian cities reduced to rubble by Russian strikes.


U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had seen credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians and was documenting them to support a potential war crimes investigation.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned Russians who committed atrocities against civilians they would face punishment.


“For you there will be no peaceful place on this earth, except for the grave,” he said in a televised evening address.


As anti-war protests took place around the world, Ukraine renewed its appeal to the West to toughen sanctions and also requested more weapons, including Russian-made planes.


Blinken said the United States was considering how it could backfill aircraft for Poland if it decided to supply its warplanes to Ukraine.


Ukraine decries 'immoral' stunt after Moscow says it will let civilians flee – to Russia | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## bsnub

> U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had seen credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians and was documenting them to support a potential war crimes investigation.


There is already massive amounts of evidence of war crimes to anyone that wants to take the blinders off.

----------


## Cujo

> *Putin’s Henchmen Rage About Getting Trolled With ‘Endless Photos’ of Dead Russian Troops*
> 
> While Russian President Vladimir Putin is raining bombs on Ukrainian cities, his top propagandists are most concerned about getting bombarded with text messages and losing the information war to Ukraine.
> 
> 
> On Thursday’s episode of The Evening With Vladimir Soloviev, state TV propagandist Vladimir Soloviev complained that he and editor-in-chief of RT Margarita Simonyan are being terrorized by unknown individuals, receiving endless calls and texts about Russia’s military activities in Ukraine. He griped: “Margarita and I can show our telephones to demonstrate that we’re getting a thousand calls and texts per hour.”
> 
> 
> Several days earlier, two other state TV propagandists, Olga Skabeeva and her husband Evgeny Popov, also reported a barrage of calls. Skabeeva, who hosts the state TV show 60 Minutes, angrily yelled that Ukrainians or their supporters have been “endlessly calling everybody, everybody, all citizens of Russia, including me and Evgeny!” Later in the show, she loudly interrupted a panelist to grumble about being subjected to a “mass attack that started at 2 a.m... we started getting calls from the territory of Ukraine, two to three minutes apart, Ukrainian and Polish phone numbers calling nonstop... And then, text messages with threats to kill me and my family, and photos—endless photos—of corpses, which they say are the corpses of Russian soldiers!”
> ...


 :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  
Oh boo fuckin hoo, that's some seriously WTF BS right there.
Ok so we're bombing them and raining missiles down but they're SPAMMING OUR PHONES. It's not fair, how dare they point out what assholes we are.
It'd be hillarious if it wasn't so sad.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Seems I'm not the only one that picked up on Puffy Putin....

----------


## Cujo

> Seems I'm not the only one that picked up on Puffy Putin....


?????

----------


## misskit

^ I had to google it. 

PHOTO

Five reasons ‘puffy-faced’ Putin could be seriously ill – DNyuz

----------


## misskit

*More than 4,500 antiwar protesters arrested in one day in Russia, group says*

More than 4,500 protesters were arrested Sunday at antiwar demonstrations across Russia, according to the independent human rights organization OVD-Info, as people risked jail time to denounce the nation’s war with Ukraine.

The scenes joined other displays of defiance in a country that has continued to clamp down on opposition to the invasion. Crowds chanted “No to war!” while streaming through Moscow and St. Petersburg in a pair of videos posted to Twitter. In another, a demonstrator being hauled away by law enforcement sang Ukraine’s anthem.

A woman was recorded telling a police officer she had survived the Nazi siege of Leningrad, the former name of St. Petersburg, and lost both her parents. Another woman added, “We have relatives, we have friends in Ukraine.”


“You came to support fascists?” the officer responded, a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s justification for the war.


“What fascists?” the crowd asked.


The officer then gave an order: “Arrest everyone.”


Authorities on Sunday arrested at least 4,640 people across 56 cities in Russia, reported OVD-Info, which was declared a foreign agent by Russian authorities last year during Putin’s sweeping suppression of activists, rights groups and opposition figures. The group reported multiple instances of excessive force against protesters, including beatings and use of stun guns. Among those detained were 13 journalists and 113 juveniles.

MORE/VIDEO MSN

----------


## harrybarracuda

So Puffy is having to arrest people, ban twatter and facetube and make it illegally for anyone to say anything bad about him being a homicidal c u n t.


He really needs a bullet or two to the back of the head, but hopefully it's rapidly spreading brain cancer.

----------


## S Landreth

Late morning update...........

 
US Dollar / Russian Ruble


Ruble Sinks to Fresh Lows With Russian Market Shut

Russias currency sank to a record low Monday as traders struggled to get access to the ruble.

The ruble fell to 137 to a dollar, a decline of more than 10% from Fridays close, as traders say that the ability to buy and sell the Russian currency has become more limited as fewer banks want to settle transactions against it in the offshore market.

What sanctions are being imposed on Russia? And what's being discussed now?

Sanctions could be widened to include a ban on importing Russian gas and oil exports.

The EU currently imports a quarter of its oil and 40% of its gas from Russia. - which means that member countries are paying the country hundreds of millions of dollars every day.

Although Germany has put on hold permission for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to open, sanctions on oil and gas up have been ruled out so far because of the effect they would have on Europe.

However, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is currently in Europe for talks with Western allies, and they are exploring the possibility of banning Russian oil imports.

Meanwhile in Washington DC, a bill proposing a ban on Russian oil imports is being discussed by US senators, and has support from both Republicans and Democrats

----------


## malmomike77

Putin makes demands to stop invasion as Zelensky vows revenge on Russian forces

Russia has told Ukraine it is ready to bring its military operations to a halt in a moment if Kyiv meets its list of conditions.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine was aware of the conditions.

The demands include

* ceasing military action,
* changing its constitution to enshrine neutrality, 
* acknowledging Crimea as Russian territory, 
* and recognising two separatist regions  Donetsk and Luhansk  as independent states.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-putin-latest-kyiv-zelensky-b2029871.html

----------


## David48atTD

Russia considers Chinese payment system, as Beijing calls Moscow its 'most important strategic partner'


Credit

China has once again refused to condemn Moscow's  actions in Ukraine, as Russian banks say they will look into issuing  cards that operate on a Chinese payment system after Visa and Mastercard  said they would cut their services in Russia.

*Key points:*

A Chinese spokesperson says Russia and China's friendship is "iron clad"Russian banks are considering using China's UnionPay system to circumvent Visa and Mastercard's withdrawalChina has refused to denounce Russia's invasion of Ukraine 

Far  from any statement of condemnation on Monday Chinese Foreign Minister  Wang Yi labelled Russia Beijing's "most important strategic partner".

Mr Wang said China's alliance with Moscow constituted "one of the most crucial bilateral relationships in the world".

Russia considers Chinese payment system, as Beijing calls Moscow its '&#39;'most important strategic partner'&#39;' - ABC News

----------


## sabang

The Ukrainian navy said it scuttled its flagship frigate to prevent Russian invaders from being able to take over the ship.

The commanding officer of the Hetman Sahaidachny, the only frigate possessed by the Ukraine navy, was ordered to sink the vessel due to fear of the Russian advance in the Black Sea.

The 30-year-old ship had been moored in the southern port city of Mykolaiv for repairs, but was intentionally flooded and laid to rest in the harbour.

The scuttling took place on the first day of the invasion, Oleksiy Goncharenko, a local MP, said, but the ship’s fate was not immediately made public by officials.

Oleksii Reznikov, Ukrainian defence minister, said in a Facebook post on Friday: “The commander of the VMSU flagship executed the order to flood the ship so that the frigate 'Hetman Sagaidachny', which was under repair, did not reach the enemy.

“It is hard to imagine a more difficult decision for the brave warrior and the entire team. But we are building a new fleet. Modern, powerful.”

He told Ukrainians “the main thing now is to resist” as the war entered its second week.

Ukrainian Navy scuttles flagship as Russia advances on Mykolaiv (msn.com)

----------


## HermantheGerman

> ^ I had to google it. 
> 
> PHOTO
> 
> Five reasons puffy-faced Putin could be seriously ill  DNyuz


This 5000 bullet face is also spot on

'Face of War': Ukraine artist creates Putin portrait with bullet shells - Egypt Independent

----------


## DrWilly

> So Puffy is having to arrest people, ban twatter and facetube and make it illegally for anyone to say anything bad about him being a homicidal c u n t.
> 
> 
> He really needs a bullet or two to the back of the head, but hopefully it's rapidly spreading brain cancer.



needs to be more rapid.

----------


## misskit

*Sending Weapons to Ukraine Will Lead to 'Global Collapse' - Ifx Cites Russian Foreign Ministry*

(Reuters) - Sending foreign weapons to Ukraine will lead to a "global collapse," Interfax news agency cited the Russian foreign ministry as saying on Monday.


Another Russian agency, TASS, quoted foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying that the West sending mercenaries and military equipment to Ukraine would cause a catastrophic development of the situation there.

Sending Weapons to Ukraine Will Lead to '''Global Collapse''' - Ifx Cites Russian Foreign Ministry | World News | US News


That’s a bit of a hair-on-fire statement. 

Guess they want the Russians to think everyone in the world is as bad off as the Russians are.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Thats a bit of a hair-on-fire statement.


Nah it's just Puffy Putin doing his impression of Baghdad Bob a.k.a. Comical Ali.

----------


## panama hat

> 



Excellent photo post, no wonder the Putin apologists are whining about seeing the real face of war.

----------


## panama hat

> 


Pictures are definitely part of a thread - why would anyone object to that?

----------


## bsnub

> Pictures are definitely part of a thread - why would anyone object to that?


Someone who is pro-Russian and a Putin nob gobbler.

----------


## David48atTD



----------


## katie23

I was touched by the pic of that husky being carried by its owner. I've seen other vids (of Ukrainians fleeing) wherein pets were carried on backpacks or in their owners' arms. One woman even carried puppies inside her jacket. 

It makes me think of how we (mom & I) would transport our 2 dogs if ever there's a volcanic eruption, earthquake, strong typhoon (or god forbid, war).

That woman in tears is also  :Sad: .  She has a lil dog too. Also many vids on YT.

I hope this war is resolved soon. 

Thanks @herman for the pics.

----------


## sabang

*The Resistance*

The famous Netflix series 'Money Heist' ('Casa de Papel') has made its way into the Ukrainian war theater. The invaded country's national guard shared a tweet in which its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has become another hero of 'The Resistance', a nickname by which the protagonists of the series are popularly known.

Ukrainian president Zelenskiy becomes a character from 'Money Heist' (msn.com)


I'm not sure how to copy a slide show onto the forum, so follow the link above. And of course if you are familiar with the Pandora papers, it's quite true anyway.  :Smile:

----------


## David48atTD

> It is obvious now that the mandate of this thread has expanded considerably compared to what was originally stated, so I too can avail of this broadened privilege.


Mate, it's the News thread, not an opinion thread.

The 'opinion thread' is next level down, 3rd door on the left if you used the lift, 4th door on the right if using the stairs  :Smile:

----------


## David48atTD

War in Ukraine: Russia says it may cut gas supplies if oil ban goes ahead



*Russia has said it may close its main gas pipeline to Germany if the West goes ahead with a ban on Russian oil.*

Deputy  Prime Minister Alexander Novak said a "rejection of Russian oil would  lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market", causing prices  to more than double to $300 a barrel.

The US has been exploring a potential ban with allies as a way of punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

But Germany and the Netherlands rejected the plan on Monday.

The EU gets about 40% of its gas and 30% of its oil from Russia, and has no easy substitutes if supplies are disrupted.

In  an address on Russian state television, Mr Novak said it would be  "impossible to quickly find a replacement for Russian oil on the  European market".

"It  will take years, and it will still be much more expensive for European  consumers. 
Ultimately, they will be hurt the worst by this outcome," he  said.

War in Ukraine: Russia says it may cut gas supplies if oil ban goes ahead - BBC News

----------


## HermantheGerman

> I was touched by the pic of that husky being carried by its owner.
> Thanks @herman for the pics.


You are Welcome. Every war has photos, they can say more then a thousands stories. No one would be complaining here on this thread about the poor Vietnamese naked girl running in the streets. You would of course never see these type of photos in Russia or China....because they don't commit war crimes  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 
Phan Thi Kim Phuc - Wikipedia

Only a Untermensch would have objections, that is not an opinion but a Fact.

----------


## panama hat

> Only a Untermensch would have objections, that is not an opinion but a Fact.


Because photos of those affected by invasion, death and misery think it's unfair to highlight that . . . and chuck their dummy like infants.

Untermensch?  Nah, more like armseliger hirntoter möchtegern-wichser.

----------


## bsnub

> armseliger hirntoter möchtegern-wichser


 :smiley laughing:

----------


## sabang

What would we do without Google translate.  :Confused:

----------


## hallelujah

> armseliger hirntoter möchtegern-wichser.


Easy for you to say. 


 :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Russia considers Chinese payment system, as Beijing calls Moscow its 'most important strategic partner'


The chinkies, of course, mean "only".

----------


## harrybarracuda

> War in Ukraine: Russia says it may cut gas supplies if oil ban goes ahead



Keep it up Vlad:

Everyone in the West make alternative arrangements as we speak.

 :rofl:

----------


## S Landreth

Love my Levi’s

Levi's halts sales in Russia, evoking Cold War scrambles for blue jeans

Levi Strauss & Co. announced today that it is pausing commercial operations in Russia, as well as donating thousands of dollars in humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees. It's one of the many companies, cultural events and athletic competitions distancing themselves from Russia over its aggression in Ukraine.

"Given the enormous disruption occurring in the region, which makes normal business untenable, LS&Co. is temporarily suspending commercial operations in Russia, including any new investments," the company said in a news release.

Levi Strauss, a symbol of freedom in the Soviet era, suspends sales in Russia amid Ukraine ware

----------


## bsnub

This GIF is from sueddeutsche.de and it shows the slow advance and even Russian forces being pushed back. Notice that in the separatist territories where the Ukrainians have the largest concentration of troops, they have largely held the line.

----------


## misskit

KYIV, Ukraine — Makeshift roadblocks have been installed throughout this capital to impede the movements of Russian troops snaking toward the city in a convoy about 15 miles away.

On some strategic thruways, Ukrainians have parked trams and buses to restrict driving access. Checkpoints to inspect IDs have also been established to root out would-be saboteurs. “We have a lot of presents” for the Russians, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in an interview. “It’s not sweet. It’s very painful.”


The extended 40-mile parade of Russian armored vehicles, tanks and towed artillery headed from the north on a path toward Kyiv has both alarmed and befuddled watchers of this expanding war. It’s not just its sheer size. It’s also because for days, it has not appreciably been moving.


U.S. officials attribute the apparent stall in part to logistical failures on the Russian side, including food and fuel shortages, that have slowed Moscow’s advance through various parts of the country. They have also credited Ukrainian efforts to attack selected parts of the convoy with contributing to its slowdown. Still, officials warn that the Russians could regroup at any moment and continue to press forward.

In Kyiv, the approaching convoy has mustered much more inspiration than fear, motivating residents to exact revenge on the Russian invasion in any way they can.


“The target in Ukraine is not secret. The target is the capital of Ukraine,” Klitschko said.


Russian troop movements from the north pose a risk, he acknowledged. “And we prepare to give the answer,” he said.


In northern Kyiv, soldiers and volunteers have dug trenches and set up positions and equipment — including an antiaircraft gun — to prepare for the potential arrival of Russian troops in the capital. Nearly every business in the city, except for certain grocery stores, gas stations and pharmacies, has closed. With schools and offices shuttered, residents have largely either fled or joined the resistance.


While U.S. officials say the convoy is designed to replenish and re-equip Russian forces, they acknowledge it is still possible that certain elements could be intended to help the attack.


“Our assessment is that it’s largely meant for resupply — but I can’t rule out that there aren’t combat vehicles,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday. “We can’t even say that it’s all one convoy and not several.”


Still, the convoy’s progress — or lack thereof — continues to capture popular fascination, thanks to a steady stream of satellite images and video recorded and disseminated by Maxar Technologies, a space technology and intelligence company.


The images have put the business of tracking Russian supply lines, normally the occupation of secretive government agencies, into the public sphere, making them staples of TV news broadcasts and inspiring armchair generals around the world to offer their advice on how to attack the column. The massive lineup of military vehicles — sometimes positioned two or three side by side on the road, sometimes spaced by several yards — appears both formidable and foreboding.

While fuel and ammunition transport vehicles tend to stick out, they can be camouflaged, said Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies at CNA and an expert on the Russian military.


The British defense ministry supports U.S. officials’ assessment that Russia is trying to correct course to overcome logistical challenges, but the move also provides more potential targets for Ukrainians trying to handicap the Russian war effort.


Fuel trucks are exactly the sort of “soft targets” that the Ukrainians should be aiming to attack as they attempt to undermine the more sizable and powerful Russian army’s ability to fight, according to Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), an Army veteran who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and visited Ukraine in recent weeks.


“You don’t hit the combat units. You don’t hit the tanks. You hit the fuel trucks, the ammunition trucks,” Crow said. “You cut off their supplies, and you also try to strike terror into the minds of the enemy.”


The sight of the stretch of Russian vehicles appears to be helping bolster public opinion toward providing more military aid. Government officials, once reluctant to escalate involvement in the conflict, are now talking about providing aircraft and additional munitions to help Ukraine resist the ongoing invasion.


“I call that 40-mile convoy, by the way, the biggest, fattest target in Ukraine,” retired Navy admiral James Stavridis, who previously led NATO forces as the supreme allied commander Europe, said on MSNBC. Put certain fighter jets “in the hands of the Ukrainians,” he added, “and watch that thing blow up.”


The question of whether to equip Ukraine with enhanced air power has gripped NATO allies over the last week, after an initial plan for European nations to send fighter jets to Ukraine formed but then appeared to fall apart, under Russian threats to mete out “consequences” for countries materially assisting the Ukrainian resistance.


Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made impassioned appeals to world leaders and directly to members of Congress for planes and drones to hold off the Russian advance. Now, there are potential plans under discussion in which the United States could help facilitate Poland sending MiG-29 planes to Ukraine by backfilling the Polish fleet.


On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States was “very, very actively” working toward such a plan.


That stands in contrast to the administration’s demonstrated resistance to calls for establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which would almost certainly require direct engagement with Russian air forces. President Biden has repeatedly stated that no U.S. troops would be deployed to Ukraine.


U.S. officials have similarly ignored calls from lawmakers to supply attack aircraft to Ukraine directly. A push to send Ukraine, A-10 Warthogs, for example, has gone nowhere, in part because most Ukrainian military pilots are not trained on them.


The country’s forces are more familiar with how to operate, maintain and repair the Soviet-era MiG fighters potentially on offer from Poland, to give them more muscle as they battle the Russians for control of the airspace over key spots, like the convoy.


“More than likely, Russian forces have local air superiority, so it’s doubtful Ukrainian forces have good opportunity to strike,” Kofman said of Kyiv’s current posture. Given that imbalance, he added, “the Ukrainians’ best chance” of damaging the convoy at this point “is with drones.”


Ukraine has had some success striking Russia targets with Bayraktar TB2 drones, which were purchased from Turkey. Last week, Ukraine’s defense minister said in a Facebook post that additional Bayraktar drones had just arrived in the country, but it is unclear how many more drones Kyiv had bought.


Tony Radakin, the head of the United Kingdom’s armed forces, said during an interview with the BBC on Sunday that the Ukrainian attacks on the convoy are “impacting on morale” among Russian troops. Some of those troops are camping out in the nearby forest, Radakin added, for fear of staying in convoy vehicles that might be struck.


It remains to be seen whether Ukraine will be able to cause enough damage to the convoy and other Russian supply lines to hold back the Russian advance — and whether their efforts will be fast enough to change the course of the fight.


As the Russian ground advance hits snags, its efforts to bombard Ukrainian cities appear to be intensifying. In recent days, Russia has been “increasing its use of long-range firepower to supplement or to make up for the lack of ground movement,” a senior defense official said Monday, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under terms established by the Pentagon. Civilians are also being hit as they attempt to flee, the official added.


The U.N. high commissioner for refugees estimated Sunday that more than 1.5 million people living in Ukraine have fled since the Russian invasion began, making it “the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II.”


Despite the courage and motivation to fight the incoming convoy, Kyiv residents have also watched in desperation the shelling and cutoff escape routes in cities elsewhere.


Although residents are gearing up for the approaching convoy, they know they soon might not have the chance to get out as more roads are overtaken by the Russians. On Monday evening, the central train station in Kyiv was packed with families escaping the capital, many carrying their dogs and cats as they crammed into crowded trains headed west.

MSN

----------


## misskit

*Putin Lost the Digital War Abroad. Will He Lose at Home?*

Its diplomatic efforts in tatters, its agencies beset by cyber vigilantes, the Russian government is still choking off the information that fuels its homegrown protest movement.


The Kremlin's vaunted influence operators failed to defuse the nearly universal condemnation of its war on Ukraine, which has led tech companies to turn their backs on the country and provoked digital vigilantes into action against Russian targets. But Vladimir Putin’s accelerating efforts to control information within his own country—and keep his own populace from turning against him—may yet prove successful.


The failure of the external influence effort could perhaps be seen most starkly at the United Nations, where 141 countries voted to condemn the attack and a committee overwhelmingly approved an investigation into alleged Russian human-rights violations in Ukraine. Moscow’s messaging has proven no match for the flow of images and video clips showing the brutal war in Ukraine, said David Kaye, a former UN Special Rapporteur on the freedom of expression.


“Simply the…very images that we're getting from Ukraine, the…social media and communications effort that [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy has been undertaking, I think all of those things kind of play into making it easier for diplomats to isolate Russia.”


Emerson T. Brooking, a co-author of Like War, concurred.


“Russia was part of the G8 less than a decade ago. It's been rendered a pariah state in the course of a week. And I think that's due tremendously to the public pressure that Ukrainians were able to exert and the fact that this conflict was playing out on everyone’s smartphone,” Brooking said during an Atlantic Council Digital Forensics Lab event.


The failure is in stark contrast to past hybrid-war campaigns in which Russia has skillfully used information tactics to stave off effective global pushback—for example, when seizing Crimea or pushing into eastern Ukraine eight years ago.


“They pioneered obfuscation of forces, psychological dislocation, mass disinformation campaigns, and repeated denials, which, in 2014—it really frustrated a rapid international response to their actions,” Brooking said. “They didn’t use that playbook this time” because the size of the operation, and the months-long build-up on the Ukrainian border it required, made that impossible, he said. 

“There's no way to obscure the fight in the gray zone when you're launching a conventional invasion involving 190,000 soldiers.”


That failure is largely due to U.S. efforts to highlight Russian false-flag operations before they occurred and rally a strong, unified response. But the Russians did themselves no favors in how clumsily they attempted to persuade audiences that Ukrainian forces were committing atrocities in in the Russian-occupied portion of the Donbas, said Nika Aleksejeva, a lead researcher for the Baltics at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab.  


“It was more like theatrics, like really staged footage or quite poorly edited footage,” she said. Examples include videos that purported to show Ukrainians shelling Donetsk (using obviously timed explosions) and injured civilians (using an amputee actor who had not even bothered to fully remove his prosthetic).


Russia is still pushing messages on social media via bot networks. “We’ve seen reports of some apps being blocked in Russia or taken out to the app stores, but plenty of pro-Russia content continues to be generated,” said McDaniel Wicker, a vice president for strategy at the firm BabelStreet. But those messages simply don’t seem to be landing effectively.


Now the Russian government is losing the ability to influence audiences abroad via its established propaganda channels Sputnik and RT, both of which are now banned in the European Union. The U.S. arm of RT has also shuttered its doors. 


Nor is Russia using cyber operations to much effect, outside of a few denial-of-service attacks against Ukraine. 


There are several reasons for that, said Liran Tancman, who helped found Israel’s Cyber Command and now leads the Rezilion cybersecurity firm. First, the tools a nation-state might use to steal information from a network are very different from the ones that could destroy it. 


“There is always an inherent tension between using cybersecurity for intelligence versus using cybersecurity for attacks,” Tancman said. 


That’s one reason why Russia is shooting at television towers rather than attempt to take down media electronically. 


Nor would cyberthievery do much good. Though there have been some reports of Russia using credential information possibly stolen from Ukrainian targets to steal data from other governmental targets across Europe, there’s no equivalent to the Russia-backed theft of Democratic Party emails that were used to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential run.. 


The failure of the external influence operation can also be seen in the way cyber vigilantes have begun acting against Russian agencies and organizations. The Hactivist collective Anonymous has targeted Russian television and other government sites. Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister for Innovation has put together an “IT army” to find vulnerabilities in Russian government and television networks. And new vigilante groups are gathering volunteerss to attack yet other targets.As the world watches Russian artillery shell civilian buildings across Ukraine, it’s a safe bet their numbers will grow.


Russia’s pariah status will undermine its cybersecurity in ways its leaders probably did not expect. Microsoft’s Friday decision to suspend sales in the country means that the many Russian businesses and institutions that use its software won’t be able to buy new versions, leaving them increasingly vulnerable as flaws are inevitably discovered. 


The influence war at home


Protests continue to flare across Russia, but government efforts to reduce the flow of information into and around the country may sap dissident communities of vital fuel.


The government has been choking off social media, first slowing down access to Twitter and Facebook and, as of Friday, simply blocking the latter entirely. Meanwhile, it has been turning up its own propaganda efforts, especially on television.


“There are reports [that] if you check programming of Kremlin-owned TV channels, the air times for propaganda talk shows was increased,” said Aleksejeva of the Digital Forensic Research Lab.


She said much of the faked footage purporting to show Ukrainian atrocities was likely aimed at domestic audiences.  


“I think it was more intended to generate headlines for…Kremlin-owned media, to basically create this alertness in the news cycle and convince internal audiences, because the international audience was clearly unconvinced,” Aleksejeva said.


This may be worsening the generation gap in Russian perceptions of the war, because older people are more likely to get their information from television, she said.


The Russian government is also increasing the punishment for speaking out, passing a law on Friday that prescribes up to 15 years in prison for spreading “fake information” about the military or the war in Ukraine.


Kaye and Aleksejeva worry that Western efforts to shut down Russian outlets in their own countries, which has in some cases prompted Moscow’s counter-reaction, are also reducing the ability of dissidents within Russia to gather information and recruit others to their cause.


As well, Kaye said, “There has been a push by some in the Ukrainian government to…say to the companies, ‘Don't allow access to those tools in Russia.’ I think that it was a serious miscalculation...It's just politically sort of counterproductive because you want to make sure that people who support your perspective, or who might support your perspective, have access to information about what's actually happening.” 


Even Aleksejeva, who said she favors a ban on RT and other propaganda channels in Europe, said banning Facebook and other sites make it harder to get information from abroad. 


“So if people are lazy, if they just stick with their habit of just watching TV and sourcing their understanding from there, then it's quite bad,” she said.


Putin Lost the Digital War Abroad. Will He Lose at Home? - Defense One

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Open to ‘Compromise’ with Russia on Crimea, Separatist Territories*

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed willingness to discuss Russia’s demands for Kyiv to recognize annexed Crimea and the breakaway pro-Moscow territories in an interview with ABC News published Tuesday.


“I think that items regarding temporarily occupied territories and pseudo-republics not recognized by anyone but Russia, we can discuss and find a compromise on how these territories will live on,” Zelenskiy said.

The Kremlin said Monday that it was ready to stop its deadly military campaign “in a moment” if Ukraine met its demands to recognize Crimea as a Russian region and the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent republics. 

“What’s important to me is how the people in those territories who want to be part of Ukraine are going to live,” Zelenskiy told ABC News.


But he refused to give in to ultimatums which Russia’s negotiating team has put forward in three rounds of dialogue that have so far failed to achieve a ceasefire.


“The question is more difficult than simply acknowledging them. This is another ultimatum and we’re not prepared for ultimatums,” Zelensky said.


“I’m ready for dialogue, we’re not ready for capitulation.”


The Kremlin also said Monday that it wants Kyiv to cease military action and enshrine neutrality in its constitution, a proposal that Zelenskiy also appeared open to.


“I have cooled over the issue a long time ago after we understood that NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said.


The Ukrainian leader reiterated his calls for Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate a ceasefire with him directly, calls the Kremlin has so far rejected.


“What needs to be done is for President Putin to start talking, start dialogue instead of living in an information bubble without oxygen.”


Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Says Open to ‘Compromise’ with Russia on Crimea, Separatist Territories - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine Says Russia Violating Mariupol Evacuation Corridor*

Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russia of violating a humanitarian corridor aimed at enabling civilians to leave the beleaguered southern port city of Mariupol.


"The enemy has launched an attack heading exactly at the humanitarian corridor," the defense ministry said on Facebook, adding the Russian army "did not let children, women and elderly people leave the city.”

"Such actions are nothing other than a genocide," it added. 

Late Monday, Russia named Mariupol as one of four cities where evacuation corridors would be opened.


"Ceasefire violated!" tweeted Ukraine's foreign ministry.


"Russian forces are now shelling the humanitarian corridor from Zaporizhzhia to Mariupol. 8 trucks + 30 buses ready to deliver humanitarian aid to Mariupol and to (evacuate) civilians to Zaporizhzhia," it added.

Kyiv said it had carried out de-mining activities along the 250-kilometer (150-mile) route to Zaporizhzhia in the northwest to allow the evacuation of the roughly 450,000 people living in Mariupol. 


The city has been under siege by the Russian army for several days.


It is a key strategic location due to its proximity to the Russia-controlled Crimean peninsula and the Donbas region where Russian separatists are based. 


Attempted evacuations involving some 300,000 civilians from Mariupol have failed on several occasions in recent days, with both Kyiv and Moscow blaming the other side for the failures.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there had been "guarantees" on evacuating Mariupol civilians but that these "did not work."

Ukraine Says Russia Violating Mariupol Evacuation Corridor - The Moscow Times

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## sabang

An atomic physics lab in Ukraine under international safeguards has been destroyed by Russian troops advancing to capture Kyiv, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Officials from the global nuclear watchdog said that a neutron generator at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology was destructed in an attack on Sunday.

One of Ukraine’s key labs, it was used in research and to provide medical isotopes for health care works.

“The facility in north-eastern Ukraine is used for research and development and radioisotope production. Because the nuclear material in the facility is always subcritical and the inventory of radioactive material is very low, the IAEA’s assessment confirmed that the damage reported to it would not have had any radiological consequence,” Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of IAEA, said in a statement.

Stating that “we cannot go on like this”, Mr Grossi said he was ready to meet Ukrainian and Russian officials at a location of their preference over the stand-off to secure the safety of atomic sites as the Moscow-ordered invasion continues for the 13th straight day.

“We have already had several episodes compromising safety at Ukraine’s nuclear sites,” the director general said, adding that the physical integrity, communication channels and supply chains of the facilities need to be guaranteed.

Russia has destroyed Ukraine’s atomic physics lab, IAEA says (msn.com)

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## S Landreth

Biden to announce Russian energy import ban

President Biden is expected to announce Tuesday that the U.S. will ban Russian oil, natural gas and coal imports as part of his administrations response to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

A source familiar with the plans confirmed to The Hill that Biden intends to announce the ban, which was first reported by Bloomberg.

The White House said in updated guidance Tuesday morning that Biden will speak at 10:45 a.m. and will announce actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.

The White House in recent days has been reticent to ban the imports as gas prices have soared, but there have been growing calls from members of both parties to ban Russian oil as punishment for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.




 


Ferrari suspends exports to Russia


McDonald's closing 850 restaurants in Russia temporarily


Coca-Cola follows McDonald's, Starbucks in suspending business in Russia

 ::doglol::

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## sabang

*Moscow explains how it’ll do business with firms from ‘unfriendly states’*

The Ministry of Finance has set up a special subcommittee to control foreign investment

Russian companies wishing to work with firms from countries which oppose Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine will have to receive government permission for the deals, the press service of Russia’s Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Permission will be granted by the Government Commission for the Control of Foreign Investments. It includes representatives from Russia’s Central Bank (Bank of Russia) and the presidential administration.

According to the resolution establishing the procedure, which was signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, a Russian resident company or foreign company from an “_unfriendly state_” must apply for permission for any business deal.

“_[The application] should contain comprehensive information about the applicant, including information on the beneficial owners of the company. Based on the analysis of the documents received and the nature of the future agreement, a decision will be made to approve or refuse to implement it_,” the press service said, stressing that “_the main goal of this work is to ensure the country’s financial stability in the face of external sanctions pressure._”

READ MORE: Russian companies are now allowed to pay foreign creditors in rubles

The government on Monday also unveiled an updated list of countries which have been deemed “_unfriendly states_” for their positions on the Ukraine conflict. It includes the United States and Canada, the countries of the EU bloc, the UK (including Jersey, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, and Gibraltar), Ukraine, Montenegro, Switzerland, Albania, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, North Macedonia, and also Japan, South Korea, Australia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Singapore, and China’s self-ruled territory of Taiwan.

The countries and territories were added to the list after they imposed or joined the sanctions against Russia in connection with the ongoing military operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine.

According to the government decree, Russian citizens and companies, the state itself and its regions and municipalities will now also have to pay for obligations to foreign creditors from countries on the list in rubles. The new temporary procedure applies to payments exceeding 10 million rubles per month, or a corresponding amount in foreign currency.

READ MORE: Bank of Russia resumes gold buying amid sanctions

The measures have been introduced by Moscow to support the Russian economy after Western states placed Russia under heavy sanctions over the past 10 days. A number of Russia’s largest banks have been cut off from SWIFT and had their foreign assets frozen, restrictions were placed on certain Russian imports, and a growing number of companies from all sectors have been shutting down operations in the country.

Moscow explains how it’ll do business with firms from ‘unfriendly states’ — RT Business News

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## helge

> Mate, it's the News thread, not an opinion thread.





> Untermensch? Nah, more like armseliger hirntoter möchtegern-wichser.


So..hows it going, David

 :Smile:

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## HermantheGerman

Please click on the link below:

See Photos on the Ground in Ukraine - The New York Times



*Lynsey Addario*Lynsey Addario - The New York Times

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## HermantheGerman

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNRzDizV...pg&name=medium

----------


## misskit

*As Russia’s Military Stumbles, Its Adversaries Take Note*

CONSTANTA, Romania — When it comes to war, generals say that “mass matters.”


But nearly two weeks into President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — Europe’s largest land war since 1945 — the image of a Russian military as one that other countries should fear, let alone emulate, has been shattered.


Ukraine’s military, which is dwarfed by the Russian force in most ways, has somehow managed to stymie its opponent. Ukrainian soldiers have killed more than 3,000 Russian troops, according to conservative estimates by American officials.


Ukraine has shot down military transport planes carrying Russian paratroopers, downed helicopters and blown holes in Russia’s convoys using American anti-tank missiles and armed drones supplied by Turkey, these officials said, citing confidential U.S. intelligence assessments.


The Russian soldiers have been plagued by poor morale as well as fuel and food shortages. Some troops have crossed the border with MREs (meals ready to eat) that expired in 2002, U.S. and other Western officials said, and others have surrendered and sabotaged their own vehicles to avoid fighting.


To be sure, most military experts say that Russia will eventually subdue Ukraine’s army. Russia’s military, at 900,000 active duty troops and two million reservists, is eight times the size of Ukraine’s. Russia has advanced fighter planes, a formidable navy and marines capable of multiple amphibious landings, as they proved early in the invasion when they launched from the Black Sea and headed toward the city of Mariupol.


And the Western governments that have spoken openly about Russia’s military failings are eager to spread the word to help damage Russian morale and bolster the Ukrainians.

But with each day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky holds out, the scenes of a frustrated Russia pounding, but not managing to finish off, a smaller opponent dominate screens around the world.


The result: Militaries in Europe that once feared Russia say they are not as intimidated by Russian ground forces as they were in the past.


That Russia has so quickly abandoned surgical strikes, instead killing civilians trying to flee, could damage Mr. Putin’s chances of winning a long-term war in Ukraine. The brutal tactics may eventually overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses, but they will almost certainly fuel a bloody insurgency that could bog down Russia for years, military analysts say. Most of all, Russia has exposed to its European neighbors and American rivals gaps in its military strategy that can be exploited in future battles.


“Today what I have seen is that even this huge army or military is not so huge,” said Lt. Gen. Martin Herem, Estonia’s chief of defense, during a news conference at an air base in northern Estonia with Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Herem’s colleague and the air force chief, Brig. Gen. Rauno Sirk, in an interview with a local newspaper, was even more blunt in his assessment of the Russian air force. “If you look at what’s on the other side, you’ll see that there isn’t really an opponent anymore,” he said.


Many of the more than 150,000 largely conscripted troops that Moscow has deployed across Ukraine have been bogged down north of Kyiv, the capital. The northeastern city of Kharkiv was expected to fall within hours of the invasion; it is battered by an onslaught of rocket fire and shelling, but still standing.


Every day, Pentagon officials caution that Russia’s military will soon correct its mistakes, perhaps shutting off communications across the country, cutting off Mr. Zelensky from his commanders. Or Russia could try to shut down Ukraine’s banking system, or parts of the power grid, to increase pressure on the civilian population to capitulate.


Even if they don’t, the officials say a frustrated Mr. Putin has the firepower to simply reduce Ukraine to rubble — although he would be destroying the very prize he wants. The use of that kind of force would expose not only the miscalculations the Kremlin made in launching a complex, three-sided invasion but also the limits of Russia’s military upgrades.


“The Kremlin spent the last 20 years trying to modernize its military,” said Andrei V. Kozyrev, the foreign minister for Russia under Boris Yeltsin, in a post on Twitter. “Much of that budget was stolen and spent on mega-yachts in Cyprus. But as a military advisor you cannot report that to the President. So they reported lies to him instead. Potemkin military.”


During a trip through the Eastern European countries that fear they could next face Mr. Putin’s military, General Milley has consistently been asked the same questions. Why have the Russians performed so poorly in the early days of the war? Why did they so badly misjudge the Ukrainian resistance?


His careful response, before reporters in Estonia: “We’ve seen a large, combined-arms, multi-axis invasion of the second-largest country in Europe, Ukraine, by Russian air, ground, special forces, intelligence forces,” he said, before describing some of the bombardment brought by Russia and his concern over its “indiscriminate firing” on civilians.


“It’s a little bit early to draw any definitive lessons learned,” he added. “But one of the lessons that’s clearly evident is that the will of the people, the will of the Ukrainian people, and the importance of national leadership and the fighting skills of the Ukrainian army has come through loud and clear.”


While the Russian army’s troubles are real, the public’s view of the fight is skewed by the realities of the information battlefield. Russia remains keen to play down the war and provides little information about its victories or defeats, contributing to an incomplete picture.


But a dissection of the Russian military’s performance so far, compiled from interviews with two dozen American, NATO and Ukrainian officials, paints a portrait of young, inexperienced conscripted soldiers who have not been empowered to make on-the-spot decisions, and a noncommissioned officer corps that isn’t allowed to make decisions either. Russia’s military leadership, with Gen. Valery Gerasimov at the top, is far too centralized; lieutenants must ask him for permission even on small matters, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.


In addition, the Russian senior officers have proved so far to be risk-averse, the officials said.


Their caution partly explains why they still don’t have air superiority over all of Ukraine, for example, American officials said. Faced with bad weather in northern Ukraine, the Russian officers grounded some Russian attack planes and helicopters, and forced others to fly at lower altitudes, making them more vulnerable to Ukrainian ground fire, a senior Pentagon official said.


“Most Russian capabilities have been sitting on the sidelines,” said Michael Kofman, director of Russia studies at CNA, a defense research institute, in an email. “The force employment is completely irrational, preparations for a real war near nonexistent and morale incredibly low because troops were clearly not told they would be sent into this fight.”


Russian tank units, for instance, have deployed with too few soldiers to fire and protect the tanks, officials said. The result is that Ukraine, using Javelin anti-tank missiles, has stalled the convoy headed for Kyiv by blowing up tank after tank.


Thomas Bullock, an open source analyst from Janes, the defense intelligence firm, said Russian forces have made tactical errors that the Ukrainians have been able to capitalize on.


“It looks like the Ukrainians have been most successful when ambushing Russian troops,” Mr. Bullock said. “The way the Russians have advanced, which is that they have stuck to main roads so that they can move quickly, not risk of getting bogged down in mud. But they are advancing on winding roads and their flanks and supply routes are overly exposed to Ukrainian attacks.”


Russian battlefield defeats, and mounting casualties, also have an impact.


“Having the Ukrainians just wreck your airborne units, elite Russian units, has to be devastating for Russian morale,” said Frederick W. Kagan, an expert on the Russian military who leads the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. “Russian soldiers have to be looking at this and saying, ‘What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?’”


Most of Russia’s initial attacks in Ukraine were relatively small, involving at most two or three battalions. Such attacks demonstrate a failure to coordinate disparate units on the battlefield and failed to take advantage of the full power of the Russian force, Mr. Kagan said.


Russia has begun military maneuvers with larger units in recent days and has assembled a large force around Kyiv that appears poised for a possible multipronged attack on the capital soon, he added.


Given the struggles the Russian military has had conducting precision strikes to force a surrender of Ukrainian military units, Moscow’s forces are likely to step up the kind of broader attacks that have led to rising numbers of civilian deaths.


But in the end, military officials say they still expect that mass will matter.


“The Russian advance is ponderous,” retired Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, a former NATO supreme allied commander for Europe, said at a virtual Atlantic Conference event on the crisis last Friday. “But it is relentless, and there’s still a lot of force to be applied.”

As Russia’s Military Stumbles, Its Adversaries Take Note – DNyuz

----------


## bsnub

^
Excellent article Misskit! 

*‘They were sent as cannon fodder’: Siberian governor confronted by relatives of Russian unit*


A Russian governor in Siberia has been confronted by angry citizens who blamed him for deploying a local riot police unit to Ukraine to become “cannon fodder”, a video clip circulating online showed.

The footage, first posted by Radio Free Europe (RFE)  on Monday, showed a fiery exchange between Sergei Tsivilyov, the  governor of the Kemerovo region, and people in the city of Novokuznetsk.

“They  lied to everyone, they deceived everyone … Why did you send them  there?” one woman asks Tsivilyov, saying that the soldiers thought they  were going for military drills in Belarus.

“They didn’t know their objective … They were sent as cannon fodder,” the woman adds.

The  governor would not have been responsible for the decision to deploy the  unit, which would have been made by the country’s national guard, a  separate internal military force directly subordinated to the president,  Vladimir Putin.

According to RFE, the  confrontation took place on Saturday at the gymnasium of the training  base for riot police units, some of whose officers were killed or  captured in Ukraine.

As the fighting in  Ukraine nears its third week, more and more relatives of killed and  captured Russian soldiers have expressed their opposition to the war,  saying their loved ones were not told in advance about the country’s  plans to invade Ukraine. Videos of captured Russian soldiers issued by  the Ukrainians also appear to show that Russian troops were not informed  of the invasion until the very end.

Western  military experts have raised questions about Russian troops’ morale and  preparedness in Ukraine, which could explain why Moscow’s blitzkrieg  plan to overwhelm Ukraine and take Kyiv has so far failed.

Russia  has revealed very little information about the state of its soldiers  fighting in Ukraine. Last week, Russia’s defence ministry said that 498  Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine. Ukraine’s military claimed on  Sunday that more than 11,000 Russian troops had been killed since the  invasion of Ukraine began.

In the video, Tsivilyov defended the invasion, saying that Russia’s actions in Ukraine “shouldn’t be criticised”.

“Look,  you can shout and blame everyone right now, but I think that, while a  military operation is in process, one shouldn’t make any conclusions,”  Tsivilyov said.

Russian officials, as well as  state media, have been referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a  “special military operation” rather than a “war” or “invasion”.

Authorities have also introduced a number of new laws aimed at stifling public opposition to the war.

On  Friday, Putin signed into law a bill that introduced jail terms of up  to 15 years for intentionally spreading “fake” or “false” news about the  Russian army, forcing many Russian and international outlets to cease  their coverage of the events.

And while the  authorities have been successful at getting a large segment of the  population behind its war efforts, videos such as the Novokuznetsk  footage circulating online suggest the war is deeply unpopular among  those who have lost friends and relatives in Ukraine.

The Guardian previously spoke  to family members of a Russian sniper captured in Ukraine, who  similarly expressed anger and shock about their relative’s involvement  in the war.

“Young boys are thrown like cannon  fodder, and most importantly for what? For palaces in Gelendzhik?” the  close family member of the captured sniper Leonid Paktishev said,  referring to the palatial mansion on the Black Sea that Russian  independent journalists have said is linked to Putin.

‘They were sent as cannon fodder’: Siberian governor confronted by relatives of Russian unit | Ukraine | The Guardian

----------


## sabang

One of the tragic aspects of this 'War that should never have happened' is that some 9 million Russians have blood relatives in Ukraine.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> One of the tragic aspects of this 'War that should never have happened' is that some 9 million Russians have blood relatives in Ukraine.


Yes and if they stand up and tell Putin they don't want his phony war they get arrested.

----------


## panama hat

> What would we do without Google translate.


I don't need it . . .  :Smile: 








> Easy for you to say.


 :Smile:  . . . but I forgot to capitalise 'Wichser'.   :Sad:

----------


## david44

> but I forgot to capitalise 'Wichser'.


For our Sole monoglot may I suggest brain dead would be tosser, is close?

----------


## David48atTD

> So..hows it going, David


If it's not news, I can't report it  :Smile: 

(but, just quietly, the Family is fine.  I do feel sad for an ex-gf who I met in Odessa, but her home town is Kherson.
Long lost her contact details, but her Family live there ... I hope they are safe)

----------


## sabang

Chinas Foreign Ministry has called on the US to disclose information on Pentagons alleged biological laboratories in Ukraine "as soon as possible".On Monday, the Russian military said Ukrainian authorities had been destroying pathogens studied at its laboratories. Moscow claimed that 30 US-financed Ukrainian biolabs have been actively cooperating with the American military, RT reported.

Kiev has denied developing bioweapons. According to the website of the US Embassy in Kiev, the US Department of Defense's Biological Threat Reduction Program only "collaborates with partner countries to counter the threat of outbreaks" of infectious diseases. In 2020, the Embassy had termed such theories about US-funded biolabs in Ukraine as "disinformation".

Speaking at a press briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian claimed that, according to his country's information, the laboratories in Ukraine are just "a tip of an iceberg" and that the US Department of Defense "controls 336 biological laboratories in 30 countries around the world".This is done under the pretext of "cooperating to reduce biosecurity risks" and "strengthening global public health", Zhao said, RT reported.

It is the first time that Beijing has disclosed the alleged figures. Zhao said that according to data "released by the United States itself", there are 26 US laboratories in Ukraine. In light of Russia's military offensive in the country, he urged "all parties concerned" to ensure the safety of the labs.The CAS Court Office has initiated two separate arbitration procedures and, in accordance with the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (the arbitration rules governing CAS procedures), will seek the position of the respondent parties with respect to the FUR’s requests to stay the execution of the Challenged Decisions and as to the organization and planning of each arbitration procedure.The CAS anticipates being able to share further information on the proceedings in a few days’ time, once a decision has been issued with respect to the requests for a stay.

China asks US to disclose info on Pentagon's alleged biological labs in Ukraine

----------


## sabang

March 08, 2022 06:27 PM

The State Department is concerned that Russian forces are trying to gain control of "biological research facilities" within Ukraine.
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday that the United States is "now quite concerned Russian troops ... may be seeking to gain control of [the facilities], so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach."


Her admission came after Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio asked her if Ukraine has “chemical or biological weapons." Following her response, the senator claimed there was a Russian plan putting out disinformation that they “uncovered a plot by Ukrainians to release biological weapons in the country and with NATO’s coordination.“

Should such an attack occur in Ukraine, Nuland said there’s “no doubt in my mind” that Russia would be behind it and called the planned move a “classic Russian technique to blame on the other guy what they’re planning to do themselves.”

Neither the State Department nor the Pentagon responded to requests for more information about these facilities.

Already during the fighting, Russian forces converged on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, Ukraine. A Russian projectile hit the plant, situated in the southeastern part of the country, early Friday morning, igniting a localized fire that resulted in widespread concern of a radiological disaster, though those fears never materialized.

Russian forces control the plant and have also overrun the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.


In a recent update, the International Atomic Energy Agency expressed concern about workers who have been held against their will working for days on end at these facilities.

“I’m deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the potential risks this entails for nuclear safety. I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...ussian-control

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Chinas Foreign Ministry has called on the US to disclose information on Pentagons alleged biological laboratories in Ukraine "as soon as possible".


The chinkies should shut the fuck up instead of joining Puffy Putin's propaganda bullshit.

----------


## misskit

*Russia, Ukraine Agree Day-Long Evacuation Corridors: Ukraine Official*

Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday agreed on a day-long ceasefire around a series of evacuation corridors to allow civilians to escape the fighting, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. 


Vereshchuk said Moscow vowed to respect the truce from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm around six areas that have been heavily hit by fighting, including regions around Kyiv, in Zaporizhzhia in the south, and some parts of Ukraine's northeast.


Civilians in areas around the capital, including Irpin and Bucha to the northwest, will be evacuated into Kyiv to escape fierce bombardment by Russian forces. 


Civilians have been braving shellfire and aerial bombardments to escape the cluster of towns on Kyiv's northwestern edge, which have been largely occupied by Russian forces. 


An exploding shell killed four people who were trying to reach Kyiv by foot on Sunday.

On Tuesday, some 60 buses in two convoys were able to evacuate civilians out of Sumy, 350 kilometers (220 miles) east of Kyiv, Kyrylo Timoshenko of the Ukraine president's office told local media.

More than 5,000 people were evacuated from Sumy, a town of 250,000 that lies close to the Russian border and has been the scene of heavy fighting. 


The UN refugee agency UNHCR has estimated the total number of refugees at 2.1 to 2.2 million. 

Russia, Ukraine Agree Day-Long Evacuation Corridors: Ukraine Official - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*U.S., Britain, EU Move to Block Russian Energy Exports Over Ukraine Invasion*

The U.S. has banned the import of Russian oil products in a move set to squeeze Moscow’s key source of income following its invasion of Ukraine.


The White House said the unprecedented step would “further deprive President Putin of the economic resources he uses to continue his needless war of choice.” 

The ban also affects the import of coal and liquified natural gas from Russia. The U.S. imported just shy of 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia in 2021 — accounting for around 10% of Russia’s total exports.


The measures are the first sanctions aimed at Russia’s key industry, which Western policymakers had previously been hesitant to target for fear of triggering rising prices at home. 

Britain also pledged to stop importing Russian oil products by the end of the year, while the EU — which buys 40% of its natural gas from Russia — also said it would dramatically cut its reliance on Russian imports.


Brussels said it would slash its gas imports from Russia by two-thirds before the end of the year — delivering another multi-billion-euro blow to the Russian economy. The EU also published a plan to completely wean itself off Russian gas “well before 2030.”


“It’s hard — bloody hard — but it’s possible if we’re willing to go further and faster than we’ve done before,” the EU’s climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said Tuesday.


The announcement is a landmark moment for the 27-member bloc, which just three weeks ago was poised to start receiving record Russian gas flows through the Nord Stream 2 pipeline — the $11-billion Gazprom project which Germany called off upon the invasion. 


Even without sanctions and despite surging prices, Russia’s oil industry has come under heavy pressure since the invasion of Ukraine, with major companies and traders such as Shell and Total announcing they will stop buying Russian energy products.

British officials estimated Tuesday that 70% of Russian oil was “currently struggling to find a buyer.”


Russia exported $180 billion of oil and $65 billion of gas around the world last year.


In the months leading up to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia was accused of stoking an energy price crisis in Europe and the U.S. by restricting exports.

U.S., Britain, EU Move to Block Russian Energy Exports Over Ukraine Invasion - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Sign Me Up for Ukraine Fight: Not So Fast Say SE Asia Govts*

Ukraine is setting up a foreign legion and thousands apparently have volunteered from countries across the world. But recruiting fighters in Southeast Asia may prove difficult for Kyiv.


“I lived in the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, for two decades. I love Ukraine and the Ukrainians, I want to support their just cause,” said Pham Van Hai, a Vietnamese army veteran from the southern province of Vung Tau who has volunteered to join the foreign legion in Ukraine.


Hai, who studied at the Kyiv Institute of Civil Aviation in the 1980s, has sent a couple of petitions to the Vietnamese government asking to be allowed to leave for Ukraine.


“I will pay my own air ticket and all expenses, I only need their permission,” he told Radio Free Asia, a sister entity of BenarNews, adding: “No reply yet but I suspect they won’t give it to me.”


Vietnam had endured many wars in the past, and thousands of Vietnamese were among the Indochinese contingent fighting in the French foreign legion in World War I and World War II.


Hai is one of dozens Vietnamese citizens who have been communicating online to express their willingness to fight for Ukraine – notwithstanding the growing death toll and destruction following the Russian invasion. The actual number of Vietnamese volunteers is unknown as their action may be illegal under Vietnam’s Criminal Code.


Article 425 of the code stipulates that “any person who works as a mercenary to fight against a nation or sovereign territory shall face a penalty of 5 to 15 years’ imprisonment.”


In fact, there are differences between mercenaries, who are contracted to fight but are not formally part of the military of the state they are fighting for; and legionnaires who are recruited as members of a state’s armed forces although they are not its citizens.


Regardless of those distinctions, Russia has warned that all foreigners who want to fight for Ukraine are “not combatants under international humanitarian law and not entitled to prisoner of war status” but will be treated as criminals.


On March 3, the Russian Ministry of Defense said: “We urge citizens of foreign countries planning to go to fight for the Kyiv nationalist regime to think twice before the trip.”


Ukraine’s international legion


On Feb. 27, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country was establishing an “international legion” for foreigners who want to fight for the nation and appealed to international volunteers to join.


By March 7, “more than 20,000 people from 52 countries have already volunteered to fight in Ukraine,” according to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.


Kuleba, however, did not say how many of them had arrived in Ukraine. Nor did he name their home countries.


Ukrainian embassies and consulates across the world have been actively rallying support and a website was launched to provide detailed step-by-step instructions on how to join the international legion.


People with combat experience are encouraged to join what Ukraine calls “the resistance against the Russian occupants and fight for global security.”


Volunteers are arriving in Ukraine, mostly from European countries such as Lithuania, the Netherlands, the U.K. and France, according to media reports.


Ukraine received more than 3,000 applications from U.S. citizens who want to join the fight against Russia, according to a defense official at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington. The U.S. State Department’s travel advisory still formally advises all Americans not to travel to Ukraine.

Southeast Asia’s response


Zelenskyy’s appeal was also heard in Southeast Asia, where some citizens want to join the Ukrainian defense legion although governments are generally against the idea.


Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday said his government “will not allow anyone to go to Ukraine.”


Speaking at a hospital inauguration ceremony, Hun Sen urged Cambodian citizens to “not pour gasoline on the fire”


“I will not allow our people to die in Ukraine. Our constitution does not allow that,” the prime minister said.


“The only ones who can go abroad for [such] missions are our Blue Helmet troops, but it’s under the auspices of humanitarianism of the United Nations,” he added.


Singapore is taking a similar stance with Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan saying on Feb. 28 that “Singapore cannot support the promotion or organization of armed groups, whatever their justification, into other countries.”


Balakrishnan reminded Singaporean people that “your duty is to Singapore,” and “to defend our national interests.”


Thailand seems to be the only country that does not hold back its citizens.


Thai government spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying that “there is no law preventing Thai citizens from joining foreign volunteer forces.”


“But people should consider the potential grave danger as Russian forces pound Ukrainian cities with heavy weapons,” she was quoted as warning the Thais.


Hundreds of Thai citizens have sent the Ukrainian embassy emails to apply to sign up for the international legion, according to a Facebook group created about the endeavor.   


A Ukrainian embassy official told BenarNews last week that scores of Thai citizens had phoned the embassy in Bangkok, and around 40 of them had shown up there to express interest in volunteering.

Sign Me Up for Ukraine Fight: Not So Fast Say SE Asia Govts — BenarNews

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine crisis: China accuses NATO of pushing Russia to 'breaking point'*

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has accused US-led NATO of pushing Russia to a ''breaking point'' in the Ukraine crisis.


At a daily news briefing, he urged the United States to take China's concerns seriously and avoid undermining its rights or interests in handling the Ukraine issue and ties with Russia.

The Chinese Red Cross will also provide a batch of humanitarian assistance worth 5 million yuan ($791,540) to Ukraine, consisting of daily necessities, Zhao added.

Beijing has refused to condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine or call it an invasion while asking Western countries to respect Russia's "legitimate security concerns."

It comes after the CIA's director said Tuesday he believes China leader Xi Jinping has been "unsettled" by Russia's difficulties in invading Ukraine, and by how the war has brought the United States and Europe closer.


"I think President Xi and the Chinese leadership are a little bit unsettled by what they're seeing in Ukraine," Central Intelligence Agency boss William Burns told US lawmakers during a hearing on global threat assessments.


"They did not anticipate the significant difficulties the Russians were going to run into."

Nearly two weeks into the invasion, Russian forces are bogged down in Ukraine, suffering as many as 4,000 fatalities, according to the Pentagon's estimate, and encountering unexpectedly strong resistance from Ukrainian forces.


Even if Beijing wanted to, its ability to support President Vladimir Putin by importing more Russian gas and other goods is limited.


Relations with Moscow have warmed since Xi took power in 2012, motivated by shared resentment of Washington, but their interests can conflict. While their militaries hold joint exercises, Putin is uneasy about the growing Chinese economic presence in Central Asia and Russia’s Far East.


“China-Russia relations are at the highest level in history, but the two countries are not an alliance,” said Li Xin, an international relations expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

“China doesn’t want to get so involved that it ends up suffering as a result of its support for Russia,” said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist for Capital Economics.


Chinese trade with Russia rose to $146.9 billion last year, but that is less than one-tenth of China’s total $1.6 trillion in trade with the United States and EU.


“It all hinges on whether they’re willing to risk their access to Western markets to help Russia, and I don’t think they are,” said Williams. “It’s just not that big a market.”


China, the world’s second-largest economy, is the only major government not to have condemned the invasion.


China’s multibillion-dollar purchases of Russian gas for its energy-hungry economy have been a lifeline for Putin following trade and financial sanctions imposed in 2014 over his seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.

Ukraine crisis: China accuses NATO of pushing Russia to 'breaking point', World News | wionews.com

----------


## bsnub

A severe cold snap could push Russian troops to desert a convoy that  has been stalled outside of Kyiv for the last few days, a military  advisor to Ukraine's armed forces has said. Arctic air moving  through Russia and Ukraine will combine with an easterly wind to make  the temperature feel as cold as minus 20 by Wednesday, according to  forecasts.

Russian troops are expected to find these conditions  tough as they remain stuck in a column around 20 miles outside of the  Ukrainian capital that has barely moved since last week.

"A metal tank is just a fridge at night if you are not running the  engine," said Glen Grant, a senior defense expert at the Baltic Security  Foundation who advised Ukraine on its military reform."

"The cold weather is going to demoralize troops even further and will create even more refrigerators," he told _Newsweek_.

Grant  said that the weather will add to the logistical problems Russian  troops already face and he expects many to simply quit their vehicles.

"The boys won't wait. They will get out, start walking to the forest, and give themselves up," he said.

"You just can't sit around and wait because if you are in the vehicle you are waiting to be killed. They are not stupid."

The presence of Russia's 40-mile-long convoy,  with an estimated 15,000 troops, first sparked alarm that an advance on  the Ukrainian capital was imminent and speculation that it could  encircle Kyiv to allow a siege on the city.

But the British ministry of defense said the convoy had stalled because of mechanical problems as well as "staunch Ukrainian resistance."

Now,  having barely moved in days, there is a lack of fresh information over  the threat the convoy poses and whether it is simply waiting for  logistical supplies before an assault on Kyiv.

But Grant said that the mistakes made in fuel supplies for the convoy cannot be rectified.

"The  whole thing about the battle group concept is that the supplies should  be integral to the battle group. In other words, if you take a wheeled  battle group, and it's got its own fuel then it can go a long long way  before resupply.

"But these guys, it looks as though they crossed the border without  integral fuel to the battle group," said Grant, who added that all the  fuel lorries were collected together at the back of the convoy.

"They are backed up against each other so there is nowhere to go. They can't get off the roads, they are stacked back," he said.

"If you have got all your lorries behind and the road is blocked, that's it, there is no way you are bringing them forward.

"It  has been relatively cold there anyway, so they have been running the  vehicles to keep themselves warm," he said. Plunging temperatures and a  poor supply line will further drain fuel and Russian troops will be  targets for highly motivated Ukrainian troops and territorials.

The  cold front in which temperatures will fall to their coldest between  Thursday and Saturday, according to AccuWeather, may put the Russian  convoy at a disadvantage, but will also add to hardships for refugees  fleeing the conflict.

Also, Moscow-led attacks have left more than  900 communities in Ukraine without electricity, water or heating,  Reuters reported. Ukraine's energy ministry said 646,000 people had no  power and that 130,000 were without gas.

Russia's advance in the war declared by President Vladimir Putin on February 24 appears to be slow but forces have captured Kherson in the south and are pushing further west, with a focus on Mariupol.

However, Ukraine said Monday it had retaken the city of Chuhuiv from Russian troops.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukra...-putin-1685806

----------


## bsnub



----------


## misskit

*Ukraine’s Air Defenses Have Wrecked Russia’s Invasion Plans, Says Britain*

Russia’s assault of Ukraine has been severely hampered by the effectiveness of Ukrainian air defenses against Russian planes, according to the British government. Britain’s defense ministry posts an intelligence update on social media each day to share what it’s seen and heard from the war and its latest post included some encouraging claims for Ukraine. “Ukrainian air defences appear to have enjoyed considerable success against Russia’s modern combat aircraft, probably preventing them achieving any degree of control of the air,” the briefing read. In more bad news for Vladimir Putin’s forces, the post said: “Fighting northwest of Kyiv remains ongoing with Russian forces failing to make any significant breakthroughs.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ukrain...=home?ref=home

----------


## Shutree

> A severe cold snap could push Russian troops to desert


Are these the same troops described elsewhere as Siberian conscripts?
They are probably finding the weather positively balmy. Minus 20 is T-shirt weather for them.

----------


## bsnub

There is no question that things are going from bad to worse for the Russians, and even the lemmings are having a hard time countering that reality.




> Are these the same troops described elsewhere as Siberian conscripts?


Possibly.




> They are probably finding the weather positively balmy. Minus 20 is T-shirt weather for them.


For how long? Let's be realistic, the human body can only take a certain amount of time in prolonged cold weather. They are outside and exposed to the elements with little food or shelter aside from their vehicles, which are under a state of constant attack.

Would you want to sleep in one of these driving coffins...

Reddit - Dive into anything

----------


## malmomike77

It's been reported in some papers the Russian Tanks are described as 40 tonne freezers.

----------


## misskit

*Russian Airstrike Killed Civilians Waiting for Food – Amnesty*

A Russian air strike on the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv which reportedly killed 47 civilians last Thursday should be investigated as a possible war crime, Amnesty International said Wednesday.


In a new investigation into the strike — one of the deadliest so far in Russia’s two-week assault on Ukraine — the rights group said it “was not able to identify a legitimate military target at, or close to, the scene of the strike.”  

“Amnesty International believes the majority of victims were queuing for food when the missiles struck,” the organization added, based on witness testimony and analysis of satellite images. 


Previously released graphic images from the aftermath appeared to show victims of the attack holding bread and other essential goods.

Amnesty concluded that the square in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine close to the Belarusian border, was hit by “at least eight unguided aerial bombs — known as ‘dumb bombs’” — during the March 3 strike, which took place at around 12:15 p.m.


“Verified footage of the strike shows eight munitions being dropped in close succession and falling in a line, as is typical in a bombing run,” Amnesty said in its new report.


“The air strike that hit the streets of Chernihiv shocks the conscience. This was a merciless, indiscriminate attack on people as they went about their daily business in their homes, streets and shops,” said Joanne Mariner, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Director.


Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have opened a probe into possible war crimes during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in which Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians have been killed in indiscriminate Russian shelling and air strikes.


Moscow has repeatedly denied hitting civilian and residential areas despite widespread evidence in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities. The Kremlin has also accused Kyiv of using civilians as “human shields.”

“This shocking attack is one of the deadliest that the people of Ukraine have endured yet. The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court should investigate this air strike as a war crime. Those responsible for such crimes must be brought to justice, and victims and their families must receive full reparation.”

Russian Airstrike Killed Civilians Waiting for Food – Amnesty - The Moscow Times

----------


## bsnub

> It's been reported in some papers the Russian Tanks are described as 40 tonne freezers.


 A cold snap bringing bone-chilling temperatures of -20C could cause Vladimir Putin ’s soldiers in the 40-mile convoy stalled outside Kyiv to freeze to death in their tanks, according to a former army major. 

  The huge convoy of tanks and vehicles has been stuck on roads positioned around 30 miles from Ukraine ’s capital for several days amid claims of mechanical issues and empty fuel tanks. 

 The  weapons of death could become tombs for Russian soldiers in the coming  days with conditions set to drop to -10C at night - and even colder with  the added windchill factor.

 Putin’s Moscow fighters are not equipped for severe cold war fighting.

  Former British Army Major Kevin Price told MailOnline the invaders’ tanks will become “40-ton freezers” for those still inside, which will destroy morale. 

 Glen  Grant, a senior defence expert at the Baltic Security Foundation, said  the Russians inside the convoy may have to surrender to avoid freezing  to death.

He told Newsweek: “You just can't sit around and wait because if you are in the vehicle you are waiting to be killed.

 "They are not stupid."

 Reports have been heard of Putin’s troops overheard complaining about the war in calls to family and friends back home.

While the soldiers shiver in sub-zero conditions, the falling temperatures will also cause a nightmare for Ukraine’s refugees.

 Forced  out of their homes by constant Russian shelling, the plummeting  conditions could cause the current humanitarian crisis in the country to  worsen still further.

Some cities, including Mariupol in the south east, currently have no  power, water or heat, leading to fears those still inside their ravaged  homes could die without help.

 Yesterday it was reported a  six-year-old girl died from dehydration "alone, weak, frightened,  thirsty" in the besieged city of Mariupol.

 Her tragic death came after spending days with no water, power or heating supplies.

 Last  week Russian forces cornered the port city with constant airstrikes,  leaving residents without energy and water, with no way to evacuate.

 Ukrainian President  Volodymyr Zelensky  announced the child's death this morning in a video address and officials later said her name was Tanya. 

 Likening  the humanitarian crisis linked to Russian bombardment of Ukrainian  cities to that created by the Nazi invasion during World War Two, he  said sadly: “In 2022, from dehydration.”

 The city's mayor, Vadym  Boychenko, later said: “Her mother was killed. We don’t know how long  the girl was fighting for her life.

"We can’t imagine how much suffering she had to bear. In the last minutes of her life she was alone, weak, frightened, thirsty.”

  Sky's weather producer Jo Robinson added: "Overnight lows of -10C are forecast for parts of the east - especially Kharkiv. 

"It could feel like -20C at night with the wind chill.

 "The cold will be extensive across Ukraine, but the lowest temperatures seem to be in the east.

 "It looks like the cold spell will last into the weekend."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-...tanks-26421949

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## Shutree

> Would you want to sleep in one of these driving coffins...


Absolutely not. Only being a bit whimsical. Tanks are no places to be in Arctic conditions. They are like other artillery, designed for action not as AirBnB.

I have no knowledge to contribute to this thread. I am only shocked that Putin thought he could start a war in Europe and I am very concerned about how this will play out. For all their screw ups the Russian army remains the gorilla in this fight and they have the resources to swamp Ukraine. After that some insurgency and if Putin still holds sway in Russia what will happen next?

----------


## S Landreth

As if we need to be reminded, that nuclear energy is an awful/dangerous way to produce public electricity.

IAEA no longer able to monitor Chernobyl radiation, says staff still hostage

The UNs nuclear watchdog says it is no longer receiving transmissions from systems monitoring safeguards at the Russian-controlled Chernobyl nuclear plant, site of the worst-ever nuclear accident.

The IAEA warns that 210 employees at the plant have been held there by Russian soldiers for 13 days straight, saying that a shift change is needed.

The same shift has been on duty at the Chornobyl NPP since the day before the Russian military entered the site of the 1986 accident on 24 February, in effect living there for the past 13 days, the IAEA says.

Im deeply concerned about the difficult and stressful situation facing staff at Chornobyl NPP and potential risks this entails for nuclear safety. I call on the forces in effective control of the site to urgently facilitate the safe rotation of personnel there, IAEA head Rafael Grossi says.


Over 300 Companies Have Withdrawn from Russia - But Some Remain

Since Putin's devastating invasion of Ukraine began, 300 companies have announced their withdrawal from Russia in protest.

Nevertheless, some western companies have continued to operate in Russia undeterred; we identify several dozen companies with particularly significant exposure to Russian markets. In the days since we initially published our list, many of the "remain" companies have responded to public backlash and decided to withdraw, and we are continuously revising our list to reflect these decisions as they are made. 

The full, current list of companies that have curtailed operations in Russia as well as those that remain, as of March 9, can be seen below.







 

How sanctions are pinning down the Russian economy

Last week, the head of Russia's central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, walked up to a microphone to the sound of cameras snapping. She had some bad news for her nation.

"The conditions for the Russian economy have altered dramatically," Nabiullina said in Russian. "The new sanctions imposed by foreign states have entailed a considerable increase in the ruble exchange rate and limited the opportunities for Russia to use its gold and foreign currency reserves."

Translation: Facing one of the harshest sanction campaigns against any nation in modern history, Russia is in for a world of hurt.

To save the Russian currency from collapse and to combat inflation, Nabiullina said, the Central Bank of Russia was raising its key interest rate to a staggering 20%  an all-time high. That's also higher than the equivalent interest rate in the U.S.  the Federal Reserve's federal funds rate  has ever been (although the Fed came close in the early 1980s, when Fed Chair Paul Volcker, aiming to stop runaway inflation, increased the rate to 19% and caused a deep recession).

As Nabiullina dropped her bombshell  which, together with the effects of foreign sanctions, is expected to usher in a calamitous recession for Russia  she was wearing all black. You could say like the Grim Reaper. But her black turtleneck was also a bit reminiscent of Steve Jobs and Elizabeth Holmes. We normally wouldn't remark on what a policymaker was wearing. However, Nabiullina has explicitly said that what she wears at news conferences tends to have symbolic meaning.

*Accessories send a message
*
Over the past couple of years, Nabiullina has taken to wearing brooches to symbolize the mood of the Russian economy and the actions of the Bank of Russia. "I've been wearing brooches for a long time," Nabiullina told the news station RTVI in December 2020. But in 2020, she said, she began using brooches to signal messages. "I put something into each symbol, but I'm not going to explain."

In February 2020, for example, Nabiullina wore a brooch that looked like a stork. Months before, a journalist had asked her what kind of bird she considered herself to be. Was she a hawk? Meaning, she favors the tight monetary policy of higher interest rates to combat inflation. Or was she a dove? Meaning, she favors lower interest rates and is more willing to see inflation rise. Nabiullina said she wasn't sure if she was a bird at all. However, at that February meeting, when she announced that the bank was slightly cutting interest rates, she identified herself with a stork  which some suggested was symbolic of a new life for the Russian central bank and economy.

In March 2020, at a news conference where she announced the central bank was taking measures to support the nation's financial sector amid the coronavirus pandemic, Nabiullina wore a brooch showing a Russian roly-poly doll, or nevаlyashka. These dolls have round bottoms and are designed so that when you push them over, they roll back upright. Observers suggested it was meant to symbolize Russia's economy coming back after getting knocked over by the pandemic.

In April 2020, with the pandemic in full swing, Nabiullina wore a brooch of a house. "Please, stay at home," she said at the end of her news conference.

In June 2020, the Bank of Russia cut interest rates by a full percentage point in an effort to juice the economy. Naturally, she wore a dove pin.

In July 2020, Nabiullina wore a brooch with the letter V. Observers widely interpreted it as symbolizing the central bank's hopes for a rapid, V-shaped recovery.

In October 2020, Nabiullina wore a brooch showing waves. Some observers suggested it was because another wave of the coronavirus was surging. Others thought it meant she believed there was about to be geopolitical turbulence caused by the anticipated election of Joe Biden. She later denied the latter theory.

In March 2021, the Bank of Russia raised interest rates in an effort to slow inflation. Naturally, she wore a hawk pin.

In December 2021, Nabiullina wore a festive nutcracker pin. In that news conference, she announced that the Bank of Russia was raising interest rates for the seventh time in a row. Perhaps the pin was symbolic of the central bank's efforts to crack the hard nut of inflation.

*The meaning of all black, no pin
*
Over the last couple of weeks, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the U.S., the European Union and their allies have launched an economic war against Russia. It has probably been the most stressful period for Russian economic policymakers in a generation. In her first public appearance during the war, Nabiullina chose to wear all black with no brooch. Maybe it's because she didn't think it was a time to have fun. Or maybe her all-black outfit with no pin conveyed something dark about the Russian economy. You know, like she was attending a funeral or a death metal concert or something. We don't know.

We do know that the wide-ranging sanctions imposed by the West seem to be working. Western allies are disrupting Russian flights with sanctions and no-fly zones, damaging the Russian aviation industry and making it hard for Russian business people to travel. They're seizing the assets  like superyachts  of Russian oligarchs. They've frozen hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of the central bank's foreign reserves, which are critical to Russia's ability to stabilize its currency and circumvent sanctions. They are preventing Russian banks from using the SWIFT communication system, which is essential for financial institutions to transfer money internationally. They've been pushing Russian corporations to the brink of collapse. They've driven the value of the Russian ruble to record lows. As a result, Russians have been lining up at ATMs and desperately trying to convert their rubles into stable assets, like hard goods or other currencies.

Oxford Economics, an analysis company, estimates the Russian economy could shrink by as much as 7% as a result of the sanctions. For comparison, that's almost double the amount the U.S. economy contracted during the Great Recession. Expect business failures, skyrocketing unemployment and countless miseries for the Russian people.

*Extra..*

UK impounds aircraft under new Russian sanctions


 
British transport minister Grant Shapps said on Wednesday Britain had used new aviation sanctions to impound an aircraft after making it a criminal offence for Russian aircraft to fly or land in the United Kingdom.

"Last night, I also signed a law which closes off some of those loopholes to do with trying to work out the ownership of some of these aircraft," Shapps told BBC TV.

"There is one such aircraft on the ground at the moment at Farnborough that I've essentially impounded whilst we carry out further investigations for the last few days - and it's very important that we have the laws available to enable that to happen." UK impounds aircraft under new Russian sanctions ｜ Reuters UK

 ::doglol::

----------


## bsnub

> I am only shocked that Putin thought he could start a war in Europe and I am very concerned about how this will play out.


As most of us reasoned individuals. What we are seeing is horrifying. 




> For all their screw ups the Russian army remains the gorilla in this fight and they have the resources to swamp Ukraine.


Of that there is no doubt. They can keep sending meat to the grinder, and I hope that NATO will continue to supply ammunition and other supplies. The Russian defeat is closer than I think most of us realize.

This is the end of Putin and his mafia.

----------


## misskit

*Ukrainians say evacuation convoy blocked*

The city council of Bucha, just north of Kyiv, has accused Russian forces of blocking the evacuation of people through an agreed evacuation corridor.


"The occupants are disrupting the evacuation. Currently, 50 buses are blocked by Russian military in the parking lot: do not give passage to the column," the city council said in a brief Facebook post. "Negotiations are ongoing to unlock traffic."
"We remind you that the "green corridor" was an agreement at the highest level," it added.


While there has been no progress in getting an evacuation convoy moving from the beleaguered Kyiv suburb of Bucha, the evacuations agreed for two other nearby towns appear to have got underway.


Oleksandr Markushyn, mayor of Irpin, said on Facebook: "The evacuation from the city continues. There are buses in the center of Irpin. We are evacuating as many people as possible."


Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an adviser in the president's office, says that all the children stranded in an orphanage in nearby Vorzel have been rescued and evacuated, as has the local maternity hospital.

Ukrainians say evacuation convoy blocked

----------


## misskit

*Mariupol authorities accuse Russians of bombing maternity hospital*

The city council of the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol has posted video of a devastated maternity hospital in the city and accused Russian forces of dropping several bombs on it from the air.


"The destruction is enormous. The building of the medical facility where the children were treated recently is completely destroyed. Information on casualties is being clarified," the council said.


"A maternity hospital in the city center, a children’s ward and department of internal medicine ... all these were destroyed during the Russian air strike on Mariupol. Just now," said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration.

Live updates: Russia invades Ukraine

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Over 300 Companies Have Withdrawn from Russia - But Some Remain


To just state possibly the obvious, the only reason the chinkies have pulled tiktok is to stop Russians posting videos criticising Puffy Putin.

----------


## helge

> Ukraine is setting up a foreign legion and thousands apparently have volunteered from countries across the world.


Danish volunteers are returning home.

I heard interviews with 3 young men who went to Ukraine to take up arms against the invaders.

They found the situation too "unstructured" and didn't appreciate having their passports confiscated for the duration of the war.

They said that they would try to help Ukraine in a different way though

----------


## misskit

*Russia admits conscripts have been fighting in Ukraine, despite Putin’s previous denials*

Russia’s Ministry of Defense has confirmed that Russian military conscripts have been involved in the invasion of Ukraine and that some were taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces, just a day after President Vladimir Putin insisted conscripts were not part of the assault.


The ministry admitted that conscripts were “discovered” in Ukraine but claimed they have already been withdrawn and returned to Russia.


“Unfortunately, several facts of the presence of conscripts in the units of the Russian armed forces involved in the conduct of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine were discovered,” defense ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said in a video message.


A day earlier, in an International Women’s Day address, Putin had reassured soldiers’ mothers and wives that Russian conscripts are not taking part in his invasion of Ukraine, which he has referred to as a “special military operation.”


“I understand how you’re worrying for your beloved ones … I emphasize that conscript soldiers are not participating in hostilities and will not participate in them,” Putin said, reported Reuters. “And there will be no additional call-up of reservists.”

MORE Russia admits conscripts have been fighting in Ukraine, despite Putin's previous denials - CNN

----------


## HermantheGerman

> Danish volunteers are returning home.
> 
> I heard interviews with 3 young men who went to Ukraine to take up arms against the invaders.
> 
> They found the situation too "unstructured" and didn't appreciate having their passports confiscated for the duration of the war.
> 
> They said that they would try to help Ukraine in a different way though


Better this way. Don't want these "structured" volunteers to get hurt. Better stay home and shop at IKEA  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## sabang

*McDonald's says Russia store closures to cost $50 million per month*



McDonald's Corp said on Wednesday the temporary closure of its 847 stores in Russia will cost the fast food chain about $50 million a month.


The company said on Tuesday it would temporarily close all of its restaurants in Russia including its iconic Pushkin Square location, increasing pressure on other global brands to pause operations in the country following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

McDonald's says Russia store closures to cost $50 million per month (msn.com)

A mere bagatelle surely, compared to the suffering of a Russian people unable to feast on a Big Mac, Coke and fries.  ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

*Zelensky Says He’s ‘Cooled’ on Joining NATO, Ready for Talks With Russia on Crimea, Donbas*



*Russia wants Ukraine to declare neutrality, recognize Crimea as Russian, and recognize the independence of the breakaway Donbas republics
by Dave DeCamp Posted onMarch 8, 2022CategoriesNewsTagsRussia, Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC News in an interview that aired Monday night that he had “cooled down” on the idea of Ukraine joining NATO and is open to talks with Russia about the future of the Donbas and Crimea.

“Regarding NATO, I have cooled down regarding this question long ago after we understood that NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “The alliance is afraid of controversial things and confrontation with Russia. I never wanted to be a country which is begging something on its knees. We are not going to be that country, and I don’t want to be that president.”

Regarding Crimea and the Donbas, Zelensky said Ukraine is not prepared for Russian “ultimatums” but is ready to discuss the status of the territories. “The people who elected me are not ready to surrender. We are not ready for ultimatums,” he said. “But we can discuss with Russia the future of Crimea and Donbas.”

Russia has said that it would stop its assault if Ukraine declares neutrality, recognizes Crimea as Russian territory and recognizes the independence of the breakaway Donbas republics of Donestk and Luhansk. Zelensky’s comments signal that he might be willing to make a deal with Moscow.

Ukrainian and Russian officials have held three rounds of talks since Russia started its invasion. In the latest round, both sides said little progress was made except for agreements on humanitarian corridors, but the negotiations are expected to continue.

Sources told The Jerusalem Post that Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was told in a March 5 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia had already given Zelensky a “final offer” to resolve the crisis. The sources said the offer was “difficult” for Ukraine but not “impossible” and said it involved the terms listed above as well as Ukraine shrinking its military.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/03/08/...crimea-donbas/

*

----------


## Norton

> $50 million per month


Not much considering world sales of 2 billion per month. McDonalds will survive Sab.

----------


## misskit

Besieged Ukraine city of Mariupol buries dead in mass grave

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Under steady Russian bombardment, workers in Ukraine’s besieged southern port city of Mariupol are hastily and unceremoniously burying scores of dead Ukrainian civilians and soldiers in a mass grave.


With morgues overflowing and more corpses uncollected in homes, city officials decided they could not wait to hold individual burials.


A deep trench about 25 meters (27 yards) long dug in an old cemetery in the heart of the city is filling up with bodies collected by municipal social service workers from morgues and private homes.


Some are brought wrapped in carpets or plastic bags. Forty came Tuesday, another 30 so far Wednesday. They include civilian victims of shelling on the city and soldiers, as well as civilians who died of disease or natural causes.


Other city workers are also bringing bodies so the numbers being buried are quickly rising and the total in the long grave is now unclear.

Workers quickly make the sign of the cross after pushing the bodies into the common grave. No family members or other mourners are present to say their goodbyes.


The work is carried out efficiently, and unceremoniously, as a result of the ever-present danger. Shells landed in the cemetery itself Tuesday, interrupting the burials and damaging a wall.

The city plans to close this grave Thursday, if the bombardments stop long enough to allow workers to do so.


At the gates of the cemetery, a woman asked if her mother is among those buried in the trench. She said she had left her body three days before outside the morgue, with a paper label stating her name attached. Her mother was buried there, the workers told the woman, who declined to give her name.

 PHOTOS  Besieged Ukraine city of Mariupol buries dead in mass grave | AP News

----------


## sabang

^^ It was a 'token human interest story'.  :Smile:  Tragically, the article doesn't specify if it means $50mm of lost sales revenue monthly (nowt really)- or lost profits/ Franchise fees to MCD Corp. Regardless, in these dark times Russki's can not currently order a Happy meal.

Incidentally, if you want to read something considerably meatier than a quarter pounder on the economics side, check this out (assume you remember David Stockman right?). Not recommended for the numpties:-

Biden's Sanctions on Russia Will Cause Havoc in Western Markets - Antiwar.com Original

----------


## Norton

> assume you remember David Stockman right?


Certainly do and not a fan at all given he did all he could do to curtail Vietnam Vet services.

Read the piece you linked. Could have done without the several derogatory adjectives but agree with his major points.

Sanctions on Russian oil will have no long term effect on Russia. China and several other countries including Thailand I suspect will purchase Russian oil at a nice discounted price.

In the near term, no doubt gas prices in the US will harm the US more than oil sanctions will hurt Russia.

----------


## sabang

Seriously, in an Absolute sense China may not benefit- due to the slowdown in overall global economic activity, and hence Trade. In a 'Relative' sense however, sure they will.

----------


## bsnub

Russian forces bombed a maternity and childrens hospital in southern Ukraine, authorities there said Wednesday, an attack described by the countrys President Volodymyr Zelensky as an atrocity.   

           The attack came despite Russia agreeing to a 12-hour pause in  hostilities to allow refugees to evacuate a number of towns and cities.   

           Mariupol city council posted a video of the devastated hospital in  the city and accused Russian forces of dropping several bombs on it  from the air.   

           The destruction is enormous, said the council. The building of  the medical facility where the children were treated recently is  completely destroyed.   

           Police in the Donetsk region said that according to preliminary  information at least 17 people were injured, including mothers and  staff, as a result of the attack.   

           Zelensky repeated his call for the NATO military alliance to  declare a no-fly zone over Ukraine, as he expressed his outrage at the  attack.   

           Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity, he said on Telegram.   

           Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital,  Zelensky said, adding, People, children are under the wreckage.  Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring  terror?   

           Later Wednesday, Zelensky called the strike final proof, proof of a genocide of Ukrainians taking place.   

       Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed,  without providing evidence, that Ukrainian forces had equipped combat  positions within the hospital. Video from the hospital after the  bombing clearly showed there were both patients and staff there,  including heavily pregnant women who were carried from the hospital.   

           The hospital attack received international condemnation, with the  United Nations saying it would follow up urgently on the shocking  reports, and that healthcare facilities hospitals and health care  workers should not ever, ever be a target.   

           A city administration building and a university in Mariupol, less  than a kilometer from the bombed-out hospital, has been identified by  CNN as a second location in the city hit by an apparent Russian military  strike.   

           Images on social media show significant destruction at the University and City Council Building.   

           The strategic port city of Mariupol on Ukraines southeast coast  has been under siege for days and has been isolated by Russian forces,  a senior US defense official said Tuesday.   

           Russia continues to bombard Mariupol and its troops are not inside  the city in any significant way, added the official. Two officials  said Wednesday that about 1,300 civilians there have been killed since  the Russian invasion began.   

           Residents have been cut off from water and electricity for days,  and on Tuesday Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia  of committing war crimes by holding 300,000 civilians hostage.   

           The situation in Mariupol is desperate, Mirella Hodeib,  spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),  told CNN on Monday.   

*Evacuation corridors*

            On Wednesday, Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk  said both sides had agreed to a ceasefire and planned evacuation  corridors from a number of cities in order to allow people to leave.   

           The attempted evacuation corridors were scheduled to operate from 9  a.m. to 9 p.m local time, with routes including Energodar to  Zaporizhia; Mariupol to Zaporizhia; Volnovakha to Pokrovsk; Izium to  Lozova; and four separate routes from Vorzel, Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka,  and Gostomel to the capital city of Kyiv.    

           A corridor also operated between Sumy and Poltava, a route that  enabled about 5,000 Ukrainians to evacuate on Tuesday, according to  Ukrainian Presidential Office Deputy Kirill Timoshenko.   
           But several hours after the evacuation was due to begin, there was  no sign of people being brought out of Vorzel, Borodyanka, Hostomel,  Irpin and Bucha in the bus convoys that had been organized.    

           The city council of Bucha accused Russian forces of blocking the evacuation in a statement on Facebook.   

           The occupants are disrupting the evacuation. Currently, 50 buses  are blocked by Russian military in the parking lot, the post read.   

           An attempted evacuation from Demidova, a town north of Kyiv that  was not among the agreed corridors, ran into trouble. One police officer  was killed and two more people seriously injured during an attempted  evacuation of civilians, according to regional authorities.   

       In the east, it was impossible to evacuate civilians from the town  of Izium as we constantly hear explosions, said Oleh Syniehubov,  administrative head of Kharkiv region.   

           However, greater progress appeared to be made in organizing buses to get people out of the central city of Enerhodar,as well as Irpin and Vorzel.   

           The evacuation from the city continues, wrote Оleksandr  Markushyn, mayor of Irpin, on Facebook. There are buses in the center  of Irpin. We are evacuating as many people as possible.   

           In Vorzel, all of the children that had been stranded in an  orphanage have been evacuated, as has the local maternity hospital,  according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an adviser in the presidents office.   

           At least 2 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the beginning  of the invasion, the UN estimates. But millions more remain trapped in  towns and cities that have come under sustained attacks by Russian  forces in recent days.    

           And on Tuesday Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov  claimed more than 400 civilians have been killed, including 38 children,  with the real death toll expected to be higher.   

           Reznikov accused Russia of a real act of genocide and war  crimes, claiming that Russian forces had fired on the evacuation  corridors.   

*Kharkiv encircled*

           The city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine is encircled by  Russian forces and continues to suffer heavy shelling, the UK Ministry  of Defence tweeted Wednesday.   

           On Tuesday, Kharkiv Mayor Igot Terekhov told CNN the situation was  difficult and there was constant shelling from heavy artillery on  residential neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure.   
           Theyre hitting our water and heating and gas supply, said Terekhov. Theyre trying to interrupt our power supplies.   

           Kharkiv is home to 1.5 million people, said Terekhov, adding that  utility services were working to keep people warm as cold weather  approaches.   

           Terekhov said he regards indiscriminate shelling as an act of  genocide. He added that any aid or assistance would be gratefully  received, and expressed hope about the ultimate outcome.   

           I am absolutely confident that we will defeat the Russians, he added.   

*Zelensky calls for action to prevent catastrophe*

           Russian forces also continue to bear down on the Ukrainian capital  Kyiv, and on Tuesday the head of the Kyiv Regional Military  Administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, said the humanitarian situation in areas  around the city remains difficult.   

       The main issue today remains humanitarian aid. Bucha, Irpin,  Gostomel, Makariv, Borodyanka, Vorzel - residents of these settlements  are forced to stay in bomb shelters for days without water and food. The  occupiers do not give humanitarian corridors, do not give guarantees,  Kuleba said, naming five districts to the north and west of Kyiv.    

           On Wednesday, these five districts were named among evacuation corridors agreed by Ukraine and Russia.   

           Also on Wednesday, Zelensky repeated his call for military intervention from Western allies.   

           Ukraine has been saying this to its partners from the first day  of the war: If you dont close the skies, you will also be responsible  for this catastrophe, a massive humanitarian catastrophe, he said.   

           The Ukrainian government has meanwhile announced that it will ban  exports on key agricultural goods, including wheat, corn, grains, salt,  and meat, after passing a cabinet resolution Tuesday.

           Ukraines minister of agrarian policy and food, Roman Leshchenko,  said the steps had been taken to prevent a humanitarian crisis in  Ukraine and meet the needs of the population in critical food  products.   

Maternity hospital bombing: Russia's bombing of maternity and children's hospital an 'atrocity,' Zelensky says - CNN

----------


## panama hat

> Britain also pledged to stop importing Russian oil products by the end of the year,


That'll teach Putin . . . a whole ten months of preparation to sell his crap to China







> Ukraine crisis: China accuses NATO of pushing Russia to 'breaking point'


And no-one gave a flying one . . .






> It has probably been the most stressful period for Russian economic policymakers in a generation. In her first public appearance during the war, Nabiullina chose to wear all black with no brooch.


Umm . . . ok.  :Sad:

----------


## HermantheGerman

Ukraine: Lage an der Front – Angriff auf Kinderkrankenhaus in Mariupol - WELT

----------


## HermantheGerman

Ukraine: Lage an der Front – Angriff auf Kinderkrankenhaus in Mariupol - WELT

*Attacks on children's hospitals in Mariupol*

----------


## HermantheGerman

Ukraine: Lage an der Front – Angriff auf Kinderkrankenhaus in Mariupol - WELT

*Attacks on children's hospitals in Mariupol*

----------


## malmomike77

Russia has admitted using thermobaric weapons in Ukraine, says UK

Russia has confirmed it has used thermobaric weapons in Ukraine, according to the UKs Ministry of Defence.

The MoD said Russia admitted deploying the TOS-1A weapon system, which uses thermobaric rockets.

Also known as vacuum bombs, they suck in oxygen and generate a powerful explosion that can have a devastating impact on victims  especially in an enclosed space.

The Russian MoD has confirmed the use of the TOS-1A weapon system in Ukraine, the MoD wrote on Twitter. The TOS-1A uses thermobaric rockets, creating incendiary and blast effects.

The MoD has not said where or when Russia issued the confirmation. A spokesperson could not provide further information when contacted by The Independent.

Ukraines ambassador to the US previously claimed Russia used a vacuum bomb on the fifth day of its invasion. Oksana Markarova did not reveal where it was allegedly used.

Earlier, the Pentagon said Russian mobile launchers for thermobaric weapons were spotted inside Ukraine, but could not confirm their use.

Russia has also been accused of firing cluster munitions, which release smaller bomblets over a wide area and can lead to mass casualties among civilians in populated areas.

Amnesty International said cluster bombs were used in a Russian attack that killed a child and two adults hiding in a pre-school in northeastern Ukraine.

A second child was wounded in the shelling on the Sonechko nursery and kindergarten in the city of Okhtyrka on 25 February.

Amnesty said the strike may constitute a war crime.

There is no possible justification for dropping cluster munitions in populated areas, let alone near a school, said Agnès Callamard, Amnestys Secretary-General.

More: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-thermobaric-weapons-ukraine-uk-b2032537.html

----------


## harrybarracuda

Hopefully it's Puffy Putin's death throes and will be quick.

----------


## S Landreth

> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNRzDizV...pg&name=medium


Silicon Valley tech worker was the Ukrainian mom lying dead on street in brutal photo that sparked outrage

A Silicon Valley employee and her children are the subjects of photos so devastating that they shocked the world: a Ukrainian family lying dead on the pavement, killed by Russian mortar fire while trying to flee the conflict.

The images of Ukrainian soldiers tending to the bloodied bodies of a woman, her teenage son and young daughter, and their friend ran on the front page of the New York Times this week, along with online videos of the unprovoked attack on civilians. They stirred international outrage and a pledge from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to punish the perpetrators. “There will be no quiet place on Earth for you,” Zelenskyy said. “Except for the grave.”

Palo Alto startup SE Ranking confirmed Wednesday that the photo depicts its chief accountant, Tatiana Perebeinis, 43, along with her daughter, Alise, 9, and son, Nikita, 18, who were killed by Russian forces as they tried to flee the town of Irpin, a suburb about 15 minutes from Kyiv. They had just dashed across a partially destroyed bridge over the Irpin River into Kyiv when a mortar hit.

“For me as her colleague it’s a tragedy to see those pictures,” Ksenia Khirvonina, the company’s spokeswoman, told The Chronicle. “They show that it’s real. On the other hand, they prove that (the) Russian army and Putin himself are monsters who deserve no mercy for their doings.”

  
Perebeinis “was a very friendly, brave, courageous woman with a great sense of humor; she always cheered everyone around her up; she was truly like a big sister to all of us,” Khirvonina said. She spoke from Dubai, where she had fled on Feb. 23 from Ukraine, where about half of the company’s 110 workers are based.

“She always had answers to all our questions, even the most stupid ones, about personal finances or taxes or how to upgrade your visa cards; she had answers to everything,” Khirvonina said. “We are so shocked, saddened, devastated, angry. There are no words to describe our emotions, we are so heartbroken.”

When the Russian invasion started, Perebeinis initially stayed in Irpin, where she and her family lived, because her mother was sick and her son, at 18, was in the age group of males not allowed to leave the country in case they are needed to defend Ukraine, Khirvonina said. Perebeinis didn’t want to leave her son behind, Khirvonina said. He had just started university this year.

“She always talked about him, how smart he was,” Khirvonina said. “She was a great mother; giving her kids everything she could.”

But after Irpin was surrounded, a bomb hit the family’s building, right above their apartment.

“They couldn’t stay in their apartment anymore; they spent all their time in the basement where it was cold with no food, light, heat, anything,” Khirvonina said.

Perebeinis decided to use the promised “safe passage” that Russia had agreed to for civilians to flee.

“But then Russian troops started firing on innocent civilians, and that’s how they got killed,” Khirvonina said. She doesn’t know where the family was headed.

Sergii Perebeinis, Tatiana’s husband, who was not with them as they tried to flee, shared photos of his wife and children on his Facebook page.

The Russians “took them all,” he wrote on Facebook.

On Wednesday, Khirvonina said that SE Ranking had helped Sergii Perebeinis arrive in Kyiv, where he was arranging a funeral for his wife and children.

Perebeinis was hired in 2016 as an accountant at SE Ranking’s Kyiv office and worked her way up to head of the department, a position equivalent to chief financial officer, Khirvonina said. The company, which develops tools for search engine optimization, was founded in 2013 by natives of Belarus. CEO Valery Kurilov, who is one of the founders, lives in Ukraine, Khirvonina said.

Many U.S. tech companies have a presence in Ukraine, which is known for a strong education system with an emphasis on technology skills.

Perebeinis had previously lived in Donetsk, a part of Ukraine that abuts the Russian border and was occupied by its larger neighbor in 2014. She and her family then moved to Irpin, Khirvonina said.

“We are devastated to say that yesterday our dear colleague and friend Tatiana Perebeinis, the chief accountant of SE Ranking, was killed together with her two kids by Russian mortar artillery,” the company wrote on Facebook on Monday.

“There are no words to describe our grief or to mend our pain,” SE Ranking wrote in its post about Perebeinis. “But for us, it is crucial to not let Tania and her kids Alise and Nikita remain just statistics. Her family became the victim of the unprovoked fire on civilians, which under any law is a crime against humanity.”

Khirvonina shared memories of her colleague from just before the war. SE Ranking held a corporate retreat in the nation of Georgia the weekend before Russia started its invasion.

“One day we went to the mountains there; they have these great big high mountains,” she said. “One lady offered paragliding. Tatiana was the person who insisted we do it. I said, OK, if Tatiana is doing it, I have to do it. I will never forget and it will be a warm memory of her. She was brave, free, enjoying her life.”

The day before the invasion started, Perebeinis brought 9-year-old Alise to work, and a colleague brought their daughter of a similar age, Khirvonina said. Although she had just arrived in Dubai, she interacted with the girls and Kyiv staffers on a video call.

“The girls were playing a game called Jenga with wooden sticks that you have to pull out,” she said. “Also, they were doing some braids for each other, and asked everyone to help them.”

The photo of the deceased family was replete with heartbreaking details, including their roller suitcases, the children’s backpacks and a green dog carrier. “A dog could be heard barking,” wrote a New York Times reporter who witnessed the attack.

Sergii Perebeinis wrote on Facebook that at least one of the dogs, a Yorkshire terrier, survived, although its leg was amputated.

“Hoping for his strength,” he wrote. “He is a tough guy. Thanks to all those who care. Thanks to the journalist who showed humanity.”

Silicon Valley tech worker ID'd as Ukrainian mom in war photo

----------


## bsnub

Absolutely gut-wrenching. RIP.

----------


## misskit

*‘No off-ramps’: U.S. and European officials don’t see a clear endgame in Ukraine*

When Russia first invaded Ukraine just over two weeks ago, the near-unanimous global assumption was that it would score a quick and easy military victory over its neighbor to the west.


But now — with the Ukrainians waging a fierce resistance and Russian forces bogged down outside nearly every major city — the Biden administration and its allies say they see no clear end to the military phase of this conflict, according to interviews with 17 administration officials, diplomats, policymakers and experts. The situation seems destined to result in an even deadlier and more protracted slog, wreaking devastation on Ukraine and causing a massive humanitarian crisis.


As the war enters its third week, President Biden and his team are also entering a murkier, more difficult stage of the conflict, where the new challenge is how to control the largely uncontrollable: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his endgame, whatever that may be.


The Biden administration has successfully encouraged NATO and other Western allies to use nearly every available lever of power to sanction and punish Putin, but those efforts so far have had little discernible influence over the Russian president, who has only escalated his military offensive on cities and towns across Ukraine.


Any outcome represents a lose-lose proposition, as even an eventual Russian defeat is likely to leave Ukraine decimated and its European neighbors bearing the brunt of the humanitarian crisis. So far, the United Nations human rights office reports that 516 civilians in Ukraine — including 37 children — have been killed since Feb. 24, adding that the actual toll is likely much higher. And during that same period, as many as 4,000 Russian troops may have died, a senior U.S. military officer said.

MORE MSN

----------


## misskit

*After Ukraine, Europe wonders who’s next Russian target*

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — For some European countries watching Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine, there are fears that they could be next.


Western officials say the most vulnerable could be those who aren’t members of NATO or the European Union, and thus alone and unprotected — including Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova and Russia’s neighbor Georgia, both of them formerly part of the Soviet Union — along with the Balkan states of Bosnia and Kosovo.


But analysts warn that even NATO members could be at risk, such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Russia’s doorstep, as well as Montenegro, either from Moscow’s direct military intervention or attempts at political destabilization.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “has said right from the start that this is not only about Ukraine,″ said Michal Baranowski, director of the German Marshall Fund’s Warsaw office.


“He told us what he wants to do when he was listing his demands, which included the change of the government in Kyiv, but he was also talking about the eastern flank of NATO and the rest of Eastern Europe,” Baranowski told The Associated Press in an interview.

As Ukraine puts up stiff resistance to the two-week-old Russian attack, Baranowski said “it’s now not really clear how he’ll carry out his other goals.”


But the Biden administration is acutely aware of deep concerns in Eastern and Central Europe that the war in Ukraine may be just a prelude to broader attacks on former Warsaw Pact members in trying to restore Moscow’s regional dominance.


EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said that “Russia is not going to stop in Ukraine.”


“We are concerned for neighbors Moldova, Georgia, and the Western Balkans,” he said. “We have to keep an eye on Western Balks, particularly Bosnia, which could face destabilization by Russia.”


A look at the regional situation:


MOLDOVA


Like its neighbor Ukraine, the ex-Soviet republic of Moldova has a separatist insurgency in its east in the disputed territory known as Trans-Dniester, where 1,500 Russian troops are stationed. Although Moldova is neutral militarily and has no plans to join NATO, it formally applied for EU membership when the Russian invasion began in a quick bid to bolster its ties with the West.


The country of 2.6 million people is one of the poorest countries in Europe, and it’s hosting tens of thousands of Ukrainians who fled the war. The invasion has prompted heightened concerns in Moldova not only over the humanitarian crisis, but also because of fears that Putin might try to link the separatists east of the Dniester River with Ukraine via the latter’s strategic port of Odesa.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Moldova last week and pledged: “We stand with Moldova and any other country that may be threatened in the same way.”


Moldovan President Maia Sandu said there was no indication yet the Russian forces in Trans-Dniester had changed their posture, but stressed that the concern was there.


“In this region now there is no possibility for us to feel safe,” Sandu said.


___


GEORGIA


War erupted between Russia and Georgia in August 2008 when Georgian government troops tried unsuccessfully to regain control over the Moscow-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia. Russia routed the Georgian military in five days of fighting and hundreds were killed. Afterward, Russia recognized South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia, as independent states and bolstered its military presence there.


The government of West-leaning Georgia condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but hasn’t shown the same solidarity that Kyiv displayed during the Georgia-Russia war. Hundreds of Georgian volunteers were stopped by authorities from joining an international brigade fighting Russia in Ukraine.


Georgia’s seemingly neutral stance has turned out thousands in nightly rallies in central Tbilisi in solidarity with Ukraine. Last week, Georgia’s government applied for EU membership just days after declaring it wouldn’t accelerate its application as fears of a Russian invasion grew.


___


THE BALTICS


Memories of Soviet rule are still fresh in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Since the invasion of Ukraine, NATO has moved quickly to boost its troop presence in its eastern flank allies, while Washington has pledged additional support.


To residents of the Baltic nations — particularly those old enough to have lived under Soviet control — the tensions prior to the Feb. 24 invasion recalled the mass deportations and oppression. The three countries were annexed by Josef Stalin during World War II and only regained their independence with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.


They joined NATO in 2004, putting themselves under the military protection of the U.S. and its Western allies. They say it is imperative that NATO show resolve not just in words but with boots on the ground.


“Russia always measures the military might but also the will of countries to fight,” said Janis Garisons, state secretary at Latvia’s Defense Ministry. “Once they see a weakness, they will exploit that weakness.”


Blinken, who visited Latvian capital Riga on Monday, said the Baltics have “formed a democratic wall that now stands against the tide of autocracy” that Russia is pushing in Europe.


___


THE BALKANS


It would be hard for Russian troops to reach the Balkans without engaging NATO forces stationed in all the neighboring countries. But Moscow could destabilize the region, as it already does, with the help of Serbia, its ally which it has been arming with tanks, sophisticated air defense systems and warplanes.


The Kremlin has always considered the region its sphere of influence although it was never part of the Soviet bloc. A devastating civil war in the 1990s left at least 120,000 dead and millions homeless. Serbia, the largest state in the Western Balkans, is generally blamed for starting the war by trying to prevent the breakup of Serb-led Yugoslavia with brutal force -- a move resembling Moscow’s current effort to pull Ukraine back into its orbit by military force.


There are fears in the West that the pro-Moscow Serbian leadership, which has refused to join international sanctions against Russia, could try to use the attention focused on Ukraine to further destabilize its neighbors, particularly Bosnia, where minority Serbs have been threatening to split their territories from the joint federation to join Serbia. Serbian officials have repeatedly denied they are meddling in the neighboring states, but have given tacit support to the secessionist moves of the Bosnian Serbs and their leader, Milorad Dodik.


The Russian Embassy in Bosnian capital Sarajevo warned last year that should Bosnia take steps towards joining NATO, “our country will have to react to this hostile act.” Joining NATO will force Bosnia to take a side in the “military-political confrontation,” it said.


EU peacekeepers in Bosnia have announced the deployment of about 500 additional troops to the country, citing “the deterioration of the security internationally (which) has the potential to spread instability.”


Kosovo, which split from Serbia 1999 after a NATO air war against Serbian troops, has asked the U.S. to establish a permanent military base in the country and speed up its integration into NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


“Accelerating Kosovo’s membership in NATO and having a permanent base of American forces is an immediate need to guarantee peace, security and stability in the Western Balkans,” Kosovo Defense Minister Armend Mehaj said on Facebook.


Serbia said the move is unacceptable.


Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence is recognized by more than 100 countries, mainly Western nations, but not by Russia or Serbia.


Montenegro, a former ally that turned its back on Russia to join NATO in 2017, has imposed sanctions on Moscow over the war in Ukraine and is seen as next in line in the Western Balkans to join the EU. The country is divided between those favoring pro-Western policies and the pro-Serbian and pro-Russian camps, raising tensions.


Russia has repeatedly warned Montenegro’s pro-Western President Milo Djukanovic, who led the small Adriatic state into NATO, that the move was illegitimate and without the consent of all Montenegrins.


Russia may hope to eventually improve its ties with Montenegro in a bid to strengthen its presence in the Mediterranean.

After Ukraine, Europe wonders who'&#39;'s next Russian target | AP News

----------


## misskit

*‘They were shooting civilians’: Ukraine refugees saw abuses*

PRZEMYSL, Poland (AP) — As more than 2 million refugees from Ukraine begin to scatter throughout Europe and beyond, some are carrying valuable witness evidence to build a case for war crimes.


More and more, the people who are turning up at border crossings are survivors who have fled some of the cities hardest hit by Russian forces.


“It was very eerie,” said Ihor Diekov, one of the many people who crossed the Irpin river outside Kyiv on the slippery wooden planks of a makeshift bridge after Ukrainians blew up the concrete span to slow the Russian advance.


He heard gunshots as he crossed and saw corpses along the road.


“The Russians promised to provide a (humanitarian) corridor which they did not comply with. They were shooting civilians,” he said. “That’s absolutely true. I witnessed it. People were scared.”

Such testimonies will increasingly reach the world in the coming days as more people flow along fragile humanitarian corridors.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday said three such corridors were operating from bombarded areas. People left Sumy, in the northeast near the Russian border; suburbs of Kyiv; and Enerhodar, the southern town where Russian forces took over a large nuclear plant. In all, about 35,000 people got out, he said.

More evacuations were announced for Thursday as desperate residents sought to leave cities where food, water, medicines and other essentials were running out.


At least 1 million people have been displaced within Ukraine in addition to the growing number of refugees, International Organization for Migration director general Antonio Vitorino told reporters. The scale of the humanitarian crisis is so extreme that the “worst case scenario” in the IOM’s contingency planning has already been surpassed, he said.


Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking trained psychologists are badly needed, Vitorino said, as more traumatized witnesses join those fleeing.


Nationwide, thousands of people are thought to have been killed across Ukraine, both civilians and soldiers, since Russian forces invaded two weeks ago. City officials in the blockaded port city of Mariupol have said 1,200 residents have been killed there, including three in the bombing of a children’s hospital. In Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, the prosecutor’s office has said 282 residents have been killed, including several children.

The United Nations human rights office said Wednesday it had recorded the killings of 516 civilians in Ukraine in the two weeks since Russia invaded, including 37 children. Most have been caused by “the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area,” it said. It believes the real toll is “considerably higher” and noted that its numbers don’t include some areas of “intense hostilities,” including Mariupol.


Some of the latest refugees have seen those deaths first-hand. Their testimonies will be a critical part of efforts to hold Russia accountable for targeting civilians and civilian structures like hospitals and homes.


The International Criminal Court prosecutor last week launched an investigation that could target senior officials believed responsible for war crimes, after dozens of the court’s member states asked him to act. Evidence collection has begun.


Some countries continued to ease measures for refugees. Britain said that from Tuesday, Ukrainians with passports no longer need to travel to a visa application center to provide fingerprints and can instead apply to enter the U.K. online and give fingerprints after arrival. Fewer than 1,000 visas have been granted out of more than 22,000 applications for Ukrainians to join their families there.


Ukrainians who manage to flee fear for those who can’t.


“I am afraid,” said Anna Potapola, a mother of two who arrived in Poland from the city of Dnipro. “When we had to leave Ukraine my children asked me, ‘Will we survive?’ I am very afraid and scared for the people left behind.”

'&#39;'They were shooting civilians'&#39;': Ukraine refugees saw abuses | AP News

----------


## bsnub

> After Ukraine, Europe wonders who’s next Russian target


Russia's command and control structure is clearly broken, as they have lost control of that ghost convoy that has not moved in days. They have left massive concentrations of mostly unarmored support units stranded for days, and they have been hammered by the Ukrainians. Reddit, Youtube, tiktok and twitter show massive Russian losses. 

I wonder what it was that broke the Russian command structure?  :Smile: 

 ::chitown:: 

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## misskit

*Russian Forces at Northeastern Edge of Kyiv*

Russian forces on Thursday rolled their armored vehicles up to the northeastern edge of Kyiv, edging closer in their attempts to encircle the Ukrainian capital.


An AFP team saw plumes of smoke rise over the village of Skybyn, just a few hundred meters past the last checkpoint marking Kyiv's northeastern city limits.


Ukrainian soldiers described a night of heavy battles for control of the main highway leading into the city.


"There are ongoing military operations in Skybyn," said a soldier who agreed to be identified only as Sergiy, adding that one Russian column of armoured vehicles had been partially destroyed.

An AFP team witnessed Grad missile strikes in Velyka Dymerka, a neighboring village five kilometers outside Kyiv's city limits, which stood largely deserted on a sunny and bitterly cold day.


At least half-a-dozen Grad missiles rained down on the empty road, hitting several houses, which appeared to be empty at the time, and damaging the journalists' vehicle.

But the Ukrainian forces only had a minimal presence in the village, which locals said witnessed heavy fighting overnight.


"They were still outside the day before yesterday, but yesterday they started coming in," said Vasyl Popov, a 38-year-old advertising salesman.


"It's frightening, but what can you do, there is nowhere to really run or hide. We live here."


Russian forces have been slowly encircling Kyiv, reaching its northwestern edge on the first day of their assault on Ukraine on Feb. 24.


Kyiv's northwest suburbs such as Irpin and Bucha have been enduring shellfire and bombardments for more than a week, prompting a mass evacuation effort.


The roads leading northeast, which lead to less populated villages, had been largely open in the first week of the Russian offensive.


But Russian forces launched a deadly aerial assault on the city of Chernihiv, about 125 kilometers, last week.


They have been making rapid advances toward Kyiv ever since, leaving the city of 3 million people with only its southern roads open for a possible evacuation and the delivery of new supplies.

Russian Forces at Northeastern Edge of Kyiv - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

^^ Is that link you posted on the other thread (3601) what happened here^?

----------


## sabang

Perhaps Nato should have consumed the Russian bear when it had the chance.  :Smile:

----------


## misskit

^^

*SITTING DUCKS Dramatic moment column of Putin’s tanks is destroyed in Ukrainian artillery ambush that ‘killed ANOTHER top commander’*

DRAMATIC footage shows the moment a column of Russian tanks is destroyed by a Ukrainian ambush near Kyiv.


The attack has reportedly claimed the life of yet another senior Russian commander as Vladimir Putin’s forces press on the capital city of Ukraine.

The Ukrainians have now claimed to have killed over 12,000 Russians since Putin ordered his troops into their country.


The Russian tyrant expected to be a quick victory when he ordered the invasion two weeks ago but his forces have become bogged down and now regularly hit civilians.


Moscow's forces were said to be making rapid advances towards Brovary, a large eastern suburb of Kyiv, in what is believed to be the start of a bid to seize the city.


But video taken from a Ukrainian drone shows the tanks bombarded with artillery in the devastating ambush and forced to turn back, near the suburb.

MORE/VIDEO Dramatic moment column of Putin'&#39;'s tanks is destroyed in Ukrainian artillery ambush that ‘killed ANOTHER top commander’

----------


## sabang

*Russia plans to seize assets of western companies exiting country*




Vladimir Putin prepares economic retaliation for western sanctions, including laws to impound $10bn of leased airline jets


Russia has drawn up plans to seize the assets of western companies leaving the country as the Kremlin pushes back against sweeping sanctions and the exodus of international businesses since its invasion of Ukraine.

Announcing the move after a string of global firms said they would suspend operations in Russia this week, including McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the country’s economic ministry said it could take temporary control of departing businesses where foreign ownership exceeds 25%.

Speaking in a video link with members of his government on Thursday, Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin could find legally viable ways to seize international firms. The government would push to “introduce external management and then transfer these enterprises to those who actually want to work,” Putin said. “There are enough legal and market instruments for this.”

Mikhail Mishustin, the Russian prime minister, said that while most businesses had temporarily suspended operations, the situation would be closely monitored and that steps to “introduce an external administration” could be used.

The move comes as western governments seek to impose maximum pressure on Putin after the invasion of Ukraine by announcing drastic restrictions on imports of Russian oil and gas on top of financial sanctions and asset freezes for prominent oligarchs.

On top of formal sanctions, major western businesses and high-profile brands have taken steps to either exit the country altogether or suspend operations in response to the invasion, including Starbucks and McDonald’s. Shell has announced plans to withdraw from Russian oil and gas, BP has said it will exit stakes in major projects, while Unilever has said it will stop imports and exports to the country.

Burger King announced on Thursday that it would suspend all its corporate support for the Russian market, including operations, marketing and supply chain. The company does not directly operate restaurants in the country, the brand being run instead by local franchise partners.

Outlining the Kremlin’s response to its increasing international isolation, Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, said it was using a “symmetrical response” to the sanctions imposed by the west, “including the seizure of foreign assets and their possible nationalisation”.

“The same applies to the refusal of foreign companies to work in our country,” he wrote in a post on the social media website VKontakte, accusing western firms leaving the country of being “moronic for dancing to the tune of Washington and Brussels”.

He said Moscow would respond “fundamentally and harshly” to the departures, adding: “Whatever the reasons for the exodus, foreign companies must understand that it will not be easy to return to our market.”

Russia announced plans on Thursday designed to exert pressure back on the west through economic sanctions, including through an export ban on timber, electronic and telecoms equipment.
Moscow also passed laws to impound $10bn (£7.6bn) of jets leased to Aeroflot and other Russian airlines by western organisations.

It comes as Russia heads closer to defaulting on government debt payments, with ratings agencies warning of “imminent” failure in a move that could lead to financial losses for holders of Russian sovereign bonds.

The World Bank’s chief economist, Carmen Reinhart, said on Thursday that both Russia and Belarus were “square in default territory” in an interview with Reuters. Fitch downgraded Russia’s sovereign rating further into “junk” status earlier this week, warning that the government was increasingly likely to renege on its payment commitments.

Russia is due to make payments worth about $117m on government borrowing denominated in US dollars on Wednesday next week. However, doubts have been raised over whether the coupon payments will be made amid western sanctions on the Russian central bank and commercial lenders, as well as retaliatory steps announced by Moscow.

Reinhart said the impact for the global financial system had been limited so far, although she warned that risks could emerge in Europe. Around half of Russia’s international bonds are held by foreign investors. Foreign banks have exposure of more than $121bn in Russia, much of that concentrated among European lenders, according to data from the Bank of International Settlements.

“I worry about what I do not see,” Reinhart said. “Financial institutions are well capitalised, but balance sheets are often opaque … There is the issue of Russian private-sector defaults. One cannot be complacent.”


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/10/russia-plans-to-seize-assets-of-western-companies-exiting-country

----------


## sabang

*Western Europe leaders rebuff Ukraine fast-track EU membership appeal*


At a summit in Versailles, the 27 EU countries acknowledged as one the “tectonic shift in European history” caused by Russia’s invasion of its neighbour and vowed to bolster their military might and “strengthen our bonds and deepen our partnership” with Kyiv.

But calls from Ukraine’s president, supported by Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, for a special membership process failed to convince France, Germany, Spain or the Netherlands.

France’s president said he wanted to “send a strong signal in this period to Ukraine and to the Ukrainians” of solidarity but “at the same time, we must be vigilant”, adding that he did not believe it possible to “open an accession procedure with a country at war”.
“Should we close the door and say never, it would be unfair”, he said.


Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, told reporters there was no prospect of the EU membership for Ukraine in the short term.
He said: “All countries in the western part of Europe that I speak to say that you shouldn’t try to have a fast-track procedure or accelerated accession process …

“What’s important is that Ukraine has asked to be member of the EU … there is no fast-track procedure to become a member of the EU.”
Related: Will the EU start to take Ukraine’s membership seriously?

Western European governments opposed to rushing to EU candidacy status are concerned by the widespread corruption in Ukraine, the lack of stability in its institutions, and its parlous economic state. The experience in being unable to act in relation to the democratic deficit in Hungary and Poland has put off a number of capitals from any enlargement before big reforms of the bloc’s decision-making mechanisms.


Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, suggested that the EU was not ready for enlargement as its decision-making was still rooted in unanimity.

There was no immediate response from Kyiv. The EU member states have asked the European Commission to give an assessment of Ukraine’s membership application, which could take up to 18 months to complete.

The Latvian prime minister, Krisjanis Karins, whose country shares a border with Russia, said Ukraine should join the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey in having candidate status although that would be the start of a “long road” to membership.

“It is important to show a clear, open door for EU membership for Ukraine, that the path is open for them to take,” he said.
The leaders were meeting in France just hours after talks between Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Turkey ended in stalemate.

Macron, who has staged a number of lengthy calls with Putin before and after Russia’s president launched his invasion, told reporters he would continue to talk with Moscow but that he was not hopeful of a breakthrough.

He said: “I do not see a diplomatic solution in the next few hours or the next few days, but we will speak again with President Putin in the next few days, try to see if things move on either side, and so we will continue to remain engaged with a lot of strength …
“I have to confess that the conditions that he puts on the table aren’t acceptable to anybody to be honest.


“The questions is whether Mr Putin is ready to engage himself and we will work genuinely collectively … When I look at the facts, the facts are the following: Russia decided to launch war; Russia has bombed Ukraine; Russia is bombing civilians and in parallel you have negotiations but the negotiations are not ready to be completed.”

He described the Russian airstrike on a Mariupol maternity hospital as a “a shameful and amoral act of war”.

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said Putin was engaged in a “crazy war” and was “indiscriminately” shelling civilians and “bombing and destroying a country” as it had done in Syria.

The EU’s leaders discussed a variety of ways in which economic and political ties could be strengthened with Ukraine, ranging from a seat for the Ukrainian leadership at some EU meetings to membership of the Erasmus student exchange programme.

They also focused on how to reduce the bloc’s dependency on Russian gas and oil. In 2021, the EU imported 155bn cubic metres of natural gas from Russia, accounting for about 45% of its gas imports and close to 40% of the bloc’s total gas consumption.
The EU has already imposed unprecedented punitive measures on key parts of the Russian economy and hundreds of politicians, officials and oligarchs.

According to a draft summit communique seen by the Guardian, the leaders are expected to warn Moscow they “are ready to move quickly with further sanctions if needed”.

In Moscow, Putin warned that their sanctions against Russia would rebound by raising the price of food and energy. He said: “These sanctions would have been imposed in any case. There are some questions, problems and difficulties, but in the past we have overcome them and we will overcome them now.

“In the end, this will all lead to an increase in our independence, self-sufficiency and our sovereignty.”

Western Europe leaders rebuff Ukraine fast-track EU membership appeal (msn.com)


Arguably, nobody is going to pay a higher economic price for this sanctions regime than the EU. Why on earth should they let Ukraine in- the country is nowhere near ready.

----------


## David48atTD

> Moscow also passed laws to impound $10bn (£7.6bn) of jets leased to Aeroflot and other Russian airlines by western organisations.


Seems like a hostage situation.  Could it be resolved by a prisoner swap?

One or two of these*   swapped for one of those  ? 









* Yes I realize that it is a SUKHOI Superjet 100-95 and not a leased modern Boeing and Airbus aircraft  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

Who knows what might happen when rationality prevails- and it finally will, but for now it's war and tit for tat sanctions. Reckon I might want two of those yachts for that jet.  :Smile:

----------


## Switch

> *Russia plans to seize assets of western companies exiting country*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Vladimir Putin prepares economic retaliation for western sanctions, including laws to impound $10bn of leased airline jets
> 
> 
> Russia has drawn up plans to seize the assets of western companies leaving the country as the Kremlin pushes back against sweeping sanctions and the exodus of international businesses since its invasion of Ukraine.
> ...


Yet more desperation enters the plans for “Putin’s War”.

----------


## Switch

> *Western Europe leaders rebuff Ukraine fast-track EU membership appeal*
> 
> 
> At a summit in Versailles, the 27 EU countries acknowledged as one the “tectonic shift in European history” caused by Russia’s invasion of its neighbour and vowed to bolster their military might and “strengthen our bonds and deepen our partnership” with Kyiv.
> 
> But calls from Ukraine’s president, supported by Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, for a special membership process failed to convince France, Germany, Spain or the Netherlands.
> 
> France’s president said he wanted to “send a strong signal in this period to Ukraine and to the Ukrainians” of solidarity but “at the same time, we must be vigilant”, adding that he did not believe it possible to “open an accession procedure with a country at war”.
> “Should we close the door and say never, it would be unfair”, he said.
> ...


More desperation, includes banal statements of the blindingly obvious.

Membership of the EU notwithstanding, the EU will find a lend lease plan to rebuild Ukraine after the war. It’s part of their political DNA. If they can fund the buy back of East Germany, rebuilding the Ukraine will be easy for them.

----------


## bsnub

> Is that link you posted on the other thread (3601) what happened here


I can not say so for 100%, but that was my deduction.




> Who knows what might happen when rationality prevails


If rationality was in play, Russia would have never launched this unprovoked war, and it would not be slaughtering civilians on a scale not seen since the second world war.

----------


## Norton

> for now it's war


Well Sab, you just put an end to your planned holiday in Leningrad. This is not a "war" tis a special operation. Putin's TD moles have reported you so congrats, you are officially on the "enemies of the state" list.

----------


## misskit

*Putin Backs Plans to Send Volunteer Fighters to Ukraine*

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday backed plans to allow volunteers, including from abroad, to fight in Ukraine, where he has sent thousands of Russian troops in what he calls a "special military operation."


"If you see that there are people who want on a voluntary basis (to help east Ukraine's separatists), then you need to meet them halfway and help them move to combat zones," Putin told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a televised security council meeting.

According to Shoigu, more than 16,000 volunteers — mostly from the Middle East — have appealed to join the military action.


"As for the supply of arms, especially Western-made, which ended up in the hands of the Russian army, of course I support the possibility of transferring them to the military units of DNR and LNR," Putin said referring to the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics in Ukraine's east.


Putin also ordered that Shoigu prepare a separate report on strengthening Russia's western borders "in connection to the actions that NATO countries are taking in this direction."

Putin Backs Plans to Send Volunteer Fighters to Ukraine - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russian strikes hit western Ukraine as offensive widens*

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia widened its military offensive in Ukraine on Friday, striking near airports in the west of the country for the first time, as observers and satellite photos indicated that its troops, long stalled in a convoy outside the capital Kyiv, were trying to maneuver to encircle the city.


With the invasion now in its third week, the U.S. and its allies prepared to step up their efforts to isolate and sanction Russia by revoking its most favored trading status. The move comes amid mounting outrage after a deadly airstrike hit a maternity hospital in the key Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, under an increasingly constricting 10-day-old siege.


The new airstrikes in western Ukraine were likely a message from Russia that no area was safe, Western and Ukrainian officials say Russian forces have struggled in the face of heavier-than-expected resistance and supply and morale problems. So far, they have made the most advances on cities in the south and east while stalling in the north and around Kyiv.

Strikes on the western Lutsk airfield killed two Ukrainian servicemen and wounded six people, according to the head of the surrounding Volyn region, Yuriy Pohulyayko. In Ivano-Frankivsk, residents were ordered to shelters after an air raid alert, Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv said.


Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russia used high-precision long-range weapons Friday to put military airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk “out of action.” He did not provide details.

New satellite photos, meanwhile, appeared to show a massive Russian convoy outside the Ukrainian capital had fanned out into towns and forests near Kyiv, with artillery pieces raised for firing in another potentially ominous movement.


The 40-mile (64-kilometer) line of vehicles, tanks and artillery had massed outside the city early last week, but its advance appeared to stall as reports of food and fuel shortages circulated. U.S. officials said Ukrainian troops also targeted the convoy with anti-tank missiles.


The satellite imagery, from Maxar Technologies, showed the 40-mile (64-kilometer) line of vehicles, tanks and artillery outside Kyiv had been redeployed, the company said. Armored units were seen in towns near the Antonov Airport north of the city. Some vehicles moved into forests, Maxar reported, with towed howitzers nearby in position to open fire.


It appeared the convoy forces were moving west around the city, trying to encircle it to the south, according to Jack Watling, a research fellow at a British defense think-tank, the Royal United Services Institute. “They’re about half-way around now, to be able to close off on the south,” he told BBC radio.

He said they were likely preparing for a “siege rather than assault” on Kyiv because of continuing low morale and logistical problems.


The British Ministry of Defense said that after making “limited progress” because of logistical mishaps and Ukrainian resistance, Russian forces were trying to “re-set and re-posture” their troops, gearing up for operations against Kyiv.


Moscow also gave new indications that it plans to bring fighters from Syria into the conflict.


Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia knew of “more than 16,000 applications” from countries in the Middle East, many of them from people who he said had helped Russia against the Islamic State group, according to a Kremlin transcript.


Shoigu did not specify Syria and his numbers could not be confirmed. But since 2015, Russian forces have backed Syrian President Assad against various groups opposed to his rule, including Islamic State.


Responding to Shoigu, President Vladimir Putin approved bringing in “volunteer” fighters and told his defense minister to help them “move to the combat zone.”

Increasing the pressure on Moscow, the U.S. and other nations were poised later Friday to announce the revocation of Russia’s “most favored nation” trade status, which would allow higher tariffs to be imposed on some Russian imports. Western sanctions have already dealt a severe blow to Russia, causing the ruble to plunge, foreign businesses to flee and prices to rise sharply.


Russian airstrikes also targeted for the first time the eastern city of Dnipro, a major industrial hub and Ukraine’s fourth-largest city in a strategic position on the Dnieper River. Three strikes hit early Friday, killing at least one person, according to Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Heraschenko.


The head of the Kyiv Region administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, said a missile hit the town of Baryshivka, about 20 kilometers east of Kyiv’s main international Boryspil Airport. He reported significant damage to residences but no immediate casualty toll.


In Syria, Russia backed the government in imposing long, brutal sieges on opposition-held cities, wreaking heavy destruction on residential area and causing widespread civilian casualties.


That history — along with the ongoing siege of the Azov Sea port of Mariupol — has raised fears of similar bloodshed in Ukraine.


Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian-backed fighters have advanced up to 800 meters of Mariupol from the east, north and west, further squeezing the city which has the Azov Sea to its south. Konashenkov said the advance was being conducted by fighters from the separatist-held Donetsk region, the standard Russian line for fighting in the east.


Ukrainian authorities are planning to send aid to Mariupol, home to some 430,000, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video message.


Repeated previous attempts have failed as aid and rescue convoys were targeted by Russian shelling, even as residents have grown more desperate, scrounging for food and fuel.


More than 1,300 people have died in the city’s 10-day siege, Vereshchuk said. “They want to destroy the people of Mariupol. They want to make them starve,” she added. “It’s a war crime.”

Residents have no heat or phone service, and many have no electricity. Nighttime temperatures are regularly below freezing, and daytime ones hover just above it. Bodies are being buried in mass graves. The streets are littered with burned-out cars, broken glass and splintered trees.


“They have a clear order to hold Mariupol hostage, to mock it, to constantly bomb and shell it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation Thursday. He said the Russians began a tank attack right where there was supposed to be a humanitarian corridor.


Grocery stores and pharmacies were emptied days ago by people breaking in to get supplies, according to a local official with the Red Cross, Sacha Volkov. A black market is operating for vegetables, meat is unavailable, and people are stealing gasoline from cars, Volkov said.


Places protected from bombings are hard to find, with basements reserved for women and children. Residents, Volkov said, are turning on one another: “People started to attack each other for food.”


Vereshchuk also announced efforts to create new humanitarian corridors to bring aid to people in areas occupied or under Russian attack around the cities of Kherson in the south, Chernihiv in the north and Kharkiv in the east.


Some 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began, the International Organization for Migration said Friday. Some 100,000 people have been evacuated during the past two days from seven cities under Russian blockade in the north and center of the country, including the Kyiv suburbs, Zelenskyy said.


In addition to those who have fled the country, millions have been driven from their homes. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said about 2 million people, half the metropolitan area’s population, have left the capital.


“Every street, every house … is being fortified,” he said. “Even people who in their lives never intended to change their clothes, now they are in uniform with machine guns in their hands.”

Russian strikes hit western Ukraine as offensive widens | AP News

----------


## bsnub

> “Every street, every house … is being fortified,” he said. “Even people who in their lives never intended to change their clothes, now they are in uniform with machine guns in their hands.”


Sadly, the Russians are massive cowards and have a history of sitting outside cities and shelling them without concern for civilians. They will turn Kyiv into rubble, just like they did to Grozny.

----------


## sabang

*Video emerges of Madison Cawthorn calling Zelensky a ‘thug’ and Ukrainian government ‘woke’ and ‘evil’*



A video has emerged of North Carolina Republican Representative Madison Cawthorn calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “thug” and his government “evil”.



“Remember that Zelensky is a thug,” Mr Cawthorn told supporters, a video obtained by WRAL shows. “Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”


While it remains unclear where the video was filmed, Karl Rove, who served as President George W Bush’s deputy chief of staff, wrote in a _Wall Street Journal_ op-ed that Mr Cawthorn made the comments over the weekend during an event in Asheville. Mr Rove said he believed that the comments “didn’t reflect Republican opinion”.

When reached by _The Independent,_ Mr Cawthorn’s Communications Director Luke Ball pointed to Twitter statements that “explains what his point was in those remarks”.
“Propaganda is being used to entice America into another war,” Mr Cawthorn tweeted. “I do not want Americans dying because emotions pushed us into a conflict.”

“The actions of Putin and Russia are disgusting. But leaders, including Zelensky, should NOT push misinformation on America,” he added. “I am praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. Pray also we are not drawn into conflict based on foreign leaders pushing misinformation.”

Mr Cawthorn linked to a Substack post by Pedro Gonzalez, who wrote that “Ukrainian misinformation is pointed largely at the West, with outright propaganda promoted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself. Ukraine’s efforts are designed to bring the United States and NATO into the war. Sometimes it is subtle; other times, it is as unsubtle as a hammer hitting an anvil”.

Mr Cawthorn is running for re-election in his western North Carolina district. One of his opponents, Michele Woodhouse, told WRAL that Mr Cawthorn’s remarks were “boorish”, out of touch, and that Mr Zelensky is a “hero”.

Polls show that most Republicans disagree with Mr Cawthorn – 61 per cent of Republicans said in a recent Quinnipiac University poll that they had a favourable view of Mr Zelensky, with six per cent saying they had an unfavourable view and 31 per cent saying they didn’t know enough about Mr Zelensky to form an opinion.

Among US adults as a whole, 64 per cent said they had a favourable view, six per cent had an unfavourable view, and 29 per cent said they hadn’t heard enough about Mr Zelensky.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as the White House Director of Strategic Communications under former President Donald Trump, tweeted, “I try not to criticize Madison because he’s my former intern and I think he genuinely doesn’t know how little he knows. But this is disgraceful and not how a sitting lawmaker should speak about a US ally. [Mr Cawthorn] is echoing Russian propaganda”.


Full Article-  Video emerges of Madison Cawthorn calling Zelensky a ‘thug’ and Ukrainian government ‘woke’ and ‘evil’ (msn.com)

----------


## S Landreth

Such a pity.

The Russian economy is headed for collapse

To justify invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has painted Russia as a hegemonic power re-asserting its rightful claim to imperial greatness. Yet even before the invasion, Russia’s economic capabilities were hardly capable of sustaining an empire.

Now, with foreign sanctions presiding over a plummeting Russian ruble, Russia’s economic standing has fallen further still. If measured at today’s exchange rates, Russia’s economy would be the 22nd largest in the world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) not much larger than the state of Ohio’s.

_Interlude from me - Just a second. Think about that,………. If measured at today’s exchange rates, Russia’s economy would be the 22nd largest in the world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) not much larger than the state of Ohio’s._

_Ohio_  :Smile: 

That’s a far cry from the past, when Russia was a true world power. According to data assembled by the late economic historian Angus Maddison, it was the fifth largest economy in the world in 1913, behind the United States, China, Germany and Britain. By 1957, when the U.S.S.R. outpaced the United States to launch the first satellite into space, the Soviet economy was the world’s second largest after America’s.

*Putin’s quest for greatness*

Putin was elected president following the chaotic disintegration of the Soviet Union and the 1998 financial crisis in which Russia defaulted on its debt and abandoned its fixed exchange rate.

At the time, Russia’s market-value GDP had bottomed out at US$210 billion, making it the world’s 24th largest economy, behind Austria. (All contemporary GDP figures are from the October 2021 World Economic Outlook published by the International Monetary Fund.)

Putin established an informal social contract with the Russian people based on his ability to deliver strong economic growth. Under Putin’s rule, and buoyed by a commodity price supercycle that would stretch well into the 21st century, Russia’s GDP in market exchange rates rose tenfold, returning Russia to global relevance and providing purchasing power to its middle class.

However, Russia researchers argued that as Russia’s economy began to flag, from a peak in 2013, Putin sought new legitimacy to govern through foreign policy actions to re-establish Russia’s status as a “great power.” These efforts were epitomized by the Crimean annexation of 2014.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, against the backdrop of Russia’s market-rate GDP losing a third of its value between 2013 and 2020, represents a doubling down of Putin’s strategy to seek legitimacy from “great power status,” rather than economic performance.

Yet the West’s unrelenting financial and economic sanctions have only accelerated Russia’s economic downfall.

Russian stocks traded on the U.K. market have fallen by 98 per cent, wiping out US$572 billion of wealth, while stocks on Russian exchanges remain suspended.

The Russian currency has fallen to 155 rubles per dollar — a drop of more than 50 per cent from 75 rubles per U.S. dollar before the invasion. If not for recent captial controls and the rising prices of commodities — brought about by the sanctions themselves — that make up the majority of Russia’s exports, it would fall even further.

*Domino effect*

A country’s market-rate GDP is its GDP converted to a global currency like the U.S. dollar. While there are other ways to measure GDP, when it comes to global trade and investment — and economic power — the market rate is what matters.

Russia’s market-rate GDP in 2021 was US$1.65 trillion, enough to make it the world’s 11th largest economy, behind South Korea. If we crudely convert Russia’s 2021 estimated GDP by March 7, 2022, currency rates, rather than the average exchange rate used last year, and place it against the 2021 market-rate GDP table, the rankings change and Russia slides to 22nd place, falling between Taiwan and Poland.

This drop is likely an underestimate. While a falling ruble lowers Russia’s exchange rate of its GDP to U.S. dollars, its weakening economy lowers its ruble GDP directly. And Russia’s isolation will erode its economic competitiveness, widening the economic gap further in the medium term.

Ukrainians confronted with the oncoming Russian army were wise to Putin’s chimeric strategy. “Don’t you have problems in your country to solve? Are you all rich there, as in the Emirates?” one elderly man heckled Russian soldiers.

*Putin’s next move*

Robert F. Kennedy famously observed that GDP failed to account for many things that we care about — like health and education. The fall in Russia’s market-rate GDP cannot begin to describe the human tragedy playing out in both Ukraine and Russia.

But what these figures do make clear is that Putin’s claim to legitimacy through economic performance is all but destroyed. With “great power status” tied closely to economic power, Putin’s back-door source of legitimacy from stirring up nationalist pride now seems closed as well.

Putin may have led Russia from one “Times of Troubles,” but he has delivered it to another one. That’s cold comfort to the Ukrainians, and indeed to the rest of the world, who are wondering Putin’s next move.

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine Accuses Moscow Of 'False Flag' Operation To Lure Belarus Into War*

Kyiv has accused Russia of firing at a settlement in Belarus near the border with Ukraine in a “false flag” attempt to draw Minsk into joining Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbor.


Ukraine’s Air Command said in a statement on March 11 that border authorities received information detailing how Russian aircraft took off from an airfield in Belarus, crossed into Ukrainian airspace, and then fired back across at the Belarusian village of Kopani.

Several Western intelligence agencies have warned that Russia will use “false flag” operations as part of its disinformation plan during its attack on Ukraine.


“This is a provocation! Goal: to get Belarusian armed forces involved in the war in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Air Force Command said in a statement.


The Ukrainian military said two other Belarusian settlements were also targeted in the same operation.


The report came on the same day Belarus’s authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka visited with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Belarus has assisted Putin in launching the attack by allowing its territory to be used as a staging ground for Russian troops.

“We officially declare: The Ukrainian military has not planned and does not plan to take any aggressive action against the Republic of Belarus,” the security service said in a statement on its Telegram channel.


“We appeal to the Belarusian people: Do not let yourself be used in a criminal war!” it added.


Belarusian Defense Ministry spokeswoman Ina Harbachova dismissed the Ukrainian Air Force Command's statement as false.


"The Defense Ministry unequivocally states that the information about a missile strike at a Belarusian village is nonsense," Harbachova said.

Ukraine Accuses Moscow Of &#39;False Flag&#39; Operation To Lure Belarus Into War

----------


## sabang

^^^ You can certainly copy it there Ms Kitty, I guess it belongs! Never heard of this Cawthorn- pretty small beer probably, but I might do a quick check on what the RW loonies have to say about things. Zelensky worship is about as dumb as Putin worship BTW- he's just another thoroughly corrupt and compromised Ukrainian politician. Does a nice Tik Tok though.

----------


## panama hat

> Interlude from me - Just a second. Think about that,. If measured at todays exchange rates, Russias economy would be the 22nd largest in the world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) not much larger than the state of Ohios.
> 
> Ohio


 Putin is an amazing econominimalist  :Sad:

----------


## David48atTD



----------


## misskit

*'Legitimate': Russia may target Western arms supplies to Ukraine*

As the war in Ukraine entered the seventeenth day on Saturday, Russia said it could target Western weapon supplies into Ukraine.


"We warned the United States that the orchestrated pumping of weapons from a number of countries is not just a dangerous move, it is a move that turns these convoys into legitimate targets," the Russian foreign ministry spokesman Sergei Ryabkov said.

The spokesman added that Russia had warned "about the consequences of the thoughtless transfer to Ukraine of weapons like man-portable air defence systems, anti-tank missile systems and so on."

Meanwhile, US officials claim Russian Air force has been carrying out 200 more missions than Ukraine however they have not been entering Ukraine's airspace to avoid their air defence system.

The Russians are reportedly firing long-range missiles from Ukraine's border while being cautious even as reports claim Ukraine has held back its own Air Force jets.


Reports claimed on Saturday that Russian rocket attack had destroyed a Ukrainian airbase near Vasylkiv in Kyiv region even as fighting rages near the capital.


Ukraine's Air Force consists mainly of Soviet-era MiG-29 and Sukhoi-27 jets including Sukhoi-25 jets, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). President Volodymyr  Zelensky has been pleading for more fighter aircraft from NATO.

Earlier this week, the United States had rejected Poland's offer to send MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. The US said "the decision about whether to transfer Polish-owned planes to Ukraine is ultimately one for the Polish government."


US State Department spokesman Ned Price had said Ukraine had "several squadrons" with  "fully mission capable" aircraft while adding that sending planes to Kyiv would be viewed by Russia as an "escalatory" move.

'Legitimate': Russia may target Western arms supplies to Ukraine, World News | wionews.com

----------


## misskit

*Mosque Sheltering Civilians in Mariupol Shelled: Ukrainian Foreign Ministry*

A mosque in the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where 80 civilians were taking shelter, has been shelled by Russian forces, Ukraine's foreign ministry said on Saturday.


"The mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Roxolana (Hurrem Sultan) in Mariupol was shelled by Russian invaders. More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey," the ministry wrote on its Twitter account.


It did not specify when the shelling took place.


Mariupol has been under siege and bombardment for more than a week and is encircled by Russian troops.


The situation in the strategic port city was "desperate," where civilians have been desperately trying to flee, but were without water or heating, and running out of food, a top Doctors Without Borders executive said Friday.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on Friday: "Besieged Mariupol is now the worst humanitarian catastrophe on the planet —1,582 dead civilians in 12 days."


Three people, including a child, were killed when a children's hospital in the city was attacked on Wednesday, sparking international outrage.


Against this backdrop, a new attempt is being made to open up a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to evacuate the city towards Zaporizhzhia, around 200 kilometers to the north east, said Ukraine's deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk.


For days, Ukrainians have claimed that the Russian military has been pounding the evacuation route, preventing people from leaving.


As on previous days, humanitarian corridors were also to be opened again around Kyiv.


"I very much hope that the day will go well, that the planned routes will be open and that Russia will meet its obligations regarding the observance of the ceasefire," Vereshchuk said in a video uploaded to the website of the Ukrainian presidency.


As the Russian army continues to advance and besiege Kyiv, strikes hit the town of Vasylkiv on Saturday morning, about 40 kilometers south of the capital.


Eight Russian rockets hit the local airport around 7:00 am (0500 GMT), which was "completely destroyed", said the mayor Natalia Balassinovitch, on her Facebook account.


An oil depot was also hit and caught fire, she said.

Mosque Sheltering Civilians in Mariupol Shelled: Ukrainian Foreign Ministry - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Intelligence points to heightened risk of Russian chemical attack in Ukraine, officials say*

MUKACHEVO, Ukraine - The United States and its allies have intelligence that Russia may be preparing to use chemical weapons against Ukraine, U.S. and European officials said Friday, as Moscow sought to invigorate its faltering military offensive through increasingly brutal assaults across multiple Ukrainian cities.


Security officials and diplomats said the intelligence, which they declined to detail, pointed to possible preparations by Russia for deploying chemical munitions, and warned the Kremlin may seek to carry out a “false-flag” attack that attempts to pin the blame on Ukrainians, or perhaps Western governments. The officials, like others quoted in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter.


The accusations surfaced as Russia repeated claims that the United States and Ukraine were operating secret biological weapons labs in Eastern Europe - an allegation that the Biden administration dismissed as “total nonsense” and “outright lies.”


Any use of poison gases in Ukraine would violate a decades-old international treaty banning such weapons, and represent a dangerous turn in Russia’s two-week-old military offensive against its neighbor. Russia, which possessed vast stocks of chemical and biological weapons during the Cold War, has used outlawed nerve agents in at least two assassination attempts against political foes of President Vladimir Putin in the past three years, including at least once outside its borders, Western intelligence agencies concluded.

MORE Intelligence points to heightened risk of Russian chemical attack in Ukraine, officials say

----------


## sabang

Solid Intelligence, and eyewitness reports, point to a network of Pentagon funded biolabs in Ukraine- at least one of which has been destroyed. Pardon my cynicism, but this all seems a bit contrived.

----------


## misskit

^Where is all of this solid evidence? Because Putin says it’s true? The same Putin who says he won’t invade Ukraine? Fool.



*Russia says the U.S. is making bioweapons in Ukraine. Here’s the reality.*

The U.S. does fund labs — but they're not making weapons

Most conspiracy theories start with a sliver of truth, and this one is no different, according to Carmen Celestini, who is a post-doctoral fellow with the Disinformation Project at Simon Fraser University.


“Usually there is some type of nugget of truth, or there is a question that no one wants to ask,” she explained.


“And so when you ask that question…people start creating their own narratives and their own answers for those questions.”


The thread of truth that started this web of conspiracies was a real 2005 partnership between the U.S. Defence Department and the Ukraine Ministry of Health. The two decided to work together to try to stop the spread of infectious diseases — not to create them.


READ MORE: Spot the bot: How to navigate fake news about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine


As a part of this pact, the U.S. Biological Threat Reduction Program works with Ukrainian officials to “consolidate and secure pathogens and toxins of security concern in Ukrainian government facilities,” according to the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.


This allows for “peaceful research and vaccine development,” the website says, and helps ensure dangerous pathogens don’t fall into the wrong hands.


As for the reason this lab is in Ukraine, of all places, the answer is simple: the fall of the Soviet Union.


The U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which has been around since the ’90s, was launched, in part, to secure old Soviet weapons left behind in countries like Ukraine and Georgia, after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The labs for this program benefit from U.S. funding, but they are run entirely by local governments, and do not manufacture any bioweapons whatsoever, according to the U.S. government and multiple independent fact-checks.


This work, and the research labs associated with it, have been the subject of disinformation campaigns for years. So much so, that the U.S. government made an informative video to debunk the false claims.


Just this week, after the Chinese Foreign Ministry and multiple Russian officials parroted the false claims about the labs manufacturing bioweapons, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki posted a fact check on Twitter.


“The United States is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere,” she wrote.


“It’s Russia that has a long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons, including in attempted assassinations and poisoning of Putin’s political enemies like Alexey Navalny.”


READ MORE: Putin will ‘lose’ Ukraine war, Trudeau says, as Canada ups aid funding


Those who lean towards believing conspiracy theories might not be willing to believe Psaki’s tweets, nor the U.S. government’s publications — but Dr. Filippa Lentzos, co-director of the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King’s College London, went the one of these labs with a team of experts to find the truth.


In 2018, she published her findings from the lab in Georgia.


“We were given access to all areas of the site, examined relevant documentation, and interviewed staff, and concluded that the Center demonstrates significant transparency,” Lentzos wrote.


“Our group observed nothing out of the ordinary, or that we wouldn’t expect to see in a legitimate facility of this sort.”


Why do some people believe the disinformation?
Russia has been actively spreading the disinformation about the U.S. manufacturing bioweapons in a bid to shore up support for their invasion of Ukraine, according to the U.S. government.


Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova held a press conference this past Wednesday, during which she detailed allegations of an “emergency cleanup of military biological programs by the Kyiv regime.”


She said these programs were “financed by the United States of America” and it is “out of the question” that the programs were peaceful science-focused — even though that’s exactly what they were.

There are a number of reasons why people might fall prey to this disinformation. They might give in to the incessant propaganda from Russian bots, Celestini said. Misinformation also usually touches on something that scares us, she added, which can make you drop your usual critical thinking skills.


But there’s also another element driving the spread of this conspiracy: QAnon.


QAnon is a big-tent conspiracy theory that can be interpreted in a number of ways, according to Celestini. At its core, however, is the completely unfounded theory claimed former U.S. president Donald Trump was waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping pedophiles in government, business and the media, the BBC explains.


With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conspiracy’s umbrella broadened to include accusations that this shadowy global elite planned and managed the pandemic in the name of ushering in a “Great Reset.”


“We have the QAnon conspiracy where they believe that COVID was made by humans in a bioweapons factory,” Celestini explained.


“Some believe it was China trying to do it to take over the world, others to destroy the American financial structure, and others believe that it is part of this ‘New World Order idea, that if they lock us down with this pandemic, they can lock us in our houses, take control of us, which obviously then leads into the Great Reset.”


READ MORE: ‘Playing with fire’: How politicians can perpetuate baseless conspiracy theories


In attacking Ukraine, then, and destroying these labs, Putin becomes the good guy. The pro-Russian disinformation also finds a home with adherents to a different set of conspiratorial beliefs: the “blue beam project.”


This conspiracy theory was made up by a Quebec journalist, Serge Monast, who wrote a book called The Toronto Protocols, Celestini explained. The book alleges that there would be a “human-made pandemic,” she said, and that “we would be locked into our houses, we would lose their jobs.”


The conspiracy baselessly alleges that then, when people are locked in their homes and can no longer go to church, the New World Order will project “different deities” from “all the different religions” into the sky and “the Antichrist will take over the leadership of the world,” Celestini explained.

These conspiracists believe Putin is fighting this New World Order, she added, by bombing the labs.


At the end of the day, all these baseless conspiracies about the labs seem to end the same way: a justification of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.


If there’s a “realm of social media” where people “distrust the government” and “distrust the media,” the people they do trust on that forum can “sow more dissention, and more distrust” with information shared on the platform, Celestini said.


“It can be a form of war propaganda.”


How can you avoid misinformation?
They key to catching misinformation is to stay vigilant.


“This information can…come on to the mainstream media, on Twitter and stuff,” Celestini explained.


That’s why it’s important to engage critically with what you see online, she added. Look for “strange images” and consider the history of an issue, as well as the source of the information.


READ MORE: Evacuation of besieged Ukraine city fails as Russia talks make little progress


MediaSmarts has developed a custom fact-checker search engine, which you can use to Google something you saw. All the results will be from verified fact-checkers. There’s also a tool that will tell you the likelihood that an account is a bot.


And whether they’re driven by baseless conspiracy theories, Russian bots or simply misinformed citizens, these false narratives have a real impact on people living in Ukraine, according to Mary Blankenship, a University of Nevada researcher who looks at how misinformation spreads through Twitter.


“You have enough people believing it, you’ll have people not support any of the government attempts to provide Ukraine with aid, whether that’s financial, military, or medical aid,” she said.


That, she said, is a “really huge and important impact that disinformation can have.”

Russia says the U.S. is making bioweapons in Ukraine. Here’s the reality - National | Globalnews.ca

----------


## panama hat

> ^Where is all of this solid evidence? Because Putin says it’s true? The same Putin who says he won’t invade Ukraine? Fool.


You're asking the wrong people for proof.  I simply don't get this blank-cheque apologist drivel for Putin and his invasion.

----------


## misskit

^ It’s been brought up before the UN so they can sort it out…

The United Nations is not aware of any biological weapons programmes, the High Representative of Disarmament Affairs told the Security Council at an emergency meeting this morning to address related concerns in Ukraine.

United Nations Not Aware of Any Biological Weapons Programmes, Disarmament Chief Affirms as Security Council Meets to Address Related Concerns in Ukraine | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases

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## sabang

The US has already admitted it has several Labs in Ukraine under it's "Biological threat reduction program" Mk. Nothing foolish there- unless they are foolish for admitting it.




> It’s no secret that the DTRA funds laboratories in Ukraine, but Pentagon officials insist the labs are not bioweapons facilities.


Victoria Nuland declares US is protecting 'biological research facilities' in Ukraine - The Grayzone

This is not new you know- it has been known about for some years.

----------


## misskit

The intelligence agencies in the West have been releasing their findings quite frequently in order to get out front of planned actions by Russia.

They said Russia would invade Ukraine even though many wouldn’t believe such a preposterous thing. 

Now Western intelligence is saying there are possible preparations for chemical warfare by the Russians and you don’t want us to believe them.

Sharing top-secret intelligence with the public is unusual – but helped the US rally the world against Russian aggression

----------


## sabang

Put it this way- I certainly do not want us to ignore it or refute it offhand, but I did point out that the timing seems a bit contrived given the recent publicity surrounding Pentagon funded biolabs- even China has asked the USA to clarify. We live in a cynical world, where narrative and spin are largely used in place of facts (that does not only apply to 'us' obviously). So pardon me for my cynicism.

----------


## malmomike77

> We live in a cynical world, where narrative and spin are largely used in place of facts


And you really have taken that up as a hobby in retirement, bit sad.

----------


## sabang

^^ On the contrary mike- quite glad. I have the time you see, being retired, self sufficient, and with no real intention of working again. I also have the interest and intellectual curiosity (keeps the mind ticking over, and I don't like gardening)- but I do realise this is a luxury the vast majority of people do not possess. So about all you will typically be exposed to is the 'approved narrative'- yep, just like them over there. Sab is glad to be a disrupter actually.  :Smile:  You might call it my hobby.

----------


## misskit

*'Around 1,300' Ukrainian Troops Killed Since Russia Invasion: Zelenskiy*

"Around 1,300" Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbor, the country's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday as Moscow's forces closed in on the capital Kyiv.


Zelenskiy made the disclosure at a media briefing, the first time Kyiv had given such a toll since the beginning of fighting. On March 2 Russia said it had lost nearly 500 soldiers, but has not updated the figure since.

The Ukrainian president claimed that Russia had lost "around 12,000 men."


It's "a ratio of one to ten, but that doesn't make me happy," he said.


The Russian army has committed around 150,000 soldiers to the invasion of Ukraine.


Russian forces upped the pressure on Kyiv Saturday, pummelling civilian areas in other Ukrainian cities, amid fresh efforts to get aid to the devastated port city of Mariupol.


Russian strikes destroyed the airport in the town of Vasylkiv on Saturday morning, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Kyiv, while an oil depot was also hit and caught fire, the mayor said.


The northwest suburbs of the capital, including Irpin and Bucha, have already endured days of heavy bombardment while Russian armored vehicles are advancing on the northeastern edge.


Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak on Friday called it a "city under siege," while Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Saturday Kyiv was reinforcing defenses and stockpiling food and medicine.


The southern port city of Mariupol is facing what Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called "the worst humanitarian catastrophe on the planet," with more than 1,500 civilians dead in 12 days.

'Around 1,300' Ukrainian Troops Killed Since Russia Invasion: Zelenskiy - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine Accuses Russia of Fake Referendum Plot*

Ukrainian officials on Saturday accused Russia of planning a fake referendum on creating a pro-Moscow "people's republic" in the southern Black Sea city of Kherson.


Russian forces seized the port city, which has a population of 290,000 people, on March 3 following a three-day siege. It was the first major city to fall following Moscow's invasio

"Russians now desperately try to organize a sham 'referendum' for a fake 'people's republic' in Kherson," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.


Due to "zero popular support," such a referendum "will be fully staged," he added.


"Severe sanctions against Russia must follow if they proceed. Kherson is & will always be Ukraine," the minister added.


Kuleba drew a parallel with Russia's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014, when it held a referendum on joining Russia after deploying troops there.


The Kherson plan was following a "2014 playbook," Kuleba said.


Ukraine's ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova wrote on Telegram that Russian occupying forces were phoning lawmakers from the local legislature, asking them to vote for the plan.


Denisova said such a referendum would be illegal on the occupied territory, since under Ukrainian law any issues over territory can only be resolved by a nationwide referendum.

Ukraine Accuses Russia of Fake Referendum Plot - The Moscow Times

----------


## S Landreth

Tightening up a bit more.

FACT SHEET: United States, European Union, and G7 to Announce Further Economic Costs on Russia

Today, President Biden and G7 Leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom as well as the European Union will announce new economic actions to hold Putin accountable for his continued assault on Ukraine and further isolate Russia from the global financial system. Each partner will implement actions consistent with their national processes.

These actions will collectively ramp up pressure on Putin and build on the unprecedented package of economic sanctions and export controls the United States and over 30 countries have already imposed on Russia. Today, the ruble is trading at its weakest level ever and is worth less than a penny; the Russian stock market is closed for the longest time in history; the Russian governments credit rating has been downgraded to junk status, and were seeing a mass exodus from Russia by the private sector  the result of our historic, multilateral coordination and commitment to ensure that Putins war of choice is a strategic failure. Russia has now become a global economic and financial pariah.  

Todays announcements include:

Revoking Russias Most-Favored Nation Status. President Biden will work closely with Congress to deny Russia the benefits of its WTO membership and ensure that Russian imports do not receive most favored nation treatment in our economy. The United States Congress has demonstrated bipartisan leadership to revoke Permanent Normal Trade Relations for Russia, and President Biden looks forward to signing a bill into law. Together with similar actions by the G7, following our respective national processes, this collective action by more than half of the global economy will deliver another serious economic blow to Russia.

Denying Borrowing Privileges at Multilateral Financial Institutions. The G7 Leaders will agree to ensure Russia cannot obtain financing from the leading multilateral financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Russia cannot grossly violate international law and expect to benefit from being part of the international economic order.

Full blocking Sanctions on Additional Russian Elites and their Family Members. This includes Yuri Kovalchuk, executives of banks we have sanctioned, and Duma members who sponsored legislation to recognize the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic. This action will follow up on multiple efforts, along with those of our allies and partners, to target Russian elites and their family members who are profiting from this war of choice, and cuts them off from the U.S. financial system, freezes any assets they hold in the United States and blocks their travel to the United States. We will work through the international task force announced on February 26 to pursue the ill-gotten gains of these elites.

Ban Export of Luxury Goods to Russia. President Biden will sign an Executive Order (E.O) that will end the exportation of luxury items to any person located in the Russian Federation. This will ensure that U.S. persons are not providing luxury items, such as high end-watches, luxury vehicles, high-end apparel, high-end alcohol, jewelry, and other goods frequently purchased by Russian elites. The U.S. export value of the products covered by todays luxury goods restrictions is nearly $550 million per year. The elites who sustain Putins war machine should no longer be able to reap the gains of this system and squander the resources of the Russian people.

Ban U.S. Import of Goods from Several Signature Sectors of Russias Economy. President Bidens E.O. will also prohibit the import of goods from several signature sectors of Russias economy  including seafood, spirits/vodka, and non-industrial diamonds. This will deny Russia more than $1 billion in export revenues and ensure U.S. citizens are not underwriting Putins war. The United States retains the authority to impose additional import bans as appropriate.

New guidance by the Department of Treasury to Thwart Sanctions Evasion, including through Virtual Currency. The Department of the Treasury, through new guidance, will continue to make clear that Treasurys expansive actions against Russia require all U.S. persons to comply with sanctions regulations regardless of whether a transaction is denominated in traditional fiat currency or virtual currency. Treasury is closely monitoring any efforts to circumvent or violate Russia-related sanctions, including through the use of virtual currency, and is committed to using its broad enforcement authorities to act against violations and to promote compliance.  

Create the Authority to Ban New Investment in Any Sector of the Russian Federation Economy. President Biden has already banned new U.S. investments in the Russian energy sector. This E.O. will establish the legal authority for future investment restrictions in any sector of the Russian economy, as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, by a United States person.

Whats next?

----------


## sabang

*US official warns Israel not to be 'last haven for dirty money' funding Russian invasion of Ukraine*






Amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the US is urging Israel to take a harder line against Russia and cease accepting its “dirty money.”

“What we are asking among other things is for every democracy around the world to join us in the financial and export control sanctions that we have put on Putin. We have to squeeze the regime, we have to deny it the income that it needs,” US under secretary of state for political affairs Victoria Nuland – a former UN ambassador to Nato – told Israel’s Channel 12 News on Friday.

“You don’t want to become the last haven for dirty money that’s fueling Putin’s wars,” she added.

Thus far, Israel hasn’t joined the US and the EU in levying tough sanctions against Vladimir Putin and his cronies, or in giving military aid to Ukraine.

Instead, the country has sought to balance its relations with Ukraine and Russia.

It has received thousands of refugees from Ukraine and sent humanitarian aid like medical equipment to the former Soviet republic, while Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett became the first foreign leader to meet with Vladimir Putin since the war began during a visit to Moscow on Saturday.

Mr Bennett has also reportedly urged Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish and an admirer of Israel, to accept Russian terms for a ceasefire, which would likely include formally ceding eastern regions of Ukraine to Russian influence and backing away from a goal of joining Nato.

High-net worth individuals already appear to be heading from Russia to Israel, with 14 private jets taking off from St Petersburg and landing in Tel Aviv in the last 11 days.

Russian-Israeli oligarch Roman Abramovich, known for his past ties to Putin, has been a particular target of sanctions in other countries including the UK and Canada.

_Earlier this month, a number of prominent Israeli leaders including those from Yad Vashem, the country’s official Holocaust memorial and museum, urged the US to avoid sanctioning Mr Abramovich, given his prolific financial support of Jewish causes.
_
The memorial later announced on Thursday it would suspend ties with Mr Abramovich, despite a recently announced “eight-digit” donation he made to the institution.

US official warns Israel not to be 'last haven for dirty money' funding Russian invasion of Ukraine (msn.com)


It makes you wonder why the UK is shooting itself in the foot by sanctioning dear Roman, who has been a prolific supporter of Chelsea FC, City of London, and inner London property causes?  ::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

Interview with Zelenskyy...

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Mosque Sheltering Civilians in Mariupol Shelled: Ukrainian Foreign Ministry*
> 
> A mosque in the southeastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where 80 civilians were taking shelter, has been shelled by Russian forces, Ukraine's foreign ministry said on Saturday.


That was a mistake. Might get a few Tallitubbies joining forces with the Ukranians now.

And we know Russians aren't too good against them either.

----------


## sabang

Oh, hadn't you heard yet?  ::chitown:: 



*Turkish mosque in Ukraines Mariupol city remains intact*

Rocket fell 700 meters away from Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Mosque on Friday, says head of mosque association


A Turkish mosque in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol has remained intact, the head of the mosque association said on Saturday, as clashes continued in and around the city.

Clashes continue in a neighborhood that is 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) away from the mosque, said Ismail Hacioglu, the head of the association of Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Mosque.
"Our mosque remained undamaged, he noted.

Hacioglu said the Russian army has surrounded the city and has been shooting at the city center.

He said that civilians who are stranded in the city need essential goods, including water and food.

A rocket fell on Friday around 700 meters (2,297 feet) away from the mosque which currently houses 30 Turkish nationals, he said.
In the city, along with those in the mosque, there are 86 Turkish nationals waiting to be evacuated, Hacioglu said, adding that they are in coordination with the Turkish Foreign Ministry for evacuation.

Turkish mosque in Ukraines Mariupol city remains intact - Timeturk Haber

----------


## sabang

*Russia-Ukraine war latest: dozens reportedly killed after military base near Polish border hit by missiles – live*



*Death toll in air attack on military base near Lviv rises to 35*

_10:53_
*The governor of Lviv said that 35 people are now confirmed dead after the rocket attack on the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre base on Sunday morning.
*
In an update, Maksym Kozytskyy said the death toll had risen from nine to 35, and that 134 were injured after the airstrikes on the facility in Yavoriv.

Two large explosions were seen on Sunday at the base in Yavoriv, a garrison city just 12km from the Polish border. The rocket attack took place at 5.45am. Kozytskyi, said Russian forces fired more than 30 cruise missiles at the Yavoriv base

The facility has previously hosted foreign military trainers from the UK, US and other countries but it is not clear that any were at the base. Ukraine held most of its drills with Nato countries there before the invasion with the last major exercises in September.


Russia-Ukraine war latest: dozens reportedly killed after military base near Polish border hit by missiles – live (msn.com)

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine says Russian forces kill seven civilians in evacuation convoy*

LVIV, Ukraine, March 12 (Reuters) – Ukraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kyiv, and France said Russian President Vladimir Putin had shown he was not ready to make peace.


With Russia’s invasion in its third week, the Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, including one child, were killed as they fled the village of Peremoha and that “the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back.”


Ukrainian officials later said the convoy was not traveling along a “green corridor” agreed with Russia when it was struck on Friday, correcting their earlier assertion that it was on such a designated route.


Reuters was unable immediately to verify the report and Russia offered no immediate comment.


Moscow denies targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24. It blames Ukraine for failed attempts to evacuate civilians from encircled cities, an accusation Ukraine and its Western allies strongly reject.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Moscow was sending in new troops after Ukrainian forces put 31 of Russia’s battalion tactical groups out of action in what he called Russia’s largest army losses in decades. It was not possible to verify his statements.


“We still need to hold on. We still have to fight,” Zelenskiy said in a video address late on Saturday, his second of the day.


He said earlier that about 1,300 Ukrainian troops had been killed so far and urged the West to get more involved in peace negotiations. The president suggested Russian forces would face a fight to the death if they sought to enter the capital.


“If they decide to carpet bomb (Kyiv), and simply erase the history of this region … and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. If that’s their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves,” he said.


Zelenskiy discussed the war with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron, and the German and French leaders then spoke to Putin by phone and urged him to order an immediate ceasefire.


A Kremlin statement on the 75-minute call made no mention of a ceasefire and a French presidency official said: “We did not detect a willingness on Putin’s part to end the war”.


Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accused the United States of escalating tensions and said the situation had been complicated by convoys of Western arms shipments to Ukraine that Russian forces considered “legitimate targets”.


In comments reported by the Tass news agency, Ryabkov made no specific threat, but any attack on such convoys before they reached Ukraine would risk widening the war.


Crisis talks between Moscow and Kyiv have been continuing via a video link, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russia’s RIA news agency. He gave no details but Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would not surrender or accept any ultimatums.


Zelenskiy later on Saturday said he had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett about the prospects for peace talks. Bennett met with Putin and previously talked by phone to Zelenskiy, but the diplomatic efforts so far have appeared fruitless.


HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS


Russian rocket attacks destroyed a Ukrainian airbase and hit an ammunition depot near the town of Vasylkiv in the Kyiv region, Interfax Ukraine quoted its mayor as saying.


The exhausted-looking governor of Chernihiv, around 150 km (100 miles) northeast of Kyiv, gave a video update in front of the ruins of the city’s Ukraine Hotel.


“There is no such hotel any more,” Viacheslav Chaus said, wiping tears from his eyes. “But Ukraine itself still exists, and it will prevail.”


Britain’s defence ministry said fighting northwest of the capital continued, with the bulk of Russian ground forces 25 km (16 miles) from the centre of Kyiv, which it has said Russia could attack within days.


Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remained encircled under heavy Russian shelling, it said.


But the general staff of the Ukraine armed forces said later on Saturday that Russia had slowed its offensive and in many places its forces had been stopped. The military’s Facebook post did not give details.


Russia’s invasion has been almost universally condemned around the world and Moscow has drawn tough Western sanctions.


The Russian bombardment has trapped thousands of people in besieged cities and sent 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing to neighbouring countries. Zelenskiy said the conflict meant some small Ukrainian towns no longer existed.

The United States said it would rush up to $200 million in additional small arms, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine, where officials have pleaded for more military aid.


Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbour’s military capabilities and “de-Nazify” the country.


Ukrainian officials had planned to use humanitarian corridors from Mariupol as well as towns and villages in the regions of Kyiv, Sumy and some other areas on Saturday.


But Russian shelling threatened attempts to evacuate trapped civilians, they said.


Still, around 13,000 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities on Saturday, said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. It was almost twice the number who got out the previous day but far fewer than on the two days prior to that.


A senior Russian defence ministry official said the humanitarian situation in Ukraine continued to decline rapidly and blamed Ukrainian fighters, accusing them of mining neighbourhoods and destroying bridges and roads, the RIA news agency reported.


Russian officials have previously accused Ukrainian forces of shelling their own people and then seeking to blame Moscow, allegations that Kyiv and Western nations dismissed as lies.


The governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, said fighting and threats of Russian air attacks were continuing on Saturday morning though some evacuations were proceeding.


The Donetsk region’s governor said constant shelling was complicating bringing aid into the southern city of Mariupol.


Images taken on Saturday by private U.S. satellite firm Maxar showed fires burning in the western section of Mariupol and dozens of apartment buildings heavily damaged.


“There are reports of looting and violent confrontations among civilians over what little basic supplies remain in the city,” the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.


MAKESHIFT BURIALS


People were boiling ground water for drinking, using wood to cook food and burying their dead near where they lay, a staff member for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) in Mariupol said.


At least 1,582 civilians in Mariupol have been killed as a result of Russian shelling and a 12-day blockade, the city council said on Friday. It was not possible to verify casualty figures.


Efforts to isolate Russia economically have stepped up, with the United States imposing new sanctions on senior Kremlin officials and Russian oligarchs on Friday.


European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU on Saturday would suspend Moscow’s privileged trade and economic treatment, crack down on its use of crypto-assets, and ban the import of iron and steel goods from Russia, as well as the export of luxury goods in the other direction.


Ukraine says Russian forces kill seven civilians in evacuation convoy | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Oh, hadn't you heard yet?


Do you think them missing makes a difference then?

----------


## misskit

*Moscow Accused of Phosphorus Gas Attacks in Donbas*

A senior Ukrainian police officer has accused Russian forces of launching phosphorus bomb attacks in the eastern region of Luhansk.


International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus  shells in heavily populated civilian areas, but allows them in open spaces to be used as cover for troops.

Oleksi Biloshytsky, head of police in Popasna, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Luhansk city, said late Saturday that Russian forces had used the chemical weapon in his area. 


"It's what the Nazis called a 'flaming onion' and that's what the Russcists (amalgamation of 'Russians' and 'fascists') are dropping on our towns. Indescribable suffering and fires," he wrote on Facebook.

It was not immediately possible to verify the comments.


The Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine, collectively known as the Donbas, were partially controlled by Moscow-backed separatist rebels before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.


Overnight on Saturday, a train evacuating people from the Donbas to the western city of Lviv was shelled, according to Donetsk military commander Pavlo Kirilenko.


One person was killed and another wounded, he said.


Two Orthodox churches sheltering civilians in the Donbas were also hit, the regional authorities said — the renowned Sviatoguirsk church in the Donetsk region and a church in Severodonetsk, Luhansk.


There were no details of any casualties.


The areas targeted were not within the so-called separatist "republics" of Luhansk and Donetsk declared by the pro-Russian rebels before the start of the war. 

Moscow Accused of Phosphorus Gas Attacks in Donbas - The Moscow Times

----------


## Joe 90

Appears Putin is intent on wiping Ukraine and it's people off the map.

----------


## misskit

*Russia-Ukraine war military dispatch: March 12, 2022*

Ukraine’s capital Kyiv is braced for an all-out Russian assault as fighting intensified on the outskirts of the city.


Air raid sirens were sounded in almost all regions of Ukraine on Saturday. The cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Mariupol remain surrounded and are under heavy Russian bombardment.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow will treat Western arms shipments to Ukraine as legitimate military targets.

Kyiv braces for all-out assault
Civilian fighters and residents in the capital are preparing for a major attack as Russian forces surround the city with troops and artillery just kilometres away. Blasts could be heard in and around Kyiv.


Russian forces continue to spread around the capital and assume firing positions despite the resistance of Ukrainian forces.


Satellite images showed homes ablaze in the town of Moshchun, less than 9km (5.6 miles) north of Kyiv.


The Russian army has also hit the Zhytomyr region west of Kyiv, as part of Russian attempts to interrupt or cut completely the capital’s supply lines.


Russian attacks destroyed the airport in the town of Vasylkiv, south of Kyiv, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Mariupol under heavy bombardment
While the Ukrainian forces said they have almost destroyed a Russian battalion near Mariupol, the city remains under heavy Russian bombardment – including on civilian infrastructure.


According to Ukraine’s military intelligence, Russian forces have captured areas on the eastern outskirts of the besieged city.


Ukraine said Russian forces shelled a mosque in the city, where nearly 80 civilians were reportedly hiding, most of them Turkish citizens. Authorities said they have no information about their condition, with communications to the city interrupted.


The United Nations said the situation in Mariupol was desperate, with “reports of looting and violent confrontations among civilians over what little basic supplies remain in the city”.


Battles intensify in Donetsk
The eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha has been destroyed but the city remains under Ukrainian control and fighting is ongoing to prevent a Russian encirclement, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.


According to Kyrylenko, Russian forces have hit Avdiivka with Tochka-U short-range ballistic missiles since Saturday morning. The city is strategically significant since it is on the front line with the separatist areas in Donetsk.

Western arms supplies to Ukraine ‘legitimate targets’
Russia’s Ryabkov said Moscow could target Western arms shipments to Ukraine, raising fears of a potential clash between Russian forces and the NATO member-states that are currently reinforcing the Ukrainian army as Poland and the Baltic countries.


“We warned the United States that the orchestrated pumping of weapons from a number of countries is not just a dangerous move, it is a move that turns these convoys into legitimate targets,” Ryabkov told state television on Saturday.


Casualties
On Friday, officials in Mariupol said Russian attacks have killed at least 1,582 civilians in the city.


The UN’s human rights office has confirmed the deaths of 564 civilians, including 41 children, in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that about 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the war.


The US estimates put the number of Russian casualties at 2,000 to 4,000, while Russia’s only official death toll, announced last week, said 498 Russian soldiers had been killed.

Russia-Ukraine war military dispatch: March 12, 2022 | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera

----------


## misskit

*Russia Intensifies Attacks in Western Ukraine, Warning U.S. Arms Shipments Are Fair Game
*
Russia continues to move west, striking within 10 miles of the NATO border and warning that they won’t hesitate to hit the supply chain of incoming munitions.


As the death toll increased on both sides of the Russia’s War with Ukraineominous message from the Kremlin hinted that they are likely to begin targeting arms shipments into the country — if so, it would be a direct attack on NATO assets.


The threat came as President Joe Biden announced an additional $200 million in weapons and military hardware to support the $350 million approved in February. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that any weapons entering Ukraine were a “legitimate target” and the so-called “thoughtless transfer” of Western anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft systems. The increase has “represented an escalation element in Washington’s policy.”


It is not clear what response NATO will take if Russia makes good on its undisguised threat, but it may be only a matter of time until NATO is embroiled in a senseless war, which has now entered the world. to the third week. “We have warned the US that the US staging to overwhelm Ukraine with weapons from several countries is not only a dangerous move, but also an act that makes these convoys a target,” Ryabkov said. legal consumption”.


Fighting intensified around the capital Kyiv on Sunday, with targeted attacks in Irpin, where American filmmaker and journalist Brent Renaud was killed when Russian soldiers opened fire on a vehicle with foreign journalists. Fire survivors say they passed a checkpoint when they set fire to the fire. Renaud is said to have died on the spot and the survivors were taken by Ukrainian ambulance to hospital.


Deadly attacks during the night included sites in the western part of the country, some very close to the cultural gem of Lviv, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that prepared for Russian artillery by wrapping the ancient statues and removed stained glass windows from some of its beautiful churches.


The majority of Ukrainian citizens who have not yet left the country are completely emigrating living in the city about 43 kilometers from the Polish border, where the sirens did not go off for the first time during the night since Russia invaded the country. have sovereignty. About 30 missiles deployed from the Sea of ​​Azov and the Black Sea hit the Yavoriv military training ground near Lviv, killing 35 people and injuring 134, the regional governor said Sunday morning.


The indiscriminate attacks also knocked down an outpost of the Center for International Peace and Security near Lviv, which held several pre-war American service members. The strikes also severely damaged a 16th-century monastery in Lavra, eastern Ukraine, where more than 500 Ukrainian refugees were sheltering.


Meanwhile, the Russian military continues to advance relentlessly towards the capital Kyiv and is now only 15 miles from the city, according to CNN.


NATO leaders have also made it clear that if Russia uses chemical weapons against Ukrainian citizens, there will be swift sanctions.


Polish President Andrzej Duda told the BBC that Russian President Vladimir Putin was now in a difficult position and could retaliate in the worst way.


“If you ask me if Putin can use chemical weapons, I think Putin can use anything right now, especially when he is in this difficult situation,” he said. speak. When asked if chemical weapons are NATO’s red line, he said: “If he uses weapons of mass destruction, this will be a whole game changer. Sure, [NATO] will have to sit at the table and they will really have to think seriously about what to do, because then it starts to be dangerous, not only for Europe but for the whole world. ”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...ticles&via=rss

----------


## misskit

*Kherson residents say armed Russian men visited hotel, documented locals' details, amid large protests*

Armed Russian men visited a local hotel in Kherson twice, once on Saturday and then on Sunday morning, a local resident told CNN.


“They checked our passports and asked for guests’ phone numbers,” the resident said adding that the men put the details into “their notebook.”
This comes as protests in Kherson have grown into the largest the area has seen since the invasion began and come under Russian occupation, with protesters demonstrating against suspected Russian plans to turn the southern Ukrainian oblast into a breakaway republic.


Videos shared by locals with CNN and social media footage Sunday show a large gathering at the main square while people are heard chanting, “Fascists!” and “Kherson is Ukraine!” 


The resident noted the men were not soldiers but were dressed in green uniforms and were “polite.”


“They asked each one: who are you, what do you do, why are you here, how did you get here?” the resident said.


“They were polite with us, but not with our neighbors,” the resident said regarding another hotel guest. “They knocked down the doors and lay people face down on the floor.”


The resident, who asked to remain anonymous for safety concerns, is unsure why they wanted all the information.

Russia-Ukraine news and live updates

----------


## sabang

^^ Attacking hostile arms convoys & deliveries, within Ukrainian borders, is certainly not an illegal act in war and it's a bit rich to describe it as a provocation tbh. Natospeak.  _[Edit]_ Not like the West doesn't already know this anyway, but clockwork timing-


*Arms shipments are a legitimate military target, Kremlin warns west*



Russia has said it will treat arms shipments to Ukraine from Nato countries as “legitimate targets” for military action in a dangerous new escalation of tensions.

Full Article- Arms shipments are a legitimate military target, Kremlin warns west (msn.com)


Of course hostile arms shipments are legitimate targets, in a war zone. No amount of sanctimonious squealing changes that fact.

----------


## misskit

*Second Ukraine Mayor Abducted by Russian Troops*

A Ukraine mayor was abducted by invading Russian forces on Sunday, the second such kidnapping in days, bringing strong condemnation from the European Union.


"The army of the Russian Federation captured the mayor of the city of Dniprorudne," in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast region of southeast Ukraine, the regional administration head Oleksandr Starukh said on Facebook.

On Friday the mayor of southern Ukraine's Melitopol was kidnapped by Russian soldiers occupying the city, because "he refused to cooperate with the enemy," according to the Ukraine parliament.


“The EU strongly condemns the kidnapping of the mayors of Melitopol and Dniprorudne by Russian armed forces,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a post on Twitter.


"It is yet another attack on democratic institutions in Ukraine and an attempt to establish illegitimate alternative government structures in a sovereign country," he added.


European Council President Charles Michel also condemned "in the strongest terms Russia's indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Ukraine as well as Russia's kidnapping of the mayors of Melitopol and Dniprorudne and other Ukrainians. "These kidnappings and other pressure on Ukrainian local authorities constitute another flagrant violation of international law," he added.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Saturday on the leaders of France and Germany to help secure the release of the mayor of Melitopol.


"During the night and today we are talking to our partners about the situation with our mayor. Our demand is clear: he must be released immediately... I have already phoned [German] Chancellor Olaf Scholz. I have spoken to [French] President Emmanuel Macron... I will speak to all the necessary people to get our people released," Zelensky said in a video released by the Ukrainian presidency.

Second Ukraine Mayor Abducted by Russian Troops - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*US officials say Russia has asked China for military help in Ukraine*

Russia has asked China for military ​equipment to ​support its invasion of Ukraine, ​according to US officials, sparking concern in ​the White House that Beijing ​may undermine western efforts to help Ukrainian forces defend their country.


US officials told the Financial Times that Russia had requested military equipment and other assistance since the start of the invasion. They declined to give details of what Russia had requested.


Another person familiar with the situation said the US was preparing to warn its allies, amid some indications that China may be preparing to help Russia. Other US officials have said there were signs that Russia was running out of some kinds of weaponry as the war in Ukraine extends into its third week.


The White House did not comment.


Liu Pengyu, the Chinese embassy spokesperson in Washington, said he was unaware of any suggestions that China might be willing to help Russia.


“China is deeply concerned and grieved on the Ukraine situation,” Liu said. “We sincerely hope that the situation will ease and peace will return at an early date.”


The revelation comes as Jake Sullivan, US national security adviser, heads to Rome for talks on Monday with Yang Jiechi, China’s top foreign policy official.


Before leaving Washington on Sunday, Sullivan warned China not to try to “bail out” Russia by helping Moscow to circumvent the sanctions that the US and its allies have imposed on President Vladimir Putin and his regime.

“We will ensure that neither China, nor anyone else, can compensate Russia for these losses,” Sullivan told NBC television on Sunday. “In terms of the specific means of doing that, again, I’m not going to lay all of that out in public, but we will communicate that privately to China, as we have already done and will continue to do.”

The apparent request for equipment and other kinds of unspecified military assistance was made as the Russian military struggles to make as much progress in Ukraine as western intelligence believe they expected.


It also raises fresh questions over the China-Russia relationship, which has grown stronger as both countries express their opposition to the US over everything from Nato to sanctions.


China has portrayed itself as a neutral actor in the Ukraine crisis and has refused to condemn Russia for invading the country. The US has also seen no sign that President Xi Jinping is willing to put any pressure on Putin.


The two leaders signed a joint statement in Beijing last month describing the Beijing-Moscow partnership as having “no limits”, in another sign that the two capitals were drawing even closer together.


Chris Johnson, a former top CIA China analyst, said the Russian request underscored that Russia-China ties were the closest they had been since before the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s. 


“But it also highlights China’s position as the clear senior partner in the relationship now,” said Johnson, who heads the political risk firm China Strategies Group.


“Moreover, if they even are considering providing assistance, that speaks volumes about the personalised nature of the relationship amidst Chinese fears that Putin could fall, unleashing chaos on their northern border unseen since the collapse of the Soviet Union.”


Subscribe to read | Financial Times

----------


## bsnub

_Washington_ — An American journalist was killed and another  was wounded by Russian forces in the town of Irpin outside the capital  of Kyiv as they were traveling to film refugees, Ukrainian police said  Sunday. 

        Brent Renaud, a 50-year-old filmmaker, was killed when Russian troops  opened fire, according to Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv's regional  police force. Nebytov posted  a graphic photo purportedly of Renaud's body on Facebook, as well as  pictures of his American passport and media credentials issued by The  New York Times.

A spokeswoman for the Times said Renaud was "a  talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the  years," most recently in 2015, but he "was not on assignment for any  desk at The Times in Ukraine." TIME issued a statement  later Sunday confirming that Renaud had been "in the region working on a  TIME Studios project focused on the global refugee crisis." 

Documentary filmmaker Juan Arredondo was injured in the attack, according to local reports and a video posted  by a spokeswoman for a public hospital in Kyiv. Arredondo, who was  lying on a hospital gurney, said he and Renaud were on their way to film  people leaving Kyiv when they crossed a checkpoint and came under fire.

"Somebody  offered to take us to the other bridge, and we crossed a checkpoint,  and they started shooting at us. So the driver turned around, and they  kept shooting, two of us. My friend is Brent Renaud, and he's been shot  and left behind," said Arredondo, who is also American. "I saw him being  shot in the neck, and we got split, and I got pulled."

"He's been  shot and left behind": U.S. journalist Juan Arredondo describes the  moment he and Brent Renaud came under attack by Russian forces at a  checkpoint in Irpin, Ukraine, on Sunday. Renaud was shot and killed. https://cbsn.ws/3i5hB8k pic.twitter.com/NvtYZ1lgM4
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 13, 2022 
The State Department confirmed Renaud's death in a statement  later Sunday, saying it is "offering all possible consular assistance"  to his family. 

"We offer our sincerest condolences to his family on their loss," a spokesperson said.

        Nebytov, the Kyiv police chief, wrote that Renaud "paid [with] his  life for trying to highlight the aggressor's ingenuity, cruelty and  ruthlessness," according to an automated translation of his Facebook  post.

Renaud and his brother Craig Renaud have reported from a  number of global hotspots over the past two decades, including Iraq,  Afghanistan and Egypt, according to a biography on their website. The pair won a Peabody Award in 2015 for an eight-part documentary for Vice News about a school in Chicago for students with severe emotional issues.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan called reports of Renaud's death "shocking and horrifying," telling "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the U.S. and its allies would impose "appropriate consequences" against Russia for the killing.

"I  will just say that this is part and parcel of what has been a brazen  aggression on the part of the Russians where they have targeted  civilians, they have targeted hospitals, they have targeted places of  worship and they have targeted journalists," Sullivan said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brent-r...nalist-killed/

----------


## bsnub

René has nothing to do with  the invasion of Ukraine. The 34-year-old lives more than 1,000 km away  in Nuremberg, Germany. He has no family there, and he’s never been to  the country. But when Russia invaded, he wanted to help. So on the  dating app Tinder, he changed his location to Moscow and started talking  to women there about the war.

“I had a  conversation with a girl who said [the invasion] is only a military  operation and the Ukrainians are killing their own people and stuff like  that, so I got into an argument with her,” says René, who asks not to  share his surname because he doesn’t want his clients to know about his  activism. “I also had some reactions like, ‘Thank you for telling us.’”

Since  the Kremlin invaded Ukraine, Russians have existed behind a wall of  propaganda that protects them from the details of what is happening on  the ground. Russia's state media calls the invasion a “special military  operation,” never a war. Troops are pictured handing out aid, not  blowing up buildings. According to official pollsters, the Kremlin’s  narrative is sticking. Support for sending troops into Ukraine is high,  lingering at around 70 percent. Although it’s unclear how reliable those numbers are, the _New York Times_ reported anecdotal evidence  that even Russians with Ukrainian relatives believe only military  infrastructure is being targeted in “precision” strikes and that images  showing violence against civilians are fake.

But  an idea is gaining traction online: If Russians learn the truth about  Ukraine, they might rise up and oust the war’s architect, President  Vladimir Putin. In the past week, people have been testing that theory  by sending messages to ordinary Russians through reviews on Tinder and  Google Maps, and under state-sponsored posts on Facebook before the platform was blocked in Russia last week.

Reaching  out to Russians siloed online was a tactic initiated by Ukrainian  president Volodymyr Zelensky the night of February 23, when he posted  a selfie video in Russian. “You are told this flame [war] will bring  freedom to the Ukrainian people, but the people of Ukraine are already  free,” he said. Then, early in the invasion, a volunteer army of hackers  was drafted to Ukraine’s defense. But now even ordinary internet users  are finding a role in war, using the social media platforms the Kremlin  has not yet blocked. “Hello Russian people,” wrote one woman under a  Facebook post by Russian news agency TASS last week. “Since the Kremlin  influences all information, we from Germany want to inform you that a  terrible war is going on in Ukraine provoked by Putin.”

“Reaching  Russians within Russia is really, really hard for anyone because the  Russian state maintains such tight control over their media  environment,” says Laura Edelson, a computer scientist studying  misinformation at New York University. She says the Russian state has  been very effective at creating a shared set of beliefs: that the  Ukrainian government is full of Nazis who are committing war atrocities.  “What you want to do is chip away at that false narrative,” she says.

That  is what René says he is trying to do on Tinder, one of the few social  media platforms the West still shares with Russia. To kick off his  Tinder campaign, he asked a Russian friend to translate some text urging  people still living in the country to “speak out” against the war so he  could use it as his profile picture on the app. After he shared the  text he was using on Twitter, he noticed other people were also adopting the idea.

One  of them was Jens Osterloh, a 54-year-old working in IT and living in  Luxembourg. On March 3, he started changing his Tinder location to  eastern cities in Russia, like Vladivostok. He exchanged messages with  around 10 women, asking them what they knew about Ukraine. Around six  wrote back saying that they knew what was going on but couldn’t do  anything about it, he says. Another four argued that Americans had also  been involved in wars, like those in Iraq and Afghanistan. At this  point, Osterloh claims he would respond: “Do you really think because  Americans did something wrong in the past it justifies that now Russians  are killing Ukrainians?” The conversation would usually stop there, he  says.

Tech  sites are uneasy about allowing their services to be used as vehicles  to counter Russian propaganda. Osterloh received a permanent ban from  Tinder on Monday, just four days after he started messaging Russian  women. He wrote to Tinder’s customer support, saying he was just trying  to get some information into Russia and that this is an exceptional  situation. Those pleas went unanswered. Tinder did not reply to WIRED’s  request to comment.

The dating app would not be the first platform to ban attempts to counter Russian propaganda.

“Find  a random shop/ cafe/ restaurant in Russia in [a] big city on google  maps and write in the review what’s really happening in Ukraine,” a  Twitter user with the handle @Konrad03249040 said on February 28, adding later  “I'm not a hacker but i'm doing what i can do.” That post started a  trend, especially after it was shared by the hacker collective  Anonymous. “Your government is lying to you about the conflict in  Ukraine,” wrote a user  called “stop war” in the comments for a Moscow restaurant called Grand  Cafe Dr Jhivago. “It's not a rescue operation, there are no nazis  there!”

Google Maps responded by temporarily  blocking new reviews for sites in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. The  reviews system on Maps was not designed to help people communicate about  the war in Ukraine, Google told WIRED, adding that it was not possible  to ensure high-quality information in this scenario.

These  efforts are random and small-scale, the digital equivalent of  air-dropping leaflets and hoping the information will make an impact.  But people affiliated with the Ukrainian government are trying to chip  away at pro-Kremlin propaganda by reaching out to Russians en masse and  leveraging two of the country’s most popular platforms, Telegram and  YouTube.

On February 27, a website launched called  200rf Look For Yours, which claims to help Russians find out whether  their loved ones have been captured or killed in the fighting. The name  refers to the Soviet military code word, Cargo-200, used for flying  corpses back from Afghanistan in the 1980s. It posts a stream of images  showing Russian soldiers dead or in captivity, and then the footage is  distributed between YouTube, where the videos of captured Russian  soldiers are posted, and a Telegram channel, where the more gruesome  pictures end up. The Telegram channel has more than 60,000 subscribers.

The  Telegram channel is gory: It shows piles of bodies, men with broken  jaws lying dead in the mud. 200rf claims it posts these images because  they might contain a detail that could be key to identifying a body back  home. “I know that many Russians are worried about how and where their  children, sons, husbands are and what is happening to them. So we  decided to put this online so that each of you could search for your  loved one who Putin sent to fight in Ukraine,” Viktor Andrusiv, an  adviser to the Interior Minister, said  in a video posted on the 200rf Look For Yours site. It’s unclear  whether Andrusiv launched the site independently or on behalf of the  Interior Ministry. Neither replied to a request for comment.

“I  think it's a really effective strategy in that it’s not only an appeal  to the Russian public, there's also an appeal to the Russian military,  so it's two for one,” says Edelson. “It’s demoralizing to your  opponent's fighting force to see that, and it is also incredibly  demoralizing to their parents and to their friends and family back  home.”

But  these tactics only work while Russians share parts of the internet with  the rest of the world. Tinder, Google Maps, Telegram, and YouTube act  as bridges that Russians can use to interact with people who don’t see  the same propaganda they do. But the fate of these remaining platforms  is uncertain. Since the crisis in Ukraine began, Facebook has been blocked, Twitter has been partially suspended, and TikTok said  it would pause livestreaming and video uploads from Russia. With every  new announcement, the propaganda wall around Russians grows stronger and  becomes less vulnerable to the voices trying to break through.

https://www.wired.com/story/russia-propaganda-wall/

----------


## sabang

*Europe new 'hotspot' for arms imports: report*



Europe saw the world's biggest rise in arms imports in the past five years, a trend set to accelerate following recent rearmament commitments amid the threat posed by Russia, researchers said Monday.

While arms exports declined globally by 4.6 percent in 2017-2021 compared to the preceding five years, Europe posted a 19-percent increase, according to a study published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

"Europe is the new hotspot", Siemon Wezeman, co-author of the annual report for over three decades, told AFP.

"We are going to increase our military spending not just by a little bit but by a lot. We need new weapons and a lot of that will come from imports", the senior researcher said, adding that the majority was likely to come from other European countries and the US.

Germany in particular has already announced plans to up its military spending, as have Denmark and Sweden.

European countries spooked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine are expected to beef up their militaries with fighter jets, such as the American F-35, missiles, artillery and other heavy weapons.

"Most of these things take a bit of time. You have to go through the process, you have to decide, you have to order, you have to produce. This generally takes a couple of years at least", Wezeman said.

Full Article-  Europe new 'hotspot' for arms imports: report (msn.com)

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Europe new 'hotspot' for arms imports: report*


A report that says they're doing it because of Vlad's habit of invading countries.

You plank.

 :bananaman:

----------


## misskit

*Pentagon says 'armed attack on one, attack on all' if Russian forces strike in Poland*

The Pentagon reiterated its commitment to NATO, despite Russia's continued destabilisation of eastern Europe.


While US forces will not be fighting in Ukraine, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated that the US will remain committed to its NATO allies.


On ABC News on Sunday, Kirby said, "An armed attack against one is considered an armed attack against all."


"We've made it very clear to Russia that NATO territory will be guarded by our friends, not only the US."


The remarks come after Russian soldiers stormed a military post in western Ukraine near the Polish border on Sunday, killing at least 35 people and destroying the International Peacekeeping and Security Center (IPSC) in Yavoriv.

Yavoriv is around 15 miles from the border with Poland, which has been a NATO member since 1999. 


Last Tuesday, the United States delivered two Patriot missile defence batteries to Poland.


On the same day, the US Department of Defense turned down a Polish offer to send fighter jets to a US airbase in Germany, where they could be transported to Ukraine to battle Russian soldiers.

On Tuesday, Kirby tweeted that it was up to Polish officials to decide whether or not to send their own planes to Ukraine.

In late February, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki issued a similar warning, saying: "Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland, as well as Poland, could be next in line tomorrow...Putin's war on Ukraine is also a battle for the soul of West." 

Pentagon says 'armed attack on one, attack on all' if Russian forces strike in Poland, World News | wionews.com

----------


## misskit

*Vereschuk: Russian POWs will be exchanged, others to be punished*

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereschuk has said that Russian prisoners of war will be exchanged or they will be punished in Ukraine.


"We are not barbarians and not a horde, like the Russian army. We will work as defined by international humanitarian law. And we will definitely form an exchange fund. Russian prisoners of war will be exchanged, or they will be punished in Ukraine," the press service of the ministry quoted Vereschuk as saying.


She said that the necessary regulatory and legal framework has already been streamlined in the field of treatment of prisoners of war in Ukraine, a procedure has been developed, a Coordination Headquarters has been created and executive secretaries have been identified.


At the same time, the deputy prime minister said that the Russian authorities do not care too much about the fate of their dead and wounded soldiers.


"Consequently, in such a situation it is difficult to predict how much the Russian side will be interested in those of its soldiers and officers who find themselves behind bars with us. As well as the format in which there can be an exchange of prisoners. And in general – what will be the attitude of Russia to this problem, which already has a serious scale," she said.


Vereschuk said that a prisoner-of-war exchange system is currently operating, in which the International Committee of the Red Cross is involved.


"Special cards are filled out for each of the prisoners, they are sent to the Red Cross. I have already seen the lists, and I am amazed by the years of birth of children whom the Russian Federation sent to war: 2002, 2003. I am shocked. After all, they used to say that this is a professional army of Russia, but actually children are fighting," she added.


As reported, Vereschuk headed the Coordinating Headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war.

Vereschuk: Russian POWs will be exchanged, others to be punished

----------


## bsnub

That will not be a red line. If Russia crosses that line, it will be smashed like a bug.

----------


## misskit

*US to warn China of dangers of Russian support at high-stakes Rome meeting*

Hong Kong (CNN)American and Chinese officials will meet in Rome on Monday for talks that experts say could have far-reaching consequences not only for the ongoing war in Ukraine, but for China's role in the world and its relationship with the West.


The meeting, between China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, comes as concerns grow in the West that Beijing is not only siding with Russia by not condemning its aggression in Ukraine, but could take further steps to aid its strategic partner.


A senior US official told CNN Sunday that Moscow has asked Beijing for military assistance in Ukraine, including drones. Such aid, while providing a significant boost to Russia, would pose an enormous risk for China, which has so far sought to portray itself as a neutral actor in the conflict. China has denied it was asked by Russia for military equipment or other assistance to support its war in Ukraine.


Pointing to reports that Russia asked China for military help, Richard N. Haas, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said such a choice would be a "defining moment" for China and the 21st century.


"To do so (provide support) means China would open itself to substantial sanctions and make itself a pariah; to refuse would keep open the possibility of at least selective cooperation with US and West," said Haas, writing on Twitter.

Russia has also asked China for economic support, according a US official familiar with the matter. That request and the one for military support came after Russia's invasion of Ukraine had occurred, said the official, who declined to detail the Chinese reaction, but indicated Beijing had responded.


Sullivan told Dana Bash on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that the US was "watching closely" to see whether China provides any support to Russia.

"It is a concern of ours. And we have communicated to Beijing that we will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions," Sullivan said.


The potential economic risk associated with support for Russia is unlikely to be lost on Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who is widely expected to secure a historic third term in power during the Communist Party's 20th National Congress in Beijing this fall.


During such an important year, the Chinese government will be wary of becoming entangled in Western sanctions, which could be a blow to its economy -- during a time when Beijing has already set the lowest official target for economic growth in three decades.


A group of prominent China specialists in the US on Friday called for Washington keep the door open for diplomacy with China and "impress on Beijing that its long-term interests will not be best served by tying itself to a pariah" such as Russia that is reviled by most of the Western world.


"By using diplomatic outreach to Beijing ... the US will be able to lay the groundwork for more effective pressure against China if Xi more openly supports [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's brutal aggression," wrote the group, convened by Asia Society's Center on US-China Relations and UC San Diego's 21st Century China Center.


When asked whether Russia had asked China for military assistance, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Monday called the claims "disinformation" peddled by the US against China "with sinister intentions."


"China's position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and clear, and we have been playing a constructive role in promoting peace talks. It is imperative for all parties to exercise restraint and cool down the tension, rather than adding fuel to the fire; it's important to push for a diplomatic solution, rather than further escalating the situation," Zhao said at a regular press briefing.


A key meeting


Monday's meeting between Yang and Sullivan is seen by both sides as furthering a move toward better communication laid out by Xi and US President Joe Biden in their summit late last year.


The two sides will discuss "ongoing efforts to manage the competition between our two countries," as well as "the impact of Russia's war against Ukraine on regional and global security," US National Security Council Spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement on Sunday.


Zhao, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, did not mention Russia or Ukraine in a statement about the meeting posted online on Sunday, but noted that the two sides would "exchange views on China-US relations and international and regional issues of common concern."


The "key issue" of the meeting would be to implement the "important consensus" reached by Xi and Biden in their virtual summit, according to Zhao, adding that the two sides have been coordinating the meeting since late last year.


Sullivan and Yang, who is director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, last met in Zurich in October for a meeting preceding the Xi-Biden video summit.


That summit was widely viewed as a bid to reset the tone of relations between the two global powers, and became an opportunity for both sides to express their interest in bolstering communication to better manage a relationship that has been riddled with tensions over trade, technology, and China's human rights record.


But some four months later, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has become a pivotal international issue, bolstering the coordination and solidarity between the US and its allies and also throwing into the spotlight the divergent approach from China.


China sought to portray itself a neutral party, often stressing that "all countries' legitimate security concerns" should be addressed," but its decision not to go along with a raft of sanctions leveraged by the US and its allies against Russia, and its amplification of Russia misinformation, risk placing it at further odds with the West.

US to warn China of dangers of Russian support at high-stakes Rome meeting - CNN

----------


## malmomike77

Very sad

Ukraine war: Pregnant woman and baby die after hospital shelled



A pregnant woman wounded in the Russian bombing of a Ukrainian maternity hospital has died along with her baby, reports say.


Images showed her on a stretcher following the air strike in Mariupol last Wednesday, in which at least three other people were killed.


After the place where she was meant to give birth was attacked, she was taken to another hospital.


Her baby was born by Caesarean section, but showed no signs of life.


The surgeon, Timur Marin, told the Associated Press news agency that the woman's pelvis had been crushed and her hip detached.


Medics said that as they were trying to save her life, she realised she was losing her baby and shouted, "Kill me now!"


When it became clear to them that the child was stillborn, they tried to resuscitate the mother, but realised after 30 minutes that it was hopeless.


Doctors said they did not have time to take the woman's name before her husband and father came to retrieve her body.


That meant she did not end up in one of the mass graves being dug for victims of the Russian shelling of the city, they added.


After the bombing of the hospital, Twitter removed two posts by the Russian embassy in London which claimed the attack had been faked.


The embassy's tweets made unfounded claims that the hospital was not operational at the time and that injured women pictured at the scene were actors.


The embassy also cast aspersions on another pregnant woman, photographed escaping from the wreckage of the hospital, who gave birth the day after the bombing.


The image of Mariana Vishegirskaya, her face bloodied, descending rubble-strewn steps was widely shared amid outrage at the attack.


In response to assertions that she was not actually pregnant, the BBC's disinformation team found evidence that contradicted the allegations.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60734706

----------


## misskit

*As fighting intensifies in Ukraine, China pushes back on reports Russia asked it for help*

Beijing has pushed back on reports that Russia had asked China for military equipment and other support following the start of its invasion of Ukraine, saying on Monday that “the U.S. has been spreading disinformation and this is very dangerous.”


“We need to advance a diplomatic solution of the situation instead of further escalating the situation,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press briefing.


As fighting intensified across Ukraine, three American officials said on Sunday that the U.S. government had reason to believe that Russia had asked China for the help.


News of the requests came amid the intensifying Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities and residential areas, and was expected to be a key topic of discussion between President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and China’s senior diplomat, Yang Jiechi, during a meeting scheduled for later on Monday in Rome.


On Sunday, a particularly deadly Russian airstrike on a military base in western Ukraine killed at least 35 people.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Moscow had requested military aid from other countries.


The officials with knowledge of Russia’s request to China declined to elaborate on whether Beijing agreed to supply military aid, or whether the United States even knows the answer to that question. They declined say what kind of equipment was requested, and whether it was lethal.


MORE China pushes back on reports Russia asked it for help in Ukraine

----------


## misskit

*Britain warns Putin of ‘war with Nato’ if Russia steps a ‘single toecap’ on its territory*


The warning comes after Russian forces fired rockets at a military base near the border with Poland


Britain bluntly warned Vladimir Putin on Monday that he would face “war with Nato” if even a “single toecap of a Russian soldier” stepped into the territory of the military alliance’s 30 members.


Cabinet minister Sajid Javid also accused the Russian president of committing war crimes, with Russian troops reported to have attacked 31 health centres in Ukraine including a cancer hospital, as well as a maternity hospital.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that it “it is only a matter of time” before Russian missiles fall on Nato territory after Kremlin forces fired 30 rockets at the Yavoriv military base, less than 15 miles from the border with Poland.

MORE Britain warns Putin of ‘war with Nato’ if Russia steps a ‘single toecap’ on its territory | Evening Standard

----------


## Troy

^ Fighting talk but I think that's about it unless all of Europe is itching for a war and starts mobilising its forces.

----------


## russellsimpson

> At the same time, the deputy prime minister said that the Russian authorities do not care too much about the fate of their dead and wounded soldiers.


Paleeze Ms. Deputy Prime Minister, give us a fucking break.

----------


## sabang

> *US to warn China*


Sounds no different to something out of the British Empire playbook. Perhaps the 5000 year old culture should warn those parvenu, mongrelised colonials to curtail their irresponsible spending, or daddy will stop lending them any more money. Cheeky little monkeys.

----------


## S Landreth

‘They’re lying to you’: Russian TV employee interrupts news broadcast

An employee on Russia’s state Channel One television has interrupted the channel’s main news programme with an extraordinary anti-war protest.

The protester, who was identified by Russian media as Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova burst on to the set of the live broadcast of the nightly news on Monday evening, shouting: “Stop the war. No to war.”

She also held a sign saying: “Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.”

The news anchor continued to read from her teleprompter, but Ovsyannikova’s protest could be seen and heard for several seconds before the channel switched to a different report.

Ovsyannikova recorded a separate message beforehand in which she said she was ashamed to be a Channel One employee.

“What is happening in Ukraine is a crime and Russia is the aggressor,” said Ovsyannikova, adding that her father was Ukrainian.

The protest took place on day 19 of the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February in what it called a “special military operation”.

Channel One said it was undertaking an internal review into the incident, the Tass news agency reported.

“Wow, that girl is cool,” tweeted Kira Yarmysh, the spokesperson for the jailed opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.

She posted a video of the incident, which quickly racked up nearly 5,000,000 views.

State TV is the main source of news for many millions of Russians, and closely follows the Kremlin line.




https://mobile.twitter.com/Kira_Yarm...63846702424073 - https://mobile.twitter.com/Kira_Yarm...44260938526720


*Extra,.........

*Wednesday, Russia is due to repay $117 million for two bonds.

 ::doglol::

----------


## panama hat

> Germany in particular has already announced plans to up its military spending, as have Denmark and Sweden.
> 
> European countries spooked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine are expected to beef up their militaries with fighter jets, such as the American F-35, missiles, artillery and other heavy weapons.


No shit, sabang . . . it's because of your hero that these countries have to take budget away from other issues like education . . .

----------


## harrybarracuda

> ^ Fighting talk but I think that's about it unless all of Europe is itching for a war and starts mobilising its forces.


What do you mean "itching for a war"?

The only way there will be a war is if Puffy Putin chooses to try and invade a NATO country.

Self defence is its raison d'etre.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> ‘They’re lying to you’: Russian TV employee interrupts news broadcast
> 
> An employee on Russia’s state Channel One television has interrupted the channel’s main news programme with an extraordinary anti-war protest.
> 
> The protester, who was identified by Russian media as Channel One employee Marina Ovsyannikova burst on to the set of the live broadcast of the nightly news on Monday evening, shouting: “Stop the war. No to war.”
> 
> She also held a sign saying: “Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.”
> 
> The news anchor continued to read from her teleprompter, but Ovsyannikova’s protest could be seen and heard for several seconds before the channel switched to a different report.
> ...


Puffy is in a bit of a spot here. Say nothing and she wins. Punish her and she becomes a martyr for the cause, gets even more publicity, and she wins.

----------


## Switch

> Puffy is in a bit of a spot here. Say nothing and she wins. Punish her and she becomes a martyr for the cause, gets even more publicity, and she wins.


She will probably be sent to ‘the Russian front’ as a conscript, with a big letter Z on her helmet.

----------


## David48atTD

> *US officials say Russia has asked China for military help in Ukraine*
> 
> Russia has asked China for military ​equipment to ​support its invasion of Ukraine, ​according to US officials, sparking concern in ​the White House that Beijing ​may undermine western efforts to help Ukrainian forces defend their country.




Russia says it does not need China's military support.(AP: Serhii Nuzhnenko)

----------


## David48atTD

*Former Russian deputy prime minister decries war in Ukraine*

Russia's  former deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich has decried the invasion  of Ukraine, calling it one of the worst things a person could face. 
Mr Dvorkovich, the current chief of the Internation Chess Federation (FIDE), says wars go beyond killing people. 
International  Chess Federation (FIDE) chief Arkady Dvorkovich, a former Russian  deputy prime minister, decried wars on Monday, saying they go beyond  killing people.

"Wars are the worst things one might face in life  including this war," he said.
"My thoughts are with Ukrainian civilians."

Mr  Dvorkovich, who served as a deputy prime minister in 2012-2018  following a stint as the top Kremlin economic adviser to then-President  Dmitry Medvedev, said he remained in Russia.

"Wars do not just kill priceless lives," Mr Dvorkovich said.
"Wars kill hopes and aspirations, freeze or destroy relationships and connections."

 Reuters/ABC

----------


## Iceman123

> Mr Dvorkovich, the current chief of the Internation Chess Federation (FIDE),


Oh FFS 

He is just a mere pawn.

----------


## David48atTD

> Oh FFS 
> 
> He is just a mere pawn.



I think that Russia's  former deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich has decried the invasion  of Ukraine adds to the chorus of Russians voices against the War, against Putin.

----------


## Iceman123

Well David, Magnus Carlsen being the number one player in the world means that we in the West could beat them at chess. That's reassuring.

The whole of the West is on Ukraine's side, however, Ukraine may feel a bit better if we were by their side.

----------


## sabang

We sold then downstream, but wish to reassure them they are Brave Heroes.

----------


## pickel

> We sold then downstream, but wish to reassure them they are Brave Heroes.



Shooting and bombing them is worse though, right? Can you at least admit that?

----------


## sabang

Sure, I admit that. So why aren't we working harder towards Peace? As opposed to weaponizing Ukraine, geeing them on, and trying to prolong the conflict and make it more bloody? All from the sidelines, a safe distance away. Ukrainians are human too you know- as are, gasp, Russian soldiers.

----------


## David48atTD

> Sure, I admit that. So why aren't we working harder towards Peace? As opposed to weaponizing Ukraine, geeing them on, and trying to prolong the conflict and make it more bloody? All from the sidelines, a safe distance away. Ukrainians are human too you know- as are, gasp, Russian soldiers.



Agreed ... Russian lives matter also.

So, let's go with this.
Immediate Russian cease fire.Putin steps down.Ukraine promises not to join NATO nor the EU ... stays neutral.No nuclear weapons acquisitions for Ukraine.About US$300 Billion in war reparation from Russia to Ukraine, PLUS the Human costs.Russia can have the Dombass region.Ukraine agree to retake 1/2 the Crimea (western bit) on the condition that they release water to the region and that they are granted the natural resources rights.the West restart purchases of Russian commodities ... to help re-pay the war reparation from Russia including ...Europe taking Russian gas, with the view to replacing it with renewables. 

That will do for a start  :Smile:

----------


## misskit

*Russian Spies in Spotlight Over Ukraine Shortcomings*

The stuttering progress of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has thrown an unwanted spotlight on the Russian intelligence services, who observers say failed to prepare the Kremlin for the realities of the assault.


Several reports have suggested that a shadowy section of Russia's powerful Federal Security Agency (FSB) has come under particular scrutiny with its leader interrogated and reportedly even under house arrest.

This has led several commentators to question if all is well at the ominous headquarters of the FSB on Lubyanka Square in Moscow, once the home of the KGB in the U.S.S.R.


Observers believe Russia had expected to make far more rapid progress in the invasion after it was launched on Feb. 24, with forces that were welcomed rather than face fierce resistance from Ukrainians.


"People did not make clear to [President Vladimir] Putin the reality of the situation," said a French intelligence source, who asked not to be named.


"The system is hardening up, bunkering down so that Putin does not receive too much bad news," added the source.


Claims of arrests 


In a report first carried by Latvia-based Russian news site Meduza, Russian intelligence experts Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan wrote that the first consequences of the espionage failings were now being felt.


The head of the so called 5th Service of the FSB, Sergei Beseda, and his deputy, Anatoly Bolukh, had both been placed under house arrest in an investigation, the report said.


The 5th Service is a hugely powerful branch of the FSB which oversees its operations outside Russia, notably in ex-Soviet states such as Ukraine.


It is distinct from Russia's specialist Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), headed by the longstanding Kremlin insider Sergei Naryshkin.


The head of Russia's national guard Viktor Zolotov was quoted by Russian news agencies this weekend as saying that the invasion was "not going as fast as we would like" but claimed this was in a bid to avoid civilian casualties.

France-based Russian dissident Vladimir Osechkin, who runs the gulagu-net.ru site which has exposed abuses in Russian jails, also reported the house arrests which he said were officially part of an investigation on the embezzlement of funds earmarked for Ukraine.


"But the real reason was the inadequate intelligence and incomplete and false information on the political situation in Ukraine," he said.


Osechkin's site has meanwhile also been publishing a series of letters from a purported whistleblower called "Wind of Change" claiming a climate of fear at the FSB due to its failure to warn of the resistance to the Russian invasion.


"Putin is likely carrying out an internal purge of general officers and intelligence personnel," the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.


"He may be doing so either to save face after failing to consider their assessments in his own pre-invasion decision-making or in retaliation for faulty intelligence he may believe they provided him."


'Poor analysis' 


FSB Dosye, an investigative site that specializes in the work of the FSB, said Monday that the reports of a full scale purge were exaggerated. Beseda had indeed been interrogated by investigators but was still in his job and not under arrest.

Bolukh had also been interrogated but had for some years no longer been the number two of the 5th Service, it said.


Beseda, according to FSB Dosye and other reports, was present in Ukraine in 2104 in a bid to assist then president Viktor Yanukovych face down a pro-Western uprising. The leader eventually fled to Russia.


The senior FSB operative was targeted by EU sanctions in July 2014 after the annexation of Crimea and outbreak of fighting in the east of Ukraine with pro-Moscow separatists.


The sanctions order says Sergei Orestovich Beseda, born in 1954, "heads a service which oversees intelligence operations and international activity."


Questions also lurk over the the role of the SVR after its chief Naryshkin was subjected to a bizarre humiliation by Putin on television on the eve of the invasion.


Western sources say it appears incontestable that the strength of Ukrainian resistance and the unwillingness of local populations to welcome Russia took Moscow by surprise.


"Before such an operation, you should start by looking at the state of the population, in what situation you are going to operate," said a high-ranking French official, asking not to be named.


"There was a very poor analysis of the state of the morale of the Ukrainian and Ukraine as a whole," added the source.

Russian Spies in Spotlight Over Ukraine Shortcomings - The Moscow Times

----------


## bsnub

> Sure, I admit that. So why aren't we working harder towards Peace?


Because your god Pootin is still being unrealistic about terms for a ceasefire. The stupid bitch is going to have to compromise since he is getting his shit packed in.




> "There was a very poor analysis of the state of  the morale of the Ukrainian and Ukraine as a whole," added the source.


That is the understatement of the year.  :Smile:

----------


## david44

> Agreed ... Russian lives matter also.
> 
> So, let's go with this.
> Immediate Russian cease fire.Putin steps down.Ukraine promises not to join NATO nor the EU ... stays neutral.No nuclear weapons acquisitions for Ukraine.About US$300 Billion in war reparation from Russia to Ukraine, PLUS the Human costs.Russia can have the Dombass region.Ukraine agree to retake 1/2 the Crimea (western bit) on the condition that they release water to the region and that they are granted the natural resources rights.the West restart purchases of Russian commodities ... to help re-pay the war reparation from Russia including ...Europe taking Russian gas, with the view to replacing it with renewables.
> 
> That will do for a start


Dave I know you mean well and have local knowledge and no one could  not agree with overall desire for peace and reconcilition...but


Immediate Russian cease fire.Putin steps down.Ukraine promises not to join NATO nor the EU ... stays neutral.
These 3 should and could but seem unlikely, in fact if ethnically cleansed there may be no Ukranians left as the Australians did to the Tasmanians and devastation of nearly all indigenous custodians of the land,, The Russians to many minorities, ask teh Circassians, the tragic Armenian massacres, like Sinjar,  people of Sanjak, the Picts history is fool of bloody interlopers destroying , hence Canada, the USA or the Commonwealth of Australia based on mass murder.


Russia can have the Dombass region.
Firstly it Don bas from the basin of the Don river

The micro self declared states hardly occupied all of Donbas and many within that area were not pro Russian.

We have seen evidence that many mixed families and even Rssian speakers in both Ukraine , Russia and Donbas are appalled by Putin's brutal behaviour.

As for a partition of Crimea , such things rarely go well if we just look at Korea Ireland Vietnam, Germany etc

"Europe taking Russian gas, with the view to replacing it with renewables.
"
Europe is taking Russian gas , Germany and Italy are funding this massacre, if it was you or I funding Al Qaeda , ISIS etc we would be rightly in jeopardy , banks frozen, jail or death depending on who is sanctioning UK US or Mossad
I fear your albeit well meaning goals are unrealistic against an armed nuclear bully, Ukraine of course doesn't need to buy or develop a nuclear threat , it can simply remove the containment at Chernobyl West Wind to attack Russians, East to flatten the EU gas guzzlers who are sending millions an hour for Putin to be able to afford this follow. The realpolitik is Europeans  would sooner drive to work from a nice warm apartment than lose their comforts , secure incomes, than defend women and children in Ukraine. I imagine they will have to reposition if the war spreads West.

----------


## David48atTD

^  Brother David ... what do you suggest is the way out?

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine posts videos it says show Bayraktar drones blowing up Russian armor, further cementing their heroic status*

Ukrainian armed forces released several videos it says show drone strikes on Russian targets.


The Bayraktar TB2 drone has taken an outsize role in defending Ukraine.


Ukrainian forces did not name the locations of the hits, which are difficult to verify. 



Ukraine's military published several videos it says show its prized Bayraktar TB2 drones at work destroying targets controlled by Russian forces.


Over the weekend, the Ukrainian army commander-in-chief's Facebook page posted five clips showing the strikes, though giving little detail of the exact locations or targets.


The drones have been hailed as a game-changer by the Ukrainian military, and have been credited with destroyed large numbers of Russian armored vehicles, gaining heroic status among the Ukrainian people.


The videos have been keenly recieved, amassing some 1.2 million Facebook views as of Monday, with many reposted on other networks to vast audiences. Insider was unable to verify the footage, or the named targets.


The first, dated March 12, purported to show the destruction of a Russian electronic warfare system near Kyiv.

"Our Bayraktar TB2 operators masterfully 'tested' the enemy's electronic warfare system in the Kyiv region," said its caption.


The footage appears to have been taken with a camera held close to a monitor screen, a common format for Ukraine's Bayraktar videos. Someone's reflection could be seen and a buzz of chatter was also recorded. 


Another 18-second video posted on Saturday said one of the drones had destroyed a multiple rocket launcher. 


"Bayraktars in action!" the post said. "Hundreds of saved lives of our fellow citizens, especially civilians!"

VIDEOS/MORE MSN

----------


## misskit

*Moscow threatens Western firms with arrests, seizures over sanctions — report*

NEW YORK — Russian authorities, facing potential economic calamity as Western sanctions take hold, have threatened foreign companies hoping to withdraw from the country with arrests and asset seizures, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.


Russian prosecutors have issued warnings to several foreign entities — via calls, letters and in-person visits — including to Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, IBM and Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut, according to the business daily, citing sources familiar with the matter.


They have threatened to arrest officials who have criticized the government or to seize assets, including intellectual property.




“The warnings have prompted at least one of the targeted companies to limit communications between its Russian business and the rest of the company, out of concern that emails or text messages among colleagues may be intercepted, some of the people (familiar with the matter) said,” according to the Wall Street Journal.


Russia has faced unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western governments after the invasion of Ukraine, with a growing list of companies announcing their withdrawals from the country or their plans to suspend activities there.

Russian authorities have boosted efforts to prevent money from leaving its borders and to support the ruble, which has already seen a precipitous drop in value against the dollar.


Without using the word “nationalization,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is in favor of appointing “external” administrators to head such foreign companies in Russia “in order to transfer them to those who want to make them work.”


The prosecutor’s office on Friday meanwhile ordered “strict control” of companies that had announced a suspension of their activities in Russia, warning especially of increased monitoring of labor legislation compliance, under penalty of prosecution.

Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble and Yum Brands did not respond to requests for comments by AFP Sunday.

Moscow threatens Western firms with arrests, seizures over sanctions -- report | The Times of Israel

----------


## bsnub

> Ukraine posts videos it says show Bayraktar drones blowing up Russian armor, further cementing their heroic status


This really sends skiddy into hysterics.  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

*Ukraine: Russia ‘planning referendum’ to ‘legitimise’ control of southern Kherson region*






Russia may be planning to stage a referendum in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region to “legitimise” its apparent seizure of the territory, the UK believes.


Any vote would have echoes of the 2014 referendums in the “breakaway republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, in the east if Ukraine, which were declared unconstitutional by the West.

A referendum was also held amid the annexation of Crimea, in the same year, which saw Russia claim a 97 per cent vote for integration of the region into the Russian Federation, on an 89 per cent turnout.

The Ministry of Defence has revealed the possible vote in the south, after Russia’s defence ministry spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov, said it had taken full control there.

“Reporting suggests that Russia may seek to stage a ‘referendum’ in Kherson in an attempt to legitimise the area as a ‘breakaway republic’ similar to Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea,” it said.

In an intelligence update, it also said the Kremlin has reportedly installed its own mayor in the city of Melitpol, following the alleged abduction of his predecessor on Friday.

The update said it was reported that Russian forces have also fired warning shots at protestors as demonstrations broke out in occupied areas of Ukraine.
A Foreign Office minister said any referendum would “be another attempt to put a veneer of credibility on what is an unacceptable, unjustified illegal invasion”.

“What we have seen is that there has been a long-standing disinformation campaign coming out from Russia. There has been all kinds of excuses,” James Cleverly said.

The minister also argued the increasing brutality of Russia’s assault on Ukraine showed that Putin’s “plan of attack is not working”.

“It was meant to be some kind of lightning war where Russian troops swept across Ukraine.” Mr Cleverly told _BBC Breakfast_.

“But what we’re seeing is the defence by the Ukrainian people has been ferocious. This, of course, is incredibly frustrating to Vladimir Putin and we’re now seeing an escalation, the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure – which of course is illegal in international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict.

Full Article- Ukraine: Russia ‘planning referendum’ to ‘legitimise’ control of southern Kherson region (msn.com)

----------


## misskit

*The antiwar protester who crashed a Russian TV broadcast can’t be found, her lawyers say*

A day after she burst onto a live news broadcast on Russian state television holding a sign denouncing the war in Ukraine, lawyers with human rights groups told The Washington Post they are unable to locate producer Marina Ovsyannikova, more than 12 hours after she was detained.


The Russian Investigative Committee, the country’s main government investigative body, has begun “a pre-investigation check” against Ovsyannikova over allegations of breaking into the studio, Russia’s state-run Tass news agency reported Tuesday — which could be a first step toward eventual charges.


Citing an unidentified source, Tass reported that she could also face charges of “discrediting” the actions of Russia’s armed forces.


During a news briefing Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed Ovsyannikova’s actions as “hooliganism” and said the television channel, not the Kremlin, was “dealing with this.”

MORE MSN

----------


## misskit

*In Kyiv region, curfew introduced from 20:00 on March 15 to 07:00 on March 17 – local authorities*

A curfew is being introduced in Kyiv region for a day and a half from 20:00 on March 15 to 07:00 on March 17, Head of Kyiv Regional State Administration Oleksiy Kuleba said.


"Across Kyiv region from March 15 to March 17, a curfew is introduced from 20:00 to 07:00. We do not go out into the streets and other public places (only with specially issued passes and identity cards)," Kuleba said on his Telegram channel.


The official said these are forced measures, the purpose of which is to protect the inhabitants of the region.


"We ask everyone to prepare for the fact that you will spend the next one and a half days in your own homes or shelters. The authorities and all regional services are doing everything necessary for the safety of the population," he said.

In Kyiv region, curfew introduced from 20:00 on March 15 to 07:00 on March 17 – local authorities

----------


## david44

> ^  Brother David ... what do you suggest is the way out?


A good fair and very difficult question that seems beyond teh leaders of democracies

A few suggestions

Total ban on any purchases from Russia, China, India and any of their apologists.

Start to intern all Russian Oligarchs in England as was done as recently as 1990s in UK to Irish protestants and Catholics
Sequester their assets into the reparations fund, let onus be on them to show they oppose Russia and as those who have profited they can take a share of the loss pain.

NATO has the ability to seal Baltic, Black Sea and entire Mediterranean .

Reinforce Moldova, Georgia and Taiwan , and invite all of them into NATO, warn China invade Chna  , armageddon or just yield teh world to the evil.

Aim to remove dependence on Russian , Chinese products, minerals

Remove foreign dual citizenship , eject all students from Putin's fan club from Western Universities

none of this will happen as the Bankers and arms dealers care nothing for democracy nor human rights

Oh finally give my team Chelsea to the fans, we'd happily watch them on the Scrubs or Wandsworth Common, Give real estate (probably the single most valuable lot after Buckingham Palace in West London" the ground, shops,, suites to Ukrainian refugees and NHS health service as a thank you for not having all "bought' trophies ceded.

----------


## taxexile

People power turns back Russian trucks ‘trying to evade sanctions’ at Belarus border

Protesters blockade crossing point into Poland, arguing that lorries entering Belarus are filled with cargo bound for the Kremlin war effort

By



> Robert Mendick,
>  CHIEF REPORTER
> 14 March 2022 • 6:34pm
> 
> 
> Protesters have blockaded a border crossing between Poland and Belarus over claims Russia is using the route to circumvent EU sanctions.
> 
> Trucks trying to cross into Belarus are stuck in 10-mile-long queues after demonstrators targeted crossings.
> 
> ...


it's always the germans. they certainly have form looking the other way while innocents are being slaughtered and their calculated deviousness when exporting, trading and profits are concerned is also no secret. this week they blocked the introduction of eu sanctions on russian metals  so that their precious motor industry is not adversely affected.

meanwhile, as the germans happily continue to send war supplies to russia under the watchful eye of brussels,  the eu remains fanatical about keeping british sausages and flowers out of northern ireland.

fuck the eu.

----------


## Cujo

> Sure, I admit that. So why aren't we working harder towards Peace? .


WE??!!
WE??!!
Lets say 


THEY!!

'WE' are all for peace. What about 'them'?

You are becoming less and less rational.

How do you suggest 'we' work harder towards peace??
I suppose if Ukraine capitulated that would solve the problem.
Is that what you're suggesting?

I must say, I had a modicum of respect for you as a poster. I'm fast losing it.

----------


## sabang

> fuck the eu.


You and Vicki Nuland should get a room.  :Smile:

----------


## Cujo

> meanwhile, as the germans happily continue to send war supplies to russia under the watchful eye of brussels,


Link?
Is Russia in the E.U.

----------


## helge

> NATO has the ability to seal Baltic, Black Sea and entire Mediterranean .


Yes easy

No thanks.

International waters and Denmark would be legit target.

Think again

----------


## helge

> That will do for a start


How about being less nationalistic and stop harrassing their minorities ?
---------------------------------------------------

A new legal provision on the use of the Ukrainian language, part of a broader state language law, raises concerns about protection for minority languages. 

The provision, which entered into force on January 16, is stipulated in article 25 of the law. It requires print media outlets registered in Ukraine to publish in Ukrainian. 

Publications in other languages must also be accompanied by a Ukrainian version, equivalent in content, volume, and method of printing. 

Additionally, places of distribution such as newsstands must have at least half their content in Ukrainian.

New Language Requirement Raises Concerns in Ukraine | Human Rights Watch


----------------------------------------

Now what would Tax and MalmøMike feel if the Sun and Daily Mail had to hit the street in a french print copy also   :smiley laughing:

----------


## Takeovers

Prime Ministers visit to Kyiv - The Chancellery of the Prime Minister - Gov.pl website


Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the National Security and Defense Committee Jarosław Kaczyński together with Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala and Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Jana are going to Kyiv today as representatives of the European Council to meet with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister of UkraineDenis Shmyhal.

The visit is organized in consultation with the President of the European Council Charles Michel and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. The aim of this visit is also to present a broad package of support for the Ukraine and Ukrainians. 


International community has been informed about the visit by international organizations, i.a. the UN.

----------


## sabang

*Marina Ovsyannikova: Russian journalist fined for live broadcast protest*



A Russian court has fined Marina Ovsyannikova 30,000 roubles (£215) for violating protest laws after she broke onto a live news broadcast on Channel One in an extraordinary demonstration against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The fine was a relatively light sentence for an act of protest that shocked Russian television viewers and earned plaudits from western leaders. Emmanuel Macron of France even offered her consular “protection” and said he would raise her case with Vladimir Putin.

In a legal twist, Ovsyannikova was fined not for breaking onto the Channel One set but for a video statement she made before the protest in which she said she was “ashamed” of having worked at Channel One and spreading “Kremlin propaganda”.

“These were indeed some of the hardest days of my life,” she told reporters following the short hearing. “I spent two days without sleep. I was questioned for more than 14 hours. They didn’t allow me to reach my family or give me any legal aid. I was in a fairly difficult position.” She also said she wasn’t surprised at her release because she had two children.

Friends and supporters feared the worst after Ovsyannikova disappeared into police custody for nearly 24 hours after her arrest, suspecting that prosecutors may be preparing serious criminal charges against her. Russian state media also reported that the powerful investigative committee had opened a case against her.


Lawyers spent much of the night scouring local police precincts to find her. She was detained on Tuesday evening after running on to the set of the evening news with a poster that read: “Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.”

She finally reappeared on Tuesday evening in a Moscow courtroom. In a photograph alongside a lawyer, she appeared unharmed and was wearing the same outfit and necklace in the colours of the Ukrainian flag as a day earlier.

Marina Ovsyannikova: Russian journalist fined for live broadcast protest (msn.com)


A GBP215 Fine. Appalling brutality from Vlad the Inhaler.   :tieme:

----------


## malmomike77

> A GBP215 Fine. Appalling brutality from Vlad the Inhaler.


She'll meet with some accident, after she's paid the fine obviously.

----------


## sabang

I heard she was taking the air in Siberia.  ::chitown::  Stress relief.

----------


## Hugh Cow

I believe the fine was for her internet broadcast, not the on air protest. 
Incidentally, I think oh oh and Sabang were most adequately described (if unamed) by Snubby in a previous post.

----------


## S Landreth

UK slaps new sanctions on Russia as invasion of Ukraine continues

The United Kingdom slapped new sanctions on Russia on Tuesday as Moscow continues its invasion of Ukraine.

The new sanctions target exports of high-end luxury goods to Russia and place an additional 35 percent import tariff on hundreds of key products.

The tariff increase will affect Russian vodka, iron, steel, glass and glassware, machinery, works of art and fur skins, among other products, and the export ban will likely have an impact on luxury vehicles, high-end fashion and artwork.

The U.K. government said the new penalties will hurt Russian President Vladimir Putins war effort and that their effect on U.K companies will be kept low.

The measures will cause maximum harm to Putins war machine while minimising the impact on UK businesses as G7 leaders unite to unleash a fresh wave of economic sanctions on Moscow, the government said in a press release.

The export ban will come into force shortly and will make sure oligarchs and other members of the elite, who have grown rich under President Putins reign and support his illegal invasion, are deprived of access to luxury goods, the government added.

The new round of sanctions comes after the Economic Crime Bill was enacted in the U.K., according to Reuters. The law allows the government to quicken its actions in trying to eliminate Russian dirty money from British assets, according to the news wire.

The U.K. has already sanctioned a number of Russian oligarchs since Moscow started its invasion of Ukraine, including Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich and individuals close to Putin. The penalties froze assets and imposed travel bans.

Cliff Levy - "THIS PROPERTY HAS BEEN LIBERATED
Protesters in London broke into a mansion owned by the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who is close to Putin, hanging a Ukrainian flag. https://twitter.com/cliffordlevy/sta...75039416602633


 
*extra,*


World Athletics chief Seb Coe: Russia sports bans must remain

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was a "game changer" for international sport and while banning athletes from Russia and Belarus "set precedents," suspensions must remain in place, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Monday, per AP.

Why it matters: International sports organizations have taken unprecedented action against the Kremlin, which has spent large amounts of money to host global events including the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 World Cup, as President Vladimir Putin sought to bolster the country's reputation abroad.

What he's saying: Coe, a British two-time Olympic champion runner, noted during a video conference call there's "not a single sports federation out there that naturally wants to exclude teams or individuals, but this situation was different," per AP.

"We absolutely accept that this will set precedents and those precedents will have to be faced individually and sequentially and they will be with us for years," Coe said. "We haven't made this easy on ourselves but it is still the right decision.

"You cannot have aggressor nations, where you have so altered the landscape for the integrity of competition being untouched, while the actions of their governments have so influenced the integrity of sport elsewhere," he added.

Worth noting: Coe pointed to actions in other sports, such as soccer "where you've seen teams that decided theyre not going to play in playoff rounds."

The bottom line: "The impact is across the board. So they are going to need to remain really firm on this and do exactly what we've done," Coe said.

Flashback: International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons noted when announcing a ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes days before the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games began that the IPC "are very firm believers that sport and politics should not mix."

"However, by no fault of its own the war has now come to these Games and behind the scenes many Governments are having an influence on our cherished event," Parsons added  noting that other nations would "likely withdraw" if the Russian and Belarusian athletes had remained in the Paralympics.


Court of Arbitration for Sport denies Russia request to freeze UEFA ban

A court has denied Russias request to freeze the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) ban on its soccer federation clubs amid Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine. 

The President of the Appeals Arbitration Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has denied the request filed by the Football Union of Russia (FUR) to stay, for the duration of the CAS proceedings, the execution of the UEFA Executive Committees decision to suspend all Russian teams and clubs from its competitions until further notice (the Challenged Decision), the Court of Arbitration for Sport said in a statement on Tuesday. 

CAS president Corinne Schmidhauser also said that all Russian teams should be banned from participating in competitions until further notice, meaning that Russias men's national team World Cup qualifying match against Poland later this month will be canceled.

*Just for fun.*

Tomorrow is Wednesday.

 ::doglol::

----------


## sabang

^ I'm sure the posh neighbours are scintillated!  :Smile:  one good thing about having a Russian oligarch on your upmarket block is, they are hardly ever there.

----------


## misskit

*'Courage of true friends of Ukraine': European leaders' defiant visit to Kyiv amid growing tension with Russia*

In the first foreign leaders' visit to Ukraine's besieged capital since Russia's invasion, the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday.


Upon arrival by train, the prime ministers sat around a table with their Ukrainian counterpart Denis Shmyhal and the Ukrainian president, who provided an overview of the situation.

"They are shelling everywhere. Not only Kyiv but also the western areas," Zelensky told them in comments translated into English, a video posted on his Telegram account showed.

"We have to halt this tragedy unfolding in the East as quickly as possible," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a post on Facebook announcing their arrival.


Ukraine had the "unequivocal support" of the European Union, he added.


Shmyhal announced their arrival earlier that day on Twitter, saluting "the courage of true friends of Ukraine."

He said their talks would focus on support for Ukraine and "strengthening sanctions against the Russian aggression".

Prime Minister Morawiecki, Czech Premier Petr Fiala and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa are on a visit to the besieged country as "representatives" of the European Union, according to an early statement from the Polish government.


The visit comes as Russian forces attack targets across Ukraine, including Kyiv, which has nearly been encircled by Moscow's forces, and as negotiations to end the nearly three-week war are scheduled to resume.


"In such crucial times for the world, it is our duty to be in the place where history is being made," Morawiecki said in a Facebook post earlier Tuesday.


"Because this is not about us, it is about the future of our children who deserve to live in a world free from tyranny," he said.

According to the government statement, the visit was organised "in agreement" with European Council chief Charles Michel and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.


"The purpose of the visit is to confirm the unequivocal support of the entire European Union for the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and to present a broad package of support for the Ukrainian state and society," the statement said.


Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland's right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, accompanied the trio.

'Courage of true friends of Ukraine': European leaders' defiant visit to Kyiv amid growing tension with Russia, World News | wionews.com

----------


## misskit

*Top UN Court to Rule on Ukraine Invasion*

The UN's top court is set to rule Wednesday on Ukraine's urgent request for Russia to immediately halt its invasion, with Kyiv claiming that Moscow falsely accused its pro-Western neighbor of genocide to justify the war.


The International Court of Justice will hand down its judgement at 1500 GMT in The Hague after Ukraine filed an urgent application shortly after Russia's attack on Feb. 24.

Ukraine accuses Russia of illegally trying to justify its war by falsely alleging genocide in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.


Kyiv wants the court to take provisional measures ordering Russia to "immediately suspend the military operations."


"Russia must be stopped, and the court has a role to play in stopping that," Ukraine's representative Anton Korynevych told the ICJ.


The hearing on Wednesday comes as the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine topped 3 million and Russian forces step up strikes on residential buildings in Kyiv.


At the same time, both Ukraine and Russia say progress is being made in talks on ending the fighting.


Russia snubbed hearings on March 7 and 8, arguing in a written filing that the ICJ "did not have jurisdiction" because Kyiv's request fell outside of the scope of the 1948 Genocide Convention on which it based its case.


"The government of the Russian Federation respectfully requests the Court to refrain from indicating provisional measures and to remove the case from its list," Moscow said, arguing that it had not appeared because it did not have enough time to prepare.

But Moscow justified its use of force in Ukraine, saying "it was acting in self-defense."

'Low threshold'


The ICJ was set up after World War II to rule on disputes between UN member states, based mainly on treaties and conventions.


Although its rulings are binding, it has no real means to enforce them.

Experts said it was unlikely that the judges would turn down Kyiv's request, at least when it came to its urgent requests, called provisional measures.


A full hearing into the content of the case could still take years, they added.


"I think it is unlikely that the ICJ will not meet Ukraine's submissions at least to some extent or entirely," said Marieke de Hoon, assistant international criminal law professor at the University of Amsterdam.


The ICJ at this stage only needed to determine whether there was a dispute on first sight over the interpretation of the Genocide Convention, she said.


"It won't be difficult for the ICJ to rule that this low threshold is reached," she told AFP.


"Whether Russia will oblige is an entirely different question," De Hoon added.


The case is also separate from a Ukraine war crimes investigation launched by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a separate tribunal also based in The Hague.

Top UN Court to Rule on Ukraine Invasion - The Moscow Times

----------


## S Landreth

Its Wednesday.  :Smile: 

Russia kick-starts worlds most anticipated bond coupon payments

Russia has started the payment process of two bond coupons due this week in what has become the most closely watched debt settlement since the energy-rich nation invaded Ukraine.

The Finance Ministry issued an order to pay Eurobond holders $117 million, although it didnt specify if the payment is in dollars  the currency they were issued in  or rubles. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said repeatedly that the nation will ultimate pay in rubles if sanctions imposed on Russia dont allow dollar settlements.

If the payments in rubles, then it could put the nation on course for its first foreign-currency default since the Bolsheviks refused to service or recognise the czars debts a century ago. S&P Global Ratings said earlier in March that a payment in a different currency than the one agreed may be deemed a default. In 1998, Russia defaulted on local-currency debt and declared a moratorium on payments for its foreign-currency bonds.

The coupon deadline on March 16  as stipulated by the bonds documents  have been at the center of investors attention since the US and its allies froze Russias foreign-currency reserves to punish the Kremlin for its invasion of Ukraine. A March decree by President Vladimir Putin ruled that investors from so-called hostile nations could be paid in rubles, further inflaming concerns the country may choose not to honour its debts. That sent credit default swaps  insurance-like contracts for bonds  soaring to a record.

While Putins decree determines that a debt has been settled if its paid in rubles, myriad sanctions and capital controls mean its near impossible to transfer rubles outside of Russia. Even if investors could move the money, the debt is in dollars, and is meant to be serviced in that currency.

Theres a 30-day grace period on both bonds. But if either the bondholders, rating agencies or the Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee decide a payment in rubles for the two bonds constitutes a credit event, then Russia is officially in default if doesnt repay the coupon in dollars before the grace period is up.

Fvck em. Let them sink.

----------


## misskit

*Fourth Russian General Killed in Ukraine as Putin’s Losses Mount*

A fourth Russian major-general has been killed in Ukraine as military losses mount for Vladimir Putin. Oleg Mitayev, commander of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division, was killed in a failed attempt to storm Mariupol on Wednesday. His killing was claimed by the Azov Battalion, which posted a picture of his corpse—his face covered by his general’s epaulette—on social media before Ukrainian officials identified him. Mitayev was the former deputy commander of Russian forces in Syria. The Daily Mirror reported that he died alongside “seven elite special-operations fighters from the feared Dzerzhinsky Division of the country’s national guard,” which it said was under Putin’s direct control. Around 20 Russian generals are thought to be leading the Ukraine invasion, and unexpected losses and communication problems have forced them into high-risk frontline positions. Ukraine claims to have killed 13,800 Russian servicemen since the invasion began Feb. 24.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...ed-in-mariupol

----------


## helge

> Dzerzhinsky Division


That's some name for a millitary unit  :Sad:

----------


## S Landreth

Russia's state TV hit by stream of resignations

Hours after Marina Ovsyannikova on-screen protest, three resignations came to light.

Channel One colleague Zhanna Agalakova quit her job as Europe correspondent while two journalists have left rival NTV. Lilia Gildeyeva had worked for the channel as a presenter since 2006 and Vadim Glusker had been at NTV for almost 30 years.

Rumours abound that journalists have also headed for the door at All-Russia state TV group VGTRK.

Journalist Roman Super said people were quitting its Vesti news stable en masse, although that has not been confirmed. However, renowned TV host Sergey Brilev quashed reports that he had resigned, pointing out he has been on a business trip for more than a week.

Maria Baronova is the highest-profile resignation at RT, formerly known as Russia Today. Former chief editor at RT, she told the BBC's Steve Rosenberg this month Mr Putin had already destroyed Russia's reputation and that the economy was dead too.

A number of other RT journalists have also resigned, including non-Russian journalists working for its language services.

Former London correspondent Shadia Edwards-Dashti announced her resignation on the day Russia invaded Ukraine without giving a reason. Moscow-based journalist Jonny Tickle quit on the same day "in light of recent events".

French RT presenter Frédéric Taddeï said he was leaving his show because France was "in open conflict" with Russia and he could not continue to host his programme Forbidden to Forbid "out of loyalty to my country".

One of Russia's biggest talk show hosts, Ivan Urgant, has taken a break from his prime-time Evening Urgant show on Russia's second biggest channel, Channel One, the same station as Marina Ovsyannikova.

He reacted to the war by posting a black square on his Instagram account with the simple message: "Fear and pain. No War." He has since told his followers not to panic, and that he's taken a holiday and will be back soon.

Russia's number one celebrity couple Alla Pugacheva and Maxim Galkin are among a number of other showbiz figures who have also gone on holiday. Galkin said on Instagram: "There can be no justification for war! No War!"


 ::doglol::

----------


## sabang

*Wests global political and economic dominance ends  Putin*

The Russian president says the myth of the Western welfare state, of the so-called golden billion, is crumbling

Russian President Vladimir Putin has opined that the latest rounds of unprecedented sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and its allies over the Kremlins military campaign in Ukraine, mark the end of an era. According to Putin, from now on the West will be losing its _global dominance_ both politically and economically.

Speaking on Wednesday, the Russian head of state proclaimed that the _myth of the Western welfare state, of the so-called golden billion, is crumbling._ Moreover, it is the _whole planet that is having to pay the price for the Wests ambitions, and its attempts to retain its vanishing dominance at any cost,_ Putin said.

The president predicted food shortages across the world as Western sanctions against Russia are adversely affecting the entire global economy.

Touching on the decision by several Western powers to freeze Russias central bank assets, Putin claimed that this would only serve to irreparably undermine trust in those nations, and make other countries think twice before placing their reserves in the care of those countries. According to him, nearly half of Moscows assets were _simply stolen_ by the West.

Addressing people in the West, the Russian leader said the massive sanctions imposed on Russia were already backfiring on the US and Europe themselves, with governments there trying hard to convince their citizens that Russia was to blame.

Putin warned ordinary people in the West that attempts to portray Moscow as the primary source of all their woes were lies, with a lot of those issues being the direct result of the Western governments _ambitions_ and _political short-sightedness.
_
The Western elites, according to Putin, have turned their countries into an _empire of lies,_ but Russia will keep on presenting its own position to the whole world, no matter what.

DDOS-GUARD


There is a real question, propaganda aside, how this whole affair will affect the perception of the 'West', going forward. Our dominance/ hegemony, our 'Trust factor' as a safe repository and rules based regime, our banking system, the primacy and virtual monopoly of the USD in international trade. Quite a few things actually. Has the game now changed?  ::chitown::

----------


## S Landreth

^Kind of strange, your post doesn’t mention anything about a 'self-cleansing of society' in the same speech.

Is there a reason?

 ::doglol::

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## bsnub

> The president predicted food shortages across the world as Western sanctions against Russia are adversely affecting the entire global economy.


 :smiley laughing:

----------


## misskit

*Russian drone flights in NATO skies test alliance red lines*

Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday it shot down a Russian drone as the unmanned aerial vehicle returned after crossing Polish airspace. Russia has not commented on the incident. Earlier this week, another drone suspected of belonging to the Russian military crashed in Romania. Allied officials said they were investigating the incident.


“We are monitoring the airspace and the border areas around NATO very closely,” Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance’s chief, said on Tuesday. “Our military commanders also have lines with Russian commanders to help prevent incidents and accidents, and to help prevent them from spiraling out of control if they occur.”


The incidents come as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is on high alert for Russian incursions into alliance territory. NATO defense ministers are meeting on Wednesday to discuss plans to build up forces in member countries bordering Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.


The United States has deployed Patriot air defense batteries in Poland and Germany has sent some to Slovakia, among other measures aimed at bolstering the alliance’s eastern flank. More than 100 fighter jets have been deployed along NATO’s eastern border near Russia. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other NATO leaders have repeatedly said they will protect “every inch” of alliance territory.


“There is always a risk of incidents and accidents,” Stoltenberg said ahead of Wednesday’s meeting. “So we have to do everything we can to prevent such incidents and accidents, and if they do happen, to make sure they are under control and create really dangerous situations.”

Mr. Stoltenberg declined to comment on Russia’s alleged incursion into NATO airspace. The Polish Defense Ministry declined to comment beyond saying it was “monitoring the situation and taking the necessary measures to ensure the security of the country”.


The drone appeared to be monitoring a Ukrainian military training center near the Polish border which was hit by Russian missiles on Sunday, killing at least 35 people, the Ukrainian military said.


Russian drones are increasingly carrying out reconnaissance near the Ukrainian border, as well as between Poland and Belarus, a senior Western intelligence official said. “We have reliable indications of this, based on the position and range of the drones we see.”


Romania’s response to the drone crash on its territory was also muted. A Defense Ministry official said civil authorities were investigating the area where the drone fell.


The Western intelligence official said the drone crash in Romania suggests that Russia is trying to carry out reconnaissance in far western Ukraine. The crash came shortly after Russian officials issued warnings about Western countries providing military support to kyiv passing through western Ukraine.


If Russian drones entered NATO airspace, they may have tested the alliance’s air defenses. They could also have been poorly piloted or had navigation problems. A senior Western diplomat said there was no indication that Russia was trying to trigger incidents on NATO territory.

“We have not seen any attempt to engage allied forces, quite the contrary,” said the diplomat, who added that the drones may have entered NATO airspace due to navigation problems or other defects in their design or production.


Mr Stoltenberg said NATO forces tracked the flight path of an object that entered Romanian airspace on Sunday. In response, Romanian fighter jets immediately rushed to investigate, and the alliance is looking into the incident.


US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said she would not analyze every scenario that could lead to an alliance member invoking the group’s most fundamental tenet, Article 5 of its treaty. founder, which states that an armed attack on one represents an attack on all. “We are all ready to come to the aid of a country, if it feels the need to invoke Article 5,” she said.


A surveillance drone entering NATO airspace is not an armed attack, the top Western diplomat has said.


Spy drones can pose a particular challenge in determining when Russia has crossed a red line. Often they are unarmed and do not pose a direct mortal threat. The information they gather, however, can be instrumental in planning an attack.


Days before the Polish and Romanian incidents, another drone, believed to be of Ukrainian origin, crashed in Croatia, prompting the government to ask the French military to conduct a surveillance flight over its airspace . This theft did not reveal anything suspicious, the French military said.

Mr Stoltenberg said NATO believes the drone was unarmed, but the incident underscores that with all those drones and planes on the plane “there is more risk of incidents and accidents and so we have to be extremely vigilant.”


Defending against drone incursions, even by relatively unsophisticated models, also poses a challenge. NATO’s high-end air defense systems are optimized to shoot down fighter jets and bombers or even ballistic missiles, not relatively slow, low-flying drones.


“Drones are really small, they are maneuverable, they fly low to the ground. As a result, it’s hard to identify and hard to track,” said Carnegie Council senior fellow Arthur Holland Michel.


Many military-deployed anti-drone systems are relatively short-range and designed to protect specific installations, he said, not expansive borders such as those separating NATO from Russian forces.

Russian drone flights in NATO skies test alliance red lines - The AU Times

----------


## panama hat

> West’s global political and economic dominance ends – Putin


 :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:

----------


## sabang

Would you be laughing if Xi said it?  ::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

> Would you be laughing if Xi said it?


Yep I would be, but that is just another of your off-topic whataboutisms.

----------


## S Landreth

A helicopter linked to a Russian oligarch's megayacht and 17 private jets have their registration struck off by low-tax haven  favored by the superrich, a report says

A helicopter linked to a sanctioned Russian oligarch's yacht and 17 private jets with Russian ties had their registration removed by the Isle of Man, a tax haven for the super wealthy, The Guardian first reported.

Situated in the Irish Sea between Britain and Ireland, the island has an aircraft registry that includes high-quality private and corporate jets, as well as helicopters, the government website said.

The island's registry can allow the wealthy to avoid taxes liable in other countries, The Guardian reported. The Isle of Man is known as a low-tax economy.

The Isle of Man's measures bolster the UK's and European Union's ban on all Russian aircraft flying in their airspace as part of sanctions levied following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

A total of 18 aircraft and two yachts were deregistered as of Wednesday because of their Russian connections, the Isle of Man said in a press release sent to Insider. It also issued notice on 39 ships with ties to Russia, it said.

Being deregistered means jets can't legally fly and ships can't legally sail, Alex Allinson, the Isle of Man's minister for enterprise, told the BBC.

An Airbus helicopter, which previously landed on Roman Abramovich's $600 million superyacht, Solaris, has been removed from the island's registry, The Guardian reported. A private jet owned by the Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, a Gulfstream G650, was also among the 18 aircraft taken off the registry, the newspaper reported.

Oleg Tinkov, the founder of the Russian online bank Tinkoff, who hasn't been sanctioned, also had his Dassault Falcon business jet struck from the island's registry, The Guardian reported.

"The Air and Ship Registries have been acting proactively and rapidly to halt business with Russian connections above and beyond those already sanctioned on the UK's lists," Allinson said in statement sent to Insider. The government is looking to remove any aircraft, ships, and yachts that have Russian ties, he added.

*Just for fun.*


Russia says it's sanctioning Hillary Clinton and other top U.S. officials

Mrs. Clintons response. https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/s...52794158911493

Hillary Clinton thanks Russia for 'Lifetime Achievement Award' of sanctions



*Continued*  :Smile: 


A short list of Russian yacht seizures

Russian oligarchs have been looking for ways to park their money outside Vladimir Putins control for a long time, and the tackiest method available to them is the megayacht  so obviously, there are a lot of them. It is remarkably satisfying to see the yachts get seized.

Sechin attempted to evade sanctions by ordering the Amore Vero to sail to Turkey. It was seized in France.

Former KGB officer Sergei Chemezov, who now leads Rostec, had his 279-foot $140 million megayacht seized in Spain. There will be more, promised Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez. Cant wait, babe.

Not actually a seizure, but possibly funnier: former KGB agent Vladimir Strzhalkovsky has a yacht named Ragnar thats stuck in Norway. Aboard Ragnar are lots of toys, such as a BigBo amphibious ATV, heli-skiing equipment, four See-Doos, four ski scooters, six Seabobs, a multipurpose island and a giant slide. It cant go anywhere because no one will sell it fuel. The yachts captain finds this extremely unjust, according to NPR.

The $735 million superyacht Dilbar, named for Kremlin-tied oligarch Alisher Usmanovs mother, was possibly seized in Germany, depending on your definition of seized. (Government officials say its not seized per se; it just cant leave.) It has the dubious honor of sporting the largest indoor swimming pool ever installed on a private vehicle.

Sailing Yacht A, worth $578 million, was seized by Italys financial police. Its owner, sanctioned fertilizer mogul Andrey Melnichenko, told CNN through a spokesman that Melnichenko has no political affiliations. Yes, Im sure he got one of the largest yachts in the world by being a normal businessman.

Italy has been quite busy, actually! Italian authorities have also seized Gennady Timchenkos megayacht, Lena, which is worth either $8 million or $55 million, depending on who youre asking.

Another one on the board for Italy: the Lady M, worth at least $27 million (though the Italian government thinks it is worth more). In addition to its pool and helicopter landing pad, the Lady M also has its own salon, so no one aboard will have to suffer the indignity of doing their own hair.

----------


## HermantheGerman

Want to thank Troy for finding this site (oldy but goody)

Misconceptions on Russia about the Putin System | Bundesakademie fur Sicherheitspolitik

*Misconceptions on Russia about the Putin System*       Autor/in: 
Stefan Meister


                 In the context of the Ukraine  crisis  which has escalated into a fundamental crisis between the West  and Russia  hybrid warfare, propaganda, conspiracy theories and, above  all, differing perceptions play a key role. Particularly in Western  discourse, several misinterpretations with regard to power structures in  Moscow colour the assessment of the crisis.  Russia meanwhile feels threatened both by the military strength of a  U.S.-dominated NATO and by the European Neighbourhood Policy. What is  more, Moscow interprets Western interventions in Kosovo, Iraq and Libya  as proof that the West will always construe the rules of international  law to its own advantage.


                 In  this paper, five main misconceptions concerning both the Western  relationship with Russia and the country's internal development will be  analysed and subjected to a reality check. This will involve providing  answers to the following questions: Who is to blame for the conflict  with Russia? Is there a political alternative to Putin? Do the oligarchs  pose a threat to Putin? Is the Russian leadership really interested in a  stable neighbourhood? Is China an alternative modernisation partner for  Russia instead of the EU?

*Misconception No. 1:  The West is to blame for the conflict with Russia.* A central pattern of argument in the conflict between Russia  and the West is that aggressive policies of NATO and EU expansion into  Eastern Europe and increasingly into the post-Soviet area are what  triggered this conflict. Russia felt surrounded and had to defend itself  against an expansionist policy of the West. 
 This line of argument presupposes that NATO and the EU have a  strategic plan to actively integrate the post-Soviet states and limit  Russian power. In contrast to Russia's integration projects, primarily  the Eurasian Economic Union, integration into NATO and the EU is,  however, voluntary and not based on a system of pressure and incentives.  
 There may have been a U.S. interest in offering Georgia and  Ukraine a perspective for accession to NATO, at the 2008 Summit in  Bucharest, which the leaders of both countries have been seeking. Yet,  this interest seems not to have been that great, as Washington gave in  to pressure from other important member states of the Alliance,  particularly Germany and France, to aim instead for a long-term  alignment process with the involvement of Russia. A majority of  Georgians, however, and for the first time, since the war in eastern  Ukraine, a majority of Ukrainians too regard NATO membership as a  guarantor of security in the face of an increasingly aggressive Russia.
 The reluctance of a majority of EU member states to offer the  countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) a perspective for accession  also became apparent once more at the Riga Summit in May and is leading  to a growing sense of disappointment in these countries. At the same  time, association with the EU is regarded as an opportunity to undergo a  process of modernisation. 
 The main reason for the escalating conflict between Russia and  the West is not Western aggression but the lack of legitimacy of the  Putin system. The global financial crisis of 2008/2009 showed that  Russia's economic growth from 2000 to 2008, which was based mainly on  the export of raw materials, lacks any basis for sustainable economic  development and modernisation. This crisis also meant that the social  contract  growing prosperity in exchange for political inactivity   could no longer be maintained by the regime. The mass demonstrations  that took place in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in 2011 and 2012 in  connection with the parliamentary and presidential elections have shown  the regime that it has lost the support of a growing section of society  due to the lack of modernisation. 
 In response, when Vladimir Putin returned as president in 2012,  he secured his domestic power by exerting pressure on the opposition,  independent media and civil society and shored it up by means of  extensive media propaganda against the West. The annexation of Crimea  against the will of the West has restored Putin's legitimacy in the eyes  of most Russians, with approval ratings of over 80 percent (in contrast  to ratings of at times less than 40 percent in 2013). Mobilisation of a  majority of society against enemies from within (NGOs financed by the  West, the opposition, media) and without (the West and in particular the  U.S.) has become the main source of legitimacy of the Putin system. The  Russian leadership currently has no interest in renouncing this concept  of the enemy and resolving the conflict over Ukraine because then the  economic crisis and the lack of modernisation would once again become  the focus of attention.
*Misconception No. 2:  Putin cannot be replaced and after him things will only get worse.* Since he was first elected president in 2000, Vladimir Putin  has systematically strengthened his position of power and staffed key  positions with persons loyal to him from the security apparatus, in  particular the secret service, and from his time in Saint Petersburg's  city administration in the 1990s. Putin is also a mediator between  different groups that are not interest groups in the Western sense but  are dependent on Putin in one way or another. Corruption is inherent in  the system and loyalty at the highest levels of political leadership is  based on the possibilities available to the President for distributing  resources. Putin nevertheless has to strike a balance of interests  between these groups and settle conflicts. 
 On account of the above-mentioned lack of legitimacy and the  choice of repression over modernisation, since his re-election in 2012  Putin has shifted the balance that previously existed between the  generally pro-business part of the elite class and the representatives  of the security apparatus (referred to as the "siloviki" in Russian)  with the goal of maintaining power in favour of the latter group. This  has led to conflicts and the redistribution of resources within the  elite class. 
 Putin is also a PR figure that meets the need felt by a large  majority of the population for a strong national leadership figure. A  key factor in generating high approval ratings is the picture that  propaganda and the media paint of the persona of Putin. Part of this  "Putin myth" is that he is irreplaceable (just as Boris Yeltsin was at  times portrayed in public discourse) and that only he can guarantee  stability and political predictability. But just as it was possible for  Yeltsin to be replaced and for a relatively unknown secret service  officer to become president of Russia, it would be possible to establish  somebody new through media support  though only if there was a  consensus among the elite. 
 It remains to be seen whether post-Putin Russia will become  even more nationalistic or aggressive. The current government may be  actively promoting resentment among Russian society, but intolerance,  imperial nostalgia, a growing Russian ethnonationalism, paternalism and  anti-Western thinking are part of the political culture in Russian  society. 
*Misconception No. 3:  The worse the economic situation in Russia gets, the more pressure the oligarchs will exert on the system.* There are various theories about the stability of the Putin  system and the dangers of an economic collapse. They are, however,  rooted more in Kremlinology than in reality. In 2015, fewer Russians  than ever are willing to take to the streets to demonstrate and many of  those who did so in 2011/2012 are now either patriots or have left the  country. 
 One of Vladimir Putin's most significant successes in  consolidating his position of power was the taming of the oligarchs.  While some of the influential personalities behind Boris Yeltsin, such  as Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky, emigrated, Putin made an  example of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in order to cement the dominance of the  state over the economy. All the oligarchs that are successful under  Putin are either connected to his background in the secret service and  Saint Petersburg or they have adapted to the new rules. The President  alone decides who gets to take over which major enterprises. 
 At the same time, the global financial crisis of 2008/2009 and  Western sanctions in connection with the Ukraine crisis have made the  oligarchs even more dependent upon the state. Since 2009, the only way  for several oligarchs to refinance their foreign debts has been to  obtain credits from the big state-owned banks. This tendency has  increased since 2014 on account of the financial sanctions over the war  in eastern Ukraine as many Russian enterprises are no longer able to  obtain and refinance loans through the international financial market.  The state and its banks must thus once again step in and the dependence  increases; loyalty to Putin has become one of the most important  preconditions for the financial survival of many Russian oligarchs. 
 Should political and economic pressure continue to grow,  however, practically all oligarchs have real estate, bank accounts and  investments in the EU or the U.S. and could easily leave the country for  good. 
*Misconception No. 4:  Both Russia and the EU have a common interest in a stable neighbourhood.* While, in addition to opening up new markets, the European  Neighbourhood Policy primarily serves to stabilise the countries of the  EaP by modernising political and economic structures, Russian policy in  this region seems, above all, to have a destabilising and revisionist  effect. The key objective of the Russian government is to ensure its own  post-Soviet sphere of influence and to have it recognised by the West. 
 Stoking secession conflicts on the territories of post-Soviet  neighbouring states has become an important instrument of control and  influence over these countries. With the gradual incorporation of South  Ossetia and Abkhazia into the Russian Federation since 2008, the  annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the war in eastern Ukraine, the Russian  government is seeking to prevent integration of these states into the  EU and NATO. 
 At the same time, Moscow would prefer "Bosnisation" (referred  to in Russian as "Bosnisatsia") of Ukraine over Europeanisation;  permanently unstable territories that can be directly or indirectly  controlled over a loss of influence. Through hybrid warfare, states are  thus destabilised and criminal structures are promoted within an opaque  environment that cannot be controlled by these states themselves. As a  result, weak states emerge and are further destabilised and, if  necessary, turned into failed states. From Moscow's point of view,  non-integration into the West has precedence over socioeconomic  development. The North Caucasus and Chechnya under Ramzan Kadyrov in  particular are prime examples of how Russia has failed in the political  and economic development of its periphery and is ultimately financing  mafia structures to maintain order and thus continues to foster terror  and uncontrollable situations even on its own territory.
*Misconception No. 5:  In China and the Eurasian Economic Union, Russia has alternative options for development.* First of all, Russia's raw material exports are not  sufficiently diversified. The entire pipeline infrastructure is geared  towards the European market including Turkey and Ukraine. Russia thus  generates a large part of its income from exports to the stagnant EU  market. The country has virtually not tapped into the growth markets of  Asia at all, first arrangements with China are only slowly being  implemented and in the event of a conflict with the EU Moscow is placed  in an unfavourable bargaining position vis-à-vis Beijing.
 Unlike the EU, China does not provide a modernisation model for  Russia. The objective of Chinese policy is to develop new markets for  their own products and gain access to raw materials through lending and  building infrastructure. Except for the limited development of necessary  infrastructure, China's plans do not involve any modernisation of the  target countries. With the recently announced orientation towards China,  Russia would remain a provider of raw materials instead of becoming a  manufacturer of high-quality products and would consequently be a mere  junior partner to Beijing. The potential of both states to weaken  international institutions dominated by the U.S. should nevertheless not  be underestimated since there is an actual alignment of interests  between them.
 Cooperation with the EU has led to a modernisation in Russia in  some areas, the effect of which, however, has limited effect on account  of the obstacles to competition and investment posed by the dominance  of the state. At the same time, the Eurasian Economic Union, with its  objective of creating a common space of goods, services, capital and  labour modelled after the EU, offers its member states only limited  potential for development. This is due to the low innovation capability  of the post-Soviet states involved, the relatively small population and  the poor infrastructure. 
 When it comes to the founding states, the economies of Russia  and Kazakhstan complement each other only to a very limited extent since  both are first and foremost based on the export of raw materials.  Belarus and Russia were already well-integrated within the context of  the Union State  an arrangement that, owing to subsidies in the oil and  gas sectors, has so far resulted in financial losses for Moscow.  Countries such as Armenia and Kyrgyzstan also promise more costs than  benefits on account of their structural deficits and dependence on the  Russian market. Russia funds and promotes integration into the Eurasian  Economic Union through a predominantly bilateral system of incentives  and pressure and thus only increases existing modernisation deficits in  these countries. 
 Moscow has largely ignored the concept of an EU-Russia free  trade area "from Lisbon to Vladivostok", which has repeatedly been  proposed, most recently by the German Chancellor. The idea of a common  free trade area was first suggested to the EU by Russian President Putin  in 2011 but EU politicians at the time considered the concept  unrealistic. During the Ukraine conflict, Russia then further developed  the Eurasian Economic Union in order to use it as an instrument against  the influence of European Neighbourhood Policy measures in the  post-Soviet region.
_Dr Stefan Meister is Head of Programme on  Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia at the Robert Bosch Centre of  the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). This article reflects  the personal opinion of the author._

----------


## misskit

*UK military intelligence says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has largely stalled*

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has largely stalled on all fronts, with Russian forces suffering heavy losses and making minimal progress on land, sea or air in recent days, British military intelligence said on Thursday.


“Ukrainian resistance remains staunch and well-coordinated,” The Ministry of Defence said. “The vast majority of Ukrainian territory, including all major cities, remains in Ukrainian hands.”

UK military intelligence says Russia's invasion of Ukraine has largely stalled | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

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## misskit

*Melitopol mayor freed after kidnapping by Russian forces*

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who was abducted by Russian forces last week, has been freed, Ukrainian diplomat Olexander Scherba confirmed via Twitter on Wednesday.


Driving the news: The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs decried Fedorov's kidnapping as a war crime and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that his capture could signal "a new stage of terror" in the war.


Days after Fedorov, a second Ukrainian mayor, Yevhen Matveyev, from the southern city of Dniprorudne, was also kidnapped.
What they're saying: "Ukraine conducted a 'special operation' and rescued Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov from captivity in the occupied Luhansk! Melitopol is Ukraine!" Scherba tweeted.


Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Zelensky’s office, confirmed on Telegram that "Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov is already safe!" Tymoshenko then posted a video of Zelensky speaking by phone with Fedorov.

Melitopol mayor kidnapped by Russian forces freed

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## misskit

*Central Asians in Russia Pressured to Join Moscow's Fight in Ukraine*

Central Asian nationals residing in Russia are being pressured to fight in Ukraine as Moscow's military incurs heavier-than-expected losses, evidence suggests and migrants' rights activists say.


Russia’s three-week war in Ukraine has had a shockingly high death toll, although Russian and Ukrainian authorities dispute the number of troops killed on both sides. The fog of war makes it difficult to discern not only how many soldiers have died, but also who those soldiers are and where they came from.  

On March 1, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper leaked what appears to be the personal data of 120,000 Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. While coming from a reputable outlet, the independently unverified 6,616-page list of military personnel names, registration numbers and places of service contains multiple ethnically Central Asian names. 


Valentina Chupik, a civil rights advocate famous for her work defending migrant’s rights in Russia, confirmed that more than a dozen Central Asians have sought her legal advice following pressure to sign up for contract service in the Russian army since Feb. 26. 


In a conversation over the Telegram messaging app, she told The Moscow Times that she noticed two patterns by which migrants are being targeted.


Chupik said she received calls from 10 Tajikistan and Uzbekistan citizens who reside in Russia, saying they had received phone calls from people who claimed to represent immigration law firms and could expedite the process of receiving Russian citizenship if they signed up for contract service. 


“This is a complete lie, the law does not allow this,” Chupik said. “I told these guys that [the callers] are scammers.”


Another tactic involves army tents in several Moscow metro stations, where Chupik says recruiters try to get commuters to enlist with the “Volunteer Army of the Donetsk People’s Republic.” They target migrants, Chupik said, promising that they can obtain Russian citizenship in just six months. 


“I think the Russian government is using labor migrants as cannon fodder in Ukraine,” Chupik alleged in a recent interview. “These migrants are probably being signed up by the Defense Ministry and by private military companies.”  


In a comment on Facebook, Chupik — who in September 2021 was stripped of her asylum status by Russian authorities for her staunch work protecting migrants — urged male Central Asians between the ages of 18 and 60 to leave Russia as soon as possible.

Social media posts and media reports appear to corroborate Chupik’s assertions that Central Asians are being pressured to fight for Russian forces in Ukraine. 


A video of an Uzbek man allegedly driving a Russian military truck into Ukraine was widely shared via the Telegram messaging app. The man, who appeared to be in his 50s and was dressed in camouflage fatigues, said on camera that he was recruited because of his experience serving in Afghanistan and that he was given no choice but to sign up. 

“There are many Uzbeks here who have come to take part in the war. There are people from Tajikistan too. We have a contract,” said the man. 


After an RFE/RL investigation tracked him down, the man confirmed that he had been offered a three-month contract earning a monthly salary of 50,000 rubles ($475) and a promise of Russian citizenship.  


The job offer came from an employment listing website called UzMigrant.


Bakhrom Ismailov, the director of the company behind UzMigrant, bragged in a Feb. 20 Uzbek-language video that “contract service in the Russian army will allow one to obtain Russian citizenship in three months.”


In a TikTok video uploaded in early March by the account @kyrgyznation, a man warns of the possibility that Kyrgyz migrants could be called up to fight.  


“If you have a Russian passport and get a summons [to the military enlistment station], try to come back to Kyrgyzstan,” he says. 


Before @kyrgyznation turned off comments, the post was flooded with biting criticism of Kyrgyz men with Russian citizenship who would flee the draft. 


“If your passport is from the Russian Federation, then you’ll give your life to the Russian Federation,” one commenter wrote. 

“Shame on those who write such comments,” Chupik told The Moscow Times. “[These naturalized Central Asians] are intimidated with possible deprivation of [Russian] citizenship and forced to sign a contract. They must refuse. It is better to lose citizenship than to die in an unjust war or become a mercenary assassin.”

Russian citizenship is a prized possession for migrants from economically stagnant Central Asia. Unable to make their ends meet at home, Central Asians go to Russia in search of work and income. Remittances from work abroad, mostly from Russia, account for 30% of Tajikistan’s gross domestic product and 28% of Kyrgyzstan’s. 


According to Russian government statistics, 4.5 million workers from Uzbekistan, 2.4 million from Tajikistan, and 920,000 from Kyrgyzstan were working in Russia in 2021. These migrants face daily abuse, discrimination, and even death threats from law enforcement and deal with wage theft and ruthless bureaucracy. 


Russian citizenship offers some protection against these daily frictions. In 2020 alone, 63,389 Tajiks, 43,404 Kazakhs, 23,131 Uzbeks, and 11,865 Kyrgyz acquired citizenship, often through third parties who forge documents and bribe officials on behalf of the applicants without their knowledge, making the applicants vulnerable to denaturalization threats.


Whether pressured or enticed, this is not the first instance of Central Asians enlisting in the Russian army. 


Russia in 2003 codified the right of foreigners aged 18 to 30 to serve under a contract in the Russian army. Between 2008-2014, the number of foreigners serving under a contract — mostly Uzbeks and Tajiks — hovered between 200 and 350.  

In 2015 — the year that Russia responded to the Syrian government’s request for military aid against rebel groups — Putin signed a decree specifying that foreign contractors can be involved in the Russian army’s combat operations. 

Even if it is legal for foreign contractors to participate in Russia’s combat operations, Central Asian governments look down on their citizens serving abroad. In Tajikistan, citizens found guilty of mercenary activity are punished with up to 20 years in prison.


In response to proliferating reports about Uzbeks serving in the Russian army in Ukraine, the Uzbek Justice Ministry said in a statement that any Uzbek national found to have enlisted in the service of a foreign army or police service could face up to five years in prison.


Again, the way around these legal complications is for Central Asians to pursue Russian citizenship. In late December 2021 — less than two months before the invasion of Ukraine — Putin proposed to amend the law again to shorten the process of obtaining Russian citizenship for contract soldiers from former Soviet countries.


At least three Tajikistan-born contractors in the Russian army have reportedly been killed in Ukraine so far.


While it is difficult to get an accurate sense of public opinion across Central Asia on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reports of young men from Bishkek or Badakhshan fighting in Ukraine could further complicate Russia’s image in a region already wary of Putin’s ambitions for it. 


Despite their close economic ties with Russia, Central Asian leaders have avoided outright endorsement or criticism of Moscow’s war against Ukraine. 


During the March 2 special emergency session of the United Nations General Assembly, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan abstained from condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan did not vote at all. 


On Thursday, however, Uzbekistan took a stronger stance, with Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov telling parliament that although Tashkent wanted to keep good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv, it opposed the war.


"First, Uzbekistan is seriously concerned by the situation around Ukraine," he said. "Second, we are the proponents of finding a peaceful solution to this situation and resolving the conflict through political and diplomatic means. But in order to do that, first of all, hostilities and violence must stop immediately."

Central Asians in Russia Pressured to Join Moscow's Fight in Ukraine - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Kremlin Rejects Top UN Court's Order to Halt Ukraine Invasion*

The Kremlin rejected on Thursday a top UN court’s order to halt its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.


The International Court of Justice ordered Russia to “immediately suspend” its offensive that President Vladimir Putin ordered on Feb. 24. Kyiv hailed the ruling — which is binding but lacks any real means to enforce it — as a “complete victory.”

“We can’t take that decision into account,” the state-run TASS news agency quoted Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov as saying.


Peskov echoed Moscow’s stance during hearings earlier this month that the ICJ has no jurisdiction because Kyiv’s request fell outside the 1948 Genocide Convention on which it based the case.


“There’s such a thing as consent of the parties in an international court. There can be no consent here,” he told reporters.


But the ICJ ruled Wednesday that it had jurisdiction in the case.


Ukraine asked the ICJ to intervene, arguing that Moscow was falsely alleging genocide in Ukraine's separatist-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions to justify its attack.  


Presiding judge Joan Donoghue said the ICJ lacked evidence of genocide being committed in Ukraine. She expressed doubt that the Genocide Convention authorized military action “for the purpose of preventing or punishing an alleged genocide.”

No Russian representatives attended the hearing at The Hague.


Experts say a full hearing into Ukraine’s case could take years.

Kremlin Rejects Top UN Court's Order to Halt Ukraine Invasion - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

‘*Miraculous’ Survivors Made It Into Destroyed Mariupol Drama Theater’s Bomb Shelter Before Russian Strike Hit*

People started miraculously staggering out of a makeshift bomb shelter Thursday morning under a theater in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where hundreds of Ukrainian citizens had been sheltering when it was reportedly struck by Russian forces on Wednesday.


The spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted the good news Thursday morning. “The bomb shelter in Mariupol Drama Theatre has survived the brutal Russian missile,” Iuliia Mendel posted Thursday. “At least, majority stayed alive after bombing. People are getting out from the rubble.”

MORE ‘Miraculous’ Survivors Made It Into Destroyed Mariupol Drama Theater’s Bomb Shelter Before Russian Strike Hit

----------


## sabang

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has blamed NATO for the war in Ukraine and says he will resist calls to condemn Russia, in comments that cast doubt over whether he would be accepted by Ukraine as a mediator.

"The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to greater, not less, instability in the region," Ramaphosa said, a view also maintained by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ramaphosa did, however, say South Africa "cannot condone the use of force and violation of international law" in an apparent reference to the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, which Russia calls a "special operation" to disarm and "denazify" Ukraine.

Ukraine and its allies believe Russia launched the unprovoked war to subjugate a neighbour Putin calls an artificial state.

Ramaphosa also revealed that Putin had assured him personally that negotiations were making progress.

The South African leader said he had not yet talked with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

On Friday, Ramaphosa's office said South Africa had been asked to mediate in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that he had told Putin it should be settled through negotiations.

He did not say who had asked him to intervene.

"There are those who are insisting that we should take a very adversarial stance against Russia. The approach we are going to take (instead) is... insisting that there should be dialogue," Ramaphosa added.

"Screaming and shouting is not going to bring an end to this conflict."

NATO could have avoided war: South Africa

----------


## sabang

*Russian fast-food chain backed by parliament to replace McDonald’s reveals near-identical branding*






A Russian restaurant chain billed as a replacement for McDonald’s has reportedly revealed a logo that is extremely similar to the fast-food giant’s famous gold arches.
A trademark registration for the Uncle Vanya franchise was filed last week with Russian authorities, according to media reports.

McDonald’s last week said it would temporarily close all 847 of its restaurants in Russia as global brands face consumer pressure to oppose Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian fast-food chain backed by parliament to replace McDonald’s reveals near-identical branding

----------


## sabang

*Koch Industries won’t join the more than 400 companies who have left Russia*



Koch Industries says it will not pull its business out of Russia, defying the trend set by other corporations of suspending their in-country operations to protest the invasion of Ukraine.

According to the _Washington Post_, the company, one of the largest privately-owned businesses in the US, employs 122,000 people around the world, with just over 600 working at a subsidiary, Guardian Industries, inside Russia.

The company said it would continue its operations in Russia because to do otherwise would put its "employees there at greater risk and do more harm than good."

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, more than 400 companies have pulled their operations out of Russia. Some firms pulled out shortly after the war began, while others - like McDonald's and Coca-Cola - did so after public pressure intensified.

However, Koch Industries has bucked that trend, as have around 30 other companies, according to a list compiled by Yale management professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and his research team.

The other companies include the likes of Reebok, Cargill, Halliburton, LG Electronics, Cinnabon and Subway.

Full Article-  Koch Industries won’t join the more than 400 companies who have left Russia

----------


## sabang

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has processed funds that were earmarked for interest payments due on dollar bonds issued by the Russian government and sent the money on to Citigroup Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

JPMorgan was the correspondent bank Russia used to send the payment to Citigroup, which is acting as payment agent on the bonds, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. JPMorgan sent the money to Citigroup after it sought and received the required approvals from U.S. authorities on Wednesday, one of the people said.

Representatives for JPMorgan and Citigroup declined to comment.

While European bondholders of Russia’s sovereign debt have received no sign of the funds, the move spurred optimism that the bonds may be settled, sending prices higher across maturities. The implied probability of a default by Russia within the year inched lower to 57%, down from 59%, according to credit default swap pricing. Last week it was as high as 80%.

“This seems to take a technical default off the table for now,” Kaan Nazli, a money manager at Neuberger Berman in The Hague, Netherlands. “However, there is still some uncertainty over corporate debt as only a number of companies have been given leeway.”

Citigroup is the payment agent for about four dozen bonds tied to Russian companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Some of those companies -- including MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC and Gazprom PJSC -- have successfully made coupon payments in recent days.

JPMorgan Processed Russia Bond Payments, Sent Money to Citi

----------


## misskit

*Top Russian general reportedly detained as Putin targets 'traitors' amid Ukraine invasion*

The deputy chief of Russian’s National Guard was reportedly detained Thursday amid news that Russian President Vladimir Putin is cracking down on disloyalty within his ranks following the invasion of Ukraine. 


Russian Gen. Roman Gavrilov, of Rosgvardia, the internal military force of the Russian Federation that reports directly to the president of the Russian Federation, was detained by the Russian security and counterintelligence agency, Federal Security Service (FSB), according to Christo Grozev, CEO of the Netherlands-based investigative journalism group Bellingcat. 


The reason for Gavrilov's detention wasn’t immediately clear. Grozev said one of his sources told him that Gavrilov was detained by the FSB's military counter-intelligence department over "leaks of military info that led to loss of life," while two other sources said the reason was for "wasteful squandering of fuel."

MORE Top Russian general reportedly detained as Putin targets '&#39;'traitors'&#39;' amid Ukraine invasion | Fox News

----------


## sabang

*Journalist who protested war on Russian TV remains defiant after arrest: ‘It was impossible to stay silent’*



A Russian broadcast journalist arrested for her anti-war protests on live state television says “it was simply impossible to stay silent”.

Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor for Russia’s Channel One, was found guilty for an “unauthorized public event” after holding up a “NO WAR” sign and releasing a public statement blaming Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine.

Ms Ovsyannikova says many of her colleagues see the distortion between what is happening in Ukraine and the state propaganda being broadcast in Russia in an information war, adding even her elderly mother has been “brainwashed”.

“I can’t talk to her for five minutes because these phrases she keeps repeating, the phrases she keeps hearing on TV, the phrases that our propagandists created, and I think that 50 per cent of our society are like my mum,” Ms Ovsyannikova told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

She added the decision to protest live on air had been brewing for a while and grew with her feeling of cognitive dissonance
Between her personal beliefs and the official government narrative being broadcast.

“It was a growing sense of dissatisfaction that had been increasing every year, and the war was the point of no return, when it was simply impossible to stay silent,” she said.

Ms Ovsyannikova, a mother of two, was compelled to speak out given her memories of growing up as a 12-year-old girl in Chechnya, where Russia also conducted airstrikes during its war in 1991.

Full Article-  Journalist who protested war on Russian TV remains defiant after arrest: ‘It was impossible to stay silent’ (msn.com)

----------


## S Landreth

> JPMorgan Chase & Co. has processed funds that were earmarked for interest payments due on dollar bonds issued by the Russian government and sent the money on to Citigroup Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.


Could be good news.

Hope it continues.

----------


## bsnub

> Days after Fedorov, a second Ukrainian mayor, Yevhen Matveyev, from the southern city of Dniprorudne, was also kidnapped.
> What they're saying: "Ukraine conducted a 'special operation' and rescued Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov from captivity in the occupied Luhansk! Melitopol is Ukraine!" Scherba tweeted.


That will be an op that will be written about for sure. No doubt it was these guys...

*After two weeks of war, one of the most puzzling features is the  clumsy and largely inefficient logistics that has so far dogged Russian  offensive operations.*

 The infamous  kilometers-long Russian convoy stuck northwest of Kyiv being only one of  many cases of bumbling behavior. While many Russian military affairs  experts have rightly attributed these shortcomings to poor battle  planning, troops’ unpreparedness, and technical breakdowns, the  effectiveness of Ukrainian forces should also be noted — they have  mounted a stiff and clever resistance aimed at disrupting Russian  logistics and lines of communication, with notable results. 

 Against  this backdrop, Ukrainian special operations forces (SOF) are emerging  as a pivotal component of the Kyiv government’s strategy to erode the  sustainability of the Russian invasion by raising its human and materiel  costs through a combination of guerrilla tactics, mobile defense, and  ad-hoc counterattacks.

*The Ukrainian special operations forces at a glance
*
 Ukraine’s decision to establish a Special Operations Command (SOCOM) as a separate service branch came at the end of 2015 following a string of military setbacks  in the south-eastern region of Donbas, where Russian-backed separatists  exploited the structural deficiencies and unpreparedness of the  Ukrainian military and took control of large swathes of Donetsk and  Luhansk provinces, which were proclaimed the “People's Republics of  Donetsk and Luhansk” (DPR and LPR) in the spring of 2014.

 This  painful experience and the continuing Russian threat pushed the  political leadership in Kyiv to launch an ambitious restructuring of the  national armed forces. The 100% increase  in Ukraine’s defense budget between 2015 and 2020, from $2.96bn to  $5.92bn (about 4.1% of GDP), provides an idea of the urgency of these  reforms, which aimed to modernize the Ukrainian military and improve  their capabilities by prioritizing key areas such as command and  control, maintenance, training and professionalization, operations  planning, and investments in new weaponry.

 This effort was complemented by the substantial support of Western countries, including the US, UK, Canada,  and several European nations in the form of financial assistance,  security sector reform (SSR) programs, and multiple defense cooperation  initiatives within the framework of the 2016 NATO Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine.

 The Ukrainian Special Operations Command, which includes approximately 2,000 personnel enlisted  in seven special operations regiments split between the army and navy  (this does not include the country’s main intelligence service, the  SBU), has been amongst the main beneficiaries of Western support.  Ukrainian special operators regularly participate in NATO military  exercises, including all recent editions of the Combined Resolve Exercise, and bilateral as well as multinational training schemes involving NATO and non-NATO partner countries. A secretive US-led training program  for Ukrainian special forces units was also launched by the CIA in the  US in 2015. The goal was the creation of a highly professional force  radically different from its Soviet-trained predecessor and which was  designed to sharpen insurgency tactics and “kill Russians”, as one  trainer put it.

 This extensive  cooperation is said to have tremendously improved Ukrainian SOF’s  interoperability and capabilities, and in 2019 Ukraine’s 140th SOF Center became the first-ever non-NATO unit to obtain NATO’s SOF certification, becoming eligible to deploy under the NATO Response Force’s umbrella, with additional units expected  to join the club soon. Training at alliance standards has also granted  privileged access to state-of-the-art equipment, including advanced night-vision goggles, portable real-time intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), and communication devices,  which greatly enhances the effectiveness of Ukraine’s SOF in highly  contested areas. Since 2016, Ukrainian SOF have improved to become the  tip of a reforged national military that, just two years earlier, was described as “an army in ruins” by its chief of staff and was barely able to deploy 1,000 fully trained and equipped personnel out of 200,000 on the books.


*The Russian invasion: Ukrainian SOF’s litmus test
*
 While  Ukrainian SOF was established in the context of the operation against  irregular separatist units and hybrid threats emanating from Russia,  over the years their role has inevitably evolved as part of the  country’s preparation for a conventional conflict with the Russian army.  Given the prolonged and well-documented military build-up around  Ukraine, an all-out Russian offensive was expected, although it has  clearly proved incredibly challenging. Still, the available evidence  suggests that the Ukrainian SOF are performing remarkably well against  an opponent that – at least on paper – enjoys both superior capabilities  and overwhelming firepower.

 The  reasons lie not only in superior tactical skills compared to most  Russian troops that have so far taken part in the invasion, but also in  the ability to operate at night and in Russia’s poor tactics, as  corroborated by the latter’s substantial lack of coordination — even at the platoon level — and combined arms maneuver capabilities.

 Ukrainian SOF has repelled advancing Russian mechanized forces in Kyiv’s suburbs, especially Bucha, Irpin,  and Hostomel, causing heavy losses. In other areas, they have  maintained a “lower” profile and engaged in irregular warfare and  operations behind enemy lines to attack the logistical tail, including  supply convoys and Russian outposts such as the Chornobaivka airfield, near the Russian-occupied city of Kherson.

 SOF  units represent a force multiplier and offer Ukraine special skills  that are meant to bridge critical gaps in key military domains, while  personnel- and equipment-heavy frontline units should remain the  preserve of the regular army. But as Russia adjusts its approach and  pours new men and equipment into Ukraine, Ukrainian SOF may be forced to  engage in more conventional and high-intensity combat against a heavily  armed and less-restrained rival.

 Although  there are no available reports on SOF casualties (it’s unlikely there  ever will be), attrition will exact its toll as the conflict continues,  with serious consequences in terms of replacements and unit rotation  given the force’s highly selective recruitment standards.  Notwithstanding their adaptability, should the conflict continue at its  current intensity, the Ukrainian SOF risk being stretched dangerously  thin within a few weeks.

 In  anticipation of this and the need to continue a longer-term war of  resistance against an occupying force, Ukrainian special forces are  likely to use strategies that focus on active/mobile defense to buy time  – as they are currently doing – especially if integrated within a  nationwide irregular struggle aimed at exhausting the enemy’s human and  material resources. This entails a smart relocation of SOF units across  Ukraine, embedding them with local resistance, and ensuring they have  continuous access to Western supplies and intelligence.

*What lessons for NATO and Western militaries?
*
 Although  the invasion is not yet three weeks old, Russia’s aggression already  holds lessons for military planners and offers lessons to Western, and  especially European countries, regarding the need to relaunch defense as  an integral and essential component of foreign policy.

 When it comes to special operations forces, this development makes it necessary to reassess  – and possibly recalibrate — their role, taking into account their  potential use against peer-adversaries in highly contested as well as  hybrid environments, but also ensuring these forces preserve their  distinctive nature.

 Despite  clear evidence regarding the poor performance of Russian troops in  Ukraine, conventional war with NATO would certainly be different in  terms of Russian military commitment, with key confrontations likely  taking place in high-intensity scenarios where SOF must be ready to use  traditional techniques, but also hybrid approaches based on advanced  technologies and cyber warfare aimed at disabling an opponent before  they can react.

https://cepa.org/hunting-the-invader...ations-troops/

----------


## bsnub

> Everything.


Bullshit. 

But since you are intent to drive this thread off-topic to hide the fact that the war is going bad for your Holiness, I will post something that actually is about Russia and Ukraine...

China is quietly distancing itself from Russia's sanction-hit economy.The two states proclaimed last month that their friendship had "no limits." That was before Russia launched its war in Ukraine. 

Now, with Russia's economy being slammed with sanctions from all over the world, there is growing evidence that China's willingness and ability to aid its northern neighbor may  be limited. 

Beijing has refused to condemn Russia's attack on Ukraine  but wants to avoid being impacted by the sanctions it has repeatedly  denounced as an ineffective way of resolving the crisis.

"China is not a party to the [Ukraine] crisis, and doesn't want the sanctions to affect China," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Tuesday during a phone call with his Spanish counterpart.

Beijing  also gave its full backing Wednesday to comments made earlier this week  by China's ambassador to Ukraine. "China will never attack Ukraine. We  will help, especially economically," Fan Xianrong was quoted as saying  in a press release from the Lviv regional government. 

Fears that Chinese companies could face US sanctions over ties with Russia had contributed to an epic sell-off in Chinese stocksrecent  days. That slump was reversed Wednesday when Beijing promised it would  pursue policies to boost its sputtering economy and keep financial  markets stable.

US officials told CNN on Monday that they have information suggesting China has expressed some openness to providing Russia with requested military and financial assistance. China dismissed that as "disinformation."

Analysts saythat  China is attempting to strike "a delicate balance" between supporting  Russia rhetorically but without further antagonizing the United States. 

Beijing  and Moscow share a strategic interest in challenging the West. However,  Chinese banks cannot afford to lose access to US dollars, and many  Chinese industries cannot afford tobe deprived of US technology.

While China is Russia's No. 1 trading partner, Beijing has other priorities.Trade  between the two countries made up just 2% of China's total trade  volume. The European Union and the United States have much larger  shares, according to Chinese customs statistics from last year.

Here are some measures Beijing has taken in the last few weeks to distance itselffrom theisolated andcrumblingRussian economy.

*Letting the ruble drop*

China's  currency, the yuan, doesn't trade completely freely, moving instead  within bands set by officials at the People's Bank of China (PBOC). Last  week, they doubled the size of the ruble trading range, allowing the  Russian currency to fall faster.

The ruble has already lost more than 20%of  its value against both the dollar and euro since the start of the war  in Ukraine. By allowing the Russian currency to fall against the yuan,  Beijing isn't doing Moscow any favors.

Russians  will have to pay more in rubles for Chinese imports such as smartphones  and cars. Chinese phone brands like Xiaomi and Huawei are hugely  popular in Russia, and were vying with Apple (AAPL) and Samsung (SSNLF) for market leadership before the war. 

Chinese car makers, such as Great Wall Motor and Geely Auto, occupy 7% of Russia's market,  selling more than 115,000 vehicles last year. Great Wall Motor has  stopped supplying new cars to dealers in Russia because of the exchange  rate fluctuations.

Expanding  the trading band would allow the yuan to keep up with the ruble's wild  swings, so that Chinese companies can "better grasp the magnitude or  trend of future exchange rate fluctuations and reduce exchange risks by  using hedging methods, such as derivatives," state-owned China Business Network reported last week. 

Currently, about $25 billion of China-Russia trade is conducted in yuan, Chinese state media reported.

*Sitting on reserves*

The  most significant help China could offer Russia is through the $90  billion worth of reserves Moscow holds in yuan, wrote Alicia  García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis, in a  research report on Tuesday. 

Sanctions  have frozen about $315 billion worth of Russia's reserves — or roughly  half the total — as Western countries have banned dealing with the  Russian central bank. 

Russia's  finance minister Anton Siluanov said this week that the country wanted  to use yuan reserves after Moscow was blocked from accessing US dollars  and euros, according to Russia's state media.

The PBOC has so far not made any comment about its position regarding these reserves. 

If  China allowed Moscow to convert its yuan reserves into US dollars or  euros, "that would clearly help Russia's current impasse,"  García-Herrero noted. However, "the reputational risk of potentially  breaching Western sanctions would be a huge step for the PBOC to take  and therefore makes it highly unlikely," she said.

"The  long-term gains of moving closer to Russia might not match the impact  of Western investors suddenly losing interest in China," she added.

*Withholding aircraft parts*

Sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union mean that the world's two major aircraft makers, Boeing (BA) and Airbus (EADSF),  are no longer able to supply spare parts or provide maintenance support  for Russian airlines. The same is true of jet engine makers.

That  means Russian airlines could run out of parts within a matter of weeks,  or fly planes without having equipment replaced as frequently as  recommended to operate safely.

Earlier  this month, a top Russian official said that China has refused to send  aircraft parts to Russia as Moscow looks for alternative supplies. 

Valery  Kudinov, head of aircraft airworthiness at Russia's air transport  agency, was quoted by Russian state news agency Tass as saying that  Russia would look for opportunities to source parts from countries  including Turkey and India after a failed attempt to obtain them from  China.

"As far as I know ... China refused," Kudinov was quoted as saying.

In response to CNN's request for comment, China's foreign ministry reiterated Beijing'sopposition to sanctions adding that China and Russia will maintain "normal economic and trade cooperation."

China  and Russia set up a civil aviation joint venture in 2017 to build a new  long-haul, widebody passenger plane, seeking to rival the duopoly of  Boeing and Airbus. Production of the CR929 has begun,  but disagreements over suppliers have caused delays. The plane was  initially expected to be offered to customers in 2024. But Russia  postponed the timeline to 2028 to 2029.

*Freezing infrastructure investment*

The  World Bank has halted all its programs in Russia and Belarus following  the invasion of Ukraine. It hadn't approved any new loans or investments  to Russia since 2014, and none to Belarus since 2020. 

More  surprisingly, perhaps, is the decision by the Beijing-based Asian  Infrastructure Investment Bank to do the same. In a statement earlier  this month, it said it was suspending all its activities related to  Russia and Belarus "as the war in Ukraine unfolds." The move was "in the  best interests" of the bank, it added.

Frustrated  by a relative lack of influence at the World Bank (based in Washington,  D.C.) and the Asian Development Bank (where Japan is a major force),  China launched the AIIB in 2016. In addition to hosting the headquarters, China provides the president of the bank and has 26.5% of the votes. India and Russia have 7.6% and 6% respectively. 

The AIIB's decision to suspend activities in Russia means $1.1 billion of approved or proposed lending aimed at improving the country's road and rail networks is now on hold. 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/17/busin...ction-intl-hnk

----------


## misskit

*Russia Strikes Near Lviv Airport as Bombardment Expands Across Ukraine*

Russian missiles struck near Lviv's airport in the far west of Ukraine early Friday, as Moscow expanded a countrywide aerial bombardment campaign that has intensified allegations of war crimes and deliberate targeting of civilians.


Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said Russian forces had destroyed an aircraft repair plant — which sits near the Polish border.

Ambulance and police vehicles raced to the scene, while motorists were turned away at checkpoints. An AFP reporter saw a thick pall of smoke billowing over the airport.


"Several missiles hit an aircraft repair plant," the mayor said on the messaging app Telegram, adding that the plant had been destroyed.


Located 70 kilometers from the border, Lviv had until now largely escaped military strikes from Russian forces.

MORE Russia Strikes Near Lviv Airport as Bombardment Expands Across Ukraine - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Six cruise missiles fired at Lviv from submarine in Black Sea - West air command*

Six cruise missiles were fired at Lviv from a submarine located in the Black Sea, the West air command reports on its Facebook page.


"According to preliminary data, six cruise missiles, possibly X-555, were fired from a submarine in the Black Sea," the report says.


"Two missiles were destroyed in the air by the anti-aircraft missile forces of the West air command," the report says.


As reported, Russian missiles hit Lviv near the airport.

Six cruise missiles fired at Lviv from submarine in Black Sea - West air command

----------


## bsnub

> The U.S. will directly transfer the following  equipment to the Ukrainian military as part of the latest package,  according to a White House fact sheet:
> 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems2,000 Javelin anti-armor missiles1,000 light anti-armor weapons6,000 AT-4 anti-armor systems100 Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (armed drones)7,000  small arms for both military and civilian use (100 grenade launchers,  5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns and 400 shotguns)Over 20 million rounds of ammunition25,000 sets of body armor25,000 helmets


I am still trying to identify what long range anti-aircraft missile systems will be provided, as they were written into the bill but not mentioned yet by the press. Looks like more SA-8's and S-300's. They will stop the air campaign over Kyiv and help the counter offensive that is underway to retake the suburbs.

----------


## bsnub

YES!!!! These things are wicked as they are operated from the ground by special forces and Ukraine spec ops are having a big effect on the ground. *Slava Ukraini!*

The U.S. will send 100 Switchblade  drones to Ukraine as part of the Biden administration’s new $800 million  weapons package, Texas Rep. Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told POLITICO.

 The inclusion of the “tactical”  drones, which crash into their targets, represents a new phase of  weaponry being sent to Ukraine by the U.S., which so far has shipped  mostly anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. An administration official  confirmed McCaul’s account that the U.S. is sending the Switchblade.

The Switchblade is a small, light  drone that can loiter in the air for up to 30 minutes before being  directed to its target by an operator on the ground, dozens of miles  away. The drone is launched from a tube, like a mortar shell. Its  real-time GPS guidance allows a service member in the field to fly it  until the moment it crashes and explodes into whatever the target might  be.
 The weapon was first fielded in  Afghanistan by U.S. special operations forces, but quickly was picked up  by the Army and Marine Corps, who saw value in the light, accurate  munition that can help thwart ambushes or take out vehicles. NBC News first reported that Switchblade was under consideration by the White House.

 McCaul also said that the U.S. was  “working with allies” to send more S-300 surface-to-air missile systems  to Ukraine. The country has had the S-300 for years, so troops should  require little-to-no training on how to operate the Soviet-era  anti-aircraft equipment. CNN reported that Slovakia had preliminarily agreed to transfer their S-300s to Ukraine.

 The revelations come shortly after President Joe Biden announced the new $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine,  which also includes 800 more Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 2,000  anti-armor Javelins, 1,000 light anti-armor weapons and 6,000 AT-4  anti-armor systems. The AT-4 is a lightweight recoilless rifle already  used by American special operations forces.

 “The United States and our allies  and partners are fully committed to surging weapons of assistance to the  Ukrainians, and more will be coming as we source additional stocks of  equipment that we’re ready to transfer,” Biden said.

 Hours earlier, Ukrainian President  Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a virtual speech to members of Congress,  imploring the president and lawmakers to implement a no-fly zone over  Ukraine and provide his country with more materiel.

A Western diplomat familiar with  Ukraine’s requests said Kyiv specifically has asked the U.S. and allies  for more Stingers and Starstreak man-portable air-defense systems,  Javelins and other anti-tank weapons, ground-based mobile air-defense  systems, armed drones, long-range anti-ship missiles, “off-the-shelf”  electronic warfare capabilities, and satellite navigation and  communications jamming equipment.

 “I have a dream. These words are  known to each of you today,” Zelenskyy said. “I can say, I have a need. I  need to protect our sky. I need your help.”

 “We need to give him more defense mechanisms. He kept saying no-fly zone. I think that’s probably still a non-starter,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told POLITICO. “That doesn’t mean we can’t up the amount, do more with equipment and drones and other things that would be just as helpful.”

 Ukraine has succeeded in defending  Kyiv, the capital, and stalling Russia’s advances three weeks after the  invasion started. The U.S.-led Western push to put advanced, lethal  weaponry in Ukrainian hands boosted the resistance, which to date has  met a shambolic Russian advance lacking in strategy and logistics.

 To further help, there is a push to  get Eastern European allies to send new air defense systems to Ukraine  that the U.S. doesn’t have. At the top of the list are mobile,  Russian-made missile systems such as the SA-8 and S-300. Like the S-300,  Ukraine also possesses SA-8s.

 The SA-8 is a mobile, short-range  air defense system still in the warehouses of Romania, Bulgaria and  Poland. The larger, long-range S-300 is still in use by Bulgaria, Greece  and Slovakia.
 Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s  trip to Europe this week will include not only NATO headquarters in  Brussels, but also stops in Bulgaria and Slovakia — countries that own  S-300s and SA-8s — before heading back to Washington, D.C.

U.S. sending Switchblade drones to Ukraine in $800 million package - POLITICO

----------


## misskit

*Russian Warships Shelling Towns Near Odesa as Naval Activity Increasers in Northern Black Sea*

Russian ships are shelling targets in the suburbs of Odesa as naval activity ticks up in the Black Sea, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.


“We do see increased naval activity in the northern Black Sea,” a senior defense official told reporters on Wednesday.
We also have observed on our own the shelling of some town outside of Odessa near Odessa, but not in Odessa. We believe these are… from Russian warships in the Black Sea.


The official did not say if the shelling was a precursor to an amphibious landing near the port city.


“It could be that they are preparing the way for some sort of ground assault on Odesa,” the official said.
“We would not see them surprised in taking Odesa given its strategic location.”


The shelling follows a Tuesday mobilization of Russian amphibious warships off the coast of Odesa in the Black Sea that ultimately turned back to their staging area near Crimea.


Fourteen Russian ships were seen operating in off the southern coast of Ukraine, according to open-source analysts H I Sutton and Damien Symon earlier tracked a Russian amphibious assault group and two surface combatants operating near the coast of Odesa in the Black Sea.


“Two [groups] are made up of combatants, and one has several landing ships. The landing ships appear to have sailed directly from their staging position off the Crimean coast,” they wrote in Naval News.

In total, the pair saw 14 ships, led by a Russian minesweeper, approach the coast off Odesa and then turn back toward Crimea. Pentagon officials confirmed the basic details on Wednesday.


In late February, thousands of Russian troops landed on the Sea of Azov coast without resistance as part of the ongoing Mariupol siege. They have not yet made an amphibious landing in the Black Sea.


The Kremlin has moved six amphibious landing ships into the Black Sea since the start of the year to join landing ships that were already part of the Black Sea fleet.


These include three Ropucha-class tank landing ships, which are capable of landing 10 main battle tanks and 350 troops ashore. The larger Ivan Gren-class, also in the Black Sea, can move 13 main battle tanks and 300 troops while also fielding two attack helicopters.


According to notices to mariners, the sea approaches to Odessa and surrounding beaches are heavily mined, which would complicate a landing.


Russian amphibious forces aren’t skilled at contested amphibious landings and would need an uncontested beach to deploy vehicles and naval infantry.

The total of Russia’s amphibious forces in the Pacific could be heading to support the war effort in Ukraine, Japanese officials said on Wednesday.


All of Russia’s amphibious forces in the Pacific are on the move, possibly on their way to support Russian forces in Ukraine, Japanese officials said on Wednesday.


Japanese officials say four Russian Navy amphibious warfare ships transited the Tsugaru Strait on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Japan Ministry of Defense posted on social media on Wednesday that they might be transporting troops and vehicles for operations in Ukraine.


The first two ships were sighted Tuesday traveling westward about 44 miles east-northeast of Shiriyazaki. The release identified the ships by pennant numbers and class as Landing Ship Tanks (LST) RFS Nikolay Vilkov (081) and RFS Oslyabya (066), with photos showing Nikolay Vilkov’s open vehicle deck carrying a number of Russian trucks. Two more ships – LSTs RFS Admiral Nevelskoy (055) and RFS Peresvet (077) – were sighted on Wednesday morning 135 miles east-northeast of Shiriyazaki. On both occasions, the ships subsequently sailed west through the Tsugaru Strait and into the Sea of Japan. They were surveilled by the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer JS Shiranui (DD-120) and JMSDF P-3C Orions of Fleet Air Wing based at Hachinohe Air Base, Honshu, according to the release.

The four ships represent the entire complement of the Russian Navy Pacific Fleet’s amphibious ships. Japan tracked the Nikolay Vilkov, Admiral Nevelskoy and Oslyabya operating in the Sea of Japan and the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk in February as part of the Russian Navy’s global fleet-wide exercises held in January and February. The photo release then by Japan of Nikolay Vilkov showed it traveling with an empty deck, making it likely that Nikolay Vilkov is now transporting vehicles from the Russian garrison in the Kuril Islands to Vladivostok where they will be transported by rail as replacements for losses in Ukraine.


The Tsugaru Strait divides Honshu and Hokkaido. Japan’s territorial waters extend only three nautical miles in the strait, allowing foreign warships to transit it without violating Japan’s sovereignty. However, Japan has expressed concerns about transits by Russian and Chinese naval vessels and regularly tasks JMSDF ships and aircraft to shadow vessels from the two nations in the strait.  A Russian Navy 10-ship group transited Tsugaru Strait on March 10.

PICS Russian Warships Shelling Towns Near Odesa as Naval Activity Increasers in Northern Black Sea - USNI News






A couple of these ships are rust buckets. The Russians don’t maintain thier equipment very well!

----------


## bsnub

> Russian Warships Shelling Towns Near Odesa as Naval Activity Increasers in Northern Black Sea


Odessa is ready for this scum.

----------


## sabang

Odessa would be a bloodbath- I pray it never happens. But I also know Putin & Co have a major hard-on about the Odessa massacre.

----------


## sabang

Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian editor who protested against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Monday, has said she is quitting her job, but has rejected France’s offer of asylum as she is a “patriot”.


The journalist, who staged a highly-publicised protest during a state TV news broadcast, was detained after barging onto the set shouting: “Stop the war. No to war”, and holding a sign which read: “Don’t believe the propaganda. They’re lying to you here.”



Marina Ovsyannikova: TV protest 'was my own decision'


She appeared in court on Tuesday after being charged with organising an unauthorised public event and was fined 30,000 roubles (£220), but could face further prosecution and imprisonment.

Speaking to _France 24_ from Moscow on Thursday, she confirmed that she had “handed in all the documents” for her resignation from Channel One. “It’s a legal procedure,” she said.

The mother-of-two said that her gesture had “broken the life of our family”, with her son showing signs of anxiety.

“But we need to put an end to this fratricidal war so this madness does not turn into nuclear war,” she said. “I hope when my son is older he will understand why I did this.”

French president, Emmanuel Macron, offered asylum or other forms of consular protection to Ovsyannikova, saying he would raise her case with the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

But Ovsyannikova told Germany’s _Der Spiegel_ that she did not want to leave Russia, despite the potential danger she is in.

“I don’t want to leave our country,” she said. “I am a patriot, my son is even more so. We don’t want to leave in any way, we don’t want to go anywhere.”

Before staging her protest during the live broadcast, Ovsyannikova released a pre-recorded via through OVD-Info and Telegram, in which she admitted she was “ashamed” for working at Channel One and spreading “Kremlin propaganda”.

Russian journalist who staged anti-war protest rejects France’s offer of asylum (msn.com)

----------


## misskit

*Russia seems to have a very bad army. That's not good for Ukrainian civilians*

The accounts of Russia's military issues and ineptitude during its three-week-long invasion of Ukraine are too numerous to list.


The proof of Russia's military problems is in a video of Russian tanks, stuck in a line, being destroyed by Ukrainians -- and in reports of Russian combat deaths, which already may be anywhere from 3,000 to more than 10,000.


If those death tolls are toward the higher end -- and we really don't know -- it has been noted that would mean Russian deaths to date could be more than US military combat deaths during 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan combined, although the total death tolls from those conflicts were far greater than just US military deaths.


There are numerous accounts of Russian soldiers surprised to learn they had been sent to war.


CNN spoke with Russians held as prisoners of war in Ukraine. Nearly a dozen POWs have appeared in news conferences -- public appearances that may be questionable under the Geneva Conventions, which forbid countries from unnecessarily humiliating POWs.


Soldiers with regret


CNN decided to publish interviews with captured Russian pilots. CNN had the only journalists in the room and at no time did Ukrainian Security Services, which also was in the room throughout, interject or direct CNN or the prisoners to ask or answer specific questions. The interview was conducted in Russian.


One, a pilot named Maxim, became emotional with anger and regret at what Russia has done.


"It's not just about demilitarizing Ukraine or the defeat of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but now cities of peaceful civilians are being destroyed," Maxim said. "Even, I don't know, what can justify, f**k, the tears of a child, or even worse, the deaths of innocent people, children."


There are reports of Russian soldiers who were surprised to learn they had invaded a country rather than taken part in a training exercise. Others have abandoned their posts.


Why did Russia's army perform so poorly?


Among the most detailed and engaging analyses cataloging Russia's foibles is an excellent conversation between retired Gen. David Petraeus, who formerly headed the CIA and commanded US forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the journalist Peter Bergen. Read it here via CNN Opinion.
Petraeus praised the determination of the Ukrainians: "They are fighting for their national survival, their homeland and their way of life, and they have the home-field advantage, knowing the terrain and communities."


But he also described the Russian army's shortcomings, which begin with the fact that some portion of it -- a quarter, according to one estimate -- is made up of conscripts rather than professional soldiers.


The US, too, has a selective service for all American men in case a draft is ever needed. But while the American draft has been dormant since Vietnam, young Russian men may serve one-year rotations in the military. That's barely enough to get them out of basic training and into a unit, Petraeus said.

The Russians have had problems with intelligence, communications and vehicles getting stuck in traffic jams, stuck in the mud and breaking down.

"So in every single area of evaluation, the Russians, starting with their intelligence assessments and understanding of the battlefield and their adversary, and then every aspect of the campaign, all the way down to small unit operations, have proved woefully inadequate," Petraeus argued.

While they have up to 150,000 troops involved in Ukraine, that's not nearly enough to occupy Kyiv, much less the entire country, he said.

An incapable Russian army is not entirely good news


"Failing militaries can be even more dangerous than successful ones," writes Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy at the American Enterprise Institute, in The Washington Post.


It is exactly their incompetence that could make this war so devastating, she argues.


"There's reason to worry that the ineptitude and lack of professionalism that Russian forces have displayed in the first three weeks of the conflict are making fighting considerably more brutal for civilians than a more competent military would — and increasing the prospects that the war escalates."
The strategy is now to terrorize


Retired Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt was asked Thursday on CNN about the seemingly indiscriminate use of imprecise weapons in civilian areas, something he said must be intentional.


"Their job is to terrorize the population. They're trying to make sure that the cities are shelled, that the people see this kind of shock and they want the city to capitulate. They want to surround it. They want to shell it. They want to starve it, and the Russians then will storm it. This is intentional, and whether these (are) dumb bombs or precision weapons, it doesn't matter."


Photos of a bombed theater housing children seeking refuge in the city of Mariupol, a bombed maternity ward and bombed apartment buildings have renewed calls for war crimes prosecutions. But they are also evidence of desperation on the part of the Russians.


"To me, as a layman, I am not haggling over war crimes because that's clearly what the Russians have resorted to," James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, said Thursday on CNN. "And the reason for it, of course, is the fact they essentially failed in a conventional, tactical attack, so they're resorting to what they can do, which is wanton destruction and the killing of innocent civilians."

Fear can work both ways


Clearly, from the accounts of captured soldiers, this war caught many Russians by surprise. Ukrainians can build that into their defense strategy.

"What Ukrainians need to do is instill fear in the heads of every soldier that around the corner is some civilian or some member of the military who is going to attack them," Evelyn Farkas, a Pentagon official during the Obama administration, said Thursday on CNN.

Calling in reinforcements

Petraeus said it was unclear to him how the Russians could rotate their soldiers out of combat roles given their stalled supply lines and their level of commitment.

One indicator may be in a report from the Japanese Ministry of Defense, which told the US it saw Russian ships from the Asian side of the country traveling with combat vehicles, perhaps to reinforce the Ukraine front.


Analysis: Russia's bad army is horrible news for Ukrainian civilians - CNNPolitics

----------


## sabang

^ America trying to prolong the war? I wonder. The article is outright propaganda anyway- the US knows exactly what brutal invasion tactics are really like, and the death toll (so far) tells us it is nowhere even close to that.

----------


## misskit

*More than 1,300 people remain under rubble of Mariupol Drama Theater - Denisova*

That's according to Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova, Ukrinform reports, with reference to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.


"As of this hour, we know that 130 people have been evacuated. However, according to our data, there are still more than 1,300 people who stay in those basements, in that bomb shelter. We pray that all of them will be alive, but at the moment there is no information about them," Denisova said.


She added that rescue work is underway, but no other details are available yet.


According to her, almost 70% of the city's houses have been damaged, and some of them will not be restored, which indicates there might be a large number of victims.


"Of course, the entire infrastructure has been destroyed. We need to deliver humanitarian aid, because people have been staying in the basements for 17 days without food. There's a lack of bread. Therefore, it is extremely important that there is an agreement on the transfer of humanitarian aid," Denisova said.


Ukrinform reported earlier that on March 16, Russian terrorists dropped an air bomb on the building of the Mariupol Drama Theater. The attack destroyed the central part of the theater and the entrance to the bomb shelter, which housed hundreds of people, mostly women and children. Due to constant shelling, rescuers could not begin rescue work.


The war with Russian invaders has been going on in Ukraine since February 24.

More than 1,300 people remain under rubble of Mariupol Drama Theater - Denisova

----------


## S Landreth

Inside the Bookkeeper Army Secretly Working to Track Down Vladimir Putins Hidden Money

As the men and women of Ukraine fight to protect their homeland from Vladimir Putins brutal invasion, another army has gone into battle on a very different front.

Western governments have quietly contracted multiple teams of combat bookkeepers to secure the estimated hundreds of billions of dollars worth of sanctioned assets the Russian president and his oligarch cronies have spent the past 22 years legitimately laundering through international capital markets.

The mission of these private-sector units of financial sleuths, who have offered their services at far below market rates and are in some instances working pro bono, is to uncover, value, dispose of, and then distribute the proceeds of whats known as the Kremlin Ration.

Operating for now behind closed doors to shield themselves from becoming collateral damage in Putins war against Ukraine, these semi-clandestine groups, in consultation with global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the G7 Group of Nations, are being deployed around the world, according to a Wall Street executive who manages one such team.

Its only a slight exaggeration to say were going after the assets of an Al Capone who has nuclear weapons, said an independent investigator now scouring his market portfolio.

The individuals tapped to assist in busting Putins racket and help bring a swift end to his war against Ukraine are the spear tip of a newly created precinct of predictably slow-moving government law-enforcement agencies with Hollywood-friendly names such as the Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs (REPO) task force, and the Kleptocurrency Task Force.

One of the Putin money investigators offered up a tongue-in-cheek training video for recruits.

There are lots of rumors, lots of disinformation, an investigator says. I live in the world of the factual, and right now we know $200 billion in Russian assets have been frozen and Russias GDP is $1.4 trillion.

Investigators agree theyre a long way off from just how much money is involved. The job is to stop the pain of the default, says one Wall Street veteran, a specialist in the intricate and opaque offshore financial instruments Western leaders say Putins people use to hide their assets from public scrutiny.

Some of those looking to crash the curtain down on Putin and his regime have spent decades orchestrating the multi-billion dollar financial activities of entities operating inside the Kremlin Ration.

Their role reversal has little to do with redemption, but is deliberately calculated to assist in the hazardous business of defunding Putin's kleptocracy, mitigate the infection of Russian money on the global financial system, and rebirth the Ukrainian economy after the war.

We are also concerned with assisting our foreign clients trying to reclaim lost assets, says the member of one unit, drawing a fine line between past and present activities.

Pre-war, many of those now involved in this process worked for legitimate and legally registered Russian companies, another investigator adds.

Although many might find such distinctions meaningless nearly one month into Putins brutal war on the Ukrainian people, they do raise a thorny legal question in the event of any post-war litigation against Putin and Russian corporations; specifically, is a Russian company an independent entity or merely a subsidiary of Putin Inc. and liable for participating in war crimes against Ukraine?

For the moment, at least, those involved say the question is moot.

Our only job right now is to help Ukraine, says another Russian asset-hunter currently on a Caribbean island known for its guarded offshore facilities. There is nothing else more important than that.

One stalker says his firm in August 2021 conducted game theories on the various outcomes of Putin invading Ukraine. Russia overtakes Ukraine; Ukraine resists; sanctions remain in place; Russia diminishes as a nation; the Wests resolve is galvanized, he rat-a-tat-tats over a glass of grapefruit juice. Two: Oligarchs and people suffer; they rid themselves of Putin, which is an amazing opportunity for growth and Russia comes back big. Three: Escalation to a broader European war.

The preferred outcome is, We work with the G7 to rebuild Ukraine. We start with schools, hospitals, roads, and rebuild the entire economy, the systemic risk analyst adds. I want that job.

Its anyones guess just how much of Putins rogue money is flowing through global financial arteries. Yet regardless of the final number, those committed to chasing and dispersing the assets to reconstruct Ukraine say the playbook for making it happen is already in place: Lehman Redux.

With the collapse of the financial services firm Lehman Brothers in 2008, the global financial marketplace tumbled into a period of grave uncertainty. Lehman had over $650 billion in consolidated assets and over $1.3 trillion in claims, including derivative contracts. The systemic shock was related to the uncertainty of losses and the recovery of assets. So the courts stepped in and, with outside help, maximized recovery value in the largest bankruptcy ever undertaken.

The wind-down and distribution of Lehmans funds were legally conducted in a completely transparent manner. Such translucence is so far not on the horizon for the Kremlin Ration.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-ot...=home?ref=home

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## Switch

> ^ America trying to prolong the war? I wonder. The article is outright propaganda anyway- the US knows exactly what brutal invasion tactics are really like, and the death toll (so far) tells us it is nowhere even close to that.


Quite how you arrive at the assumption that ‘America is trying to prolong the war’ is simply amazing. Nowhere in the article you refer to is any mention or indication of such a frivolous assumption!

And you were doing so well in your attempt to insert reality into your conjecture? Backpedal all you want, their is no denying the truth as it starts to bleed out from a global perspective.
This is why Putin has enlisted the support of the Turkish leader, to help him save face and sue for peace. I hope he doesn’t get away with it, despite the loss of life incurred while he prevaricates over his untenable situation.

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## bsnub

ON  THE POLAND-UKRAINE BORDER — There were no passport officers on the dirt  road, no customs lane, no signs marking this isolated patch of farmland  for what it has become: a clandestine gateway for military supplies  entering Ukraine.

“No  pictures, no pictures,” shouted a Polish border guard as a convoy of 17  trucks hissed to a halt on a biting morning this week.

Not  far from here was a Ukrainian military base where at least 35 people  had been killed a few days earlier by a Russian missile barrage, and no  one wanted to call attention to this ad hoc border crossing. Washington  Post journalists were given permission to observe the delivery on the  condition that they turn off the geolocation function on their cameras.

The  convoy was carrying 45 vehicles — retrofitted Jeeps, ambulances, an  armored bank truck and an army field kitchen — as well as 24 tons of  diesel. It had traveled overnight from Lithuania as part of a swelling  supply network racing to catch up with the return of war to Europe. More  than a dozen volunteer drivers, including one whose relief work was  normally limited to helping motorists stranded on the highway, had  driven hood-to-taillight almost around-the-clock to rendezvous with  Ukrainian fighters.

While governments negotiate over fighter jets and high-end weapon systems,  soldiers on the ground are struggling to fill more basic needs. With  Ukraine’s own factories shut down by shelling, its forces rely  increasingly on volunteer, pop-up supply chains like this one for vital  gear, including body armor, medical supplies and the pickup trucks and  SUVs they covet as fighting vehicles.

A  second convoy was scheduled to arrive later in the day, packed with  generators, radios, surveillance drones, night-vision gear and, most  coveted of all, almost 7,000 bulletproof vests and helmets. For the  soldiers, they are a lifeline.

“That  is what we need the most,” said Lt. Andrey Bystriyk, one of the many  Ukrainian fighters who had traveled across his war-ravaged country to  meet the convoys. His blue eyes teared up when he talked about the aid  pouring in from neighboring countries.

“From  the army, we get the gun and the ammunition and the uniform,” he said.  “But under the uniform, what we eat, what keeps us safe, how we move  around and fight — that comes from the people, our people and foreign  people.”

*Boots, tourniquets and satellite phones
*
The  journey began hundreds of miles to the north in a warehouse in  Lithuania, a country not usually thought of as a military supply hub.

But  the tiny Baltic nation has seen a huge outpouring of support for  Ukraine as citizens imagine what Russian President Vladimir Putin might  have in store for them should he prevail in his current invasion. Vilnius, Lithuania’s small medieval-era capital, is filled with blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags.

Receiving  much of the donated money and supplies is Blue and Yellow, a nonprofit  founded in 2014 to supply Ukrainians fighting the takeover of eastern  parts of their country by Russian-backed separatists. Now the group is  the focal point of Lithuania’s yearning to help.

“It has just exploded,” said Jonas Ohman, a Swedish-born filmmaker who started the group.

For  years, Ohman said, he took no salary and had no paid staff as he  fulfilled direct requests from front-line units on an annual budget of  less than $200,000. Since the invasion last month, more than $20 million  has poured in from within Lithuania, a country of 2.8 million  residents. He is dispatching a convoy to the border every four or five  days.

With  a cellphone held against a days-old beard, Ohman orders military gear  by the ton from across Europe, China, Israel. He argues with customs  officials in a half-dozen countries to get the shipments delivered,  railing against functionaries who block his way and officers who are  slaves to regulation.

“I  tell them all the time: 10,000 euros can be more deadly than a million  if you know how to spend it,” he growled between phone calls.

Ohman  has filled one donated warehouse on the outskirts of Poland’s capital,  Warsaw. Another in Vilnius, provided by a Lithuanian transport company,  has become a drop-off site for locals wanting to give.

“These  will work,” one volunteer declared on a recent afternoon when a truck  arrived at the Vilnius warehouse with 800 pairs of new steel-toed boots  and 1,000 fleece jackets still in the wrapper, all donated by a hunting  goods retailer.

A  forklift unloaded the cases, depositing them next to 14 pallets of IV  saline solution and boxes filled with 13,000 trauma tourniquets and 200  satellite phones.

A  local marketing company has launched a fundraising campaign for the  nonprofit. And a group of Rotary Club volunteers makes calls to military  suppliers in surrounding countries.

“Everything  in Europe is selling out,” said Zemyna Bliumenzonaite, a Blue and  Yellow staffer. “But we are getting more requests than ever.”

She  held out her phone to show some of the texts she gets from soldiers in  Ukraine. One named “Kruk” asked for 1,000 tourniquets and 40 individual  first-aid kits. She tells him they will be in the next convoy.

“You are our Guardian Angel,” he writes back.

*Donated and armor-plated
*
“I  heard they needed bigger vehicles and four-wheel drives,” said Dainius  Navikas, 43, a Vilnius management consultant who immediately thought of  his black 2015 Grand Cherokee. “I had no choice. The Ukrainians are  fighting for us.”

Navikas  and his wife drove the Jeep — along with an extra set of winter tires —  to a designated garage on the outskirts of the Lithuanian capital. They  found a lot packed with dozens of vehicles ready to be processed and  shipped to Ukraine.

Some had been signed over by their owners. Others had been bought by Blue and Yellow.

“When  they hear we are buying for Ukraine, a lot them of them drop the price  immediately,” said Lukas Pacevicius, the owner of the garage, who has  largely suspended his regular business activities.

Working  overnights and weekends, mechanics check the engines; they send the  vehicles to transmission or brake shops if needed. Armor plating is  welded to some of the pickups, following specifications provided by the  soldiers.

On  a recent day, dozens of volunteers were scrambling around the vehicles,  covering their windows and headlights with paper and masking tape ahead  of repainting the bodies. Workers dodged the vehicles as they were  shuttled from one part of the line to another.

Two  men wearing hazmat suits and respirators, well-practiced in painting  and not too fastidious, transformed Navikas’s glossy black Grand  Cherokee into a dull green patrol vehicle in under 20 minutes. And then a  Mercedes Sprinter, and then a Nissan Pathfinder. An olive mist hung  over the entire workshop.

“We  want to cover every reflective surface, even the bumpers and wheels,”  said Rolandas Jundo, the owner of a sign company who was applying window  tinting to a Land Rover that still reeked of paint.

*Driving into the Polish dawn
*
Three  days later, gassed up with donated fuel, most of the vehicles were  driven onto car carriers. Two local tow trucks hitched up four more  vehicles. Four men wrangled a military mobile kitchen into a panel  truck.

With  the sun still high, the convoy pulled out, flanked by a pair of  Lithuanian police cars. Just outside Vilnius, a group of people on a  pedestrian bridge shouted and pumped their fists when the odd parade  rolled under.

“It  feels very important,” said one of the drivers, who like several  volunteers spoke on the condition of anonymity out of a combination of  modesty and security concerns. “We still have a lot of crazy  fifth-column types around,” said another driver, referring to Russian  sympathizers.

The  convoy moved as fast as its slowest truck, about 50 mph on average. At a  gas station just before the Polish border, Lithuanian police handed off  to their Polish counterparts. Sometime after 2 a.m., everyone pulled  into a rest area north of Warsaw for two hours of sleep.

By  dawn, forests had given way to rolling fields. The police escort kept  its lights flashing and sounded it sirens as the trucks rumbled through  red lights. Surprised locals stared from village sidewalks.

Nineteen hours and many cans of Red Bull later, the convoy pulled up at the unmarked entrance to Ukraine.

*‘Our firepower, our mobility’
*
Lt.  Bystriyk, with the Zaporizhzhia Territorial Defense Brigade, had just  endured his own all-night drive to reach the rendezvous. His was one of  about 20 Ukrainian units, both regular military and volunteer militia,  that had dispatched representatives to meet the convoy.

Bystriyk had driven about 11 hours from the area around the besieged city of Dnipro  in eastern Ukraine in hopes of getting vehicles and an upgrade on the  body armor that most of his men now wear: homemade vests cobbled  together by local residents with steel and canvas. “They try to bend it  like a body shape, but it doesn’t work,” he said.

It  would take about 3,000 sets of body armor to fully outfit his men,  Bystriyk said. He had been told he might get as many as 400 when the  second convoy arrived. In the meantime, he eagerly eyed the vehicles  that were carried by the first one.

“Stingers  and Javelins are critical, of course,” he said of the antiaircraft and  antitank missiles. “But for us, these vehicles are essential. They are  our firepower, our mobility.”

Ukrainian  soldiers drove them to a spot where border officials would fill out  paperwork and then the vehicles would be distributed. One soldier made a  beeline for a brand-new CForce quad ATV — to be used in cavalry-like  raids by Ukrainian special forces — and rode off with a grin.

Bystriyk  looked for a truck that his men could mount with a rocket launcher or  machine gun, creating one of the “specials” common among fighters in  Libya, Syria and other recent hot spots. There weren’t as many pickups  as in a delivery a week earlier, but he was glad to see Pathfinders,  Freelanders, Pajeros.

Videos  posted by Ukrainian fighters on social media show teams in SUVs like  these outmaneuvering Russian armored vehicles, popping out from forests  or side streets to hit them with rocket-propelled grenades and dashing  away.

“Every  day the Russians try to enter Zaporizhzhia and every day we have  stopped them,” Bystriyk said. “We need these cars. And we are thankful  the Lithuanians are bringing them.”

In  the end, Bystriyk was satisfied with a beefy Nissan Patrol to drive  back to the war. But he learned that the convoy with the vests and  helmets would be delayed because of a customs hang-up.

He would be back at this unlikely supply site, he knew. Probably many times.

“We need a lot,” he said. “And the need is still growing.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...aid-shipments/

----------


## David48atTD

^  That was a great story ... good find snubs

----------


## bsnub

> That was a great story ... good find snubs


Some nice pictures on the times site if you can access it.

----------


## panama hat

> ^ That was a great story ... good find snubs


Agreed, a good read.

----------


## misskit

*Mixed signals from Ukraine’s president and his aides leave West confused about his end game*

The mounting death toll in Ukraine has forced President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider concessions to Russia in order to bring an end to the devastating conflict, but the specific elements of any peace deal his government may be discussing with Moscow remain a mystery to Western leaders, said U.S. and European officials.


The secretive rounds of meetings between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators could hold the key to ending the conflict but also carry broader implications for European security depending on how the warring parties settle their differences. If Russian President Vladimir Putin can use military force to compel political change in Ukraine, he could use the same tactic elsewhere, U.S. and European officials fear.


The prospects of a near-term deal look bleak, diplomats say, but mixed signals from Zelensky about how close he is to striking an agreement have only heightened anxiety about the trajectory of the negotiations.


Russia has sought to pummel Ukraine into submission through artillery barrages, cruise missile strikes and a severing of supply routes that have prompted a humanitarian disaster and forced more than 3 million people to flee the country.


Zelensky, however, has remained defiant, saying his country wants peace — but not at any cost.

MORE MSN

----------


## misskit

*Russia says it used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine for first time*

Russia says it used its newest Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the first time in Ukraine to destroy a weapons storage site in the country’s west.


Russia’s Interfax news agency said it was the first time Russia had deployed the hypersonic Kinzhal system since it sent its troops into Ukraine on February 24.

“The Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a large underground warehouse containing missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.


The region of Ivano-Frankivsk shares a 50km (30 miles) long border with NATO member Romania.


The ministry also said Russian forces used the anti-ship missile system Bastion to destroy Ukrainian military facilities near the Black Sea port of Odesa.


Al Jazeera was not able to independently verify Konashenkov’s statements.


The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia prides itself on its advanced weaponry, and President Vladimir Putin said in December that Russia was the global leader in hypersonic missiles, whose speed, manoeuvrability and altitude make them difficult to track and intercept.


The Kinzhal missiles are part of an array of weapons unveiled in 2018.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan said because of the nature of war, new weapons systems are often used.


“In the past few days in Kyiv we’ve seen cruise missiles shot from Russian territory that have been intercepted by Ukrainian air defence systems as well,” Khan said, speaking from the Ukrainian capital.


“We’re also hearing about the fact that Russia is introducing kamikaze drones into the conflict. This is the first time we are hearing confirmation about the use of hypersonic missiles.”


Russia first used the hypersonic missile during its military campaign in Syria in 2016.


Putin has called the Kinzhal (Dagger) missile “an ideal weapon” that flies at 10 times the speed of sound and can overcome air-defence systems.


Putin announced an array of new hypersonic weapons in 2018 in one of his most bellicose speeches in years, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a United States-built missile shield.


The following year, he threatened to deploy hypersonic missiles on ships and submarines that could lurk outside US territorial waters if Washington moved to deploy intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe.


The United States has actively pursued the development of hypersonic weapons – manoeuvering weapons that fly at speeds of at least Mach 5 – as a part of its conventional prompt global strike programme since the early 2000s, according to a new congressional report.


These weapons could enable “responsive, long-range, strike options against distant, defended, and/or time-critical threats [such as road-mobile missiles] when other forces are unavailable, denied access, or not preferred”, said former Commander of US Strategic Command General John Hyten.

Russia says it used hypersonic missiles in Ukraine for first time | News | Al Jazeera

----------


## S Landreth

US to effectively ground 100 aircraft that flew to Russia

The United States has moved to effectively ground 100 aircraft that it says recently flew to Russia, including a plane used by Russian businessman Roman Abramovich, and may have violated US export controls.

The US Department of Commerce on Friday published a list of 99 Boeing aeroplanes operated by Russian passenger and cargo carriers  including Aeroflot, AirBridge Cargo, Utair, Nordwind, Azur Air and Aviastar-TU  as well as Abramovichs Gulfstream G650.

Providing any service to these aircraft without authorisation risks violating US export regulations, the department said in a statement, and could incur substantial jail time, fines, loss of export privileges, or other restrictions.

By preventing these aircraft from receiving any service, for example including from abroad, international flights from Russia on these aircraft are effectively grounded, the statement said.

The move came as US President Joe Bidens administration continues to impose restrictions on Russian officials, companies and other entities as part of an effort to pressure President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

The US earlier this month also launched what it dubbed KleptoCapture  an initiative seeking to hold accountable Russias wealthy elite and ensure US sanctions imposed amid the war in Ukraine are being enforced.

On Friday, the Department of Commerce released specific tail numbers of the targeted planes, including 33 Boeing planes operated by Aeroflot AFLT.MM, and 12 Boeing 747 cargo planes operated by AirBridge Cargo, a unit of Russias biggest cargo airline Volga-Dnepr Group.

Aeroflot and a spokesperson for Abramovich, who owns the English football club Chelsea, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency. Abramovich said this month that he plans to sell the club and donate money from the sale to victims of the Ukraine war.

Volga-Dnepr declined to immediately comment but said Friday it has suspended all flights using Boeing aircraft, citing sanctions and a decision by Bermudas Civil Aviation Authority to terminate their safety certificates.

The US, Canada and much of Europe have barred Russian planes from flying over their airspace, which has forced the cancellation of many of Russias international flights.

The rules apply to any US-manufactured aircraft or any with more than 25 percent US-origin controlled content that were re-exported to Russia after the new stringent controls on aviation-related items for Russia took effect on February 24.

Moscow took a first step this week towards keeping its commercial fleet flying by allowing its airlines to re-register leased planes in Russia, giving local authorities direct control over the certificates of airworthiness needed for each jet.  :Smile: 

In Fridays statement, US Secretary of Commerce Gina M Raimondo said the department was demonstrating the power and reach of the actions we took over the past few weeks in response to Russias brutal war of choice against Ukraine.

We are publishing this list to put the world on notice  we will not allow Russian and Belarusian companies and oligarchs to travel with impunity in violation of our laws, Raimondo said.

Commerce Implements Sweeping Restrictions on Exports to Russia in Response to Further Invasion of Ukraine

List: https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/do...ase-final/file

 :Smile: 

*Extra..*

The US is offering to pay rewards of up to $5 million for information about Russian oligarchs' yachts, mansions, and other assets

The Treasury Department is offering rewards of up to $5 Million for information about Russian elites' yachts, mansions, private jets, and other property through an effort known as the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Program.

Through the program, rewards are given for information leading to the restraint, seizure, forfeiture, or repatriation of stolen assets in an account at a US financial institution, that enter the US, or that come into the possession or control of a US person.

The Treasury is after assets "linked to corruption involving the government of the Russian Federation," the Department said on its website. 

The U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other U.S. law enforcement agencies seek information leading to the seizure, restraint, forfeiture, or repatriation of assets linked to corruption involving the government of the Russian Federation that are: (1) in an account at a U.S. financial institution, including a U.S. branch of a foreign financial institution; (2) that come within the United States; or (3) that come within the possession or control of any U.S. person.  Persons who provide such information may be eligible for a reward under this Program or others. Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Rewards Program | U.S. Department of the Treasury

----------


## sabang

*Burger King says it wants to shut down its 800 restaurants in Russia but can't*




The president of Burger King's parent company says the chain wants to close its Russian locations.Burger King's franchising agreement means it doesn't have unilateral control.Papa John's has the same problem, with a rogue franchisee refusing to close.


Burger King's parent company, Restaurant Brands International, wants to close its hundreds of Russian locations, but it can't, President David Shear told employees in a letter on Thursday.

"Would we like to suspend all Burger King operations immediately in Russia? Yes. Are we able to enforce a suspension of operations today? No," Shear wrote, citing a "complicated legal process."

The company previously announced plans to suspend corporate support for Russian locations following the country's attacks on Ukraine, including stopping further financial investment, marketing, and supply chain.

But closing the actual restaurants isn't so simple. Like many fast-food chains, Burger King doesn't solely own the majority of its restaurants. Instead, it uses franchise agreements. When Burger King entered Russia 15 years ago, it partnered with Russian entities. Now, RBI owns a 15% stake in the Russian business, so it can't unilaterally close all locations.

Shear said attempting to enforce the contract and pull out completely would require cooperation from Russian authorities, which would "not practically happen anytime soon."

Burger King says it wants to shut down its 800 restaurants in Russia but can't (yahoo.com)

 ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

Russia's recent decree essentially legalizing intellectual property theft leaves brands like McDonald's (MCD) and Starbucks (SBUX) with no legal recourse if copycat businesses use the brands as their own.

Over the past two weeks, Russian officials have stripped away IP rights from U.S. companies doing business in Russia, along with foreign companies from 23 other “unfriendly” territories.

As a result, companies like McDonald's and Starbucks that have left Russia to protest its invasion of Ukraine can do little when Russian businesses steal their trademarks. In fact, trademark applications were filed in Russia this week that bore a striking resemblance to marks belonging to Ikea, Instagram (FB), McDonald's, and Starbucks, trademark attorney Josh Gerben noted. These companies can't immediately fight back because challenges for unauthorized use are largely limited to Russian courts, Gerben told Yahoo Finance.

Gerben expects Russian lawyers to avoid any appearance of sympathy to Western interests.

“The fact is that the courts are going to be stacked against you,” Gerben said. “And the fact is you might not have a willing counsel over there to help you, because they fear for their own safety.”

Full article-  McDonald's, Starbucks, and others have no recourse for stolen trademarks in Russia (yahoo.com)

----------


## S Landreth

Australia sanctions alumina exports to Russia, offers humanitarian visa for Ukrainians

Australia announced on Sunday that the country is barring alumina exports to Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and will be offering humanitarian visas for Ukrainians.

“The Government has overnight imposed an immediate ban on Australian exports of alumina and aluminium ores (including bauxite) to Russia, which will limit its capacity to produce aluminium – a critical export for Russia,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison and several other Australian ministers said in a joint statement.

The ministers noted that Australia provides almost 20 percent of Russia's alumina needs.

Australia also announced that it would be offering Ukrainians temporary humanitarian visas, which would allow refugees to access Medicare, study and work. The ministers said that close to 4,500 visas have been issued so far and more than 600 Ukrainians with those visas have already entered the country.

The ministers further announced defense aid to Ukraine and humanitarian aid, including $21 million for defense aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and an added $30 million in humanitarian assistance.

“Australia stands with the people of Ukraine, and again calls on Russia to cease its unprovoked, unjust and illegal invasion of Ukraine,” the ministers said.


Baker Hughes becomes the latest oil company to pull investments from Russia

Oil field services company Baker Hughes became the latest American oil company to walk back its planned investments in Russia, the company announced on Saturday.

Driving the news: Baker Hughes' announcement came a day after its rivals, Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger, took similar steps in response to U.S. sanctions on Russia, ABC News reports.

The big picture: Since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine last month, more than 400 companies have taken steps to reduce their investment or operations in Russia.

Halliburton stopped shipments of specific sanctioned parts and products to Russia several weeks ago, per ABC News. Schlumberger, too, halted investment and said it would stop sending technology to its operations in the country.

What they’re saying: Lorenzo Simonelli, Baker Hughes’ chairman and CEO, said in a statement the company “strongly supports a diplomatic solution” to the conflict.

“The health and safety of our employees, customers, partners, and their families always remains our top priority,” Simonelli said.

“We have been continuously monitoring the situation, and today’s announcement follows an internal decision made with our Board of Directors and communicated to our leadership team earlier this week.”


How Western sanctions are affecting the lives of Russians




 
I enjoyed the remarks some of the Russians made about speaking about politics in public (15 years is a long time)  :Smile: 

*Extra.*


West hits Vladimir Putin’s fake news factories with wave of sanctions

Twelve key disinformation outlets used to bolster Vladimir Putin have been hit with sanctions in an online crackdown on “false and misleading” reports claimed to be orchestrated by Russian intelligence.

The Foreign Office announced last week that sanctions would be imposed on the Internet Research Agency, the notorious Russian-based troll factory. Two other alleged disinformation websites, New Eastern Outlook and Oriental Review, were also targeted.

The Internet Research Agency has been exposed in the past for paying Russia-based bloggers £500 a month to flood the internet with pro-Putin comments on chat forums, social networks and the comment sections of western publications. Government investigators also claim Russian intelligence supports international news and analysis websites which promote the Kremlin’s view of the Ukraine invasion.

Tom Southern, of the Centre for Information Resilience, a non-profit UK social enterprise which counters disinformation, said the impact of Russian information manipulation campaigns in the Ukraine conflict was being blunted by concerted action by governments and social media companies. “This seems to be a turning point against this fake news,” he said.

The US treasury has imposed sanctions on the three outlets identified by the UK authorities. It has also taken action against at least nine others, five of which have been targeted with sanctions since the Ukraine invasion. One of the websites sanctioned by the US is the Strategic Culture Foundation, which describes itself as a “platform for extensive analysis on Eurasian and global affairs”.

The website has cited Russian claims of a “covert project” to turn Ukraine into a nuclear power. One of its authors also claimed the novichok poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury in March 2018 was likely to be a British “false flag” operation to “incriminate, demonise and delegitimise Russia”.

The US treasury describes the website as an online journal registered in Russia which is directed by the country’s foreign intelligence service. It states: “It publishes conspiracy theorists, giving them a broader platform to spread disinformation, while trying to obscure the Russian origin of the journal so that readers may be more likely to trust the sourcing.”

The Twitter and Facebook accounts of the website have been suspended since September 2020. The Strategic Culture Foundation did not respond to a request for comment, but says on its website that allegations it was connected with Russian intelligence services were “unsubstantiated” and were “a glimpse into the dystopian future of suppressing dissident voices by governments previously known as democratic”.

American officials have also sanctioned three other outlets claimed to be linked to the Strategic Culture Foundation: the news outlets SouthFront, NewsFront and InfoRos. All three are alleged by US officials to be connected to Russian intelligence.

Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a US group that tracks online disinformation, said it did not appear the tactics previously used to interfere in the American electoral system – with thousands of accounts on numerous platforms – were being widely deployed for the Ukraine conflict.

He said Russia-backed websites were being used to get false information and propaganda more widely disseminated, but were being routinely blocked on social media. “They are trying to get dirty information into the online ecosystem and hope it is picked up by websites and individuals with larger reach,” he explained.

The Russian state-backed news channel RT had its licence to broadcast in the UK revoked by media regulator Ofcom last week. Analysts said the channel’s output was the “tip of the iceberg” in the Kremlin’s propaganda campaign.

The Ukraine government has faced disinformation attacks, including a faked video circulated online last week of president Volodymyr Zelenskiy advising his soldiers to lay down their arms. It was quickly dismissed by Zelenskiy as a “childish provocation”.

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, last week said the government was taking action against Russian propaganda, from both the Kremlin’s press office and online disinformation outlets. She said: “We are going further and faster than ever in hitting those closest to Putin – from major oligarchs, to his prime minister, and the propagandists who peddle his lies and disinformation. We are holding them to account for their complicity in Russia’s crimes in Ukraine.”

----------


## bsnub

The sad thing is that most of these Ukrainians that have fled will never return to their home country when this war is over, as they will build new lives abroad.

----------


## malmomike77

> The sad thing is that most of these Ukrainians that have fled will never return to their home country when this war is over, as they will build new lives abroad.


Even more sad that some children and wives will never see their dads/husbands again.

----------


## sabang

Moscow and Kyiv are "halfway there" in agreeing on the issue of Ukraine's demilitarisation, and their views are most aligned on Ukraine's neutrality and giving up on joining NATO, Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky was quoted as saying on Friday.

Interfax news agency quoted Medinsky as saying negotiating teams trying to agree on ending hostilities in Ukraine were discussing nuances of security guarantees should Ukraine no longer attempt to join the Western military alliance.
He declined to reveal any other details of the talks.

Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in an effort to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.

Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces. (Reporting by Reuters)

Russian negotiator says "halfway there" on Ukraine's demilitarisation

----------


## S Landreth

> The sad thing is that most of these Ukrainians that have fled will never return to their home country when this war is over, as they will build new lives abroad.


I am sure you heard the news………

One Ukrainian requested a tourist visa to the states and they rejected her request because they said she didn’t, wouldn’t/might not have a home to return to.




> U.S. federal immigration law stipulates that people applying for a tourist visa, the type of visa which can be secured most quickly, must be able to prove that they have a permanent residence to return to in their home country and that they intend to do so.


The US needs to pick it the fvck up.

----------


## bsnub

> Even more sad that some children and wives will never see their dads/husbands again.


It is gut-wrenching to say the least. I lived in Germany during the Cold War, and all of those anxieties from 30+ years ago are back.

----------


## Norton

> agreeing on the issue of Ukraine's demilitarisation, and their views are most aligned on Ukraine's neutrality and giving up on joining NATO


The 2 easy ones. Never were going to be in NATO and neutrality would change nothing re their political system.

Ceding Crimea is also a given. Ffs, it's a fait accompli.

Recognizing the 2 new republics recently declared by Russia will be harder to come to an agreement but perhaps some sort of compromise can be reached where both sides can claim victory.

Not sure what demilitaration means but if it means no military would be a show stopper.

Zelenskyy's people are dying and he is absolutely justified in making a deal to stop it. Especially after the pussy response from the "west" when the invasion started. Air and ground forces should have been on the ground even before Russia invaded. Invasion wouldn't have happened at all.

----------


## malmomike77

> Not sure what demilitaration means but if it means no military would be a show stopper.


I am also not sure how a Ukraine outside NATO and with no Military capability will sign up to a deal given the alacrity with which Russia just decided to invade.

----------


## sabang

It seems OK to openly speculate, or even advocate, the assassination of political leaders in this TikTok war, so let me throw my piece in. I reckon there is a higher chance of Zelensky being offed, than Putin. Who would do such a thing? Well Russian military action is the obvious guess, but disgruntled far Right Nationalists from western or central Ukraine is just as likely, maybe even more so. He is gonna have to cede territory you see.

Oh, and this seems to have passed largely unnoticed (ie under reported in the West)-



*Zelensky bans main Ukrainian opposition party*

President Volodymyr Zelensky explained the clampdown by citing possible links to Russia

Ukraine has moved to suspend the activities of almost a dozen opposition parties, including the parliament’s second-largest group, Opposition Platform – For Life, for as long as the conflict with Russia continues.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the decision of the country’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) on Sunday.

It was made _“given the full-scale war and the ties of some political structures with this state,”_ he said, apparently referring to Russia. According to Zelensky, the activities of the opposition parties will be put on hold _“for the period of martial law.”
_
_“Any activity of politicians aimed at division and collaboration won’t be successful, but will instead be faced with a harsh response,”_ the president warned.

A total of 11 parties were blacklisted, including Opposition Platform – For Life, which is the second-biggest in the Verkhovna Rada with 39 seats; Party of Shariy, founded by harsh critic of the Kiev authorities, blogger Anatoly Shariy; and Nashi party, headed by Evgeniy Murayev.

In January, the UK Foreign Office said that Murayev was the man whom the Kremlin wanted to put in charge of Ukraine instead of Zelensky. However, the claim was denied by officials in Moscow and the politician himself, who said it was _“nonsense and stupidity.”
_
Opposition Platform – For Life said the suspension was _“illegal”_ and promised to challenge it._ “Instead of political dialogue [and] attempts to search for compromise and ways to unite the country, the authorities are relying on raiding, intimidation, repression and reprisals against their opponents,”_ the party said, urging its MPs and activists to continue working.

Shariy reacted by suggesting that Zelensky was only really looking to ban two parties – allegedly referring to his own and to Opposition Platform – while the rest were only added to the list so that the president could avoid _“criticism and mockery”_ for blatantly targeting his opponents.

Russia sent its troops into Ukraine in late February, following a seven-year standoff over Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the breakaway Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state.

Moscow has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it had been planning to retake the two republics by force.
DDOS-GUARD


If that is a sign he is bowing to Right wing Nationalists, or US war Hawks there will be a lot more devastation to come imo.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> If that is a sign he is bowing to Right wing Nationalists, or US war Hawks there will be a lot more devastation to come imo.



It's more of a sign that there are still Ukrainians on the Kremlin payroll working to subvert the elected government.

----------


## panama hat

> It seems OK to openly speculate, or even advocate, the assassination of political leaders in this TikTok war,


Luckily for you there is a real war going on with the Russian army murdering tens of thousands of civilains.









> Not sure what demilitaration means but if it means no military would be a show stopper.


That would be ridiculous seeing that Russia is bordering them and have invaded the country several times in just the last few years

----------


## Switch

And Putin gets to save face when he should be facing a war crimes court, forcing him to make reparations for the illegal damage he has done to a sovereign country.
He will be dead, and the poor bewildered Russians will foot the bill for Putins paranoia. It’s a bloody disgrace.

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine Rejects Putin's Ultimatum to Surrender Besieged Mariupol*

Ukraine rejected a Russian ultimatum to surrender the besieged southern city of Mariupol on Monday, as renewed overnight shelling killed at least eight people at a shopping mall in the capital Kyiv.


Almost 350,000 people are trapped without water and electricity in the port city of Mariupol, which has been bombarded by Russian troops for almost a month in what has been described as a "massive war crime" by EU policy chief Josep Borrell.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian bombs struck targets overnight, allegedly damaging a chemical plant in the north of the country causing an "ammonia leakage" that sparked a temporary alarm.


Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Europe to significantly dial up pressure on Moscow to halt its nearly month-long invasion, saying the continent must cease all trade with Russia.


"No euros for the occupiers. Close all of your ports to them. Don't export them your goods. Deny energy resources. Push for Russia to leave Ukraine," Zelensky said in his latest video address.

Ukrainian leaders also stressed they were standing firm against invaders in Mariupol, which is suffering a critical humanitarian crisis.


Defenders of the port city have "played a huge role in destroying the enemy's plans and enhancing our defense," said Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov.


"Today Mariupol is saving Kyiv, Dnipro and Odessa. Everyone must understand this."


The Kremlin's military command had warned authorities in Mariupol had until "5am... on March 21" to respond to eight pages of demands, which Ukrainian officials said would amount to a capitulation.


Rejecting the ultimatum by Russia to surrender Mariupol, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Moscow should instead allow the trapped residents to escape.

"We can't talk about surrendering weapons," Vereshchuk told the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper.


Mariupol is a pivotal target in Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine -- providing a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled territory to the north and east.


A Greek diplomat who remained in the city through the bombardment said the devastation would rank alongside history's most ruinous wartime assaults.


"Mariupol will be included in a list of cities in the world that were completely destroyed by the war, such as Guernica, Stalingrad, Grozny, Aleppo," Manolis Androulakis, believed to be the last EU diplomat to leave the city, as he arrived back in Athens late Sunday.

Oil embargo warning
Russia marched on its neighbor on Feb. 24, pressing on despite sweeping unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies.


Its bombs hit several targets across the country overnight, laying waste to a shopping mall in Kyiv, whose mayor announced a new curfew from late Monday to Wednesday morning. 


In the north, Ukrainians were told to temporarily take shelter after an ammonia leak at a nearby chemical factory, amid intense fighting with Russian forces in the area.


Sumy regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytsky said "Russian artillery shelling" had hit the Sumykhimprom fertilizer plant as he warned residents within a 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) radius to seek shelter before an all-clear was sounded mid-morning.


Away from the frontlines, foreign ministers of the European Union gathered in Brussels to mull fresh sanctions against Russia.

Some members within the bloc are pushing for an embargo on Russian oil and gas, but Germany has rejected the call outright, warning it could spark social instability.


The Kremlin on Monday heaped on the warnings against such a ban, saying it would have a direct impact on everyone. 


"Such an embargo will have a very serious impact on the world energy market, it will have a very serious negative impact on Europe's energy balance," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov 


Energy prices and supply security issues will be on the table at an EU summit on Thursday in Brussels, to be also attended by President Joe Biden. 


The U.S. leader will also join in a NATO summit and G7 talks in Brussels, before travelling to Poland on Friday.


There he is expected to hold talks with President Andrzej Duda to discuss a joint response to the humanitarian crisis that has seen more than 2 million Ukrainians flee to Poland alone.


Humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate in the mostly Russian-speaking south and east, where Russian forces have been pressing their advance, as well as in the north around Kyiv.


Aid agencies are struggling to reach people trapped in besieged cities.


Around 10 million Ukrainians have fled their homes, roughly one-third going abroad, the UN refugee agency said.


'Act of terror'
The humanitarian crisis remains most acute in Mariupol. 


In his video message on Sunday, Zelensky had accused Russia of bombarding a Mariupol school sheltering hundreds, calling it an act of "terror that will be remembered even in the next century."

"Russian forces have come to exterminate us, to kill us," he said.


It was the latest potentially devastating strike on a shelter for civilians. Last Wednesday, a theatre where authorities said more than 1,000 people had sheltered was hit, with hundreds still presumed missing in the rubble.

Mariupol officials have said occupying forces have forcibly transported around a thousand residents to Russia and stripped them of their Ukrainian passports -- a possible war crime.


A group of children stuck in a Mariupol clinic for weeks are among those who have been taken to Russian-controlled territory, a carer and a relative of a clinic worker told AFP.


The 19 children, aged between four and 17 and mostly orphans, had been living in freezing cellars hiding from shelling in harrowing conditions.


'Perhaps in Jerusalem'
Amid the carnage, Zelensky has again suggested he and Putin hold direct talks.


After addressing Israeli lawmakers Zelensky -- who is accused by Russia of being a Nazi, but is Jewish -- thanked Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for efforts to broker talks, which he suggested could take place in Jerusalem.


"Sooner or later we could start the conversation with Russia. Perhaps in Jerusalem. This is the right place for finding peace. If this is possible," Zelensky said.


Authorities in Turkey, where Russian and Ukrainian representatives have been negotiating, said the two sides were close to a deal to stop the fighting.


But the Ukrainian leader appeared to draw some red lines.


"You cannot just demand from Ukraine to recognize some territories as independent republics," he told CNN. "We have to come up with a model where Ukraine will not lose its sovereignty."

Ukraine Rejects Putin's Ultimatum to Surrender Besieged Mariupol - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

> he should be facing a war crimes court


You might see that the day the neo-cons do. Neither US or Russia is signatory to the ICC.

----------


## bsnub

> You might see that the day the neo-cons do.


As bad as the neocons are, they never indiscriminately bombed entire cities into glass. There is no comparison so cast that whataboutism aside right now.

----------


## Switch

And Putin gets to save face when he should be facing a war crimes court, forcing him to make reparations for the illegal damage he has done to a sovereign country. Putin? He will be dead, and the poor bewildered Russians will foot the bill for Putins paranoia. Its a bloody disgrace.j

----------


## misskit

*Russian top brass ‘plan to POISON Vladimir Putin and have chosen his successor according to Ukrainian intelligence’*

UKRAINIAN intelligence has claimed that members of the Russian elite are planning to poison Vladimir Putin.


The Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has said that "a group of influential" Kremlin insiders have been plotting to oust Putin.

The goal of the "Russian elite" is to supposedly remove the president from power as soon as possible before restoring economic ties with the West.


According to the brief, the Ukrainian intelligence service also claims that a successor to Putin has already been lined up in the shape of FSB director Oleksandr Bortnikov, reports The Mirror.


Powerful insiders are allegedly dismayed at the ramifications of the war and the sanctions imposed on the Russian economy.


The Chief Directorate of Intelligence said: "It is known that Bortnikov and some other influential representatives of the Russian elite are considering various options to remove Putin from power.


"In particular, poisoning, sudden disease, or any other 'coincidence' is not excluded."


Bortnikov, 70, is a close ally of Putin and the two men climbed the ladder up Russian society together.


They both served on the KGB in Leningrad, before Bortnikov took over the rebranded security agency.


An in-depth investigation by the Dossier Centre claims that Bortnikov’s FSB is both the brain and the heart of the Putin regime, a “state within the state".

Bortnikov is said to have fallen out of favour with Putin over errors in the Ukraine war.


An angry Putin has lashed out at and sacked eight generals in a bid to divert blame from himself for the bloody war which has killed almost 15,000 of his troops in just 25 days.


One Ukrainian intelligence source revealed recently: “It is noteworthy that Bortnikov has recently been disgraced by the Russian dictator.


“The official reason for the disgrace of the FSB leader – fatal miscalculations in the war against Ukraine.


“Bortnikov and his department were responsible for analyzing the mood of Ukraine and the ability of the Ukrainian army.” .


Ukrainian intelligence say that the plotting elite have chosen former KGB member Bortnikov to lead because he could reverse sanctions and restore economic ties with the West.


Due to his background, Bortnikov is believed to have a network of insiders working and living within Ukraine.


A western source said that rumours and suspicions "will sow the seeds of paranoia and doubt in the leadership".


“There is no doubt that as the Russian elite feel the pinch of sanctions that they will be looking at the future with an eye on what a catastrophe this war is for them - and it’s going to get worse.


“There is a significant suspicion that a small number of people might actually now try to get rid of the Russian President but whether they will succeed remains to be seen."

The news comes after initial reports that Vladimir Putin has become increasingly paranoid about his own inner circle.


The Russian president is reportedly particularly paranoid over poisoning and is said to have ordered a team of tasters to test his food.

Russian top brass '&#39;'plan to POISON Vladimir Putin and have chosen his successor according to Ukrainian intelligence'&#39;'

----------


## sabang

> * Ukrainian intelligence*


OxyMoronic.  :smiley laughing: 

I thought he was dying of Stage 4 cancer and Dementia anyway. Or was that last weeks News? 

Oh no, it was the week before. Doesn't a Russian Oligarch have a $1mm bounty on his head?

Dang, this bloke has got more lives than Assad the Optometrist.  ::chitown::

----------


## S Landreth

> Ukraine Rejects Putin's Ultimatum to Surrender Besieged Mariupol


Was listening to the Former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko this morning.

Question and then the answer starts at 5:43 into the video (Alaska is next).

----------


## sabang

I do hope Vlad bombs his chocolate factory, if nothing else.

----------


## malmomike77

The truth nearly got out.....not widely reported

500 Or 10,000 Deaths? Russian Media Finally Seems To Report Dire Troop Casualty NumbersAnd Then Deletes Them

A Russian tabloid newspaper published and subsequently deleted a report claiming nearly 10,000 Russian soldiers had died since the country first invaded Ukraine last montha far greater number than the 498 deaths acknowledged by the Russian Ministry of Defense almost three weeks ago, and one that more closely aligns with third-party estimates, as Russia remains tight-lipped about its military losses in Ukraine.

KEY FACTS

The pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article claiming 9,861 members of the Russian armed forces had been killed and another 16,153 had been injured, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, according to an archived version of the article and screenshots from Wall Street Journal and ABC News reporters.

The figure was not formally released or confirmed by the Ministry of Defense, which has been secretive about casualty counts and last published an official estimate on March 2, when it claimed 498 troops had been killed and 1,597 had been wounded, according to Reuters.

The paragraph containing the figure no longer appeared in an article on Komsomolskaya Pravdas website as of Monday evening.

Western and Ukrainian officials think Russias true casualty count is far larger than the one released by the government: U.S. intelligence conservatively estimated 7,000 of the 150,000 Russian troops deployed in Ukraine had died as of March 16, the New York Times reported.

Ukraine claimed Monday about 15,000 Russian troops had been killed, though this figure has not been confirmed by any independent party.

1,300. Thats how many Ukrainian soldiers had been killed as of March 13, Ukrainian officials claim. That number hasnt been independently verified.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/masonbissada/2022/03/21/500-or-10000-deaths-russian-media-finally-seems-to-report-dire-troop-casualty-numbers-and-then-deletes-them/?sh=b7a5c1723d14

----------


## misskit

*Putin keeps loyalty of Russian political elite despite outcry*

President Vladimir Putin is for now holding on to the public loyalty of Russia’s political elite, despite the international outcry over the invasion of Ukraine and unprecedented sanctions.


Russian artists and heavyweight media figures have spoken out against the war and even billionaire oligarchs have offered veiled criticism.


But after almost a month of fighting, there has been no apparent outbreak of dissent from within Putin’s inner circle or among political heavyweights inside the country.


“There has been no sign of a split” within the ruling class, said Tatiana Stanovaya, founder of the R.Politik political analysis firm.


“There is a full consensus, albeit possibly with differences on tactics,” she added.


She said a distinction had to be drawn between having reservations about the invasion and being ready to act.


“People are in shock and many believe this is a mistake. But no-one is able to act. Everyone is focused on their own survival.”


Western diplomatic sources say despite the crushing impact of sanctions on the Russian economy, there is no sign yet that this will translate into political change.


The main domestic criticism of the invasion, according to Stanovaya, comes from “peripheral” forces on the radical right who think it is not proceeding aggressively enough.


– ‘Cultivated a system’ –


Russian state television dominates the narrative, presenting what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine as a heroic mission against Western aggression.


The liberal opposition has evaporated, the parties represented in parliament almost always toe the Kremlin line on all issues and Putin’s most potent foe, Alexei Navalny, is in jail.


“It’s no real surprise that we haven’t yet seen dramatic, public splits within the ruling elite,” said Ben Noble, associate professor of Russian politics at University College London and co-author of a recent book “Navalny: Putin’s Nemesis, Russia’s Future?”.


“Vladimir Putin has cultivated a system in which he is surrounded by super-loyalists who share his world view of a West out to destroy Russia, or those who are too afraid to voice their dissent,” he said.


On February 21, three days before launching the invasion, Putin summoned the political leadership to the Kremlin for a security council to discuss recognising pro-Moscow breakaway regions in Ukraine as independent.


One by one, in a theatrical show of unity, the 12 men and one woman lined up to back the move to recognise the Donetsk and Lugansk regions as independent, a move now seen as heralding the war.


– ‘Fifth column’ –


Those present at the meeting included the three men who Western security sources believe make up Putin’s tightest inner circle — Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, National Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Alexander Bortnikov.


There has not been the slightest murmur of dissent from those who attended or even from more low-ranking officials.


Putin on March 16 issued a chilling warning against disobeying the Kremlin line, saying the West was betting “on a fifth column, on traitors to the nation” to weaken Russia.


Virtually the only current or former insider to have broken ranks is the former Kremlin aide and ex-deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich — also head of the main world chess body.


He came out against the war in a US magazine interview and stepped down from his post leading an entrepreneurship foundation.


From other liberal leaning ex-Kremlin figures — like the former finance minister Alexei Kudrin, who is now head of Russia’s audit chamber — there has simply been silence.


– ‘Decision-making’ –


There was speculation over the future of central bank head Elvira Nabiullina, an economist at the helm of the Bank Rossii since 2013.


She was photographed looking dejected at a Kremlin meeting and posted a cryptic video, in which she acknowledged the Russian economy was in an “extreme” situation and said, “We all very much would have liked this not to have happened.”


But Putin this week asked parliament to nominate her for another term, apparently scotching rumours she could resign in protest at the war.


There have been murmurs of concern from oligarchs who stand to lose massively from the invasion, such as the magnates Oleg Deripaska and Mikhail Fridman, who have both made cautious comments promoting peace.


On March 3, the board of Russia’s largest privately-owned energy company, oil giant Lukoil, also called for an end to the conflict.


Noble added that many members of the elite were shocked by the invasion, as the vast majority “had not been involved in the decision-making process” and believed Putin was planning brinkmanship rather than invasion.


“However, it’s one thing to call for peace; it’s quite another to criticise Putin directly,” he said.

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/putin-k...espite-outcry/

----------


## misskit

*Vladimir Putin’s Holy Man, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, Pushed for the ‘Eradication’ of Ukraine*

Beneath the golden onion domes of Danilov Monastery a few miles south of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin’s chief shaman explains why Russia is determined to destroy Ukraine.


“If we see [Ukraine] is a threat, we reserve the right to use force to ensure the threat is removed,” Russian Orthodoxy Patriarch Kirill recently preached to his church’s 90 million faithful followers. “We were engaged in a conflict that had not only physical but also metaphysical implications. We are talking about the salvation of man, something much more important than politics”.


Wartime Alliance Between Putin and his patriarch is called Symphony, a close alliance between church and state that ensured reciprocal reverence, with no institution supposed to dominate the other. Theologians have spent centuries arguing over the good points, which have now cost 44 million Ukrainians as victims of the bloodthirsty land grab that Putin and the Patriarch have packaged as a holy campaign to cleanse souls.


“A new world order is born before our eyes,” was how Putin described the relationship in a statement published at the start of the war, later warning those who disagreed with him. “let’s do maximum damage to people.” “The Russian people will be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and spit them out like a mosquito that accidentally flies into their mouths,” he said.


To be sure, the only lingering question is how far Putin and his patriarch can go before the means no longer justify the end.


Byzantine and Orthodox church historian Henry Hopwood-Philipps thinks that NATO and all those who oppose Putin’s crypto theocracy have a long wait. “The information war, the military war against Putin seems to be working,” Hopwood-Philipps said. “But for all of the West’s digital gunpowder, we’re up against nearly 700 years of a deeply entrenched otherworldly belief system.”


“Putin and Kirill are attached at the hip.”
As the cardinal sees it, Ukrainians are sinners. “Many people who are weak, stupid, ignorant, and often willing to justify their sins are condemned by the Bible as a test of our ability to profess faith in our Savior,” said Kirill. with his flock.


In Western capitals, Hopwood-Philipps says, the importance of Kirill’s muscles has been overlooked or lost in translation. “Putin will execute any Russian layman who disagrees with Kirill,” he said. “Putin and Kirill are bound together, and they have shaped religion to provide the Russian people with spiritual nourishment instead of material nourishment.”


Putin’s revival plan Symphony and using it to gain influence beyond Russia’s borders culminated at a ceremony in Moscow in 2007, when Putin presided over the signing of the Act of Communion with the Russian Orthodox Church in the country. outside. Kirill was appointed Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ in 2009, heading a global congregation of more than 140 million people.


Since then, about 100 of the 340 clerics who manage the church community abroad have changed their robes to join Orthodox churches that are not affiliated with Putin, according to Dr. Stratos Safioleas, spokesman for the General Greek Orthodox diocese in New York. To date, an additional 145 Church of America parishes abroad have followed suit.


A Russian Orthodox Church in Amsterdam has also left the parish because of threats it received for condemning Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. “It is no longer possible [us] to operate within the Moscow Patriarchate and provide a spiritually safe environment for our faithful,” the parish council of Saint Nicholas of Myra said in a statement.


For the rebel priests left behind in Russia, history can offer a lesson in what comes next from the Kremlin.


According to the diary of Johann Korb, Austria’s secretary before the Court of Peter the Great, Ukraine-born Exarch Stefan Yavorsky begged the tsar to stop torturing those who disagreed with him. “What’s your business here,” shouted the tsar Romanov. “The duty that I owe to God is to save my people from harm and to prosecute crimes of public vengeance that lead to general ruin.”


So, what will it take to protect Putin and the patriarch from further ravaging Russia and destroying Ukraine?


“We need Frodo,” sighed Sergey Buntman, the now muffled Echo Moscow Radio program director, as he watched the Hobbits overthrew Mordor in Lord of the Rings as the only liberator with the mystical wall to save both nations.


And Buntman was not lenient.

Vladimir Putin’s Holy Man, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, Pushed for the ‘Eradication’ of Ukraine - News7h

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine's Zelensky Says Everything on Table if Putin Meets*

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky renewed an offer of direct peace talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin late Monday, declaring the status of disputed territories could be up for debate and a possible referendum.


Zelensky told local media that he was ready to meet Putin "in any format" to discuss ending the almost one-month-old war that has shattered several Ukrainian cities.

Zelensky said even the status of Russian-occupied Crimea and Russian-backed statelets in Donbas was up for debate.


"At the first meeting with the president of Russia, I am ready to raise these issues," he said.


"There will be no appeals or historical speeches. I would discuss all issues with him in great detail," Zelensky said.


Russia has declared Crimea part of Russia and recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine.


All three areas were part of Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet Union and are at the center of a decade-old crisis that on Feb. 24 spilt into invasion and full-scale war.


"If I have this opportunity and Russia has the desire, we would go through all the questions," he told Ukrainian journalists in an interview published by media outlet Suspilne.


"Would we solve them all? No. But there is a chance, that we partially could — at least to stop the war," he added.


Although Zelensky signaled that he was willing to talk about the status of the three areas, he has repeatedly insisted all three were part of Ukraine and that his country would not surrender.


Zelensky also warned that any peace agreement involving "historic" changes would be put to a national referendum.


Sonia Mycak, a Ukraine expert at the Australian National University said the promise of a popular vote likely dooms any suggestion of Kyiv ceding territory.


"The vast majority, like 80%, of Ukrainians are saying that they do not want to relinquish" those territories, Mycak said, citing two recent public opinion polls.

"I think it would be rejected by the population, I really do. Very high numbers of Ukrainians are saying 'we should not stop fighting'," she added.


"Ukrainians see themselves as under existential threat. It's not just the loss of territory it's the fact that they would have to live as Russians, there would be heavy Russification, there would be autocratic control."


A month of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials have so far failed to stop or even slow a war that has forced 3.5 million Ukrainians to leave the country.


But with Russia's much-larger military seemingly unable to occupy the entire country or topple Zelensky's ever-more-popular government, the Ukrainian leader said the war was inevitably going to end at the negotiating table.


"It is impossible not to have a solution. By destroying us, he is definitely destroying himself," Zelensky said of Putin.


"I do not want us to go down in history as heroes and as a nation that does not exist... And if they destroy themselves, they won't even have any heroism left."

Ukraine's Zelensky Says Everything on Table if Putin Meets - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine Eyes Mariupol Evacuation Bid as Kyiv Locks Down*

Ukrainian authorities announced a new bid Tuesday to rescue civilians from besieged port city Mariupol which has been under heavy bombardments since Russia's invasion began almost a month ago, as capital Kyiv hunkered down in a curfew.


More than 200,000 people are trapped in the city described by those who managed to escape as a "freezing hellscape riddled with dead bodies and destroyed buildings," Human Rights Watch said, quoting data provided by a local official.

"We know that there will not be enough space for everyone" on Tuesday, but "we will try to carry out the evacuation until we have gotten all the inhabitants of Mariupol out," vowed Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk in a video address.


As Russian troops continued their relentless assaults on their neighbor, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said all issues would be on the table if Russia's Vladimir Putin agreed to direct talks to end the war, including contested Crimea and Donbas.


But he warned his country would be "destroyed" before it surrenders.


The Kremlin in return said it would like to see negotiations with Kyiv to be "more active and substantial."


With Russia's military appearing to make little headway in capturing key targets, fears are growing that Putin may resort to even more drastic means to turn the tide. 


US President Joe Biden warned that Putin was considering using chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine as he held talks with European leaders on Monday on what he called Moscow's increasingly "brutal tactics."


The U.S. leader is due to travel to Brussels on Thursday for a series of summits gathering NATO, EU and G7 leaders, before heading to Poland, which has received the bulk of the three million Ukrainians fleeing war in their country.


'Desperate bid'
Since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24, at least 117 children have been killed in the war, Ukraine's federal prosecutor said.


Some 548 schools have been damaged, including 72 completely destroyed.


But both Western and Ukrainian experts believe the war was not going the way the Kremlin had expected.

Moscow has stepped up its military activity, flying 300 sorties in the past 24 hours, in a "desperate" bid to turn the tide against the Ukrainian resistance, a senior US defence official said.


Ukraine's army command said Russian troops now had ammunition, food and fuel to last just three days.


Three hundred Russian soldiers have defected in the north-eastern Sumy region, added the army command on Facebook. 


But even in areas Russia has captured, resistance has continued, with Ukraine's leaders on Tuesday accusing Russian troops of firing on unarmed protesters in the occupied southern city of Kherson.


A series of videos posted on social media and the messaging app Telegram showed citizens gathering in Kherson's "Freedom Square" protesting against Russia's recent seizure of the city.


Russian soldiers could be seen firing into the air, and video footage showing a bleeding elderly man being carried away, though local officials said there were no fatalities.


'Massive war crime'
On the frontlines, authorities said evacuation of residents from Mariupol will be the priority on Tuesday. Three routes have been drawn up linking the port city to Zaporizhzhia, Vereshschuk said. 


European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had described as a "massive war crime" the siege of Mariupol, which had killed more than 2,000 people.


Russia had given Mariupol until 5:00 a.m. on Monday to surrender, but Kyiv rejected the ultimatum and said the city's resistance was bolstering the defense of all of Ukraine.

Mariupol is a pivotal target in Putin's war — providing a land bridge between Russian forces in Crimea to the southwest and Russian-controlled territory to the north and east.


While little progress had been made from diplomatic efforts to solve the conflict, Zelensky once again renewed a call for direct discussions with his Russian counterpart.


"If I have this opportunity and Russia has the desire, we would go through all the questions," he told Ukrainian journalists in an interview published by media outlet Suspilne.


"Would we solve them all? No. But there is chance, that we partially could — at least to stop the war," he added.


Zelensky said he was even willing to discuss Russian-occupied Crimea and the breakaway Russian regions in Donbas, though he insisted he still believes they must be returned to Ukraine.


"At the first meeting with the president of Russia, I am ready to raise these issues," he said, adding that any agreement involving "historic" changes would be put to a national referendum.


"This is a very difficult story for everyone. Crimea and Donbas... And to find a way out, we need to take this first step, which I spoke about**: security guarantees, the end of the war," he said. 


He repeated his assertion that Ukraine "already understood" it could not join NATO, but he added that his countrymen would not simply "hand over" the capital, the eastern city of Kharkiv, or the heavily bombarded and besieged southern port of Mariupol.


"Ukraine cannot fulfil Russian ultimatums," he said. "We should be destroyed first." 


Trust fund
In Kyiv, a 35-hour curfew came into effect from 8:00 p.m. (18:00 GMT) Monday, after Russian strikes laid waste to the "Retroville" shopping complex, killing at least eight people.


"It's the biggest bomb to have hit the city until now," said 30-year-old Dima Stepanienko, who found himself flung to "the foot of his bed" by the explosion.

Russia claimed the mall was being used to store rocket systems and ammunition.


The war has displaced around 10 million Ukrainians, with around a third becoming refugees, according to the UN, and sparked fears of famine elsewhere because Russia and Ukraine are both major agricultural exporters.


To help Ukraine cope with the economic devastation of war, EU leaders are looking at setting up a "trust fund" for the country, according to a draft document seen by AFP Tuesday.


The funds would "provide support to the Ukrainian Government for its immediate needs and, once the Russian onslaught has ceased, for the reconstruction of a democratic Ukraine."

Ukraine Eyes Mariupol Evacuation Bid as Kyiv Locks Down - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

Remember this? Not over for this brave woman.




> *Marina Ovsyannikova: Russian journalist fined for live broadcast protest*
> 
> Marina Ovsyannikova: Russian journalist fined for live broadcast protest (msn.com)
> 
> 
> A GBP215 Fine. Appalling brutality from Vlad the Inhaler.



*Marina Ovsyannikova: Russian TV protester accused of being a British spy*

Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian journalist who recently grabbed attention by hijacking a state television broadcast to denounce the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, has been accused of being a British spy. 


In an on-air protest on Russia's Channel One on March 16 evening, the 43-year-old Ovsyannikova held up an anti-war sign behind a studio presenter. 

The sign read: "Stop the war. Don't believe the propaganda. They're lying to you". She also shouted slogans condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The editor has also been charged with unlawful protest after the incident went viral globally. 

In her first television interview with Reuters since her extraordinary protest, Ovsyannikova said that she had no plans to flee Russia and that she hoped she would not face criminal charges. 


In the latest development, Kirill Kleimyonov, who is the head of Channel One's news division, appeared on the news programme and claimed that she was a British spy. 


"Not long before [the protest], according to our information, Marina Ovsyannikova spoke with the British embassy. Who among you has had a telephone conversation with a foreign embassy?" Kleimyonov claimed. 


He added, "Emotional impulse is one thing. But betrayal is something else." He also said that the on-air protest betrayed her country "and at the same time all of us, people with whom he has worked side by side for almost 20 years".

"She betrays coldly, prudently, for a firmly agreed [financial] bonus - by the way, so as not to lose her previous one. The woman with the poster timed the action exactly to receive her next salary payment - so betrayal is always one's personal choice," he added. 


"It is necessary to call things by their proper names. Otherwise, if the famous action for 30 pieces of silver coins were called an impulse of the soul, the history of the world would be different," he said. 


"Just in case, I wish everyone good health. To all without exception. Even traitors. They have to continue to live with this burden," he further added. 

Marina Ovsyannikova: Russian TV protester accused of being a British spy, World News | wionews.com

----------


## malmomike77

> Ukrainian authorities announced a new bid Tuesday to rescue civilians from besieged port city Mariupol which has been under heavy bombardments since Russia's invasion began almost a month ago, as capital Kyiv hunkered down in a curfew.


Well if they are relying on the Russians things look bleak.


Ukraine war latest: 2,389 children kidnapped by Russia, US claims as Mariupol reduced to ‘ashes’

The US embassy in Ukraine has claimed Russian forces have “illegally removed” thousands of children from the east of the country.

“Russian forces have illegally removed 2,389 Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Luhanks oblasts to Russia,” the embassy tweeted. “This is not assistance. It is kidnapping.

In the south of the country, Russia is pounding the city of Mariupol into the “ashes of a dead land”, its local council said on Tuesday, describing two more huge bombs that fell on the city that has been sealed off for weeks.

The plight of Mariupol, a city of 400,000 before the war, has been the most urgent humanitarian emergency since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a month ago. Hundreds of thousands of residents are believed to be trapped inside under near constant shelling, with no access to food, water, power or heat.

More: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-live-updates-peace-talks-b2041166.html

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## sabang

"Kidnapped". Not evacuated for their own safety? I mean, how does it aid the war effort to 'kidnap' 2389 children? Sounds like cheap propaganda to me.

----------


## S Landreth

Biden, allies to announce new sanctions on Russia

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that President Biden and U.S. allies would announce new sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine when the president travels to Brussels later this week. 

“He will join our partners in imposing further sanctions on Russia and tightening the existing sanctions to crack down on evasion and to ensure robust enforcement,” Sullivan told reporters during a press briefing. 

Sullivan declined to provide details about specific sanctions, saying he wouldn’t get ahead of the announcement that would be made in conjunction with U.S. allies on Thursday. 

Still, he emphasized that the measures would involve enforcing current sanctions by “ensuring that there is joint effort to crack down on evasion, sanctions busting, on any attempt by any country to help Russia basically undermine, weaken, or get around the sanctions.”

Biden is slated to attend an emergency NATO meeting, met with the other Group of Seven (G-7) leaders, and address a European Council summit on Thursday in Brussels. He’ll also travel to Poland and meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda the following day. 

Sullivan also said that Biden would announce a new joint action on enhancing European energy security as well as new U.S. contributions to a humanitarian response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians have fled their homes amid the war, many of them crossing over into neighboring Poland. It’s unclear if Biden will meet with refugees when he visits Poland on Friday.

The U.S. and its allies have already imposed punishing sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine that began almost four weeks ago. These measures include sanctions on Russian banks and oligarchs and the removal of some Russian banks from the SWIFT international banking system.

Biden has also banned domestic Russian oil and gas imports, a step that Europe did not join in because of its dependence on Russian energy.


Russian billionaire's super yacht detained after docking in Gibraltar

A yacht connected to the owner of Russia's largest steel pipe maker was detained by authorities after docking in Gibraltar.

Dmitrievich Pumpyansky, who owns the steel group TMK, is under British and European sanctions as the West has imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs over Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, according to Reuters.

The boat involved is known as the "Axioma," a 72-meter ship owned by Pyrene investments. While that company is a British Virgin Islands holding company, Pumpyansky was named in the Panama Papers as a beneficiary of the holding, the news service said.

Authorities in Gibraltar said the ship "was confirmed to be the subject of an arrest action by a leading international bank in the Supreme Court of Gibraltar," Reuters reported.

"The vessel is now subject to arrest by the Admiralty Marshal until further order," the government's statement also said. Reuters added that the ship had departed Antigua on Feb. 27 and sailed for three weeks before arriving in Gibraltar, according to Refinitiv shipping data.

 :Smile:  AirBNB: Axioma Yacht


State Department to help transfer Ukraine pediatric cancer patients to St. Jude's

The State Department will assist in the evacuation of four Ukrainian pediatric cancer patients to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in the United States amid the Russian invasion. 

“Our partnership with, and commitment to, the people of Ukraine is steadfast and enduring,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement released Tuesday. 

“To that end, the Department of State has coordinated with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to provide necessary life-saving and immediate care to four Ukrainian children whose ongoing cancer treatment was disrupted by President Putin’s war of choice.”

Price added that the department will assist in airlift operations from Poland of the patients and some of their family members to the international airport in Memphis, Tenn. 

From there, the patients and their families will be taken to St. Jude.

“There, the patients will be able to safely resume critical cancer therapy disrupted by the Kremlin’s aggression. They will receive the specialized care they desperately need, and their family members will be afforded sustenance, security, and support from St. Jude,” Price said. 

The news comes amid Russia’s ongoing and violent invasion of Ukraine. 

Since the beginning of the Russian offensive, Ukrainian officials have reported attacks targeting civilians and civilian structures in the former Soviet state, including on hospitals, schools and places of worship. 

Earlier this month, Ukrainian officials confirmed that three people were killed and 17 were injured after a maternity hospital was shelled in Mariupol, Ukraine. Russia originally denied the attack, but later said that it would look into the incident. 

A few days later, Ukrainian officials alleged that the Russian military had shelled a cancer hospital. At the time, a doctor at the hospital said that the building was damaged, but no one was killed. 

Most recently, the World Health Organization reported six more attacks on Ukrainian health care facilities, bringing the total number of attacks to 52 since the start of the war. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that these attacks have amounted to war crimes. 

U.S. officials have begun accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine as well, marking a shift in rhetoric after the Biden administration resisted the label for weeks.

“Russia is the aggressor here and I think we have seen here at the Pentagon — we're certainly seeing clear evidence that the Russian military is conducting war crimes,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday.

*Extra.*


Russia TV's Paris correspondent slams 'propaganda' after quitting

A Russian journalist who for years was senior foreign correspondent for state-run television on Tuesday lashed out at the propaganda broadcast by pro-Kremlin media after dramatically quitting over the invasion of Ukraine.

Zhanna Agalakova, a familiar face in Russian households from two decades work as a correspondent from postings including New York and Paris, had earlier this month announced she was leaving Pervy Kanal (Channel One) due to the invasion.

Speaking in public for the first time since she quit, Agalakova told reporters at a news conference in Paris organised by press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) that she could no longer be involved in the "lies" and "manipulation" of Russian state TV.

"I want the people of Russia to hear me and learn what propaganda is and stop being zombified," she said.

With tears in her eyes, Agalakova said she had hesitated a lot before speaking out in public but then decided "there was no other choice".

Agalakoa, who most recently worked as Paris-based Europe correspondent for Pervy Kanal, admitted that she had "made many compromises in my career" but she described the invasion of Ukraine as a "red line".

There has been intense focus on Russian TV since an editor on the Pervy Kanal barged onto the set of its flagship Vremya (Time) evening news last week, holding a poster reading "No War."

Marina Ovsyannikova was detained and a Moscow court rapidly fined her 30,000 rubles (260 euros). But despite being freed she could face further prosecution, risking years in prison under draconian new laws.

Ovsyannikova said she was quitting her job but not accepting an offer from President Emmanuel Macron of asylum in France, saying she wanted to stay in Russia.

'Huge lie'

Agalakova announced she was leaving her channel in an Instagram video posted last week, symbolically cutting a Pervy Kanal band around her wrist and saying she had already written her resignation letter on March 3.

She described a media system that "just gives the point of view of the Kremlin".

Agalakova pointed to how state television covers President Vladimir Putin with exhaustive coverage of his macho holiday activities but with no scrutiny of his private life which is an absolute taboo.

"Our news does not show the country, we do not see Russia," she said.

"We only see the first man of the country, what he ate, who he shook hands with, we even saw him shirtless. But we don't know if he's married, if he has children," she said.

She lambasted the state media for its repeated description of Russia's opponents in Ukraine as "Nazis", a term that touches a particular nerve in a country still scarred by the sacrifices of World War II.

"When, in Russia, we hear the word 'Nazi', we only have one reaction -- destroy. It's a manipulation, a huge lie."

Justifying her long career as correspondent in New York and Paris, she said: "I thought that by reporting on life in Europe -- and in particular in Paris -- I could avoid being propagandistic."

"I didn't lie, every fact was real. But take real facts, mix them up and you'll end up with a big lie," she said.

'Hostages of situation'

Press freedom activists outside Russia accuse its state television of painting a severely distorted picture of the war in a bid to maintain support for what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation."

Russian lawmakers on Tuesday approved legislation imposing jail terms of up to three years for the publication of false information about Russia's actions abroad.

Agalakova is not the only prominent Russian TV journalist to have quit over the invasion of Ukraine, but so far there has been no mass exodus.

NTV channel news anchor Lilya Gildeeva, who has worked for the channel now owned by energy giant Gazprom, since 2006, said she had left Russia and resigned from her job.

The longstanding Brussels correspondent of NTV, Vadim Glukser, has also said he had handed in his notice.

"Many journalists, producers or people who work in the media think like me," Agalakova said.

"It's easy to accuse them, to ask why they don't resign, don't protest. But those who stay have families, elderly parents, children, houses to pay for. They are hostages of the situation." Russia TV's Paris correspondent slams 'propaganda' after quitting

----------


## harrybarracuda

> "Kidnapped". Not evacuated for their own safety? I mean, how does it aid the war effort to 'kidnap' 2389 children? Sounds like cheap propaganda to me.


Why yes, I am sure it is just Puffy Putin organizing a school trip to the zoo, and they would all have been furnished with a kit kat, a dry-as-cardboard cheese sandwich and a Kia Ora orange drink before their exciting day out.

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## panama hat

> Vladimir Putins Holy Man, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, Pushed for the Eradication of Ukraine


A wannabe Rasputin, a man of the b\holy book who promotes violence and murder . . . Russia will always be Russia, Russians will always be Russians.  The Three Stooges new hero . . . just another child-molester in a frock

----------


## Switch

> "Kidnapped". Not evacuated for their own safety? I mean, how does it aid the war effort to 'kidnap' 2389 children? Sounds like cheap propaganda to me.


Which is exactly what it is. If you believe they were ‘evacuated for their own safety’ you are a bigger, more gullible fool than everyone thinks you are. Do you share these gems of blistering stupidity with your drinking buddies?
To you, this special operation is just a huge joke. At the expense of the most vulnerable subjects of Putins war.

Sabang = credibility ZERO.

----------


## bsnub

> Vladimir Putin’s Holy Man, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, Pushed for the ‘Eradication’ of Ukraine


A real man of the cloth...

Russia'&#39;'s Patriarch Kirill in furore over luxury watch - BBC News

Russian Patriarch&#39;s Flashy Watch Draws Scrutiny -- Again

In Russia, a Watch Vanishes Up Kirill’s Sleeve - The New York Times

----------


## misskit

*Zelensky: Russia launched over 1,000 missiles into Ukraine*

Russian troops fired more than a thousand missiles and many air bombs at peaceful Ukrainians and destroyed dozens of cities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a video address to the Parliament of Japan, which was broadcast live during the UArazom (UAtogether) telethon, Ukrinform reports.


"Russia has used more than a thousand missiles and a countless number of air bombs against the peaceful cities of Ukraine. Russian troops have destroyed dozens of our cities, and some of them have been burnt to ashes," he said.


Zelensky stressed that in many cities and villages that came under Russian occupation, people cannot even bury the dead, they have to bury them directly in the yards of destroyed houses.


According to the head of state, Russian invaders have already killed thousands of Ukrainians, including 121 children.


He also noted that about nine million Ukrainians had been forced to flee their homes, escaping Russian troops.


"Our northern, eastern and southern territories are being emptied because people are fleeing this deadly threat. Russia has even blocked the sea for us, the usual trade routes, showing some other potential aggressors of the world how to put pressure on free peoples by blocking navigation," Zelensky added.


On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying infrastructure, residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and ballistic missiles.

Zelensky: Russia launched over 1,000 missiles into Ukraine

----------


## misskit

*Akhmetov says his plants in Mariupol will work under Russian occupation ‘under no circumstances’*

Ukraine’s steel magnate Rinat Akhmetov says that his plants in Mariupol will work under Russian occupation under no circumstances.
Two massive steel plants, Azovstal and Illich Iron and Steel Works that have employed about 40,000 people, are located in the war-torn city.


According to the owner of the plants, Rinat Akhmetov, both plants are under Ukrainian control but were temporarily shut down.


“Russian troops are turning Mariupol into rubble, killing Mariupol residents and bombing the plants. Under no circumstances will these plants operate under Russian occupation,” he told The Wall Street Journal.


As reported, Russian troops have caused the worst humanitarian disaster in Mariupol, Donetsk region. The invaders bomb unarmed residents and block humanitarian aid. According to the deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, which continues defending the city, Russian invaders bomb Mariupol every ten minutes. In addition to tanks and artillery, the city is shelled from Russian landing ships.


The Azov Regiment commander says that the number of civilian casualties in Mariupol grows daily and now stands at more than 3,000 people.


Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk informed on March 21 that 45,000 people had managed to leave the besieged Mariupol.


On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Akhmetov says his plants in Mariupol will work under Russian occupation ‘under no circumstances’

----------


## misskit

*Occupiers use prohibited phosphorus munitions in Irpin region – mayor*

Russian occupying troops used phosphorus ammunition near the towns of Irpin and Hostomel in Kyiv region on Tuesday evening, Mayor of Irpin Oleksandr Markushyn said.


"Yesterday, March 22, late in the evening, the Russian invaders used prohibited phosphorus ammunition over the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv. The approximate destruction zone is Hostomel-Irpin," Markushyn wrote on Wednesday.


At the same time, he attached a photograph of the explosion to the message.


The mayor noted that the use of such weapons by enemies against civilians is a crime against humanity and a violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

Occupiers use prohibited phosphorus munitions in Irpin region – mayor

----------


## malmomike77

What a surprise, the little French prick who spent the weeks running up to the invasion doing his Chamberlain impression sending out promises of peace, then kept chatting to his mate Putin and coming back with assurances of peace, and then to cap it off started trying to mimic Zelensky in photoshoots has now been called out by the Ukraine president for letting French companies carry on their Russian profiteering.

Ukraine’s Zelensky shames French companies still operating in Russia, calls on them to leave

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on French companies including carmaker Renault, supermarket group Auchan and DIY retailer Leroy Merlin to leave Russia, during an address to the French parliament on Wednesday.

“French companies must quit the Russian market,” Zelensky said during a 15-minute video address in his trademark green T-shirt. “Renault, Auchan, Leroy Merlin and others must stop sponsoring the Russian war machine.”

French lawmakers gave Ukraine and its ambassador to France three standing ovations before the address by Zelensky, who has spoken to parliaments across the Western world in previous weeks in a bid to garner support for his country.

Invoking a specifically French national trauma, as he has done in other nations’ parliaments, the Ukrainian leader said that images of devastated cities such as Mariupol “recall the ruins of Verdun as in the photos of World War I that everyone has seen”.

“The Russian army makes no distinction between targets. They destroy residential areas, hospitals, schools, universities.”

“They do not take into account the concepts of war crimes,” he added.

Unlike in other speeches to parliaments when Zelensky has appealed for weapons, his main target appeared to be French companies that continue to operate in Russia as well as people who “bury their heads in the sand and try to find money in Russia”.

Partly state-owned Renault suspended its production at its plants near Moscow last month after Russia’s invasion but has since reportedly resumed production.

Major French retailers such as Auchan, Leroy Merlin and sports group Decathlon have not followed a boycott of Russia by other top Western brands from McDonalds to Coca-Cola.

French energy giant TotalEnergies, formerly known as Total, has said it will continue to buy Russian gas but will stop purchasing Russian oil and petroleum products by the end of this year.

“I know how to replace this oil and diesel fuel,” CEO Patrick Pouyanne told RTL radio on Wednesday, but “with gas, I don’t know how to do it”.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220323-ukraine-s-zelensky-shames-french-companies-still-operating-in-russia-calls-on-them-to-leave

----------


## sabang

*Russia-Ukraine war: Putin not ready for talks with Zelensky, says Turkish official*




The two heads of state will likely not get involved in direct negotiations with each other until some of the smaller issues have been resolved, says Turkish official


Russian President Vladimir Putin is not yet willing to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart for direct negotiations, according to a senior Turkish official involved in mediation efforts.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the meeting publicly on Saturday, but Ibrahim Kalin, a chief adviser and spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the leader had been denied. 

"Zelensky is ready to meet, but Putin thinks that the positions to have this meeting at the leaders' level are not close enough yet," Kalin said in an interview.

Earlier this week, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asked Turkey to be a guarantor of any future deal with Russia, along with the UN Security Council's five permanent members and Germany.

Playing a significant role in mediating between Russia and Ukraine, Turkish officials have expressed optimism over ceasefire hopes in the conflict as it keeps ties with Moscow open.

"Even though we fully reject the Russian war on Ukraine, the Russian case must be heard, because after this war, there will have to be a new security architecture established between Russia and the Western bloc," Kalin said.

"We cannot afford another Cold War - it will be bad for everyone and costly for the entire international political and financial system. Every decision we make, every step we take now with regards to Russia militarily, politically, economically and otherwise, will have an impact on that new security architecture."

*'A peace deal at some point'*

While Turkey is a Nato member, President Erdogan has had good relations with Russia, as well as Ukraine.

On Thursday, Erdogan spoke separately to both Zelensky and Putin to gauge their positions. Kalin, who was also on both calls, said that Putin had agreed to stop pushing for regime change and "now accepts the reality of Zelensky as the leader of the Ukrainian people, whether he likes it or not".

Full article-  Please Wait... | Cloudflare

----------


## DrWilly

> said that Putin had agreed to stop pushing for regime change and "now accepts the reality of Zelensky as the leader of the Ukrainian people, whether he likes it or not".


Magnanimous of him... I presume that's as long as Zelensky follows all orders from Moscow like a good little dance monkey.

----------


## malmomike77

> Magnanimous of him...


and the dead Ukrainians are just a by-product of him taking time to think things through.

----------


## sabang

Russia says it will expel an unspecified number of US diplomats in retaliation for Washington’s move to remove 12 of Moscow’s New York-based representatives to the United Nations, Russian state-media has reported.

“On March 23, a note with the list of the American diplomats declared ‘persona non grata’ was handed to the head of the American diplomatic mission who was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the ministry.

“The US side has been given firm notice that any hostile action by the United States against Russia will be met with a resolute and appropriate response,” read the statement.

The decision was taken in response to Washington’s expulsion of 12 Russian diplomats at the UN, it added

Russia to expel US diplomats in tit-for-tat move (msn.com)

----------


## sabang

*Marjorie Taylor Greene backs Madison Cawthorn and calls Zelensky a ‘thug’ despite outrage within own party*



.... she agrees that Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky is a “thug” and that his government is “corrupt”.

She made the comments during a town hall meeting where an audience member asked if she agreed with Republican colleague Madison Cawthorn.

“Yes and yes. That’s an easy one,” she said, according to Politico.

It comes after Mr Cawthorn drew criticism from within the GOP for criticising Mr Zelensky following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy denounced the North Carolina representative, who also accused the Ukrainian government of spreading disinformation.

“Madison is wrong,” Mr McCarthy said. “If there’s any ‘thug’ in this world it’s [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”

Mr Cawthorn made the comments during a town hall meeting of his own supporters earlier this month, seen in a video obtained by WRAL.“Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies,” Cawthorn said.

Despite the widespread condemnation within the GOP, Mr Cawthorn’s Communications Director Luke Ball refused to back down when contacted by _The Independent__._ Mr Ball pointed to Twitter statements that “explains what his point” was when he called Mr Zelensky a “thug”.

“Propaganda is being used to entice America into another war,” Mr Cawthorn tweeted. “I do not want Americans dying because emotions pushed us into a conflict.”

“The actions of Putin and Russia are disgusting. But leaders, including Zelensky, should NOT push misinformation on America,” he added. “I am praying for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. Pray also we are not drawn into conflict based on foreign leaders pushing misinformation.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene backs Madison Cawthorn and calls Zelensky a ‘thug’ despite outrage within own party (msn.com)





> _"Pray also we are not drawn into conflict based on foreign leaders pushing misinformation.”_


State dept- _"oh don't worry, we won't. But we are willing to fight to the very last Ukrainan"_

----------


## pickel

^
You're quoting Q-anoners now sabang. Think about that. Maybe Zelensky has some Jewish space lasers he can use.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> What a surprise, the little French prick who spent the weeks running up to the invasion doing his Chamberlain impression sending out promises of peace, then kept chatting to his mate Putin and coming back with assurances of peace, and then to cap it off started trying to mimic Zelensky in photoshoots has now been called out by the Ukraine president for letting French companies carry on their Russian profiteering.


That's no real surprise from the scummy garlic munchers though, is it?

----------


## misskit

*Putin Adviser Chubais Quits Over Ukraine War, Leaves Russia*

Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais has stepped down and left the country, citing his opposition to President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the situation, becoming the highest-level official to break with the Kremlin over the invasion.


Chubais, 66, is one of the few 1990s-era economic reformers who’d remained in Putin’s government and had maintained close ties with Western officials. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

MORE MSN

----------


## sabang

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will only accept payments in rubles for gas deliveries to "unfriendly countries" - including Germany - after Moscow was hit by unprecedented sanctions over Ukraine.


Immediately after his announcement, the ruble – which has plummeted since the start of the Ukraine conflict – strengthened against the dollar and euro, while gas prices rose.

“I have decided to implement a set of measures to transfer payment for our gas supplies to unfriendly countries into Russian rubles,” Putin said during a televised government meeting.

He added, however, that Russia will continue supplying the volume of gas outlined in its contracts.

Putin ordered Russia’s central bank to implement the new payment system within a week, saying it must be “transparent” and will involve the purchase of rubles on Russia’s domestic market.

Putin also hinted that other Russian exports may be affected.

“It is clear that delivering our goods to the European Union, the United States and receiving dollars, euros, other currencies no longer makes sense to us,” Putin said.
Germany has previously paid for its gas and oil imports in euros.

Ukraine was quick to denounce Russia’s “economic war” on the EU and its efforts to “strengthen the ruble”.

“But the West could hit Russia with an oil embargo that would cause the Russian economy to plunge,” Ukrainian presidential advisor Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.
“This is now a key economic battle, and the West must collectively win it,” he added.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said Putin’s demand was a breach of contract and that Berlin will discuss with European partners “how we would react to that”.

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

----------


## bsnub

> You're quoting Q-anoners now sabang. Think about that. Maybe Zelensky has some Jewish space lasers he can use.


He's down in the juggs.  :Smile:

----------


## Troy

^ Renault has stopped its manufacturing in Russia today. I didn't think this was that easy because of the deal it had made to buy Russian manufacturer.

----------


## harrybarracuda

You think Puffy is fucked off about the squareheads doing a deal with Qatar?

 :rofl:

----------


## Switch

If the payment of gas supplies in Rubles breaches the contract, Putin can legally be ignored.

----------


## Cujo

> If the payment of gas supplies in Rubles breaches the contract, Putin can legally be ignored.


Ignored? Explain how that would work exactly.

----------


## Reggie

> Ignored? Explain how that would work exactly.


I imagine that idiots like that boris and biden clown show would shout to the world that they are managing to get and not pay for Russian gas, just before the pipes are shut down and India and China suddenly have an abundance of cheap gas purchased in Rubles .

----------


## hallelujah

How Russia is using tactics from the Syrian playbook in Ukraine | Ukraine | The Guardian

In both Syria and Ukraine, Russia and its allies have made military targets out of the civilian heart of communities – places ordinary people go for medical care, education, and food and other necessities.

Deliberately targeting civilians is illegal under international law, but it can also be effective. It spreads terror, saps the will of fighters, and destroys the community they rely on for practical and moral support.

During the eight-month battle of Aleppo, civilians were reportedly harmed in at least 16 attacks on hospitals, accounting for up to 143 alleged deaths, according to Airwars. Across the rest of Syria, dozens of strikes on healthcare facilities have been documented, including multiple attacks that have been tied directly to Russian forces.

“We documented numerous attacks on hospitals by precision Russian weapons demonstrating a clear desire to target hospitals – which are protected under international humanitarian law,” said Marc Garlasco, a war crimes investigator who analysed Russian activity in Syria for the United Nations. “It was shocking.”

The World Health Organization has documented at least 43 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since the war began, with at least 12 people killed. Countless other patients have had their healthcare disrupted by siege, including children on a cancer ward who are trapped in Chernihiv and running out of painkillers.

----------


## Reggie

Tosh 

Guardian :smiley laughing:

----------


## S Landreth

U.S. announces new Russian sanctions, plans to admit thousands of Ukrainian refugees

The United States announced a package of new sanctions against Russia and further aid for Ukrainian refugees as President Joe Biden looked to rally the leaders of some of the worlds most powerful democracies to increase their efforts to help Ukraine in a series of high-stakes meetings.

The U.S. said it would place additional sanctions on more than 400 Russians and Russian entities, including the Duma and more than 300 of its members, along with more than 40 defense companies, a senior administration official said. It plans to take additional steps to prevent Russia from attempting to prop up its economy.

The White House also announced it would allow as many as 100,000 Ukrainians to enter the U.S., with a focus on those who are most vulnerable. The administration is also prepared to offer more than $1 billion in additional funding toward humanitarian assistance and $11 billion over the next five years to address worldwide food security threats after the disruptions to the Russian and the Ukrainian agricultural industries.



 

21 Yachts Detained in Finland While Authorities Determine Ownership

21 yachts with potential ties to Russian oligarchs have been detained in Finland while authorities determine ownership

Finland has barred 21 yachts from leaving the country while officials investigate the suspicion that they belong to Russian oligarchs, the head of Finnish customs said this week.

The customs department began telling winter storage facilities of the decision last week, according to Helsingin Sanomat, which first reported the news.

"They're not boats an ordinary citizen would have, but they're not 150 meters long either," Sami Rakshit, head of the enforcement department, told Bloomberg.

"We don't assume that all the detained yachts fall under sanctions, but that is what we are trying to determine now," he added.


Another reminder, why nuclear energy is a risk.

----------


## David48atTD

Russian stocks have seen wild swings as the market has  reopened for limited trading after being shut down for a month, and US  stocks have rallied. 

Stock trading was suspended  in late February after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and the  market fell by one-third in a day. 
The Moscow  stock exchange resumed trading overnight for four hours in 33 Russian  stocks including oil and gas giant Gazprom and Sberbank. 

The MOEX Russian index soared as much as 10 per cent. 

It closed up 4.4 per cent to 2,579, with energy and mining stocks driving the gains. 
Short selling on bonds was banned. And foreign investors will not be able to sell stocks or OFZ rouble bonds until April 1. 

Oil firms Rosneft and Lukoil jumped, while aluminium firm Rusal and Norilsk Nickel also increased.

Airline Aeroflot fell 16.4 per cent. 

The White House said the reopening of the market was a "charade".

The rouble rose 6.2 per cent to 109.75 against the greenback. 

HERE

----------


## S Landreth

> limited trading


 ::doglol:: 

Here.

Foreign investors were not allowed to sell shares on Thursday under new rules that ban brokers from executing sales on their behalf.

The Biden administration described the reopening as a "charade."

"Russia has made clear they are going to pour government resources into artificially propping up the shares of companies that are trading," deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh said in a statement. "This is not a real market and not a sustainable model — which only underscores Russia's isolation from the global financial system."

----------


## Switch

> Ignored? Explain how that would work exactly.


It’s quite clear. If contractual obligations are not met, in this case by Russia demanding payment in a currency not specified in the contract, Russia is in breach of that contract.
As Reggie points out, others may be willing to step in, or maybe not?

----------


## sabang

The US and the EU have announced a major deal on liquified natural gas, in an attempt to reduce Europe's reliance on Russian energy.

The agreement would see the US provide the EU with at least fifteen billion additional cubic metres of the fuel - known as LNG - by the end of the year.

The bloc has already said it will cut Russian gas use in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

That will mean increasing imports and generating more renewable energy.

EU signs US gas deal to curb reliance on Russia (msn.com)


Short, sweet and about as predictable as a very predictable thing.

----------


## David48atTD

Russia is considering selling its oil and gas for bitcoin as sanctions intensify from the West



*Key Points*

Russia might accept bitcoin as payment for its oil and gas exports as Western countries stiffen sanctions.In  a videotaped news conference on Thursday, the chair of Russias Duma  committee on energy said in translated remarks that when it comes to  friendly countries such as China or Turkey, Russia is willing to be  more flexible with payment options.Chair Pavel Zavalny said  that the national fiat currency of the buyer  as well as bitcoin  were  being considered as alternative ways to pay for Russias energy  exports. 


Russia might take bitcoin as payment for oil and gas as sanctions rise

----------


## misskit

*Putin’s war in Ukraine nearing possibly more dangerous phase*

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is approaching a new, potentially more dangerous phase after a month of fighting has left Russian forces stalled by an outnumbered foe. He is left with stark choices — how and where to replenish his spent ground forces, whether to attack the flow of Western arms to Ukrainian defenders, and at what cost he might escalate or widen the war.


Despite failing to score a quick victory, Putin is not relenting in the face of mounting international pressure, including sanctions that have battered his economy. The Western world is aligned largely against Putin, but there have been no indications he is losing support from the majority of the Russian public that relies predominantly on state-controlled TV for information.

Ukrainian defenders, outgunned but benefitting from years of American and NATO training and an accelerating influx of foreign arms and moral support, are showing new signs of confidence as the invading force struggles to regroup.

MORE Putin'&#39;'s war in Ukraine nearing possibly more dangerous phase | AP News

----------


## misskit

Long on Europe’s Fringe, Poland Takes Center Stage as War Rages in Ukraine

WARSAW — After the White House announced this week that President Biden would visit Poland, the Kremlin let rip with a belligerent tirade: Polish leaders were a “vassal” of the United States, gripped by “pathological Russophobia,” and their country a “community of political imbeciles.”


Instead of fearful jitters, however, the broadside by Dmitri A. Medvedev, deputy head of the Kremlin’s security council, stirred a burst of pride in Warsaw.

“This is further proof that the Russians treat Poland seriously and see its growing importance in the West,” said Stanislaw Zaryn, director of the Department of National Security and spokesman for the coordinating minister for security.

MORE Long on Europe’s Fringe, Poland Takes Center Stage as War Rages in Ukraine – DNyuz

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## misskit

*Biden says U.S. would ‘respond’ to Russia if Putin uses chemical or biological weapons*

President Joe Biden said Thursday that NATO would respond “in kind” if Russia uses weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine.


“We will respond if he uses it,” Biden said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The nature of the response depends on the nature of the use.”


The president spoke after a marathon of summit meetings with the European Union, G-7 partners and NATO allies.


Biden also said he would support an effort to expel Russia from the G-20 group of economies.


The president declined to say whether the United States has evidence that China has helped Russia evade sanctions or sold American high tech equipment to Russia in violation of export bans.


“I think that China understands that its economic futures much more closely tied to the West than it is to Russia,” said Biden. “And so I am hopeful that he does not get engaged,” Biden said, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping.


Biden said NATO leaders discussed the need for NATO and the EU to set up a system to review any sanctions violations and “where, when and how” Russia is able to buy banned products.

MORE Biden says U.S. would '&#39;'respond'&#39;' to Russia if Putin uses chemical or biological weapons

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## S Landreth

Russian troops attack own commanding officer after suffering heavy losses

Russian troops reportedly attacked their own commanding officer by running him over with a tank after many in their brigade were killed amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian journalist Roman Tsymbaliuk said in a post on Facebook that Russian Col. Yuri Medvedev was attacked after fighting in Ukraine left nearly half of the men in the 37th Motor Rifle Brigade dead, The Washington Post reported.

Tsymbaliuk said the brigade injured both of Medvedev's legs by hitting him with a tank, causing him to be hospitalized, per the newspaper.

The incident occurred roughly 30 miles from Kyiv in Makariv, Ukraine, according to the Post. The country reportedly retook the town this week after Russia gained control of it earlier in the war.

A senior Western official told the newspaper he thinks Medvedev has died, saying the incident shows the low morale among the Russian troops in Ukraine.

He was killed as a consequence of the scale of the losses taken by his own brigade, the official said, per the Post.

NATO estimated earlier this week that as many as 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed as Ukraine continues to mount fierce resistance against Moscow's assault.

Several high-ranking officers are reported to be among the deceased, with Russian officials reportedly confirming Sunday that a navy commander had been killed and Russian state TV saying last week that one of the country's top commanders had died, among others.

Russia has been accused by the U.S. of committing war crimes in the conflict, as Ukrainian officials say Moscow is targeting civilians and structures such as hospitals, schools, residential buildings and bomb shelters in Ukraine.


 ::doglol::

----------


## sabang

German business morale plummeted in March as companies worried about rising energy prices, driver shortages and the stability of supply chains in the wake of the war in Ukraine, pointing to a possible future recession, a survey showed on Friday.

The Ifo institute said its business climate index dropped to 90.8 in March from a downwardly revised 98.5 in February. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a March reading of 94.2.

"The message from Germany's most important economic barometer is clear: the German economy is very likely to slide into recession," said Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at VP Bank Group.

The publication of the purchasing managers' index on Thursday gave some hope the German economy had so far been able to absorb the economic consequences of the war, but Friday's Ifo index "teaches us otherwise," Gitzel said.

"The extreme divergence between the situation and expectations is typical. Even if not much has actually happened, uncertainty due to the war is very high," said Jens-Oliver Niklasch, senior economist at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Ultimately, the uncertainty goes far beyond the Ukraine war, raising questions about the sustainability of Germany's business model, said Andreas Scheuerle at Decabank, pointing to the one-sided dependence of Europe's largest economy on supplier and customer countries


According to Commerzbank's Joerg Kraemer, companies are particularly afraid of such risks as a Western boycott of Russian oil, which would lead leave the market considerably undersupplied and catapult the prices upwards.

The index for business expectations also fell to 85.1 from 98.4, the sharpest plunge since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the moment, two-thirds of industrial companies want to raise their prices more than ever before and retailers are also looking to follow suit, Ifo economic expert Klaus Wohlrabe told Reuters.

"This is a domino effect," he said.

The service sector can initially rejoice at the easing of COVID-19 curbs, but trouble is looming on the horizon as filling up the car tank has become a burden and families will have to cut down on leisure activities, Gitzel said.

At the same time, the relief package announced by the German government on Thursday is nowhere near enough to compensate for the increased costs, Gitzel said.

War in Ukraine causes German business morale to collapse (msn.com)

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine LIVE: Putin on brink of major RETREAT in Kyiv – Russia to 'scale back' invasion*

Moscow has suggested it will scale back its invasion in Ukraine to focus on "liberating" territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists after meeting fierce resistance in Kyiv.  On Friday, the Russian army said the first phase of its military campaign was over and troops will now focus on the country's eastern Donbas region. Sergei Rudskoi, chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of Russia's armed forces, said: "The main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been completed. The combat potential of Ukraine's armed forces has been significantly reduced, which allows [us] - I emphasise once again - to focus our main efforts on achieving the main goal - the liberation of Donbas." The announcement comes after significant Russian losses, including 20 battalions. 


Ukraine LIVE: Putin on brink of major RETREAT in Kyiv – Russia to 'scale back' invasion | World | News | Express.co.uk

----------


## Hugh Cow

> German business morale plummeted in March as companies worried about rising energy prices, driver shortages and the stability of supply chains in the wake of the war in Ukraine, pointing to a possible future recession, a survey showed on Friday.
> 
> The Ifo institute said its business climate index dropped to 90.8 in March from a downwardly revised 98.5 in February. A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a March reading of 94.2.
> 
> "The message from Germany's most important economic barometer is clear: the German economy is very likely to slide into recession," said Thomas Gitzel, chief economist at VP Bank Group.
> 
> The publication of the purchasing managers' index on Thursday gave some hope the German economy had so far been able to absorb the economic consequences of the war, but Friday's Ifo index "teaches us otherwise," Gitzel said.
> 
> "The extreme divergence between the situation and expectations is typical. Even if not much has actually happened, uncertainty due to the war is very high," said Jens-Oliver Niklasch, senior economist at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.
> ...


Still, looking on the bright side, it is nothing like the financial armegeddon awaiting Russia.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Moscow has suggested it will scale back its invasion in Ukraine to focus on "liberating" territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists after meeting fierce resistance in Kyiv.


Would still be a win for Puffy Putin. Someone needs to top him.

----------


## bsnub

When the Ukrainians sunk that big amphibious ship, seems like they got the deputy commander of the Black Sea fleet as well...

The deputy commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been killed in  battle near the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the Kremlin-installed  governor of the Russia-occupied city of Sevastopol said.

 "Captain 1st Rank Andrei Nikolayevich Paly *was killed* in the fighting [near Mariupol]," Mikhail Razvozhayev said on his Telegram channel.
 Reports said the general was 51 years old.

 The Russian Navy did not respond to a request for comment.

 Sevastopol, a port city on the Crimea Peninsula, is the base of  Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Crimea was seized and annexed by Russia in  2014.

 If confirmed, it would mark the latest fatality among Russia’s top  military officers following reports of several being killed in action  during the invasion of Ukraine.

 On March 19, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy  claimed that the commander of the Russian Eighth Army, Lieutenant  General Andrei Mordvichev, had been killed at the Chornobaivka airfield  near the city of Kherson. 

 The Ukrainian Presidency at the time said the general was the fifth  top-ranking officer killed since the invasion began on February 24, an  unprecedented number of fatalities among a military leadership in such a  short period of time.

 The claims could not be independently confirmed.

Deputy Commander Of Russia's Black Sea Fleet Reportedly Killed In Action

----------


## panama hat

> Deputy Commander Of Russia's Black Sea Fleet Reportedly Killed In Action


Now it simply requires the death of someone a few rungs higher up . . . some ex-KGB dufus who inhaled too much second-hand Novichok

----------


## Takeovers

> On Friday, the Russian army said the first phase of its military campaign was over and troops will now focus on the country's eastern Donbas region.


Hard to imagine as it is, this is just the beginning of a total defeat of the Russian military on all fronts. They have been badly beaten at Kyiv, can't take Mariupol, and their botched attempts on taking Odessa from the sea. They will be routed in the Donbas region too. Maybe, just maybe, they can hold on to Crimea.

----------


## bsnub

> Hard to imagine as it is, this is just the beginning of a total defeat of the Russian military on all fronts.


I would agree. The reason that statement was made is that they realize they will never be able to take Kyiv. Reports on Twitter are that the Ukrainians have retaken Irpin and are currently pushing the Russians north.

My fear now in the embarrassment of all this that Putin will resort to some kind of nuclear attack.

----------


## malmomike77

> My fear now in the embarrassment of all this that Putin will resort to some kind of nuclear attack.


Won't happen. He's got a big enough problem with trying to sell this to the Russian people and will need some territorial gain, he'll risk that if he draws NATO into this and going down the CBRN route is a sure way to achieve this.

There is already rumour his forces are starting to pull back to the territories he is looking to secure, given they aren't yet secure i suspect this may be true as he needs to focus his attention on these.

----------


## malmomike77

Admission they are going to confine themselves to the east? If so and a deal is signed i expect the major sticking point will be between Ukraine wanting to maintain a fighting force to defend from future incursions and Russia wanting Ukraine to be "De-militarised".

Russia targets east Ukraine, says first phase over

Russia says it will focus its invasion of Ukraine on "liberating" the east, signalling a possible shift in its strategy.

The defence ministry said that the initial aims of the war were complete, and that Russia had reduced the combat capacity of Ukraine.

Russia's invasion appeared aimed at swiftly capturing major cities and toppling the government.

But it has stalled in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance.

"The main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been carried out," said Sergei Rudskoy, head of the General Staff's main operations administration.

"The combat capabilities of the Ukrainian armed forces have been substantially reduced, which allows us to concentrate our main efforts on achieving the main goal: the liberation of Donbas," he added, referring to an area in eastern Ukraine largely in the hands of Russian-backed separatists.

Russia's military has been bombarding and trying to encircle key Ukrainian cities such as the capital Kyiv, which Gen Rudskoy characterised as an attempt to tie down Ukraine's forces elsewhere in the country while Russia focuses on the east.

Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said his troops had landed "powerful blows" on Russia and called on Moscow to recognise the need for serious peace talks.

"By restraining Russia's actions, our defenders are leading the Russian leadership to a simple and logical idea: talk is necessary. Meaningful. Urgent. Fair. For the sake of the result, not for the sake of the delay," he said.

More: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60872358

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## sabang

Nice to hear. I'm sure a few armchair generals will be asking Putin- why so many forces concentrated around Kiev, when the real action and focus of the war was elsewhere?

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## Reggie

> Russia's invasion appeared aimed at swiftly capturing major cities and toppling the government.
> 
> But it has stalled in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance.


The use of the word "appeared" show the average bbc propaganda. The Rooskies were quite clear from the offset exactly what their mission was. As for the fierce Ukrainian resistance - I wonder if they will post up some more computer game videos claiming a great win?  :smiley laughing:

----------


## misskit

^ ​You remind me of a Phil Collins song.


Russia, Losing Ground in Kyiv, Now Says 'Main Goal' to Free Eastern Ukraine

Russian troops are looking to reconvene in eastern Ukraine as they continue to lose ground in the capital of Kyiv.


General Sergey Rudskoy, the head of the main operational directorate of the Russian General Staff, said during a Friday briefing that the military will be shifting its focus onto the eastern regions of Ukraine.He said that Russia will no longer try to claim other cities in the country but will attempt to "liberate" the east—particularly the separatist region of Donbas. He also claimed that the "first phase" of this new plan was already complete and that Ukraine's "combat capabilities have been significantly reduced."


Donbas contains the two separatist republics of Ukraine, the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics. According to Rudskoy, 93 percent of the Luhansk Republic has been liberated already, while 54 percent of the Donetsk Republic has had a similar fate.

"Initially, we did not plan to storm them in order to prevent destruction and minimize losses among personnel and civilians," explained Rudskoy, "and although we do not rule out such a possibility, however, as individual groups complete their tasks, and they are being solved successfully, our forces and means will concentrate on the main thing—the complete liberation of Donbas."

The change in plans is something that the U.S. has been aware of and has monitored closely. According to an anonymous senior U.S. defense official who spoke with ABC News, airstrikes are still targeting the city of Kyiv, but they believe that the Russian army will be moving elsewhere for cities to claim. Specifically, they appear to be eyeing the eastern Ukraine separatist region of Donbas as their next big target.

"We think they are trying to not only secure some sort of, more substantial gains there as a potential negotiating tactic at the table," said the official, "but also to cut off Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country."


The official also gave an update to the southern city of Kherson, which previously was claimed by Russian forces. That victory might be short-lived, the official claimed, as the army's influence doesn't appear to be as stable as it was originally. This instability is due to Kherson's status as a port city. While protecting all parts of Ukraine is important, the reclamation of Kherson will be extremely important as it will help restabilize the Ukrainian economy. With Ukrainian forces most likely already preparing for a reclamation, Russia's army could be stuck.

Russia, Losing Ground in Kyiv, Now Says 'Main Goal' to Free Eastern Ukraine

----------


## Switch

> Nice to hear. I'm sure a few armchair generals will be asking Putin- why so many forces concentrated around Kiev, when the real action and focus of the war was elsewhere?


Too late. Your reputation and credibility are already tarnished beyond help. Despite your feeble attempts to back pedal, you have put down too many pro Russian and pro Putin markers to survive this change of tactics by the tyrant.
He will be lucky to save face, and his job. You however, already turned to dust.

----------


## bsnub

*Putin will soon have 'no choice' but to stop his invasion of Ukraine, former US general says*


Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely be forced to bring his failing monthlong war  against Ukraine to a halt, a retired US general and Russia specialist  told Insider — a scenario that may happen within weeks after Russian  forces have sustained heavy losses and subjected Ukraine's cities to  indiscriminate attacks.

Retired US Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan said  he believed this to be the "most likely scenario" to play out, as Putin  has already "failed to accomplish" his "main military goals" in Ukraine  — a lightning strike to seize Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, and other big  cities and remove their elected leaders — and Russia's economy continues  to be decimated by sweeping Western sanctions over its war with the Eastern European country.

"Putin  will have to halt his war in Ukraine sooner or later and probably in a  matter of weeks," Ryan, who served as the defense attaché to Russia for  the US, among numerous other roles, told Insider on Thursday. 

"The  reason is not because he wants to halt his military operation but  because he has no choice," Ryan, 67, said. "He has basically reached the  capacity of what his military can do for him in Ukraine."

Ukraine's armed forces, aided by civilians,  have been greatly outnumbered and outgunned by Russian troops since  Russia launched its attack in late February, but Ukrainians have managed  to put up a fierce resistance, which has resulted in a mounting Russian death toll and an essentially stalled invasion.

An  assessment from the Institute for the Study of War found that Ukrainian  forces had forced Russian troops into defensive positions, while  Putin's forces had "continued to settle in for a protracted and  stalemated conflict."

Ryan said the Russian army "has a huge personnel problem."

"There is no significant military unit left in Russia outside of Ukraine. They are all in the fight," he said.

"There is almost no part of the Russian military that's not  dedicated, committed to Ukraine, so if he has to escalate, how does he  escalate?" he added, referring to Putin.

At this point, Ryan said it would be "impossible" for Russia to take control of all Ukraine like Putin hoped to.

"He  does not have the military forces to take all of Ukraine and occupy  it," Ryan said, adding: "Russian leadership overestimated what their  military was capable of."

Ryan called this "a great achievement by  Ukrainian people to have prevented an overthrow of their government and  a total seizure of all their land."

Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24,  and in the weeks since, they have surrounded and shelled several towns  across the Eastern European country, hitting multiple civilian targets,  including residential buildings, hospitals, and a theater.

But British intelligence said on Friday that thanks to Ukrainian counterattacks, Ukraine had retaken some areas around Kyiv it lost earlier in the war.

Ryan,  a senior fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and  International Affairs, said he believed Ukraine would see "an increase  in violence" by Russian forces "in the near future" until Putin was  forced to halt his military operation.

Putin "can increase the violence and do more damage and destruction in Ukraine," Ryan said.

"He can try to find and encircle and destroy the Ukrainian military,  which is smaller than his," he added. "But even if he does all of those  things, he cannot strategically do much more with his military."

Ryan said: "They're out of troops, they're out of units, they are fully committed to doing just what they are now."

But he said an end to the war in Ukraine wouldn't "necessarily mean a halt in violence."

"Violence  can continue even during the time of negotiations between the sides,"  Ryan said, adding that the halting of the invasion would likely be  "indefinite" until Putin "gets enough concessions from Ukraine" and even  from the West regarding the severe sanctions on Russia.

"So until he gets enough concessions," Ryan said of Putin, "I think  he would want to stay in that kind of no man's land of a halted military  operation — one that could be restarted at any time.

"That would be the threat."

https://www.businessinsider.com/puti...general-2022-3

----------


## Switch

I find it difficult to believe Ryan’s idea that Putin has been allowed to utilize all active Russian military units. Russian MOD must have reserves, unless they are all conscripts deployed to far flung outposts of Russian borders?
Even if Ryan is only half correct in his assumptions, the chance of Putin forces digging in and waiting seems utterly pointless given the Russian logistic difficulties.

The withdrawal to the East makes much more sense. Smaller battlefield with easier logistic support from home, and an opportunity to use long range indiscriminate attacks in central and western Ukraine, with no Russian troops in harms way. It also puts Ukraine on the back foot.
It almost makes the tyrant Putin seem more reasonable.

----------


## bsnub

> Russian MOD must have reserves, unless they are all conscripts deployed to far flung outposts of Russian borders?


They were said to be calling up reserves two weeks ago, so where are they? The fact remains that none appear to have arrived on the scene to alleviate this quagmire the Russians are currently stuck in. So that would IMHO validate what the General is saying. 




> The withdrawal to the East makes much more sense.


They can not simply withdraw across the country, as they do not control it. The northern Army group came in via Belarus, and it will have to exit that way, as they do not have the logistical capability to do anything else. Just finding the gas to retreat at this point is probably a challenge, which is why they are taking defensive positions. 




> Last I heard, about 20% Of Russian military in Ukraine.


Absurd and completely clueless. You are about as correct as you were, blathering on about how this war would never happen.

----------


## pickel

> Absurd and completely clueless. You are about as correct as you were, blathering on about how this war would never happen.


He's right snubbie, but akin to a broken clock though.

There's about 200K in Ukraine out of a total of 1 million.

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## bsnub

> There's about 200K in Ukraine out of a total of 1 million.


Do you think that every soldier in a modern army is a frontline combat troop? Do you really think that all of those men can just go to the frontline and start fighting? If you do, you would be wrong. The point the General was making in the article I posted is that there are no more combat forces for Putin to deploy, they are already there.

----------


## David48atTD

Finland's president says joining NATO would be beneficial, but would "increase tensions with Russia"



A NATO  membership "would permanently increase tensions with Russia" along  Finlands border with Russia, President Sauli Niinistö said Saturday in  an interview with the countrys public broadcaster Yle TV1.

Niinistö  said the greatest benefit of a NATO membership would be "gaining a  preventive effect," but there would also be a risk for various types of  Russian retaliation, including hybrid threats.

The  president also said that the benefits of being part of NATO would  outweigh the negative ramifications, and that it is most important to  find solutions to increase his countrys security.

"Sufficient  security is where Finns can feel that there is no emergency and there  won't be one," he said, while also adding that being part of the  alliance would provide the "most sufficient" security.

Since  Russians invasion of Ukraine, Finland has been considering joining the  military alliance, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told CNN's  Becky Anderson earlier this month.

March 26, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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## pickel

> Do you think that every soldier in a modern army is a frontline combat troop?


Do you think every Russian soldier in Ukraine is a combat soldier? They do need people in the supply lines too.

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## malmomike77

I have to say Biden's comment was pretty fuking stupid. Putin will be looking for every excuse he can lay hands on to bolster his position in the eyes of his people and having the "enemy" saying they want the head of state out just plays into his hands - staggering ineptitude. 


Why did the White House intervene after Biden's speech?

"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power", US President Joe Biden said about his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin during a speech in Poland's capital Warsaw on Saturday.

This was quickly followed by the White House saying Biden wasn't calling for regime change, but was instead making a point about Putin not being allowed to exercise power over his neighbours.

This was clearly an attempt at rolling back - the concern is that this is going to put more pressure on Putin and make him more uneasy.

Given that he is the head of a country that is struggling militarily, and is in control of a nuclear arsenal, the concern on the Americans' part is that they don't want to back Putin into a corner.

Calling out for regime change directly could cause instability and increase unpredictability.

And the last thing you want in these circumstances is unpredictability.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-60890199

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## Switch

^Depends how well orchestrated it was by the US media. Biden giving a voice to what most sentient posters think anyway.
Puti has already proved that he is very thick skinned, or downright stupid to think he can be allowed to get away with his invasion.

----------


## malmomike77

> Depends how well orchestrated it was by the US media. Biden giving a voice to what most sentient posters think anyway.


It wasn't orchestrated if you listened to his speech, he has a history of getting carried away once he's got a bit revved up. You are missing the point, its not what Putin will think, its how he'll use the ill advised comments on the home font, he'll have loved it.

----------


## sabang

Russia is bringing more forces on rotation and may attempt further advances, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko said on Sunday.

In a televised address, Mr Denysenko said Russia has started destroying Ukrainian fuel and food storage depots, meaning the government will have to disperse the stocks of both in the near future.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” while another missile attack left the western city of Lviv covered in plumes of smoke on Saturday.

Four missiles hit the outskirts of Lviv, just 60km from the Polish border, local officials said, damaging the infrastructure but no deaths were reported.

As Ukraine continues to fight Russia for over a month now since the invasion began on 24 February, a visibly irritated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again demanded Western nations send military hardware and asked whether they were intimidated by Moscow.

“We’ve already been waiting 31 days. Who is in charge of the Euro-Atlantic community? Is it really still Moscow, because of intimidation?”

Russia bringing more forces on rotation and may attempt further advances, Ukraine says (msn.com)




> Who is in charge of the Euro-Atlantic community?


Well it certainly isn't you, clown boy.

----------


## misskit

Russian generals are getting killed at an extraordinary rate

The war in Ukraine is proving extraordinarily lethal for Russian generals, the gray men bedecked in service medals, who are being aggressively targeted by Ukrainian forces and killed at a rate not seen since World War II.


Ukrainian officials say their forces have killed seven generals on the battlefield, felled by snipers, close combat and bombings.

If true, the deaths of so many generals, alongside more senior Russian army and naval commanders — in just four weeks of combat — exceeds the attrition rate seen in the worst months of fighting in the bloody nine-year war fought by Russia in Chechnya, as well as Russian and Soviet-era campaigns in Afghanistan, Georgia and Syria.


“It is highly unusual,” said a senior Western official, briefing reporters on the topic, who confirmed the names, ranks and “killed in action” status of the seven.


In all, at least 15 senior Russian commanders have been killed in the field, said Markiyan Lubkivsky, a spokesperson for the Ukraine Ministry of Defense.

NATO officials estimated earlier this week that as many as 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in four weeks of war, a very high number. Russia has offered a far lower figure, reporting Friday that only 1,351 of its fighters had died.


The Russian government has not confirmed the deaths of its generals.


If the numbers of senior commanders killed proves accurate, the Russian generals have been either extremely unlucky or successfully targeted — or both.


Shooting generals is a legitimate tactic of war — and it has been openly embraced by Ukrainian officials, who say their forces have been focused on slowing Russian advances by concentrating fire on Russian command-and-control units near the front lines.


Russia's failure in Ukraine imbue Pentagon with newfound confidence


Jeffrey Edmonds, former director for Russia on the National Security Council and now a senior analyst at the CNA think tank in Washington, said Ukrainian forces appear to be targeting “anyone with gray hair standing near a bunch of antennas,” a signal they may be senior officers.


Some experts suggest the Russian military has struggled to keep its communications secure and that Ukraine intelligence units have found their targets through Russian carelessness, with Russian forces reduced to using unencrypted devices. There have been reports of Russian soldiers using mobile phones.


Pentagon and other Western officials say that Russian generals generally serve closer to the front lines than their NATO counterparts. By design, the Russian army is top heavy with senior officers, which makes them numerous, though not expendable.


Military analysts and Western intelligence officials say the Russian generals in Ukraine may be more exposed and serving closer to the front because their side is struggling — and that senior officers are deployed closer to the action to cut through the chaos.


One Western official suggested that Russian generals were also needed to push “frightened” Russian troops, including raw conscripts, forward. Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Defense Ministry to withdraw conscripts from combat, having publicly pledged that they would not be deployed.


Pentagon, NATO and Western officials say the Russian army in Ukraine is struggling with poor morale.


Russian soldiers attacked and injured their commanding officer after their brigade suffered heavy losses in the fighting outside the capital, Kyiv, according to a Western official and a Ukrainian journalist.


Russia begins to mobilize military reinforcements for Ukraine as casualties mount


Troops with the 37th Motor Rifle Brigade ran a tank into Col. Yuri Medvedev, injuring both his legs, after their unit lost almost half its men, according to a Facebook post by Ukrainian journalist Roman Tsymbaliuk. The post said the colonel had been hospitalized.

A senior Western official said he believed Medvedev had been killed, “as a consequence of the scale of the losses taken by his own brigade.”


Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, told The Washington Post the Ukraine army has focused its efforts on “slowing the pace” of the Russian invasion, in part by “beheading” forward command posts, meaning killing, not literally beheading.


Killing senior officers can slow down the Russian advances by “three or four or five days” before new command structures can be put in place, Arestovych said.


He attributed successful targeting to both “excellent intelligence” and numerous Russian vulnerabilities.


Arestovych claimed that in addition to slowing Russian momentum, killing their generals undermines Russian morale, while bolstering Ukrainian resolve.


“The death of such commanders quickly becomes public knowledge and it is very difficult to hide,” he said. “Unlike the death of an ordinary soldier, it makes an outsized impression.”


Ukrainian officials and Western officials have named seven Russian generals killed in action: Magomed Tushayev, Andrei Sukhovetsky, Vitaly Gerasimov, Andrey Kolesnikov, Oleg Mityaev, Yakov Rezanstev and Andrei Mordvichev.


Russian officials and Russian media have confirmed the death of only one general.


Sukhovetsky, a deputy commander of Russia’s 41st army, was killed by a sniper at the beginning of the war, Ukrainian officials said. At his burial in Novorossiysk, a port city on the Black Sea, a deputy mayor said Sukhovetsky “died heroically during a combat mission during a special operation in Ukraine.”


Christo Grozev, director of open-source investigative group Bellingcat, said he confirmed the death of Gerasimov, which was first announced by Ukrainian intelligence. The Bellingcat investigator also reported on a March 7 phone call from a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer, reporting the death to his superior, a call captured by Ukrainian intelligence and shared with reporters.


One of the first commanders that Ukraine claimed to have killed, in late February, was Tushayev, a right-hand man to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.


Kadyrov denied the claim on his Telegram channel and Chechen Information Minister Akhmed Dudayev posted an audio message purportedly from Tushayev, which he said proved he was alive.


The deaths of senior officers are celebrated on Ukrainian social media — but kept out of Russian news.


Killing Russian generals “feels consequential to Ukraine,” especially in “the David versus Goliath narrative they are living through,” said Margarita Konaev, an expert on Russian military innovation at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.


She said the nature of the fighting — at close quarters in urban environments — will likely add to the body count on both sides, for civilians, ordinary soldiers and commanders.


The urban dimension is especially deadly, she said.


Mason Clark, a senior analyst and expert on the Russian military at the Institute for the Study of War, said Ukrainian reports suggest that radio communications across the Russian forces are vulnerable to interception and location.


Before the war with Russia began, Clark said Ukraine forces learned how to use communications to “target and pinpoint” the sources of artillery fire in the separatist enclaves in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.


“They’ve used this training at scale,” Clark said.


Ruth Deyermond, an expert in post-Soviet security in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, said it was unknown how the loss of senior officers in Ukraine might shape thinking in the Kremlin.


As Putin’s circle has shrunk, and decision-making become more opaque, she said, “you don’t even know what Putin is being told about the losses” by his own military.


The reported high attrition rate for Russian commanders in Ukraine underscores the problem of invading the country on a false set of assumptions, expecting to swiftly topple Ukraine’s government and install a puppet regime to bring it back into Moscow’s orbit. A military operation forecast by Russia to take a few days has entered its second month.


Russia is highly sensitive about military casualties, in particular involving senior officers.


Calling the invasion a “special military operation” to liberate Ukraine from “neo-Nazis,” Russian authorities have banned journalists from using the term “war” and have criminalized criticism of the military or the release of any information that could damage its standing.


After Russia’s initial failures, Putin has simply doubled down on the war effort, with the Kremlin dampening hopes of an off-ramp through peace talks. Russian authorities appear to be preparing for a long, bloody campaign, drumming up domestic unity through a propaganda blitz, as the military intensifies its pressure on Ukraine.


MSN

----------


## sabang

Turkey and other nations must still talk to Russia to help end the war in Ukraine, Turkey's presidential spokesman said on Sunday, adding that Kyiv needed more support to defend itself.

NATO member Turkey has good relations with both Russia and Ukraine and has sought to mediate in the month-long conflict.

"If everybody burns bridges with Russia then who is going to talk to them at the end of the day," Ibrahim Kalin told the Doha international forum.

"Ukrainians need to be supported by every means possible so they can defend themselves ... but the Russian case must be heard, one way or the other," so that its grievances could be understood if not justified, Kalin added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged the West to give his country tanks, planes and missiles to fend off Russian forces. The West has responded to Russia's invasion by slapping sweeping economic sanctions on Moscow.

Ankara says Russia's invasion is unacceptable but opposes the Western sanctions on principle and has not joined them.

Turkey's economy, already strained by a December currency crisis, relies heavily on Russian energy, trade and tourism, and since the war began on Feb. 24 thousands of Russians have arrived in Turkey, seeing it as a safe haven from the sanctions.

Ahmet Burak Daglioglu, head of Turkey's investment office, told the forum separately that some Russian companies were relocating operations to Turkey.

Asked on a panel about Turkey doing business with any people which could be of benefit to President Vladimir Putin, he said: "We are not targeting, we are not chasing, we are not pursuing any investment or capital that has a question mark on it."

Two superyachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich have docked in Turkish resorts.

Western governments have targeted Abramovich and several other Russian oligarchs with sanctions as they seek to isolate Putin and his allies over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey says world cannot 'burn bridges' with Moscow (msn.com)

----------


## sabang

_Well, sure they do. I think the real question is where do they intend the borders to be?
_
Ukraine says Russia wants to split nation (msn.com)

----------


## Norton

> _Well, sure they do. I think the real question is where do they intend the borders to be?
> _
> Ukraine says Russia wants to split nation (msn.com)


If Putin has his way, he will gobble up bits until he has the entirety of what is now the Ukraine.

This will be followed by another "special operation" in another former Soviet nation.

No secret what Putin is up to. The fall of the Berlin wall and his self proclaimed "worst tragedy of his life" as a 37-year-old KGB lieutenant colonel stationed in the East German city of Dresden.

He has but one long term goal and as long as he has the power, he will reach it.

*The restoration of the former Soviet Union!*

I don't do walls of text but here is some light reading for those who can be bothered.

How the Soviet Union's Fall Pushed Putin to Try and Recapture Russia's Global Importance - HISTORY

----------


## David48atTD

Why won't India condemn Putin's invasion of Ukraine?

---

India is snapping up cheap Russian oil, and China could be next


Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang  Yi and Minister of External Affairs of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar  pose for a photo during Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of  Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Moscow, Russia on September 10,  2020.


*Key Points*
Since  the beginning of March, five cargoes of Russian oil, or about 6 million  barrels, have been loaded and are bound for India  set to be  discharged in early April, said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler.This is about half the entire volume discharged last year  a significant uptick, he told CNBC.If  China also buys oil from Russia  also widely expected to be discounted   it could have some impact on crude prices, analysts said.Urals crude from Russia is being offered at record discounts, the International Energy Agency said on March 17. 

Russia-India: India buys cheap Russian oil; China could be next

----------


## sabang

Bet they're not paying in rubles either.

----------


## bsnub

> Bet they're not paying in rubles either.


But they are...




> India is expected to announce a payment arrangement that would allow  trade with Russia to continue, the president of an Indian exporters'  association told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Wednesday. The  so-called rupee-ruble trade mechanism could come as early as next week,  according to A Sakthivel, president of the Federation of Indian Export  Organisations (FIEO).


FIEO: India rupee-ruble trade mechanism with Russia may be ready soon

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Turkey and other nations must still talk to Russia


That's fine, but they don't have to be nice to Puffy Putin. He is a murderous, thieving dictator and should be treated as one.

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine cites Russian 'provocations' for pausing evacuations of civilians*

Ukraine said Monday it was pausing evacuations of civilians from war-scarred regions of the country because intelligence reports suggested invading Russian troops were planning attacks on humanitarian routes.


"Our intelligence has reported possible provocations by the occupiers on routes of humanitarian corridors. Therefore, for reasons of public safety, we are not opening humanitarian corridors today," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on social media.

With its aspirations for a quick victory dashed by a stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russia has increasingly focused on grinding down Ukraine’s military in the east in the hope of forcing Kyiv into surrendering part of the country’s territory to possibly end the war.

The bulk of the Ukrainian army is concentrated in eastern Ukraine, where it has been locked up in fighting with Moscow-backed separatists in a nearly eight-year conflict. If Russia succeeds in encircling and destroying the Ukrainian forces in the country’s industrial heartland called Donbas, it could try to dictate its terms to Kyiv and, possibly, attempt to split the country in two.

The mayor of Mariupol said on Monday all civilians must be evacuated from the encircled Ukrainian city to allow them to escape a humanitarian catastrophe.

Mayor Vadym Boichenko said 160,000 civilians were still trapped in the southern port city on the Sea of Azov without heat and power after weeks of Russian bombardment.


He said 26 buses were waiting to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, which normally has a population of about 400,000 people, but Russian forces had not agreed to give them safe passage. He did not say where they were waiting.


"The situation in the city remains difficult. People are beyond the line of humanitarian catastrophe," Boichenko said on national television. "We need to completely evacuate Mariupol."


He added: "The Russian Federation is playing with us. We are in the hands of the invaders."


Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, denies targeting civilians and blames Ukraine for the repeated failure to agree on safe corridors for trapped civilians. President Vladimir Putin says Russian forces are on a special operation to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine.


Mariupol is widely seen as a strategic prize for the Russian invaders to create a bridge between Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, and two separatist enclaves in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine cites Russian 'provocations' for pausing evacuations of civilians, World News | wionews.com

----------


## sabang

Paying for Russian gas in roubles would be unacceptable, Group of Seven (G7) countries have reiterated, with German Economy Minister Robert Habeck saying this recent demand showed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s back was “against the wall”.

“All G7 [energy] ministers agreed that this is a unilateral and clear breach of the existing agreements,” said Habeck, whose country holds the presidency of the G7 most industrialised nations.

“Payment in roubles is not acceptable and … we call on the companies concerned not to comply with Putin’s demand,” he said on Monday.

Putin announced last week that Russia would only accept payments in roubles for natural gas deliveries to “unfriendly countries”, which includes all European Union members.

Economists said the move appeared designed to try to support the rouble, which has collapsed against other currencies since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and Western countries responded with far-reaching sanctions against Moscow. But some analysts expressed doubt that it would work.

Asked by reporters earlier on Monday if Russia could cut natural gas supplies to European customers if they reject the demand to pay in roubles, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call that “we clearly aren’t going to supply gas for free.”
“In our situation, it’s hardly possible and feasible to engage in charity for Europe,” Peskov said.

*Putin’s ‘back against the wall’*

The move comes as Moscow struggles to prop up its economy in the face of debilitating sanctions imposed by the West over his invasion of Ukraine.

“I think we must interpret this demand as Putin having his back against the wall,” Habeck told reporters following a virtual meeting with his G7 counterparts.

The G7 bloc consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday rejected Putin’s gas-for-roubles demand.

The Russian move “is not in line with what was signed, and I do not see why we would apply it,” Macron said.

Like other European countries, Germany is racing to reduce its heavy reliance on Russian energy imports in the wake of the Ukraine war.

Germany has to wean itself off Russian oil, gas and coal “in order not to strengthen the regime”, Habeck said, and because Moscow has revealed itself to be “an unreliable supplier”.

Berlin was quick to pull the plug on the massive Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with Russia in protest over Putin’s aggression.

But the German government has so far resisted calls to impose an embargo on Russian energy imports, saying that to do so could plunge Europe’s biggest economy into chaos.

Paying for Russian gas in roubles is ‘unacceptable’, says G7 (msn.com)



G7 = Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

----------


## Switch

> If Putin has his way, he will gobble up bits until he has the entirety of what is now the Ukraine.
> 
> This will be followed by another "special operation" in another former Soviet nation.
> 
> No secret what Putin is up to. The fall of the Berlin wall and his self proclaimed "worst tragedy of his life" as a 37-year-old KGB lieutenant colonel stationed in the East German city of Dresden.
> 
> He has but one long term goal and as long as he has the power, he will reach it.
> 
> *The restoration of the former Soviet Union!*
> ...


An interesting g link Norts, thank you. The paucity of real information is probably more indicative of his secretive style. (Ex wife’s comments are most illuminating).

----------


## panama hat

> rupee-ruble trade mechanism


 :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  A powerhouse Trade Mechanism






> Paying for Russian gas in roubles would be unacceptable, Group of Seven (G7) countries have reiterated, with German Economy Minister Robert Habeck saying this recent demand showed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s back was “against the wall”.


True . . . you can't just rejig trade deals and expect everything to be normal.

----------


## Switch

> A powerhouse Trade Mechanism
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> True . . . you can't just rejig trade deals and expect everything to be normal.


It’s just one of many giveaway indicators that not everything is going Putin’s way. Every day a new lie has to be created to support the rickety propaganda that keeps Russian people in the dark.
Tactical changes, Senior officers dying, reinforcements not available, equipment failures, troop deaths denied or figures massaged, heads roll back home because they cannot or will not tell Putin what he wants to hear.

Every day, a new lie to cover up the failures.

----------


## malmomike77

> Every day, a new lie to cover up the failures.


All a bit like the good old days with Breshnev

----------


## sabang

The Russian rouble strengthened to a more than one-month high in Moscow trade on Tuesday, firming past 88 to the dollar, while stocks regained some ground in the fourth session since trading resumed after a near month-long suspension.

The Russian market is gradually reopening after a suspension caused by sweeping Western sanctions that followed the beginning of what Russia calls "a special operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

By 0914 GMT, the rouble was up 2% against the dollar at 88.00, having earlier touched 87.40, its strongest since Feb. 28. It lost 0.3% to trade at 96.89 versus the euro after briefly clipping a one-month high.

In offshore trade, the rouble was marginally weaker, hovering at 89.75 to the dollar on the EBS electronic platform.

Two powerful drivers - Russia switching to roubles for gas export payments and exporting firms being mandated to convert 80% of their foreign currency earnings into roubles - are supporting the Russian currency, said Iskander Lutsko, chief investment strategist at ITI Capital.

"The market now really depends on progress in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine," Lutsko said of the Russian stock market, as the two sides met for face-to-face talks in Turkey.

Full Article-  Rouble hits one-month high vs dollar, Russian stocks regain ground (msn.com)

----------


## S Landreth

> Rouble hits one-month high vs dollar, Russian stocks regain ground


 :rofl: 

Looking forward to this Friday

Nothing is quite as it seems: The illusion of Russia’s Potemkin markets

The exchange’s benchmark MOEX index was up 4.4 per cent on Thursday, down 3.7 per cent on Friday and then slipped another 2.15 per cent on Monday in thin trading. The volumes of shares traded since the exchange’s reopening have been a fraction of those before the invasion.

In Russia at present, of course, nothing is quite as it seems. With the foreign investors who hold about 80 per cent of the free float in the market not allowed to sell and Russia’s National Wellbeing Fund (its sovereign wealth fund) having pledged $US10 billion ($13.4 billion) to support the market, the trading was meaningless.

The exchange has banned short-selling but permitted short-covering, which also would have added some buy-side support for the market.

From Friday, when foreigners will be able to sell, it might become more meaningful, although the sellers won’t be able to shift any proceeds out of the country. Most foreign institutional investors have already written down their Russian holdings to zero.

The fact that the overwhelming majority of investors in the market can’t sell and there is a state buyer with explicit instructions to prop up the market means it isn’t a real market but an illusion of one.

It’s not just stocks where the trading is artificial and propped up by the state and the restrictions on foreign investors.

A week ago trading in Russia’s domestic bonds recommenced with heavy Bank of Russia interventions, with foreign investors effectively locked out of the market.

The value of Russia’s rouble crashed after the invasion and the impositions of the West’s financial sanctions – including the freezing of more than half Russia’s foreign exchange reserves -- but has stabilised, with the currency trading around 20 per cent lower than its pre-invasion levels.

With the Bank of Russia preventing foreigners from selling securities, restricting selling of roubles and effectively forcing buying – banks aren’t allowed to exchange roubles for foreign currency for six months, those with foreign currency accounts have had their withdrawals capped and Russian companies have been ordered to use 80 per cent of their foreign currency holdings to buy roubles -- there is no real market price for the currency.

If there was its value would be far lower than its current exchange rate of less than one US cent.

Maybe they might fool some domestic investors and create the illusion of normalcy. Russian markets are, however, going to be shunned by foreign investors for a very long time and its financial markets will shrink dramatically and be near-useless in attracting capital or providing the price signals central to a modern financial system and economy.


 ::doglol::

----------


## sabang

*India stands by trade with Russia as Lavrov set to visit*


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is set to fly to India this week, sources said, finding time to visit to one of the biggest buyers of Russian commodities since the international community began isolating Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

There is little sign that buying will slow down any time soon, as more deals get signed. One source said the two countries could discuss smoothening trade payments disrupted by Western sanctions on Russian banks. Media have said he could hold talks in the Indian capital on Friday.

It will only be Lavrov's third visit overseas since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, after a trip to Turkey for talks with his Ukrainian counterpart earlier this month and a scheduled meeting in China on Thursday.

Russia is India's main supplier of defence hardware but overall annual trade is small, averaging about $9 billion in the past few years, mainly fertiliser and some oil. By comparison, India's bilateral trade with China is more than $100 billion a year.

But given sharp discounts on Russian crude oil since the attack on Ukraine, India has bought at least 13 million barrels, compared with nearly 16 million barrels imported from the country for the whole of last year. Many European countries have also continued to buy Russian energy despite publicly criticising Moscow.

Full article=  India stands by trade with Russia as Lavrov set to visit (msn.com)

----------


## sabang

*Russia steps up economic retaliation with Eurobond rouble buyback offer*



Russia retaliated in what it has called an "economic war" with the West on Tuesday by offering to buy back its $2 billion Eurobonds maturing next month in roubles rather than dollars.

The finance ministry offer on Eurobonds maturing on April 4, Russia's biggest debt payment this year, follows Western moves to tighten sanctions against the country over its invasion of Ukraine and to freeze Moscow out of international finance.

Russia steps up economic retaliation with Eurobond rouble buyback offer (msn.com)

----------


## misskit

*Russia hits near Kyiv, other city despite vows to scale back*

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces pounded areas around Kyiv and another Ukrainian city overnight, local officials said Wednesday, just hours after Moscow pledged to scale back military operations in those places. The shelling further tempered optimism about possible progress in talks aimed at ending the punishing war.


Russia did not spell out what exactly a reduction in activity would look like, and while the promise initially raised hopes that a path toward ending the bloody war of attrition was at hand, Ukraine’s president and others cautioned that the commitments could merely be bluster.


Moscow, meanwhile, reacted coolly Wednesday to Kyiv’s proposed framework for a peace deal, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it was a “positive factor” that Ukraine has submitted its written proposals but adding that he saw no breakthrough.


The British Defense Ministry said heavy losses have forced some Russian units to return to Belarus and Russia to regroup but that Moscow would likely compensate for any reduction in ground maneuvers by using mass artillery and missile barrages. And the Russian military reported a new series of missile strikes on Ukrainian arsenals and fuel depots over the past 24 hours.

MORE Russia hits near Kyiv, other city despite vows to scale back | AP News

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine to negotiators: Don’t eat or drink at Russia talks amid poison concern*

LONDON — Ukraine warned its negotiators not to eat, drink or even touch anything as they headed into talks with Russia in Istanbul on Tuesday, following allegations that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and others may have been poisoned during previous talks.

“I advise anyone going for negotiations with Russia not to eat or drink anything, preferably avoid touching surfaces,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in an interview on national television channel, Ukrayina 24.


Abramovich — who also attended the peace talks in Istanbul, although Russian officials said he was not part of the official delegation — fell ill after meetings in early March, as did members of Ukraine’s negotiating delegation. They came to suspect that they were poisoned, an associate of Abramovich said Monday.


Tuesday’s talks did not result in any peace agreement, but Ukrainian negotiators outlined some proposals and Moscow said it would “drastically reduce” military activity near Kyiv and Chernihiv.

MORE MSN

----------


## S Landreth

Ukraine to receive additional $500 million in aid from U.S., Biden announces

President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday that the U.S. will send an additional $500 million in aid to the Ukrainian people.

Biden and Zelenskyy held a call on Wednesday in which the funds were discussed, according to a White House readout of the call.

The U.S. president said America "intends to provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid."

Last week, the U.S. announced a package of new sanctions against Russia on more than 400 Russians and Russian entities, including the Duma and more than 300 of its members, along with more than 40 defense companies.

The White House also announced it would allow as many as 100,000 Ukrainian refugees to enter the U.S., with a focus on those who are most vulnerable. The administration is also prepared to offer more than $1 billion in additional funding toward humanitarian assistance and $11 billion over the next five years to address worldwide food security threats after the disruptions to the Russian and the Ukrainian agricultural industries.

The two leaders on Wednesday also discussed how the U.S. is working "around the clock" to fulfill the main security assistance requested by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts by the U.S. with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country. 

Zelenskyy tweeted shortly after the conversation ended, saying the leaders shared assessment of the situation on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.

And also, "talked about specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid," he continued.

----------


## S Landreth

Ukraine opens first investigation into claims of rape against Russian soldiers

Ukrainian officials say they are investigating claims that Russian soldiers killed a woman's husband and then repeatedly raped her in a village outside Kyiv, according to reports.

"I cried out, where is my husband, then I looked outside and I saw him on the ground by the gate. This younger guy pulled gun to my head and said: 'I shot your husband because he's a Nazi,'" the woman, who used the pseudonym Natalya, told The Times of London in an article published Monday.

The woman said she was raped by the man who killed her husband and another soldier.

"He told me to take my clothes off. Then they both raped me one after the other. They didn't care that my son was in the boiler room crying. They told me to go shut him up and come back," she told the British paper. 

Ukraine's prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said in a Facebook post last week that a Russian soldier had killed an unarmed civilian and then repeatedly raped his wife, according to The New York Times. The incident reportedly took place on March 9.

The soldier is currently wanted for arrest "on suspicion of violation of the laws and customs of war," the report added. 

This is the first investigation into claims of rape by Russian soldiers since Moscow invaded Ukraine more than a month ago.

When asked at a press briefing about the investigation, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, "We do not trust the information about the rape of a woman at all. This is a lie." 

"We do not trust the Ukrainian attorney general’s office. The Russian troops do not strike or shoot civilians. Russian troops help civilians," Peskov said.

Ukrainian Minister of Parliament Maria Mezentseva told Sky News on Monday that cases like Natalya's need to be recorded, as "justice has to prevail."

Mezentseva added that there are many more victims in similar circumstances who have not yet been made public by the prosecutor general.

This is not the first time Ukraine has accused Russian soldiers of committing atrocities. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba previously said Russian soldiers were committing rape in Ukrainian cities, using the allegations to criticize the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Kuleba said at an event in London earlier this month, "When bombs fall on your cities, when soldiers rape women in the occupied cities — and we have numerous cases of, unfortunately, when Russian soldiers rape women in Ukrainian cities — it's difficult, of course, to speak about the efficiency of international law," Reuters reported.


More Ukrainian child cancer patients evacuated to U.S.

Four more Ukrainian children suffering from cancer safely arrived in the U.S. on Monday for treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Why it matters: Earlier this month, the State Department facilitated the transfer of four other Ukrainian children undergoing cancer treatment from Poland to the Memphis, Tennessee, children's hospital.

The latest group of children, including 11 family members, were airlifted from Poland to the U.S. aboard a medical transport aircraft and will resume cancer treatments at St. Jude.

What they're saying: St. Jude "is uniquely positioned to bring the world together to address this humanitarian tragedy,” the hospital's president and CEO James R. Downing said in a statement.

“Our ongoing commitment is to ensure children with cancer around the globe have access to lifesaving care. We are honored to help these families resume their children’s lifesaving treatment in safety."

Background: The World Health Organization previously confirmed there have been at least 68 attacks on Ukrainian health facilities since Feb. 24.

"We recognize, however, that the children transported represent a small proportion of the thousands of patients whose cancer treatment has been interrupted and, who, even amid a pandemic and with compromised immune systems, were forced to flee their homes," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement on March 22. St. Jude accepts 2nd group of Ukrainian cancer patients - ABC News


Bennet, Portman introduce bill to use seized Russian assets for Ukrainian relief

Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Tuesday unveiled a bill to require the Department of Justice to direct any funds resulting from the sale of seized Russian assets to support Ukrainian refugees and reconstruction.   

The Repurposing Elite Luxuries Into Emergency Funds for Ukraine Act, or Relief for Ukraine Act, would require the Justice Department to direct funds from the liquidation of seized Russian assets to a new Ukraine Relief Fund, which will be administered by the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“Putin and his inner circle bear direct responsibility for the war in Ukraine and the shameful death, destruction, and dislocation it has unleashed,” said Bennet in a statement. “Our bill makes Putin and Russian oligarchs pay the price by ensuring that funds from their seized assets go directly to the Ukrainian people to support them through many difficult years ahead of resettlement, reconstruction, and recovery.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland on March 2 announced a special task force named KleptoCapture to enforce sanctions, export restrictions and economic countermeasures against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his circle of allies and supporters. 

The task force could use civil and criminal asset forfeiture authority to seize the luxury properties, yachts and private jets of Russian oligarchs close to Putin.  

Portman said Ukraine is suffering from the worst refugee crisis since World War II and needs help to resettle its displaced population and rebuild cities turned to rubble by Russian artillery.  

The relief fund would be used to protect the health and wellbeing of Ukrainian refugees and provide for reconstruction efforts in parts of Ukraine that aren’t controlled by Russian forces, according to a summary of the bill provided by the senators’ offices.

The legislation would require the administration to make regular reports to Congress on seized assets, funds transferred and what steps have been taken to support Ukrainian refugees and reconstruction.

“One way to help is to move from freezing the assets of Russian oligarchs and wealthy citizens to seizing their assets, and providing that funding to people of Ukraine to help with ongoing humanitarian efforts,” Portman said.

“I encourage all of my colleagues to support this critical legislation so that we can apply more pressure on Russia to stop this barbaric war and prioritize more rapid relief for our friends in Ukraine,” he added.



Poland to end Russian oil imports; Germany warns on gas

Poland announced steps Wednesday to end all Russian oil imports by year's end, while Germany issued a warning about natural gas levels and called on people to conserve, new signs of how Russia's war in Ukraine has escalated tensions about securing energy supplies to power Europe.

Poland, which has taken in millions of Ukrainian refugees, has taken the lead in the European Union (EU) on swiftly cutting off Russian fossil fuels. The 27-nation bloc has declined to sanction energy because it depends on Moscow for the fuel needed for cars, electricity, heating and industry, but it has announced proposals to wean itself off those supplies.

“We are presenting the most radical plan in Europe for departing from Russian oil by the end of this year,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a news conference.

It comes a day after Poland said it was banning Russian coal imports, expected by May. Morawiecki says Poland will take steps to become “independent” of Russian supplies and is calling on other European Union countries to “walk away” as well. He argues that money paid for Russia’s oil and gas is fueling its war machine.

----------


## malmomike77

Russia ‘using banned landmines’ in northeastern Ukraine


Russia is deploying anti-personnel mines designed to detect approaching footsteps and then obliterate anything within a 16-metre radius in northeastern Ukraine, a human rights report has found.


The newly developed POM-3 landmines, banned under international treaties, were discovered in Kharkiv on Monday by Ukrainian ordnance disposal technicians.


Shelling had continued overnight in the northern city of Chernihiv, officials reported, despite a Russian pledge to scale down attacks, while the front lines in the eastern Donetsk region also came under heavy fire.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ukraine-crisis-positive-signals-do-not-silence-the-explosion-of-russian-shells-says-zelensky-dgbhdnkx8

----------


## sabang

(Reuters) - A significant increase in Russian oil imports by India could expose New Delhi to a "great risk" as the United States prepares to step up enforcement of sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, a senior U.S. administration official said.

While the current U.S. sanctions against Russia do not prevent other countries from buying Russian oil, the warning raises expectations that Washington will attempt to restrict other countries' purchases to normal levels.

The U.S. official's comment comes ahead of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's two-day visit to New Delhi and during the ongoing visit of U.S. deputy national security adviser for economics Daleep Singh.

Refiners in India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, have been snapping up Russian oil through spot tenders since the war broke out on Feb. 24, taking advantage of deep discounts as other buyers back away. India has purchased at least 13 million barrels of Russian oil since Feb. 24, compared with nearly 16 million barrels in all of 2021.

"U.S. has no objection to India buying Russian oil provided it buys it at discount, without significantly increasing from previous years," said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Some increase is allowed," said the source, who did not offer more detail.

The State Department is aware of talks between Russia and India concerning the purchase of oil, a spokesperson said. "We continue to engage our partners in India and around the world on the importance of a strong collective action, including strong sanctions, to press the Kremlin to end its devastating war of choice against Ukraine as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

The Biden administration is coordinating with India and European countries to mitigate the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on energy markets, while encouraging steps to reduce dependence on Russian energy, the spokesperson said.

The U.S. Treasury Department declined comment and the White House's National Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. sanctions are reducing the ability of Russia, which normally produces about 1 in every 10 barrels of global oil, to get crude to market. The Paris-based International Energy Agency has estimated that sanctions and buyer reluctance could remove 3 million barrels per day from global markets of Russian crude and refined products from April.

U.S. warns India, others against sharp rise in Russian oil imports - official (msn.com)


It appears pretty certain that India (and China, and Brazil etc) will continue to work in their 'enlightened self interest'. No cigar.

----------


## David48atTD

> (Reuters) 
> "U.S. has no objection to India buying Russian oil provided it buys it at discount, without significantly increasing from previous years," said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Some increase is allowed," said the source, who did not offer more detail.


Who is the USA to dictate to India where they buy their oil from?

I'm all for boycotting Russian oil, but, for me, it's India's business, not the USA's.

Unless there us some agreement to the contrary?

----------


## Troy

^^ Russia, China and the USA have not signed up to the Ottawa Treaty banning anti personnel landmines. The USA, only because of the N/S Korea buffer zone.
Ukraine may also withdraw from the Treaty for operational reasons following the Russian invasion. 

I think these mines can also be remotely disposed following the end of hostilities.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Who is the USA to dictate to India where they buy their oil from?


The USA can say whatever it likes if India relies on it for other things, like foreign worker visas, overseas remittances and of course trade.

Do you have no idea how the world works?

----------


## Shutree

> The Russian troops do not strike or shoot civilians. Russian troops help civilians," Peskov said.


Well, I am glad that Mr. Peskov put us right. For a moment I was believing the thousands of accounts of innocent civilians being killed.

----------


## misskit

*Putin misled by ‘yes men’ in military afraid to tell him the truth, White House and EU officials say*

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin was misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how poorly the war in Ukraine is going and how damaging Western sanctions have been, White House and European officials said on Wednesday.


Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of its southern neighbor has been halted on many fronts by stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces who have recaptured territory even as civilians are trapped in besieged cities.


“We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership,” Kate Bedingfield, White House communications director, told reporters during a press briefing.


“We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth,” she said.


The U.S. was putting forward this information now to show “this has been a strategic error for Russia,” she said.


The Kremlin made no immediate comment about the assertions after the end of the working day in Moscow, and the Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately reply to a request for comment.


Washington’s decision to share its intelligence more publicly reflects a strategy it has pursued since before the war began. In this case, it could also complicate Putin’s calculations, a second U.S. official said, adding, “It’s potentially useful. Does it sow dissension in the ranks? It could make Putin reconsider whom he can trust.”


One senior European diplomat said the U.S. assessment was in line with European thinking. “Putin thought things were going better than they were. That’s the problem with surrounding yourself with ‘yes men’ or only sitting with them at the end of a very long table,” the diplomat said.


Russian conscripts were told they were taking part in military exercises, but had to sign a document before the invasion that extended their duties, two European diplomats said.


“They were misled, badly trained and then arrived to find old Ukrainian women who looked like their grandmothers yelling at them to go home,” one of the diplomats added.


There were no indications at the moment that the situation could foster a revolt among the Russian military, but the situation was “unpredictable” and Western powers “would hope that unhappy people would speak up,” the senior European diplomat said.


Military analysts say Russia has reframed its war goals in Ukraine in a way that may make it easier for Putin to claim a face-saving victory despite a woeful campaign in which his army has suffered humiliating setbacks.


Russian forces bombarded the outskirts of the capital Kyiv and the besieged city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine on Wednesday, a day after Russia promised to scale down military operations in both cities in what the West dismissed as a ploy to regroup by invaders suffering heavy losses


Russia says it is carrying out a “special operation” to disarm and “denazify” its neighbor. Western countries say Moscow launched an unprovoked invasion.

Putin misled by 'yes men' in military afraid to tell him the truth, White House and EU officials say | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## S Landreth

Putin’s Soldiers Caught on Tape Lamenting Losses and Blasting His Army of ‘Stupid Morons’

Russia’s Vladimir Putin is calling up another 134,500 conscripts even as more and more of his own soldiers appear to be turning on him over humiliating losses in Ukraine.

According to a decree published on a Russian government portal Thursday, the troops will be called to begin service on April 1 until July 15. The Defense Ministry promised earlier this week that they “will not be sent to any hot spots,” and that all those called up in last spring’s draft will be sent home.

But those assurances seem likely to be overshadowed by a multitude of reports that say Russia’s senseless war against Ukraine has been marred by lies from the top down, with Russian troops claiming they were misled into the war and Putin’s own advisers said to be shielding him from the extent of the devastating losses.

Even as Putin signed the decree on Thursday, Ukraine’s Security Service released an intercepted call said to capture a Russian soldier railing against the incompetence of his own army.

“Our brigade has totally shit themselves. There are losses, many wounded,” he tells his wife.

Asked if the losses are a result of someone screwing up, he offers a blunt response: “The whole army with us is stupid morons.”

“It’s unclear why we are even here,” he says.

Another recording shared by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, captures a man identified as a Russian soldier named Maksim asking his mother what is being shown on Russian television, and if there are reports “they’re saying they will change anything.”

“Everything’s bad, almost no one among us is left. They said we will keep going until the very end, until everyone is killed,” he tells his mother.

Asked if his senior officer was still with the unit, he replies: “No, he dumped us yesterday. We’re all dead in the water if he left.”

The new recordings come just hours after Western officials said there was growing evidence of disarray and disillusionment among Russian troops, with Britain’s spy chief citing reports of troops “refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.”

It was against this backdrop that Russian defense officials claimed they would cut down hostilities around the Ukrainian capital and shift their focus instead to the east of the country—an announcement met with mockery and skepticism among Ukrainian officials, who said the Kremlin was trying to spin their numerous setbacks into a “mission accomplished” scenario.

Perhaps as part of that long game, the Kremlin has now reportedly begun implementing plans to send psychologists from the FSB into Kherson, a city in the south of Ukraine where residents continue to resist the Russian forces who took over after the Feb. 24 invasion.

“To implement a scenario for the creation of another pseudo-republic in the territory of the Kherson region, there is work underway by employees of the FSB, 652 groups of information and psychological operations and officers of the 12th Main Directorate of the [Russian] General Staff,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement Thursday.

Ukrainian officials said the FSB effort is an attempt to brainwash residents into supporting their new Russian authorities.

Russian law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and judges are also said to be on their way to occupied territories in Ukraine, with reports of Russian police officers being asked to take “business trips” to parts of the Donbas in Ukraine’s east. https://www.thedailybeast.com/putins...ticles&via=rss

_____________


All-women Ukrainian delegation travels to DC to appeal for more support

A message from the women of Ukraine

Five Ukrainian women, all members of parliament, left Kyiv this week for Washington — but only long enough to ask in person for more help before heading back into danger.

*Driving the news:* "We are mothers. We are MPs. We are volunteers. We are coordinators. And we are fighters," Ukrainian MP Maria Ionova told a group of journalists on Wednesday after meetings with lawmakers and Pentagon and State Department officials. "We do not have time to be diplomatic and must be very direct with you."

*Why it matters:* With most men ages 18-60 restricted from leaving the country due to military service requirements, Ukrainian women have played an outsized role in shuttle diplomacy over the course of the month-long war.


They were joined on Capitol Hill by Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova.The delegation also plans a stop in Canada before returning to Ukraine.

*Details:* The delegation's in-person visit to Capitol Hill for meetings with the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and members of key committees served as an in-person twist on the powerful video appeals by President Volodymyr Zelensky.


He's been widely praised for unlocking new sanctions and aid commitments with his emotional addresses to Western leaders.Some of the women in the delegation represent Zelensky’s party; others do not. All are strongly pro-Western.

*Ukrainian MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze* said she's cried once since the war began — on the plane from Warsaw to D.C. — because she was distressed about leaving the fight: "We want to be there with our people."


On their first morning in Washington, Klympush-Tsintsadze said that she and other members of the delegation began "trembling" when they heard a fire engine pass. It reminded them of the air raid sirens back home.

*The big picture:* The women were blunt in their criticism of the Biden administration and other Western governments for hand-wringing over how to transfer advanced weaponry without provoking Russia.


"This distinction between defensive and offensive weaponry is, frankly speaking, humiliating," Ukrainian MP Anastasia Radina told a small group of journalists at a session convened by the German Marshall Fund. "In our situation, all weapons are defensive because we are defending our land.""Sometimes we hear that some issues are on the table and are being discussed," Radina said. "Let me be clear on that: Issues on the table is not an action. Issues on the table do not help on the ground. We are past the point of another round of discussions in a pre-war, bureaucratic manner."

*The lawmakers also detailed the specific requests* they had made to members of Congress, including the transfer of Soviet-era fighter jets from Poland.


"I remember back in 2015, when President Poroshenko was addressing Congress, he said that we cannot fight back with blankets," Klympush-Tsintsadze said."We cannot fight back right now even with Javelins. Because we cannot gain back our territory with that type of weaponry."

*Be smart:* The lawmakers took a hard line on the Russia-Ukraine peace talks, summing them up as a "smokescreen" by Vladimir Putin to buy time for the Russian military to regroup. They said "neutrality" for Ukraine is "not an option," underscoring how difficult it could be for Zelensky to sell concessions to the Ukrainian public.


"For us, there is only one way out of the war — and this is for Ukraine to win," Radina said."Politicians have to be honest: Values, or price?" Ionova said. "Oil, or kids' lives? Heating homes, or raping women and children and civilians who just want to be independent?"Klympush-Tsintsadze said: "We are planning our lives right now not by weeks, not by a month, but by hours and days."

________________


Treasury hits Russia with new sanctions targeting evasion networks, tech

The Biden administration announced new sanctions Thursday aimed at major Russian technology companies and sanctions-evasion networks, and expanded its ability to level penalties on the aerospace, marine and electronics sectors.

The sanctions, which follow penalties on Russia’s defense industry last week, are part of a broader administration effort to restrict the country’s access to resources it needs to supply and finance its invasion of Ukraine, the Treasury Department said.

Among the sanctioned firms is Moscow-based OOO Serniya Engineering, which the Treasury said is at the center of an illicit network operating under the direction of Russia’s intelligence service to help evade sanctions. The company worked with various front businesses across multiple countries, including the U.K. and Spain, to procure critical Western technology for Russia’s defense sector, the Treasury said.

The Treasury also designated a slew of individuals associated with Serniya, including its top executives and board members, as well as leaders of its affiliated shell companies, such as OOO Robin Treid in Moscow, U.K.-based Majory LLP and Photon Pro LLP, and Invention Bridge SL in Spain. U.K. officials are also taking action against the companies within their jurisdiction, Treasury said.

“Russia not only continues to violate the sovereignty of Ukraine with its unprovoked aggression but has also escalated its attacks striking civilians and population centers,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. “We will continue to target Putin’s war machine with sanctions from every angle, until this senseless war of choice is over.”

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said this week in London the U.S. and its allies were planning further sanctions against Russian supply chains and economic sectors that play a key role in the war in Ukraine.

Western sanctions imposed early in the invasion have pummeled Russia’s economy, initially sending its currency into a freefall and forcing the central bank to take drastic steps to prop up the ruble. Those steps, coupled with rising oil prices that have bolstered Russia’s energy revenue, have helped stabilize the currency in recent days and prompted calls for even more severe sanctions to undercut President Vladimir Putin’s ability to finance the war.

The latest measures announced by Treasury include new sanctions on Russia’s tech sector, including AO NII Vektor, a Saint Petersburg-based software company that has supported satellite systems for Russia, which are likely being used to track ships, aircraft and ground vehicles during the invasion, Treasury said.

The U.S. is also sanctioning Joint Stock Company Mikron, Russia’s largest chipmaker responsible for 50 percent of Russia’s microelectronics exports. The company helped develop Russia’s National Payment Card System, which was put together after previous rounds of sanctions on the country.

The Treasury has added Russia’s aerospace, marine and electronics sectors to the group of industries it may swiftly sanction, including financial services, technology and defense.

Finally, it imposed sanctions on Russians who were involved in an August 2017 cyberattack on a Middle Eastern petrochemical facility, including top officials at Russia’s Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics.

Daniel Tannebaum, the global head of sanctions at management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, said it’s not immediately clear how hard the latest sanctions will hit Russian companies, but the impact won’t be swift.

“Supply chain sanctions are a marathon,” he said, “given it’ll take time for Russian businesses and the defense sector to feel the disruption that these restrictions are supposed to deliver.”

----------


## sabang

Nato’s secretary-general has warned Ukrainians they should expect “additional [Russian] offensive actions” that will bring “even more suffering” as the Kremlin moves to deploy its troops elsewhere in the country rather than stage a promised partial withdrawal.

Speaking in Brussels, Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow did not appear to be scaling back its military operations in Ukraine.

He said Russia had “repeatedly lied” about its intentions, and echoed the sentiment conveyed by US, UK and other western leaders that the Kremlin should be judged only “on its actions, not on its words”.

Following peace talks on Tuesday, Russia promised that it would de-escalate operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv to “increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations”.

But Mr Stoltenberg said: “According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region.

“At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities.

“So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering.”


..... Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was seeing “a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes” on the eastern Donbas region, where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014, adding that his troops were “preparing for that”.

In addition, the UK’s Ministry of Defence reported “significant Russian shelling and missile strikes” near the northern city of Chernihiv.

Earlier, Washington said Russia had begun to reposition less than 20 per cent of its troops stationed around Kyiv.

Pentagon intelligence suggested that most had travelled north, including some into Belarus, where they could be resupplied and sent back into Ukraine.

Full article- Russian forces in Ukraine are regrouping not withdrawing, says Nato (msn.com)

----------


## David48atTD

Russians hand control of Chornobyl nuclear plant back to Ukraine, IAEA says



*Key Points*
Russian  troops that took over the Chornobyl nuclear power plant have  transferred control back to Ukraine, the International Atomic Energy  Agency said.The IAEA said those Russian troops moved two  convoys toward Kremlin-allied Belarus, while a third convoy left the  nearby city of Slavutych, also toward Belarus.The agency added  that it has not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces  receiving high doses of radiation while being in the Chornobyl Exclusion  Zone. 

Russians hand control of Chornobyl nuclear plant back to Ukraine, IAEA says

----------


## David48atTD

France, Germany reject Putins demand to pay for gas in rubles



Germany and France rejected demands by Russia that  European countries pay for its gas in ruble as an unacceptable breach  of contracts, adding that the maneuver amounted to blackmail.
Speaking  during a news conference, Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck said  he had not yet seen a new decree signed by President Vladimir Putin  mandating gas payments in rubles, adding that Germany was prepared for  all scenarios, including a stoppage of Russian gas flows to Europe.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said France and Germany rejected Russias demand.

Russias  attempt to divide Western allies by requiring gas payments in rubles  has failed, Habeck said, adding that Western allies are determined to  not be blackmailed by Russia.
_ Reuters_

Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

----------


## bsnub

Let me tell you a story about a  military that was supposedly one of the best in the world. This military  had some of the best equipment: the heaviest and most modern tanks,  next-generation aircraft, and advanced naval vessels. It had invested in  modernization, and made what were considered some of Europe’s most  sophisticated plans for conflict. Moreover, it had planned and trained  specifically for a war it was about to fight, a war it seemed extremely  well prepared for and that many, perhaps most, people believed it would  win.

All of these  descriptions could apply to the Russian army that invaded Ukraine last  month. But I’m talking about the French army of the 1930s. That French  force was considered one of the finest on the planet. Winston Churchill  believed that it represented the world’s best hope for keeping Adolf  Hitler’s Nazi Germany at bay. As he said famously in 1933, and repeated a  number of times afterward, “Thank God for the French army.”

Of  course, when this French army was actually tested in battle, it was  found wanting. Germany conquered France in less than two months in 1940.  All of the French military’s supposed excellence in equipment and  doctrine was useless. A range of problems, including poor logistics,  terrible communications, and low morale, beset an army in which soldiers  and junior officers complained of inflexible, top-down leadership. In  1940, the French had the “best” tank, the Char B-1. With its 75-mm gun,  the Char B-1 was better armed than any German tank, and it outclassed  the Germans in terms of armor protection as well. But when the Battle of  France started, the Char B-1 exhibited a number of major handicaps,  such as a gas-guzzling engine and mechanical unreliability.

Having good equipment and good  doctrine reveals little about how an army will perform in a war. To  predict that, you must analyze not only its equipment and doctrine but  also its ability to undertake complex operations, its unglamorous but  crucial logistical needs and structure, and the commitment of its  soldiers to fight and die in the specific war being waged. Most  important, you have to think about how it will perform when a competent  enemy fires back. As Mike Tyson so eloquently put it, “Everyone has a  plan until they are punched in the mouth.”

What  we are seeing today in Ukraine is the result of a purportedly great  military being punched in the mouth. The resilience of Ukrainian  resistance is embarrassing for a Western think-tank and military  community that had confidently predicted that the Russians would conquer  Ukraine in a matter of days. For years, Western “experts” prattled on  about the Russian military’s expensive, high-tech “modernization.” The  Russians, we were told, had the better tanks and aircraft, including  cutting-edge SU-34 fighter bombers and T-90 tanks, with some of the  finest technical specifications in the world. The Russians had also  ostensibly reorganized their army into a more professional, mostly  voluntary force. They had rethought their offensive doctrine and created  battalion tactical groups, flexible, heavily armored formations that  were meant to be key to overwhelming the Ukrainians. Basically, many  people had relied on the glamour of war, a sort of war pornography, to  predict the outcome of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.

Those  predictions, based on alluring but fundamentally flawed criteria, have  now proved false. Western analysts took basic metrics (such as numbers  and types of tanks and aircraft), imagined those measured forces  executing Russian military doctrine, then concluded that the Ukrainians  had no chance.But counting tanks and planes and rhapsodizing  over their technical specifications is not a useful way to analyze  modern militaries. As _The Atlantic_’s Eliot Cohen has argued, the systems that the West used to evaluate the Russian military have failed nearly as comprehensively as that military has.

Though  analysts and historians will spend years arguing about exactly why  prewar assessments of the Russian military proved so flawed, two reasons  are immediately apparent. First, Western analysts misunderstood the  Russian military’s ability to undertake the most complex operations and  the robustness of its logistical capabilities. And second,  prognosticators paid too little attention to the basic motivations and  morale of the soldiers who would be asked to use the Russian military’s  allegedly excellent doctrine and equipment.

Russia’s  problems executing complex operations became obvious almost immediately  after its army crossed the border into Ukraine. For instance, many  observers believed that the large, advanced Russian air force would  quickly gain air dominance over Ukraine, providing the Russian land  forces with support while severely limiting the Ukrainians’ movement.  Instead, the Ukrainians have put in place a far more sophisticated than  expected air-defense system that stymied Russian air efforts from the  start. By challenging the Russians in the air, the Ukrainians have shown  that Russia’s army cannot efficiently conduct the complex air  operations needed to seize air supremacy from a much smaller enemy.  Russia’s logistical system has been, if anything, even worse. Russian  trucks are poorly maintained, poorly led, and too few in number. Once  the Russian forces advanced, they found that bringing up the supplies  needed to keep them moving forward became more and more difficult. Many  advances, most famously the 40-mile column of vehicles stretching down  to Kyiv from Belarus, simply stopped.

At the same time, the supposedly  professional volunteer Russian soldiers were confused as to what they  were doing, totally unprepared to meet stiff Ukrainian resistance, and,  from photo evidence, surprisingly willing to abandon  even the most advanced Russian equipment almost untouched. As the war  has gone on, and Russian casualties have mounted, Russian soldiers have  fallen victim to frostbite, refused to follow orders, and, in at least one episode, tried to kill their superior officers.

More  of the Western experts who study Russia’s armed forces could and should  have anticipated these problems. The Russian military has not been  asked to undertake complex technological or logistical operations for at  least three decades. Its more recent military actions, such as the  bombing of Syria, were quite straightforward operations, in which  aircraft could be used to terrorize an enemy that could not efficiently  fire back.

To truly  understand a military’s effectiveness, analysts must investigate not  only how it looks on a spreadsheet but also how it may function in the  chaos and pressure of a battlefield. War is an extremely difficult and  complex business. Western strategists cannot go back in time and alter  their earlier assessments. Any system with a widespread consensus that  an excellent and modernized Russian military would conquer Ukraine in a  matter of days is a system in crisis. We can, and must, try to do better  next time. If world leaders have a better understanding of the  potential difficulties of any war in East Asia, for example, perhaps  they will realize how hard the outcome of such a confrontation is to  predict. If the Chinese tried an amphibious landing on Taiwan, for  instance, they would be undertaking maybe the most complex wartime  operation, and one that their military has never attempted before. I  can’t tell you what would happen, but I know it would not go according  to plan. War never does.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ar...tm_source=feed

----------


## Hugh Cow

> The USA can say whatever it likes if India relies on it for other things, like foreign worker visas, overseas remittances and of course trade.
> 
> Do you have no idea how the world works?


The USA and for that matter any country can trade or not trade with with any country it chooses. If the West as a block decides a country is acting against its collective interest it has every right to not trade with said country. Why certain Russian apologists for murdering Ukrainian civilians including children cant see that is beyond a normal persons comprehension.

----------


## Cujo

> Russians hand control of Chornobyl nuclear plant back to Ukraine, IAEA says
> 
> 
> 
> *Key Points*
> Russian  troops that took over the Chornobyl nuclear power plant have  transferred control back to Ukraine, the International Atomic Energy  Agency said.The IAEA said those Russian troops moved two  convoys toward Kremlin-allied Belarus, while a third convoy left the  nearby city of Slavutych, also toward Belarus.The agency added  that it has not been able to confirm reports of Russian forces  receiving high doses of radiation while being in the Chornobyl Exclusion  Zone.
> 
> Russians hand control of Chornobyl nuclear plant back to Ukraine, IAEA says





> Several hundred Russian soldiers were forced to hastily withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine after suffering acute radiation sickness from contaminated soil, according to Ukrainian officials.
> 
> 
> The troops, who dug trenches in a contaminated Red Forest near the site of the worst nuclear disaster in history, are now reportedly being treated in a special medical facility in Gomel, Belarus. The forest is so named because thousands of pine trees turned red during the 1986 nuclear disaster. The area is considered so highly toxic that not even highly specialized Chernobyl workers are allowed to enter the zone.
> 
> 
> Energoatom, the Ukrainian agency in charge of the countrys nuclear power stations, said the Russian soldiers had panicked and fled.
> 
> 
> ...


Russian Troops Suffer ‘Acute Radiation Sickness’ After Digging Chernobyl Trenches

----------


## David48atTD

^ Ah ... the Thainess of that action ... Som Nam Na

----------


## David48atTD

FIFA Facing Criticism After Russia Attends Congress in Qatar
 
Fifa  is facing criticism for failing to stop Russia attending its annual  world football summit despite Vladimir Putins internationally-agreed  status as a sporting pariah.

Tense face-to-face meetings with  Ukrainian counterparts beckon as two of the Russian Football Unions  most influential football administrators attend the congress in Qatar.

There  is even a Russian flag on show around the congress centre, despite  Russia being banned from the World Cup just four weeks ago.
Fifa say they had no choice but to allow the nation to take part in talks over the long-term direction of the game.

FIFA Facing Criticism After Russia Attends Congress in Qatar - Nationwide 90FM

----------


## panama hat

> The agency said it had also confirmed reports of Russian forces digging trenches in the Red Forest, “the most polluted in the entire exclusion zone.”
> 
> 
> “Not surprisingly, the occupiers received significant doses of radiation and panicked at the first sign of illness. And it showed up very quickly.”





> ^ Ah ... the Thainess of that action ... Som Nam Na


Amazing, isn't it . . .

----------


## sabang

The New York Times

Vladimir V. Putin’s approval ratings have reached levels unseen in years, according to an independent poll released on Thursday, as many Russians rally around the flag in the face of mounting international pressure.

Eighty-three percent of Russians said they approved of Mr. Putin’s actions, up from 69 percent in January, according to a poll by the Levada Center, an independent pollster in Moscow. Ratings of many other government institutions, as well as the governing party, have also gone up, the poll indicated.

While some observers believe polls in Russia do not reflect public opinion accurately, with many people giving answers they believe are socially acceptable, most agree that they are useful in gauging the dynamics of people’s moods.

Sign up for The Morning newsletter from The New York Times

Many Russians live in a world, as presented by state-run media, where there is no war with Ukraine. Instead, their country is carrying out “a special military operation” to uproot far-right extremists in a brotherly country that went off track and has been pushed by Western countries to turn against Moscow.

The Kremlin has moved to silence most independent media in Russia, forcing some to flee or suspend operations, and others to self-censor. Russia has blocked access to social media platforms, including Facebook, and major foreign news outlets, and enacted a law to punish anyone spreading “false information” about its Ukraine invasion with up to 15 years in prison. Thousands have been arrested in recent weeks at antiwar protests, according to human rights activists.

The poll by Levada — which has been declared a “foreign agent” in Russia — was conducted among more than 1,600 people across the country, with the margin of error not exceeding 3.4 percentage points.

Denis Volkov, Levada’s director, said that initial feelings of “shock and confusion” that many Russians felt at the start of the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine was being replaced with the belief that Russia is besieged and that its people must rally around their leader.

“The confrontation with the West has consolidated people,” Mr. Volkov said, adding that some respondents said that while they generally did not support Mr. Putin, now was the time to do so.

According to that line of thinking, he said, people believe that “everyone is against us” and that “Putin defends us, otherwise we would be eaten alive.”

Mr. Volkov compared the prevailing mood in Russia to the aftermath of the annexation of Crimea in 2014, although he said the national feeling today was much darker.
“There is no euphoria, because this time the situation is much more serious and difficult,” he said. “There are victims, and it is unclear when it will all end.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ine/ar-AAVI29R

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## Switch

A ‘sample’ of 1600 out of a population of around 144 million is hardly representative is it. We’re polled individual chosen by Russia, or influenced in the way described in the article?

Polls have recently been notoriously unreliable and, as the article points out, this one more than most. Leave it to the Kremlin to put any kind of positive spin on it!

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Vladimir V. Putin’s approval ratings have reached levels unseen in years, according to an independent poll released on Thursday


Because most Russians wouldn't be scared to tell a stranger either in person or on a phone call that they think Puffy Putin is a murderous thieving c u n t, right?

They all love a nice cup of glowing tea.

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

You cannot make a credible case that the Poll is biased, or falsified given that it comes from the NYT, and was carried out by the Levada Center-  declared a 'foreign agent' by Russia. So your assertion that the participants were 'chosen by Russia' is nonsense switch. Which leaves us the sample group vs. population size, for which the margin of error is declared to be 'not more' than 3.4%. This is conservative, as you would expect from a decent pollster. So in short, if you think 'our' media blitzkrieg is winning hearts and minds in Russia- you are sorely misguided. Putin's popularity has in fact risen, just as it did during the Crimean Referendum.

So add this to a long list of Polls that you disbelieve &/or rubbish if they don't 'go your way', be it the Crimean secession Referendum, Venezuelan elections, Syrian elections, Chinese gov't popularity ratings, Brexit (remoaner), Thai elections (yellowshirt), or indeed the US Presidential elections- rigged by either 'Russian hackers' or 'Venezuelan voting machines', depending on which one your side lost.  :rofl: 

Stay clarsy TD.  :Smile:

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## cyrille

Your credibility is utterly shot on this forum.  :Sad:

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## sabang

Love from Sybil no less!!  :smiley laughing:  Now that is Classic.

----------


## sabang

*YIKES*  :France: 

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Euro zone inflation surged to 7.5% in March, hitting another record high with months still left before it is set to peak, raising pressure on the European Central Bank to rein in runaway prices even as growth slows sharply.

Consumer price growth in the 19 countries sharing the euro accelerated from 5.9% in February, Eurostat said on Friday, far beyond expectations 6.6%, as war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia pushed fuel and natural gas prices to record highs.

Although energy was the chief culprit, inflation in food prices, services and durable goods all came in above the ECB's 2% target, further proof that price growth is increasingly broad and not merely a reflection of expensive oil.

With the ECB having persistently underestimated inflation over the past year, the figure will come as a shock to policymakers, some of whom are already calling for tighter policy to avoid high price growth becoming entrenched.

"The inflation data speak for themselves," Joachim Nagel, president of the German Bundesbank, said on Friday. "Monetary policy should not pass up the opportunity for timely countermeasures."

The central bank governors of Austria and the Netherlands have already called for rate hikes this year, worried that rapid price growth is becoming broad-based, an argument supported by underlying data from Friday's release.

Inflation excluding volatile food and fuel prices, closely watched by the ECB, picked up to 3.2% from 2.9% while a narrower measure that also excludes alcohol and tobacco products jumped to 3.0% from 2.7%.

Any cut in Russian gas supplies would also quickly feed through to customers, boosting prices even as governments are putting in place subsidy measures to offset some of the cost.

INFLATION SOARS, GROWTH STAGNATES

Euro zone inflation hits new peak, deepening ECB's dilemma (msn.com)

----------


## Switch

> You cannot make a credible case that the Poll is biased, or falsified given that it comes from the NYT, and was carried out by the Levada Center-  declared a 'foreign agent' by Russia. So your assertion that the participants were 'chosen by Russia' is nonsense switch. Which leaves us the sample group vs. population size, for which the margin of error is declared to be 'not more' than 3.4%. This is conservative, as you would expect from a decent pollster. So in short, if you think 'our' media blitzkrieg is winning hearts and minds in Russia- you are sorely misguided. Putin's popularity has in fact risen, just as it did during the Crimean Referendum.
> 
> So add this to a long list of Polls that you disbelieve &/or rubbish if they don't 'go your way', be it the Crimean secession Referendum, Venezuelan elections, Syrian elections, Chinese gov't popularity ratings, Brexit (remoaner), Thai elections (yellowshirt), or indeed the US Presidential elections- rigged by either 'Russian hackers' or 'Venezuelan voting machines', depending on which one your side lost. 
> 
> Stay clarsy TD.


I made no such assertion. I asked the question, like any critical analyst would. The Report is not ‘from’ the NYT! They reported and questioned the make up of the report. Who gave the pollsters a clean bill of health? The Russians did by intimating they were anti Russian?
My criticism is based on what it not said about this poll, not what the Kremlin is telling us to believe.

Is it real? Is it worthy? The Russians clearly think so, and you have swallowed it without question!

Nice try with your attempt to blame me for your perception of my politics. I am apolitical, and question both sides propaganda.

The margin of error does not reflect the population disparity versus the sample size. The comment is quite ludicrous. A bit like your irrelevant grab with the hearts and minds bollox.

My objection to your post is based on your deliberate blindness in favour of both Russia and China. In short, you and the links that you assume support for your nonsense, are not investigated and are lacking in reality because you refuse to question anything that might fit your personal bias.

Epic fail again Sabang.

----------


## Switch

> *YIKES* 
> 
> FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Euro zone inflation surged to 7.5% in March, hitting another record high with months still left before it is set to peak, raising pressure on the European Central Bank to rein in runaway prices even as growth slows sharply.
> 
> Consumer price growth in the 19 countries sharing the euro accelerated from 5.9% in February, Eurostat said on Friday, far beyond expectations 6.6%, as war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia pushed fuel and natural gas prices to record highs.
> 
> Although energy was the chief culprit, inflation in food prices, services and durable goods all came in above the ECB's 2% target, further proof that price growth is increasingly broad and not merely a reflection of expensive oil.
> 
> With the ECB having persistently underestimated inflation over the past year, the figure will come as a shock to policymakers, some of whom are already calling for tighter policy to avoid high price growth becoming entrenched.
> ...


Inflationary pressures are currently a global issue mate. Yet another failure to relate to reality, using an obscure, off topic blame game.

----------


## David48atTD

*US working to get Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine*

The US will work with allies to transfer Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine to bolster its defences in the *Donbas* region, the New York Times reported, citing a US official.
The transfers, requested by *Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy*, would begin soon, the unnamed official said, according to the Times.

The official declined to say how many tanks would be sent or from which countries they would come, according to the report. 
The Pentagon declined to comment to Reuters.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The tanks would allow Ukraine to conduct long-range artillery strikes on Russian targets in the *Donbas* region, the official told the newspaper.
It marks the first time in the war that the United States has helped transfer tanks, the newspaper said.
_Reuters_

----------


## Switch

> Love from Sybil no less!!  Now that is Classic.


Happy for you to take one for the team, but given his dislike for my posts, it could easily have been aimed at me.
You just never know with him.

----------


## sabang

> _So add this to a long list of Polls that you disbelieve &/or rubbish_


Just a wee lil' point- I didn't real mean 'you' as in You switch- probably would have been better to have put y'all. I rattle off these posts pretty quickly. We have some TD specialists in disbelieving/ rubbishing any poll and election data that does not conform to their confirmation bias.
That poll margin of error is fine- you can check it yourself actually, using one of several free margin of error calculators here on the interweb. Salient point anyway- no Vlad is not in immediate threat of being deposed. It's amerka in reverse- rally to the flag.

----------


## bsnub

Who cares if the poll is accurate. The fact is that there is no free press in Russia. All the news outlets push the Kremlin narrative, and speaking out against the government can and will get you arrested. Do you really think that people are going to openly say how they feel in some public poll and risk being exposed as anti-government? If you do think so, you are a fool. 

So accurate or not, the poll is still rubbish.

Remember the video of the guy who hung the picture of Putin in the elevator that David posted? All the snide comments that were made under people's breath when they stepped into that elevator were almost all negative. Speaks volumes more than a stupid poll.

----------


## S Landreth

Lithuania to ban Russian gas imports

Lithuania announced on Saturday that the country would no longer allow Russian gas imports as Europe continues to reduce its reliance on energy imports from Moscow.

From this month on  no more Russian gas in Lithuania. Years ago my country made decisions that today allow us with no pain to break energy ties with the [aggressor.] If we can do it, the rest of Europe can do it too! Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said in a post on Twitter.

Last week, he U.S. and European Commission announced a task force to reduce Europes dependence on Russian fossil fuels and strengthen European energy security, which would include the U.S. and partners directing more liquified natural gas (LNG) to the European Union, per a White House readout on the matter.

The European Commission will work with EU Member States toward the goal of ensuring, until at least 2030, demand for approximately 50 bcm/year of additional U.S. LNG that is consistent with our shared net-zero goals, the readout adds. This also will be done on the understanding that prices should reflect long-term market fundamentals and stability of supply and demand.

The steps have been taken to help further economically isolate Russia from the rest of the world. Energy exports to Europe are an important sector of Russias economy. They are also a key part of the European energy market, however, with Russia providing roughly 40 percent of Europes natural gas.

The U.S. took steps similar to Lithuanias last month by barring Russian imports of oil, natural gas and coal. The move has received bipartisan support. 

Ukraine war and sanctions to shrink Russian economy by 10%

Russias economy will shrink by 10 per cent this year as the war in Ukraine and western sanctions inflict the deepest recession since the early 1990s, according to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Russian gross domestic product will also flatline in 2023 and suffer very low growth over the long term, the bank said, as overseas buyers reduce purchases of Russian oil and gas, foreign investors shun the country and educated young Russians emigrate. But its financial system had so far withstood the shock of retaliatory measures from the west, it noted.

Russia will take a hit and living standards will take a hit, said Beata Javorcik, EBRD chief economist. But they will be able to weather this shock in terms of macroeconomic stability. What is going to impact Russia more is growth . . . zero growth next year and very low growth longer-term.


Russia's Economy Is Crashing, Devastated by Putin's War in Ukraine

Putin's war in Ukraine is devastating Russia's economy, wiping out 15 years of growth and sending inflation skyrocketing

Russia's economy all but imploded in the 1990s. It shrank 7% a year on average for seven straight years.

The experience lingers in the minds of Russians who lived through it. Indeed, President Vladimir Putin has historically framed himself as Russia's savior, delivering a stable economy and restoring national pride.

Now, however, Putin's brutal war in Ukraine is set to wipe out 15 years of growth and send the Russian economy back to the dark days following the fall of the Soviet Union.

Sanctions by the US and its allies have slashed Russia's access to the global financial system, with the central bank cut off from just under half of its $640 billion stockpile of global currency reserves.

Western companies, from McDonald's to Coca-Cola to Shell, are "self-sanctioning" and abruptly pulling out of the country. The ruble, Russia's currency, has been on a wild ride. Inflation is skyrocketing.

Russia's economy will shrink dramatically

The Institute for International Finance think tank reckons Russian gross domestic product  the most common measure of an economy's size  will plunge by a disastrous 15% in 2022. Together with a decline of 3% in 2023, it will wipe out 15 years of growth, the IIF believes.

Goldman Sachs thinks the economy will shrink 10% this year, having previously expected it to grow 2%. Capital Economics is forecasting a 12% contraction.

"The impact on Russia is going to come from pretty much every sector," Liam Peach, emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, told Insider. The consultancy expects unemployment to surge from 4.1% to 8% by the end of 2022.

Peach said the move by Western governments to cut certain Russian banks out of Swift, a crucial global payments messaging system, will hit non-energy exports hard. Meanwhile, the US has banned the import of Russian oil and the UK is following suit.

Goldman Sachs thinks sanctions and self-sanctioning by western companies will cause imports to tumble 20% this year and exports to drop 10%.

Inflation is set to soar to 20%

Western governments are panicking in the face of high inflation rates of between 5% and 8%. But Russians are likely to have to cope with inflation of 20% or more by the end of the year, according to economists.

A weaker ruble will push up the price of imports, while sanctions and the withdrawal of Western companies are likely to slash the supply of goods and services.

"The supply-side shock is going to be absolutely horrible," Madina Khrustaleva, Russia analyst at the consultancy TS Lombard, told Insider.


 

NATO chief calls Bucha executions horrific

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday said reports of civilians being executed and buried in mass graves in the Ukrainian city of Bucha are horrific and absolutely unacceptable.

Ukrainian officials have shared photos on social media showing several bodies lying in the streets of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, with their hands tied behind their backs.

Some officials have said the individuals were shot dead by Russian troops, while Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedorur said 280 people had been buried in mass graves.

Asked by co-anchor Dana Bash on CNNs State of the Union if the reports constitute a genocide, Stoltenberg said the incidents represent a brutality against civilians we havent seen in Europe for decades.

And its horrific, and its absolutely unacceptable that civilians are targeted and killed, and it just underlines the importance of, that this war must end. And that is President Putins responsibility, to stop the war, Stoltenberg added.

The NATO chief emphasized the importance of the investigation an International Criminal Court prosecutor launched last month that is probing any claims of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed in any areas of Ukraine by any individuals.

It is also extremely important that the International Criminal Court has opened an investigation into potential war crimes in Ukraine and that all facts are brought on the table, to the table, and that those responsible are held accountable, he added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday told Bash in a separate interview that the images out of Bucha were a punch in the gut.

You cant help but see these images as a punch in the gut, Blinken said when asked if he recognized evidence of crimes against humanity in the Kyiv suburb.

----------


## misskit

*Secret intelligence has unusually public role in Ukraine war*

LONDON (AP) — The war in Ukraine is the conflict where spies came in from the cold and took center stage.


Since Russia invaded its neighbor in late February, intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Britain have been remarkably willing to go public with their secret intelligence assessments of what is happening on the battlefield — and inside the Kremlin.


The U.S. this week declassified intelligence findings claiming Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed about his military’s poor performance in Ukraine by advisers scared to tell him the truth. On Thursday a British spy chief said demoralized Russian troops were refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment.


Jeremy Fleming, who heads Britain’s electronic intelligence agency GCHQ, made the comments in a public speech where he said the “pace and scale” at which secret intelligence is being released “really is unprecedented.”

Mark Galeotti, a Russia expert at University College London, agreed that the very public intelligence campaign “reflects the fact that we now live in a different age, politically and internationally. And this is a different kind of war.”

Officials say the stream of declassified intelligence — which includes regular briefings to journalists in Washington and London and daily Twitter updates from Britain’s defense ministry — has several aims. Partly it’s to let Putin know he is being watched, and to make him question what he’s being told. It’s also designed to embolden the Russian military to tell Putin the truth, and to convey to the Russian public that they have been lied to about the war.


The U.S. and Britain also have released intelligence assessments in a bid to deter Russian actions. That was the case with recent warnings Russia might be preparing to use chemical weapons in Ukraine.


It’s all part of a closely coordinated trans-Atlantic strategy that has been in the works for months.


Biden administration officials say they decided to aggressively share intelligence and coordinate messaging with key allies, including Britain, as U.S. concerns about Russian troop movements in autumn 2021 put the intelligence community on high alert.


In early November, President Joe Biden dispatched CIA director William Burns to Moscow to warn that the U.S. was fully aware of Russian troop movements. The White House has typically been tight-lipped about the director’s travels, but the Biden administration calculated that in this situation they needed to advertise the visit far and wide. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow announced that Burns had met with top Kremlin officials shortly after his trip was over.


Soon after Burns’ Moscow mission, U.S. officials decided they needed to accelerate intelligence sharing.

Officials shared sensitive intelligence with other members of the Five Eyes alliance — Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand — and also with Ukraine. Director of national intelligence Avril Haines was dispatched to Brussels to brief NATO members on intelligence underlying growing American concerns that Russia seemed intent on invasion, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.


Some allies and analysts were skeptical, with memories lingering of past intelligence failings, like the false claim Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that was used to justify the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.


Late last year, France and Germany led a group of European countries that appeared to be seeing similar military intelligence as the U.S. and Britain, but were less convinced that an invasion of Ukraine was imminent. At NATO, Germany initially blocked the use of a system for helping Ukraine to acquire certain military equipment. France and Germany also blocked NATO from launching an early crisis planning system in response to the buildup, before relenting in December.


This week, French media reported that the head of France’s military intelligence agency, which failed to anticipate the Russian invasion, has been removed from his post.


Eric Vidaud’s departure comes amid soul-searching among France’s leadership about why it was taken by surprise by the war — which was particularly embarrassing for President Emmanuel Macron, who speaks regularly with Putin. Some see Vidaud as a scapegoat, and note that his removal comes just ahead of this month’s French presidential election.


In January, as Russia amassed troops near Ukraine’s border, Britain’s Foreign Office issued a statement alleging that Putin wanted to install a pro-Moscow regime in Ukraine. The U.K. said it was making the intelligence assessment public because of the “exceptional circumstances.”


Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24 largely silenced the doubters, and drew a unified response from NATO. The release of U.S. and British intelligence is partly designed to shore up that Western unity, officials and analysts say. Both Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson doubt Putin is serious about negotiating an end to the war and want to keep up the West’s military and moral support of Ukraine.


The impact inside Russia is hard to measure. The U.S. official who spoke to the AP said the White House hopes divulging intelligence that Putin is misinformed could help prod the Russian leader to reconsider his options in Ukraine. But the publicity could also risk further isolating Putin or make him double down on his aim of restoring Russian prestige lost since the fall of the Soviet Union.


The official said Biden is in part shaped by a belief that “Putin is going to do what Putin is going to do,” regardless of international efforts to deter him.


Galeotti said Western intelligence agencies likely don’t know how much impact their efforts will have on Putin.


“But there’s no harm in giving it a try,” he said. “Because when it comes down to it, in this kind of intensely personalistic system (of government), if one line, or one particular notion, happens to get through and lodge itself in Putin’s brain, then that’s a really powerful result.”


Secret intelligence has unusually public role in Ukraine war | AP News

----------


## S Landreth

EU to hit Russia with fresh sanctions after Bucha killings

The European Union announced Monday it's working on further sanctions against Russia's government "as a matter of urgency" following allegations that Russian forces committed war crimes in Bucha and elsewhere in Ukraine.

*What they're saying:* The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a statement that the 27-nation bloc "condemns in the strongest possible terms" the "reported atrocities."


"Haunting images of large numbers of civilian deaths and casualties, as well as destruction of civilian infrastructures show the true face of the brutal war of aggression Russia is waging against Ukraine and its people," Borrell said.U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken tweeted Sunday that the U.S. "strongly" condemned the "apparent atrocities by Kremlin forces in Bucha and across Ukraine," adding: "We are pursuing accountability using every tool available, documenting and sharing information to hold accountable those responsible."

*The big picture:* Ukrainian President said in a televised address late Sunday after a mass grave was discovered and bodies were found strewn on the streets of Bucha, some with their hands tied behind their back, that what to place in the city, northwest of Kyiv, and elsewhere in Ukraine was a war crime.


French President Emmanuel Macron concurred with this assessment on Sunday in an interview with the broadcaster France Inter and said more sanctions were needed in response to the latest allegations of war crimes.

*Meanwhile,* the prime ministers of Poland and Spain separately repeated Zelensky's earlier allegations that Putin's forces were committing "genocide" in Ukraine and demanded a global investigation, per AFP.

*For the record:* The Kremlin denies Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine.


Russia's chief investigator on Monday ordered an investigation into what he described as Ukrainian "provocation" following Kyiv's allegations that Russian forces massacred civilians in Bucha, according to Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe...re-2022-04-03/

___________

U.S. said to seize mega yacht owned by oligarch who's close to Putin

Palma de Mallorca, Spain — The U.S. government seized a mega yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to the Russian president on Monday, the first in the government's sanctions enforcement initiative to "seize and freeze" giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites.

Spain's Civil Guard and U.S. federal agents descended on the yacht at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain's Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Associated Press reporters at the scene saw police going in and out of the boat on Monday morning. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-...or-vekselberg/

___________

On Monday, Russia is due to pay $552 million on maturing 2022 Eurobond and $84 million in a coupon payout on 2042 Eurobond. https://www.reuters.com/business/rus...ns-2022-04-04/  ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

US ramps up oil imports from Russia, pursues own interests at expense of European allies amid Ukraine crisis

In a contrasting move to its pressuring of European allies to not buy Russian oil against the backdrop of the ongoing Ukraine crisis, the US increased crude oil supplies from Russia by 43 percent, or 100,000 barrels per day, over the past week, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Mikhail Popov told Russian media on Sunday, with critics pointing out that the US pursues its own interests at the costs of its European allies.

According to the Russian official, Europe should expect similar "surprises" from the US.

"Moreover, Washington allowed its companies to export mineral fertilizers from Russia, recognizing them as essential goods," Popov added.

The US and European allies have been exploring banning imports of Russian oil since Russia-Ukraine conflict started, despite the fact that Europe relies on Russia for crude oil and natural gas. 

Europe faces pressure from both the US and the UK to impose a ban on Russian oil. Britain has announced that it would phase out Russian oil imports by the end of the year. 

Meanwhile, US Treasury has set deadline to end deals on oil and coal imports from Russia until April 22. 

Cui Heng, an assistant research fellow from the Center for Russian Studies of East China Normal University, told the Global Times that the US policy toward Russia is centered on two aspects - one being liberalism to counter Russia's political system and collective ideology and the other being pragmatism to serve US national interests. 

"Out of the need to ideologically confront Russia, the US woos allies to sanction Russia, while out of the need of reality, the US buys Russian energy at a cheaper price and sells them to Europe at a higher price to serve the interests of domestic oil interest groups. In the end, Europe becomes the victim - European wealth flows to the US and helps consolidate the dollar's advantage against euro," Cui said.

US liquefied natural gas exports rose nearly 16 percent last month to a record high, according to preliminary Refinitiv data, with shipments to Europe continuing to dominate.

US LNG is in high demand as European countries try to cut gas imports from Russia after its military operation in Ukraine, while also looking to rebuild diminishing inventories.

Local media reported that Europe has been the top importer of US LNG for four consecutive months, taking about 65 percent of US exports.

In a joint agreement, the US announced on March 25 to provide at least 15 billion cubic meters more of liquefied natural gas to Europe this year, seeking to end the bloc's dependence on Russian energy exports. These additional volumes of LNG are expected to increase going forward, the White House said in a statement.

Mick Wallace, a member of the European Parliament, tweeted a video of his parliamentary speech, saying that Europe should indeed wean itself off its dependence on Russian energy, but must not replace it with "filthy fracked Gas" of the US, which has invaded other countries more than any other country in the world, according to media reports. 

Analysts said the biggest beneficiary from Russia-Ukraine crisis and ban on Russian oil is the US while some netizens mocked the US move as ensnaring its European allies. 

"I believe the target of the US [in sanctioning Russia] is not Russia at all, but European countries," commented one Chinese netizen.

By buying oil from Russia and reselling it to Europe, the US can make a profit, said some Twitter users.

US ramps up oil imports from Russia, pursues own interests at expense of European allies amid Ukraine crisis - Global Times

----------


## bsnub

^

More BS from a total shit source. Give the propaganda a rest, sabang.

Today, President Biden will sign an Executive Order (E.O.) to ban the  import of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas, and coal to the United  States – a significant action with widespread bipartisan support that  will further deprive President Putin of the economic resources he uses  to continue his needless war of choice.

    The United States made this decision in close consultation with our  Allies and partners around the world, as well as Members of Congress of  both parties. The United States is able to take this step because of our  strong domestic energy infrastructure and we recognize that not all of  our Allies and partners are currently in a position to join us. But we  are united with our Allies and partners in working together to reduce  our collective dependence on Russian energy and keep the pressure  mounting on Putin, while at the same taking active steps to limit  impacts on global energy markets and protect our own economies.

    This announcement builds on unprecedented economic costs the United  States and our Allies and partners have imposed on Russia. As a result  of our historic, multilateral coordination, Russia has become a global  economic and financial pariah. Over 30 countries representing well over  half the world’s economy have announced sanctions that impose immediate  and severe economic costs on Russia, cut off access to high-tech  technology, sap its growth potential, and weaken its military for years  to come. The Russian ruble is now worth less than a penny and has hit an  all-time low after losing almost half of its value since Putin  announced his further invasion of Ukraine. By isolating Russia’s Central  Bank and cutting off the largest Russian banks from the international  financial system, we have disarmed his war chest of foreign reserves and  left Putin to soften the blow of our sanctions. U.S. and allied export  controls are impacting industrial production in Russia, Russian  commercial aviation, and other key sectors of the Russian economy. The  United States and governments all over the world are going after Putin’s  cronies and their families by identifying and freezing the assets they  hold in our respective jurisdictions – their yachts, luxury apartments,  money, and other ill-gotten gains.

*Today’s Executive Order bans:
*

The importation into the United States of Russian crude oil and  certain petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, and coal. Last year,  the U.S. imported nearly 700,000 barrels per day of crude oil and  refined petroleum products from Russia and this step will deprive Russia  of billions of dollars in revenues from U.S. drivers and consumers  annually.New U.S. investment in Russia’s energy sector,  which will ensure that American companies and American investors are not  underwriting Vladimir Putin’s efforts to expand energy production  inside RussiaAmericans will also be prohibited from  financing or enabling foreign companies that are making investment to  produce energy in Russia. 
*Putin’s brutal war has led to higher energy prices and raised  costs for Americans at home. Today, President Biden made clear that he  will keep working to mitigate the pain American families feel at the  pump and reduce our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels:*

The Administration has already committed to releasing more than  90 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve this fiscal  year, with an emergency sale of 30 million barrels announced just last  week. After intensive around-the-clock coordination and consultation by  President Biden, the International Energy Agency (IEA) Member countries  agreed to a collective release of an initial 60 million barrels of crude  oil from our strategic petroleum reserves, with the United States  committing half of that in the emergency sale. We are in conversations  with a range of energy producers and consumers on further steps we can  take to ensure a stable global supply of energy.U.S. oil  and gas production is approaching record highs, while thousands of  drilling permits on federal lands go unused. Federal policies are not  limiting the production of oil and gas.  To the contrary, the Biden  Administration has been clear that in the short-term, supply must keep  up with demand, at home and around the world while we make the shift to a  secure clean energy future.  We are one of the world’s largest  producers with a strong domestic oil and gas industry. Natural gas  production has never been higher, and crude oil production is expected  to hit a new high next year. Oil and gas companies, and the finance  firms that back them, should not use Putin’s war as an excuse for excess  price increases or padding profits, and, as major energy company  leaders have themselves said, they have the resources and incentives  they need to further increase production in the United States. 

In the long run, the way to avoid high gas prices is to speed up  – not slow down – our transition to a clean energy future.  We cannot  drill our way out of dependence on a global commodity controlled in part  by foreign nations and their leaders, including Putin. The only way to  eliminate Putin’s and every other producing country’s ability to use oil  as an economic weapon, is to reduce our dependency on oil.  So, even as  President Biden does everything in his power in the short term to make  sure we can readily access the oil and gas necessary to protect American  consumers and allied countries– including through greater U.S. domestic  production that is expected to hit record highs next year – this crisis  reinforces our resolve to make America truly energy independent, which  means reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. This is a shared goal  with our European allies, that we will work together to achieve. 

FACT SHEET: United States Bans Imports of Russian Oil, Liquefied Natural Gas, and Coal | The White House

----------


## sabang

^ That was released March 08 2022- the Global Times article is more recent, April 04 2022. It would seem the the US has scaled back it's 'boycott'. The ruble has significantly recovered since that article was released too. I guess a month is a long time in politics! A possible explanation for the declared uptick in crude oil exports to the US is that they have been releasing significant quantities of strategic reserves, to stabilise oil prices. Seems to be working too.

----------


## Switch

^A Russian spokesman decides to tell the world that USA bought oil from Russia? Did the USA pay in Rubles?

A less than reliable propaganda arm, The Global Times dutifully report the Russian spokesman? See anything suspicious in that? Or did you choose to ignore it like you have in the past?

Cue flippant or non existent response when caught with hand in the cookie jar, again.

----------


## David48atTD

> ^A Russian spokesman decides to tell the world that USA bought oil from Russia? Did the USA pay in Rubles?
> 
> A less than reliable propaganda arm, *The Global Times* dutifully report the Russian spokesman?


^ ... THIS and below

_The Global Times (simplified  Chinese: 环球时报; traditional Chinese: 環球時報; pinyin: Huánqiú Shíbào) is a  daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist  Party's flagship newspaper, the People's Daily, commenting on  international issues from a nationalistic perspective._
WIKI

----------


## sabang

No gentlemen, *THIS*-


*Russia oil imports size to US rise by 43 percent*


 *According to a recent figure from the United States Energy Information Administration, the amount of Russian oil imports by the United States surged by 43 percent from March 19 to 25*, in comparison to the prior week (EIA). According to data, the United States imports up to 100,000 barrels of Russian oil each day.

The week of February 19 to February 25, imports were halted. nevertheless, in early March, Russian oil weekly output peaked at 148,000 barrels each day, the highest level since the current year.

Despite United States President Joe Biden announcing an executive order on March 8 prohibiting energy imports from Russia and new holdings in the Russian energy industry, the ramp-up continues. The United States Treasury has set a deadline of April 22 for the completion of transactions for the purchase of Russian oil, oil products, LNG, and coal.
https://menafn.com/1103944015/Russia-oil-imports-size-to-US-rise-by-43-percent


 ::chitown:: You're welcome, but don't expect me to do your Homework for you every time.

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## bsnub

At the bottom of your "source" article...




> *Legal Disclaimer:*
>  MENAFN provides the information “as is”  without warranty of any kind.  We do not accept any responsibility or  liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses,  completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in  this article.   If you have any complaints or copyright issues related  to this article, kindly contact the provider above.


An executive order has been signed banning the import of Russian oil. Stop posting crap sabang.

----------


## bsnub

BERLIN (Reuters) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, long an  advocate of Western rapprochement with Russia, expressed regret for his  earlier stance, saying his years of support for the Nord Stream 2 gas  pipeline had been a clear mistake.

Steinmeier, a Social Democrat  who served as Foreign Minister under Chancellor Angela Merkel before  being elevated to the presidency, said Russia's invasion of Ukraine  meant he and others had to reckon honestly with what they had got wrong.

"My  adherence to Nord Stream 2 was clearly a mistake," he said. "We were  sticking to a bridge in which Russia no longer believed and which other  partners had warned us against."

Steinmeier was a prominent member  of a wing of his Social Democratic Party, led by former Chancellor  Gerhard Schroeder, that argued close economic ties to Russia were a way  of anchoring it within a western-oriented global system.

The  now-cancelled Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which critics said would have  weakened Ukraine by cutting it out of the energy transit business, was a  centrepiece of that strategy.

That has triggered a growing  backlash, with critics on social media repeatedly tweeting past pictures  of him affectionately embracing Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov,  while Ukraine's ambassador Andrij Melnyk has been outspoken in his  criticism.

When Steinmeier arranged a "solidarity concert" for  Ukraine, Melnyk tweeted sarcastically that the only soloists appeared to  be Russian. "An affront," he wrote. "Sorry, I'm not coming."

Germany's  president is meant to be a unifying figure who stands above the cut and  thrust of daily politics, one who enjoys the moral authority to exhort  people to better behaviour.

"We failed to build a common European  house," Steinmeier said. "I did not believe Vladimir Putin would embrace  his country's complete economic, political and moral ruin for the sake  of his imperial madness," he added.

"In this, I, like others, was mistaken."

I got Putin wrong, says chastened German President

----------


## David48atTD

> No gentlemen, *THIS*-
> 
> 
> *Russia oil imports size to US rise by 43 percent*
> 
> 
>  *According to a recent figure from the United States Energy Information Administration, the amount of Russian oil imports by the United States surged by 43 percent from March 19 to 25*, in comparison to the prior week (EIA). According to data, the United States imports up to 100,000 barrels of Russian oil each day.
> 
> You're welcome, but don't expect me to do your Homework for you every time.


NO ... let _me_ do the homework!

First up ... it's  :poo: 

DON'T go to the 'news' source when the 'original' source is available.


So, here is the most recent data ...


Weekly Preliminary Crude Imports by Top 10 Countries of Origin (ranking based on 2020 Petroleum Supply Monthly data)


The longer term trend is below ...


U.S. Imports from Russia of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products (Thousand Barrels)

As for ... "_According to data, the United States imports up to 100,000 barrels of Russian oil each day._" ...  :Bsflag: 


The interesting thing for me was to learn that Trinidad and Tobago were Crude Oil/Petroleum Product exporters!

---

I think I missed my calling in life ... I should have been a PI  :Cool:

----------


## HermantheGerman

> You're welcome, but don't expect me to do your Homework for you every time.


How about you stop doing your homework and just drop out. Sound familiar?  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## sabang

Why do you people make such children of yourself? The US Energy Information Administration is a part of the US Federal government. Are you suggesting they are lying? No they are not. Deal with it. 

Why did you provide 4 weekly figures david, when my Post clearly referred to weekly figures? Not comparing like with like, tut tut. Following are the Weekly figures from the EIA for your elucidation-




Weekly Preliminary Crude Imports by Top 10 Countries of Origin (ranking based on 2020 Petroleum Supply Monthly data)


(Thousand Barrels per Day)








Period:

                    Weekly  4-Week Average












Download Series History



Definitions, Sources & Notes




Country






GraphClear
02/18/22
02/25/22
03/04/22
03/11/22
03/18/22
03/25/22
View
History


1- Canada



3,869
3,630
3,731
3,398
3,806
3,612
2010-2022


2- Mexico



768
497
412
645
641
731
2010-2022


3- Saudi Arabia



358
520
701
562
534
333
2010-2022


4- Colombia



332
144
71
279
72
284
2010-2022


5- Iraq



285
295
188
161
489
82
2010-2022


6- Ecuador



98
0
160
205
103
96
2010-2022


7- Brazil



273
57
71
191
150
72
2010-2022


8- Russia



106
0
148
38
70
100
2010-2022


9- Nigeria



25
43
96
0
2
148
2010-2022


10- Trinidad and Tobago



0
0
0
54
0
75
2010-2022


Algeria



--
--
--
--
--
--
2010-2022


Angola



--
--
--
--
--
--
2010-2022


Congo



--
--
--
--
--
--
2010-2022


Equatorial Guinea



--
--
--
--
--
--
2010-2022


Kuwait



--
--
--
--
--
--
2010-2022


Norway



--
--
--
--
--
--
2010-2022


United Kingdom



--
--
--
--
--
--
2010-2022


Venezuela



--
--
--
--
--
--
2010-2022



https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_wimpc_s1_w.htm

As you can clearly see (if you can read a Table) Russian oil exports to the USA shot up enormously in the week ending 25/3/22 (the most recent week for which figures are available) to 100,000 barrels per day- up from 70,000 barrels per day the week before. No cigar.

----------


## sabang

The figures I quoted were real, and in an attempt to show them to be wrong you just made a fool of yourself again. End of- stop squealing like a baby and Man up. 

This is actually more important anyway, the Big Picture- the US itself is not a major export destination for Russian oil, gas or coal-

*

Russia's March oil output down to 11.01 million bpd, analysts warn of further declines*


Mon, 4 April 2022, 9:33 pm


Russian output of oil and gas condensate fell to 11.01 million barrels per day (bpd) in March from 11.06 million bpd in February, according to Reuters calculations based on an Interfax report on Monday that cited an unnamed source.
A Russian analytical unit affiliated with the Energy Ministry did not publish monthly oil and gas output data on April 2, according to two clients, the first delay in years amid reports of a production decline.
Russia's oil and gas condensate production was 46.57 million tonnes in March, Interfax news agency said, compared with 42.23 million tonnes in February, which was three days shorter.


Reports of lower production in March, though minor, come as exporters experience difficulties in placing some barrels amid Western sanctions over Moscow's military operation in Ukraine.
On Friday, sources said that on March 31, the oil output was down to 10.6 million bpd, the lowest daily level since September 2021. It was not immediately clear whether the reduction was a one-off factor or a sign of a more prolonged decline.
At the same time loadings of Russian flagship oil blend, Urals, fell from the Western ports in the Baltic Sea by 5% from the initial schedule last month due to cargo cancellations.
On Monday, citing a source familiar with the data, Interfax news agency said that Russian oil exports outside the ex-Soviet Union increased by 15.8% in annualised terms in the first quarter to 57.1 million tonnes (4.65 million bpd).
It said Russian natural gas output rose 0.8% year on year in March to 67.5 billion cubic metres.
The declines seen in oil production in Russia are related to changes in logistics and financing, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying on Friday, without providing detail.
As European customers are taking a cautious approach when dealing with Russian oil, analysts expect that Russia may have to cut production this month by between 1 million bpd and 1.5 million bpd.
"I wouldn't vouch for how fast production will decline. On average (decline) by 1 million bpd looks plausible, but it could eventually be even more," Alexei Kokin from brokerage Otkritie said about expectations for April.
The energy ministry did not reply to a Reuters request for a comment on possible production cuts this month.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" that it says is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its southern neighbour's military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists.

Russia's March oil output down to 11.01 million bpd, analysts warn of further declines

We'll have to see how these sanctions will bite in coming months, but so far I'm afraid it is a bit of a m'ehhh, and of course then you have near record energy prices to boot.

----------


## S Landreth

EU chief outlines new Russia sanctions proposal ahead of visit to Kyiv

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will visit Kyiv this week to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of a global Ukraine fundraiser on Saturday.

*The latest:* Hours after announcing the visit, von der Leyen outlined a fresh sanctions proposal punishing Russia for the reported atrocities in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

*Details:* The proposal, which must be agreed to by all 27 EU ambassadors at a meeting on Wednesday, includes:


A ban on coal imports, which are worth $4.4 billion per yearA full transaction ban on four more Russian banks, including the second-largest bank VTBA ban on Russian and Belarusian vessels and road transport operators from accessing EU ports and roadsAdditional technology export bans worth $11 billionOther specific import bans worth $6 billion

*Between the lines:* The reports of the atrocities in Bucha triggered a renewed push within the EU for another round of crushing sanctions  including on Russian energy, which up until now had been a red line for many member states.


A Russian gas embargo is expected to be left off the table, given how much countries like Germany depend on Russia to heat their homes and power industry.But momentum is gaining for a ban on coal imports now and oil imports down the road, as the U.S. works with the EU to find alternative sources to wean the continent off of Russian gas.

*The big picture:* Von der Leyen's upcoming visit to Ukraine will be the most significant by any world leader since the war broke out. She has expressed support for Ukraine's accession to the EU, saying that "they are one of us and we want them in."


The actual process for gaining membership could take years, however, and may face opposition from individual member states.Ukraine has proposed ruling out NATO membership but moving forward with EU accession as one possible compromise in peace talks with Russia.

*Flashback:* The prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic visited Kyiv by train on March 15, when the capital was still under assault. Russian forces have since retreated.

*What they're saying:* "The sanctions response to Russias massacre of civilians must finally be powerful," Zelensky said in an overnight address.


"But was it really necessary to wait for this to reject doubts and indecision?""Did hundreds of our people really have to die in agony for some European leaders to finally understand that the Russian state deserves the most severe pressure?"





_____________

Ukraine misinformation is spreading  and not just from Russia

False narratives surrounding Russia's invasion of Ukraine are increasing and extend far beyond the bounds of Russia-controlled state media, according to new research from NewsGuard first shared with Axios.

*Why it matters*: Though Russian state-media has faced widespread de-platforming, many shady think tanks, anonymous websites and other outlets can easily continue to spread misinformation about the war.


OneWorld.press, for example, is a website that bills itself as a Global Think Tank, but doesn't disclose ownership, funding or control. It continues to regularly publish falsehoods supporting Russian disinformation and NewsGuard notes that the site's internet domain was registered in Moscow.

*By the numbers:* Misinformation about the invasion is on the rise, both in terms of the number of false claims being spread and the amount of outlets actively posting misinformation.


*NewsGuard has identified 172 distinct sites* that continuously spread disinformation about the war, including a number of anonymous websites, foundations and research websites with uncertain funding. That's 48% more than the organization had tracked as of March 3.*The number of specific myths* being tracked by NewsGuard has also risen. It more than doubled to 23 false claims, the organization said.*Among the sites,* English is the most common language. It's used by 61 sites, followed by 33 sites in French, 20 in German and 16 in Italian.*Spanish-language misinformation* related to the conflict has also been surging, AP reported, noting that RT en Español is among the most tweeted Spanish-language sites for Russia-Ukraine news. (Spanish-language misinformation has been on the rise overall.)

*Be smart*: While most of the misinformation has been pro-Russia, there has also been false information that aims to show Ukrainian armed forces as more successful than they have been, or to make unverified claims about Russian actions.


Those claims, per NewsGuard, have been occasionally shared by Ukrainian authorities.One example includes videos of a Ukrainian fighter pilot alleged to have shot down six Russia military jets. The pilot, nicknamed "The Ghost of Kiev" has been referenced by former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and other Ukrainian public figures on Twitter.

*The big picture:* The findings show that Russia's misinformation apparatus extends far beyond its state-backed media to anonymous websites and research bodies that may skirt scrutiny and censorship more easily.


To that end, 55 of the websites that NewsGuard has so far identified as actively promoting Russian disinformation continue to earn advertising from blue-chip brands through programmatic advertising.

----------


## bsnub

Russian shelling allegedly sank the  Dominican Republic-flagged civilian cargo vessel _Azburg_ when it shelled the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry claimed on Tuesday.

"Pirates  of the Sea of ​​Azov," tweeted the Defense Ministry. "During another  barbaric shelling of Mariupol, Russia sank a merchant ship under the  Dominican Republic flag. In terms of the number of peaceful ships sunk  during last 40 days, [the] Russian fleet has already surpassed many  Somali pirate captains."

Pirates  of the Sea of ​​Azov. During another barbaric shelling of Mariupol,  sank a merchant ship under the flag. In terms of the number of peaceful  ships sunk during last 40 days, fleet has already surpassed many Somali  pirate captains. pic.twitter.com/aiXxNlBP7k
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) April 5, 2022

The ministry posted pictures that allegedly showed the _Azburg_  ablaze.  The container cargo ship was last recorded by the maritime  traffic database MarineTraffic as being moored at Mariupol. 

The  city of Mariupol has been encircled by Russian forces since the early  days of the Russia-Ukraine War. Russian forces have been bombarding  Ukrainian military positions, and allegedly civilian targets, within the  city with surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, artillery, mortars,  naval guns, and airstrikes. Many areas of the city have been left  without basic utilities, and there have been multiple efforts to  evacuate civilians through humanitarian corridors.

Several civilian vessels were seized, damaged or sunk under disputed circumstances. On March 3, the Estonian-owned cargo ship _Helt_ sank near Ukraine's major Black Sea port of Odesa. The _Helt_ was allegedly used by the Russian Black Sea Fleet as a human shield to protect its navigation, in what Ukraine called an act of "21st century piracy." 

On the same day that the _Helt_ sank, a Bangladeshi vessel was hit by a missile or bomb at another port.

On February 28, the P_rincess Nicole_, a Ukrainian bulk carrier. with a sailor with Israeli citizenship, was detained by Russian naval forces.

A  Moldovan vessel sailing under a Romanian flag was damaged by a Russian  warship, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine alleged on  February 25. The vessel, the _Millenial Spirit_, was reportedly traveling to Odessa when it was damaged. 

On February 24, Two civilian ships were hit by Ukrainian missiles in the Sea of Azov, according to Russian media.

Commercial  shipping has become perilous in the Black Sea since the Russia-Ukraine  War began. The Black Sea is a major shipping route for grain and oil.  Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia all have  coastlines on the sea. Many shipping firms have suspended sailings to  affected Black Sea ports and other terminals in Ukraine, with insurance  premiums for voyages soaring.

The  Russian Embassy in Cairo claimed on Tuesday that the Ukrainian military  was preventing 67 foreign ships from departing  in the Black Sea, TASS  reported. The comments were reportedly in response to "Kyiv's unfounded  statements about Russia's obstruction of the freedom of merchant  shipping in the Black Sea."

Humanitarian corridors have reportedly been organized to allow merchant navigation of the sea.

NATO's  Shipping Center warned on March 2 that there was "a high risk of  collateral damage on civilian shipping in the northwestern part of the  Black Sea," which included mines. Sea mines  have been discovered in the coastal territory of Turkey and defused by  Romanian and Turkish naval units, including near the key maritime  chokepoint the Bosphorus strait. Russia and Ukraine have accused one  another of laying the mines. 

“In  total, with gross violations of the rules and without mapping, about  420 mines of obsolete types, produced in the first half of the 20th  century, were laid down,” the Russian embassy to Egypt asserted on  Tuesday, according to TASS. “During storms, some of them also broke away  from anchors and now drift freely in the western part of the Black  Sea."

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-703317

----------


## Switch

> The figures I quoted were real, and in an attempt to show them to be wrong you just made a fool of yourself again. End of- stop squealing like a baby and Man up. 
> 
> This is actually more important anyway, the Big Picture- the US itself is not a major export destination for Russian oil, gas or coal-
> 
> *
> 
> Russia's March oil output down to 11.01 million bpd, analysts warn of further declines*
> 
> 
> ...


As of yesterday, the ‘Stan’s were independent nation states. Why are they referred to as Ex Soviet States. Russia does not gain anything from their exports of oil or anything else. Closing trade routes may prevent oil from leaving via Russia, but I’m sure those countries will find other routes for their oil and other exports if necessary.

A Presidential order gives Biden the legal framework to stop any company from breaking sanctions. It might take time toget the required support from both houses of government.

Posting reductions in Russian exports is not something you want to do. It does not help your case at all.

----------


## sabang

> Russia does not gain anything from their exports of oil or anything else.


Oh but it does if it transits through Russia, and is embarked at Russian ports. Or do you think they do it for charity?
More complex would be if Russian interests, such as Gazprom, hold an equity in any of these projects. Certainly not unusual.

----------


## Switch

> Oh but it does if it transits through Russia, and is embarked at Russian ports. Or do you think they do it for charity?
> More complex would be if Russian interests, such as Gazprom, hold an equity in any of these projects. Certainly not unusual.


It might be if only sanctions didn’t include transit through Russian territory.

----------


## sabang

They don't.

----------


## Switch

> They don't.


They do. Why bring it up, if it’s of no benefit to Russia? Sure Gazprom might have a minor financial interest, but such loopholes are closed as they appear.

----------


## David48atTD

The United Nations has been called upon to reform its  system of governance because Russia is being accused of committing war  crimes in Ukraine.

*Key points:*
Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for action against Russia's UN powersThe  UN Charter says the Security Council must recommend the removal of a  member, meaning Russia would need to approve their removalThere are five permament members of the Security Council, all of which have veto powers 

Ukranian  President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops of horrific  attacks on civilians in a video address to the UN Security Council on  Tuesday.

*As it stands, the UN Security Council gives veto powers to five permanent members, including Russia* ...  :stopwar: 

HERE

----------


## S Landreth

US to send $100M in additional military aid to Ukraine

The U.S. is sending up to $100 million in additional military aid to Ukraine as Russias invasion of the country continues.

The State Department and Pentagon announced the military funding in statements Tuesday evening. The money will go toward Javelin anti-armor systems, according to Pentagon press secretary John Kirby.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he authorized an immediate drawdown to address Ukraines need for more anti-armor systems. Drawdowns allow the president to help countries during emergencies without needing approval from a legislative authority or budgetary appropriations, according to a Defense Department handbook.

Tuesday nights drawdown marks the sixth such allocation the U.S. has made for Ukraine since August, according to Blinken. The U.S. has provided Ukraine with more than $1.7 billion since Russias invasion of Ukraine began in late February.

​​I have authorized, pursuant to a delegation from the President earlier today, the immediate drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $100 million to meet Ukraines urgent need for additional anti-armor systems, Blinken said in a statement.

The world has been shocked and appalled by the atrocities committed by Russias forces in Bucha and across Ukraine. Ukraines forces bravely continue to defend their country and their freedom, and the United States, along with our Allies and partners, stand steadfast in support of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, he added.

The announcement of additional military aid comes after the U.S. and its allies condemned images of bodies on the streets of Bucha, a Ukrainian town northwest of Kyiv. One person was photographed with their hands tied behind their back with a white cloth.

President Biden on Monday said he believes Russia committed war crimes in Bucha, and on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the administration will unveil additional sanctions against Moscow in response to the killings in the Kyiv suburb.


U.S. stops Russian bond payments, raising risk of default 

The United States stopped the Russian government on Monday from paying holders of its sovereign debt more than $600 million from reserves held at U.S. banks, in a move meant to ratchet up pressure on Moscow and eat into its holdings of dollars.

Under sanctions put in place after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, foreign currency reserves held by the Russian central bank at U.S. financial institutions were frozen.

But the Treasury Department had been allowing the Russian government to use those funds to make coupon payments on dollar-denominated sovereign debt on a case-by-case basis.

On Monday, as the largest of the payments came due, including a $552.4 million principal payment on a maturing bond, the U.S. government decided to cut off Moscow's access to the frozen funds, according to a U.S. Treasury spokesperson.

An $84 million coupon payment was also due on Monday on a 2042 sovereign dollar bond.

The move was meant to force Moscow to make the difficult decision of whether it would use dollars that it has access to for payments on its debt or for other purposes, including supporting its war effort, the spokesperson said.

Russia faces a historic default if it chooses to not do so.

"Russia must choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves or new revenue coming in, or default," the spokesperson said.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), which had been processing payments as a correspondent bank so far, was stopped by the Treasury, a source familiar with the matter said.

The correspondent bank processes the coupon payments from Russia, sending them to the payment agent to distribute to overseas bondholders.

The country has a 30-day grace period to make the payment, the source said.

*DEFAULT WORRIES*

Russia does have the wherewithal to pay from reserves, since sanctions have frozen roughly half of some $640 billion in Russia's gold and foreign currency reserves.

But a drawdown would add pressure just as the United States and Europe are planning new sanctions this week to punish Moscow over civilian killings in Ukraine.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation". Ukraine and the West say the invasion was illegal and unjustified. Images of a mass grave and the bound bodies of people shot at close range drew an international outcry on Monday. read more

Russia, which has a total of 15 international bonds outstanding with a face value of around $40 billion, has managed to avoid defaulting on its international debt despite unprecedented Western sanctions. But the task is getting harder. read more

"What they're basically tying to do is force their hand and put even more pressure on (to deplete) foreign-currency reserves back home," said David Wolber, a sanctions lawyer at Gibson Dunn in Hong Kong.

"If they have to do that, obviously that takes away from Russia's ability to use those dollars for other activities, in essence to fund the war."

It may also put pressure on Russian demands to be paid roubles for gas by European customers, he added.

Russia was last allowed to make a $447 million coupon payment on a 2030 sovereign dollar bond, due last Thursday, which was at least the fifth such payment since the war began.

If Russia fails to make any of its upcoming bond payments within their pre-defined timeframes, or pays in roubles where dollars, euros or another currency is specified, it will constitute a default.

While Russia is not able to access international borrowing markets due to sanctions, a default would prohibit it from accessing those markets until creditors are fully repaid and any legal cases stemming from the default are settled.

 ::doglol:: 


Later today.........

U.S., allies set to impose more sanctions on Russia following outrage over possible war crimes

The Biden administration on Wednesday is set to announce additional sanctions targeting Russian financial institutions, as well as Kremlin officials and their family members, three people familiar with the matter told NBC News.

___________

edit/update


Biden targets Putins daughters, Russian banks in new wave of sanctions

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced a wave of new sanctions targeting Russias two largest banks, Russian President Vladimir Putins daughters, the wife and daughter of Russias top diplomat and blacklisted members of Russias Security Council.

A senior administration official said the measures are being imposed in alignment with allies in the Group of Seven nations and the European Union and are in response to the sickening brutality recently discovered in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha following the retreat of Russian forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of committing genocide, while the U.S. and other international leaders have said the images of civilians discovered bound, shot at close range, piled in cellars and left for dead on the street likely amount to war crimes.

The senior administration official said the U.S. and allies are intensifying the most severe sanctions ever levied on a major economy and that the result is to send Russia into economic and financial and technological isolation. The official added the country will go back to Soviet-style living standards from the 1980s.

The administration allowed a carve-out for energy, given the E.U.s dependence on Russian oil and gas, but said it is working with allied nations to reduce such imports.

The measures announced Wednesday impose full blocking sanctions on Russias largest state-owned bank, Sberbank, and its largest private bank, Alfa Bank, freezing any assets touching the U.S. financial system and prohibiting Americans from doing business with them.

Any transaction, in any currency with a U.S. person or U.S. institution is prohibited, the official said of the full blocking sanctions, targeting Russian efforts to receive payment in currencies other than the U.S. dollar to undercut sanctions.

This is the most severe action we can take in terms of financial measures, the official said.

Alfa Bank is Russias largest privately-owned financial institution and its fourth-largest financial institution overall. The administration had sanctioned Sberbank on Feb. 24, the day Russia launched its invasion, blocking all U.S. business with the financial institution.

Sberbank is Russias largest bank, controls about a third of all bank assets in Russia and is majority-owned by the government.

In total, weve now fully blocked more than two thirds of the Russian banking sector, which before the invasion held about $1.4 trillion in assets, the senior administration official said.

The administration imposed personal sanctions against two of Putins adult daughters,  Maria Putina and Katerina Tikhonova and the wife and daughter on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The U.S. also imposed sanctions on former President and Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, who is a prominent voice supporting Putins invasion of Ukraine, and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

These individuals have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people. Some of them are responsible for providing the support necessary to underpin Putins war on Ukraine, the administration said in a statement. This action cuts them off from the U.S. financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States.

Other sanctions include a ban on new investment in Russia, which will be imposed with an executive order by President Biden. It adds to the exit of nearly 600 multinational companies, the administration official said, and robs the Russian economy of private sector know-how and skills that travel with investment.

The knock-on effects to the ongoing brain drain from Russia will be profound, the official said.

The official said that the administration on Monday had cut off Russias ability to use its frozen central bank funds to make debt payments, requiring Moscow to find new sources of dollars from outside the U.S. and to find a new payment route other than U.S. banks, to avoid falling into default.

The Russian Finance Ministry on Wednesday said it was forced to pay $649.2 million to foreign debt-holders in rubles amid the sanctions, with the Moscow Times reporting it raised the prospect of Moscow potentially defaulting on its debt.

The U.S. sanctions, however, include carve outs to support access to telecommunications and information to provide outside perspectives to the Russian people, the administration said. There are also carve outs to allow access to medicine and medical devices and humanitarian efforts, including to ensure the availability of basic foodstuffs and agricultural commodities.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday warned that Russias invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions response by the international community is contributing to a spike in food, energy and fertilizer costs impacting 1.2 billion people in 74 developing countries.

Russias war against Ukraine is entering its second month and while Moscows retreat from Kyiv is being viewed as an important victory for Ukraine, Ukrainian officials and other global leaders are warning that the Kremlin is massing forces to focus on the east of the country, in particular the Donbas, and cities in the South.

The Ukrainian southern port city of Mariupol, under a Russian siege for more than a month, is viewed as suffering some of the most heinous atrocities of the war. The U.N. coordinator for humanitarian efforts, Martin Griffith, described it as the center of hell during a Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

The Biden administration said its sanctions are meant as a broader strategy that includes support for Ukraines military to push back against Moscows offense.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Tuesday that the U.S. would provide an additional $100 million in security assistance to Ukraine, in particular Javelin anti-armor systems, and brings the total amount provided by the U.S. since the start of the invasion to more than $1.7 billion.

The world has been shocked and appalled by the atrocities committed by Russias forces in Bucha and across Ukraine. Ukraines forces bravely continue to defend their country and their freedom, and the United States, along with our Allies and partners, stand steadfast in support of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, Blinken said in a statement.

President Biden on new sanctions. Starts at 5:10 into the video




_______________

DOJ seized "millions of dollars" from Russian oligarch

Attorney General Merrick Garland unveiled an indictment against Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev on Wednesday for sanctions violations and announced the seizure of "millions of dollars from a U.S. financial institution" as proceeds traceable to the violations.

*Why it matters:* The indictment is part of a series of actions the Justice Department has recently taken to disrupt Russian criminal activity and enforce U.S. sanctions on Russian oligarchs for supporting the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.

*The indictment against Malofeev*, opened in the Southern District of New York, marks the first criminal charges against a Russian oligarch since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco.


Monaco said Malofeev is accused of "flagrantly" and "repeatedly" violating U.S. sanctions imposed on him in 2014 by attempting to establish pro-Kremlin media companies in Europe and through a scheme to transfer his "multimillion-dollar investment" in a Texas bank to a business associate, which has been seized.She added that the U.S. and German law enforcement agencies Tuesday disrupted the Russian-language dark website Hydra, the world's largest darknet marketplace, and indicted a Russian citizen for maintaining the computer servers that supported it.The marketplace, through cryptocurrency transactions, sold illicit goods and services, including illegal drugs, stolen financial information, fraudulent passports and hacking tools and services.

*What they're saying:* "Our message to those who continue to enable the Russian regime through their criminal conduct is this: It does not matter how far you sail your yacht, it does not matter how well you conceal your assets, it does not matter how cleverly you write your malware or hide your online activity," Garland said.


"The Justice Department will use every available tool to find you, disrupt your plots and hold you accountable," he added."We have our eyes on every yacht and jet. We have our eyes on every piece of art and real estate purchased with dirty money, and on every bitcoin wallet filled with proceeds from crimes," Monaco said.

*FBI director Christopher Wray* said the U.S. disrupted a botnet of "thousands" of devices created by the Russian military intelligence agency, commonly known as the GRU, "before it could do any harm."


Wray said many of the devices infected by the botnet belonged to small businesses around the world, though the malware was removed through a court-approved FBI operation.Wray said the malware botnet was specifically created by the GRU's "Sandworm" team, which was behind a massive cyberattack against Ukraine's power grid in 2015 and the 2017 NotPetya malware attacks that devasted computer systems around the world and caused billions of dollars in damages.

*The big picture:* The Justice Department's newly created Russian sanctions enforcement task force marked its first major seizure of Russian assets this week after, with the help of Spanish law enforcement officials, taking control of a $90 million yacht owned by oligarch and billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.


Vekselberg has been sanctioned by the Department of Treasury since at least 2018, though the department announced new sanctions against him last month for supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

----------


## hallelujah

Russian teacher ‘shocked’ as she faces jail over anti-war speech pupils taped | Russia | The Guardian

On 18 March, Gen’s 13- and 14-year-old students asked her why Russian athletes were banned from participating in international competitions – a decision by the west that she said she tried to put in context.
“Until Russia starts to behave in a civilised manner, the non-admission of Russian athletes to competitions will continue forever … I think that is correct,” she said in the audio, which was first shared by Kremlin-linked Telegram channels. “Russia wanted to reach Kyiv and overthrow the government! Ukraine is, in fact, a sovereign state, there is a sovereign government … We are living in a totalitarian regime. Any dissent is considered a crime.”

Gen also voiced her disapproval of the way Russian state media framed the bombing of a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol as a Ukrainian-style provocation.

Five days after her anti-war remarks to students, she got a call from the local FSB branch telling her to come to their office, where she was informed security agencies had received the footage of her speaking out in class.

“I was shocked. I had no idea I was being recorded,” Gen recalled. “I told the prosecutors that I wasn’t lying. That I was merely citing respected western outlets like AP and BBC, outlets that I believe are professional and objective in their reporting,” Gen said. “But, of course, that wasn’t really an argument they would accept.”

At the end of last month, Russian prosecutors announced they had opened a criminal case against Gen under a recently introduced law that criminalises the spread of so-called fake news about the Russian army.

Prosecutors specifically took issue with the statements Gen made about the Mariupol maternity ward. She has since been banned from leaving the country, and her lawyer said she faced up to 10 years in jail if found guilty.

Russia has launched an unprecedented crackdown on anti-war sentiments and Gen’s case is one of at least four that are known about in which teachers who criticised the war were either fired or prosecuted after students complained about them to their parents and the authorities.
Advertisement
“I am simply being prosecuted for a viewpoint that isn’t the official one. My family already went once through a denunciation campaign in the Soviet Union,” Gen said referring to Stalin’s great purge in which hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens denounced their neighbours, friends and relatives as “enemies of the state”.

----------


## David48atTD

Following on from an earlier post in relation to the US imports of Russian oil

A big fat 0   :Smile:  

Looks like they upped the Canadian imports to off-set ... 



Weekly Preliminary Crude Imports by Top 10 Countries of Origin (ranking based on 2020 Petroleum Supply Monthly data)

----------


## S Landreth

‘I couldn’t keep it inside’: ballet star Olga Smirnova on quitting the Bolshoi and fleeing Russia

After Putin invaded Ukraine, the Russian dancer denounced the war, left the Kremlin-allied company – and flew out of Moscow that night. As she prepares for her debut at the Dutch National Ballet, Smirnova speaks for the first time


 
My life totally changed in one day,” says Olga Smirnova. “In the morning, I did not know I was going to leave Russia. And in the night, I was sitting on the plane.” The 30-year-old dancer was one of the Bolshoi Ballet’s star ballerinas, a universally lauded performer at the peak of her powers, at a company that has long had close ties to the Kremlin. Earlier this month, she made a shock announcement: she had joined Dutch National Ballet (DNB), leaving Moscow behind. The move came shortly after Smirnova wrote a heartfelt post on the online messaging service Telegram about Russia’s attack on Ukraine. “With all the fibres of my soul I am against the war,” she wrote. “I never thought that I would be ashamed of Russia … But now the line is drawn on the before and after.”

Speaking via video call from Amsterdam, she explains her reason for leaving: “It did not feel safe.” Although there had been no direct threat from the authorities, she adds: “I just felt the atmosphere was tense in the country. International flights were being cancelled and there were rumours the borders would be closed, so we decided to leave. We didn’t want to risk it and wait longer.”

She knew making such a statement would put her in the spotlight. Why did she do it? “I don’t know,” she says. “I just felt I needed to speak out. I couldn’t keep it inside. There were many artists who spoke out. I admire Russian literature. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are my favourite writers and you learn from their example that you must speak honestly and openly.”

Smirnova barely heard from her Bolshoi colleagues, save for a couple of “supportive and touching” messages. “People are afraid to speak out. If they don’t have any choice but to stay, they prefer not to speak out. Everyone should be able to decide what type of society they want to live in and how much freedom one needs for living.”

Appearing to criticise the Russian regime can have consequences. The Bolshoi theatre’s general director Vladimir Urin is among a number of cultural leaders who signed a letter against the war. At a meeting with arts laureates last Friday, Putin suggested merging the directorship of the Bolshoi theatre with St Petersburg’s Mariinsky theatre under its director and Putin loyalist Valery Gergiev, implying that Urin would be ousted.

“I never followed politics,” says Smirnova, being careful with her words. “But politics became impossible to ignore, which is why I spoke out against the war. War is an unacceptable way in our civilised world to resolve any conflict.” Besides wanting the war to stop as soon as possible, she worries about the future relationship between Russia and the rest of the world. “It’s really painful,” she says. “Because it’s also about the reputation of the whole Russian people. Russia’s reputation has been severely damaged by the actions of Russia’s government.”

Smirnova’s parents are still in Russia. They only knew she had left when the DNB announcement was made. “Only then could I speak to them and explain the situation,” she says. “And, of course, for them it was really hard to accept. First of all, because they are parents and want to have me close. They are upset, they wanted me to stay, but I think they just need more time to accept and understand my decision.”

When the invasion began, Smirnova was recovering from an injury, so wasn’t caught up in the busy daily schedule of rehearsals and performances. “It helped to see the situation from outside,” she says. After making the decision, she had five hours to pack her things. She and her husband initially flew to Dubai, then on to Amsterdam where Smirnova started rehearsals the next day.

She had always wanted to work internationally: she has loved working with visiting choreographers at the Bolshoi, loves the modernity of the repertoire at DNB, and dreams of dancing ballets by its resident choreographer Hans van Manen. Still, these are not the circumstances she would have chosen.

She is already rehearsing for a new production of Raymonda, opening in April. Is she able to concentrate in the studio? Smirnova smiles and visibly relaxes. “It is real happiness to be able to rehearse again,” she says. “In some way, it saves you from the chaos outside. I can say it’s the safest place, where I can be quiet and concentrate. I’m so glad I could rehearse from the first day I was here.”

Smirnova plans to stay in Amsterdam for the foreseeable future, having no idea what that future holds. “The company made a warm welcome for me,” she says. “I will try to do my best for them.” Whether she will be able to return to Russia is moot. “To come back to Russia, I think probably I would need to take my words back. And there’s no way I can do that. Of course I would like to see my parents, be able to go to my native St Petersburg. But the future is so uncertain now, both the country’s and my own.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has abruptly transformed the world. Millions have already fled. A new Iron Curtain is grinding into place. An economic war deepens as the military conflict escalates and civilian casualties rise.

----------


## sabang

Relations between Russia and Greece appeared to have reached unprecedented heights after President Vladimir Putin met with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Sochi in December last year and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in Moscow on February 18.

However, the war in Ukraine quickly reversed all advancements made.

*The ruling New Democracy government immediately condemned what they recognized as an invasion and hastily made the decision to send weapons – something that has proven to be immensely unpopular with Greek citizens, especially as they can end up in the hands of the Azov Battalion that oppressed the ethnic Greek community of Mariupol.*

According to a poll conducted by MEGA TV, 66% of Greeks disagree with sending military equipment to Ukraine, whilst only 29% agree with the government’s decision. The poll found that an overwhelming majority of Greeks (70%) back Ukraine in the war, but are against being involved and sending weapons, especially as the decision was made without Mitsotakis consulting his foreign minister, let alone the political opposition.

*The poll’s data comes as TRAINOSE railway workers** in Greece refused to carry NATO and US weapons from the port of Alexandroupolis to Ukraine. TRAINOSE employees, who were threatened with dismissal, said in a statement: “We will not be complicit in the passage of the war machine through the territory of our country. We railroad workers, by transporting NATO war materials, are working to ensure that the country is not involved in dangerous schemes.”
*

*For their part, furious railway bosses of the private company told workers: “You don’t care what the trains carry, it’s your job.” This sparked solidarity as railway workers from other parts of Greece refused to plug the labour gap in Alexandroupolis and held large-scale protests in major cities.*

The New Democracy party is traditionally the pro-US/Atlanticist pole in Greek politics, but their accession to government in mid-2019 saw a revitalized foreign policy led by Dendias that sought a balance between the world’s Great Powers. However, the differing and competing factions within the party is well documented – mostly between the overtly pro-Washington faction and the pro-Paris/European faction. Even Turkish state-run media Anadolu Agency acknowledged factionalism in New Democracy, highlighting that Mitsotakis and his sister MP Dora Bakoyannis are part of a Turkey-friendly faction, in opposition to most of the party.

None-the-less, even with the significant progress in building modern Russian-Greek relations, the military operation in Ukraine provided the outlet for the pro-US faction of New Democracy to quickly reverse advancements made. From the Greek perspective, the military operation in Ukraine was always going to be condemned, especially as northern Cyprus remains occupied by Turkey. For citizens though, it is hard to fathom that Greece has become a weapons conduit for what they see as a depressing inter-Orthodox war.

*For their part, New Democracy are now feeling the full affects of their Ukraine policy. According to a poll by Metron Analysis, when asked which party they would vote for if a general election was held, 27% of respondents picked the ruling party, massively down from the 39.85% achieved in the 2019 election. Much of this decline is over concerns for the economic situation, inflation and unemployment, which have significantly increased, especially after the imposition of sanctions against Russia.*

However, despite the factionalism in New Democracy, it is still with little surprise that they quickly adhered to the call to send weapons to Ukraine. It is noted that US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt is a former ambassador to Ukraine and is known in Greece as the “architect of the Maidan coup.” With his encouragement, the decision to send weapons was made without consulting the Greek people and opposition parties, something that will come to haunt the New Democracy party in the next election.

It also comes as the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) released a report at the end of March that found New Democracy is “obsessed with controlling the message” and “minimizing critical and dissenting voices.” This has been proven beyond doubt, especially as pro-government media attempted to whitewash the Azov Battalion when at the same time the Greek Consul General to Mariupol Manolis Androulakis falsely claimed that the neo-Nazi group does not attack “their own people”, i.e. civilians. This is disturbing as effectively the Greek State and Greek media have whitewashed a criminal organization that terrorized the 120,000+ Greeks of Mariupol since 2014.

The Greek diplomat ignores the fact that *only 10 days before the war began, the Azov Battalion killed an ethnic Greek and shot another two only for speaking Russian.* At the same time, an ethnic Greek from Sartana on the outskirts of Mariupol testified that “The Russians do not discriminate, while the Ukrainians did, they forced us to speak only Ukrainian, although I do not know it at all.”

A Greek refugee from Mariupol testified that “I remember when leaving Mariupol, Ukrainian soldiers stopped us and threatened us. Russian soldiers in tanks were trying to calm us down after all of that.” Also, another ethnic Greek from Mariupol testified when asked if he planned to leave the city: “how can I leave? When you try to leave you run the risk of running into a patrol of the Ukrainian fascists, the Azov Battalion. They would kill me and are responsible for everything.”

Yet, despite Greece having the unique responsibility to maintain ties and connections with the 120,000+ Greeks of Mariupol, the government and its media arms have instead decided to whitewash the Azov Battalion, even to the point of claiming they do not harm civilians. More disturbingly, the weapons that Greece is transferring will end up in the same hands of those who oppressed the Greeks of Mariupol since 2014, especially because the majority of Greek villagers voted to join with the Donetsk People’s Republic, a fact that Athens finds difficult to acknowledge and reconcile with.

Mitsotakis’ Popularity Plunges As Greek’s Protest Against Weapons Transfers To Ukraine — Greek City Times

----------


## bsnub

Russian forces  in Ukraine appear to be using a new type of weapon as they step up  attacks on civilian targets: an advanced land mine equipped with sensors  that can detect when people walk nearby.Ukrainian  bomb technicians discovered the device, called the POM-3, last week  near the eastern city of Kharkiv, according to Human Rights Watch, a  leading human rights group, which has reviewed photos provided by  Ukraine’s military.

Older  types of land mines typically explode when victims accidentally step on  them or disturb attached tripwires. But the POM-3’s seismic sensor  picks up on approaching footsteps and can effectively distinguish  between humans and animals.

Humanitarian  deminers and groups that campaign against the use of land mines said  the POM-3 would make future efforts to locate and destroy unexploded  munitions in Ukraine vastly more complicated and deadlier.

“These  create a threat that we don’t have a response for,” said James Cowan,  who leads the HALO Trust, a British American charity that clears land  mines and other explosive remnants of war to help countries recover  after conflicts. The group began removing unexploded munitions from the  Donbas region of eastern Ukraine in 2016, after Russian-backed  separatists started fighting the Ukrainian government.

“We’ll  need to find some donors to procure robotics that can allow us to deal  with these threats at some distance,” Mr. Cowan added.

The  POM-3 is typically launched by a rocket and falls back to earth by  parachute before sticking into the ground — where it waits, according to  CAT-UXO,  an online resource for military and civilian bomb technicians. When the  mine senses a person, it launches a small explosive warhead that  detonates midair, producing fragments that are lethal up to about 50  feet away.
Mr.  Cowan, a retired British Army major general, said his staff of 430  Ukrainians clearing unexploded munitions in Donbas had been unable to  continue working since Russia launched a full invasion of the country in  late February, with many staff members temporarily relocating in  Ukraine. He anticipates that in the future, HALO’s operation across the  country will require about 2,500 workers, given that many areas outside  Donbas are now contaminated with unexploded munitions as well.

U.S.  government officials have said Russia appears to be moving troops to  consolidate its hold on Donetsk and Luhansk, which could mean that even  more weapons like the POM-3 will be used in the war.

“The  war is entering a static phase — trenches are being dug,” Mr. Cowan  said. “This is the time when I would expect the Russians to start using  land mines on a massive basis.”
HALO,  which stands for Hazardous Area Life-Support Organization, has about  10,000 employees around the world and is among the few international  nonprofits that have remained in Afghanistan since the Taliban took  control of Kabul, the capital, in August. Mr. Cowan said the future  cleanup in Ukraine would require roughly the same number of workers as  HALO’s current operation in Afghanistan, which is recovering from  decades of armed conflict.

The  POM-3 is just one new hazard among many that his organization expects  to encounter, in addition to an untold number of rockets, bombs and  artillery shells that failed to detonate on impact. Russia has also  attacked Ukrainian arms depots, causing fires and explosions that  typically fling hundreds or even thousands of damaged munitions into  surrounding areas.
Once  widely used around the world, antipersonnel land mines often kill and  maim civilians long after hostilities have ceased. Ukraine is one of the  164 nations that have signed a 1997 treaty  banning the use of antipersonnel land mines and pledged to purge their  stockpiles. The United States and Russia have refused to join it.

The  treaty does not prohibit the use of antitank land mines — which  typically have a much larger explosive charge and are designed to  detonate only when a vehicle drives over or near them — nor does it  address improvised explosive devices built to destroy vehicles. Videos  posted on social media purport to show both antitank mines and  improvised bomb attacks on Russian vehicles in Ukraine.

Russia’s  use of land mines was among the discussions at an event on Tuesday on  Capitol Hill for the United Nations’ international mine awareness day,  which brought together groups that focus on the issue and lawmakers from  Congress’s Unexploded Ordnance/Demining Caucus.

“Wars  end, they stay,” Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, said of  land mines and unexploded munitions. “The targets are invariably  civilians, and they are in places where you have a limited ability to  provide lifesaving medical care.”

“Look  at what’s happening in Ukraine — Russia is placing land mines in  people’s homes, as well as children’s playgrounds and places where  people go,” Mr. Leahy said. “That’s using it as a weapon of terror.”

Ukraine-Russia War and Sanctions News: Live Updates - The New York Times

----------


## sabang

*‘I don't trust you': Oil executives accused of profiteering as war drives up petrol prices*



*Washington:* Top executives from some of the world's most lucrative energy companies have rejected criticism they are exploiting the war in Ukraine to rake in record profits, arguing they need government help to lower petrol prices for consumers.

As the price of crude oil spikes and economic sanctions on Russia create more pain at the bowser, the heads of six major oil companies - including Exxon, BP, Chevron and Shell - faced a Congressional grilling in Washington today over claims they were not doing enough to ease the burden on Americans.

Rising prices have emerged as a key concern among voters ahead of mid-term Congressional elections in November.
Oil companies made a combined profit of more than $76 billion last year, but told an energy committee hearing that this came off the back of multi-billion-dollar losses in 2020 - a period when the pandemic was at its peak.

"Big oil is profiteering from our continued reliance on this volatile global commodity," said New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone, who heads the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

During often tense testimony, the executives also argued that they needed the US government to permit more oil leases and drilling on federal land to shore up domestic supply so the industry could be less reliant on overseas reserves.

Exxon chief executive officer Darren Woods told the committee that even before the invasion of Ukraine, "we were seeing a growing imbalance in global oil and gas markets" which had a ripple effect on consumers.

Full Article- ‘I don't trust you': Oil executives accused of profiteering as war drives up petrol prices (msn.com)

----------


## harrybarracuda

> "Big oil is profiteering from our continued reliance on this volatile global commodity,"


So it couldn't possibly be commodity traders then.

----------


## sabang

Oh believe me- them too. i know this all too well.

----------


## Switch

A great deal of conjecture and assumptions made by Sabang in his most recent posts. As usual it boils down to a one sided story, ignoring the normal routine of a young democracy.

Did you know the French have a similar reaction to anything the unions don’t like?

----------


## misskit

Pentagon: Russia has fully withdrawn from Kyiv, Chernihiv

Russian forces have fully withdrawn from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the city of Chernihiv to its north, the Pentagon said Wednesday, as Moscow prepares to concentrate its invading forces in the eastern part of the country.


“We are assessing that all of the Russians have left,” said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under terms set by the Pentagon. Their full departure was confirmed only in the last 24 hours, this person said, cautioning that Russian forces may have left mines in their wake that would still need to be cleared.

U.S. and European intelligence officials have been tracking for days that Russia is in the midst of reorienting after encountering fierce resistance — and suffering thousands of casualties — in northern Ukraine. Moscow enjoys greater support in the east, where Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists have been locked in a grinding conflict for many years.


But while Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine’s capital region appears to be complete, with many units retreating through Belarus, the Pentagon has yet to see those personnel reenter eastern Ukraine, the senior defense official said Wednesday.

MORE MSN

----------


## sabang

^^ Excuse me, but these are News articles I have copied and pasted- I am not the author. Thank you for your flattery, but it is unwarranted.

^ Russia confirmed that 3-4 days ago MK.

----------


## HermantheGerman

> Oh believe me- them too. i know this all too well.


...says the bank clerk


 :smiley laughing: 





> Excuse me, but these are News articles I have copied and pasted- I am not the author.


You really have to dig deep and must have a lots of time in order to find these crappy articles.
Any news about sexual encounters with aliens?   :rofl:  same website.

----------


## HermantheGerman

*Finland May Finally Want In on NATO*

*Sweden is not far behind.*

April 6, 2022, 5:04 PM

Just over two months ago, the prospect  of Finland joining NATO was virtually unthinkable to most in the  northern European country. It had grown closer to the military alliance  over the last three decades but resisted the idea of becoming a  full-fledged member.

Finland May Finally Want In on NATO – Foreign Policy



Can't blame them. Ukraine will follow sooner or later.

----------


## HermantheGerman

*Sources: Greece does not block Finlands NATO accession.*Sources: Greece does not block Finland’s NATO accession. – EURACTIV.com

----------


## David48atTD

> *Sources: Greece does not block Finland’s NATO accession.*
> 
> 
> Sources: Greece does not block Finland’s NATO accession. – EURACTIV.com


Sources from the Greek foreign ministry denied rumours in Helsinki that  suggest Athens blocks Finland’s potential accession to NATO, EURACTIV  Greece reported. Read More. Several sources categorically denied that Athens aims to prevent it –  when and if – there should be a formal application from Finland to join  NATO.


 The sources said there is no such issue, it has not been raised, and  if it is raised, all the rules of procedure of the alliance would be  followed.
 Athens is not blocking any country from joining the Alliance and sees  with scepticism attempts to show that Turkey and Greece are aligned on  the matter, the sources also added.


 The issue came up when Finish media reported on “rumours” that  Turkey, Greece and Hungary could stand in the way of Finland’s  application for NATO membership.

----------


## sabang

I get the idea you fellas want to see Nato expand.  :Smile:

----------


## bsnub

> Finland has been voted the worlds most happy country for five consecutive years.


They also kicked the shit out of the Russians in the Winter War of 1939, so they have something in common with the Ukrainians.

----------


## sabang

Kind of explains why the US is not happy then.

----------


## Cujo

> And I wonder which fucking moron would would be the first to bleat if Finland joined?


Why would anyone have a problem with Finland joining NATO?

----------


## sabang

*Shell writes down up to $5BILLION after offloading Russian assets*



Oil giant Shell has revealed it will write down up to $5billion following its decision to exit Russia, more than previously disclosed.

The post-tax impairments of between $4billion to $5billion in the first quarter will now hit the company's earnings, Shell said in an update ahead of its earnings announcement on 5 May.

Shell, whose market capitalisation is around $210billion, had previously said the Russia writedowns would reach around $3.4billion.

The hike was due to additional potential impacts around contracts, write-downs of receivables and credit losses in Russia, a Shell spokesperson said.

Shell shares have fallen today and were down 1.61 per cent or 34.41p to 2,097.09p just before 10.30am.

The start of 2022 marked one of the most turbulent periods in decades for the oil and gas industry as Western companies, including Shell, swiftly pulled out of Russia, severing trading ties and winding down joint ventures following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Shell said it will exit all its Russian operations, including a major liquefied natural gas plant in the Sakhalin peninsula in the eastern flank of the country.

Shell did not provide any guidance on the future of its stakes in Russian projects.

Shell writes down up to $5BILLION after offloading Russian assets (msn.com)


Tbh, the more interesting question is who will be buying these assets up on the cheap. It certainly won't be Exxon or BP.

----------


## Iceman123

> Why would anyone have a problem with Finland joining NATO?


As it borders Russia, I think the answer is rather obvious.

----------


## misskit

*Germany intercepts Russian talk of indiscriminate killings in Ukraine
*
BERLIN — Germany’s foreign intelligence service claims to have intercepted radio communications in which Russian soldiers discuss carrying out indiscriminate killings in Ukraine.


In two separate communications, Russian soldiers described questioning Ukrainian soldiers as well as civilians and then shooting them, according to an intelligence official familiar with the findings who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.


The findings, first reported by the German magazine Der Spiegel and confirmed by three people briefed on the information, further undermine Russia’s denials of involvement in the carnage. Russia has claimed variously that atrocities are being carried out only after its soldiers leave occupied areas or that scenes of massacres of civilians are “staged.”

Images from Bucha, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital, have become symbols of the war’s atrocities and galvanized calls for probes into possible war crimes. One person said the radio messages are likely to provide greater insight into suspected atrocities in other towns north of Kyiv that had been held by Russian soldiers.

Germany has satellite images that point to Russia’s involvement in the killing of civilians in Bucha, the intelligence official said, but the radio transmissions have not been linked to that location. The foreign intelligence agency, known as the BND, may be able to match signals intelligence with videos and satellite images to make connections to specific killings, two people said.


These people also said the radio traffic suggests that members of the Wagner Group, the private military unit with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies, have played a role in attacks on civilians. Another person briefed on the intelligence said the Wagner Group or another private contractor could be involved.

MORE. MSN

----------


## misskit

*Kremlin spokesman admits ‘we have significant losses of troops,’ calls it ‘a huge tragedy’*

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, acknowledged in an interview published on Thursday that Russia had sustained “significant losses of troops” and called it a “huge tragedy.”


The remarks, which were made to Sky News, are a rare acknowledgement from Moscow of the difficulties Russia has confronted in its invasion of Ukraine.


Russia has not provided many updates regarding its troops’ casualties; previous figures reported by Moscow have been notably lower than estimates from Ukraine and NATO.


The interview comes as Russian troops have left the Ukrainian regions of Chernihiv and Kyiv, unable to quickly seize the capital of Ukraine as initially hoped.


Peskov claimed that Russia was acting in “goodwill” by withdrawing from both areas, telling Sky News, “It was a goodwill act to lift tension from those regions and show Russia is really ready to create comfortable conditions to continue negotiations.”


U.S. officials have expressed skepticism about Moscow pulling back its troops in those areas, however, with Pentagon press secretary John Kirby saying last week, “We believe this is a repositioning, not a real withdrawal.”


Peskov also denied the accusations of Russian atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine, where photos and videos shared by Ukrainian officials have shown bodies strewn in the streets with their hands tied behind their backs. He told Sky News the situation in the Ukrainian city is a “​​well-staged insinuation, nothing else.”


“We deny the Russian military can have something in common with these atrocities and that dead bodies were shown on the streets of Bucha,” Peskov said.


Peskov also claimed Russia had “very serious reasons to believe” that the bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol was “fake.”


The Kremlin spokesperson continued to refer to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an “operation” rather than a war. The assault on Ukraine has led more than 4 million people to flee the country, according to data from the United Nations refugee agency, and has killed or injured thousands of civilians.

Kremlin spokesman admits ‘we have significant losses of troops,’ calls it ‘a huge tragedy’

----------


## Backspin

> *Shell writes down up to $5BILLION after offloading Russian assets*
> m
> 
> 
> Tbh, the more interesting question is who will be buying these assets up on the cheap. It certainly won't be Exxon or BP.[/FONT]


China will. India will. Pretty much anyone but the Anglo axis + EU. This whole virtue signalling process will do nothing but make China more powerful. 

There's a reason all of these companies were invested there

----------


## S Landreth

Congress passes ban on Russian oil and gas imports, sending measure to Biden

Congress on Thursday passed a bill to ban imports of oil and gas from Russia, the latest measure in the U.S. government-wide effort to economically isolate and penalize the Kremlin for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The Senate passed the legislation in a 100-0 vote earlier Thursday. The House then approved it in a 413-9 vote and sent it to President Joe Bidens desk to sign into law.

The bill prohibits the importation of oil, gas, coal and other energy products from Russia. It comes nearly a month after Biden signed an executive order that mandated essentially the same steps.

The bill codifies Bidens order into law, making it far more difficult for a future president to reverse it. The legislation passed after having been bogged down in the Senate for weeks.

_____________




> Biden targets Putins daughters, Russian banks in new wave of sanctions



At first, I thought this is kind of harsh. We dont get to pick our parents.

And then I saw pictures .........

 
I dont think well miss much.


What we know about Putins daughters

New U.S. sanctions have thrust President Vladimir Putins adult daughters into the global spotlight, which they have largely avoided throughout their lives.

The women are the daughters of former Aeroflot crew member, Lyudmila Putina, who was married to Putin before their relationship ended in 2013.

Details about their lives are scarce. Their maiden names differ, photos of them as adults have not been made public and their father has rarely even referenced them.

Heres what we do know about Maria Putina and Katerina Tikhonova: 

Putins eldest daughter, Maria Putina, sometimes referred to as Maria Vladimirovna Vorontsova, was born in 1985 in St. Petersburg. She reportedly studied biology at St. Petersburg University and attended Moscow State University and is a graduate of their Fundamental Medicine Department, according to Reuters. 

She now leads state-funded programs that work on genetic research. The programs have received billions in funding from the Kremlin and are personally overseen by the Russian president, the U.S. Treasury Department said when it announced the sanctions. 

Katerina, 35, was born on August 31, 1986, in Dresden, Germany, where Putin was stationed at the time. She did not come into the spotlight until 2015, when reports circulated that she was Putins daughter. The news was first reported by a Russian blogger named Oleg Kashin.

She took the surname Tikhonovna from her grandmother, Yekaterina Tikhonovna Shkrebneva, according to a report from Kashin.

She is a scholar and researcher working on publicly funded projects at Moscow State University, and is also the deputy vice rector overseeing Innopraktika, an artificial intelligence institute at the university.

Katerina also does work supporting the Russian defense industry, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. 

Five of her advisers at the university include members of her fathers inner circle, according to a Reuters report.

In an interview with Russian news outlet Interfax in 2015, Katerina said she worked her way up the university ladder as a research student.

At the university, work with students is built on involvement. And I, even when I was studying, actively participated in student volunteering. The most active students are usually offered to stay and work in the university system, she told Interfax.

________________

*Just for fun.*

70 percent of Americans view Russia as their enemy

A Pew Research Center survey found that 7 in 10 Americans polled consider Russia to be the enemy of the United States, with 24 percent seeing Russia as a competitor and 3 percent considering Moscow to be a partner.

Gotta wonder, who the fvck are these 3%?

Oh,.... I think everyone knows at least one.


 
______________

*In other news*

Reparations: What will Russia owe Ukraine?

Evil-doers should pay for their evil. By this logic, Russia will owe Ukraine huge sums to compensate for death and destruction  not just for damage done in the recent weeks and years, but over the past century.  

On March 18, 2022, Ukraines prime minister estimated that Ukraine will need at least $575 billion to rebuild what Russian President Vladimir Putins forces destroyed in just three weeks  ignoring the 19th century architectural gems that defy duplication. But what about compensation for deaths and injury? The U.S. government estimates that the value of every life is nearly $10 million. If costs are lower in Ukraine, lets say each life there is worth at least $5 million. If at least 10,000 Ukrainians have perished so far, the compensation would be at least $50 billion. Physical and emotional wounds can be worse than death  easily worth another $50 billion. What about loss of GDP? In 2020, Ukraines GDP grew by about $2 billion. If it now loses $2 billion in growth for each of the next five years, that adds up to $10 billion.

Taken together, these estimates reach nearly $700 billion caused by Putins forces in less than one month. If fighting on this scale continues for another two or three months, the total damage will exceed $1.5 trillion  a sum equal to Russias gross national product in 2020. Some losses defy calculation: How to pay for trauma in children who no longer speak and miss school and social development? How to value environmental degradation from munitions and fires that poison water, air and soil? Elderly Ukrainians feel helpless when they look at the mounds of vodka bottles and other trash left by departing Russians.   

What about Ukrainian losses caused by Soviet forces in previous decades? At least 1 million died in 1918-1921 as the Red Army fought Ukrainians struggling for independence from Russian rule. At least 4 million Ukrainians starved to death from Joseph Stalins policies in the 1930s. Soviet police in 1941 massacred 10,000 to 40,000 prisoners in Ukrainian jails. Stalins inept policies toward Hitler led to 30 million to 40 million Soviet deaths in 1940-1941more than 3 million of them Ukrainian.

Much more: https://thehill.com/opinion/national...a-owe-ukraine/ 

Boston Marathon bans runners residing in Russia and Belarus

The Boston Athletic Association announced a ban Wednesday on Russian and Belarusian runners living in their home countries from participating in the 2022 Boston Marathon. 

The ban affects runners from those countries who were previously accepted into the race. Russian and Belarusians who are not residing in their home countries will still be able to run.

However, those same athletes will not be allowed to run with the flag of their home country. https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief...a-and-belarus/

Satellite companies join the hunt for Russian war crimes

Colorado Springs - Its an unlikely theme here at the largest annual gathering of space industry executives: how to help bring war criminals to justice.

The expanding constellations of commercial spy satellites that have been capturing high-resolution photos and radar images of Russian troop movements are now proving to be a game-changing tool for international authorities and human rights groups who are aggressively working to document Russias targeting of civilians in Ukraine.

And companies are stepping up their efforts to help build war crimes cases.

They are cueing their satellites to pinpoint mass graves, bombed-out hospitals and shattered schools. They are helping to identify military units that have targeted civilians. And their real-time data is being used to deploy investigators, such as those from the International Criminal Court and United Nations, to collect more physical evidence or personal testimony from witnesses on the ground in Ukraine.

There is truth in imagery, Steve Butow, director of the space portfolio at the Defense Innovation Unit, the Pentagons Silicon Valley outpost, said in an interview at the Space Foundations National Space Symposium. We know where the hospitals, schools and other things are and the analytics are showing these are exactly the things being targeted.

It is not propaganda from the West, he added. The global community is seeing this for what it is. They can show exactly what is happening on the ground.

President Joe Biden singled out the indiscriminate killing of hundreds of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha over the weekend as a war crime and highlighted the need to collect evidence that could implicate Russian military or political leaders.

Whats happening in Bucha is outrageous, he said.

The White House also said it has other evidence showing Russia violating the laws of war. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. government is working to provide the information that we have to the relevant institutions and organizations that will put all this together and there needs to be accountability for it.

The International Criminal Court has an active investigation underway into war crimes in Ukraine after referrals from dozens of nations. And on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for a coordinated international effort to collect evidence, citing the wholesale destruction of civilian areas and growing reports of rape and other human rights violations committed by Russian troops.

After the horrifying images of what took place in Bucha, Guterres said, I immediately called for an independent investigation to guarantee effective accountability.

Many of those probes are being guided by images captured from commercial satellites orbiting the Earth.

One of the leading commercial satellite providers, Maxar Technologies, has been working 24-7 operations on this, said CEO Dan Jablonsky.

He said the company has shouldered out other customers who are waiting for imagery so that Maxar can continue to make the Ukraine crisis a high priority.

And one of those increasing demands is to chronicle the humanitarian consequences of the conflict.

Buildings getting blown up, holes being dug for graves, those kinds of things are being tracked and recorded and documented in a way that we think is very important, Jablonsky said in an interview.

The global network of imaging satellites operated by Maxar and other U.S. and international companies are proving to be an unblinking, unclassified eye that is not information from the government but it can be used to hold people accountable for behavior, Butow added.

Stacey Dixon, the deputy director of national intelligence, also revealed at the conference on Tuesday that, at the outset of the Ukraine conflict, the U.S. government encouraged satellite companies to share their imagery far and wide.

Early on, we also asked a few commercial companies  to rapidly make available imagery like the buildup that was happening around Ukraines borders to help shed a light on what Russia was doing, she said. This allowed others to independently interpret the images, piecing them together with other information, and tell the world what was about to happen.

Members of Congress have also urged U.S. spy agencies to declassify intelligence they have collected on alleged Russian war crimes.

But its the widespread availability of commercial satellites  that can collect images day or night  that is reshaping how war crimes are being investigated.

While the technology has been used piecemeal in the past to illuminate Chinese human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslims in China, genocide in Sudan and other human catastrophes, its role putting the war in Ukraine under the microscope is seen as revolutionary.

The commercial satellite constellations have grown dramatically in size and capability in recent years, providing higher resolution images and allowing much more frequent coverage over areas of interest. Dozens of companies and universities in the U.S. alone have government licenses to operate remote sensing technologies from orbit.

Were able to know in real-time, said Ritwik Gupta, a research scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California who is assisting U.S. European Command in Germany. You want to see human rights violations in Bucha? We can get Maxar tasked and get imagery over that same exact region in a couple of minutes.

Another company that has been working around the clock on the task is Planet Labs, which for years has coordinated with and supported human rights organizations. Now, international war crimes investigators are spending enormous amounts of time using these tools to try to identify instances of the intentional targeting of civilians, said Andrew Zolli, its chief impact officer.

Zolli also said whats different in Ukraine than previous conflicts is that these investigations can now take place in real-time, in large part due to publicly available satellite data that was once the sole purview of secret government spy agencies.

The satellites will guide the war crimes prosecutors to sites where they will collect ground evidence, Zolli said. And the combination of the ground evidence and satellite imagery and other digital sources of evidence will be collected for future prosecutions.

Normally, you have these events occur and people are scattered to the winds and it takes years to track them down, he added. And then you have faulty memories, and you have to collect more evidence  to more firmly establish the facts of what happened.

But it also means international authorities dont have to wait for the shooting to stop to begin their painstaking work.

The prosecutions may come in the future, but the investigation doesnt come in the future anymore, Zolli said. The investigation comes right now. This is about getting real-time information and deploying war crimes prosecutors in the moment when the conflict is still raging.

And unfortunately, he added, there are just more instances than we can count.

For Butow, the war crimes task is also a test of how the space community can use its enormous technological capacity to advance democratic interests.

That to me is a strategic impact, he said. If you really want to shape the world we live in and make sure that democracy and freedom prevails, you want this kind of information to be out there.

Some executives are pushing for more.

HawkEye 360 operates satellites that can track radio frequencies, such as those emitting from military units in confined areas  another possible line of investigation to pinpoint units or individuals responsible for atrocities.

It is urging symposium attendees to harness more of their capacity, in both resources and technology.

The company is circulating a concept paper at panel discussions and cocktail receptions proposing that space companies contribute to a Space Industry for Ukraine initiative to finance high-value projects, such as providing satellite data to assist aid groups operating in Ukraine to maximize their command and control especially during refugee evacuation missions.

We believe there is an additional humanitarian role that our shared space community can serve in supporting the people of Ukraine, it says, citing communications support, and imagery, radar and [radio frequency] data. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/0...rimes-00023386

----------


## sabang

> 70 percent of Americans view Russia as their enemy


I would have actually guessed more than that. Russophobia is huge over there.

----------


## bsnub



----------


## S Landreth

Cant get two videos in one post, so.........


Pink Floyd reunites to raise money for Ukraine

Pink Floyd is getting back together for their first song in nearly three decades, releasing a tune aimed at raising money for aid to Ukraine.

Hey Hey Rise Up will be released Friday, the band announced in a Thursday Twitter post.

The track samples a song from Andriy Khlynyuk, a Ukraine-born singer for the band BoomBox, who halted his United States concert tour and returned home to defend his country amid Russias invasion, which began in February.   https://twitter.com/pinkfloyd/status...88273157455873

----------


## HermantheGerman

Respect Pink Floyd! 

More need to follow

----------


## misskit

*Rocket strike by Russians on station in Ukraine kills 30, injures 100, says report*  

In a rocket strike on a railway station, Russians seem to have killed over 30 people and injured 100 in eastern Ukraine on Friday, a Reuters report said citing state railway company.  

This comes as civilians were trying to flee war towards safer parts of the country.  


In a statement, Ukrainian Railways said, "Two rockets hit Kramatorsk railway station."   

The Railways later added, "According to operational data, more than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in the rocket attack on Kramatorsk railway station."  

The station in the city of Kramatorsk was being used to evacuate civilians from areas, which are under bombardment by Russian forces.   


At the time of the attack, thousands of people were at the station, Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.  

"The 'Rashists' ('Russian fascists') knew very well where they were aiming and what they wanted: they wanted to sow panic and fear, they wanted to take as many civilians as possible," Kyrylenko said.   


A photograph, showing several bodies on the ground along with luggage, was also published online by Kyrylenko.  


In the picture, armed police, who were wearing flak jackets, could also be seen standing beside them. Rescue services could also be seen tackling fire in another photo being circulated online.  

Rocket strike by Russians on station in Ukraine kills 30, injures 100, says report  , World News | wionews.com

----------


## misskit

*WHO verifies 103 attacks on Ukrainian health care facilities and ambulances*

In what it described as a “grim milestone,” the World Health Organization said Thursday that it has verified 103 attacks on Ukrainian health care sites and ambulances since Russian forces invaded the country on Feb. 24.


The organization said in a statement that the attacks had resulted in 73 deaths and 51 injuries. Most of the attacks were on heath care facilities, while 13 affected transportation of the sick and wounded, including ambulances, the statement said.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, said the organization was “outraged that attacks on health care are continuing” and that attacking health care was a violation of international humanitarian law.


“Peace is the only way forward,” he said. “I again call on the Russian Federation to stop the war.”

Among the attacks on health care facilities was a missile strike on a maternity hospital in the coastal city of Mariupol in March, which killed at least three people. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine described the attack on the hospital as “proof that the genocide of Ukrainians is taking place.”


The WHO said Ukraine’s health care system would suffer long-term consequences from the attacks, and that such attacks were “a major blow” to the country’s progress on health reform and realizing universal health coverage.


In some cases, Ukrainians have been forced to leave the country in order to receive medical treatment. More than 300 children with cancer and their parents have been evacuated to clinics in Europe, Canada and the United States, according to the Ukrainian government.


Across the country, there are 1,000 health care facilities near or in areas of conflict, said Dr. Jarno Habicht, a WHO representative in Ukraine.


“When people are prevented from seeking and accessing health care, either because the facilities have been destroyed or out of fear that they may become a target, they lose hope,” Habicht said. “The mental health toll wreaked by the war cannot be underestimated, affecting civilians and the health workforce alike.”

WHO verifies 103 attacks on Ukrainian health care facilities and ambulances, World News | wionews.com

----------


## bsnub

> he Railways later added, "According to operational data, more than 30 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in the rocket attack on Kramatorsk railway station."


Another civilian target. I just looked a #Kramatorsk a few hours ago and the place was flooded with civilians trying to get on trains to flee the area. Sick Russian savages...

https://twitter.com/EvilKasper1/stat...85113610408007

----------


## bsnub

https://twitter.com/BohdanaMuzychko/...85103225368579

https://twitter.com/Olikoliki/status...85058103074816

https://twitter.com/EvilKasper1/stat...84986304978952

----------


## sabang

*2h ago20:43*
*Russia denies responsibility for Kramatorsk station strike*

*The Kremlin has denied that Russia was involved in a missile strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine,* Reuters reports.

Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Russian armed forces had no missions scheduled for Kramatorsk on Friday.

Russias defence ministry has also denied that Russian forces were responsible for the strike, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

The Russian state-owned organisation quoted the ministry as saying that the missile was of a type used only by the Ukrainian military, and similar to one that hit the centre of the city of Donetsk on 14 March.

The Russian government has consistently denied it has attacked civilians since the beginning of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Russia-Ukraine war latest news: at least 39 people killed in rocket attack at Kramatorsk train station | World news | The Guardian


 :Dunno:

----------


## hallelujah

> *2h ago20:43*
> *Russia denies responsibility for Kramatorsk station strike*
> 
> *The Kremlin has denied that Russia was involved in a missile strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine,*
> 
> The Russian government has consistently denied it has attacked civilians since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


And you believe them, don't you?

----------


## sabang

I have no bloody idea mate. But that's what they have said, as reported in the Grauniad, duly copied in the News thread.

----------


## misskit

*Doctors, crater disprove Ukraine hospital airstrike misinformation* 

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — A woman on the verge of giving birth with her leg flayed open by shrapnel. A shockwave that shattered the glass and ceramic lining of a room with medical waste. A nurse who suffered a concussion.


This is what the Ukrainian doctors remember of the Russian airstrike that destroyed the Mariupol maternity hospital where they once worked. And these memories are now all they have from a day they wish they could forget: Russian soldiers purged the evidence from their phones when they fled Mariupol.


“With just one blow, there was simply nothing, no children’s clinic, it was simply blown away, ” said Dr. Lyudmila Mykhailenko, the acting director at Hospital No. 3 in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. The sprawling courtyard of the hospital complex was — and remains — “one continuous shell crater.”


Three doctors and a paramedic spoke with The Associated Press to offer new details from a March 9 airstrike that happened when communications were all but severed, and to counter fresh Russian misinformation. They left the city separately in private cars, as have thousands from Mariupol in recent weeks, and are now scattered in other towns around Ukraine and in Poland.

Their testimony, along with AP reporting, AP footage from the scene and interviews with munitions experts who analyzed the size of the shell crater, directly contradicts Russian claims that there was no airstrike. Russian officials have repeatedly tried to sow doubt about atrocities in Mariupol, the shattered city in eastern Ukraine that is a key Russian military objective.


Two of the three doctors, like most who passed through Russian checkpoints on the way out of Mariupol, said their cell phones were searched and videos and photos of the city were deleted. People with what was considered suspect imagery or who lacked documents were separated out, but it’s not clear what ultimately happened to them.


“I had lists on my phone, I had photos, I had everything, but we were strongly told to delete all of this,” said Mykhailenko, who spoke for two hours with hardly any interruptions with a fierce determination to describe the attack and her narrow escape. “The trash bin was deleted. … We had dashcam footage of everything that was going on in the city, but they made us delete that as well.”


Most recently, a Russian government-linked Twitter account shared an interview last week with Mariana Vishegirskaya, one of the women in the maternity hospital. Vishegirskaya, wearing polka dot pajamas and looking dazed, emerged almost unscathed from the hospital airstrike.


In the latest interview, the new mother said the hospital was not hit by an airstrike last month. She described the explosions as a pair of shells that struck nearby, saying she heard no airplanes. She left vague who could be responsible.

She said fellow survivors from the basement agreed when they discussed it in the moments afterward.


“They did not hear it either. They said that it was a shell that flew in from somewhere else. That is, it did not come from the sky,” she said in the interview.


Vishegirskaya is now in Russia-controlled territory, but it’s not clear exactly where or under what conditions the interview was filmed.


However, a team of Associated Press journalists working on the ground in Mariupol nearby documented the sound of the plane, then the twin explosions. One of the explosions blasted a crater more than two stories deep in the courtyard — consistent with an airstrike using a 500-kilogram bomb and considerably stronger than artillery crossfire, according to two munitions experts consulted by The Associated Press.


Joseph Bermudez, an imagery analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the size of the hole and the visible effects of impact on the surrounding buildings leave no doubt it was an airstrike.

The attack on the Mariupol hospital was one of at least 37 Russian strikes on medical facilities across Ukraine recorded by The Associated Press. Over the course of the war, every hospital in the city has been struck at least once by shells or airstrikes — the first was just four days after fighting began. Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said Wednesday that 50 people had burned to death in Russian strikes on hospitals in the city.


Before the attack, it was a relatively quiet day at the Mariupol hospital.


Dr. Yana Frantsusova was sorting medical waste in a room in another building at the hospital compound when the tiles and glass around her shattered. It was about 2:45 p.m. She started to run, but the shockwave slammed the door shut in her face.


“I ran out with difficulty, and all of us, all people from my department, all the nurses, doctors who were there, everyone was already on the floor,” she said. “Then another explosion occurred.”


Frantsusova had survived an airstrike once already, on a house near hers, and this felt the same — an intense shockwave followed by utter destruction. She and her team of medics got up from the floor to take in the injured and those able to walk.

Among the pregnant women in the gravest danger, “one was already giving birth, at the moment when she was brought to us,” she said. Another had an open wound to her thigh. A third was in a state of shellshock, with shrapnel gashes in both legs.


The AP journalists filmed two large plumes of smoke in the distance in the direction of the airstrike. It then took them about 25 minutes to arrive at the scene.


By then, it was chaos. Paramedics raced up the stairs to bring down anyone who couldn’t make it on their own feet. Children and expectant fathers stumbled out the doors to an apocalyptic scene of blackened trees, smoldering earth and a crater big enough to swallow a truck.


Vishegirskaya was already outside, hugging a blanket around her shoulders. When an AP journalist with a camera asked how she was, she answered “Fine,” then went off to try and retrieve her belongings from the hospital. In the interview with Russian media, she falsely said she told AP journalists she did not want to be filmed.


Sergei Chernobrivets, a paramedic who was on the scene that day, described the injuries to multiple women. He said he wasn’t in a position to determine the source of the explosions, but he confirmed the extensive damage to the hospital compound.

Dr. Yulia Kucheruk, one of the maternity ward’s physicians, said a nurse suffered a concussion and another medical worker was shellshocked. There was no point staying behind to try and retrieve useable medical supplies, she added, because “it was all trashed, in chaos.” Kucheruk spoke only briefly about a day that remains painful to revisit.


Several women were transferred to another hospital, including Vishegirskaya and a woman with a fractured pelvis who died along with her unborn child the same day. Vishegirskaya gave birth the next day to a girl.


By then, the Russian misinformation campaign was in full swing. The country’s embassy in the United Kingdom shared the AP’s photos of Vishegirskaya and another woman wounded on a stretcher, placing the word “FAKE” over the images and claiming that Vishegirskaya had posed in both in “realistic makeup.” The misinformation was repeated by Russian ambassadors in other parts of the world.


Russia blames Ukrainian shelling for attacks on hospitals, including the one on the maternity ward in Mariupol, although their story of the violence that day has shifted over time.


Twisting the truth about war crimes is a deliberate Russian tactic, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Monday, just three days after Vishegirskaya’s interview was released in Russian media.

“They have already launched a campaign of fakes to hide their guilt of mass killing of civilians in Mariupol,” he said.


The hospital was struck again on March 17, and four or five of the patients lining the corridors were killed, Mykhailenko said. With no one to fetch the bodies, they were buried on the hospital grounds.


Days later, in despair and with a leg ailment increasingly making it hard for her to run from shelling, she and her family packed up what little they had left and piled into the car.


At the first checkpoint, her phone was wiped. At the second, their belongings were searched and their sole knife was seized. They picked their way through a minefield where a car had blown up the previous day. More than two weeks later, they made it to safety in Poland.


On March 24, Kucheruk also drove out and headed for western Ukraine. She passed through 20 Russian checkpoints, including one where her cell phone was searched and its contents deleted.

Now the bulk of Mariupol’s doctors have fled, and the city is left without a single fully functioning hospital. They have lost the lives and the careers that they had built, and can only hope against hope to one day return to their destroyed city.


“All your life turned into a pile of ruins in one instant, everything that was dear to you, everything you were trying to do, everything you were trying to achieve,” Mykhailenko said. “Everything got canceled simply because some guy threw this bomb after another bastard gave this order.”

Doctors, crater disprove Ukraine hospital airstrike misinfo

----------


## misskit

*Russian Troops Brag They Bombed Fleeing Families at Train Station*

A few minutes before it became clear that women, children and elderly people were among the at least 39 dead and nearly 100 known to be injured when a missile struck the Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine, Russian soldiers were bragging about the hit on Telegram.


The missile struck the main evacuation center in the area and seemed to herald the beginning of an intensified offensive that Russia warned was coming.


Minutes later, the messages, which included claims to have successfully obliterated “a crowd of Ukrainian militants at the Kramatorsk railway station,” were edited or disappeared altogether, according to several accounts by journalists in the region.

MORE Russian Troops Brag They Bombed Fleeing Families at Train Station

----------


## sabang

KEY POINTS

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cautioned Wednesday that Russia’s attack on Ukraine “will have enormous economic repercussions for the world.”She added that the U.S. is working with global organizations to provide aid to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.Yellen also reiterated the White House’s commitment to the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, stressing vaccine availability and readiness to address outbreaks.

Yellen warns war in Ukraine to have '&#39;'enormous'&#39;' global economic impact

----------


## bsnub

> And you believe them, don't you?


Of course he does.

----------


## panama hat

> Relations between Russia and Greece appeared to have reached unprecedented heights





> Greece does not block Finlands NATO accession.


 :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl: . Unprecedented heights.   :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl: . Propaganda versus fact. 







> I get the idea you fellas want to see Nato expand.





> Why would anyone have a problem with Finland joining NATO?


Because sabang doesn't believe in independent nations making their on decisions.   Next reports from the three dickwads will be how the US and Europe are pressuring Finland and Sweden to join, and have been doing so for decades.

Russia will then whine about countries joining NATO, while they are cleaning up the mess from invading Ukraine.

Fuck 'em.

----------


## Cujo

> *2h ago20:43*
> *Russia denies responsibility for Kramatorsk station strike*
> 
> *The Kremlin has denied that Russia was involved in a missile strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine,* Reuters reports.
> 
> Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Russian armed forces had no missions scheduled for Kramatorsk on Friday.
> 
> Russias defence ministry has also denied that Russian forces were responsible for the strike, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.
> 
> ...


Now there's a surprise. :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

Also no surprise that Sabage believes it without question.

----------


## Cujo

> As it borders Russia, I think the answer is rather obvious.


Does anyone really believe NATO has any desire to attack/invade Russia?

----------


## bsnub



----------


## bsnub

Excellent commentary on the war. Worth the watch...

----------


## David48atTD

^ (previous page)  Yep, an excellent watch.

I was surprised at the 9 min mark when the discussion turns to who/whom to blame?

Putin or Russia?

----------


## panama hat

> Does anyone really believe NATO has any desire to attack/invade Russia?


Only the most feeble-minded cretins do.  People who havn't and don't live in western Europe . . . and are feeble-minded.  We have three here

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## bsnub

> I was surprised at the 9 min mark when the discussion turns to who/whom to blame?
> 
> Putin or Russia?


I was surprised as well, but it makes perfect sense.

----------


## S Landreth

Here are Russias alleged war crimes in the Ukraine invasion

Russia is under international fire over alleged war crimes committed during its invasion of Ukraine.

Days after the war began, the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into alleged war crimes by Russia.  

And this week, as Russian troops left communities around Kyiv, photos and videos of civilians dead in the streets  seemingly targeted by Russian troops  have circulated widely. 

President Biden has called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal for the actions of his countrys troops. 

Russia has denied all accusations of war crimes and targeting civilians.  

Here are the alleged crimes Russia has committed in Ukraine. 

*Targeted killings of thousands of civilians* 

The United Nations has recorded at least 1,626 civilians killed since the war began but has repeatedly said that number is likely a severe underestimate.  

The dead include a man from Minnesota, reportedly shot by the Russian military while waiting in a bread line.  

In the town of Bucha, Ukrainian citizens were found executed with their bodies lying in the streets.  

The Ukrainian city of Bucha was in the hands of [Russian] animals for several weeks. Local civilians were being executed arbitrarily, some with hands tied behind their backs, their bodies scattered in the streets of the city, Ukraines defense ministry alleged. 

*Targeted destruction of civilian buildings* 

Thousands of Ukrainians have been forced into bomb shelters by Russias bombing campaign in residential areas not connected to the Ukrainian military.  

A movie theater in Mariupol was attacked in March while hundreds of families with young children were using it as a bomb shelter. The word children was written in big letters on the ground on both sides of the theater.  

Dozens of hospitals have been destroyed since the invasion began, including a maternity and childrens hospital in Mariupol. 

The World Health Organization previously said it has verified 43 attacks on health care facilities and patients in Ukraine. 

Other targeted buildings include residential homes, apartment buildings, shopping malls and schools.  

*Russian soldiers raping women* 

Ukraine opened an investigation at the end of March after a civilian women said she was raped by two Russian soldiers.  

The woman said the soldiers killed her husband and then raped her while her son was in another room crying.  

He told me to take my clothes off. Then they both raped me one after the other. They didnt care that my son was in the boiler room crying. They told me to go shut him up and come back, the woman told The Times of London.  

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba previously said there have been multiple allegations of rape against Russian soldiers during the war.  

*Thousands of Ukrainians kidnapped, taken to Russia* 

Russia has been accused of kidnapping thousands of Ukrainians and forcing them to go to Russia.  

Mariupols City Council said thousands of its residents were forcibly taken to Russia in March. 

Over the past week, several thousand Mariupol residents have been taken to Russian territory, the City Council said in a statement. The occupiers illegally took people from the Levoberezhny district and from the shelter in the sports club building, where more than a thousand people (mostly women and children) were hiding from the constant bombing. 

Russia has also been going after local officials, allegedly kidnapping the mayor of the southern city of Melitopol last month.  

*Blocking humanitarian aid to Ukrainians* 

Russian forces have been blocking aid to civilians and not abiding by agreed-upon humanitarian corridors for civilians to escape the fighting.  

Kuleba said at the beginning of March that Russian forces were blocking humanitarian aid to Mariupol, where at least one child was known to have died from the lack of supplies.  

The former mayor of Irpin said Russian forces shot at humanitarian workers who were trying to administer aid and would not let civilians leave their homes to get supplies.  

*Targeting and killing journalists* 

More than a dozen members of the media have been reportedly killed in Ukraine, while a Ukrainian group says around 150 crimes have been committed against the media by Russian forces.  

Most of the journalists were killed by Russian forces shooting at them or shelling from Russia, including Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski. 

The Institute of Mass Media in Ukraine says Russian forces have killed, kidnapped and tortured journalists during the war.  

Other journalists have also been injured, with Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall giving an update on his condition Thursday. 

To sum it up, Ive lost half a leg on one side and a foot on the other. One hand is being put together, one eye is no longer working, and my hearing is pretty blown  but all in all I feel pretty damn lucky to be here  and it is the people who got me here who are amazing! he said.

_____________


U.S. Speeds Entry For Ukrainians As More Reach Mexico Border

The United States has sharply increased the number of Ukrainians admitted to the country at the Mexican border as even more refugees fleeing the Russian invasion follow the same circuitous route.

A government recreation center in the Mexican border city of Tijuana grew to about 1,000 refugees Thursday, according to city officials. A canopy under which children played soccer only two days earlier was packed with people in rows of chairs and lined with bunk beds.

Tijuana has suddenly become a final stop for Ukrainians seeking refuge in the United States, where they are drawn by friends and families ready to host them and are convinced the U.S. will be a more suitable haven than Europe.

Word has spread rapidly on social media that a loose volunteer coalition, largely from Slavic churches in the western United States, is guiding hundreds of refugees daily from the Tijuana airport to temporary shelters, where they wait two to four days for U.S officials to admit them on humanitarian parole. In less than two weeks, volunteers worked with U.S. and Mexican officials to build a remarkably efficient and expanding network to provide food, security, transportation and shelter.

U.S. officials began funneling Ukrainians Wednesday to a pedestrian crossing in San Diego that is temporarily closed to the public, hoping to process 578 people a day there with 24 officers, said Enrique Lucero, the city of Tijuanas director of migrant affairs.

Vlad Fedoryshyn, a volunteer with access to a waiting list, said Thursday that the U.S. processed 620 Ukrainians over 24 hours, while about 800 others are arriving daily in Tijuana. Volunteers say the U.S. was previously admitting a few hundred Ukrainians daily.

_______________


On The Money  Senators take aim at Russian oligarchs property

Bipartisan bill unveiled to track down oligarch assets

A bipartisan group of senators released a bill Friday meant to empower the U.S. to more easily track down real estate, yachts, private jets and other luxuries owned by foreign oligarchs. 

The bill, called the Kleptocrat Liability for Excessive Property Transactions and Ownership (Klepto) Act, would impose far stricter rules for how much information must be disclosed about who is purchasing a wide range of assets often used for money laundering.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced the bill Friday as a way to ramp up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Right now in this country, sanctioned Russian oligarchs, criminals and terrorists are able to stash their money in the shadows by buying and selling mansions, yachts and private jets, Warren said. 

How it works: While more than a dozen Russian oligarchs and businesses are under U.S. sanctions, many of their U.S.-based assets may be hidden from the view of law enforcement through anonymous shell companies. 

The legislation forces the Treasury Departments Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to require parties involved in real estate sales to disclose the beneficial owner of a company involved in the transaction. That means an individual who wants to purchase a home through a company must identify themselves as the person who controls the firm.

The Federal Aviation Administration would also be required to collect beneficial ownership information for all aircraft registered in the U.S. FinCEN must additionally expand current anti-money laundering reporting rules to the real estate sector, along with businesses that sell boats, planes and automobiles.

 ____________


YouTube blocks Russian Parliaments channel

YouTube blocked a Russian parliamentary channel for a violation of YouTubes Terms of Service amid Russias invasion in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

The video platform terminated the channel for Russias lower house of parliament.

If we find that an account violates our Terms of Service, we take appropriate action. Our teams are closely monitoring the situation for any updates and changes, Google, YouTubes parent company, told Reuters in an email, noting that it was committed to trade compliance law adherence and sanction compliance.

But the move drew outrage from Russian figures and Russian internet regulator Roskomnadzor.

The American IT company adheres to a pronounced anti-Russian position in the information war unleashed by the West against our country, Roskomnadzor said, according to the newswire, noting access for the Duma TV channel to be restored had been requested by Google.

Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin claimed in a message on Telegram that The USA wants to obtain a monopoly on promoting information, Reuters noted, while Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram that YouTube has signed its own warrant.

The move comes as Roskomnadzor last month fined Google after it alleged that YouTube was involved in an information war against Russia and had failed to get rid of prohibited content on YouTube regarding the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

The American platform frankly promotes the dissemination of false content containing unreliable socially significant information about the course of a special military operation in Ukraine that discredits the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as well as extremist information calling for violent actions against Russian military personnel, Roskomnadzor alleged in a Telegram post, referring to the Russian invasion.

____________





> Respect Pink Floyd! 
> 
> More need to follow


The video did bring awareness to the issue (5,069,364 views in two days) of the help needed. I know of one other trying to bring awareness to the problem

----------


## misskit

*Boris Johnson pledges financial, military aid after meeting Zelensky in Kyiv*

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid a surprise visit to Kyiv on Saturday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people," British and Ukrainian officials said.


Driving the news: Johnson pledged new military assistance to Ukraine, including about 120 armored vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems, and guaranteed an additional $500 million in World Bank lending to Ukraine, per his office.


"We're setting out a new package of financial & military aid which is a testament of our commitment to his country's struggle against Russia’s barbaric campaign," Johnson wrote in a tweet after his meeting with Zelensky.


Zelensky and Johnson also walked through the center of Kyiv on Saturday, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense.

What they're saying: "It is because of President Zelensky’s resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people that Putin’s monstrous aims are being thwarted," Johnson said to Zelensky, per the prime minister's office.


"I made clear today that the United Kingdom stands unwaveringly with them in this ongoing fight, and we are in it for the long run."


"We are stepping up our own military and economic support and convening a global alliance to bring this tragedy to an end, and ensure Ukraine survives and thrives as a free and sovereign nation," Johnson said.


"Right now Boris Johnson's visit to Kyiv began with a tete-a-tete meeting with President Zelensky," Zelensky aide Andrij Sybiha wrote on Facebook at the beginning of the pair's meeting.


"Great Britain leader in defense support of Ukraine. The leader in the anti-war coalition. Leader in sanctions on Russian aggressor," Sybiha wrote.
State of play: In a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, Johnson announced new sanctions against the Russian economy and condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's "barbaric onslaught against Ukraine."


Johnson, who has been outspoken in his condemnation of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, called the Russian missile attack on a train station in the city of Kramatorsk a "war crime."


"The attack at the train station in eastern Ukraine shows the depths to which Putin’s vaunted army has sunk ... Russia’s crimes in Ukraine will not go unnoticed or unpunished," Johnson said on Friday.


Boris Johnson pledges financial, military aid after meeting Zelensky in Kyiv

----------


## bsnub

> U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid a surprise visit to Kyiv on Saturday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "in a show of solidarity with the Ukrainian people," British and Ukrainian officials said.


Incredible!

----------


## helge

> Incredible!


In what way ?

----------


## David48atTD

> Incredible!





> In what way ?


I would suggest that the risk taken by a World Leader to do a visit to a war zone, given the situation, is incredibly high.

As it was for EU President Ursula von der Leyen who visited the site of the Bucha massacre, a town northwest of Kyiv

European Union President Ursula Von Der Leyen visits Ukraine to see Bucha massacre victims | Daily Mail Online

----------


## helge

> I would suggest that the risk taken by a World Leader to do a visit to a war zone, given the situation, is incredibly high.


Has he been in a war zone ?

No helmets; no vests.

And I'm sure some of his aides and british millitary intel has looked into, if it was safe for Boris to get his photo ops.

Don't you think so too ?

Incredible ?

Strong word for a bit of image building.....


You'll see scores of "worldleaders" doing the Hajj to Kiev


Edit:

I see that AUS are having an election in May.

You reckon Scumo will visit Ukraine ?

 :Smile:

----------


## HermantheGerman

> Incredible!


Yes, strong message to the free world.

----------


## David48atTD

> Edit:
> 
> I see that AUS are having an election in May.
> 
> You reckon Scumo will visit Ukraine ?


No, the Aussies have no soldiers there.

If he does, it just means he way behind in the polls.

----------


## sabang

From shop fronts spattered with paint to insults thrown in the street, attacks on the Russian community in Germany have spiked since the start of the war in Ukraine.

As a result, some Russians have staged demonstrations “against Russophobia” in the form of vehicle convoys across the country, which has the largest Russian diaspora in the European Union.

But the demos have sparked a backlash, with many interpreting them as a show of support for Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine.

Christian Freier, 40, has been sent hundreds of death threats a day since helping to organise a 400-strong vehicle convoy in Berlin last weekend, along with images of burnt and mutilated corpses.

The website of his car repair shop was hacked and his online ratings have plummeted.

“My life is hell,” said Freier, who has both Russian and German citizenship.

The demonstration was largely peaceful and apolitical, though one woman was arrested for displaying the letter “Z”, a symbol of support for the Russian army and now banned in Berlin.

“My aim was only to protest against the daily aggression suffered by Russians in Germany,” Freier said, declining to answer any questions about the conflict itself.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 383 anti-Russian and 181 anti-Ukrainian crimes have been officially reported to German police.

Germany is home to around 1.2 million Russians and 325,000 Ukrainians, plus more than 316,000 who have arrived as refugees since the start of the conflict.

– ‘Parade of shame’ –

“All war is awful and can never be justified,” said Rene Hermann, 50, who also helped to organise the Berlin convoy.

Hermann told AFP he has “no position” on the Ukraine conflict, but away from the scrutiny of journalists, he runs a blog on social network Tiktok with thousands of subscribers.

His account was recently suspended after he repeatedly spread pro-Kremlin propaganda, including allegations that Kyiv had staged a massacre “to manipulate Western thinking”.

“The motives for taking part in these demonstrations are very diverse,” said Jochen Toepfer, a sociologist at the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg and an expert on Russian society.

“They were organised as demonstrations against discrimination in Germany. But there were certainly also fans of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, as well as people who don’t necessarily like Putin but don’t want to see their country discredited, despite the war,” he told AFP.

Though it was billed as apolitical, the Berlin demo provoked a wave of indignation in Germany, with the Bild daily calling it a “parade of shame”.

“For heaven’s sake, how could you allow this convoy of shame in the middle of Berlin?” the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, asked of Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey.

Giffey replied that she understood his anger but could not penalise people for merely waving Russian flags.

– Imported war? –

The security authorities are “closely monitoring the extent to which Russian, but also Ukrainian, citizens are at risk in Germany,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said last week.

That is unlikely to happen, according to Tobias Rupprecht, a postdoctoral researcher at the Free University of Berlin.

“Most Russians here have a much more critical view of the conflict and tend to be much more Westernised than Russians in Russia,” he said.

However, “the longer the war goes on, the greater the risk that more crimes will be committed in this context in Germany”, according to Toepfer.

Several more pro-Russian demonstrations have been planned for Sunday in Germany, prompting condemnation from Russian organisations.

“We will not tolerate a few cases of discrimination being used as a cover for pro-Putin propaganda events,” warned the IDRH, a society for people of Russian origin in the state of Hesse.

Pro-Russian vehicle convoys spark outrage in Germany - Digital Journal

----------


## S Landreth

S&P Downgrade Indicates Russia Headed For Historic Default

The credit ratings agency Standard & Poors has downgraded its assessment of Russias ability to repay foreign debt, signaling rising prospects that Moscow will soon default on external loans for the first time in more than a century.

S&P Global Ratings issued the downgrade to selective default late Friday after Russia arranged to make foreign bond payments in rubles on Monday when they were due in dollars. It said it didnt expect Russia to be able to convert the rubles into dollars within the 30-day grace period allowed.

S&P said in a statement that its decision was based partly on its opinion that sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine are likely to be further increased in the coming weeks, hampering Russias willingness and technical abilities to honor the terms and conditions of its obligations to foreign debtholders.

An S&P spokesperson said a selective default rating is when a lender defaults on a specific payment but makes others on time.

While Russia has signaled that it remains willing to pay its debts, the Kremlin also has warned that it would do so in rubles if its overseas accounts in foreign currencies remain frozen.

Tightened sanctions placed on Russia this week after evidence of alleged war crimes  the killing of civilians in the town of Bucha during Russian military occupation  barred it from using any foreign reserves held in U.S. banks for debt payments.

Russias finance ministry said Wednesday that it tried to make a $649 million payment toward two bonds to an unnamed U.S. bank  previously reported as JPMorgan Chase  but that the tightened sanctions prevented the payment from being accepted, so it paid in rubles.

Western sanctions have severely squeezed Russias economy, and S&P and other ratings agencies had already downgraded its debt to junk status, deeming a default highly likely.

Russia has used strict capital controls, other severe measures and proceeds from oil and gas sales to artificially prop up the ruble.

The country has not defaulted on foreign debt since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, when the Soviet Union emerged. Even in the late 1990s, following the Soviet Unions demise, Russia was able to continue to pay foreign debts with the help of international aid. It did default on domestic debt, however.

 ::doglol:: 


Russian troops at Chernobyl dug trenches in radioactive zone

Ukrainian officials reported Saturday "abnormally high" radiation in areas of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, where they say Russian troops dug trenches and tried to build fortifications when they occupied the site until late last month.

Why it matters: It's one of the world's most toxic places due to the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) could not immediately verify claims of radioactive dust in areas of the zone known as the "Red Forest," but is due to send a team to the region to assess damage.

Yes, but: Rafael Mariano Grossi director general of United Nations nuclear watchdog the IAEA, said in a statement Saturday that despite "the increase in the level of radioactive contamination  due to non-conformity with requirements of radiation safety and strict access procedures," the radiation situation was "within the limits" for the site.

What they're saying: Valeriy Simyonov, chief safety engineer for the Chernobyl nuclear site, told the New York Times Saturday that Russian troops "ignored" engineers' warnings of radiation risks to digging trenches after they seized control of the station.

"They came and did whatever they wanted" in the zone around the plant that's some 80 miles north of Kyiv, Simyonov said.

Ukrainian soldier Ihor Ugolkov told CNN, which visited Chernobyl, that Russian troops "went to the Red Forest and brought radioactive material back with them on their shoes."

"Other places are fine, but radiation increased here, because they were living here," Ugolkov added.

The big picture: Ukrainian officials reported that Russian troops forced about half of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant employees to stay at the facility for more than three weeks before finally releasing the 64 workers late last month.

About 170 Ukrainian national guard members were also held hostage in the basement of the station, according to the BBC, which visited the area this week.

Oleksandr Lobada, a radiation safety supervisor at the plant, told the outlet engineers "had to constantly negotiate" with Russian forces and "try hard not to offend them, so that they allowed our personnel to manage the facility."

Flashback: The plant lost direct power and had to rely on emergency diesel generators for three days in early March after power lines were damaged  raising concerns that cooling of radioactive material stored there could be disrupted and risk radioactive leakage that could be carried by wind to other parts of Europe.

Lobada told the BBC that when the site lost power, he moved to "find fuel to keep the generator running" by "stealing" some of it from Russians forces.

"If we had lost power, it could have been catastrophic," Oleksandr said. "Radioactive material could have been released."

Of note: Although Chernobyl isn't an active power station, the sarcophagus above the reactor that exploded in the nuclear disaster has to be maintained in order to prevent further radiation leaks, per CNN.

A significant amount of spent nuclear fuel has to be taken care of at the plant.

What to watch: Ukrainian officials said they had "not yet been possible to restore the operation of radiation and other sensors due to the absence of required maintenance and other specialized staff," according to Grossi.


U.S. suspends normal trade relations with Russia

The U.S. suspended normal trade relations with Russia and banned Russian energy imports on Friday after President Biden signed both bills into law.

The big picture: The move accompanies Biden's executive order last month, which bans the import of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal to the United States.

The trade bill, which the Senate passed 100-0, also revokes Belarus' trade operations with the U.S.

What they're saying: "Now, I wish this could have happened sooner, but after weeks of talks with the other side, its important that we have found a path forward," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, AP reports.

"No nation whose military is committing war crimes deserves free trade status with the United States."

----------


## David48atTD

Austrian leader will meet Putin in  Moscow on Monday, marking first in-person meeting between an EU leader  and Putin since war started

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Twitter  that he plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on  Monday, marking the first in-person meeting between Putin and a European  Union leader since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

This  comes after Nehammer visited Ukraine and met with Ukrainian president  Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday. 

Austria has been providing humanitarian  aid to Ukraine during the war. 

Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

----------


## bsnub



----------


## Switch

> Austrian leader will meet Putin in  Moscow on Monday, marking first in-person meeting between an EU leader  and Putin since war started
> 
> Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said on Twitter  that he plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on  Monday, marking the first in-person meeting between Putin and a European  Union leader since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
> 
> This  comes after Nehammer visited Ukraine and met with Ukrainian president  Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday. 
> 
> Austria has been providing humanitarian  aid to Ukraine during the war. 
> 
> Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine


Putin might actually be in Moscow.

He dertainly won’t be anywhere near the Ukraine. Did Nehammer provision a very long table for the meeting?

----------


## Shutree

> The credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded its assessment of Russia’s ability to repay foreign debt, signaling rising prospects that Moscow will soon default on external loans for the first time in more than a century.


There is a lot of text there and I might have missed it but a key point in all this is that despite the sanctions there is an exception to Russia's inablity to access it's offshore dollar holdings and that exception is to allow them to be drawn to make interest payments on sovereign debts. This has already happened, time will tell if it happens today.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> There is a lot of text there and I might have missed it but a key point in all this is that despite the sanctions there is an exception to Russia's inablity to access it's offshore dollar holdings and that exception is to allow them to be drawn to make interest payments on sovereign debts. This has already happened, time will tell if it happens today.


The key point is probably that Puffy and the oligarchs might have to put their hands in their pockets and put back some of the tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars they've stolen from state coffers.

----------


## David48atTD

Heavy Russian weapons seen moving across Belarus


Belarus  has been an ally of Russia during the Ukraine war and the two countries  held joint military exercises in Belarus prior to the invasion

A  pro-Ukrainian Belarusian online intelligence Telegram channel,  Belaruski Hayun, says it has spotted substantial movement of Russian  armed forces equipment by train across Belarus on Sunday.

It  says trains loaded with military equipment have been seen at railway  stations in the capital Minsk and also south-eastern Belarus, including  Kalinkavichy, Khoyniki and Homel North stations.

Trucks  and tanks were also seen on a train at Rechytsa railway station in the  south east. Anti-aircraft missile systems and amphibious armoured  vehicles were spotted waiting to be loaded nearby.

Six  fighter jets and transport aircraft took off from Baranavichy airfield  in the west of Belarus and several Russian helicopters took off from  Machulishchy near Minsk. 

HERE

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine War: Russia warns Sweden and Finland against Nato membership*

Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe.


Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "the alliance remains a tool geared towards confrontation".


It comes as US defence officials said Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has been a "massive strategic blunder" which will likely bring Nato enlargement.
US officials expect the Nordic neighbours to bid for membership of the alliance, potentially as early as June.


Washington is believed to support the move which would see the Western alliance grow to 32 members. US State Department officials said last week that discussions had taken place between Nato leaders and foreign ministers from Helsinki and Stockholm.


Before it launched its invasion, Russia demanded that the alliance agree to halt any future enlargement, but the war has led to the deployment of more Nato troops on its eastern flank and a rise in public support for Swedish and Finnish membership.

Finnish MPs are expected to receive a security report from intelligence officials this week, and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said she expects her government "will end the discussion before midsummer" on whether to make a membership application.


Finland shares a 1,340km (830 miles) long border with Russia and has been rattled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But Moscow has been clear that it opposes any potential enlargement of the alliance. Mr Peskov warned the bloc "is not that kind of alliance which ensures peace and stability, and its further expansion will not bring additional security to the European continent".


Last week Mr Peskov said that Russia would have to "rebalance the situation" with its own measures were Sweden and Finland to join Nato.


And in February Maria Zakharova, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman, warned of "military and political consequences" if the countries joined the bloc.


Despite the threats, both countries have pushed ahead with their bids and stepped up defence spending.


On Monday, army leaders in Helsinki announced a new plan to allocate €14m (£10.88m) to purchase drones for Finland's military.


And last month Swedish officials said they would boost defence spending by 3 billion kronas ($317m; £243m) in 2022.

Ukraine War: Russia warns Sweden and Finland against Nato membership - BBC News

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Ukraine War: Russia warns Sweden and Finland against Nato membership*
> 
> Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe.


And of course Russia being the antithesis of "stability" is a very fucking good reason to admit them.

----------


## sabang

Russia on Monday said it destroyed an S-300 air defense system, delivered to Ukraine by a European country, near the central city of Dnipro the day before.

“On Sunday, April 10, on the southern outskirts of the city of Dnepropetrovsk, high-precision sea-based Kalibr missiles destroyed an S-300 air defense system hidden in a hangar, which was delivered to the Kiev regime by one of the European countries,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a daily press briefing in Moscow.

Four S-300 launchers and up to 25 personnel of the Ukrainian armed forces were also hit, he added.

Further, a repair facility with two air defense systems Buk-M1 and Osa AKM were struck with high-precision air-based missiles near the Velyka Novosilka settlement in Donetsk, he said.

In addition, two ammunition depots, an S-300 radar, nine tanks, five self-propelled artillery, five multiple rocket launchers, and more than 60 nationalists were destroyed over the past night, the spokesman said.

The Russian air defense systems downed two S-25 fighter jets and four unmanned aerial vehicles, while a Mi-24 helicopter was shot down with concentrated fire from small arms, Konashenkov said.

Russia also hit 78 objects of Ukraine’s military infrastructure, including three command points, an illumination and guidance radar, three positions of short-range anti-aircraft missile systems, four ammunition depots.

The spokesman also gave an overall account for what Russia calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine, saying nearly 230 aircraft and helicopters, and 243 air defense systems have been destroyed so far.

Among destroyed devices were also nearly 2,100 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, and 239 multiple rocket launchers, he said.

At least 1,793 civilians have been killed and 2,439 injured in Ukraine since Russia declared war on Feb. 24, according to UN estimates, with the true figure feared to be much higher.

Around 4.5 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.

Russia destroys S-300 air defense system delivered to Ukraine from Europe | TurkishPress

----------


## sabang

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ukraine’s economic output will likely contract by a staggering 45.1% this year as Russia’s invasion has shuttered businesses, slashed exports and destroyed productive capacity, the World Bank said on Sunday in a new assessment of the war’s economic impacts.

The World Bank also forecast Russia’s 2022 GDP output to fall 11.2% due to punishing financial sanctions imposed by the United States and its Western allies on Russia’s banks, state-owned enterprises and other institutions.

The World Bank’s “War in the Region” economic update https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/...1464818660.pdf said the Eastern Europe region, comprising Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, is forecast to show a GDP contraction of 30.7% this year, due to shocks from the war and disruption of trade.

Growth in 2022 in the Central Europe region, comprising Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland and Romania, will be cut to 3.5% from 4.7% previously due to the influx of refugees, higher commodity prices and deteriorating confidence hurting demand.

For Ukraine, the World Bank report estimates that over half of the country’s businesses are closed, while others are operating at well under normal capacity. The closure of Black Sea shipping from Ukraine has cut off some 90% of the country’s grain exports and half of its total exports.

The World Bank said the war has rendered economic activity impossible in many areas, and is disrupting agricultural planting and harvest operations.

Estimates of infrastructure damage exceeding $100 billion by early March – about two-thirds of Ukraine’s 2019 GDP – are well out of date “as the war has raged on and caused further damage.”

The bank said the 45.1% contraction estimate excludes the impact of physical infrastructure destruction, but said this would scar future economic output, along with the outflow of Ukrainian refugees to other countries.

The World Bank said the magnitude of Ukraine’s contraction is “subject to a high degree of uncertainty” over the war’s duration and intensity.

A downside scenario in the report, reflecting further commodity price shocks and a loss of financial market confidence triggered by an escalation of the war, could result in a 75% contraction in Ukraine’s GDP and a 20% contraction in Russia’s output.

This scenario would lead to a 9% contraction in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region of emerging market and developing economies – more than double the drop in the baseline forecast.

“The Russian invasion is delivering a massive blow to Ukraine’s economy and it has inflicted enormous damage to infrastructure,” Anna Bjerde, the World Bank’s vice president for Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement.

“Ukraine needs massive financial support immediately as it struggles to keep its economy going and the government running to support Ukrainian citizens who are suffering and coping with an extreme situation.”

The World Bank has already marshaled about $923 million in loans and grants for Ukraine, and is preparing a further support package of more than $2 billion.

“Rapid IMF and World Bank assistance has allowed Ukraine fiscal space to pay salaries for civilians, soldiers, doctors, and nurses, while also meeting its external debt obligations,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who oversees the U.S. controlling share in the World Bank, told U.S. lawmakers during a hearing last week.

War to slash Ukraine'''s GDP output by over 45%, World Bank forecasts

----------


## David48atTD

> *Ukraine War: Russia warns Sweden and Finland against Nato membership*
> 
> Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe.
> 
> Ukraine War: Russia warns Sweden and Finland against Nato membership - BBC News


There was a really informative graphic in that news item ...

----------


## thailazer

Plenty of press in Finland about joining NATO, as well of news of Russians coming to Finland to be out of Russia.    Finns see Ukraine battling Russia alone and they do not want that scenario if Russia keeps pushing its borders.    Russia is the country destroying stability in the region, and to what purpose?

----------


## bsnub

> Russia is the country destroying stability in the region, and to what purpose?


It is not the first time. All the yellow countries in the graphic above were attacked and occupied by Russia in the past, they have good reason to seek the protection of the NATO alliance. Now they are seeing Russia do it again, they lived through it already and do not want to relive those horrors that are happening in Ukraine right now.

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## misskit

*Humiliated Putin purges more than 150 intelligence staff as key ally JAILED*

VLADIMIR PUTIN has purged more than 150 intelligence agents and jailed a former key ally over the botched invasion of Ukraine.

In a clear sign of Putin's fury over the failures of the invasion, the Russian leader dismissed more than 150 officers and the head of department responsible for Ukraine. The services former chief, Sergei Beseda, 68, has been sent to Lefortovo prison in Moscow, which was used by the NKVD, the KGBs predecessor, for interrogation and torture during Stalins Great Purge of the 1930s. The move comes after a string of military failures which prevented Russian forces from making any significant progress since the invasion began February 24. Putin's troops announced they would be scaling back their invasion of Ukraine to focus on the Donbas region.

Ukraine LIVE: Humiliated Putin purges more than 150 intelligence staff as key ally JAILED | World | News | Express.co.uk

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## harrybarracuda

> Russia on Monday said it destroyed an S-300 air defense system, delivered to Ukraine by a European country, near the central city of Dnipro the day before.


That's OK, according to hoohoo it was shit anyway.

 :rofl:

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## bsnub

> Russia destroys S-300 air defense system delivered to Ukraine from Europe





> Slovakia, which had donated such a missile system to Ukraine  last week, denied that the one it supplied had been struck. The prime  ministers office issued a statement calling Russian reports that its  S-300 system had been destroyed disinformation. It was unclear,  however, whether both sides were referring to the same strike.


Russia says it struck S-300 systems given to Ukraine by EU state | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera

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## panama hat

> Ukraine War: Russia warns Sweden and Finland against Nato membership
> 
> Russia has warned Finland and Sweden against joining Nato, arguing the move would not bring stability to Europe.


It beggars belief . . . luckily for Putin and his henchmen there are fools who believe this crap, even here on this forum

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## sabang

(Reuters) - Russia can afford to wage a long war in Ukraine despite being hammered by Western sanctions aimed at crippling its ability to sustain the campaign, defence experts and economists say.

Russia's invasion has driven up the price of the oil, gas and grain it exports, providing it with a substantial windfall to fund its "special military operation" - now entering a new phase as Moscow focuses on the eastern Donbas region after failing to break Ukraine's defence of the capital Kyiv.

As the war grinds on, rising casualties and the need to rotate fresh troops into battle may prove more pressing challenges than the financial cost.

    "This type of low-tech war can be financed almost entirely in roubles, which means they can continue pouring troops and heavy artillery into Ukraine at least until there's a more general collapse of the economy," said Jacob Kirkegaard, economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

Johan Norberg, senior analyst at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, said: "The sanctions will not affect this war in the short run, because Russia's military is fighting with tanks it had already built and soldiers it had already trained."

Sanctions are expected to shrink the economy by more than 11% this year, the World Bank says, but revenues from energy exports are actually increasing. The Russian finance ministry said on April 5 that Moscow expects to earn $9.6 billion in additional revenue from energy sales in April alone thanks to high oil prices, which remain around $100 a barrel.

There is no doubt, however, that Russia's vaunted military machine has taken a huge and costly hit.

The United States assesses that Russia has lost about 15-20% of its combat power during its invasion of Ukraine, a senior U.S. defence official said.

That includes everything from tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery systems, fighter and bomber aircraft and helicopters to surface-to-air and ballistic missiles, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

LOST TANKS

According to Oryx, a closely watched military blog which tallies both sides' losses based on verifiable visual evidence, Russia had lost at least 2,770 items of military equipment as of Tuesday, including at least 476 tanks that had been destroyed, damaged, abandoned or captured.

That, said Yohann Michel of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), is more than the combined tank strength of NATO members France (222) and Britain (227).

Russia, which had around 3,000 tanks before the war, according to IISS figures, is not about to run out. But experts said some of those are likely to be old, in poor condition or held for spare parts, so the effective number available for combat is lower.

Mathieu Boulegue, a specialist in the Russian military at Chatham House, said Moscow had so far held back its most modern weaponry, which it is reluctant to lose, and relied heavily on an abundance of more expendable Soviet-era hardware.

He said it could take "a decade or two at least" to rebuild equipment levels to where they were before the war - a task complicated by a host of factors including design and innovation challenges, corruption, the indebted state of defence companies and a lack of access to Western microelectronics because of sanctions.

DEFENCE BURDEN

Russian military spending will need to rise both because of the war with Ukraine and the resulting sharp increase in tension with NATO, which has sent thousands more troops to eastern Europe, said Richard Connolly, an associate fellow at RUSI in London and director of the Eastern Advisory Group consultancy.

He said defence spending as a share of GDP could rise significantly from its current level of around 4%, potentially doubling in the next few years.

Connolly said ordinary Russians would feel the impact but the state could comfortably pay for the war effort, even if its economy is plunged into recession. If necessary it could commandeer resources like fuel from state-owned companies.

The more pressing question, he said, was the level of casualties and the difficulty of sustaining a war involving up to 150,000 troops at a time.

Russia has so far acknowledged only 1,351 troops killed and 3,825 wounded, although Ukraine and Western governments believe the toll is many times higher. Its army and airborne troops have a combined strength of about 325,000.

Eventually, Connolly said, it may have to take the politically unpopular decision to dip into its reserves, which the IISS estimates to number 2 million men under 50 with military service within the past five years.

"If you’ve got 150,000 committed to Ukraine, you’ve got half of your effective army currently in combat operations, many of which have experienced significant losses," Connolly said.

"So they’re going to need to replace, they’re going to need to rotate them. They're using their entire army, basically - or they will be if this goes on for very much longer."

Analysis-Even with sanctions, Russia can afford to feed its war machine (msn.com)

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## S Landreth

Russia's economy set for biggest contraction since 1994, Kudrin says

Russia's economy is on track to contract by more than 10% in 2022, the biggest fall in gross domestic product since the years following the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.

Russia is facing soaring inflation and capital flight while grappling with a possible debt default after the West imposed crippling sanctions to punish President Vladimir Putin for sending tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Russia's economy and finance ministries are currently working on new forecasts, RIA state news agency quoted Kudrin, who now serves as head of the Audit Chamber, as saying.

"The official forecast would be for more than around a 10% contraction," said Kudrin, who served as Putin's finance minister from 2000 to 2011, according to RIA.

Previous Russian government forecasts envisaged gross domestic product growth of 3% this year after the economy expanded by 4.7% in 2021.

A source close to the Russian government who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters that the economy ministry projects a GDP contraction of between 10% and 15% this year.

A contraction of 10% would amount to the biggest decline in gross domestic product since 1994, according to World Bank and International Monetary Fund data.

The World Bank this month forecast Russian GDP output would fall 11.2% this year.

Analysts polled by Reuters in late March had on average forecast 2022 GDP contraction at 7.3%, predicting a pick up in inflation to nearly 24%, its highest since 1999.

Putin says the "special military operation" in Ukraine is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow had to act to defend Russian-speaking people in Ukraine against persecution.

Ukraine says it is fighting against an imperial-style land grab and dismisses Putin's claims of genocide as nonsense.


UN agency unveils plan to rebuild Ukraine

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced Monday that it plans to rebuild Ukraine and unveiled a new initiative to support millions of people in the war-torn country over the next two years.

The UNDP said the new initiative will provide extensive on-the-ground services and support to Ukrainian officials and institutions. It will also conduct the repair of “critical social and physical infrastructure” along with debris removal services, and support conflict-affected women in livelihood recovery and skills development, among other initiatives.

It added that the program will meet immediate humanitarian needs and strengthen resilience, social and economic recovery and strengthen institutions and civil society to “maintain the social fabric, uphold human rights and ensure inclusion, protection and empowerment of all people.”

“The war in Ukraine continues to inflict immense human suffering and early estimates project that close to two decades of socio-economic progress could be lost if the war continues,” UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said in a release.

Early UNDP projections suggest that up to 90 percent of the population of Ukraine could face poverty and be vulnerable to poverty by the end of 2022.

“As part of a coordinated UN response, UNDP has an unwavering commitment to stay and deliver for the people of Ukraine — that includes supporting the Government to sustain essential governance structures for emergency response management, deliver vital public services, and protect livelihoods,” Steiner added.


Ukraine’s prosecutor general says office investigating thousands of Russian war crime cases

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said on Monday that her office is investigating 5,800 war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russia during Moscow’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

“We are not proud, but we have 5,800 such cases,” she told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” in an interview Monday, adding that “more and more” proceedings were happening every day.

The prosecutor general specified that her office had more than 500 suspects including Russian politicians, military leaders and propaganda agents who are suspected of starting and continuing the war.

Venediktova’s office released a statement on Monday saying 183 children have been killed in the attack, but she estimated that the actual figure was likely to be much higher, she told CNN.

“For example, we don’t understand what’s happened in Mariupol just now and how many kids are dead inside Mariupol,” she also told Tapper, referring to the Ukrainian city that has endured some of the most brutal attacks in the war. 

Well over one month into the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations (U.N.) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement on Sunday that at least 4,335 civilians suffered casualties in the war, including 1,842 who have been killed.

Similarly to Venediktova’s statement, the U.N. agency, however, said it “believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.”


The art world is blacklisting Russian oligarchs amid fears that the billionaires will take advantage of the industry's lack of regulation to evade sanctions

The art world is blacklisting Russian oligarchs amid fears that the billionaires will take advantage of the industry's lack of regulation to evade sanctions

In London, the world's top auction houses canceled "Russian Art Week," the go-to art fair for wealthy Russian buyers.

In New York, Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin resigned from the Guggenheim Museum's board of trustees.

In Moscow, artists are canceling their exhibits in Garage, the museum founded by Dasha Zhukova, a socialite art collector and ex-wife of sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich.

As the world looks to retaliate against sanctioned Russian oligarchs and their "ill-begotten gains," the notoriously opaque art industry is attempting to cut off decades-long relationships with the foreign tycoons.

But while personal assets like yachts, mansions, and jets are seized in the wake of the Ukraine invasion, experts told Insider the $50 billion art industry faces "gaping holes" when it comes to the question of ownership.

Mikhail Fridman, who is sanctioned by the EU and UK, bought Andy Warhol's 1962 "Four Marilyns" for $38.2 million at Phillips in 2013. The next year, he flipped it to a Turkish banker for $44 million.

Roman Abramovich — who is also on the EU and UK sanctions lists — has reportedly purchased works including Lucian Freud's "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping" for $33.6 million at Christie's and a Francis Bacon triptych for $86.3 million at Sotheby's.

Both Fridman and Abramovich purchased their art through the Gagosian gallery in New York, whose founder has been called the "the official art dealer to the Russian oligarchy," according to the New York Post. When asked if Gagosian's client relationships will change in light of recent sanctions, the gallery said it has "established effective internal controls and undertakes due diligence measures to fully comply with all relevant laws."

In late February, the US, Canada, and leading Western European countries announced a task force to identify and freeze assets held by Russian power elites in other jurisdictions.

But in order to freeze an asset, you need to prove who it belongs to — a multimillion-dollar question in the art world, where anonymous and concealed purchases are commonplace.

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## bsnub

> Go pollute the kiddies thread you childish dickhead.


You should not even be allowed to post here, you reprehensible clown. Enjoy...

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## sabang

Ukrainian border guards say they have prevented about 2200 men of conscript age from leaving the country, which has been forbidden since the start of the war.

Ukraine's border guard agency says about 2200 Ukrainian men of fighting age have been detained so far while trying to leave the country in violation of martial law.

The agency said on Sunday that some of them have used forged documents and others tried to bribe border guards to get out of the country.

It said some have been found dead while trying to cross the Carpathian mountains in adverse weather, without specifying the number.

Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country so that they can be called up to fight.
Ukraine detains 2200 conscript-age men | 7NEWS

They bsnubbies of warfare.  ::chitown::

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## Shutree

> There is a lot of text there and I might have missed it but a key point in all this is that despite the sanctions there is an exception to Russia's inablity to access it's offshore dollar holdings and that exception is to allow them to be drawn to make interest payments on sovereign debts. This has already happened, time will tell if it happens today.


It seems the US Treasury blocked that exception:

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) - The United States stopped the Russian government on Monday from paying holders of its sovereign debt more than $600 million from reserves held at U.S. banks, in a move meant to ratchet up pressure on Moscow and eat into its holdings of dollars.

Under sanctions put in place after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, foreign currency reserves held by the Russian central bank at U.S. financial institutions were frozen.

But the Treasury Department had been allowing the Russian government to use those funds to make coupon payments on dollar-denominated sovereign debt on a case-by-case basis.

U.S. stops Russian bond payments, raising risk of default | Reuters

So they are now in 'selective default':

Russia slips into '&#39;'selective default'&#39;' on some foreign debt

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## sabang

It's up to Russia what they actually do, but the obvious thing I reckon would be to suspend coupon payments- and just log them as debits against the reserves held/ frozen with US financial institutions. "So if you want to collect your interest, chase the US- because they are holding the money".

Incidentally, in the emerging world economies (most of the world population), who is gonna trust the US banking system anymore?

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## HermantheGerman

> Ukrainian border guards say they have prevented about 2200 men of conscript age from leaving the country, which has been forbidden since the start of the war


That could happen in any country. Pointless comment!

In Chinastan they would get shot on the spot. Ask Dingohh Dongohh  :ourrules:

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## sabang

Not aware it ever happened in the UK, and certainly not Australia (except for the convicts).

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## misskit

*Hubris and isolation led Vladimir Putin to misjudge Ukraine*

More than six weeks into his war against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is feeling the sting of failure.


Thousands of Russian battlefield deaths. Three front-line retreats by the Russian military. Millions of Ukrainians who will never forgive Moscow. More isolation than ever — and perilously few goals achieved.


Putin is now regrouping to focus his military campaign on Ukraine’s east in what is widely seen as “Plan B,” after his forces failed to topple Ukraine’s government or wrest control of its biggest cities. All the while, questions are mounting about how a Russian leader steeped in security policy and known for railing against the folly of regime-change wars could have sleepwalked into a such a strategic morass.


At issue is a broader quandary that will occupy historians for years: How could Russia — a country with such deep familial, cultural and historic ties to its western neighbor — get Ukraine so wrong?

Officials in the United States and Europe are piecing together the answer to that question. What emerges, those officials say, is a picture of a hubristic and isolated leader, beset by biases and skewed information, pressing forward with a calamitous decision without consulting his full cohort of advisers. Putin rushed headlong into Ukraine, confident in his ability to secure a quick victory and weather any blowback within the authoritarian system he erected at home, they said. Underpinning his assumptions: misconceptions about Ukraine fundamentally rooted in Moscow’s colonial past.


“Historically, there just hasn’t been expertise on Ukraine in Russia at all,” said Alina Polyakova, president and CEO of the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis. “When you don’t believe a country’s a real country and a people’s a real people, why would you invest any expertise in a thing you don’t think exists?”

A former spy’s personal fingerprints


In the run-up to the war, some leaders in Europe and Ukraine discounted the possibility that Putin would invade, because they didn’t see sufficient Russian forces amassed along the border for Moscow to succeed with a multi-front offensive and subsequent occupation.


What they didn’t realize was that Moscow was nurturing deeply flawed assumptions, particularly about the fortitude of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the willingness of Ukrainians to resist, and was indeed planning a large-scale invasion — just an ill-conceived one. The operation, analysts said, bore the personal fingerprints of Putin.


“It’s clear this was a military operation designed by spooks, not generals,” said Mark Galeotti, a Russia analyst at Mayak Intelligence. “It makes no sense in purely military terms.”

According to U.S. and European officials, Putin had been keeping the plans very close-hold, with top military commanders and trusted advisers unaware that Russia was going to mount an offensive.


The Russian leader notoriously doesn’t use a smartphone and rarely accesses the Internet. He spent years snuffing out Russian independent news and erecting an authoritarian system of government devoid of constructive feedback or dissent. By early this year, according to U.S. and European officials, he was operating in an echo chamber, surrounded by advisers who, according to Galeotti, “had learned you do not bring bad news to the czar’s table.” Putin’s isolation, the officials said, had been compounded by the coronavirus and his limited contact with others.


“It’s demonstrably obvious now that there was a combination of people not telling him what he needed to hear and him not listening when they did tell him stuff that he didn’t want to hear,” said James Cleverly, Britain’s minister of state for Europe and North America.


Putin has long viewed independent Ukraine as a quirk of the Soviet empire’s collapse that needed to be handled personally. According to Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar’s book “All the Kremlin’s Men,” Putin for years controlled policy toward Ukraine himself because he didn’t trust anyone else.


“We need to deal with Ukraine or we’ll lose it,” Putin would say at meetings dating back to the early 2000s, according to Zygar, who labeled Putin’s coterie of close advisers the “Collective Putin,” because they tend to tailor their activities to anticipate his desires.


Putin’s confidence in his personal expertise on Ukraine came through in a lengthy treatise he published last summer. The article portrayed Ukrainians as a people who are naturally the same as Russians but have been taken hostage by Western governments bent on radicalizing them against Moscow.

“That leads to this belief by Putin and others that if you can just decapitate the Zelensky government, knock out the political leadership, then there will be an outpouring of pro-Russian sentiment by the rest of Ukrainian society,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.


Russia got Ukraine wrong “because this was totally a Putin-directed operation,” said a U.S. official who specializes in Russia and like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.


Putin, the official said, “is as convinced as anyone can be of his truths.”

‘An enormous amount of arrogance’


The assumption of a quick Ukrainian government collapse undergirded the invasion, according to Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials. In the early days of the war, Russian state news already began promoting the notion that Zelensky had fled, even as he posted videos from Kyiv.

Putin had witnessed a rapid collapse of the Ukrainian government when former president Viktor Yanukovych decamped to Russia in 2014. According to Zygar, Putin shouted at Yanukovych not to leave Kyiv and described him as a “cowardly piece of s---” when he fled the capital in response to a pro-Western uprising. Those events may have led Putin to imagine a similar scenario with Zelensky.


Putin’s misconception about Ukrainian weakness was paired with a swaggering view of Russian power. He famously boasted to a top European official in late 2014 that he could easily seize Kyiv “in two weeks” if he desired — a misconception he appeared to continue believing until he attempted to do so.


“He has an unwavering belief in his ability to control events,” a senior NATO intelligence official said.


Perhaps no moment underscored the level of misconception more than the attempt by elite Russian paratroopers at the outset of the invasion to land at the Hostomel cargo airport northwest of Kyiv — apparently with the intention of sweeping breezily into the Ukrainian capital.


“Just looking at how this played out, it feels there was an enormous amount of arrogance,” a European official said. “You look at the insertion of the airborne forces at Hostomel airport, which was clearly designed to do a decapitation [mission] in Kyiv — and they got smashed.”


Battles may be tougher for Ukrainians as war shifts to wide-open terrain in east
Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said the Russian leadership doesn’t see Ukraine, a place once controlled by Moscow, as deserving of rigorous study.


“There was this false sense of familiarity,” Gabuev said. “That’s what Russia completely misunderstood.”


Once the assumptions proved false, Russia’s military proved unable to regroup, saddled by fuel, ammunition, transport, food and other logistics problems, as well as demoralized soldiers who hadn’t been told they were about to fight a war.


“If the initial plan is bad and none of the other preparation is there, there’s no durability,” Rand Corp. senior defense analyst Scott Boston said.


Where Russia relies primarily on its foreign intelligence service, the SVR, to collect information about countries such as the United States and China, when it comes to countries in the “near abroad” including Ukraine, Moscow enlists the FSB, primarily a domestic intelligence service.


Andrei Soldatov, a Russian journalist who specializes in Russian intelligence, said the FSB regularly failed to understand the popular and grass-roots movements fundamental to Ukraine’s political culture.


U.S. and European officials said Russia’s poor performance in the initial stages of the war has led to a bad blood between the Russian military and intelligence establishments and a serious search for scapegoats.


What exactly Russian intelligence was reporting to Putin regarding Ukraine before the war is unclear, but multiple U.S. and European officials said Putin’s immediate advisers had shown an unwillingness to give the Russian president information that challenged his assumptions. Individuals lower down in Russia’s security establishment thought the invasion was ill-conceived but their concerns didn’t reach the top, the officials said.


In U.S. and European intelligence circles, the FSB’s reputation stands in contrast to the ruthless, cunning reputation of its predecessor, the KGB. Several current and former officials described the Russian security service as rife with corruption, beset by bureaucratic bloat and ultimately out of touch.


A Ukrainian intelligence official said the FSB had spent millions recruiting a network of pro-Russian collaborators who ultimately told Putin and his top advisers, among them the current FSB director, what they wanted to hear: The central government in Kyiv wouldn’t hold and resistance would collapse.


The official singled out pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who made Putin the godfather of his daughter, as a significant source of misleading information. Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian politician who has long promoted Russian interests, was charged with treason last year but allegedly escaped house arrest in the days after the invasion.


European officials said the Kremlin was also getting information from out-of-touch former elites associated with Yanukovych, who, like Medvedchuk, stood to gain from a Russian power grab. In the weeks before the invasion, the British government warned that Russian intelligence was plotting with Yanukovych’s former prime minister, chief of staff and deputy prime minister.


Regardless of the information stream, Putin believes himself to be the biggest expert on Ukraine, Soldatov said, noting the tendency of Russian officials to assume they understand Ukraine.


“This level of chauvinism — you can see it everywhere,” Soldatov said. “It’s a direct legacy of this unfortunate imperial past.”

MSN

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## HermantheGerman

The Russian generals are under enormous pressure from the Kremlin to finally show successes by May 9  the Day of Victory over Nazi Germany and, according to Putin, the most important holiday in his country. In the time window up to then, Ukraine could strike decisive blows against the Russians with Western help.
U.S. General Ben Hodges

----------


## misskit

*Finland, Sweden Set to Join NATO as Soon as Summer - the Times*

Russia has made a "massive strategic blunder" as Finland and Sweden look poised to join NATO as early as the summer, The Times reported on Monday, citing officials.


The United States officials said that NATO membership for both Nordic countries was "a topic of conversation and multiple sessions" during talks between the alliance's foreign ministers last week attended by Sweden and Finland, report added.

Finland, Sweden Set to Join NATO as Soon as Summer - the Times | World News | US News

----------


## misskit

*Russian Railroad Near Ukraine Border Destroyed – Governor*

A stretch of Russian railroad near the Ukrainian border was destroyed on Tuesday morning, the region’s governor announced. 


The destroyed railroad comes after several Russian border regions including Belgorod raised their “terror” threat level to “yellow,” the second-highest in a three-tier system, as Russia’s nearly seven-week invasion of Ukraine shifts its focus toward eastern Ukraine. 


No one was killed or injured in the incident, Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on the Telegram messaging app. 


Gladkov did not specify what exactly destroyed the railway tracks along the Belgorod-Nezhegol line. He said a team of investigators has been deployed to the site to determine the cause.

Train passengers were evacuated and brought to their destinations by bus, Gladkov said, and a free bus service will transport locals until the train service is restored.


Citizens of the small town of Shebekino near the railroad reportedly heard explosions at 7 a.m.

Two hours later, kindergartens in Shebekino were evacuated due to a wave of bomb threats, the town mayor told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.


Belgorod authorities announced the formation of “voluntary militia units” following the news.


Ukrainian military intelligence warned Tuesday that Russia could be planning to stage terror attacks on its own territory and blame them on Ukraine. 


“It is quite possible that these attacks will be presented as the Ukrainians’ revenge for Bucha and Kramatorsk and as an excuse for cruelty toward the civilian population of Ukraine,” Major General Kirill Budanov said.

Earlier in April, Belgorod authorities accused Ukrainian helicopters of striking an oil depot on its territory, an incident the Kremlin said would hinder peace talks.

Russian Railroad Near Ukraine Border Destroyed – Governor - The Moscow Times

----------


## S Landreth

Putin: Wests sanctions have achieved certain results on Russian economy

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Western sanctions have achieved certain results in impacting the Russian economy but projected defiance about the Kremlins war in Ukraine.

The Russian leader said during a press conference that the U.S.-led global sanctions campaign is a blitzkrieg that has achieved certain results and said Moscow had to increase the interest rate of the central bank to 20 percent but that it had gone down in recent days, according to remarks translated by state-owned media outlet RT.

Global economists say that the Russian government is exercising creative technocratic skills to stabilize the Russian currency and economy amid an unprecedented campaign of sanctions, but that it is unlikely to be able to withstand a large-scale economic contraction in the long run.

Rachel Ziemba, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, wrote in an article for Barrons that Russias seeming financial resilience, particularly when it comes to the ruble, is a kind of mirage.

Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin was quoted by state-owned media saying that the countrys economy is on track to contract by 10 percent in 2022, the biggest decline in gross domestic product since emerging from the Soviet Union in 1991, Reuters reported.

Putin, who made his remarks during a press conference alongside Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, also conceded that the Russian government needed to allocate more resources  in the current situation to support the economy, but touted working with countries that have not joined the U.S.-led sanctions regime.

The economy will adapt to the new environment, make no mistake. If you cant export to one country theres always a third country. If you can buy something in one country, there is also a fourth country where you can get this, this is inevitable  a single country cannot dominate the world anymore.

Putin also threatened the global food supply, criticizing Western nations stating that if they cannot work with us effectively, there will not be enough food on the global markets.

The United Nations and human rights groups have raised concerns that Russias fighting in Ukraine, combined with the sanctions, has interrupted global deliveries and increased the price of wheat and fertilizer and that impacts 1.2 billion people.

These prices are continuing to grow and this is all attributable to the mistakes by the Western countries, Putin complained.

If our Western partners worsen the situation in financial terms, in terms of insurance and sea shipments, the situation will get worse, including for them. High prices on food and these problems will lead to hunger in many areas around the world and this will lead to more migration flows including towards Europe.


Russian Railways Becomes First Company to Default in the Country

A global financial committee has ruled Russian Railways has tumbled into default after the company failed to make interest payments on $268 million of bonds, due to Western sanctions that have stymied Russia's access to the global financial system.

The European section of the Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee ruled on Monday that the state-owned company had failed to make interest payments on the bonds due on March 14.

It made Russian Railways the first official corporate default in the country since the invasion of Ukraine began in late February.

The CDDC is a committee of financial institutions who meet to decide whether a company has defaulted. A ruling from the committee is a key step in allowing investors in credit-default swaps  contracts that act as insurance against defaults  to receive payouts.

Despite the ruling, Russian Railways argued in a statement on Tuesday that it had fulfilled its obligations on the Swiss franc bond worth $268 million, as it had tried to pay but had been blocked due to sanctions, Bloomberg reported.

The ability of Russia's companies and its government to pay their foreign-currency debts has been seriously curtailed by Western sanctions put in place after Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

The US and its allies have frozen the central bank out of the bulk of its roughly $600 billion of foreign currency reserves and directly sanctioned companies, including Russian Railways.

Last week, the US Treasury blocked the government from making dollar debt payments using accounts at American banks, further freezing the two countries' financial relationship.

Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Deutsche Bank were among the institutions to vote "yes" on the motion that Russian Railways had defaulted on its debts, CDDC documents show.

Russian Railways said in Swiss filings in March that it had tried to make the payments, but had been blocked due to "legal and regulatory compliance obligations within the correspondent banking network."

A similar debate is raging over whether the Russian government has entered default, after it attempted to make $650 billion of payments on two dollar bonds last week, but was blocked by the US Treasury.

The CDDC has been asked to rule on whether the Russian government itself is now in default. Russia still has 22 days remaining of a 30-day grace period in which to make the payment in dollars, although ratings agency S&P has said such an outcome is unlikely.


Zelensky: New mass graves are found almost daily in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Lithuanias Parliament on Tuesday that new mass graves are found almost daily in his country, a statement that adds to the grim testimonials of violence experienced during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In the liberated areas of Ukraine, work continues to record and investigate war crimes committed by the Russian Federation. Almost every day new mass graves are found. Evidence is being gathered. Thousands and thousands of victims, Zelensky said in his address to Lithuanian lawmakers.

Hundreds of cases of brutal torture. Human corpses are still found in manholes and basements. Tied up, mutilated bodies. There are villages, once quite large, which were left almost without inhabitants, he continued.

Zelensky said that hundreds of allegations of rape have been recorded, even alleging that a baby had been raped by Russian forces.

This is the Russian military. Defender of children. This is a special operation planned in Moscow. This is the story of the struggle for the Russian world, Zelensky said, mocking Moscow. This is what the Russian army and Russian paratroopers will now be associated with.

Zelensky urged that the European Union take strong action against Russia in its sixth round of sanctions against the country.

We must do everything necessary now in the sixth package of sanctions. The European Union can do that. And it must do that. It must include oil there. It must impose sanctions on Russian banks  on all of them, not part. No demonstrations needed, Zelensky said.

Specific deadlines must finally be set for each EU state in order to really abandon or at least significantly limit the consumption of Russian gas, oil, etc.

Zelenskys remarks come amid Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine, now in its second month. Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials have shared reports of atrocities in areas like central Bucha and the eastern cities of Kramatorsk and Mariupol.

Last week, Russian forces attacked a train station in Kramatorsk where civilians were being evacuated. The blast from the rocket attack killed and injured dozens of Ukrainians.

UNICEF Emergency Programmes Director Manuel Fontaine said on Monday that close to two-thirds of children in Ukraine alone have been displaced by conflict, which has created a humanitarian crisis.

----------


## HermantheGerman

> Not aware it ever happened in the UK, and certainly not Australia (except for the convicts).


Are you telling me there is no mandatory military service for young men in a case of war?

----------


## sabang

There has been a draft before as recently as 1972, for Vietnam- but no "my country is my prison" set up in Australia since it was a penal colony.

----------


## nidhogg

> Not aware it ever happened in the UK, and certainly not Australia (except for the convicts).


What are you on about?  Both UK and Australia have had conscription.  Conscription covers all males above a certain age.  Selection or exemption happens at a stage after the conscription notice.  Both UK and Australia prosecuted people who avoided  conscription.

----------


## Switch

> Ukrainian border guards say they have prevented about 2200 men of conscript age from leaving the country, which has been forbidden since the start of the war.
> 
> Ukraine's border guard agency says about 2200 Ukrainian men of fighting age have been detained so far while trying to leave the country in violation of martial law.
> 
> The agency said on Sunday that some of them have used forged documents and others tried to bribe border guards to get out of the country.
> 
> It said some have been found dead while trying to cross the Carpathian mountains in adverse weather, without specifying the number.
> 
> Under martial law, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 are barred from leaving the country so that they can be called up to fight.
> ...


And Russia is ready to tap into a few million residents with military experience in the last 5 years. Age limit is 50 years old. (From your earlier BBC quote)

Plus the Labour camps are teeming with disaffected individuals dreaming of Russian combat rations …..

----------


## Switch

If memory serves the UK ceased conscription in the 1960s. They since relied on anyone who completed less than 22 years service having a liability to complete 22 years if called up in an emergency. They also relied on calling up reserve from the TA.
I believe that has now also been abandoned with the much smaller standing volunteer armed forces being greatly reduced.

----------


## helge

We have conscrption in Denmark.

All males will be called up in when 18 years.

Only a fraction gets taken though.


In the present frenzy more will be needed though.

All those billions worth of planned hardware procurements, doesn't drive themselves, you know

----------


## HermantheGerman

> If memory serves the UK ceased conscription in the 1960s. They since relied on anyone who completed less than 22 years service having a liability to complete 22 years if called up in an emergency. They also relied on calling up reserve from the TA.
> I believe that has now also been abandoned with the much smaller standing volunteer armed forces being greatly reduced.


I was waiting a bit to let this sink in to our audience  :Smile: 

But my question was???
Or in the case of the Ukraine???

When there is a war, especially being attacked by a war criminal. I don't think any country would let their young men leave their country. 
A conscription in peace time is a different thing.

Where are our military experts?  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## sabang

> Plus the Labour camps are teeming with disaffected individuals dreaming of Russian combat rations …..


Think you've been channeling Solzhenitsyn mate- that was the 1950's, which is indeed when the Gulag system ended. Actually, fast forward to the modern era, and these "millions of disaffected individuals" to be found in prison camps are in the USA, which has by far the worlds largest prison camp population. Maybe send them to Ukraine?  ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

*Ukraine: Controversy over Steinmeier visit sparks debate in Germany*

German politicians have reacted with surprise after Ukraine refused a visit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The head of state recently admitted mistakes had been made in past efforts at detente with Russia.


Politicians from across the political spectrum have voiced their shock after the Ukrainian government refused a visit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Steinmeier had planned to visit the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, alongside the heads of state of Poland and the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. 
However, the Ukrainian leadership rejected those plans, Steinmeier said.

While this was ostensibly because of Steinmeier's past fostering of detente with Russia, Ukraine has also made clear that it expects a visit from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rather than from the president, whose role is largely ceremonial.

*Initial disbelief, disappointment*

Speaking to German public radio RBB, Scholz said the snub was "irksome" to the German government. The German chancellor did not comment any further, but said: "It would have been good to receive him (Steinmeier)."

Still, Scholz insisted that Germany would continue to support Ukraine.

German lawmaker Michael Roth, foreign policy expert for the Social Democrats (SPD) — the leading partner in Germany's coalition government, and Steinmeier's own party before he took up the presidency — expressed "great disappointment" at the cancellation of the visit.

"I couldn't believe it at first. Especially now, it is important to remain in conversation," the SPD politician told news magazine _Der Spiegel_.

Roth was among three top German politicians to travel to Ukraine on Tuesday, meeting Ukrainian parliamentarians in the west of the country. Alongside Roth, representing all three member parties of Germany's coalition government, were Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) and Anton Hofreiter of the Greens.

Full-  Ukraine: Controversy over Steinmeier visit sparks debate in Germany | News | DW | 13.04.2022

----------


## S Landreth

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has assets frozen in Jersey

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has $7 billion in assets frozen in Jersey in latest Ukraine fallout

Authorities in the island country of Jersey froze assets valued at more than $7 billion that are suspected of being connected to Roman Abramovich, the latest financial fallout for that Russian oligarch as a result of the Ukraine war.

States of Jersey Police also executed search warrants Tuesday at locations in Jersey suspected to be connected to Abramovichs business activities, according to a statement by the Law Officers Department in that country.

Jersey, part of the Channel Islands located off the coast of Normandy, France, Jersey, is a self-governing country whose head of state is Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. The United Kingdom provides military protection to the island.

The actions come a month after the UK announced financial sanctions against the 56-year-old Abramovich for his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the architect of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

On the heels of that unprovoked war, Abramovich announced that he would sell the renowned London soccer club Chelsea.

The Guardian newspaper last week reported that Abramovich shifted his ownership of a superyacht, Aquamarine, to a company based in Jersey that is controlled by an associate of his, David Davidovich, on Feb. 24, the same day that Russia invaded Ukraine.

It was not clear Wednesday if the 50-meter-long Aquamarine, which remains in dry dock in the Netherlands, is one of the assets frozen by Jersey authorities.

The Royal Court also imposed a formal freezing order on 12 April, known as a saisie judiciaire, over assets understood to be valued in excess of US$7 billion which are suspected to be connected to Mr Abramovich and which are either located in Jersey or owned by Jersey incorporated entities, Jerseys Law Officers Department said in a statement Wednesday that declined further comment.

The Financial Times reported that Abramovich has moved a number of his investments from the British Virgin Islands to Jersey in recent years. Those include a number of helicopters, and the superyacht Sussurro, the newspaper noted.

The Bailiwick Expresss Jersey edition reported that Abramovich was expected to move to Jersey in 2018, but that did not happen after the renewal of his UK visa was delayed on the heels of the poisoning of the former Russian military officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city Salisbury.

Jersey and Guernsey, which is also relies on the U.K. for protection, ordered financial industry firms there to freeze the assets of five Russian banks and three other billionaires after Putin ordered Russian troops into eastern Ukraine in late February, the BBC reported at the time.

Also that month, Jersey External Relations Minister Ian Gorst said the island would take further measures that were in line with actions by the UK.

Officers continue to work closely with UK counterparts, and we are ready to take further measures to ensure Jerseys response is in line with the international community, Gorst said at that time.

----------


## sabang

Russia says more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines have surrendered in the besieged port of Mariupol, but Ukraine denies this.

The city's Deputy Mayor, Serhiy Orlov, told the BBC that Ukrainian troops there were still fighting.

Tens of thousands of people have died in Mariupol, Ukraine says.

Fighting appears to be continuing around the giant Azovstal steel works in the port, which is one of two areas not under Russian control.

Russian television has broadcast footage which it says shows marines giving themselves up at the steel works.

But an adviser to Ukraine's president insisted that the marines had in fact broken through to connect with Azov battalion forces in another pocket.

Mariupol is a major port and a key target for Russia as it seeks to establish a land route to the Crimea peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

The city has been the focus of a devastating assault by Russian forces, and Ukrainian troops there have said they are running out of ammunition.

A senior US defence official said that Russian air strikes continued to target Mariupol and the US does not believe the city has been fully taken by Russia.

Earlier on Wednesday Reuters journalists saw flames billowing from the Azovstal steel works where marines from the 36th brigade have been holed up for weeks.

The population of Mariupol stood at over 400,000 before the Russian invasion. Residents unable to escape the siege have struggled to access the basics for survival.
Mass surrender of troops in Mariupol, says Russia (msn.com)

More Russian propaganda, or More Ukrainian bullshit?

(Incidentally the 'Ukrainian Deputy Mayor' is a bit of an outdated reference- Mariupol has already appointed a new Mayor and Council. Maybe he just wanted to say hello from Kiev)

----------


## Switch

Not many left to cause a “mass” surrender. Ukrainian sources already reported the forthcoming loss of Mariupol.

----------


## sabang

Bit late- I told ya a coupla weeks ago.

----------


## David48atTD

Presidents from countries on Russia's doorstep visit Ukraine
 
                     By           Associated Press       
 2022/04/14 08:57

             KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The presidents of four countries on  Russias doorstep visited Ukraine on Wednesday and underscored their  support for the embattled country, where they saw heavily damaged  buildings and demanded accountability for what they called war crimes  carried out by Russian forces.

                                            The visit by the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and  Estonia was a strong show of solidarity from the countries on NATOs  eastern flank, three of them like Ukraine once part of the Soviet Union.  

The leaders traveled by train to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, to meet  with their counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and visited Borodyanka, one of the nearby towns where evidence of atrocities was found after Russian troops withdrew to focus on the country's east.

                                            The fight for Europes future is happening here,  Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said, calling for tougher  sanctions, including against Russias oil and gas shipments and all the  countrys banks.

Presidents from countries on Russia's doorstep visit Ukraine | Taiwan News | 2022-04-14 08:57:00

----------


## bsnub

> Presidents from countries on Russia's doorstep visit Ukraine


Very honorable.

----------


## bsnub

This clip blows the propagandist argument that the US was somehow to blame for this war out of the water. I stand by my comments made several months ago that this war was predetermined, and the west could not have stopped it. This is a must-watch...

----------


## David48atTD

Details revealed on $800 million U.S. weapons package for Ukraine


Ukraine was already  stocking up on U.S.-made Javelins before Russia invaded. Here a group of  Ukrainian servicemen take a shipment of Javelins in early February, as  Russia positioned troops on Ukraines border.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Wednesday night revealed  details about the latest military aid package the United States will  send to Ukraine, which includes ...


*200 M113 armored personnel carriers* and *100 other armored,  wheeled vehicles*. The M113 is an older, tracked vehicle that the United  States began using before the Vietnam War.*500 Javelin missiles* and *300 Switchblade attack  drones*. Ukrainian defenders have used the Javelin and other  shoulder-launched weapons to devastating effect against Russian tanks  and other vehicles.*Eight howitzers* and*40,000 artillery rounds* are also part of the newest U.S. arms shipment.The  list includes *protective equipment* against chemical, biological and  radiological attacks, as well as*30,000 sets of body armor and helmets*. 

Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

----------


## bsnub

> 200 M113 armored personnel carriers


Those are crap. They were used in the Vietnam War. FFS

Where are the M1's? The US has 3,000 sitting in storage. Those would end the war. 

How many M1 Abrams are in storage? – Rampfesthudson.com




> Eight howitzers


That is not enough. A lot has been left off that list. $800,000,000 buys a lot more than that.

----------


## bsnub

ODESSA, Ukraine — The fighter pilot known as “Juice” usually just has a  few minutes to scramble. When he is on-call, which is pretty much always  these days, he cannot be more than a bathroom break away from his  cockpit. When a cruise missile or a Russian fighter is spotted moving  toward the area Juice is assigned toby the Ukrainian air force, he doesn’t even have time to run through standard safety checks before taking off.

“We’re ready to be killed,” said Juice, who provided only his call sign for security reasons.

“But  we don’t want this, of course,” the 29-year-old added. “We want to kill  Russians and take down their bombers that are killing our cities and  our families.”

Juice  is one of the pilots helping Ukraine pull off the biggest surprise of  this war: Its military has kept the airspace over Ukraine contested  despite Russia’s more advanced jets and superior numbers. But he and  other pilots say that’s not enough. While Kyiv’s forces have perhaps  even outperformed Moscow’s on the ground, Russia has continued to  inflict heavy losses on Ukraine from the sky.

Ukrainian  President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to the United States and  other NATO allies to establish a no-fly zone over the country — a step  that leaders in the military alliance refused to take, citing fears of  touching off a world war with Moscow. Now Zelensky is pushing for more  advanced air-defense systems and jets.

But  Juice and others have said the weapons that countries have discussed  transferring to Ukraine — particularly Russian-made MiG-29 fighters and  U.S.-made Stinger antiaircraft missiles — won’t help Kyiv’s air force  tip the scales in its favor. The gap between the weapons Ukraine wants  and what Western countries are willing to supply has become a key  tension nearly two months into the fighting.

Nowhere  is that divide more evident than in the proposed air materiel  transfers. Juice flies the MiG-29, which is a Soviet-era staple of the  Ukrainian air force. But he said Ukrainian pilots are “just targets” for  Russian adversaries who fly far more advanced jets. Obtaining more  outdated MiGs would not improve Ukraine’s position in the skies, he  said.

“We  have losses almost everyday in our air force,” he added. “You won’t see  this on TV because everything is classified right now, but actually we  have a lot of losses. That’s why we need to be technically equal with  the Russians. Just our mental advantage is not enough to fight with  these technologies.”

Poland last month offered to send  a number of MiG-29 jets to Ukraine via a U.S. air base in Germany,  blindsiding U.S. officials. In exchange, Poland requested that the  United States send it replacement planes, presumably newer  U.S.-manufactured F-16s, which would constitute a major upgrade.  Washington rejected the plan.

Then  on Monday, Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger told reporters that  Slovakia will consider providing Ukraine MiG-29 fighters if alternative  protection of its own airspace can be arranged.

But  for Ukrainian pilots, more MiG-29s aren’t the answer. The jets Poland  offered to transfer them are even older — some date back to the late  ’80s — than their current stock.

“I  think the Ukrainians are right — you’re basically a target in the air  if you don’t have any of that modern capability,” said Herbert “Hawk”  Carlisle, a retired U.S. Air Force general. “It’s not just an airplane  up there. You have to have all of that sophisticated equipment on it to  make it really a viable air platform.”

Countries  have proposed sending Ukrainians MiG-29s in large part because that’s  what the country’s pilots already know how to fly. If they received  F-16s, Carlisle said, it’s not just the pilots who would have to learn a  flight system he described as “significantly different” from  Soviet-style jets; personnel on the ground would have to train on how  maintain the aircraft and load them with compatible munitions.

But  Juice and another Ukrainian pilot, whose call sign is “Nomad,” said the  learning curve isn’t as substantial as it’s often made out to be.  Nomad, who is in the United States as part of a training program, said  it would probably take Ukrainians about two weeks to learn the nuances  of the U.S.-made F-series planes.

Many  of the pilots already speak English and have participated in joint  exercises with the U.S. Air Force, so they’re familiar with the  terminology of those planes’ systems, they said.

The  pilots were also critical of the effectiveness of Stinger antiaircraft  missiles, which have been part of U.S. aid packages. Nomad said that  “it’s almost impossible” to hit an agile, fast-moving Russian jet with  the missiles. Carlisle agreed, adding that Stingers aren’t designed to  take down fighters — they’re intended to be used against helicopters and  other slow-moving, low-flying aircraft.

If  Western countries are hesitant to give Ukraine modern jets its pilots  haven’t trained on, Juice said they should at least consider sending  more advanced air-defense systems. He said those are much easier to  learn how to operate.

Military  analysts expected Russia to wipe out Ukraine’s air-defense systems,  airfields and aircraft on the very first day of the war, when Moscow  still had the element of surprise. But Rob Lee, an expert on the Russian  military and a senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Research  Institute, said Russia “didn’t really go for a death blow,” and in some  cases, their missiles hit the airfield but missed the runway.

Ukrainian  pilots were able to improvise from there. Juice said the fight in the  sky doesn’t feel fair when he’s going up against a more modern Russian  jet. He often has to just avoid his adversary entirely to stay alive.  Sometimes, he and his fellow pilots manage to trick the Russians into  flying into an area where the Ukrainians have an air-defense system  ready and waiting.

Analysts at the Oryx Blog, which tracks Russian military losses, documented 20 aircraft and 30 helicopters destroyed or damaged in Ukraine.

“We  are just trying to do something nonstandard, and sometimes it’s  successful and sometimes it’s not,” Juice said. “Sometimes they’re just  stupid and Russians are just showing their incompetence and  underestimating our training.

“But in general, we cannot gain a real air superiority, unfortunately.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...g-29-russians/

----------


## David48atTD

^^  I had mentioned before that the war was a good excuse to use up old munitions/military equipment.

Sad, but true.


Great that they are getting the good anti-tank missiles etc ... *500 Javelin missiles* and *300 Switchblade attack  drones*

----------


## David48atTD

> 200 M113 armored personnel carriers





> Those are crap. They were used in the Vietnam War. FFS

----------


## bsnub

A Ukrainian navy missile battery reportedly has struck the Russian navy cruiser _Moskva_off the coast of Odessa, a strategic port city on the Black Sea in southwest Ukraine.

  Multiple Ukrainian government officials claimed Wednesday that a  Neptune anti-ship battery, apparently hidden in or around Odessa, scored  two hits on _Moskva_, setting the 612-foot vessel ablaze.

  Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv, announced the strike.  So did Maksym Marchenko, head of the administration in Odessa. “Neptune  missiles … caused very serious damage to the Russian ship,” Marchenko said. 

    An audio recording, purportedly of Ukrainian troops reporting the attack on the cruiser, circulated on social media. 

    Russian state media confirmed the ship was on fire and the crew evacuated, but blamed the blaze on an accidental ammunition explosion. _Moskva_ reportedly later sank.

It’s possible Moscow is trying to muddy the waters, so to speak, in  order to rob Kyiv of an information victory. It’s equally possible  Ukraine just landed a devastating blow against Russia.
  To be fair, Ukrainian sources more than once have reported hits on  Russian warships blockading Odessa and other ports since Russia widened  its war on Ukraine starting the night of Feb. 23. 

  Just one report is verified. Ukrainian troops in the besieged city of Mariupol in late March scored a hit on a Russian patrol boat using an old anti-tank guided missile.
      Compared to a Konkurs ATGM, Neptune is a much more  sophisticated and, to Russian sailors, dangerous weapon. But the pre-war  Ukrainian navy probably possessed just one Neptune battery out of the half-dozen or so it planned to induct this spring. 

Kyiv launched development of the missile back in 2013 and completed  the first test shots in 2018. The Neptune system fires R-360 cruise  missiles that fly at low altitude as far as 180 miles. The missile  borrows its booster from the S-125 anti-air missile and uses an MS-400  turbojet for cruising. The radar seeker head has a detection range of  around 30 miles. 

  A Neptune battery includes a truck-mounted launcher with four rounds,  a command truck and a pair of resupply trucks plus links to a mobile  Mineral-U radar with a 370-mile range.

  If the Ukrainians really _did_ hit _Moskva_ with a  Neptune or two, it means they first managed to cobble together, man and  deploy at least one complete battery with all its supporting systems—all  in the middle of a devastating war.

  It also means they fed accurate targeting data to the battery, via a  drone, land-based radar or some other sensor. None of this is easy, but  it’s certainly possible.

  Still, the claimed attack on _Moskva_, if confirmed, would be consistent with the course of the broader naval campaign. The Russian Black Sea Fleet, of which the _Moskva_ is the flagship, controls the waters around Ukraine but has been unable totally to suppress Ukraine’s coastal defenses.

  Those defenses—mines, anti-tank missiles, long-range ballistic  missiles and armed drones—make any amphibious operation against a  Ukrainian port extremely risky for the attackers. The fate of the  Russian landing ship _Saratov_, which burst into flames while pier-side in the occupied port of Berdyansk on March 24, underscored that risk.

  It’s possible the Ukrainians hit _Saratov_ with a Tochka ballistic missile. Or maybe one of the Ukrainian navy’s Turkish-made TB-2 drones managed to slip through local air-defenses to strike the vessel with a guided missile. 

  In any event, “the destruction of the _Saratov_ landing ship  at Berdyansk will likely damage the confidence of the Russian navy to  conduct operations in close proximity to the coast of Ukraine in the  future,” the U.K. defense ministry stated. 

  If the Ukrainians also hit _Moskva_, a Russian amphibious attack becomes even less likely. 

  In commission for 40 years, _Moskva_ is not a new ship. But as  one of Russia’s biggest warships, she’s heavily armed with 16 fixed  launchers for P-1000 anti-ship missiles, vertical tubes for 64 S-300  air-defense missiles and rail launchers for 40 Osa missiles for aerial  self-defense, plus a bevy of guns. Torpedo tubes and a helicopter round  out her capabilities.

  A veritable floating missile-battery, _Moskva_ is—or maybe _was_—the  Black Sea Fleet’s best defense against Ukrainian attack. With her, the  fleet still is vulnerable. Without her, it would be even more exposed to  missiles, rockets and drones.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=750cf9ac3971

----------


## David48atTD

What we know is that the Saratov extremely damaged and, hopefully sunk.

Should buy Odessa some more time to prepare.

My fondest memories are of Odessa.

----------


## bsnub

> What we know is that the Saratov extremely damaged and, hopefully sunk.


I will put my money on it sinking...

https://twitter.com/SPITFIREVA/statu...45898549313536

----------


## HermantheGerman

> A Ukrainian navy missile battery reportedly has struck the Russian navy cruiser _Moskva_off the coast of Odessa, a strategic port city on the Black Sea in southwest Ukraine.


That would be great news and right on time :Crucified:

----------


## HermantheGerman

> I stand by my comments made several months ago that this war was predetermined, and the west could not have stopped it. This is a must-watch...


Good find! Now we know what's coming.

In "Sabangs and DingOhh DongOhh World" this interview would have magically disappeared and never took place.

----------


## Switch

> Bit late- I told ya a coupla weeks ago.


Then please explain why you are posting it today?

----------


## sabang

Just felt like it. Boneheads got no memory.  ::chitown::

----------


## S Landreth

Ukraine seizes 154 assets of pro-Russian party leader, including 55 homes, 26 cars

Ukrainian authorities on Wednesday seized 154 assets  including 55 homes, 26 cars and a yacht  from Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian member of Ukraines Parliament who was captured by the nations forces on Tuesday.

The court of Lviv seized the assets at the request of Ukraines State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor Generals Office, according to a Thursday release.

Also among the assets were 30 plots of land, 32 apartments and 17 parking spaces, and authorities took control of Medvedchuks shares in 25 companies.

Medvedchuk is the leader of the pro-Russian Ukrainian party in Parliament, the Opposition Platform  For Life. He also claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin is the godfather of one of his daughters.

The Ukrainian politician was placed on house arrest last year for charges of treason and plundering resources in Crimea following Russias 2014 annexation.

Ukraines security service, known as the SBU, captured Medvedchuk on Tuesday after he previously fled home confinement shortly after Russia invaded the nation on Feb. 24.

After his detention, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered to swap Medvedchuk for Ukrainians held as prisoners in Russia, but the Kremlin rejected the offer on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Ukraines investigative bureau on Thursday said they will continue to prosecute traitors and confiscate their property, as required by law.

----------


## S Landreth

Europe Reluctantly Readies Russian Oil Embargo

European officials are drafting plans for an embargo on Russian oil products, the most contested measure yet to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and a move long resisted because of its big costs for Germany and its potential to disrupt politics around the region and increase energy prices.

Having earlier this month banned Russian coal for the first time  with a four-month transition period to wind down ongoing orders  the European Union is now likely to adopt a similarly phased ban of Russian oil, E.U. officials and diplomats said. The approach is designed to give Germany, in particular, time to arrange alternative suppliers.

The discussions come just as President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia acknowledged on Thursday that the Western sanctions already in place had hurt his countrys vital energy sector.

The earliest the proposed E.U. embargo will be put up for negotiation will be after the final round of the French elections, on April 24, to ensure that the impact on prices at the pump doesnt fuel the populist candidate Marine Le Pen and hurt president Emmanuel Macrons chances of re-election, officials said.

The timeline is as important as the details of the ban, and is indicative of the brinkmanship required to convince all 27 E.U. countries to agree to take a previously unthinkable step, as Russia prepares a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine.

But officials and diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the press, said that there was a growing sense that the measure would be taken even in the absence of a so-called trigger  another major news event like the atrocities in Bucha. But an event of that type could move the decision forward.

The commission and E.U. members have smartly shied away from defining red lines that would trigger a sanctions response since Russia attacked Ukraine, said Emre Peker, a director at the Eurasia Group consultancy.

I expect the E.U. will shy away from defining triggers, he added, as continued escalation by Russia in eastern Ukraine and revelations from Bucha and elsewhere continue to drive momentum behind a hardening European stance. Any other major catastrophes that unfold will just add more impetus to the E.U. response.

The European Union, which has taken five rounds of increasingly severe financial sanctions against Russia since the invasion began Feb. 24, is under tremendous pressure by allies to stop lining the Kremlins coffers through oil purchases. So far they have kept gas imports from Russia off the table, because they remain too critical to important European economies, Germanys in particular.

But a handful of its members are also ill-prepared to deal with the economic consequences from closing the tap on Russian oil imports. Russia is the European Unions largest oil supplier, providing the bloc with a quarter of its oil and petroleum product imports in 2020.

Germany, the blocs de facto leader, highly dependent on Russian oil and gas, has been a key country resisting a quick, universal and simultaneous E.U.-wide oil embargo, and much of the work around the details of the measure is focused on ensuring that Berlin comes on board.

Germany gets 34 percent of its oil from Russia. A key challenge will be not only to find alternative suppliers to make up for that, but also to line up sufficient land transport for oil heading to its two refineries that are fed by pipelines from Russia, in particular a refinery in the eastern city of Schwedt, by the Polish border.

This week, the German ambassador to the United States elaborated on her countrys thinking on energy sanctions in a long thread on Twitter.

Going cold turkey on fossil fuels from Russia would cause a massive, instant disruption. You cannot turn modern industrial plants on and off like a light switch. The knock-on effects would be felt beyond Germany, the EUs economic engine and 4th largest economy in the world, the ambassador, Emily Haber, said.

Hungary, another E.U. country thats highly dependent on Russian oil, has demanded any future sanctions be decided by E.U. leaders rather than senior diplomats or ministers, raising the prospect of an emergency summit meeting to debate the topic.

Mr. Putin spoke at length about Europes dependence on Russian oil and gas at a meeting of top Russian officials on Thursday. He warned of a major disruption to the global economy should Western nations move to ban them.

The consequences of this may be extremely painful, primarily for the initiators of the policy, Mr. Putin said, according to an English-language transcript released by the Kremlin.

But he also acknowledged that the European measures already in place are hurting Russias energy exports because they affect logistics and finance.

The most urgent problem here is the disruption of export logistics, Mr. Putin said at the meeting, which included his top advisers. Furthermore, there are setbacks in payments for Russian energy exports. Banks from these unfriendly countries are delaying the transfer of funds.

For now, the drafting of the new European measures is being done by a small number of experts at the European Commission, the blocs executive arm, led by President Ursula von der Leyens chief of staff, Björn Seibert.

But in addition to the French election, the timetable is also slowed by the Catholic Easter on April 16 and the Orthodox Easter on April 24, observed as a holiday in Europe, meaning that the measures would be put up for debate in late April or early May at the earliest.

A European Union leaders summit on Ukraine is already scheduled for the end of May, but officials said it was possible events on the ground in Ukraine, in particular after the launch of the Russian offensive in the east, would make an earlier meeting to address an oil embargo necessary.

But with all these caveats applying, what once seemed an impossible step for Europe was now likely, officials said.

Following the working method of drafting E.U. sanctions, the Commission is not putting details of its proposals for an oil ban on paper  for fear it will leak, or force public expressions of disagreement among E.U. nations and so break its attempt to project a united front.

Instead, small groups of diplomats will meet with Commission officials to debate the measures in coming days, throughout the Easter break, officials said.

The most likely approach is a schedule that differentiates between types of oil products and methods of delivery, with consensus building around the feasibility of a faster embargo on oil transported by tankers, as opposed to oil coming to Europe via pipelines. That concession is intended to bring Germany on board.

A minimum one-month transition period will be part of the oil ban currently discussed, diplomats and officials said.

While the direction of travel  toward oil sanctions and overall energy decoupling from Russia  is clear and broadly uncontested, many E.U. capitals led by Berlin want to roll out forthcoming measures with as little disruption as possible, Mr. Peker said.

That will require phase-outs and exemptions, to allow countries with a heavy reliance on Russian supplies to adjust. It will also be key to achieving consensus among 27 member states, he added.

Germanys economy minister, Robert Habeck, has publicly stated that the country is weaning itself off Russian oil with a year-end horizon, timeline that would likely be expedited.

Companies are letting their contracts with Russian suppliers run out, not renewing them and switching to other suppliers at an insane pace, Mr. Habeck said in Berlin in late March.

----------


## misskit

*Powerful explosions heard in Kyiv after Russian warship sinks*

KYIV/LVIV, Ukraine, April 15 (Reuters) – Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv early on Friday, and air raid sirens blared across Ukraine as residents braced for new Russian attacks after Moscow’s lead warship in the Black Sea sank following a fire.


The explosions appeared to be among the most significant in Ukraine’s capital region since Russian troops pulled back from the area earlier this month in preparation for battles in the south and east.


Ukraine claimed responsibility for sinking the Moskva, saying the Soviet-era flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was struck by one of its missiles. The vessel sank late on Thursday as it was being towed to port, Russia’s defence ministry said.


Over 500 crew aboard the missile cruiser were evacuated after ammunition on board exploded, the ministry said, without acknowledging an attack. Ukraine says it hit the warship with a locally made Neptune anti-ship missile.


The ship’s loss comes as Russia’s navy continues its bombardment of Ukrainian cities on the Black Sea nearly 50 days after it launched the invasion. Residents of Odesa and Mariupol, on the adjacent Azov Sea, have been bracing for new Russian attacks.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy alluded to the sunken warship in an early morning video address in which he warned of Russian intentions to target the eastern Donbas region, including Mariupol.


Zelenskiy paid homage to all “those who halted the progress of the endless convoys of Russian military equipment … Those who showed that Russian ships can go … down to the bottom.”


There were no immediate reports of damage following the explosions reported in Kyiv, Kherson in the south, the eastern city of Kharkiv and the town of Ivano-Frankivsk in the west. Ukrainian media reported electricity outages in parts of Kyiv.


Air raid sirens went off in all regions of Ukraine just after midnight on Friday and continued blaring in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia even after those elsewhere went quiet, Ukrainian media said.


Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.


MOSKVA


Whatever the cause of the Moskva’s loss, the episode is a setback for Russia. If Ukraine’s assertion that it hit the ship in a missile strike turns out to be true, the attack will go down in history as one of the highest-profile naval attacks so far this century.


Russia’s defence ministry said it is investigating the cause of the fire on board. The United States said it did not have enough information to determine whether the Moskva was hit by a missile.


“(But) certainly, the way this unfolded, it’s a big blow to Russia,” said national security adviser Jake Sullivan.


Russian forces have pulled back from some northern parts of Ukraine after suffering heavy losses and failing to capture Kyiv. Ukraine and its Western allies say Moscow is redeploying for a new offensive in the eastern Donbas region.


Russia launched its assault in part to dissuade Ukraine from joining NATO. But the invasion has pushed Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, and nearby Sweden to consider joining the U.S.-led military alliance.


Moscow warned NATO on Thursday that if Sweden and Finland join, Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea, in the heart of Europe.


Commenting on Russia’s military setbacks, CIA Director William Burns said the threat of Russia potentially using nuclear weapons in Ukraine cannot be taken lightly, but that the agency has not seen much practical evidence reinforcing that concern.


BATTLE FOR MARIUPOL


Moscow describes its invasion as a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarising Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies say Russia has launched an unprovoked war that has seen more than 4.6 million people flee abroad and killed or wounded thousands.


Russia’s navy has fired cruise missiles into Ukraine and its Black Sea activities are crucial to supporting land operations in the south and east, where it is battling to seize full control of Mariupol.


Russia said on Wednesday that more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines from one of the units still holding out in Mariupol had surrendered. Ukrainian officials did not comment.


If taken, Mariupol would be the first major city to fall to Russian forces since they invaded, allowing Moscow to reinforce a land corridor between separatist-held eastern Donbas areas and the Crimea region it seized and annexed in 2014.


Ukraine said tens of thousands of people were believed to have been killed in Mariupol, where efforts were under way to evacuate civilians.


Russia’s defence ministry said late on Thursday that 815 people had been evacuated from the city over the past 24 hours. Ukraine said that figure was 289.

Powerful explosions heard in Kyiv after Russian warship sinks | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

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## misskit

*Putin’s Depraved Secrets Exposed in New Trail of Horrors*

BORODYANKA, Ukraine—“I feel empty, like this photo,” Maria Litvin, a 26-year-old painter, told The Daily Beast as she held up a picture of two ruined buildings, one on each side of a pile of rubble that had been an apartment block less than six weeks ago.


She was standing in what was left of her bedroom in an apartment in Borodyanka, a small town around 40 miles from Kyiv that the Russians have razed to hell. The floor was covered in broken glass and smashed furniture. Had Litvin been in the room when bombs rained down March 1, the glass could have ripped her to shreds. Instead, when they heard the jets flying overhead, she, her mother, and grandmother hid in their cramped shower and bathroom and were spared.


Trapped Ukrainian Woman Watched Her Backyard Turn Into a Mass Murder Scene


But 27 people in their apartment complex were not so lucky and were killed in the blast. Many had been hiding in the basement of a building next door, which collapsed and buried them alive. Investigators believe there are still dozens of bodies underneath the rubble, and some may never be retrieved.


After Ukrainian forces pushed the Russians out of Kyiv Oblast on April 3, there was a brief period of jubilation. The Ukrainians had resisted the initial Russian offensive, and the survival of their nation and its capital seemed assured. But this relief quickly turned to horror and disgust as the full extent of the war crimes committed in the towns occupied by Russia became clear. In Bucha alone, at least 500 corpses have been found, many apparently the victims of summary execution. Local women and girls have reported repeated incidents of rape and sexual violence.


When The Daily Beast visited Bucha this week, authorities were exhuming a mass grave of nearly 60 residents in a plot of land next to a small church. A team of war crimes investigators was also present, inspecting the bodies for tell-tale markings of bindings around the neck and wrists that indicate execution-style killings.


Despite the utter horror in Bucha, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the situation in Borodyanka could be even more dire.


Borodyanka is a classic “one-street town” of just over 10,000 people, which residents speak of without particular affection. Litvin said that like many young people, she had left as soon as she could to study in Kyiv, and now spends most of her time in Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine. The buildings lining Borodyanka’s central avenue are drab gray Soviet-style high-rise apartment blocks and the only hint of art or sculpture in the town is a statue of Ukraine’s national poet, Taras Shevchenko. Even this expression of culture was too much for the occupiers, who allegedly smashed the head off the statue the day they arrived.


Now, Borodyanka is a hellscape of destruction. Dozens of orange-vested workers shovel rocks and concrete into heaps, while bulldozers patrol the streets digging for remains. In Bucha and Irpin, the main streets are already mostly cleaned up, and bridges and buildings are being assessed for reconstruction. Shortly down the road from Irpin, there is a graveyard holding dozens of burned-out wrecks of cars that have been towed and dumped in a clearing near a forest. The residents here cannot imagine the town ever being rebuilt, such is the scale of the destruction.


Borodyanka was directly on the road of the Russian advance to Kyiv, so Putin’s troops chose to flatten it with airstrikes to smooth their advance. At least a dozen residential apartment blocks were destroyed, along with dozens of smaller houses, shops and a supermarket.


One resident, a white-haired man in his sixties who did not wish to be named, showed us the remains of an apartment where his dead neighbors had recently been pulled from. They were a young couple with two children, all of whom had been killed instantly. “There was no military here, no Ukrainian army, just a few poorly armed territorial volunteers. There was no reason for this type of attack,” he said.


Tatiana, Litvin’s 50-year-old neighbor who only wanted to share her first name, said that after the initial airstrikes the humanitarian situation in the town quickly deteriorated. “My doctor—one of the last in the town—also died in that basement,” she said. After that, they packed their stuff and left for a refugee basement shelter close to the station of Borodyanka. They spent almost all their time there during the invasion.


“Russians were just shooting with tanks and guns at every building. They told us, ‘Borodyanka must be destroyed, it can no longer exist,’” Tatiana told The Daily Beast. She names them as the infamous “Kadyrovtsy,” the Chechen forces who are implicated in many of the worst atrocities in Bucha. “They even tried to make us believe that the Ukrainian army was defeated,” she added. Now that the Russians are gone, Tatiana is staying with her husband and her mother in a house nearby.


Russia, of course, dismisses all these allegations as “fake news,” claiming its soldiers have acted with the utmost restraint in the face of overwhelming evidence of their barbarity.


Ukrainians are bracing themselves for an even greater catalog of crimes to appear when they explore areas surrounding the nearby cities of Chernihiv and Sumy, which were also besieged by Russian forces who withdrew at the same time as those assaulting Kyiv. The Russian Foreign Ministry has already warned that Western intelligence has prepared further “provocations” in these regions—a sure sign that they are aware of what their troops have left behind and are prepared for more crimes to be uncovered.


For now, the residents of Borodyanka have created a makeshift memorial out of the possessions of the dead. It sits near a bomb crater left by the worst of the airstrikes, where an oversized child’s teddy bear with vacant white eyes stares out over the wreckage.


Putin’s Depraved Secrets Exposed in New Trail of Horrors

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## misskit

*Russia Hits Kyiv Missile Factory After Moskva Flagship Sinks*

Russian strikes pounded a military factory near Kyiv that makes the missiles Ukraine claims it used to sink the Moskva naval flagship, with Moscow on Friday vowing renewed attacks on the capital.


A workshop and an administrative building at the Vizar plant, which lies near Kyiv's international Zhuliany airport, were seriously damaged in the overnight strikes, an AFP journalist saw. 


Russia had earlier announced it had used Kalibr sea-based long-range missiles to hit the factory, which Ukraine's state weapons manufacturer Ukroboronprom says produced Neptune missiles.


"There were five hits. My employee was in the office and got thrown off his feet by the blast," Andrei Sizov, a 47-year-old owner of a nearby wood workshop, told AFP.


"They are making us pay for destroying the Moskva," he said. It was the first major Russian strike around the Ukrainian capital in over two weeks.

The Kyiv regional governor said there were at least two other Russian strikes on Friday, without providing details on damage or casualties.


Oleksandr Pavliuk said civilians thinking about returning to the capital should "wait for quieter times."


The governor of Ukraine's southern Odessa region, Maxim Marchenko, said the 186-meter-long Russian missile cruiser was hit by Ukrainian Neptune missiles on Wednesday. 


The Moskva had been leading Russia's naval effort in the seven-week conflict, and the circumstances around its sinking and the fate of its crew of over 500 remain murky.


Russia's Defense Ministry said a blast on the vessel was the result of exploding ammunition and that the resulting damage had caused it to "lose its balance" as it was being towed to port on Thursday.


Natalia Gumeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's southern military forces, said that Russia would seek revenge for the sinking and that bad weather had meant the Moskva's crew could not be evacuated.


"We saw that other ships tried to assist it, but even the forces of nature were on Ukraine's side because the storm made both the rescue operation and crew evacuations impossible," Gumeniuk said in a briefing.



'NATO frontline' 


The fleet has been blockading the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, where Russian officials say they are in full control although Ukrainian fighters are still holed up in the city's fortress-like steelworks.


Moscow, which invaded Ukraine partly because of deepening ties between Kyiv and NATO, on Friday warned of unspecified "consequences" should Finland and Sweden join the U.S.-led defense alliance.


The two countries are considering joining NATO after Russia's devastating invasion of neighboring Ukraine.


"They will automatically find themselves on the NATO frontline," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.


Shortly afterwards, Finland's European Affairs Minister Tytti Tuppurainen said it was "highly likely" that her country would apply for NATO membership.


"The people of Finland, they seem to have already made up their mind and there is a huge majority for the NATO membership," she told Britain's Sky News.


Unlike Sweden, Finland neighbors Russia, from which it declared independence in 1917 after 150 years of Russian rule.


Russia on Friday said it was expelling 18 members of the European Union mission after the bloc kicked out some of Moscow's representatives for spying.


The EU condemned the "unjustified" move, saying in a statement that "Russia's chosen course of action will further deepen its international isolation."


Russian forces last month started withdrawing from around the Ukrainian capital as they were redeployed to focus on territory in the east of the country, but the city remains vulnerable to missile strikes.




Evacuations


"The number and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or sabotage committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime on Russian territory," Russia's Defense Ministry said. 


"As a result of the strike on the Zhulyansky machine-building plant 'Vizar,' the workshops for the production and repair of long-range and medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as anti-ship missiles, were destroyed," the ministry said. 


Seizing the eastern Donbas region, where Russian-backed separatists control the Donetsk and Lugansk areas, would allow Moscow to create a southern corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula.


Ukraine said that Russian strikes had killed five people in the area, after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow's forces were aiming to "destroy" the region.


A Russian attack on buses ferrying civilians from the war-torn east killed seven people and wounded more than two dozen, Ukraine said on Friday.


Ukrainian authorities have been urging people in the south and the Donbas area in the east to quickly move west in advance of a large-scale Russian offensive.


Mariupol is in ruins 50 days into Russia's so-called "special military operation" in Ukraine.


Thousands of civilians are believed to have died in the strategic city, many of their bodies still trapped in apartment buildings.




'Starved to death'


Mariupol's residents have started coming outside in search of food, water and an escape route.


The UN's World Food Program appealed for access to Ukrainians trapped in war zones including Mariupol, saying those besieged were starving to death. 


"It's one thing when people are suffering from the devastation of war. It's another thing when they're being starved to death," WFP Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement.


In Geneva, the UN refugee agency said that more than 5 million people have now fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, in Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.


Moscow on Thursday accused Ukraine of sending helicopters to bomb a village in Russia's Bryansk region -- not far from the border with Ukraine — injuring eight people. 


Kyiv has denied the helicopter attack, instead accusing Russia of staging the incidents to stir up "anti-Ukrainian hysteria" in the country.

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday its strategic rocket forces "eliminated up to 30 Polish mercenaries" in a strike on the village of Izyumskoe, not far from the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine. 


In Kharkiv itself, Russian strikes killed at least seven, including a child, the region's governor said Friday, as Moscow's forces stepped up attacks.

Russia Hits Kyiv Missile Factory After Moskva Flagship Sinks - The Moscow Times

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## sabang

Makes you wonder why they didn't hit it before tbh. Wouldn't Ukrainian munitions factories be top of the list of targets?

----------


## Switch

The knee jerk reaction by Putin was delayed. Russia had to decide if it was worse to admit to a victory for Ukraine missiles, or once again, being accused of incompetence, this time in the sinking of a ship responsible for command and control in the Black Sea?

Apparently it was a Ukrainian missile wot did it. Like a child lashing out because someone messed with its favourite toy?

----------


## misskit

*Over 900 civilians dead around Kyiv, Russia vows new attacks*

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Indignant over what it called Ukrainian strikes in Russian territory and following the stunning loss of its Black Sea flagship, Moscow threatened renewed missile attacks on Kyiv, where authorities said the bodies of more than 900 civilians were found outside the capital. Most had been shot dead, police said, and likely “simply executed.”


Russian forces prepared for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine, and fighting also went on in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, where locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the shelling of a residential area killed seven people, including a 7-month-old child, and wounded 34, according to regional Gov. Oleh Sinehubov.


Early Saturday, Kyiv's eastern district of Darnytskie was struck, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in an online posting. He said rescuers and paramedics were on the scene. He warned residents who have fled the capital not to return for their safety.

In the towns around Kyiv, said Andriy Nebytov, who heads the region’s police force, bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating 95% died from gunshot wounds.


“Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets,” Nebytov said.


More bodies are being found every day under rubble and in mass graves, he added, with the largest number found in Bucha, more than 350. According to Nebytov, utility workers gathered and buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Russian troops, he added, had been “tracking down” people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops occupying parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south of terrorizing civilians and hunting for anyone who served in Ukraine’s military or government.


“The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. “Russia’s problem is that it is not accepted — and never will be accepted — by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.”


Officials think 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have died in the war, Zelenskyy told CNN in an interview. He said about 10,000 have been injured and it’s “hard to say how many will survive.”


More violence could be in store for Kyiv after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling Thursday.


“The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on the Russian territory,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.


Russia used missiles to destroy a facility for the repair and production of missile systems in Kyiv, Konashenkov said. The Ukrainian state arms manufacturer, Ukroboronprom, said Russian forces struck one of the missile workshops at the Vizar plant, located near Kyiv’s Zhuliany airport.


Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and the reports could not be independently verified.


However, Ukrainian officials said forces did strike a key Russian warship with missiles. A senior U.S. defense official backed up the claim, saying the U.S. now believes the Moskva was hit by at least one Neptune anti-ship missile, and probably two. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment.


The Moskva, named for the Russian capital, sank while being towed to port Thursday after taking heavy damage. Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, saying only that a fire had detonated ammunition on board. The loss of the ship represents an important victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia.


The sinking reduces Russia’s firepower in the Black Sea and seemed to symbolize Moscow's fortunes in an eight-week invasion widely seen as a historic blunder following the Russian retreat from the Kyiv region and much of northern Ukraine.


“A ‘flagship’ russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted Friday.


Russia's warning of renewed airstrikes did not stop Kyiv residents from taking advantage of a sunny and slightly warmer spring Friday as the weekend approached. More people than usual were out on the streets, walking dogs, riding electric scooters and strolling hand in hand.


Such tentative signs of prewar life have resurfaced in the capital after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of possible war crimes. But a renewed bombardment could mean a return to the steady wail of air raid sirens heard during the early days of the invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations.


In Mariupol, the city council said Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials “of people killed by them.”


“Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown,” the council said on the Telegram messaging app.


Fighting continued in industrial areas and the port, and Russia for the first time used the Tu-22М3 long-range bomber to attack the city, said Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.


Mariupol has been blockaded by Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, and dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders have held out against a siege that has come at a horrific cost to trapped and starving civilians.


The mayor said this week that the city's death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv.


Mariupol’s capture would allow Russian forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.


It's not certain when Russia will launch a full-scale campaign.


Also Friday, a Russian rocket hit an airport at night in the central city of Oleksandriia, Mayor Serhiy Kuzmenko said via Facebook. He made no mention of casualties.


And a regional Ukrainian official said seven people were killed and 27 wounded when Russian forces fired on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near Kharkiv. The claim could not be independently verified.


Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutor’s office, told the Suspilne news website that authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected “violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.”

Over 900 civilians dead around Kyiv, Russia vows new attacks | Taiwan News | 2022-04-16 15 :09: 45

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## misskit

*Russia Warns U.S. of 'Consequences' of Ukraine Military Aid: Reports*

Russia has formally complained to the United States over its military aid to Ukraine, warning of "unpredictable consequences" if shipments of advanced weaponry go forward, U.S. media reported.


In a diplomatic note this week, Moscow warned the United States and NATO against sending the "most sensitive" weapons for Kyiv to use in the conflict with Russia, saying such shipments were "adding fuel" to the situation and could come with "unpredictable consequences," the Washington Post reported.


The warning came the same week that U.S. President Joe Biden pledged a new $800 million military aid package for Ukraine, including helicopters, howitzers and armored personnel carriers.


"What the Russians are telling us privately is precisely what we've been telling the world publicly — that the massive amount of assistance that we've been providing our Ukrainian partners is proving extraordinarily effective," the Post quoted a senior administration official — who spoke on condition of anonymity about the note — as saying.

The State Department declined to comment on reports of the formal note.


"We won't confirm any private diplomatic correspondence," a State Department spokesperson said.


"What we can confirm is that, along with allies and partners, we are providing Ukraine with billions of dollars' worth of security assistance, which our Ukrainian partners are using to extraordinary effect to defend their country against Russia's unprovoked aggression and horrific acts of violence."


According to the New York Times citing U.S. officials, the note was sent through normal channels, and was not signed by any senior Russian officials.


The formal correspondence indicates Russia is concerned about the United States' ongoing material support for Ukraine, an anonymous U.S. official told CNN. 


CNN also reported that one source familiar with the document said the complaint could mean Moscow is getting ready to adopt a more aggressive stance against the United States and NATO as the invasion of Ukraine continues. 


Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky of the new weapons aid package over the phone Wednesday, as Russia refocused its efforts eastward, the new frontline of the seven-week-old war.


"As Russia prepares to intensify its attack in the Donbas region, the United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to defend itself," Biden said.


"This new package of assistance will contain many of the highly effective weapons systems we have already provided and new capabilities tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine."

Zelensky for his part tweeted that he and Biden had discussed the "additional package of defensive and possible macro-financial aid."


The new assistance included some of the heavier equipment that Washington had previously refused to provide to Kyiv for fear of escalating the conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, and comes after previous weapons aid already supplied to the Ukrainian army.

Russia Warns U.S. of 'Consequences' of Ukraine Military Aid: Reports - The Moscow Times

----------


## nidhogg

> Makes you wonder why they didn't hit it before tbh. Wouldn't Ukrainian munitions factories be top of the list of targets?


To be fair, they did have a long list of hospitals, schools and residential buildings that obviously had priority.

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## S Landreth

The BBC did an excellent job. The entire article is much too long to post.


Sanctioned Russian oligarchs linked to £800m worth of UK property

A dozen sanctioned Russians are linked to an estimated £800m worth of property in the UK, analysis by the BBC reveals.

Multi-million pound country manors in the south of England and luxury flats in London's most expensive areas are among the homes which have been snapped up by figures linked to Vladimir Putin.

Some of the individuals deny ownership of the mansions, which may mean they are beyond the reach of the sanctions.

To get to the bottom of who owns what, we carried out a detailed trawl of leaked offshore documents, the Land Registry and court papers - as well as previous reporting.

Our findings highlight the UK's status as a place for super-rich Russians to set up home, and the difficulties of identifying the true owners of properties bought by offshore firms in tax havens.

In response to the BBC's findings, anti-corruption group, Transparency International highlighted how hard it is to track who owns what in the UK.

"Because of the system of secrecy here in the UK and in relation to the Overseas Dependencies it's really easy for people to hide their assets and their funds in the UK and not even the police necessarily have sight of where those assets are," Rachel Davies, head of advocacy at the organisation, told the BBC.

The UK, US and European Union have together sanctioned more than 1,000 Russian individuals and businesses, including wealthy business leaders - so-called oligarchs - who are considered close to the Kremlin.

Most of those listed below were sanctioned after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, although some were already on the government's sanctions list.

Properties linked to sanctioned Russians include:

One example..........


 
Polina Kovaleva is the stepdaughter of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the UK government.

Lavrov was sanctioned by the British government at the same time as Vladimir Putin. A few weeks later, on 24 March, the UK government sanctioned Ms Kovaleva too - saying she reportedly owns a London property worth £4m.

Land Registry documents show Polina Kovaleva bought an apartment in Kensington with no mortgage in 2016, when she was 21. https://twitter.com/pevchikh/status/1501878715709632518

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## sabang

Reckon I might join the Dep't of Foreign Affairs...

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## misskit

*Ukraine war: Russia bans Boris Johnson from country over Ukraine war*

Russia has banned Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other senior ministers from entering Russia over the UK's "hostile" stance on the war in Ukraine.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and 10 other senior politicians - mostly members of the Cabinet - have also been barred.
Moscow said the decision had been made in retaliation to the UK's sanctions against it since it invaded Ukraine.


In March, Moscow imposed a similar ban against US President Joe Biden.


The full list is:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace
Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor, and Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab
Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps
Home Secretary Priti Patel
The Chancellor Rishi Sunak
Minister of Entrepreneurship, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng
Minister of Digitalization, Culture, Media and Sport Nadine Dorries
Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey
First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon
Attorney General for England and Wales and advocate general for Northern Ireland Suella Braverman
Conservative MP and former British Prime Minister Theresa May


In a statement, Russia's foreign ministry said: "London's unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for containing our country and strangling the domestic economy" were responsible for its decision.

It added: "In essence, the British leadership is deliberately aggravating the situation around Ukraine, pumping the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of Nato."


Earlier this week, the UK and US governments announced further sanctions on Russia.
The sanctions included financial measures designed to damage Russia's economy and penalise President Putin, high-ranking officials, and people who have benefited from his regime.

Ukraine war: Russia bans Boris Johnson from country over Ukraine war - BBC News

----------


## malmomike77

ooops

----------


## malmomike77

> In a statement, Russia's foreign ministry said: "London's unbridled information and political campaign aimed at isolating Russia internationally, creating conditions for containing our country and strangling the domestic economy" were responsible for its decision.
> 
> It added: "In essence, the British leadership is deliberately aggravating the situation around Ukraine, pumping the Kyiv regime with lethal weapons and coordinating similar efforts on the part of Nato."


That's a great statement outlining the success the UK has had, i imagine Boris will be sending a thank you note.

----------


## malmomike77

The worst kept secret is finally out, been there since the start

British special forces ‘are training local troops in Ukraine

British special forces have trained local troops in Kyiv for the first time since the war with Russia began, Ukrainian commanders have told The Times.


Officers from two battalions stationed in and around the capital said they had undergone military training, one last week and the other the week before.


Captain Yuriy Myronenko, whose battalion is stationed in Obolon on the northern outskirts of Kyiv, said that military trainers had come to instruct new and returning military recruits to use NLAWs, British-supplied anti-tank missiles that were delivered in February as the invasion was beginning.

British special forces ‘are training local troops in Ukraine’ | News | The Times

----------


## Norton

> British special forces ‘are training local troops in Ukraine


Of course they are and sure the US and other nations have "trainers" in country.

----------


## malmomike77

^ yep, both been running intel and recon from before day one,  the US/UK SF have been working jointery since Iraq.

----------


## sabang

It's been known for years- not a secret at all. More controversial is that they were training private militia, such as Azov, well before they were 'incorporated' into the Ukrainian military reserve.

----------


## Norton

> ^ yep, both been running intel and recon from before day one,  the US/UK SF have been working jointery since Iraq.


Common practice when weapons are transferred to a nation. Hell, I was a trainer in Nong Kai 50+ years ago.  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

KYIV (Reuters) - Around 1.25 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds are still on commercial vessels blocked in Ukrainian seaports due to Russia's invasion and part of the cargo may deteriorate in the near future, Ukraine's farm minister was quoted as saying on Friday.

Ukraine used to export almost all its grain and oilseeds via seaports and now is forced to find new routes as its ports are blocked.


Before the war, Ukraine exported up to 6 million tonnes of grain and oilseed a month, while in March the exports fell to 200,000 tonnes, Mykola Solskyi told the newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda.

"It (the cargo) is not unloaded, and is still on vessels. There are currently 57 vessels with 1.25 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds," Solskyi said.

"As for the retention period, I think that even the captains themselves in most cases do not know if there are any problems with this. They certainly did not plan to keep this grain on the ships for a long time," he added.


Solskyi said that everything depended on the condition of the holds of the vessels and if the grain is stored for more than three months, "problems arise and part of the cargo can be spoiled."

Ukraine traditionally exports grains to the north Africa and the Middle East and Solskyi said these regions would be forced to spend more money and focus on wheat from non-Ukraine origins.

He said importers were already spending more and the situation with grain supply from Ukraine could push these countries to build greater grain reserves and this would also drive up prices.

"That is, even if this story ended magically tomorrow, the wave of high prices will be another 3 to 5 years, until the mood levels off, and there will be no balance," Solskyi added.

Ukraine Says Grain on Ships in Blocked Black Sea Ports May Deteriorate | World News | US News

----------


## sabang

Russia says its troops cleared the urban area of the key city of Mariupol and only a small contingent of Ukrainian fighters remained inside a steel factory in the besieged southern port.

Russia’s claim to have all but taken control of Mariupol – the scene of the war’s heaviest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe – could not be independently verified. It would be the first major city to have fallen to Russian forces since the February 24 invasion.

“The entire urban area of ​​Mariupol has been completely cleared … remnants of the Ukrainian group are currently completely blockaded on the territory of the Azovstal metallurgical plant,” said Igor Konashenkov, the Russian defence ministry’s chief spokesman.

“Their only chance to save their lives is to voluntarily lay down their arms and surrender.”

Konashenkov said 1,464 Ukrainian servicemen have already surrendered “in the course of liberation of Mariupol”.

Russia’s defence ministry said if Ukrainian forces still fighting in Mariupol lay down their arms starting at 6am Moscow time (03:00 GMT) their lives will be spared, Tass news agency reported.

In the key port city, journalists in Russian-held districts reached the steel factory, one of two metals plants where defenders have held out in underground tunnels and bunkers.

The factory was reduced to a ruin of twisted steel and blasted concrete, with no sign of defenders present. Several bodies of civilians lay scattered on nearby streets, including a woman in a pink parka and white shoes.

Someone had spray-painted “mined” on a fence by an obliterated filling station. In a rare sign of life, one red car drove slowly down an otherwise empty street, the word “children” scrawled on a card taped to the windshield.

*‘Absolutely hate them’*

No immediate reaction came from Kyiv to the Russian assertions.

“The situation is very difficult” in Mariupol, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Ukrayinska Pravda news portal. “Our soldiers are blocked, the wounded are blocked. There is a humanitarian crisis … Nevertheless, the guys are defending themselves.”

Speaking in an online address, he accused Russia of trying to wipe out the city’s inhabitants but did not address Moscow’s claim of seizing Mariupol.

Zelenskyy threatened to withdraw from the continuing peace negotiations with Russia if Ukrainian fighters trapped in the port city are killed.

“What they are doing right now … could put a stop to any form of negotiation,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with a Ukrainian news website.

“There are troops there who absolutely hate them, and I don’t think they will let them live,” the Ukrainian leader said, referring to the fact many of the fighters in Mariupol are part of the far-right Azov Batallion.

FULL- Mariupol ‘entirely’ taken, Russia says urging remnants’ surrender (msn.com)

----------


## Switch

> It's been known for years- not a secret at all. More controversial is that they were training private militia, such as Azov, well before they were 'incorporated' into the Ukrainian military reserve.


Please stop making unsubstantiated stories up to suit your narrative.

----------


## Switch

> It's not inside intel at all- it's public knowledge, never even obscured from the public. If that is 'inconvenient' for you, that's your problem.


Is certifiable correct truth available to support your position on this.

You saying that it’s public knowledge carries no weight on here.

----------


## sabang

GIYF swish.

The Secret Of Ukraine’s Military Success: Years Of Nato Training | Mint

----------


## bsnub

Another Russian general got smoked today. 

Russian Major General Vladimir Frolov, deputy commander of the 8th Army,  was buried Saturday after being killed in combat in Ukraine, Russian state media reported, which would make him the eighth Russian general killed in Moscows invasion, if Ukrainian claims are true. 

*Key Background*  As of the end of March, around 14 Russian generals and senior colonels had been claimed to be killeda notable death toll likely to have disrupted Russias front-line operations. An unnamed Pentagon official said  on March 25 that it's not surprising to us to see that there are  [Russian] generals on the battlefield and vulnerable to Ukrainian fire.  The official said Russians don't delegate very well, adding they do  not invest a lot of responsibility in junior-level officers and don't  have a non-commissioned officer corps. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim...h=e98f1d53d412

----------


## malmomike77

Brave blokes but out on a limb....

Second British soldier captured in Mariupol is paraded on Russian TV

A second British soldier fighting with the Ukrainian army has been paraded on Russian television after being captured in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Shaun Pinner said he had been fighting alongside Ukrainian marines when Vladimir Putins forces invaded nearly eight weeks ago.

The 48-year-old former British soldier appeared tired and bruised in a short propaganda video aired by Russian media on Saturday night.

In the video, he says: Hi, Im Shaun Pinner. I am a citizen of the UK. I was captured in Mariupol. I am part of the 36 Brigade First Battalion Ukrainian Marines.

I was fighting in Mariupol for five to six weeks and now Im in Donetsk Peoples Republic.

Pinner also spoke of his fear of capture: I fear for my life. The Russians will treat us differently if we are captured because we are British. This is always on my mind, that I will be captured.

Jayson Pihajlic, who fought against Islamic State alongside Pinner and Aslin in the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the men were standard bearers for democracy who were fighting as volunteers, not mercenaries.

He told the Guardian: I was holding out after Aiden was captured that maybe no news was good news for Shaun. He was in a different unit than Aiden, but they were both in Mariupol.

Its horrible to see. Theyre obviously being beaten up and thats the least we can say  who knows what else is going on. Theyre being labelled as mercenaries, but these guys are not mercenaries  they are proper, uniformed, Ukrainian soldiers.

Pihajlic, a former US marine, said he had last spoken to Aslin and Pinner when they were joining the Ukrainian resistance and that he was praying for their safe release.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/17/second-british-soldier-captured-ukraine-mariupol-paraded-shaun-pinner-russian-tv

----------


## bsnub

> “I was fighting in Mariupol for five to six weeks and now I’m in Donetsk People’s Republic.”


Man, I would not want to be in his shoes.

----------


## malmomike77

> Man, I would not want to be in his shoes.


No but it comes with the territory, he and his mates were on ISIS too so he knew what he was getting into, he also knows the UK Govt can't get him out. I admire his spirit though. The trouble with these add-ons is they end up as leverage and that's counter productive.

----------


## bsnub

Long read but well worth the time...

Considering  Russia spent the last decade waging an online information war against  the West, it came as a surprise to many that, days into the invasion of  Ukraine, Russia was the one losing the information war. 

But they were just getting started, and weeks after the war began, Kremlin allies deployed a new kind of troll farm.

“Attention  fighters,” the administrator of the Cyber Front Z Telegram channel told  their 65,000 followers on Thursday morning. The Ukrainian singer Jamala  was, they said, worthy of an attack. She’d “arranged a photo shoot with  the flag of Ukraine in Britain,” the message continued. Jamala was  targeted because she had posted a series of photographs on her Instagram  account of celebrities like pop star Ed Sheeran and singer Gregory  Porter holding a Ukrainian flag.

The  administrator, who goes by the name Aleksander Kapitanov, told group  members to turn on their VPNs—to circumvent the Kremlin’s ban on  Instagram—and post comments ridiculing the singer. Group members were  also instructed to reference a conspiracy theory the Kremlin has pushed  in recent weeks alleging that the Ukrainian government perpetrated a  genocide against Russian-speakers in the Donbas region. 

Headquartered  in St. Petersburg, Cyber Front Z calls itself a “people’s movement”  working to defend Russia. In its rapidly growing Telegram channel,  launched on March 11, the group claims it is simply working to combat  the flood of fake news and disinformation coming from Ukraine, the U.S.,  and Western Europe about the invasion—or “special operation,” as  Kapitanov unfailingly refers to it.

A  review of the channel by VICE News found that the Cyber Front Z army is  used to boost pro-Kremlin videos, commentary, and articles on sites  like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. The group has pushed many of the  baseless conspiracy theories and narratives that the Kremlin has  supported throughout this war, including claims that Ukraine was developing bioweapons in conjunction with the U.S., that the Russian army was ridding Ukraine of Nazis, and that the Ukrainian military was firing on its own citizens.

The  Telegram channel urges Russians to post comments, share pro-Kremlin  content, and disparage anyone who criticizes Russian President Vladimir  Putin. Kapitanov tells followers that posting such comments is a  citizen’s patriotic duty to support their military’s war on Ukraine.

“We  remind you that Ukrainian Nazis commit atrocities and will soon be  punished for this,” Kapitanov wrote on Thursday in another post. “We  paint everything in the colors of the Russian tricolor and distribute  our symbols Z and V.”

This public army of trolls pushing disinformation across the internet is but one arm of Cyber Front Z’s operation. A report published last week  by independent St. Petersburg–based media outlet Fontanka revealed that  behind all its patriotic rhetoric and claims of a popular movement of  concerned citizens, it’s just another Kremlin-linked troll farm, where  people are paid to post disinformation in a targeted and coordinated  manner.

“The  Cyber Front Z channel openly calls on its ‘supporters’ to write  comments under specific posts—mostly by Russian citizens and  organizations that oppose the war—probably to create an impression that  those comments are written by people who genuinely support Cyber Front  and not by trolls who are paid by the state or one of the pro-Kremlin  oligarchs,” Julia Smirnova, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic  Dialogue, told VICE News. “However, the Fontanka investigation makes it  clear that this is a classic troll factory, with people being paid for  the comments.”

Fontanka  reporter Ksenia Klochkova went undercover as a paid troll at Cyber  Front Z and was offered a monthly salary of around $431.96. She was  given access to fake accounts and instructed what to write and where to  post her comments.

Klochkova  took photos of the Cyber Front Z offices that show bean bags strewn  across the floors and walls decorated with flags featuring the letter  “Z.” (The 26th letter of the English alphabet has been co-opted by nationalistic young Russians in recent weeks  as a symbol of their support of the war and Putin, after Russian tanks  emblazoned with the letter rolled into Ukraine last month.)

Klochkova  reported that she was one of 100 people on her shift all doing the  exact same thing: posting a minimum of 200 comments on content as  directed by the Cyber Front Z supervisors, creating a flood of 20,000  pieces of supposedly organic pro-Kremlin content over a few hours.

Cyber  Front Z, therefore, has two divisions: the public-facing Telegram  channel where volunteers are directed to post disinformation under their  own names across the internet, and a private professional troll army  who are paid to post similar disinformation using fake identities. The  end result is the same, with comments mimicking Kremlin narratives  flooding Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube posts. All new recruits are  asked to contact Kapitanov in order to join Cyber Front Z’s troll army.

The  Fontanka investigation was sparked by an advertisement placed on the  Telegram channel seeking people to “fight back in the information  field.” The post is still pinned at the top of the channel, and says the  group “welcomes everyone who is not indifferent and loves his  Motherland.”

It  also says the group is looking for “social commentators, spammers,  content analysts, programmers, IT specialists, and designers.”

The  group went public weeks into the war, at a time when Russia was facing  losses on the battlefield and in the information war. But despite being  launched relatively recently, it quickly amassed a huge and highly  active following.

“Turn on your VPNs and fly into the ring,” Kapitanov directed the members on Wednesday afternoon. 

The target in “the ring” was an Instagram post by Temirlan Raimkulov, a little-known Kazakh boxer, who had posted a picture of himself  with the Ukrainian flag draped over his shoulders after a bout in the  U.S. last weekend. He had also called Putin a “murderer,” the admin  alleged, though there’s no evidence to support that claim.

“We  are writing to Temirlan that his unsportsmanlike behavior stems from  the fact that he is falling for Ukrainian propaganda,” the admin wrote  in the Telegram channel. The message included a reference to the Azov Battalion, a Ukrainian extremist movement notorious for its far-right ideology. 

“You  need to ask him where he was all these 8 years when Ukraine bombed the  Donbas and why he was silent. Also, ask why Ukraine became the  stronghold of the Nazi battalions. The ones that still terrorize the  local population.”

A post on Tuesday urged members to support the work of Patrick Lancaster, a U.S. videographer who has defended Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine and boosted disinformation about the scale of the supposed Nazi issue in Ukraine.

The  channel even runs competitions to see who can write the most patriotic  comment on social media and rewards the person who achieves the most  likes, shares, or reactions with merch from the Russian military’s  online store. First prize in a competition this week was a T-shirt  emblazoned with the letter “Z”, the runner-up prize was a T-shirt saying  “Army of Russia,” and third place won a Cyber Front-branded baseball  cap.

Kapitanov  frames their work as almost militant, encouraging members to see  themselves as an extension of the Russian military. One meme posted in  the channel this week reimagines a keyboard as a grenade, to be used  against Russia’s enemies online.

Soon  after the Fontanka report was published, a link to the piece was posted  to the Cyber Front Z Telegram channel along with a picture of Klochkova  and a claim that she was working with the U.S. to infiltrate the group.

After  Klochkova’s article was published, the group also said, without  evidence, that someone tried to hack the Cyber Front Z account.

“We  are convinced that the attempt to gain access to the channel and the  investigation are events from the same source, one of the manifestations  of the information war against Russia,” Kapitanov said.

It  is unclear who’s bankrolling the Cyber Front Z operation, and Kapitanov  did not respond to multiple requests for comment by VICE News. The  Kremlin also didn’t respond to a request for comment about whether it  was aware or had endorsed the actions of the group.

However, there is evidence that the Kremlin has some involvement in the operation. 

When  Klochkova didn’t show up for her second day of work earlier this month,  she received a phone call asking if she would continue working on the  project. Klochkova found that the number belonged to Aleksey Nekrilov,  whom Fontanka reported was an employee for Glavset LLC, Mixinfo, and  Novinfo, all three of which the U.S. government has listed as pseudonyms of the infamous St. Petersburg troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency.

In  recent weeks, a man referred to simply as “Alexey” has given several  interviews to Russian state-controlled media where he framed his group  as a “people’s movement” that’s powered by volunteers rather than paid  trolls.

“The  organization, which works on a voluntary basis, includes several  thousand people throughout Russia,” a recent report in state-backed news  agency RIA Novosti said, citing Alexey as the “curator” of the group.

In  an interview with RT, Alexey appeared on camera and said Cyber Front Z  was born out of a need to combat disinformation supposedly being spread  by Ukrainians. 

“Despite  the fact that the activity of the patriotic audience in our social  networks has greatly increased, its work was less organized than the  activity on the part of the Ukrainians,” he said. “That is why the idea  was born to consolidate this patriotic audience and call on it to help  the country on the internet in order to dispel Ukrainian propaganda,  explain to people the goals and objectives of the operation, talk about  the history of Donbas, broadcast opinion information about various  actions in support of the special operation, in order to show that most  of Russian society is on the side of the president’s army.”

Alexey  failed to mention in either interview that Cyber Front Z is reportedly  employing paid trolls to post up to 200 comments per day in support of  Russian disinformation. Instead, he says that those interested can  “become an employee of our analytical headquarters, which is located in  St. Petersburg.”

However,  Klochkova confirmed to VICE News that Alexey was not the man she met in  St. Petersburg, who called himself Aleksander Kapitanov, and that he  was not one of the people she met during her time working at the group’s  headquarters, suggesting that Kapitanov is not the only person running  this operation.

This  level of openness about its disinformation campaigns is a relatively  new phenomenon, said Smirnova, the analyst at the Institute for  Strategic Dialogue, who pointed out that Russian trolls had started to  talk more openly about their work even before the war began. 

Smirnova  says the concept of “implausible deniability”—deniability so paper-thin  that it’s often nothing more than a purely formal denial of state  involvement—is helpful in trying to understand why Cyber Front Z is so  open about what it’s doing, while also portraying itself as nothing more  than an organic patriotic movement.

“So  now, it’s usual that Russian trolls deny only direct state involvement  in their work but not the work itself,” Smirnova said.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kbj...ont-z-telegram

----------


## sabang

Alexei Navalny has called for an “information front” against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the jailed opposition leader asserted that poll results showing 75% of Russians support the conflict were a “Kremlin lie”.

In an extended series of tweets, Navalny called on western leaders to support a massive social media ad campaign in order to break through Kremlin propaganda regarding the invasion.

“We need ads. Lots of ads,” wrote Navalny. “A huge national anti-war campaign will start with an advertising campaign. Two hundred million impressions a day to reach every Russian internet user twice. Stories, posts and prerolls. Across Russia, in cities and villages. On every tablet and every phone.”

In the statement, he called on Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Ursula von der Leyen, Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai, the head of Google owner Alphabet, to “urgently find a solution to crush [Vladimir] Putin’s propaganda using the advertising power of social media”.

The advertising campaign would be a way around the Kremlin’s efforts to shut down independent media in Russia. Along with most independent websites and newspapers, the Russian censor has also blocked access to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

It also marks the opposition leader’s biggest foray yet into the complicated question of how widely the Russian public supports the war in Ukraine. Polling results, including from the independent Levada Centre, have shown majority support among Russians for the war.

But critics have cited poor polling techniques, low response rates and other mitigating factors to argue that many Russians are simply too afraid to voice their opposition to the war.

Then there are the efforts of pro-Kremlin programming, which has come to dominate television schedules in recent months as entertainment programmes have been pushed off all the main government channels.

“The fact is that most Russian citizens have a completely distorted view of what is happening in Ukraine,” Navalny wrote in messages passed to his supporters. “For them, Putin is waging a small, very successful war with very little bloodshed. Our soldiers are heroes and there are hardly any casualties.”

For the same price as a javelin anti-tank missile, he argued, western leaders could attract 200m ad views or “at least 8m views on a video with the truth about what is happening in Ukraine.”

Russia has pulled its troops back from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv but is preparing for a new offensive in Ukraine’s east. Putin has said that Russia’s war will “continue until its full completion and the goals that have been set are fulfilled”.

Alexei Navalny calls for social media ‘information front’ against Russia (msn.com)

----------


## S Landreth

Russia Debt Default Could See the US Seize the Country's Assets

Russia's debt default will be one of the hardest in history to resolve and could see the US seize the central bank's assets, economist says

The impending Russian debt default is likely to be one of the most difficult in history to resolve, and could even lead the US to permanently seize assets from the country's central bank, according to a report from the consultancy Oxford Economics.

Russia is facing its first default on its foreign-currency debt since the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution in 1918.

The US Treasury earlier this month blocked Russia from paying $650 million due on two bonds using funds held at American banks. Russia has instead tried to pay in rubles, but credit ratings agencies have said this would constitute a default.

Russia has a 30-day grace period from April 4 in which to pay in dollars. But thoughts are now turning to the next steps, and how bondholders might recoup their money.

Tatiana Orlova, lead emerging markets economist at Oxford Economics, said investors face a "very long and difficult" legal road. "Russia's debt crisis will be among the most difficult in history to resolve, since the default has its roots in politics rather than finance," she wrote in a report that was sent to clients Thursday.

One of the key problems is that political and financial relations between Russia and the West have completely broken down. That makes the usual default process, whereby bondholders and the government enter negotiations and thrash out a deal, seem unlikely to happen.

Orlova said another problem for bondholders is that Ukraine may lay a claim to Russian assets in international courts to pay for the rebuilding of the country. In that case, investors would have to weigh up whether they want to compete with the Ukrainian government for Russian assets.

The economist said the US might eventually end up seizing the money from the Russian central bank's foreign currency reserves. Western governments have already frozen the bulk of the roughly $600 billion stockpile.

President Joe Biden earlier this year ordered that half of Afghanistan's central bank reserves, which were also frozen, be made available as possible compensation for victims of 9/11 and to fund humanitarian support in the country.

"The US administration could possibly find a stronger moral cause for splitting the US-denominated portion of Russia's FX reserves between Ukraine and bondholders," Orlova said.

Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has said the government has fulfilled its obligations by paying in rubles. He said last week Western governments are forcing Russia into a default and threatened to take legal action.

It's not just holders of Russian sovereign debt who may have to take to the courts to try to get their money.

Orlova's report said there is likely to be an "avalanche" of Russian corporate debt defaults, given that the US is taking a hard line and banning American banks from processing payments.

An international committee of banks last week deemed state-owned Russian Railways to be in default, after sanctions stopped the company from making bond payments.

There were roughly $98 billion of Russian corporate foreign-currency bonds outstanding as the war began in February, according to JPMorgan, with $21.3 billion owned by foreign investors.

----------


## sabang

Russia has began its large-scale military action to seize the east of Ukraine, the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.

“Now we can already state that the Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time,” he said in a video address. Zelenskiy said a “significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive”.

He added: “No matter how many soldiers are driven there, we will defend ourselves. We will fight. We will not give up anything Ukrainian.”

The president’s comments follow a dramatic escalation of attacks by Russia ahead of the long-anticipated operation. Vladimir Putin has declared his intention to seize Donbas, the industrial heartland in the east of the country already partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

Zelenskiy made clear that the Ukrainian army would battle any attempted advance by Moscow. “No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight,” he said. “We will defend ourselves. We will do it every day.”

Earlier on Monday Russia unleashed a barrage of long-range missiles against targets across Ukraine, in what analysts described as a “softening up” exercise before its military push.

Ukrainian government officials warned Russian war-planes were preparing to drop five-tonne bombs on the Azovstal plant in the besieged city of Mariupol. Ukrainian soldiers have been holding out in tunnels under the factory for seven weeks.

The underground complex is also being used as a shelter by hundreds of civilians including children. They were about to be wiped out, the officials said.

Full- Russia begins large-scale military action to seize eastern Ukraine (msn.com)

----------


## sabang

_UNHCR raises alarm as investigation reveals how single men proposed sharing beds with vulnerable women fleeing war.

__London, United Kingdom – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has called on the United Kingdom to review its Homes for Ukraine scheme, following reports that some refugee women felt at risk from their sponsors.

The initiative allows anyone in the country with a spare room to open their homes to Ukrainians as long as they can offer accommodation for at least six months.


list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3UK will pay households $456 a month to host Ukrainian refugees

list 2 of 3‘Shameful’: UK’s response to Ukraine refugee crisis criticised

list 3 of 3UK PM Johnson under fire for comparing Ukraine with Brexit


But there are growing concerns that women are being put at risk via the programme, which more than 150,000 people signed up to as hosts in the days leading up to its launch on March 18.

Last week, an undercover investigation by The Times newspaper revealed how some single British men were proposing sharing beds and sending inappropriate and sexually suggestive messages to women fleeing war.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...ukraine-scheme

_ :Smile:  Better off going to Rwanda maybe.  :Smile: 


_But-

_UNHCR: UK Rwanda refugee plan violates international law_
_https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/04/...rnational-law/


_No pleasing some people._  :smiley laughing: _

_

----------


## Switch

^^ and yet according to reports, Russia is using long range weapons to attack targets in Western Ukraine. Boots on the ground couldn’t do it I Kiev, so they now resort to longer range weapons likely to hit indiscrinate targets.

----------


## Switch

> _UNHCR raises alarm as investigation reveals how single men proposed sharing beds with vulnerable women fleeing war.
> 
> __London, United Kingdom – The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has called on the United Kingdom to review its Homes for Ukraine scheme, following reports that some refugee women felt at risk from their sponsors.
> 
> The initiative allows anyone in the country with a spare room to open their homes to Ukrainians as long as they can offer accommodation for at least six months.
> 
> 
> list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3UK will pay households $456 a month to host Ukrainian refugees
> 
> ...


My spam folder was full of ads for Russian and Ukrainian women, desperate for a new western ATM card.

Now they get a paid trip to UK and a target rich environment. Government sponsored pimping must be a worthwhile game.

----------


## sabang

Maybe they should come out with a wealth warning for UK geeks (plenty of them). Some of those women know how to play the game...

----------


## sabang

The Ukrainian city of Kreminna has been captured by Russian troops, who are intensifying their attacks on the Donbas region.

The attacks have prompted Western governments to pledge more arms for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. 

Ukraine-Russia war live: Russian forces intensify attack on Donbas, as US boosts military aid to Ukraine - ABC News

----------


## S Landreth

Almost 150 attacks reported against health care facilities in Ukraine: WHO

The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday that his organization has verified nearly 150 attacks against health care facilities in Ukraine and demanded that they end. 

.@WHO unequivocally condemns the continued increase in attacks on health care in #Ukraine. They must stop. To date, WHO has verified 147 attacks, including 73 people killed, and 53 injured. War will not be a solution. Once again, I call on Russia to end the war, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted.

Images of a devastated maternity hospital in Mariupol circulated widely after Ukrainian officials accused Russia of bombing the facility in March. 

The bombing killed three people and left more than a dozen wounded. 

Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in London claimed that the photos of the attack were fake and asserted dubious claims about the hospital, who was using it and information regarding one of the victims  leading Twitter to remove several posts.

Ukrainian officials have also accused Russia of attacking a cancer hospital in the southern city of Mykolaiv, among several other buildings. 

The United States determined last month that Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken pointing to attacks on hospitals, among other acts by Russian forces, in his announcement of the formal assessment.

President Biden and former President Trump have also claimed that Russia has committed a genocide in Ukraine. Biden noted, however, that the final determination regarding whether Russias actions amount to genocide would be up to his lawyers.


UN asks for $66M to protect Ukrainian women, children amid rape accusations

The UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, released a statement Tuesday asking for $66 million to help protect Ukrainian women and children as millions flee from Ukraine and Russian soldiers are accused of rape. 

The agency stated more than 12 million people, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine, while those in the country have been raped and deprived of items needed for womens hygiene. 

Women and girls affected by the war in Ukraine face ongoing threats to their health and safety, and their needs must be prioritized, Natalia Kanem, executive director of the UNFPA, said.

Women do not stop getting pregnant or giving birth during conflict, and their access to lifesaving health services is literally under attack in Ukraine. With health and social service facilities being bombed and shelled, and reports of rape and other forms of gender-based violence rising, UNFPA is focused on meeting the distinct needs of women and girls, she added.

The agency has given seven hospitals more than 13 metric tons of reproductive health supplies since the war began, with another 27 metric tons of supplies to be given to maternity hospitals around the country.

In April and May, 41 metric tons more of reproductive supplies will arrive that contain items such as sanitary pads.

Along with the reproductive supplies, the UNFPA is supporting women as accusations of rape against Russian forces mount, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the soldiers have raped women and children of all ages, including babies. 

The agency is helping 30 shelters in Ukraine and providing psychosocial teams to support the women and children going through this crisis. 

Here in Ukraine, the needs are rising exponentially. We are working closely with the government and other partners to provide lifesaving services for women and girls, but much more needs to be done. We need to reach many more people, including survivors of gender-based violence. We are appealing for increased support to respond to this growing humanitarian crisis, Jaime Nadal Roig, the UNFPAs representative in Ukraine, said.

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## malmomike77

No surprise here.

Germany refuses request to send weapons to Ukraine

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has defended his decision not to export heavy weapons to Ukraine, saying Berlins closest allies had also concluded that supplying such arms at the present time made little sense.

Scholz has come under mounting domestic pressure to supply tanks and armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine, which is bracing for a big Russian offensive in the eastern border region of Donbas.

But the chancellor said Germany was not alone in opposing the export of such weapons to Ukraine. Look at what our close allies are doing, he told reporters. They and their armies had reached similar conclusions [to us].

Politicians from within Scholzs Social Democratic party, as well as his Greens and liberal coalition partners, are among those who have called for him to rethink his opposition to supplying tanks to Ukraine.

Green MP Anton Hofreiter, who visited Kyiv last week, said Germany must finally deliver what Ukraine needs, and that is heavy weapons. He lashed out at Scholz directly, saying the problem is in the chancellery.

The sense of urgency has increased as Russia launched its expected offensive in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that countries withholding the weapons and ammunition that Kyiv needs must know that the fate of this battle also depends on them.

Scholz said the west needed to supply Ukraine with weapons systems that were available immediately and were, ideally, already being deployed in the country.

He added Germany would support its Nato partners in eastern Europe who have Russian-made weapons systems at their disposal of a type that is already used in Ukraine and can be deployed immediately.

Its no coincidence that [all Germanys partners] reached the same conclusion  that it makes the most sense if we deploy systems that our Nato partners in eastern Europe have available, he said.

Its helpful to look at the wider world  and doing so reveals that those who are in a comparable starting point to Germany act as we do, he added.

Scholzs position on arming Ukraine has evolved significantly since the start of Russias invasion. Initially he refused point blank to provide any arms, reiterating Berlins longstanding ban on the export of lethal weapons to conflict zones.

Days after the outbreak of war he performed a dramatic volte-face, agreeing to provide Kyiv with hundreds of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. Germany has also shipped machine guns, night-vision goggles, protective equipment and some vehicles to Ukraine.

Scholz has also significantly ramped up the financial aid Germany is providing to Kyiv. A special fund to help crisis-hit countries invest in their military is being increased from 225mn to 2bn, with the bulk going to Ukraine, the government said on Friday.

Scholz said the government had asked the German arms industry to specify what weapons it can provide in the coming weeks. Ukraine has selected what it needs from this list and we are providing the money they need to buy it, he said.

Some EU countries are going further, however. Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said on Tuesday after a call with Zelensky that the Netherlands would send armoured vehicles to Kyiv in response to demands for heavier weaponry.

I expressed our support as Russia begins a renewed offensive. [The Netherlands] will be sending heavier materiel to [Ukraine], including armoured vehicles, he said in a statement on Twitter.

The heads of Nato and the European Commission have also urged their member states to speed up and broaden weapons supplies.

Scholz is not the only senior German politician who is uneasy about acceding to such demands. Robert Habeck, the Green economy minister, said Germany had a responsibility to not itself become a target of Russian aggression. That might happen if it sent Ukraine big tanks or fighter jets, he said.

Senior Social Democrats have also come to Scholzs defence. Rolf Mützenich, head of the SPD parliamentary group, said the demands being made by Hofreiter and other coalition politicians after their trip to Kyiv could have far-reaching consequences for the security of our country and that of Nato.

Scholz also received backing over the weekend from Sigmar Gabriel, an SPD grandee and former foreign minister. Leadership in Europe means being aware of the consequences of expanding this war, he wrote in Der Spiegel. And thats why its right that the German government can only supply heavy weapons . . . to Ukraine in co-ordination with the US.

He said the US was also carefully weighing up what kind of military support is possible and meaningful, and where the border to active participation in the war with Russia is crossed.

https://www.ft.com/content/2e2ab640-54e3-4e02-8ceb-a2f747ae3f93

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## malmomike77

Wimbledon going it alone, jerkovich and Russian aren't happy nor are the ATP.

Wimbledon 2022: Russian & Belarusian players banned from tournament

Russian and Belarusian players will not be allowed to compete at Wimbledon this year because of the invasion of Ukraine.

Men's world number two Daniil Medvedev of Russia and women's world number four Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus are the highest-ranked players to be affected.

The players are also banned from any of the UK grass-court tournaments.

The governing bodies of men's and women's professional tennis said the move was "unfair".

Serbia's Novak Djokovic, a six-time men's singles champion at Wimbledon, said he did not support the "crazy" decision by the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC).

The men's body, the ATP, said it could "set a damaging precedent for the game", while the women's body, the WTA, said it was "very disappointed".

In a statement, the ATP said: "Discrimination based on nationality also constitutes a violation of our agreement with Wimbledon that states that player entry is based solely on ATP rankings.

"Any course of action in response to this decision will now be assessed in consultation with our board and member councils."

The WTA said it "will be evaluating its next steps and what actions may be taken regarding these decisions".

Djokovic, the men's world number one, added: "The players, the tennis players, the athletes have nothing to do with war. When politics interferes with sport, the result is not good."

Martina Navratilova, who won a record nine Wimbledon singles titles, said excluding Russian and Belarusian players was "not the way to go".

"I think it's the wrong decision. Tennis is such a democratic sport. It is difficult when you see politics destroy it," said the Czech-born American.

Wimbledon runs from 27 June to 10 July.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/61161016

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## sabang

*Putin calls off storming of Mariupol plant*


Reuters - 3h ago


Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his troops to cancel plans to storm the sprawling Azovstal plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, instead calling for its blockade to continue.

The full capture of Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian forces for weeks, is a central part of Moscow’s plans to cut Ukraine off from the Sea of Azov and forge a land bridge connecting Russian-annexed Crimea to Russia.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region whose forces have been fighting in Mariupol, had suggested the vast Azovstal facility, which covers more than 11 square kilometres, would be stormed after Ukrainian forces holed up inside ignored Russian ultimatums to surrender.

But Putin, in a Kremlin meeting with Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, gave the order to call off plans to storm the complex, saying it was better to save the lives of Russian soldiers and to sit back and wait while Ukrainian forces ran out of supplies.

“I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary,” Putin told Shoigu in a televised meeting at the Kremlin. “I order you to cancel it.

“There is no need to climb into these catacombs and crawl underground through these industrial facilities.

“Block off this industrial area so that a fly cannot pass through.”


Putin calls off storming of Mariupol plant (msn.com)

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## harrybarracuda

Scared of losing more troops to the brave Ukrainian heroes then.

Wanker.

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## pickel

^^
When is Russia going to allow the civilians to come out of the plant and be evacuated?

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## S Landreth

Biden sets up new path to US but will stop waiving rules for Ukrainians at Mexican border

The U.S. is launching a new program to allow Ukrainians fleeing the war with Russia to enter the U.S., but will no longer waive immigration requirements for Ukrainians seeking to enter the country at the Mexican border, officials announced Thursday.

The new program will allow Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion to apply from abroad for a two-year temporary status in the U.S.

The Uniting for Ukraine program will allow Ukrainians to apply to stay in the U.S. for up to two years through a process known as humanitarian parole, which allows government officials to temporarily waive immigration requirements. Ukrainians applying through the program must have a U.S. sponsor.

President Biden announced the new program, which is part of a broader pledge to take in 100,000 Ukrainians displaced by the crisis, during a speech Thursday morning from the White House.

It will provide an expedient channel for secure, legal migration from Europe to the United States for Ukrainians who have a U.S. sponsor such as a family or an NGO, Biden said, pledging that the program would be fast and streamlined.

The program comes as more than 5 million Ukrainians have fled their country, primarily reaching other countries in Eastern Europe.

U.S. residents and organizations can begin sponsoring Ukrainians for the program starting Monday, adding a fast-track option over existing humanitarian parole programs for those with no U.S. connections.

Humanitarian parole does not itself provide a pathway for long-term residence in the U.S., though it does give recipients time to look for other ways to seek status in America.

The move comes after the Biden administration had previously said it would waive Title 42 for Ukrainians, which expels migrants without giving them the chance to seek asylum. That exception will now end Monday.

The Biden team had been criticized for the incongruous policy, having used Title 42 more than a million times in 2021, largely to expel Central American migrants.

The United States strongly encourages Ukrainians seeking refuge in the United States who do not have and are not eligible for a visa to seek entry via Uniting for Ukraine from Europe, this will be the safest and most efficient way to pursue temporary refuge in the United States, DHS said in a release Thursday.

Ukrainians should not travel to Mexico to pursue entry into the United States.  Ukrainians who present at land U.S. ports of entry without a valid visa or without pre-authorization to travel to the United States through Uniting for Ukraine will be denied entry and referred to apply through this program.

While Ukrainians could still apply for the program from Mexico, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday that it will likely be more difficult for Ukrainians to access required vaccinations there, and the U.S. will offer no on-the-ground support.

Traveling to Mexico will offer no advantage for Ukrainian nationals, the official said.

The U.S. most recently established a humanitarian parole program for Afghans evacuated as part of the chaotic U.S. exit from the country. Like Afghans, Ukrainians must pass background screening checks and meet health and vaccination requirements.

But some Afghans were given as little as one year of status, leaving advocates concerned they may not be able to secure a long-term pathway to remain in the U.S. Many have since lobbied for the Afghan Adjustment Act that would allow those paroled in to seek green cards  a sign of what may also be necessary for Ukrainians who enter the U.S. through humanitarian parole.

Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two months ago on Feb. 24. In addition to spurring a refugee crisis, the war has resulted in thousands of civilian casualties and disrupted the global economy.

Biden along with U.S. allies has announced several tranches of sanctions on Russia in response to Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion. Biden also visited Europe last month for meetings with NATO and European leaders and on that trip met with Ukrainian refugees who had fled to Poland.

The humanitarian parole program unveiled Thursday was a sign the U.S. may not meet its goal of accepting 100,000 Ukrainians primarily through the U.S. refugee program, which does provide a pathway for long-term residence.

The U.S. has been accepting Ukrainian refugees using narrower parameters like the Lautenberg program, which is only open to religious minorities.

One official said the majority of refugees will likely come through the humanitarian parole process.

Weve heard widely from Ukrainians that they really are seeking kind of temporary refuge in the U.S. with family, with other individuals they have connections with, the official said.

They noted that among those already fleeing, many have settled in nearby Poland and have been hesitant to travel further West and become more distanced from male relatives aged 18 to 65 who have been prohibited from leaving the country.

They are quite keen to stay near Ukraine to return as soon as possible, the official said.

I think it is a minority of the broader population, obviously, that will have U.S. ties and an interest in traveling this far to seek temporary refuge in the United States. So, I think in many ways the program will be self-selecting.

The U.S. has also offered Temporary Protected Status to Ukrainians already in the U.S., extending the deadline to include Ukrainians that had crossed the border as well as those already in the country when the war broke out. Its a population DHS estimates has now reached 60,000.



US sending another $800 million in military aid to Ukraine, Biden says

President Biden on Thursday announced the U.S. will send another $800 million in military aid to Ukraine to assist its ability to fight invading Russian forces.

The latest package, intended to help stave off Russian advances in the Donbas Region in Eastern Ukraine, will include heavy artillery, dozens of howitzers, 144,000 rounds of ammunition to be used with the howitzers, and more tactical drones, Biden said.

The funding will also cover vehicles to tow howitzers and other field equipment, the Pentagon said.

The latest package comes a week after Biden announced another $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine.

A senior U.S. defense official told reporters this week that U.S. and European troops have been training Ukrainian forces on how to use howitzers, which weigh 10,000 pounds and can hit targets up to 30 kilometers, or 18 miles, away with 155 mm rounds.

The Biden administration has provided billions of dollars in military assistance to Ukraine in the roughly two months since Russia launched a full invasion of the country. The funds have been used to provide anti-aircraft systems, anti-tank weapons, small arms, rounds of ammunition and other equipment to modernize Ukraines forces and allow it to fight off Russian forces.

Biden on Thursday credited the fearless and skilled Ukrainian fighters who have defied expectations in thwarting Russian advances and keeping control of major cities, including the capital of Kyiv.

Biden said the international response to get weapons to Ukraine, facilitated by the U.S., is a significant reason why Ukraine is able to stop Russia from taking over their country so far.

Every American taxpayer, every member of our armed forces can be proud of the fact that our countrys generosity and the skill and service of our military helped arm and repel Russias aggression in Ukraine, Biden said.

The president also announced a ban on Russian-affiliated ships docking in U.S. ports as part of an effort to further squeeze the Russian economy out of the international system.

That means no ship, no ship that sails under the Russian flag or is owned or operated by a Russian interest will be allowed to dock in a United States port or access our shores, Biden said. None.

U.S. officials have in recent weeks warned Russia may be refocusing its efforts in Ukraine on hitting the Donbas region in a bid to overwhelm Ukrainian forces there after initial assaults on Kyiv and other major cities stalled. Officials have warned the next phase of the fight could drag on for months or longer.

As part of ongoing aid efforts, the Treasury Department separately announced Thursday $500 million in funding to help Ukraine fund government salaries, pensions and other programs needed to keep operations afloat.

Prior to the announcement of new aid, Biden met in-person with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to discuss the latest developments in the war and the administrations commitment to provide assistance.


Russia Is Using Rape As A Weapon Of War Against Ukraine

Since the war in Ukraine began, reports of sexual violence perpetrated by Russian fighters slowly trickled out of occupied areas. Then, as Russian forces retreated from these regions at the beginning of the month, likely to refocus ground offensive elsewhere, official reports of sexual assault and rape have flooded in. The widespread accounts paint a horrifying picture of how Russian fighters are weaponizing sexual violence and adding to the terror of wartime.

The testimonies coming from Ukrainians include gang rapes, assaults taking place at gunpoint, rapes committed in front of victims children, as well as torture and mutilation. There have been several reports of Ukrainian women who were raped and then murdered by Russian forces.

One Ukrainian woman described on camera how multiple Russian fighters raped her after they rolled into her village with tanks. Another reported that two Russian soldiers murdered her husband on their front lawn and then repeatedly raped her in her basement with her 4-year-old son sobbing in a room down the hall. A group of 15 Ukrainian soldiers, all women, had their heads shaved and were forced to undress and squat for hours while in Russian detention. A dead Ukrainian woman was found in a cellar, shot in the head and naked except for a fur coat, with a used condom and condom wrappers around her.

In one of the most abhorrent testimonies, 25 girls and women, ranging from 14 to 24 years old, were locked in a basement and gang-raped repeatedly in Bucha, a city near the capital of Kyiv. Nine of the victims are now pregnant. Russian soldiers told them they would rape them to the point where they wouldnt want sexual contact with any man, to prevent them from having Ukrainian children, said Ukraines ombudsman for human rights Lyudmyla Denisova.

World leaders have condemned Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, for the atrocities in Ukraine. President Joe Biden recently called Putin a war criminal, describing the actions of the Russian military as major war crimes. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this month that the horrors in Bucha were not the random act of a rogue unit but a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for the world to act in a powerful speech to the United Nations Security Council earlier this month.

Women were raped and killed in front of their children. Their tongues were pulled out only because the aggressor did not hear what they wanted to hear from them, he said after visiting Bucha, which has seen some of the most horrific violence. Where is the security that the Security Council needs to guarantee? Its not there. Where is the peace?

Rape has been used as a weapon of war for thousands of years, but its not found in every conflict, according to Dara Kay Cohen, a professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and author of Rape During Civil War. For the past decade, Cohens work has focused on international relations, civil war and the dynamics of gender and violence in conflicts.

The Russia-Ukraine war, however, seems to be ripe for the abuse of sexual violence, Cohen told HuffPost. Ukrainian men ages 18 to 60 were not allowed to leave the country because they will likely be drafted to fight, so the majority of people fleeing the country are women with children and unaccompanied minors. On the other side, about a quarter of the Russian military is made up of conscripts and there have been many reports that a large number of Russian soldiers dont believe in the cause theyre fighting for. All of this could lead to a perfect storm of sexual violence in conflict.

HuffPost spoke with Cohen about how sexual violence is weaponized in conflicts and why armed groups sometimes commit these types of crimes  and what this means in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war. (This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.)

How is sexual violence weaponized in conflict zones?

There are a huge number of ways that rape is used in wartime. Feminist scholars have argued for a long time about the ways that rape can be used as a form of torture, as a form of humiliation, as a signal that the men of one group can humiliate the men of an enemy group with the message that they cant protect their women from this terrible violence. Its been used as a tool of genocide, its been used in the context of ethnic wars and non-ethnic wars.

But one important point is that rape in wartime is not ubiquitous  it does not happen in every conflict. Even within the context of the same conflict, some armed groups commit sexual violence and other groups do not.

One of the keys to understanding why rape happens in wartime is really focusing [on the armed groups themselves] rather than on the region of the world, the country, the level of democracy, etc. All those things might be contributing factors, but what Ive argued in my research is that the most important part is understanding the armed group thats committing the sexual violence.

What are some indicators that lead you to believe one armed group will commit a higher level of sexual violence than another?

One red flag is to look at recent history with these very same military forces. We know  that Russian forces and Russian-backed groups in recent years have committed sexual violence in places like Chechnya, Crimea and in eastern Ukraine. There is a history, a recent history, of this type of violence committed with these same groups.

Another red flag is about the composition of the armed groups themselves, the fact that there is conscription. Scholars of civilian victimization and wartime atrocities have found that armed groups that have committed substantial resources to political education use restraint when interacting with civilian populations.

Put simply, fighters who know what theyre fighting for or fighters who believe in the cause tend to not abuse civilians to the same extent. We know in Ukraine right now, some Russian fighters have no idea what theyre fighting for and may not believe in the cause very strongly.

One of the areas of concern for me and some of my colleagues has been because of what we know about the composition of the Russian forces. Not only are there conscripts, but there also are reports of forced recruitment  literal kidnapping. In other contexts, we have observed those conditions to cause an uptick in sexual violence. Armed groups that recruit their fighters through force are more likely to commit sexual violence.

There are also foreign fighters joining the fight in the Ukrainian conflict. Thats another correlate with increased atrocities including increased reports of sexual violence. When there are foreign fighters introduced into someone elses war, we might expect that these groups suffer from low cohesion. And sexual violence is one consequence of that.

So sexual violence can be a sort of bonding mechanism for fighters in an armed group with low cohesion?

Thats correct. Theres a pretty large uptick in reports of multiple perpetrator rape or gang rape, specifically, in the context of wartime. Gang rape is a relatively rare form of sexual violence in peacetime, even in places where rape is quite common. Something like 70% to 80% of reported rape in conflict zones can be gang rape.

One of the key factors I found in my research is looking at the function of gang rape, the purpose of gang rape from the perspective of the perpetrating group. I found that gang rape helps armed groups that suffer from low cohesion to essentially overcome that problem. Its a way of signaling virility and masculinity, which can create social bonds between members of armed groups  particularly members of armed groups that have been forcibly recruited.

That sounds relevant to our conversation about the war in Ukraine since about a quarter of the Russian army is made up of conscripts and there have been reports of foreign fighters joining the fight on both sides.

Theres a couple of important factors to keep in mind. One is that the people who commit multiple perpetrator rape are, I guess for lack of a better word, more normal or less pathological than people who tend to commit rapes on their own.

Many of the contexts I have studied, such as civil wars, these are just ordinary people. These are not criminals. These are not people with a thirst for violence in any way. Theyre farmers, theyre students, theyre regular people that have been scooped up by armed groups and beaten and forced to join. It is those same ordinary people who go on to commit these acts of mass rape.

Theres a set of studies authored by [Joseph] Vandello on this concept called precarious manhood. Vandello and his colleagues argued that if masculinity is threatened, then one way of recovering from the blow of that threat is to perform a physical act, often a violent physical act. In my book, I argue that the act of being forcibly recruited is a major blow to ones masculinity and one way of recovering that is to perform the ultimate act of physical, hyper-masculine violence: an act of sexualized violence.

There have been reports of Russian soldiers using sexual violence as a tool of genocide in Ukraine. Can you talk to me about that?

There is evidence that sexual violence has occurred during genocide, although it doesnt occur during all genocides. We have some examples where sexual contact with the enemy other during a genocide is completely prohibited. Its not that sexual violence did not occur during the Holocaust, but there were not reports of mass rape or anything close to the levels we knew to happen in other genocides like Rwanda or Bosnia. In the case of the Holocaust, there was a pollution taboo between Jews and Nazis. And, actually, that pollution taboo may have protected folks from being sexually violated.

One working hypothesis one of my colleagues [Yale professor] Elisabeth Wood proposed is that rape is actually more likely to occur during a genocide when there was a great deal of intermarriage before the genocide: when theres close cultural ties between the groups, which seems to be the case in Ukraine and Russia.

In the context of genocide, scholars often study what was said to victims and survivors to try to understand the motivations for rape.

One of the most concerning reports I believe came out of Bucha where a group of women were [reportedly] held in a basement and raped repeatedly. There were 25 women and girls, and now nine are pregnant. Reports have suggested that the perpetrators told those women things like, Youll be raped until no Ukrainian man will want you or Youll be raped so much that well erase the next generation. That was the implicit  if not explicit  message. Those are all very concerning signs of the genocidal use of sexual violence during conflict.

When we discuss rape in wartime, often we only discuss women as victims. Are the majority of victims of sexual violence in conflict zones women? Are there victims of other genders in these situations?

Thats a really important question. We know from reports that the majority of victims of sexual violence across conflict contexts are women and girls, but that does not mean that men and boys arent also victims of sexual violence. For a long time, scholars approached research on sexual violence assuming that perpetrators are men and victims are women. So, if you wanted to study the question of sexual violence and conflict, you needed to go talk to women. Period. Over time, as we have learned more about how diverse the pools of perpetrators and the pools of victims and survivors are, weve gotten much better at asking questions.

On a global scale, there are surprisingly large numbers of men and boys who are victimized by sexual violence in contexts of conflict. Really folks of all genders, although theres diminishingly small evidence because we have a very incomplete evidence base when it comes to LGBTQ+ folks as victims of sexual violence.

In some contexts, sexual violence is even more highly stigmatized for men and boys, particularly if the perpetrators are also men. In some contexts, homosexuality is illegal or punishable by death. So, the ability to come forward and report those crimes is really restricted. Its also the case that in some contexts, rape might be culturally defined as an act of violence that can only happen to women, so even if a man experiences rape its not defined as an act of rape.

What do we know about what happens to victims in the aftermath of conflict?

We know that surviving sexual violence in a conflict is traumatizing. It can have devastating consequences on survivors psychological health, on their relationships with their family members, on their relationships with their communities. It can be a terrible and terrifying form of violence to survive.

We also know that often its not the only thing that a survivor has experienced in conflict. There is a danger in ... assuming its the worst thing ... that can happen to a woman in wartime, because that ends up reifying these very patriarchal ideas about womens sexual purity. It might be the worst thing on the individual level, but we shouldnt always assume its the worst thing. Theres a real concern about creating a hierarchy of harms, as its called, and treating sexual violence like it is the ultimate harm that one can suffer.

Although women are disproportionately represented among victims of sexual violence, its not the case that all women experience sexual violence during conflict, even during mass rape wars. Its still a relatively rare form of violence compared to forced displacement and other forms of violence that are likely to be much more widespread during conflict.

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## misskit

‘Failing Technology Museum’: Uncertainty for Russian Telecoms as Foreign Firms Flee

The departure of top telecommunications firms from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine looks set to cause serious problems for the country’s mobile networks almost totally dependent on foreign companies for maintenance and upgrades, according to experts. 


Russia relies on European telecoms giants Nokia and Ericsson, as well as Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, for most of its wireless network equipment. 

But last week’s decision by Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson to pull out of the Russian market in protest of the invasion and amid the constraints of Western sanctions has left the supply and maintenance of Russia’s telecom systems in limbo. Huawei has also announced that they are suspending Russian operations, dealing a further blow to Russia’s ability to withstand the Western departures.


“If Russia is not able to maintain the systems themselves then all of these can fail. It could all come to quite a sudden and unexpected shock,” Roger Entner, the head of Recon Analytics in Massachusetts, told The Moscow Times.  


Western sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the European Union threaten maintenance and upgrading in the long-run because the four major vendors are banned from providing new equipment to Russia. Nokia and Ericsson alone provide as much as half of Russia’s wireless network equipment, mostly in western Russia’s major cities and the capital, Moscow.

“Vendors are still required to service the old [equipment], but given the sanctions are unable to charge any [domestic] operators,” said Hosuk Lee-Makiyam, a telecoms expert at European Center for International Political Economy. “So right now they’re doing it for free, which is great in the short term, but in the long term is not a sustainable solution.” 

A Nokia representative told The Moscow Times that they are working on licenses allowing them to continue servicing telecoms equipment across Russia on “humanitarian” grounds.


“Western governments have expressed concerns about the risk of critical telecommunication network infrastructure in Russia failing. They have also emphasized the importance of ensuring the continued flow of information and access to the internet which provides outside perspectives to the Russian people,” the spokesperson said. 

With foreign firms unable to carry out upgrades, Russia faces the risk of being stuck with outdated equipment.


It appears unlikely that Ericsson, Huawei and Russian domestic operator MTS will be able to implement their plan to start rolling out 5G — the ultra-fast mobile internet that will underpin a raft of future technologies — across Russia by the end of this year, according to Lee-Makiyama.  


Nokia’s joint venture with Yadro, a Russian data storage developer, to build 4G and 5G telecoms base stations in Russia has reportedly been scrapped. 


“Russia will be frozen in 2022, while the rest of the world will move forward. It could turn into a failing technology museum,” Entner said.

Plans to extend existing internet coverage also look to be on ice, with expansion almost impossible without Huawei, Nokia and Ericsson, according to Lee-Makiyama. 


Russia’s diplomatic isolation as a result of the attack on Ukraine means that there is little chance of a recovery for the telecoms market. 


Helsinki and Stockholm are now weighing whether to apply for NATO membership due to Russia’s invasion, risking a new rift between the two Nordic countries and Moscow.  Without a rapprochement, a return to the Russian market for Nokia and Ericsson seems a distant prospect. 


Observers have said that Russia’s  war in Ukraine and hostility with the West would give Chinese companies looking to do business in Russia a major boost — but  the situation is not as straightforward in telecommunications. 


Despite Huawei recording a 300% increase in handset sales in the first two weeks of March, existing U.S. sanctions on the Chinese company and fears of a Western backlash has led to the Chinese company suspending its operations in Russia and furloughing staff. 

U.S. sanctions imposed on Huawei in 2019 ban the telecommunications company from exporting products that use U.S. technology to Russia. 


Although Russia successfully replaced Western telecoms equipment with Huawei systems on the annexed Crimean peninsula after 2014, a nationwide replacement of all Ericsson and Nokia equipment is likely to take years and be very expensive. 


“Nokia and Ericsson have been building for 30 years in Russia,” Entner said. “There’s so many towers, so much equipment, replacing this would cost tens of billions of dollars.” 


And even if Huawei is able to navigate U.S. sanctions and willing to replace all of Russia’s Western-suppled equipment, it would need a partner, said Lee-Makiyama. 


Partially state-owned Chinese company ZTE is one option. While ZTE is not subject to any U.S. sanctions, it reportedly performs much worse than any of the other major players.


But there are few other companies to which Russia can turn. 


“The Japanese are out of the question, the Koreans are out of the question, the Europeans cannot supply. There are not many places Russia can go,” Lee-Makiyama said. 

‘Failing Technology Museum’: Uncertainty for Russian Telecoms as Foreign Firms Flee - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

Russia Says ‘Ready’ for Truce at Mariupol Plant


Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday it was ready for a humanitarian ceasefire at Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant — the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in the strategic port — if Kyiv's soldiers surrender.


Russia on Thursday said it had gained full control of the strategic eastern Ukraine city, except for its huge Azovstal industrial area.


President Vladimir Putin ordered a blockade of the steelworks, where hundreds of civilians are reportedly sheltering with Ukrainian troops.


"We once again declare that Russia is ready at any moment to introduce a regime of silence and announce a humanitarian pause for the evacuation of civilians," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It added that the ceasefire would start with the "raising of white flags" by Ukraine's forces "along the entire perimeter or in certain areas of Azovstal."


"If such signs are found in any part of the Azovstal metallurgical plant, Russia's Armed Forces... will immediately stop any hostilities and provide a safe exit," the ministry added. 


According to the ministry, civilians will be escorted to either territories controlled by Ukraine or to Russia, depending on their choice.


The surrendered Ukrainian soldiers will be "guaranteed" their life, it said. 


"This statement will be continuously communicated to the Ukrainian formations at Azovstal on all radio channels every 30 minutes," the ministry said.


Russia Says ‘Ready’ for Truce at Mariupol Plant - The Moscow Times

----------


## Norton

> if Kyiv's soldiers surrender


Dream on Vlad.

----------


## misskit

Russian General Lets Slip a Secret Plan to Invade Another Country and Seize Ukraine’s Entire Coastline

As Russian troops tighten their grip on the strategic port town of Mariupol, their strategy is finally becoming clear. Russian military commander Rustam Minnekaev now says the second phase of President Vladimir Putin’s “special operation” is focused on establishing a “land corridor” from the Donbas all the way to Moldova, which would cut off the rest of Ukraine from the sea.


“One of the tasks of the Russian army is to establish full control over the Donbas and southern Ukraine. This will provide a land corridor to the Crimea, as well as influence the vital objects of the Ukrainian economy,” Minnekaev said Friday at a meeting with the Union of Defense Industries, as reported by the Russian state-owned Interfax. “Control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are also facts of oppression of the Russian-speaking population.” Transnistria is a separatist region of Moldova that has so far not been officially involved in the war despite hosting a Russian military base since the 1990s.


The general’s words suggest that Moldova’s sovereign borders would also come under threat from further Russian expansion. Phony efforts to protect Russian-speaking peoples have often foreshadowed Putin’s imperial invasions.


In reality, Russian speakers have been struck down in the hundreds in eastern Ukraine during the brutal invasion.


If successful, the strategy would include taking the port of the former seaside resort town of Odesa near the Moldovan border, which has suffered sporadic bombardments but no full-fledged invasion so far. Russia’s warship Moskva was hit about 75 miles off the coast of Odesa two weeks ago, before it sank en route to Crimea.


The refocusing of troops from northern Ukraine to the southern regions of the country has further choked Mariupol, where Ukrainian troops and civilians are holed up in a steel factory surrounded by Russian troops. Satellite imagery identified a growing number of graves outside the port city, where Ukrainian officials say up to 200 new graves have been dug since April 3.


While the Russian military has largely now left northern Ukraine alone save for sporadic missile strikes, fresh evidence of Russia’s ruthless tactics there in recent weeks continue to build a case for widespread war crimes. Andrii Nebytov, the head of police for Kyiv region, told CNN that they are examining 1,084 bodies found in the region outside Kyiv, including Bucha, for signs of torture. “These are civilians who had nothing to do with territorial defense or other military formations,” he said. “The vast majority—between 50 percent and 75 percent—are people killed by small arms, either a machine gun or a sniper rifle, depending on the location.”


Among the atrocities are evidence of widespread rape and sexual mutilation. The youngest victim who survived to tell her story is just 15, according to CNN. Several female bodies in mass graves show evidence of horrific crimes as well.


On Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Office described Russian atrocities against Ukrainians as a “horror story of violations against civilians” that shows no sign of abating.


Russian General Lets Slip a Secret Plan to Invade Another Country and Seize Ukraine’s Entire Coastline

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Huawei has also announced that they are suspending Russian operations


What's all that about hoohoo? Too blood-drenched even for the chinkies?

----------


## sabang

*EU says gas payments may be possible under Russian roubles proposal without breaching sanctions*



(Reuters) - European Union companies may be able to comply with Russia's proposed system to pay for gas in roubles without falling foul of the bloc's sanctions against Moscow, but it is not yet clear how such a procedure would work, the European Commission said on Friday.

Moscow in March issued a decree proposing that energy buyers open accounts at Gazprombank, where payments in euros or dollars would be converted to roubles. That decree does not necessarily prevent a payment process that would comply with the EU's sanctions regime, the Commission said in a guidance document sent to EU member states and published online.

"However, the procedure for derogations from the requirements of the decree is not clear yet," the document said.

EU says gas payments may be possible under Russian roubles proposal without breaching sanctions (msn.com)

----------


## S Landreth

EU urges citizens to work from home, drive slower to reduce reliance on Russia

The European Union (E.U.) is encouraging its citizens to work from home, use public transportation and turn off heaters in an effort reduce the blocs reliance on Russian fuel.

If E.U. residents adopt a prescribed list of energy-saving steps, they can together save enough oil to fill 120 super tankers and enough natural gas to heat almost 20 million homes, according to an outline published by the European Commission and the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday.

The outline, called Play my Part, aims to slash the blocs reliance on Russian energy while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a news release accompanying the plan explained.

The Russian war in Ukraine is a human tragedy and a humanitarian disaster, and were all looking at what can we do ourselves  what can we do professionally and what can we do personally, European Commission Director-General for Energy Ditte Juul Jørgensen said at a virtual summit on Thursday.

The one thing that everyone can do  each of us can do, individually at home and at work  is to save energy, Jørgensen added.

Doing so, she explained, will enable Europeans to save on their energy bills, improve climate conditions as a whole and help Ukraine.

The E.U. imports about 150 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia per year. However, Jørgensen explained that the implementation of European Green Deal policy initiatives could cut about 100 billion cubic meters by 2030 by accelerating and scaling up renewable energy.

But the most effective measure, and the absolutely necessary measure, is energy savings, Jørgensen said. We can cut immediately.

Specific recommendations put forward by E.U. leaders include turning down heating and using less air-conditioning; adjusting boilers to more efficient settings, reducing speed on highways, walking or biking for short trips and avoiding planes when trains are an option.

Turning down the thermostat by just 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) would save around 7 percent of the energy used for heating, while setting an air conditioner 1 degree C warmer could decrease the amount of electricity used by up to 10 percent, according to the plan.

With a typical one-way car commute in the E.U. amounting to about 15 kilometers (9 miles), working remotely for three days a week could cut monthly household fuel bills by about 35 euros ($38)  even when accounting for increased energy usage at home, the outline explained.

The plan also estimates that reducing highway speeds by about 10 kilometers per hour could save drivers about 60 euros ($65) each year, according to the plan.

We are, in my view, in the first global energy crisis. It looks like that this crisis may be with us for some time to come, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at the virtual summit.

Birol stressed that even if the E.U.s liquefied natural gas import capacity was 100-percent working  which he described as a big, big, big challenge  the bloc would still need a substantial amount of additional gas to get through the next winter.

Countries will therefore be left to choose between government rationing of consumer energy supplies or we do it ourselves, Birol said.

The steps presented in the plan, he explained, are actions consumers can take in the most effective and practical way, according to Birol.

You save money, you at the same time push Russia back and you are on the frontline with the Ukrainians against Russia, he said.

____________


UN sees growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine

The United Nations is seeing growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine as a "horror story" of human rights violations unfolds, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said Friday.

*Driving the news:* Russian forces during the nearly two months of war have "indiscriminately shelled and bombed populated areas, killing civilians and wrecking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, actions that may amount to war crimes," the UN said.


The UN specifically cited reported atrocities in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, where it documented "the unlawful killing, including by summary execution, of some 50 civilians."Bachelet said Russia's use of cluster sub-munitions on a railway station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, where at least 60 civilians were killed, "is emblematic of the failure to adhere to the principle of distinction, the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks and the principle of precaution enshrined in international humanitarian law."At least 3,000 civilians have died because they couldn't access medical care and because of the stress on their health during the war, Bachelet also said. "This includes being forced by Russian armed forces to stay in basements or not being allowed to leave their homes for days or weeks."

*The big picture:* Russia has repeatedly denied it targets civilians and rejected reports of the atrocities seen in cities like Bucha.


The International Criminal Court and others have launched investigations into possible war crimes and other human rights violations committed in Ukraine.

*Between the lines:* War crimes have been historically hard to investigate, and often they're even more challenging to prosecute.

*Details:* Over these eight weeks, international humanitarian law has not merely been ignored but seemingly tossed aside, Bachelet said in a statement.


Our work to date has detailed a horror story of violations perpetrated against civilians," she added.We know the actual numbers [of casualties] are going to be much higher as the horrors inflicted in areas of intense fighting, such as Mariupol, come to light, she added.

_The scale of summary executions of civilians in areas previously occupied by Russian forces are also emerging. The preservation of evidence and decent treatment of mortal remains must be ensured, as well as psychological and other relief for victims and their relatives."_

*The bottom line: "*First and foremost, this senseless war must stop," Bachelet said.


"But as the fighting shows no sign of abating, it is vital that all parties to the conflict give clear instructions to their combatants to strictly respect international humanitarian law and international human rights law."

----------


## sabang

_The Carter Center China Focus is grateful to Michael Cerny (University of Oxford) for data analysis and visualization and Haifeng Huang (University of California, Merced) for comments and advice. For all inquiries, please contact Yawei Liu (Carter Center) at yawei.liu@cartercenter.org._



Between March 28 and April 5, 2022, the Carter Center China Focus conducted a survey of Chinese public opinion regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Results demonstrate that 75% of respondents agree that supporting Russia in Ukraine is China’s national interest, and that roughly 60% of respondents support China mediating an end to the conflict. By examining the individual correlates of these positions, we demonstrate that higher education, more consumption of state media, and more consumption of social media are correlated with higher support for Russia. We also examine public opinion with respect to the conspiracy theory that American biolabs were discovered by Russian forces in Ukraine. Among those who have encountered the conspiracy theory, roughly 70% of respondents believe this conspiracy theory is accurate. Furthermore, we find that higher education and greater exposure to national state media and social media are associated with higher levels of belief in the conspiracy theory, and that women (and to some extent people with higher income) believe it less, while older people believe it more. Ultimately, the findings demonstrate the influence of the generally pro-Russia information environment in China.

Full- https://uscnpm.org/2022/04/19/chinese-public-opinion-war-in-ukraine/?goal=0_678a4a5d7b-fa9aac9dac-449336644&mc_cid=fa9aac9dac&mc_eid=63b06d60c4

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Ultimately, the findings demonstrate the influence of the generally pro-Russia information environment in China.


So sabang could have saved a lot of space by just realising the chinkies only get told this fake Russian propaganda side of the story.

He really is a fucking moron.

----------


## sabang

I can't but help feel a bit sorry for you 'arry. There there.

----------


## misskit

*'We want to see the sun': Heart-breaking video of children holed up in embattled Mariupol

*A heartbreaking video from Mariupol is making the rounds on the internet. Shot in the besieged Azovstal steel factory in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol this video shows women and children asking to see the sun and return home to their families, saying that they are “running out of strength”.


The video was uploaded to Youtube by Ukraine's Azov Battalion on Saturday.

It shows men in uniform heading inside a place reported to be a bunker in the Azovstal steel factory. Video shows soldiers stepping in and announcing that they’ve brought food and gifts for the children holed up in a room.

As per a Guardian report, one woman in the video says in Russian that there are 15 youngsters, ranging from young children to teenagers living in the tunnels under the plant.


"(I hope) we can leave here and see the sun, because we've been sat here for two months already. I want to see the sun because in here it's dim, not like outside. When our houses are rebuilt we can live in peace. Let Ukraine win because Ukraine is our native home," says one unidentified young boy in the video.


Among those hiding, a woman reports that she has been holed up under the factory since 27th February, i.e., more than 50 days.


Mariupol, Ukraine, was "successfully liberated," according to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, April 21.

As per reports, Putin has ordered his men to block the Azovstal steel mill, the city's only surviving Ukrainian stronghold so that no one can flee.


"Block off this industrial region so that not even a fly can leave."


For weeks, Russia had been bombing Mariupol, Ukraine's port city. The city has been subjected to near-constant Russian bombardment since Russian soldiers entered Ukraine on February 24, with attacks devastating substantial portions of the city. Ukrainian forces have been attempting to protect the Azov Seaport, but Russian attacks have forced them back.

Mariupol is a significant city located in the middle of the two regions; Crimea and Donbas. If Russia takes Mariupol, its forces in the two regions will be able to collaborate effectively, which might help Russia organise attacks further into Ukraine.

'We want to see the sun': Heart-breaking video of children holed up in embattled Mariupol emerges. Watch - World News

----------


## sabang

Awful. Russia is virtually begging them to surrender, but it appears Azov won't let them.

----------


## misskit

*Japanese news anchor breaks down on air while reporting on Putin's hailing of Bucha massacre soldiers


*A Japanese news anchor broke down on air while reporting on Russian President Vladimir Putin honoring the soldiers who oversaw the Bucha massacre. 


The TV anchor, identified as Yumiko Matsuo, is seen fighting back tears while pausing momentarily in a viral clip posted to Reddit on Wednesday.


“She had just shown clips of children hiding in the bunker of the Mariupol steel mill and was overcome with emotion,” Reddit user /u/thefathermucker captioned the post.


“There are still many civilians stuck in the bunker. I'm so sorry, excuse me...” Matsuo said as she tried to compose herself. “The Ukrainian war has entered a new phase...”  


Matsuo was reporting about the honorary title of “Guards” that Putin bestowed upon the military unit that committed the war crimes in Ukraine’s Bucha region, where more than 300 dead bodies were found. 


Putin praised Russia’s 64th Detached Motor Rifle Brigade for acting with “great valor and courage” and for “defending the sovereignty of Russia” in a signed letter on April 18.


“Through shrewd and bold actions during the Special Military Operations in Ukraine, the unit’s personnel became a role model in the fulfillment of their military duty, valor, dedication and professionalism,” his statement read.


Many Reddit users praised Matsuo’s courage as they empathized with her overwhelming emotion regarding the news report. 


“Goes to show how deeply this all resonates on a soul-deep level,” one user said. “We all feel righteous rage and want to protect each other.”


“That from someone in a culture extremely adept at covering up emotions in public,” another user replied.


“I lived in Japan for 1.5 years during uni, and I’ve never ever seen a Japanese news announcer show any sign of emotion whatsoever,” another user wrote. “I can’t believe how upset she must have been to have shown this much feeling on television.”

Japanese news anchor breaks down on air while reporting on Putin's hailing of Bucha massacre soldiers

----------


## DrWilly

> Awful. Russia is virtually begging them to surrender


Does Putin's beneficence know no bounds?  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## David48atTD

> Awful. Russia is virtually begging them to surrender, but it appears Azov won't let them.



Russia forcibly resettled dozens of Mariupol  children in the far east, 6,000 miles away from their homes, Ukrainian  official says


Russia forcibly relocated Ukrainian children to its most far-flung region on Friday, a Mariupol city official said.The 90 children were sent to Vladivostok in Russia's far east, almost 6,000 miles away from their homes.The children will be made to take Russian language classes, a local Russian politician said. 

Russia Forcibly Moved Mariupol Children 6,000 Miles Away: Ukraine Official

----------


## Switch

^Always worth reposting as a reminder to the forgetful ones.

----------


## bsnub

When  Russian troops first streamed across the Belarusian border into Ukraine  for what they had assumed would be a lightning assault on Kyiv, they  were intending to rely on the regions extensive rail network for  supplies and reinforcements.

The Russians hadnt taken into account the railway saboteurs of Belarus.

Starting  in the earliest days of the invasion in February, a clandestine network  of railway workers, hackers and dissident security forces went into  action to disable or disrupt the railway links connecting Russia to  Ukraine through Belarus, wreaking havoc on Russian supply lines.

The  attacks have drawn little attention outside Belarus amid the drama of  the Russian onslaught and the bloody aftermath of Russias humiliating retreat. Fierce Ukrainian resistance and tactical errors by an ill-prepared Russian force were likely enough to thwart Russias plans, analysts say.

But  the Belarus railway saboteurs can at least claim a role in fueling the  logistical chaos that quickly engulfed the Russians, leaving troops stranded on the front lines without food, fuel and ammunition within days of the invasion.

Alexander  Kamyshin, head of Ukrainian railways, expressed Ukraines gratitude to  the Belarusian saboteurs. They are brave and honest people who have  helped us, he said.

The  attacks were simple but effective, targeting the signal control  cabinets essential to the functioning of the railways, members of the  activist network said. For days on end, the movement of trains was  paralyzed, forcing the Russians to attempt to resupply their troops by  road and contributing to the snarl-up that stalled the infamous 40-mile  military convoy north of Kyiv.

How  much of the chaos can be attributed to the sabotage and how much to  poor logistical planning by the Russians is hard to tell, especially as  there is no independent media reporting from Belarus, said Emily Ferris,  a research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute.  But without automated signaling, trains were forced to slow to a crawl  and the number of them traveling on the tracks at any one time would  have been severely restricted, she said.

Given  the Russian reliance on trains, Im sure it contributed to some of the  problems they had in the north. It would have slowed down their ability  to move, she said. They couldnt push further into Ukrainian territory  and snarled their supply lines because they had to rely on trucks.

The  attacks also bought time for Ukrainian troops to formulate an effective  response to the Russian invasion, said Yury Ravavoi, a Belarusian  activist and trade unionist who escaped to Poland under threat of arrest  during the anti-government protests that rocked Belarus in 2020.

I cant say we were the most important factor, but we were an important brick in the wall, he said.

The  saboteurs drew inspiration from an earlier episode in Belarusian  history, during World War II, when Belarusians opposed to the Nazi  occupation blew up railway lines and train stations to disrupt German  supply lines. The Rail War, as it is known, is venerated as a moment of  triumph for Belarus, taught in schools as the most successful of the  tactics deployed by resistance fighters that eased the way for Soviet  troops to drive the Germans out.

Eight  decades later, it is Russias presence in Belarus that has stirred  dissent. The deployment of tens of thousands of Russian troops in  Belarus in preparation for the invasion of Ukraine triggered widespread  domestic opposition and rekindled opposition networks formed during the  2020 protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, said  Hanna Liubakova, a Belarusian journalist living in exile in Lithuania.

This  second Rail War has taken a more benign form than its predecessor. The  partisans were keen not to inflict casualties, Ravavoi said. So they  focused their attacks on damaging equipment to stop the railways from  functioning.

We didnt want to kill any Russian army or Belarusian train drivers. We used a peaceful way to stop them, he said.

He  and other Belarusians involved in organizing the attacks decline to  reveal precise details of how the attacks were carried out and by whom,  citing the need for secrecy and concerns for the safety of the railway  partisans, as the saboteurs are loosely known.

Three  main groups have been involved, representing railway workers, security  force defectors and cyber specialists, said Lt. Col Alexander Azarov, a  former security official living in Warsaw who heads the security force  group called Bypol.

Railway  employees sympathetic to the partisans have leaked details of Russian  movements and the locations of key railway infrastructure to a group  called the Community of Railway Workers,  which shares them on Telegram channels. Supporters on the ground link  up to carry out the attacks, but there is no formal chain of command,  Azarov said.

Our  movement is not centralized, he said. Its not like theres a leader  of the resistance. Its horizontal, with dozens of groups working on the  ground.

The third group, the Cyber Partisans,  is formed of exiled Belarusian IT professionals who have carried out  several cyberattacks on the Belarusian government since joining in 2020.

The  Cyber Partisans launched the first attack, hacking into the railways  computer network in the days leading up to the invasion and snarling  rail traffic before Russian troops had even crossed the border.  Infiltrating the railway networks computers was relatively easy, said  Yuliana Shemetovets, a spokesperson for the group, which is based in New  York, because the railway company is still using Windows XP, an  outdated version of the software that contains many vulnerabilities.

Starting  on Feb. 26, two days after the invasion began, a succession of five  sabotage attacks against signaling cabinets brought train traffic to an  almost complete halt, said Sergey Voitekhovich, a former railway  employee now based in Poland who is a leader in the Community of Railway  Workers.

By  Feb. 28, satellite photographs began to appear of the 40-mile convoy of  Russian trucks and tanks ostensibly headed from Belarus toward Kyiv.  Within a week, the convoy had completely stalled as vehicles ran out of  fuel or broke down.

The  Belarusian authorities have since launched an intense effort to prevent  attacks and hunt down the saboteurs. The Interior Ministry has decreed  that damaging railway infrastructure is an act of terrorism, a crime  that carries a 20-year prison term.

Dozens  of railway workers have been randomly detained and their phones  searched for evidence that they were in touch with the partisans, the  activists say. At least 11 Belarusians are in custody, accused of  participating in the attacks, according to human rights groups.

In  early April, security police captured three alleged saboteurs near the  town of Bobruisk and shot them in the knees. State television broadcast  footage of the bleeding men, their knees bandaged, and claimed they had  been shot while resisting arrest.

The  shootings have had a chilling effect on the saboteur network, Azarov  said. Belarusian troops are patrolling and drones have been deployed to  monitor the railway lines. It has become too dangerous to do attacks,  he said.

But  by the time of the police shooting, Russias withdrawal from the area  around Kyiv was in full swing and the Kremlin had announced it would  refocus its military effort on capturing the east of Ukraine. The  majority of the Russian troops that entered Ukraine from Belarus are now  in the process of being redeployed to the east, the Pentagon says.

We  believe the fact that the Russians gave up on taking Kyiv is a result  of our work because the Russians didnt feel as safe in Belarus as they  had expected, said Franak Viacorka, spokesman for Belarusian opposition  leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Thousands of Russian troops didnt receive food, they didnt receive fuel, and they didnt receive equipment on time.

Now,  a new phase in the rail war may be underway. In recent days the railway  activists have posted on Telegram photographs of damage to signaling  cabinets along Russian railway lines being used to transport troops into  eastern Ukraine. The attacks cant be independently confirmed, but  Voitekhovich claimed members of his railway network are involved. There  are open borders between Belarus and Russia, he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...oteurs-russia/

----------


## malmomike77

The EU really is the height of hypocrisy.

Exclusive: France and Germany evaded arms embargo to sell weapons to Russia


Paris and Berlin sent Moscow £230m of military hardware, including bombs, rockets and missiles, that is likely being used in Ukraine

France and Germany armed Russia with €273 million (£230 million) of military hardware now likely being used in Ukraine, an EU analysis shared with The Telegraph has revealed.


They sent equipment, which included bombs, rockets, missiles and guns, to Moscow despite an EU-wide embargo on arms shipments to Russia, introduced in the wake of its 2014 annexation of Crimea.


The European Commission was this month forced to close a loophole in its blockade after it was found that at least 10 member states exported almost €350 million (£294 million) in hardware to Vladimir Putin’s regime. Some 78 per cent of that total was supplied by German and French firms.


Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, has faced fierce criticism this week for his reluctance to provide heavy weapons to Ukraine. Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to negotiate with Putin have seen the French president accused of appeasement.


Both Paris and Berlin have resisted an EU ban on buying gas from Russia, with the bloc currently paying Moscow €1 billion (£840 million) per day for energy supplies.


The EU report emerged as a top Russian commander said Moscow had expanded its goals to take “full control” of southern Ukraine, as well as the eastern Donbas region.


Russian forces would create a land bridge to Crimea and could push as far as the border of Moldova, said Major General Rustam Minnekayev, the deputy commander of the Russian central military district.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/22/exclusive-france-germany-evaded-arms-embargo-sell-weapons-russia/

----------


## David48atTD

U.S. pledges more military aid for Ukraine and plans to eventually re-open embassy in Kyiv
*
U.S.  Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin  arrived in Ukraine* to discuss military aid with Ukraine’s President  Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday.

The visit, which saw the senior  U.S. officials meet with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Kuleba as well as  the country’s defense and interior ministers, saw both sides discuss the  U.S.′ continued “security assistance, economic assistance and  humanitarian assistance” for Ukraine, one senior official said in a  background briefing on the visit.

Three significant announcements were made following the visit:

Firstly,  that President Biden will formally nominate Bridget Brink, currently  the U.S.′ ambassador to Slovakia to be the next U.S. ambassador to  Ukraine.Secondly, U.S. diplomats will be returning to Ukraine as  early as this week, starting with day trips into the western city of  Lviv then graduating to potentially other parts of the country and  ultimately, to resume their presence in Kyiv. A senior state department  official said Sunday that “we’ll seek to have our diplomats return to  our embassy in Kyiv as soon as possible.”Lastly, that the U.S.  has pledged more than $713 million in foreign military financing,  including funding for Ukraine and 15 other allied and partner nations in  Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. 

The aid will include  support for Ukraine to transition from outdated Soviet-era weapons to  more modern ones used by NATO members.
Blinken also informed  President Zelenskyy some of the howitzer artillery systems the U.S.  previously announced it would provide have arrived. 

Seven more howitzer  packages will also be sent to Ukraine imminently, a senior defence  official said.

Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

----------


## bsnub

Former NASA  astronaut Scott Kelly has said some of his Russian cosmonaut colleagues  have been "brainwashed" into supporting the invasion of Ukraine.Kelly,  who commanded the International Space Station (ISS) multiple times  during his NASA career, has been an outspoken critic of the Russian  government and its widely-condemned invasion of Ukraine in February this  year.

The former astronaut regularly takes to Twitter to blast Russian officials and spread information about Russia's actions in Ukraine to his 5.3 million followers—some of whom are Russian.

No  stranger to Russian culture, Kelly has worked with cosmonauts for years  and traveled to and from the ISS in Russian Soyuz spacecraft. He was  also selected, alongside cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, to spend almost an  entire year on the ISS between 2015 and 2016, after which he retired.

Kelly said he has been surprised by the number of Russian colleagues he spoke to who have expressed support for Putin's regime.

"I'm  a patriotic American, as a former military officer and an astronaut,  and I would expect the Russians to be patriotic," he told _Newsweek_.  "What kind of surprises me is that, at least from an appearance  perspective, most of them are really far down the rabbit hole, you know,  believing that this was a necessary action to prevent Nazis and NATO from destroying Russia. And I know this because some of them have told me this.

"So  that part surprised me. How easily some of them were misled and  brainwashed, I guess you could say, and don't believe what is really  happening. I mean, I've had discussions with them about the atrocities  that are committed, and they believe it's all fake, that it's Ukrainians  committing them and blaming them on the Russians, or it's just made  up."

The power of Russia's propaganda machine has been well documented throughout its invasion of Ukraine. Under President Vladimir Putin's  government, Russian media outlets have been presenting what has been  described as a sanitized version of events unfolding there.

Underreporting of casualties has been one aspect of this  misinformation, as has framing Ukrainian forces as Nazis or  nationalists. All the while, outside media sources such as the BBC and CNN have been threatened and Russian police are overseeing the suppression of anti-war statements.

Kelly said: "The other thing I get fairly often is Tucker Carlson videos subtitled in Russian, [and the Russians are] saying, 'well, this is why we are justified in doing this. Your own guy Tucker Carlson or Tulsi Gabbard, they're the truth tellers in the United States, just look at what they're saying.'

"It's  absolutely maddening that we would have American citizens that work in  media or as former public servants that are just parroting Putin's  talking points."

As powerful as Russia's propaganda machine may be, Kelly said that  not all of his former colleagues have taken it on board—though he did  not specify which ones.

"Some of the cosmonauts are like, 'this is  all a f***ing travesty and ridiculous and I wish I could leave this  country,'" he said. "So I don't think people need to put all Russians in  the same basket, particularly outside of Russia.

"Recently, I  went to the Russian Samovar restaurant in New York City just to support  them, because they were getting some significant backlash. And the  family that owns that restaurant are half Russians, half Ukrainians and  they're all absolutely opposed to Putin and what he's doing.

"They  left Russia for that very reason during the Soviet era because they  weren't a free people. And for them to be discriminated against in this  country or around the world is also wrong."

For Kelly, Russia's  invasion is a personal issue. He has Ukrainian family members and  Ukrainian friends—one of whom he helped to get their mother safely out  of Kharkiv, which he described as a "serious operation". She is now safe  in another country.

For many Ukrainian citizens still in the country, the threat of violence lingers on.

https://www.newsweek.com/nasa-astron...on-iss-1700546

----------


## misskit

*New drone video shows Russian military vehicles and forces on Bucha street strewn with civilian bodies

*Despite Russia's repeated denials they were responsible for any carnage in Bucha, Russian military vehicles and forces were seen on a Bucha street near civilian bodies, new drone video obtained exclusively by CNN shows. 


CNN has geolocated and confirmed the authenticity of the videos, which were taken by a drone on March 12 and 13. CNN is not naming the individual that took the video over concerns for their safety.


A Russian military vehicle is seen sitting at an intersection in the video from March 13. CNN has identified three objects in the video — just down the street from the military vehicle — are the same bodies that were seen in the video from April 1 and satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies on March 18.


Additional drone video from March 13 shows another Russian military vehicle traveling further up the street, in the direction of the bodies.


In the March 12 video, a number of Russian soldiers are seen around a military vehicle parked outside of a house, just down the street from the bodies. It's unclear what they are doing at the house.


CNN asked the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment but did not immediately receive a response.


Russian officials — President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — have repeatedly claimed that the videos and satellite images that show bodies in Bucha are fake.


This drone video is the first piece of evidence to emerge from Bucha that shows Russian vehicles and troops operating on the street, where the bodies were found by Ukrainian forces when they retook the town on April 1.


The images that emerged from Bucha after Russian forces retreated have drawn enormous outrage from the international community.


It's also led some leaders, including US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, to call for the atrocities that took place in Bucha war crimes.

Live updates: Russia'&#39;'s war in Ukraine

----------


## misskit

*Russia will shut off gas deliveries to Bulgaria starting Wednesday, Bulgarian energy ministry says


*Russia's Gazprom has told Bulgaria’s state-owned gas company Bulgargaz that it will shut off gas supplies starting Wednesday, Bulgarian energy ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Bulgaria is now the second country, after Poland, to face Russia's gas embargo starting Wednesday after they refused to pay in rubles.


The energy ministry said that the new payment procedure proposed by Russia was not compatible with the existing contract until the end of this year and posed "significant risks" to Bulgaria.


It said the Bulgarian side has “fully fulfilled its obligations and has made all payments required under this contract in a timely manner, diligently and in accordance with its provisions."


The Bulgarian government agencies have taken steps to make alternative arrangements for the supply of natural gas and to address the situation, it said.  


“At present, no restrictive measures have been imposed on gas consumption in Bulgaria,” the ministry added. 


Bulgarian Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov will make a statement on the situation on Wednesday, according to the statement.

Live updates: Russia'&#39;'s war in Ukraine

----------


## malmomike77

Surreal world where Poland and Bulgaria are talking about contract breaches with a country in the process of invading a neighbour and murdering its citizens.

Ukraine war: Russia to halt gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria

Russian energy firm Gazprom has told Poland and Bulgaria it will stop sending gas to the two countries from Wednesday.

Polish state gas company PGNiG said it had been told all gas deliveries would be halted from 08:00 CET (06:00 GMT).

The Bulgarian Energy Ministry also said it had been informed deliveries would be suspended from Wednesday.

It comes after Russia said "unfriendly" countries must start paying for gas in roubles or it would cut supplies.

Both countries have refused to pay in this way.

PGNiG relies on Gazprom for the majority of its gas imports and bought 53% of its imports from the Russian company in the first quarter of this year.

It described the suspension as a breach of contract, adding that the company would take steps to reinstate the flow of gas.

Bulgaria, which relies on Gazprom for more than 90% of its gas supply, said it had taken steps to find alternative sources but no restrictions on gas consumption were currently required.

The country's energy ministry said Bulgaria had fulfilled its obligations under the current contract with Gazprom and made all required payments.

It added that the new payment system proposed by Russia was in breach of the existing contract.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61237519

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Ukraine war: Russia to halt gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria


Remember that bit where Putin promised he would never use oil and gas supplies to threaten countries?

Hoohoo does.

Everyone and their auntie is now going to source it elsewhere, except the chinkies, they'll pick up the Russian shit for peanuts, which is about what the ruble is worth now anyway.

 :Smile:

----------


## pickel

*Blasts heard overnight in three Russian provinces along Ukraine border*


April  27 (Reuters) - Series of blasts were heard in the early hours of  Wednesday in three Russian provinces bordering Ukraine, authorities  said, and an ammunition depot in the Belgorod province caught fire  around the same time.

Belgorod  regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a fire at the ammunition  depot near the Staraya Nelidovka village had been extinguished and no  civilians have been injured.

Russia  this month accused Ukraine of attacking a fuel depot in Belgorod with  helicopters and opening fire on several villages in the province.

The  Belgorod province borders Ukraine's Luhansk, Sumy and Kharkiv regions,  all of which have seen heavy fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine two  months ago.

Separately,  Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Russia's Kursk province, which also  borders Ukraine, said that explosions had been heard in Kursk city early  on Wednesday which were most likely the sounds of air defence systems  firing.

In  Voronezh, the administrative centre of another province adjacent to  Ukraine, Russia's TASS news agency cited an emergencies ministry  official as saying that two blasts had been heard and the authorities  were investigating.

Blasts heard overnight in three Russian provinces along Ukraine border | Reuters

----------


## nidhogg

^ Worrying.  Either Ukranians making a point, or Russians stage setting to take it to another level.  Either way ratchets things up a bit.

----------


## malmomike77

> Everyone and their auntie is now going to source it elsewhere, except the chinkies, they'll pick up the Russian shit for peanuts


and the Indians, Pakis and most of the rest of Asia

----------


## bsnub

> Worrying.


Why would it be worrying? 




> either Ukranians making a point, or Russians stage setting to take it to another level.


Everything that was blown up was logistically important to the Russian invasion. Ammo dump, oil depot and even a meat packing plant. Food, fuel and bullets. 

It is Ukrainian special forces operating behind enemy lines. The Americans trained them very well.

----------


## nidhogg

^why worrying?  Seriously?

It dramatically increases the chance of a Russian escalation.  And Russia has few options to move it up a notch.  Nuclear, chemical or less likely biological.  Maybe just mass carpet bombing.

----------


## bsnub

> It dramatically increases the chance of a Russian escalation.


Oh, get real, they have already escalated things by committing genocide. 

This is war, a real full on nation state war, it is different from anything that has happened since the Iraqi government was deposed in a successful lightning blitzkrieg strike by the US in 2003, something that the Russians thought they could replicate with the failed attempt to take Kyiv. That defeat proved that the Russian army is light years from being able to match the US and NATO on the battlefield. Frankly, it would be a massacre.

Ukraine is a fully capable nation with a better trained army than Russia. They should be doing all they can to defeat their enemy.




> nd Russia has few options to move it up a notch. Nuclear, chemical or less likely biological.


If they do that, then Putin will suffer the consequences. This is, after all, his war and his failure, over 20,000 Russians dead and counting. It is time to twist the screws, not back down.

----------


## misskit

According to the Ukrainian government, over one thousand civilians might have been abducted and locked up in Russian detention centers. CNN's Phil Black reports.

VIDEO HERE See what Ukrainians forcibly sent to Russia had to endure - CNN Video

----------


## nidhogg

> Oh, get real, they have already escalated things by committing genocide.


bsnub, i kinda have a soft spot for you, but sometimes you can be a fucking idiot.

Still puts you above sabang who is a complete fucking idiot mind.

If you think this cannot go a whole lot worse, you are dreaming.

----------


## malmomike77

^^ quite likely. In the first days of so called humanitarian corridors offered by Russia in the east they all led to Russia and i suspect quite a few accepted the offer of escaping bombing even if that meant delivering themselves into enemy hands. Lord only knows what has become of those poor souls. One of a catalogue of crimes Putin should be held to account for.

----------


## DrWilly

> If you think this cannot go a whole lot worse, you are dreaming.


tbf I dont think he suggested that...

----------


## bsnub

> bsnub, i kinda have a soft spot for you, but sometimes you can be a fucking idiot.


I understand how worse it can get. I lived in Germany during the Cold War, and the nuclear brinksmanship was there every day, but even back then they understood NATO forces had to keep the Russian bear in check. My response to you was well written and logical, I have no idea what brought out the knee-jerk ad hominem aside from the fact that I disagreed with you. 




> Still puts you above sabang who is a complete fucking idiot mind.


Well, at least you clarified that. 

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 




> If you think this cannot go a whole lot worse, you are dreaming.


War is won and lost through logistics, not just the fight at the front, those of us who served understand this. Those attacks in Russian territory are having a much bigger effect than you may realize and could in the end be critical to turning the war to Ukraine's favor. Constant reluctance out of fear of what Russia might or might not do is a fool's errand. 

The SAS have a motto "who dares wins". During WW2, especially in North Africa, they fought hundreds of miles behind enemy lines and wreaked havoc. Ukrainian SpecOps have been heavily trained by US Special forces, Navy SEALs and SAS. Let the hungry dog eat.

----------


## S Landreth

Russia earned $66 billion in fuel exports since Ukraine war began

Russia has made about $66 billion in fossil fuel sales in the two months since its forces first invaded Ukraine, according to a new study by an independent research group.

*Why it matters:* The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air's report indicates that Russia has almost doubled its revenues in sales of oil, gas and coal since Putin's forces began attacking Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Guardian notes.


"Fossil fuel exports are a key enabler of Russia's military buildup and brutal aggression against Ukraine," the study's authors write.

*By the numbers:* The European Union bought 71% of Russian fossil fuels via shipments and pipelines from Russia, the study found.


Germany imported more than any other country, according to the report  spending an estimated 9.1 billion euros ($9.65 billion).Italy was the next biggest customer (6.9 billion euros), followed by China (6.7 billion euros), the Netherlands (5.6 billion euros), Turkey (4.1 billion euros) and France (3.8 billion euros).

*The big picture:* Russia's oil and gas exports have not been subject to sanctions, though pressure is mounting to do so, per Axios' Emily Peck.


The nation's majority state-owned energy company Gazprom announced Wednesday that it had halted supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after the two NATO and EU member countries refused Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands to pay in rubles.European leaders accused the Kremlin of "blackmail" for its actions and violating its contracts with Poland and Bulgaria.

*What they're saying:* U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said at an international forum on offshore wind energy in Atlantic City that the United States, along with energy industries, was "on a war footing," per Al Jazeera.


"Russia is waging a war in Ukraine and the imperative to move away from Russian oil and gas, for the world to move away from Russian oil and gas screams that there is an imperative that we electrify," she added."Offshore wind is just a huge component in that."

Full Report -* DocumentCloud*

----------


## malmomike77

> "Russia is waging a war in Ukraine and the imperative to move away from Russian oil and gas, for the world to move away from Russian oil and gas screams that there is an imperative that we electrify," she added.


i had to read that three times.

----------


## sabang

> Germany imported more than any other country


It is also the largest economy in Europe, roughly double the size of UK & France. Of course it needs to import more energy.

----------


## bsnub

Germany hopes to find a way within days to replace Russian oil with  supplies from other sources, Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on  Tuesday, adding that Germany could then cope with an EU embargo on  Russian oil imports.Under  pressure to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, following Moscow's  invasion of Ukraine, Germany has previously said it could wean itself  off of Russian oil by the end of the year. It has rejected, however, the  idea of an immediate ban on imports to the European Union.  read more 

"Today  I can say that an (oil) embargo has become manageable for Germany,"  Habeck told journalists during a visit to Poland for talks about energy  security.

Before  the war in Ukraine, Russian oil accounted for about a third of  Germany's supply. A month ago, Habeck said that Germany had reduced its  dependence on Russian oil to 25% of its imports.

On  Tuesday he said that Russian oil now accounted for only 12% of  Germany's supply and went entirely to one refinery, the PCK refinery in  Schwedt near Berlin. PCK is majority-owned and operated by Russian  state-owned oil company Rosneft (ROSN.MM).  read more 

"The  Schwedt business model is based on buying Russian oil. That is a bone  of contention, we need an alternative for Schwedt, and we will be  working on it in coming days," Habeck said.

Germany aims to find alternative to Russian oil within days | Reuters

----------


## Neverna

Uniper to pay for Russian gas via Russia account- paper

Uniper will transfer payments for Russian gas to a Russian bank and no longer to a Europe-based bank, the German power utility told newspaper Rheinische Post on Thursday.

"The plan is to make our payments in euros to an account in Russia," the daily paper cited a Uniper spokesperson as saying.

Even though Russia has demanded rouble payments for its gas, the payments system it has proposed foresees the use of accounts at Gazprombank, which would convert payments made in euros or dollars into roubles.

The European Commission said last week that if buyers of Russian gas confirmed payment was complete once they had deposited euros, as opposed to later when the euros have been converted to roubles, that would not breach sanctions.

Uniper on Wednesday said it considered Russian gas flows into Germany secure for now despite a halt in supplies to Poland and Bulgaria as transit volumes headed elsewhere would be unaffected, Germany's top importer of Russian gas said on Wednesday.

Uniper to pay for Russian gas via Russia account- paper | Reuters

----------


## malmomike77

Probably nearer the truth but of course Putin and the media would never admit it. Be nice if they could spell Defence correctly.

Russian Soldier Confirms 25,900 Trooper Deaths, Including Commanders In Ukraine

More than 25,000 Russian soldiers have died since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, according to an intercepted phone call made by one soldier. 

Ukraines Security Service on Wednesday released a recording of an intercepted phone call where one Russian soldier was heard discussing the loss they suffered since the war began on Feb. 24. 

So many of our boys have been f**king killed, for f**ks sake. One thing is what they say officially, but Ill tell you: 25,900 killed. This is during the f**king 2 months the soldier told his friend. 

The brigade commander [generals position] got hit, he added.

In another intercepted call published Tuesday, Russian soldiers were heard refuting a story that claimed they have successfully captured the Ukrainian town of Rubizhne. The soldier also admitted that Ukrainian troops made even elite Russian units suffer.

I was also told that they said on TV that Rubezhnoye had been taken. We havent taken f***ing anything! Were standing at the same site, the soldier said. Russian spetsnaz [special forces] came here They also got f***ing beaten a bit, last night.

It is unclear how many Russian soldiers have died in the war, primarily due to a lack of reporting from the Kremlin. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine claimed they have killed 22,400 Russian soldiers and downed 185 Russian aircraft, 155 helicopters, 939 tanks, 2,342 armored personnel vehicles and 71 anti-aircraft warfare systems as of April 27.

British Defense Secretary George Wallace on Monday said about 15,000 Russian military personnel have been killed since the start of the war. The British Defense Ministry also estimated that Russia has lost over 2,000 armored vehicles and at least 530 tanks since the start of the war. 

Despite huge losses among the Russians, Ukraine has also suffered from a large number of casualties in the war. As of Tuesday, a total of 2,787 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, including 1,985 adults and 202 children. A total of 3,152 people also sustained injuries in the war.

The figures are estimates made by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner. However, the organization noted that the actual toll could be considerably higher. 

https://www.ibtimes.com.au/russian-soldier-confirms-25900-trooper-deaths-including-commanders-ukraine-1812890

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine Prosecutors Lay Out First Criminal Charges Against Russian Soldiers After Bucha Massacre


*Ukrainian prosecutors investigating war crimes in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha have laid the first criminal charges against 10 named Russian soldiers, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The men, who are accused of taking civilians hostage or otherwise mistreating them, are all privates or NCOs from the 64th Motor Rifle Brigade—which President Vladimir Putin has since honored. After the Russian retreat from Bucha, searchers have found more than 400 bodies, many of them found to have been shot in the head with their hands tied behind their back. Teams of international and Ukrainian investigators have been working to catalog the crimes and identify the perpetrators. The Journal reports Kyiv prosecutors continue to build cases against Russian officers and others accused of more serious crimes in Bucha and nearby towns.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/first-...=home?ref=home

----------


## malmomike77

but this doesn't matter, as Hat has said numerous times Germany isn't reliant on Russian supplies and so its irrelevant....surely OR basically Russia has Germany over a barrel and will do so for the foreseeable. Dance for me......

German energy giant Uniper gives in to Russian rouble demand

One of Germany's biggest energy firms has said it is preparing to buy Russian gas using a payment system that critics say will undermine EU sanctions.

Uniper says it will pay in euros which will be converted into roubles, meeting a Kremlin demand for all transactions to be made in the Russian currency.

Other European energy firms are reportedly preparing to do the same amid concerns about supply cuts.

Uniper said it had no choice but said it was still abiding by EU sanctions.

"We consider a payment conversion compliant with sanctions law and the Russian decree to be possible," a spokesman told the BBC.

"For our company and for Germany as a whole, it is not possible to do without Russian gas in the short term; this would have dramatic consequences for our economy."

Germany's biggest energy supplier RWE declined to comment on how it would pay for Russian gas.

In late March, Russia said "unfriendly countries" would have to start paying for its oil and gas in roubles to prop up its currency after Western allies froze billions of dollars it held in foreign currencies overseas.

Under the decree, European importers must pay euros or dollars into an account at Gazprombank, the Swiss-based trading arm of Gazprom, and then convert this into roubles in a second account in Russia.


The European Commission said last week that if buyers of Russian gas could complete payments in euros and get confirmation of this before any conversion into roubles took place, that would not breach sanctions.

However there are different views among countries on how to interpret its initial guidance, and this week EC boss Ursula von der Lyon sparked confusion when she said firms could still be breaking the rules.

On Thursday, an EU official confirmed that any attempt to convert cash into roubles in Russia would be a "clear circumvention of sanctions" as the transaction would involve Russia's central bank.

"What we cannot accept is that companies are obliged to open a second account and that between the first and second account, the amount in euros is in the full hands of the Russian authorities and the Russian Central Bank, and that the payment is only complete when it is converted into roubles."

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61257846

----------


## sabang

At a market in the industrial town of Lysychansk in east Ukraine — war-scarred after relentless attacks by Russian forces — one woman quietly hopes Moscow’s army will break through.

“Technically, we’re Ukrainian. But Donbas is not Ukraine,” Olena confided to AFP, referring to swathes of east Ukraine that Moscow has vowed to capture from Kyiv.

“Ukrainians are the foreigners here — not Russians,” she said, giving a pseudonym, concerned that unpopular opinions like hers could land her “in prison”.

Olena’s view on the war is not unique in this part of Ukraine where long-standing ties with Russia, nostalgia for the Soviet Union and hopes for a fast end to fighting mean many would welcome a Russian takeover.

For years the Kremlin has accused Ukraine of discriminating against Russian speakers in the Donbas region, which has been partially controlled by pro-Kremlin separatists since 2014.

It says it wants to “liberate” parts of the mining and oil hub still controlled by Kyiv.

Moscow’s forces are closing in, pounding Lysychansk and seizing villages around it.

Ukraine’s army has put up fierce resistance, slowing Russia’s advance, but some wearing blue and yellow patches already feel as if they are in enemy territory.
“Even if we do everything possible to hide our positions, residents here give the other side information about us,” a sergeant in the Ukrainian army, Iryna, told AFP.

– Donbas ‘had everything’ –

Attesting to that, Kyiv’s army regularly announces arrests of “saboteurs” in Donbas territory it controls and many among the rank and file said they were suspicious of residents.

Iryna, whose unit recently withdrew from Russian-controlled Kreminna north of Lysychansk, described this tale-telling as “very, very common”.

“It comes from people who are supposed to be above suspicion — even priests,” she added.

Some Ukrainian troops and officials hope that the Donbas residents fleeing fighting towards Russia are the ones sympathetic to Moscow.

Still, they worry pro-Russia sentiment is lingering among some who have remained.

“These are people who at best don’t mind and at worst are hoping for the arrival of the Russians,” Vadim Lyakh, the mayor of Sloviansk in northwestern Donbas, told AFP.

Lyakh, whose city briefly fell to the separatists in 2014, said however that now was not the time to confront the mainly elderly Kremlin-sympathetic residents who long for the Soviet past.

“Now is not the time to quarrel with them,” he told AFP.

Language is regularly pointed to as a sticking point in the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas, where Moscow dispatched many ethnic Russians to work after World War II.

But residents said the issues at hand centred on values, identity and the region’s economy that was shattered during the Soviet collapse in 1991 and blamed on Kyiv.

Donbas “had everything: coal, salt, chemical industry,” said Olena, who worked at an oil refinery in Lysychansk for two decades.

– Communist flags and portraits –

“While the Ukrainians protested on Maidan, we were working!” she said of historic street demonstrations in 2014 that toppled Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly leader.

A Russian takeover of Donbas would restore the struggling region’s economic prowess, says Olena, lighting up as she recalls old Soviet glories.

A bunker built for employees of the Ost Chem nitrogen plant in Severodonetsk, across a river from Lysychansk, is filled with regalia from that era.

Communist flags and portraits of Alexei Stakhanov — a legendary Soviet worker from Donbas hailed by authorities as a model for efficiency — line its walls.

More than 160 residents of the frontline town have been sheltering in the bunker for two months. Most accuse Ukraine of shelling their town, not Russian forces.

Tamara Dorivientko, a retired English teacher, is reading Jane Austen on her makeshift bed while she waits for the shelling to end.

“Why would I be afraid of the Russians? We lived in the Soviet Union for 70 years,” she said. “We’re the same.”

She says she sympathises with Moscow but also “loves” Ukraine.

“I’d have preferred to stay there,” she said, describing it as “a beautiful country with a lot of freedom”.

“The decision has been made for us,” she told AFP.

Sloviansk mayor Lyakh said there is little Ukrainian authorities can do to counter the pro-Russian sentiment.

“They want the war to end but don’t see a problem with Russia’s conduct of hostilities,” he said.

Hopefully, he said, Russia’s destruction of other Ukrainian cities “will make them change their minds”.

'Donbas is not Ukraine': in industrial east, hopes for Russian rule - Digital Journal

----------


## pickel

> It says it wants to “liberate” parts of the mining and oil hub still controlled by Kyiv.


Says it all, really.

----------


## David48atTD

> Russian Soldier Confirms 25,900 Trooper Deaths, Including Commanders In Ukraine


.. but where are the bodies?

Mass graves in Belarus?

---

*Russia orders its military to be buried in mass graves to cover up losses in Ukraine*

                     Sunday, 6 March 2022

*Quote*: "I demand:
  That from 1 March 2022,the bodies of fallen servicemen of the Armed  Forces of the Russian Federation are covertly removed  (at night) to  permanent base points and that they are buried in a mass grave  (including in the Republic of Belarus) with assignment of a number.

 If it is impossible to evacuate the bodies from 1 March 2022, measures should be taken to destroy them on the spot."

Russia orders its military to be buried in mass graves to cover up losses in Ukraine | Ukrayinska Pravda

----------


## malmomike77

^ Early on there were reports the Russians were deploying their battlefield cremation vehicles. They won't bring their sons home to their families as that would confirm the West's media reporting and stir up discord - they are either cremating them and/or burying them in "safe zones" i.e. in the areas they control or as was mooted, back in Belarus but whatever the case i suspect any ID will have been removed and sadly for the families back in Russia they'll never get to bury their children and will probably be told some Ukrainian war atrocity accounts for their disappearance.

----------


## misskit

Ukraine hopes to evacuate civilians holed up with fighters in Mariupol steel works



An operation is planned to evacuate civilians trapped in Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant on Friday, the Ukrainian president’s office has said, without providing further details.


At least one person has been killed after two explosions hit the capital Kyiv during UN’s chief Antonio Guterres’ visit who was left “shocked“.


Moscow regards winning the “Battle for Donbas” as crucial if it is to achieve its stated objective of securing control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east, Britain’s defence ministry has said.


A local police official says the bodies of 1,187 dead civilians have been found so far in Kyiv region.


Some 8,000 UK soldiers will conduct a series of planned exercises across Europe this summer, the British ministry of defence has said, noting it will be the “largest deployment since the Cold War”.


US President Joe Biden asks Congress for $33bn to support Ukraine.

MORE Russia-Ukraine live news: Kyiv plans Mariupol evacuations | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera

----------


## misskit

Russian rockets hit Kyiv as UN chief visits, but besieged Mariupol main target


KYIV, April 29 (Reuters) – Two Russian missiles struck Kyiv during a visit by the head of the United Nations, Ukrainian officials said, but the West believes the battles for the besieged port of Mariupol and other areas in the east and south may determine the war’s outcome.


Russia withdrew its forces from outside Kyiv last month after failing to take the capital and launched a massive attack on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.


But Thursday’s blasts in Kyiv, heard soon after U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres completed talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, highlighted concerns that the capital remains vulnerable.


Zelenskiy said the blasts “prove that we must not drop our vigilance. We must not think that the war is over.”


The rockets shook the central Shevchenko district of the city and one struck the lower floors of a 25-storey residential building, wounding at least 10 people, Ukrainian officials said.


Reuters witnesses heard two explosions, but their cause could not be independently verified. There was no Russian comment on the blasts.


Russian forces are now entrenched in the east, where Moscow-backed separatists have held territory since 2014, and are holding onto a swathe of the south that they seized in March.


Ukraine’s general staff said Russia was stepping up its military assault in the Donbas.


“The enemy is increasing the pace of the offensive operation. The Russian occupiers are exerting intense fire in almost all directions,” it said.


Moscow’s assault in the east drew new U.S. pledges of military and humanitarian aid for Ukrain on Thursday.


Heeding repeated Ukrainian pleas for heavier weaponry, U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to support Kyiv, a massive jump in funding that includes over $20 billion for weapons, ammunition and other military aid.


“We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom,” Biden said. “The cost of this fight – it’s not cheap – but caving to aggression is going to be more costly.”


Putin calls Moscow’s actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine, defend Russian-speaking people from persecution and prevent the United States from using the country to threaten Russia.


Ukraine dismisses Putin’s claims of persecution and says it is fighting an imperial-style land grab that has flattened Ukrainian cities, forced more than 5 million to flee abroad and killed thousands since the invasion started on Feb. 24.


Washington, which together with its allies has placed sweeping sanctions on Moscow, hopes Ukrainian forces can not only repel Russia’s assault in the east but also weaken its military so that it can no longer menace neighbours.


Russia regards NATO’s actions as tantamount to waging a “proxy war” against it, and has made a number of threats this week of unspecified retaliation.


It cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday after they refused to pay in roubles, marking Moscow’s toughest response yet to Western economic sanctions.


Russia has reported what it says have been a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian regions that border Ukraine and has warned that such attacks risk significant escalation.


On Thursday, two big explosions were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, two witnesses told Reuters. It was unclear what caused them and whether there were any casualties or damage.


Ukraine has not directly accepted responsibility for strikes inside Russia but says the incidents are payback. Russia has taken umbrage at statements by NATO member Britain that it is legitimate for Ukraine to target Russian logistics.


“In the West, they are openly calling on Kyiv to attack Russia including with the use of weapons received from NATO countries,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow.


“I don’t advise you to test our patience further.”


Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian officials said.


The U.S. mission to the OSCE security body said the Kremlin might attempt “sham referenda” in southern and eastern areas it had captured since the Feb. 24 invasion, using “a well-worn playbook that steals from history’s darkest chapters”.


“These falsified, illegitimate referenda will undoubtedly be accompanied by a wave of abuses against those who seek to oppose or undermine Moscow’s plans,” the U.S. mission said. There was no immediate Russian comment.

Russian rockets hit Kyiv as UN chief visits, but besieged Mariupol main target | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

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## harrybarracuda

Puffy really has lost the plot hasn't he.

----------


## bsnub

In the two months since Russia invaded Ukraine, the silence — and even acquiescence — of the Russian elite has started to fray.

Even  as opinion polls report overwhelming public support for the military  campaign, amid pervasive state propaganda and new laws outlawing  criticism of the war, cracks are starting to show. The dividing lines  among factions of the Russian economic elite are becoming more marked,  and some of the tycoons — especially those who made their fortunes  before President Vladimir Putin came to power — have begun, tentatively,  to speak.

For  many, the most immediate focus has been their own woes. Sweeping  sanctions imposed by the West have brought down a new iron curtain on  the Russian economy, freezing tens of billions of dollars of many of the  tycoons’ assets along the way.

“In  one day, they destroyed what was built over many years. It’s a  catastrophe,” said one businessman who was summoned along with many of  the country’s other richest men to meet Putin on the day of the  invasion.

The White House further turned the screws on the oligarchs Thursday, announcing a proposal to liquidate their assets and donate the proceeds to Ukraine.

At  least four oligarchs who made it big in the more liberal era of Putin’s  predecessor, President Boris Yeltsin, have left Russia. At least four  senior officials have resigned their posts and departed the country, the  highest ranking among them being Anatoly Chubais, the Kremlin special  envoy for sustainable development and Yeltsin-era privatization czar.

But  those in top positions vital to the continued running of the country  remain — some trapped, unable to leave even if they wanted to. Most  notably, Russia’s mild-mannered and highly regarded central bank chief,  Elvira Nabiullina, tendered her resignation after the imposition of  Western sanctions, but Putin refused to let her step down, according to  five people familiar with the situation.

In  interviews, several Russian billionaires, senior bankers, a senior  official and former officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity  for fear of retribution, described how they and others had been  blindsided by their increasingly isolated president and feel largely  impotent to influence him because his inner circle is dominated by a  handful of hard-line security officials.

The  complaints aired in public so far are mostly muted and focused  primarily on the government’s proposed economic response to the  sanctions imposed on Russia by the West. No one has directly criticized  Putin.

Vladimir  Lisin, a steel magnate who made his fortune in the Yeltsin years,  slammed a proposal in the Russian parliament to counter sanctions by  forcing foreign buyers to pay in rubles for a list of commodities beyond  gas. In an interview with a Moscow newspaper, he said the measure  risked undermining export markets that Russia “fought for for decades,”  warning that “a transfer to payments in rubles will just lead to us  being thrown out of international markets.”

Vladimir  Potanin, the owner of the Norilsk Nickel metals plant who was an  architect of Russia’s privatizations in the 1990s, warned that proposals  to confiscate the assets of foreign companies that exited Russia in the  wake of the war would destroy investor confidence and throw the country  back to the revolution of 1917.

Oleg  Deripaska, an aluminum tycoon who also made his initial fortune during  the Yeltsin era, has gone furthest, calling the war in Ukraine  “insanity,” though he too has focused on the invasion’s economic toll.  He has predicted that the economic crisis resulting from the sanctions  would be three times worse than the 1998 financial crisis that rocked  the Russian economy, and he has thrown down the gauntlet to the Putin  regime, saying its state capitalism policies of the past 14 years have  “led neither to economic growth nor to the growth of the population’s  incomes.”

In  a subsequent post on his Telegram channel, Deripaska wrote that the  current “armed conflict” was “a madness for which we will long be  ashamed of.” In the next sentence, however, he indicated the West was  equally to blame for a “hellish ideological mobilization from all  sides.”

*‘We’ve lost everything’
*
When  37 of Russia’s wealthiest business executives were called to the  Kremlin for the meeting with Putin hours after he launched the war on  Feb. 24, many of them were depressed and shocked. “Everyone was in a  terrible mood,” one participant said. “Everyone was sitting there  crushed.”

“I’d never seen them as stunned as they were,” another participant said. “Some of them could not even speak.”

They’d  been kept waiting, as usual, for more than two hours before the  president appeared in the Kremlin’s ornate Ekaterininsky Hall — ample  time to consider their fate. For some of the executives, as they quietly  discussed the consequences of Putin’s war, it was the moment they  realized that it was all over for the business empires they’d been  building since Russia’s market transition began more than 30 years ago.

“Some of them said, ‘We’ve lost everything,’ ” one of the participants said.

When  the president arrived, no one dared issue a whimper of protest.  Stone-faced, they listened as Putin assured everyone Russia would remain  part of global markets — a promise soon made hollow by the series of  Western sanctions — and told them he’d had no other choice than to  launch his “special military operation.”

Since  then, Putin has ratcheted up threats against anyone criticizing the  war, hastily issuing new laws that include a potential 15-year prison  sentence for anyone saying anything the Kremlin deems false about the  Russian military. His administration has proposed instituting a new  system of deputies in Russia’s ministries to report back to the Kremlin  on the “emotional climate and mood.” One tycoon said he expected the  coming crackdown to be “cannibalistic” compared with the “vegetarian  period” of previous years.

Putin’s  decision to launch a full-scale invasion appears to have stunned not  just the billionaires but the breadth of the Russian elite, including  senior technocratic officials and some members of the security services,  according to two of the Russian billionaires and a well-connected  Moscow-based former state official.

“Apart  from those directly involved in the preparations, [Defense Minister  Sergei] Shoigu, [chief of the army’s general staff Valery] Gerasimov,  and some from the FSB, no one knew,” said one of the billionaires.

Despite  the escalating warnings by U.S. intelligence, many in the Moscow elite  had believed Putin was limiting his aims to the separatist areas of  eastern Ukraine. Economic and financial officials “thought it would be  limited to action in Donetsk and Luhansk and this is what they had  prepared for,” the senior official said. They had prepared for Western  sanctions, including a suspension from Swift, the international  financial messaging system, he said, “but they hadn’t prepared for  this.”

With  casualties mounting and Russian troops forced to turn back from Kyiv,  the war is now being viewed with increasing dismay not just by  billionaires sanctioned by the West but even by some members of the  security establishment, according to two people with knowledge of the  situation.

One  referred specifically to Shoigu, who took part in the war preparations.  “They all want to have a normal life. They have homes, children,  grandchildren. They don’t need war,” this person said. “They’re all not  suicidal. They all want to have a good life. They want their children to  have everything and be able to travel to the most beautiful places.”

The  mounting pressure on their foreign bank accounts is a source of  particular chagrin for the elite. Even officials who tried to protect  themselves by moving their money into accounts belonging to business  partners now find that these accounts are blocked, one of the Moscow  executives said.

*Trapped in Moscow
*
Western  sanctions to freeze $300 billion — or nearly half — of the Central Bank  of Russia’s hard currency reserves left Moscow reeling, including  central bank governor Nabiullina, whose resignation attempt was rejected  by Putin, according to the five people familiar with the situation.  (Bloomberg News first reported her attempt to resign.)

Nabiullina “understands very well she can’t just leave. Otherwise, it will end very badly for her,” one of these people said.

“No  one can say ‘That’s it’ and then slam the door,” said Vadim Belyaev,  the exiled former main owner of Otkritie, Russia’s biggest private bank  until its takeover by the state in 2017. “Everyone will continue working  right up to the next Hague tribunal,” he said, referring to a possible  war crimes trial. The central bank has denied that Nabiullina tried to  resign.

Only  those officials who are superfluous to the running of the state — and  are relative outsiders — have been allowed to leave, economists said.  “No minister is allowed to step down,” said Maxim Mironov, an associate  professor at IE University in Spain. “It is like a mafia.”

If  Nabiullina epitomizes Moscow’s senior technocratic officials, then  Alexei Kudrin is the one closest to Putin. Kudrin — a former member of  Putin’s inner circle from St. Petersburg who served as finance minister  for the first two terms of his presidency — also appears to be among  those unable to step down.

One  person close to Kudrin said he met with Putin a month before the  invasion. Although it was clear that preparations for war were underway,  Kudrin had believed the plans would not be carried out, one person  familiar with his thinking said. “He counted on things not reaching such  a head,” the person said.

Kudrin  — who now heads the Audit Chamber, Russia’s financial watchdog — has  told allies it would be a betrayal by him to leave for good. He’d  appeared in Tel Aviv the weekend of April 9 but took to social media to  telegraph to all that he intended to return to Moscow to speak at  Russia’s upper chamber the following week. He gave his address according  to plan, warning that Western sanctions were confronting Russia with  the worst economic downturn in 30 years.

Another  former senior state official said he felt a responsibility to remain in  Moscow, even though he was taken aback and horrified by the war. “If  everyone leaves, then who is going to be here to pick up the pieces,” he  said. “It’s like working at a nuclear power station. Who is going to  run it if you leave? If you leave, then there is a chance it can  explode.”

*Yeltsin’s tycoons and Putin’s tycoons
*
Among  the billionaires who left Russia in the immediate aftermath of the  invasion are several who grew wealthy during the Yeltsin era, including  Alexander Mamut and Alexander Nesis, who own the Russian gold company  Polymetal, and Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven of Alfa Group.

But  many other tycoons high-tailed it to Moscow as soon as they were hit  with sanctions, which have barred them from travel in the West. Other  business executives fear that if they leave Russia, their companies will  be seized by the government, one of the Moscow business executives  said.

Some  of the billionaires now stuck in Moscow are seeking only to emerge  unscathed. “You may not support the war but you have to keep quiet and  be with your countrymen because some of your soldiers are dying,” said  one person close to one of the billionaires present at the Feb. 24  Kremlin meeting. “If you are living in the country, you may not be happy  — nobody is happy about what’s going on — but don’t voice your  opinion.”

Those  billionaires who have been willing to speak out publicly are those who  remember a different era; they made their first fortunes in the Yeltsin  years, before Putin became president.

Sergei  Pugachev, a Kremlin insider until he left Russia in 2011, pointed out  that these tycoons were still careful in their public comments not to  directly criticize Putin for going to war. “What they say is subtle: The  context is that the West, NATO is to blame. … They are talking about  this as though it is a conspiracy against Russia,” he said.

By  contrast, those closest to Putin — who are from St. Petersburg and  became fabulously wealthy after his rise to the presidency — such as  Gennady Timchenko, Yury Kovalchuk and Arkady Rotenburg, are resolutely  silent. They “would never go against Putin. They started with Putin, and  he made them gazillionaires. Why would you bite the hand that feeds  you?” said a former senior Western banker who worked with Russian  oligarchs.

Apart  from these tycoons, there is an army of officials and business  executives in Moscow who are not troubled by Russia’s increasing  economic isolation as a result of the invasion, Pugachev said, and many  of the contacts he retains in Moscow have not faulted Putin for going to  war. They have complained instead that the army should have been better  prepared.

He  said many members of the current elite are mid-level government  ministers who have stashed millions of dollars in private accounts and  maintain homes elsewhere in Europe. If sanctions prevent them from  traveling to these countries, they’ll still be fine. “He’s still a  minister in Russia, and instead of going to Austria, he’ll go to [the  Russian resort] Sochi. They don’t suffer very much,” Pugachev said.

On  the surface, moreover, the Russian economy has appeared to stabilize  since the initial salvo of sanctions, buoyed by estimated revenue of  more than $800 million a day from the sale of oil and gas to Europe. The  central bank’s policy to force exporters to sell 80 percent of their  hard-currency earnings has prevented a ruble implosion, while Putin has  declared that the “economic blitzkrieg” against Russia has failed.

But  earlier this month, Nabiullina warned the impact of sanctions was yet  to be fully felt and said the worst was still to come. The manufacturing  plants, where “practically every product” depended on imported  components, were beginning to run out of supplies, while reserves of  imported consumer goods were dwindling, too. “We are entering a  difficult period of structural changes,” she told parliamentary  deputies. “The period during which the economy can live on reserves is  finite.”

In  these conditions, Putin’s position is precarious, Pugachev said. The  population has so far been lulled by the state propaganda machine, which  has covered up the level of deaths in the Russian military, as well as  by the sanctions’ lack of immediate bite. “But in three months, the  shops and factories will run out of stocks, and the scale of deaths in  the Russian military will become clear,” he said.

Despite  the near-fatal blow to their interests, for now, the Russian business  elite appears to be still frozen in fear. “I don’t know who has the  balls to fight back,” said one of the business executives.

“But  if the war is long, and they begin to lose, then the chances will be  greater,” he said. “There will be a serious battle for Donbas and, if it  is not successful, then there will be a big battle inside Russia” among  elites.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...asion-dissent/

----------


## bsnub

*Russia’s Donbas offensive has made little progress in fierce combat, Western officials and analysts say.*


The clenched fist  of military forces that Russia mustered in eastern Ukraine appears to be  losing some of its punch, with the effort to capture all of the Donbas  region stalling, according to a senior Pentagon official and other  military analysts.

The  Russian offensive seems to be several days behind schedule, the  Pentagon official said on Friday. It is facing stiff resistance from  Ukrainian forces and suffering from some of the same problems with  logistics and low troop morale that have plagued the Russian military  since it launched a sweeping invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the official said.

That  assessment of the fighting across a broad swath of eastern Ukraine,  from the southern coast to the city of Kharkiv in the north, largely  comports with what Ukrainian officials have said. But claims from both  sides are difficult to confirm on the ground, given the lack of access  to the battlefield.

In  this latest phase of the nine-week war, Russia’s military is trying to  exploit its advantage in the quantity and range of its artillery systems  in fights against the more motivated and mobile — but also more lightly  armed — Ukrainian defense forces.

Moscow  announced the start of the renewed offensive in Donbas nearly two weeks  ago but has yet to score any major territorial advances. Despite a  three-pronged attack from the north, south and east, Russian forces have  only made incremental progress at best, the Pentagon official said.

At  the start of its invasion, Russia attempted lightning advances to seize  cities and strategic sites, only to see its forces bogged down with  heavy losses. Though they were able to secure territory in the south,  they were forced to retreat in the north.

Now,  using a strategy dating to Soviet times, Russia is relying on artillery  to pound Ukrainian forces all along a 300-mile front. Ukrainian forces  are ceding small patches of territory only to reclaim them.

“It’s  a knife fight,” said the official, with the two sides waging fierce  combat in the flat, wide-open terrain that distinguishes this phase of  the war from the urban battles in and around northern cities, separated  by hills, woods and marshes, that defined the first several weeks.

Russia  now has 92 battalion groups fighting in eastern and southern Ukraine —  up from 85 a week ago, but still far fewer than the 125 it used in the  first phase of the war, the Pentagon official said. Each battalion group  has about 700 to 1,000 troops.

Many  of Russia’s battalions suffered heavy casualties and equipment losses  in the early fighting and were withdrawn to Russian territory. Efforts  to reinforce and resupply the battered battalions were hurried, and as a  result, many of the units rushed back into the fight are likely not at  full strength, the Pentagon official said.

In  light of these troubles, one British military expert said the Russian  assault on the Donbas had “sort of fizzled,” and that Russia risks  running out of new troops to deploy there.

“They  pulled all of these mauled units out of Kyiv, and then tried to  reconstitute them for combat in the east,” said the analyst, Mike  Martin, a visiting fellow in war studies at King’s College London. The  Kremlin has thus far resisted implementing a general mobilization that  would entail wider conscription of Russian men.

An  assessment of the combat in Ukraine by Britain’s Defense Intelligence  agency released on Friday also suggested sluggish movement by the  Russian forces.

“Due  to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been  limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces,” the agency  said in a statement.

North  of Donbas, Ukrainian forces have been waging a campaign to push Russian  troops away from Kharkiv, once Ukraine’s second-largest city. Fighting  has been fierce there, and Ukraine’s military hopes to force the  Russians out of artillery range of Kharkiv, which is just 20 miles from  the Russian border.

The  Ukrainians there have been fighting to retake territory that Russians  have held since early in the war. In recent days, they wrested back  control of Ruska Lozova, a town of 6,000 people some 12 miles north of  Kharkiv, enabling scores of its residents fleeing down an open road to  Kharkiv. It was not clear whether they were able to hold the town in the  face of a Russian counterattack.

The  Ukrainian military, in a briefing in Kyiv on Friday evening, also noted  logistical setbacks for the Russian army, but suggested that they had  been surmounted in some instances. A presidential aide suggested the  Russian forces had already suffered “colossal losses” in Donbas, though  that assessment could not be immediately confirmed.

Latest Russia-Ukraine War News: Live Updates - The New York Times

----------


## sabang

Russia has carried out missile attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine, including one that destroyed the runway at Odesa airport.A group of 20 civilians have left the Azovstal steelworks, where the last Ukrainian troops are holed up in Mariupol, according to the Azov regiment.A Russian reconnaissance plane briefly violated Swedens airspace, Swedish defence officials said.A Russian official told state media that the risks of nuclear war should be kept to a minimum amid conflict in Ukraine.Fourteen Ukrainians including a pregnant soldier have been freed in the latest prisoner exchange with Russian forces, Ukraine says, without revealing the number of Russians returned to Moscow.



Russia-Ukraine live: Russian attack destroys Odesa airport runway (msn.com)

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## bsnub

KYIV,  Ukraine — A fuel depot in Russia burst into flames, moments after  surveillance video captured the bright streaks of rockets fired from  low-flying helicopters. A fire broke out at a military research  institute near Moscow. Additional fuel tanks have exploded.

These  and other similar attacks in Russia have been some of the most  intriguing, and opaque, military developments in the last month of the  war. If carried out by Ukraine, they represent acts of once nearly  unimaginable audacity; one of them prompted the first air raid siren on  Russian soil since World War II.

Russia  has accused Ukraine of carrying out the helicopter strike and military  analysts have suggested that Ukrainian sabotage is very likely  responsible for the other fires. Ukraine, for its part, has made no  official admissions but instead has winked at the possibility of its  involvement, with one official suggesting the fires were just Russia’s  bad “karma.”

Now, a senior Ukrainian  official has described in the clearest terms yet his government’s policy  on strikes inside Russia, calling it one of strategic ambiguity.

“We  don’t confirm, and we don’t deny,” said the official, Oleksei  Arestovych, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff.

Mr.  Arestovych, in an interview, compared the approach to Israel’s  longstanding policy of ambiguity on nuclear arms, another issue of  extraordinary geopolitical sensitivity.

“After what has been happening, officially we don’t say yes and we don’t say no, just like Israel,” he said.

Any  escalation of attacks on Russia by Ukraine could have far-reaching  implications, perhaps influencing public opinion about the war in  Russia, or inflaming the Kremlin to the point of escalating its own  strikes.

If  Western weaponry were deployed in striking Russia, it would fuel  Russian propaganda that blames the West for the war and enhance the  possibility that the conflict could spill past Russia and Ukraine’s  borders.

The  fires at Russian military sites, beginning with the April 1 helicopter  assault on the fuel depot in Belgorod, about 15 miles from the Ukrainian  border, have injected a new element into the military equation of the  war. They raise the possibility that Russia, after weeks of inflicting  devastating damage in Ukraine, might start to suffer losses on its own  land.

The strikes come in two forms:  the clear military attack with low-flying helicopters near the border,  and sabotage deeper inside Russia.

Russian  and Ukrainian media reports have attributed a dozen or so blazes to  strikes or sabotage. In addition to the helicopter strike there have  been at least three other fires at military sites that seem suspicious,  and which military analysts have said were very likely set  intentionally.

And while some fires  point clearly to an assault or an act of sabotage — such as the two  fires that broke out in quick succession at fuel tanks in Bryansk on  April 25 — others have remained inscrutable, with neither Russia nor  Ukraine suggesting a relation to the war.

The  incidents have stirred debate over whether a wider set of targets in  Russia may drive home to the Russian people that the war, seen for now  only on television and filtered through state propaganda, has a cost at  home.

Alternatively, the fires and  explosions might cause Russians to rally around the flag in ways  damaging to Ukraine, such as in building support for a general  mobilization in Russia. That would enable the Kremlin to dispatch more  soldiers to the battlefields, despite heavy losses so far.

Ukrainian officials, for their part, have hinted at their involvement with dark humor.

A deputy interior  minister, Anton Gerashchenko, posted on Twitter a “no smoking” sign  beside a picture of the fuel depots in Bryansk engulfed in flame.

Kyiv  has also signaled that any counterattacks in Russia are simply part of a  war Russia started, and asked, perhaps fatalistically, what more could  Russia do to Ukraine? After all, the Russian army is already engaged in a  full-scale assault.

“If you decided  to attack another country, commit mass murder, crush peaceful people  with tanks, and to support murder using warehouses in your region, then  sooner or later the time will come to repay that debt,” said Mykhailo  Podolyak, a negotiator for President Volodymyr Zelesnky. “So, the  disarmament of the killers’ warehouses in Belgorod and Voronezh regions  is just a completely wholesome, natural process. Karma is a harsh  thing.”

Mr. Arestovych’s comment on  Ukrainian policy was the most forthright so far laying out the Ukrainian  government’s position of ambiguity, even as officials in Kyiv have been  openly suggesting Russians should expect a continuing spat of  mysterious fires.

So far, Ukraine has  received public support from Britain for directly attacking Russia, with  James Heappey, an official in the Foreign Secretary’s Office, saying  the strikes were “completely legitimate” given the role of fuel and  ammunition depots in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Heappey also  endorsed the use of British-supplied weaponry, saying its use to strike  inside Russia was “not necessarily a problem.”

The  Russian military, which has been firing missiles and artillery at  Ukrainian cities and military targets including fuel depots,  continuously for two months now, warned on April 13 against Ukraine  striking back.

The ministry  spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, told Russian news agencies that Russia  would respond by targeting the Ukrainian leadership. “We see efforts at  diversions and strikes by the Ukrainian military at objects in the  Russian Federation,” he said. “If these instances continue, the Russian  army will target decision making centers, including in Kyiv.”

Three  major fires inside Russia followed that warning, including near Moscow,  at a military research institute in the city of Tver.

In  the Ukrainian military, the arson fires and helicopter assault into  Russian territory have also served the purpose of lifting morale. Having  seen the effectiveness of their small unit tactics against the Russian  army in the battle for Kyiv in March, midlevel Ukrainian commanders have  suggested continuing this strategy inside Russia.

“It  will not end until we bring the war to Russia,” said the commander of a  Ukrainian brigade, who asked that he be identified only by his  nickname, Akula, because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

“It’s  not a secret that the Russian people support the war, that it is not  just Putin and the rest of the Russians are peaceful,” he said.

“We  need to make Russian society fear” attacks on their own country to  shift perceptions, he said. “They need to send people like me to  Russia.”

Ukrainian Official Outlines Intentional Ambiguity on Strikes Inside Russia - The New York Times

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## DrWilly

Got that right! Karma is a harsh thing!

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## bsnub

> Got that right! Karma is a harsh thing!


Some pretty daring raids if it turns out to in fact have been Ukrainian spec ops. We haven't seen this type of stuff since WW2.

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## Switch

Russia has exaggerated Ukrainian combat losses to such and extent, that combat aircraft, tanks and armored vehicles now amount to 600% of agreed assets held by Ukraine prior to the war.

Ukraine have also claimed Russian losses higher than those provable by independent sources.  No where near the scale of claimed losses by Russian official figures, but this is normal in wartime.

Putin needs his people to remain supportive back home. The Ruble and the stock market have been supported by high interest rates and economic skullduggery, that will come back to haunt him.

Sanctions can only do so much, but when foreign investment ceases because Russia has become a failed state, where will Putin get the funding and troops/equipment required to sustain such an expensive war?

China has been both reticent and patient with its tacit support of Putins War. India benefits from low cost gas and oil now, but what will happen when the west turns the screws. It took one visit by US Sec of State and Defence, to change Germany’s decision on weapon supplies. NATO is finally showing a sense of urgency appropriate to its financial status.

Ironic that Putin should shift emphasis to the East of Ukraine where there are known reserves of gas and oil. Relying on fossil fuels to finance his war, is a major error. Those resources cannot be exploited without major funding, and western resources, neither of which are likely to be forthcoming.

The loss of export income is affecting manufacturers at home, and their big earners of oil, gas and arms sales are all being hindered by sanctions. Japan and Australia are not NATO members, but their funding and resources are no longer available to Putin, who is now an international pariah.

Perhaps our financial expert can explain how 17% interest rates in Russia can help the Russians back home, and ease the increasing burden on Putins ruthless ambition? NATO countries and other western sympathizers have interest rates in low single figures or less. They are not hampered by sanctions of any kind.  They can continue supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine unhindered by any financial restrictions.

This could develop into a very long and costly war in humanitarian and economic terms. Putin will still be there at the end, in order to face lawyers at The Hague.

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## bsnub

> Putin will still be there at the end, in order to face lawyers at The Hague.


I truly hope that is how it turns out.

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## harrybarracuda

> I truly hope that is how it turns out.


I'd rather someone slipped him a cup of his own glowing tea.

That would be rather poetic and finish things sooner.

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## bsnub

> I'd rather someone slipped him a cup of his own glowing tea.


The probability grows with the more money the oligarchs lose.

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## Switch

> I'd rather someone slipped him a cup of his own glowing tea.
> 
> That would be rather poetic and finish things sooner.


I would like to see him die from lead poisoning. Sadly he enjoys two layers of close protection.

The Presidents personal guard are allegedly above and beyond reproach. No way past them.

He also enjoys the protection of his former FSB colleagues, many of whom he made millionaires through their devotion to him. They will never bite the hand that feeds them.

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## Takeovers

> I'd rather someone slipped him a cup of his own glowing tea.
> 
> That would be rather poetic and finish things sooner.


This won't stop until all Russian forces are driven out of Ukraine, including Crimea.

----------


## bsnub

The Western artillery flooding into Ukraine will alter the war with  Russia, setting off a bloody battle of wits backed by long-range weapons  and forcing both sides to grow more nimble if they hope to avoid  significant fatalities as fighting intensifies in the east, U.S.  officials and military analysts predict.

The  expanded artillery battle follows Russia’s failed effort to rapidly  seize Ukraine’s major population centers, including the capital, Kyiv.  It comes as the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky and his  Western benefactors brace for what is expected to be a grinding campaign  in the Donbas region. The conflict there is expected to showcase the  long-range cannons that are a centerpiece of Russia’s arsenal, weaponry  already used to devastating effect in places such as Mariupol, a  southern port city that has been pulverized by unrelenting bombardment.

Defense  Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking alongside his Canadian counterpart at  the Pentagon on Thursday, said long-range artillery will prove  “decisive” in the next phase of the war. The Biden administration, which  along with Canada is training small numbers of Ukrainian troops how to  operate the dozens of 155 mm howitzers that both countries have pledged  to provide, is expected to approve the transfer of even more artillery  to Ukraine in the coming days, Austin said.

The  U.S. and Canadian howitzers bound for Ukraine are towed on trailers,  while those pledged by France — systems known as self-propelled Caesar  howitzers — fire the same 155 mm explosive rounds, but from the back of a  truck chassis.

The  United States alone already has promised Zelensky nearly 190,000  artillery rounds, plus 90 howitzers to fire them. As of Thursday, more  than half had arrived in Ukraine, said a senior U.S. defense official  who, like some others, spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground  rules set by the administration.

A  new $33 billion request to Congress for additional Ukraine aid includes  proposed funding for “longer-range artillery of a heavier caliber,”  Secretary of State Antony Blinken told lawmakers on Capitol Hill, though  he stopped short of identifying which specific systems are under  consideration. Other allies, such as Britain and Sweden, also could send  artillery, analysts said.

To  date, Russia and Ukraine have traded fire using some of the same  systems, including the powerful 300 mm Smerch multiple-launch rocket  system, which can shoot rounds some 55 miles, and aging 122 mm howitzers  first fielded in the 1960s. The introduction of various Western  artillery pieces is expected to accelerate a tactical shift by both  sides to employ what is known as counter-battery fire, in which military  forces seek out their enemy’s artillery, determine its location and  attack, analysts said.

“You’re  trying to find, fix and finish,” said George Flynn, a retired  three-star Marine general and former artillery officer. “You want to  find the enemy howitzers. You want to fix their position. And then you  want to finish them off. That’s the essence of targeting.”

After  an artillery unit attacks an adversary, it needs to keep moving, Flynn  said. “Once you get into a counter-battery fight, it’s shoot and scoot,”  he added. “You don’t stick around and let yourself get targeted.”

Ukraine’s  ability to target Russian artillery units is especially important,  analysts say, because of the Kremlin’s demonstrated willingness to lob  round after round into cities and towns, destroying civilian homes and  infrastructure. “Just the existence” of more Ukrainian artillery units  performing counter-battery fire will degrade Russia’s ability to “sit  there, pile up ammo and go to town,” said Scott Boston, a former U.S.  Army field artillery officer who studies the Russian military for the  Rand Corp.

“The  problem” that Ukraine and its Western allies would “like to impose on  the Russians,” he said, “is for them to never have confidence that a  headquarters, or a key ammunition dump, or an important cluster of  firing platforms, can ever be stationary for very long.”

The  Pentagon on Friday assessed that Russia has not been as effective as it  would like at using long-range artillery. A senior defense official  noted that, as the West continues to send so much artillery to Ukraine,  “this could become a bit of a gun battle.”

Artillery  units often disguise themselves with camouflage or other forms of  cover, and it can require a mixture of intelligence, unmanned aircraft  and radar to spot them. The West is providing Ukraine with drones and  counter-battery radar to do just that.

Zelensky  also has requested some form of multiple-launch rocket artillery, such  as the highly accurate M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known  as HIMARS, that is used by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Such weapons  launch rounds quickly, which is useful in firing on enemy artillery  forces before they reposition, said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps  colonel who studies the war for the Center for Strategic and  International Studies in Washington.


Cancian,  a former artillery officer, said that there “will be a lot of pressure  to provide” HIMARS in the coming days and that he would not be surprised  to see the United States begin supplying it soon. Another type of  multiple-launch rocket system, such as the M270 operated by the U.S.  Army, also could be sent, he surmised. The HIMARS is newer and moves  about the battlefield more freely, while the M270 carries more rockets.

“I  think there will be a lot of pressure to provide that, and since we  seem to be announcing an aid package a week, I wouldn’t be surprised to  see HIMARS next week or the week after,” Cancian said.

Ukrainian  officials also have sought more self-propelled howitzers rather than  towed weapons such as the M777. A Ukrainian official, speaking on the  condition of anonymity because the issue is sensitive, said that while  it appears easier to perform maintenance on and find parts for the M777  howitzer, it is more vulnerable to Russian counter-battery fire than  self-propelled howitzers, like the Army’s M109 Paladin.

Cancian  said he would be watching to see whether advanced, highly accurate 155  mm Excalibur rounds make it to Ukraine. The weapons are guided by GPS  and designed to fly up to 25 miles, according to Raytheon, the  Excalibur’s manufacturer. The Pentagon has declined to specify what  types of artillery rounds are being sent.

The  shipping of Western artillery into Ukraine is important partly because  there are few places where Ukraine can find replacement rounds for its  Soviet-era systems, said Sam Cranny-Evans, an analyst at the Royal  United Services Institute in London. Poland, Bulgaria and a few other  NATO allies produce them, but many more countries produce ammunition for  Western weapons.

While  the West has promised tens of thousands of artillery rounds to Ukraine,  they may be depleted quickly, Cranny-Evans said, requiring defense  contractors to ramp up production. Russia also has a significant  advantage in the number of artillery pieces it possesses, and it’s  unclear how many of Ukraine’s legacy systems are still operational or  how much ammunition  is available for them, he added.

Russian  forces are using artillery to extricate themselves from Ukrainian  ambushes and inflict fatalities as well as to avoid having to go “into  the teeth of these very high-end Western weapons,” including Javelin and  NLAW anti-armor missiles, that already have destroyed some Russian  units, Cranny-Evans said.

“They’re  just going to sit back and let their long-range assets do the work  because they don’t have the manpower to waste,” he said.

Canadian  Defense Minister Anita Anand said in an interview that there is a role  for collaboration among Western countries in providing weapons to  Ukraine that are “consistent and interchangeable,” allowing Ukraine to  learn the systems and maintain them when they are damaged.

“The  M777s are a perfect example of the way in which allied countries with  that capability can band together and respond to a desperate need that  Ukraine has,” she said. “And that’s a model that we’ll continue to  utilize going forward.”

The use of artillery and other weapons has been complementary in Ukraine and will continue to be, Boston said.

“If  you do a good job of bottling someone up, then they’re going to be way  more vulnerable to artillery than if they were dispersed and in cover,”  he said. “If the Russians don’t have confidence that they can disperse  because they’re going to get picked off by Javelin teams, then they  might be bunching for security against that — and then be more  vulnerable against artillery.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...sia-artillery/

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## malmomike77

^^ that won't happen unless either Russia decides to leave or NATO get involved - either is unlikely

----------


## bsnub

James Stavridis,  the former NATO supreme allied commander for Europe, said Sunday that  Russia has displayed "amazing incompetence" noting the several Russian  generals that have died since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine."In  modern history, there is no situation comparable in terms of the deaths  of generals," Stavridis said during a radio interview on WABC 770 AM.  

"Just to make a point of comparison here, the United States in all of  our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq...in all of those years and all of  those battles, not a single general lost in actual combat."

The  former commander added that "on the Russian side, in a two-month period,  we have seen at least a dozen, if not more Russian generals killed. So  amazing incompetence." He also criticized other aspects of the Russian  military's performance, by saying that they have an "inability to  conduct logistics" and "bad battle plans."

He also noted the loss of the _Moskva_, a Russian warship that the Pentagon said Ukrainians sunk with a missile last month. The loss of the ship was a $750 million hit to the Russian military, according to an analysis by_ Forbes Ukraine_.

"It's been a bad performance by the Russians thus far," Stavridis said.

In late April, _Newsweek_ compiled a list of several Russian generals  who had been killed during the war. These include Major General Andrey  Sukhovetsky, who served as the commanding general of Russia's 7th Guards  Airborne Division and deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army,  and was reportedly killed by sniper fire in February. Vladimir Frolov,  deputy commander of Russia's 8th Guards Combined Arms Army, was also  reportedly killed last month.

 A European diplomat, who spoke with_ Foreign Policy_ on the condition of anonymity about the deaths of Russian generals in March, said the failure of communications equipment has made them vulnerable.

"They're  struggling on the front line to get their orders through," the diplomat  said. "They're having to go to the front line to make things happen,  which is putting them at much greater risk than you would normally see."

In an interview with ABC News last week, former U.S. ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute said he believes Russian forces can't seize the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv or replace Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's government.

"Putin  is trying to assess what might be possible and looking for  opportunities and he'll grab the first good one available. Right now,  there don't seem to be many good opportunities for Vladimir Putin," he said.

https://www.newsweek.com/russias-los...vridis-1702517

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## sabang

On social media, the Ghost of Kyiv was a military hero, an ace fighter pilot hailed for supposedly shooting down multiple Russian planes.

The tales began just days into the war and circulated for months, bolstered by official Ukrainian accounts.

But now, Ukrainian authorities have admitted that the legendary pilot was a myth.

"The Ghost of Kyiv is a super-hero legend whose character was created by Ukrainians!" Ukraine's air force said in Ukrainian on Facebook.

The statement came after multiple media outlets published stories wrongly identifying Major Stepan Tarabalka as the man behind the moniker.

Tarabalka was a real pilot who died on March 13 during air combat and was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine, Ukraine's air force said last month.

But he was not the Ghost of Kyiv, the force said in the statement.

"The information about the death of The Ghost of #Kyiv is incorrect," Ukraine's air force wrote in a separate post on Twitter.

"The #GhostOfKyiv is alive, it embodies the collective spirit of the highly qualified pilots of the Tactical Aviation Brigade who are successfully defending #Kyiv and the region."

The legend emerged just a day after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, as social media users began to spread claims, without evidence, of an anonymous fighter pilot who had single-handedly taken down multiple Russian planes.

Memes, unrelated photos, and even footage from a flight simulator video game circulated on social media, claiming to show the Ghost of Kyiv during combat.

On February 25, former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko tweeted a photo that Ukraine's Ministry of Defence had shared three years earlier, falsely claiming it showed the Ghost of Kyiv who had taken down six Russian pilots.

Two days later, Ukraine's official Twitter account shared a video including the same picture, along with footage of fighter jets in combat, set to pulsating music, with the caption: "People call him the Ghost of Kyiv. And rightly so - this UAF ace dominates the skies over our capital and country, and has already become a nightmare for invading Russian aircrafts."

That same day, Ukraine's Security Service, the SBU, shared the same old photo on Telegram - but now claiming he had shot down 10 occupying planes.

By the time news outlets falsely identified the pilot as Tarabalka, reports had increased the ghost's toll to 40 planes.

Ukraine admits 'Ghost of Kyiv' is a myth (yahoo.com)

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## bsnub

Yet Russia after all this time has failed to gain air superiority, let alone air supremacy. A massive fail for a "superpower". 

 :Smile:

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## sabang

*Huge rise in Russian gas supplies to China – Gazprom*

Deliveries to countries outside of the former Soviet Union have dropped by 26.9%, the energy giant says

Russian gas supplies to China have shot up by almost 60% in the first four months of 2022 compared to the same period last year, Russian energy giant Gazprom announced on Sunday.

The deliveries are made through the Power of Siberia pipeline as part of the contract between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the company said.

When Russia launched its military operation against Ukraine in late February, Beijing refused to condemn Moscow or take part in the international sanctions, despite threats from Washington.

FULL-  Huge rise in Russian gas supplies to China – Gazprom — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

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## harrybarracuda

> *Huge rise in Russian gas supplies to China – Gazprom*


The chinkies know a bargain when they see one.

 :rofl:

----------


## S Landreth

EU to propose phasing out Russian oil in new sanctions wave

The EU will propose a phased out ban on Russian oil imports as part of a fresh round of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, sources said on Sunday.

The European Commission, which draws up sanctions for the bloc, is currently preparing a text that could be put to the 27 member states as early as Wednesday, diplomats said.

Several diplomats said the ban on oil was made possible after a U-turn by Germany, which had said the measure would do too much harm to its economy.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Russia was intensifying its attacks in Ukraine, making new sanctions "absolutely essential”.

"We must use our economic and financial abilities to make Russia pay the price for what it’s doing," he said.

The commission will propose introducing the ban over six to eight months to give countries time to diversify their supply, the sources said.

The ban requires unanimous backing and could yet be derailed, with Hungary expected to mount strong opposition as it is dependent on Russian oil and close to the Kremlin.

Other countries are worried that a ban on oil would increase prices at the pump when consumer prices are already sharply on the rise because of the war.

"We must be very attentive to market reactions," one official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"There are solutions and we will get there in the end, but we must act with great care."

'Little impact'

Even though Russia exports two-thirds of its oil to the EU, the United States has expressed doubts about an outright ban.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that it might have little impact on Russia because it would push up prices for its remaining exports.

EU energy ministers will discuss the ban at talks on Monday in Brussels, though they will not sign off on the decision.

This sixth package of anti-Russian measures will also target the country's largest bank, Sberbank, which will be excluded from the international Swift messaging system, the diplomats said.

The EU had already banned imports of Russian coal, but Poland and the Baltic states called for an oil embargo as well.

Gas imports from Russia will remain untouched, with hugely dependent Germany promising to wean itself off Russian gas by mid-2024.

The reliance of Europe's biggest economy on Russian energy has been exposed as an Achilles' heel as Western allies scramble to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for his attack on Ukraine.

Germany will support an EU oil embargo on Russia

----------


## bsnub

Some of Russia's most elite military units will be weakened for years  due to damage sustained during its invasion of Ukraine, according to  British intelligence.The British Ministry of Defence tweeted  early Monday morning that more than one-quarter of the 120 battalion  tactical groups that Russia committed to the conflict have been  "rendered combat ineffective" and that the nation's most elite forces  have "suffered the highest level of attrition." The 120 battalion groups  represented about 65 percent of the country's ground combat strength at  the start of the invasion.

The news is the latest sign that Russia has struggled to sustain momentum  during the invasion. Some experts initially thought Russia could  quickly take Ukraine, but after two months of fighting, Ukraine continues pushing back against Russian troops.

The  ministry specifically pointed to Russia's military airborne force, the  VDV, as suffering significant losses since the invasion began in late  February. The ministry did not clarify how its intelligence was  obtained.

Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, a British intelligence estimate released  on May 2 stated that Russia's elite soldiers have lost so many  casualties that replenishing them will take years. Since the beginning  of the war, more than a quarter of Russia's invading army has been  deemed "combat ineffective," according to the report.

  The UK Ministry of Defence's said, "At the start of the conflict,  Russia committed over 120 battalion tactical groups, approximately 65  per cent of its entire ground combat strength. It is likely that more  than a quarter of these units have now been rendered combat  ineffective."

The ministry further added that the VDV Airborne Forces, among Russia's  most elite troops, have experienced the highest levels of attrition and  the country will most likely take years to rebuild these forces.  Further, Ukraine has claimed in its most recent operational update  that Russia has suffered "significant losses" on artillery and land.

According to the Ukrainian armed forces, "During the previous day, air  defence units hit ten Orlan-10 UAVs. Russian enemy suffers significant  losses, especially in artillery and on land. In the Donetsk and Luhansk  oblasts only, ten attacks by russian occupiers were repulsed in the past  24 hours, two tanks, seventeen artillery systems, thirty-eight units of  armored combat vehicles and 10 units of enemy vehicles were destroyed."

*Russia-Ukraine War*

  As the all-out Russian assault in Ukraine  approached day 68, with western nations rushing military supplies to  Kyiv, US defence strategists anticipated that the increased artillery  may alter the war's path, fearing massive casualties on both sides.  According to the Washington Post, US officials have warned that the  "bloody battle" may be brought to a halt if both parties consider the  consequences of using long-range missiles. If launched, the attacks will  be "decisive" in the next phase of the battle, according to US Defense  Secretary Lloyd Austin, who spoke with his Canadian counterpart Anita  Anand on Thursday.

Moreover, according to CNN, more than 100 civilians were evacuated from  the Azovstal metallurgical complex in Mariupol on Sunday with the  assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the  United Nations. Shortly after the evacuations, the steel plant caught  fire, putting a stop to the rescue efforts.

UK claims more than quarter of Russia's combat battalions rendered 'combat ineffective'

----------


## nidhogg

> The UK Ministry of Defence's said, "At the start of the conflict,  Russia committed over 120 battalion tactical groups, approximately 65  per cent of its entire ground combat strength. It is likely that more  than a quarter of these units have now been rendered combat  ineffective."


So, on those figures they have lost 30 out of a total of 185.

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## malmomike77

Just as well this wasn't an invasion, what did Russia call it......

They have really dropped a bollock, like the school bully who gets called out and can't punch his way out of a paper bag - even threatening nuclear as its all they have left. Putin has certainly made a place for himself in history and simultaneously brought about the accellerated impoverishment of his country as trading partners look elsewhere and for what?

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## sabang

Actually, prices in Russia have not gone up much at all, the Ruble is stronger than it was before the invasion, but.... you can no longer get a Happy Meal (KFC no problem though). I do not think this is hurting Russians as much as you hope.

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## malmomike77

> So, on those figures they have lost 30 out of a total of 185.


Not lost, rendered ineffective through a combination of deaths, wounded and equipment loses.

No unit fights at 100%, it can for very short periods but generally once you sustain a certain casually levdl that's it - then you have to replenish so their options are new trainees which take time or unit mergers which also take time.

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## malmomike77

> Actually, prices in Russia have not gone up much at all, the Ruble is stronger than it was before the invasion, but.... you can no longer get a Happy Meal (KFC no problem though). I do not think this is hurting Russians as much as you hope.


you think that is the true picture, one that is sustainable :Smile:  once the countries Putin is selling his oil and gas to outside the EU and insisting in payment in Rubles fill their storage capability on the cheap, what next?. I take it in your banking capacity in HK it didn't require a basic economics understanding beyond running a sweet shop.

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## Switch

> Actually, prices in Russia have not gone up much at all, the Ruble is stronger than it was before the invasion, but.... you can no longer get a Happy Meal (KFC no problem though). I do not think this is hurting Russians as much as you hope.


The value of the Ruble is due to Russian interests rates at 17%. The Russian import industry is obliged by law to exchange hard earned foreign currency for worthless Rubles at 80% of the export value. Inflation continues to rise, and the arms exports have been squeezed because Putin needs more for his war.
The country is not trusted by anyone. Only China and India will buy fossil fuels because they are heavily discounted. Not much profit in that for Gazprom or the others.

They can’t meet debt commitments now. What will they be like when they run out of money, and inflation hits the average citizen.

Small comfort having a financial wizard like you in their side.

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## malmomike77

They'll get belt and owned by the bloke with purple lips but at least they won't have been invaded by NATO.

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## Shutree

> What will they be like when they run out of money


That is an interesting question. I am a bit puzzled (easily done) by the decision to stop Russia drawing down offshore dollar holdings to meet sovereign debt repayments. The losers there would seem to be those who don't get their interest payments, which could be my pension fund for all I know.
If it makes Russia default sooner then how does that affect Russia? In simple terms there are people in my village who borrowed money they cannot repay, they just declare bankruptcy and life goes on. Sure, life might get more difficult for ordinary Russian people, they'll still support Mother Russia and they have plenty of gas and some staples.

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## S Landreth

Russia makes last-gasp dollar bond payments in bid to avoid default

Russia made what appeared to be a late u-turn to avoid a default on Friday, as it made a number of already-overdue international debt payments in dollars despite previously vowing they would only be paid in roubles.

Whether the money would make it to the United States and other Western countries that sanctioned Russia was still not clear, but it represented another major twist in the game of financial chicken that has developed about a possible default.

Russia's finance ministry said it had managed to pay $564.8 million on a 2022 Eurobond and $84.4 million on a 2042 bond in dollars - the currency specified on the bonds.

The ministry said it had channeled the required funds to the London branch of Citibank, one of the so-called paying agents of the bonds whose job is to disburse them to the investors that originally lent the money to Moscow.

Russia has not had a default of any kind since a financial crash in 1998 and has not seen a major international or 'external' market default since the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

The risk of another one though is now a flashpoint in the economic tussle with Western countries which have blanketed Russia with sanctions in response to its actions in Ukraine that Moscow has termed a "special military operation".

The bonds were originally supposed to be paid earlier this month but an extra 30-day 'grace period' that government bonds often have in their terms meant Moscow's final deadline was on May 4.

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## bsnub

Incredible analysis here. A must-watch for anyone other than the Three Stooges...

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## harrybarracuda

sabang talking shit again.

He really doesn't have a clue, he's just winging it.

----------


## misskit

Russian State TV Screens Simulated Destruction of U.K. and Ireland via Nuclear-Triggered Tsunami

Russia has broadcast video clips simulating the destruction of the U.K. and Ireland via a massive tidal wave triggered by an underwater nuclear explosion in response to the U.K.’s support for Ukraine. The sequences showed on state channel Russia-1 Sunday night were narrated by presenter Dmitry Kiselyov, who falsely claimed Prime Minister Boris Johnson had threatened a nuclear strike on Russia. According to a translation from the BBC’s Francis Scarr, Kiselyov first said: “The island is so small that just one Sarmat missile is sufficient to sink it once and for all. Everything has been calculated already.” Kiselyov then narrated a scenario where an “underwater drone,” with “a yield of up to 100 megatons… will cause a gigantic tidal wave up to 500m high” and turn the British Isles into a “radioactive desert.” An animation showed a missile exploding off the northeast coast of the Republic of Ireland, and the ensuing tidal wave wiping out both Ireland and the U.K., although Ireland was not mentioned by name in the broadcast.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...unami?ref=home

----------


## sabang

British energy giant BP said Tuesday that its decision to pull out of Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine pushed it deep into the red in the first three months of this year.

BP said in a statement that it booked its biggest-ever quarterly net loss of $20.4 billion (19.4 billion euros) in the period from January to March, compared with profit of $4.7 billion a year earlier.

Revenue jumped 40 percent to $51 billion in the three-month period as the war fuels a rise in oil and gas prices.

There have been repeated calls in Britain for a windfall tax on energy majors as consumers endure a cost-of-living crisis caused by the highest rate of inflation in decades, also as economies reopen from pandemic lockdowns.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, this week facing a mid-term test in local elections, ruled out such taxes on companies like BP and Shell, arguing it would derail efforts to meet climate goals.

"If you put a windfall tax on the energy companies, what that means is that you discourage them from making the investments that we want to see" in cleaner energy, Johnson told the television show, Good Morning Britain.

BP booked a pre-tax charge of $25.5 billion after pulling its 19.75-percent stake in energy group Rosneft, ending more than three decades of investment in Russia.

"Our decision in February to exit our shareholding in Rosneft resulted in the material non-cash charges and headline loss," chief executive Bernard Looney said. 

BP plunges deep into red on pullout from Russia (msn.com)

----------


## sabang

*Tucker Carlson criticised for urging Ukraine to make deal with Putin and linking invasion to Russian hacking of 2016 US election*


Tucker Carlson has faced a furious backlash for claiming US support for Ukraine is “payback” for Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

The Fox News host was accused of promoting Kremlin propaganda after he used his Monday night monologue to accuse the Biden administration of cynically exploiting the invasion, and urged Ukraine to broker a deal with Vladimir Putin.

“Democrats have convinced themselves that Russia stole the presidency that rightfully belonged to Hillary Clinton, they mean it when they say it,” Carlson said.

“The war in Ukraine is designed to cause regime change in Moscow. They want to topple the Russian government.

“That would be payback for the 2016 election. This is the logical, maybe the inevitable end stage of Russia-gate.”

Commentators on Twitter said the comments sounded like they had been lifted straight from Russian state TV.

Author Max Boot said the Fox host was “again parroting what the war criminals in the Kremlin say”.

“More Russia First propaganda from the ‘America First’ crowd.”

Journalist Aaron Rupar tweeted: “The war in Ukraine has nothing to do with Ukraine, claims Tucker Carlson.”

Former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh tweeted that ‘Yet again, Tucker Carlson tonight blaming America for Putin’s war”.

“When I was young, too many on the Left used to ‘blame America first’. Now the Right is proudly the ‘blame America first’ team, and Tucker Carlson is team captain, happily sh**ting on America night after night.”

FULL- Tucker Carlson criticised for urging Ukraine to make deal with Putin and linking invasion to Russian hacking of 2016 US election (msn.com)

----------


## sabang

(Bloomberg) -- Nearly 10 weeks into the war and with its troops making only marginal gains in Ukraine’s east, Russia is focused on cementing both military and political control over the territory it has taken so far.

The Kremlin is installing occupation governments, ordering locals to use rubles for transactions and, according to three people involved in the efforts, planning hastily organized referendums in some areas to open the way for full annexation. The people spoke on condition of anonymity given the risk of retribution discussing sensitive information. The Kremlin did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Though far short of President Vladimir Putin’s original aims of ousting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and installing a pro-Russian regime in most of Ukraine, the latest efforts pose a new obstacle for already-stalled peace talks, in which Kyiv has insisted Russia give up the ground it has taken since invading on Feb. 24. Zelenskiy’s military, backed by infusions of heavy weapons from the U.S. and its allies, plans a push to retake territory.

Kremlin officials, in public and private, are still confident their advance will pick up speed and Russian forces will at least conquer the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Moscow is also seeking to tighten its grip in the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, parts of which it has seized. That would leave about a fifth of Ukraine’s territory and most of its coast under Russia’s control -- and create a land link to Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Russia Seeks to Annex Occupied Ukraine as Invasion Goals Shift



*Russia reroutes internet traffic in occupied Ukraine to its infrastructure*



 Russia has rerouted internet traffic in the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson through Russian communications infrastructure, the internet service disruption monitor NetBlocks said on Monday.

The move appeared aimed at tightening Moscow's grip on a region where it claims it has taken full control. Russia-appointed authorities in parts of Kherson have said the region would start using the Russian rouble on May 1.

London-based NetBlocks said it had tracked a near-total internet blackout across Kherson region on Saturday that affected various Ukrainian providers. Connection was restored after several hours, but various metrics showed traffic was now going through Russia.

"Connectivity on the network has been routed via Russia’s internet instead of Ukrainian telecoms infrastructure and is hence likely now subject to Russian internet regulations, surveillance, and censorship," NetBlocks said on its website.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Sunday that Russian moves in the region are "likely indicative of Russian intent to exert strong political and economic influence in Kherson over the long term".

It pointed to statements about the use of the rouble and rejections of the possibility of the region's return to Ukrainian control.

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-reroutes-internet-traffic-occupied-212341038.html

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## sabang

* Putin begins Russia's bite-back over Ukraine sanctions

* Gives wide powers to cut raw material, produce exports

* Forbids transactions with sanctioned entities

* Retaliatory moves could wreak chaos across markets

* Who will be on sanctions lists will now be key  

By Guy Faulconbridge

LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin put the West on notice on Tuesday that he could terminate exports and deals, the Kremlin's toughest response yet to the sanctions burden imposed by the United States and allies over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Putin, Russia's paramount leader since 1999, signed a broad decree on Tuesday which forbade the export of products and raw materials to people and entities on a sanctions list that he instructed the government to draw up within 10 days.

The decree, which came into force with its publication, gives Moscow the power to sow chaos across markets as it could at any moment halt exports or tear up contracts with an entity or individual it has sanctioned.

The Russian government has 10 days to draw up lists of those it will sanction beyond the Western politicians it has already.

Putin explicitly framed the decree as a response to what he cast as the illegal actions of the United States and its allies meant to deprive "the Russian Federation, citizens of the Russian Federation and Russian legal entities of property rights or the restricting their property rights".

The decree sets out "retaliatory special economic measures in connection with the unfriendly actions of some foreign states and international organizations".

Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine prompted the United States and its allies to impose the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia and Moscow's business elite, steps Putin casts as a declaration of economic war.

The West's attempt to economically isolate Russia - one of the world's biggest producers of natural resources - has propelled the global economy into uncharted waters with soaring prices and warnings of food shortages.

FULL- UPDATE 2-Putin puts West on notice: Moscow can terminate exports and deals

----------


## sabang

*Key strategic Odesa bridge collapsed*

Odesa region Governor Maksym Marchenko said the Russians hit a bridge across the Dniester Estuary west of Odesa where the Dniester River flows into the Black Sea. The bridge already had been heavily damaged in two previous Russian missile strikes.

The bridge provides the *only railway connection* and the *key highway link* to areas west of Odesa. Its destruction cuts access to shipments of weapons and other cargo from neighboring Romania.

The attacks on the bridge followed a claim by a senior Russian military officer that Russia aims to take control of the entire south of Ukraine and build a land corridor to the separatist Transnistria region of Moldova, where tensions have recently escalated.

https://www.xxx.xxx.xx/news/2022-05-03/ukraine-russia-war-updates-putin-zelenskyy-mariupol-kyiv/101031972


2- Ukraine formally closes seaports captured by Russia | Reuters



*3- With precision missiles, Russia bombed a foreign arms depot near Odessa*


The Russian Defense Ministry said that it had destroyed a runway and a warehouse containing American and European weapons at a military airport near the Ukrainian city of Odessa, using high-precision “Onyx” missiles.

It also announced that its air defense systems had shot down two Ukrainian Su-24M fighters over the Kharkiv region.

Yesterday, Saturday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said that high-precision air-to-surface missiles destroyed 17 military sites in Ukraine, including 8 areas for gathering military equipment and soldiers, 5 sites for launching missiles and rockets, in addition to two fortified points.

He added that the Russian Air Force destroyed two command centers, fortified points and areas for troop and equipment concentrations, in addition to ammunition and fuel depots.

He also explained that the Russian forces managed to eliminate “200 extremists”, and that they destroyed 23 armored vehicles and military vehicles.

He pointed out that the Russian air defense systems shot down the “Su-25” of the Ukrainian Air Force in the Kherson region, and two drones were shot down and 12 missiles were fired by the “Smerch” launchers in the Kamunka region of the Donetsk region.

With precision missiles, Russia bombed a foreign arms depot near Odessa - magnoonnet

----------


## misskit

*Kherson resistance. Russian-speaking locals take to streets chanting “Get out!” in Ukrainian, addressing invaders

*A Ukrainian activist shared a story about rallies ongoing in the city and the risks that those opposing the setup of a sham “republic” are facing.

An Ukrinform correspondent spoke with a Kherson resident who was forced to leave town over fears of being abducted by invaders due to her pro-Ukrainian stance. She is among the vast majority of locals who, as much as it is possible in the face of occupation and threats to their lives and the safety of their families, are resisting Russian troops trying to plant puppet authorities in the region and create pseudo-formations alike the “DPR” and “LPR.”


Kherson-based activist Victoria (name altered for security reasons) told Ukrinform how her hometown met the Russian occupation, what stunned the invaders the most, what threats local patriots are facing, and whether the latter believe in the resolve of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

MORE Kherson resistance. Russian-speaking locals take to streets chanting “Get out!” in Ukrainian, addressing invaders

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## misskit

Snip from a longer article.


Russian battlefield effort 'anemic'


Following a series of military and logistical setbacks, Moscow has concentrated efforts on the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which has been on the frontline of the Russia-Ukraine conflict since 2014.


But the US official on Monday described the Russian war effort there as "anemic."

"They'll move in and then declare victory, and then withdraw their troops, only to let the Ukrainians take it back," the official told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. The official said problems that have plagued the Russian military since their initial surge have not been fixed. "They're still suffering from poor command-and-control, low morale in many units, less-than-ideal logistics," the official said.

Russian forces were also keen to avoid risks that could lead to further casualties to their already depleted forces, the official said, describing the ground war in the area as "very cautious, very tepid." 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces were making significant progress in pushing the Russians back around Kharkiv, at the northwestern tip of the Donbas region, the official said. "An incredible effort there that, again, hasn't gotten a lot of headlines and hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but it's just another piece of the stiff Ukrainian resistance that they continue to demonstrate," the official said.



MORE Putin may soon officially declare war on Ukraine, US and Western officials say - CNN

----------


## bsnub

> Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces were making significant progress in pushing the Russians back around Kharkiv, at the northwestern tip of the Donbas region, the official said. "An incredible effort there that, again, hasn't gotten a lot of headlines and hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but it's just another piece of the stiff Ukrainian resistance that they continue to demonstrate," the official said.


I have been monitoring this for several days, and that entire northern front is close to collapsing. It will require Russia to divert troops from the battle in the south if they want to reclaim that lost ground. A major setback.

----------


## bsnub

*Ukrainians have shown they can out-think, out-influence and out-fight Russia. So what happens if Putin loses?*


The Russians are now struggling to make a breakthrough  in their new eastern offensive. Given this, the battlefield  effectiveness of the Ukrainian military and the massive flow of western  aid to the country, a Ukrainian counter offensive to retake territory  captured by the Russians is a near certainty.

If  this Ukrainian counter offensive succeeds, it could push the Russians  back to where they were on February 24 or even out of the Donbas or  Crimea (although the latter is unlikely).

This is the nightmare scenario for the Russian  military high command. It means they have squandered the lives of  somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers, with probably tens of  thousands more wounded. They have also lost so much military hardware  that it will take their defence industry years to replace it.

Importantly,  the Russian military leadership may present President Putin options  that range from terrible to the most horrific imaginable. Ukrainian  success on the battlefield in the east and the south could mean that  Russia may have to request an immediate ceasefire or withdraw its forces  to its early February positions. Its conventional forces have been  found wanting on the eastern plains of Ukraine, and henceforth it would  have no credibility as a tool of international influence for Russia and  its President.

Another option to avoid total  Russian failure on the battlefield is the use of chemical, biological or  even nuclear weapons. These might be used to stem Russian loses by  destroying concentrations of Ukrainian soldiers or perhaps to force a  rapid ceasefire before Russian forces are pushed back to their February  24 lines of departure.

Either way, Russia still  "loses". The use of weapons of mass destruction, if Russia's generals  don't remove Putin first, would mean that Russia would be a pariah state  for years, if not decades, into the future.

It  would result in ongoing suffering for the Russian people due to the  impact of sanctions that would endure well into the future.

But  we should also remember that in the past half century, both Russia  (Afghanistan) and the United States (Vietnam, Afghanistan) have lost  wars without resorting to nuclear weapons. It remains a small  possibility.

*The impact on China and Xi's unpredictable reaction*

What  of the geopolitical impacts of a Russian loss? Perhaps the biggest  loser would be China. The Russia-China "friendship" over the past  several years has been constructed on a shared world view that the West  in general (and the US in particular) is in decline.

This  relationship is also built on a shared view of the need for a different  world order than the post-World War II system built by the victors  (including Russia and China).

A weakened Russia could also become a client state of  China. With massive mineral and energy reserves, Russia is an important  strategic partner for China.
But there is another side to a Russian loss for China.

A  Russian loss would upset President Xi's efforts to persuade other  nations that there are other models of governance that work besides  Western democratic models. It would be a blow to Xi's personal  credibility because he invested in a relationship with a Russian  President who is now a proven loser.

And it would  also have an impact on Chinese aspirations for Taiwan – Ukraine's  tenacious defence has inspired the Taiwanese and re-energised  international support for the small island democracy.

Finally,  the unity achieved in Europe and many other western nations in  supporting Ukraine is a setback to Xi's narrative about the decline of  the west. It has sidelined Chinese influence. As Craig Singleton has  written recently, "Chinese President Xi Jinping has been reduced to a  bystander seemingly at the mercy of decisions made not in Beijing but in  Washington, Brussels, and, more importantly, Moscow."

Analysts  will be watching the words and actions of President Xi closely in the  coming weeks. Chinese state media already amplifies Russian propaganda  about the war in Ukraine. Will Xi decide that a failed Russian invasion  has too great an impact on China's global aspirations? And if so, is he  willing to risk US sanctions to provide aid to Russia?

*The delicate diplomatic reaction to Russia's possible defeat*

Even  if the war were to end tomorrow, Russia would be a much weaker and  poorer nation than it was on February . The damage it has wrought in  Ukraine has been massive and obvious, but the magnitude of its  own losses – physical, moral and reputational – will take years to  overcome.

It is likely, regardless of the outcome, to be a much  more embittered nation, fuelled with narratives of NATO predations on  Russia while struggling to juggle the impacts of western sanctions. This  makes it weak but also dangerous. Because despite any loss, it still  has a very different world view and huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

While  the intention of the US administration may be to weaken Russia so that  it can no longer threaten its neighbours, this must be a very carefully  calibrated victory. The 20th century has examples of the right ways and  wrong ways to treat defeated nations. We must learn from these. Because,  if the Russians are weakened too much in defeat, they may become a much  more dangerous nation. And that is in none of our interests.

*Mick  Ryan is a strategist and recently retired Australian Army major  general, who remains in the reserves. He served in East Timor, Iraq and  Afghanistan, and as a strategist on the United States Joint Chiefs of  Staff. His first book, War Transformed, is about 21st century warfare.

Ukrainians have shown they can out-think, out-influence and out-fight Russia. So what happens if Putin loses? - ABC News
*

----------


## David48atTD

> Russian State TV Screens Simulated Destruction of U.K. and Ireland via Nuclear-Triggered Tsunami



From an earlier post ...




>

----------


## malmomike77

^ just further sign if it were necessary that the Russians are trying to make up for their inadequate showing in their border skirmish. Only the pikeys got excited over it.

----------


## David48atTD

Some hardware porn.

Very dry, but factual presentation.

----------


## David48atTD

Maybe one reality?

----------


## malmomike77

Dave, heavy battlefield kit is pretty much useless now as modern light cheap air weaponry, as proved in this conflict is just a sitting duck. The geppards the Kraut are/were going to send are waste of time unless the Russians do them the favour of overflying them deep into Ukraine territory, otherwise they are just as useless as any other battlefield tank in this war. 60+ years out of date and a waste of life manning it. The UK still has 3 Armoured Div, heavy Division but secretly its had its day.

----------


## bsnub

> Maybe one reality?


I take issue with this one. I think this dude is over the hill. There is no way that Russia is taking Chernihiv, much less Kharkiv. The Ukrainians are currently driving a wedge outside of Kharkiv and the Russians are in retreat there.

----------


## S Landreth

Itll take some time, but at least they know and are thinking about it.

EU proposes ban on Russian oil imports

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen formally proposed a ban on all imports of Russian oil by the end of 2022 over Moscows invasion of Ukraine in a Wednesday speech to the European Parliament.

When [European] leaders met in Versailles, they agreed to phase out our dependency on Russian fossil fuels, von der Leyen said, citing earlier moves to divest from Russian coal imports. Lets be clear: it will not be easy, because some member-states are strongly dependent on Russian oil. But we simply have to do it, so today we will propose to ban all Russian oil from Europe.

The president went on to say the ban would apply to all imports, sea-borne and pipeline, crude and refined.

Von der Leyen said the phaseout would occur in an orderly fashion that reduced disruption to the market and bought time to explore alternatives. The EU will end crude imports in the next six months and refined imports by the end of 2022, she added.

Thus, we maximize the pressure on Russia, while at the same time, we minimize the collateral damage to us and to our partners around the globe, because to help Ukraine, we have to make sure that our economy remains strong, she said.

EU member states buy about a quarter of the gas they use from Russia. Data from the International Energy Agency indicates the EU bought about 2.3 million barrels of Russian oil a day, or about half of all exports, in 2021. While the EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia since the country invaded Ukraine, it has not previously followed the U.S. and the U.K. in outright bans on oil imports.

The proposed ban would still require a vote by all EU member states. While von der Leyen did not identify the members concerned about their reliance on Russian energy, Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs tweeted Wednesday morning: We do not see any plans or guarantees on how a transition could be managed based on the current proposals, and how HUs energy security would be guaranteed. 

Hungary has been the 12th biggest importer of Russian energy since the beginning of the invasion, according to data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. The only non-EU nations in the top 10 are China, South Korea and Turkey.

Western nations, and European nations in particular, have walked a tightrope in seeking to sanction and pressure Moscow due to its outsized role in the energy market. The EU and U.S. were sharply criticized last year for lifting sanctions to allow the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would have carried natural gas from Russia to Germany. However, German officials announced the completed pipeline would not be brought online after the invasion of Ukraine.

----------


## misskit

*AP evidence points to 600 dead in Mariupol theater airstrike


*LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — She stood in just her bathrobe in the freezing basement of the Mariupol theater, coated in white plaster dust shaken loose by the explosion. Her husband tugged at her to leave and begged her to cover her eyes.


But she couldn’t help it — Oksana Syomina looked. And to this day, she wishes she hadn’t. Bodies were strewn everywhere, including those of children. By the main exit, a little girl lay still on the floor.


Syomina had to step on the dead to escape the building that had served as the Ukrainian city’s main bomb shelter for more than a week. The wounded screamed, as did those trying to find loved ones. Syomina, her husband and about 30 others ran blindly toward the sea and up the shore for almost five miles (eight kilometers) without stopping, the theater in ruins behind them.


“All the people are still under the rubble, because the rubble is still there — no one dug them up,” Syomina said, weeping at the memory. “This is one big mass grave.”

MORE AP evidence points to 600 dead in Mariupol theater airstrike | AP News

----------


## misskit

*Russia Simulates Nuclear Strikes Near EU


*Russia said Wednesday its forces had carried out simulated nuclear missile strikes in the western enclave of Kaliningrad on the border with the European Union.


The announcement came on the 70th day of Moscow's military action in the pro-Western country, with thousands killed and more than 13 million displaced.

After sending troops to Ukraine in late February, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made thinly veiled threats about Russia's willingness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons.


During Wednesday's war games, Russia practiced "electronic launches" of nuclear-capable Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems near Russia's borders with EU-members Lithuania and Poland, the defense ministry said in a statement.


The Russian forces practiced single and multiple strikes at targets imitating missile systems, airfields, defended infrastructure, military equipment and command posts, according to the statement.


The units involved also practiced "actions in conditions of radiation and chemical contamination."


More than 100 servicemen took part in the drills.


Russia placed nuclear forces on high alert shortly after the start of the invasion of Ukraine.


Putin has warned of a "lightning fast" retaliation if the West directly intervenes in the Ukraine conflict.


In recent days, Russian state-owned media has attempted to make the use of nuclear weapons more palatable to the public.


"For two weeks now, we have been hearing from our television screens that nuclear silos should be opened," Russian newspaper editor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov said Tuesday.

Annexed Crimea Announces End of Ukrainian Blockade  - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russia’s War in Ukraine Is ‘Dragging On,' Belarus Leader Admits


*Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has said he didn’t anticipate that the war in Ukraine would “drag on this way,” over two months after close ally Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbor that also shares a border with Belarus.


Analysts have said Russia’s leadership aimed to swiftly crush Ukraine’s military and take the capital Kyiv in the days after launching its invasion on Feb. 24. Roughly a month later, Russia abandoned this goal and pivoted to the eastern Ukrainian front, thwarted by fierce Ukrainian resistance and a series of misjudgments and logistical issues. 

“I am not immersed in this problem enough to say whether it goes according to plan, like the Russians say, or like I feel it. I want to stress one more time, I feel like this operation has dragged on,” Lukashenko said in an interview with the Associated Press published Thursday. 


Belarus' authoritarian leader has publicly backed Russia’s invasion and is accused of providing a launch point for Russian troops to advance into northern Ukraine and toward Kyiv.  


Speaking with AP, he claimed that Belarus is “doing everything now so that there isn’t a war,” including hosting Ukraine-Russia peace talks on its territory. 


“Thanks to yours truly, me that is, negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have begun,” he said.

Amid concerns that Russia could use nuclear weapons to turn the tide in its favor, Lukashenko said the use of such weapons would be “unacceptable” but stressed that only Russia’s leaders know whether that option is on the table. 


“Whether or not Russia is capable of that — is a question you need to ask the Russian leadership,” he told AP. 


The Belarusian strongman also noted his disappointment with Ukraine’s “disinterest” in committing to peace talks. 


“But why is Ukraine, on whose territory a war in effect is ongoing, military action, people are dying — why is Ukraine not interested in these negotiations?”  


Ukrainian officials have said the discovery of apparent mass atrocities against civilians in cities like Bucha following Russian forces’ withdrawal dulled their interest in the peace negotiations. 


Lukashenko’s comments come a day after Belarus launched surprise large-scale military drills. 


Belarus has stressed that the in-country exercises don’t pose a threat to neighboring states.  


Yet British intelligence has warned of Russia’s attempts to capitalize on the drills to gain a strategic advantage in its ongoing battle for the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s War in Ukraine Is ‘Dragging On,' Belarus Leader Admits  - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian parliamentary panel has opened an investigation into "disinformation" on television amid a heated debate over the frequent appearance of Russian guests on the country's news programmes during the war in Ukraine.

The Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (Copasir) which oversees the intelligence services, said on Wednesday it had summoned the heads of Italy's state TV network, state security agency and communications watchdog.

The panel said it was looking into "foreign interference and disinformation activity ... with particular reference to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine".
Prime Minister Mario Draghi has taken a tough line on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 but opinion polls show that in Italy - unlike in Europe's other G7 states Britain, France, and Germany - there is little public support for sending weapons to Ukraine.

Italy's public broadcaster RAI as well and its four main private channels regularly host Russian journalists on their talk shows to debate with their Italian counterparts about the war, an approach that has heightened divisions in the country.

While some commentators say it is right to hear both sides of the conflict, others condemn giving air space to what they call Russian "propagandists".

The dispute has intensified since Sunday, when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov chose Italy's private channel Rete 4 to give his first interview with a European television network since the invasion began.

Critics said the interviewer failed to challenge or interrupt Lavrov enough. Some said the Russian minister should not have been interviewed at all. Draghi himself weighed into the debate the following day, saying the interview was "not much good".

Italy has no tradition of aggressive television interviews with politicians.

Some pundits and experts have begun refusing to participate on talk shows in protest at space being given to what they define as Russian propaganda.

Nathalie Tocci, head of Italy's Institute for International Affairs, on Tuesday declined to appear on a programme because a fellow guest was from Russia's defence ministry, saying she was "not willing to become an accomplice to disinformation".

On the other hand Lucio Caracciolo, one of Italy's most prominent geopolitical experts and founder of Limes, a respected world affairs journal, continues to make daily talk-show appearances on private channel La7.

Caracciolo dismissed the Copasir investigation as "a joke," saying "if we want to take it seriously we would have to think they want to set up a Ministry of Truth".

Moscow says the Western media have provided an excessively partial narrative of the war. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say the fascist allegation is baseless and the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.

Italy launches security probe as tempers fray over Russians on TV (msn.com)

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## bsnub

> While some commentators say it is right to hear both sides of the conflict, others condemn giving air space to what they call Russian "propagandists".


That is not free speech, it is just outright slander and lies.

----------


## malmomike77

Early reports of the Russia Frigate Admiral Makarov on fire, Ukraine claiming they hit it with a missile, sorry can't link on my phone.

----------


## malmomike77

Russian warship Admiral Makarov ‘on fire after being hit by Ukrainian missile’


Russia’s Admiral Makarov warship has been hit by Ukrainian missiles and burst into flames, according to Ukrainian officials.

The frigate would be Russia’s latest naval loss in a troubled campaign, coming after reports that US intelligence helped Ukraine locate and sink the Russian warship Moskva weeks ago.

It was said to have been sailing close to Snake Island in the Black Sea south of Odesa.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Anton Gerashchenko reported on his Telegram page that Admiral Makarov was hit by a Ukrainian “Neptune” anti-ship missile. He cited Russian sources.

Russian navy ships stationed in Crimea were sent to help Admiral Makarov, he said.

Dumskaya, a Ukrainian-state newssite, said Russian forces had sent helicopters to rescue the crew of the ship, said to be 180-strong.

Admiral Makarov is a modern frigate loaded with guided missiles, according to the World Directory of Modern Warships. If lost, Russia’s frigate fleet will be down to 10.

The Russian Ministry of Defence has not commented on the reports.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ship-admiral-makarov-ukraine-war-b2073007.html

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## S Landreth

American intel played a role in sinking of Russian warship

American intelligence played a role in Ukraine targeting and ultimately sinking the flagship of Russias Black Sea Fleet, according to multiple news reports, an indication of how U.S. assistance has made tangible impacts amid Russias ongoing invasion in Ukraine.

U.S. officials that spoke with NBC News, which was the first to report about the development, and The New York Times indicated that the United States helped confirm Ukrainian targeting data for the ship. 

Officials that spoke to NBC News said that the decision to attack the Moskva did not involve the U.S. and that it was not aware ahead of time that Ukraine would target the Russian warship.

The Moskva sank last month after it was hit by two Neptune missiles fired by Ukrainian forces, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials, causing it to explode and catch fire. The loss of the ship was considered a major blow to Russias Black Sea Fleet.

The move was also considered a symbolic success and full circle moment for Ukrainians, as the ship earlier on in the invasion had told Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island to surrender. In response, the soldiers told Russias military to f itself.

During a Pentagon press briefing on Thursday, press secretary John Kirby said that the United States provided battlefield intelligence to help Ukrainians defend their country.

We do not provide intelligence on the location of senior military leaders on the battlefield or participate in the targeting decisions of the Ukrainian military. The Ukrainians have, quite frankly, a lot more information than we do. This is their country, their territory, and they have capable intelligence collection abilities of their own, he said.

Ukraine combines information that we and other partners provide with the intelligence that they themselves are gathering on the battlefield, and then they make their own decisions and they take their own actions.

____________


Men and boys among alleged rape victims of Russian soldiers in Ukraine

Men and boys are among the alleged victims of rape by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, where dozens of cases of sexual violence by the invading forces are already under investigation, UN and Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

I have received reports, not yet verified  about sexual violence cases against men and boys in Ukraine, said Pramila Patten, UN special representative on sexual violence in war, at a press conference in Kyiv.

Patten added that it can be particularly challenging for male rape survivors to report the crime. Its hard for women and girls to report [rape] because of stigma amongst other reasons, but its often even harder for men and boys to report  we have to create that safe space for all victims to report cases of sexual violence.

She warned that dozens of cases of sexual violence that are under investigation so far only represent the tip of the iceberg, as she urged survivors to come forward, and the international community to find perpetrators and hold them responsible. Todays documentation will be tomorrows prosecution, she said.

Ukraines prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova said on Tuesday that her office had collected reports of sexual violence by Russian troops against men and women of all ages, from children to elderly people.

Speaking at a news conference in the shattered Kyiv suburb of Irpin, one of a cluster of small towns whose names have become synonymous with Russian war crimes, Venediktova said Moscow had used rape as a deliberate strategy. This is, of course, to scare civil society  to do everything to [force Ukraine to] capitulate.

There have been few public accounts of sexual violence in Ukraine. Some victims have left the country, and others who have stayed are frightened of speaking about their experience, Venediktova said.

However, teams of prosecutors and investigators have been gathering evidence of widespread sexual violence since Russian forces retreated just over a month ago.

Gang-rapes, assaults at gunpoint, and rapes committed in front of children are among the grim testimonies they have collected from victims and their families.

The countrys human rights commissioner Lyudmila Denisova, has officially documented the cases of 25 women who were kept in a basement and systematically raped in Bucha, which neighbours Irpin.

Forensic doctors carrying out postmortem examinations on women buried in mass graves say they have also found evidence some were raped before being killed by Russian forces.

UN envoy Patten said she was visiting Kyiv because of the overwhelming indications of widespread, systematic sexual violence in the conflict, and the risk to Ukrainian women from trafficking if they try to flee the conflict.

All the warning signals are flashing red in Ukraine, with allegations of brutal sexual violence emerging, she said, at a press conference with Ukraines deputy prime minister Olga Stefanishina.

I could not stay back in my office in New York, in the face of such harrowing reports of sexual violence. Im here because we must spare no effort to ensure zero tolerance and consistent consequences for these crimes, Patten said.

While the fighting has ended around Kyiv for now, Russian soldiers still hold swathes of territory in the south and east of the country. Amid growing concern about rape there too, activists are trying to get emergency contraception into Ukrainian hospitals as quickly as possible.

Patten warned that for too long, the world had allowed sexual violence to be deployed as a cheap, silent and effective weapon against whole communities.

Cheap, because it is cost free. Very effective, because it does not only affect the victim, it affects whole families, the communities, she said. It is biological warfare. It is psychological warfare.

She said the UN would work with Ukrainian authorities to provide support for survivors, but is also investigating crimes to prepare cases for criminal trial.

Ukrainian investigators have already identified Russian soldiers they allege are responsible for war crimes including sexual violence, and an arrest warrant has been issued for one man accused of rape.

There has been international support for investigations, with French and Dutch forensic experts already on the ground. Britain has also promised to send investigators to help gather evidence of war crimes, including sexual violence.

But many question whether soldiers who have already retreated will face prosecution, as they are under the protection of the government in Moscow which ordered the invasion and denies committing war crimes.

______________


Chinese tech firms pull out of Russia

Chinese tech firms are leaving Russia amid crippling sanctions the international community has put on the region, people familiar with the issue told The Wall Street Journal.

Tech companies such as Lenovo Group Ltd. and Xiaomi Corp. are restricting shipments to Russia as sanctions have made it difficult to operate financially in the country, sources told the outlet. 

A number of Chinese companies have avoided publicly announcing why they are pulling business from Russia after the Chinese government said businesses had to fight against Western sanctions.

Chinas Ministry of Commerce told companies in April not to submit to external coercion and make improper external statements, according to the Journal. 

SZ DJI Technology Co. is one of the few Chinese companies that said they will be halting business in Russia and Ukraine until further notice. 

After Russias invasion of Ukraine, there was an exodus of Western companies who were condemning Russias attack. 

However, Chinese companies have a hard line to toe, as China is one of the few nations that have stood by Russias side. 

China has refused to put Russia at blame for the war and has condemned the Wests response to isolate Russia.

Despite the condemnation of the West, companies have had to work to stay in compliance as U.S. chip businesses have threatened not to supply Chinese companies if they dont abide by international sanctions, the Journal noted.

_______________


Biden says US will send more aid to Ukraine

President Biden on Friday announced another security assistance package for Ukraine totaling $150 million he said would include artillery munitions, radars and other equipment. 

Today, the United States is continuing our strong support for the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their country against Russias ongoing aggression, Biden said in a statement. 

Biden warned the latest round of assistance would nearly exhaust the military assistance that Congress has approved for the administration to deliver to Ukraine. 

Congress in March authorized $13.6 billion in security, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. The White House had previously said that the administration had about $250 million in military assistance left.  

On Friday, Biden pressed Congress to quickly approve more assistance for Ukraine. The White House has asked for $33 billion in additional security, economic and humanitarian assistance to help Ukraine fight the Russian war and address the impacts of the conflict. The administration believes that amount of assistance is needed to sustain Ukraine over the next five months.

________________

*Just for fun. These will repair a few Ukrainian buildings*


Putin-Linked Superyacht Frozen at Italian Port Before It Could Sail 

A superyacht believed to be owned by Russian president Vladimir Putin was frozen by Italian authorities Friday before the ship could set sail from port.

The $700 million, 459-foot Scheherazade, worth approximately $700 million, had been under investigation since March, when Italian authorities boarded the ship as part of the European Unions sanctions against Russian oligarchs in response to the invasion of Ukraine.



While Scheherazades ownership was under question, anti-corruption journalists working with jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny long claimed that the ship belonged to Putin; U.S. officials also linked the Scheherazade to Putin, the New York Times reported.


Fiji seizes Russian oligarchs $300m yacht at US request

Fijian authorities have seized a $300m yacht owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov at the request of the United States, according to the US Justice Department.

The move, which was announced on Thursday, is the latest by Washington and its allies to up pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, often targeting wealthy citizens known to have close ties to the Kremlin.

A court in Fiji ruled on Tuesday that the US could seize the Russian-owned super-yacht, weeks after it arrived and was impounded by police.


 
The Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine, US Attorney General Merrick B Garland said in a statement announcing the yachts seizure.

The US Treasury Department had previously designated Kerimov as part of a group of Russian oligarchs who profit from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe, the Justice Department said.

It said court documents showed Kerimov owned the 348-foot luxury yacht, called Amadea, after the designation, and that the oligarch and those acting on his behalf caused US dollar transactions to be routed through US  financial institutions for the support and maintenance of the Amadea.

Kerimov was sanctioned by the US in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russias actions in Syria and Ukraine. He has also been sanctioned by the European Union.

This yacht seizure should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide  not even in the remotest part of the world, said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a statement.

Authorities in various countries have seized luxury vessels and villas owned by Russian billionaires in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The US Justice Department launched the task force KleptoCapture in March to specifically focus on seizing yachts and other luxury assets to put the finances of Russian oligarchs under strain in a bid to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In early April, the US seized a 254-foot yacht in Spain owned by Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close Putin ally who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets.

US President Joe Biden has asked Congress for the authority to formally seize and sell assets of Russians to fund Ukraines defence and rebuilding, although it remains unclear if he would be able to do so without running afoul of international law. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...-at-us-request

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## malmomike77

^ And publishing the fact is an act of sheer stupidity.

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## sabang

Russian billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich has struck a deal to sell his Chelsea football club for a staggering amount.

Chelsea has announced American billionaire Todd Boehly and his consortium have agreed to terms to buy the football club from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

When Abramovich announced his plan to sell the club in March as a result of sanctions imposed because of his links to Vladimir Putin, the Russian insisted he was not looking to benefit.

Now it seems his comments may actually have been true.

Chelsea earlier this week informed the UK Government Abramovich wanted the $2.8 billion he had loaned to the club through an investment vehicle to be repaid in full as part of the sale process.

As reported by The Sun, Abramovich now intends to donate that fortune to charity for “all the victims of the war in Ukraine”.
The total deal with Boehly, who part-owns the LA Dodgers baseball team, is reported to be worth a staggering £4.25bn ($A7.4 billion), including the loaned money being returned to Abramovich.

Chelsea confirmed an agreement has been reached with Boehly’s consortium when releasing a statement on Saturday morning.

Chelsea said the deal is “expected to complete in late May subject to all necessary regulatory approvals”.


The Blues confirmed the consortium’s sum of £2.5bn will be deposited into a frozen UK bank account with the intention to donate it to charitable causes as confirmed by Abramovich.

Government approval will be required for the proceeds to be transferred from the account.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his chemicals company Ineos are frustrated at being shut out of the Chelsea sale by Abramovich’s chosen brokers, the US investment group Raine.

Ratcliffe expected the New York-based company to engage with him after he launched a late, big-money bid on Friday.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich sells to Todd Boehly, Los Angeles Dodgers owner, Premier League club worth | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

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## malmomike77

WTF do they think they are doing?

US intelligence told to keep quiet over role in Ukraine military triumphs


CIA veterans advise successors against ‘unwise’ intelligence boasts that could trigger escalation from Russia

Former US intelligence officers are advising their successors currently in office to shut up and stop boasting about their role in Ukraine’s military successes.

Two stories surfaced in as many days in the American press this week, citing unnamed officials as saying that US intelligence was instrumental in the targeting of Russian generals on the battlefield and in the sinking of the Moskva flagship cruiser on the Black Sea.

The initial report in the New York Times on Wednesday about the generals was partially denied by the White House, which said that while the US shares intelligence with Ukrainian forces, it was not specifically shared with the intent to kill Russian general officers.

The next day, NBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post all quoted officials as saying that US intelligence had helped Ukraine hit the Moskva with anti-ship missiles last month, making it the biggest Russian ship to be sunk since the second world war.

As a general rule, espionage is carried out in secret, though western intelligence agencies have turned that rule on its head over the past few months by going public with what they knew about Russian preparations for invasion, and then with daily reports on the battlefield and from behind Russian lines.

The new disclosures are different however, as they concern what the US espionage agencies themselves have been doing, rather than commenting on the state of the war.

In both cases, the US was claiming a hand in historic humiliations for Moscow and for Vladimir Putin, triggering warnings of unintended consequences.

Paul Pillar, a former senior CIA official, said: “My personal view is it’s unwise. I am surprised at the extent of official confirmation of the role of US intelligence in the sinking into Moscow, and even more so the killing of the generals.

“The big concern is that this sort of public confirmation of this extensive US role in the setbacks dealt to the Russians may provoke Putin into escalation in a way that he might not otherwise feel it necessary to escalate.”

John Sipher, who served for 28 years in the CIA’s clandestine service, some of that time in Moscow, thought the decision to disclose details of intelligence sharing was misguided, but for different reasons.

“I just think it’s disrespectful to the Ukrainians,” Sipher said. “It’s taking away from the people who are actually on the ground, who are taking advantage of the intelligence, who are collecting their own intelligence, who are fighting day and night.”

However, he did not think that it significantly raised the risk of escalation between Russia and Nato.

“Putin understands how the game is played. He gets intelligence to try to kill Americans if the situation is reversed, as he did in Afghanistan and other places. The Russians have spent years attacking us with cyber warfare and disinformation,” Sipher said.

“So I don’t think them being upset that America is sharing intelligence is a game-changer.”

European officials made clear their own intelligence agencies would not be following the US lead.

“It’s stupid,” one official said. “I don’t think it is a carefully coordinated leak.”

An official from another European country cast doubt on the centrality of US intelligence to the Ukrainian targeting of Russian generals, saying the main factor was the predictability of Russian officers as they followed rigid Soviet-era doctrine. The breakdown in their secure communications equipment and the top-down hierarchy of the Russian army meant the top officers had to travel to the frontlines to be sure their orders were carried out and Ukrainian snipers were waiting for them.

In the case of the Moskva, US officials were at pains to emphasise that Ukraine made its own targeting decisions, and drew information from multiple sources.

“We are not the only sole source of intelligence and information to the Ukrainians. They get intelligence from other nations as well and have a pretty robust intelligence collection capability,” John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said.

“They’ve been fighting this war against Russia for eight years. It’s not like they are completely blind to the way Russia organises itself and the way Russia conducts itself on the battlefield.”

US intelligence told to keep quiet over role in Ukraine military triumphs | US foreign policy | The Guardian

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## bsnub

*Intense  fighting is continuing in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine as troops  attempt to regain control of the area from the Russians.* It  comes after Ukraine's armed forces claimed on Saturday that they had  taken five villages north-east of the country's second largest city. 

Analysts say the Ukrainian operation is developing into a successful counter-offensive

Kharkiv has been the focus of intense shelling since the February invasion. 

The governor of Kharkiv region said on Saturday that Russian troops continue "to fire on civilians in Kharkiv region". 

Oleh Synyehubov on Telegram reminded people to "not go out unnecessarily" and told people not to ignore the air raid sirens. 

There is concern that the Russian shelling could intensify in the run up to Victory Day on May 9, when Russia commemorates its win over Nazi Germany in 1945.

The  region has been heavily targeted by Russian forces since the invasion,  but a report from the Institute of the Study of War says that Ukrainian  troops are now "notably retaking territory along a broad arc around  Kharkiv". 

It  added that Ukrainian troops may be able to relieve Russian pressure on  Kharkiv "and potentially threaten to make further advances to the  Russian border."

Hubanov Pavlo, a children's doctor in Kharkiv told the BBC that people are still hiding in shelters and are not going to work. 

"There  is no normal life in the city," he said. "Kharkiv is very close to the  Russian border and so the city is constantly under attack. Unfortunately  while the war continues, we cannot relax and we are constantly on  alert."

Mr Pavlo used to work at Kharkiv Regional Pediatric Hospital but it was destroyed by shelling. 

"The  shells hit our hospital several times, and now the building is  destroyed and it was impossible to provide medical care there, because  Russians were shooting all the time. I am now working in another  hospital," he said.

On  Saturday, a museum dedicated to philosopher and poet Hryhoriy Skovoroda  in Kharkiv region was confirmed to have been destroyed after Russian  shelling hit the roof. Items had been removed ahead of time. 

Ukraine: Intense shelling as troops battle to regain Kharkiv region - BBC News

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## bsnub

As I said a few days ago, the Russians are being pushed out of Kharkiv oblast.*

The Ukrainian counteroffensive northeast of Kharkiv is making  significant progress and will likely advance to the Russian border in  the coming days or weeks.* Russian forces may be conducting a  limited withdrawal in the face of successful Ukrainian attacks and  reportedly destroyed three bridges to slow the Ukrainian advance. Armies  generally only destroy bridges if they have largely decided they will  not attempt to cross the river in the other direction anytime soon;  Russian forces are therefore unlikely to launch operations to retake the  northeast outskirts of Kharkiv liberated by Ukrainian forces in the  near future. Russian forces previously destroyed several bridges during  their retreat from Chernihiv Oblast—as did Ukrainian forces withdrawing  in the face of the Russian offensive in the initial days of the war.


 This Ukrainian offensive is likely intended to push Russian forces  out of artillery range of Kharkiv city and drive to the border of  Russia’s Belgorod Oblast. As ISW previously forecasted, the Ukrainian  counteroffensive is forcing Russian units intended for deployment  elsewhere to redeploy to the Kharkiv front to halt Ukrainian attacks.  Given the current rate of Ukrainian advances, Russian forces may be  unable to prevent Ukrainian forces from reaching the Russian border,  even with additional reinforcements. Ukrainian forces are not directly  threatening Russian lines of communication to Izyum (and ISW cannot  verify claims of a separate Ukrainian counteroffensive toward Izyum at  this time), but the Ukrainian counteroffensive demonstrates promising  Ukrainian capabilities and may set conditions for further offensive  operations into northeastern Kharkiv Oblast.

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 7 | Institute for the Study of War

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## misskit

High casualties feared after school shelter in Ukraine bombed


Ukraine has accused Russia of dropping a bomb on a school in Luhansk region where 90 people were taking shelter.


Serhiy Hayday, the head of the Luhansk region military administration, said a Russian aircraft had dropped a bomb on the school in the village of Bilohorivka, which is about 7 miles from the front lines. 


Hayday said 30 people had so far been rescued from the rubble. 


"Almost the entire village was hiding. Everyone who did not evacuate. After the social club was hit, the basement of the school was the only place of salvation, but the Russians took this chance from people," Hayday said.


The rescue operation is ongoing, he said. Photographs posted by the regional authorities show the school in ruins. 

High casualties feared after school shelter in Ukraine bombed

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## sabang

Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine on Sunday between Russian forces and Ukraine defenders who mounted a defiant attempt to hold the Luhansk region’s main city of Severodonetsk.

The governor of Luhansk region said pitched battles were under way for Severodonetsk, formerly an industrial city of 100,000 people, and Russian troops were attempting to cut it off.

“The heaviest fighting is going on towards Severodonetsk [but] all free settlements in the Luhansk region are hotspots,” Governor Serhiy Haidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Right now, there are shooting battles in [the villages] of Bilohorivka, Voivodivka and towards Popasna.”

Dozens of Ukrainians are feared dead after a Russian air strike destroyed a school sheltering about 90 people in its basement in Bilohorivka village, he said.
The Luhansk governor said the fight for Severodonetsk would be aided by incoming weapons.

“It [new weaponry] is arriving now. Only the military will decide when should they use it. But we can see results even now. And new military supplements can change the course of the war here in Donbas,” said Haidai.

Battles rage in Ukraine’s Luhansk as Russia targets main city (msn.com)

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## S Landreth

US unveils new sanctions on Russia, targeting services, media and defense industry

The US has unveiled a new layer of sanctions on Russia, targeting services, Russias propaganda machine and its defence industry on the eve of Vladimir Putins planned Victory Day parade.

The new measures were announced as leaders from the G7 group of industrialised democracies held a virtual summit with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a show of solidarity.

They are primarily intended to close loopholes in the existing sanctions and to tighten the noose around the Russian economy by another few notches.

The new sanctions include:

*A ban on sales of US services to Russia, like accountancy and management consultancy

*No more US advertising or sales of broadcasting equipment to three Kremlin-controlled television stations

*Technology export bans including industrial engines, bulldozers and other items that can be used by Russian defence factories

*Visa restrictions on another 2,600 Russian and Belarusian individuals, including military officials, and executives from Sberbank and Gazprombank

In imposing a ban on services the US is falling into line with the UK, which made a similar announcement last week. The two countries provide the overwhelming bulk of services like accountancy and management consultancy to Russian corporations.

The Biden administration sees US service providers as potential tools Russia could use to sidestep the punitive measures already imposed.

Theyve been asked by Russian companies to help them figure out how to reformulate their business strategies in the wake of sanctions, in some cases how to get around these sanctions, or in the case of accountants how to hide some of their wealth, and were shutting that down, a senior administration official said.

Like the UK, the restrictive measures do not apply to lawyers, but the US official said that could change, and that Washington and London are coordinating their moves in that respect.

We made a judgment at least for now, that if there was a desire to seek due process through a US lawyer, we would allow that to continue, the official said. But were reevaluating the breadth of these services sanctions every day, and depending on how we see behavior change over time, we can certainly broaden the sanctions.

The new media sanctions will target three Kremlin-controlled propaganda outlets: Channel One, Russia-1 and NTV. American companies will no longer be allowed to sell equipment like video cameras or microphones to them, and US advertising on their channels will be banned. Last year, US companies bought $300m in advertising in the Russian market.

A lot of these advertisers have announced since the invasion that theyre going to cut their business activity with these stations, but we want to make sure that decision endures and just send a broader signal that US companies should not be in the business of funding Russian propaganda, senior a senior administration official briefing the press ahead of the announcement.

The new technology export bans on industrial items such as heavy engines and bulldozers are intended to have an impact on Russian war efforts by hitting the supply chain for defence manufacturers. The US claims that Russia two major Russian tank plants, Uralvagonzavod Corporation and Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, have already been forced to halt production due to a lack of foreign components.

The 2,600 new visa restrictions on individuals include military officials and Russian proxies deemed to have played a part in the invasion and there will be a new visa policy which would apply automatically to military or proxy officials involved in human rights abuses.

The targeted sanctions will also hit eight executives from Sberbank, Russians largest financial institution, and 27 from Gazprombank, owned by Russias giant gas industry. Until now Gazprombank has been left untouched because of its role in facilitating European purchases of Russian natural gas.

This is not a full block. Were not freezing the assets of Gazprom bank or prohibiting any transaction with Gazprombank, the senior administration official said. What were signaling is that Gazprombank is not a safe haven, so were sanctioning some of their top business executives, people who sit at the top of the organization, to create a chilling effect.

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## malmomike77

As MK reported, another day another Russian attrocity.

Ukraine war: 60 people killed after bomb hits school, Zelensky says

Around 60 people were killed after a bomb hit a school in east Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Earlier, the governor of Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, said 90 people had been sheltering in the building in Bilohorivka, and 30 were rescued.

Mr Haidai said a Russian plane had dropped the bomb on Saturday - Russia has not commented.

Luhansk has seen fierce combat as Russian troops and separatist fighters seek to surround government forces.

Much of the region has been under the control of Russia-backed separatists for the past eight years.

Bilohorivka is close to the government-held city of Severodonetsk, where heavy fighting was reported in the suburbs on Saturday. One Ukrainian newspaper, Ukrayinska Pravda, says the village became a "hot spot" during fighting last week.

The blast brought down the building which caught fire and it took firefighters three hours to extinguish the blaze, according to the governor, writing on Telegram.

He said almost the entire village had been sheltering in the basement of the school.

The final death toll would only be known when the rubble had been cleared, the governor said.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "appalled" by the deadly attack, adding: "civilians must always be spared in times of war".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61369229

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## David48atTD

Vladimir Putin compares Russia's invasion of Ukraine to WWII at Victory Day parade




Russian President Vladimir Putin has evoked the memory  of Soviet heroism in World War II to urge his army towards victory in  Ukraine, but acknowledged the cost in Russian lives as he pledged to  help the families of fallen soldiers.

*Key points:*
Mr Putin criticised external threats to weaken Russia and the expansion of NATOThe Russian President compared the invasion of Ukraine to victory against Nazi GermanyHe did not say how the war has progressed and gave no indication of how long it might continue 

Addressing  massed ranks of service personnel on Red Square on the 77th anniversary  of victory over Nazi Germany, Mr Putin condemned what he called  external threats to weaken and split Russia.

He repeated  familiar arguments that he had used to justify Russia's invasion  that  NATO was creating threats right next to its borders.
He  directly addressed soldiers fighting in the Donbas region of eastern  Ukraine, which Russia has pledged to "liberate" from Kyiv's control.

"You  are fighting for the Motherland, for its future, so that no-one forgets  the lessons of World War II. So that there is no place in the world for  executioners, punishers and Nazis," he said.

Vladimir Putin compares Russia'&#39;'s invasion of Ukraine to WWII at Victory Day parade - ABC News

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## harrybarracuda

> Vladimir Putin compares Russia's invasion of Ukraine to WWII at Victory Day parade


He's right, WWII was about a lunatic who committed war crimes.

Let's hope it has the same outcome for the lunatic.

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## malmomike77

I doubt many Russians will see this clip

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## S Landreth

^Wonder if they got the message

Russia's ambassador to Poland doused in red paint by protesters

 
Russia's ambassador to Poland was hit with red paint on Monday as he arrived at a cemetery where Soviet soldiers who died during World War II are buried, state news agency RIA Novosti reports.

*Driving the news:* Ambassador Sergey Andreev had red paint on his clothes and face as demonstrators who oppose Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine protested around him, some carrying Ukrainian flags, per a video from the state news agency.


Andreev was at the Soviet soldiers' cemetery to lay flowers on Victory Day, a commemorative day that marks the defeat of the Nazis during World War II.Hundreds of protesters had convened and prevented Andreev from laying flowers at the Warsaw cemetery, AP reports.

*State of play:* Protesters also parked a tank hauled by a tractor in front of the Russian Embassy in Warsaw on Sunday, per AP.

___________


Biden signs bill to expedite military aid to Ukraine

President Biden on Monday signed legislation that will make it easier for the U.S. to send military equipment to Ukraine as the Eastern European country battles the ongoing Russian invasion.

Biden signed the bill in the Oval Office at a ceremony with Vice President Harris and members of Congress. The bill, formally known as the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022, passed Congress with bipartisan support last month. 

Biden affirmed U.S. support for the Ukrainians in their fight to defend their country and their democracy against [Russian President Vladimir] Putins brutal war.

Every day Ukrainians pay with their lives, Biden said. The cost of the fight is not cheap but caving to aggression is even more costly. Thats why were staying in this.

The bill was introduced by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and allows the U.S. to lend or lease military equipment to Ukraine and other allies in Eastern Europe while streamlining the process to make it easier to do so. The bill revives a World War II-era policy that helped defeat Nazi Germany. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cheered the bills signing. https://thehill.com/news/administrat...id-to-ukraine/

___________


Biden admin lifts tariffs on Ukrainian steel

The U.S. will lift tariffs on Ukrainian steel for the next year in a bid to help Ukraine as its war with Russia continues, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced on Monday.

*Why it matters:* The move temporarily pauses part of a 2018 measure by the Trump administration to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on a broad swath of countries.

*The big picture:* While Ukraine is a relatively minor supplier of steel to the U.S.  coming in only 12th among foreign suppliers  the steel industry looms large in Ukraine and has been a source of economic growth, per the New York Times, which first reported the news.


Ukraine's steel industry employs 1 in 13 people in the country and many steel mills have "continued to pay, feed, and even shelter their employees" through the war, the Commerce Department noted in the press release.The country ranks as the world's 13th largest steel producer and 80% of its steel output is exported, according to S&P Global.The Trump-era policy  a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum  was imposed on the basis that the foreign products were a threat to U.S. national security.

*State of play:* Although many of the country's steel producers halted much of their production at the start of the Russian invasion in February, two major producers  ArcelorMittal and Metinvest  began to restart some of their operations last month, the Wall Street Journal reported.

*What they're saying: "*We cant just admire the fortitude and spirit of the Ukrainian peoplewe need to have their backs and support one of the most important industries to Ukraines economic well-being," Raimondo said in the press release.


"For steel mills to continue as an economic lifeline for the people of Ukraine, they must be able to export their steel." https://www.axios.com/2022/05/09/bid...tariff-ukraine

_________________


Hackers replaced Russian TV schedules during Putin's 'Victory Day' parade with anti-war messages, saying the blood of Ukrainians is on Russians' hands

Russian television schedules were hacked to display an anti-war message as the country celebrated a national military festival on Monday, BBC Monitoring reported.

On-screen program descriptions were replaced with the hackers' text when viewed on smart TVs, the outlet reported.

The message read, per the BBC's translation: "On your hands is the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and their hundreds of murdered children. TV and the authorities are lying. No to war."

Major channels such as Russia-1, Channel 1, and NTV-Plus were all changed, BBC reported.

Francis Scarr of BBC Monitoring  the branch of the BBC that follows mass media worldwide  tweeted a short video of a screen showing the TV schedules, on which every program showed the same text description:

The hack came during Russia's Victory Day celebrations, a national holiday and military parade overseen by President Vladimir Putin, which is being televised in Russia. The annual event celebrates the Soviet Union's victory, alongside Allied forces, over Nazi Germany in 1945.

International observers previously speculated that Putin would use the event to further propagandize or toughen his stance around his invasion of Ukraine. However, his Monday speech ended without the expected declaration of mass mobilization or war against Ukraine.

Putin's justification at the outset of the February 24 invasion was that he was launching a "special operation" to "denazify" the country. His aggression is viewed by NATO and other Western countries as a war.

But under a near-blackout of independent media and social media platforms, most Russian viewers can only access Kremlin-controlled messaging on the conflict, as Insider's Connor Perrett reported.

The message in Monday's hack runs deeply counter to Putin's claims that his forces are in Ukraine to "liberate" Russian-speaking Ukrainians.

It is unclear who was behind the alteration of the schedules on Monday, but the hacker group Anonymous retweeted Scarr's tweet with the message "Good morning Moscow" within hours of the hack.

In early March, Anonymous claimed responsibility in a tweet for the hacking of several state-controlled TV channels, which were replaced with footage from independent networks, Radio Free Europe reported. https://www.businessinsider.com/russ...essages-2022-5

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## bsnub

Early this March, I and two other U.S. veterans spent 10 days helping  to train Ukrainian troops on the ground. I’m just one of many  volunteers, many of us former soldiers, who did so. For nearly three decades, the United States and other NATO countries have sent personnel to help train Ukrainian forces, efforts that intensified and crystalized after the loss of Crimea and parts of the Donbas in the 2014 Russian invasion. It would be nice to think, as some have claimed,  that Ukraine’s success is due to that training. But the truth is that  it probably hasn’t played a decisive role in shaping Ukraine’s  remarkable underdog performance against the Russian military.

 For many analysts, the focus has been on an army burdened, until recently, by Soviet doctrine. Various articles and op-eds  describe a Ukrainian military deeply shaped by the experience of the  Soviet Union. To be sure, the senior officers of the 1990s had been  soldiers and junior officers in the Soviet army, and many Ukrainians  served in Afghanistan. But the crucial difference isn’t between the  Soviet era and today. The reforms imposed on the Ukrainian army in the  1990s—and the decisions Ukrainians themselves made after those  reforms—led to disaster in 2014.

 Between 1991 and 2014, Ukraine’s military was shrunk and  systematically robbed of resources until it had almost vanished as a  fighting force. In 1991, Ukraine’s military had nearly 800,000 personnel  on the books, along with thousands of armored vehicles and tanks. It  had 2,500 nuclear weapons and a robust air force with hundreds of planes  and bombers. In 1993, the nuclear weapons were given to Russia in  exchange for guarantees of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty by the  United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia (formalized in the 1994  Budapest Memorandum, now clearly worthless). Once the nukes were gone,  other items seemed equally superfluous. Air forces, especially bombers,  are expensive. So are big armies, and tanks, and sophisticated  anti-aircraft systems. And Ukraine was going through an economic crisis  of apocalyptic scale, with its GDP collapsing by nearly half.

 So, by 2014, Ukraine’s military was a shadow of its former size and capability. Officially, Ukraine had some 130,000 soldiers in uniform and around 800 tanks when Russia invaded.

 What was left of the military had been hollowed out by corruption.  Whatever the official totals of soldiers and officers were in Ukraine’s  military in March 2014, I have it on good authority from Ukrainian  officers that there were just 7,000 soldiers in three brigades that were  “combat ready” in terms of training, equipment, and personnel. The  25th, the 93rd, and the 95th brigades were units in any meaningful sense  of the word, capable of being assigned tactical objectives and staffed  with people able to issue and carry out orders. Of the 800 tanks, I was  told by a high-ranking Ukrainian officer in 2016 that a dozen were  operational—the dozen used for parades. The rest needed a severe  retrofit to make them fit for field action. Many ended up being  cannibalized for spare parts to make others whole. Ukraine’s air force  was in a similar state of disrepair and neglect.

 And the military and intelligence agencies had been staffed by  pro-Russian officers and leaders, under the administration of Viktor  Yanukovych, further minimizing combat power when applied against Russia.  Betrayal by traitors was a huge problem for Ukraine in 2014, with some  units defecting outright to Russia.

 To summarize: Ukraine’s usable military in March 2014 consisted of  about 7,000 soldiers in three brigades, a dozen tanks, and a handful of  aircraft, the deployment of which was frustrated in some cases by people  acting on behalf of Russia rather than Ukraine. Most units couldn’t  fight, and many of their leaders wouldn’t fight—or were fighting for the  other side. The weakness of Ukraine’s military was well known to  Russian intelligence, and the Kremlin’s decision to invade then was  premised on a combination of knowledge of that weakness, plus a  calculated—and correct—gamble that the West would not intervene.

 But that initial defeat brought immediate lessons for Ukraine. And  while Ukrainian soldiers and officers have always been happy to learn  and receive aid from others, those were lessons it learned and on which  it capitalized itself. From that core of 7,000 or so functional  soldiers, the military quickly expanded through April and May, with tens  of thousands of Ukrainians being conscripted, mobilized, and  volunteering to join and fight. This group included Red Army veterans in  their late 40s and 50s, some of whom were veterans of the Soviet  invasion of Afghanistan. It also included an inspiringly representative  swath of Ukrainians from all walks of life.

 In addition to the military’s efforts to replace notional soldiers  with real soldiers, and as fighting broke out in the east, Ukraine’s  government took a desperate step, one that harked back to the warfare of  the past—it authorized the formation of militias, organized and funded  by individuals and groups. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians (including  far-right extremists, who joined groups such as Azov and Right Sector)  joined these groups or supported them with logistics, and some  immediately joined the fighting in the east. Whether self-funded or  funded by oligarchs, these units were not an official part of Ukraine’s  military structure, though they operated alongside Ukrainian military  units that began filtering into the Donbas in June 2014.

The militias fought side by side with regular soldiers in harsh  battles. Azov rose to prominence through its part in helping to retake  the ancient port city of Mariupol in May-June 2014. By the time July and  August came around, the military had pushed Russia’s first wave of  conscripts and local militias back, but Russia’s military had begun to  intervene directly from across the border. 

Events such as the Battle of Zelenopillya,  where Russian artillery targeted Ukrainian formations, became  commonplace (though the effects were not—Ukraine learned its lesson  there, the lesson being not to gather units in open fields within range  of Russian artillery). Unwilling to cross the Russian border to hit back  at their opponents, Ukrainian units fought Russian militias and Russian  mercenaries while under constant artillery fire.

 From September 2014 to February 2015, the war entered a new phase, as  regular Russian soldiers and units entered Ukraine’s east and inflicted  defeats on Ukrainian operations, composed of militias and the military,  in Ilovaisk, at Donetsk Airport, and at Debaltseve. A cease-fire was  brokered on terms very favorable to Russia, preserving the breakaway  Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, and Russia’s  occupation of Crimea. Ukraine started to dig in to face new attacks,  while Russia consolidated its gains—and then went back to business as  usual with European and American partners willing to turn a blind eye to  the invasion.

One area where the West was quick to help Ukraine was in offering  more and greater training opportunities from active-duty military units.  The first thing I did in June 2015 when I arrived in Ukraine was embed  with the 173rd Airborne, my old unit, which was training Ukrainian  militias cycling back from the new front lines. I wrote about what I saw  there in _Forbes_:  essentially, that the Ukrainians enjoyed the opportunity to train hard  but were teaching U.S. paratroopers, sergeants, and officers more about  war than they were learning.

 Other veterans of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq corroborated  my observations: Our focus on counterinsurgency had allowed our basic  warfighting skills to atrophy. The 173rd leadership was quietly thrilled  to have an opportunity to learn about fighting tanks, being shelled by  heavy artillery, and facing tactical challenges unseen by U.S. forces at  a grand scale since Vietnam. I saw something similar take place during a joint training exercise  in Romania in 2017, where the Ukrainian soldiers present were, again,  the stars of the show. My assessment—that it was the United States that  was unprepared for war with Russia, not Ukraine—was shared internally at  this time by junior and mid-level leaders within the U.S. military  itself, as evidenced by a paper circulated within the 173rd and other units and reported on by Wesley Morgan for _Politico_.

 When I spoke to both Ukrainian regulars and militia soldiers in the  following years, they agreed that the experience of 2014-15 had been  crucial to Ukraine’s understanding of itself as a nation and for the  military’s understanding of its capabilities and deficiencies. Others  have had similar conversations.  The traitors who had been part of Ukraine’s military and intelligence  apparatus were fired or fled to Russia, and the soldiers and officers  who joined the Ukrainian military in 2014 were promoted based on their  competence on the battlefield, rather than on patronage or connections,  as had previously been the case. War helped separate the wheat from the  chaff—and made military corruption no longer something that one could  turn a blind eye to but a threat to national survival and the survival  of one’s comrades.

 This meritocratic process was even more conspicuous in the militias,  which adopted military hierarchies without any of the traditions or  institutional baggage that usually interferes. It was entirely common to  find platoon leaders and company commanders in 2015 in the militias who  had started out as privates in 2014 and rose quickly through the ranks  by virtue of their skill and energy. When, in 2015, most of the militias  were wrapped into the military or the Ministry of Internal Affairs’  National Guard (for technical legal reasons, there were parallel  military organizations created under Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence and  Ministry of Internal Affairs to deal with what, for reasons of  diplomatic expediency, was then classified as an internal conflict), it  was a further infusion of meritocratic, bottom-up units led by  trustworthy and combat-experienced leaders into the military’s broader  structure.

 So, by the end of 2015, as Ukraine’s military continued to fill its  capacity on paper and expand, about half of all its forces had been  exposed to, or were actively running, an innovative and meritocratic  military culture of a type unknown under the top-heavy Soviet system (a  system that lacks an empowered professional corps of noncommissioned  officers, or NCOs). Certainly, efforts to train Ukrainian units to adopt  more Western models, including an NCO corps, have been useful in  reinforcing lessons learned at the front. But Ukrainians, not Western  trainers, have been responsible for transforming their army.

 “The Ukrainian army has achieved some success with professional NCO  establishment due to an early push of reforms and the dynamic of war,  where a lack of officers bolstered NCO opportunities to step forward,” a  Ukrainian general wrote to me on May 8 when asked for an assessment of  Ukraine’s military versus that of the United States. “However, NATO  standards have not been achieved yet.”

 The general went on to explain that the Russian military had yet to  begin any systemic effort to stand up a professional NCO corps and  attributed some battlefield success to the advantage Ukraine enjoyed  from deliberately transitioning authority and trust from officers to  NCOs and decentralizing battlefield decision-making.

 There are other areas where U.S. and NATO training has provided  Ukrainians with a meaningful advantage, especially in the use of  weaponry. While Ukrainians could probably have figured out the  transport, prep, and operation of Stingers, Javelins, Carl Gustafs, and  the other weapons the United States and NATO have provided to Ukraine,  training expedited the process dramatically.

 And while Ukraine was already in the process of standing up a more  Western-style approach to special operations when Russia invaded in  2014, Western aid afterward helped greatly. I have reliable information  from direct participants that partnering and training with U.S. special  operations forces over the following eight years transformed the  Ukrainian approach to that way of warfare, by improving their selection  process, access to equipment, and establishing training that has become  more rigorous and helped Ukraine approach the level of  professionalization of elite U.S. units. While difficult to gauge while  the war is ongoing, some successes of Ukrainian special operations are  likely due to a commitment to the Western way of designing and training  teams.

 Ukraine’s military has been a hospitable place for training because  its leaders hit on a similar structure and sense of purpose to U.S. and  NATO armies organically in 2014-15. If they hadn’t, Ukraine would have  ceased to exist. Offering them assistance and helping them to codify  mechanisms by which to reinforce that culture is useful and good, but it  is not correct to attribute Ukraine’s extraordinary battlefield  accomplishments solely or even primarily to Western training. Those  accomplishments belong to the brave men and women of Ukraine’s military  and also in part to a Ukrainian public and civil society that are  proving themselves to be democratic, humanistic, and deserving of  Western support.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/05/09...a-us-training/

----------


## misskit

*War in Ukraine claims lives of at least 3,381 civilians, 3,680 more wounded – UN


*Civilian casualties from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 24:00 on May 9 totaled 7,061 civilians (the report three days earlier said 6,802), including 3,381 dead (3,309), the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Monday.

OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration, " the report reads.


This concerns, for example, Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), and Popasna (Luhansk region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties. They are subject to further verification and are not included in the above statistics.


"Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, " it says.


The UN confirmed that 1,227 men, 787 women, 91 boys and 75 girls were killed, while the gender of 69 children and 1,132 adults could not be determined yet.


The 3,680 wounded include 93 boys and 83 girls, as well as 170 children whose gender has not been determined yet.


Compared to the report made a day earlier, one child was killed and 16 others were wounded.


OHCHR indicates that as of midnight on May 6, there were 1,699 (1,646) deaths and 1,441 (1,312) injuries in government-controlled territory and 111 (108) deaths and 443 (420) injuries in territory controlled by self-proclaimed "republics" in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.


In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions) the UN recorded 1,571 (1,555) deaths and 1,796 (1,761) wounded.


The daily summary traditionally states that the increase in numbers to the previous summary should not be attributed only to cases on May 6-8, as the Office verified some cases from the previous days during this period.

War in Ukraine claims lives of at least 3,381 civilians, 3,680 more wounded – UN

----------


## S Landreth

House approves $40B in aid for Ukraine; 57 Republicans vote no

The House approved a $39.8 billion aid package for Ukraine on Tuesday, sending the massive supplemental to the Senate as Russias invasion nears the three-month mark.

The aid package passed in a 368-57 vote. All lawmakers who voted against the bill were Republicans. Two Democrats and three Republicans did not vote.

The legislation includes $6 billion for security assistance  including training, equipment, weapons, logistical support, supplies and services for military and national security forces in Ukraine  and $900 million for refugee support services such as housing, language classes and trauma services for individuals fleeing Ukraine.

Roughly $8.7 billion of the cash in the legislation will go to the Economic Support Fund to respond to emergent needs in Ukraine, including budget support and countering human trafficking.

For those in this country and others, Mr. Speaker, who thought that war was a 19th or 20th century concern, this crisis has underscored the importance of capable military alliances, the centrality of NATO, and the critical importance of American leadership in the trans-Atlantic alliance, Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the dean of the House, said on the House floor.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that the bill was about democracy versus a dictatorship.

The Ukrainian people are fighting the fight for their democracy, and in doing so, for ours as well, Pelosi said. The world needs to know why its important.

Democrats proposed the nearly $40 billion package this week with a larger price tag than the $33 billion President Biden asked Congress to authorize last month. The legislation put forth by lawmakers includes an additional $3.4 billion for military and humanitarian assistance than the package requested by the White House.

In a shift in strategy, Democrats decided to propose the current Ukraine aid package without linking it to a COVID-19 assistance package. The pandemic aid, which totals $10 billion, has stalled for weeks because Senate Republicans are demanding a vote on a border policy measure. They want a vote on an amendment to stop the administration from rescinding Title 42, the Trump-era pandemic policy that allows for the fast expulsion of migrants at the border and prohibits them from seeking asylum.

The aid package also allocates $4.365 billion to the U.S. Agency for International Development, with the majority of the cash going toward efforts to provide emergency food assistance for individuals experiencing hunger as a consequence of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Additionally, the legislation includes $8.7 billion to restock the U.S. supply of equipment that was dispatched to Ukraine through the presidents drawdown authority and allocates $11 billion to funding for the presidential drawdown authority.

The Biden administration has utilized the drawdown authority to send aid to Ukraine throughout the Russian invasion, which began on Feb. 24.

Republicans opposing the bill pointed to the fact that the bill was not paid for, adding to the national debt. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) lamented getting text for the $40 billion bill at 3 in the afternoon before the House voted on it Tuesday night, calling portions of the bill a massive slush fund that goes to the State Department.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday evening said the House passage of the supplemental was a critical step in showing the world that the U.S. supports Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.

The House took a critical step today in sending a clear, bipartisan message to Ukraine, to Russia, and to the world that the United States stands with the people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy against Russian aggression, she wrote in a statement.

Psaki said the additional resources in the aid package will allow the U.S. to send more weapons, such as artillery, armored vehicles, and ammunition, to Ukraine, and help the U.S. replenish our stockpile and support U.S. troops on NATO territory.

As the President said yesterday, we cannot afford any delay in this vital effort. We look forward to continuing to work with Senate leadership to get this bill to the Presidents desk quickly and keep assistance flowing to Ukraine without interruption, she added in a statement.

_____________


Ukraine to halt key Russian gas transit to Europe, blames Moscow

Ukraine said on Tuesday it would suspend the flow of gas through a transit point which it said delivers almost a third of the fuel piped from Russia to Europe through Ukraine, blaming Moscow for the move and saying it would move the flows elsewhere.

Ukraine has remained a major transit route for Russian gas to Europe even after Moscow's invasion.

GTSOU, which operates Ukraine's gas system, said it would stop shipments via the Sokhranivka route from Wednesday, declaring "force majeure", a clause invoked when a business is hit by something beyond its control.

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But Gazprom (GAZP.MM), which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports by pipeline, said it was "technologically impossible" to shift all volumes to the Sudzha interconnection point further west, as GTSOU proposed.

GTSOU CEO Sergiy Makogon told Reuters that Russian occupying forces had started taking gas transiting through Ukraine and sending it to two Russia-backed separatist regions in the country's east. He did not cite evidence.

The company said it could not operate at the Novopskov gas compressor station due to "the interference of the occupying forces in technical processes", adding it could temporarily shift the affected flow to the Sudzha physical interconnection point located in territory controlled by Ukraine.

Ukraine's suspension of Russian natural gas flows through the Sokhranivka route should not have an impact on the domestic Ukrainian market, state energy firm Naftogaz head Yuriy Vitrenko told Reuters.

The state gas company in Moldova, a small nation on Ukraine's western border, said it had not received any notice from GTSOU or Gazprom that supplies would be interrupted.

The Novopskov compressor station in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian forces and separatist fighters since soon after Moscow began what it describes as a "special military operation" in February. read more

It is the first compressor in the Ukraine gas transit system in the Luhansk region, the transit route for around 32.6 million cubic metres of gas a day, or a third of the Russian gas which is piped to Europe through Ukraine, GTSOU said.

GTSOU said that in order to fulfil its "transit obligations to European partners in full" it would "temporarily transfer unavailable capacity" to the Sudzha interconnection point.

Gazprom said it had received notification from Ukraine that the country would stop the transit of gas to Europe via the Sokhranivka interconnector from 0700 local time on Wednesday.

The Russian company said it saw no proof of force majeure or obstacles to continuing as before. Gazprom added that it was meeting all obligations to buyers of gas in Europe.

The United States has urged countries to lessen their dependence on Russian energy and has banned Russian oil and other energy imports in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday's announcement does not change the timeline to lessen global dependence on Russian oil "as soon as possible."

_____________

*Little extra*


China learning lessons from Russia war in Ukraine, intelligence officials say

Chinese President Xi Jinping is watching closely how Russias war in Ukraine unfolds and the global response as Beijing weighs the risks of taking over Taiwan, top intelligence officials told lawmakers on Tuesday.

The Chinese are going to watch this very, very carefully, Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Its going to take some time for them to sort out all elements of  diplomatic, information, military, economic  that have occurred with this crisis, he added.

Berrier made his comments during a hearing to evaluate the intelligence communitys assessment of worldwide threats. Lawmakers largely focused on the successes and shortcomings of U.S. intelligence in assessing Russias capability in Ukraine and how they relate to the threats facing Taiwan. 

We pretty dramatically overestimated the strength of the Russian military. Id be surprised, for one, if Chinas military strength proves to be so attenuated, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said to intelligence officials. Dont you think were dealing with a significantly more formidable adversary with China?   

Berrier and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, also testifying at the hearing, said that Beijing would rather subsume Taiwan through diplomatic and economic pressure, but the threat of a military takeover between now and 2030 remains acute. 

Its our view that they are working hard to effectively put themselves in a position in which their military is capable of taking Taiwan over our intervention, Haines said. 

They would prefer not to use military force to take Taiwan. Theyd prefer to use other means, she added.

There is robust bipartisan support in Congress for supporting Taiwan to prevent it from coming under forceful control from Beijing.

Berrier and Haines both listed China as an unparalleled priority for the intelligence community and a major security challenge for the U.S. and called its expanding nuclear arsenal historic.

The democratically elected government in Taipei is viewed as a key U.S. partner in the region for pushing back against Chinas efforts to overtake the democratic international order. 

Yet Beijing views Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and the government in Taipei as a rogue actor and is intent on exercising control over the island.  

The U.S. is committed to Taiwans self-defense without officially recognizing the island as independent from Beijing. Intelligence officials said lessons learned from Ukraines defensive war against Russia and American assistance have provided key takeaways for how Washington can engage with Taipei.

There are some things we can do with Taiwan. I think theyre learning some very interesting lessons from the Ukrainian conflict, Berrier said, pointing to how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys leadership has inspired the forces, the success of small tactical military units against Russian units incapable of acting independently and effective training with the right weapons systems.

Yet Berrier said that the Taiwan military is not where it should be, pointing to a large conscript force with a short enlistment period.

I think we have to engage with our [Indo-Pacific Command] partners within the Department of Defense, the Taiwan military and leadership to help them understand what this conflict has been about, what lessons they can learn and where they should be focusing their dollars on defense and their training, Berrier said. 

Berrier and Haines said it is too soon to tell what lessons China is taking away from the U.S.-led global response against Russia, between the coordinated sanctions imposed by allies in Europe and the Group of Seven nations, isolation at the United Nations, and the success of Ukraines military. 

Still, China is unlikely to accelerate its plans to take over Taiwan, officials said. 

Theyre thinking about future operations probably against Taiwan and how difficult that might be. Theyre probably also thinking about the scrutiny they would come under should they entertain thoughts or operations like that, Berrier said. 

He added that one of those lessons he hoped the Chinese take away from Russias war in Ukraine is just how difficult a cross-strait invasion might be and how dangerous and high risk that might be. 

Berrier and Haines also came under pressure over failures of the U.S. intelligence community that overestimated Russias military capabilities to take over Ukraine  and that followed the overestimation of the strength of the Afghan military forces to resist the Taliban  in how it assesses Beijings intentions. 

Within 12 months we missed the will to fight, we overestimated the Afghans will to fight and underestimated the Ukrainians will to fight, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) said.

I hope that the intelligence community is doing some soul searching about how to better get a handle on that question, he added.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Republicans opposing the bill pointed to the fact that the bill was not paid for, adding to the national debt.


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand of all a sudden the Republicans care about the national debt again.

Yawn.

----------


## nidhogg

From what i just saw on tv, boris has extended the uk nuclear deterrent to Sweden.

Yikes.

----------


## misskit

UK strikes security agreement with Sweden and Finland as NATO bids loom | Reuters

----------


## Iceman123

^
Strange offer from Boris. This may deter Sweden and Finland from joining NATO now that the UK has offered mutual defence without joining commitment.

It begs the question why was Ukraine not offered the same?

----------


## nidhogg

> ^
> Strange offer from Boris. This may deter Sweden and Finland from joining NATO now that the UK has offered mutual defence without joining commitment.
> 
> It begs the question why was Ukraine not offered the same?


Nobody thought of it at the time?

Certainly an interesting wrinkle with lots of implications.

----------


## misskit

*Occupied Ukrainian Territories Will Ask to ‘Join Russia’ — Reports


*Officials in Russian-occupied Kherson will petition the Kremlin to formally recognize the southern Ukrainian region as part of the Russian Federation, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.


The Russian military gained control of the Kherson region in late April, replacing its Ukrainian leadership with a pro-Moscow “military-civilian administration” and transitioning to the Russian ruble. 

The Kremlin neither confirmed nor denied plans to annex Kherson, saying instead that the decision would be “up to local residents.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that the process would be “absolutely clear and legitimate” and drew parallels with the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 after holding a referendum that the United Nations General Assembly later declared as invalid.


Earlier Wednesday, a senior official for the Russian administration in annexed Crimea said he had “no doubt” that newly occupied territories in southern Ukraine would be absorbed by Russia. 


Georgiy Muradov, Crimea’s permanent representative under President Vladimir Putin, told RIA Novosti that Russians and Ukrainians shared a “common cultural code.”


“Civil-military administrations are being formed in these [occupied Ukrainian] territories, Russian TV channels have arrived, Russian textbooks have appeared in schools and the Russian ruble is successfully entering economic life in the region,” he said.


Despite other setbacks in its almost three-month invasion of Ukraine, Russia has achieved at least one of its early primary objectives: seizing a land bridge to connect mainland Russia to annexed Crimea.


Occupied Kherson, as well as the Pryazovske region on the Sea of Azov, reportedly began trading with Crimea shortly after Russian forces installed pro-Moscow administrations in the area.

Occupied Ukrainian Territories Will Ask to ‘Join Russia’ — Reports - The Moscow Times

----------


## DrWilly

> ^
> Strange offer from Boris. This may deter Sweden and Finland from joining NATO now that the UK has offered mutual defence without joining commitment.
> 
> It begs the question why was Ukraine not offered the same?


Because it's too late?

----------


## sabang

Kiev has stopped flows via a key transit point, raising fears of European energy shortages

Ukraine’s gas network operator on Wednesday stopped the transit of Russian natural gas to Europe through one of its key cross-border stations, citing “_interference by the occupying [Russian] forces._” Here is what this development means for the European gas market and economy.


What happened?
Ukraine’s gas network operator, GTS Ukraine, announced late Tuesday that it would stop receiving Russian natural gas into the Sokhranovka gas metering station starting on Wednesday because it can no longer control the infrastructure in territory “_occupied_” by Russian troops. According to the statement of the company’s press service, “_the occupying forces_” interfered in the technological processes, jeopardizing the security of the country’s entire gas transportation system. The company said it views the situation as a force majeure, stating it is unable to provide deliveries to Europe for reasons beyond its control.How does this effect European gas supplies?
They are declining. GTS Ukraine initially said it would temporarily transfer the Sokhranovka flows to its second, and largest, transit station – Sudzha, which is located on territory controlled by Kiev. Russian gas exporter Gazprom, however, later announced that it is technically impossible to do so. As the Sokhranovka station handles roughly a third of the Russian gas flows entering Ukraine for further transit, this amount of gas will be lost to European buyers as a result of the station’s closure. Gazprom said it was set to supply 72 million cubic meters of gas to Europe via Sudzha station on Wednesday, while the day before, the total confirmed applications of European consumers amounted to 95.8 million cubic meters. At their peak, applications from Europe reached 109.6 million cubic meters in early March. This means that Europe has just lost between 25% to 34% of its Russian gas deliveries.How does this effect gas prices?
Gas prices in Europe initially surged after Ukraine’s cutoff, surpassing $1,100 per thousand cubic meters of gas early Wednesday. Experts say the situation will inevitably lead to a price hike, as European consumers assess the decrease in volumes. For instance, data from the company Snam, which transports gas to Italy, shows that the flow of Russian gas has indeed dropped compared to yesterday, while Germany’s regulator said Russian flows through Ukraine decreased by almost a quarter compared to Tuesday.What are the other consequences?
Russia covers around 40% of Europe’s total natural gas needs. The EU relies on cheap Russian gas to heat homes, cook meals, and generate electricity in most of the bloc’s 27 member states. The drop in supplies could, in the worst-case scenario, lead to problems in the power grid, rolling blackouts, and shutdowns in industries. Increasing gas prices could also propel prices for other commodities and consumer goods, pushing already historically high inflation even higher. Inflation in nine EU nations has already reached over 10%. European consumers urgently need to find alternatives.What are the EU’s alternatives to Russian gas?
European buyers could demand an increase in gas deliveries from Europe’s second-largest supplier, Norway. In 2021, the country supplied close to a quarter of gas in the EU and UK. However, Norwegian oil and gas fields are producing at nearly 100% capacity, and while the country did recently pledge to ramp up production in the summer, it is unlikely to make up for the loss of Russian supplies. Europe’s other option is to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US and the Middle East, but this commodity – and its transportation – comes at a much higher price than Russian gas. Also, there is a limit to how much LNG suppliers can produce and transport, and experts say the global liquefaction capacity is almost fully utilized. Plus, some EU countries have no access to LNG shipments as they are landlocked.Is there a way to fix the situation?
Europe could come up with alternatives in the long run – for instance, it could finally grant the long awaited and currently blocked certification to Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which goes to Europe via the Baltic Sea and is capable of supplying nearly twice as much gas as the Sokhranovka transit station. Also, Kiev could reopen the station and not lose the money it receives from Russian gas transit. Finally, Kiev and Moscow could reach a peace deal – however, this outcome hinges on the participation of the US and EU, which at this point is unlikely.
What Ukraine’s block on Russian gas means for Europe — RT Business News

----------


## misskit

1 Dead, 3 Wounded in Russia After Ukraine Attack – Belgorod Governor

One person died and three more were injured in southwestern Russia as a result of an attack from Ukraine, the governor of Belgorod said on Wednesday. 


"As of now, one person lost his life, he died in an ambulance, and there are three wounded," the governor of the southwestern region of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on messaging app Telegram. 

He said it was the "most difficult situation" in his region since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Gladkov accused Ukraine of targeting the village of Solokhi, adding that one house was partially destroyed. 


The announcement came on the 77th day of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, which has left thousands dead.


Authorities in Russian regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of launching attacks.


In April, Gladkov said Ukrainian helicopters carried out a strike on a fuel storage facility in Belgorod. 

1 Dead, 3 Wounded in Russia After Ukraine Attack – Belgorod Governor - The Moscow Times

----------


## David48atTD

> Gladkov accused Ukraine of targeting the village of Solokhi, adding that one house was partially destroyed.


I read the article and no more information.

I wonder what military target was in the village of Solokhi?

It's a tiny poor village, about 10 klms from the Ukraine/Russian border.


Attention Required! | Cloudflare

----------


## misskit

^One of the videos (CNN) bsnub just posted showed how close the Ukrainians are to Russia in that spot. The next video shows the long range of the missiles they are now firing. Perhaps a mistake?

----------


## bsnub

> I wonder what military target was in the village of Solokhi?


Have the Russians had valid military targets when they flattened towns in cities in Ukraine? The Russians are in retreat in that area, so hard to say what is going on.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Let's not forget the Russians are big fans of fake attacks to justify their war crimes. And congenital liars.

They would think nothing of killing their own people to be able to say "Look, they're doing it too!"

----------


## misskit

*Kyiv Mayor Klitschko Says He Can’t Guarantee The Safety Of Returning Residents


*The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, tells CNN’s Erin Burnett that he is worried about the possibility that the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, might use a tactical nuclear weapon on Kyiv.

“Safety right now is the number one priority … Yes of course we are worried, and we hope that our warriors will protect us, but the risk remains, and without our partners, without the United States and the European countries, we cannot survive,” Klitschko stated.


Likewise, he said there is no doubt that the Ukrainian capital is still Russia’s “main target.”


“AS MAYOR OF KYIV, I TELL ANYONE COMING BACK TO KYIV, SORRY, IT’S YOUR PERSONAL RISK, BUT WE CANNOT GUARANTEE ANYTHING … SO LONG AS THERE IS WAR IN UKRAINE, WE CANNOT GUARANTEE ANYTHING.”


Russian attacks could happen at any moment, Vitali Klitschko said.


Klitschko stated war “changes everyone’s lives” and that his fingers are crossed for a quick end to this “senseless war.”

Kyiv Mayor Klitschko Says He Can't Guarantee The Safety Of Returning Residents

----------


## misskit

*Russia warns the West over risk of ‘direct and open’ conflict*




Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has warned the West that military assistance for Ukraine risks creating a conflict between Russia and NATO.


Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said such a conflict could easily escalate.


“The pumping of Ukraine by NATO countries with weapons, the training of its troops to use Western equipment, the dispatch of mercenaries and the conduct of exercises by the countries of the alliance near our borders increase the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia instead of their ‘war by proxy,’” Medvedev claimed in a Telegram post.


“Such a conflict always has the risk of turning into a full-fledged nuclear war,” Medvedev said. “This will be a catastrophic scenario for everyone.”


Medvedev’s comments come as tensions between Russia and NATO are likely to rise even further after Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced that the country should apply to join NATO “without delay.” Sweden could also be set to announce its intention to apply to join the military alliance.

Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

----------


## misskit

*Finland Says It Will Apply to Join NATO, Doubling Length of Russia’s Border With the Bloc


*One of the most surprising fallout effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been the speed at which Sweden and Finland are now interested in joining NATO. The two Scandinavian nations had always expressed a more pacifist approach to the trans-Atlantic military alliance. “Russia is not the neighbor we thought it was,” Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin said after the invasion, which prompted a process to join NATO that is predicted to be formally announced Sunday. Sweden, which does not share a land border with Russia like Finland’s 810-mile frontier, also expressed concern. “When Russia invaded Ukraine, Sweden’s security position changed fundamentally,” the Swedish government said at the time of the invasion. Finland had previously stayed out of NATO to avoid antagonizing Russia.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/finlan...=home?ref=home

----------


## bsnub

Russian troops have been forced to retreat behind their own borders, Kyiv officials said, as Ukraine launched counter-attacks aimed at halting Moscow’s main advance in the east.

 Ukrainian military officials said their units operating in the region  around Kharkiv - the country’s second-largest city - and Izyum, to the  south-east, had forced Russian troops to switch from attack to defence.

 In their intelligence update, the officials said Russian units had sustained “significant losses” and were “withdrawn from Ukraine to the Belgorod region”, 25 miles inside Russia’s territory.

 As Ukrainian troops advanced north towards the Russian border, they liberated four towns to the north and north-east of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian General Staff said.

  In a report, the Institute of War, a US-based think-tank, cited a  Russian source who claimed Ukrainian fighters had moved within six miles  of the Russian border.

 Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov, of the General Staff of the Armed  Forces of Ukraine, said: “The enemy switched to defence after an  unsuccessful assault around Kharkiv. In the Kharkiv direction, the  Ukrainian armed forces see some success and are liberating settlements.”

*Counter-attack could signal new phase in war*

 The Ukrainian counter-attack in the north-west of the country could signal a new phase in the war, with resistance fighters attempting to starve Russia of troops and supplies in the eastern Donbas region.

 By pushing back Russian troops who had occupied the outskirts of  Kharkiv since the start of the invasion on February 24, Kyiv’s forces  are moving into striking distance of key supply lines, fuelling Moscow’s  offensives further south.

 Neil Melvin, of the Royal United Services Institute, said:  “Ukrainians are getting close to the Russian border. So all the gains  that the Russians made in the early days in the north-east of Ukraine  are increasingly slipping away.”

 But as they were driven out of the Kharkiv region, Russians left a  host of “deadly traps”, as well as murdered civilians and destroyed  homes.

Oleg Synegubov, Kharkiv’s regional governor, said: “Thanks to the  successful actions of the armed forces and the liberation of a number of  settlements in Kharkiv, it is now relatively quiet."

 “It is dangerous to return to the recently liberated settlements”, he added in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

 “The enemy has completely mined everything, including schools, kindergartens and private homes.”

 In his overnight address late on Tuesday, Volodomyr Zelensky, the  Ukrainian president, praised the efforts by his fighters to push Russian  troops away from Kharkiv.

 “The occupiers are gradually being pushed away,” he said. “I am  grateful to all our defenders who are holding the line and demonstrating  truly superhuman strength to drive out the army of invaders.”

*Ukraine also finds success in Izyum*

 Ukrainian fighters have also had success in Izyum, which lies 77  miles from Kharkiv in north Ukraine, and is considered vital to Russian  chances of seizing control of the Donbas region.

 “In Izyum direction, the enemy has also switched to defence and constraining actions,” Brig Gen Hromov said.

 Controlling the Kharkiv and Izyum regions is considered of vital strategic importance to Moscow’s offensive in the Donbas.

 The main highway from Belgorod, used as Russia’s main logistics hub in the war, runs directly through both areas.

  A Ukrainian soldier involved in the liberations on the outskirts of  Kharkiv said Kyiv’s forces would be able to make more progress if given  more Western weapons.

 The fighter, who goes by the name “Uncle Roma”, told DW TV: “The weapons are helping us a lot, especially the anti-tank one.

 “I wish that we could get more of them. We use the weapons for  specific targets and here you see the results. If we had more weapons,  we would get more results.”

 Buoyed on by recent successes, Kyiv has seemingly upgraded its ambitions to push Russia fully out of Ukraine.

 Dmytro Kuleba, its foreign minister, said Ukraine could move to liberate Crimea if its forces can defeat Russia in the Donbas.

 “In the first months of the war, the victory for us looked like  withdrawal of Russian forces to the positions they occupied before  February 24 and payment for inflicted damage,” he told the Financial  Times.

 “Now, if we are strong enough on the military front and we win the  battle for Donbas, which will be crucial for the following dynamics of  war, of course, the victory for us in this war will be the liberation of  the rest of our territories.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...ehind-borders/

----------


## misskit

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT, MAY 11

Russian forces did not make any significant advances anywhere in Ukraine on May 11, and Ukrainian forces took further ground northeast of Kharkiv. The Ukrainian counteroffensive north of Kharkiv City has forced Russian troops onto the defensive and necessitated reinforcement and replenishment efforts intended to prevent further Ukrainian advances towards the Russian border. Russian efforts along the Southern Axis and in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts remain similarly stalled, and Russian forces have not made any significant gains in the face of continued successful Ukrainian defenses.

MORE Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 11 | Institute for the Study of War

----------


## misskit

^From the same source on May 9th.

Russian forces continue to face widespread force generation challenges. A senior US defense official stated on May 9 that the US has not observed any indicators of a “new major Russian mobilization” and that members of the private military company Wagner Group “urgently” requested hundreds of thousands of additional troops to reinforce Russian efforts in Donbas. The official noted that Russia currently has 97 battalion tactical groups (BTGs) in Ukraine, but that BTGs have been moving in and out of Ukraine to refit and resupply, suggesting that Russian troops continue to sustain substantial damage in combat. ISW has previously assessed that most Russian BTGs are heavily degraded and counting BTGs is not a useful metric of Russian combat power. The Main Ukrainian Intelligence Directorate (GUR) claimed that under-trained, ill-equipped Russian conscripts are still being sent into active combat despite the Kremlin denying this practice. A prisoner of war from the BARS-7 detachment of the Wagner Group claimed that a ”covert mobilization” is underway in Russian to send conscripts to clean damage caused by combat in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

----------


## bsnub

> A senior US defense official stated on May 9 that the US has not observed any indicators of a “new major Russian mobilization”


They have to hold back some of the archaic soviet era equipment they have left to defend their own borders. They are getting hollowed out by the day and will lose this war of attrition.

----------


## David48atTD

Russia threatens retaliatory steps if Finland joins NATO




*Key Points*

Russia has slammed Finlands announcement that it could apply to join the Western military alliance NATO in a matter of days.Russia  will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military-technical  and other nature, in order to stop threats to its national security  arising, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.Russia  shares an 830-mile long border with Finland. If it does join the  military alliance, the land border that Russia shares with NATO  territories would roughly double. 


*Changing alliances*

Russia  has insisted that Finlands policy of military nonalignment served as  the basis for stability in Northern Europe but that now, Helsinki must  be aware of the responsibility and consequences of such a move. 

Russia threatens '&#39;'retaliatory steps'&#39;' if Finland joins NATO

----------


## David48atTD

Apologies if previously posted.

----------


## David48atTD

^



Russia lost an entire battalion when trying to cross a river in eastern Ukraine - Defence View

----------


## malmomike77

Its amazing that Russia are in such state where their focus is solely Putin's mad crusade they couldn't foresee the Ukrainian response, the effect on NATO cohesiveness and the reaction by other bordering countries viz NATO membership - except i fail to believe that. I think the Kremlin will have seen all this and as a sign of how power is centralised with Putin and his close circle they have been either unable to make him see these outcomes or are too afraid of raising it. Either way its a serious worry for NATO to have the second major nuclear power acting so irrationally.

----------


## Hugh Cow

A couple of Sabang and spittys mates helping to liberate the poor Ukrainians.

----------


## sabang

Moscow’s view on the accession of Ukraine into EU is now aligned to its position on the country joining NATO

Russia has altered its stance on Ukraine’s prospects of EU membership, Moscow's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, has revealed. Such a goal now cannot be a part of any peace deal with Kiev, the diplomat told Unherd News in an interview on Thursday.

Previously, Moscow was not concerned about the prospects of Ukraine eventually joining the organisation, he indicated, but the position has since shifted.
Polyanskiy explained that the catalyst was Brussels' behavior since Russia launched its offensive, in February. Moscow feels that the EU has become completely aligned with the US-led NATO.

He particularly pointed to a recent statement from the bloc's chief diplomat Josep Borrell, in which the Spanish-born official openly expressed a preference for a military solution to the present conflict.

_“We were at this point not very worrying about the European Union, but the situation has changed after Mr. Borrell’s statement that ‘this war should be won on the battleground’ and after the fact that the European Union is the leader in deliveries of arms_ [to Ukraine]._ I think that our position on the European Union now is more similar to NATO because we don’t see a big difference,”_ Polyanskiy stated.

The conflict has already escalated to the point that there’s little to no place for diplomacy left, he admitted. Polyanskiy blamed, what he described as, the lack of constructive dialogue, the inability of Kiev to keep its promises, and Western efforts to prolong the hostilities for the situation.

_“At this point, frankly, I see no diplomatic possibilities given the position of Ukraine, given the fuelling of this conflict by the West. Being a diplomat, I have to acknowledge that there’s no way for diplomacy right now,”_ he insisted.

Polyanskiy refused to provide any estimates on for how long the conflict could go on. _“I don’t have a crystal ball to predict such things,”_ he said.
Russia changes position on Ukraine’s EU membership bid — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union




*Ruble named world’s best-performing currency*

Bloomberg says the Russian currency topped 31 major peers in growth this year.

The Russian ruble has eclipsed 31 major currencies in growth since the start of 2022, becoming the globe’s best-performing currency, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

According to the publication, the ruble has strengthened against the US dollar by more than 11% since the beginning of the year. On the international currency market, the ruble exchange rate has shown even greater growth of about 12% so far.

https://www.rt.com/business/555354-ruble-named-worlds-best-performing-currency/

 :Confused:

----------


## sabang

Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed on May 3 that no Russian entity will be allowed to make deals with those on the sanctions list, or even fulfil its obligations under existing deals.
The decree forbids the export of products and raw materials to people and entities on the sanctions list.
Putin said the decree was in response to the illegal actions of the US and its allies meant to deprive Russia and its citizens and legal entities of property rights or to restrict their property rights.
The Yamal-Europe gas pipeline passes through Russia, Belarus, Poland, and Germany. Russia supplies nearly 40% of Europes overall gas demand, and this route accounts for nearly 15% of the countrys westbound deliveries. The pipeline has been operating in reverse mode recently, sending gas from Germany to Poland after Warsaw refused to accept Moscows demand to pay in rubles.

FULL-  https://www.rt.com/business/555379-russia-stops-gas-transit-poland/

----------


## Hugh Cow

> Moscow’s view on the accession of Ukraine into EU is now aligned to its position on the country joining NATO
> 
> Russia has altered its stance on Ukraine’s prospects of EU membership, Moscow's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, has revealed. Such a goal now cannot be a part of any peace deal with Kiev, the diplomat told Unherd News in an interview on Thursday.
> 
> Previously, Moscow was not concerned about the prospects of Ukraine eventually joining the organisation, he indicated, but the position has since shifted.
> Polyanskiy explained that the catalyst was Brussels' behavior since Russia launched its offensive, in February. Moscow feels that the EU has become completely aligned with the US-led NATO.
> 
> *Funnily Russia doesnt get to tell other countries what they should join*
> 
> ...


RT banned from most countries due to it being just a Putin propaganda tool. 
The Rouble will not be able to be artificially propped up by the Russians forever. It's already cost them a fair bit. Eventually the economy will hit a wall. Its inability to trade with most of the west with a combined GDP of around 40 trillion cannot be made up by the others. The currency does not reflect the strength of the economy. Another two years and the Russian economy will struggle to be in the G20.

----------


## Switch

Given a pragmatic look at the recent additions to this thread, it seems that the tide is turning against Russia and Putin.

Unless individuals accept the total propaganda from all participants, the war will continue and Russia will be considerably weakened.

Time for Vlad to eat some humble pie, lash out, or undermine what’s left of his future. Right now, he still has choices. That will not be the case much longer.

Accept that there is disinformation on both sides, and read between the lines. This conflict has reached the stage where the things left unsaid behind the bravado, are more important than any claims to be winning the war. Those in positions of power and authority are now hedging their bets, being very careful what they do say, and what they don’t admit to.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Russia threatens ‘retaliatory steps’ if Finland joins NATO


Isn't Puffy funny.

It's his fault they're joining it!

 :rofl:

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## sabang

> It's already cost them a fair bit.


If this were indeed the case, then why would they have riven the ruble *up* by 20% so far this year? Nope, it's because they have rejected the petrodollar and are pricing their gas exports in Rubles. Simple supply and demand.

----------


## pickel

*They were furious: the Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine*


Troops are saying no to officers, knowing that punishment is light while Russia is not technically at war


When the soldiers of an elite Russian army brigade were told in early April to prepare for a second deployment to Ukraine, fear broke out among the ranks.

The  unit, stationed in Russias far east during peacetime, first entered  Ukraine from Belarus when the war started at the end of February and saw  bitter combat with Ukrainian forces.

It  soon became clear that not everyone was onboard with it. Many of us  simply did not want to go back, said Dmitri, a member of the unit who  asked not to be identified with his real name. I want to return to my  family  and not in a casket.

Along with eight  others, Dmitri told his commanders that he refused to rejoin the  invasion. They were furious. But they eventually calmed down because  there wasnt much they could do, he said.

He  was soon transferred to Belgorod, a Russian city close to the border  with Ukraine, where he has been stationed since. I have served for five  years in the army. My contract ends in June. I will serve my remaining  time and then I am out of here, he said. I have nothing to be ashamed  of. We arent officially in a state of war, so they could not force me  to go.

Dmitris refusal to fight highlights  some of the military difficulties the Russian army has faced as a result  of the Kremlins political decision not to formally declare war on  Ukraine  preferring instead to describe the invasion, which will soon  reach its fourth month, as a special military operation.

Under  Russian military rules, troops who refuse to fight in Ukraine can face  dismissal but cannot be prosecuted, said Mikhail Benyash, a lawyer who  has been advising soldiers who choose that option.
Benyash  said hundreds and hundreds of soldiers had been in touch with his  team for advice on how they could avoid being sent to fight. Among them  were 12 national guardsmen from Russias southern city of Krasnodar who  were fired after refusing to go to Ukraine.

Commanders  try to threaten their soldiers with prison time if they dissent, but we  tell the soldiers that they can simply say no, Benyash said, adding  that he was not aware of any criminal cases against soldiers who refused  to fight. There are no legal grounds to start a criminal case if a  soldier refuses to fight while on Russian territory.

Many soldiers, therefore, have chosen to be fired or transferred rather than going into the meat grinder, he said.

A similar account to Dmitris was given to the BBCs Russian service by Sergey Bokov,  a 23-year-old soldier who at the end of April decided to leave the army  after fighting in Ukraine. Our commanders didnt even argue with us  because we were not the first ones to leave, Bokov said.

Pointing  to Russias military laws, Benyash said it would be more difficult for  soldiers to refuse to fight if Russia were to declare a full-scale war.  During wartime, rules are totally different. Refusal then would mean  much harsher penalties. They would be looking at time in prison.

While  the exact number of soldiers refusing to fight remains unclear, such  stories illustrate what military experts and western governments say is  one of Russias biggest obstacles in Ukraine: a severe shortage of  infantry soldiers.

Moscow initially put about  80% of its main ground combat forces  150,000 men  into the war in  February, according to western officials. But significant damage has  been done to that army, which has confronted logistical problems, poor  morale and an underestimated Ukrainian resistance.

Putin  needs to make a decision regarding mobilisation in the coming weeks,  said Rob Lee, a military analyst. Russia lacks sufficient ground units  with contract soldiers for a sustainable rotation. The troops are  getting exhausted  they wont be able to keep this up for a long  period.

Lee said one option for the Kremlin  would be to authorise the deployment of conscript units to Ukraine,  despite Putins earlier pledges that Russia would not use any conscripts  in the war. Conscripts could fill some of the gaps, but they will be  poorly trained. Many of the units that are supposed to train conscripts  are fighting themselves, Lee said.

But without  conscript battalions, Russia could soon struggle to hold the territory  it currently controls in Ukraine, especially as Ukraine receives better  equipment from Nato, he said.

Russian  authorities quietly stepped up their efforts to recruit new soldiers as  it became clear that a quick victory in Ukraine was unattainable.

An  investigation by the BBCs Russian service showed that Russias defence  ministry filled employment websites with vacancies, offering people  with no combat experience opportunities to join the army on lucrative  short-term contracts. Some large government-run companies have received  letters urging them to sign up their staff for the army.

Russia has also turned to mercenaries to bolster its war efforts, deploying fighters from the shadowy Kremlin-linked Wagner group.

But  analysts say voluntary recruits and mercenary groups are unlikely to  lead to a substantial increase in the number of new soldiers, compared  with the numbers that a partial or a full-scale mobilisation would  bring.
Despite speculation beforehand, Putin did not formally declare war on Ukraine during his Victory Day speech on 9 May.

Andrei  Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, said the  authorities may be worried that a general mobilisation would antagonise  large sections of the population that support the special operation.
Russians  might be in favour of the conflict, but they dont actually want to  fight, he said, adding that a general mobilisation would entail  colossal losses of untrained soldiers.

And  while the current status of the conflict gives Russian soldiers a legal  path to refuse participation, some soldiers have complained that it has  also led to them not being adequately cared for.

A  junior sergeant said he was injured during one of the recent Ukrainian  attacks on the Russian border territory where he was stationed. His  superiors argued that he should not be given the monetary compensation  of up to £2,500 that wounded Russians are entitled to by law because his  injury took place on Russian soil  meaning it did not fall under the  rules of Russias special military operation.

It  is unfair, I am fighting in this war just as the others in Ukraine,  risking my life, the soldier said. If I dont get the compensation  that I am entitled to soon, I will go public and make a major issue of  it.

‘They were furious’: the Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine | Russia | The Guardian

----------


## malmomike77

one fooking screwed up system the yanks have

Senator Rand Paul single-handedly holds up $40bn US aid for Ukraine

Senator Rand Paul single-handedly holds up $40bn US aid for Ukraine
Democratic and Republican Senate leaders both supported package but Paul objected to scale of spending

Senator Rand Paul: ‘This is the second spending bill for Ukraine in two months. And this bill is three times larger than the first. Congress just wants to keep on spending, and spending.’

The top Democrat and Republican in the US Senate joined forces in a rare moment of unity on Thursday in an attempt to pass $40bn in aid for Ukraine, only to be stymied by a single Republican lawmaker: the Kentucky libertarian Rand Paul.

Faced with the prospect of an extended delay for the package that passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, and his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, sought to move forward on the aid package only to be blocked by Paul, a fiscal hawk who objects to the amount of spending proposed.

Avril Haines in Washington on Tuesday: ‘There are a lot of things that he would do in the context of escalation before he would get to nuclear weapons.’

The stalemate delayed passage of the measure into next week.

The Senate has scheduled an initial procedural vote on the bill for late Monday afternoon.

It was unclear whether that vote would then speed passage of the Ukraine aid. Alternatively, passage could come around the middle of next week if any senator wants to force a series of legislative steps before a final vote.

As the Ukraine aid bill became caught in the Senate’s procedural gears, Schumer pleaded for fast action: “The package is ready to go, the vast majority of senators on both sides of the aisle want it.”

He added: “If Senator Paul persists in his reckless demands … all he will accomplish is to single-handedly delay desperately needed Ukraine aid.”

But Paul was not moved.

more

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/12/us-ukraine-aid-rand-paul-senate

----------


## harrybarracuda

That bloke is an utter fucking prick.

Then again he gets elected by Kentuckians, which as we know are more than "family friendly"....

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## bsnub

> That bloke is an utter fucking prick.


He is indeed a pathetic little shit who always eventually knuckles under. He is spineless.

----------


## bsnub

Snake Island saw some dramatic action last weekend, including a high-speed, low-level bombing run by Ukrainian jets and a series of strikes by Bayraktar TB2 drones which sank two patrol boats and a landing craft carrying a surface-to air missile system, then destroyed an Mi-8 helicopter as it was dropping troops on to the island.  But for Russia, the biggest concern may have been a number on one of  the Bayraktar video displays: a registration showing it was a brand new  drone straight off the production line.

The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 is the most celebrated drone of the age. While the New Yorker’s headline Monday of The Turkish Drone That Changed the Nature of Warfare has set some eyeballs rolling, its previous success in Libya and Syria and most especially Nagorno-Karabakh, where it ripped through hundreds  of Armenia’s Russian-supplied armored vehicles, suggested that the  Bayraktar could be a key element of Ukraine’s defense. Many experts  (myself included) were doubtful that the Bayraktar could prevail against  Russian air superiority and integrated surface-to-air systems, but we  were rapidly proved wrong – by Feb. 28, I was noting how Russia’s  inability to stop Bayraktars signified larger problems with their military machine.

 Certainly Russia seems to hate the Turkish-supplied drones and posts inflated claims of the number of Bayraktars shot down, even faking extra kills by re-arranging wreckage for new pictures.

  But some Bayraktars are getting shot down, and Ukraine’s original  fleet of an estimated 36 drones is steadily being depleted with at least seven losses according to Oryx’s definitive tally. Turkey has remained avowedly neutral in this conflict, being highly dependent on Russian gas and wheat, and has positioned itself as a mediator, and the Turkish government, unlike many other NATO members, is not supplying Ukraine with arms. Ankara has refused to comment on  whether private arms sales were permitted, so it was assume that no  more Bayraktars would be delivered. Hence proposals for the U.S. to supply Ukraine with MQ-9 Reapers or other drones to augment its fleet.

  But an open source intelligence analyst with the Twitter handle @ameliaairheart  noted an interesting feature of one of the Snake Island strikes: the  Bayraktar video feed, which is normally sanitized to crop out digital  identifying information, was left intact. This shows that the attack was carried out from Ground Control Station 13, operating a Bayraktar with the registration T253.

 The analyst then matched this registration with open source flight data  from Turkey, which showed that TB2 T253 carried out a test flight south  of Baykar’s flight test facility near Keşan in Turkey on March 21, just  six weeks ago.

 “This strongly suggests that Ukraine is getting TB2s quickly off the production line,” they conclude.

   Another analyst, @Intelassess, notes that a Bayraktar with registration T261 has also been spotted in Ukraine, and that T258-T262 went through testing together  at Keşan. As the drones are normally supplied in batches of six, this  suggests that Ukraine may have received at least two such batches since  the start of the war. Others have tracked recent flights seemingly from the Baykar factory to Poland.

 Of course the video data may be faked, or Ukraine may simply be  tweaking the registration numbers displayed to confuse Russia about how  may Bayraktars they have left. 

 Even before the war this was a sensitive topic for Turkey. In October, Turkish Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu asked Ukraine to stop mentioning Turkey  in connection with drone imports: “If a country has purchased a weapon  from us or another country, then that weapon cannot be labeled as  Turkish or Russian or Ukrainian." 

 Since the war, the Turkish government has stressed that pre-war sales  to Ukraine were a private deal and nothing to do with them.

 “These are private companies and these drone purchases had been done before the war as well," stated a high-ranking official quoted by Reuters.

 Until now we have had no indication that Turkey continued to supply  Bayraktars to Ukraine. But if the new analysis is correct, then Baykar  is supplying Ukraine with new drones as fast as they can make them,  presumably with the tacit approval of the government.

 President Zelensky has noted that Bayraktars are not decisive on their own  and that missiles and artillery are also vital, but the drones provide  an important capability when the Ukrainian air forces jets can only  carry out a handful of sorties each day. If Ukraine really has received  12 or more, then they may now have more Bayraktars than when they  started the conflict. Now they are setting ablaze oil storage depots across the border in Russia, making history by being the first armed drones to sink military vessels, helping sink Russia’s Black Sea flagship and destroying the air defense systems that are supposed to shoot them down. 

 It seems like Russia’s Bayraktar problem is only going to get worse.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidha...h=42891a9a685b

----------


## bsnub

Ukrainian forces earlier in May used Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones to destroy three Russian ships near Snake Island.  Troops destroyed one Serna-class Russian landing craft and two  Raptor-class patrol boats, according to a statement from the Ukrainian  Operational Southern Command. 

 The embarrassing losses hit Russia  just days before the May 9 Victory Day parade. Ukraine estimates the  attack caused 46 casualties and destroyed two Tor surface-to-air missile systems.

*Helping the Drones Strike
* 
The United States is set to help  Ukraine continue to carry out successful strikes like this. In a recent  $300 million military aid package to Ukraine, the U.S. pledged more  guided-rocket systems that can be paired with Ukraine’s fleet of TB2  drones and used in attacks against Russian ships, vehicles, and military  infrastructure.

 Precisely how many TB2s Ukraine has left is unknown. Russia has released several figures  in recent weeks claiming to have destroyed as many as 37 drones, out of  a fleet of 35 at the time. This would give Russian forces a kill rate  of over 100%.  

*What is the Bayraktar TB2?*

 The Bayraktar TB2 is a Turkish-made,  medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle. It can be  controlled remotely and used both for surveillance and for missile  strikes. In service since 2014, the drone is used mostly by the Turkish  military, although it saw action in the Nagorno-Karabakh war between  Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020. Its use in Ukraine, however, has given  the drone a much higher profile.  

Flat, gray, and powered by a  rear-mounted propeller, these drones use laser-guided missiles that are  substantially less expensive than equivalents manufactured in the United  States.  
The drone has repeatedly defied  expectations in Ukraine, as well as in conflicts in the Caucasus and  Africa. Despite being slow and flying at relatively low altitudes, the  drone’s ability to carry guided missiles has made it easy for Ukrainian  fighters to strike Russian military targets with great precision. 


Speaking to the _New Yorker_,  former State Department official Rich Outzen said the drone “enabled a  fairly significant operational revolution in how wars are being fought.” 
“This probably happens only once every thirty or forty years,” Outzen said.
 
Russian fighters have been  largely unable to jam or shoot down the aerial vehicles so far, giving  Ukraine a big advantage as Russian troops try to take full control of  the Donbas region.

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/05/...drones-better/

----------


## bsnub

The United States is sending billions of dollars in military equipment  to Ukraine, including heavy artillery, drones and antitank missiles.  Administration officials have publicly enumerated those contributions,  practically down to the number of bullets. But they are far more  cautious when describing another decisive contribution to Ukraine’s  battlefield success: intelligence about the Russian military.

Information  about the location and movements of Russian forces is flowing to  Ukraine in real-time, and it includes satellite imagery and reporting  gleaned from sensitive U.S. sources, according to U.S. and Ukrainian  officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the  cooperation.

“The  intelligence is very good. It tells us where the Russians are so that  we can hit them,” one Ukrainian official said, using his finger to  pantomime a bomb falling on its target.

The  United States is not at war with Russia, and the assistance it provides  is intended for Ukraine’s defense against an illegal invasion, Biden  officials have stressed. But practically speaking, U.S. officials have  limited control on how their Ukrainian beneficiaries use the military  equipment and intelligence.

That  risks provoking the Kremlin to retaliate against the United States and  its allies, and heightens the threat of a direct conflict between the  two nuclear powers.

The  administration has drawn up guidance around intelligence-sharing that  is calibrated to avoid heightening tensions between Washington and  Moscow. Given to intelligence personnel at the working level, the  guidance has placed two broad prohibitions on the kinds of information  that the United States can share with Ukraine, officials said.

First,  the United States cannot provide detailed information that would help  Ukraine kill Russian leadership figures, such as the most senior  military officers or ministers, officials said. Valery Gerasimov, the  chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, and Sergei Shoigu, the defense minister, for example, would fall into that category.

This prohibition does not extend to Russian military officers, including generals, several of whom have died  on the battlefield. But a senior defense official said that while the  U.S. government is “self-limiting to strategic leadership on paper,” it  also has chosen not to provide Ukraine location information for  generals.

The United States is not “actively helping them kill generals of any kind,” the defense official said.

The  second category of prohibited intelligence-sharing is any information  that would help Ukraine attack Russian targets outside Ukraine’s  borders, officials said. That rule is meant in part to keep the United  States from becoming a party to attacks that Ukraine might launch inside  Russia. Those concerns led the administration to halt earlier plans to  provide fighter jets, supplied by Poland, which Ukraine could have used  to launch attacks on Russian soil.

U.S. officials have not discouraged Ukraine from undertaking those operations on its own.

Ukraine should “do whatever is necessary to defend against Russian aggression,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a congressional panel last month. He added that “the tactics of this are their decisions.”

Blinken made his remarks after Ukrainian officials said unexplained fires and explosions against sensitive targets in Russia were justified, without claiming responsibility for them.

In  addition to the restricted categories of intelligence-sharing, the  United States has a rule against providing what officials call  “targeting information” to Ukraine. The United States will not,  officials said, tell Ukrainian forces that a particular Russian general  has been spotted at a specific location, and then tell or help Ukraine  to strike him.

But  the United States would share information about the location of, say,  command and control facilities — places where Russian senior officers  often tend to be found — since it could aid Ukraine in its own defense,  officials said. If Ukrainian commanders decided to strike the facility,  that would be their call, and if a Russian general were killed in the  attack, the United States wouldn’t have targeted him, officials said.

Not  targeting Russian troops and locations but providing intelligence that  Ukraine uses to help kill Russians may seem like a distinction without a  difference. But legal experts said the definition of targeting provides  meaningful legal and policy guidance that can help the United States  demonstrate it is not a party to the conflict, even as it pours military  equipment into Ukraine and turns on a fire hose of intelligence.

“If  the U.S. were providing targeting information to a foreign party, and  we’re closely involved in targeting decisions, we’re directing those  forces and they’re acting as a proxy for us,” said Scott R. Anderson, a  former State Department official who was the legal adviser for the U.S.  Embassy in Baghdad. “That might be seen as getting close to the line of  actually attacking Russia, at which point Russia could arguably respond  reciprocally.”

“Targeting  intelligence is different from other kinds of intelligence-sharing for  this reason,” added Anderson, who is now a fellow at the Brookings  Institution.

Ukraine’s sinking of the Moskva,  the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, illustrates how the United  States can provide helpful intelligence that, however indirect, risks  pulling the country deeper into the war.

In  April, Ukraine spotted the vessel off its shores. Information provided  by the United States helped to confirm its identity, according to  officials familiar with the matter.

The  United States routinely shares intelligence with Ukraine about Russian  ships in the Black Sea, which have fired missiles at Ukraine and could  be used to support an assault on cities such as Odessa,  a senior defense official explained. But, the official stressed, that  intelligence is not “specific targeting information on ships.” The  information is intended to help Ukraine mount a defense. Ukrainian  officials could have decided that, rather than strike the Moskva, they  should make steps to fortify protections around Odessa or evacuate  civilians.

“We  did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the  Moskva,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a written  statement. “We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike  the ship or in the operation they carried out. We had no prior knowledge  of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship. The Ukrainians have their own  intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as  they did in this case.”

But  absent the intelligence from the United States, Ukraine would have  struggled to target the warship with the confidence necessary to expend  two valuable Neptune missiles, which were in short supply, according to  people familiar with the strike.

The  sinking of such an important vessel, and one that had the capability to  defend itself against anti-ship missiles, was a humiliation for Russian  President Vladimir Putin and one of Ukraine’s most dramatic successes  in the war so far, analysts said. In keeping with the  intelligence-sharing rules, which are designed to avoid escalating the  conflict in Putin’s eyes, Biden administration officials repeatedly  stressed they had not directly aided Ukraine in the attack.

On  Friday, the day after The Washington Post and other news organizations  revealed the U.S. role in the Moskva strike, Biden made separate calls  to CIA Director William J. Burns, Director of National Intelligence  Avril Haines and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a senior administration  official said. The president made clear he was upset about the leaks  and warned that they undermined the U.S. goal of helping Ukraine, the  administration official said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...e-sharing-war/

----------


## sabang

Now that is hilarious.  :smiley laughing:

----------


## bsnub

> Now that is hilarious.


Exactly what did you find funny, dummy? 

 ::chitown::

----------


## S Landreth

First Russian soldier to go on trial in Ukraine for war crimes

A court in Kyiv will hear the first war crime trial since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, while the Kremlin bristled at Finland seeking to join Nato and Sweden moving to follow suit.

In a watershed moment, a Russian soldier will be accused of murdering a 62-year-old civilian when he appears in the dock on Friday, with the case coming as the number of crimes registered by Ukraines general prosecutor surpassed 11,000 and Unicef reported that at least 100 children had been killed in the war in April alone.

The defendant who will appear at Kyivs district court is Vadim Shysimarin, a 21-year-old commander of the Kantemirovskaya tank division, who is currently in Ukrainian custody.

It is alleged Shysimarin, a sergeant, had been fighting in the Sumy region in north-east Ukraine when he killed a civilian on 28 February in the village of Chupakhivka.

He is accused of shooting at a civilian car after his convoy of military vehicles had come under attack from Ukrainian forces. He then drove the car away with four other soldiers as he sought to flee Ukrainian fighters.

Shysimarin shot dead the unarmed man, who was on a bicycle and talking on his phone, after being ordered to kill a civilian so he would not report them to Ukrainian defenders, according to prosecutors.

The crime is said to have happened dozens of metres from the victims house and was committed using an AK-74 rifle.

The case was this week filed at a criminal court. He is here [in Ukraine], we have him, said Ukraines prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, from her heavily fortified headquarters in Kyiv on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the prosecutors office said: Prosecutors and investigators of the SBU [Ukrainian secret services] have collected enough evidence of his involvement in violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder. For these actions, he faces 10 to 15 years in prison or life in prison.

Two other cases are likely to be heard in court within days including an in absentia trial of Mikhail Romanov, a Russian soldier accused of rape and murder. He is accused of breaking into a house in March in a village in the Brovarsky region near Kyiv, murdering a man and then repeatedly raping his wife while threatening her and her underage child with violence and weapons.

The trial is another prpaganda triumph for Kyiv and another diplomatic move increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin with Finlands plan to apply for Nato membership, and the expectation that Sweden will follow.

----------


## misskit

*Moscow Says EU Becoming ‘Aggressive, Militant'


*Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday said he doubted the motives of Ukraine's intention of joining the European Union while accusing Brussels of ambitions beyond the European continent.


Ukraine, where Russia launched a military campaign on Feb. 24, "is ready to declare a neutral, non-aligned status," Lavrov told reporters following a meeting of CIS foreign ministers in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe.

"At the same time, they are trying in every possible way to emphasize their desire to become an EU member," Lavrov added.


"There are serious doubts about how harmless such a desire is from Kyiv," he said.


Russia has insisted at stalled peace talks that Ukraine drop its ambition to enter the U.S.-led military alliance NATO and declare itself "neutral."


Kyiv has admitted it is unlikely to become a NATO member — but has forged ahead with an application to join the 27-nation EU since the start of the conflict.


Lavrov accused the EU of transforming from a "constructive, economic platform" into an "aggressive, militant player, declaring its ambitions far beyond the European continent," pointing to moves in the Indo-Pacific region.


"They are rushing to follow in the tracks already laid by NATO, thereby confirming the trend that they are merging with the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) and will in fact serve as its appendage," he said.


Moscow Says EU Becoming ‘Aggressive, Militant' - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine’s MFA slams Russia as its ship moves stolen Ukrainian grain to Syria


*A Russian merchant ship loaded with grain stolen in the occupied territories of Ukraine has been spotted in the Syrian port of Latakia.
CNN has identified the vessel as the bulk carrier Matros Pozynich, referring to shipping sources, Ukrainian officials, and Maxar Technologies satellite images.


On April 27, the ship weighed anchor off the coast of Crimea. The next day, it was seen at the port of Sevastopol. From Sevastopol, the Matros Pozynich transited the Bosphorus strait and made its way to the Egyptian port of Alexandria. Egypt was warned that the grain was stolen, and the shipment was turned away. The Matros Pozynich steamed toward the Lebanese capital of Beirut with the same result. Maxar Technologies shows it traveled to the Syrian port of Latakia.


The Matros Pozynich is reported to be laden with nearly 30,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat, according to Ukrainian officials. The ship is one of three ships involved in the trade of stolen grain, according to open-source research and Ukrainian officials.


Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba reacted sharply.


"Russia has committed a triple crime: it bombed out Syria, temporarily occupied a part of Ukraine, and is currently selling Ukrainian grain it has stolen there to Syria. I would like to remind everyone involved in this murky business that theft has never brought anyone luck," Kuleba stated.


Anyone participating in the selling, transportation, or purchase of our stolen grain is an accomplice to this crime, he noted.


Egypt and Lebanon declined to acquire the stolen Ukrainian grain following efforts by Ukrainian diplomats. Other consumer countries were also warned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine that Russian grain consignments may contain Ukrainian grain looted by Russian occupants.


“Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly opposes Russia's activities in disposing of food unlawfully seized from the Ukrainian farmers. Russia once again proves its criminal nature as a looter-state,” reads the statement.


Ukraine’s MFA underscores that Russian occupants have already seized at least 400-500 thousand tonnes of grain worth more than $100 million. Almost all grain-laden ships departing Sevastopol transport stolen Ukrainian goods.

Ukraine’s MFA slams Russia as its ship moves stolen Ukrainian grain to Syria

----------


## S Landreth

UK sanctions Putins rumored girlfriend, among others

The United Kingdom has targeted Russian President Vladimir Putins inner circle, including his rumored girlfriend, retired Olympic rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, in a new tranche of sanctions announced Friday.


 
Putins cousins, ex-wife and other close relatives are also among those newly being sanctioned in response to Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The British government noted in a press release that Kabaeva is alleged to have a close personal relationship with Putin. It also cited her previously serving as a deputy in the State Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, for Putins United Russia party.

According to The Wall Street Journal, U.S. officials believe that Kabaeva is the mother of at least three of Putins children.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement, We are exposing and targeting the shady network propping up Putins luxury lifestyle and tightening the vice on his inner circle. We will keep going with sanctions on all those aiding and abetting Putins aggression until Ukraine prevails.

According to the press release from the U.K. government, while official records list modest assets for Putin, he relies on his network of family, childhood friends, and selected elite who have benefited from his rule and in turn support his lifestyle.

The government added that his family members form a core contingent of his inner circle  receiving positions of power due to their affiliation to the regime.

Those sanctioned in addition to Kabaeva include her grandmother, Anna Zatseplina; Lyudmila Ocheretnaya, Putins ex-wife; two of Putins first cousins, Igor Putin and Roman Putin; Mikhail Shelomov, a Russian business owner and Putins first cousin once removed; and Mikhail Putin, another one of the Russian presidents relatives.

The U.K. has also sanctioned Putins confidants and loyal supporters, who it says are routinely placed in strategic positions within the Russian state.

The British government said Friday it has sanctioned more than 1,000 individuals and 100 entities, including Russian oligarchs and businessmen with a net global worth of more than 117 billion pounds, the equivalent of more than $140 billion.

While the Biden administration has yet to sanction Kabaeva, it announced a wave of sanctions targeting Russias two largest banks, Putins daughters and the wife and daughter of Russias top diplomat. The administration also blacklisted members of Russias Security Council in April.

______________


Russia Says To Cut Electricity To Finland From Saturday

Russia will suspend electricity supplies to Finland this weekend, a supplier said on Friday as tensions rise over Helsinki's NATO bid following the conflict in Ukraine.

"We are forced to suspend the electricity import starting from May 14," said RAO Nordic, a subsidiary of Russian state energy holding Inter RAO that sells its electricity on the Nordic market.

It blamed the suspension on not having received payment for electricity sold in May and said as a consequence it was no longer able to pay for more electricity from Russia.

"This situation is exceptional and happened for the first time in over 20 years of our trading history," RAO Nordic said, hoping the situation would "soon" improve and the trade could resume.

The Finnish electricity network operator said it would be able to make do without Russian electricity.

"We're prepared for this and it won't be difficult. We can make do with a bit more imports from Sweden and Norway," Fingrid's manager for operational planning Timo Kaukonen told AFP.

He said a little less than 10 percent of electricity consumed in Finland comes from Russia.

The announcement of the cut in electricity supplies came one day after Finland's leaders declared their nation must apply to join NATO "without delay" -- a seismic change in policy since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24.

The Kremlin has warned Russia would "definitely" see Finnish membership as a threat, while the Russian foreign ministry said Moscow would be "forced to take reciprocal steps, military-technical and other, to address the resulting threats".

----------


## sabang

*AMERICANS are "OK with letting Ukraine lose" the war to Russia, a shocking poll for Express.co.uk has revealed.
*

The monthly Democracy Institute/ Express.co.uk poll of 1,500 Americans who are “likely voters” has shown that 43 percent are “OK” with Ukraine losing compared to 41 percent “not OK” while 16 percent have no opinion. This comes despite the heroic attempts of Ukraine President Zelensky to garner worldwide support against the Russian invasion. But Democracy Institute has warned that the reason for this is “cynicism” of Government policies created by the fact “at least half of Americans thought they were hoodwinked over covid” lockdowns.

In another worrying development, Americans also appear to be losing confidence in the sanctions regime against Vladimir Putin’s Russia with 53 percent believing it hurts the USA more with the cost of living crisis the top political issue.

The findings are yet another blow to the Democrats and Joe Biden with voters clearly showing their intention to back the Republicans in the midterm elections in November by 50 percent ro 42 percent.

While Biden polls negatively in all policy areas one of the worst is foreign policy where 56 percent disapprove compared to 40 percent approve.

This follows the catastrophic handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021 but also appears to have shattered confidence in his Russia/ Ukraine policy.

*In fact according to the poll for a second month in a row more Americans believe that it would be better for Biden to leave office than Putin by 53 percent to 44 percent.

Only 38 percent approve of Biden’s handling of the Ukraine crisis compared to 52 percent disapprove.

And there is a reluctance to have Putin removed from power by 48 percent to 46 percent.

They also only see Russia as the fourth biggest threat on 16 percent behind China (42 percent), Irain (20 percent) and North Korea (18 percent).

The findings show that foreign policy has not save Biden’s presidency and now 63 percent do not believe he will be reelected in 2024.

In every scenario against different Democrats Donald Trump would easily win, according to the poll opening the possibility of his expected comeback.

Added to that if the Republicans win big majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, Biden will be facing potential impeachment proceedings similar to those instigated against Trump by the Democrats.

The charges will relate to his son Hunter’s relations in Ukraine and allegations of corruption which were controversially quashed by Facebook and Twitter during the 2020 Presidential election.

Patrick Basham, Director of the Democracy Institute, has explained in a video interview with Express.co.uk [above] that he believes covid policy and the failure of lockdowns combined with a cost of living crisis has had an impact on the Ukraine crisis.

He said: “There is no question that most Americans oppose the Russian invasion, they don’t like Russia, they don’t like Putin but they reflect a very cynical view at this point of what is happening.

“Americans were very pro sanctions at first, they are not as keen on the sanctions as they were.

“The problem for Biden and Republicans and those in the media who have been promoting this approach is that Biden made these predictions at the outset - the ruble would be rubble, we were going to crash the Russian economy, people will rise up, Putin will be out, the Russians will run away from Ukraine.

*“Two months in obviously the thing isn’t over however, none of those things have happened yet or look likely to happen soon.”
He pointed out that gas prices are going up in America like the rst of the west and the sanctions are making it worse.

“Amercians are saying ‘given that we are not getting what was advertised why are we paying this price and getting nothing for it?’”
He also said Americans fear that Ukraine can only win with Americans troops on the ground adding that “overwhelmingly don’t want troops on the ground or a no fly zone” called for by Zelensky.

“They fear that is coming,” he added.

He went on: “The analogy here is with covid. The media and the political establishment around the west were able to dominate public opinion and shepherd most populations around to do this not do that because of the seriousness of the crisis as advertised by them.


FULL- Americans OK with Ukraine losing Russia war, poll finds | Politics | News | Express.co.uk

----------


## misskit

^ From the same POLL SHOCK!

*US Poll shock! Support for 'President Meghan' growing as Biden loses ground with voters*

THE prospect of Meghan Markle running for US President has been boosted with a new poll showing she is one of the preferred candidates.

There have been reports the Duchess of Sussex would like to make a pitch for the White House and her political ambitions have been supported in the Democracy Institute/ Express.co.uk monthly US tracker poll published today. Asked which female candidate they want, respondents put Markle second behind Michelle Obama but ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris and Hilary Clinton.

Poll shock! Support for “President Meghan” growing as Biden loses ground with voters | Politics | News | Express.co.uk

----------


## sabang

Harry as First Man- why not. The Empire Strikes Back! _(p.s:- anything would be better than slowjoe & co.)_

----------


## Norton

> 1,500 Americans who are likely voters has shown that 43 percent are OK with Ukraine losing compared to 41 percent not OK while 16 percent have no opinion. This comes despite the heroic attempts of Ukraine President Zelensky to garner worldwide support against the Russian invasion


Irrelelvant and immaterial. This is the only poll that counts.

"The House approved a $39.8 billion aid package for Ukraine on Tuesday, sending the massive supplemental to the Senate as Russias invasion nears the three-month mark.

The aid package passed in a 368-57 vote. All lawmakers who voted against the bill were Republicans. Two Democrats and three Republicans did not vote."

House approves $40B in aid for Ukraine; 57 Republicans vote no | The Hill

----------


## sabang

Gonna be a lot more Republicans in the house in a few months.... plus of course the American public cares about domestic matters first and foremost. Better be hoping for some quick results, or meaningful peace negotiations, rather than a quagmire methinks norts.  ::spin:: It does look like Vlad can afford to stick this one out.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Moscow Says EU Becoming ‘Aggressive, Militant'*


So Puffy's dummy, speaking on behalf of a country that invaded a sovereign nation and has committed war crimes against that country's civilian population, says "The EU is become aggressive".

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

----------


## sabang

_Ankara could block the pair from joining the US-led military alliance, with unanimous agreement needed on new members.

FULL- Erdogan says Turkey opposed to Finland, Sweden NATO membership | NATO News | Al Jazeera_

----------


## pickel

> Ankara could block the pair from joining the US-led military alliance, with unanimous agreement needed on new members.


Erdogan is just using it as leverage to get into the EU, or be allowed F35 fighter jets. A deal will be made.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Erdogan is just using it as leverage to get into the EU, or be allowed F35 fighter jets. A deal will be made.


I'm pretty sure most of Europe does not want open borders with Turkey.

Maybe Finland and Sweden could simply replace them in NATO. Erdogan is proving he can't be trusted.

----------


## bsnub

> Maybe Finland and Sweden could simply replace them in NATO. Erdogan is proving he can't be trusted.


I would agree with this. Fuck Erdogan

----------


## David48atTD

> I would agree with this. Fuck Erdogan


Does make some nice drones though.

----------


## pickel

There is no mechanism in NATO policy to expel a member, and to create such a policy would require a unanimous vote. A deal will be made of some sort.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> There is no mechanism in NATO policy to expel a member, and to create such a policy would require a unanimous vote. A deal will be made of some sort.


It has been discussed before; funnily enough because of Turkey.




> "Should the conditions for the existence of a material breach be satisfied, NATO’s member states would be entitled, by unanimous agreement, to suspend the operation of the treaty in whole or in part or to terminate it either in their relations with the defaulting state or among them all (Article 60(2) of the Vienna Convention). For these purposes, a unanimous decision of the North Atlantic Council, excluding the defaulting state, would suffice. ".
> 
> https://www.justsecurity.org/66574/can-turkey-be-expelled-from-nato/

----------


## bsnub

> Does make some nice drones though.


Got a point there.

----------


## Switch

Let’s face it, Turkey occupies a good chunk of access to the Bosphorus and NATO’s southern flank. There is also the relationship with Greece to consider, especially over the Cyprus question.
The dividing line in Cyprus is currently quiet and under the auspices of the UN, should probably remain so.

I agree that Ergogan is a bit of a loose horse in this situation.

----------


## pickel

> "Should the conditions for the existence of a material breach be satisfied,


Vetoing an applicant would not be considered a material breach though. It is their right. A deal will be made.

----------


## David48atTD

Ukraine army releases 'war criminal' deck of cards



The BBC Ukrainian service is reporting that the Ukrainian army has released two decks of cards depicting Russians they suspect of war crimes.

The idea replicates the set of 55 playing cards that the US military produced in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, depicting what it said were the most wanted members of Saddam Hussein's government.

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said the cards were produced with the help of volunteers from the international intelligence community InformNapalm.

Ukraine war latest: Russians pushed back far out of Kharkiv - City mayor - BBC News

----------


## sabang

> Fuck Erdogan


"Fuck the EU"

A certain someone.  ::chitown::

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Vetoing an applicant would not be considered a material breach though. It is their right. A deal will be made.


The article explains what could constitute a material breach in more detail.

Aiding and abetting a cancer-stricken madman with a death wish might fall into this category.

----------


## misskit

*Russia has lost ‘a third of ground forces’ in Ukraine attack


*London/Kyiv: Russia has probably lost around a third of the ground forces it deployed to Ukraine and its offensive in the Donbas region “has lost momentum and fallen significantly behind schedule”, British military intelligence said.


“Despite small-scale initial advances, Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month whilst sustaining consistently high levels of attrition,” the British defence ministry said on Twitter.

“Russia has now likely suffered losses of one third of the ground combat force it committed in February.”


It said Russia was unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days.

MORE Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine wages counter offensive against Russian forces in east

----------


## misskit

Russia guilty of food, energy crisis, but sanctions not to affect food exports to developing countries - G7 statement

Sanctions against Russia will not affect Russian exports of agricultural resources to developing countries, and Ukraine will continue to receive assistance in the "production, transportation, processing of food," the G7 foreign ministers said in a statement on Saturday.


"We underscore that our sanctions and export controls against Russia do not and will not target essential exports of food and agricultural inputs to developing countries and to this end include measures to avoid any negative consequences for the production and distribution of food," the statement said.


It also emphasizes that Russia's war against Ukraine "has given rise to one of the most serious food and energy crises in recent history, which now threatens the most vulnerable populations around the world."


"We reaffirm our commitment to protect the most vulnerable countries and people suffering from Russia’s war against Ukraine and its global repercussions," the G7 foreign ministers said.


In addition, they promise to help Ukraine "continue the production, transportation, processing of food." Also, the authors of the document intend to assist Kyiv in the issue of exporting agricultural products.


Russia guilty of food, energy crisis, but sanctions not to affect food exports to developing countries - G7 statement

----------


## sabang

NOVOAZOVSK/LVIV, Ukraine, May 17 (Reuters) - Ukraine's military command said in early hours on Tuesday that the mission to defend the besieged Azovstal steel plant by "the heroes of our time" in the strategic southern port of Mariupol is over and pledged to rescue servicemen still trapped inside.

"The 'Mariupol' garrison has fulfilled its combat mission," the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a statement. "The supreme military command ordered the commanders of the units stationed at Azovstal to save the lives of the personnel... Defenders of Mariupol are the heroes of our time."

A total of 53 injured servicemen were evacuated to a hospital in Novoazovsk, east of Mariupol, on Monday and a further 211 were taken to another point, Ukraine's deputy defence minister said.

Five buses and an armoured personnel carrier carrying the servicemen arrived late on Monday in Novoazovsk, and some of the evacuees were carried out on stretchers into a hospital, a Reuters witness said. Novoazovsk is now under the control of Russia-backed separatists who have held parts of eastern Ukraine since 2014.

Since Russia launched its invasion in February, Mariupol's devastation has become a symbol both of Ukraine's ability to withstand Russia's invasion and of Russia's willingness to devastate Ukrainian cities that hold out.

Azovstal's last defenders had been holding out for weeks in bunkers and tunnels built deep underground to withstand nuclear war. Civilians were evacuated from inside the plant, one of the largest metallurgical facilities in Europe, earlier this month.

"Efforts to rescue defenders who remain on the territory of Azovstal continue," the military said.

There has been no immediate response from Moscow authorities to the developments in Azovstal.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address, called Monday a "difficult" day.

"Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive. This is our principle. I think that every reasonable person will understand these words," Zelenskiy said.

"The work continues to bring the boys home, and this work needs delicacy. And time."

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/1-five-buses-evacuated-azovstal-210710034.html


*WRAPUP 10-Ukrainian force begins evacuating from last Mariupol stronghold*



* Ukrainian forces evacuate from Mariupol plant

* Ukraine regiment says it is saving lives of troops inside

* Evacuees arrive in Russian-controlled town

* Putin responds calmly to Finland, Sweden NATO move

By Natalia Zinets

KYIV/MARIUPOL, Ukraine, May 16 (Reuters) - Troops holed up in the last Ukrainian stronghold in the besieged port of Mariupol began evacuating on Monday, appearing to cede control of the once prosperous city to Russia after months of bombardment. Ukraine's deputy defence minister said 53 injured troops from the Azovstal steelworks were taken to a hospital in the Russian-controlled town of Novoazovsk, some 32 kilometres (20 miles) to the east.

Another 211 people were taken to the town of Olenivka, in an area controlled by Russian-backed separatists, Deputy Defence Minister Anna Malyar said. All of the evacuees will be subject to a potential prisoner exchange with Russia, she added.

Reuters saw five buses carrying troops from Azovstal arrive in Novoazovsk late on Monday. Some of the evacuated troops were wounded and carried out of the buses on stretchers. Some 600 troops were believed to have been inside the steel plant.

WRAPUP 10-Ukrainian force begins evacuating from last Mariupol stronghold

----------


## sabang

A gathering storm of renewed energy price-spikes, surging food costs and corresponding social and economic dangers is focusing the minds of Brussels officials who worry of multiple shocks cascading through the European Union from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Viewed from the Berlaymont headquarters and nearby buildings that house the European Commission in the Belgian capital, the conflict raging just over the bloc’s frontier presents a unique combination of threats looming large for the second half of the year.

A common assumption of how that could transpire is first as a summer of worry, then a winter of woe. Concerns focus on how energy rationing and a worsening cost-of-living squeeze may test voters whose patience is already thin, and on the vulnerability of Germany’s industrial machine to shutdowns if gas supplies stop.

The officials from across the EU bureaucracy who spoke to Bloomberg for this story, often on condition of anonymity, represent a generation of policy practitioners attuned to crises from the region’s sovereign-debt turmoil to Brexit and the pandemic, giving them the perspective to judge this one isn’t yet existential.

Even so, the security realignment gripping Europe -- inflicting new pressure on public finances -- and the intensifying energy crunch is unfamiliar ground whose full consequences, according to two insiders, haven’t sunk in among decision makers and advisers pivoting from two years of the Covid-19 emergency.

An initial crystallization of views on the economy emerged on Monday, as the commission cut its forecast for growth this year and next.

What Bloomberg Economics Says...

_“The impact of the war in Ukraine could still be significantly bigger than either markets or the ECB expect and there remains scope for escalation. Severe energy disruption could easily tip the eurozone into recession.”_
--Jamie Rush, David Powell and Maeva Cousin. For full report, click here

That will be followed this week by EU measures to counter the energy crunch. Later this month, a new judgment on national fiscal policies is expected to lead to a prolongation of the suspension of limits on deficits that the bloc agreed when the pandemic struck.
Among the dangers commission officials see looming, the potential of further destabilization in the market for foodstuffs has been shared between institutions. Officials worry Russian President Vladimir Putin might weaponize supplies of agri-food products, fertilizers and energy exports to inflict economic pain on the bloc.

Associated is the possibility that the coming winter might be more severe than the relatively mild one just passed. That would stoke gas demand just as Russia turns the screws, driving competition for alternative sources while potentially mobilizing discontent, particularly in countries dependent on energy imports such as Bulgaria.

Meanwhile officials are also cognizant of an influx of Ukrainian refugees now totaling more than 5 million, a tally dwarfing the refugee crisis in 2015-2016 and one causing strain especially in neighboring countries.

“We are fully aware of the social pressure,” Maros Sefcovic, the commission’s vice president for interinstitutional relations and foresight, told Bloomberg. “National governments have their hands full because of high inflation, energy prices, the huge wave of refugees. And all this brings higher costs of living.”

Against that backdrop, officials judge the multiple economic policy responses being deployed as hard to calibrate.

On the one hand, to combat inflation, the European Central Bank is likely to raise interest rates in July, maybe moving above zero later this year. Such tightening could bear down on growth and possibly further squeeze indebted families.

The ECB faces a “very complicated dilemma,” Governing Council member Olli Rehn, a former EU commissioner for economic affairs, told reporters in Salzburg earlier this month. “We are facing a very challenging economic environment.”

Meanwhile at national level, the level of budgetary support is mixed. Some pandemic-era fiscal stimulus is filtering through, and governments are offering varying support to insulate families and businesses from the energy shock. New military spending is a competing priority too.

At the EU level, officials have greater license than before to offer help, with full coffers of funds and no austerity dogma constraining them as in prior crises.

But their 2 trillion euros ($2.1 trillion) of funds are largely already committed to farmers, infrastructure projects, national recovery plans and a growing list of new priorities ranging from energy independence to joint defense projects.

The commission has granted flexibility to countries to offer subsidies to companies in the aftermath of the invasion, and is discussing how to redirect spending to energy independence and other critical areas. That could include reprogramming some of the 220 billion euros remaining in their Recovery Fund.

The energy package due this week may include measures to address the increasing household costs and energy poverty.
Meanwhile the commission’s bleaker economic view on Monday showed a major cut in its growth forecast for this year from 4% to 2.7%. A severe scenario of a Russian gas shutoff would shave expansion down to only 0.2%, the outlook shows.

Officials worry how the wider consequences of weaker growth could influence voters, cognizant of how so-called “yellow vest” protests impacted the first term of French President Emmanuel Macron, who faces parliamentary elections in June.

Italy and Spain, the weakest among Europe’s largest economies, also have national ballots next year.

EU Braces for Storm as Ukraine Fallout Cascades in Economy

----------


## Switch

The war exacerbates the post pandemic world, but the west remains striponger in real GDP terms than the train crash that disrupts Russian intentions.

Puti may be sick, but he is now required to win with one hand tied behind his back. If Putin weilded real power, this war would be over now. Those in authority have removed the options Putin needs to try and end it.

If Putin had his way, Russia would be crippled militarily and politically. A few senior hoods have told him to wind his neck in, and use what he has left. How else can his tactical withdrawal be explained?

----------


## sabang

> striponger


Love it!! TD word of the month.  :Smile:

----------


## David48atTD

> A total of 53 injured servicemen were evacuated to a hospital in Novoazovsk, east of Mariupol, on Monday and a further 211 were taken to another point, Ukraine's deputy defence minister said.
> 
> Reuters saw five buses carrying troops from Azovstal arrive in Novoazovsk late on Monday. Some of the evacuated troops were wounded and carried out of the buses on stretchers. Some 600 troops were believed to have been inside the steel plant.


Soooooooooooo happy about this news (seriously) ... I though those guys were destined to die.

----------


## David48atTD

Turkeys  President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday he will not approve  Sweden and Finland obtaining NATO membership, state news agency Anadolu  reported.

The Swedish ministry of foreign affairs announced on Monday that senior representatives from Helsinki and Stockholm will travel soon to Turkey to discuss Ankaras objections to their NATO membership.

However, Erdogan said the diplomats should not bother coming to Turkey to try to convince Ankara to approve their NATO bids.

First  of all, we would not say yes to those who impose sanctions on Turkey  to join NATO, a security organization, during this process, Erdogan  said.
 Neither country has an open, clear stance against terrorist  organizations, he added, describing Sweden as an incubation center for  terrorist organizations.

Turkey’s Erdogan says will not approve Sweden and Finland joining NATO  | Al Arabiya English

----------


## S Landreth

Prime minister says Sweden will formally apply for NATO membership

Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced Monday that her government will formally apply to join NATO, paving the way for the Scandinavian country to submit a joint bid this week with its strategic ally and neighbor Finland.

Why it matters: Sweden's reversal of more than 200 years of military non-alignment is the latest historic shift in Europe precipitated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

What they're saying: "Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is not only illegal and indefensible, it also undermines the European security order that Sweden builds its security on," Andersson said in a speech on Sunday, when her ruling Social Democrat party came out in favor of NATO membership.

"Should Sweden be the only country in the Baltic Sea region that was not a member of NATO, we would be in a very vulnerable position. We can't rule out that Russia would then increase pressure on Sweden," she warned.

In a reflection of their long-standing anti-war positions, the Social Democrats also said they will work to ensure Sweden "expresses unilateral reservations against the deployment of nuclear weapons and permanent bases on Swedish territory" if the NATO application is approved.

The big picture: The announcement comes days after the leaders of Finland, which shares an 800-mile border with Russia, called for their country to apply for NATO membership "without delay." Finland's President Sauli Niinistö confirmed his country would apply for NATO membership on Sunday.

Support for NATO membership in Finland skyrocketed virtually overnight after Vladimir Putin launched his invasion, as it quickly become clear that Finland could be uniquely vulnerable to Russian aggression in Europe's shattered security environment.

The evolution of public sentiment in Sweden was more modest, but 64% of Swedes in a poll conducted May 4-10 said they would support NATO membership if Finland applied as well.

Between the lines: Sweden, like Finland, has cooperated closely with NATO over the past three decades, but military neutrality has long been a point of pride and culture — especially for the ruling Social Democrats.

The party became divided on the question of NATO membership as the war in Ukraine broke out, with some factions arguing that joining the alliance would undermine Sweden's commitment to nuclear disarmament and global peace.

The Social Democrats ultimately came to the decision after pressure from Finland, Sweden's closest ally, and a parliamentary analysis that found joining NATO would reduce the risk of a Russian attack.

Sweden does not share a border with Russia but has long feared the possibility of Moscow invading Gotland — a strategically located island in the Baltic Sea viewed as critical to the defense of the region.

What to watch: Sweden's parliamentary report warned that Russia could respond to its move toward NATO by launching cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, incursions into Swedish air space and other "hybrid threats."

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said both Sweden and Finland will be "welcomed with open arms," but NATO ally Turkey said Friday it opposes the countries' accession, claiming they are home to Kurdish "terrorist organizations."

Sweden and Finland's foreign ministers met with their Turkish counterpart at a NATO ministerial meeting in Berlin this weekend in an effort to resolve the dispute, which could derail their membership bids.

It was unclear Sunday if they made any progress, but both Stoltenberg and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said they were confident the allies could address Turkey's concerns and move swiftly on both applications.


Finland’s Parliament overwhelmingly approves the country’s NATO bid


Biden to meet with leaders of Finland, Sweden on plans to join NATO

President Biden plans to meet with the leaders of Finland and Sweden on Thursday about their plans to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the White House announced Tuesday. 

“The leaders will discuss Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO applications and European security, as well as strengthening our close partnerships across a range of global issues and support for Ukraine,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

Biden’s meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson will take place before the president departs for a high-stakes trip to Asia later this week.

Both countries have announced in recent days that they are seeking NATO membership, a major development that comes amid Russia’s bloody war in Ukraine. 

The White House has welcomed their applications. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with officials in Berlin over the weekend to discuss the plans, and Biden spoke to both leaders last week about joining NATO.

The administration is trying to assuage concerns from Turkey, another NATO member, which has objected to Sweden and Finland seeking membership in the alliance.

“I heard, almost across the board, very strong support for Finland and NATO joining the alliance if that’s what they choose to do,” Blinken said at a press conference over the weekend. “And I’m very confident that we will reach consensus on that.”

Biden already met with Niinistö earlier this year in March at the White House and the two discussed Russia’s war in Ukraine among other topics. Thursday’s meeting will be his first White House meeting with Andersson, who was elected in November.

*Just because…….*


McDonald's plans to sell its Russian business

McDonald's said Monday it plans to sell its business in Russia after more than 30 years of operation in the country.

Driving the news: "The humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald’s to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald’s values," the company said in a statement.


Almost 1,000 Companies Have Curtailed Operations in Russia

----------


## misskit

*Former Russian colonel criticizes the country's invasion of Ukraine on state television


*In rare public criticism of the conduct of Russia's military operations in Ukraine, a former senior Russian officer has warned on state television that the situation will get worse.


"Let's not drink 'information tranquilizers,' because sometimes information is spread about some moral or psychological breakdown of Ukraine's armed forces, as if they are nearing a crisis of morale or a fracture," retired Col. Mikhail Khodarenok said on Monday’s edition of Rossiya One’s 60 Minutes show. "None of this is close to reality."
Despite pushback from the show’s presenter, Khodarenok said that Ukraine could arm one million people. 


"Considering that European aid will come into full effect and one million armed Ukrainian soldiers can join the fight, we need to see this reality of the near future, and we need to consider that in our operational and strategic calculations. The situation for us will frankly get worse," he said.
Khodarenok, a regular commentator in Russian media, also commented on Russia's broader isolation.


"Let's look at this situation as a whole from our overall strategic position," he said. "Let’s not swing missiles in Finland's direction – this just looks ridiculous. The biggest problem with our military and political situation is that we are in total geopolitical isolation. And the whole world is against us — even if we don’t want to admit it."


Khodarenok warned before the invasion started that it would be more difficult than many anticipated to wage war in Ukraine.


In an article in February, he said, "the degree of hatred (which, as you know, is the most effective fuel for armed struggle) in the neighboring republic towards Moscow is frankly underestimated. No one will meet the Russian army with bread, salt and flowers in Ukraine."


Expert claims that Russian forces will defeat Ukraine in a short period of time "have no serious grounds," he had said.

Former Russian colonel criticizes the country'&#39;'s invasion of Ukraine on state television

----------


## misskit

*Russian Defense Spending Surges to $300M Per Day Amid Ukraine War


*Russia spent more than $300 million per day on defense last month as its invasion of Ukraine continued to drag on, according to Finance Ministry data, more than doubling its pre-war defense spending.


Defense spending has increased every month since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in late February as Russia’s Armed Forces failed to secure a quick victory and settled for a strategy of capturing eastern territories.


If Russia’s defense spending in February totaled 369 billion rubles ($5.4 billion), March saw an uptick to 450 billion rubles ($6.6 billion), according to the ministry data first reported by The Moscow Times’ Russian service.

April was by far the most expensive month with 628 billion rubles ($9.2 billion) spent on defense.


That breaks down to about 21 billion rubles, or $308 million, per day.

Russia’s defense spending in April was more than double that of the pre-war period, with 233.7 billion rubles ($3.4 billion) spent in January 2022. In April 2021, defense spending totaled 275 billion rubles.


Between January and the end of April 2022, 1.681 trillion rubles ($24.6 billion) of the Russian budget was allocated toward military expenditures.


That figure is triple the amount spent on education, more than double the amount spent on health and 10 times the amount spent on environmental conservation and management.


Russian Defense Spending Surges to $300M Per Day Amid Ukraine War - The Moscow Times

----------


## bsnub

Attacks by Russian commando forces in the centre of Kharkiv were meant to lead to the capture of the city and pave the way for Vladimir Putin’s dismemberment of Ukraine.It  was expected that the Kremlin would seek to take over the country’s  second-biggest city, which lies just 30 miles from the Russian border  with 74 per cent of its 1.4 million inhabitants Russian-speaking, and  supposedly with divided loyalties.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky,  predicted before the war began that the city would be seized under the  pretext of “protecting” these people. And in 2014, pro-Moscow leader  Viktor Yanukovych briefly planned to set up a base in Kharkiv after  fleeing Kyiv following the Maidan protests. The city’s mayor, Ihor  Terekhov, even acknowledged that “Kharkiv has always been considered  more or less loyal to Russia”. 

But  82 days after the 24 February invasion, Russian forces have been driven  away from the city, changing the course of the invasion. It is one of  the tragic ironies of Mr Putin’s “war of liberation” that two largely  Russian-speaking cities, Mariupol and Kharkiv, have taken the worst  pounding. And while Mariupol is likely to fall now that the last stand  of Ukrainian forces at the Azovstal steelworks are being evacuated, what  happened at Kharkiv is seen as a major strategic and symbolic blow for  the Kremlin.

On Monday, Ukrainian forces reached the Russian  border, where they sent a video of themselves gathered around a border  post in the national blue and yellow colours telling President Zelensky:  “We are here! We are at the border!”

And US officials have declared that Ukraine has “won the Battle of  Kharkiv”. What is now unfolding in the city, said Nato secretary-general  Jens Stoltenberg, adds to the growing belief that “Ukraine can win this  war”. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the head of the British military,  believes Ukraine’s independence is now guaranteed.

But  some in the Ukrainian security forces caution against overconfidence.  They have said Kharkiv and surrounding areas are still experiencing  shelling, and lives are still being lost. There are also reports of  Russian troop build-ups across the border in Belgograd. Some of those I  met in Kharkiv during the long siege told me what had gone right and  wrong during the campaign and what may follow.

*Flawed intelligence*

Shortcomings  in Russian operations were exposed in the intial attacks into the city,  on consecutive days, at the start of the war. 

The first was by paratroopers flying in on helicopters. They came  under heavy fire and were eventually forced to withdraw, taking the  wounded, leaving dead bodies and losing at least one of aircraft. 

The  second, by a commando force of marines and Chechens, had been sent to  take officials at the City Hall captive. But they arrived to find the  building empty, and were themselves were caught in an ambush. The  Russians retreated under fire, taking casualties on the way, before  holing up in a school. A relief column was sent to rescue them, but was  forced back, most of the troops at the school were killed or captured. 

“What  we discovered was that the intelligence the Russians had been given was  faulty,” recalls Oleg Posohov, master sergeant of the volunteer Cossack  Battalion, the 226th who took part in the fight on the day. “Those we  captured said their orders were to grab officials, which had become  standard Russian practice in this war, but they have been working from  other locations as soon as the bombing began.

“We chased them and  they ended up at the school. They really had no way out of there. There  was another attack by helicopters, the helicopters came in with their  guns firing. They landed and tried to take over buildings, it was a  struggle, but we drove them off.” 

Flawed intelligence has been consistent in this war. Before  hostilities began, the British government announced that Yevhen Murayev,  a former Ukrainian MP, had been picked by the Kremlin to be the leader  of a puppet regime following an invasion. London got the “intelligence”  on this from Washington.

The suggestion was met with widespread  scepticism in Ukraine. As Mr Murayev delighted in pointing out, he was  under sanctions from the Russian government after falling out with  Viktor Medvedchuk, a businessman and politician close to Moscow, and  whose daughter’s godfather is Mr Putin. Mr Medvechuk is currently under  arrest in Ukraine.

“There’s evidence that some people were making a  lot of money by selling information. They were telling people what they  wanted to hear. That’s one of the reasons we think the Russians thought  they had a lot of support in Ukraine”, said Colonel Oleg Rozghov, an  intelligence officer. “There were also infiltrators giving information  on military positions, we rounded them up pretty quickly, we are still  doing that.”

There is also some circumstantial evidence that  Russian intelligence agencies may have been competing against each other  in backing pro-Moscow factions, claimed Captain Aleksandr Osadchy of  the Cossack battalion. “We see the changes Putin is carrying out  currently in the intelligence agencies running their Ukraine operation.  That kind of rivalry helps us,” he said.

*Relentless bombardment*

After  the failure of attempted surgical strikes, the Russians sent heavy  armour into the city on 27 February. But again they were pushed back,  with Javelin rocket systems provided by the US and NLAWs from the UK  proving highly effective in close-quarter combat, according to  Ukrainians who claimed six Russian tanks were destroyed in 24 hours.  Charred remains of tanks and personnel carriers remain dotted around the  city as a reminder of the strife.

There was another airborne assault on 2 March, when Russian  paratroopers shelled buildings including the military hospital. But they  were forced out having failed to hold ground; 21 people were killed and  another 110 wounded on that day.

Having failed to make inroads,  Russians began missile strikes, killing a dozen more civilians.  Emergency services reported that 87 homes were destroyed, along with an  electricity substation, cutting off power to much of the city.

Valentina  Panchenka shuddered as she remembered the bombing. The 46-year-old  teacher lived with her two sons and a daughter in Saltivka, which was to  take a relentless hammering in the weeks to come.

“Everything  shook when the rocket hit our buildings,” she said. “I thought the floor  would collapse and we would just sink four floors. I could hear people  screaming; the children were crying. I just gathered them and rushed  out, and all the time rockets were hitting the buildings. One lady died  and quite a few were wounded in our block. I saw one man with both his  legs cut off.”

Ms Panchenka and her family managed to get to the  Heroiv Pratsi metro station that became her home for the next nine  weeks. Over time, a routine was established there. A clinic was set up,  food was provided by welfare groups and religious organisations, and  there were online lessons for children. There were even makeshift beauty  parlours. With trains no longer running, tracks were used by those  seeking shelter to walk between stations.

“It was still very  frightening; we could hear the explosions every day, even underground.  An old lady who went out to queue for food was killed when a supermarket  got bombed,” said Oksana Kovaleva, who had sought refuge with her four  children. Her husband, Anton, had joined the army.

*Corruption and inefficiency*

Captain  Osadchy paused as he recalled the high number of civilian casualties,  and spoke quietly of his mother’s death. Maria Osadchy, 85, was killed  during the shelling of the village of Kamianka, at the home where her  family had lived for generations. “She was a very determined woman and  she wouldn’t change her mind. Like so many people of that generation,  she had a tough life; it is such a pity it ended so sadly, so  unnecessarily”, he said.

For the captain and his troops, the main aim was to keep defending  Kharkiv while other forces were readied for a counteroffensive. But the  death toll in the city continued to climb, with hundreds reportedly  killed there by the end of the first month of the war.

At the  underground headquarters of one of the busiest Ukrainian units in  Kharkiv, soldiers hurriedly ate lunch before a mission behind enemy  lines. Their commander, Oleg Supareka, had experience serving with  Soviet forces, as he was deployed in the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in  the Nineties.

“Judging by their poor performance in this war, not a  lot has changed – there is a lot of corruption and inefficiency,” he  said. “I maintained contact in the Russian military for a while, and  they spent more time on ceremonial duties than on fighting practice and  that shows in this war.”

Across the road, a building lies partly  demolished by missiles. “That was meant to be us,” he said. “They have  been trying for a while to hit our position; they are getting closer, we  may have to move.” But even so, Russians have had some successes in  hitting military targets, including two missile hits on the headquarters  of the city’s territorial defence forces.

*‘Such a great feeling’*

Ukrainians  also proved able to carry out targeted hits, including on Major General  Vitaly Gerasimov, one of the highest-ranking Russian officers to be  declared dead in the war. A Ukrainian officer said the general’s killing  by a sniper took place with help from western intelligence. He later  contacted me to insist he had made a mistake and there was no western  involvement in the killing.

The tide really began turning at the  end of April. The Russians had begun planning an assault on the Donbas  now that Mr Putin’s total conquest of Ukraine was no longer feasible.  Moscow maintained that taking the eastern territory had always been the  real aim of the campaign.

On 29 April, the village of Ruska Lozova  was retaken. On 6 May, Ukrainians launched a broad counteroffensive,  recapturing Tsyrkuny, Peremoha and Cherkasi Tyshky.

“The main gain  was that we pushed most of their artillery out of the range of hitting  Kharkiv; that was a big relief,” said Major Nicolai Pavluyk, who serves  in a volunteer brigade. “It was also such a great feeling to be on the  front foot and making them retreat, getting back territory. In the past,  we were blowing bridges to slow the Russians, now they are blowing  bridges to try and delay us.”

“Expectations are very high now,” Captain Osadchy said. “If talks are  held then Mr Zelensky needs to be careful what he offers the Russians, I  don’t think the army will accept concessions, I don’t think the people  will accept concessions.”

*Destroyed legacy*

With  Kharkiv relatively safe for now, some people are raising questions  about why the city was not prepared earlier. There are accusations that  routes were left unsecured, and corners cut. Inquiries need to be held,  some said.

 “People have lost members of their families, they have risked  their lives, there are questions, they’ll want answers”, said Captain  Osadchy.

Fighting continues in Izium, a nearby town that Russians want to take  for the Donbas offensive. Many villages that have been under Russian  occupation have been smashed in the ensuing combat. There have even been  reports of executions and sexual abuse in these areas.

As well as  the loss of life, the scale of destruction in Kharkiv is huge. But  Kharkiv is standing and its people are, for now at least, united. Kiril  Semenov, a Russian speaker, said on a previous visit that he would  “never take up arms against our Russian brothers”. Instead, the  48-year-old engineer became a volunteer, ferrying supplies and food to  Ukrainian forces. “Putin bombed us into realising how Ukrainian we are,”  he said.

The Battle for Kharkiv: How Ukraine reclaimed its second city | The Independent

----------


## bsnub

> Russian Defense Spending Surges to $300M Per Day Amid Ukraine War


This is going to be 1991 all over again. No way they can afford that.

----------


## S Landreth

First war crimes case against Russian soldier to open in Kyiv

The first war crimes trial since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, against a Russian soldier accused of killing an unarmed civilian, gets underway in Kyiv on Wednesday (May 18).

The trial, expected to be followed by several others, will test the Ukrainian justice system at a time when international institutions are also conducting their own investigations into abuses committed by Russian forces.

Vadim Shishimarin, 21, will appear at Kyiv's Solomyansky district court from 2pm (7pm Singapore time) over the death of a 62-year-old man in north-eastern Ukraine on Feb 28.

Charged with war crimes and premeditated murder, the soldier from Irkutsk in Siberia faces a possible life sentence.

"He understands what he is being accused of," his lawyer Viktor Ovsiannikov told AFP, without revealing the case for the defence.

Ukrainian authorities say he is cooperating with investigators and admitting the facts of the incident which came just four days after the Russian invasion began.

Prosecutors said Shishimarin was commanding a unit in a tank division when his convoy came under attack.

He and four other soldiers stole a car, and as they were travelling near the village of Shupakhivka in the Sumy region, they encountered a 62-year-old man on a bicycle.

"One of the soldiers ordered the accused to kill the civilian so that he would not denounce them," the prosecutor's office said.

Shishimarin then fired a Kalashnikov assault rifle from the window of the vehicle and "the man died instantly, a few dozen metres from his home", they added in a statement.

In early May, Ukrainian authorities announced his arrest without giving details, while publishing a video in which Shishimarin said he had come to fight in Ukraine to "support his mother financially".

He explained his actions saying: "I was ordered to shoot, I shot him once. He fell and we continued our journey."

The case is proving challenging, according to his lawyer.

"This is the first such case in Ukraine with such an indictment. There is no relevant legal practice or verdicts on such cases. We will sort it out," he said.

Mr Ovsiannikov said he had not seen any rights violations by the authorities.

Ukraine's chief prosecutor Iryna Venediktova underlined the importance of the case for her country in a series of tweets.

"We have over 11,000 ongoing cases of war crimes and already 40 suspects," she said.

"By this first trial, we are sending a clear signal that every perpetrator, every person who ordered or assisted in the commission of crimes in Ukraine shall not avoid responsibility."

Two Russian servicemen are due to go on trial from Thursday for firing rockets at civilian infrastructure in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.

___________

*Edit..*

Russian soldier pleads guilty to killing unarmed civilian

A 21-year-old Russian soldier on trial in Kyiv for committing war crimes during Moscow's invasion of Ukraine pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed civilian in the Sumy region, according to CNN.

*Why it matters:* Vadim Shishimarin's war crimes trial is believed to be the first since the start of Russia's invasion in February.


He was accused by Ukraine's prosecutor general of firing several shots at and killing an unarmed 62-year-old resident riding a bicycle by the roadside in a Sumy village.

*The big picture:* Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said in early April that her office had then opened 5,600 cases of alleged war crimes committed by Russian soldiers since the start of the invasion.


It filed criminal charges against 10 Russian soldiers accused of war crimes in Bucha, where at least 300 Ukrainians were tortured and killed while Russia occupied the suburb of Kyiv.The International Criminal Court last month launched an investigation into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed in Ukraine.The United Nations Human Rights Council voted last week to launch a probe into alleged "abuses of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law" by Russian troops in the Kyiv region.UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in April that the world body has seen evidence of war crimes in Ukraine.

----------


## DrWilly

*“Russian Defense Spending Surges to $300M Per Day Amid Ukraine War“

A bit of a misnomer to call the increased spending ‘defence’.*

----------


## sabang

Strange how Kharkiv has been 'reclaimed' when it was never in fact taken.  :Confused:  This is the current state of play (sorry, I don't do TikTok)-




Ukraine-Russia maps: Where is the invasion taking place? (msn.com)

----------


## David48atTD

^  pfffttt  You call that a map?

Compare the pair.

Significant Russian loss of ground around the City.  April 18 -> May 17


https://www.understandingwar.org/sit...8%2C2022_0.png


https://www.understandingwar.org/sit...017%2C2022.png


Immediate items to watch

Russian forces will likely complete their withdrawal from the vicinity of Kharkiv City but attempt to hold a line west of Vovchansk to defend their GLOCs from Belgorod to Izyum. It is unclear if they will succeed.

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, May 17 | Institute for the Study of War

----------


## bsnub

> Strange how Kharkiv has been 'reclaimed' when it was never in fact taken.


You are pushing the Kremlin talking points as usual. Russia tried from the outset of this war to take Kharkiv. They are now about two suffer the second major defeat of this war.

----------


## S Landreth

Russian soldier on trial asks victim's widow to forgive him

A Russian soldier facing the first war crimes trial since the start of the war in Ukraine testified Thursday that he shot a civilian on orders from two officers and pleaded for his victim's widow to forgive him.

Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin told the court that the officer insisted that the Ukrainian man, who was speaking on his cellphone, could pinpoint their location to the Ukrainian forces.

The 21-year-old sergeant could get life in prison if convicted of shooting the Ukrainian man in the head through an open car window in a village in the northeastern Sumy region on Feb. 28, four days into the Russian invasion.

Looking subdued, Shishimarin said he at first disobeyed his immediate commanding officer's order to shoot the unarmed civilian but had no other choice but to follow the order when it was repeated forcefully by another officer.

Shishimarin pleaded guilty to the charges during Wednesday's hearing.

On Thursday, he asked the victims widow, who also appeared in the trial, to forgive him for what he did.

I realize that you can't forgive me, but I'm pleading you for forgiveness, Shishimarin said.

The woman, Kateryna Shelipova, said her 62-year-old husband, Oleksandr Shelipov, got out to check what was going on when gunshots rang just outside their home. When the shooting ceased shortly after, she walked out and found her husband shot dead just outside their home.

He was all to me. He was my defender, she said.

Shelipova told the court that Shishimarin deserves a life sentence for killing her husband but added that she wouldnt mind if hes exchanged as part of a possible prisoner swap with Russia for the surrendered Ukrainian defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.

The prosecutor asked for a life sentence for Shishimarin and the trial adjourned until Friday.

Shishimarin, a captured member of a Russian tank unit, is being prosecuted under a section of the Ukrainian criminal code that addresses the laws and customs of war.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova previously said her office was readying war crimes cases against 41 Russian soldiers for offenses that included bombing civilian infrastructure, killing civilians, rape and looting. It was not immediately clear how many of the suspects are in Ukrainian hands and how many would be tried in absentia.

As the inaugural war-crimes case in Ukraine, Shishimarins prosecution was being watched closely. Investigators have been collecting evidence of possible war crimes to bring before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

_____________


Biden says Finland and Sweden have 'full, total, complete backing' of US as they seek to join NATO

President Joe Biden on Thursday welcomed the leaders of Finland and Sweden to the White House and said both countries have the "full, total, complete backing" of the US after the two nations submitted their formal applications to become NATO members.

"Today, I am proud to welcome and offer the strong support of the United States for the applications of two great democracies and two close, highly capable partners to join the strongest, most powerful defensive alliance in the history of the world," Biden said while standing alongside Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

The US President said, "The bottom line is simple, quite straightforward: Finland and Sweden make NATO stronger. Not just because of their capacity but because of their strong, strong democracies."

Sweden and Finland's bids to join NATO come in response to Russia's war on Ukraine, which sparked security concerns across the region. The historically neutral nations' bids to join the alliance mark a dramatic evolution in European security and geopolitics, and the moves have been met with resistance from Russia and Turkey, a NATO member.

"Let me be clear: New members joining NATO is not a threat to any nation. It never has been. NATO's purpose is to defend against aggression. That's its purpose, to defend," Biden said.

The President argued Russia's war on Ukraine has made the military alliance "stronger" and "more united," and said, "Today, there is no question, NATO is relevant. It is effective. And it is more needed now than ever."

Biden said his administration was submitting reports on NATO accession for both Finland and Sweden so the Senate "can efficiently and quickly move on advising and consenting to the treaty."

He said Finland and Sweden requesting to join NATO is a "victory for democracy in action," and said both nations meet all the requirements to join the alliance.

Both Finland and Sweden already meet many of the requirements to be a NATO member, which include having a functioning democratic political system based on a market economy; treating minority populations fairly; committing to resolve conflicts peacefully; the ability and willingness to make a military contribution to NATO operations; and committing to democratic civil-military relations and institutions.

_________________


Senate passes $40 billion Ukraine aid package

The Senate voted 86-11 Thursday to approve a $40 billion Ukraine aid package that would replenish U.S. stockpiles of weapons transferred to Ukraine and provide billions of dollars to help the Ukrainian government continue operating and for humanitarian assistance.  

President Biden is expected to sign the legislation, which exceeds his $33 billion request to Congress, immediately. The House passed the legislation overwhelmingly earlier this month in a 368-57 vote. 

Biden on Thursday applauded Congress for sending a clear bipartisan message to the world that the people of the United States stand together with the brave people of Ukraine.

The resources that I requested will allow is to send even more weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, replenish our own stockpile, and support U.S. troops stationed on NATO territory, he said in a statement.

Biden announced that he would immediately provide another security package of artillery, radars and other equipment.

Democratic and Republican leaders hailed the vote as a crucial step to halting Russian aggression and firmly within U.S. national security interests.  

This is a large package, and it will meet the large needs of the Ukrainian people as they fight for their survival. As President Zelensky has said, the Ukrainians are caught up in a fight for democracy, the very democracy we love itself, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor before the vote, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.  

Its a fight we should not and cannot turn away from, he warned.  

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) also hailed the vote and pushed back on fellow Republicans, such as former President Trump, who have complained about the cost of the package.  

The future of Americas security and core strategic interests will be shaped by the outcome of this fight. Anyone concerned about the cost of supporting a Ukrainian victory should consider the much larger cost should Ukraine lose, he said.  

The legislation would authorize the transfer of American weapons and equipment to Ukraine and provide $9 billion to replenish depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles. It would also provide nearly $9 billion for continued operations of the Ukrainian government and $4 billion in international disaster assistance.  

Eleven Republican senators led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted against the measure.  

Republican Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), John Boozman (Ark.), Mike Braun (Ind.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Mike Lee (Utah), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) also voted against the measure.  

_________________


US announces $215 million in new food aid to Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that Ukraine will be getting $215 million in emergency food assistance, with more aid expected in the future. 

During a United Nations meeting on global food security, Blinken noted the greatest global food security crisis of our time caused by factors such as the pandemic and climate, adding that the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the issue.

Today, given the urgency of the crisis, were announcing another $215 million in new emergency food assistance. And well do much more, Blinken said.

We expect our Congress very soon to approve approximately $5.5 billion in additional funding for humanitarian assistance and food security, he added.

The $5 billion for food assistance to Ukraine comes from the $40 billion Ukraine aid bill that passed the House last week. 

The aid package to Ukraine advanced in the Senate on Monday, with a vote on final passage expected later this week, before it goes to President Bidens desk.

The World Bank said Wednesday it will give $30 billion to combat food insecurity around the globe. 

The Russia-Ukraine war has impacted food supply in certain regions of the world, as exports from Ukraine have stalled during the conflict.

Ukraine exported more than $6 billion worth of agricultural products in 2020 to the European Union alone. 

A United Nations official said earlier this month that there is reason to believe Russian is stealing Ukraines grain supply during the war. 

There is anecdotal evidence that Russian troops have destroyed storage capacity and that they are looting the storage grain that is available, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization senior official Josef Schmidhuber said. But thats all anecdotal evidence. There is no statistical data for that.

----------


## S Landreth

Russian Debt Default Odds Jump to 90% As US Seen Blocking Bond Payments

Russian debt default odds jump to 90% while Yellen confirms a report the US will likely block bond payments

A spike in the cost of insurance on Russian debt implied a 90% probability Wednesday the Kremlin will miss bond payments within a year.

That's up from 77% on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported, citing ICE Data Services, which tracks insurance on debt meant to protect investors.

The surge comes as investors contemplate the likelihood of the Biden administration blocking bond payments from Russia to US holders, putting Moscow closer to its first sovereign debt default in nearly 100 years.

The increased default risk is tied to a sanctions waiver from the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control that has thus far allowed the Kremlin to pay off dollar-debt obligations.

But on Tuesday, sources told Bloomberg that the Treasury Department is expected to let the waiver lapse once it expires on May 25.

"I think it's reasonably likely that the license will be allowed to expire. There has not been a final decision on that, but I think it's unlikely that it would continue," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters Wednesday in Germany before meeting G7 finance ministers.

She added that Russia is already cut off from global capital, and the country missing its debt obligations doesn't really represent "a significant change in Russia's situation."

The Kremlin has struggled to navigate payment channels essentially blocked by Western sanctions, making it difficult for money to reach bond holders.

Still, Russia has until now been able to use US banks as key conduits for delivering sovereign bond payments, although the country nearly missed a deadline earlier this month. 

But an end to the Treasury Department's waiver next week would come just before the Kremlin's next payment is due on May 27 for bonds that mature in 2026 and 2036.

----------


## bsnub

Russia can not fund this war. They are done. Stick a fork in them.

----------


## sabang

It is not by definition a Default if another party blocks any means of payment. That is just a boycott.

----------


## Switch

> It is not by definition a Default if another party blocks any means of payment. That is just a boycott.


Paying debts in Ukrainian blood is equally unacceptable!

----------


## OhOh

> No way they can afford that.


The facts suggest your post is bull shit, once again.

 :smiley laughing: 

It appears that Russia has a trade surplus,.

Whereas of the 16%, only one country has a surplus, OZ, the other 31 have deficits.

Trade balances from                                                        TRADING ECONOMICS 

TradingEconomics.com - Search Results

*Russia Balance of Trade*

"Russia's trade surplus widened to USD 21.17 billion  in January of 2022, before the invasion of its neighbor Ukraine and  West sanctions, from USD 9.03 billion in the corresponding month of the  previous year.

Exports surged 72 percent from a year earlier to USD  45.93 billion, boosted by sales to non-CIS (76.9 percent) and CIS  countries (41.3 percent). 

Meanwhile, imports rose at a slower 40.1  percent to a 6-month low of USD 24.75 billion, on the back of purchases  from non-CIS (40.6 percent) and CIS countries (36.3 percent)."

*United States Balance of Trade*

_"The US trade deficit widened sharply to a record  high of $109.8 billion in March of 2022, as a broad-based rise in  prices, especially for energy lifted imports by 10.3% to a new record  high of $351.5 billion. Oil import prices jumped to $87.2 billion a  barrel in March compared to $76.37 in the previous month. 

Also, sharp  increases were seen in purchases of finished metal shapes, crude oil,  cotton apparel and household goods, footwear, furniture, computers,  passenger cars, transport and travel.

 Exports also reached a new record  of $241.7 billion but increased 5.6%, much less than imports. Shipments  rose mainly for crude oil, fuel oil, natural gas liquids, autos and  parts, transport and travel. 

Based on not seasonally adjusted data, the  trade deficit with China increased to $34 billion from $30.7 billion in  February and with Russia, the gap widened to $2.6 billion from $2.1  billion._ _source:_ _Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)_

*European Union Balance of Trade*

_"The European Union recorded a trade deficit of  €27.7 billion in March of 2022, compared to a €18.7 billion surplus a  year earlier, as imports soared 40.4% to €248.2 billion and exports  increased at a slower 12.8% to e195.5 billion. 

The European Union's  trade deficit with Russia more than quadrupled to €45.2 billion in the  first quarter and the trade gap with China, the biggest trading partner,  almost doubled to €91.9 billion._ _source: EUROSTAT"_

*United Kingdom Balance of Trade*

_"The UK trade deficit expanded to GBP 11.5 billion  in March of 2022 from a downwardly revised GBP 9.2 billion in the  previous month. 

Imports rose 4.8% over the last month to GBP 67.6  billion as goods purchases increased 5.8% amid higher imports from both  EU countries (+8%) and non-EU countries (+3.8%). 

Also, import of  services went up by1.2%. Meanwhile, exports went up by a softer 1.3% to  GBP 56.1 billion, amid increased sales of goods (2.1%), particularly to  non-EU countries (+2.6%)._ _source:_ _Office for National Statistics_

*Australia Balance of Trade*

_"Australia's trade surplus increased to AUD 9.31  billion in March 2022 from a marginally revised AUD 7.43 billion in the  previous month and beating market forecasts of a surplus of AUD 8.5  billion, amid a decline in imports. 

Exports slid marginally to AUD 49.45  billion in March 2022 but still remained close to a record high hit in  February. 

Meanwhile, imports fell by 5% mom to AUD 40.14 billion. For  the first quarter of the year, the trade surplus widened to AUD 29.16  billion from AUD 25.47 billion in the same period of 2021._ _source:_ _Australian Bureau of Statistics_

*New Zealand Balance of Trade*

_"New Zealand's trade deficit widened to NZD 584  million in April of 2022 from NZD 397 million in the corresponding month  of the previous year. 

Imports climbed 15 percent year-on-year to NZD  5,730 million, led by purchases of pharmaceutical products (92 percent),  mechanical machinery and equipment (15 percent); food residues, wastes,  and fodder (91 percent), and other chemical products (159 percent).  Imports went up from all top partners, namely China (8.9%); the EU  (18%); Australia (44%); the US (29%) and Japan (0.5%). 

Meanwhile,  exports advanced by 17 percent to a lower NZD 6,310 million, mainly  driven by sales of milk powder, butter, and cheese (30%); and meat and  edible offal (16%). Exports increased to Australia (4.9%), the US (26%)  the EU (26%), and Japan (58%) but declined to China (-1.8%)._ _source: Statistics New Zealand"_

*Japan Balance of Trade*

"Japan reported *a trade deficit* of JPY 839.2 billion  in April 2022, compared with market consensus of a gap of JPY 1,159  billion and swinging from a surplus of JPY 226.8 billion in the same  month a year earlier. 

The latest figure marked the *ninth straight month  of trade shortfall*, as *exports grew by 12.5%* yoy to JPY 8,076.2 billion  while* imports jumped 28.2%* to a fresh record peak of JPY 8,915.4  billion. Considering the first four month of the year, Japan posted a * trade deficit of JPY 4,113.4 billion*, compared to a surplus of JPY 691.2  billion in the corresponding period of 2021. source: Ministry of Finance, Japan

https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/balance-of-trade

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/balance-of-trade

https://tradingeconomics.com/european-union/balance-of-trade

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/balance-of-trade

https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/balance-of-trade

https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/balance-of-trade

https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/balance-of-trade

----------


## sabang

> Paying debts in Ukrainian blood is equally unacceptable!


How about rubles then.  :Smile:  Hey, it's the strongest currency of 2022.

----------


## pickel

^
It's quite similar to "partly" blame a women wearing a mini skirt for getting raped. Except by partly, you mean 99%, as you never seem to criticize the rapist.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The facts suggest your post is bull shit, once again.


Snubby, hoohoo is partially right here.

Puffy could afford to pay 300m a day for a year or more if he did it from the money he's stolen from the Russian people.

----------


## David48atTD

Russia's Dad's Army is on the way to 'liberate' a village near you  :Smile: 



---

Russias Parliament considers bill to let over-40s sign up for the army 

Russias Parliament has reportedly laid the ground for new  legislation that would allow those over 40 to sign up for the military.

For  the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and  military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed.  
Experience shows that they become such by the age of 4045,  :rofl:  the State  Duma said, according to a Reuters translation.

The move is seen as Moscow attempting to bolster its armed forces after multiple setbacks and casualties in the war in Ukraine.

Foreigners over 30 would also be allowed to sign up for the military if the bill is passed.


Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Desperate times in Russia

----------


## sabang

Finland has been cut off from Russia's natural gas flows for refusing to pay in rubles.


Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Saturday that only a diplomatic breakthrough rather than an outright military victory could end Russia's war on his country, as Moscow cut gas supplies to Finland.


After just over 12 weeks of fierce fighting, Ukrainian forces have halted Russian attempts to seize Kyiv and the northern city of Kharkiv, but are under renewed and intense pressure in the eastern Donbas region.


Moscow's army have flattened and seized the southeastern port city of Mariupol and subjected Ukrainian troops and towns in the east to a remorseless ground and artillery attack.
Mr Zelenskyy's Western allies have shipped modern weaponry to his forces and imposed sweeping sanctions on the Russian economy and President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.


But the Kremlin has responded by disrupting European energy supplies, and on Saturday cut off gas shipments to Finland, which angered Moscow by applying to join the NATO alliance.

*'It will be bloody'*


Against this backdrop, Mr Zelenskyy told Ukrainian television the war would end "through diplomacy".


The conflict, he warned, "will be bloody, there will be fighting but will only definitively end through diplomacy".

On order to side-step financial sanctions and force European energy clients to prop up his central bank, Mr Putin has demanded that importers from "unfriendly countries" pay for gas in rubles.

Russian energy giant Gazprom said it had halted supplies to neighbouring Finland as it had not received ruble payments from Finland's state-owned energy company Gasum by the end of Friday.


Gazprom supplied 1.49 billion cubic metres of natural gas to Finland in 2021, about two-thirds of the country's gas consumption but only eight per cent of its total energy use.


Gasum said it would make up for the shortfall from other sources, through the Balticconnector pipeline, which links Finland to Estonia, a fellow European Union member.


Moscow cut off gas to Poland and Bulgaria last month in a move the European Union described as "blackmail", but importers in some other EU countries more dependent on Russian gas plan to open ruble accounts with Gazprom's bank.


Finland and neighbouring Sweden this week broke their historical military non-alignment and applied to join NATO, after public support for the alliance soared following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

*'Grave mistake'*


Moscow has warned Finland that joining NATO would be "a grave mistake with far-reaching consequences" and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said it would respond by building military bases in western Russia.


But both Finland and Sweden are now apparently on the fast track to join the military alliance, with US President Joe Biden this week offering "full, total, complete backing" to their bids.


All 30 existing NATO members must agree on any new entrants, and Turkey has condemned Sweden's alleged toleration of Kurdish militants, but diplomats are confident of avoiding a veto.

On the ground in Ukraine, the fighting is fiercest in the eastern region of Donbas, a Russian-speaking area that has been partially controlled by pro-Kremlin separatists since 2014.


"They completely ruined Rubizhne, Vonokvakha, just as they did Mariupol," Mr Zelenskyy said on Friday, adding that the Russians were "trying to do the same with Severodonetsk and many other cities".


In Severodonetsk, a frontline city now at risk of encirclement, 12 people were killed and another 40 wounded by Russian shelling, the regional governor said.

*'End of the operation'*


Mr Zelenskyy described the bombardment of Severodonetsk as "brutal and absolutely pointless", as residents cowering in basements described an unending ordeal of terror.


The city forms part of the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Lugansk, which along with the neighbouring region of Donetsk comprises the Donbas war zone.


On Friday, Moscow said the battle for the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol — a symbol of Ukraine's dogged resistance since Mr Putin launched the invasion on 24 February — was now over.


Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenko said 2,439 Ukrainian personnel had surrendered at the steelworks since 16 May, the final 500 on Friday.

Ukraine hopes to exchange the surrendering Azovstal soldiers for Russian prisoners. But in Donetsk, pro-Kremlin authorities are threatening to put some of them on trial.


Mr Biden has cast the Ukraine war as part of a US-led struggle pitting democracy against authoritarianism.


The US Congress this week approved a $40-billion aid package, including funds to enhance Ukraine's armoured vehicle fleet and air defence system.


And, meeting in Germany, G7 industrialised nations pledged $19.8 billion to shore up Ukraine's shattered public finances.

*Underground living*


While the invasion has ebbed around the northeastern city of Kharkiv, it remains in Russian artillery range, and hundreds of people are refusing to leave the relative safety of its metro system.


"We're tired. You can see what home comforts that we have," said Kateryna Talpa, 35, pointing to mattresses and sheets on the ground, and some food in a cardboard box.


She and her husband Yuriy are doing their best to cope in the Soviet-era station called "Heroes of Labour", alongside their cats Marek and Sima.


"They got used to it," Ms Talpa said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says only 'diplomacy' can end war as Russia stops gas flows to Finland (sbs.com.au)


I hope Putin is willing to talk.

----------


## S Landreth

UK-linked media magnate Lebedev hit by Canada sanctions

Canada has targeted media tycoon Alexander Lebedev as part of a wave of fresh sanctions against Russian oligarchs, in a move that places greater scrutiny on the billionaires links to the U.K. government.

Lebedev, who has not yet been sanctioned as part of the U.K.s efforts to deter the Kremlins war in Ukraine, purchased U.K. media outlets the Evening Standard and the Independent just over a decade ago. Lebedev has been pictured at lavish gatherings with U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to reports by the Guardian.

The Canadian government confirmed on Friday that an additional 14 Russian oligarchs, their family members and close associates of the Putin regime will face additional sanctions in Canada for directly enabling Vladimir Putins senseless war in Ukraine.

Other individuals targeted include Formula One race-car driver Nikita Mazepin and David Davidovich, a close associate of former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who sold the football club after being subjected to U.K. sanctions.

The Canadians have also placed a ban on the import and export of targeted luxury goods between their country and Russia. In announcing the new restrictions, Canadas Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said that the Kremlin must be held accountable for its actions in Ukraine.

The Putin regime must, and will, answer for their unjustifiable acts, she said. Canada, together with our allies, will be relentless in our efforts to maintain pressure on the Russian regime, until it is no longer able to wage war, Joly added.

Since Russias invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Canada has imposed sanctions on more than 1,000 individuals and entities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

________________


Biden signs $40B Ukraine aid package into law

President Biden has signed into law a far-reaching aid package for Ukraine that will provide $40 billion in security, humanitarian and economic assistance for the country as it battles the Russian war over the coming months. 

The White House said in a release on Saturday that Biden signed the measure while abroad in Asia. The Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass it on Thursday. 

The package brings the total U.S. assistance Congress has approved for Ukraine this year to nearly $54 billion to help the country battle a Russian onslaught that began on Feb. 24.   

The president had asked Congress at the end of April to authorize an additional $33 billion for Ukraine as he exhausted the drawdown authority from the last bill passed in March. The figure lawmakers ultimately landed on was higher.   

While the White House initially hoped lawmakers would link the package to billions more in COVID-19 pandemic funding, Biden ultimately asked leaders to separate the two to allow the Ukraine aid to move as quickly as possible.   

The bill passed the House in a 368-57 vote earlier this month and cleared the Senate in an 86-11 vote on Thursday. All no votes in the House and Senate came from Republicans.  

Still, the support for Ukraine in Congress has been a rare instance of bipartisanship in Washington.   

The legislation allows Biden to transfer $11 billion in weapons to Ukraine and provides $9 billion to replenish depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles. It also provides roughly $8.8 billion to support operations of Ukraines government and combat human trafficking, $5 billion in global food assistance, $4.35 billion in international disaster aid and $900 million to support refugees.   

Ukraine has been battling Russian forces for roughly three months since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the large-scale invasion.  

While U.S. officials initially expected Ukraines capital of Kyiv to fall quickly, Ukrainians have been able to withstand the Russian attacks and deal Russia embarrassing losses.   

A Russian operation to seize Kyiv failed and Moscow has refocused its mission on Ukraines south and east.   

_____________


G7 countries pledge nearly $20 billion in financial aid for Ukraine

G7 countries said they would provide nearly $20 billion in financial aid for Ukraine on Friday to help the country through Russia's unprovoked invasion.

Why it matters: Ukraine said in April that it had requested $50 billion in financial assistance from G7 countries to help stabilize its government and its export-dependent economy, which the invasion has crippled.

Approval of the $19.8 billion financial assistance came at the end of two days of meetings in Germany between G7 finance leaders on deepening global inflation from pandemic supply chain issues and Russia's war in Ukraine.

What they're saying: "We will continue to stand by Ukraine throughout this war and beyond and are prepared to do more as needed," a joint statement from G7 countries released Friday said.

"We are working closely with Ukraine to safeguard its macroeconomic stability in face of the challenges posed by Russia's war of aggression, massive destruction of critical infrastructure and disruption of traditional shipping routes for Ukrainian exports," the statement said.

By the numbers: An analysis by the Economist Intelligence Unit released in March projected that the invasion would crater Ukraine's economy by a whopping 47% in 2022.

The damage to Ukraine's economy and overwhelming sanctions on Russia have set off global food security concerns. Both countries are major producers and exporters of wheat and barley, and Ukraine specifically is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.

The International Monetary Fund estimated in April that Ukraine's government needs $5 Billion a month to keep its economy functioning.

The big picture: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on the international community in early May to prevent Russia from blockading its ports to help prevent a global food crisis.

Qu Dongyu, director-general of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, on Thursday called for greater funding for global agriculture to help avoid a crisis, noting that conflict "remains the single greatest driver of hunger."

"My message today is more relevant than before: agriculture is one of the keys to lasting peace and security," Dongyu said.

----------


## bsnub

The Russian military, mired in a war with no end in sight, is attempting  to resuscitate its sputtering offensive in Ukraine, firing commanders,  splitting combat units into smaller formations, and redoubling its  reliance on artillery and other long-range weapons.

The shift comes nearly three months after Russian and American officials  alike predicted a quick and decisive victory for Moscow. After the  deaths of thousands of Russian soldiers and an avalanche of failures  since the invasion began Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin has  narrowed his objectives in a campaign viewed as unsustainable,  unrealistic — and likely unwinnable.

That  assessment is shared by an array of observers, including Western  intelligence officials and independent analysts who have tracked the war  closely. Russia, said Mikk Marran, director general of the Estonian  Foreign Intelligence Service, is losing in Ukraine militarily,  politically and morally.

“When  we look at the battlefield, Russia’s conventional capacity is already  overstretched,” Marran said. “The losses in Russian manpower and  equipment are not sustainable at the same operations tempo that we have  seen so far.”

Unless  Russia launches a full-scale mobilization of its military, Marran said,  it has “no remedy in sight.” And while it appears that “some sense of  reality has kicked in” among Russian military leaders, Putin himself  remains intent on controlling everything from the Donbas region of  eastern Ukraine to the western port city of Odessa and Transnistria, a  breakaway republic in neighboring Moldova.

“We  might be seeing a continuing military campaign that is, to a degree,  detached from what is realistic, from what might be called smart or  feasible in the long term,” Marran said. The Estonians had long  predicted, even before the invasion, that Russia would face significant  resistance from the Ukrainians.

As  the war grinds on and Russia’s battlefield gains remain “uneven” and  “incremental,” according to the Pentagon’s latest assessment, several of  its high-ranking commanders have been sacked. Among them, according to  the British Ministry of Defense, are Lt. Gen. Serhiy Kisel, who presided  over the 1st Guards Tank Army’s failed effort to capture the  northeastern city of Kharkiv, and Vice Adm. Igor Osipov, who was in  charge of Russia’s Black Sea fleet when Ukrainian forces sank its flagship, the Moskva.  The humiliating blow to Russia’s navy was carried out using the Neptune  anti-ship missiles that Ukraine makes. Since then, officials in Kyiv  have stepped up their requests for similar weapons from Western partners.

Citing  the latest U.S. intelligence assessments of the war, a senior Defense  Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground  rules set by the Pentagon, affirmed that “Russian commanders at various  levels have been relieved of their duties.” Pentagon officials, this  person said, want to be cautious in making predictions about the war’s  next phase, but they are encouraged that Ukrainian units have not faced  the morale setbacks that plague the Russians.

Russia  retains considerable combat power available in Ukraine, the U.S.  defense official warned, but “you’ve got to have the will to fight, you  have to have good leadership, you have to have command and control.”  Russia, he said, is “suffering” as a result of these and other  shortcomings.

Meanwhile,  sanctions against Russia have caused the country’s transport and  shipping logistics to be “practically broken,” Russia’s transport  minister said Saturday, a rare admission of problems.

But  its defense minister asserted that its military had destroyed a large  number of weapons that were supplied to Ukraine by the United States and  European countries. A Pentagon spokesperson told The Washington Post  that the United States had no comment on Russia’s claim.

Russia  also stepped up its political campaign, permanently banning nearly  1,000 Americans, including President Biden and Vice President Harris,  from entering the country. The list of those banned included a wide  range of officials and citizens, including lawmakers who have died and  actor Morgan Freeman.

The United States continues to send billions of dollars  in military equipment to Ukraine, including heavy artillery, drones and  antitank missiles. President Biden on Saturday signed a $40 billion  package of new military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.

Although  Putin has deployed more than 100 battalion tactical groups into  Ukraine, each numbering between 500 and 800 personnel, they have made  little headway in Donbas, U.S. intelligence shows. There is evidence  that the Russian military has divided some units, dispatching smaller  combat teams into villages and hamlets there. Doing so, the Pentagon  assessed, makes sense as Putin pursues smaller localized goals. But  Russia has struggled to hold ground, with its forces sometimes ceding  control back to Ukraine within days of having seized territory.

Russians attacking in smaller units, Pentagon says

In  the south, Russia has secured two significant victories, taking control  of Mariupol, a major port city, and the smaller city of Kherson.  Micholeiv, home to nearly 500,000 people before the war, has been an  unattainable objective, however, despite weeks of heavy fighting nearby.

Scott  Boston, a former U.S. Army officer who studies the Ukraine war for Rand  Corp., said it appears there are massive morale problems within the  Russian military, undermining Moscow’s goals. He cited the refusal of  some units to carry out orders, as well as Russia’s failure to  adequately equip and feed its forces.

“Once  it has been abundantly demonstrated that they don’t give a crap about  their people, they get it,” Boston said of Russian soldiers. “It’s hard  not to notice.”

Russia  has seized only a couple kilometers per day in Donbas in recent weeks,  according to the Pentagon. At that rate, Boston surmised, the offensive  could continue for a year and “there will still be a lot of Ukraine  left,” even as Russian military fatalities continue to mount.

“That’s just not a serious proposition,” Boston said.

Russian  leaders may realize their military campaign is floundering but still  reluctant to acknowledge they are losing the war, he added.

Earlier  this month, dozens of Russian combat vehicles were destroyed by  Ukrainian forces as the Russians attempted to cross the Siverskyi Donets  River in Donbas. The attack is believed to have killed hundreds of  Russian troops, and appeared to highlight their continued failings to  carry out basic combat maneuvers.

Rob  Lee, a Russian military expert and a senior fellow with the Foreign  Policy Research Institute, said Russian troops have been bedeviled both  by their own tactical blunders and the Ukrainian’s potent capabilities  that have contributed to routs like the deadly crossing near  Severodonetsk.

River  crossings require favorable terrain and construction of pontoon bridges  by military engineers. They are inherently dangerous, Lee said, and the  Ukrainian military probably anticipated likely crossing points and  logged their coordinates for future attacks. Their surveillance drones  allowed artillery units to observe where rounds were falling and then  guided them onto Russian personnel.

A  grave mistake, Lee said, was the failure of Russian commanders to send  smaller numbers of troops across the river. Instead, they bunched them  together. The mistake cost the 74th Motorized Rifle Brigade dearly, according to an analysis from the Institute of the Study of War, with an estimated 485 casualties and the loss of 80 pieces of equipment.

“It’s an indication there are leadership problems still,” Lee said of the botched attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces nearby.

It’s  hard to say how long Russia may keep its offensive going, said Boston,  the Rand Corp. analyst. Even after the deaths of thousands of Russian  soldiers, he said, Russia could continue to lob artillery rounds from a  distance for some time.

Still,  the trajectory of the conflict perplexes him. Russia defeated Georgian  forces in a five-day war in 2008, but the conflict exposed failures  within the Russian military, including an inability to quickly adapt  when something goes wrong. Moscow set out to reform its military after  that conflict, Boston said, and demonstrated improvement in others.

“You  just get this feeling like they’ve abandoned everything they’ve tried  to learn over the last 10 years and reverted to an older style that  they’re more comfortable with,” Boston said. “Frankly, the Red Army in  1944 was more capable of fire and maneuver than a lot of what we’ve seen  from this Russian military, and I don’t understand why.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...raine-victory/

----------


## sabang

*Roger Federer disappears from tennis rankings after Wimbledon bombshell*

Roger Federer has suddenly been wiped from the ATP Tour rankings following the Wimbledon storm that has rocked tennis.



Roger Federer has suddenly been wiped from the ATP Tour rankings in the wake of the bombshell decision to strip Wimbledon of rankings points this year.

The tennis world is in meltdown after the world’s most prestigious tennis event was stripped of ranking points by the sport’s main tours in response to the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from the tournament following the invasion of Ukraine.

The move threatens to reduce Wimbledon to the status of a high-profile exhibition event, when it begins on June 27.

The flow-on effects are mind-boggling.

The early suggestions from the ATP Tour and WTA Tour suggest that the rankings points carried by players from the 2021 event will not be frozen, leaving players with no chance of defending the rankings points won at The All England Club last year.

It means tennis icon Federer will cease to exist on the ATP Tour rankings. His only remaining points came from his quarter-final run at Wimbledon last year.

American tennis legend Serena Williams will also be wiped from the top 1000 of the WTA Tour’s rankings.

New York Times tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg wrote on Twitter Williams will also “fall off the rankings completely” if she does not play a tournament before Wimbledon.

FULL- Wimbledon 2022: Roger Federer disappears from ATP tour rankings after bombshell | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

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## harrybarracuda

Well perhaps the spineless tennis jobsworths should be more interested in actually condemning the brutal invasion of Ukraine rather than worrying about their silly points system.

I'm sure Roger won't care, he is in Spain enjoying the F1 as a guest of Mercedes.

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## S Landreth

Russian soldier gets life in prison in Ukraines first war crimes trial

A 21-year-old Russian soldier was found guilty Monday of killing an unarmed civilian in Ukraines first war crimes trial since Russias invasion. He was sentenced to life in prison.

A court in Kyiv handed down the verdict after Sgt. Vadim Shishimarin pleaded guilty last week to killing a 62-year-old Ukrainian man in the northeastern Sumy province but said he was following orders.

Shishimarin pleaded guilty to killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov, who was pushing his bicycle near the village of Chupakhivka, near the Russian border, during the early days of the invasion in late February.

Shelipov died on the spot just a few meters from his home, according to Ukraines prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova.

Shishimarins charge, violation of the rules and customs of war," is punishable by 10 years to life imprisonment.

Shelipovs widow last week said she would like Shishimarin to be sentenced to life imprisonment but that she would be open to him being exchanged for Ukrainian fighters who were taken to Russian-held territory from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Prosecutors argued that Shishimarin, a member of Russias 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya tank division, committed a war crime when he fired multiple rounds from his rifle at Shelipov. Shishimarin said he was ordered by his fellow soldiers to shoot Shelipov because he was talking on a cellphone and they feared he would report their location after they had fled a nearby battle in a stolen car.

Shishimarin was represented by a Ukrainian court-appointed lawyer, who had said that the case against his client was strong. Still, it was important to preserve Shishimarins human rights to show him that Ukraine is a country different to the one he is from," his attorney, Victor Ovsyanikov, told the New York Times.

Shishimarin said that he did not want to kill Shelipov and that he only shot because he was ordered to do so. Ovsyanikov said that Shishimarin had feared for his own safety if he had not shot, and that the shots he fired were aimless, Reuters reported.

I personally think that it should not be this young man in the dock, but the senior leadership of the other country that I think is guilty of unleashing this war, Ovsyanikov said, according to Reuters.

Throughout the invasion, Moscow has struggled to manage young, inexperienced troops who have suffered low morale and at times seemed uncommitted to the cause.

A separate trial involving two Russian soldiers charged with war crimes in the alleged shelling of civilian targets in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine is ongoing. Legal experts have told The Washington Post that Ukraine, which is party to the European Convention on Human Rights, appears to be adhering to international guidelines on prosecuting war crimes, including the right of the defendant to a fair trial by an independent court.

Shelipovs family confronted Shishimarin last week while he sat in a glass defendants cell. Shelipovs widow asked the soldier, Please tell me, what did you feel toward my husband? Shishimarin replied: Yes, I admit guilt. I understand that you will not be able to forgive me. I ask for forgiveness for what was done.

The widow, Kateryna Shelipova, invoked Russian President Vladimir Putins unfounded justifications for the war  that Moscow was simply rescuing Ukrainians from Nazis  asking the soldier: What did you come to us for? You came to protect us? From whom? You protected me from my husband, whom you killed. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...rimes-verdict/

_____________


YouTube removes more than 9,000 channels relating to Ukraine war

YouTube has taken down more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine for violating content guidelines, including removal of videos that referred to the invasion as a liberation mission.

The platform is hugely popular in Russia, where, unlike some of its US peers, it has not been shut down despite hosting content from opposition figures such as Alexei Navalny. YouTube has also been able to operate in Russia despite cracking down on pro-Kremlin content that has broken guidelines including its major violent events policy, which prohibits denying or trivialising the invasion.

Since the conflict began in February, YouTube has taken down channels including that of the pro-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Solovyov. Channels associated with Russias Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs have also been temporarily suspended from uploading videos in recent months for describing the war as a liberation mission.

YouTubes chief product officer, Neal Mohan, said: We have a major violent events policy and that applies to things like denial of major violent events: everything from the Holocaust to Sandy Hook. And of course, whats happening in Ukraine is a major violent event. And so weve used that policy to take unprecedented action.

In an interview with the Guardian, Mohan added that YouTubes news content on the conflict had received more than 40m views in Ukraine alone.

The first and probably most paramount responsibility is making sure that people who are looking for information about this event can get accurate, high-quality, credible information on YouTube, he said. The consumption of authoritative channels on our platform has grown significantly, of course in Ukraine, but also in countries surrounding Ukraine, Poland, and also within Russia itself.

YouTube did not provide a breakdown of the taken-down content and channels but Mohan said much of it represented Kremlin narratives about the invasion. I dont have the specific numbers, but you can imagine a lot of it being the narratives that are coming from Russian government, or Russian actors on behalf of the Russian government, he said.

YouTube has an estimated 90 million users in Russia, although it no longer allows advertising on the platform in the country. The decision by YouTubes parent company, Google, has drawn protests from Navalny, who said well-targeted ads helped counteract Kremlin propaganda.

YouTube remains the largest video-sharing site up and running in Russia itself, said Mohan. So YouTube is a place where Russian citizens can get uncensored information about the war, including from many of the same authoritative channels that we all have access to outside of the country. We remain an important platform for Russian citizens themselves as this crisis continues to evolve.

Last week, the Russian minister for digital development, Maksut Shadaev, said the country would not block YouTube, despite disputes over content that have resulted in the platform being fined in court for not removing banned videos.

Shadaev indicated that blocking Russias most popular social media platform would affect users. We are not planning to close YouTube, the minister said. Above all, when we restrict something, we should clearly understand that our users wont suffer.

YouTube has also placed a worldwide ban on channels associated with Russian state media, including Russia Today and Sputnik. Facebook and Instagram are banned in Russia and access to Twitter has been restricted, in response to the platforms own bans on Russian state-owned media.

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## S Landreth

Russian Diplomat To UN In Geneva Resigns Over War In Ukraine

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — A veteran Russian diplomat to the U.N. Office at Geneva says he handed in his resignation before sending out a scathing letter to foreign colleagues inveighing against the “aggressive war unleashed” by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

Boris Bondarev, 41, confirmed his resignation in a letter delivered Monday morning after a diplomatic official passed on his English-language statement to The Associated Press.

“For twenty years of my diplomatic career I have seen different turns of our foreign policy, but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on Feb. 24 of this year,” he wrote, alluding to the date of Russia’s invasion.

The resignation amounts to a rare — if not unprecedented — public admission of disgruntlement about Russia’s war in Ukraine among the Russian diplomatic corps. It comes at a time when Putin’s government has sought to crack down on dissent over the invasion and quell narratives that conflict with the Russian government’s line about how the “special military operation” — as it’s officially known in Russia — is proceeding.

“The aggressive war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine, and in fact against the entire Western world, is not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but also, perhaps, the most serious crime against the people of Russia, with a bold letter Z crossing out all hopes and prospects for a prosperous and free society in our country,” Bondarev wrote, referring to the widespread use of the letter “Z” as a symbol of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Reached by phone, Bondarev — a diplomatic counselor who has focused on Russia’s role in the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva after postings in places like Cambodia and Mongolia — confirmed he handed in his resignation in a letter addressed to Ambassador Gennady Gatilov.

A spokesman for the mission didn’t immediately respond to AP requests seeking comment.

“It is intolerable what my government is doing now,” Bondarev told the AP. “As a civil servant, I have to carry a share of responsibility for that. And I don’t want to do that.”

Bondarev said he had not received any reaction yet from Russian officials, but added: “Am I concerned about the possible reaction from Moscow? I have to be concerned about it.”

He told the AP that he had no plans to leave Geneva. Previously, he said he had expressed disapproval of the war to Russian colleagues.

“Some said, ‘Everybody disagrees, but we have to keep working’ while others replied ‘Shut up and stop spreading this bad influence– especially among younger diplomats,’” he recalled.

Asked if some colleagues felt the same, Bondarev said: “Not all Russian diplomats are warmongering. They are reasonable, but they have to keep their mouths shut.”

He suggested his case could become an example.

“If my case is prosecuted, then if other people want to follow, they would not,” Bondarev said.

Asked if he planned to defect, he chuckled and said, “I didn’t think so far” ahead.

In his English-language statement, which he said he emailed to about 40 diplomats and others, Bondarev said those who conceived the war “want only one thing — to remain in power forever, live in pompous tasteless palaces, sail on yachts comparable in tonnage and cost to the entire Russian Navy, enjoying unlimited power and complete impunity.”

He railed against the growing “lies and unprofessionalism” at Russia’s Foreign Ministry and took particular aim at Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“In 18 years, he (Lavrov) went from a professional and educated intellectual … to a person who constantly broadcasts conflicting statements and threatens the world with nuclear weapons!” he wrote. “Today, the (Russian) Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not about diplomacy. It is all about warmongering, lies and hatred.”

Hiller Neuer, executive director of the advocacy group U.N. Watch, tweeted a copy of Bondarev’s letter and said simply: “Boris Bondarev is a hero.”

“Bondarev should be invited to speak in Davos this week,” he added, referring to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “The U.S., the U.K. and the (European Union) should lead the free world in creating a program to encourage more Russian diplomats to follow and defect, by providing protection, financial security and resettlement for diplomats and their families.”

In his email, Bondarev wrote that he should have resigned earlier, but didn’t because of “some unfinished family business” and because he needed to “gather my resolve.”

“It’s been already three months since my government launched a bloody assault on Ukraine and it’s been very hard to keep my mind more or less sane when all about were losing theirs,” he wrote.

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## David48atTD

More high-tech weapons going to Ukraine after meeting of defence leaders


CREDIT  Ukraine will likely use the Harpoon missiles to threaten Russian ships. 

Nearly 50 defence leaders from around the world have  met and agreed to send more advanced weapons to Ukraine, including a  Harpoon launcher and missiles to protect its coast.

*Key points:*
Some 20 members of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group have agreed to send new packages of security assistance to UkraineDenmark has agreed to deliver a Harpoon launcher and missilesUkraine has asked for long-range artillery and rocket systems, armoured personnel carriers and drones 

It  came as a veteran Russian diplomat condemned his country's invasion and  Moscow's Foreign Minister said Russia would develop closer economic  ties with China.

United States Defence Secretary  Lloyd Austin on Monday told reporters that some 20 members of the  Ukraine Defence Contact Group had announced they would send new packages  of security assistance to Ukraine, as the nation's war with Russia  reached the three-month mark.

Here

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## David48atTD

^  Further

New arms donations <snip> included  Danish Harpoon anti-ship launchers and missiles; Czech attack  helicopters, tanks, and rocket systems; and more artillery from Italy,  Greece, Norway, and Poland. Overall, Austin said the United Kingdom has  played a “leading role” in helping to coordinate and send its arms into  Ukraine.

    Austin will next meet with members of the contact group on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministerial in Brussels on June 15.

Second Meeting of Ukraine Defense Contact Group Adds Nations, Yields ‘Sharper’ Focus - Air Force Magazine

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## S Landreth

48 more Russian soldiers to face war crimes trial with 13,000 alleged offences to be investigated

Ukraines prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, said there were about 13,000 cases of Russian alleged war crimes being investigated as of Monday.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Venediktova said 48 more Russian soldiers would face war crimes trials, after a Kyiv court sentenced Vadim Shishimarin to life in prison for the killing of a 62-year-old unarmed civilian, Oleksandr Shelipov.

Venediktova said:

We have already initiated close to 13,000 cases which are connected only to war crimes. In this category, suspicions were reported [about] 49 individuals, which we started to prosecute [for] war crimes.

Ukrainian officials have a list of about 600 suspects thought to have engaged in war crimes, she said, while two cases involving three individuals were already being held by courts.

Venediktova said the scale of complaints against Russia suggested a systemic tolerance or encouragement of war crimes against Ukrainians, adding:

All evidence indicates that the Russian military and political elite has unconditionally reverted to the brutal war tactics of violence.

Civilian populations and civilian objects  including hospitals, educational facilities, and residential buildings  are internationally targeted in a widespread and systematic manner.

She said violations by Russian forces that her team had documented amounted to unspeakable deliberate cruelty and violence against civilians, adding:

This is particularly apparent in territories that were on the frontlines of war, which practically became a slaughterhouse.

She said 4,600 civilians were known to have died as a result of the war, including 232 children, and the real number was likely to be higher.

______________


New Zealand to help train Ukrainian soldiers in UK

New Zealand on Monday announced it would roll out a training program for Ukrainian soldiers to teach them how to operate artillery weapons as the country continues to defend against Russian forces.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a release that 30 members of an artillery team with the New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) would begin training Ukrainian soldiers in the United Kingdom on the operation of L119 105 mm tactical howitzer light guns.

Training with the artillery weapons had been requested. The program will begin next month and last until the end of July.

Ardern said New Zealand fully supported Ukraines fight for independence after Russia invaded the country in late February.

We have been clear throughout Russias assault on Ukraine, that such a blatant attack on innocent lives and the sovereignty of another country is wrong, and our response has not only included the condemnation of Russia, but practical support for Ukraine, the prime minister said in a statement.

New Zealand will additionally arm Ukraine with supplies of ammunition and gun sights while assisting the country with humanitarian relief.

The South Pacific nation has already provided $15.7 million to Ukraine for military equipment and has rolled out sanctions against Russian entities and persons.

The news comes just days after U.S. President Biden signed a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine that includes military and humanitarian assistance for the European nation as it fights for its independence.

Support from other nations, particularly NATO, has bolstered the Ukrainian resistance. Ukraine has pushed Russian forces back from the capital region around Kyiv and continues to put up a stiff resistance in the eastern Donbas, where Russia regrouped for a renewed offensive.

Over the weekend, Russia declared victory in the port city of Mariupol after the last of the Ukrainian fighters hiding out in a steel plant were taken prisoner.

______________


Schumer, McConnell pressing administration to rush paperwork on Finland and Swedens NATO membership

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) plan to present a resolution that will press the Biden administration to rush the paperwork for Finland and Sweden to join NATO. 

In the resolution text, first obtained by Politico, both Senate leaders note the roles played by the Nordic countries in organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union, and their neutral stance on matters pertaining to Europe as reasons why they should join the alliance. 

The resolution calls on President Biden to move swiftly to complete all necessary documents involving both countries NATO membership so the Senate can advance the measure, also calling on fellow NATO members to swiftly complete their own ratification processes. 

It is being submitted by McConnell and Schumer along with a number of leading Senate voices on Ukraine aid, including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.).

NATO has been the cornerstone of Western defense since World War II, and President Niinistö of Finland and Prime Minister Andersson of Sweden are showing strong leadership in joining the United States and its allies against Putins deeply immoral campaign of violence, Schumer said in a statement Monday.

As the worlds democracies unite against Putin and his crony oligarchs, Finland and Swedens ascension into NATO will be a further rebuke of Putins murderous attack on Ukraine.

McConnell said in the statement that Finland and Sweden are strong countries with formidable military capabilities that surpass many existing NATO allies.

Both nations robust defense funding means their accession would meaningfully bolster our pursuit of greater burden-sharing across the alliance, he added.

Biden met with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson last week in a public show of support for expanding the security alliance, which has been bolstered by Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Both countries submitted their formal request to join the military alliance on Wednesday.

Sweden and Finland have strong democratic institutions, strong militaries, and strong and transparent economies, and a strong and moral sense of what is right, Biden said on Thursday. They meet every NATO requirement and then some. 

Both Niinistö and Andersson also met with U.S lawmakers during their visit, urging Congress to vote on and ratify their entry into the alliance.

This is historic for U.S.-#Finland-#Sweden relations, tweeted Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho.), the Foreign Relations Committees ranking member. #NATO is soon to be stronger and better than ever before. 

The resolution will be marked up by the Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, Politico reported.

______________

Starbucks closes its 130 Russian stores amid war in Ukraine

Starbucks announced Monday that it will permanently close its stores in Russia, putting an end to its 15 years of operation in the country.

*Why it matters:* Like other international companies, Starbucks suspended its operations in Russia in March, during the early days of Russia's invasion.


The announcement comes a week after McDonald's said it would exit the country.

*The big picture:* "Starbucks has made the decision to exit and no longer have a brand presence in the market," the company said in a press release.


Starbucks added that it will continue to pay its 2,000 employees in Russia for six months and will help them transition to new jobs.The coffee giant has 130 stores in the country.

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## sabang

Henry Kissinger said Ukraine must be prepared to give up territory to Russia in peace talks.He warned of the risk of escalation unless peace negotiations start in the next two months.Ukraine rejected the suggestion that it should give up territory.

Henry Kissinger said Ukraine must concede territory to Russia to end the war and warned the West that a humiliating defeat for Russia could result in wider destabilization.

The statesman, now 98, made the comments in a conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Kissinger was the architect of the détente with China under the Nixon administration, and he's one of the world's foremost advocates of realpolitik, in which nations put morals and principles aside to achieve their aims.

"Negotiations need to begin in the next two months before it creates upheavals and tensions that will not be easily overcome. Ideally, the dividing line should be a return to the status quo ante," Kissinger said.

"Pursuing the war beyond that point would not be about the freedom of Ukraine, but a new war against Russia itself," he added.

"Status quo ante" means "how things were before." Kissinger's comments imply that Ukraine should accept a peace deal to restore the situation to what it was before February 24, where Russia formally controlled the Crimea peninsula and informally controlled part of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have opposed the idea that they should give up any territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would only accept Russia giving up all claims to land in Ukraine and staging a total withdrawal.

Kissinger: Ukraine Must Give up Land to Russia, Not Humiliate Putin

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## sabang

*Western officials skeptical of claim that there was recently an attempt to assassinate Putin*



Western officials refused to back up a claim that there had been an assassination attempt on Putin.Putin is "firmly in control of his inner circle," one official said anonymously.Ukraine's chief of military intelligence has claimed there was an attempt on his life in March.


.... The officials were also skeptical of increasing rumors that Putin is losing his grip on power due to health issues.

"My observation is that at the moment President Putin is firmly in control of his inner circle, the country, and the decisions which are being made, irrespective of any speculation about his health," an official said. "President Putin is still the decision-maker."

The statement contradicted another claim from Budanov, who told Sky News on May 14 that Putin's power is unraveling and that a coup is under way in the Kremlin. 

FULL-  Putin Assassination Attempt Unlikely: Western Officials

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## harrybarracuda

Anyone who tries to use Kissinger to bolster their argument has already lost.

 :rofl:

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## DrWilly

> Kissinger says Ukraine must give up land to Russia, warns West not to seek to humilia



More Putin apologists.

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## S Landreth

‘I’m never going back’: the high-profile Russian defectors rejecting war

Igor Volobuyev spent two decades working in the heart of the Russian business establishment, first for Gazprom and then for its affiliate Gazprombank, where until February this year he was vice-president.

Then Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine in late February, and Volobuyev decided he could no longer stand living in Russia. He packed a small rucksack of possessions and a stack of cash, and flew out of the country on 2 March, pretending he was going on holiday.

A few days later, he crossed from Poland into Ukraine, where he spent his childhood years. Now, he spends his days trying to convince officials to provide him with Ukrainian documents and allow him to sign up for military service.

“I want to go to the place where I can defend my homeland with a weapon, I’m trying every day,” he said, in an interview in the suburbs of the capital, Kyiv. “I am never going back to Russia.”

Hundreds of thousands of Russians are believed to have fled the country since Putin launched the war, and many intellectuals, journalists and activists have voiced their opposition to the conflict. However, among the political and business elites, defections have been extremely rare. Despite reports of widespread dismay over the invasion of Ukraine, only a tiny handful of people have spoken publicly to condemn the war.

On Monday, Boris Bondarev, a career diplomat posted to the Russian mission to the UN in Geneva, became the highest-level Russian diplomat to denounce the war. When he resigned, Bondarev published a scathing letter in which he wrote that he was “ashamed” of his country and called the invasion a “disaster”.

Bondarev said he made his mind up to resign on the day Russia launched its invasion, but it took months to gather the resolve to go public.

Like many fellow diplomats, Bondarev had remained in his post over the past decade, despite Russia’s growing isolation due to a series of crises, including its annexation of Crimea and the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.

“You understand that it is wrong,” he said in a telephone interview. “That it’s not good. But it doesn’t really touch you, your life. These bad things they happen somewhere far away. It’s not right but that’s how most people think.”

“But now this is totally different: Russia attacked another country. This is Ukraine who we always considered to be our brothers and attacked them in the most brutal manner. Bombing cities. Claiming them to be Nazis and denazified. It’s something ridiculous. It’s something unimaginable.”

Bondarev said he believed many of his fellow diplomats were also opposed to the war, but he never discussed it with them. “It isn’t something you really talked about with other people, it isn’t something you can speak about openly these days,” Bondarev said. “Everyone is silent.”

Volobuyev said that after 2014, he had started to speak openly about his concerns over Russian politics in the workplace, and while many people were scared of getting involved in a discussion, he felt that most people he knew agreed at least partially.

“In Gazprom there were a few passionate Putinists, but the majority of people understood exactly what kind of country they lived in. A lot of people in Russia are just scared,” he said.

“You have this internal censorship, that it’s dangerous to say certain things, and you live with this permanently. Ukrainians look at this and they don’t understand it because they are a free people,” he said.

Volobuyev grew up in the Ukrainian city of Okhtyrka , and left for Moscow in 1989, when he was 18. After spending some time in journalism, he joined Gazprom, where he worked for 15 years before moving to become one of Gazprombank’s vice-presidents in 2015.

As he tells it, he was originally a supporter of Putin, and voted for him in 2012, but his “eyes were opened” by the Maidan revolution in 2014 and subsequent Russia-backed war in Donbas. He wanted to return to Ukraine then, but said he could not, for family reasons, about which he declined to elaborate.

“It was a choice between my homeland and my family, and at that time I chose my family. On 24 February this year, I understood I could not put it off any longer,” he said.

Volobuyev was a mid-ranking cog in the Gazprom machine; among the higher business echelons few people have dared to break ranks.

Oleg Tinkov, a self-made billionaire who set up one of Russia’s leading banks, has so far been the most outspoken public opponent of the war among the business elite. In one of a series of critical Instagram posts, Tinkov wrote: “I don’t see ANY beneficiary of this crazy war! Innocent people and soldiers are dying.”

After his statements, Tinkov said he was forced to sell his assets at a knockdown price to an oligarch loyal to the Kremlin. In an interview with the Russian journalist Yury Dud, he said he was sure that the entire business elite backed his statements but were too scared to say the same publicly.

“I have spoken to 12 of the top 20 on the Forbes list personally, and they all support me, there is a full consensus,” he said.

He said half of those he had spoken to justified their silence by claiming to fear for their tens of thousands of employees, who could be affected if they fell out of favour with the Kremlin.

“The other half say, ‘We’ll make a statement and then lose our business, like you, and then what, what have you achieved?’”

Putin has referred to those who oppose Moscow’s actions as “scum and traitors”, whom the Russian people will “spit out like a fly”. In the current climate it is clear that public opposition to the war makes it dangerous to return to Russia.

Bondarev said he was worried about the response to his statement and said he would “welcome” an offer of asylum in the west. Tinkov has said he has hired bodyguards.

As a Russian citizen of Ukrainian origin, Volobuyev’s position is a little different. His arrival in Ukraine has given him a feeling that he has finally returned home, he said. But he accepts that he has a lot of work to do to persuade Ukrainians of his sincerity.

“All these years, I said I was Ukrainian but I continued to live and work there. I understand that I have to repent, and to prove for many years that I should be allowed to live here and that I can be trusted,” he said.

_______________


Alleged Wagner Group fighters accused of murdering civilians in Ukraine

Two alleged Wagner Group fighters from Belarus have been accused of murdering civilians near Kyiv, making them the first international mercenaries to face war crimes charges in Ukraine.

Ukrainian prosecutors late on Tuesday released the names and photographs of eight men wanted for alleged war crimes – including murder and torture – in the village of Motyzhyn. Several are believed to have fought in Syria.

They say five are Russian soldiers, one is a Russian mercenary with the Wagner Group and the final two are Belarusian mercenaries.

The Guardian has previously reported on the alleged involvement of the soldiers named by prosecutors on Tuesday in the systematic torture and murder of civilians in Ukraine including the head of the village council and her husband and son.

There have been reports of Wagner fighters on the ground in Ukraine, but these are the first charges against allegedly serving mercenaries, and the first non-Russians charged.

Established in 2014 to support pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Wagner is allegedly funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a powerful businessman who is closely linked to Vladimir Putin and has faced western sanctions.

Russia has used paid fighters to bolster its forces since the start of the war. It was estimated to have deployed between 10,000 and 20,000 mercenaries from Syria, Libya and elsewhere, including Wagner Group fighters, in its offensive in Ukraine’s Donbas region, a European official said last month.

A survivor had previously described to the Guardian how Russian soldiers who were perpetrating a sadistic killing spree lasting days in the village had described Ukraine as a “fairytale” compared with Syria.

Prosecutors said Sergey Vladimirovich Sazanov 51, born in the town of Rechitsa in Belarus, was one of about 300 Wagner mercenaries who participated in a February 2018 offensive in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor. They cited the open source research group InformNapalm.

Another man, Alexander Alexandrovich Stupnitsky, 32, a native of Orsha in Belarus, was identified as a liaison officer for the assault platoon of the Wagner Group’s 1st reconnaissance and assault company.

The third man identified as a Wagner member, Sergey Sergeevich Sazonov, 33, was born in Kaliningrad and is allegedly the driver of the Wagner Group command vehicle.

Denis Korotkov, an expert on the Wagner Group, confirmed that two of the suspects had previously worked for the mercenary company. “Sazonov and Stupnitsky are in my files,” Korotkov told the Guardian. He said it was unusual for Belarusian citizens to fight with the group, because they could face jail sentences for it.

“It is likely that Sazonov and Stupnitsky fought in Syria,” he added. “They don’t have a particular reputation, just regular Wagner soldiers.”

None of the accused men are in custody, and prosecutors believe they may since have been relocated to frontline positions in the Donbas, where Putin has positioned most of his armed forces following their retreat from the area around Kyiv.

“There is a possibility that these men are still fighting in Ukraine, or that they will be killed during the fighting,”said Oleh Tkalenko, a senior prosecutor in the Kyiv region. “We are still working on it and we will do everything possible to arrest them.”

Tkalenko said the investigation was based on photographic evidence, CCTV footage and reports of hundreds of survivors who confirmed the identities of their torturers.

Only three men survived the torture camp in Motyzhyn.

After killing the civilians, the soldiers buried them in mass graves around the camp. In one, investigators found the corpse of Olga Petrivna, the head of the village council of Motyzhyn, together with her husband and son. Petrivna had chosen to stay in the town and coordinate aid and territorial defence when the Russians arrived.

Tkalenko said that Ukrainian authorities had so far identified more than 5,000 Russian soldiers who were deployed north of Kyiv. “We are keeping records of all prisoners of war, and we know which ones committed war crimes.”

The list of alleged war criminals includes 15 other Russian soldiers charged with human rights abuses during the brutal month-long occupation of towns north of Kyiv.

Anna Neistat of the Clooney Foundation for Justice said Ukraine’s general prosecutor’s office had signalled that it wanted to lead the overall effort while showing a willingness to accept help from the international community.

“They are very active. To date they’ve opened 11,000 cases,” said Neistat. “For the first time in decades, in a conflict situation, we have a national prosecutor who is able to lead these investigations and it’s absolutely right” that Ukraine has made seeking justice for atrocities committed by Russian troops a priority and national prosecutors are risking their lives to collect evidence of war crimes even in areas still threatened by enemy forces or laced with mines.

“Having said that, there is a danger of the prosecutors are getting overwhelmed because it’s huge number of cases,” said Neistat, who noted that instead of obstructing parallel investigations, the prosecutor’s office had been open to international support and was active in coordinating parallel investigations being launched elsewhere.

There has been unprecedented interest in building cases by foreign prosecutors and NGOs over the crimes committed in Ukraine. More than a dozen national prosecutors outside of Ukraine have opened cases into war crimes or crimes of aggression. The international criminal court opened its investigation just four days after the invasion. On Monday, a court in Kyiv sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for the killing of a Ukrainian civilian, in the first verdict in a trial related to war crimes carried out by the Russian army during its invasion of Ukraine.

_________________

Ukraine: The Commission proposes rules on freezing and confiscating assets of oligarchs violating restrictive measures and of criminals

Today, the European Commission is proposing to add the violation of EU restrictive measures to the list of EU crimes. The Commission is also proposing new reinforced rules on asset recovery and confiscation, which will also contribute to the implementation of EU restrictive measures. While the Russian aggression on Ukraine is ongoing, it is paramount that EU restrictive measures are fully implemented and the violation of those measures must not be allowed to pay off. Today's proposals aim to ensure that the assets of individuals and entities that violate the restrictive measures can be effectively confiscated in the future. The proposals come in the context of the ‘Freeze and Seize' Task Force, set up by the Commission in March.

Making the violation of EU restrictive measures an EU crime

Firstly, the Commission is proposing to add the violation of restrictive measures to the list of EU crimes. This will allow to set a common basic standard on criminal offences and penalties across the EU. In turn, such common EU rules would make it easier to investigate, prosecute and punish violations of restrictive measures in all Member States alike.

The violation of restrictive measures, meets the criteria set out in Article 83(1) TFEU, as it is a crime in a majority of Member States. It is also a particularly serious crime, since it may perpetuate threats to international peace and security, and has a clear cross-border context, which requires a uniform response at EU level and global level.

Accompanying the proposal, the Commission is also setting out how a future Directive on criminal sanctions could look like in a Communication with an Annex. The potential criminal offences could include: engaging in actions or activities that seek to directly or indirectly circumvent the restrictive measures, including by concealing assets; failing to freeze funds belonging to, held or controlled by a designated person/entity; or engaging in trade, such as importing or exporting goods covered by trade bans.

Once the EU Member States agree on the Commission's initiative to extend the list of EU crimes, the Commission will present a legislative proposal based on the accompanying Communication and Annex.

Reinforcing EU rules on asset recovery and confiscation to EU restrictive measures

Secondly, the Commission is putting forward a proposal for a Directive on asset recovery and confiscation. The core objective is to ensure that crime does not pay by depriving criminals of their ill-gotten gains and limiting their capacity to commit further crimes. The proposed rules will also apply to the violation of restrictive measures, ensuring the effective tracing, freezing, management and confiscation of proceeds derived from the violation of restrictive measures.

The proposal modernises EU asset recovery rules, among others, by:

Extending the mandate of Asset Recovery Offices to swiftly trace and identify assets of individuals and entities subject to EU restrictive measures. These powers will also apply to criminal assets, including by urgently freezing property when there is a risk that assets could disappear.
Expanding the possibilities to confiscate assets from a wider set of crimes, including the violation of EU restrictive measures, once the Commission proposal on extending the list of EU crimes is adopted.
Establishing Asset Management Offices in all EU Member States to ensure that frozen property does not lose value, enabling the sale of frozen assets that could easily depreciate or are costly to maintain.

Members of the College said:

Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová said: “EU sanctions must be respected and those trying to go around them punished. The violation of EU sanctions is a serious crime and must come with serious consequences. We need EU-wide rules to establish that.  As a Union we stand up for our values and we must make those who keep Putin's war machine running pay the price”     

Commissioner for Justice and Consumers, Didier Reynders, said: “We must ensure that persons or companies that bypass the EU restrictive measures are held account. Such action is a criminal offence that should be sanctioned firmly throughout the EU. At present, divergent criminal definitions and sanctions as regards the violation of the restrictive measures can still lead to impunity. We need to close the loopholes and provide judicial authorities with the right tools to prosecute violations of Union restrictive measures”.

Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson said: “Crime bosses use intimidation and fear to buy silence and loyalty. But usually their greed means embrace of a rich lifestyle. That always leaves a trail. Now the European Commission is proposing new tools to fight organised crime by following this trail of assets. This proposal allows Asset Recovery officers to trace and freeze: trace where the assets are and issue an urgent freezing order. The tracing allows assets to be found and the urgent freezing gives time for courts to act. This proposal will cover new types of crime including firearms trafficking, extortion, to the tune of 50 billion. Our proposal also goes after unexplained wealth. Those at the top of criminal gangs will no longer be insulated from prosecution. Lastly the criminalisation of sanctions violation mean that reaction time against rogue actors is much quicker.”

Background

Restrictive measures are an essential tool for defending international security and promoting human rights. Such measures include asset freezes, travel bans, import and export restrictions and restrictions on banking and other services. Currently, there are over 40 regimes of restrictive measures in place in the EU and the rules criminalising the violations of such measures vary across Member States.

The Union has put in place a series of restrictive measures against Russian and Belarusian individuals and companies, as well as sectoral measures some of which date back to 2014. The implementation of EU restrictive measures following the Russian attack on Ukraine shows the complexity of identifying assets owned by oligarchs, who hide them across different jurisdictions through complex legal and financial structures. An inconsistent enforcement of restrictive measures undermines the Union's ability to speak with one voice.

In order to enhance Union-level coordination in the enforcement of these restrictive measures, the Commission set up the ‘Freeze and Seize' Task Force. Besides ensuring coordination among Member States, the Task Force seeks to explore the interplay between restrictive measures and criminal law measures. So far, Member States reported frozen assets worth €9.89 billion and blocked €196 billion worth of transactions. On 11 April, Europol, jointly with Member States, Eurojust and Frontex, launched Operation Oscar to support financial and criminal investigations targeting criminal assets owned by individuals and legal entities covered by EU sanctions.

Restrictive measures are only effective if systematically and fully enforced, and violations punished. Member States are already required to introduce effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties for violations of restrictive measures. However, some Member States use much broader definitions, others have more detailed provisions in place. In some Member States, violation of restrictive measures is an administrative and a criminal offence, in some purely a criminal offence, and in some, restrictive measures violations currently only lead to administrative penalties. This patchwork enables persons subject to restrictive measures to circumvent them.

The Commission has also published today a progress report on the implementation of the EU Security Union Strategy, which highlights the security threats stemming from Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine. The report emphasizes the need of a coordinated EU approach on a range of issues and highlights that fight against organised crime is one of the top priorities for the EU in ensuring a Security Union for all.

----------


## Norton

> Shishimarin’s charge, “violation of the rules and customs of war," is punishable by 10 years to life imprisonment.


Ok, fair nuff but if war crimes trials against folks in previous wars become the norm, the prison construction industry is in for a huge windfall.

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## sabang

I'm not sure of their progress, given the 'News blackout' but there are war crimes trials happening in Russia too. My guess is it will all end in a prisoner swap.

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## S Landreth

115 Russian national guard soldiers sacked for refusing to fight in Ukraine

More than 100 Russian national guardsmen have been fired for refusing to fight in Ukraine, court documents show, in what looks to be the clearest indication yet of dissent among some parts of security forces over Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

The cases of the 115 national guardsmen, a force also known as Rosgvardia, came to light on Wednesday, after a local Russian court rejected their collective lawsuit that challenged their earlier sacking.

According to the courts decision, published on its website, the lawsuit was dismissed after the judge determined that the soldiers had been rightfully fired for refusing to perform an official assignment to fight in Ukraine and instead returned to a duty station.

The appeal took place in Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkarian republic in the Russian Caucasus, where the unit is based.

Since Moscows invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, its military has reportedly been plagued by poor morale, with reports of soldiers claiming they did not know they were going to war until they crossed into Ukraine.

The Pentagon said this month that it had seen anecdotal reports that mid-grade officers at various levels, even up to the battalion level, had either refused to obey orders or were not obeying them with the expected measure of alacrity.

Andrei Sabinin, the lawyer who represented the 115 soldiers, said the courts decision was unprecedentedly quick given the complexity of the case.

I express doubts about the fairness of the process as a whole because my clients were denied to call up certain witnesses and several documents were rejected by the court.

According to Sabinin, the commanders of the Rosgvardia unit offered the soldiers the option not to fight and their dismissal was illegal.

Russia created Rosgvardia, a militarised force separate from the army, in 2016 to fight terrorism and maintain public order. Since its inception, members of Rosgvardia, which is often referred to as Vladimir Putins private army, have mostly been involved in crackdowns on peaceful anti-government protests.

Military analysts have linked Russias heavy use of Rosgvardia soldiers in Ukraine to Moscows strategic aims of capturing and holding major Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv and the capital, Kyiv. These plans failed, while Rosgvardia units suffered heavy casualties after Ukrainian cities remained battlegrounds rather than being captured by Russia, which left Rosgvardia units exposed to Ukrainian attacks.

Documents acquired by the Guardian on Friday from a separate criminal case against a Siberian journalist further reveal Rosgvardias role in Ukraine.

Mikhail Afanasyev, the chief editor of Novy Fokus in the Russian region of Khakassia, was arrested by security forces last month over the websites reporting on a separate Rosgvardia unit that also refused deployment to Ukraine.

Court testimonies given by members of the Rosgvardia unit mentioned in Afanasyevs reporting confirm earlier reports that 11 Rosgvardia from Khakassia refused to fight.

The testimonies also give weight to suggestions that the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine was intended initially as a blitzkrieg attack on Kyiv with the aim of capturing the capital.

In one testimony, a Roskgvardia soldier told the court that his commander instructed his unit three days prior to the invasion that they would be sent to Ukraine to patrol the streets and intersections of Kyiv.

_____________


Two Russian soldiers plead guilty in war crimes trial

Two Russian soldiers on Thursday pleaded guilty to war crimes in the second such trial of the unprovoked war in Ukraine.

*Driving the news:* State prosecutors asked for Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov to be jailed for 12 years for shelling a town in eastern Ukraine, a violation of the laws of war, Reuters reports.


The two captured Russian soldiers acknowledged that they were involved in shelling in the Kharkiv region, which destroyed an educational establishment in the town of Derhachi.The defense lawyer asked for leniency for the soldiers, saying they were following orders."I am completely guilty of the crimes of which I am accused. We fired at Ukraine from Russia," Bobikin said in court proceedings, per Reuters."I repent and ask for a reduction in the sentence," Ivanov said.

*The big picture:* Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian soldier, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for committing war crimes during Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.


Shishimarin was found guilty of firing several shots at and killing an unarmed resident in a Sumy village near the Russian border.Shishimarin's trial is believed to be the first war crimes trial since Russia's invasion began in February.

*What to watch:* The final verdict is set to take place on May 31, per Reuters.

________________


Ukraine charges 8 Russian soldiers, mercenaries in killings of mayor and family

Five Russian soldiers and three mercenaries have been charged with the murder of a Ukrainian mayor and her family in a Kyiv region village, Ukraine's prosecutor general Irina Venediktova said Tuesday.

*Driving the news:* Venediktova alleged in a Facebook post the soldiers and mercenaries from Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization with ties to Russia's President Vladimir Putin, "kidnapped Olga Sukhenko, her husband and son from their home in the village of Motizhyn" in March.


They allegedly "tortured them, trying to beat out information," Venediktova said. "Just in front of the mother, they first shot her son in the leg and then killed him with a shot in the head. The whole family died from multiple gunshot wounds," she continued."In addition to killing, torturing and holding prisoners ... the suspects also bombarded and [torched] the homes of civilians and stole mobile phones," Venediktova added.Their bodies were discovered in a shallow grave near their village, some 30 miles west of Kyiv, on April 2, after Russian forces pulled out of the capital, per the New York Times.

*The big picture:* Venediktova said last month that her office had opened 5,600 cases of alleged war crimes by Russian soldiers since the start of the invasion.


Prosecutors have also filed criminal charges against 10 Russian soldiers accused of war crimes in Bucha, where at least 300 Ukrainians were tortured and killed.A Ukrainian court last week sentenced a 21-year-old Russian soldier to life in prison for committing war crimes during the invasion.

*For the record:* The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected the war crimes allegations and denied that its forces target civilians.

_________________

*Extra*


Biden rebukes Putin in Naval Academy commencement address

President Biden on Friday urged this years graduating class of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy to be stewards of strong American leadership abroad as the world faces major challenges including Russias war in Ukraine.  

You are graduating at an inflection point, not only in American history but in world history, Biden said in the commencement address at the Naval Academy graduation in Annapolis, Md. The challenges we face, the choices we make are more consequential than ever. Things are changing so rapidly that the next 10 years will be the decisive decade of this century.  

He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of literally trying to wipe out the culture and identity of the Ukrainian people by attacking schools, hospitals and other sites in the war that began more than three months ago.  

A direct assault on the fundamental tenets of rules-based international order. Thats what youre graduating into, Biden said.  

The president called for strong, principled, engaged American leadership on the world stage and underscored the importance of alliances such as NATO, which he argued has been strengthened by the war in Ukraine.   

He NATO-ized all of Europe, Biden said of Putin.  

Biden delivered the commencement address during a time of intense domestic and international problems. In recent days, the president has been largely focused on the tragic mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 children and two teachers, though he did not speak about the shooting during his speech. 

He largely used the address to prepare the roughly 1,200 graduating midshipmen for the challenges ahead, repeating his belief that the world is in the midst of a global struggle between autocracies and democracies.  

The graduates, he said, will be representatives and defenders of our democracy on the world stage.  

Biden also reflected on the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former Navy officer buried on the academys grounds, saying he hoped McCains legacy would help guide the midshipmen in their service. He called the former GOP presidential nominee a man of great principle and an American hero.  

I cannot promise you the way will be straight or the sailing will be easy, but I can promise you that you all have the tools needed to navigate any waters you encounter, Biden said as he closed the speech. You are ready. https://thehill.com/news/administrat...ement-address/

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## OhOh

^NaGastan armed forces' SOP, hide behind Ukraine citizens skirts.

28 May, 03:05*

DPR shelled with Tochka-U missile system deployed to Seversk silo - top brass * 

In addition, the colonel general  said that nationalists had set up ammo depots at the poultry factory in  Kazachya Lopan, Kharkov Region

MOSCOW,  May 27. /TASS/. 

_"Ukrainian nationalists open fire against settlements in  the Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) using a Tochka-U missile system and  multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) deployed at the Seversk grain  silo, triggering Russian troops to return fire, Colonel-General Mikhail  Mizintsev, chief of Russias National Defense Management Center, said on  Friday.
_
_"A Tochka-U missile system and MLRS have been deployed at the granary in Seversk," he said.
_
_"Moreover, the nationalists are continuously shelling populated  localities of the Donetsk Peoples Republic, provoking the Russian Armed  Forces to return fire, so as to blame Russian troops for alleged  indiscriminate strikes on civilian infrastructure, in accordance with  the scenario they have worked on before," said Mizintsev, who heads the  Russian Joint Coordination Headquarters in Ukraine.
_
_In addition, the colonel general said that nationalists had set up  ammo depots at the poultry factory in Kazachya Lopan, Kharkov Region.  Military equipment is in its hangars, while the factorys employee are  held as hostage in the basement of one of the administrative buildings.
_
_Ukrainian  nationalists have set up strongholds and deployed artillery pieces and  multiple rocket launchers (MLRS) in a school and college in  Kramatorsk, Mizintsev said.
_
_"Armed nationalist formations have set up strongholds and deployed  artillery pieces and MLRS in Lyceum No. 65 and Kramatorsk Vocational  Education Center No. 47 on Yubileynaya Street in Kramatorsk. They are  also holding residents of nearby houses on the premises of the  educational institutions under the pretext of security," said Mizintsev,  who heads the Russian Joint Coordination Headquarters in Ukraine.
_
_Additionally, the territorial defense battalions set up firing points  and snipers nests in residential buildings on Klotchkovskaya Street in  Kharkov and on Tsiolkovsky Street in Konstantinovka of the Donetsk  Peoples Republic.
_
_"However, none of the civilians has been evacuated from the buildings," the general noted."_

https://tass.com/defense/1457163

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## David48atTD

Russia pummels eastern towns in bid to encircle Ukraine forces as Kyiv steps up calls for weapons


As Kyiv intensifies its calls for longer-range  weaponry from the West to help it fight back in the Donbas region,  Russian forces are stepping up their assault on the Ukrainian city of  Sievierodonetsk, after claiming to have captured the nearby rail hub of  Lyman.

*Key points:*
Russia has claimed control of a critical railway hub but Ukraine says the battle for the town continuesFrench President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have spoken to Russian President Vladimir PutinIn his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says "Donbas will be Ukrainian" 

*Slow, solid Russian gains in recent days point to a subtle momentum shift in the war,* now in its fourth month.
The  invading forces appear close to seizing all of the Luhansk region of  Donbas, one of the more modest war goals the Kremlin set after  abandoning its assault on Kyiv in the face of Ukrainian resistance.

On  Saturday, local time, Russia's Defence Ministry said its troops and  allied separatist forces were now in full control of Lyman, the site of a  railway junction, west of the Siverskyi Donets River in the Donetsk  region that neighbours Luhansk.

Ukraine's train system has ferried arms and evacuated citizens through Lyman, a key railway hub in the country's east.
Control  of that hub also would give Russia's military another foothold in the  region. 

It already has bridges for troops and equipment to cross the  Siverskiy Donets river, which has so far impeded the Russian advance  into the Donbas.

HERE

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## Norton

> now in its fourth month


A baby as far as wars go. Let's see where things are in 4 years.

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## S Landreth

Kremlin mulls Nuremberg-style trials based on second world war tribunals

The gloating began just days after the missiles began falling on Ukraine. “Get ready for Nuremberg 2.0,” one former Russian diplomat wrote in a WhatsApp message. Vladimir Putin’s invasion to “denazify” the country has always pointed toward a purge and show trials. Now Moscow may seize on that chance.

As Russia holds hundreds of prisoners from the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, its proxies in east Ukraine have floated the idea of holding a “military tribunal” inspired by Nuremberg that observers say would reflect a mass show trial meant to justify Russia’s invasion to the world.

“We are planning to organise an international tribunal on the republic’s territory,” said Denis Pushilin, the leader of a Russian-controlled territory in the Donetsk region. A model could be the Kharkiv trial of 1943, he said, when the Soviet military tried, convicted and executed three Germans and one Ukrainian by hanging. One key audience was the world press. Photos of the hangings were printed in Life magazine.

Whether the Kremlin will follow through with such a gruesome spectacle remains unclear, but the idea has found backers in the foreign ministry and among top MPs who have angrily declared that there should be no prisoner exchanges of the soldiers captured in Mariupol. The head of annexed Crimea said that a tribunal in Russian-occupied east Ukraine, where local authorities support the death penalty, would serve as a “lesson for everyone who forgot the lessons of Nuremberg”.

The signalling of a great political trial has raised fears that Russia is about to pass yet another grisly landmark in its reliving of the second world war, simulating a triumphant legal process that would taint the legacy of the Nuremberg verdict. One expert called it an Orwellian distortion of the postwar language of human rights.

It would be “a political trial whose aim is to present a particular narrative about the war that supports the argument about denazification that Putin has been putting forward, that supports his claim that Ukraine is being run by Nazis and that supports his claims that there are direct links between the Ukrainian collaborators during the second world war and Ukrainian soldiers today”, said Francine Hirsch, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal after World War II.

“I think it’s going to be used to try to present what we in the west understand as a fiction as if it’s a reality. That’s what show trials do.”

With a growing focus on Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including an international investigation into the massacre of civilians in towns such as Bucha, some observers believe that Moscow may launch a military tribunal as a counter-process as more atrocities are revealed.

“They’re trying to create a counterbalance because of all the talk of the international criminal court and the Ukrainian prosecutions” for war crimes said Philippe Sands, a professor of law at University College London and author of East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity.

“I suspect … they’re creating another form of leverage for what’s going to come in due course.”

Sands has been part of an effort now under discussion to form a special criminal tribunal to try Russia for the crime of aggression, a charge that was originally coined at the Nuremberg trials of 1945-46 by a Soviet lawyer as “crimes against peace”.

He said there was an irony to Russia’s embrace of a Nuremberg-style process that would ignore any charges for launching an illegal war against Ukraine.

“For me, the crime of aggression is the beating heart of this whole issue,” said Sands. “At the end of the day, if Putin had not gone to war, none of the other crimes would have taken place.”

As part of the history of the second world war, the Nuremberg trials remain a deeply personal issue for the Kremlin. The decision to propose a military tribunal is a dive deeper into what one former adviser called a historical “mania”, where terms like “denazification” are seen as having the potential to mobilise the Russian public.

The Kremlin “thinks this is what the public wants to see … to feel themselves a part of history”, said the former adviser, who has worked with Putin.

He also said he believed that senior officials had bought into their own propaganda about the resurgence of nazism in the west.

History appears to be the wellspring for both the Kremlin’s propaganda and state policy. Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia’s security council and a top Putin ally, said in an interview this week that its policies for the “denazification” of Ukraine were exactly the same as in Nazi Germany in 1945.

“It’s fanaticism,” the adviser said.

The Nuremberg trials that convicted Nazi war criminals reflected the political divisions of the times. Western representatives were concerned that the Soviets treated them as a repeat of their own show trials of the 1930s. The Soviet judges were appalled when Winston Churchill gave his famous “iron curtain” speech about the menace of communism while the trial was in progress.

Today, Russia has wielded the trial as a shield against accusations of the crimes under Stalin. After the European parliament condemned Russian state propaganda in 2019 for “whitewashing communist crimes and glorifying the Soviet totalitarian regime”, Putin shot back that the statement “challenged the conclusions of the Nuremberg trials” and could “undermine the foundations of the entire postwar Europe”.

“There’s a narrative about Nuremberg that has become really significant. It’s a narrative where the Soviets are the heroes and the Soviets are the victims but they weren’t responsible for any kinds of crimes,” said Hirsch. “There’s a way in which Nuremberg has really become a part of Russia’s patriotic education.”

Now there are new concerns that Russia could use a tribunal modelled on a glorious past to whitewash its new invasion of Ukraine.

“If these kinds of things happen we need to be ready for it and journalists need to really think about how do you cover this,” said Hirsch. “How do you cover something that you know is play-acting but is deadly?”

________________


Putin Accused of Staging Meetings With Public As People Reappear in Photos

Questions have been raised about whether an encounter Vladimir Putin had with Russian soldiers was staged.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin said that the Russian president had visited a hospital to meet with servicemen wounded in the Ukraine war.

Accompanied by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, images released by the Kremlin pool show Putin shaking the hands of servicemen at Moscow's Mandryk military hospital.

Putin met with hospital staff and asked one soldier about his nine-month old son, whom the Russian leader said would be proud of his father, according to a Rossiya 1 TV post shared on Telegram. Russian soldiers were confronted with "mortal danger" and so should be treated as "heroes," Putin said.

But eagle-eyed social media users had an unnerving sense of déjà vu. "Putin met with a wounded soldier who, by a strange coincidence, was also a factory worker he previously met," tweeted Adam Rang, a disinformation volunteer who monitors Kremlin messaging.

Ukrainian racing car driver Igor Sushko tweeted the same picture with the message, "In case you were wondering how #Putin can possibly risk being in the presence of regular #RussianPeople. He never does."

Russia has passed tough laws in which those convicted for propagating "fake news" about the country's military can face jail sentences of up to 15 years.

For years, speculation has swirled over whether photo opportunities featuring the Russian leader intended to highlight his credentials as a man of the people were genuine encounters or stage-managed PR operations involving members of the Federal Protective Service.

In August 2021, the independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta reported how a visit by Putin to a cement factory in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan may not have been all it was cracked up to be.

Some locals noticed that three of the employees in high-vis jackets who posed next to Putin in the photo of the president were local administration workers.

In August 2017, social media users also noticed the similarity between those pictured next to Putin at the Yuriev Monastery in Novgorod and individuals surrounding the Russian leader on a fishing expedition and other events.

These images were also shared by Rang who said the appearance of regime-connected individuals posing in different roles has been well documented for more than a decade. The pictures are dubbed "Konservi" which means conserves or tinned goods.

"Despite the huge investment in propaganda by Putin's regime, it's sometimes surprisingly easy to spot ways in which his media appearances have been stage-managed," Rang told Newsweek. "It's difficult to fake authenticity when, for example, you are terrified of meeting ordinary Russian citizens."

"It may be quite effective most of the time for a domestic audience where scrutiny is severely restricted but it also highlights the reality of an insecure and out of touch authoritarian dictator who is most at ease at the end of comically long tables," he added.

_________________


U.S. awards $624 million contract to replenish Stinger missile stock

The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon Technologies a $624 million contract to produce 1,300 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to replenish its stock after sending around 1,400 of the missile systems to Ukraine in response to Russia's unprovoked invasion.

Why it matters: U.S. lawmakers voiced concerns in April that the diversion of Stinger and Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine could leave the U.S. militarily vulnerable and called on President Biden to replenish supplies.

U.S. allies, such as Germany, also sent Stinger systems to Ukraine to help thwart Russian air assaults throughout the invasion.

The big picture: Raytheon said in a release Friday that the contract is being funded through the $40 billion military and humanitarian aid package that Congress passed for Ukraine earlier this month.

Greg Hayes, chief executive of Raytheon said during an earnings call in April that increasing the production of these missiles "is going to take us a little bit of time."

The company said Friday that the contract includes "provisions for engineering support, as well as the test equipment and support needed to address obsolescence, modernize key components, and accelerate production."

_____________


WHO condemns Russia for mounting attacks on Ukraine health facilities

At least 75 people have been killed and 59 injured in attacks on Ukrainian health facilities and personnel since Russia began its unprovoked invasion, according to World Health Organization data this week.

Driving the news: The WHO has verified over 240 attacks on Ukrainian health care since Feb. 24. On Thursday, it passed a resolution condemning Russia's attack on Ukraine, particularly on the country's health system.

The big picture: The resolution notes that Russia's invasion is "causing a serious impediment to the health of the population of Ukraine, as well as having regional and wider than regional health impacts."

It also urges Russia to "immediately" cease all attacks on health care facilities and to "fully respect and protect" personnel engaged in medical duties.

Between the lines: Russia had proposed a counter-resolution that expressed "grave concerns over the ongoing health emergency in and around Ukraine," but did not include its role in causing that emergency.

WHO member-states rejected the resolution.

What they're saying: "As children and families seek safety, the medical services they rely on must be protected," the WHO in Ukraine said on May 5.

"The disruption of health services across Ukraine has been catastrophic, compounded by displacement and the fact millions of people remain trapped in conflict areas unable to move," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a pledging conference for Ukraine this week.

"This puts health workers, care workers, services and infrastructure, and the health of millions of health workers at severe risk," he added.

"But even worse than disruptions to health services are attacks on health care. Let's be clear, attacks on health are a violation of international humanitarian law. This is utterly unacceptable."

----------


## sabang

*Russia Controls Almost All of Luhansk as It Makes Gains in Eastern Ukraine*


Russia controls 95% of Luhansk, which makes up the northern half of the Donbas region

by Dave DeCamp Posted onMay 27, 2022


Russia continues to make territorial gains in eastern Ukraine and now controls 95% of Ukraines Luhansk oblast, which makes up the northern half of the Donbas region.


The pro-Kyiv governor of Luhansk said Friday that Ukrainian forces might be forced to retreat from the near-surrounded cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, the last hold-outs in the region.

We will have enough strength and resources to defend ourselves. However, it is possible that in order not to be surrounded we will have to retreat, said Governor Serhiy Gaidai.

As the war grinds on in the east, Ukrainian officials are starting to admit that their military is facing a dire situation and are pleading for the US and its allies to send more advanced weapons.

Ukrainian volunteer soldiers told _The Washington Post_ that they felt abandoned by the government in Kyiv as they were fighting in the east. In a video posted on Telegram, Ukrainian volunteers said they werent properly trained and didnt have sufficient equipment or support to fight on the front lines.


We are being sent to certain death, a volunteer soldier said in the Telegram video. We are not alone like this, we are many.


The _Post_ spoke with a volunteer company commander and his lieutenant who retreated to a hotel away from the front. After the interview, the men were arrested by Ukrainian military security services and accused of desertion.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/05/27/...stern-ukraine/

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## sabang

A well balanced article, I think. Deserves to be in the News thread. And yeh, seriously- it wasn't exactly hard to take Kerson, was it? Almost like it had been organised in advance.



_Many civilians in Kherson say they believe key civilian and military officials ‘surrendered’ the region and that they feel abandoned.


Kyiv, Ukraine – The Syvash, or the Rotten Sea, is what really divides Crimea from mainland Ukraine.
It is a labyrinth of lagoons, salt marshes, wetlands and quagmires with only three strips of land wide and firm enough for the roads that link the peninsula with the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson.


Greeks, Mongols, Turks, Russians and Nazi Germans focused on Syvash crossings while invading or defending Crimea, a trade hub that connected Eurasian steppes with the Mediterranean.

After Russia’s annexation of the peninsula in 2014, Ukraine shut down the railway, making a bridge and a dam near the town of Chonhar the point of entry for thousands of people and cars.

The bridge, dubbed “Crimea’s back door”, along with two other crossings on the Perekop isthmus, was studded with explosives Ukrainian servicemen were instructed to blow up in case of a Russian invasion of the mainland.
Except they did not.

Early on February 24, Russian troops shot at a handful of border guards and servicemen, seized the crossings and poured into Kherson.




Tens of thousands of soldiers, hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles trudged northward spreading across the Belgium-sized province.

“Had they blown up the bridge on Chonhar, nothing would have happened,” Olena, a resident of Henichesk, a resort town on Kherson’s Azov Sea coast, told Al Jazeera.

“They used to say it had been mined since 2014. Turns out it wasn’t,” she said.

Ukraine’s defence ministry refutes such claims.

“The bridge was mined, but we faced enemy forces that outmanned us 15 times,” it said in a statement on April 26.

Bridges to blow

It was not the only bridge the Russians had to cross.
Kherson is an arid region of flat, treeless steppes that sits in the delta of the Dnipro, Europe’s fourth-longest river.

Dozens of its tributaries and irrigation canals crisscross Kherson turning swaths of farmland into virtual islands connected by bridges.
Many of them were also supposed to be destroyed, turning each crossing into a logistical nightmare – or a kamikaze mission in case of fire from the Ukrainian military.

“In case of retreat or assault these bridges should have been blown up, but it hasn’t been done,” Kherson’s Mayor Ihor Kolykhaev told the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper on April 5.

But only Vitaly Skakun, a 25 years-old sapper, blasted the bridge on the way to Henichesk – and was killed by the explosion.


The rest of the bridges remained intact – including Antonovskiy which stretches almost 1,400 metres over the Dnipro’s silky-blue waters and is the only direct link between the regional capital, also named Kherson, and the region’s south.

The bridge’s destruction could have halted the city’s takeover for days, if not weeks.

“In the first days, when the fighting was going on, I was sure that they would blow up the bridge, but alas,” a Kherson resident told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity because she “fears for her life” amid daily abductions and arrests.

The biggest war prize

After days of fighting that killed hundreds of Ukrainian servicemen, barely trained militias and civilians, Russians seized the Antonovskiy bridge and rolled into the city of Kherson.

With a population of about 300,000, it became the largest urban centre Moscow seized in Ukraine at the time when the fall of Kyiv and the toppling of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government seemed imminent to many.

Only Mariupol, which lies about 400km (250 miles) to the east and had a population of 430,000, would be a bigger war prize.
But its capture would take Russians 82 days of pummelling that turned most of the Azov Sea port into rubble and ruin, killing an estimated 22,000 civilians.

It took Moscow only a week to seize Kherson, which became its biggest, most strategic and economically valuable war trophy.
For the first time, Russians crossed the Dnipro that bisects Ukraine into the mostly Russian-speaking left bank and the predominantly Ukrainian-speaking right bank.

While the assault on Kyiv and northern Ukraine was complicated by dense forests and was aborted by early April, Ukraine’s south is mostly flat and open.

The Russians started their assault on neighbouring regions of Odesa, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia – and stretched Ukraine’s line of defence by hundreds of kilometres.

Treason?

Moscow trumpeted Kherson’s takeover on March 2.

On the same day, Colonel Ihor Sadokhin of the Ukrainian Security Service, the main intelligence agency, was detained and charged with treason.

Kherson’s key anti-terrorism official was accused of “guiding enemy fire” during the evacuation of law enforcement officers.

A month later, his boss, Kherson’s top intelligence officer, General Serhiy Krivoruchko, was stripped of his rank.

Zelenskyy called him an “anti-hero” but offered no further explanation.


Many civilians in Kherson are adamant that key civilian and military officials “surrendered” the region.

“They surrendered on the very first day,” Halyna, who withheld her last name, told Al Jazeera.

A top official in Kyiv had a far more vulgar answer to why Kherson was taken over so humiliatingly quickly.

“We f*cked up,” presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych, a charismatic public speaker known for his optimistic spiels, 

 on May 9.

“Who, what and how – yes, we will sort it out, and law enforcement agencies are sorting it out, too. Because the biggest question is where there was incompetence and where there was treason,” he said.

A top military expert said that only a detailed investigation and trials will determine what officials failed – or chose not to give an order – to blow up the bridges.

“Undoubtedly, all the preparations didn’t work. That means some people should be held responsible,” said Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy chief of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces.

“There will have to be public trials, because the measure of responsibility is very high,” he told Al Jazeera.

Other observers call the “demining” of Kherson’s bridges a “myth” that tarnishes the heroism of Ukrainian servicemen.

“Attempts to create a myth about the ‘demining’ devalues the feat of Ukrainian forces,” Kyiv-based analyst Aleksey Kushch told Al Jazeera.

“The occupation of southern Ukraine is a tragedy triggered by a monstrous disbalance of military power between Ukraine and Russia, not by mythical treason,” he said.


No more droughts?

Kherson is the beginning of a “land bridge” to separatist-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the adjacent Russian border.
Its hydropower stations – along with the Russia-seized Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – will feed energy-starved Crimea.

Its wheat fields, orchards and rice paddies would lower the price of food supplies that were mostly delivered from Russia’s southwestern Krasnodar region via the hastily built Crimean bridge.

And, most importantly, Kherson’s water already solved Russia’s biggest conundrum in Crimea whose growing population has long surpassed two million.

The Soviet-built North Crimean Canal that begins northwest of the Syvash used to bring 1.5 million cubic metres of Dnipro’s water annually to the arid peninsula covering 85 percent of its water needs.


Ukraine dammed the canal in 2014, and “agriculture has been cancelled”, Valery Lyashevsky of Crimea’s State Committee on Water told Al Jazeera in 2014.

Several giant reservoirs shrank, and shortages were so severe that the water supply was at times limited to several hours a day.

One of the first things Moscow did after seizing Kherson was to blow up the dam, but it took weeks for the water to fill the badly damaged canal and flow down to southern Crimea.

Turncoats

Right after the takeover, Russian occupants seized electronic databases the fleeing Ukrainian intelligence officers failed to erase, Mayor Kolykhayev said.

The occupiers began to pinpoint, abduct and interrogate war veterans, pro-Ukrainian activists and officials.

Some returned home with bruises and wounds, and some have never been seen again.

“People disappear every day,” a Kherson resident told Al Jazeera.


Dozens of people were forced to record videos in which they reject their anti-Russian stance.

“I underwent a complete course of de-Nazification,” each of them said in conclusion referring to the term Russia’s President Vladimir Putin used to describe his initial goal in Ukraine.

A string of former officials and public figures became turncoats, including former Kherson Mayor Vladimir Saldo who fled to Russia in 2014.

Others include members of the disbanded pro-Russian Party of Regions and its successors.

However, their administration of the region is “disjointed”, with military and civilians operating out of sync, an ex-separatist commander claimed.

“No one has clear instructions about what to do,” Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer who spearheaded the rebel takeover of Donetsk in 2014, said on Telegram on April 10.

“Even the military is uncoordinated. Commanders communicate using Ukrainian SIM cards, no one understands anything, decisions are spontaneous,” he wrote.

Pro-Ukrainians do not hide their schadenfreude.

“They will soon be at each other’s throats like rats in a barrel,” Olena from Henichesk said.

But some locals support the invaders, especially the elderly nostalgic about their Soviet-era youth.

They reject what Ukrainian officials and survivors say about the killings and raping of civilians by Russian servicemen.

“These are perverse fantasies,” said Natalya Primakova, a cosmetics distributor in Henichesk.

“Stories from Henichesk won’t be interesting to you, we have no tribulations, rapes and blood-thirst,” she told Al Jazeera in a brief interview.

Abandoned by Kyiv?

However, an anti-Russian resident corroborated her claim about the absence of widespread killings or torture of civilians that took place in Bucha and other Kyiv suburbs.

“They quietly, calmly help people. One can take as much flour, grain, sugar, all in sacks. If it wasn’t for them, there would have been famine,” the resident told Al Jazeera.

She said that many in Kherson feel abandoned by the central government and the West – especially in comparison with Mariupol, the defence of which was front-page news worldwide.

“People are imprisoned and nobody remembers them. Only Mariupol, but what about us?” she said.

Thousands leave even though crossing directly into Kyiv-controlled areas is impossible.

They travel thousands of kilometres via Crimea to get to western Russia and cross into the European Union, she said.

Asked about when she thinks Ukrainian forces would take Kherson back, she answered laconically: “Never.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/...raines-kherson

_

----------


## harrybarracuda

Is there some kind of voluminous cut and paste waffle award sabang is going for?

He's the clear leader, even outpacing his fellow wanketeer, hoohoo, and that's some going.

----------


## Hugh Cow

Is it just me or is it only Sabang  who seems to revel in any advance made by his murdering mates by trying to disguise it as an alternative view? As if it somehow justifies his stance on what should have been done to placate the war criminal Putin.  Russia is heading inexorably towards a financial armegeddon that will take years for it to recover from. Its Armed forces will be even further behind NATO than it is now as it will take years to replace the amount of equipment it has expended let alone the loss of personell. Hopefully the west (mainly Europe) has learnt that trading with totalitarian countries does not work. 
The quicker they have an organised decoupling from China the better as well. Hopefully the world will learn that human rights and trade go hand in hand.

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## harrybarracuda

No you're right, sabang has been cheerleading this massacre from the start.

----------


## sabang

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Roman Dudin, Head of Ukraine’s Security Service in Kharkiv Oblast, for negligent performance of his duties and promised that law enforcement would investigate his case.

"I convened a meeting with the leadership of the [Kharkiv] oblast and the city [of Kharkiv]. I thanked them for having stood and continuing to stand with Kharkiv residents, with Ukraine, and – what’s particularly important right now – with one another. There is perfect cooperation between the army, the police, the mayor of Kharkiv, and the oblast state administration – they are all truly working to bring our victory closer and are doing so very effectively.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the local leadership of the Security Service of Ukraine. When I got here, I looked into it, and I fired the head of the Security Service in the oblast for selfishly caring only about his own interests rather than working to defend the city from the first days of the full-scale war. Law enforcement officers will find out what his motivations were."

Background: Roman Dudin was appointed Head of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv Oblast in 2020 by President Zelenskyy.
He was born on 13 March 1983 in the city of Dnipro. After his military service, he was hired by the Security Service of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. In 2013, he was transferred to the main directorate of the Security Service in Kyiv.

Earlier:

On 1 April, President Zelenskyy fired General Serhii Kryvoruchko from his position as the head of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kherson Oblast for "antiheroism".The Security Service found out that Yevhen Balytskyi, former people’s deputy from the Block of Yulia Tymoshenko party, was collaborating with the Russian occupiers.

Zelenskyy fires Kharkiv Security Service Head and hands him over to law enforcement

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## sabang

Sergey Lavrov, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, has said that Russia’s absolute priority in the war against Ukraine is to capture Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts; he added that people who live in other Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine will have to "decide their future" themselves.

Source: Lavrov in an interview for French TV channel TF1, cited in the Kremlin-aligned Russian news media RIA Novosti and in TASS
Quote from Lavrov: "The liberation of Donetsk and Luhansk oblast, which the Russian Federation recognises as independent states, is an absolute priority."

Details: At the same time, the Russian minister said that in other Ukrainian territories where Russia is conducting its "special military operation", the people who live in those territories will have to "decide their future" themselves.

According to Lavrov, the environment created by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine "banned Russian education, media, culture, and the use of the Russian language in everyday life." In contrast, Lavrov claimed that in the environment that Russia will foster, those who live in Russian-occupied territories "will be able to raise their children however they want, not how Zelenskyy and his team want them to."

Lavrov also tried to argue that the extended duration of Russia’s "special operation" in Ukraine was due to the absolute ban on any attacks on civilian infrastructure that the Russian military has to observe. However, it has been widely reported that Russia has been destroying civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

Lavrov names Russias "absolute priority" in the war against Ukraine

----------


## Switch

^Putins war has moved from the capital, to the Donbas?

Does this represent a move from failure - to success in winning the war, or does it simply ignore failures?

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## harrybarracuda

See I would have thought Russian troops would know the presence of a Ukrainian drone represented a clear and present danger.

But it seems either they aren't well informed or they're a little bit thick.

Russian soldier gives middle finger to Ukraine drone before it blows up tank | The Independent

----------


## S Landreth

Russia Readies New Bond-Payment Plan in Bid to Avoid Default

Russia is planning a bond-payment mechanism to sidestep US sanctions and a potential default as a grace period ticks down on its latest missed coupons.

The proposal would allow foreign investors to open accounts in Russian banks in both rubles and hard currency, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper. Unlike the previous payment system, investors will be able to access the funds without restriction, he was cited as saying.

Russia is back in default countdown as coupon payments in euros and dollars worth about $100 million had yet to trickle through to foreign investors accounts as of Friday evening, effectively triggering a 30-day grace period.

The transfers were complicated last week when the US Treasury allowed a sanctions loophole to expire, barring US banks and individuals from accepting bond payments from Russias government.

The next slate of payments -- worth about $400 million and due in June -- will take place outside Western financial infrastructure, Siluanov said in an interview shown Monday by Chinese state-run broadcaster CGTN.

Pimco Fund Added to Russia Swap Exposure in Weeks Before War

The proposed structure is a reverse-image of the way European nations currently pay for Russian gas, he said.

This is how it works for gas payments: we get foreign currency, then it is converted to rubles on behalf of the gas buyer, Vedomosti cited him as saying. The Eurobond settlement mechanism will operate in the same way, but in the opposite direction.

The plan is still being discussed by the government, after which it will be presented to investors and will be ready before the next coupons on June 23-24.

More Conservative

Unlike gas supplies, getting bond interest payments might not be so critical in most cases, said Alexander Dmitrenko, a partner at Ashurst LLP. So on the balance of pros and cons, holders might take a more conservative approach.

For now, investors are watching their accounts for the dollar and euro payments that were due on Friday. Then attention turns to the end of next month.

Two payments due June 23 have clauses that allow servicing in euros, pounds sterling or Swiss francs. Their terms also stipulate that the funds will land with the local paying agent, the NSD.

One day later, $159 million comes due that can only be paid in dollars, via a unit of JPMorgan as foreign paying agent.

I doubt it will work -- for most foreign investors, the procedure for opening an account with a Russian bank may be too difficult, said Alexey Tretyakov, a portfolio manager at Aricapital in Moscow.

Only the largest institutional investors can cope. But they may face reputation risks and risks of sanctions violations when dealing with Russian counterparts.

_____________

Eurovision trophy sold to buy drones for Ukraine 

Kalush Orchestra, the Ukrainian band which won this year's Eurovision Song Contest, have sold their trophy for $900,000 (£712,000; 838,000) to raise money for the war in Ukraine.

The crystal microphone was auctioned on Facebook, with the aim of buying drones for Ukraine's military.

The sale coincided with the band's appearance at a charity concert at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.

It aimed to raise money for medical care and supplies.

Speaking at the concert, band member Oleh Psiuk appealed for people not to get used to the war, which has left at least 4,031 civilians dead and 4,735 injured, according to the UN, along with an unknown number of combatants.

It has also forced more than 14 million people to flee their homes since Russia invaded on 24 February, with towns and cities reduced to rubble.

"I think it should be on the front pages always, until peace comes," said Psiuk, whose Eurovision win had been hotly tipped in the run up to the contest. Their song, Stefania, was originally written in tribute to Psiuk's mother, but emotive lyrics like "I will always walk to you by broken roads" have been re-interpreted as a rallying cry.

Ukrainian TV presenter Serhiy Prytula announced that the money raised from the sale of the trophy would be used to purchase three Ukrainian-made PD-2 drones, Reuters news agency reports.

Drones are used heavily by Ukrainian and Russian forces, both as weapons and reconnaissance aircraft.

_____________

China Closes Airspace to Russian Airbus, Boeing Aircraft

China is prohibiting Russian Boeing and Airbus aircraft owned by foreign leasing companies from flying through its territory.

According to the Russian news outlet RBK (RBC Group), the ban affects equipment whose legal status has not been confirmed following Western sanctions as a result of

According to the report, China has requested proof that the aircraft in question are no longer registered outside of Russia. The sanctions imposed by the West in response to the Russian invasion on February 24 provide context. Because of the military assault authorized by the Kremlin, the EU and the US have banned the supply, maintenance, and insurance of civilian aircraft and spare parts to Russia.

Western leasing companies that have terminated their Russian contractors own a large portion of Russias air fleet. Moscow, for its part, has refused to return the planes and has re-registered them without delay.

In May, the Chinese aviation authorities asked all airlines, not only Russian ones, to update electronic dossiers or portfolios that contain information about aircraft, owners of airlines,
and ground handling contracts. Requesting such portfolios is a standard procedure. As per RBK, the procedure has recently been amended in China.

According to RBK, Russian airlines have been unable to produce such documents. This is why the Chinese aviation authorities, observing international air law, have denied the flights of such planes.

This is a developing story. 

_______________


Independent experts accuse Russia of inciting genocide in Ukraine

Independent legal scholars and human rights experts in a report Friday accused Russia of inciting genocide and perpetrating atrocities that reveal an "intent to destroy the Ukrainian national group."

Driving the news: There is "a very serious risk of genocide" and states have a legal obligation to prevent it, warned the the report signed by more than 30 experts and published by the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy and the Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.

Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide is defined as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

Acts of genocide to those groups include killings, serious bodily or mental harm, measures to prevent births, and forcible transfer of children from one group to another.

Friday's report said that a "genocidal pattern of destruction targeting Ukrainians" has been established in Ukraine, citing mass killings, deliberate attacks on shelters, evacuations routes and humanitarian corridors, the destruction of vital infrastructure, including health care, reports of sexual violence, and the forcible transfer of Ukrainians, including thousands of children to Russia.

The report also said that there are "reasonable grounds to conclude" Russia is responsible for "direct and public incitement to commit genocide."

It cited high-ranking Russian officials and state media commentators denying the existence of a Ukrainian identity, justifying atrocities through propaganda that dehumanizes Ukrainians and Russian authorities denying atrocities committed by its forces in Ukraine and rewarding soldiers suspected of mass killings in the country.

The purveyors of incitement propaganda are all highly influential political, religious and State-run media figures, including President Putin, the report said. There is mounting evidence that Russian soldiers have internalized and are responding to the State propaganda campaign by echoing its content while committing atrocities.

The big picture: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly accused Russia of carrying out genocide, pointing to atrocities committed in Ukrainian cities like Bucha and Mariupol, and mostly recently during Russia's military offensive in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

The UN said Friday that more than 4,000 civilians, including over 260 children, have been killed since Russia began its invasion on Feb. 23, though it stressed the actual figure is likely considerably higher. Russia has repeatedly denied it targets civilians, despite evidence contradicting those claims.

President Biden first used the term "genocide" last month, saying Russian President Vladimir Putin is "trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian." But other leaders have been more reluctant to label Russia's actions in Ukraine as "genocide."

The International Criminal Court, which can bring about war crimes and genocide charges, announced earlier this month it had sent 42 experts to Ukraine  its "largest ever" single field deployment  to investigate alleged war crimes.

The bottom line: "We understand there is a reluctance to invoke the Genocide Convention ... but in this instance, the pervasive and systematic atrocities targeting Ukrainians mandate these determinations and the responsibility to act," Irwin Cotler, international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre, said in the afterword of Friday's report.

----------


## DrWilly

> See I would have thought Russian troops would know the presence of a Ukrainian drone represented a clear and present danger.
> 
> But it seems either they aren't well informed or they're a little bit thick.
> 
> Russian soldier gives middle finger to Ukraine drone before it blows up tank | The Independent




 :rofl:

----------


## malmomike77

> See I would have thought Russian troops would know the presence of a Ukrainian drone represented a clear and present danger.
> 
> But it seems either they aren't well informed or they're a little bit thick.
> 
> Russian soldier gives middle finger to Ukraine drone before it blows up tank | The Independent


well they won't recognise any German weapons

Germany has not sent promised large arms to Ukraine, leaked documents show

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/05/29/germany-has-not-sent-promised-large-arms-ukraine-leaked-documents/

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## sabang

You gotta love the nomenclature. Everywhere else, a Bond payment is called exactly that- except in Russia of course, where it is a 'Bid to avoid default'.  :smiley laughing: 
Just to remind you, Russia has never defaulted on a Bond payment.

----------


## bsnub

> Russia has never defaulted on a Bond payment


That is a lie. They defaulted in 1998. Nice try.

Russia Likely to Miss Interest Payment for First Time Since 1998 Crisis

----------


## harrybarracuda

European Union leaders said they had agreed on Monday to cut 90% of oil imports from Russia by the end of this year, resolving an impasse over the bloc's toughest sanction yet on Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine three months ago.

Diplomats said the agreement would clear the way for other elements of a sixth package of EU sanctions on Russia to take effect, including cutting Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank SBMX.MM, from the SWIFT messaging system.

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

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## Norton

> India, China, Pakistan etc are grateful. Russia don't care, it has turned it's back on Europe and announced it. Pay in rubles, or fvck off. Well done guys.


Sure they are grateful all at Russia's and other nations expense. Putin's dream of restoring the late not really great Soviet Union will, in the end, be a disaster Russia may not recover from.

The longer he continues his craziness the worse it will be for Russia. Best he do what has worked well for a few nations. Declare victory and leave. Don't wait too long Vlad. A huge bus is coming and more than a few will enjoy throwing your ass under it.

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## bsnub

When considering the current position of the war in Ukraine, it’s  worth remembering that the assumption of Russian commanders when they  began their “special military operation”, was that the whole thing would be complete within two weeks. So much for assumptions. What they face now is a protracted attritional battle which may go on for years.

  In terms of manpower, the Russians have committed 110 of their 190 battalion tactical groups (BTGs)  to Ukraine. Roughly one third of them have been committed to the area  the Ukrainians call the “joint forces operation”, which we know as  Donbas. Their intentions now are to surround and destroy a large defending Ukrainian force. They have made very slow and heavy work of it so far. 

  On May 27, the long-contested town of Lyman fell to Russia  and fighting is going on to complete the encirclement of Severodonetsk  and its twin town (across a river) of Lysychansk. There has been no  major breakthrough but rather a series of bloody, short advances for the  past few weeks. 

  There is no finesse in the Russian style – nor was any expected. This  is a slogging match of artillery, the bombardment of trench systems and  buildings and street fighting. 

Casualties are very high. A very conservative estimate  of overall Russian losses is that they have lost more troops killed  since February 24 than in ten years of fighting in Afghanistan. This  implies well over 40,000 men taken out of the fight, including the  wounded.

                When considering the current position of the war in Ukraine, it’s  worth remembering that the assumption of Russian commanders when they  began their “special military operation”, was that the whole thing would be complete within two weeks. So much for assumptions. What they face now is a protracted attritional battle which may go on for years.

  In terms of manpower, the Russians have committed 110 of their 190 battalion tactical groups (BTGs)  to Ukraine. Roughly one third of them have been committed to the area  the Ukrainians call the “joint forces operation”, which we know as  Donbas. Their intentions now are to surround and destroy a large defending Ukrainian force. They have made very slow and heavy work of it so far. 

  On May 27, the long-contested town of Lyman fell to Russia  and fighting is going on to complete the encirclement of Severodonetsk  and its twin town (across a river) of Lysychansk. There has been no  major breakthrough but rather a series of bloody, short advances for the  past few weeks. 

  There is no finesse in the Russian style – nor was any expected. This  is a slogging match of artillery, the bombardment of trench systems and  buildings and street fighting. 

Casualties are very high. A very conservative estimate  of overall Russian losses is that they have lost more troops killed  since February 24 than in ten years of fighting in Afghanistan. This  implies well over 40,000 men taken out of the fight, including the  wounded.

As for Russian equipment   at least 736 tanks, over 1,200 armoured fighting vehicles and infantry  fighting vehicles as well as 27 combat aircraft and at lest 42  helicopters have been destroyed. Losses are likely to be higher,  possibly far higher in the case of tanks and armoured vehicles.

  Some commentators are asking whether the Russian military is “broken”.  This is a somewhat premature assessment. That said, after this phase  has culminated – certainly in the next few weeks – Russian forces will  be unable to conduct any major offensive action in Donbas and will take  up defensive positions whilst they regroup.  

  The Ukrainians are also taking fearful losses. On 22 May the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, stated that 50-100 troops are being killed every day.  A well connected Ukrainian of my acquaintance told me recently that on  some days the figures are likely to be far higher than that.

  As matters stand, should the Russians succeed in their now very limited aims of securing Donbas in addition to their other gains, we can see how the shape of the war may unfold. Zelensky said in his evening address  of Friday May 27: “If the occupiers think that Lyman and Severodonestsk  will be theirs they are wrong. Donbas will be Ukrainian.”

  On the other side, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said  that Donbas was the “unconditional priority”. This is an impasse, and  there is only one way out of it: continued fighting. The war is likely  to go on for a long time.  

*Thinking for the long-term*

  Ukraine is planning to retake  the land that has been lost. Clearly, their army will need to replace  human casualties in its ranks with recruits and refit old, ravaged units  with newer equipment. It will need to build new brigades and  battalions. 

  In addition to the weapons already supplied by the US and the rest of Nato, they will need long-range precision rocket systems to strike Russian supply lines, as well as far more precision artillery to counter the Russian preponderance.  

  Similarly, in the air, the missiles the Ukrainians possess at the  moment can restrict to some extent Russian freedom above Ukrainian  lines, but cannot challenge them at longer range. This is why the US is considering  supplying Ukraine with Patriot missiles, the highly capable medium  range anti-aircraft missiles, which first came to prominence during the  1990-1991 Gulf war. These are capable of striking Russian aircraft some  distance behind their lines.

But it will take months to train the crews and integrate all of these  new systems – if they even get them – into the Ukrainian armed forces. 

  Away from the cauldron of Donbas, Belarus has been rattling its  somewhat rusty sabre by deploying troops to its border with Ukraine.  This is unlikely to trouble Kyiv. The Belarus president, Alexander  Lukashenko, is well aware that he may need them at home to shore up his  shaky regime. 

  The troops are there to “fix” some Ukrainian forces in the north,  keeping them at the border so that they cannot reinforce another sector.  To the south, the Russians are not likely to get much further than they  are now, they simply don’t have the forces necessary to do so. 

*Battle for Odesa*

  Finally, the naval dimension of this war is sometimes sidelined, save for spectaculars like the sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, or the battles for Snake Island at the start of the campaign and since. Both of these operations were part of the effort to try to challenge for access to the sea via the port city of Odesa.

  The former supreme commander of allied forces in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis,  was right when he said “unblocking Odesa is as important as providing  weapons to Ukraine”. Having a working port on the Black Sea is the  difference between Ukraine being a landlocked and blockaded failing  state, and regaining its previous status as a mercantile nation. 

  It is this which may soon place Odesa centre stage, as Nato is considering convoying international merchant vessels  in and out of the port.  Such a decision, unlikely soon but perhaps  inevitable in the longer term, would  carry with it great risk.

  This is a major European war of global and historical importance  involving all military dimensions (land, sea, air, cyber and space) and  where the stakes are national survival. In the absence of decisive and  complete military victory and concession, neither of which are likely,  the war will rage on. When the current phase of the battle for Donbas  finishes, it is likely simply to constitute the end of the beginning.

https://theconversation.com/ukraine-...ginning-183955

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## Norton

> Ukraine war: despite Russia’s success in Donbas this is only the end of the beginning


Good overall analyse of the war. Most certainly this will be the case.




> What they face now is a protracted attritional battle which may go on for years.


Declare victory and leave now Vlad.

----------


## sabang

_Moscow has diversified its commodities exports as the EU faces the difficult task of replacing Russia as its energy supplier, analysts say.

About a month after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden hailed the West’s “unprecedented sanctions” on Moscow and said they had caused the rouble to be “almost immediately reduced to rubble”.
The Russian currency lost nearly half of its value, dropping to a record low of 143 roubles to the United States dollar on March 7.
Following the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Western nations imposed widespread sanctions on Moscow targeting its finances, including freezing its central bank assets to block access to foreign currency reserves.
In the first few weeks, panic ensued as the public tried to acquire as much cash as possible from the banks and to buy goods as the price of imported items shot up. Consumer prices rose by 17.5 percent in April.
But the following month, the Russian rouble rebounded to 40 percent against the dollar compared to January, reaching a seven-year high and becoming the world’s best-performing currency in 2022.


Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand that foreign buyers pay for the country’s natural gas in the local currency – or else have their supplies cut – helped prop up the local currency, among other measures.
Iskander Lutsko, chief investment strategist at ITI Capital, told Al Jazeera three factors have been supporting the rouble: “escalating oil prices due to sanctions, capital controls, and a drop in dollar demand and excess FX [foreign exchange] liquidity due to high FX revenues from exports of oil and gas”.
Due to sanctions and capital controls, an “artificial and highly supportive environment” was created for the rouble, Lutsko said. Last week Russia’s central bank made its third interest-rate reduction in over a month to halt the rouble from appreciating.
As a result, the Russian banking system experienced excess FX liquidity that led to a drop in dollar rates, historically very rare.


Energy markets expert Vyacheslav Mishchenko told Al Jazeera that Russian financial authorities successfully managed to deal with the emotional reaction of the population and businesses at the onset of the war.
“The price hike was caused by [the] first emotional reaction, because it put a lot of pressure on customers to buy everything,” Mishchenko said.
“But then the beginning of April, the situation returned to normal. The supply is there. Yes, there are some troubles with importing goods, but there aren’t too many. The price hike was mostly on the psychological side, rather than on the economic side.”
As the European Union continued talks last month on phasing out Russian energy supplies, Putin maintained that Europe is “committing economic suicide” with its sanctions, as it would see higher energy prices and higher inflation.

‘Honeymoon period’

Analysts say Russia has so far made correct manoeuvres to withstand the effect of sanctions; the question is whether the West will be able to weather its own sanctions.
Lutsko said the first five months of sanctions have been “more like a honeymoon period” for the Russian economy, but as Europe makes the tough decision to embargo oil and gas, “there will be very little the Russian government could do”.
With Russia accounting for almost 20 percent of global oil and petroleum products combined and 17.5 percent of the world’s gas, making it the largest exporter in the world, there will be implications, Lutsko said.
The government has become reliant on oil and gas as its main source of income, which now accounts for 65 percent of its budget, compared to only 30 percent prior to the invasion of Ukraine.




The EU has been discussing reducing dependency on Russian energy, and after haggling for a month, it decided on Monday to ban 90 percent of Russian oil imports to the EU by the end of the year, part of the bloc’s sixth sanctions package. The EU finalised the decision on Thursday.
The ban applies to Russian oil exported to the EU by sea, exempting the 10 percent of imports by pipeline following Hungary’s opposition that it cannot easily get oil elsewhere. Slovakia and the Czech Republic also voiced the same concerns.

‘A huge discount’

Lutsko said that so far, sanctions have been beneficial for the Russian government as it has created huge volatility in commodity prices.
By March 2, oil had surged beyond $110 per barrel, whereas before it went for $60 per barrel.
And in the first quarter of the year, Russia recorded a historic high trade surplus of $58bn.
“The US and Europe, by imposing sanctions on Russia, they are at the same time shooting themselves in the foot,” Lutsko said.
“It’s highly unfortunate, especially for the world’s largest importers of oil. Some have benefited like China; they have been buying oil from Russia for a huge discount … It’s more of a problem for consumers like OECD Europe [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] and Southeast Asian countries,” Lutsko said.
“I think the whole purpose of those sanctions is created more for psychological pressure and to show that … actions are being taken, that they’re not just watching. But obviously, they haven’t taken into consideration the real impact [sanctions] will have – especially for the poorest countries.”


‘Disrupting the supply’

Mishchenko said when it comes to damage inflicted from sanctions, so far “Russia benefits from the situation much better than the EU.
“The demand for commodities is very high. Nobody can replace Russia on the global markets, especially on energy commodities. The more tension there is between Russia and Western countries, the higher prices there will be in specific commodities like we see in the gas market,” Mishchenko said.
“Despite the restrictions, the dispute, the ban of some routes, seaports, etc, Russia exports less in terms of volume but gets more in terms of money. It puts a lot of pressure on the dollar and euro, but the Russian rouble is doing very well.”
About 36 percent of the EU’s oil imports and more than 40 percent of its gas comes from Russia.
Mishchenko said Russia has been diversifying its exports for decades to other markets in the east, including India, China, Southeast Asia and other regions where there is key demand.



China is now Russia’s biggest trade partner, whereas prior to 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and sanctions ensued, its biggest trade partner was Germany.
Similarly prior to 2014, Russia was one of the world’s biggest importers of food; today, it is a net exporter.
In the last three months, India has bought four times more crude oil from Moscow than it used to in the same period, becoming Russia’s top crude oil buyer, Mishchenko said.
Moscow is now earning a significant amount in oil export revenue – $20bn per month, an increase of 50 percent since the start of 2022.

FULL-  ‘Shooting themselves in the foot’: Western sanctions on Russia | Russia-Ukraine war | Al Jazeera



_

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## S Landreth

U.S. goes after more Russian yachts linked to Putin in expanded sanctions

The Treasury Department on Thursday said it expanded its Russian sanctions to further crack down on Moscows access to yachts as the U.S. continues to punish President Vladimir Putin for his decision to invade Ukraine.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control announced that its latest actions target a Kremlin-aligned yacht brokerage, several prominent Russian government officials, and Putins close associate and money manager, Sergei Roldugin.

Specifically, the Treasury blocked the use of two ships  the Russia-flagged Graceful and the Cayman Islands-flagged Olympia, saying Putin has used them for travel in the past.

While the leader of Russia, Putin has taken numerous trips on these yachts, the Treasury Department said in a press release, including a 2021 trip in the Black Sea where he was joined by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the OFAC-designated corrupt ruler of Belarus, who has supported Russias war against Ukraine.

The U.S. and its allies have imposed a raft of unprecedented sanctions on Russias economy since Moscow attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24.

American officials also said financial penalties will be extended to companies and individuals who owned or managed the two boats, including Cyrus-registered SCF Management Services, Ironstone Marine Investments, JSC Argument and ONeill Assets Corp.

The OFAC said it will target two other ships, Shellest and Nega. Shellest, officials said, occasionally travels to the coast where Putins infamous Black Sea palace is located, while Nega ferries Putin for travel in Russias north.

U.S. officials have for months said that Russian yacht and yacht management businesses are key to the countrys industrial complex and its web of shell companies that helps Moscows elite channel billions of dollars into luxury assets like superyachts and villas.

Many of Russias wealthiest citizens, with businesses linked to the Kremlin, plow hundreds of millions of profits into yachts: Gold-and-marble bathroom fixtures, decks made of rare wood and sized to accommodate helicopters, cars and several swimming pools.

U.S. financial and law enforcement officials are trying to put pressure on Putin by seizing these the ships as they come to anchor in allied ports.

A report from The New York Times published Wednesday said that Imperial Yachts, a ship management company, caters to oligarchs whose wealth rises and falls based on the decisions made by Putin.

One day later, OFAC said the Monaco-based company and its Russian CEO, Evgeniy Kochman, are now subject to U.S. sanctions.

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## S Landreth

Russian soldiers sentenced in Ukraine war crimes trial

A Ukrainian court on Tuesday sentenced two Russian soldiers to 11 and a half years in prison in the second war crimes trial of the war, Reuters reports.

Driving the news: Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov pleaded guilty last week. "The guilt of Bobikin and Ivanov has been proved in full," Judge Evhen Bolybok said during the sentencing.

State of play: Bobikin and Ivanov acknowledged last week that they were involved in shelling targets in the Kharkiv region, destroying an educational establishment in the town of Derhachi.

Ukrainian prosecutors had asked for the two captured soldiers to be jailed for 12 years.

Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old Russian soldier, was sentenced to life in prison this month for committing war crimes during Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

______________


600 Russians Suspected of War Crimes, Says Ukraines Top Prosecutor

Ukraines top prosecutor says she has identified more than 600 Russians suspected of war crimes.

Criminal prosecutions already have started for 80 of the suspects, which include top military, politicians and propaganda agents of Russia," Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova told a news conference in The Hague.

Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania and Poland also are participating in the investigations, Venediktova said.

In addition, the group is working with the International Criminal Court, which began looking into potential war crimes in March.

"We should collect and protect everything in the right way. It should be acceptable evidence in any court," Venediktova said.

Russia has consistently denied it has targeted civilians following its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

_________________


Mass civil legal action to seek compensation for Ukrainian war victims

A consortium of Ukrainian and international lawyers is preparing to launch a mass civil legal action against the Russian state, as well as private military contractors and businesspeople backing the Russian war effort, in an attempt to gain financial compensation for millions of Ukrainian victims of the war, the Guardian can reveal.

The team, made up of hundreds of lawyers and several major law firms, plans to bring multiple actions in different jurisdictions against different targets, including the UK and the US, said Jason McCue, a London-based lawyer who is coordinating the initiative, in an interview in Kyiv.

The plan is to use UK and US judgments to seize Russian assets across the globe.

Targets are likely to include the Russian state and private military contractors such as the Wagner Group, which is believed to have been active in Ukraine. But McCue said they would also include business figures linked to these contractors, and to the Russian war effort more broadly. He believes that it will be possible to go after assets that have already been hit by sanctions as well as those that have not.

The class action will be a private case, independent of the Ukrainian state. But according to McCue, they will need access to Ukraines evidence and intelligence.

The Ukrainian MP and businessman Serhiy Taruta is supporting the initiative by facilitating meetings for the lawyers and investigators with Ukrainian officials.

Taruta, who is from Mariupol and had investments in the city, lost a large chunk of his business when Russia and its proxy forces took more than half of the Donbas region in 2014. This time he lost friends, colleagues and a cousin as Russia destroyed Mariupol while attempting to occupy it.

Ukrainians have waited 20 years for the prosecution of [Pavlo] Lazarenko, and now eight for MH17, said Taruta, referring to a case against Ukraines former prime minister who embezzled millions, and to an ongoing case in The Hague over the downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight in 2014.

We need to develop a quicker mechanism [for compensation], said Taruta. The normal routes are too slow.

Ukraine has already begun prosecuting captured Russian soldiers for war crimes in criminal cases, and other war crime cases may later be tried in international courts. But claims for reparations for the war damage are trickier, and McCue said part of the idea behind speedily launching the case was because reparations on a state-to-state level are rarely possible.

Often when it gets to the negotiations, the issue of reparations is put to one side to focus on the sustainability of peace, he said.

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According to Taruta, individuals who have suffered the loss of a loved one or property or who have been injured will be the primary recipients of the compensation, followed by state and local institutions, and only then businesses. He estimated the total potential claim could be no less than $1tn (£793.9bn).

A number of teams of investigators have come on board to help the team find assets of businesspeople they believe to be complicit in Russias war effort. They include Bellingcat, which has been investigating the activities of the Wagner Group and other Russian private military contractors for some years.

We are closely monitoring the activity of Russias mercenary units in Ukraine, said Christo Grozev, Bellingcats executive director.

We believe that a deep dive into the [Wagner Groups] chain of command and its links to official Russian authorities would not only help bring justice for the victims and their families, but also will bring more public awareness and transparency on how Russia is conducting this war, said Grozev.

A key part of the case will involve pleading that Russias invasion is not just an aggressive war but also falls at least partially under the legal definition of terrorism, which would make it easier to go after assets.

All the legal teams from different countries are satisfied that we have what we need, said McCue. Its very solid.

McCue has extensive experience in similar cases on a smaller scale, the first of which was won on behalf of victims of the 1998 Omagh bombing, in which four men were found liable for the bombing and ordered to pay compensation to families of the victims.

The evidence was with the police but nobody was prosecuting because of the peace process, said McCue, who described how the families approached him. So, we did a civil action, and we won, and we managed to take houses off two of them.

The Ukraine case, which is much bigger in scale, is likely to operate on similar principles, though it will be more focused on winning financial compensation for people who have suffered the loss of their loved ones, property or businesses.

The Omagh case wasnt about money, it was about proving who did it. This case is about money, said McCue.

He conceded that there would be enormous work ahead to verify and rank cases and create a victim hierarchy, and that targeted figures were likely to work hard to move or cover up their assets. However, he said he believed the case had a good chance of succeeding.

What we know is that if we dont do this, people are less likely to get something. This increases the chances, he said.

______________


Top Russian Military Brass Caught Venting: Youre Fucked, PutinMotherfucker!

Two high-ranking Russian military officers have been caught shit-talking Kremlin leadership in unimaginably colorful language. The two colonels blast the defense minister and lash out at that motherfucker Vladimir Putin for his poor strategy in Ukraine, according to a leaked recording of a phone conversation.

While Western and Ukrainian intelligence agencies have routinely reported on plunging morale among rank-and-file Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, many of whom have been heard complaining of dysfunction in intercepted communications, the latest audio appears to be the first to expose frustrations among high-ranking officers.

Radio Free Europes Ukrainian service published the curse-laden recording late Monday, reporting that it was provided by Ukrainian intelligence. One of the men heard in the purported intercepted callidentified as Colonel Maksim Vlasovis no stranger to the eight-year war in Ukraines Donbas. He has been wanted by Ukrainian authorities since 2018 for the 2015 shelling of Mariupolan attack in which he previously implicated himself by carelessly blabbing about it by phone in an earlier intercepted phone call covered by Bellingcat.

The latest recording, dated April 14, is said to show Vlasov and another colonel, Vitaly Kovtun, a doctor at the Naro-Fominsk military hospital said to hold many military honors, raging against the many failures of Putins special military operation in Ukraine.

There are horrible losses of our guys, fuck. And you know, I am familiar with military history a bit, and I compare this to the fucking Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. Its fucking one and the same, said Vlasov, referring to a war in which the Soviets are estimated to have lost 126,875 troops.

Kovtun responds in kind, saying, Shoigu is fucking shit. [There are] no contracted forces. Of course not! Why would there fucking be? They paid them 30,000 rubles [$490], where are they going to get contractees?

Shoigu has assembled all these fucked up [Emergency Situations] guys if we have head of inspection Colonel-General [Pavel] Plat, fuck, hes never even served in the army Vlasov said.

Theyve brought forth a whole stellar cast of bootlickers. That [Alexander} Dvornikov is a legend of fuckery Hes the one who thought up this anti-Banderov push, he said, apparently referring to the Kremlins narrative about Ukrainians all being neo-Nazis.

______________


Biden Says U.S. Agrees To Send Longer-Range Rocket Systems To Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden has agreed to provide Ukraine with advanced rocket systems that can strike with precision at targets up to 80 kilometers away.

"We will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine," Biden wrote in a guest essay in The New York Times on May 31.

Biden said Russia's invasion of Ukraine will end through diplomacy, but the United States must provide significant weapons and ammunition to give Ukraine the highest leverage at the negotiating table.

The United States agreed to provide the high-mobility artillery rocket systems, known as Himars, after Ukraine gave "assurances" that it will not use the missiles to strike inside Russia, a senior administration official said.

The official told reporters that the Himars have a range longer than the howitzers currently deployed by Ukraine. They will be part of a $700 million weapons package expected to be unveiled on June 1.

The weapons package also includes ammunition, counter fire radars, a number of air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank missiles, as well as anti-armor weapons, the administration official said.

But the Himars are the centerpiece of the package, and the pledge to send them comes as the Ukrainians are battling Russian artillery in the Donbas region.

Ukrainian forces could use the rocket systems to both intercept Russian artillery and take out Russian positions in towns where fighting is intense, such as Syevyerodonetsk.

Russia has been making incremental progress as it tries to take the remaining sections of the Donbas not already controlled by Russian-backed separatists. 

_______________


Nobel-winning Russia journalist to auction off prize to support Ukrainian children

Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov has announced that he plans to auction off the money he won from his Nobel Peace Prize in an effort to support displaced Ukrainian children amid Russias ongoing invasion of the country. 

Muratov, who was the editor of the now-suspended news publication Novaya Gazeta, said that the $500,000 prize money will be used to support various charitable foundations, The New York Times reported. 

Muratovs Nobel Peace model will be auctioned off by Heritage Auctions in New York on June 20. One hundred percent of the auctions proceeds will be donated to the United Nations agency UNICEF.

June 20 is also World Refugee Day, according to Heritage Auctions.

One successful bidder will walk away from this auction with a gold medal representing Mr. Muratovs lifes work and sacrifice. Still, it is his wish that EVERYONE participates by donating what they can to UNICEF, the auction website said. The goal is to use this event to foster awareness of refugee crises and for the giving to continue long after the auction on June 20th. 

In an interview last month, Muratov said hes conducting the auction to help support Ukrainians who were displaced due to the conflict, calling the situation a tragedy, according to the Times. 

If we look at the number of refugees, we basically have World War III, not a local conflict, Muratov told the Times. This has been a mistake, and we need to end it.

This comes after Muratov initially announced his plans to auction off his Nobel Prize medal in March, a month into Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Muratov won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize award along with fellow journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines, both recognized for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.

Novaya Gazeta and I have decided to donate the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Medal to the Ukrainian Refugee Fund, Muratov told the Times. 

There are already over 10 million refugees, Muratov added. I ask the auction houses to respond and put up for auction this world-famous award.

Russias invasion of Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has killed thousands on both sides and led about 6.8 million Ukrainian refugees to flee the country to escape ongoing fighting. https://thehill.com/policy/3508897-n...nian-children/

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## sabang

Russia should not close the U.S. embassy despite the crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine because the world's two biggest nuclear powers must continue to talk, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow was quoted as saying on Monday.

President Vladimir Putin has cast the invasion of Ukraine as a turning point in Russian history: a revolt against the hegemony of the United States, which the Kremlin chief says has humiliated Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.

Ukraine - and its Western backers - says it is fighting for its survival against a reckless imperial-style land grab which has killed thousands, displaced more than 10 million people and reduced swathes of the country to wasteland.

In a clear attempt to send a message to the Kremlin, John J. Sullivan, the U.S. ambassador appointed by President Donald Trump, told Russia's state TASS news agency that Washington and Moscow should not simply break off diplomatic relations.

"We must preserve the ability to speak to each other," Sullivan told TASS in an interview. He cautioned against the removal of the works of Leo Tolstoy from Western bookshelves or refusing to play the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

His remarks were reported by TASS in Russian and translated into English by Reuters.

Despite the crises, spy scandals and brinkmanship of the Cold War, relations between Moscow and Washington have not been broken off since the United States established ties with the Soviet Union in 1933.

Now, though, Russia says its post-Soviet dalliance with the West is over and that it will turn eastwards.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month quipped that he would like to dedicate Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" to Putin.

Asked about that remark, Sullivan said: "We also will never break up entirely."

Don't close the embassy, U.S. ambassador tells Russia

You mean, begs Russia not to close the Embassy?  ::chitown::  Shame the US didn't listen to some former US Ambassadors to Russia, such as Jack Matlock.

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## S Landreth

Ukraine needs many more rocket launchers from west, says adviser

Ukraine needs 60 multiple rocket launchers  far more than the handful promised so far by the UK and the US  to have a chance of defeating Russia, according to an aide to the countrys presidency .

Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to the presidents chief of staff, told the Guardian that while he believed the rocket launchers were a game-changing weapon, not enough had been committed to reverse the course of the war.

The less we have, the worse our situation will be. Our troops will continue to die and we will continue to lose ground, especially if countries with only dozens of systems decide to give away four or five, Arestovych said. .

On Monday, Britain announced it would donate a handful of M270 tracked rocket launchers, carrying missiles with a range of around 50 miles, days after the United States announced that they would donate four similar truck-based high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars).

Arestovych said Ukraine needs several times more multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), which have a range far beyond anything in the countrys existing arsenal.

If we get 60 of these systems, the Russians will lose all ability to advance anywhere, they will be stopped dead in their tracks. If we get 40, they will advance, albeit very slowly with heavy casualties; with 20, they will continue to advance with higher losses than now, he said.

The US Army has 363 Himars and 225 M270 rocket launchers, and the US Marines have 47 others, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, while the UK has 35 of its version of the M270s, which which indicates that there might be a capacity to provide more. to Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly said it would step up its offensive in Ukraine if the longer-range rockets were delivered. Sergey Lavrov, Russias foreign minister, said on Monday: The longer the range of weapons you supply, the further the line from which the neo-Nazis are removed. [the Ukrainians] could threaten the Russian Federation will be pushed.

On Sunday, Vladimir Putin said Moscow would hit new targets in Ukraine if the West increased arms deliveries. Early Sunday morning, Russia launched a cruise missile strike on a railway depot in the eastern suburbs of Kyiv, the first time the capital had been hit in more than five weeks.

Ukraines latest public lobbying came as a battle for control raged in the small eastern town of Sievierodonetsk, with Kyiv forces attempting to mount a counterattack after Russia nearly managed to capture it at the end of last week.

Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, where the city is located, said Monday morning that the situation has gotten a bit worse for us, having reached a point where Ukrainian forces had liberated almost half of the city .

Later Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy struck a more pessimistic note, telling reporters in Kyiv that if his countrys forces resist, there are more [Russians] and they are stronger. Ukraines military casualties have been estimated by insiders at 150 dead per day and 800 wounded.

Haidai said the shelling had increased tenfold in Sievierodonetsk and the nearby town of Lysychansk, still held by Ukraine, and that there were other reports of intense fighting involving machine guns, mortars and shelling. artillery involving thousands of soldiers.

Overnight, it emerged that Zelenskiy had traveled to nearby frontlines on Sunday to boost soldiers morale. The President revealed that he made a risky trip to Lysychansk and nearby Soledar which at one point took him within a few miles of Russian positions.

We also brought you something from them, added Zelenskiy in a selfie video posted in the early hours. Its important. We brought confidence. And strength. I wish them health. Low reverence to their parents. I wish us all victory.

Arestovych said Zelenskiy wanted to show his support for the troops because the fighting in the Donbass region was hard enough for us. The president also wanted to push back against Russian misinformation that he sits in his bunker in Kyiv and doesnt care about the front line.

Ukrainian strategists said they tried to induce Russian forces to expand into Sievierodonetsk, hoping to blunt the operational effectiveness of the invasion force. Although 120 Russian battalions remain inside Ukraine, Kyiv believes they are currently operating at 40-50%.

Russia, however, has been making slow but steady progress in the Donbass region, advancing at a rate of around 500 meters to 1 km per day in recent weeks, largely focusing its efforts on an increasingly small from the front line, in the area around Sievierodonetsk where there is a bulge in the positions of Ukraine.

Arestovitch said Ukraines main problem was that, although it was able to inflict losses on the Russians and blunt their advances in the Donbass and on an 800-mile (1,300 km) front line, it was much more difficult to push the occupants back. Military members generally need to secure a battlefield advantage of 3 to 1 or more to have any prospect of victory.

We need four to five heavy weapons brigades to be able to carry out a proper counter-offensive and make it successful. We have the manpower, we dont have the armaments, Arestovych said. Being on the offensive is about five times harder than being on the defensive.

The adviser said his biggest fear was that the West would stop sending arms to Ukraine, because it would return to the original situation before the war, long and static front lines, this time three times as much of our lands having been captured. than before.

----------


## S Landreth

DOJ moves to seize planes owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich

A federal judge on Monday signed off on a warrant allowing the Department of Justice to seize two U.S.-made aircraft owned by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

*Why it matters:* It is yet another step by the U.S. and its allies to seize the assets of wealthy Russians with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

*The big picture:* The U.S. imposed new sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine that included expanded bans on the "export, reexport, or in-country transfer of, among other things, aircraft and aircraft parts...to or within Russia without a license," FBI agent Alan Fowler wrote in an affidavit filed to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.


The two jets belonging to Abramovich are a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and a Gulfstream G650ER.Both aircraft were manufactured in the U.S. and require a special license to be flown from a foreign country into Russia."But no licenses were applied for or issued. Nor was any license exception available, including because the Boeing and the Gulfstream were each owned and/or controlled by a Russian national: Roman Abramovich," Fowler wrote.The Gulfstream jet is believed to be currently in Russia, while the Dreamliner was flown to Russia in violation of regulations in March, and is currently in Dubai.

*Flashback:* Abramovich was sanctioned by the U.K. in March in the wake of Russia's invasion.


In April, the English Channel tax haven of Jersey froze $7 billion of assets believed to belong to him.

_____________


Ukraine: UK justice ministry offers more support for ICC war crimes investigation

The UK Ministry of Justice has announced a second tranche of support for the international criminal courts (ICC) investigations into war crimes in Ukraine, including the deployment of a specialist legal and police team.

Karim Khan QC, the courts chief prosecutor, was due in London on Monday to provide an update on the progress of the investigation, although his trip was later cancelled due to illness. The deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, will present further support to the independent investigation on top of the £1m of funding provided earlier this year.

The package includes a police liaison officer based in The Hague to lead on information sharing between the UK and the ICC, and seven legal experts to support the ICC with expertise in international criminal law and the handling of evidence to be presented to court.

The UK will also provide two police officers with expertise in the collection of intelligence through publicly available data sources, ongoing defence analysis and monitoring of events in Ukraine, as well as war crimes investigation training to Ukrainian police on behalf of the ICC, in collaboration with Norwegian police.

The UK has responded swiftly to a request from the international criminal court for more police and lawyers to aid their investigation into Russian war crimes in Ukraine, Raab said.

Russian forces should know that they will be held to account for their actions and the global community will work together to ensure justice is served.

The attorney general, Suella Braverman, added: Following my appointment of war crimes expert Sir Howard Morrison as an independent adviser to the Ukrainian prosecutor generals office, I am determined that British expertise continues to be available to our friends in Ukraine in their search for justice.

We will stand side by side as they uncover the truth and hold those responsible in Putins regime to account for their actions.

The ICC launched its war crimes investigation into Russias invasion of Ukraine in March after an unprecedented number of countries backed the move and Boris Johnson called the military intervention abhorrent.

The referral by 39 countries shaved several months off the process because it allowed Khan to bypass the need to seek the approval of the court in The Hague.

The British lawyer previously said the push for an inquiry by so many countries allows us to jump-start investigations and came on top of evidence of international concern over events on the ground in Ukraine.

Individuals have rights to have their interests vindicated and for justice to prevail, he said.

That can only take place if evidence is independently and impartially collected and assessed and then, in due course, decisions can be made regarding whether or not theres criminal responsibility, and then the judges ultimately will decide.

The ICC investigation will look back as far as 21 November 2013, when Ukraines then president  Viktor Yanukovych  rejected closer integration with the EU, leading to huge protests that precipitated Russias annexation of Crimea.

Earlier this month, Braverman visited Ukraine and led a delegation of war crimes experts to the region to support the work of the Ukrainian prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova, the Ministry of Justice said.

It added that officers from the Metropolitan polices counterterrorism unit would continue to provide forensic and technical capabilities, such as biometrics and examination of digital devices, as evidence is gathered from potential witnesses in the UK.

The Ministry of Justice is also accelerating conversations with City law firms and barristers to prepare for deployment at a later stage of the investigation.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022...-investigation

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## sabang

Great clickbait anyway. Try and seize more toys owned by Russian Oligarchs deemed to have cordial relations with the Russian President. I mean, how devastatingly important in the scheme of things.  ::chitown::

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## harrybarracuda

> Great clickbait anyway. Try and seize more toys owned by Russian Oligarchs deemed to have cordial relations with the Russian President. I mean, how devastatingly important in the scheme of things.


So in sabang's mind, helping Puffy Putin plunder the nation's assets and hide the money he's stealing is "having cordial relations".

 :rofl:

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## S Landreth

US Treasury Prohibits Investors From Buying Russian Debt

The US Treasury stepped up financial sanctions on Russia by barring investors from buying the countrys debt in the secondary market, bringing trading activity almost to a halt on Tuesday as investors scrambled to understand the new restrictions.

The updated guidance means US firms can hold or sell Russian debt, but cant purchase it, according to a spokesperson for Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control. The rules apply to both corporate and sovereign debt as well as equities.

Banks trading Russian corporate and sovereign bonds have already faced criticism in the US. Senator Elizabeth Warren has blasted them for undermining sanctions, and called out market makers JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for purchasing and making recommendations to clients.

Both are being are being pressed to hand over extensive information on clients trading Russian debt.

The new ban on investors comes as Russia separately tries to avoid a sovereign default by finding a way around sanctions that are preventing it getting money to bondholders.

Two payments of about $100 million in total due May 27 are stuck at Euroclear Bank SA, according to a person familiar with the matter. The funds were transferred from Russias National Settlement Depository.

The blockage means Russia is now deep into a 30-day grace period, at the end of which it could be declared in default. Moscow argues, however, that it fulfilled its obligations when it sent the money to the NSD on May 20.

Surprise Decision

The latest OFAC decision will come as a further blow to funds holding Russian bonds, as it reduces the number of potential buyers of the assets and undermines any remaining value. The update, which was issued on OFACs website late on Monday, caught investors by surprise on Tuesday, prompting many to contact lawyers to determine what the new rules entail, according to people familiar with the matter.

Russias bonds fell around 3 cents on the dollar on Tuesday as banks and brokers marked down their holdings.

Markets usually evaporate almost immediately but its always good policy to allow wind down for at least some time, said Brian OToole, a former senior adviser at OFAC. Probably no one will buy the debt but its still good policy to let folks offload if they can rather than sticking them immediately with a worthless asset.

According to OFACs update, US market participants are prohibited from purchasing both new and existing debt and equity securities issued by a Russian Federation entity. But investors can still sell such assets, or facilitate their sale, to non-U.S residents and may continue to hold them.


____________



$325M superyacht seized by US, leaves Fiji

U.S. authorities took command of a $325 million, Russian-owned superyacht and sailed it out of Fiji's Lautoka harbor Tuesday after the South Pacific nation's Supreme Court lifted a stay that had delayed the seizure.


 
Fiji Chief Justice Kamal Kumar ruled that the chances of defense lawyers mounting a successful appeal were nil to very slim. He said the 348-foot yacht Amadea "sailed into Fiji waters without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States.

The FBI has linked the yacht  featuring a lobster tank, swimming pool and helipad  to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. Mark Lambert, a deputy assistant secretary of State, expressed gratitude to Fiji for collaborating on the seizure.

"It demonstrates the importance of our partnership and our relationship," Lambert said. "The world has spoken and has said that we are going to go after these assets together.

The seizure came one day after U.S. authorities moved to seize a $350 million Boeing jet believed to be one of the worlds most expensive private airplanes from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

Fiji Hands Over Superyacht That U.S. Says Is Tied to Russian Oligarch - The New York Times

______________

Another Russian general killed by Ukrainian forces

Maj Gen Roman Kutuzov was killed leading an assault on a Ukrainian settlement in the region, a reporter with the state-owned Rossiya 1 said.

Alexander Sladkov said Gen Kutuzov had been commanding troops from the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic.

Russia's defence ministry has not commented on the reports.

"The general had led soldiers into attack, as if there are not enough colonels," Mr Sladkov wrote on the Telegram social media app. "On the other hand, Roman was the same commander as everyone else, albeit a higher rank."

Ukraine's military also confirmed the killing of Gen Kutuzov, without offering further details about the circumstances.

His death comes as rumours circulated on social media that a second senior officer, Lt Gen Roman Berdnikov, commander of the 29th Army, was also killed in fighting over the weekend. The BBC cannot independently verify the claims.

Russian commanders have been increasingly forced to the front in an attempt to drive forward the invasion and Moscow has confirmed the deaths of four senior generals.

Kyiv claims to have killed 12 generals and Western intelligence officials say at least seven senior commanders have been killed.

But there has been confusion over reports of the deaths of several other Russian officers. Three generals that Ukrainian forces claimed to have killed have subsequently been reported to be alive.

In March, Ukrainian forces said Maj Gen Vitaly Gerasimov had been killed outside the country's second city of Kharkiv. However, on 23 May Russian state media said he had been awarded a state honour and dismissed reports of his death.

Another commander, Maj Gen Magomed Tushaev, also appeared to be still alive and periodically appears in videos posted to social media.

And on 18 March, Kyiv alleged that Lt Gen Andrey Mordvichev had been killed in an airstrike in the Kherson region. However, he later appeared in a video meeting with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and on 30 May BBC Russia confirmed that he was still alive.

The deaths of generals are rarely officially acknowledged in Russia. In the case of Maj Gen Vladimir Frolov, no information about his death had appeared in state media prior to his funeral in St Petersburg in April.

Russia lists military deaths as state secrets even in times of peace and has not updated its official casualty figures in Ukraine since 25 March, when it said that 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed since President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

In March, an official within President Volodymyr Zelensky's inner circle told the Wall Street journal that a team of Ukrainian military intelligence officers had been tasked with locating and targeting Russia's officer class.

"They look for high profile generals, pilots, artillery commanders," the official said. They added that the officers were then targeted either with sniper fire or artillery.

Last month, the New York Times reported that the US has provided intelligence to Ukraine, allowing them to target a number of the generals who have been killed in action.

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## misskit

Bodies Of 210 Ukrainian Soldiers Who Died In Mariupol Now Repatriated

According to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, 210 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers have been repatriated by the military as of Tuesday.

According to the statement, the POW Treatment Coordinating Staff is working on returning the remains of fallen Mariupol defenders.


Many of the bodies returned to Ukraine were those of the “heroic defenders of Azovstal,” so Ukrainian soldiers at the massive Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, the last bastion of Ukraine’s defense in that southern port city before it fell to Russian forces.


Ukraine’s Coordination Staff is working on behalf of President Volodymyr Zelensky to get the bodies of the deceased returned, along with the bodies of some 2500 prisoners of war believed to be in Russian or Russian-backed custody.


Ukrainian territory must be the final resting place for all fallen soldiers. “Each will be led to the last journey as heroes deserve,” the statement said.


The statement adds that work continues to bring back “all captured Ukrainian defenders.”


CNN’s Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman reported this week that workers at Kyiv’s central morgue examined scores of body bags containing the remains of those Ukrainian soldiers killed in the two-month siege of Mariupol.

As part of the agreement that ended that siege, Ukraine and Russia exchanged bodies.

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/ukrai...w-repatriated/

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## misskit

*Ukrainian forces could pull back from embattled eastern city*



BAKHMUT, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces battling Russian troops in a key eastern city appeared on the cusp of retreat Wednesday, though the regional governor insisted they are still fighting “for every centimeter” of the city.


The urban battle for Sievierodonetsk testified to the painstaking, inch-by-inch advance by Russian forces as they close in on control of the entire Luhansk region, one of two that make up the industrial heartland known as the Donbas.


After a bungled attempt to overrun Kyiv in the early days of the war, Russia shifted its focus to the region of coal mines and factories. The Donbas has been partly controlled by Russia-backed separatists since 2014, making supply lines shorter and allowing Moscow to tap those separatist forces in its offensive there.


But Russia also faces Ukraine’s most battle-hardened troops, who have been fighting the separatists for eight years there.


The result is a slow slog in which both sides exchange artillery barrages that seemingly inflict heavy losses, but neither appears to have the clear momentum.


The grinding war has left thousands dead and driven millions from their homes — and its consequences are felt in many countries where it is driving up the price of food since critical shipments of Ukrainian grain are trapped inside the country.

MORE Ukrainian forces could pull back from embattled eastern city | AP News

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## bsnub



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## sabang

With Vladimir Putin’s bloody war in Ukraine crossing the 100-day mark, the Kremlin seems to be abandoning any pretense of diplomacy. There are several reasons Moscow aborted its initial half-hearted attempts to negotiate with Ukraine, including tangible gains on the battlefront and Western media’s waning attention span. But if Russian state TV is any indication, another reason Putin’s regime is now rejecting the idea of a diplomatic resolution has to do with the approaching midterm elections in the United States.

During the latest broadcast of state TV show _Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov_, participants discussed the price Russia would ultimately have to pay for its intended conquest of Ukraine. Across various state media outlets, the U.S. midterm elections have been mentioned as a potential saving grace that could halt American support of Ukraine and loosen the screws of sanctions against Russia.
 During Solovyov’s show, Andrey Sidorov, deputy dean of world politics at Moscow State University, asked: “Are we going to count on their electoral issues? Will anything change if Republicans prevail in November in the United States?”

The host, Vladimir Solovyov, responded enthusiastically. “Yes, yes, a lot will change. They will calmly say, ‘Why do we need to be involved and send so much of our own money?’” Russian state media has been frequently airing statements showing dissent within the Republican party with respect to U.S. support for Ukraine, often featuring clips from Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News, as well as comments made during public hearings and media appearances by former U.S. President Donald Trump, former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Senator Rand Paul, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Congressman Matt Gaetz.

Echoing popular Republican talking points on Ukraine, Solovyov predicted: “Republicans will come and say, why the hell do we need a corrupt, Nazi Ukraine? They will ask: whom are we supporting? Yes, Russia is bad and the sanctions will stay, but why do we need to keep throwing so much money over there? Our schools lack funding, we have plenty of our own problems. Instead of fortifying the border with Mexico, helping our small businesses, we’ve given that money to corrupt Ukraine and no one knows where it went.”

So far, Western appeals for diplomacy seem to have only encouraged Russia to escalate its military offensive, since they’re perceived as a sign of desperation. During Sunday’s broadcast of Solovyov’s show, Sidorov explained: “In my opinion, the talks about negotiations are designed to keep this conflict going. A ceasefire is needed to secure the transition from Soviet-type weapons of the Ukrainian forces—which they’ve already run out of—to Western types of arms. They need time. They need corridors through which to move them. Under no circumstances should we agree to negotiate.”

Solovyov concurred. “We don’t need any kind of negotiations, because time is on our side and the tempo is working in our favor... They’re arming [Ukrainians] with NATO systems... if they get some howitzers from here, some howitzers from over there, who is going to repair them?” he said. “If you train artillery specialists, but then you find out that you need not only ammunition, but spare parts and repairmen, you need power supply, you need to maintain the whole system… it’s a headache... They need years to deal with this and not just a ceasefire.”

FULL-  https://www.yahoo.com/news/team-puti...193337296.html

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## pickel

^
Solovyov also thinks Russia should nuke most of Europe. Do you think he's right there too?

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## malmomike77

> A ceasefire is needed to secure the transition from Soviet-type weapons of the Ukrainian forces—which they’ve already run out of—to Western types of arms. They need time. They need corridors through which to move them. Under no circumstances should we agree to negotiate.”


I don't think it was soviet weapons the Ukrainians used to knock out 100's of Russian tanks, that was NLAWs etc that take 20 minutes of instruction - there is so much wrong with that "Article" its difficult to know where to start apart from laughing at Sabang taking the time to read it and think its worth posting. :Smile:

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## harrybarracuda

> Sabang taking the time to read it and think its worth posting.


It's fairly evident the title is usually enough for him to get all excited. He rarely reads what he posts, much like the other wanketeers.

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## misskit

Wikipedia fights Russian order to remove Ukraine war information


LONDON (Reuters) – The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, has filed an appeal against a Moscow court decision demanding that it remove information related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing that people have a right to know the facts of the war.


A Moscow court fined the Wikimedia Foundation 5 million roubles ($88,000) for refusing to remove what it termed disinformation from Russian-language Wikipedia articles on the war including “The Russian Invasion of Ukraine“, “War Crimes during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine” and “Massacre in Bucha”.


“This decision implies that well-sourced, verified knowledge on Wikipedia that is inconsistent with Russian government accounts constitutes disinformation,” Stephen LaPorte, Associate General Counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation, said in a statement.


Wikipedia, which says it offers “the second draft of history”, is one of the few remaining major fact-checked Russian-language sources of information for Russians after a crackdown on media in Moscow.


“The government is targeting information that is vital to people’s lives in a time of crisis,” LaPorte said. “We urge the court to reconsider in favor of everyone’s rights to knowledge access and free expression.”


The Moscow court argued that what it cast as the disinformation on Wikipedia posed a risk to public order in Russia and that the Foundation, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California, was operating inside Russia.


The Foundation was prosecuted under a law about the failure to delete banned information. The case was brought by Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wikipedia.


The Wikipedia appeal, which was filed on June 6 with details released on Monday, argues that removing information is a violation of human rights. It said Russia had no jurisdiction over the Wikimedia Foundation, which was globally available in over 300 languages.


Wikipedia entries are written and edited by volunteers.


Narratives of the war, Europe’s biggest ground invasion since World War Two, vary drastically — and have become highly politicised with journalists in both Moscow and the West routinely accused of misreporting the war.


Ukraine says it is the victim of an unprovoked imperial-style land grab by Russia and that it will fight to the end to reclaim the territory that Russian forces have occupied. Kyiv has repeatedly asked the West for more help to fight Russia.


President Vladimir Putin and Russian officials do not use the words “war” or “invasion”. They cast it a “special military operation” aimed at preventing the persecution of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.


Putin also says the conflict is a turning point in Russian history: a revolt by Moscow against the United States, which he says has humiliated Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union and pushed to enlarge the NATO military alliance.


Ukraine and its Western backers deny Moscow’s claims that Russian speakers were persecuted. Kyiv says Russian forces have committed war crimes, including killings, torture and rape in places such as Bucha.


Russia says the alleged evidence of war crimes consists of carefully constructed fakes and that Ukraine and its Western backers have spread disinformation about Russian forces.

Wikipedia fights Russian order to remove Ukraine war information | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

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## harrybarracuda

No misskit, you've got it all wrong. Russia or the chinkies wouldn't censor anything, ask sabang or hoohoo.




 :rofl:

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## misskit

Russia likely to seize control of eastern Ukrainian region within weeks, US official says


As fighting continues in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, causing heavy casualties and leaving Ukrainian forces with dwindling ammunition, a senior U.S. defense official said Russia is likely to seize control of the entire region within a few weeks.


The cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, in Luhansk, are increasingly under duress and could fall to Russia within a week, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.


Ukrainian officials said Russia is bombarding a chemical plant sheltering hundreds of soldiers and civilians in Severodonetsk, a strategic city that is mostly under Russian control after weeks of intense battles. Russia “will throw all their reserves in order to capture the city” within a day or two to take control of the Lysychansk-Bakhmut highway, a vital supply route, predicted Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region.


NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday that the alliance remains hopeful about progress on the membership applications of Finland and Sweden, despite opposition from Turkey.


China’s defense minister appeared to play down his country’s support of Moscow and said it has not supplied weapons to Russia for its war on Ukraine.


Local authorities in western Ukraine said 22 people were injured in a missile strike Saturday evening near Chortkiv. Russia claimed it targeted a warehouse containing missiles.


MORE Russia likely to seize control of eastern Ukrainian region within weeks, US official says | Stars and Stripes

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## S Landreth

Commission will urge EU candidate status for war-ravaged Ukraine

The European Commission will recommend granting Ukraine official status as an EU candidate country, according to several officials familiar with deliberations that took place during a debate among commissioners on Monday.

The debate in the College of Commissioners followed a surprise visit Saturday by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Kyiv, where she discussed Ukraines membership bid with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It was von der Leyens second trip to the Ukrainian capital since Russias full-scale invasion began in late February.

Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have pleaded for official recognition as an EU candidate country, saying the designation would provide an incalculably precious wartime morale boost. They have repeatedly noted that since the Maidan Revolution of 2013-14, Ukrainian citizens have repeatedly risked their lives  and indeed thousands have now perished  fighting for a free, democratic future in the EU.

Officials familiar with the debate among commissioners said there was keen awareness of the sacrifices made by Ukrainians and clear recognition of the need to send a strong message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he has lost any chance of reclaiming Ukraine into his supposed sphere of influence.

The Commission does not forget that Ukraine is the only country in Europe where people died, where people were shot at because they were on the streets carrying EU flags, one senior official said. Now, we cannot tell them, sorry guys, you were waving the wrong flags.'

Recognizing Ukraine as a candidate country ultimately requires the unanimous approval of the 27 heads of state and government on the European Council, who are expected to take up the question at a summit meeting in Brussels next week. Officials and diplomats said that at least three countries were still opposed.

Supporters of Ukraines bid have said that any delay in granting candidate status would be deeply demoralizing for Ukraine as invading Russian forces continue to occupy large swaths of the south and east of the country, and are pressing to conquer the entire eastern Donbas region.

In recent weeks, some leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have suggested that it would be more useful to grant Ukraine some sort of interim status that strengthens its relations with the EU. Macron has said that even if Ukraine is recognized as a candidate country, it would take more than a decade under existing accession procedures for Ukraine to join the bloc.

Moldova and Georgia have also applied for candidate status, and officials said that commissioners were generally supportive of Moldova, where a staunchly pro-EU government is now in place, but that they were less confident about Georgia, which has suffered from pervasive political turmoil and notable democratic backsliding in recent years.

In discussions about candidate status for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, many EU officials and diplomats have noted the sensitivity given the slow pace of accession for Western Balkan countries, including North Macedonia, which was declared a candidate country in 2005; Montenegro, which received the designation in 2008; and Serbia and Albania, which were recognized as candidates in 2009.

Mondays debate among commissioners touched on broader issues related to what an expanded EU might look like in the future, including whether there would continue to be one commissioner from each member state. The discussion also touched on the possibility that at the upcoming summit, some EU leaders might try to impose conditions on Ukraines candidacy or return to the idea of granting some new designation that stops short of official candidacy.

An Elysée Palace official echoed Macrons comments that candidate status, if granted, was just the start of a far longer process.

Once Ukraine potentially gets the candidate status, we must also see when the negotiation opens, the official said. And you know that the methodology of EU membership foresees a negotiation by chapters and a reversible negotiation according to how the country evolves. Therefore, there are demands that correspond to the EU standards and anyway, those will be very demanding for Ukraine.

France currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU and, as such, has a key role in preparing the European Council debate.

Ill remind you, the French official added, all the other candidates  have been waiting sometimes for a very long time.

In Kyiv, Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of Ukrainian President Zelenskyys office, said officials were working in overdrive to win over EU governments not yet convinced that Kyiv should get candidate status at next weeks summit.

We really deserve the next logical step, which is candidate status, Zhovkva told POLITICO. Its far away from membership. Its not even opening the accession negotiations. We deserve this, at least.

He added: When you ask Ukrainian soldiers fighting somewhere in the Donbas or in the south of Ukraine against Russian aggression, Do you want to be a part of the European Union family? They say, Yes, definitely. Because thats what Im fighting for. Im fighting not only for Ukraine, Im fighting for European values. Im fighting against [Russian] aggression in Europe.

Zhovkva also insisted: We will not accept any alternatives or compromises like some leaders tell us, or deviations from this candidate status.

_______________


Like Amadea, the US authorities may be trying to seize and sail Igor Sechins $600 million megayacht Crescent to the United States from Spain. Belonging to Russia's second most powerful man the 444 feet long vessel is one of the largest superyachts in the world. - Luxurylaunches



With the seizure of the $600 million Crescent, a megayacht coveted by most around the world, yacht-builder Lurssen came under scrutiny as two of the three biggest superyachts built by the German yacht maker were seized in a matter of weeks. In March, the superyacht that boasts a gorgeous glass-bottomed pool was seized at Tarragona, Spain. The 443-foot-long yacht allegedly belongs to Rosneft boss Igor Sechin. Sergei Chemezovs 278-footer Valerie, another Lurssen-built luxury vessel, was impounded around the same time. The $150 million pleasure craft was admired for her limo, landing craft, and wellness deck with a Technogym equipment-equipped workout area, beauty treatment rooms, a Hammam, and a steam room.

According to a report by El Pais, a judge from Tarragona has opened proceedings to act against the assets in Spain of Igor Sechin after the U.S. Justice Department requested judicial assistance on these magnates. The case is similar to Suleiman Kerimovs Amadea, which was impounded by Fiji authorities after arriving at the Pacific island without customs clearance.

The U.S. embassys interest in seizing Amadea was mentioned in a statement, The United States is committed to finding and seizing the assets of the oligarchs who have supported the Russian Federations brutal, unprovoked war of choice against Ukraine. We and several of our E.U. partners have already frozen or seized many assets of these oligarchs. We are working closely with governments and private sector partners in Europe, and the entire world, including Fiji, on this issue.


 
With the judicial investigation open against megayacht Crescent, a subsequent search by the Civil Guard and the National Police will follow. Agents of the National Police have registered the massive 443-footer in search of documentation. The police are taking statements from the vessels crew members, including the captain, the first officer, the chief engineers, and even the kitchen staff. This line of questioning will help authorities zero down on the ownership of the pleasure craft. Many superyachts have been impounded and later let go as the ownership of the vessel could not be established to the sanctioned oligarch in question.

Earlier in April, Spanish Authorities joined hands with the FBI to capture Viktor Vekselbergs $90 million yacht Tango in Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spains Balearic Islands. This operation was the first ever to be carried out by the FBI at the request of U.S. authorities along with Homeland Security Investigations and Spains Civil Guard. Igor Sechins 290-feet long, $120 million vessel, Amore Vero, was also seized by French authorities in the port of La Ciotat.

In 2018, Lurssen built the 443-footer along with the biggest names in the yachting industry. French design-house Zuretti and exterior designer Espen Oeino came together to create this $600 million marvel that floats albeit in style and unmatched luxury.

With a displacement of 9.194 tons, Crescent is undoubtedly one of the largest yachts in the world. A massive 72 feet beam allows the boat, initially dubbed Project Thunder, to flaunt well-appointed accommodations in spacious staterooms, several amenities, and not one but two helipads. As per Charter World, she houses 18 guests with a crew of over 40.

Crescent is divided into four spacious decks that are outfitted with the best entertainment and wellness features, including a jacuzzi, a well-equipped gymnasium, and a large beach club. Guests cannot help but stand amazed by her stunning three-deck glass atrium that allows plenty of natural light. An elevator connects the four decks, and the beautiful boat also comes with a movie theatre and beauty salon.

When it comes to features and amenities, the Crescent has it all. It may even be at par with Roman Abramovichs Eclipse megayacht when it comes to size and price. But the same cannot be said when it comes to performance, as the Eclipse is powered by a diesel-electric, dual propulsion system with four MTU 20V 1163 TB93 marine diesel engines, giving it a maximum speed of 25 knots and a cruise speed of 22 knots; Crescent is powered by two MTU engines giving her a cruising speed of 11 knots and a top speed of 15 knots. However, concerning magnificence, there is no room for grievances.

Who is Igor Sechin?

The Russian oligarch and government official has been recognized as the confidante of Russian leader Vladimir Putin since the early 1990s. Thanks to this association and a reputation earned, the 61-year-old man is bestowed with monikers like Darth Vader and the scariest man on Earth. The sanctioned oligarch is also the CEO of Russian oil giant Rosneft and lives a life of utmost luxury. He owns the fantastic superyacht Amore Vero and a $60 million mansion near the presidential residence outside Moscow.

The Crescent and Amore Vero are managed by Monaco-based Imperial Yachts. Recently, the U.S. has sanctioned CEO Evgeniy Kochman and his company Imperial Yachts, which manages and charters yachts worth billions of dollars to the Russian elites. According to Forbes, the unofficial second-in-command in Russia is worth at least $800 million (until hit with E.U. sanctions). Igor Sechin was born and raised in St. Petersburg. He graduated from Leningrad State University in 1984 with a degree in French and Portuguese and a Ph.D. in economics.

______________


Finland to send more military equipment to Ukraine amid NATO ambitions

Finland announced Friday it would be sending more military equipment to Ukraine as NATO considers the countrys application to join the alliance.

Finland will not forget Ukraine and the Ukrainians. We will continue to help: We will send a new package of defense material, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said.

Finlands defense ministry said the government voted to approve sending additional defense equipment to Ukraine. However, what equipment Finland will provide, how it will be delivered and when it will be shipped to Ukraine will not be announced, according to the ministry.

The ministry said the decision on what equipment to send was based on the needs of Ukraine and its military.

The support for Ukraine comes while both Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO, a move that has been slammed by Russia.

During an appearance with President Biden last month, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said, We are ready to contribute to the security of the whole alliance, making the commitment to mutual security guarantees that being a NATO ally entails.

Now that we have taken this first decisive step, it is time for NATO allies to weigh in. We hope for strong support from all allies and for swift ratification of our membership, he added.

Their applications came after Russia threatened the countries against applying for membership and violated Finnish and Swedish airspace with fighter jets.

The U.S. has put its full support behind Finlands and Swedens bids for membership, with a Senate panel unanimously approving a resolution to urge NATO to accept the countries this week.

Biden said NATO should quickly approve the two countries membership.

While their applications for NATO membership are being considered, the United States will work with Finland and Sweden to remain vigilant against any threats to our shared security, and to deter and confront aggression or the threat of aggression, the president said.

____________________________


Liz Truss speaks to Ukraine about Britons death sentences for fighting Russia

The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has raised the case of two Britons sentenced to death for fighting against Russian forces in a phone call with her Ukrainian counterpart.

Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, have been convicted of taking action towards violent seizure of power at a court in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk.

Truss said she had called the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, on Friday to discuss efforts to secure the release of prisoners of war held by Russian proxies.

No 10 has said the men are entitled to combatant immunity as prisoners of war.

Downing Street has also said that while Boris Johnson was appalled at the sentences, there were no plans for direct interventions with Russia, with the emphasis being on their status as members of Ukrainian forces.

The judgment against them is an egregious breach of the Geneva convention, Truss said. The UK continues to back Ukraine against Putins barbaric invasion.

An adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister said on Friday that Russia had the men sentenced to death in order to gain leverage in its negotiations with Ukraine and its western allies.

The trial of the foreigners raises the stakes in the Russian Federations negotiation process. They are using them as hostages to put pressure on the world over the negotiation process, Vadym Denysenko said.

He said Ukraine would coordinate its position on the sentences with Britain, the US and the EU. Ukraine has already sentenced several Russian soldiers to long prison terms for war crimes and Russia may seek to trade the prisoners to get them back.

I utterly condemn the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, said Truss. Photograph: Tayfun Salcı/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Russia has claimed it had no influence on the proceedings, which took place in a Russian-occupied territory in east Ukraine. Id rather not hinder the operation of the judiciary and law enforcement authorities of the Donetsk Peoples Republic, said the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, referring to the proxy government.

The MPs who represent the two men as constituents, Robert Jenrick, the MP for Newark, and Richard Fuller, the MP for North East Bedfordshire, have called for Russian officials to be summoned to answer for their proxies actions in the Ukrainian region.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Jenrick said: Ive urged the foreign secretary to raise this immediately at the highest levels with the Russian government. The UK needs to be clear you cant treat British nationals in this way. This really is the most egregious breach of international law.

He added: Aiden and Shaun are not mercenaries, they are combatants, who are prisoners of war now and should be treated in accordance with the Geneva conventions, and the Geneva convention is being breached in the most egregious manner by Russia in holding this kangaroo court and now this sentence to death.

Jenrick said the men were being hooked out and used in a Soviet-era show trial as a way of taking hostages or taking revenge against the UK.

He said a prisoner exchange could be a solution but that required Russia to play ball, take this issue seriously and start living up to their international obligations.

Fuller said the men needed access to healthcare and legal advice. He said it was fair to argue they had exposed themselves to risk, but added: Whats at the centre of this is the recognition by the Russian authorities and their proxies in this region that Shaun and Aiden were members of the Ukrainian military, they are prisoners of war, and that the Geneva convention applies. There appears to be no recognition of that.

On Friday morning the school standards minister, Robin Walker, said the government would use all diplomatic channels to raise the case. He told Sky News: We utterly condemn the approach thats been taken here and we will use every method at our disposal to take this issue up.

A Moroccan national, Saaudun Brahim, was convicted alongside Aslin and Pinner. The men were accused of being mercenaries after fighting with Ukrainian troops.

The Russian news agency Interfax claimed the men would be able to appeal against their convictions. The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has described the British reaction to the sentences against the men as hysterical and said a UK appeal should be directed at the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic, a Russian-occupied territory internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.

Aslin is originally from Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, and Pinner is from Watford, but his mother lives in Fullers constituency. They were both members of regular Ukrainian military units fighting in Mariupol, the southern port city that has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting since Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine.

Concerns were also raised in Ukraine about the status of Andrew Hill, 35, who was captured in fighting in southern Ukraine. Unlike the other two Britons, Hill is a member of the International Legion, the group of several thousand volunteer soldiers who have agreed to fight as part of Ukraines army during the war.

A spokesperson for the Legion said they were worried about Hills welfare, who local reports had suggested was also going to be put on trial alongside Aslin and Pinner. Then the trial came and went and it turned out that Andrew Hill was not among those sentences, which raises the question of what has happened to him. Whats his status? Is he even alive?.

----------


## Norton

> Ukraine has already sentenced several Russian soldiers to long prison terms for war crimes and Russia may seek to trade the prisoners to get them back.


A big mistake on Ukraine's part which for certain would be followed by Russia doing same. Ukraine should have just locked them up as POWs.

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## DrWilly

> A big mistake on Ukraine's part which for certain would be followed by Russia doing same.


Russia's proxy government in Donbass region already has sentenced some so called foreign fighters to a death sentence.

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## pickel

> Russia's proxy government in Donbass region already has sentenced some so called foreign fighters to a death sentence.


Notably, not for war crimes. They say it's because they're mercenaries. Regardless that they have lived in Ukraine for some time now,  and were regulars in the UAF. Yet Russia employs the Wagner Group.

Ukraine doesn't have the death penalty.

----------


## sabang

The death sentences handed out by Donbass are likely to be commuted to life imprisonment. They will end up being traded, no doubt.

----------


## misskit

Russia destroys last bridge out of key east Ukraine city


Russian forces have destroyed last bridge to the city of Severodonetsk which has seen a pitched battle between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian officials were quoted by Reuters to report the destruction of the bridge that could have possibly served as an evacuation route for civilians. 


Regional governor Sergei Gaidai said that with the last bridge to the city destroyed, remaining civilians are trapped in the city and it has now become impossible to deliver humanitarian supplies.

Gaidai said some 70 per cent of the city was under Russian control.




Ukraine has repeatedly given urgent calls for more Western heavy weapons to defend Severodonetsk. Moscow has criticised Western help to Ukraine.


The city is a key to control Donetsk region where Russia has concentrated its firepower on after getting repelled from Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. The war is in its fourth month.


Late on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the battle for the eastern Donbas would go down as one of the most brutal in European history. The region, comprising the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, is claimed by Russian separatists.


"For us, the price of this battle is very high. It is just scary," he said.


"We draw the attention of our partners daily to the fact that only a sufficient number of modern artillery for Ukraine will ensure our advantage."


Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Pescov said on Monday that Russia's main goal was to protect Donetsk and Luhank. These regions are part of Donbas region. These regions have territory held by pro-Russian proxy forces.

Ukraine needs 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks and 1,000 drones among other heavy weapons, Presidential Adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Monday.


Moscow issued the latest of several recent reports saying it had destroyed US and European arms and equipment.


Russia's defence ministry said high-precision air-based missiles had struck near the railway station in Udachne northwest of Donetsk, hitting equipment that had been delivered to Ukrainian forces.


Ukraine's interior ministry on Telegram said that Udachne had been hit by a Russian strike overnight Sunday into Monday, without mentioning whether weapons had been targeted.

Russia destroys last bridge out of key east Ukraine city - World News

----------


## sabang

*Ukraine hits back at Biden’s ‘absurd’ remark that Zelensky ‘didn’t want to hear’ US intel on Russia*



Stuti Mishra
Mon, 13 June 2022, 2:35 pm·3-min read





Volodymyr Zelensky’s aides have hit back at Joe Biden’s remarks that the Ukrainian president “didn't want to hear it” when US intelligence alerted him that Russia was preparing an invasion and had called it “absurd”.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak criticised Mr Biden for putting the blame on Ukraine while Mr Zelensky’s spokesperson Sergei Nikiforov said the remark “probably needs to be clarified” as it was their partners who had paid no heed to Ukraine’s concerns.

Mr Nikiforov told Russian-language Ukrainian news outlet _Liga_ that Mr Zelensky had “three or four telephone conversations” with Mr Biden before the war started, during which they exchanged “detailed” assessments of the situation.

He also said it was Ukraine that demanded preventative measures to put Russia on that backfoot but “our partners...did not want to hear us”.

“Therefore, the phrase ‘didn’t want to hear’ probably needs to be clarified,” he told the outlet.

“In addition, if you remember, the president of Ukraine called on partners to introduce a package of preventive sanctions in order to encourage Russia to withdraw troops and de-escalate the situation.”

“Here we can already say that our partners ‘did not want to hear us,’” Mr Nikiforov said.

Mr Podoliak told the same news outlet that Mr Zelensky was consistently in talks over Russia’s intentions and said Mr Biden’s comments were not “not entirely true”.

Mr Podoliak said Kyiv had been “well aware that Russia was developing various expansion scenarios”.

“Volodymyr Zelensky constantly had an analyst on the table based on high-quality intelligence. The president also responded carefully to all the words and warnings of our partners. The question was always: what will be the scope of the invasion?”

“And finally, the key, I think it is pointless to blame the country, which is more than 100 days [into] a full-fledged war against a much more resourceful opponent, if key countries have failed to prevent the militaristic appetites of the Russian Federation, knowing them well,” Mr Podoliak said, according to independent Russian outlet _Interfax_.

FULL-  https://au.news.yahoo.com/ukraine-hi...073545844.html

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## sabang

Pontiff condemns ‘cruelty’ of Russian troops while warning against perception of conflict as good v evil


Pope Francis has said Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine was “perhaps somehow provoked” as he recalled a conversation in the run-up to the war in which he was warned Nato was “barking at the gates of Russia”.

In an interview with the Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica, conducted last month and published on Tuesday, the pontiff condemned the “ferocity and cruelty of the Russian troops” while warning against what he said was a fairytale perception of the conflict as good versus evil.

“We need to move away from the usual Little Red Riding Hood pattern, in that Little Red Riding Hood was good and the wolf was the bad one,” he said. “Something global is emerging and the elements are very much entwined.”

Francis added that a couple of months before the war he met a head of state, who he did not identify but described as “a wise man who speaks little, a very wise man indeed … He told me that he was very worried about how Nato was moving. I asked him why, and he replied: ‘They are barking at the gates of Russia. They don’t understand that the Russians are imperial and can’t have any foreign power getting close to them.’”

He added: “We do not see the whole drama unfolding behind this war, which was, perhaps, somehow either provoked or not prevented.”

Shortly before the invasion, Vladimir Putin had demanded Nato rule out allowing Ukraine, which borders Russia, into the military alliance.

The pope said he was not “pro-Putin” and that it would be “simplistic and wrong to say such a thing”. He also said Russia had “miscalculated” the war. “It is also true that the Russians thought it would all be over in a week. They encountered a brave people, a people who are struggling to survive and who have a history of struggle.”

Pope Francis says Ukraine war was ‘perhaps somehow provoked’ | Pope Francis | The Guardian

----------


## S Landreth

Zelensky: 287 children killed in Russian invasions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday said 287 children have been killed since Russia invaded his country in late February.

Speaking in a video address at the American Jewish Committee Global Forum in New York City, Zelensky, who is Jewish, said he learned 24 children had died while he was recording the address alone.

The Russian troops have occupied part of our country, and we do not have complete information about what is happening in the occupied areas, the Ukrainian president said. But gradually we learn about it. And thats how the list of killed children became twenty-four points longer at once  these are the children who died because of Russian strikes at Mariupol, now we know about them.

On June 1, Zelensky reported about 243 children had died, 446 had been wounded and 139 are missing, according to The Associated Press.

The United Nations Childrens Fund has spoken out against the war, reporting that at least 2 million children have been displaced from their homes.

Russia has been accused of bombing civilian shelters and hideouts indiscriminately. Over the spring, they were accused of bombing a maternity hospital in the battered port city of Mariupol and a theater where hundreds of people were hiding out.

Zelensky on Monday named some of the children who lost their lives in the war, including two infants named Maksym and Darya.

Maksym and Darya did not live even three months, Zelensky said. They died with their parents when they were all buried in the basement of an ordinary apartment building on which a Russian aircraft dropped a bomb.

Russian forces are continuing to assault Ukraine in a concentrated attack in the eastern region of the country.

Zelensky said Ukraine would continue to fight to defend their country and save their children.

In the name of children killed by the Russian army, the Ukrainian president said on Monday. And for the future of millions of children in Ukraine and in various European countries who deserve to live in security and peace. To just live.

_______________


Russian Troops Sabotage Their Own Missile System to Sell as Scrap Metal, Says Ukrainian Intel

Ukrainian authorities say they have uncovered an alleged new scheme from fed-up Russian troops angling to get out of the war: Theyre apparently now sabotaging their own weapons and trying to sell the parts as scrap metal.

Thats according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraines Defense Ministry, which on Tuesday named and shamed the Russian forces they say failed spectacularly in a recent attempt to sell off parts of Russian missile systems in the Donetsk region.

In order to avoid going to the frontline, the commanders of a squadron from the 933rd anti-aircraft missile regiment decided to make their equipment unfit for active service, the agency said in a statement. The troops removed the control units from Tor-M2U [missile systems] and decided to sell them at a collection point for precious metals.

The plan is said to have backfired when the troops demanded a higher payoff for the goods, prompting the local workers at the scrap metal point to alert law enforcement of the so-called Donetsk Peoples Republic.

Ukrainian intelligence says the damaged Russian equipment was ultimately blamed on active fighting rather than sabotage, with the entrepreneurial troops sent back to the frontline despite their best efforts. They were identified as members of the 933rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment of the 150th Motorized Rifle Division, part of the 8th Guards Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District.

The intelligence arm of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not disclose how it learned of the apparent sabotage scheme. But the report adds to a long list of increasingly creative attempts by Russian troops to abandon the fight, from fake marriage to self-injury.

In response to the rock-bottom morale among troops, there have been reports of the Russian military sending in FSB officers and high-ranking brass to keep tabs on disloyal troops.

In audio of what Ukrainian intelligence described as an intercepted call released Tuesday, a man identified as a Russian soldier can be heard complaining to his wife about his struggles to bring those under his command in line.

After she tells him she heard about Ukrainian forces edging out Russian soldiers in several areas, the man responds that it doesnt matter to him.

My own fucking mules are driving me batshit crazy, he said, before going on to tell her the situation with morale is worse than critical among his men.

Well fucking shoot one of them demonstratively, and the others will maybe shut up, she said. https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...=home?ref=home

_______________


Biden: U.S. to build silos on Poland border to export Ukrainian grain

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. will build temporary silos on Polands border with Ukraine to facilitate the export of grain out of the war-torn nation and address surging food prices amid Russias invasion.

Were going to build silos, temporary silos in the borders of Ukraine, including in Poland. So we can transfer [grain] from those cars into those silos into cars in Europe and get it out into the ocean, and get it out across the world. But its taking time, Biden said in a speech at the AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia, where he discussed potential solutions to rising food prices across the country.

U.S. and Western officials have been exploring efforts to build temporary silos in Ukraine and other nations as a means to quickly scale up grain storage capacity in Ukraine, where a Russian naval blockade is holding back more than 25 million tons of grain from the world food supply. Russias blockade in the Black Sea has upended global trade routes while threatening to financially strangle Ukraine and deepen hunger crises around the world. In the next month, Ukrainian farmers will start harvesting the summer wheat harvest, but wont have anywhere to store it, Ukrainian officials have warned.

U.S. officials and lawmakers are also worried that food shortages, along with rising fuel and food prices, could spark mass starvation, political unrest and migration across parts of Africa, the Middle East and, possibly, Central America, in the coming months.

Biden said Tuesday that the grain cant be shipped out through the Black Sea because itll get blown out of the water by Russias naval blockade. The U.S. for now has ruled out sending military ships into the region, which would risk Russian retaliation.

Biden noted the U.S. has been working on a plan to export the grain through other countries by rail but acknowledged the overland routes are rife with logistical problems. Rail routes can only move a fraction of the grain that Ukraine normally exports from its Black Sea ports and Ukrainian trains operate on a wider rail gauge than that used by the rest of the tracks in Europe. Biden suggested building silos is a better option for now and could help Ukraine buy some time.

Talks are ongoing between the United Nations and Russia, and separately with Turkey, which aims to broker a deal with Russia to allow Ukraine to restart grain exports via the Black Sea. But Biden administration officials and U.S. lawmakers are skeptical of Russias efforts, since Moscow is demanding sanctions relief in return.

Its hard to view the Russian offers in good faith considering how they are actively and intentionally destroying food products in Ukraine and exacerbating global food insecurity, a U.S. official recently told POLITICO.

Russian forces are continuing to target Ukraines grain silos and agricultural infrastructure, while stealing grain from the country, U.S. and Ukrainian officials have said.

Russia, we believe, has stolen several hundred thousand tons of grain from Ukraine and then sent it out on small ships from Russian ports, Jim OBrien, the State Departments head of sanctions, recently told POLITICO and other reporters. Now, that grain has ended up with Russias friends.

____________


Ukraine enlisted a White House alum to fight Russian propaganda

The Ukrainian government pressed major social media companies to crack down on Russian propaganda, records show.

*Driving the news:* Days after Russia's invasion, Ukraine's Digital Transformation Ministry enlisted a former White House official to press U.S. government officials and the companies themselves, according to newly released documents.


Cameron Hardesty, who served in the White House press shop during the Obama administration, has contacted TikTok and Facebook parent company Meta on the Ministry's behalf regarding Russian-aligned content, according to foreign agent disclosures.She's also reached out to officials at the State Department regarding information operations surrounding Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and to reporters at leading Washington news outlets.

*Why it matters:* Public perception is crucial to Ukraine's ability to continue securing international aid, and to Russia's efforts to control fallout from its costly and poorly managed invasion.

*The details:* Hardesty is working for the Ministry on a pro-bono basis, according to foreign agent disclosures filed with the Justice Department last week.


She is "advising on messaging for communications with U.S. business representatives, U.S. media representatives, and U.S. government officials," according to her filing.Hardesty's "opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and compassion for the Ukrainian people motivated registrant to assist the Ukrainian government representatives on a volunteer basis."She did not respond to Axios' requests for comment on her work.

*The big picture:* Russian forces have used social media in attempts to spin their invasion as a success and sow disinformation about the conflict.


Pro-Russian and Kremlin-affiliated accounts have leveled baseless claims about Ukrainian atrocities and U.S. involvement in the conflict.At home, the Russian government has severely restricted social media use in an attempt to stymie domestic opposition and shut down content about what is widely considered a dismal military campaign thus far.

*Between the lines:* Hardesty's work began in late February, and coincided with public pressure on leading tech companies to crack down on Russian information operations. Within weeks, a number had done so.


Meta aggressively purged its top platforms, Facebook and Instagram, of Russian disinformation content.TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company Bytedance, removed tens of thousands of videos during the first week of the Russian invasion that it said violated its policy on "harmful misinformation."Other platforms such as Twitter and Google, which owns the YouTube, have also cracked down on Russian information operations.

----------


## sabang

The government's revenue is less than half of what it's spending

by Dave DeCamp Posted onJune 14, 2022CategoriesNewsTagsUkraine

The head of the Ukrainian parliament’s financial committee said Tuesday that Ukraine needs $5 billion in external financial assistance or it will be facing sharp budget cuts.


“We have to borrow $5 billion monthly. If we do not get it, we will have to cut spending,” Danylo Hetmantsev said, according to _Reuters_.


Hetmantsev said the Ukrainian government’s revenues cover less than half of its expenses due to the war. He said the government spent about 250 billion hryvnias ($8.46 billion) in May to finance the military and help people displaced by the fighting but only collected 101 billion hryvnias ($3.42 billion) in taxes.


The US and the EU have provided Ukraine with financial assistance through direct aid and loans, but it is far below the $5 billion each month that Hetmantsev said Kyiv needs. According to Ukraine’s Finance Ministry, the country received $5.12 billion in financial assistance from foreign countries between January and May.


So far, the US has authorized $54 billion in spending for Ukraine that is meant to last through the 2022 fiscal year, which ends on September 30 for the federal government. The majority will go towards military spending, but the $40 billion bill recently signed into law by President Biden includes $8.8 billion in economic support for Ukraine and other countries impacted by the war.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/06/14/...id-budget-cut/

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## sabang

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had taken off on separate flights from southeastern Poland after their risky, high-stakes visit to Kyiv when they were conferenced into a phone call from President Joe Biden.

During their whirlwind April trip, Austin appeared to expand the U.S. goals in Ukraine, saying publicly that the administration wanted the Ukrainians to win the war against Russia, not just defend themselves, and that the U.S. hoped to weaken Russia to the extent that it could not launch another unprovoked invasion. Blinken had publicly aligned himself with the remarks. Now Biden wanted to discuss the mounting headlines that resulted.

Biden thought the secretaries had gone too far, according to multiple administration officials familiar with the call. On the previously unreported conference call, as Austin flew to Germany and Blinken to Washington, the president expressed concern that the comments could set unrealistic expectations and increase the risk of the U.S. getting into a direct conflict with Russia. He told them to tone it down, said the officials.

“Biden was not happy when Blinken and Austin talked about winning in Ukraine,” one of them said. “He was not happy with the rhetoric.”

The secretaries explained that Austin’s comments had been misconstrued, another senior administration official said. But the displeasure Biden initially conveyed during that phone call, the officials said, reflected his administration’s belief that despite Ukrainian forces’ unexpected successes early on, the war would ultimately head in the direction it is now in two months later: a protracted conflict in which Russia continues to make small and steady advances.

U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that the trajectory of the war in Ukraine is untenable and are quietly discussing whether President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should temper his hard-line public position that no territory will ever be ceded to Russia as part of an agreement to end the war, according to seven current U.S. officials, former U.S. officials and European officials.

Some officials want Zelenskyy to “dial it back a little bit,” as one of them put it, when it comes to telegraphing his red lines on ending the war. But the issue is fraught given that Biden is adamant about the U.S. not pressuring the Ukrainians to take steps one way or another. His administration’s position has been that any decision about how and on what terms to end the war is for Ukraine to decide.

“We are not pressuring them to make concessions, as some Europeans are. We would never ask them to cede territory,” one U.S. official said. “We are planning for a long war. We intend to prepare the American people for that, and we are prepared to ask Congress for more money.”

Biden announced a new $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine on Wednesday after speaking with Zelenskyy. Congress last month authorized an additional $40 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine, which is expected to last until October.

FULL- Two top officials said the U.S. wants Ukraine to win. Biden said tone it down.

----------


## Norton

> We are planning for a long war. We intend to prepare the American people for that, and we are prepared to ask Congress for more money


Of course should be planning for a long war cuz it will be. Years, not months so reckon this thread will at least 10k posts until the mainstream media tires of daily Ukraine war headlines as they have done with the Syian war which is still going after 11 years.

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## harrybarracuda

> Of course should be planning for a long war cuz it will be. Years, not months so reckon this thread will at least 10k posts until the mainstream media tires of daily Ukraine war headlines as they have done with the Syian war which is still going after 11 years.


That's nothing. North and South Korea have been at war since 1950.

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## sabang

Then there is 'Turkish' Cyprus- the UN's longest extant Peace mission, Sudan & Sth Sudan, Kosovo/ Bosnia, and those weird breakaway Russian republics in the Caucasus. Lot of it about! This may well end up as an uneasy peace with 'unrecognised by the west' republics, or an ongoing lower grade war- such as Ukraine has been waging against Donbass since 2015. One relevant question is how much taxpayer money is the US & EU taxpayer willing to throw at it, and for how long? Ukraine is certainly perpetually begging for more- and it's never enough.

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## harrybarracuda

> how much taxpayer money is the US & EU taxpayer willing to throw at it, and for how long? Ukraine is certainly perpetually begging for more- and it's never enough.


Enough to keep it going until puffy leaves or dies.

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## sabang

The new Russian boss might say "No more Mr Nice Guy".  ::chitown::

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## Norton

> One relevant question is how much taxpayer money is the US & EU taxpayer willing to throw at it, and for how long?


Two relevant questions innit?  :Wink:

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## harrybarracuda

> The new Russian boss might say "No more Mr Nice Guy".


Was that from TASS or RT?

----------


## S Landreth

Seized Russian yacht now flying US flag, heading toward Hawaii today



Since the start of the war in February, at least 20 yachts worth over $2.25 billion have been seized from Russian owners.


US hires new crew to sail a sanctioned Russian oligarch's $325 million superyacht from Fiji to Hawaii, report says

US authorities have hired a new crew to sail a Russian oligarch's luxury yacht from Fiji to Hawaii, Bloomberg first reported.

The $325 million vessel, which US authorities said belonged to gold tycoon Suleyman Kerimov, left the port of Lautoka in Fiji early on Tuesday, according ship-tracking data from analytics firm Spire.

The yacht, called Amadea, is now heading for Hawaii, a US state, per Spire data.

After Fiji ruled on Tuesday that Kerimov's yacht was in the hands of US authorities, the vessel departed from the island bearing the American flag, according to ship-tracking site MarineTraffic. It previously flew the Cayman Islands flag.

Bloomberg reported that a different crew is now in control of the 348ft Amadea, which features a helipad, jacuzzi, swimming pool, and a winter garden, according to Superyacht Fan.

The Department of Justice declined to comment about the new crew but told Insider on Tuesday that "the judicial process to determine the disposition of the vessel will continue."

Amadea moored in Fiji on April 12 after sailing across the Pacific from Mexico before it was banned from leaving due to a restraining order.

In early June, Fiji's supreme court ordered the yacht to "sail out of Fiji waters" because its running costs were becoming too expensive for the country's government.

After being sanctioned by the US in 2018 for alleged money laundering, Kerimov was also sanctioned by the UK and European Union following the invasion of Ukraine for his close ties with Vladimir Putin.

He is a member of the Russian Federation Council and his family owns a controlling stake in Polyus Gold, which claims to be Russia's biggest gold producer.

Kerimov also owns Nafta Moscow, a Russian financial and industrial group.

*Update*

Russian superyacht Amadea arrives in Honolulu from Fiji  :Smile: 



_____________


Biden announces $1 billion in new aid to Ukraine

The Biden administration announced Wednesday that the U.S. will provide Ukraine with an additional $1 billion in military aid to help the country defend itself from Russia.

Driving the news: The aid comes as Ukraine and Russia engage in a fierce battle for control of Severodonetsk, the last remaining major city still under Ukrainian control in the Luhansk region of the Donbas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned last week that the fight for the city would determine the fate of eastern Ukraine.

During his nightly address Tuesday, Zelensky repeated pleas for more and faster deliveries of Western arms, especially anti-missile defense systems, AP reported.

The big picture: The aid package will include more arms for Ukraine, such as coastal defense systems, artillery, advanced rocket systems and ammunition, President Biden said in a statement.

It will include weapons that can be efficiently shipped from current U.S. stockpiles, and new contracts to ensure long-term supplies for Ukraine, CNN reported.

Biden also announced another $225 million in humanitarian aid to help Ukrainians, "including by supplying safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and health care, food, shelter, and cash for families to purchase essential items."

What they're saying: "The bravery, resilience, and determination of the Ukrainian people continues to inspire the world. And the United States, together with our allies and partners, will not waver in our commitment to the Ukrainian people as they fight for their freedom," Biden said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Wednesday, urged the more than 45 participating countries to demonstrate "our unwavering determination to get Ukraine the capabilities that it urgently needs to defend itself," AP reported.

_______________


Wikipedia appeals Russian court order to remove information about Ukraine invasion

Wikimedia Foundation, the owner of Wikipedia, has filed an appeal against a Russian court order that demanded the site remove information related to the invasion of Ukraine, stating that the removal would be a “violation of people’s rights to free expression and access to knowledge.”

The nonprofit organization filed an appeal last week to challenge a Moscow court calling for the removal of several Wikipedia articles, mostly related to the invasion, fining them 5 million rubles, or about $65,000.

The foundation challenged the appeal, saying that the information should be protected by freedom of expression.

“The information at issue is fact-based and verified by volunteers who continuously edit and improve articles on the site; its removal would therefore constitute a violation of people’s rights to free expression and access to knowledge,” the organization said in a press release.

The lower court’s decision states that the articles on the site are disinformation, “which poses risk of mass public disorder in Russia.”

The articles include  Russian Invasions of Ukraine (2022), Battle for Kyiv, War Crimes during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Shelling of Hospital in Mariupol and others.

“This decision implies that well-sourced, verified knowledge on Wikipedia that is inconsistent with Russian government accounts constitutes disinformation,” said Stephen LaPorte, associate general Counsel, said in the statement. “The government is targeting information that is vital to people’s lives in a time of crisis. We urge the court to reconsider in favor of everyone’s rights to knowledge access and free expression.”  

The court also found that the foundation operates inside Russian territory, which would require it to comply. However, Wikimedia asserts that the country does not have jurisdiction over the organization.

The foundation also argues that the requests for the removal of information “constitutes a violation of human rights.”

“Russian-language Wikipedia is a crucial second draft of history, written by and for Russian speakers around the world who volunteer their time to make reliable, fact-checked information available to all,” the organization said. “Blocking access to Wikipedia in Russia would deny more than 145 million people access to this vital information resource.”

“The Wikimedia Foundation remains committed to defending the right of everyone to freely access and share knowledge,” it added.

The Russian government will have the opportunity to respond to the appeal in the coming weeks.

Wikimedia has previously faced scrutiny from the Russian government when Russian leaders demanded it remove the content surrounding the Ukrainian invasion for months, which the foundation said was “censorship.”

Most recently, in April, Russian mass media regulator Roskomnadzor warned the organization to take down an article that it said was disinformation, which Wikimedia also refused.

_____________


Leaders of Germany, France and Italy endorse Ukraine's EU bid after meeting Zelensky in Kyiv

The leaders of France, Germany and Italy met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv Thursday and expressed support for granting Ukraine candidate status for accession to the European Union.

Why it matters: Zelensky this week urged Western countries to quickly deliver more arms as Ukraine attempts to fend off Russian forces in the country's east.

In recent days, Ukraine's government has criticized some European countries for dragging their feet on supplying additional military aid.

David Arakhamia, who leads Ukraine's negotiations with Russia and is one of Zelensky's closest advisers, said that the German government was still very reluctant to approve export licenses to arm Ukraine, per Axios' Dave Lawler.

Driving the news: French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in Kyiv by train and later visited the devastated suburb of Irpin.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis also arrived in the city on Thursday for a visit on a separate train, he tweeted.

During a joint press conference after their meeting, Macron said that all four leaders were in favor of granting Ukraine "immediate" EU candidate status, Reuters reported.

The big picture: The visit comes ahead of an expected decision from the European Commission to recommend that Ukraine be granted candidate status to join the bloc, per Politico.

Macron said at a press conference that all four EU leaders attending the meeting with Zelensky also promised to back candidate status for Ukraine, AP reported.

President Biden also announced Wednesday that the U.S. will provide Ukraine with an additional $1 billion in military aid.

What they're saying: The leaders "want to send a strong signal of support and solidarity to president [Zelensky] and the people of Ukraine in these dire times," German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit tweeted.

French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters in Kyiv that the trip "a message of unity ... to the Ukrainians."

----------


## misskit

EU backs Ukraine’s membership bid as war brings huge shift

BRUSSELS/KYIV, Ukraine, June 17 (Reuters) – The European Union gave its blessing on Friday for Ukraine and its neighbour Moldova to become candidates to join, in the most dramatic geopolitical shift to result from Russia’s invasion.


Ukraine applied to join the EU just four days after Russian troops poured across its border in February. Four days later, so did Moldova and Georgia – smaller ex-Soviet states also contending with separatist regions occupied by Russian troops.


“Ukraine has clearly demonstrated the country’s aspiration and the country’s determination to live up to European values and standards,” the EU’s executive Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said in Brussels. She made the announcement wearing Ukrainian colours, a yellow blazer over a blue shirt.


President Voloymyr Zelenskiy thanked von der Leyen and EU member states on Twitter for a decision he called “the first step on the EU membership path that’ll certainly bring our victory closer”.


Moldova’s President Maia Sandu hailed a “strong signal of support for Moldova & our citizens!” and said she counted on the support of EU member states.


“We’re committed to working hard,” she said on Twitter.


While recommending candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova, the Commission held off for Georgia, which it said must meet more conditions first.


Von der Leyen said Georgia has a strong application but had to come together politically. A senior diplomat close to the process cited setbacks in reforms there.


Leaders of EU countries are expected to endorse the decision at a summit next week. The leaders of the three biggest – Germany, France and Italy – had signalled their solidarity on Thursday by visiting Kyiv, along with the president of Romania.


“Ukraine belongs to the European family,” Germany’s Olaf Scholz said after meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.


Ukraine and Moldova will still face a lengthy process to achieve the standards required for membership, and there are other candidates in the waiting room. Nor is membership guaranteed – talks have been stalled for years with Turkey, officially a candidate since 1999.


But launching the candidacy process, a move that would have seemed unthinkable just months ago, amounts to a shift on par with the decision in the 1990s to welcome the ex-Communist countries of Eastern Europe.


“Precisely because of the bravery of the Ukrainians, Europe can create a new history of freedom, and finally remove the grey zone in Eastern Europe between the EU and Russia,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.


If admitted, Ukraine would be the EU’s largest country by area and its fifth most populous. All three hopefuls are far poorer than any existing EU members, with per capita output around half that of the poorest, Bulgaria.


All have recent histories of volatile politics, domestic unrest, entrenched organised crime, and unresolved conflicts with Russian-backed separatists proclaiming sovereignty over territory protected by Moscow’s troops.


PORT BLOCKADE


President Vladimir Putin ordered his “special military operation” officially to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine. One of his main objectives was to halt the expansion of Western institutions which he called a threat to Russia.


But the war, which has killed thousands of people, destroyed whole cities and set millions to flight, has had the opposite effect. Finland and Sweden have applied to join the NATO military alliance, and the EU has opened its arms to the east.


Within Ukraine, Russian forces were defeated in an attempt to storm the capital in March, but have since refocused on seizing more territory in the east.


The nearly four-month-old war has entered a punishing attritional phase, with Russian forces relying on their massive advantage in artillery firepower to blast their way into Ukrainian cities.


Ukrainian officials said their troops were still holding out in Sievierodonetsk, site of the worst fighting of recent weeks, on the east bank of the Siverskyi Donets river. It was impossible to evacuate more than 500 civilians who are trapped inside a chemical plant, the regional governor said.


In the surrounding Donbas region, which Moscow claims on behalf of its separatist proxies, Ukrainian forces are mainly defending the river’s opposite bank.


Near the frontline in the ruins of the small city of Marinka, Ukrainian police made their way into a cellar searching for anyone who wanted help to evacuate. A group of mainly elderly residents huddled on mattresses in candlelight.


“There’s space down here, you could join us,” joked one man as the officers came in. A woman named Nina sighed in the darkness: “There is nowhere. Nowhere. Nowhere to go. All the houses have been burnt out. Where can we go?”


In the south, Ukraine has mounted a counter-offensive, claiming to have made inroads into the biggest swath still held by Russia of the territory it seized in the invasion. There have been few reports from the frontline to confirm the situation in that area.


Ukraine claimed its forces had struck a Russian tugboat bringing soldiers, weapons and ammunition to Russian-occupied Snake Island, a strategic Black Sea outpost.


EU backs Ukraine's membership bid as war brings huge shift | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## Norton

*Switzerland inches towards Nato as neutrality is put to the test*

Switzerlands defence ministry is eyeing closer co-operation with Nato in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine. The defence ministry is compiling a report detailing the options for the future of Swiss security. This could see the Swiss military joining in with Nato exercises and backfilling munitions. Alternatively, it could take the form of high-level meetings between military leaders from Switzerland and the US-led alliance.

The report is scheduled for completion in September, and will then be submitted to the cabinet and parliament for discussion.

Defence Minister Viola Amherd said on a trip to Washington last week that Switzerland should collaborate more closely with Nato, but should stop short of becoming a member.

Switzerland is renowned for its cautious observation of military neutrality, which dates back to 1815. But this maxim could be undergoing a shift, according to Paelvi Pulli, head of security policy at the Swiss defence ministry. "Ultimately, there could be changes in the way neutrality is interpreted," she said in an interview last week.

Pulli added that neutrality was aimed at increasing Swiss security, rather than as an end in itself. Therefore working more closely with Nato would not contradict the underlying principles of the policy of neutrality.

Switzerland continues to produce most of its own weapons, but it purchased fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin last year, which are also used by some Nato countries.

A recent poll found that 56% of Swiss support working more closely with Nato. Before Russia invaded Ukraine, that figure stood at just 37% on average.

Sweden and Finland, also historically neutral countries, are both on the brink of applying to join NATO as a consequence of Russias invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, 16 May, Finlands parliament approved the countrys Nato application. It is expected that Sweden and Finland will make a formal joint approach to Nato on Tuesday or Wednesday during Finnish President Sauli Niinistos visit to Stockholm.

Russia had previously threatened retaliation against any decision by the nordic states to join Nato. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov had warned that "they should have no illusion that we will simply put up with it." However, an announcement by President Vladimir Putin on Monday indicated a possible change of rhetoric in favour of calm acceptance.

"As far as expansion goes, including new members Finland and Sweden, Russia has no problems with these states  none. And so in this sense there is no immediate threat to Russia from an expansion to include these countries," Putin said

bne IntelliNews - Switzerland inches towards Nato as neutrality is put to the test.

----------


## sabang

*Gazprom: Russian gas boss says 'our product, our rules' in supply row*



The boss of Russian state-controlled gas giant Gazprom has said it is a case of "our product, our rules" after the firm halved its supply to Germany.

The German economy minister has accused Gazprom of attempting to push up energy prices by sharply reducing supplies.

But Gazprom said it was due to the delayed return of equipment serviced by Germany's Siemens Energy in Canada.

Italy and Austria have also reported big falls in Russian gas supply. The Kremlin said this was not premeditated.

Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said Russia would play by its own rules after limiting the amount of gas to Germany to under 70m cubic metres per day - well under half the current rate.

"Our product, our rules. We don't play by rules we didn't create," Mr Miller said during a panel discussion at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

He said he saw no solution to the equipment issue at the Portovaya compressor station, part of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that carries Russian gas to Germany.

Mr Miller blamed sanctions for hampering the return of equipment - a claim Germany dismissed as "unfounded".

Meanwhile, Italian energy giant Eni said it would receive only 65% of the gas requested on Thursday from Gazprom, because of the problems at Portovaya.

But the Italian government has all possible counter-measures in place if gas supply cuts from Russia continue in the coming days, the country's ecological transition minister said on Thursday.

"The gas situation is under control, we are monitoring flows day and night, damages are so far limited," Roberto Cingolani said.

FULL- Gazprom: Russian gas boss says 'our product, our rules' in supply row

----------


## David48atTD

Vladimir Putin blasts the West in combative speech, says Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions



In one of Vladimir Putin's most substantial addresses  since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, the Russian President  used his nation's pre-eminent investment conference as an opportunity to  lash out against his Western enemies.

*Key points:*
In a lengthy speech, Mr Putin accused the West of denying Russia its sovereign rightsHe said Russia's economy remained strong despite Western sanctionsThe Russian President also vehemently defended his country's actions in Ukraine 




After  a lengthy denunciation of countries that he claims want to weaken the  Russian state with "reckless and insane" sanctions, President Putin used  the stage at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum to  lambaste the United States.

In his 73-minute speech, he also said Russia was taking its place in a  New World Order in which rules would be set by "strong and sovereign  states".

Vladimir Putin blasts the West in combative speech, says Russia remains strong despite '&#39;'insane'&#39;' sanctions - ABC News

----------


## S Landreth

Russia is struggling to make $100 million in debt payments because of US sanctions, and Moscow may see its first default in a century

Roughly $100 million of coupon payments on Russian debt has not yet arrived in creditors' accounts, Bloomberg reports, with a deadline approaching later this month that could trigger a default.

Moscow aims to pay foreign creditors through unsanctioned banks, even after the US blocked bond payments last month.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum that the Kremlin still intends to deliver dollar and euro payments to bondholders, though he did not elaborate on a timeline.

Under the proposed plan, Russian bondholders would receive payments after unsanctioned lenders take in ruble payments from Moscow and convert them into other hard currencies.

When asked how Moscow would get its debt through the National Settlement Depository, which the EU has blacklisted, Siluanov replied, "we'll manage."

The $100 million in payments have a grace period that expires June 26, per Bloomberg, and if they still haven't been processed by then, Russia could see its first foreign debt default in a century.

Until last month, an exemption to sanctions on Russia for its war on Ukraine allowed Moscow to send payments through the US financial system to American bondholders. But the US Treasury allowed that carve-out to expire on May 25.

At the time, Russia responded by saying the US was forcing an "artificial" default. Moscow officials have maintained that the nation cannot be declared in default because it has shown ongoing willingness to pay.

"We've done everything we can to lead the horse to water. But it's not up to us whether it wants to drink or not," Siluanov told the media on Thursday.




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## misskit

Video of first Americans captured by Russian forces since Ukraine's invasion broadcasted by Russian TV


A video of the first Americans captured by Russian forces since the beginning of Ukraine's invasion has been broadcasted by Russian state television.


Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh, two US military veterans who went missing last week while fighting in Ukraine, are from Alabama.

The two soldiers are being held by Russian-backed separatist forces in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine according to RT.

During the telecast, Drueke can be heard saying, “Mom, I just want to let you know that I’m alive and I hope to be back home as soon as I can be. So, love Diesel for me. Love you.” 

The United States "will do everything we can" to get them back, according to White House national security spokesperson John Kirby.


After being caught fighting for Ukraine, two British citizens and a Moroccan were sentenced to death by a separatist court in the unrecognised Russian-speaking Donetsk People's Republic.


While Huynh is a former US marine who left the service in 2018, Drueke served two tours in Iraq, the last as a lead gunner in Baghdad in 2008-09.

After seeing pictures of civilian casualties as Russia retreated from towns outside Kyiv in late March, both felt compelled to support the government


Russian President Vladimir Putin, who calls his attack on Ukraine a ''special military operation'' to demilitarise and denazify its neighbour, has denied attacking civilians and has accused Western citizens of acting as "mercenaries".

VIDEO HERE Video of first Americans captured by Russian forces since Ukraine's invasion broadcasted by Russian TV - World News

----------


## David48atTD

> Russia


*S Landreth*, this is the news thread, not the commentary thread, nor the opinion thread ... I'm simply reporting the news.

You bitch worse than many wives (apologies MK)

----------


## sabang

.... Throughout the first three months of the war, there were almost universal positive statements by U.S. and Ukrainian leaders, suggesting Kyiv’s troops would “drive Russia from” Ukrainian soil and that Kyiv would not accept any negotiated settlement that ceded any territory to Russia. Yet earlier this week London’s _The Independent_ revealed portions of a leaked classified intelligence report out of Kyiv that exposed a much harsher battlefield reality than had been admitted publicly.

According to the report, Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukrainian troops over the first 100+ days of the war had destroyed major portions of their Soviet-era equipment and depleted their stocks of artillery ammunition. The result is that frontline Ukrainian units are outgunned 20-1 in artillery and an eye-popping 40-1 in artillery rounds. Combined with the fact Russia continues to have significant advantages in air power (up to 300 air sorties per day compared with three to five for Ukraine) and manpower, it is not surprising Ukraine is losing its grip on the Donbas.

Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov confirms upwards of 100 UAF troops are being killed each day (some reports suggest the number is closer to 200 per day) and 500 more wounded. Zelensky concedes that Russia occupies more than 20% of Ukrainian territory – growing by the day. While it is entirely understandable that no Ukrainian leader would ever want to cede any of its country to an invading power, there are other, harsher realities that must be taken into account.

The choice, in other words, may not be a matter of whether Ukraine should give up territory or not, but whether it must give up territory now to limit the damage or continue fighting in the hopes of one day winning it all back – at egregious cost now, and with no guarantee that they would not later lose even more territory. For example, today Ukraine still holds key parts of the Donbas (the Slavyansk/Kramatorsk salient in the north, the Avdiivka area in the center, and large portions of the Donetsk region to the south. Kharkiv and Odessa are still fully under Kyiv’s control. Evidence suggests that as more time passes, that list of Ukraine-controlled cities will continue to shrink.

It would be a near-impossible feat for the West to provide enough heavy weaponry to Ukraine – and the massive volumes of large-caliber artillery ammunition the howitzers need – that would bring back into balance the major disadvantage Ukraine has in firepower. Even the modern rocket launchers the U.S. and UK recently committed will not materially change the negative balance for Kyiv.

Zelensky and the Ukrainian people will soon come face-to-face with the ugly prospect that continuing to fight will only bring more death and destruction to its people, cities, and armed forces – but be insufficient to stave off defeat. The truth is, military fundamentals and simple capacity are in Moscow’s favor. It is unlikely those factors change in time to avoid defeat for Kyiv and its brave people. That is the ugly, bitter reality of war.

_Daniel L. Davis is a Senior Fellow for Defense Priorities and a former Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army who deployed into combat zones four times. He is the author of “__The Eleventh Hour__ in 2020 America.” Follow him @DanielLDavis1.
__FULL-__ https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/06/...defeat-russia/_

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## harrybarracuda

Of course Fox News correspondents will be talking up Russia.

----------


## misskit

Russia Sets Free Ukrainian Medic Who Recorded Mariupol Mission


Russian forces released a Ukrainian medic from prison Friday who recorded 256 gigabytes of footage in Mariupol using a body camera, documenting her team’s efforts to save wounded soldiers on both sides of the war, the Associated Press reported. Yuliia Paievska, better known in Ukraine as Taira, has been in captivity since her capture on March 16. That same day, a Russian airstrike killed about 600 people in a city center theater. Paievska’s footage reached millions of people across the world, the AP said. “It was such a great sense of relief. Those sound like such ordinary words, and I don’t even know what to say,” Paievska’s husband, Vadim Puzanov, told The Associated Press. Despite no basis or evidence, Russia claimed Paievska had ties to the Azov Battalion, a far-right Ukrainian group. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was glad to see Paievska return: “I’m grateful to everyone who worked for this result. Taira is already home. We will keep working to free everyone,” he said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...=home?ref=home

----------


## misskit

Top Azovstal commanders transferred to Russia for investigation - TASS

(Reuters) - Two top commanders of fighters who defended the Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine's southeastern port of Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for investigation, Russia's state news agency TASS reported.


Uncertainty has surrounded the fate of hundreds of fighters captured by Russian forces in May after a months-long siege of Mariupol. Moscow said at the time they were moved to breakaway Russian-backed entities in eastern Ukraine.


Citing an unnamed Russian law enforcement source, TASS said late on Saturday that Svyatoslav Palamar, a deputy commander of the Azov battalion, and Serhiy Volynsky, the commander of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, were moved to Russia.


Special forces officers transferred them from Donetsk, an eastern Ukrainian province that Moscow recognises as a pro-Russian republic, "to conduct investigative activities with them," TASS cited the source as saying.


"Other officers of various Ukrainian units were also transported to Russia."


Reuters could not immediately verify the report and there was no immediate reaction from Kyiv. Earlier this month, Ukraine said its intelligence services were in communication with the captured Azovstal steelworks fighters.


The Azov Battalion, an all-volunteer infantry military unit which formed in 2014 as an extreme right-wing volunteer militia to fight Russian-backed separatists, and the 36th Marine Brigade unit, were key in defending the steelworks.


Kyiv is seeking the handover of all the fighters in a prisoner swap with Moscow, but some Russian lawmakers want some of the fighters put on trial.


Russian agencies reported in early June that more than 1,000 Azovstal fighters were transferred to Russia to undisclosed locations for investigation.


The self-styled Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics are in the industrial Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, which Russia is fighting to remove from Kyiv's control.

Top Azovstal commanders transferred to Russia for investigation - TASS

----------


## sabang

_Moscow claims its forces have taken control of a village near the industrial city of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine.

_Russia has said its forces seized a village near Ukraine’s industrial city of Severodonetsk, a prime target in Moscow’s campaign to control the country’s east.

The defence ministry said on Sunday it had won Metyolkine, a settlement of fewer than 800 people before the war began. Russian state news agency TASS reported that many Ukrainian fighters had surrendered there.

Ukraine’s military said Russia had “partial success” in the area, which is about 6km (4 miles) southeast of Severodonetsk.

After failing to take the capital Kyiv early in the war, Russian forces have focused on trying to take complete control of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, which together comprise the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Some parts of the Donbas were already held by Russian-backed separatists before the February 24 invasion.

Moscow said on Sunday its offensive to win Severdonetsk itself was proceeding successfully.

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian TV that fighting made evacuations from the city impossible, but that “all Russian claims that they control the town are a lie. They control the main part of the town, but not the whole town”.

Among the communities around Severodonestk, Haidai told Ukraine TV that a Russian attack on Toshkivka, 35km (22 miles) south, “had a degree of success”.

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence on Sunday claimed that both Russia and Ukraine have continued heavy bombardment around Severodonestk “with little change to the front line”.

The UK military assessment said morale for Ukrainian and Russian combat units in the Donbas was likely “variable”.

“Many Russian personnel of all ranks also likely remain confused about the war’s objectives. Morale problems in the Russian force are likely so significant that they are limiting Russia’s ability to achieve operational objectives,” the ministry tweeted.

*Russia continues bombardment*

In Severodonetsk’s twin city of Lysychansk, residential buildings and private houses had been destroyed by Russian shelling, Haidai said. “People are dying on the streets and in bomb shelters,” he added.

He later said 19 people had been evacuated on Sunday. “We are managing to bring in humanitarian aid and evacuate people as best we can,” Haidai said.

In Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, northwest of Luhansk, Russia’s defence ministry said its Iskander missiles had destroyed weaponry recently supplied by Western countries.

Russian forces were trying to approach Kharkiv, which experienced intense shelling earlier in the war, and turn it into a “frontline city”, a Ukrainian interior ministry official said.

In southern Ukraine, Western weaponry had helped Ukrainian forces advance 10 km (6 miles) towards Russian-occupied Melitopol, its mayor said in a video posted on Telegram from outside the city.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Western countries on Sunday they must be ready to offer long-term military, political and economic support to Kyiv during a grinding war which could last years.

“We must not weaken in our support of Ukraine, even if the costs are high — not only in terms of military support but also because of rising energy and food prices,” Stoltenberg told German daily newspaper Bild.

*Germany to phase out Russia gas*

Meanwhile, Germany’s economy minister said the country will turn to coal and limit the use of gas for electricity production amid concerns about possible shortages caused by a reduction in gas supplies from Russia.

Germany has been trying to fill its gas storage facilities to capacity ahead of the cold winter months.

Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that Germany will try to compensate for the move by increasing the burning of coal, a more polluting fossil fuel. “That’s bitter, but it’s simply necessary in this situation to lower gas usage,” he said.

“It’s obvious that [Russian President] Putin’s strategy is to unsettle us by driving up the price and dividing us,” Habeck said. “We won’t let that happen.”

Russian gas giant Gazprom has said that exports to countries that did not belong to the former Soviet Union were down 28.9 percent between January 1 and June 15 compared with the same period last year.

Separately on Sunday, Italy’s state-owned energy exchange disclosed that Gazprom said it will only partially meet a request by Italy’s Eni for gas supplies on Monday, signalling a sixth consecutive daily shortfall.

The head of Italian energy giant ENI said on Saturday that with additional gas purchased from other sources, Italy should make it through its next winter, but he warned Italians that “restrictions” affecting gas use might be necessary.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that reductions in supply were not premeditated and were related to maintenance issues. Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has dismissed this explanation as a “lie”.

Russia advances in battle for key eastern Ukraine city | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera

----------


## bsnub

> The defence ministry said on Sunday it had won Metyolkine, a settlement of fewer than 800 people before the war began.


After how many weeks or months has it been and as far as they can get is a small village on the outskirts of Severdonetsk.




> Moscow said on Sunday its offensive to win Severdonetsk itself was proceeding successfully.


 :smiley laughing: 

With all the might they are pouring into that area, it should have fallen weeks ago. It is  just further proof of how horridly inept the Russians are at fighting war.

----------


## bsnub

Russian troops are no longer in full control of the southern  Ukrainian city of Kherson after a counterattack by Ukrainian forces, a  senior U.S. Defense Department official said Friday.

Russian  forces captured Kherson in the first week of its invasion, the first  major city to be captured after invading the country last month.

“We  can’t corroborate exactly who is in control of Kherson, but the point  is, it doesn’t appear to be as solidly in Russian control as it was  before. The Ukrainians are trying to take Kherson back,” the official  told reporters. “We would argue that Kherson is actually contested  territory again.” 

There was now "heavy fighting" underway in Kherson, the official said.

The  news came after U.S., British and Ukrainian officials said Ukrainian  troops had stymied Russia's assault on the capital, Kyiv, and pushed  back the Russians in some areas around the city.

If  Russia lost Kherson in the south, it would represent a major battlefield  setback and complicate any attempt by it to capture the Black Sea port  of Odesa, the Defense Department official said.

If the Ukrainians took back Kherson, “that would be a significant development, no question about that,” the official added.

Russia no longer in full control of Kherson, official says

----------


## malmomike77

this could draw NATO into the conflict.

Russia condemns Lithuania transit ban to Kaliningrad, vows response

MOSCOW, June 20 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday called Lithuania's decision to ban the transit of some goods to Russia's Kaliningrad region "unprecedented" and vowed to respond.

Lithuanian authorities banned the transit of goods which are sanctioned by the European Union across its territory, which includes the only rail route between mainland Russia and the Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea. Banned goods include coal, metals, construction materials and advanced technology.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-condemns-lithuania-transit-ban-kaliningrad-vows-response-2022-06-20/

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## harrybarracuda

Oh boo fucking hoo. Poor puffy.

----------


## S Landreth

EU nations push for new Russia sanctions, more military aid to Ukraine

Several European Union countries are pushing to start work on a new package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus for the invasion of Ukraine and also want to grant more military support to Kyiv, according to diplomats and a draft document.

About one-third of the 27 EU governments, mostly Nordic and eastern states, want the EU Commission to begin work on a seventh round of sanctions, diplomats said.

The latest version of the draft conclusions of a summit of EU leaders to be held later this week does not include a reference to new sanctions but diplomats said the text, dated June 15 and seen by Reuters, was likely to be tweaked after a meeting of EU envoys late on Monday.

Germany and a few other states prefer to focus now on applying existing sanctions and closing loopholes, rather than embark on the complex process of agreeing fresh measures, diplomats said.

After weeks of wrangling, the EU last month agreed to its sixth round of restrictive measures against Russia and Belarus since the start of the war in Ukraine, which included an oil ban and sanctions on shipping and banks.

Limiting or reducing import of gas from Russia is considered too sensitive at the moment, given EU's high reliance on this source of energy from Moscow, officials said.

Ambassadors have also discussed new military support to Ukraine, although they remain divided on the matter.

According to the draft conclusions for the June 23-24 summit, the EU "remains strongly committed to providing further military support to help Ukraine exercise its inherent right of self-defence against Russian aggression".

Sweden and Poland lead a group of Nordic and eastern countries calling for an immediate disbursement of additional funds to Ukraine.

The EU has already made available 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in military support to Kyiv from a so-called European Peace Facility.

The budget ceiling on this facility is 5.6 billion euros until 2027, but with approved funding to Kyiv and plans for more, half of its resources will have been used up, officials said.

Germany and other states are reluctant to tap this facility further, citing budgetary concerns and risks that not enough money would be available for other crises.

In the draft conclusions, a paragraph on the question of further military support for Ukraine through the facility is in brackets, meaning that this reference is likely to be revised.

Poland calls for seventh sanctions package against Russia




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## misskit

‘Finish these b**tards’: Russia’s sick execution plan revealed


A Russian politician has delivered a staggering rant on live TV about exactly what Putin’s men plan to do with British fighters caught in Ukraine.


Foreign fighters who crossed into Ukraine to join the war against Russia are facing a sickening execution at the hands of separatist authorities who want to send a message to their families.
British citizens Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, as well as Moroccan man Brahim Saadun, were sentenced to death by a pro-Moscow court in the Donetsk People’s Republic earlier this month after surrendering in the besieged port city of Mariupol in April.


The court, which is not recognised internationally, sentenced the trio for acting as mercenaries and attempting to overthrow the government.


The ruling sparked outrage abroad where the European Court of Human Rights urged Russia to prevent the execution from going ahead.

But in a rant on Russian state TV, Nationalist MP Aleksey Zhuravlyov called the three men “b**tards” and promised that they would be executed “with a British weapon and a British bullet”.


“I like the way the DPR is performing their international obligations,” he said.


“As I was told, the shooting will be performed with a British weapon and a British bullet.


“And then this bullet will be sent to the British relatives who will be made to pay for it in roubles.”


He went on: “We need just to finish these b**tards off.


“Without any negotiations. No need even to mock them. I saw what they are doing with my own eyes, personally. So I have no mercy for them.


“All those b**tards who came here from Britain must be eliminated. Do you want them to be liquidated with your British weapon? They will be eliminated with a British weapon.


“So when the West send mercenaries here, they must understand clearly, where they go.”

The European Court of Human Rights told Russia on Thursday that they “should ensure that the death penalty imposed on the [foreign mercenaries] was not carried out”.


Its emergency ruling was provided on an exceptional basis because the applicants would otherwise “face a real risk of irreversible harm,” the court emphasised.


On Friday, Russia said that close to 2000 foreign mercenaries have been killed in Ukraine since the start of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.


Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement that 6956 “mercenaries and weapons specialists” from 64 countries had arrived in Ukraine since the start of the conflict and that “1956 have already been destroyed”.


Another 1779 have left Ukraine, the statement said.


It said that Poland was the “absolute leader” among European countries for the number of fighters that were sent to Ukraine, followed by Romania and Britain.


It also singled out “mercenaries” from Canada, the US and Georgia.

The ministry said the number of foreign fighters is decreasing and many are leaving Ukraine “against the backdrop of the growing number of military failures of the Kyiv regime and massive daily losses in manpower and equipment”.


Pictures of the three men sentenced to death by the pro-Russian court show them with their heads shaved behind white bars.


The grandmother of Mr Aslin told the BBC she is not giving up hope after the sentence was handed down.


Pamela Hall acknowledged that the situation was “heartbreaking”.


“Time is running out,” she said.

“I have to have optimism. I believe it will be sorted in due course, and that there will be peace in Ukraine.”


Russia plans to execute foreigners caught in Mariupol, Ukraine | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

----------


## malmomike77

> Germany and other states are reluctant to tap this facility further, citing budgetary concerns and risks that not enough money would be available for other crises.


what other crisis do they imagine would be more serious, Russia invading an EU NATO member?

Germany has spent 2 months delaying Slovenia sending 30 T72 to Ukraine as they will only send Slovenian 15 Tanks, albeit bet spec. The reality is that they are shit scared of upsetting the Russians too much as they will turn the gas taps down further.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> what other crisis do they imagine would be more serious, Russia invading an EU NATO member?
> 
> Germany has spent 2 months delaying Slovenia sending 30 T72 to Ukraine as they will only send Slovenian 15 Tanks, albeit bet spec. The reality is that they are shit scared of upsetting the Russians too much as they will turn the gas taps down further.


Biding their time is all.

----------


## Backspin

The Pope might be getting regime changed. Maybe Ukraine related

----------


## bsnub

> The Pope might be getting regime changed. Maybe Ukraine related


You really prove time and again that you are a fucking idiot.

----------


## S Landreth

Russia warns NATO-member Lithuania over Kaliningrad transit

Russia warned NATO member Lithuania on Monday that unless the transit of goods to Russia's Kaliningrad exclave on the Baltic Sea was swiftly restored then Moscow would take undisclosed measures to defend its national interests.

With east-west relations at a half-century low over Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Vilnius banned the transit of goods sanctioned by the European Union through Lithuanian territory to and from the exclave, citing EU sanction rules.

Russia's foreign ministry summoned Lithuania's top envoy in Moscow to deliver a protest while the Kremlin said the situation was beyond serious.

"The situation is more than serious," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "This decision is really unprecedented. It's a violation of everything."

Russia's foreign ministry demanded Vilnius reverse what it cast as an "openly hostile" move immediately.

"If cargo transit between the Kaliningrad region and the rest of the Russian Federation via Lithuania is not fully restored in the near future, then Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests," it said.

Kaliningrad, formerly the port of Koenigsberg, capital of East Prussia, was captured from Nazi Germany by the Red Army in April 1945 and ceded to the Soviet Union after World War Two. It is sandwiched between NATO members Poland and Lithuania.

Lithuania said it was merely implementing EU sanctions, part of a swathe of measures intended to punish President Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine.

"It's not Lithuania doing anything: it's European sanctions that started working from 17 of June," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters in Luxembourg.

"It was done with consultation from European Commission and under European Commission guidelines," Landsbergis said.

Lithuania's state-owned railway informed clients that from June 17 sanctioned goods such as steel and iron would not be permitted to cross Lithuania, Landsbergis said.

European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said he had spoken to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda who said that Vilnius was applying EU sanctions.

"Clearly we really need to gather all facts and implications, but as President Nauseda outlined, what Lithuania is doing they are applying EU sanctions," Dombrovskis said.

"So in this case, indeed, if it is application of the EU sanctions, it's clear that we need to be with our member states applying the sanctions."




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile: 

_______________


In Georgia, fears of Russia aggression amplified by Ukraine war

The two Russian soldiers ducked to the ground on top of the steep Georgian hills in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, hoping to elude monitors from the European Union watching their steps through binoculars just hundreds of yards away.

Seconds before, the soldiers, rifles slung over their shoulders, appeared to be passing heavy rocks between one another as they built what the Georgian government and the EU observers said was a blatantly illegal border construction. 

This reporter accompanied the EU monitors on a patrol alongside the boundary on Saturday, getting a glimpse at how Russian troops operate in a region they have occupied since invading in 2008.

I see them, I said, looking through the binoculars at one of our stops.

They can see you too, Marek Szczygieł, head of the EUs monitoring mission, answered.

Earlier that day, the EU monitors had called the Russian-backed authorities to alert them that an American journalist was accompanying the patrol.

The phone call, through a deconfliction hotline, was meant to avoid increasing tensions in an area that has only grown more strained with Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine in February.

The events of the past several months have shown the world the Kremlins aggression and brutality. I know the women and men of Georgia did not need reminding of that, Karen Donfried, assistant secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, said during an international womens conference on peace and security, held in Tbilisi last week.

As we see Putin attempting yet again, to further undermine a neighbors independence, the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine, with Georgia and with other countries facing the costs of the Kremlins aggression.

Yet for many Georgian officials, the words of support from U.S. and European officials can ring hollow.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili traveled to Washington in April pressing for more U.S. support but left without securing a face-to-face with President Biden. 

A planned meeting with Vice President Harris was canceled after the vice president tested positive for COVID-19.

Another blow came last week. The European Commission announced that while it would recommend Ukraine for candidacy to the 27-nation bloc, it would provide only prospective EU member status to Georgia. The commission called for Georgia to carry out concrete reforms on a dozen priorities before it can be considered for candidate status.

The door is wide open, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a press conference. It is up to Georgia now to take the necessary steps to move forward.

Zourabichvili reacted with disappointment and a little bit of anger, saying the EU should weigh heavily how their decision is interpreted by Russia.

We understand the warning [from the EU] about the need for reform, she said, before adding, They also need to understand the current threats from our neighbor and how [Russia] might understand this differently. 

Nearly 700 Russian troops are stationed along the boundary of the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Nineteen military bases operate there under the authority of Russias Federal Security Service, the security agency that succeeded the Soviet Unions KGB.

Their job is to establish a nearly 250-mile border. Physical tactics include laying down razor-wire fencing, digging up dirt trenches with tractors or staking signposts forbidding passage.

The Georgian police who maintain security in the area have little power to stop these efforts.

In one area, the Russians erected a three-story guard tower covered in camouflage netting and separated from the Georgian-controlled side by more razor-wire fencing.

Our assessment is that this kind of infrastructure that they deploy here is representing the same standard that can be seen on the border between Russia and NATO countries, explained Szczygieł, the head of the EU mission. This is quite a high level of sophistication, and they do not give the impression of being here just temporarily.

They also intimidate, antagonize and drive out local residents to further establish control.

In one area, razor-wire fencing has split a local village in two and runs through the backyard of an elderly womans residence. The European monitors said shes afraid to go into her garden for fear that the Russian patrol guards will detain her for crossing their arbitrary border.

The Russians have at least seven Georgian citizens detained in prison in Tskhinvali, the so-called capital of South Ossetia. All could receive years-long sentences.

Szczygieł said they are seeing an increased number of detentions this year, reflecting more intensive Russian patrols and an assertive posture, he said.

The EU monitoring mission operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to document Moscows attempts to harden the boundary, sending ground reports four times a year to Geneva.

The reports are received in a conflict resolution format co-chaired by the United Nations, EU, Russia, Georgia, representatives from the breakaway territories, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the U.S.

Szczygieł said that the constant and routine presence of monitors, in trucks and clothing bearing the EU flag, signal to the local residents that Europe is paying attention.

The mission regularly hosts European officials and lawmakers, taking them on patrol and briefing them on the latest security assessment.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the mission in July 2021, at the boundary with Russian-occupied Abkhazia, in the northwest of Georgia.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, visited the boundary in June 2021.

Szczygieł describes the current situation along these boundary lines as relatively stable, but still with high potential of security incidents.

In the days leading up to and following the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Szczygieł said there was some tension and more intensive patrolling patterns on the side of the Russians. The EU mission observed that the Russians redeployed a significant part of their military assets from both breakaway regions to Ukraine.

Donfried, in her remarks in Tbilisi, said that the U.S. will continue to work with our Georgian partners to strengthen Georgias defensive capabilities and resilience to various forms of malign Russian influence and called for an end to Russias continuing occupation of parts of Georgia.

Szczygieł warns against viewing this situation as a frozen conflict.

Russian intentions are clear, to separate those two breakaway regions from the rest of Georgia, he said, adding that control of South Ossetia would position Russian troops only 200 yards from the main highway that runs across the country from east to west, and only 25 miles to Tbilisi.

This is a kind of situation that is not developing in the positive direction, Szczygieł said.

----------


## bsnub

According to Vereshchuk, residents of Kherson Oblast, especially  families with children, shouldn’t rule out leaving the region via  Russia-occupied Crimea.

“Please leave, since our army is sure to liberate these lands,” said Vereshchuk.

“Our  determination there is rock-solid,” Vereshchuk said. “It will be very  difficult to establish a humanitarian corridor, with all the children  around. I know how challenging that was at Mariupol, and will be even  more difficult near Kherson. The enemy adapts, and will be even more  ruthless, using civilians as human shields, especially children… Believe  me, liberation will be swift. The counteroffensive will launch as soon  as we are able to do so.”

The deputy PM added that people can  leave through Crimea, using fake Russia-issued IDs. Ukraine won’t  prosecute anyone for using these “documents,” as it’s virtually the only  way to flee the area.

“Leave, if you can, especially if you have children,” Vereshchuk said.

“As soon as you arrive in third-party territory – the EU or some other  country – ask Ukrainian consulates for help, or find a way to call us.  Any country will let you in even without documents. Should the need  arise, we will issue you with new IDs and send them to a consulate near  you.”

Ukrainian officials urge Kherson residents to leave via Crimea

----------


## S Landreth

Nobel sold for Ukrainian kids shatters record at $103.5M

The Nobel Peace Prize that Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov was auctioning off to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees sold Monday night for $103.5 million, shattering the old record for a Nobel.

A spokesperson for Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale, could not confirm the identity of the buyer but said the winning bid was made by proxy. The $103.5 million sale translates to $100 million Swiss francs, hinting that the buyer is from overseas.

The live auction happened on World Refugee Day. Previously, the most ever paid for a Nobel Prize medal was $4.76 million in 2014, when James Watson, whose co-discovery of the structure of DNA earned him a Nobel Prize in 1962, sold his.

Three years later, the family of his co-recipient, Francis Crick, received $2.27 million in bidding also run by Heritage Auctions.

Muratov, who was awarded the gold medal in October 2021, helped found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and was the publications editor-in-chief when it shut down in March amid the Kremlins clampdown on journalists and public dissent in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

It was Muratovs idea to auction off his prize, having already announced he was donating the accompanying $500,000 cash award to charity. The idea of the donation, he said, is to give the children refugees a chance for a future.

Muratov has said the proceeds will go directly to UNICEF in its efforts to help children displaced by the war in Ukraine.

Melted down, the 175 grams of 23-karat gold contained in Muratovs medal would be worth about $10,000.

In an interview with The Associated Press before the auction, Muratov said he was particularly concerned about children who have been orphaned because of the conflict in Ukraine.

We want to return their future, he said.

He added that its important international sanctions levied against Russia do not prevent humanitarian aid, such as medicine for rare diseases and bone marrow transplants, from reaching those in need.

It has to become a beginning of a flash mob as an example to follow so people auction their valuable possessions to help Ukrainians, Muratov said in a video released by Heritage Auctions, which handled the sale but is not taking any share of the proceeds.

Muratov shared the Nobel Peace Prize last year with journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines.

The two journalists, who each received their own medals, were honored for their battles to preserve free speech in their respective countries, despite coming under attack by harassment, their governments and even death threats.

Muratov has been highly critical of Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea and the war launched in February that has caused nearly 5 million Ukrainians to flee to other countries for safety, creating the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II.

Independent journalists in Russia have come under scrutiny by the Kremlin, if not outright targets of the government. Since Putin came into power more than two decades ago, nearly two dozen journalists have been killed, including at least four who had worked for Muratovs newspaper.

In April, Muratov said he was attacked with red paint while aboard a Russian train.

Muratov left Russia for Western Europe on Thursday to begin his trip to New York City, where live bidding began Monday evening.

Online bids began June 1 to coincide with the International Childrens Day observance.

Early Monday, the high bid had been only $550,000. The purchase price had been expected to spiral upward, but perhaps not over $100 million.

Its a very bespoke deal, said Joshua Benesh, the chief strategy officer for Heritage Auctions. Not everyone in the world has a Nobel Prize to auction and not every day of the week that theres a Nobel Prize crossing the auction block.

Since its inception in 1901, there have been nearly 1,000 recipients of the Nobel Prizes honoring achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and the advancement of peace.

The ongoing war and international humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of those affected in Ukraine are bound to stoke interest, Benesh said, adding its hard to predict how much someone would be willing to pay for the medal.

I think theres certainly going to be some excitement Monday, Benesh said. Its its such a unique item being sold under unique circumstances ... a significant act of generosity, and such a significant humanitarian crisis.

Muratov and Heritage officials said even those out of the bidding can still help by donating directly to UNICEF.

___________


Nazi hunter Eli Rosenbaum to lead DOJ team investigating war crimes in Ukraine

The former director of the Justice Departments Office of Special Investigations, which was responsible for identifying and deporting Nazi war criminals, will lead a team to investigate war crimes that have occurred in Ukraine.

The Justice Department (DOJ) announced in a release Tuesday that Eli Rosenbaum, who has served in the department for 36 years, will lead the War Crimes Accountability Team, which will focus on war crimes and atrocities committed during Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Working alongside our domestic and international partners, the Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable every person complicit in the commission of war crimes, torture, and other grave violations during the unprovoked conflict in Ukraine, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the release.

The DOJ made the announcement as Garland made an unannounced visit to Ukraine to meet with the countrys prosecutor general to discuss the U.S. commitment to prosecute those responsible for war crimes in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Rosenbaum will be responsible for coordinating efforts across the DOJ and the rest of the federal government, the release states. Prosecutors from the DOJs Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section will also work with Rosenbaum on holding those responsible accountable.

The team will also support the DOJs ongoing investigation of potential war crimes in jurisdictions the U.S. possesses, including the wounding and killing of American journalists covering the Russian invasion.

Numerous Russian war crimes have been reported throughout the war, including the killing of civilians and multiple allegations of Russian soldiers raping women.

----------


## misskit

Russians are conducting rotations in the National Guard due to heavy losses in the war with Ukraine - Ukrainian Intelligence


The Russian Federation is carrying out personnel rotations in the National Guard of Russia due to the significant losses of personnel and military equipment in the war against Ukraine.


Source: Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine


Quote: "The personnel changes have taken place in the federal service of the National Guard of Russia.


The latest staff rotations are due to the poor level of task organisation during the armed aggression against Ukraine, which has led to significant losses of personnel and military equipment."


Details: In particular, the Russian Federation has fired Lieutenant General Sergei Vlasenko from the post of Chief of Staff – First Deputy Commander of the North Caucasus District of the National Guard of Russia.


Anatolii Malikov, the newly promoted Lieutenant General, was appointed to a leading position in the North Caucasus district.


Prior to that, Malikov held the position of head of the main department of state control and licensing of the National Guard of Russia.

Russians are conducting rotations in the National Guard due to heavy losses in the war with Ukraine - Ukrainian Intelligence

----------


## harrybarracuda

Ukraine has received 155-millimeter self-propelled howitzers Panzerhaubitze 2000s ((PzH 2000)) from Germany, Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Tuesday.
"German Panzerhaubitze 2000s with trained Ukrainian crews have joined the Ukrainian artillery family," Reznikov wrote on Facebook.
The supply of PzH 2000 is an example of cooperation in support of Ukraine, Reznikov said.
Apart from PzH 2000, Ukraine uses five types of 155-mm artillery, namely M777, FH70, M109, AHS Krab and Ceasar howitzers, the minister added.
Last month, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the government of Germany is working to provide modern weapons to Ukraine.

Ukraine receives howitzers from Germany - China.org.cn

----------


## bsnub

It's been nearly two months since Russian forces began their assault on the city of Severodonetsk.  But despite overwhelming firepower, they still can't dislodge  determined Ukrainian resistance -- nor cut the supply lines that provide  the city's remaining defenders with a drip-feed of weapons and  ammunition. The  fierce Ukrainian defense of Severodonetsk, despite heavy losses, has  forced the Russians to concentrate firepower on a relatively small area  and held up their efforts to seize the 10% of Luhansk region they still  do not control. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the seizure of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions  as one of the objectives of Moscow's special military operation that  began in February. For now, that operation is largely stalled; a large  part of Donetsk remains beyond the Russians' reach. 

Russian  forces are making modest gains -- the Russian Defense Ministry said  Sunday that the town of Metelkino just southeast of Severodonetsk had  been taken. But the Russians' goal of encircling the Ukrainian troops  defending the twin cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk still appears  some way off. 

In  a campaign lacking agility and imagination, the Russians have resorted  to one principal tactic: overwhelming indirect fire against any and all  Ukrainian positions, regardless of the collateral destruction. 
The  aim is to leave nothing standing that can be defended. The use of  troops on the ground to take and hold urban areas has been less frequent  and less successful. 

In  a video of Ukrainian special forces in the area released at the  weekend, one unidentified Ukrainian soldier says: "They are throwing  everything they have, all the munitions they have. It doesn't matter for  them if it's our positions or civilian areas, they wipe everything from  the face of earth and then they use artillery and then they start  moving forward little by little."  

Amid  intense urban combat, some 500 civilians, including dozens of children,  have taken shelter in the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk. Unlike the Azovstal plant in Mariupol,  it offers little protection below ground. Ukrainian officials say  people there, who previously refused to leave, do have food supplies but  can no longer be evacuated from the plant because of the intense  fighting.  

But  as with Azovstal, the Azot plant and its immediate surroundings have  become the focal point of Ukrainian resistance -- frustrating Russian  commanders. 

According  to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank in Washington,  "Russian troops are likely facing mounting losses and troop and  equipment degradation that will complicate attempts to renew offensive  operations on other critical locations as the slow battle for  Severodonetsk continues." 

Just  as the defense of Mariupol drew in more than a dozen battalion tactical  groups, so overcoming resistance in Severodonetsk is proving  labor-intensive.  

*Grinding down resistance*

The  Ukrainians claim to have inflicted heavy losses on Russian forces in  the area -- in part thanks to new equipment from Western allies,  including anti-tank weapons and longer-range howitzers supplied by the  United States and France. On Saturday, the Ukrainian armed forces  claimed that units of Russia's 11th Separate Motorized Rifle Regiment  had suffered significant losses and were "withdrawn from the area of  combat operations to restore combat capability." 

However,  Ukrainian supply lines are under constant attack, and it has become  more difficult to ferry supplies from further west in Donetsk region  along the highway to Lysychansk.  

The  ISW still expects that "Russian forces will likely be able to seize  Severodonetsk in the coming weeks, but at the cost of concentrating most  of their available forces in this small area."  

A  Ukrainian serviceman walks in a trench on a position held by the  Ukrainian army between southern cities of Mykolaiv and Kherson on June  12, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

The  Russians' tactics so far suggest a campaign to grind down resistance  south of the city -- in places like Syrotyne -- and then attack  Ukrainian defenses from several directions. 

Ukrainian  officials say the Russians are increasingly using drones to identify  their defensive positions. "The Russian military monitors the air day  and night with drones, adjusts firepower, quickly adapts to our changes  in defensive areas," said Serhii Hayday, head of the Luhansk regional  military administration. 

Elsewhere  along an active frontline that stretches for more than 1,000 kilometers  (more than 620 miles), little territory is currently ceded or taken. 

The  Russians' principal goals in Donbas are to take the industrial city and  transport hub of Sloviansk and the town of Bakhmut, both in Donetsk --  but they've made very limited progress towards either objective. They  may also be vulnerable to Ukrainian counterattacks south and west of the  city of Izium. 

Southern  Ukraine represents a different picture. The Russians appear to be  consolidating gains won in the opening days of the war, along lines that  allow them to defend a coastal belt in depth. Ukrainian counterattacks  towards Kherson city have made limited progress, as the Russians are now  well dug-in and show little appetite for trying to win more territory. 

As  UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson put it Sunday, after his second visit  to Kyiv: "Time is the vital factor. Everything will depend on whether  Ukraine can strengthen its ability to defend its soil faster than Russia  can renew its capacity to attack." 

*Brittle morale*

Some  of Ukraine's best military units have been punished during the defense  of Donbas. Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told CNN last week that  tens of thousands of Ukrainians had been killed since the Russian  invasion began on February 24. Probably the vast majority have been  soldiers. 

The  UK Defense Ministry assessed this weekend that Ukrainian forces have  likely suffered desertions in recent weeks -- though it believes Russian  morale is much more brittle.  

So,  it's not solely about getting accurate long-range weapons to Ukrainian  forces but also stepping up training. Johnson is pushing a plan whereby  allies develop the potential to train up to 10,000 soldiers every 120  days. 

Despite  their losses, and even as they deploy vintage T62 tanks in some places,  Russian forces retain huge superiority in armor and combat aviation.  And despite a ponderous and predictable strategy, they can continue to  obliterate Ukrainian defenses. Video emerged at the weekend revealing  the scale of destruction in Lyman, near Sloviansk, just as Popasna and  Rubizhne further east were leveled in April. 

But  with an accelerated flow of weapons capable of blunting Russia's  advantage in heavy artillery and rocket systems, Ukrainian forces might  yet prevent the enemy from inflicting such devastation on more towns and  cities further west.

Severodonetsk: Two months on, Russia is still struggling to capture this small Ukrainian city - CNN

----------


## S Landreth

Ireland has frozen €1.72bn of Russian assets through sanctions

Ireland has frozen €1.72 billion of assets linked to sanctioned Russian individuals and entities in the wake of the country’s attack on Ukraine in February.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs gave the figure to The Irish Times on Tuesday afternoon, saying it was up to date as of last Friday and comes from data reported to it by the Central Bank. Taoiseach Micheál Martin subsequently gave the same information to the Dáil later on Tuesday.

It marks a significant increase from a figure of €839 million that was contained in an EU document in early April covering the extent to which Russian assets had been frozen at that stage across the bloc.

It is believed that activity in Ireland is dominated by financial assets contained in funds and special purpose vehicles (SPVs) in Dublin’s international services hub, rather than the oligarch yacht, jet and luxury property confiscations that have grabbed headlines in other jurisdictions in recent months as a result of western sanctions.

The Central Bank wrote on Monday to a number of business and professional organisations to remind them of its role in overseeing financial sanctions in the State, and of the responsibility of every Irish person to uphold EU prohibitions as Russia’s war against Ukraine continues.

The letters were sent to the Law Society, the Bar of Ireland, individual chambers of commerce, Ibec, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, accounting bodies and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, among others, asking them to ensure their members were aware of these obligations. It is a criminal offence not to report sanction breaches, or suspected breaches, to An Garda Síochána.

If a business or individual is in possession or control of funds or economic resources of a person or entity that is subject to a financial sanction, they must freeze these and report the matter to the Central Bank through a special sanctions return form.

The EU has adopted six rounds of sanctions against Russia since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, with the latest — targeting Russian oil, banks and military officials — coming into force earlier this month.

EU leaders aim to maintain pressure on Russia at their summit later this week by committing to further work on sanctions, a draft document showed, with gold among assets that may be targeted in a possible next round of measures.

Several sectors including gas remain largely untouched as EU governments avoid measures that could damage their own economies more than Russia’s. Still, Russia has cut back gas supplies to the EU in recent weeks.

______________


EU moves toward Russian lobbyist ban

Russian lobbyists are set to be banned from the EU institutions following action by the Council of the EU.

Nearly four months and six rounds of EU-level sanctions after Russia began its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, lobbyists from companies including Gazprom, Lukoil and Rusal are in the process of losing their credentials to make their pitch to EU politicians and policymakers.

The French presidency of the Council informed national diplomats last week of its intention to have representatives of Russian interests suspended from the EU’s transparency register, according to a presidency spokesperson. Inclusion in the register is a requirement for access to the European Commission, Parliament and Council premises.

The move completes a months-long push to cut off access for Russian lobbyists. The Parliament unilaterally banned lobbyists for Russia-based entities earlier this month, after President Roberta Metsola first called for a Brussels-wide ban in March. The Council’s move to strip Russian lobbyists of their credentials will keep them out of European Commission buildings.

“There was no discussion and immediate agreement” among national diplomats at the June 15 meeting, the French presidency spokesperson said. Since the Parliament and Commission are on the same page, the spokesperson added, “this will be undertaken.”  

The Parliament's Greens, among the most vocal backers of a lobbying ban, cheered the step.

"Russian energy lobbyists are the salesmen for Putin's war machine," said German Green MEP Daniel Freund. "Banning them is essential to supporting our Ukrainian friends and ending Russian influence in our politics."

The move comes as Russian players have fewer ways to plead their cases around the EU. The sixth sanctions package, for example, includes a ban on providing lobbying-adjacent help to Russians, “directly or indirectly,” including “business and management consulting or public relations services.”

Meanwhile, some civil society groups are arguing the ban on representatives of Russian interests doesn’t go far enough. Greenpeace, for example, warned that Russian companies like Gazprom, Lukoil and Rosatom may still have access to MEPs through memberships in major EU industry associations and by sponsoring events.

In an open letter to Metsola last week, the climate NGO urged her to ban lobby associations that have Russian members and clients, and bar EU officials from speaking at events with Russian backers.  

____________


Russia's Youth Faces Shrinking Professional, Educational Opportunities

Russian youths entering the job market and pursuing higher education are in for a rough ride.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, multinational companies have left Russia in droves, while sanctions from major world economies are intensifying. Meanwhile, there are changes taking place at Russian universities that stand to make it difficult for the country's students to pursue higher education elsewhere.

"We're really entering a kind of uncharted territory in so many ways," said Hassan Malik, a senior sovereign analyst at the Boston investment-management consultancy Loomis Sayles.

Experts told Insider that it's impossible, just months into the war, to quantify the effects of the war on Russian youths. But they also said the generation that grew up under the presidency of Vladimir Putin — which started in 2012 — is now experiencing a very different Russia from the one it grew up in.

Loosely termed the "Putin Generation," this group of young people grew up knowing only one president in its formative years and is between 17 and 25 years old, the Wilson Center said. They grew up eating McDonald's, watching the latest Hollywood films, and posting on Instagram — all of which are, in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, no longer available in Russia.

Two experts Insider spoke with broke down how much tougher it'll be for young Russians at work and in school.

Multinationals are leaving en masse, limiting professional opportunities

Like in many countries, the value of a good education in Russia is that it opens doors not only at homegrown employers but also at multinational companies that present opportunities for employees to enter and leave the European job market freely. These windows are closing fast.

"A lot of multinational corporations had promised good, stable careers, where one can advance on their merits in a kind of traditional Western capitalist model," said Andrew Lohsen, a fellow in the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Those opportunities are drying up as these companies leave Russia, and some of the industries that have promised high salaries are starting to be hamstrung by sanctions."

Lohsen cited oil, gas, and IT as some sectors where multinationals are departing in droves, which leaves a future of uncertainty for those looking to enter these industries. Earlier this month, the American tech giants IBM and Microsoft laid off hundreds of employees in Russia as companies continued to pull out of the market.

Such exits are not just about the job market. They'll also curtail training and professional networks for Russian professionals, Malik said.

In response, many Russian tech employees are leaving, Insider's Belle Lin, Masha Borak, and Kylie Robison reported in April. While many made their exits because of a fear of being conscripted to fight the war, some said they were driven by the effects of sanctions on their jobs.

In April, the World Bank said the Russian economy was expected to contract 11.2% in 2022, marking its worst economic contraction in three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russian universities and education may quash open debate and push for top-down thinking

The experts Insider spoke with also expressed concern about the future of Russia's academic system, as the country looks to exit the Bologna Process in which European governments align education standards and qualifications.

"What that means is that Russians who are thinking about getting a higher education in Europe — especially a professional or doctoral degree — will find it much harder now to try to enter European universities," Lohsen said. Russia is planning to revert to the Soviet standard, which makes it very difficult for any sort of European university to verify their academic credentials, he added.

Europe's academic community is especially concerned about the freedom for open debate in Russia after 700 rectors and university presidents from Russian universities signed a letter nine days into invasion endorsing the Kremlin's version of events — namely, that Moscow is aiming for a "demilitarisation and denazification" of Ukraine, the Times Higher Education magazine reported, citing the letter, which has since been taken down.

"What we are seeing is the politicization of the education system, and that goes from the top to the bottom," Lohsen said. "There's a real sharp turn in the Russian education toward embracing the state narrative and excluding any sort of doubt or alternatives, and punishing those who step out of line."

Malik said he had participated in conferences with Russian and international institutions in the past where there were dynamic exchanges of ideas. He thinks this would now be extremely difficult, he said, especially since Russia passed a law in March that would jail for up to 15 years those intentionally spreading "fake" news about the military.

A political upheaval is unlikely even if Russians are unhappy, experts say

While the situation looks grim, Moscow has been ramping up propaganda in recent years to promote a top-down structure with the state, the military, and the church at the core of Russian society, Lohsen said. Alongside a mass-media environment that's largely controlled by the state or linked to the Kremlin, such messages could distract the populace from impending economic hardship, he added.

Some young Russians who are unhappy with Putin's rule fled the country after the war broke out. But there are everyday practicalities to consider for Russians who wish to start afresh outside their home country — such as long-term visas, employment, and financial resources, all of which are now harder to come by because of sanctions over the war, Malik and Lohsen said.

Inside Russia, support for the war remains. In late May, an independent Russian pollster called the Levada Center conducted a survey of 1,634 Russian people and found that 60% of 18- to 24-year-old Russians supported the war.

There's little indication anything will change politically — even if there are pockets of dissent, Malik said.

"A revolution is more likely in a democracy than in an autocracy — because in a democracy, you can just have an election," he said. After all, the economic conditions in the former Soviet Union were worse than what they are now in Russia, but nothing changed for decades, he added.

"For discontent to translate into policy change, and let alone regime change, in an autocracy is a very high bar," he said.

Young people pay the price as Russia faces its worst recession in 30 years

____________

*Just for fun.*

Russia - Credit Rating





> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

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## misskit

Russians focus firepower to seize 2 villages in east Ukraine


KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Russian military expanded its grab of territory in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, capturing two villages and vying for control of a key highway in an offensive that could cut supply lines and encircle some frontline Ukrainian forces, British and Ukrainian military officials said.


Britain's defense ministry said that Ukrainian forces had withdrawn from some areas near the city of Lysychansk, the latest major battlefield in Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine, to avoid the possibility of being encircled as Russians sent in reinforcements and concentrated their firepower in the area.


Ukraine's General Staff said Russian forces took control of the villages of Loskutivka and Rai-Oleksandrivka, and were trying to capture Syrotyne outside Sievierodonetsk, the administrative center of the Luhansk region.

“The enemy is burning everything out in a bid to encircle the Ukrainian group of forces,” Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai told The Associated Press.


“The Russians are advancing without trying to spare the ammunition or troops, and they aren’t running out of either,” Haidai said. “They have an edge in heavy artillery and the number of troops.”


“Part of the Luhansk region still remains under Ukrainian control, defying the Russians and causing their fury and desire to burn it to the ground,” he added


For weeks, Russian forces have pummeled Sievierodonetsk with artillery and air raids, and fought the Ukrainian army house-to-house. Ukrainian forces remain holed up at the Azot chemical plant on the city’s edge, where about 500 civilians were also sheltering.


Haidai said the Ukrainian soldiers were using the plant's sprawling underground structures, but noted that “the shelling has intensified and even concrete shelters can’t withstand the bombardment.” The Russians are using their entire arsenal — heavy artillery, tanks, aircraft,” he added.


The Russians were also pressing their offensive on Lysychansk, which is located on a steep river bank facing Sievierodonetsk.


Haidai said that Lysychansk was also facing a relentless Russian artillery barrage, which killed at least one civilian and wounded three others in the last 24 hours. The governor noted that the Russians concentrated over 100 multiple rocket launchers to “pummel entire blocks.”


“The Russian army is ‘liberating’ Sievierodonetsk from life and workplaces,” he said in a sarcastic reference to Russia's stated goal of the “liberation” of Donbas.


The U.K. Ministry of Defense noted in its intelligence assessment Thursday that Russian forces have likely advanced more than five kilometers (three miles) towards the southern approaches of Lysychansk since Sunday.


“Some Ukrainian units have withdrawn, probably to avoid being encircled,” the statement said. “Russia’s improved performance in this sector is likely a result of recent unit reinforcement and heavy concentration of fire.”


Ukraine's military said the Russians were also moving to overtake the hills overlooking a highway linking Lysychansk with Bakhmut, to the southwest, in an attempt to cut the supply lines of Ukrainian forces.


Haidai said the Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway wasn’t being used because of heavy Russian shelling and the Ukrainian forces are getting supplies via an alternative route.


Following a botched attempt to capture the Ukrainian capital in the early stage of the invasion on Feb. 24, Russian forces have shifted focus to Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of Donbas, where the Ukrainian forces have fought Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.


The Russian military currently controls about 95% of the Luhansk region, and about half of the neighboring Donetsk region of Donbas.


Asked about prospects for a political settlement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that “it's possible after Ukraine meets all the Russian demands,” adding that “Ukraine knows perfectly well what they are.”


The Kremlin has previously demanded that Ukraine accept Russia's sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and acknowledge the independence of the separatist regions in the east. Moscow also has noted that Ukraine should recognize the situation on the ground, an apparent reference to other land gains that Russia has made in Ukraine's south where it captured the Kherson region and part of the Zaporizhzhia region.


OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:


A Ukrainian politician and TV personality says an online fundraising pitch aimed to help Ukraine buy three offensive drones has already drummed up $10.4 million — in just 24 hours.


Serhiy Prytula credited “amazing” support among Ukrainians after his charitable foundation launched the appeal for $15 million a day earlier for the purchase of the Bayraktar drones like those that Ukrainian forces have already used to defend against Russian invaders.


He tweeted: “4,6m $ to go. The People’s Bayraktar project is already a nationwide crowdfunding. Let’s turn it into international!”


___


European Union leaders meeting in Brussels appeared on track to make Ukraine a candidate to join the 27-member bloc, which could take time — not least because of the impact of the war, but a vast rulebook to abide by too.


It's unlikely that accession talks could start before next year, and joining the EU would not confer any security guarantees like membership in NATO — which has also been sought by Kyiv, over the stiff opposition of Putin's government — would.


Several EU diplomats, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity before the leaders' summit, said Ukraine will receive the unanimous approval required to become a candidate and for the launch of discussions toward accession.


___


British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Thursday that her country is offering its expertise to help protect Ukraine’s ports and the safe passage of vessels for the export of Ukrainian grain.


Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil. Russia’s invasion and a blockade of Ukraine's ports have halted much of that flow and left millions of tons of grain stuck in silos, endangering food supplies to many developing countries, especially in Africa.


“It’s urgent that action is taken within the next month ahead of the new harvest, and we’re determined to work with our allies to deliver this,” Truss said at news conference with her Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, during a visit to Ankara to discuss ways to end the blockade.


Turkey wants to gather the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine to organize a U.N. plan that would allow the safe shipment of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports. Cavusoglu said a possible deal might set up a “safe zone” just outside of Ukraine’s territorial waters.


___


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Russia has destroyed more than 2,000 educational institutions, including kindergartens, during the war.


In a video address to students and faculty at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, Zelenskyy said that in areas where Russian troops made quick advances, “forces were shooting people on the streets, they are torturing people, they are raping minors — boys and girls.”


Zelenskyy also voiced disappointment that Israel hadn't joined Western-led sanctions against Russia or provided Ukraine with military aid to give its forces a boost in the war.


Israel relies on good ties with Russia for security coordination in Syria, where Russia has troops and where Israel carries out frequent strikes against enemy targets. It has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Russians focus firepower to seize 2 villages in east Ukraine | Taiwan News | 2022-06-23 19:30:44

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## misskit

Russian Troops in Ukraine Face ‘Extraordinary’ Casualty Rates: U.K. Intelligence

Casualties among Russian and pro-Russian forces are mounting at an unsustainable rate in Ukraine, British intelligence reports, raising more questions about the extent to which Moscow can maintain its current pace of operations amid limited progress on the battlefield.

Figures published last week by the Donetsk People’s Republic, part of the self-declared pro-Putin autonomous region in eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, claimed that more than 2,100 of its forces had died since operations began and nearly 9,000 had been wounded.


The casualty rate equals roughly 55% of its total force, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense, “which highlights the extraordinary attrition rate Russian and pro-Russian forces are suffering in the Donbas.”


The losses of men and material have come at a staggering rate since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began Feb. 24 and immediately encountered a stiff resistance from local forces backed with Western munitions and financial resources. The number of Russian deaths are a closely guarded secret. Moscow in March placed the death toll at 1,351, but even then there was reason to believe it was far higher. A British estimate in April put the number around 15,000 – more than were killed in the Soviet Union’s nine-year war in Afghanistan – while other estimates project that as many as 40,000 have been injured.

Among the most central questions facing the government in Ukraine and its Western backers is the extent to which Russia can continue fighting and the pressure that forces loyal to Kyiv can exert on invading forces to accelerate those shortcomings as Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin face growing dissent and dwindling resources.


The Institute for the Study of War, citing the BBC’s Russian service, noted that new Russian recruits receive only three to seven days of training before being sent to “the most active sectors of the front.”


The BBC also reported that volunteers within the Russian military along with the equivalent of national guard forces and Russia’s government-affiliated mercenary group have become Russia’s main assault force, as opposed to conventional military units.

The institute has previously noted that the Russian military is lowering its standards on things like age, health, criminal records and other routine qualifications for service while offering substantial financial incentives for recruits. The BBC also reported that the Russian Ministry of Defense is now offering to pay off the loans and debts of volunteers to entice recruits.


“On both sides, the ability to generate and deploy reserve units to the front is likely becoming increasingly critical to the outcome of the war,” the British Defense Ministry said.


The casualty counts have appeared similarly grim for Ukraine. U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted last week that public assessments of as many as 100 killed-in-action every day align with the Pentagon’s assessment of the battlefield carnage, combined with as many as 300 wounded-in-action every day.


“This is an existential threat. They’re fighting for the very life of their country,” the veteran commander of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan said. “So, your ability to endure suffering, to endure casualties is directly proportional to the object to be attained.”

Russian Troops in Ukraine Face ‘Extraordinary’ Casualty Rates: U.K. Intelligence | World Report | US News

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## S Landreth

Germany seizes first Russian-owned property under sanctions

German authorities have seized three private apartments and a bank account belonging to a sanctioned member of the Russian Duma parliament and his wife, the public prosecutor in the southern Bavarian city of Munich said on Monday.

"As far as we know, this is the first case in Germany that assets have not only been "frozen" due to sanctions, but actual real estate has been seized," senior prosecutor Anne Leiding said.

The sanctioned individual, named as L. by the prosecutors, was one of the members of the Duma who voted to support Russian President Vladimir Putin's call to recognize the Ukrainian breakaway regions calling themselves the People's Republic of Donetsk and People's Republic of Luhansk as independent states.

L. has been on the list of EU sanctions since February 23. Bavarian authorities are investigating both the husband and wife for infringing sanctions.

Authorities cut rental income

A bank account connected to the couple was also taken. The account was used for rental payments to the property owners amounting to €3,500 ($3,681) per month.

The renters living in the seized properties will be allowed to stay in their apartments, but will now have to pay their rent directly to the district court in Munich.

The investigation was launched following communication between the Bavarian finance and justice ministries at the beginning of May which revealed that the property owner was on the EU sanctions list.

The move comes after German Finance Minister Christian Lindner explained last week that Russian assets with a total value of up to €4.5 billion — including central bank deposits, shares in companies, ships and yachts — have been frozen.

EU sanctions against Kremlin supporters

The EU, along with countries such as the US, Japan and Australia, imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russian businesses, banks, industries and individuals in light of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The first sanctions were put in place just before Russia invaded Ukraine, but further sanctions have been introduced since then.

Russian lawmakers and oligarchs have been key targets with the hope that their loss of privileges abroad would push them to pressure the Kremlin to end the war.

One of the earlier headline-grabbing incidents saw Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich sell off his ownership of the London football club Chelsea FC.

_______________


European Union grants candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova

European Union leaders granted EU candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova on Thursday as they assembled in Brussels for a two-day European Council summit.

Why it matters: The move, which required the unanimous consent of all EU members, is the first step in what could be a long process towards full EU membership. But it is a symbolic victory for Ukraine amid the ongoing war with Russia.

The EU's executive arm endorsed Ukraine for candidate status last week after the leaders of France, Germany and Italy also expressed their support.

What they're saying: "A historic moment. Today marks a crucial step on your path towards the EU," European Council president Charles Michel tweeted confirming the news.

"Our future is together," he added, congratulating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

"Sincerely commend EU leaders’ decision at #EUCO to grant Ukraine candidate status. It’s a unique and historical moment in Ukraine-EU relations," Zelensky tweeted.

"Today is a good day for Europe," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen tweeted in congratulations, adding, "your countries are part of our European family."

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Thursday called the move an important symbolic signal, but warned that, "for Ukraine, it’s going to be a long, long way, with huge reforms that will take a lot of time," Politico reported.

The big picture: Ukraine and Moldova formally applied to join the EU shortly after the start of Russian unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February.

The war in Ukraine awakened U.S. and EU leaders to the fact that engagement with former Eastern bloc and Soviet states couldn't continue at a "snail's speed," Moldova's Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu told Axios in April.

Moldova, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, has welcomed large numbers of Ukrainian refugees.

Of note: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a speech Wednesday that the EU — already facing deep internal divisions — would have to amend its voting rules in key areas such as foreign policy before it could admit new members, a condition that could sink any chances of enlargement, Politico reported.

Between the lines: The granting of candidate status is not an automatic gateway to beginning accession negotiations, which would also require unanimous approval from all current members.

Turkey was granted candidate status in 1999 and opened accession negotiations in 2005. Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia also all have EU candidate status.

Serbia and Montenegro have been in accession negotiations since 2014 and 2012, respectively, and are not close to completing the process. The EU agreed to open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia in 2020, but the talks have not yet begun.

Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have been “potential candidates" to the EU for years.

Our thought bubble, from Axios' Zach Basu: Being a candidate is a long way from being a member and Ukraine will likely have to meet a lot of difficult preconditions, including an end to the war.

Nevertheless, it's a huge symbolic step for the EU to be unanimous on a decision like this, given how fractured the bloc has been over enlargement in the past.

_____________


Nike to leave Russia permanently over Ukraine invasion

Sportswear giant Nike has announced plans to permanently shut down its business ventures in Russia over the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

In an emailed statement to CNBC on Thursday, the company confirmed its plans to leave Russia, saying its main priority is to support employees in the country in the coming months.

The Beavertown, Ore., company announced in March, just days after Moscow began its invasion of Ukraine, that it would temporarily suspend business in Russia.

“NIKE has made the decision to leave the Russian marketplace. Our priority is to ensure we are fully supporting our employees while we responsibly scale down our operations over the coming months,” it said in a statement.

Reuters reported that other sportswear firms such as Puma, Reebok and Adidas also suspended their businesses in Russia.

“The operation of Adidas’ stores and Adidas’ online retail in Russia continues to be suspended until further notice, this also applies to the delivery of goods to Russia,” Adidas said in a statement.

Countless major companies and suppliers have halted sales of product and suspended operations in the country as a response to its invasion of neighboring Ukraine, while the U.S. and its western allies have placed a slew of sanctions on Russia and its leaders.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February, has killed thousands on both sides and displaced 8 million Ukrainian citizens.

The Hill has reached out to Nike for comment and more information.

Over 1,000 Companies Have Curtailed Operations in Russia




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

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## malmomike77

> Sportswear giant Nike has announced plans to permanently shut down its business ventures in Russia over the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.


whoopydoo, had trouble deciding?

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## misskit

Four months into the Russian aggression, Ukraine retreats from key embattled city of Sievierodonetsk

In a significant setback to Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion, Kyiv on Friday (June 24th) signalled that its troops will begin withdrawing from the city of Sievierodonetsk. Reuters reports that for weeks, the city has been the scene of heavy fighting. As per provincial governor Serhiy Gaidai, the troops have already received orders to move to new positions. However, he made no mention of their new position or if they had begun moving. He said that the troops "have to be withdrawn" adding that "remaining in positions smashed to pieces over many months just for the sake of staying there does not make sense."


In Sievierodonetsk, street-by-street fighting has raged for a month with Russia methodically gaining more land. The city has witnessed some of the fiercest fightings of the war.

With Donetsk and Luhansk forming the Donbas region, the industrial hub of Ukraine, the struggle is crucial for Russia to seize control of the final Ukrainian-held patch of the province.

Only Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk's sister city on the western bank of the Siverskyi Donets River, would stay in Ukrainian hands when Sievierodonetsk falls.

Since Russian forces were unable to take the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in the early phases of the war, Russia has adopted a strategy that involves fierce aerial bombardments of cities and towns followed by ground assaults.


According to analysts, the Russian soldiers are suffering significant losses and are having issues with morale, leadership, and supply. Despite this, they are weakening the Ukrainian opposition and advancing gradually in the east and south.

Today marks four months since the start of Vladimir Putin ordered Moscow's aggression against Ukraine. The battle has now claimed thousands of lives—both combatants and civilians—uprooted millions of people, and witnessed Russian artillery and airstrikes obliterate entire Ukrainian cities.


A global energy and food crisis has also been exacerbated by the war.

Four months into the Russian aggression, Ukraine retreats from key embattled city of Sievierodonetsk - World News

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## misskit

Russia will soon exhaust its combat capabilities, Western assessments predict


The Russian military will soon exhaust its combat capabilities and be forced to bring its offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region to a grinding halt, according to Western intelligence predictions and military experts.

“There will come a time when the tiny advances Russia is making become unsustainable in light of the costs and they will need a significant pause to regenerate capability,” said a senior Western official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.


The assessments come despite continued Russian advances against outgunned Ukrainian forces, including the capture on Friday of the town of Severodonetsk, the biggest urban center taken by Russia in the east since launching the latest Donbas offensive nearly three months ago.


The Russians are now closing in on the adjacent city of Lysychansk, on the opposite bank of the Donetsk river. The town’s capture would give Russia almost complete control of the Luhansk oblast, one of two oblasts, or provinces, comprising the Donbas region. Control of Donbas is the publicly declared goal of Russia’s “special military operation,” although the multi-front invasion launched in February made it clear that Moscow’s original ambitions were far broader.

Capturing Lysychansk presents a challenge because it stands on higher ground and the Donetsk river impedes Russian advances from the east. So instead, Russian troops appear intent on encircling the city from the west, pressing southeast from Izyum and northeast from Popasna on the western bank of the river.

According to chatter on Russian Telegram channels and Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Anna Malyar, the Russian military is under pressure to bring all of Luhansk under Russian control by Sunday, perhaps explaining the heightened momentum of the past week.



But the “creeping” advances are dependent almost entirely on the expenditure of vast quantities of ammunition, notably artillery shells, which are being fired at a rate almost no military in the world would be able to sustain for long, said the senior Western official.


Russia, meanwhile, is continuing to suffer heavy losses of equipment and men, calling into question how much longer it can remain on the attack, the official said.


Officials refuse to offer a time frame, but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, citing intelligence assessments, indicated this week that Russia would be able to continue to fight on only for the “next few months.” After that, “Russia could come to a point when there is no longer any forward momentum because it has exhausted its resources,” he told the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung in an interview.

Russian commentators are also noting the challenges, emphasizing a chronic shortage of manpower. “Russia does not have enough physical strength in the zone of the special military operation in Ukraine … taking into account the almost one thousand kilometer (or more) line of confrontation,” wrote Russian military blogger Yuri Kotyenok on his Telegram account. He estimated that Russia would need 500,000 troops to attain its goals, which would only be possible with a large-scale mobilization, a potentially risky and unpopular move that President Vladimir Putin has so far refrained from undertaking.

The Russian onslaught has already outlasted forecasts that Russia’s offensive capabilities would peak by the summer. Aggressive recruitment of contract soldiers and reservists has helped generate as many as 40,000 to 50,000 troops to replenish those lost or incapacitated in the first weeks of the fighting, according to Ukrainian officials. Russia has been hauling ancient tanks out of storage and away from bases across the vast country to throw onto the front lines in Ukraine.


The Russians still have the advantage over Ukrainian forces, who are suffering, too. Ukrainian officials put the number of their soldiers killed in action at as many as 200 a day. The Ukrainians have also almost entirely run out of the Soviet-era ammunition on which their own weapons systems rely, and they are still in the process of transitioning to Western systems.

But conditions for Ukrainian troops are only likely to improve as more sophisticated Western weapons arrive, while those of Russian forces can be expected to deteriorate as they dig deeper into their stocks of old, outdated equipment, said retired Gen. Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. forces in Europe who is now with the Center for European Policy Analysis. At some point in the coming months, the Ukrainians will have received enough Western weaponry that it is likely they will be able to go on the counteroffensive and reverse the tide of the war, he said.


“I remain very optimistic that Ukraine is going to win, and that by the end of this year Russia will be driven back to the Feb. 24 line,” he said, referring to the boundaries of Russian-occupied areas in Crimea and Donbas captured during fighting in 2014 and 2015. “Right now it sucks to be on the receiving end of all this Russian artillery. But my assessment is that things are going to be trending in favor of the Ukrainians in the next few weeks.”


Already there are indications that the supply of Western weapons is gathering pace. Newly arrived French Caesar howitzers were videoed in action on the battlefield last week, followed this week by German Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers, the first of the heavy weapons promised by Germany to be delivered.

The first of the much anticipated U.S. HIMARS systems, which will give the Ukrainians the ability to strike up to 50 miles behind Russian lines, have also been delivered to Ukraine in recent days, according to U.S. officials, though these weapons have not yet been reported in use on the front lines.


It is difficult to predict the future because so much isn’t known about the conditions and strength of Ukrainian forces, said Mattia Nelles, a German political analyst who studies Ukraine. The Ukrainians have maintained a high level of operational secrecy, making it hard to know, for example, how many troops they still have in the Lysychansk area or the true rate of casualties, he said.


Another unknown is the extent of Russian artillery stocks, which Western intelligence agencies had initially underestimated, the Western official said. Expecting a short war in which Ukrainian forces quickly folded, the Russians made no effort to ramp up production before the invasion, and although they have presumably now done so, their defense industrial complex does not have the capacity to keep up with the “enormous” rate at which Russia is expending artillery shells, the Western official said. “Their supply is not infinite,” he said.


And although Ukrainian forces are having a tough time right now, they do not appear in danger of collapse, said Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies at the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA), speaking to the Silverado Policy Accelerator podcast, Geopolitics Decanted.


The Ukrainians are continuing to harass Russian forces north of the city of Kharkiv and have made limited gains in a small offensive outside the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, helping divert Russian resources away from the Donbas front.

The minor territorial gains currently being notched by Russia are less significant than the overall balance of power on the battlefield, Kofman said.


“The most significant part of the war isn’t these geographic points, because now it’s a contest of will but also a material contest, of who is going to run out of equipment and ammunition and their best units first,” he said. “Both of these forces are likely to get exhausted over the summer, and then there will be an operational pause.”


At that point, assuming sufficient quantities of weaponry and ammunition have arrived, the hope is that Ukraine will be able to go on the counteroffensive and start rolling Russian troops back, Ukrainian officials have said.


If not, both sides will dig in to defend their positions, and a stalemate will ensue, barring the unlikely prospect of a diplomatic breakthrough, the Western official said.


“You’ll have two sides not seeking territorial advantage but on operational pause, focused on resupplying and relieving the front line, at which point you are into a protracted conflict,” he said.

MSN

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## sabang

_Fall of city after weeks of street fighting transforms the battlefield in the east of Ukraine to Moscow’s advantage.

Russian forces have fully occupied Severodonetsk, the mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city said, confirming Ukraine’s biggest battlefield setback for more than a month after weeks of fighting to hold the strategic town and latest symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
Russian missiles also rained down on western, northern and southern parts of the country on Saturday as Europe’s biggest land conflict since World War II enters its fifth month.

The fall of Severodonetsk – once home to more than 100,000 people, and now reduced to a wasteland of rubble by Russian artillery – is Moscow’s biggest victory since capturing the port of Mariupol last month.
The fall of the city transforms the battlefield in the east of Ukraine where Moscow’s huge advantage in firepower had until now yielded only slow gains.

“The city is now under the full occupation of Russia,” the city’s Mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said on national television. He said anyone left behind could no longer reach Ukrainian-held territory, as the city was effectively cut off.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Ukrainian attempt to turn the city’s Azot chemical plant into another centre of resistance had been thwarted.
“As a result of successful offensive operations, units of the people’s militia of the LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic], with the support of Russian troops … completely liberated the cities of Severodonetsk and Borivske,” he said.

.... The capture of Severodonetsk is likely to be seen by Russia as vindication for its switch from its early, failed attempt at “lightning warfare” to a relentless, grinding offensive using massive artillery in the east.




FULL- Fall of Severodonetsk is Russia’s biggest victory since Mariupol | News | Al Jazeera
_

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## misskit

Defense intel chief: Before year-end, active hostilities will decrease virtually to nothing, we will return to 1991 borders

Beginning in August, the events will take place that will demonstrate to the whole world that the turning point has been reached.
That’s according to Major General Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR MO), who spoke with ITV news, Ukrinform reports referring to the agency’s press service.


"Ukraine will return to its 1991 borders. There will be no other scenarios, and we are not considering any other scenarios. (…) Before the end of the year, active fighting will decrease virtually to nothing. We will regain control over our territories in the foreseeable future,” Budanov said.

He reaffirmed that part of the Ukrainian Army's success in the Russian-Ukrainian war now depends on international support, and praised Britain's recent proposal to train 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen.


"The UK's support is really strong. This is a great example of cooperation and assistance," said the defense intelligence chief.


According to Budanov, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not succeed. "This is a tragedy to which he led Russia and Ukraine, and it will end in disaster for Russia. Nothing else," concluded the top spy.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, despite statements by Kremlin propagandists and their distorted accounts of the ongoing fighting in Ukraine, Russia has already lost the war, both politically and militarily, and is suffering daily losses in manpower, weapons, and equipment. This was stated during a press conference in Berlin by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

Defense intel chief: Before year-end, active hostilities will decrease virtually to nothing, we will return to 1991 borders

----------


## S Landreth

Biden administration to send Ukraine $450 million in military aid

The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will send Ukraine another $450 million in military aid to help the country fend off Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion.

Why it matters: The Department of Defense said the new aid package includes four long-range rocket launchers as well as 36,000 artillery rounds.

By the numbers: The Pentagon said Thursday's announcement was its 13th inventory transfer to Ukraine since August 2021. It will also include:

18 tactical vehicles to tow 155mm artillery
1,200 grenade launchers
2,000 machine guns
18 coastal and riverine patrol boats
Spare parts and other equipment

The big picture: The decision comes about a week after the Biden administration announced $1 billion military aid package to Ukraine.

The Pentagon said the U.S. has committed $6.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked invasion on Feb. 24

It also comes as Ukraine and Russia battle for control of two key cities in the eastern Donbas region, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych warned Thursday that the fight for the two cities had reached a "fearsome climax."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video post Thursday that Russian forces "want to destroy the whole Donbas step by step."

______________


Biden thanks Scholz for leadership on Ukraine crisis at G7 summit

 U.S. President Joe Biden thanked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his leadership on the response to the Ukraine crisis shortly after arriving for a summit of the Group of Seven rich democracies in a Bavarian mountain resort on Sunday.

Biden, fresh from mass administered to him in Schloss Elmau by a U.S. army chaplain, told Scholz that his leadership had been crucial in marshalling Europe's response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

"I want to compliment you on stepping up as you did when you became Chancellor," Biden told a beaming Scholz. "Putin's been counting on it from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G7 would splinter, but we haven't and it's not going to," he said.

Scholz has been under fire at home for alleged dithering over what kind of weapons Europe's richest country should send Kyiv in its fight against Russian forces in its east. Scholz has always rejected these criticisms.

"It's a good message that we all managed to stay united, which, obviously, Putin never expected," Scholz said.

The two then moved to an open-air conference room where they held bilateral talks with a handful of close advisers. 
____________


G7 leaders to ban imports of Russian gold

President Biden announced Sunday that the U.S. and other members of the G7 will impose a ban on imports of Russian gold as part of an effort to impose costs on Russia for its ongoing war in Ukraine.

*Driving the news:* "The United States has imposed unprecedented costs on Putin to deny him the revenue he needs to fund his war against Ukraine," Biden tweeted Sunday.


"Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia," he added.

*The big picture:* The official announcement of the ban is expected on Tuesday, when the Treasury issues a determination to stop the import of new gold into the U.S., senior administration officials told reporters on a call Sunday.


Gold is Russia's second-largest export after energy and is a "a source of significant revenue for Putin and Russia," they added. The move will further isolate Russia from the global economy.Russia's gold exports account for roughly $19 billion of revenue per year, mostly within the G7 countries, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

*What they're saying:* U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted the announcement as well on Sunday, noting that the ban on Russian gold will “directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine," AP reported.


“We need to starve the Putin regime of its funding. The U.K. and our allies are doing just that," Johnson added.





> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## misskit

Putin unleashes fresh onslaught on Kyiv, shelling capital hours after rushing to sudden late-night talks at Kremlin


RUSSIAN missiles rained down on Kyiv in a fresh attack just hours after Vladimir Putin rushed to a sudden late-night meeting in Kremlin.


The Russian leader attacked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Sunday morning, striking at least two buildings, according to the city's mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Footage shows a massive cloud of smoke billowing in the air following the missile strike in the city.


A video shows one of the targeted buildings in the Shevchenkivskyi district, destroyed as rescue services are battling to rescue civilians.


Heart-breaking footage shared by mayor Klitschko shows emergency crews rescuing a seven-year-old girl from the rubble.


The strike on Kyiv is only one of the attacks in Ukraine as 48 cruise missiles were launched on civilian targets across the country.

The strikes hit military bases, civilian infrastructure and residential neighbourhoods including the northeastern village of Andriivka on Friday night.


The polytechnic in the northeastern city of Kharkiv was also damaged.


The mayor of Severodonetsk, Oleksand Struyk, said the city was “now under the full occupation of Russia” after weeks of battle. Ukrainian forces have retreated to regroup.


The fresh attack comes after Putin's mysterious late-night meeting amid suspicions he has prepared a new televised statement on the war in Ukraine and tensions with the West.

Video shows his Aurus limousine in a late-night dash to his Moscow seat of power at 23:00 on Saturday night.


His Kremlin visit immediately followed talks with Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko in St Petersburg, 440 miles away, in which he agreed to supply advanced nuclear-capable arms to the Minsk dictator.


The meeting followed a night of bombardment on Ukrainian cities from Russian warplanes using Belarus airspace.


Putin’s spokesman did not deny the late-night dash to the Kremlin but ruled out the purpose of being a crisis meeting of top officials.


He also denied that Putin was to make an immediate emergency statement.


Peskov in a late-night statement told TASS: “No. Everything is not like that. Everything is normal.”


The Russian president has previously pre-recorded major announcements in the Kremlin which are then later released.


Fears have been sparked that the purpose of his visit was to prerecord an announcement of an escalation of hostilities.


Putin does not live in the Kremlin but at an out-of-town official residence, and in summer is frequently based in Sochi on the Black Sea.


Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko expressed concern that the visit signalled a new Putin statement on the war.


“Late at night on Saturday Putin suddenly drove into the Kremlin,” he said.


“Details: Peskov denied suggestions that appeared in the media that it was linked to an emergency meeting, and said that ‘everything was normal’.”


Yet before the invasion, Putin had pre-recorded a statement “to announce the start of the attack”.


At his meeting with Lukashenko, Putin vowed to supply Minsk with missile systems capable of carrying nuclear weapons,

The Belarus dictator warned about the "aggressive", "confrontational" and "repulsive" policies of his neighbours Lithuania and Poland.


"We will transfer Iskander-M tactical missile systems to Belarus, which can use both ballistic and cruise missiles, both in conventional and nuclear versions,” Putin was quoted as saying.

Putin unleashes fresh onslaught on Kyiv, shelling capital hours after rushing to sudden late-night talks at Kremlin | The Sun

----------


## S Landreth

Boris Johnson: West can't let Putin get away with murder

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged Americans to continue to support Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, saying that the failure to halt President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine would be “absolutely catastrophic.”

“If we let Putin get away with it and just annex, conquer sizable parts of a free, independent, sovereign country, which is what he is poised to do, if not the whole thing, then the consequences for the world are absolutely catastrophic,” he said to host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Speaking in an interview at the G-7 summit in Germany, Johnson said of Putin: “It means we’re legitimating further acquisition by him by violence of other parts of the former Soviet Union. We’re legitimating aggression in other parts of the world. You can see the read across in East Asia,” referencing China’s designs on Taiwan.

“You can see the consequences, the lessons that will be drawn,” he added.

Acknowledging that Western nations are all facing problems at home — Johnson recently survived a no-confidence vote — he said that the United States and other Western powers still must stay the course in supporting Ukraine.

“This is something that America historically does and has to do. That is to step up for peace and freedom and democracy,” he said, referring to the United States as “the arsenal of democracy” for its role in saving European democracy during World War I and World War II.

Citing the Biden administration’s commitment of $46 billion to help Ukraine stay afloat, he said: “I would argue that is a price worth paying.”

Johnson said seeing the way President Joe Biden “has stepped up to the plate” in challenging the invasion of Ukraine leads him to believe that democracy in the United States remains healthy.

“America is a shining city on the hill for me,” he said emphatically, “and it will continue to be so.”

_____________


Biden decries ‘barbarism’ after Russia strikes kindergarten in Kyiv

President Biden on Sunday condemned a Russian missile attack that damaged a kindergarten in Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, in advance of two major international summits.

“It’s more of their barbarism,” Biden said at the official welcome of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Germany.

The timing of the attack is largely seen as a show-of-force in advance of the G7 summit — which gathers leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies, all of which have all enacted sanctions against Russia for its invasion — and a NATO summit scheduled later in the week.

Kyiv’s mayor said the long-range missiles hit at least two residential buildings, killed at least one person and injured six others, including a 7-year-old girl. The Associated Press saw emergency workers battling flames and rescuing civilians from the buildings.

The blasts came after weeks of calm in Ukraine’s capital as Russia focuses its war efforts in the country’s east.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday made a plea for countries to send Ukraine air defense systems, saying dozens of Russian missiles had struck Ukraine in just the past day.

Russia has largely turned its attention to the Donbas region, where it has apparently captured the city of Sieverodonetsk, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry, in Moscow’s latest conquest after backing separatists in the region for years.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in an interview on CNN that a Russian victory would be “absolutely catastrophic” for the world.

Meanwhile, at a bilateral meeting between Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Sholz on Sunday, Biden noted the unity between NATO and G7 countries in its sweeping response to Russia’s invasion.

“Putin has been counting on, from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G7 would splinter,” Biden said. “But we haven’t, and we’re not going to.”

Biden also said on Sunday that the G7 would ban Russian gold imports in efforts to further financially strain the country.

Sholz echoed similar sentiments.

“The good message is that we all made it to stay united, which obviously Putin never expected,” he said.

___________


Russia Is Hours Away From Its First Foreign Default in a Century

After months of teetering on the edge of default, Russia is now just hours away from a dramatic moment in the financial battle that the US and others have waged against the Kremlin over its invasion of Ukraine.

A grace period on about $100 million of missed bond payments -- blocked because of wide-ranging sanctions -- ends on Sunday night. There won’t be an official declaration, and Russia is already disputing the designation, but if investors don’t have their money by the deadline, there will be an “event of default” on Monday morning, according to the bond documents.

Out of Time - Russia's grace period on missed bond payments in May is about to expire


 
It’s largely a symbolic development for now, given that Russia is already an economic, financial and political outcast across most of the world. But it showcases how the US, Europe and others have tightened the screws since the invasion started in February to make it all-but impossible for Russia to conduct what would otherwise be normal financial business.

For Russia, it will mark its first foreign default since the Bolshevik repudiation of Czarist-era debts in 1918. The country tipped very near to such a moment earlier this year, but managed a last-ditch escape by switching payment methods. That alternative avenue was subsequently shut off in May -- just days before the $100 million was due -- when the US closed a sanctions loophole that had allowed American investors to receive sovereign bond payments.

Now the question is what happens next, as markets are faced with the unique scenario of a defaulted borrower which has the willingness and resources to pay, but can’t.

Major ratings agencies would usually be the ones to issue a default declaration, but sanctions bar them from Russian business. Bondholders could group together to make their own statement, but they may prefer to wait to monitor the war in Ukraine and the level of sanctions as they try to figure out the chance of getting their money back, or at least some of it.

“A declaration of default is a symbolic event,” said Takahide Kiuchi, an economist at Nomura Research Institute in Tokyo. “The Russian government has already lost the opportunity to issue dollar-denominated debt. Already as of now, Russia can’t borrow from most foreign countries.”

As the penalties on Russian authorities, banks and individuals have increasingly cut off payment routes, Russia has argued that its met its obligations to creditors by transferring the May payments to a local paying agent, even though investors don’t have the funds in their own accounts.

Earlier this week, it made other transfers in rubles, despite the fact that the bonds in question don’t allow that payment option.

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has cited “force-majeure” as a justification for the currency switch, calling the situation a “farce.” The legal argument of force majeure hasn’t historically encompassed sanctions, according to lawyers who spoke to Bloomberg earlier this month.

“There is every ground to suggest that in artificially barring the Russian Federation from servicing its foreign sovereign debt, the goal is to apply the label of ‘default’,” Siluanov said Thursday. “Anyone can declare whatever they like and can try to apply such a label. But anyone who understands the situation knows that this is in no way a default.”




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## Norton

> Johnson said seeing the way President Joe Biden “has stepped up to the plate” in challenging the invasion of Ukraine leads him to believe that democracy in the United States remains healthy.


No he hasn't Boris. Nor have you. Sanctions and sending weapons to Ukraine is obviously not going to do anything but slow down Putin's aim to occupy Kiev and change regime.

You and Joe want stop Putin, only one way. Stop the bullshit rethoric and declare war on Russia!

----------


## S Landreth

Proposed price cap on Russian oil moves closer at G7 summit

A proposed cap on the price of Russian oil and pipeline gas to slash the Kremlins revenues and reduce inflationary pressures in the west gathered support on Sunday as G7 leaders met in Bavaria.

The three-day event will be dominated by discussion of how to tighten the economic and military vice around Vladimir Putin without leading to disastrous spillovers, including a backlash among western consumers and starvation in a rain and grain-starved global south.

Joe Biden, at the outset of the summit held in the Bavarian alpine castle that formed the venue for the 2015 G7 meeting, said Putin had been thwarted by the degree of unity shown by the west. Putin has been counting on it from the beginning that somehow Nato and the G7 would splinter. But we havent and were not going to, Biden said.

But behind the scenes, as Putin rained missiles on Kyiv and made further territorial gains in the east of Ukraine, there is deep concern that the west has not yet assembled the policy mix that will force him to back down. A plan to ban imports of Russian gold trailed by the US and the UK, regarded as an incremental not decisive step, does not yet have the clear support of the EU.

Twin caps on the price of Russian oil and pipeline gas are being canvassed heavily by the Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, and at Sundays opening meeting he gained the support of the French president, Emmanuel Macron. There is now more than mild optimism that this will work, one source said.

The gas cap would operate simply by European countries refusing to pay above an as-yet unspecified fixed price for Russian gas. It is argued Russia in the short term has no alternative market to sell the pipeline gas, and unless it was prepared to take a huge hit to its revenues by shutting down the pipeline altogether would have no option but to sell at the price dictated by Europe. Liquid gas would be exempted from this maximum price.

Putting a ceiling on the price of fossil fuels imported from Russia has a geopolitical goal as well as an economic and social one, Draghi told the G7. We need to reduce our funding to Russia. And we need to eliminate one of the main causes of inflation. We must avoid the mistakes made after the 2008 crisis: the energy crisis must not produce a return of populism.

We must mitigate the impact of rising energy prices, compensate families and businesses in difficulty, and tax companies that make extraordinary profits.

A price cap would operate by dictating to the quasi-monopoly responsible for insuring Russian oil tankers that they will be sanctioned if they allow oil to be sold above a fixed price. About 95% of the worlds tanker liability coverage is arranged through a City of London-based insurance organisation called the International Group of Protection and Indemnity Clubs, which has to heed European law.

The proposal has been promoted most heavily by the US Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, and may have to be squared with Opec, the oil producers club.

Russian oil production has fallen under the pressure of sanctions, but its per barrel revenues are up due to the high price of oil globally, the polar opposite of what western leaders want.

The US and Canada have banned imports of Russian oil while the European Union has agreed to prohibit seaborne imports of Russian crude by the end of the year.

Germany is probably the single G7 country most queasy about price caps. It fears a bust-up inside the EU over the proposal and that Putin may simply turn off the supplies of gas to Europe. Last week Russia cut gas flows by 60%, citing delays in maintenance equipment, but the explanation was not regarded as credible within the G7. A cut off now would leave Europe struggling to build up the gas reserves it needs to survive what could be a fraught winter.

EU countries have been directed to fill their gas reserves to a minimum of 80% but they are well short of that.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will address the G7 by video link on Monday, where he is expected to appeal for more heavy weapons and artillery.

In further outreach to the global south, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has invited the leaders of Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa to the alpine summit on Monday.

While Argentina and Indonesia voted at a crucial UN vote to condemn Russia, the other three abstained.

But all are being directly hit by a long-term hunger crisis sparked by the holdup in grain and wheat exports from Ukraine, and India has imposed restrictions on wheat exports.

____________


G7 leaders joke about stripping to outdo bare-chested Putin

The leaders of the Group of Seven nations chuckled about stripping off their clothes for photographs on Sunday to outdo Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has often appeared shirtless in images disseminated by the Kremlin.

During the first day of the three-day G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau could be heard on a video joking about their impending photoshoot.

Jackets on? Jackets off? Shall we take our clothes off? British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked other leaders sitting around a table. We all have to show that were tougher than Putin.

Were going to get the bare-chested horseback riding display, Trudeau quipped, referencing a widely shared photo of Putin.

There you go! There you go! Weve got to show them our pecs! Johnson responded.

Putins predilection for going shirtless doing outdoors activities is part of his carefully crafted strongman image. The Russian president is also an accomplished Taekwondo practitioner.

Russia was kicked out of what was previously called the G8 in 2014 following its initial invasion of Ukraines Crimean peninsula.

The current G7 nations include the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Japan.

President Biden announced Sunday that the group will impose new import bans on Russian gold as a punishment for Moscows going invasion of Ukraine.

Biden spent Sunday morning meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and later participated in a working lunch with other leaders. 

A White House readout of Bidens meeting with Scholz indicated Ukraine was a main topic of conversation.

The leaders underlined their commitment to Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as their continued provision of military, economic, humanitarian, and diplomatic support to help Ukraine defend its democracy against Russian aggression, the White House readout said. The leaders also discussed efforts to alleviate the impacts of Russias war in Ukraine on global food and energy security.

----------


## S Landreth

Russia Defaults on Foreign Debt for First Time Since 1918

Russia defaulted on its foreign-currency sovereign debt for the first time in a century, the culmination of ever-tougher Western sanctions that shut down payment routes to overseas creditors. 

For months, the country found paths around the penalties imposed after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. But at the end of the day on Sunday, the grace period on about $100 million of snared interest payments due May 27 expired, a deadline considered an event of default if missed.


It’s a grim marker in the country’s rapid transformation into an economic, financial and political outcast. The nation’s eurobonds have traded at distressed levels since the start of March, the central bank’s foreign reserves remain frozen, and the biggest banks are severed from the global financial system.

But given the damage already done to the economy and markets, the default is also mostly symbolic for now, and matters little to Russians dealing with double-digit inflation and the worst economic contraction in years.

Russian sovereign bonds have been trading at distressed levels since March


 
Russia has pushed back against the default designation, saying it has the funds to cover any bills and has been forced into non-payment. As it tried to twist its way out, it announced last week that it would switch to servicing its $40 billion of outstanding sovereign debt in rubles, criticizing a “force-majeure” situation it said was artificially manufactured by the West.

“It’s a very, very rare thing, where a government that otherwise has the means is forced by an external government into default,” said Hassan Malik, senior sovereign analyst at Loomis Sayles & Company LP. “It’s going to be one of the big watershed defaults in history.”

A formal declaration would usually come from ratings firms, but European sanctions led to them withdrawing ratings on Russian entities. According to the documents for the notes whose grace period expired Sunday, holders can call one themselves if owners of 25% of the outstanding bonds agree that an “Event of Default” has occurred.

With the final deadline passed, focus shifts to what investors do next.

They don’t need to act immediately, and may choose to monitor the progress of the war in the hope that sanctions are eventually softened. Time may be on their side: the claims only become void three years on from the payment date, according to the bond documents.

“Most bondholders will keep the wait-and-see approach,” Takahide Kiuchi, an economist at Nomura Research Institute in Tokyo.

Russia’s Default Tussle With Bondholders Is Only Just Starting

During Russia’s financial crisis and ruble collapse of 1998, President Boris Yeltsin’s government defaulted on $40 billion of its local debt.

The last time Russia fell into default vis-a-vis its foreign creditors was more than a century ago, when the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin repudiated the nation’s staggering Czarist-era debt load in 1918.

By some measures it approached a trillion dollars in today’s money, according to Loomis Sayles’ Malik, who is also author of ‘Bankers and Bolsheviks: International Finance and the Russian Revolution.’

By comparison, foreigners held the equivalent of almost $20 billion of Russia’s eurobonds as of the start of April.

Russia Debt Held Abroad Below 50%, First Time Since 2018: Chart

“Is it a justifiable excuse to say: ‘Oh well, the sanctions prevented me from making the payments, so it’s not my fault’?” Malik said.

“The broader issue is that the sanctions were themselves a response to an action on the part of the sovereign entity,” he said, referring to the invasion of Ukraine. “And I think history will judge this in the latter light.”

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov dismissed the situation on Thursday as a “farce.”

With billions of dollars a week still pouring into state coffers from energy exports, despite the grinding conflict in east Ukraine, he reiterated that the country has the means, and the will, to pay. 

“Anyone can declare whatever they like,” Siluanov said. “But anyone who understands what’s going on knows that this is in no way a default.”

His comments were prompted by the grace period that ended on Sunday. The 30-day window was triggered when investors failed to receive coupon payments due on dollar- and euro-denominated bonds on May 27.

The cash got trapped after the US Treasury let a sanctions loophole expire, removing an exemption that had allowed US bondholders to receive payments from the Russian sovereign. A week later, Russia’s paying agent, the National Settlement Depository, was also sanctioned by the European Union.

In response, Vladimir Putin introduced new regulations that say Russia’s obligations on foreign-currency bonds are fulfilled once the appropriate amount in rubles has been transferred to the local paying agent.

The Finance Ministry made its latest interest payments, equivalent to about $400 million, under those rules on Thursday and Friday. However, none of the underlying bonds have terms that allow for settlement in the local currency.

So far, it’s unclear if investors will use the new tool and whether existing sanctions would even allow them to repatriate the money.

According to Siluanov, it makes little sense for creditors to seek a declaration of default through the courts because Russia hasn’t waived its sovereign immunity, and no foreign court would have jurisdiction.

“If we ultimately get to the point where diplomatic assets are claimed, then this is tantamount to severing diplomatic ties and entering into direct conflict,” he said. “And this would put us in a different world with completely different rules. We would have to react differently in this case -- and not through legal channels.”




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 ::doglol::

----------


## misskit

UK, US, Japan & Canada To Ban Russia Gold Imports Due To Ukraine War

According to the government statement, the ban will take effect shortly and affect newly mined or refined gold.


According to the statement, previously exported Russian gold will not be affected by the move.


According to the government, Russian gold exports were worth $15.6 billion last year, and wealthy Russians have been buying bullion to reduce the financial impact of Western sanctions.


Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement that the measures he announced today would strike directly at Russian oligarchs and Putin’s war machine.


In order to starve the Putin regime of funding, the UK and our allies are doing exactly that.”


Six Russian refiners were suspended from accreditation by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) in March.

UK, US, Japan & Canada To Ban Russia Gold Imports Due To Ukraine War

----------


## misskit

G-7 leaders confer with Zelenskyy, prep new aid for Ukraine

ELMAU, Germany (AP) — Leading economic powers conferred by video link with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday as they underscored their commitment to Ukraine for the long haul with plans to pursue a price cap on Russian oil, raise tariffs on Russian goods and impose other new sanctions.


In addition, the U.S. was preparing to announce the purchase of an advanced surface-to-air missile system for Kyiv to help Ukraine fight back against Vladimir Putin’s aggression.


The new aid and efforts to exact punishment on Moscow from the Group of Seven leaders come as Zelenskyy has openly worried that the West has become fatigued by the cost of a war that is contributing to soaring energy costs and price hikes on essential goods around the globe.


Leaders were finalizing the deal to seek a price cap during their three-day G-7 summit in the German Alps. The details of how a price cap would work, as well as its impact on the Russian economy, were to be resolved by the G-7 finance ministers in the coming weeks and months, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the announcements from the summit.


The largest democratic economies will also commit to raising tariffs on Russian imports to their countries, with the U.S. announcing new tariffs on 570 categories of goods, as well as use of sanctions to target Russia’s defense supply chains that support its effort to rearm during the war.


Biden is expected to announce the U.S, is purchasing NASAMS, a Norwegian-developed anti-aircraft system, to provide medium- to long-range defense, according to the person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. NASAMS is the same system used by the U.S. to protect the sensitive airspace around the White House and U.S. Capitol in Washington.


Additional aid includes more ammunition for Ukrainian artillery, as well as counter-battery radars, to support its efforts against the Russian assault in the Donbas, the person said. Biden is also announcing a $7.5 billion commitment to help Ukraine’s government meet its expenses, as part of a drawdown of the $40 billion military and economic aid package he signed into law last month.


The G-7 leaders began Monday’s session of their three-day summit with a focus on Ukraine. Later, they will be joined by the leaders of five democratic emerging economies — India, Indonesia, South Africa, Senegal and Argentina — for a discussion on climate change, energy and other issues.


The war in Ukraine was already at the forefront of the G-7 leaders’ minds as they opened their summit at the secluded Schloss Elmau luxury hotel on Sunday — just as Russian missiles hit the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv for the first time in weeks.


German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the summit’s host, said that the G-7 countries’ policies on Ukraine are “very much aligned,” and that they see the need to be both tough and cautious.


Scholz said after meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday that “we are taking tough decisions, that we are also cautious, that we will help … Ukraine as much as possible but that we also avoid that there will be a big conflict between Russia and NATO.”


He added that “this is what is of essence — to be tough and thinking about the necessities of the time we are living in.”


Biden said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been counting on, from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G-7 would splinter, but we haven’t and we’re not going to.”


Biden hopes to use his trip to Europe to proclaim the unity of the coalition pressing to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine as much as he is urging allies to do even more — seeking to counter doubts about its endurance as the war grinds into its fifth month.


The summit’s host, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said last week that he wants to discuss the outlines of a “Marshall plan for Ukraine” with his G-7 counterparts, referring to the U.S.-sponsored plan that helped revive European economies after World War II.


With the war still in progress and destruction mounting by the day, it’s unlikely to be a detailed plan at this stage. Scholz has said that “rebuilding Ukraine will be a task for generations.”


The G-7 already is committed to help finance Ukraine’s immediate needs. Finance ministers from the group last month agreed to provide $19.8 billion in economic aid to help Kyiv keep basic services functioning and prevent tight finances from hindering its defense against Russian forces.


A senior U.S. administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations between the G-7 leaders, said the U.S. and Europe are aligned in their aims for a negotiated end to the conflict, even if their roles sometimes appear different.


Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron have tried to facilitate that through active conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy, while also supplying weapons to Ukraine. The U.S. has largely cut off significant talks with Russia and aims to bolster Ukraine’s battlefield capacity as much as possible so that its eventual position at the negotiating table is stronger.


The endurance of the tough sanctions on Russia may ultimately come down to whether the G-7 and other leaders can identify ways to ease energy supply issues and skyrocketing prices once winter hits, as they seek to disengage from Russian sources of fuel.


The G-7 meeting is sandwiched between a European Union summit last week that agreed to give Ukraine the status of a candidate for membership — kicking off a process that is likely to take years with no guarantee of success — and a summit of NATO leaders starting Tuesday in Madrid.


The leaders of the G-7 — the U.S., Germany, France, the U.K., Italy, Canada and Japan — may hope to make some progress in bringing their counterparts from their five guest countries closer to Western views on sanctions against Russia.


Scholz also is eager to win over such countries for his idea of a “climate club” for nations that want to speed ahead when it comes to tackling the issue.

G-7 leaders confer with Zelenskyy, prep new aid for Ukraine | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## malmomike77

Turkey backs Sweden and Finland's Nato bids

Sooner than many had expected, the Nato summit has achieved an early success.


The way has just been cleared for Finland and Sweden to join the 30-member Western military alliance after Turkey dropped its objections.


The breakthrough came after the foreign ministers of Sweden, Finland and Turkey, facilitated by Nato's secretary general, signed a joint security pact that addressed Ankara’s concerns.


Turkey had previously objected to the two Nordic nations joining Nato on the grounds that they sheltered Kurdish activists who Ankara viewed as terrorists.


The addition of these two modern Scandinavian democracies to the Atlantic alliance will further isolate - and anger - the Kremlin, which sees Nato not as a defensive organisation but an aggressive one.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-61960122

----------


## Norton

> The addition of these two modern Scandinavian democracies to the Atlantic alliance will further isolate - and anger - the Kremlin


Sure will. Bluster and threats from Vlad to follow.

----------


## Hugh Cow

For the life of me this cautious approach by NATO matters little. Dictator Putin will do as he pleases. If he wants an excuse and doesnt have one, he will manufacture one. 
The west can only hope he is not so delusional that he wants to fight a war on multiple fronts.

----------


## bsnub

> For the life of me this cautious approach by NATO matters little.


I agree at this point. The kids gloves need to come off, and we should start arming the Ukrainians properly. We have over 3500 M1 main battle tanks just sitting in storage. We need to start sending those over immediately. Just one of those could do enormous damage on the battlefield.

----------


## malmomike77

> Sure will. Bluster and threats from Vlad to follow.


Trouble is making a deal with that piece of scum Erdogan and selling the Kurds down the river.

----------


## misskit

Indonesian President calls for doing everything possible to unblock Ukrainian grain exports

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has called for doing everything possible to unblock the export of Ukrainian grain, with security guarantees provided to all interested parties.
The leader addressed the issue while speaking with the press following talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.


"I told President Zelensky that Ukraine is very important in global food security, so we must do everything possible to ensure the smooth export of grain from Ukraine and security guarantees for all stakeholders to ensure exports through Ukrainian seaports," said Joko Widodo.

He added that he supports the UN's efforts to unblock Ukrainian food exports.


As Ukrinform reported, Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived in Kyiv on the morning of June 29. During the visit, before meeting with the Ukrainian leader, he visited Irpin to see the devastation caused by Russian troops.


Tomorrow, June 30, the President of Indonesia will visit Moscow, where he will meet with Putin.


As a result of hostilities and the blockade of Ukrainian seaports in Ukraine, more than 20 million tonnes of grain set to be exported under the UN World Food Program are stuck in Ukrainian silos.

Indonesian President calls for doing everything possible to unblock Ukrainian grain exports

----------


## misskit

Russian occupiers preparing provocation accusing Ukrainian nuclear scientists of storing weapons at ZNPP - Energoatom


Russian occupiers are preparing a provocation accusing Ukrainian nuclear scientists of storing weapons on the territory of Zaporizhia NPP, Energoatom state enterprise reported on Telegram.


"For this, several workers were detained and tortured with a demand of confession, or rather, slandering themselves, that they allegedly dropped some kind of weapon into the concrete bowls of the cooling pools at Zaporizhia NPP in March," the company informed.


The company explained the invaders, under this pretext, insist on draining the cooling pools - to check its bowls - and stopping the pumps that supply water to the security systems of power units.


"If this happens, then the security systems of Europe's largest nuclear power plant will be left without cooling, which in itself is a serious violation and can threaten nuclear safety. In addition, such work is not advisable to carry out in the warm season due to the risk of overheating and equipment failure," Energoatom said.


However, Ukrainian nuclear scientists are most concerned about the lack of control over the actions of the occupiers, who, under the guise of "carrying out a check," can throw anything into concrete bowls: explosives, unexploded shells, and other weapons.


According to Energoatom, later the Russian occupiers may blame the ZNPP workers or its defenders for this and make this a formal reason for inviting the IAEA to the station and presenting these "facts."


"And make a picture for the propaganda Russian media - how Russians take care of the safety of the station, and the Ukrainian personnel violate it," the company added.


According to Energoatom, any weapon that will be found on the territory of the station is the weapon of the Russian occupiers.


"We emphasize that any weapon found on the territory of the ZNPP is the weapon of the occupiers, which they use for nuclear terrorism and threats to the whole world with a new terrible catastrophe," Energoatom stressed.

Russian occupiers preparing provocation accusing Ukrainian nuclear scientists of storing weapons at ZNPP - Energoatom

----------


## S Landreth

Biden announces plans to bolster US force presence in Europe

President Biden on Wednesday announced plans to bolster U.S. forces in Europe to defend “every inch” of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) territory amid a persistent threat from Russia. 

Biden vowed to increase the number of troops stationed in Europe on the second day of a NATO summit in Madrid during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. 

Specifically, the president announced plans to permanently headquarter U.S. Army V Corps in Poland, according to the Associated Press, and increase rotational deployments to the Baltic states – both moves that will bolster forces on NATO’s easter flank. 

Biden said that NATO would be “ready for threats in all directions.” He also commended the progress toward adding Finland and Sweden as members of the alliance, saying: “NATO is more needed now than it ever has been.” 

Stoltenberg said the new U.S. force posture commitments were demonstrative of U.S. leadership. 

The alliance is seeking to project unity and strength at the summit in Madrid as Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to press forward with a bloody military campaign in Ukraine. 

The war in Ukraine is the dominant topic of the summit, and other alliance members are also expected to make new force posture commitments. The alliance will also endorse a new strategic concept that explicitly mentions China, a recognition by the members of the growing threat posed by Beijing. 

The summit saw a major development on its first day when Turkey dropped its objections to Finland and Sweden’s membership bids, paving the way for both countries to join the alliance. 

The three countries signed a memorandum pledging to deepen counterterrorism cooperation, in a nod to Ankara’s stated concerns about Finland and Sweden not doing enough to crack down on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group identified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and European countries. 

President Biden is scheduled to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan later Wednesday on the sidelines of the summit.

___________


US preparing to send advanced air defense system to Ukraine

The Biden administration is preparing to send an advanced air defense system to Ukraine as part of another tranche of military assistance to help Kyiv fight back against the Russian invasion.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G-7) summit Monday that the U.S. is in the process of finalizing a package that will include “advanced air defense capabilities,” though he declined to provide details on the specific system. 

“This week, as the President told his fellow G-7 leaders — and as he told President Zelensky — we do intend to finalize a package that includes advanced medium- and long-range air defense capabilities for the Ukrainians, along with some other items that are of urgent need, including ammunition for artillery and counterbattery radar systems,” Sullivan said. 

CNN reported that the Biden administration is preparing to send Ukraine a Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, a medium- to long-range air defense system that has a range of more than 100 miles.

President Biden and other G-7 leaders met virtually with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, the second day of the summit in Germany. 

Sullivan said that during the closed-door meeting, Zelensky brought up recent Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and asked for more air defense capabilities “that could shoot Russian missiles out in the sky.” 

A senior defense official told Pentagon reporters that the U.S. is seeking ways to help Ukraine’s air defense.

“That’s certainly something that we’re looking at — is the way to help the Ukrainians with additional air defense assets. I don’t have the particulars associated with the systems, but as soon as we know that and as soon as those are finalized, we will certainly work to provide you with those details and the particulars of the systems that we’re employing.”

It’s unclear precisely when the U.S. will finalize the next military assistance for Ukraine. The Biden administration just last week announced another $450 million security assistance package including more advanced rocket systems, ammunition and other weaponry. 

The Ukrainians have been pleading for more heavy weapons to push back against the Russian assault that has been focused on the eastern part of the country.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has entered its fifth month with no end or resolution in sight. The G-7 leaders are expected to impose new sanctions and tariffs on Russia and commit new assistance to Ukraine at the summit in order to demonstrate continued support for Kyiv.

__________


Russia threat rekindles NATO's sense of purpose

NATO will undertake "the biggest overhaul of collective defense and deterrence since the Cold War" at this week's key summit in Madrid, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday.

Driving the news: Stoltenberg announced that NATO will increase the number of high-readiness forces to "well over 300,000” from around 40,000, and it will step up its presence on its eastern flank with Russia.

NATO members are also finalizing their first “strategic concept” since 2010.

The last strategy document came during the Obama administration’s “reset” with Moscow and called for “a true strategic partnership" with Moscow.

At that time, the threat picture was very different. There weren’t yet NATO troops based in eastern European members like the Baltic states, the Economist notes. Now the focus is on sufficiently increasing NATO's presence there to deter any Russian aggression.

“The relationship has fundamentally changed, and the strategic concept that will be adopted in Madrid reflects that,” says Ivo Daalder, who was Obama’s ambassador to NATO from 2009 to 2013. “This is the core business again of NATO. It’s defending NATO territory against a real, imminent threat from Russia.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine put two core questions for the future of the alliance on hold, at least partially: How big a role should the U.S. play in defending Europe vs. European countries themselves, and how big a role should NATO play in responding to a rising China?

Both questions will feature in this week’s discussions, but less prominently than they might have if Vladimir Putin's invasion hadn’t underscored the relevance of an alliance French President Emmanuel Macron said just three years ago was approaching “brain death."

Existing NATO members are increasing their defense spending, albeit unevenly, while Finland and Sweden are now attempting to come inside the “Article 5” mutual defense umbrella.

China will appear in the strategic concept for the first time, Daalder says, but he's only expecting one paragraph on China and says the “overwhelming focus” will be on Russian aggression.

It's not yet clear what that paragraph will say, as there's an internal debate over how to refer to China (France and Germany reportedly want softer language).

Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea will also attend the summit as a signal of the alliance's cooperation with Pacific partners. The leaders of Japan and South Korea are expected to hold a trilateral meeting with President Biden.

Perhaps the biggest question hanging over the summit is whether the U.S. and its allies will be able to convince Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to lift a roadblock on Finnish and Swedish membership, which requires unanimity.

Erdoğan claims the Nordic NATO aspirants harbor Kurdish separatists, and he may well seek to leverage the standoff to extract concessions from NATO countries and rally his base at home.

He also wants a meeting with Biden, Daalder says: “I'm confident that if it takes a bilateral with Biden to get Erdogan to shift course on Finland and Sweden, we’ll see that [in Madrid].”

“I think it is crucially important for the alliance that there is an agreement in Madrid to invite Finland and Sweden to join.”

What to watch: Top of the agenda in Madrid will of course be Ukraine, and in particular how to help Kyiv transition from Soviet-era to NATO-caliber weaponry.

___________

Nato to put 300,000 troops on high alert in response to Russia threat

Nato’s secretary general has said this week’s Madrid summit will agree the alliance’s most significant transformation for a generation, putting 300,000 troops at high readiness in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance’s forces in the Baltic states and five other frontline countries would be increased “up to brigade levels” – doubled or trebled to between 3,000 and 5,000 troops.

That would amount to “the biggest overhaul of our collective defence and deterrence since the cold war,” Stoltenberg said before the meeting of the 30-country alliance, which runs from Tuesday to Thursday this week.

The rapid-reaction Nato Response Force currently numbers up to 40,000, and the proposed change amounts to a broad revision in response to Russian militarisation. Under the plans, Nato will also move stocks of munitions and other supplies farther east, a transition due to be completed in 2023.

The Norwegian secretary general conceded he could not make any promises about the progress of applications by Sweden and Finland to join Nato, because objections raised by Turkey to their membership remained unresolved.

Stoltenberg said Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had agreed to meet the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, and Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, on Tuesday in Madrid to try to resolve the issue.

But he played down hopes of a breakthrough at the meeting on the margins of the Nato event. “It’s too early to say what kind of progress you can make by the summit,” he told a press conference.

Turkey has said it will block the applications of Sweden and Finland unless it receives satisfactory assurances that the Nordic countries are willing to address what it regards as support for Kurdish groups it designates as terrorist organisations.

Later on Monday, Andersson said still she hoped a last-minute deal could be reached, after a day of contacts between officials of the three countries in Brussels.

“My strong hope is that this dialogue can be successfully concluded in the near future, ideally before the summit,” Andersson said, emphasising that Sweden “condemns terrorism in all its forms” and that the insurgent Kurdish Workers’ party (PKK) was recognised as a terror group in Sweden.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will address the summit on Wednesday morning, where he is expected to follow on from a plea made on Monday at the G7 meeting in Germany for western countries to provide arms so the war does not “drag on over winter”.

Stoltenberg said Nato would agree “a strengthened, comprehensive assistance package” for Kyiv, including immediate help to “secure communications, anti-drone systems and fuel” and longer-term assistance in transitioning from Soviet standard arms and equipment to their western equivalents.

But while the state of the war is likely to dominate the summit, Nato itself will only offer non-lethal aid because its members do not want the alliance to enter into fully fledged war with Russia. Arms supplies are instead made by member states.

Nato maintains eight battle groups across eastern Europe, aimed at acting as an initial frontline defence in the event of a Russian invasion. Four are in the Baltic states and Poland, and these were supplemented by the creation of four more in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia after the attack on Ukraine.

Germany said this month it would contribute a brigade of troops to defend Lithuania, where the country leads a 1,000-member battle group, although it emerged that the bulk of the extra 3,500 Berlin intends to contribute would be based on its own soil, ready to move farther east if needed.

Stoltenberg said he expected other Nato members to make similar announcements to defend the countries for which they are responsible. Extra troop numbers would be made up by “pre-assigned forces in their home country” who would regularly exercise in the countries to which they had been linked, he added.

Britain contributes about 1,700 troops to a multinational battle group it leads in Estonia. The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said nearly a fortnight ago that it was highly likely the UK would assign hundreds more troops in support of Estonia.

But Stoltenberg said there would not be a one-size-fits-all model, suggesting that not every battle group would be increased to the size of a full brigade. Canada leads the battle group in Latvia, where it contributes 700 troops, while the US is responsible for Poland.

Nato released figures showing that defence spending among its 30 members was expected to increase by 1.2% in real terms in 2022, the slowest growth rate in eight successive years of growth.

Nine countries are projected to exceed the 2% of GDP target, led by Greece on 3.76% and the US on 3.47% with Britain sixth on 2.12%, down marginally on the two previous years. France spends 1.9% and Germany 1.44%. 

___________

Ukraine and Russia conduct largest prisoner exchange yet

Ukraine and Russia announced Wednesday that they have conducted their largest prisoner swap since the start of the war in February, with each exchanging 144 prisoners.

Why it matters: "This is the largest exchange since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion," the Defense Intelligence arm of Ukraine's Defense Ministry wrote in a Facebook post.

The big picture: Of the 144 prisoners returned to Ukraine, 95 of them were involved in the months-long defense of the Azovstal steel factory in Mariupol, which was the last foothold of Ukrainian resistance in the city, per the statement.

Among the 95, were 43 were members of the Azov Regiment, a far-right nationalist battalion that had participated in the defense of the city.

The oldest of the prisoners is 65 while the youngest is 19. Many of the prisoners have "serious injuries," including amputated limbs, burns, and fractures.

State of play: More than 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered in May when Russian forces finally completed their capture of Mariupol, per the New York Times.

Russia and Ukraine have conducted more than a dozen of prisoner exchanges since the start of the invasion. On Tuesday, 15 Russian POWs were exchanged for 16 Ukrainian POWs and one civilian, AP reported. 

___________

UK sanctions second richest man in Russia

The United Kingdom announced more sanctions on Russian oligarchs Wednesday, targeting one of the country’s richest men.

Vladimir Potanin, the second richest man in Russia, was sanctioned as he is a known supporter of the Russian government and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Anna Tsivileva, the president of Russian coal mining company JSC Kolmar Group, was also sanctioned, along with the business.

“As long as Putin continues his abhorrent assault on Ukraine, we will use sanctions to weaken the Russian war machine. Today’s sanctions show that nothing and no one is off the table, including Putin’s inner circle,” a government spokesperson said in a statement.

The government is also implementing measures so Russia cannot access the U.K.’s trusts services that allow a person or business to manage their assets.

The actions add to the growing list of sanctions the U.K. has implemented against Russia and Russian individuals, with more than 1,000 people and 120 businesses sanctioned since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, according to the U.K. government.

“Russian imports have dropped over 40% since the invasion and stockpiles of vital imported manufacturing components are likely to be depleted in the next three to six months,” the government said.

Along with the sanctions relating to Ukraine, multiple Russian individuals and businesses were sanctioned for supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad. https://thehill.com/policy/internati...man-in-russia/

________________

G7 leaders pledge to pursue price caps on Russian oil

Members of the G7 on Tuesday agreed to explore the possibility of imposing price caps on Russian oil as they reiterated vows to "impose severe and immediate economic costs" on Russia for its ongoing war in Ukraine.

Why it matters: Russia is the world's second-largest crude oil exporter, and Europe, unlike the U.S., is hugely reliant on Russian oil, gas and coal, Axios' Ben Geman writes.

While the sanctions imposed on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine have been severe, the country has nevertheless been able to continue selling oil.

State of play: The G7 leaders said they would consider a "range of approaches" when it comes to Russian oil, according to the leaders' communique.

Among these approaches will be the possibility of banning all transport of Russian oil "unless the oil is purchased at or below a price to be agreed in consultation with international partners," the G7 leaders said in the communique.

"We invite all likeminded countries to consider joining us in our actions," they added, noting that they have asked their relevant ministers to further explore the details of such a move.

Yes, but: The leaders stopped short of introducing new energy sanctions and didn't specify how a price cap would work.

What they're saying: "We reaffirm our commitment to phase out our dependency on Russian energy. In addition, we will explore further measures to prevent Russia from profiting from its war of aggression," the communique added.

Worth noting: U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a press briefing Tuesday that one key aspect of G7 countries determining how such a price cap would work is "intensive engagement with key consuming countries," such as India.

Sullivan noted that senior administration officials communicated with their Indian counterparts on Monday.

The big picture: Earlier this week G7 leaders made another effort to impose costs on Russia for its war in Ukraine, by vowing to ban imports of Russian gold, which accounts for roughly $19 billion in annual revenue.

G7 leaders also committed to contributing $4.5 billion to alleviate global food security issues stemming from Russia's war in Ukraine. More than half of the funding will come from the U.S., according to the White House. https://www.axios.com/2022/06/28/g7-...-oil-price-cap

____________

U.S. unveils new sanctions aimed at Russian defense industry

The Biden administration unveiled a new slate of sanctions on Tuesday against entities that prop up Russia's defense industrial base and military units responsible for human rights abuses.

*Why it matters:* The move builds on other sanctions levied by the U.S. against Russian elites and banks in response to Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

*The big picture:* The Treasury Department announced that it has sanctioned 70 entities important to Russia's defense industry, including Rostec, which it described as "the cornerstone of Russia’s defense, industrial, technology, and manufacturing sectors."


The Treasury Department has also sanctioned 29 individuals. Together the actions are meant to "strike at the heart of Russia’s ability to develop and deploy weapons and technology" for the war in Ukraine, per the press release.Concurrently, the State Department will sanction another 45 entities and 29 individuals. This will include sanctioning a number of Russian military units and re-sanctioning Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), "which have been credibly implicated in human rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine," per the press release.The State Department will also impose visa restrictions against "officials believed to have threatened or violated Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence," including more than 500 Russian military officers.

*Worth noting:* The Treasury Department on Tuesday also implemented the Russian gold import ban announced by G7 leaders over the weekend.

*What they're saying:* “Broad multilateral commitments and actions by G7 members this week further cut off the Russian Federation’s access to technology that is critical to their military," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the press release.


"Targeting Russia’s defense industry will degrade Putin’s capabilities and further impede his war against Ukraine, which has already been plagued by poor morale, broken supply chains, and logistical failures," Yellen added.

https://www.axios.com/2022/06/28/us-...-industry-gold




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## S Landreth

Biden: War will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine in Ukraine

President Joe Biden on Thursday vowed that Russian President Vladimir Putins invasion of Ukraine will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine in Ukraine.

The presidents pledge came during a news conference at the conclusion of the NATO summit in Madrid  where Biden sought to rally Western allies to prolong their support for Ukraine, and where Finland and Sweden signed an agreement with Turkey that paved the way for the two Nordic nations to join the mutual-defense military bloc.

Putin thought he could break the transatlantic alliance, Biden told reporters. He tried to weaken us. He expected our resolve to fracture. But hes getting exactly what he did not want. He wanted the Finland-ization of NATO. He got the NATO-ization of Finland.

We are going to stick with Ukraine, and all of the alliance is going to stick with Ukraine as long as it takes to, in fact, make sure that they are not defeated, Biden said.

Reiterating his commitment, Biden said American drivers would be forced to bear the costs of increased gasoline prices brought on by Russias invasion for as long as it takes. Russia, he added, cannot, in fact, defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine. This is a critical, critical position for the world.

Despite Bidens declaration about NATOs resolve, there has been a growing public divergence among allies over how long the war will last, the lengths to which Western governments will go to help Ukraine win and what exactly a victory might look like.

Still, NATO leaders have remained forceful in their official condemnations of Putins invasion, adopting a new Strategic Concept on Wednesday that branded Russia as the most significant and direct threat to Allies security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area.

That same day, Biden announced plans for the United States to send more naval destroyers, air defense systems and redeployed troops further into eastern Europe in the coming months.

U.S. officials also worked to assuage Turkeys concerns about Finland and Sweden becoming NATO member states; Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had been angered by what he claimed was Helsinki and Stockholms support for Kurdish militants and arms embargoes on Ankara.

Erdoğan ultimately backed away from blocking Finland and Swedens membership bids on Tuesday, as the Biden administration expressed support for Turkey buying roughly $6 billion worth of F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits from Lockheed Martin. U.S. officials have denied any linkages between the potential arms sale and the NATO expansion.

______________


Turkey removes opposition to Finland and Sweden joining NATO

----------


## sabang

Sleepy Joe says one thing, his officials another-

Biden officials privately doubt that Ukraine can win back all of its territory  - CNNPolitics

----------


## sabang

*Russian Forces Withdraw From Snake Island*

Moscow framed the withdrawal as a gesture of goodwill intended to stave off a looming global food insecurity crisis.


ussian forces have abandoned the strategic outpost of Snake Island, loosening Russia’s grip over Ukraine’s Black Sea coast.

“On June 30, as a step of goodwill, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation completed their assigned tasks on Snake Island and withdrew the garrison stationed there. Thus, it was demonstrated to the global community that the Russian Federation does not interfere with the efforts of the UN to organize a humanitarian corridor for the exports of agricultural products from Ukrainian territory,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov announced on Thursday.


“This decision will prevent Ukraine from speculating on the subject of the impending food crisis, citing the impossibility of shipping grain due to Russia’s total control over the northwestern part of the Black Sea,” Konashenkov added, according to Russian state news outlet TASS_.
_
Whereas Moscow is framing the withdrawal as a gesture of goodwill intended to stave off a looming global food insecurity crisis, Ukraine says it drove Russian forces from the island after an overnight assault and artillery strike. "The enemy hurriedly evacuated the remains of the garrison with two speed boats and probably left the island. Currently, Snake island is consumed by fire, explosions are bursting,” said Ukraine’s military, according to Reuters_._ 


“KABOOM! No Russian troops on the Snake Island anymore. Our Armed Forces did a great job. More kaboom news to follow. All [occupied territory] will be Ukrainian,” tweetedHead of the Office of the Ukrainian President Andriy Yermak. Ukraine’s account of the events leading up to Russia’s withdrawal from Snake Island has not been verified by outside observers.

Russia’s military captured Snake Island, a small Ukrainian outcrop to the southwest of the port city of Odessa, in the opening stages of its invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian troops launched several effortsin May to retake the island but were repeatedly repelled by Russian forces. Buoyed by recent shipments of Western anti-ship missiles and artillery systems, the Ukrainian military reportedly launched a renewed assault on Snake Island in recent days. Satellite imagery of the island dated June 21 appeared to show evidence of new strikes in the form of large scorch marks, with Ukraine claiming to destroy scores of local Russian vessels and anti-aircraft systems in recent days.

Experts say Russia’s withdrawal from Snake Island marks a major step in Ukraine’s efforts to weaken Russian naval dominance over Ukraine’s Black Sea coast. The loss of Snake Island erodes Russia’s ability to threaten Odessa, which is still widely regarded as one of the war’s major prizes and removes a potential Russian pressure point on NATO’s southeastern flank.

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/bu...-island-203340

Great, no more flimsy excuses then- accept the kind Turkish offer to demine the approaches to Odessa, and get that grain flowing.

----------


## Norton

> Great, no more flimsy excuses then- accept the kind Turkish offer to demine the approaches to Odessa, and get that grain flowing.


Whether a humanitain jester or a tactical redeployment by Russia is debatable but getting Ukranian grain out certainly will help alleviate global food shortages and of course give a boost to Ukraine's economy.

----------


## sabang

> humanitain jester


Pun intended?  :Smile:

----------


## Norton

> Pun intended?


I knew that.  :Wink:

----------


## misskit

Even Russian Army Bosses Shocked by Putin’s ‘Fucking Imbecile’ Troops

Even Russian military leadership was shocked to learn of the mayhem and dysfunction among Vladimir Putin’s troops in occupied eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian intelligence.


In a five-minute recording shared by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry on Thursday, a man identified as a fighter in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic can be heard complaining to his wife that “Russians are fucking imbeciles” and revealing that his fellow fighters raped and murdered civilians.


No details were provided on when the phone call was said to have taken place, or where exactly in Donetsk the man was based.


“Basically, today our guys went to the Russian headquarters,” said the man, who was not identified by name. “They are not aware that there are so few of us here... They all think that we’re professionals, that we’ve been fighting since 2014 and we’re already experts, that we’re badass fucking warriors,” he said.


“They raised the question about us not having a rotation, and not having weapons, nothing,” he went on. “Basically, they promised that within three days, some fucking Russian bogeys will come... they promised to change us out, the generals didn’t even know what kind of situation we had here,” he added, complaining that “we are almost down 50 fucking percent.”

The fighter recalled an incident where he said a group of Russian troops were sent to back up their fellow Russians, but then both sides “started to shell the fuck out of each other, Russians with fucking Russians, they fucking killed each other.”


The wife then asked about the fate of an acquaintance, who the man told her was being interrogated along with several others in connection with a string of recent executions.


“Lena, he gunned down 75 people, you understand? Both locals and our guys,” he said, going on to recall how two of those shot were fighters who “raped a 55-year-old woman and beat the shit out of her husband” before returning days later to terrorize the pair again and shoot them.


“Our guys buried them,” he said.


“Maybe they are lucky that they are there, even though they’re being questioned they’re sitting in a quiet and calm place... They have already shot several people who raped, murdered, and buried people,” he said, telling his wife he was referring specifically to those from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.


“There’s a fuck ton happening here that you don’t know about,” he said.


His wife then recalls that when reports first broke of Russian troops raping people in Ukraine, the claims were dismissed as “fake,” with Russian sources claiming “the Russian Army is not capable of that.”


“It turns out they are capable,” she tells her husband, who quickly shoots back: “They are capable of anything.”

Even Russian Army Bosses Shocked by Putin’s ‘Fucking Imbecile’ Troops

----------


## bsnub

> Moscow framed the withdrawal as a gesture of goodwill intended to stave off a looming global food insecurity crisis.


What a load of BS. The Ukrainians blew the shit out of them over and over again. Finally, the HIMARS sealed the deal for the last time, literally blowing them off the island. Your propaganda lies are getting ridiculous. The truth...

Russian  troops have withdrawn from Snake Island in the Black Sea after repeated  assaults by Ukrainian forces, a move that is a setback for Moscow’s  forces and possibly undermines their control over vital shipping lanes  for grain in the Black Sea.

The  retreat came after sustained Ukrainian attacks — including with  powerful, newly arrived Western weapons — made it impossible for Russian  forces to hold the island, a small speck of land 20 miles off the coast  of Odesa that has played an outsize role throughout the war.

Control  of the shipping lanes has implications that go beyond the battle for  Ukraine’s sovereignty. The Russian Navy has effectively cut off shipping  from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, stopping the flow of grain and  oilseeds to the rest of the world, raising the cost of food and creating  the likelihood of shortages and even famines in some countries,  especially in Africa.

While  the United Nations and many Western democracies have accused Moscow of  using food as a weapon to weaken support for Ukraine, the Kremlin has  tried to shift blame for the situation to Kyiv, accusing Ukraine of  refusing to clear mines from its ports.

The  fortress island has little value except as a base for Black Sea  operations and has been a target for the Russians since the first day of  the invasion. The Russian withdrawal, coming only a week after the  Kremlin bragged about repelling a Ukrainian attempt to retake the  island, appeared to be another instance of Moscow’s scaling down its  military ambitions in the face of Ukrainian resistance.

Both sides confirmed the retreat on  Thursday. The Ukrainians said it had come after a weeklong campaign  targeting the island and Russian efforts to resupply the garrison there  with missile and artillery fire.

The  last Russian soldiers on the island, which is called Zmiinyi in  Ukrainian, were reported fleeing overnight on two speedboats, according  to the Ukrainian military’s southern command. “There are no more  Russians on Zmiinyi,” said Andrii Yermak, the head of the presidential  office of Ukraine.

The Russian Defense  Ministry, in a statement, sought to cast the retreat as “a gesture of  goodwill” that would “not allow Kyiv to speculate on the impending food  crisis,” since control of the island is vital to securing the shipping  lanes. The Russian de facto blockade, enforced by its warships and  submarines, has prevented Ukraine from exporting its prewar average of  about six million metric tons of grain each month.

Still,  there was no indication that the Kremlin was prepared to allow safe  passage of Ukrainian vessels leaving the port of Odesa. The Crimean  branch of Radio Free Europe reported  that five out of the seven Russian submarines in the Black Sea fleet  were launched from port in Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula.

Russia had moved to bring powerful surface-to-air missile systems to the island to support its ground forces.

But  the Russian Navy started operating further from the Ukrainian coast,  out of range of land-based anti-ship missiles provided by the United  States and other NATO countries that began arriving in late May. Around  June 20, Ukrainian forces renewed their assault on the island, striking a  Russian tugboat delivering weapons and personnel to the island.

The  Ukrainians “almost certainly” used newly delivered Harpoon missiles in  the attack, according to the British military, which said it was their  first demonstrated use.

Satellite  images released over the past week showed the results of the battle as  seen from space — new large scars dotting the 46 acres of rock and grass  rising from the sea.

On Thursday  morning, the Ukrainian military said it had used missiles and artillery  to knock out yet another Russian antimissile system. “Snake Island is  covered in fire, explosions are heard,” 
the Ukrainian command said.  After the Russians pulled out, it was unclear whether the Ukrainians  would try to restore their own garrison, given the island’s  vulnerability to attack.

Russian Forces Withdraw From Snake Island, a Setback for Moscow - The New York Times

----------


## pickel

> Great, no more flimsy excuses then- accept the kind Turkish offer to demine the approaches to Odessa, and get that grain flowing.


The only thing that would work is a UN armada protecting the shipping lanes and Ukrainian ports.

Putin won't go for that though, because he's a liar. Regardless of whether or not you believe him.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The only thing that would work is a UN armada protecting the shipping lanes and Ukrainian ports.
> 
> Putin won't go for that though, because he's a liar. Regardless of whether or not you believe him.


Of course he believes him, he's a fucking idiot.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Grab a coffee.




> The war in Ukraine has settled into a grinding fight for yards. Ukrainian and Russian forces are shelling each other with medium- and long-range artillery, leaving the already battered villages and towns of the Donbas caught in the crossfire. Like the brutal battles of World War I, the current conflict has seen only small swaths of territory change hands, often being captured and recaptured from one week to the next.
> 
>  Although talk of a rapid victory for either side has largely disappeared from the headlines, analysts and officials still debate what piece of heavy military equipment or new technology might turn the tide in Ukraines favor. With Russia running low on supplies and manpower, for instance, retired U.S. Army General Ben Hodges told The Washington Post last week that an influx of more sophisticated Western weaponry could allow the Ukrainians to turn back Russian advances and go on the counteroffensive.
> 
> This emerging war of attrition, however, is more likely to come down to sustainmentthe ability of each side to ensure a relentless influx of troops, ammunition, and heavy equipment to the frontlines in the east, especially as the conflict drags on and international attention dissipates. Logistics, financial management, personnel services, and health services will all be central to this effort, determining which side is better able to replace its depleted units, resupply and maintain its equipment, and source food, fuel, and ammunition. The Russian military is clearly showing signs of strain, especially when it comes to reinforcing its troops after heavy losses. But so are the Ukrainians, who in recent weeks have warned that they are running out of ammunition and losing as many as 200 soldiers per day.
> 
> In a conflict that is increasingly likely to endor at least be containedwith a negotiated settlement or cease-fire, sustainment could provide vital leverage for Ukraine. By reinforcing its troops and resupplying and maintaining its equipment, Ukraine may not be able to beat the Russians back, but it could deny them major gains, sapping their resources and will to fight. Western military assistance, especially the provision of arms and training, will be critical for sustainment. But so will domestic factors such as the return of Ukrainian refugees, the recovery of the countrys economy, and the emergence of a Ukrainian resistance in Russian-occupied areas. Sustaining the fight against Moscow, in other words, will take political, economic, and military commitment from the Ukrainian people as well as from the United States and other NATO countries. The challenge, however, is that sustainment will become increasingly costly as the war continues and Western countries find it increasingly difficult to muster the political will to uphold their commitments to Ukraine.
> 
> Early in the war, Russia gave little thought to sustainment, rushing forward a vast force without setting up supply depots or establishing full air control. As the Ukrainians slowed Russias advance, distance and weather compounded Moscows logistical problemsand Russian soldiers paid a heavy price. The shift of the fighting to eastern Ukraine has eased some of these logistical challenges for Moscow. The frontlines are now closer to Russia and linked by rail and road to Russia and Russian-occupied territory. But Moscows initial blunders burned through many of its resources, undercutting Russias ability to resupply and sustain its forces even in the east. Unable to reliably import supplies and parts because of Western sanctions, Moscow is now digging deep into its Soviet era stockpiles for weapons such as mines and tanks.
> ...

----------


## bsnub

> Grab a coffee.


Good find that!

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Good find that!


They are quite perspicacious and well-informed; their content is very balanced, unlike the utter shite we usually get from the four wanketeers.

----------


## misskit

Recent attacks on pro-Russian officials in southern Ukraine indicate signs of growing resistance movement

Washington (CNN)US officials say a trio of assassination attempts targeting pro-Russian officials over the past two weeks suggests a burgeoning resistance movement against pro-Russian authorities occupying parts of southern Ukraine.


While it is just a few incidents isolated to the town of Kherson so far, US officials say the resistance could grow into a wider counterinsurgency that would pose a significant challenge to Russia's ability to control newly captured territory across Ukraine.


The Kremlin "faces rising partisan activity in southern Ukraine," Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, said during a conference in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.


The US believes that Russia does not have enough forces in Kherson to effectively occupy and control the region, one US official said, especially after pulling forces from the area for the fight to the east in Donbas. Another US official told CNN that move may have provided Ukrainian partisans with a window in which to attack locally installed Russian officials.


Ukraine has also conducted limited counterattacks near Kherson, further straining Russian forces.


The region is critical to Russia's hold on Ukraine's Black Sea coast and controls access to the Crimean peninsula. It's unclear how many Russian forces are in or near Kherson, but an occupation against a hostile local population requires far more soldiers than a peaceful occupation of territory.
Russia's leaders have prioritized the military campaign at the expense of any semblance of government. "It's clearly not something they're able to invest in right now," one US official said.



Trio of assassination attempts


The first attack in Kherson occurred on June 16, when an explosion shattered the windows of a white Audi Q7 SUV. The vehicle was left seriously damaged, but the target of the attack survived.


Eugeniy Sobolev, the pro-Russian head of the prison service in occupied Kherson, was hospitalized after the attack, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.


Less than a week later, a second pro-Russian official in Kherson was targeted. This time, the attack succeeded. On June 24, Dmitry Savluchenko, the pro-Russian official in charge of the Department of Youth and Sports for the Kherson region, was killed, RIA Novosti reported. Serhii Khlan, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Kherson Civil Military administration, called Savluchenko a "traitor" and said he had been blown up in his car. Khlan proclaimed, "Our partisans have another victory."

On Tuesday, the car of a third pro-Russian official was set on fire in Kherson, according to Russian state news agency Tass, though the official was not injured. It's unclear who committed the attacks. 


There does not appear to be a central command guiding an organized resistance, officials said, but the attacks have increased in frequency, particularly in the Kherson region, which Russia occupied in March at the beginning of its invasion.


A source familiar with Western intelligence was more skeptical about whether the resistance could develop from partisan attacks to a more organized campaign capable of managing the attacks and supplying weapons and instructions.


So far, the resistance has not dented Russia's control over Kherson, the source familiar with Western intelligence emphasized.


But in the long term, the US assesses that Russia will eventually face a counterinsurgency from the local Ukrainian population.


"I think Russia is going to have significant challenges in trying to establish any sort of stable administration for these regions, because likely collaborators -- more prominent ones -- are going to be assassinated and others will be living in fear," said Michael Kofman, director for Russia studies at the Center for Naval Analyses, a Washington-based think tank.



Making Russian governance difficult


On Tuesday, Russian-appointed authorities in the Kherson region arrested the elected Ukrainian mayor of the city, Ihor Kolykhaiev, hours before announcing plans for a referendum to join Russia. The pro-Russian military-civilian administration accused Kolykhaiev of encouraging people to "believe in the return of neo-Nazism."


Kolykhaeiv's adviser said Russian authorities also had seized hard drives from computers, ransacked safes and searched for documents. Earlier this month, Ukraine's military said "invaders" had broken into Kherson State University and abducted the rector.


Russian forces have gradually instituted the ruble as the local currency and issued Russian passports.


In Mariupol, pro-Russian authorities celebrated the so-called "liberation" of the city in May. The Russian-aligned Donetsk People's Republic changed road signs from Ukrainian to Russian and installed a statue of an elderly woman grasping a Soviet flag. Meanwhile, the iconic Mariupol sign painted in Ukrainian colors was repainted in Russian colors.


Despite Russia's efforts to eliminate Ukrainian history, ethnicity and nationalism from Kherson and other occupied territories, the Ukrainian population shows a willingness to resist.

"The occupiers and local collaborators are making more and more loud statements about [the] Kherson region joining Russia," a Ukrainian official said last week, "but every day, more and more Ukrainian flags and inscriptions appear in the city."


The attempts to forcibly erase Ukrainian culture and dictate a Russian hegemony have produced the opposite effect in some cases, according to a senior NATO official.


"There have been reports of assassination attempts against some of the quislings that have been put in place to be governors, mayors [and] business leaders," said the NATO official. A quisling is a traitor who collaborates with an enemy force, named after a Norwegian official in World War II who collaborated with the Nazis. "That almost certainly has deterred Russian sympathizers or Russians or whoever they're going to bring in there to take these posts from taking them up in the first place."


As an occupying force in Kherson -- in particular, one that seems intent on maintaining control -- Russia has to provide basic services in the territories it manages, like clean water and trash pickup. But the US assesses that acts of resistances are making it difficult to provide governance and basic services, one of the US officials said.


The US knew there was a "serious resistance network" within Ukraine that would be able to take over if and when the military had failed, the official said. Before the invasion, the US anticipated the insurgency would emerge, coupled with guerrilla warfare, after a brief period of intense fighting in which Russia prevailed. But the war has now dragged on for months, with many analysts predicting a far lengthier conflict.

A senior US official warned a Russian counterpart before the conflict that they would face an insurgency if they invaded Ukraine and tried to occupy territory, the official said. But the warning fell on deaf ears and the invasion proceeded, driven in part by hubris and bad intelligence.


Russia believed its forces would be greeted with open arms and would crush any resistance quickly, erroneous fantasies that fell apart quickly but did little to change Russian President Vladimir Putin's calculations.


Kofman says it's unclear what type of governing framework Russia will try to create to exert control, but there is no doubt that it intends to retain the territories. After facing prolonged, bloody insurgencies in Afghanistan and Chechnya, the Kremlin knew to anticipate another potential insurgency in Ukraine.


"They did see it coming," Kofman said. "That's why they set up filtration camps and shipped out a lot of the population out of occupied areas."

Recent attacks on pro-Russian officials in southern Ukraine indicate signs of growing resistance movement - CNNPolitics

----------


## harrybarracuda

There is absolutely no doubt Ukrainians will be waging a war of attrition in the areas where Russian troops have control.
They have nothing to lose so why not kill as many Russians as possible and have them living in fear?

----------


## harrybarracuda

*Russians 'had powerful radio reconnaissance positions on Snake Island' - Ukrainian official*Russian forces had been using Snake Island to carry out radio reconnaissance, according to the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council.
Oleksii Danilov told Ukrainska Pravda they had been using the island to monitor Odesa, the Bessarabia region, and issues in Transnistria. 

"They had a very powerful position there," he said, calling it a "strategically important" victory for Ukraine.
He also refuted Russia's claims that its forces had left the island voluntarily.
He said: "The way the Russian Federation interprets the events – that they allegedly left as a gesture of good will –  is not consistent with reality.
"In fact, they were dislodged from there by our heavy artillery. 
"Our armed forces using all means available inflicted the respective damage twice.
"There was nowhere to hide, and they [Russian troops] had to flee."

Ukraine news live: Kremlin lashes out at NATO and looks to draw China into Russia's rift with West; Sweden and Finland's entry thrown into doubt | World News | Sky News

----------


## bsnub

This piece blows many of the articles Sabang posts out of the water, particularly the ones by Kissinger...

In times of peace, much of what  anyone says about national power is guesswork. Different claims can be  based on hopes, prejudices, or even simple self-interest. Analysts and  experts can speak confidently about how some states are undoubtedly  great powers while others are weak, that some countries are led by  strategic geniuses and others by corrupt incompetents. The statements  can sound eminently plausible as facts, even be downright persuasive,  because there is no way of knowing the truth.

Until,  that is, a war breaks out. The Russia-Ukraine war is now cutting  through much of the nonsense that dominated the discussion of  international power politics, posing particular challenges to blasé  assumptions about what makes a state powerful, and what makes a  country’s leadership effective. This reassessment doesn’t just concern  the question of debatable prewar military analysis  of Russia and Ukraine, or theories of international relations. Instead,  it is aimed at the whole way we think about how countries interact with  one another, about national power, and about leadership.

The  best place to start is the widespread notion going into the war that we  were witnessing a clash between a great power controlled by an  experienced, savvy—some even said brilliant—leader and a small state  weakened by national division and led by a second-rate former comedian.  This great power–small power dynamic was accepted practically  universally among a group of scholars and analysts who have proclaimed  themselves “realists.”

Maybe  the most famous realist in the world is Henry Kissinger, the former U.S.  secretary of state and a longtime believer in the notion of great  leaders and great powers. Kissinger, who met regularly with Vladimir  Putin, has been arguing for forcing Kyiv to make concessions  such as the handing over of the Crimea, internationally recognized as  part of Ukraine but annexed by Moscow in 2014, to the Russians. To  Kissinger, it has been important that the United States treat Russia as a “great power” and that it accepted Moscow’s claim to have a special interest in Ukraine.

Academics,  too, subscribe to this notion. In lectures, media appearances, and  articles in the months before the invasion, well-known figures such as  John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt described the Russia-Ukraine  relationship as operating in the well-worn great power–small power  framework. In this analysis, Putin was the clever strategist with a  strong grasp on what he wanted, while the Ukrainians were weak, and it  would be better for the world if their status was determined by the  strong. Russia was, in Mearsheimer’s view, one of only “three great powers” in the world, and Putin was a rationalist, just wanting to secure a buffer state on his border, something Ukraine would have to deal with. Meanwhile, as Walt put it,  Ukraine would have to accept the oppression and subjugation of its  people to Russian interests because “great-power war is worse and brings  much more suffering.” Other analysts, such as Samuel Charap, even believed  that Russia was so strong, and would crush a weak Ukraine so easily,  that the West should provide no support for Kyiv, because it would all  be wasted when the Russian steamroller attacked.

This  all sounded eminently reasonable, but then Russia invaded Ukraine and  the great power–small power dichotomy was revealed to be the opposite of  realism. The fundamental problem was that Russia was exposed at the  start as not a “great” power at all. Having sent in almost all of its  frontline military units, the Russian army has seized only 20 percent of  Ukraine—a far cry from its initial efforts to take Kyiv and subjugate  the entire country—and is suffering horrific losses in casualties and  equipment. It’s already desperately trying to regenerate its forces by  finding soldiers wherever it can, even allowing citizens as old as 49 to  enlist, while throwing more and more older, second-rate equipment into  the fight.

Russian strength  has shown itself to be so overrated that it gives us an opportunity to  rethink what makes a power “great.” Going into the war, Russia’s  military capabilities—including a large nuclear stockpile and what was  thought to be one of the biggest and most-advanced armed forces in the  world—were pointed to as the reason for its strength. What this war  might be showing us, however, is that a military is only as strong as  the society, economy, and political structure that assembled it. In this  case, Russia was nowhere near a great power, but in fact a deeply  flawed, in many ways weakening, state.

From  this point of view, indeed, it can be seen as a power in relatively  steep decline. Its economy is about the tenth largest in the world,  comparable to Brazil’s, but even that masks how remarkably unproductive  it is, basing most of its wealth on extracting and selling natural  resources, rather than on producing anything advanced. When it comes to  technology and innovation, Russia would hardly rank in the top 50 most  important countries in the world.

Moreover,  the Russian leadership, and most obviously its president—hailed in many  quarters as a canny operator—has shown itself to be the head of a  disastrously constructed state that fed misperceptions, stifled real  debate, and allowed one man to launch this disaster. It’s odd that this  is a lesson that we need to learn again and again: Dictatorial regimes  tend to decompose the longer they stay in power, because appealing to  the source of power becomes a higher priority to officials in all  echelons of the state than simply doing a good job. Putin’s state fed  his delusions and created an inefficient military, hobbled by corruption  and inefficiency.

We must  also reevaluate our understanding of the more basic notions of morale  and psychological commitment. One of the most surprising things to  analysts who perceived Ukraine as a small power, and Russia as a great  one, is that the Ukrainian military and people have resisted with  extraordinary tenacity while Russian military behavior points toward  serious issues with motivation and commitment. The Ukrainians have shown  a national wherewithal that has made any idea of a Russian conquest of  the whole country, Putin’s original goal, laughable.

We  have seen this play out time and time again in modern history, when a  smaller country—or parties within a smaller country—with a willingness  to fight can wear down a larger power. Be it Afghanistan (twice) or  Vietnam (twice), morale and commitment to a fight mean more than which  side is the more “powerful.”

We  have much to thank the Ukrainians for, but to some extent, one of the  most important things they have done is force us to reexamine many of  our assumptions about national power and the balance between states.

We  need to reconsider—in many ways, entirely reconstruct—how we judge what  makes a great power, or what is the most important part of national  power. Militaries, perhaps, should be seen more as creations of the  underlying economic, technological, and political characteristics of a  country. Military power still matters hugely, but in this view reflects  its creators, rather than superseding them. A weak, relatively backward,  and uninventive economy will struggle to operate a modern military,  even if that military has what are considered advanced weapons.

Further,  we need to be careful about praising the ability of authoritarian or  dictatorial states to wage war. In times of peace, such states can seem  decisive and the possessors of well-thought-out plans, but their  systemic weaknesses in crushing dissent and encouraging deceptions that  appeal to the throne can lead to strategic disasters in both how wars  start and how they are conducted. Finally, national power has a basis in  commitment and identity that cannot be overlooked.

The  Russian invasion of Ukraine has not been a situation in which a great  power assaulted a smaller neighbor. It’s an example of a large, deeply  flawed power invading a smaller, but very committed one. The balance of  power between the two does still matter—but what makes up that balance  needs to be much better understood.

Ukraine Has Exposed Russia as a Not-So-Great Power - The Atlantic

----------


## OhOh

> Putin won't go for that though


It appears that a certain leader of Turkey has banned any none Black Sea country naval ships from passing through the Bosphorus Strait. There appears to be an international treaty:

*Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits*

_"The International Straits Commission was abolished, which allowed the  full resumption of Turkish military control over the Straits and the  refortification of the Dardanelles. Turkey was authorised to close the  Straits to all foreign warships during a war or when it was threatened  by aggression. 

Also, Turkey was authorised to refuse transit from  merchant ships belonging to countries at war with it._ _A number of highly specific restrictions in Article 14 and 18  were imposed on what type of warships are allowed passage. Non-Black Sea  powers wishing to send a vessel must notify Turkey 15 days prior to the  requested passing, and Black Sea states must notify 8 days prior to  passage. Also, no more than nine foreign warships, with a total  aggregate tonnage of 15,000 tons, may pass at any one time. Furthermore,  no single ship heavier than 10,000 tonnes can pass. An aggregate  tonnage of all non-Black Sea warships in the Black Sea must be no more  than 45,000 tons, with no one nation exceeding 30,000 tons at any given  time, and they are permitted to stay in the Black Sea for at most 21  days. Only Black Sea states may transit capital ships  of any tonnage, escorted by no more than two destroyers. Any revision  to articles 14 and 18 requires 3/4 majority of signatory countries and  must include Turkey.[21][22][full citation needed][23] 
_
_Under Article 12, Black Sea states are also allowed to send  submarines through the Straits with prior notice as long as the vessels  have been constructed, purchased or sent for repair outside the Black  Sea. The less restrictive rules applicable to Black Sea states were  agreed as effectively a concession to the Soviet Union, the only Black  Sea state other than Turkey with any significant number of capital ships  or submarines.[20][24]  The passage of civil aircraft between the Mediterranean and the Black  Seas is permitted only along routes authorised by the Turkish  government.[25]"

"Although the Convention restricted the Soviets' ability to send naval  forces into the Mediterranean Sea, which satisfied British concerns  about Soviet intrusion into what was considered a British sphere of  influence, it also ensured that outside powers could not exploit the  Straits to threaten the Soviet Union. 

That was to have significant  repercussions during World War II when the Montreux regime prevented the Axis powers from sending naval forces through the Straits to attack the Soviet Union.[citation needed] 

The Axis powers were thus severely limited in naval capability in their Black Sea campaigns and relied principally on small vessels that had been transported overland by rail and canal networks."

Continues:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montre...of_the_Straits
_ 
As the restriction are currently active, one wonders how,




> a UN armada protecting the shipping lanes and Ukrainian ports.


would be authorised to ignore the treaty. One suspects Turkey would disagree and any UNSC attempt blocked by a Russian veto.

But to NaGaStan and it's vassals, ignoring international/UNSC treaties is their SOP.

However some news:

1 Jul, 2022 15:51

HomeRussia & FSU


*As West blames Moscow for 'food crisis', ships sail from  Mariupol with Moscow's help while Ukraine holds vessels in its ports*

                     evakbartlett

Western media and state officials keep blaming  Russia for the ‘food crisis,’ but Moscow is trying to reopen Ukrainian  and Donbass ports.

_"Without much notice in the West, on June 21, the first foreign ship  departed from the Port of Mariupol since Ukrainian and foreign mercenary  forces were fully forced out of the Donbass city a month prior.  Escorted by Russian naval boats, the vessel’s departure set the  precedent for a resumption of normal port activity to and from Mariupol.

__Russia’s Defense Ministry on May 20 announced the liberation of the  Azovstal plant from Ukraine’s Nazi Azov Battalion, and some days later stated that sappers had demined an area of one and a half million square meters around the city’s port._
_In early June, the ministry declared the facility ready for use anew. “The de-mining of Mariupol’s port has been completed. It is functioning normally, and has received its first cargo ships,” Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at the time._ 
_Russia  promised to give ships safe passage, and on June 21, the Turkish ship  Azov Concord left with a Russian escort. At Mariupol port that day,  prior to setting off, the captain of the ship, Ivan Babenkov, spoke to  the media, telling us that the vessel, without cargo, was heading to  Novorossiysk for loading, and then on to its destination.
__
Rear  Admiral Viktor Kochemazov, commander of the Russian naval base in  Novorossiysk on the Black Sea’s northeastern coast, down the Kerch  Strait from Mariupol, explained that while the corridor has been  operational since May 25, the nearly one-month delay in departing was  because “ships were significantly damaged during the conduct of hostilities.” Notably, he also said that some ships were deliberately damaged by Ukrainian forces in order to prevent them from leaving. 
__
From aboard a Russian anti-sabotage forces boat, media watched the  Azov Concord leave port. Further on, the ship would be met by warships  of the Novorossiysk base and escorted to the Kerch Strait where FSB  border control ships would continue to escort the ship._
_
A Bulgarian ship, the Tsarevna, was readying to depart the port next, “also  following the same humanitarian corridor to its destination in  accordance with plans for the use of the court by the owner,” Rear Admiral Kochemazov said.
_
_Western press ignoring development
_
_Predictably,  just as the Western media continues to ignore Ukraine’s war crimes  against the Donbass republics, including not only the bombing of houses,  hospitals, and busy markets –   plus the killing and maiming of civilians – so too do they omit  coverage of anything positive emanating from areas where Ukrainian  forces have been ousted and stability restored.
__
Instead, Western  media continues to spin the story that it’s Russia that’s blocking ports  and preventing grain exports, and blame Moscow for “aggravating the global food crisis” – when in reality, it is Ukraine that has mined ports and burned grain storages. 
__
In fact, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, “70  foreign vessels from 16 countries remain blocked in six Ukrainian ports  (Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhniy). The  threat of shelling and high mine danger posed by official Kiev prevent  vessels from entering the high seas unhindered.”_
_
While Russia  maintains it has opened two maritime humanitarian corridors in the  Black and Azov Seas, Kiev is apparently not engaging with  representatives of states and ship-owning companies about the departure  of docked foreign ships.
_
_Meanwhile, in the same vein, media outlets like the New York Times (writing as always from afar) claim that Mariupol is “suffering deeply” under Russian rule (citing the runaway former mayor, nowhere near the city for months, who is the source of previous war propaganda) even describing the Azov Neo-Nazis as “the city’s last military resistance.”
__
Yet,  what I’ve seen in multiple trips to Mariupol in the past couple of  weeks is rubble being removed so that the rebuilding process can begin,  newly established street markets, public transportation running, and calm in the streets."_

https://www.rt.com/russia/558011-for...eave-mariupol/

----------


## harrybarracuda

Puffy is nicking Ukraine's grain. The only c u n t he's doing favours to is himself.

----------


## harrybarracuda

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/st...y09n9IdIw&s=19

----------


## misskit

'A black day' Putin humiliated as Russian navy sinks its OWN ship in latest calamity

VLADIMIR Putin was left red-faced after his naval commanders managed to sink one of their own ships in a calamitous incident.

The Russian Navy has failed to cover itself in glory during the course of the war in Ukraine. The Black Sea Fleet suffered a major setback when its flagship, the Moskva, was sunk by Ukraine in April, after being hit by two R-360 Neptune missiles. The cruiser became the largest Russian warship to be sunk in wartime since the end of World War II and the first flagship sunk since the 1905 Russo-Japanese War.

Now, Russian naval commanders appear to have further tarnished their reputations after inflicting a spectacular own goal.

Reports suggest that a Black Sea Fleet landing craft was blown up after hitting a Russian mine near Mariupol.


Twitter user "English Luhansk" wrote: "Russian navy related Telegram channel reports that the Russian Black Sea Fleet's Ondatra class landing craft D-106 hit a Russian sea mine near occupied Mariupol, calling it 'a black day'.


Social media users showed little sympathy for the fate of the vessel and its crew as they were quick to add their own thoughts about the incident.

One wrote: "Woohoo, The Russians are gonna help clear the mines in the Black Sea, they’re off to a great start."


While a second said: "It hit a Russian mine… great job.

"Russian ship starts de-mining their own mines."


The Russian Navy is made up of four fleets - Pacific Fleet, Northern Fleet, Baltic Fleet and Black Sea Fleet.


Additionally, it also has one flotilla that patrols the Caspian Sea.


The Navy provides strategic deterrence through its nuclear capabilities, as well as homeland defence.


Before hostilities broke out in Ukraine, the Russian Navy had around 130,000 personnel and roughly 32 major surface vessels.

These included the Moskva along with two battlecruisers, 12 destroyers and 11 frigates.


The Russian Navy also boasts an aircraft carrier, called the Admiral Kuznetsov.


The vessel can carry approximately 24 fighter jets and 12 helicopters, as well as packing 12 P-700 anti-ship cruise missiles and almost 200 3K95 “Kinzhal” surface-to-air missiles.


However, the carrier has been plagued by mechanical breakdowns and maintenance problems.


It is currently undergoing repairs and modernisation work that seeks to extend its life for an additional 10 to 15 years.

Russian military sources claim that it will be at least a year before the Admiral Kuzetsov can rejoin the combat fleet.


A report in the Russian state media TASS said: "The transfer of the Admiral Kuznetsov cruiser to the fleet after modernisation and all subsequent state tests will take place no earlier than in 2024."

Putin humiliated after navy sinks one of its OWN ships in latest calamity | World | News | Express.co.uk

----------


## S Landreth

Pentagon: Ukraine using rocket system to hit Russian command posts

Ukrainian forces are having “a good deal of success” using a U.S.-given advanced rocket system to target Russian command posts, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.

The Ukrainians have used the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) advanced rocket system to target the Kremlin positions in its fight for the eastern region of the country known as the Donbas. 

“Because it is such a precise, longer-range system, Ukrainians are able to carefully select targets that will undermine the effort by Russia in a more systematic way, certainly than they would be able to do with the shorter-range artillery systems,” the official told reporters.

Ukrainian forces are still in the early days of operating the HIMARS systems — four of which the U.S. has already sent to the former Soviet country and four additional it pledged late last month — as only a handful of Ukrainian troops can operate it after taking a brief training course. 

The HIMARS, which has a range of about 40 miles, has given the Ukrainians the ability to hit faraway targets with more accuracy than they have been able to prior when using shorter-ranged artillery.

“What you see is the Ukrainians are actually systematically selecting targets and then accurately hitting them, thus providing this, you know, precise method of degrading Russian capability,” the official said.

“I see them being able to continue to use this throughout Donbas.”

___________


Inside Russia’s war camps: Ukrainian POWs detail torture, abuse

An activist-turned-soldier whose fingers were mangled by metal tools. Women photographed naked and forced to hold their hands above their heads or be beaten. Hospitalized prisoners of war mocked, threatened and left to die.

The Hill spoke to a half dozen former prisoners of war and their families this month about what life was like for those captured by Russian forces since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine more than four months ago.

Thousands of Ukrainians have been detained during the war, with many being exchanged for Russian prisoners of war and set free. Among them was Igor Kurayan, a 55-year-old Ukrainian activist who joined the fight against Russia and was captured in April.

He said Russian soldiers discovered that he had been running supplies to Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines since 2014, when Russia took over Crimea, and accused him of financing terrorist organizations and preparing a terrorist attack on Russian soldiers.

During weeks in Russian captivity, Kurayan said soldiers beat and electrocuted him for information, and twisted and cut his fingers using pliers and metal scissors. Other prisoners were beaten so badly they died, he added.

“Every day he would be called out for the torturing and they wanted him to hand over his friends,” said a translator with PR Army, an organization that helped connect the former POWs to The Hill and translate interviews.

“They even offered for him to become mayor of Kherson but he refused all their offers,” he added.

The Russian forces also allegedly took Kurayan’s phone and used his social media accounts to post previous photos he took with Ukrainian forces, but adding captions making it appear that he was advocating for Ukrainian forces to surrender to Russia. 

Kurayan’s daughter, Karina, provided screenshots of some of the posts Russian soldiers made on her father’s account to The Hill. Kurayan deleted all the posts as soon as he was exchanged and free from Russian captivity.

While Russian forces kept some captured Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine, others were transported to Russia.

Anzhelika Todorashko, 32, said her mother, a Ukrainian soldier, and her sister, a civilian, were captured by Russian forces shortly after the invasion began.

Russian soldiers were able to quickly take over her small village near the Russian border, cutting off all supplies to the town and encouraging residents to take a bus to Russia, where they would be sent to a “filtration camp,” according to Todorashko, who spoke English.

She said her mother, 52-year-old Viktoria, was captured in February for her work with the Ukrainian army, then taken to Russia where she said she was electrocuted, photographed naked, given little food and water, and heard screams from other prisoners asking for death.

Todorashko said the Russian soldiers would humiliate prisoners, with her mother telling her that prisoners had to hold their hands above their head for hours a day, and if they dropped their hands they would be beaten. Soldiers also shaved the heads of the women and suffocated others.

“[Russia] had all their people in masks. You will never see their faces,” Todorashko said.

Viktoria was released weeks after being imprisoned and taken to a Ukrainian hospital only for Todorashko’s sister, Valeria, to be captured in March for 10 days as Russians worked to find any evidence she was working for the Ukrainian forces, Todorashko added.

She was released when Russia couldn’t find any evidence of such activities.

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to questions from The Hill about the abuse and torture described by former Ukrainian prisoners.

Twenty-five-year-old Hlib Stryszko told The Hill he was defending a bomb shelter in Mariupol shielding women and children when he was wounded by Russian forces.

He said he was standing on a third-floor balcony when he saw a Russian tank approaching the building. The tank fired at him, causing him to fall from the third floor with debris collapsing on top of him.

Stryszko was taken to the hospital where he found out he broke his pelvis, was unable to open his eyes and injured his jaw. He said he received treatment for his injuries, but two days later Russian forces took over the hospital and was transferred to another hospital where doctors refused to treat anyone speaking Ukrainian.

Even after speaking Russian, Stryszko said he was hardly treated for the injuries he sustained during the blast.

“He said that he spent about a week in the hospital without receiving the necessary help or treatment,” Natasha Sennett, another translator from the PR Army, said of Stryszko. “Basically, they were kind of sarcastically coming up to him every morning, saying ‘Hey, hang in there soldier, maybe something will come up for you.’”

Along with the limited treatment, Stryszko said music would be blasted at the soldiers and Chechen fighters, notorious for their ruthlessness, would come into the hospital and taunt the injured.

“They will take out their knives and take the knife and start grazing the knife on the wounded soldiers’ bodies,” Sennett said.

Stryszko said he was eventually transported to Russia, where authorities realized he couldn’t be sent to prison due to his condition. He was eventually transported to Russian-controlled Crimea, where he was exchanged and brought to a Ukrainian hospital, where he is still recovering.

Family members, meanwhile, went weeks not knowing whether their loved ones were dead or alive.

“It was hell on earth,” Karina, the daughter of Kurayan, said in an interview, assisted by translator Natsya Popandopulos, another member of the nonprofit PR Army, which works to share the stories of Ukrainians with the world.

Only Karina, who is currently in the United Kingdom, could speak out about her father’s captivity, with family members fearing their own freedom and livelihood if they spoke out.

Todorashko, whose mother and sister were captured, said she was unaware her mother was captured by Russian forces until she was released and able to contact her. She only learned of her sister’s captivity because her younger brother, who was in the village with her sister, was able to hide a phone and message her.

Todorashko’s brother had to hide the device because Russian soldiers would go into homes and take anything they wanted, including phones and laptops, according to Todorashko.

“It was terrifying. It was terrifying,” Todorashko told The Hill of not being in communication with her mom and sister for so long amid the war.

For Ukrainians in Russia-annexed Crimea, the fear and abuse was nothing new.

Volodymyr Balukh, a 51-year-old activist, said he saw his home in Crimea overrun by Russian forces in 2014. He refused to obey orders by the soldiers, continuing to fly his Ukrainian flag and switching from speaking Russian to Ukrainian.

He said he was running food and supplies to the Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines for years as he was arrested multiple times by Russian forces, who eventually planted ammunition and explosives at his house in an attempt to frame him as a terrorist.

Balukh then spent three years in prison from 2016 to 2019, where he says Russian soldiers waterboarded him, stripped him naked, electrocuted him, threatened him with rape and gave him limited food.

“In captivity, there is a struggle for modesty to preserve your honor and dignity every second, 24 hours,” said Popandopulos, one of the translators, relaying Balukh’s words. “The Russian system is built to push everything, every human being from yourself and feel only fear.”

Today, Balukh is still trying to assist Ukraine’s war efforts and has been working to raise money for vehicles needed to defend its territory.

After his time in Russian captivity, he had some advice to share for Ukrainians who find themselves under Russian control.

“Endurance, faith and steadfastness are very important in captivity,” Popandopulos said for Balukh. “It’s important to know, what are you fighting for? What are you living for?”

____________


U.S. blocks $1 billion in Russian oligarch's assets in Delaware

The U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday it's notified the Delaware-based Heritage Trust that it's blocking more than $1 billion in assets linked to the sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

*Why it matters:* The U.S. and other governments are intensifying efforts to financially squeeze oligarchs with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin due to the invasion of Ukraine.

*Driving the news:* "Heritage Trust was formed in July 2017 for the purpose of holding and managing Kerimov's U.S.-based assets," per a Treasury Department statement.


"Kerimov has retained a property interest in Heritage Trust following his designation, which results in Heritage Trust being blocked," the U.S. Treasury said.Kerimov's nephew Ruslan Gadzhiyevich Gadzhiyev, whom the U.S. sanctioned in March, has been a beneficiary of the trust and "his continuing property interest in Heritage Trust provides a separate and independent basis for Heritage Trust to be blocked," according to the department.

*By the numbers:* The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that a multinational task had blocked or frozen more than $30 billion worth of sanctioned Russians' assets and funds.

*The big picture:* The U.S. Treasury has designated Kerimov, a member of the upper house of Russian parliament with links to Putin, as an official in the Russian government and sanctioned him in 2018 for alleged money laundering and tax evasion both in the United States and the European Union.


A seized superyacht that U.S. officials say is linked to Kerimov arrived in San Diego Bay this week and will remain in the custody of the U.S. government, pending its anticipated forfeiture and sale, according to the Justice Department.

*What they're saying:* "Treasury continues using the full range of our tools to expose and disrupt those who seek to evade our sanctions and hide their ill-gotten gains," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

_"Even as Russian elites hide behind proxies and complex legal arrangements, Treasury will use our broad enforcement authorities, as well as our partnerships through the REPO Task Force, to actively implement the multilaterally coordinated sanctions imposed on those who fund and benefit from Russia’s war against Ukraine."_




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## russellsimpson

The Montreux Convention was actually generated by the end of WW1 and at best is very dated. Has the damn thing ever been re-done? Probably not in a major way. Turkey is a far different nation with Erdowan.

Instead of exchanging gruesome war stories I suggest some of you gentlemen start thinking about how this fucking thing will end.

----------


## DrWilly

> Instead of exchanging gruesome war stories I suggest some of you gentlemen start thinking about how this fucking thing will end.


 :Shrug: 

You think Teakdoor posters can effect peace in Ukraine? Put down the pipe Russ.

----------


## sabang

Russian and separatist forces in eastern Ukraine have taken the city of Lysychansk, Russia's defences ministry saysIts defence minister has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that all of Ukraine's Luhansk region has been 'liberated'But, Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Yuriy Sak has told the BBC that Lysychansk is not under the "full control" of Russian forcesHe added the situation in the city has been "very intense for quite a while now" with Russian ground forces "attacking the city non-stop"The mayor of Slovyansk, Vadym Lyakh, says the city - lying further west - has been shelled by the Russians; at least six have been killedAt least three people have been killed in several explosions in the Russian city of Belgorod, a regional governor saysVyacheslav Gladkov says dozens of residential buildings were damaged in the blasts. This hasn't been independently confirmed



Seizing the city of Slovyansk is a key part of the Russian plan to control the entire Donbas region.

As the BBC's Paul Kirby explains, Slovyansk is on the strategic M03 motorway, and the city of 125,000 people was captured by Russian-backed forces in 2014, before Ukrainian forces seized it back. Capturing Kramatorsk, just to the south, is also a big objective.

It is the next city in the Russian push westwards in Donbas, after the bitter fighting for Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.

Most Donbas residents have historically close ties to Russia and are Russian-speaking. The region is dominated by heavy industry, especially coal and steel.

Just before he launched the war, President Vladimir Putin recognised all of Luhansk and Donetsk - together known as Donbas - as independent of Ukraine, not just the limited statelets created by Moscow-backed proxies in 2014. That recognition was condemned internationally.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-62022073

----------


## Norton

> Just before he launched the war, President Vladimir Putin recognised all of Luhansk and Donetsk - together known as Donbas - as independent of Ukraine


That's nice. Makes invasion justified. Rumor has it Mexico is going to declare California independent of the US and invade soon. Discrimintion against the large Spanish speaking population is well known so Mexico must "liberate" them from this tyanny.

----------


## misskit

^ They should go for it, too! Thirty percent of Californians are Spanish speakers anyway. That makes it rightfully Mexico’s. Besides, California has a lot more money, industry, and good roads .  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## sabang

They must be getting nervous in Brighton Beach.  :Smile:

----------


## Norton

> They must be getting nervous in Brighton Beach.


You bet. Folks at local church praying they avoid liberation.  :Smile:

----------


## S Landreth

Ukrainian flag arrives in Snake Island after Russian retreat

 
Ukrainian forces are set to raise the countrys flag on Snake Island, a strategic and symbolic outpost in the Black Sea that Russian troops retreated from last week after months of heavy bombardment.

The military operation has been concluded, and  the territory, Snake Island, has been returned to the jurisdiction of Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraines southern military command, told reporters.

Ukraines military earlier stated that the national flag had been returned to the island shortly before 11pm on Monday. On the island of Zmiiny, the Ukrainian flag was returned again, an update read.

However, a clarification was later issued confirming the flag had been delivered by helicopter and would be raised as soon as Ukrainian troops arrive on the island.

__________

U.S. won't push Ukraine to negotiate, NSC's Kirby says

Its not the United States role to push Ukraine to negotiate a settlement with Russia, even if the Biden administration thought that it was the right thing to do, John Kirby said Sunday.

Its time for the United States to continue to support Ukraine, and thats what we are doing, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications said.

Speaking to Mike Emanuel on Fox News Sunday, Kirby said it will always be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys call as to if and when to seek a negotiated settlement with President Vladimir Putin and Russia.

President Zelenskyy, Kirby said, he gets to determine how victory is decided and when and on what terms. And [what] were going to do is continue to make sure that can succeed on the battlefield so that he can succeed at the table. But even President Zelenskyy will tell you that the time is not now for those discussions.

Russian troops continue to attempt to push forward, slowly and at great cost in human lives, in Ukraines east and also have launched recent raids on Kyiv and other cities.

But as other Biden administration officials have done since Russia launched what Putin intended as a lightning-fast invasion in February, Kirby said Ukraine has done a much better job fending off Russian invaders than anyone thought possible.

The Ukrainians are fighting really bravely and skillfully, Mike, and theyre not only working to defend territory  and they have done a noble job of that  theyre going on the counteroffensive, Kirby said.

_____________


Australian PM visits sites of Russian atrocities in Ukraine

Australias prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has pledged more than A$100m in fresh military aid for Ukraine, after visiting the sites of some of the most infamous atrocities of Russias war during the final leg of a European tour.

Albanese visited Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, three towns in the Kyiv region that became synonymous with the brutality of Vladimir Putins invasion when evidence of mass killings and torture was uncovered after the withdrawal of Russian forces.

The governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksii Kuleba, announced the visit on Facebook, saying Albanese had been shocked at what he saw, including bombed-out homes, traces of mines and a destroyed airport.

Albanese announced additional $99.5m in military aid, which will include: 

14 armoured personnel carriers,20 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles and other military equipment;a contribution to Natos Ukraine Comprehensive Assistance Package Trust Fund;and $8.7m to assist Ukraines Border Guard Service to upgrade border management equipment, cybersecurity and border operations in the field.

____________


Ukraine, Zelensky wish US a happy July 4th, release video of military band playing Star-Spangled Banner

Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelensky wished the U.S. a happy Independence Day on Monday as the nation fights for its own independence against the ongoing Russian invasion.

I appreciate the leadership assistance of the United States in Ukraines defending of common values  freedom, democracy and independence, Zelensky tweeted, wishing Americans and President Biden a happy July 4th.

The U.S. has made supporting Ukraine a cornerstone of its foreign policy since Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24. Washington has committed $6.9 billion in security assistance since Russias invasion began, uniting Western nations against the move and bringing tensions with Moscow to a boiling point not seen since the Cold War.

Happy 4th or July to all our American friends and thanks for standing with us in the darkest hour. Together, we will prevail, the Ukraine governments official Twitter account said.

The Ukrainian military orchestra on Monday released a video of the group performing the U.S. national anthem, sung in English, in honor of the holiday.

Dear American friends, we appreciate all the support we receive from the United States, and today we sincerely wish you happy Independence Day, an unnamed uniformed military official said in the video following the groups performance.

The gesture was one of many from the Ukrainian military.

On behalf of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and on my own behalf, I convey my heartfelt wishes to the American people on the anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraines armed forces, wrote in a Facebook post.

I wish you every success in your future endeavors, prosperity, much happiness and robust health, he continued.

The general staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also marked July 4 in a post.

Happy 4th or July to all our American friends and thanks for standing with us in the darkest hour, the Ukrainian governments official account tweeted on Monday. Together, we will prevail.





____________

Liz Truss considering confiscating Russian assets in UK to give to Ukraine

UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has said that her country wants to follow the example of Canada and seize the assets of Russians in the UK in order to give them to Ukraine.

It comes as the foreign secretary is due to give a speech on Monday (July 4) to a Ukraine reconstruction conference in Lugano, Switzerland, which will be attended either in person or virtually by most of Ukraines senior political leadership, the Guardian reported.

It is estimated that more than 120,000 homes in Ukraine have been destroyed during the Russian invasion, creating the need for billions in income to restore the country economically and make it a Europe-faced economy.

Truss told MPs last week she was supportive of the idea that the government could seize frozen Russian assets in the UK and redistribute them to victims of Russias war in Ukraine.

She said: I am supportive of the concept. We are looking at it very closely. The Canadians have in fact just passed legislation This is an issue that we are working on jointly with the Home Office and the Treasury, but I certainly agree with the concept. We just need to get the specifics of it right.

She said the initiative would most probably need legislation but not necessarily.

The funds seized could be supplied either to individuals in a form of reparations or to the Ukrainian state. At present the UK can suspend Russian assets under the Economic Crime Act for 56 days and roll over the suspension for a further 56 days. In that period the owner of the asset cannot benefit from the asset in any way.

In her speech to the conference, Truss will claim the UK will position itself as Ukraines key partner in the recovery process and claim it has already offered $1.5bn to the country through multilateral loan guarantees and more than £100m in bilateral support.

She will say: Ukraines recovery from Russias war of aggression will be a symbol of the power of democracy over autocracy. It will show [Vladimir] Putin that his attempts to destroy Ukraine have only produced a stronger, more prosperous and more united nation.

The UK is resolute in its support of Ukraines territorial integrity and will remain at Ukraines side as it emerges as a strong, thriving and cutting-edge democracy. We have led on support for Ukraine during the war and will continue to lead in supporting the Ukrainian governments reconstruction and development plan.

UK and France vow to support Ukraine in war for freedom

The Foreign Office said: Humanitarian assistance and de-mining programmes will help rebuild villages, towns and cities, and in the longer term the UK will share economic and financial expertise to transform Ukraine into a global hub for investment, enterprise and cutting-edge technology. The UK will champion the recovery of the city of Kyiv and the Kyiv region, on the request of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## HermantheGerman

> 


They both look like idiots and ugly as shit!

----------


## misskit

Russia Approves Bill Recognizing Civilians Sent to Ukraine War as Veterans


Russia’s lower house of parliament has passed new legislation giving civilians who have contributed to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine the same status as war veterans.


The legislation will include doctors, technical specialists, construction workers and journalists who have worked with Russian troops in occupied areas of Ukraine, according to lawmakers.

Veteran status gives the holder tax and transport privileges and state assistance with accommodation and health care. War veterans also receive monthly payments from the government.


The legislation, which must now be passed by Russia’s upper house and signed by President Vladimir Putin, was approved amid Moscow’s latest campaign to recruit essential workers for the “reconstruction” of occupied areas of eastern Ukraine. In return for traveling to the region, workers are reportedly promised a benefits package including meals and housing, paid vacation time and “career growth” opportunities.


President Vladimir Putin signed a law conferring veteran status to all Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine in March.

The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

How very "Mugabe".

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

*Russia-Ukraine war: Putin’s forces have made ‘genuine headway’ after capturing Lysychansk, say western officials*


*Russia has made ‘genuine headway’ after capturing Lysychansk, say western officials*

*The capture of the city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine by Russian forces has meant Moscow has made “genuine headway”, while its forces in the south have shown signs of “better cooperation”, western officials said.
*
Western officials said the sustainability of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine was “challenging”, but described the impact on their munitions and morale as “remarkable”.
But one official said it “remains highly uncertain whether Russia will secure the limits of Donetsk oblast this year”.

Russia has made “some significant command changes” in recent weeks, one official said, notably the recently appointed Gen Sergei Surovikin, who has taken over command of the southern group of forces overseeing the occupation of southern Ukraine and the advances on the Donbas from the south.
The official said:
_
He’s a controversial figure even by the standards of Russian general officers. It is unclear whether it’s his influence which has led to the recent successes around Lysychansk, but certainly there’s been better cooperation amongst groups of forces on the Russian side than we saw in the earlier phases of the war._
There are “very serious issues” over the stocks of Russian munitions and of morale, an official said, while long-range weapons systems are starting to make a “significant operational difference for Ukraine”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/jul/06/russia-ukraine-war-live-news-donetsk-governor-urges-evacuations-amid-russian-offensive

----------


## bsnub

The Ukrainian army systematically is demolishing Russian ammunition  supplies. The strategy could have big implications as Russia’s wider war  in Ukraine grinds into its fourth month.

 Firing new, American-supplied GPS-guided rockets—plus a few old,  ex-Soviet ballistic missiles—the army in just the last two weeks has  targeted no fewer than a dozen Russian ammo dumps.

 The Ukrainians have concentrated their ammo strikes in the east,  where Kyiv’s brigades have been staging a fighting withdrawal west  along a 40-mile-deep pocket of Ukrainian-held terrain anchored in the  east at Siversk. 

 On June 16, Kyiv’s forces blew up an ammo dump in Krasny Luch.  Strikes on ammo stockpiles in Iyzum and Svatove followed on June 25. Two  days later they hit dumps in Zymohiria and Rodakove. Ukrainian troops  hit Russian ammo supplies in Perevalsk on June 28 and in Stakhanov on  June 30. July 4 was a banner day for attacks on munitions stocks in  Snijne and Donetsk.

  Not to be outdone, Ukrainian forces in the south hit a Russian ammo dump at Melitopol airport on July 3.

 To be clear, Ukrainian and Russian forces have targeted each other’s  logistical infrastructure since Russia widened its war on Ukraine on  Feb. 23. But the Ukrainians have stepped up their raids in recent  weeks—and they’re getting more accurate, too, as more Western-made  rockets arrive at the front lines.

  The first four American-made High-Mobility Artillery Rocket  Systems—truck-mounted, six-round launchers for 44-mile-range, GPS-guided  rockets—reached the eastern front the last week of June. Not coincidentally, that’s when the Ukrainians narrowed their focus on Russia’s ammo supplies.

The wheeled HIMARS shoot farther, faster and more accurately than  Ukraine’s ex-Soviet rocket-launchers can do. Traveling along roads and  firing mostly at night, the four HIMARS are having an effect that’s  entirely out of proportion to their small numbers. 

 “We're watching Ukraine's use of the HIMARS,” an unnamed U.S. defense official told reporters, “and we're seeing them having a good deal of success in employing these—these HIMARS.”
   Russian logistical nodes 30 miles or farther from the front, which  once were relatively safe from Ukrainian attack, now frequently come  under fire. 

 “The Ukrainians are able to carefully select targets that will  undermine, you know, the effort by Russia in a more systematic way,  certainly more than they would be able to do with the shorter range  artillery systems,” a different, unnamed U.S. official added.

Russian deep strikes meanwhile are getting _less_ accurate as  the Russians draw down their pre-war stockpiles of modern missiles. The  Russian armed forces don’t possess a wheeled rocket-launcher with the  speed and accuracy of HIMARS, but they do possess a wide array of  air-launched, long-range guided missiles.

 But the Russians have fired so many hundreds of their best missiles  that they’re now running low. More and more, Russian air force bombers  are lobbing old and inaccurate missiles—and missing their targets as  often as they hit them.

 On June 27, a Russian bomber crew fired what appeared to be a Kh-32  anti-ship missile—which has a secondary land-attack role—at Kremenchuk  in southern Ukraine. It’s unclear what the crew was aiming for. There  are industrial and logistical sites in Kremenchuk that have military  value. 

 In any event, the Kh-32—an upgraded version of a 1960s-vintage weapon—struck a shopping mall, killing 20 people. 

 It’s likely more Ukrainian civilians will die as Russia’s strikes get  less accurate. “Russia’s shortage of more modern precision strike  weapons and the professional shortcomings of their targeting planners  will highly likely result in further civilian casualties,” the U.K.  Defense Ministry explained.

 Ukraine’s own deep strikes meanwhile are getting _more_ accurate  as more launchers arrive from foreign donors. Four more ex-American  HIMARS are on the way. The Ukrainians also are getting 18 tracked  Multiple Launch Rocket Systems from the United States, Germany, The  Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Norway.

 The MLRS are somewhat less nimble and reliable than the HIMARS are,  but their rockets are the same—and travel just as far and strike just as  accurately. 

 The Ukrainians also are squeezing every possible mile they can from  the HIMARS and MLRS’s GPS-guided M31 rockets. Forty-four miles is the  official max range, but with careful planning it’s possible to squeeze  an extra six miles from the rockets. 

 Indeed, the HIMARS launcher that blew up the Russian ammo dump at Melitopol on July 3 apparently did so from 50 miles away.

 As strikes escalate and losses mount, Russian logisticians could  struggle to keep front-line units adequately supplied. Don’t  underestimate how heavily this could weigh on the Russian war effort. 
 Ukraine’s interdiction of Russia’s supply lines after all doomed the  Russian army’s attempt to encircle Kyiv back in February and March.  Zeroing in on ammo dumps deep inside Russian-held territory, the  Ukrainians clearly are hoping to repeat that winning strategy.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=2ba30ea71e0f

----------


## S Landreth

Trudeau: Canada first NATO ally to ratify membership bids by Finland and Sweden

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada on Tuesday became the first NATO member to formally approve applications by Finland and Sweden to join the alliance.

Trudeau is now urging other allies to move quickly to finalize their own ratification processes.

This brings the two countries a step closer to full membership, he said in a statement. Their membership will make NATO stronger.

Helsinki and Stockholm applied to join NATO in May, less than two months after Russias full-blown invasion of Ukraine.

Canadas blessing Tuesday to bring the Nordic countries into NATOs fold was accelerated last month by the House of Commons unanimous support for their membership.

The Canadian step also followed the move last week by NATO ally Turkey to lift its objection to the countries applications.

Turkey, Finland and Sweden signed a memorandum of understanding ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid. The agreement came in response to Ankaras concerns over the countries alleged support for Kurdish groups and arms embargoes.

The parliaments of each individual NATO country must ratify the alliances additions of Finland and Sweden.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declined last week to offer a precise timeline on when the countries will officially join the group.

We call on all NATO members to move swiftly to complete their ratification processes to limit opportunities for interference by adversaries, Trudeaus statement said Tuesday.

___________

Latvia to reinstate compulsory military service

Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks on Tuesday said the Baltic state will reinstate compulsory military service following growing tension with neighboring Russia amid Moscows war in Ukraine.

The current military system of Latvia has reached its limit. Meanwhile we have no reason to think that Russia will change its behavior, Pabriks told reporters.

Latvia had scrapped mandatory service a few years after joining the NATO defense alliance. Since 2007, the EU members military has consisted of career soldiers along with National Guard volunteers who serve in the infantry part-time on weekends.

The country of under two million people, which borders both Belarus and Russia, currently only has 7,500 active duty soldiers and National Guard members, backed by 1,500 NATO troops.

Pabriks said the mandatory military service will apply to men and enter into effect next year, with several options available for fulfilling the requirement.

Gatis Priede, a National Guard soldier, called the move the best news and said the decision should have been taken after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

This is the right thing  to train more reservists for our army and for overall NATO strength, which is still critically lacking in the Northern European and Baltic region, he told AFP.

Pabriks also announced plans to build another military base near the southeastern city of Jekabpils, located closer to the Russian border than the existing Adazi base.

____________


Stratcom Centre UA - russian invaders have occupied around 22% of all Ukraine's arable land  NASA
#StopRussia: https://twitter.com/StratcomCentre/s...58081321680897
 
____________


Turkey detains Russian ship carrying '''stolen''' Ukrainian grain

Turkey has detained a Russian cargo ship carrying grain that Ukraine says is stolen, Kyiv's ambassador in Ankara said.

We have full co-operation, Vasyl Bodnar said on Ukrainian national television on Sunday. The ship is currently standing at the entrance to the port. It has been detained by the customs authorities of Turkey.

Ukraine had asked Turkey to detain the Russian-flagged Zhibek Zholy cargo ship. The vessel was anchored about a kilometre from shore, near Karasu port, on Sunday, an official told Reuters.

The report said there had been no obvious signs of movement aboard the vessel.

The fate of the 7,146-deadweight-tonne ship will be decided when investigators meet on Monday, with Ukraine hoping that Turkish authorities confiscate the grain, Mr Bodnar said.

Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing grain from territories it has seized since its invasion began in late February. The Kremlin has denied the claims.

A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official told Reuters on Friday that the Zhibek Zholy loaded its first cargo of about 4,500 tonnes of grain from Berdyansk, a Russian-occupied port in south Ukraine.

The region's Sakarya port authority and Turkey's foreign ministry did not immediately comment, Reuters reported.

The BBC said it had tracked the Russian-flagged ship on its route from the port of Berdyansk, in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, to Karasu on the Turkish Black Sea coast.

The ship's departure from Berdyansk was announced by Yevhen Balytskyi, Russia's recently appointed governor of the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia, on social media app Telegram. He said 7,000 tonnes of grain would be sent to friendly countries and ships  later editing the post to remove references to the ship's cargo and destination.

He said in the post that Russia's Black Sea Fleet would ensure the security of the journey and that the port had been cleared of sea mines.

The BBC said it had confirmed a video news report shared on several pro-Russia Telegram channels in which a reporter claimed the ship, along with a Russian naval vessel, was in a harbour in Berdyansk.

Kazakh-based company KTZ Express had previously confirmed to Reuters it owned the Zhibek Zholy, but said it was taken under a bare boat charter  when no crew or supplies are involved in the lease  by Russian company Green-Line, which was not designated under any sanctions.

KTZ Express said it was consulting the parties involved and would abide by all sanctions and restrictions.

Large stores of grain are in danger of rotting in Ukrainian silos, with Julys harvest set to make the problem even more urgent.

Ukraine previously supplied 10 per cent of the worlds wheat, up to 17 per cent of the worlds maize and half of the worlds sunflower oil. About 25 million tonnes of corn and wheat is at risk of rotting in Ukrainian silos.

Last month, the UK offered to help grain exports leave Ukrainian ports under a UN plan as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss accused Vladimir Putin of using food security as a callous tool of war.

Russias Ship of Lies: How a cargo of stolen grain could sink Black Sea truce

__________________

Dutch court backs contract termination over Russian sanctions

A court in the Netherlands has backed the decision of a Dutch-owned Russian company to terminate a contract associated with a liquid natural gas (LNG) project in Russia on the basis that performance of the contract would breach EU sanctions regulations.

Amsterdam-based Frederik Harms of Pinsent Masons said that the ruling could have implications for other cases being heard in the Netherlands where the application of EU sanctions concerning Russia is in dispute.

In this case Boskalis LLC (Boskalis)  a Russian subsidiary of the Dutch owned company  was sub-contracted to undertake dredging of the seabed in Russian waters for the purposes of supporting the subsequent construction of an LNG terminal. Dutch company Saren B.V. (Saren) had sub-contracted the works to Boskalis.

However, after Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, Boskalis notified Saren that it was terminating the contract between them. It claimed that performing the works would be in breach of EU sanctions regulations, which had been updated after Russias invasion commenced.

Much more in the article but in the end.......

The Court of Amsterdam concluded that Boskalis was entitled to stop its activities and terminate the sub-contract with Saren.

The court also considered that it is sufficiently plausible, once all the arguments are fully heard in trial proceedings, that both a request for payment under the bank guarantees as well as a granting of that request will be considered unlawful, on the basis that it would breach the EU Russian sanctions regulation. It granted interim relief to Boskalis in relation to the bank guarantees after identifying that there was legitimate urgency to prevent a call on the bank guarantees at this stage because of the difficulties Boskalis would face in subsequently retrieving the payments made under the bank guarantees if Sarens claims were dismissed at trial.

https://www.pinsentmasons.com/out-la...sian-sanctions




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## sabang

The Russian leader warned the West can't defeat Russia
by Dave DeCamp Posted onJuly 7, 2022CategoriesNewsTagsRussia, Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the longer the war in Ukraine drags on, the harder it will be to reach a negotiated solution and warned the West against trying to defeat Russia.


“We aren’t giving up on peace talks but those who decline to talk should know that the longer they do so, the harder it will be to come to an agreement with us,” Putin said, according to the Russian news agency _Tass_.


Early on in the war, Russia and Ukraine held several rounds of negotiations. Russia asked that Ukraine drop its claim to Crimea and recognize the independence of the breakaway Donbas republics, among other demands.


But since the peace talks have stalled, Russia has gained more territory in the Donbas, as well as in the oblasts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, giving Ukraine much less leverage. Western leaders have discouraged Ukraine from negotiating with Russia, most notably Boris Johnson, who resigned as British prime minister on Thursday.


According to a report from _Ukrainska Pravda_, Johnson told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kyiv in April that “even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin,” Ukraine’s Western backers were not. The exact details of the _Ukrainska Pravda_ report haven’t been confirmed, but Johnson later told French President Emmanuel Macron that he “urged” the Ukrainians not to negotiate with Russia. 


Putin on Thursday also responded to President Biden and other Western leaders that have called for Russia’s defeat in Ukraine. “We are hearing these days that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. What can you say? Let them try,” the Russian leader said.


“We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this,” Putin added. The Russian leader also signaled that he could expand the war further, warning that “we haven’t started anything yet in earnest.”

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/07/07/...der-with-time/

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## harrybarracuda

A lying c u n t being quoted by an obsequious brown noser.

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## russellsimpson

> According to a report from Ukrainska Pravda, Johnson told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kyiv in April that “even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin,” Ukraine’s Western backers were no


If this is all true then it is very revealing and prompts the inevitable question of why.

There is no way in the world that Ukraine is going to win this conflict. It's clear that this is part of a longer term American policy to conduct a proxy war with Russia. Possibly to degrade the Russian military. Possibly to give a needed boost to the armament industry in the USA, France and Great Britain (primarily).

Unfortunately the price for continuing the battle is going to be the (lack of)future of Ukraine in the form of it's disappeared youth.

As long as this war continues with the sanctions and all, the more likely it is that the west is going to end up in a recession with a growing possibility of a depression.

Just trying to be realistic here. I'm not sure what the long term answers are only that this bloodletting must end. Ukraine is heading for rump status and is even risking being landlocked.

Blinken go fuck yourself.

----------


## DrWilly

> It's clear that this is part of a longer term American policy to conduct a proxy war with Russia.


Yes, naughty USA starting this invasion and war. 




> Ukraine is heading for rump status and is even risking being landlocked.


If only Ukraine had not fought back they'd be in a perfect position now, eh?


Simpleton, your understanding of geopolitics rivals Backspin's understanding of women.

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## russellsimpson

You're all over the map Willy. For a guy who roundly criticises others for their lack of depth you're probably one of the weaker contributers truth be known. I've met several other PH D's were really quite stupid and useless like yourself. Have you anything to the discussion here? If not, piss off.




> Yes, naughty USA starting this invasion and war.


The war started long before the Russian invasion, the war started when the Americans engineered the coup d'etat in 2014 replacing a democratically government with a right wing regime hostile to Russia and friendly to the west.






> If only Ukraine had not fought back they'd be in a perfect position now, eh?


Ukraine had to fight back you idiot.






> Simpleton, your understanding of geopolitics rivals Backspin's understanding of women.


Oh yes. That must be it Willy. ::doglol::

----------


## bsnub

> The war started long before the Russian  invasion, the war started when the Americans engineered the coup d'etat  in 2014 replacing a democratically government with a right wing regime  hostile to Russia and friendly to the west.


You are an idiot of epic proportions to spew this utter  nonsense. Not only is it bullshit propaganda, but it is an outright lie.  The protests in the Maidan were organic and 100% organized by the  people of Ukraine and there is a mountain of video evidence documenting  that fact. 




> There is no way in the world that Ukraine  is going to win this conflict. It's clear that this is part of a longer  term American policy to conduct  a proxy war with Russia. Possibly to degrade the Russian military.  Possibly to give a needed boost to the armament industry in the USA,  France and Great Britain (primarily).


If you have not been paying attention until the recent  modest victories in Luhansk, Russia was losing the war full stop.  Suffering major defeats in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv. You are just  regurgitating propaganda horseshit.




> Oh yes. That must be it Willy.


Not sure why you are laughing because Willy nailed it. You have no idea what you are talking about.

----------


## sabang

Modest victories in Mariupol, Kherson, Zapo, Luhansk, Donetsk, Lysychank etc- quite a lot to be modest about!

Now where is that super weapon that's gonna change everything overnight, when are those super sanctions really gonna bite 🤔

When are we gonna hand over the whole defence capability of NATO? What about that $750bn for reconstruction. Loose change right?

----------


## bsnub

> Now where is that super weapon that's gonna change everything overnight


It finally arrived and there are more on the way.




> The United States is sending to Ukraine up to $400 million in additional military equipment and supplies,   including four more medium-range rocket systems and ammunition, as the   embattled nation tries to repel Russia’s advances in the Donbas  region.The four additional M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS,   will bring the total number sent to Ukraine to a dozen, a senior   defense official told reporters in a briefing Friday. The official said   the first eight HIMARS were particularly useful for Ukraine, as the   fight in the Donbas has largely evolved into an artillery duel. The   official refuted Russian reports that two of the delivered HIMARS were   destroyed, and said all eight are accounted for and still in use by   Ukraine.
> 
> The shipment will also include 1,000 rounds of 155mm artillery   ammunition, which the defense official described as a precision-guided   type that would allow the Ukrainian military to better hit specific   targets, which would save ammunition. The official would not confirm   whether these shells will be the guided Excalibur artillery rounds, but   said they have not been part of previous security assistance packages  to  Ukraine.


US to send more HIMARS precision rockets to Ukraine

----------


## sabang

So this is the mythic Death ray that is gonna change the whole course of the war. Anxiously awaiting.  :smiley laughing: 


_He said/ She said-_

*Russia says it destroyed two U.S. HIMARS in east Ukraine, Kyiv rejects claim*


MOSCOW, July 6 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday its armed forces had destroyed two advanced U.S.-made HIMARS rocket systems and their ammunition depots in eastern Ukraine, an assertion later rejected by Kyiv.

Moscow said it had destroyed two launchers for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that the United States and its allies have been supplying to Kyiv.

It also said Russian forces destroyed two ammunition depots storing rockets for the HIMARS near the frontline in a village south of Kramatorsk in Ukraine's Donetsk region - the main focus for Russian troops afterthe capture of Luhansk on Sunday.

Russia says it destroyed two U.S. HIMARS in east Ukraine, Kyiv rejects claim | Reuters

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## bsnub

> Russia says it destroyed two U.S. HIMARS in east Ukraine, Kyiv rejects claim


Already confirmed as another of the many Russian lies. 




> Anxiously awaiting.


No need to wait, the Ukrainians have already hit 20+ ammo dumps with HIMARS as well as multiple strikes on command and control facilities deep behind the front lines. I have posted articles documenting the fact on this thread. Clearly, you chose to ignore them. Hiding from facts does not make them go away.




> According to an assessment by the U.S. Department of Defense, Ukraine’s use of HIMARS is effective.
> Ukraine  managed to destroy 20 Russian ammo depots with HIMARS attacks in two  weeks, a military analyst at Defense Express, Ivan Kyrychevsky said.


Ukraine should be armed with long-range weapons, US senators say

I am sure that the 200+ Russian troops that died at the Melitopol airfield this week were not laughing about the HIMARS.

*Russian military base at Melitopol airfield destroyed

*



Russian military base at Melitopol airfield destroyed Melitopol mayor

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## sabang

Confirmed by who? The Snake Island martyrs? The Ghost of Kiev? The same people that brought you Saddam's WMD? The same ones telling you the ruble is rubble, and Putin is having his ass handed to him on a plate? Must be true then.

----------


## bsnub

> Putin is having his ass handed to him on a plate?


No one told me that you lemming. It was obvious to anyone with a functioning brain and the ability to follow what was happening on the ground. Apparently, you have neither of the two.




> The Snake Island martyrs?


I assume you are talking about the massive casualties the Russians took after the numerous times they got blown to shit on Snake Island.  :Smile:

----------


## malmomike77

38m ago
07.32
Ukrainian soldiers arrive in UK for training


The Ukrainian soldiers being trained in the UK have met UK defence secretary Ben Wallace, Press Association reports, at the start of their training, which is expected to last several weeks.


Wallace said: “This ambitious new training programme is the next phase in the UK’s support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in their fight against Russian aggression. Using the world-class expertise of the British Army we will help Ukraine to rebuild its forces and scale up its resistance as they defend their country’s sovereignty and their right to choose their own future.”


The training will give volunteer recruits with little or no military experience the skills to be effective in frontline combat. Based on the UK’s basic soldier training, the course covers weapons handling, battlefield first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics and the law of armed conflict.


The government has procured thousands of AK assault rifles for the programme, meaning Ukrainian soldiers can train on the weapons they will be using on the front line.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/jul/09/russia-ukraine-war-ukrainian-soldiers-arrive-in-uk-for-training-battle-to-retake-kherson-latest-updates

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## bsnub

_MOSCOW ($1=62.03 Russian Rubles)_  The only tank manufacturer  in the Russian Federation  UralVagonZavod has partially suspended  production, employees have been sent on unpaid leave and financial  difficulties due to lawsuits against the Russian manufacturer continue.  At the moment, UralVagonZavod does not produce the desired amount of  tanks but has focused its efforts on repairing destroyed combat  equipment.

Military analysts predict that the difficulties faced by the Russian  manufacturer UralVagonZavod, the war in Ukraine, in which Russia is  throwing a lot of armored vehicles, but also losing a lot of armored  vehicles, will lead to a _reformatting of the entire world arms  market in the foreseeable future. That is, the Russian Federation may be  pushed out of its niche,_ says Alexander Kovalenko in his commentary.

     Production problems for UralVagonZavod are significant. In addition  to the lack of components and spare parts, as well as the suspended  supply of Western technology to Russia, UralVagonZavod is facing a _cooperative problem along the entire chain in the industry._  For example, the company is losing contracts and orders because another  Russian manufacturer Barnaul Machine-Building Plant is losing  customers, including countries from North America, India, China, and  Egypt. Now, as with UralVagonZavod, the Barnaul Machine-Building Plant  is laying off employees and stopping production, and only a year ago it  was exporting to more than 30 countries around the world.

As BulgarianMilitary.com wrote two days ago [July 7th], UralVagonZavod even refuses to repair burned tanks coming from the war in Ukraine.

*Financial problems*

     Last but not least, the Russian tank manufacturer, which, in  addition to military equipment, also produces metro trains and wagons  for train sets, is experiencing serious financial problems due to  obligations to Russian companies. For example, the Russian technology  company IBS still expects UralVagonZavod to repay its debt to it, which  amounts to nearly $800,000. The amount for such an enterprise should not  be a problem, but an accounting report from last year [2021] shows that  the total short-term and long-term liabilities of UralVagonZavod exceed  1.5 billion USD.

 Despite the war and suspicions of _politicized courts_  serving Russian President Vladimir Putins state-wide policies, Russian  courts have rejected a large part of UralVagonZavods claims to  reschedule the repayment period for accrued debts and put Russias  largest and only tank manufacturer on the brink of survival.

     UralVagonZavods profit has fallen sharply, and the state continues  to help finance the purchase of new production technologies, creating a _false illusion_ of a stable house of cards, which, however, may soon collapse.

_Whether there were new tanks is a very good question. In fact,  UralVagonZavod has not been releasing new tanks from scratch for several  years, as the Russian leadership likes to report about it. The company  modernizes old Soviet tanks and presents them as new,_ Alexander Kovalenko notes journalists. As experts explain, this is done to cut public funds.

*The sanctions*

As we reported on July 6,  the Ukrainian intelligence continues to claim that Russian industry has  not yet overcome its dependence on Western technology and that economic  sanctions are having a serious impact. In April this year, the US also  mentioned problems in Russian production and repair of military  equipment. In a speech at the end of March, Thea Kendler, assistant  secretary for export administration at the Ministry of Trade, said that  in addition to UralVagonZavod, the Russian company Baikal Electronics  was experiencing difficulties. It is a company producing computers and  semiconductors. According to Kendler, the company no longer receives  integrated circuits. They are needed, she says, to maintain the  companys server equipment.

 Kendler  recalled that only 5% of imports to Russia come from the United States,  but almost 50% come from Europe. At the same time, Taiwan has dealt a  very serious blow to Russias military industry as the local TSMC has  left the Russian market. TSMC is the worlds largest chip maker. With  the departure of the Russian market from TSMC, Russia is losing a huge  number of MIPS needed in the development of military intelligence  systems and other military systems. In particular, it concerns the  interruption of access to Elbrus chips.

*There were signals already in May*

     Reports of problems with heavy military equipment and the inability  to carry out quality repairs, both in the field and in the repair plants  of the Russian Federation, appeared as early as May. 

Several train sets  were then seen transporting obsolete T-62M and T-62МВ tanks into the  interior of Ukraine, the tanks being mobilized and taken from the  reserve as well as from the inventory of military units in Tajikistan,  Libya, and Syria.

According to unconfirmed information and according to Ukrainian sources,  as of July 1, Russia has already lost over 1,500 tanks, 3,737 armored  personnel vehicles, 800 artillery systems, 246 MLRS, and 105  anti-aircraft systems.

Russia doesn't produce tanks, UralVagonZavod with half production

----------


## S Landreth

Russia hands down first prison term for anti-war remarks

A court in Moscow sentenced a municipal council member to seven years in prison Friday for his remarks opposing the war in Ukraine. The unprecedented sentence raises the stakes for Kremlin critics in Russia who speak out against Moscows invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Alexei Gorinov was found guilty of spreading knowingly false information about the Russian military, an offense that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison under a law the Russian parliament rubber-stamped a week after the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine.

The 60-year-old member of Moscows Krasnoselsky municipal council is the first person sentenced to serve time behind bars for a conviction on that charge, according to Net Freedoms, a legal aid group focused on free speech cases.

The two other convictions so far led to a fine and a suspended sentence, the group said. Gorinov, who was arrested in April, is the first elected representative to face charges under the wartime law.

Gorinov criticized Russias military actions in Ukraine at a municipal council meeting in March. A video available on YouTube shows him voicing skepticism about holding a planned childrens art competition in his constituency while every day children are dying in Ukraine.

Photographs published by Russian media of a Friday court hearing showed Gorinov behind inside a glass-walled defendants dock and holding up a sign that read, Do you still need this war? A bailiff tried to cover the sign with his hands.

When President Vladimir Putin ordered the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, a massive wave of outrage and antiwar sentiment swept Russia. Thousands of people protested on the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg daily, and hundreds of thousands signed online petitions opposing the attack.

The Kremlin insisted that what it called a special military operation in Ukraine had overwhelming public support, and moved swiftly to suppress any criticism. Thousands of protesters were arrested, and dozens of critical media outlets were shut down.

Individuals who spoke out publicly against the invasion or accused Russian troops of committing atrocities in Ukraine have been targeted under the new legislation, which outlawed the spread of false information about the invasion and disparaging the military.

As of Friday, Net Freedoms had counted 68 criminal cases involving false information charges and at least 2,000 misdemeanor cases for the alleged disparagement of the Russian military.

Gorinov refused to plead guilty, and he denounced the invasion again while giving his closing statement in court Thursday.

For five months, Russia has been carrying out hostilities, coyly calling them a special operation. Were being promised a victory and glory. Why, then, are a large part of my compatriots feeling shame and guilt? Gorinov said. I am convinced that a war is the fastest way to dehumanization, when the line between good and evil fades. It is always death, I dont accept it and reject it.

Bruce Millar, Amnesty Internationals Eastern Europe and Central Asia deputy director, called the sentence handed to Gorinov shocking.

It is an unlawful reprisal for expressing his views, and not the administration of justice, Millar said in a statement. The council member did not commit any internationally recognized crime by calling the war unleashed by Vladimir Putin on Ukraine what it is, a criminal war.

Political analyst Tatyana Stanovaya, the founder of Moscow think tank R.Politik, said Gorinovs 7-year sentence took a special political decision and that his case stood out because he aired antiwar views while speaking as an public official at a council meeting.

The sentence is a defiantly and emphatically cruel warning to all: Dissent, you will all land behind bars for a long time if you combine antiwar rhetoric with political activity, Stanovaya wrote on Telegram.

______________

 
https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/stat...97761587535873

_____________

Michael MacKay - Billboards with the slogan Alaska is ours! started appearing in the Russian Federation. This one is in Krasnoyarsk.

photo: Vladimir Vladimirov https://twitter.com/mhmck/status/1545049601278742530


 
'Alaska Is Ours!' Billboards Appear in Russia After Threat to Reclaim State

____________


Lithuanian Bayraktar Arrived in Ukraine

Crowdfunded Bayraktar drone has arrived in Ukraine.

Deputy Head of the Office of the President, Diplomatic Advisor to the President of Ukraine Andrii Sybiga, has announced this.

"Lithuanian Bayraktar "Vanagas" is already in Ukraine! This is a remarkable display of friendship and unity, which once again proves that Ukraine is not the only one fighting the aggressor. I am personally grateful to Haluk Bayraktar and Andrius Tapinas for their unwavering support on our way to victory! Glory to Ukraine!" Sybiga posted on Twitter.

Journalist Andrius Tapinas launched a fundraising campaign to purchase a Bayraktar for Ukraine on May 25, stating he had received consent for this purchase from the Defense Ministries of Lithuania and Turkey and the manufacturer.

The campaign secured around 6 million euros within three days. After that, the Turkish manufacturer said they were touched by the solidarity of Lithuanians and donated a drone. The allocated funds were directed to arm the unmanned aircraft.

Inspired by Tapinas, the Serhiy Prytula Foundation in Ukraine launched a fundraiser for three Bayraktars. It reached the goal within three days, having raised funds for almost four drones. The company "Baykar" has announced to hand over three drones free of charge.

Currently, the fundraiser for "Bayraktar" for Ukraine is ongoing in Poland. Journalist Sławomir Sierakowski initiated it.

On Wednesday, about ten thousand people came to the air base in the Lithuanian city of iauliai to see the Bayraktar launch. https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/e.../07/8/7142874/

_____________


Belgium to reopen Embassy in Kyiv, send new ambassador

The Belgian Embassy in Kyiv will reopen next Monday, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo confirmed on Thursday.

The Belgian Embassy in Kyiv will reopen next week (11 July), and Ambassador Peter Van De Velde, whom De Croo met before he was sent to Kyiv, will represent Belgium there. Van De Velde will replace former Ambassador to Ukraine Axel Lenaerts since the latter was reaching the end of his mandate.

At the end of June, the government announced the reopening of the Belgian Embassy for mid-July, following the path of the vast majority of EU member states that have reopened their embassies in the Ukrainian capital over the past few weeks.

As soon as the Belgian diplomatic team assisting the new ambassador arrives in Kyiv, the local staff will gradually resume work, De Croos office announced.

After a security analysis was carried out jointly by foreign affairs and defence ministries, the government gave the green light.

The reopening of our embassy should allow closer ties with the Ukrainian authorities, particularly in the context of the security situation and Ukraines application for EU membership, De Croo said.

This is an important sign of resilience and support [sent] to Ukrainians. This return of our diplomatic teams to Kyiv is also important for the reconstruction [of the country], in which Belgian companies have an important role to play, De Croo added.

At the end of June, De Croo spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the reconstruction of Ukraine, the latter saying that he was expecting Belgium to make a significant contribution to the rebuilding of his country.

The reopened Belgian Embassy in Kyiv, which has been closed since 1 March after its staff had firstly been moved to the French Embassy over security concerns, will focus on diplomatic services and contacts with the Ukrainian authorities in the first place.

Consular services for Belgians, provided by the consular staff working at border crossing points with Ukraine after the closing of the Embassy, will continue to be provided by the Belgian Embassy in Poland until further notice, the prime ministers office notes.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/pol...ew-ambassador/

____________


Canada to deliver 39 General Dynamics-made armored vehicles to Ukraine this summer

Ottawa: Canada will reportedly send 39 General Dynamics-made armoured vehicles to Ukraine to help Kyiv in fighting Russian forces. The development was confirmed by Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand on Thursday. The delivery of these vehicles will begin this summer.

The armoured vehicle can be reportedly used as ambulances, maintenance and recovery vehicles. These vehicles can also be used for carrying troops. These armoured vehicles are part of a 500 million Canadian dollar-military support for Ukraine which was allotted in Canada's budget in April this year, reported Reuters.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also made the announcement about supplying the fleet of armoured vehicles to Ukraine at the end of the NATO summit that was held in Madrid last week. The Canadian Defence Minister told the media that the deal for armoured vehicles for Ukraine is on a top of a separate contract for 360 vehicles for the Canadian armed forces.

The contract was negotiated with General Dynamics Land Systems in 2019, reported the news agency. She further added that these vehicles will be delivered to Ukraine over the next few months.

As per another report by Reuters, Ukraine on Thursday opposed Canada's handing over a turbine to Russia's Gazprom. According to Russia, the turbine is critical for supplying natural gas to Germany. Ukraine believed that handing over the turbine would flout sanctions on Russia.

Meanwhile, the fighting has intensified in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region comprising two separatist republics - Donetsk and Luhansk. Last week, Russia claimed that its forces has taken control of the entire Luhansk region. Russian forces have increased shelling in Donetsk's province. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. https://www.timesnownews.com/world/c...ticle-92735368

_____________


A Russian billionaire said he only found out he was sanctioned when he read it in the news while on vacation, days before his 50th birthday

Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko said he only found out he'd been sanctioned by the European Union when he read it in the news.

He told Swiss publication Weltwoche that on March 4 he left Switzerland, where he has lived since 2009, to travel to Tanzania with his family to celebrate his 50th birthday, which was just three days later.

"There I discovered that the EU had put me on the sanctions list," he said. "A perfect present for my 50th birthday, and also so symbolic."

Melnichenko told the publication that he has since filed lawsuits against both EU and Swiss authorities over the sanctions, calling their official reasoning "nonsensical."

Melnichenko is the owner of fertilizer group EuroChem and coal company Suek, which he says employ 100,000 people combined, though he stepped down as a director of both companies on the day he was sanctioned. Bloomberg estimates his wealth at $14.6 billion  down by almost a third since he was sanctioned.

On February 24, Melnichenko was photographed alongside 36 other Russian businesspeople meeting with Putin President Vladimir Putin and other members of the Kremlin, which the EU said was arranged "to discuss the impact of the course of action in the wake of Western sanctions."

It said that his invite shows that he was "a member of the closest circle of Vladimir Putin" and  "one of the leading businesspersons involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of Russia."

In his interview with Weltwoche, Melnichenko said that the gathering with Putin was a "normal meeting."

"We were all shocked about the events in Russia," he said. He said that the oligarchs and business leaders had first heard about Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the news that morning, and that the meeting had taken place in the early afternoon.

"We were in an emotional state of emergency," he said, adding that people were in a state of disbelief.

Melnichenko told the publication that he didn't know Putin "at all" and had never me him alone. He said that he had only met him a few times in groups of at least 15 people, each time in his role as part of a Russian business and industrial group.

"Labeling me as a close political confidant of Putin, as an oligarch closely connected to the Russian state, is absurd," he said. "I'm not an oligarch."

Melnichenko said that he hadn't expected to be sanctioned as a businessman unconnected to the state. Though he was born in Belarus and lives in Switzerland, he has a Russian passport.

"My disadvantage is obvious: I'm a Russian," Melnichenko said. "Secondly: I'm rich. That's why I'm on the sanctions list."

The EU didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Melnichenko wife was also sanctioned by the EU, largely because of her connections to EuroChem. Melnichenko said that her sanctions made no sense and that she rarely visits Russia and had never met Putin.

He said that the sanctions meant his private and family bank accounts had been locked and he couldn't access his assets. Italy seized a $578 million megayacht belonging to him just three days after he was sanctioned.

The EU also sanctioned EuroChem, which Melnichenko said left the company "considerably restricted."

"Worst of all, though, my family life has completely fallen to pieces," he said. He said wasn't able to travel in the EU although his family lives in Europe.

"The children can't meet their friends, they miss their toys and ask questions that I can't answer," he said. https://www.businessinsider.com/olig...e-putin-2022-7

____________


Canada announces new Russia sanctions targeting disinformation

Canada has now sanctioned over 1,600 individuals and entities in response to Russia's war in Ukraine

Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly announced new sanctions against Russian agents and organizations Friday, with a focus on those involved in Russian disinformation efforts.

Canada is imposing sanctions on 29 agents and 15 entities owned or controlled by the Russian government involved in spreading Russian propaganda with respect to the war in Ukraine, Global Affairs said in a news release.

Among those sanctioned is Sumbatovich Gasparyan, the head of Russian-funded broadcaster RT's international department.

Joly made the announcement while attending the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

"The Russian propaganda machine must answer for its lies. Canada is committed to fighting disinformation wherever and whenever it is found," Joly said in the statement. 

"Today, we make it clear to those who peddle deception: you will be held accountable. Canada stands with Ukraine."

Canada has now sanctioned more than 1,600 Russian agents or entities in response to Russia's war in Ukraine. The sanctions prevent Canadians from any property dealing with those listed, make any goods available to them, or provide financial services to them, among other things.

The government also announced that the import of certain gold products from Russia is now prohibited.

The products including unwrought gold, semi-manufactured gold, gold powder, monetary gold and jewelry made of gold.

The release highlighted other efforts from the Canadian government to counter Kremlin propaganda, including a website focused on countering false claims the Russians have made with respect to the war in Ukraine.

"Canada will continue to use this platform to shed light on how the Russian regime is using lies to justify its illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine," the news release said. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/can...ions-1.6514422




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## DrWilly

> A court in Moscow sentenced a municipal council member to seven years in prison Friday for his remarks opposing the war in Ukraine. T


Bloody heck, they are not mucking around. 

Suppose he's lucky they didnt give him a special cup of tea to drink.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Bloody heck, they are not mucking around. 
> 
> Suppose he's lucky they didnt give him a special cup of tea to drink.


15 years for criticising Putin's illegal invasion and yet sabang would tell us the West is the one oppressing free speech. What a wanker.

 :rofl:

----------


## bsnub

However, beer, mold on buns and expired cheese sauce have been spotted in the chain’s restaurants in just three weeks.

Pushkinskaya  Square in Moscow was crowded in mid-June: with large numbers of people  gathering for the opening of the new chain near the building where the  first McDonald's restaurant in Russia opened in the 1990s.

Moscow  Mayor Sergey Sobyanin was also there to visit the opening of a  restaurant of the new, oddly named chain that was supposed to replace McDonald's.

Sobyanin thanked the management for saving business and jobs, and  assured the visitors that everything would be the same as before.

But  it didn't work out that way. In just three weeks, prices have increased  by an average of 10%, mold has been spotted in buns, and expired sauce  has been served with fries.

And a couple of days ago news broke that there would be no more fries due to problems with Russia’s potato harvest.

The  Russian management, although they had worked at McDonald's for years,  has made some gross errors, and the chain is facing a fiasco due to the  quality of its management, Ukrainian restaurateurs believe.

Russia’s sham McDonald's is not just a restaurant, but a symbol of  the changes that have taken place in Russia since the collapse of the  Soviet Union. Thirty years later, history is repeating itself – but in  reverse.

*Came in, came out*

The first restaurant of the U.S. fast food chain opened in Moscow in Soviet times, in January 1990.

Russians  lined up in kilometer-long queues to buy their first McDonald’s fries  and cola. The people's love for the novelty of fast food ensured there  was an "American dream boom" in Russia. The company opened more than 850  establishments over three decades, including 126 in Moscow alone.

The  wonderful story ended on Feb. 24. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine,  the company decided to exit the market. McDonald's suspended operations  in early March and announced its withdrawal from Russia in mid-May.

Continuing to do business in Russia is "no longer appropriate and does not correspond to McDonald's values," the company said.

The  business was sold to Alexander Govor, one of the company's local  partners, who had developed the chain in Siberia on franchise terms.

For  Govor, fast food is just one of his businesses. He also owns the Grand  Medica chain of private clinics in Novokuznetsk, and the Park Inn hotel.  But the NefteKhimService oil refinery is his main asset.

The new  owner decided to restart the chain as quickly as possible, and the first  restaurants opened their doors on June 12. They came up with a strange  name for the establishments, "Vkusno i tochka," and an equally exotic  logo, namely two sticks symbolizing French fries and an orange dot  symbolizing a burger are depicted on a green background.

Together,  the stylized ensemble of shapes resembles a person on all fours seen  from the side, with their head near the ground and buttocks thrust into  the air.

While the logo looks, well, odd, it’s the strange name that has many scratching their heads.

"It just hurts the business to name the chain like that," believes Olga Nasonova, CEO of Restaurant Consulting.

The sham McDonald’s menu is similar to the original’s one. For  example, visitors can order Grand, Double Grand and Grand De Luxe  burgers, nuggets, cherry pie, waffle cone, ice cream, milkshake,  applesauce in the Russian McDonald's clone. Local lemonade is offered in  the establishments instead of Coca-Cola products, which are not  manufactured or supplied to Russia.

*Dishes with surprises*

"Vkusno  i tochka" has already been involved in scandals three times over three  weeks of operation – which is simply unheard for the original  McDonald's.

At first, Russian Telegram channels posted photos,  judging by which restaurants started selling beer. Later, the chain's  press service denied this information, saying that the beer had been  offered to visitors by former McDonald's franchisees and they had  nothing to do with that.

Another visitor to a restaurant in Moscow  posted a photo of a burger with mold. In addition, a burger without  meat was sold to a visitor in a restaurant in Tula.

Even Russian  journalist Ksenia Sobchak did not hold back from criticizing "Vkusno i  tochka," who published on Telegram messenger a photo of expired sauce  for fries in a restaurant on Arbat Street in Moscow.

"A follower sent a photo and at first I sat and looked at it, whether it was fake or not," Sobchak said.


"And  you know, this print from a cucumber seems to say that 'Vkusno i  tochka' followed by f***ing logo and f***ing name has lowered the  quality of burgers to this level."

The chain's press service admitted that there were indeed expired sauces and reported that they had been withdrawn from sale.

*Why does the Russian clone fail to replicate success of the original McDonald's?*

Dmitriy  Pogrebytskyy, co-owner of the Pesto Café chain in Ukraine, recalls how  he worked at McDonald's for six-and-a-half years – rising from an  ordinary employee to a restaurant manager. 

The chain has strict  standards for management performance, product quality and service.  Russia has already faced problems with this.

"They’re disrupting the concept and diluting the audience," Pogrebytskyy said.

"McDonald's  is a family restaurant where children's birthday parties are  celebrated. But how to do this if the next table is drinking beer?"

Nasonova adds that the problems arising in the new chain are surprising.

"All the management, technology and equipment remained," she said.

"The standards are also known. It's not clear why the new chain is making such stupid mistakes."

Nasonova believes that the owner will have to close or suffer losses if he takes such an approach to the restaurant business.

The  owner, however, does not appear discouraged by all the problems: Govor  has promised to increase the number of restaurants to 1,000 within five  or six years.

Why the Russian McDonald's clone is failing

----------


## russellsimpson

> Canada is committed to fighting disinformation wherever and whenever it is found," Joly said in the statement.


Better start with the CBC then.

This is entirely my opinion but I think it would go a long way towards moving towards peace if President Zelensky would vacate his office. He's done exactly what he should have up to this point. It's contingent in any democratic society that no person is expendible.  What Ukraine needs now is a more moderate leader not some friggin hothead, a person wihout the baggage of Zelensky. This war will end and it will not end with a Ukrainian victory. Ukraine will have to give up the east and if they can fight the Russians to a draw in the rest of the country they will be doing well. Ukraine will be stronger as a nation after all this  is said and done.
 ::spin::

----------


## Takeovers

> This war will end and it will not end with a Ukrainian victory.


This war will end with a Ukrainian victory or with destruction of Ukraine. The people of Ukraine have decided they will go for victory because there is no alternative.

----------


## bsnub

> Better start with the CBC then.


Not surprising that a tin foiled retard like you would say that in response to an article exposing subhuman propagandists that you probably consider reasonable sources of information. You are a buffoon and a cretin.




> This is entirely my opinion but I think it would go a long way towards moving towards peace if President Zelensky would vacate his office.


 :smiley laughing: 




> What Ukraine needs now is a more moderate leader not some friggin hothead, a person wihout the baggage of Zelensky.


Idiot.




> This war will end and it will not end with a Ukrainian victory.


It won't end with a Russian one either, lemming.




> Ukraine will have to give up the east and if they can fight the Russians to a draw in the rest of the country they will be doing well.


What planet do you live on? The Ukrainians already defeated the Russians in the north. The Russians suffered catastrophic defeats in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv and were forced to withdraw through Belarus. You seem to have not a fucking clue what you are talking about. 




> Ukraine will be stronger as a nation after all this is said and done.


Stronger? For surrendering its sovereign territory? Please do explain how that could on earth be possible.




> The people of Ukraine have decided they will go for victory because there is no alternative.


That is correct. Some things are worth fighting for. Defeating tyrants like Hitler, Putin, Stalin and Xi are the challenges that the free world must rise up in unity against for the sake of humanity.

----------


## DrWilly

> This is entirely my opinion



Pre or post toke?

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Pre or post toke?


He's not the sharpest tool in the box at the best of times.

----------


## sabang

Ukraine is going to have to cede territory, ie there will be a partition- whether recognised, or unrecognised by the West (who cares). To think, it all could have been avoided by the simple application of common sense.

----------


## pickel

Hard to believe that some people actually think Putin will stop if the Ukrainians give up the Donbass in exchange for peace.

----------


## sabang

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday expanding a fast-track procedure to receive Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians, in yet another effort to expand Moscow's influence in war-torn Ukraine.

Until recently, only residents of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as residents of the southern Zaporizhzhia and the Kherson regions, large parts of which are under Russian control, were eligible for the simplified procedure.

Ukrainian officials haven't yet reacted to Putin's announcement.

Between 2019, when the procedure was first introduced for the residents of Donetsk and Luhansk, and this year, more than 720,000 residents of the rebel-held areas in the two regions — about 18 per cent of the population – have received Russian passports.

In late May, three months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the fast-track procedure was also offered to residents of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. A month ago, the first Russian passports were reportedly handed out there.

The move by Putin came as Russian shelling of Ukraine's second-largest city killed at least three people on Monday and 31 others were injured, the local administrator said. Hours earlier, Russian troops launched three missile strikes on Kharkiv which the official described as "absolute terrorism."

FULL-  Putin extends fast-track Russian citizenship to all Ukraine

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Ukraine is going to have to cede territory, ie there will be a partition- whether recognised, or unrecognised by the West (who cares). To think, it all could have been avoided by the simple application of common sense.


It all could have been avoided by Putin not starting a war you brown nosing wanker.

----------


## sabang

Why would I listen to an uncouth pissboy (minus a pot to piss in) when no lesser people than Kissinger, Jack Matlock, David Stockman, Noam Chomsky, John Mearsheimer, Steven Cohen etc are declaring the opposite?  ::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

> Kissinger, Jack Matlock, David Stockman, Noam Chomsky, John Mearsheimer, Steven Cohen etc are declaring the opposite?


It will take far more than a handful of over the hill tosspots to form a consensus. Most of those with military and intelligence backgrounds are saying something different. I think I will listen to the generals instead of your shortlist of has-beens and over the hills.

----------


## pickel

> Why would I listen to an uncouth pissboy (minus a pot to piss in) when no lesser people than Kissinger, Jack Matlock, David Stockman, Noam Chomsky, John Mearsheimer, Steven Cohen etc are declaring the opposite?


Almost all of them call it an illegal invasion, and Chomsky calls it one of the greatest war crimes of the past century. Yet, you can't seem to admit the same. Is it the lack of a shirt while riding a horse that blinds you?

----------


## sabang

My point is simple, and has been made clear from the beginning. This war need never have happened, and is a colossal failure of diplomacy and common sense. Do you in Nth America genuinely consider European nations to be your allies, or do you think of them as rivals? Because that is who you have harmed most.

----------


## pickel

> This war need never have happened, and is a colossal failure of diplomacy and common sense.


Give me a fucking break. You don't blame Putin one little bit for this war. You're a fucking hypocrite.

Putin sees diplomacy as weakness. NATO boots should have been put on the ground when he invaded Crimea.

----------


## sabang

Of course everyone drinking the approved western Kool ade says "just blame Putin". But the majority of the world knows better. It takes more than one to tango,

----------


## Norton

> NATO boots should have been put on the ground when he invaded Crimea.


And there you have it in a nut shell. Had this been done Putin would have backed down and we would not be where we are today. 

Given the "west" should have done however does not preclude stepping in now. Using the Ukraine as cannon fodder, in what amounts to a proxy war, is cowardly and needs to stop fucking now!

----------


## pickel

> Of course everyone drinking the* approved western Kool ade* says "just blame Putin". But the majority of the world knows better. It takes more than one to tango,





> Kissinger, Jack Matlock, David Stockman, Noam Chomsky, John Mearsheimer, Steven Cohen


All Westerners. Try going against Putin's narrative in Russia.

----------


## pickel

> Using the Ukraine as cannon fodder, in what amounts to a proxy war, is cowardly and needs to stop fucking now!


Don't worry Norts, Putin will fuck up soon and force NATO's hand to use Article 5.

----------


## sabang

Or Zelensky's in 'Ukraine'.

----------


## pickel

> Or Zelensky's in 'Ukraine'.


Don't matter who the President is, or if anyone sends them weapons. The Ukrainians would still be fighting.

----------


## sabang

Do you know that many people you define as 'Ukrainian' are fighting on the Russian side too? It's war, and a war that could and should have been avoided.

----------


## pickel

> Do you know that many people you define as 'Ukrainian' are fighting on the Russian side too?


Do you know that a lot of them are conscripted? Do you know more ethnic Russians are fighting for Ukraine? Do you know that quite a few Russian nationals are fighting alongside them for Ukraine?

----------


## bsnub

> It's war, and a war that could and should have been avoided.


As usual, the idiot Mister "this war will never happen" has now after the war did happen taken a new tack. Claiming that the west could have somehow stopped Putin from invading. It is more than a little odd that the dimwit mentioned not a word of this when he was for months and months blurting on and on that this war would never happen. 

Laughable inconsistency. Sabang has long ago exposed himself as a laughingstock and a joke.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Why would I listen to an uncouth pissboy (minus a pot to piss in) when no lesser people than Kissinger, Jack Matlock, David Stockman, Noam Chomsky, John Mearsheimer, Steven Cohen etc are declaring the opposite?


Because you're a snivelling putin sycophant whose confirmation bias leads him to anything that wets his pants, that's why.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> My point is simple, and has been made clear from the beginning. This war need never have happened


And it wouldn't have if your hero wasn't such a c u n t.

The only thing that's simple here is you.

----------


## Iceman123

This war will be brought to an end by negotiating. Ukraine may not get a fair deal but that is not what negotiation is about. It only requires an agreed deal.

The quicker Ukraine negotiate and accept a substantial loss of territory the better for all parties.

No amount of support will put Ukraine in a winning position or even an offensive one, without NATO boots on the ground.
It should be clear to all that that is not going to happen.

----------


## malmomike77

> The quicker Ukraine negotiate and accept a substantial loss of territory the better for all parties.


I don't think Ukraine are viewing it that way atm.

----------


## Iceman123

> I don't think Ukraine are viewing it that way atm.


I fully understand that Ukraine are full of bluster and are putting up a very good fight in the circumstances, however the quicker reality sets in and the situation is accepted the quicker the pointless loss of lives can be avoided.

----------


## bsnub

> I don't think Ukraine are viewing it that way atm.


Iceman has no idea what is going on. He told me to "turn on the tv" to catch up. The truth is that Russia is spent and that is why they announced the "operational pause". They are running out of artillery shells that were stockpiled during the days of the former USSR and their soldiers are dead, wounded and/or totally exhausted. 

The reality is that thousands of new Ukrainian recruits are being trained in the UK every day and being rotated back into Ukraine, tons of new heavy weapons are pouring into Ukraine by the day to include self-propelled artillery, HIMARS/MLRS systems that are already reaping havok behind Russian lines destroying over 30 large supply depots in the last two weeks and killing hundreds of Russian soldiers. I haven't even mentioned what is coming in southern Ukraine in the coming days. Mark my words on that. 

Russia better hurry up with this "offensive" winter is coming.

----------


## bsnub

Explosions like these are happening all over occupied Ukraine, deep behind the lines. Ammo dumps and command posts going up in smoke. This is just north of Kherson in the last 24 hours...




Operational pause.

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## sabang

The less we hear from the feeble dimwits spouting that "Putin is having his ass handed to him on a plate', or "the latest death ray will miraculously change the whole course of this war', or "the economic sanctions are crippling Russia"- and of course their facilitators in the lowbrow media too- the better. Time for reality to sink in.

^^ The reality is that Ukraine are begging for $750bn in reconstruction funds, more tanks than the combined UK & German armies possess, and so on- this from already struggling economies with their own citizens to feed. The reality is they had better get real- why do we need to sacrifice our national interests for a patch of foreign mud that mainly wants to be Russian anyway?

----------


## bsnub

> Time for reality to sink in.


It is going to for you as it did the day Russia invaded you, pathetic imbecile. Epic hypocrite.

----------


## russellsimpson

> I haven't even mentioned what is coming in southern Ukraine in the coming days. Mark my words on that.


That is a good heads up. I am looking forward to seeing these new developments. What are the chances do you think of Ukraine holding on to Odesa . The loss of that port would be devastating.

----------


## Iceman123

> It is going to for you as it did the day Russia invaded you, pathetic imbecile. Epic hypocrite.


You appear to have great difficulty accepting others pov.

No one is interested in your infomercial YT videos. They are just cheap propaganda to keep the flag waving clowns  like you amused.
Do some real research, you may not like the answers but at least it is reality.

----------


## russellsimpson

> You appear to have great difficulty accepting others pov.


Yes. It is truly remarkable when one realizes that there are people who have not acheived a fundamental level of consciousness where they realize that there are people who see the world quite differently than themselves. A general observation and not aimed at anybody in particular.

I think we are all guilty of this in part. After all it is the tail end of the vestiges of the age of Kaliyuga. 

 :Wink:  :Wink: 

Things are dark. We all need to find our own source of sunshine and for goodness sake let us all direct energy to that task.

Cheers.

----------


## sabang

> there are people who have not acheived a fundamental level of consciousness where they realize that there are people who see the world quite differently than themselves


Yes, they are collectively called the forum idiots, aka boneheads. They make a mockery of our enlightened western liberal education tradition.




> not aimed at anybody in particular.


You hardly need to.  :Smile:

----------


## DrWilly

> I fully understand that Ukraine are full of bluster and are putting up a very good fight in the circumstances, however the quicker reality sets in and the situation is accepted the quicker the pointless loss of lives can be avoided.



I'm not sure I agree with you there. Giving in to bullys rarely fixes anything.

----------


## sabang

Along with WaPo, NYT is the de facto State mouthpiece-


WASHINGTON — The Ukrainians say they need faster shipments of long-range artillery and other sophisticated weapons to blunt Russia’s steady advance. The United States and the Europeans insist more are on the way but are wary of sending too much equipment before Ukrainian soldiers can be trained. The Pentagon is concerned about potentially depleting its stockpiles in the coming months.

The Biden administration and its allies are struggling to balance their priorities against Kyiv’s demands as Russian forces intensify their bombardment of cities and villages across eastern Ukraine, according to American and other Western diplomats, military officials and lawmakers.

U.S. officials say Ukraine could mount a counterattack and claw back some — though not all — of the territory it has lost if it can continue to exact a bloody toll on Russia until new weapons can flow in from the West. But some officials are concerned that pulling too many Ukrainian artillery specialists off the front lines for weeks of training on the new weapons could weaken Ukrainian defenses, accelerate Russian gains and make any future counterattacks more difficult to carry out.

“There are no good choices in a situation like this,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., head of the Armed Services Committee. “You have to take your best artillery officers and enlisted personnel and send them back for a week or two of training. But in the long run, I think that’s probably the smarter move.”

In addition, Pentagon officials have expressed concerns about hurting U.S. combat readiness if the war continues for months or longer. After two decades of mostly supporting counterterrorism missions, America’s defense industry largely stopped making the kinds of weapons Ukraine will need to survive a long war of attrition. The United States has authorized $54 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and has sent more than $7 billion in weapons drawn from existing Pentagon stockpiles.
FULL-  Ukraine's Demands for More Weapons Clash With U.S. Concerns

----------


## Norton

> But some officials are concerned that pulling too many Ukrainian artillery specialists off the front lines for weeks of training on the new weapons could weaken Ukrainian defenses, accelerate Russian gains and make any future counterattacks more difficult to carry out.


A legitimate concern. However, there is an obvious option that would not require pulling any Ukrainian boots on the ground in the east.  :Wink:

----------


## bsnub

> That is a good heads up. I am looking forward to seeing these new developments. What are the chances do you think of Ukraine holding on to Odesa .


Russia has next to zero chance of taking Odesa and in the coming days you will see why.




> You appear to have great difficulty accepting others pov.


Accepting someone's opinion is one thing, but when it differs from reality, I will be quick to correct them. You have only just started posting in these threads and seem to be unaware of others posting histories. 




> Do some real research, you may not like the answers but at least it is reality.


 :smiley laughing: 

Like turning on the "TV" as you told me to do? 

No, thanks, I have a better understanding of what is going on in Ukraine on the ground than anyone else in this forum by far. I am constantly gathering information through a large and diverse group of sources. I monitor the war on the tactical level on a daily basis, and also maintain my own active map of the current battlefront. Times have changed and there is a much broader means to gather information, and I take full advantage of that reality.




> No one is interested in your infomercial YT videos.


It was a ten-second clip showing an ammo dump that was hit with a HIMARS missile exploding. Infomercial? Imbecile.

----------


## bsnub

> Along with WaPo, NYT is the de facto State mouthpiece-


I love how you cherry-picked the first five paragraphs of the article that focused on Ukraine and omitted the parts that mentioned how dire the situation is for Russia. Laughable.

----------


## harrybarracuda

What short fucking memories people have when they are willing to appease dictators.

----------


## bsnub

Boom, the magic weapons at work, Sab. Over in Kherson area...

  A major general and up to a dozen Russian senior officers have been killed in the latest wave of strikes by Western precision weapons that have crippled Russian logistics.

 Major General Artyom Nasbulin, the chief of staff of the 22nd Army Corps, was killed in a Himars rocket strike on a command post near Kherson, said Sergei Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa region.

 If confirmed, he would be the 12th Russian general killed in Ukraine since the war began.

 Another strike on an arms depot in Nova Khakova on Monday night sent a  huge mushroom cloud towering into the air, and exposed Moscow's  reliance on railways to deliver weapons.

 Videos showed ignited munitions flying out of the explosion that shattered windows in nearby houses.

 Monday’s blast was the largest of a series of devastating explosions to hit Russian munitions supplies over the past two weeks.

  Ukraine has been hammering Russian logistics and command posts daily  since long-range, high-precision Western weapons including the US Himars  systems arrived at the end of June.

 The blasts have become such a regular occurrence that pro-Ukrainian  commentators on Twitter have taken to referring to the attacks as  “Himars o’clock.”

 Now, analysts say the campaign is close to crippling the huge logistics chain supplying the Russian invasion force and could change the course of the war.

 Russia’s logistics are especially vulnerable because they are disproportionately reliant on railways and manual labour.

 Instead of being moved on pallets by forklift trucks, shells destined  for the front are often loaded by hand on to wagons in Russia, unloaded  by hand at railheads in Ukraine, and stored in large ammo dumps.

It's HIMARS o'clock pic.twitter.com/kRnFP1yTS4
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) July 11, 2022 
When a unit needs supplies it sends a truck - usually a Ural 4320  six-wheeled lorry - to collect it, which is also loaded by hand.

 That proved a weakness when Russian forces tried to storm ahead of  the railheads when they attacked Kyiv early in the war. Unable to  resupply their guns quickly enough, and with truck convoys being  ambushed, they were forced to retreat.

 But during the two-month battle for Luhansk oblast between April and  June, the Russian railways successfully delivered enough ammunition for  the attackers to fire 20,000 shells a day, forcing the Ukrainians into  retreat.

 That worked until Ukraine received the ultra-accurate, long-range  rockets with which it is now wreaking havoc in the Russian rear.

  Many of the supply dumps are in easily identifiable near the railway  lines, and have long been known to Ukrainian intelligence. With Russian  missile defence systems proving incapable of intercepting Himars  rockets, they are defenceless.

 Some have argued that Russia will develop its own countermeasures,  including by dispersing targets like command posts and ammunition dumps,  better use of camouflage, and setting up dummy targets to cause the  Ukrainians to waste rockets.

 “I’m sure measures will be taken, for example deployment of  observation aircraft. I hope they will detect something. A single  war-winning ‘wunderwaffe’ does not exist,” wrote Roman Sladkov, a  Russian war correspondent, referring to the Nazi V-weapons of the Second  World War.


  Others are more pessimistic.

 “Dispersing headquarters under a vertically centralised command  structure with archaic communications is simply impossible. Dispersing  depots is possible, but it requires maximal simplification and  automation of loading and unloading and delivery of ammunition…but the  whole process is still based on manual labour and ordinary wooden  boxes,” wrote Voenny Osvedomitel, a Russian war blog on Telegram.

 Introducing such reforms “under the circumstances will take years or  in the best case months, so it is already too late,” it added. “We can  debate at length, but in the current situation we do not see any  universal and rapid solution to the problem.”

 One drastic solution advocated by another Russian blogger would be to  destroy all the road and rail bridges across the Dnieper river in  central Ukraine with cruise missiles.

 It is still unclear whether the Himars and Nato-standard 155mm  artillery strikes will swing the war decisively in Ukraine’s favour.

  Many frontline Ukrainian units overwhelmingly still rely on Soviet  legacy 152mm artillery for fire support. They remain heavily outgunned  and in some places have reported rationing as tight as 10 rounds a day.

 The Russian army has long been aware of the vulnerability of  rail-based supply lines. It has a dedicated corps of railway troops  responsible for protecting and repairing trains and tracks.

 Supplies are often moved in armoured trains carrying anti-aircraft  cannons and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles - useless against  Himars, but potentially effective against drones.

 Railways hit by Ukrainian forces have been repaired quickly, and they have even laid tracks across pontoon bridges.

 They will be studying how, if possible, to answer the current challenge.

 Nasa's Firms fire monitoring dashboard showed a significant reduction  in fires in southern and eastern Ukraine between June 8 and June 12, in  a possible indication of a reduction in artillery fire.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...general-dozen/

----------


## DrWilly

> Good well researched info Snubs. A good counter to the propaganda coming out of the 3 Putin knob gobblers.


They won't read it.

----------


## Iceman123

> I love how you cherry-picked the first five paragraphs of the article that focused on Ukraine and omitted the parts that mentioned how dire the situation is for Russia. Laughable.


Have you explained to the Russians that they are losing? 
I’m pretty sure most of them are still not up to bsnub speed.

----------


## S Landreth

NASA condemns Russia's use of space station for propaganda

The space agency issued a statement formally rebuking Russia's blatant misuse of the International Space Station.

NASA has issued a statement formally condemning a pair of images shared this week by Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos. 

The images show three Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station holding the flags of two Russian-backed breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine that Russia invaded in 2014.

On Thursday (July 7), NASA released a statement through its press secretary in response to Roscosmos' anti-Ukranian propaganda. The full emailed statement reads:

"NASA strongly rebukes Russia using the International Space Station for political purposes to support its war against Ukraine, which is fundamentally inconsistent with the station’s primary function among the 15 international participating countries to advance science and develop technology for peaceful purposes."

The director-general of the European Space Agency (ESA), Josef Aschbacher, rebuked Roscosmos as well, writing on Twitter(opens in new tab) today (July 8) that "it is unacceptable that the ISS becomes a platform to play out the political or humanitarian crises happening on the ground." 

"The purpose of the ISS is to conduct research & prepare us for deeper exploration. It must remain a symbol of peace and inspiration," the ESA chief added in the tweet.

Likewise, the Canadian Space Agency emailed a statement today (July 8) that states: "The International Space Station partners continue to work together to advance space science and technology for the benefit of all humanity. That said, the Canadian Space Agency joins NASA in rebuking Russia for using the International Space Station, a beacon of peaceful cooperation, for political purposes to support its illegal war against Ukraine."

In the images released by Roscosmos, International Space Station commander Oleg Artemyev and cosmonauts Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov can be seen smiling and holding the flags of the Luhansk People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic, two regions in eastern Ukraine that Russia has been attempting to wrest from Ukraine for years. 

The images were shared by Roscosmos official account on Telegram and accompanied by a caption that stated "This is a long-awaited day that residents of the occupied areas of the Luhansk region have been waiting for eight years," according to a translation by Google. "We are confident that July 3, 2022, will forever go down in the history of the republic," the caption continues.

Fighting over these two areas, known as the Donbas, has increased in recent weeks as Russia's most recent invasion of Ukraine drags on. On July 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the Russian military for "achieving victory" over the Luhansk region that is home to over 2 million Ukrainians. Despite this declared victory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that "Ukrainians are not ready to give away their land, to accept that these territories belong to Russia" in an interview with CNN(opens in new tab). "This is our land," Zelensky added. 

This latest propaganda campaign by the Russian space agency has unfortunately been a regular occurrence since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin has made numerous inflammatory public statements that have been taken as threats that Russia would leave the ISS program. 

To date, however, none of these threats has been followed with action, and international cooperation aboard the station remains strong.

https://twitter.com/AschbacherJosef/...50731313467393

_____________


U.S. calls on Russia to stop ''filtration'' camps, forced deportations of Ukrainians

The United States has called on Russia to immediately stop its systematic “filtration” and forced deportation of millions of Ukrainians in territories under Moscow’s control and to allow outside observers access to camps through which they pass.

“The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Wednesday.

Blinken said Russian authorities have “ interrogated, detained, and forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, from their homes to Russia — often to isolated regions in the Far East.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that the number of Ukrainians taken to Russia could be as high as 2 million people. “No one will say the exact numbers now,” he said in a video address.

“All these deported people are deprived of communication, their documents are taken from them, they are intimidated and they try to disperse them to remote areas of Russia so that it is as difficult as possible for them to return home to the Motherland,” Zelenskyy added.

Russia has denied that it forces Ukrainians from their homes and claims that it is providing humanitarian assistance and safe passage to people who want to leave the country. But mounting evidence proves this is not true and that the filtration camps were planned in advance of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24.

The U.S. said last week that it had identified 18 filtration camps set up along the Ukrainian-Russian border.

Russia has called its invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation” aimed at “liberating” areas of eastern Ukraine. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has increasingly made it clear through his actions and words that his ultimate goal is to see Ukraine brought completely under Russian control, if not destroyed altogether.

“Largely speaking, we haven’t even yet started anything in earnest,” Putin said of his invasion of Ukraine last week, Reuters reported. He added that Russia was prepared to fight “until the last Ukrainian is left standing.”

To increase Moscow’s influence in Ukraine and provide a further pretext for its control of territory to meddle there, on Monday, Putin signed a decree simplifying the naturalization process for all Ukrainians to receive Russian citizenship. The simplified procedure was previously only allowed for those Ukrainians from the occupied areas of eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

When pushing Ukrainians through the filtration camps, Moscow’s forces have told their captives they would be better off if they take up Russian citizenship.

Survivors of Russia’s filtration operations have said they faced horrific treatment at the hands of Russian soldiers and officials overseeing the camps and deportations. One family from Mariupol described in interviews with POLITICO how they were forced from their homes in freezing temperatures, crammed onto buses without food and water, and driven across the border to Russia, where they were separated.

The family said they endured several searches and interrogations along the way that lasted hours. They were lucky to have escaped Russia, eventually making their way to EU countries.

Blinken cited reports that Russian authorities often coerce Ukrainian citizens forced through the camps into signing agreements to stay in Russia, making it difficult or even impossible to return home.

Russian authorities, Blinken continued, “are deliberately separating Ukrainian children from their parents and abducting others from orphanages before putting them up for adoption inside Russia.”

“Evidence is mounting that Russian authorities are also reportedly detaining or disappearing thousands of Ukrainian civilians who do not pass ‘filtration,’” Blinken said. Many of those include members of the Ukrainian army, territorial defense forces, media, government, and civil society groups, he said.

Citing Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, Blinken said Russian authorities have “transported tens of thousands of people to detention facilities inside Russian-controlled Donetsk, where many are reportedly tortured.” Some, he added, are reported to have been “summarily executed.”

Blinken demanded that Russia release Ukrainian detainees and allow citizens forcibly taken across the border “to promptly and safely return home.”
_____________


EU condemns new Russian passports issued to Ukrainians in ‘violation of international law’

THE EUROPEAN UNION has condemned recent actions by Russia which has seen the issuing of new Russian passports to Ukrainians in disputed territories.

Josep Borrell Fontelles, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security policy said on Twitter that such actions are “yet another flagrant violation of UA sovereignty”. He added that the move is part of “Russia’s illegal war” and “the EU will not recognise these passports”.

Russia’s declarations on May 25 and 30 simplified the process of obtaining Russian citizenship and the issuing of Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens.

The processes are designed for Ukrainian residents in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia which are two regions currently under Russian military control following their occupation.

The issuing of citizenships and passports also applies to Ukrainian children who are without parental care and those who are classified legally incapacitated who are from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The High Representative of the European Union has strongly condemned such actions from Russia and the EU “will not recognise these passports, issued as part of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Other actions from Russia can be seen as an attempt to forcefully integrate the regions of Ukraine with Russia by forcing the Russian language and Russian currency to be used in the institutions and the regions.

The statement from Mr Fontelles stated: “The European Union strongly condemns any attempts by Russia to replace democratically elected and legitimate Ukrainian administrations.

“The European Union also condemns the attempts to introduce the Russian rouble as a parallel currency to the Ukrainian hryvnia as well as the attempts to impose Russian curricula and education materials and change the language of tuition in schools in those…regions which are currently under the illegal control of invading Russian armed forces.”

_____________


Ukraine Granted Extra E.U. Aid of 1 Billion Euros

Ukraine Granted Extra E.U. Aid of 1 Billion Euros, Amid Talks for Further Assistance

European Union nations on Tuesday approved fresh aid for Ukraine as the country faces growing economic damage from Russia’s invasion.

Finance ministers from the 27-nation E.U. gave the go-ahead on Tuesday to 1 billion euros ($1 billion) in loans to the Ukrainian government.

The sum brings to 2.2 billion euros the total amount of E.U. macro-financial assistance to Kyiv this year. An initial 1.2 billion-euro E.U. loan package got the green light from the bloc’s finance chiefs days before Russia’s full-scale Feb. 24 attack.

The European Commission, the E.U.’s executive arm, in mid-May proposed extra assistance of up to 9 billion euros to Ukraine. The planned 1 billion-euro payout is part of this initiative, which comes as Russia makes advances in eastern Ukraine and casualties mount on both sides.

“This will give Ukraine the necessary funds to cover urgent needs and ensure the operation of critical infrastructure,” said Zbynek Stanjura, finance minister of the Czech Republic, which currently holds the E.U.’s rotating presidency, in a statement.

Ukraine said last week that its post-war reconstruction would cost $750 billion. Meanwhile, the government in Kyiv is estimated to need around 5 billion euros a month to keep the economy afloat.

Group of Seven countries, including the United States, have pledged to help Ukraine meet its short-term financing requirements in addition to providing military aid to Kyiv and imposing wide-ranging economic sanctions against Russia.

The five-month-old war is having worldwide economic and social reverberations, ranging from possible food shortages in Africa to energy-supply disruptions in the E.U. These in turn are raising the risk of a global recession.

The E.U. on Thursday is expected to lower its forecast of bloc-wide economic growth in 2022 for the third time this year.

In May, the European Commission projected that E.U. gross domestic product would expand 2.7% in 2022, downgrading a forecast made in February of 4% growth. The February outlook was itself weaker than a November projection of 4.3% E.U. GDP growth this year.

Over the past two months, Russia has cut off or reduced natural gas deliveries to more than 10 E.U. countries and inflation in Europe has continued to surge. In June, inflation in the 19 countries that share the euro currency reached a record 8.6%.

_____________


U.S. sends $1.7B in aid to pay Ukraine’s health care workers

Ukraine will receive another $1.7 billion in aid from the United States and the World Bank to pay health care workers’ salaries and provide other essential services, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

The latest round of aid — provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Treasury Department and the World Bank — aims to address the acute budget deficit caused by the ongoing Russian invasion, the AP reported. So far, USAID has provided $4 billion in budgetary support to Ukraine.

While some hospitals in Ukraine have been shut down or bombed, many health care workers have opted to remain in the war-torn country. Paying the workers has become increasingly difficult “due to the overwhelming burden of war,” Viktor Liashko, Ukraine’s minister of health, said in a statement.

Liashko underscored the importance of the continuous financial support from the West as the war rages on.

The aid “is not just yet another financial support; it is an investment that makes us a step closer to victory,” he said in the statement.

Previous funds from the U.S. have been earmarked for keeping gas and electricity running in hospitals and schools, securing humanitarian aid for citizens and paying salaries of civil servants and teachers, the AP reported.

“This aid will help Ukraine’s democratic government provide essential services for the people of Ukraine,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

Tens of billions of dollars have been allocated by the U.S. to support Ukraine since the war began in late February. Much of that support has been dedicated to the country’s military, sending weapons and ammunitions to help stave off Russian troops. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/0...rkers-00045325

_____________


Ukraine defense chief says US rocket systems have been ‘game-changer’

Ukraine’s defense minister told The Wall Street Journal that the deployment of U.S. long-range rocket systems has been a “game-changer” in the war against Russia.

Oleksii Reznikov said the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, often referred to as HIMARS, has been effectively used by Ukrainian forces in the northeastern town of Izyum but said more were needed to push back Russian forces.

“We needed to persuade them, to show them proof,” Reznikov told the newspaper of Ukraine’s ability to effectively use the weapons systems. “In the Izyum case, we were precise [in targeting] a Russian command center for aerial operations. It was really precise. Our partners saw it and said, ‘You passed the test.’”

Reznikov also said that the Ukrainians need more supplies such as armed vehicles, tanks, drones and unmanned aerial vehicles, noting that the drones in use were consistently being jammed by Russian forces. 

“We need to refresh our platoons and change them and make replacements also because we also have a lot of losses,” Reznikov said. “We are waiting for more armor, more weaponry from our partners. We need to rebuild some directions and to refresh our fortifications and plan a new operational strategy.”

Ukraine is ramping up its naval forces in the Black Sea as Russia continues to block the country’s grain supplies from reaching the global market, according to the Journal. 

In a statement on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia conducted brutal airstrikes in residential areas as Moscow continues its push for control of the Donbas region. 

Russian forces have already captured the city of Lysychansk and are looking to regain full control of the Donetsk region, which is being heavily shelled.

Ukraine has repeatedly said that the most important thing the West can provide in its fight against Russia is weapons, as Russia maintains a significant advantage in long-range weaponry. It has promised not to use U.S. rocket systems to hit targets inside Russia.

The Pentagon unveiled an $820 million weapons package earlier this month for the embattled country, which included advanced air defense systems. Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February, the U.S. has committed $6.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3...-game-changer/

______________


A preview of EU’s seventh sanctions package on Russia, to be agreed by next week

The EU is preparing to unveil and approve a new round of sanctions on Russia within a week, which is expected to ban Russian gold imports and close existing loopholes, EURACTIV has learnt.

Preparations by EU ambassadors for the new, seventh package are to resume this Thursday and Friday (14 and 15 July), and are likely to be approved by member states by mid-next week, several EU diplomats told EURACTIV.

This so-called implementation package would include a ban on importing Russian gold, which represents the country’s biggest non-energy export.

The move was agreed at a G7 summit last month by EU members France, Germany and Italy with their counterparts from the US, Canada, Japan and the UK.

Industry analysts say the ban could be largely symbolic, as previous punitive measures imposed on Moscow have effectively already managed to close off European and US markets, including trading centres in London and Zurich.

It will also widen a list of dual-use goods banned for export to Russia and include more listings of individuals and entities tied to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s wider circle, several EU diplomats told EURACTIV.

Furthermore, the new sanctions package would aim to include closing loopholes to previously approved punitive measures, such as by adding certain products to the list of banned goods.

It also could include a reference to the recently published European Commission clarification of sanctioned goods’ transit to Kaliningrad in Russia, some EU diplomats suggested.

The ‘Hungary factor’

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the EU has agreed on six packages of sanctions that include asset freezes and visa bans on Russian oligarchs and officials, export controls, freezing central bank assets, disconnecting banks from the SWIFT messaging system and a ban on imports of Russian coal and oil.

The sixth package had been the most laborious one, when after much wrangling the EU imposed amongst others a partial embargo of Russian crude oil imported by sea by the end of the year, albeit with a carve-out for Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic to receive oil transported by pipeline, and excluded one of the last big Russian banks from the SWIFT system.

However, at the last minute, Hungary had demanded that EU ambassadors meeting to finalise the legal text on the EU’s sanction package remove the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, from the list of sanctioned individuals, which left a bad aftertaste with many around Brussels over the way the issue was handled.

Although there is no expectation among officials and diplomats that Hungary would block the seventh sanctions package proposal this time around, many EU diplomats wonder where this leaves the prospects for potential subsequent upcoming packages after this one.

The majority of EU member states argue the sanctions are working, but it will take time before their full impact on the Russian economy shows.

But Hungary says the EU should stop adding sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and instead push for a ceasefire and the start of negotiations.

Asked what Budapest thinks the way forward with subsequent sanctions packages will be, a senior aide to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told EURACTIV on the sidelines of the June summit the EU might have reached ‘peak unity’ on the issue.

“We reached the limit where it is very obvious that that sanctions can hurt more the European economy than the Russian economy and then if you realize that, then we have to rethink our strategy,” Balazs Orbán, not related to the prime minister, then said.

Energy ‘off the table’ for next packages

Some member states, notably from Eastern Europe, continue pushing to add more measures on energy to the next packages before they are presented to member states for approval.

According to the more hawkish among them, this should include a total ban on crude oil imports as well as more measures on gas.

Other EU diplomats, however, stress there is no chance for such option, as a number of European countries remain highly dependent on Russian energy imports, especially gas.

“What is definitely problematic is to include energy into the sanctions, because a rule must be observed that the sanctions must have a greater impact on Russia than on the countries imposing the sanctions,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Reuters on Wednesday (13 July).

The Czech Republic, which took over the EU’s rotating six-month presidency on 1 July, is one of those countries, dependent on Russia for almost all of its gas needs.

Ukrainian officials in the past months lobbied for the EU’s seventh sanctions package to include the blocking of all Russian banks that have not yet been hit by the bloc’s punitive measures, an option which according to EU diplomats could be considered for the next rounds of sanctions. https://www.euractiv.com/section/eur...-by-next-week/




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## HermantheGerman

> NASA condemns Russia's use of space station for propaganda 
> 
> The space agency issued a statement formally rebuking Russia's blatant misuse of the International Space Station.


Once again it is proof that Putler oversteps every border there is. The man is insane!
Even during the cold war, the U.S.S.R. was a predicable enemy. 

Putler is the greatest danger to mankind.

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## HermantheGerman

Too be fair...a german swine called Fritz!
How the Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder Became Putin’s Man in Germany - The New York Times

Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schroeder!



* some of our TD posters called the scumbags, stooges, idiots etc. might be shocked and not understand this kind of criticism.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## bsnub

> Have you explained to the Russians that they are losing?
> I’m pretty sure most of them are still not up to bsnub speed.


I am sure that they do not think they are winning at this point, maybe not losing, but definitely not winning. They already lost decisively in the northern part of the country and were forced to retreat. They cobbled together this offensive in desperation due to those failures. Did you just start paying attention to this war a couple of weeks ago? Because you seem to be remarkably uninformed about what is really going on, but it is to be expected when you get your information from TV.

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

The truth is that due to massive amounts of artillery, the Russian only recently have started to take territory.  You, like the other grovelling Putin apologists, really start wringing your hands and stomping your feet like children anytime someone points out successes by the Ukrainians. I would think most decent, reasonable people would cheer the fact that they got another Russian general and his senior command staff while blowing the biggest ammo dump of the war. Accomplishments worth noting. Yet you lot stew and have a whinge quickly trying to pivot away with a snarky little comment about Russia. Pathetic.

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## HermantheGerman

Russia is running out of canon fodder.
Putler is offering now arround  3,500 a month. At the end of the month you get killed by some russian scumbag and they hail him as a hero. 
Poor russian slobs...always get shot in the back. :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## bsnub

^^^

 The truth hurt's doesn't it. I noticed your posting rate in this thread dropped way off when the news about the HIMARS blowing the Russian ammo dumps, command posts and rail hubs to shit started coming out.

 :Smile: 

This war is a long way from over, so you lot better get ready to start in with your usual hand wringing and whinging.

----------


## misskit

Moscow Signals a Shift to a More Aggressive Phase of Ukraine War

KYIV, Ukraine — In an indication that Russian forces were ending what they called an operational pause in their invasion of Ukraine, the defense minister of Russia, Sergei K. Shoigu, on Saturday ordered his forces to intensify attacks “in all operational sectors” of the war.


As the Ukrainian government disclosed modest new ground attacks by Russian forces, the Russian defense ministry said in a statement that Mr. Shoigu had instructed that combat be intensified to stop Ukraine from shelling civilian areas in Russian-occupied territory.


ADVERTISEMENT
After deadly Russian missile strikes across Ukraine in recent days that killed civilians, the statement was a new signal from Moscow that its invasion may be entering a more aggressive phase.


Mr. Shoigu’s statement appeared to be a response to Ukraine’s new ability to hit Russian targets in occupied areas due to more advanced, longer-range Western weapons, like the American HIMARS precision-guided rocket systems and the French Caesar artillery pieces. Ukraine claims to have hit at least 30 Russian ammunition and logistics sites with the new longer-range weapons in the last two weeks.


Earlier this month, the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, suggested to lawmakers that Russia would escalate the war. “Everyone should know that, by and large, we have not started anything seriously yet,” Mr. Putin said.


There were signs of new ground fighting in the hotly contested Donbas region, where Russian forces have taken one of its provinces, Luhansk, and are trying to take the rest of another, Donetsk, as well. Ukrainian military and regional officials reported five probing attacks along the crescent-shaped frontline in the Donbas.


Ukrainian troops using “heavy fire” repelled a renewed overnight ground assault to capture the main road link between the cities of Lysychansk and Bakhmut, said Serhii Haidai, the military governor of Luhansk, an assertion echoed in a report on Saturday by Ukraine’s general staff. The road has been bitterly contested for months.


The latest analysis by the Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces were “likely emerging from their operational pause,” citing a series of limited ground assaults northwest of Sloviansk, southeast of Siversk, along the Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway and southwest of the city of Donetsk. “These assaults may indicate that Russian forces are attempting to resume their offensive operations in Donbas,” the analysis said, while noting that “the assaults are still small-scale and were largely unsuccessful.”


Some soldiers serving on frontline positions in the Donetsk region question whether the Russians ever actually paused, saying they have been under constant attack, on the ground and with artillery and aerial bombardment.


The sound of heavy explosions is often audible from the frontline cities of Sloviansk and Bakhmut. Smoke from fires dots the horizon south and east of Bakhmut, where Russian forces have been trying to advance.


A rocket hit a small fruit and vegetable market in Bakhmut on Friday afternoon, wounding several people. Early Saturday, three more rockets struck a factory and a house in Kostiantynivka, but without causing any casualties. “My café is broken, factories are smashed, everything is closed,” said Vitaliy, 40, as he repaired the boards on his café windows the day after the blast. “There is nothing left. What will the people buy?”


In the early hours of Saturday, at least three civilians were killed and three more were injured in a Russian rocket strike on the northern Ukrainian city of Chuhuiv, about 75 miles from the Russian border, the regional police said.


In the neighboring Sumy region, one civilian was killed and at least seven more were injured after Russians opened mortar and artillery fire on three towns and villages not far from the Russian border, the regional governor said on Saturday.


In Donetsk, seven civilians were killed and 14 more injured, the regional governor said on Saturday.


The major strike came on Thursday, when a Russian submarine fired cruise missiles into the heart of Vinnytsia, a city of 370,000 people about 125 miles southwest of Kyiv, the capital.


Ukrainian officials said that strike killed at least 23 people, including a 4-year-old girl with Down syndrome, causing outrage in Ukraine and the West.


The Russian defense ministry said the strike on Vinnytsia was directed at a building where top officials from Ukraine’s armed forces were meeting foreign arms suppliers. Ukrainian officials have denied that the building contained military targets.


The war is causing significant economic stress in the rest of the world, reducing global growth both this year and next, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, told a hybrid meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and heads of central banks.


“The war in Ukraine has intensified, exerting added pressures on commodity and food prices,” she said in a statement on Saturday. “Global financial conditions are tightening more than previously anticipated. And continuing pandemic-related disruptions and renewed bottlenecks in global supply chains are weighing on economic activity.”


Adding to the stress in Germany, which has been dependent on Russian energy, was a new statement by the Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom, urging the German company Siemens to return a turbine it has repaired in Canada to ensure the Nord Stream 1 pipeline delivering gas to Europe can resume working after a 10-day maintenance period that began on Monday.


Despite Western sanctions on Russia, Canada has agreed to grant what it has described as a time-limited and revocable permit for Siemens Canada to allow the turbine’s return. But Gazprom claims it has received no guarantees that the unit will be returned.


Germany was already coping with a 60 percent reduction in gas supplies through that pipeline, amid fears that Russia will not resume deliveries after maintenance. Conservative politicians have revived debate on extending the life of the country’s three remaining nuclear power plants, which produce about 6 percent of Germany’s electricity, a sensitive topic for the Greens, now in government. The plants are supposed to be shut down by the end of this year.


The European Union has banned the import of Russian coal, but a ban it imposed on oil imports is only gradual and partial. And there is no agreement on banning imports of natural gas. Brussels has also compromised on allowing Gazprom to be paid effectively in rubles, as Russia has demanded, with euro deposits into Gazprom’s own bank immediately shifted into rubles.


The European Union has also backed off on enforcing full sanctions on goods moving from mainland Russia to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea. The enclave is separated from the rest of Russia by Poland and Lithuania; Lithuania created tensions with Moscow by announcing that it would impose European Union sanctions on Russian goods traveling by train to Russian Kaliningrad through Lithuania.


After fierce Russian complaints, Brussels “updated” its guidelines and said that Russia would be allowed to transport civilian-use goods on the sanctions list through Lithuania by rail — though not by road — in amounts comparable to preinvasion deliveries over the last three years.


There can be targeted checks, Brussels said, to ensure that sanctioned military and dual-use goods and related technologies are not part of the rail shipments.


As Russia seeks more answers to counter the newer NATO mobile artillery systems, it has turned to Iran to explore buying that country’s sophisticated armed drones, the American national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said last week. On Saturday, a senior American official said that satellite images showed a Russian delegation visiting Iran to view unmanned weapons-capable drones that could be purchased for use in the war in Ukraine and that could be used to better target the new NATO artillery in counter-battery strikes.

Moscow Signals a Shift to a More Aggressive Phase of Ukraine War – DNyuz

----------


## sabang

President says that staff of both officials in the occupied territories have been ‘working against our state’


*Zelenskiy says staff of sacked officials have been 'working against' Ukraine*

*Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy followed up on decrees in which he removed the State Security Service head and his Prosecutor General.*
Reuters reports:

_Zelenskiy said that more than 60 of their employees were working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied territory.
_
_He added that 651 criminal proceedings had been registered relating to high treason and collaboration by employees of prosecutor’s offices, pretrial investigation bodies and other law enforcement agencies._

_“In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the Security Service of Ukraine remained in the occupied territory and are working against our state,” he said.__He said that such crimes raised “very serious questions” for the relevant leaders, and added, “Each of these questions will receive a proper answer.”

_Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy sacks head of state security and prosecutor general – live | Ukraine | The Guardian

----------


## harrybarracuda

I'm not saying Russian troops are getting tired of this disastrous war or anything,  but when they start shooting down their own aircraft.....

 :Smile: 

Ukraine Situation Report: Russia Appears To Shoot Down Its Own Su-34 Strike Fighter

----------


## S Landreth

US Senate panel advances Finland, Sweden NATO bid

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday advanced protocols to support the accession of Finland and Sweden to join NATO, setting up a full Senate vote on expanding the alliance.

The text, called a resolution of advice and consent to ratify NATO accession protocols, passed by voice vote.

Senators from both sides of the aisle have urged a quick ratification for Finlands and Swedens accession to NATO as a strong signal of support for the alliance in the face of Russias war in Ukraine.

Todays vote is further proof that the answer to aggression is not isolation, but deeper engagement with likeminded democracies, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said in a statement.

As we look to expand NATO, the Senate also reaffirms its rock solid commitment to the Ukrainian people in their struggle for freedom from oppression. We must redouble our efforts to provide the Ukrainian people every weapon they need to fight this barbaric Russian war machine, he added.

Sen. Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking member of the committee, said in a statement that the bipartisan vote is a testament to the importance of the alliance and U.S. support for its enlargement.

Now, I hope the Senate will move swiftly to pass the resolution of ratification so the United States can do its part to ratify Finlands and Swedens accession to NATO as soon as possible, he added.

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) recorded his vote as present and has spoken out against expanding NATO, criticizing the alliance as provoking military aggression over diplomacy. In 2017, Paul blocked the Senate from voting for Montenegros accession to the alliance.

Each government of NATOs 30-member countries must individually ratify the treaty to allow for Finland and Sweden to join the alliance. At least 10 countries have already ratified the treaty to allow Stockholm and Helsinkis addition.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is holding back full support of his government for Finland and Sweden, saying in a television address on Monday that Ankara reserves the right to freeze their NATO bids if its security concerns are not met.

Erdoğan had earlier blocked Finland and Swedens application to NATO over what it says are concerns related to Kurdish militant groups, but removed its objections after the three countries signed a trilateral memorandum, laying out measures to address Turkeys concerns.

____________


EU to Add Sberbank, Russian Metals Baron to Sanctions List

The EU is set to add Russia's top lender Sberbank and the head of giant zinc and copper firm UMMC to its list of individuals and companies banned for supporting Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, according to draft documents seen by Reuters.

The 48 individuals and nine entities to be added to the sanctions list, prepared by the EU foreign affairs service, also include a motorcycle club, actors, politicians and family members of previously sanctioned businesspeople.

Adding Sberbank would freeze its assets in the West and completely prevent transactions with the exception of financial operations for the trade in food and fertiliser, an EU official told Reuters.

Russia's largest lender had already been excluded from the SWIFT bank messaging system, hampering its ability to conduct business.

Transactions for the wind-down of its subsidiary in Europe will continue to be allowed for six months, according to the official and one of the documents.

Sanctions rules will however be revised to ensure Russian banks previously added to the list can use some frozen funds to trade food and fertilizers, a measure meant to eliminate inadvertent hurdles to global food trade. [L1N2Z00LX]

The head of zinc and copper giant UMMC, Andrei Kozitsyn, is being added to the list as deemed to be "involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the government", the document said.

The move, expected to be adopted on Wednesday, would take to 1,229 the total number of individuals banned by the EU over the war in Ukraine, and increase to 110 the number of listed companies.

TOP SPY

Among newly sanctioned people is Sergei Korolev, First Deputy Director of the Russian FSB security service. The document says he "is indicated as a potential replacement" for FSB head Alexander Bortnikov, already under sanctions.

Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is added to the list, accused of being "one of the most involved persons in the illegal transportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and their adoption by Russian families".

Ukraine has accused Moscow of having relocated more than 200,000 children to Russia since the start of the conflict in February. Russia denies forcibly deporting Ukrainians and says it has taken in refugees.

Russia's Night Wolves motorcycle club and its leaders are to be sanctioned, among them Josef Hambalek, president of the club's European chapter, accused of training members in a camp in Slovakia for combat in Ukraine. He "has close ties with the former Slovakian government and can be connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin," the document says.

Among family members of previously sanctioned business figures added to the list are Stanislav Chemezov, son of the chairman of defence giant Rostec, and Maya Bolotova, daughter of Nikolay Tokarev, the head of energy company Transneft.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is to be added to the list, as are Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov, actors Sergei Bezrukov and Vladimir Mashkov, and heads of public authorities set up by Russia in occupied parts of Ukraine, including the mayors of Mariupol and Kherson.




> Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


 :Smile:

----------


## russellsimpson

::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

The U.S. will be sending Ukraine four additional High Mobility  Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) in another security assistance package  to be announced later this week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said  Wednesday.

    In opening remarks at a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense  Contact Group, Austin said the incoming package will be the 16th  drawdown of weapons from the Pentagon’s inventory since August 2021.

      The pending announcement comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears  its sixth month and Ukraine is looking to defend itself in its eastern  Donbas region.

    Austin said this was a “critical phase of the conflict,” meaning “our collective support for Ukraine is vital and urgent.”

    “Russia thinks that it can outlast Ukraine and outlast us. But that’s  just the latest in Russia’s string of miscalculations,” he added.

    The U.S. first sent HIMARS around early June to allow the Ukrainians  to more precisely strike targets from greater distances inside Ukraine.  Both U.S. and Ukrainian officials have touted their effectiveness on the  battlefield.

    Speaking to reporters later on Wednesday, Joint Chiefs of Staff  Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said that more than 200 Ukrainians have been  trained on the systems.

    The systems in the upcoming package would bring the number of  launchers the U.S. has sent to 16. The U.S. has sent 12 thus far, most  recently sending four in a $400 million assistance package announced on July 8. 

      In addition to the HIMARS, the upcoming package will include more  rounds of multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) and artillery  ammunition.

    In his remarks, Austin touted other countries that have stepped up  their support for Ukraine, such as the United Kingdom sending its own  MLRS systems and Poland agreeing to transfer three battalions of 155mm  self-propelled howitzers.

The Pentagon chief also thanked Norway for working with the U.S. to  transfer two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, also  known as Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems.

      The systems were included in an $820 billion weapons package to Ukraine announced on July 1.

Four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems going to Ukraine, Pentagon chief says | The Hill

----------


## Hugh Cow

> I'm not sure I agree with you there. Giving in to bullys rarely fixes anything.


The west in some ways is partially responsible for Ukraine. We virtually ignored the Russian occupation of Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk by doing little in the way of consequences for Russias transgressions. By "giving in to the bully" (Dr W), we set the scene that Putin regarded as western weakness that then emboldened him to invade Ukraine, like some modern day Hitler. In that Sabang was right. We are responsible, but not for the russian propagandist reasons he constantly spews forth but for our own failure to stand up to this murdering dictator in the past. 
Unfortunately there will be pain for many as Russia gradually descends into political insignificence and economic recession and that is coming over the next few years, regardless of Sabangs myopic defence of the Russian economy.

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## bsnub

> Unfortunately there will be pain for many as Russia gradually descends into political insignificence and economic recession and that is coming over the next few years, regardless of Sabangs myopic defence of the Russian economy.


I have already posted about the massive brain drain that is occurring in Russia right now. It is going to be very bad, and it will stay that way for a long time to come. Basically, all that soon will be left in Russia are those dumb enough to be consumed by a constant barrage of propaganda coming from state run media and propagated by lemmings like the Three Stooges here on TD.

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## harrybarracuda

The best thing that could happen to the Russian people is for puffy to die or be assassinated.

Until the old KGB/FSB apparatus is dismantled, it will always be a totalitarian shithole.

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## bsnub

A critical bridge shelled. A fighter jet shot out of the sky. Ammunition depots destroyed. A cluster of soldiers attacked.Ukraine’s  intensifying attacks on Russian forces in just the last 48 hours in  Kherson Province are raising a question: Is the ground being laid for a  broad counteroffensive?

The southern  city of Kherson fell to Russian forces in early March, and Moscow is now  trying to absorb the province. Kherson, a port and shipbuilding center,  is also a staging ground for Russia’s military operations across  southern Ukraine.

That  means any attempt to recapture the city would have immense strategic  and symbolic value for the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky. A  counteroffensive also would signal a significant shift in the war, and  the timing is critical. A Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday that Russia  planned to annex territories it has captured, including Kherson.

“Ukraine  and its Western partners may have a narrowing window of opportunity to  support a Ukrainian counteroffensive into occupied Ukrainian territory  before the Kremlin annexes that territory,” said the spokesman, John  Kirby.

Since April, Ukrainian forces have  effectively been locked into a defensive posture as they gradually  retreated from an onslaught of Russian artillery in the eastern Donbas  region. The Russians have not seized new territory in weeks, and the  Ukrainians say their defensive positions have stabilized.

But  the purpose of the longer-range missile systems that Ukraine has been  pleading for, and that Western countries have increasingly started to  supply to its government, is not just to forestall Russia’s advance, but  also to win back lost territory.

“We  all strive to liberate Ukraine from the enemy,” the spokeswoman for  Ukraine’s southern forces, Natalia Humeniuk, said on Tuesday. “We have a  single goal.”

Ukraine used a HIMARS artillery weapon, newly supplied by the United States, to hit the Antonivsky bridge  in Kherson on Tuesday, an adviser to country’s interior minister said.  The bridge has been the main transit route for Russian supplies coming  in from Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Eleven more missiles hit  the bridge on Wednesday, according to the deputy head of the pro-Russia  administration in Kherson.

The bridge is a “key vulnerability for Russian forces,” a British intelligence report said.

Ukraine’s  armed forces also said on Wednesday that they had blown up a Russian  radar system in Kherson using missiles fired from more than 60 miles  away — a day after Ukraine’s air force command said it had shot down a  Russian fighter jet above agricultural land in Kherson and struck  warehouses that are crucial for resupplying Russia’s forces west of the  Dnipro River.

Ukrainian forces also  struck a cluster of Russian forces, an adviser to the head of the  province’s military administration said on Tuesday, adding that  casualties were still being assessed.

Those accounts could not be independently verified, although some of the attacks were captured on video.

Since May, Ukrainian forces have fought a series of skirmishes  in northern Kherson, reclaiming villages, targeting rail lines and  fighting for control of roads. It has been unclear whether the advances  were primarily intended to divert Moscow’s forces from larger battles in  Donbas or were the prelude to a bigger regional push.

If  Ukraine does mount a broad counteroffensive, it will force both sides  to confront difficult decisions, military analysts say. For Mr.  Zelensky, it will test whether his forces are capable of doing more than  holding their ground and whether his vow to reclaim ground lost to  Russia since 2014 is feasible.

Russia’s  military, on the other hand, would need to decide how deeply to commit  to the defense of a territory, particularly if the bridge is destroyed  and the resupply of its forces under attack becomes more difficult.

Ukraine steps up attacks on key Russian targets in the south. - The New York Times

----------


## bsnub

Way back at the beginning of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion  of Ukraine—a whole five months ago—Kherson was one of the first places  where rapidly advancing Russian forces got a serious bloody nose. In  attempting to capture the bridge over the wide Dnipro River east of the  city, Russia first claimed that they had it, then Ukraine took it back,  the Russia claimed they had it again, only to have it turn back in Ukrainian hands the next day. 

  Then, just a few days later, Kherson was suddenly in Russian hands.  What had seemed to be a hard-fought resistance crumpled. Forces from the  local territorial defense laid down their arms. No one took the obvious  move of blowing up that bridge to prevent Russian forces from entering  the city.

       It wasn’t until a month later we understood that Kherson had been betrayed.  The actual plan for Kherson had been to blow up the bridge east of the  city, along with a second bridge 50km to the north between Mykolaivka  and Nova Kakhovka. Finally, forces were meant to destroy the damn north  of that second bridge, flooding the low ground east of the river and  ensuring that the city had an even wider buffer holding back Russian  forces.

  Had that plan been carried out, there is a good chance that  Kherson—the city and the oblast—would never have been occupied by Russia  at all. As kos reported back in March, all of this was expected to take  place in a single day as soon as Russia initiated hostilities. Only a  whole series of officials in the area were apparently long-time  beneficiaries of a pipeline of cash flowing out of Moscow. Instead of  ordering forces to carry out the plan, they literally walked away from  their posts, leaving Kherson open to a nearly effort-free invasion by  Russian troops.

March was also the first month in which Ukraine announced a counteroffensive to recapture Kherson.  And it seemed to be going well at the time, “What is happening now  along the road between Mykolaiv and Kherson. Ukrainian forces are  advancing from village to village, dislodging Russian troops and  reversing a Russian advance that stalled out a week ago.” Expectations  were that Russian forces, caught in the featureless plain west of the  city, would hustle back to an area they could better defend. Within  days, there were reports of gunfire heard in the streets of Kherson, and  claims that Russian soldiers were loading up trucks with loot, ready to  flee the city.

  In April, Russian forces advanced west of Kherson to capture a series  of towns whose names—like Snihurivka, Vysokopillya, and Davydiv  Brid—whose names have become way too familiar to those who are following  this war closely. Because Russia is _still_ in these towns.  Another Ukrainian counteroffensive later that month got Ukrainian troops  close enough to the city to launch artillery into the airport area to  the west. For everything that’s happened since … that’s pretty much  where things stands now.

  For the last month, Ukraine has been engaged in another announced  counteroffensive in the Kherson region. At times, that effort has  generated excitement, as when Ukrainian forces crossed the Inhulets  River south of Davydiv Brid and moved swiftly to capture a number of  villages on what had been the “Russian bank.” More often, the  counteroffensive has been frustrating in failing to produce any visible  results. But then, Ukraine has insisted from the outset that the  operational security is all important and that this time, unlike other  events in Ukraine, they intended to clamp down on all those tantalizing  Telegram posts and Twitter videos. The fact that foreign observers are  frustrated doesn’t mean Ukraine isn’t hitting their own goals. But those  goals certainly don’t seem to be getting back into the city any time  soon.

  At various times over the last month, fighting in the area has bulged  in toward Kherson along that main road leading down from Mykolaiv. Or  it’s churned up the southern tip of the the oblast down around  Stanislav. Or it’s pushed through the middle at that cross-river  breakthrough. Or it’s … you get the idea.

  For the third time in five months, Ukrainian forces have pushed close  enough to Kherson to drop artillery all around the city (they could  undoubtedly hit targets in the city, as well, if they weren’t trying to  avoid damage to civilian areas) but “just 15km out of Kherson” seems to  be an endless refrain, and not a lot seems to be happening to bridge  that gap.

For some weeks, there has been news that Ukraine plans the _real_ counteroffensive  for some time in August. Which, to be honest, seems reasonable. With  every passing day, more weapons are arriving in Ukraine from the West  while more of Russia’s army is converted into shrapnel. The idea that by  August Ukraine might be in a position to bring in well-equipped,  freshly trained troops with shiny new gear to face the remains of  Russian BTGs that have been sitting on the front lines for weeks in  battered gear that dates back to the days of disco, isn’t just  appealing, but probably pretty good strategy.

  Except that there are other voices who have begun to suspect that the  target of the Kherson counteroffensive isn’t Kherson at all. It’s that  bridge at Nova Kakhovka.




Russia took that bridge just one day after they strolled into  Kherson. Having both bridges gives them a backup to the Kherson bridge  when it comes to supply lines. It’s what makes Russia’s presence west of  the Dnipro robust enough to think about making runs at Mykolaiv or  Kryvyi Rih. The idea that Ukraine might go after that bridge in order to  cut off Russian forces in the west and make Russia think very seriously  about whether Kherson is really “Russia forever” also dates back to the  early days of the war.

  As someone said  back in April, “If Ukraine could move quickly toward that bridge, they  could potentially cut off a large Russian force, stranding them on the  west side of the river.” Yeah, that. Nothing would make it easier to  capture Kherson than having that bridge east of the city be the only  remaining bus out of town. Only … you could also do it the other way  around. 

  What if someone took out the bridge east of Kherson, and Russian  forces found their only lifeline back to the remainder of their forces,  and their only source of supplies, was a bridge 50km to the north, at a  position that’s _much_ less well defended? Russia has a dozen  BTGs clustered around Kherson. They have dug-in and fortified positions.  They have forces in the city itself, where Ukraine definitely doesn’t  want to employ heavy weapons. That’s a big obstacle.

  As long as Russia can stay there.

  And that was a lot of prequel before getting around to saying that  Ukraine has been deliberately painting a picture for Russia over the  last week. A picture that says “look here, boys, we can take out those  bridges any time we want.”

  The first big part of that message came a week ago when Ukraine  struck an ammunition depot at Nova Kakhovka, resulting in a massive  explosive. 




Not only did this attack, and strikes against several other such  depots across Ukraine, coincide with a not-so-mysterious drop in Russian  artillery usage, it showed Russia that Ukraine was positioned—very  likely with U.S. HIMARS systems—to precisely strike targets all the way  over on the other side of the river. If this shot had been made from  that area across the Inhulets liberated by Ukraine, it would have been  about 50km from the ammo depot. But it’s highly unlikely that Ukraine  would put a HIMARS system at risk by moving it that far forward. More  likely this was made by a unit based well back of the lines and  operating near the operational range of standard HIMARS rockets at about  85km. So … helluva shot.

  Since then, Ukraine has demonstrated their skills again, and drawn a  double-underscore beneath their message, by putting serious pockmarks in  the bridge that is directly east of Kherson, the Antonovskiy Bridge.  That bridge was hit not once, but reportedly 11 times, making some  serious pockmarks in the surface of the roadway.

Unlike some of the other bridges that have been critical in this war,  the Antonovskiy Bridge is not just bridging a short gap across a dam or  divided into segments. It’s a 1km bridge, a genuine architectural  masterpiece. If it goes down, it will be sad. It also will not go back  up in a hurry.

  As U.K. intelligence notes, this is _the_ critical piece of infrastructure in the region.




The UK Ministry of Defense sums all this up in a sentence: “Control  of Dnipro crossing is likely to become a key factor in the outcome of  fighting in the region.”

  Exactly what Ukraine hit that bridge with is still in question.  HIMARS seems like the obvious answer, though it’s unclear that the  damage the bridge took in that barrage matches what a pod or two of  HIMARS missiles would achieve. There have also been indications that  GPS-controlled Excalibur shells  fired from an M777 were the source of the damage. Honestly, it’s just  over 20km from the bridge to areas under Ukrainian control. If they’re  willing to position a gun far forward, there’s no reason to think the  bridge wasn’t hit by a well-aimed grouping of standard artillery  shells. 

  Whatever the case, those holes in the bridge have to be making Russia  think very carefully. If Ukraine is about to make a big push in  Kherson, they’ve made it clear that can take out one or both of the  bridges whenever they choose. 

  If they do, Russian forces could find themselves trying to hold their  positions with no easy way to get more troops, more equipment, or more  ammunition. 

  Russia has repeatedly made the declaration that Kherson is “Russia  forever,” and there have even been hints that, should Ukraine move to  retake “Russian territory,” that would be legitimate cause for dragging  out a tactical nuke from storage. Assuming they haven’t all been sold  for parts.

  But Russia has repeatedly put off those referendums it’s been talking  about since days after taking Kherson. Maybe that’s because they  realize that “forever” might only be a few more weeks. 
  Over on Telegram, the pro-Russian ensemble “Rybar” is reporting that  Ukraine seems to be completing its preparations for the real push in  Kherson oblast.
 
Over the past 24 hours, artillery crews and MLRS of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have attacked the Antonovskiy Bridge, Berislav, Lyubymivka, Snihurivka, Novovoznesenske, Olgino, and Zolota Balka.The offensive will be preceded by  massive artillery shelling from M777 howitzers on the positions of the  Russian Armed Forces on the line of contact.HIMARS high-precision munitions have practically disabled the  Antonovskiy Bridge, which complicates the supply of the Russian group in  this direction. 
Yes. For Russians in the Kherson area, it seems like things are about to get very complicated.

  Buckle up.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/202...ampaign=recent

----------


## S Landreth

Russia has lost 15,000 soldiers in Ukraine, CIA chief estimates

CIA Director William Burns on Wednesday estimated that 15,000 Russians have died in Ukraine and some 45,000 have been wounded.

Burns, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in an interview with NBC News chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell, said intelligence estimates of battlefield casualties are “always a range.”

“There’s no perfect number,” Burns said.

“I think the latest estimates from the U.S. intelligence community would be something in the vicinity of 15,000 killed and maybe three times that wounded, so a quite significant set of losses,” he continued. “And the Ukrainians have suffered as well, probably a little less than that. But significant casualties.”

Ukraine has claimed even higher numbers of Russian casualties, estimating in April that its military had killed more than 20,000 Russian soldiers.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights estimated last week that Russia’s invasion had resulted in 5,024 civilian deaths and 6,520 civilians injured.

Burns also weighed in on speculation about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mental and physical health, saying that while he was “unstable,” the Russian leader has his “own way of looking at reality.”

“There are lots of rumors about President Putin’s health, and, as far as we can tell, he’s entirely too healthy,” Burns said. “It’s not a formal intelligence judgment.”

Burns added that Russia faced “catastrophic failures” in the first phase of its invasion, when it failed to take Kyiv and western areas of Ukraine, but noted how it has since realigned its efforts to focus on the industrial heartland in Ukraine’s east, known as the Donbas.

The CIA chief described the new phase of the war as a more “comfortable way of war” for the Russians, saying it enables them to use long-range weapons and avoid continued significant casualties even with “weaknesses” in their remaining manpower.
 
“The Russians and the Russian military have adapted,” Burns said. “One of my recent conversations with one of my Ukrainian counterparts, he pointed out that the dumb Russians are all dead.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pleaded with Western countries to provide more heavy weapons to Ukraine to compete with Russian firepower. He recently called for the U.S. and allies to help bring an end to the war by December.

The U.S. since about early June has been sending Ukraine High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems so it can more precisely strike targets from greater distances.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday said the Biden administration will announce an additional security package later this week that will include four more of the launchers, bringing the total to 16.

----------


## sabang

Foreign minister says geographical reality has changed

Russia may push deeper as West supplies long-range arms

Ukraine says comments show Russia aims to grab more land


LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow's military "tasks" in Ukraine now went beyond the eastern Donbas region, in the clearest acknowledgment yet that it has expanded its war goals.

In an interview with state media nearly five months after Russia's invasion, the foreign minister also said peace talks made no sense at the moment because Western governments were leaning on Ukraine to fight rather than negotiate.


Ukraine's foreign minister retorted that Russia wanted "blood, not talks".

When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, President Vladimir Putin explicitly denied any intention of occupying his neighbour. He said then that his aim was to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine - a statement dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a pretext for an imperial-style war of expansion.

But Lavrov said geographical realities had changed since Russian and Ukrainian negotiators held peace talks in Turkey in late March that failed to produce any breakthrough.


At that time, he said, the focus was on the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), self-styled breakaway entities in eastern Ukraine from which Russia has said it aims to drive out Ukrainian government forces.

"Now the geography is different, it's far from being just the DPR and LPR, it's also Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and a number of other territories," he said, referring to areas well beyond the Donbas that Russia has wholly or partly seized.


"This process is continuing logically and persistently."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba responded: "By confessing dreams to grab more Ukrainian land, (the) Russian foreign minister proves that Russia rejects diplomacy and focuses on war and terror. Russians want blood, not talks."

Lavrov said Russia might need to push even deeper if the West, out of "impotent rage" or desire to aggravate the situation further, kept pumping Ukraine with long-range weapons such as the U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

"That means the geographical tasks will extend still further from the current line," he said.

Russia could not allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "or whoever replaces him" to threaten its territory or that of the DPR and LPR with the longer-range systems, he said - referring casually, and without any evidence, to the possibility that the Ukrainian leader might not remain in power.

After failing to take the Ukrainian capital Kyiv at the start of the war, Russia said in March it would focus on "achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbas".

Nearly four months later, it has taken Luhansk, one of two provinces that comprise the Donbas, but remains far from capturing all of the other, Donetsk. In the past few weeks it has ramped up missile strikes on cities across Ukraine.

Lavrov spoke a day after the White House said Russia was starting to roll out a plan to annex large parts of southern Ukraine under the cover of "sham referendums".
Russian-imposed officials in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia have outlined plans to hold plebiscites in the coming months. The Kremlin says it is up to people living there to decide their own futures.

Russia declares expanded war goals beyond Ukraine'''s Donbas | Reuters

----------


## bsnub

> Russia declares expanded war goals beyond Ukraine's Donbas


 :smiley laughing: 

Maybe they should start with taking Donbas first.

----------


## Norton

> Ukraine says comments show Russia aims to grab more land


From day one Putin's intent was to turn the Ukraine into a Russian state and he won't stop until he deems the risk too high to continue. Obvious to the most casual observer. All the rhetoric coming out of the mouths of Putin's boys is simply a smoke screen to cover Putin's ultimate goal.

----------


## bsnub

> From day one Putin's intent was to turn the Ukraine into a Russian state and he won't stop until he deems the risk too high to continue.


Ya, that cat was let out of the bag a long time ago. Ukraine will be part of the EU, it will never be absorbed into some sick Russian sudo-state. The line is drawn and Russia has played all it cards.

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## Iceman123

^
and meanwhile back on planet Earth……………

----------


## malmomike77

If they catch these cvnts they should make sure they can't hide behind the justice system, they need to be reduced in size slowly, a body part at a time and an unmarked grave.

British paedophiles travelling to Poland ‘to target Ukrainian child refugees’

British paedophiles have been travelling to Poland claiming they are providing “humanitarian assistance” to refugees fleeing Ukraine, who include thousands of unaccompanied children.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said 10 known sex offenders travelled to the country in the six weeks following the Russian invasion.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/british-paedophiles-ukraine-refugees-poland-b2128367.html

and why if they knew didn't something get done to stop them.

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## bsnub

> and meanwhile back on planet Earth……………


What is your television telling you today, dipshit? Where is this third wave offensive? Meanwhile...




 :smiley laughing:

----------


## malmomike77

Russia about to run out of steam in Ukraine - MI6 chief

Russia will struggle to maintain its military campaign and Ukraine may be able to hit back, the head of Britain's foreign intelligence service says.

MI6 chief Richard Moore said Russia had seen "epic fails" in its initial goals; removing Ukraine's president, capturing Kyiv and sowing disunity in the West.

He was speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, in a rare public appearance.

He called the invasion "the most egregious naked act of aggression... in Europe since the Second World War."

He said recent Russian gains were "tiny" and that Russia was "about to run out of steam".

"Our assessment is that the Russians will increasingly find it difficult to find manpower and materiel over the next few weeks," Mr Moore told the conference in Colorado. "They will have to pause in some way and that will give the Ukrainians the opportunity to strike back."

That view may be seen as optimistic and Ukraine's ability to counter-attack may well depend on greater supplies of Western weaponry, which its officials say has often been too slow in arriving.

The MI6 chief said some kind of battlefield success would be an "important reminder to the rest of Europe that this is a winnable campaign" - particularly ahead of a winter which was likely to see pressure on gas supplies.

"We are in for a tough time," he said. A further reason to maintain support to help the Ukrainians win, or "at least negotiate from a position of significant strength", he said, was because China's leader Xi Jinping was "watching like a hawk".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62259179

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## sabang

*Foreign soldiers flocked to Ukraine after Russia invaded. Five months on, the fighting is taking a heavy toll.*

Relentless Russian bombings were “the closest thing I’ve ever seen to hell,” an American who served several tours of the Middle East said.

After a thrilling first few months of unexpected success that boosted morale among the Ukrainian ranks, the reality of the bloodiest European conflict since World War II has taken its toll among some of the thousands of foreign fighters who traveled from abroad to battle the Russian invaders.

The war has long moved past the Ukrainian victory in Kyiv’s suburbs, which are still scarred by the mass graves and blown-out buildings of the Russian occupation. Instead, after months of battle, soldiers push for excruciatingly incremental gains from trenches in the grassy plains and farm fields of the country’s east and south. 

It’s now a grueling artillery slugfest.


Round after round hits near Ukrainian lines, filling the air with dirt, sand and ash and forcing soldiers to burrow into deep trenches. As Ukrainian troops wait for an opening or calculate the position of a potential target, explosions resonate around them with regular thuds — sometimes for 12 hours at a time. The seeming randomness of the strikes intensifies the feeling among some that survival might come down to sheer luck.

An American fighting for Ukraine who served in the U.S. Army with combat tours in the Middle East described the constant Russian bombardment of the city of Severodonetsk in Ukraine’s Donbas region as “the closest thing I’ve ever seen to hell.”

Ukraine Armed Forces estimate that Russia is using eight times as many artillery munitions each day, firing thousands more shells than the Ukrainians and stymying their efforts.


“We lost three guys,” after fighting near Severodonetsk, the soldier said. “My commander got killed out there. A buddy of mine got killed out there. When s— like that happens, it’s hard to imagine the way forward.”

The Ukrainian losses have been steep: as many as 100 to 200 casualties per day at the worst points in the war, according to Ukraine’s own estimates. These brutal losses have eroded morale within the ranks and in other units, five non-Ukrainian soldiers said in interviews over the past month. Four of the soldiers  have not made their identities public and asked that their names not be used out of concern for their security and so they could speak freely about their experiences.

“The number of people that are upset and have low morale has increased, and that’s partly because of the way the Russians have chosen to fight,” Ripley Rawlings, a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and author, who is providing supplies to foreign fighters in Ukraine through his U.S.-based organization, Ripley’s Heroes, said.

Rawlings, who traveled to Ukraine recently and is sending everything from scopes and goggles to trucks and e-bikes to the troops there, said that “about half of the units that we support have taken terrible hits lately.”


Despite the challenges, fighters who spoke to NBC News remained adamant about their commitment to pushing out the Kremlin’s forces. The soldiers admitted, however, that supply shortages, delays in receiving weapons promised by the West, and communication frustrations have challenged their spirits after months of battle.

Other common complaints included that counter-offensive strategies were undermined by older Ukrainian commanders sticking to Soviet tactics. They also noted poor communication among groups, with one soldier highlighting the lack of “a centralized unit that has everybody by the tail and knowing where people are.”

The Kremlin alleges that there are no longer any foreign fighters in Ukraine and that any who remain are mercenaries. Ukraine’s International Legion, meanwhile, said that its soldiers must follow the same disciplinary rules as other Ukrainian soldiers. They are also paid at the same rate: around $500 per month, depending on rank, with the opportunity for bonuses.

Thus they are owed the same treatment as any Ukrainian soldier if captured, said Damien Magrou, the legion’s spokesperson.

Magrou, a Dutch lawyer and a corporal in the legion, said at a news conference  this month that Russian disinformation has negatively affected the group’s recruitment, reputation and fundraising, and he told NBC News on Wednesday that because of recent challenges they “are exploring avenues to widen our recruitment.”


As of now, legion members are required to have live combat experience and must pass background checks and a psychological exam to join. Citing security concerns, Magrou declined to say how many soldiers were in the legion or the number of casualties.

“There’s been a gradual dip in the number of arrivals over the course of the last few months, which isn’t very surprising given that attention in Western media has shifted elsewhere and the more motivated fighters made their decision in the beginning,” Magrou said over WhatsApp.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u...rans-rcna39268

----------


## malmomike77

> “There’s been a gradual dip in the number of arrivals over the course of the last few months, which isn’t very surprising given that attention in Western media has shifted elsewhere and the more motivated fighters made their decision in the beginning,” Magrou said over WhatsApp.


A non story really.

----------


## bsnub

The Russian air force lost another one of its best fighter planes  over Ukraine on Tuesday. The shoot-down of what appears to be a Sukhoi  Su-35 could be the result of a skillful, and lucky, long-range shot by a  Ukrainian air-defense battery. It could also be yet another friendly-fire incident.

 But it just mightindicate that Ukrainan forces are  closer than many analysts assume to Kherson, a southern port city that’s  been under Russian control since early in Russia’s wider war on  Ukraine—and which is the main focus of Ukraine’s so-far modest southern  counteroffensive.

 The Sukhoi was patrolling over Nova Kakhovka, 40 miles east of  Russian-occupied Kherson on the southern bank of the Dnipro River in  southern Ukraine when it exploded on Tuesday evening.

 Videos that circulated on social media depict the jet tumbling to the  ground—and also depict the pilot, having ejected, slowly descending  under his parachute.

 It was the 36th fighter  the Russian air force had lost over Ukraine, and the second or third  Su-35, which is the latest single-seat version of the classic Su-27.

 The Ukrainian air force quickly took credit for the kill. “Excellent work of the anti-aircraft missile forces,” the air force tweeted. “Ground air-defense of Ukraine ‘landed’ another fighter jet.”

https://twitter.com/KpsZSU/status/15...0ba084d28b4935


By “ground air-defense,” the Ukrainian air force almost certainly is  referring to its S-300PT/PS air-defense systems, dozens of batteries of  which it and the Ukrainian army inherited from the Soviet Union on the  latter’s dissolution in 1991.

 Ukraine’s best S-300PS, which fights in batteries each with several  wheeled launchers and associated command and radar vehicles, has a range  of just 50 miles or so.

 If it was an S-300PS that took down that Su-35, it might have done so  at the edge of its range. It’s also possible the battery managed to  creep to within comfortable firing distance of Nova Kakhova.

 Nova Kakhovka is 50 miles east of the main territorial salient  that, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study  of War, Ukrainian troops have carved out north of Kherson as they slowly  advance toward that port city.

 The months-old line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian forces  along the Inhulets River is only slightly closer: 35 miles or so to the  north of Nova Kakhovka.

 Of course, an S-300 battery is too vulnerable, and too valuable, to set up _at_ the line of contact. More likely, Ukrainian forces deploy their S-300s miles from known enemy positions. 

 That makes a kill over Nova Kakhovka even more impressive ... or more  telling. The Ukrainians had to detect the Su-35, perhaps using a  200-mile-range Tin Shield surveillance radar, then engage with—say—an  5V55R missile assisted by a Flap Lid tracking radar. 

All of these systems have limitations. For that reason, an S-300PS/PT  crew is happiest taking on targets closer than 50 miles away. 

 Maybe the S-300 crew in the Tuesday shoot-down was highly skilled and  extremely lucky and scored its alleged kill from well inside  established Ukrainian lines north of Kherson or to the east of the city  along the Inhulets River.

 Or maybe Ukrainian troops are closer to Kherson, or farther south of the Inhulets, than analysts currently believe.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=6c8ba8227add

----------


## sabang

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said on Friday its forces had destroyed four U.S.-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) in Ukraine earlier this month, a claim that was denied both by Kyiv and Washington.

Between July 5-20, "four launchers and one reloading vehicle for the U.S.-made multiple launch rocket systems (HIMARS) were destroyed," it said in a daily briefing.

Kyiv rejected Moscow's claims, calling them "fakes" designed to undermine the West's support for Ukraine.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the reports of any HIMARS being destroyed were not true.
Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.

Kyiv has hailed the arrival of eight HIMARS in Ukraine as a possible game changer for the course of the war, now about to enter its sixth month.

The advanced weapons are more precise and offer a longer range than other artillery systems, allowing Kyiv to strike Russian targets and weapons depots further behind the front lines.

Moscow has accused the West of dragging out the conflict by supplying Kyiv with more arms, and said the supply of longer-range weapons justifies Russia's attempts to expand control over more Ukrainian territory, beyond the eastern Donbas region, for its own protection.

On July 6, just days after the first HIMARS arrived in Ukraine, Russia's defence ministry said it had destroyed two of them, releasing a video of the alleged strike.

Ukraine has rejected Russia's claims and said it was using the U.S.-supplied arms to inflict "devastating blows" on Russian forces.
Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, said on Friday that Ukraine continued to use HIMARS to "cause numerous losses to the aggressor state."

"Russia is trying to stop the supply of weapons from the West and intimidate Ukraine's allies with the fictional power of Russia's armed forces," he said in a media briefing.

This week Kyiv has used HIMARS to strike a crucial bridge across the Dnipro river in Russian-controlled parts of the southern Kherson region, punching huge holes in the asphalt and prompting local Russian-installed officials to warn it could be completely destroyed if the attacks continue.

The United States said on Wednesday it will send four more HIMARS to Ukraine in its latest package of military support. 

UPDATE 3-Russia says it destroyed 4 HIMARS launchers, in claim denied by Ukraine

----------


## bsnub

> Russia's defence ministry


 :smiley laughing: 

They have done nothing but lie since the start of the war. Almost everything that the MOD says is a lie or fabrication in some way. It is not just the Ukrainians saying it is fake news, it is the US as well...

Russia's defence ministry said on  Friday its forces had destroyed four US-supplied high mobility  artillery rocket systems (Himars) in Ukraine earlier this month, a claim  that was denied both by Kyiv and Washington.

 Between July 5-20, "four launchers and one reloading vehicle for the  US-made multiple launch rocket systems (Himars) were destroyed," it said  in a daily briefing.

 Kyiv rejected Moscow's claims, calling them "fakes" designed to undermine the West's support for Ukraine.

 A US official, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said the reports of any Himars being destroyed were not true.


Russian claims to have destroyed four Himars systems are not true, say US and Ukraine

----------


## sabang

Actually the Russian MoD hasn't been too bad. But we all know who you will believe snubby- the Ghost of Kiev.  :Smile:  He said/ She said, anyway.
If you have a specific example of the Russian MoD telling porkies, lets hear it.

----------


## misskit

^ We could try finding out how much equipment Ukraine actually possesses and subtract that from what Russia says it has destroyed.


Russia Sends Army Recruits to Fight in Ukraine After Just Days of Training

Less than two weeks after joining the army, Ivan was on the frontlines of Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine and taking part in attacks on Ukrainian positions. 


Ivan, 31, who requested anonymity to protect his safety, said he received just five days of training before being transferred to Ukraine and flung into combat. 


“There was a soldier in our company who didn’t know how a machine gun works. So I taught that guy how to disassemble and assemble a machine gun. I wouldn’t want to be next to him in battle. How can you fight like that?” he told The Moscow Times. 


Providing minimal training to new recruits appears to be increasingly common in the Russian army as the war in Ukraine approaches its sixth month and high casualty rates combine with a lack of general mobilization to generate serious manpower shortages. 


A lack of knowledge leaves soldiers without the necessary combat skills to survive on the battlefield, according to military analysts and human rights activists.

“A week [of training] is nothing — for a soldier, it is a direct path to a hospital or a body bag,” independent military analyst Pavel Luzin told The Moscow Times.


According to Russia’s Defense Ministry website, an intensive four-week combined arms training with a "survival" course is “essential” for anyone who signs a contract with the Russian army. The program takes a total of 240 hours and includes shooting, throwing grenades and a study of military tactics. 

However, amid the war in Ukraine, it appears training standards are not being observed, according to Sergei Krivenko, director of human rights group Citizen. Army. Law. that provides legal assistance to Russian soldiers. 


“I’ve been regularly approached by parents whose children signed a [military] contract and ended up in Ukraine just a week later,” Krivenko told The Moscow Times. 


Ivan signed a three-month contract with the Defense Ministry in April. 


“When the special military operation started — although in fact, it is a war — I took it as a personal tragedy,” said Ivan. “I told myself that I wanted to go there and no one would stop me. I’m a patriot.” 


He was soon transferred to a military base in the Russian city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine. Less than two weeks later, he found himself on the frontlines.


“After all the medical check-ups, they asked me if I was ready to go to the military base the day after tomorrow. They trained us for five days, we waited for another five days for a force rotation and then we went to [combat] positions,” he said in a phone interview.


In the five days Ivan and other soldiers were waiting to be deployed to Ukraine, they carried out some informal training exercises.

“Of course, it was not enough,” he said. 


Similar accounts of new recruits receiving minimal training have appeared in Russian media in recent weeks. 


“I was shocked. Some have not properly held a machine gun in their hands, have never seen real tanks in person, and they’re leaving for the frontline in a couple of days,” one anonymous soldier said last month in an interview with the BBC Russian Service. 


Yevgeny Chubarin, 24, was killed in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region just four days after being transferred to a Belgorod military base on a three-month contract with the Russian military, independent news outlet Mediazona reported last month. “There was no training,” his mother Nina Chubarina told Mediazona. ”They arrived, got a uniform and a machine gun — and that’s it, go ahead.”


While most Russian men have completed at least a year of compulsory military service in the Russian Armed Forces, training is still seen as essential to update and refresh their skills, which may be many years out of date. 


Under Russian law, conscripts can't be sent into combat unless they have at least four months of training. The same logic should apply to those who sign a contract with the military to go to Ukraine, according to expert Luzin.


According to Ivan, the five days of training they did receive was “intense.” 


All soldiers were treated the same during the training regardless of experience. The majority had not been in a war zone before, according to Ivan, although there were some who had battlefield experience, including in Russia’s military campaigns in Syria and the North Caucasus republic of Chechnya. 

“We were at the training ground from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. We practiced combat skills, seizing and storming buildings, all-around defense, working in combat teams, field medicine, evacuation and treatment of wounded soldiers. The focus was on those skills you needed for your position — a machine gunner, a grenade launcher operator and so on,” said Ivan.


While such basic instruction may be enough to allow soldiers to carry out simple tasks in combat, military experts told The Moscow Times military training should be much broader.


“There’s a lot that needs to be learned in terms of coordination and cooperation with a team. And it’s quite time-consuming,” said Samuel Cranny-Evans, a military analyst at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank. 


High casualty rates mean the Russian military is likely losing cohesion, according to experts, with training deficiencies only exacerbating this problem. 


The army has begun to mix soldiers from different units, according to Dara Massicot, a senior researcher at the U.S.-based RAND think tank and a former senior analyst at the Pentagon. “The soldiers don’t know the commanders, they don’t know where their unit is as it's fighting in the field,” Massicot told The Moscow Times.


“Plus, there’s a lack of specialists [in the Russian army]. This means if some equipment breaks down, they simply cannot repair it,” she added.

Despite the situation on the battlefield, one of the motivations for people signing up to fight is apparently money, with the military offering salaries up to four times higher than local averages. 


Ivan said he was paid over 240,000 rubles ($3,794) per month.


Independent Russian journalists have used publicly available information to confirm the deaths of almost 5,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine. However, the actual death toll is likely to be much higher and analysts have estimated the true figure to be well over 10,000. 


The Russian Defense Ministry last updated its official death toll in late March, with 1,351 confirmed fatalities.


Ivan suffered shrapnel wounds in his leg and arm while fighting near the northeastern Ukrainian city of Izyum in late April, and was transferred to a hospital in Russia. He said last week that he was still recovering from his wounds at home in Moscow. 


“The problem is that the planners of the operation assumed the Ukrainians would not resist them in this way, so they didn’t think about the manpower and now they are just filling the gaps,” said analyst Massicot. 


“Essentially it all means they [the Russian army] are not going to advance quickly anymore.”

Russia Sends Army Recruits to Fight in Ukraine After Just Days of Training - The Moscow Times

----------


## bsnub

> Actually the Russian MoD hasn't been too bad.


 :smiley laughing: 

You live in a fantasy world.




> But we all know who you will believe snubby- the Ghost of Kiev.


Where did I ever say that? More lies.




> If you have a specific example of the Russian MoD telling porkies, lets hear it.


Tons of them. Let's just start with Snake island and an entire Spetnatz unit getting wiped, which they have now retreated from in defeat...




MOD lied and tried to claim that was a Ukrainian chopper.  :Smile: 

There is heaps of it if you are not a deranged Putin knob gobbler.

----------


## sabang

Former Russian president has warned of Ukraine’s elimination from the world map amid NATO’s military assistance to Kiev.

In his latest post on Telegram on Thursday, Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, warned that the West’s military response to the Ukrainian conflict could mean “Ukraine would lose the remnants of state sovereignty and disappear from the world map.”

Medvedev accused NATO of creating a “real threat of world conflict” by sending military equipment and troops to Ukraine and other countries on Europe’s eastern flank, such as Estonia and Lithuania.

“NATO continues, contrary to logic and common sense, to approach the borders of Russia, creating a real threat of world conflict and the death of a significant part of humanity,” he wrote.

Medvedev also accused EU leaders of “forcing the unfortunate Ukrainians to sacrifice their lives to join the European Union”.He warned that “ordinary Europeans will be fiercely cold in their homes this winter,” after the EU imposed sanctions on Moscow and caused Russia to reduce gas flows to most of the EU countries.His warnings came on the heels of his previous remarks that Ukraine and the West would face a “Judgment Day” response if they tried to oppose Russia’s control of Crimea by military action.

The former president also warned that the refusal of Ukraine and Western powers to recognize Moscow’s ownership of the peninsula posed a “systemic threat” for Russia, and raised the alarm over the Kremlin’s use of maximum force if the territory is attacked.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made similar comments on Wednesday, saying that Russia’s military “tasks” and objectives in Ukraine will expand further if the West keeps supplying Kiev with weapons and armaments.

“That means the geographical tasks will extend still further from the current line,” Lavrov said.‘Grandfather with dementia’Meanwhile, Medvedev dismissed the US sanctions against Russia and depicted President Joe Biden as a “strange grandfather with dementia”.

“The fact that the Americans elected their president a strange grandfather with dementia, who, forgetting about his duties, loves another country much more than his own,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

He said the US and the EU have “lost their multi-billion dollar investments in the Russian economy” by imposing financial sanctions on Moscow.

Belarus: West fanning flames of war Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused Western countries of fomenting the war between Russia and Ukraine, and called on the sides to halt the conflict in Ukraine in order to avoid the “abyss of nuclear war.”

“We must stop, reach an agreement, end this mess, operation and war in Ukraine,” Lukashenko said in an interview with AFP news agency in Minsk on Thursday.

“There’s no need to go further. Further lies the abyss of nuclear war. There’s no need to go there,” he added.

He also said NATO allies could have attacked Russia if Moscow had not been not quick enough to "liberate" Ukraine.

“If Russia had not got ahead of you, members of NATO, you would have organized and struck a blow against it,” he said, echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin.The Belarusian leader said the ongoing conflict could have been avoided if the West had given Moscow the security guarantees it wanted. “You, members of NATO and Americans, needed war.”

He demanded that Ukrainian authorities hold talks with Russia and agree that “they will never threaten” the country.

Russia’s Medvedev warns of Ukraine’s ‘elimination from world map’

----------


## bsnub

Don’t get too excited about unconfirmed reports of Ukrainian forces  surrounding hundreds, or even thousands, of Russian troops in a town 60  miles northeast of the port of Kherson in southern Ukraine.

But the flimsy rumors swirling around the purported pocket of  surrounded Russian troops in Vysokopillya belie the real pressure the  Russians are under along the southern front of Russia’s five-month-old  wider war on Ukraine.

 Having expended the last of its prewar combat power capturing the  twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas  region, the Russian army has hit pause on major offensive operations.

 The Kremlin is busy raising volunteer battalions to make good the  tens of thousands of soldiers the army has buried or sent to hospitals  since late February. Ukrainian commanders have taken advantage of the  Russian pause—and the simultaneous arrival of U.S.-made rockets—to  ratchet up strikes on Russian radars, command posts and supply lines.

 The rocket attacks are helping to destabilize Russian defenses. And  in the south around Kherson, that’s helped Ukrainian forces to inch  toward the occupied port city with a pre-war population of 300,000,  extending a tentative counteroffensive that began back in May. 

 It was apparent months ago that the Kremlin’s intensive focus on  Donbas risked creating vulnerabilities elsewhere. At the peak of the  fighting in Donbas in early July, three-quarters of the Russian army’s  roughly 110 front-line battalions in Ukraine were in Donbas. Just a  handful of battalions defended Russian gains in and around Kherson.

 The Ukrainian army also concentrated its best forces in Donbas, of  course—but not at the expense of the southern front. In late May,  Ukrainian troops began pushing south toward Kherson, then 40 or so miles  from the line of contact.

Two months later, Kyiv’s southern counteroffensive has pushed to  within 15 miles of Kherson’s northernmost neighborhoods. A parallel  Ukrainian effort farther east established a lodgement south of the  Inhulets River outside Davydiv Brid.

 The Ukrainians didn’t move quickly. And there’s no reason to believe  they recently surrounded as many as 2,000 Russian troops in  Vysokopillya.

 But their accelerating momentum now is hard to ignore. Increasingly  well-armed with new howitzers and multiple-launch rocket systems  provided by the United States and other allies—and supported by the  surviving pilots and planes of the small but stubborn Ukrainian air force—Kyiv’s troops in the south now are holding at risk Russian forces south of the Dnieper River.

 That wide river, to which the Inhulets is a tributary, winds south  and west through southern Ukraine, buttressing the southern edge of  Kherson before emptying into the Black Sea.

 On Tuesday, a missile battery belonging to the Ukrainian air force—apparently an S-300—reportedly shot down  a Russian air force Su-35 fighter patrolling over Nova Kakhovka on the  southern bank of the Dnieper, 50 miles east of Kherson and 35 miles  south of the Inhulets. 

 The Ukrainian battery either pulled off a long-distance shot at the  edge of the S-300’s range. Or it traveled far enough south to put Nova  Kakhovka within easy reach.

The Dnieper is a problem for Russian logisticians. The best and most  efficient way to move troops and supplies into Kherson and areas north  of Kherson is across a pair of bridges spanning the river near the city.  “Control of Dnieper crossings is likely to become a key factor in the  outcome of fighting in the region,” the U.K. Defense Ministry stated.

 On Tuesday, Ukrainian forces—artillery or rockets, most likely—struck  the Antonovskiy Bridge, damaging but not dropping the span. 

 “They haven’t destroyed them yet,” Mike Martin, a fellow with the Department of War Studies at King's College London, wrote in reference to the Dnieper bridges.  “They’ve just cratered them, making them unsuitable for heavy  logistics. But if I were a Russian soldier in Kherson, I would be pretty  scared right now.”

 What happens next is anyone’s guess. Ukraine obviously wants Kherson,  and its access to the Black Sea, back under its control. Russia  obviously aims to keep its hold on the city.

 But it’s unclear the depleted Russian army still possesses the means  of defending Kherson—or can raise fresh battalions fast enough to  reinforce the city as the Ukrainian army slowly approaches.

 Of course, the Ukrainian army _also_ lost thousands of troops  in Donbas, so it’s unclear it’s in the best position for a major  southern offensive unless, and until, it too can form fresh battalions. 

But even in its battered state, the Ukrainian army has managed to  maneuver toward Kherson. It’s possible the fight for the city itself  could come soon. “I would be watching Kherson very closely over the next  10 days,” Martin wrote.

Yard By Yard, The Ukrainians Appear To Be Pushing Toward Kherson

----------


## Norton

> “If Russia had not got ahead of you, members of NATO, you would have organized and struck a blow against it,” he said, echoing Russian President Vladimir Putin.


Using this sort of justification to invade a nation, Russia is justified in invading any neighboring country. What a crock of shit.

----------


## sabang

To paraphrase Chomsky 'not justified, but provoked'.

----------


## misskit

Russia Says Strike on Odesa Port Hit Ukrainian Military Targets


Russia on Sunday said its missiles had destroyed a Ukrainian warship and weapons from the United States after a strike on Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa, crucial for grain exports.


The strike Saturday came a day after Kyiv and Moscow signed a landmark agreement hammered out over months of negotiations aimed at relieving a global food crisis.

"High-precision, long-range missiles launched from the sea destroyed a docked Ukrainian warship and a stockpile of anti-ship missiles delivered by the United States to the Kyiv regime," the Russian Defense Ministry said.


"A Ukrainian army repair and upgrade plant has also been put out of order," the ministry said in a statement on Telegram.


Earlier on Sunday, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russian Kalibr missiles destroyed a Ukrainian "patrol boat" in the strike.


Neither the Russian army nor Zakharova provided evidence to prove the claims. AFP was unable to confirm the claims independently.


On Saturday, Ukraine accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having "spit in the face" of the deal to unblock grain exports brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.


Zelensky claimed the strikes on Odesa — one of three designated export hubs under the deal — showed Moscow could not keep its promises.


But Turkey said Saturday that Russia denied any attack on the port.


"The Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack and they were looking into the issue very closely," Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.


Ukraine's Western allies including Britain and the United States condemned the attack. 


U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the attack cast "serious doubt on the credibility of Russia's commitment" to the deal.


The Ukrainian military had said its air defenses had shot down two cruise missiles but two more hit the port Saturday.

Zelensky has said that around 20 million tons of produce from last year's harvest and the current crop would be exported under the agreement.

Russia Says Strike on Odesa Port Hit Ukrainian Military Targets - The Moscow Times

----------


## bsnub

Nothing that the Russians say can be believed, since they have been caught lying countless times. So the truth will come out in the next day or so on Twitter when the actual video is posted. I am sure these are just lies as usual.

----------


## sabang

Zelensky just wants to hold the western (sucker) world to ransom. I personally doubt he will still be in power in six months time, but let's see.

----------


## Takeovers

> Russia Says Strike on Odesa Port Hit Ukrainian Military Targets


The second lie. First they said, they did not attack the port at all.

----------


## malmomike77

Ukraine war: Russia's Lavrov says ready to expand war aims

Russia's military focus in Ukraine is no longer "only" the east, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.

In an interview with Russian state media, he implied Moscow's strategy had changed after the West supplied Ukraine with longer-range weapons.

Russia would now have to push Ukrainian forces further from the front line to ensure its own security, he explained.

His comments came as the US announced it would provide Ukraine with more long-range weapons.

Ukraine will receive another four Himars advanced rocket systems to hold the advance of Russian troops, bringing the total number to 16, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said.

Meanwhile Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska addressed US Congress on Wednesday, asking for more air-defence systems to "help us to stop this terror against Ukrainians".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62231936

----------


## russellsimpson

I hope the fog of war will lift long enough for us to see what really happened in Odesa. In the meantime I'm not buying any of the stories. What has the UN had to say? 

I have to agree with Sabang. I doubt very much that Zelensky will still be in power in six months. It's a chilling thought to imagine this fucking war will still be happeninjg in six months. A pox on both of their houses. I hope to see little war monger Blinken gone asap.

----------


## pickel

^
Nothing wrong with a healthy dose of cynicism Russell, except when it's combined with ignorance. Such as the case with you.

There are pictures and videos of the port and ships on fire. Videos of a couple cruise missiles intercepted. And Russia has finally admitted they did it, and the UN has condemned Russia for it.

----------


## HermantheGerman

May 23, 2022                     
*Open Letter to Noam Chomsky (and Other Like-Minded Intellectuals) on the Russia-Ukraine War* *Bohdan Kukharskyy, Anastassia Fedyk, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, and Ilona Sologoub*


Dear Professor Chomsky,

  We are a group of Ukrainian academic economists who were grieved by a  series of your recent interviews and commentaries on the Russian war on  Ukraine. We believe that your public opinion on this matter is  counter-productive to bringing an end to the unjustified Russian  invasion of Ukraine and all the deaths and suffering it has brought into  our home country.
  Having familiarized ourselves with the body of your interviews  on this matter, we noticed several recurring fallacies in your line of  argument. In what follows, we wish to point out these patterns to you,  alongside our brief response:
_Pattern #1: Denying Ukraines sovereign integrity_
  In your interview to Jeremy Scahill at The Intercept from April 14,  2022 you claimed: The fact of the matter is Crimea is off the table. We  may not like it. Crimeans apparently do like it. We wish to bring to  your attention several historical facts:
  First, Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014 has violated the Budapest memorandum (in which it promised to respect and protect Ukrainian borders, including Crimea), the Treaty  on Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation (which it signed with  Ukraine in 1997 with the same promises), and, according to the order of the UN International Court of Justice, it violated the international law.
  Second, Crimeans is not an ethnicity or a cohesive group of peoplebut Crimean Tatars are. These are the indigenous people of Crimea, who were deported  by Stalin in 1944 (and were able to come back home only after the USSR  fell apart), and were forced to flee again in 2014 when Russia occupied  Crimea. Of those who stayed, dozens have been persecuted, jailed on false charges and missing, probably dead.
  Third, if by liking you refer to the outcome of the Crimean  referendum on March 16, 2014, please note that this referendum was  held at gunpoint and declared invalid by the General Assembly of the United Nations. At the same time, the majority of voters in Crimea supported Ukraines independence in 1991.
_Pattern #2: Treating Ukraine as an American pawn on a geo-political chessboard_
  Whether willingly or unwillingly, your interviews insinuate that  Ukrainians are fighting with Russians because the US instigated them to  do so, that Euromaidan happened because the US tried to detach Ukraine  from the Russian sphere of influence, etc. Such an attitude denies the  agency of Ukraine and is a slap in the face to millions of Ukrainians  who are risking their lives for the desire to live in a free country.  Simply put, have you considered the possibility that Ukrainians would  like to detach from the Russian sphere of influence due to a history of genocide, cultural oppression, and constant denial of the right to self-determination?
_Pattern #3. Suggesting that Russia was threatened by NATO_
  In your interviews, you are eager to bring up the alleged promise by  [US Secretary of State] James Baker and President George H.W. Bush to  Gorbachev that, if he agreed to allow a unified Germany to rejoin NATO,  the US would ensure that NATO would move not one inch eastward. First,  please note that the historicity of this promise is highly contested  among scholars, although Russia has been active in promoting it. The  premise is that NATOs eastward expansion left Putin with no other  choice but to attack. But the reality is different. Eastern European  states joined, and Ukraine and Georgia aspired to join NATO, in order to  defend themselves from Russian imperialism. They were right in their  aspirations, given that Russia did attack Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in  2014. Moreover, current requests by Finland and Sweden to join NATO  came in direct response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, consistent with NATO expansion being a consequence of Russian imperialism, and not vice versa.
  In addition, we disagree with the notion that sovereign nations  shouldnt be making alliances based on the will of their people because  of disputed verbal promises made by James Baker and George H.W. Bush to  Gorbachev.
_Pattern #4. Stating that the US isnt any better than Russia_
  While you admittedly call the Russian invasion of Ukraine a war  crime, it appears to us that you cannot do so without naming in the  same breath all of the past atrocities committed by the US abroad (e.g.,  in Iraq or Afghanistan) and, ultimately, spending most of your time  discussing the latter. As economists, we are not in a position to  correct your historical metaphors and, needless to say, we condemn the  unjustified killings of civilians by any power in the past. However, not  bringing Putin up on war crime charges at the International Criminal  Court in the Hague just because some past leader did not receive similar  treatment would be the wrong conclusion to draw from any historical  analogy. In contrast, we argue that prosecuting Putin for the war crimes  that are being deliberately committed in Ukraine would set an  international precedent for the world leaders attempting to do the same  in the future.
_Pattern #5. Whitewashing Putins goals for invading Ukraine_
  In your interviews, you go to great lengths to rationalize Putins  goals of demilitarization and neutralization of Ukraine. Please note  that, in his TV address  from February 24, 2022, marking the beginning of the war, the verbatim  goal declared by Putin for this military operation is to denazify  Ukraine. This concept builds on his long pseudo-historical article from July 2021, denying Ukraines existence and claiming that Ukrainians were not a nation. As elaborated in the denazification manual  published by the Russian official press agency RIA Novosti, a Nazi is  simply a human being who self-identifies as Ukrainian, the  establishment of a Ukrainian state thirty years ago was the  Nazification of Ukraine, and any attempt to build such a state has to  be a Nazi act. According to this genocide handbook, denazification  implies a military defeat, purging, and population-level  re-education.Demilitarization and neutralization imply the same  goalwithout weapons Ukraine will not be able to defend itself, and  Russia will reach its long-term goal of destroying Ukraine.
_Pattern #6. Assuming that Putin is interested in a diplomatic solution_
  All of us very much hoped for a cease-fire and a negotiated  settlement, which could have saved many human lives. Yet, we find it  preposterous how you repeatedly assign the blame for not reaching this  settlement to Ukraine (for not offering Putin some escape hatch) or  the US (for supposedly insisting on the military rather than diplomatic  solution) instead of the actual aggressor, who has repeatedly and  intentionally bombed civilians, maternity wards, hospitals, and  humanitarian corridors during those very negotiations. Given the  escalatory rhetoric (cited above) of the Russian state media, Russias  goal is erasure and subjugation of Ukraine, not a diplomatic solution.
_Pattern #7. Advocating that yielding to Russian demands is the way to avert the nuclear war_
  Since the Russian invasion, Ukraine lives in a constant nuclear  threat, not just due to being a prime target for Russian nuclear  missiles but also due to the Russian occupation of Ukrainian nuclear  power plants.
  But what are the alternatives to fighting for freedom? Unconditional  surrender and then elimination of Ukrainians off the face of the Earth  (see above)? Have you ever wondered why President Zelenskyy, with the  overwhelming support of the Ukrainian people, is pleading with Western  leaders to provide heavy weapons despite the potential threat of nuclear  escalation? The answer to this question is not Because of Uncle Sam,  but rather due to the fact that Russian war crimes in Bucha and many other Ukrainian cities and villages have shown that living under Russian occupation is a tangible hell on earth happening right now, requiring immediate action.

  Arguably, any concessions to Russia will not reduce the probability  of a nuclear war but lead to escalation. If Ukraine falls, Russia may  attack other countries (Moldova, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Finland or Sweden)  and can also use its nuclear blackmail to push the rest of Europe into  submission. And Russia is not the only nuclear power in the world. Other  countries, such as China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea are  watching. Just imagine what will happen if they learn that nuclear  powers can get whatever they want using nuclear blackmail.
  Professor Chomsky, we hope you will consider the facts and  re-evaluate your conclusions. If you truly value Ukrainian lives as you  claim to, we would like to kindly ask you to refrain from adding further  fuel to the Russian war machine by spreading views very much akin to  Russian propaganda.
  Should you wish to engage further on any of the above-mentioned points, we are always open to discussion.
  Kind regards,
  Bohdan Kukharskyy, City University of New York 
Anastassia Fedyk, University of California, Berkeley 
Yuriy Gorodnichenko, University of California, Berkeley 
Ilona Sologoub, VoxUkraine NGO

_Originally published at_ Berkeley Blog_.


_https://www.e-flux.com/notes/470005/...ia-ukraine-war

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## russellsimpson

^^^^ My understanding is that the Russians were going after storage facilities for imported foreign weapons. I would not put it past Zelensky to use the grain agreement to do a bit of military maneuvering in and around Odesa. This was in relation to your following comment.





> And Russia has finally admitted they did it, and the UN has condemned Russia for it.


I saw one report of the UN condemnation. I would have thought if it were verified that it would be all over the news with the propaganda machine and all.
Something doesn't smell right here.

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## HermantheGerman

> Something doesn't smell right here.


Absolutely! This is not a war! This is a special operation  :smiley laughing: 

How many accidental rockets have been fired on the Ukraine? Can you keep count?

https://omr.gov.ua/ua/news/229066

https://omr.gov.ua/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...NbNCAqpfCY5CiG

----------


## HermantheGerman

> I have to agree with Sabang. I doubt very much that Zelensky will still be in power in six months. It's a chilling thought to imagine this fucking war will still be happeninjg in six months.


20 February 2014 – present (*8 years, 4 months and 4 weeks*) Russian invasion of Ukraine: 24 February 2022 – present (4 months, 3 weeks and 3 days)

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## bsnub

> My understanding is that the Russians were going after storage facilities for imported foreign weapons.  I would not put it past Zelensky to use the grain agreement to do a bit of military maneuvering in and around Odesa.


You are a fool who really should not post on a topic that you are utterly clueless about. You are proving to be a useful idiot.




> I have to agree with Sabang. I doubt very much that Zelensky will still be in power in six months.


How much money do you have to put on the table? Six months from now, Zelensky will still be in Kyiv and the Russian army will be afflicted with mass cases of frostbite.




> I hope to see little war monger Blinken gone asap.


Stop parroting Russian propaganda, you pathetic buffoon.

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## russellsimpson

> How much money do you have to put on the table? Six months from now, Zelensky will still be in Kyiv and the Russian army will be afflicted with mass cases of frostbite.


How about 20 US dollars?

You have to be right on both counts to win. :smiley laughing:

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## bsnub

> You have to be right on both counts to win.


Oh, I will be right, don't you worry. 




> How about 20 US dollars?


Done.

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## harrybarracuda

> Zelensky just wants to hold the western (sucker) world to ransom. I personally doubt he will still be in power in six months time, but let's see.


AH, and there was me thinking it was Putin using energy and grain to try and blackmail the world into letting him keep the territory he's stolen.

You complete douchebag.

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## harrybarracuda

> I hope the fog of war will lift long enough for us to see what really happened in Odesa. In the meantime I'm not buying any of the stories.


Yeah, I'd stick to TASS and Pravda versions, you chump.




> UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Saturday "unequivocally" condemned missile attacks earlier in the day on Ukraine's Odessa, a port that is key to a UN-brokered grain export deal between Russia and Ukraine.

----------


## misskit

‘Dirt, decay, and bitter cold’ Ukrainian volunteers held captive for more than 100 days describe harrowing conditions inside ‘filtration’ prison near Donetsk

In late March, Russian forces detained 32 Ukrainian volunteers who had been providing humanitarian aid to civilians in the besieged city of Mariupol. The captives were sent to a “filtration” prison in Olenivka — a village located inside the Kremlin-controlled “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR), where captured Ukrainian troops from the Azovstal steel plant were also reportedly imprisoned. More than 100 days later, on July 14, 31 of the volunteers were released for unknown reasons. Since then, at least four of them have spoken to journalists: Hanna Vorozheva, Kostiantyn Velychko, and Stanislav Hlushkov gave a press conference in Warsaw, and Yevhen Maliarchuk gave an interview to Current Time TV. Meduza summarizes their stories here. 

Before the February invasion, Hanna Vorozheva worked as a party planner in Mariupol. Kostiantyn Velychko was an IT specialist, Stanislav Hlushkov worked in international transport, and Yevhen Maliarchuk was an entrepreneur. After Russia began waging a full-scale war against Ukraine, they all became volunteers, working to deliver food and medicine to Mariupol residents and evacuate civilians from the besieged city.


According to Kostiantyn Velychko, he was detained along with Hanna Vorozheva and Stanislav Hlushkov after Russian soldiers stopped their bus at the last checkpoint on the way out of Mariupol. (Yevhen Maliarchuk did not explain the circumstances surrounding his capture in the interview with Current Time TV.) Despite the fact that the volunteers had the necessary ID badges and documents, the Russian soldiers sent them to the village of Nikolske, where they were handed over to combatants from the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) for interrogation. 


The interrogators accused the volunteers of “evacuating people for money” and smuggling Ukrainian soldiers out of Mariupol. “[They claimed that] we were giving [them] our documents so that some servicemen, including ‘Azov’ fighters, could leave Mariupol and get to the territory of Ukraine,” Hlushkov recalled. 


Following the interrogations, he and the other volunteers were sent to Correctional Colony No. 120, a defunct prison in Olenivka — a village outside of Donetsk — that the Russian side has used to hold Ukrainian captives since the start of the war. 


“At almost every stage we were moved around blindfolded,” Velychko explained. “They wrapped our eyes and hands with scotch tape and put bags over our heads. We were led around facing the floor, like terrorists. If we didn’t sit the right way, stand the right way, or our escort didn’t like something, they beat us. If I sat the wrong way, they beat my legs. If I lowered my hands, they beat my arms.” 


Vorozheva described the prison in Olenivka as an abandoned facility that included several two-storey buildings. According to the volunteers’ estimates, the building where they were held had 19 cells, designed to hold a maximum of 100 people. At one point, however, it held nearly 800 prisoners. The prison guards referred to the building as “the pit.” 


“The correctional colony in Olenivka was mothballed before us. It was opened specifically to organize a ‘filtration camp.’ At first, there weren’t many prisoners. And then large convoys started arriving from the Ilych plant, then from Azovstal [two factories in Mariupol that Ukrainian soldiers used as strongholds]. There were around 3,000 people on the grounds of the [prison] colony at the same time,” Maliarchuk said.


According to Vorozheva, the prisoners were “surrounded by dirt, decay, and bitter cold every second.” In some of the cells, people had to take turns sleeping on the concrete floor due to overcrowding. Many of the prisoners were ill, but there were neither doctors nor medicine. Even those with broken bones weren’t given painkillers, Vorozheva said. She herself suffered injuries to the inside of her cheeks after the wire came off her braces, and resorted to smoking cigarettes to try and relieve the pain. 

The prison didn’t have enough food. According to Vorozheva, during the first weeks, the prisoners were given 150 grams (5 ounces) of bread per day, along with “boiled pasta [and] a certain amount of sprats.” Maliarchuk said he lost roughly 15 kilograms (33 pounds) while in captivity. 


There was also a shortage of drinking water. The prisoners were supposed to be given 150–200 milliliters (5–7 ounces) each per day. Sometimes they were given access to untreated water, but there wasn’t enough of that either. The sewage system wasn’t functional and the women weren’t provided with sanitary pads. Some of Vorozheva’s cellmates were pregnant. 


Later, the volunteers learned that the conditions in the other barracks were better than in “the pit” — in other parts of the camp, the prisoners could “sleep lying down, not sitting up, and also breathe [fresh] air.” The prisoners were told that they could be moved out of “the pit” if they obtained office equipment and building materials for the prison camp. The prisoners were allowed to call their relatives to give them shopping lists. Which is how their families finally received confirmation that they were still alive. 


The prisoners were also forced to do all of the work around the camp. According to the volunteers, some of the captives were beaten and tortured. “We’ve seen what these people do with prisoners. Unfortunately, I can’t give the details, because I worry for the safety of those people who remained in the colony. But there was torture more severe than that inflicted on us,” Hlushkov said. 


According to Hlushkov, the head of the prison, Sergey Yevsyukov, “obviously has sadistic tendencies.” “Yevsyukov […] in my personal opinion, is one of the most terrible executioners running this entire camp. [He] repeatedly told us that we’d be there for at least 10 years,” Hlushkov recalled. 


At first, the volunteers were told that they’d be released after 30 days (according to DNR law, one cannot be detained for more than a month without a trial). But an order to “re-arrest” them was simply drawn up at the end of every month. The volunteers don’t know why they were finally released. Hlushkov assumed that it was thanks to the efforts of their relatives, who appealed to officials in Ukraine, the DNR, and Russia.


“One fine day, several officers came to our cell and started calling out surnames, then there was a team with [our] things ready to go. We thought that we’d simply be transferred to another place, as had happened before,” Maliarchuk recalled. “In the end, we were summoned, forced to sign protocols [stating] that we had no complaints, and just released. They opened the gate and said ‘You’re free’.” 


According to Hlushkov, after they were released, the volunteers escaped “through Donetsk” — they got out of the DNR thanks to “caring people.” Their friend, a fellow Ukrainian volunteer named Serhiy Tarasenko, is still imprisoned in Olenivka. “We need to join forces and help him,” Maliarchuk underscored. “In addition to Tarasenko, there are many other civilians there. There’s no logic in that place, there’s no operating procedures. How do they detain [people]? For what? Why do they release [people]? Why not? No one knows. No one explains anything.” 

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/07...nd-bitter-cold

----------


## russellsimpson

> UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Saturday "unequivocally" condemned missile attacks earlier in the day on Ukraine's Odessa, a port that is key to a UN-brokered grain export deal between Russia and Ukraine.


Have another look at your own quoted statement Harry. Not the ringing condemnation that you are telling us it is.

However no way in the world that Russia is going to be let off the hook for this, the bastards..

----------


## bsnub

> My understanding is that the Russians were going after storage facilities for imported foreign weapons. I would not put it past Zelensky to use the grain agreement to do a bit of military maneuvering in and around Odesa.


Wrong again. You are a naive fool to believe anything the Russians say.

----------


## misskit

US working on "Plan B" for Ukrainian grain exports after Odesa bombing, USAID administrator says

The United States is working with Ukraine on a "Plan B" to get grain exports out of the country following Russia's attack on the port of Odesa, according to United States Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power. 


"Plan B involves road and rail and river and sending in barges and adjusting the rail systems so that they're better aligned with those in Europe so that the exports can move out more quickly," Power told CNN's Larry Madowo in an interview in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday, after visiting drought-stricken areas of Kenya and Somalia last week.


"We have been living the contingency plan because there's no way you can trust anything that Vladimir Putin says," she continued. 


Power stressed that despite the security afforded by a contingency plan, "there is no substitute for Putin allowing the blockade to end and the grains being sent out the most efficient way possible."


On Friday, Russia and Ukraine signed a deal allowing for the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea after months of tough negotiations, mediated by Turkey and the United Nations.


However just one day later, Russia carried out a missile strike on the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa, where vital grain stocks have been lying in storage. 


More than half of Somalia's wheat imports come from Ukraine, said Power, adding that 20 million metric tons of wheat and corn are still trapped at the port of Odesa.


Power said she hopes that that the grain deal "somehow sticks" despite Russia's move to "immediately turn its back" on it by bombing the port.


Ensuring the supply of grain will help drive down prices, Power said.


"Even the specter of this deal working and being enforced and the grains leaving the port brought prices down, even in a 24-hour period," she said. "So, more supply with the same amount of demand is going to mean lower prices."


Last week, the US announced an additional $1.3 billion in humanitarian assistance to the Horn of Africa, with unprecedented drought across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. 


Power called on countries that play "leadership roles in the international system, such as the People's Republic of China clearly aspires to do," to "dig deeper" to prevent the food crisis "from becoming a catastrophe."

Live updates: Russia'&#39;'s war in Ukraine

----------


## bsnub

The war in Ukraine may be entering a new stage as long-range rocket  systems supplied by the US disrupt Russia’s grinding advance in the  eastern Donbas region, and open the door for a possible  counteroffensive.

More than 150 days into President Vladimir  Putin’s invasion, it remains far from clear if Ukraine can take  advantage of the “opportunity” that Britain’s MI6 intelligence service  chief Richard Moore last week said was emerging as Russian forces “run  out of steam.” 

                            But reasons for the leadership in Kyiv to attempt  a larger assault are rising, both on and off the battlefield. Those  include falling casualty rates, a recent hardening of Russia’s declared  territorial claims, the need for economic recovery within Ukraine, and a  global downturn that could see allied governments under pressure to end  the war.

On Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War said in its daily report on the fighting that a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the southern Kherson region might already have begun.  

The  report by the Washington think tank also attributed a sharp reduction  in Russian artillery barrages on the main Donbas front since July 15 to  so-called HIMARS, multiple rocket launch systems with a range of 80 km  (50 miles) that have struck dozens of arms depots supplying the Russian  front lines.

Ukrainian forces have damaged all bridges that  connect Russian forces in Kherson to their supply lines on the eastern  bank of the massive Dnipro river, the ISW said on Monday.                            

“We have a significant potential for the advance  of our forces on the front, and for the infliction of significant new  losses on the occupiers,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after a  meeting with his security chiefs on Thursday. 

Ukraine’s battlefield casualties have fallen to about 30 per day, from a high of 100-200 per day in May-June, Zelenskiy said in an interview  with the Wall Street Journal published on Friday. He again ruled out  any cease-fire that leaves Russia in control of territory it has taken.

              All of this indicates the war is entering another phase, according to Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews  in Scotland. In the first, Russian forces tried and failed to take Kyiv  in a fast-moving operation. In the second, they withdrew east in a bid  to pound a path to victory, using artillery.

“If  the reduction in Russian fire power in the Donbas continues, then  basically that front is frozen and the question becomes -- can the  Ukrainians push them back?” O’Brien said.

On Sunday, Moscow Calling, a Russian mid-size Telegram channel on the invasion, made the same breakdown of the war, saying the arrival of HIMARS had launched a third phase.

Ukraine’s  commanders are likely to be cautious, because when they try to move  forward against modern defensive weaponry their tanks, planes and  soldiers will face the same vulnerabilities that have plagued the  Russian troops, according to O’Brien.

And  uncertainties abound, including the potential for Russian commanders to  rebuild supply lines out of range of the HIMARS, or to galvanize an  under-performing air force to destroy them. Either development could  allow Russia to reinvigorate its operations and close any window of  opportunity for Ukraine.

The capacity of Ukrainian  forces to roll back Russian territorial gains without first securing  even more artillery, armored vehicles and anti-aircraft systems from  allied nations is also unclear. Although Kyiv has conducted numerous  counteroffensives since the invasion began on Feb. 24, these have been  on a small scale.

              A failed assault could cost Ukraine troops it can  ill-afford to lose, exposing it to a renewed attack, according to a  European defense official. 

Still,  Zelenskiy pledged last month to take back lost territory in the south,  where Russian occupation up to Kherson has cut Ukraine’s access to the  sea and crippled its industrial heartland along the Dnipro, with major  cities and factories as little as 50 km from the front lines.

              Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week added a further reason to act, saying  Moscow now aimed to permanently separate the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia  provinces from Ukraine. He likened them to the self-proclaimed Donetsk  and Luhansk republics, which Moscow recognized as independent on the eve  of the invasion.

Lavrov cited further deliveries  of arms by Ukraine’s allies, claiming the longer reach of the weapons  put Donetsk, Luhansk and Russia under threat. 

The  Kremlin has ordered referenda to approve Kherson and Zaporizhzhia’s  annexation by Sept. 15, according to people familiar with the matter.  Most of both provinces are under Russian occupation and such votes would  be illegal. Even so, annexation would raise the stakes for any  counteroffensive, because the Kremlin could portray it as an attack on  Russia.

Ukraine  also is under pressure to show its supporters in Europe and the US it  can strike back, before they enter a season of energy crises, inflation  and recession, caused in part by the war.

“To be  honest, it will be an important reminder to the rest of Europe that this  is a winnable campaign by the Ukrainians,” MI6’s Moore said, in a rare  public appearance at the Aspen Security Forum, “because we are about to  go into a pretty tough winter.”

              Pressure to secure gains is mounting for Russia,  too, not least because it will be difficult to hold referenda with  Ukrainian artillery still able to shell cities such as Donetsk, which  would be crucial to turnout.

The main problem is that while Ukraine gets more  modern weapons to fight with, Russia is having to switch to ever older  tanks, guns and missiles, a person close to the Russian defense ministry  said, asking not to be identified talking about confidential matters.

              Igor  Girkin, a nationalist with 410,000 followers on Telegram who has  fiercely criticized Russia’s military leadership for being disorganized  and ineffective in its campaign against Ukraine, said in a recent post  there was “wild” under staffing of front-line units, while morale was  poor with soldiers refusing to fight. He described recent progress by  Russian forces in Ukraine as “tortoise-like.”

“We  have nothing to attack with in depth,” said Girkin, a Russian citizen  who played a prominent role in the 2014 Russian takeover of Crimea and  weeks later became the first commander of Russia-backed separatist  forces in Donbas. Girkin is being tried in absentia in the Netherlands, charged with murder  in the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern  Ukraine, where all 298 on board were killed. He has dismissed the  trial. 

A Ukrainian counterattack on Kherson could  succeed at least in the short term, because it has more troops in a  region where Russian forces are relatively weak and have their backs to  the Dnipro river, according to the person with knowledge of Russian  defense capabilities.

In the end, though, “it  would still be a fight between two artilleries, and that means what we  need most is more artillery, both for tactical depth at 20-25 km, HIMARS  at 80 km and ATACMS,” said Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at the  National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Ukraine government think  tank. He was referring to Army Tactical Missile Systems, with a range as  far as 300 km. The US is not known to have sent ATACMS to Ukraine.

“Also  it would be about mobility, more armored vehicles, more air defense to  cover these moving formations and secure communications,” Bielieskov  said. “This is a process and it is too early to say the Russian front  has stabilized.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...w-phase-of-war

----------


## misskit

Russia struggling to repair thousands of destroyed combat vehicles, British intelligence says


LONDON — Russia is likely struggling to extract and repair combat vehicles damaged in its war in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense has said.


In a Monday intelligence update, the ministry said that a Russian army facility six miles from the Ukrainian border was created to refit and refurbish broken combat vehicles. Close to 300 damaged vehicles, including armored personnel carriers and battle tanks, were identified at the lot.


Among other “well-documented personnel problems” — such as reportedly using private mercenaries to reinforce its depleted frontline — the Defense Intelligence went on to say, Russia continues to struggle to repair the thousands of broken military vehicles that have been damaged in the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, Russia has lost close to 9,000 combat vehicles, including 3,950 armored protected vehicles and 1,730 tanks. Russia’s Ministry of Defense has provided little data on the number of total vehicles lost, but according to the Kremlin’s preliminary published data, just 50 APVs have been damaged.


In comparison, Oryx, an open source investigation that relies on photographic evidence to calculate losses, stated that Russia had lost over 2,000 vehicles including 885 tanks and 965 infantry fighting vehicles. Some of those vehicles have remained operational and have been captured by Ukrainian forces.


The steep losses of combat vehicles have left the Russian infantry exposed to attack, according to Dr. Matthew Schmidt, the director of international affairs and an associate professor of national security at the University of New Haven in Connecticut.


“The exposure means a higher risk of casualties that will exacerbate the manpower shortage Moscow faces,” Schmidt told Yahoo News. “Add to that the fact that most of the replacement troops will be undertrained and a lack of armored vehicles means that any offensive in the Donbas or towards Odesa faces high casualty scenarios.”

Russia struggling to repair thousands of destroyed combat vehicles, British intelligence says

----------


## bsnub

So much for the grain agreement...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) —  Russia targeted Ukraine’s Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with  air strikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure  along the country’s southern coast, the Ukrainian military said.

The Kremlin’s forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post.

In  the Odesa region, a number of private buildings in villages on the  coast were hit and caught fire, the report said. In the Mykolaiv region,  port infrastructure was targeted.

Hours  after the renewed strikes on the south, a Moscow-installed official in  the southern Kherson region said the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions will  soon be “liberated” by the Russian forces, just like the Kherson region  further east.

“The  Kherson region and the city of Kherson have been liberated forever,”  Kirill Stremousov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA  Novosti.

The developments came as Ukraine appeared to be preparing a counteroffensive in the south.

Russia  previously attacked Odesa’s port at the weekend. The British military  said Tuesday there was no indication that a Ukrainian warship and a  stockpile of anti-ship missiles were at the site, as Moscow claimed.

The British Defense  Ministry said Russia sees Ukraine’s use of anti-ship missiles as “a key  threat” that is limiting its Black Sea Fleet.

“This  has significantly undermined the overall invasion plan, as Russia  cannot realistically attempt an amphibious assault to seize Odesa,” the  military said. “Russia will continue to prioritize efforts to degrade  and destroy Ukraine’s anti-ship capability.”

It  added that “Russia’s targeting processes are highly likely routinely  undermined by dated intelligence, poor planning, and a top-down approach  to operations.”

Russian  shelling over the previous 24 hours killed at least three civilians and  wounded eight more in Ukraine, the president’s office said Tuesday.

In  the eastern Donetsk region, where the fighting has been focused in  recent weeks, the shelling continued along the entire front line, with  the largest cities of the region, including Bakhmut, Avdiivka and  Toretsk, being targeted by the Russian forces, a statement said.

Donetsk  regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko accused Russian troops of using  cluster munitions and repeated his call for civilians to evacuate.

“There  is not a single safe place left, everything is being shelled,”  Kyrylenko said in televised remarks. “But there are still evacuation  routes for the civilian population.”

The  Institute for the Study of War, based in Washington, D.C., reported  that the Russians are using mercenaries from the shadowy Wagner Group to  capture the Vuhledar Power Plant on the northern outskirts of the  Novoluhanske village. 

But the Russian forces have made “limited gains” there, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.

The main Russian focus has been on capturing Bakhmut.

“Russian  forces made marginal gains south of Bakhmut but are unlikely to be able  to effectively leverage these advances to take full control of Bakhmut  itself,” the Institute for the Study of War said.

Russian  forces continued to launch strikes on civilian infrastructure in  Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the northeast, and the  surrounding region. 

Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said the strikes on the city resumed around dawn Tuesday, damaging a car dealership.

“The  Russians deliberately target civilian infrastructure objects —  hospitals, schools, movie theaters,” Syniehubov told Ukrainian  television. “Everything is being fired at, even queues for humanitarian  aid, so we’re urging people to avoid mass gatherings.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Moscow wants “the complete subjugation of Ukraine and its people.”

“We  must be prepared for this war — which Russia is conducting with  absolute brutality, and is conducting in a way that no one else would —  to last months,” Baerbock said during a visit to Prague.

Russia aims new air strikes at Black Sea coastal targets | AP News

If you have not figured it out by now, you never will. The Russians can never be trusted.

----------


## sabang

There are fears Europe’s largest economy is on the brink of recession as business confidence falls and the threat of retaliation from Russia grows.


The business climate in Germany worsened “significantly” in July, according to a key survey published on Monday, as an energy crisis pushed Europe’s largest economy closer to a recession this year.

The Ifo institute’s monthly confidence barometer, based on a survey of 9000 companies, fell to 88.6 points in July from 92.2 points last month and the “lowest level since June 2020” near the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The pessimistic figures suggest that “Germany is on the cusp of a recession”, Ifo president Clemens Fuest said.


The mood among businesses had “cooled significantly”, while “higher energy prices and the threat of a gas shortage are weighing on the economy”.

The fall was particularly steep in the manufacturing sector, where “pessimism regarding the coming months reached its highest level since April 2020”, Mr Fuest said.

“Weaker global demand (and) supply chain frictions” were also weighing on the Germany economy, said ING analyst Carsten Brzeski.


He said the strong headwinds and weak data meant Germany’s economy could have seen a contraction “already in the second quarter”.

The risk that Russia could cut off its supply of gas to Germany, in retaliation for Berlin’s support of Ukraine, has prompted fears of an energy shortage at the end of the year.

Looking ahead, “there are more downside than upside risks to the outlook”, Mr Brzeski said.


“A further escalation in the energy crisis will remain a key risk for the economy going into the winter,” he said.


Businesses’ expectations for the economy fell sharply to 80.3 points in July from 85.5 the previous month.

Their assessment of the current situation sank to 97.7 points in July from 99.4 points previously.

Germany ‘on the cusp of a recession’, fuelled by fears of gas crisis | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

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## sabang

*A large group of African migrants in Paris stormed and occupied the asylum camp established to house Ukrainian refugees fleeing from their war torn country. The group of protestors organised by the activist group “Collectif La Chapelle Debout” demanded “residency rights and housing for all.”
*
*In June, around 80 places made available to Ukrainian refugees were stormed by African migrants. Video footage of one of the occupying movements was released on Thursday, showing a large group of African men storming the camp that houses Ukrainian refugees, packing the venue and making demands on a megaphone.

The organisers of the protest argued that the Ukrainian refugees are receiving preferential treatment, provided housing and resources, while the African migrants were left behind. On their social media post, the “Collectif La Chapelle Debout” highlighted that the aid for Ukrainian refugees in Paris is clearly on racist and supremacist grounds.

FULL-  African migrants storming asylum camps for Ukrainian refugees throughout France | TVP World*

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## sabang

Russia has decided to quit the International Space Station "after 2024", the newly-appointed chief of Moscow's space agency told President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

The announcement comes as tensions rage between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of unprecedented sanctions against Russia.

Russia and the United States have worked side by side on the ISS, which has been in orbit since 1998.


"Of course, we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made," Yury Borisov, who was appointed Roscosmos chief in mid-July, told Putin.


"I think that by this time we will start putting together a Russian orbital station," Borisov added, calling it the space programme's main "priority".
"Good," Putin replied in comments released by the Kremlin.


Until now space exploration was one of the few areas where cooperation between Russia and the United States and its allies had not been wrecked by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.

Borisov said the space industry was in a "difficult situation".

He said he would seek "to raise the bar, and first of all, to provide the Russian economy with the necessary space services", pointing to navigation, communication, and data transmission, among other things.

Sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first satellite four years earlier are among key accomplishments of the Soviet space programme and remain a major source of national pride in Russia.

But experts say the Russian space agency remains a shadow of its former self and has in recent years suffered a series of setbacks including corruption scandals and the loss of a number of satellites and other spacecraft.

Borisov, a former deputy prime minister with a military background, has replaced Dmitry Rogozin, a firebrand nationalist politician known for his bombastic statements and eccentric behaviour.

Russia to quit International Space Station 'after 2024'

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## pickel

The recession was bound to happen even before the invasion.

African men raiding refugee camps of Ukrainian women and children (obviously because military age men can't leave), and you somehow view that as a "win".

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## bsnub

The war in Ukraine  may be heading for its bloodiest phase yet, according to senior  Ukrainian officials and western analysts, who say a long-threatened  southern counteroffensive by Kyiv’s forces will result in a “huge  battle” and will need to overcome increasingly well dug-in Russian  troops.

People interviewed by the Guardian,  including those who have recently escaped Kherson, describe Russian  forces in the south building hardened tank shelters, digging trenches  and bringing in prefabricated concrete pillboxes by lorry.

An  increase in strikes in recent days against key Russian weapons stores  and logistics around Kherson – which fell to Russian forces in early  March – has added to suggestions that some Ukrainian forces may be  edging closer to the long-promised offensive, even as Russian officials  say they plan to annex further territory.

*Ukrainian forces may be edging towards a counter-offensive*

At his quarters in a training area in the south of  the country hidden in an area of dense scrub, “Makita” – a Ukrainian  battalion infantry instructor who only wished to give his nom de guerre –  spelled out the challenges for a southern offensive.

“We  are holding our positions right now to the east of Mykolaiv. But the  intention is to liberate the areas held by Russian forces. The biggest  challenge is to do that with the minimum losses on the Ukrainian side.

“Russian  forces are fortifying what are already good positions,” he added. “They  had a month in which to improve the defences. They also appear to be  bringing up reserves and more weapons including 2S7s [self-propelled  heavy artillery].

“The first task will be to  push back the Russians towards Kherson and over the Dnipro [Dnieper]  River. We know it is going to be hard.”

With  the far western end of the sprawling 120-mile southern frontline marked  by the city of Mykolaiv, any Ukrainian offensive will be seen as a key  test of whether Kyiv’s troops can push back in force, in contrast to the  limited and local counteroffensives that have been witnessed so far.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov’s declaration this week  that Russia was expanding its war aims from the Donbas, including to  the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south, has increased  pressure on Kyiv to follow through on its promise to drive Russian  forces from areas they have occupied.

Ukrainian  officials, for their part, have been explicit that the next phase of  the war could escalate into even greater violence, amid the risk of  further Russian escalation in response to any Ukrainian push south.  Earlier this month Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister and  minister for the reintegration of temporarily occupied territories,  called on Ukrainians in the occupied territories to leave by all means  possible. “There will be a huge battle. I don’t want to scare anyone;  everyone understands everything anyway,” she said.

The  mayor of Mykolaiv, Alexander Senkevich, whose city has endured months  of almost daily attacks, said: “Military theory says you need a  three-to-one advantage if you are attacking. But they [the Russians] are  building fortifications including tank blinds to protect their armour.  They will try to extend any fighting into the winter when they will be  under cover while our troops will be in the field.

“But with our city being targeted almost every day, and Ukrainians being killed every day, we need a counteroffensive.”

What  is clear is that if a counteroffensive does occur in the coming weeks  and months, Kherson will be at its centre. Russian commanders are  reported to have moved troops from more vulnerable positions to  concentrate on urban areas such as Kherson, whose recapture is widely  believed to be one of Kyiv’s primary objectives, as well as digging  trench systems around the key Antonivskiy Bridge over the River Dnieper  into the city.

The bridge has been described as  a “key vulnerability for Russian forces” in a UK Ministry of Defence  assessment, and Ukrainian strikes this week punched holes in it.

It  is one of two main routes into the city, along with a road over the dam  at Nova Kakhovka to the east of Kherson, a town that has also seen  repeated recent Ukrainian strikes on ammunition stores and logistics.  The threat to the Antonivskiy Bridge is seen as particularly dangerous  to Russian forces there.

Euhenia Virlych and  Vladislav Gladkij, two Ukrainian journalists who escaped Kherson earlier  in July after hiding in the city for months, described the situation  there.
Virlych said of the Russians: “They are deepening their presence there.

“They  are aware that the Ukrainian army is getting closer from one side.”  Virlych suggested that in one place they may be as close as six miles  from the city.

“The Russians have also become  much more oppressive. They are looking for activists, signs of anyone  who is pro-Ukrainian, and they are now moving their checkpoints around  the city.”

Virlych added: “They are mining the  fields on the approaches from Mykolaiv. They are mining everything, and  their soldiers are digging trenches.”

Other  witnesses who have travelled in the region report that some Russian  checkpoints on roads in rural areas have gone or are now more sparsely  occupied as troops have been pulled back towards Kherson.

Russian forces also appear to be moving ammunition  stores, which have been struck repeatedly by US-supplied Himars rocket  systems in recent weeks, out of range of missile strikes.

In  a long analysis earlier this week of what a southern offensive might  look like, the Kyiv Independent’s defence correspondent, Illia  Ponomarenko, suggested that despite recent reinforcements, Russian  troops are thinly spread across the long frontline, compared with the  Donbas, and may be poorly trained.

“The local  terrain opens up opportunities for Ukraine,” wrote Ponomarenko. “Due to  the lack of roads in the oblast and few bridges across the Dnipro River,  Russian logistics are slower in Kherson.

“And  transportation bottlenecks force Russian forces to keep their supplies  concentrated in a few locations near train stations. These saturated  areas are juicy targets for Himars.”

Few, however, are in doubt about the coming trajectory of the war.
“It  is just a matter of time before the next more bloody phase,” the head  of Ukraine’s national security council, Oleksiy Danilov, told the  Guardian.

“It will happen, unfortunately,  because the Russian Federation will not stop. Their objective is to  conquer as much land as possible and the first task is to destroy us.

“We  understand that and it is a difficult question how to prepare the  civilian population. But with airstrikes going on all across the country  our citizens understand we are in a state of war. We cannot relax and everybody has to be ready for escalation and from any direction."

“We  are preparing people in the south. The government is warning people to  leave. Everything between the territory of the Black Sea and the Sea of  Azov is in the danger zone.”

Russian forces dig in as bloody Ukrainian counterattack anticipated in south | Ukraine | The Guardian

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## bsnub

*Polish PT-91 Tanks Rolling to Ukraine –* Poland has  become one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine and has continued to  provide military and humanitarian aid. What makes this especially  noteworthy is that the two people have a long and very complex history –  dating back to the 16th century when much of Ukraine fell under the control of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and later became part of the Crown of the King of the Kingdom of Poland.

 By the end of the 18th century, both Poland and Ukraine were under foreign control, with the former essentially disappearing from the map of Europe, while the latter was essentially a Russian-controlled territory. Then briefly after the First World War, the two fought over disputed territory –  before Ukraine was absorbed into the Soviet Union. Fast forward to  today, and both the Poles and Ukrainians remember being under the thumb  of Moscow – which is why it is clear that Warsaw has gone to great  lengths to aid its neighbors in Kyiv. 

*Polish Tanks Rolling to Ukraine
* 
Just last week, Poland transferred a batch of PT-91 Twardy main battle tanks (MBT). Based on the Soviet-designed T-72, the PT-91 first entered service in 1995. It featured enhanced indigenously-developed ERAWA explosive reactive armor blocks, which improved the tank’s protection by 30 to 70 percent depending on the type of ammunition used.

 In addition, the Twardy (Polish for “Hard”) is armed with a 125mm main gun, similar to the main armament of the T-72.  Also, like the Soviet-made tank, it is fitted with an autoloader, but  with a new gun stabilization system and improved fire control. Secondary  armament consists of a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun and a roof-mounted  12.7mm (.50 caliber) machine gun. The PT-91 has a crew of three  including the commander, gunner, and driver. 

Poland had produced some 220 of the MBTs in three models, and it  is unclear exactly how many have been donated to date and how many more  Kyiv might expect. Yet, by some accounts, Poland could send its entire  fleet to help Ukraine.

 “The shortage of tanks that emerges in Poland after the transfer to  Ukraine of more than 200 T-72 tanks and a certain number of PT-91 Twardy  tanks, whose number I can’t name, will be fully compensated, even with a  surplus,” said Krzysztof Platek, spokesman of the Armaments Agency of  the Ministry of Defense of Poland, on the “Wow – Wolski o Wojnie” YouTube channel. 

The transfer was confirmed by Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak),  spokesperson for the office of the President of Ukraine, who tweeted,  “Polish PT-91 Twardy MBTs are in Ukraine. A friend in need is a friend  indeed. Jesteśmy bardzo wdzięczni naszym polskim przyjaciołom. (We are  very grateful to our Polish friends.)”

 Polish PT-91 Twardy MBTs are in Ukraine. A friend  in need is a friend indeed. Jesteśmy bardzo wdzięczni naszym polskim  przyjaciołom. pic.twitter.com/CatWwQSa8b 
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) July 25, 2022
Poland had previously donated a batch of 240 modernized T-72  tanks to Ukraine along with more than 100 armored personnel carriers to  help counter Russia’s armed aggression. To replace its own armored fleet, Warsaw ordered 250 new Abrams MBTs and 116 older-generation Abrams tanks from the United States, while it has also applied to lease 180 K2 tanks from South Korea.

 Even as Warsaw is seeking to aid Kyiv, it appears it wants to ensure it maintains the means to fend off an invasion from Russia. 

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/07/...-twardy-tanks/

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## sabang

Will that change the course of the war snubby?  ::chitown:: Will that improve the European and world economy? Put an end to the decline of the USD as a medium of foreign trade, and repository of Sovereign wealth? Stymie the fact that settlement mechanisms are being put in place to bypass SWIFT? Make the now expanding BRICS fall to pieces, and change their mind about setting up their own international bank?

Didn't think so.  ::chitown:: Just some more war toys- how quaint.

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## Seekingasylum

I learned from my Polish acquaintances I met in Blighty that their loathing for Russia and Russians is pretty much absolute - Krauts weren't exactly 'top of the pops' either but their hatred for Ivan is almost atavistic. The only way the filthy Russkis could vanquish the Poles again would be if they nuked the country.

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## sabang

Sure, a lot of historical resentment. Poland was divided- by agreement- between the Soviets and Nazis near the beginning of WW2.

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## Seekingasylum

> Will that change the course of the war snubby? Will that improve the European and world economy? Put an end to the decline of the USD as a medium of foreign trade, and repository of Sovereign wealth? Stymie the fact that settlement mechanisms are being put in place to bypass SWIFT? Make the now expanding BRICS fall to pieces, and change their mind about setting up their own international bank?
> 
> Didn't think so. Just some more war toys- how quaint.


You're right, the West/US should stop footling about and send two battle fleets to be stationed off the Dardanelles to provide air cover while UKR/Nato missiles destroy the Black Sea fleet and the Crimean infrastructure, and restore UKR's air force so that the Russian held Donetsk region is truly fucked. No new visas for US/UK/EU to be issued to any Russian.

Then we should start sanctioning India and Asia for sucking Putin cock.

Russia is monkey pox.

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## sabang

WW3, Yippeee!!! That will solve everything, permanently.

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## Seekingasylum

There is no way Putin's clique will go nuclear. They intimidate with the threat of it but only pussies give it credence.

Fuck Putin. You think China would countenance Russia fucking Uncle Sam? US goes, China collapses.

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## malmomike77

> Bad News for Putin: Poland Has Just Sent Ukraine PT-91 Twardy Tanks


Not really. As I said at the start of this the days of heavy armour rolling around the battlefield are over, surely the numbers of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles has demonstrated this. Long range engagement with rockets, guns, drones and close combat anti tank weapons are the success stories. I imagine most new recruits to any army would not be queuing up to join heave armoured Divs.

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## Takeovers

> Not really. As I said at the start of this the days of heavy armour rolling around the battlefield are over, surely the numbers of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles has demonstrated this.


In principle I agree. But I doubt that Russia has a lot of hand held precision anti tank weapons.

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## bsnub

> surely the numbers of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles has demonstrated this.


Thanks to western anti tank weapons that the Russians do not have.




> In principle I agree. But I doubt that Russia has a lot of hand held precision anti tank weapons.


They don't, and they have nothing close to the western anti tank weapons the Ukrainians have. Those Polish tanks are completely improved over a typical Russian tank, with better fire control and protection, it will have a marked effect on the battlefield in the south as the Ukrainians continue to advance on Kherson.

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## malmomike77

They have air superiority.

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## Seekingasylum

But cannot use it effectively because of NATO supplied weaponry and, being Russian, they are tactically deficient - their expertise such as it is was honed on killing civilians.

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## malmomike77

^ if you say so.

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## panama hat

> US goes, China collapses.


The crux . . .  Putin needs to disappear like millions of Russians before him

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## Norton

> You're right, the West/US should stop footling about and send two battle fleets to be stationed off the Dardanelles to provide air cover while UKR/Nato missiles destroy the Black Sea fleet and the Crimean infrastructure, and restore UKR's air force so that the Russian held Donetsk region is truly fucked


Should have been done in 2014 when this war really started. Further delay in taking direct military action will only embolden Putin, prolong the humananitarian/economic suffering and in time allow Putin to achieve his end goal. Make the entire Ukraine a vassel state and from there do the same with other nations which were once part of Czarist Russia.

And no, he will not use nukes!

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## bsnub

> They have air superiority.


Where did you get that? They most assuredly do not have air superiority. You need to improve your research, the Russian air force has proven to be completely incompetent.  Ukraine's air force is still flying.

Russian Su-35 Shot Down by Ukraine as $85m Aircraft Goes Up in Flames—Video

Putin Has a Problem: The Russian Air Force Looks Like a Joke in Ukraine - 19FortyFive

Russia Struggling Against Own Weapons in Ukraine, US General Says

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## malmomike77

^^ I don't think the Mercan public would have worn it at the same time they were engaged in Afghan and lets face it UK aside they didn't have a strong NATO backing, so actively engaging Russia in Europe when many European NATO countries had been paying lip service to the alliance was never going to get off the ground.

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## Norton

> ^^ I don't think the Mercan public would have worn it at the same time they were engaged in Afghan and lets face it UK aside they didn't have a strong NATO backing, so actively engaging Russia in Europe when many European NATO countries had been paying lip service to the alliance was never going to get off the ground.


Agree but there comes a time when a nation's leader must do things the public is not keen to do.

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## malmomike77

^ I don't doubt for a minute we missed the opportunity to put Putin off any appetite for further land grabs. Arguably though we are in the same situation now, is NATO resigned to Russia "owning" eastern UKR and if so there is no guarantee Putin will further his ambitions once he's consolidated.

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## bsnub

STUTTGART, Germany — It takes a village to help Ukraine fight the Russians.

Consider  a recent shipment of 105-millimeter howitzers. Britain donated the  weapons, and New Zealand trained Ukrainian soldiers how to use them and  provided spare parts. The United States supplied the ammunition and the  vehicles to tow them and flew the load to a base near Ukraine’s border.

Choreographing  the sequence was the job of dozens of military logistics specialists  ensconced in a large, secure attic room at the U.S. European Command  headquarters in Germany. The little-known group is playing a pivotal  role in keeping the Ukrainian military armed and equipped as its  battlefield needs become more complicated.

Think  of the cell as a cross between a wedding registry for bombs, bullets  and rocket artillery, and a military version of FedEx. Uniformed  officers from more than two dozen countries try to match Ukraine’s  requests with donations from more than 40 nations, then arrange to move  the shipments by air, land or sea from the donor countries to Ukraine’s  border for pickup. All within about 72 hours.

“The flow has been nonstop,” Rear Adm. R. Duke Heinz, the European Command’s chief logistician, told a small group of reporters who visited the logistics hub last week.

As the brutal five-month-old war appears to be edging closer to a new phase — with Ukraine laying the groundwork for a major offensive in the country’s south  — Ukrainian political leaders and commanders are pressing the United  States and its other allies to accelerate and broaden the flow of arms  and munitions.

“Ukraine needs the  firepower and the ammunition to withstand its barrage and to strike back  at the Russian weapons launching these attacks from inside Ukraine’s  own territory,” Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said last week in Washington. “And so we understand the urgency, and we’re pushing hard to maintain and intensify the momentum of donations.”

More  American-supplied weapons like the High Mobility Artillery Rocket  Systems, or HIMARS, are at the top of Ukraine’s wish list. But so are  armed drones and fighter jets. Gen. C.Q. Brown, the Air Force chief of  staff, suggested last week that the United States or one of its European allies could send fighter jets to Ukraine in the coming weeks or months.

The United States recently said it would send four more M142 HIMARS to Ukraine,  adding to the dozen mobile rocket launchers already in the field.  Ukrainian soldiers have used them to destroy dozens of Russian command  posts, air defense sites and ammunition depots, Ukrainian and American  officials say.

“This  has significantly slowed down the Russian advance and dramatically  decreased the intensity of their artillery shelling,” Ukraine’s defense  minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said in an online interview last week for the Atlantic Council, a Washington research group. “So it’s working.”

Admiral Heinz said the cell was trying to  meet Ukraine’s demands for more weapons faster, and acknowledged that  “if the roles were reversed, then the comments would be the same.”

The  weapons distribution nerve cell, formally called the International  Donor Coordination Center, is where it happens. For such a high-profile  mission, the room has a distinctly bare-bones feel.

 Officers sit at long  folding tables, tapping on their laptops or conversing on phone  headsets with colleagues in several different languages.

Like  much of Europe that suffered through last week’s heat wave, the attic  room has no air-conditioning. Just a few open ceiling windows offered a  faint breeze.

The center started its  round-the-clock operations in March, combining British and American  efforts to coordinate the flow of weapons and equipment. The process is  straightforward. Ukraine submits requests through a secure, classified  database. Military officers peruse the online list to determine what  their countries can donate without jeopardizing their own national  security. 

Nations also contribute training and transportation. A  Ukrainian three-star general working in the center answers questions and  clarifies his country’s priorities_._

The  center can send a technical team — a military version of the Geek Squad  — to check the condition of a donor’s potential contribution and help  arrange the paperwork for its delivery.Once a match is approved, planners find the best way to deliver the shipment.

About  75 percent of the arms are sent to staging bases in Poland, where  Ukrainian troops pick up their cargo and take it back across the border.  Admiral Heinz declined to identify two other neighboring countries  where shipments are delivered, citing security concerns by those  nations. The planners use different border crossings into Ukraine for  weapons and for humanitarian assistance, he said.

In nearly five months, the center has  moved more than 78,000 tons of arms, munitions and equipment worth more  than $10 billion, U.S. and Western military officials said.

Many Baltic and Eastern European countries have donated Soviet-standard weapons  and ammunition that the Ukrainian military has long used. But given the  intense fighting, those stocks are running low, if not already  depleted. One factory in Europe is making some Soviet-standard  munitions, including howitzer shells, and it is operating 24/7, Admiral  Heinz said. The shortage has required Ukraine to begin transitioning to  Western-standard weapons and ammunition, which are more plentiful.

Once  the weapons are in Ukraine, U.S. and other Western military officials  say they are not able to track them. They rely on Ukraine’s accounts of  how and where the arms are used — although U.S. intelligence and  military officials, including Special Operations forces — are in daily contact with their Ukrainian counterparts, U.S. officials said.

American  and Ukrainian officials have downplayed reports that some weapons are  being siphoned off on the black market in Ukraine, but Admiral Heinz  acknowledged that “we are not serial-number tracking these once they go  across the border.”

Russia has  attacked Ukrainian train depots and warehouses but has not shown it can  effectively strike moving targets — like weapons convoys — with its  rapidly diminishing arsenal of precision-guided munitions, American  officials said.

The  initial shipments of weapons, including Stinger antiaircraft and  Javelin antitank missiles, were flown into Poland and quickly shuttled  across the border. But as larger, heavier and more complex weapons are  donated, the military planners also send shipments by sea, rail and  truck.

The center also arranges for  Ukrainian solders to be trained on how to use and maintain the weapons,  like the HIMARS, which requires at least two weeks of instruction,  military officials said.

The United  States has trained about 1,500 members of the Ukrainian military,  largely in Germany. A group recently arrived in Britain to attend a new  program that officials there say will ultimately train as many as 10,000  Ukrainian recruits in weaponry, patrol tactics, first aid and other  skills.

When the Ukrainians run into a  problem, “tele-repair” sites set up by the center can help keep  equipment running and check the maintenance status of weapons.

Shifting  to this all-inclusive program of equipping, training and sustaining the  flow of weapons, and synchronizing the shipments with training, has  posed growing challenges to the coordination center.

“It’s  definitely a more complex task,” said Brig. Christopher King, the top  British officer in the center. “What I would say is they are very easy  to train and very committed.”

The  coordination center typically works on shipments two months out,  Admiral Heinz said. In addition to the weapons and ammunition the  Pentagon announced last week — the 16th round the Biden administration  has approved since August 2021 — Admiral Heinz said that two more  shipments — No. 17 and No. 18 — are in the pipeline.

The admiral did not provide details of the future shipments, which will require President Biden’s approval.

For now, senior officials say the allies are standing firm behind Ukraine’s fight.

“The  goal is for Ukraine to win the right to defend the sovereignty of their  country, and to regain that ground,” said Admiral Heinz, an Afghan and  Iraq war veteran.

“I can’t define what  winning looks like for the Ukrainians,” he said, adding that was up to  President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people. “The United  States and our allies and partners are in it until he tells us he  doesn’t need any more help.”



https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/u...ns-center.html

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## harrybarracuda

So snubby, is that a sort of "special military operation"?

 :rofl:

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## Hugh Cow

I have seen some unconfirmed reports that the bridge over the Dnieper has been destroyed and a further unconfirmed source stating that the bridge to Crimea has been hit with HIMARS.

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## bsnub

> I have seen some unconfirmed reports that the bridge over the Dnieper has been destroyed and a further unconfirmed source stating that the bridge to Crimea has been hit with HIMARS.


The Antonivka Road Bridge was struck again and damaged. The Ukrainians do not want to fully destroy the bridge, but are attacking the bridge deck so that trucks and armored vehicles can not use it to cross. The bridge in Crimea was not hit, as the Ukrainians do not have the long range rockets for the HIMARS. The longest range rocket they have is 80 km. The US needs to stop pussyfooting around and give Ukraine the more powerful long range rocket that can destroy that bridge, it would undoubtably change the course of the war.

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## sabang

> it would undoubtably change the course of the war.


 :rofl:

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## bsnub

More evidence that you are out of your depth on this subject.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Have another look at your own quoted statement Harry. Not the ringing condemnation that you are telling us it is.


Is 'unequivocal' one of those long words you don't understand then?

----------


## malmomike77

Russian forces fire barrage of missiles at northern Ukraine from Belarus

A barrage of 25 missiles has been fired by Russian forces at northern regions of Ukraine from neighbouring Belarus as the Ukrainian southern offensive appears to be gathering pace.


The early morning wave of missile strikes launched from the territory of Russia’s key ally hit targets in the Chernihiv region, including an apartment block, as well as locations outside Kyiv and around the city of Zhytomyr, according to Ukrainian officials and Belarusian opposition figures.


The Chernihiv regional governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said nine missiles had struck close to the village of Honcharivska with some falling in the forest nearby.


The strikes came as Ukraine celebrated Statehood Day for the first time. In a national message, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “Restless morning. Again – missile terror. We will not give up. We will not give up. Do not intimidate us. Ukraine is an independent, free, indivisible state. And it will always be like that.”


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/28/russian-forces-fire-barrage-missiles-northern-ukraine-from-belarus

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## bsnub

> including an apartment block


So civilian targets as usual. Fucking cowards.

----------


## bsnub

The U.S. Air Force signaled last week that it’s willing to send A-10 Warthog  planes to Ukraine, but Ukrainian pilots are more interested in flying  F-16 Fighting Falcons—and there’s a good chance they’ll get them. The  offer to send A-10 ground-attack planes comes at a time when the United  States and the rest of NATO are auditing their arsenals for weapons to help Ukraine resist the Russian invasion and take back lost territory. 

Secretary  of the Air Force Frank Kendall and Air Force Chief of Staff C.Q. Brown  spoke at the annual Aspen Security Forum that took place between July 19_–_22. In response to questions about which aircraft the Air Force wanted to divest to Ukraine, Kendall mentioned the A-10 Thunderbolt II.  Kendall also noted that the decision about which planes to send is  “largely up to the Ukrainians … older U.S. systems are a possibility.” 

The service conceived of the A-10 Thunderbolt II, affectionately known  as the “Warthog,” in the late 1960s as a heavy ground-attack aircraft  designed to provide close air support  over the modern battlefield. The A-10, armed with a seven-barrel,  GAU-8/A 30-millimeter cannon, can also carry air-to-ground missiles,  rockets, and guided bombs. The A-10 was designed to attack Warsaw Pact  tank columns and can take on tremendous damage over the battlefield and  still remain in the sky.

The A-10 has been in service for decades: the average age of the Air  Force’s 281-strong Warthog fleet is 40 years. Forty years ago, air  defenses at low altitudes typically consisted of small-caliber cannons,  at best controlled by radar, and relatively primitive shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles  like the SA-7 Strela. Since then, however, the threat to the A-10 has  evolved to include a greater number of guided missiles with much greater  accuracy, and more advanced weapons such as the SA-14 and SA-16. 

The A-10 was originally designed to fly combat missions over Western  Europe, using terrain to mask its approach and departure. In the 1980s, a   typical mission might see an A-10 approaching at low altitude, keeping  a row of hills or even mountains between it and the target. The A-10  would fly up and over the hills, drop a string of Rockeye cluster bombs on a column of Soviet tanks,  then quickly escape by flying over another set of hills. The tactics  kept the A-10 hidden as long as possible from enemy defenses. 

This sort of attack would be impossible in Ukraine; Eastern Ukraine is  as flat as the American Midwest, and the only real protection an A-10  would have is Earth’s own curvature. An observer on the front line would  spot a low-flying A-10 from much farther away—and some of them would be  carrying surface-to-air missiles. 

Ukrainian aircraft flying the same types of  low-altitude, high-risk missions as the A-10 have incurred heavy  casualties. The Ukrainian Air Force (UAF) currently flies the Su-25 “Frogfoot” ground-attack aircraft, a contemporary of the A-10. Of 17 Su-25s in service with the UAF before the war, eight, or more than half, have been shot down. 

Shortly  after news reports about the A-10 came out, Ukrainian military leaders  made it clear the A-10 was not actually something they wanted. The  Ukrainians would rather have something “fast and versatile” like the F-16 Fighting Falcon, a multi-role fighter currently being replaced in the Air Force’s inventory by the F-35. The F-16’s speed and maneuverability would have a decent chance of successfully dogfighting Russian fighters. 

Ukraine’s adoption of an American-made jet would  also allow its air force to access America’s vast arsenal of high-tech  guided munitions. American AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles would be much better  at downing Russian fighters and cruise missiles than Ukraine’s aging  missile inventory. An F-16 can carry air-to-ground weapons with greater  ranges than the A-10, including the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon and the AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation missile. F-16s could even attack Russian warships with AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles. 

If  Ukraine chooses American fighters, it will likely find training for its  pilots already paid for. The proposed U.S. defense budget for 2023 includes $100 million for the training of Ukrainian fighter pilots on American planes.  The provision has rare bipartisan support in Congress, and will likely  be part of the final budget when President Biden signs it. By early  2023, we could see Ukrainian F-16s patrolling the country’s skies. That  would have been unthinkable in early 2022, but war tends to make the  unthinkable, thinkable. 

https://www.popularmechanics.com/mil...-fighter-jets/

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## malmomike77

^ you think? I rather think that it is more Mercan sounding off.

----------


## bsnub

*The Russian Army Has Lost More Than 300 Artillery Pieces In Ukraine. Old Howitzers Could Replace Them.*

The Russian army is working to replenish its battered, depleted artillery batteries. According to  the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War, satellite  imagery indicates that the army in late July pulled from storage 60 old  2S7 203-millimeter tracked howitzers.

That’s a third of the 2S7s the army had in storage at the 9th Arsenal in Omsk, in Russia’s vast Siberia region. 

 The huge withdrawal of old howitzers is consistent with the Kremlin’s  efforts, five months into Russia’s wider war on Ukraine, to make good  steep losses in people and equipment. 

 Depending on the outside estimate you believe, the Russian armed  forces have lost between 15,000 and 30,000 troops killed plus several  times that number wounded. Confirmed vehicle losses include more than 4,800 tanks, fighting vehicles and artillery pieces.

 The artillery losses—320 towed and self-propelled howitzers and heavy  mortars plus rocket-launchers—are significant. The Russian army has  lost in Ukraine more artillery than many Western armies possess in their  entire arsenals.

 Those losses include just two 2S7s that independent analysts can  confirm. The Russian army rolled into Ukraine with more than 100 of the  47-ton howitzers. It’s unlikely the army is expanding its artillery  force-structure—it’s struggling even to recruit enough infantry to replenish existing brigades.

Instead, it’s possible the Russians are using the previously-stored  2S7s to replace other artillery such as the hundred or so 152-millimeter  guns the Ukrainians have knocked out or captured. 

 It’s also possible those 2S7s from Omsk are replacing 2S7s that the  army hasn’t officially written off yet, but which are worn out to the  point of near-failure. It’s worth noting the spate of recent  photographic evidence of Russian tube artillery with “banana-peeled” barrels that exploded mid-shoot owing to a lack of timely replacement.

 Among the biggest tube artillery in the world, the 1970s-vintage 2S7  can lob a 220-pound shell 35 miles. It’s complex and loud, but its  range—many miles farther than most Ukrainian guns can fire—makes up for  its unwieldiness. 

 The 2S7s has an advantage in an artillery-on-artillery  “counterbattery” duel, as it can hit an enemy gun farther away than the  enemy gun can hit _it_. 

 But not always. The Ukrainians have a hundred or so 2S7s of their  own. And they’ve also acquired dozens of the most modern Western-made  155-millimeter howitzers, some of which can fire nearly as far as the  2S7 can do.

 The biggest threat to Russia’s new-old 2S7s might be Ukraine’s  arsenal of American-made High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System wheeled  launchers. Quickly firing GPS-guided rockets out to 50 miles, HIMARS is  the ideal counterbattery weapon. Kyiv so far has acquired 16 HIMARS. 

The Russian Army Has Lost More Than 300 Artillery Pieces In Ukraine. Old Howitzers Could Replace Them.

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## malmomike77

> The Russian Army Has Lost More Than 300 Artillery Pieces In Ukraine.


at least, surely?

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## bsnub

> ^ you think? I rather think that it is more Mercan sounding off.


There is more and more chatter of this happening, and it looks like the 2023 defense budget will have $100 million set aside to train Ukrainian pilots. So they would have to provide some sort of aircraft for them to fly and the F-16 makes perfect sense as many of them are being taken out of service being replaced by F-35s.




> at least, surely?


I am sure it is more the article is erring on the conservative side.

----------


## Takeovers

Official claim by Ukraine over 800 artillery pieces. Over 250 MLRS. Probably more because they only count confirmed hits.

----------


## malmomike77

Russia's Wagner allocated responsibility for sectors of front line, UK says


Russian private military firm Wagner has likely been allocated responsibility for specific sectors of the front line in eastern Ukraine, possibly as Russia is facing a major shortage of combat infantry, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update this morning.


Since March, Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner Group has operated in eastern Ukraine in coordination with the Russian military. Wagner has likely been allocated responsibility for specific sectors of the front line, in a similar manner to normal army units.


This is a significant change from the previous employment of the group since 2015, when it typically undertook missions distinct from overt, large-scale regular Russian military activity.


This new level of integration further undermines the Russian authorities’ long-standing policy of denying links between PMCs and the Russian state.”


It also said that Wagner’s forces are highly unlikely to be sufficient to make a significant difference in the trajectory of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/jul/29/russia-ukraine-war-live-news-ukrainians-step-up-counter-attacks-in-south-kharkiv-hit-mayor-says

----------


## S Landreth

U.S. admits 100,000 Ukraine refugees in 5 months

The United States has admitted at least 100,000 Ukrainians over the last five months, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to Axios.

*Why it matters:* President Biden said the U.S. would provide a safe haven for Ukrainian refugees, who rapidly fled the country due to the ongoing Russian invasion.

*Driving the news* President Biden committed to providing refuge to 100,000 displaced Ukrainians and others fleeing Russian aggression, and through a series of pathways, including Uniting for Ukraine, the United States has welcomed more than 100,000 Ukrainians since March," a DHS spokesperson told Axios in an email.


"The Department will continue processing additional Ukrainians fleeing Russias unprovoked invasion in the weeks and months to come, consistent with the Presidents commitment."Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement that DHS is "deeply proud to help provide refuge for Ukrainians fleeing Russias unprovoked invasion.""DHS will continue to welcome additional Ukrainians in the weeks and months to come, consistent with President Bidens commitment," he said.

*Details:* Ukrainians who entered the United States after Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of its European neighbor came through various avenues and with different legal statuses, CBS News reports.


Most have temporary permission to stay in the U.S.CBS first reported the story Friday.

*By the numbers:* Nearly 47,000 Ukrainians entered the United States through temporary or immigrant visas, CBS reports.


About 30,000 came through private sponsorship and more than 22,000 arrived through the U.S.-Mexico border.500 Ukrainian refugees entered through the current U.S. refugee system.DHS told Axios that more than 62,000 Ukrainians were authorized to book travel to the United States through President Biden's "Uniting for Ukraine" portal and more than 29,000 have arrived through that program.

*The big picture:* At least 7 million refugees fled Ukraine since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion, the United Nations said back in June.


Forced to flee extraordinary levels of violence, they have left behind their homes and often their families, leaving them shocked and traumatized," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in late March.UNICEF said two out of every three children in Ukraine had been displaced by the war, too.

___________


US House group moves to label Russia as terrorist state

Five House members will imminently introduce legislation to officially designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, putting them and Congress on a collision course with the secretary of State, who argues only he can slap that label on a country.

The bill  co-led by Reps. *TED LIEU* (D-Calif.), *JOE WILSON* (R-S.C.), *JARED GOLDEN* (D-Maine), *ADAM KINZINGER* (R-Ill.) and *TOM MALINOWSKI* (D-N.J.)  says that the Russian Federation shall be deemed to have been determined to be a country the government of which has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. If the Russia is a State Sponsor of Terrorism Act clears both chambers, the pressure will be on President *JOE BIDEN* to sign it into law. And if he does, Russian President *VLADIMIR PUTIN*s country will join an ignominious list featuring North Korea, Syria, Cuba and Iran.

The United States must use every tool we have to stop Russia from its violent aggression in Ukraine, Lieu told NatSec Daily. Russia supports proxies conducting terrorism against civilians around the globe, from Syria to Ukraine. By designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, this legislation increases consequences on Putins murderous behavior.

The measures introduction comes after Speaker *NANCY PELOSI* (D-Calif.) warned Secretary of State *ANTONY BLINKEN* last week that if he didnt label Russia as a terrorist state for its actions during the invasion of Ukraine, Congress would. After Alex and *BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN* first reported that exchange July 20, Pelosi told Andrew the next day that the designation was long overdue, adding: Ive been advocating it for four months, at least.

The move also muddies a tricky legal landscape: Congress previously granted the secretary of State the authority to designate a country as a terrorist state. Im obligated, the department is obligated to follow the law. Criteria against which we make this determination are defined by Congress. So thats what were looking at, Blinken told reporters Wednesday.

But, Malinowski told us, Congress can pass a law to give the executive an authority to do something, but it doesnt prevent Congress from continuing to legislate on that thing," adding its vastly preferable if Blinken made the designation on his own. The lawmakers and their aides, after consulting with the Congressional Research Service and legislative counsel, say they can circumvent State with this new legislation.

This effort is the most aggressive yet by lawmakers on the terrorism-label issue.

The Senate passed a non-binding resolution via unanimous consent Wednesday night that doesnt go as far as the new House bill. The Senate measure, led by Sens. *LINDSEY GRAHAM* (R-S.C.) and *RICHARD BLUMENTHAL* (D-Conn.), simply calls on Blinken to make the designation. Its a pressure tactic.

But both senators, who gifted a framed copy of the resolution to *VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY* in Kyiv earlier this month, touted it today as a significant victory because, at the very least, Blinken knows where the Senate stands on the issue.

I didnt think there was an issue under the sun that would get 100 votes. We found it: Russia is a state sponsor of terrorism, Graham said.

Graham speculated that Blinken might be wary of making the designation due to the Biden administrations ongoing efforts to free two American prisoners from Russia, *BRITTNEY GRINER* and *PAUL WHELAN*, as part of a swap with Moscow that likely would send prominent arms dealer *VIKTOR BOUT* the other way.

The South Carolina senator also told NatSecDaily that he doesnt think a change in the law is required, but believes that a majority of senators would support that if it meant the executive branch were no longer the sole arbiter of the terrorism designation. This, of course, would eat up a lot of Senate floor time while Democrats try to pass their domestic priorities before the midterm elections.

If Blinken were to follow through with the terrorism designation, it would carry significant ramifications for Russia, including secondary sanctions on entities that do business with Russia. (This was what Republicans were pushing for as part of a package to deter a Russian invasion earlier this year.) It would also allow Russia to be sued in U.S. courts.

We asked the White House if the administration believes Congress can make the designation on its own, but we didnt hear back before publication. https://www.politico.com/newsletters...state-00048266

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## malmomike77

add it to the list.....

Video appears to show Russian soldier castrating Ukrainian prisoner

Horrific video has emerged that appears to show a Russian soldier castrating a Ukrainian prisoner who other reports suggest was subsequently murdered.

The footage, reviewed by the Guardian, was originally posted on pro-Russian Telegram channels.

A Russian soldier, wearing a distinctive black wide-brimmed hat, is seen approaching another figure who has his hands bound and is lying face down with the back of his trousers cut away. The prisoner is wearing blue and yellow patches identifying him as Ukrainian.

The soldier in the hat, who is wearing blue surgical gloves, is holding a green-handled knife and reaches down to mutilate the prisoner as other soldiers abuse the prisoner.

While much is unknown about the provenance and date that the footage was recorded  and where  there are claims that the Russian soldier was previously filmed in the vicinity of the Azot chemical works in Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine and that he was serving with a Chechen formation known as the Akhat battalion.

While the Guardian has been unable to independently verify the authenticity of the footage, it has been widely shared on pro-Russian media sites as well as on Ukrainian social media, with some Russian users posting images mocking the mutilated soldier.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/29/video-appears-to-show-russian-soldier-castrating-ukrainian-priso

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## bsnub

I have been bleating on and on about Kherson for weeks, this is the reason. Now it is coming into play, the south is the new primary front of the war, not the east...

Russian troops in Kherson have been "virtually cut off" from other occupied territory and left vulnerable after Ukraine scaled up its counter-offensive in the region, the UKs military intelligence has said. 

In  an update on Thursday, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Ukraines  attacks on Russian-held Kherson were gaining momentum after its forces  struck Antonivskyi Bridge, which it said was likely rendered unusable. 

The  strategic bridge, still standing but pierced with holes, is essential  for Moscow to supply its occupying forces in the south. 

The  MoD said Ukrainian troops have used new long-range artillery to damage  at least three bridges on the Dnipro river, which runs through the  centre of Ukraine from Kherson in the south to Kyiv in the north.

It said: Russias 49th Army, stationed on the west bank of the Dnipro River, now looks highly vulnerable.

It added that Russias loss of control over Kherson would severely  undermine [its] attempts to paint the occupation as a success.

Russian officials have said they would instead use floating bridges and ferries to get their soldiers across the river.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday in his nightly  address: We are doing everything to ensure that the occupying forces do  not have any logistical opportunities in our country.

One of Mr Zelenskys advisers, Oleksiy Arestovych, said Russia was  conducting a massive redeployment of forces from the east to the south  to defend the Kherson region.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defence  Council, has tweeted that Russia was concentrating the maximum number  of troops in the direction of the Kherson.

Meanwhile,  Vladimir Putins forces have launched missile strikes on the Kyiv and  Chernihiv regions, areas that have not been targeted in weeks. Shelling  has also hit Kharkiv and Mykolaiv.

Russia-held Kherson virtually cut off as Ukraines counter-attack gains momentum | The Independent

 :Smile: 

 ::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

There will not be much urban combat in Kherson. The Russians are going to surrender in mass as they run out of supplies and ammunition due to the fact that the only two direct routes into the city have been blown by HIMARS.

 :Smile:

----------


## sabang

*Russian Defense Ministry: More than a hundred members of the battalion of the elite brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were eliminated by missile attack*


In the process of conducting a Russian special operation on Ukrainian territory, the RF Armed Forces continue to strike at the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other formations. This was reported in the summary of the Russian Ministry of Defense, cited on June 30 by the speaker of the military department, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov.



The report says that on July 28, aircraft of the RF Armed Forces launched an air-to-surface missile attack on a train at the Krasnoarmeysk station in the part of the DPR temporarily occupied by the Kyiv regime. As a result, 140 militants of one of the battalions of the 1st Presidential Operational Brigade (1 Bron, military unit 3027) of the NSU were destroyed, and another 250 were injured of varying severity. All the equipment that was in the echelon was put out of action. This is an elite unit of the Ukrainian army.

On July 29, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation hit a temporary deployment point (PVD) of the Grad MLRS division of the 110th Separate Terodefense Brigade (110 detached brigade, military unit A7038) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the village of Yasnobrodovka in the DPR. As a result, up to 30 militants, various equipment and an ammunition depot were destroyed. Near the city of Bakhmut (former Artemovsk), the PVD of the 14th separate mechanized brigade (14th separate mechanized brigade, military unit A1008) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was hit. As a result, up to 50 militants and 8 units of various equipment were destroyed.

Artillery, missile troops, army and operational-tactical aviation also contributed. Over the past day, they struck: 256 areas of concentration of personnel and various enemy equipment, 8 command posts and 3 warehouses of the RAV.

Missiles of the Iskander OTRK near the city of Bogodukhov in the Kharkiv region hit the Kraken national battalion air defense missile, equipped in the hangars of a local meat processing plant. As a result, more than 30 militants and 10 units of various equipment were destroyed.

Not far from Krivoy Rog, Russian fighter aircraft destroyed a MiG-29 of the Ukrainian Air Force. An American AN/TPQ-36A counter-battery radar was destroyed near a village in the DPR, and an AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar made in the USA was destroyed near the village of Novovorontsovka in the Kherson region.

In the course of counter-battery work, the following were hit: 2 M777 howitzers near the village. Stepnogorsk in the Zaporozhye region, a battery of MLRS "Hurricane" near the village of Kurdyumovka and 2 batteries of howitzers "Gyatsint-B" near Kodem and Belaya Gora in the DPR. Also suppressed were: 6 Grad MLRS platoons, 2 Gvozdika self-propelled gun batteries, 3 D-20 gun platoons, 4 D-30 gun platoons on fire in the DPR, Zaporozhye and Nikolaev regions.

Air defense systems shot down 13 Ukrainian UAVs in the DPR, Kherson and Kharkov regions. 6 MLRS rockets and 2 Tochka-U ballistic missiles were intercepted in the Kherson region.

Минобороны России: Более сотни членов батальона элитной бригады ВСУ ликвидированы ракетным ударом

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## pickel

> in the part of the DPR temporarily occupied by the Kyiv regime.


Stopped reading after the first lie. More of your "cerebral" bullshit?

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## bsnub

> topped reading after the first lie. More of your "cerebral" bullshit?


The entire article is a complete horseshit fabrication. A total waste of time.

----------


## panama hat

> Stopped reading after the first lie. More of your "cerebral" bullshit?


Good God, he gets tiresome.

----------


## misskit

Zelensky Urges Evacuation of Ukraine’s Frontline Donetsk


Ukraine's president urged civilians on Saturday to evacuate the frontline Donetsk region, the scene of fierce clashes with the Russian military, as Kyiv called on the Red Cross and UN to gain access to its soldiers being held by Moscow's forces.


The eastern Donetsk region has faced the brunt of Russia's offensive since its assault on Kyiv failed weeks into the invasion launched on Feb. 24.

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in his daily address that thousands of people, including children, were still in the region's battleground areas, with six civilians killed and 15 wounded on Friday, according to the Donetsk governor.


"There's already a governmental decision about obligatory evacuation from Donetsk," Zelensky said, underscoring authorities' calls to leave the besieged region in recent weeks.


"Leave, we will help," Zelensky said. "At this stage of the war, terror is the main weapon of Russia."


Official Ukrainian estimates put the number of civilians still living in the unoccupied area of Donetsk at between 200,000 and 220,000.


A mandatory evacuation notice posted Saturday evening said the coming winter made it a matter of urgency, particularly for the more than 50,000 children still in the region.


"They need to be evacuated, you cannot put them in mortal danger in the winter without heating, light, without the ability to keep them warm," Kyiv's Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories said in a statement.


Zelensky, in his address, also once more pressed the international community, especially the United States, to have Russia officially declared a "state sponsor of terrorism."


He reiterated the call a day after a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kremlin-controlled Olenivka was bombed, leaving scores dead, with Kyiv and Moscow trading blame. 


On Saturday, Ukrainian human rights official Dmytro Lubinets said on national television he had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission to go to Olenivka.


The ICRC has made a request but has not yet obtained authorization from the Russians, he said.

'Egregious provocation'
Russia's defense ministry accused Kyiv of striking the Olenivka prison with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles, in an "egregious provocation" designed to stop captured soldiers from surrendering.


It said Saturday that the dead included Ukrainian forces who had surrendered after weeks of fighting off Russia's brutal bombardment of the sprawling Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol. 

The defense ministry said 50 Ukrainian prisoners were killed and 73 were taken to hospital with serious injuries.


"All political, legal and moral responsibility for this bloody massacre of Ukrainians lies with Zelensky personally, his criminal regime and Washington, which backs them," it said.


Zelensky laid the blame squarely on Russia.


"This was a deliberate Russian war crime, a deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war," he said.


Members of the Azov regiment were among those who surrendered at Azovstal.


Azov regiment commander Mykyta Nadtochiy said he considered the attack on the jail to have been "an act of public execution."

Gazprom cuts off Latvia 
Also on Saturday, Russian energy giant Gazprom suspended gas supplies to Latvia, in the latest tightening of gas provision to European Union states, which have accused Russia of squeezing supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.


Conexus Baltic Grid confirmed to Latvia's LETA news agency that Gazprom had informed it of the suspension of deliveries, but said other suppliers were continuing them.


"Today, Gazprom suspended its gas supplies to Latvia... due to violations of the conditions" of purchase, the company said on Telegram.


Latvia's Economy Minister Ilze Indriksone told LETA that his country "was not counting on natural gas flows from Russia."


Gazprom drastically cut gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline on Wednesday to about 20% of its capacity. It had reduced gas flows to Europe twice in June.


The Russian state-run company had earlier announced it would choke supply to 33 million cubic meters a day — half the amount it has been delivering since service resumed last week after 10 days of maintenance work.


Gazprom cited the halted operation of one of the last two working turbines for the pipeline due to the "technical condition of the engine."


Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has blamed EU sanctions for the limited supply.


The EU this week agreed a plan to reduce gas consumption in solidarity with Germany, where the Nord Stream pipeline runs to, warning of Russian "blackmail."

Grain fields set alight
Russian strikes continued to rain down on Ukrainian towns and cities on Saturday.


Ukrainian authorities said Russian bombardments targeting the south and east of the country had left one dead in southern Mykolaiv and one dead in eastern Bakhmut.


The death toll from a strike on a Mykolaiv bus stop on Friday climbed to seven after two men died in hospital, he added.


In the eastern city of Kharkiv, three Russian S-300 missiles struck a school, mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, adding that the main building was destroyed.


A Ukrainian spokesman said his country's forces had set fire to grain fields around Mariupol so they could not be used by the Russians.


"The Mariupol resistance forces set fire to the fields with grain so that it would not be stolen by the occupiers," Sergiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration said.

Zelensky Urges Evacuation of Ukraine's Frontline Donetsk - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

Russian official says Ukraine carried out drone attack on Black Sea fleet HQ


July 31 (Reuters) – A senior official in Russian-annexed Crimea accused Ukraine on Sunday of carrying out a drone attack ahead of planned celebrations to mark Navy Day, injuring five and forcing the cancellation of festivities.


The accusation comes hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to oversee Navy Day celebrations in his hometown of St Petersburg and approve Russia’s naval doctrine as Moscow presses on with its military intervention in Ukraine.


“An unidentified object flew into the courtyard of the fleet’s headquarters,” Mikhail Razvozhayev, governor of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.


“According to preliminary information, it is a drone.”


He said Ukraine had decided to “spoil Navy Day for us”.


The Ukrainian defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Razvozhayev said that five employees of the fleet headquarters had been injured in the incident and that the Federal Security Service (FSB) was investigating its circumstances.


“All celebrations have been cancelled for security reasons,” Razvozhayev said. “Please remain calm and stay home if possible.”


Navy Day is an annual Russian holiday during which its fleets stage naval parades and honour its sailors.


Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, prompting a major row with the West which deepened over Moscow’s role in an insurgency of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Russian official says Ukraine carried out drone attack on Black Sea fleet HQ | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## misskit

Russia invites U.N., Red Cross experts to probe Ukraine jail deaths

ODESA, Ukraine, July 31 (Reuters) – Russia on Sunday invited United Nations and Red Cross experts to probe the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners held by Moscow-backed separatists, while Ukraine’s president ordered the evacuation of residents in the eastern region of Donetsk.


President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said hundreds of thousands of people were still exposed to fierce fighting in the Donbas region, which contains Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.


“Many refuse to leave but it still needs to be done,” Zelenskiy said in a televised address late on Saturday. “The more people leave the Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will have time to kill.”


Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over a missile strike or explosion early on Friday that appeared to have killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war in the front-line town of Olenivka in eastern Donetsk.


Russia invited experts from the U.N. and Red Cross to probe the deaths “in the interests of conducting an objective investigation”, the defence ministry said on Sunday.


The ministry had published a list of 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war killed and 73 wounded in what it said was a Ukrainian military strike with a U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).


Ukraine’s armed forces denied responsibility, saying Russian artillery had targeted the prison to hide mistreatment there. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Friday Russia had committed a war crime and called for international condemnation.


Reuters journalists confirmed some of the deaths at the prison, but could not immediately verify the differing versions of events.


The U.N. had said it was prepared to send experts to investigate if it obtained consent from both parties. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was seeking access and had offered to help evacuate the wounded.


Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities against civilians and identified more than 10,000 possible war crimes. Russia denies targeting civilians and war crimes in the invasion it calls a “special operation”.


UKRAINIAN COUNTEROFFENSIVE


Ukrainian forces attacked the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Russian-held Crimean port city of Sevastopol early on Sunday, Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev was quoted by Russian media as saying.


Five members of staff were wounded in the attack when what was presumed to be a drone flew into the courtyard at the headquarters, he said.


Ukrainian authorities said the southern cities of Mykolaiv and Nikopol had been hit by heavy Russian strikes overnight.


Two people were killed and three wounded when 12 missiles hit homes and educational facilities, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych told Ukrainian national television, describing the strikes as “probably the most powerful” on the city of the entire war.


Up to 50 Grad rockets hit residential areas in the city of Nikopol on Sunday morning, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram. One person was wounded.


Ukraine’s military said on Saturday more than 100 Russian soldiers had been killed and seven tanks destroyed in the south on Friday, including the Kherson region that is the focus of Kyiv’s counteroffensive in that part of the country and a key link in Moscow’s supply lines.


Rail traffic to Kherson over the Dnipro River had been cut, the military’s southern command said, potentially further isolating Russian forces west of the river from supplies in occupied Crimea and the east.


South of the town of Bakhmut, which Russia has cited as a prime target in Donetsk, the Ukrainian military said Russian forces had been “partially successful” in establishing control over the settlement of Semyhirya by storming it from three directions.


Defence and intelligence officials from Britain, which has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies since Moscow invaded its neighbour on Feb. 24, portrayed Russian forces as struggling to maintain momentum.


Ukraine has used Western-supplied long-range missile systems to badly damage three bridges across the Dnipro in recent weeks, cutting off Kherson city and – in the assessment of British defence officials – leaving Russia’s 49th Army highly vulnerable on the river’s west bank.


Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.


Officials from the Russian-appointed administration running the Kherson region earlier this week rejected Western and Ukrainian assessments of the situation.


On Friday the British ministry described the Russian government as “growing desperate”, having lost tens of thousands of soldiers in the war. British MI6 foreign intelligence agency chief Richard Moore added on Twitter that Russia is “running out of steam.”

Russia invites U.N., Red Cross experts to probe Ukraine jail deaths | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## Takeovers

> He said Ukraine had decided to spoil Navy Day for us.


Ukraine did this indeed. By sinking the Moskwa and other big ships of their Black Sea fleet.

----------


## panama hat

> A senior official in Russian-annexed Crimea accused Ukraine on Sunday of carrying out a drone attack ahead of planned celebrations to mark Navy Day, injuring five and forcing the cancellation of festivities.


'accused'?  What a bunch of fuckwits . . . they invade, murder, maim, dislocate, rape hundreds of thousands and get all whiny about a drone attack on a military target

Fuck 'em, I hope they remain pariahs for a very, very long time

----------


## bsnub

ODESSA, Ukraine — Amnesty International and the European Union have  backed Kyiv in calling for an investigation into footage circulating  online that appears to show pro-Russian forces castrating and executing a  captive Ukrainian fighter.

Ukrainian officials pledged  to identify the perpetrators after a series of gruesome videos recently  surfaced on pro-Russian Telegram channels showing a group of men, one  of them seen wearing pro-Russian symbols, castrating and executing a  prisoner dressed in military fatigues with Ukrainian military insignia.

“This  horrific assault is yet another apparent example of complete disregard  for human life and dignity in Ukraine committed by Russian forces,”  Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and  Central Asia, said Friday.

In a roughly 1½-minute-long  video, a man dressed in military fatigues, wearing a “Z” patch and an  orange-and-black ribbon associated with Russian forces, castrates the  bound prisoner using a green utility knife.

A separate video shared on pro-Russian Telegram channels shows a single shot being fired into the prisoner’s head.

The Washington Post was unable to confirm the date or location of where the videos were filmed.

Ukrainian  presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described the men in the footage  as Russian “propagandists” delighting in torture. “But the fog of war  will not help to avoid punishment for the executioners,” he tweeted. “We will identify and get to each of you.”

Social  media users, investigative journalists and members of conflict  intelligence groups have been poring over other footage of Russian  forces available online, in an attempt to identify the men shown in the  videos. The Post was unable to identify the captive in the footage.

Aric Toler, director of research and training at the investigative collective Bellingcat, said the presence of the “Z” symbol, which has become an emblem  of support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, on a car in the background  in one video “goes against some claims ... that the video may be old  and just now emerging after a year or two.”

The E.U.’s top diplomat described the footage as an example of the  “inhumane, barbaric acts” that amount to war crimes.

“Evidence  in form of appalling video footage has been widely shared on  pro-Kremlin social networks today, in which Russian soldiers commit a  heinous atrocity against a Ukrainian prisoner of war,” Josep Borrell  said Friday in reference to the gruesome videos. “The European Union  condemns in the strongest possible terms the atrocities committed by the  Russian armed forces and their proxies.”

There has been no official comment from Moscow on the allegations.

Amnesty’s statement said  the London-based rights group has documented crimes under international  law during Russia’s war on Ukraine, including summary killings of  captives of Russian-backed separatists and extrajudicial executions of  Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces.

After  the withdrawal of Russian forces from Kyiv’s suburbs earlier in the  conflict, images of bodies lying in the streets and evidence of torture  in Bucha, near the capital, prompted global outrage — and more Western sanctions against Russia. Moscow has dismissed the accusations.

As Russian bombs pummel Ukrainian cities, Kyiv says it is collecting evidence around the country to investigate and prosecute hundreds of alleged war crimes by Russian forces during the war, now in its sixth month.

In April, a Ukrainian official said  an investigation would be launched after a graphic video shared online  showed the apparent killing by Ukrainian forces of a Russian fighter  lying on the ground.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ation-soldier/

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## sabang

Another porkie? I wonder. These Ukies are shameless liars- so what can you believe?

----------


## pickel

The Russian is visible and is also the same guy in a Russian news video. He's been identified right down to his home address.

----------


## sabang

So what can you believe?

----------


## pickel

> So what can you believe? ��


The video of the castration, and the news video showing the same murderer as a Russian soldier were both put out by Russians. Your cognitive bias isn't very "cerebral", is it now.

----------


## malmomike77

Lets see how long this lasts....i'm not putting my money on 120 days.

Ukraine war: First grain ship leaves under Russia deal

The first ship carrying grain has left a Ukrainian port under a landmark deal with Russia.

Turkish and Ukrainian officials say the ship left the southern port of Odesa early on Monday morning local time.

Russia has been blockading Ukrainian ports since February, but the two sides agreed a deal to resume shipments.

It is hoped the deal will ease the global food crisis and lower the price of grain.

In a statement issued ahead of the ship's departure, Turkey said the Sierra Leone-flagged vessel would dock in Lebanon, adding that further shipments were planned over the coming weeks.

The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul set up under the deal said the ship was carrying some 26,000 tonnes of corn and was expected to arrive in Turkish waters for inspection on Tuesday.

"Today Ukraine, together with partners, takes another step to prevent world hunger," Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov wrote on Facebook.

"Unlocking ports will provide at least $1 billion in foreign exchange revenue to the economy and an opportunity for the agricultural sector to plan for next year."

Mr Kubrakov added that 16 other ships were waiting to depart in the ports of Odesa Region in the coming weeks.

Last month's deal - brokered by the UN and Turkey - took two months to reach and is set to last for 120 days. It can be renewed if both parties agree.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62375580

----------


## S Landreth

Chief Executive Leadership Institute Research Insights: Business Retreats and Sanctions Are Crippling the Russian Economy"

Five months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there remains a startling lack of understanding by many western policymakers and commentators of the economic dimensions of Putins invasion, and what it has meant for Russias economic positioning both domestically and globally.

A common narrative has emerged that this is a war of economic attrition which is taking its toll on the west, given the supposed resilience and even prosperity of the Russian economy. 

These widely cited narratives are wrong. Far from being ineffective or disappointing, international sanctions and voluntary business retreats have exerted a crippling effect over Russias economy. 

Our team of experts, using private Russian language and unconventional data sources including high frequency consumer data, cross-channel checks, releases from Russias international trade partners, and data mining of complex shipping data, as well as our proprietary dataset tracking the exits of over 1,000 companies, have released one of the first comprehensive economic analyses measuring Russian current economic activity five months into the invasion, and assessing Russias economic outlook.


From our analysis, it becomes clear: business retreats and sanctions are catastrophically crippling the Russian economy. We tackle a wide range of common misperceptionsand shed light on what is actually going on inside Russia, including:


Russias strategic positioning as a commodities exporter has irrevocably deteriorated, as it now deals from a position of weakness with the loss of its erstwhile main markets, and faces steep challenges executing a pivot to Asia with non-fungible exports such as piped gas


Despite some lingering leakiness, Russian imports have largely collapsed, and the country faces stark challenges securing crucial inputs, parts, and technology from hesitant trade partners, leading to widespread supply shortages within its domestic economy


Despite Putins delusions of self-sufficiency and import substitution, Russian domestic production has come to a complete standstill with no capacity to replace lost businesses, products and talent; the hollowing out of Russias domestic innovation and production base has led to soaring prices and consumer angst


As a result of the business retreat, Russia has lost companies representing ~40% of its GDP, reversing nearly all of three decades worth of foreign investment and buttressing unprecedented simultaneous capital and population flight in a mass exodus of Russias economic base


Putin is resorting to patently unsustainable, dramatic fiscal and monetary intervention to smooth over these structural economic weaknesses, which has already sent his government budget into deficit for the first time in years and drained his foreign reserves even with high energy prices  and Kremlin finances are in much, much more dire straits than conventionally understood


Russian domestic financial markets, as an indicator of both present conditions and future outlook, are the worst performing markets in the entire world this year despite strict capital controls, and have priced in sustained, persistent weakness within the economy with liquidity and credit contracting  in addition to Russia being substantively cut off from international financial markets, limiting its ability to tap into pools of capital needed for the revitalization of its crippled economy


Looking ahead, there is no path out of economic oblivion for Russia as long as the allied countries remain unified in maintaining and increasing sanctions pressure against Russia, and The Kyiv School of Economics and McFaul-Yermak Working Group have led the way in proposing additional sanctions measures.


Defeatist headlines arguing that Russias economy has bounced back are simply not factual. The facts are that, by any metric and on any level, the Russian economy is reeling, and now is not the time to step on the brakes.

----------


## bsnub

Ukraine has dealt a significant blow to Russia by blowing up a critical rail line, UK military intelligence has said.

The rail link connecting Russian-occupied Kherson  in southern Ukraine with Crimea is highly unlikely to be working after a  Ukrainian strike against a Russian ammunition train, Britain said on  Wednesday.

Russian  forces are likely to repair the railway line in a few days, although it  will remain a vulnerability for Russian forces and their logistical  resupply route from Crimea into Kherson, according to the intelligence  update on Twitter.

It  said Russia has publicised the ferry crossing recently established to  replace the damaged Antonovsky Bridge over the Dnipro river in Kherson  as being for civilian use. However, the Russian military will almost  certainly use it for troop movements and logistical resupply.

It is  likely there will be an increase in civilians attempting to flee Kherson  and surrounding areas, as hostilities continue and food shortages  worsen, according to the update.

Meanwhile,  Russia on Wednesday said it had destroyed a depot of foreign arms near  the city of Lviv, in a rare strike on western Ukraine.

"Air-launched  high-precision long-range missiles near the city of Radekhiv in Lviv  region destroyed a storage base with foreign-made weapons and ammunition  delivered to the Kyiv regime from Poland," the defence ministry said in  a statement.

The  statement did not specify what types of weapons were destroyed in the  attack on Radekhiv, some 60 kilometres (37 miles) northeast of the  regional capital Lviv.

The  ministry said it also destroyed four warehouses containing rockets,  artillery weapons and ammunition in the southern region of Mykolaiv and  the eastern region of Donetsk.

President  Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, sparking a  conflict that has killed thousands, displaced millions and fuelled fears  of a global food crisis over blocked grain exports.

After  abandoning efforts to take Ukraine's capital Kyiv, Russian troops have  instead focussed on capturing the eastern region of Donbas.

In  recent weeks the Ukrainian army, bolstered by deliveries of  Western-supplied long-range artillery, has sought to stage a  counter-offensive to retake the southern region of Kherson.
Ukrainian  President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that despite arms  supplies from the West, his country's forces could not yet overcome  Russian advantages in heavy guns and manpower.

“This is very much felt in combat, especially in the Donbas,” he added. “It is just hell there. Words cannot describe it.”

Russia has accused the US of direct involvement in the Ukraine war.

Russia's  Defence Ministry, headed by an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said  comments made by Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine's deputy head of military  intelligence, to Britain's _Telegraph_ newspaper showed that Washington was entangled in the conflict despite assertions it was limiting its role to arms supplies.

Mr  Skibitsky told the paper there was consultation between US and  Ukrainian intelligence officials before strikes and Washington had an  effective veto on intended targets, but that US officials were not  providing direct targeting information.

“All  this undeniably proves that Washington, contrary to White House and  Pentagon claims, is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine,” the  Russian defence ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

“It  is the Biden administration that is directly responsible for all  Kyiv-approved rocket attacks on residential areas and civilian  infrastructure in populated areas of Donbas and other regions, which  have resulted in mass deaths of civilians.”

Russia'''s rail link with Crimea out of action after Ukraine strike, says UK intelligence

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine has recaptured 53 settlements in Russian-occupied Kherson region - governor*


KYIV, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Ukraine has recaptured 53 settlements in the mostly Russian-occupied southern region of Kherson since the start of Moscow's invasion, the regional governor said on Tuesday.


Russia captured swathes of southern Ukraine in the first phase of its Feb. 24 invasion. Ukraine is now pledging to conduct a major counter-offensive to retake land and has used Western-made long-range weapons to hit Russian supply lines.

"As of now, 53 settlements have been confirmed as liberated," acting governor Dmytro Butriy said on national television.


That figure was nine settlements more than the number he gave on Monday, which appeared to indicate a quickening tempo of Ukrainian gains in the region.

Ukraine has recaptured 53 settlements in Russian-occupied Kherson region - governor | Reuters

----------


## S Landreth

US Senate votes overwhelmingly to let Sweden and Finland join NATO

The Senate voted 95-1 on Wednesday to ratify NATO membership for Finland and Sweden, with overwhelming bipartisan support expected for quickly expanding the Western military alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The sole no vote was Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. Fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted present.

___________


French parliament ratifies Sweden, Finland's NATO bids

Both bills ratifying protocols passed with 209 deputies in favor and 46 against

The Nordic countries, long resistant to joining NATO, sought membership after Russia began its war on Ukraine on Feb. 24. Finland has a long border with Russia.

"I have the honor of defending this text on behalf of the government. Our security has been increased with these memberships,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said on Twitter.

With the vote, she added, France joins 20 other NATO member states in ratifying Sweden and Finland’s membership.

----------


## OhOh

2 Aug, 2022 12:34  HomeRussia & FSU


*US directly involved in Ukraine conflict  Moscow*

                     The United States is directly involved in the  conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman says.

_"Statements made by Vadim Skibitsky, a representative of the Main  Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine,  confirm that the United States is directly involved in the ongoing  conflict there, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria  Zakharova.__In an interview with the Telegraph published on Monday,  Skibitsky refused to answer questions about whose satellites are used  to confirm targets for US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems. He  did acknowledge, however, that they consult with Washington before  launching strikes and that Washington has veto power over  decision-making.
_
_No other confirmation of the direct involvement of the United States in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine is required,  Zakharova said on Tuesday, because the US doesnt just arm and train  Ukrainian forces but essentially shoots the weapons themselves._
_Zakharova stressed that the US is directly involved and that its distance from the situation is irrelevant._
_They  are fully involved. Now Kiev representatives are talking about their  military involvement not only through the supply of weapons, but through  personnel management in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, direct  instructions and the choice of targets, Zakharova added.
_
_Speculation  has been ongoing about Washingtons involvement in the conflict. For  example, in April French journalist Georges Malbrunot went viral on  social media after claiming to have seen first-hand that Americans are in charge of the Ukrainian war effort on the ground."_

US directly involved in Ukraine conflict  Moscow  RT Russia & Former Soviet Union


Military operation in Ukraine
4 Aug, 09:31

*Ukraine violates laws of war by placing weapons at schools  Amnesty International* 

According to the report, human  rights activities reported cases when Ukrainian troops launched strikes  from residential areas and deployed weapons at civil infrastructure  facilities in 19 Ukrainian settlements, including in Donbass, the  Kharkov and Nikolayev regions

LONDON,  August 4. /TASS/.

"Ukraine violates the laws of war and puts the lives  of civilians at risk by deploying combat vehicles and weapons at schools  and hospitals, according to an Amnesty International report released on  Thursday.

  "We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians  at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated  areas," said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty Internationals Secretary General.
  According to the report, human rights activities reported cases when  Ukrainian troops launched strikes from residential areas and deployed  weapons at civil infrastructure facilities in 19 Ukrainian settlements,  including in Donbass, the Kharkov and Nikolayev regions. "In the cases  it documented, Amnesty is not aware that the Ukrainian military asked or  assisted civilians to evacuate nearby buildings - a failure to take  feasible precautions to protect civilians," Amnesty International said."

Ukraine violates laws of war by placing weapons at schools  Amnesty International -  World - TASS


Military operation in Ukraine
4 Aug, 05:41

*Kievs attacks on NPPs threaten nuclear security  Russian diplomat* 

On July 18, Ukraines army once  again attacked the Zaporozhye nuclear plant by means of drones, the  strike was delivered in the exact proximity, in several dozens of meters  of facilities critically important for the stations security, a  high-ranking Russian foreign ministry official said.

UNITED NATIONS,  August 4. /TASS/. 

"Ukraines recurring attacks on the Zaporozhye nuclear  plant prove that Kiev is seeking to create conditions for a nuclear  disaster, a high-ranking Russian foreign ministry official said on  Wednesday.

_"Not long ago, on July 18, Ukraines army once again attacked the  Zaporozhye nuclear plant by means of drones. The strike was delivered in  the exact proximity, in several dozens of meters of facilities  critically important for the stations security. Only by a lucky chance,  it did not lead to the damage to the stations critical equipment  fraught with a man-induced catastrophe," Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy  director of the ministrys non-proliferation and arms control  department, said at the Review Conference for the Treaty on the  Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in New York.
  "Shortly after, on July 20, Ukraine repeated drone strikes at the  territory of the Zaporozhye NPP, which only once again proved that  Ukraine is seeking to create conditions for a nuclear disaster," he  said. "These are only a few examples showing that the Kiev regime is  threatening nuclear security on its territory."
  "We have evidence, including photos and videos, which proves that what we are speaking about is truth," he added."_

https://tass.com/world/1489037


Ukraine crisis
4 Aug, 00:35Updated at: 01:46

*UN chief announces launch of fact finding mission into attack on DPR prison*

The UN chief noted that work was  underway to define the goals of the fact finding mission and reports  would be presented to Moscow and Kiev

UNITED  NATIONS, August 3. /TASS/. 

_"United Nations Secretary General Antonio  Guterres has announced the launch of a fact finding mission into a  shelling attack at a detention center in the Donetsk Peoples Republic  (DPR).

  Guterres pointed out at a press conference dedicated to the third  brief of the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance  that the UN had received Russian and Ukrainian requests to conduct an  investigation. "I decided in line with my own competencies and powers to  launch a fact finding mission," he said, adding that he did not have  "the authority to do criminal investigations but to launch a fact  finding mission."
  "The terms of reference for that fact finding mission are being  prepared at the present moment, they will be shared with the government  of the Russian Federation and the government of Ukraine," the UN chief  added.
  He was hopeful that it would be possible "to have an agreement on the  terms of reference of that mission." "We are at the same time looking  for competent, independent people that could integrate that fact finding  mission. And we hope to have all the facilities from both sides for  access and for the obtention of all data that is necessary to be able to  clarify the truth about what has happened. So this is a matter that we  took very seriously," Guterres emphasized."
_
https://tass.com/world/1488959

Ukraine crisis
3 Aug, 21:54


*Kievs mandatory evacuation violates human rights  DPR ombudsperson*

"We are ready to provide protection to everyone and help restore everyones rights", Darya Morozova said.

DONETSK,  August 3. /TASS/. 

"Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskys decision to  conduct a mandatory evacuation of civilians from the Kiev-controlled  areas of Donbass violates human rights, the Donetsk Peoples Republics  (DPR) Ombudsperson Darya Morozova told TASS.

_"We dont currently have full information about how the mandatory  evacuation announced by Kiev is going in areas occupied by the  Ukrainian Armed Forces. What I can say for sure is that from the legal  standpoint, such an initiative blatantly violates human rights and  Ukraines Constitution. In particular, by forcing people to leave their  homes, the Ukrainian authorities are violating the right to personal  security, freedom of movement and the right to travel," she pointed out.
  "We are ready to provide protection to everyone and help restore  everyones rights, regardless of where people live, what language they  speak and what beliefs they have. This is the way it has always been.  Unlike Ukraine, the DPR does not divide people into categories. Everyone  who needs help will receive full assistance," Morozova added.
  On July 30, Zelensky announced plans to carry out a mandatory  evacuation of civilians from the Donetsk Regions areas controlled by  Kiev. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk explained that  there was no gas and electricity supply in those areas, which would pose  a threat to civilians in the winter. According to her, those refusing  to be evacuated will have to sign a document taking responsibility for  their own lives."_

https://tass.com/world/1488867

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## OhOh

Military operation in Ukraine

2 Aug, 18:48

*Russian Supreme Court designates Azov nationalist battalion as terrorist organization*

As the court announced only the operative part of the judgement, its motives remain unknown.

MOSCOW, August 2.  /TASS/. 

_"The Russian Supreme Court has designated the Ukrainian Azov  nationalist battalion as a terrorist organization and outlawed its  activities in Russia, TASS reports.
_
_"To satisfy the administrative motion of the prosecutor general and  to recognize the Ukrainian paramilitary unit Azov as a terrorist  organization, banning its activities on the territory of the Russian  Federation," the judge read out the decision.
_
_The court announced only the operative part of the judgement, its  motives remain unknown. The ruling has not yet come into effect, and it  may be appealed against in the court of appeal.
_
_The suit was examined in the absence of representatives from the  opposite side. Most of the hearing took place behind closed doors,  journalists were only allowed to watch the broadcast at the stage of the  examination of witnesses. The witnesses - Russian human rights  activists and journalists, told the court about the numerous episodes of  crimes committed by Azov militants. In the courtroom, they showed  interviews with residents of Mariupol and Volnovakha, whose relatives  had been killed, kidnapped, or tortured by militants from the Azov  battalion.
_
_Members  of the organization recognized by the court as a terrorist organization  are criminally liable. The founders and leaders are punished by 15 to  20 years in prison with a fine of up to 1 million rubles (over $16,500),  while rank-and-file participants - from 5 to 10 years in jail with a  fine of up to 500,000 rubles. Those who had voluntarily stopped  participation in the activities of the organization before the  investigation began, are exempt from criminal liability."
_
Russian Supreme Court designates Azov nationalist battalion as terrorist organization -  Russian Politics & Diplomacy - TASS

----------


## malmomike77

What about your mercenaries the Wagner group? how does Russia classify them  :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Ukraine violates laws of war by placing weapons at schools  Amnesty International*


Which doesn't actually matter because murderous Puffy the war criminal bombs schools, hospitals and other civilian targets anyway.

Or is he starting to look for excuses now?

----------


## OhOh

> What about your mercenaries the Wagner group?


My mercenaries?

I hold the status of citizen in two countries, and one country's government ID card. None of which are Russian.

 :Smile: 




> Or is he starting to look for excuses now?


*THE LORD's* officials are currently collecting evidence to provide to Russian/UN/International courts. Which may or may not decide to prosecute the accused.

No "misspeaking" by him, unlike some.

----------


## bsnub

> Pisky, a kilometer from the first street of Donetsk, Ukraine?


Amazing, at this stage of the war that the Ukrainians hold a piece of land that is basically just outside the city of Donetsk. Both sides are taking casualties, Russia being the attacker of these heavily fortified positions is taking far more than the Ukrainians.

----------


## misskit

US says Russia aims to fabricate evidence in prison deaths


WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials believe Russia is working to fabricate evidence concerning last week’s deadly strike on prison housing prisoners of war in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine.


U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russia is looking to plant false evidence to make it appear that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the July 29 attack on Olenivka Prison that left 53 dead and wounded dozens more, a U.S. official familiar with the intelligence finding told The Associated Press on Wednesday.


Russia has claimed that Ukraine’s military used U.S.-supplied rocket launchers to strike the prison in Olenivka, a settlement controlled by the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic.


The Ukrainian military denied making any rocket or artillery strikes in Olenivka. The intelligence arm of the Ukrainian defense ministry claimed in a statement Wednesday to have evidence that local Kremlin-backed separatists colluded with the Russian FSB, the KGB’s main successor agency, and mercenary group Wagner to mine the barrack before “using a flammable substance, which led to the rapid spread of fire in the room.”

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the classified intelligence — which was recently downgraded — shows that Russian officials might even plant ammunition from medium-ranged High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, as evidence that the systems provided by the U.S. to Ukraine were used in the attack.

Russia is expected to take the action as it anticipates independent investigators and journalists eventually getting access to Olenivka, the official added.


Ukraine has effectively used HIMARS launchers, which fire medium-range rockets and can be quickly moved before Russia can target them with return fire, and have been seeking more launchers from the United States.


Earlier Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is appointing a fact-finding mission in response to requests from Russia and Ukraine to investigate the killings at the prison.


Guterres told reporters he doesn’t have authority to conduct criminal investigations but does have authority to conduct fact-finding missions. He added that the terms of reference for a mission to Ukraine are currently being prepared and will be sent to the governments of Ukraine and Russia for approval.


The Ukrainian POWs at the Donetsk prison included troops captured during the fall of Mariupol. They spent months holed up with civilians at the giant Azovstal steel mill in the southern port city. Their resistance during a relentless Russian bombardment became a symbol of Ukrainian defiance against Russia’s aggression.


More than 2,400 soldiers from the Azov Regiment of the Ukrainian national guard and other military units gave up their fight and surrendered under orders from Ukraine’s military in May.


Scores of Ukrainian soldiers have been taken to prisons in Russian-controlled areas. Some have returned to Ukraine as part of prisoner exchanges with Russia, but other families have no idea whether their loved ones are still alive, or if they will ever come home.


US says Russia aims to fabricate evidence in prison deaths | AP News

----------


## bsnub

Russia  is being threatened by the “range and precision” of western-supplied  weapon systems as Ukraine continues to target its military strongholds,  Britain’s Ministry of Defence says.

Russian forces have  “almost certainly” tried to hide a supply route in Kherson Oblast,  southern Ukraine from radar imagery and possible missile targeting  equipment, according to the MoD.

It’s believed pyramidal radar  reflectors have been positioned in the water near the recently damaged  Antonivskiy Bridge and by the recently damaged nearby rail bridge, both  of which cross over the Dnipro River.

The radar reflectors “are likely being used to hide the bridge”, the latest defence intelligence update said.

“This highlights the threat Russia feels from the increased range and precision of Western-supplied systems.

“Ukraine’s missile and artillery units continue to target Russian  military strongholds, personnel clusters, logistical support bases and  ammunition depots which will highly likely impact Russian military  logistical resupply, and put pressure on Russian military combat support  elements.”

Ukraine struck an ammunition train, carrying Russian troops, on Monday near the Brylivka railway station in Kherson Oblast.

The  MoD said Russian forces were likely to repair the railway line within  days, but it will remain a “vulnerability” for their logistical supply  route from Crimea into the Kherson region.

Instead, Russian forces  were likely to use a ferry crossing, recently established to replace  the damaged Antonovsky Bridge “for troop movements and logistical  resupply”.

Meanwhile, at least five people were killed and six injured on  Thursday when Ukrainian forces shelled Donetsk, a Ukrainian city held by  Russian-backed separatists, officials in the breakaway region said.

Footage on social media showed bodies lying beside a road in central Donetsk. 

The  Donetsk People’s Republic said in a statement that 5 people had been  killed and 6 injured during shelling of the city’s Voroshilovsky  district.

Reuters said it could not immediately verify battlefield reports.

Donetsk  city has been controlled by Russian-backed proxies since 2014, but the  Ukrainian army continues to hold positions on the city’s outskirts.

Russian forces reportedly fired 60 rockets at Nikopol, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region.

Fifty  residential buildings were damaged in the city of more than 100,000 and  some projectiles hit power lines, leaving city residents without  electricity, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Nikopol is across  the Dnieper river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was  taken over by Russian troops early in the war.

Experts at the  US-based Institute for the Study of War believe Russia is shelling the  area intentionally, "putting Ukraine in a difficult position".

Russia ‘threatened by range and precision of western-supplied’ missiles - MoD | Evening Standard

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## bsnub

> The Donetsk People’s Republic said in a statement that 5 people had been killed and 6 injured during shelling of the city’s Voroshilovsky district.


An important statement. That would signal that artillery has finally arrived to support Pisky.

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## sabang

*Military bases set up in residential areas including schools and hospitals* *Attacks launched from populated civilian areas**Such violations in no way justify Russia’s indiscriminate attacks, which have killed and injured countless civilians*


Ukrainian forces have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, as they repelled the Russian invasion that began in February, Amnesty International said today.

Such tactics violate international humanitarian law and endanger civilians, as they turn civilian objects into military targets. The ensuing Russian strikes in populated areas have killed civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure.

“We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

“Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law.”

Not every Russian attack documented by Amnesty International followed this pattern, however. In certain other locations in which Amnesty International concluded that Russia had committed war crimes, including in some areas of the city of Kharkiv, the organization did not find evidence of Ukrainian forces located in the civilian areas unlawfully targeted by the Russian military.

Between April and July, Amnesty International researchers spent several weeks investigating Russian strikes in the Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv regions. The organization inspected strike sites; interviewed survivors, witnesses and relatives of victims of attacks; and carried out remote-sensing and weapons analysis.

Throughout these investigations, researchers found evidence of Ukrainian forces launching strikes from within populated residential areas as well as basing themselves in civilian buildings in 19 towns and villages in the regions. The organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab has analyzed satellite imagery to further corroborate some of these incidents.

Most residential areas where soldiers located themselves were kilometres away from front lines. Viable alternatives were available that would not endanger civilians – such as military bases or densely wooded areas nearby, or other structures further away from residential areas. In the cases it documented, Amnesty International is not aware that the Ukrainian military who located themselves in civilian structures in residential areas asked or assisted civilians to evacuate nearby buildings – a failure to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians.

*Launching strikes from populated civilian areas* 

Survivors and witnesses of Russian strikes in the Donbas, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions told Amnesty International researchers that the Ukrainian military had been operating near their homes around the time of the strikes, exposing the areas to retaliatory fire from Russian forces. Amnesty International researchers witnessed such conduct in numerous locations.

International humanitarian law requires all parties to a conflict to avoid locating, to the maximum extent feasible, military objectives within or near densely populated areas. Other obligations to protect civilians from the effects of attacks include removing civilians from the vicinity of military objectives and giving effective warning of attacks that may affect the civilian population.

The mother of a 50-year-old man killed in a rocket attack on 10 June in a village south of Mykolaiv told Amnesty International: “The military were staying in a house next to our home and my son often took food to the soldiers. I begged him several times to stay away from there because I was afraid for his safety. That afternoon, when the strike happened, my son was in the courtyard of our home and I was in the house. He was killed on the spot. His body was ripped to shreds. Our home was partially destroyed.” Amnesty International researchers found military equipment and uniforms at the house next door.

Mykola, who lives in a tower block in a neighbourhood of Lysychansk (Donbas) that was repeatedly struck by Russian attacks which killed at least one older man, told Amnesty International: “I don’t understand why our military is firing from the cities and not from the field.” Another resident, a 50-year-old man, said: “There is definitely military activity in the neighbourhood. When there is outgoing fire, we hear incoming fire afterwards.” Amnesty International researchers witnessed soldiers using a residential building some 20 metres from the entrance of the underground shelter used by the residents where the older man was killed.

In one town in Donbas on 6 May, Russian forces used widely banned and inherently indiscriminate cluster munitions over a neighbourhood of mostly single or two-storey homes where Ukrainian forces were operating artillery. Shrapnel damaged the walls of the house where Anna, 70, lives with her son and 95-year-old mother.

Anna said: “Shrapnel flew through the doors. I was inside. The Ukrainian artillery was near my field… The soldiers were behind the field, behind the house… I saw them coming in and out… since the war started… My mother is… paralyzed, so I couldn’t flee.”

In early July, a farm worker was injured when Russian forces struck an agricultural warehouse in the Mykolaiv area. Hours after the strike, Amnesty International researchers witnessed the presence of Ukrainian military personnel and vehicles in the grain storage area, and witnesses confirmed that the military had been using the warehouse, located across the road from a farm where civilians are living and working.

While Amnesty International researchers were examining damage to residential and adjacent public buildings in Kharkiv and in villages in Donbas and east of Mykolaiv, they heard outgoing fire from Ukrainian military positions nearby.

In Bakhmut, several residents told Amnesty International that the Ukrainian military had been using a building barely 20 metres across the street from a residential high-rise building. On 18 May, a Russian missile struck the front of the building, partly destroying five apartments and damaging nearby buildings. Kateryna, a resident who survived the strike, said: “I didn’t understand what happened. [There were] broken windows and a lot of dust in my home… I stayed here because my mother didn’t want to leave. She has health problems.”

Three residents told Amnesty International that before the strike, Ukrainian forces had been using a building across the street from the bombed building, and that two military trucks were parked in front of another house that was damaged when the missile hit. Amnesty International researchers found signs of military presence in and outside the building, including sandbags and black plastic sheeting covering the windows, as well as new US-made trauma first aid equipment.

“We have no say in what the military does, but we pay the price,” a resident whose home was also damaged in the strike told Amnesty International.

*Military bases in hospitals*

Amnesty International researchers witnessed Ukrainian forces using hospitals as _de facto_ military bases in five locations. In two towns, dozens of soldiers were resting, milling about, and eating meals in hospitals. In another town, soldiers were firing from near the hospital.

A Russian air strike on 28 April injured two employees at a medical laboratory in a suburb of Kharkiv after Ukrainian forces had set up a base in the compound.

Using hospitals for military purposes is a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

*Military bases in schools*

The Ukrainian military has routinely set up bases in schools in towns and villages in Donbas and in the Mykolaiv area. Schools have been temporarily closed to students since the conflict  began, but in most cases the buildings were located close to populated civilian neighbourhoods 

At 22 out of 29 schools visited, Amnesty International researchers either found soldiers using the premises or found evidence of current or prior military activity – including the presence of military fatigues, discarded munitions, army ration packets and military vehicles.

Russian forces struck many of the schools used by Ukrainian forces. In at least three towns, after Russian bombardment of the schools, Ukrainian soldiers moved to other schools nearby, putting the surrounding neighbourhoods at risk of similar attacks.
In a town east of Odesa, Amnesty International witnessed a broad pattern of Ukrainian soldiers using civilian areas for lodging and as staging areas, including basing armoured vehicles under trees in purely residential neighbourhoods, and using two schools located in densely populated residential areas. Russian strikes near the schools killed and injured several civilians between April and late June – including a child and an older woman killed in a rocket attack on their home on 28 June.

In Bakhmut, Ukrainian forces were using a university building as a base when a Russian strike hit on 21 May, reportedly killing seven soldiers. The university is adjacent to a high-rise residential building which was damaged in the strike, alongside other civilian homes roughly 50 metres away. Amnesty International researchers found the remains of a military vehicle in the courtyard of the bombed university building.

International humanitarian law does not specifically ban parties to a conflict from basing themselves in schools that are not in session. However, militaries have an obligation to avoid using schools that are near houses or apartment buildings full of civilians, putting these lives at risk, unless there is a compelling military need. If they do so, they should warn civilians and, if necessary, help them evacuate. This did not appear to have happened in the cases examined by Amnesty International.

Armed conflicts seriously hamper children’s right to education, and military use of schools can result in destruction that further deprives children of this right once the war ends. Ukraine is one of 114 countries that have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, an agreement to protect education amid armed conflict, which allows parties to make use of abandoned or evacuated schools only where there is no viable alternative.

*Indiscriminate attacks by Russian forces* 

Many of the Russian strikes that Amnesty International documented in recent months were carried out with inherently indiscriminate weapons, including internationally banned cluster munitions, or with other explosive weapons with wide area effects. Others used guided weapons with varying levels of accuracy; in some cases, the weapons were precise enough to target specific objects.

The Ukrainian military’s practice of locating military objectives within populated areas does not in any way justify indiscriminate Russian attacks. All parties to a conflict must at all times distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects and take all feasible precautions, including in choice of weapons, to minimize civilian harm. Indiscriminate attacks which kill or injure civilians or damage civilian objects are war crimes.

“The Ukrainian government should immediately ensure that it locates its forces away from populated areas, or should evacuate civilians from areas where the military is operating. Militaries should never use hospitals to engage in warfare, and should only use schools or civilian homes as a last resort when there are no viable alternatives,” said Agnès Callamard.

Amnesty International contacted the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence with the findings of the research on 29 July 2022. At the time of publication, they had not yet responded.

Ukraine: Ukrainian fighting tactics endanger civilians - Amnesty International

----------


## bsnub

How convenient that you choose to post an AI report that just happens to support your shit narrative. Why omit the overwhelming amount of their reports on the widespread and far larger scale Russian atrocities?

Just more of your massive hypocrisy...

Ukraine: Russian soldiers filmed viciously attacking Ukrainian POW must face justice - Amnesty International

Ukraine: Civilians killed by reckless Russian attacks on Serhiivka apartment block and beach resort - Amnesty International

Russian forces must face justice for war crimes in Kyiv Oblast

Ukraine: Russian forces extrajudicially executing civilians in apparent war crimes  new testimony - Amnesty International

Ukraine: Russias cruel siege warfare tactics unlawfully killing civilians  new testimony and investigation - Amnesty International

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...guage-website/

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## sabang

Amnesty got you butthurt now too? Diddums.

----------


## bsnub

> Amnesty got you butthurt now too? Diddums.


No butt hurt dipshit, just pointing out that you are a fraud and a useful idiot. There has been no AI report about Ukraine until this one. Everything else has been about the massive scale war crimes that Russia has committed. Ukraine is defending its own territory. It fights for every square inch, often times those are civilian areas, a far cry from Russia massacring unarmed civilians and POW's you pathetic hypocrite.

Why did you not post the other articles about Russia?

----------


## misskit

Russia’s “Filtration” Operations, Forced Disappearances, and Mass Deportations of Ukrainian Citizens 

On the eve of the Ukraine Accountability Conference, the United States calls on Russia to immediately halt its systematic “filtration” operations and forced deportations in Russian-controlled and held areas of Ukraine.  The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime.  Russian authorities must release those detained and allow Ukrainian citizens forcibly removed or coerced into leaving their country the ability to promptly and safely return home.  We call on Russia to provide outside independent observers access to so-called “filtration” facilities and to forced deportation relocation areas in Russia.


Estimates from a variety of sources, including the Russian government, indicate that Russian authorities have interrogated, detained, and forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, from their homes to Russia – often to isolated regions in the Far East.  Moscow’s actions appear pre-meditated and draw immediate historical comparisons to Russian “filtration” operations in Chechnya and other areas.  President Putin’s “filtration” operations are separating families, confiscating Ukrainian passports, and issuing Russian passports in an apparent effort to change the demographic makeup of parts of Ukraine.


Reports also indicate Russian authorities are deliberately separating Ukrainian children from their parents and abducting others from orphanages before putting them up for adoption inside Russia. Eyewitnesses and survivors of “filtration” operations, detentions, and forced deportations report frequent threats, harassment, and incidents of torture by Russian security forces.  During this process, Russian authorities also reportedly capture and store biometric and personal data, subject civilians to invasive searches and interrogations and coerce Ukrainian citizens into signing agreements to stay in Russia, hindering their ability to freely return home.


Evidence is mounting that Russian authorities are also reportedly detaining or disappearing thousands of Ukrainian civilians who do not pass “filtration.” Those detained or “filtered out” include Ukrainians deemed threatening because of their potential affiliation with the Ukrainian army, territorial defense forces, media, government, and civil society groups.  Eyewitnesses, survivors, and Ukraine’s General Prosecutor have reported that Russian authorities have transported tens of thousands of people to detention facilities inside Russian-controlled Donetsk, where many are reportedly tortured.  There are reports that some individuals targeted for “filtration” have been summarily executed, consistent with evidence of Russian atrocities committed in Bucha, Mariupol, and other locations in Ukraine.


President Putin and his government will not be able to engage in these systematic abuses with impunity. Accountability is imperative.  This is why we are supporting Ukrainian and international authorities’ efforts to collect, document, and preserve evidence of atrocities.  Together, we are dedicated to holding perpetrators of war crimes and other atrocities accountable.


The United States and our partners will not be silent.  Ukraine and its citizens deserve justice.

Russia’s “Filtration” Operations, Forced Disappearances, and Mass Deportations of Ukrainian Citizens  - United States Department of State

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## bsnub

When Yevgeny Chubarin told his mother he was joining the Russian army to  fight against Ukraine, she cried and begged him not to go. But his  exhilaration shone through. By May 15, he had an AK-47 and was on his  way. The 24-year-old stone-factory worker was killed the next day.

Stories  like his are taboo in Russia, where the wrenching grief of many  families is buried beneath the triumphant bombast of state media. The  war is portrayed as an existential struggle for survival, against  “Nazis” as well as NATO, and a virtual news blackout about the bloody  toll underscores Kremlin anxiety about the durability of its  manufactured support.

Yet  some stories seep out. Vladimir Krot was a 59-year-old Soviet-trained  pilot, a retired Afghan war veteran, who begged to serve in Ukraine. He  kept asking despite repeated rejections and, in June, as casualties  mounted, he finally was told “yes.” Krot died just days later, when his  SU-25 jet went down during a training flight in southern Russia. He left behind a wife and 8-year-old daughter.

The  number of war dead is a state secret. It is a crime to question the  invasion or criticize the military. Independent journalists who speak to  bereaved relatives or cover funerals  have been arrested and told that showing such “tears and suffering” is  bad for public morale. Authorities have ordered some online memorial  pages to be shut down.

The  Kremlin’s priority has been to prevent angry voices of mourning  families and antiwar activists from coming together and gaining  traction. Information about war dead could deter Russia’s increasingly  urgent recruitment effort, scraping up prisoners with military experience and offering highly paid contracts for deployments.

Internal  security agents visited Dmitry Shkrebets this summer after he accused  Russian authorities of lying about how many sailors died when the Black  Sea flagship Moskva was sunk by  Ukrainian missiles on April 13. His son Yegor, one of the conscripts  onboard, was listed as “missing.” The agents accused Shkrebets of making  bomb threats and confiscated his laptop, as he detailed on VKontakte,  Russia’s version of Facebook. On Tuesday, 111 days after Yegor’s death,  the military finally gave his father a death certificate.

“It  will never be easier,” Shkrebets wrote in a post. “There will never be  true joy. We will never be the same again. We have become different, we  have become more unhappy, but also stronger, tougher. We no longer fear  even those who should be feared.”

But  independent analyst Bobo Lo of the Lowy Institute, an Australian think  tank, believes the Kremlin has largely contained the risk of unrest over  the high casualty count. Because most people are so cautious about  airing dissent, gauging the real level of support for the war is  difficult. Pollster VCIOM, which is close to government authorities,  reported in June that 72 percent of Russians back the fighting.

Politically,  Russian President Vladimir Putin “has been able to defend this,” said  Lo, a former deputy head of mission at the Australian Embassy in Moscow.  “Partly through controlling the information narrative, but also because  this is now seen as a war against the West.”

With  many families afraid to speak out and no credible casualty count,  independent media and rights groups keep their own tallies. Their  numbers, based only on confirmed open-source death reports, are modest.

The  independent Russian outlet Mediazona and BBC News Russian counted 5,185  war dead as of July 29, with the greatest losses in remote and  impoverished areas such as the southern region of Dagestan and the  Siberian region of Buryatia. The wealthy cities Moscow and St.  Petersburg were barely touched, the two outlets concluded. Moscow with  12.5 million residents, lost just 11 servicemen, and St. Petersburg 35.

By contrast, the CIA and British intelligence MI6 estimate that at least15,000  Russians have been killed since their country’s invasion of Ukraine in  late February, losses equal to the decade-long Soviet war in  Afghanistan. And that was “probably a conservative estimate,” MI6 chief  Richard Moore told the Aspen Security Forum last month.

Chubarin’s  death was an ominous reflection of the Russian military’s desperation. A  former conscript from the Karelia region, he signed a three-month  contract and was too excited to ask how much he would be paid. His  mother, Nina Chubarina, thinks he wanted to prove himself as a man. She  wonders if he was trying to win back his ex-wife.

“He  knew it was dangerous,” she said in a recent interview. He left on May  11, sending cheerful messages and videos after he arrived in Belgorod in  southern Russia. He got little training in his four days there, then  made a rushed call home. He had been issued a machine gun and was headed  to the war.

“That  was it. That was the last time we spoke,” she said. The military told  her he was found dead near Mariupol on May 16. “He was a very brave guy,  was not afraid of anything. He was so cheerful and open and so kind.”

Chubarina,  a dairy farmworker, does not question the war. She just rereads a poem  her son sent her while a conscript in 2017, about growing up and leaving  her behind: “Forgive me for all the pain that has fallen on your weary  shoulders. Please accept my soldier’s bow. It is from the bottom of my  heart.”

Sergei Dustin  of Baltiysk refuses to be quiet. His daughter, Alexandra, married a  marine named Maksim and became a widow at 19. He vented his rage on  Facebook, saying Russians needed to ask why their sons were dying.

He  described the war as a “massacre started by crazy old men who think  they are great geopoliticians and super strategists, incapable, in fact,  of anything but destruction, threats against the world, puffing out  their cheeks and endless lies.”

Some  responses called him a traitor. His son-in-law had left in the winter  for “training exercises” and ended up in Ukraine. An old friend from  Ukraine was fighting on the other side. Dustin hoped neither would die.

He  refused to hear any details about how the young man died, and his  daughter shut herself inside her grief. “It’s very hard for her to  understand and acknowledge that her husband was taking part in an  operation that, to put it mildly, was far from nice,” he said. “This  whole story just brings sorrow and tragedy for everyone.”

Not  many grieving families publicly question the war effort. The silence  serves to minimize public understanding of its impact on the home front.  In the eastern Siberia city of Ulan-Ude, a recent survey by the  independent news site Lyudi Baikala found that few residents knew that  more than 250 people from the region had been killed, a count the site  calculated using open sources.

Still, cracks have appeared. In Buryatia, a group of wives  of Russian soldiers made a video in June to demand that the military  bring their men home. Hundreds of soldiers from the region contacted an  activist group there for information on how to break their contracts,  according to Alexandra Garmazhapova, founder of the Free Buryatia  Foundation. Casualties on a local memorial page on VKontakte rise daily.

On  Monday, the deaths of local basketball players Dmitry Lagunov and  Nikolay Bagrov were confirmed. A woman named Raisa Dugarova responded on  the page. “Why does Buryatia have to bury its sons every day?” she  asked. “Why are we doing this?”

The  following day there was another entry, about the death of Zolto  Chimitov, a corporal in his early 30s who had been born in the rural  village of Tsakir. He became a boxing champion, later training to be a  forester. He had three children.

“Oh  god, please stop this war. How many of our guys can die?” a woman named  Yevgenia Yakovleva wrote. “My soul is torn from pain. I don’t know how  to accept this, survive and live with it.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...r-deaths-toll/

----------


## bsnub

NEAR IZYUM, Ukraine — It turns out, some Ukrainian soldiers discovered,  that Javelin cases make great beds. The U.S.-made antitank missiles are  packed in large, black rectangular capsules — perfect for elevating a  slim cot off the dirty, cold floors of front-line positions.

“Make  sure you mention they’re empty,” said a soldier, showing off the  makeshift beds. “The last thing we need is Americans thinking they’re  sending us Javelins just so we can sleep on them.”

It’s  the opposite, actually: The 93rd Mechanized Brigade had fired so many  Javelins at Russian tanks that they needed something to do with the pile  of empty cases.

The  fighting in this stage of war between Russia and Ukraine has shifted  toward an exchange of long-range artillery and missile strikes. But  despite Javelins being a shorter-range weapon — its maximum range is  about 2.5 miles — soldiers here near Russian-occupied Izyum in  northeastern Ukraine still consider Javelins an effective way to inflict  punishing damage on Russian troops. Lt. Oleksandr Sosovskyy referred to  the weapons as his “good buddies.”

He said the Ukrainian and Russian troops in many places are dug in on front lines just a few miles apart — within Javelin range.

“We  keep burning their vehicles, and that means that a few more houses in  Ukraine will stay intact,” he said. “Children won’t get killed.  Civilians and military won’t get killed.”

For  years, as Ukraine was locked in a simmering conflict with Russian-led  separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, Javelin antitank missiles were the  premier military aid from Washington — a defensive, lethal weapon  intended to deter greater hostilities. Then, they were kept away from  the front line and never used outside of training environments, but  already “Javelin” had become part of the lexicon in Ukraine as a symbol  of Western support.

After  Russian tanks actually crossed the border on Feb. 24 — and some were  immediately wiped out with Javelins — the cult around the weapons grew.  “Javelin” — or “Javelina” for a girl — is now a common name for pets.  Local department stores sell plush Javelin missile toys for children. An  internet meme of religious figures cradling Javelins became so popular  that its creator started a charity organization selling T-shirts with the images. Ukraine’s defense minister recently wore a “Saint Javelin” patch on his bulletproof vest.

Lt.  Col. Bohdan Dmytruk is another fan of the anti-armor system. A  battalion commander in Ukraine’s 93rd brigade, Dmytruk said he’s seen a  decline in the quality of tanks Russians are using on the front lines.  He has an intimate understanding of his enemy — his battalion was  fighting the same Russian brigade in the Sumy region, farther north,  earlier in the war, and they are now facing off again in the Kharkiv  region.

In  Sumy, the 93rd brigade was victorious, expelling Russian forces from  the region. In the more than three months that they’ve been posted near  Izyum, the front line hasn’t budged much, though Dmytruk said his unit  advanced about 5 miles along one part of it during that time. The road  to Ukraine’s current trench positions is littered with destroyed Russian  vehicles and rotting soldiers’ corpses. The grain fields here have been  burned and filled with craters from artillery shells ― sunflowers tend  to sprout around their edges.

The  tanks the Russians are using now are older, Dmytruk said, because  Javelins and similar weapons have depleted their arsenal. Even the crews  operating the tanks now are less experienced, often not even managing  to fire on Dmytruk’s forces before they’re taken out, he said, because  they didn’t properly load the ammunition.

“The  Ukrainian military basically destroyed their newest tanks and infantry  combat vehicles in the first wave of fighting,” Dmytruk said. “The last  vehicle of theirs we damaged just a couple days ago was a BMP-1, which  is one of their oldest models. They would’ve had that one sitting in  storage for a long time, so they’re really emptying out their stocks  right now.”

Washington  has provided Ukraine with more than 5,000 Javelins as part of its more  than $8 billion in material aid since the start of the Biden  administration. In the first days of the war, Javelins were passed  around to anyone who spotted an enemy column — sometimes with  on-the-spot instruction.

Before  the Russian invasion, some Ukrainian servicemembers had attended  special sessions with U.S. trainers on how to use the Javelin. But it  was nowhere near enough to defend against Russian tank convoys once the  war started.

Sosovskyy  said he watched a 5-minute YouTube video and scanned a 12-point  instruction manual — all while being driven to the spot from where he  had to start firing the weapons. The first time, it didn’t work.

“You  shoot, but something’s not working and then you are trying to learn on  your own, with the enemy right there,” he said. “When we figured it out  and managed to hit targets, not only would the target get destroyed, but  the rest of the convoy would get scared and flee. Javelins helped us  quickly get rid of them.”

“You’re like in a cartoon,” Sosovskyy added. “Click-click and it flies.”
Using Javelins and other antitank missiles, such as British NLAW and the  Ukrainian-made Stugna-P, now requires more of a hunt. The 93rd brigade  uses drones to look for targets. Then small teams — usually about two  people — move into firing range to take it out with Javelins or NLAWs,  which are considered lighter and easier to use but reserved for shorter  distances.

Members  of the 93rd brigade have also come up with creative ways to reach the  Russians. Dmytruk said his soldiers will sometimes attach a “present” —  an antitank grenade — to a drone that will then drop it on any enemy  vehicle.

“Right  now, they’re afraid to even walk up to their tanks,” Dmytruk said. He  said he’s intercepted audio of some Russian commanders telling their  soldiers to fill white bags with dirt and cover the tops of their tanks.  Dmytruk said doing that is “useless.”

And  it’s not just empty Javelin cases his brigade recycles. If a Russian  tank or combat vehicle is lightly damaged and recoverable, the  Ukrainians will snag it for themselves. Dmytruk said his battalion alone  has destroyed 18 Russian tanks, but five were taken as “trophies” that  Ukrainian soldiers repaired, repainted and redeployed to the front.

Among  them are two T-80 models parked in thick mud and under the cover of  tree branches. They weren’t hit with Javelins — then they wouldn’t have  been salvageable. But with many of their tanks captured, the Russians  are turning to older tanks, and the Ukrainians are fighting them with  their own newer ones.

“We  can see it by their equipment that they are lacking some,” Sosovskyy  said. “We learn that from intercepted messages or some stories. We see  they are panicking, that their reconnaissance is getting weaker. So we  are hopeful. And we’ll be doing everything we can to kick them out of  here.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...-russia-tanks/

----------


## Hugh Cow

> When Yevgeny Chubarin told his mother he was joining the Russian army to  fight against Ukraine, she cried and begged him not to go. But his  exhilaration shone through. By May 15, he had an AK-47 and was on his  way. The 24-year-old stone-factory worker was killed the next day.
> 
> Stories  like his are taboo in Russia, where the wrenching grief of many  families is buried beneath the triumphant bombast of state media. The  war is portrayed as an existential struggle for survival, against  “Nazis” as well as NATO, and a virtual news blackout about the bloody  toll underscores Kremlin anxiety about the durability of its  manufactured support.
> 
> Yet  some stories seep out. Vladimir Krot was a 59-year-old Soviet-trained  pilot, a retired Afghan war veteran, who begged to serve in Ukraine. He  kept asking despite repeated rejections and, in June, as casualties  mounted, he finally was told “yes.” Krot died just days later, when his  SU-25 jet went down during a training flight in southern Russia. He left behind a wife and 8-year-old daughter.
> 
> The  number of war dead is a state secret. It is a crime to question the  invasion or criticize the military. Independent journalists who speak to  bereaved relatives or cover funerals  have been arrested and told that showing such “tears and suffering” is  bad for public morale. Authorities have ordered some online memorial  pages to be shut down.
> 
> The  Kremlin’s priority has been to prevent angry voices of mourning  families and antiwar activists from coming together and gaining  traction. Information about war dead could deter Russia’s increasingly  urgent recruitment effort, scraping up prisoners with military experience and offering highly paid contracts for deployments.
> ...


As much as I am on the side of Ukraine. I feel for the families of these young Russian men being sent to their deaths most likely largely ignorant of the real reasons of Putins murderous intentions and territorial ambitions, cloaked in layers of false patriotism. 
The one thing I love about my country is the open skepticism of unbridled patriotism. Where the flag is just a symbol of the country not some representation of some universal truth and justice, raised with a salute more reminiscent of a teary eyed love of big brother.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> As much as I am on the side of Ukraine. I feel for the families of these young Russian men being sent to their deaths most likely largely ignorant of the real reasons of Putins murderous intentions and territorial ambitions, cloaked in layers of false patriotism.


Of course they are. Putin just sees them as cannon fodder, and the entire Russian population as a way of lining his pockets and keeping himself in power.

----------


## sabang

Curious how the US (well, neocons) think of Ukrainians  except as dispensable cannon fodder.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Curious how the US (well, neocons) think of Ukrainians  except as dispensable cannon fodder.


No, most of the world thinks Ukraine has a right to defend itself from war criminals.

----------


## bsnub

> Curious how the US (well, neocons) think of Ukrainians except as dispensable cannon fodder.


Ladies and Gentlemen, we have the idiot post of the day award winner!

----------


## misskit

*Amnesty regrets distress caused by report rebuking Ukraine
*

KYIV (Reuters)  Amnesty International apologised on Sunday for distress and anger caused by a report accusing Ukraine of endangering civilians which infuriated President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and triggered the resignation of its Kviy office head.


The rights group published the report on Thursday saying the presence of Ukrainian troops in residential areas heightened risks to civilians during Russias invasion.


Amnesty International deeply regrets the distress and anger that our press release on the Ukrainian militarys fighting tactics has caused, it said in an email to Reuters.


Amnesty Internationals priority in this and in any conflict is ensuring that civilians are protected. Indeed, this was our sole objective when releasing this latest piece of research. While we fully stand by our findings, we regret the pain caused.


Zelenskiy accused the group of trying to shift responsibility from Russian aggression, while Amnestys Ukraine head Oksana Pokalchuk quit saying the report was a propaganda gift for Moscow.


Ukrainian officials say they try to evacuate civilians from front-line areas. Russia, which denies targeting civilians, has not commented on the rights report.


In its email on Sunday, Amnesty said it had found Ukrainian forces next to civilian residences in 19 towns and villages it visited, exposing them to risk of incoming Russian fire.


This does not mean that Amnesty International holds Ukrainian forces responsible for violations committed by Russian forces, nor that the Ukrainian military is not taking adequate precautions elsewhere in the country, it said.


We must be very clear: Nothing we documented Ukrainian forces doing in any way justifies Russian violations.

Amnesty regrets 'distress' caused by report rebuking Ukraine | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## harrybarracuda

Amnesty must be a bit thick.

Any civilian area is a Russian target, whether there are troops present or not.

Russia is committing war crimes.

----------


## sabang

Ukraine is committing war crimes.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Ukraine is committing war crimes.


Says RT/TASS/PRAVDA and the wankers that believe them.

----------


## russellsimpson

> “Amnesty International’s priority in this and in any conflict is ensuring that civilians are protected. Indeed, this was our sole objective when releasing this latest piece of research. While we fully stand by our findings, we regret the pain caused.”
> 
> 
> Zelenskiy accused the group of trying to shift responsibility from Russian aggression, while Amnesty‘s Ukraine head Oksana Pokalchuk quit saying the report was a propaganda gift for Moscow.


Zelenski's reaction tells me that soon he will be seen as a liability and one way or the other will have to go. The Americans are not above slipping some explosives up his tailpipe if it came to that. I sense things are approaching a breaking point.

----------


## misskit

*‘Together with Russia’ Kremlin officials push ahead with ‘referendums’ despite classified polls showing lack of support in captured Ukrainian territories*


Kremlin officials still hope to stage referendums in captured regions of Ukraine this fall, in the hopes of Russia absorbing the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (the DNR and LNR), as well as the southern regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. 


As Meduza reported previously, the Putin administration wanted to time these “referendums” to coincide with Russia’s own regional elections, scheduled for September 11. However, statements from Russian occupation authorities in captured regions of Ukraine have offered only vague time frames like “early autumn” or “the first ten days of September.”


Three sources close to the Kremlin told Meduza that September 11 remains a “tentative date” — but it’s not set in stone. In all likelihood, they explained, Russian forces won’t be able to completely occupy the Donetsk region by then. Moscow recognizes the entire region as the territory of the “DNR.” But by Meduza’s estimates, Russia and its proxies only control about 60 percent of the region. 


That said, Kremlin officials have no doubt that Russian forces will be able to seize the remaining 40 percent sooner or later. As such, the Putin administration sees staging referendums after this has been achieved as its main (and most realistic) option. One of Meduza’s sources asserted that this would allow for “general unity and a celebration.” (Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to Meduza’s questions.)


According to another source, however, Russian troops may soon lose control of Kherson. Kyiv intends to fully recapture the southern region and Ukrainian forces have already shelled the Antonovsky Bridge — the main crossing point over the Dnipro River used to supply Russian troops in Kherson. 


Meduza’s sources close to the Kremlin emphasized that if the counteroffensive intensifies, the planned referendums may have to be moved up — regardless of whether Russia has taken full control of the Donetsk region. In other words, Russia may move to annex only part of the “DNR.” 


“The Kherson region was more or less quickly occupied [in early March] and occupied with little bloodshed,” one source explained. “After the referendums, it will be Russian territory and it will be defended as Russian territory.” 

‘A New Russia’


According to Meduza’s sources, the referendums are set to take place under the slogan “Together with Russia.” Occupation authorities are already making use of this tagline. In early July, collaborationist officials in the Zaporizhzhia region announced the formation of an “integration movement” called “We are Together with Russia.” And on July 30, a “Together with Russia” Forum took place in occupied Kherson. 


Meduza’s sources close to the Putin administration explained that there was another slogan in the running: “A New Russia” (Novaya Rossiya, in Russian). The idea behind it was to signal to local residents that after the referendums, Russia “will gain a new quality as a state, become stronger, [and] that the people in these territories will help with this.” 


However, according to one source, President Vladimir Putin and other members of Russia’s Security Council didn’t like the idea. In their view, Russia is “returning its own, not adding something new.” 


Consequently, according to sources close to the Kremlin, the referendums will not have a “clear ideological component.” Instead, emphasis will be placed on the claim that the inhabitants of the occupied territories will be able to live better “in Russia” than in Ukraine.

As Meduza reported previously, preparations for the referendums are being handled by the presidential directorate for State Council affairs — a branch of Putin’s Executive Office under the leadership of Alexander Kharichev, a close associate of the Kremlin’s Donbas point man Sergey Kiriyenko. 


According to Meduza’s sources, Sergey Tolmachev, the deputy governor of Sevastopol, has been tapped to play the role of chief political strategist and referendum coordinator. Tolmachev, who hails from Krasnoyarsk, actively posts updates on Telegram about Russia’s activities in captured regions of Ukraine. He did not respond to Meduza’s questions.


Tolmachev’s past experience as a political strategist includes, for example, working on the 2018 gubernatorial race in Khakassia. According to Meduza’s sources, he actively used “dark PR” in an attempt to prevent Communist Party candidate Valentin Konovalov from winning the race. Konovalov won the election anyway. 


“[Tolmachev has] another strong suit — administrative mobilization. Why somehow try to win over and convince people if you can drive them to the polling stations by bus?” one of Tolmachev’s acquaintances told Meduza. 


Tolmachev will have help from other personnel parachuted in from Russia (Meduza reported on this in detail back in June). According to Meduza’s sources, Russian civil servants and spin doctors involved in orchestrating the referendums are being paid a tidy sum of money. For example, one Russian civil servant working in the policy bloc of one of the Donbas “people’s republics” is making more than 2 million rubles ($33,000) a month. Salaries for political strategists start at 1 million rubles ($16,500). However, according to one source, only “the most desperate” people are taking these jobs: “Or those who want to demonstrate their loyalty in order to have lucrative contracts later. Many agree, but family [members] talk them out of it.”


A ‘real’ referendum


Sources close to the Kremlin told Meduza that so far, the efforts of Russia’s propagandists and political spin doctors have yet to produce the desired results. 


Two sources close to the Putin administration said that classified studies conducted in the occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in mid-June showed that only 30 percent of survey respondents supported accession to Russia. Another 30 percent wanted these regions to remain part of Ukraine and the rest “had difficulty answering.” (Due to Russia’s ongoing occupation of these regions, there is no reliable public opinion data.)


“For a real referendum such support, of course, is not enough,” underscored a source familiar with the classified polling results. 


Nevertheless, the Kremlin has no doubt that despite the clear lack of public support, the referendums “will go as needed.” According to one source, due to the “special circumstances” (read: war) a limited number of polling stations will be opened during the referendum; pro-Russian residents will be solicited to visit them, and this will provide photo-ops for Kremlin propagandists.


Officials in the Putin administration are also convinced that those who want these regions to remain part of Ukraine will not come out to vote in a referendum orchestrated by Russia on territory captured by its troops. 

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/08...er-with-russia

----------


## bsnub

> Zelenski's reaction tells me that soon he will be seen as a liability and one way or the other will have to go. The Americans are not above slipping some explosives up his tailpipe if it came to that. I sense things are approaching a breaking point.


You continue to prove that you have no idea what you are talking about. Utterly clueless and absurd.

----------


## Norton

> And on July 30, a “Together with Russia” Forum took place in occupied Kherson.


Link please. We have a few here would love to join.  :rofl:

----------


## misskit

Russian occupation authorities carried out the scheduled “We Are Together With Russia” forum in Kherson State University on July 30, continuing to set conditions for a falsified referendum in occupied areas of Kherson Oblast.[30] Pro-Russian Telegram channel “Readovka” described the event as a forum aimed to allow participants to “the future fate” of Kherson Oblast and claimed that about a thousand participants gathered to discuss social and economic policies of the region.[31] The delegates voted for a declaration called “Russian Kherson“ regarding the joint development of Kherson Oblast with Russia.[32] Igor Kastyukevich , Russian State Duma Deputy and coordinator of the United Russia Party humanitarian mission to Kherson Oblast, was the only Russian identified as participating in the forum alongside Ukrainian collaborators.[33] ISW previously assessed that that low turnout among Russian officials could support other reporting suggesting that the Kremlin authorities fled Kherson City in fear of Ukrainian counteroffensives.[34] Russian-appointed Kherson Oblast Military-Civilian Administration Head Volodymyr Saldo also announced the creation of the Kherson Oblast Public Chamber within the ”We Are Together With Russia,” which the Kremlin will likely use to create the facade of public support for Kherson Oblast’s integration with Russia.[35]

The link Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 30 | Institute for the Study of War


The Russians didn’t even go.

----------


## sabang

*The authorities of the Zaporizhia region said that the region is "forever leaving" from Ukraine*



Volodymyr Rogov, a member of the main council of the administration of the Zaporizhzhya region, said that the region was "leaving forever" from Ukraine.

“Zaporozhye land is forever leaving Ukraine.

The Zaporozhye region has set a course for reunification with Russia and there will be no turning back, ”RIA Novosti quotes Rogov.

According to him, the Kyiv authorities are aware of this and are trying to threaten the civilian population by shelling civilian infrastructure.

Earlier it was reported that the referendum on joining Russia Zaporozhye and Kherson regions could be held on the same day.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the military-civilian administration of the Kherson region, said that they intend to determine the date of the referendum within a month.

The authorities of the Zaporizhia region said that the region is "forever leaving" from Ukraine - Teller Report

----------


## harrybarracuda

More utter bollocks in a feeble attempt at justifying annexation.

----------


## bsnub

> ISW previously assessed that that low turnout among Russian officials could support other reporting suggesting that the Kremlin authorities fled Kherson City in fear of Ukrainian counteroffensives.


Of course they fled as both bridges into the city from the east were effectively blown, and the Russians are desperately trying to use a pontoon ferry to resupply. The fake officials that stay are at risk of being found dead in car bomb blasts by partisans, at least four so far in Kherson Oblast assassinated.

----------


## S Landreth

it's funny but hope no accidents occur


Sanctions squeeze has Russia stripping planes for spare parts

A group of Russian airlines is stripping planes of spare parts as sanctions implemented due to Moscows invasion of Ukraine impact the country.

Sources told Reuters on Monday that major Russian airlines such as Aeroflot have grounded their planes so they can be disassembled for spare parts, adding that airlines are taking parts from their planes to keep them airworthy.

Russian-made Sukhoi Superjets, which are dependent on assembled foreign parts, have already started the disassembly process, removing an engine from a grounded jet to allow another Superjet to continue flying. 

The disused airplanes from which parts are removed to keep others flying are often referred to as Christmas trees. The process is linked to financial difficulties due to widespread reshuffling from the sanctions imposed by Western powers, according to Reuters.

Sanctions on Moscow stem from its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, which began in February, and have prevented Russia from obtaining spare engine parts or undergoing maintenance checks in Western countries.

Oleg Panteleev, the head of the Aviaport aviation think tank, told Reuters that most Western-based manufacturers know that Sukhoi Superjets fully operate in Russia.

Western manufacturers understand that almost all Superjets are being operated in Russia, Panteleev said. You can simply stop producing and shipping spare parts  and it will hurt.

Russian officials hope that some of the used aircraft parts will ensure that foreign-built aircrafts can continue to fly through 2025, Reuters reported.

A source also said that due to the Western-imposed sanctions, unused jets are being stripped for spare parts, as Russian jets are currently flying fewer routes than normal.

This comes as Aeroloft has experienced a 22 percent traffic fall due to the Western-imposed sanctions against Russia, according to data provided by the company.

Sources also told the news wire that Middle East and Asian companies may be at risk of secondary sanctions from Western powers if they provide aircraft supplies to Russia.

----------


## sabang

> Aeroloft has experienced a 22 percent traffic


Is that all? Jeez, that is nothing compared to Cathay Pacific and even Qantas.

----------


## OhOh

> A group of Russian airlines is stripping  planes of spare parts as sanctions implemented due to Moscow’s invasion  of Ukraine impact the country.
> 
> Sources told Reuters on Monday that major Russian airlines such as  Aeroflot have grounded their planes so they can be disassembled for  spare parts, adding that airlines are taking parts from their planes to  keep them airworthy.


Your sources, The Hill, Reuters and Reuters sources, may wish to check with the seventh package of EU sanctions, prior to publication.*



War in Ukraine: EU adopts ‘maintenance and alignment’ package against Russia*

July 21, 2022

_"The EU is also introducing a number of clarifications to existing  measures, for instance in the field of public procurement, aviation and  justice. For instance, technical assistance to Russia for aviation goods  and technology will allowed insofar as it is needed to safeguard the  technical industrial standard setting work of the International Civil  Aviation Organisation, ...."

War in Ukraine: EU adopts ‘maintenance and alignment’ package against Russia  - EU NEIGHBOURS east
_
The easing may be just EU spare parts.

 NaGastan spare parts suppliers, of course, maybe  be instructed/obey NaGastan sanctions, to ignore the international body, The International Civil  Aviation Organisation, which sets technical and industrial standards for commercial aeroplanes worldwide.

----------


## harrybarracuda

At least hoohoo doesn't cheer on paedophiles, even if he does post interminably dull shit.

----------


## panama hat

> Is that all? Jeez, that is nothing compared to Cathay Pacific and even Qantas.


Show us some links, please, for the same timeframe.  Try quoting the complete sentence.



> This comes as Aeroloft has experienced a 22 percent traffic fall due to the Western-imposed sanctions against Russia, according to data provided by the company.

----------


## malmomike77

> The authorities of the Zaporizhia region said that the region is "forever leaving" from Ukraine


Well it could become uninhabitable if the Russian idiots insist on conducting operations on and around the plant

How dangerous is the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant?

The UN has called for international inspectors to be given access to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, after it was shelled at the weekend. But how dangerous is the situation and what is likely to happen next?

Why is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant important?

The plant, built in the Soviet era, is the largest nuclear reactor in Europe. Its six pressurised water reactors (of which at least two are currently operating) are important to Kyiv as they can produce power for up to 4m homes.

Situated on the south bank of the Dnieper river at Enerhodar, south-west of the city of Zaporizhzhia itself, the plant occupies an extremely important strategic position both for Russian and Ukrainian forces, who have been contesting control of the site since early in the war.

The presence of the water-cooled reactors, as well as a spent fuel storage facility, on the large and sprawling site has led Russia to use it as a so called “sheltered” artillery park, using the facilities to fire on Ukrainian positions in the belief that Ukraine would not fire back and risk a nuclear accident.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has accused the Russians of using the plant as a “nuclear shield” saying: “Of course the Ukrainians cannot fire back lest there be a terrible accident involving the nuclear plant.” That has allowed Russia to target areas like the city of Nikopol across the river which has come under heavy shelling in recent weeks.

Why is there renewed concern?

There are two issues fuelling a deepening anxiety over the situation at the plant, which is under Russian control but uses Ukrainian staff. International nuclear safety officials have become concerned over the lack of spare parts, access for routine maintenance of the reactors and lack of contact with staff all of which have been disrupted by the ongoing conflict.

A second issue is grad missile fire around the plant at the weekend, with Russians and Ukrainians pointing the finger over responsibility. According to Energoatom – the Ukrainian nuclear authority – the impacts were close to the spent fuel storage area with the operator claiming Russian troops “aimed specifically” at the containers despite the presence of Russian troops at the site.

However, it is worth noting that Ukrainian officials at times have somewhat overstated claims about nuclear risks posed by the conflict both at Chornobyl and Zaporizhzhia – so for now it is not clear how dangerous this weekend’s incident was in and of itself.

more   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/08/how-dangerous-is-the-situation-at-the-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant

----------


## harrybarracuda

Putin blackmail innit.

----------


## S Landreth

U.S. seeks to seize $90 mln plane owned by Russian oligarch

A judge has authorized U.S. prosecutors to seize a $90 million Airbus plane owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrei Skoch, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday.

Skoch, a member of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, was initially sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018 for alleged ties to Russian organized criminal groups. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued further sanctions against Skoch in the wake of Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

Washington has sought to pressure President Vladimir Putin to stop the military campaign by freezing and seizing assets belonging to wealthy Russians. read more

"U.S. law enforcement has demonstrated that international shell games will not suffice to hide the fruits of corruption and money laundering," Andrew Adams, the federal prosecutor leading the Justice Department's KleptoCapture task force targeting oligarchs' assets, said in a statement.

Skoch - a billionaire and member of the pro-Putin United Russia party - owns the plane through shell companies and trusts tied to his romantic partner, prosecutors said. Reuters could not immediately reach Skoch for comment.

U.S. dollar payments for the registration and insurance of the plane continued to be made between 2018 and 2021, despite the sanctions, prosecutors said.

Moscow calls its activities in Ukraine a "special military operation."

The plane is now in Kazakhstan, court papers show. Kazakhstan's Embassy in the United States did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A 324-foot (98.76-m) yacht that belongs to Skoch in June anchored in Dubai, which has emerged as a refuge for Russian wealth as Western countries ramped up sanctions against Putin allies. read more

Also in June, a U.S. court issued warrants for the seizure of two luxury planes owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. The KleptoCapture task force has also brought the seized Amadea, a $300-million yacht owned by sanctioned oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, to the United States. read more

----------


## S Landreth

Biden signs off on NATO applications for Finland, Sweden

President Biden on Tuesday signed the ratification documents for Sweden and Finland to join NATO, bringing the two countries a step closer to formally becoming part of the alliance.

*Why it matters:* Sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, Sweden and Finland's bids to join NATO would significantly change the security landscape in Europe and more than double the length of the alliance's borders with Russia.

*State of play:* Biden's signing of the protocols follows the Senate's bipartisan vote last week to ratify the two countries' applications to NATO.


Biden spoke to Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finland's President Sauli Niinistö ahead of the signing to congratulate them on the U.S.' ratification of the protocols and the progress it represents in their to join NATO, per a White House readout.Sweden and Finland were formally invited to join the alliance in late June after Turkey — which had hampered their bids to join — agreed to lift its objection.In early July, NATO ambassadors from all 30 member states signed the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland.

*What they're saying:* Biden hailed Sweden and Finland's decision to join NATO as a "watershed moment" for the alliance that would bring greater security and stability to the whole world.


"In a moment, when [President Vladimir] Putin's Russia has shattered peace and security in Europe, when autocrats are challenging the very foundations of a rule-based order, the strength of the transatlantic alliance and America's commitment to NATO is more important than it's ever been," Biden said.Biden added that NATO is an "indispensable alliance for the world of today and the world of tomorrow" and that Finland and Sweden's addition will make NATO "stronger than ever."

*What's next:* All 30 member states must ratify the accession protocols, a process that could take months.


So far, 23 NATO member countries have completed the ratification process, according to the Atlantic Council.





___________


$1 Billion in New U.S. Military Assistance for Ukraine

Nearly six months into the unprovoked and brutal assault on Ukraine, Russia continues its destruction of Ukrainian towns and villages. President Biden has been clear that we will continue to support the Ukrainian people as they defend their country from Russian aggression, for as long as it takes. As part of those efforts, pursuant to a delegation of authority from the President, today I am authorizing our largest single drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment utilizing this authority. This eighteenth drawdown since August 2021 of up to $1 billion includes arms, munitions, and equipment from U.S. Department of Defense inventories for Ukraine’s self-defense.

This package provides a significant amount of additional ammunition, weapons, and equipment that Ukrainians are using so effectively to defend themselves and will bring total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to approximately $9.8 billion since the beginning of this Administration.

The United States stands with Allies and partners from more than 50 countries in providing vital security assistance to support Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russia’s aggression. As this war stretches on, the courage and strength of Ukraine’s military and its people become even more evident and even more extraordinary. Together, we will continue to consult closely with Ukraine and surge additional available systems and capabilities carefully calibrated to make a difference on the battlefield and strengthen Ukraine’s eventual position at the negotiating table.

We stand united with Ukraine. https://www.state.gov/1-billion-in-n...e-for-ukraine/

----------


## sabang

Russia occupies and controls the plant. Why would they shell it? That be the Ukies.

----------


## Hugh Cow

> Curious how the US (well, neocons) think of Ukrainians  except as dispensable cannon fodder.


You do realise the Ukrainian "cannon fodder" (read men women and children) are being killed by Russian "cannons" you complete fucking moron. 
My greatest wish is that you have the oportunity in the not to distant future to express your thoughts on the war with the Klitschko brothers in person.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Philippines confirms Russia helicopter deal cancelled over US sanctions

Philippines confirms Russia helicopter deal cancelled over US sanctions

----------


## sabang

I suppose the people killed by Ukrainian shelling don't count? Unworthy victims.

----------


## OhOh

10 Aug, 2022 09:16  HomeRussia & FSU

*Russia summons UN Security Council over nuclear emergency* 

                     Moscow has accused Kiev of striking the Zaporozhye  nuclear power plant, risking a repeat of the Chernobyl disaster .

_"Russia has summoned an emergency session of the UN Security Council  to discuss the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporozhye nuclear power plant,  which has been the subject of regular shelling attacks. Moscow wants the  chief of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy  Agency (IAEA), to brief the council on the situation.

__The move,  which was reported by Russian media on Tuesday, was confirmed by the  deputy head of Russia’s mission to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, who said  the public needed to learn about “Ukrainian provocations.” The meeting is expected to take place on Thursday.
_
_Russia  says Ukraine has been responsible for a series of drone attacks and  artillery strikes at the nuclear site. The latest shelling was reported  last weekend.
_
_Kiev denies the allegations and claims that Russia  has shelled the facility itself to discredit Ukraine. Kiev’s National  Security Council has also alleged that Moscow was using the power plant  as a military base, keeping heavy weapons and personnel there.
_
_The IAEA has not had access to the site since before the  Russian-Ukrainian conflict escalated in late February and relies on  reports from Ukraine to assess the situation on the ground. The  Zaporozhye plant is manned by Ukrainian nuclear workers despite being  under Russian control._
_
On Saturday, Director General Rafael  Mariano Grossi expressed the IAEA’s concern over the artillery strikes,  stating that they underlined “the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond.”
_
_“I condemn any violent acts carried out at or near the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant or against its staff,” he stressed.
_
_Grossi  is expected to lead an inspection of the facility for an independent  assessment of the situation and verification that non-proliferation  safeguards remain in place._

Continues at:

Russia summons UN Security Council over nuclear emergency — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

----------


## OhOh

9 Aug, 2022 22:07  HomeRussia & FSU


*Ukrainian promises on African grain not being kept – NYT     * 

                     Ships are headed for Turkey, other parts of Europe and China, despite Kiev’s statements.

_"None of the grain ships that have departed from Ukrainian ports as of  Tuesday were headed for African countries most at risk of starvation,  according to the New York Times. The first ship to leave via the “grain corridor” arrangement saw its cargo rejected by the buyers in Lebanon, who cited the delivery delay.

__Since  the arrangement took effect on August 1, ten ships have left Ukrainian  ports, mainly carrying animal feed. One is headed to England, another to  Ireland, while several are on their way to Turkey, Italy and China.  None of them are bound for Yemen, Somalia, or other countries facing “catastrophic levels of hunger,” the Times reported on Tuesday.
_
_The  first ship to reach its destination was the Turkish-flagged Polarnet,  which docked in Derince on Monday with 12,000 tons of maize. Celebrating  its arrival, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said it “sends a message of hope to every family in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia,” adding, “Ukraine won’t abandon you.”
_
_Meanwhile, President Vladimir Zelensky told his counterpart Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana on Monday that Ukraine was “ready to continue being the guarantor of world food security.”
_
_However,  most of the 20 million tons of grain held up in Ukrainian ports for the  past several months is animal feed, and not intended for human  consumption, according to experts quoted by AP. 

The first ship to leave Ukraine under the “grain corridor”  arrangement carried 26,000 metric tons of chicken feed, destined for  Lebanon. The Sierra Leone-flagged freighter Razoni sailed out of Odessa  on August 1 to much fanfare – only to be turned back from Beirut on  Monday, after the Lebanese buyer refused to accept the shipment, on the  grounds of it being several months too late. "_

Continues at:

https://www.rt.com/russia/560560-ukr...rica-problems/

----------


## Takeovers

> Russia summons UN Security Council over nuclear emergency


Statement on Russia’s war against Ukraine - G7 Foreign Ministers - Federal Foreign Office

G7 demand to return control of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant to Ukraine.

----------


## OhOh

> *G7*


9 Countries v 2/3 of the worlds countries, (approx 138), according to advisor to the Ukrainian  presidential office Mikhail Podolyak said on Tuesday.

 :rofl: 

9 th Aug, 19:37
*
Two thirds of nations either support Russia or cooperate with it, Zelensky’s office admits*

"Mikhail Podolyak noted that  countries which remained neutral had been Russia-oriented for quite a  long time and had been earning some dividends there

KIEV,  August 9. /TASS/. 

_"A substantial number of countries maintain a  pro-Russian stance or keep cooperating with Moscow despite the sanctions  imposed by a number of Western countries, advisor to the Ukrainian  presidential office Mikhail Podolyak said on Tuesday.
_
_"We understand that the world is not a homogeneous place," he said.  Some countries "have designated Russia as an aggressor and imposed very  severe sanctions," he added. "However, two thirds of countries either  remain neutral and keep business contacts with Russia or have even taken  a pro-Russian stance," Podolyak said in an interview with the BBC’s  Ukrainian service.
_
_He assumed this was because "those countries have been  Russia-oriented for quite a long time and have been earning some  dividends there."

Two thirds of nations either support Russia or cooperate with it, Zelensky’s office admits -  World - TASS_

----------


## harrybarracuda

This vile russian slag decided to go around Vienna abusing Ukrainians.

Sadly I don't have the rest of it, but it consists of her bawling her shitty fucking eyes out because her hotel booking was cancelled and she was banned from booking sites for being the sort of repulsive individual that no-one wants in their hotel.

Result!

----------


## sabang

Vile Russian slag? Gimme more!  :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Vile Russian slag? Gimme more!


Once she scrapes the war paint off with a trowel and the rest is washed away by her salty tears, even you might balk at it.

----------


## bsnub

ODESA, Ukraine —  Damage from a series of explosions at a Russian air base in Crimea  appeared to be greater than the Kremlin has described, as officials on  the Russia-occupied peninsula on Wednesday declared a state of emergency  and said that dozens of nearby homes and commercial structures had been  hit.

After the explosions on Tuesday,  which a senior Ukrainian military official said were the work of  Ukrainian forces, Russia’s Defense Ministry moved quickly to play down  the extent of the damage, saying no equipment had been destroyed and no  casualties reported.

The  assertions were contradicted by a video from the scene and by a tally  of the damage by officials in Crimea, a strategic peninsula in southern  Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed in 2014.
The  Kremlin-installed leader of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said on Wednesday  that 252 people had been relocated to shelters because of damage to  their homes. At least 62 apartment buildings and 20 commercial  structures had been damaged in the blast, a statement on Mr. Aksyonov’s  Telegram page said, and officials were still cataloging damage to  private homes.

Mr.  Askyonov declared a state of emergency, apparently aimed at speeding up  the rebuilding process. At least one person was killed and more than a  dozen others wounded, officials said.

Damage  to the base itself was harder to assess, but one video that emerged in  the aftermath, and that was verified by The New York Times, showed the  charred nose cone of a fighter jet, its fuselage a black, shapeless  mass.

Although  Ukraine has not officially taken responsibility for the explosions, a  senior Ukrainian military official said on Wednesday that Ukraine’s  special forces — along with local partisan resistance fighters loyal to  the government in Kyiv — were behind the blasts. The explosions set off  fireballs that startled beachgoers at a nearby Black Sea resort.

The  official said the air base, Saki, on the western coast of Crimea, has  been regularly used by Russian warplanes that have attacked Ukrainian  forces in southern Ukraine. Speaking on the condition of anonymity to  discuss delicate military matters, the official would not disclose the  type of weapon used in the attack, saying only that “a device  exclusively of Ukrainian manufacture was used.”

The blasts are  potentially important because any Ukrainian attack on Russian forces in  the Crimean Peninsula would be a significant expansion of Ukraine’s  offensive efforts. Until now, Ukrainian forces have largely focused on  pushing Russian troops back from territories occupied after Feb. 24,  when their invasion began.

Ukraine  possesses few weapons that can reach the peninsula, aside from aircraft  that would risk being shot down immediately by Russia’s heavy air  defenses in the region. The air base, which is near the city of  Novofedorivka, is about 200 miles from the nearest Ukrainian military  position.

Videos  verified and reviewed by The New York Times showed that a plume of  smoke was rising from the air base just before at least three  explosions: two in quick succession and a third a few moments later. It  is unclear from the videos what caused the blasts.

The  senior Ukrainian official would not disclose whether the local  resistance forces, known as partisans, carried out the attack or  assisted Ukrainian military units in targeting the base, as has  sometimes occurred in other Russia-occupied territories.

To  reach targets deep behind enemy lines, Ukraine has increasingly turned  to guerrillas in those territories, officials said. Partisans have, for  instance, helped Ukrainian forces target Russian bases and ammunition  depots in the Kherson region, Ukrainian officials say.

Russia’s  Defense Ministry said in a statement that the explosion was caused by  the detonation of stockpiled ordnance for warplanes at the base. While  the ministry offered no speculation about whether Ukrainian forces might  have been involved, a decision by Mr. Aksyonov to raise the terrorist  threat level to yellow suggested that officials were concerned about  security on the peninsula.

“This  measure is exclusively prophylactic because the situation in the region  is under full control,” Mr. Aksyonov said on Tuesday.

Russia-Ukraine War News: Live Updates - The New York Times

----------


## Norton

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/09/e...ntl/index.html

----------


## misskit

*‘We Need to Get Out of Here’: Fear Grips Annexed Crimea After Airbase Attack*

An apparent Ukrainian attack on a military air base in Russia-controlled Crimea sent people running for cover from a series of powerful blasts, causing shock among locals and tourists at the height of the holiday season. 


Towering plumes of black smoke were seen rising from the Saki air base in western Crimea on Tuesday afternoon, clearly visible from nearby packed beaches. 


“There were about 15 explosions. It lasted around 30-40 minutes. Many vacationers were trying to find shelter — some people were hiding behind the trees, children were crying. People were trying to stick together,” said Ksenia Korkina, a Russian visitor to Crimea who witnessed the explosions from a couple of kilometers away. 


If proven to be a Ukrainian attack, it will be the first major Ukrainian strike on Crimea — annexed by Moscow in 2014 — since the start of Russia’s six-month invasion of Ukraine. It is likely to seriously disrupt life on the peninsula, a popular tourism destination thought of until now as safe from the fighting, and bring the war closer to many ordinary Russians.


The explosions killed one person and injured 14 others, according to Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea. 


“The very first explosion was very powerful and strong. The walls and windows were shaking. The sound was deafening and scary,” Korkina told The Moscow Times. 


Videos published to social media showed Russian holidaymakers gathering their belongings and fleeing the beach after the initial blasts. 

“Mum let’s go, we need to get out of here,” one distressed onlooker can be heard shouting. 


Satellite imagery and alleged videos from the explosion’s aftermath showed the burned-out remains of a Russian military aircraft as well as rows of charred civilian cars. 


Ukraine did not openly admit that it was behind the blasts, but The New York Times quoted an anonymous Ukrainian military official Tuesday as taking responsibility. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed the explosions were the result of an accident. 


Tourism is an important part of the Crimean economy and the peak vacation season has already been damaged by the closure of civilian airports near the Ukrainian border amid ongoing fighting to the north. 


Tuesday’s attack is likely to dissuade even more people from visiting Crimea. 


“My friends tell me every day that the territory is disputed and it’s better to stay away from the [Russia-Ukraine] border,” Russian blogger Diana, who was vacationing 10 kilometers away from the airbase at the time of the explosion, told The Moscow Times. 


The panic sowed by the blasts apparently even prompted some tourists to leave the region, with videos posted to social media appearing to show traffic jams on road approaching the bridge that links the peninsula to the Russian mainland.


“Some tourists went home. There was a big traffic jam near Novofedorivka,” Korkina said. “Many people were afraid to go out after the explosions. I was afraid as well.”


Exacerbating civilians’ fears is the lingering uncertainty over how Ukraine was apparently able to carry out such an attack on a target almost 200 kilometers from the front line. 

Russia has significant air defense systems in Crimea around the nearby city of Yevpatoriya and should have been able to fend off a long-range missile attack, according to Konrad Muzyka, an independent military analyst at the Polish-based Rochan Consulting. 


“If it was a large missile you would expect the Russians to have tried to strike it down, but we have seen no missile trails in the sky and no evidence that air defense near Yevpatoria was activated,” Muzyka told The Moscow Times. “So perhaps this was something smaller, like a loitering munition or unmanned aerial vehicle.” 


A Ukrainian official cited by Reuters on Wednesday suggested that the explosions could have been caused by partisan saboteurs inside Crimea. 


The attack comes as Ukraine is expected to attempt to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces in the south of the country. 


In his nightly address Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky did not mention the Saki air base but said that Kyiv would press on to reclaim Crimea. 


“This Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea — with its liberation,” he said.


While the most significant attack on Crimea to date, the airbase strikes are not the only time targets in the peninsula have been hit in recent months. 


Russia’s Navy Day celebrations in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol last month were canceled following what appeared to be a drone attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters. 


Speaking at the time, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military, Natalia Gumenyuk, did not confirm Ukrainian involvement but said Kyiv was targeting Russian military facilities inside Ukraine – and that Crimea was part of Ukraine.

‘We Need to Get Out of Here’: Fear Grips Annexed Crimea After Airbase Attack  - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

I thought we'd already established that it was caused by a careless smoker?

----------


## panama hat

> Russia summons UN Security Council over nuclear emergency


 :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  





> Ukrainian promises on African grain not being kept – NYT


Oddly enough Russia stops it from being shipped . . . surely even you can understand that





> Two thirds of nations either support Russia or cooperate with it, Zelensky’s office admits


TASS  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl:  :rofl: 






> Sadly I don't have the rest of it, but it consists of her bawling her shitty fucking eyes out because her hotel booking was cancelled and she was banned from booking sites for being the sort of repulsive individual that no-one wants in their hotel.
> 
> Result!


Does that mean our trio can't get hotel bookings?  Result. 





> I thought we'd already established that it was caused by a careless smoker?





> Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed the explosions were the result of an accident.


Bingo.  Life imitates art imitating life

----------


## OhOh

8 Aug, 2022 13:17  HomeWorld News


*Russia warns of Polish plans for Ukraine     * 

                     Warsaw is looking to send “peacekeeping” forces into  Western Ukraine and take over sectors of the economy, Russia's Foreign  Intelligence Service claims             .

_"Warsaw continues to carry out an apparent attempt to “reclaim” parts of Ukraine in accordance with its “far-reaching plans” for the country, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a statement posted on Monday.__According to Moscow, Poland is not only setting up a scenario to deploy its “peacekeeping”  forces to the western parts of Ukraine, but is also trying to establish  control over promising sectors of the Ukrainian economy, first and  foremost – agriculture.
_
_The SVR claims that Polish companies have  taken advantage of the difficult condition facing Ukrainian farmers by  arranging to purchase their goods at reduced prices, which is allegedly  pushing some Ukrainian agriculture enterprises toward bankruptcy. The  agency claims that Polish entities will then buy up these assets at  bargain prices.
_
_“This can be illustrated, for example, by the  purchase of new barley crop at $30 per ton, which is almost 5 times  cheaper than the real cost of this product,” the SVR noted in its report.
_
_The  officials further allege that Poland is investing in transport  infrastructure and other logistics for the unimpeded export of Ukrainian  food to the EU and other markets where prices are much higher.
_
_All  of this is being done under the new legal framework created by Kiev,  the SVR explains, referring to a law on special guarantees for Polish  citizens introduced in late July, and also one that allows Ukrainian  industrial enterprises to be sold at a 50% discount.

__Thus,  the current Kiev authorities have essentially already started selling  off the country, giving priority in this ‘business project’ to their  Polish neighbors.
In April, SVR chief Sergey Naryshkin claimed that intelligence  obtained by Moscow suggested that Poland and the US were working on a  plan for Warsaw to regain control of Ukrainian areas that they consider  as “historically belonging” to it.
__
He also suggested that the first phase of this “reunification” project would see Polish troops deployed to parts of Ukraine as “peacekeepers” under the pretext of protecting Ukraine from “Russian aggression.”
_
_Poland  has categorically denied these claims, although President Andrzej Duda  has expressed hope that there will be no border between Poland and  Ukraine in the future, calling the two nations “fraternal.”"

Russia warns of Polish plans for Ukraine — RT World News
_
Potential of a NATO country becoming a military force on Ukraine land.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> 8 Aug, 2022 13:17  HomeWorld News
> 
> 
> *Russia warns of Polish plans for Ukraine*


Is this the latest russian bullshit then?

"We're only here to protect Ukraine from Poland"?

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## OhOh

An article discussing how foreign companies can, and have, invested in Ukraine land. 

No locations of the land parcels indicated, nor any updates:

*THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURE
**COUNTRY FACT SHEET 
*DECEMBER 2014

Some examples:

Table 1: Foreign Investments in Agriculture in Ukraine - 
Company, Country, Land area (ha)

Trigon Agri - Denmark 52,679

Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, - Saudi Al Rajhi Group, Almarai Co. Saudi Arabia 33,000

Renaissance Group - Russian Federation 250,000

MK Group - Serbia 50,000

Glencore Xstrata PLC - Switzerland 80,000

Sintal Agriculture Plc - Cyprus 146,800

Agrokultura AB - - Sweden 68,700

AgroGeneration - France 120,000

Kernel Holding S.A. - Luxembourg 405,000

MCB Agricole - Austria 96,000

Mriya Agro Holding Public Limited - Cyprus 298,000

Total 1,600,179

https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/Brief_CorporateTakeoverofUkraine_0.pdf

----------


## harrybarracuda

> An article discussing how foreign companies can, and have, invested in Ukraine land.


You didn't answer my question about your bullshit.

----------


## DrWilly

Then again he might not...




> Once she scrapes the war paint off with a trowel and the rest is washed away by her salty tears, even you might balk at it.

----------


## bsnub

> You didn't answer my question about your bullshit.


Of course not, and he won't, he is already on to posting the next piece of horseshit BS.

----------


## bsnub

This video shows updated satellite photos of the airbase that was hit in Crimea. It was definitely hit by multiple rockets/missiles, as you can see the craters left behind. Confirmed losses;

6 SU-30 destroyed 
7 SU-25 destroyed 

This would lead me to believe that the US is now covertly supplying Ukraine with the MGM-140 ATACMS which has a range of 300 km and is a larger missile that packs much more punch.

Enjoy...

----------


## misskit

^ I feel sure his name is Nigel. Don’t Nigels in the movies talk just like that?  :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> This video shows updated satellite photos of the airbase that was hit in Crimea. It was definitely hit by multiple rockets/missiles, as you can see the craters left behind.


Nah, it was obviously caused by a carelessly dropped Winston king size.

----------


## misskit

*Russia begins conscripting Mariupol residents
*

Russia has begun mobilizing Mariupol residents to fight against the Ukrainian military, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko reported on Thursday. “Yesterday, we received confirmation that Mariupolites have started receiving mobilization orders to fight in the war on the side of Russia. People are frightened and want to leave for Ukrainian [-controlled] territory,” Boychenko reportedly said at a press briefing.


Boychenko also noted that Russian “filtration camps” are still being run in Mariupol, and that residents are not allowed to leave the city.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/08/11...upol-residents

----------


## bsnub

The  Russian economy contracted steeply in the second quarter as the country  felt the brunt of the economic consequences of its war in Ukraine, in  what experts believe to be the start of a yearslong downturn.

The  economy shrank 4 percent from April through June compared with a year  earlier, the Russian statistics agency said on Friday. It is the first  quarterly gross domestic product report to fully capture the change in  the economy since the invasion of Ukraine in February. It was a sharp  reversal from the first quarter, when the economy grew 3.5 percent.

Western  sanctions, which cut off Russia from about half of its $600 billion  emergency stash of foreign currency and gold reserves, imposed steep  restrictions on dealings with Russian banks and cut access to American  technology, prompting hundreds of major Western corporations to pull out  of the country.

But even as imports to Russia dried up and financial transactions were blocked, forcing the country to default on its foreign debt,  the Russian economy proved more resilient than some economists had  initially expected, and the fall in G.D.P. reported on Friday was not as  severe as some had expected in part because the country’s coffers were  flush with energy revenue as global prices rose.

Analysts, though,  say the economic toll will grow heavier as Western nations increasingly  turn away from Russian oil and gas, critical sources of export revenue.

“We  thought it would be a deep dive this year and then even out,” Laura  Solanko, a senior adviser at the Bank of Finland Institute for Economies  in Transition, said of the Russian economy. Instead, there has been a  milder economic decline, but it will continue into next year, putting  the economy in a shallower recession for two years, she said.

Russia,  a $1.5 trillion economy before the war started, moved quickly in the  days after the invasion to mitigate the impact of sanctions. The central bank more  than doubled the interest rate to 20 percent, severely restricted the  flow of money out of the country, shut down stock trading on the Moscow  Exchange and loosened regulations on banks so lending didn’t seize up.  The government also increased social spending to support households and  loans for businesses hurt by sanctions.

The measures blunted some of the sanctions’ impact. And as the ruble rebounded, Russia’s finances benefited from high oil prices.

“Russia withstood the initial sanction shock”and  “has been relatively resilient so far,” said Dmitry Dolgin, the chief  economist covering Russia at the Dutch bank ING. But, he noted, unless  Russia manages to diversify its trade and finances, the economy will be  weaker in the long term.

Retail trade declined about 10 percent, the statistics agency said, while wholesale business activity fell 15 percent.

Michael  S. Bernstam, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford  University, said the data released on Friday were in line with other  reports from Russia. He, too, expects the economy to deteriorate in the  second half of this year, and then again in 2023.

As  the war drags on, many countries and companies will look to permanently  end relationships with Russia and its domestic companies. Businesses  will have trouble getting replacement parts for Western-made machines,  and software will need updates. Russian companies will need to rearrange  their supply chains as imports seize up.

The  prospects for Russia’s energy industry, central to the country’s  economy, are deteriorating. The United States and Britain have already  banned Russian oil imports, and the country’s oil output will fall  further early next year when the full impact of a European Union ban on  imports comes into effect. Russia would need to find customers for  roughly 2.3 million barrels of crude and oil products a day, which is  about 20 percent of its average output in 2022, according to the  International Energy Agency.

So  far countries including India, China and Turkey have absorbed some of  the lost trade from Europe and the United States, but it’s unclear how  many new buyers can be found.

Reliance  on Russian natural gas is also being reduced. In the final week of  June, total European Union gas imports from Russia were down 65 percent  from a year earlier, according to a report by the European Central Bank.  Some of these declines were forced on Europe because Russia has been  cutting its supplies of gas. But European countries have ramped up  efforts to find alternative sources and are, for example, quickly  developing infrastructure for additional imports of liquefied natural gas.

The economy will suffer as the “exhaustion of inventories of investment  imports, enforcement of the E.U. oil embargo, higher financial pressure  on households and their higher dependence on the state” take their toll,  while the ability of the central bank and government to provide  monetary and fiscal support is limited, Mr. Dolgin of ING wrote.

Shortly  after the invasion of Ukraine, inflation in Russia soared as households  scrambled for goods they expected to become scarce. In July, inflation  was running more than 15 percent, according to the Russian central bank. Already, though, there are signs inflation is slowing down, and as a result the central bank has slashed interest rates to 8 percent, lower than they were before the war.

Last  month, the bank said that business activity had not slowed as much as  expected, but that the economic environment “remains challenging and  continues to significantly constrain economic activity.”

The  bank forecast that the economy will shrink 4 percent to 6 percent this  year, much less than it originally expected right after the start of the  war. That 6 percent figure also matches the latest 

The  economy will have a deeper contraction next year and not return to  growth until 2025, the central bank said on Friday. The bank forecast  that inflation would be 12 percent to 15 percent by the end of the year.

In  coming months, supply chain issues will present challenges, as  businesses constrained by sanctions try to alter their supply chains to  replenish stockpiles of finished and raw goods.

“I  don’t think the Russian economy is doing well at the moment,” Ms.  Solanko said. But the idea that sanctions and the departure of companies  from Russia would cause the economy to rapidly collapse was never  realistic. “Economies just don’t vanish,” she said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/12/b...onomy-gdp.html

----------


## bsnub

A senior Ukrainian  official suggested on Friday that the casualty toll from explosions at  an air base in Crimea this week was far higher than previous estimates,  further contradicting a Russian account about damage at a site that has  been a vital jumping-off point for Moscow’s military operations since  its invasion of Ukraine began in late February.

The  official, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the minister of internal  affairs, said that 60 pilots and technicians had been killed and 100  people wounded when a series of explosions rocked the Saki field on  Crimea’s western Black Sea coast on Tuesday. He said the conclusion was  based on video evidence and intelligence data, but he offered no further  details.

There  has been no independent confirmation of the toll, and most experts have  focused on estimating the damage to Russian military equipment.  Satellite photos released by Planet Labs, a satellite imaging company,  appear to show at least eight wrecked war planes and three blast craters in areas where planes were parked near the runways.

Officials previously said that at least one person had been killed and more than a dozen wounded.

The Russian authorities have said that munitions stored at the site exploded, and denied that any aircraft were destroyed.




Mr. Gerashchenko  dismissed the Russian account as a “blatant lie” and compared the  explosions to the political and military damage caused to Moscow by the  sinking of Russia’s flagship  in the Black Sea, the Moskva, in April. That attack, by Ukrainian  Neptune missiles, was an embarrassment to President Vladimir V. Putin of  Russia.

“Judging  by the way the cars were damaged by the explosion, shrapnel and fire,  there is no chance that any plane made of delicate, thin magnesium and  aluminum alloy remained intact,” Mr. Gerashchenko said of the Crimea  explosions.

A  British military intelligence report said on Friday that at least five  fighter bombers and three multi-role jets had been “almost certainly  destroyed or seriously damaged” in the blasts, which it said had  resulted from the detonation of up to four uncovered munition storage  areas.

A senior  Ukrainian official has said the blasts were an attack carried out with  the help of partisans, resistance fighters who aid the Ukrainian  military on Russian-occupied territory. But the government in Kyiv has  been reluctant to specify how the explosions happened, or to elaborate  on whether it was responsible.

Even  so, the attack appears to follow a pattern of bold Ukrainian strikes  against an enemy that was initially deemed to far exceed Kyiv’s military  strength.

The  explosions are all the more galling for Russia, because Crimea — which  Moscow annexed in 2014 — has largely escaped fighting since February and  the base was far from any recognizable front line.

In  an overnight speech, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine chided  officials for disclosing details of attacks carried out by its forces,  or from bragging.

“War  is definitely not the time for vanity and loud statements,” he said in  the remarks, which made no reference to the air base explosion. “The  less concrete details you give about our defense plans, the better it  will be for the implementation of those defense plans.”

*Correction:* Aug. 12, 2022
An  earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of an adviser to  Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs. He is Anton Gerashchenko, not  Geraschenko. 

Russia-Ukraine War Live Updates: Latest Crimea News  - The New York Times

----------


## misskit

*Russian Court Places TV Protester Ovsyannikova Under House Arrest*

A Russian court on Thursday placed former state TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who denounced President Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine live on air, under house arrest until October.


On Wednesday, investigators detained Ovsyannikova, 44, and charged her with spreading information about the Russian armed forces deemed false by the government. 


The mother of two faces up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.


In March, Ovsyannikova, then an editor at Channel One television, made global headlines when she barged onto the set of its flagship Vremya (Time) evening news, holding a poster reading "No War".


The house arrest is not connected to that particular protest, however.  


It is linked to a one-woman protest in mid-July near the Kremlin, when Ovsyannikova held a poster that read "Putin is a murderer, his soldiers are fascists". 


Three "blood-soaked" toy dolls were laid on the ground in front of her.


At Moscow's Basmanny district court on Thursday, she was placed in a cage surrounded by several policemen.


She held a sign that read "May the dead children haunt you in your dreams".


Her lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov wrote on messaging app Telegram that "even" the Soviet Union's most brutal serial killer Andrei Chikatilo was not guarded so closely.


During a closed-door hearing, the court ruled that Ovsyannkova be placed under house arrest until October 9.


"I even don't know what to say. Good that it is not jail? Certainly good," Zakhvatov said. 


"But it is still sickening."


Criticism of Putin's decision to send troops to Ukraine on February 24 has been virtually outlawed in Russia.


French President Emmanuel Macron has offered Ovsyannikova, who worked for Russian state TV for 19 years, asylum or other forms of consular protection.


Earlier this year prominent Putin critics Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza were put in pre-trial jail for denouncing Moscow's Ukraine offensive.


The criminal probe against Ovsyannikova was launched after two Moscow courts ordered the journalist to pay fines for discrediting the Russian army on various occasions.


In the months following her TV protest, Ovsyannikova spent time abroad, working for Germany's Die Welt for three months.


In early July, she said she was returning to Russia to settle a dispute over the custody of her two children.


Since her return, Ovsyannikova came out to support opposition politician Yashin in court and published anti-government posts online. She was briefly detained by police near her home in mid-July.

Russian Court Places TV Protester Ovsyannikova Under House Arrest
 - The Moscow Times

----------


## bsnub

Ben Wallace, the U.K.'s defense minister, said Russian President Vladimir Putin's  war effort in Ukraine is "starting to fail in many areas" and Russia  will never fully occupy the country after seeing heavy losses in  equipment and troops.Wallace made the comments Thursday to  reporters at an international donors conference in Copenhagen, Denmark,  where Western nations pledged sustained military aid for Ukraine. Over  five months into the war, Wallace said Putin has lost his gamble that  Western nations would tire of backing Ukraine. Instead, Wallace said,  "Our appetite is increasing towards helping Ukraine."

Denmark's  Defense Minister Morten Bodskov announced at the conference that 26  countries agreed to donate 1.5 billion euros in military assistance to  Ukraine.

Already, the European Union has donated 2 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine. That's on top of the 2.3 billion pounds the U.K. has given and the $9.8 billion from the U.S.
Despite  the already generous support, Wallace said the renewed commitment  demonstrated that the international community was steadfast in thwarting  what he called "Putin's ambitions in Ukraine." He said that  determination is paying off.

"(Russian forces) have failed so far,  and are unlikely to ever succeed in occupying Ukraine," he said. "Their  invasion has faltered and constantly been re-modified to the extent  they are really only focusing in parts of the south and in the east."

Wallace  said that's "a long, long way away" from the three-day operation  originally planned by the Kremlin to overwhelm Ukraine's government in  Kyiv. After initial setbacks, Russian forces have turned their attention  to Ukraine's south along the Black Sea coast near the occupied Crimean  peninsula. Additionally, Russian forces have made gains in Ukraine's  eastern Donbas region.

The number of Russian military personnel killed or wounded in the war has remained imprecise, but the Pentagon estimates that Russia has seen 70,000 to 80,000 casualties in less than six months.

Equipped with advanced Western weapons, Ukraine's military has reported success in striking Russian military targets as it makes a push to reclaim occupied land near the southern city of Kherson.

Speaking  at the conference, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said he  couldn't disclose details on how the military support would be used but  said he was pleased with the agreement reached with donor countries on  long-term support.

"I am glad that we all have common sense that there is no time for fatigue," he said.

_Newsweek_ has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-star...allace-1733083

----------


## HermantheGerman

> You didn't answer my question about your bullshit.


The same reason why Putler does not allow a "Free Press".

No questions allowed!

At least Putler has his reasons. What reasons does OhOh have? Pure stupidity.

----------


## HermantheGerman

> The number of Russian military personnel killed or wounded in the war has remained imprecise, but the Pentagon estimates that Russia has seen 70,000 to 80,000 casualties in less than six months.


Putler started a war that he alone can not finish.

A human rights group that monitors the treatment of inmates at Russian penitentiaries *says*  hundreds of men at a prison in the North Caucasus region of Adygea have  agreed to be sent to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine as a result  of aggressive recruiting.
 The founder of the organization Gulagu.net, Vladimir Osechkin, told  RFE/RL on July 11 that two sources told him that some 300 inmates at  Correctional Colony No. 1 in the town of Tlyustenkhabl had been  recruited by the private military company Vagner, which has ties to the  Kremlin and is involved in the war in Ukraine.

Rights Group Says Hundreds Of Prisoners In Russia&#39;s North Caucasus Recruited For War In Ukraine


*Vladimir Putin sending prisoners to their deaths as ‘cannon fodder’ in Ukraine war*Russian  criminals are reportedly being offered 200,000 roubles - just over  £2,800 - and an amnesty if they travel to deadly frontline but they must  survived six months to get their reward

Vladimir Putin sending prisoners to their deaths as ‘cannon fodder’ in Ukraine war - World News - Mirror Online

----------


## OhOh

> At least Putler has his reasons.


Better protection than allowing a "suspect" shooting themselves, in the back of the head, twice.
 :Smile:

----------


## S Landreth

US missiles credited as key in Ukraine fight with Russia

U.S.-provided anti-radiation missiles have helped take out some of Russia’s most dangerous weapons systems in Ukraine in recent days.

But the missiles, only recently confirmed to be in the hands of Ukraine’s air force, are just one part of a complicated strategy to expel Kremlin forces completely from the country, a Ukrainian fighter pilot told The Hill.

The pilot, who identifies himself by his call sign “Juice,” said the country’s air force has recently used the anti-radiation missiles to suppress Russian air defense systems.

Their presence in Ukraine was confirmed for the first time Monday by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, who said the missiles have been included in several recent lethal aid packages from the United States and make existing Ukrainian capabilities more effective.

“It’s a great support for us. Actually, it’s one of the most advanced weapons that we have at the moment,” Juice said, but stressed that the missiles are only “one part of the complex mission.”

Though Department of Defense officials have not identified the specific anti-radiation missiles or the amount sent, CNN reported that the munitions are AGM-88 High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles, which can hit targets more than 30 miles away.

“They are very expensive and we have a limited number,” Juice said, adding that they have to be selective in their targeting, taking out the Russian army’s “most dangerous” long-range missile systems.

The U.S. anti-radiation missiles are thought to be involved in the destruction of at least five Russian anti-aircraft artillery systems, four S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile systems and a Pantsir-S1 missile system, the Kyiv Post reported Monday.

Such battlefield successes are key in breaking through intense, yet stagnant, fighting along what is considered a 2,000 kilometer (1,243 mile) front line, dividing Ukraine from the Russian-occupied territory in the east and south.

But the nation needs more help, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has continued to push for the international community to step up its support. The aid is critical for Ukraine’s armed forces to push Russia back by destroying its supply lines and breaking down its will to fight before winter, when conditions could change the battlefield and the geopolitical stage, he warns.

To that end, the Pentagon has signaled it is preparing to scale up its collaboration with Ukraine’s air force — a critical component in the country’s defense — to include U.S. service members beginning to train Ukrainian pilots on advanced American fighter jets.

“There are real questions about what would be most useful in terms of assisting the Ukrainian Air Force and improving its capabilities. It’s not inconceivable that down the road, Western aircraft could be part of the mix on that, but the final analysis has not been done,” Kahl said in a briefing with reporters.

Even as Ukrainian ground troops put to effective use American-provided High Mobility Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and multiple launch rocket systems — celebrated for their ability to disrupt and destroy Russian military supply lines — Juice said that he hopes the U.S. will help with the needs of the air force.

“I totally understand that HIMARS and Howitzers, UAVs, all of that are critically important for our armed forces,” he said. “But we are still saying that the air force, in modern war, is too important, too critical. And we need to improve our capabilities.”

Alex Gorgan, a Ukrainian infantry officer who launched a private initiative that is training Ukrainian pilots on Western aircraft, seconds that, calling Ukrainian pilots “priceless”.

Gorgan said it is impossible for Ukraine to retake occupied territory from the Russians without quickly building up its air force capacity.

Gorgan launched his initiative, called the Training Center for Pilots of Advanced Military Aircrafts, alongside Andrey Vavrysh, CEO of SAGA Development, and in coordination with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Gorgan said the idea for this initiative came while fighting in the trenches of eastern Ukraine in March, under intense shelling from Russian forces.

“I thought ‘oh my god, we need this specific airplane, A-10 Thunderbolt, which gives close air support for infantry,’” he recalled.

“But the United States cannot give the plane because we don’t have pilots, but we don’t have pilots because we don’t have planes, so we have to break this circle. The weakest point of this circle is the ability to have previous study,” he said.

Gorgan’s initiative focuses on using flight simulators to begin training pilots on the A-10, as well as other advanced aircraft Ukraine hopes to receive.

U.S. lawmakers have identified pilot training as key to beginning the process of delivery of advanced war planes.

A proposal by Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), included in the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act, aims to provide $100 million to train Ukrainian pilots to use American planes.

The list of needs, demands and hopes are long.

Ukrainian officials have long called for American-made F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.

The Ukrainians also view attack helicopters as critical in carrying out a robust defense — Juice brought up Boeing’s AH-64 Apache helicopters, though conceded it is unlikely, and that they would settle for the Bell AH-1 SuperCobra or Bell AH-1Z Viper.

“Of course I’m not a helicopter expert, but in general I know their needs and all these helicopters are the platforms for modern aiming systems, reconnaissance and modern precision missiles,” he said.

“We could provide the very precision attacks without any civilian casualties … exactly, precisely, to target, and from large distances to be safe from the enemy’s air defense.”

The Ukrainian air force has long been in touch with the U.S. Air Force, and since the start of the invasion, Juice said, the Americans have provided not only advice in those first few critical weeks, but also friendship.

“They are trying just to help, just by any possible way, even just a friendly conversation, ‘how are you, are you still alive?’” he says with a laugh, but adds more seriously that the pilots consider each other “brothers in arms,” referring back to a tragic training accident in 2018 when both a Ukrainian and an American pilot were killed.

“U.S. Air Force became the real brothers in arms for us, with blood on our soil,” he said, adding that the 2018 exercise was critically important in their training as it was designed specifically to prepare against a full-scale Russian invasion — four years after Moscow had seized territory in Ukraine’s east and on the Crimean peninsula.

“We understood that, these fallen guys, won’t ask [us not] to continue, their wish was to make this, make it happen, to continue to complete this mission,” Juice said.

“Because the mission of this exercise was to prepare us against war with Russia.”

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Better protection than allowing a "suspect" shooting themselves, in the back of the head, twice.


Of course, you prefer poisoning, don't you?

----------


## bsnub

A Pentagon  official has given a "ballpark" figure of Russia's casualties since it  started the war in Ukraine on February 24, in a sign of the high cost of  Vladimir Putin's invasion of his own forces.

Colin  Kahl, the Department of Defense undersecretary for policy, said at a  briefing on Monday: "It's safe to suggest that the Russians have  probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months," adding,  "That is a combination of killed in action and wounded in action and  that number might be a little lower, a little higher, but I think that's  kind of in the ballpark."

He described the number of Russian  casualties as "remarkable" given that Russia's forces have "achieved  none of Vladimir Putin's objectives" since invading Ukraine.

If  Kahl's figures are confirmed, this would mean that in only six months,  Russia would have suffered more casualties than the United States did  during the Revolutionary War, which was fought over eight years, between  April 19, 1775, to September 3, 1783.

The total number of U.S. casualties in the conflict that secured  American independence from Great Britain is estimated to be around  66,000, according to historian John Shy's 1976 book, _A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence_. These include the wounded, as well as combat and non-combat deaths, which also comprised of those who died of disease.

Kahl's latest estimate is a significant jump from other recent U.S. government assessments. In July, CIA  Director Bill Burns said the Russians had suffered about 60,000  casualties, including 15,000 troops killed in action. This suggests that  if Kahl is correct, Ukraine managed to inflict more than 10,000  casualties on the Russians in the last month.

During this time, Kyiv has lauded the delivery of new multiple rocket systems from the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Germany.

Among the weapons are the U.S-supplied M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) which have made a big contribution to Ukraine's war effort by targeting Russian command centers and ammunition depots.

The  number of Russian casualties in the war has not been independently  verified. In its latest estimate on Wednesday, Ukraine's military estimates  that 42,800 Russian troops had been killed in combat, although this is  nearly triple what Western officials have stated. Moscow has not updated  its death toll released at the end of March which stood at 1,351.

_ Newsweek_ reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment.

However,  military experts have said that the Kremlin was not suffering enough  troop losses to impact its ability to hold terrain, even as Ukraine  undertakes a counteroffensive on Kherson in the southwest of the  country.

Meanwhile, Russia's casualty estimate is likely to  include Russian paramilitary and volunteer forces, like the mercenary  Wagner Group, according to Rob Lee, a fellow at the Foreign Policy  Research Institute.

"Otherwise, the Russian military could not withstand that kind of casualty rate and still be fighting," he told _Foreign Policy.
_
Kahl  also said on Monday that the Ukrainian side had suffered severe  casualty numbers in what he described as the "most intense conventional  conflict in Europe since the Second World War."

"But the Ukrainians have a lot of advantages, not the least of which is their will to fight," he added.

https://www.newsweek.com/russian-cas...ry-war-1732460

----------


## harrybarracuda

Talking of Russian reporters, this one might be declining cups of tea at the moment

 :rofl: 




> Istanbul: Ukraine used a US-supplied rocket system to destroy the military headquarters of Russian private contractor Wagner after a Russian state TV reporter seemed to give away its location by posting photos online.
> A Ukrainian official confirmed Russian media reports that the base in Popasna in eastern Ukraine was targeted by a Ukrainian missile strike using the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), with some estimating that as many as 100 fighters were killed.




<snip>




> The attack came a few days after a pro-Kremlin journalist published several photos from what should be a secret base, writing on his social media: I arrived in Popasna. Went to Wagners HQ. They greeted me like family, told me a few funny stories.
> On top of that, the Russian reporter posted a few photos that gave out the exact location of the base.



Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian rockets take out secret Wagner HQ after Russian TV blunder

----------


## bsnub

Par the course at this point.  :Smile:

----------


## bsnub

A series of brazen  attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea by Ukraine in recent days — the  latest on Tuesday by an elite military unit operating behind enemy lines  — come in defiance of dire warnings of retaliation from Moscow. A  senior Russian official vowed last month that if Ukraine attacked Crimea, it would immediately face its “Judgment Day.”

The  Black Sea peninsula that Russia illegally seized in 2014 is more than a  crucial military base and staging ground for its invasion of Ukraine.  It holds special meaning for President Vladimir V. Putin, who has told  his people that Crimea is a “sacred place” and Russia’s “holy land.”  And by repeatedly striking at the territory, which Russia has held for  the better part of a decade, Ukraine has posed a fresh challenge to Mr.  Putin’s standing at home.

On  Tuesday, huge explosions rocked a Russian ammunition depot, as Ukraine  tries to counter Moscow’s advantages in matériel and disrupt supply  lines by ratcheting up its military tactics and striking deep behind the front. Last week, blasts at a military airfield in Crimea sent beachgoers rushing for cover, and an attack by a makeshift drone in the port city of Sevastopol on July 31 forced Russia to cancel its Navy Day celebrations.

A  senior Ukrainian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to  discuss Tuesday’s operation, said an elite unit was responsible for the  explosions. And Russia’s Defense Ministry called the blasts an “act of  sabotage” — a significant acknowledgment that the war is increasingly  spreading to what the Kremlin considers Russian territory.

Some  pro-Kremlin commentators called on the military to make good on the  country’s threats to respond harshly to any attacks on Crimea. Andrei  Klishas, a senior lawmaker from Mr. Putin’s United Russia party, said in  a social media post that “Russia’s retaliatory strikes must be very  convincing.”

“This is about protecting our sovereignty,” he wrote.

Ukrainian  officials did not publicly claim responsibility for the blasts,  although President Volodymyr Zelensky praised those helping Ukraine’s  intelligence apparatus and “special services” weaken the Russian  military.

“The reasons for the explosions in the occupied territory can be different, very different,” he said in his nightly address. But, he added, the result is the same: damage to Russia’s military infrastructure.

Mr.  Zelensky said those now choosing to leave Crimea for Russia “already  understand or at least feel that Crimea is not a place for them.”

No  single action that Mr. Putin has taken in his 22-year rule provoked as  much pro-Kremlin euphoria among Russians as his largely bloodless  annexation of Crimea, which cemented his image at home as a leader  resurrecting Russia as a great power. And in the run-up to the invasion  last winter, it was Crimea that Mr. Putin repeatedly cited as the locus  of an existential security threat posed by Ukraine, warning that a  Western-backed effort to retake the peninsula by force could trigger a  direct war between Russia and NATO.

When  Mr. Putin launched his invasion on Feb. 24, Russian forces lunged north  from Crimea in a lightning operation that captured a large swath of  territory in southern Ukraine, including the Kherson region, which  Russian forces almost fully control. Russia is now using Crimea to  provide air and logistics support to its forces in Kherson and the  neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, where Ukraine has been attacking  Russian supply lines and threatening a counteroffensive.

Pavel  Luzin, an independent Russian military analyst, said that Ukraine’s  attacks are limiting the ability of Russia to “seize the initiative.”

“Crimea  is the only way to support the grouping of troops in the Kherson and  Zaporizhzhia regions,” he said. “Otherwise, this grouping of troops does  not exist.”

Mr.  Putin, who addressed a security conference in Moscow by video link a  few hours after the early-morning blasts in Crimea on Tuesday, made no  mention of the attack and instead focused on a frequent argument: a  Western-allied Ukraine poses an existential threat to Russia.
Russia, he said, was prepared for a lengthy war.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08...ussia-news-war

----------


## bsnub

Huge explosions  rocked a Russian ammunition depot on the occupied Crimean Peninsula on  Tuesday morning, delivering another embarrassing blow to Moscow’s forces  a week after blasts at a Russian air base in the same region destroyed  several fighter jets.A  senior Ukrainian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to  discuss the operation, said that an elite Ukrainian military unit  operating behind enemy lines was responsible for the explosions.  Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the episode was an  “act of sabotage,” according to the Russian state news agency RIA  Novosti.

The apparent use of covert forces behind enemy lines underscored the inventiveness of Ukraine’s forces.  Since the war began, they have adopted unconventional tactics in the  hopes of leveling the playing field while trying to repel attacks from a  much larger and better equipped Russian military.

Although he did  not confirm Ukraine’s involvement, Andriy Yermak, the head of the  presidential office in Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app that  the country’s armed forces would continue the “demilitarization” of  Crimea and other captured territories until they achieved “the complete  deoccupation of Ukrainian territories.”

At  least two civilians were wounded in the blasts in the northern part of  the peninsula, and as many as 3,000 were evacuated from the area around  the weapons depot, the Kremlin-installed head of Crimea, Sergei  Aksyonov, said on Telegram.

The  explosion occurred at a temporary ammunition storage site near a  military base, he said, and the ammunition then continued exploding  after the initial blast.

The  Russian Defense Ministry said that there were no serious casualties and  that the explosions damaged power lines, railroad tracks and homes.

After  explosions tore through a Russian air base in Crimea last week,  Russia’s Defense Ministry said the blasts had left no casualties and  that no equipment had been destroyed. But videos from the scene and an  assessment by local officials told a different story, while satellite  imagery showed craters, burn marks and at least eight destroyed fighter  jets.

Local  residents in Crimea said that the authorities there had introduced a  “yellow level terrorist threat” alert and that people were being stopped  and searched as they entered parks and public buildings.

After  illegally annexing Crimea in 2014, the Kremlin turned the peninsula  into a heavily fortified military zone that Russia’s president, Vladimir  V. Putin, often describes as hallowed ground.

Since  the invasion of Ukraine in February, Crimea has served as a key base of  operations. Aircraft at Crimean bases have flown sorties over Ukraine,  and ships of the Black Sea fleet based there have launched punishing  rocket attacks on Ukrainian military positions and civilian  neighborhoods.

Until  this month, Crimea appeared well protected from Ukrainian attacks. Even  Ukraine’s most advanced weapons systems do not have the range to hit  Russian military targets there, and its planes are incapable of making  it through Russia’s air defenses on the peninsula.

Then, last Tuesday, a series of powerful explosions ripped through the Saki air base  in western Crimea, annihilating a good portion of the Black Sea fleet’s  43rd naval aviation regiment. That attack, according to a Ukrainian  official, was carried out in part by special forces officers working  with local partisan fighters.

Russia-Ukraine War: Live Updates and Crimea News - The New York Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

Stoopid russians, should learn to dispose of their cigarette butts properly.

----------


## sabang

I have to say  from a pure military perspective, these behind the lines acts of sabotage are pretty good.

----------


## mackayae

> I have to say  from a pure military perspective, these behind the lines acts of sabotage are pretty good.


So they are Ukrainians posing as Russians in Ukraine and blowing up Russian assets.

----------


## panama hat

> Stoopid russians, should learn to dispose of their cigarette butts properly.


As long as some people like those fed the same propaganda dross every day in Russia and the few fans the murderous regime believe it

----------


## sabang

Russia has admitted it was sabotage actually

----------


## panama hat

> Russia has admitted it was sabotage actually





> Because they're afraid to say that Ukraine can now hit them from distance at will, you fucking airhead.



Either way the insecurity this breeds is brilliant . . . sabotage from within the ranks?  Sabotage from the population at large?  Egads, not everyone loves Putin as Pravda and Tass keep on going on about?
Or
Weapons that can reach . . . fucked.  

Russians are lucky Ukraine hasn't started bombing mother Russia

----------


## Hugh Cow

Seems to have shaken up the Rusky holiday makers in Crimea. long lines heading home. Should blow up the bridge. 
Hopefully the next sanctions will target all Russian passport holders and make them personna non grata unless seeking asylum from the puffy war criminal.

----------


## bsnub

Ukraine was behind three explosions rocked Russian military facilities in  the annexed province of Crimea this past week, including an explosion  at a Russian air base on the peninsula's west coast that wrecked several  airplanes, according to a Ukrainian government report circulated  internally and shared with CNN by a ​Ukrainian official. ​The official requested anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information with the media. 

The  report describes the Saki airbase, which was rocked by explosions last  Tuesday, as a hard but one time loss for Russian military infrastructure  in the peninsula, with subsequent attacks as proof of Ukraine's  systematic military capability in targeting Crimea. 

The  August 9 incident at Saki airbase, which destroyed at least seven  military aircraft, severely damaged the base and killed at least one  person​.  

Russia  claimed it was a result of an accident and Ukrainian officials have so  far declined to confirm on the record that they were responsible. What  caused the explosions remains unclear.  
In  a speech following the incident, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky  said the war "began with Crimea and must end with Crimea -- its  liberation."​

Another  set of explosions were reported in Crimea this week, on August 16, this  time at an ammunition depot in Maiske and at an airfield in  Gvardeyskoe. 

Russian  officials said the incident in Maiske had been the result of sabotage​,  but they did not specify the kind of sabotage, or whom they believed  was responsible. 

*What do we know about other recent incidents?*

On  Tuesday, a fire and smoke plume were seen rising from an electrical  substation 12 miles away from Maiske's ammunition depot, according to  social media footage. The cause of the fire, and smoke, at the  substation remains unclear.

The incidents both took place around the Dzhankoi area, described by the British Ministry of Defence as "a key road and rail junction that plays an important role in supplying Russia's operations in southern Ukraine." 

The  attacks come at a time when nascent resistance movement in Russian  occupied areas appears to have been carrying out acts of sabotage. 

Over  the weekend, Ukrainian officials said that a railway bridge near the  southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, used by Russians to transport  military equipment and weapons from occupied Crimea, was blown up by  Ukrainian partisans. Melitopol has for months been a center of  underground resistance to Russian occupation.

As analysts speculate that  there is a campaign to degrade Russia's military capability in Crimea,  Zelensky warned Ukrainians living in occupied areas on Tuesday to stay  clear of Russian forces' military facilities. 

*What do the blasts mean for Putin's ambitions?*

The  explosions at Saki airbase jolted sunbathers lounging in beach-side  cabanas last week, and marked the start of a series of mysterious  incidents on the Ukrainian peninsula that threatens the jewel of  President Vladimir Putin's revanchist ambitions.

Western officials and analysts have since offered competing explanations about the cause.

In  any event, the Cavell Group said, the "Saki attack was audacious and  highly effective in both damaging Russian reinforcements and striking a  significant psychological blow to morale amongst the Russian military  and civilians."

Whatever  caused the explosions, they could have significant implications for the  overall conflict, especially if the attack were to have been carried  out with any new long-range weapon system that Ukraine has developed.

The  UK Ministry of Defence says that the loss of combat jets represents a  minor proportion of the overall fleet of aircraft Russia has available  to support the war.

But  it noted that Saki is the main base for supporting the Russian navy in  the Black Sea. "The fleet's naval aviation capability is now  significantly degraded. The incident will likely prompt the Russian  military to revise its threat perception," it said.

It  may also cause a re-evaluation of the threat to Crimea which "has  probably been seen as a secure rear-area," the ministry said.

*Why is Crimea so important to Putin?*

Crimea  is home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which is based at Sevastopol. The  peninsula has acted as a launching pad for the February invasion, with  Russian troops pouring into Ukraine's south from the annexed region.

Control  of Crimea assures Russia continuing access to the Sevastopol naval  base, which it previously operated under a leasing deal with Ukraine  that was scrapped after Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea. Surrounded  by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, ships and submarines based in  Crimea are just north of Turkey and can reach the Mediterranean to  influence the Middle East and the Balkans.

Crimea was forcibly seized by Russia in 2014 -- soon after Ukrainian protestershelped  topple pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych -- when thousands of  Russian special-operations troops wearing unmarked uniforms deployed  around the peninsula in early March that year. 

Two  weeks later, Russia completed its annexation of Crimea in a referendum,  slammed by Ukraine and most of the world as illegitimate, and at the  time considered the biggest land-grab on Europe since World War II.  

Since  annexation, human-rights observers have described Crimea's descent into  a police state, with local authorities and Russian security services  persecuting and arresting those perceived to be loyal to Ukraine,  including members of the Crimean Tatar community. A 2020 US State  Deparment report described a pattern of "unlawful or arbitrary killings,  including extrajudicial killings by Russia or Russia-led "authorities";  forced disappearances by Russia or Russia-led "authorities"; torture  and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" in Crimea.  

Even  before annexation, nationalist Russian politicians often made claims to  the region -- with its rich farmland and its access to the Black Sea --  part of their populist rhetoric, even though Russia was just one of a  number of powers to have dominated Crimea over the centuries. One  particular nationalist grievance was the Soviet leadership's decision to  transfer the administration of Crimea to Ukraine in 1954, when both  Russia and Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union.

Putin also capitalized on those sentiments.

"In our hearts,  we know Crimea has always been an inalienable part of Russia," Putin  told Russian lawmakers as he announced the annexation in 2014. 
Crimea  has long been a popular spot for Russian vacationers and for the Soviet  elite. In 1991, the Soviet Union's last leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, was  vacationing in the region when hardliners launched a coup against him.  

The  full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia has affected tourism in the  region. Sergei Aksyonov, the head of the Russian-controlled Crimean  administration, acknowledged last month that a 40% decline in the  tourism industry was expected over the summer. The Russian Tourism  Association made a similar prediction in June.  

Despite  Moscow's claims, domestic politics may have played a part in Putin's  decision to annex the region. Despite an economic crisis in Russia,  nationalistic rhetoric and Crimea's invasion saw Putin's approval ratings climb in 2014

*What's happened in Crimea after the blasts?*

The  Russian road state agency on Tuesday reported a new traffic record  across a Crimean bridge just days after the explosions at Saki airbase. 

"During the day on August 15, 38,297 cars drove across the bridge in both directions," the statement read.

Local  officials have downplayed the size of the lines saying they were the  result of stricter controls on the bridge for security reasons and not  because of an increase in outward traffic.

"From  the point of view that they are fleeing Crimea, this is a complete lie,  there is no doubt about it," Aksyonov, the head of the  Russian-controlled Crimean administration, told Russian state TV on  Tuesday.

On Tuesday, in reference to the miles-long tailbacks of civilian vehicles  attempted to leave Crimea for Russia, Zelensky said: "The queue these  days to leave Crimea for Russia via the bridge proves that the absolute  majority of citizens of the terrorist state already understand or at  least feel that Crimea is not a place for them."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/17/europ...ntl/index.html

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Ukraine was behind three explosions rocked Russian military facilities in  the annexed province of Crimea this past week, including an explosion  at a Russian air base on the peninsula's west coast that wrecked several  airplanes, according to a Ukrainian government report circulated  internally and shared with CNN by a ​Ukrainian official.


Well I hope they'll be more careful disposing of lit cigarettes in future.

----------


## Takeovers

Huge ammunition depot in Belgorod, Russia, blew up this night. Huge and continuing explosions.




Russian sources say, no casualties.  :smiley laughing: 

HIMARS attack was said, but unconfirmed.

----------


## pickel

The Kerch Bridge will be gone soon.

----------


## bsnub

> The Kerch Bridge will be gone soon.


I think they are just warming up for the grand finale.  :Smile:

----------


## HermantheGerman

> The Kerch Bridge will be gone soon.


Now that would be a blast.

----------


## bsnub

I think the Kerch bridge will stand for now. The scum need a way to retreat.  :Smile:

----------


## Takeovers

> I think the Kerch bridge will stand for now. The scum need a way to retreat.



From discussions in the ukraine reddit. That bridge has a rail bridge and a link for cars. The rail bridge should go as it carries most of the military equipment. 

The road bridge should be damaged so it can't carry heavy equipment but still useful for private cars. That's what they did to the bridges in the Kherson region.

All dependent on capabilities. The long range HIMARS ammo could but was not yet part of any delivery.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Poor old puffy's been trying to keep all his fuck ups under wraps but all these people scarpering out of Crimea back to russia with their tails between their legs are telling everyone back home about it and fucking it up for him.

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

*Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with UN chief, Turkish President in Lviv for talks on how to end Ukraine war*


The UN chief and the presidents of Turkey and Ukraine have discussed ways to end the war started by Russia and secure Europe's largest nuclear power station.
*Key points:*


Antonio Guterres said he was gravely concerned about circumstances at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plantThe leaders said they wanted to build on a recent positive atmosphere to revive peace negotiations Russia is keeping up steady bombardment of Kharkiv to tie down Ukrainian forces, the UK says


UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters after talks in Lviv, Ukraine, on Thursday he was gravely concerned about circumstances at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and called for military equipment and personnel to be withdrawn.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he, Mr Guterres and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed building on a recent positive atmosphere to revive peace negotiations with Russia that took place in Istanbul in March.

In a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement in July for Russia to lift a blockade of Ukrainian grain shipments, and exports resumed at the beginning of August.

NATO member Turkey has maintained good relations with Russia, an important trade partner, and sought to mediate in the conflict, which began six months ago when Russian forces invaded neighbouring Ukraine.

"Personally, I maintain my belief that the war will ultimately end at the negotiating table. Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Guterres have the same opinion in this regard," Mr Erdogan said.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

FULL-  Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with UN chief, Turkish President in Lviv for talks on how to end Ukraine war - ABC News

----------


## bsnub

ODESSA, Ukraine—A series of explosions rocked Crimea and a border region inside of Russia overnight, punctuating a new phase of the war in which Ukraine is targeting enemy bases and infrastructure deep behind the front line.

       An ammunition depot in Russia’s southern Belgorod region  bordering Ukraine ignited late Thursday, the region’s governor wrote on  his social-media pages. Around the same time, unverified videos on  social media showed billowing clouds of smoke and fire in the city of Kadiivka in  Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, which Russian forces captured in early  July. Russian-installed authorities in Luhansk said Ukrainian forces  had struck the city with U.S.-supplied Himars mobile rocket launchers.        Air-defense systems were also activated  in the occupied city of Kerch, Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the  Russian-appointed head of Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014, wrote on  his Telegram channel.

       Residents in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, the headquarters  of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, reported explosions at the local military  airfield Thursday night, and a Western official said Friday that the  attack put more than half of that fleet’s naval aviation combat jets out  of use. Sevastopol’s governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, wrote on his  Telegram channel that a drone had been shot down near the airfield but  denied the airfield had suffered an attack.

Ukrainian officials have typically stopped short of claiming  responsibility for successful attacks behind Russian lines, but they  have hinted at involvement. Ukrainian presidential adviser              Oleksiy Arestovych       listed on Twitter all of the sites that had been targeted and  wrote: “As you understand, we have nothing to do with it.”
              Russian officials didn’t immediately comment on the series of blasts.

       On Wednesday,              Mykhailo Podolyak,       another adviser to Ukrainian President              Volodymyr Zelensky,       had suggested that the Kerch bridge connecting Crimea to mainland  Russia is a legitimate military target for Ukraine. Mr. Kryuchkov wrote  Thursday that Kerch and the bridge weren’t in danger.

The explosions near Russian ammunition depots, airfields and bridges  appeared to intensify the strategy Ukrainian forces have adopted in  recent weeks—hitting Moscow’s supply lines in hopes of starving Russian  troops west of the Dnipro River in the occupied Kherson region of resources and ultimately forcing them to retreat.

              Thursday was the first day since early July without evidence or  Russian claims of any territorial gains, according to the Institute for  the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

       The two sides are also trading accusations about plans to attack the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station.

Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s radiation, chemical and  biological defense forces, said on Thursday that Ukraine was planning to  cause “a minor accident at the nuclear power plant and, thereby,  disrupting the normal and safe operation of the nuclear power plant,  blaming Russia for this.”

       Ukrainian intelligence, meanwhile, posted on Facebook that  employees from Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation, have been  advised to stay away from the plant on Friday, because the Russians are  planning to “organize a real terrorist attack on Europe’s largest  nuclear facility.”

       Neither side provided any evidence for their claims, but alarm about the safety of the plant is growing worldwide.

On Thursday, after meeting Mr. Zelensky and Turkish President Recep              Tayyip Erdogan       in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, United Nations  Secretary-General              António Guterres       said he was gravely concerned about the safety of the facility and  reiterated his call for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors  to be immediately allowed to visit the plant from Kyiv.

              “Military equipment and personnel should be withdrawn from the  plant,” he said. “The area needs to be demilitarized.” The U.S. and  European Union have also called for a demilitarized zone around the  facility.

       Russian officials have said inspectors should travel to the  plant via Russian territory, which Ukraine opposes. In addition, they  have refused to withdraw troops from the facility, saying they are  necessary to defend it against potential attacks.

       In his call with Mr. Macron, Mr. Putin agreed to the deployment  of IAEA inspectors to the site, according to Mr. Macron’s office. The  Kremlin said Mr. Putin confirmed Russia’s readiness to provide the  inspectors with the necessary assistance.

       Gen. Kirillov said on Thursday that Russia would also consider taking the plant offline entirely. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia  of scheming to steal electricity from the plant, which supplied  approximately a fifth of Ukraine’s power before the war, and reroute it  to serve the Russian grid.

In a video posted online late Thursday night after his meeting with  Mr. Guterres and Mr. Erdogan, Mr. Zelensky called on the foreign leaders  to heap pressure on Russia to withdraw from the plant. He also decried Russian plans to hold votes in occupied Ukrainian territory on whether to join the Russian federation.

       “I called on both Mr. President and Mr. Secretary-General to  voice the strictest possible position regarding Russia’s planned  pseudo-referendums in the occupied territory,” Mr. Zelensky said. “Any  pseudo-referendum will be a slap in the face to the international  community.”

       Meanwhile, shelling from both sides continued across the country.

       Ukraine’s military southern command said Friday it had  conducted four strikes on Moscow’s bases in the Kherson region, and said  it had destroyed repairs Russians were making to a key bridge in the  region.

       Twelve people were killed in Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine,  by shelling Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, Mr. Zelensky  said.

       Residential buildings were hit by Russian rockets midday on  Thursday, military officials said. And the Sumy region in the north was  hit with more than 100 pieces of ordnance Thursday night, according to  the governor.

       In Washington, officials announced a new $775 million military aid package for Ukraine that will include mine-resistant vehicles, drones, new missile systems and other new types of military assistance.

https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/bla...es-11660907876

----------


## panama hat

> Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with UN chief, Turkish President in Lviv for talks on how to end Ukraine war


Easy, Russia fucks off out of Ukraine . . . you know, the nation they invaded without provocation.

----------


## bsnub

Russian commanders have fled the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukrainian forces using U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, have targeted key strategic bridges  in recent weeks as part of a counteroffensive to reclaim the  Russian-occupied Kherson region. They caused significant damage after  striking the last working bridge over the Dnipro river into the city of  Kherson, the Ukrainian army's Operational Command South announced on  Saturday.

Some Russian command staff has now begun leaving the  city and moving to the river's right bank, as a result, said Nataliya  Gumenyuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military's southern command.

"There are recorded facts that after our strikes on the command  posts of the occupying forces...their command staff very quickly moves  in the direction 'beyond the bridge'—that is, to the left bank, so as  not to be cut off in ways to move to a safer territory," Gumenyuk said  at a news briefing, according to Meduza, an independent Russian news  outlet.

Russian forces "don't have any logistical route that is safe and that  would satisfy their military needs precisely in terms of providing for  the military group located near Kherson," Yuri Sobolevsky, the first  deputy head of the Kherson regional council, said on Ukrainian  television on Sunday. "Most of them have already left Kherson."

Vitaliy Kim, the governor of the Mykolaiv region, said commanders had  abandoned Russian troops in the city. "Not really, but a little sorry  for the stupid orcs who were abandoned on the right bank of the Dnipro,"  he wrote on Telegram on Saturday. "The entire management team is moving beyond the Dnipro."

The British Ministry of Defence said Saturday  that damage to bridges across the river means that "ground resupply for  the several thousand Russian troops on the west bank is almost  certainly reliant on just two pontoon ferry crossing points."

The  ministry added that Russian forces had managed to make only "superficial  repairs" to the Antonivsky bridge, which was rendered unusable after a  rocket strike in July.

"Even if  Russia manages to make significant repairs to the bridges, they will  remain a key vulnerability," the update said. "With their supply chain  constrained, the size of any stockpiles Russia has managed to establish  on the west bank is likely to be a key factor in the force's endurance."

Russian Leaders Flee City, Abandon Troops, Amid Counter-Attack: Ukraine

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Easy, Russia fucks off out of Ukraine . . . you know, the nation they invaded without provocation.


Would seem the obvious solution.

----------


## sabang

Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief speaks about the difficult situation of the Ukrainian Army


 17.08.2022 14:48


Valery Zaluzhny, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the Ukrainian Army was experiencing a difficult situation on the front.



According to the message that Zaluzhny posted on his Telegram channel, the Russian army was advancing along the entire front line while increasing the intensity of artillery shelling.

The Russian forces strike the positions of the Ukrainian military 700-800 times a day, he added. The Russian Armed Forces use from 40 to 60 thousand shells daily, he also wrote.

On August 17, Mikhail Sheremet, State Duma deputy from the Crimea, announced that the combat potential of the Ukrainian army had been destroyed. According to him, it is the forces of the collective West that confront the Russian army in Ukraine. The official referred to large-scale supplies of Western weapons to Kyiv, as well as a large number of foreign mercenaries in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Western countries started the crisis in an attempt to maintain the unipolar world.


Earlier, Sergei Shoygu, the Russian Ministry of Defense, indicated that the troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the territorial defense were suffering huge losses, but the Kiev leadership was concealing the real numbers from the public.

See more at Just a moment...

----------


## panama hat

> Valery Zaluzhny, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the Ukrainian Army was experiencing a difficult situation on the front.


If the article is eal te the guy is simply discussing life on the front lines . . . whereas the Russian aparatchicks are too frightened and lie through their teeth to please their dictator-in-chief

----------


## misskit

*Accusations fly between Ukraine and Russia over Europe's largest nuclear power plant. And the world frets.*

Kyiv and Moscow continued to accuse each other  on Friday of shelling Europe's largest nuclear power plant, stoking international fears of a catastrophe on the continent as Russian President Vladimir Putin said independent inspectors should visit the Zaporizhzhia plant "as soon as possible."


"The Russian side confirmed its readiness to provide the (International Atomic Energy) Agency inspectors with the necessary assistance," the Kremlin said in a statement after a call between Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron - their first call in nearly three months, the AFP news agency reported.


"The two presidents will speak about this subject again in the next few days following discussions between the technical teams and before the deployment of the mission," a French readout of the call said.

MORE Accusations fly between Ukraine and Russia over Europe's largest nuclear power plant. And the world frets. - CBS News

----------


## misskit

*Putin warns Macron of ‘catastrophe’ at Ukraine nuclear plant*

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed that a team of independent inspectors can travel to the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant via Ukraine, the French presidency said on Friday.


The apparent resolution of a dispute over whether inspectors travel to the plant via Ukraine or Russia came as a senior US defence official said Ukraine’s forces had brought the Russian advance to a halt.


“You are seeing a complete and total lack of progress by the Russians on the battlefield,” the official said, speaking to reporters on grounds of anonymity.


According to French President Emmanuel Macron’s office, Putin had “reconsidered the demand” that the International Atomic Energy Agency travel through Russia to the site, after the Russian leader himself warned fighting there could bring about a “catastrophe”.


It specified that Putin had dropped his demand that the IAEA team travel to the site via Russia, saying it could arrive via Ukraine.


Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres urged Moscow’s forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia plant in south Ukraine not to disconnect the facility from the grid and potentially cut supplies to millions of Ukrainians.

Putin warns Macron of 'catastrophe' at Ukraine nuclear plant - Insider Paper

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine’s Zelensky faces unprecedented criticism over war warnings*

KYIV, Ukraine — Until this week, Ukrainians seemed to see President Volodymyr Zelensky as beyond reproach, a national hero who stayed in Kyiv despite the risk to his personal safety to lead his country against invading Russian troops.


Comments he made to The Washington Post justifying his decision to not share with Ukrainians details of repeated U.S. warnings that Russia planned to invade have punctured the bubble, triggering a cascade of public criticism unprecedented since the war began.


People tweeted their experiences of chaos and dislocation after an invasion for which they were unprepared, describing how they might have made different choices had they known what was coming. Public figures and academics wrote harsh critiques on Facebook of Zelensky’s decision to downplay the risk of an invasion, saying he bears at least some responsibility for the atrocities that followed.


In the interview with The Post, published Tuesday, Zelensky cited his fears that Ukrainians would panic, flee the country and trigger economic collapse as the reason he chose not to share the stark warnings passed on by U.S. officials regarding Russia’s plans.

MORE Ukraine’s Zelensky faces unprecedented criticism over war warnings | Stars and Stripes

----------


## YourDaddy

oops





Daughter of 'spiritual guide' to Putin's Ukraine invasion killed in car explosion: Russian media - CNN

----------


## harrybarracuda

Probably another Anne Heche, but they love to milk it.

----------


## misskit

*Russia accuses Kyiv of poisoning some of its soldiers in Ukraine*

(Reuters) -Russia's defence ministry accused Ukraine on Saturday of poisoning some of its servicemen in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia in late July.


An adviser to Ukraine's interior ministry said in response that the alleged poisoning could have been caused by Russian forces eating expired canned meat.


The Russian defence ministry said a number of Russian servicemen had been taken to a military hospital with signs of serious poisoning on July 31. Tests showed a toxic substance, botulinum toxin type B, in their bodies, it said.


"On the fact of chemical terrorism sanctioned by the (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy regime, Russia is preparing supporting evidence with the results of all the analyses," the ministry said in a statement.


It did not say how many servicemen had suffered or what their condition was now. It did not say what the "supporting evidence" was.


Botulinum toxin type B is a neurotoxin that can cause botulism when ingested in previously contaminated food products, but it can also have medical uses.


Ukraine's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, but interior ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko commented on the Russian allegation on the Telegram messaging app.


"The department (Russian defence ministry) does not clarify whether the poisoning could have been caused by expired canned meat, in which botulinum toxin is often found. Overdue rations have been massively complained about by the occupying forces since the first days of the invasion of Ukraine," he said.


The Russian defence ministry said it was conducting an additional investigation into an incident in which Volodymyr Saldo, the Russian-installed administration in Ukraine's occupied Kherson region, was taken ill.


Saldo, a former mayor of the city of Kherson who was appointed to head the region of the same name when Russian troops overran it in early March, fell ill in early August.


Russia says its "special military operation" launched on Feb. 24 is aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine and protecting Russian speakers on what President Vladimir Putin called historical Russian land.


Ukraine and Western countries view it as an unprovoked war of conquest aimed at wiping out Ukraine's national identity.

Russia accuses Kyiv of poisoning some of its soldiers in Ukraine

----------


## bsnub

RIGA, Latvia — Russian paratrooper Pavel Filatyev spent more than a  month fighting in Ukraine after his poorly equipped unit was ordered to  march from its base in Crimea for what commanders called a routine  exercise.

In  early April, the 34-year-old Filatyev was evacuated after being  wounded. Over the next five weeks, deeply troubled by the devastation  caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody invasion, he wrote down his recollections in hopes that telling his country the truth about the war could help stop it.

His damning 141-pagejournal,posted  this month on Vkontakte, Russia’s equivalent of Facebook, is the most  detailed day-by-day account to date of the attacks on Kherson and  Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine as seen through the eyes of a Russian  soldier.

The  document describes an army in disarray: commanders clueless and  terrified, equipment old and rusty, troops pillaging occupied areas in  search of food because of a lack of provisions, morale plummeting as the  campaign stalled. He tells of soldiers shooting themselves in the legs  to collect the $50,000 promised by the government to injured servicemen.  He describes units being wiped out by friendly fire. He blasts Russian  state media for trying to justify a war that the Kremlin had no “moral  right” to wage.

“They simply decided to shower Ukraine with our corpses in this war,” he wrote.

In  an exchange of messages on Telegram this week with The Washington Post,  Filatyev said he knew that posting his views carried risks. Though  technically still in the army, he left Russia this week with the help of  the human rights organization Gulagu.net. He declined to give his location because of security concerns.

With  his permission, The Post is publishing excerpts of his writings; they  have been edited only for conciseness and clarity. The Post has not been  able to independently verify his account. But Filatyev provided his  military ID as proof that he served in the 56th Guards Air Assault  Regiment based in Crimea, as well as documents showing that he was  treated for an eye injury after his return from the front.

“It may not change anything,” he wrote, “but I will not participate in this madness.”

*Feb. 15: Gearing up before the invasion*

I  arrived to the training ground [in Stary Krym, Crimea]. Our entire  squadron, about 40 people, all lived in one tent with plank boards and  one makeshift stove. Even in Chechnya, where we only lived in tents or  mud huts, our living conditions were organized better. Here we had  nowhere to wash up and the food was horrible. For those who arrived  later than the rest, me and about five other people, there was neither a  sleeping bag, nor camo, armor, or helmets left.

I  finally received my rifle. It turned out that it had a broken belt, was  rusty and kept getting stuck, so I cleaned it in oil for a long time  trying to put it in order.

Around  February 20, an order came for everyone to urgently gather and move  out, packing lightly. We were supposed to perform a forced march to some  unknown location. Some people joked that now we would attack Ukraine  and capture Kyiv in three days. But already then I thought it is no time  for laughter. I said that if something like this were to happen, we  would not capture anything in three days.

*Feb. 23: Bracing for something serious*

The  division commander arrived and, congratulating us on the [Defender of  the Fatherland] holiday, announced that starting from tomorrow, our  salary per day would be $69. It was a clear sign that something serious  is about to happen. Rumors began spreading that we are about to go storm  Kherson, which seemed to be nonsense to me.

Everything  changed that day. I noticed how people began to change, some were  nervous and tried not to communicate with anyone, some frankly seemed  scared, some, on the contrary, were unusually cheerful.

*Feb. 24: Rolling into war with no plan*

At  about 4 a.m. I opened my eyes again and heard a roar, a rumble, a  vibration of the earth. I sensed an acrid smell of gunpowder in the air.  I look out of the truck and see that the sky is lit bright from  volleys.

It  was not clear what is happening, who was shooting from where and at  whom, but the weariness from lack of food, water and sleep disappeared. A  minute later, I lit up a cigarette to wake up, and realized that the  fire is coming 10-20 kilometers ahead of our convoy. Everyone around me  also began to wake up and smoke and there was a quiet murmur: ‘It’s  started.’ We must have a plan.

The  convoy became animated and started to slowly move forward. I saw the  lights switch on in the houses and people looking out the windows and  balconies of five-story buildings.

It  was already dawn, perhaps 6 a.m., the sun went up and I saw a dozen  helicopters, a dozen planes, armored assault vehicles drove across the  field. Then tanks appeared, hundreds of pieces of equipment under  Russian flags.

By  1 p.m. we drove to a huge field where our trucks got bogged down in the  mud. I got nervous. A huge column standing in the middle of an open  field for half an hour is just an ideal target. If the enemy notices us  and is nearby, we are f---ed.

Many  began to climb out of the trucks and smoke, turning to one from  another. The order is to go to Kherson and capture the bridge across the  Dnieper.

I  understood that something global was happening, but I did not know what  exactly. Many thoughts were spinning in my head. I thought that we  couldn’t just attack Ukraine, maybe NATO really got in the way and we  intervened. Maybe there are also battles going on in Russia, maybe the  Ukrainians attacked together with NATO. Maybe there is something going  on in the Far East if America also started a war against us. Then the  scale will be huge, and nuclear weapons, then surely someone will use  it, damn it.

The  commander tried to cheer everyone up. We are going ahead, leaving the  stuck equipment behind, he said, and everyone should be ready for  battle. He said it with feigned courage, but in his eyes I saw that he  was also freaking out.

It  was quite dark and we got word that we are staying here until dawn. We  climbed into sleeping bags without taking off our shoes, laying on boxes  with mines, embracing our rifles.

*Feb. 25: Collecting corpses from the road*

Somewhere around 5 in the morning they wake everyone up, telling us to get ready to move out.

I  lit a cigarette and walked around. Our principal medical officer was  looking for a place to put a wounded soldier. He constantly said that he  was cold, and we covered him with our sleeping bags. I was told later  that this guy had died.

We  drove on terrible roads, through some dachas, greenhouses, villages. In  settlements we met occasional civilians who saw us off with a sullen  look. Ukrainian flags were fluttering over some houses, evoking mixed  feelings of respect for the brave patriotism of these people and a sense  that these colors now somehow belong to an enemy.

We  reached a highway at around 8 a.m. and … I noticed the trucks of the  guys from my squadron. They look kind of crazy. I walk from car to car,  asking about how things are. Everyone answers me incomprehensibly:  “Damn, this is f---ed up,” “We got wrecked all night,” “I collected  corpses from the road, one had his brains all out on the pavement.”

We  are approaching a fork and signs point to Kherson and Odessa. I am  thinking about how we will storm Kherson. I don’t think the mayor of the  city will come out with bread and salt, raise the Russian flag over the  administration building, and we’ll enter the city in a parade column.

At  around 4 p.m. our convoy takes a turn and settles in the forest.  Commanders tell us the news that Ukrainian GRAD rocket launchers were  seen ahead, so everyone must prepare for shelling, urgently dig in as  deep as possible, and also that our cars almost ran out of fuel and we  have communication problems.

I  stand and talk with the guys, they tell me that they are from the 11th  brigade, that there are 50 of them left. The rest are probably dead.

*Feb. 26-28: Advancing on Kherson*

_Filatyev’s convoy made its way to Kherson and surrounded the local airport, looting stores__in villages__along  the way. On the third day, the convoy received the order to enter  Kherson. Filatyev was told to stay behind and cover the front-line units  with mortar fire if necessary. He recounted__hearing  distant fighting all day. The southern port city would become the first  major Ukrainian city that Russia captured in its invasion.
_
*March 1: Acting like savages*

We  marched to the city on foot … [around 5:30 p.m.] we arrived at the  Kherson seaport. It was already dark, the units marching ahead of us had  already occupied it.

Everyone  looked exhausted and ran wild. We searched the buildings for food,  water, showers and a place to sleep, someone began to take out computers  and anything else of value.

Walking  through the building, I found an office with a TV. Several people sat  there and watching the news, they found a bottle of champagne in the  office. Seeing the cold champagne, I took a few sips from the bottle,  sat down with them and began to watch the news intently. The channel was  in Ukrainian, I didn’t understand half of it. All I understood there  was that Russian troops were advancing from all directions, Odessa,  Kharkov, Kyiv were occupied, they began to show footage of broken  buildings and injured women and children.

We  ate everything like savages, all that was there was, cereal, oatmeal,  jam, honey, coffee. … Nobody cared about anything, we were already  pushed to the limit.

*March 2-6: Wandering in the woods*

_Filatyev’s  exhausted convoy was ordered to push ahead to storm Mykolaiv and  Odessa, though the Russian campaign had already begun to stall. Filatyev  described how his unit wandered in the woods trying to reach_ _Mykolaiv, about 40 miles away.__He recalled asking a senior officer about their next movements. The commander said he had no clue what to do._

_The  first reinforcements arrived: separatist forces from Donetsk, mostly  men over 45 in shabby fatigues. According to Filatyev, they were forced  to go to the front lines when many regular Russian army soldiers  refused.
_
*Into mid-April: Holding from front-line trenches*

From  now on and for more than a month it was Groundhog Day. We were digging  in, artillery was shelling us, our aviation was almost nowhere to be  seen. We just held positions in the trenches on the front line, we could  not shower, eat, or sleep properly. Everyone had overgrown beards and  were covered in dirt, uniforms and shoes began to fray.

[Ukrainian  forces] could clearly see us from the drones and kept shelling us so  almost all of the equipment soon went out of order. We got a couple of  boxes with the so-called humanitarian aid, containing cheap socks,  T-shirts, shorts and soap.

Some  soldiers began to shoot themselves … to get [the government money] and  get out of this hell. Our prisoner had his fingers and genitals cut off.  Dead Ukrainians at one of the posts were plopped on seats, given names  and cigarettes.

Due  to artillery shelling, some villages nearby practically ceased to  exist. Everyone was getting angrier and angrier. Some grandmother  poisoned our pies. Almost everyone got a fungus, someone’s teeth fell  out, the skin was peeling off. Many discussed how, when they return,  they will hold the command accountable for lack of provision and  incompetent leadership. Some began to sleep on duty because of fatigue.  Sometimes we managed to catch a wave of the Ukrainian radio, where they  poured dirt on us and called us orcs, which only embittered us even  more. My legs and back hurt terribly, but an order came not to evacuate  anyone due to illness.

I  kept saying, “God, I will do everything to change this if I survive.” …  I decided that I would describe the last year of my life, so that as  many people as possible would know what our army is now.

By  mid-April, earth got into my eyes due to artillery shelling. After five  days of torment, with the threat of losing an eye looming over me, they  evacuated me.

*Aftermath: Remaining silent no longer*

I  survived, unlike many others. My conscience tells me that I must try to  stop this madness. … We did not have the moral right to attack another  country, especially the people closest to us.

This  is an army that bullies its own soldiers, those who have already been  in the war, those who do not want to return there and die for something  they don’t even understand.

I  will tell you a secret. The majority in the army, they are dissatisfied  with what is happening there, they are dissatisfied with the government  and their command, they are dissatisfied with Putin and his policies,  they are dissatisfied with the Minister of Defense who did not serve in  the army.

The main enemy of all Russians and Ukrainians is propaganda, which just further fuels hatred in people.

I can no longer watch all this happen and remain silent.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...soldier-diary/

----------


## bsnub

*Ukrainian spies snuck into Russia  ahead of the invasion and found a lot of drunk Russian troops had traded  supplies for alcohol: report*


In the days leading up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late  February, Ukrainian spies were sent into Russia to conduct surveillance  on the Russian military and encountered "a lot" of drunk soldiers, according to a new Washington Post report.

The  Russian troops had apparently traded fuel and other supplies for  alcohol. "A lot of them were drunk," a Ukrainian official who saw  reports from the spies told the Post.

Their observations, which  also included tank formations without crews or maintainers, suggested  that Russia was unprepared for war and reportedly fueled some degree of  disbelief among some officials in Ukraine that Russia would actually  attempt an invasion. In many ways, as has since been demonstrated,  Russia wasn't ready, but it moved forward anyway.

The Post's  report, which relies heavily on a trove of sensitive materials gathered  by Ukrainian officials and other security services, offers intricate  details on Russian intelligence failures ahead of the war.

  Russia began laying the groundwork for an invasion years ago,  according to the report, and cultivated a significant network of agents  in Ukraine with the ultimate goal of toppling the government and  subjugating the former Soviet republic. 

Prior to the invasion, it  was widely believed that if Russia did launch a military incursion it  would be able to defeat Ukrainian forces in a matter of days, but that's  not how the conflict has played out.

The Russian military failed  to take Kyiv, as the Ukrainian military put up a much stiffer resistance  than many expected. The fight has now lasted nearly six months, with  Russia making only incremental progress as the conflict has morphed into  a grinding war of attrition. 

In many respects, the invasion has been humiliating for the Russian military, which has suffered massive troop and equipment losses.

Russia's  primary spy agency, the FSB, bears much of the responsibility for the  failed war plans and the overconfidence that catalyzed the Russian  military's ambitious objectives, according to the Post's report. 

The  FSB, for example, reportedly offered the Kremlin misleadingly positive  assessments that suggested Ukrainians would welcome Russia with open  arms.

"There was plenty of wishful thinking," a senior Western  security official told the Post, adding that the FSB had the sense  "there would be flowers strewn in their path." The FSB apparently  thought that a rapid assault would quickly bring down the Ukrainian  government. But, according to the Post report, FSB officers ultimately  ended up retreating from Kyiv alongside Russian troops. 

Previous  reports suggested that Putin received bad intel because his advisors are  "too afraid" to give him negative assessments. Individuals who have  angered or displeased the Russian leader have at times ended up dying in  violent or mysterious ways, while others have landed in prison. 

  "We  believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisors about how badly  the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is  being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth," a US official said in late March.

"Putin," the official said, "didn't even know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian president."

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukra...ort-2022-8?amp

----------


## misskit

^ Drunk Russians? Who’d thunk.


*As Attacks Mount in Crimea, Kremlin Faces Rising Domestic Pressures*

Nearly six months into the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin still refers to its invasion as a “special military operation” while trying to maintain a sense of normalcy at home.

But a series of Ukrainian attacks in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that President Vladimir V. Putin illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, is puncturing that narrative.


And as Ukrainian attacks mount in the strategically and symbolically important territory, the damage is beginning to put domestic political pressure on the Kremlin, with criticism and debate about the war increasingly being unleashed on social media and underscoring that even what the Russian government considers to be Russian territory is not safe.

On Saturday, a drone slammed into the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, sending a plume of smoke over the port city of Sevastopol. Separately, in western Crimea, Russian troops launched antiaircraft fire at unidentified targets, the region’s Russian governor said.


Local Russian officials blamed the drone attack on Ukraine and urged residents and beachgoers not to panic, while insisting there had been no injuries and that Russian air defenses were functioning properly.


But as images of antiaircraft fire streaking through the blue Crimean sky ricocheted through social media, the visceral reality of war was becoming more and more apparent to Russians — many of whom have rallied behind the Kremlin’s line, hammered home in state media, that the “special military operation” to save Ukraine from Nazi domination is going smoothly and according to plan.


“People are beginning to feel that the war is coming to them,” Andrei Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, a research organization close to the Russian government, said in a phone interview. “I think this is serious.”

Ukraine has been engaged in a campaign to target Russian forces on the Crimean peninsula. The attacks in Crimea appear to have begun in earnest on Aug. 9 with a strike on the Saki air base in which eight fighter jets were destroyed.


“One can literally feel in the air of Crimea that the occupation there is temporary, and Ukraine is returning,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Saturday in his nightly address to the nation.


Mr. Kortunov said the Kremlin is likely to view the Ukrainian attacks not as a military threat but as “irritating,” showing Ukraine’s ability to threaten Russian lives deep behind the front lines. But it remained unclear how — or if — Mr. Putin would respond to the attacks, even as pro-Kremlin commentators called for retaliatory strikes.


Russia continues to retain military superiority, and the recent strikes in Crimea haven’t resulted in territorial gains for Ukraine. But they nevertheless appear to have dealt a psychological blow to Russia, undercutting the previous perception of Russian invincibility in a peninsula that exerts a strong hold on the Russian psyche.

Crimea is more than a pivotal military base. A sun-splashed resort and staging ground for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Crimea has particular symbolic resonance for Mr. Putin, who has called it Russia’s “holy land.”

Crimea is where czars and Politburo chairmen kept vacation homes. As home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, it also helps Russia exert control over the sea, including a naval blockade that has crippled Ukraine’s economy.


On the social network Telegram, one of Russia’s best-known state television hosts, Vladimir Solovyov, shared a post describing the attacks in Crimea and in Russian regions near the Ukrainian border as “some kind of surrealism.”

“Are we fighting or what are we doing?” the post by a pro-Kremlin military blogger asked. “Tough, cardinal measures must be taken, every day we pay for half-measures with human lives.”


While the military impact of the attacks may be minimal, there are mounting signs that local people are becoming unsettled by them, prompting officials to issue soothing reassurances about their safety.


“I understand that many are worried,” the Russian governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on his social media page on Saturday. “But that is exactly what the Ukrainian Reich” — a reference to Russia’s false characterization of Ukraine as a Nazi state — “wants to achieve.”


In an interview over a messaging app on Saturday, one resident of Sevastopol said she had never imagined that she would live to see the events of the last six months — both the war and the booms of antiaircraft fire that she said she had heard herself recently. She said that her solution was to try to continue living her life and to avoid the news.


“When you read the news, chaos erupts in your head,” said the woman, Elena, 34, who requested her last name be withheld for her security. “You get the feeling that all around you everything is exploding and burning and that you are in hell.”


To bolster national morale or, perhaps, to poke another stick in the Kremlin’s eye, Ukraine staged a brazen act of defiance on Saturday, with captured Russian tanks rolling into downtown Kyiv on flatbed trucks. Collected from battlefields in the east and south of the country, they were placed on the elegant thoroughfare in the center of the capital that leads to Independence Square, the site of the pro-Western uprising in 2014.


The disarray in Crimea comes as Russia’s war effort appears stalled on multiple fronts. Fighting in Kherson, in the south, and the Donbas region, in the east, has largely ground to a standstill. A Russian offensive to seize Donetsk Province, part of the Donbas, has temporarily halted — partly, American officials said, because Moscow rushed several thousand troops to the south to counter the anticipated Ukrainian offensive there.


In a reflection of the challenges Moscow is facing, the Russian state news media also reported Friday that the Kremlin had replaced the commander of the Black Sea Fleet after a series of setbacks that include the loss of its flagship vessel, Moskva, in April. Ukraine said it had used Neptune missiles to sink the Moskva, a strike Russia dismissed as an onboard accident. It was the biggest warship lost in combat in decades.

As Ukraine stoked instability in Russian-controlled Crimea, there finally appeared to be some movement to get international inspectors into the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is occupied by Russian troops and where anxiety has been growing that shelling in the area could lead to a devastating meltdown.

In a conversation late Friday, Mr. Putin told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that Russia “had reconsidered” its insistence that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency first travel through Russian territory to reach the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to the French presidency.


The I.A.E.A. — the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog and monitoring agency — has met with several obstacles in its discussions with Russia and Ukraine to get into the Zaporizhzhia plant since at least June.


Ukraine objected to the idea that the inspectors would enter through Russian-occupied territory, an option that would have seemed to underscore Russian control of the plant, which provides at least a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity. The United Nations had significant security concerns about having inspectors travel through the front lines of this bitter war, with so much shelling.


The war also continued to reverberate outside of Ukraine, including in ongoing concerns that the Kremlin was using Russia’s vast energy resources as a weapon to punish the West.


The Russian energy giant Gazprom said it would close the taps of its Nord Stream pipeline to Germany from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 to replace a turbine with the help of its manufacturer, Siemens. Gazprom has said Western sanctions have slowed repairs, reducing gas flows by up to 60 percent. But Berlin has accused Gazprom of playing politics on Moscow’s behalf.


“The Russian side’s justification is simply a pretext,” Robert Habeck, Germany’s economy minister, told reporters in Berlin in June. “It is obviously the strategy to unsettle and drive up prices.”

MSN

----------


## panama hat

> Russia accuses Kyiv of poisoning some of its soldiers in Ukraine





> the alleged poisoning could have been caused by Russian forces eating expired canned meat.


The fucktards are poisoning themselves . . . but didn't the murderous Russians invade Ukraine? Didn't they murder tens of thousands of Ukrainians?  Why are Russians such whiny little girls?

----------


## sabang

Why do so many greet them as Liberators?   ::chitown::

----------


## pickel

> Why do so many greet them as Liberators?


Because they don't want to be sent to "filtration camps"?

----------


## panama hat

> Why do so many greet them as Liberators?


I'll descend to your level: Duuh


> Because they don't want to be sent to "filtration camps"?

----------


## sabang

Some Referendums coming up. Let the People decide.

----------


## Switch

> Some Referendums coming up. Let the People decide.


Use of the word ‘referendum’ duly noted, thank you.

----------


## sabang

Heh. Referenda.  :Smile:

----------


## HermantheGerman

> oops
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Daughter of 'spiritual guide' to Putin's Ukraine invasion killed in car explosion: Russian media - CNN







> The assassination in an area on the outskirts of the capital, not far from the residences of the highest officials, was aimed at the intellectual arsonists of the Russian attack on Ukraine. However, like the recent explosions on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula, it also destroys the feeling among Russians that war is far away and is none of their business. Attacks of this kind act like a boomerang of devastation that Russia is bringing to Ukraine. They awaken memories of criminal disputes in the 1990s, of explosions surrounding the Chechen wars and thus of a time that President Putin and his supporters still use today as a counterpoint to the 'stability' that he achieved."


NZZ – Neue Zurcher Zeitung | Aktuelle News, Hintergrunde & mehr

----------


## DrWilly

> Why do so many greet them as Liberators?


Yeah, they don't.

----------


## misskit

*Russia blames Ukraine for nationalist’s car bombing death*

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s top counterintelligence agency on Monday blamed Ukrainian spy services for organizing the killing of the daughter of a leading Russian nationalist ideologue in a car bombing just outside Moscow.


Daria Dugina, the 29-year-old daughter of Alexander Dugin, a philosopher, writer and political theorist whom some in the West described as “Putin’s brain,” died when an explosive planted in her SUV exploded as she was driving Saturday night.


Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the main KGB successor agency, said that Dugina’s killing had been “prepared and perpetrated by the Ukrainian special services.”


On Sunday, Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak denied any Ukrainian involvement in the killing.


In Monday’s statement, the FSB accused a Ukrainian citizen, Natalya Vovk, of perpetrating the killing and then fleeing from Russia to Estonia.


The FSB said that the suspect, Natalya Vovk, arrived in Russia in July with her 12-year-old daughter and rented an apartment in the building where Dugina lived to shadow her. It said that Vovk and her daughter were at a nationalist festival, which Alexander Dugin and his daughter attended just before the killing.


The agency said that Vovk and her daughter left Russia for Estonia after Dugina’s killing, using a different vehicle license plate on their way out of the country.
Dugin has been a prominent proponent of the “Russian world” concept, a spiritual and political ideology that emphasizes traditional values, the restoration of Russia’s global clout and the unity of all ethnic Russians throughout the world. He has been vehemently supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to send troops into Ukraine and urged the Kremlin to step up its operations in the country.


The explosion took place as Dugin’s daughter was returning from a cultural festival she had attended with him. Russian media reports cited witnesses as saying the SUV belonged to Dugin and that he had decided at the last minute to travel in another vehicle.


The car bombing, unusual for Moscow since the turbulent 1990s, is likely to aggravate tensions between Russia and Ukraine.


On Sunday, Denis Pushilin, head of the Russia-backed separatist “Donetsk People’s Republic” in Ukraine’s east, quickly blamed the blast on “terrorists of the Ukrainian regime, trying to kill Alexander Dugin.”


While Dugin’s exact ties to Putin are unclear, the Kremlin frequently echoes rhetoric from his writings and appearances on Russian state television. He helped popularize the “Novorossiya,” or “New Russia” concept that Russia used to justify the 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and its support of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.


Dugin, who has been slapped with U.S. and European Union sanctions, has promoted Russia as a country of piety, traditional values and authoritarian leadership, and spoken with disdain about Western liberal values.


His daughter expressed similar views and had appeared as a commentator on nationalist TV channel Tsargrad, where Dugin had served as chief editor.


Dugina herself was sanctioned by the United States in March for her work as chief editor of United World International, a website that the U.S. described as a disinformation source. The sanctions announcement cited a United World article this year that contended Ukraine would “perish” if it were admitted to NATO.


In an appearance on Russian television just Thursday, Dugina said, “People in the West are living in a dream, in a dream given to them by global hegemony.” She called America “a zombie society” in which people opposed Russia but couldn’t find it on a map.

Russia blames Ukraine for nationalist's car bombing death | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

----------


## panama hat

> Russia blames Ukraine for nationalist’s car bombing death


Oh noooooooooo . . . even if true then that's one innocent person vs tens of thousands of innocent Ukrainians . . . hypocrites

----------


## misskit

*Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian heroes killed in war with Russia – Zaluzhny*

Almost 9,000 Ukrainian heroes killed in the war with Russia, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny has said.


"Not only servicemen and not only those who took up arms take part in this war, but our little children, who are not to blame for anything at all, except for the fact that they were born here and at this particular time. They are really nothing they do not understand what is happening, but they definitely need protection both near Soledar, Bakhmut, Velyka Novosilka, and here, because their father went to the frontline and, perhaps, is one of those almost 9,000 heroes who died," Zaluzhny said at the Defenders. Roll Call forum on Monday.

Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian heroes killed in war with Russia – Zaluzhny

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine’s Armed Forces again strike Antonivka Bridge - Khlan*

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have launched strikes on the Antonivka (Antonivskyi) Bridge in Kherson region again, according to Serhii Khlan, a deputy of the regional council.

In a post on Facebook page, he wrote: "The Armed Forces of Ukraine are striking the Antonivka Bridge again... We are exhausting the enemy in Kherson region”.


Local people also report about explosions being heard in that area and about the smoke near the bridge.

According to Khlan, information is being received from various regions of Kherson region that Russian military positions have been hit.


"Information about explosions is coming from different areas. Orc positions have been hit: Nova Kakhovka, Tavriysk, Malokakhovka, Kakhovka and Chornobaivka. We are waiting for the official data," Khlan wrote.


As reported by Ukrinform, after Ukraine's Armed Forces launched the fourth strike on the Antonivka Bridge, Russian military personnel began to take their families out of Kherson.


The Antonivka Bridge, opened in 1985, connects Kherson with the left bank of the Dnipro River.


Ukraine’s Armed Forces again strike Antonivka Bridge - Khlan

----------


## bsnub

The Kremlin's justification for invading Ukraine "is a lie," a Russian paratrooper who previously publicly condemned his country's war in Ukraine has told CNN.                                                                      Two weeks ago, Pavel Filatyev  spoke out against the conflict in a 141-page-long testimony posted to  his VKontakte social media page, then fled Russia. He is the first  serving member of the Russian military to publicly criticize the invasion of Ukraine and leave the country.

                                                                      Now  he tells CNN that his fellow troops as tired, hungry and disillusioned  -- and that the Kremlin's war effort is "destroying peaceful lives."

                                                                                                                                                                                   "We  understood that we were dragged into a serious conflict where we are  simply destroying towns and not actually liberating anyone," Filatyev  told CNN's Matthew Chance. CNN is not disclosing the location of the  interview for the security of the interviewee. 

                                                                                                                                            "Many  understood that we do not see the reason that our government is trying  to explain to us. That all of it is a lie," he said. "We are just  destroying peaceful lives. This fact immensely influenced our morale.  That feeling that we are not doing anything good."

Filatyev,  33, told CNN "corruption" and repression are rife in his home country  and said his unit -- which was based in Crimea and sent to Ukraine  entering Kherson early in the conflict -- was ill-equipped and given  little explanation for Russia's invasion.

                                                                      According  to Filatyev, the soldiers and their commanders did not know what they  were expected to do in Ukraine. He added that they soon became  disillusioned with the government's reasoning for its invasion after  arriving in Kherson and facing resistance from locals who did not want  to be "liberated." 

The  paratrooper served in Russia's 56th air assault regiment and was also  involved in efforts to capture the city of Mykolaiv. He was evacuated  from the front lines because of an injury.

                                                                      He  told CNN the Russian army lacked basic equipment, as well as drones and  other types of unmanned aircraft during his stint on the front line. 

                                                                      "Our  barracks are about 100 years old and are not able to host all of our  servicemen ... all of our weapons are from the times of Afghanistan," he  said.

                                                                      "Several  days after we encircled Kherson many of us did not have any food, water  or sleeping sacks on them," he said. "Because it was very cold at  night, we couldn't even sleep. We would find some rubbish, some rags,  just to wrap ourselves to keep warm."

The capture of Kherson was a significant early military success for Russia. Ukraine is now battling to regain the city as fighting increasingly shifts to the country's south. 

                                                                      But Filatyev said he struggles to understand the vision of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched the invasion of Ukraine nearly six months ago and has seen his troops locked in a grinding, costly conflict.

                                                                      "Now  that I am out of there and without a gun, I think this is the worst,  stupidest thing our government could have done," he said. "I do not know  where the government is leading us. What is the next step? Nuclear  war?"

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/22/europ...ntl/index.html

----------


## bsnub

In the six months since Russia invaded Ukraine, the Ukrainian  military has conducted a stout and stirring defense, inflicting heavy  casualties on Russian units and contesting every foot of ground. Against  long odds, Ukraine managed to defend the capital, Kyiv, as well as its  second largest city, Kharkiv. This has forced Russia to abandon its goal  of a quick takeover of the country.
    However, staving off defeat is not the same thing as victory. Russian  forces today control about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including large  tracts in the east and south. What does Ukraine need in order to win the  war?

    A first step must be to address the disparity in airpower. Success in  modern, high-intensity warfare is almost impossible without at least  parity in the air. Ukraine began the contest woefully behind the curve  with perhaps 100 flyable jets compared to Russia’s more than 1,500.  Where Russia has been able to conduct 100-200 sorties per day, the much  smaller Ukrainian air force can manage around 10-20.

    Accordingly, Ukraine has been generally unable to provide air support  to its ground forces for fear of losing its small inventory of  high-performance aircraft (mostly MIG-29 and SU-27 fighters and Su-24  and SU-25 ground attack aircraft). Instead, its approach has been to  carefully husband its assets and use them only selectively.

    On the other hand, Ukraine has been outstandingly successful in  denying Russia air supremacy with extremely effective air defense and a  strategy of “air denial.”

    Though lacking the most advanced air defense systems such as the US  Patriot or the Russian S-400, Ukraine’s use of older S-300 (high  altitude), SA-11 (medium altitude) and SA-8 (short range) systems has  been lethal to Russian airpower. The US has also provided small numbers  of its NASAM short to medium-range air defense system, while Germany has  promised to send decommissioned Gepard air defense vehicles, though  ammunition shortages have delayed actual use.

    Employed in concert with large numbers of US-supplied Stinger  shoulder-fired missiles and using “shoot and scoot” tactics for  survivability, Ukrainian air defense has downed dozens of Russian fixed  and rotary-wing aircraft and largely sidelined Russian airpower. An  adequate supply of air defense missiles for Ukrainian systems is  essential here, and they must come from outside sources in quantity for  Ukraine to prevail.

    Ukraine has also used drones with devastating effect. The principal  military platforms have been the Turkish Bayraktar TB2, which can  deliver laser-guided bombs, and the US-supplied Phoenix Ghost drone as  well as the Switchblade, a kamikaze drone with onboard explosives that  can be flown into the target.

    These military drones are supplemented with thousands of cheaper  commercial drones used for artillery spotting and intelligence  collection. Russian forces have adapted and the loss rate of Ukrainian  drones is high, but low cost and ready availability mean that drones  will continue to play an important role. When linked to nearby artillery  units, drones enable quick target acquisition and precise fires, making  the most of Ukraine’s limited artillery resources.

    Ukrainian innovation and tactical agility have blunted much of  Russia’s dominance in the air, but the ability to generate offensive  airpower in the form of close air support and air interdiction will go  far towards helping Ukraine prevail. Earlier in the war, Poland and  other former Warsaw Pact nations suggested a transfer of Soviet-era jets  to Ukraine, an offer blocked by US officials. If NATO is determined not  to provide air cover, it is imperative that this block be removed and  that partners be permitted to support the Ukrainian air force with  platforms it can employ quickly to support air operations.

    Backfilling these transfers with US fourth generation aircraft like  the F-16 would also hasten the transition in Central Europe’s NATO  member states from Soviet-era jets to more interoperable Western  aircraft. Even 50 additional jets, with associated munitions and spare  parts, could make a major difference in Ukraine. Without a boost in air  support, a Ukrainian victory may still be possible if the strategy of  air denial holds up, but it will come at higher costs to ground forces. 

Just as important as air support is artillery, which comes in three  forms: tubed, rocket, and missile. Ukraine began the war with  substantial but outdated tubed artillery from the Soviet era,  complicated by a dearth of ammunition. With some 2000 artillery pieces  to Ukraine’s 500, Russian artillery is far more numerous, modern, and  powerful, with a daily consumption of artillery rounds some 10 times  greater than Ukraine’s.

    As with air defense, Ukraine has used its limited artillery  intelligently, quickly relocating after fire missions to avoid  counter-battery fire and relying on drones for precision targeting. The  addition of towed 155mm howitzers from the US and smaller numbers of  155mm self-propelled  systems from Germany, France and other countries  has strengthened Ukraine’s tubed artillery holdings considerably, but  Russia’s advantage is still strong. 

    Here the US can help with M109A6 155mm self-propelled howitzers,  recently replaced by the newer M109A7 model and now in storage in  quantity. The M109A6 is an armored, tracked vehicle, more survivable  against counter-battery fire, quicker to displace, and with smaller  crews. It is accurate, lethal, and rugged, making it well-suited to  Ukraine’s terrain and operational environment. Approximately 320 of  these systems would give Ukraine four additional artillery brigades (one  for each of its four regional headquarters), plus an additional  battalion in general support for each of Ukraine’s 12 or so division  equivalents, leaving some 10% for training and spares.

    The real artillery game changer is the multiple launch rocket system  in wheeled (M142 HIMARS) and tracked (M270 MLRS) variants. Both are long  ranged, precise, mobile, and very destructive. Small numbers have been  provided to date and have rendered excellent service. While Ukraine does  field older rocket artillery systems like the BM-21 Grad and BM-30  Smerch, HIMARS and MLRS are far superior in range and precision.

    As a matter of policy, the Biden administration has withheld longer  ranged ATACMS ammunition that can strike targets up to 300 miles away.  To level the playing field and transition to the offense with some hope  of success, Ukraine probably needs some 50 or so HIMARS or MLRS systems,  and it needs the ATACMS round. These capabilities will enable Ukrainian  forces to strike high value targets like command posts, airfields,  logistics hubs, air defense complexes, and ballistic missile launchers.  Given the mismatch in airpower, long range rocket artillery has the  potential to turn the tide and put Ukraine on a path towards ultimate  success. Without it, victory will remain elusive.

    Stronger airpower and more modern rocket artillery will greatly  improve the odds, but Ukraine’s tank forces must also be strengthened.  When the war began, Ukraine’s standard tank was the T-64B, an older and  underpowered Soviet-era design lacking the most modern explosive  reactive armor, thermal sights, and modern ammunition. While Ukraine has  inflicted heavy losses on Russian armor (often using hand-held  anti-tank weapons), its own tank force has been depleted and offensive  breakthroughs with tank-heavy forces have not been possible.

    Poland has committed to providing 240 PT-91 main battle tanks along  with small numbers of Czech T-72s. To equip the Ukrainian army for  offensive operations in 2023, the US should consider providing a similar  number of M1A1 tanks from its large reserve stocks. Though not the very  latest model, the M1A1 is more than a match for most Russian tanks and  is available in large numbers. 

To assist Ukraine, NATO should consider establishing a NATO Training  Mission-Ukraine (NTM-U) based in Poland and developed on a scale similar  to the robust training support organizations seen in Iraq and  Afghanistan. Led by a US three-star general with senior-level  representation and staffing from the UK, France, Poland and Germany,  NTM-U could provide the expertise, technical assistance, and “connective  tissue” that is badly needed as Ukraine fights for its national  existence. This organization can serve as the conduit back to the  training bases and defense industries of contributing nations as well as  the schoolhouse for Ukrainian commanders and staff officers.

    Such full-blooded support, even without direct participation in the  fighting, will undoubtedly draw Putin’s ire. Why should the US and its  European partners risk a confrontation with a nuclear-armed Russia in  this way? The clear answer is that a negotiated peace in Ukraine would  be nothing of the sort. Any settlement that leaves Russia in control of  occupied territory in exchange for a cessation of hostilities will  reward Russia and encourage more aggression.

    Western leaders can be sure that Russian success in Ukraine, even at  high cost, will put NATO allies like the Baltic states squarely in  Putin’s crosshairs. If anything, US and European reluctance to increase  support for Ukraine will only reassure Putin that the West fears  confrontation and will take pains to avoid it. This is not a recipe for  deterring future aggression.
    Nor should the West fear Russian rhetoric about the use of nuclear  weapons.  Distilled to its essence, this amounts to the threat of a  nuclear exchange if Russia is not allowed to invade and occupy its  neighbors. The nuclear deterrence regime that has been in place since  the 1950s is surely strong enough to deter such wild adventurism.

    Constant statements from Western leaders claiming “we cannot risk  WWIII” only encourage Putin to believe that reckless threats about  nuclear weapons are working. While a nuclear event cannot be ruled out  entirely (Russia might stage a low-yield tactical nuclear detonation in a  remote area, for example, to frighten and intimidate the West), the use  of nuclear weapons in combat when the existence of the Russian state is  not at risk is extremely unlikely. 

    The outcome of the conflict in Ukraine will have consequences far  beyond Europe. China is watching carefully and will weigh the West’s  commitment to its friends and partners carefully as it considers the  military conquest of Taiwan, especially after the US and NATO’s chaotic  withdrawal from Afghanistan. So will Iran and North Korea.

    For the most part, Russian aggression in Georgia, Crimea, the Donbas,  and more broadly in Ukraine has not been met with confidence and firm  resolve. Instead, the Western response has consisted of sanctions,  rhetoric, and a pronounced unwillingness to risk confrontation. We  should not fool ourselves here. Much is at stake.

    As the war grinds on, Ukraine has advantages it can leverage. These  include an educated and highly motivated military and citizenry, a  well-run and efficient railway system, a good understanding of modern  technology, and an adaptive and innovative approach to the problems of  modern, high-intensity warfare.

    An intimate knowledge of the terrain and interior lines has enabled  tactical success throughout the campaign. Ukrainian leadership, both  civil and military, has on the whole been markedly superior to Russia’s.  Above all, the Ukrainian soldier has proven to be tough, resourceful  and determined, a fighter who “knows what he fights for and loves what  he knows.”

    Nevertheless, Ukraine is outmatched and must have stronger outside  help to avoid dismemberment and continued occupation. The US and Europe  do not need to introduce ground troops in order to ensure Ukraine’s  success. Magnificent Ukrainian resistance has badly hurt the Russian  military, which is almost totally committed in Ukraine. An opportunity  now exists to end further Russian aggression in the European security  space for a generation, and perhaps forever.

    Ukraine can win the war but victory depends on Western support that  goes well beyond the current level. We cannot ignore that Ukraine, too,  has suffered painful losses in troops and materiel. Ukraine has been  consistent and clear about its needs. Peace in Europe, and perhaps the  world, depends on meeting them.

_Richard D. Hooker Jr. is a nonresident senior fellow with the  Atlantic Council. He previously served as Dean of the NATO Defense  College and as Special Assistant to the US President and Senior Director  for Europe and Russia with the National Security Council_.

What Ukraine needs to win the war - Atlantic Council

----------


## misskit

*U.S. embassy issues new security alert for Ukraine, urges U.S. citizens to leave*

KYIV (Reuters) - The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, warning of an increased possibility of Russian military strikes on Ukraine in the coming days around Ukrainian independence day, has again urged U.S. citizens to leave if they can.


"The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days," the embassy said in an alert on its website.

"The U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so," the alert said, repeating the advice of previous security warnings.


Kyiv has banned public celebrations in the capital on the anniversary of independence from Soviet rule on Wednesday, citing a heightened threat of attack.

MSN

----------


## misskit

*Russian missile hits passenger train as Ukraine marks Independence Day*

KYIV — With a mix of prudence, exuberance and, mostly, defiance, Ukrainians on Wednesday took time out from their existential battle with invading Russian forces to celebrate their 31st year as a free nation, marking their first Independence Day since the Kremlin launched a full-scale war here six months ago.

Warnings from Ukrainian officials and American intelligence agencies that Russia was poised to mar the holiday by launching missile strikes went largely unrealized, although the war’s violence continued in some parts of the country.


Along the shifting front lines to the east and south, Ukrainians contended with missile and artillery attacks near Dnipro and in the Eastern Donbas region.


Russian rocket strikes on a passenger train in the town of Chaplyne, about 60 miles east of the Dnieper River killed at least 21 people, officials said, and dozens more were reported injured. Communities in the Eastern Donbas region contended with strikes throughout the day.


In Kyiv, the capital, residents largely heeded President Volodymyr Zelensky’s warnings of a potentially “hideous” attack on the city and spent much of the day at home. Many shops were closed, and traffic was light. Peeling church bells greeted the day in many neighborhoods — a symbol of freedom and, for many, of resistance and survival.


“Morally, the Ukrainian people have already won,” said Metropolitan Epiphanius I, the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, in a sermon at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral. “But we still have to [achieve] victory over the aggressor, expel the invaders.”

By evening, following an uneventful afternoon and a surprise visit by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is beloved in Ukraine, Kyiv residents poured into the streets in greater numbers, a show of defiance against Russia simply by venturing outdoors.


“Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes,” said a group of young Ukrainians, two of the women quite literally wrapped in their country’s blue and yellow flag as they tossed back celebratory shots of a clear liquid just off Khreschatyk Street, Kyiv’s main boulevard where dozens of destroyed Russian tanks were lined up as a macabre holiday parade.


The crowd milling around the shattered war machines had swelled from hundreds in the morning to more than a thousand by sunset. They carried Ukrainian flags, ice cream cones and selfie sticks, and they largely ignored the air-raid sirens that have become commonplace, as Kyiv itself has not been struck by a missile since June 26.


On Independence Day, Ukraine celebrates statehood Putin failed to destroy

One crowded pizza joint in the city center nominally nodded to the red-alert by serving every pie in a to-go box, but most customers grabbed a table and broke the containers open.


“There have been too many sirens; people have to work and to eat,” said Igor Vodianu, a waiter at the Very Well cafe a few blocks from Kyiv’s Independence Square, known popularly as Maidan, where most patrons didn’t look up from their cold chicken soup when a siren blared.

The Ukrainian national anthem sounded on many corners as the day grew more festive, often wafting out from open shop doors, sometimes from car windows and once from a speaker mounted on a horse-drawn wagon.


World leaders paid homage to Ukraine’s struggle against its invading neighbor throughout the day. In Brussels, the European Commission lit its headquarters in blue and yellow. French President Emmanuel Macron called in a video message for Aug. 24 to be “a day of hope.”


Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator of Belarus, however, failed to charm Ukrainians with his official congratulations, in which he conveyed hopes that current circumstances would not spoil the two countries’ “good-neighborly relations.” Noting that Lukashenko, considered a Putin puppet here, allowed Russia to use his country as a staging ground for its invasion, one Ukrainian official sharply dismissed Lukashenko’s good wishes as “blood-soaked clowning.”


In Washington, President Biden announced additional military aid of nearly $3 billion, including air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions.


He called the holiday, which marks Ukraine’s liberation from the Soviet Union in 1991, “bittersweet,” noting massive numbers killed, wounded and displaced. “But six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves,” Biden said.

Johnson, whose efforts to finance Ukraine’s military and buck up its people have made him a local hero to many — you can find Johnson’s blond moptop Photoshopped on the logo of Ukraine’s national railroad — made a surprise personal appearance in the capital.

Johnson, in his last weeks in office after resigning amid pressure from his fellow Conservative Party members following a string of scandals, was making a valedictory visit in Kyiv after being among the first world leaders to come forward with economic and military assistance to Ukraine.


Britain has given more defensive weapons to Ukraine, including nearly 7,000 antitank missiles, than any other European country. Johnson and Zelensky speak frequently and are genuinely close, according to officials in each country.


Zelensky, who awarded Johnson Ukraine’s Order of Freedom, heaped praise on his counterpart at a joint appearance before the two walked together through Maidan as an air-raid siren sounded. “We are lucky to have this friend,” the president said.


Elsewhere in the city, protesters lined the fence in front of the shuttered Russian Embassy with graphic posters of destruction wrought by Russian bombing around Ukraine. “Feeling guilty is not enough,” read a sign in Russian hung on the front gate.

Yuri Fedorenko, a Ukrainian soldier who organized the protest, said the group he works with has been staging such events for six years, after the Russian invasion of Crimea.


They have put together back-channel online sources for readers in Russian that attract more than 1 million visitors a month, Fedorenko said. “We know there are a lot of people who do not support Putin,” he said. “They have to do more than just feel bad for us.”


Just behind the gate, in what according to diplomatic protocol remains a patch of Russian territory, was another sign of Ukrainian national sentiment: Dozens of poop bags lining the path to the embassy entrance, tossed there by Kyiv dog owners.

MSN

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## harrybarracuda

Another Putin war crime.

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## misskit

*Russia-Installed Official in Ukraine Killed in Car Bombing*

A Russian-appointed official in southeastern Ukraine’s occupied region of Zaporizhzhia was killed in a car bomb attack, a member of the Moscow-backed regional administration said Wednesday.


The assassination of Ivan Sushko, who headed the town of Mykhailivka, is the latest of several attacks against pro-Russian officials in the occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in recent weeks.


“An explosive device was placed under the car seat,” Vladimir Rogov, a member of Zaporizhzhia’s Russian-appointed administration, wrote on messaging app Telegram.


“Ivan Sushko was wounded in the explosion and hospitalized in a critical condition,” Rogov said. “He soon died.”


Sushko’s death follows an attempted car bombing Tuesday on Russian-appointed Kherson region official Igor Telegin, who survived.


Earlier this month, the Moscow-installed head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, was hospitalized in Moscow after what Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed was an attempted poisoning. 


His deputy Vitaly Gura was shot and killed a day later.


Responding to Sushko’s assassination, Rogov called Ukraine a “terrorist organization” and called for its “destruction.”


The Kremlin has been pressing ahead with a campaign of Russification in the areas of southern and eastern Ukraine that it occupies. 

Russia-Installed Official in Ukraine Killed in Car Bombing
 - The Moscow Times

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## bsnub

The Pentagon has announced  a new military assistance package for Ukraine, the largest to date with  a whopping value of nearly $3 billion, as the country marks six months  since the start of Russia's all-out invasion and the 31st anniversary of  its independence from the Soviet Union. The new tranche of aid from the  U.S. government includes six more National Advanced Surface to Air  Missile Systems, or NASAMS,  and an unspecified number of counter-drone systems called Vampire,  along with more artillery ammunition, radars, and other materiel. The  planned transfers are expected to occur over the course of a number of  years, underscoring a new and important focus on bolstering the  Ukrainian military's capabilities in the longer term, regardless of how  the current conflict might evolve.The  U.S. government is providing the new aid, worth around $2.98 billion in  total, via the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). This is a  U.S. military assistance mechanism specifically established for  Ukraine, which predates the current conflict and is separate from the  deliveries of weapons and other materiel that President Joe Biden has  authorized using his so-called "drawdown authority."  Drawdowns involve transfers of items from within the U.S. militay's  inventory, while USAI funds direct purchases of new weapons and other  equipment, as well as training, maintenance, and other support services,  on Ukraine's behalf.

"On  behalf of all Americans, I congratulate the people of Ukraine on their  Independence Day. Over the past six months, Ukrainians have inspired the  world with their extraordinary courage and dedication to freedom,"  President Biden wrote in a statement  that also touched on the new military aid earlier today. "They have  stood resolute and strong in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion of  Ukraine. And today is not only a celebration of the past, but a  resounding affirmation that Ukraine proudly remains – and will remain – a  sovereign and independent nation. The United States of America is  committed to supporting the people of Ukraine as they continue the fight  to defend their sovereignty. "

A Pentagon press release listed the following items as being included in the new nearly $3 billion aid package:


Six more NASAMS along with unspecified "additional munitions" for them"VAMPIRE Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems"Unspecified Laser-guided rocket systemsUp to 245,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunitionAs many as 65,000 rounds of 120mm mortar ammunitionUp to 24 unspecified counter-artillery radarsAdditional RQ-20 Puma drones and "support equipment" for a previously announced transfer of Scan Eagle unmanned aircraftFunding for training, maintenance, and sustainment. 

The inclusion of six more NASAMS, as well as more munitions for them to fire, is particularly significant. The U.S. government had previously announced plans to transfer two NASAMS to Ukraine.

It  remains unclear how the NASAMS heading to Ukraine will be configured. A  number of different versions of the system exist now, made up of  different combinations of launchers, radars and other sensors, and  command and control nodes. For instance, certain variations of NASAMS  incorporate missile launchers mounted on Humvees or other light  vehicles. Tests have also been conducted of the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) vehicle, which Ukraine has now received at least 16 of, as a launch platform for the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), which could be utilized with NASAMS. 

The same questions apply to the "munitions" the U.S. has said it will  send along with these systems. NASAMS can fire versions of the  radar-guided AMRAAM, including a new extended range derivative optimized for use in the ground-launched roles, as well as the AIM-9X Sidewinder heat-seeking missile, and more. 

As  such, depending on how it is configured, NASAMS has the ability to  provide various levels of both short and medium-range air defense  capacity. It does seem most likely that Ukraine's NASAMS will fire  AIM-120s, at least initially, as there is a solid supply chain for these  missiles and the country is most in need now of extra area air defense  capacity. 

With  eight total systems, the Ukrainian armed forces will be able to provide  immediate protection against various aerial threats, including  aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones, at a greater number of total  locations, such as cities or specific high-value facilities. Beyond all  this, NASAMS, which was developed jointly by American defense contractor  Raytheon and Norwegian firm Kongsberg, is simply more modern and  capable all around than Ukraine's existing Soviet-era short and medium-range surface-to-air missile systems.

The  question now is how fast the U.S. government might be able to  facilitate the delivery of these systems. A senior U.S. defense official  said last week  that Ukraine is expected to take delivery of the first two systems,  which were also purchased via the USAI, in the next two to three months.  Whether or not this reflects some degree of spare production capacity  available at Raytheon and/or Kongsberg is unclear. Purchasing previously  unsold systems that Raytheon or Kongsberg already had on hand or  acquiring them through the redirection of systems already being produced  for other customers, or directly from third parties, are also options.  The U.S. military does not currently have an active acquisition pipeline  for complete NASAMS of its own that could have leveraged in this case. 

As  already noted, the NASAMS for Ukraine are not coming from American  stocks, either. This makes sense given that the U.S. military's current  arsenal of NASAMS, which is small and almost exclusively positioned to provide critical air defense coverage around Washington, D.C., and the greater National Capital Region. 

Concerns about industrial base capacity  to sustain deliveries of key weapon systems to Ukraine, especially  missiles and other guided munitions, have already emerged. Military aid  to Ukraine has already prompted pushes to increase production and expand supplier bases for the Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile and the Stinger  shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile, the latter also being  referred to as Man Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS). There are now  similar discussions being had in regards to the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets that Ukraine has received for use with its growing fleet of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and variants of the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS).

The  Vampire counter-drone systems, something at least not mentioned by name  as having been included in any previous U.S. military aid packages, are  also interesting. It was not initially clear what this system was and some initial reports erroneously said it was another type of drone – apparently mistaken for the unrelated U.K. Royal Navy program to develop ship-launched drones called Project Vampire – rather than something to knock them down.

L3Harris subsequently confirmed to _Breaking Defense_ that the system in question is a version of the company's new Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment system, or VAMPIRE.  At least as it has been publicly shown so far, VAMPIRE consists of a  four-round launcher for 70mm laser-guided rockets, such as the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II  (APKWS II), as well as a sensor turret with electro-optical and  infrared cameras, centralized control system, and dedicated power  supply. 

L3Harris  does not appear to have specifically mentioned VAMPIRE having a  counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) capability in the past, but does  say that it "can be configured to meet customer-specific requirements."  A company promotional video for the system, seen below, also says that  "L3Harris Advanced Video Tracking maintains [a] lock on moving targets"  while showing a clip of an MQ-9 Reaper  viewed through an infrared camera and that it offers "precision-strike  capability with ground-to-ground or ground-to-air munitions."
Using the system against drones would not necessarily be a stretch, at  least when it comes to engaging relatively slow-moving types. The U.S.  Air Force has demonstrated the ability to use air-launched APKWS II rockets against surrogates for subsonic cruise missiles, a capability that _The War Zone_ has noted could be employed against unmanned aircraft, as well. 

In  addition, as its name indicates, VAMPIRE is a self-contained palletized  system, allowing it to be readily fitted to various vehicles. L3Harris  has publicly displayed a pickup truck-mounted version. Ukrainian forces  already operate pickup trucks armed with various kinds of missiles and rocket launchers, among other weapons.

It's  also worth remembering that the U.S. military first publicly announced  plans to transfer APKWS II rockets to Ukraine back in May, but without any details about what would fire them or how they would otherwise be employed. More recently, the German government revealed its own plans  to supply pickup trucks with 70mm rocket launchers and laser-guided  rockets to go with them. Though we don't know if any of this is directly  related, these past announcements are certainly newly interesting in  light of the inclusion of VAMPIRE in the new U.S. aid package.

When  it comes to the U.S. government's plans to send more artillery and  mortar ammunition, as well as counter-battery radars that are used to  help locate enemy artillery units so they can then be attacked, this  underscores the continued importance of rocket artillery, howitzers, and other indirect fire weapons on both sides of the conflict. The additional RQ-20 Puma drones could be tasked to help find hostile artillery batteries, among other things, too. Ukrainian and Russian forces are already making extensive use of unmanned aircraft to help spot artillery fire. 

Beyond  its basic contents, the massive new USAI aid package for Ukraine  highlights how U.S. officials have been working with their Ukrainian  counterparts on more forward-looking assistance that the country will  need going forward regardless of when, how, and even if the current  conflict is resolved. 

"This  will allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems  and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars to ensure it  can continue to defend itself over the long term," President Biden said  in his statement.

"This  USAI package, which is being announced on Ukraine Independence Day,  underscores the U.S. commitment to supporting Ukraine over the long term  – representing a multi-year investment to build the enduring strength  of Ukraine’s Armed Forces as it continues to defend its sovereignty in  the face of Russian aggression," the Pentagon press release said. "This  announcement represents the beginning of a contracting process to  provide additional priority capabilities to Ukraine in the mid- and  long-term to ensure Ukraine can continue to defend itself as an  independent, sovereign and prosperous state."

The longer-term focus is significant in its own right. Many, including _The War Zone_,  have highlighted how even if some kind of peace between Russia and  Ukraine were to be achieved tomorrow, that the risk of subsequent  conflicts would almost certainly remain high. With that in mind, the  Ukrainian military has to be planning now for how it will rebuild itself  and modernize its capabilities in any post-conflict environment, or  even a largely frozen conflict situation, as had already existed prior  to Russia's all-out invasion in February, in order to bolster its  ability to deter and defend against future invasions.

"I  know this independence day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as  thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from  their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian  atrocities and attacks. But six months of relentless attacks have only  strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves, in their country, and in  their thirty-one years of independence," Biden wrote in his statement  today. "Today and every day, we stand with the Ukrainian people to  proclaim that the darkness that drives autocracy is no match for the  flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere. The  United States, including proud Ukrainian-Americans, looks forward to  continuing to celebrate Ukraine as a democratic, independent, sovereign  and prosperous state for decades to come."

The  U.S. government has certainly signaled its commitment in this regard  with the announcement of the huge new military aid package today. 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...ne-aid-package

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## misskit

*Putin orders Russian military to increase its forces as Ukraine war passes the six-month mark*


The decree will increase the number of service members in the armed forces by 137,000.


Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday increasing his country’s armed forces by 137,000 as the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine passed the six-month mark.  


Putin’s decree will increase the number of combat personnel in the armed forces by about 10%, to 1.15 million. That will take the military’s total head count to 2.04 million.


A copy of the order on a Russian government website says it goes into effect Jan. 1.  It was published online and reported on by Russian state media. No reason for the boost was immediately given.


It also orders that the Russian government ensure funds are provided for the increase from the federal budget. A previous such order signed by Putin in 2017 boosted the headcount to 1.9 million, of which 1.01 million were combat personnel.


The decree comes just a day after Putin’s defense chief acknowledged that the Russian military campaign in Ukraine has stalled, with experts saying the Kremlin's troops appeared demoralized and understaffed.


Russian forces failed to capture the capital, Kyiv, but now control large parts of Ukraine’s south and east, where Moscow has refocused most of its forces in the industrial Donbas region.


In recent weeks the world's attention has been focused on a nuclear plant in the south, where fighting has fueled growing alarm about a potential disaster — Ukraine said shelling caused the Russian-occupied plant to be disconnected from the country's power grid Thursday.

Wednesday marked six months since Putin’s army launched the full-scale invasion of its neighbor, an anniversary that coincided with Ukraine’s Independence Day in dual symbolism that prompted warnings that Russia might use the occasion to step up attacks.


Those fears materialized when Kyiv said at least 25 people were killed in a Russian rocket strike on a train station in the central town of Chaplyne. Moscow confirmed the strike but not the civilian casualties, saying Thursday that more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers and military equipment headed for the Donbas were destroyed in the attack.


Russia has not recently released any estimates of how many of its troops have been killed or injured in Ukraine. Kyiv says the number is more than 45,000. Ukraine said this week that 9,000 of its military personnel have been killed, publicly disclosing the number for the first time since the invasion.  

Putin orders Russian military to increase its forces

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## Hugh Cow

> Some Referendums coming up. Let the People decide.


I agree. Let all Ukrainian citizens decide in a referendum held by the legitimate ukrainian authorities.

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## misskit

*Putin's ally says Moscow would not stop its military campaign in Ukraine even if Kyiv drops NATO hopes*

Even if Kyiv formally renounces its aspirations to join NATO, Moscow would not stop its military campaign in Ukraine, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin's top ally Dmitry Medvedev.


Medvedev, who served as the president of Russia between 2008 and 2012, is currently the deputy chairman of the country's Security Council.

Highlighting that Russia is prepared to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Medvedev said that dropping NATO aspirations by Kyiv will not be sufficient in order to establish peace.


Medvedev told LCI television that Putin will not stop his ''special military operation'' to "denazify" Ukraine until its goals have been achieved.  

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, several rounds of peace talks were held between the two countries, but they made no progress.


Denying that US weapons supplied to Ukraine pose a substantial threat, Medvedev said the situation would change if Washington sent weapons that could hit targets at longer distances.


"It means that when this sort of missile flies 70 km, that is one thing," he said. 


"But when it's 300-400 km, that is another, now that would be a threat directly to the territory of the Russian Federation."


As he wrapped up a visit to Canada that included a tour of its Arctic defences, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stressed the need to beef up security along the alliance's northern flank to counter Russia.

Putin's ally says Moscow would not stop its military campaign in Ukraine even if Kyiv drops NATO hopes - World News

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## misskit

*Risk of Radioactive Leak at Ukraine Nuclear Plant - Operator*

There is a risk of a radioactive leak at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe's largest — which is occupied by Russian troops, the state energy operator said Saturday.


Energoatom said Moscow's troops had "repeatedly shelled" the site of the plant in southern Ukraine over the past day, whilst Russia's defense ministry claimed Kyiv's troops were responsible.


"As a result of periodic shelling, the infrastructure of the station has been damaged, there are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances, and the fire hazard is high," Energoatom said on Telegram.


The agency said that as of midday Saturday the plant "operates with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards."


Russia's defense ministry said Ukrainian forces "shelled the territory of the station three times" in the past day.


"A total of 17 shells were fired," the ministry said in a communique.

The Zaporizhzhia facility was seized by Russian troops in the opening weeks of the February invasion and has remained on the front line ever since.


Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over shelling in the vicinity of the complex, located in the city of Energodar.


On Thursday, the plant was cut off from Ukraine's national power grid for the first time in its four-decade history due to "actions of the invaders," Energoatom said.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the power cut was caused by the Russian shelling of the last active power line linking the plant to the network.


It came back online on Friday afternoon but Zelensky warned "the worst case scenario...is constantly being provoked by Russian forces."


The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is urging for a mission to the plant "as soon as possible to help stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation there."

Risk of Radioactive Leak at Ukraine Nuclear Plant - Operator - The Moscow Times

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## bsnub

Russian troops in Kazakhstan are refusing to return to Russia because  they do not want to be deployed to the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian  intelligence officials said Saturday.

There are roughly 1,000  Russian troops in Kazakhstan according to Ukraine's Main Directorate of  Intelligence of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense. The directorate says that  the the military contingent stationed in the country "does not want to  replenish the composition of the occupation contingent" in Ukraine,  according to a translation of a post on Telegram.

However, it also  said that the "formal reason for the refusal is the lack of special air  transport, which is fully engaged in the war with Ukraine."

Ukrainska Pravda first reported on the claims from the intelligence officials on Saturday.

In its Telegram post, the directorate said that Moscow does not want  to completely withdraw troops from Kazakhstan. The troops were sent to  the country in January following rallies against its government. The  directorate added that Russia has almost completely withdrawn its troops  from nearby Tajikistan and Armenia to support its war in Ukraine.

_Newsweek_ has reached out to Russia's Ministry of Defense for comment.

The claims about Russia's troops in Kazakhstan come as Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for his military to add additional troops  amid the ongoing war. Putin has ordered the military bring on 137,000  new troops, which would bring the total number to 1.15 million, by  January 1.

Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling said  Saturday that he believes the development shows the Russian military is  "in trouble."

"Are they going to just put these new soldiers that they recruit  through the basic training that they have, which truthfully, is not very  good and then send them right out to a unit to try to learn combined  arms operations, which are very difficult, without any additional  training? If that's the case, they're going to be in trouble," Hertling  said in an interview on CNN.

In May, The Daily Beast reported that a Russian soldier said that his commander shot himself in the leg to escape the war in  Ukraine. The Ukrainian intelligence directorate released a phone call  at the time, identifying the speaker as a Russian soldier speaking with  his mother.

"This won't end anytime soon. What the hell do I need  this for? At 20 years old...I'm not at all interested in Ukraine. I need  to come back and resign," the soldier said during the call. "I had a  commander...who shot himself in the leg just to get out of here. And  that was in the very beginning!"

Russian Force Won't Return From Mission Fearing Ukraine Deployment: Report

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## bsnub

*Russia is pulling all its fighter jets out  of Crimea after a series of strikes on its military outposts there,  secret NATO report says*


Russia is pulling all of its fighter jets out of Crimea in an  apparent response to recent explosions at Russian military outposts in  the region, a secret NATO report seen by Insider said.

Russia has  already moved ten aircraft — six Su-35S and four MiG-31BM jets — out of  Crimea and into Russia and is set to continue until all fighter jets are  removed, the report, which was dated August 22, said.

The first  ten jets were moved from Belbek airfield in Crimea to Kushchevskaya and  Marinovka, two regions in Russia, the report said. 

                                                  "Russia has dispersed 10x fighter aircraft  from Crimea to other airfields in mainland Russia to likely prevent  further losses from Ukrainian attacks," the report said.

The report was referring to a series of apparent attacks  in Crimea, the Ukrainian region that Russia illegally annexed in 2014.  Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the explosions, though  Ukrainian officials have suggested that it was involved.

Multiple explosions hit Saki airbase and Russia's navy headquarters in Sevastopol, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made it clear that his ultimate goal is to retake occupied Crimea.

As Insider previously reported, moving these assets farther from the front lines could make it harder for Russia to use them in operations in Ukraine.

                                                  Belbek airfield, which is near Sevastopol, is  "Russia's primary airfield providing support in southern Ukraine and  the Black Sea," the NATO report said.

The report noted that at the  time of its publication, 32 Russian fighter jets remained in Belbek  airfield: They were mostly the Su-27 Flanker J fighter jets, but there  were also a small number of SU-35Ss and MiG-31BMs.

These aircraft are "likely insufficient" to maintain the same level of air support in the region, the report said.

Russia  has also increased the number of its tactical surface-to-air missiles  in Crimea to defend against attacks by Ukrainian unmanned aerial  vehicles, or drones, the report said. 

                                                  "Ukrainian UAVs are hard for Russia to target  due to poor IADS (Integrated Air Defense System) C2, likely a weakness  across the full spectrum of Russia's armed forces' efforts in the  Ukraine conflict," the report said.

_ 
https://www.businessinsider.com/russ...-report-2022-8
_

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## bsnub

Speaking to Times Radio, Major General Chapman said: I do think the Russians can be kettled and crushed to the west of Kherson.

The three rivers that really back onto them, Pivdennyi, Dnieper and Inhulets, means that their supply is getting pretty low. 

They could consider surrender en masse and that could have a ripple effect.

He  suggested the collapse of Russian control in Kherson could prompt a  widespread ripple effect, meaning Kremlin forces could abandon other  core occupied territories.

Major General Chapman continued: One of the uncertainties of war is the human domain of resistance.

One  of the things we always say is that total means multiplied by the  strength of your will, gives you the power of resistance and that is a  really difficult thing to measure.

We saw that on day one with  the expectation that Russia would march in and take over within three  days, but they failed to understand.

Will the Ukrainians fight?  The answer was yes. How will they fight? Very well. And will they  continue to fight? Yes, they will."

He added: It is nations that fight wars, not armies.

Intelligence reports from Ukraine have confirmed that two primary road  bridges in the Kherson region had been destroyed in a series of attacks  rendering them useless for military resupply efforts.

The UK  Ministry of Defence said: Ukrainian precision strikes likely rendered  the road cross of the Dnipro River at Nova Kakhovka unusable for heavy  military vehicles.

Russia has only succeeded in making  superficial repairs to the damaged Antonivsky road bridge which likely  remains structurally undermined.

The report added: Even if  Russia manages to make significant repairs to the bridges, they will  remain a key vulnerability. Ground resupply for several thousand Russian  troops on the west bank is almost certainly reliant on just two pontoon  ferry crossing points.

Russian attempts to repair the damage have come under further attack  as Ukrainian forces have used American missile systems to strike the  bridges repeatedly. 

The occupation of Kherson has become one of  the most notable successes of the Russian invasion as Moscows forces  have held the city since March.

However, the lack of reliable  resupply routes has left the occupying forces vulnerable to attack and  under pressure to retreat as equipment and other resources continue to  dwindle.

As Major General Chapman suggested, the loss of Kherson  could crucially damage support for the Kremlins invaison meaning, if  the occupied city falls, Ukraine could be faced with a wave of Russian  surrenders.

Russia crushed to the west of Kherson as Ukraine's defence hits back  | World | News | Express.co.uk

----------


## bsnub

The  billions of dollars in military aid the United States has sent Ukraine  includes some of the most advanced and lethal weapons systems in the  world. But Ukraine has also scored big successes in the war by employing  the weapons and equipment in unexpected ways, and jury-rigging some on  the fly, according to military experts.From the sinking of the Moskva, Russias Black Sea flagship, in April to the attack on a Russian air base in Crimea  this month, Ukrainian troops have used American and other weapons in  ways few expected, the experts and Defense Department officials say.

By  mounting missiles onto trucks, for instance, Ukrainian forces have  moved them more quickly into firing range. By putting rocket systems on  speedboats, they have increased their naval warfare ability. And to the  astonishment of weapons experts, Ukraine has continued to destroy  Russian targets with slow-moving Turkish-made Bayraktar attack drones and inexpensive, plastic aircraft modified to drop grenades and other munitions.

People  are using the MacGyver metaphor, said Frederick B. Hodges, a former  top U.S. Army commander in Europe, in a reference to the 1980s TV show  in which the title character uses simple, improvised contraptions to get  himself out of sticky situations.

After  six months of war, the death toll on both sides is high: While American  officials estimate that up to 80,000 Russian troops have been killed or  wounded, Ukraines outgunned military has said it is losing 100 to 200  troops a day. Even so, the engineering ingenuity of the Ukrainians lies  in stark contrast to the slow, plodding, doctrinal nature of the Russian  advance.

In the attack on the Moskva, for example,  the Ukrainians developed their own anti-ship missile, called the  Neptune, which they based on the design of an old Soviet anti-ship  missile, but with substantially improved range and electronics. They  appear to have mounted the Neptune missiles onto one or more trucks,  according to one senior American official, and moved them within range  of the ship, which was around 75 miles from Odesa. The striking of the  Moskva was, in essence, the Neptunes proof of concept; it was the first  time the new Ukrainian weapon was used in an actual war, and it took  down Russias flagship in the Black Sea.

With  the Moskva, they MacGyvered a very effective anti-ship system that they  put on the back of a truck to make it mobile and move it around,  General Hodges, who is now a senior adviser at Human Rights First, said  in an interview.

Ukrainian  troops have done so well with the Bayraktar drone, in fact, that the  companys chief executive, Haluk Bayraktar, praised their ability to  squeeze as much as possible out of these systems, in a recent  interview with a Ukrainian news program. American military officials  remain puzzled by why Russias many-layered air defense systems have not  been more effective in stopping the drones, which have no self-defense  systems, are easily spotted by radar and cruise at only about 80 miles  an hour.

A  senior Pentagon official said Ukrainian forces had put  American-supplied HARM anti-radiation missiles on Soviet-designed MiG-29  fighter jets  something that no air force had ever done. The American  HARM missile, designed to seek and destroy Russian air defense radar, is  not usually compatible with the MiG-29 or the other fighter jets in  Ukraines arsenal.

Ukraine managed to rejigger targeting  sensors to allow pilots to fire the American missile from their  Soviet-era aircraft. They have actually successfully integrated it,  the senior official told reporters during a Pentagon briefing. He spoke  on the condition of anonymity per Biden administration rules.

Officials say the missiles can target Russian air defense systems up to 93 miles away.

The craftiness is now on display in Crimea. In recent weeks, Ukraine has targeted the Black Sea peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, in a series of attacks.

In  the strike on the Russian air base, Ukrainian forces destroyed eight  fighter jets. A few days later, clandestine Ukrainian fighters operating  behind enemy lines hit several sites in the occupied territory that  Russia had thought were safe, including ammunition depots and supply  lines.

Then, blasts hit a military airfield  outside Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea and home to Russias  Black Sea Fleet. Russia claimed that the booms from the strike were the  sound of successful antiaircraft fire.

The  Ukrainians are able to exploit their knowledge in the area, said Dara  Massicot, a senior policy researcher with the RAND Corporation.

This  exploitation is rooted in Ukraines history as the heart of the former  Soviet Unions defense industry. For decades, Ukraine was the place  where the Soviet Union  and then Russia  developed turbines for  warships, tanks and even aircraft, like the Antonov An-124, which is one  of the largest cargo planes in the world and is used by Russia to  transport weapons to Ukraine.

American military commanders who have worked with Ukrainian troops say that the Ukrainians are always ready to improvise.

General  Hodges said he noticed on a tactical level how clever Ukrainians were  when he worked with them in 2013 and 2014. He said the adaptation of  the American-supplied HARM missiles to work on MiGs demonstrated the  depth of technological know-how in Ukraines military.

You  cant just hang any kind of rocket off of any kind of plane  theres a  whole lot of avionics and other aspects of flying and high-performance  aircraft that are involved here, he said. And they did it.

The  attacks in Crimea underscore Ukraines increasingly aggressive military  tactics, as the government in Kyiv has relied on special forces and  local partisan fighters to strike deep behind the front, disrupt Russian  supply lines and counter Russias advantages in arms and equipment.

American  officials say the United States has provided detailed intelligence to  help Ukraines forces attack Russian targets throughout the war. But  Ukraine conducted the first of the recent strikes in Crimea  a series  of blasts at the Saki military airfield on Aug. 9  without notifying  American and other Western allies in advance, officials said.

Indeed,  one American official later briefed on the attacks said Ukrainian  commandos and partisan fighters had used an improvised array of weapons,  explosives and tactics in the strikes.
Its  all homegrown, the official said, speaking on the condition of  anonymity to discuss operational details. We did not get any advance  notice.

That first strike at the  airfield destroyed much of the air power and munitions stores of the  Black Sea Fleets 43rd naval aviation regiment. It was also intended to  have a psychological impact on Russian forces in Crimea, the U.S.  official said, calling it the Doolittle Effect, a reference to an  American attack on Japan in World War II.

The  bomber raid led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle was a low-level daylight  attack in April 1942 that resulted in only light damage to military and  industrial targets. But it buoyed an American home front reeling from a  string of setbacks in the Pacific, beginning with the Pearl Harbor  attack on Dec. 7, 1941. It also shattered the idea that Japan was  invulnerable to American air attacks, as its government had claimed.

In  a Telegram post after the Saki strike, Andriy Tsaplienko, a Ukrainian  military journalist, said the damage suggested that a truck-mounted  heavy missile launcher called the Grim, or Sapsan, had been used in the  attack. That system was developed by Yuzhmash, a state-owned Ukrainian  aerospace manufacturer. The Kremlin, however, rejected the possibility  that a Ukrainian-made ballistic missile system had anything to do with  it.

The activities in the Crimean  Peninsula likely mark a new phase in the war with the Ukrainians going  on the offensive with an irregular warfare campaign designed to push  Russia from an area they were sure was secure, said Mick Mulroy, a  former Pentagon official and C.I.A. officer.

nytimes.com

----------


## panama hat

> Russia is pulling all its fighter jets out of Crimea


They need them to salvage spare parts for their other planes

----------


## bsnub

The long-awaited counteroffensive by Ukrainian  troops appears to have started in the southern region of Kherson, with  the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, saying: “If they want to survive, it is time for the Russian military to flee.”
Ukrainian  troops have broken through Russian defences in several areas of the  frontline near the city of Kherson, a senior adviser to Zelenskiy  claimed on Monday.

Oleksiy  Arestovych said in a video interview Ukrainian forces were also  shelling the ferries in the Kherson region that Moscow is using to  supply Russian-occupied territory on the west bank of the Dnieper river.

Zelenskiy did not address the counteroffensive  specifically during his Monday evening address but said: “The occupiers  should know: we will oust them to the border. To our border, the line of  which has not changed.”

Those who surrendered  would be treated under the Geneva conventions, he said, adding: “If they  do not listen to me, they will deal with our defenders, who will not  stop until they liberate everything that belongs to Ukraine.”

“Ukraine  is returning its own. It will return the Kharkiv region, Luhansk  region, Donetsk region, Zaporizhzhia region, Kherson region, Crimea …  This will happen.”

Ukrainian troops have taken  back four villages near the city of Kherson after breaking through the  frontline in three places, CNN reported, quoting a Ukrainian military  source, with the main “target” being Kherson. The operation began with  heavy shelling of Russian positions and the rear, forcing them to flee,  the source was quoted as saying.

Sergiy Khlan, a  local deputy and adviser to Kherson’s regional governor told Ukraine’s  Pryamyi TV channel that a “powerful artillery attack on enemy positions  in ... the entire territory of the occupied Kherson region” was launched  on Monday.

“This is the announcement of what  we have been waiting for since the spring - it is the beginning of the  end of the occupation of Kherson region,” he added.

“What is happening now is a prepared, well-balanced start of a counteroffensive,” Khlan told Agence France-Presse.

Russia’s  defence ministry acknowledged a new Ukrainian offensive had been  launched in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions but said it had failed and  the Ukrainians had suffered significant casualties, RIA news agency  reported. The “enemy’s offensive attempt failed miserably,” it said.

A  Ukrainian barrage of rockets left the Russian-occupied town of Nova  Kakhovka just east of the city of Kherson without water or power,  officials at the Russian-appointed local authority later told the  outlet.

The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.

Earlier  on Monday, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern command, Nataliya  Humenyuk, confirmed the counteroffensive had started in Kherson province  after a video circulated online that allegedly showed a soldier from  the Russian-run self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk saying Ukrainian  forces had broken through the first line of defence.

“Today  we started offensive actions in various directions, including in the  Kherson region,” Humeniuk told a briefing, adding that Ukraine’s forces  had struck more than 10 sites in the past week and “unquestionably  weakened the enemy”.

Humenyuk declined to give  details, saying Russian forces in the south remained “quite powerful”  and that the operation needed “silence” as media attention could affect  the results. Her claims could not be independently corroborated.

She urged local residents to either leave urgently or seek shelter.

Humenyuk  said Russian forces were strong and that even though morale was low  among their ranks, “it was too early to relax”. Western and Ukrainian  military intelligence has noted a buildup of Russian troops and  equipment this summer, suggesting Russia was preparing its own  offensive.

However, Ukraine’s presidential  adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, warned politicians, experts and opinion  leaders not to speculate about the progress of a military operation  before Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence and army issued official  statements.

“I understand our wishes and dreams  … But war is not ‘content’. Let’s filter information and work  professionally out of respect for our defenders,” he wrote on Telegram.

Zelenskiy  agreed: “Anyone want to know what our plans are? You won’t hear  specifics from any truly responsible person. Because this is war. And  this is what it is during the war.”

Zelenskiy tells Russian forces to flee as Ukraine counteroffensive begins in Kherson | Ukraine | The Guardian

----------


## Shutree

> Ukraine counteroffensive begins in Kherson


My sympathies are all with Ukraine in this conflict. The truth is though that while their defence has been heroic they'd need an overwhelming force they simply don't have to retake areas where the Russians have had time to dig in and build defences.  I hope they can make some progress at not too great a cost.

----------


## bsnub

> The truth is though that while their defence has been heroic they'd need an overwhelming force they simply don't have to retake areas where the Russians have had time to dig in and build defences.


You are correct there, but there is one thing that makes Kherson different. There are only three bridges across the Dnieper River, and they are all being constantly hit by HIMARS rockets, rendering them unpassable for heavy tanks and trucks. The Russians are being squeezed on the western side of the Dnieper and as the fighting continues on, resupply will become more and more an issue.

----------


## malmomike77

Kyiv will start getting a pounding soon

----------


## Shutree

> The Russians are being squeezed on the western side of the Dnieper and as the fighting continues on, resupply will become more and more an issue.


True. I am sure the Ukranians have thought about it and have a plan. I, for one, wish them success.

----------


## bsnub

> Kyiv will start getting a pounding soon


Maybe and maybe not. Russia is running out of cruise missiles but aside from that the US has supplied Ukraine with NASAMS Air Defense systems, these are the same systems that protect Washington DC. What is hard to discern at this point is if they are actually in Ukraine yet. If they are in place, Kyiv has nothing to worry about Russian missile attacks.




> True. I am sure the Ukranians have thought about  it and have a plan. I, for one, wish them success.


That is the both of us. Ukraine has in fact struck all three bridge crossings as of today.

----------


## malmomike77

Russia has barely used its airforce.

----------


## bsnub

> Russia has barely used its airforce.


That is total nonsense. It has used everything it has. As I have stated in the other thread, massive corruption rules in Russia. There is no other Russian air force.

----------


## malmomike77

It has thrown its airforce in? Really  :Smile:  Funny, not heard that and it's not been reported on any reliable UK source.

----------


## misskit

Eyes on Kherson as Ukraine claims bold move on Russians

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A surge in fighting on the southern front line and a Ukrainian claim of new attacks on Russian positions fed speculation Tuesday that a long-expected counteroffensive has started to try to turn the tide of the war.


But Ukrainian officials warned against excessive optimism in a war that has seen similar expectations of changing fortunes before, and the Russian defense ministry claimed an attempt by Ukraine’s troops to launch an offensive had failed and caused heavy casualties.


Even though independent verification of battlefield moves has been extremely tough, the British defense ministry said in an intelligence report that, as of early Monday, “several brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces increased the weight of artillery fires in front line sectors across southern Ukraine.”


Attention centered on potential damage Ukraine might have inflicted on Russian positions around the port city of Kherson, a major economic hub close to the Black Sea and one of Moscow’s prized possessions since it started the invasion just over half a year ago.

Ukraine’s presidential office reported Tuesday that “powerful explosions continued during the day and night in the Kherson region. Tough battles are ongoing practically across all” of the strategic area. Ukrainian forces, the report said, have destroyed a number of ammunition depots in the region and all large bridges across the Dnieper that are vital to bring supplies to the Russian troops.

Russian state news agency Tass reported five explosions rocking Kherson on Tuesday morning — blasts likely caused by air defense systems at work.


The Ukrainian military’s Operation Command South also reported destroying a pontoon crossing the Dnieper that the Russian forces were setting up and hitting a dozen command posts in several areas of the Kherson region with artillery fire.


“The most important thing is Ukrainian artillery’s work on the bridges, which the Russian military can no longer use,” Ukrainian independent military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told The Associated Press.


“Even the barges have been destroyed. The Russians can’t sustain forces near Kherson — this is the most important.”

On Monday, the southern command center’s Nataliya Gumenyuik told Ukrainian news outlet Liga.Net that Kyiv’s forces have launched offensive operations “in many directions in our area of responsibility and have breached the enemy’s first line of defense.” The statement quickly made headlines after weeks of reports that Ukraine forces were preparing an offensive there and as Ukrainian attacks on the Kherson region intensified.


Zhdanov said that Russia has three lines of defense in the Kherson region, and breaching the first one signals only “isolated offensive actions by the Ukrainian army.”


The war has ground to a stalemate over the past months with casualties rising and the local population bearing the brunt of suffering during relentless shelling in the east and also in the wider area around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant, which has also been at the heart of fighting in Ukraine.


Amid fears the plant could be damaged, leading to a radioactive leak, a U.N. nuclear watchdog team has arrived in Kyiv and is further preparing a mission to safeguard the Russian-occupied plant from nuclear catastrophe.

The stakes couldn’t be higher for the International Atomic Energy Agency experts, who will visit the plant in a country where the 1986 Chernobyl disaster spewed radiation throughout the region, shocking the world and intensifying a global push away from nuclear energy.

Compounding an already complicated task is the inability of both sides in the war to agree on much beyond allowing the team to go there. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling the wider region around the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, time and again.


Nikopol, which is just across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia plant, once again came under a barrage of heavy shelling, local authorities said, with a bus station, stores and a children’s library sustaining damage.

And the city of Zaporizhzhia itself, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, was targeted by a Russian missile strike, the Ukraine presidential office said.


The dangers of a leak are now so high that officials have begun handing out anti-radiation iodine tablets to nearby residents.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reacted to speculation in his nightly video address Monday, about whether his forces had launched a major counteroffensive.


“Anyone want to know what our plans are? You won’t hear specifics from any truly responsible person. Because this is war.”


His adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, cautioned against “super-sensational announcements” about a counteroffensive.


From the other side, the Moscow-appointed regional leader of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, dismissed the Ukrainian assertion of an offensive in the Kherson region as false. He said Ukrainian forces have suffered big losses in the area. And for its part, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had inflicted heavy personnel and military equipment losses on Ukrainian troops.

The Kherson region is just north of the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 to set off a conflict that was largely frozen until the Feb. 24 invasion.


Otherwise. the attacks and shelling in the rest of eastern and southern Ukraine continued with the dull beat of death and destruction.


At least nine civilians were killed in more Russian shelling, Ukrainian officials said, from the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv to the northeastern industrial hub of Kharkiv, where five were killed in the city center.

Eyes on Kherson as Ukraine claims bold move on Russians | AP News

----------


## misskit

Ukrainian Forces Fool Russians Into Wasting Missiles on Fake U.S. Rocket Systems

Ukraine is tricking Russian forces into wasting its expensive long-range missiles on blowing up dummy replicas of U.S. rocket systems, The Washington Post reports. The decoys are designed to be indistinguishable from real High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) when spotted from the air by Russian drones. It’s thought the dummy targets may partially explain apparently exaggerated Russian claims of damage inflicted on the U.S.-supplied weapons systems in Ukraine. “They’ve claimed to have hit more HIMARS than we have even sent,” one unnamed American diplomat told the Post. The fake rocket trucks are one of asymmetric warfare tactics being used by Ukrainian forces to resist Vladimir Putin’s invasion. In recent weeks, Kyiv loyalists have also assassinated suspected Russian collaborators, destroyed power and transport links in occupied territory, and spectacularly blown up Russian ammunition dumps.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ukrain...=home?ref=home

----------


## bsnub

> It has thrown its airforce in?


They have lost 220 aircraft over Ukraine, you utter imbecile.

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine claims early success in counteroffensive as Zelensky vows to 'chase' Russians to the border*

Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN)As Ukraine ramps up its offensive to retake Russian-occupied territory in the country's south, its forces have regained four villages and broken through Russian defenses at multiple points of the frontline in the Kherson region, according to Ukrainian officials.


Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky also issued a warning to Russian forces during his evening address Monday, saying it was time for them to "run away, go home," and that "the occupiers must know we will chase them to the border."


Yet one of his advisers cautioned that the operation will be a slow one, that would "grind the enemy."

MOREUkraine claims early success in counteroffensive as Zelensky vows to 'chase' Russians to the border - CNN

----------


## misskit

*​Top Pro-Russian Official Shot Dead in Ukraine’s Kherson*

A former deputy who switched allegiance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the occupying Russian forces in the southern region of Kherson has been shot dead, Russian investigators said Monday.


Alexei Kovalev, "the deputy head of the military and civil administration in the Kherson region was killed by bullets," the investigators said on Telegram.


The attack took place in his home on Sunday, they said, adding a young woman who lived with him was also a victim.


They did not give any further details.


In the past months, several Ukrainian officials named by Russian forces in occupied territory have been killed or wounded in attacks.


Kovalev, 33, was elected a deputy in 2019 in Kherson and joined Zelensky's group in the Ukrainian parliament.


After the Russian offensive on Ukraine at the end of February and the occupation of Kherson by Russian troops, Kovalev joined the invading forces and became a senior official.


He survived an assassination attempt in June.


Russian forces seized Kherson, a town of 280,000 inhabitants, on March 3. 


It was the first major city to fall following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Top Pro-Russian Official Shot Dead in Ukraine's Kherson - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

*There were photographic evidence of the defeat of Ukrainian troops during an attempted counteroffensive in the Kherson and Nikolaev regions*



More and more documentary (photo and video) evidence of a major defeat of the enemy, who recently launched a counteroffensive in the southern direction, appears on the network. Recall that, according to the estimates of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the one-time losses of the Ukrainian armed forces during an attack from several directions in the Nikolaev and Kherson regions amounted to about 1200 people. These are the maximum one-time losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for several months. Moreover, they are comparable to the losses of the Ukrainian army in the boiler near Ilovaisk in the summer of 2014.

One of the areas where the column of Ukrainian troops was completely destroyed is the area of ​​the settlement of Potemkino. This is the same settlement that the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine constantly mentions in its reports for several days, using the following terminology: “Russian troops attempted an offensive in the Potemkino area, had no success, retreated.” But if the Russian troops, in the terminology of the Ukrainian military department, "withdrew", then the Ukrainian troops could not retreat in the geographical sense of the word. Hundreds of the so-called "XNUMXth" Ukrainian soldiers remained in the burning forest plantations, which were used by the RF Armed Forces from artillery, tanks и aviation after the enemy personnel, who had lost support in the form of armored vehicles, tried to take cover there.

The footage, which was filmed by drones of our troops, as well as military correspondents, included the affected Ukrainian equipment, including trucks, on which personnel and ammunition were brought to the front line “for a breakthrough”.

On the frames presented in this material, you can see Polish-made tanks that were recently delivered to Ukraine, including what was left of these tanks.

The counteroffensive was clearly timed to coincide with the European summit, at which Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov spoke remotely. But he could not please his European sponsors with anything. Silence reigns in the Ukrainian political field. The authorities are in no hurry to inform the people of Ukraine about the defeat of the Ukrainian troops in the Nikolaev and Kherson regions.

https://en.topwar.ru/201067-pojavilis-fotosvidetelstva-porazhenija-ukrainskih-vojsk-pri-popytke-kontrnastuplenija-v-hersonskoj-i-nikolaevskoj-oblastjah.html


Someone is telling porkies, or maybe both sides are. We'll see in coming days/ weeks.

----------


## bsnub

> Someone is telling porkies


Well, starting with your bullshit propaganda, I think it is obvious where the lies are coming from.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Well, starting with your bullshit propaganda, I think it is obvious where the lies are coming from.


Yes, perhaps it was another "just a chip pan fire in the kitchen" like when the Moskva was consigned to Davy Jones' Locker.

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## sabang

Time will be the judge of that, not hyped up boy scouts. You've seen both sides of the story, now we will wait and see which side is right.

----------


## Switch

> Time will be the judge of that, not hyped up boy scouts. You've seen both sides of the story, now we will wait and see which side is right.


Can you really imagine anyone but deceitful Russians being allowed anywhere near the wreck?

----------


## sabang

Three enthusiastic boy scouts, but time will be the Judge. Any expert opinions as to when Kherson will fall to Ukraine?  ::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

> Any expert opinions as to when Kherson will fall to Ukraine?


Like your "expert" opinion that this war would never happen?

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## sabang

So, chickenhawk too chicken to advance an opinion. Hehe.

----------


## bsnub

> So, chickenhawk too chicken to advance an opinion. Hehe.


The Ukrainians are currently in a media blackout. Your side is trying to exploit that with a massive onslaught of propaganda and fake shit. I am not as foolish as you to make predictions that prove to be utterly false after the fact. You claimed that the US and UK intel about the pending invasion of Ukraine was all false and lies. You were proven wrong when it turned out to be 100% fact and true. 

Your house of cards fell the moment the Russians crossed the border. You have been walking it back ever since.

----------


## sabang

I am afraid many other people considerably more prominent than I thought the same thing- that war could have been prevented by the application of simple common sense, and Diplomacy. The fact that it wasn't is your national shame- but I suppose you must be getting used to that by now.

----------


## panama hat

> Russia has barely used its airforce.


Are you still peddling bullshit?  At least the three stooges are ideological halfwits . . . you?





> I am afraid


Yes, that's obvious.  Weren't you going to live in Russia?







> Top Pro-Russian Official Shot Dead in Ukraine’s Kherson
> 
> A former deputy who switched allegiance from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the occupying Russian forces in the southern region of Kherson has been shot dead, Russian investigators said Monday.


Bright spots among the mayhem

----------


## Switch

> I am afraid many other people considerably more prominent than I thought the same thing- that war could have been prevented by the application of simple common sense, and Diplomacy. The fact that it wasn't is your national shame- but I suppose you must be getting used to that by now.


Is that comment directed at Herr Putin?
If so, well done in your ever changing thought process.  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

STAFF WRITER WITH AFP AUGUST 30, 2022


The Russian army on Monday said it had thwarted Ukrainian offensives in the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv and inflicted “heavy losses” on Kyiv’s forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered his troops to launch attacks in three directions, but “this latest attempt at offensive operations by the enemy has miserably failed,” the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

It added that the Russian army had destroyed 26 tanks, 32 armored vehicles, and two Su-25 jets and that the Ukrainians had lost more than 560 soldiers.
*AFP was unable to independently verify the claims.*

Earlier Monday, local authorities in Ukraine said Kyiv had launched a counter-offensive in the south to repulse Russian troops across the Dnipro River and retake the occupied city of Kherson.

Russian Army Says Foiled Ukraine Attacks in Kherson

----------


## bsnub

The Russians and its shills are in propaganda overdrive, shoveling the horseshit.

----------


## sabang

AFP stands for Agent France Presse child. Along with AP & Reuters, it is one of the three main western press agencies. But of course, now that they are reporting something you do not want to hear, they too are Russian propagandists. Will you ever grow up?

----------


## pickel

^
But they are reporting what Russia "said", and Russia lies.

----------


## sabang

Let's wait and see, shall we? Or are you secretly embedded in the war zone?

----------


## misskit

The guy in the video linked here is there.


*US war-gamed with Ukraine ahead of counteroffensive and encouraged more limited mission*

Washington (CNN)In the buildup to the current Ukrainian counteroffensive, the US urged Kyiv to keep the operation limited in both its objectives and its geography to avoid getting overextended and bogged down on multiple fronts, multiple US and western officials and Ukrainian sources tell CNN.


Those discussions involved engaging in "war-gaming" with Kyiv, the sources said -- analytical exercises that were intended to help the Ukrainian forces understand what force levels they would need to muster to be successful in different scenarios.


The Ukrainians were initially considering a broader counteroffensive, but narrowed their mission to the south, in the Kherson region, in recent weeks, US and Ukrainian officials said.


Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told CNN that "the United States has routine military-to-military dialogue at multiple levels with Ukraine. We will not comment on the specifics of those engagements. Generally speaking, we provide the Ukrainians with information to help them better understand the threats they face and defend their country against Russian aggression. Ultimately, the Ukrainians are making the final decisions for their operations."

Officials say they believe there is now increased parity between the Ukrainian and Russian militaries. But western officials have been hesitant to label the nascent Ukrainian operation -- which appeared to begin on Monday in the southern province of Kherson -- a true "counteroffensive."


How successful Ukraine is likely to be in regaining lost territory remains an open question, sources familiar with the latest intelligence tell CNN. Ukrainian officials have already said this offensive will likely be a slow operation, and punishingly cold winter weather is coming and then an early spring mud, both of which could force pauses in the fighting.

MORE/ VIDEO  US wargamed with Ukraine ahead of counteroffensive and encouraged more limited mission - CNNPolitics

----------


## bsnub

> But they are reporting what Russia "said", and Russia lies.


Something that sadly must be constantly pointed out. 




> Let's wait and see, shall we?


In the meantime, spare us the horseshit that the Russian MOD is spewing.

----------


## sabang

Even MSM is backpedalling now snubmeister. See kitty's linked article above. Not such horseshit, maybe.

----------


## bsnub

> See kitty's linked article above. Not such horseshit, maybe.


The article in no way said anything close to the lies you posted from the Russian MOD. Based on your comment, I doubt you actually read the article. No backpedaling whatsoever, as usual you are full of horseshit.




> "I  don't think it's possible yet to confirm the extent of Ukrainian  advances, but they've certainly impacted Russia's ability to move north  and south across [the Dnieper River] with their attacks on bridges," the  senior NATO official said on Wednesday. "And in terms of future  prospects, I'd note that Ukraine is much closer to parity in troop  numbers in Kherson than it has been in recent weeks" in the eastern  provinces of the country, where fighting has ground on for months.
> 
> Attacks  in Crimea have been a particularly smart strategy, one official said,  because Russia has been using the peninsula as a launchpad for its  operations in southern Ukraine. 
> 
> Russia  has also been forced to pull resources from the east "simply because of  reports that the Ukrainians might be going more on the offense in the  south," John Kirby, the communications coordinator for the National  Security Council, said on Monday.
> 
> "And  so they've had to deplete certain units ...in certain areas in the East  in the Donbass, to respond to what they clearly believed was a looming  threat of a counter offensive," Kirby said.


No backpeddling.

----------


## bsnub

Russia is suffering “severe manpower shortages” in its 6-month-old  war with Ukraine and has become more desperate in its efforts to find  new troops to send to the front lines, according to a new American  intelligence finding disclosed Wednesday.

Russia is looking to  address the shortage of troops in part by compelling soldiers wounded  earlier in the war to return to combat, recruiting personnel from  private security companies and even recruiting from prisons, according  to a U.S. official who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity to  discuss the downgraded intelligence finding.

The official added  that the intelligence community has determined that one step that  Russia’s Defense Ministry is expected to take soon is recruiting  convicted criminals to enlist “in exchange for pardons and financial  compensation.”

The U.S. government highlighted its finding as  Russian President Vladimir Putin last week ordered the Russian military  to increase the number of troops by 137,000 to a total of 1.15 million.

Putin’s  decree, which takes effect on Jan. 1, didn’t specify whether the  military would beef up its ranks by drafting a bigger number of  conscripts, increasing the number of volunteer soldiers or using a  combination of both. But some Russian military analysts predicted it  would rely heavily on volunteers, a cautious stand reflecting the  Kremlin’s concerns about possible fallout from an attempt to increase  the draft.

The presidential decree aims to boost the overall  number of Russian military personnel to 2,039,758, including 1,150,628  troops. A previous order put the military’s numbers at 1,902,758 and  1,013,628, respectively, at the start of 2018.

Colin Kahl, the  U.S. Defense Department undersecretary for policy, told reporters  earlier in August that the U.S. estimates Russia took heavy casualties  in the first months of the war.

“There’s a lot of fog in war, but I  think it’s safe to suggest that the Russians have probably taken 70 or  80,000 casualties in the less than six months,” Kahl said. “Now, that is  a combination of killed in action and wounded in action and that number  might be a little lower, a little higher, but I think that’s kind of in  the ballpark.”

The U.S. has frequently downgraded and unveiled  intelligence findings over the course of the grinding war to highlight  plans for Russian misinformation operations or to throw attention on  Moscow's difficulties in prosecuting its war against Ukraine, whose  smaller military has put up a stiff resistance against the militarily  superior Russian forces.

The Biden administration unveiled findings earlier this week that Russia has faced technical problems with Iranian-made drones acquired from Tehran this month for use in its war with Ukraine.

Russia  picked up Mohajer-6 and Shahed-series unmanned aerial vehicles over  several days this month as part what the Biden administration says is  likely part of a Russian plan to acquire hundreds of Iranian UAVs for  use in Ukraine.

White House National Security Council spokesman  John Kirby said on Wednesday that Russia has been having “some  difficulties” and experiencing “the limits on some of the capabilities”  of the Iranian drones since receiving them.

US: Russian military facing 'severe manpower shortages'

----------


## David48atTD

> <snip> war could have been prevented by ...


... by Putin not invading a Sovereign Country  :durh:

----------


## David48atTD

*The chairman of Russia's Lukoil oil giant, Ravil Maganov, has died after falling from a hospital window in Moscow, reports say.*

The company confirmed his death but said only that Maganov, 67, had "passed away following a severe illness".

Russian media said he was being treated at Moscow's Central Clinical Hospital and died of his injuries.*
Maganov is the latest of a number of high-profile business executives to die in mysterious circumstances ...* 
Investigating  authorities said they were working at the scene to establish how he  died. Tass news agency quoted sources saying he had fallen out of a  sixth-floor window, adding later that he had taken his own life.

Shortly  after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Lukoil board called for the conflict  to end as soon as possible, expressing its sympathy to victims of "this  tragedy".

Russian oil chief Maganov dies in '&#39;'fall from hospital window'&#39;' - BBC News

----------


## DrWilly

*Russian oil executive Ravil Maganov dead after reportedly falling from hospital window*


*The chairman of a Russian oil giant which called for the end to the war in Ukraine has died after falling from a hospital window in Moscow,* according to reports.
*Key points:*


Lukoil chair Ravil Maganov was reportedly being treated at a Moscow hospital when he fellThe company he worked for, Lukoil, called for the war in Ukraine to end shortly after Russia's invasionThe 67-year-old's death is the latest in a string of mysterious deaths of high-profile Russian executives


Lukoil chair Ravil Maganov, 67, was being treated at the city's Central Clinical Hospital, according to Russian media. 
In a statement the company confirmed Mr Maganov's death, but said it was the result of a "severe illness".
His is the latest in a string of mysterious deaths of high-level Russian executives. 
In May Alexander Subbotin, a former senior manager at the same oil company, Lukoil, reportedly died in unusual circumstances, according to the BBC. 
Lukoil, which is Russia's second-largest oil producer, called for the war in Ukraine to end shortly after Moscow's army invaded. 
Mr Maganov joined Lukoil in 1993 and became chairman in 2020. 
He began at Lukoil as an oil operator, according to the company, and rose to management within a few years. 


https://www.xxx.xxx.xx/news/2022-09-01/russian-oil-executive-ravil-maganov-dies/101397754

----------


## misskit

Russia's goal in Ukraine is to get rid of an "anti-Russian enclave" in the neighboring pro-Western country, President Vladimir Putin said at an open lesson on the first day of school Thursday more than six months into the invasion.


"They began creating an anti-Russian enclave on Ukrainian territory that threatens our country," Putin said at the lesson dubbed "Conversations About Important Things."


"That's why our guys who fight there protect both the residents of [separatist eastern Ukrainian territory] Donbas and Russia itself," Putin said at an event aimed at instilling patriotism and civi education among Russian schoolchildren. 

Ukraine War: As It's Happening - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*China Visa Alternative Cuts Off Russian Banks Over Sanctions*

China’s UnionPay paymentsystem has stopped accepting cards issued by Russian banks under Western sanctions over fears of penalties, the RBC news website reported Friday, citing financial industry sources.


Demand for UnionPay cards in Russia surged following Visa and Mastercard’s exit in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. 


A number of major Russian banks subsequently announced plans to issue cards via UnionPay, which has only a small international presence.


“UnionPay limited acquiring and issuing partnerships with sanctioned banks on its own initiative,” RBC quoted an unnamed payment sector source as saying.


“In particular, acceptance of UnionPay cards was restricted by verbal notification.”


A banking source attributed the informal ban to fears of secondary sanctions, saying UnionPay cards had stopped working for Russians as early as the spring.


UnionPay refused to cooperate with Russia’s biggest lender, state-owned Sberbank and suspended talks with other banks for fear of incurring secondary sanctions, RBC reported in April. 


Russians who obtained UnionPay cards from Russian banks have since reported difficulties with making payments in the U.S., Israel, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. 


China has not joined Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and refused to criticize Moscow. 


But, despite boosting the amount of energy that it buys from Russia, China has largely complied with Western sanctions, reportedly cutting back on car, smartphone and other exports to Russia.

China’s Visa Alternative Cuts Off Russian Banks Over Sanctions – RBC - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russia’s banking sector lost 1.5 trillion rubles ($24.8 billion) in the first half of 2022, a top Central Bank official said Friday.*


This is the first time the Central Bank has disclosed financial results since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February. 


“The loss-making banks lost 1.9 trillion rubles and profit-making banks made 400 billion rubles,” Dmitry Tulin, the Central Bank’s first deputy chairman, told the RBC news website in an interview.


“Thus, algebraically, we get a total loss of 1.5 trillion rubles,” Tulin said.


The Central Bank stopped publishing figures for the banking sector after the start of the war and banned lenders from publishing regular earnings reports as Western governments froze Russia’s financial assets abroad and imposed sanctions on Russia’s banks.


The loss for the Russian banking sector is the first in seven years, RBC reported. 


Tulin said one-quarter of Russian banks posted losses in January through June, while three-quarters remained profitable.


Two-thirds of first-half losses in 2022, or 1 trillion rubles, related to foreign currency operations, according to Tulin.


“We can say that we’ve managed with few casualties so far,” he told RBC, noting Russian banks still had 7 trillion rubles ($116 billion) in reserves.


“A smaller part of this capital reserve has been used as a result of these losses. That’s not the most expensive price for overcoming the consequences of the powerful blow dealt to our banking system by sanctions,” Tulin said.


The banker forecast Russia’s banking sector to close out 2022 with losses of 1.5 trillion rubles or less.

Russian Banks Post Record $25Bln First Half Loss - The Moscow Times

----------


## russellsimpson

> ... by Putin not invading a Sovereign Country



Seriously?

----------


## russellsimpson

> Even MSM is backpedalling now snubmeister.


 :smiley laughing: 

The snubmeister. Has a very nice ring to it.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The snubmeister. Has a very nice ring to it.


Yeah, if you're a retarded 14 year old.

----------


## panama hat

> China has largely complied with Western sanctions, reportedly cutting back on car, smartphone and other exports to Russia.


Oh dear . . . the bromance isn't what it used to be






> Russia’s banking sector lost 1.5 trillion rubles ($24.8 billion) in the first half of 2022, a top Central Bank official said Friday.


Luckily everything is going well and sanctions are clearly not working






> The chairman of Russia's Lukoil oil giant, Ravil Maganov, has died after falling from a hospital window in Moscow, reports say.
> 
> The company confirmed his death but said only that Maganov, 67, had "passed away following a severe illness".


The illness was caused by not sufficiently kowtowing to Putin

----------


## bsnub

> The snubmeister. Has a very nice ring to it.





> Yeah, if you're a retarded 14 year old.


I think Harry summed that one up.

 ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

Your sovereign country is no more. Bit like Yugoslavia.

----------


## bsnub

Russia’s genocidal invasion of Ukraine was meant to extinguish  Ukrainian statehood and eradicate Ukrainian identity. Instead, it is  turbocharging the de-Russification of the country. In the six months  since the invasion began, Ukrainian support for de-Russification has  become a truly nationwide phenomenon, reaching record highs far in  excess of the significantly more modest public backing for  de-Communization policies following the country’s 2014 Euromaidan  Revolution. This wartime trend is rapidly reversing centuries of  Russification and directly undermining Vladimir Putin’s dreams of a new  Russian Empire.

    Putin’s criminal war is having a truly historic impact on Ukrainian  society and bringing Ukrainians together in a quite literal sense. The  invasion has forced millions of Ukrainians to flee to the west of the  country, where they have either sought refuge or traveled further into  the EU. This has led to unprecedented intermingling between Ukrainians  from different regions of the country, which is fueling feelings of  solidarity and national integration. Recent opinion polls  consistently indicate converging opinions on national identity,  language, relations with Russia, and future geopolitical objectives  among Ukrainians from all regions of the country. One of the national  issues Ukrainians are now most united on is the need for  de-Russification. 

    A further factor driving national integration is the mobilization of  hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to serve in the country’s military,  with many deploying to frontline regions in the east and the south.  Likewise, Ukraine’s large volunteer force is based throughout the  country, bringing a wide variety of people from different professional  and regional backgrounds into contact with each other for the first  time.

    The invasion is also speeding up Ukraine’s linguistic  de-Russification, with the Russian language now increasingly associated  with military aggression. The number of Ukrainians who support Ukrainian  as the country’s official state language has risen to 86%. Just 2% of  Ukrainians believe Moscow’s claims of a “genocide” against the country’s  Russian speakers, but the deliberate weaponization of the Russian  language by Vladimir Putin has led many Ukrainians to view the language  less favorably.

    At the same time, Russian remains widely used in everyday life  throughout Ukraine. Language change is a slow process with  Russian-speakers typically becoming bilingual before fully adopting  Ukrainian. Recent data indicates that 85% use both Ukrainian and Russian at home while just 13% of the Ukrainian population uses only Russian.

    Ethnic re-identification appears to be proceeding at a faster pace with 92% of Ukrainian citizens now declaring themselves ethnic Ukrainian  in one recent survey. This figure would make Ukraine the third most  homogeneous country in Europe after Portugal and Poland. Meanwhile, only  5% of today’s Ukrainian population identified as ethnic Russians in the  same survey, representing a striking decline from 22% in the 1989  Soviet census and 17% in the 2001 Ukrainian census. 

Ukraine’s relationship with the past is undergoing radical change in  response to Russia’s invasion, leading to a widening of the memory  divide separating the two neighboring countries. Only 11% of Ukrainians now express nostalgia for the USSR  compared to approximately two-thirds of Russians. Likewise, 84% of  Ukrainians hold a negative view of Stalin while most Russians have a  positive attitude toward the Soviet dictator.

    Meanwhile, Ukrainian attitudes toward the country’s twentieth century  liberation movement have experienced a major shift. During the early  decades of Ukrainian independence, public opinion was often deeply  divided on the issue of Ukrainian nationalist groups. This began to  change following the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution, when 41% expressed  positive views of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) and  UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army). Since the February 2022 invasion, this figure has rocketed to 81%.

    Ukrainians are now less inclined to differentiate between the Kremlin  and ordinary Russians. Following the invasion of Crimea and eastern  Ukraine in 2014, a majority of Ukrainians blamed Russia’s leadership.  However, they now overwhelmingly hold both the Kremlin and the Russian  people responsible for the current invasion. As a consequence, the  number of Ukrainians who express positive views of Russians has plummeted from 47% in 2018 to just 3% today.

    This collapse in positive attitudes toward ordinary Russians is not difficult to explain. Everything from polling data  to anecdotal evidence demonstrates overwhelming Russian public support  for the invasion of Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians with relatives in  Russia have personal experience of their family members either  applauding the war or accusing them of lying about the horrors of the  invasion.

    It is also striking that the vast majority of civilian victims during  the first six months of the invasion have been the same  Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the south and east of the country who  Putin claims to be protecting. Tens of thousands were murdered in  Mariupol alone, while dozens of other towns and villages have been  similarly reduced to ruins in regions of Ukraine that the Kremlin  cynically trumpets as “historical Russian lands.” 

Given the scale of the carnage, it is hardly surprising that 89% of Ukrainians  believe the Kremlin is committing genocide in Ukraine. Almost nine in  ten Ukrainians think Russia is seeking the destruction of the Ukrainian  state and Ukrainian national identity, while half regard Russia as a  fascist regime.

    This sense that Ukraine is facing an existential challenge is fueling  de-Russification and is also driving Ukrainians to reject any talk of a compromise peace.  There is a strong sense throughout the country that without a decisive  victory, Ukraine will never be secure. Around half of Ukrainians believe  there can never be reconciliation with Russia and another third think  it may only become possible in two to three decades. In other words, 78%  of Ukrainians rule out any normalization of relations with Russia for  at least a generation.

    De-Russification at the official level has seen openly pro-Kremlin  political parties banned and pro-Kremlin media shuttered. The Russian  Orthodox Church (ROC) in Ukraine is on life support with only 4% of Ukrainians  now professing membership. This is compared to 54% who identify as  members of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. With the Ukrainian government  recently imposing sanctions on ROC head Patriarch Kirill and seven  leading members of the ROC clergy for their role in the invasion, the  ROC has an uncertain future in Ukraine.

    Ukraine’s school curriculum is undergoing wartime de-Russification,  with Ukrainian schoolchildren no longer studying Russian language and  literature. The cultural de-Russification process also includes the  removal of monuments to Russian literary figures such as Pushkin and  Dostoyevsky, along with changes to thousands of street and place names  across the country.

    Monuments to Russian-Ukrainian friendship along with Russian and  Soviet history are being rebranded or pulled down. In Kyiv, a prominent  monument to Russian-Ukrainian friendship has been renamed while the  city’s iconic motherland monument will have its Soviet crest replaced by  a Ukrainian tryzub (trident). In Odesa, debate is raging about whether  to remove the monument to Russian Empress Catherine the Great.

    Irrespective of how long the war will last, it already seems clear  that the end product will be a de-Russified and Europeanized Ukraine.  This is exactly what Vladimir Putin hoped to prevent. The Russian  dictator’s genocidal invasion is both a crime and a blunder on a scale  unparalleled in modern European history.

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blog...raine-forever/

----------


## bsnub

Ukraine’s Turkish-made drones are blowing up Russian equipment in  southern Ukraine, helping to clear a path for Ukrainian battalions as  they fight their way toward Russian-occupied Kherson.

Videos that have circulated online  since Kyiv announced its long-anticipated southern counteroffensive on  Monday depict the 1.5-ton, propeller-driven Bayraktar TB-2 drones  striking a Russian mortar team and a self-propelled howitzer. 

 It’s likely there have been many more drone strikes in the south in recent days—there’s just no visual evidence. Yet.

 The southern drone strikes underscore the durability of Ukraine’s  TB-2 force as Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its sixth month.  The Russians, despite their best efforts, have failed to destroy enough  TB-2s or supporting equipment to ground the force.

 The strikes also hint at the effects of the Ukrainian air force’s  ongoing suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses campaign. The SEAD effort,  combining Ukrainian MiGs with American-supplied anti-radar missiles,  seems to have cleared the air for the slow, essentially defenseless  TB-2s.

 It was an open question, in the days leading up to Russia’s invasion  of Ukraine on the night of Feb. 23, whether Ukraine’s roughly two-dozen  missile-armed TB-2s even would survive the first volley of Russian  missiles.

 A month later, it was apparent the TB-2s not only survived—they quickly flew into action.  In those critical early weeks of the wider war, TB-2s belonging to the  Ukrainian air force and navy dismantled whole swathes of Russia’s  front-line air-defense network, then began striking Russian tanks,  trucks, trains, command posts and even ships at sea.

Firing 14-pound, laser-guided Smart Micro Munition missiles, the TB-2s so far have knocked out around a hundred  Russian vehicles, radars and command posts that outside analysts can  confirm. The actual number of drone kills undoubtedly is much higher.

 TB-2s played a central role in Ukraine’s sea-denial campaign in the  western Black Sea starting in April. Drones reportedly distracted the  crew of the Russian navy cruiser _Moskva_ so a ground-based  Neptune missile crew could strike the vessel, ultimately sinking it.  TB-2s also blew up ships and helicopters resupplying the Russian  garrison on Snake Island, starving the garrison and eventually forcing  it to evacuate. 

 It’s not a totally one-sided fight. The Russians in six months have shot down 13 TB-2s and destroyed at least one  of the ground-based radio relays that, possibly along with Turksat  satellites, allow crews to control the drones from hundreds of miles  away. 

 But Turkish drone-maker Bayraktar has made good Ukraine’s drone  losses. It’s possible the Ukrainian TB-2 fleet actually is bigger now  than it was before the war. 

 Desperate and disappointed Russian forces back in April even tried to  create the impression they’d shot down more TB-2s than they actually  had, by staging old drone wreckage in a sloppy mimicry of a more recent crash.

 Ukraine’s SEAD campaign—MiGs firing High-Speed Anti-Radiation  Missiles—is working in conjunction with the drone campaign. TB-2s are  vulnerable to air-defenses. The Ukrainians have written off more TB-2s  than they have any other warplane type.

 But as HARMs knock out more and more Russian radars, surface-to-air  missile-launchers and ground-based air-defense guns, there are fewer  obstacles to TB-2 strikes. The drone crews can hunt targets at their  leisure.

 Ever freer to strike Russian forces, the TB-2s could play a key  supporting role as the Ukrainian counteroffensive develops. The mortar  and howitzer the drone crews knocked out this week could be just the  first of many victims. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...ian-artillery/

----------


## tomcat

English Lessons in the Decline and Fall of Empires

It is hard not to lose face as you lose your empire. Take that from a citizen of what was the greatest one in history.


Gone with the wind: Celebrating the 1902 coronation of King Emperor Edward VII in Delhi. Photographer: Hulton Archive/Hulton Archive
By Martin Ivens (Bloomberg)

September 3, 2022 at 2:00 PM GMT+7

I scuttled through Moscow’s backstreets early in October 1993, skirting the soldiers besieging the White House, Russia’s imposing parliament building. My destination: Lefortovo prison, where I was to interview nationalist parliamentarians and gunmen opposed to President Boris Yeltsin — who had locked them up before they could join the legislature’s revolt against his government.  
It was a time that in many ways resonates with our contemporary turmoil.

The disheveled men rounded up in that notorious political prison loathed Yeltsin and his predecessor Mikhail Gorbachev for their part in dismantling the Soviet Union. Vladimir Putin has lamented its collapse as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe” of the 20th century. Already in Lefortovo in 1993, the sense of humiliation was palpable.

Ironically, dissolving the Soviet Union had been furthest from Gorbachev’s thoughts when he wound up its wider informal empire in eastern Europe: the former satellite states of Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and East Germany that now constitute much of NATO and the European Union’s eastern flank. Though rightly mourned by many in the West this week for his role in ending the Cold War, Gorbachev also sanctioned military force in a vain attempt to preserve the empire: 21 protestors died in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi alone; dozens more were killed in Riga and Vilnius, the capitals of Latvia and Lithuania in 1991 after the peoples of the Baltics and Caucasus on the Soviet periphery declared independence. 

Even Yeltsin, who along with the leaders of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan formally dissolved the Soviet Union, was later prepared to spill rivers of blood to prevent the Chechens from breaking away from the Russian Federation.

It is hard, if not impossible, to stop the tapestry of empire unraveling once the threads have been pulled. That’s my perspective as a citizen of the successor state of the greatest empire the world has ever seen: Britain. The process may be prolonged but it is ineluctable. The Ottoman Empire was the sick man of Europe for three centuries, but it took a world war and three rival imperial powers to finish it off.  After 1945, overseas European empires vanished within decades.

How long has Moscow’s empire got? Two years was all it took to roll back the Kremlin’s legions to Mother Russia after the Berlin Wall came crashing down. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine today is an attempt to turn back the clock, but if his attempt fails, his successor will face new independence movements from within the Russian Federation. More than 20% of its citizens are not ethnic Russians and those minorities are overrepresented in the armed forces fighting in Ukraine. If those soldiers return home in defeat, the consequences could be dire. 

Other European empires failed in similar attempts to arrest decline. The French, Belgians, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and British have been reduced to their metropolitan core (though Scottish and Catalan nationalists would dispute that) but, like Moscow’s leaders, they often fought to stop the process. 

The Allied victory in World War II gave the old empires illusory hopes for a revival. The British may have reluctantly given up on India — “the Jewel in the Crown” — in the immediate postwar years but they fought to retain an imperium in the Middle East until military intervention in the Suez crisis of 1956 met US disapproval and dashed the enterprise. The winds of change roared through its African colonies too. By 1967, London could no longer afford a Southeast Asian commitment “East of Suez” either, despite military victories racked up against Communist insurgents and predatory powers. 

But unlike Moscow, London was able to put a gloss on winding up its empire. Tory and Labour prime ministers alike loathed surrendering Britain’s place at the top table with the US and the Soviet Union. As late as 1965, Harold Wilson boasted of the country’s frontiers being on the Himalayas. The veneer of unflappability and a stiff upper lip helped the UK save face.

As the historian John Darwin puts it, the transition from empire to a Commonwealth of free nations headed by the Queen could be presented for public consumption “as an act of farsighted statesmanship, a triumph of vision, not a failure of nerve.” The new nation states were loyal to the Crown; Britain’s liberal imperial mission was fulfilled; patriots could rejoice.

And so the British comforted themselves with the euphemism that they “managed decline,” while the French “suffered military defeat” in Indochina and Algeria and the Belgians left “chaos” in their wake. This is a comforting narrative, but a suspect one.

There has been no face-saving formula for Russian nationalists and no economic gain to ease the pain of decline and fall. The former European powers enjoyed a period of unprecedented prosperity postwar as they shed their empires, but Russia saw its economy shrink by almost half in less than 10 years in the 1990s. The Soviet Union’s former “colonies” revile Moscow to this day and shudder at any Commonwealth-style association that acts as a cover for Kremlin domination. Nor does Russia have the comfort blanket of NATO — or the European Union, which gave a new lease on life to would-be French imperialists, if not British ones.

Today, Putin enjoys popularity at home based on the success of Russian arms in Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea and the Donbas. Even Gorbachev erroneously supported some of those interventions. The exploitation of natural resources has brought temporary prosperity and stability. But Putin’s imperial gamble in Ukraine could well be his Suez, his Algeria or his Vietnam. When the empire strikes back, it usually leads to disaster.

----------


## sabang

> When the empire strikes back, it usually leads to disaster.


As every American should know.

----------


## pickel

> As every American should know.


Do you think Guam and Puerto Rico will eventually bring them down? Or do you just not know what an empire is?

----------


## bsnub

Ukrainian officials say their military’s southern offensive is going slowly. They also say that is precisely the plan.

 The  announcement Monday of a thrust in the south raised hopes that Ukraine  could reclaim territory Russia seized early in the war, including the  regional capital of Kherson.
 But success could take many shapes, say officials...       

Ukrainian officials say their military’s southern offensive is going slowly. They also say that is precisely the plan.

       The announcement Monday of a thrust in the south raised hopes that Ukraine could reclaim territory Russia seized early in the war, including the regional capital of Kherson.

        But success could take many shapes, say officials and Western analysts. Even without quickly regaining much ground, Kyiv can achieve progress  by forcing Russia to expose its troop locations and supply bases, take a  defensive posture and thereby appear weak or pull troops from other  parts of the country. Ukraine can also gain intelligence about Russian  formations, vulnerabilities and will to fight.

       Ukrainian officials say they have neither the armor nor the  manpower to make a quick advance. Instead, the military aims to weaken  front-line Russian forces while also using long-range artillery and rockets,  such as Himars provided by the U.S., to hit critical installations  behind Russian lines such as command posts and ammunition depots.

       Kherson sits on the west bank of the Dnipro River, which  Russian troops must cross to enter, resupply or leave the city.  Ukraine’s military says its strikes on bridges across the Dnipro and the smaller Inhulets River to the city’s northeast have largely cut supply lines to Russian forces in the city.

Russia has roughly 20,000 troops in and around Kherson, Western  officials estimate, cautioning the figure isn’t precise. Trapping them  could potentially force a surrender, allow Ukraine to decimate them or  force them to flee. Whatever happens, Ukraine hopes to retake Kherson  without having to engage in bloody street fighting.

              Oleksiy Arestovych,       a Ukrainian presidential adviser, called the strategy “the  systemic grinding of Putin’s army.” He said Kyiv’s forces are working  “to uncover their operational logistical supply system and destroy it  with artillery and Himars,” a process that can take time.

       “There’s no rush,” he said.

       While Ukraine ultimately wants to evict Russian forces from  Kherson—the city’s occupation is one of Moscow’s most significant gains  since invading on Feb. 24—Kyiv  could still boast of success if it retakes towns outside the city,  captures or kills a large number of Russian troops or compels some to  retreat.

The Kherson offensive also represents an element of Ukraine’s broader  strategy to strain Russia’s entire invasion force, from around Kharkiv  in the northeast to Crimea on the Black Sea.

       By attacking in so many places, “you keep the Russians  wondering where the Ukrainians are going to strike next,” said retired  U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Twitty. “You want an unpredictable fight to  keep the Russians on their heels.”

       Gen. Twitty, who participated in Operation Desert Storm, said not to expect a massed attack.

“We’re going to see multiple locations of small units, which is going  to wreak havoc on the Russians and is a great way to fight,” he said.  But he cautioned: “In this type of fighting, you have to take a  long-term perspective.”

       Ukraine’s fighters may advance and pause to prepare for a  subsequent attack, said Billy Fabian, a former U.S. Defense Department  analyst. “You’re always thinking about the next operation.”

       Ukrainian forces will move slowly because they are attempting  an operation that military planners consider exceedingly difficult:  dislodging an entrenched defender without overwhelming force or air  superiority. Kyiv has a limited number of skilled or veteran troops and  must deploy them across a vast front line. Ukrainian commanders want to  put at risk the smallest number of troops possible.

       Attempting “a deliberate storming of Kherson city would likely  be a mistake,” said Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal  United Services Institute, a British think tank, in an analysis posted  Friday.

Instead, Ukraine is capitalizing on the region’s geography, aiming to  push Russian troops against riverbanks. Ukrainian forces appear to be  advancing on land from the north and west while increasing the tempo of  strikes on bridges and supply facilities. Their goal is to starve  Russian forces of supplies while closing in on them.

“We need the enemy to be unable and unwilling to resist effectively,” said Mr. Arestovych, the Ukrainian presidential adviser.

       Russian attempts to retreat across the rivers would make rich targets for Ukrainian drones, rockets and artillery.

       Ukrainian forces appear already to have retaken some small  towns outside Kherson, according to open-source intelligence reports.  Gen. Twitty said the incremental gains count as a tactical success  because “these little towns mean a lot” to Ukrainians, who see  compatriots liberated, and to Kyiv’s Western backers, who want to see  progress against Russia.

       Ukraine’s larger strategic objective of regaining its land and  repelling Russian forces is vital because the war is likely to end in  some form of negotiation, Gen. Twitty said.

       “The long-term perspective is, the more gains Ukraine can make, the better off they will be at the negotiating table,” he said.

https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/ukr...?mod=flipboard

----------


## Hugh Cow

No doubt it was always the plan. Starve the russians of supplies both food and armaments. there already poor morale will get worse as food supplies and armanents dwindle together with the aproaching winter. Any large surrender by  the Russian forces will be a great propaganda victory for the Ukrainians.

----------


## bsnub

> No doubt it was always the plan. Starve the russians of supplies both food and armaments.


Systemic grinding. It is having an effect for sure. The Russian forces are cut off on the west side of the Dnieper at this point, and it is not even arguable. Twenty thousand of them with no resupply and winter coming. Stuck in primitive trenches with shit like this happening...

----------


## S Landreth

Ukrainian hackers created fake profiles of attractive women to trick Russian soldiers into sharing their location, report says. Days later, the base was blown up.

Ukrainian hackers set up fake accounts of attractive women to trick Russian soldiers into sending them photos, which they located and passed to the Ukrainian military, the Financial Times reported.

Nikita Knysh, a 30-year-old IT professional from Kharkiv, told the FT that when Russia's invasion began in February this year, he wanted to use his hacking skills to help his country.

He recruited other hackers and founded a group nicknamed Hackyourmom, which now consists of 30 hackers from across the country, he told the FT.

Last month, he said they duped Russian soldiers in Melitopol by creating fake accounts and pretending to be attractive women on several social media platforms, including Telegram.

The hackers were able to get to know Russian soldiers and ultimately convince them to send photos of them on the front, Knysh told the FT.

"The Russians, they always want to fvck," Knysh told the FT. "They send [a] lot of shit to 'girls,' to prove that they are warriors."

Once the soldiers sent pictures, the hackers were able to identify that they had been taken from a remote Russian military base near occupied Melitopol in southern Ukraine, the FT reported.

They transferred the information over to Ukraine's military, and several days later the base was attacked, Knysh told the FT

----------


## bsnub

Ukraine took back the village of Vysokopillia in Kherson on Sunday and  raised its flag over a hospital following reported "successes" in the  region that fell to Russia on March 3, a week after Russia invaded the  Eastern European country.

Yuriy Sobolevskyi, first deputy head of Kherson Oblast Council, announced on Telegram that Vysokopillia was liberated from Russian control. The region is significantly important because it's a strategic location at the mouth of the Dnieper River's exit into the Black Sea.

The Kyiv Independent reported on Twitter  that forces also raised the Ukrainian flag in Vysokopillia, which is  located north of the Kherson region on the administrative border with  the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Ukrinform.

Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, said on Twitter  that the flag was raised on a hospital roof in the village. A few other  Twitter accounts, including Ukraine updates, made the same  announcement.

"The flag is on a hospital roof in Vysokopillya, Kherson Oblast,"  Ramani tweeted. "Russia is cracked down on any displays of Ukrainian  nationalism inside Kherson and reportedly raised a Soviet victory flag  in Kherson after its occupation."

Russian  forces have sent many villagers fleeing from their homes, as troops  took over dozens of towns and villages since the invasion began on  February 24. Some of those who fled Russian-occupied territories were  desperately seeking safety as they escaped on foot, bikes, and by  wheelchair, NPR reported in July.

However, Sobolevskyi recently said that Ukrainian forces have successfully achieved some goals in the Kherson region amid the counter-offensive they reportedly launched on Monday.

"Now  is the time to support our armed forces," Sobolevskyi said last week,  according to Reuters. "Now is not the time to talk about the specific  successes of our lads"—as he spoke of Ukraine's efforts in the Kherson,  Beryslav and Kakhovka districts.

The Ukrainian military insisted on not revealing information about  the offensive in the south of the country, but the presidential office  reported "powerful explosions" and "tough battles" in the region, adding  that Ukrainian troops destroyed ammunition depots and large bridges  across the Dnieper River that are necessary to send supplies to Russian  forces.

Ukrainian forces also recently moved forward with their goals against Russian troops as it took advantage  of Russia's poor leadership, administration, and logistics, the British  Ministry of Defence said on Saturday. Additionally, Ukrainian air  forces took down a Russian reconnaissance drone named "Kartograf" in the Mykolaiv region.


_Newsweek_ reached out to the Russian foreign affairs ministry for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-rec...-1739725?amp=1

----------


## panama hat

> Systemic grinding.


You have to feel sorry for the poor grunts who were sent there only to be mashed up.  Fuck Putin

----------


## bsnub

The Russian defence ministry is in the process of buying millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea to support its invasion of Ukraine, according to a newly downgraded US intelligence finding.

A  US official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on Monday  that the fact Russia was turning to North Korea demonstrated that “the  Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions”.

US  intelligence officials believe that the Russians could look to purchase  additional North Korean military equipment in the future. The  intelligence finding was first reported by the New York Times.

The finding comes after the Biden administration recently confirmed that the Russian military in August took delivery of Iranian-manufactured drones for use on the battlefield in Ukraine.

The White House said last week that Russia  has faced technical problems with Mohajer-6 and Shahed-series drones,  bought as part of what the Biden administration says is likely part of a  Russian plan to acquire hundreds of Iranian unmanned aerial vehiclea  (UAVs).

North Korea has sought to tighten relations with Russia as much of Europe  and the west has pulled away. The regime has blamed the US for the  Ukraine crisis and claimed the west’s “hegemonic policy” justifies  military action by Russia in Ukraine to protect itself.

The North Koreans have hinted interest in sending construction workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in the country’s east.

North Korea’s ambassador to Moscow recently met envoys  from two Russia-backed separatist territories in the Donbas region of  Ukraine and expressed optimism about cooperation in the “field of labor  migration”, citing his country’s easing pandemic border controls.

In  July North Korea became the only nation aside from Russia and Syria to  recognise the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk, further  aligning with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...igence-ukraine

----------


## David48atTD

Russia to buy North Korean artillery shells, rockets: Report

_Declassified intelligence from the US says that Moscow is turning to isolated state to secure weapons as sanctions bite._



The US says Russia is sourcing artillery shells from North Korea [File: KCNA via Reuters]

Russia is buying millions of artillery shells and rockets from North  Korea, according to newly declassified (not by Trump  :Smile: ) intelligence reports from the  United States.
 The New York Times,  which first reported the purchases, said the reports provided little  detail on the exact weaponry involved or the timing or size of the  shipments.

Beyond short-range rockets and artillery shells, Russia was expected  to try to buy additional North Korean equipment in future, the paper  said, citing an unnamed US official.

 Russia’s move to buy weaponry from North Korea, an isolated state  subject to international sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme,  demonstrates that “the Russian military continues to suffer from severe  supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and  sanctions,” the Associated Press news agency reported, citing a US  official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Russia to buy North Korean artillery shells, rockets: Report | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera


EDIT:-  I had this page open for an hour and Snubbs posted same above.

----------


## bsnub

*The chips are down: Putin scrambles for high-tech parts as his arsenal goes up in smoke*


It's the microchips that look set to get Vladimir Putin in the end.  Six months into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is being throttled by a  severe technology deficit inflicted by sanctions.

    Having fired off (or lost in combat) way more of their missile  firepower than they originally anticipated, Moscow's soldiers are now  increasingly relying on ancient stocks of primitive Soviet-era munitions  while Western-armed Ukrainian forces are battling to turn the tide in a  southern counteroffensive with pinpoint strikes on munition dumps and  key infrastructure such as bridges.

    Kyiv is acutely aware that the outcome of the war is likely to hinge  on whether Russia finds a way to regain access to high-tech chips, and  is out to ensure it doesn't get them. In order to flag the danger,  Ukraine is sending out international warnings that the Kremlin has drawn  up shopping lists of semiconductors, transformers, connectors, casings,  transistors, insulators and other components, most made by companies in  the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands, the U.K., Taiwan and Japan, among  others, which it needs to fuel its war effort.

    The message is clear: Don't let the Russians get their hands on this gadgetry. 

POLITICO has seen one of the Russian lists, which is divided into  three priority categories, from the most critical components to the  least. It even includes the price per item that Moscow expects to pay,  down to the last kopeck. While POLITICO could not independently verify  the provenance of the list, two experts in military supply chains  confirmed it was in line with other research findings about Russia's  military equipment and needs.

    At first glance, Russia shouldn't be able to acquire the most  sensitive tech on the lists. With only very basic domestic technology,  the Kremlin has relied on key players in the U.S., the EU and Japan for  semiconductors as suppliers over the past years and these should be out  of grasp thanks to sanctions. The difficulty would emerge in whether an  intermediary country such as China were to buy technologies, then sell  them on to Moscow. In extreme cases, Russians appear to be clawing chips  out of household appliances like fridges.

    Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stressed the war had come to  an inflection point where the technological edge was proving decisive.

    “According to our information, Russians have already spent almost half ... of their weaponry arsenal," he told POLITICO.

    He added that Ukraine estimated that Russia was down to just "four  dozen" hypersonic missiles. "These are the ones that have precision and  accuracy due to the microchips that they have. But because of sanctions  imposed on Russia, the deliveries of this high-tech microchip equipment  ... have stopped and they have no way of replenishing these stocks.”

*Chips on the menu

*Of the 25 items Russia is seeking most desperately, almost all are  microchips manufactured by U.S. firms Marvell, Intel, Holt, ISSI,  Microchip, Micron, Broadcom and Texas Instruments. 

Rounding out the list  are chips by Japanese firm Renesas, which acquired the U.S.-based IDT;  Germany's Infineon, which acquired U.S.-based Cypress; microcircuits by  American firm Vicor; and connectors by U.S. firm AirBorn. Some of the  items can be easily found in online electronics retailers, while others  have been out of stock for months as a result of the global microchip shortage.
    The cheapest item on the top priority list, the 88E1322-AO-BAM2I000  gigabit ethernet transceiver made by Marvell, can apparently be sourced  by Moscow for 430.83 rubles a piece, or around €7. The most expensive  item, a 10M04DCF256I7G field programmable gate array made by Intel, can  be sourced at a highly inflated 66,815.77 rubles or €1,107 each,  according to the list (before the chips shortage, it would have cost  under €20).

When it comes to the medium priority list, companies including  Germany's Harting and the Netherlands' Nexperia (which was acquired by  Chinese tech firm Wingtech in 2019) feature heavily. 

The Russians are  hunting for a range of Harting's casings and connectors, the list  showed, including the 09 03 000 6201 and the 09 03 000 6104, as well as  Nexperia/NXP's 74LVC1G14GV,125 inverters and 74LVC244APW,112 octal  buffer/line drivers.

    James Byrne, director of open source intelligence and analysis at  leading defense and security think tank RUSI, said it's likely that  Russia has been buying up stock of Western microchips and other  essential equipment for years, but could now be running low.

    The Russian military procurement program is "extensive, it’s well  funded, and they have a huge military and industrial base producing  stuff," said Byrne. "But now they’ve expended so much of it in Ukraine,  they need a large volume of new supplies. And the sanctions are going to  make it more difficult for them ... So they’re going to have to  prioritize critical things, and that’s why we’re seeing these documents.  We obviously think they are scrambling to secure supplies."

*Holes in the blockade*

    Since its latest invasion of Ukraine in February, Western countries  have tightened sanctions on Russia, increasingly targeting its supply  chains of microchips to decrease its military capabilities. The new  sanctions come on top of years of stricter controls of chips sales —  which often fall under "dual-use goods" because they're used in military  and civilian applications alike — under international agreements like  the Wassenaar Arrangement as well as recent EU law.

    Experts warn that these export control regimes too often fail to stop transfers of technology to unwanted actors and entities.

    "Once chips have left the factory it's very hard to know for sure  where they end up," said Diederik Cops, a senior researcher in arms  exports and trade at the Flemish Peace Institute, a research  organization linked to the Flemish parliament.

    Cops said Russian entities supplying the military have various ways  to acquire critical goods, ranging from buying them on unregulated  online marketplaces to using third-party front shops and post-box  companies to smuggle high-tech kit into the country.

    "Countries like North Korea and Iran have built up years of expertise  to circumvent sanctions. Russia will surely have prepared itself to  cope with this in past months ... The Russians can also rely on historic  expertise to set up such channels: It was routine during the Cold War.  And it has long borders with neighboring countries and a large network  of allied states to work with," Cops said.

    The U.S., Europe and other Western allies have set up licensing  regimes to stop companies from exporting potential military technology  to clients who could be deemed a risk to their security. But "it's a  huge challenge to monitor the illegal proliferation channels, and even  the legal channels, to see who the end user is," Cops said.

The sanctions imposed since February's invasion aimed to close loopholes and further tighten the screws on Russia's military. 

    According to Damien Spleeters, deputy director of operations at  Conflict Armament Research (CAR), an organization specialized in  tracking and tracing weapons of war that is currently tracing components  found on Ukraine's battlefields, it's too early to say to what extent  the sanctions are working: "Everything we've seen so far was produced  before the invasion. It's stocks that date from before the sanctions,"  he said.

    But the Russians are definitely “running out of stock," according to  Ukraine's Prime Minister Shmyhal. "They are using their Soviet-made  equipment and missiles which were produced back in 1960s or 70s," he  said.

    Russia is so desperate for the most sophisticated semiconductors for  its weapons program, it has resorted to stripping microchips from  dishwashers and fridges to use in its military gear, U.S. Commerce  Secretary Gina Raimondo said in May, attributing the intel to Ukrainian officials.

    But some American national security veterans disagree with the  optimistic assessment from U.S. President Joe Biden’s team. They say  Western governments have little ability to stop other regimes —  particularly China — from transferring microchips to Russia.

    The controls on chips “are about as tight as a screen door,” said  Matthew Turpin, the U.S. National Security Council director for China  from 2018 to 2019. “China and Russia share a 4,300-kilometer border.  There is absolutely no way we could detect if those chips are passed  from China to Russia.”

    The U.S. Commerce Department has repeatedly said it has seen no  evidence that China is transferring technologies to Russia, which could  open Beijing to severe sanctions. But the Chinese government has also  said it would put no new limits on its commercial relationship with  Russia, and Turpin and others say there is almost no way Western  governments can be certain of their behavior.

    Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees tech  sanctions, has “fewer than 10 ‘inspectors’ in China which are supposed  to determine whether chips have been diverted to Chinese military use,”  Turpin said, adding that “we are not effective in inspections” because  the Chinese government requires prior warning.

*Desperate times, desperate measures*

    Over the past years, as its relationship with the West turned  increasingly frosty, Russia implemented an import substitution program,  seeking to create its own high-tech industry. Those efforts have become  ever more urgent now.

    Russia's ministry of industry and trade has prepared proposals that  seek to further incentivize local companies to produce the high-tech  components needed by the military-industrial complex, business daily Vedomosti  reported last month. The measures, dated August 22, include slashing  tax for the relevant companies, reducing insurance premiums, providing  preferential loans and guaranteeing purchases. The measures are due to  be approved and enter into force no later than January 1, according to  Vedomosti.

    The problem for Moscow is that such measures have failed in the past,  bogged down by widespread corruption and graft, not to mention a brain drain — and that's unlikely to change now.

    "Ultimately it hasn’t really been a success," RUSI's Byrne said about  Russia's import substitution drive. "There’s loads of high-tech  components they can’t replace with home-made alternatives ... A lot of  those things are absolutely critical for their weapons program."

    An investigation by Reuters with RUSI  in August showed components of U.S. and other Western technology firms  were still rife in Russian military equipment found on the battlefield.
    Such Western components, and microchips in particular, are key for Russia's military to keep up its war efforts.

    "Russia's missiles and processing computers and sensors are built  with Russian parts. But the most critical components in them, the  highest tech, were Western," RUSI's Byrne said. "The Russians have used a  lot of their high-end equipment — cruise and ballistic missiles,  precision munitions, the latest infantry fighting vehicles. Now, they're  resorting to older equipment they’ve brought out of storage. And part  of the aim of sanctions is to slow down procurement of high-tech  components, and essentially attrit the Russians’ ability to use this  high-end stuff, so they will have to rely more and more on outdated  equipment."

    Cops, the Belgian researcher, said: "More and more 'dumb' rockets are  being found in Ukraine, demonstrating how Russia is battling supply  chain shortages."

*Friends with benefits*

    While the EU, U.S., Japan and other countries have slapped sanctions  on Russia, Moscow does have a friend in Beijing, which has already  provided the country with off-road vehicle exports for command  personnel, as well as drone components and naval engines. But like  Russia, China has also struggled to catch up with its competitors when  it comes to the most high-tech components Russia needs.

    "A lot of these [Western] companies, they’re really specialized in  the specialized kit, they’ve been making it a long time. The Chinese  semiconductor industry doesn’t have capability to make those things,"  RUSI's Byrne said.

    Kevin Wolf, former assistant secretary of commerce under the Obama  administration, said China’s difficulties in access indicate new global  norms, as countries around the world coordinate to put pressure on  Russia.

    “As horrible as the invasion of Ukraine is, one dramatic effect is  the accelerated pace of the U.S. to work with its offshore allies to  impose common controls outside of the regular regime process, that are  especially painful to China given the state of their [semiconductor]  industry," Wolf said.

    National security concerns put Western industry between a rock and a  hard place, as companies argue sales to China provide critical revenue  to support their research and development efforts.

    Above all, the wide use of Western tech in Russia's military  equipment shows it's extremely hard to even understand the global arms  trade, Spleeters, at Conflict Armament Research, said.

    "Everything can be regulated … But you need to have an observation  component to it," Spleeters said. "You need to monitor how it's being  used, how it's being acquired. If you lack that vision on the field you  risk missing a lot of the possible trade routes and ways to circumvent  the rules."

https://www.politico.eu/article/the-...-war-machines/

----------


## harrybarracuda

You know the chinkies would slide some under the table to keep that cheap oil and gas flowing.

----------


## misskit

*Russia-Ukraine latest news: Ukraine seizes 400sq km in Kharkiv with 'opportunistic' counter-offensive*

Ukraine has seized around 400sq km in Kharkiv thanks to an "opportunistic" counter-offensive. 


Ukrainian forces "likely used tactical surprise to advance at least 20km into Russian-held territory" in the territory on Sep 7, according to the Institute for the Study of War.


The Russians were likely understrength due to troops being sent to Donetsk to support the ongoing efforts to capture the area and bolster the deployment on the southern axis, a source in Moscow claimed. 


Russian troops have now began deploying reinforcements to the Kharkiv area to defend against Ukrainian advances.


There are concerns among the Russians that this Ukrainian counterattack seeks to cut ground lines of communication to Russian rear areas in Kupyansk and Izyum, which would allow Ukrainian troops to isolate the Russian groupings in these areas and retake large swaths of territory, the institute said.

Russia-Ukraine latest news: Ukraine seizes 400sq km in Kharkiv with &#39;opportunistic&#39; counter-offensive

----------


## bsnub

> The Russians were likely understrength due to troops being sent to Donetsk to support the ongoing efforts to capture the area and bolster the deployment on the southern axis, a source in Moscow claimed.


They took the bait.  :Smile: 

The real offensive is in Kharkiv.

----------


## misskit

*US: Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians forced to Russia*

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. said Wednesday it has evidence that “hundreds of thousands” of Ukrainian citizens have been interrogated, detained and forcibly deported to Russia in “a series of horrors” overseen by officials from Russia’s presidency.


Russia immediately dismissed the allegation as “fantasy,” calling it the latest invention in a Western disinformation campaign.


The charge came during a Security Council meeting called by the United States and Albania to discuss Russia’s “filtration operations.”

That involves Ukrainians voluntarily fleeing the war in their homeland and those forcibly being moved to Russia passing through a series of “filtration points” where treatment allegedly ranges from interrogations, data collection and strip searches to being yanked aside, tortured, sent to a detention center in Russia and never seen again. The Associated Press wrote in July that nearly 2 million Ukrainian refugees have been sent to Russia, many through forcible transfers.


US. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said estimates from a variety of sources, including the Russian government, indicate that Russian authorities have interrogated, detained and forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainians. She said they are sent to Russia, often to isolated regions in its far eastern regions.


“These operations aim to identify individuals Russia deems insufficiently compliant or compatible to its control,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “And there is mounting and credible evidence that those considered threatening to Russian control because of perceived pro-Ukrainian leanings are `disappeared’ or further detained.”


Russia’s presidency is not only coordinating filtration operations but is providing lists of Ukrainians to be targeted for filtration, she added.


She said estimates indicate thousands of children have been subject to filtration, “some separated from their families and taken from orphanages before being put up for adoption in Russia.” According to U.S. information, “more than 1,800 children were transferred from Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine to Russia” just in July, she said.


Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, accused the West of trying to besmirch his country.


He said more than 3.7 million Ukrainians, including 600,000 children, have gone to Russia or Russian-controlled separatist areas in eastern Ukraine, but they “aren’t being kept in prisons.”


“They are living freely and voluntarily in Russia, and nobody is preventing them from moving or preventing them leaving the country,” he said.


Nebenzia said those Ukrainians went through “a registration rather than filtration procedure” similar to that for Ukrainian refugees in Poland and other countries in the European Union.


He said that since “we’ve wasted time talking about the latest conjectures and fantasies” Wednesday, Russia is proposing that the Security Council hold a meeting Thursday “on real threats to international peace and security caused by the supply by foreign states of arms and military goods to Ukraine.”


French Ambassador Nicolas De Riviere, the current council president, scheduled the meeting for Thursday afternoon.


It will be the third consecutive Security Council meeting on Ukraine. On Tuesday, the council held a meeting at Russia’s request to hear about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling the facility and threatening a possible nuclear catastrophe.


Thomas-Greenfield said the United States knew Russia would deny using filtration, “but there’s a simple way to know if any of this is true.”


“Let the United Nations in,” she told Nebenzia and other council members. “Give the independent observers access. Give NGOs access. Allow humanitarian access. Let the world see what Is going on.”


U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo called for investigations of the “extremely disturbing" and persistent allegations “of forced displacement, deportation and so-called `filtration camps’ run by the Russian Federation and affiliated local forces.”


She called for U.N. access to Ukrainians living in Russian-controlled areas and reiterated that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine “must have unimpeded access to all individuals detained in relation to the ongoing war.”


“This includes access to places of internment of Ukrainian prisoners of war and detainees in the Russian Federation,” she said. “Both sides to the conflict must fully abide with their obligations under international law.”


Ilze Brands Kehris, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for human rights, urged Russia to provide her Geneva-based office access to all places of detention. She added that any adoptions of Ukrainian children in Russia would violate the Geneva Convention prohibiting the change of a child’s personal status including its nationality.


Kehris said the U.N. human rights office “has verified” that Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups subject civilians to “filtration” security checks, which according to credible reports it received result in numerous human rights violations, including the rights to liberty, personal security and privacy.


The human rights office has documented that Russian troops and their affiliates subject Ukrainians to body searches that sometimes include nudity, interrogations about their personal background, family ties, political views and allegiances, and examinations of mobile devices, Kehris said.


The office has also documented that men and women perceived to having ties to Ukraine’s military or government, or as having pro-Ukrainian or anti-Russian views “were subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, ill-treatment and forced-disappearance” and were transferred to penal colonies, Kehris said.

US: Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians forced to Russia | Taiwan News | 2022-09-09 04 :22: 14

----------


## panama hat

Uighurs, Ukrainians . . . the similarities keep on piling up

----------


## bsnub

Six  months into a very tough slog of a war, Ukraine has begun to mount a  counteroffensive and Russias invasion can only be seen as a failure,  the director of the C.I.A., William J. Burns, said Thursday.

Citing  the counterattacks in the south and around Kharkiv in the northeast,  Mr. Burns said that Russias president, Vladimir V. Putin, had badly  underestimated Ukraines courage and capacity for combat.

While  the final chapter of the war is yet to be written, Mr. Burns said it  was hard to see Putins record in the war as anything but a failure.

Mr.  Burns said that Mr. Putin was surrounded by advisers who are unwilling  to challenge him and that the Russian leader mistakenly believed that  European resolve will waver and American attention will wander the  longer the conflict drags on.

Putins  bet right now is that he is going to be tougher than the Ukrainians,  the Europeans, the Americans, Mr. Burns said, speaking at the  Billington CyberSecurity conference in Washington. I believe, and my  colleagues at C.I.A. believe, that Putin is as wrong about that bet as  he was profoundly wrong in his assumptions going back to last February  about Ukrainian will to resist.
That has had profound consequences, Mr. Burns said.

Not  only has the weakness of the Russian military been exposed, he said,  but there is going to be long-term damage done to the Russian economy  and to generations of Russians.

nytimes.com

----------


## bsnub

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed "good news" from the northeastern Kharkiv region,  after an apparent surprise counter-offensive forced Russian troops onto  the back foot and prompted a pro-Kremlin official to call for  evacuations.The  Russian-installed head of the Kupiansk city administration, Vitaly  Ganchev, urged women and children to evacuate the city as Ukrainian  forces approached.

Ganchev  said the city, which lies west of the Donbas region and about 70 miles  east of the city of Kharkiv, "is constantly under terror" and  experiencing "constant rocket attacks from the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

Ukrainian officials have declined to comment on the offensive in the northeast of Ukraine,  but footage geolocated by CNN showed Ukrainian forces in the town of  Volokhiv-Yar on Wednesday, around 50 km away from Kupiansk, and also on  the outskirts of Balakliya to the south. Russian officials have also  remained silent on developments in the Kharkiv region.

The operation appeared designed to catch Russian forces off guard, following intensifying conflict in the south of Ukraine near the city of Kherson. 

In recent weeks, Russia  redeployed some forces to the south to bolster its ranks ahead of the  Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kherson region, according to Ukrainian  officials and footage of equipment moving through Crimea geolocated by  CNN. 

While  the southern front looks set to be one of the main theaters of conflict  as the war heads towards winter, a new Ukrainian push in Kharkiv could  stretch Russian forces across two disparate locations.

Kyiv  "likely used tactical surprise to advance at least 20km into  Russian-held territory in eastern Kharkiv Oblast on September 7,  recapturing approximately 400 square kilometers of ground," the  Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based analytical  group, said its daily report on the conflict on Wednesday.

"Ukrainian  forces likely took prudent advantage of a reallocation of Russian  troops, equipment, and overall operational focus to launch localized  counteroffensives toward critical points in Kharkiv Oblast," the ISW  said.

In  recent weeks, Russia redeployed some forces to the south to bolster its  ranks ahead of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kherson region,  according to Ukrainian officials and footage of equipment moving through  Crimea geolocated by CNN. 

Russian  military bloggers and analysts have reported Ukrainian forces' push  towards Kupiansk aims to cut off supply lines to the strategic city of  Izium to the south.

Zelensky  was coy on whether specific settlements have been retaken by Ukrainian  forces in his nightly address on Wednesday. But the President thanked  three brigades involved in operations to recapture Russian-held  territory there.

"This  week we have good news from Kharkiv region," Zelensky said. "Probably,  you all have already seen reports about the activity of Ukrainian  defenders. And, I think, every citizen feels proud of our soldiers. It  is a well-deserved pride."

He  also thanked units stationed in southern Ukraine what he called  "extremely successful hits" on occupying Russian forces, while the  simultaneous counter-attack was launched in the north.

"The  more difficult it is for the occupiers, the more losses they have, the  better the positions for our defenders in Donbas will be, the more  reliable the defense of Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and the cities of  Dnipropetrovsk region will be, the faster we will be able to liberate  the Azov region and the entire south," he said.

Ukraine continues to press on with its southern counter-offensive; Ukrainian forces are making gains in the south, with the ambitious goal of taking back most of the Russian-occupied region of Kherson by the end of the year, senior US officials and Ukrainian officials told CNN on Wednesday.

The  last week has seen the most ambitious ground assaults by the Ukrainians  since the beginning of the invasion, following sustained attacks on  command posts, ammunition stores, and fuel reserves far behind the front  lines, according to geolocation of video and satellite imagery.

The  US has observed Ukrainian forces achieve some success in attacking  Russian supply lines, with the intention of cutting off and isolating  Russian troops currently deployed west of the Dnipro River, according to  a senior US official.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/08/europ...ntl/index.html

----------


## bsnub

Ukraine’s military advanced as much as 30 miles in the country’s east  and liberated more than 20 villages and towns, a senior commander said,  in a rapid thrust aimed at cutting Russian supply routes.

       Brig. Gen. Oleksiy Hromov, a senior officer on Ukraine’s General Staff, gave the first official confirmation of the gains of an offensive launched Tuesday to the east of Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv.

        He told reporters in Kyiv that Russian  forces were demoralized but resisting, and noted smaller advances near  other eastern cities. 

       Russia’s military hasn’t commented on the Ukrainian advance.  But Gen. Hromov’s comments tally with reports from Russian war bloggers  close to the Russian military who have said Ukrainian forces are making  gains toward Kupyansk, a city of some 30,000 before the war, that is a  critical road hub for the resupply and movement of Russian occupation  forces.

       Russian occupation authorities in Kupyansk said they would  evacuate women and children from the strategic city as advancing  Ukrainian forces stepped up strikes there.

The unexpected Ukrainian thrust appears to mark a new phase in the  war where Kyiv is seeking to take back ground that Russia seized since  it launched a full-scale invasion about six months ago. After repelling  Russian forces from Kyiv in spring, Ukraine’s military has been  gradually withdrawing from cities in the east under devastating  artillery and airstrikes.

But the Russian advance there appears exhausted, and Ukraine has seized the initiative in the war  with dual offensives in the south and east. In the south, Ukraine is  seeking to cut off thousands of Russian troops on the western bank of  the Dnipro River in and around the regional capital of Kherson.

       To the east of Kharkiv, Kupyansk has emerged as a key target.  Liberating the city, or even being close enough to use artillery to  disrupt Russia’s supply lines, could isolate Russian forces in the city  of Izyum to the south, which Moscow had sought to use for an offensive  of its own.

              Ukrainian troops liberated the eastern city of Balakliya  Thursday, according to Russian war bloggers and photographs posted on  local social media channels. The city, with a prewar population of some  30,000, is the largest that Kyiv’s forces have retaken control of in  months. Ukrainian units were also advancing to the northeast in the  direction of Kupyansk, seizing several villages.

       A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the  Ukrainian offensives were aimed at demonstrating to Ukrainians that  everything was going well and at persuading the West to provide more  weapons, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Ukrainian President              Volodymyr Zelensky       met with senior commanders Thursday to receive reports on  advances, which he said had liberated dozens of towns and villages and  around 1,000 square kilometers, or about 385 square miles, more than the  land area of New York City, since the start of September.

              He posted a video on social media of a Ukrainian soldier  standing on a Russian tricolor with the Ukrainian flag flying on a pole  behind him, reporting that Balakliya had been liberated.

       “Everything is in its place,” wrote Mr. Zelensky. “The flag of Ukraine in a free Ukrainian city under a free Ukrainian sky.”

       Senior U.S. officials said Thursday that Washington is sending $675 million in new military assistance to Ukraine, along with $2 billion in additional funding for the country and others in the region.

Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns, speaking of the  Ukrainian counteroffensive, said Thursday, “I would not underestimate  the capacity, or courage, of the Ukrainians right now.”

       Mr. Burns said that Russian President       

“I believe, my colleagues at CIA believe, that Putin is as wrong  about that bet as he was profoundly wrong in his assumptions going back  to last February about Ukrainian will to resist and the will of the  West, of the United States and all of our partners to support the  Ukrainians,” Mr. Burns said at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit in  Washington.

       U.S. Army Gen.              Mark Milley,       the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that  while “so far, the Russian strategic objectives have been defeated,” it  was too soon to say whether Ukraine has successfully thwarted Russia in  the southern part of the country. 

Gen. Milley, speaking from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, said that  Ukraine has struck 400 targets using U.S.-provided Himars rocket  systems, with devastating effect. 

       “Russian lines of communication and supply chains are severely  strained. It is having a direct impact on the Russian ability to project  and sustain combat power,” he said.

       Russian officials have dismissed indications that their  six-month invasion is faltering. Mr. Putin said Wednesday: “We have not  lost anything and will not lose anything.”

       A senior Russian official proposed holding votes on joining  Russia in occupied territories on Nov. 4, a Russian public holiday known  as National Unity Day.              Andrei Turchak,       leader of the governing United Russia party, said it would be a  “correct and symbolic” date for the votes. He said they would certainly  take place before the end of the year.

       Russia had previously indicated that votes would take place in  September, but those plans appear to have been scuttled by Ukraine’s  offensives.

       In areas that Russia has captured, Moscow has been handing out  passports, taking control of schools and introducing the Russian ruble.

But occupation forces have met with resistance. Vladimir Rogov, a  senior collaborator in occupied Melitopol in Ukraine’s south, said the  headquarters of his group “We Are Together with Russia” had been blown  up Wednesday.

       —Olya Fokaf and Warren P. Strobel contributed to this article.

Ukrainian Forces Punch Forward in East, Threatening Russian Supply Lines - WSJ

----------


## sabang

_As the Ukraine war rages, Turkey’s president accuses Western nations of provoking Russia.


_Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Western nations of provoking Russia, as he hailed Ankara’s policy of “balance” regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Erdogan has maintained ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, while trying to maintain neutrality in the conflict.

As well as mediating, Turkey supplies Ukraine with weapons and combat drones.

The Turkish president told reporters on Wednesday, during a visit to Belgrade, that he understood Putin’s decision to cut off natural gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline.

“I can say very clearly that I do not find the attitude of the West, no need to mention names, to be correct, because it is a policy based on provocations,” Erdogan said at a news conference with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic.

“As long as you try to wage such a war of provocations, you will not be able to get the needed result.”

Erdogan has tried to use his open relations with Moscow and Kyiv to arrange direct talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey, a mission that has ultimately failed.

“As Turkey, we have always maintained a policy of balance between Ukraine and Russia. From now on, we will continue to follow that balanced policy,” he said.
Erdogan is expected to meet Putin at a regional summit in Uzbekistan next week. Chinese President Xi Jinping will also attend.
Turkey has not joined the Western sanctions regime against Russia and recently signed a new economic cooperation agreement with Moscow.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered a deal between Russia and Ukraine in July to allow grain exports to resume from Ukrainian ports, after warnings of possible famine outbreaks in parts of the world.

During Erdogan’s visit – the second stop on a three-nation Balkan tour – Turkey and Serbia signed seven agreements related to the economy, industry, and technology, including a protocol allowing mutual passport-free travel for their respective citizens.

‘Provocations’: Erdogan decries Western policy towards Russia | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera

----------


## Hugh Cow

My guess is the UDF will keep the Russians guessing. The russian weakness is a long front line which is hard to defend on territory full of their enemies who want them gone. The russians cant start an offensive without weakening their front line somewhere else. With winter coming this will be a slow grind and will further sap the morale of the Russian troops.
 The Babooshkas need to be out in the streets if they dont want to see their sons and grandsons coming home in body bags. I feel for those Russian conscripts who dont want to be there. Not for the ones who rape pillage and murder civilians. Along with the wagner group they should be  shot on the spot. The Wagner group should be declared a terrorist organisation. Again the EU has failed on Russian tourists and they need to be doing a lot more instead of leaving the heavy lifting to the USA and UK yet again.

----------


## bsnub

> My guess is the UDF will keep the Russians guessing.


The Russians have been totally blindsided by the Ukrainians in Kharkiv, where there has been a blitzkrieg offensive that is currently on the gates of Kupiansk. A rather stunning outcome so far, and it just may well be that a rather large number of Russian troops are encircled in Izyum as we speak. Lots of footage and updates on Twitter which verify all of this. Once again, Twitter is out front of the conventional news media.

----------


## bsnub

The Ukrainian military has recaptured nearly 300 square miles of  territory in a lightning dual counteroffensive in the south and the east  of the country, a top Ukrainian general said Thursday, marking perhaps  the most significant advance in the war in months.

 After weeks of stalled fighting in and around the eastern Donbas  region, Ukrainian troops began pushing Russian forces back from the  countrys second-largest city of Kharkiv six days ago, threatening to  cut vital supply lines for the Kremlins assault. And videos posted to  social media showed that the snap offensive wasnt just racking up  Russian casualties but rows of prisoners.

 The Ukrainian push on two fronts, striking both east toward Kharkiv  and south toward Kherson, has put Russian forces on the back foot.  Russia moved troops south when the big punch came in the east. 

My  understanding is that they are pushing everywhere, said Tymofiy  Mylovanov, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

 But the quick succession of military advances by Ukraine in the past  several days, including into Balakliya and Shevchenkoveperhaps the  largest of the war since Russian troops were pushed out of the Kyiv  suburbs in late springhas surprised some of the higher-ups in Kyiv, who  expected the lighting offensive to move more slowly. On Wednesday,  Colin Kahl, the U.S. Defense Departments policy chief, referred to the  Ukrainian moves as an offensive, the first time the Biden  administration has used that word.

 Theyve done a lot of damage to the Russian forces near Kherson,  Kahl said at a defense conference near Washington. Ukraines armed  forces said on Thursday that they had recaptured 20 settlements in the  Kharkiv region from Russia. The push was made possible, in part, by  long-range U.S. artillery.

This  is Ukraine cleverly spotting thin Russian lines with bad opportunities  for redeployment, coupled with new, longer-range capabilities that can  impact Russian forces, said Oscar Jonsson, a researcher at the Swedish  Defence University. The attacks also gave Ukrainian forces hope of  retaking Izyum, captured by Russia in the early days of the April  offensive in the Donbas region, and of cutting off the major supply  junction at Kupyansk.

Yet just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans  to mobilize 137,000 more troops by Januarylikely in a bid to stem troop  losses in UkraineUkrainian officials believe that the defenders have  been able to take advantage by seizing on a moment to attack thinner  Russian forces in Kharkiv just as they have shuttled in more  reinforcements toward Kherson, which has been effectively ranged with  U.S.- and European-provided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.

 It seems like the Russians cant hold the defense for the whole  theater, said Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker from Odesa.  They need to increase their presence somewhere. They need to take  forces from somewhere.

 Goncharenko, a member of the opposition in Ukraines parliament, said  Russia has also backfilled its ranks near Kharkiv with less experienced  troops, such as those in Rosgvardia, Russias rough equivalent to the  U.S. National Guard. But others said the Russian manpower shortages may  be even more dire. There are villages in eastern Ukraine where they  have recruited everyone, said Mylovanov, the advisor to Zelensky. No  one is left.

 The advances also show Ukraines increasing urgency to reconquer  ground ceded to the Russians after Putin launched his full-scale  invasion in February before a brutal winter sets in that is likely to  bring heavy snowfall throughout the country and send temperatures below  zero. Ukrainian officials told _Foreign Policy_ that they are not  eager to leave the liberation of Kherson, one of Russias biggest  strategic prizes so far in the war, until after the winter. Oleksandra  Ustinova, a Ukrainian parliamentarian, said Ukrainian forces are likely  to be knocking on the door of the city within the week.

They are literally running away, Ustinova said.

 But even with $675 million more in U.S. military aid heading to  Ukraine starting Thursday, including more artillery and High Mobility  Artillery Rocket Systems that have pounded Russian lines in the south,  top Ukrainian officials are still complaining about shortages in  ammunition. Officials said artillery shortages are most acute with 152  mm Soviet-era artillery, which has become impossible to source and which  the United States and other Western allies are trying to backfill with  NATO-standard 155 mm artillery.

 But Ukrainian military officials still worry that they are vastly  outranged by Russian weapons, despite Ukrainian attacks on Crimean  supply hubs last month. In a blog post published on Wednesday, Ukraines  top general, Valeriy Zaluzhny, and parliamentarian Mykhailo Zabrodsky  urged the United States and other powers to more quickly provide  long-range weapons such as the Army Tactical Missile System, which the  Biden administration has yet to send to Ukraine for fear of provoking  Russia into further escalating the war.

Despite  the Ukrainian gains, Zaluzhny and Zabrodsky said they expect the war to  drag into 2023 and that Russia could try to push on Izyum and Bakhmut  in the east or advance farther toward Zaporizhzhia  in the south. Success in the south, provided it is used quickly and  correctly, can have a double effect, they wrote. The prospects for  capturing Mykolaiv and Odesa are quite real.

 Yet there also appears to be a consistent theme of Ukraines  offensive: using long-range attacks to make it difficult for Russian  troops to resupply themselves. Zaluzhny confirmed that the August attack  on a Russian air base in Crimea was carried out by missiles and that it  could mark a target for a later Ukrainian offensive. And other  Ukrainian officials see the current pattern as building up to that.

 Its a consistent strategy of weakening the supply lines and  degrading the military capacity of Russia, Mylovanov said. So I think  if they keep doing it, theyre going to make the Russian force  collapse.

Ukraine Goes on the Offensive

----------


## Takeovers

> The attacks also gave Ukrainian forces hope of retaking Izyum, captured by Russia in the early days of the April offensive in the Donbas region, and of cutting off the major supply junction at Kupyansk.


The target is Kupyansk. A railroad and road hub. Ukraine troops are just 10km from the town. If they can take Kupyansk it cripples Russian resupply in the region almost as efficient as taking out the bridges around Kherson.

----------


## bsnub

> The target is Kupyansk.


I mentioned that on the previous page. They are getting close to it. Also, it would appear that the Ukrainians have captured a general...

*There is information that, in fact, in the uniform of a lieutenant colonel was Lieutenant General Andrey Sychevoi, commander of the Zapad grouping of the RF Armed Forces*

https://twitter.com/War2022ua/status...60165437284353

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## misskit

^^Ukrainian forces will likely recapture the town of Kupyansk within 72 hours as part of their counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Friday.


"Ukrainian forces’ relatively quick speed of advance, proximity to Kupyansk, and ability to shell the city are prompting panic in Russian rear areas," the U.S. thinktank said in its latest update.


Pro-Kremlin commentators had speculated that control of Kupyansk would allow Ukrainian troops to encircle Izyum, which Russian forces captured in mid-March, further south.


The ISW assessed that the loss of Kupyansk and other rear areas would “hinder” Russian offensive and defensive operations, but it would “not completely sever” communications with Izyum.

Ukraine War: As It's Happening - The Moscow Times

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## bsnub

> Ukrainian forces will likely recapture the town of Kupyansk within 72 hours


Then that means that the Russian troops in Izyum are cut off from resupply and encircled. That is 10-20k troops. This is looking like a complete collapse of the Russian army in the east.

----------


## panama hat

Good Lord, here we go again . . . 


> Again the EU has failed on Russian tourists


How so?  Do you think the EU is one country that has no differing opinions? Doesn't have the sovereign right to issue visas or not?  


Have a look at some facts about countries ceasing issuance of visas to Russians::

Worldwide/Russia: Update on Visa Suspensions for Russian Citizens | Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP





> leaving the heavy lifting to the USA and UK yet again.


This'll be good.  How are the US and UK doing the 'heavy lifting'?  Are Russian tourists banned from coming to the UK?
The US?  Perhaps you'd like to try again.






> This is looking like a complete collapse of the Russian army in the east.


Perhaps we should temper the enthusiasm about any imminent collapse . . . Russia is quite capable of unleashing hell on the country if they decide to empty their depots . . . but being paranoid Russians they'd sooner drop the bomb

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## bsnub

> Perhaps we should temper the enthusiasm about any imminent collapse . .


Perhaps, but the writing on the wall is getting more and more clear by the hour. 




> Russia is quite capable of unleashing hell on the country if they decide to empty their depots


They have been doing that for months. The depots are running dry, and they are desperately buying weapons from North Korea. What we are seeing in Kharkiv oblast is an actual proper lightning strike advance that is working, unlike the disaster the Kremlin attempted at the start of the war that resulted in humiliation and defeat.

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## misskit

*Russians Killed Two Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Staff, Abused Others*

Russian forces controlling Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have killed two staff at the facility and detained and abused dozens of others, the head of Ukraine's nuclear energy agency told AFP on Friday. 


The Zaporizhzhia plant — the largest in Europe — was captured by Russian troops in March. An uptick in fighting around it in recent weeks has raised fears of a nuclear disaster with both Moscow and Kyiv blaming the other for the escalation. 


"A regime of harassment of personnel was gradually established," following the Russian takeover, Petro Kotin said. 


"Two people were beaten to death. We do not know where about ten people are now, they were taken [by the Russians] and after that we have no information about their whereabouts," Kotin said, adding about 200 people had been detained. 


He described the current situation at the plant as "very difficult," citing "torture" of staff and "beatings of personnel." 


"The Russians look for pro-Ukrainian people and persecute them. People are psychologically broken," he said in an interview with AFP reporters in his office in Kyiv. 


Frequent shelling of the plant — including the town of Energodar where the facility is located — means staff have been trying to secure safe passage for family members to leave the area, Kotin said. 


"Two people on the territory of the plant were wounded during shelling — a woman and a man — on separate occasions," Kotin, clad in a military-style jacket, said. 


"But people understand that the nuclear safety of the plant depends on them, so the employees return to Energodar and continue working at the facility," he added. 


Demilitarisation zone needed 
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) dispatched a 14-strong mission last week to the plant and released a report following the inspection. 


Kotin said it described difficult psychological working conditions at the plant that ultimately amounted to "a violation of nuclear radiation safety." 


"This situation must be corrected as soon as possible," he told AFP. 


The IAEA in its report called for "the immediate establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone" around the plant as it faces an "untenable" situation.  


But Kotin said there was room for interpretation there. 


"If this is the demilitarization of the nuclear plant, we fully support it. If it is...the creation of some security zones with joint control along with the Russians, then this is of course an unacceptable decision for us," Kotin said.  


"We will insist on creating a demilitarized zone around the plant, including with the participation of peacekeeping groups," he added. 


Kotin also said Ukraine insists that Russia remove military hardware from the plant and that staff from Russian nuclear agency Rosatom also leave the area. 


"For this, international partners need to put a lot of pressure on Russia to meet conditions that the Ukrainian authorities and the IAEA have made." 


Kotin added all power lines connected to the plant have been severed as a result of shelling and the only reactor still on "is operating at a very low power level."


If these power lines are not restored, Kotin said, the station will go into blackout mode and will be able to rely only on diesel engines "to cool the nuclear material."


The head of the IAEA meanwhile on Friday echoed the point, saying nearby shelling had caused a blackout in Energodar and compromised safe operation of the plant. 


Director General Rafael Grossi in a statement on social media described the recent shelling as a "dramatic development." 


"This is completely unacceptable. It cannot stand," he added. 


"It is necessary to renew the communication line with the Ukrainian power system as soon as possible and supply it with power from external sources of energy supply," Kotin stressed. 

Russians Killed Two Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Staff, Abused Others - Ukraine - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russias 237th Guards Airborne Assault Regiment no longer exists: soldiers either dead or wounded Ukrainian Intelligence*

Ukrainian Intelligence reports that due to successful counteroffensive of Ukrainian forces on several fronts, Russian occupiers are looking for a way to escape, calling their wives and asking the Russian Ministry of Defence to get them out of Ukraine.


Source: Ukrainian Chief Intelligence Directorate


Quote: "The 237th Guards Airborne Assault Regiment of the Russian Federation no longer exists due to either death or injury of all soldiers. A large part of those who survived are in extremely serious condition."


Details: It is noted that the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian troops forces the occupiers to ask the Red Cross for help and flee on stolen bicycles.


Similarly, Russians from the 202nd Detached Motorised Rifle Regiment, which is deployed in Kharkiv Oblast, left their positions and moved to the nearest forest strip.


The unit has no commanders and communications left. Currently, servicemen of the regiment are calling their relatives, asking to contact the command and find out where they should retreat. Some of them ask their wives to contact the hotlines of the Ministry of Defence of Russia and the Red Cross with the demand to remove them from the territory of Ukraine.


The occupiers tried to resist the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv Oblast, attacking the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from tanks and a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower system.


Nevertheless, the Russian detachments suffered serious losses, left their positions and retreated in small groups. The occupiers complain about the powerful offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as the lack of ammunition and equipment. Due to the lack of logistics, they are retreating chaotically. Bicycles and scooters seized from the local population are used to leave combat positions. Many of the Russian soldiers are on foot.


On the Dnipropetrovsk front, the Russian army is trying to hold its positions. However, the upset with the new replenishments is growing, most of the "recruits" are 55-60 years old.


In order to maintain their positions in the Kherson Oblast, the occupiers brought reinforcements from the territory of the Russian Federation. However, the recruits flatly refuse to participate in offensive combat operations.


At the same time, Russian-aligned news outlets spread the information that the Ukrainian counter-offensive operation is a fake PR-action.


Kremlin propaganda tries to convince its citizens that all reports of a Ukrainian counter-offensive are a "show performance" for Europe and the civilised world. They claim that all Western-supplied weapons and military equipment were sold to unknown clients.

Russias 237th Guards Airborne Assault Regiment no longer exists: soldiers either dead or wounded Ukrainian Intelligence

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## bsnub

> Currently, servicemen of the regiment are calling their relatives, asking to contact the command and find out where they should retreat. Some of them ask their wives to contact the hotlines of the Ministry of Defence of Russia and the Red Cross with the demand to remove them from the territory of Ukraine.


They are caught in what has become the Izium cauldron. It could be as many as 20k troops caught there. Not many good options for them to be honest.

----------


## bsnub

The press is way behind this war, which is why I have been posting on the other thread and providing twitter links. Russia is on the brink of total collapse in Ukraine. Some posters may be hesitant to post in the other thread because they are not hearing or reading this via conventional news sources. Trust me, it will all come out in the next couple of days. This article is two hours old...

Ukrainian forces kept surging forward in the country's east Saturday after punching through Russian defenses in a surprise counteroffensive that could prove a decisive turning point in the war.

Kyiv  said its military had recaptured swaths of territory in a thrust  centered on the region around Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

Officials  shared a flood of images and videos from the northeastern region, with  some verified by NBC News showing soldiers raising Ukrainian flags over  once-occupied towns and villages or posing victoriously next to road  signs. Others appeared to show troops being met by residents who offered  soldiers everything from heartfelt thanks to pancakes.  

“As of now, the armed forces liberated and took control of  more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region,” Ukrainian President  Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Friday.
NBC News has not verified the claims.

But  the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based military think tank,  said in its latest update Saturday that Ukrainian forces "have captured  an estimated 2,500 square kilometers (about 1,000 square miles) in  Kharkiv Oblast in the Kharkiv area counteroffensive as of September 9."

Russia's  defense ministry shared video Friday showing military vehicles that it  said were rushing to the aid of its forces in the east, while a  Moscow-installed official in the region conceded that Ukrainian troops  had made gains.

“The very fact of the breakthrough is a significant victory  for them,” Vitaly Ganchev, who leads the Kremlin-controlled government  in the occupied territory in Kharkiv province, said Friday in an  appearance on Russian state TV. He said battles were ongoing for some  strategic areas.

Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for  Vladimir Putin, refused to comment on Ukraine’s advances but said that  the Russian president would hold a closed security council meeting.

Putin promised earlier this week topush on with Moscow's military efforts in Ukraine, saying that his country was gaining rather than losing from the conflict.

Events on the battlefield appeared to paint a bleaker picture for the Kremlin, however.

The  United States expressed cautious optimism about Ukraine’s  counteroffensive, with the Pentagon saying Kyiv’s forces were putting  Western-supplied weapons to good use.

“We see success in  Kherson now, we see some success in Kharkiv and so that is very, very  encouraging,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a news conference  Friday during a visit to Prague.

Sasha Baker, deputy  undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters in Washington it  was “probably too soon to have a definitive assessment,” but added that  “I think we’ve seen some encouraging signs.

But she added that Russia represented “a formidable adversary” and that there was “a long fight ahead.”

A  senior U.S. military official told NBC News it was clear Ukrainian  forces were “making progress,” adding: “They’ve advanced significantly  in the last few days.”

Ukraine initially launched a counteroffensive in the  country's south late last month after weeks of public buildup and  preparation, as it aimed to push toward the crucial coastal city of  Kherson. 

Then this week, after Russia redeployed large  numbers of its own forces to the south to combat that effort, reports  began to emerge of Kyiv's forces launching another counteroffensive  further north — a move that appeared to catch both the broader world and  Moscow's military off guard.

"Either the Russians were  too incompetent to see it, or they were so incompetent they saw it and  couldn’t do anything,” Phillips O’Brien, chairman of strategic studies  at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said earlier this week.  “And neither of those are comforting for them.”

Some  Western military analysts said the advance appeared aimed at shutting  off supply and communication lines Russia has relied on to sustain its  forces in eastern Ukraine, and could potentially leave thousands of  Russian troops encircled around the city of Izyum.

The  industrial Donbas region has long been the focal point of Putin's war  effort, with such sweeping advances on either side largely unheard of in  a grinding, attritional conflict.

Glen Grant, a retired  British officer who worked as a defense reform expert in Ukraine before  the war, said there remained some questions about the success of the  counteroffensive. For instance, had Ukraine beaten back Russian forces  or were they "driving into fresh air?"

"In other words,  there's nobody there," he said, adding that he wanted to know if Ukraine  was laying down strong supply lines and artillery support as it moved  forward. 

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs  of Staff, said  Thursday that Ukraine was taking advantage of the  Western-made weapons now in its arsenal, including U.S.-supplied HIMARS  rocket systems.

“Russian strategic objectives have been  defeated,” he told reporters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. . “The war  is not over. But so far, the Russian strategic objectives have been  defeated.”

President Joe Biden this week approved an  additional $675 million in military aid for Ukraine, including more  artillery ammunition, armored vehicles and anti-tank systems.

NATO  Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who met with Secretary of State  Antony Blinken in Brussels after Blinken's trip to Kyiv, said the war  was “entering a critical phase," requiring the West to remain clear eyed  about what's at stake.

"If Russia stops fighting,  there will be peace," he said. "If Ukraine stops fighting, it will  cease to exist as an independent nation. So we must stay the course, for  Ukraine’s sake and for ours.”

Ukraine retakes Russian-occupied land near Kharkiv with surprise counteroffensive

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## Hugh Cow

In some liberated villages the Russians had occupied and trashed one in every three houses according to western news sources. The Ukrainian forces are being followed by police who are attempting to restore some normality as well as war crimes officials to document the trail of torture, abuse and murder committed by the Russians that they find in many towns they liberate. News sources are unsure of how much territory has been gained as the Ukraine army progress is faster than what can be reported. This has been a catastrophic intelligence failure by the Russian military intelligence who had been expecting a push further south and a masterstroke of disinformation by the Ukrainians that not only fooled the Russians but many analysts. Phone calls have been intercepted from desperate Russian soldiers to relatives asking them to make representations to the government to get them withdrawn from Ukraine territory, unfortunately that is a forlorn hope.

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## bsnub

> This has been a catastrophic intelligence failure by the Russian military intelligence who had been expecting a push further south and a masterstroke of disinformation by the Ukrainians that not only fooled the Russians but many analysts.


It is one of the most daring offensives in recent memory, and the Ukrainians pulled it off brilliantly, and now they are pressing on to Lysychansk. Nothing short of remarkable. 

Ukrainian military is on the outskirts of Lysychansk Head of Luhansk Oblast Military Administration

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## misskit

*Russia announces troop pullback from Ukraine’s Kharkiv area*

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s Defense Ministry announced Saturday that it was pulling back troops from two areas in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made significant advances in the past week.


The news came after days of apparent advances by Ukraine south of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, in what could become the biggest battlefield success for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv, at the start of the nearly seven-month war.


“The Russian army in these days is demonstrating the best that it can do — showing its back,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video released by his office Saturday night. “And, of course, it’s a good decision for them to run.”

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops would be regrouped from the Balakliya and Izyum areas to the eastern Donetsk region. Izyum was a major base for Russian forces in the Kharkiv region, and earlier this week social media videos showed residents of Balakliya joyfully cheering as Ukrainian troops moved in.

Konashenkov said the Russian move was being made “in order to achieve the stated goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas,’” an eastern area home to two separatist regions that Russia has declared sovereign.


The claim of a withdrawal to concentrate on Donetsk is similar to the justification Russia gave for pulling back its forces from the Kyiv region earlier this year when they failed to take the capital.


Igor Girkin, a Russian who was an early leader of a Moscow-backed separatist uprising in Donetsk in 2014, sneered at the portrayal of the pullback being strategic. On the messaging app Telegram, he acidly called it “the brilliant (clearly within the framework of the plan and even ahead of schedule) operation to transfer the cities of Izyum, Balakliya and Kupiansk to respected Ukrainian partners.”


Earlier Saturday, Ukrainian officials claimed major gains in the Kharkiv region, saying their troops had cut off vital supplies to Izyum.


Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko also suggested troops had retaken Kupiansk, a town along the main supply route to Izyum, long a focus on the Russian front line and the site of heavy artillery and other fighting. Nikolenko tweeted a photo showing soldiers in front of what he said was a government building in Kupiansk, 73 kilometers (45 miles) north of Izyum.

The Ukrainian Security Service posted a message hours later saying troops were in Kupiansk, further suggesting it had been seized. The military did not immediately confirm entering the town, a railway hub that Russia seized in February.


Videos on social media appeared to show Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Izyum at a roadside checkpoint. A large statue with the city’s name could be seen in the images. Ukrainian forces did not acknowledge holding the city.


Britain’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that it believed Ukrainian troops had advanced as much as 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Kharkiv, and described Russian forces around Izyum as “increasingly isolated.”

“Russian forces were likely taken by surprise. The sector was only lightly held and Ukrainian units have captured or surrounded several towns,” the British military said, adding that the loss of Kupiansk would greatly affect Russian supply lines.


The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, likewise referenced sweeping Ukrainian gains, estimating that Kyiv has seized around 2,500 square kilometers (965 square miles) in its eastern breakthrough. The institute said it appeared that “disorganized Russian forces (were) caught in the rapid Ukrainian advance,” and cited social media images of apparent Russian prisoners seized around Izyum and surrounding towns.

The same report said Ukrainian forces “may collapse Russian positions around Izyum if they sever Russian ground lines of communication” north and south of the town.


Vladislav Sokolov, head of the Russian-appointed local administration, said on social media that authorities in Izyum had started evacuating residents to Russia.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine comes amid an ongoing offensive around Kherson in the south. Analysts suggest Russia may have taken soldiers from the east to reinforce the latter area, offering the Ukrainians the opportunity to strike a weakened front line.


Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the television channel Ukraina that the Russians had no food or fuel for their troops in the area as Kyiv had cut off their supply lines.


“It will be like an avalanche,” he said, predicting a Russian fallback. “One line of defense will shake, and it will fall.”


The Ukrainian military was more circumspect, claiming to have taken “more than 1,000 square kilometers” (386 square miles) from pro-Kremlin forces this week. It said that “in some areas, units of the Defense Forces have penetrated the enemy’s defenses to a depth of 50 kilometers,” matching the British assessment, but did not disclose geographical details.

Officials in Kyiv have for weeks been tight-lipped about plans for a counteroffensive, urging residents to refrain from sharing information on social media.


However, Zelenskyy said Friday that troops had reclaimed more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region since the start of the counteroffensive.


Elsewhere, Ukrainian emergency services reported that a 62-year-old woman was killed in a Russian missile strike in the Kharkiv region when her home was flattened overnight.


The Ukrainian governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubov, accused Moscow of pummeling retaken settlements. He said via Telegram that five civilians were hospitalized in the Izyum district, while nine others suffered injuries elsewhere in the region.


In the embattled Donbas, the Ukrainian governor said civilians were killed and wounded overnight by Russian shelling near the city of Bakhmut, a key target of the stalled Russian offensive. Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram that two people died and two were injured in Bakhmut and the neighboring village of Yahidne.


In the Russian-held city of Enerhodar, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, electricity and water were restored after a four-day outage due to an explosion, the city’s Ukrainian mayor, Dmytro Orlov, said.


Enerhodar and its Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant have come under repeated shelling in recent weeks, which Russia and Ukraine accused each other of committing. The shelling has raised fears of a radiation leak at the plant, which has been cut off from outside power sources; the facility has been forced to rely on power from its only working reactor for systems cooling and other safety measures.


Orlov said workers from the plant assisted in restoring Enerhodar’s power, but it was not clear if the electricity was coming from the plant or from a nearby thermal generating station.


Also Saturday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock paid an unannounced visit to Kyiv and said Europe would not tire of helping Ukraine, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to raise the pressure by withholding energy supplies.


Baerbock said Germany will assist Ukraine in finding and removing mines and other unexploded ordnance left by Russian troops in areas where they have been pushed back.


Despite Ukraine’s gains, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the head of NATO warned Friday that the war would likely drag on for months. Blinken said the conflict was entering a critical period and urged Ukraine’s Western backers to keep up their support through what could be a difficult winter.

Russia announces troop pullback from Ukraine'&#39;'s Kharkiv area | AP News

----------


## bsnub

“The war in Ukraine  will continue until the complete defeat of Russia,” Igor Girkin, a  far-right nationalist, grumbled in a video address to his 430,000  followers on Telegram on Monday. “We have already lost, the rest is just  a matter of time.”

Girkin,  a former Russian intelligence colonel who became a commander of the  pro-Russian separatist forces in 2014, is arguably the most prominent  voice within an increasingly loud and angry group of ultra-nationalist  and pro-war bloggers who have taken to berating the Kremlin for its  failure to achieve its tactical objectives as the fighting in Ukraine  has entered its seventh month.

After  Ukraine’s latest counter-offensive in the south and the north-east of  the country, these bloggers – who have so far been granted a public  platform denied to many – have intensified their criticism of the  Kremlin, slamming the army’s inadequate performance in the war and  urging Vladimir Putin to declare a full-scale mobilisation.

“They are certainly getting angrier, and with good  and obvious reason, especially as the gap between the official line and  the reality on the ground widens,” said Mark Galeotti, an expert in  Russian security affairs.

On Wednesday, Ukraine launched a surprise counterattack  near the country’s second biggest city of Kharkiv, encircling  Balakliia, a strategically important town of 27,000 people, and  recapturing several smaller settlements.

The  military bloggers, who are often former veterans with contacts on the  frontlines, also provide a rare insight into Russia’s real performance  on the ground. “Some are very dubious sources but there are also those –  like Girkin – who know what they’re talking about and clearly are in  touch with people at the front or who otherwise are in the know,” said  Galeotti.

The Russian government has not  published its own losses since 25 March, when it gave a total of 1,351  killed and 3,825 wounded. Western intelligence believes as many as 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the start of the war.

Instead,  since the onset of the war, the Russian defence ministry has repeatedly  issued improbable statements about its successes on the battlefield,  boasting of having destroyed more than 40 western-made Himars rocket launchers and claiming to have decimated the Ukrainian air force.

State  television, the most popular source of information in Russia, similarly  continues to paint a rosy picture of Russian successes in Ukraine. In a  combative speech on Wednesday, Putin reiterated that Russia had “lost nothing” in a war he said was going according to plan.

However,  that optimism was not shared by others as Ukraine encircled Balakliia  on Wednesday, pulling off what has already been labelled as one of the  war’s most impressive strategic moves and hailed as “good news” by  Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Wednesday night.

“It  must be stated that in Balakliia, the armed forces of Ukraine have  completely outplayed our command,” Starshe Eddy, a popular pro-war  Russian blogger, wrote on his Telegram channel.

Starshe  Eddy’s audience on Telegram, like those of other war bloggers, has  ballooned since the start of the invasion, from about 28,000 in January  to 500,000, according to Tgstat, an analytics service for Telegram  channels.

Pointing to Russia’s non-reaction to  the Ukrainian offensive, Aleksandr Kots, a pro-Kremlin war journalist,  accused the authorities on Wednesday of hiding “bad news” about the  situation on the ground. “We need to start doing something about the  system where our leadership doesn’t like to talk about bad news, and  their subordinates don’t want to upset their bosses,” he said.

Ukraine’s  latest offensive has also led to renewed calls from the far-right  nationalist for a general mobilisation, a move Putin has so far opted  against despite growing signs the Russian army is facing an acute lack  of new soldiers.

“Mobilisation is, let’s put it bluntly, our only  chance to avoid a crushing defeat,” wrote Andrei Morozov, another  popular blogger.

For now, the Kremlin seems to  be willing to accept the criticism coming its way from the band of  pro-war bloggers. Girkin has repeatedly called for the firing of the  defence minister and close Putin ally, Sergei Shoigu, urging in one post  for the minister to be executed by firing squad.

The Kremlin’s tolerance of the bloggers’ comments is remarkable, experts say, given the newly introduced laws under which criticism of the war can be punished with up to 15 years in jail.

Pavel  Luzhin, an independent Russian military expert, believes the bloggers  are left “untouched” because they provide an outlet for a section of the  Russian population to vent their anger about the failures in Ukraine.  “The Kremlin is too scared to simply ignore the nationalist section of  the population,” Luzhin said, adding that some of the bloggers were  probably operating with the tacit approval of the security services.

Galeotti  similarly said “many” of the bloggers were “connected to or protected  by figures within the military or security agencies”.

For  now, Girkin and other military bloggers are likely to keep up their  daily criticism as Putin’s bloody military offensive has stalled in  Ukraine. “Don’t EXPECT ANY BIG WINS in the next 2–3 months,” he wrote in  a post this week. “If our Kremlin elders do not change their tactics,  we will be seeing catastrophic defeats by then.”

Girkin declined to comment for this article, saying he considered the western media “his enemy”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-army-response

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## S Landreth

Just a couple.

Defense of Ukraine - It is natural that when the #UAarmy attacks, you have to flee (quickly).
But to run away like that, to lose yourself on the way, and eventually be stopped by a pro-Ukrainian tree?!: https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1568675893131845634

ТРУХА - Russian Lend-Lease in commercial quantities: https://twitter.com/TpyxaNews/status...85029210947584

Make sure the volume is turned on

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## bsnub

> But to run away like that, to lose yourself on the way, and eventually be stopped by a pro-Ukrainian tree?!: https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1568675893131845634


Some backstory to that video...

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## misskit

I’m surprised a tank can move so fast! That is downright comical looking. It needs the Benny Hill theme song playing.


Otherwise, I do home the Ukrainians are able to care for Russian prisoners well and will call for international help, like the Red Cross, if they are not able to.

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## panama hat

From the above sources . . . Feb 24 - Sep 10





And ending in:





Wouldn't it be great if it were all true . . . and then Russians would fuck off out of Ukraine . . . reparations are required by the butchers

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## bsnub

> It needs the Benny Hill theme song playing.


There is a version with it.  :Smile:

----------


## bsnub

As Russia’s full-scale reinvasion of Ukraine approached the half-year mark, Volodymyr Zelensky had victory on his mind.

 “We can and should think only about how to win,” the Ukrainian president said in his Aug. 18 address to the nation.

 And on the six-month anniversary of the invasion on Aug. 24, a date  that coincided with Ukraine’s Independence Day, Zelensky spoke even more  forcefully about victory—and spelling out exactly what that would mean.

 “For us, the most terrible iron is not missiles, aircraft, and tanks,  but shackles. Not trenches, but fetters. And we will put our hands up  only once—when we will celebrate our victory,” Zelensky said that day.

 “Donbas is Ukraine. And we will return it, whatever the path may be.  Crimea is Ukraine. And we will return it. Whatever the path may be.”

 Throughout August, in the weeks prior to Zelensky’s remarks,  Ukraine’s armed forces conducted multiple attacks against targets on the  Crimean Peninsula, which Russia forcefully and illegally seized in  2014. These have included a series of strikes  against an airstrip and munitions depots that Ukrainian authorities say  were orchestrated by elite military units operating behind enemy lines.  They also included drone attacks on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

 The strikes marked the first time that Ukraine seriously challenged  Russia’s dominance of the peninsula in more than eight years and shifted  the narrative of the war in Ukraine’s favor.

Combined with the recent  victories in Kherson and Kharkiv, they suggest that a Ukrainian  victory—rather than a defensive stalemate—is genuinely possible, if  still a long way off.

 Ukrainian victory is not an assured possibility. But if it happens,  it would be a paradigm-shifting event for European security, on the  scale of the events of 1989, when the countries of the old Warsaw Pact  liberated themselves from Soviet domination. Officials in Washington and  other Western capitals need to be prepared for the possibility.

 At the beginning of the war, the prospect of a Ukrainian victory  against the fifth-largest standing army in the world appeared beyond  absurd. The assumption at that time was that Russian troops would take  Kyiv in a matter of weeks, if not days.

 But Russia’s initial blitzkrieg aimed at decapitating Zelensky’s  government failed miserably. Fighting in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region  is deadlocked. And on Aug. 29, Ukraine launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive  in the south that aims to liberate the occupied—and strategically  vital—Kherson region, followed by a quick, strikingly successful  offensive in Kharkiv.

 Russia has already suffered up to an estimated 80,000  war casualties including dead and wounded, more than the Soviet Union  in a decade of war in Afghanistan, where the Soviets lost 14,500 troops and approximately 54,000 were wounded. Morale is low, and troop shortages so acute that the Kremlin-connected Wagner Group is recruiting potential mercenaries from prisons.  Western sanctions are beginning to take a toll on the Russian economy,  and, as importantly, hobbling Russia’s ability to acquire the microchip  and semiconductor technology necessary to replenish its depleted weapons stock.

To be sure, Ukraine is also sustaining high combat losses as well.  But in contrast to Russia, its forces are highly motivated and equipped  by the West with state-of-the-art military hardware like the M142 High  Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. They are also benefiting from Western intelligence sharing.

 We aren’t there yet, but the once-fanciful prospect of a Ukrainian  victory looks increasingly realistic. Such an outcome could be something  of a 1989 redux. Just as a weakening of Soviet power in the late 1980s  led to the fall of pro-Soviet regimes across the former Warsaw Pact,  today, the weakening of Russian power would likely have repercussions  across the former Soviet space.
 The fallout would be felt in Russian clients like Belarus, where  Aleksandr Lukashenko’s grip on power might not survive the defeat of his  patron in Moscow.

 In the aftermath of the deeply flawed August 2020 presidential  election, the ensuing protests, and the brutal crackdown on dissent,  Lukashenko has lost most—if not all—of his domestic legitimacy.  Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya,  widely seen as the legitimate victor in the 2020 election, is being  treated in the West as something akin to the leader of a Belarusian  government in exile. Public opinion polls show a sharp rise in pro-Western attitudes among Belarusians and a sharp drop in pro-Moscow sentiments.

Lukashenko’s decision to allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to use Belarusian territory as a staging ground for his invasion of Ukraine has proved deeply unpopular. It has also sparked resistance among Belarusians, including sabotage of rail lines to prevent Russian troops from getting to the front and a hacking campaign by a group calling itself the Cyber Partisans. 

Meanwhile, hundreds of Belarusian volunteers have joined  Ukraine’s struggle to defend itself against Russia by signing up for a  paramilitary group called the Kastus Kalinouski Battalion, named for the  leader of a 19th-century Belarusian uprising against the Russian  Empire.

 Given Lukashenko’s decision to go all in on Putin  and his war, a Ukrainian victory could very well lead to a free  Belarus. But the knock-on effects for the European security order would  be felt beyond Belarus.

 The fallout would also be felt in countries struggling to free  themselves from Moscow’s influence such as Georgia and Moldova,  weakening the influence Moscow is able to wield through oligarchic  structures.

 In Georgia, the population has long been strongly pro-Western, with  large majorities favoring the country joining NATO and the European  Union. But the ruling Georgian Dream party, which is financed by the  reportedly Russia-connected oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, has stealthily and steadily steered the country away from the West and back into Moscow’s de facto orbit.

 Ivanishvili accumulated his wealth during Russia’s privatizations of  the 1990s and maintains close ties with Moscow, according to an April report  by Transparency International. He returned to Georgia from Russia in  2012, when he formed and financed the Georgian Dream party, which then  defeated Mikheil Saakashvili’s pro-Western United National Movement and  has held power ever since.

 In addition to backsliding on democracy and seeking to imprison  political opponents, including Saakashvili, Georgian Dream has also  ended the country’s previously staunchly pro-Western foreign policy. The  most recent manifestation of this trend came in July when Georgian  Dream’s party chair Irakli Kobakhidze assailed the U.S. and EU ambassadors, suggesting they were trying to force Georgia into a war with Russia.

 Georgian Dream’s vice grip on power is entirely dependent upon  Ivanishvili’s wealth. And Ivanishvili’s wealth is entirely dependent on  his financial ties with Russia. A Russian defeat in Ukraine and a  hobbling of the Russian economy would weaken Ivanishvili’s hold on  Georgian politics and open the door for the country’s pro-Western  electorate to choose a government that is more in line with their  values. A weakened postwar Russia would also have a more difficult time  continuing to control and subsidize the occupied Georgian regions of  Abkhazia and South Ossetia, possibly facilitating the country’s  reunification.

 The effects of a Russian defeat in Ukraine would also be felt in  Moldova. Pro-Western President Maia Sandu has been in office since  December 2020, and her Party of Action and Solidarity holds a large  parliamentary majority. But recently, pro-Russian parties have been resurgent. This is due in part to the war in Ukraine, which has cut off Moldovan agriculture from the Russian and Belarusian markets.

 Moreover, there are an estimated 1,200 Russian troops occupying Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region. There are palpable fears  that if Russian forces are able to advance westward along Ukraine’s  Black Sea coast and capture the Ukrainian city of Odesa, they could link  up with troops in Transnistria and potentially threaten Moldova.

 But a Russian defeat in Ukraine would effectively foreclose on this  possibility, diminish Moscow’s ability to influence Moldova’s domestic  politics, and undermine the Kremlin’s ability to maintain its de facto  protectorate in Transnistria.

 Ukrainians are fighting not just for their own sovereignty and independence but also for the second liberation of Eastern Europe, finishing the process that began in 1989. The West needs to prepare itself to manage this potential contingency.

This year marks the centenary of the founding of the Soviet Union.  And as 2022 commenced, it looked like Putin was poised to begin its  restoration, first with what has been dubbed a soft annexation of Belarus, then with the subjugation of Ukraine by force.

 Now, it appears that 2022 may end up marking the final stage of the Soviet breakup.

 How Moscow would react to a new liberation of Eastern Europe would  depend on how a defeat in Ukraine changes the internal political  dynamics inside Russia. But in any scenario, Russia would be weakened  militarily, economically, and politically. Its capacity to resist the  new reality would be diminished. Inevitably, there would be calls in  some Western capitals not to “humiliate” Moscow. But such appeals should be resisted.

 Victory is a long way off, and it’s certainly not guaranteed. But the  United States and its European allies should not succumb to a failure  of imagination about what a Ukrainian victory would mean. A free Belarus  combined with a truly independent, sovereign, and whole Ukraine,  Georgia, and Moldova would be a game-changer.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/10...astern-europe/

----------


## harrybarracuda

KYIV/HRAKOVE, Ukraine (Reuters) -Ukrainian officials shared photos on Saturday showing troops raising the nations flag over the main railway city that has supplied Russian forces in northeastern Ukraine, as a collapse in Russias frontline threatened to turn into a rout.

A Reuters journalist inside a vast area recaptured in recent days by the advancing Ukrainian forces saw Ukrainian police patrolling towns and boxes of ammunition lying in heaps at positions abandoned by fleeing Russian soldiers.

With Ukrainians now having reached the city of Kupiansk, where rail lines linking Russia to eastern Ukraine converge, the advance had penetrated all the way to Moscows main logistics route, potentially trapping thousands of Russian troops.

Natalia Popova, adviser to the head of the Kharkiv regional council, shared photos on Facebook of troops holding up a Ukrainian flag in front of Kupiansk city hall. A Russian flag lay at their feet. Kupiansk is Ukraine. Glory to the armed forces of Ukraine, she wrote.

Ukraines security service confirmed Kyiv had forces inside Kupiansk.

In Hrakove, one of dozens of recaptured villages, Reuters saw burnt out vehicles bearing the Z symbol of Russias invasion, and piles of rubbish and ammunition in positions the Russians had abandoned in evident haste.

Hello everyone, we are from Russia, was spraypainted on a wall.

Three bodies lay in white body bags in a yard.

The regional chief of police, Volodymyr Tymoshenko, said Ukrainian police had moved in the previous day, and had checked the identities of local residents who had lived under Russian occupation since the invasions second day.

The first function is to provide help that they need. The next job is to document the crimes committed by Russian invaders on the territories which they temporarily occupied.

The capture of at least part of Kupiansk, if confirmed, potentially leaves thousands of Russian soldiers trapped at the frontline and cut off from supplies, including in Izium, Russias main stronghold and logistics hub in the northeast.

Ukraine Troops Reach Railway Hub as Breakthrough Threatens to Turn into Rout | Jewish & Israel News Algemeiner.com

----------


## Takeovers

The railway station Kupiansk is on the other side of the river, still controlled by russian troops. But close enough to Ukraine troops that they can hit trains easily with handheld weapons like Javelin. Supplies won't get through. That's supplies effectively blocked for the North and much of the East.

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## malmomike77

but of course the ruskies are only giniving up strategically unimportant farmland.  :Smile: 

Ukraine war: Russians 'outnumbered 8-1' in counter-attack

Ukrainian forces outnumbered Russians by eight to one in last week's counter-attack in the Kharkiv region, Russia's top occupation official there says.

Vitaly Ganchev told Russian TV that Ukraine's army had taken villages in the north and broken through to the Russian border.

Ukraine says it has regained control over 3,000 sq km (1,158 sq miles) of territory in a potential breakthrough in the six-month war.

The BBC cannot verify these figures.

The Ukrainian army says it took back 20 villages in the past 24 hours alone, in its continued counter-offensive in the north-east of the country.

It also said its forces have taken control of around 500 sq km in the southern Kherson region of the country.

UK defence officials say the Ukrainian army's successes will have "significant implications" for Russia's overall operational design.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was however undeterred, saying operations in Ukraine would continue "until all the tasks that were initially set" had been fulfilled.

President Vladimir Putin is constantly being updated with the latest developments, he added.

Russia said its forces were carrying out strikes in those areas that Ukraine had retaken recently.

This included targets in Izyum and Kupiansk which were taken by Ukraine on Saturday. Russia confirmed its forces' retreat from both towns, which it said would allow them to "regroup".

Russia has been accused of targeting civilian infrastructure in revenge for setbacks on the battlefield.

A wave of missile strikes on Sunday caused power cuts across the region.

Ukraine war: Russians '''outnumbered 8-1''' in counter-attack - BBC News

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## misskit

*Amid Ukraine’s startling gains, liberated villages describe Russian troops dropping rifles and fleeing*

ZALIZNYCHNE, Ukraine — In the end, the Russians fled any way they could on Friday, on stolen bicycles, disguised as locals. Hours after Ukrainian soldiers poured into the area, hundreds of Russian soldiers encamped in this village were gone, many after their units abandoned them, leaving behind stunned residents to face the ruins of 28 weeks of occupation.

“They just dropped rifles on the ground,” Olena Matvienko said Sunday as she stood, still disoriented, in a village littered with ammo crates and torched vehicles, including a Russian tank loaded on a flatbed. The first investigators from Kharkiv had just pulled in to collect the bodies of civilians shot by Russians, some that have been lying exposed for months.


“I can’t believe that we went through something like this in the 21st century,” Matvienko said, tears welling.


The hasty flight of Russians from the village was part of a stunning new reality that took the world by surprise over the weekend: The invaders of February are on the run in some parts of Ukraine they seized early in the conflict.


The Russian Defense Ministry’s own daily briefing Sunday featured a map showing Russian forces retreating behind the Oskil river on the eastern edge of the Kharkiv region — a day after the ministry confirmed its troops had left the Balakliya and Izyum area in the Kharkiv region, following a decision to “regroup.”


On Sunday, Ukraine’s commander in chief, Valery Zaluzhny, said Ukrainian forces had retaken more than 3,000 square kilometers (more than 1,100 square miles) of territory, a claim that could not be independently verified, adding that they were advancing to the east, south and north.


“Ukrainian forces have penetrated Russian lines to a depth of up to 70 kilometers in some places,” reported the Institute for the Study of War, which closely tracks the conflict. They have captured more territory in the past five days “than Russian forces have captured in all their operations since April,” its campaign assessment posted Sunday said.


The apparent collapse of the Russian forces has caused shock waves in Moscow. The leader of the Chechen republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, who sent his own fighters to Ukraine, said if there are not immediate changes in Russia’s conduct of the invasion, “he would have to contact the leadership of the country to explain to them the real situation on the ground.”


Evidence of the Ukrainian gains continued to emerge Sunday, with images of Ukrainian soldiers raising a flag in central Izyum, after it was abandoned by Russian forces, and similar images from other towns and villages such as Kindrashivka, Chkalovske and Velyki Komyshuvakha.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declined to elaborate on his army’s next moves, except to say in a CNN interview, “We will not be standing still. We will be slowly, gradually moving forward.”


In a forceful statement to Russia on Sunday night, Zelensky insisted the invaders would be expelled. “Read my lips,” he said. “Without gas or without you? Without you. Without light or without you? Without you. Without water or without you? Without you. Without food or without you? Without you. Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst are not as scary and deadly for us as your ‘friendship and brotherhood.’ ”


Ukrainians emerged into the string of just-liberated villages southeast of Kharkiv hailing the end of their ordeal, and wondering whether it is truly over. “Only God knows if they will be back,” said Tamara Kozinska, 75, whose husband was killed by a mortar blast soon after the Russians arrived.


It is not over by any means, military experts warned. Russia still holds about a fifth of Ukraine and continued heavy shelling over the weekend across several regions. And nothing guarantees that Ukraine can keep recaptured areas secure. “A counteroffensive liberates territory and after that you have to control it and be ready to defend it,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov cautioned in an interview with the Financial Times.


But as Ukrainian soldiers continued Sunday to sweep deeper into territory that had been held by Russia, more of them were willing to see the campaign as a possible turning point.

In Zaliznychne, a tiny agricultural village 37 miles east of Kharkiv, residents were feeling their way back to normality Sunday, sleeping in bedrooms rather than basements for the first time in months and trying to make contact with family on the outside.

Kozinska hasn’t seen her daughter since February — even though she lives 12 miles away — but had just received word that she will come to pick her up as soon as officials open access to the village, just as the weather turns cold.


“I have been so scared about winter,” said the woman with lung problems, clutching a just-distributed paper giving her a number to call if she finds a land mine. “We have no power and it’s hard for me to collect firewood.”


The first Russian soldiers who set up in the village, turning the sawmill into their base and launching rocket attacks at Ukrainian troops in the next town, had at first not harassed the residents, she said. When they shot pigs on an abandoned farm, they sometimes let residents butcher some of the meat.

But as the occupation ground on, with the Russians rotating out every month, the troops became more aggressive. One of them asked to borrow Kozinska’s phone.

“I gave it to him so he could call his mother, but he took my SIM card,” she said.


One of the medics treated Halyna Noskova’s back after she was hit by mortar shrapnel in her front yard in June. Her 87-year mother pulled out the metal shard. “It was still hot,” she said. The Russian bandaged her up.


“They helped me, but I’m glad we are liberated,” said Noskova, 66.


The residents, all of whom are Russian speaking in this region adjacent to the Russian border, described treatment generally more humane than that experienced by occupied communities farther to the west. The discovery of more than 450 bodies in Bucha, near Kyiv — many showing signs of torture — set off international outrage over atrocities.


“They were not monsters, they were kids,” said Matvienko, who once asked Russian troops to move the tank they parked in front of her house. “I asked what they wanted from us and they said, ‘We can either be here or we can be in jail.’ ”


Others told the villagers they weren’t there to fight Ukraine, but to “protect us from America.”

The Russians’ biggest rule for residents was to get inside by 6 p.m. and stay there, quiet and in the dark, several said. Violating that order could be fatal, as two men on the street learned early on. The friends were drinking and had a light on, said Maria Grygorova, who lives in the attached house next door. The next morning she found them on the floor.


“Konstiantyn had two bullet holes in his head,” she said.


She and two friends buried them in the side yard. The same two friends dug them up Sunday, with Ukrainian war crimes investigators looking on.


The team from Kharkiv collected two other bodies during their visit, including a security guard whose remains have been rotting on the floor of a gravel elevator at an asphalt plant for months, even as the Russians used it as a sniper tower. One investigator vomited over a guardrail repeatedly as officers collected the remains.


“We’re here looking into war crimes,” said Serhii Bolvinov, chief investigator of the Kharkiv Regional Police, as his crew waited on demining techs to clear one area of explosives before they could recover some of the bodies.

The residents were scared of the Russians, several village residents said. But they almost pitied them in their scramble to escape the recent Ukrainian onslaught.


Half of the soldiers fled in their vehicles in the first hours of the offensive, they said. Those stranded grew desperate. Some residents overheard their radio pleas to unit commanders for someone to come get them.


“They said, ‘You’re on your own,’ ” Matvienko recounted. “They came into our houses to take clothes so the drones wouldn’t see them in uniforms. They took our bicycles. Two of them pointed guns at my ex-husband until he handed them his car keys.”

Buoyant Ukrainian officials said they would no longer negotiate a peace deal that would let Russia keep an occupying presence in any territory, even in Crimea and part of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by Russia or Russian-backed separatists for years.


“The point of no return has passed,” Reznikov, the defense minister, said at the Yalta European Strategy summit in Kyiv on Saturday.


Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday seemed to backtrack on his previous assertion that the time wasn’t right for peace negotiations, as Russia was preparing to stage a round of sham referendums meant to annex occupied territories.


“We are not against the talks; we are not refusing the talks,” Lavrov said on the state TV program, “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin.” Rather, “Those who refuse should understand that the longer they delay this process, the more difficult it will be to negotiate.”

MSN

----------


## bsnub

> The railway station Kupiansk is on the other side of the river, still controlled by russian troops.


That is no longer the case. This is a very fast moving front line and the Ukrainians are in full control of Kupiansk and have moved much farther east of the Oskil river. Updated mapping is hard to find since the line at the front is changing so rapidly.

----------


## bsnub

After Russian forces in Ukraine suffered a series of crushing defeats over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin went into retreat himself.

The  Russian president postponed a planned meeting with his top military  brass and representatives of the defense industry in Sochi, in a sign  that Putin is caught in the lurch after Ukrainian forces reclaimed a lot of territory  that Russian armed forces had seized earlier in the war, according to  TASS. It is thought to be the largest Russian defeat since the beginning  of the war.

“The Sochi meetings are in demand, they will  continue,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, indicating that the  meeting was just being postponed, not canceled.

Peskov said Putin had pushed off the meeting with Russian defense leadership and defense industry representatives, which is usually held in May, due to a “very, very busy” schedule.


But he also suggested that Putin needed time to digest the new developments in the war, alluding to the losses.

“Especially since as the special military operation develops, certain  experience is gained that needs to be discussed,” Peksov added.

This  is now at least the second shakeup Russian defense leadership have had  to endure in trying to set up this meeting with Putin this year. In the  thick of the invasion this May, Peskov suggested there were no plans to hold the usual meeting.

Other  signs that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has left the Kremlin shaken  have emerged in recent hours. Putin had planned to host a series of  referenda as a way to fabricate support for Russia’s takeover. But Putin  has now allegedly canceled them, according to Meduza, which cites two sources close to the Kremlin.

A  pro-Moscow official in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, has also suggested  the referenda are on “pause” given the Ukrainian counteroffensive,  although he has sought to walk back his comments, according to France  24.

The news comes days after Ukrainian forces began launching a  counteroffensive in southern territories captured by Russia. Ukrainian  forces also launched operations aimed at the northeast of the country,  which Russian troops likely weren’t prepared for. Russia had rerouted  forces to the south to handle the expected counteroffensive there,  according to the Institute for the Study of War.

That regrouping may have been a strategic blunder. In the end, Russian forces were outnumbered by eight to one in the Kharkiv region, according to Vitaly Ganchev, a top military official appointed to the region.

Ukrainian forces have so far reclaimed over 3,000 square kilometers  of territory since the beginning of the month, according to Valeriy  Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces—a statistic  that would indicate the Ukrainians have tripled their won territory  in just a couple of days. Ukrainians have reclaimed more than 20  settlements in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, according to the General  Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, sending Russian forces  retreating. Ukrainians have also taken Vysokopillia, Novovoznesenske,  Bilohirka, Myroliubivka, and Sukhyi Stavok, Natalia Humeniuk, the head  of the United Coordinating Press Center of Defense Forces of the South  of Ukraine, said Monday.

The wins that Ukrainian armed forces  secured in the last several days could place Russian narratives about  the war—which, in Russia, remain focused on an alleged attempt to  “liberate” the Donbas—in jeopardy.

According to a British intelligence assessment, the losses will likely inject tension into Russia’s military leadership and exacerbate existing suspicions in Russia’s military ranks, which have been gutted in recent weeks.

“The rapid Ukrainian successes have significant implications for Russia’s overall operational design,” the British intelligence assessment states. “The majority of the force in Ukraine is highly likely being forced to prioritize emergency defensive actions.”

“The  already limited trust deployed troops have in Russia’s senior military  leadership is likely to deteriorate further,” the assessment read.

Already, Russian officials are second-guessing the entire “special”  military operation in Ukraine. Municipal deputies from Moscow and St.  Petersburg demanded that Putin resign, noting that “everything went wrong.” Some lawmakers have accused Putin of high treason for invading Ukraine.

Even Ramzan Kadyrov, Putin’s key ally in Chechnya, has started lobbing criticism at Russia’s military.

“Mistakes  were made,” Kadyrov said on Telegram. “And if today or tomorrow changes  are not made to the strategy of the ‘special military operation,' I  will be forced to turn to the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, the  leadership of the country to explain to them the situation that is  really happening on the ground.”

So far, though, the Kremlin has  attempted to project a sense of calm about the losses in Ukraine.  Russia’s Defense Ministry hasn’t explicitly admitted a defeat, but  rather has indicated Russia has made a decision to “regroup.”

“In  order to achieve the declared goals of the special military operation  for the liberation of Donbas, it was decided to regroup the Russian  forces stationed near Balakleya and Izyum to boost efforts in the  Donetsk direction,” Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters.

Peskov, for his part, said that Russia will continue to work to achieve its military goals.

“The special military operation is underway and will continue until the goals that have been set are achieved,” Peskov told reporters.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladim...in-ukraine-war

----------


## Takeovers

_ Originally Posted by Takeovers  (Russia launches Ukraine invasion)
The railway station Kupiansk is on the other side of the river, still controlled by russian troops.

_




> That is no longer the case. This is a very fast moving front line and the Ukrainians are in full control of Kupiansk and have moved much farther east of the Oskil river. Updated mapping is hard to find since the line at the front is changing so rapidly.


Not confirmed by reliable sources. Much doubt about reports. There are unconfirmed reports about Russian troops fleeing without Ukraine forces near.

----------


## bsnub

> Not confirmed by reliable sources. Much doubt about reports.


By the time you hear from the usual reliable sources, it is old news. I have seen that it was confirmed by multiple other sources. The deep state maps are not updated until the Ukrainian government confirms they have taken the territory, and they are currently in a media blackout. So other sources are the only way to get information. I will continue to post from my sources as much of the information is verified via geolocation. But feel free to err on the side of caution, you just get the same information later.

----------


## panama hat

> After Russian forces in Ukraine suffered a series of crushing defeats over the weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin went into retreat himself.


If only he'd topped himself while he was holed up in his version of Hitler's bunker

----------


## harrybarracuda

> An undisclosed Israeli defense contractor is supplying _anti-drone systems_ to Ukraine’s military by way of Poland, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael reported on September 12 echoed by Tani Goldstein reports in The Times of Israel. A source in the firm told Zman that the equipment was being sold to Poland to circumvent Israel’s refusal to sell advanced arms to Ukraine.
> 
> Ukraine army getting Israeli anti-drone systems via Poland | Defense News September 2022 Global Security army industry | Defense Security global news industry army year 2022 | Archive News year


Uh huh




> The Ukraine military claimed Tuesday it had _downed one of Russia's Iran-built drones_ as Kyiv's counteroffensive continued to drive back the invaders from northeastern towns occupied since the early weeks of the war.
> The Ukrainian military published _images of wreckage from the drone_, encountered near Kupiansk in Kharkiv province where Ukraine troops have made a push in recent days into the strategically important city of Izyum.
> 
> Ukraine live updates: Iranian drone shot down; more towns liberated


Uh Huh.

----------


## S Landreth

Scholz tells Putin to withdraw as Germany faces calls to send Ukraine tanks

Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to completely withdraw his troops from Ukraine during a call Tuesday, as the German chancellor faces growing pressure at home to give more military aid to Kyiv.

A German government readout from the 90-minute call said that given the seriousness of the military situation and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, the chancellor urged the Russian President to find a diplomatic solution as soon as possible, based on a ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Russian troops and respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

The chancellor stressed that any further Russian annexation moves would not go unanswered and would not be recognized under any circumstances, the readout added.

Scholz also appealed to the Russian leader to treat prisoners of war according to the Geneva Conventions on humanitarian standards; called for Russia to avoid any escalation in violence around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant; and urged Putin to implement rather than discredit the deal brokered by the U.N. and Turkey to resume Ukraines shipments of grain through the Black Sea.

A readout from the Kremlin, meanwhile, pointed the finger at Ukraine for continued violence and reiterated false claims about the Black Sea deal.

The call with Putin comes as Scholz continues to face criticism over his hesitance to increase military support for Kyiv.

Ukraines recent swift battlefield advances have led to fresh calls on Germany and other Western allies to send more weapons, particularly tanks, to bolster Kyivs efforts to reconquer territories in the south and east occupied by Russian forces.

Germany is the worlds fifth-largest arms exporter, producing the renowned Leopard battle tank, and its defense industry also possesses large stockpiles of decommissioned Marder infantry fighting vehicles. But so far Berlin has refused to deliver those vehicles to Ukraine.

Kyivs frustration over Germanys restraint was on public display Tuesday. Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now  to liberate people and save them from genocide, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. Not a single rational argument on why these weapons can not be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?

Kulebas public scorn for the EUs largest economy stood in stark contrast to the praise he gave to Estonia, one of the smallest countries in the bloc, which he thanked for its outstanding support.

Germany has delivered lighter weapons like anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles and grenades to Ukraine, and it has also supplied Kyiv with some heavier weapons, notably howitzers and anti-aircraft tanks. However, Scholz has repeatedly argued that he wont deliver tanks as long as other allies are not sending similar Western tanks either, stressing that Berlin would not do any solo runs.

The U.S. embassy to Germany appeared to counter that argument in a rare, direct tweet on Tuesday, suggesting Berlin did not have to wait for its allies when it comes to weapon deliveries to Ukraine and could decide on its own.

We call upon all allies and partners to support Ukraine in its fight for its democratic sovereignty as much as possible  The decision over the type of [military] aid ultimately lies with each country, the embassys tweet said.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the chair of the German parliaments defense committee and a staunch supporter of increasing military support for Ukraine, used the embassys tweet to make a fresh appeal to Scholz to ramp up weapons supplies.

When it comes to the question of supplying tanks and heavy weapons to Ukraine, some sides like to point out defensively that we cannot go it alone without our partners. But our partners themselves are giving us the green light to finally go ahead ourselves, said Strack-Zimmermann, whose liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) is a junior member of Scholzs Social Democrat-led coalition.

Scholz is expected to face fresh pressure from both the FDP and the Greens, the third member of the coalition, during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. While it currently appears unlikely that the chancellor will agree to send tanks to Ukraine, some of his coalition partners say he should at least send armored vehicles for the safe transport of soldiers, such as the German Dingo or Fox.

Germanys main opposition party, the center-right Christian Democratic Union, is also piling pressure on the government to do more, announcing on Tuesday that it will submit a parliamentary motion next week urging Scholz to step up arms deliveries. Unless Scholz makes a move, such a motion could attract support from within his own coalition, which could in turn jeopardize the governments majority in parliament and its stability.

----------


## bsnub

The  much-publicised Ukrainian southern offensive was a disinformation  campaign to distract Russia from the real one being prepared in the  Kharkiv region, Ukraine’s special forces have said.

Ukrainian forces are continuing to make unexpected, rapid advances in the north-east of the country,  retaking more than a third of the occupied Kharkiv region in three  days. Much of Ukraine’s territorial gains were confirmed by Russia’s  defence ministry on Saturday.

“[It]  was a big special disinformation operation,” said Taras Berezovets, a  former national security adviser turned press officer for the Bohun  brigade of Ukraine’s special forces.

“[Russia]  thought it would be in the south and moved their equipment. Then,  instead of the south, the offensive happened where they least expected,  and this caused them to panic and flee.” 

On  29 August, Ukraine’s southern command announced that the  long-anticipated offensive in the Kherson region had begun. But soldiers  on the Kherson frontline said at the time  that they saw no evidence of said offensive or that the active battles  taking place were a reaction to an attempted Russian offensive several  days earlier.

For the past two weeks,  Ukrainian forces in the south took several villages – no small feat  given the reported strength of Russian positions and one which  nevertheless resulted in injuries.

But the  gains were not remarkably different from the steady but limited progress  Ukrainian forces had been making in the Kherson region over July and  August.

And yet, the capture of these tiny Kherson villages, with populations of a few thousands, suddenly became big international news.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern command, had insisted on a “regime of silence” and temporarily banned journalists from visiting the frontlines in Kherson.

But  Berezovets said the media stir around the southern offensive was a  coordinated disinformation campaign by Ukraine, targeted at Russian  forces, that had been building for several months.

It  was successful in provoking Russia to move equipment and personnel to  the southern front, including partly from Kharkiv region, said  Berezovets.

“Meanwhile [our] guys in Kharkiv were given the best of western weapons, mostly American,” he said.

Part  of the special operation involved rooting out informants in  Ukrainian-controlled parts of Kharkiv to stop them passing information  about Ukraine’s preparations to the Russians, said a military source  with knowledge of the operation.

“The  [informants] were almost completely cleaned up. They mostly comprised  normal Ukrainian civilians but there were some Russian agents undercover  as Ukrainian civilians,” said the source. “The Russians had no idea  what was going on.”

Russia’s defence ministry  has confirmed the retreat, describing it as a regroup. It says it has  retreated from Izium and the town of to “bolster efforts” on the Donetsk  front.

“A  three-day operation was carried out on the drawdown and organised  transfer of the Izium-Balakliia group of troops to the territory of the  Donetsk People’s Republic,” said the Russian defence ministry  spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov.

“In order to prevent damage to the Russian troops, a powerful fire defeat was inflicted on the enemy.”

Russian state media and bloggers have confirmed Russian soldiers have been forced to make a large-scale retreat from Kharkiv.

Ukrainian  troops have in the past few days pushed Russian forces out of a number  of settlements in the region that Moscow occupied since the first days  of its invasion.

In a video address late on  Friday, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukrainian  forces had liberated more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region.

A  local resident of Izium, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that  the Ukrainian troops had entered the city. Before that, “Russian  occupying forces were rapidly withdrawing, leaving ammunition and  equipment behind”.

Ukraine’s retake of Izium  could be its most significant success in pushing back the Russians since  the beginning of the invasion.

By capturing  the nearby town of Kupiansk, Ukrainian forces have managed to cut off  the supply lines for the Russian formations in control of the Izium  area,” said Serhiy Kuzan, a military expert at the Ukrainian Security  and Cooperation Center.

Kuzan said the Russian  formations in charge of the south-east area of Kharkiv, labelled the  Izium area by military experts, were professional Russian soldiers, not  mercenaries or conscripts from Russian-occupied Donbas.

The  offensive has been carried out at lightning speed, with a third of  occupied Kharkiv being captured by Ukrainian forces in just a matter of  days, he said.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence  has said Ukraine’s counter-offensive took Russian forces by surprise,  adding that Kyiv’s forces had advanced 50km (31 miles) along a narrow  frontline and retaken or surrounded several towns.

With  Ukrainian operations also continuing in Kherson, the Russian defensive  front is under pressure on both its northern and southern flanks,” it  said.

“We are actually surprised by how poorly  the Russians have retreated,” said Kuzan. “Retreat is part of the art  of war. When we retreated, we made sure they suffered losses as they  advanced and we did to so to ensure that they only advanced 1, 2, 3  kilometres.

“They were so confident that they  didn’t prepare their defences,” he added. “This has shown that the only  advantage they have is in the number of artillery pieces and heavy  equipment. So all we need is the same amount.”

After  the big territorial gains made this week by Ukraine, Moscow is sending  columns of military reinforcements to the Kharkiv region, according to  reports in Russian media.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ation-campaign

----------


## malmomike77

No surprise here

Wagner Group: Head of Russian mercenary group filmed recruiting in prison

The founder of Russia's shadowy Wagner mercenary group has appeared in leaked footage attempting to recruit prisoners to fight in Ukraine.

In filmed footage, verified by the BBC, Yevgeniy Prigozhin can be seen addressing a large group of detainees.

Mr Prigozhin told prisoners their sentences would be commuted in exchange for service with his group.

The video would confirm long-running speculation that Russia hopes to boost its forces by recruiting convicts.

While Russian law does not allow commutation of prison sentences in exchange for mercenary service, Mr Prigozhin insisted that "nobody goes back behind bars" if they serve with his group.

"If you serve six months (in Wagner), you are free," he said. But he warned potential recruits against desertion and said "if you arrive in Ukraine and decide it's not for you, we will execute you".


He also informed prisoners of Wagner's rules banning alcohol, drugs and "sexual contacts with local women, flora, fauna, men - anything".

Speaking in what appeared to be the penal colony's exercise yard, the mercenary chief also alluded to the difficulties Russia has faced in the protracted conflict, telling potential recruits that "this is a hard war, not even close to the likes of Chechnya and the others".

It is unclear who filmed the video, when it occurred or how it was released.

But the BBC has geolocated the footage to a penal colony in Russia's central Mariy El Republic. Analysts did this by conducting a reverse image search a church visible in the background of the video, which matched to penal colony number six.

A screengrab on the recruiter's face was also run through facial recognition software tools, returning a positive match of between 71% and 75% with an actual photo of Mr Prigozhin.

What is the Wagner Group?

Separately, sources confirmed to the BBC's Russian service that the person in the video was likely Mr Prigozhin.

"This is his voice. His intonation. His words and manner of speaking... I'm 95 percent sure that this is him and this is not a montage," one source told the BBC.

"Very similar, his manner, and his voice is very similar," another said.

The 61-year-old's own company, Concord, refused to deny that he appeared in the footage, noting the "monstrous" similarity when approached by Russia

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62911618

----------


## S Landreth

Germany will hand over the additional MARS II multiple rocket launcher systems and Dingo ATF armored military infantry mobility vehicles to Ukraine

Germany will transfer two more MARS II multiple rocket launcher systems and approximately 200 GMLRS missiles to Ukraine.

Christine Lambrecht, Minister of Defense of Germany, stated this during a meeting of the Bundeswehr leadership.

According to the official, the Ukrainian servicemen should undergo training in operating these systems by the end of September.

In addition, Lambrecht claimed that Germany plans to transfer 50 Dingo ATF armored vehicles. Dingo ATF armored military infantry mobility vehicles of the Krauss-Maffei were adopted by the Bundeswehr in 2003.

The Head of the German Defense Ministry also promised to complete the planned so-called circular exchange with Greece in the near future.

As part of this exchange, the government in Greece will deliver 40 Soviet-era armored infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine and, in return, will receive 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles from Germany.

As previously reported, at the beginning of August this year, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine confirmed that German MARS II rocket launchers were received by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Germany handed over three rocket launchers to Ukraine.

This launcher is basically a licensed copy of the American M270 MLRS with minor modifications.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine will be equipped with 27 multiple rocket launcher systems for GMLRS missiles.

The M142 HIMARS carries six missiles, the M270 carries twice as many, namely twelve missiles. 25 multiple rocket launcher systems of Ukraine will be able to simultaneously launch 204 GMLRS missiles.

At the beginning of June, it was reported that Great Britain would be transferring M31A1 GMLRS missiles to Ukraine.

Germany Says It Will Deliver Two More Multiple Rocket Launchers to Ukraine

___________


Defense of Ukraine - Ukraine government organization

Mass graves are being discovered in Izyum after liberation from the russcists. The current largest burial sights has 440 unmarked graves.

"The necessary procedural actions have already begun there. More information - clear, verified - should be available tomorrow." https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1570529438013739010




 



Zelensky says mass burial site found in recently recaptured city of Izyum

A mass burial site was found in the recaptured Ukrainian city of Izyum, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address on Thursday.

Zelensky told the Ukrainian people that more clear, verified information about the site should be available on Friday, but the necessary procedural actions have begun. He said Ukrainian and international journalists will be in Izyum on Friday.

We want the world to know what is really happening and what the Russian occupation has led to. Bucha, Mariupol, now, unfortunately, Izyum Russia leaves death everywhere. And it must be held accountable for that, Zelensky said, referencing other cities in Ukraine that have come under intense Russian attacks that have killed many Ukrainians.

A top Ukrainian police official told Sky News that 440 graves were found in the city. The official said the bodies will be exhumed and taken for forensic evaluation to gather evidence of alleged Russian war crimes.

___________


U.S. announces $600 million in new military aid for Ukraine

The Biden administration on Thursday announced the U.S. will provide another round of military aid to Ukraine, this time for $600 million, as Russia's invasion nears the seven-month mark.

*Driving the news:* The funds are intended for "defense articles and services of the Department of Defense," as well as for military education and training, President Biden said in a memorandum.

*By the numbers:* The U.S. last month announced nearly $3 billion in additional military aid to Ukraine, proceeded by other packages of $550 million, $1 billion and $775 million.

*State of play:* The latest aid package comes days after a Ukrainian counteroffensive forced Russia's military to retreat from the Kharkiv region, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited this week.


Zelensky said Thursday another mass burial site was found near the recaptured Kharkiv region, previously occupied by Russia, per AP.

https://www.axios.com/2022/09/15/us-...ry-aid-ukraine

----------


## harrybarracuda

More war crimes from the murderous putin scum.




> A mass burial site containing around 440 graves has been found in the Ukrainian city of Izyum after it was liberated from Russian control, a top police officer has told Sky News.
> 
> Ukraine's president confirmed that a "mass burial site" has been found but he said "clear, verified information" would be released on Friday.
> 
> "We want the world to know what is really happening and what the Russian occupation has led to," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a nightly video address to the nation.
> 
> An image released by his chief of staff showed a number of wooden crosses jutting up from mounds in the earth, surrounded by trees.
> 
> "A mass burial was found in Izyum, Kharkiv region," Andriy Yermak wrote.
> ...

----------


## panama hat

OhWoe/Backspit/sabang . . . they all had a heart attack and shot one another at the same time.  Heroic Russian soldiers tried to help.

_TASS/Pravda/Global News_

----------


## bsnub

KYIV, Ukraine — It was an early and delightful symbol of underdog  resistance. Dubbed the “John Deere Brigade,” Ukrainian tractors were  shown all over social media lugging away hastily abandoned Russian  military equipment, from tanks to self-propelled artillery systems to  complicated air defense platforms, worth tens of millions of dollars.  Western predictions that Ukraine would fall to its invaders in as little  as three days proved wildly off base. The breadbasket of Europe could  punch above its weight. And now it was in the repo business.

Around  the time of the Battle of Kyiv, captured Russian vehicles were  generally just given a quick coat of paint and liberally decked out with  Ukrainian flags before being sent back out to fight their previous  owners. But what was at first an organic and ad hoc tractor effort by  Ukrainian farmers has transformed into something far more organized and  systematic, as the Ukrainian military have pushed vast quantities of  captured Russian armor into frontline service. And since Ukraine retook  almost all of Kharkiv district in the last week, there has been a  windfall of new vehicles to “MacGyver” and repurpose.

In the aftermath of Ukraine’s successful Kharkiv offensive over the  past week, fleets of Russian armored vehicles were left abandoned on the  battlefield, left behind by Russian troops as they desperately tried to  escape the Ukrainian advance. Footage uploaded to social media by  victorious Ukrainian troops showed rows of BMP infantry fighting  vehicles, neatly parked in the liberated city of Izium, seemingly in  near-perfect condition, while T-80U tanks from Russia’s elite Fourth  Guards Tank Regiment were left abandoned at a maintenance station, in  various states of repair.
According to the independent monitor Oryx,  which uses publicly available footage to visually confirm Russian and  Ukrainian equipment losses, the Ukrainians have captured a minimum of  1,841 pieces of heavy Russian military equipment since the start of the  war, including 356 tanks, 606 armored fighting vehicles, and 363 trucks  and jeeps. As Oryx only includes equipment that has been visually  confirmed as captured, the true total is probably much higher.

“During  the early days of the war, a lot of Russian vehicles totally ran out of  gas and were abandoned in perfect condition,” said Yuri Matsarsky, a  soldier in Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces (TDF), the nation’s  military reserve. “That’s happening less in the last few months. But  after Kharkiv, it’s picked up again.”

The Ukrainians have been repainting these captured vehicles in their  now-familiar digital camouflage. They’ve also been upgrading and  improving them. Captured “Tornado-U” trucks were given an extra Browning M2 heavy machine gun mounted on the cab, while a BTR-82A armored personnel carrier was upgraded with extra armor, a thermal-imaging sight, and Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet platform.

“Many of the vehicles we captured have been MT-LBs,” Pavlo Kazarin,  another soldier in the TDF and a well-known journalist before the war,  told Yahoo News, referring to the versatile Russian armored vehicle  often used as an armored personnel carrier or an artillery tractor. “At  least one of these has been upgraded with added weapons, such as a ZSU-2  23 anti-aircraft autocannon.”
In fact, one TDF brigade has an  entire garageful of repurposed Russian armored vehicles, owing to what  Matsarsky described as “special tactics” to immobilize Russian vehicles  and force their crews to abandon them. “One group of TDF fighters used a  light mortar to shell a Russian BTR armored personnel carrier that took  a regular patrol route, intentionally bursting the vehicle’s tires and  forcing the crew to leave it behind.”

“Many Russian vehicles that  are left behind are not that badly damaged,” Matsarsky said. “The  Russians simply lack the motivation or the discipline to repair them.”  Despite Russia’s inability to match the latest Western advances in drone  technology or precision-guided weapons, building rugged heavy trucks is  always something it has historically done well.

And because so  many Ukrainians were pressed into military service as a result of the  war, they initially had to rely on civilian cars for transportation.  Generally, these had limited off-road capability and no armor, making  them highly vulnerable to Russian attack. One of Matsarsky’s commanders  went through three vehicles in a single month due to shelling.

Thanks to what the Ukrainians have nicknamed “Russian Lend Lease,”  more and more of Kyiv’s soldiers now drive around with bullet- and  artillery-proof plating. That not only translates into fewer casualties  but also into greater operational sustainability on the battlefield.  Matsarsky joked that it’s often easier to simply steal a Russian armored  vehicle for TDF’s use than to barter or argue with other units in the  Ukrainian Army for an official deployment.

The “Tornado-U,” for  instance, is one of Russia’s latest heavy military trucks, and the  models the Ukrainians have captured feature an armored cab, a  440-horsepower engine and a 6x6 chassis. The Tornado-U can also easily  drive off road and haul a range of towed weapons, such as howitzers or  anti-tank guns.

Ukrainians have also been snagging other types of  Russian kit. One BM-21 “Grad” Multiple Launch Rocket System was found  beyond effective repair, and so the Ukrainians salvaged the  rocket-launcher tubes and mounted them on the backs of pickup trucks.  While it is old technology (Grad rockets are not too dissimilar to the  “Katyusha” rockets the Soviet Army used in World War II), ammunition for  such systems is still relatively plentiful, and the rockets remain  deadly.

Ukrainian soldiers insist, however, that refurbished  Russian materiel is no substitute for continued support from their  Western partners.

Russian guns and tanks show a lot of wear and  tear. The barrels are worn out and the age of the equipment is extremely  dated, 30 or 40 years old, and sometimes even older than that.
“Imagine what miracles we could perform with a brand-new Abrams tank,” Matsarsky said.

Ukrainian soldiers are refurbishing abandoned Russian tanks and trucks

----------


## S Landreth

Negotiations on whether to send F-16s and Patriots to Ukraine continue  but quietly

Ukraine has stopped publicly asking for high-end U.S. weapons such as Patriot air defense systems, F-16 fighter jets and Gray Eagle drones.

But behind the scenes, the push hasnt stopped for weapons that could turn the tide of the war. Kyivs just getting savvier about its requests.

Both sides are discussing whether to send all three items as long-term financing deals are being hammered out, according to advisers to the Ukrainian government, Pentagon officials and defense industry executives.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hasnt been a wallflower in calling out Western governments for the weapons his country needs to repel Russian invaders, and has demanded more artillery, rocket launchers and precision weapons, which the U.S. and Western allies eventually provided in large numbers this summer.

But theres been a shift in recent weeks from loudly calling for air defense and fighter jets to quieter negotiations. The campaign to tone it down has been led by Zelenskyys advisers in Kyiv and key interlocutors in Washington, along with friendly advice from the Biden administration itself, which encouraged Kyiv to focus more intently on what it needs right now to push Russian forces out of entrenched positions in Ukraines east and south, the people said.

The change from a public campaign to a private one came as advisers grew concerned that the requests for high-end weapons were a distraction from Kyivs more immediate battlefield needs and concerns that the asks were muddling their tightly-scripted message.

For months after Russias full-scale invasion in late February, Ukrainian leaders asked for Patriot systems and other high-end technologies, putting them at the top of the wish lists sent to Washington and circulated in the press. But big-ticket items have been left off the latest requests for must-need weaponry, which have stuck to requesting more artillery shells and rockets for HIMARS rocket launchers.

Talks about eventually obtaining Patriots, F-16s and Gray Eagles at some point down the road continue at low levels, however, according to three industry sources and people who are in touch with the Kyiv government.

The concerns arent merely that the high-tech systems would be provocative to Moscow, but also that complex maintenance and support for the systems would challenge Ukraine in the middle of the war. In the case of Patriots, their relative scarcity makes supplying Ukraine a challenge. U.S. Army Patriot units are some of the most deployed units in the service, with allies across Europe, the Middle East and Pacific demanding the protection they provide.

There is also a prioritization problem: existing NATO allies want these systems too. As more Eastern European countries ditch their older Russian or even Soviet-era aircraft, theyre looking to the U.S. to begin selling or financing F-16s for their own defense. Already, the delivery of 14 F-16s to Slovakia has been delayed a year  to 2024  due to supply chain issues, and Taiwan remains high on the priority list for the jets and their spare parts.

Some of these more complex systems  including the F-16s slated for retirement by the U.S. Air Force  are likely to arrive after this conflict is over, said a congressional staffer with knowledge of the discussions.

As for the request for Patriot missile batteries, the U.S. has agreed to finance the sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, for Ukraine. Officials warn that Ukraines capacity to train on and put to use both systems at once would be limited, at best.

The NASAMS and Patriot are different systems and youre training the same air defenders so theres only so much they can do, the staffer said, who like others in this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the talks. I think well get there.

The Pentagon recently awarded a $182 million contract to Raytheon Technologies, using Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds, for NASAMS. The first two systems will be delivered within the next two months, the Pentagon said Friday.

Ukraines blitz to capture Kharkiv and push Russian troops out of thousands of square miles of Ukrainian territory this month has played to Ukraines strengths  quick decision-making on the ground and the effective use of artillery and precision munitions guided in part by timely U.S. intelligence  while exposing Russian weaknesses in leadership and logistics that were evident in the Kremlins lunge toward Kyiv in February.

While the Ukrainian advances have been stunning, the war doesnt appear to be close to winding down. Kyiv and the Kremlin have yet to engage in talks to end the conflict, while Ukraine appears intent on pressing its newfound advantages. Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, has shown no sign of backing down from his maximalist position to change the government of Ukraine.

As the artillery and armor-heavy fight continues in the east and south, Russian ballistic missiles continue to target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, underscoring the need for more modern air defense systems than the handful of Russian-made S-300s Ukraine currently operates.

To get there eventually, U.S. officials continue to discuss whether to send the Patriots to Ukraine as part of a long-term strategy, the people said. Discussions about whether to send the system are in early stages at the Defense Department, and a final decision would be up to President Joe Biden. But the fact that officials are talking about such a move is a major shift from this spring, when U.S. officials rejected the idea.

If the plan moves forward, its likely the U.S. would sign a contract with Raytheon to build additional systems for Kyiv, rather than transferring relatively rare  and heavily deployed  Patriot batteries in the U.S. inventory.

The Patriot system would be a significant boost in capability for the Ukrainians.

Patriot is a sophisticated, multi-mission system designed to shoot down fixed-wing aircraft, ballistic or cruise missiles. In addition to the United States, 17 countries operate the system, including Romania and Poland.

Its a defensive weapon that would cause Russian pilots to think twice before attacking Ukrainian forces, said Tom Karako, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

For it to be used in anger, youve got to have a Russian missile or a Russian aircraft that has done the escalating, has come into range, Karako said. I would say its deescalatory.

Compared to Ukraines existing air and missile defense assets, Patriot is a much newer, longer-range system that would provide Kyiv a critical new capability against Russian attacks, Karako said. Slovakia in April sent Ukraine an old Soviet S-300 missile defense system. The NASAMS being sent by the U.S. can shoot down short-to medium-range missiles.

If the U.S. decides to go the acquisition route, the Ukrainians would not expect delivery of the Patriots for years, a timeline similar to weapons the Biden administration announced in August as part of a $3 billion package that directly funds contracts with the U.S. defense industry.

The defense industry funding will go to the production of artillery rounds, mortar rounds, surface-to-air missile systems; a new counter-drone capability; additional drones; and 24 counter-battery radars. None of the equipment will arrive for months; some will take years. But officials say the investment will allow Ukraine to plan for its own future defense.

Asked about sending Patriots and other new weapons to Ukraine, a DoD spokesperson said the department has no new announcements to make at this time.

Generally speaking, we are working around the clock to fulfill Ukraines priority security assistance requests, delivering weapons from U.S. stocks when they are available, and facilitating the delivery of weapons by Allies and partners when their systems better suit Ukraines needs, said the spokesperson, Lt. Col. Garron Garn.

Patriot would be less escalatory than some other systems that are being considered, a DoD official said, including longer-range rockets such as the Army Tactical Missile System, an offensive weapon that can fly up to 190 miles and reach into Russian territory, and which the White House has said is not being considered.

Talk of supplying the MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone has also been ongoing for months. The drones dont appear any closer to heading overseas than they were this spring, when discussions first became public, though two advisers to the Ukrainian government told POLITICO that talks continue.

There are several concerns, including the potential loss of technology carried on the drone if Russians were to shoot them down, along with uneasiness within the U.S. Air Force  which is eager to retire its own fleet of Gray Eagles  should the systems prove more survivable on the modern battlefield than expected. The Air Force wants to move the money spent on the aging drones on other modernization priorities.

Whenever more new technologies arrive, it has become clear that Ukraine will increasingly be flooded with NATO-standard equipment as older Russian stockpiles of everything from ammunition to spare parts dries up across Europe, putting Western donors in the position of donating  or selling  increasingly high-end equipment to Kyiv for decades to come.

----------


## malmomike77

Narendra Modi’s admonishment for Vladimir Putin: ‘I told you this was not an era for war’

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/09/16/indias-prime-minister-confronts-putin-need-end-war-ukraine/

----------


## malmomike77

is that because he's seriously depleted and needs time to train the new enlist......erm prisoners? 

Ukraine war - latest: Putin warns of ‘serious’ response to Kyiv’s counter-offensive

Russian president Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that Ukraine risks provoking “more serious” action from Moscow with its sweeping counteroffensive, claiming t hat “we so far have responded with restraint”.

Mr Putin vowed to press on with his “special military operation” in Ukraine during his address to reporters after attending the a meeting of Asian world leaders, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, in Uzbekistan.

He said the “liberation” of Ukraine‘s entire eastern Donbas region remained Russia’s main military goal and that he has no intention of giving up the fight.

It came as Indian prime minister Narendra Modi offered a public rebuke to Mr Putin for the first time and the Russian leader admitted there were also concerns about the situation in Beijing.

“We aren’t in a rush,” Mr Putin said, as some pro-Kremlin politicians and military bloggers have urged Moscow to order a broad mobilisation to beef up the ranks while lamenting Russia’s manpower shortage.

He accused Ukraine of striking civilian infrastructure in Russia and said it attacked “near our nuclear facilities, nuclear power plants”.

“If the situation develops this way, our response will be more serious,” Mr Putin said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/vladimir-putin-russia-ukraine-war-latest-b2169266.html

----------


## HermantheGerman

Russian Lada group discontinues prestige project Xray
It was the first Lada that no longer looked like a Lada: The Russian automaker is burying its flagship project Xray, which once started the modernization of the group - an indirect result of the war against Ukraine. 


The design was penned by ex-Volvo artist Steve Mattin  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 


Russia = failed State

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## HermantheGerman

> Putler: “we so far have responded with restraint"l


Sounds like Skidmark  :smiley laughing:

----------


## S Landreth

Biden: Putin using nuclear weapons would see "consequential” U.S. response

President Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin not to use chemical or tactical nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine or there would be a "consequential” response from the United States.

*The big picture:* The Kremlin last week said that Russia would continue to wage its war in Ukraine until all its military goals have been achieved despite facing a rapidly advancing Ukrainian counter-offensive.


In March, a Kremlin spokesperson said that Russia would only use nuclear weapons if there's a "threat for existence" to the country and not due to the war with Ukraine.Last month, the UN warned that humanity is "one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation"

*Why it matters:* Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine increased tensions between the U.S. and its former Cold War foe — both of which have nuclear weapons, Axios' Julia Shapero reports.


Putin ordered Russia's nuclear deterrent forces on alert soon after invading Ukraine, citing "aggressive statements" from NATO countries.

*What they're saying:* “It would change the face of war unlike anything since World War II," Biden said in an interview with CBS that will air Sunday.


"They’ll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur," he added.

https://www.politico.eu/article/bide...l-war-ukraine/

----------


## S Landreth

Izium: after Russian retreat, horrors of Russian occupation are revealed

Standing in the gloom, Maksim Maksimov pointed to the spot where he was tortured with electric shocks. Russian soldiers took him from his cell in the basement of Iziums police station. They sat him on an office chair and attached a zig-zag crocodile clip to his finger. It was connected by cable to an old-fashioned Soviet military field telephone.

And then it began. A soldier cranked the handle, turning it faster and faster. This sent an excruciating pulse through Maksimovs body. I collapsed. They pulled me upright. There was a hood on my head. I couldnt see anything. My legs went numb. I was unable to hear in my left ear, he recalled. Then they did it again. I passed out. I came round 40 minutes later back in my cell.

The Russian army occupied the police station in April. This followed a furious month-long battle with Ukrainian forces who had based themselves on a hill next to Iziums Soviet war memorial. According to Maksimov, a 50-year-old publisher, the soldiers rounded up anyone suspected of having pro-Ukrainian views. He had stayed behind to look after his elderly mother.

They sought veteran servicemen, home guard volunteers and city hall officials. The Russians turned up with a list of names. Some local politicians appear to have collaborated. They included several city council deputies and a retired police chief Vladislav Sokolov, who became Iziums new pro-Vladimir Putin mayor.

Residents were unable to say how many people vanished during Russias five-month occupation of the city. One answer could be found on Saturday in a sunny pine forest on the outskirts of town, close to a Russian checkpoint. Beneath orange-barked trees, Ukrainian forensic experts were carrying out a gruesome process of exhumation and truth-telling.

A Russian battalion had parked its tanks next to a cemetery, cutting down branches and building underground shelters with neat log roofs. Iziums war dead  443 people since February  joined them in nearby sandy plots. They included 17 Ukrainian soldiers. They were dug up on Friday from a scooped-out hollow for a tank, used as a mass grave.

Ukraines armed forces discovered the grisly site when they swept into Izium a week ago, as part of a stunning counter-offensive that saw them recapture almost the entire north-eastern Kharkiv region. On Friday, the first 40 bodies were removed. Some had their hands bound together; on the decayed arm of a woman was a bracelet in Ukrainian blue-and-yellow colours. On Saturday, experts in white boiler suits continued digging. Graves were marked with wooden crosses. Watched by police, they scraped, pulled out bodies and laid them carefully in a glade. The first was a soldier, identifiable from his camouflage trousers and boots. Then two civilians  one possibly female  and another soldier. All were zipped up in white bags.

Sometimes we find ID and passports. But we dont have names for many of those here. Or cause of death, Roman Kasianenko, the deputy chief prosecutor for Kharkiv, told the Observer. There are some signs of torture. We found individuals with hands tied together and broken limbs. But, he stressed: Its too early to say if this is another Bucha.

Much more in the article

Most of Izium has been destroyed. The main boulevard is full of gutted apartment blocks and walls pockmarked by bullets. The administration building is an eerie sandbagged ruin. A bomb tore a chunk out of a churchs cupola. The citys road bridge has been destroyed, with residents getting around on bikes.

But life is already returning. Locals queue for aid parcels, delivered in the central square that was once used for celebrations. Women wheel shopping trollies past a mural of John Lennon. The citys beer factory remains closed but a cafe reopened on Saturday. You look at all this and think we dont have a future, Maksimov said. But I believe we do. We can rebuild.

Ukraine, G-7, partner states discuss possible tribunal on Russian war crimes: Zelensky

----------


## bsnub

May 27 was a dark day for Ukraine. That was the day Lyman, the last  free town north of the Donets River in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas River,  finally fell to Russian forces. Capturing Lyman helped the Russian army  to consolidate its position in Donbas and secure supply lines across the  region. 

 Lyman was a domino. As it fell, it knocked down Severodonetsk, the last free city east of the Donets. And as _Severodonetsk_ fell, it toppled _Lysychansk_, its twin city on the opposite side of the river.

 Nearly four months later, the dominos are falling in the opposite  direction. A Ukrainian counteroffensive that kicked off east of Kharkiv,  Ukraine’s second city 100 miles northwest of Lyman, in a heady two  weeks has liberated a thousand square miles of northeast Ukraine.

 Fleeing a dozen eager Ukrainian brigades, Russian forces in Kharkiv  Oblast —including the once-elite 1st Guard Tanks Army—have fled east  across the Oskil River, leaving behind hundreds of vehicles and  potentially thousands of casualties.

 The Ukrainians’ momentum, weighted by aggressive air and artillery support,  has carried them a short distance across the Oskil and south toward  Lyman. Now several of Kyiv’s brigades—a mix of paratroopers and  territorials—_also_ are closing on Lyman ... from the opposite direction.

 It’s a proverbial noose for the Russians in the town.

 The Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C. explained what’s at stake.  “Further Ukrainian advances east along the north bank of the Siverskyi  Donets River could make Russian positions around Lyman untenable and  open the approaches to Lysychansk and ultimately Severodonetsk.”

The Russians, in other words, might soon lose a lot of the territory  they spent the summer—and much of their combat power—capturing.

The disposition of forces in and around Lyman favors the attackers. As recently as last week, one analyst  placed just four Russian battalions—motorized infantry, mostly—in the  area. A battalion might have just a few hundred front-line troops. A  brigade usually includes several battalions.

 ISW’s own assessment is even _less_ favorable for the  Russians. “The Russian defenders in Lyman still appear to consist in  large part of ... reservists and the remnants of units badly damaged in  the Kharkiv Oblast counteroffensive,” the think-tank stated. 

 Worse, “the Russians do not appear to be directing reinforcements from elsewhere in the theater to these areas,” ISW added.

 That latter point should come as no surprise. The Kharkiv  counteroffensive at its climax a week ago consumed a Russian battalion  every day. The vaunted 1st Guard Tank Army lost at least half of its roughly 200 T-80 tanks as it pulled back across the Oskil. 

 Perhaps most embarrasingly for Moscow, the reserve 3rd Army Corps—which the Kremlin struggled to form  this summer—rolled into Kharkiv in a desperate bid to slow the  Ukrainian attack, promptly lost a few skirmishes then joined the wider  Russian retreat.

 That is to say, there are no reserves to reinforce the Lyman garrison because the Kremlin already _spent_ the  bulk of its reserves—the 3rd AC—in a failed effort to stop the initial  Ukrainian counterattack. Russia has run out of healthy young men and  spare modern equipment and no longer can stand up effective new units.

 The Russian garrison in Lyman is outnumbered, increasingly  isolated—and on its own. It’s a safe bet the Russian troops occupying  Lysychansk and Severodonetsk closely are watching as the Second Battle  of Lyman looms. 

They, after all, are next.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=196d7ef43126

----------


## misskit

*Kyiv Accuses Russia of Strike on Southern Nuclear Plant*

Ukraine's nuclear energy agency Energoatom on Monday accused Moscow's troops of an attack on the country's second-largest nuclear plant in the south.


The accusations come after the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine — Europe's largest atomic facility — faced frequent shelling in recent months, raising fears of a nuclear incident. 


On Monday, "the Russian army carried out a missile attack on the industrial site" of the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, Energoatom said in a post on the Telegram messaging service. 


It added that a "powerful explosion" took place "just 300 meters" (985 feet) from the facility's reactors but they were operating as "normal."

The strike damaged more than 100 windows of the power station's building, the nuclear agency said, posting photos of glass shattered around the broken windows.


The agency also released photographs of what it said was a two-meter-deep crater from where the missile landed.


"Fortunately, no one among the power plant staff was hurt," Energoatom said. 


"Russia endangers the whole world. We have to stop it before it's too late," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, reacting to the strike.

PICS Kyiv Accuses Russia of Strike on Southern Nuclear Plant - The Moscow Times

----------


## Shutree

> Russia endangers the whole world.


Yes, it does.

----------


## malmomike77

^ its Putin not Russia

----------


## misskit

^ Yes but as long as Putin holds the reins, the Russia is a menace.

*
‘If you didn’t follow instructions, they shot you’ A Russian convict recruited by the Wagner Group tells his story*

In recent months, representatives from the Wagner Group, a notorious private military company that’s said to be funded by Kremlin-linked oligarch Evgeny Prigozhin, have visited at least 20 prisons throughout Russia in a campaign to recruit inmates to fight in Ukraine. On September 15, Ukrainian journalist Yury Butusov posted a video of his interview with a man named Yevgeny Nuzhin. In the interview, Nuzhin recounts his journey from a prison in Russia’s Ryazan region to a Wagner boot camp in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, and finally to the battlefield, where he was captured by Ukrainian forces. Meduza summarizes Nuzhin’s story.


Yury Butusov, the director of the Ukrainian media outlet Censor.net, has published a video of an interview he conducted with a man named Yevgeny Nuzhin. Previously an inmate at a Russian prison in the city of Ryazan, Nuzhin went to Ukraine as part of the Wagner private military company (PMC) and was captured by Ukrainian forces soon after. A source who served time in prison alongside Nuzhin confirmed to the investigative outlet iStories that the man in the video is indeed “Yevgeny from the penal colony.”


Nuzhin told Butusov that he first went to prison in 1999. “There was a skirmish, and I had to shoot,” he said. “I killed one guy and injured another.” He was originally sentenced to 24 years in prison, but four years were added after he tried to escape. In recent years, he’s been held in a prison in the city of Skopin in Russia’s Ryazan region.


According to Nuzhin, in July, Kremlin-linked oligarch Evgeny Prigozhin, who is widely believed to own the Wagner PMC, arrived at the prison in a helicopter. After all of the prisoners were rounded up, Prigozhin offered them a chance to join the war in exchange for clemency. “He promised everybody pardons,” said Nuzhin. “Our salaries would be around 100,000 rubles ($1,653). If you got killed, your family would get something like five million rubles ($82,644). [He said that] the motherland was in danger, and so on and so forth.”

92 inmates decided to take the offer, including Nuzhin himself. In August, Prigozhin returned to the prison; that’s when Nuzhin learned they would be joining the Wagner PMC rather than the Russian Armed Forces. The men were picked up in late August and taken by helicopter to Ukraine’s Luhansk region, where they went through a week-long boot camp that concluded on September 2. Nuzhin said they were given uniforms and guns, though whenever Prigozhin came to visit their training sessions, their weapons were confiscated.


The convicts were organized into an assault detachment. When asked what the unit’s task was, Nuzhin told Butusov, “I don’t even know how to explain it. As far as I understood, [we were there to serve as] cannon fodder. If you didn’t follow instructions or if you did something wrong, they would neutralize you. Shoot you. They called it ‘neutralization.’”


“Not far from [our training area], there was another boot camp. We came from Penal Colony No. 3, and the other group came from Penal Colony No. 5, also from Ryazan, about 60 people. Before them, one person was neutralized: he talked back to the instructor, just verbal diarrhea, and he was neutralized. And then one person from Penal Colony No. 5 was neutralized — they told us about it when we met on the field. For nothing at all, it’s safe to say, for running his mouth, they shot him and buried him there somewhere,” said Nuzhin.


On September 2, Nuzhin and 17 other convicts were taken to “some residential area” and instructed to search for dead and injured Russian soldiers. They performed their duties at night; during the day, while there was shelling, they waited in shelters.


On September 4, Nuzhin was captured by Ukrainian forces. “I had decided to surrender long before that. When I was in the camp, and everything was starting, I was watching TV. I had a phone, so I could watch it on YouTube. Here [in Ukraine], there’s the Russian legion, and they called for people to come. And then, when this whole [recruitment] thing started, I told myself that when I came, I would do whatever it took to surrender so I could try to make it [to the Freedom for Russia legion],” he said.


Nuzhin claims he wants to fight on the Ukrainian side. “Because it’s not Ukraine who attacked Russia,” he said. “It’s Putin who attacked Ukraine. And I have relatives who live here. My uncle lives in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, and my sister lives in Lviv.”


As iStories noted, this is the second high-profile case of a convict ending up in Ukrainian custody after being recruited by the Wagner PMC. On September 2, Yury Butusov posted a video of another prisoner who claimed to have undergone a week-long boot camp upon his arrival in Ukraine.


The first media reports of Russian inmates being recruited to fight with the Wagner PMC appeared in late July. On September 14, associates of jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny published a video that appears to show Evgeny Pigozhin himself speaking to a group of inmates at a prison in the Mari El Republic. On September 15, Prigozhin said, “Everyone who doesn’t want PMCs or inmates to fight, everyone who’s debating the topic, and those who don’t want to do anything and who simply don’t like this issue, send your kids to the front. It’s either PMCs and convicts or it’s your children. Decide for yourselves.”

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/09...-they-shot-you

----------


## malmomike77

Liz Truss vows billions to support Ukraine military through 2023

Prime Minister Liz Truss will vow to match the UK's spending on military support to Ukraine next year, at a speech to the UN.

Ms Truss pledged that her government will match or exceed the £2.3bn support given to Ukraine's "inspirational" troops since February.

World leaders are meeting in New York for the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

"The UK will continue to be right behind [Ukraine] every step of the way," Ms Truss said.

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces invaded the Ukraine on 24 February only to the United States has sent more military aid to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62959374

----------


## bsnub

> "The UK will continue to be right behind [Ukraine] every step of the way," Ms Truss said.


Good to know. So a smooth transition then from Boris regarding Ukraine.

----------


## malmomike77

I don't think there was ever a doubt. Aside from giving Ukraine some certainty i does also put pressure on others who've not already done so to make longer term commitments.

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## bsnub

> Aside from giving Ukraine some certainty i does also put pressure on others who've not already done so to make longer term commitments.


I will assume you are talking about Germany, and make no doubt they are under tremendous pressure due to the waffling coming out of Berlin. Lots of pressure from the US and other EU states at the moment to supply LEOPARD tanks since the logistics trail is the shortest to Germany for maintenance reasons.

You should watch the DW video I posted in the other Ukraine thread. They have General Ben Hodges (ret) former commanding General of US Army Europe.

----------


## malmomike77

^ no, i am talking about cross NATO support. If longer term commitments are signalled it sends a message to Putin and potentially those who question his leadership that Russia is facing a determined front not just in the short term.

----------


## bsnub

> If longer term commitments are signalled it sends a message to Putin and potentially those who question his leadership that Russia is facing a determined front not just in the short term.


The US support is bipartisan and will be unwavering. That in and of itself will assure that the other NATO members will fall in line. Just four days ago, the US announced another $600 million aid package.

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## malmomike77

^ in know

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The US support is bipartisan and will be unwavering. That in and of itself will assure that the other NATO members will fall in line. Just four days ago, the US announced another $600 million aid package.


LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss will pledge at a UN summit to meet or exceed the 2.3 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) of military aid spent on Ukraine in 2022 in the next year, doubling down on her support for Kyiv after Russia's invasion.

On first international trip, Britain'&#39;'s Truss pledges Ukraine support | Reuters

----------


## Takeovers

> The US support is bipartisan and will be unwavering. That in and of itself will assure that the other NATO members will fall in line. Just four days ago, the US announced another $600 million aid package.



The huge lend-lease package is on top of everything done yet. It has not even started yet, will in October.

----------


## misskit

*Munitions Fall From the Sky in Thermite Attack on Ukraine Village—Video*

In a video shared by Ukrainian member of Parliament Roman Hryshchuk on Twitter, Ukraine's village of Ozerne, in the Donetsk region, appears to be hit by numerous incendiary weapons falling from the sky.


The spectacle resembles fireworks falling down in slow motion on the village's homes.


"Ozerne village, Donetsk region. Ukraine. This is horrible," wrote Hryshchuk in the post accompanying the clip, which has now been watched by over 225,000 people.

The Ukrainian MP did not confirm the date of the attack, but the location of the video has been confirmed to be Ozerne, thanks to comparison with images of the village offered by Google Maps.


Newsweek could not verify who shot the video or when, but has contacted Ukraine's Ministry of Defense for comment.

VIDEO Munitions Fall From the Sky in Thermite Attack on Ukraine Village—Video

----------


## harrybarracuda

More Putin war crimes.

----------


## Hugh Cow

Europe needs to put their hand in their pocket. 
USA 45 billion
UK 6.5 Billion
canada 3.1 billion
germany 3.1 billion
Poland 2.9 billion
Norway 1,28 billion
France 1.15 billion
Japan 0.6 billion
Once again the USA is shouldering the bulk of the financial contributions followed by the UK and then Canada. About time the european countries stood up to the plate when they are the closest to the threat and contributing the least. Poland has spent nearly as much as Germany when their is a chasm between the two countries GDPs.
The yanks must think an alliance with the europeans is like having a retarded relative they have to look after.

----------


## Takeovers

> About time the european countries stood up to the plate when they are the closest to the threat and contributing the least.


Agree with this.




> Poland has spent nearly as much as Germany when their is a chasm between the two countries GDPs.


See this in context. Poland had a huge stockpile of, partially modernized, russian armor, which they were planning to replace with NATO weapons anyway. Now they donated much of this to Ukraine, expecting Germany and USA to backfill them with modern weapons. Germany has almost none of this. We gave, what little we had. We gave some very advanced NATO weapons. We gave a lot of cash.

I wish we would send a lot of advanced battle tanks, but not a single NATO country has sent any of those yet.

----------


## bsnub

A senior  U.S. defense official said today that there is a definite possibility  that the U.S. government could transfer unspecified tanks to the  Ukrainian armed forces in the future. The  remarks from the senior U.S. defense official about tanks for Ukraine  were included in a routine Pentagon press briefing about the state of  Russia's war on that country earlier today. Ukrainian forces continue to  push ahead with a major counter-offensive that began some four weeks ago and has already led to the liberation of a substantial amount of previously occupied territory. Foreign military aid packages full of weapons, ammunition, and other materiel – especially U.S.-supplied High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) firing 227mm Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMRLS) rockets and air-launched AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) – have been key to these successes, and continued deliveries are likely to be essential for keeping up the momentum. 

"Tanks  are absolutely on the table," the senior U.S. defense official said,  according to VOA's Carla Babb. The senior U.S. defense official did say  that Ukrainian forces would need to demonstrate their ability to  maintain more modern Western tanks before American authorities would  agree to provide them, according to _Foreign Policy_'s Jack Detsch.

The  requirement that Ukrainian forces first prove themselves capable of  keeping a fleet of Western tanks going seems unlikely to be a major  dealbreaker. U.S officials said similar things in the past ahead of the  initial deliveries of HIMARS. Ukraine's military has shown itself very  capable of getting contingents rapidly trained to maintain and employ  HIMARS and other more complex Western weapon systems, such as the  aforementioned AGM-88s and ground-launched Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

Regardless,  it's unclear what tanks the U.S. government might be prepared to  transfer. The senior defense official's comments have already prompted  speculation about the potential of U.S.-made M1 Abrams tanks hitting the battlefield in Ukraine. 

There are certainly a number of M1 configurations that are readily exportable,  but that would still provide Ukrainian forces with newer and  significantly more capable tanks than most, if not all of the Soviet-era  designs and derivatives that they currently operate. It is possible  that older Abrams in U.S. military inventory could be sufficiently  downgraded, with any sensitive fire control, communications, and other  systems removed, to allow them to be 'drawdown' and more quickly sent to  Ukraine. 

A  'drawdown' in this case refers to an authority that the President of  the United States has, if certain stipulations are met, to transfer  various kinds of materiel straight out of American stocks to allies and  partners, something you can read more about here.  The U.S. government has already sent billions in military assistance to  the Ukrainian armed forces through the drawdown process, as well as  other aid purchased directly on its behalf.

In terms of available tanks, the U.S. Marine Corps notably decided a few years ago to divest its entire fleet of M1s, as well as M88 armored recovery vehicles and M60 tank-based Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges  (AVLB). The process has seen these vehicles transferred to the Army,  though what that service's exact plans might be for them has been  unclear. The Army already has thousands of older M1s in storage, too.

At the same time, M1s could present unique maintenance and logistical  challenges for the Ukrainian armed forces, in no small part because of  their fuel-hungry and complex gas turbine engine powerplants. The vast  majority of Western, as well as Soviet-era tanks, use more conventional  diesel engines. The Soviet T-64 and T-80 series,  which were produced in Ukraine, were also gas turbine powered. However,  later variants and derivatives of the T-80, including Ukraine's modernized T-84 Oplot, nixed the turbines in favor of simpler and cheaper to maintain diesel engines.

Transferring wheeled 8x8 M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System  (MGS), which are armed with 105mm guns, but are not tanks, could be  another potential option for the U.S. military to help bolster Ukraine's  armored vehicle fleets. The U.S. Army announced its plans to divest all of its M1128s last year, meaning that they'd be readily available to send to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 

These  vehicles could be particularly well suited for Ukraine under the  circumstances, being simpler and cheaper to operate and maintain than an  Abrams, if also less capable. In addition, with the Army's retirement  of the M1128s, there are no other 105mm gun-armed vehicles currently in  U.S. military service, making it just that much less of an issue to  transfer relevant ammunition. It is, of course, worth noting that the  Army's future Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) light tanks will be armed with 105mm main guns.

Sending  the M1128s to Ukraine could be made part of a larger push by the U.S.  government to facilitate or otherwise promote the transfer of older  tanks with NATO-standard 105mm guns to Ukraine. For instance, there may  still be some number of U.S.-made M60A3 Patton  tanks, which either are or can be significantly upgraded with modern  sensors and other capabilities, in storage in a number of NATO countries  that American authorities could seek to help deliver to the Ukrainian  military. 

The possibility of Germany sending older Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine, or approving the delivery of Leopard 1s from third parties, has been a topic of discussion for months now, as well. For now, however, German authorities continue to block any transfers of Leopard 1s, among other German-made armored vehicles, to Ukraine.

At  the press briefing earlier today, the senior U.S. defense official did  specifically highlight how American authorities have already "spent a  good deal of effort in encouraging countries largely in Europe who have  some of these formerly Russian-made tanks to provide them to Ukraine to supplement Ukraine's existing tank inventory."

With all this in mind, it is very interesting to note that Slovenia, which is a NATO member, announced today that it plans to transfer 28 M-55S tanks  to Ukraine as part of a three-way deal that will see it receive 40  unspecified vehicles from Germany in exchange. The M-55Ss, also  sometimes referred to as M-55S1s,  are highly modified versions of the Soviet T-55 that received an  upgrade package developed by Slovenian firm STO RAVNE in partnership  with Israeli defense contractor Elbit in the 1990s. The M-55s are armed  with NATO-standard 105mm guns in place of the original 100mm D-10Ts, and  have modernized fire control systems and optics, among other  improvements, as well as the ability to be equipped with ERA. If this  deal goes ahead, Ukraine will have to start receiving NATO-standard  105mm tank ammunition, as well.

No matter what, heavy armor, in general, continues to be very actively employed on both sides of the current conflict in Ukraine, despite equally active discussions about whether the fighting has proven that tanks are increasingly unsuited to modern battlefields. Even older armored vehicles have proven useful in a conflict where the opposing side has also been making use of dated types, at least in part due to attrition.

As  such, it's hardly surprising that tanks and other armored vehicles  continue have been and continue to be high on the Ukrainian government's  military aid wishlists. Replenishing armored vehicles lost in the  fighting so far, and potentially upgrading Ukraine's ground combat  capabilities in the process, is perhaps even more important now in light  of the ongoing counter-offensive. 

All  told, it still very much remains to be seen when any American tanks  might actually make their way to Ukraine, and what types might be  transferred. At the same time, even older Western tanks could still be a  major boon to the Ukrainian military's ongoing fight to push back the  Russian invaders.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...y-on-the-table

----------


## misskit

*Several Hundred Detained as Russians Protest Mobilization*

Several hundred people have been detained across Russia on Wednesday as rallies against a military mobilization declared by President Vladimir Putin for the war in Ukraine took place in areas from the Far East to the capital Moscow.


According to the independent OVD-Info police monitor, at least 1,386 protesters have been detained nationwide so far with at least half of the count recorded in the capital Moscow.


It added that a majority of those detained were women.


Police in Moscow reportedly handed some detainees summons to the military enlistment office regardless of their experience.


The Vesna opposition movement as well as supporters of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny called on Russians nationwide to take to the streets on Wednesday evening to oppose the Kremlin’s decision to bolster its forces in Ukraine with a “partial” mobilization. 


The first protests took place across cities in Siberia and the Far East, where dozens were arrested, often just minutes after the rallies began, according to local reports.


Small groups of protesters gathered in Ulan-Ude, the capital of the republic of Buryatia; Yakutsk, the capital of the republic of Sakha; and the Far East cities of Khabarovsk and Irkutsk.


Protesters in Ulan-Ude were seen carrying handwritten signs reading “No war! No mobilization!” and “Our husbands, fathers and brothers don’t want to kill other husbands and fathers.”

In the Siberian city of Tomsk, a female protester carrying a sign reading “Hug me if you are also scared” was among the 15 people detained shortly after the start of the protest, according to local Telegram news channel Ulitsa Barkhatnaya.


In Novosibirsk, Russia’s third-largest city, video published to social media showed a protester shouting “I don’t want to die for Putin or for you!”


Protests then took place across the cities in Russia’s Volga-Ural region. At least 45 people were detained in the region’s largest city Yekaterinburg, while dozens others were arrested in Perm, Chelyabinsk and Ufa, the capital of the republic of Bashkortostan, according to OVD-Info. 


In the capital Moscow, several hundred people gathered on the central Stary Arbat street amid heavy police presence. Protesters could be seen chanting “No war!” “Send Putin to the trenches!” and “Let our children live!” in videos published to social media. 

In St. Petersburg, protesters who gathered near the central St. Isaac's Square were quickly encircled by police, according to videos from the scene. But others continued to march through the city center. 

Rallies also took place in the city of Arkhangelsk in the Far North, the southern city of Krasnodar, the Baltic exclave Kaliningrad and others.


In Kazan, the capital of the republic of Tatarstan, a small group of female protesters marched through central streets chanting “Peace to the world. No to mobilization!” after the initial rally was dispersed.

A total of 300,000 Russian reservists are expected to be called up for military service during the campaign, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. 


But the mobilization efforts could be more far-reaching given the vague wording of the mobilization decree, according to human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov, who has been helping Russian soldiers opposed to the war.

‘I Don’t Want to Be Cannon Fodder’: Panic and Fear as Russia Begins Mobilization  - The Moscow Times

----------


## HermantheGerman

I think it's worth posting because it shows how sick Putler really is. 


*President of Russia Vladimir Putin:* Friends,The subject of this address is the situation in Donbass and the course of the special military operation to liberate it from the neo-Nazi regime, which seized power in Ukraine in 2014 as the result of an armed state coup.

Today  I am addressing you  all citizens of our country, people of different generations, ages and ethnicities,  the people of our great Motherland, all who are united by the great  historical Russia, soldiers, officers and volunteers who are fighting on the frontline and doing  their combat duty, our brothers and sisters in the Donetsk and Lugansk  peoples republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and other areas that have been liberated from the neo-Nazi regime.

The issue  concerns the necessary, imperative measures to protect the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity  of Russia and support the desire and will of our compatriots to choose  their future independently, and the aggressive policy of some Western elites,  who are doing their utmost to preserve their domination and with this aim  in view are trying to block and suppress any sovereign and independent development  centres in order to continue to aggressively force their will and pseudo-values  on other countries and nations.

The goal  of that part of the West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country. They are saying openly now  that in 1991 they managed to split up the Soviet Union and now is  the time to do the same to Russia, which must be divided into numerous  regions that would be at deadly feud with each other. 
They  devised these plans long ago. They encouraged groups of international terrorists in the Caucasus and moved  NATOs offensive infrastructure close to our borders. They used indiscriminate Russophobia as a weapon, including by nurturing the hatred of Russia  for decades, primarily in Ukraine, which was designed to become  an anti-Russia bridgehead. They turned the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder and pushed them into  a war with Russia, which they unleashed back in 2014. They used the army  against civilians and organised a genocide, blockade and terror against those  who refused to recognise the government that was created in Ukraine  as the result of a state coup.
After the Kiev regime publicly refused to settle the issue of Donbass peacefully and went as far as to announce its ambition to possess nuclear weapons, it became clear that a new offensive in Donbass  there were two of them before  was inevitable, and that it would be inevitably followed by an attack on Russias Crimea, that is, on Russia.
In this connection, the decision to start a pre-emptive military operation was necessary and the only option. The main goal of this operation, which is to liberate the whole of Donbass, remains unaltered.
The Lugansk  Peoples Republic has been liberated from the neo-Nazis almost completely. Fighting in the Donetsk Peoples Republic continues. Over the previous eight years, the Kiev  occupation regime created a deeply echeloned line of permanent defences.  A head-on attack against them would have led to heavy losses, which is why our units,  as well as the forces of the Donbass republics, are acting competently  and systematically, using military equipment and saving lives, moving step by step  to liberate Donbass, purge cities and towns of the neo-Nazis, and help the people  whom the Kiev regime turned into hostages and human shields.

As you know, professional military personnel serving under contract are taking part in the special military operation. Fighting side by side with them are volunteer units  people of different ethnicities, professions and ages who are real patriots. They answered the call of their hearts to rise up in defence of Russia and Donbass. 
In this  connection, I have already issued instructions for the Government and the Defence Ministry to determine  the legal status of volunteers and personnel of the military units of the Donetsk  and Lugansk peoples republics. It must be the same as the status  of military professionals of the Russian army, including material, medical  and social benefits. Special attention must be given to organising the supply  of military and other equipment for volunteer units and Donbass peoples militia. 
While  acting to attain the main goals of defending Donbass in accordance with  the plans and decisions of the Defence Ministry and the General Staff, our troops have liberated considerable  areas in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and a number of other areas.  This has created a protracted line of contact that is over 1,000  kilometres long.
This  is what I would like to make public for the first time today. After  the start of the special military operation, in particular after  the Istanbul talks, Kiev representatives voiced quite a positive  response to our proposals. These proposals concerned above all ensuring Russias security and interests. But a peaceful settlement  obviously did not suit the West, which is why, after certain compromises were coordinated, Kiev was actually ordered to wreck all these agreements.
More weapons were pumped into Ukraine. The Kiev regime brought into play new groups of foreign mercenaries and nationalists, military units trained according to NATO standards and receiving orders from Western advisers. 
At the same time, the regime of reprisals throughout Ukraine against their own citizens, established immediately after the armed coup in 2014, was harshly intensified. The policy of intimidation, terror and violence is taking on increasingly mass-scale, horrific and barbaric forms. 
I want to stress the following. We know that the majority of people living in the territories liberated from the neo-Nazis, and these are primarily the historical lands of Novorossiya, do not want to live under the yoke of the neo-Nazi regime. People in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, in Lugansk and Donetsk saw and are seeing now the atrocities perpetrated by the neo-Nazis in the [Ukrainian-] occupied areas of the Kharkov region. The descendants of Banderites and members of Nazi punitive expeditions are killing, torturing and imprisoning people; they are settling scores, beating up, and committing outrages on peaceful civilians. 

There  were over 7.5 million people living in the Donetsk and Lugansk peoples  republics and in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions before the outbreak of hostilities. Many of them were forced  to become refugees and leave their homes. Those who have stayed  they number  about five million  are now exposed to artillery and missile attacks launched  by the neo-Nazi militants, who fire at hospitals and schools and stage  terrorist attacks against peaceful civilians. 
 We cannot, we have no moral right to let our kin and kith be torn to pieces by butchers; we cannot but respond to their sincere striving to decide their destiny on their own.
The parliaments  of the Donbass peoples republics and the military-civilian administrations of the Kherson  and Zaporozhye regions have adopted decisions to hold referendums  on the future of their territories and have appealed to Russia  to support this.
I would  like to emphasise that we will do everything necessary to create safe conditions for these referendums so  that people can express their will. And we will support the choice of future  made by the majority of people in the Donetsk and Lugansk peoples  republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. 
Friends,
Today our armed forces, as I have mentioned, are fighting on the line of contact that is over 1,000 kilometres long, fighting not only against neo-Nazi units but actually the entire military machine of the collective West.

In this  situation, I consider it necessary to take the following decision,  which is fully adequate to the threats we are facing. More precisely, I find it necessary to support the proposal  of the Defence Ministry and the General Staff on partial mobilisation  in the Russian Federation to defend our Motherland and its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to ensure the safety of our  people and people in the liberated territories. 
 As I have said, we are talking about partial mobilisation. In other words, only military reservists, primarily those who served in the armed forces and have specific military occupational specialties and corresponding experience, will be called up.
Before  being sent to their units, those called up for active duty will undergo mandatory additional military training  based on the experience of the special military operation.

I have already signed Executive Order on partial mobilisation.
In accordance with legislation, the houses of the Federal Assembly  the Federation Council and the State Duma  will be officially notified about this in writing today.
The mobilisation will begin today, September 21. I am instructing the heads of the regions to provide the necessary assistance to the work of military recruitment offices. 
I would  like to point out that the citizens of Russia called up in accordance  with the mobilisation order will have the status, payments and all  social benefits of military personnel serving under contract. 
Additionally,  the Executive Order on partial mobilisation also stipulates additional measures for the fulfilment  of the state defence order. The heads of defence industry enterprises  will be directly responsible for attaining the goals of increasing the production  of weapons and military equipment and using additional production  facilities for this purpose. At the same time, the Government must address without any delay all  aspects of material, resource and financial support for our defence  enterprises. 
Friends,
The West has gone too far in its aggressive anti-Russia policy, making endless threats to our country and people. Some irresponsible Western politicians are doing more than just speak about their plans to organise the delivery of long-range offensive weapons to Ukraine, which could be used to deliver strikes at Crimea and other Russian regions. 
Such  terrorist attacks, including with the use of Western weapons, are being delivered at border areas in the Belgorod  and Kursk regions. NATO is conducting reconnaissance through Russias  southern regions in real time and with the use of modern systems, aircraft,  vessels, satellites and strategic drones.
Washington, London and Brussels are openly encouraging Kiev to move the hostilities to our territory. They openly say that Russia must be defeated on the battlefield by any means, and subsequently deprived of political, economic, cultural and any other sovereignty and ransacked. 
They  have even resorted to the nuclear blackmail. I am referring not only to the Western-encouraged shelling  of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, which poses a threat of a nuclear  disaster, but also to the statements made by some high-ranking representatives  of the leading NATO countries on the possibility and admissibility of using weapons  of mass destruction  nuclear weapons  against Russia.
I would  like to remind those who make such statements regarding Russia that our country has different types  of weapons as well, and some of them are more modern than the weapons  NATO countries have. In the event of a threat to the territorial  integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.
The citizens of Russia can rest assured that the territorial integrity of our Motherland, our independence and freedom will be defended  I repeat  by all the systems available to us. Those who are using nuclear blackmail against us should know that the wind rose can turn around.
It  is our historical tradition and the destiny of our nation to stop those who are keen on global domination  and threaten to split up and enslave our Motherland. Rest assured that  we will do it this time as well.
 I believe in your support.

Address by the President of the Russian Federation • President of Russia


How any times has he used the word nazi?  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 
Somebody should teach him how to write a speech. I guess it proves that he wrote and is responsible for all this himself.

----------


## sabang

*Ukrainian Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk exchanged for 200 Azov battalion fighters, Zelenskiy says*




Prime minister says 215 soldiers imprisoned by Russia, including fighters who led the defence of Mariupol's Azovstal steelworks, have been released


Ukraine has announced that 215 Ukrainian and foreign citizens have been released by Russia in a prisoner exchange, including fighters who led the defence of Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks that became an icon of Ukrainian resistance.

Russia received 55 prisoners including Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian lawmaker and ally of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin accused of high treason, the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in his daily address.

Medvedchuk was arrested in April, after escaping house arrest on treason charges days after the Russian invasion. At the time, Zelenskiy suggested exchanging him for Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Russia but the Kremlin rejected the offer.

In May, Azov fighters surrendered after a long siege of the steelworks and were transferred to Russian-held territory.

The swap is the biggest exchange between the warring sides since the start of Russia’s invasion in February.

“We have managed to liberate 215 people,” the Ukrainian presidency’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, announced on television.

Zelenskiy said five military commanders including leaders of the defence of Azovstal were taken to Turkey as part of an operation agreed with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The released prisoners would remain in Turkey “in total security and in comfortable conditions” until the end of the war, he added. There was no comment from Moscow.

Ten prisoners of war including five Britons and two Americans, who were transferred from Russia to Saudi Arabia earlier on Wednesday, were part of the swap deal, Zelenskiy said.

On Tuesday, Erdogan told US television that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to swap 200 prisoners in one of the largest exchanges of the seven-month-old war.

Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov in south-eastern Ukraine, withstood weeks of relentless Russian bombardment, with resistance concentrated in a dense network of underground tunnels at its Azovstal steel plant.

Ukrainian forces’ longstanding refusal to surrender despite shortages of ammunition and supplies earned them praise across the country for their heroism in defying overwhelming odds against Russia’s superior numbers and firepower.
_With Agence France-Presse

Ukrainian Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk exchanged for 200 Azov battalion fighters, Zelenskiy says  | Ukraine | The Guardian_

----------


## panama hat

> Once again the USA is shouldering the bulk of the financial contributions


Even more than Belgium or Luxembourg????  Oddly enough the US is also the leader in military spending overall by a very large margin at close to USD$1 trillion annually.
  One wonders why you keep raising this issue about the US as though it is a surprise.  Also: 350 million people . . . Largest economy in the world . . . GDP at 21 trillion





> The yanks must think an alliance with the europeans is like having a retarded relative they have to look after.


I'm sure they are also realistic enough and understand the military industrial complex and economics and excuse Portugal for not contributing 44 billion.

Can Europe do more?  Yes.  




> See this in context.


Good idea.

----------


## misskit

*'How to Break Arm' Becomes Top Google Trend as Russians Face Conscription*

Google searches for "how to break an arm at home" surged in Russia after President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of the population to fight in Ukraine.


The Russian president said conscription would only be applied to reservists, with the decree taking effect on Wednesday.


Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who spoke after Putin's address to the nation, said 300,000 men with "previous military experience" would now be called up.

Shortly after Google searches for "как сломать руку в домашних условиях," or "how to break an arm at home," exploded across Russia, sparking speculation some Russians could take extreme measures to avoid fighting in Ukraine.

Google Trends ranks search terms from zero to 100 over a period of time, with zero representing the point of least interest and 100 the most.

According to Trends data for the past seven days there were zero recorded searches for "how to break an arm at home" at 2 a.m. ET, when Putin's began his address. This doesn't literally mean there were no searches for the words, just that the amount was so low the data couldn't be quantified.

However, by 4 a.m. ET this had surged to 38 out of a possible 100, showing a dramatic increase in searches for the phrase.


During his address Putin said a partial mobilization would be "fully adequate to the threats we face, namely to protect our homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and people in the liberated territories."


He warned NATO countries that Russia has "various means of destruction" available to it, in a possible allusion to nuclear weapons.


Putin added Russia would "use all the means at our disposal" if "the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people."


On Tuesday, authorities in four partially Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine said they would hold referendums on formally joining the Russian Federation.

Polling is due to start on Friday in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, though Western powers have rejected its legitimacy.

Speaking at the White House, Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, condemned what he called "sham referenda" which "will be manipulated."

He added: "Let me be clear, if this does transpire ... the United States will never recognize Russia's claims to any purportedly annexed parts of Ukraine. We will never recognize this territory as anything other than a part of Ukraine."


If Russia formally annexes parts of occupied Ukraine it would allow Putin to present the war to the Russian public as a defense of sovereign Russian territory, rather than external aggression.


Protests against the partial mobilization have been planned for Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. local time, in cities across Russia. Previous demonstrations against Putin's invasion of Ukraine have been brutally suppressed.

'How to Break Arm' Becomes Top Google Trend as Russians Face Conscription

----------


## Norton

> Shortly after Google searches for "как сломать руку в домашних условиях," or "how to break an arm at home," exploded across Russia, sparking speculation some Russians could take extreme measures to avoid fighting in Ukraine.


Pretty drastic to avoid conscription. Suggest finding a friendly doc to help. 

In the fall of 1968, Donald J. Trump received a timely diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels that led to his medical exemption from the military during Vietnam.  :Smile:

----------


## David48atTD

Voting has begun in Moscow-held regions in  Ukraine in a referendum to join Russia  a move widely considered to be a  precursor to illegal annexation. 

*Key points:*
Russian-installed leaders announced on Tuesday a referendum would be heldResidents in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will be asked if they want to become part of RussiaThe result is expected to be in Moscow's favour 

On  Tuesday, Russian-backed leaders announced plans for ballots in Luhansk,  Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, which together make up about 15 per  cent of Ukrainian territory.

The next day, Russian  President Vladimir announced a military draft expected to deliver  300,000 troops, after losing ground to Ukranian forces.
The ballot will run until Tuesday, and the result is expected to win Moscow's favour.

That would give the Kremlin pretext to claim Ukraine's attempts to recapture occupied territories are an attack on Russia.

"Encroachment  onto Russian territory is a crime which allows you to use all the  forces of selfdefence," Dmitry Medvedev, who was Russia's president  from 2008 to 2012, said in a post on Telegram.
Luhansk  regional governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukrainian TV that declaring the  regions Russian territories would allow Moscow to fight "without any  reservations".

Officials will bring ballots to people's houses for the first four days, with regular polls only opening for Tuesday.
Polls have also opened in Russia for refugees from the area to vote.

Denis  Pushilin, a separatist leader of Moscow-backed authorities in the  Donetsk region, called the referendum on Friday "a historical  milestone."
NATO has said the "sham referenda" are "illegal and illegitimate".

The  OSCE, which monitors elections, said the outcomes would have no legal  force because they do not conform with Ukraine law or international  standards.

*AP/Reuters*

----------


## tomcat

A Decision Tree for Biden If Putin Goes Nuclear

One question is how to retaliate against a Russian nuclear strike. Another is whether to announce it clearly or vaguely, publicly or privately.



Don’t. Or else. Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By Andreas Kluth (Bloomberg Editorial)

September 21, 2022 at 6:25 PM GMT+7


Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics. A former editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist, he is author of “Hannibal and Me.” @andreaskluth

Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t want to use nuclear weapons, just as he doesn’t want to still fight his “special military operation” against Ukraine. But he is still fighting — because he’s unable to win. That also means he might yet drop a nuke, as he once again threatened this week. The US and its allies — and Putin’s putative friends in China and elsewhere — need to decide now how they’d react.

For Putin, nuclear escalation wouldn’t be a way of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, but of snatching survival — political or even physical — from the maw of oblivion. Unlike democratic leaders, he has no way to retire gracefully after all the damage he’s done. As a quack historian of the Tsars, he knows that his end could be messy.

This is why he might dust off a Russian doctrine that Western analysts call “escalate to de-escalate.” It means going nuclear to avoid losing a conventional (non-nuclear) war. Putin would detonate one or more “tactical” (as opposed to “strategic”) nukes. These are low-yielding blasts large enough to eliminate a Ukrainian army position or logistics hub — but too “small” to erase an entire city. 

By dropping such a bomb, Putin would be signaling his willingness to use more. His motivation would be to force Ukraine to surrender and the West to get out of the conflict — but without inviting automatic retaliation by the US. Putin wants his enemies to stand down, so he can declare victory and stay in power.

Such an act of desperation, it goes without saying, would mark the darkest turn in human history since Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It would not only kill, maim and traumatize huge numbers of innocent people — Putin is already doing that — but also cause lasting terror throughout the entire world. 

Putin’s escalation would burst the Cold-War-era taboo against using nukes for anything other than deterrence. If he’s seen to get away with that, other nuclear rogue states would take their cues. This in turn would force countries that have forsaken nuclear weapons in the name of non-proliferation or disarmament — as Ukraine did in the 1990s — to build their own arsenals. Arms control would be dead. Nuclear warfare, by design or accident, would become more likely in more places, from West to South and East Asia.

What, then, should US President Joe Biden do? He must deter Putin, obviously, while simultaneously preparing a response if Putin does escalate. But these are two aspects of the same decision: The implied response also does the deterring.

Matthew Kroenig at the Atlantic Council, a think tank, has summarized some of the options. One answer to a limited Russian nuclear strike is to double, triple or quadruple all the measures the West has already taken against Putin’s regime, completely cutting off Russia from the Western world. Instead of caving, the West would also send more weapons to Ukraine, and more forces, including nuclear arms, to NATO’s eastern front. 

Such a deliberately limited response would aim to stop an escalation spiral before it starts. The problem is that Putin may not find this response frightening enough to be deterred. He’s already a pariah, and Russians are already aching under sanctions. If he’s dreading the end of his own reign or life — and that, remember, is the scenario we’re contemplating — he’d still go all in.

Another problem is that a restrained response would look woefully inadequate to the Ukrainians and the rest of the world. Kyiv’s friends would lose heart. Dictators such as North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un would conclude that you can go ballistic and survive.

So Biden’s response must be more muscular. He has two military options. One is to respond in kind, by also deploying a low-yield tactical nuke for show — in the Arctic Ocean, say, or remote Siberia. Its mushroom cloud would be meant as a Stop sign for Putin. It would also reassure Ukrainians and the world that the US will answer escalation tit for tat — that it’ll enforce the nuclear taboo.

The problem is that this would turn the confrontation into an apocalyptic staredown, possibly leading to a series of tactical detonations. And Russia, which is roughly even with the US in strategic nukes, has about 10 times as many tactical warheads to play with. The scenarios become impossible to calculate, especially when factoring in human error. There would be a risk of Armageddon.

The better military option is therefore a conventional US strike on Russian forces. The target could be the exact base that launched the nuclear strike. Or it could be Russian troops in Ukraine. 

This would signal to Ukraine and the world that any breach of the nuclear taboo will be punished. And the message to Putin would be that he can’t escalate to de-escalate, because the West will step in to defeat him.

The drawback, obviously, is that this amounts to a direct clash between Russia and NATO, and therefore incurs the risk of World War III, with Armageddon still one scenario at the end. Putin might conclude that the US isn’t prepared to retaliate with nukes, and launch even more nuclear strikes.

This raises another question Biden must answer: Once he’s decided how he’d respond to various levels of nuclear escalation, how should he communicate that — to Putin, allies, enemies, and the public? 

If he wants to maximize the deterrent value of his communication, he’ll be clear, specific and public — If Putin does X, we’ll do Y. The problem there is that Biden would forfeit all flexibility when Putin does something slightly different from X. 

The better option — which Biden appears to have chosen — is to be deliberately vague in public. The disadvantage is that this keeps even the Ukrainians guessing. The advantage is that Putin must assume the worst. 

There is another possibility. Return to our premise: Putin doesn’t want to go nuclear, but will if he fears that his own survival is threatened. The US could make plans for regime change —  that is, for taking Putin and his inner circle out — in the event of nuclear escalation. In this case, it would be best to communicate that not vaguely but specifically, and not publicly but privately — to Putin.

If there is any glimmer of hope in this dark time, it glinted in Uzbekistan last week, when Putin met the leaders of India and China, Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping. Both countries are nuclear powers. India is non-aligned, China is nominally behind Putin. But both expressed to Putin their “concern” over his war. 

No matter the enmity between Beijing and Washington, no matter the other conflicts going on, the specter of nuclear war must and can unite the world against the threat. Discreetly, Biden, Xi and all other world leaders could put aside their differences and send Putin this message: You go nuclear, and we’ll make sure you’re out.

----------


## misskit

^https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...db6_story.html

----------


## panama hat

> Putin added Russia would "use all the means at our disposal" if "the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people."


So, the cretin thinks Ukraine is going to invade Russia . . . he's even more delusional than one could have imagined

----------


## misskit

No, he doesn’t think Ukraine will invade Russia. The way I gather what Putin wants to do is illegally annex the parts of Ukraine he wants to take, including the ones Ukraine has troops in now, THEN say Ukraine has invaded Russia.

Desperation.

----------


## nidhogg

> So, the cretin thinks Ukraine is going to invade Russia . . . he's even more delusional than one could have imagined


No he does not think that.  He will annex the regions "voting", making them mother Russia, and hence putting nukes on the table.

----------


## bsnub

A tentative cease-fire between Armenia and Azerbaijan has held for  the past week, following one of the deadliest-ever outbreaks of fighting  between the two frequent belligerents on Sept. 12-14. But it is  unlikely to hold; Azerbaijani forces who marched into Armenia continue  to occupy part of its territory, in particular heights around the town  of Jermuk. Rumors swirl of further offensives.

 A key destabilizing factor is a power vacuum  in the region, which has emboldened Azerbaijan to press its advantages.  Its military supremacy over Armenia was conclusively displayed by their  previous conflict, the 2020 war over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous  ethnic Armenian enclave within the de jure borders of Azerbaijan.

 Azerbaijan’s 2020 offensive—with key support from Turkey and Israel—was  settled only by an uneasy cease-fire mediated by Russia, which has a  close relationship with Armenia. While the circumstances remain  disputed, it appears that Russia threatened to intervene more forcefully  if Baku did not agree. This marked  an expansion of the Russian military’s presence into the South Caucasus  region on a scale unprecedented since the Soviet collapse.

 The deal provoked mass opposition within Armenia. But Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan, who had initially come to power three years prior on  the back of an anti-kleptocratic liberalizing revolution, had no one to  turn to but Moscow, as Washington and Europe were entirely absent from  diplomatic efforts to end the 2020 fighting. Pashinyan ultimately  allowed Russia to expand  its military presence within Armenia, building new bases in the country  proper in addition to its expanded role in Nagorno-Karabakh.

 Russia is now incapable of sustaining that presence—and Armenia is  now suffering the consequences. The question is whether the West will  now recognize the opportunity to expand its own influence in the South  Caucasus region.

 What the Russian-brokered deal did not do was solve any underlying  problems in the region. Instead, it opened more territorial disputes  without solving the Nagorno-Karabakh one. Subsequent diplomacy proved  unable to address both sides’ concern. Meanwhile, the Kremlin—long the  major arms supplier of both sides—also continued to offer  Azerbaijan more heavy weaponry. At the end of this August, Azerbaijan  presented Armenia with a fait accompli, sending its forces to take the  town of Lachin (known as Berdzor in Armenian) itself, revealing Russia’s  impotence.

 By that time it was increasingly apparent that the Kremlin had  overstretched itself in its war in Ukraine, which it launched in  February, having to draw on military personnel and equipment from across  Russia itself, as well as its other overseas deployments as far afield  as Tajikistan and Syria. Kyiv alleges  that Moscow has redeployed soldiers from its 102nd military base in the  Armenian city of Gyumri, one of its largest foreign bases, to Ukraine  as well.

 Yerevan began to consider other options, but the West’s interest was  limited. Washington said it was open to new diplomatic avenues but took  little effort to pursue them. European diplomats had their hands tied as  well amid fuel shortages due to Russia’s war, with European Commission  President Ursula von der Leyen visiting Baku in July, pledging a new  partnership based on doubling Azerbaijani gas supplies. The plan may not be feasible,  but Europe is in desperate need of alternative energy allies. Brussels  appears to believe it cannot risk a spat with Baku as a result.

 Unsurprisingly, Yerevan sought further alternatives, including  neighboring Iran. Yerevan and Tehran have economic links, and Iran also  home to a large ethnic Armenian population. Iran also has frequent  tensions with Azerbaijan, primarily over the issue of Azerbaijani irredentism. In August, Armenia agreed  for Iran to establish a consulate in the border village of Kapan, in  Armenia’s Syunik district, in hopes of deterring Azerbaijan. Known as  Zangezur in Azerbaijani, Syunik is the territory through which Baku aims  to establish its land corridor to Nakhchivan. But it is highly unlikely  that Iran will intervene directly, and Tehran has hardly been an  effective security guarantor elsewhere.

 Following the Sept. 12-14 fighting, Armenia turned to the Russian-led  Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and requested a direct  intervention to protect it. Pashinyan had backed  Russia’s use of the CSTO as its vector for intervening in Kazakhstan  following mass unrest there this January, in an effort to shore up  support. However, the organization has no independent position from  Russia. Amid the deteriorating situation for the Russian military in  Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin showed no interest in  diverting efforts.

 The CSTO duly refused  to get involved, just as it did in 2020, when it excused its absence by  stating the fighting was not in Armenia proper. That justification was  no longer available, revealing the organization to be a paper tiger.

Washington, however, did pick up the slack, brokering  a cease-fire on Sept. 14. This prompted a long-overdue escalation of  U.S. efforts to address the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. On Sept. 18,  Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, was in  Yerevan and declared  Baku’s attacks illegal under international law. Although Azerbaijan  reacted negatively, the following day U.S. Secretary of State Antony  Blinken mediated  a discussion between the two countries’ foreign ministers ahead of the  United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. However, no  progress was announced.

 Despite the increased diplomacy, the United States has not directly  demanded Azerbaijan withdraw, at least publicly. Nor has it signaled  what actions it could take if Azerbaijan does attack again. And while  Armenia has an effective lobby and allies in Congress, so does  Azerbaijan. It is hard to imagine Washington intervening directly, let  alone providing Yerevan with any significant defensive aid.

 Notably, Azerbaijan also seems willing to act regardless of its  partners’ positions. The latest offensive was launched without the  explicit Turkish support that accompanied the 2020 war. In fact, Armenia  and Turkey had in the preceding months made rare diplomatic progress on  their own long-standing tensions, with direct flights resuming in February and talks about their long-shuttered border progressing  as recently as July. However, Ankara has not publicly opposed Baku’s  actions—and Turkey also has an interest in Azerbaijan securing a land  corridor to Nakhchivan, which would result in direct overland access  between mainland Azerbaijan and Turkey as well.

 Baku appears emboldened, confident in its apparent military supremacy  over Armenia. The power vacuum in the region resulting from Russia’s  self-inflicted troubles and self-interested foreign policy risks turning  into a black hole, the gravitational pull of which is so strong that it  crushes all that falls into it. The regime of Azerbaijani President  Ilham Aliyev regime has made clear that would suit it just fine.

 Unless the crisis moves far up the international agenda—and the  United States, the EU, and Turkey can work together to disincentivize  Azerbaijan—the outlook for Armenia is bleak.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/22...orno-karabakh/

----------


## misskit

*Occupied Regions of Ukraine Hold Votes to Join Russia*

Four Ukrainian territories occupied by Putin’s forces opened voting on referendums to officially become part of Russia despite widespread condemnation from Ukrainian lawmakers and Western officials. The referendums—which are being held in Luhansk, Kherson, and the partially occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk—are seen as a step on the way for the areas being annexed by Russia. If the regions do formally align with Moscow, critics fear that Putin may then use Ukrainian attempts to retake the territories as a way of claiming that Russia itself is being attacked, which in turn could lead to a dramatic escalation in the conflict. In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky referred to the votes as “sham referenda” and spoke directly to Russian citizens to say they are being “thrown to their deaths” following the Kremlin’s mass military call-up this week, which has plunged Russia into chaos.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/occupi...to-join-russia

----------


## bsnub

> Occupied Regions of Ukraine Hold Votes to Join Russia


Already proving to be a shame. No private voting, and they are just telling people how to vote...

https://twitter.com/wartranslated/st...42079848939522

----------


## misskit

Russia Threatens Denaturalization for Draft Defying Central Asians

Moscow could strip the Russian passports of naturalized citizens from Central Asia if they defy President Vladimir Putin’s orders to take up arms in Ukraine, a senior human rights official said Thursday.


Kirill Kabanov, member of the presidential human rights council, issued the warning after four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics threatened their citizens with criminal prosecution for fighting in foreign conflicts.

Kabanov said his body is drafting new rules as part of Putin’s mobilization orders for migrants who have obtained Russian citizenship within the past 10 years.


The draft rules include compulsory military service within a year for Russian citizens hailing from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, he wrote on his Telegram channel.


Nationals of these countries, who often move to Russia to find work, make up a significant share of foreigners granted Russian passports.


“Refusal to perform military service should result in the deprivation of Russian citizenship not only for the person subject to military service, but also for members of his family,” Kabanov said.


He said denaturalization “would be an adequate response to an official ban” on taking part in hostilities on foreign soil by the Central Asian countries. 


Several reports have emerged of Central Asian nationals living in Russia being pressured to fight on Moscow’s side in the months since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.


Migrants’ rights activists told The Moscow Times in spring that the recruitment tactics included promising expedited citizenship in exchange for Central Asians signing up for contract service with the Russian army. 


Russian lawmakers this week moved to simplify citizenships for foreigners who complete a one-year contract with the Russian Armed Forces.


Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced the opening of a military recruitment site for foreigners at a migration center outside the Russian capital.

Abramovich Played 'Key Part' in Release of Britons Held in Ukraine – Report - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Already proving to be a shame. No private voting, and they are just telling people how to vote...
> 
> https://twitter.com/wartranslated/st...42079848939522


Of course it's complete bollocks.

----------


## misskit

*Armed Russian Proxies in Ukraine Pressure Locals to Vote on Annexation*

Russian proxies in occupied Ukrainian territories are knocking on residents’ doors and pressuring them to vote to formally join Russia, a Ukrainian official said Friday.


Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, along with the breakaway Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, are staging referendums from Sept. 23-27 that will decide whether they will be annexed by Russia.


“When a person checks ‘NO’ on the ‘ballot’ it is recorded in a ‘notebook’,” the Luhansk region’s Ukrainian Governor Serhiy Haidai wrote on his Telegram channel of the Russian proxies' election visits. 


Haidai added that the Russian proxies are accompanied by armed men on their door-to-door visits. 


Kyiv and its Western allies have decried the referendum votes as a “sham” and an unlawful land grab by Moscow.

The majority of referendum voting will be conducted at homes “as a security measure,” the Russian state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported. 


Rallies in support of the ongoing referendums are being held in several Russian cities, media reported, with state employees, students and political activists reportedly being transported to the events. 


The referendums were announced a day before President Vladimir Putin declared a “partial” mobilization of Russia’s military reservists, a move aimed at bolstering Moscow’s flagging manpower in its seven-month invasion of Ukraine. 


The vice spokesperson of Russia’s Federal Council said earlier that any attack on Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine during and after the referendums would be viewed as an attack on Russia itself. 

VIDEO Armed Russian Proxies in Ukraine Pressure Locals to Vote on Annexation – Official - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Chechnya Exempts Itself From Russia’s Draft*

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said he has exempted his region from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military call-up following protests in his home region and his anger over a recent Russian-Ukrainian prisoner exchange.


Kadyrov said late Thursday that Chechnya had already deployed 20,000 troops since the start of the Ukraine invasion in February.


“The republic of Chechnya over-fulfilled its conscription plan by 254%… even before the announcement of a partial mobilization,” he wrote in a Telegram post.


Kadyrov and his allies have boasted of the presence of Chechen troops in Ukraine since early in Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, while Chechen soldiers regularly post videos of themselves in Ukraine on social media. 


Appearing to address the dozens of Chechen women who took to the streets of Grozny against Putin’s draft announcement, Kadyrov said:


“I call on the Chechen population, particularly our beloved and respected mothers, to keep calm.”

Kadyrov’s defiance of the Russian Defense Ministry’s orders for each region to call up reservists comes only days after he himself had urged colleagues across Russia’s 11 time zones to “self-mobilize” 85,000 troops.


It also follows his increasingly open criticism of the Kremlin’s decisions surrounding the war in Ukraine.


Earlier Thursday, Kadyrov said he was “extremely dissatisfied” with Russia’s exchange of 215 Ukrainian and foreign fighters for 55 Russian soldiers and a Putin ally suspected of high treason by Kyiv. 


In his latest statement on Chechnya’s over-performance of draft quotas, Kadyrov decried Russia’s territorial losses more than six months after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.


“If we had used at least a fraction of our weapons and equipment, we would have reached our goal long ago,” he wrote.


“But since the leadership thinks otherwise, it’s up to us to follow orders.”


Kadyrov is widely believed to enjoy free rein over Chechnya, a Russian subject that had fought two bloody separatist wars against Moscow, in exchange for loyalty to the Kremlin.


The Kremlin did not comment on Kadyrov’s statement in its daily briefing with reporters Friday afternoon.

Chechnya Exempts Itself From Russia’s Draft - The Moscow Times

----------


## Norton

> “I call on the Chechen population, particularly our beloved and respected mothers, to keep calm.”


If there is one single thing to avoid in politics it is, never piss off mothers. 
This latest bit of Putin's insanity has done just that. You are done Vlad as frankly you were the moment you ordered the invasion of the Ukraine.

Assuming the folks who put you and keep you in power haven't thrown you under the bus, what next Vlad? Chemical or nuc weapons to protect the newly acquired "homeland"?

Don't do it! What is left of your military will be completely destroyed within days and the little support you now have from a few nations will be gone.

----------


## Switch

> If there is one single thing to avoid in politics it is, never piss off mothers. 
> This latest bit of Putin's insanity has done just that. You are done Vlad as frankly you were the moment you ordered the invasion of the Ukraine.
> 
> Assuming the folks who put you and keep you in power haven't thrown you under the bus, what next Vlad? Chemical or nuc weapons to protect the newly acquired "homeland"?
> 
> Don't do it! What is left of your military will be completely destroyed within days and the little support you now have from a few nations will be gone.


Not like you to sit on the fence. lol

----------


## Hugh Cow

> If there is one single thing to avoid in politics it is, never piss off mothers. 
> This latest bit of Putin's insanity has done just that. You are done Vlad as frankly you were the moment you ordered the invasion of the Ukraine.
> 
> Assuming the folks who put you and keep you in power haven't thrown you under the bus, what next Vlad? Chemical or nuc weapons to protect the newly acquired "homeland"?
> 
> Don't do it! What is left of your military will be completely destroyed within days and the little support you now have from a few nations will be gone.


I forsee an irate army of babooshkas like a herd of banshees decending on the Kremlin.

----------


## sabang

> You are done Vlad


He isn't done though. His popularity remains buoyant- around 69% pre-mobilisation, although I reckon this will bring it down a few notches. Still impressive compared to Joe's fan club, and mid-terms are looming. How much more is the US willing to open it's overdrawn cheque book?

The regions Russia is about to annex are clearly pro-Russian, although the process and methodology of the Referenda and annexation are clearly illegal. So, what next?  ::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

A Russian commander was seriously injured in Ukraine this week, according to the Ukrainian military.

Major General Oleg Tsokov, Commander of the 144th Motorized Rifle Division, was reportedly wounded in a Ukrainian "fire attack" at his HQ near Svatove, in partially occupied Luhansk region.

Russia has lost a number of generals in Ukrainian attacks  since Putin's invasion began on February 24, with Western officials  saying they are forced to the frontline by poor moral and discipline  among Russian troops. Ukrainian forces were already claiming to have  killed at least 12 Russian generals by early May, according to _The New York Times_.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote on Facebook that Major General Tsokov had been injured as part of their latest "operation update" on the war, published on Thursday.
The post read: "The enemy continues to suffer losses, in particular among the leadership.

"According  to available information, the commander of the 144th Motorized Rifle  Division of the 20th Combined Arms Army, Major General Tsokov, was  wounded as a result of a fire attack in the area of ​​the settlement of  Svatove. It was evacuated on September 20 of this year."

The  Ukrainian military typically describes a "fire attack" as one carried  out either by artillery or rocket launchers, such as the HIMARS system  that has devastated Russian ammunition depots.

Over the past 24 hours, Russia shelled at least 45 Ukrainian  settlements, primarily in the eastern region of the Donbas, according to  the operational update on Facebook.

During this time period, the  Russians said 27 airstrikes and 75 multiple launch rocket system strikes  were conducted, targeting both "military and civilian objects."

The  update said Russia is continuing to suffer heavy losses and has been  forcing men in occupied Ukrainian territory to join its military or  allied militias.

The post read: "From September 19 to 20 this  year, 105 bodies of dead Russian servicemen were delivered to the  military hospital in Rostov-on-Don, preparations are underway to receive  another 200 bodies in the near future.

"To replenish manpower  losses, the enemy continues forced mobilization in temporarily occupied  territories. Thus, in Horlivka, on September 19, representatives of the  1st Army Corps detained and took ten men to military service, regardless  of their age or health."

The U.S. has been supplying Ukraine with  intelligence to help with these strikes, according to senior American  officials speaking to _The New York Times_.

On Wednesday, President Putin announced a partial mobilization, which will see 300,000 Russian reservists conscripted back into the military.

Referendums will be held  in the Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and  Zaporizhzhia on formally joining the Russian Federation, though these  have been rejected as shams by Western officials.

According to _Novaya Gazeta Europe_, an independent Russian newspaper, a hidden clause in Putin's mobilization decree will allow the military to draft 1 million people, rather than the 300,000 claimed by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

_Newsweek_ has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/russian-com...kraine-1745618

----------


## sabang

I could provide you with any amount of war porn from the Russian side too snubs._ Yawwwwn._

----------


## harrybarracuda

> He isn't done though. His popularity remains buoyant- around 69% pre-mobilisation


In his own mind and in his fake popularity polls created for idiots.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I could provide you with any amount of war porn from the Russian side too snubs._ Yawwwwn._


Yes but that would require you taking it off your bedroom ceiling.

----------


## sabang

Luhansk, Donetsk, Zapo & Kherson are about to be annexed, and declared Russian sovereign territory. So what are you gonna do about it- take childish, impotent little potshots at other posters? Yeh, that's about right because that is all you can do. You are impotent.

----------


## Norton

> He isn't done though


Of course he is and he knows it. All we see now is his deperate actions to try to remain in power.
Just a matter of time Vlad. There ain't no fixin this.

----------


## bsnub

> I could provide you with any amount of war porn from the Russian side too snubs.


You utter imbecile, the Russians have not killed any Ukrainian generals. If you do not want to read war progress reports, do not bother coming into the thread. It is about the war, not a knitting class. You just do not want to see reports proving that Putin is having his ass handed to him on plate.




> Luhansk, Donetsk, Zapo & Kherson are about to be annexed


Not for long, the Ukrainians are coming. You have more humiliation coming.

----------


## sabang

We shall watch your brave predictions unfold, as Russia annexes 4 Ukr provinces and trebles it's troop contingent in what was once the Ukrainian federation. All preventable- the neo-cons have excelled themselves, yet again. Instead of blindly cheerleading them why don't you just get rid of them?

----------


## bsnub

You are an utter imbecile who frankly is completely detached from reality. Get ready for what is coming this winter. You have more humiliation coming.

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## harrybarracuda

> Luhansk, Donetsk, Zapo & Kherson are about to be annexed, and declared Russian sovereign territory. So what are you gonna do about it- take childish, impotent little potshots at other posters? Yeh, that's about right because that is all you can do. You are impotent.


More revoltingly smug cheerleading of the war criminal from our resident psychic.

----------


## sabang

In the immortal words of 10CC "waddya gonna do about it, waddya gonna do".  ::chitown:: 

All preventable. A colossal failure of diplomacy. Take another bow, you hubristic neocon assholes.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> In the immortal words of 10CC "waddya gonna do about it, waddya gonna do". 
> 
> All preventable. A colossal failure of diplomacy. Take another bow, you hubristic neocon assholes.


All preventable because no-one made the war criminal invade.

But you're happy about it, you disgusting excuse for a human.

----------


## sabang

I wonder what the Iraqi's and Afganis and Syrians and Libyans and Vietnamese said? They have swear words too. Like me, I doubt they care what you say. Again, all preventable. A colossal failure of Diplomacy, from dickhead hubristic assholes that have failed us yet again. Get rid of them.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I wonder what the Iraqi's and Afganis and Syrians and Libyans and Vietnamese said? They have swear words too. Like me, I doubt they care what you say. Again, all preventable. A colossal failure of Diplomacy, from dickhead hubristic assholes that have failed us yet again. Get rid of them.


More whataboutism from the snivelling Putin sycophant.

----------


## bsnub

Ukrainian troops have retaken control of a settlement in the eastern  Donetsk region, chipping away further at Russian-held territory after  President Vladimir Putin's army failed to meet his deadline to take more ground in the region, Ukraine said Friday.

Oleksiy  Gromov, deputy chief of the Main Operational Department of the General  Staff of the Ukraine Armed Forces, said at a briefing that Ukrainian  troops had recaptured the settlement of Yatskivka east of the Oskil  River, according to the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda.

"Our  forces are improving their tactical position[s]," Ukrainska Pravda  quoted him as saying. "Thanks to timely regrouping of the units of one  of the mechanized brigades and high level of combat organization, we  managed to retake the lost position and take the positions to the south  of Bakhmut under our control."

The city of Bakhmut is the  administrative center of the Bakhmut district within the Donetsk region.  In the briefing, Hromov said that the situation on the Bakhmut front  was complicated but controlled, despite continued attacks from Russian  forces, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

In a briefing earlier this month, Gromov said that Putin had given his troops a September 15 deadline to push to the administrative borders of the Donetsk region, though _Newsweek_  was not able to independently verify the deadline. He added that  Russian forces were adjusting their plans and actions to fulfill the  order.

But more than a week after the deadline came and went, Russia has yet to establish full control over the region.

In  June, the Associated Press, citing Ukrainian officials and military  analysts, reported that it appeared Russia occupied roughly half of the  Donetsk region. This week, _Al Jazeera_ reported that only about 60 percent of the region was Russian-controlled.

_Newsweek_  reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry for confirmation on how much  of the Donetsk region it controls, as well as comment on Ukraine's  recapture of Yatskivka.

While Russia was unable to meet the September 15 deadline, its efforts to do so might have paved the way for Ukrainian success in other parts of the country.

In its September 7 campaign assessment, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that Ukrainian forces in the eastern Kharkiv region might have taken advantage of the absence of Russian forces to carry out an "opportunistic" counteroffensive in the area.

The  think tank said that "the Russian grouping in this area was likely  understrength due to previous Russian deployments to support ongoing  efforts to capture the remainder of Donetsk Oblast and support the  southern axis."

Ukraine has now retaken considerable ground in the  Kharkiv region. General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander of Ukraine's  military, said on September 11 that his troops had pushed to within 50 kilometers—or roughly 30 miles—of the border with Russia in Kharkiv.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-lose...adline-1745864

----------


## sabang

_IT workers, bankers and journalists are among the professionals to be excluded from the draft, says the defence ministry.

Russia has said it is exempting some bankers, IT workers and journalists from being drafted into the army to serve in Ukraine under the “partial mobilisation” announced by President Vladimir Putin, as men fled in droves across the border to avoid conscription.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that Russia would seek to call up 300,000 additional soldiers to bolster its military in Ukraine.

FULL-  Russia announces exemptions from Ukraine war mobilisation | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera
_

----------


## David48atTD

> Luhansk, Donetsk, Zapo & Kherson are about to be annexed, and declared Russian sovereign territory.


"_declared Russian sovereign territory_" ... by whom?

If the population declare their allegiance to Russia, that doesn't mean the land on which their Houses/Farms naturally follow.

The Sovereignty of Ukraine remains intact.

The Ruskies, who desire to be part of the old Motherland, simply walk across the Internationally recognised Border and you are home.

----------


## malmomike77

no surprise here....

Undercover with Russias fake arms dealers

Russian state TV claims Ukrainians are selling US-donated weapons on the dark web. The BBC investigated one such marketplace, spoke undercover to those apparently selling weapons, and gathered evidence that suggests the adverts for weapons are fake.

"Ukrops [a derogatory Russian slang term used to refer to Ukrainians] are selling Javelins on the darknet. The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine resells equipment and weapons supplied by Nato." This message about anti-tank weapons was posted on Twitter and Telegram on 2 June by pro-Kremlin English-language account ASB Military News.

The account has been recently suspended by Twitter but still exists on Telegram, where it has more than 100,000 subscribers.

On the same day, another pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, with 700,000 followers, posted in Russian: "Thanks to Biden and European friends of Ukraine, Javelins, machine guns and even tanks will pop up all over the world in the hands of terrorists and criminals."

Pictures attached to the post showed an advert allegedly selling the FGM-148 Javelin, a US-made anti-tank missile system, for $30,000 (£26,000) and promising to deliver the weapons to the Ukraine-Poland border or abroad.

These posts were quickly picked up by mainstream Russian state TV, which routinely runs stories claiming Ukraine is selling weapons supplied by the West.

We decided to investigate these accusations ourselves using laptops that could not be linked back to the BBC. With a specialised web browser, we accessed the dark web where the level of anonymity attracts criminal activity.

We found several sellers on the same marketplace mentioned by Russian state media outlets. They said they were selling Nato weapons, and their geolocation was Kyiv. However, the name of Ukraine's capital was misspelled in Ukrainian.

This was not the only inconsistency.

MORE    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-62983444

----------


## nidhogg

> "_declared Russian sovereign territory_" ... by whom?
> 
> .


By the person backing it with the threat of nuclear weapons...

----------


## Switch

> I wonder what the Iraqi's and Afganis and Syrians and Libyans and Vietnamese said? They have swear words too. Like me, I doubt they care what you say. Again, all preventable. A colossal failure of Diplomacy, from dickhead hubristic assholes that have failed us yet again. Get rid of them.


You need to be reminded about the thread topic yet again.
THIS THREAD IS ABOUT PUTINS WAR. His entire world now reeks of childish desperation. I will tell you right now what will happen next! 

After he is shown to the world stamping his feet and crying, he will throw himself to floor screaming about how the world is so unfair to him.
True leadership, is having people follow you, for reasons other than enforced curiosity!

----------


## panama hat

> True leadership, is having people follow you, for reasons other than enforced curiosity!


Or simply - force

----------


## bsnub

*An ex-US Army general who witnessed Russia's  basic training of recruits says it was awful, and the 'newbies' being  drafted face disaster on the front line*


A former US Army general said that Russia's announced mobilization of 300,000 reservists was a "jaw-dropping" sign of weakness.

Mark  Hertling, who commanded the US Army Europe, explained in a Twitter  thread that he has personally witnessed how the Russian army is "poorly  led and poorly trained."

The poor training, coupled with the  decision to draft in recruits with little experience, is likely to spell  disaster for Russia, he said.

"Mobilizing 300k "reservists" (after failing with depleted conventional forces, rag-tag militias.. recruiting prisoners & using paramilitaries like the Wagner group) will be extremely difficult," Hertling said.  

                                                  "And placing "newbies" on a front line that has been mauled, has low morale & who don't want to be portends more [Russian] disaster."

Putin announced on Wednesday the partial mobilization of the country's military reservists, with Russian officials stating that 300,000 reservists will be drafted immediately.

Only  those with combat experience will be called up, and students and  current conscripts will not be included, according to Russian Defense  Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Since the announcement was made, reports have emerged about Russians trying to flee to avoid deployment, and plane tickets out of country selling out.

Insider reported that recruits being drafted this week were totally unsuitable and included a 63-year-old man with diabetes. 

*Horrible leadership by "drill sergeants"*

Hertling,  who for a time also commanded all basic and advanced soldier training  for the US Army, said that during two visits to Russia he found the  army's training to be "awful."

He compared Russia's army training  with the US', which typically involves new soldiers getting 10 weeks of  basic training across several sites from "very professional drill  sergeants," and many going on to get more specialized training. 

The former general cited a Moscow Times article  from July, six months into the invasion of Ukraine, which said that  soldiers were being sent to the front line with minimal basic training.

                                                  Sergei Krivenko, the director of the human  rights group Citizen. Army. Law. told the outlet: "I've been regularly  approached by parents whose children signed a [military] contract and  ended up in Ukraine just a week later."

The article also quoted  one Russian soldier who said he received just five days of training  before being sent to combat in Ukraine.

Hertling said when he  visited Russia, he noted that Russian army training faced many issues,  including "horrible leadership by drill sergeants," and cited an article  about hazing.

He  said that officers told him theirs was a "one year" force, with some,  often the poorest, volunteering or being elected for leadership roles.

                                                  By comparison, Hertling said that Ukraine's  army more closely follows the US model after having received training  from US personnel in both individual and unit training techniques since  2014.

The issue of Russian army training, according to Hertling,  starts "in basic training, and doesn't get better during the [Russian]  soldier's time in uniform."

https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-u...isaster-2022-9

----------


## Switch

> _IT workers, bankers and journalists are among the professionals to be excluded from the draft, says the defence ministry.
> 
> Russia has said it is exempting some bankers, IT workers and journalists from being drafted into the army to serve in Ukraine under the “partial mobilisation” announced by President Vladimir Putin, as men fled in droves across the border to avoid conscription.
> 
> Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that Russia would seek to call up 300,000 additional soldiers to bolster its military in Ukraine.
> 
> FULL-  Russia announces exemptions from Ukraine war mobilisation | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera
> _


A war cannot be described as a special military operation, when 100,000 troops and associated specialist equipment fails to meet the target of a short term success.

If the so called SMO has not failed, why are they conscripting a further 300,000 reservists with military experience?

After 7 months and counting, I think it’s safe to call it WAR.

----------


## sabang

A rose by any other name smells just as bad. Call it what you like, war is fine by me.

----------


## misskit

*Over 700 Detained in Russian Anti-Mobilization Protests*

Russian authorities on Saturday detained more than 700 people at protests against the partial mobilization ordered by President Vladimir Putin this week, according to an independent monitoring group.


Police monitoring group OVD-Info counted at least 726 people detained in 32 cities across Russia, nearly half of them in Moscow, at rallies following the partial mobilization designed to bolster Russia's operation in Ukraine. 


There was a large police presence in the central areas of Chistye Prudy in Moscow, an AFP journalist witnessed.


Most protestors walked by or were standing still — individually or in small groups — to avoid being spotted and detained by the police. 


AFP saw police detaining about 20 people.


"We are not cannon fodder!" a woman shouted, while police officers took her away.


In Russia's second biggest city of St. Petersburg, AFP saw a police van with about 30 detainees. 


Protesters in St. Petersburg also tried to be discreet — police swept away anyone deemed suspect. 


Ilya Frolov, 22, was holding a sign saying "peace."


"I want to voice my opposition to what is happening...I don't want to go to war for Putin," he said.


"I'm against the war, and against mobilization. I'm afraid for young people," said 70-year-old Natalya Dubova. 


After Putin announced partial mobilization on Wednesday, Russian authorities detained over 1,300 people.


AFP spoke to some of them, who said police gave them call-up papers in custody — ordering them to enlist in the very army they were denouncing.


The Kremlin defended the procedure on Thursday, saying "it isn't against the law."


Russian authorities have cracked down on criticism of the military operation in Ukraine, arresting thousands of protesters since the beginning of the conflict in February. 


At Saturday's protest in St. Petersburg, police officers said through megaphones that protesters were "infringing covid rules."


But on Friday, hundreds of people gathered without being stopped in Moscow and in St. Petersburg, in a show of support for the offensive and the annexation of Russia-controlled areas. 

Over 700 Detained in Russian Anti-Mobilization Protests — NGO - The Moscow Times

----------


## panama hat

> war is fine by me.


You have changed your tune . . . was it the mass executions and burial by Russians of Ukrainian civilians that did it?  Nah . . . don't sweat the small stuff, eh.

----------


## Takeovers

> You have changed your tune . . . was it the mass executions and burial by Russians of Ukrainian civilians that did it?  Nah . . . don't sweat the small stuff, eh.


I think he just talks about the terminology. Call it war now, not special operation. He is obviously ok with starving and freezing the Ukraine civilist population. He said as much.

----------


## S Landreth

Ukraine receives NASAMS from United States – Zelensky

The United States has sent two NASAMS air defense systems to Ukraine.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with CBS, an Ukrinform correspondent reports

“We absolutely need the United States to show leadership and give Ukraine, the air defense systems. I want to thank President Biden for a positive decision that has been already made. And to the US Congress, we received NASAMS,” Zelensky said.

At the same time, Zelensky stressed that “it's not even nearly enough to cover the civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals, universities, homes of Ukrainians.” “We need the security in order to attract our Ukrainians to come back home. If it's safe, they will come, settle, work here and will pay taxes and then we won't have a deficit of $5 billion in our budget. So it will be a positive for everybody,” the president said.

As reported by Ukrinform, President Volodymyr Zelensky previously emphasized that the pace of providing international aid to Ukraine should correspond to the pace of movement of Ukrainian soldiers.

----------


## misskit

*Enlistment Officer Shot, Recruitment Offices Torched Across Russia*

A Siberian enlistment officer has been shot and seriousy wounded during Russia’s military call-up, regional authorities said Monday as discontent over President Vladimir Putin’s draft continues to spread into far-flung regions.


Gruesome footage from an Irkutsk region military recruitment office showed a man in fatigues shooting another man point-blank and sending others scattering from the assembly hall.


The shooting marks one of the most dramatic instances of outrage over Putin’s draft of around 300,000 reservists for battle in Ukraine. 


Since Putin made the surprise announcement Wednesday, at least 17 recruitment offices were torched across Russia’s 11 time zones, according to the independent news website Mediazona.


Thousands of Russians have also taken to the streets in protest. The North Caucasus republic of Dagestan, the region with the highest known number of troops killed in the Ukraine war, became a flashpoint of anti-draft protests over the weekend with more than 100 reported detentions. 


Igor Kobzev, the governor of the Irkutsk region 5,000 kilometers east of Moscow, said chief enlistment officer Alexander Yeliseyev was critically wounded and is now fighting for his life as a result of the shooting.

The shooter, whom Kobzev has not identified, was detained at the recruitment office in the Irkutsk town of Ust-Ilim.


Local media outlets with close links to the security services identified the shooter as local resident Ruslan Zinin, 25.


Zinin’s mother, Marina Zinina, told the Astra independent news website that Zinin was “very upset” because his friend without military experience had allegedly received draft papers despite the authorities’ pledge to recruit strictly experienced reservists.


“Ruslan himself did not receive a summons, but his best friend did yesterday,” Zinina was quoted as saying.


An eyewitness who spoke with the Irkutsk-based Telegram channel “Bratchane” said he saw the shooter barge into the assembly hall with a sawn-off rifle and yell out “no one’s going anywhere” before going on a shooting rampage.


Investigative authorities launched a criminal case into an attempt on the life of a law enforcement officer and the illegal acquisition of weapons.

Russia Readies Border Closures for Military-Aged Men – Reports - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Women in Dagestan and other regions protest mobilization ‘Our children are not fertilizer!’*

On September 25, residents of Dagestan carried out several actions protesting mobilization, the largest of which was in Makhachkala. Starting around 3:00pm Moscow time residents, mostly women, gathered in the center of the city. The Telegram channel “Morning Dagestan,” which had more than 30,000 subscribers before the action, published a call to come out to a demonstration. By 4:00pm about 100 people had come out, reports Dagestan outlet Chernovik: “mothers and children gathered, and representatives of older generations, and youth.” Judging by witnesses’ videos, a few hundred people were at the protest in Makhachkala. They chanted “No to war!” “No to mobilization” and “Our children are not fertilizer!”


Protesting women clashed with police, arguing that Russia started the war. “Russia attacked Ukraine. We’re not blind,” they said. The women also asked that the police not disrupt their protest. An employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had to run away from protestors.

The police carried out violent arrests in Makhachkala. Several men were beaten and brought to the internal affairs ministry. One officer beat a detainee in the face while others marched him by the arms. Women were also subject to violent arrest. Protestors tried to free arrested people, including people in police vehicles. They beat up police officers. By evening, additional police squads were brought in, and the National Guard arrived.


Protestors say the police used stun guns and pepper spray, and “twisted people’s limbs and pushed women around with particular cruelty,” reports independent media project OVD-Info. The police fired shots into the air. Apart from that, a man in civilian clothes opened fire into the air with a pistol (it’s unknown whether he was a protester or a law enforcement officer in civilian clothes).


According to human rights activists, among those arrested was the mother of a newborn. The phone of a journalist with Chernovik was confiscated twice, and Murad Muradov, a journalist with Kavkazsky Uzel, was arrested. An exact number of arrests is unknown. OVD-Info said that as of 8:30pm Moscow time five people had been arrested, but judging by video from the actions, the real number is higher.

Actions against the war and mobilization also took place in the village of Endirey, in Dagestan, on September 25.


Against the backdrop of protest in Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, the head of the region, announced that mistakes had been made at the beginning of the mobilization. “If it’s a fact that people were mobilized who were not on the list – including students, fathers with multiple young children, guys who’ve never held a rifle in their life – it should be corrected immediately. I know that such mistakes happened at the very beginning of the mobilization,” Melikov wrote on Telegram. The head of Dagestan urged residents whose rights have been violated during mobilization to contact the republic’s enlistment offices.


Actions against mobilization also took place in other regions of Russia. In Yakutsk about 400 people, most women, protested by dancing a traditional Yakut circular dance called osuokhay. At one point, the dancing women encircled police, chanting “Let our children live!” When police started making arrests, the protest stopped. At least 24 people were arrested in Yakutsk, reports OVD-Info. The Civic Chamber of Yakutia announced that “an osuokhay, a blessing from mothers that their husbands and sons return alive” had taken place.

In Nalchik, in Kabardino-Balkaria, a protest took place on the square in front of the government building. A few dozen people attended, judging by video recordings. On a recording, an elderly woman says “I won’t hand over my husband, I won’t hand him over, even if they shoot me!”


In five days of protests against the mobilization, more than 2,000 people have been arrested. On September 21, when protests started, 1369 people in 43 cities were arrested, says OVD-Info. On September 24, 833 people in 36 cities. On September 25, as of 8:30pm, 32 people had been arrested.

VIDEOS https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/09...t-mobilization

----------


## HermantheGerman

*INTERVIEW*

*ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE*

_Note:  As-aired_
*QUESTION: * How concerned should Americans be about the prospect of nuclear war?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * Scott, weve heard a lot of irresponsible  rhetoric coming out of Vladmir Putin, but were focused on making sure  that were all acting responsibly, especially when it comes to this kind  of loose rhetoric. Weve been very clear with the Russians publicly and  as well as privately to stop the loose talk about nuclear weapons.

*QUESTION: * Privately, the United States has been in communication with the Kremlin about these threats of nuclear war?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * Yes, its very important that Moscow hear  from us and know from us that the consequences would be horrific, and  weve made that very clear.
*QUESTION: * You called the nuclear talk loose talk, but isnt  Vladimir Putin telling us what hes going to do if he is backed any  further into a corner?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * Vladimir Putin has a clear way out of the  war he started, and thats to end it.  If Russia stops fighting, the war  ends.  If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends.
*QUESTION: * Is there anyone in the Kremlin who can tell Vladimir Putin, No, if he decides to launch a battlefield nuclear weapon?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * They have a chain of command  whether it  works or not, to be seen  but I think what youre pointing to is a  larger challenge, and that is the Achilles Heel of autocracies anywhere,  there is usually not anyone who has the capacity or the will to speak  truth to power.  And part of the reason I think Russia has gotten itself  into the mess that its in is because there is no one in the system to  effectively tell Putin he is doing the wrong thing.

*QUESTION: * In our interview last week, President Biden told us that he had a message for Vladimir Putin on the use of nuclear weapons.
President Joe Biden, last week: Dont, Dont, Dont.
*QUESTION: * He went on to say the U.S. response would be consequential.  What did he mean by that?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * Im not going to get into what the  consequences would be. Any use of nuclear weapons would have  catastrophic effects for, of course, the country using them, but for  many others as well.

*QUESTION: * If you cant give us specifics about a U.S. response, can you tell us that the administration has a plan?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * We do.
*QUESTION: * Is it a plan that would prevent World War III?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * President Biden has been determined that  as we are doing everything we can to help the Ukrainians to defend  themselves, as were doing everything we can to rally other countries to  put pressure on Russia, were also determined that this war not expand,  not get broader.
*QUESTION*: As we were speaking to Secretary Blinken, news broke  that a U.N. investigative commission had found evidence of rape and  torture of children in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
The panel goes on to say, Based on the evidence gathered by the  Commission, it has concluded that war crimes have been committed in  Ukraine.  What does justice look like for Ukraine?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * Justice looks like accountability   accountability for those who perpetrated these war crimes, these  atrocities, as well as for those who ordered them.  And its one of the  reasons, Scott, why were doing everything we can to support those who  are trying to compile the evidence and to investigate and, ultimately,  to prosecute those responsible.

*QUESTION: * To prosecute  you believe there should be war crime trials?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * I was in Ukraine a couple of weeks ago.   One of the places I visited was a city called Irpin. And I saw  residential buildings  building block after building block  totally  bombed out. This was the totally indiscriminate use of force. Wherever  the Russian tide recedes, whats left in its wake is very clear evidence  of atrocities and war crimes.
*QUESTION:* Atrocities were laid before the U.N Security Council  last Thursday, drawing from the Russian foreign minister a dubious  defense.
When Sergey Lavrov says that the atrocities have been staged and it  is Russia that is the victim, Tony Blinken is sitting there thinking  what?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN:*  This is Alice in Wonderland.  Its the  world upside down.  Up is down, white is black, truth is false.  But  heres the thing, Scott:  All of these words, all of these words, ring  totally hollow to every member on the Security Council so this spewing  of words is not having an effect.  On the contrary, I think it just  shows the total disconnect between Russia and virtually the entirety of  the rest of the world.

*QUESTION:* At the moment we spoke to the secretary, Russia was  hurrying through what it calls elections to force these areas of  Ukraines occupied east and south into the Russian Federation.
*SECRETARY BLINKEN*: These so-called elections are a sham,  period. They go in. They put in puppet governments, local governments.  And then they proceed with a vote, which theyll manipulate in any event  in order to try to declare the territory Russian territory. It is not.  It will never be recognized as such. And the Ukrainians have every right  to take it back.
*QUESTION:* Blinken came to our interview after meeting Chinas  foreign minister. China has been raising pressure on the democratic  island of Taiwan which, in our conversation last week, President Biden  pledged to defend with force.
Scott Pelley, last week: So unlike Ukraine, to be clear, sir, U.S.  Forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese  invasion?

President Joe Biden, last week: Yes.
But official U.S. policy is, and has been for decades, to remain ambiguous about defending the island.
*SECRETARY BLINKEN:* China has acted increasingly aggressively  when it comes to Taiwan.  That poses a threat to peace and stability in  the entire region.
*QUESTION:*  The Chinese foreign minister must have asked you to explain the Presidents remarks.
*SECRETARY BLINKEN:*  Well, we had a conversation about our  different approaches to Taiwan, and I reiterated what the President has  said and what hes said clearly and consistently: our continued  adherence to the One China policy; our determination that the  differences be resolved peacefully; our insistence that peace and  stability be maintained in the Taiwan Straits; and our deep concern that  China was taking actions to try to change that status quo.  Thats what  the issue is.

*QUESTION:*  Blinken warns that turbulence in the Taiwan Strait would wash around the world.
*SECRETARY BLINKEN:*  Taiwan itself, were anything to happen, it  is where virtually all the semiconductors are made.  One of the reasons  were now investing so heavily in our own capacity to produce  semiconductors here in the United States  we design them, but the  actual production is done in a handful of places, and Taiwan produces  most of them.  If thats disrupted, the effects that that would have on  the global economy could be devastating.
*QUESTION:*  Last week on 60 Minutes, the president of Iran told  Lesley Stahl he would consider re-entering the deal to restrict Irans  nuclear weapons program. The Trump administration had canceled it.  Blinken doubts that Iran is serious.
*SECRETARY BLINKEN: * Iran has continued to try to add  extraneous issues to the negotiation that were simply not going to say  yes to.  We will not accept a bad deal.  The response that theyve given  to the last proposals put forward by our European partners have been a  very significant step backwards. And so, I dont see any prospects in  the very near term to to bring this to a conclusion.

*QUESTION:* Antony Blinken is 60. One of his grandparents was  born in Ukraine, his stepfather survived the Holocaust. And his father  was a U.S. ambassador. Blinken has spent 30 years in foreign policy for  Democrats mostly in the Senate and the White House. Thats him in the  back of the room during the strike on Osama Bin Laden. His philosophy on  American diplomacy is robust engagement with what he calls, humility  and confidence.
*SECRETARY BLINKEN*: If we dont engage, if were not leading,  then one of two things: either someone else is and probably not in a way  thats going to advance our interests and values, or no one is, and  then you tend to have chaos. You get a vacuum thats filled by bad  things before its filled with good things. Because the world does not  organize itself. Theres not a single big problem thats affecting the  lives of our citizens that we can effectively solve alone. Whether its  climate, whether its COVID, whether its the effect of all of these  emerging technologies on our lives, we have to be working with others to  try to shape all of this in a way thats actually going to make our  people, as well as other people, a little bit more secure, a little bit  more prosperous, a little bit more full of opportunity.

*QUESTION*: Given January 6th, given the fabricated controversy  over the election results, do you find that countries around the world  are worried about the stability of the United States?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN*: Its no secret that we have challenges  within our own democracy. Theyre playing out before the entire world.  We dont sweep them under the rug, even when its painful. So Im able  to say to other countries that bring these up: Yes, weve got our  problems, but were confronting them. Were dealing with them. You might  do the same thing.
*QUESTION*: Your father was U.S. ambassador to Hungary.  And as  we sit here on Friday afternoon, he passed away last night. And I wonder  why you decided to keep such a busy schedule the day after that tragedy  in your family.

*SECRETARY BLINKEN*: My dad was 96 years old. He was in so many  ways my role model.  He built a remarkable business, one of the leading  investment banks in this country over many years, He led a life of  dignity, of decency, of modesty, that is something Ive very much  aspired to. And so I I guess I thought that  honoring everything that  he shared with me, the best way to do that was to continue doing my job.

*QUESTION*: That job, for the foreseeable future, will be  consumed with a question that has defeated generations of diplomatshow  to keep a small war in Europe from igniting the world.

Are there any talks currently that we may not have heard about?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN*: There are no talks because Russia has not  demonstrated any willingness in this moment to engage in meaningful  discussions. If and when that changes, we will do everything we can to  support a diplomatic process.

*QUESTION*: Is Vladimir Putin losing this war?
*SECRETARY BLINKEN*: Hes already lost in terms of what he was  trying to achieve. Because keep in mind, what he said very clearly from  the start is, his objective was to erase Ukraines identity as an  independent country, that has already failed. Ukrainians are fighting  for their own land. Theyre fighting for their own country. The Russians  are not. And these Russian soldiers who are being thrown into this  conflict, often not knowing where theyre going or what theyre doing  this is not something that they want to be fighting for. The Ukrainians  are fighting for their own future. Theyre fighting for their own land.  Theyre fighting for their own lives.

https://ge.usembassy.gov/secretary-a...-scott-pelley/

----------


## David48atTD

> The United States has sent two NASAMS air defense systems to Ukraine.

----------


## misskit

*Dagestan Anti-Mobilization Protests Rage for Second Day*

Hundreds of people in the republic of Dagestan protested against President Vladimir Putin’s “partial” mobilization for the war in Ukraine for the second day in a row, local media reported on Monday.


Police officers detained around 20 protesters in the North Caucasus region’s capital of Makhachkala after a mass brawl between protesters and police, according to the Kavkaz.Realii news website.


The latest detentions come after Russian police arrested more than 100 people at a mass protest in Makhachkala on Sunday, according to OVD-Info, an independent police monitoring group.


“Obviously, the protests in Makhachkala were prepared and controlled from abroad,” regional leader Sergei Melikov claimed Monday without giving evidence.

“We already saw this in the 90s. Unfortunately, many have forgotten what this could lead to, not everyone remembers the explosions of residential buildings in Kaspiysk and Buynaksk, at railway stations and subways,” Melikov said in a Telegram post, referring to terror attacks in the region in 1990s.


In a bid to calm residents, Dagestan's military commissioner Daitbeg Mustafayev said this weekend that only men "with special military skills”' would be called up in the first round of the draft and that no conscripts would be sent to Ukraine.

Dagestan — a poor, Muslim-majority republic in the North Caucasus — has seen more men killed in the Kremlin's military offensive in Ukraine than any other part of Russia, according to a tally made by independent Russian media of death notices published online.


Kremlin critics say Moscow focuses its military call-up drives on Russia's poorest, most remote regions.

Dagestan Anti-Mobilization Protests Rage for Second Day - The Moscow Times

----------


## Shutree

> Dagestan's military commissioner Daitbeg Mustafayev said this weekend that ... no conscripts would be sent to Ukraine.


And I, for one, believe absolutely everything that military commissioner Daitbeg says.

Although it is my impression that his nose is getting longer.

----------


## sabang

^^ Much like the US then.

----------


## bsnub

> Much like the US then.


What are you blathering on about now? The US does not have a mobilization.

----------


## sabang

Not recently, but jarheads and the like don't tend to be from Beverley Hills. They usually come from the ghettos and hillbilly country, and other such disadvantaged places.

----------


## bsnub

I think you are missing the point, thicko. Russia is drafting the people from the minority groups and rural areas where they are more isolated and thus easier to control compared to the folks in Saint Petersburg and Moscow.

----------


## sabang

It is calling up Army reserves actually. Not like Vietnam.

----------


## HermantheGerman

> It is calling up Army reserves actually. Not like Vietnam.





> You need to be reminded about the thread topic yet again.
> THIS THREAD IS ABOUT PUTINS WAR.


Can someone please throw this childish troll out of the thread.

----------


## sabang

Everyone listens to Sgt Schultz. Except Colonel Klink.

----------


## misskit

The stupid name calling on this thread is going a bit too far. Time to chill.

----------


## bsnub

> It is calling up Army reserves actually. Not like Vietnam.


Except that Russia does not have a reserve army like most western countries. So your point is mute.




> The stupid name calling on this thread is going a bit too far. Time to chill.


I think it is Sabangs time of the month.  :Smile:

----------


## bsnub

It would be easy to  underestimate Valeriy Zaluzhny. When not in uniform, the general prefers  T-shirts and shorts that match his easygoing sense of humor. When he  first heard from aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in late  July 2021 that he was being tapped to lead the country’s armed forces,  his stunned response was, “What do you mean?” As it sank in that he  would become commander in chief, he tells TIME in his first interview  since the Russian invasion began, he felt as if he had been punched “not  just below the belt but straight into a knockout.” George Patton or  Douglas MacArthur he is not.

                   Yet when the history of the war in Ukraine is  written, Zaluzhny is likely to occupy a prominent role. He was part of  the Ukrainian brass who spent years transforming the country’s military  from a clunky Soviet model into a modern fighting force. Hardened by  years of battling Russia on the eastern front, he was among a new  generation of Ukrainian leaders who learned to be flexible and delegate  decisions to commanders on the ground. His dogged preparation in the  run-up to the invasion and savvy battlefield tactics in the early phases  of the war helped the nation fend off the Russian onslaught. “Zaluzhny  has emerged as the military mind his country needed,” U.S. General Mark  Milley wrote for TIME of his counterpart last May. “His leadership  enabled the Ukrainian armed forces to adapt quickly with battlefield  initiative against the Russians.”

That initiative has now taken a key turn in Ukraine’s favor. In  Kyiv’s biggest gains since the war began in February, a lightning  counteroffensive in the country’s northeast in early September stunned  Russian troops, who fled in disarray and ceded vast swaths of occupied  territory. Combined with a second operation in the south, Ukrainian  forces say they wrested back more than 6,000 sq km from Russian control  in less than two weeks, liberating dozens of towns and cities and  cutting off enemy supply lines. The Ukrainian army’s deft game of  misdirection, touting a counter-offensive in the south before attacking  in the northeast, caught Russia off guard. And it validated the  Ukrainians’ arguments that intelligence collaboration and billions of  dollars in weapons and materiel supplied by Western allies would yield  results on the battlefield.

                  The sudden victories came  at a critical point in what had become a grinding war of attrition. As  the economic pressures built across Europe and around the world,  skeptics were beginning to doubt whether Ukraine could endure a  protracted fight. The dramatic rout rattled Moscow, forcing Kremlin  propagandists to admit the setback and upping the military and political  pressures on Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Sept. 21 he responded  by announcing the first mass conscription since World War II, a partial  mobilization of up to 300,000 citizens.

                  Ukrainian  and U.S. officials alike believe the war will be longer and bloodier  than most imagine. Putin has shown he’s willing to sacrifice his troops  and commit atrocities to exhaust his adversary. 

In a menacing speech, he  warned that he was “not bluffing” when he threatened to use everything  at his disposal to defend Russia—an allusion to nuclear weapons. The  recent Ukrainian offensive may be a turning point, but it is not the  decisive blow. “In hindsight, we’ll look at this like the Battle of  Midway,” says Dan Rice, a U.S. Army combat veteran and leadership  executive at West Point who serves as a special adviser to Zaluzhny,  referring to the pivotal 1942 clash that preceded three more years of  war.

Zaluzhny is just one of many Ukrainians responsible for the grit and  progress of the nation’s outmanned army. Other key officers include  General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, who  led the defense of Kyiv and, more recently, the counteroffensive in the  east, and Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence  service. But after the President, Zaluzhny has become the face of the  war effort. His persona is omnipresent on Ukrainian social media. One  widely shared image shows the “Iron General” kneeling in front of the  sobbing mother of one of his soldiers, head bowed in grief in front of a  casket. In another he flashes a grin presiding over the wedding of one  of his servicemen during a lull in the fighting. Fan channels on  Telegram have hundreds of thousands of followers, with many changing  their profiles to a photo of the general with his hands held in the  shape of a heart. “When Zaluzhny walks into a dark room he does not turn  on the light, he turns off the darkness,” one viral TikTok video jokes.

                                    It’s  hard to predict where the war is headed or the part Zaluzhny will play  in the end. But perhaps for the first time, it now seems possible that  the army he commands could achieve victory.

*Zaluzhny was drinking*  a beer at his wife’s birthday party when he stepped outside to take a  cell-phone call and learned about his new job. The 48-year-old general’s  rank and stature at the time were far below the position Zelensky was  offering him. Commander in chief of the armed forces of Ukraine is the  nation’s top military title, outranked only by the President himself.  The height of that perch induced a feeling like vertigo. “I’ve often  looked back and asked myself: How did I get myself into this?” Zaluzhny  told TIME in a June interview.

                                    To  some, the choice seemed rash. While he had earned a reputation as an  aggressive and ambitious commander, Zaluzhny was also considered a bit  of a goofball, better known for clowning around with his troops than  disciplining them. Born on a Soviet military garrison in northern  Ukraine in 1973, he says he had dreams of becoming a comedian, much like  Zelensky himself. Instead, he followed in the footsteps of his military  family, entering the academy in Odessa in the 1990s as the Soviet Union  collapsed and Ukraine descended into crisis.

Zaluzhny rose through the ranks with a new generation of officers  that bridged very different eras: raised in Soviet Ukraine, but eager to  shed USSR military dogma. For a master’s thesis, Zaluzhny analyzed U.S.  military structure. Seeing how Ukrainian forces were still weighed down  by the Soviet model that relied on rigid, top-heavy decision-making, he  began to implement changes to mirror the forces of U.S. and NATO  partners.

                                    Zaluzhny worked his  way from commanding a platoon to leading the country’s forces on the  eastern front following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. In that  role, he developed junior officers and encouraged more agile  decision-making, pushing down authority to commanders on the ground.  Unlike in the Russian army, sergeants would not be “scapegoats,” but  rather real deputies meant to create a pipeline of military talent, he  said in a 2020 interview published by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.  “There is no going back,” he said, to “the army of 2013.”

                  But  Zaluzhny also respected and admired the institutions of his Russian  counterparts. In his office, he keeps the collected works of General  Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian armed forces, who is 17 years  his senior. “I was raised on Russian military doctrine, and I still  think that the science of war is all located in Russia,” Zaluzhny says.  “I learned from Gerasimov. I read everything he ever wrote … He is the  smartest of men, and my expectations of him were enormous.”

*When Zelensky took office* in 2019, the war in eastern Ukraine  was already in its fifth year, and Zaluzhny was acting commander in the  war zone. It fell to him to brief the new President on military  operations and command structures. He knew Zelensky had never served in  the military, and had no plans to school him in the tactical details of  warfare. “He doesn’t need to understand military affairs any more than  he needs to know about medicine or bridge building,” Zaluzhny says. To  his surprise, Zelensky seemed to agree. “This has turned out to be one  of [Zelensky’s] strongest features,” says Oleksiy Melnyk, a former  Ukrainian Assistant Defense Minister. He has allowed his generals to run  the show “without direct interference into military business.”

                                    In  2020, Zaluzhny oversaw an ambitious set of military exercises, which  included a test of the Javelin anti-tank missile. With the President  watching from the observation deck, the demonstration failed, and  pundits went on Ukrainian TV to debate the bad omen for the nation’s  military. Zaluzhny was sure he would be known in the President’s office  as “the loser with the faulty Javelins.”

                  Yet  Zelensky has shown a determination to jettison an older generation of  officials in search of new blood, and a habit of elevating leaders with  whom he feels a rapport, regardless of rank. In July 2021, with the  Russians hauling tanks to the border and the Americans warning that  Ukraine could soon face a full-scale attack, the President decided to  put Zaluzhny in charge. “I gave my opinion that he strikes me as a  fairly professional, smart person,” says Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief  of staff. “But the President made the call.”

                  Unlike  Zelensky, who was skeptical of intelligence reports that a mass-scale  Russian invasion was imminent, Zaluzhny was part of a corps of Ukrainian  officers who viewed it as a matter of time. Within weeks of taking up  his post, he began to implement key changes. Officers would be free to  return fire “with any available weapons” if they came under attack, with  no need for permission from senior commanders. “We needed to knock down  their desire to attack,” Zaluzhny says. “We also needed to show our  teeth.”




By early February, the pressure of his new role was starting to show.  The launch of an ambitious set of military exercises involving  thousands of Ukrainian troops had been a disappointment, with basic  maneuvers meant to simulate a Russian attack exposing cracks in  Ukraine’s defenses. In Zaluzhny’s view, the drills were a centerpiece of  Ukraine’s defensive strategy, its best chance of survival, and the  commanders were not taking them seriously enough. “I spent an hour  yelling,” he recalls. “I lost it.” The men seated around the table were  mostly older and more experienced than Zaluzhny, who did not have a  reputation for losing his cool. “I explained to them that if they can’t  pull this off, the consequences will not only cost us our lives, but  also our country.”

                                    After the  outburst, the generals picked up their preparations. They relocated and  camouflaged military hardware, moving troops and weapons out of their  bases and sending them on tours around the country. This included  aircraft, tanks, and armored vehicles, as well as the antiaircraft  batteries Ukraine would soon need to maintain control of its skies.  “There’s no mistaking the smell of war,” Zaluzhny says, “and it was  already in the air.” But when it came to the details of his strategy,  Zaluzhny held them close. “I was afraid that we would lose the element  of surprise,” he says. “We needed the adversary to think that we are all  deployed in our usual bases, smoking grass, watching TV, and posting on  Facebook.”

*When the invasion*  started on the morning of Feb. 24, the general had two strategic goals  for Ukraine’s defense. “We could not allow Kyiv to fall,” he said. “And,  on all the other vectors, we had to spill their blood, even if in some  places it would require losing territory.” The aim, in other words, was  to allow the Russians to advance and then destroy their columns in the  front and supply lines in the rear. By the sixth day of the invasion, he  concluded it was working. The Russians had failed to take airports  around Kyiv and had advanced deep enough to begin straining supply  lines, leaving them exposed.

                                    Milley,  Zaluzhny’s U.S. counterpart, was in some ways astounded when he saw the  Ukrainians holding out. He asked Zaluzhny whether he planned to  evacuate to safer ground. “I told him, ‘I don’t understand you,’”  Zaluzhny says. “For me the war started in 2014 … I didn’t run away then,  and I’m not going to run now.”

                  He too was  surprised by Russia’s blunders. When the enemy faced heavy resistance or  lost the ability to resupply, they did not retreat or shift to a  different approach. “They just herded their soldiers into the  slaughter,” Zaluzhny said. “They chose the scenario that suited me best  of all.”

                  Even as the U.S. and allies continued  to flood the country with billions in military aid, the news was grim.  Russia pounded the strategic port city of Mariupol, killing thousands of  civilians. In May, hundreds of Ukrainian fighters who had defended the  last stronghold in the city, the Azovstal steel plant, surrendered.  (More than 150 were returned Sept. 21 in a prisoner swap, including five  top Ukrainian commanders.) Mass graves were discovered in towns and  villages occupied by Russian troops. Still, Ukrainian officials insisted  they could win. “We will fight until the last drop of blood,” Zaluzhny  told TIME.

                                    A few weeks later,  Ukraine began to do something that struck military analysts as unusual.  From the top of the government, Ukrainian officials, including Zelensky  and Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, began to publicly tout their  preparations for a large-scale operation to retake territory in the  south. In anticipation of an attack, Russia began to reposition troops,  including some of its most elite units from other regions to reinforce  its positions in the south. On Aug. 29, the Ukrainian military announced  that the long-anticipated southern offensive had begun.

But there were indications something else was afoot. “We have a war  on, not only in the south,” Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s  National Security and Defense Council, told TIME on Sept. 1. “The front  line is 2,500 km long.” Many experts doubted that Ukraine would be  capable of mounting a counter-offensive on one front, let alone two.

                                    Five  days later, Ukrainian troops launched a surprise strike in the  country’s northeast. The Russians were caught off guard. Many fled in  disarray, leaving behind weapons and equipment. Local reports painted a  humiliating picture of retreat, describing soldiers stealing civilians’  clothes, bicycles, and cars to escape.

                  In six  days, the Ukrainian military retook an estimated 3,000 sq km of  Russian-held territory, including strategically important rail hubs used  to resupply its forces. The strike stunned the Kremlin, U.S. officials,  and even top Ukrainians. “I taught myself to moderate my expectations,  so as not to be disappointed later,” Reznikov tells TIME. “Some  breakthroughs occurred a little faster than planned.”

                  Intelligence  and advanced weaponry provided by the West also helped. “They gave us  the location of the enemy, how many of them are at that location, and  what they have stored there,” Reznikov says. “Then we would strike.” The  High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) provided by the Pentagon  allowed Ukraine to destroy warehouses of ammunition, fuel, and command  posts. Lighter vehicles like U.S.-donated humvees, as well as trucks and  tanks sent by the U.K., Australia, the Netherlands, Poland, and the  Czech Republic, allowed them to outmaneuver the Russians. “Ukrainians  have demonstrated much better distributed tactical-level operations,”  says Jeffrey Edmonds, a former CIA analyst and Russia director on the  National Security Council. “They’re much more disciplined.”

                                    Also  crucial, Ukrainian officials say, was the flexible command structure  that allowed them to exploit the quick Russian collapse. “The Ukrainian  army has the freedom to make decisions at every level,” Reznikov says,  likening it to NATO standards. “They do it quickly, unlike the  Russians.”

*Ukrainian officials are* careful to spread the credit  for the military successes so far. “It’s not a story of one star, but a  constellation of our military elite,” Reznikov says, naming a long list  of celebrated officers from the armed forces—the infantry, navy, air  force, medical corps and others.

                  There are  rumors of tensions between Zelensky and his top military commander,  though the President and his aides have dismissed them. “The so-called  conflict with Zaluzhny was invented by our opposition from start to  finish,” says Oleksiy Arestovych, a Zelensky aide and veteran of  Ukraine’s military intelligence service. “On the one hand, it’s  obviously made up. On the other, it has a painful effect, because  stirring up conflict between the military commander and the commander in  chief is a catastrophe.”

                                    Hardened  by war, Ukrainian leaders know the recent successes have only bought  time. “Russia has staked everything on this war,” says Danilov, the head  of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. “Putin cannot lose.  The stakes are too high.”

                  Ukraine’s operations  in the south have moved slowly. As winter approaches, Kyiv must take  care not to overextend its forces. And there are forces at play outside  Ukraine’s control. The looming energy crisis could sap Western military  support, with Russia already cutting its gas supplies to Europe from 40%  to 9%.

                  For his part, Zaluzhny is girding for a  long and bloody slog. “Knowing what I know firsthand about the Russians,  our victory will not be final,” he told TIME. “Our victory will be an  opportunity to take a breath and prepare for the next war.” —_With reporting by_ Leslie Dickstein _and_ Simmone Shah

How Ukraine and Valeriy Zaluzhny Turned the Tide of the War | Time

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## harrybarracuda



----------


## malmomike77

Nord Stream: Ukraine accuses Russia of pipeline terror attack

Ukraine has accused Russia of causing leaks in two major gas pipelines to Europe in what it described as a "terrorist attack".

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said the damage to Nord Stream 1 and 2 was "an act of aggression" towards the EU.

He added that Russia wanted to cause pre-winter panic and urged the EU to increase military support for Ukraine.

Seismologists reported underwater blasts before the leaks emerged.

"There is no doubt that these were explosions," said Bjorn Lund of Sweden's National Seismology Centre, as quoted by local media.

The operators of Nord Stream 2 warned of a loss of pressure in the pipeline on Monday afternoon. That led to a warning from Danish authorities that ships should avoid the area near the island of Bornholm.

The operator of Nord Stream 1 said the undersea lines had simultaneously sustained "unprecedented" damage in one day.

Denmark's Defence Command has released footage of the leaks which shows bubbles at the surface of the Baltic Sea near the island.

The largest patch of sea disturbance is 1km (0.6 miles) in diameter, it says.

more inc Danish footage: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63044747

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## harrybarracuda

Standard Russian bullshit; definitely fits their SOP.

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## David48atTD

Russia says it has ‘a right’ to use nuclear weapons

In other news, Russia has again insisted it has a “right” to use nuclear weapons if its territory is threatened, 

Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

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## sabang

^^^ You don't seriously believe that nonsense, do you? That is the biggest Ukrainian whopper since they accused Russia of shelling their own military forces and personnel in a nuclear plant they have controlled since almost the beginning of the war.

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## bsnub

*Lyman, A Supply Hub In Eastern Ukraine, Is The Last Place A Russian Soldier Wants To Be Right Now*

The Oskil River, running north to south from Russia all the way to  the  Donets River in eastern Ukraine, is a natural defensive barrier. 

 So it made sense that, when a dozen eager Ukrainian brigades punched   through fragile Russian lines outside the free city of Kharkiv the first   week of September, the Russians retreated 30 miles east across the   river.

 If the Russian army werent exhausted from seven months of combat   against an increasingly inventive and determined foeand if the Kremlin   hadnt raided units in the east in order to reinforce the south, where a   second Ukrainian counteroffensive _also_ is underwaythe Oskil defensive line mightve held.

 It didnt. Now a key Russian supply hub is in danger farther to the south: the town of Lyman. 

 After crossing the Oskil, the Ukrainians kept right on pushing.  Today,  they hold at least five bridgeheads on the east side of the  river. 

 Yes, the Kremlin has announced a nationwide mobilization and   chaotically is drafting into army service potentially 300,000 men. No,   these draftees wont arrive in timeor, given the utter lack of   training, in any conditionto save the Russian position east of the Oskil.

And that has huge implications for Russias hold on the northern part   of Luhansk Oblast, which since 2014 has been under the control of   pro-Russian separatistsand which now is subject to a sham referendum   that purports to make the oblast officially part of Russia.

 The Ukrainians are on the move across eastern Ukraine. Three prongs  of  their counteroffensive are poised to surround and cut off the Russian   garrison in Lyman, a key railway hub through which rolls much of the   supply for the Russian army in the east. 

 Russian forces east of Kharkiv now are falling back to a _new_ defensive   line threading a valley running from the town of Svatove in the north   to Kremmina in the south, 25 miles away. A valley, surrounded on both   sides by high ground, isnt exactly a strong position for any defender.

 The Russian air force in recent days has dialed up its sortie rate in   the east in a desperate bid to save the beleaguered Russian ground   forces, but stiff Ukrainian air-defenses have blunted the impact of   these air ops. The Ukrainians shot down four Russian jets on Saturday alone.

 The likeliest question now isnt _whether_ the Ukrainians capture Lyman, but _when_.   Separate Ukrainian forces are rolling north across the Donets from   positions east of Lyman, north across the same river from positions west   of Lyman and east across the Oskil from positions north of Lyman.

 The northern gambit might be the most catastrophic for the Russians,   as its a wide enough envelopment that it could cut off several   battalions with thousands of troops. Or even _more_ troops if the Kremlin manages to shove reinforcements into the area.

 Mike Martin, a fellow at the Department of War Studies at King's   College in London, is betting on the latter. Lyman looks like the old   bait-and-switch, he tweeted.   Drive flanks north and east of Lyman, causing the Russians to   reinforce this critical railroad junction. Then drive a much bigger   encircling movement to trap the whole lot.

Lyman, A Supply Hub In Eastern Ukraine, Is The Last Place A Russian Soldier Wants To Be Right Now

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## misskit

*Pro-Russian Officials in Ukraine Claim Victory in Annexation Votes*

Officials in four Moscow-occupied regions of Ukraine on Tuesday claimed victory in referendums for a merger with Russia amid international condemnation of sham ballots.


The local poll body in the southern Zaporizhzhia region said 93.11 percent of voters opted for Russian annexation after all ballots were counted. 


It said however that this was a preliminary result.


In Kherson, also in the south, authorities said 87.05 percent of voters opted for Russian annexation after a vote count was completed.


In the eastern Luhansk region controlled by pro-Russia separatists, 98.42 percent opted for annexation by Russia, Russian news agencies said, citing local authorities.


"It is clear" that Luhansk will return to the Russian fold, Leonid Pasechnik, the leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, said on Telegram.


In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the poll body said 99.23 percent of voters opted for Russian annexation after all ballots were counted, according to news agencies.


Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-backed separatist leader in Donetsk, said: "We have all wanted this for a very long time", according to Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti.


He welcomed what he called the "colossal" result, saying: "We are reuniting with our great homeland, with great Russia".


The United Nations meanwhile said it was "committed" to Ukraine's "territorial integrity" within "recognised" borders.

Pro-Russian Officials in Ukraine Claim Victory in Annexation Votes - The Moscow Times

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## misskit

^ Those high percentages are laughable. You would think at least they would claim something believable, but no.

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## pickel

^
Did they allow mail in voting for the majority of citizens who fled after their homes were destroyed by the Russian Army?

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## sabang

The vote was expected to be overwhelmingly for secession, but the Turnout figures would be interesting. That minority that might have voted not to secede probably did not bother voting, knowing full well it was a losing vote. Also, in the case of Donetsk and Kherson, a percentage of the provinces are not currently controlled by Russia- so they could hardly vote. But bottom line is, if you think these four provinces want to stay with post-Maidan Ukraine and it's hostile government, you are only fooling yourself.

Next step is recombining with Russia- but Putin has not explicitly committed to this. Chance for negotiation? Who knows.

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## harrybarracuda

> Russia says it has ‘a right’ to use nuclear weapons
> 
> In other news, Russia has again insisted it has a “right” to use nuclear weapons if its territory is threatened, 
> 
> Live updates: Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine


Yes but it doesn't if it states being threatened itself as an excuse.

This is just another Putin stooge being told what to say.

If he is mad enough to try and use nukes, he's mad enough to be taken out by his own side. I wouldn't worry.

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## harrybarracuda

> The vote was expected to be overwhelmingly for secession, but the Turnout figures would be interesting. That minority that might have voted not to secede probably did not bother voting, knowing full well it was a losing vote. Also, in the case of Donetsk and Kherson, a percentage of the provinces are not currently controlled by Russia- so they could hardly vote. But bottom line is, if you think these four provinces want to stay with post-Maidan Ukraine and it's hostile government, you are only fooling yourself.
> 
> Next step is recombining with Russia- but Putin has not explicitly committed to this. Chance for negotiation? Who knows.


The whole thing is a ridiculous farce and only the most gullible of gullible fools give it even the smallest shred of credibility.

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## pickel

> The vote was expected to be overwhelmingly for secession


Of course it was, because it was a sham. Ironically, the same number as Crimea. And Saddam Hussein.




> That minority that might have voted not to secede probably did not bother voting, knowing full well it was a losing vote.


Minority? There were 2 options, done under gunpoint, choose Russia or go to a filtration camp. Did they allow mail in votes?

You really have drunk the Kool-aid.

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## sabang

Doesn't change the Fact-




> bottom line is, if you think these four provinces want to stay with post-Maidan Ukraine and it's hostile government, you are only fooling yourself.

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## bsnub

Those bogus referendums will have no influence on the course of the war. Ukraine will be coming for those territories regardless. They will be liberated sooner or later. You may have a tad of Hitlers bunker syndrome, but things are not going well for the Russians.  :Smile:

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## pickel

> Doesn't change the Fact-


The town I grew up in was about half Ukrainian. People who fled because of Russia. Are they allowed to vote?

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## harrybarracuda

> The town I grew up in was about half Ukrainian. People who fled because of Russia. Are they allowed to vote?


They probably already did and don't even know it.

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## sabang

Were French citizens allowed to vote in the Quebec independence referendum? Silly question.

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## pickel

> Were French citizens allowed to vote in the Quebec independence referendum? Silly question.


Why would they be? They're not from Quebec. Whereas the Ukrainians I grew up with, were from Ukraine. And left because of Russia. Cheap wine again?

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## sabang

And why would Canadian citizens of Ukrainian heritage be allowed to vote in an Independence Referendum held in Ukraine?
Who voted in the Quebec, Scottish and Northern Irish Referenda? Well gee, Quebecois, Scots and Northern Irish respectively.

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## harrybarracuda

> And why would Canadian citizens of Ukrainian heritage be allowed to vote in an Independence Referendum held in Ukraine?
> Who voted in the Quebec, Scottish and Northern Irish Referenda? Well gee, Quebecois, Scots and Northern Irish respectively.


Who cares about  yet more of your pointless distractions?

It wouldn't have mattered even if they could vote because Putin makes the numbers up.

Only a fucking moron thinks these result aren't fake.

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## pickel

> And why would Canadian citizens of Ukrainian heritage be allowed to vote in an Independence Referendum held in Ukraine?
> Who voted in the Quebec, Scottish and Northern Irish Referenda? Well gee, Quebecois, Scots and Northern Irish respectively.


Are there people of Quebec heritage living in France? Weak argument.

What about the Ukrainians that recently left? You know, the majority of citizens that were in those shiny new Russian territories, whose homes were destroyed by the Russians. Are they allowed a mail in vote?

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## pickel

> ^^^ You don't seriously believe that nonsense, do you? That is the biggest Ukrainian whopper since they accused Russia of shelling their own military forces and personnel in a nuclear plant they have controlled since almost the beginning of the war.


Russia tells UN inspectors rocket performed '180-degree' flip to land at Zaporizhzhia plant

Kremlin expert insists the weapon made an about-turn in a bid to convince inspectors it had not been fired from Russian-held land

Russia tells UN inspectors rocket performed &#39;180-degree&#39; flip to land at Zaporizhzhia plant

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## panama hat

> 93.11  
> 87.05  
> 98.42


Numbers to make Fatty Kim blush . . . luckily people like sabang believe it or Putin wouldn't have any credibility at all. 







> There were 2 options, done under gunpoint





> Doesn't change the Fact-


Actually, sabang . . . there is nothing 'factual' about the Russian position.

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## bsnub

> Actually, sabang . . . there is nothing 'factual' about the Russian position.


They lie about everything all the time. It is endemic, and yet idiots like Sabang try to push the nonsense they spew.

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## sabang

What is certainly not a lie is that a considerable majority of the residents of the four provinces want out of the post-Maidan Ukrainian federation and it's hostile government. I don't blame them either. Apart from their far-Right politics, rampant corruption and declared hostility to all things Russian, Russia enjoys a considerably higher average income than the dysfunctional mess that Ukraine has become- and I am talking pre-war.

Perhaps you should be worrying about Odessa, Kharkiv and Dniepr oblasts instead.

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## bsnub

> What is certainly not a lie is that a considerable majority of the residents of the four provinces want out of the post-Maidan Ukrainian federation and it's hostile government.


That is absolutely a bald faced lie, and it has been proven time and again by brave partisans killing Russian appointed puppet administrators over and over. So once again, you prove my point by lying.

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## misskit

‘*There aren’t enough tourniquets for all of you’ The Russian army through the eyes of new conscripts*

In the days since Vladimir Putin announced mobilization in Russia, myriad evidence of both illegal conscriptions and the sorry state of the Russian army has appeared online. Some new draftees have complained of being forced to buy their own sleeping bags and medications. Others have posted videos showing how soldiers are forced to sleep on benches or on the floor because their barracks have no beds. Still others have reported being issued rusty weapons and sent to the front with no training. An inside look at the true condition of Russia’s military.




https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/09...for-all-of-you

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## bsnub

Many of them are already showing up on the front lines and are being slaughtered piecemeal by the Ukrainians. No body armor, steel pot helmets etc. etc. A pathetic state of affairs. Russia is done. This war is a mop up operation at this point.

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## sabang

> This war is a mop up operation at this point.


Noted for posterity.  :smiley laughing:

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## bsnub

> Noted for posterity.


Putin is having his ass handed to him on a plate.

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## David48atTD

Drone footage taken on Monday shows massive queues of vehicles waiting  at the Russian side of the Russian-Georgian border.

 Some people were  also seen on foot. 

Ukraine war: Drone footage shows huge queues at Russian-Georgian border - BBC News

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## David48atTD

*Russians flee to Georgia after Putin's mobilisation order*

Reuters

TBILISI,  Sept 26 (Reuters) - Russian men are fleeing into neighbouring Georgia  to avoid being called-up to fight in a war they do not agree with  following Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to mobilise hundreds  of thousands of reservists for the conflict in Ukraine.

At  one point on Sunday, the estimated wait to enter Georgia hit 48 hours,  with more than 3,000 vehicles queuing to cross the frontier, Russian  state media reported, citing local officials.

Russians flee to Georgia after Putin'''s mobilisation order | Reuters

----------


## bsnub

Scuttlebutt says that the Ukrainians are on the move again. Eyes on Luhansk oblast.  :Smile: 

 Slava Ukraine.

----------


## David48atTD

Russia offers the Taliban administration in Afghanistan a 'discount' to average global commodity prices



The Taliban has signed a provisional deal for Russia  to supply petrol, diesel, gas and wheat to Afghanistan, the group's  Acting Commerce and Industry Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi says.

*Key points:*
Russia doesn't officially recognise the Taliban's government, but Moscow hosted some of its leaders before of the fall of KabulSince the Taliban regained power, Afghanistan has been plunged into economic crisisThe  US recently announced the creation of a Swiss trust fund for some of  the Afghan central bank reserves worth around $7 billion 

Mr  Azizi said his ministry was working to diversify its trading partners  and that Russia had offered the Taliban administration a discount to  average global commodity prices.

HERE

----------


## sabang

*More voters also said they want Washington to actively engage in diplomacy as a condition for sending military aid.*

SEPTEMBER 27, 2022


Nearly 60 percent of Americans would support the United States engaging in diplomatic efforts “as soon as possible” to end the war in Ukraine, even if that means Ukraine having to make concessions to Russia, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by Data for Progress on behalf of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, also found that a plurality (49 percent) said the Biden administration and Congress have not done enough diplomatically to help end the war (37 percent said they had).

The poll’s release comes after Vladimir Putin doubled down on Russia’s war in Ukraine by mobilizing reserves and issuing threats to use nuclear weapons after recent gains by the Ukrainian military near the country’s eastern border with Russia.

Moscow has also recently orchestrated referendums in some Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine on whether citizens there want to secede and become part of the Russian Federation, leading experts to believe that regardless of the outcome, Putin plans to illegally annex parts of Ukraine.

The survey also found that 47 percent said they support the continuation of U.S. military aid to Ukraine only if Washington is involved in ongoing diplomacy to end the war, while 41 percent said they would support aid regardless of whether the United States is engaged in negotiations.

Just six percent said Russia’s war in Ukraine is among the top three most important issues facing the United States today, with the top three being inflation (46 percent), jobs and the economy (31 percent), and gun violence (26 percent).  

Poll: Americans support quick diplomatic end to war in Ukraine - Responsible Statecraft

----------


## bsnub

There will be no diplomacy, you idiot. Russia is being crushed.

----------


## David48atTD

> More voters also said they want Washington to actively engage in diplomacy as a condition for sending military aid.
> 
> Poll: Americans support quick diplomatic end to war in Ukraine - Responsible Statecraft


Oh, give us a break.

A Poll, initiated for a media organisation, so that it could publish it's own biased results.

From your link ... The survey, conducted by Data for Progress on behalf of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft,

----------


## bsnub

Everything I stated from the start is coming into fruition. The next offensive is on, and Luhansk city is going to be cut off from their rail connection to Russia, which is the last rail connection that the Russians have into Ukraine aside from the Crimean bridge. All of Luhansk and Donetsk will be falling soon.

----------


## David48atTD

> rail connection to Russia, which is the last rail connection that the Russians have into Ukraine aside from the Crimean bridge.


I wonder why that is still standing?

Out of range of the HIMARS?

Surely a few careless smokers could have done something with the rail bridge  :Smile:

----------


## Iceman123

> Many of them are already showing up on the front lines and are being slaughtered piecemeal by the Ukrainians. No body armor, steel pot helmets etc. etc. A pathetic state of affairs. Russia is done. This war is a mop up operation at this point.


Any links for any of that? Or should we just take it as gospel from the forum alky?

----------


## Shutree

> I wonder why that is still standing?
> 
> Out of range of the HIMARS?
> 
> Surely a few careless smokers could have done something with the rail bridge


There was an analysis piece I read about that. I don't recall details now but it made sense. It is out there on the Internet somewhere.

----------


## Shutree

> Drone footage taken on Monday shows massive queues of vehicles waiting at the Russian side of the Russian-Georgian border.


The Russians have set up a conscription centre there. it is possibly not exactly voluntary. Good luck to those trying to get across now.

----------


## David48atTD

> Drone footage taken on Monday shows massive queues of vehicles waiting  at the Russian side of the Russian-Georgian border.





> The Russians have set up a conscription centre there. it is possibly not exactly voluntary. Good luck to those trying to get across now.


Nah, they'll be fine and able to cross the Border.

Remember, only 'reservists and men who have prior military experience' (or something like that) are being tapped on the shoulder by Putin and they would be lining up at the enlistment offices with the promise of ...
high pay,modern uniforms,latest military hardware,months of training before entering combat,only reinforcing the secondary battlefront,FIFO engagement ... 3 weeks in uniform and one week holidays andpersonal hand warmers because now the rains start and Winter is around the corner   :Smile:

----------


## helge

> Everything I stated from the start is coming into fruition.





> Putin blinked. He lost. His pile of money was more important.
> 
> 
> 
> Huge win for the west and NATO.





15-02-2022, 07:28 PM#1430bsnub 


What does 'fruition' mean ?

 ::chitown::

----------


## Takeovers

> I wonder why that is still standing?
> 
> Out of range of the HIMARS?


Yes. Ukraine would need the long range version of HIMARS rockets. Not yet delivered by USA.

----------


## S Landreth

U.S. to give Ukraine additional $1.1 billion in security aid

The U.S. will give Ukraine $1.1 billion in additional security aid as Russia's invasion of the country reaches the seven-month mark, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday.

*Driving the news*: The new aid package will go toward rock launchers, armored vehicles, radars, communications and surveillance systems, body armor and other field equipment, and funding for training, maintenance and sustainment, among other capabilities, according to the Defense Department.

*Why it matters*: The additional assistance underscores the U.S. commitment to continuing to support Ukraine over the long term and represents a multi-year investment to "build the enduring strength of Ukraines Armed Forces as it continues to defend Ukraines sovereignty and territory in the face of Russian aggression," the Defense Department said.

*The big picture:* The U.S. has committed about $16.9 billion in security assistance to Ukraine so far this year.

*What they're saying:* "We will not be deterred from supporting Ukraine, we will continue to stand with the Ukrainian people and provide them with the security assistance they need to defend themselves for as long as it takes," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.

$1.1 Billion in Additional Security Assistance for Ukraine - U.S. Department of Defense

__________


U.S. pledges to double rocket launchers for Ukraine

The U.S. will fund the purchase of 18 new High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems for Ukraine, more than doubling the number of launchers that have arguably changed the face of the war in Ukraine.

The weapons are part of a $1.1 billion Ukraine military funding package announced by the Pentagon Wednesday, the latest installment of $16.9 billion in assistance the Biden administration has flowed to Kyiv this year.

----------


## David48atTD

The U.S. and Europe are running out of weapons to send to Ukraine



*Key Points*
NATO  Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg held a special meeting of the  alliances arms directors to discuss ways to refill member nations  weapons stockpiles.But ramping up defense production is no quick or easy feat.The  U.S. has been by far the largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine in  its war with Russia, providing $15.2 billion in weapons packages to  date since Moscow invaded its neighbor in late February. 

Military analysts point to a root issue: Western nations have been  producing arms at much smaller volumes during peacetime, with  governments opting to slim down very expensive manufacturing and only  producing weapons as needed. 

Some of the weapons that are running low  are no longer being produced, and highly-skilled labor and experience  are required for their production  things that have been in short  supply across the U.S. manufacturing sector for years. 


*Is the U.S.s ability to defend itself at risk?*

The short answer: no. 

The U.S. has been by far the largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, providing $15.2 billion in weapons packages  to date since Moscow invaded its neighbor in late February. 

Several of  the American-made weapons have been game changers for the Ukrainians;  particularly the 155 mm howitzers and long-range heavy artillery like  the Lockheed Martin-made  HIMARS. And the Biden administration has said it will support its ally  Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russia. 

That means a whole lot more weapons. 

The  U.S. has essentially run out of the 155 mm howitzers to give to  Ukraine; to send any more, it would have to dip into its own stocks  reserved for U.S. military units that use them for training and  readiness. 

But thats a no-go for the Pentagon, military analysts say,  meaning the supplies reserved for U.S. operations are highly unlikely to  be affected.



*Javelins, HIMARs and Howitzers*

What  this means for Ukrainian forces is that some of their most crucial  battlefield equipment  like the 155 mm howitzer  is having to be  replaced with older and less optimum weaponry like the 105 mm howitzer,  which has a smaller payload and a shorter range. 

And thats a problem for the Ukrainians, Des Roches says, because range is critical in this war. This is an artillery war.


Lots more HERE

----------


## David48atTD

Kremlin claims victory in controversial Ukraine referendums set to pave way for annexation



Pro-Moscow officials say residents in four occupied  areas of Ukraine  have voted to join Russia in a Kremlin-orchestrated  vote that has been  dismissed by the US and its Western allies as  illegitimate.

*Key points:*
The votes look set to pave the way for the regions to be annexed into RussiaPro-Russian officials have been accused of forcing people to vote at gunpointWestern nations have dismissed the process as rigged amid fears it will prompt another escalation of the war 

Pro-Moscow officials said all four occupied regions of Ukraine voted to join Russia
According  to Russia-installed election officials, 93 per cent of the  ballots cast  in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87  per cent in  the Kherson region, 98 per cent in the Luhansk region and  99 per cent in  Donetsk.

The annexation of the regions — which  account for about 15 per cent of  Ukraine's territory — could happen as  soon as Friday, setting the stage  for a dangerous new phase in the  seven-month war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman  Dmitry Peskov said the ballot would "radically change  from the legal  viewpoint, from the point of view of international law,  with all the  corresponding consequences for protection of those areas  and ensuring  their security".

Displaced people from the four  regions were able to cast votes in  Russia, where state news agency RIA  said early counts showed numbers in  excess of 96 per cent in favour of  coming under Moscow's rule.

HERE

----------


## bsnub

> Any links for any of that? Or should we just take it as gospel from the forum alky?


You can wait until it is on "TV".

 :smiley laughing: 




> What does 'fruition' mean ?


Since English is your second language I will help you out...




> fru·i·tion
> 
> /fro͞oˈiSH(ə)n/
>  Learn to pronounce 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...

----------


## bsnub

The United States will more than double its commitment of long-range rocket artillery systems for Ukraine, the Pentagon said  Wednesday, part of a long-term strategy by the United States and its  partners to ramp up weapons production in response to Russia’s invasion.

The $1.1 billion package will include 18 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, the weapons that have wreaked havoc  on command posts and logistical hubs behind Russian lines. The United  States already has delivered 16 of the systems, capable of delivering  precision munitions from up to 50 miles away, from existing stocks.

This  new tranche will take a “few years” to build and deliver, a senior U.S.  defense official told reporters, underscoring efforts to provide for  Ukraine’s long-term defense infrastructure while allies and partners  speed tailored packages of equipment and ammunition for the most urgent  needs. The HIMARS represents a “core component of Ukraine’s fighting  force in the future,” the official said, speaking on the condition of  anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon.

Separately,  the Pentagon said Wednesday that the United States intends to increase  production of “ground-based long range fires, air defense systems,  air-to-ground munitions, and other capabilities” needed to sustain  Ukraine’s military for the long haul. In a statement, defense officials  said that nearly 20 other nations also agreed to expand their industrial  base and accelerate the production of arms that can replace Ukraine’s  Russian and Soviet-era equipment with modern systems used by NATO.

The  announcements come as Russia presses as many as 300,000 conscripts into  service to replace and reinforce beleaguered troops driven back by  Ukrainian offensives in the east and south. Readying those new troops  will be challenging for the Kremlin, a second U.S. official told  reporters, given the logistics necessary to supply and train them. Many  of the Russian troops who would train conscripts already “are in  Ukraine,” the official said.

The  most recent arms package includes weapons and equipment that will take  between six months and two years to deliver and require defense  contractors to restart or intensify manufacturing, the first defense  official said.

Ukraine also will receive 150 additional armored Humvees, which will allow troops to transport foot soldiers and maneuver around the battlefield during offensive operations,  and more than 200 vehicles that will help them haul heavy equipment, a  logistical challenge that comes with supplying large amounts of heavy  weapons.

The  package also includes systems designed to mitigate weapons the Russians  have used effectively, including radars that can detect incoming  artillery and drones.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...imars-ukraine/

----------


## bsnub

ISTANBUL — To escape fighting in Ukraine, the 42-year-old Russian  construction worker flew through two countries in four days, spending so  much on tickets, so quickly, he lost track of it all. 

Finally, he ended  up in Turkey, where it was safe. As he stopped to breathe Tuesday, on  plastic seats in the airport arrival hall, he conceded he had no idea  where to go next.

But  maybe it didn’t matter. “The main task is to save your life,” he said,  as he picked at peanuts from a plastic dish. The avalanche of men  fleeing Russia “don’t know what to do next,” he said.

President Vladimir Putin’s announcement  last week of a “partial” military mobilization of Russian reservists  for his war in Ukraine set off a frenzied dash for the country’s borders  by tens of thousands of men affected by the order — but also many who  simply assumed that their government, desperate for troops, would  conscript any man who could carry a gun.

The  mobilization is a risky and unpopular decision, bringing home the grim  reality of the war to many Russians who were previously apathetic  supporters of the invasion, or quiet opponents. 

Putin, normally cautious  about stirring dissent, promised in March not to mobilize Russians to  fight. But after major setbacks in Ukraine, including the humiliating Russian retreat in the Kharkiv region, he has broken that promise.

The  emerging scale of the exodus — more than 180,000 Russians have fled  just to three neighboring countries, with the full tally likely much  higher — has raised questions about the Kremlin’s ability to sustain its  war effort. As more Russians cross the border, escaping the  restrictions imposed by Putin’s government, they are providinga glimpse of alienation and unease spreading back home.

Many have fled to Kazakhstan, according to the country’s Interior Ministry, which said nearly 100,000 Russians had entered the country  since Putin announced the call-up on Sept. 21. At least 10,000 have  crossed into Georgia each day — double the amount before the  mobilization, according to authorities there.

And  thousands have flown to Turkey, always a popular tourist destination  for Russians and now a hub for its exiles, who have arrived on packed  commercial flights over the past week and even on chartered planes, with  some paying thousands of dollars to secure a seat, according to  passengers.

The  construction worker, who like others interviewed spoke on the condition  of anonymity out of concern for family members still in Russia, took  the long way out. He flew from the Russian city of Sochi to Tajikistan  on Sept. 23, and then to Uzbekistan. Early Tuesday morning, he flew to  Istanbul, from where he was planning on traveling on to the southern  Turkish resort city of Antalya, long a favorite among Russian visitors.

Back  home, he had not waited to receive a letter summoning him for military  service. And, in any case, his complaints ran deeper than the  mobilization.

“I  do not support my government, but I cannot do anything to change the  situation. If you have another view from them and if you protest or  write about this, you go to jail,” he said.

Like  other men who had fled, he fretted for family members left behind. His  mother, he said, “is nervous and stressed for me.” His visa in Turkey  only allows him to stay for two months, but that was a problem for  later.

A  32-year-old man who arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday said he left behind  his wife and 1-year-old son. “Of course it was a very difficult  decision,” said the man, an ethnic Ukrainian who said he was born and  has lived his entire life in Russia.

The  government, he said, was enlisting men “en masse.” Neighbors and  friends had been called up. “I had no choice. I can’t go to war and kill  people in Ukraine. And if I stayed, there was no other option.” He and  his wife decided he should leave on the day Putin announced the  mobilization.

“In  one day, I quit my job, took the money from the bank, took my wife and  the baby to my parents. My entire life is breaking apart,” he said.

For most of the Russians traveling to Kazakhstan, the first stop is the Kazakh city of Oral,160  miles south of Samara, the nearest Russian city with an airport. Lukpan  Akhmedyarov, a local investigative journalist, said he took a Russian  woman and her 19-year-old son into his apartment, with hotels and rental  apartments fully booked.

The  city is full of thousands of young Russian men of military age  wandering around with their cellphones in their hands, dragging or  carrying their bags, he said. “They all look very confused and lost.  They look like a person who did something very unexpected for himself  and he doesn’t know what to do next. They don’t look happy. And they are  very, very quiet.”

Volunteers  have set up a welcome tent near the central railway station, he said,  offering newly arrived Russians free SIM cards, meals, water and hot  drinks. Several local cafes, now open all night, allow Russians to stay  if they have nowhere else to go.

The  movie theater in town did the same, and 200 people are sleeping there  each night, Akhmedyarov said. Others are sleeping at the local mosque,  he added.

Many  of the new arrivals had to spend three days in a queue of cars on the  border, compared with just a few hours on the first two days after the  mobilization was announced. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said  Tuesday that his country would welcome Russians on the run, calling  their situation “hopeless” and saying they were “forced to leave.”

“This is a political and humanitarian issue,” he said.

Some  Russians who fled after the mobilization announcement said they  considered leaving earlier but decided to save up first, hoping the  situation might improve. Others simply delayed a decision that would  result in an indefinite separation from family and home.

A  33-year-old filmmaker said he and his wife had actually decided to get  out before the war, as Russia’s economy worsened and the threat of  conflict loomed. After Russia invaded Ukraine, their conviction  hardened: The wife’s relatives lived near Kyiv, under Russian  bombardment, and the couple recoiled at Moscow’s propaganda about  routing what it called “Nazis” from Ukraine, he said.

In  the spring, the couple started the process of applying to travel to the  United States on a talent visa for artists, but still hoped they could  take their time leaving Moscow, he said.

Then  the mobilization announcement came. The filmmaker was not among those  slated to be called up, but “we understood they will take everyone who  they can catch,” he said, referring to the government.

“We  understood, me and all my guy friends, this is it, the moment. If you  hoped to save your business or career in Russia, it’s all gone. Now you  have to think about your life.”

His mother sent him a text message on Sept. 21, he said. “You have to go now,” she wrote. “You can’t wait.”

He and his wife discussed what to do for about half an hour, and then he started trying to book his ticketout  of Russia. “It was a legendary process,” he said. “You enter the dates,  you choose where to go, you push the button to buy and you can’t. At  this moment another 20 people are trying to buy the same ticket.” He  finally found a seat on Monday and flew to Istanbul.

“I  am not sad at this moment,” he said. “Maybe I have some feelings — not  for the country, for some places, for some people. For my family, for my  grandparents — I will not see them again. I am not sad about the  country. Now the country is in a horrible condition.”

On  the day of the mobilization announcement, Sergei, a 26-year-old  technician from Moscow, threw his passport and essential clothes into a  bag, borrowed money from friends, bought a plane ticket and headed  straight to the Moscow airport. He was on one of the first flights out.

“I  was in complete shock,” he said, speaking in a telephone interview from  the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, where he was searching for work.

“Of  course I knew our government is unpredictable, but I hoped that  mobilization would not happen. I had a feeling of sadness and confusion.  I was at a loss. Now I hope that none of my friends who are still in  Russia will be drafted. I’m really scared for them,” he said.

Although  he left behind his parents, grandmother and family pets, he has no  plans to return, and is trying to decide where he may eventually settle.

“The  problem is that an old, weird generation is at the top in our country,”  he said. “They think differently from us and we can’t do anything about  them. We went to protest, but nothing happened, and now people are very  afraid.”

Few  of the men who are fleeing Russia now will ever go back, he predicted,  and the exodus would affect the country for years to come.

“Of course, the best people are leaving,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ation-ukraine/

----------


## harrybarracuda

How does puffy think he's going to hide all these kids he's sending to their deaths?

Is he that confident that he's got a vice-like grip on all information sources?

----------


## misskit

*US Embassy warns Americans to leave Russia*

The US Embassy in Moscow issued a security alert overnight that again urged US citizens to leave Russia immediately while there are still options for departing the country.


The alert comes in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for partial mobilization of Russian men to fight in his war in Ukraine.


“Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals’ US citizenship, deny their access to US consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service,” the alert said.


The embassy has consistently warned Americans not to travel to Russia and to depart the country immediately if there.


The embassy alert urged US citizens to “avoid all political or social protests and do not photograph security personnel at these events,” noting that “the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are not guaranteed in Russia.”


The alert added, “Russian authorities have arrested US citizens who have participated in demonstrations.”

Later on Wednesday a State Department official clarified that the alert referred to arrests in previous demonstrations and “we are not aware of any arrests of US citizens participating in demonstrations since the mobilization.”


The security alert said the embassy “has severe limitations on its ability to assist US citizens, and conditions, including transportation options, may suddenly become even more limited.”


“If you wish to depart Russia, you should make independent arrangements as soon as possible,” it said.


US Embassy warns Americans to leave Russia | CNN Politics

----------


## sabang

I doubt that will work with Ed Snowden.   :Smile:

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I doubt that will work with Ed Snowden.


That's if he stays a dual citizen.

----------


## misskit

‘No Training’: Putin’s Army Just Got Sloppier Than Ever Before

Men that are being conscripted into Russia’s war in Ukraine during Moscow’s “partial mobilization” are allegedly being sent to the front without any training in some cases.


“Mobilized Russians are immediately taken to the front—without any preparation,” human rights group Perviy Otdel warned in a Telegram post. “We were officially told there would be no training before we are sent to the war zone,” one mobilized Russian said in a video shared by Perviy Otdel.

Basic combat training for American troops, by comparison, lasts approximately ten weeks, according to the U.S. army.


It’s not clear how, or if, Russia plans to arm and equip the new influx of manpower. Russian forces are already struggling with mounting equipment losses in Ukraine, including 1,190 tanks, since the beginning of the war, according to Oryx, a Dutch open source intelligence analysis group. By the Ukrainian military’s count, that number is closer to 2,312 tank losses, as well as 4,889 lost armored vehicles, 331 lost Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, and 224 lost helicopters, according to statistics shared Wednesday. Adding to that, Russia’s defense industry is struggling to replace equipment losses due to sanctions.


The quick deployment of Russian conscripts without training and adequate equipment is the latest sign of Russia’s slipshod approach to the war in Ukraine. Since the outset of the war, Russian troops have been encountering troubles with their equipment, training, morale, and preparation for conflict.

Their logistics and fueling preparation were so lacking in the early days of the war that the Russian military failed to capture Kyiv, the capital—one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s key objectives in invading Ukraine in the first place.


Moscow announced the “partial mobilization” of 300,000 reservists last week after a series of blows to the Russian war effort in Ukraine—Ukrainian forces launched several counteroffensives in Ukraine that pushed Russian forces into retreat.


The mounting losses have given rise to a Putin under pressure and desperate—one willing to try withstanding domestic dissent, protests against the war, and citizens’ exodus of the country. But the haphazard deployment and lack of training the Kremlin has settled on for Russian conscripts will almost certainly continue the trend of failures, and could contribute to a dip in morale among Russian fighting groups, as well as casualties.


Technically, the mobilization is supposed to be reserved for those with some military experience, but fears are circulating that the Russian government may slash requirements in due time.


In an attempt to evade mobilization, Russians have been fleeing the country in recent days in large flocks. The exodus has been so massive that Russian authorities in North Ossetia, near the country of Georgia, have begun limiting car travel to Georgia as of Wednesday, according to The Moscow Times. Finland’s border authorities have proposed building a fence to prevent a mass-scale influx of Russians as they flee the mobilization. Over 100,000 fled to Georgia, Finland, and Kazakhstan in recent hours.


The disarray extends to the Kremlin itself. Rumors that Russian authorities will close the border to men of military age are circulating, but the Kremlin has not yet made a decision on the matter. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov suggested Tuesday that Russian authorities can’t keep track of how many people have been leaving the country since the mobilization announcement. Russian authorities set up mobile enlistment stations on the Georgia border in an attempt to catch those fleeing the country, the BBC reported.


Although the war effort is flagging, Putin still seems intent on sending his country’s citizens to war and trying to destroy Ukraine.


Russia is working to put up a more “substantive” defense and is working to advance near Bakhmut, according to a British intelligence brief published Wednesday. Russia’s main war effort now is focused on the Donbas, according to a Tuesday U.S. Defense Department briefing.


“We continue to see, particularly in the Donbas region, the Russians' attempt to conduct offensive operations in that area, with Ukraine successfully holding the line,” Pentagon Press Secretary Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday.


Russia is leaning on operatives from Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization, to fight in the Donbas, as well, Ryder said.


But Putin’s threats have escalated from sending more troops to nuclear saber-rattling in recent days. The Russian president suggested last week that the West was provoking Russia in a way that might force them to resort to nuclear weapons. Just Wednesday, Peskov said the Kremlin views the United States’ role as getting closer and closer to being a party to the conflict.


“The U.S. side is getting involved in this conflict ever more deeply,” Peskov said.


As of Tuesday, the Defense Department hasn’t seen any evidence from Russia that would cause the United States to “adjust” its nuclear posture.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...ining?ref=home

----------


## panama hat

> Noted for posterity.


Like your steadfast belief that Putin wouldn't invade Ukraine?  You, sabang, have the least to crow about regarding pronouncements.






> Noted for posterity.





> Drone footage taken on Monday shows massive queues of vehicles waiting at the Russian side of the Russian-Georgian border.
> 
> Some people were also seen on foot.


So much love for and belief in Putin and his murderous invasion

----------


## bsnub

> I doubt that will work with Ed Snowden.


Hopefully he gets mobilized.

----------


## Shutree

> governments opting to slim down very expensive manufacturing and only producing weapons as needed.


Erm, so now weapons are needed. If they did not want to retain large stockpiles, which is understandable, then surely to goodness someone with with a threat and risk planning role would have devised a plan to ramp up production very quickly when the need arose? No?

----------


## bsnub

Ukrainian troops are encircling Russian forces in Lyman, an occupied  town in the northeast of the country, as Kyiv presses on with its  counteroffensive to recapture seized territory.

Maps detailing  Ukrainian advance in the region amid a continued counteroffensive show  its forces moving north across the Siverskyi Donets river from areas  east and west of town, and east across the Oskil river from positions  north of Lyman.

 The British Defense Ministry assessed  on Wednesday that over the last few days, Ukraine has pressed its  offensive operations in the northeast of the country. Its units advanced  on at least two axes east from the line of the Oskil and Siverskyy  Donets rivers, where forces had consolidated following their previous  advance earlier in the month.

Mike Martin, a fellow at the Department of War Studies at King's College in London, said on Twitter that Ukrainian forces may eventually trap Russian forces in Lyman.

"Drive flanks north and east of Lyman, causing the Russians to reinforce this critical railroad junction," he tweeted. "Then drive a much bigger encircling movement to trap the whole lot."

It  comes after a successful lightning counteroffensive by Ukraine earlier  this month, which saw Kyiv recapture large swathes of its territory from  Russia.

Ukrainian forces say they took back more than 3,000 square miles from  Russian forces in less than two weeks, recapturing towns and cities and  cutting off Russian supply lines.

Putin responded on September 21  by announcing a partial military mobilization of up to 300,000  citizens, while Russian-installed officials held sham referendums on  joining Russia in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

According  to Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti, the reported results included  99.23 percent in favor in Donetsk and 98.42 percent in favor in  Luhansk—two regions partially under pro-Moscow separatist control since  2014—as well as 93.11 percent in favor in Zaporizhzhia and 87.05 percent  in favor in Kherson.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry referred to the referendums as a "propaganda show" in a statement shared with _Newsweek_.

"Forcing  people in these territories to fill out some papers at the barrel of a  gun is yet another Russian crime in the course of its aggression against  Ukraine," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said.

Ukraine is pressing on with its counteroffensive, and according to military officials, Ukrainian troops have only 6 percent of Kharkiv left to liberate.

Liberating  Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, near its eastern border  with Russia, has been "quite difficult" because Russia "does not  retreat," Oleg Synegubov, the head of Ukraine's Kharkiv Regional  Military Administration, was cited by_ Ukrainska Pravda_ as saying.

_Newsweek_ reached out to Russia's foreign ministry for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-tro...ensive-1747189

----------


## Norton

> As of Tuesday, the Defense Department hasnt seen any evidence from Russia that would cause the United States to adjust its nuclear posture.


Which is:

Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and France say that they will use nuclear weapons against either nuclear or non-nuclear states only in the case of invasion or other attack against their territory or against one of their allies. Historically, NATO military strategy, taking into account the numerical superiority of Warsaw Pact conventional forces, assumed that tactical nuclear weapons would have to be used to defeat a Soviet invasion.

At the 16th NATO summit in April 1999, Germany proposed that NATO adopt a no-first-use policy, but the proposal was rejected. In 2022, leaders of the five NPT nuclear-weapon states issued a statement on prevention of nuclear war, saying "We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought."

No first use - Wikipedia

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Which is:
> 
> Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, and France say that they will use nuclear weapons against either nuclear or non-nuclear states only in the case of invasion or other attack against their territory or against one of their allies. Historically, NATO military strategy, taking into account the numerical superiority of Warsaw Pact conventional forces, assumed that tactical nuclear weapons would have to be used to defeat a Soviet invasion.
> 
> At the 16th NATO summit in April 1999, Germany proposed that NATO adopt a no-first-use policy, but the proposal was rejected. In 2022, leaders of the five NPT nuclear-weapon states issued a statement on prevention of nuclear war, saying "We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought."
> 
> No first use - Wikipedia


The bottom line is that MAD is still assured:

Anyone who starts a nuclear war is going to it back in spades, which makes it pointless - except to lunatics who do not value existence, such as religious zealots.

Good reason for keeping nukes away from them, despite the occasional bleating from the odd wanketeer.

----------


## malmomike77

> would have devised a plan to ramp up production very quickly when the need arose? No?


All private companies, they will ramp up but will expect the Govts to chip in on any capital costs.

----------


## bsnub

US lend lease starts in just a few days. I believe this will cue a major ramp up in production. That is after all what lend-lease is all about.

----------


## Norton

> The bottom line is that MAD is still assured:


Pretty much the bottom line. However, in this case, if Russia is stupid enough to use nucs against Ukraine NATO will not retaliate with nucs. They will move NATO military assets into Ukraine and within weeks push Russia completely back to Russia where they should have stayed in the first place.

----------


## bsnub

> However, in this case, if Russia is stupid enough to use nucs against Ukraine NATO will not retaliate with nucs. They will move NATO military assets into Ukraine and within weeks push Russia completely back to Russia where they should have stayed in the first place.


They will do more than that. I strongly suggest that you watch the video I posted over in the Ukraine war mega thread featuring Gen. David Petraeus. Well worth the twenty minute watch.

----------


## Shutree

> They will move NATO military assets into Ukraine and within weeks push Russia completely back to Russia where they should have stayed in the first place.


That's a fair bet, almost the best of all the worst case scenarios.
The question then is what happens if Russia use a second tactical nuclear weapon with NATO troops on the battlefield. It's a nightmare. I'm sure the allies have people gaming all the scenarios. Putin might be increasingly unhinged. He is committed to his vision of a greater Russia at any price because his vision of the alternative is no Russia at all, IMHO.  Will his generals keep it going is another question.

----------


## Norton

> Will his generals keep it going is another question.


It is and what I raised earlier. Putin can order but military is the button pushers. I believe they will ignore the order and Putin will be done.

----------


## Shutree

> It is and what I raised earlier. Putin can order but military is the button pushers. I believe they will ignore the order and Putin will be done.


At this point we should possibly be praying that this is true.

----------


## helge

> Like your steadfast belief that Putin wouldn't invade Ukraine? You, sabang, have the least to crow about regarding pronouncements.


Maybe it's time for an evaluation on ....who predicted/called the invasion.

I think I saw Troy being worried some weeks before the 24th.

I didn't believe it until Putin started talking genocide in Donbas.

Then I knew

So please step forward you oracles.

Backspin doesn't have to; he called it many moons ago

----------


## misskit

*Russian Troops Face Imminent Defeat in Eastern Ukraine Supply Hub*

Russian forces face “imminent defeat” to advancing Ukrainian soldiers in a key supply hub in eastern Ukraine, threatening Russian positions elsewhere and potentially undermining morale further, observers said Thursday.


Russian military bloggers said Ukrainian troops advanced west, north and northeast of the Donetsk region town of Lyman on Wednesday. Russian troops captured Lyman, which had a pre-war population of 20,000, in the third month of the invasion in May.


“From a staging point on the right bank of the Oskil River, the Ukrainian command continues the offensive aimed at reaching Svatove and encircling Lyman,” said Rybar, a pro-war Telegram channel that shares daily reports to 800,000 of its followers, in an English-language update.

A key railway juncture, Lyman could be used as a gateway for Ukrainian forces' counteroffensive to continue advancing further east without losing momentum before winter.


“The collapse of the Lyman pocket will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping in northern Donetsk and western Luhansk,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a daily update.


The Russian Defense Ministry’s failure to address these losses “will likely further reduce already-low Russian morale,” it added.


In a daily briefing Wednesday, the Defense Ministry's spokesman claimed that Ukraine’s offensive on Lyman had failed and that 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed.


Rybar, however, noted that the Ukrainian forces’ manpower “allows the enemy to suffer heavy losses without reducing the onslaught” on Russian and pro-Russian positions.


Lyman’s capture would also likely complicate Russia’s imminent annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, as well as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south, following referendums that Kyiv and its Western allies denounce as a sham.


The Kremlin said this week that the goal of the Russian offensive in Ukraine was to “at least” capture eastern Ukraine.

Russian Troops Face ‘Imminent Defeat’ in East Ukraine Supply Hub - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

*Urgent.. The Kremlin: President Putin signs a decree recognizing the independence of Zaporozhye and Kherson provinces*

9/30/2022, 7:41:45 AM Urgent.. The Kremlin: President Putin signs a decree recognizing the independence of Zaporozhye and Kherson provinces

Urgent.. The Kremlin: President Putin signs a decree recognizing the independence of Zaporozhye and Kherson provinces - Teller Report

As expected. Next step?

----------


## bsnub

> As expected. Next step?


It makes not one shred of a difference. Ukraine is going to take those territories back anyway. A waste of time even discussing it. Russia is on the brink of a major strategic collapse in the Donbass as we speak.

The desperation is palpable.

----------


## Iceman123

> It makes not one shred of a difference. Ukraine is going to take those territories back anyway. A waste of time even discussing it. Russia is on the brink of a major strategic collapse in the Donbass as we speak.
> 
> The desperation is palpable.


What else did you talk about? Was the pub busy?

----------


## sabang

^^ Just like they were about to in Kherson, a few weeks ago?  ::chitown::  Your answers will be provided by what actually happens on the ground child. Seeing as we already know what you think anyway, there is really no need to repeat it ad infinitum on a daily basis. Tedious and boring.

----------


## pickel

> Just like they were about to in Kherson, a few weeks ago?


The ruse worked, and they are still taking more ground than Russia in Kherson.




> Seeing as we already know what you think anyway, there is really no need to repeat it ad infinitum on a daily basis. Tedious and boring.


If it weren't for ohoh, you'd take the gold in that department.

----------


## bsnub

> Just like they were about to in Kherson, a few weeks ago?


I never said that, as usual you are trying to put words in my mouth. A few weeks ago, the Ukrainians were kicking the Russians teeth in up in Kharkiv oblast. Now they are on to Donetsk oblast. I have already seen plenty of drone footage showing the Russians attempting to retreat out of the Lyman pocket and getting blown to smithereens in a turkey shoot. Early in the morning in Ukraine, but I expect there will be some news updates coming out today.

----------


## misskit

Putin Declares Russias Annexation of Occupied Ukraine, Lashes Out at West


Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on the annexation of four partially occupied Ukrainian regions on Friday in a major escalation of Moscow’s seven-month war with its pro-Western neighbor.


Putin confirmed the annexation of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions as well as the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in a televised ceremony in the Kremlin's St. George's Hall.


Ukraine and its allies in the West have vowed never to recognize the annexation, calling it a blatant violation of Kyiv’s sovereignty.


“People living in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson are becoming our citizens forever,” Putin said in a combative 30-minute speech that was marked by fierce attacks on the West. 


“We will defend our land with all the means we have available to us,” Putin told the room filled with hundreds of lawmakers and officials, including the occupied regions’ Moscow-installed leaders.


Putin called on Ukraine to lay down its arms and return to peace talks with Russia, which Kyiv abandoned after widespread evidence of Russian atrocities against Ukrainian civilians surfaced in the early months of the war.


“We call on the Kyiv regime to immediately stop hostilities and sit at the negotiating table,” he said.


After signing the annexation accords, Putin and the four Moscow-installed proxies joined hands and chanted "Russia! Russia! Russia!"


Russia’s parliament is expected to ratify the treaties next week, after which the four regions will formally become part of Russia. 


In his speech, filled with unprecedented anti-American rhetoric, Putin railed against Western colonialism and imperialism, claiming that the West wanted to turn Russia into a colony.


“The dictatorship of the Western elite is directed against all societies, including against the peoples of those Western countries themselves. It’s a challenge for all. This means the total negation of the human, the overthrow of religion and traditional values as the crushing of freedom becomes to look like the opposite of religion – open Satanism,” he said.


“The West is prepared to cross every boundary in order to preserve its neo-colonial system,” he said. “They want to see us as a colony… they don’t want to see us as a free society but as a crowd of slaves.”


Putin blamed the United States for this week’s unexplained explosions at the Nord Stream pipelines that have left the damaged pipelines leaking huge amounts of natural gas into the Baltic Sea.


“It’s obvious to everyone who did it,” he said.


He alleged that Washington is "still, in effect, occupying” countries like Germany, Japan and South Korea.


"What sort of alliance is that? The whole world knows that the leaders of those countries are spied upon, that espionage devices are installed not only in the offices of their leaders, but also in their homes. It’s a total humiliation. It’s a humiliation not only for those who do it, but also for those who, silently, like slaves swallow this loutishness without a murmur.”


He also slammed Washington's past use of nuclear weapons, comments that follow his warning last week that he “wasn’t bluffing” about resorting to “any means necessary” in Ukraine.


“The U.S. is the only country in the world to have used nuclear weapons,” Putin said. “Creating a precedent.”


Putin's announcement of the land grab caps a whirlwind 10 days during which the Kremlin launched a “partial” mobilization and staged referendums in the four annexed regions — condemned by the international community — that delivered large majorities in favor of unification with Russia.


And it takes place seven months into Moscow’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbor, a campaign that has been marked by repeated military setbacks including the failure to take Kyiv in the first months of the war and a rapid retreat from northeastern Ukraine earlier this month.


For Putin, the annexation is a last-gasp attempt to portray the war as a success, according to political analyst Abbas Gallyamov.


“By annexing the areas, Putin will try to portray that he is unbeaten. But the Kremlin is just going with the flow — it’s no longer a leader but a follower,” said Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Putin.


Combined with Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Kyiv in 2014, Russia now lays claim to roughly 20% of Ukraine.


Yet Russia does not control the entirety of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson or Zaporizhzhia regions, and Ukraine has continued to regain ground in its ongoing counteroffensive.


Kyiv’s imminent encirclement Friday of Lyman, a strategic town just north of the Donetsk region, apparently defended by thousands of Russian troops, threatened to undermine the choreographed annexation celebrations.


“The Russian Federation as we know it will enter into a new phase of its existence,” political scientist Yekaterina Schulmann wrote on Telegram on Thursday about the consequences of the annexation.


Russia will be “a state with a delegitimized border, including fragments that not only will not be recognized by any other country or international organization de jure but are also not controlled by the central administration de facto,” Schulmann said.


Ukraine said the only appropriate response from the West was to hit Russia with more sanctions and to supply Ukrainian forces with more weapons so they could keep reclaiming territory.


U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that "the United States will never, never, never" recognize Russia's claims on Ukraine's sovereign territory.


UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also rejected the annexation plans, condemning them as "a dangerous escalation."


As Putin spoke in the Kremlin, hundreds of Russians gathered in Red Square in front of a stage emblazoned with the words "Donetsk. Luhansk. Zaporizhzhia. Kherson. Russia!"


Putin is expected to address the crowds later today.

Russia's Patriarch Kirill Ill With Covid – Church - The Moscow Times

----------


## S Landreth

Zelensky: Ukraine submits "accelerated" NATO application


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Ukraine is making an "accelerated" bid to join NATO.

*Driving the news:* The announcement comes on the same day Russia annexed four Ukrainian territories after a series of referendums that most western governments have labeled a "sham."


At the outset of the invasion, Zelensky reiterated Ukraines aim to join the defensive alliance, which Finland and Sweden began the process of joining earlier this year.

*What he's saying:* "We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO," Zelensky said on his Telegram channel.


"De facto, we have already proven compatibility with alliance standards. They are real for Ukraine  real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction," Zelensky said. "We trust each other, we help each other, and we protect each other. This is the alliance."

*What's happening:* On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally annexed four Moscow-occupied areas of Ukraine on Friday: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.


Most western governments  including the U.S. and the European Union  say they won't recognize the annexed territory as Russian.Zelensky's announcement in the response followed his previous warnings that annexation would cease diplomatic negotiations between the countries.

*Our thought bubble* via _Axios_' Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath: A speedy accession for Ukraine into NATO is unlikely.


It would not only need unanimous support from all 30 NATO members, upon accession, it would also immediately thrust the alliance directly into a conventional conflict with a nuclear power.

----------


## russellsimpson

> A speedy accession for Ukraine into NATO is unlikely.


If it's not speedy, it's pointless. I personally don't think all 30 countries will agree.






> it would also immediately thrust the alliance directly into a conventional conflict with a nuclear power.


Too many armchair generals involved. Do it now or forget it. :France:

----------


## bsnub

Moscow celebrated the annexation of huge swathes of Eastern Ukraine Friday but President Vladimir Putin’s party was wrecked by a lightning counter-attack that may have trapped thousands of his men in a key city supposedly now part of Russia. 

“This  is the will of millions of people,” Putin said at a glitzy ceremony in  front of high-ranking Russian diplomats still in the country. “People  living in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region are  becoming our compatriots forever.”

But as he gloated,Ukrainian sources claimed that the strategic city of Lyman, which has served as a Russian military  hub in Donetsk, has been encircled and supply lines cut. “Lyman! The  operation to encircle the Russian group is at the stage of completion,”  said Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko on Friday. The claim could  not be independently verified but, if confirmed, it would be one of the  most serious Russian military losses of the war so far.

Pro-Kremlin  forces have conceded that the Ukrainians have made major gains in the  region and are close to cutting off the Russian staging post in northern  Donetsk, which has been under Russian control since July. An adviser to  Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky tweeted that Russian forces would  have to “ask for an exit from Lyman” if they want to surrender, adding,  “Only if, of course, those in the Kremlin are concerned for their  soldiers.”

Ukraine said earlier in the week they had made deep gains in the  stronghold region and were close to taking back the territory—despite  Putin’s claims that the region now belonged to an enlarged Russia.

Speaking  after Putin’s formally announced that four enclaves partially  controlled by Russia would be subsumed into the country against all  international law, Zelensky vowed to win them back. 

“The entire  territory of our country will be liberated from this enemy—the enemy not  only of Ukraine, but also of life itself, humanity, law and truth,” he  said.

The latest military humiliation for Moscow will continue to  raise speculation that Putin could decide to lash out in new, more  brutal ways.

Russian state television political editor Maxim Yusin  warned that Putin intended to push the button on a nuclear attack in  the “coming days or weeks,” adding that people should “have fun because  it would be a shame to live out the remaining time with pessimism.”

Military  analysts say the recapture of Lyman could bolster morale and push the  Ukrainian military to move to Luhansk province, which is the heart of  the industrial region of the Donbas. Putin planned to annex Donbas after  the bogus ballot referendum, which Western intelligence sources say was  mostly held at gunpoint. 

Ukraine’s military outlined a large-scale counter attack. “If Lyman  falls, our forces can… cut the main supply corridor to Russian troops in  Severodonetsk and Lysychansk [in Luhansk],” Ukraine’s military General  Staff said on Telegram. 

The British Ministry of Defense (MoD)  said the gains came at the same time as a monumental supply issue for  the Russians. “Medical provision for Russian combat troops in Ukraine is  probably growing worse,” the MoD said Friday in its weekly war  assessment bulletin. “Some newly mobilized Russian reservists have been  ordered to source their own combat first aid supplies, with the advice  that female sanitary products are a cost-effective solution.”

Among  the other issues appears to be theft, with some new soldiers using zip  ties to secure tourniquet supplies, rather than the standard Velcro  attachments, which make them easier to steal. 

“This is almost certain to  hamper or render impossible the timely application of tourniquet care  in the case of catastrophic bleeding on the battlefield,” the MoD  statement claims. “Russian troops’ lack of confidence in sufficient  medical provision is almost certainly contributing to a declining state  of morale and a lack of willingness to undertake offensive operations in  many units in Ukraine.”

The British military also suggests that more Russians have escaped  across the border than actually fought in the war so far after a  mandatory draft was instated. “The better off and well educated are  over-represented among those attempting to leave Russia,” they said.  “When combined with those reservists who are being mobilized, the  domestic economic impact of reduced availability of labor and the  acceleration of ‘brain drain’ is likely to become increasingly  significant.”

Meanwhile in Moscow, plans for an annexation ceremony continue for Friday.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/putin-...man-in-donetsk

----------


## bsnub

A Russian Regiment, Currently Surrounded In Eastern Ukraine, Has A Tragic History Of Defeat

The Ukrainian army reportedly has nearly completed its envelopment of the Russian garrison in Lyman, a transport hub in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region—and a top objective of Ukraine’s month-old counteroffensive in the east.

 Among the thousands of Russians reportedly trapped in Lyman are  members of the 752nd Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment. It’s a regiment  with a tragic tradition of getting cut off, surrounded and all but  destroyed. The 752nd GMRR was one of two regiment-size units that, on  New Year’s Eve in 1994, got enveloped in Grozny during the first of  Russia’s two bloody wars in Chechnya.

 The 752nd GMRR barely survived the First Chechen War. Its chances in Ukraine aren’t much better.

 Lyman has been in the Ukrainian army’s sights since the Russians  captured the railway hub back in late May. But it wasn’t until the  Ukrainians’ eastern counteroffensive gained momentum a couple of weeks  ago that liberating the town became possible. 

 First, the Ukrainians punched through Russian lines east of the free  city of Kharkiv, exploiting weaknesses in Russian defenses that appeared  as the Kremlin began shifting forces to the south in an effort to slow _another_ Ukrainian counteroffensive along the Inhulets River.

 It didn’t help the Russians that the Ukrainians since late spring had  been targeting Russia’s supply dumps and command centers, steadily  starving Russian battalions and disrupting their leadership. The  Russians east of Kharkiv abandoned their tanks and fighting vehicles and  fled into separatist Luhansk Oblast. 

 Barreling across the Oskil River, the Ukrainian army split. While  some troops secured their Oskil bridgeheads, others turned south. They  liberated Izium and its vital highway intersections. Then, coordinating  with battalions advancing from the west and south, they began encircling  Lyman last week.

There reportedly were as many as 5,000 Russians in the town at the  time. Some lightly-armed reservists from two Russian battalions. Two  regiments from the separatist Luhansk People’s Republic. And the 752nd  GMRR, arguably the best of the units in the Lyman garrison.

The 752nd on paper is a powerful formation,  although it like much of the Russian army has suffered steep losses as  Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its eighth month. Before the  war, the 752nd GMRR possessed 41 T-72 tanks, 120 BMP-2 fighting  vehicles, 36 2S3 howitzers and scores of other vehicles. It’s unclear  how many vehicles remain. The Russian army in total has written off  6,600 vehicles that analysts can confirm.

 As the Ukrainian noose tightened around Lyman on Thursday and Friday,  Russian troops began pulling out of surrounding settlements and  concentrating in Lyman itself. “This is significant,” tweeted Malcolm Davis, an analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “Another major setback for Russia in Ukraine.”

 By Friday there was no road out of Lyman that the Ukrainians couldn’t  bring under intensive fire. Whether the 752nd GMRR and other units in  Lyman surrender, attempt a breakout or fight to the last man will  determine how many casualties the Ukrainians inflict as they inevitably  liberate Lyman in the coming days.

 In Grozny 28 years ago, Chechen fighters killed and wounded hundreds,  maybe thousands, of 752nd GMRR troopers. The regiment’s losses in Lyman  could be just as severe.

All that is to say, it’s nearly time to add the 752nd GMRR to the  growing list of major Russian formations that Ukrainians have dismantled  just in the last month. The elite 1st Guards Tanks Army and its supporting 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division, the reserve 3rd Army Corps, the 559th Bomber Aviation Regiment with its Su-34 fighters.

 What happens next depends on three factors. How much reserve combat  power the Ukrainian army possesses after a month of intensive  operations. How quickly the coming winter turns eastern Ukraine into a  sea of mud. How quickly the 300,000 men the Kremlin is drafting begin  reaching the front in meaningful numbers—and whether they’re in any  condition to fight.

 It’s possible Lyman falls and the Ukrainians keep advancing. It’s  also possible Lyman represents the culmination of the current  counteroffensive in the east. Either scenario is a loss for the  Russians. And likely signals the end of the 752nd GMRR as an effective  fighting force, at least for a while.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=13c1ad007cf1

----------


## russellsimpson

> with the advice that female sanitary products are a cost-effective solution.”


Nurses swear by this. It's amazing how much blood these will soak up.

----------


## misskit

U.S. Announces Severe Sanctions on Russia Over Annexations

The United States on Friday announced "severe" new sanctions on Russia in response to what President Joe Biden called Moscow's "fraudulent" claim to have annexed four Ukrainian regions.


"The United States is imposing swift and severe costs on Russia," the White House said in a statement. It also announced that G7 allies support imposing "costs" on any country that backs the Kremlin's attempt to incorporate the Ukrainian regions.


In a statement, Biden said "the United States condemns Russia's fraudulent attempt today to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory. Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere."


"The United States will always honor Ukraine's internationally recognized borders. We will continue to support Ukraine's efforts to regain control of its territory by strengthening its hand militarily and diplomatically, including through the $1.1 billion in additional security assistance the United States announced this week," he continued.


Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "the United States unequivocally rejects Russia's fraudulent attempt to change Ukraine's internationally recognized borders."


"In response, the United States and our allies and partners are imposing swift and severe costs," he said.

The Biden administration said the sanctions will target scores of Russian parliament members, government officials, family members and also industries supplying the Russian military, "including international suppliers."


In a warning to the small number of countries potentially willing to recognize Russia's self-declared sovereignty over the four invaded regions, the administration said the G7 – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – had agreed to punish any such support.


"We are also issuing a clear warning supported by G7 Leaders: We will hold to account any individual, entity, or country that provides political or economic support for Russia’s illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory," Blinken said.


The sanctions announcement – which comes after multiple rounds of earlier measures designed to isolate Russia's economy and cripple its ability to maintain the military – followed Putin's speech earlier Friday in which he declared Russian annexation of four territories.


The regions – Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia – are currently under partial Russian occupation, with Ukraine's Western-armed military pushing hard to recapture the land.


In 2014, Putin annexed another region, Crimea, where Russian troops faced almost no opposition from the then badly organized Ukrainian military. 


This February, he launched a full-scale invasion of eastern, southern and northern Ukraine in a bid to topple the pro-Western government, but the revamped Ukrainian military has since partly repelled the invaders and continues to push Russian lines back.

EU Unveils Stricter Visa Scrutiny for Russians - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

Even more severe than the last severe sanctions I tell ya, which followed the most severe sanctions ever- or so we were told. But Russia has turned it's back on you, and looks east. The SCO is now more important than the G7.

----------


## bsnub

> The SCO is now more important than the G7.


 :smiley laughing: 

Buffoonery.

----------


## russellsimpson

> In a warning to the small number of countries potentially willing to recognize Russia's self-declared sovereignty over the four invaded regions


Unfortunately China, India and Brazil plus others may fall into this category. All of these countries have refused to comdemn, outright, the Russian action.

Biden has a fair number of balls bouncing about at the same time. We'll soon find out whether he is up to the challenge. I find it all a tad scary.

 :Yikes:

----------


## bsnub

A Russian-installed official in Ukraine acknowledged Friday that President Vladimir Putin's  forces in the occupied city of Lyman were partially encircled,  potentially leading to what some believe could be a strategic Ukrainian  victory in the eastern Donetsk region.

"Our guys are fighting, we  are pulling up reserves, we must hold out, but the enemy has also thrown  serious forces. Very unpleasant news, but we must look soberly at the  situation and draw conclusions from our mistakes," Denis Pushilin, the  Russian-appointed governor of Donetsk, wrote on Telegram.

Before  this admission, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its  September 28 campaign assessment that Russian military bloggers had been  discussing Ukrainian advances in the Lyman area with "increased  concern," as well as suggesting that a Russian defeat in the city could  be "imminent."

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry had not  been addressing Ukrainian advances around Lyman or preparing for the  potential loss of the city, which could further deteriorate low Russian morale, the ISW said.

If  Ukraine reclaims Lyman, it would be the newest high-profile loss for  Putin after several recent defeats for his troops in the eastern Kharkiv and southern Kherson region.  To make matters worse, Putin on Friday formally announced the  annexation of four Ukrainian regions, a move that Western nations have  decried as illegal and illegitimate, and vowed that Russia will defeat Ukraine.

Donetsk  is one of those four regions, so Ukraine recapturing Lyman as Russia  touts the "sham" annexation will be "psychologically humiliating for the  Kremlin," Ben Hodges, former commanding general of United States Army  Europe, told _Newsweek_.

"This will shine a bright light on  the ridiculousness of this whole sham of the referendum and then the  annexation," Hodges said. "He can't enforce it. It's not theirs."

Operationally, Ukraine recapturing Lyman means that several thousand  Russian soldiers could be killed or captured, while most of their  equipment there could be destroyed or captured as well, according to  Hodges. He added that while he cannot predict how Russia will respond to  such a loss, there can be a psychological effect and a "potential for  panic" with this type of breakthrough.

Following the potential  capture of Lyman, the outside world may not know what Ukraine would do  next, but Ukrainian troops have been clever in knowing how to exploit  Russian weaknesses and seize opportunities, Hodges said.

"I  believe that they're going to push the Russians back to the 23 February  line before the end of the year and that they will be in Crimea about  the middle of next summer," Hodges said, referencing the day before  Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

And when the approaching  winter arrives, Hodges believes that Ukrainians will fare better and  look to "maintain pressure" on the Russian army, which is allegedly  already receiving new soldiers on the frontlines with "minimal" preparation after being conscripted in Putin's partial draft.

William Reno, a professor of political science at Northwestern University, told _Newsweek_  that Lyman and another Donetsk city, Bakhmut, "might be transport hubs  of a sort." Logistically, Lyman and Bakhmut aren't fully without  strategic importance on the ground, but their "significance is more  political," Reno said.

"This part of the conflict is a piece of  the larger Russian strategy, which is to show Ukrainians and the rest of  the world that Russia won't go away," he said.

Ukraine still currently controls Bakhmut  despite the city facing months of Russian shelling. The battle for both  cities shows "the extent to which Russian forces still attempt to grind  down Ukrainian forces," Reno said.

"The value to the Russians is  to deprive Ukrainian forces of the strategic initiative they gained from  operations earlier this month to take Russian-held territory," he  continued. "Though some territory changes hands, both battles present a  picture of a stalled Ukrainian advance. This contributed to the  political space for Putin to announce the sham referendums."

Reno said that Russia is guessing that Ukraine's supporters around the world may back off in a year or two amid fears over the future of Europe's energy supply–Russia reportedly typically supplies about 40 percent of Europe's natural gas–and divisions in Western countries over Ukraine aid.

But  if Russia is not able to hold Lyman and seize control of Bakhmut, this  would mean that Ukraine still has a "strategic initiative," Reno said.  When Ukraine was able to reclaim territory from Russia earlier this  month in rapid counteroffensives–the commander of Ukraine's military  said on September 11 that his forces had regained 3,000 square kilometers of territory from Russia since the start of September–this wasn't a large percentage of what Russia occupied.

"But  it was significant because it signaled to Ukraine's backers that all  the weapons, all the training, all the political support has a payoff,"  Reno said.

Russia being able to hold its current lines in the  conflict could signal to the world that the Ukrainian advance wasn't  actually a turning point in the monthslong war, he added.

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-lym...-putin-1748043

----------


## misskit

*Russia blindfolds, detains Ukraine nuclear plant chief*

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s nuclear power provider said Saturday, reigniting long-simmering fears over the plant’s security.


The alleged kidnapping on Friday apparently took place shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated his war in Ukraine and pushed it into a new, dangerous phase by annexing four Ukrainian regions that Moscow fully or partially controls and heightening threats of nuclear force.


In a possible attempt to secure Moscow’s hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, around 4 p.m. Friday, the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said.


Putin on Friday signed treaties to absorb the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, including the area around the nuclear plant.

Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov’s car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location.


“His detention by (Russia) jeopardizes the safety of Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant,” said Energoatom President Petro Kotin, demanding the director’s immediate release.

Russia did not immediately acknowledge seizing the plant director.


The International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday that Russia told it that “the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.”


The Vienna-based IAEA said, “in line with its nuclear safety mandate,” it “has been actively seeking clarifications and hopes for a prompt and satisfactory resolution of this matter.”


The power plant repeatedly has been caught in the crossfire of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian technicians continued running the power station after Russian troops seized it. Its last reactor was shut down in September as a precautionary measure as constant shelling nearby damaged electric transmission lines to the plant.


The plant is a strategic trophy for Russia and has triggered worldwide concern as the only nuclear plant caught up in modern warfare. Active fighting nearby means it’s unlikely to start producing electricity again soon even if Russia installs its own management.

It is like a town unto itself, with some 11,000 workers before the war. While many have fled amid the fighting, others have stayed to ensure the safety of its radioactive material and structures.


Energoatom spokespeople told The Associated Press on Saturday that employees of the Zaporizhzhia power plant are being forced to submit applications to report to Rosatom, Russia’s state-run nuclear energy giant that operates Russian nuclear plants.


Murashov was against handing the Zaporizhzhia plant over to Rosatom, but Energoatom’s spokespeople couldn’t confirm that this was the reason for his kidnapping.


Murashov had access to security codes, coordinated all the work at the plant, made sure protocols were being followed and reported to Kyiv, according to Energoatom’s spokespeople. Ukrainian authorities appointed him to run the plant several days before Russian troops rolled into Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Energoatom said it hasn’t lost connections with the plant and all important parameters of its work are still being reported to Kyiv.

Russia blindfolds, detains Ukraine nuclear plant chief | AP News

----------


## bsnub

RIVNE, Ukraine —  Russian forces withdrew from the strategic eastern city of Lyman on  Saturday, a significant setback for Moscow just a day after President  Vladimir V. Putin declared that the region where it lies was now part of  Russia.

The battle for Lyman,  a city in Donetsk Province with a prewar population of 20,000, is  particularly poorly timed for the Kremlin, coming shortly after Mr.  Putin illegally declared the annexation of four regions in Ukraine where battles are still raging and a month after Kyiv’s victories in the country’s northeast.

The  loss of the rail hub puts additional pressure on the Kremlin, which has  been facing blowback at home over its losses on the battlefield and  over the conscription of hundreds of thousands of men to fight in  Ukraine.

Hours  after Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said its forces were entering the city,  Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had made the decision to pull out  of Lyman. The withdrawal staved off a potential worst-case scenario for  the Kremlin in which Russian troops were trapped.

“Due  to the risk to be encircled, the allied forces were withdrawn” from the  city to “more advantageous” locations, the ministry said in a statement  posted on Telegram.

Earlier,  Ukraine’s Defense Ministry had posted a video on Twitter showing two  soldiers unfurling the country’s yellow-and-blue flag at a sign marking  the city limits. The army “will always have the decisive vote in today’s  and any future ‘referendums,’” it added in a pointed reference to the  discredited votes taken to justify the annexation.

A senior Ukrainian military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Lyman was “already liberated.”

“A mop-up is ongoing,” the official said. “The Russians have nowhere to run.”

Last  month’s sweeping and successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the  country’s northeast sent Russian soldiers in full retreat, leaving  Moscow’s troops in Lyman isolated and severed from their supply lines. 

Lyman, which fell to the Russians  in May, serves as a rail hub that flows into Donbas, the mineral rich  region in the Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk provinces that has long  been the focus of Mr. Putin’s war aims.

Ukraine’s  ability to recapture Lyman is the most significant proof yet that  Russia’s ability to control the Donbas is anything but certain.

With  Lyman under Ukrainian control, the battle for the Donbas enters a new  phase. The city’s recapture means that Ukraine’s troops have gained a  new foothold in the region and are positioned to claw back territory  before winter sets in.

The  next target, if the Ukrainian military continues its advance, would  likely be Svatove, a city northeast of Lyman where Russians have  retrenched, according to analysts.

Russia’s  military, depleted and losing ground, is likely to be faced with a  decision that involves shuttling resources from other parts of the front  to slow Ukraine’s advance or continuing to lose chunks of the Donbas.

Some  of the nearest Russian reinforcements are roughly 25 miles to the  southeast, around the city of Bakhmut. Wagner Group, an infamous  paramilitary unit that reports directly to the Kremlin, has battered the  Ukrainian defenders there but has failed to seize significant parts of  the city.

Ukraine’s  slow-moving offensive in the south toward the port city of Kherson has  largely been overshadowed by events in the east. But fighting there  remains fierce as better-trained Russian forces have put up staunch  resistance against advancing Ukrainian troops.

nytimes.com

----------


## misskit

*European Heads Condemn Russian Annexations in Ukraine*

The presidents of nine NATO countries in central and eastern Europe declared on Sunday they would never recognise the annexation by Russia of Ukrainian territory.


Their reaction comes two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to annex four Moscow-occupied regions of Ukraine -- Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia -- following "referendums" the West has dismissed as "sham".


The presidents issued a joint statement saying they could not "stay silent in the face of the blatant violation of international law by the Russian Federation". 


"We reiterate our support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," they said. 


"We do not recognise and will never recognise Russian attempts to annex any Ukrainian territory."


The statement was issued by the presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.


Four of the signatories -- Poland, and the three Baltic states -- are on NATO's eastern flank with Russia.


Two others -- Romania and Slovakia -- have borders with Ukraine.


Hungary, which also borders Ukraine, was notably absent from the list. Its nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, has sought close ties with Putin in recent years and railed against European Union sanctions on the Kremlin.


Also absent were Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia.


The statement, published on the website of the Polish president's office, said the leaders of the signatory countries had "visited Kyiv during the war and witnessed with their own eyes the effects of Russian aggression".


"We support Ukraine in its defence against Russia's invasion, demand Russia to immediately withdraw from all the occupied territories and encourage all (NATO) Allies to substantially increase their military aid to Ukraine," it said.


"All those who commit crimes of aggression must be held accountable and brought to justice."


The presidents said they stood by a decision NATO made 14 years ago, supporting Ukraine's wish to join the trans-atlantic military alliance at a future date.


They did not comment on Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014, or on Ukraine's request last Friday for fast-track NATO membership following Russia's annexation manoeuvre.


NATO members have hesitated at accepting a country at war -- which, by treaty, would oblige the alliance to come to its defence.


NATO's Article 5 says an attack on one member is tantamount to attack on all.

European Heads Condemn Russian Annexations in Ukraine - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

> the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.


 ::chitown::

----------


## Takeovers

> the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.





> 


All the countries with previous experience on imperial Russia. They know first hand.

----------


## bsnub

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces on Sunday hunted Russian stragglers in the key city of Lyman, which was taken back from Russia after its demoralized troops, according to a major Russian newspaper, fled with “empty eyes,” and despite Moscow’s baseless claim it had annexed the region surrounding the city.

Two days after President Vladimir V. Putin held a grandiose ceremony to commemorate the incorporation of four Ukrainian territories into Russia, the debacle in the city — Lyman, a strategic railway hub in the eastern region of Donbas — ratcheted up pressure on a Russian leadership already facing withering criticism at home for its handling of the war and its conscription of up to 300,000 men into military service.

Russia’s retreat from Lyman, which sits on a riverbank that has served as a natural division between the Russian and Ukrainian front lines, came after weeks of fierce fighting.

In an unusually candid article published Sunday, the prominent Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that in the last few days of their occupation, Russian forces in Lyman had been plagued by desertion, poor planning and the delayed arrival of reserves.

“The risk of encirclement or shameful imprisonment became too great, and the Russian command made a decision to fall back,” a war correspondent traveling with the fleeing Russian forces wrote, adding that dispirited soldiers with “empty eyes” had barely escaped Lyman with their lives.

The retreat is a significant blow to Russian forces that could further undermine the Kremlin’s position in Donbas, a mineral-rich and fertile part of eastern Ukraine that has been central to Mr. Putin’s war aims.

Mr. Putin’s office made no public comment about the loss of Lyman, even as pro-war commentators and two of his closest allies sharply criticized  the Defense Ministry for retreating from the city.

 Seemingly unfazed by  its military setbacks, Moscow pressed ahead with its annexation effort  on Sunday, as the country’s rubber-stamp Constitutional Court formally accepted Mr. Putin’s decision to claim the four Ukrainian regions as part of Russia.

But  President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine quickly sought to capitalize  politically on the retreat, saying it showed that Moscow’s attempt to  illegally annex a sizable part of the country was an “absolute farce”  and that “now a Ukrainian flag is” in Donbas. But the Ukrainian  recoveries in areas Russia now claims have come as Mr. Putin has  increasingly hinted at turning to nuclear options in the conflict, alarming American officials.

On  Friday, after Russian-appointed officials held discredited referendums  in the four partly occupied areas of Ukraine, Mr. Putin announced that the territory, including Lyman, would be absorbed into Russia and that its people would be Russian citizens “forever.”

Mr.  Putin claimed the provinces’ residents had voted overwhelmingly to join  the Russian Federation, but Ukraine and its Western allies dismissed  the referendums as shams, as most of the citizens had fled the region  and many of those left behind had cast ballots at gunpoint.

Despite  the Russian leader’s claims and bluster at the ceremony on Friday in a  grand Kremlin hall — he denounced Washington for “Satanism” — Russian  troops retreated from Lyman barely a day later.

Initially,  Ukrainian commanders thought they would retake Lyman quickly, with  forces nearly completely encircling the city. But Russia’s military sent  reinforcements. Fierce fighting ensued in dense forests and along the  banks of the Siversky Donets River as Ukraine cut off the roads used to  move troops and ammunition into the city.

“In  Lyman and around it, there were significantly strong forces,” Col.  Sergei Cherevaty, a spokesman for Ukrainian troops fighting in the east,  said in an interview.

Russian  soldiers retreated chaotically, breaking from their units and escaping  in smaller groups into the surrounding forests, Colonel Cherevaty said,  and many were killed or captured. About 2,000 to 3,000 Russian soldiers  were in Lyman as Ukrainian forces arrived on the outskirts of the city  on Friday, he said.

As  Ukrainian soldiers and police officers fanned out across Lyman to  search for Russian stragglers, it was unclear on Sunday how many had  fallen into Ukrainian hands.

Mr.  Zelensky said the city had been fully cleared by Sunday afternoon, as  Ukrainian forces conducted patrols and delivered aid to residents who  had survived months of Russian occupation and weeks of combat.

Artillery  strikes have damaged much of Lyman. The city lies largely in ruins,  without electricity, water or regular food supplies, according to  Stanislav Zagrusky, the police chief of the Kramatorsk District, which  includes Lyman.

Mr. Zagrusky said in  an interview that the resumption of Ukrainian police patrols late on  Saturday — hours after the Ukrainian Army declared the city liberated  and Russia’s military conceded that it had retreated — underlined the  absurdity of the Kremlin’s claim of sovereignty over the four Ukrainian  territories.

“We  absolutely don’t care what they say, what decrees they issue, what  announcements they make,” he said of the Kremlin authorities, deploring  the conditions in which Russian troops had left residents of Lyman  during the occupation: “They did absolutely nothing for the people all  this time.”

“They didn’t try to  restore electricity or water, and people lived without regular food  supplies,” he went on, adding that many residents needed medical care.

Mr.  Zagrusky said that while the Ukrainian military took prisoners after  the battle, police officers had made no arrests of Russian stragglers as  of midday Sunday. His officers found that Russians had hastily  abandoned a police station, leaving it littered with garbage.

The police said about 5,000 people remained in the city, which had a prewar population of 20,000.

As  Ukrainian forces gained full control of Lyman, commanders turned their  attention to the next steps in a punishing offensive that has left  Russian troops in the eastern Donbas region in an increasingly perilous  position.

From Lyman, Ukraine could  push farther east to try to expel Russian troops from towns and villages  they had seized over the summer, though colder temperatures could slow  the fighting and Russian lines are expected to be reinforced by newly  drafted troops.

Military analysts also  warn that Ukrainian forces, if they push too far, could become  overstretched and unable to defend newly reclaimed territory from  Russian counterattacks.

None of the  four illegally annexed regions are fully under Russian control.  Ukrainian gains in the east and south have left the Kremlin’s forces  with diminishing options for taking additional territory.

In the south, Ukrainian forces are engaged in a fierce counteroffensive in the Kherson region,  which Russia seized in the first weeks of the war. Unlike in the  northeast, there has been little movement in either direction, though  odds increasingly appear to be stacked against Russian forces, the bulk  of which have been cut off from their supply lines by successful  Ukrainian attacks on key bridges spanning the vast Dnipro River.

On  the other side of the Dnipro, Russian forces trying to push north in  the Zaporizhzhia region, which Mr. Putin also claimed to have annexed,  have been held at a standstill for months by strong Ukrainian defensive  lines.

For now, Russian troops fleeing  Lyman appear to be moving to reinforce their lines 25 miles to the  south around the city of Bakhmut. That appears to be the only area along  the extensive eastern front line where Russian forces are on the  offensive, led primarily by members of the Wagner Group, a private military contractor, whose fighters have been pummeling Ukrainian forces for months.

“It’s  very difficult because they have been hammering for several months with  artillery and are constantly attacking with tanks and infantry,”  Colonel Cherevaty said. “Holding them is difficult, but they’re  managing.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/02/w...sia-lyman.html

----------


## sabang

Translation- give generously, American taxpayer! Sigh, looks like we are in for a long war. And Europe, a cold winter.

----------


## pickel

> Translation- give generously, American taxpayer!


Do you think Russia is fighting the war for free?

----------


## sabang

At least they are fighting it with their own soldiers, and own armaments, and paid for by their own taxpayers. Ukraine is totally dependant upon armaments paid for and supplied by foreigners. It is only their lives being sacrificed.

----------


## bsnub

> It is only their lives being sacrificed.


AS it should be, it was their country that was invaded without provocation.




> a cold winter.


Just more of your propaganda BS.

----------


## pickel

> At least they are fighting it with their own soldiers


The Wagner Group? The Kadyrovites? Or that crazy Texan fighting with the separatists?




> and own armaments


Their latest weapon introduced to the battlefield are Iranian drones, along with North Korean artillery shells.




> and paid for by their own taxpayers


My point.




> Ukraine is totally dependant upon armaments paid for and supplied by foreigners.


Lend-Lease don't work that way.




> It is only their lives being sacrificed.


A higher price than taxes. And yet they have high morale, something Russians don't have. Morale wins wars. Do you have any examples of soldiers with low morale winning a war?

----------


## HermantheGerman

> At least they are fighting it with their own soldiers, and own armaments, and paid for by their own taxpayers. Ukraine is totally dependant upon armaments paid for and supplied by foreigners. It is only their lives being sacrificed.


Strike 1:At least they are fighting it with their own soldiers WRONG
Strike 2:and own armaments WRONG 
Strike 3:and paid for by their own taxpayers WRONG

They say a war last about 1,5 years (average). I hope they are right because sabangs comments are getting unbearable.

----------


## Norton

> Lend-Lease


Ironically Russia condemns the US and others for arming the Ukranie.  :rofl: 

Even before the United States entered World War II in December 1941, America sent arms and equipment to the Soviet Union to help it defeat the Nazi invasion. Totaling $11.3 billion, or $180 billion in todays currency, the Lend-Lease Act of the United States supplied needed goods to the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1945 in support of what Stalin described to Roosevelt as the enormous and difficult fight against the common enemy  bloodthirsty Hitlerism.

400,000 jeeps & trucks
14,000 airplanes
8,000 tractors
13,000 tanks
1.5 million blankets
15 million pairs of army boots
107,000 tons of cotton
2.7 million tons of petrol products
4.5 million tons of food

World War II Allies: U.S. Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union, 1941-1945 - U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Russia

----------


## bsnub

> Ironically Russia condemns the US and others for arming the Ukranie.


Heh After these two recent big battlefield defeats the Russians are now the biggest supplier of arms to Ukraine.

 :rofl:

----------


## HermantheGerman

> Heh After these two recent big battlefield defeats the Russians are now the biggest supplier of arms to Ukraine.


Maybe they can re-sell the old tanks/parts to the Russians  :smiley laughing:

----------


## bsnub

> Maybe they can re-sell the old tanks/parts to the Russians


Naw they are just going to use them to kill more Russians.  :Smile:

----------


## david44

Back a rat into a corner ... NASTY
Back a pitbull into a corner Piss yourself
Back a bear into a corner and prepare for auto-defecation , known as DEFCON BROWN order new tighty whities.

While the weapons dealers wish to prolong the live action demos as long as possible , however on the wide snow blown steppes winter approaches and the living hell of retreating through slush and mud to seek a new position will be gruelling and worse once snows arrive soon, there is also the danger of miscalculation on all sides. Once general winter arrives we may see dig into status quo until the thaw.
However drones have transformed modern warfare and shown vulnerability of infantry and capital ships. 

Nato will surely supply/enable Ukraine to sink rest of the Black Sea Kara Deniz flotilla and possibly Caspian Fleet too which can hit targets in Europe if Putin escalates. The Finns, Swedes, USA, China and drone pimps Turkey look like the sole winners to me.

----------


## Norton

> the weapons dealers wish to prolong the live action demos as long as possible


Historically they have been very successful so in future expect them contiued success.

Eisenhower warned about this but our leaders obviously aren't listening.

Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

----------


## misskit

*Russia Adds TV Protester Ovsyannikova to Wanted List

*Russian authorities on Monday placed Marina Ovsyannikova, the former state TV journalist who denounced the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine on-air, on the federal wanted list. 


Ovsyannikova, 44, became well-known in Russia and abroad in March after holding up an anti-war sign during a primetime news program on state broadcaster Channel One, where she was employed as a producer at the time. 


Authorities in August placed her under house arrest on charges of spreading "false information" about the Russian Armed Forces after she held up a poster reading: "How many more children must die [in Ukraine] before you stop?" near the Kremlin.

Last week, Ovsyannikova's ex-husband claimed that the mother of two escaped from house arrest with her 11-year-old daughter.


It was not immediately clear if she was still in Russia or had fled the country.


She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of spreading "false information" about the army.


In the months since Russia launched a full-scale assault on Ukraine, a number of Russian reporters and opposition activists have been added to the federal wanted list on the same charges, including investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov and journalists Alexander Nevzorov and Michael Nacke.

‘We Cannot Win’: Russia’s Military Veterans Opposing The Ukraine War - The Moscow Times

----------


## bsnub

PISKY-RADKIVSKI,  Ukraine — The Russian soldier lay in the undergrowth, slammed against a  tree. Still in full combat uniform with body armor and boots, he had  been missed by the crews gathering the dead.

A  week after Ukrainian troops seized back the village of Pisky-Radkivski,  in the Kharkiv region, in a sweeping counteroffensive that forced  Russian troops into retreat across northeastern Ukraine, the horror of  war was all too evident.

“I  cannot breathe in my house from the smell,” said Valentina Eliseeva,  73, a bent woman in slippers who pointed out where the soldier’s corpse  lay. “The smell is so bad. When will they take it away?”

The  successful counteroffensive in northeastern Ukraine has reclaimed vast  swaths of territory, including Lyman, a crucial railway hub about 25  miles south of Pisky-Radkivski in Donetsk — one of the four regions of  Ukraine that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said last week his country was annexing  and treating as its own. On Monday, Russian forces were still on the  retreat in the northeast while Ukrainian forces also reported progress  in the south — adding to the Kremlin’s embarrassments as it faces unusually public criticism of its war effort at home.

The  battle lasted just one day in Pisky-Radkivski, but the power and  accuracy of the Ukrainian assault was evident. Burned-out tanks sat  still in their positions, at a crossroads and in the woods at the  northern edge of the village. Russian uniforms, sleeping bags and  rations lay abandoned among the fir trees opposite Ms. Eliseeva’s house.

Ukrainian  artillery knocked out the tanks and killed at least eight Russian  soldiers here, said Anatolii, 52, a retired engineer whose house was  damaged in the strikes. “It is a strategic crossroads,” he said. “They  shelled all around us.”

Most  of the bodies had been removed by professional crews who tour the  battle zone in white vans emblazoned with a red cross and the number  200, the code the military has used since Soviet times for cargo of dead  soldiers. But they had not picked up the body by the tree, which was  missing its head.

On a road past  several villages to the south, a forensic team was picking up Russian  bodies at the scene of an ambush. A Ukrainian soldier protested, but the  forensic team explained quietly that Russian bodies could be exchanged  for Ukrainian soldiers. The soldier helped lift a decomposed body into a  black body bag, then leaned over to retch in the grass.

Down  the road, soldiers from a Ukrainian tank crew pulled up near the body  of another dead Russian soldier, who lay twisted where he had fallen,  his face blackened and his body swollen.

Weary  and dirty, the tank crew showed little concern for the Russian bodies,  but seemed tense and angry from their recent battles. They had been  fighting for 51 days without a break and were still wearing their summer  uniforms, said one of them, who gave his code name as Positiv.

“We  liberated four villages and planted the Ukrainian flag, but other units  took the credit,” he said. “So many of our soldiers died,” he added.  “So many young guys, 20-year-olds. So many.”

nytimes.com

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Russia Adds TV Protester Ovsyannikova to Wanted List
> 
> *Russian authorities on Monday placed Marina Ovsyannikova, the former state TV journalist who denounced the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine on-air, on the federal wanted list. 
> 
> 
> Ovsyannikova, 44, became well-known in Russia and abroad in March after holding up an anti-war sign during a primetime news program on state broadcaster Channel One, where she was employed as a producer at the time. 
> 
> 
> Authorities in August placed her under house arrest on charges of spreading "false information" about the Russian Armed Forces after she held up a poster reading: "How many more children must die [in Ukraine] before you stop?" near the Kremlin.
> ...


Ed Snowden be like "what have I done?".

 :rofl:

----------


## bsnub

Ukrainian  troops on Tuesday accelerated their military advances on two fronts,  pushing Russian forces into retreat in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions  to the east and in the Kherson region to the south.

The  gains showed Kyiv continuing to recapture occupied territory on the  same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his rubber-stamp  parliament sought to formalize their increasingly far-fetched  “annexation” of four Ukrainian regions.

“The  Ukrainian armed forces commanders in the south and east are throwing  problems at the Russian chain of command faster than the Russians can  effectively respond,” said a Western official who briefed reporters  about sensitive security information on the condition of anonymity. “And  this is compounding the existing dysfunction within the Russian  invasion force.”

Ukraine  has been pushing to take back as much of its occupied territory as it  can before Russia potentially sends hundreds of thousands of  reinforcements to the battlefield, following a recent mobilization  effort.

The  Ukrainian counteroffensive, which had moved far more slowly in the  south compared with the lightning push through the northeastern Kharkiv  region in September, has suddenly picked up speed, with Russian units  retreating in recent days from a large swath of territory along the west  bank of the Dnieper River.

Ukrainian  forces pushed ahead dozens of miles into the southern Kherson region,  liberating towns and villages in scenes reminiscent of those from  mid-September, when they swept into Kharkiv and were greeted by joyful  residents who had spent many months under Russian occupation.

On  Monday, the spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged  that “superior tank units” of Ukraine had “wedged in the depth of our  defense line” near the villages of Zolota Balka and Oleksandrivka in the  Kherson region.

Ukrainian  President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Monday that the 129th Brigade  from his native city of Kryvyi Rih had liberated the settlements of  Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka.

A  video shared on social media by soldiers from the Ukrainian navy’s 35th  Marine Infantry Brigade showed the capture of Davydiv Brid, which  delivered a major blow to Russian supply lines in the Kherson area.

Regaining  control of Kherson, a rich agricultural region whose capital boasts a  key port where the Dnieper flows into the Black Sea, is critical for  Ukraine. Its capital was the first significant city captured by Russia  at the start of its invasion in late February, and its loss would be a  severe setback for Russia — strategically crippling for the military and  politically humiliating for Putin.

As  the only position the Russians hold west of the Dnieper, Kherson is a  potential strategic springboard for Russia to launch any future  offensive down the Black Sea coast toward the storied port city of  Odessa.

Ukrainian  officials had touted an operation to liberate Kherson for months. But  until now, its forces had struggled in the south, suffering heavy  casualties and making few territorial advances.

The  Ukrainian gains in Kherson follow the recapture over the weekend of the  strategic transit hub of Lyman, in eastern Donetsk. The Ukrainians have  now pushed through Lyman, apparently intent on extending their gains  into Luhansk, the region where Russia has maintained its strongest grip.

The  collapse of the Russian position in Lyman occurred just as Putin was  claiming that the city and all of the Donetsk region, along with  Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, were annexed and restored to Russia  as part of its historical lands. But unlike in Kharkiv, where Moscow  ordered a retreat, Russian forces had apparently been told to defend  Lyman.

“All  Russian forces withdrew in poor order, suffering high casualties from  artillery fire as they attempted to leave,” the Western official said of  Lyman, comparing it to Kharkiv. “Then, as you recall, troops received  an order to cede the territory,” the official said. “But in Lyman, we  think that the Russian troops retreated despite orders to defend and  remain.”

“Relinquishing this area is exactly what the Kremlin did not want to happen,” the official said.

As a result, Russian control over the Luhansk region, which was mostly uncontested since June, is now also in jeopardy.

The  Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank,  said geolocated footage corroborates statements from Russian military  figures that Ukrainian troops are continuing their advance east of  Lyman, apparently gearing up for a fight over the town of Kreminna.

The  new round of Russian setbacks revived debates over Kremlin strategy  among pro-Russian military bloggers, who for months have provided a more  detailed and less censored look into the war campaign than Moscow’s  official military reports.

“I  am now being reproached for driving people into depression with my  news,” Alexander Kots, a military correspondent for Komsomolskaya Pravda  newspaper, wrote Tuesday on his Telegram blog, which has more than  600,000 subscribers. “Well, there will be no good news in the near  future neither from the Kherson front, nor from now Luhansk.”

Videos  posted by Russian independent outlet Astra show pro-Russian fighters  from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic camping out in an  open field and complaining that Russian commanders abandoned them as  they withdrew.

In  the videos, a man in worn-out fatigues said the Russian losses in the  area were huge, with only 193 survivors and a few pieces of heavy  equipment left from their initial convoy. The Washington Post could not  independently verify the video clips.

Another  popular Russian war blogger, known as Rybar, posted maps showing how  the Russian hold on the Kherson region shrank dramatically in the span  of just a few hours. Losing the west bank of the Dnieper River to  Ukrainian control would be “an immediate danger” for remaining Russian  units in the area, Rybar wrote to his nearly 1 million followers.

As  Russia was retreating on the battlefield, Zelensky signed a decree  Tuesday formally refusing any negotiations with Putin — a largely  symbolic move to show Kyiv’s confidence in its military position.

Meanwhile,  the political theater continued in Moscow, where the Federation  Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, rubber-stamped  Putin’s annexation of the four Ukrainian regions.

Putin  and other officials have warned that Russia would feel entitled to  defend its newly seized territories by all possible means — including,  potentially, the use of nuclear weapons.

The  annexation legislation now passes back to the Kremlin for Putin’s final  signature, which from Russia’s perspective would complete the process  of seizing more than 15 percent of all Ukrainian sovereign territory.

Putin’s  brazen land-grab attempt was met with overwhelming international  condemnation. Even countries that traditionally maintain closer ties to  Moscow, such as Turkey and Serbia, have joined Western nations in  refusing to recognize the annexation.

Putin  now appears to be betting on the unpopular mobilization drive that aims  to call up hundreds of thousands of men to help hold ground in the  annexed regions.

Russian  Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced Tuesday that more than 200,000  men have been sent to the Russian armed forces in the two weeks since  Putin announced the mobilization on Sept. 21.

At  the same time, the interior minister in neighboring Kazakhstan, Marat  Akhmetzhanov, said that an equivalent number of Russians — about 200,000  — had crossed that country’s border since Sept. 21, most of them  fleeing the mobilization or leaving out of fear that Putin would soon  impose martial law and ban international travel. Tens of thousands more  Russians have fled to other neighboring countries, including Georgia and  Finland.

The  botched mobilization has led to severe recriminations in Russia, with  some governors expressing fury that men who are too old or otherwise  unqualified are being wrongly called to duty.

Shoigu,  the defense minister, tried to respond to a torrent of recent reports  on Russian social media from mobilized men and their family members  complaining about the lack of appropriate equipment in military units,  which forced some newly enlisted soldiers to seek protective gear  themselves.

“Officials  have been instructed to provide the mobilized with the necessary sets  of clothing and other equipment,” Shoigu said, adding that 80 training  grounds across Russia are now accepting mobilized soldiers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...lyman-ukraine/

----------


## misskit

*Retreating Russians leave their comrades’ bodies behind*

LYMAN, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets, offering more evidence Tuesday of Moscow’s latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week.


Meanwhile, Russia’s upper house of parliament rubber-stamped the annexations following “referendums” that Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed as fraudulent.


Responding to the move, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally ruled out talks with Russia, declaring that negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are impossible after his decision to take over the regions.


The Kremlin replied by saying that it will wait for Ukraine to agree to sit down for talks, noting that it may not happen until a new Ukrainian president takes office.


“We will wait for the incumbent president to change his position or wait for a future Ukrainian president who would revise his stand in the interests of the Ukrainian people,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Despite the Kremlin’s apparent political bravado, the picture on the ground underscored the disarray Putin faces amid the Ukrainian advances and attempts to establish new Russian borders.

Over the weekend, Russian troops pulled back from Lyman, a strategic eastern town that the Russians had used as a logistics and transport hub, to avoid being encircled by Ukrainian forces. The town’s liberation gave Ukraine an important vantage point for pressing its offensive deeper into Russian-held territories.


Two days later, an Associated Press team reporting from Lyman saw at least 18 bodies of Russian soldiers still on the ground. The Ukrainian military appeared to have collected the bodies of their comrades after fierce battles for control of the town, but they did not immediately remove those of the Russians.


“We fight for our land, for our children, so that our people can live better, but all this comes at a very high price,” said a Ukrainian soldier who goes by the nom de guerre Rud.


Speaking late Tuesday in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said dozens of settlements had been retaken “from the Russian pseudo-referendum this week alone” in the four annexed regions. In the Kherson region, he listed eight villages that Ukrainian forces reclaimed, “and this is far from a complete list. Our soldiers do not stop.”


The deputy head of the Russian-backed regional administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian TV that Ukrainian troops made “certain advances” from the north, and were attacking the region from other sides too. He said they were stopped by Russian forces and suffered high losses.


As Kyiv pressed its counteroffensives, Russian forces launched more missile strikes at Ukrainian cities.


Several missiles hit Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, damaging infrastructure and causing power cuts. Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said one person was killed. In the south, Russian missiles struck the city of Nikopol.

After reclaiming control of Lyman in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces pushed further east and may have gone as far as the border of the neighboring Luhansk region as they advanced toward Kreminna, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in its latest analysis.


On Monday, Ukrainian forces also scored significant gains in the south, raising flags over the villages of Arkhanhelske, Myroliubivka, Khreshchenivka, Mykhalivka and Novovorontsovka.


In Washington, the U.S. government announced Tuesday that it would give Ukraine an additional $625 million in military aid, including more of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that are credited with helping Kyiv’s recent military momentum. The package also includes artillery systems ammunition and armored vehicles.


Before that announcement, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis told a conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday that Ukraine needed more weapons since Russia began a partial mobilization of draft-age men last month. He said additional weapons would help end the war sooner, not escalate it.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the military has recruited more than 200,000 reservists as part of the partial mobilization launched two weeks ago. He said the recruits were undergoing training at 80 firing ranges before being deployed to the front lines in Ukraine.


Putin’s mobilization order said that up to 300,000 reservists were to be called up, but it held the door open for an even bigger activation. The order sparked protests across Russia and drove tens of thousands of men to flee the country.


Russia’s effort to incorporate the four embattled regions in Ukraine’s east and south was done so hastily that even the exact borders of the territories being absorbed were unclear.


The upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, voted to ratify treaties to make the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia. The lower house did so Monday.

Putin is expected to quickly endorse the annexation treaties.


In other developments, the head of the company operating Europe’s largest nuclear plant said Ukraine is considering restarting the Russian-occupied facility to ensure its safety as winter approaches.


In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Energoatom President Petro Kotin said the company could restart two of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s reactors in a matter of days.


“If you have low temperature, you will just freeze everything inside. The safety equipment will be damaged,” he said.


Fears that the war in Ukraine could cause a radiation leak at the Zaporizhzhia plant had prompted the shutdown of its remaining reactors. The plant has been damaged by shelling, prompting international alarm over the potential for a disaster.

Retreating Russians leave their comrades'&#39;' bodies behind | AP News

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Retreating Russians leave their comrades’ bodies behind*


Well you're not going to have the same ethic as a proper soldier when you've been dragged away from your job flipping burgers at a McDonalds knock off.

----------


## panama hat

I'm still wondering where the rest of Russia's standing army is . . . of course many are stationed along the Chinese border as these two have never trusted one another . . . 850.000 standing army, without conscripts.  

Bizarre . . . and far too early to rejoice.

----------


## bsnub

> I'm still wondering where the rest of Russia's standing army is


If it existed, it would be in or on its way to Ukraine right now, and they would not be mobilizing a bunch of drunks and old men to go die in Ukraine.

----------


## misskit

They must have to keep army scattered around Russia in case they are attacked. It wouldn’t make sense for them to send all their soldiers to Ukraine.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> They must have to keep army scattered around Russia in case they are attacked. It wouldn’t make sense for them to send all their soldiers to Ukraine.


No-one is going to attack them militarily. The odd terrorist maybe.

----------


## bsnub

The Russians clump the FSB and OMON into the total army numbers. Putin will never deploy those forces to Ukraine because he needs them to suppress dissent internally.

----------


## Shutree

> They must have to keep army scattered around Russia in case they are attacked.


It is a vast country with borders on two continents, so certainly they have a lot of troops engaged in facing off potential enemies. Whomever they think them to be. That said, there was a report quoted somewhere here on TD about Russia moving a substantial part of its Finland-facing forces to Ukraine. PH has a point, the numbers don't seem to add up.

----------


## Takeovers

> No-one is going to attack them militarily. The odd terrorist maybe.


Certainly not NATO, unless Russia does a lot more extremely dumb things, like using nukes. They have moved forces and assets like air defense and tanks away from NATO borders for a while now.

----------


## helge

> The Russians clump the FSB and OMON into the total army numbers.


Could be

I don't know



> Putin will never deploy those forces to Ukraine because he needs them to suppress dissent internally.


 :Smile: 

Could very well be

You just made a sensible post

Congrats

----------


## pickel

The majority of an army are support troops, not combat troops.

----------


## S Landreth

I might be a bit late

Russia in retreat on two fronts as Ukraine steps up counteroffensives

Russian invasion of Ukraine, as of Oct. 4


 
Ukrainian forces have broken through Russian lines on two fronts during audacious counteroffensives in territories Vladimir Putin recently declared to be part of Russia.

*The big picture:* Ukraine is recapturing territory with remarkable speed, but may have a narrowing window to gain ground before winter weather makes offensive operations difficult, and before Russia is able to flood in newly drafted soldiers to reinforce their lines.

*Driving the news:* Reports have been streaming in over the last several days of Ukrainian breakthroughs near Russian-held Kherson in southern Ukraine.


Ukraine recaptured at least at least 10 villages in the Kherson region between Sunday and Tuesday, per Foreign Policy. Kherson is the only regional capital to fall since the invasion began, and recapturing it is a top Ukrainian objective.The recent gains came after a month of difficult fighting in the Kherson campaign had yielded only gradual progress. Ukraine seems to have steadily weakened the Russian lines before breaking through and forcing a retreat to the south, says Michael Kofman, an expert on Russia's military at CNA.If Russian forces continue to fall back, Ukrainian artillery will come within range of the Dnipro River crossings Russia uses to supply its forces in Kherson — potentially leaving the Russians penned in, and making even retreat difficult. "The Russian military position is not just precarious, but visibly deteriorating," Kofman says.


*Meanwhile in the northeast,* the key logistics hub of Lyman in northern Donetsk region fell to Ukraine on Friday.


While the Kherson offensive had been telegraphed for months, the northeastern push seems to have caught the Russians by surprise. Ukrainian forces have captured an estimated 2,000 sq. miles there in less than a month.

*What they're saying:* Putin tacitly acknowledged the recent setbacks in on Wednesday but said, “We are working on the assumption that the situation in the new territories will stabilize.”


State TV pundits have sounded unusually pessimistic in recent days, though they regularly repeat that Russia is at war with NATO — which is providing Kyiv with arms and intelligence — not just Ukraine.Putin's two big recent announcements — claiming that 15% of Ukraine is now Russia, and ordering the mobilization of an estimated 300,000 men — come with Russia in retreat on two fronts.

----------


## bsnub

> I might be a bit late


Very late.  :Smile:

----------


## misskit

*Russian elite voice growing anger as losses mount in Ukraine*

A growing list of failings and defeats in Ukraine have spawned angry outbursts from Russia's elite, who still support the "military operation" but have gone as far as to suggest army chiefs should face the firing squad.



Before September saw a series of battlefield reversals, public criticism of the army was rare.


The offensive had been presented as a sacred, patriotic mission and speaking ill of the armed forces could lead to a long stay in prison.


Today, nobody among the elite is calling into question the merits of Moscow's viewpoint or the operation against a neighbouring nation.


But the military setbacks and problems over the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists have led usually quiet public figures to attack the military hierarchy.

On Wednesday, the head of the lower house of parliament's defence committee, said the army should "stop lying", as daily briefings praise enormous losses supposedly suffered by Ukrainian forces without mention of Russian troop reversals.


"The people know. Our people are not stupid," warned former general Andrei Kartapolov.


"And they see that we do not want to tell them even part of the truth. That can lead to a loss of credibility," he told the online show of star presenter Vladimir Solovyov, an ultra-patriot.


Capital punishment


Solovyov, who is under EU sanctions, said certain members of the army's top ranks deserved to face a firing squad.


"The guilty should be punished, we don't have capital punishment unfortunately, but for some of them it would be the only solution.


"They don't even have an officer's sense of honour because they are not shooting themselves," he said.

For celebrity war reporter Alexander Kots, writing on his Telegram channel, "There won't be any good news (from the front) in the near future."


The verbal assaults and an air of defeatism were all the more striking when Vladimir Putin celebrated the annexation of four Ukrainian regions with a concert on Moscow's Red Square.


"Victory will be ours," blared the president from a giant video screen amid a sea of Russian flags.


None of the criticism has directly targeted the all-powerful head of state, or even his defence minister Sergei Shoigu.


But when Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov hit out at Russia's generals, urging the use of nuclear weapons and hinting Putin had been ill-informed, the Kremlin had to react.


Sabotage


Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded, saying: "In difficult moments, emotions must be excluded ... We prefer to make measured and objective evaluations (of the situation)."


Putin was moved to admit publicly to "errors" in the effort to mobilise reservists after an avalanche of documented cases of people without army experience were called up to the front.

Russia's political opposition has been virtually wiped out with its main leader Alexei Navalny in jail.


What remains of the opposition operates mostly from abroad and is attempting to rebuild within Russia amid hopes of riding popular discontent.


"The millions of people who remain in Russia are hostages of Putin and do not want to fight," said Navalny ally Leonid Volkov, who announced on YouTube the re-launch of an activist network in the nation's regions.


"The struggle can take different forms, with different levels of risk -- we can put out information, offer legal aid, do voluntary work or sabotage the work of military commissariats, some of which burn very well," he noted.

Russian elite voice growing anger as losses mount in Ukraine

----------


## misskit

*Russia rocked by 'internal power struggle and distrust' as Putin arrests own loyalist*

Footage has emerged of a Russian propagandist being brutally arrested for speaking out against high-ranking Russian officials. Affiliates and members of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group have repeatedly criticised the Russian Armed Forces and its leaders on Telegram.

Alexey Slobodenyuk, the head of media for a Russian mercenary group fighting in Ukraine, was pulled from his car by a special branch of the National Guard of Russia known for their unwavering loyalty to Vladimir Putin. Slobodenyuk has been accused of attacking defence minister Sergei Shoigu online, claiming that Russia’s current failings in Ukraine were in part due to organisational failures. The Wagner group, for which Slobodenyuk works, fights alongside the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine but operates as its own entity outside of the jurisdiction of Shoigu, answering instead to a man known as “Putin’s chef”, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In the video, members of the Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) can be seen kneeling on Slobodenyuk’s back as they push him into the concrete floor. 


It appears that the arresting officers dragged the propagandist out of his car. 


Another officer runs towards the man to help detain him, before barking instructions. 


Two mobile phones, believed to belong to Slobodenyuk, are seen discarded on the floor nearby.

Commentators have suggested that the use of the SOBR to detain Slobodenyuk, instead of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB, is “indicative of an internal power struggle and distrust”. 


Dissidents are often arrested by the FSB but Putin’s relationship with the organisation with which Slobodenyuk works could have made that option difficult. 


The Wagner Group is often considered as Putin’s private army; it is run by the oligarch and former prisoner Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is believed to answer directly to the Russian leader. 

He earned the nickname “Putin’s chef” because his restaurants and catering businesses would host dinners for the Russian autocrat and foreign dignitaries.

Slobodenyuk’s arrest by Putin loyalists, given that he himself works for a secret mercenary organisation answering directly to the Russian leader, suggests internal conflict. 


US-based Ukrainian analyst Igor Sushko shared footage of the arrest on his Twitter page, commenting: "#Prigozhin's propagandist Alexey Slobodenyuk who's been attacking Shoigu online arrested in #Moscow by SOBR Rosgvardia spetsnaz unit.


"SOBR are highly loyal to Putin. That this arrest was not made by the FSB, as you'd expect, is indicative of internal power struggle & distrust.


"Slobodenyuk has been operating a dozen Telegram channels for Prigozhin including "Release the Kraken" (282k subscribers) & "Scanner" (150k subscribers) - an "anti-corruption" project which has openly called for murder of Lavrov, Peskov, Volodin, and others."


And it is not the first time Slobodenyuk has been arrested for speaking out against the Russian forces. 

Video Russia rocked by 'internal power struggle' as Putin arrests own man | World | News | Express.co.uk

----------


## Looper

*Australia's Bushmasters 'performed masterfully' in combat, says Ukraine's Zelenskyy*

Australian-supplied Bushmaster armoured vehicles have "performed masterfully" on the battlefields, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.
Key points:

    Mr Zelenskyy said Australia could help Ukraine by supporting it at the UN, continuing defence cooperation and joining further tougher sanctions against Russia
    He thanked Australia for its actions so far and asked for continued assistance
    When asked about the progress of his fast-track NATO application, he said "unfortunately it depends not only on Ukraine"

In an address to the Lowy Institute on Thursday evening, he said he was grateful for the Bushmasters Australia had sent to Ukraine after he addressed the parliament in March.

"This equipment has performed masterfully in real combat operations," he said.

"The more weapons and ammunition we receive  the more Russia would feel the responsibility for violating international law.

"The aggressor will feel that he has little room for any escalation."

While not elaborating on exactly what arms Australia was supplying, he revealed more weapons were on the way to Ukraine.

"I don't want to go into details on what weapons  it is not only small arms but some heavy weapons as well," he said.
YouTube Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaks to the Lowy Institute.

Mr Zelenskyy outlined two other ways Australia could continue to support Ukraine, as he warned the war in Ukraine would escalate unless the world responded strongly to Russia's invasion and annexations.
'Clear and straightforward condemnation of Russia'

On top of Ukraine's "very meaningful" defence cooperation with Australia, Mr Zelenskyy spoke of the continuing need for diplomatic support at the UN.

He asked for Australia to do what it could to convince as many other countries as possible not to remain neutral when the United Nations General Assembly meets next week to discuss a resolution condemning Russia's annexation of four regions of Ukraine.
YouTube Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Bushmaster had "performed masterfully" in combat.

Russia's total claim amounts to around 18 per cent of Ukrainian territory, though the exact borders are still to be clarified.

"There is a need for clear and straightforward condemnation of Russia for their attempts to annex Ukrainian territory," he said, via a translator.

"We must now direct our joint efforts in a way to make the vote at the General Assembly for this resolution as unanimous as possible."

Russia vetoed a condemnation in the UN Security Council last week, but in the General Assembly every country has a vote and none can veto resolutions.

Mr Zelenskyy also called for further and tougher sanctions against Russia, and thanked Australia for being part of the international sanctions applied so far.

"Now is the time to increase this pressure, when Russia has staged this sham referendum and staged this annexation," he said.

"The consequences must be tough."
Read more on Russia's invasion of Ukraine:

    Russia prepares to formally annex areas of Ukraine
    Kremlin claims victory in controversial Ukraine referendums set to pave way for annexation
    European leaders divided on giving asylum to fleeing Russians

'We know what neighbours we have'
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Play Video. Duration: 44 seconds
Volodymyr Zelenskyy announces an "accelerated procedure" to join NATO.

In response to President Putin's annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century, Mr Zelenskyy has applied for fast-track membership of NATO.
Putin orders Russian operator to take over Ukraine nuclear plant

Vladimir Putin is ordering his government to take control of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, in Ukraine's south, as his military is struggling to control annexed territory.
A Ukrainian serviceman and journalists walk between destroyed Russian equipment placed in the street.
Read more

The Ukrainian leader also said Kyiv remained committed to the idea of co-existence with Russia "on equal, honest, dignified and fair conditions", but that it was unlikely while Mr Putin remained in power.

When asked if he had received a response from NATO, Mr Zelenskyy said without Ukraine, NATO was not as strong as it could be.

"We know what neighbours we have, what risks we have," he said.

NATO needed to demonstrate that it was not afraid of Russia, he added.

While not giving a direct answer or time frame, he did indicate that Ukraine was still waiting to hear from NATO.

"How fast [membership approval] is going to be, unfortunately it depends not only on Ukraine," he said.

https://www.abc .net.au/news/2022-10-06/ukraine-president-volodymyr-zelenskyy-lowy-kyiv-putin-bushmaster/101510182


You are very welcome sir!



You can post it back as soon as you are finished with it

What are you drinking today?

----------


## harrybarracuda

*Rivers At Their Backs And Ukrainian Brigades Closing In, A Lot Of Russian Troops Might Need To Learn To Swim*

It took a few weeks, but the Ukrainians in recent days finally picked up momentum in the south. The 17th Tank Brigade is advancing toward the outskirts of Kherson. The 35th Marine Brigade is advancing toward Davydiv Brid. And the 128th Mountain Brigade and 60th Infantry Brigade are rolling along the Dnipro River.

Pay particular attention to the 35th Marine Brigade and 128th Mountain Brigade. The 128th is chasing the Russians southwest toward Kherson while the 35th cuts southeast from the Inhulets toward the Dnipro. If the 35th arrives at the Dnipro before the Russians can cross the brigades axis of advance, the Russians will be cut offwith the 128ths tanks at their backs.

They are going to end up with a much bigger encirclement than I thought originally, commented Mike Martin, a fellow at the Department of War Studies at King's College in London.

There are two ways out for the Russians. Oneford the Inhulets and reach Kherson city to join the rest of the 49th CAA. Twocross the Dnipro at Nova Kakhovka. The former would be a brief reprieve, as Ukrainian brigades including the 17th Tank now are bringing Kherson city into artillery range. The latter amounts to quitting the battlefield, for now.

And to be clear, either way out is a perilous one. River-crossings are complex and dangerous even when no ones shooting at you. The Russians might have to cross the Inhulets or Dnipro while the Ukrainians are dropping artillery and rockets on their heads.

Its still possible for the Russian army to escape the encirclement forming east of Kherson. But the escape could be a bloody one that further weakens the 49th CAA.

Rivers At Their Backs And Ukrainian Brigades Closing In, A Lot Of Russian Troops Might Need To Learn To Swim

----------


## bsnub

The Ukrainians’ bodies lay side-by-side on the grass, the earth  beside them splayed open by a crater. Dragged to the spot by Russian  mercenaries, the victims’ arms pointed to where they had died.     

           “Let’s plant a grenade on them,” a voice says in husky Russian, in what appears to be a plan to booby-trap the bodies.      

           “There is no need for a grenade, we will just bash them in,”  another says of the Ukrainian soldiers who will come to collect the  bodies. The mercenaries then realize they have run out of ammunition.    

           These events seen and heard on battlefield video, exclusive to CNN, along with access to Wagner recruits fighting in Ukraine,  and candid, rare interviews CNN has conducted with a former Wagner  commander now seeking asylum in Europe, combine to give an unprecedented  look at the state of Russia’s premier mercenary force.     

           While problems of supply and morale, as well as allegations of war  crimes have been well documented among regular Russian troops, the  existence of similar crises among Wagner mercenaries, often described as  President Vladimir Putin’s off-the-books shock troops, is a dire omen for Russia’s war in Ukraine.    

*In the shadow of the Kremlin*

           Wagner forces have for several years enjoyed global notoriety. But  as Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine comes apart at the  seams, and the announcement of a “partial mobilization” for much-needed  conscripts has prompted more than 200,000 Russian citizens to flee to  neighboring countries, the cracks in this supposedly elite force are  showing.     

           Since its creation in 2014,  Wagner’s mandate, international footprint and reputation have swelled.  Widely considered by analysts to be a Kremlin-approved private military  company, its fighters have battled in Ukraine since the Russian invasion  in 2014 and in Syria, as well as operating in several African countries, including Sudan, Libya, Mozambique, Mali and the Central African Republic.    

           With a reputation in Russia  as a reliable and valuable force, Wagner private soldiers have  bolstered Moscow’s global interests and military resources, already  stretched fighting a war in Syria in support of the Assad regime. As CNN  has reported, their deployments have often been key to Russian control  of lucrative resources, from Sudanese gold to Syrian oil.    

           Flaunting modern equipment in recruiting videos, with heavy  weapons and even helicopters, they resemble US Special Forces.        

           “I am convinced that if Russia did not use mercenary groups on  such a massive scale, there would be no question of the success that the  Russian army has achieved so far,” Marat Gabidullin – a former Wagner  commander who was once in charge of 95 mercenaries in Syria – told CNN.      

           In touch with former comrades now fighting in Ukraine, Gabidullin  said that Russia’s use of mercenaries has ramped up as the Kremlin’s  execution of its war has fallen into disarray. Ukraine’s Defense  Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told CNN that Wagner troops were being  deployed in the “most difficult and important missions” in Ukraine,  playing a key role in Russian victories in Mariupol and Kherson.     

       The Kremlin did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.     

           Limited official information about Wagner and long-standing  Kremlin denials about its existence and ties to the Russian state have  only added to its infamy and allure, while helping the group to cloud  analysis of its exact capabilities and activities.     

           In reality, though, Wagner – like Russia – is struggling in  Ukraine, according to the video testimony of the group’s own mercenary  fighters.     

*Lack of experience*

           More than seven months of fighting have thrown a harsh light on  failings in Russia’s military performance in Ukraine. Russia’s small  gains, especially compared to Putin’s initial ambitious targets in the  war, have come at huge cost, decimating frontline units and starving  many of manpower, as well as critically important experience.    

       Battlefield experience is one of two factors ex-Wagner commander  Gabidullin – who left the group in 2019 and has since published a memoir  of his time working for them – says separates mercenaries from regular  Russian troops, the other being money.     

           “The backbone of these groups was always made up of very  experienced people who had passed through several wars anyway,” he told  CNN.     

           After serving as a junior officer with an airborne unit in the  dying days of the Soviet Union, Gabidullin returned to military life as a  Wagner recruit following Russia’s 2014 invasion of eastern Ukraine. He  said many key Wagner personnel may, like him, have previously fought in  Ukraine as well as in Syria, gaining valuable combat experience alien to  most regular Russian troops.     

           “They have more weighty, more meaningful experience than the army.  The army are young soldiers who were forced to sign a contract, they  have no experience,” he said.     
           It’s what makes such paramilitary forces in Ukraine, of which Wagner is just one, so valuable to Russia.     


       “The Russian army cannot handle [the war] without mercenaries,”  according to Gabidullin, adding that there’s “a very big myth, a very  big obfuscation about a strong Russian army.”    

           Today, at least 5,000 mercenaries tied to the Wagner group are  operating with Russian forces in Ukraine, Andrii Yusov, a spokesperson  for Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency who has been monitoring Wagner  in Ukraine, told CNN. This figure was backed up by a French  intelligence source who noted that some Wagner fighters had left the  African continent to bolster the group’s efforts in Ukraine.    

           The Kremlin has increasingly relied on Wagner fighters as assault  troops, according to Ukraine’s defense ministry. Hidden from official  Russian death counts and available for deniable operations, they’ve  borne a burden of casualties that have been politically sensitive for  Putin in Russia.     

           “Wagner has been suffering high losses in Ukraine, especially and  unsurprisingly among young and inexperienced fighters,” according to a  senior US defense source speaking in September.     

           A simple equation underlies the employment of Wagner forces,  according to Gabidullin: “Russian peace for American dollars.”     

           The mercenaries can earn up to $5,000 per month.    

           Wagner fighters have even been offered bonuses – all paid in US  dollars – for wiping out Ukrainian tanks or units, according to a senior  Ukrainian defense source and based on the intelligence gathered on  Wagner since the start of the war by Ukrainian authorities.     

       According to the UK’s Ministry of Defense, Wagner fighters have  also been allocated specific sectors of the front line, operating almost  as normal army units, a stark change from their history of distinct,  limited missions in Ukraine.     

           Yusov also said that Wagner is increasingly being used to patch  holes in the Russian front line. This was also confirmed by a US senior  defense official, who added that Wagner is being used across different  front lines unlike Chechen fighters, for instance, who are focused  around the Russian offensive aimed at Bakhmut.     

           That has led to significant logistical challenges, he says, with  the need to supply Wagner troops with ammunition, food and support for  extended operations, all while Ukraine has upped its attacks on Russia’s  logistics.     

           Bodycam footage purportedly from Wagner fighters in August passed  to CNN by the Ukrainian defense ministry shows mercenaries complaining  of a lack of body armor and helmets. In another video a fighter  complains about orders to attack Ukrainian positions when his unit is  out of ammunition.     

*Shoes to fill*

           Wagner’s ranks have also been depleted by battlefield losses. In  response, they’ve turned to unusually public recruitment.     

           Billboards have sprung up in Russia calling for new recruits to  Wagner. Adorned with a phone number and picture of camouflage-clad  fighters, their slogan – “Orchestra ‘W’ Awaits You” – alludes to  Wagner’s past nickname as the “orchestra.”     

       The wide net cast by the group’s recruiting efforts matches a  shift from its past secrecy. Even Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin finally  admitted his role as Wagner chief in late September, having spent years  trying to distance himself from the mercenary group through repeated  denials, and even taking Russian media outlets investigating him to court.    

           Wagner’s invitations to contact recruiters have also spread via  social media and online. One recruiter contacted by CNN offered a  monthly salary of “at least 240,000 rubles” (about $4,000) with the  length of a “business trip” – code for a deployment – of at least four  months. Much of the recruiter’s message listed medical conditions that  excluded applicants from joining: from cancer to hepatitis C and  substance abuse.     

           In contrast to its image as a military elite organization, a  Wagner recruiter had one startling admission regarding recruits when  contacted by a CNN journalist: no military experience necessary.      
           The message finished with a code word – “Morgan” – that applicants  were to give at the gate of the Wagner facility in Krasnodar, Russia.     

*Jailhouse recruits*

           In September, video surfaced appearing to be Prigozhin recruiting prisoners  from Russian jails for Wagner His offer: a promise of clemency for six  months’ combat service in Ukraine, propping up Russia’s flailing  invasion.      

           It’s a move that would have been unthinkable months ago for the  private military company once considered one of the most professional  units in the Kremlin’s arsenal.    

       “An act of desperation” is how the ex-Wagner commander Gabidullin described the appeal.     

           Prigozhin’s apparent jailhouse recruitment drive matches broader Russian efforts to mobilize the country’s prison population for combat,  offering monthly salaries worth thousands of dollars and death payments  of tens of thousands of dollars to recruits’ families.    

           For both Wagner comrades and their Ukrainian adversaries, that’s worrying.     

           “[Wagner] are ready to send anyone, just anyone,” Ukrainian  Prosecutor Yuriy Belousov, told CNN. “There is no criteria for  professionalism anymore.”     

           Working on Ukrainian investigations into possible Russian war  crimes, Belousov fears that this lax recruiting will see the scale of  war crimes increase.     

           Although direct recruitment from prisons is a new step, Gabidullin  said that a criminal record hadn’t been an obstacle to employment with  Wagner. He himself says he had served three years in prison for murder  and told CNN of prominent Wagner commanders who had served around the  world with the group after prison sentences.     

*The enemy within*

           Wagner’s struggles in Ukraine have set in motion a wider problem:  discontent in its ranks. For a group that depends on the appeal of its  salaries and work, that’s critical.     

           From intercepted phone calls, Ukrainian intelligence services in  August noted a “general decline in morale and the psychological state”  of Wagner troops, Ukrainian defense intelligence spokesman Yusov said.  It’s a trend he’s also seen in Russian troops more broadly.     

           The reduction in Wagner recruitment requirements point to  demoralization too, he said, and the number of “truly professional  soldiers who are willing to volunteer to fight with Wagner” is also  decreasing.     

           Ex-commander Gabidullin, who says he talks to his old comrades on  an almost daily basis, explained that this demoralization was due to  their dissatisfaction “with the overall organization of the fighting:  [the Russian leadership’s] inability to make competent decisions, to  organize battles.”     

       For one mercenary who contacted Gabidullin for advice, that  incompetence was too much. “He called me and said: ‘That’s it, I won’t  be there anymore. I’m not taking part in this anymore,’” Gabidullin told  CNN.      

           And as Russia’s prospects of victory in Ukraine – or even claiming  a positive outcome – look thin, life as a Russian mercenary doesn’t  hold the same appeal it might once have had.     
           “It may be that the money isn’t worth it anymore,” Ukrainian prosecutor Belousov said.     

           In one of the many videos streaming out of Ukraine’s frontlines,  the grim reality of Wagner’s war is plain to see in footage provided to  CNN, which allegedly shows the group’s operations.      

           In one clip, a fallen Wagner mercenary lies, in death, almost  peacefully, his left hand gently gripping the black earth. Around him,  the battlefield smolders alongside dead bodies and the flaming wreckage  of their armored vehicles. Occasional shots crackle through the smoke.     

           “I’m sorry, bro, I’m sorry,” the soldier’s comrade says, lightly  patting his back, stripped of his shirt by the battle that killed him.  “Let’s get out of here, if they shoot us, we’ll lie next to him.”   

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/europ...ntl/index.html

----------


## misskit

"*We have to stop lying," Russian lawmaker urges senior officials to tell the truth about battle developments*

The head of Russia’s State Duma Defense Committee demanded officials report the truth about developments on the battlefield in Ukraine, telling a journalist that senior figures need to "stop lying."


“First of all, we need to stop lying. We brought this up many times before… But somehow it's apparently not getting through to individual senior figures," Col. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov said in an interview with Vladimir Solovyov, which was posted on Solovyov's Telegram channel on Wednesday.


“Our Russian city of Valuyki… is under constant fire,” Kartapolov said in the interview. “We learn about this from all sorts of folks, from governors, Telegram channels, our war correspondents. But no one else."
"The reports from the Ministry of Defense do not change in substance. They say they destroyed 300 rockets, killed Nazis and so on. But people know. Our people are not stupid. But they don’t want to even tell part of the truth. This can lead to a loss of credibility,” he continued, using Russian President Vladimir Putin's false accusations of Nazism to justify his war in Ukraine.


Valuyki is in the region of Belgorod in western Russian, near the border with Ukraine. 

It'&#39;'s nighttime in Kyiv. Here'&#39;'s what you need to know

----------


## katie23

If one wants to watch/ hear telephone intercepts of Russian soldiers speaking to their mothers/ wives, I recommend the YT channel "Insights from Ukraine and Russia".

Also "Zack the Russian" - he has regular livestreams (I just watch the replay) and he posts/ watches vids from Russian social media or news and translates them into English. He's 21 years old & went to the US as an exchange student for a semester. He joined a protest in Feb (when the war started) and evaded the police. (The police dispersed the protesters and were arresting ppl.) He left Moscow a few days after and made his way to Tbilisi, Georgia. Brave young man - he speaks openly against the war (and calls it a war, not SMO, unlike other Russian vloggers).

In one of the vids that he posted, there was a Russian guy who asked his friend to break his leg, just to avoid being drafted. You could hear the pain  when his leg broke & also the pain/ sorrow in his friend's body language (the one who did the leg breaking). Viewer discretion advised. Both looked like very young men. Horrible (that they had to resort to that). 

Zack has also showed vids of the Russian soldiers being oriented by a female officer - the one who said that they (soldiers) must get tampons/ pads to stop the bleeding of wounds. He also recently showed vids of Russian soldiers saying that many of them have colds/ are sick & they had to lie on the floor of their lodgings.

I saw the vids on his channel and after a few days, saw the vid (abt the tampons) on mainstream news channels. It's understandable since mainstream news channels have to vet & verify their sources, while Zack gets it from Russian social media & translates it for his audience.

----------


## misskit

*Over 500 civilian bodies have been found in territory recaptured by Ukraine, Kharkiv police say
*
has recently been retaken from Russian forces, according to Ukrainian police.


Most of the remains — 447, according to Ukrainian forces — were found at what was described as a mass burial site in the town of Izium, which Ukrainian forces liberated from Russian occupation in early September. Russian troops had been using Izium as a launchpad for attacks southward into the Donetsk region. 


As Ukrainian forces liberated more land in the northeast, new burial sites are being discovered.


“We found the bodies of 534 civilians from the de-occupied territories," said Serhii Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the regional police,
They included 226 women and 19 children, Bolvinov added.

Live updates: Russia'&#39;'s war in Ukraine

----------


## harrybarracuda

More Putin war crimes. Hang him.

----------


## misskit

*Putin 'in a corner' with options narrowing*


US President Joe Biden admitted this week that American diplomats still did not know how Russian President Vladimir Putin could bring an end to his faltering war in Ukraine and save face. Western analysts see no good options.



The question of Putin's "off-ramp" -- or decisions that allow him to end the fighting without admitting defeat -- has exercised Western policymakers and foreign policy experts since the very start of the war in February.


"Where does he find a way out?" Biden asked on Thursday while talking in New York. "Where does he find himself in a position that he does not, not only lose face, but lose significant power within Russia?"


A French diplomat, talking recently on condition of anonymity, stressed that European allies were no closer to reading Putin's thinking, other than his desire to secure what appears to be an increasingly unlikely military victory.


"There's a war that he is not managing to win, but what would satisfy him? We don't have the answers," the diplomat said.

Instead of looking for a negotiated climbdown, Putin has escalated in recent weeks, formally annexing four regions of Ukraine on September 30 and approving a partial mobilisation of up to 300,000 men for the war.


"He may think the battlefield situation isn't great but things will settle down during the winter, that Ukrainian offences will come to an end, that they'll be able to mobilise," Eliot A. Cohen, a military historian and former US State Department adviser, told AFP.


"I think he's mistaken. I think the Russians are in a serious world of hurt," added Cohen, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies at the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

The Ukrainians are continuing to win back occupied territory in the northeast and south, while the Kremlin's mobilisation has led to rare dissent in Russia amid evidence that many recruits lack adequate weapons and kit.


"Russia's behaviour is irrational," wrote Joris van Bladel, a fellow at the Belgian Royal Institute for International Relations think-tank. "The only 'rational' element the Kremlin is counting on is time."


"Russia tries to buy time in the hope that the European countries will collapse before Russia’s downfall," he added.


'Dangerous moment'


Putin's escalation on the ground has also been accompanied by new rhetoric about the possible use of nuclear weapons which is directed at Western countries.


Some analysts see it as a bluff and others as a sign of desperation.


"His hope is that references to nuclear weapons will deter the democracies from delivering weapons to Ukraine, and buy him enough time to get Russian reserves to the battlefield to slow the Ukrainian offensive," Timothy Snyder, an American historian of Russia and Ukraine, wrote this week.


But Biden said Thursday that he believed Putin was "not joking" with his threats, adding that it was difficult to imagine how this did "not end up with Armageddon."

Western nations have signalled that they would feel compelled to react in some way if Russia crossed the nuclear threshold, raising the risk of direct conflict between the NATO military alliance and Moscow.


"It's a very, very dangerous moment," former US secretary of state John Kerry said late last month.


Putin is "more in a corner than anyone would like him to be because that's not good for anybody", Kerry told MSNBC on September 28.


Cohen said Putin could authorise the use of chemical or biological weapons instead -- less provocative than a low-yield nuclear weapon -- "but the military utility of those might not be all that great".


- 'Journey to hell' -


With the Russian president continuing to raise the stakes, another "off-ramp" is one that sees Putin bundled out of power, either through a popular uprising or -- more likely -- a "palace coup" in which he is replaced by a rival.


More problems with the mobilisation, a significant military collapse or a successful new Ukrainian offensive on a separate part of the frontline could increase the domestic pressure on Putin, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Friday.


"The key question is whether Russia's elites and broader society are prepared to accompany their president on this journey to hell," wrote Tatiana Stanovaya, a Russian political scientist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a US think-tank.


Marie Dumoulin, a Russia specialist at the European Council on Foreign Relations cautioned that "we shouldn't take our dreams for a reality. Nobody knows when it will happen, in what circumstances, and what will come after Putin."


"There are tensions inside the system, that's for sure, but it seems to me to be about internal clans competing for power without contesting the authority of Putin," she told AFP.


For the moment, it's "not so much people taking a swing at him but taking a swing at each other," Cohen said.

Putin 'in a corner' with options narrowing

----------


## misskit

*A Distracted Russia Is Losing Its Grip on Its Old Soviet Sphere*


With the Kremlin distracted by its flagging war more than 1,500 miles away in Ukraine, Russia’s dominium over its old Soviet empire shows signs of unraveling. Moscow has lost its aura and its grip, creating a disorderly vacuum that previously obedient former Soviet satraps, as well as China, are moving to fill.


On the mountain-flanked steppes of southwestern Kyrgyzstan, the result in just one remote village has been devastating: homes reduced to rubble, a burned-out school and a gut-wrenching stench emanating from the rotting carcasses of 24,000 dead chickens.

All fell victim last month to the worst violence to hit the area since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union — a brief but bloody border conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, both members of a Russia-led military alliance dedicated to preserving peace but which did nothing to halt the mayhem.


“Of course, they are distracted by Ukraine,” Kyrgyzstan’s president, Sadyr Japarov, lamented in an interview in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital.


Before President Vladimir V. Putin invaded Ukraine in February, Russia played an outsize role in the affairs of Central Asia and also the volatile Caucasus region, in what had passed for a far-flung Pax Russica. In January, it rushed troops to Kazakhstan to help the government there calm a wave of violent domestic unrest. In 2020, it sent around 2,000 armed “peacekeepers” to the Caucasus to enforce a Moscow-mediated truce between Armenia and Azerbaijan.


Today, Armenia is fuming. Its president, Nikol Pashinyan, who has been a close ally, appealed to Moscow in vain last month for help to halt renewed attacks by Azerbaijan. Furious at Russia’s inaction, Armenia is now threatening to leave Moscow’s military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization.


The Kazakh government that Mr. Putin helped prop up in January is veering far from the Kremlin’s script over Ukraine, and is looking to China for help in securing its own territory, parts of which are inhabited largely by ethnic Russians, and which Russian nationalists view as belonging to Russia.

And here along the mountainous border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, long-running quarrels between farmers over land, water and smuggled contraband escalated last month into a full-scale conflict involving tanks, helicopters and rockets, as the armies of the two countries fought each other to a standstill.


The conflict, according to Kyrgyz officials, killed scores of civilians and drove more than 140,000 people from their homes. It also left many local residents and officials in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, asking why Moscow — long seen as an attentive guardian of stability on the combustible fringes of the former Soviet empire — had barely lifted a finger.


“Russia could have stopped all this in a second. But it did nothing. Why did it let this happen?” asked Zaynaddin Dubanaev, a 75-year-old Russian-language teacher at the burned-out school in Ak-Sai, a Kyrgyz village next to a fenced-off patch of Tajik territory.


Moscow’s security alliance has long been touted by Mr. Putin as Russia’s answer to NATO and an anchor of its role as the dominant (and often domineering) force across vast swaths of the former Soviet Union. But now the bloc is barely functioning. Five of its six members — Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan — have been involved in wars this year, while the sixth, Kazakhstan, has seen violent internal strife.


In response, China is newly asserting itself, while the United States also sees an opening, pressing Kyrgyzstan to sign a new bilateral cooperation agreement. It would replace one scrapped in 2014 after Russian pressure forced the closure of an American air base outside Bishkek that had been set up to fuel warplanes flying over Afghanistan.


“Until Ukraine, China and Russia were not interested in open competition in Central Asia,” said Asel Doolotkeldieva, a senior lecturer at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, a center for postgraduate studies focused on security issues. “There was a tacit division of labor: security for Russia, economics for China. But Russia is not doing its job anymore. It has shown that it is unable, or unwilling, to protect the region.”


Russia still has tremendous leverage in Central Asia. Its biggest foreign military base is in Tajikistan, and it has a small air base in Kyrgyzstan, a poor, remote country that remains heavily dependent on Russian energy supplies and remittances from more than a million Kyrgyz migrant workers in Russia.


Mr. Japarov, the Kyrgyz president, aware of his country’s vulnerability, has stalled on signing the new agreement with the United States. Doing that would be perceived in Moscow as a “stab in the back and they would be right,” he said.


“Russia is obviously focused on other things right now, not Central Asia, but the moment it wants to lay down the law, it just has to hint that it will make life difficult for migrant workers in Russia,” said Peter Leonard, Central Asia editor for Eurasianet, a media outlet that reports on the region.


But the recent border war between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan unsettled longstanding assumptions about Russian power. It erupted just as Mr. Putin was in neighboring Uzbekistan for a summit meeting of a Chinese-sponsored regional grouping, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which was attended by President Xi Jinping of China, as well as leaders of India, Turkey, Azerbaijan and four Central Asian countries.


Overshadowed by the Chinese leader, Mr. Putin endured a series of humiliating protocol snafus that left him waiting awkwardly in front of the cameras as other leaders, including Mr. Japarov of Kyrgyzstan, showed up late to meet him.


“This was of course not deliberate,” Mr. Japarov said. “No slight was intended.”


But widely circulated videos of an uncomfortable-looking Mr. Putin; a public rebuke from the prime minister of India, who stated that “today’s era is not of war”; and an acknowledgment from the Russian leader that China had “questions and concerns” over the war in Ukraine all reinforced an image of shrinking clout and diminished appeal.


“Putin is no longer the great invincible leader that everyone wants to meet,” said Emil Dzhuraev, a researcher in Bishkek with Crossroads Central Asia, a research group. “He has lost his aura.”


By contrast, Mr. Xi has become more assertive. On a visit to Kazakhstan last month, he pledged to “resolutely support Kazakhstan in the defense of its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a remark widely interpreted as a warning to Moscow not to try anything.


A few days later, after Tajik forces advanced, China issued a similar pledge with respect to Kyrgyzstan, horning in on Russia’s longstanding role as the guardian of Central Asian borders.


China also delivered another affront during the summit meeting by signing an agreement with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan that fixed the route of a proposed new railway line to get Chinese exports to Europe by land without going through Russia.


The massive project, which is expected to cost more than $4 billion and still faces immense obstacles, had long been on hold, largely because China already had rail links to Europe through Kazakhstan and Russia, and did not want to risk Moscow’s wrath by building an alternative that would break its chokehold on land transport across Eurasia.


Mr. Japarov, a nationalist politician who has often spoken of the need to strengthen his country’s sovereignty, said he had “not asked Russia for permission” to build the railway line “and had not been told not to.” He added: “Even if they tell me not to, we will, God willing, still build it.”


Mr. Japarov complained that when the border fighting erupted with Tajikistan, Russia’s military alliance “did nothing at all,” adding that the Russians are “taking care of so many problems of their own.”


Some officials in Bishkek wonder if Russia winked at the military action by Tajikistan, a tightly controlled dictatorship ruled by the same leader since 1994, even longer than Mr. Putin has been in control of the Kremlin. Kyrgyzstan, by contrast, is considered the only Central Asian country with a modicum of real democracy and a relatively free press.


The view of Mr. Putin siding with Tajikistan — rather than being an unbiased umpire between two members of his military alliance — gained more ground this past week when the Kremlin declared that it was giving the veteran Tajik dictator, Emomali Rahmon, a prestigious state award for his contribution to “regional stability and security.”


Kyrgyzstan’s foreign ministry said the award, announced by Moscow “while the blood of innocent victims has not yet cooled on Kyrgyz soil,” had caused “bewilderment.”


In Batken, the southwestern region of Kyrgyzstan where the border fighting broke out, the rolling steppes, studded with rocky outcrops, sustain a jumble of rival ethnic groups — impoverished farmers and herders who, armed with farm implements, have for decades skirmished sporadically in what they called the “shovel wars.”


But last month this fight quickly became a real war, with shells even landing in the regional capital, Batken city, scores of miles from the disputed border.


Particularly gruesome is the scene in the village of Ak-Sai, where the cages of a large farm are now filled with thousands of dead chickens that apparently died from suffocation when their brick-and-mud coop was set on fire.


The Kyrgyz owner of the business, who stayed behind to guard his chickens, according to local officials, was shot in his office by marauding Tajiks. Feathers and bullet casings litter the ground outside.


“The perverse aspect of this is that both sides are members of the same military alliance of which Russia is in charge,” said Mr. Leonard, the Eurasianet editor. “The days when Russia dictated these countries’ military posture has clearly gone out the window.”


The head of the district administration, Jorobaev Imamalievich, said he was dismayed.


“Russia was silent. It is busy in Ukraine and is not paying attention,” he said. “It is just not here anymore.”

A Distracted Russia Is Losing Its Grip on Its Old Soviet Sphere – DNyuz

----------


## panama hat

> bloody border conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan





> Armenia is now threatening to leave Moscow’s military alliance





> The Kazakh government that Mr. Putin helped prop up in January is veering far from the Kremlin’s script over Ukraine



And the big bogeyman is ever-present



> China

----------


## Norton

The Ukrainian capital was targeted by at least four missiles on Monday morning, the first strikes in several months, as other Ukrainian cities also came under Russian attack in the wake of Saturday’s huge explosion that hit a key Russian built bridge in the Crimea.

Guardian reporters in Kyiv heard several missiles pass over head with at least one striking, while a fourth detonation could be heard a little later.

Ukrainians had been bracing for a harsh Russian reprisal after the blast that brought down part of the Kerch bridge linking the occupied Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland early on Saturday.

Among the targets hit overnight were the city of Zaporizhzhia which was hit for the third night in a row and the port city of Mykolaiv.

The strikes follow reports of an uptick in activity by Russian strategic bombers with some of the missiles fired from the area of the Caspian sea

Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv hit by missiles as several Ukrainian cities come under Russian attack | Ukraine | The Guardian

----------


## bsnub

> The Ukrainian capital was targeted by at least four missiles on Monday morning


It is going to be far bigger than that, and it is nationwide. Almost all on civilian targets.

----------


## misskit

*Missile Strikes on ‘Many Cities’ of Ukraine*

Missile strikes on "many" Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv left people dead and wounded on Monday, the country's presidency said, a day after Moscow blamed Ukraine for an explosion on a bridge connecting Crimea to Russia.


"Ukraine is under missile attack. There is information about strikes in many cities of our country," Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president's office, said on social media, calling on the population to "stay in shelters."


In Kyiv, AFP reporters heard several loud explosions starting at around 8:15 a.m. local time — during Monday morning rush hour.


Russia's last strike on Kyiv took place on June 26.


One AFP journalist in the city said one of the projectiles landed near a children's playground, and that smoke was rising from a large crater at the impact site.


Several trees and benches nearby were charred from the blast, while several ambulances had arrived in the area.


"The capital is under Russian terrorists' attack!" Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on social media, adding that the strikes had hit the city center.


"If there is no urgent need, it is better not to go to the city today. I am also asking the residents of the suburbs about this — do not go to the capital today."


Videos posted on social media showed black smoke rising above several areas in the city.


"Air raid sirens are not subsiding around Ukraine... Unfortunately there are dead and wounded. Please do not leave the shelters," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media, accusing Russia of wanting to "wipe us from the face of the Earth."


"Take care of yourself and your loved ones. Let's hold on and be strong."


Bridge attack
The strikes came a day after Moscow blamed Ukraine for the blast on a bridge linking Crimea to Russia, leaving three people dead.


"The authors, perpetrators and sponsors are the Ukrainian secret services," Russian President Vladimir Putin said of Saturday's Crimea bridge bombing, which he described as a "terrorist act."


Putin was speaking during a meeting with the head of the investigation committee he has set up to look into the bombing, Russian news agencies reported.


The Russian leader is gearing up for a meeting with his Security Council later Monday, the Kremlin told local news agencies.


"Tomorrow the president has a planned meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.


The blast that hit the bridge sparked celebrations from Ukrainians and others on social media.


But Zelensky, in his nightly address on Saturday, did not directly mention the incident, and officials in Kyiv have made no direct claim of responsibility.


On Saturday, Russia said some road and rail traffic had resumed over the strategic link, a symbol of the Kremlin's 2014 annexation of Crimea.


The 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge is a vital supply link between Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula.


Some military analysts argue that the blast could have a major impact if Moscow sees the need to shift already hard-pressed troops to Crimea from other regions — or if it prompts a rush by residents to leave.


Mick Ryan, a retired Australian senior officer now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that even if Kyiv was not behind the blast, it constituted "a massive influence operation win for Ukraine."


"It is a demonstration to Russians, and the rest of the world, that Russia's military cannot protect any of the provinces it recently annexed," he said on Twitter.

Missile Strikes on 'Many Cities' of Ukraine  - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

Well what do you know.


*Moscow Stock Exchange Down Nearly 12% at Opening*

The Moscow stock exchange plunged nearly 12% in early trading on Monday following multiple strikes on Ukrainian cities and a weekend explosion that partially destroyed the bridge connecting Crimea to Russia.


The benchmark ruble-denominated MOEX index dropped 11.9% to 1,780.39 points at 10:03 a.m., briefly falling below the 1,800 mark for the first time since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.


The dollar-denominated RTS index slumped by 13% to 909.26 points.


The sharp movements came as Russia was unleashing widespread missile attacks across Ukraine on Monday, after the partial destruction of the bridge linking Russia and the Crimea peninsula the Kremlin annexed in 2014.


President Vladimir Putin on Sunday accused Ukraine of being behind the deadly explosion, which damaged the bridge, and reprisals were expected due to the symbolic importance of the infrastructure.


The ruble, which had been recovering for several months, was also trading lower on Monday against the dollar and the euro.


One dollar was being traded for around 62.9 rubles late Monday morning.

Moscow Stock Exchange Down Nearly 12% at Opening - The Moscow Times

----------


## Norton

> It is going to be far bigger than that, and it is nationwide. Almost all on civilian targets.


Sure is. Vlad is pissed and thowing a temper tantrum. Time for India and China to condemn it and do something other than just talk and take no action.

----------


## Shutree

> Vlad is pissed and thowing a temper tantrum. Time for India and China to condemn it and do something other than just talk and take no action.


I agree. Xi has a lot on his plate at the moment, I'm not sure he is about to say much to Putin, or that Putin will listen anyway. We can but hope.

----------


## sabang

‘We’ll end up in World War III’: Trump says US ‘saying exactly the wrong thing’ to Russia

Former US president Donald Trump has slammed the United States for “saying exactly the wrong thing” to Russia following President Joe Biden’s remarks on the “prospect of Armageddon” amid President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats.

Mr Trump said the Biden administration should be pushing Russia and Ukraine to sue for peace – warning the conflict could be heading toward “World War III”, according to The Hill.

“And now we have a war between Russia and Ukraine with potentially hundreds of thousands of people dying,” he said during a rally in Arizona on Sunday.

“We must demand immediate negotiation of a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine, or we will end up in World War III and there will never be a war like this.”

‘We’ll end up in World War III’: Trump says US ‘saying exactly the wrong thing’ to Russia | Sky News Australia


You have really got to ask yourself what on earth is happening inside the Beltway, when The donald starts sounding like one of the few adults in the room.

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## pickel

^
What you and the Donald view as negotiation, is actually capitulation. So no, he doesn't sound like the adult in the room, and neither do you. If you were adults, you'd start blaming Putin and tell him to go home. You think it's up to America, or Zellensky, but the Ukrainians are fighting for Ukraine and days like today only fuel their resolve and morale.

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## bsnub

> the Ukrainians are fighting for Ukraine and days like today only fuel their resolve and morale.


What happened today was an act of cowardice and nothing more. The Russians basically committed another massive strategic blunder, squandering their ever diminishing cruise missile stocks on almost exclusively civilian targets. They did not hit any troop concentrations on the front, nor did they hit any bridges or roads that could slow the steady advance of the Ukrainian army. Instead, they chose to kill civilians and attack children's playgrounds.

Yet the likes of Heldge, skiddy, OhDoh and Sabang are giddy like schoolgirls. Soon they will go silent as Ukraine pushes ever closer to the gates of Kherson.

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## pickel

> They did not hit any troop concentrations on the front, nor did they hit any bridges or roads that could slow the steady advance of the Ukrainian army. Instead, they chose to kill civilians and attack children's playgrounds.


Exactly. No strategic value whatsoever. This little hissy fit was not intended for a Ukrainian or NATO audience, it was meant for Russian viewers and propagandists who have recently started to criticize the war. This will calm them down for a little while, until the next big loss on the battlefield.

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## misskit

*Putin Vows More ‘Severe’ Attacks AFter Russian Missiles Batter Ukraine*

Russian forces launched a barrage of fatal bombardments across Ukraine early on Monday and President Vladimir Putin vowed even more "severe" retaliation against Kyiv.


The biggest wave of strikes across Ukraine in months killed at least 11 people nationwide, and was apparent retaliation for an explosion this weekend that damaged a key bridge linking Russia to the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula.


The Ukrainian military said Russian forces had fired more than 80 missiles on cities across the country and that Russia had also used Iranian drones launched from neighboring Belarus.


"Let there be no doubt," Putin said in televised comments addressed to his Security Council, "if attempts at terrorist attacks continue, the response from Russia will be severe."


Putin's predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev, warned on social media that the strikes — which disrupted water and electricity services across Ukraine — were only "the first episode."


"We were sleeping when we heard the first explosion. We woke up, went to check and then the second explosion came," Ksenia Ryazantseva, a 39-year-old language teacher, told AFP.


"We saw the smoke, then the cars, and then we realized we didn't have a window anymore," she added.


"There's no military target or anything like that here. They're just killing civilians."


'Demonstration of weakness'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian strikes had aimed to take down Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Regional officials across the country confirmed widespread disruptions to services.


Russia's Defense Ministry meanwhile confirmed it had targeted Ukrainian energy, military command and communications facilities, claiming the strikes had been a success and "achieved their aims."


Ukraine's foreign minister said the attacks had not been "provoked" and the onslaught was Moscow's response to a series of embarrassing military losses in eastern Ukraine.


"Putin is desperate because of battlefield defeats and uses missile terror to try to change the pace of war in his favor," minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on social media. 


U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the Russian missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and other cities were "unacceptable."


"This is a demonstration of weakness by Putin, not strength," he tweeted, adding that he had contacted Kuleba.


Zelensky said on social media meanwhile that he had spoken with the leaders of France and Germany and urged them to "increase pressure" on Russia.


Dozens injured
In Kyiv, the national police service said that at least 11 people had been killed and at least another 64 wounded.


Ukrainian officials said the central Shevchenko district of the city was hit and that a university, museums and the philharmonic building had been damaged.


An AFP journalist in Kyiv saw a projectile land near a playground and smoke rising from a large crater at the impact site.


Several trees and benches nearby were charred by the blast and a number of ambulances were at the scene.


"If there is no urgent need, it's better not to go to the city today," Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.


In the western city of Lviv, Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said there were disruptions to electricity and hot water services after bombardments that targeted critical infrastructure, including energy facilities.


AFP photographers there said plumes of black smoke could be seen rising above the town's skyline.


Moldova, a pro-democracy former Soviet republic, said several Russian cruise missiles targeting Ukraine had crossed its airspace, and it had summoned Moscow's envoy to demand an explanation.


"Our thoughts are with the victims of the brutal strikes," Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said on Twitter.


Moldova, which is a candidate to join the European Union, has a small breakaway region, Transnistria, which is armed and supported by Russia.


Crimean bridge attack
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin's, meanwhile claimed on Monday that Ukraine was preparing an attack on his country's territory.


He said Russia and Belarus would "deploy" troops together, without specifying where.


The autocratic leader also accused Ukraine, alongside neighboring Poland and Lithuania, of training Belarusian militants to carry out attacks at home.


The strikes across Ukraine came a day after Moscow blamed Kyiv for the blast that damaged a bridge linking Crimea to Russia, leaving three people dead.


"The authors, perpetrators and sponsors are the Ukrainian secret services," Putin said of Saturday's bridge bombing, which he described as a "terrorist act."


The blast that hit the bridge sparked celebrations by Ukrainians and others on social media.


But Zelensky, in his nightly address on Saturday, did not directly mention the incident, and officials in Kyiv have made no direct claim of responsibility.


On Saturday, Russia said some road and rail traffic had resumed over the strategic link, a symbol of the Kremlin's 2014 annexation of Crimea.


The 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge is also a vital supply link between Russia and the annexed Crimean peninsula.


Some military analysts argue that the explosion could have a major impact if Moscow sees the need to shift already hard-pressed troops to Crimea from other regions — or if it prompts a rush by residents to leave.

The Symbolism of Russia’s Bridge to Crimea  - The Moscow Times

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## misskit

*UN Bracing for More Displacements After Russian Strikes in Ukraine*

The United Nations refugee chief on Monday warned more people will be forced to flee their homes in Ukraine after Russian missiles rained down on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.


Moscow earlier on Monday unleashed the biggest wave of strikes across Ukraine in months in retaliation for an explosion this weekend that damaged a key bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula.


The bridge is a symbol of the Kremlin's 2014 annexation of Crimea.


"The horror of what happened in Ukraine today... is inexcusable," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told journalists in Geneva.


"The bombing of civilians, of houses..., of non-military infrastructure in an indiscriminate manner in many cities across Ukraine, means the war is becoming harder and more difficult for civilians," he said.


"I fear that the events of these last hours will provoke more displacements."


Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, more than 7.6 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded across Europe.


While a number of those people have since returned, more than 4.2 million Ukrainians have registered for temporary protection status in EU countries.


Another nearly seven million people have also been displaced within the conflict-torn country, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration.


Grandi said he expected to see people mainly flee within Ukraine following Monday's attacks, which Kyiv said left at least 14 dead and nearly 100 injured.


"My prognosis... is that we will mainly see internal displacements," he said, speaking on the sidelines of the UNHCR's prestigious Nansen Award ceremony, which this year went to former German chancellor Angela Merkel.


Grandi said the displacement situation in Ukraine at the moment was "extremely fluid".


"You have people who flee for only a few hours, to escape the bombs..., and then try to return home," he said.


But in situations where the destruction is greater, and people can no longer access heat or food, "I fear the displacements will last longer".

UN Bracing for more Displacements After Russian Strikes in Ukraine - The Moscow Times

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## Norton

> “We must demand immediate negotiation of a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine, or we will end up in World War III and there will never be a war like this.”


Like the negoitiated peace agreement you initiated in Afganistan?
How'd that work out Mr Bone Spurs (Mr BS for short)?

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## misskit

*Russia-Ukraine war live updates
*

*US, Germany promise air defence systems
*

In the aftermath of an explosion that damaged the bridge linking Russia and Crimea, the former has mounted aggressive missile attacks on Ukraine. Consequently, allies US and Germany have stepped up and promised to rush air defence systems to Kyiv's rescue.

*Ukraine ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya's speech at UNGA*

In an emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Ukraine ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya, in an impassioned speech, called for deterring Russia.

“Russia has proven once again, that this is a terrorist state that must be deterred in the strongest possible ways,” said Sergiy. He added that Russia’s illegal annexations pose an “existential threat” to the UN charter.

"Should russian convulsions went on I’d be compelled to request Secretariat to bring a defibrillator - russian delegation needed an emergency room in a general hospital rather than emergency session in General Assembly. Bowing under UA colors at ru #77UNGA seat is act of exorcism!" he later tweeted. 

*Zelensky speaks to Biden
*
In a message posted on Telegram, Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky said he had a productive conversation with his US counterpart regarding the ongoing developments.

"Had a productive conversation with US President Joe Biden. The main topic of discussion was air defence. Currently, this is the number 1 priority in our defense cooperation. America's leadership, G7's tough stance and support for our UNGA resolution is very important for Ukraine," wrote the Ukrainian President. 

Russia-Ukraine war live updates | Zelensky holds 'productive' talks with Biden - World News

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## bsnub

> US, Germany promise air defence systems


It's the 7th month of the war, and Russia can easily terrorize downtown Kyiv with massive cruise missiles. They have been promising these systems for months, the fact they have not been fully supplied is unconscionable.

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## Hugh Cow

The Germans are afraid of upsetting Putin before they can wean themselves off of his gas. Hungary will be the fly in the EU ointment.

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## misskit

*Putin Seeks Escalation with Ukraine Missile Blitz*

With Russia firing a hail of missiles into Ukraine on Monday and Belarus making fresh threats against Kyiv, President Vladimir Putin is seeking to escalate the nearly eight-month war and compensate for humiliating recent losses, Western analysts say.


According to Ukrainian authorities, 41 out of 75 missiles were intercepted, but the remainder struck cities around the country, including the capital Kyiv and western Lviv near the border with Poland.


Putin warned Ukraine he was ready to authorize more "severe" attacks, while deputy head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that "the first episode has been played. There will be others." 


UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the strikes as "another unacceptable escalation" while French leader Emmanuel Macron called them "a profound change in the nature of this war."


Analysts said the strikes appeared to be a response to a blast on Saturday on the Kerch bridge linking the occupied Crimea peninsula to Russia which was personally inaugurated by Putin in 2018.


Yordan Bozhilov, director of Bulgarian think-tank Sofia Security Forum, called the explosion that downed one of the road sections "the first personal humiliation for Putin."


The attack — not claimed by Ukraine but immediately blamed on Kyiv by Russia — came after major battlefield reverses for Russian troops around Lyman in northeast Ukraine and Kherson in the south in recent weeks.


"Russia demonstrated that it can still escalate the conflict but it can only escalate by attacking more and more civilian targets," said Wojciech Lorenz, head of the international security program at the Polish Institute of International Affairs.


"The Russian regime was under pressure from its own propagandists and some opinion makers to demonstrate that it was able to respond to Ukrainian offensives," he told AFP.


Belarus
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, also issued fresh threats against Kyiv on Monday, raising fears he might be preparing to finally join Russia's offensive against its neighbor.


Lukashenko has granted Russia use of his territory but has declined to send troops directly into battle.


He said Monday he had agreed to deploy "a regional grouping" that would mix Russian and Belarusian troops but did not say where they would be sent. 


"I am skeptical of Belarus entering the conflict. Belarus troops are primarily engaged in repressing their own people," said William Alberque, a military expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think-tank.


Lorenz said he was also doubtful about Belarus's direct involvement, but he said that "Ukraine will have to devote some resources to defend its border."


"It's better to concentrate those resources in the east (against Russia) without having to spare thousands of troops in the west and the north," he said. 


Options
Strong-arming Belarus into greater involvement, nuclear threats and increasing the brutality of attacks on Ukraine are seen as some of the few options available to Putin in the short term as he seeks to change the momentum on the battlefield.


Alberque viewed Monday's missile attacks as being part of Putin's strategy of trying to raise pressure on Ukraine and the West.


"Russia has entered a cycle of shock and the peak of violence. It started with mobilization and annexation, then with nuclear threats and now with indiscriminate attacks against civilians," he said.


Despite recent setbacks, Putin formally annexed four Ukrainian regions in late September and ordered a partial mobilization of up to 300,000 men.


"Putin is trying both to put pressure on Ukrainian society by destroying power plants and civilian infrastructure and to put pressure on Western countries, to try to undermine their unity," added Bozhilov from the Sofia Security Forum.


Attacks on civilians also help him "portray himself as someone ready for anything."


But Lorenz stressed that large-scale missile attacks of the sort seen Monday could not be repeated regularly by Russian forces and that Western nations were now likely to boost Ukrainian air defenses to help protect major cities.


"Russia's precision-strike capabilities are limited and because of international sanctions it is able to rebuild them quickly," he said.


"It can do a show of force, but because its resources are depleted, it is just a gesture."

Ukraine War: Russia Continues Strikes on Civilian Infrastructure  - The Moscow Times

----------


## malmomike77

Not just missiles


Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin’s troops ‘move into Belarus by trainload’

Russian troops are “entering Belarus by the trainload”, according to reports, after Moscow ally Alexander Lukashenko ordered his forces on a joint deployment to Ukraine’s northern border in what Minsk called a defensive measure.


The Belarusian leader, a close friend of Vladimir Putin’s, claimed yesterday that he was making the move as his country was under threat from a plot being hatched in Kyiv at the urging of Western powers.


His accusation was likely unfounded and designed to justify a greater role in the conflict for Belarus, which has facilitated Russian movements but refrained from sending troops to fight.


Jason Jay Smart, reporter for the Kyiv Post, said a Belarusian source told him hours after Mr Lukashenko’s statement that “Russian soldiers are entering Belarus by the trainload. They’re traveling in cattle cars – just a huge quantity.”


Air raid sirens rang across Ukraine this morning in anticipation of a second day of missile strikes by a resurgent Russia.


Bombs rained on Zaporizhzhia around dawn, hitting a school, a medical facility and a car dealership, according to local officials.

more https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-news-russia-war-latest-b2200068.html

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## misskit

*Presidents of 11 countries warn Russia that war crimes not subject to any statute of limitations*

Russia's bombardment of Ukrainian cities is a war crime that is not subject to any statute of limitations and falls under the jurisdiction of international courts.
The presidents of 11 countries in Central and Eastern Europe said this in a joint statement, Ukrinform reports, citing the Polish presidential administration.


"We, the Presidents of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia condemn the mass bombardments of Ukrainian cities recently carried out by Russia, which constitute war crimes under international law," the statement reads.

They recalled that war crimes and crimes against humanity are not subject to any statute of limitations and are covered by the jurisdiction of courts all over the world.


"On behalf of our states we demand that Russia immediately stop attacking civilian targets. We will not cease our efforts to bring to court persons responsible of today's crimes," the presidents said.


They emphasized that they "find any threats by Russian representatives to use nuclear weapons unacceptable."


In this context, they reaffirmed their commitment to protecting their countries and allies.


Early on October 10, Russia launched multiple missile strikes on Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Dnipro and other cities. In total, 84 rockets were fired across Ukraine. Forty-three of them were shot down.

Presidents of 11 countries warn Russia that war crimes not subject to any statute of limitations

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## helge

> The Germans are afraid of upsetting Putin before they can wean themselves off of his gas. Hungary will be the fly in the EU ointment.


What is the deal with Italy and Austria ?

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## Troy

> The Germans are afraid of upsetting Putin before they can wean themselves off of his gas.


Bullshit!

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## sabang

> the Presidents of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia condemn


Yada yada.  ::chitown::  Problem is, Russia- like the USA, China, Israel and several other states- is not a member of the ICJ or subject to it's jurisdiction. So unless someone has come up with some brilliant idea that I am not aware of, Putin has no more chance of being tried for war crimes than GW Bush.

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## Switch

A feeble excuse for Putin’s lack of morals!

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## russellsimpson

> They emphasized that they "find any threats by Russian representatives to use nuclear weapons unacceptable."


When have the Russians explicitly threatened to use the nuke option? I've heard plenty of dog whistle activity on the American side.  Certainly nothing from Putin. Anything explicit? Anybody? Phone lines are open. In all liklihood I've probably simply missed it.  

Me and Uncle Joe, eh.  :Wave:

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## Hugh Cow

> Bullshit!


Thank you for your erudite comment Troy. I was actually repeating part of a story that appeared to be the consensus from a panel of "experts" on D.W. that aired earlier this week. They were certainly critical at the tardiness of their own govt. I'm sure you can find it somewhere on youtube. While Helge rightly points out Italy and Austria (and there are others) and rightly so, They are not considered to be the european leaders.

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## Norton

> A feeble excuse for Putin’s lack of morals!


A solid legal point however. The ICC cannot bring charges against Putin or anyone else without a request from the UN Security Council. Given Russia would veto any attempt to do so, it ain't gonna happen so Putin can, with impunity, do what are in fact war crimes.

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## misskit

*U.N. publicly rejects Russia’s call for secret vote on Ukraine*


The United Nations General Assembly voted on Monday to reject Russia’s call for the 193-member body to hold a secret ballot later this week on whether to condemn Moscow’s move to annex four partially occupied regions in Ukraine.


The General Assembly decided, with 107 votes in favor, that it would hold a public vote – not a secret ballot – on a draft resolution that  condemns Russia’s “illegal so-called referenda” and the “attempted illegal annexation.” Diplomats said the vote on the resolution would likely be on Wednesday or Thursday.


Only 13 countries on Monday opposed holding a public vote on the draft resolution, another 39 countries abstained and the remaining countries – including Russia and China – did not vote.


Russia had argued that Western lobbying meant that “it may be very difficult if positions are expressed publicly.” During the meeting on Monday Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia questioned the push to condemn Moscow.


“What does this have to do with peace and security or trying to settle conflicts?” said Nebenzia, describing it as “yet one more step towards division and escalation, which I’m sure is not something the absolute majority of states in this room need.”


After the General Assembly decided on Monday that it would hold a public vote on the draft resolution, Russia immediately tried to get the body to reconsider the issue, but it overwhelmingly failed.


Moscow has moved to annex four partially occupied regions in Ukraine – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – after staging what it called referendums. Ukraine and allies have denounced the votes as illegal and coercive.


The draft U.N. General Assembly resolution calls on states not to recognize Russia’s move and reaffirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.


‘TRAIL OF BLOOD’


Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya called on countries to defend the principles of the founding U.N. Charter.


“A trail of blood is left behind the Russian delegation when it enters the General Assembly and the hall is filled up with the smell of smoldering human flesh. That’s what we have tolerated in Syria. That’s what is happening today in Ukraine,” he told the General Assembly on Monday.


Russia rained cruise missiles on busy Ukrainian cities on Monday in what the United States called “horrific strikes”, killing civilians and knocking out power and heat with its most widespread air attacks since the start of the war more than seven months ago.


U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed the international community earlier on Monday to make clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions were “completely unacceptable.”


“Now is the time to speak out in support for Ukraine; it is not the time for abstentions, placating words, or equivocations under claims of neutrality. The core principles of the U.N. Charter are at stake,” Blinken said in a statement.


Russia vetoed a similar resolution in the 15-member Security Council last month. It has been trying to chip away at its international isolation after nearly three-quarters of the General Assembly reprimanded Moscow and demanded it withdraw its troops within a week of its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.


The moves at the United Nations mirror what happened in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea. At the Security Council Russia vetoed a draft resolution that opposed a referendum on the status of Crimea and urged countries not to recognize it.


The General Assembly then adopted a resolution declaring the referendum invalid with 100 votes in favor, 11 against and 58 formal abstentions, while two dozen countries didn’t take part.


https://www.thaipbsworld.com/u-n-pub...te-on-ukraine/

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## sabang

*Ukraine War: US Taking Advantage Of Energy Crisis To Exploit EU, Selling Gas At Four Times The Price – French Minister*



Le Maire, who spoke on Monday while addressing the National Assembly, said, “The conflict in Ukraine must not end in American economic domination and a weakening of the EU."


The French finance minister Bruno Le Maire has warned that the United States should not be allowed to dominate the global energy market while the European Union suffers from the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine.


Le Maire, who spoke on Monday while addressing the National Assembly, said, “The conflict in Ukraine must not end in American economic domination and a weakening of the EU."

He described as unacceptable that Washington “sells its liquefied natural gas at four times the price than it sets for its own industrialists,” adding that “the economic weakening of Europe is not in anyone’s interest.”


“We must reach a more balanced economic relationship on the energy issue between our American partners and the European continent,” Le Maire said as quoted by RT.

Prior to the conflict in Ukraine, Russia was the EU’s largest gas supplier, responsible for about 45% of the bloc’s gas imports. However, due to sanctions imposed on Moscow in recent months, Russian gas supplies to the EU have decreased significantly.

Facing an energy crisis, EU countries have rushed to fill their storage facilities – the level of reserves in underground storages was close to 91% as of Monday, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe. The storage sites are largely filled by liquefied natural gas (LNG), and are currently at their highest seasonal levels since at least 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

However, LNG imports from overseas cost much more than gas supplied via pipeline from Russia under long-term contracts, and energy prices in the bloc continue to rise.

The EU has considered setting a cap on natural gas prices for all suppliers, but a number of countries are opposed to this. Norway, a non-EU state but a partner in the European Economic Area (EEA) and one of EU’s major gas suppliers, recently warned that a step such as this could aggravate the situation, forcing exporters to divert supplies to other markets.

Thousands of protesters are rallying in major cities of European countries over the soaring energy price and gallop inflation across the EU.

Ukraine War: US Taking Advantage Of Energy Crisis To Exploit EU, Selling Gas At Four Times The Price – French Minister | Sahara Reporters


Given the horrendous economic cost of this conflict to the EU economies, I think there is a strong case to be made for US suppliers to "give them a break" and offer energy supplies on somewhat preferential terms. Profiteering off their allies misery is surely not a good look for the US.

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## russellsimpson

> Diplomats said the vote on the resolution would likely be on Wednesday or Thursday.


_should be an interesting vote.


_



> Kyslytsya


_try saying that ten times in a row after a few drinks


_



> _and the hall is filled up with the smell of smoldering human flesh_.


_strong language. very strong language.

i fear friday's vote may be disappointing.

( by the way sabang many of your posts come across black witth a slight imprint for the lettering. is it just me?)_

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## russellsimpson

.....forgive the grammar and spelling. Dog's breakfast.

----------


## misskit

*Kremlin war hawks demand more devastating strikes on Ukraine*

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Moscow’s barrage of missile strikes on cities all across Ukraine has elicited celebratory comments from Russian officials and pro-Kremlin pundits, who in recent weeks have actively criticized the Russian military for a series of embarrassing setbacks on the battlefield.


Russian nationalist commentators and state media war correspondents lauded Monday’s attack as an appropriate, and long-awaited, response to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive and a weekend attack on the bridge between Russia and Crimea, the prized Black Sea peninsula Russia annexed in 2014.


Many of them argued that Moscow should keep up the intensity of Monday’s strikes to win the war now. Some analysts suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin was becoming a hostage of his allies’ views on how the campaign in Ukraine should unfold.


“Putin’s initiative is weakening, and he is becoming more dependent on circumstances and those who are forging the ‘victory’ (in Ukraine) for him,” Tatyana Stanovaya, founder of the independent R.Politik think tank, wrote in an online commentary Monday.

“The fear of defeat is so strong, especially for those who are now fully immersed in this military venture, that Putin’s indecisiveness, with his logic of ‘We have not started anything yet’ and ‘Restrained tactics have paid off’ has become a problem,” the analyst said.

MORE Kremlin war hawks demand more devastating strikes on Ukraine | AP News

----------


## sabang

^ Mine come up 'normal TD white' on my screen Russ- I typically have to do a quick edit to make them that way. Anyone else have this issue?

----------


## misskit

*NATO to hold nuclear deterrence exercise as Russia rages at Ukraine*

An annual NATO exercise focused on nuclear weapons deterrence will take place next week in a regular show of force displayed against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.


“Now is the right time to be firm and to be clear that NATO is there to protect and defend all allies,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian politician, told reporters Tuesday. “It’s a routine exercise, and it’s an exercise to ensure that our nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure, and effective.”

Fourteen NATO allies participated in the October 2021 installment of Steadfast Noon, as the annual exercise is known, and the alliance emphasized that “no live weapons are used.” These drills coincide with the Kremlin’s attempt to deter the Western allies from providing Ukraine with long-range missile systems as Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to batter Ukrainian society into submission following a series of setbacks for Russian forces.


“President Putin is failing in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said. "His attempted annexations, partial mobilization, and reckless nuclear rhetoric represent the most significant escalation since the start of the war. And they show that this war is not going as planned.”

MORE NATO to hold nuclear deterrence exercise as Russia rages at Ukraine | Washington Examiner

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## panama hat

> strong language. very strong language.


Indeed . . . almost as strong as tens of thousands of innocent civilians being slaughtered by the murderous Russian scum.   

Almost

----------


## bsnub

On Monday, Russian forces struck Ukrainian civilian targets in its most wide-ranging rocket attack since  the early days of the war. While the size of Russia's missile reserve  stockpile remains a closely guarded Kremlin secret, their number is  widely understood to be insufficient to allow for the continuation of  similar attacks on a sustainable scale.

Data posted by the General  Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Monday afternoon reported that  air defense systems had succeeded in shooting down 43 out of 84 Russian  cruise missiles fired and 13 out of 24 armed drones, including 10 out of  13 Iranian Shahed-136 UAVs.

The missiles and drones that hit  their targets landed in fifteen Ukrainian regions, causing power outages  and damaging playgrounds, but doing little to affect the Ukrainian  military's ongoing counteroffensive operations in the country's South and East.

Although a precise tally of which missile types were used in the attack was not made public, Forbes.ua  estimated the cost of the Russian blitz to have been between $400-$700  million. The calculation was based on the assumption that Russia used  the more expensive X-101 rockets ($13 million each) to hit its targets  while also firing off a swarm of less costly munitions as a means of  overwhelming Ukraine's air defense systems.

It is not only the  sticker price that is limiting Russia's capacity to mount similar  operations in the future. As Western sanctions continue to deny the  Kremlin access to imported technologies, it has become more difficult  for the Russian arms industry to manufacture replacement rockets.

"Russia's  procurement of Iranian drones is in part an effort to augment their  degraded precision strike capabilities," George Barros of the Institute  for the Study of War told _Newsweek_.

"They need to find a  way to offset problems in the production and replenishment of precision  guided munitions (PGMs)," he added, "which have been caused by sanctions  targeting the supply chain for Western-sourced components that go into  PGMs."

Other military analysts agree that Russia's capacity to wage war on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure is limited. The question remains, "how limited"?

"As horrible as today was for Ukraine, the sliver of good news here is that Russia likely can't sustain this rate of missile launches," Dmitry Alperovitch, Chariman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator, wrote on Twitter about Monday's barrage. "It's very telling that they have not had this rate of long range fires since the start of the war."

Still, estimates as to how long Russia might be able to sustain such a rate of missile launches are hard to come by.

"In early September I heard the figure of 60-70% consumed [since the start of the war]," Shashank Joshi, Defense Editor at The Economist, posted as part of the discussion as to how much of its PGM stockpile Russia has already used up.

This "60-70%" statistic matches information provided to Newsweek from an additional independent source. However, neither Joshi nor the second source had any clear insight as to how many replacement munitions Russia, despite Western sanctions, might have been able to manufacture since February 24, or whether the "60-70%" represented Russia's overall stocks as opposed to the portion of its armaments which had been designated specifically for use in Ukraine.

Russia's secrecy surrounding its military inventory means that the  most successful private sector analysts are those most adept at reading  publicly available tea leaves. Michael Kofman of the Center for Naval  Analysis is widely regarded in the expert community as the pre-eminent  authority on Russian military matters.

"I've seen a number of bad  estimates," Kofman wrote on Twitter of Russia's potential remaining  stockpiles. "These continue to reflect the false certainty of numbers.  What can be said with some confidence is that the rate of [Russian]  strikes declined over time, and the types of missiles often used  suggested dwindling stockpiles of more suitable PGMs."

The overall  picture emerging from Monday's series of strikes is one of an  increasingly desperate Kremlin wasting scarce military resources on  targets that carry more potential for psychological damage than for  battlefield effect. While it remains unclear how many more such days of  horror Russia has the physical capacity to create in Ukraine, there is a  clear expert consensus that such capacity is limited.

It is also  becoming increasingly clear that the Kremlin's hoped-for campaign of  shock-and-awe did not produce the desired results. Although the Russian  attacks succeeded in knocking out electricity in multiple Ukrainian  cities for several hours, by Tuesday morning the power was back on from  Lviv in the West to Kharkiv in the East.

"The Russians really do  seem to be conducting deliberate terror strikes against civilian targets  for no militarily meaningful purpose," Barros of the Institute for the  Study of War added. "Perhaps they're attempting to demoralize  Ukrainians, though I don't think the effort is achieving that effect."

Russia Using Up Missile Stockpiles 'For No Militarily Meaningful Purpose'

----------


## misskit

*Russia Says Arrested 8 Suspects in Crimean Bridge Blast*

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it has arrested eight suspects in last week’s apparent attack that tore apart the Crimean Bridge and killed three people, Interfax reported Wednesday. 


Five Russians, three Ukrainians and one Armenian were detained over their alleged involvement in the Oct. 8 explosion that collapsed a road segment and caused a major train oil tank fire along the Moscow-built bridge connecting the annexed peninsula to mainland Russia. 


The FSB accused Ukraine’s secret services of organizing the explosion, with a Kyiv agent having coordinated the transit of the explosives.


“The organizer of the terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge was the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, its head Kirill Budanov, employees and agents," Interfax quoted the FSB as saying. 

While Kyiv has not officially confirmed any involvement in the explosion, some Ukrainian officials celebrated the damage.


According to the FSB’s investigation, the attack was carried out by a Georgian-registered cargo truck that had been loaded with explosive devices. 


"The explosives were hidden in 22 plastic film rolls weighing 22,770 kilograms (50,200 pounds)," it said.


The rolls left on a boat in August from the Ukrainian port of Odesa to Bulgaria. They then transited through the port of Poti in Georgia, then sent overland to Armenia before arriving by road in Russia, according to the FSB.


Investigators claim that Russian citizen Makhir Yusubov, born in 1971, was driving the truck westward to the Crimean city of Simferopol when the explosives detonated. 


The FSB said its investigation is ongoing and vowed that all participants in the alleged attack “including foreign citizens” would be dealt with “in accordance with Russian law."


Some observers have raised doubts over Russian authorities' claim that the explosion was the result of a truck bomb.


Spanning 19 kilometers over the Kerch Strait, the $4 billion bridge is a key symbol of Moscow’s widely unrecognized claim over the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014. 


It has also been a key supply route for Russia's forces along the southern front of its invasion of Ukraine.


President Vladimir Putin personally inaugurated the bridge when it was completed in 2018.


The attack, which came just a day after Putin’s 70th birthday, is one of Moscow’s biggest humiliations in its seven-month war against Ukraine. 

Russia Says Arrested 8 Suspects in Crimean Bridge Blast  - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Some observers have raised doubts over Russian authorities' claim that the explosion was the result of a truck bomb.


This frightens Putin, because it means he doesn't know what weapons Ukraine has up its sleeve.

----------


## helge

> tens of thousands of innocent civilians being slaughtered by the murderous Russian scum.


Where do you get this scary number of victims from ?

The number from UN is horrible, but your's.........

----------


## bsnub

On Saturday, Ukraine showed why  it is winning its war against Russia. On Monday, Russia showed why it is  losing. Those two days revealed sharp contrasts between the two  militaries. One is clever, well prepared, willing to undertake complex  operations, and focused on maximally damaging its enemy’s ability to  fight. The other is prone to bursts of rage and is open to committing  any crime possible, but its actions are ultimately self-defeating.

The  Ukrainian attack on the Crimean Bridge was typical of how the Ukrainian  high command has waged war. Also known as the Kerch Bridge, the span  was a legitimate military target. The road link between Russian-occupied  Crimea and Russia itself has been helpful to the invaders’ war effort,  but far more important are the railroad lines that run across it. The  Russian army depends on trains for its supply of heavy equipment and  ammunition. This reliance is a major liability. Especially after the  Ukrainians have captured or destroyed so many Russian vehicles, the  invasion force lacks enough trucks to ship supplies to locations remote  from working rail lines. Though the level of damage to the tracks on the  Crimean Bridge is unclear, their capacity to carry freight was reduced  at least temporarily. Another attack might rupture them completely.

Earlier  Ukrainian attacks against Russian rail capacity, most notably the High  Mobility Artillery Rocket System strikes that started in July, have cut  Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine into two separate supply zones that  do not support each other. Russian forces in the east, based around  Donetsk and Luhansk, can draw their supplies from directly over the  Russian border. But the Ukrainians have essentially cut the rail lines  from those areas to Russian forces in the south and west. So everything  needed by the Russian soldiers trying to hold off Ukrainian  counteroffensives in the Kherson region must be shipped by rail over the  Crimean Bridge and up through the Crimean peninsula. If the Ukrainians  could sever that rail line completely, Russian stockpiles at the front  would soon run down, food and medical equipment would likely grow  scarce, and already tired Russian soldiers would eventually lose the  ability to mount sustained operations.

Russia’s  dependence on this one supply line has been a constant source of worry  for Putin and his generals. Its evident vulnerability is one reason they  supposedly went to great lengths to defend the Crimean Bridge from  attack. This is what made Saturday’s operation so crucial: The  Ukrainians identified a logistical target of potentially decisive  importance, secretly developed a plan to eliminate it, kept word from  leaking out, and then executed the plan with considerable success.

The operation came as a huge shock in Moscow. Unnamed Ukrainian officials have told media outlets  that their country’s intelligence services had used a truck bomb on the  bridge, but Kyiv still has not officially taken responsibility for the  attack, much less disclosed its methods.  The uncertainty allows Ukraine  and its supporters to troll the Russians, circulating multiple theories  about what happened, including the possibility that the bridge  explosion was an act of sabotage by an anti-Putin political group in  Russia. (Earlier today, Russian domestic-intelligence officials announced the arrest of eight people,  including five Russian citizens, in connection with the incident.) The  operation and subsequent propaganda efforts are bound to make Russians  fear that the Ukrainians will attack the bridge again.

On  Monday, the Russians responded in a manner that was both homicidal and  pointless. Starting early in the morning, they fired almost every type  of missile in their arsenal—including their supposedly accurate Kalibr  cruise missiles; repurposed, less accurate S-300 anti-aircraft missiles;  and Iranian kamikaze drones—against civilian targets in major Ukrainian  cities. For two days they used this motley collection of expensive  weaponry to show Ukraine their anger and muscle and to mollify  nationalist hard-liners incensed over Russia’s recent defeats. Yet  Russian officials are inadvertently revealing their powerlessness over  much of Ukrainian resistance. The total cost of this Russian operation  will be enormous. One advanced missile can cost more than $10 million—and Russia has fired many of them. Moreover, because of sanctions that keep it from obtaining high-tech equipment such as advanced microchips, Russia will have great difficulty replenishing its shrinking supply.

And  what has it gained from this extraordinary expenditure? The Russians  have hit little of military value. The missiles and drones that  penetrated Ukrainian air defenses hit a bizarre assortment of mostly  unthreatening targets—residential districts, public parks, a tourist  bridge, some government buildings, and a few infrastructure facilities  of modest importance. Far from damaging Ukraine’s ability to fight off  the invasion, this week’s strikes have probably increased it in three  distinct ways. First, they have provided the Ukrainians with more  experience shooting down Russian offensive equipment. The defenders have  learned to adjust to new equipment with impressive speed. So far,  Ukraine has credibly claimed to have shot down  at least half of the missiles Russia has targeted at the country since  Monday, a sign that its armed forces are getting better and better at  what they do.

Also, instead  of weakening Ukrainian resistance, these Russian attacks will likely  turbocharge it. Little historical evidence suggests that military  atrocities against civilians weaken the morale of a country under  attack. Such violence typically deepens the desire to resist the  attacker. Already convinced that they were in an existential conflict  with Russia, Ukrainians will now be even more skeptical of any deal  Putin offers. They know that this is an enemy they can never trust.  Russian soldiers in their weakened position on the front lines, and  recent conscripts being hastily trained for deployment, will find  themselves fighting an even more implacable and determined Ukrainian  foe.

Finally, Ukraine’s  allies are responding by providing more aid—including the vital  air-defense equipment that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government has  been eager to procure. Just yesterday, for instance, the German  government announced that it had delivered an Iris-T air-defense system to Ukraine. The United States also says it intends to speed up the shipment  of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems. Going forward,  Russia’s attacks will likely increase the pressure on other NATO  countries to hasten the transfer of advanced weaponry to Ukraine.

So  although Russia’s sadistically eye-catching missile campaign might play  well on Russian TV, it is an expensive strategic disaster for Russia’s  military goals.

Events since  Saturday illustrate why the war has unfolded as it has. One tightly  targeted, carefully planned, and well-executed operation opens up the  possibility of great strategic gains for Ukraine. In contrast, an  expensive, showy, brutal campaign by Putin’s military forces has only  made Russia’s task harder. The Russians have misunderstood the  fundamental dynamics of this war from the start, and their inability to  adjust continues to be a great advantage for Ukraine.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ar...tm_source=feed

----------


## panama hat

> The number from UN is horrible, but your's.........


Isn't even one to many, Helge?  Summarily executed, bombed and we don't know how many massacred in areas still occupied by the murdering scum.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Isn't even one to many, Helge?  Summarily executed, bombed and we don't know how many massacred in areas still occupied by the murdering scum.


Yes, who knows how many more mass graves they will find in the occupied areas?

Of course that escapes the fuckwit scandihooligan.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The UN General Assembly on Wednesday issued a sweeping condemnation of Russia's attempt to annex four territories in Ukraine last month in a resolute display of global disapproval.




Thailand still being cowardly I see.

----------


## bsnub

WASHINGTON― Ukraine’s allies  need to “chip in” to create a complex mix of air defenses as Russia  bombards Ukraine’s cities and the civilians in them, America’s top  military officer said Wednesday.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin  led a meeting of more than 50 countries in Brussels, where defense  chiefs pledged to supply munitions for Ukraine’s air defenses. Even as  Germany supplied its first IRIS-T air defense system to Ukraine,  Pentagon officials highlighted the tough technical challenge ahead.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov  said air defense systems are the country’s “top priority” after Russia  unleashed a spate of missile and drone attacks this week across the  nation that reportedly targeted energy and civilian services, killing at  least 19 people.

“The  horrific and indiscriminate attacks against Ukrainian cities left  civilians killed and civilian critical infrastructure destroyed,” NATO  chief Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday, according to media reports. “This demonstrates the urgent need for more air defense for Ukraine.”

In a news conference at NATO headquarters on Wednesday, Austin said the Ukraine Defense Contact Group discussed ways to increase training of Ukrainian forces, accountability measures of arms sent to Ukraine and the allied push  to “galvanize our industrial bases to fire up production for the  systems to defend Ukraine while meeting our own security needs.” He  pointed to German and Danish investments in Slovakia’s howitzer  production.

The  spotlight was on Ukraine’s request for an integrated air and missile  defense system, which Milley said allies would strive to fulfill. That  would be made up of short-range, low-altitude systems; medium-range,  medium-altitude systems; and long-range, high-altitude systems that  together would neutralize the threat of Russian aircraft and missiles.

“What  needs to be done here by all of the countries at the conference today  is chip in and help them rebuild and sustain an integrated air and  missile defense system, specifically old systems,” Milley said.

Ukraine  has been using its Russian-made SA-6 and SA-8 air defenses to deny  Russian forces air superiority and the ability to conduct combined arms  maneuver. Now Ukraine is asking for Cold War-era Hawk systems ― a  medium-range, medium-altitude system that Milley said is “an older  system but it’s quite effective.”

Ukraine hopes to also receive donations of American-made Patriot systems, German systems and unnamed Israeli systems.

The  undertaking would be complex. Disparate systems would have to be  brought together, deployed, and made to communicate with radars and each  other in order to acquire Russian targets ― and Ukrainian forces would  have to be trained on it all, Milley said.

“So it’s quite complicated from a technical standpoint. It is achievable, and that’s what we’re aiming at,” he added.

The  timing is an open question. When a Ukrainian reporter asked pointedly  when the people of Ukraine “will be able to sleep well” and expressed  concern about his family back home, Austin said the unpredictable nature  of the conflict makes it hard to predict when it will be safe to travel  in Ukraine.

Austin pointed to new pledges from the meeting for munitions for existing systems and Germany’s  delivery of the first of four IRIS-T systems. IRIS-T is capable of  defending against approaching missiles at an altitude of up to 20  kilometers (12 miles) and a distance of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles).

“I  know that you’re concerned about your family,” Austin told the  reporter, “and certainly that’s understandable. But we’re going to do  everything we can, as fast as we can, to help the Ukrainian forces get  the capability they need to protect the Ukrainian people. That’s very,  very important to us.”

https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon...russian-blitz/

----------


## bsnub

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Statements made this week by Belarusian  President Alexander Lukashenko have reignited fears that his army could  join Russian forces in Moscow's war against Ukraine, but the authoritarian leader appears reluctant to lend his troops to the effort, despite perceived pressure from Moscow.

Russia  has already used Belarus, its longtime and dependent ally, as a staging  ground to send troops and missiles into Ukraine. Analysts say if  Belarus' small and inexperienced military gets involved, the additional  troops could help Moscow cut off some key transportation corridors, but  likely wouldn't significantly boost Russian President Vladimir Putin's  capabilities on the battlefield.

“The Belarusian army is weak and  demotivated, and it is not willing to fight with Ukraine, which means  that Lukashenko will try to give Putin anything but Belarusian  soldiers,” Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told The Associated  Press on Tuesday. “Lukashenko is letting Putin know: ‘I will help, but I  won’t fight.'"

Lukashenko announced Monday that he and Putin  agreed to create a joint “regional grouping of troops” and that several  thousand Russian soldiers will be stationed in Belarus. Lukashenko  offered no details about where the troops will be deployed, and Russia's  motives weren't immediately clear, though the remarks come as Moscow is  struggling to replenish troops lost on the battlefield.

Lukashenko  also said that Kyiv is plotting to attack Belarus — and he cautioned  Ukraine against attacking “even one meter of our territory with their  dirty hands.” His defense minister, Viktor Khrenin, also warned Ukraine  not to provoke Belarus, saying, “We don’t want to fight" and stressing a  day later, however, that the joint force is for defense.

Ukrainian  President Volodymyr Zelenskyy assured leaders of the Group of Seven  industrial powers on Tuesday that Kyiv isn't planning military actions  against Belarus. He said Moscow “is trying to directly draw Belarus into  this war.”

Oleksiy Danilov, head of the National Security and  Defense Council of Ukraine, told Ukrainian television Tuesday that  Belarus is being “held hostage by Russia.”

Fears of Russian  pressure on Belarus aren't unfounded. Lukashenko, an authoritarian  leader, has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for 28 years while relying  on Russia’s political and economic support.

Moscow has pumped  billions of dollars into shoring up Lukashenko's Soviet-style,  state-controlled economy with cheap energy and loans. And in 2020, the  Kremlin helped Lukashenko survive the largest mass protests in the  country’s history, following a presidential election that the opposition  and the West denounced as rigged.

Lukashenko has publicly  supported Russia’s attack on Ukraine, drawing international criticism  and sanctions against Minsk. Still, Lukashenko has repeatedly rejected  speculations that Belarus would send its own soldiers to fight alongside  Russia.

“Neither the Belarusian elites, nor the population are  ready to participate in this incomprehensible war,” Valery Karbalevich,  an independent Belarusian analyst, told the AP. Karbalevich said  Lukashenko is trying to bargain, offering to keep Russian nuclear  weapons on its soil and create the joint force, while also hinting at  the weakness of his own army.

Part of Belarus' 1,000-kilometer  (621-mile) border with northwest Ukraine lies only about 90 kilometers  (56 miles) north of Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. Troops coming from Belarus  would likely move west and target cities of Lviv and Lutsk, key  transportation hubs for Western military supplies, said Zhdanov, the  Ukrainian military analyst.

"It is vital for Russia to cut off the  transport corridor, because via Lviv, Western weapons reach the east  and the south, where the Ukrainian army is conducting a successful  counteroffensive, and this can only be done from Belarus,” Zhdanov said.

However,  Lukashenko’s army is relatively small — just 45,000 troops, including  conscripts — and largely inexperienced. The Belarusian military holds  regular drills, but hasn’t taken part in combat since World War II.

At best, Minsk will be able to deploy 20,000 troops — professional contract soldiers, according to Zhdanov.

Belarusian  military analyst Alexander Alesin said Lukashenko can avoid getting  involved by saying that his limited troops are needed to defend Belarus’  borders from its neighbors — NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

Lukashenko said earlier this year that the Kremlin's campaign in Ukraine "has dragged on”  and even suggested that he could mediate peace talks, insisting on the  need to end the war as soon as possible. Karbalevich said Lukashenko  understands that Russia is losing the war and he ” is trying to crawl as  far away from Russia as he can.”

Lukashenko is also facing public frustration at home, as Belarusians are feeling the effects of crippling Western sanctions and spiking inflation, which is already twice as high as last year.

“After  mass protests of 2020, when hundreds of thousands of people demanded  that Belarus' leader step down, Lukashenko is afraid of arming  Belarusians. It can provoke another domestic explosion,” Karbalevich  said.

And, Alesin said, Belarusians are not mentally prepared to fight Ukrainians.

“Unlike  the Russians, Belarusians have absolutely no hostility towards the  Ukrainians and don’t understand the point of this special operation.  This may lead to mass refusals to comply with orders to shoot  Ukrainians,” he said.

Belarus army would likely have little impact in Ukraine war

----------


## Troy

> Thailand still being cowardly I see.


The reasoning was explained in the BP...




> “However, Thailand chose to abstain from the vote on the  resolution because it takes place during an extremely volatile and  emotionally charged atmosphere, and thus marginalises the chance for  crisis diplomacy to bring about a practical and negotiated resolution to the  conflict that may push the world to the brink of nuclear war and global  economic collapse.



Thailand abstains in UN vote against Putin land grab

----------


## helge

> Isn't even one to many, Helge?


Ofcourse

But your numbers are tens of thousands off.

And wouldn't you agree that there is no reason not to post numbers in the vicinity of reality.







> Yes, who knows how many more mass graves they will find in the occupied areas?
> 
> Of course that escapes the fuckwit scandihooligan.



Yes who knows

----------


## misskit

*Kherson Region Head Requests Kremlin Help with Evacuations*

The Kremlin-installed governor of Ukraine's Kherson region, which the Kremlin says it has annexed, appealed to Moscow to help evacuate civilians from the area on Thursday, in yet another sign that the Ukrainian military's southern counteroffensive is continuing to gain ground. 


"Сities in the Kherson region are coming under daily rocket attacks," Vladimir Saldo said in a video post on Telegram, adding that civilian infrastructure was being targeted. 


"We suggest all people of the Kherson region should, if they wish, leave for other regions to protect themselves from missile strikes," Saldo added.


"In addressing the leadership of the country, I ask you to help organize this task." 


Saldo added that those choosing to leave the region would go to the southern Russian regions of Rostov, Krasnodar and Stavropol as well as to Crimea —  the peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Kirill Stremousov, the region's Russian-installed deputy governor, stressed on Thursday that the appeal "wasn’t a call for evacuation."


"No one is evacuating anyone," Stremousov said on Telegram, adding that the measure was meant "to save the lives" of Kherson residents.


Kherson, one of the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow recently claimed to have annexed, made the request for assistance a day after Kyiv said it had retaken five settlements in the region. 


Last week Ukraine, which unleashed a southern counteroffensive against Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine in August, said it had recaptured over 400 square kilometers of territory in the Kherson region in the past week. 

Kherson Region Head Requests Kremlin Help with Evacuations - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

Ukraine Asks France to Prove Its Love With Weapons


Zelensky Asks for $55 Billion to Cover Budget Deficit and Fund Reconstruction - News From Antiwar.com



Ever get the idea you're being Had?  ::chitown::

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Ukraine Asks France to Prove Its Love With Weapons
> 
> 
> Zelensky Asks for $55 Billion to Cover Budget Deficit and Fund Reconstruction - News From Antiwar.com
> 
> 
> 
> Ever get the idea you're being Had?


It's OK, Puffy and his cronies will end up footing the bill.

----------


## sabang

Retired Admiral Mike Mullen said we have to ‘do everything we possibly can to try to get to the table to resolve this thing.’


A former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman said on Sunday that the United States needs to work toward ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, amid reports of escalating violence and talk of increased threats of nuclear weapons use.

Retired Admiral Mike Mullen — the nation’s top military officer during parts of the Bush and Obama administrations — assessed on ABC’s This Week that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “cornered animal,” a situation that he said “speaks to the need to get to the table” and negotiate.

Referring to President Biden’s recent warning of a nuclear conflict, Mullen added, “I think we need to back off that a little bit and do everything we possibly can to try to get to the table to resolve this thing.”

Mullen also urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other top diplomats to figure out a way to get Putin and Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky to talk. “[A]s is typical in any war, it has got to end and usually there are negotiations associated with that,” he said. “The sooner the better as far as I’m concerned.”

The former Joint Chiefs chair also said the possibility of Putin using nuclear weapons is very real. “He has got some very small ones, which theoretically while devastating would localize the damage,” Mullen said. “He could pick a symbolic target. He could pick Zelensky’s hometown, for instance, as a target as opposed to having a big impact on the battlefield that would badly hurt the Ukrainian Army, which has fought so well.”

Mullen’s comments came just hours before Russia’s retaliatory strikes after a bridge connecting Crimea with Russia was blown up on Sunday.

Quincy Institute director of grand strategy George Beebe said the series of recent strikes from both sides makes a resolution to the conflict more pressing.
 “It is time for the United States to supplement its military support for Ukraine with a diplomatic track to manage this crisis before it spirals out of control,” he said. 

Former Joint Chiefs chair calls for talks to end Ukraine war - Responsible Statecraft

----------


## Troy

^ As much as I would like a cease fire and a negotiated settlement, I can't see it happening as long as Putin is wanting Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia to be part of Russia.

Any negotiation would have to be based on the boundaries at the start of the war. Putin won't accept this as long as Zelensky is in charge.

Looks like the war will carry on a while longer, until Russian public opinion kills it off or Ukraine run out of defenders.

----------


## bsnub

It will end when Russia reverts to the 1991 borders. They should do that now if they were rational, as they are going to lose this war. There will not be any nuclear weapons, that is just more Russian fearmongering. Something you specialize in. If Russia used nukes in Ukraine, the radiation would blow into their own country, the same is true if they blow the Zaporizhia nuke plant. 

It is bluster and nothing more. The offensive will continue.




> Ukraine run out of defenders.


That will not happen. Russia has already run out of troops and most of its units are combat ineffective and can no longer move forward. Ukraine is no longer on the defensive, they are the ones pressing this war at this point. Further liberation of territory is imminent.

If you have credible data otherwise, I would like to see it. For the last two months, Russia has done nothing but retreat.

----------


## bsnub

> Indeed . . . almost as strong as tens of thousands of innocent civilians being slaughtered by the murderous Russian scum.


Indeed.

----------


## bsnub

KYIV, Ukraine —  They exploded with dull thuds on the outskirts of towns and detonated in  the center of cities with deafening booms. Strikes in Kyiv, the  capital, left cars burning and splatters of blood on the sidewalks.

Through  the week, the Russian military fired its most intense barrage of  missiles at Ukraine since the start of the war in February, killing at  least three dozen civilians, knocking out electricity across swaths of  the country and overwhelming air defenses. One thing the missiles didn’t  do was change the course of the ground war.

Fought  mostly in trenches, with the most fierce combat now in an area of  rolling hills and pine forests in the east and on the open plains in the  south, these battles are where control of territory is decided — and  where Russia’s military continued to lose ground this week, despite the  missile strikes.

“They  use their expensive rockets for nothing, just to frighten people,”  Volodymyr Ariev, a member of Parliament with Ukraine’s European  Solidarity party, said of the paltry military effect of the Russian  cruise missiles, rockets and self-destructing drones used in the  strikes. “They think they can scare Ukrainians. But the goal they  achieved is only making us angrier.”

The  war in the south and east continued apace through the strikes, with  Russia mostly falling back but also attacking on one section of front in  the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

On  Monday and Tuesday, the most intense days of Russia’s missile strikes,  the Ukrainian Army continued its offensive in the Kherson region in the  south, reclaiming five villages over the two days, according to the  military command. Ukrainian forces also took back a village in the east.

“The  Kremlin continues to struggle to message itself out of the reality of  mobilization and military failures,” the Institute for the Study of War,  a Washington-based research group, wrote in an analysis published  Thursday. “The Kremlin continued its general pattern of temporarily  appeasing the nationalist communities by conducting retaliatory missile  strikes.”

The  war is now separated into two largely unconnected arenas: the battles in  the sky, in which Russia is seeking to demoralize Ukrainian society and  cripple the economy by using cruise missiles and drones to destroy  heating, electricity and water infrastructure as winter sets in; and the  battles on the ground, in which Ukraine continues to advance against  Russian forces in two areas of the front line.

Russia has been  using even the newest addition to its arsenal, Shahed-136 kamikaze  drones purchased from Iran, principally for strategic strikes far from  the front line, rather than in efforts to slow the Ukrainian attacks.

“Shahed-136s  will not generate asymmetric effects for Russian forces because they  are not being used to strike areas of critical military significance in a  way that directly influences the frontline,” the Institute for the  Study of War wrote.

The  drones that get past air defenses instead buzz into cities, blowing up  electrical power stations and municipal boilers used to heat  neighborhoods in the centralized heating systems used in Ukraine.

Over  the past 24 hours, the Russian Army and air force attacked around the  country with missiles, rockets and self-destructing drones, from the  region around Kyiv, the capital, to Mykolaiv in the south, near the  Black Sea, the Ukrainian General Staff said in its regular morning  report.

“The  enemy is not halting strikes on critical infrastructure and civilian  objects,” it said, listing 88 strikes, including with short-range rocket  systems near the front line.

The  strikes have refocused Ukrainians’ attention on the war in cities where  a sense of normalcy had been returning, including Kyiv.

Even  successful advances for the Ukrainian Army have been bloody and costly  as the Russian military has been skirmishing and firing artillery to  cover its retreat and continuing attacks in Donbas. Fighting raged along  the entire front and in cross-border skirmishing with Russia in  northern Ukraine overnight Thursday to Friday, the military command said  in a morning statement.

nytimes.com

----------


## bsnub

On  Monday, Russia fired 84 missiles, many at Ukrainian civilian  infrastructure targets, causing power outages in many cities. On  Tuesday, Russia launched another 28 cruise missiles. And on Thursday,  the Ukrainian Armed Forced General Staff said Russia had hit more than  40 settlements since the day before. In all, more than three dozen  people were killed.

But  no matter how many times Russia fires at Ukraine, pro-war Russian  nationalists want more, even though targeting civilian infrastructure is  potentially a war crime.

“It  has to be done constantly, not just once but for two to five weeks to  totally disable all their infrastructure, all thermal power stations,  all heating and power stations, all power plants, all traction  substations, all power lines, all railway hubs,” said Bogdan Bezpalko, a  member of the Kremlin’s Council on Interethnic Relations.

“Then,  Ukraine will descend into cold and darkness,” Bezpalko said on state  television. “They won’t be able to bring in ammunition and fuel and then  the Ukrainian army will turn into a crowd of armed men with chunks of  iron.”

But  the hawks, who are demanding publicly on TV broadcasts and on Telegram  to know why Russia does not hit more high value targets, won’t like the  answer: The Russian military appears to lack sufficient accurate  missiles to sustain airstrikes at Monday’s tempo, according to Western  military analysts.

“They  are low on precision guided missiles,” said Konrad Muzyka, founder of  Gdansk, Poland-based Rochan Consulting said, offering his assessment of  Russia’s sporadic air attacks. “That is essentially the only explanation  that I have.”

Even  as NATO allies on Thursday said they would rush additional air defenses  to Ukraine, the experts said the reason Russia had yet to knock out  electricity and water service across the country was simple: it can’t.

Since  May, Russia’s use of precision guided missiles (PGMs) has declined  sharply, with analysts suggesting then that Russian stocks of such  missiles may be low.

Tuesday’s  attacks mainly used air-launched cruise missiles, which are slower than  Iskander guided missiles and easier for Ukraine to shoot down,  according to Muzyka. In March, the Pentagon reported that Russia’s air-launched cruise missiles have a failure rate of 20 to 60 percent.

“If  Russia had a limitless supply of PGMs, I think that they would still  strike civilian targets, because that’s what the Russian way of warfare  is,” Muzyka said. He said analysts did not have confirmed information  about Russian missile stocks or production levels, and judgments were  based on the decline in usage of PGMs and Moscow’s greater reliance on  less accurate missiles.

But  a clue lies in Russia’s failure to destroy the kinds of targets that  Ukraine is able to hit using U.S.-supplied HIMARS artillery.

“If  we take a look at what HIMARS has done to Russian supply routes, and  essentially their ability to sustain war, they’ve done massive damage to  Russia’s posture in this war,” Muzyka said. “So technically, you know,  if the Russians had access to a large stock of PGMS, they could probably  inflict a similar damage to Ukrainian armed forces, but they haven’t.”

“They  actually failed to,” he continued. “They even failed to interdict the  main Ukrainian supply roads. They failed to destroy bridges, railway,  railway intersections, and so on and so forth.”

Russian  President Vladimir Putin is juggling so many military problems that  some Western analysts are already predicting Russia’s war will fail.  Others say it remains too early to write Russia off, especially with  hundreds of thousands of conscripted reinforcements potentially headed  to the battlefield in coming weeks.

Since  day one, Russia has sustained shocking levels of battlefield  casualties, battering military morale. It has suffered repeated defeats,  including the failure to take Kyiv, a retreat from Snake Island, the  rout in Kharkiv and loss of Lyman, a strategic transit hub.

Ukrainian forces also continue to slowly recover territory in Kherson region, in their ongoing southern offensive.

Russia’s  military mobilization also remains  in shambles, with angry draftees  posting videos online almost daily, complaining of insufficient training  and poor equipment. Moscow police raided hostels and cafes on Tuesday  to grab men and deliver them to mobilization points, and military  recruitment is continuing in Russian prisons, according to independent  Russian media site SOTA.

Lawrence  Freedman, professor of war studies at King’s College London, wrote in a  newsletter that Russia’s escalation of missile attacks on civilian  targets Monday had achieved no clear military gain.

“Russia  lacks the missiles to mount attacks of this sort often, as it is  running out of stocks and the Ukrainians are claiming a high success  rate in intercepting many of those already used,” Freedman wrote. “This  is not therefore a new war-winning strategy but a sociopath’s tantrum.”

Putin’s  “need to calm his critics also explains why he has lashed out against  Ukrainian cities,” Freedman wrote. “The hard-liners have been demanding  attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure for some time and they now have got  what they wanted. But they will inevitably be disappointed with the  results.”

“These  attacks could well be repeated, because it is part of the mind-set of  Putin and his generals that enemies can be forced to capitulate by such  means,” he added. “But stocks of Kalibr and Iskander missiles are  running low.”

Amid  Russia’s military setbacks, striking at Ukraine’s power grid in recent  days was designed to shock and terrify civilians, starve them of energy  in the winter and break their will to resist, according to Maria  Shagina, an analyst with the International Institute for Strategic  Studies, a London-based think tank.

One  apparent goal of Russia’s strikes on six electrical substations in  Lviv, western Ukraine, was to stop Ukraine exporting electricity to  Europe, Shagina said. The strikes also crippled the city’s power supply.

“Now  we’re seeing the escalation and weaponization of the critical  infrastructure,” she said, adding that it was no accident that Russia  had destroyed Ukraine’s capacity to export electricity to Europe at the  same time Moscow has weaponized natural gas, cutting supplies to  pressure European Union countries.

“There  is some intensification of the war, in terms that Russia doesn’t hide  even the fact that they have attacked civilian infrastructure, critical  infrastructure,” Shagina added. “They’re trying to escalate the war as  much as they can.”

Muzyka  said Russia, ignoring international conventions, has consistently  targeted civilian apartment blocks and infrastructure in two Chechen  wars, in Syria and Ukraine.

“Definitely  they focus on the power grid as a way of making civilian lives  miserable,” he said. “For Russians, striking civilian areas, residential  areas and anything that can potentially impact the lives of civilians  is a military objective, because for Russia, the war is total.”

“Essentially  what the Russians are trying to do is to wear down Ukrainians, decrease  the morale, decrease the willingness to fight and from their point of  view, hopefully increase the pressure on the Ukrainian government to  enter negotiations with Russia,” he added.

Ukraine  has asked Western allies for state of the art air defense systems to  protect its civilians and vital infrastructure. But even as NATO pledged  more help, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that getting those  systems to Ukraine would take time.

“Unfortunately,  the Western response is rather limited,” Shagina said, adding that  Russia is trying “to use the full range of measures they can deploy  against the West and Ukraine.”

But no matter how harsh the attacks, the hawks in Russia say it is still not enough.

Russian  journalist Andrei Medvedev, a member of the Moscow city council, who  runs a popular hard line nationalist pro-war Telegram channel, urged  patience, saying the decision “to bomb Ukraine into the Middle Ages” had  not yet been taken.

Another  hawk, Alexander Kots, the war correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda,  who has his own influential pro-war Telegram channel, said he hoped the  strikes signaled a new kind of warfare that would bombard Ukraine “until  it loses its ability to function.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...e-war-ukraine/

----------


## panama hat

> But your numbers are tens of thousands off.


You don't know that, helge . . . it could well be under by tens of thousands.  As I said, the mass graves being found in areas the murderous Russian scum occupied and the numerous ones in occupied territory.

My saying 10 if it's 9 or 11 isn't even remotely as bad as the Russian scum actually killing them.  

No excuses.  They invaded a sovereign country without being under threat and with ridiculous rationale - I hope the scum responsible simply die a painful death.

----------


## Hugh Cow

> Thailand still being cowardly I see.


Dictators and illigitimate governments have to stick together.

----------


## bsnub

> Dictators and illigitimate governments have to stick together.


Those are the only ones that voted yes. Truly reprehensible.

----------


## bsnub

We don’t know how exactly this war will end, but we do know that  Russia will not win. Even if Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strained mobilization  of hundreds of thousands of inexperienced new troops leads to some  tactical wins, his invasion of Ukraine is already a strategic loss.  Russia is weakened economically, politically, and militarily. Putin has  ensured a painful winter in Europe but hastened Europe’s energy  diversification and transition. The Russian military’s failures and  resort to widespread atrocities have exposed Moscow’s conventional  military capabilities as a Potemkin force. We can only imagine what the  Chinese are thinking today about their de facto ally—or how the Turkish  general staff is now recalculating Ankara’s strategic options in the  Black Sea region and beyond. If Putin were to follow through on his  threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, it would only compound his  strategic defeat.

 Therefore, even as Western analysts and officials warn against  placing too much hope on a quick Ukrainian victory, Russian power and  influence is already visibly weakened. Russia is not withdrawing so much  as it is deflating. Consequently, there is a kind of giant geopolitical  sucking sound all around Russia’s periphery—from Eastern Europe to  Central Asia—as a diminished Russia creates a vacuum that could unsettle  an already fragile status quo.

 Russia’s self-inflicted diminishment is, in many ways, a continuation  of a process that began with the collapse of the Soviet empire. When  the Soviet Union ceased to exist more than three decades ago, the ripple  effects of evaporated Soviet power included wars in the Caucasus, the  consolidation of power by strongmen in Central Asia, and two brutal wars  in Chechnya. In essence, these were postcolonial conflicts, just as  Russia is attempting to restore imperial control over Ukraine today. In a  different way, the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the conflicts  that followed were also related to the collapse of the Soviet Union—if  less directly. As the Cold War ended, Yugoslavia’s importance on the  strategic chessboard declined. It was, at least in part, this vacuum and  resulting lack of Western interest that allowed Serbian strongman  Slobodan Milosevic to exploit domestic divisions for ethnic conflict.

 Since Putin came to power, his progressively authoritarian regime has  attempted to project Russian power all throughout the former Soviet  space. His policies have been fueled by a combination of a desire to  reassert control over the Soviet Union’s former territories, which he  doesn’t see as legitimate or fully sovereign states, and his deeply held  fear that democratic awakenings in any of them might be contagious. In  Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, Russia has created—or  maintained—so-called frozen conflicts to use as leverage points and  bargaining chips. Putin’s war against Ukraine, from its start in 2014  with the invasion of Crimea through its massive escalation in February,  shares many elements of this approach, hypercharged by a genocidal  denial that a Ukrainian nation, language, and culture even exists.

 Putin’s strategic loss in Ukraine may now loosen Russia’s grip. The  lost war in Ukraine has put Russia’s future political development and  security arrangements into focus. With the diminishment of Russian  prestige and power, the geopolitical landscape across Eurasia could  prove dynamic.
 Take Azerbaijan and Armenia. Putin’s use of natural gas supplies as a  political weapon against Europe has been a boon for Azerbaijan and its  own authoritarian leader, Ilham Aliyev. Putin’s war has raised the price  of Azerbaijan’s key export even as European leaders have courted the  country in their rush to diversify supplies. Thus emboldened—and sensing  Russia’s distraction with the war in Ukraine—Azerbaijan attacked  Armenia last month in the most significant outbreak of violence since  the two countries’ 2020 war. As of late September, Armenian officials  reported more than 200 of its soldiers as killed and nearly 300 soldiers  injured.

 The 2020 war ended with a Moscow-brokered agreement and Russian  peacekeepers deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh, the long-contested  majority-Armenian territory in Azerbaijan. The latest fighting, however,  didn’t end at a Russian negotiating table, even though Armenia had  appealed to Russia, its traditional patron, to intercede. As Armenian  Security Council chair Armen Grigoryan confirmed during his visit to  Washington on Sept. 26, it was U.S. diplomacy that took the place of  Moscow’s this time. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Grigoryan  said, was “personally involved and on the phone with both sides.” U.S.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Yerevan, the Armenian capital, to demonstrate support.

 Even though much of the West’s attention has focused on Aliyev apparently seizing the moment, even to the point of potentially overplaying his hand,  that is not what’s remarkable about Russia’s loss of influence. More  significant in the long term is that Armenia seems to have given up, at  least for now, on Russia as a security guarantor and is looking to the  West for political support—and receiving it. That could have profound  influences on the region’s post-Russian future. If it comes to a stable  Armenian-Azerbaijani border deal—as some reports indicate—it will be  brokered at the Western table. Russia, at this point, is in no position  to be either a broker or guarantor.

 Or look at Georgia to calibrate the potential effects of waning  Russian influence. After the 2003 Rose Revolution, and especially at the  time of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war, Georgia had the hopes and sympathy  of many in the West who saw the small country on the Black Sea as  emblematic of the potential for democratic progress in the Caucasus—and  Russia’s determination to squelch it. In many ways, the Kremlin’s puppet  republics in Ukraine’s Donbas region derived from its Georgia playbook.  Russia has occupied Georgia’s Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions since  the 2008 war and is adept at using the occupation as a way to exert  political leverage over—and deny progress to—the Georgian government.

Now that Moscow has wrapped itself around the axle of its disastrous  war in Ukraine, Georgia might have the opportunity to press forward with  democratic reforms and further orient itself toward the West.  Unfortunately, the country’s democracy  has receded significantly in recent years. The government is largely  controlled by a billionaire with significant ties to Russia and a  moderate view toward Moscow: former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina  Ivanishvili, whose Georgian Dream party has dominated the political  scene since 2012. Virulent polarization  has gripped the country, corruption is on the rise, and the space for  civil society and independent media is shrinking. The Georgian  government has lashed out at the U.S. ambassador despite the United States’ role as Georgia’s most important security partner. Against this background, Georgia was not on the list when Ukraine and Moldova were made European Union candidate countries in June.

 Although the recession of Russian power, precipitated by strategic  defeat in Ukraine, creates space for Georgia to deepen its ties with the  West, Georgia’s toxic political culture makes it more of a political  island than it needs to be.
 For Moldova, Putin’s unraveling couldn’t come at a better time. After  unexpectedly electing Maia Sandu, a charismatic, young reformer, as  president in late 2020, Moldova now appears poised for progress. Its new  status as an EU candidate means it has jumped the queue for Western  integration despite having one of Russia’s frozen conflicts on its  territory.

 For three decades, Russia has stationed troops and stored weapons in  Transnistria, the slice of Moldova that lies between the Dniester river  and the Ukrainian border. There, Moscow has bankrolled and loosely  controlled a puppet government with colorful, clownish leaders. In  recent years, the Moldovan government has sought to remove barriers for  Transnistrians to access the economy on the other side of the river on  the theory that reintegration was more likely to come from engaging them  than from trying to evict the Russians.

 If Moldova—with EU and U.S. support—can really make progress on rule  of law and economic development, its attractiveness to residents of  Transnistria will be even better. Time will tell whether those elements  of Moldova’s own political scene that have historically been  underwritten by Russian corruption will find Moscow’s checkbook as  generous as before the war. In any case, Putin’s focus on salvaging his  lost war in Ukraine could create the space Moldova needs to move forward  with less of Russia’s incessant sabotage. One should always temper  optimism—after all, there are still Russian weapons and soldiers in  Transnistria who would need to leave somehow—but of Russia’s frozen  conflicts, Moldova is the most likely to find a resolution in the coming  years. Motivated democratic actors are stepping up, whereas Putin is on  the back foot.
 The Balkans, where Moscow has a long history of stoking conflict,  have much to gain from a pullback of Russian influence. Putin has  cultivated a relationship with Serbian leader Aleksander Vucic, and  Russian public diplomacy has successfully engaged a significant part of  the Serbian public. Vucic has played a successful game of balancing  Russian, European, U.S., and Chinese interests in the country, playing  them against one another to advance his own agenda. Russia’s decline as a  result of the war may increase Vucic’s interest in economic ties with  Beijing while also making his government more likely to work  constructively with Brussels and Washington. Still, it’s far from clear  that Vucic has the personal inclination or the political space to  resolve Serbia’s outstanding issues related to Kosovo—a prerequisite for  Serbia’s full European integration.

 Putin’s long-standing habit of stoking conflict means the West must  pay attention to the Balkans even as Russia is wrapped up in Ukraine. In  Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia’s longtime support for Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik  could be the fuse that Putin tries to light as a way of making problems  for Europe. Dodik recently met with Putin and offered support for the  sham referendums that Russia used to purportedly annex four Ukrainian  oblasts last month. Bosnia and Herzegovina is notoriously politically  fragile, in part because the country failed to adopt—and external  partners failed to adequately support—a workable long-term  constitutional framework. In another twist on his frozen conflict  playbook, Putin could, for example, encourage Dodik to declare his  intention to formally merge Republika Srpska, the majority-Serbian  region within the country, with Serbia. There is plenty of competition  for White House attention these days, but a presidential or vice  presidential visit to Sarajevo, the capital, could send a valuable  signal.
 Which of these or other dominoes will fall—and when and how? It is  too soon to predict the ultimate fallout of Russia’s certain strategic  defeat, partly because it is not clear how severe the defeat will be.  And although dominoes certainly fall in geopolitics, they don’t always  fall how one expects. International politics isn’t physics: The forces  bringing about geopolitical outcomes are more varied and the rules less  reliable.

 What seems certain, though, is that a phase of geopolitical  plasticity elevates the importance of diplomacy, which now has a greater  opportunity to have an impact in how the dominoes will fall. Therefore,  although the West is primarily focused on its response to Russia’s war  against Ukraine and the war’s impacts on energy supplies and inflation,  the United States and Europe should not miss the chance to quietly but  energetically exploit Russia’s colossal strategic mistake to work toward  a better status quo—and avoid a worse one—in the places where Russia’s  now-receding power projection has proven so nefarious and calcifying in  the past.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/10/14...-power-vacuum/

----------


## helge

> You don't know that, helge . . . it could well be under by tens of thousands. As I said, the mass graves being found in areas the murderous Russian scum occupied and the numerous ones in occupied territory.
> 
> My saying 10 if it's 9 or 11 isn't even remotely as bad as the Russian scum actually killing them.
> 
> No excuses. They invaded a sovereign country without being under threat and with ridiculous rationale - I hope the scum responsible simply die a painful death.


Yes I don't know

But I took the liberty of looking it up.

UN says 6 thousand something.

I don't see any reason to sex up such a horrific number.

But if you have a link, then I would like to have a look.


Massgraves; Have the forensics had a look yet ?

Would be nice to see a report

----------


## panama hat

> Massgraves; Have the forensics had a look yet ?


They have been unearthed . . . and more will be.  Sadly, the murderous Russians seem to enjoy murdering civilians

----------


## misskit

*Putin Tells Reporters Russia Has No Plan to ‘Destroy’ Ukraine*

Russian President Vladimir Putin shed some light on his current state of mind regarding the war in Ukraine at a press conference in the Kazakh capital Astana on Friday.


Among the takeaways from the president's rare Q&A session was the announcement that Russia's "partial" mobilization campaign would be coming to an end in a matter of weeks, and that the Kremlin had already managed to draft 222,000 reservists of an expected 300,000. 


"Nothing additional is planned. No proposals have been received from the defense ministry and I don't see any additional need in the foreseeable future," Putin added.


Speaking just days after the Kremlin unleashed multiple missile strikes on Ukrainian cities in what has widely been seen as retaliation for an attack on the Crimean Bridge, Putin played down the possibility of more such attacks in the near future. 


"There is no need now for massive strikes. There are other tasks," Putin told reporters, adding with no apparent irony that Russia had not set itself "the goal of destroying Ukraine." 

Russia was "doing everything right" in Ukraine, Putin stressed.


"What is happening today is not pleasant. But all the same [if Russia hadn't attacked in February] we would have been in the same situation, only the conditions would have been worse for us," he said.


However, he did acknowledge that Moscow's former Soviet allies were "worried" about the conflict, but said that this did not affect their relations with the Kremlin "in any way." 


When asked about a possible meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden during the upcoming G20 summit in Bali, Putin said he saw "no need" for bilateral talks, while advising reporters to ask Biden directly whether he was ready to hold a meeting.


Putin added that his personal attendance of the G20 summit next month remained uncertain. "Russia will certainly take part. As for the format, we're still thinking about it."

Putin Tells Reporters Russia Has No Plan to 'Destroy' Ukraine - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russia Says 11 Killed in ‘Terrorist’ Attack at Military Site*

Russia said two gunmen from an ex-Soviet state on Saturday attacked a military training ground killing 11 people who had volunteered to fight in Ukraine and wounding 15 others.


Russia's defense ministry said the attack in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, happened during a firearms training session.


Russia launched what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine at the end of February. Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a mobilization of 300,000 Russians who had previously done compulsory military service.


"On October 15, two citizens of a CIS country committed an act of terror at a training range of the Western military district in the Belgorod region," the state news agencies quoted the ministry as saying.


"As a result, 11 people were fatally wounded. Another 15 people suffered injuries of varying gravity and were taken to medical facilities."


The two attackers "were killed in retaliatory fire", the ministry added.


The CIS, or Commonwealth of Independent States, was formed between republics that were part of the Soviet Union.


More than 200,000 people have been conscripted into the Russian armed forces since the announcement of partial mobilization on September 21. 


The draft announcement sparked protests and several attacks on recruitment offices. 


*Fierce fighting
*

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile said Saturday that his troops were facing a "most difficult" situation near the eastern town of Bakhmut, which has been under attack from the Russian army for weeks.


Ukraine is clawing back territory in both the east and south, occupied by Russia for months, but is facing a tough challenge in some areas.


"A very severe situation persists in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions," Zelensky said, referring to two regions Russia says it has annexed.


"The most difficult is near Bakhmut, like in previous days. We are still holding our positions," he said.


Russian troops have for weeks been pummelling Bakhmut, a wine-making and salt-mining city that used to be populated by 70,000 people, in the hope of capturing the city.


Zelensky also said that Russia's total losses were now approaching 65,000.


One soldier, just back from the front line, told AFP they had been fighting for four days non-stop.


"Out of the 13 guys in my group, we lost two soldiers, and five got evacuated," said the 50-year-old soldier, "Poliak", from the 93rd brigade.


"For days I didn't sleep, didn't eat, didn't drink except coffee," he added. 


France meanwhile said it would train up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers on its soil.


Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu said France would also provide Ukraine with Crotale air-defence systems "to allow them to defend their skies".


Repeated strikes


Saturday's attack in the Belgorod training ground is the latest in a series of incidents to have hit the Russian region.


Earlier Saturday, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, said an oil depot was on fire after having been shelled. He posted a photo showing flames and plumes of black smoke rising above a building.


Last week Russia complained of an increase in artillery and missile strikes on its territory bordering Ukraine.


And on Friday the authorities said that a Ukrainian strike had set fire to a power station in the regional capital, also called Belgorod, causing power cuts. 


This came a day after a rocket gutted the top floor of an apartment building in the city of Belgorod, without causing injuries.


A munition depot in the region was also destroyed on Thursday. 


Earlier in the week, Russian officials said Ukrainian strikes had knocked out power in the town of Shebekino in the same region. A 74-year-old woman died and several others were wounded in the town.

Russia Says 11 Killed in 'Terrorist' Attack at Military Site - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

_Moscow’s defence ministry says it repelled a major attack by Kyiv’s troops in the south and inflicted ‘significant losses on the enemy’.

Russia says its forces have battled oncoming Ukraine troops to a standstill in the country’s south and inflicted “significant losses”.
Russian soldiers held their positions during “fierce fighting” in the Kherson region and Ukrainian troops were also targeted in the eastern region of Donetsk, Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday.


“The enemy made attempts to break through the defence of the Russian troops in the areas of Koshara and Pyatykhatky in the Kherson region with forces of up to three battalions, including one tank battalion,” chief defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

“The Russian army units held their positions in fierce battles, inflicting significant losses on the enemy,” he said.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Ukraine’s presidential office said Moscow’s military shelled towns and villages along the front line in the east and “active hostilities” continued in the Kherson region.
Ukrainian army spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun said the Russians began the evacuation of “state institutions” from the Kherson region to Crimea. Shtupun said the Ukrainian army carried out 20 attacks over the past day.

Russian forces targeted more than 30 towns and villages across Ukraine, launching five missiles and 23 air strikes and up to 60 rocket attacks, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said.

Fighting was particularly intense in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk and the strategically important Kherson province. They were three of the four provinces Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed as part of Russia last month.

Konashenkov acknowledged that Russia attacked Ukrainian regions on Sunday.

“During the past 24 hours, the Russian armed forces continued to strike with high-precision, long-range, air-launched weapons at military command and control facilities as well as the energy system of Ukraine,” Konashenkov said. “The goals of the strikes were achieved. All assigned targets were hit.”

FULL_ Russian forces hold the line in Kherson as Ukraine counterstrikes | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera
_

----------


## bsnub

> Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday.


A bastion of integrity and honesty. 

 :rofl:

----------


## bsnub

Russian soldiers have shot dead a Ukrainian  musician in his home after he refused to take part in a concert in  occupied Kherson, according to the culture ministry in Kyiv.

Conductor  Yuriy Kerpatenko declined to take part in a concert “intended by the  occupiers to demonstrate the so-called ‘improvement of peaceful life’ in  Kherson”, the ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page.

The concert on 1 October was intended to feature the Gileya chamber orchestra,  of which Kerpatenko was the principal conductor, but he “categorically  refused to cooperate with the occupants”, the statement said.

Kerpatenko, who was also the principal conductor of Kherson’s Mykola Kulish Music and Drama Theatre, had been posting defiant messages on his Facebook page until May.

The Kherson regional prosecutor’s office in Ukraine has launched a formal investigation  “on the basis of violations of the laws and customs of war, combined  with intentional murder”. Family members outside Kherson lost contact  with the conductor in September, it said.

Condemnation  by Ukrainian and international artists was swift. “The history of  Russia imposing a ‘comply or die’ policy against artists is nothing new.  It has a history which spans for hundred of years,” said the  Finnish-Ukrainian conductor Dalia Stasevska,  who was scheduled to conduct the Last Night of the Proms at London’s  Albert Hall last month before it was cancelled because of the Queen’s  death.

“I have seen too much silence from  Russian colleagues,” she said. “Would this be the time for Russian  musicians, especially those living and working abroad, to finally step  up and take a stand against the Russian regime’s actions in Ukraine?”

A  fortnight ago Stasevska drove a truck of humanitarian supplies into  Lviv from her home in Finland, before conducting the INSO-Lviv orchestra  in a concert of Ukrainian contemporary music.
“We  know the Russian regime is hunting activists, journalists, artists,  community leaders, and anyone ready to resist the occupation,” said the  prizewinning Ukrainian novelist turned war crimes investigator Victoria  Amelina.

“Yet, even knowing the current  pattern and history, we cannot and, more importantly, shouldn’t get used  to hearing about more brutal murders of a bright, talented, brave  people whose only fault was being Ukrainian.”

She  drew a parallel between Kerpatenko and Mykola Kulish, the Ukrainian  playwright after whom the theatre where the conductor worked is named.

“Kulish  was shot on 3 November 1937, near Sandarmokh, with 289 other Ukrainian  writers, artists and intellectuals. Yuriy Kerpatenko was shot in his  home in Kherson in October 2022,” she said.

The  Russians’ actions were “pure genocide”, said the conductor Semyon  Bychkov from Paris, where he was performing as music director of the  Czech Philharmonic. The St Petersburg-born conductor left Russia as a  young man in the 1970s.

“The tragic irony of  this is that talk about the superiority of Russian culture, its  humanism,” he said. “And here they murdered someone who is actually  bringing beauty to people’s lives. It is sickening.

“The  bullets don’t distinguish between people. It didn’t make me feel worse  that this man was a conductor, it just confirmed the pure evil that’s  been going on even before the first bombs fell on Ukraine.”

The novelist Andrey Kurkov,  author of Death and the Penguin, said: ““Now the name of Yuriy  Kerpatenko will be added to the list of murdered artists of Ukraine. I  increasingly think that Russia is not only seeking to occupy Ukrainian  territories, but also diligently destroying Ukrainian identity, an  important part of which is Ukrainian culture.”

Ukrainian author Oleksandr Mykhed,  who joined the military at the outbreak of the war, and whose home was  destroyed by Russian shelling, said: “Russia is trying to reconstruct  the Soviet Union in the occupied territories. To reconstruct something  improbable. 

“One of the key components of  Soviet policy was the destruction of culture of the enslaved countries.  Murder of cultural figures, purging of libraries, banning of national  languages.
“The modern occupiers are fully following this strategy. Destroying culture, sports, education.

“And  when our territories are deoccupied, we will learn about dozens and  hundreds of such terrible stories. Stories of destruction and heroic  resistance.”

“It is absolutely terrifying,”  said chief stage director of Kyiv’s National Opera of Ukraine, Anatoliy  Solovianenko. “Whether he was a doctor, or a worker, or an artist, it  makes no difference. He was a human, and he refused to comply.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...e_iOSApp_Other

----------


## harrybarracuda

Add another war crime to Putin's list.

----------


## panama hat

> Russian troops kill Ukrainian musician for refusing role in Kherson concert


I wonder if sabang likes the dead guy's music

----------


## bsnub

Good news...

  By using Iranian drones to attack Ukrainian cities, Vladimir Putin has imported a weapon that has defined the Middle East’s conflicts into the heart of Europe.

 One possible consequence of its use could be to drag Israel into the  war as a fearsome ally of Ukraine, using its unrivalled expertise in countering Tehran’s drones.

 There is also speculation over what Iran is getting in return for  deliveries of its inexpensive but deadly weapons, and particularly about  whether Russia could help Tehran’s rapidly accelerating nuclear  programme.

 After extensive drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, Israel is now  facing immense pressure to join the United States and Europe in  providing military technology to Ukraine.

 Ukrainian officials have been urgently lobbying Israel  for air defence technology, while one Israeli government minister broke  ranks on Sunday to publicly endorse armed support for Ukraine.

 However, such a move could shatter Israel’s extremely delicate,  regional relationship with Russia, which for now has turned a blind eye  to Israeli army operations in Syria against Iranian-backed forces.

 Moscow is also threatening to close down the Jewish Agency in Russia, which would potentially wreck efforts to facilitate the emigration of Russian Jews to Israel.

 Moreover, Israeli officials are said to be concerned that openly  siding against Russia with Ukraine could destabilise its nine  million-strong population, which includes roughly a million Russian Jews  and half a million Ukrainians.

 Then there is the nuclear issue: there have been few indications as  to what Iran gains from Russia in return for sending drones, which may  soon be followed by ballistic missile shipments.

  But Iran has accelerated its nuclear programme this year, which  Israel regards as an existential threat, and appears to be forging an  alliance with nuclear-armed Russia.

 On Sunday, one Israeli minister broke ranks to call on his government  to give Ukraine military support. "There is no longer any doubt where  Israel should stand in this bloody conflict. The time has come for  Ukraine to receive military aid as well, just as the USA and Nato  countries provide," Nachman Shai, diaspora affairs minister, wrote on  Twitter.

 The tweet prompted an angry response from Dmitry Medvedev, former  Russian president, who said that supplying weapons would "destroy all  bilateral relations between our countries".

 Western-allied Gulf states, in particular the United Arab Emirates,  are also no stranger to Iranian drone attacks. On January 17, drones  launched by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels struck the city of Abu  Dhabi, killing three civilians. And, on July 29, a suspected Iranian  drone strike on the Mercer Street vessel off the coast of Oman killed a British sailor and a Romanian captain.

 It remains unclear what support, if any, the Gulf states might be  willing to provide. Saudi Arabia's recent decision to cut oil production  amid a global energy crisis triggered by Moscow has prompted  accusations from Washington that it is siding with Russia in the Ukraine  conflict.

 Much of the debate over potential Israeli air support has focused on  the Iron Dome, a billion-dollar interception system which protects  Israeli cities from rockets launched by Hamas and other Palestinian  militant groups in Gaza.

  Sources familiar with Israel's military strategy say this is a red herring, arguing that the Iron Dome - which covers the tiny landmass of Israel - is not equipped for dealing with ballistic missiles in a territory as large as Ukraine.

 However, the Iron Dome is capable of intercepting drones, and  reportedly worked well in taking down several during the May 2021  conflict between Israel and Gaza. Israeli soldiers also have a wealth of  experience and expertise which could be shared with Ukrainian troops as  well as non-Iron Dome related hardware.

 "The Iran-Russia drone axis shows that Iran's drones now pose a  threat far beyond the Middle East," said Seth Frantzman, an Israeli  analyst and the author of the book "Drone Wars".

 "It also means Ukraine can learn from Israel's success against drones  [which] is achieved by use of good detection systems such as radar, and  scrambling jets, helicopters, or ground-based defences to down the  drones," he added, stressing that detecting drones early was a key part  of defeating them.

 A recent report in the New York Times suggests that Israel may  already be sharing intelligence on Iran's drone programme behind the  scenes, while one Israeli media report in September claimed that an  Israeli tech firm is providing Ukraine with anti-drone expertise.

 Those reports have clearly been read with concern in Moscow, which  through its grim bargain with Tehran could be about to drag the Middle  East's other major power into the Ukraine war.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-ne...nother-middle/

----------


## harrybarracuda

> such a move could shatter Israel’s extremely delicate, regional relationship with Russia, which for now has turned a blind eye to Israeli army operations in Syria against Iranian-backed forces.


Israel doesn't give a flying fuck about Russia, that's why it's happy to bomb Iranians in Syria any time it feels like it.

----------


## David48atTD

> Problem is, Russia


 :iagree:

----------


## bsnub

> Israel doesn't give a flying fuck about Russia, that's why it's happy to bomb Iranians in Syria any time it feels like it.


That is true, Russia pretends that they have some sort of agreement, but the truth is the Israelis just do what they want as they have no fear of the Russkies.

----------


## misskit

*Anger Mounts as Russian Draftees Thrown Into Battle Without Training, Equipment*

Ten days after being mobilized into the Russian army, Igor Puchkov was killed fighting in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region. 


The 27-year-old father of two was sent into combat with no military instruction beyond what he had received during his compulsory military service as a teenager, according to relatives.  


“We were outraged when he was sent to Ukraine with no training,” his sister-in-law Svetlana Puchkova told The Moscow Times in a phone interview. 


“He was promised two weeks of military exercises, but they were only given 30 bullets — they shot once and that was it.”


Mounting evidence of ill-equipped Russian conscripts deployed to Ukraine with almost no military training has sparked bafflement and anger among friends and relatives who spoke to The Moscow Times about the experiences of their loved ones. 


Puchkov, from the large Siberian town of Minusinsk, was among hundreds of local men who received draft papers immediately after President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial” mobilization at the end of last month. 


Prior to his call-up, Puchkov’s only time in the Armed Forces had been one year of compulsory military service that he completed in 2015. 


Puchkov’s widow must now care for their two children, aged three and five years old, on her own. 


“He’s gone and she’s left without money, without anything,” Puchkova said. “He was always with a smile on his face, always joking. We don’t even know how he died.” 

Similarly, construction worker Alexander Parilov, 35, also from Minusinsk, was not provided with additional training before being sent into battle, according to a friend. He died on the same day as Puchkov. 


“No one had even held a machine gun,” said Parilov’s best friend, Igor Solondaev, about the training offered to Parilov and the other locals mobilized with him.


“He bought himself a uniform and boots for 35,000 rubles ($567) but he didn’t have time to buy his own sleeping bag. They were not given anything. A week later, they gave them military uniforms and a machine gun — just a day before sending them to Kherson,” Solondaev told The Moscow Times by phone.


“The next day, he was killed.”


A political gamble intended to solve the army’s manpower problem, Russia’s mobilization has been plagued by problems and excesses. Bringing the Ukraine war home to many Russians for the first time, polling data suggests it has put a dent in Putin’s popularity. 


Men like Puchkov and Parilov, according to the accounts given by their friends and relatives, did not receive the minimum 10 days of training that Putin said last week every mobilized man “must undergo” before taking part in combat operations. 


Worried about the lack of military training, relatives of soldiers from western Russia’s Bryansk region published a video appeal to Putin over the weekend, asking the president to intervene to bring their mobilized sons and husbands back home.


“Our guys are being sent to the frontlines without training,” said the wife of draftee Ivan Terenkov, who was conscripted two days after mobilization was announced.


“Today I got a call from my son, who told me: ‘Mom, help me, get me out of this hell’,” said a woman who identified herself as the mother of mobilized soldier Nikita Tsepanov. 

A lack of official transparency has prompted wives and other relatives of mobilized soldiers to create groups and chats on social media to try and find out more information. 


Many users in such groups surveyed by The Moscow Times complained that they hadn't heard from their sons and husbands for weeks.


“Why the hell did they send them to Ukraine on the second day? And why were they left without training?” one woman said in a private chat for soldiers' families on social network VKontakte to which The Moscow Times was given access.


While there is little evidence that friends and relatives of dead soldiers are ready to take to the streets in protest, anger toward officials appears to be on the rise. 


“There is growing negative sentiment toward the authorities,” said Solondaev, whose best friend Parilov was killed in the Kherson region. 


“People understand what mobilization is for, that people are needed. But they don’t understand why draftees are not provided with water or food and people are not given any information.”


Amid the discontent, the Kremlin has appeared keen to signal that mobilization, as it enters its fourth week, is already drawing to a close. 


Putin told reporters Friday that mobilization would run for another two weeks. 

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Monday that mobilization in the Russian capital was at an end and any outstanding draft papers would no longer be valid.


But the slowing of the pace of mobilization is likely to be of little comfort to the hundreds of thousands families with loved ones on their way to the front. 


There has been almost no updates about the whereabouts or health of Alexei Kamashev, a 40-year-old father of six, since he was mobilized from a small village in Russia’s Kirov region, according to his friend and classmate Tatyana Bazhenova.


“His wife is crying all the time. He was given an old push-button mobile phone and called only once. The family doesn't know where he is,” Bazhenova told The Moscow Times.


But locals still apparently support the Ukraine war and mobilization, she said. 


“I think the situation will change when coffins start coming back,” said Bazhenova. 

Anger Mounts as Russian Draftees Thrown Into Battle Without Training, Equipment - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*4 Russians Arrested in Norway for Breaking Photography Ban*

For the third time in a week, police in northern Norway have detained Russian citizens for taking photos in areas where photography is banned.


While the police declined to give any further information, they did confirm that the arrests took place “at a location in Nordland,” a county in northern Norway that is home to several military installations, petroleum- and industrial production sites, and is also home to some of the country’s largest hydroelectric power plants.


Considerable amounts of camera gear and a large number of photos were recovered.


On Friday, a district court remanded the four suspects in custody while the investigation continues.


According to a police statement, the four suspects drove to Norway from Finland. During interrogation, the Russians said that they were tourists.

Last week, police in Kirkenes detained a 50-year-old Russian after a routine stop at the Russian border during which police found two drones in his luggage. The man, who was attempting to exit the country, had hours of film taken at locations across Norway in his possession.


On Friday, a 51-year-old Russian citizen on his way to Svalbard was detained at Tromsø airport for photographing sensitive objects. The police found additional photos of the airport in Kirkenes, including a military helicopter.


The Russian Embassy in Oslo on Friday issued a warning to Russian tourists visiting Norway not to bring expensive photo and video equipment with them, as well as to avoid taking photos of potentially sensitive sites in the country.

4 Russians Arrested in Norway for Breaking Photography Ban - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Norway says 'foreign intelligence' behind drone flights*

Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store on Wednesday accused "foreign intelligence" services of being behind a recent slew of "unacceptable" drone flights in the country, indirectly pointing the finger at Russia.


Earlier Wednesday, Norwegian police had announced the arrest of a Russian -- the son of a close confidant of President Vladimir Putin -- accusing him of illegally flying a drone in the Svalbard archipelago, located in the geopolitically strategic Arctic region.


He was the seventh Russian arrested in the past few days suspected of illegally flying drones or taking photos in restricted areas in the Scandinavian country, which shares a border with Russia in the far north.


"It is obviously unacceptable for foreign intelligence to fly drones over Norwegian airports," Store told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.


His remarks came just hours after a drone was observed near the airport in Bergen, Norway's second-biggest city, briefly suspending air traffic.


Along with several other Western nations, Norway has forbidden Russians and Russian entities from flying over its territory following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, whether by drone or aircraft.


Breaking that ban is punishable by a three-year prison term while unauthorised photography can merit a one-year sentence.


High alert


A number of mysterious drone flights have been observed in Norway in recent weeks.


Combined with the presumed sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, the observations have prompted Oslo to beef up security around strategic infrastructure, in particular its oil and gas offshore platforms.


The latest Russian arrested in Norway was identified as Andrei Yakunin, the son of ex-Russian Railways boss Vladimir Yakunin, who is considered to be close to Putin.


Aged 47 and holding British and Russian nationality, Andrei Yakunin was arrested on Monday in Hammerfest in northern Norway, according to police and court documents.


"The suspect has admitted flying a drone in Svalbard," police official Anja Mikkelsen said.


Located about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the North Pole, the Svalbard archipelago is a Norwegian territory strategically located in the heart of the Arctic.


It is home to a relatively large Russian community, and its special legal status enables foreign nationals to mine some of its natural resources.


Yakunin has been placed in custody for two weeks, and drones and electronics in his possession have been confiscated, police said.


On Monday, Russia's embassy in Oslo said "hysteria" in Norway was impacting "ordinary tourists", calling the ban on Russians flying drones "unjustified and discriminatory".

Norway says 'foreign intelligence' behind drone flights

----------


## harrybarracuda

Fuck Russian tourists. Bar them all. From everywhere.

----------


## harrybarracuda

Pro-Russian officials are leaving the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Wednesday ahead of an advance on the city by Kyiv's forces.
The region's Moscow-installed head, Vladimir Saldo, told Russian state television that the administration was moving to the east bank of the Dnieper river, Agence France-Presse reported.
There were reports on social media that Russian intelligence service (FSB) officers and Chechen troops fighting for President Vladimir Putin's forces had already begun to leave the city between two and three days ago.
Kherson is the capital of the region of the same name and is on the western bank of the river, as are Ukrainian troops. It was the first major city to fall to Russian forces and its recapture would be a major gain for Ukraine.

Russia Abandons Kherson as Putin's Army Flees Back Across Dnieper

----------


## mackayae

A Special Military Retreat.

----------


## harrybarracuda

From Twitter. "Economic mobilisation" is just a fancy term for russian war criminals nicking others peoples' shit.




> The Kremlin's actual decrees go much further than Putin let on in his speech (as usual) on martial law, outlining sweeping new security measures, movement restrictions, vehicle checks and wholesale "economic mobilisation" across much of western & southern Russia

----------


## Takeovers

Russian state TV is preparing the viewers for the loss of Kherson and other territories - YouTube

Video from Russian state TV.

Russian state media prepare the people for the loss of Kherson. They say, they evacuate civilians, because Ukraine may destroy Kherson like they have destroyed so many other Cities. Using NATO trained and NATO equipped troops. But the military stays and fights. The moderator asks why Russia was not prepared for NATO intervention but does not get an answer.

----------


## misskit

*Kyiv Tell Ukrainians to Use Less Energy*

Ukraine has urged residents to drastically restrict their electricity consumption starting Thursday to cope with the destruction of power stations by the Russian army as winter approaches. 


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said after a meeting with energy companies that they were preparing "for all possible scenarios with a view to winter."


In an evening address, Zelensky warned that "Russian terror will be directed at energy facilities", and urged the country to conserve electricity starting at 7 a.m. on Thursday.


He added that the government was "working on the creation of mobile power supply points for critical infrastructure in cities and villages."


Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko asked residents of the capital not to turn on major electrical appliances, saying "even a small saving and reduction of electricity consumption in each residence will help to stabilise the national energy system's operation."

Ukraine War: Kyiv Tells Ukrainians to Use Less Energy - The Moscow Times

----------


## Hugh Cow

> They have been unearthed . . . and more will be.  Sadly, the murderous Russians seem to enjoy murdering civilians


It is staggering to think that this is supposed to be a well disciplined army the world should fear. There is obviously no direction from NCOs to the higher ranks. They behave more like a load of gangs with military equipment. I saw an interview with a recently mobilised injured Russian soldier that had spent 6 days from mobilisation to action on the front line. Many of these men are not lasting a week at the front and are now seeing the difference from Russian army propaganda to the harsh reality of being a Russian soldier at the front.

----------


## misskit

*Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 20*
Oct 20, 2022 - Press ISW


Russia is likely continuing to prepare for a false flag attack on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on October 20 that Russian forces mined the dam of the Kakhovka HPP and noted that the HPP holds over 18 million cubic meters of water, which would cause massive and rapid flooding of settlements along the Dnipro River, including Kherson City. Zelensky emphasized that the flooding would impact hundreds of thousands of people. Russian sources, however, continued to accuse Ukrainian forces of shelling the Kakhovka HPP and have widely circulated graphics depicting the flood path in the event of a dam breach. As ISW reported on October 19, Russian sources are likely setting information conditions for Russian forces to blow the dam after they withdraw from western Kherson Oblast and accuse Ukrainian forces of flooding the Dnipro River and surrounding settlements, partially in an attempt to cover their retreat further into eastern Kherson Oblast. Continued Russian preparation for a false-flag attack on the Kakhovka HPP is also  likely meant to distract from reports of Russian losses in Kherson Oblast.

Institute for the Study of War

----------


## misskit

*88 towns and villages in Kherson region recaptured by our military, claims Ukraine*

The Ukrainian government said on Friday that its defence forces were able to recapture 88 towns and villages in the Kherson region. The announcement marked a huge achievement for Ukraine as Kherson was one of the four regions that Russia had “annexed” through the series of referendums. 


"Kherson region: 88 settlements de-occupied," Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, said on Telegram according to a report by Reuters. 

The Ukrainian military was able to de-occupy 551 settlements in the Kharkiv region and as many as 1685 war crimes were registered against the Russian forces.  


Tymoshenko took to social media to inform that the government was finally able to provide aid to the people in the Beryslav district and power was restored in several parts of the country. 


Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Russian defence ministry said that a journalist was killed, and 10 others were injured as Ukraine attacked a bridge in the Kherson region on Friday. 

"Out of the journalists 10 were injured, one was killed," the statement read according to AFP. 


Meanwhile, the European Union will be providing Ukraine with $17.6 million in financial aid over the next year. The announcement was made after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the ongoing crisis can result in a massive economic crisis and refugee exodus in the country. 


“Ukraine is telling us that they need approximately 3-4 billion euros per month to have enough resources for the basics,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.  

88 towns and villages in Kherson region recaptured by our military, claims Ukraine - World News

----------


## S Landreth

Russia Rages After Son of Putin Official Is Nabbed on U.S. Charges

The Kremlin is threatening retaliatory action after authorities arrested Artyom Uss, the son of a top Russian official, at the United States request, for allegedly participating in a sanctions evasion and money laundering scheme.

Uss, who was detained in Milan, was charged in relation to a scheme to unlawfully obtain U.S. military technology and sanctioned Venezuelan oil in order to support Russias war effort in Ukraine, according to charges unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice this week.

We are categorically against this and we condemn the practice of these kinds of arrests of Russian citizens, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Uss father, the governor of Russias Krasnoyarsk Krai region, Alexander Uss, has suggested the arrest is politically motivated, according to TASS.

Another Russian government spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said Moscow would not leave the United States search for Russians unanswered and accused the U.S. of taking hostages for "political purposes, TASS reported.

These Top Putin Cronies Vowed to Fight in Ukraine Themselves. So Where Are They?

Uss wasnt the only one charged in the money laundering and smuggling scheme. Uss co-owned a trading company called Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau GmbH (NDA GmbH) which he and co-conspirators allegedly used as a front to ship U.S. defense technology to Russia.

Uss and co-conspirators are accused of using NDA GmbH to ship advanced semiconductors and microprocessors for fighter aircraft, missile systems, smart munitions, radar, and satellites in Russiasome of which have been found in weapons used in the war in Ukraine.

Some of the same electronic components obtained through the criminal scheme have been found in Russian weapons platforms seized on the battlefield in Ukraine, the Department of Justice said in an announcement, adding that the accused developed a sophisticated network of schemes that undermined security, economic stability and rule of law around the world.

The group of co-conspirators also allegedly shipped hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela to Russian and Chinese entities, including at least one sanctioned oligarch.

The 12-count indictment charged five Russian nationals in total, including Yury Orekhov, Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, Timofey Telegin, and Sergey Tulyakov. Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce and Juan Carlos Soto were also charged with setting up illegal oil deals for Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.

One of the co-conspirators openly acknowledged that NDA GmbH was working for a sanctioned oligarch, according to court documents.

He [the oligarch] is under sanctions as well, Orekhov said. Thats why we [are] acting from this company [NDA GmbH]. As fronting.

Russia has long helped Venezuela evade sanctions around the globe. But the latest charges expose the multiple layers of sanctions the United States has imposed on both Russia and Venezuela.

The United States has been sanctioning Venezuela for more than 15 years, and in recent years has imposed restrictions on Venezuelas state oil company and other entities in order to try to pressure Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to leave power.

Sanctions on Russian banks in recent months, which the United States and other nations have levied in an attempt to try to isolate Moscow on the world stage while it assaults Ukraine, have likely hurt Venezuelas ability to access its assets, according to the Congressional Research Service. But higher oil prices from Russias invasion of Ukraine appear to be driving a semblance of economic recovery for Venezuela, according to the CRS.

Task Force KleptoCapture, the Department of Justice group established earlier this year with the aim of punishing Russia for the war in Ukraine and enforcing sanctions on Russian oligarchs, announced the charges alongside other DOJ entities.

Stamping out evasion of export controls on military technology is among the Task Forces highest priorities, Andrew Adams, the director of Task Force KleptoCapture, said in a statement. Webs of shell companies, cryptocurrency and an international network of fraudsters failed to shield Orekhov and his cronies from apprehension by U.S. law enforcement.

Its not clear what Russia will be doing in response to Uss arrest.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> “We are categorically against this and we condemn the practice of these kinds of arrests of Russian citizens,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.


Perhaps they should educate them on how not to break the law then.

----------


## panama hat

> Alexander Uss, has suggested the arrest is politically motivated, according to TASS.


Oh noes . . . Russians are not used to politically motivated anything

----------


## bsnub

Anyone who considers TASS as a credible news source has their head up their ass.

----------


## bsnub

The Russian army is retreating from Kherson. It’s poised to leave behind it a lot of destruction and dead bodies.

 Kherson, a port at the mouth of the Dnipro River on the Black Sea,  was one of Russia’s biggest prizes as its forces rolled into Ukraine in  late February, widening a war that began eight years ago with Russia’s  illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

 In March, disorganized Ukrainian forces gave up Kherson, with its  strategic port and railyard and prewar population of 300,000, without  much of a fight. For the next seven months, Kherson anchored Russian  positions on the southern front. 

 As summer turned to fall, liberating Kherson was a top priority for  Kyiv. Holding on to the city was one of Moscow’s top priorities. In May,  the Ukrainian army—recently rearmed with new American-made howitzers  and rocket-launchers—began striking Russian supply lines around Kherson,  and even holed the Antonovskiy Bridge, the city’s main span across the  Dnipro.

 The 49th Combined Arms Army and other Russian forces in Kherson  Oblast frayed. The Kremlin shifted from the east to the south to bolster  the 49th CAA, but that left gaps in Russian lines in the east—gaps the  Ukrainian army exploited with a counteroffensive starting in early  September.

 Ukrainian troops in the south counterattacked at the same time. The  southern counteroffensive faced more resistance than the eastern  counteroffensive did, but it still made swift progress east of Kherson. 

 A regiment of Russian coastal troops shattered. A Russian mountain brigade retreated as a Ukrainian mountain brigade advanced. A Russian airborne division briefly held off  a Ukrainian marine brigade as desperate Russians fled south toward  Beryslav, where a dam across the Dnipro offers a durable escape route  out of Kherson Oblast north of the river.

 Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the recently appointed commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, on Tuesday told Russian media “a difficult situation has emerged” in Kherson. 

 The escape began two weeks ago and accelerated this week. “Russian  forces continue to reinforce crossing points over the Dnipro River, and  have completed a barge bridge alongside the damaged Antonovskiy Bridge  in Kherson,” the U.K. Defense Ministry said.

 More and more Russian troops—and their civilian support  personnel—crossed the Dnipro, sometimes under Ukrainian bombardment.  Russian occupation authorities even ordered civilians in Kherson to cross the Dnipro. It’s not clear many will obey. 

 As Ukrainian brigades and the wet Ukrainian winter approach, the  Kremlin is prepared to give up Kherson. On its way out, it’s going to  inflict as much pain as possible—on its own forces _and_ the  Ukrainians. There are reports the Russian army is forcing recent  draftees, who nearly to a man are unfit and untrained, to fight a  rearguard action in order to buy time for better troops to reach  Beryslav. 

 Meanwhile, Russian occupation officials are opening the dam,  sending more water downriver toward Kherson and the river delta  adjacent to the city. The flooding could complicate Ukrainian  operations. 

There’s an apocalyptic option.  Once they’ve brought across the river all their best troops—and  whatever loot they can grab—the Russians could blow the dam. Flood  waters would inundate Kherson and even creep north toward the nearby  free city of Mykolaiv, a major base of operations for Ukrainian forces  in the south.

 The clock is ticking. The weather is getting colder and wetter and  the mud is getting deeper. Most units on both sides of the conflict  aren’t ready to wage war in the mud. The Russian retreat, and the  Ukrainian offensive, both are likely to slow in the coming weeks. 

 If the Russians are going to blow the dam, they’re probably going to  do it soon. Ukrainian commanders know this, and they’re not without  options to limit the damage. 

 They could land special operations forces on the dam. They could  speed up the pace of their operations, aiming to liberate Beryslav and  Kherson before the Russians do their worst. If the Ukrainians move  faster, Russia’s retreat could turn into a rout. “Russian forces likely  intend to continue that withdrawal over the next several weeks,” the  Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C., said Friday, “but may struggle to withdraw in good order if Ukrainian forces choose to attack.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=5c0e5164790f

----------


## misskit

*Millions without power across Ukraine Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s energy system for two weeks*

On October 22, Russia again attacked a number of energy infrastructure targets throughout Ukraine, leaving at least 1.5 million without power. Ukrenergo, the state energy company, says today’s attacks caused damaged comparable to, and possibly exceeding, the damage from Russian attacks in the days after the explosion on the Crimean Bridge. Russian strikes on the Ukrainian energy system have been ongoing since the explosion

The Ukrainian energy system has again been subject to massive missile attacks from the Russian side. At least nine regions in the southern, central, and western parts of the country recorded projectile strikes or air defense operations. Volyn, Khmelnytsky, Odesa, Rivne, Kirovohrad, and Cherkasy regions reported explosions. Kyiv, Chernivtsi, and Lviv regions reported enemy missiles shot down.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President, said that following missile strikes 672,000 customers were without power in Khmelnytsky; in Mikolaiv – 188,000; in Volyn – 102,000; in Cherkasy – 242,000; in Rivne – almost 175,000; in Kirovohrad – almost 62,000; and in Odesa – 10,500.

The power was out in several cities because of the strikes. Five missiles were launched on Kyiv but they were shot down, said presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich. The Khmelnytsky city council reported that the city was without power, and it advised residents to conserve water, since it too will also be cut off. Ihor Polishchuk, the mayor of Lutsk, in the Volyn region, said that energy facilities were damaged. According to him, the city was partially without power. Polishchuk also called on residents to conserve water. Ihor Chaika, mayor of Kovel, also in the Volyn region, gave residents the same advice.

Residents of various settlements in the Odesa and Kirovohrad regions reported blackouts. Two parts of the Cherkasy region were partially or fully without electricity. Ihor Taburets, head of the region, said that kamikaze drones attacked the region and damaged a piece of critical infrastructure.

The wide-scale damage from today’s attacks “comparable or possibly exceeds” the damage from shelling in the days after the explosion on the Crimean Bridge, says Ukrainian energy utility Ukrenergo. “Repair crews will begin restoring power as soon as rescuers from emergency services deal with the consequences of the missile strikes,” the company announced, assuring Ukrainians that it would restore power in affected regions as soon as possible.

Ukrenergo added that it had to limit energy supply to a number of regions, in order to “reduce the load on the network and avoid repeated accidents.” Rolling blackouts began in Ukraine on October 20 to reduce the load on its damaged energy system.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine commented on the latest attack on the energy system with the words “never mind, we’ll survive.” “Russians’ dream of problems in the rear stopping the liberation of Ukrainian territory is infantile. We’re only becoming fiercer every day. And that means we’ll have an even stronger response,” he said. After the first wave of shelling on October 22, several cities announced air raids (Kyiv had three in a day) and explosions were heard.


Russia began regularly attacking Ukrainian energy facilities after the October 8 explosion on the Crimean Bridge. Russian authorities blamed Ukrainian intelligence agencies for organizing the explosion. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky denies that version of events, saying “we definitely didn’t order it, as far as I know.” He suggested that the explosion was the result of an internal power struggle between the Russian military and intelligence services.


Since October 10, Russian attacks have damaged 30 to 40 percent of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, energy minister Herman Halushchenko said on October 21. According to him, Russian forces shelled a number of thermal power plants this week, damaging 50 percent of their capacity. One option for Ukraine is to import energy, and some traders have already entered discussions with providers, Halushchenko said.

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/10...across-ukraine

----------


## misskit

*Administration of annexed Kherson requires residents to leave the city ‘immediately’*

Russian-appointed authorities of the Kherson region called on residents the city of Kherson to leave “immediately” and relocate to the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro “because of the tense situation at the front, the increased danger of massive strikes on the city, and the threat of terrorist attacks.”


“Kherson civilians and all divisions and ministries of the civil administration must cross to the left bank today,” read a post on the regional administration’s Telegram channel.


“We won’t force anyone, we won’t drag anyone anywhere. There is a group of ‘waiters.’ They’re waiting for Ukrainian Armed Forces. But I think the only thing awaiting them is UAF shells,” said Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the administration of the annexed Kherson region.


On October 18, Vladimir Saldo, the head of the annexed region, announced an “organized relocation” to the Dnipro’s left bank for residents of four municipalities. Kherson was not on that list of municipalities. But the next day, residents of the city received text messages urging them to leave. They were promised housing certificates on moving to Russia.


According to Saldo, Russian-appointed Kherson authorities plan to “relocate around 50 to 60 thousand people to the left bank and to other regions of Russia.” Stremousov has said that 25,000 people had already been transported from the right to the left bank of the Dnipro as of October 21.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/10/22...ty-immediately

----------


## bsnub

*Kherson resident describes a ghost town of exhausted people, with acute shortages of medicine*


       A resident of Kherson has described the situation in the Russian-occupied city as tense, with people “emotionally exhausted,” the streets empty from mid-afternoon onwards, and Russian soldiers often seen in civilian clothes.   

           The woman was reached by CNN through a third party, and was  speaking shortly before the Russian-appointed administration in the city  ordered civilians to leave.   

           The administration said Saturday that “due to the tense situation  at the front, the increased danger of massive shelling of the city and  the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave  the city and cross to the East bank of the Dnipro!”    

           Previously the authorities had recommended people leave; Saturday’s announcement appears to go beyond that.    

           Speaking on Friday, the female civilian in Kherson city said:  “Unfortunately, many residents of Kherson had to consider leaving the  city. Everyone had their own reasons, worries and fears. But I am 100%  sure that no one wanted to go.”   

           CNN is not identifying the woman for security reasons.   

           She said Kherson had become a ghost town. Tens of thousands of its  residents have left since the Russian occupation began in March.      

       “In the evening you can see a large number of high-rise buildings  in which a maximum of two or three windows are lit. During the day, you  can meet people mostly near the market. But at 3-4 p.m. the streets are  empty and there is no one at all.”    

           On Saturday, one Ukrainian official, Yuriy Sobolevskyi, alleged on  Telegram that the “miserable scum who terrorize Kherson” had ordered  all elevators to be turned off in the city.   

           The woman said she was not considering leaving. “To be honest,  this question infuriates me….This is my land, Kherson is my home. We  took part in rallies against the occupiers from the first days of the  war, we fought as hard as we could. This struggle is still going on.”    

           The woman said that over the past few days she had not heard of  anyone being forced to leave. Some people were still trying to reach  Vasylivka in neighboring Zaporizhia region, the only crossing point  between Russian and Ukrainian-held territory that is still open.   

           It’s unclear whether that situation will now change after the latest instructions from the Russian-appointed authority.     

           The woman said the atmosphere in the city was tense. “People are  emotionally exhausted, some simply do not leave their home to avoid  contact with the military. It is impossible to relax here. 

In the  evening when I hear a car driving near the house, I start to get  nervous, because a car at a late hour is not a good sign.”    

           She insisted that most of those left understood that the Ukrainian  military “will never harm the population and there will be no shelling  of civilians.”     

       The woman said that while utilities continued to function, people  were worried about adequate power and heating during the winter.  “Everyone is afraid of the coming winter.”   

           She said that there was enough basic food available. “Kherson has  generally turned into one spontaneous market, people sell what they can.  Someone bakes homemade bread, someone bakes cakes, someone sells their  stuff simply in the middle of the street by putting it on a sheet.”    

           But as the Russians had taken people’s boats, she was unsure how food deliveries from the east bank would be sustained.    

           The woman said medical supplies and baby formula were in short  supply and very expensive. “Everything being imported now is medicine  from the Russian Federation. Medicines are sold simply on the street  from the car or by some people privately.”   

           There were always long lines at pharmacies and things like antibiotics were in short supply.    

*Shelling is welcomed*

           She was unsure whether the number of Russian soldiers in Kherson  city had increased or decreased but had noticed a growing contingent of  Chechen fighters in the city.    

           “I can’t say that there are less Russian soldiers, they simply  took off their military uniforms and put on civilian clothes. Some walk  the street wearing civilian clothes but with a machine gun.”    
           She said she welcomed the sound of shelling.    

           “Kherson residents are frightened by the silence. I remember, it  was quiet for a couple of days in summer, and it seemed to everyone that  Ukraine had forgotten about us.   

           “You can constantly hear how the Armed Forces of Ukraine are  shelling the positions of the occupiers. You can’t even imagine how  happy the locals are because of it,” she said.   

           “Periodically automatic weapons are heard in different parts of the city, but it is not known who is having a firefight.”   

           Ukrainian forces are still some distance from Kherson city but  have made inroads in other parts of the region. Russian forces appear to  be dug in and defending their positions, while launching missile  attacks against the Ukrainian advance. Local Russian-appointed officials  insist Moscow’s forces intend to defend the region, while Ukrainian  officials say that as many as 45 Russian battalion tactical groups may  now be on the west bank of the Dnipro.   

           But Ukrainian officials say that in some parts of Kherson, such as  Beryslav, occupation authorities have ceased their activities in recent  days. “Collaborators who cooperated with the Russian occupiers continue  to leave the city with their families and property,” the Ukrainian  military said Friday.    

           In the last few days, the Ukrainians have struck a newly erected  pontoon beneath the Antonivskyi bridge, which is near Kherson city.  Local authorities said four people were killed.   

Kherson, Ukraine, resident describes a ghost town of exhausted people, with acute shortages of medicine | CNN

----------


## sabang

Finding it a bit hard to find some good  news right now 
 Snubs? Oh well, keep trying.

----------


## misskit

ISW:* Russian retreat from Kherson has begun*

The Russian Army has started to withdraw its forces from the southern part of the Kherson region, writes the Institute for the Study of War in its October 21 assessment. The US think tank has been analyzing the situation at the front since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


ISW analysts cite Ukrainian Army sources, who said the previous day that Russian forces were “fairly actively” transferring munitions, equipment, and several units from the western bank of the Dnipro to the eastern. Russia also apparently sent 2,000 mobilized soldiers to support the front line, presumably to cover the withdrawal of troops.


The ISW assessment notes that a detachment covering the withdrawal of other troops should be well-trained and professional. It cites Ukrainian sources saying Russia may have left newly mobilized soldiers on the eastern bank and transferred its most “combat-ready” units to the western bank. “Russia’s poorly trained, newly mobilized reservists are very unlikely to stand and resist a Ukrainian counterattack if Ukrainian forces choose to attack them and chase the withdrawing forces,” analysts write.


The ISW also repeats its prediction that Russia is likely planning to blow up the dam at the Kakhovska Hydropower Station in the Kherson region, in order to cover its retreat and prevent Ukrainian troops from following them deep into Kherson. Russia intends to lay the blame for blowing up the dam on Ukrainians.


“Ukraine has no material interest in blowing the dam, which could flood 80 Ukrainian cities and displace hundreds of thousands of people while damaging Ukraine’s already-tenuous electricity supply,” the assessment observes.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/10/22...rson-has-begun

----------


## David48atTD

*Russian warplane crashes into building in Siberia*

Two  pilots were killed when their jet hit a residential building in Irkutsk  and sparked a fire, officials said. It comes less than a week after  another Russian plane crashed into an apartment block in Yeysk. 

A Russian  military plane crashed into a two-story residential building in the  eastern Siberian city of Irkutsk on Sunday, killing both crew members,  regional officials said.
  The local branch of Russia's Emergencies Ministry said the Su-30  fighter jet came down during a training flight and sparked a fire. 
There  were no immediate reports of other casualties on the ground.




Videos posted on social media showed several buildings on fire and  black smoke rising into the sky. Another video from a surveillance  camera posted online appeared to show the fighter jet coming down in a  nearly vertical dive.

Russian warplane crashes into building in Siberia – DW – 10/23/2022

----------


## Takeovers

What I read about it, the connection to the pilots was lost during the flight. Another plane approached them and saw through the cockpit window that they seemed to be unconcious. At the time the plane was already descending. Some problem with the oxygen? Of course it means they were not able to eject.

----------


## David48atTD

Russias Shoigu informs British MoD that Kyiv is preparing a false flag dirty bomb detonation in Ukraine

RUSSIAN Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has reportedly held talks  with his UK  counterpart Ben Wallace after accusing Kyiv of preparing a  dirty bomb for detonation in Ukraine as a false flag attack to blame  on Russia.

Russian state-controlled media outlet _TASS_  :Smile:  has reported that Russias Defence Minister Shoigu spoke to Britains  Ben Wallace about Kyivs plans to detonate a dirty bomb in Ukraine as a  false flag operation to increase anti-Russian rhetoric.

UPDATE: Russia's Shoigu informs British MoD that Kyiv is preparing a false flag "dirty bomb" detonation in Ukraine - Euro Weekly News

----------


## S Landreth

Hungary to ratify NATO bids of Sweden, Finland by year end: Minister

Hungarys government supports the NATO membership of Sweden and Finland and has submitted the ratification documents to the National Assembly, Minister Gergely Gulyás told reporters at a briefing on Saturday.

Gulyás, chief of staff to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, said the expansion of NATO to include the two Nordic countries would be ratified by mid-December at the latest, according to media reports.

Asked by a reporter if NATO would be getting stronger with Finland and Sweden joining, Gulyás replied that he hoped so. He added that it could be debated whether the expansion is in Hungarys national security interest, but said that this is irrelevant now, according to the reports.

Hungary and Turkey are the only NATO countries that have yet to ratify the accession of Sweden and Finland to the alliance  a process that started shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin told POLITICO on Thursday that she doesnt expect Hungary and Turkey to block NATO expansion, but warned of the risks of delaying accession.

----------


## misskit

*Russian Claim of Ukraine Dirty Bomb Plan ‘Transparently False’:  U.S. Official*

A senior U.S. official on Sunday dismissed Russian claims that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb as "transparently false," while the Pentagon chief "rejected any pretext for Russian escalation."


Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the allegation about a dirty bomb in a round of telephone conversations with Western defense chiefs. 


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sharply denounced it, calling the allegation a Russian pretext for just such an attack. "The world should react as harshly as possible," he said.


A statement Sunday from US National Security Council spokeswoman, Adrienne Watson said, "We reject reports of Minister Shoigu’s transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory.


"The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation."


Shoigu conducted a round of telephone consultations with counterparts from Britain, France and Turkey, all NATO members, after first speaking Friday with Austin.


In those calls, Shoigu conveyed "concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a 'dirty bomb,'" the Russian Defense Ministry said. 


Shoigu and Austin spoke Sunday, in what the Pentagon said was a followup call requested by Russia to their call Friday. 


"Secretary Austin rejected any pretext for Russian escalation and reaffirmed the value of continued communication amid Russia’s unlawful and unjustified war against Ukraine," said a statement afterward from Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder.


When Shoigu and Austin spoke on Friday, it was only their second call since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine on February 24.


Zelensky on Sunday sharply dismissed the claim that Kyiv was preparing to use a dirty bomb.


"If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means one thing: Russia has already prepared all this," Zelensky said in a video address on social media. 


"I believe that now the world should react as harshly as possible." 


"Even the very Russian threat of nuclear weapons -- and even more so against our country, which has given up its nuclear arsenal... is a reason for both sanctions and for even greater strengthening of support for Ukraine," said Zelensky. 


A so-called dirty bomb is designed to contaminate a wide area with radioactive material, making it dangerous for civilians. It does not involve a nuclear explosion.

Russian Claim of Ukraine Dirty Bomb Plan 'Transparently False': U.S. Official - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

Let's be under no illusions when Russia starts talking about dirty bombs and nuclear weapons and "uncontrollable escalation" of the war.

What they mean is they are getting their arses kicked and are willing to commit even more heinous war crimes to try and cling on.

The sort of thing Hitler did from his bunker.

----------


## Takeovers

Ukraine war: Russian army will be 'annihilated' if it launches a nuclear attack, warns Josep Borrell | Euronews




> A Russian nuclear strike against Ukraine would trigger "such a powerful answer" from the West that the Russian army would be "annihilated," said Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief.
> 
> 
> His comments come in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's increasingly combative rhetoric. 
> 
> 
> After signing a partial mobilisation decree to boost the Russian army ranks on 21 September, Putin warned NATO that his country had "various means of destruction" at its disposal to defend its "territorial integrity."
> 
> 
> ...

----------


## panama hat

One country . . . Putin is ok with that.  He knows he can bat it - hopefully. 

NATO?  He knows he can't.


A very interesting and sombre video, definitely worth watching.  It is not propaganda for either side, just shows what is happening on the ground in Russia.

----------


## russellsimpson

Borrell, EU foreign policy chief,


"The jungle could invade the garden. The gardeners should take care of it, but they will not protect the garden by building walls. A nice small garden surrounded by high walls in order to prevent the jungle from coming in is not going to be a solution. Because the jungle has a strong growth capacity, and the wall will never be high enough in order to protect the garden," he said.


"The gardeners have to go to the jungle. Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world."



Beam me up Scotty

Surprised folks haven't jumped down his throat for that absolute jewel.

----------


## panama hat

Makes more sense than anything Putin has said, to be fair.

----------


## Switch

Scotty cannot help you. He is fictitious character.

----------


## bsnub

A Fierce Ukrainian Mechanized Brigade Is Routing Russian Mercenaries In One Symbolic Eastern Town

When Ukrainian forces launched twin counteroffensives in eastern and  southern Ukraine starting in late August and early September, Russian  and separatist troops across the country surrendered, retreated or died  in place. 

 There was one major exception. Russian fighters from notorious  mercenary firm The Wagner Group defied the odds, and befuddled  observers, when they not only held their ground around the free town of  Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine 25 miles southwest of Russian-occupied  Severodonetsk, _they kept attacking._

 Analysts concluded that the Wagner assaults on Bakhmut—which failed  to gain much ground, despite Russian claims to the contrary—were the  company’s way of creating a narrative. That it was the only Russian  force still capable of beating the Ukrainians. 

 The idea, apparently, was for Wagner to trade its battlefield  reputation for political influence in Moscow. Wagner financier Yevgeny  Prigozhin “continues to accrue power and is setting up a military  structure parallel to the Russian armed forces,” explained the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C. 

 That narrative now has become a farce. The mercenaries last week made  one last, forceful attempt to seize Bakhmut, and finally gained a few  square miles of the shell-pocked landscape. The enemy “does not stop  trying to conduct offensive actions in the Bakhmut,” the Ukrainian  general staff noted. 

 But a battle-hardened Ukrainian brigade intervened. Now Wagner is retreating,  leaving behind piles of dead bodies. A pitched fight over a cement  plant on the eastern outskirts of Bakhmut was a turning point. Ukrainian  troops took control of the plant on or before Monday.

 To be clear, Wagner isn’t alone in the Bakhmut sector. Russian  regulars and pro-Russian separatists from the Donetsk People’s Republic,  just south of Bakhmut, also claimed credit for what little terrain the  Kremlin’s forces seized around the town starting in August.

 But it was apparent that Wagner’s for-hire fighters were instrumental  to whatever modest gains the Russians made around Bakhmut. Wagner has  the advantage of experience in a Russian military enterprise  increasingly bereft of it. 

 The mercenary firm has hired thousands of Russian veterans, even recruiting one daredevil pilot  who got drummed out of the Russian air force for stealing and crashing  an Su-27 in 2012. 

Meanwhile, the Russian military by last month was so  desperate for manpower that it began drafting unfit, middle-age men,  sometimes grabbing them off the street.

 Wagner’s relatively high level of experience compared with other  Russian forces couldn’t save it when the Ukrainian army’s 93rd  Mechanized Brigade rolled into Bakhmut from Izium, 50 miles to the  northwest. The 93rd MB isn’t the flashiest of Ukraine’s dozens of  front-line brigades, but it is one of the most brutally effective.

 The 93rd MB with its five tank and infantry battalions—altogether,  several thousand troops and a hundred or more armored vehicles including  tanks—has fought in, and endured, some of the bloodiest battles of  Russia’s eight-month-old wider war on Ukraine.




In late March, the 93rd MB led one of the first major counterattacks  around Kharkiv, the most vulnerable of Ukraine’s major cities. In the  process, the 93rd MB met the Russian 4th Guards Tank Division in the  town of Trostianets, 50 miles north of Kharkiv. 

 The 93rd MB’s troopers in their BMP and BTR fighting vehicles,  packing Javelin anti-tank missiles and supported by T-64 and T-80 tanks  and off-the-shelf drones, mauled the Russian division. 
 Five months later, in early August, the 93rd MB launched another  counterattack, this time around Mazanivka southwest of Izium. The  brigade liberated a few settlements, effectively previewing the wider  Ukrainian counteroffensive that would begin three weeks later.

 In early September, a dozen eager Ukrainian brigades punched through  Russian lines around Kharkiv, routing exhausted Russian forces and  swiftly liberating a thousand square miles of northeastern Ukraine. The  93rd MB helped to free Izium then pivoted south toward Bakhmut. By  October, the brigade held the northern half of the sector, while the  Ukrainian 58th Motorized Brigade held the southern half.

 The 58th MB is a lighter formation than the 93rd MB. It’s not totally  clear how the two brigades—the heavier one and the lighter  one—coordinated their operations. It’s possible the 58th MB deflected  repeated Wagner assaults, helping to exhaust the mercenaries ahead of  their final, and ultimately doomed, attack last week.

 In any event, it seems the 93rd MB is the decisive force in the  ongoing battle. On or around Friday, the 93rd MB counterattacked with  its tanks, including one famous T-80 that the brigade captured from the Russian army. 

 Wagner collapsed. It had taken the mercenaries months to seize the  intersection of the M03 and M06 highways just east of Bakhmut. The  Ukrainians recaptured the intersection in just two days of fighting.  Graphic videos from the battle depict heaps of dead mercenaries. 

 “Near Bakhmut, fighting remains heavy and dynamic,” an unnamed U.S. defense official told reporters Monday.  How far east the 93rd MB can advance as Wagner retreats might depend  more on the weather than on whatever resistance Russian forces can offer  up. 

 The early winter in Ukraine is wet and muddy. The mud is evident in recent photos of the Bakhmut battle. 

 That mud tends to slow, if not halt, military operations in Ukraine  in November and December. Operations can resume once the ground freezes  after the new year. The weather could slow the 93rd MB’s advance—and  spare Wagner further humiliation.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=43d69e0f10b7

----------


## harrybarracuda

I'm pretty sure Puffy has been made aware that no-one with even half a brain cell believes his stupid fucking "dirty bomb" story and the consequences for any nuclear terrorism on his part would be severe.




> A senior Ukrainian official predicted the heaviest of battles to come for the partially Russian occupied strategic southern province of Kherson and said Moscows military is digging in to face advancing Ukrainian forces.
> 
> The regions capital city and river port Kherson, which had a pre-war population of about 280,000, is the largest urban centre Russia still holds since capturing it early in the invasion of Ukraine eight months ago.
> 
> Ukrainian forces do not appear to have gained much ground in their counter-offensive in Kherson since early October, when Russia claimed to have annexed the province and three others, a move condemned by 143 countries at the United Nations as an attempted illegal annexation.
> 
> With Kherson everything is clear. The Russians are replenishing, strengthening their grouping there, Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in an online video on Tuesday evening (25 October).
> 
> It means that nobody is preparing to withdraw. On the contrary, the heaviest of battles is going to take place for Kherson, according to Arestovych, who did not say when the battle might happen.
> ...

----------


## bsnub

> I'm pretty sure Puffy has been made aware that no-one with even half a brain cell believes his stupid fucking "dirty bomb" story


It is just an attempt to create a distraction because Russia is getting its ass kicked in just about every theater of the war right now. Kherson is about to collapse, After weeks and weeks of pouring Wagner mercenaries into wall in Bakhmut the Ukrainian army’s 93rd  Mechanized Brigade shows up and kicks their ass out of the outskirts of the town itself and more loses in Luhansk as well. 

Plenty of humiliation for TD's Three Stooges to swallow.   :Smile:

----------


## bsnub

Ukrainian  forces continued their advance against the Russian military in the  southern Kherson region Tuesday, pushed back Russian mercenaries from  Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk, and gained new momentum in Luhansk, where  they seized a key highway between the towns of Kreminna and Svatove.

On  a day of heavy fighting and fast-moving developments across multiple  combat zones, the Ukrainians appeared to extend their recent successes  in recapturing occupied territories and pushing Moscow’s troops into  retreat in areas that President Vladimir Putin has claimed now belong to  Russia.

Away  from the battlefield, the Kremlin continued to push a claim, asserted  repeatedly without evidence, that Kyiv was preparing to use a “dirty  bomb,” a weapon that combines conventional explosives with radioactive  material — an accusation that was dismissed by the United States and  other Western nations.

U.S.  officials said that Moscow’s allegations raised a risk that Russia  itself was planning to carry out a radiation attack, potentially as a  pretext to justify further escalation of the war amid its continuing  territorial setbacks.

In  a statement Tuesday, Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator, Energoatom,  issued a similar warning, citing the Russian military’s control over the  Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar. 

“Energoatom assumes that  such actions of the occupiers may indicate that they are preparing a  terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at  the ZNPP site,” the statement said.

The  renewed fears of some kind of radiation attack added to the ominous  sense that Putin’s war in Ukraine is growing even more deadly and  dangerous as each side seeks to redraw facts on the ground before  winter.

Ukraine  has been pushing hard for further territorial gains, while Russia this  month began a relentless bombing campaign against Ukraine’s energy  system, using missiles and attack drones in an apparent bid to plunge  the country into cold and darkness, and potentially compensate for  battlefield losses.

As  Ukraine continued to make gains, pro-Kremlin military bloggers and  analysts confirmed new setbacks for Russia’s forces Tuesday, including  in Luhansk, the easternmost occupied region of Ukraine, where Russia has  had its firmest grip.

“The  Ukrainian army has resumed its counteroffensive in the Luhansk  direction,” the pro-Russian WarGonzo project said in its daily military  update, adding that Ukrainian forces took control of a key highway  between the Luhansk towns of Svatove and Kreminna.

“The  Russian artillery is actively working on the left bank of Zherebets  river and is trying to stop the transfer of reinforcements to the enemy  but the situation is very difficult,” WarGonzo said.

In  the Donetsk region, the Wagner paramilitary force, controlled by St.  Petersburg businessman Yevgeniy Prigozhin, appeared to be getting pushed  back from Bakhmut, where the mercenaries had spent weeks pummeling the  city but making small gains. Military experts said there was little  strategic value in seizing Bakhmut, but Prigozhin seems to see a chance  to claim a political prize, while regular Russian military units lose  ground in other combat zones.

Ukrainian  forces have recaptured a concrete factory on Bakhmut’s eastern  outskirts, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War reported  Monday. On Sunday, Prigozhin acknowledged the slow pace of Wagner’s  effort, saying the mercenaries were gaining only “100-200 meters a day.”

“Our  units are constantly meeting with the most fierce enemy resistance, and  I note that the enemy is well prepared, motivated, and works  confidently and harmoniously,” Prigozhin said in a statement published  by his catering company’s press service. “This does not prevent our  fighters from moving forward, but I cannot comment on how long it will  take.”

In  the southern Kherson region, one of the four Moscow claimed to have  annexed, Russian forces appeared to be preparing to defend the city of  Kherson, amid speculation they would pull back to the eastern side of  the Dnieper River, ceding crucial ground.

The Ukrainian military said in its Tuesday operational update  that Russian troops were setting up “defensive positions” along the  east bank of the Dnieper and leaving small passages for a potential  retreat from the west bank.

Speculation  on whether Moscow is preparing to abandon Kherson has been circulating  for weeks after Ukrainian forces made steady breakthroughs in the  southern direction.

“I  don’t know all the nuances and plans of the command, but I don’t  exclude the surrender of Kherson as from a military point of view its  defense at the moment could turn into a rout,” a popular Russian  military blogger, who writes under the moniker Zapiski Veterana, wrote  in a Telegram post. “But I think that if a decision was made in Moscow  to fight until victory, then there is nothing tragic in the surrender of  Kherson because this war is here for a long time.”

Moscow  may not have a choice. “The Russian position in upper Kherson Oblast  is, nevertheless, likely untenable,” the Institute for the Study of War  said.

Kremlin-installed  officials have been forcing residents to evacuate from the west bank of  the Dnieper while claiming without evidence that Kyiv is preparing  attacks on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, as well as the “dirty  bomb” allegations.

The United States, France and Britain accused Moscow  of using allegations of a dirty bomb as a pretext for escalation, and  they warned that Putin’s government would face additional punitive  action by the West.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin called Washington’s distrust of Russia’s claims “an impermissible and frivolous approach.”

After a two-week bombing campaign, in which Moscow systemically targeted  energy infrastructure, Kyiv is increasingly concerned about civilians  enduring a bitter winter. Ukrainian officials have spent the past few  weeks pressing European officials for more sophisticated weapons,  particularly the advanced air defense systems required to fend off  Russia’s aerial assaults.

The  country also faces an urgent cash crunch, with officials raising  questions about how Ukraine will secure funding to keep services running  through the brutal weeks and months ahead. An early October projection  from the World Bank suggested Ukraine’s economy will contract by 35 percent this year.

On  Tuesday, Germany and the European Union hosted a conference in Berlin  about reconstruction, though the conversation seemed especially  premature given Russian attacks that yield fresh destruction each day.

President  Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine needs about $38 billion in  emergency economic aid for next year alone. But while top officials  regularly trumpet the E.U.’s support for Ukraine, there are questions  about short- and long-term follow-through.

Even  as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has touted plans  to help Ukraine through 2023, for instance, E.U. officials acknowledge  delays in delivering to Kyiv the roughly $9 billion in loans pledged  earlier this year.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen pressed European counterparts in recent weeks to step up financial assistance to Kyiv and has indirectly questioned the decision to offer loans rather than grants.

“We  are calling on our partners and allies to join us by swiftly disbursing  their existing commitments to Ukraine and by stepping up in doing  more,” Yellen said this month. In a video address to a European Council  summit in Brussels last week, Zelensky called out European leaders for  failing to deliver much-needed economic assistance quickly enough.

“Thank  you for the funds that have already been allocated,” Zelensky said.  “But a decision has not yet been made on the remaining $6 billion from  this package — which is critically needed this year.”

“It  is in your power,” he continued, “to reach a principled agreement on  the provision of this assistance to our state today already.”

With existing needs unmet, some wonder how seriously to take the E.U.’s promises of an effort of Marshall Plan proportions. A Q&A published by Germany’s Group of Seven presidency  ahead of Tuesday’s conference noted that the event would not include a  “pledging segment.” Instead, the purpose is to “underline that the  international community is united and resolute in its support to  Ukraine.”

In  private conversations, some E.U. diplomats raised questions about  whether the bloc ought to be allocating resources for the reconstruction  of a country that is still very much at war, particularly given  Europe’s own energy and economic crises.

As  von der Leyen spoke in Berlin on Tuesday, the focus in Brussels was  very much on efforts to find common ground among the E.U.’s own member  states on emergency energy measures.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...ne-war-russia/

----------


## harrybarracuda

Everyone should be doing this really.




> The Polish Senate on Wednesday unanimously voted on a resolution recognizing Russia as a 'terrorist regime' over its deadly war in Ukraine.
> 
> The resolution – which passed with 85 votes – said the governing body "strongly condemns Russian aggression" and called on "all countries that support peace, democracy and human rights to recognize the authorities of the Russian Federation as a terrorist regime."
> 
> Polish lawmakers outlined accounts of torture, forced deportations, murder of civilians and intentional strikes on civilian locations to back their calls to characterize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.


Polish Senate recognizes Russia as '&#39;'terrorist state'&#39;' | Fox News

----------


## sabang

_Kyiv official says wet weather and the terrain in the Kherson region have made Ukrainian offensive there more difficult than a previous offensive in Kharkiv.

_Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces in the southern Kherson region is proving more difficult than it was in the northeast because of wet weather and the terrain, Ukraine’s defence minister has said.

Kyiv’s forces are piling pressure on Russian troops in the strategically important Kherson region, which has been partially occupied by Moscow since the start of its invasion, threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin with another big battlefield setback.

“First of all, the south of Ukraine is an agricultural region, and we have a lot of irrigation and water supply channels, and the Russians use them like trenches,” Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov told a news conference on Wednesday. “It’s more convenient for them.”

“The second reason is weather conditions. This is the rainy season, and it’s very difficult to use fighting carrier vehicles with wheels,” he said, adding that this reduced the options for Ukraine’s armed forces.

“The counteroffensive campaign in the Kherson direction is more difficult than in the Kharkiv direction,” he added.

Earlier, a Moscow-installed official in the region said at least 70,000 people have left their homes in the province in the space of a week, after residents were urged to leave by the pro-Russian authorities amid the Ukrainian offensive.

“I’m sure that more than 70,000 people left in a week since the crossings were organised,” Vladimir Saldo told a regional TV channel, referring to efforts to move residents to the Russian-controlled areas on the left bank of the Dniper River.

He added that this number may be larger as people could have used their own boats to cross the river instead of organised ferries.

FULL-  Ukraine says southern offensive complicated by weather, terrain | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera

----------


## harrybarracuda

> _Kyiv official says wet weather and the terrain in the Kherson region have made Ukrainian offensive there more difficult than a previous offensive in Kharkiv._


Yes, we know. Is this the first time you've looked at anything resembling a news site?

----------


## misskit

*Putin Says Decade Ahead “Most Dangerous” Since WWII*

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the coming decade will be the "most dangerous" since the end of World War II, while accusing the West of seeking to dominate the world.


"Ahead is probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and at the same time important decade since the end of the Second World War," Putin told members of the annual Valdai Discussion Club, adding that the situation is "to a certain extent revolutionary."


The Ukraine offensive is only a part of the "tectonic shifts of the entire world order," Putin said.


"The historical period of undivided dominance of the West in world affairs is coming to an end. The unipolar world is becoming a thing of the past," he said. 


"We are at a historical frontier," he added.


Putin added that the West is not able to "single-handedly govern humanity" but is "desperately trying to do it". 


"Most peoples of the world no longer want to put up with it," he said.


Putin also said that Moscow is trying to "defend its right to exist" in the face of Western efforts to "destroy" his country. 


"Russia is not challenging the elites of the West, Russia is just trying to defend its right to exist," he said. 

‘There’s No Way Back’: Wagner Group Looks to Russia's Jails to Bolster Ukraine Force - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Putin Says Decade Ahead “Most Dangerous” Since WWII*
> 
> Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the coming decade will be the "most dangerous" since the end of World War II, while accusing the West of seeking to dominate the world.


Really. So the West invaded Ukraine did it?

----------


## bsnub

Russia has acknowledged for the first time that it doesn't have  enough equipment for mobilized soldiers in its war against Ukraine.

Kremlin  spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that there are  issues with equipment for the hundreds of thousands of men being sent to  fight in Ukraine under President Vladimir Putin's partial mobilization decree.

Peskov said a newly-formed council  created by Putin is working on resolving problems with equipment.  "Vigorous measures taken to rectify the situation are already yielding  the first positive results," he said.

Regional authorities are  working on providing "the missing gear," Peskov said, noting that Deputy  Prime Minister Denis Manturov "is personally responsible for this" as  part of Putin's new council.

Putin on Tuesday held the first  official meeting of his "coordinating council" for military supply and  logistics. It was created on October 21, and seeks to ensure that his  military has adequate supplies in the war.

According  to the Kremlin's website, the council was established "to meet any  needs that arise during the course of the special military operation."  That includes supplies and repair of armament, military and special  equipment, materials, medical and sanitary services, maintenance and  other activities, and logistics, according to Russian media.

Putin  appointed Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin as the council's  head, while Dmitry Grigorenko, a deputy prime minister and chief of the  government staff, and Manturov, will act as Mishustin's deputies.

Mishustin  said on Monday that the group would streamline and handle a number of  issues to meet the needs of Russia's military amid the Ukraine war.
The council is expected to report to Putin weekly.

Putin said on October 14 that his "partial mobilization" was nearly complete, and that 222,000 had been drafted so far.

Russia's  Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on September 21 that Russia would  be targeting 300,000 reservists and ex-military personnel with "certain  military specialties and relevant experience." However, the figure in  Putin's decree has not been disclosed to the public, raising concern  that the real number could be far higher.

Alexander Štupun, spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on October 7 that Putin's troops are struggling to obtain equipment and armor.

"There  are significant problems with the material support of the mobilization  measures carried out by the military leadership of the Russian  Federation. Thus, at the beginning of October, of the 8,000 [mobilized]  persons staying at the base of the Novosibirsk Higher Command School, no  more than half were provided with military uniforms," Štupun said in a  translated briefing posted to Facebook.

"Only  field uniforms and shoes are issued to the specified personnel. The  rest of the equipment must be bought at your own expense or try to get  it from the local authorities as humanitarian aid. The issue of  providing the mobilized with helmets and body armor remains  problematic," the spokesperson added.

The Security Service of  Ukraine (SSU) said last month that it intercepted a Russian soldier's  phone conversation in which he complained about a lack of equipment and  weapons, while videos on Russian social networks have shown conscripted  men with rusty weapons.

_Newsweek_ reached out to the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-equi...kraine-1755057

----------


## panama hat

> Regional authorities are working on providing "the missing gear," Peskov said, noting that Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov "is personally responsible for this" as part of Putin's new council.


Amazing . . . but not really as Russia has always been a basket-case

----------


## HermantheGerman

> Putin also said that Moscow is trying to "defend its right to exist" in the face of Western efforts to "destroy" his country.


Dear Putler,

Why would we want to destroy "our" gas station? We are paying good money so Russians can have a good life and spend their money in "our" countries.
Great deal! Keep up the good work.

Sincerely
HtG


P.S.
Don't worry about our military! It's in sad shape.

----------


## panama hat

> Don't worry about our military! It's in sad shape.


So is his . . . the solution . . . don't fucking invade anyone, Russian apes

----------


## misskit

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 27
Oct 27, 2022 - Press ISW


Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to reject the idea of Ukrainian sovereignty in a way that is fundamentally incompatible with serious negotiations. Putin continued to reject Ukrainian sovereignty during a speech at the Valdai Discussion Club on October 27. Putin stated that the “single real guarantee of Ukrainian sovereignty” can only be Russia, which “created” Ukraine. Putin reiterated that it is a “historical fact” that Ukrainians and Russians are fundamentally “one people” that were wrongly separated into “different states.” Putin stated on October 26 that Ukraine has “lost its sovereignty” and become a NATO vassal.

Institute for the Study of War

----------


## bsnub

The Russian ruble appears to be faltering in Ukraine's southern  Kherson region, months after Kremlin-installed officials attempted to  swap out Ukraine's currency, the hryvnia.

Amid an anticipated  Ukrainian victory in the Kherson region as Kyiv conducts a  counteroffensive to take back its territory, multiple videos are  emerging on local Telegram channels that show employees at gas stations  and pharmacies refusing to accept rubles and demanding customers pay  only in hryvnia.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the  Russian-appointed military-civilian regional administration, said in May  that the region would transition to the ruble over a period of four to  five months.

Kherson was the first major city seized by Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces after the war began in February.

Last month, Putin also proclaimed to have annexed  Kherson, as well as Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, following sham  referendums in the partly occupied regions that have been decried by  international communities as illegal.

But statements from Russian officials and the Kremlin-installed authorities in recent days signal that Putin's troops are preparing to surrender in the region, while a number of companies are refusing to accept the Russian currency.

In one clip, an employee can be heard telling a customer that she was directed by a superior to only accept payment in hryvnia.

"Do you have rubles?" a customer asks a woman at the counter of a petrol station.

"We  have hryvnia," she responds, before making a phone call, and passing  the phone to the customer, who inquires about the move to refuse ruble  payments.

Pharmacies in Kherson  are also reportedly refusing to accept rubles. According to local  residents, they still do not want to transition to the Russian currency,  and the exchange rate for the Ukrainian hryvnia on the market has  soared, local news outlet Stopcor reported.

It comes against the backdrop of a mass evacuation of citizens from Kherson.

Vladimir  Saldo, head of the Russian-installed administration of the Kherson  region, said on Russian state TV last week that authorities plan to  transport about 50,000 to 60,000 people to the east bank of the Dnieper  River within a week.

Stremousov also said that "the battle for  Kherson will begin very soon" as he asked residents to "leave the area  of the brutal fighting to come if possible."

On Monday, Kyrylo  Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's defense  ministry, told Ukrainska Pravda that Russian troops are simply creating  the illusion that they are leaving Kherson, but in fact, they are  shifting new military units there and preparing to defend the area.

_Newsweek_ reached out to Russia's foreign ministry for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/russian-rub...ryvnia-1754224

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 27
> Oct 27, 2022 - Press ISW
> 
> 
> Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to reject the idea of Ukrainian sovereignty in a way that is fundamentally incompatible with serious negotiations. Putin continued to reject Ukrainian sovereignty during a speech at the Valdai Discussion Club on October 27. Putin stated that the “single real guarantee of Ukrainian sovereignty” can only be Russia, which “created” Ukraine. Putin reiterated that it is a “historical fact” that Ukrainians and Russians are fundamentally “one people” that were wrongly separated into “different states.” Putin stated on October 26 that Ukraine has “lost its sovereignty” and become a NATO vassal.
> 
> Institute for the Study of War


His cheese has completely fallen off his cracker.

One day they are going to meme the movie about him like they did Downfall.

----------


## bsnub

> One day they are going to meme the movie about him like they did Downfall.


One day, after this war is over and Ukraine has won, many great stories will be told.  :Smile:

----------


## misskit

*Russian Defense Minister Announces End of Mobilization*

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced that on Friday that the partial mobilization campaign declared to boost the Russian military campaign in Ukraine has come to an end.


"The dispatch of citizens called up during mobilization was completed today. The notification of citizens [to report for military duty] has ended," the state-run RIA Novosti quoted Shoigu as saying in a report to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 


Russia had met the goal initially set by Putin and had mobilized a total of 300,000 reservists during the five week-long campaign, Shoigu said.


The total number of the mobilized reportedly includes 1,300 government employees of various levels and over 27,000 business owners.

"13,000 citizens expressed the desire to fulfill their duty … as volunteers. The average age of mobilized citizens was 35 years old," the minister said. 


To date, 82,000 mobilized reservists have already been sent to the frontlines in Ukraine, while the remainder are still undergoing military training, according to Shoigu. 


"I want to thank them for doing their duty [to the state], for their patriotism, for their steadfast determination to defend our country, our Russia, and therefore their home, their family, our citizens, our people,” RIA quoted Putin as saying in response to Shoigu’s report. 


Russia began its partial mobilization campaign on Sept. 21. Though the initial presidential decree on mobilization did not specify the number of reservists the Kremlin sought to mobilize, Shoigu has previously put the number at 300,000 people. 

Russian Defense Minister Announces End of Mobilization - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Fighting Rages in Eastern Ukraine as Russia Eyes Bakhmut*

The battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has intensified as Russian troops led by the murky Wagner mercenary group relentlessly exchange artillery fire with Ukrainian forces in their attempt to seize the small but strategically important city. 


The fighting, which has grown increasingly deadly in recent days, underscores Russia’s desperation to declare a win in its eight-month-long war as Ukraine’s counterattacks have all but brought its gains to a halt in the past month. 


“The continuing attacks around Bakhmut reflect the desire of both the Russian military and the Kremlin for some good news after months of morale-sapping retreats in the face of successful Ukrainian counteroffensives,” James Black, a defense analyst at the U.S. Rand Corporation, told The Moscow Times. 


Capturing Bakhmut, a salt mining city in the Donetsk region with a pre-war population of 70,000 people, would give Russia a key foothold to launch offensives toward major cities such as Sloviansk and Kramatorsk —  and vindicate Moscow’s decision to throw thousands of men at the fight in the past month. 


“Bakhmut is one of the few places where Russia has been going forward rather than backward since the summer,” Black said. 


Ukraine’s forces have this week repelled two Russian offensives in the direction of Bakhmut from the city of Soledar 10 kilometers northeast of the city, as well as from the south near Ivanhrad, according to the Ukrainian General Staff. 

The Wagner group, which has taken a central role in Russia’s offensives in recent months, is apparently spearheading Russia’s moves toward the city.


“Wagner’s units are moving forward every day,” said Yevgeny Prighozin, Wagner’s Kremlin-linked founder, in a press release published by his Concord catering firm.


The heavy fighting has knocked out water, gas and electricity supplies to Bakhmut, where scores of citizens remain despite an estimated 90% of the population fleeing in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion. 


“Regrettably, my parents stayed there, and there has been no contact with them for more than two weeks,” one Bakhmut resident who wished to remain anonymous told The Moscow Times.  


According to Russian pro-war bloggers, Moscow’s forces on Wednesday gained control of Zaitseve, a key settlement south of Bakhmut that is located on a major highway running to the city center. 


But Russian forces are paying a heavy price for every meter gained.


“It’s a meat grinder,” Jakub Janovsky, a contributor to defense analysis website Oryx, which uses open-source intelligence to track Russian losses, told The Moscow Times. 


In recent days, unverified video footage has shown scorched earth and volleys of Ukrainian artillery being unleashed across Russian positions northeast of Bakhmut. In another video, a captured Wagner mercenary is seen claiming that of the 50 men in his unit, just 12 remain. 


Among those losses are men recently sent to Ukraine as part of Moscow’s “partial” mobilization, as well as Russian convicts recruited from prisons by Wagner — both efforts aimed at solving Moscow's manpower shortage in Ukraine. 


“I’m a trained actor, I’ve done over 20 films,” said one Wagner soldier on the outskirts of Bakhmut in a report aired on Russian state broadcaster Channel One on Thursday. “I probably ended up here because I’m a warrior…[These] are people who chose to become warriors.”

However, reports suggest that Russia is deploying its glut of new personnel recklessly in many cases. One Ukrainian soldier claimed that Russian recruits are ordered to approach Kyiv’s positions in a deliberate tactic to engage Ukrainian troops and to scope out their positions. 


"Their job is to advance towards us, forcing us to fire on them, to reveal our positions," Sergiy, a major in the 53rd brigade, told AFP. 


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said these tactics reflect the “craziness” of Russia’s command in their unrelenting efforts to take Bakhmut. 


“Day after day, for months, they are driving people to their deaths there, concentrating the highest level of artillery strikes," Zelensky said in his nightly address Thursday. 


And with winter looming, Russia needs to act quickly if it is to deliver a domestic morale boost by taking Bakhmut, said Rand Corporation analyst Black. 


“Historical experience suggests that the onset of winter is also likely to have a significant impact on military operations in the coming weeks and months, as a combination of mud, freezing temperatures and snow settles in.” 

Is It Possible to Plan for Life After Putin? - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, October 28
Oct 28, 2022 - Press ISW


Russian forces are not making significant progress around Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast or anywhere else along the front lines. A Russian information operation is advancing the narrative that Russian forces are making significant progress in Bakhmut, likely to improve morale among Russian forces and possibly to improve the personal standing of Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose forces are largely responsible for the minimal gains in the area. Russian forces have made limited advances towards the Ukrainian strongpoint in Bakhmut but at a very slow speed and at great cost. Prigozhin acknowledged the slow pace of Wagner Group ground operations around Bakhmut on October 23 and stated that Wagner forces advance only 100-200m per day, which he absurdly claimed was a normal rate for modern advances. Ukrainian forces recaptured a concrete factory on the eastern outskirts of Bakhmut around October 24. Ukrainian military officials stated on October 16 that Russian forces had falsely claimed to have captured several towns near Bakhmut within the past several days, but Ukrainian forces held their lines against those Russian attacks. Russian forces are likely falsifying claims of advances in the Bakhmut area to portray themselves as making gains in at least one sector amid continuing losses in northeast and southern Ukraine. Even the claimed rate of advance would be failure for a main effort in mechanized war--and the claims are, in fact, exaggerated.

Institute for the Study of War

----------


## helge

Russia suspends Grain deal due to alleged attacks in Sevastopol by british and ukrainian forces

----------


## david44

> Sevastopol by british


Dear Strewthseeker

Some of Hal's updates are not Telegrammed but by Aldis Lamp so may be a little stale , but we can confirm Elvis has left the. building

*The Siege of Sevastopol, October 1854September 1855*

https://www.rmg.co.uk  stories  blog  library-archive

As for the present unpleasantness a recent self count of special forces revealed they are for the most part  knocking down or knocking up Pattaya's finest cooksockers or prepping to defend the Baltic from Red menaces whether Soviet, Putinescu or grote danes who get stroppy. Swedes will be mashed, fin.

Several hundred oil marines and special stoat force were scene smuggling sausage shaped projectiles into Gulliver's also. (Believed to be but unconfirmed to be members of the Scanty Armed Service those protecting Megan's ego are apparently at almost battalion strength.


It is well known the French don't work at weekends nor after lunch  so I think we can put this precision strike down to the brave natives and their American fully functioning ship puncture kit. A wild card it may have been Moshad practicing for a raid on Banda Abbas.




In retaliation, England and France decided to try to reignite the Irish conflict

----------


## David48atTD

> Russia suspends Grain deal due to alleged attacks in Sevastopol by british and ukrainian forces


A different take on the facts ...

----------


## David48atTD

Ukraine has carried out a *"massive" drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet* in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, damaging one warship, Russia has said.  

Nine drones were used, a top official said. Ukraine has not commented.  

Without providing evidence, Russia accused British troops of being involved in Saturday's attack - and in blowing up gas pipelines last month.  

In its response, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Russia was "peddling false claims of an epic scale".

----------


## bsnub

*What causes armies to lose the will to fight? Here’s what history tells us – and what Putin may soon find out*

                  It was one of the strangest episodes in military history, an event so unusual that it was first treated as a myth.   

           At 8:30 pm on Christmas Eve of 1914 in the dank and muddy  battlefields of northern Europe during World War I, a British soldier  dispatched a report to headquarters: German soldiers have illuminated  their trenches and are singing carols while wishing British soldiers a  merry Christmas.    

           British officers ordered their men to be silent, but it was too  late. A British soldier responded with his own chorus of “The First  Noel.” A German soldier called out across No Man’s Land – the barbed  wire-strewn, deadly middle ground separating the armies – “Come out,  English soldier; come out there to us.”    

           The soldiers climbed out of their trenches and met in the middle.  So did others, gathering to exchange chocolate, wine and souvenirs. They  even organized a soccer game, which the Germans won 3-2.   

           Most of the soldiers who shook hands on that fog-shrouded  Christmas Eve would be dead before the war ended four years later. But  letters from survivors and grainy black-and-white photographs prove it  was no myth. An estimated  100,000 soldiers on both sides simply refused to fight because they  were too exhausted and jaded. The Christmas Truce even lasted until New  Year’s in some places.    

       “By December 1914, the men in the trenches were veterans, familiar  enough with the realities of combat to have lost much of the idealism  that they had carried into war in August, and most longed for an end to  bloodshed,” according to an account of the Christmas Truce in Smithsonian Magazine.   

           More than a century later, there’s little chance that Russian and  Ukrainian soldiers will shower each other with gifts this winter. But  the Christmas Truce story is an example of a peculiar feature of war  that offers a warning to the beleaguered Russian army in Ukraine:   

           There are moments throughout history where entire armies suddenly  stop fighting, though they are evenly matched or even numerically  superior to their enemy.   

           What causes armies to lose the will to fight? And how might that play out with the Russian army in Ukraine?    

           This is the question that CNN asked combat veterans and military  historians. While history is full of embattled armies like the Imperial  Japanese  Army in World War II, which fought with ferocious intensity  even though they knew they would not win, it also records other armies  that “quiet quit” — stopped attacking the enemy or did the bare minimum  to stay alive.    

           Russia’s troops may be approaching that precipice, says Jeff McCausland,  a combat veteran of the Gulf War and a visiting professor of  international security studies at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania.   

            He says it’s become clear that the Russian army is poorly trained  and supplied, and that its soldiers in many cases have lost their will  to fight.   

           “Fear and panic are more infectious than Covid” for an army, says McCausland, co-author of “Battle Tested! Gettysburg Leadership Lessons for 21st Century Leaders.”  

The sources for both fear and panic are varied. But McCausland and  other historians say that throughout the history of warfare, there are  at least three reasons why armies lose the will to fight. 

*They lose faith in their cause*

           McCausland has seen a broken army lose the will to fight up close.   

           He says he commanded a battalion during the Gulf War in 1990-1991  and saw so many Iraqi soldiers surrender that his unit had trouble  accommodating the prisoners. They ended up giving water to the captured  soldiers and pointing them toward the rear.    

       The war started when the Iraqi Army under Saddam Hussein invaded  Kuwait. But many Iraqi soldiers simply didn’t think Kuwait or Iraq’s  brutal leader were worth dying for.   

            “There was one instance where Iraqi soldiers surrendered to a drone that was circling over them,” McCausland says.   

           A more recent example of an army losing the will to fight came in Afghanistan.    

           Amid the US military’s withdrawal from the country in 2021,  the Afghan National Army collapsed. They allowed the Taliban to quickly  take control, even though the US had invested years and billions of  dollars in training them. It was a low point for President Biden’s  administration.   

            The reason for the Afghan army’s complex surrender could be distilled in one question, McCausland says.   

       “If you asked a Taliban soldier, ‘What the hell are you fighting  for?’ he would say I’m fighting to free my country from the crusaders,  just like my grandfather freed the country from the Soviets and my  great-great grandfather freed the country from the British. And I’m  fighting for my religion, my country and my home,” McCausland says.   

            And if the same question was asked of an Afghan army soldier?   

           “He would say I’m fighting for a paycheck—if the company commander doesn’t steal it.”   

           The Taliban believed in their cause; the Afghan army didn’t, says McCausland.   

*They lose faith in their leaders*

           Every war has its defining images. The Ukraine war has already  yielded some unforgettable ones showing the contrast in leadership  styles of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian  counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.   

           Recent photos of Putin typically show him attired in a suit, alone at the head of an absurdly long conference  table, in a large, sterile room, with a general or bureaucrat cowering  at the other end. The caption could well read: “paranoid and isolated  dictator in action.”   

       Contrast those images of Putin with those of Zelensky. One shows  him standing resolute with his circle of advisors at night in Kiev after  vowing not to abandon the city even though he and his family were in  danger. Other photographs show him in fatigues, buffed and bearded, swapping hugs with soldiers on the front lines.   

           McCausland, who is also a national security consultant for CBS  radio and television, says the images offer a lesson in leadership.   

            “Just look at both photos in terms of who would you like to work  for,” says McCausland, who offers leadership workshops to companies,  non-profits and government institutions through his company, Diamond6. “I don’t care whether you’re in the military or you’re working for a corporation. It’s pretty easy to decide.”   

            Armies lose the will to fight when they lose faith in their leaders, McCausland and others say.   

            They say soldiers don’t expect generals or other leaders to  hunker down in frontline trenches with them. But they want to know if  their leaders care for them and respect their sacrifice.   
            If you want to know how a leader can inspire an army to superhuman levels of endurance, consider this popular story from one of the greatest commanders in history: Alexander the Great.   

        Alexander was leading his parched army through an unforgiving  desert in pursuit of an enemy when scouts returned to him with a scoop  of precious water in a helmet. They handed him the helmet in front of  his army.   

             Alexander thanked the soldiers and then, in full view of his  troops, poured the water on the ground. He announced he would not take  any water unless all his men had the same. His troops cheered.   

            Alexander the Great never lost a battle.   

“So extraordinary was the effect of this action that the water  wasted by Alexander was as good as a drink for every man in the army,”  one chronicler would write later.   

*They lose the backing of their country*

           We hear commentators warn about the dangers of hyper-polarization  in American politics, the corrupting power of unregulated and virtually  untraceable “dark money” and the breakdown of civic norms.    

What many don’t say is that these trends can become a national  security issue in times of war. Put simply, an army can quit when their  country becomes too corrupt or divided to support them. 

           A classic example is the mass collapse of the South Vietnamese  Army in the spring of 1975.  The US military had been South Vietnam’s  big brother and benefactor for a decade as both countries fought the  Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese army.    

But the South Vietnamese government was riddled with corruption.  Its leaders and their cronies siphoned off military aid to enrich  themselves, and never built popular support among the populace they  purportedly served.     

       After the US military withdrew combat troops in 1973, the North  Vietnamese army launched its final offensive on Saigon two years later.  The South Vietnamese army refused to fight. News photos from that period  show the army’s equipment littering roadways as soldiers abandoned  their units and attempted to hide among the civilian population, says Derek Frisby, a historian at Middle Tennessee State University.   

“Once it looked like North was going to take over the South, there  was nothing the South Vietnamese army could do about it,” Frisby says.  “Once the Americans left, it [the loss of South Vietnam) seemed  inevitable.”    

Wars aren’t just fought by soldiers. They are fought by a country,  and its people and its institutions. They are what historian Michael Butler calls “social endeavors.”    

           The health of a country’s institutions -  its government, military  and media outlets – matter just as much as a soldier’s will to fight,  says Butler, author of “Selling a ‘Just’ War: Framing Legitimacy and U.S. Military Intervention.” 

Butler pointed to “On War,” the pioneering work by the 19th century Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz,  who wrote that the “forces of passion” are every bit as critical to a  successful war effort as the military and the government.”   

       If a government is corrupt and does not have the trust of the  people, its armies can lose the will to fight, Butler says. He says that  appears to be taking place in Russia, where society has long been  afflicted by a “societal malaise.”    

Its citizens have experienced the traumatic breakup of the Soviet  Union, rampant corruption, political apathy, and the crushing of  independent media and dissenting voices, he says. Political apathy has  grown.   

The malaise afflicting civic Russia may be spreading to its  military, he says, adding that the signs are already there in the  thousands of men fleeing Russia to escape conscription.   

           “That’s pretty compelling evidence that that the forces of passion  are not really effectively locked into this war,” says Butler, a  political science professor at Clark University in Massachusetts. “It’s  not surprising to see that playing out on the battlefield with troops  who are deserting or disengaging.”   

The forces of passion now, though, seem to favor Ukraine. Its  army’s men and women (women soldiers serve in combat units in the  Ukrainian military) know what they’re fighting for.   

“Ukrainians are motivated by perhaps the strongest force a  soldier can have – defense of their country, families and homes,”  McCausland says.    

*The big question for Russian troops this winter*

           The US military faced a crisis of morale half a century ago in Vietnam.    

American troops never surrendered during the Vietnam War. They  never lost a major battle during the war. The 1968 Tet Offensive, a  failed campaign by North Vietnam’s army and the Viet Cong, was a military victory for the US.   

       And yet it was also a devastating political loss. The American  public turned against the war. Antiwar protests rocked the country. The  American public grew enraged when they learned their country’s political  and military leaders had lied to them about the purpose and success of the war.    

           Many American combat soldiers simply lost the will to fight. The  US’ abrupt withdrawal from Vietnam was one of the most humiliating  chapters in our history.   

           The political context of the US’s war in Vietnam was different  than the current war in Ukraine. In Russia, war protests have been  crushed and the media has largely been uncritical of Putin’s conduct.    

           But on the battlefield, many Russian soldiers are discovering what  some American soldiers realized in Vietnam — that they are fighting for  a lie.    

           As John Kerry, a Vietnam combat veteran and future Senator who turned against the war, put it during a 1971 congressional hearing:   

“How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?’   

           This is the question that may haunt Russian soldiers in Ukraine  this winter. If Putin doesn’t give them an answer that makes their  hardships worthwhile, the mass migration of men fleeing Russia after  conscription may spread to the battlefield.   

           And one frigid winter night, when the only sounds may not be of  Christmas carols but of men dying on the battlefield, Russian soldiers  may ask one another:   

           How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”   

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/29/europ...cec/index.html

----------


## misskit

*Commander of Russias Central Military District dismissed*

Colonel General Alexander Lapin, the Commander of the Russian Armed Forces’ Central Military District, has been dismissed from his post.


Source: Chechen state television and radio; the Russian business channel, RBK: Meduza, the Russian Latvia-based media outlet


Details: On Saturday, a number of Russian media sources, including Chechen state television and radio and an RBK source familiar with the personnel decision, reported Lapin's dismissal.


As Meduza noted, Lapin has recently been actively criticised by Ramzan Kadyrov, the Head of the Chechen Republic: in early October, he accused the general of surrendering Lyman and called him "talentless". According to Kadyrov, Lapin, in charge of this area, did not provide the mobilised occupiers in Luhansk Oblast with the necessary resources, and he allegedly "was hiding" in Luhansk.


Two days ago, Kadyrov entrusted the colonel-general with responsibility for the defence of the area in the north of Donetsk Oblast, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine have recently broken through. The Head of the Chechen Republic also has questions about Lapin receiving the title of Hero of Russia for the capture of Lysychansk, "in which he was not even present."

MORE Commander of Russias Central Military District dismissed

----------


## bsnub

*Largest drone strike on Russia since the start of the war 16 drones attack Black Sea Fleet at the Port of Sevastopol*

*The Russian Ministry of Defense reported an attack by unmanned aircraft on the Port of Sevastopol.*  In the morning of October 29, nine flying unmanned craft and seven  “autonomous marine unmanned devices” attacked Black Sea Fleet ships at  anchor in the city. Seven of the 16 drones were shot down. The defense  ministry reports that the marine minesweeper _Ivan Golubets_ and a floating barrier sustained “minor damage.”

The  ministry called the attack terrorism. It also says that fighters from  the 73rd Special Naval Center of the Ukrainian navy carried out the  attack, allegedly under the guidance of “British specialists” located in  the city of Ochakiv, in the Mykolaiv region.

*In response to the  attack, Russia indefinitely suspended its participation in a deal  concerning the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.*  The Ministry of Defense justified the decision, claiming that war ships  and civilian boats involved in ensuring the security of the “grain  corridor” were affected by the attack. Russian president Vladimir Putin  has previously repeatedly claimed that the exports protected by the deal  did not reach the world’s poorest countries, contrary to the original  agreement. 

Dmytro Kuleba,  Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, said that “Moscow is using a false  pretext to block the grain corridor, which ensures food security for  millions of people.”

*Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhaev called today’s drone attack the largest such attack on Russia since the start of the war.*  After the incident, Razvozhaev also threatened people who posted videos  of similar incidents on the Internet. According to him, Ukrainian Armed  Forces can obtain information about Sevastopol’s defense systems from  the clips. “Special services will deal with the individual clips that  allow the enemy to detect the city’s defense systems,” he said. He also  said that residents will no longer be able to receive broadcasts from  the city’s surveillance cameras.

*Commenting  on events in Sevastopol, the Ukrainian army recalled recent remarks by  Russia’s permanent representative to the UN about “combat mosquitoes.”*  Natalia Gumenyuk, head of the press office for Ukraine’s southern  command, said “While there’s no official confirmation, there’s a clear  understanding that fear of ‘combat insects’ and the use of aggressive  air defense systems against them might produce a backlash.” Her comments  refer to Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN,  who said yesterday that Moscow had information about US-patented drones  capable of spreading mosquitoes infected with dangerous viruses.

One  of the official Telegram channels of the Ukrainian Armed Forces also  commented on events in Sevastopol. The post seemed to assume that the  frigate Admiral Makarov, which became the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship  after the loss of the Moskva, had been damaged. “But the information needs additional confirmation,” it said.

*According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, UK naval forces  helped organize the attack. The ministry alleges that the UK is also  involved in the Nord Stream explosions, which happened in September.*  According to the ministry, “representatives” of a British naval unit  located in the city of Ochakiv, Ukraine “took part in planning,  supplying, and implementing a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on  September 26, to blow up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.”

*Russian president Vladimir Putin has previously blamed damage to the pipelines on “Anglo-saxons.”*  “It’s clear to everyone whom this benefits. Whoever benefits from it,  did it, of course” Putin said. He also said that someone who was  “technically capable of making such an explosion, and who had already  resorted to sabotage, been caught, and gone unpunished” could be  responsible for the explosion. According to him, the beneficiaries are  Poland and Ukraine (Russia’s remaining gas lines to Europe run through  their territory), and also the US “which can now supply energy at high  prices.”

*The British Minister of Defense tweeted that its Russian counterpart is “peddling false statements of epic proportions.”

https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/10...art-of-the-war
*

----------


## panama hat

> Without providing evidence, Russia accused British troops of being involved in Saturday's attack - and in blowing up gas pipelines last month.


Those dastardly Brits . . . and how dare Ukraine defend itself.  Putin is clearly gone with the fairies

----------


## bsnub

KHERSON  REGION, Ukraine — On the screen of a thermal imaging camera, the  Russian armored personnel carrier disappeared in a silent puff of smoke.

“What  a beautiful explosion,” said First Lt. Serhiy, a Ukrainian drone pilot  who watched as his weapon buzzed into a Russian-controlled village and  picked off the armored vehicle, a blast that was audible seconds later  at his position about four miles away.

“We used to cheer, we used to shout, ‘Hurray!’ but we’re used to it now,” he said.

The  war in Ukraine has been fought primarily through the air, with  artillery, rockets, missiles and drones. And for months, Russia had the  upper hand, able to lob munitions at Ukrainian cities, towns and  military targets from positions well beyond the reach of Ukrainian  weapons.

But  in recent months, the tide has turned along the front lines in southern  Ukraine. With powerful Western weapons and deadly homemade drones,  Ukraine now has artillery superiority in the area, commanders and  military analysts say.

Ukraine now has  an edge in both range and in precision-guided rockets and artillery  shells, a class of weapons largely lacking in Russia’s arsenal.  Ukrainian soldiers are taking out armored vehicles worth millions of  dollars with cheap homemade drones, as well as with more advanced drones  and other weapons provided by the United States and allies.

The  Russian military remains a formidable force, with cruise missiles, a  sizable army and millions of rounds of artillery shells, albeit  imprecise ones. It has just completed a mobilization effort that will  add 300,000 troops to the battlefield, Russian commanders say, though  many of those will be ill trained and ill equipped. And President  Vladimir V. Putin has made clear his determination to win the war at  almost any cost.

Still, there is no mistaking the shifting fortunes on the southern front.

Ukraine’s  growing advantage in artillery, a stark contrast to fighting throughout  the country over the summer when Russia pummeled Ukrainian positions  with mortar and artillery fire, has allowed slow if costly progress in  the south toward the strategic port city of Kherson, the only provincial  capital that Russia managed to occupy after invading in February.

The new capabilities were on display in the predawn hours Saturday when Ukrainian drones hit a Russian vessel  docked in the Black Sea Fleet’s home port of Sevastopol, deep in the  occupied territory of Crimea, once thought an impregnable bastion.

The contrast with the battlefield over  the summer could not be starker. In the Donetsk region of eastern  Ukraine, Russia fired roughly 10 artillery rounds for each answering  shell from Ukrainian batteries. In Kherson now, Ukrainian commanders say  the sides are firing about equal numbers of shells, but Ukraine’s  strikes are not only longer range but more precise because of the  satellite-guided rockets and artillery rounds provided by the West.

“We  can reach them and they cannot reach us,” said Maj. Oleksandr, the  commander of an artillery battery on the Kherson front, who like others  interviewed for this article gave only his first name for security  reasons. “They don’t have these weapons.”

Falling  rates of Russian fire also speak to ammunition shortages, he said.  “There is an idea the Russian army is infinite, but it is a myth,” he  said. “The intensity of fire has fallen by three times. It’s realistic  to fight them.”

A main highway  approaching Kherson city from the west has become a thoroughfare for  Ukrainian artillery, with towed howitzers, truck-mounted howitzers and  trucks laden with grad rockets rumbling by continually through the day.

American-provided  M777 howitzers firing precision-guided shells and striking up to 20  miles behind Russian lines have forced the Russians to stage heavy  equipment farther from the front. 

Ukrainian drones spot infantry but  fewer tanks or armored vehicles near the front line, said First Lt.  Oleh, the commander of a unit flying reconnaissance drones. “We hear a  lot of rumors they are abandoning the first lines of defense.”

This  firepower has tipped the balance in the south, raising expectations  that a long-anticipated assault on Kherson is drawing near — though a  swirl of apparent misdirection from military leaders on both sides has  clouded the picture.

The terrain  around the city — table-flat steppe with thin tree lines and little  cover, and crisscrossed by irrigation canals that can be used as  trenches — favors its Russian defenders. And Ukrainian commanders and  officials have been dropping hints of an impending attack since the  spring, only to have the fighting drag on.

But  the city lies on the west bank of the Dnipro River, making its  defenders reliant on bridges to Russian territory on the eastern bank  that now lie within easy range of Ukrainian rocket artillery and, for  the most part, are now unusable. That has made the Russian grip  precarious. But President Putin has reportedly overruled his generals’  recommendations of a retreat to safer and more easily defended ground on  the east bank.

“Russia  is unable to maintain logistics supplies” to the west bank of the  Dnipro, said Konrad Muzyka, a military analyst and the director of  Rochan Consulting, based in Gdansk, Poland. He added that the Ukrainian  military’s claim to have achieved the upper hand in artillery and  frontline drone strikes in the south was “highly plausible.”

After  a recent Ukrainian assault using American M777 howitzers and High  Mobility Artillery Rockets, Slovak Zuzana self-propelled artillery and  Polish Krab self-propelled artillery, Mr. Muzyka said, citing Ukrainian  military sources, heavily battered Russian artillery positions on one  section of the Kherson front went silent for more than 48 hours.
A recent drone attack led by Lieutenant Serhiy provided another example of the Russian forces’ vulnerabilities.

Equipped  with night-vison goggles — an essential item of modern warfare that the  Russian forces generally lack — the soldiers drove to the front line in  an SUV with the headlights off, passing the jagged ruins of houses in a  destroyed village silhouetted by a thin sliver of the moon.

Rattling  under the driver’s seat were eight small bombs, each packed with a  pound and a half of high explosives, enough to obliterate an armored  vehicle. In the rear storage area sat a high-end, commercially available  drone.

From a rooftop  position, two former computer programmers turned tank hunters directed  drone strikes that took out two Russian armored vehicles in the space of  about three hours, destroying more than a million dollars of Russian  weaponry with a weapon that cost about $20,000.

After each flight, the drone buzzed back a few minutes later, unscathed.

This  drone system, called Perun, one of dozens used by the Ukrainian  military, swoops in at an altitude of about 500 feet, hovers directly  over a target and releases its bombs.

The  drones are audible from the ground but still effective, Lieutenant  Serhiy said, as the Russian forces “don’t have much time” to shoot them  down. It cannot be flown in all weather, and sometimes misses. “The  technology is not perfect,” he said, “but it works when it works.”

Farther from the  front line, out of drone range, American-provided, satellite-guided  artillery shells have forced the Russian military to carefully  camouflage or pull back heavy equipment, said Lieutenant Oleh, the  commander of a drone surveillance unit.

“Russia’s  advantage was only one thing: quantity,” Lieutenant Oleh said in an  interview at his base, a house along a muddy lane in a village. The  inside was crammed with screens, laptops, cables and batteries. A strip  of flypaper dangled from the ceiling.

Sitting  in front of his screens, he pinpoints tanks, barracks or other military  objects and relays coordinates to artillery teams firing satellite  guided shells, which hit within a yard or two of their intended targets.

“From  a typical howitzer, you create a sniper rifle,” he said of the  combination of drone surveillance and satellite guided artillery shells,  something Russia lacks. “One shot, one kill.”

The  partial destruction of bridges over the broad Dnipro River through the  summer slowed Russia’s movement of heavy equipment to the river’s  western bank, even as Western weaponry helped Ukraine whittle away at  what was already there. The combination cost Russia its artillery  advantage on the river’s western bank.

“Think  of the orcs in their trenches,” Lieutenant Oleh said, using a derisive  term for Russian soldiers. “They have no heavy weaponry, no supplies,  it’s cold and raining. It’s a really difficult state for morale.”

If  they try to hold out in Kherson city, he said, referring to a  protracted battle with the Nazis in World War II, “it will be Stalingrad  in winter for them.”

While  the messaging and movement of forces around Kherson on both sides have  been hard to decipher, by design, there is no mistaking which side has  the momentum.

Major Oleksandr, the  commander of the Ukrainian self-propelled howitzer battery, said he had  the sense of the Russian lines that “if we shake them, they will  disintegrate.” But he was also aware of the possibility of deception,  with the Russians trying to lure Ukraine into a premature advance by  falsely signaling a willingness to withdraw.

Ukraine’s buildup of forces could also be a trick, he said.

“The plans of our leadership are always unpredictable,” Major Oleksandr said, “and I like it that way.”

nytimes.com

----------


## misskit

*Russia Says Crimea Attack Drones Used Grain Corridor Safe Zone*

Russia said Sunday it recovered debris from drones that attacked its fleet in Sevastopol, exploiting  the "safe zone" of a grain corridor, and could have been launched from a civilian ship.


"The marine drones were moving in the safe zone of the 'grain corridor'," Russia's defense ministry said, adding it had "lifted" some of the drones' debris from the sea. 


One of the drones may have been launched "from aboard one of the civilian ships chartered by Kyiv or its Western masters for the export of agricultural products from the seaports of Ukraine."


Moscow on Sunday pulled out of a UN-brokered grain deal after its Black Sea Fleet in Russian-annexed Crimea was targeted by a drone attack. 


Russia also said some of the drones used in what it called a "terrorist attack" had Canadian-made parts. 


The army said its specialists had "conducted an examination of Canadian-made navigation modules."


Russia has accused Kyiv of planning the Sevastopol attack with the help of British military specialists. 


It said one of the drones' data from a "navigation receiver" showed that it was launched "from the coast near the city of Odesa."

Russia Says Crimea Attack Drones Used Grain Corridor ‘Safe Zone’ - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Russian shelling attacks target critical infrastructure in Kyiv and beyond*

On the morning of October 31, Ukrainian authorities declared an air raid alert throughout the entire country. Ukrainian news outlets have reported explosions in the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kirovohrad regions, among others.


Air defense systems were activated in the Kyiv, Poltava, and Vinnytsia regions. Local authorities reported strikes on critical infrastructure targets in the Zaporizhzhia and Cherkasy regions as well as in Kyiv and Kharkiv.


As a result of the strikes, part of Kyiv has lost power, and several of the city’s districts currently have no running water, according to the city’s mayor, Vitaly Klitschko. A journalist from the BBC reported that electricity and cell service were cut off in Kyiv after “many explosions” were heard. In Kharkiv, metro service has been suspended.


In addition, multiple lines of Ukraine’s railroad service lost power after energy infrastructure targets were shelled. Diesel locomotives have been brought out to replace the electric ones.


Commenting on the shelling, Ukrainian Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said that Russian forces “continue to wage war against peaceful facilities.” “We’ll withstand it, and their shame will be very costly for entire generations of Russians. We continue to work both on the home front and on the battlefield,” he added.


The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the shelling.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/10/31...yiv-and-beyond

----------


## sabang

The Pentagon announced a new $275 million shipment from American stockpiles to Kiev

by Kyle Anzalone Posted onOctober 28, 2022CategoriesNews

The Joe Biden administration said the Department of Defense will send $275 million in arms to Ukraine. The shipment is the twenty-fourth since Russian forces invaded in February. The White House has provided Kiev with tens of billions in military aid.


The Pentagon press release says the latest transfer will include ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 155mm Howitzers, and Remote Anti-Armor Mine Systems. Washington will also send Ukraine vehicles, small arms, and communications equipment.


The Department of Defense says Biden authorized the weapons transfer through the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA). The PDA allows the president to send weapons to foreign militaries directly from American stockpiles. The Pentagon says its supply of some weapons systems are now "uncomfortably low" due to the transfers to Ukraine.


The Pentagon claims American security assistance for Ukraine since the Russian invasion now stands at $17.9 billion. The Kiel Institute, a German think tank, reports Washington’s security assistance for Kiev totals $27.5 billion. The institute, which "is basically funded by the German Federal Government," says the US has also provided Ukraine with $15 billion in financial aid and nearly $10 billion in humanitarian assistance.


The White House announces a new weapons package for Kiev nearly every week. While this package did not include any new weapons platforms, the Pentagon pledged air defense systems in the future.


"Air defense capabilities have been, and will continue to be, a U.S. priority for Ukraine," the Pentagon press release says, adding, "[t]o meet Ukraine’s evolving battlefield requirements, the United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with key capabilities."

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/10/28/...er-to-ukraine/

----------


## harrybarracuda

^ Add that to the bill, along with the war crimes compensation.

----------


## panama hat

> White House Approves 24th Weapons Transfer to Ukraine


Hopefully another 24 won't be required as the Russian ogres will slime their way back to Russia.  Then it's a matter of preparation for the next time the fuckwits try it.

----------


## misskit

*Ukrainians are staying in Kyiv despite Putin's warning. Here's why*

A recent barrage of Russian airstrikes in Kyiv, Ukraine, caused an 80% water loss in the city. Despite the attacks and Putin's warning of more airstrikes, residents told CNN's Nic Robertson they plan on staying and are "ready for this."

VIDEO Video: Ukrainians are staying in Kyiv despite Putin'&#39;'s warning. Here'&#39;'s why | CNN

----------


## panama hat

It's good to know the Russian scum are only attacking military infrastructure

----------


## bsnub

> It's good to know the Russian scum are only attacking military infrastructure


Yet the Ukrainians are attacking the underbelly of the Russian army every day with HIMARS constantly striking command posts, ammo dumps, artillery emplacements etc. Russia could be doing the same thing to Ukraine's army, instead they choose to commit acts of terrorism on civilians. They really are not very bright.

----------


## sabang

There's been a lack of oversight for the tens of billions in weapons being sent to Ukraine

by Dave DeCamp Posted onOctober 31, 2022CategoriesNewsTagsFinland, Ukraine

Finland’s national law enforcement agency, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), has warned that weapons being shipped to Ukraine are ending up in the hands of criminal gangs.

The Finnish broadcaster _YLE_ reported Sunday that a preliminary investigation conducted by the NBI found that criminals in Finland may have captured military arms sent to Ukraine.

“We’ve seen signs of these weapons already finding their way to Finland,” Christer Ahlgren, the NBI’s detective superintendent, told _YLE_. Ahlgren said that weapons shipped to Ukraine have also been found in Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands.

Ahlgren didn’t specify what type of weapons criminals were getting hold of, and the _Yle_ report only mentioned rifles. He said that the routes for trafficking the weapons from Ukraine were already in place and said motorcycle gangs were involved in the activity.

“Three of the world’s largest motorcycle gangs—that are part of larger international organizations—are active in Finland. One of these is Bandidos MC, which has a unit in every major Ukrainian city,” Ahlgren said.

There’s been virtually no oversight of the tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons that the US and its NATO allies have been pouring into Ukraine. Back in April, one source briefed on US intelligence told _CNN_ that sending weapons into Ukraine was like dropping the arms into a “big black hole.”

In August, _CBS_ released a short documentary that quoted the head of an NGO that helps get military equipment to Ukraine, who estimated only 30%-40% of the arms are making it to the frontlines. The documentary was quickly retracted after pressure from the Ukrainian government, and _CBS_ said that the 30% estimation was based on figures in April.

Ahlgren said that officials in the region will have to deal with the influx of arms for years to come. “Ukraine has received a large volume of weapons and that’s good, but we’re going to be dealing with these arms for decades and pay the price here,” he said.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/10/31/...-of-criminals/

----------


## bsnub

Oh noes! A few guns fell off the truck while passing through Finland. I guess we better stop all the shipments now.

 :rofl: 

Nice source. Antiwar shills repackaging a Zero hedge article. More crap.

----------


## misskit

Russian occupation authorities in southern Ukraine said Tuesday that tens of thousands more people would be evacuated from the Kherson region amid Kyiv's counteroffensive.


The Russian-installed leader of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said some 70,000 people along a 15-kilometer  stretch of the left bank of the Dnipro River would be moved deeper into the region or to Russia.


"We have already begun this work," he said in an interview with the Solovyov Live YouTube channel.


He said the resettlement was being carried out because of the risk of a "massive missile attack" by Ukrainian forces on a local dam.


Russia's occupation authorities last week said that 70,000 civilians left their homes located on the right bank of the Dnipro River.

Ukraine War: Power Restored in Kyiv as Putin Declares Mobilization Over - The Moscow Times

----------


## panama hat

> Finnish Law Enforcement: Arms Sent to Ukraine Ending Up in Hands of Criminals







Better headline:



> World News: Arms brought to Ukraine by criminals in Russian uniforms.

----------


## panama hat

> He said the resettlement was being carried out because of the risk of a "massive missile attack" by Ukrainian forces on a local dam.


He is forecasting a massive missile attack by Russia?  That'll get him into trouble.

----------


## misskit

*Hun Sen speaks to Zelensky, agrees to send Cambodian deminers to Ukraine
*
Prime Minister Hun Sen said that Cambodia would send deminers to Ukraine to provide training in mine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance, while also accepting his Ukrainian counterpart’s invitation to visit the country at a “suitable time”.


Hun Sen made the pledge during a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on November 1.


According to a press statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Cambodia will provide the demining training in collaboration with Japan, though it did not specify the timeline for the dispatch to the country at war with Russia.


Hun Sen also expressed concern over the recent attacks by the Russian military on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other regions, which had caused heavy casualties, damage to civilian infrastructure, power outages and water shortages.


He shared the suffering that Cambodia had gone through, and urged all parties to the conflict to strive for a “comprehensive” compromise so that Ukraine can regain peace, stability, territorial integrity and development.


Zelensky thanked Cambodia for co-sponsoring the UN General Assembly resolutions against Russia’s invasion and annexation of Ukrainian regions.


On the diplomatic front, Zelensky agreed to Hun Sen’s proposal to appoint ambassadors between the two countries.

Hun Sen speaks to Zelensky, agrees to send Cambodian deminers to Ukraine

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine’s nuclear agency: Russian military are building something at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant*

The Russian military are building a new object at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, reports the Ukrainian Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate. It isn’t clear what exactly the occupying army is constructing.


According to the nuclear agency, construction is taking place on the site of the spent fuel storage facility, which is one of the seven nuclear objects at the power plant. This violates nuclear and radiation safety standards.


The inspectorate points out that the NPP’s regular staff are not permitted near the construction site.


On November 1, the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence (GUR) reported that the Russian military had placed equipment for preventing aerial reconnaissance on the rooftop of Zaporizhzhia NPP’s fifth power unit.

The Russian military occupied the Zaporizhzhia NPP shortly after the start of the invasion. Since then, the plant has been shelled multiple times, both Russia and Ukraine blaming it on the other side. Russia’s alleged storage of military equipment at the NPP has also caused concern. After visiting the plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for establishing a safety zone around the plant.


The Ukrainian GUR believes that the Russians are planning to cancel the current employees’ passes to the NPP. Operational shift workers have to sign or cancel their contracts with the Russian nuclear agency, Rosatom, by November 2; other staff have until December 1 to do the same. Only the operational shift workers have access to the station at the moment. Engineering staff are not allowed into the workplace.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/11/02...ar-power-plant

----------


## Norton

> After visiting the plant, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) called for establishing a safety zone around the plant.


What the IAEA should be doing is calling for the immediate withdrawal of Russians from the site.
Too bad they have no power to make it happen.

----------


## misskit

*Russia Threatens Norway With Ugly Fall Out*

Russia announced Wednesday that it views Norway’s work with other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as provocative, warning that Norway’s efforts to bolster its military in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year will likely be the death knell for Oslo-Moscow relations moving forward.


“Oslo is now among the most active supporters of NATO's involvement in the Arctic,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Wednesday, according to TASS. “We consider such developments near Russian borders as Oslo's deliberate pursuit of a destructive course toward escalation of tensions in the Euro-Arctic region and the final destruction of Russian-Norwegian relations.”


In her statement, Zakharova also warned that any further “unfriendly actions will be followed by a timely and adequate response.”


The news of Russia’s complaints about Norway comes just a day after Norway raised its military alert level in response to suspicious drone sightings. Norway has arrested several Russians, including one son of an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s, and accused them of illegally flying drones in Norwegian airspace or taking photos in restricted areas as concerns abound about potential Russian attacks on critical infrastructure. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre warned Russia to cut it out, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.


NATO countries ought to be on alert to Russia’s aggression in light of the war in Ukraine, Støre warned Monday.


“Today, we have no reason to believe that Russia will want to involve Norway or any other country directly in the war,” Støre said. “But the war in Ukraine makes it necessary for all NATO countries to be more vigilant.”

Norway has previously hosted exercises and has long hosted rotational deployments of U.S. troops for arctic training. Russia’s announcement comes weeks after the U.S. Air Force participated in a combat arctic integration training exercise with NATO allies and the Royal Norwegian Air Force at Norway’s Ørland Main Air Station, according to the U.S. Defense Department. The allies worked to operate quickly across weapons platforms and systems to try to deter Russia along NATO’s eastern flank.


“The sum is that together, we can better defend not only Norway and the Nordic countries, but also Europe should the need arise,” Col. Martin Tesli, the 132nd Luftving Base commander, said in a statement.


The U.S. Air Force’s 90th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed for the exercise was also able to work with the Air Force from Finland, which is in the process of joining NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


Moscow’s warning appeared to be just the latest Russian attempt to assert its own narrative as its relationships with countries across Europe and the West continue to deteriorate.


It’s not the first time Russia has tried to raise red flags over what it sees as provocative action from European countries and NATO cooperation. Moscow warned before it invaded Ukraine this year that it views the expansion of members in NATO—which was established to counter threats from the Soviet Union—as a threat to Russia. The Kremlin has maintained that Ukraine’s interest in joining the military alliance poses a threat to Russia, a claim it had repeated in recent days.

Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine and European nations is “the most serious security policy situation we have experienced in several decades,” Støre emphasized.


Norway has been working to help Ukraine defend against Russia’s invasion since the outset of the war. The country has sanctioned the Russian government in an attempt to get Moscow to back off from the war and had provided Ukraine with military assistance. The assistance includes an air defense system, Mistral surface-to-air missiles, thousands of anti-tank missiles, protective gear such as bulletproof vests and helmets, and armored vehicles.


Oslo has also sought to ramp up its military budget. Just last month, Norway proposed boosting its defense budget for next year by nearly 10 percent, according to Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram. A chunk of the increase is dedicated to weapons for Ukraine’s defense against Russia.


“Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is a threat to Norwegian and European security. The war has already had major security political, economic, and humanitarian consequences,” Gram said. “The need for military support to Ukraine is necessary, extensive, and time-critical. This budget strengthens the Armed Forces and stands up for Ukraine.”


Norway is also helping to train Ukrainian soldiers alongside the U.K. and has promised to provide Ukraine over $1.1 billion (in USD) in financial assistance over the next two years.


Norway isn’t the only nation Russia has protested in recent days. Late last month Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that Moscow sees no point in maintaining diplomatic relations with Western states writ large.


Lavrov noted that Russia would like to focus its world diplomacy on countries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia, rather than work with the West.


“We will shift the ‘center of gravity’ to countries that are ready to cooperate with us on equal and mutually beneficial terms and look for promising joint projects,” Lavrov said.

‘Final Destruction’: Russia Threatens Norway With Ugly Fall Out

----------


## panama hat

Jaysus . . . Russia really is Europe's China in the whingefest

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## misskit

*Ukraine conflict, sanctions set to blow hole in Russia's finances*

(Reuters) - The cost of Russia's military mobilisation and the impact of Western sanctions are set to blow a hole in the government's budget forecasts and drain Moscow's reserves to their lowest level in years, according to analysts' latest calculations.


That will put an ever greater strain on the Kremlin's resources as President Vladimir Putin seeks to fund a conflict with no end in sight and prepares for a possible re-election bid in 2024.

After eight months of what it calls a "special military operation", Moscow has drawn up a 2023 budget that takes no account of the cost of the recent call-up of 300,000 reservists, the declared annexation of four Ukrainian regions - the Kremlin says the four joined Russia freely - and Western efforts to cap Russian energy export prices, analysts say.


While Russia's economy initially held up relatively well to the waves of Western sanctions imposed on it, the impact is beginning to show - in analysts' assessments, if not in those of the government.


"The macroeconomic forecast, upon which the budget is based, was calculated before mobilisation," said Alexandra Suslina, an independent analyst. "It does not take into account new sanctions, and therefore is not reflecting reality."


Putin's current, fourth term as a president expires in 2024 and he is yet to say if he will run again - a process that, judging by past campaigns, would likely involve courting voters with promises to spend more on wages, welfare and pensions.


Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that Putin had not yet decided whether to run in 2024 but added: "The social obligations of the state are an absolute priority."


Russian official forecasts estimate that GDP will fall 0.8% next year, while a Reuters poll of analysts sees the economy shrinking 2.5%. The World Bank expects a 3.6% contraction.


BALLOONING DEFICIT


Russia's finance ministry expects the budget deficit next year to almost double from this year to 3 trillion roubles, or 2% of gross domestic product. Analysts at state bank VTB forecast the gap at an even wider 4-4.5 trillion roubles.


Moscow sees energy revenues at 9 trillion roubles next year, or a third of its total income - a projection analysts say is also too optimistic amid upcoming sanctions on Russian energy imports by the west.

"The finance ministry forecasts incredible things such as that energy income ... would remain as before, like Russia would continue to produce the same amount of oil with demand unchanged," an economist at a western financial company said.


As Europe cuts ties with Russia, Moscow risks losing a staggering 55% of its oil product exports, or over 80 million tonnes, next year, the government has estimated. Gazprom's gas exports already plunged 43% in January-October compared with the same period last year.


The finance ministry sees non-energy revenue, or that related to economic activity, at 11.5% of GDP in 2023, around 7% higher than this year and on par with pre-pandemic levels.


But analysts say that this, too, is hardly realistic.


"Consumer demand will be falling, people will be buying less, cheaper, lower in quality - and then the non-energy income forecast... will have to be revised," said Suslina.


While Russia this week officially ended what it calls its "partial" mobilisation, some 300,000 reservists called up by the Kremlin for its campaign in Ukraine since September remain in military units, which also hurts economic activity.


Lower economic activity and weak imports may see Moscow collecting around 1 trillion roubles less per year from value-added tax, its main non-energy income, according to a joint study by the Russian Presidential Academy Ranepa and the Gaidar Institute.


Dmitry Polevoy, investment director at Moscow-based broker Locko Invest, estimates that payouts to those mobilised - including higher-than-average salaries and compensation in the event of injury or death - may come to between 900 billion roubles and 3 trillion roubles in the next half-year alone.


The finance ministry did not reply to a Reuters request for a comment.


Finance minister Anton Siluanov, without giving details, told Russian lawmakers last week that the budget "allows (us) to meet all social obligations without harming macroeconomic stability."


LIMITED OPTIONS


Russia has few options for plugging the budget deficit, analysts say, as sanctions and counter-sanctions have hit foreign investors' ability to invest in domestic rouble bonds, and the finance ministry is already depleting the resources of the National Wealth Fund (NWF).


As Russia has actively started spending NWF money on everything from economic support to social payments, the finance ministry sees the fund halving to 6.25 trillion roubles, or 4.2% of GDP - its lowest since 2018 - by the end of next year.


"The main budget risk amid significant sanctions pressure... is of a complete dry-out of the NWF, which could significantly undermine the federal budget's stability and the budget system as a whole," analysts at the Financial University said in a recent note.


If it falls to 5.95 trillion roubles, or 3.7% of GDP, by the end of 2024, the amount of cash left would be the smallest Russia has had in its reserves in the last two decades, according to the budget comments by the state Audit Chamber.


"Sources to finance the budget deficit are now scarcer than ever," Suslina said.


"I very much hope that the finance ministry will avoid outright money printing."


Ukraine conflict, sanctions set to blow hole in Russia&#39;s finances

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## harrybarracuda

Won't blow a hole in the Putin savings accounts I fancy.

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## panama hat

> "I very much hope that the finance ministry will avoid outright money printing."


To be fair, everyone else has been doing it . . .






> Won't blow a hole in the Putin savings accounts I fancy.


Not his but I'm sure hid best friends won't be too happy with it

----------


## Takeovers

> Please can I have 2.20 minutes of your time. When they captured the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Russia celebrated. Russia celebrated doing this to a city of 450,00, largely Russian speaking residents. This is what Putin calls the liberation of #Ukraine.


https://twitter.com/GlasnostGone/sta...31291009007616


Click on twitter link for a drive through Mariupol. The City is devastated.

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## harrybarracuda

A major Russian military force faces a crisis in southern Ukraine, according to Western officials who expect Ukrainian troops to liberate the crucial city of Kherson in the coming weeks.
“They are creating circumstances where Russians have two options: either to retreat or to die because they don't have additional equipment,” a senior European official told the Washington Examiner.
Ukrainian officials have worked to present Russia with that agonizing choice during a fall counteroffensive characterized by effective use of artillery and step-by-step offensives by small infantry units. Russian forces tasked with holding the Kherson region’s namesake capital city must contend not only with the methodical opponent before them, whose efficacy has been described even by Russian military analysts, but also the logistical problems that arise from the mighty Dnieper River that bisects the Kherson region and divides them from their supplies further east.
“They will be evacuating pretty soon,” another senior European official predicted. “There is [an army], some 20,000-strong army on this right bank of the river — a Russian army with proven, elite troops — without proper supplies. ... If they let them be encircled by the Ukrainian army, they could lose their most valuable troops there.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...retreat-or-die

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## Takeovers

> “They are creating circumstances where Russians have two options: either to retreat or to die because they don't have additional equipment,” a senior European official told the Washington Examiner.


I don't think they presently have the retreat option. Ukrainian precision artillery has disrupted the pontoon bridge again, so no heavy equipment can be moved out. Seems Ukraine is determined to not let them escape with heavy equipment. Russian operatives have destroyed many small vessels that could be used to evacuate people. Getting to the dam bridge is a long and dangerous trip.

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## bsnub

MYKOLAIV/KHERSON FRONTLINE — It’s now been over eight months of full-scale warfare since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But  while the war continues, the features of the battlefield have changed  significantly — both in the systems employed, and the tactics used to  counter them.

Ukraine’s military, which began the war with largely  Soviet-era equipment, has transitioned into an ever-more Western-armed  and -trained force. By contrast, much of Russia’s best equipment — and  its most professional troops — have been destroyed or killed in months  of relentless combat, leading Moscow to draw on older stocks as the  Russian force regresses.

Few people, or units, know this better  than Ukraine’s 59th Motorized Brigade. Stationed in Kherson oblast at  the start of the war, the 59th was subjected to the full force of one of  Russia’s best-prepared strike groups, an armored thrust northwards from  occupied Crimea. But while they were forced to cede Kherson City in  early March, the 59th held back Russia’s spearheads from seizing  Mykolaiv, the next city along the coast towards Odesa. Now, after seven  months of largely static warfare, the changing balance of power sees the  59th poised to play a major role in the upcoming battle to liberate Kherson.

The  soldiers of the 59th are bullish on their prospects of beating the  Russians back at Kherson City. They talk dismissively of the battlefield  effectiveness of the Iranian drones that have made headlines in recent  weeks — weapons well-suited to harassing civilian infrastructure but  less effective against prepared military units. Consistent degradation  of Russian logistics and supply lines has hampered the enemy’s ability  to effectively contest the battlefield. Russian leaders’ desperate moves  to staff their front line with unwilling conscripts, their focus on looting Kherson  of anything moveable, and even their use of air defense systems to  attack ground targets, all buoy the 59th’s morale. They smell blood in  the water.

On a sunny day in late October, one platoon from the  brigade was catching some sleep during a break in the action at a  disused gas station a few kilometers back from the frontline. The  soldiers and officers present shared with Military Times their  impressions of how the war has changed — for them, often for the better —  over the past few months.

One of the hot topics in recent weeks has been Russia’s heavy  deployment of Iranian-made Shahed 136 loitering munitions. Carrying a  warhead of up to 50 kilograms and with a range of 1,500 kilometers,  these ‘kamikaze drones’ have been employed across Ukraine, in particular  to strike heating and power infrastructure  in Kyiv and other cities. While they have been used on the battlefield  as well, soldiers say they have not been particularly effective  militarily.

“Iranian drones are attacking Mykolaiv constantly,”  says Vadym, a senior lieutenant in the 59th. “They’re active over the  entire region, but most of them are shot down. They are only really  useful against civilian targets, when they can slip past air defense,”  he says.

One of the difficulties drones present to many air  defense systems is a small radio and heat signature, which can make it  difficult to achieve lock-on. With advance warning of an approaching  drone, however, this can be mitigated — and there are other tools that  work even better.

“It’s difficult to hit [a Shahed] with any  system that works by heat lock, such as a Stinger [MANPAD], unless you  have extra time to track it,” Vadym says. “But our foreign partners have  provided us with some very effective systems. The German Gepards  [self-propelled anti-aircraft guns] are very good against them. They see  the [drone] and can easily shoot it down. Even machine guns can down  [Shaheds] quite easily if they are not flying too high — they are quite  large and slow,” he explains.

Other troops agree with Vadym’s estimation.

“These  drones [Shaheds] are not a problem at all,” says Zhenya, a sergeant  major. “If you have warning and anti-aircraft weapons, you can down them  quite easily. That’s why [Russia] uses them against cities — they are  not useful on the battlefield,” he says.

The use of these systems speaks to the difficulties Moscow is facing  in maintaining a steady level of long-range strikes eight months into  the war. As its stocks of precision-guided munitions deplete, Russia has  turned to other methods, some not designed for the task: soldiers say  that S-300 missiles, originally designed for air defense, are now one of  the primary weapons used to strike Mykolaiv. Despite their poor  accuracy when used against ground targets, the missiles are still fired  at the city regularly at night.

Ukraine’s efforts to degrade Russian logistics and supply routes in Kherson are also paying dividends.

“American  HIMARs [precision rocket artillery] have been incredibly useful for us.  Once we started hitting the bridges, the intensity of the [Russian]  shelling decreased a lot,” says Vadym, describing the Ukrainian shelling  of the Antonovsky and Nova Kakhovka  bridges, the only two connections between Kherson and the rest of  Russian-held southern Ukraine. “We destroyed a lot of their artillery  and ammunition warehouses as well. Before, [the Russians] used to shell  everything, just firing as much as they wanted at any targets. Now, they  are forced to economize,” Vadym says.

American-provided  long-range artillery systems have been crucial to shifting the tide here  as well. Vadym specifically names the M109 Paladin self-propelled  howitzer and the M777, whose guided Excalibur shells can hit targets up  to 40 kilometers away with high accuracy.

“Before we had the M777, we couldn’t reach their [artillery] systems, but now we can,” he says.

Finally,  it is not just Russian equipment that has been depleted. Much of  Moscow’s professional infantry corps, many of whom were transferred  from eastern Ukraine to Kherson over the summer in anticipation of an  impending Ukrainian assault, has been put out of action. With competent  manpower consistently lacking and contract servicemen, many of whom have  been fighting without a break since Feb. 24, increasingly dwindling,  Russia has thrown in a new stopgap to bolster the lines: conscripts.

The men of the 59th are unimpressed by what they have seen.

”We’ve  already gone up against their mobilized men here,” says Mikhail,  another senior lieutenant at a post closer to the front. “They are  nearly useless. Many of them can hardly hold a gun, let alone a  position. We have killed their professional soldiers, and now [Russia]  is hoping to slow us down with bodies,” he says.

As the situation  shifts in Ukraine’s favor, the soldiers want for only one thing: extra  artillery and tanks to crack Russia’s defenses and exploit breakthroughs  in the inevitable assault on Kherson.

“We have almost everything  we need,” Vadym says. “We just need a bit more artillery, to fight  against their guns, and especially tanks — maybe the most important  element in an attack. There will be positive developments here [in  Kherson] very soon.”

https://news.yahoo.com/hardened-ukra...213019632.html

----------


## bsnub

A must-read. You can listen to the audio version on the site.

At a White House ceremony on August 9, days after the U.S. Senate  agreed in a near-unanimous vote to ratify the expansion of NATO to  include Finland and Sweden, U.S. President Joe Biden highlighted how  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had backfired on Russian President Vladimir  Putin. “He’s getting exactly what he did not want,” Biden announced.  “He wanted the Finlandization of NATO, but he’s getting the NATOization  of Finland, along with Sweden.” Indeed, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has  been a massive strategic blunder, leaving Russia militarily,  economically, and geopolitically weaker.

  Ukraine’s offensive in Kharkiv in September underscored the magnitude  of Putin’s error. As Russian forces grew exhausted, losing momentum on  the battlefield, Ukraine seized the initiative, dealing the Russian  military a decisive blow. Ukraine’s battlefield successes revealed the  extent of the rot in Putin’s army—the sagging morale, the declining  manpower, the deteriorating quality of the troops. Instead of giving up,  however, Putin responded to these problems by ordering a partial  military mobilization,  introducing tougher punishments for soldiers who desert or surrender,  and moving forward with the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian  regions. Putin reacted to Russia’s falling fortunes in Ukraine just as  he did to its shrinking role on the world stage: dealt a losing hand, he  doubled down on his risky bet. To Putin’s evident surprise, the war in  Ukraine has accelerated long-standing trends pushing his country toward  decline. Europe is moving to reduce  its energy dependence on Russia, diminishing both the country’s  leverage over the continent and the government revenues that depend  heavily on energy exports. Unprecedented international sanctions and  export controls are limiting Russia’s access to capital and technology,  which will cause Moscow to fall even further behind in innovation. A  year ago, we argued in these pages that reports of Russia’s decline were  overstated and that Russia was poised to remain a persistent power—a  country facing structural challenges but maintaining the intent and  capabilities to threaten the United States and its allies. Putin’s  disastrous invasion underscored the dangers of dismissing the threat  from Russia, but it has also hastened the country’s decline. Today,  Russia’s long-term outlook is decidedly dimmer.

  Given these factors, there will be a strong temptation to downgrade  Russia as a threat. That would be a mistake, and not just because the  war has yet to be won. In Ukraine and elsewhere, the more vulnerable  Moscow perceives itself to be, the more it will try to offset  those vulnerabilities by relying on unconventional tools—including  nuclear weapons. In other words, Russian power and influence may be  diminished, but that does not mean Russia will become dramatically less  threatening. Instead, some aspects of the threat are likely to worsen.  For the West, recognizing that reality means abandoning any near-term  hopes of a chastened Russia and maintaining support for Russia’s  targets. That effort should begin in Ukraine: the United States and its  allies must provide sustained support to Kyiv to ensure that Russia  suffers a defeat. But even if Putin loses, the problem that Russia poses  will not be solved. In many ways, it will grow in intensity. So, too,  should the response to it.

*Payment Due*

 The war in Ukraine  has dealt a blow to Russia’s global economic influence. Russia’s GDP is  set to contract by six percent over the course of 2022, according to  the International Monetary Fund. And that could be just the beginning,  as the full brunt of Western measures are yet to be felt. Western export  controls will curtail Moscow’s access to key technologies and  components, hobbling an economy that depends heavily on foreign inputs  and know-how. Already there are signs of struggle in car manufacturing  and other major commercial sectors in which Russian dependence on  foreign components or parts is especially pronounced.

  Moreover, Russia’s status as a major energy power is on shaky ground.  To be sure, Europe faces challenges in securing alternatives to Russian  energy imports in the coming decade. But over the long term, the  political leverage that the Kremlin derives from energy exports will  diminish. Western sanctions scheduled to take effect by the end of 2022  will block the issuance of commercial insurance for Russian tanker  shipments, increasing the risks and costs of Russian oil transactions.  The G-7, meanwhile, is imposing a price cap on the sale of Russian oil.  Over time, the noose may tighten, forcing Russia to offer greater  discounts for the purchase of its oil. There are growing signs of  declining Russian exports and, hence, shrinking revenue,  leading the Russian government to slash its budget in many departments  by ten percent. Europe will steadily decrease its imports of Russian  energy, giving Moscow less room to negotiate with other consumers, such  as China and India. Russia has also hemorrhaged some of its best talent,  including programmers, engineers, and information technology  specialists, which will curtail its future competitiveness.

Although those factors will take a significant toll, the full extent  of the looming economic contraction and its impact on Russia is unclear.  The effects of sanctions and export controls will largely depend on the  West’s success in enforcing them and Europe’s success in reducing its  dependence on Russian energy. The Kremlin, for its part, will work hard  to circumvent the restrictions and find workarounds to blunt their  damage. Moscow will resort to trading goods illegally through networks  that transit friendly countries, such as the Eurasian Economic Union  states, and to working with countries such as China to jointly develop  technologies. It will be difficult for Russia to access the large volume  of components required to supply key sectors of its economy, such as  the automotive industry, but it may be able to secure the specific  technologies needed to sustain select weapons programs.

  Rather than facing a total collapse, the Russian economy is likely  headed toward scarcity, autarky, and a steady decoupling from the global  economy. As conditions deteriorate, the Kremlin will grow more  desperate, resorting to shadowy or illicit means to get by and flouting  the rules that govern global commerce in which it no longer has a stake.  The more marginalized and threatened the Kremlin becomes, the less  predictable and restrained its behavior will be.

  It is worth considering that before the war, Russia  was already a relatively weak great power, with poor economic  foundations for its global influence. Yet its ability to contest U.S.  interests has often been greater than any raw economic indicators would  suggest. Russia tends to punch above its weight and, though lacking in  dynamism, is known for its resilience. The country has also lost its  share of wars yet has remained a consequential actor in European  security. With that track record, it would be unwise to assume that an  economically weaker Russia will necessarily be less threatening to U.S.  interests in the years to come.

*Battlefield Dearth*

 The Russian military has been badly mauled in Ukraine.  The war has consumed millions of artillery shells and worn out a  massive quantity of Russian equipment, from artillery barrels to tank  engines. More than 80,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded  in the fighting. Mobilized personnel from Russian-held Ukrainian  territories in Donetsk and Luhansk and volunteer fighters make up a  significant percentage of the more recent losses, but many of Russia’s  best troops were lost early in the war. At the same time as it faces  personnel shortages, the Russian military is increasingly having to  bring old equipment out of storage to outfit new volunteer units. Moscow  has addressed these problems piecemeal, allowing its troops to muddle  through, but that ultimately won’t resolve the fundamental problems as  the quality of the force degrades. Mobilization may extend Russia’s  ability to sustain the war, introducing a degree of uncertainty to the  medium and long term, but it is unlikely to resolve the structural  problems in Russia’s military performance.  As Western export controls cut Russia off from key components such as  computer chips and Western machine tools, armament programs have been  delayed and Moscow has been forced to pursue expensive workarounds.  These measures will reduce the quality and reliability of such parts in  weapons systems and, over time, substantially weaken Russia’s defense  industry.

  Still, the West should not assume that the Russian military will be  rendered harmless after its disastrous war with Ukraine. Russia is  likely to find ways around the Western restrictions, especially given  the difficulty of enforcing them. Moscow may not be particularly good at  producing its own substitutes for imports, but it has a knack for  skirting Western export controls. After its illegal annexation of Crimea  in 2014, Russia, despite an array of sanctions, still managed to  maintain access to Western-made parts for many of its weapons. China may  also work to lessen the pressure. Although Beijing has so far been  reluctant to increase defense-military cooperation with Russia for fear  of incurring U.S. penalties for violating sanctions, it is likely to  find ways to support Moscow as the international spotlight moves away  from Ukraine, including by providing computer chips and other crucial  components.

  What is more, the war has left untouched many of the Russian  capabilities that most worry the United States and NATO. Russia remains a  leader in integrated air defenses, electronic warfare, anti[at]satellite  weapons, submarines, and other advanced systems. Although it at first  seemed that Russia had not used cyber-operations during its attack  on Ukraine, according to an analysis by Microsoft, Russia did in fact  conduct almost 40 destructive cyberattacks against Ukraine in the first  three months of the invasion, including a devastating cyber-campaign  across Europe that blocked Ukrainian access to commercial satellites. To  the extent that Moscow exercised restraint on that front, it probably  did so because Putin envisioned a swift victory and planned to occupy  the country thereafter.

  Last but not least, Russia still has a sizable nuclear arsenal—4,477  warheads, according to some estimates—that remains a significant factor  shaping U.S. and NATO decision-making. Even as the Russian military  invested more heavily in conventional weaponry, it maintained a capable  tactical nuclear arsenal and poured billions of rubles into modernizing  its strategic nuclear forces. Despite Russia’s conventional losses in  Ukraine, its nuclear arsenal is a logical offset to its conventional  vulnerability and poses a credible threat. Western policymakers,  therefore, should not assume Russia can no longer endanger European  security, nor should they imagine that Russia can’t recover its lost  military capabilities. Russia retains considerable latent power,  resilience, and mobilization potential even if the present regime is  inept at capitalizing on those resources. There is a reason Russia  features so prominently in the wars of the past several hundred years:  the country frequently uses, misuses, and eventually restores hard  military power.

*Beyond Putin*

 To justify the war, the Kremlin has stoked a dark and ugly form of “patriotism” inside Russia.  Putin and his propagandists have broadcast the message that the war in  Ukraine is in fact a civilizational conflict with a West that seeks to  keep Russia weak. They allege that Russia is fighting NATO in Ukraine  and that the United States and Europe are out to break Russia apart.  Although such anti-American rhetoric is not new—portraying the United  States as an enemy has been a long-standing Putin tactic—it is growing  angrier and more aggressive. This confrontational, anti-Western tone  will continue as long as Putin is in power.

  There are now renewed questions about Putin’s longevity  in office, particularly after he called for a partial mobilization in  September. Before that announcement, Putin had gone to great lengths to  shelter politically consequential Russians from his war in Ukraine. The  regime raised pensions to win over the country’s millions of retirees,  insisted the “special military operation” was continuing “in accordance  to the plan,” and disproportionately recruited people from Russia’s most  impoverished regions to fight. Indeed, Putin sought Russians’ passive  approval, and for many, life continued as normal. By declaring a partial  mobilization, however, Putin has awakened Russian society to the grim  realities of the war. His grip on power is weaker now than before his  decision to call on Russians to prolong his misguided endeavor.

  What comes after Putin is harder to predict. Some commentators have  warned that Russia’s next leader could be even worse for the West. That  is certainly possible, but that likelihood may be lower than many  expect. Data on authoritarian regimes most similar to Russia’s suggest  that if Putin exited office as a result of domestic dynamics—that is,  because of a coup,  a protest, or his natural death—Russia’s political trajectory would be  unlikely to worsen in terms of stability and repression and might even  improve. Research that one of us (Kendall-Taylor) has conducted with the  political scientist Erica Frantz found that in the post–Cold War era,  coups, wide-scale protests, and more violent forms of conflict are no  more likely to erupt in the years after such leaders leave the scene  than when they were in office. Repression, in fact, tends to subside  after a change.

  But although domestic dynamics might not become more combustible,  authoritarianism in Russia will likely outlast Putin. In the post–Cold  War era, authoritarianism persisted past the exit of longtime leaders in  roughly 75 percent of cases, according to Kendall-Taylor and Frantz.  Moreover, there is a strong chance that the elites who hold antagonistic  views of the West will remain in power. According to the same research,  a regime often remains intact after longtime leaders leave office—a  prospect made more likely if Putin exits on account of natural death or  an elite-led coup. Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s security  services, especially the Federal Security Service, the successor to the  KGB, have become only more empowered  and entrenched. The more Putin must rely on repression to maintain  control, the more power he must grant them. The security services—a  group that historically has held especially hostile views of the United  States and the West—are therefore primed to maintain influence beyond  Putin. Unless there is significant turnover among the ruling elite in  conjunction with Putin’s exit, Russia’s confrontational posture will  endure.

*Wounded But Dangerous*

 Russia may face mounting challenges, but the Kremlin will try to  adapt. In particular, the more vulnerable Putin feels given the  degradation of Russia’s conventional forces in Ukraine, the more likely  he is to rely on unconventional methods to accomplish his objectives.  With its back against the wall, the Kremlin will also have less  compunction about trying to destabilize its enemies through sometimes  exotic and hard-to-track methods in the biological, chemical,  cyberspace, or artificial intelligence realms.

For starters, the Kremlin will almost certainly intensify its  disinformation campaigns. Russia has seen just how effective such  campaigns can be: disinformation and propaganda have contributed to  decisions by leaders in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East to  remain neutral or circumspect in the aftermath of Moscow’s invasion of  Ukraine. By accusing Ukraine of carrying out atrocities that Russian  soldiers have committed in the war, framing Western sanctions instead of  Russia’s invasion as responsible for high food and energy prices, and  convincing many that it is fighting a defensive war against an expanding  NATO, Russia has diluted criticism of its military aggression.

  Cyberattacks will also become an ever more important and disruptive  tool, as recent incidents in Estonia and Lithuania suggest. In August,  in response to Tallinn’s announcement that it would remove all Soviet  monuments from public spaces, a Russian hacker group targeted more than  200 state and private Estonian institutions—the biggest wave of  cyberattacks on Estonia in more than a decade. The same hacker group  similarly targeted state and private institutions in Lithuania in June  after the government placed restrictions on the transit of goods  sanctioned by the European Union to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave  between Lithuania and Poland that depends on Lithuanian railways and  roads for supplies.

  Most ominously, the more damage the Russian military incurs in  Ukraine, the more likely it is to rely on the prospect of nuclear escalation  to offset NATO’s conventional superiority in Europe. The Russian  military appears genuinely more comfortable with the notion of limited  nuclear use relative to its Western counterparts. To be sure, the use of  nuclear weapons is a political decision, but the preponderance of  evidence suggests that Russia’s political leadership might well consider  limited nuclear use if faced with the kind of defeat that could  threaten the regime or the state. A future crisis or conflict with NATO  would leave Moscow with few conventional options before it decided to  threaten or potentially use nuclear weapons, shortening the pathway to  nuclear war.

The growing import of nonstrategic (or tactical) nuclear weapons to  Russia’s military means that the country is less likely than ever to  agree to negotiated limits on its nuclear arsenal. That is particularly  problematic given that Russia has a more diversified nuclear arsenal  than the United States does, with different types of nonstrategic  weapons, and doctrinally appears to be more willing to use those weapons  in a conflict. The current hostility in the U.S. Congress toward Russia  and Moscow’s record of violating the treaties it signs also lowers the  odds that the United States and Russia will agree to a replacement for  the New start treaty once it expires in 2026. In the absence of an  agreement, Russia’s ability to produce strategic nuclear weapons and  deploy new systems would be unchecked, and the United States would lose  important insights into Russia’s strategic nuclear arsenal. Notably,  China is also modernizing its nuclear arsenal.  As a result, the United States will find itself dealing with two  unconstrained nuclear powers, both focused on the United States as the  primary threat.

*The Danger of Complacency*

 Any sensible effort to counter Moscow must start in Kyiv. U.S. and  European support for Ukraine has so far been remarkable. The United  States alone has sent more than $45 billion in assistance. This support  has helped Ukraine not just defend itself but launch a counteroffensive  to retake territory occupied by Russian forces. With the momentum on  Kyiv’s side, now is the time to step up the support and the provision of  weapons Ukraine needs to, at a minimum, return its borders to where  they stood before the invasion. Anything less would increase the  prospects of another war down the line.

  Even if Ukraine  and its Western backers are wildly successful, however, Russia will  remain a challenge for European security. Russia’s war, at its core, is  an imperialist endeavor rooted in the still unfolding collapse of the  Soviet Union. As some historians rightly point out, the dissolution of  the Soviet Union is best thought of as a process that in many ways is  still going on rather than as a discrete historical event; the war in  Ukraine is just the latest in a series of conflicts that have  accompanied this process. It is optimistic to assume that this war is  the dying gasp of Russian imperialism or that Russia, even under a  different leader, will quickly abandon revanchism to become a  stakeholder in European security.

  Moscow’s war is also leading to ripple effects that will create new  risks in Western relations with Russia. For example, Finland’s and  Sweden’s entry into NATO—a direct result of Russia’s attack on  Ukraine—will increase security tensions with Russia in the Baltic and  Arctic regions. NATO has been strengthened by their addition, but their  membership also brings new borders for NATO to defend and contingency  plans to develop. Moreover, a Russia that feels vulnerable about its  conventional forces is more likely to overreact to Western actions. That  is particularly true in the aftermath of Russia’s failures in Ukraine,  which could prod the Kremlin to seek opportunities to demonstrate that  Russia is still a power to be feared. Such dynamics will create new  challenges for NATO to manage.

  Russia is not in a position to start another war today and certainly  not with NATO. But this does not mean Western policymakers can be  complacent. Yes, it will take Russia the better part of a decade to  recapitalize its conventional forces in the aftermath of its attack on  Ukraine. But NATO has its own recapitalization woes. It will take years  for member states to replenish the weapons and ammunition they sent to  Ukraine in this war. That toll will mount if the war goes on longer,  which it most likely will. It is also important not to plan to fight the  previous war. NATO must consider how best to counter the Russian  military that will eventually emerge from this war years from now and  invest accordingly. Given Russia’s demonstrable failures in this war, it  is unlikely that Moscow will seek to rebuild the same military, with  its brittle force structure, weak training, and anemic logistical  capacity.

  Some have argued that Russia’s poor performance in Ukraine suggests  that the United States can hand over the Russian challenge to Europe,  allowing Washington to focus on Beijing. But if anything, this war has  provided a stark reminder of why Europe’s defense is and will likely  remain highly dependent on the United States. The ability to employ  military power on a large scale means working out such issues as  logistics, command and control, and communications for hundreds of  thousands of troops. European countries would struggle on their own to  scale operations to counter a future Russian campaign similar in size to  the one Moscow launched in Ukraine. It is naive to think that any  European country can provide the integration, enabling, and other  critical support functions currently being performed by the United  States. Defense planning based on Washington’s ability to offload the  Russian challenge onto Europe in the next decade amounts to wishful  thinking.

  Likewise, the Russian war against Ukraine underscores the way in  which the outcome of major wars ultimately comes down to attrition and  the ability to replace lost personnel, materiel, and ammunition. NATO  has deficits across the board in these categories. A European army would  have been forced off the field long ago if it had taken even a fraction  of the casualties suffered by the Russian or the Ukrainian armed  forces. NATO has meager stocks of advanced weapons, militaries often  composed of difficult-to-replace and expensive platforms, and a defense  industrial capacity that would struggle to scale up production. Six  months of support for Ukraine has exposed major gaps in the West’s  ability to produce ammunition and key replacement parts. Getting Europe  to do more for its own defense is a noble goal—but it will take years,  perhaps even decades, to get there.

*Constrict and Constrain*

 Russia under Putin will never be a stakeholder in European security.  The Kremlin has shown that it is far more interested in imperialist  revanchism than in strategic stability. In the near term, then,  Washington and its allies must keep working to reduce the risks of  escalation—especially of a nuclear exchange—and to diminish Russia’s  ability to wage war. Although Washington has rightly suspended its arms  control and strategic stability dialogue with Russia, it will need to  maintain strategic communication with Moscow to avoid the chance of a  nuclear confrontation. The United States and NATO, however, must plan  for Russia’s growing reliance on unconventional tactics, including the  possibility that Russia will increasingly rely on nuclear threats and  may be willing to follow through with limited nuclear use.

  Meanwhile, Washington must also work to constrict and constrain  Russia—to prevent it from waging aggression beyond its borders.  Degrading Russian power requires Washington to build on the policies it  set in motion following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. In particular, the  United States must continue to help Europe transition away from Russian  oil and gas and rebuild the arms it has given to Ukraine. Critically,  Washington and its allies must invest in the enforcement of the  sanctions, export controls, and anticorruption measures against Russia  that have been put in place. Already there is evidence that Russia is  working to circumvent them; the West must prevent it. Constraining  Moscow will also require Washington and its European allies to sustain  their engagement with India and other fence-sitting countries in Africa  and the Middle East that continue to provide a lifeline to Russia. This  will mean paying greater attention to the global South, where Russia  enjoys greater influence and is able to contest the narrative.

  In the long term, however, the United States and Europe share an  interest in stabilizing the relationship with Russia. That will not be  possible as long as Putin is in power. But one way or another, there  will inevitably be a post-Putin Russia, and a change in  leadership—especially in Russia’s highly personalized political  system—will provide a chance to reestablish guardrails on the  relationship. Even though any future Russian leader is likely to remain  intent on restoring Russia’s global influence, especially on its  periphery, it is clear that Ukraine has been a particular obsession for  Putin. A resounding Russian defeat in Ukraine may teach future Russian  elites a valuable lesson about the limits of military power. Russia’s  growing subservience to Beijing could also raise the odds that a future  leader will want options and pursue a foreign policy less antagonistic  toward the West. Strategic cultures can change over time, including in  response to dramatic defeats.

  Washington and its allies must therefore confront Moscow while  sticking to their values. This means being thoughtful in discussions of  collective responsibility and in meting out forms of collective  punishment. The U.S. government should actively assist the Russian exile  community, including journalists, activists, and other Russians who  support a freer and more democratic Russia, by providing U.S.-based  professional fellowships for persecuted human rights defenders and  journalists, for example, and addressing shortcomings in the  implementation of anticorruption and sanctions policies that cause  collateral damage to oppressed civil society actors.

  As the United States and its allies cope with the current Putin  regime and think about what might eventually follow it, they would do  well to remember the old adage that Russia is never as strong as it  looks or as weak as it looks. The country often goes through cycles of  resurgence, stagnation, and decline. Even with its capacity and global  standing diminished by its war in Ukraine, Russia will continue to be  driven by its resentments, a quest for a geopolitical space outside its  borders, and a desire for status. Washington cannot afford to write  Russia off in an effort to ease its own mind, nor should it imagine that  Europe can manage the problem on its own. The threat may evolve, but it  will persist.

https://reader.foreignaffairs.com/20...2/content.html

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## misskit

*IAEA finds no evidence of Ukraine building a ‘dirty bomb’*

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported back about their inspections in Ukraine following Russian claims that Kyiv was planning a “provocation” involving a “dirty bomb”, the IAEA announced via its website.


The agency said that its experts inspected three Ukrainian facilities, the Institute for Nuclear Research in Kyiv, Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in Zhovti Kody, and Production Association Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant in Dnipro, and did not find any evidence of undeclared nuclear activities.


According to the IAEA, the inspectors also gathered environmental samples “with ultrasensitive analytical techniques that can provide information about past and current activities related to the handling of nuclear materials.”


“We will report on the results of the environmental sampling as soon as possible,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said.


On 25 October, the IAEA said that its experts would inspect two nuclear facilities in Ukraine following Moscow’s accusations that Ukraine was building a “dirty bomb”. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba suggested that the IAEA should check the facilities. Previously, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu called his counterparts in four NATO countries and told each about Ukraine’s potential use of a “dirty bomb”.

Новая газета. Европа

----------


## misskit

*Russia Warns U.K. Of ‘Dangerous Consequences’ After Black Sea Attack*

Russia summoned the UK ambassador to Moscow to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday and warned London of "dangerous consequences" after accusing it of helping Kyiv carry out an attack on Moscow's Black Sea fleet in Crimea last week. 


"Such confrontational actions of the English carry a threat of escalation of the situation and could lead to unpredictable and dangerous consequences," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 


Moscow said it had delivered a "strong protest" to U.K. ambassador Deborah Bronnert.


It claimed British forces were training Ukrainian special services, including for "sabotage operations at sea."


On Saturday, Russia accused the U.K. of helping Kyiv orchestrate a drone attack on its ships in the port of Sevastopol in Moscow-annexed Crimea. 


Bronnert arrived at Moscow's towering Soviet-era Foreign Ministry building, with a line of people chanting "Britain is a terrorist state," state media showed.

The Foreign Ministry said it had handed "concrete facts" of London's "hostile provocations" to her.


"A demand was put forward to stop them immediately," it said, adding that U.K. military specialists were training Ukrainian special forces in the southern city of Ochakiv, "including training for underwater saboteurs for operations in the waters of the Black and Azov seas." 


Russia last week also accused the U.K. of being implicated in explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines in September. 


The U.K. says these are "false claims on an epic scale."


Relations between London and Moscow have been deteriorating for years. Russia considers the U.K., one of Ukraine’s strongest backers, to be one of the least friendly Western countries to its interests.


Russia Warns U.K. of 'Dangerous Consequences' After Black Sea Attack - The Moscow Times

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## russellsimpson

> The U.K. says these are "false claims on an epic scale."


Translation: That's our story and we're sticking to it. :smiley laughing:

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## harrybarracuda

> Bronnert arrived at Moscow's towering Soviet-era Foreign Ministry building, with a line of people chanting "Britain is a terrorist state," state media showed.


Totally impromptu of course.

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## misskit

*Russia-Ukraine war: At the front line of Ukraine's struggle for Kherson*

The city of Kherson on the Black Sea coast was the biggest prize seized by Russia in the first month after its invasion on 24 February. Now there are suggestions that Russia might be about to give up at least part of it as it prepares defensive lines for the winter.
Kherson, its suburbs and outlying villages are spread over both banks of the mighty Dnipro, one of Europe's great rivers. In the last few days Western officials have briefed journalists to expect a partial Russian withdrawal from the western side of Kherson.
The officials said Russian commanders could be preparing to pull back to the more defensible eastern side of the river, also known here as the left bank, taking advantage of its qualities as a formidable natural obstacle.
Since the summer Ukraine has run a media offensive about its plans to recapture Kherson. It telegraphed the announcement of its military plans so clearly that some analysts decided it was a feint to cover a rapid and successful offensive that recaptured a considerable amount of territory in north-east Ukraine.

On the ground here in the southwest of this big country, Ukraine's military offensive has been much more cautious. The Ukrainians are very serious about recapturing Kherson.
President Volodymyr Zelensky needs a victory - not just for the morale of his citizens, but to reassure his allies that this is a war Ukraine can win. But the ambitions of the political and military leadership have collided with the stark realities of pushing the Russians back.
After spending several days this week on the Ukrainian lines around the Kherson perimeter, interviewing front-line soldiers as well as senior officers, it is clear that the men who have to fight in southwest Ukraine have learnt the hard way that the Russians remain a formidable enemy.

On the front line between Mykolaiv and Kherson a Ukrainian soldier, a local man who said his name was Ilya, puffed on a fat cigar as Russian shells targeted his unit's position. He had bushy hair and a dark beard and revelled in a certain resemblance to Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.
"It's very hard to make progress here. It is necessary to concentrate a large amount of force in one point to break through the front line. Our job is to hold our position. We attack from time to time so that they don't take their reserves and transfer them somewhere else."

"It is very difficult and slow-going. They control the sky. They've got much more military equipment, more people and more ammunition.
"Their people are not trained, but they just go straight forward shouting 'hurrah'. We don't have as many cartridges as they have people."
Casualties are another factor. Both Russia and Ukraine have suffered tens of thousands of dead and wounded. Precise figures are not available. Neither side wants to admit the damage caused by the other.

MORE Russia-Ukraine war: At the front line of Ukraine'&#39;'s struggle for Kherson - BBC News

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## David48atTD

> https://twitter.com/GlasnostGone/sta...31291009007616
> 
> 
> Click on twitter link for a drive through Mariupol. The City is devastated.


WOW ... amazing and, at the same time, so sad.

So much pointless destruction.  

How can the Ukraine cities be rebuilt?

Who will pay?  Can Russia pay?  It could be bankrupt after the war.

----------


## misskit

*Kakhova Dam in Moscow-Occupied Ukraine ‘Damaged’ by Kyiv Strike-Russian Agencies*

Emergency services in Moscow-occupied Ukraine said Sunday the key Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled region of Kherson was "damaged" by a Ukrainian strike, Russian news agencies reported.


"Today at 10:00 there was a hit of six HIMARS rockets. Air defense units shot down five missiles, one hit a lock of the Kakhovka dam, which was damaged," Russian agencies quoted local emergency services as saying.


Ukraine has in recent weeks warned that Moscow forces intended to blow up the strategic facility to cause flooding. 


The RIA Novosti news agency then quoted a local Moscow-backed official saying the damage was not "critical."


"Everything is under control. The main air defense strikes were repelled, one missile hit [the dam], but did not cause critical damage," Ruslan Agayev, a representative of the Moscow-installed administration of nearby city Novaya Kakhovka told the agency. 


The Kakhovka hydroelectric dam in southern Ukraine was captured by Moscow's forces at the start of their offensive. It supplies Russian-annexed Crimea with water. 


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian troops of planning to blow it up to trigger a devastating flood. 


Upstream from the dam is the Kakhovka reservoir on Dnipro river. 


The reservoir can hold 18 cubic meters of water. 


Kyiv has said that the dam bursting would cause a "catastrophe on a grand scale" and has called for an international mission to be deployed at the dam.  

Kakhovka Dam in Moscow-Occupied Ukraine 'Damaged' by Kyiv Strike - Russian Agencies - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

*Moscow Forces Reinstate Lenin Statue in Ukrainian City*

Moscow's occupying authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol said Saturday they had brought back a statue of Lenin, seven years after it was taken down following Kyiv's pro-EU revolution.


The Moscow-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov, posted a photograph of workers in the city reinstating the tribute to the Bolshevik leader.


"After seven years the statue to Vladimir Lenin has returned to its place in Melitopol," he said, adding that city authorities had taken it down in 2015.


Ukraine dismantled Lenin statues across the country after its 2014 revolution overthrew a Moscow-backed regime as part of its "de-communisation drive."


It was seen as an effort to break away from Russian and Soviet influence. 


Moscow condemned the move.


Almost all cities in Russia have a statue of the founder of the Soviet Union in their central squares.


Melitopol fell to Moscow's forces early in their offensive, launched on February 24. 

Moscow Forces Reinstate Lenin Statue in Ukrainian City - The Moscow Times

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## misskit

Oops!

----------


## bsnub

Hours after Aleksei Agafonov arrived in the  Luhansk region on 1 November as part of a battalion of new conscripts,  his unit were handed shovels and ordered to dig trenches throughout the  night.

Their digging, which they took turns to  do because of the lack of available shovels, was abruptly interrupted in  the early hours of the next day as Ukrainian artillery lit up the sky  and shells started raining down on Agafonov and his unit.

“A  Ukrainian drone first flew over us, and after that their artillery  started to pound us for hours and hours, nonstop,” Agafonov, who  survived the shelling, told the Guardian in a phone interview on Monday.

“I  saw men being ripped apart in front of me, most of our unit is gone,  destroyed. It was hell,” he said, adding that his unit’s commanders  abandoned them just before the shelling started.

Agafonov was called up on 16 October alongside 570 other conscripts in Voronezh, a city in the south-west of Russia,  as part of Vladimir Putin’s nationwide mobilisation push that has seen  more than 300,000 men drafted to go and fight in a war that the Kremlin  calls its “special military operation”.

After  the attacks stopped, Agafonov, with roughly a dozen other soldiers,  retreated from the forest outside the Luhansk town of Makiivka to the  nearby Russian-controlled city of Svatove. In Svatove, Agafonov and his  group moved into a deserted building, trying to contact other mobilised  soldiers who had been with him that night.

According to Agafonov’s estimates, only 130  draftees out of the 570 survived the Ukrainian attack, which would make  it the deadliest known incident involving conscripts since the start of  the mobilisation drive at the end of September.

“And many who survived are losing their minds after what happened. No one wants to go back,” Agafonov said.

The  incident points to Russia’s willingness to throw hundreds of  ill-prepared conscripts on to the frontline in Ukraine’s east, where  some of the heaviest fighting has been taking place, in an effort to  stem Kyiv’s advances.

There is growing anger in Russia as more coffins return from Ukraine, bringing home the remains of conscripts.

Some  of the details surrounding last week’s shelling could not be  independently verified. But the Guardian spoke to a second soldier, as  well as two family members of surviving soldiers, who gave similar  accounts.

“We were completely exposed, we had  no idea what to do. Hundreds of us died,” said the second soldier, who  asked to remain anonymous. “Two weeks of training doesn’t prepare you  for this,” he said, referring to the limited military training  conscripts received prior to being sent to Ukraine.

The Russian investigative outlet Verstka, which first reported  on the incident on Saturday, cited the account of a third soldier,  Nikolai Voronin, who similarly described coming under Ukrainian fire in  the early hours of 2 November.

“There were lots  of dead, they were lying everywhere … Their arms and legs were torn  off,” Voronin told Verstka. “The shovels we used to dig our trenches  were now being used to dig out the dead.”

The  shelling has led to anguish in Voronezh, where a group of wives of the  mobilised men recorded an angry video message on Saturday addressing the  local governor.

“On the very first day, they  put the draftees on the frontline. The command left the battlefield and  fled,” Inna Voronina, the wife of a drafted soldier whose fate is  unknown, said in the video.

The mother of  another soldier can be heard saying: “They tell us over the phone that  our sons are alive and healthy and even fulfilling their military duty.  How the hell are they alive and healthy when they were all killed  there?” 

Last Friday, Putin boasted that Russia  had mobilised 318,000 people into its armed forces, citing a high  number of “volunteers”. He went on to invoke the popular Russian saying  “we don’t leave our own behind”, claiming the phrase was “not empty  words”.

But the chaotic mobilisation campaign,  and the casualties that have followed since, have drawn criticism among  even the most enthusiastic supporters of the war.

In a scathing statement on Telegram,  Anastasia Kashevarova, a well-connected pro-war journalist, condemned  Russian commanders on the ground who she said were mobilising untrained  men.

“Groups of [mobilised men] are abandoned  without communication, without the necessary weapons, without medicines,  without the support of artillery,” she said. “Zinc coffins are already  coming. You told us that there would be training, that they would not be  sent to the frontline in a week. Did you lie again?”

In  one video, purportedly filmed at a training centre in Kazan, the  capital of Russia’s Tatarstan region, dozens of recently mobilised men  are seen berating its military leadership over a lack of pay, water and  food. An officer identified as Maj Gen Kirill Kulakov is seen retreating  as the large crowd of enraged conscripts shout insults at him.

Perhaps  sensing the growing discontent, Putin said on Monday that he planned to  “personally discuss with Russians” the issues surrounding support for  the mobilised. He urged local officials to “pay attention” to mobilised  soldiers and their needs.

Despite the seemingly  high costs, the mobilisation drive has so far not resulted in Russia  gaining new ground, according to a recent report from the Institute for  the Study of War, a Washington-based thinktank.

The  report said the Russian army was “wasting the fresh supply of mobilised  personnel on marginal gains” instead of massing sufficient soldiers to  ensure success.

“Russian forces would likely  have had more success in such offensive operations if they had waited  until enough mobilised personnel had arrived to amass a force large  enough to overcome Ukrainian defences,” the institute said last  Thursday.

In another sign indicating poor  morale and communications at the front, several pro-Kremlin journalists  published an open letter reportedly from an elite Russian naval infantry  unit that criticised its superiors’ decision-making after huge losses  in what it called an “incomprehensible” assault on the village of  Pavlivka.

Russian forces launched an offensive  on Pavlivka, south-west of Donetsk, on 2 November, according to the  Ukrainian military and pro-Russia officials. Four days later, the 155th  Guards Naval Infantry Brigade reportedly accused its military leaders of  the loss of 300 men in a letter to Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of  their home region in the far-east of Russia.

“We were thrown into an incomprehensible offensive,” the letter was quoted as saying by a number of prominent pro-war bloggers.

While  the Guardian was not able to independently verify the contents of the  letter, Kozhemyako appeared to acknowledge that it was genuine but said  it overstated the true scale of the losses.

“We  contacted the commanders. Yes, there are losses, there’s heavy  fighting, but they are far from what is written in this appeal,” he said  in a video statement on his Telegram channel. “I am sure that in any  case the situation will be analysed and the competent authorities will  give their assessment.”

‘We were completely exposed’: Russian conscripts say hundreds killed in attack | Russia | The Guardian

----------


## bsnub

In  the face of a Ukrainian advance, Russian forces are making the occupied  city of Kherson increasingly unlivable, in apparent preparation for a  major battle there that has been looming for months.

Both  sides have given great weight to what happens in Kherson, the only  regional capital seized by Moscow’s forces in their invasion this year;  President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia reportedly refused a request from  his military to pull back from the city to more defensible positions.

The  Russian flag has been taken down from administrative buildings,  military checkpoints have been abandoned, most of the population and the  Kremlin-appointed occupation government have fled, and essential services have stopped working.

But  so far there is no sign of Moscow’s military giving up on Kherson, in  southern Ukraine, with Ukrainian forces saying that Russia has amassed  40,000 troops there.

Combat  is raging to the north and west in the wider Kherson region, and as  Ukrainian forces slowly press their offensive toward the city, they say  they have reclaimed more than 100 towns and villages in the area west of  the Dnipro River.

But recent events  have fueled speculation about what is happening and what comes next. A  Russian pullback? A pitched battle for control of the battered city? A  feigned withdrawal by the Russians to lure the Ukrainians into a trap.

Amid  spotty communications, unverified claims by Russian officials and  limited information coming from Ukraine’s military, here is some of what  is known about Kherson and why control of the city matters.

*Conditions for civilians are increasingly bleak.*

The people remaining in the largely depopulated region  report that Russians are cutting power supplies and drinking water not  only to the city of Kherson but also to towns and villages all along the  western bank of the Dnipro.

“They are  making a desert out of the right bank,” said Petro, a 30-year-old who  lives in the area and managed to get a message out late Sunday night.  Because of concerns about his safety, he communicated on the condition  that his family name not be used.

“Today, they blew up the power poles, so we have no light and no water,” he added.

While  state media in Russia said that Ukrainian shelling had damaged the  power lines, Yaroslav Yanushevych, the exiled Ukrainian head of the  Kherson regional military administration, blamed Russian troops.

The  Russian forces have also placed mines around water towers in Beryslav,  Mr. Yanushevych said, referring to a town less than 50 miles from  Kherson city and just north of a critical dam near the front lines of  the fighting.

Ukrainian officials say  that Russians, who have told civilians to evacuate, fear that those left  behind could feed intelligence to the advancing Ukrainian forces or  sabotage the Russian military. The Kremlin-appointed governor of the  region has warned that any civilians still there could be treated as  hostile.

Some 250,000 people lived in  the city before the war. Ukrainian activists estimate that 30,000 to  60,000 people remain, but it is impossible to know how accurate such  guesses are.

Last month, the occupation authorities ordered the evacuation of civilians from  the west side of the river. They sent thousands of them eastward, to  territory that is held more firmly by Russia, while blocking routes into  Ukrainian-controlled areas. The government installed by Moscow also  departed, while looting the city, according to residents and Ukrainian officials.

Some  Ukrainian officials and residents say the civilian evacuation was a  pretext for forced deportations. Others say it was about clearing space  for newly mobilized Russian troops.

*Losing Kherson would be a major blow to the Kremlin.*

When Russian forces stormed across the Antonivsky Bridge over the Dnipro River in March and into Kherson city,  a major port and a former shipbuilding center, it marked their biggest  success of the early days of the war. Mr. Putin hoped to use the wider  Kherson region as a bridgehead for a drive farther west, to the port  city of Odesa, but that effort failed.

If  the Russian forces are driven back across the Dnipro, it would  represent a deep symbolic and practical blow for the Kremlin, and its  ambition to conquer all of southern Ukraine. The city of Kherson and  surrounding country are the only Russian foothold remaining west of the river.

After  Russia illegally seized the Crimean peninsula, to the south, Ukraine  cut off a canal from the Dnipro that had been Crimea’s main fresh water  supply. The invasion earlier this year allowed Russia to resume the flow  of water, but further setbacks in Kherson could allow the Ukrainians to  interrupt it again.

With his refusal  so far to retreat, Mr. Putin has signaled the prestige and strategic  value he attaches to the region. Last month, his government said it had  annexed the four Ukrainian regions, including Kherson — though his troops did not control the entirety of any of them — in a move that was widely denounced as illegal.

*Ukraine has isolated Russian forces in Kherson.*

Since  late summer, Ukrainian forces armed with long-range Western artillery  have waged a determined campaign to isolate Russian forces west of the  river, bombarding the bridges that Moscow used to resupply and reinforce  them. At the same time, Ukrainian troops have made a grueling advance  on Russian positions.

Russians have  relied on pontoon bridges and boats, which have also been shelled. The  only remaining river crossing they hold is the Kakhovka dam, more than  30 miles northeast of the city, which has become a major supply route.

Each  side has accused the other of planning to sabotage the dam, which could  have catastrophic consequences. Much of the terrain downstream,  including parts of the city of Kherson, could be flooded. And it could  cause a drop in the level of the reservoir behind the dam — the source  of critical cooling water for the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest.

The  Kherson region’s wide-open fields, crisscrossed by irrigation canals  that make for excellent defensive positions, have slowed the Ukrainian  approach, and the arrival of fall has turned much of the ground to mud.  Analysts say that Russia has dispatched some of its most seasoned  fighters to the region and stockpiled ammunition and other supplies  there.

*Both sides have signaled a brutal urban battle for Kherson.*

Ukraine’s  military says that, despite the withdrawal of checkpoints, there is no  evidence of a withdrawal of Russian forces. Both sides have issued  public statements signaling a battle ahead.

If  Moscow chooses to defend the city, military experts say it could be a  bloody, street-by-street battle. Ukrainian forces are still far from the  city limits, reportedly facing stiff resistance.

A  pro-Russian proxy leader in Kherson said over the weekend that Ukraine  was massing artillery, planes and helicopters in preparation for the  next stage of its assault on the region. Top officials in Kyiv have said  that Moscow might be trying to create the illusion that its forces are  leaving Kherson to draw Ukrainians into a fight.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/07/w...explainer.html

----------


## Norton

Sounds like something Russia would do. Scourced earth defense worked pretty good in WW2.

----------


## bsnub

> Sounds like something Russia would do. Scourced earth defense worked pretty good in WW2.


Cowards. 

I would like you to give me a sound analysis @norton I respect you. 

My question to you is How do you see things on the front? I do not care about the US election. It will not matter as the GOP is for the moment controlled by somewhat rational minds.

----------


## misskit

Adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister shares footage of Russian draftees taken captive in Luhansk region

Anton Herashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, and Ukrainian journalist Andriy Tsaplienko posted in their Telegram channels a video which claims to show captured Russian draftees.


According to Herashchenko, the soldiers surrendered to the 92nd brigade near Svatove, Luhansk region. The official claims that many of the captives are from Moscow and the Moscow region.


The men in the video introduce themselves as servicemen of the 9th regiment. The video shows 21 people, their hands and heads are tied with yellow scotch tape. The men speak almost simultaneously and say that they were sent to the frontlines one month after the draft.


According to them, the men were thrown into wet tranches, they did not eat or drink for three days, and could not contact their families and friends. One of the draftees adds that “the commanders fled first” after shelling began. “We were left to get slaughtered,” the video shows them saying.


“It’s friendly fire,” says one of the men. “We saw it with our own eyes, and they are just lying to us there.”


“Don’t go to this war, it’s not your war or a war at all,” one other man adds.


Earlier, Mediazona reported that draftee troops were sent to the frontlines near Svatove without command or the necessary equipment.

Новая газета Европа

Telegram: Contact @Pravda_Gerashchenko

Telegram: Contact @Tsaplienko

Platoon on the run. 13 Russians recruits’ grotesque journey to Ukraine and back

----------


## Takeovers

Russian defense minister Shoigu declares retreat from Kherson. He does not look happy.

----------


## S Landreth

Kyiv lawmaker: Early results from US elections very good for Ukraine

Democrats strong showing in the midterm elections is very good for Ukraine, a member of the Ukrainian parliament told The Hill on Wednesday.

Oleksiy Goncharenko, who is part of the European Solidarity party in Ukraine, welcomed the early results from the midterm elections, saying he closely followed the defeat of candidates who pushed a more isolationist foreign policy and the victory of lawmakers who have supported U.S. assistance for Ukraine.

Speaking about the results from Ukraine perspective, it is clear that for Ukraine the danger was in those people, you can call them isolationist or far-right people, who were saying, Lets not care about Ukraine, its too far from us  these people, I think theyre not right and American voters decided like this.

Continued U.S. assistance to Ukraine had been a key focus in the political debate ahead of the elections, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) saying Congress wont write a blank check on aid for Ukraine if the GOP take control.

While it is yet unclear whether Republicans will win control of Congress, Democrats had a much stronger night on Tuesday than anticipated. The party flipped a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, narrowing the GOPs path to taking the upper chamber, and won more House races than expected, minimizing Republicans margins if they do take that chamber.

Goncharenko predicted that the GOP congressional base aligned with former President Trump that has urged cuts to Ukraine aid will be less influential than previously thought following Tuesdays election.

[Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell [(R-K.Y.)] is one of the best in the world supporting war for values and freedom in Ukraine, Goncharenko told The Hill in a phone call from Kyiv.

But there is a part of Republicans for some of them, they call themselves MAGA people, they are using some of this rhetoric that, we dont need to care about something happening far away from the U.S. I see that these people will not be too influential in the U.S. Congress and that means the role of the United States in the international arena will not be challenged.

One worrying victory, Goncharenko said, was the election of Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio. Vance has said he supports cutting or eliminating U.S. assistance to Ukraine, and his supporters in Washington include Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who voted against a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine that passed the Senate in May.

Vance is replacing outgoing Sen. Rob Portman (R), who traveled last week to Kyiv with Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to underscore bipartisan U.S. support.

Vance is one of the results I am unhappy with, Goncharenko said.

----------


## bsnub

*Russia's military has likely lost half its tanks in Ukraine and will be weaker than it was before the war, Pentagon says*


Russia has likely lost half of its main battle tanks while fighting  in Ukraine, a senior US defense official said Tuesday, adding that the  Russian military will end up being weaker than it was before the war  began. 

Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told  reporters this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin has "suffered  a massive strategic failure" during his ongoing and unprovoked war in  Ukraine.

Highlighting Putin's military setbacks, Kahl said that  Russian forces have "probably lost half of their main battle tanks" and  tens of thousands of troops in Ukraine, according to a Department of  Defense report published Wednesday. 

Kahl did not specify exactly how many tanks the Pentagon estimates Russia has lost, but according to open-source intelligence analysis  by Oryx, at least 1,450 Russian tanks have been destroyed, captured,  abandoned, or damaged over the course of the war. Notably, Russian  troops fleeing Ukrainian battlefield advances have left behind modern T-90 tanks that Moscow considers to be among the most advanced in its arsenal. 

  Russia has, in turn, been forced to pull old and obsolete  tanks from storage — like the Soviet-era T-62 main battle tank. This  type of tank is decades old, can even be seen in some museums, and has  long since been replaced by newer, more capable systems.

In addition to armor losses, Russian forces have also lost mountains  of other high-value and heavy weaponry, much of which. like Russian  tanks, has been repurposed by Ukraine even as it continues to enjoy  considerable security assistance and military aid from Western  countries. 

It's also unclear exactly how many casualties Russia has sustained in Ukraine, but losses are believed to be substantial.

No updated casualty figures have been provided since the Pentagon reported in August that as many as 80,000 Russian troops  had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. That figure was presented  before Ukrainian forces launched two counteroffensives along the war's  northeastern and southern fronts, moves which have seen Russian lines  shatter and Kyiv liberate thousands of square miles of territory over  the last two months. 

  Among the Russian war dead have been Russian conscripts and reservists who were recently rushed to the battlefield to reinforce crumbling Russian lines and stem Russian losses.

"Russia will emerge from this war weaker than it went in," Kahl said in reflection on Putin's overall war efforts in Ukraine.

In the latest battlefield humiliation, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday ordered his forces to retreat  in the southern city of Kherson, the first major city and only regional  capital that Moscow managed to capture after it invaded in late  February. As Ukrainian forces continued to advance toward the city, a  full Russian withdrawal would mark a significant victory for Kyiv.   

"I  don't know what winning looks like," Kahl said during his remarks this  week. "But I do know that Russia will not have achieved the objectives  that Vladimir Putin set out. And that's pretty much a guarantee." 

https://www.businessinsider.com/puti...on-2022-11?amp

----------


## bsnub

KYIV,  Ukraine — The Kremlin on Wednesday announced a retreat of Russian  forces from the strategically important city of Kherson in southern  Ukraine, a concession to military reality eight months after capturing  the area, and one of the most significant reversals of President  Vladimir V. Putin’s war effort.

The  withdrawal order came from Russia’s defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu,  in a meeting with top military leaders that was broadcast on Russian  state television, after Gen. Sergei V. Surovikin, Moscow’s commander in  Ukraine, explained that heavy shelling by advancing Ukrainian forces had  made the Russian position west of the Dnipro River, where Kherson is,  untenable.

“Go ahead with the pullout  of troops and take all measures to ensure safe transfer of troops,  weapons and equipment to the other bank of the Dnipro River,” Mr. Shoigu  said.

Mr. Putin was not present at  the meeting, distancing him from both an embarrassing defeat and a  decision to retreat that, Kremlin analysts say, only he could have made.

By  day’s end there was strong evidence that Russians were withdrawing from  the territory they held west of the river, Ukrainian officials said, as  Ukrainian soldiers entered some frontline villages that had been under  Russian control in the morning.

Wary  of a possible ruse meant to lure Ukrainian troops into a trap, the  officials cautioned that they were not yet sure about the status of  Russian forces within the city, but as the day went on they grew more  confident that the pullback was real.

“We  have signs they are pulling out,” moving heavy equipment first and then  infantry, said Roman Kostenko, a Ukrainian army colonel and chairman of  the defense and intelligence committee in Parliament. “They blew up  bridges that would have allowed our forces to advance. We see them  leaving population centers, but in some they leave soldiers behind to  cover their movements.”

The announced  retreat is one of the most significant setbacks for Russia in the war  Mr. Putin started in February. Kherson, an important port and industrial  city seized during the early days of the war, has been a strategic and  symbolic prize of the invasion — the only regional capital Russia  captured. It gave Moscow an important foothold west of the Dnipro, from  where it expanded and which it hoped to use as a base to push farther  west, all the way to the critical port city of Odesa.

News  of the withdrawal drew anguished and angry responses from some  prominent Russian hawks, while others described it as a sensible,  tactical retreat to a more defensible front.

“The decision is shocking to thousands and millions of people who are  fighting for Russia, dying for Russia, believe in Russia and share the  beliefs of the Russian world,” wrote Yuri Kotyonok, an influential  military blogger.

Boris  Rozhin, a Russian military analyst, called the retreat the Russian  Federation’s “most serious military defeat since 1991,” when it formed.  In a Telegram post,  he wrote, “If there won’t be any upcoming successes with major towns  captured and no advancement during the winter offensive, the series of  military setbacks would accumulate a much greater internal discontent  than sanctions.”

But Tatiana  Stanovaya, a Russian analyst who studies Mr. Putin for her political  analysis firm R.Politik, said in a phone interview: “This just confirms,  in my view, how pragmatic Putin is. He’s not as crazy as we thought.”

The  impact of the Russian move on any potential peace talks was unclear.  President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and his top aides conveyed this  week that, if anything, their position has hardened — that Russia must  first leave Ukraine completely, and that it must pay war reparations —  and that, in any case, Moscow isn’t interested in negotiations.

President  Biden said at a White House news conference on Wednesday, “It remains  to be seen whether Ukraine is willing to compromise.” He later insisted  that it was up to the Ukrainians whether to enter talks or make  concessions.

“They’re  going to both lick their wounds, decide what they’re going to do over  the winter and decide whether or not they’re going to compromise,” he  said.

On  Kherson, Mr. Biden said he had expected a Russian retreat. “It’s  evidence of the fact that they have some real problems, the Russian  military,” he said.

Other  U.S. officials said it was not entirely clear that Moscow was  abandoning the west bank of the Dnipro, and might not be clear for a few  days. But the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because  they were not authorized to address the matter publicly, said it would  make sense to withdraw troops that were increasingly cut off, preserving  them to fight another day.

Mr.  Shoigu’s evidently choreographed meeting, where both he and General  Surovikin said they were motivated by concern for the troops, appeared  aimed at softening the blow for a domestic audience. Russians have seen  increasing reports of a badly managed war, a chaotic draft that prompted  widespread protests, heavy casualties, and troops lacking training and  equipment who were used as cannon fodder. At the same time, pro-war  commenters have criticized the Kremlin for not waging a more aggressive,  brutal fight.

The occupation forces  had telegraphed a possible pullback for weeks, making statements about  the difficult position of troops in Kherson and ordering both the  Kremlin-appointed regional government and the remaining civilians to  flee eastward. The Ukrainian military was skeptical, reporting just days  ago that 40,000 Russian troops were west of the river, digging in to  fight for the city.

Moscow’s apparent  decision to pull back allows an orderly withdrawal rather than the kind  of sudden collapse and panicked retreat its forces endured from the  northeastern Kharkiv region in September, leaving behind a treasure  trove of weapons and other equipment that the Ukrainians could use.

“There  is a lot of joy in the media space today, and it is clear why, but our  emotions must be restrained — always during war,” Mr. Zelensky said  Wednesday in his nightly address. He added, “When you are fighting, you  must understand that every step is always resistance from the enemy, it  is always the loss of the lives of our heroes.”

Oleksiy  Arestovych, an adviser to Mr. Zelensky, said retreat was less a choice  for the Russians than an inevitability, as Ukraine’s forces  “methodically gnawed through the enemy’s defenses.”

The  news that Russia was withdrawing was greeted with cautious jubilation  by some local residents, who have suffered under harsh Russian rule with  dwindling food, electricity and water. In Kherson, Valentyn, 50, said  in a text message exchange that he awoke Wednesday to booming explosions  — nothing unusual — but then “it became eerily quiet.”

“Russians  are escaping; the city is almost empty,” said Valentyn, who asked that  his last name be withheld for his safety. “In many places there’s no  light and no water.”

He added: “The atmosphere is tense, we stay at home and wait. For our forces to enter.”

Dudchany,  a village north of the city, “was divided by the front line” for a  month, said Alla Torchanska, the village leader. Caught in the combat  zone, residents were harassed by Russian troops who, she said, “would  come every now and then, detain and interrogate people, check their  phones, and take away the valuable things.”

“Today,”  Ms. Torchanska said, “the Ukrainian forces finally took the entire  village under their control. It’s such a blessing. Everyone feels  festive.”

The  grinding Ukrainian offensive has whittled down the Russian-held pocket  west of the Dnipro, farm by farm and town by town, closing in on the  largely evacuated city and destroying bridges the Russians used to  reinforce and resupply their troops. Western intelligence officials have  said that Mr. Putin rejected earlier requests by his military to abandon the city.

But  people who know Mr. Putin say he still believes he can win a war he has  cast as a broader conflict with the United States and its allies,  convinced that the West and Ukraine will be unwilling or unable to pay  the price for as long as Russia will.

The  deputy head of the Russian occupation government in the broader Kherson  region, Kyrylo Stremousov, who had been outspoken about Russia’s  deteriorating military situation, died in a car accident, the regional  chief, Volodymyr Saldo, said on Wednesday.

Some  Ukrainians remained cautious in their assessment of Russian actions.  Residents and Ukrainian officials have reported Russian soldiers  changing into civilian clothes and taking over homes in Kherson city and  the surrounding towns and villages, possible signs of planned ambushes.  Russians have laid mines and destroyed roads to slow advancing  Ukrainian forces.

“We don’t know how far we will move tomorrow,” said Colonel Kostenko, the Ukrainian lawmaker.

Ukrainian  officials have also warned that if the Russians do abandon Kherson,  they could then devastate it with artillery from across the river, or  with flooding by breaching the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam upstream.  Russians and Ukrainians have accused each other of plotting to attack  the dam, the last road link Russians have across the Dnipro.

Retaking  the west bank of the Dnipro could allow Ukrainian forces to interrupt  the primary source of fresh water for the Russian-occupied Crimean  Peninsula, putting them within artillery range of a canal linking the  river to the peninsula. Ukraine had cut the flow of water after Russia’s  illegal seizure of Crimea in 2014, and the Russians’ offensive earlier  this year allowed them to restart it.

nytimes.com

----------


## misskit

Why would they announce such a thing? Hope it is not a trick.

----------


## bsnub

> Why would they announce such a thing? Hope it is not a trick.


There is no way the can hide it, so they might as well. They have already been retreating for weeks.

----------


## panama hat

> Russian defense minister Shoigu declares retreat from Kherson. He does not look happy.


Russia's priorities are their forces and civilians . . . what a hypocritical piece of shit.  Throwing untrained conscripts to the front line without weapons and pounding cities with artillery. 

Russians . . .

----------


## harrybarracuda

*Russian military chief 'should think about mounting coup against Putin'*

Lord Dannatt, the former head of the British Army, has urged a senior Russian general to mount a coup against President Vladimir Putin.
Lord Dannatt told Sky News that the Russians' withdrawal from the city of Kherson is "probably a seminal moment in this campaign".
He added that "strategically they would appear to be taking a major move backwards".
"I think tactically it's in their best interests to do that," Lord Dannatt went on.
The withdrawal could be part of a genuine desire to regroup - or a ruse to encourage the Ukrainians to advance, he explained, adding that the Russians are "masters of deception and camouflage".
He continued: "Have they got something in mind which they want to spring upon the Ukrainians? That's the question that the Ukrainian high command has to bear in mind.
"I think we all need to watch it very carefully."
But he said there might be another solution, too.
Lord Dannatt said:_ "If I was General Gerasimov, the Russian chief of the general staff, I'd be thinking really hard - how can I mount a coup in the Kremlin to get rid of that bast**d Putin?"_

Ukraine war latest: Russian general urged to stage coup against Putin - as Moscow's dream of land bridge 'likely' over | World News | Sky News

----------


## david44

Retreating from the capital of one its new Republics be almost like yielding Paris to the Alegerians, oh wait a moment

----------


## sabang

*US general’s remarks come as experts say potential winter lull in fighting could offer chance for negotiations*


America’s top general has estimated that 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Ukraine, and that Kyiv’s armed forces have “probably” suffered a similar level of casualties in the war.

Gen Mark Milley also suggested that as many as 40,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed after being caught up in the conflict.

The figures provided by Milley – which could not be independently confirmed – are the most precise to date from the US government more than eight months into the war. His remarks offer the highest US estimate of casualties in the nearly nine-month conflict to date, and came as Ukraine and Russia face a potential winter lull in fighting that experts say could offer an opportunity for some kind of negotiations.

“You are looking at well over 100,000 Russian soldiers killed and wounded,” Milley said in remarks at the Economic Club of New York. “Same thing probably on the Ukrainian side.”

Asked about prospects for diplomacy in Ukraine, Milley said the early refusal to negotiate in the first world war compounded human suffering and led to millions more casualties. “So when there is an opportunity to negotiate, when peace can be achieved: seize the moment,” Milley said.

Milley’s comments came after Russia ordered its troops to withdraw from the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine – a big blow to Moscow’s military campaign.

But officials in Kyiv reacted with caution, saying the Russian army was unlikely to leave the strategic city without a fight, while the US president, Joe Biden, suggested the retreat was evidence that Moscow has “real problems” on the battlefield.

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Russia’s retreat was “part of an overall pattern” demonstrating that Moscow had “absolutely lost the momentum”.

US estimates 200,000 military casualties on all sides in Ukraine war | Ukraine | The Guardian

----------


## Norton

> “So when there is an opportunity to negotiate, when peace can be achieved: seize the moment,” Milley said.


No doubt General but actually both parties have started negotiations by stating their initial positions to end the war.

Current Ukraine position, Russian military out of all occupied Ukrainian territory. Including Crimea. Note Ukraine offered Ukraine to become a non-aligned and "non-nuclear" state, with no foreign military bases or contingents on its territory and Ukraine would be allowed to join the European Union, but would not enter military-political alliances and any international exercises would require consent of guarantor states. Since that offer Russia has increased it's military operations bringing Ukraine to their current position.

Russia's current position, Ukraine to allow Russian occupied territories to become independent states, including the Crimea.

No surprise talks of peace between the warring parties have ceased. War will continue until one side or the other offers a concession. Just the way it works.

----------


## misskit

*Local media: Russian troops blew up infrastructure facilities before leaving Kherson*

Most (“Bridge”), a local news outlet based in Kherson, reports that, before retreating from the city, the Russian troops blew up a number of infrastructure facilities around Kherson.


According to local residents, several boiler rooms, the Oblenergo energy facility, and a TV broadcasting center have all been exploded by the retreating Russian forces. Although the television tower was at first believed to be intact, a later Telegram post said that it, too, has been destroyed.


Neither the Russian nor the Ukrainian side have taken official responsibility for the explosions.


In the morning on November 10, Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to the Ukrainian Chief of Staff, stated that “Russia wants to turn Kherson into the city of death.” “The Russian troops will pass through everything they can, be it apartments or sewers. Their left-bank artillery plans to reduce the city to ruins,” said Podolyak.

https://meduza.io/en/news/2022/11/10...eaving-kherson

----------


## bsnub

Russia's Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin,  said on Sunday that a former mercenary who was filmed being executed by a  sledgehammer blow to the head after changing sides in the Ukraine war  was a traitor.

Prigozhin, a Russian businessman who founded  the Wagner private military group, was responding to an unverified  video distributed on Telegram that showed a man identified as a former  Wagner mercenary being executed after admitting that he had changed  sides in September to "fight against the Russians".

In  the footage, the man, who gave his name as Yevgenny Nuzhin, 55, was  shown with his head taped to a brick wall. He said he was abducted in  Kyiv on Oct. 11 and came around in a cellar.

"I got hit over the head and lost consciousness and came around in this cellar," he said. "They told me I was to be tried."

As  he said those words, an unidentified man loitering in combat clothing  behind Nuzhin, smashed a sledgehammer into the side of his head and  neck.

Nuzhin collapsed onto the floor and the unidentified man delivered another blow to his head.

Reuters  was unable to immediately verify the video which appeared on the Grey  Zone Telegram channel, one of several that Russian media said was linked  to the Wagner group. The video was posted under the title "The hammer  of revenge".

Asked  to comment on the execution video, Prigozhin said in remarks released  by his spokeswoman that the video should be called "A dog receives a  dog's death".

"Nuzhin  betrayed his people, betrayed his comrades, betrayed consciously," said  Prigozhin, who has been sanctioned by the United States and European  Union for his role in Wagner. "Nuzhin was a traitor."

Prigozhin only confirmed  in September that he founded the Wagner Group in 2014, the first public  acknowledgement of a link he has previously denied and sued journalists  for reporting.

Wagner  group, originally staffed by veterans of the Russian armed forces, has  fought in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic, Mali and Ukraine,  among other countries.

Prigozhin  was shown in a video released in September recruiting convicts in a  Russian jail for the war, warning them that the conflict was tough and  setting down rules about their conduct.

In  further remarks about the execution video on Sunday, Prigozhin also  issued a warning to others in Russian society whom he described as  traitors.

"Do not forget, there are not only traitors who throw away their automatic guns and go over to the enemy," he said.

"Some  traitors are holed up in offices, not thinking about their own people.  Some of them use their own business jets to fly to those countries that  seem neutral to us so far. They fly away so as not to participate in  today's problems. They are traitors too."

Video shows sledgehammer execution of Russian mercenary | Reuters

----------


## panama hat

Ah, Russians . . . who wouldn't be on their side . . .

----------


## bsnub

> Ah, Russians . . . who wouldn't be on their side . . .


Sabang is, and he will probably deny this happened. 

 ::chitown::

----------


## misskit

^^ I followed a couple of links from an article about the same thing and was lead to videos of Wagner Group smashing people with sledgehammers and cutting off heads. Wish I hadn’t seen it.

----------


## bsnub

> Wish I hadn’t seen it.


Sorry you had to see that. I made sure I stayed away from those. Basically, these guys are the equivalent of Isis. The more salient point is that anyone that supports Russia supports these evil monsters, which are an extension of the Kremlin.

----------


## harrybarracuda

It must be getting to the point where Putin blows his brains out in his bunker.

----------


## panama hat

> It must be getting to the point where Putin blows his brains out in his bunker.


I get the reference but in this case surely one must wonder how he is going to bludgeon himself to death with a sledgehammer

----------


## david44

> It must be getting to the point where Putin blows his brains out in his bunker.


With so many fake doubles he may have already been rescued by a friendly Sub captain to sub alien status down an Opal mine in South Australia, I soon discovered that eccentric behaviour is not just tolerated but encouraged in rural Okkerstan.

Jeez if LD, me  Panama Hat can function there anywhere can.

He just needs to drink Bundy and VB and not send to many locals on suicide misions to the err missions

----------


## Norton

> I get the reference but in this case surely one must wonder how he is going to bludgeon himself to death with a sledgehammer


The hammer comes with a sickle. Wrist or throat slash much more efficient.

----------


## panama hat

True, very true . . . but efficiency isn't a Russian thing it seems.

----------


## misskit

*Wagner Denies Involvement After Mercenary Killed in Ukraine*

The head of Russian mercenary outfit Wagner on Tuesday denied the group's involvement in the execution of one of its fighters in Ukraine, after having said the man deserved a "dog's death."


Last week, social media accounts linked to Wagner shared footage of the brutal killing of a man who had reportedly surrendered to Ukrainian forces before being returned to Moscow's forces.


The man, who identified himself as Yevgeny Nuzhin, was shown receiving a fatal blow to the head with a sledgehammer. 


Wagner's head Yevgeny Prigozhin — a businessman close to the Kremlin — on Sunday praised what he described as "magnificent work," calling the murdered man a "dog."


"A dog should have a dog's death," he said.

In a fresh statement Tuesday, Prigozhin denied his private fighting group had played any role in the execution and instead blamed U.S. secret services without substantiating his accusations. 


"It's the practice of U.S. intelligence services, which abduct people, including Russian citizens, across the world," Prigozhin said, calling on Russian prosecutors to open an investigation.


"Wagner employees are distinguished by their exemplary discipline and strict adherence to international standards and globally accepted rules of social behavior," Prigozhin added.


The Russian rights group Gulagu.net, which advocates for prisoners in Russian detention, said that Nuzhin had been in prison in Russia and was recruited by Wagner to fight in Ukraine.


Prigozhin has been accused of personally participating in a recruitment drive by offering contracts at Russian prisons, vowing that those who surrender or are captured would be killed.


The 61-year-old businessman in September disclosed for the first time that he had founded the Wagner group in 2014 to fight in Ukraine and acknowledged its presence in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.


Several rights groups have brought legal proceedings against Wagner, accusing its members of having in 2017 tortured and murdered a pro-regime fighter who had deserted in Syria.


This month Wagner opened a headquarters in Russia's second city of St. Petersburg.

Wagner Denies Involvement After Mercenary Killed in Ukraine - The Moscow Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

A Putin lackey telling lies. Who would have believed such a thing.

----------


## bsnub

> Wagner's head Yevgeny Prigozhin


This guy has been on a power grab of late, and I think he has taken it a step too far. He could be the next one to take a dive out a window.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> This guy has been on a power grab of late, and I think he has taken it a step too far. He could be the next one to take a dive out a window.


Puffy must have run out of Polonium.

----------


## david44

Apparently like all Oligarchs who know many wish him gone he has someone taste every mouthful , which I'd imagine leads to some embarrassing moments in the bedroom?


*Putin has someone sample every meal hes served to ensure hes not being poisoned, according to the founder of the Club des Chefs des Chefs, a culinary organization whose members cook for heads of state and monarchs around the world.*

----------


## Takeovers

Now things get interesting.

https://twitter.com/BNONews/status/1592589611510792192




> BREAKING: Senior U.S. intelligence official says Russian missiles crossed into NATO member Poland, killing 2 people - AP


The Polish national security committee is presently in session about this.

----------


## Edmond

> Now things get interesting.


NATO territory being bombed with NATOese being being killed by Russian missile strikes does up the ante a bit.  :Smile:

----------


## Norton

> NATO territory being bombed with NATOese being being killed by Russian missile strikes does up the ante a bit.


Sure does. Investigations to follow. Results will range from accidental missile retargeting to intentional targeting.

I was personally affected by the findings of a simular investigation in 1964 which resulted in a joint resolution that the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964, in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

----------


## sabang

Russia is gonna have to eat some humble pie on this one, but they will probably borrow a leaf from the amerkin textbook and call it collateral damage.  How unfortunate.

^ But there was no Gulf of Tonkin incident norts, although that triviality did not stop it affecting you or many others.  :Smile:

----------


## Norton

> ^ But there was no Gulf of Tonkin incident norts, although that triviality did not stop it affecting you or many others.


Trust me I know that. I was there.  :Wink: 
Damn, I'm an old fucker!

----------


## misskit

> Damn, I'm an old fucker!


Happens fast, dunnit!


*Moldova hit by power outages following Russia’s missile attack on Ukraine*

Moldova is experiencing power outages after a massive missile strike launched by Russia on Ukrainian cities, Agora, TSV Transnistria, and Sputnik Moldova report.


According to the media, the Vulcăneşti-Isaccea “export” powerline is down. Moldova uses it to receive electricity from Romania. Social media users are complaining about outages in several cities and a few districts in Chișinău.


Journalists note that power outages and surges are possible all over the country. Moldovans are urged to turn off their electrical appliances.

Earlier today, the Russian army launched mass-scale missile strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian regions. At least one person was killed in Kyiv. Air defence systems are reported to have been active in Poltava, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Odesa, Cherkasy, and Khmelnytsky regions. Local authorities also said the Kharkiv region was targeted as well.


Kharkiv’s metro came to a standstill following the strikes. Ukraine’s DTEK energy company informed Kyiv residents about emergency blackouts. Half of Kyiv residents are left without electricity. Deputy head of the president’s office Kyrylo Tymoshenko has described the energy infrastructure situation as critical.

Новая газета Европа

----------


## misskit

*Russia Reject’s Ukraine’s Negotiating Terms*

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Ukraine has put forward “unrealistic and inadequate” terms for future peace talks.


Lavrov said he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron at the G20 summit in Bali, where he reiterated accusations that Kyiv “categorically refuses” negotiations with Moscow.


“I reminded him that all the problems are on the Ukrainian side, which categorically refuses any negotiations and puts forward terms that are obviously unrealistic and inadequate,” Lavrov told reporters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the G20 via video link earlier Tuesday, where he presented a 10-point peace plan to end Russia’s invasion. In addition to safety guarantees, the plan reportedly includes proposals for a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes.


President Vladimir Putin's delegate at the summit, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, remained in his seat throughout Zelensky's address, two diplomatic sources told AFP.


Speaking with reporters later, Lavrov said Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly confirmed their readiness to negotiate peace amid continuing battlefield setbacks suffered by the Russian military.


“If anyone is refusing, it is Ukraine. The longer it refuses, the more difficult it will be to reach an agreement,” Lavrov said.


The Kremlin meanwhile said Russia’s “special military operation” will continue, blaming Ukraine for its “factual and legal” unwillingness to negotiate.

Russia Rejects Ukraine’s Negotiating Terms - The Moscow Times

----------


## misskit

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has set out the country’s 10-point peace plan in a speech at the G20 summit on Tuesday, November 15.
Saying there was no return to the Mionsk 3 deal which sought to resolve the Donbas war and which yielded little result, he said: “There will be no Minsk 3, which Russia will violate immediately after the agreement,”


He then added: “We will not allow Russia to wait, build up its forces, and then start a new series of terror and global destabilisation.”


Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quick to dismiss the plans saying to reporters after Zelenskyy’s speech that the plan was unrealistic.


The plan put forward involves:


Radiation safety and nuclear weapon proliferation
Food safety
Energy security
The release of prisoners and internees
Implementation of the UN charter
Withdrawal of the Russian troops
Cessation of hostilities and justice
Ecocide and environmental protection
Escalation prevention
A confirmation that the war is over

Lavrov confirmed that he had been in talks with the leaders of France and Germany on the conflict in Ukraine, claiming that Ukraine was being unrealistic and was also refusing to talk to Moscow.


Analysts say that there is little in the ten-point plan that should be a concern for Russia with the majority of the points being supported by even Russia’s closest allies.


Lavrov, however, continues to blame western sanctions for many of the problems including barriers to export of their farmed products. But these are not the target of western sanctions and there is little to stop these from taking place.


In complaining about the impact of sanctions of farm exports he confirmed 10.5 million tonnes had been exported since the start of the war, with 60 per cent going to Asia and 40 per cent to Africa.


He then went on to say that: “At least the UN secretary general gave me his sworn assurance that this is a priority issue for him,” referring to the barriers he claims are stopping grain exports.


He finished by saying: “I hope these promises will be fulfilled.”


Zelenskyy 10-point peace plan looks beyond the current conflict and that is what appears to be one of the main reasons the plan has been dismissed as unrealistic.

Zelenskyy 10-point peace plan dismissed by Russia’s Lavrov as unrealistic - Euro Weekly News

----------


## misskit

*Polish PM summons Russian ambassador after cruise missiles kill two on border farm*

Polish prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki reportedly summoned the Russian ambassador following the incident in which two people died when two allegedly stray cruise missiles struck a farm in a village near the border with Ukraine.


The Russian Ministry of Defence denied any involvement and claimed that the subsequent media frenzy was simply provocation by the West towards Moscow. It must be stressed at this point that no official statement has been released confirming that the missiles were either fired from Russian territory or Russian-made.


Andrzej Duda, the President of the Republic of Poland, in a televised address said that he wanted to assure everyone that Polish officials are acting in a prudent way. He added that there is no clear evidence yet as to who fired the rocket.


According to the Reuters news agency, Piotr Muller, the Polish government spokesman told reporters: “A moment ago we decided to verify whether there are grounds to launch procedures under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty”.

“It was decided a moment ago to increase the readiness of some combat military units in Poland and to increase the combat readiness of other units of uniformed services in our country”. At the request of Poland, an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors has been called for Wednesday 16. 

Polish PM Russian ambassador cruise missiles kill two border

----------


## Edmond

Putin will say it was an accident. 


The West will be pussies.

----------


## panama hat

> Russia is gonna have to eat some humble pie on this one


Finally . . . a thought of reason.






> but they will probably borrow a leaf from the amerkin textbook and call it collateral damage. How unfortunate.


Oh . . . there's goes the reason and introspection . . . replaced by whataboutism and the usual bullshit.






> Lavrov, however, continues to blame western sanctions for many of the problems including barriers to export of their farmed products. But these are not the target of western sanctions and there is little to stop these from taking place.


Facts, facts . . . 






> The Russian Ministry of Defence denied any involvement and claimed that the subsequent media frenzy was simply provocation by the West towards Moscow.


Of course . . . 






> The West will be pussies.


Openly supplying Ukraine with weapons to kill Russian is hardly being 'pussies'.

----------


## misskit

I hope it was an accident. If not, Putin and company have completely lost thier minds.

*Poland: Russian-made missile fell on our country, killing 2*

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Poland said early Wednesday that a Russian-made missile fell in the eastern part of the country, killing two people in a blast that Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy decried as “a very significant escalation” of the war.


Serious questions about the explosion remain, including who fired the missile. Russia denied any involvement.


U.S. President Joe Biden convened an emergency meeting of the Group of Seven and NATO leaders who were in Indonesia for another summit but said it was “unlikely” that the missile was fired from Russia. It was not immediately clear whether Biden was suggesting that the missile hadn’t been fired by Russia at all.


The Polish government said it was investigating and raising its level of military preparedness. Biden pledged support for Poland’s investigation.


Zelenskyy’s comments, delivered in an evening address to the nation, came hours after a senior U.S. intelligence official told The Associated Press that Russian missiles had crossed into Polish territory and killed two people.


A second person said that apparent Russian missiles struck a site in Poland about 15 miles from the Ukrainian border.


A statement from the Polish Foreign Ministry identified the weapon as being made in Russia. President Andrzej Duda was more cautious, saying that it was “most probably” Russian-made but that its origins were still being verified.

“We are acting with calm,” Duda said. “This is a difficult situation.”


Biden’s decision to convene an emergency meeting of the G-7 and NATO leaders upended schedules for the final day of the Group of 20 meeting in Indonesia.


Biden, who was awakened overnight by staff with the news of the missile while attending the summit, called Polish President Andrzej Duda to express his condolences. On Twitter, Biden promised “full U.S support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation,” and “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to NATO.”


Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the meeting of the alliance’s envoys in Brussels. The U.N. Security Council also planned to meet Wednesday for a previously scheduled briefing on the situation in Ukraine. The strike in Poland was certain to be raised.


Poland’s statement did not address whether the strike could have been a targeting error or if the missile could have been knocked off course by Ukrainian defenses.


In their statements, Poland and NATO used language that suggested they were not treating the missile blast as an intentional Russian attack, at least for now. A NATO statement called it a “tragic incident.”


If Russia had deliberately targeted Poland, it would risk drawing the 30-nation alliance into the conflict at a time when it is already struggling to fend off Ukrainian forces.

Polish media reported that the strike took place in an area where grain was drying in Przewodów, a village near the border with Ukraine.


The Russian Defense Ministry denied being behind “any strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border” and said in a statement that photos of purported damage “have nothing to do” with Russian weapons.


Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau summoned the Russian ambassador and “demanded immediate detailed explanations,” the government said.

The strike came to light Tuesday as Russia pounded Ukraine’s energy facilities with its biggest barrage of missiles yet, striking targets across the country and causing widespread blackouts.


The barrage also affected neighboring Moldova. It reported massive power outages after the strikes knocked out a key power line that supplies the small nation, an official said.


The missile strikes plunged much of Ukraine into darkness and drew defiance from Zelenskyy, who shook his fist and declared: “We will survive everything.”


In his nightly address, the Ukrainian leader said the strike in Poland offered proof that “terror is not limited by our state borders.”


“We need to put the terrorist in its place. The longer Russia feels impunity, the more threats there will be for everyone within the reach of Russian missiles,” Zelenskyy said.


Russia fired at least 85 missiles, most of them aimed at the country’s power facilities, and blacked out many cities, he said.

The Ukrainian energy minister said the attack was “the most massive” bombardment of power facilities in the nearly 9-month-old invasion, striking both power generation and transmission systems.


The minister, Herman Haluschenko, accused Russia of “trying to cause maximum damage to our energy system on the eve of winter.”


The aerial assault, which resulted in at least one death in a residential building in the capital, Kyiv, followed days of euphoria in Ukraine sparked by one of its biggest military successes — the retaking last week of the southern city of Kherson.

The power grid was already battered by previous attacks that destroyed an estimated 40% of the country’s energy infrastructure.


Russian President Vladimir Putin has not commented on the retreat from Kherson since his troops pulled out in the face of a Ukrainian offensive. But the stunning scale of Tuesday’s strikes spoke volumes and hinted at anger in the Kremlin.

By striking targets in the late afternoon, not long before dusk, the Russian military forced rescue workers to labor in the dark and gave repair crews scant time to assess the damage by daylight.


More than a dozen regions — among them Lviv in the west, Kharkiv in the northeast and others in between — reported strikes or efforts by their air defenses to shoot missiles down. At least a dozen regions reported power outages, affecting cities that together have millions of people. Almost half of the Kyiv region lost power, authorities said.


“Most of the hits were recorded in the center and in the north of the country. In the capital, the situation is very difficult,” said a senior official, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.


He said a total of 15 energy targets were damaged and claimed that 70 missiles were shot down. A Ukrainian Air Force spokesman said Russia used X-101 and X-555 cruise missiles.


As city after city reported attacks, Tymoshenko urged Ukrainians to “hang in there.”


With its battlefield losses mounting, Russia has increasingly resorted to targeting Ukraine’s power grid, seemingly hoping to turn the approach of winter into a weapon by leaving people in the cold and dark.


Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra took to a bomb shelter in Kyiv after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart and, from his place of safety, described the bombardment as “an enormous motivation to keep standing shoulder-to-shoulder” with Ukraine.


The strikes came as authorities were already working furiously to get Kherson back on its feet and beginning to investigate alleged Russian abuses there and in the surrounding area. The southern city is without power and water.


The retaking of Kherson dealt another stinging blow to the Kremlin. Zelenskyy likened the recapture to the Allied landings in France on D-Day in World War II, saying both were watershed events on the road to eventual victory.


But large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine remain under Russian control, and fighting continues.


In other developments, leaders of most of the world’s economic powers were drawing closer to approval of a declaration strongly denouncing Russia’s invasion.


On Tuesday, Biden and Zelenskyy pressed fellow G20 leaders at the summit in Indonesia for a robust condemnation of Russia’s nuclear threats and food embargoes. More discussion and a possible vote were expected Wednesday.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-uk...gn=position_01

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Putin will say it was an accident. 
> 
> The West will be pussies.


Yes, or lie about it like he did with the Malaysian plane.

----------


## Iceman123

> Putin will say it was an accident. 
> 
> 
> The West will be pussies.


Yep, correct on both counts. No point in fighting the Russkies, just make the bullets and let the UKR do the fighting.

----------


## Troy

> Putin will say it was an accident. 
> 
> 
> The West will be pussies.


I think being sensible rather than being pussies. There is  no need to escalate the war to involve Nato over a couple of stray rockets.

----------


## misskit

*Both Russia and Ukraine tortured, electrocuted prisoners of war: UN*

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that both Russia and Ukraine have tortured prisoners of war during the nearly nine-month conflict, citing examples including the use of electric shocks and forced nudity.


The UN’s Ukraine-based monitoring team based its findings on interviews with more than 100 prisoners of war on each side of the conflict since April. The interviews with Ukrainian prisoners of war were conducted after their release, since Russia did not grant access to detention sites, it said.


Matilda Bogner, head of the monitoring mission, told a Geneva press briefing that the “vast majority” of Ukrainian prisoners they interviewed held by Russian forces reported torture and ill-treatment. She gave examples of dog attacks, mock executions, electric shocks with tasers and military phones and sexual violence.


Bogner, who is one of the UN interviewers and spoke to journalists via video link from Ukraine, said the treatment was aimed at intimidating and humiliating them. One man in a penal colony near Olenivka told the team that members of Russian-affiliated armed groups “attached wires to my genitalia and nose and shocked me. They simply had fun and were not interested in my replies to their questions.”

Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, denies torture or other forms of maltreatment of POWs.


On the Ukrainian side, Bogner reported “credible allegations” of summary executions of Russian prisoners, noting that no progress has yet been seen in Ukrainian authorities’ investigations into these cases.


Other Russian prisoners reported poor and humiliating conditions of transport and of being packed into trucks or vans naked, with their hands tied behind their backs. The UN team said it had also documented cases of so-called “welcome beatings” at a penal colony.


Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Kyiv has previously said it checks all information regarding the treatment of POWs and will investigate any violations and take appropriate legal action.


Asked to compare the scale of the abuses by both sides, Bogner said the mistreatment of Ukrainian prisoners by Russians was “fairly systematic” whereas she said it was “not systematic” for Ukraine to mistreat Russian soldiers.

Most of the abuses by Kyiv against Russian POWs were limited to three internment facilities, she said, and were more common during the initial phase of capture.

The team of monitors plans to visit the areas around Kherson, the city that Moscow surrendered last week, to look for additional evidence of abuses among the general population.


UN monitors have already documented summary executions and between 70-80 cases of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions in the area, she said.




Both Russia and Ukraine tortured, electrocuted prisoners of war: UN | South China Morning Post

----------


## bsnub

> I think being sensible rather than being pussies.


 Exactly. If NATO was in the war, it would have been over months ago.

----------


## pickel

It will be interesting to see if the missile came from Belarus.

----------


## Norton

> I think being sensible rather than being pussies. There is  no need to escalate the war to involve Nato over a couple of stray rockets.


I think no matter why Russian missiles hit Poland, the US will at a minimum send ATACMS missile systems to Ukraine. In the past the US and Nato allies have not due to the fact the Ukraine may us their 190 range to strike targets inside Russia.

----------


## Shutree

> I think no matter why Russian missiles hit Poland


Judging from the very cautious language coming from NATO leaders it seems possible they think the missiles were a Ukranian mistake.

----------


## panama hat

> It will be interesting to see if the missile came from Belarus.





> possible they think the missiles were a Ukranian mistake.


Yup, both also possible

----------


## Norton

> Judging from the very cautious language coming from NATO leaders it seems possible they think the missiles were a Ukranian mistake.


Noted same.

----------


## Edmond

> stray rockets.


Of course they were strays. 


Will the next 'stray' Russian rockets that strike deeper into Nato and kill Natoese number 4 or more?

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Judging from the very cautious language coming from NATO leaders it seems possible they think the missiles were a Ukranian mistake.


Not really, only suggests that they think they came from Ukrainian territory but don't know where from.

----------


## Hugh Cow

> I think being sensible rather than being pussies. There is  no need to escalate the war to involve Nato over a couple of stray rockets.


A little sympathy for the Russians please. It is difficult to manufacture accurate missiles when you are robbing washing machine electronics to build the guidance system.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> A little sympathy for the Russians please. It is difficult to manufacture accurate missiles when you are robbing washing machine electronics to build the guidance system.


The sky over that area is probably bristling with AWACS and satellites. They will know exactly from where the missiles were launched.

The question is who launched them.

----------


## bsnub

> The sky over that area is probably bristling with AWACS and satellites.


Probably? I would suggest deleting that word from your post.  :Smile:

----------


## misskit

*NATO chief says Poland blast likely caused by Ukrainian missile — but not Ukraine’s fault*

NATO said there was no indication that the missile strike that hit a Polish border village on Tuesday night was deliberate, saying that Russia was ultimately to blame as it continues to bombard Ukraine with missiles.


The military alliance’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the missile incident took place “as Russia launched a massive wave of rocket attacks across Ukraine.”


While the investigation was ongoing into the incident, he said, “there was no indication this was the result of a deliberate attack” and no indication it was a result of “offensive military actions against NATO.”


Preliminary analysis, as previously reported, suggests the incident was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired to intercept a Russian missile.


“Let me be clear, this is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears the ultimate responsibility as it continues its war against Ukraine,” he said.


The comments come after the alliance’s North Atlantic Council held an emergency meeting following the missile strike that hit Poland on Tuesday night, killing two civilians.


Early Wednesday morning, The Associated Press reported, citing three unnamed U.S. officials, that preliminary assessments indicated “the missile that struck Poland had been fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile.”


Other media agencies, including NBC News, cited similar details on Wednesday; Reuters reported a NATO source as saying President Joe Biden had told the G-7 and NATO partners that the strike was caused by “a Ukrainian air defense missile,” while The Wall Street Journal cited two senior Western officials briefed on the preliminary U.S. assessments as saying the missile was from a Ukrainian air defense system.


Those assessments came after Biden said Tuesday that it was “unlikely” the missile was fired from Russia, citing the trajectory of the rocket. President Andrzej Duda of Poland said Wednesday that there was no indication that this was an intentional attack on Poland.


“There are many indications that it was an air defense missile, which unfortunately fell on Polish territory,” Duda said.

NATO says Poland missile strike was not deliberate or Ukraine'&#39;'s fault

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Preliminary analysis, as previously reported, suggests the incident was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired to intercept a Russian missile.


and




> President Andrzej Duda of Poland said Wednesday that there was no indication that this was an intentional attack on Poland.



Sad for the two lives lost. It shows just how little Russia cares what it hits that they are having to defend against missile attacks that far west.

----------


## Neverna

*Missile strike in Poland ‘probably an unfortunate accident’ by Ukrainian air defence, says president*


Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has said the missile that landed in his country and killed two people appears to be an “unfortunate accident”.


It was highly probable that the rocket, which was Russian-made, was used by the Ukrainian air defence, he added.


There were no grounds to believe that the missile incident was an intentional attack, Duda said, or that the rocket was launched by the Russian side.


Russia-Ukraine war live: missile strike in Poland likely an accident by Ukraine air defence, says Warsaw | Ukraine | The Guardian

----------


## sabang

> *blast likely caused by Ukrainian missile — but not Ukraine’s fault*


Would they say the same if it was a Russian missile?  :rofl:

----------


## sabang

If approved, it would bring total US spending on the war in Ukraine to about $105 billion

by Dave DeCamp Posted onNovember 15,

The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to approve $37.7 billion in new aid for Ukraine, which would bring total US spending on the war to about $105 billion.

According to _The Hill_, the request includes $21.7 billion in military aid for Ukraine and to replenish US military stockpiles that have been sent to the country.

A total of $14.5 billion in budgetary aid to directly fund the Ukrainian government is included, as Kyiv is expecting the US and its allies to pay its budget deficit for 2023.
The request also includes $626 million for the US Strategic Oil Reserve and for nuclear safety for Ukraine and $900 million for healthcare and other services for Ukrainians.

The request comes ahead of the swearing-in of the new Congress in January. Republicans are expected to hold the majority in the House once all midterm elections have been called, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has clinched the GOP nomination to be House speaker.

McCarthy raised concerns among Ukraine supporters when he said a Republican-controlled House wouldn’t write a “blank check” for Ukraine. While the majority of Republicans still support spending on the war in Ukraine, McCarthy’s comments may have prompted the White House request during the lame-duck period.

It’s possible Congress will increase the White House requests as media reports said lawmakers in both parties were looking to pass a Ukraine aid bill of about $50 billion before January.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/11/15/...w-ukraine-aid/

$105,000,000,000. I wonder how many Big Macs that would buy for the homeless? Or schools, or hospitals.

----------


## david44

IAEA - International Atomic Energy 

Yesterday Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyy Nuclear Power Plant (KhNPP) lost all access to the electricity grid for more than 9 hours due to military attacks in the country, forcing it to temporarily rely on diesel generators for back-up power. http://bit.ly/3TBuLtW

During the power loss, KhNPP's two reactors were shut down, halting electricity delivery. @rafaelmgrossi: "This was a very concerning development. It shows the potential nuclear safety and security risks facing all of Ukraine's nuclear facilities during this terrible war

----------


## bsnub

> Would they say the same if it was a Russian missile?


Russia is 100% to blame for that missile landing in Poland. If Russia was not attacking civilian targets so close to the border, it would have never happened.

----------


## panama hat

> Would they say the same if it was a Russian missile?


Put it this way, if the Russian fuckers wouldn't have invaded Ukraine without provocation the this wouldn't have happened.

Simple.  Even for you. 






> $105,000,000,000. I wonder how many Big Macs that would buy for the homeless? Or schools, or hospitals.


Or to keep one of the world's most threatening countries in line - cheap as chips.

----------


## bsnub

> Or to keep one of the world's most threatening countries in line - cheap as chips.


Well worth the money.

----------


## Hugh Cow

Where too from here? There will eventually be a settlement of some description. The Russians behind close doors know they have bitten off more than they can chew and the Russian armed forces General staff is now in no doubt the Russian army is no match for NATO. Any hubris they once had has disapeared with losses to an inferior force numerically, supplied by NATO. 
There is no doubt Russians will need to live with a heavily reduced standard of living if it remains isolated from the west. 
The question is what can both sides live with. The USA cannot go on bearing so much of the cost and the E.U. will never step up to the plate. The minimum that I can see is to have UN supervised elections in Crimea to determine its fate and if it votes to stay with Russia so be it. The Russians will have to give up all other ukrainian territory. 
The frozen Russian money and assets will go to the reconstruction of Ukraine. Putin will come out of possibly as "the saviour of Crimea" should the vote go Russias' way. The Ukrainians will be offered NATO membership and fast tracked admittance to the E.U. as "compensation."  A partial lifting of sanctions until Ukraine has been compensated and war crimes addressed.
 In any case the west cannot allow a weakened Russian army to regroup until it has a stable democracy, and yes it will come, driven by younger Russians. The future will remain bleak for Russia until Putin and his cronies have gone. The west will not allow him to rise and threaten Europe again. Putin has gambled and was dealt Aces and eights.
This fight is not just about winning back Ukrainian territory from the Russians. It is a demonstration to the Chinese in how far the west is prepared to go to prevent a totalitarian states' territorial ambitions and the cost to that state in doing so. It is also paying now what appears to be a high price in the hope of not paying a lot more in a conflict with China in the future.
What do others think?

----------


## sabang

> without provocation


 :smiley laughing: 

^ I think the Donbass will stay with Russia too. Otherwise, dunno. If Crimea is provided with water, and the Russian speaking population given some statutory rights, I certainly don't have a problem with Zapo and Kherson reverting to Ukrainian sovereignty- but I'm not Vlad.

----------


## bsnub

> The minimum that I can see is to have UN supervised elections in Crimea to determine its fate and if it votes to stay with Russia so be it.


That can not work, Hugh. The population of Crimea has been completely perverted by the Russians. Most of the Ukrainians fled Crimea and lost their homes and business there back in 2014. The Russians turned Crimea into resort, and many of the wealthy Muscovite's bought homes there. 

Crimea must be fully liberated and the Russians that moved there post 2014 need to be sent packing. That is the only option at this point, and the same for the Donbass.




> I think the Donbass will stay with Russia too. Otherwise, dunno. If Crimea is provided with water, and the Russian speaking population given some statutory rights, I certainly don't have a problem with Zapo and Kherson reverting to Ukrainian sovereignty- but I'm not Vlad.


You live in a fantasy land.

----------


## Norton

> The question is what can both sides live with.


Always comes to this HC but there is a prerequiste. Get some serious peace talks underway. Not there yet.

----------


## bsnub

> Get some serious peace talks underway.


Why on earth would Ukraine want to do that with Russia still on its soil? It is winning the war.

----------


## Norton

> Why on earth would Ukraine want to do that with Russia still on its soil? It is winning the war.


Having participated in a war let me say, there are no winners. The Ukraine may be "winning" but in doing so the Ukraine is suffering big time. So is Russia. In the end, the war will end when both sides want to stop their suffering. Basically will be a political decision.

----------


## sabang

*Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskiy dismisses Natos suggestion missile that hit Poland was Ukrainian  as it happened**Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he is convinced that the missile was not Ukrainian.* Speaking to reporters, Zelenskiy said he had received reports from the command of Ukraines armed forces and air force and cannot but trust them.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/nov/16/russia-ukraine-war-live-news-emergency-g20-meeting-after-russian-made-missiles-land-in-poland


 :rofl:  Ever the clown.

----------


## bsnub

> The Ukraine may be "winning" but in doing so the Ukraine is suffering big time. So is Russia. In the end, the war will end when both sides want to stop their suffering.


I do not think that the Ukrainian people will accept anything less than the complete ejection of Russian forces from its sovereign territory.

----------


## bsnub

KHERSON,  Ukraine — He stayed indoors to evade Russian patrols, watching movies  on his laptop. On sunny days, he strolled in a small, walled courtyard.  Afraid to be seen, he peeked cautiously from behind curtains, watching  as Russians moved in across the street.

He  is Timothy Morales, an American English teacher, who hid from the  Russian military and secret police through the entire eight-month  occupation of the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, afraid that his  nationality had made him a target. He emerged in public only after the  Ukrainian Army liberated the city last week.

“I  had fleeting moments of despair,” Mr. Morales said in an interview in a  central square in Kherson, where he now walks openly with ribbons in  yellow and blue, the Ukrainian national colors, tied to his tweed coat.  “But I knew at some point this day would come.”

The  thud of artillery fired toward the city from Russian positions across  the Dnipro River still rattles windows, and Kherson remains a grim and  dark city, without electricity, water or heating. Most of its residents  fled months ago, and the retreating Russians took with them anything of  value they could carry.

Beginning  at dawn, many of the remaining civilians form gigantic lines to get  bread or to fill plastic jugs with water. Not until Tuesday did the  first convoys arrive with humanitarian aid, their trucks parked in the  square to hand out boxes of flour, soap,  wipes and goodies like instant milkshake mix.

But  for Mr. Morales, 56, a former college professor, the worst was behind  him — no more anxious cat-and-mouse games with the Russians. Raised in  Banbury, England, he had lived for years in Oklahoma City teaching  English literature, and had opened an English-language school in Kherson  before the Russian invasion in February.

In  the chaotic, early days of the war, as Russian tanks battled with the  few Ukrainian troops in the region and a scrappy but quickly overrun  volunteer defense force, Mr. Morales became trapped behind Russian  lines.

He tried once to escape on a  highway to the north, he said, but turned back when he saw tanks firing  on the road ahead. He managed to send his 10-year-old daughter to  safety, traveling with his former wife, but could not make it out  himself.

“I didn’t want to risk it with my passport,” he said of the gantlet of Russian military checkpoints.

He had done nothing illegal, under the  laws of any nation. But the Kremlin has cast the United States and its  allies, which are arming Ukrainian troops, as the real enemy in this  war, blaming them for its battlefield setbacks. Mr. Morales feared that  Russian troops would detain him merely for being American.

He became a survivor of — and furtive witness to — Russia’s assault, its harsh occupation and its failed effort to assimilate parts of Ukraine and root out any opposition.

The  Russians swept into Kherson in early March, and soon soldiers patrolled  the streets and officers of the Federal Security Service, the main  successor agency to the K.G.B., searched for members of a pro-Ukrainian  underground guerrilla movement.

Life  for Mr. Morales contracted to two apartments — his and his former  wife’s — furtive walks between the two sites, and the courtyard, a  pleasant space with cherry and walnut trees behind high walls, hidden  from view from the street. For two months, he said, he didn’t dare  venture beyond the courtyard.

Relatives  of his former wife, who is Ukrainian, brought food, and sometimes he  shopped at a grocery store where he knew the clerk, a teenager he  trusted would not betray him because of her pro-Ukrainian views. The  shopping trips were an exception to his generally cloistered life.

There  was a close call. In September, he stepped into the courtyard and saw  Russian soldiers pointing rifles through the wire mesh of a gate. He  dashed back inside, locking the door behind him.

Soon,  a search party arrived. A neighbor yelled through the door that he had  no choice but to open up. He did, and came face to face with an officer  from the Federal Security Service, also known by its Russian initials,  F.S.B.

Mr. Morales, who speaks Russian  but not well enough to pass as a local, told the officer that he was an  Irishman named Timothy Joseph, taught English in the city and had lost  his passport. The secret police left. The neighbor, an older woman,  helped with the ruse, telling the secret police they had no reason to  suspect him.

“That sort of changed my  perspective,” Mr. Morales said. “Before, I was careful. Then I became  paranoid.” The questioning by the F.S.B., he said, was “the highlight,  or the lowlight,” of his ordeal. He said he escaped only because “they  weren’t the cleverest people in the world.”

He  fled to another apartment and did not return to the site of the search  until after the city’s liberation, lest the secret police return.

He passed the time watching several hundred movies he had downloaded onto his laptop before the invasion.

When  he walked the streets, he feared meeting acquaintances, particularly  among older people, who seemed less keenly aware of the danger of the  Russians and who would sometimes yell out friendly greetings — putting  him at grave risk. No friends or neighbors betrayed him.

From  hiding, he managed to resume teaching English online, using the  internet connction of a neighbor to connect with students elsewhere in  Ukraine and other countries. “It kept me sane,” he said of being able to  work online, though he had no means to receive payment.

He  became worried when he saw a Russian, perhaps a civilian administrator  in the occupation government, move his family into an apartment  abandoned by fleeing Ukrainians in a building across the street, raising  the risk that he would be discovered.

But  over time, he also noted something that was becoming obvious to other  residents of Kherson: The Russian Army was unraveling. Discipline was  breaking down, soldiers were appearing more disheveled, and more often  they were driving stolen local cars rather than military-issued  vehicles.

“Over time, they got scruffier and more hodgepodge,” he said.

In  the final month, he noticed that soldiers who had stolen expensive  cars, like BMWs or Mercedes-Benzes, had taken these vehicles by barge  away from Kherson, farther from the front line. The disappearance of the  expensive looted cars, he said, “gave me hope.”

In  the week before liberation, he was cut off from news after the  electricity went out. On Friday, he saw a car drive by with a Ukrainian  flag flapping from an antenna. “I knew the Russians were gone,” he said.

Mr.  Morales joined the celebration in the city’s central square on Friday,  greeting the Ukrainian soldiers as they entered the city without a  fight, driving pickups and jeeps. However happy he is for the city’s  liberation, he said, he plans to leave now.

“I need to put some space between myself and what happened here,” he said.

nytimes.com

----------


## david44

> Having participated in a war let me say, there are no winners


Agree entirely.

----------


## misskit

*Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 16*
*Nov 16, 2022 - Press ISW*


Russian sources and proxy officials are flagrantly touting the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families. Prominent Russian milbloggers began circulating a multi-part documentary series on November 9 featuring several Ukrainian children from Donbas after being adopted into Russian families. The documentary series claims that Russian officials have evacuated over 150,000 children from Donbas in 2022 alone. It is unclear exactly how Russian sources are calculating this figure, and Ukrainian officials previously estimated this number to be 6,000 to 8,000. Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov additionally stated he is working with Russian Federation Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova to bring “difficult teenagers” from various Russian regions and occupied Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts to Chechnya to engage in “preventative work” and “military-patriotic education.” Lvova-Belova has continually advocated for deportations and adoptions of Ukrainian children and herself adopted a child from Mariupol. Forced adoption programs and the deportation of children under the guise of vacation and rehabilitation schemes likely form the backbone of a massive Russian depopulation campaign that may amount to a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and constitute a wider ethnic cleansing effort, as ISW has previously reported.

Institute for the Study of War

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine tells allies it may not be able to recover from more Russian attacks on energy systems*

The Ukrainian government is warning Western allies that it is anticipating increased Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure in the coming days and that Kyiv does not have enough replacement parts to bring heat and power back online if those occur, according to two congressional officials and one Western official briefed on U.S. intelligence.


Ukrainian officials have in recent days asked their American counterparts and more than half a dozen European countries for assistance preparing for a prolonged period with limited electricity and gas — a scenario Kyiv expects to complicate fighting on the ground and displace civilians, the officials and an adviser to the Ukrainian government said.

Ukraine needs key components like generators, pipes and valves to repair its infrastructure. Kyiv is currently attempting to fix the damaged infrastructure, but they fear that continued attacks by Russia could make it nearly impossible to keep up, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the Ukrainian government’s thinking.

The new warnings, relayed to lawmakers this week through classified intelligence reports, came as Russia launched missiles on the Ukrainian capital Tuesday, hitting apartment buildings and knocking out electricity — just days after Russia retreated from the strategic city of Kherson. Parts of Kyiv still didn’t have power Wednesday.

The warnings from Kyiv over the last week underscore the level of anxiety among top Ukrainian officials about the coming winter months and the potential ramifications of sustained damage to its infrastructure. An unreliable energy sector could have deadly consequences, Ukrainian officials say. In recent conversations, they’ve added that it could halt food production and transport operations — critical services needed to support military operations.


“This is one of the most critical issues we’re discussing with the Americans and Europeans right now,” the adviser to the Ukrainian government said, adding that some Ukrainians have already fled the country in fear that the energy crisis will only grow worse. “The winter will be really tough.”


A spokesperson for the National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Over the last several months, Russian attacks have hit a slew of Ukrainian energy installations,


leaving citizens with little access to water and electricity. A widescale attack by Russia in October left millions of households without power. Ukrainian officials have said that about 30 percent of the country’s power stations have been destroyed as a result of the attacks.

Millions of Ukrainians have for weeks operated with little or no electricity. Earlier this month, Ukrainian officials said they would implement rolling blackouts in some parts of the country in order to stabilize the grid before winter.


The concerns over energy come as the Ukrainians continue to advance on the battlefield and as Russia begins to launch counterattacks in Kyiv. U.S. officials have calculated that the situation on the ground in Ukraine could grow more dangerous as Russia continues to lose ground.


The U.S. has for years engaged with Ukraine through the Department of Energy to provide technical expertise on the production, storage and transportation of energy in the country, particularly during the winter months.


Top congressional Republicans, likely to be in control of the House come next year, have suggested that the U.S. should re-evaluate its aid to the besieged ally. Some GOP lawmakers have indicated that a so-called “compromise” could include a continuation of the military assistance but a scaling-back of economic aid.


Democrats have raised concerns about the possible cuts to economic assistance, arguing it could strain Ukraine’s ability to rebuild its infrastructure and get the power grids back online. Lawmakers briefed on the situation said Putin is shifting his goals toward a political and economic destruction of Ukraine given his army’s widespread failures on the battlefield.


“If we don’t support Ukraine both militarily and economically, we are playing into Putin’s hands,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “It seems as if Republicans are searching for some way to appease the Trump wing of the party on Ukraine by creating a false distinction between military and economic aid. That distinction only exists in politics. It doesn’t exist on the ground in Ukraine.”

Ukraine tells allies it may not be able to recover from more Russian attacks on energy systems  - POLITICO

----------


## panama hat

> the E.U. will never step up to the plate


This old chestnut again . . . what a load of utter bullshit, HC.  The EU has pumped more money in to modernising and raising the Russian standard of living than your beloved US.  That a madman like Putin would be willing to destroy it all was hardly foreseeable. 





> I think


There's your first problem, you don't.


> I'm not Vlad


But you wish you were, eh.  :Smile:   Well, maybe before or at the beginning of the war. 







> The Ukraine may be "winning" but in doing so the Ukraine is suffering big time.


You've also not fought a war in your own country, the US was never in danger of being attacked and defeated, occupied and destroyed.  Ukraine was and is, 'suffering' to throw the warmongers out is hardly unbearable when you're fighting for your very existence.

----------


## Norton

> I do not think that the Ukrainian people will accept anything less than the complete ejection of Russian forces from its sovereign territory.


And rightfully so but there are other ways to negotiate the removal or as you prefer "ejection" of all Russian military but as I said until direct talks between both parties start the war will continue.

----------


## Takeovers

> The Ukraine may be "winning" but in doing so the Ukraine is suffering big time.


Yes. But the fact that according to opinion polls well over 80% of the Ukraine population are in favor of continuing the war, no matter the cost, until Russia is out of Ukraine, including Crimea, should tell you something. Seeing, what was going on in occupied areas, proves there is no alternative.

----------


## Norton

> You've also not fought a war in your own country, the US was never in danger of being attacked and defeated, occupied and destroyed. Ukraine was and is, 'suffering' to throw the warmongers out is hardly unbearable when you're fighting for your very existence.


No I haven't but doesn't change the point, war will continue until peace talks begin between Russia and the Ukraine.

Until one has watched the death and suffer by all sides of war close up and in person, frankly you will never understand the imperative of bringing a war to an end via peace talks.

----------


## Norton

> Yes. But the fact that according to opinion polls well over 80% of the Ukraine population are in favor of continuing the war, no matter the cost, until Russia is out of Ukraine, including Crimea, should tell you something. Seeing, what was going on in occupied areas, proves there is no alternative.


If the Ukraine offered, let's say, would not join NATO as one example and Russia accepted this and removed troops, I think the vast majority of Ukrainians would be all for the deal.

----------


## panama hat

> Yes. But the fact that according to opinion polls well over 80% of the Ukraine population are in favor of continuing the war, no matter the cost, until Russia is out of Ukraine, including Crimea, should tell you something. Seeing, what was going on in occupied areas, proves there is no alternative.


Basically 'Live Free Or Die'  . . . is the same as the New Hampshire motto  except for in reality without fat guts and undereducated halfwits.

----------


## Takeovers

> If the Ukraine offered, let's say, would not join NATO as one example and Russia accepted this and removed troops, I think the vast majority of Ukrainians would be all for the deal.


We had that and it resulted in the russian war of aggression, Ukraine is presently fighting off. No, the only way to safety for Ukraine is NATO membership. The people in Ukraine are well aware.

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## sabang

The time for slogans is over TO.

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## bsnub

> The time for slogans is over TO.


Indeed. It is time for action on the battlefield.

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## sabang

Spoken like true armchair chickenhawk.

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## bsnub

> Spoken like true armchair chickenhawk.


Russia is losing the war.

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## harrybarracuda

> Russia is losing the war.


And sabang has read a new word on the internet. Which if the past is anything to go by, he'll be using in every post until people realise he's a bonehead  :Smile:

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## bsnub

Time to give Ukraine more NASAMS ADA systems...

WASHINGTON,  Nov 16 (Reuters) - U.S.-provided NASAMS air defense systems have had a  100% success rate in Ukraine intercepting Russian missiles, U.S. Defense  Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday, as NATO said an errant  Ukrainian air defense interceptor was likely the cause of an explosion  in Poland on Tuesday.

Austin,  speaking at the start of a routine virtual meeting of dozens of defense  ministers on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said the United States would  work with Poland to gather more information on the explosion, but he  did not assign blame.

NASAMS air defense system have 100% success rate in Ukraine- Pentagon chief | Reuters

----------


## bsnub

The Ukrainian army’s 92nd Mechanized Brigade is killing Russian draftees  as fast as the Kremlin can shove the unhappy, unfit conscripts to the  front near the Russian-occupied town of Svatove, 30 miles northwest of  Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

 “We are just fucking meat, just fucking meat,” one draftee said in an intercepted phone call that popular social-media account @wartranslated helpfully interpreted for English speakers.

 The call, reportedly with a member of the 362nd Motorized Rifle  Regiment, paints a bleak picture for Russian draftees. The 362nd and a  sister motorized regiment, the 346th, are under orders to hold the line  around Svatove in order to slow, if not halt, the Ukrainian 92nd  Mechanized Brigade’s march toward Severodonetsk, which Russian forces  captured in July after months of hard fighting.

 But the Russian regiments, partially staffed by some of the 300,000  men the Kremlin rounded up and forced into military service back in  September, hopelessly are outmatched. “We have nothing!” the caller  exclaimed. “How can we fight against mortars and tanks?”

 The mismatch should come as no surprise. The 92nd Mechanized Brigade  is a volunteer unit with well-maintained T-64 tanks and BTR fighting  vehicles. Since the start of Russia’s wider war on Ukraine in February,  the brigade has fought, and won, a series of battles in and around  Kharkiv Oblast just north of Svatove. Now it’s got Severodonetsk in its  sights.

The 362nd by contrast is as much a penal colony as it is a fighting  formation. Its officers issue impossible orders and threaten the  draftees with severe punishment if they retreat. After that, the  officers disappear to the relative safety of the regiment’s rear area,  leaving the untrained draftees to fight, without leadership, what  arguably is the world’s most experienced mechanized brigade.

 Posting to Svatove is a veritable death sentence for Russian  conscripts. “Our battalion commander was bullshitting that we need to  hold for two weeks” before replacement troops would arrive, the caller  explained. “How the fuck can we hold here for two weeks?” The regiment  lost 2,500 killed—half its manpower—in just the previous 12 days, the  caller claimed.

 Now just 100 survivors are trying to hold positions that 2,500 men _failed_  to hold earlier this month, he said. When they complained, their  officers labeled them deserters and threatened them with prison  sentences. And when 300 wounded men crawled away from the line of  contact, the regiment’s officers declared _them_ deserters, too.

 “Put us in prison,” some of the draftees told their officers, according to the caller. Better prison than the grave.

 The kicker, for the beleaguered Russians, is that their regular  forces aren’t faring much better around Svatove. Yes, the regiments of  lightly armed draftees are getting massacred. But so too are units  operating modern T-72B3 tanks. Ukrainian troops captured three intacted T-72B3s from a muddy field outside Svatove on or before Wednesday.

A Russian Regiment Reportedly Lost 2,500 Draftees In Just Two Weeks Of Fighting

----------


## bsnub

Since withdrawing from the right bank Kherson region  on November 11, Russian positions on the opposite side of the river  have come under increasingly frequent attack. As it did following  Ukraine's successful strike on the Kerch Strait Bridge back in October,  Russia has responded with a wave of missiles aimed at civilian  infrastructure.

However, Moscow's dwindling stockpiles  suggest that this wave, like the one that preceded it, is more symbol  than substance. After advancing across large swathes of territory in the  early weeks of its "special military operation," Russian forces in  Ukraine are now clearly on the defensive.

"Russia's military is broken," John Spencer, the author of _Understanding Urban Warfare_ and a retired major in the U.S. Army, told _Newsweek. "_That  doesn't mean that it's not dangerous. It can still engage in battles,  but it is no longer capable of waging a large campaign."

Not even  nine months after it sent its best troops into Ukraine expecting them to  topple the Kyiv government in a matter of days, the purported second  most powerful army in the world finds itself digging trenches along the  roads leading into Crimea.

"The question now is, 'how much more territory will Russia have to  give up before it can establish defensible lines with the minimal forces  it has left?'" he asked. "Yes, Russia has announced mobilization,  but combat power isn't just about the number of soldiers you throw onto  the battlefield; it's about how effectively you combine infantry with a  full complement of heavy armor, long range fires, counterbattery  capabilities, etc."

"In that sense, Russia's combat power has been  severely diminished over the past eight-plus months," Spencer added,  "at the same time that Ukraine's has been enhanced thanks to assistance from its international partners."

After  withdrawing from the areas around Kyiv in late April, Russia turned to a  two-pronged strategy of expanding its control over the eastern  Ukrainian Donbas region while simultaneously fighting to keep hold of  its bridgehead around Kherson city. That bridgehead, located on the  western bank of the Dnieper River, was valuable as a potential launching  point for future offensive operations against Mykolaiv and Odesa, which  lie further west.

The aim of Russia's Southern campaign was to cut off Kyiv's access to  the Black Sea, thus creating a landlocked Ukrainian rump state unable  to access its most important trade routes.

The Russian withdrawal  from Kherson serves as an admission from Moscow that it no longer  considers expansion along the Black Sea coast to be an achievable war  aim. While certain circles expected  Moscow to make an attempt to turn the city of Kherson into another  Mariupol, the fact that Russian forces chose not to dig in did not come  as a surprise to Spencer.

"Maybe if they had a full division of  elite paratroopers prepared to die for the cause, Russia could have held  out in Kherson city for long enough to leave it in ruins, but the urban  terrain there simply doesn't offer many advantages," he said. "Kherson  is flat, there are multiple routes in, and there isn't enough density on  the outskirts to set up a non-suicidal defense."

"Yes, Russia  could definitely still strike Kherson with artillery from across the  river," he added. "But the lack of solidly defensible urban positions,  combined with the lack of a truly motivated fighting force and the  superior range of Ukrainian MLRS [Multiple Launch Rocket Systems]  capabilities, meant that the Battle of Kherson was more likely to end in  a withdrawal, as it did, than in a head-on collision."

That withdrawal came just under six weeks after a September 30 Kremlin ceremony in which Vladimir Putin  personally claimed the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia,  Donetsk, and Luhansk as members of the Russian Federation. Given the  political circumstances, it appears as if the Russian decision to cede  right bank Kherson was made sometime shortly after it promised that  Russia and Kherson would be "together forever," as multiple billboards  in the city advertised.

"If you know that you're preparing to pull out, then it wouldn't make any sense to go through with the annexation," Dmitry Gorenburg of the Center for Naval Analysis told _Newsweek_.
The decision signals a potential change in the Kremlin's decision-making protocol.

"Even  before the so-called referendum, there were reports of Putin overruling  his generals with regards to Kherson," Gorenburg said. "Now, though, it  looks like we have a situation where the military has the freedom to do  what it thinks is sensible, even if it goes against the political aims  of the Kremlin."

Despite Russia's failure to execute anything  approaching a successful offensive campaign in recent months, the events  around Kherson demonstrate that the Russian military is still capable  of organizing an orderly retreat.

"Even with Ukrainian HIMARS strikes  making the bridges inaccessible, the Russians were able to remove most  of their equipment, to evacuate the collaborators and any civilians who  wanted to leave, and to save most of their troops," Gorenburg added.  "And it was executed on a timeline that was fast enough to prevent the  Ukrainians from pursuing."

Any potential Ukrainian effort to kill  or capture Russian troops on their way out was also complicated by the  nature of the terrain around Kherson city itself. In the weeks leading  up to November 11, Ukrainian troops were reported to be taking heavy  losses in their efforts to liberate frontline villages still under  Russian occupation. Even as Russian forces withdrew from these  positions, the threat of rear-guard actions remained.

https://www.newsweek.com/retreat-khe...llapse-1760058

----------


## harrybarracuda

Sadly puffy the coward wasn't there and his sock puppet was probably off having a bypass.





> BANGKOK - The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) issued a joint ministerial statement on Friday with a paragraph that condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine, creating a breakthrough in a year which saw many multilateral forums deadlocked over their description of the war.
> “Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy – constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks,” the 21-member bloc said.
> 
> Apec achieves breakthrough statement as most members condemn Russian invasion of Ukraine      | The Straits Times

----------


## misskit

Hundreds were detained or went missing in Ukraine's Kherson: US Report

Researchers from Yale University have found in a report sponsored by the US State Department that hundreds of people were jailed or went missing in the Kherson region of Ukraine this year while it was under Russian control and that many may have been tortured, as reported by Reuters.

Despite its disgusting and desperate methods, Russia "must halt these operations and withdraw its forces to end a needless war that it cannot and will not win – no matter how despicable and desperate its tactics," the State Department stated in a statement regarding the findings. 


The study details the detentions and disappearances of 226 persons in Kherson between March and October, of whom a quarter are said to have been tortured and five of whom passed away while being held or shortly after.


Kherson, the sole regional capital it has taken since the invasion in February, was located in an enclave on the west bank of the Dnipro River in Ukraine when Russia last week withdrew its forces from there. 

The Conflict Observatory, a State Department-funded initiative that was started in May to gather and examine proof of war crimes and other potential atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine, is a partnership between the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, which produced the report, and other organisations. 


Russia denies that its soldiers have carried out atrocities or targeted people.


Hundreds were detained or went missing in Ukraine'&#39;'s Kherson: US Report - World News

----------


## bsnub

A Russian spy has reportedly defected to Estonia and is now seeking asylum in the NATO country over his opposition to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

The  spy, identified as Artem Zinchenko, spoke to Yahoo News in early  October for an article published Thursday about the "awful situation"  triggered by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine that started in late February.

"It  is the worst scenario that could even be imagined in my mind, and it  was not only because my relatives live there, but because of the huge  number of innocent victims," Zinchenko said.

Zinchenko's defection to Estonia was actually a return for the  Russian spy after he was arrested by the country in 2017 and traded back  to Russia in a swap a year later, Yahoo News reported. 

Zinchenko said  that when he arrived home in 2018, "everything had changed dramatically"  and described Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime as having "all the aspects of totalitarianism."

"You know, before and during my process, I saw that the law works  much better here than in Russia," Zinchenko told Yahoo News. "During my  situation, the Estonians told me they were not out to destroy my life or  my business. This was a competition between intelligence services, they  explained, and I was caught up in the middle of it."

The loss of Zinchenko to Estonia could be the newest embarrassment for Putin as he faces numerous military defeats and opposition from civilians and officials in his own country. Recently leaked emails from a whistleblower at Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) that were shared with _Newsweek_  detailed inner turmoil and conflict within the Kremlin and said Russia  will soon "descend into the abyss of terror" while war fatigue grows.

On the ground in Ukraine, Putin recently saw what experts believed was a major political blow for the Russian president when the Kremlin announced its withdrawal from the city of Kherson. Kherson  was the only regional capital Russia had managed to capture in the  Ukraine war, and Putin's loss of the city is especially significant  because it is located in one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia declared would be annexed in late September.

The Russian army's woes in the war are likely to only worsen during  winter. Sean Spoonts, a U.S. Navy veteran and editor-in-chief of Special  Operations Forces Report (SOFREP), told _Newsweek_ that the  issues Russian soldiers in Ukraine could experience include  exposure-related deaths, keeping warm in the colder months and ensuring  adequate supplies for troops who have already reportedly been facing equipment shortages.


"All  the problems that Russia had in the beginning of this war in  February–they're going to have those problems again. And they're not  prepared for it," Spoonts said. "They weren't prepared to equip a summer  army. A winter army is even harder."

https://www.newsweek.com/russian-spy...-1760740?amp=1

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine, Russia Trade Blame Over Nuclear Plant Shelling*

Kyiv and Moscow on Sunday traded accusations of shelling on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that Russia controls in southern Ukraine. 


The UN atomic watchdog that has a team of experts at the plant — the biggest nuclear facility in Europe — said "powerful explosions" had occurred on Saturday and Sunday. 


Kyiv "does not stop its provocations aiming at creating the threat of a man-made catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant," the Russian army said in a statement on Sunday. 


Despite the shelling, radiation levels "remain normal," the army added.


It said missiles exploded around a power line that feeds the plant, the fourth and fifth power units and "special building number 2."


Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom, told state-run agency TASS that the "special building" contained nuclear fuel.


Ukrainian nuclear energy agency Energoatom said shortly after that Russia was behind the explosions.


"This morning on Nov. 20, 2022, as a result of numerous Russian shelling, at least 12 hits were recorded on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant," Energoatom said.


It accused Russia of "once again... putting the whole world at risk."


"The news... is extremely disturbing. Explosions occurred at the site of this major nuclear power plant, which is completely unacceptable," UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement.


He added that the damage to buildings, systems and equipment recorded so far was not "critical."


The explosions were "abruptly ending a period of relative calm at the facility and further underlining the urgent need for measures to help prevent a nuclear accident there," the statement read. 


Moscow and Kyiv have traded blame for months over shelling near the Russian-held facility, sparking fears of a nuclear disaster and spurring calls to de-militarize areas around atomic facilities in Ukraine.

Ukraine, Russia Trade Blame Over Nuclear Plant Shelling - The Moscow Times

----------


## Hugh Cow

The best way forward for these Russian conscripts is to surrender as soon as possible. Many of those conscripts that were more willing than others to go and defend mother Russia have rapidly found Mothers' milk has somewhat soured.

----------


## Shutree

> The best way forward for these Russian conscripts is to surrender as soon as possible.


According to some reports it isn't easy for the conscripts to surrender because the Russians keep a line of regular troops behind them to shoot them if they attempt either to retreat or to surrender. It's just brutal.

----------


## bsnub

The  landfill site on the edge of Kherson offers some visible hints here and  there, among the piles of rubbish, to what locals and workers say  happened in its recent past. Russian flags, uniforms and helmets emerge  from the putrid mud, while hundreds of seagulls and dozens of stray dogs  scavenge around.

As the Russian  occupation of the region was on its last legs over the summer, the site,  once a mundane place where residents disposed of their rubbish, became a  no-go area, according to Kherson’s inhabitants, fiercely sealed off by  the invading forces from presumed prying eyes.

The  reason for the jittery secrecy, several residents and workers at the  site told the Guardian, was that the occupying forces had a gruesome new  purpose there: dumping the bodies of their fallen brethren, and then  burning them.

The residents report seeing  Russian open trucks arriving to the site carrying black bags that were  then set on fire, filling the air with a large cloud of smoke and a  terrifying stench of burning flesh.

They believe the Russians were disposing of the bodies of its soldiers killed during the heavy fighting of those summer days.

“Every  time our army shelled the Russians there, they moved the remains to the  landfill and burned them,” says Iryna, 40, a Kherson resident.

Ukraine’s attempts to gain momentum and retake the  southern city began at the end of June when long-awaited US-made Himars  long-range rockets finally reached one the frontlines there. 

Kyiv was  making good use of them to badly damage bridges across the Dnipro,  destroy Russian ammunition dumps and strike enemy artillery and forces.

It was around this time, the residents said, that they first started to fear a new use for the site.

It  is not possible to independently verify the claims, and Ukrainian  authorities said they could not comment on whether the allegations were  being investigated. The Guardian visited the landfill, located on the  north-western outskirts of the town, five days after Kherson’s liberation  and spoke to employees of the site as well as several more of the  town’s residents, who backed up the claims made by others in the summer.  

“The Russians drove a _Kamaz_ full of  rubbish and corpses all together and unloaded,” said a rubbish collector  from Kherson who asked not to be named. “Do you think someone was gonna  bury them? They dumped them and then dumped the trash over them, and  that’s it.”

He said he did not see if bodies belonged to  soldiers or civilians. “I didn’t see. I’ve said enough. I’m not scared,  I’ve been fighting this war since 2014. Been to Donbas.

“But  the less you know, the better you sleep,” he added, citing a Ukrainian  saying. Fear is still alive among the residents who lived for eight  months under a police state, in which the Russian authorities did not  tolerate the slightest hint of dissent. The price was arrest, or worse:  death.

Svitlana Viktorivna, 45, who together  with her husband, Oleksandr, has been bringing waste to the landfill for  years in their truck, said a Russian checkpoint had been set up at its  entrance.

“We were not allowed anywhere near the area of the  landfill where they were burning the bodies,” she says. “So let me tell  you how it was: they came here, they left some of their soldier-guards,  and unloaded and burned. One day my husband and I arrived at the wrong  time. We came here while they were doing their ‘business’ and they gave  my husband a hard blow in the face with a club.”

“I didn’t see the remains,” she adds. “They buried whatever was left.”

Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has said that nearly 6,000 soldiers have died in Ukraine, but the Pentagon in late summer estimated that about 80,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured. 

The workers at the landfill said the Russians had  chosen an area on the most isolated side of the landfill. For security  reasons, it is not possible to visit. A truck driver working in the  landfill said he did not rule out that the Russians may have mined the  area or left unexploded devices.

“I heard the  story, but I didn’t go that far with my truck to unload rubbish. But I  can guarantee you that, whatever they were doing, it smelled so bad,  like [rotten] meat” says the truck driver. “And the smoke … the smoke  was thick.”

Residents of a large Soviet-era apartment block  facing the landfill said that when the Russians had started burning, a  large cloud of smoke had risen up filling the air with an unbearable  smell of decay, to the point that it had felt impossible to breathe.

“I  felt nauseous when I smelled that smoke,” says Olesia Kokorina, 60, who  lives on the eighth floor. “And it was scary, too, because it smelled  like burnt hair, and you know, it also smelled like at the dentist’s  when they drill your tooth before placing a filling. And the smoke was  so thick, you couldn’t see the building next door.”

“It  just never smelled like this before,” says Natalia, 65. “There were  lots of dump trucks and they were all covered with bags. I don’t know  what was in them, but the stench from the smoke in the landfill was so  bad we couldn’t even open the balcony door. There were days when you  couldn’t breathe because of the smell.”

Some  believe that burning bodies of their own soldiers was the easiest way to  get rid of the corpses as bridges over the Dnipro River when Russians  were virtually cut off on its western bank were too fragile to hold  trucks.

Dozens of other Kherson residents  corroborated the reports of their neighbours, but Ukrainian authorities  have not so far spoken. A local official who requested anonymity said:  “We are not interested in the burial sites of the enemy. What interests  us is to find the bodies of Ukrainians, tortured, killed and buried in  mass graves here in the Kherson region.”

Ukraine’s  security service believe the bodies of thousands of dead Russian  soldiers are being informally disposed of as the Kremlin is logging them as “missing in action” in an attempt to cover up its losses in the war in Ukraine.

An intercepted phone call from a Russian soldier in May said that his comrades had been buried in “a dump the height of a man” just outside occupied Donetsk.  “There’s so much Cargo 200 [military code for dead soldiers] that the  mountains of corpses are 2 metres high,” he said in the call. “It’s not a  morgue, it’s a dump. It’s massive.”

“They just  toss them there,” a Russian soldier said in another intercepted call.  “And then later it’s easier to make it as if they disappeared without a  trace. It’s easier for them to pretend they are just missing, and that’s  it.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...erson-landfill

----------


## misskit

*Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 22*
Nov 22, 2022 - Press ISW


The Kremlin appears to be setting information conditions for a false-flag attack in Belgorod Oblast, Russia, likely in an effort to regain public support for the war in Ukraine. Kremlin propagandists have begun hypothesizing that Ukrainian forces seek to invade Belgorod Oblast, and other Russian sources noted that Russian forces need to regain control over Kupyansk, Kharkiv Oblast, to minimize the threat of a Ukrainian attack. These claims have long circulated within the milblogger community, which had criticized the Russian military command for abandoning buffer positions in Vovchansk in northeastern Kharkiv Oblast following the Russian withdrawal from the region in September. Russian milbloggers have also intensified their calls for Russia to regain liberated territories in Kharkiv Oblast on November 22, stating that such preemptive measures will stop Ukrainians from carrying out assault operations in the Kupyansk and Vovchansk directions. Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov also published footage showcasing the construction of the Zasechnaya Line fortifications on the Ukraine-Belgorod Oblast border. Wagner Group financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin clarified that Wagner is building the Zasechnaya Line after having changed its name from Wagner Line because “many people in [Russia] do not like the activity of private military company Wagner.” Private military companies are illegal in Russia.

Institute for the Study of War

----------


## harrybarracuda

Even the Pope thinks Puffy the war criminal is like Stalin.




> *Pope Francis compares Russia’s war against Ukraine to a devastating Stalin-era famine.*The comparison to Stalin’s decision to let millions in Ukraine starve represents one of the pope’s strongest condemnations yet of the Russian invasion.


nytimes.com

----------


## bsnub

SOUTHERN ENGLAND—After a string of Russian defeats in the war,  U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is urging Ukraine to “keep up the  pressure, keep up the momentum” and continue their rapid-fire attacks on  Vladimir Putin’s forces through the winter months.

“Given  the advantage the Ukrainians have in equipment training and quality of  their personnel against the demoralized, poorly trained, poorly equipped  Russians, it would be in the Ukraine’s interest to maintain momentum  through the winter,” Wallace said. “They have 300,000 pieces of arctic  warfare kit, from the international community”—a crucial requirement for  any winter offensive.

Wallace told The Daily Beast that this was  the advice he would give to his Ukrainian counterparts, who he speaks to  “almost weekly.” He praised the Ukrainians for shocking the world by  showcasing their own courage and skills, as well as the huge  deficiencies in the Russian armed forces.

The  intervention comes at a time when senior American officials have tried  to nudge Ukraine away from the battlefield and towards the negotiating  table.

Two  weeks ago, General Mark Milley, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of  Staff, warned that, because Ukraine may not reach a full victory on the  battlefield, it should use the expected slowdown in military operations  over the winter as a “window” for discussions with the Russians.But  President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared that he will not negotiate  with Russia while Putin remains in power, and has said that any  settlement must end with Ukraine in control of all its post-independence  territories, including the Donbas and Crimea.

In an exclusive  interview at a British army base in the south of England, Wallace  instead suggested this was the time for Ukraine to press its advantage,  pointing to the dire quality of the Russian armed forces.

“A  Russian unit was recently deployed with no food and no socks, and not  many guns. That is catastrophic for a person going in the field... The  Russians have scale, but are not very good. Well, most of the good ones  are dead,” he said. “They are a meat grinder—they shove them in the meat  grinder—and use massive quantities of artillery. Only a nation that  does not care for its own people could send 100,000 of its own people to  be either dead, injured, or deserted.”

As we spoke last week, the crack and whistle of rifle bullets rang  out behind him, from a practice range where a team of trainers from the  British and New Zealand militaries were instructing Ukrainian forces.  Around 5,000 Ukrainian troops have already been through a grueling  three-to-five-week training program designed to give them a crash course  in the basics of modern combat.

The program is run by the U.K.,  with trainers being sent from countries including Canada, New Zealand,  and Norway. They are taught stripped-down infantry tactics with a focus  on “survivability and lethality,” as one trainer put it. Many are sent  straight to the front lines upon finishing. Overhead, you could hear the  whir of the rotor blades from a British military helicopter as it  descended to collect Wallace and his New Zealand counterpart.

In his interview with The Daily Beast, Wallace also slammed  successive U.K. and European governments for decades of neglect of their  armed forces.

When asked what he had learned from his experiences  visiting and working with his Ukrainian counterparts, he said: “I can  speak for my own and some others in Europe, it looks good at the  front—but under the bonnet, ammunition stocks, maintenance,  availability, reliability of our equipment, and the readiness of our  soldiers to go anywhere has been hollowed out for decades.”

He  noted that a variety of global crises, including Russia’s invasion of  Ukraine, the COVID pandemic, and the rise of China has meant that “the  world is more anxious” and aware of “the need for resilience... and the  military can do resilience, that is our middle name.”

The U.K. has often taken a more upbeat view of Ukraine’s prospects  than some of its other partners, including the United States. One senior  Ukrainian military official who works on liaising with foreign  militaries said that British commitment went “well above” that of most  other countries.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss  sensitive military details, he noted that officials at the U.K’s  Ministry of Defence were “extraordinarily committed,” often working  regular overtime and weekends at key points of the military campaign.

If our armed forces need a particular vehicle or piece of weaponry,  the Brits will search through the military catalogs of different  countries, and find what we need,” he added, citing the Australian  Bushmaster as an example.

The Ukrainian military official also  mentioned former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s early and regular  trips to Kyiv to meet with Zelensky as an important factor in boosting  Ukrainian morale and demonstrating international support. While Johnson  is mostly disgraced in his home country, he remains a folk hero in  Ukraine, appearing on murals, T-shirts, coffee mugs, and beer cans.

Wallace  would speak to who was responsible for last week’s deadly missile  incident in Poland, but noted that the “missiles were flying around that  part of the world because Russia fired 80 missiles into civilian  infrastructure. It is against the Geneva Convention, but that does not  stop Mr. Putin.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/uk-def...=world&via=rss

----------


## sabang

Another opinion piece, not News. Here is another one.


Worries increase as Russia-Ukraine conflict enters stalemate


US urged to stop fueling flames as more people suffer colder winter: analysts

Exactly nine months since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out on February 24, it is now not only Russia and Ukraine that have been severely impacted in the crisis, Europe and the US that stand behind it have also been deeply mired. As the conflict continues to further drag in a stalemate, it has been triggering more worries from the international community especially after the latest airstrikes on Ukraine cities, knocking out power and water service, and according to media reports, this is the largest strike that Russia has launched against infrastructure in Ukraine since November 15.

Ukraine's capital Kiev, the western city of Lviv and the southern city of Mykolaiv were among multiple areas reporting missile strikes. 

The UN Security Council called an emergency meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday, during which Chinese Ambassador Geng Shuang said the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has led to constant attacks on civilian facilities and the steady rise of civilian casualties and displaced persons, which is a very worrying development. There is no winner in conflicts and wars.

Geng noted that the international community should work together to support all efforts for the peaceful resolution of the crisis in Ukraine and avoid escalation of the conflict and prevent the emergence of a nuclear crisis.

Chinese military expert Song Zhongping said that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is currently at a stalemate while tensions have been built since 2014. Russia's airstrikes against strategic targets in Ukraine aim to further impair Ukraine's military potential, push it to take a realistic position at talks and gain itself more leverages in negotiations with the US, an expert on international security who asked for anonymity, told the Global Times.

No tipping point insight

The UN meeting on Wednesday had also become another battlefield as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to the UN via video link to take action to stop Russian airstrikes. US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of "weaponizing winter" while Russian diplomat Vasily Nebenzya told the UN meeting that remarks from Zelensky and his allies cannot be interpreted as "readiness for peace but is rather a language of reckless threats and ultimatums." 

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is still far from reaching its tipping point because neither the US nor the EU, or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, have made any significant policy changes, the anonymous expert said, instead, the US continues to fan the flames, and the EU is being forced to swallow the bitter pill without being able to change anything. He noted that it is also not easy to promote talks between Russia and Ukraine as the Biden administration sees the current situation as an achievement and attempts to prolong the situation to win  more political capital. 

On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced $400 million in additional military aid for Ukraine. Among the arms being shipped are 150 heavy machine guns with special thermal-imagery sights to help shoot down self-destructing drones as well as ammunition for an air defense system, US media said citing Pentagon officials. 

Song, the military expert, told the Global Times that currently, the military equipment the US and some Western countries have sent to Ukraine are mostly light and medium weapons, with the heaviest ones being the likes of armored vehicles, M142 HIMARS and the M777 howitzers. Large and heavy weapons and equipment are not being provided. 

The military battles would likely become more intense if the US and NATO send additional mercenary forces equipped with heavy weaponry to back Ukraine - this would be the focus to observe in the future clashes in Ukraine and will also mean more tragedies for Europe, Song said. 

By inciting the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US has made great fortune by supplying energy to the EU, realizing its goal of containing Russia and strengthening trans-Atlantic partnership, while Russia has greatly consumed its national strength and exposed some domestic problems and Ukraine, who has been staying at the core of the battlefield, have undermined its economy, social stability, and the well-being of the people, Cui Heng, an assistant research fellow from the Center for Russian Studies of East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Europe's losses are no less than Russia's as Europe continues to suffer from high inflation and pays a huge price for its energy security, said Cui.

On Tuesday, Ukraine also received a new 2.5 billion euros tranche of financial support from the EU, Reuters reported. Following the European Council meeting in October 2022, the EU Commission had also proposed an unprecedented support package for Ukraine of up to 18 billion euros for 2023, according to a release from the commission. 

However, voices advocating spending more money to solve issues closely related to people's livelihoods are getting louder within the bloc as European countries are facing probably one of the most difficult winters with soaring energy prices and severe inflation, analysts said.

The heavy price for the Russia-Ukraine conflicts have been put on the people and they will suffer more if the conflicts continue or deteriorate and the governments in related countries should take concrete actions to protect their own people and their national interests instead of only serving US' geopolitical interests, analysts said. 

Cui also noted that the tension between Russia and Ukraine has reached such a level that needs some other countries to stand out for mediation and promoting dialogues, for example, China, Turkey and India.  

More countries are also calling related parties in the Ukraine crisis to remain restraint given the humanitarian problems caused by the conflicts and its spillover effect to the global economy and stability. On Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador Geng said at the UN meeting that the humanitarian situation in Ukraine under conflict is dire and the cold weather will significantly aggravate the plight of the people. He called on all parties concerned to act with prudence, ensure the safety of nuclear facilities and avoid causing man-made nuclear accidents. 

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202211/1280401.shtml

----------


## malmomike77

^ actually its not, it was what Wallace said.

----------


## hallelujah

> SOUTHERN ENGLAND
> 
> 
> In an exclusive  interview at a British army base in the south of England, Wallace  instead suggested this was the time for Ukraine to press its advantage,  pointing to the dire quality of the Russian armed forces.
> 
> “A  Russian unit was recently deployed with no food and no socks, and not  many guns. That is catastrophic for a person going in the field... The  Russians have scale, but are not very good. Well, most of the good ones  are dead,” he said. “They are a meat grinder—they shove them in the meat  grinder—and use massive quantities of artillery. Only a nation that  does not care for its own people could send 100,000 of its own people to  be either dead, injured, or deserted.”
> 
> https://www.thedailybeast.com/uk-def...=world&via=rss


 :smiley laughing: 

Ouch. 

Although I believe the approved TD term is zing!  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

^^ OK. The above is what a Chinese spokesperson said.

----------


## malmomike77

^ what is your view on Putin taking out Ukr Civilian Infra and his threat to mobilise another 1 Mil of cannon fodder?

----------


## sabang

The systematic taking out of the electricity grid is a fairly recent development whish seems to me to bespeak increasing desperation on Russia's part. When this war (or phase of the war) started, Russia was absolutely not taking a 'shock and awe' approach. Militarily, it is quite sound. If Putin & his Generals thought this war was going to be a walkover, they were quite wrong.

More reserves, potentially? Just a signal of Russian resolve, whether true or not. They certainly have them available.

----------


## malmomike77

> More reserves, potentially? Just a signal of Russian resolve, whether true or not. They certainly have them available.


the last 100k of cannon fodder he pressganged barely had a gun between every 10 men, what are the next 300k going to fight with?

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## helge

> the last 100k of cannon fodder he pressganged barely had a gun between every 10 men


Hmm

I don't think you really believe that

Trying to make a point ?

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## malmomike77

^ i didn't need to, the evidence was the on retreat

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## helge

> the evidence was the on retreat


I'm a bit blank here

Kharkiv ?

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## sabang

Politically, an embarassment- but tactically, absolutely the right thing to withdraw to the other side of the river imo. Russia's war seem to now be run by Generals, not politicians. Kharkiv is not annexed territory, but I think the Russki's will want to take Lyman back.

----------


## Buckaroo Banzai

Here is another  piece of Russian propaganda.

"_Nine months after invading Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is beginning to fracture the West._ 
_Top European officials are furious with Joe Biden’s administration and now accuse the Americans of making a fortune from the war, while EU countries suffer._ 

_“The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the U.S. because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons,” one senior official told POLITICO._ "

Europe accuses US of profiting from war – POLITICO

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The Ukrainians suffered heavy losses of both man and material in the Kherson assault. This is widely known. No need for a gratuitous laughie on this.


Save your fake sympathy. As if you've ever fucking cared.

----------


## pickel

^^
And to think Putin could have foiled the US's dastardly plans by not invading Ukraine.

----------


## Hugh Cow

> ^^
> And to think Putin could have foiled the US's dastardly plans by not invading Ukraine.


The Russians were forced to invade Ukraine otherwise NATO would've invaded Russia. Dont you read Sabangs posts?

----------


## malmomike77

Its only going to get more attractional as winter deepens

Russian reservists suffer ‘heavy casualties’ digging trenches while under fire

Ministry of Defence says many soldiers are dying in assaults at fortified Ukrainian zones around the town of Bakhmut

Russian reservists are suffering heavy casualties because they are being forced to dig trench systems while under artillery fire and sent on frontal assaults against fortified Ukrainian positions, British intelligence has claimed.

The recent deaths around two key towns in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions came amid an uptick in fighting in the east and heavy Russian shelling of Kherson, the southern city it abandoned earlier this month.

Ten people were killed and 54 injured in overnight barrages that targeted residential areas of the city, local authorities said. Footage from the scene of one attack showed shell shocked and bleeding civilians making their way through the rubble of a ruined building.

The victims included a 62-year old woman who was killed by a head wound and her husband, who died later in hospital from internal bleeding.

Russia has kept artillery on the left bank of the Dnipro river to pound the city despite sending soldiers freed up by the retreat, including the remnants of its elite airborne brigades, to reinforce the Donbas front lines.

Fighting there is believed to have been particularly costly for conscripts enlisted after Vladimir Putin’s mobilisation decree in September.

“Mobilised reservists have highly likely experienced particularly heavy casualties after being committed to dig ambitious trench systems while under artillery fire around the Luhansk Oblast town of Svatove,” the UK's Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence update on Friday.

It added that it was “highly likely... many are being compelled to serve with serious, chronic health conditions” while others “have been killed in large numbers in frontal assaults into well-established Ukrainian defensive zones around the town of Bakhmut”.

Svatove is a key junction on a supply line for Russian forces in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Ukrainian forces have been advancing on it since they pushed the Russians out of the neighbouring Kharkiv region in September.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels on Friday claimed a small counter attack had succeeded in taking the village of Novoselivske, 10 miles north west of the Svatove. The claim could not immediately be confirmed.

Bakhmut, about 56 miles to the south, is one of the largest towns in the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control.

Russian forces reached the edge of the city in late summer but repeated assaults on the town and surrounding villages in the months since have failed.

A renewed assault was reported on Thursday and Friday. Russian troops were said to have gained some ground near Opytne, a village to the south of Bakhmut that has repeatedly changed hands. It was unclear on Friday morning who had control of the settlement.

Vitaly Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor, said half the city’s residents were still without electricity on Friday morning, two days after the latest wave of Russian strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure. He said a third of houses in the capital now had heating.

James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, who arrived in Kyiv for an unannounced visit on Friday, said a promised air-defence package, which Britain valued at £50 million, would help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s bombardments.

“Words are not enough. Words won’t keep the lights on this winter. Words won’t defend against Russian missiles,” Mr Cleverly said in a tweet about the military aid.

The package includes radar and other technology to counter the Iran-supplied exploding drones that Russia has used against Ukrainian targets, especially the power grid.

It comes on top of a delivery of more than 1,000 anti-air missiles that Britain announced earlier this month.

Catherine Colonna, the French foreign minister, said France was sending 100 high-powered generators to Ukraine. She added Russia was “weaponising” winter and plunging Ukraine’s civilian population into hardship.

The generators are intended to help keep essential Ukrainian facilities running, providing power to hospitals, schools and water pumping stations, among other infrastructure.

On Thursday, European governments launched a scheme called “Generators of Hope”, which calls on more than 200 cities across the continent to donate power generators and electricity transformers.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/11/25/russian-reservists-suffer-heavy-casualties-digging-trenches/

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## bsnub

> Russian reservists suffer ‘heavy casualties’ digging trenches while under fire


Yep.

----------


## bsnub

KYIV — In Crimea, the war is drawing ever closer, and nerves are on edge.  

    In conversations via secure communications, people in Crimea describe  growing tension across the Black Sea peninsula as they increasingly  expect the advent of direct hostilities. They say saboteur and partisan  groups are now readying in the territory, which was illegally annexed by  Russia in 2014. 

    Frustration and panic are surging, over everything from conscription  to runaway prices. One person told of anger over an inability to secure  hospital places thanks to the numbers of Russian wounded brought in from  the fronts, while another said that the fretful Russian elite were  trying to sell their glitzy holiday homes, but were finding no buyers. 

    When Vladimir Putin launched his all-out invasion of Ukraine in  February, few people expected Ukrainian forces would nine months later  be threatening to reclaim Crimea. That no longer feels like a military  impossibility, however, after Kyiv’s well-organized troops showed that  they could drive out Russian forces in offensive operations around Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine and Kherson in the south. 

Tamila Tasheva, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s permanent  representative in Crimea, has high hopes the peninsula will end up back  in Ukrainian hands. “Yes, of course, it is entirely possible we will get  Crimea back,” she told POLITICO.

    “Our goal is the return of all our territory, which of course includes Crimea,” she said in her office in Kyiv. A 37-year-old Crimean Tatar,  whose family lives on the peninsula, Tasheva is busy preparing plans  for what happens after Crimea is “de-occupied” and is drafting a legal  framework to cope with complex issues of transitional justice that will  arise. She says while Kyiv would prefer the peninsula to be handed back  without a fight, “a military way may be the only solution.”

    “The situation is very different now from 2014. We have a lot of  communication with people in Crimea and they’re increasingly angered by  the high food prices and shortages in drugs and medicines,” she said.  “And there’s been an increase in anti-war protests, especially since the  start of conscription and partial mobilization.”

    When asked about people forming anti-Russian partisan groups, she  simply commented: “Of course they are.” The difference between 2014 when  Russia annexed Crimea and now comes down to the fact, she argues, that  Ukraine has a strong army and a determined leadership and that is  affecting and fortifying people’s thinking in Crimea. 

*Against the occupiers*

    For Putin, Crimea has long been a sacred cause — he called it an  “inseparable part of Russia” — and that led many in the West to fear it  could be a strategic red line. That sense was hardly helped by nuclear  saber-rattler-in-chief, former President Dmitry Medvedev, who issued  ominous warnings about any attack on Crimea. “Judgment Day will come  very fast and hard. It will be very difficult to take cover,” Medvedev,  now deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, said earlier this  year in comments reported by the TASS news agency.

Undaunted, the Ukrainians have repeatedly gone after Russian targets in Crimea since August, including airbases and ships.  

    Tensions ratcheted up dramatically, however, after the explosion on  October 8 that damaged the Kerch Bridge, a vital supply line between  Russia and Crimea.'

People in Crimea say the Russians are jittery and on the hunt for  pro-Ukrainian sympathizers, fearing more acts of sabotage. Kyiv has  never formally claimed responsibility for what was most likely a truck  bombing. The people POLITICO talked with can’t be named for their own  safety, but they included businessmen, lawyers and IT workers.

    “There was panic afterwards,” said one IT worker. “Since then,  officers and soldiers have been moving their families back to Russia.  And the rich have been trying to sell their properties worth $500,000 to  a million, but the market is dead,” he added.

    “Because of the sanctions, a lot of people have lost their jobs and  prices for everything, food especially, have skyrocketed and there isn’t  much choice available either. If you were making a $1,000 a month  before February, now you need to be around $3,000 to be where you were,  and how are you going to do that with the tourism industry dead,” he  said. Locals are fuming that they can’t receive medical attention  because the peninsula’s hospitals are full of Russian soldiers wounded  in the fighting in Kherson and Donetsk.

    With the situation worsening, more partisan cells are forming, they  say. “My group of patriots know each other well: We studied and worked  together for years and trust each other — we are preparing, and we  understand secrecy will determine the effectiveness of our actions,”  said a former banker, who claimed to be leading a seven-man cell.

    Inspired by the Kerch Bridge blast, his cell is planning to sabotage  military facilities using rudimentary explosives made from ammonium  nitrate and diesel fuel.

    “There are many provocateurs around and the Russians are anxious, so  we’re vigilant. We know other partisan groups, but we don’t actively  communicate for security reasons,” he said. “We’ve a deal with a police  chief who understands Russia is losing and is worried — he’ll give us  key to his arsenal when needed with our promise that we will put in a  good word for him later,” he added.

    Whether such cells represent any kind of serious threat remains to be  seen and POLITICO can’t verify the claims of would-be saboteurs, but  retired U.S. General Ben Hodges, a former commanding general of the  United States Army Europe, says he had expected partisan cells to form,  encouraged by Kyiv and otherwise. 

    “I would have assumed this. Both locals as well as saboteurs who have  been infiltrated into Crimea. Remember the Ukrainians, of course, did  this to the German Wehrmacht throughout World War II. There’s a  tradition of sabotage and insurgency,” he said.

    “I would hate to be a Russian truck driver on a convoy somewhere,  anywhere in the area these days. I think when it does come time for  decisive action, it will be a combination of local partisans and  infiltrated saboteurs,” he added.

*‘Crimea is Ukraine’*

    Ukraine’s recent victories in northeastern and southern Ukraine are fueling confident talk in Kyiv about Crimea, and since Russian forces retreated from Kherson city,  130 kilometers from the northernmost part of the peninsula, the chorus  has only been growing louder, as more of the peninsula comes into rocket  and missile range of the Ukrainians.

    After seizing Crimea, the Kremlin harbored ambitions to turn it into  another glittering seaside Sochi — or showcase it as a Black Sea rival  to France’s Côte d’Azur. Construction of condos started apace with plans  to make Sevastopol a major Russian cultural center. A new opera house,  museum and ballet academy were to be completed next year. Around 800,000  Russians may have moved to the peninsula since 2014. The war has ruined  construction schedules.

Top Ukrainian officials have been taunting Russia, saying Crimea will  soon be under Ukrainian control — by year’s end even or early next  year. Zelenskyy has returned repeatedly to the theme: in October telling  European and American parliamentary leaders: “We will definitely  liberate Crimea.” His top adviser, Andriy Yermak, told POLITICO during  the Halifax International Security Forum earlier this month: “I am sure  that the campaign to return Crimea will take place.”

    Ukrainian officials told POLITICO that Western European leaders had  been the most jittery about pushing on to Crimea. America’s top general,  Mark Milley, chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has cast doubt  about Ukraine’s ability to reclaim the peninsula militarily, suggesting  it would be overreach. At a Pentagon press conference on November 16, he  said: “The probability of a Ukrainian military victory, defined as  kicking the Russians out of all of Ukraine to include what they defined,  or what they claim as Crimea, the probability of that happening anytime  soon, is not high, militarily.” 

    But the White House hasn’t walked back President Joe Biden’s February  26 remarks when he made Washington’s position clear: “We  reaffirm a simple truth: Crimea is Ukraine.”

*Raising the pressure*

    Ukrainian forces have been increasing the tempo of military activity  in and near Crimea using both aerial and innovative marine drones to  swarm and strike in October and last Tuesday Russian warships stationed  at Sevastopol, the home base of the Russian navy in the Black Sea. The  Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said in a  social media post after Tuesday’s attack that a couple of drones had  been intercepted, later adding another three had been downed by Russian  warships.

    Kyiv has not commented on that attack, but last week, Ukraine’s top  security official confirmed Israeli press reports that 10 Iranian  military advisers in Crimea were killed by Ukrainian drones. “You  shouldn’t be where you shouldn’t be,” said Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of  Ukraine’s defense council, in an interview  with the Guardian. The Ukrainians say Iranian technicians and operators  have been assisting the Russians with the Shahed-136 armed drones  supplied by Tehran.

    The attacks appear to be unnerving the Russian military — especially  those carried out by maritime drones. The October attack involved half a  dozen radio-operated marine drones equipped with jet-ski engines. Some  of the nearly six-meter-long drones are thought to have damaged two  ships, a minesweeper and more importantly the Admiral Makarov, a  frigate. On November 18, the Ukrainians repeated the exercise further  afield with an attack on warships in the port at Novorossiysk, a Black  Sea city in southern Russia.

    One Crimea resident told POLITICO that the drone strikes appear to  have forced Russian naval commanders to rethink the positioning of their  ships. “A group of Russian warships were until recently regularly off  the coast near my house. I used to watch them and if they fired  missiles, I’d contact my family in various cities in Ukraine to warn  them rockets were on their way. But now the warships have moved away,  they were too vulnerable where they were.” he said.

    The Russians are fortifying their defenses, especially in the  Dzhankois’kyi district, the northern part of the Crimean steppe near  Syvash Bay, according to Andrii Chernyak of the main intelligence  directorate of the ministry of defense of Ukraine.

    Hodges, the former general, disagrees with General Milley and says an  offensive “is possible and I believe they will be working to be in  place to begin this in a deliberate way as early as January.”

    “Between now and then, they will continue to isolate Crimea by going  after the Kerch Bridge again and also the land bridge that originates in  Rostov and runs along the northern coast of the Sea of Azov down  through Mariupol and Melitopol and on to the peninsula. The Ukrainians  are going to be looking to pound away at the bridge and the land link, a  form of eighteenth-century siege tactics,” he added.

    Those siege tactics, he says, will be accompanied by daring use of  high-tech weapons. “The U.S. navy has put a lot of development effort  into unmanned maritime systems and to see what the Ukrainians have been  doing with swarm attacks by drones has really impressed me,” he said. 

    The Ukrainians, he predicts, will attempt “to fight their way across  the isthmus when the conditions are right,” adding: “This is going to  come down to a test of will and a test of logistics.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/crim...SS_Syndication

----------


## sabang

> Crimea will soon be under Ukrainian control — by year’s end even or early next year.


 :rofl:  Comedy hour.

----------


## Switch

> Comedy hour.


Not so amusing when the locals cannot get any medical support, because its all going to broken Russian soldiers. You know, the same soldiers that were part of the illegal invasion of Ukraine. Not funny in the slightest.

----------


## bsnub

> Comedy hour.


You have a lot of humiliation coming. You have already suffered a lot of it, but you have more coming. Much more. Remember when you swore for months this war would never happen? 

 ::chitown::

----------


## sabang

Oh, so you are saying Russia will be out of Crimea (and by inference all of eastern Ukraine) by mid January? How naive. YOU have a lot of humiliation coming.

----------


## pickel

There are basically only two points of entry for the Russian military into Crimea, and the west is finally considering longer range missiles for Ukraine. It would be easier to take back Crimea, than it would be for the Donbass once they get them. I think even Putin might concede the war, if they lost it.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> There are basically only two points of entry for the Russian military into Crimea, and the west is finally considering longer range missiles for Ukraine. It would be easier to take back Crimea, than it would be for the Donbass once they get them. I think even Putin might concede the war, if they lost it.



He'll never concede. He needs to be taken out.

----------


## pickel

> He'll never concede. He needs to be taken out.



Maybe he'll be given a choice if it arises.

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine war: Kyiv displays dummy nuclear-capable missile fired by Russia*

Russia is now using nuclear-capable missiles with non-explosive warheads to exhaust Ukraine's air defences, the Ukrainian military has said.


It displayed what it said were fragments of Soviet-made X-55 cruise missiles - designed for nuclear use - found in Ukraine's two western regions.


The rockets are being launched to "exhaust the air-defence system of our country," a Ukrainian official said.


He said tests on the fragments did not show abnormal levels of radioactivity.


Ukrainian military experts say Russia may have significantly depleted its vast missile arsenal after carrying out wave after wave of massive strikes on Ukraine's critical infrastructure in recent weeks.


Moscow is now resorting to using blunt projectiles that still cause devastation, they say. A UK intelligence report in November came to similar conclusions.


Russia - which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February - has made no public comments on the issue.

At a briefing on Thursday in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, military official Mykola Danyliuk showed reporters what he described as fragments of X-55 cruise missiles (known as AS-15 by Nato) found in the Lviv and Khmelnytsky regions.


He said the projectiles were designed in Soviet times to hit "strategic targets with predetermined co-ordinates".


The UK said the missiles were designed "exclusively as a nuclear delivery system".


However, it is believed the Russian military removed the nuclear warheads from the missiles fired at Ukraine and replaced them with an inert system.


Mr Danyliuk stressed that even a missile armed with a non-explosive warhead "posed a significant danger" because of its kinetic energy and fuel residues.


"This is evidenced by the latest strike when a X-55 missile hit a residential building."


Testing indicated "no contact [of the missile] with nuclear elements", he added.


On Thursday, an air alert was briefly in place across all of Ukraine - with the exception of the Russian-annexed southern Crimea peninsula - after reports that Russian war planes may be preparing to carry out a fresh wave of missile strikes. The alert was later discontinued.


In other developments on Thursday:


US President Joe Biden said he was "prepared" to speak to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin if he showed an interest in ending the war - but added that the Russian leader "hasn't done that yet"


Moscow said a move by the German parliament on Wednesday to recognise the 1930s mass starvation of millions of Ukrainians as genocide was an attempt to "demonise" Russia

Ukraine's nuclear operator sacked the acting chief engineer of the Russian-seized Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, accusing him of treason and collaboration with the Kremlin

Ukraine war: Kyiv displays dummy nuclear-capable missile fired by Russia - BBC News

----------


## helge

> However, it is believed the Russian military removed the nuclear warheads from the missiles fired at Ukraine





> Testing indicated "no contact [of the missile] with nuclear elements", he added.


So what is it ?

----------


## sabang

Yes, I read the same thing from a 'Pro-Russian' source a few days ago. They are using old, outdated missiles with no warhead to detract and exhaust Ukrainian (well, Nato) aerial defences. Quite clever really. Just another thing the West will be expected to foot the bill on, I suppose.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> So what is it ?


A missile with the nuclear warhead removed.

Duh.

----------


## helge

> A missile with the nuclear warhead removed.





> Testing indicated "no contact [of the missile] with nuclear elements", he added.


There has never been nuclear warheads on these missiles.

Probably some spares

----------


## Switch

Because this war can only end by compromise on both sides, it is destined to continue for a very long time. The word compromise is one that Putin does not accept or understand.

Despite the deliberate change in Russian tactics, he has misread Ukrainian resolve, and NATO resources.

----------


## sabang

The ones that are not idiots have well and truly realised by now what a losing game this is. Those with a conscience have also realised the moral bankruptcy of using Ukraine and Ukrainians as cannon fodder to try and weaken Russia, I trust. Those with any financial acumen have realised the sanctions have backfired, I presume. Those with any real knowledge of warfare also know full well that Ukraine is not winning. So I am quite humbled to have been the idiot to draw these matters to your attention, a lot earlier than your scurrilous media and political sector would.

----------


## hallelujah

> The ones that are not idiots have well and truly realised by now what a losing game this is. Those with a conscience have also realised the moral bankruptcy of using Ukraine and Ukrainians as cannon fodder to try and weaken Russia, I trust. Those with any financial acumen have realised the sanctions have backfired, I presume. Those with any real knowledge of warfare also know full well that Ukraine is not winning. So I am quite humbled to have been the idiot to draw these matters to your attention, a lot earlier than your scurrilous media and political sector would.


You don't have any conscience at all.

You've made it very clear where you stand on this issue and no amount of crocodile tears will disguise your deranged views. You'd be ecstatic if your heroic murdering dictator was allowed to roll through Ukraine unopposed and take what he wanted.

What you're really upset about is that the west has backed Ukraine and its people to rightfully protect their own land - and the Ukrainian military has kicked Russia's arse, which is why Putin has resorted to targeting civilians. 

The sensible members of the board - the majority - had your cards marked a while ago when you were making an utter fool of yourself before the war even began and you've only confirmed our beliefs since then.

----------


## sabang

Fwiw, I would be quite content for Russia to accept back those parts of 'Ukraine' that overwhelmingly do not want to be part of post-Maidan coup Ukraine. If you actually think that celebrating the Zelensky regime, or arguing the immutable sanctimony of this patched together nations borders, makes you some kind of champion of 'Freedom n Democracy', think again. That's what dubya said too.

Did you have similar moral qualms about the partition of Yugoslavia, Mr nice guy? Lets not even mention the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union  ::chitown::

----------


## hallelujah

> Lets not even mention the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union


They peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union? Dissolution? Like it was some kind of choice?

They were  bankrupt after years of spunking millions on terrorising their own citizens and endemic corruption, and the people finally knew they could stand  up to their oppressors.

Just what planet are you on?

----------


## malmomike77

> Ukraine war: Kyiv displays dummy nuclear-capable missile fired by Russia
> 
> Russia is now using nuclear-capable missiles with non-explosive warheads to exhaust Ukraine's air defences, the Ukrainian military has said.


Erm that news is over a week old MK, sorry, but yes it is real - the ruskies are so short of ballistics

edit

apologies less than a week, i posted in the other thread




> The Russians are using decommissioned Nuke missiles they are so short of missiles

----------


## sabang

In fairness mike, if the russkies are so short of ballistics- why on earth would they be sending dummy missiles (ie no warhead) to deplete Ukrainian aerial defences?

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## malmomike77

> In fairness mike, if the russkies are so short of ballistics- why on earth would they be sending dummy missiles (ie no warhead) to deplete Ukrainian aerial defences?


They are using them against Infra targets

----------


## bsnub

A British think tank says it has obtained a four-part plan signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin  outlining how the country's army would be able to overwhelm and seize  military control of neighboring Ukraine within a 10-day window.

According to copies of orders issued to a range of Russian units outlined in a recent report  by the Royal United Services Institute, the Russian military had plans  to stun the enemy with overwhelming firepower, using an aggressive  posture to force concessions from the international community to avert  greater bloodshed, destabilize Ukrainian leadership, and clear the way  for the Russian annexation of the country by August.

"The Russian  plans for the invasion of Ukraine were detailed and offered solutions to  most of the practical problems that Russia would face in occupying  Ukraine," the report read. "If competently executed, these plans could  have succeeded."

Obviously, things did not go as planned. Nearly  10 months after Russia's invasion of the country, a ceasefire remains  elusive, while Russia has so far struggled to maintain its foothold in  the country against the better-equipped Ukrainian defenses. Ukrainian  political leadership remains intact. And while Russian attacks on  critical infrastructure have occasionally been successful, its broader  campaign has not, while the Ukrainian population has continued its active resistance against the invasion.

Russia's invasion of the country, the report read, revolved around the success of four key assumptions:


That the invasion happens quickly, eliminating the ability of the international community to respond meaningfully.That  Ukrainian leadership would be quickly deposed, allowing pro-Russian  Ukrainians to assume positions of power under a veil of propaganda.That  Russia would be able to seize control of the country's heating,  electric (particularly nuclear power plants), and financial  infrastructure, andThat Russia—the "second most powerful army  in the world," Russian General Valery Gerasimov said prior to the war's  start—would dominate Ukraine on the battlefield. 

All those  assumptions, the report concluded, were largely based on Russian  bluster. While the fundamentals of the invasion were sound—the points of  entry, the size and scope of the invasion—the Kremlin, and Putin in  particular, overestimated Ukrainian support for the regime, while its  military units performed poorly on the battlefield, giving the  international community ample time to mount a response via financial and  military aid.

Also surprising: most officials did not realize  they were mounting an invasion of Ukraine until it was already  happening, in what the report described as an attempt to catch the  country slacking.

According to the RUSI report, most Russian  military personnel—even deputies under the Russian General Staff—were  unaware of the intention to invade and occupy Ukraine until days before  the invasion. Many tactical military units, spread thin across numerous  points of entry, did not receive orders until hours before they entered  Ukraine and were not properly equipped for a prolonged campaign. Per the  report, many Russian soldiers arrived in towns without their weapons  loaded.

"They were—for the most part[at]—not anticipating heavy fighting," the report read.

Most important of all was the fact the Russians appeared to underestimate their quarry.

"The  plan itself—while theoretically plausible—compounded optimism bias in  each of its stages and, most tellingly, offered no reversionary courses  of action, indicated no decision points to determine whether  conventional forces should adjust their posture nor envisaged any  outcome other than its own success," the report read. "Neither did the  plan account for the needs of those tasked with implementing it, nor  afford any agency to Ukraine."

However, RUSI analysts concluded  Russia's inaccurate assessment of Ukraine's response was much less  consequential than the fact that there was "no evidence in the Russian  planning that anyone had asked what would occur if any of its key  assumptions were wrong." By limiting the circle of planners involved in  the process, Putin's assumptions of how the invasion would go went  essentially unchallenged.

Notably, Russia's lack of a  sophisticated surveillance system on the country left them unable to  monitor troop movements or confirm successful operations against  critical infrastructure like railways, or power plants, leading to the  country taking a number of unnecessary risks that led to significant losses and deflated morale among their ranks.

Meanwhile, the Russian invasion's successes on the battlefield were  unevenly concentrated in certain regions of eastern Ukraine like  Mariupol, suggesting more competent planning could have resulted in a  Russian victory. However, the length of campaigns in other places—like  Donbas—allowed the introduction of combined arms like HIMARS obtained  via allies that offered Ukrainian forces a much-needed advantage, and helped turn the tide of the war.

Ultimately,  the report's authors chalked Russia's failures to three things: the  unexpected resistance of Ukraine, the later involvement of the  international community, and Russia's own incompetence.

Before the  February invasion, Russia's potential adversaries, they wrote, assumed  Russian forces would utilize their seemingly massive stores of fire and  manpower with "a basic level of competence," in line with what they'd  exhibited in smaller-scale military operations around the world in the  recent decades.

But there were flaws in that assessment. RUSI  analysts said there was too much focus on the quantity of equipment,  rather than the quality of personnel, their leadership, training and  motivations, leading countries like Britain and the United States to be  reluctant to openly oppose Russian forces and laying the groundwork for  invasion. Today, however, the mask is off.

"For all the new  capabilities on the battlefield, the war in Ukraine has been marked by  the usual miscalculations, uncertainties and human failings," the report  concluded. "For Ukraine, victory is essential but can only be achieved  with the ongoing support of its international partners."

https://www.newsweek.com/leaked-inva...-wrong-1764309

----------


## sabang

*EU plans subsidy war chest as industry faces ‘existential’ threat from US*



European industry is on an emergency footing thanks to high gas prices and new lavish subsidies for American rivals.dustry is on an emergency footing thanks to high gas prices and new lavish subsidies for American rivals.



The EU is in emergency mode and is readying a big subsidy push to prevent European industry from being wiped out by American rivals, two senior EU officials told POLITICO.


Europe is facing a double hammer blow from the U.S. If it weren't enough that energy prices look set to remain permanently far higher than those in the U.S. thanks to Russia's war in Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden is also currently rolling out a $369 billion industrial subsidy scheme to support green industries under the Inflation Reduction Act.

EU officials fear that businesses will now face almost irresistible pressure to shift new investments to the U.S. rather than Europe. EU industry chief Thierry Breton is warning that Biden's new subsidy package poses an "existential challenge" to Europe's economy.

The European Commission and countries including France and Germany have realized they need to act quickly if they want to prevent the Continent from turning into an industrial wasteland. According to the two senior officials, the EU is now working on an emergency scheme to funnel money into key high-tech industries.


The tentative solution now being prepared in Brussels is to counter the U.S. subsidies with an EU fund of its own, the two senior officials said. This would be a "European Sovereignty Fund," which was already mentioned in the State of the Union address by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in September, to help businesses invest in Europe and meet ambitious green standards.


Senior officials said the EU had to act extremely quickly as companies are already making decisions on where to build their future factories for everything from batteries and electric cars to wind turbines and microchips.


Another reason for Brussels to respond rapidly is to avoid individual EU countries going it alone in splashing out emergency cash, the officials warned. The chaotic response to the gas price crisis, where EU countries reacted with all sorts of national support measures that threatened to undermine the single market, is still a sore point in Brussels.


European Commissioner Breton especially has led the pack in sounding alarm bells. At a meeting with EU industry leaders Monday, Breton issued his warning on the "existential challenge" to Europe from the Inflation Reduction Act, according to people in the room. Breton said it was now a matter of utmost urgency to "revert the deindustrialization process taking place."


Breton was echoing calls from business leaders all over Europe warning about a perfect storm brewing for manufacturers. "It's a bit like drowning. It's happening quietly,” BusinessEurope President Fredrik Persson said.

FULL- https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-hits-emergency-button-to-save-european-industry/

----------


## bsnub

*The  Archbishop of Canterbury has said Ukraine must not be forced to accept a  peace deal with Russia, while on a visit to the war-torn nation. * 


The Most Reverend Justin Welby told the BBC "justice demands that there is defeat" of "an evil invasion". 

He visited Bucha where evidence of atrocities and civilian killings were found after Russian troops withdrew.

It comes as millions of people remain without power or heating due to Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid.

The most senior cleric in the Church of England was highlighting the need for support for the country ahead of a tough winter. 

"I am clear that President (Vladimir) Putin chose to start the war and release the evil" that comes from that, he said.

It  is proper to support a "victim nation" that is "being overrun by  aggression", the archbishop continued, adding the international  community had a "duty of care" to protect weaker nations.

The consequences of letting Ukraine down would be "infinitely worse" than of carrying on the support for Kyiv, he said. 

"It  would be more expensive and politically catastrophic because it will  prove that Putin was right when he thought the West would not stand  together for long enough for this to end justly and fairly."

The archbishop visited the city of Bucha which was occupied by Russian forces for just over a month earlier this year. 

When troops retreated in March, evidence of civilians being killed - a war crime - were found.

At  St Andrew's church, where a mass grave was uncovered, the local priest  showed the archbishop a display of photographs of the atrocities  committed during Russia's occupation. 

These  included the bodies of civilians shot in the head, a man lying dead on  the verge beneath his bicycle, and a dog apparently waiting by his side.  

Reminded  that Russian officials claim the killings were all staged by Ukraine,  Justin Welby pointed out: "And they tied their hands behind their  backs?"

Outside,  he paused quietly for a moment's contemplation in the church grounds at  the spot of the former mass grave, now covered in snow. 

One hundred and sixteen bodies were found there, when Bucha was freed by Ukrainian troops. 

"I  went over there to imprint it on my mind, so that whatever I hear, I  don't forget that," he explained, referring again to Russian  disinformation about the killings in Bucha.

He also visited the so-called Bridge of Hope - which was the only route out of Russian-occupied Bucha and neighbouring Irpin in March, and where local priests helped people escape under fire.

He  suggested there could be no peace in Ukraine until Russia "stops lying"  about what it is doing, including the massacre of civilians in Bucha.

"He's  got to stop lying. Lavrov and Putin," the archbishop said, referring to  the Russian president and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"There were atrocities committed here. There will be no peace until we stop lying. 

"We have to tell the truth however painful. There can be no way forward based on lies."

Before  leaving Bucha, the archbishop lit a candle in a chapel beneath St  Andrew's church and began a prayer with the words, "our hearts cry out  in anger and protest", and called for peace and for justice.

Archbishop of Canterbury: Russian invasion must not succeed - BBC News

----------


## HermantheGerman

Recent polling suggests that Russian public support for the ‘special military operation’ is falling significantly.

https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status...7Ctwgr%5Etweet

https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status...704448/photo/1

----------


## HermantheGerman

> Just what planet are you on?


Just look at the websites he is posting here. The guy is totally lost.
Then again, when all this is over and Putler has been put in his place Sabong will claim that he was only entertaining us.

----------


## sabang

When this is all over, and it turns out that Ukraine has to cede territory, what will you have to say?

----------


## Norton

> When this is all over, and it turns out that Ukraine has to cede territory, what will you have to say?


Personally, I most likely will say nothing as the end of this war will come long after I'm gone. 
As wars go, this one is just getting started so until the day comes when one side or the other deems it politically expedient to end it, it will continue.

Minimum of 4 years but could be 7 or 8 imho.

----------


## sabang

The long haul. I'm hoping not, but what will Vlad settle for, and what territory would Ukraine cede for peace? Both are as clear as mud right now. If Vlad insists on Kharkiv and Odessa, I doubt peace is achievable- he'll have to seize them. That won't be easy, and will make for a long war, and there is certainly no guaranty of success. If he's willing to settle Russia's claims within the Donbass, Zapo & (maybe) Kherson- well, something to talk around at least. Can only wait and see.

----------


## bsnub

> When this is all over, and it turns out that Ukraine has to cede territory, what will you have to say?


Ukraine has already liberated half the territory that Russia occupied since February. As soon as the ground freezes over, they will liberate even more. Best keep your trap shut before you get caught with your foot in your mouth again.




> If Vlad insists on Kharkiv and Odessa, I doubt peace is achievable- he'll have to seize them.


 :smiley laughing: 

You live in a fantasy world.

----------


## misskit

*“No Diplomatic Solution” to Ukraine War: Nobel Winner*

There is currently no diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine, a co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Russian rights organization Memorial said Sunday.


"I am absolutely convinced that there is not a diplomatic solution with Putin's regime, so long as it is still there," said Irina Scherbakova.


"The solution that there will now be is a military one," said Scherbakova, who was presented with an award for her human rights work at a ceremony in Hamburg, Germany.


There would ultimately be some form of diplomatic resolution to the conflict, she said. 


"But these decisions, this diplomacy will only happen when Ukraine believes it has won this war and can set its terms," she said.


Hasty calls for peace were "childish," she said, adding that things would not return to the way they were before the outbreak of the conflict.


"This war has turned so many things upside down, it will never be like that again," she said. 


In Hamburg, Scherbakova was presented with the Marion Doenhoff Prize for her years of work on human rights in her home country by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.


Scherbakova's efforts showed the way of a "better future for Russia," Scholz said, even if the prospect "still seems unlikely."


The war would not end with "a victory for Greater Russian expansionism," said Scholz, who has faced repeated criticism for not doing more to support the Ukrainian war effort.


Russia would, however, "still be there" after the end of the conflict, Scholz stressed.


Scherbakova's organization, Memorial, will be presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Saturday December 10.


Memorial was awarded the prize along with fellow campaigners the Centre for Civil Liberties in Ukraine and the Belarussian activist, Ales Bialiatski.


One of the foremost Russian civil liberties organizations, Memorial has worked for decades to shed light on terrors from the era of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, while also compiling information on ongoing political oppression in Russia. 


The group, founded in 1989, was forcibly shut down by Russian courts at the end of 2021 and Scherbakova left Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine. She is now based in Germany. 

'No Diplomatic Solution' to Ukraine War: Nobel Winner - The Moscow Times

----------


## russellsimpson

^^Sure hope your wrong about that Norton.

Did you ever think we would see a majore conflegation like this in our lifetimes?

I think something not yet forseen may bring a speedier end to the war. A nuclear accident might do the trick. A catastrophic climate event? I continue to pray for peace.

 :stopwar:

----------


## bsnub

Russia’s ill-conceived invasion of Ukraine has so far failed to yield the goals set out by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his top propagandists are struggling to hide their growing sense of panic.

On Monday, head of RT Margarita Simonyan appeared on _The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov_  and admitted that the Kremlin’s collaborationist elite has concerns  about the possibility of being tried for war crimes. After  disingenuously claiming that neither the Russian leadership nor her  fellow propagandists in the studio ever wanted to conduct strikes  against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, Simonyan said, “I am amazed  by our people—and I unfortunately know many of them—including those in  very high circles, who are afraid of this and are scared to call things  by their proper names because of what people over there may think.”

Simonyan  defiantly asserted: “We could spit on what they think over there!  People who are afraid of the Hague—listen, you should be afraid to lose,  to be humiliated and be afraid to betray your people. Let me tell you  that if we manage to lose, the Hague—whether real or hypothetical—will  come even for a street cleaner who is sweeping the cobblestones behind  the Kremlin.”

In her rant, Simonyan contradicted her earlier claim  of Russian forces not seeking to bomb civilian infrastructure and  surmised that one more Kyiv district being left in the dark won’t change  the potential of the future war crimes trials, or the “catastrophe”  that will befall Russia if it loses its war against Ukraine.

Host  Vladimir Solovyov immediately reverted to his old and tired routine of  threatening nuclear strikes if things don’t go Russia’s way: “There  won’t be any Hague if this happens, there won’t be anything at all. The  whole world will be reduced to ashes.”

During Wednesday’s broadcast of _60 Minutes_,  host Olga Skabeeva carried on with the same theme. “God forbid, we  can’t allow it and don’t even say it out loud but suppose that suddenly  something happens and our country is unable to achieve victory: then we  should proceed from the premise that everyone with no exception will be  held accountable—whether they are located within the Russian Federation  or abroad. Those abroad will most likely be immediately arrested.  Whether he is a collaborator of Putin’s regime or was just passing by,  it doesn’t matter. All of us will be considered guilty. What’s at stake  is not only the existence of the country, but also the carefree  existence of every citizen of the Russian Federation—our future is on  the line.”

Skabeeva added: “In order to avoid the Hague tribunals,  the initiation of criminal cases, compensation, reparations—in order to  avoid all this, we need a total intensification of military actions, we  have to squeeze and pressure them so much that they approach us about a  truce or a peace process… Otherwise, they will insist on capitulation.”

During the most recent broadcast of _Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov_,  Margarita Simonyan put in another appearance and delivered the new  directive: in order to protect Russia’s already tattered image as a  military superpower, any supply problems concerning equipment, weapons  and ammunition are to be discussed behind closed doors and not on-air.  She unwittingly confirmed that the said issues were systematic and  serious by urging the government to take extreme measures to secure the  funds for the troops.

Simonyan described those who are not  mobilized to serve on the frontlines as the people who aren’t fulfilling  their duty to their country. “How can we sleep while knowing that we  aren’t sharing and aren’t participating?,” she asked. “Rich people  should get a hold of themselves and remember that we can’t continue  living the way we’ve been living since the disintegration of the Soviet  Union. We have to restore social equality.” RT’s head urged the rich to  forego buying Chanel purses and “adopt” dozens or hundreds of needy  families for whom they can provide.

Describing herself as a  well-to-do person, Simonyan said she had a hard time looking at people  who refuse to share their wealth, many of whom she knows personally. “I  am calling on you, citizens: you have to share!,” she urged.

Never  daring to question why the country’s exorbitant military budget has  proven to be for Russia’s wartime needs—while Putin’s circle has no  shortage of palatial abodes or yachts—Simonyan noted that the invading  troops are being supplied with donations from the civilian population.  Deeming that to be inadequate, she demanded “an involuntary vaccination  of conscience,” adding, “Raise the taxes on the rich and the well-to-do  people. What is there to be afraid of? Raise the taxes!”



https://www.thedailybeast.com/russia...es-on-state-tv

----------


## malmomike77

> Minimum of 4 years but could be 7 or 8 imho.





> The long haul. I'm hoping not, but what will Vlad settle for,


The war will be bounded by the time Putin has left to live, without him Russia will not continue

----------


## Norton

> ^^Sure hope your wrong about that Norton.
> 
> Did you ever think we would see a majore conflegation like this in our lifetimes?


I hope for a quick ending as well but history just in my lifetime indicates this war will go on for many years.

Hoped this war would not happen but deep down I knew it or another would.

----------


## Norton

> The war will be bounded by the time Putin has left to live, without him Russia will not continue


Seems the majority concensus but Putin's demise politically or otherwise while a factor may not end the war. Will depend on who gains power in Putin absence and the demands of the powers that be in the Ukraine.

----------


## Loy Toy

I have to agree with you Norton and whilst Putin appears to mentally deranged and most western leaders put the blame squarely on his shoulders I no doubt suspect even more war mongering freaks are waiting in the wings to take over in the event he falls from power.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I have to agree with you Norton and whilst Putin appears to mentally deranged and most western leaders put the blame squarely on his shoulders I no doubt suspect even more war mongering freaks are waiting in the wings to take over in the event he falls from power.


You mean like the one he keeps poisoning and putting in jail?

----------


## Loy Toy

^ Is he a war mongering freak Harry?

----------


## harrybarracuda

> ^ Is he a war mongering freak Harry?


No, but he's probably the one would who win a free and fair election.

----------


## Takeovers

> Minimum of 4 years but could be 7 or 8 imho.


Russia will be decisively beaten and driven out of all of Ukraine, including Crimea, some time next year.

What I am afraid of is that Russia will not concede then but continue a low level war with border attacks and some level of long distance drone and rocket strikes, denying peace. Ukraine is not strong enough to end this by advancing towards Moscow.


With strict sanctions continuing Russia may internally collapse some day, but it may be quite a while. Putin will die or be disposed of eventually but his successors may continue.

----------


## Norton

> What I am afraid of is that Russia will not concede then but continue a low level war with border attacks and some level of long distance drone and rocket strikes, denying peace. Ukraine is not strong enough to end this by advancing towards Moscow.


Yes that plus sepratist mercenaries in the areas now occupied by Russian forces.

----------


## Takeovers

> Yes that plus sepratist mercenaries in the areas now occupied by Russian forces.



I don't think that many of those are left. Russia has burned them in their futile offensives. What remains can be dealt with by local defense forces.

----------


## bsnub

> I don't think that many of those are left. Russia has burned them in their futile offensives.


You are correct, most of them have gone through the meat grinder multiple times. Mostly combat ineffective at this point. Besides, when it comes to the point that Russia is going to be ejected from the country most of those that are left will be looking to high tail it into Russia.

----------


## Takeovers

deleted double post

----------


## bsnub

Russia is losing a total of 100 soldiers a day as they attempt offensives against Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

On Sunday, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington D.C.-based think tank, released a report on the battles between Russia and Ukraine over the weekend.

Ukrainian forces had success in repelling Russian troops in and around Bakhmut on December 4 as Russian soldiers attempted to capture the entirety of the Donetsk region.

"The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian troops repelling Russian attacks  northeast of Bakhmut near Berestove, Bilohorivka, Yakovlivka, Soledar,  and Bakhmutske and south of Bakhmut near Opytne, Klishchiivka,  Andriivka, and Kurdiumivka," according to the ISW report.

Russia is reportedly facing 50 wounded and 50 killed in action soldiers a day in and around Bakhmut. _Newsweek_ was not able to independently verify the figures.

Russia does not regularly release updates on how many losses it has endured. Throughout the war, the figures that Moscow has made public are often much lower than Ukrainian estimates.

Despite the claims by Ukraine, its defense and counterattacks have not been wholly successful.

"Social-media  footage posted by Ukrainian troops shows heavy fighting south of  Bakhmut in Opytne, and Russian milbloggers claimed that the capture of  Opytne is crucial to further Russian advances toward Bakhmut," the ISW  added.

"Russian sources additionally claimed that Ukrainian troops  conducted an unsuccessful counterattack in Kurdiumivka and that  fighting is ongoing in several settlements south of Bakhmut."
The spokesperson for the Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces, Serhiy Cherevaty, spoke about Russia's losses on TV following conflicts in the region.

"Here,  you can roughly say based on the dynamics, rounding off, of course. In  the area from 50 to 100 people, they can lose only in the Bakhmut  direction," Cherevaty said, according to a report from the Ukrainian TV  station, _Espresso TV_.

"It is only killed and the same number wounded, depending on the time of day."

Cherevaty  added that the situation in the region is tense but under control. He  said that Ukraine forces are holding their defense and repelling  multiple attacks from Russia.

He also noted that Russian troops  were ordered not to bring artillery shells within 100 kilometers (62  miles) of the frontline in the Donetsk area, due to successful Ukrainian  strikes on Russian ammunition depots.

The alleged daily losses are beginning to mount up as Russia is predicted to lose 100,000 soldiers in less than one year of war, according to Ukraine's Ministry of Defence.

This  milestone could be reached as soon as this week or the next. This would  be two months shy of the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine  in late February 2022.
_Newsweek_ has contacted Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-losi...report-1764525

----------


## bsnub

Two explosions at major Russian military bases, including the Dyagilevo base near Ryazan just 150 miles from Moscow, mean the war in Ukraine has come right to Vladimir Putin’s doorstep. 

The explosions—which were unmanned drone strikes, a senior Ukrainian official told _The New York Times_—suggest Ukraine wanted to strike fear right in the heart of Russia.

The  second explosion struck the Engels-2 base, from which Tu-95 bombers  have been pummeling Ukraine’s infrastructure over the last month.

Engels  and Ryazan are around 300 to 450 miles from the Ukrainian border, which  is beyond the range of any known missiles in Ukraine’s possession, the _Times_ reported.

A  fuel truck explosion at the base near Ryazan killed at least three and  wounded half a dozen, and damaged Tu-95 bombers and Tu-22M long-range  missile bombers, which have nuclear capability. 

Video posted on  social media suggests that the telltale whistle of a fighter jet or  missile can be heard just before the Saratov base explosion, according to the _Guardian_. 

Monday afternoon, several people in Crimea reported hearing explosions there, suggesting a coordinated effort. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially confirmed that Putin had  been advised of the “situation” but did not speculate on who might be  behind it, saying quite unbelievably that he had only “read about it” in  the media, according to reporters at a briefing Monday.

The  Kremlin later said its forces intercepted the drones, confirming the  deaths of three servicemen and damage to two planes in the resulting  “fall and explosion of the wreckage.” 

Almost immediately after  reports, air raid sirens across Ukraine heralded a barrage of missile  strikes, with many targeting Zaporizhzhia, where at least two people  were reported to have been killed after missiles destroyed several  residential blocks. Several cities reported having no electricity or  water after Russian strikes.

Roman Busargin, governor of the  Saratov region where the Engels-2 base is housed, wrote on Telegram that  law enforcement agencies were chasing “information about incidents at  military facilities,” adding that, “No emergencies have occurred in the  city's residential areas.”

Ukraine’s interior minister Anton  Gerashchenko posted images of the explosions on Telegram, suggesting  they were watching closely. “Some sources report that this morning  planes based on Engels and Ryazan airfields were scheduled to bomb  Ukrainian energy infrastructure yet again,” Gerashchenko wrote Monday  morning.

Other officials mused that Russia’s compounding losses  are Ukraine’s gain. “The Earth is round—discovery made by Galileo.  Astronomy was not studied in Kremlin, giving preference to court  astrologers,” Volodymyr Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on  Telegram Monday. “If it was, they would know: if something is launched  into other countries’ airspace, sooner or later unknown flying objects  will return to departure point.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/explos...f-war?ref=home

----------


## bsnub

Explosions have rocked two Russian airbases far  from the frontlines as Kyiv appeared to launch a pre-emptive strike on  bombers that the Kremlin has used to try to cripple the Ukrainian  electrical grid.

The Russian defence ministry  confirmed the attacks on Monday, claiming two of its warplanes had been  damaged when it intercepted two Ukrainian drones. For Kyiv the strike  represented an unprecedented operation deep inside Russia to disrupt the  Kremlin strategy of provoking a humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine on the verge of winter.

Russian  media reports and video posted to social media indicated that an  explosion occurred early on Monday morning at the Engels-2 airbase in  Russia’s Saratov region, which hosts Tu-95 bombers that have taken part  in cruise missile strikes against Ukraine.

Another explosion took place at the Dyagilevo  military airbase near Ryazan, a city less than 150 miles from Moscow.  Three people were killed and five wounded after a fuel truck exploded,  Russian state media reported. That base also hosts Tu-95 long-range  bombers.

Soon  after the blasts at the airbases, Russia launched a long anticipated  mass strike against Ukraine, involving air-and sea-launched missiles  from the Black and Caspian Seas.

Ukraine  claimed to have shot down 60 of a total of 70 incoming missiles, a new  record in the effectiveness of its air defence systems. The Russian  defence ministry claimed to have hit 17 targets.

In  Kyiv, air raid sirens sounded, and people took shelter in underground  metro stations, but no missiles hit the capital, and after three hours  the all clear was sounded. The strikes plunged some parts of the country  into blackout at a time when temperatures are well below zero, but they  appeared to have been significantly less successful in disrupting the  Ukrainian power grid than the previous Russian mass missile attack on 23  November.

Two people in southern Ukraine were  said to have been killed and three more wounded after at least one  missile slammed into a residential building in Zaporizhzhia. Power was  cut in the city of Mykolaiv and Odesa reported disruptions to the city’s  water supply.

If confirmed as a Ukrainian operation, the strike  on the Engels airbase would be the most daring attack behind Russian  lines to date. The airbase is a crucial site for Russian air force  operations against Ukraine and for the country’s strategic nuclear  forces. It has a nuclear weapons storage bunker with warheads that can  be deployed on Russia’s long-range strategic bombers.

Video  of the explosions at the Russian airbases showed a fiery blast  illuminating the night sky. Locals reported that the sound of the  explosion could be heard from miles away. In one video from Saratov, the  sound of an aircraft or missile can be heard screaming overhead shortly  before the explosion is heard. Local authorities in the Saratov region  said security services were investigating.

  Baza, a Russian media outlet with sources in the security services, said  the Russian airfield at Engels was attacked by a loitering munition, a  type of aerial weapon system, which targeted the airbase’s runway.  Astra, another independent Russian media outlet, claimed two  nuclear-capable Tu-95 bombers were damaged in the explosion. Neither  indicated a source for their information.

A  Ukrainian official offered a cryptic appraisal of Monday’s explosions.  “The Earth is round – discovery made by Galileo. Astronomy was not  studied in Kremlin, giving preference to court astrologers,” wrote  Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential adviser. “If it was, they would know:  if something is launched into other countries’ airspace, sooner or later  unknown flying objects will return to departure point.”

Among  those taking shelter in the Kyiv metro was the UN human rights chief,  Volker Türk, who was in Kyiv to meet Ukrainian human rights activists  and ended up holding the meeting in a bunker.

The Kremlin said Vladimir Putin had been informed  of the incidents. The Russian president was reopening the Crimean Bridge  on Monday, where an explosion in October raised doubts that Russia  could protect the peninsula it had occupied from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukrainian  monitoring reports in the last week suggested Russia was delivering  cruise missiles to the airbase and transferring aircraft to the Ryazan  facility in preparation for another attack against Ukraine.

Satellite images published by Der Spiegel last  week showed 20 strategic bombers parked on the runway at the Engels  airbase in preparation for another strike on Ukraine. Satellite images  released by Maxar showed those bombers remained parked on the runway  through Sunday.

Pro-war Russian bloggers have  criticised the military for leaving the bombers closely grouped on the  runway, making them an attractive target for sabotage or attack. 

Ukraine  is not known to have any loitering munitions that would allow it to  attack hundreds of miles beyond the frontlines of the conflict, although  there have been reports of such unmanned aerial vehicles under  development.

As the two military installations  were between 300 and 450 miles from the Ukrainian border, Rob Lee, a  senior fellow at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, said  drones may have been launched by Ukraine from within Russian territory.

“The  unmanned aerial vehicle attacks have a relatively short range and they  would not have been able to fly all that way from Ukraine,” Lee said.

The  alleged Ukrainian attack on the Engels-2 base was likely to have been  aimed at disrupting Russian plans to strike Ukrainian infrastructure, he  said.

“Ukraine has been warning for weeks now  that Russia was preparing for a fresh wave of missile attacks on its  energy grid. This could have been a pre-emptive strike.”

Russia  has resorted to long-range attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid after its  troops were forced to retreat from a number of Ukrainian regions after a  spirited counteroffensive. Putin called the strikes inevitable after an  explosion on the Crimean Bridge that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv.

Russia  has sustained a number of embarrassing incidents and attacks at  military bases, including in occupied Crimea, that have shown the  vulnerability of its military.

Explosions rock two Russian airbases far from Ukraine frontline | Russia | The Guardian

----------


## sabang

That is like 4 linked articles now about the drone attack on the Engels base that (according to the Daily Mail) damaged two long range bombers. Are you NAFO types getting a bit insecure?  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## pickel

> according to the Daily Mail


According to Russia, actually. 




> The Russian defence ministry confirmed the attacks on Monday, claiming two of its warplanes had been damaged


And the pair of bombers are worth over 50 million dollars and won't be flying again. It also shows how much farther Ukraine can reach now.

It's a lot more newsworthy than what a gobby poet blogger has to say.

----------


## bsnub

> And the pair of bombers are worth over 50 million dollars and won't be flying again. It also shows how much farther Ukraine can reach now.


It is amazing that someone who claims to have served as a naval officer could be so short-sighted. What Ukraine has done is nothing short of remarkable. This was an experimental drone that was used that has a 1000 km range. It also shows how vulnerable Russia's strategic nuclear assets are. If the Ukrainians can just fly a simple drone over one of Russia's most sensitive air spaces unopposed and destroy anything at all is just amazing. 

Russia's pants are basically fully down around its ankles and the backdoor is wide open. The US could fly the entire US Air Force in there and wipe everything out and do it unopposed.

These are strategic assets, not T-72 tanks. They are part of the nuclear triad.

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

I think we got the picture after one or two linked news articles gentlemen. Of course you can carry on commenting about it as long as you want.

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## harrybarracuda

> I think we got the picture after one or two linked news articles gentlemen. Of course you can carry on commenting about it as long as you want.


Of course we can, it's a huge embarrassment for Putin.

----------


## sabang

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to boost Russian morale Monday by driving a vehicle across a bridge to Crimea that a truck bomb had damaged in October.

Putin took the wheel of a Mercedes to drive across the bridge that links Russia’s mainland with the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Like other Western automakers, Mercedes halted sales of vehicles to Russia and stopped production at its assembly plant near Moscow after the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin did not try to make a political point by driving the Mercedes and not a Russian-made Auris sedan, saying the president just used the car that was available.

While driving, Putin discussed the repairs of the Crimean Bridge with Marat Khusnullin, a deputy prime minister in charge of the project, an exchange that was broadcast by Russian television.

The president also spoke to workers involved in restoring the 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge, which has been the main conduit for ferrying supplies to Crimea that has served as a key base for Russian military operations in Ukraine.

In view of Ukrainian threats to launch new attacks on the bridge, Putin emphasized the need to build a highway along the Sea of Azov coast to link Crimea with regions in southern Russia, the Kremlin said.


The Oct. 8 truck bomb attack disrupted travel on one of the two automobile lanes of the bridge. Russia blamed the attack on Ukrainian military intelligence and responded with several waves of strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities and other key infrastructure.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that widespread strikes targeting power, telecommunications and water infrastructure were intended to weaken Ukraine’s military potential and to derail shipments of Western weapons.

Ukrainian authorities said there was another such barrage on Monday, hours after Russian media reported two explosions at air bases in Russia. One reportedly happened at a base that houses nuclear-capable strategic bombers that have been involved in launching strikes in Ukraine.

Russia'''s Putin drives across repaired bridge to Crimea | AP News

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to boost Russian morale


Yeah, fucking good luck with that.

 :rofl:

----------


## bsnub

Dolyna, Ukraine       CNN          —       
           A soldier in a Ukrainian uniform morosely contemplates the ruins  of an Orthodox monastery in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.   

           “This is a result of Putin’s war,” he says, angrily, as he paces through the wreck. “As a Christian, this is very offensive to me.”   

           The soldier, whose name CNN agreed not to reveal to protect his  identity, goes by the call-sign “Caesar.” He is one of hundreds, if not  thousands, fighting to keep the town of Bakhmut, the current epicenter  of the war, in Ukrainian hands.   

           But there’s one thing that sets him apart from most of those who share the same goal: he’s Russian.    

           “From the first day of the war, my heart, the heart of a real  Russian man, a real Christian, told me that I had to be here to defend  the people of Ukraine,” Caesar explains. “We are now fighting in the  Bakhmut direction, this is the hottest part of the front.”   

       Few, if any, buildings of the eastern Ukrainian town have been  spared by the unending artillery barrages fired from side to side. Many  of the structures have been completely destroyed, others left  uninhabitable with collapsed sections, in apocalyptic scenes reminiscent  of the battered city of Mariupol, captured by Russia earlier in the  war.    

           “After the (Russian) mobilization (in September), Putin threw all  his forces (at Bakhmut) in order to achieve a breaking point in the war,  but we are putting up a fierce defensive fight,” Caesar says.    

           Much of Ukraine’s resisting force has had to hunker down in muddy  trenches, fighting tooth and nail to deny Russian forces a victory they  desperately crave.    

           “The fighting is very brutal now,” Caesar explains.   

                 A few miles away from the battle, but still in earshot of the  constant thuds and explosions, Caesar’s commitment is unflinching and he  does not regret his decision to join Ukraine’s foreign legion.   

           While the urge to sign up came early on in the conflict, he could  only leave his home country, with his close family, and join the  Ukrainian military in the summer.      

           “It was a very difficult process,” he says. “It took me several  months to finally join the ranks of the defenders of Ukraine.”   

           Now with his family in Ukraine – where he considers them to be  safer – Caesar says he is one of around 200 Russian citizens currently  fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, against their own country’s armies.  CNN has not been able independently to confirm this number.   

           In Caesar’s view, Moscow’s forces are not true Russians.   

           “Yes, I kill my countrymen, but they have become criminals,” he  explains. “They came to a foreign land to rob and kill and destroy. They  kill civilians, children and women.”    

           “I have to confront this,” he added.      

           Caesar is a self-confessed opponent of what he says is a  “tyrannical regime” headed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, not just  in Ukraine but also inside his own country. And in his confrontation of  the war, he has had to shoot at least 15 Russian soldiers on the  battlefield, he claims.   

           They are lives he did not pity and killings he does not regret, he says.    

           “I am fighting a noble fight and I am doing my military and  Christian duty; I am defending the Ukrainian people,” Caesar says. “And  when Ukraine is free, I will carry my sword to Russia to free it from  tyranny.”    

*Family ties*

           Caesar’s ideological drive is not the only reason some Russians  have chosen to side with Ukrainians on the battlefield. For many the  motivation lies closer to the heart.     

           “Silent,” the call-sign of another Russian soldier whose full name  CNN is not disclosing for his safety, was visiting Ukraine when Russian  missiles and artillery shells started landing in its towns and cities  on February 24.     

           “I came to Ukraine at the beginning of February to visit my relatives. I stayed here and war started,” Silent says.      

           He says he joined the Ukrainian military shortly after he saw the  atrocities perpetrated by Russian soldiers in the suburbs of Bucha,  Irpin and Borodianka, just outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Evidence of mass graves and civilian executions in those areas emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Kyiv region in early April.   

           Russia has previously denied allegations of war crimes and claimed  its forces do not target civilians, despite extensive evidence gathered  by international human rights experts, criminal investigators and  international media in multiple locations.    

       “I was just outside Kyiv, not far from those places, and when they  were kicked out of that territory, we went there to help people and saw  what they had done,” Silent says. “Dead bodies, children, women,  executions … When you see it in person … of course everything inside  turned upside down.”    

           He adds: “I decided to stay here until the end and join the legion.”   

           Silent says his best friend has recently been forcibly mobilized  into Russia’s army back home. Silent says they’ve discussed the  terrifying fact that it’s conceivable they could end up on opposite  sides on a Ukrainian battlefield.    

           “It’s weird that that could happen – especially as he wants to  leave Russia and wants to come to fight with me against Putin’s army in  Ukraine. We’re trying to get him out but he’s being held by the Russian  army,” says Silent.    

           His family, like many in Russia and Ukraine, has roots in both  countries. His wife and two children are now living with him in Ukraine  but other relatives remain in Russia. Silent says that although they  have stayed behind, they see through Putin’s propaganda on the war,  still described as a “special military operation” by the Kremlin.     

           “They understand what is going on: Russia invaded Ukraine,” he  says, adding that his relatives were not angry with him. “They know my  character, that if I have made a decision, I will act until the end.    

           “They told me to stay safe.”   

*The long arm of the Kremlin*

           Another soldier, who goes by the call-sign “Vinnie,” insists on  covering his face with a balaclava, fearing that the Kremlin’s long arm  might try to reach him in Ukraine.    

           “My family is not here with me right now,” he explains. He says he  is fighting for them and for their future, but still fears what  Moscow’s security apparatus might do to them.    

       “My children, my wife, who I love very much, they’re my  everything, my whole life,” he says, with a sparkle in his eyes and a  smile that can be detected through the cloth covering his face.   

           “If I show my face … I worry about them, because there’ll be no one to protect them,” he adds.    

           It’s one of the added risks for Russian citizens risking their  lives for Ukraine, but not the only one. Russian soldiers fighting for  Ukraine could face tougher consequences than their Ukrainian  counterparts if they’re captured by the enemy.     

           Last month, a soldier who deserted the Russian mercenary group  Wagner and crossed onto the Ukrainian side, Yevgeny Nuzhin, was brutally murdered with a sledgehammer after he went back to Russia.    

           His execution was applauded by the head of the group, Russian  oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. Without directly acknowledging that Wagner  fighters had carried out the murder, Prigozhin said: “Nuzhin betrayed  his people, betrayed his comrades, betrayed them consciously. He was not  taken prisoner, nor did he surrender. Rather, he planned his escape.  Nuzhin is a traitor.”   

           This kind of example is why Vinnie is certain of what will await him should he be captured.     

           “There won’t be an exchange for sure. It will be the end, 100%,” he says. “It will just be more painful.”      

       But pain and death are not a part of this unit’s lexicon, even as they face overwhelming odds in Bakhmut.    

           Russia has been trying to capture the town for months and has  thrown large numbers of men at Ukrainian defenses in an attempt to break  them. But they haven’t broken Vinnie.    

           “I am defending the country, I am defending homes, women,  children, people who cannot defend themselves,” he says. “My conscience  is absolutely clear.”    

           Caesar, standing amid the remains of the Orthodox monastery, is  equally defiant, saying not even the prospect of defeat will make him  waver.     

           “I will stay here while my heart will beats. I will fight to defend Ukraine,” he says.    

           “And when we have defended Ukraine I will liberate my country.”   

Russian nationals fighting for Ukraine vow to resist Moscow'''s forces '''until the end''' | CNN

----------


## david44

> MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to boost Russian morale Monday by driving a vehicle across a bridge to Crimea that a truck bomb had damaged in October.
> 
> Putin took the wheel of a Mercedes to drive across the bridge that links Russia’s mainland with the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
> Like other Western automakers, Mercedes halted sales of vehicles to Russia and stopped production at its assembly plant near Moscow after the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine.
> 
> Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin did not try to make a political point by driving the Mercedes and not a Russian-made Auris sedan, saying the president just used the car that was available.
> 
> While driving, Putin discussed the repairs of the Crimean Bridge with Marat Khusnullin, a deputy prime minister in charge of the project, an exchange that was broadcast by Russian television.
> 
> ...



He's boasting with that padded red Willy Warmer

Imagine the Bridge will remain a target , repeatedly damaged once retreating Russians trapped. I doubt Ukraine wont care if Azov sea blocked once Crimean ports freed

----------


## sabang

> Caesar says he is one of around 200 Russian citizens currently fighting alongside Ukrainian forces,


Seriously, is that all? I wonder how many Ukrainian citizens are fighting for Russia. Helluva lot more than that.

----------


## sabang

Washington has opposed Ukrainian efforts to attack Russian territory, citing risks of escalation to a broader war.

DECEMBER 6, 2022
Written by
Connor Echols

Within 24 hours, Ukraine has used drones to attack several military targets inside Russia in a move that the Washington Post described as Kyiv’s “most brazen hit on Russian territory” since the war began.

After the first two strikes hit targets deep within Russia’s borders, a top Ukrainian official suggested in a cryptic tweet that the move was an inevitable result of the Kremlin’s continued assault. “[I]f something is launched into other countries’ airspace, sooner or later unknown flying objects will return to departure point,” wrote Mykhailo Podolyak, a top advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The United States has opposed Ukraine’s desire to hit targets within Russia since the war began, citing concerns about potential escalation. Given President Joe Biden’s strong stance, Kyiv promised Washington earlier this year that it would not strike Russian territory directly.

The Biden administration has also limited the types of weapons that it is willing to send to Ukraine, much to the chagrin of Kyiv’s most fervent supporters in Congress, who have long called on Biden to give Ukraine long-range missiles.

And new reporting indicates that the Pentagon has gone further than simply limiting the missiles and launchers that it sends to Kyiv. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Defense quietly modified U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) such that they cannot launch long-range missiles before shipping them off to Ukraine.

The attacks “underscore the difficulty the Biden administration faces in trying to control the risks of escalation in this war,” according to George Beebe of the Quincy Institute.

“Despite our efforts to manage these risks, both the Russians and the Ukrainians can take actions that escalate the war in dangerous ways and increase the chances of a direct clash between the United States and Russia,” said Beebe, who previously led Russia analysis at the CIA.

The escalation comes as public support for a long-term war in Ukraine has started to slow. According to a new poll from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 47 percent of Americans think Washington “should urge Ukraine to settle for peace as soon as possible,” a nine point increase since July. Meanwhile, 48 percent of respondents, including most Democrats, argued that the United States “should support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/20...dministration/

----------


## helge

> The attacks “underscore the difficulty the Biden administration faces in trying to control the risks of escalation in this war,”


There is ofcourse that.....for Biden

But I have to say, that if the russians start whinging about having drone/missile attacks on "Mother Russia"................

I really wouldn't know whether to throw up or laugh out loud.

Escalation ?   :Smile:

----------


## Takeovers

> Washington has opposed Ukrainian efforts to attack Russian territory, citing risks of escalation to a broader war.


Nonsense. Nobody in his right mind ever denied the right of Ukraine to defend itself by hitting military targets in Russia. To the opposite, it has been stated by people in charge over and over that Ukraine has every right to do so. So far there was a requirement unfortunately, not to use NATO weapons for that purpose. Ukraine has used non NATO weapons for the purpose, which has been stated to be perfectly OK and of course legal.

----------


## sabang

Ahem:-




> The United States has opposed Ukraine’s desire to hit targets within Russia since the war began, citing concerns about potential escalation. Given President Joe Biden’s strong stance, Kyiv promised Washington earlier this year that it would not strike Russian territory directly.


Follow ze Link-

Ukrainian Forces Hamstrung by Pledge Not to Fire Into Russia  - WSJ

----------


## pickel

That quote isn't in your link, but this one is:




> Kyiv has pledged not to target Russian territory with weapons provided by the West.

----------


## Takeovers

That quote isn't in your link, but this one is:

_
Kyiv has pledged not to target Russian territory with weapons provided by the West.
_

Right. Exactly what I said. Not appliccable for Ukraines own weapons.

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## sabang

Is Ukraine a manufacturer of drones now? Anyway, the same old logic applies- if Ukraine starts causing mischief in Russia's borders, it will likely escalate by upping the ante- targeting Kiev and maybe Lviv. I believe Kiev already has rolling blackouts- they could easily make it worse.

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## pickel

> Is Ukraine a manufacturer of drones now?


Even the Russians say it wasn't NATO weapons.

"The Kyiv regime attempted to attack by Soviet-made UAVs the military airfields at Dyagilevo in the Ryazan region and Engels in the Saratov region in an effort to disable Russian long-range aircraft,"

Russia says Ukrainian drones behind blasts at military airbases

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## malmomike77

Yeah, so far the only party that keeps mentioning nuclear weapons ........

Putin: Nuclear risk is rising, but we are not mad

Vladimir Putin has said the threat of a nuclear war was rising, but insisted Russia had not "gone mad" and would not use its nuclear weapons first.

The Russian president insisted that his country would only use weapons of mass destruction in response to an attack.

Speaking at Russia's annual human rights council meeting, he also said the war in Ukraine could be a "lengthy process".

Western officials believe Putin initially planned for a rapid victory.

Russia's capacity to use nuclear weapons has come under increased scrutiny since it invaded Ukraine in February.

"Such a threat is growing, it would be wrong to hide it," Putin warned while talking about the prospect of nuclear war via video link from Moscow.

But he asserted that Russia would "under no circumstances" use the weapons first, and would not threaten anyone with its nuclear arsenal.

"We have not gone mad, we are aware of what nuclear weapons are," he said, adding: "We aren't about to run around the world brandishing this weapon like a razor."

Putin also boasted that Russia had the most modern and advanced nuclear weapons in the world, and contrasted its nuclear strategy to the US - who he said had gone further than Russia by locating its nuclear weapons on other territories.

"We do not have nuclear weapons, including tactical ones, on the territory of other countries, but the Americans do - in Turkey, and in a number of other European countries," he said.

Putin has previously insisted that Russia's nuclear doctrine only allowed for the defensive use of nuclear arms.

Could Russia use tactical nuclear weapons?

Appearing to recognise that his plan to claim victory within days of invading Ukraine had failed, Putin admitted the war could be a "lengthy process".

However, he said the results had already been "significant" - for example, the new territories Russia has illegally claimed after sham-referendums in four regions of Ukraine.

He boasted that the annexations had made the Sea of Azov - which is bordered by south-east Ukraine and south-west Russia - an "internal sea" of Russia, adding that this was an aspiration of Russian Tsar Peter the Great. President Putin has compared himself to the 17th and 18th Century ruler before.

But - despite claiming the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk as Russia's new territory - Moscow does not fully control any of those areas.

Last month, Russian forces were forced to retreat from Kherson city, the only regional capital they had seized since the February invasion.

more: Putin: Nuclear risk is rising, but we are not mad - BBC News

----------


## sabang

During a press conference with the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, and their Australian counterparts in Washington, the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the US had not  'encouraged nor enabled' Ukraine to strike inside Russia. His comments come after a string of strikes deep within Russian territory. Austin, however, said the US was not stopping Ukraine from developing its own long-range strike capability 

Russia-Ukraine war live: Blinken says US did not enable Ukraine strikes inside Russia

US has not 'encouraged nor enabled' Ukraine to strike inside Russia, says Blinken – video | World news | The Guardian

----------


## bsnub

::chitown:: 

As Western officials indicate that Russia will try to halt its war in  Ukraine during winter, Ukraine may have "no choice" but to continue its  own push against Russian aggression during the coldest season of the  year, according to experts.

Speaking at a _Financial Times_ Global Boardroom event on Wednesday, NATO  Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia was "trying to freeze  the conflict" to "regroup and launch a bigger offensive later on." This  is because "Ukraine now has the momentum" in the lasting war, he added.

_Newsweek_  was not able to independently confirm that Russia is planning a winter  "freeze," and reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry for confirmation  and comment.

Dan Soller, former U.S. Army intelligence colonel, agrees that Russia appears to be trying to put the war on hold. He told _Newsweek_  that it was important for Ukraine to maintain its pressure on Russia  during the winter as Russia aims to regroup in preparation for launching  a renewed offensive later on.

"The Ukrainians have no choice but to continue the offensive," Soller said.

Ukraine has seen success in recent months conducting counteroffensives on several fronts, such as the eastern and southern  zones. Though some initially believed Russia would quickly secure  victory when it invaded Ukraine on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, more than nine months after he launched the war, that the conflict could take a long time.

Stoltenberg  stressed the importance Wednesday of continuing to provide military aid  to Ukraine because the war-torn country's performance on the ground is  consequential for any future negotiations with Russia.

"Most wars, and most likely also this war, will end at the  negotiating table," Stoltenberg said. "But we know that what happens  around that table is absolutely dependent on the situation on the  battlefield. So if you want an outcome of those negotiations, which  ensures that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent nation, we  need to provide military support to Ukraine.

"If the aggressor  wins, that will not give us a lasting peace," he continued. "So the  paradox is that the more we want a peaceful negotiated solution ensuring  that Ukraine prevails, the more urgent it is that we provide military  support for Ukraine to create the conditions for a just, lasting peace  in Ukraine."

Soller said there were several reasons that Ukraine must continue its offensive even if Russia attempts to carry out a "freeze."

On one hand, this is because the West is expecting Ukraine to do something with all of the equipment and aid  it has provided, Soller said. Additionally, continuing to keep the  offensive pressure on Russia can help give Ukrainians "heart" as they  deal with Russian missile attacks, and keep Putin's army off-balance.

"If  you give the Russians the opportunity to set defensive positions over  the winter, they'll just get hardened in" and form new lines that will  be "very difficult" for Ukraine to attack, Soller said.

He added  that Ukraine "won't" and "can't" continue operations everywhere in the  conflict during the winter. Some of the places it might continue its  offensive push is in the east, the Kherson region and maybe even the  Zaporizhzhia quadrant in southeastern Ukraine, Soller said.

William Courtney, adjunct senior fellow at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Rand Corporation, also told _Newsweek_ that Ukraine would be smart to continue pressing on with attacks in light of a Russian pause.

"[Ukraine  is] going to be frozen sometime soon, so that will be an opportune time  for mechanized warfare, particularly for wheeled vehicles," said  Courtney, who is also a former U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, Georgia  and a U.S.-Soviet nuclear testing commission.

"The battlefield  momentum now is with Ukraine," Courtney said, and it would not be in  Ukraine's interest to give up this momentum. Additionally, allowing  Russia the time to regroup over the winter can allow it to better  prepare its soldiers for future battle.

Russia may try to  "camouflage" this intent by making peace proposals in the meantime to  press Ukraine to negotiate, but Russia hasn't signaled any "serious  interest" in negotiations, Courtney added.

https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-has...olonel-1765488

----------


## sabang

You started it — not us, the visibly merry Russian leader claimed




Ukrainian forces were the “first” to target civilian infrastructure, a swaying Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Thursday while drinking sparkling wine, a video of which has since gone viral.

“There’s a lot of noise right now about our strikes against the energy infrastructure of the neighboring country,” Putin said of Ukraine during a state awards ceremony to hand out honors including the “Hero of Russia” medal.

“Yes, we are doing it, but who started it? Who struck the Crimean bridge?” he added while rocking from side to side, referring to a blast in October, for which Ukraine never claimed responsibility.

He said an “informational confrontation” would not “prevent us from completing military objectives.”

The video of his remarks, which had been viewed more than 600,000 times as of Thursday evening, prompted some on social media to speculate that Putin appeared drunk. This behavior is unusual as Putin has a reputation for controlled abstinence — a point noted by Swedish economist Anders Åslund, who served as an adviser to the Russian and Ukrainian governments in the 1990s.

“This is the first time that I have seen Putin seeming drunk in any context,” Åslund tweeted. “He talks nonsense as usual, but he seems to realize that he is a loser. Very interesting & promising. All Russians will see that he is drunk & weak.”

Russian missiles have been targeting critical Ukrainian energy infrastructure for weeks, prompting Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accuse Moscow of turning winter “into a weapon of mass destruction” in November.

During a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week, Putin said the strikes were “inevitable” given Kyiv’s “provocative attacks on Russia’s civilian infrastructure,” according to the Ukrainian English-language newspaper Kyiv Post.

https://www.politico.eu/article/puti...st-russia-war/

Boris Yeltsin is back in the building.  :Smile:

----------


## malmomike77

India to make Russia its number one oil supplier in move that could scupper impact of price cap

Russia is on its way to becoming Indias top oil supplier this month in a move that will likely undermine the impact of a price cap imposed by G7 countries and their Western allies.

Russian crude oil loadings bound for India climbed to the highest level in November as refiners purchased more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd), according to data provided to The Independent by commodities tracking firm Kpler.

The Narendra Modi-led government has been snapping up crude at discounted rates from Russia since the Ukraine invasion, as Western nations looked to pivot away from their reliance on Moscow for energy supplies.

From almost nothing in January and February this year, Russias oil exports bound for India climbed to 902,000 bpd by October and rose to a record high of a little more than 1 million bpd in November, according to preliminary data.

This will likely result in Russia being Indias number one supplier in December, Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler, told The Independent, overtaking its traditional Middle Eastern partners  Saudi Arabia and current top supplier Iraq  for the first time.

Indias oil opportunism helps Russia get round energy sanctions

Delhi has not committed to the $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil set by the G7 countries, including the European Union and Australia, in a bid to squeeze the Kremlins earnings from exports and stymie the money flowing to Vladimir Putins war chest.

It also comes as the European Unions own partial embargo on Russian seaborne crude oil announced in May came into force on Monday, the same day the G7 enforced its price cap. The EU ban covers more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports coming into European countries.

India and China have become the two largest growing economies to buy Russian oil as Western democracies devised ways to squeeze the Russian economy and deepen its isolation. Delhi has repeatedly defended its imports from Russia, saying it has a responsibility to Indian citizens to get the best deal and that it will not be pressured by the West.

Rajeev Jain, additional director-general at Indias petroleum ministry, told The Independent that Indias ranking in Russias energy trade is not a matter for our calculations as Delhis only interest is in buying the cheapest oil.

We will buy from wherever we get the cheapest oil. We are not concerned about becoming the number one or number two country [as] our interest lies in buying [wherever] we get the cheapest oil, Mr Jain said.

He added that the G7 price cap will not affect Indian imports as the refiners buy through the best route and what is best available to them.

We dont negotiate on the route aspect. They buy as per their requirements and they negotiate as per the best rate available, he said, referring to the entities involved in the trade.

India is now set to overtake the EU as the largest importer of oil from Russia, analysts say, with its purchases the major factor rendering the Western embargo measures ineffective.

India will be the key contributor to ensuring the price cap is ineffective  they were a sporadic buyer of Russian crude prior to the invasion of Ukraine, but are now importing close to 1 million barrels per day, a third of Russian seaborne crude exports, said Mr Smith.

more India to make Russia its number one oil supplier this month in move that could scupper impact of price cap | The Independent

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Delhi has not committed to the $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil set by the G7 countries


Doesn't want to pay that much.

 :rofl:

----------


## bsnub

The lifeblood of any modern army is diesel fuel. Diesel fuel is used in  most military vehicles as well as in the generators that provide  electricity to command posts and living facilities. 

Accordingly, the  Russian military has required a steady flow of diesel flow to their  units in Ukraine to maintain combat effectiveness. With winter  approaching, the Ukrainian military appears to be making a concerted  effort to cut off that flow of fuel.

The Russian forces in Ukraine require a tremendous amount of diesel  fuel. Modern tanks consume diesel fuel at rates of less than 1 mile per  gallon. Even when the vehicles are stationary, their engines remain  running to provide power to targeting equipment, radios, and other  electronics. Moreover, a massive amount of diesel fuel is necessary for  generators, which provide electricity to all the electronics used by any  modern army. A single Russian Battalion Tactical Group (BTG) carries  approximately 10,000 gallons of fuel for resupply in its tanker trucks;  this fuel is expected to support one day of combat operations. Russian  logistics channels must supply fuel to over 100 BTGs in addition to a  number of paramilitary groups.

 The fuel issues will soon be complicated by the eastern European  winter. The demand for fuel will increase as it is used in generators to  provide electricity for heating in addition to being burned directly in  heaters. Meanwhile, heavy snow and ice can shut down the resupply  routes.

Thus far in the war, Russian forces have struggled with securing their fuel supply lines. Fuel shortages  have been blamed for a number of issues including the large number of  abandoned and captured Russian vehicles. Doctrinally, the Russian  military is defensive in nature; as such, it is not structured to  support sustained forward operations. Further, when the Russians have  established forward fuel depots, they were quickly destroyed by  Ukrainian artillery and drones. As a consequence, the Russians have been  required to truck fuel into Ukraine from Russia.

The Ukrainians have exploited this vulnerability in the Russian  forces by targeting Russian fuel resupply vehicles. To date, the  Russians have lost 239 fuel tankers,  primarily Ural 4320 and KamAZ 6x6 tankers. This is a large number of  fuel tankers, given that each Battalion Tactical Group only has five tankers.  They have also destroyed several trains and civilian tankers that were  carrying fuel to the front. Even one of the recent drone strikes  launched into Russia targeted a fuel depot.

 Some of the fiercest fighting currently involves securing cities  along major supply routes. For example, the Russian Army has been trying  to take Bakhmut, a key transportation node in the Donetsk Oblast, since  early August. Taking Bakhmut would allow the Russians to control a  critical road junction that will allow them access through the Donetsk  Oblast. However, the Ukrainians have put a stiff defense against the  Russians and are expected to hold Bakhmut at least through the winter.

Elsewhere, the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Luhansk Region has  been focused on taking back the cities of Svatove and Kreminna. These  cities are both key transportation nodes with major Russian resupply  routes running through them according to the Institute for the Study of War.  If the Ukrainians can capture these cities, the Russians will be  limited in their ability to resupply Russian and paramilitary units in  the Luhansk Region.

 These efforts from the Ukrainians to deny fuel resupply to the  Russian military will have large consequences on the war. Without a  steady supply of diesel fuel, the Russian military will not be combat  effective, since they cannot maneuver their vehicles on the battlefield.  The Russian forces will be forced to take a purely defensive posture,  effectively halting their forward movements. Even in a defensive  posture, the Russians will require a steady supply of fuel, albeit less.  Without fuel, the units will be quickly overrun by the Ukrainian  counteroffensive.

More importantly, without fuel, Russian soldiers will freeze. With  large portions of Ukraine without power, Russian forces need diesel fuel  for their generators and heaters. Without a reliable supply of fuel,  Russian forces will not be able to keep their soldiers warm. Hypothermia  is not the only issue; diseases will spread through the force as well.  Freezing, sick soldiers have historically resulted in low morale and  high desertion.

 The Ukrainians will likely be successful in their efforts to diminish  the Russian ability to refuel their forces. In turn, this will reduce  the combat effectiveness and morale of the Russian forces. Although this  will not end the war, this move will allow the Ukrainian  counteroffensive to make significant gains this winter. Regardless of  the overall outcome, it will probably be a cold, chaotic, and  unproductive winter for the Russian forces.

Ukrainian Military Is Targeting Russian Fuel Supply Lines As Winter Approaches

----------


## david44

A long read for those unable to link to 

Safety of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant hangs in the balance | Ukraine | The Guardian


Shelling near the six-reactor facility plus a shortage of workers and uncertain backup power are making it what could be most dangerous place on The Russian shell that struck in the night had taken away the wall of a top-floor apartment, and in its place was just freezing air blowing off the Dnieper River – and a view of Europe’s biggest nuclear power station on the other bank.


The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s silhouette – with its two fat cooling towers and the row of six squat blocks – has become globally familiar since it was dubbed the most dangerous place on Earth: six nuclear reactors on the frontline of a catastrophic war.


A worker fixes up an apartment in a building hit by a Russian missile few days ago in Nikopol. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian
On a fairly typical night last week, the Russians on the left bank of the river fired 40 shells and rockets into Nikopol, a town on the Ukrainian-held right bank, falling on its rows of krushchevky, five-storey blocks of flats built for factory workers in the 1960s and named after the Soviet leader of the time.
After 10 months of war, the blocks are half empty, so there are fewer people to kill. The only reported casualty on this particular night was a 65-year-old man who was taken to hospital, and whose flat now afforded such a comprehensive view of the power plant.
By the next morning, the repairs had already begun. An electrician restored power to the rest of the building, and two men were in the remains of the apartment itself, sweeping up and putting chipboard in place of absent walls.
There were four loud bangs as the Ukrainian army guns on the nearby riverbank opened fire on Russian positions and, a few minutes later, Nikopol’s air sirens sounded in anticipation of a Russian response, though none was forthcoming that morning.
The basements of the krushchevky have been turned into shelters with beds and school desks but most of the remaining population are so inured to bombardment, they just carry on with their day.


Impact of war on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – visual guide



The Ukrainians insist they are extremely careful about what they shoot at, even when they receive fire from the vicinity of the Zaporizhzhia plant. On Thursday, the Ukrainian nuclear power company, Energoatom, accused Russia of bringing Grad multiple launch rocket systems near reactor number 6, which is near the area of where spent nuclear fuel is kept. The likely aim, Energoatom alleged, was to shell Nikopol and the nearby town of Marzanets, using their position as cover.
The walls of the reactors are thick enough to withstand artillery fire, but a direct hit on the spent fuel containers could well lead to the release of radioactive material into the atmosphere. Since seizing control of the power station in March, the Russians have begun building a concrete shelter over the spent fuel, but Ukrainian officials say it is being done without following the normal international safety protocols.
Earlier in the week, Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, accused Ukraine of “nuclear terrorism”, saying its armed forces had fired 33 large calibre shells at the Zaporizhzhia plant over the previous two weeks. The most recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has four inspectors at the Russian-occupied site, said last Friday there had been no shelling of the plant since 20 November, although artillery fire had landed in the vicinity.
Petro Kotin, Energoatom’s president, claims that the bombardments of the area around the nuclear reactors are false flag attacks carried out by Russian occupation forces.
“They have two special trucks, which we know have mortars inside, which go into the forest and each time they go there, there is shelling around the plant,” Kotin told the Guardian.

Dmytro Orlov, mayor of Energodar, says there are no Ukrainian forces in the areas from which shelling is coming. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian
Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of Enerhodar, the town next to the nuclear plant that is home to its workers, claimed there was additional evidence that the shelling was coming from the Russian side. “You can hear the outgoing bang of the shooting and then the two or three seconds later the shell lands, so it is coming from very close and there aren’t any Ukrainian forces that close,” Orlov said in an interview on the Ukrainian side of the lines in the city of Zaporizhzhia where he continues his duties in exile.
“My personal opinion is that this is to scare the local population so the Russians can tell them: “You see – we’re protecting you and it’s the Ukrainians who are shelling you.”
It was not possible to verify Kotin and Orlov’s accounts of the shelling, or the counter-claims from Moscow. Satellite imagery however, has confirmed that the Russian army is storing military equipment inside the plant.
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## bsnub

> Insist away, nutters


You really are an idiot if you are implying that the Ukrainians are actually shelling the power plant. Many sources have documented that the shells come from Russian held territory. You useful idiots really are loathsome creatures. 

 ::chitown:: 

More than a dozen explosions rattled Europe's largest nuclear power  plant over the weekend, as renewed shelling around the Ukrainian  facility rekindled fears of a possible accident — or even a deliberate  strike — that could cause a catastrophic release of radiation. The shelling around Ukraine's  sprawling, Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant came as  the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International  Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned in a "60 Minutes" interview that "urgent action" was needed to ease the "unprecedented" security threat posed by fighting around the facility.

*In  an exclusive interview, one of the workers held hostage by the Russian  forces who've controlled the plant for months told CBS News the latest  shelling had caused serious damage to the plant, and he said it appeared  to have been a planned attack on the facility.

He said the angle  and direction from which the shells came indicated they were fired from  Russian military positions, not Ukrainian forces on the other side of  the nearby front lines. The worker, who CBS News cannot identify due to  the threat that he and his colleagues have worked under since Russia  seized the plant early in its war on Ukraine, said he believed Russian  forces had also detonated an explosive inside the facility.*

Some shells fell perilously close to the plant's nuclear reactors  over the weekend, and a storage building containing radioactive waste  was damaged. The explosions prompted IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi to  warn that whoever was lobbing shells at the plant was taking "huge  risks and gambling with many people's lives."

       "We were fortunate a potentially serious nuclear incident did not happen. Next time, we may not be so lucky," Grossi warned in a statement on Sunday. He said it was a "close call."
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukraine's armed forces of causing the blasts, without offering any evidence.

        "This cannot but cause our concern," Peskov told reporters on Monday.  "We call on all countries of the world to use their influence so that  the Ukrainian armed forces stop doing this."

The Zaporizhzhia  plant worker told CBS News he believed Russia had attacked the plant in  an act of sabotage, intended to make it useless in the event Ukraine's slowly advancing forces should manage to retake the facility.

 More than a dozen explosions rattled Europe's largest nuclear power  plant over the weekend, as renewed shelling around the Ukrainian  facility rekindled fears of a possible accident — or even a deliberate  strike — that could cause a catastrophic release of radiation. The shelling around Ukraine's  sprawling, Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant came as  the head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International  Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned in a "60 Minutes" interview that "urgent action" was needed to ease the "unprecedented" security threat posed by fighting around the facility.

In  an exclusive interview, one of the workers held hostage by the Russian  forces who've controlled the plant for months told CBS News the latest  shelling had caused serious damage to the plant, and he said it appeared  to have been a planned attack on the facility.

He said the angle  and direction from which the shells came indicated they were fired from  Russian military positions, not Ukrainian forces on the other side of  the nearby front lines. The worker, who CBS News cannot identify due to  the threat that he and his colleagues have worked under since Russia  seized the plant early in its war on Ukraine, said he believed Russian  forces had also detonated an explosive inside the facility.

 

This  photo taken on September 11, 2022 shows a member of the Russian  security forces standing in front of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power  Plant in Enerhodar, in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.                                                      STRINGER/AFP/Getty                                       Some shells fell perilously close  to the plant's nuclear reactors over the weekend, and a storage  building containing radioactive waste was damaged. The explosions  prompted IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi to warn that whoever was  lobbing shells at the plant was taking "huge risks and gambling with  many people's lives."

       "We were fortunate a potentially serious nuclear incident did not happen. Next time, we may not be so lucky," Grossi warned in a statement on Sunday. He said it was a "close call."
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukraine's armed forces of causing the blasts, without offering any evidence.

        "This cannot but cause our concern," Peskov told reporters on Monday.  "We call on all countries of the world to use their influence so that  the Ukrainian armed forces stop doing this."
The Zaporizhzhia  plant worker told CBS News he believed Russia had attacked the plant in  an act of sabotage, intended to make it useless in the event Ukraine's slowly advancing forces should manage to retake the facility.

           Russian forces have held the plant's workers — at gunpoint according to some reports —  for months. They have effectively tried to steal the plant's power  capacity by linking it to Russia's national power grid, but they've  failed. The worker said he believed Moscow's "plan B" was to simply  sabotage the Zaporizhzhia plant, which has sat largely idle for months,  so Ukraine can't use it either. 

Given the amount of radioactive  material still at the facility, however, that's an incredibly dangerous  gambit. The staffer told CBS News the occupying Russian forces were  behaving like "monkeys playing with hand grenades." He blamed them for  all of the damage, not just over the weekend, but in a series of attacks  since the spring. 

             If one of the plant's nuclear reactors is seriously damaged, the  world will know about it quickly, he said, because it would likely spark  an immediate nuclear catastrophe. 

It's an unprecedented thing, really, in so many ways," Grossi told  Lesley Stahl about the threat around the Zaporizhzhia plant for this  week's "60 Minutes."

"This place is at the front line, which makes the whole thing so volatile and in need of an urgent action," Grossi said.

Before  the war, the power plant supplied about 20% of Ukraine's power, and  while its six reactors are now off-line, they still need a constant flow  of water to keep the fuel at their cores cool, and that requires a  constant supply of electricity. If they overheat, there could be a  nuclear meltdown within hours.

Shelling around the plant has cut the main electricity supply from  the nearby, Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia, multiple times, forcing  the plant to rely on diesel backup generators to keep the water flowing  for days at a time.

"And you don't want the biggest nuclear power  plant in Europe — one of the biggest in the world — to be cooled with,  basically an emergency system which is dependent on fuel," Grossi told  Stahl, "because when your diesels are out, or whatever you put in it to  make them work, then what happens? Then you have a meltdown. Then you  have a big radiological nuclear emergency or an accident, and this is  what we are trying to prevent."

Ukraine, its international  partners in Washington and Europe and the United Nations, have all urged  Russia to pull its military forces out of the Zaporizhzhia plant for  months so a demilitarized zone can be established around the facility.  Moscow has given no indication so far that it's contemplating such a  move.

             "I'm not giving up until this zone has become a reality," Grossi said  on Sunday. "As the ongoing apparent shelling demonstrates, it is needed  more than ever."  

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine...ea-close-call/

----------


## bsnub

Retired U.S. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges predicted on Monday that  Ukraine's army will be able to seize control of the occupied Crimea  peninsula by August 2023 as the war-torn country continues to counter  Russia's ongoing invasion.Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, said Sunday that Ukrainian forces attacked a purported hotel base for members of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group and killed many of its members.

In light of the report, which _Newsweek_ was not able to independently verify, Hodges wrote on Twitter  that Ukraine will "continue to pound" Russian headquarters and lines of  communication over the next few weeks through February. This is so that  Ukraine can set the conditions for freeing Crimea from Russian control,  which Hodges described as the "decisive phase of the campaign."

"I expect them to liberate Crimea by August," tweeted Hodges, who is also the former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe.

Russia illegally annexed Crimea  in 2014, though Western countries have continued to assert that the  peninsula is part of Ukraine. The same goes for the several regions of  Ukraine—Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson—that Russian  President Vladimir Putin annexed in late September. Foreign governments such as the United States have called this purported annexation illegal and illegitimate, refusing to recognize those Ukrainian regions as part of Russia.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed that his country will free Crimea and all other Russian-occupied territory.

"This  Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe began  with Crimea and must end with Crimea - with its liberation," Zelensky  said in an August 9 address. "Today it is impossible to say when this  will happen. But we are constantly adding the necessary components to  the formula of liberation of Crimea."

Explosions were reported  last week in Crimea, after which the governor of Sevastopol, the  peninsula's largest city, said that Russian forces shot down a drone  over the Black Sea.

This is only one instance of reported explosions on the peninsula in recent months amid the war in Ukraine. A series of explosions rocked a Russian airbase in Crimea in August, and several days later, another series of blasts hit an ammunition depot in Crimea and caused it to catch fire.

Additionally, an explosion in October damaged the Kerch Strait Bridge  that connects Russia to the Crimean peninsula and acts a key supply  route for Putin's troops. Moscow blamed Ukraine for the blast, though  Ukraine has not formally taken responsibility.

_Newsweek_ reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry for comment.

https://www.newsweek.com/retired-lt-...crimea-1766437

----------


## misskit

Putin cancels annual marathon year-end TV news conference

President Vladimir Putin will not hold his traditional televised year-end news conference this month, the Kremlin said on Monday, 10 months into Russia's stuttering invasion of Ukraine.

The event is a staple of Putin's calendar, giving him the chance to showcase his command of issues and his stamina as he sits alone on a stage in a large auditorium for a question-and-answer session with reporters that can last more than four hours.


But the war, which began on Feb. 24, has not gone well for Putin. His forces were beaten back from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on, and have suffered major battlefield setbacks in the east and south of Ukraine.


Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked in a call with reporters whether a date had been set for this year's "big news conference", and replied: "No, there won't be one before the new year."

He said Putin would find other ways to communicate with journalists, noting that he had held other news conferences, including on his trips abroad.

Last Friday, Putin answered questions from reporters during a visit to the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.


Peskov said the Kremlin would advise later on a date for another annual set piece, Putin's annual speech to both houses of Russia's parliament, similar to the U.S. president's annual State of the Union address.


Putin also traditionally holds a mammoth televised call-in every year with members of the public, called "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin", which was last held in June 2021.


Last year's year-end news conference took place on Dec. 23, almost exactly two months before the invasion began, as the Kremlin was denying Ukrainian and U.S. accusations that tens of thousands of Russian troops massing near the border presaged an invasion.


Putin used the occasion to say Russia wanted to avoid conflict with Ukraine and the West, but needed an "immediate" response from the United States and its allies to its demands for security guarantees.

Putin cancels annual marathon year-end TV news conference

----------


## harrybarracuda

Doesn't take four hours to say "I'm a c u n t and everyone wants me dead".

----------


## Takeovers

> Many sources have documented that the shells come from Russian held territory.


But the Russians are arguing that those missiles come from ukrainian positions, then do a u-turn to pretend they come from russian positions.

Drones could do that, but these are missiles which can not.

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## HermantheGerman

Looks like Santa Claus ain't coming to town. I hope OhOh will be o.k.

*Putin cancels annual year-end news conference: Kremlin*_The break in tradition comes as Russias war in Ukraine falters and its economy struggles under the weight of sanctions._



Putler is shitting in his pants afraid of people and questions. 
I know OhOh really likes this "Come sit on my lap I got some BS to tell you" conference.

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## bsnub

> But the Russians are arguing that those missiles come from ukrainian positions, then do a u-turn to pretend they come from russian positions.


Yes, I saw that too. Utterly laughable to say the least.

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## HermantheGerman

Let me cheer up the "Three Stooges" and reminisce about Putler. Just look how this asshole is posting himself. Can you see the Three Stooges noses up his ass?



Look what I found you silly cunts who believe everything I say or do.





Fish has been dead for 24 hours


I wear a watch and a suit on the shooting range. 



Ready to fall on my ass...like always.


Putler will have to torch himself like Hitler, or else people will desecrate his grave.

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## Iceman123

> Putler will have to torch himself like Hitler, or else people will desecrate his grave.


Very clever, Hitler was, shot himself dead then torched himself.
Jaysus, Are you dumb or dumber?

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## Neverna

August next year? Wow. One side will either run out of ammo or run out of men before that. Take your pick.

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## sabang

Prime minister Denys Shmyhal says western air defence systems needed to counter Russian attacks and stop people from fleeing





The US MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile system of the sort needed to knock out Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid. Photograph: Tytus Żmijewski/EPA





_Dan Sabbagh in London and Jennifer Rankin in Brussels_
Tue 13 Dec 2022 05.39 AEDT


Ukraine has called for the west to supply Patriot missiles batteries and other modern air defence systems, amid growing concern that attacks by Russia on its electricity grid could prompt a new wave of refugees from the wartorn country.

The country’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, speaking on Monday before a Ukraine humanitarian aid conference the following day in Paris, said Russia wanted “to trigger another wave of migration toward Europe” during the depths of winter.

So far the US has resisted supplying Ukraine with the sophisticated air defence systems, while a recent attempt by Poland to get Germany to deploy a Patriot battery into the country was rejected by Berlin.


Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, also pressed US leader Joe Biden for more help in protecting the country’s battered energy grid in a Sunday night phone call, although he did not publicly specify what weapons he wanted. Waves of Russian attacks since October had destroyed 50% of the network, he added.

“The President also emphasised the importance of capable air defence. Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on President Biden to do everything possible to help protect the civilian population of Ukraine and its critical infrastructure,” Kyiv said in its readout of the conversation between the two.

The White House emphasised in its readout that the US had authorised a further $275m of military aid on Friday, including rockets for the Himars artillery system. But the Pentagon has shown no sign of approving the export of Patriots, best known for knocking out Iraqi Scud missiles in the first Gulf war.

On Monday afternoon, Zelenskiy addressed a virtual meeting of G7 leaders, where he warned that Russia “still has the advantage in artillery and missiles” and he called for modern tanks, long-range missiles – and an extra “two billion cubic meters of gas” to make up for shortfalls in electricity supply. But while G7 leaders agreed in a post-meeting statement that there should be “an immediate focus on providing Ukraine with air defence systems and capabilities”, Germany, the holder of the G7 presidency, said specific weapons deliveries to Ukraine were not on the agenda.

Overnight, all non-critical infrastructure in the port city of Odesa was without power. Two people were killed in Russian shelling of the recently liberated city of Kherson, and another two died after a rocket attack on the town of Hirnyk in the Donetsk region, in the east of the country.

In London, former prime minister Boris Johnson took another tack, calling on the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, in the Commons to arm Ukraine with long range ATACMS missiles to “take out” the launch sites of Russian drones and missiles that are currently battering the country’s civilians and its power grid.

Long sought by the Ukrainians, the missiles have a range of up to 300km, but so far the US and its allies, including the UK, have declined to supply them because they could be used to hit targets inside Russia. Supplying them would help “bring the war to an end as soon as possible”, Johnson said.

Wallace did not rule anything out, saying that continued targeting of the electricity grid by Russia may prompt a change of policy: “Should the Russians continue to target civilian areas and try and break those Geneva conventions, then I will be open-minded to seeing what we do next.”

An under pressure electricity network and plunging temperatures are already prompting increased refugee flows out of Ukraine. Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, said the number of refugees in the country “has risen to some 3 million” after talks with his German counterpart in Berlin.

The head of Norway’s refugee council also predicted that “hundreds of thousands more” will be forced to leave Ukraine. Jan Egeland said he feared “the crisis in Europe will deepen” as the “the horrific and unlawful bombing of civilian infrastructure makes life unliveable in too many places.”

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed an extra €2bn (£1.7bn) for a fund that has been used to supply Ukraine with weapons, to replenish the European peace facility that was established last year with €5bn.

The €2bn topup was approved despite concerns about Hungary’s “blackmail diplomacy”, after Budapest blocked an €18bn financial aid package for Ukraine last week. Hungary has previously signed off on the EU weapons fund for Ukraine, although it does not allow arms to pass through its territory.

The EU is discussing its ninth round of sanctions against Russia, which include bans on the sale of drones and parts. Officials are concerned that Iranian weapons used in Ukraine, including drones, are being part manufactured in Europe – and it agreed to sanction four Iranian military leaders and four organisations it said were supplying drones to Russia.

Ukraine calls for Patriot missiles to defend its grid and stop rise in refugees | Ukraine | The Guardian

----------


## Norton

> Ukraine calls for Patriot missiles to defend its grid


Very good long range ballistic missile defense system but at 1 billion per system and 3 mil per missile damn pricey.

----------


## helge

> Very good long range ballistic missile defense system but at 1 billion per system and 3 mil per missile damn pricey.


Zelensky will pay you back.

Lend and Lease

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## Norton

> Zelensky will pay you back.
> 
> Lend and Lease


Back when I was gainfully employed selling Patriot to our friends in Asia we had no worries about payment. Our good Uncle Sam kindly paid us upfront.  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

Russia has already been using the tactic of firing dummy missiles to deplete Ukrainian anti-missile ammo- and at a cool $1mm a pop, it's pretty certain they will take the same approach with the Patriot system, and try to expose their location in the process- they will obviously be high value targets. Reckon a more sensible approach would be a numerically higher supply of manpads, Stingers and so on- cheaper, more portable systems. I don't think the much vaunted Patriot has much efficacy against those hypersonic missiles, either- we have no answer for them yet.

----------


## Norton

The US position on Patriot has gone from an absolute no to what now appears a yes. A political rather than practical action imo. Cost aside, nearly 100 trained troops needed to man a single system so will take months to get the systems operational.




> expose their location in the process


This really not a problem. The system is highly mobile and has very sophisticated electronics to prevent detection.




> efficacy against those hypersonic missiles, either


Don't know if latest upgrades have solved but older versions had no capability against hypersonics.

----------


## Loy Toy

You seem to be the most neutral poster on this thread Norton, and with you background, I believe you can offer your logical opinion regarding how things are progressing.

With the decision by the US, and to supply Ukraine with more affective weapons, do you believe this will make any difference to achieving a quicker end to this conflict?

----------


## sabang

Maybe the chief dudes at Raytheon were complaining "we're not getting enough of the Ukraine pie".

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## malmomike77

> Cost aside, nearly 100 trained troops needed to man a single system so will take months to get the systems operational.


I take it its not really kept pace with modern computer developments, jesus  :Smile:  or are the missiles really heavy

----------


## Norton

> I take it its not really kept pace with modern computer developments, jesus  or are the missiles really heavy


Lot of moving parts mate. Drivers, maintenance guys, command and control guys, launcher placement guys and a few semi useless commissioned officers.  :Smile:

----------


## malmomike77

> Lot of moving parts mate. Drivers, maintenance guys, command and control guys, launcher placement guys and a few semi useless commissioned officers.


erm




> The system is highly mobile and has very sophisticated electronics to prevent detection.


aside from the group of 100 assorted blokes  :Smile:  




> a few semi useless commissioned officers.


Ruperts

----------


## Norton

> Maybe the chief dudes at Raytheon were complaining "we're not getting enough of the Ukraine pie".


Always mate. Just the way it is and has been for decades. Ike warned us and we the people have dropped the ball. The military industrial complex which includes Congress has established a very profitable "military welfare" program. As long as we the people remain convinced via fear of "enemies" we will continue to allow our elected officials the freedom to continue.

----------


## Norton

> With the decision by the US, and to supply Ukraine with more affective weapons, do you believe this will make any difference to achieving a quicker end to this conflict?


Not really. Will provide a morale boost to the Ukraine but this war is far from over and won't be until either Russia or Ukraine/NATO find it politically impossible to continue. At the moment, neither side is in a rush so the carnage on both sides will continue.

----------


## bsnub

Shaping the battle space for the coming winter offensive. 

KYIV,  Ukraine — Ukraine is stepping up efforts to isolate and degrade Russian  forces in and around the strategically vital city of Melitopol, ahead  of what is widely expected to be the next major phase of the war, a  Ukrainian offensive to drive Russian forces from southern Ukraine.

Kyiv  has been using long-range precision missile strikes, sabotage missions  and targeted assassinations to home in on the city, which lies about 40  miles behind the front lines in the Zaporizhzhia region. Melitopol is  known as the gateway to Crimea because of its location at the crossroads  of two major highways and a crucial rail line linking Russia to that  peninsula and other territory it occupies in southern Ukraine.

A  bridge in Melitopol across the Molochna River was sabotaged Monday  night — an act that both Ukrainian and Russian officials attributed to  Kyiv’s forces — with video showing that two pillars supporting the span  had been blown up. The bridge’s destruction compromised a key Russian  supply route to Melitopol from the south.

Both  Ukrainian and Russian officials have acknowledged the recent Ukrainian  strikes and attempts to hit Russian command centers, ammunition depots  and supply routes in Melitopol, whose prewar population was about  150,000. The aftermaths of some of the recent attacks have been captured  on video broadcast on social media by Russian soldiers.

It  is not clear whether the strikes were intended as a prelude to an  offensive or a distraction as Ukrainian forces prepare to attack the  Russians from a different direction. But military analysts described  them as significant and said they fit with a pattern of Ukraine’s using  precision missiles to strike Russian logistical targets.

Melitopol  is a key hub, and regaining control over it could help Ukraine’s forces  take back not only the full Zaporizhzhia region, but also the rest of  neighboring Kherson. That could then potentially even give them a path  to drive Russian forces all the way back to Crimea, which the Russians  had controlled prior to the invasion.

“All  this hangs completely on Melitopol,” Oleksiy Arestovych, a top adviser  to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said over the weekend. “If Melitopol  falls, the entire Russian defense up to Kherson collapses, and the  Ukrainian armed forces jump right to the border with Crimea.”

Since being routed in northeastern Ukraine and forced to retreat from the southern port city of Kherson,  Russian forces have fought to fortify defensive positions across a  front line that stretches for hundreds of miles. Ukrainian forces  continue to advance slowly in the south, but the most intense fighting  has been in the east, where Russian forces are trying to seize the city  of Bakhmut and Moscow continues to hurl soldiers into the battle.

“It  seems that the enemy has an infinite human resource,” Volodymyr  Nazarenko, a deputy commander in a Ukrainian National Guard unit  fighting in the area, told Ukrainian media. “The front line areas of  Bakhmut have been completely destroyed. The rest of the city is under  constant enemy fire, the enemy is destroying the city.”

At the same time, Belarus — Ukraine’s  neighbor to the north and the Kremlin’s closest ally — ordered a  surprise assessment of the combat readiness of its armed forces. Russia  used Belarus as a jumping-off point for its invasion in February, and  there have been persistent concerns that it could do so again, possibly  with Belarus’s own military joining in.

The  State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had not  detected units on the border with Belarus that were capable of carrying  out an invasion at this time.

“We will  observe how the situation develops, including how close these units  will come to the border with Ukraine,” Andriy Demchenko, a spokesman for  the border guard, said at a news conference.

Ukraine  also braced for another large-scale assault on its energy  infrastructure, with President Volodymyr Zelensky warning the nation  that more strikes are likely.

“The  absence of large-scale missile strikes only means that the enemy is  preparing for them and can strike at any time,” he said.

Prime  Minister Denys Shmyhal of Ukraine was in Paris on Tuesday for a one-day  summit that drew more than $1 billion in short-term international  commitments to help Ukrainians survive the winter by repairing  electricity, heating, water and health care infrastructure devastated by  the Russian bombardment.

“The  whole country is forced to live in conditions when electricity is  available only few hours a day,” he said. “And all this happens in  wintertime with subzero temperatures.”

Mr.  Zelensky said blackouts are the “last hope” of the Russians as they  flail on the battlefield. The Ukrainian military has made it clear that  it does not want to give Russian forces time to regroup and recover,  hitting Russian positions across occupied Ukraine. Some of the most  notable strikes have been around Melitopol.

Melitopol  was one of the first cities that Russian forces seized early in the  war, an essential piece of their coveted land bridge along the Sea of  Azov, linking the two areas of Ukraine they or their proxies had  captured in 2014: Crimea, in the south, and parts of the Donbas region  in the east.

Capturing the city and  its transportation hubs would sever that bridge and make it harder to  resupply and reinforce Russian forces in southern Ukraine, but taking it  is a tall order. The nearest terrain held by Ukrainian forces is about  40 miles north of Melitopol.

On Sunday, the Melitopol Christian Church — which the city’s exiled mayor said was being used as a Russian base — had gone up in flames. The mayor, Ivan Fedorov, alluded to the episode on Sunday as “fireworks in the east of Melitopol.”

Videos  released by the Russian state news media of rescuers at the scene  indicated that even as Russian forces worked to extinguish the blaze at  the church, they were still recovering from explosions in and around the  city over the weekend. Residents reported at least 10 large explosions  on Saturday night and Sunday morning, although it was not clear whether  some of those were Russian air defenses at work.

In one instance, several blasts hit a hotel and restaurant complex  on the outskirts of the city, according to Ukrainian officials and  video of the aftermath. Mr. Fedorov said that the facility, known as the  Hunter’s Halt, was being used by Russian intelligence and that dozens  of Russian soldiers had been killed, with hundreds more wounded and  evacuated to Crimea for medical care.

His full account could not be independently confirmed. But Evgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed head of the part of the Zaporizhzhia region that Russia claimed to annex in September,  confirmed the strike at the complex, saying that the facility had been  hit while “peaceful citizens” were eating on Saturday evening.

He  said that two people had been killed and 10 injured, and that the  recreation center had been destroyed. Video from the scene showed  several victims, with the complex engulfed in flames.

Last  week, the Kremlin-appointed deputy head of Melitopol survived an  assassination attempt, Russian state media reported — the latest in a  string of attacks on Moscow’s proxy administrators in occupied Ukraine.  An explosive detonated near the Melitopol official, Nikolai Volyk, as he  was leaving his home, according to the state-run News agency RIA  Novosti.

On Tuesday afternoon, a loud  explosion was reported in the center of the city, Mr. Federov said in a  statement. The explosion was followed by sustained gunfire, he said. It  was not immediately clear what might have been targeted, as Russian  forces immediately blocked roads in the area.

Natalia, a retiree who lives in  Melitopol, said she started to see a large influx of Russian soldiers in  the southern city in late November. They took over schools, she said,  and she saw Russian soldiers moving in weapons and heavy artillery to  positions in and around the city.

“So many of them everywhere,” said Natalia, who asked that her last name be withheld out of concern for her safety.

Natalia  also has a house outside the city and said she had watched as Russian  planes and helicopters flew so low over the area that she could see “Z”  painted on them, referring to the letter that has become a symbol of support for the invasion.

In early December, Russian forces nearly closed all access in and out of the city, said Mr. Fedorov, the exiled mayor.

In a hunt for partisans — guerrilla fighters and others  working for the Ukrainian war effort — Russian forces have set up  several roadblocks and are searching cars and people, Mr. Fedorov said.

After  each explosion, Mr. Federov said, Russian forces go house to house. If  they find any Ukrainian symbols or weapons, even hunting guns, they take  the residents in for questioning and detain some of them at length.

Many prisoners, he said, are now being forced to help dig trenches around Melitopol.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/13/w...melitopol.html

----------


## sabang

Ukraine has ratcheted up its campaign against a branch of the Eastern Orthodox church with ties to Russia. On the order of President Volodymyr Zelensky, seven senior clerics from the Russian Orthodox church will have their assets seized and face bans on a range of economic and legal activities.

During his nightly video address on Sunday, the Ukrainian president said “by decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, sanctions were applied against seven people,” adding that his administration is “doing everything to ensure that the aggressor state does not have a single string of Ukrainian society to pull.”

According to Reuters, the new penalties mean that the seven clerics will have “their assets seized and are subject to a ban on a range of economic and legal activities as well as a de facto travel ban.”

The vast majority of Ukrainians belong to Eastern Orthodox churches, with many worshiping in parishes that take direction from the Moscow Patriarchate. On December 1, Zelensky announced that Kiev would attempt to expel all religious institutions with ties to Russia, arguing the move would make “it impossible for religious organizations affiliated with centers of influence in the Russian Federation to operate in Ukraine.”

The president went on the claim that the Russian Orthodox Church poses a threat to Ukrainian culture, saying “we will never allow anyone to build an empire inside the Ukrainian soul.” He additionally denounced Ukrainians who continue to attend the allegedly Russia-controlled parishes as succumbing to “the temptation of evil.”

Kiev has conducted a series of raids on Russian Orthodox parishes and claims to have uncovered clerics attempting to subvert the Ukrainian government, though has provided little evidence to support its assertions. Nonetheless, Kiev sanctioned 10 top clerics of the church last week, suggesting they threatened ”the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

Kiev Seizes Assets of Russian Orthodox Clerics | The Libertarian Institute

----------


## misskit

*Who will win in Ukraine? It may be whoever runs out of ammo last*

he war in Ukraine has turned into a lethal artillery duel and whichever side can produce the most ammunition for the big guns on the battlefield could have the edge in the conflict, U.S. officials and military analysts say.


In its scramble for firepower, Russia is using ammunition that is half a century old and dismantling breast pumps and kitchen appliances to get microchips it needs for tanks and precision-guided weapons.


Ukraine, for its part, is relying on the United States and other NATO allies to keep up the flow of arms and ammunition, but those stockpiles have been stretched 10 months into the war.


Both militaries are burning through thousands of artillery rounds a day and are facing challenges to secure more supplies to keep up the fight. The struggle for ammunition pits Russia’s defense industry — largely isolated by Western sanctions — against Ukraine’s war-damaged economy and its supporters in NATO.

To fuel its war effort, Russia is now drawing on stockpiles of 40- to 50-year-old ammunition, including 152 mm artillery rounds that are in short supply, four current U.S. officials and one former official said.

The former official said Russia has been reduced to using less sophisticated “stupid bombs,” and short of resorting to nuclear weapons is nearly depleted of capabilities.


It remains unclear exactly how many artillery rounds and other ammunition Russia has left in its stockpiles, and how quickly its defense industry can churn out new ammunition. Top U.S. intelligence officials repeatedly have asserted that Russian forces are using up ammunition faster than it can be produced, but have not offered estimates about Ukraine’s supplies.


Military experts disagree on when Russia might run out of ammunition, with estimates ranging from a few months to more than a year.


Russia’s “defense industrial base is still intact. It’s under a lot of strain from sanctions, but it’s still intact,” said Dara Massicot, a senior policy researcher at the Rand Corp. think tank.


“Russia is trying to grab hold of the reins of their defense industry right now and make it produce more.”

Russian factories are increasing production, moving to multiple shifts and bringing additional capacity online, said Paul Schwartz, a research scientist focusing on Russia’s military at the Center for Naval Analyses think tank.


But it will be difficult to produce ammunition at levels sufficient to keep up with how much is being used on the battlefield, he said. U.S. defense officials said last month that Russia is burning through a staggering 20,000 rounds a day, and Ukraine about 4,000 to 7,000 a day.


“It’ll be a challenge for them,” Schwartz said. “I would rather be in Ukraine’s position with the full backing of the NATO alliance.”

Unlike more advanced weapons, artillery ammunition requires no sophisticated electronics that are subject to Western sanctions. But Russia’s machine industry has declined over the years, and it’s not clear if major increases in production would require more efficient, higher quality machinery from outside the country, according to Schwartz. 


Military experts said securing enough explosive accelerant to fill the artillery shells could also present a potential bottleneck for ambitious production plans.


It’s an open question how the contest over ammunition production will play out, Massicot and other experts said.


“This is now a clash of sustainment and sustainment systems,” she said. “How much longer can Ukraine’s supporters dig deep, and keep supporting at current levels? And then on the Russian side, how well can their defense industrial base really perform?”


When Russian forces invaded Feb. 24, Ukraine found itself in a vulnerable position when it came to artillery ammunition supplies, due to a damaging sabotage campaign over several years.


From 2014 to 2018, six explosions destroyed more than 210,00 tons of ammunition in Ukraine, including crucial 152 mm shells and rockets, according to a study for the Royal United Services Institute in London.

“That was a major constraint on Ukraine’s capability,” said Nick Reynolds, one of the authors of the report and a research analyst for land warfare at the institute.


Ukraine is able to produce a portion of its artillery ammunition for Russian-origin howitzers, though Russian attacks on the country’s power grid and infrastructure have hampered its industry. Ukraine has to rely on its foreign partners for shells that fit the new artillery pieces provided by NATO members, the experts said, and Eastern European neighbors have scoured their warehouses for Soviet-era shells. 


Keeping up the flow of arms and ammunition to Ukraine has stretched NATO member stockpiles, prompting calls for a major increase in ammunition production among Western defense companies.


Industry executives, however, say it will take time to ramp up production to a wartime tempo for conventional weapons that were seen until recently as largely irrelevant for future wars.


Given the amount of time needed to prepare for such a major change in course, Reynolds said, it took too long for NATO governments and defense firms to make plans for increasing production.


“Those conversations do seem to be happening. But they are happening very slowly. They needed to happen very quickly after the war started,” he said.

Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth said this month that the American defense industry will expand artillery ammunition production from 14,000 155mm shells a month to 20,000 by the spring and 40,000 by 2025.


Last week, the White House announced another $275 million in military aid to Ukraine, including ammunition. The U.S. already has provided more than a million rounds of artillery ammo. The Biden administration has proposed a $37.7 billion spending bill for Ukraine that it hopes will win approval in the current lame duck Congress. Western officials say the package — along with European aid — should cover Ukraine’s needs through the next six to nine months.


Ukraine also continues to ask for more advanced and longer-range systems, including ATACM long-range missiles, F-16 fighter jets and Abrams tanks. While the administration has not decided to provide any of these systems, U.S. officials say they have not ruled out providing these or other similar weapons in the future if they conclude that Ukraine needs them for the current fight. 


Colin Kahl, under secretary of defense for policy, acknowledged recently that the massive flow of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine has strained U.S. and allied supplies.


“There’s no question that it’s put pressure on our own stockpiles,” Kahl said at a virtual meeting of George Washington University’s Project for Media and National Security. “It’s put pressure on our own industrial base. That’s been true of our allies.”


The vast amount of weapons and ammunition expended in Ukraine has prompted Pentagon leaders to reexamine America’s contingency plans and stockpiles in the case of future conflicts, and to consider whether “we’ve done the right math,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit in Washington last week. Concerned that the U.S. has “vastly underestimated the amount of ammunition” the U.S. has stockpiled for the next war, Milley directed the Joint Staff to review whether the U.S. is ready to face conflicts in more than one area at a time, according to a senior U.S. military official.


Who will win in Ukraine? It may be whoever runs out of ammo last

----------


## harrybarracuda

> The US position on Patriot has gone from an absolute no to what now appears a yes. A political rather than practical action imo. Cost aside, nearly 100 trained troops needed to man a single system so will take months to get the systems operational.


I find that surprising given that we had about six batteries installed over a weekend, and you hardly ever saw anyone on site once they were in place.

----------


## bsnub

But I thought they were such good friends?  :rofl: 

Beijing has reportedly banned the supply of military-grade processors  to Russia produced by Chinese company Loongson, in a potential setback  to Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.

Sanctions imposed since the start of Vladimir Putin's  invasion have driven out many western companies from Russia and forced  Moscow to look for new suppliers for crucial electronic components,  including those for its weapons.

Russian manufacturers had been  testing Chinese-made processors to replace those produced by companies  like Intel, which had suspended deliveries, the Russian business  newspaper _Kommersant_ reported.

But  a source from Russia's ministry of digital development told the outlet  that the Chinese government had banned the sale and export of the  processors due to their strategic importance for China's own military.

While Russian companies "were not very dependent on Chinese  processors" they had "hoped to switch to Loongson solutions," the source  told the newspaper.

Another source told the paper that the  Chinese government had banned the export of Loongson processors to all  countries, including Russia. "The best chipsets in China are used in the  military-industrial complex, which is the main reason why they are not  available for foreign markets," they said.

Marina Miron, a research fellow from the Defense Studies Department at King's College London (KCL) said any export ban by China  will further affect Russia's ability to compete in the technological  sector, forcing it to look for alternatives and increase its domestic  capacity to produce microchips.

"That said, this move was not specifically designed to target Russia. Rather this ban concerns much broader targets," she told _Newsweek_, adding that it should not cause any significant breakdown of Russia's technological capacity.

"Although  Russia did not integrate the Loongson processors into its ecosystem, it  will still have to look for alternatives to fill the gap until Russia  reaches the necessary production capacity," she said.

Microchips  have been an issue for Russia since the first set of sanctions imposed  for its annexation of Crimea in 2014. These have impacted its  military-industrial complex and caused a lag in its production of  high-precision weapons.

"This ban is not likely to cause any more severe disruptions, given that Russia has been suffering from this shortage for almost a decade, leading to adaptation," Miron said.

Miron noted that Russia still has companies like MCST that produce  Elbrus processors, which were made in Taiwan, but production was shifted  to its plant in Zelenograd after the war started.

"So, there is  an indication that Russian tech companies will try to keep manufacturing  abroad, and if that is not possible, they will try to bring the  expertise back home," she said.

Vitaly Mankevich, chair of the Russian-Asian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RASPP) told _Kommersant_  there was no official Chinese government statement regarding the  Loongson ban and that in any case, Beijing would not draw attention to  sales to Russia. However, he added there were still ways to purchase  such products, "including through third parties, smaller companies."

Chinse president Xi Jinping is Putin's most important ally  and has stayed neutral on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Despite its  status as Russia's major trading partner, Beijing has so far respected  sanctions such as export controls at Russia's military and has not tried  to sell military hardware or components.

In March, U.S. Commerce  Secretary Gina Raimondo warned that Chinese companies that defied U.S.  restrictions against exporting to Russia would be cut off from American  equipment and software they need to make their products.

_Newsweek_ reached out to Loongson, the Chinese foreign ministry, and Russia's digital development ministry for comment.

----------


## HermantheGerman

> Very clever, Hitler was, shot himself dead then torched himself.
> Jaysus, Are you dumb or dumber?


Hey Numb Brain!

Do you want to start a thread about Hitler and euthanasia?  :smiley laughing: 


Don't forget to look up euthanasia before you answer  :rofl:

----------


## Neverna

> China Deals Hammer Blow to Russia's War Effort
> 
> But I thought they were such good friends? 
> 
> Beijing has reportedly banned the supply of military-grade processors  to Russia produced by Chinese company Loongson, in a potential setback  to Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.


China will be saving them for a future conflict with Taiwan.

----------


## bsnub

> China will be saving them for a future conflict with Taiwan.


Not going to happen.

----------


## Shutree

> Not going to happen.


I know there is another thread for this stuff but China continues to ratchet up tensions. They have recently blocked imports of various Taiwanese alcoholic drinks and yesterday saw a record number of nuclear-capable bombers passing through Taiwan's Air Defence Identification Zone.

----------


## bsnub

> I know there is another thread for this stuff but China continues to ratchet up tensions.


They can ratchet tensions up all they want, it is a far cry from attempting an amphibious invasion of Taiwan. China is good at puffing its chest out, but at the end of the day, Xi sees what is happening to Putin in Ukraine, and he wants no part of something similar.

----------


## Neverna

If China does it, it will be when China is ready and not before. That time is now now, IMO.

----------


## malmomike77

> Beijing has reportedly banned the supply of military-grade processors to Russia produced by Chinese company Loongson, in a potential setback to Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.


A soundbite, Russia will obtain the kit via third parties

----------


## bsnub

> If China does it, it will be when China is ready and not before. That time is now now, IMO.


China is a paper tiger, just like Russia. It suffers from the same inherent weaknesses militarily as Russia, as their doctrine is almost identical. After seeing how horrid the Russian army is performing in Ukraine, I doubt Xi has the nuts to attempt the largest amphibious landing since D-Day. The last time China tried to invade any nation, it got its ass kicked by the Viets and was forced to retreat. They will not fare any better trying to invade Taiwan. 

That said, this is off-topic.




> A soundbite, Russia will obtain the kit via third parties


I think they used up most of the breast pumps and washing machines they stole from Ukraine.

----------


## helge

> and yesterday saw a record number of nuclear-capable bombers passing through Taiwan's Air Defence Identification Zone.


Which overlaps with China's zone and both are self declared zones without any similarity with a country's Airspace.

Have one yourself  :Smile:

----------


## Hugh Cow

> China is a paper tiger, just like Russia. It suffers from the same inherent weaknesses militarily as Russia, as their doctrine is almost identical. After seeing how horrid the Russian army is performing in Ukraine, I doubt Xi has the nuts to attempt the largest amphibious landing since D-Day. The last time China tried to invade any nation, it got its ass kicked by the Viets and was forced to retreat. They will not fare any better trying to invade Taiwan. 
> 
> That said, this is off-topic.
> 
> 
> 
> I think they used up most of the breast pumps and washing machines they stole from Ukraine.


No wonder i cant get a new toaster or air fryer.

----------


## sabang

It must really get snubski's goat that the 'paper tiger' will be bigger than the US soon. You'll have to settle for Silver- until emerging India knocks you back to Bronze that is.  :Smile:

----------


## 39TG

> If China does it, it will be when China is ready and not before. That time is now now, IMO.


No.  Two million plus Chinese are about to die from Covid.  Their health system is going to be overwhelmed.  

And the Americans, God bless them, are showing they will do whatever it takes for Putin to lose in Ukraine.

----------


## sabang

So you reckon they will actually overtake the US in the Covid Stakes? A real late runner. Alhough of course to overtake the US on a per capita basis, they would need over 3 million Covid deaths.

----------


## bsnub

> It must really get snubski's goat that the 'paper tiger' will be bigger than the US soon.


Along comes the repetitive moronic windup doll.

----------


## sabang

A paper doll?  ::chitown::

----------


## 39TG

> So you reckon they will actually overtake the US in the Covid Stakes? A real late runner. Alhough of course to overtake the US on a per capita basis, they would need over 3 million Covid deaths.


I didn't read up on it but I'm guessing the Chinese vaccines are say 20% plus less effective than the ones available outside China and I understand they have a larger percentage of unvaccinated older folks.  Add in the population densities in their cities, not so flash health system, and government mismanagement and I think disaster beckons.  2023 is going to be a bummer (China and Ukraine).

----------


## misskit

*Russia warns of "consequences" if U.S. sends Patriot missiles to Ukraine*

Russia on Thursday warned of "consequences" if the U.S. sends the Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, AP reports.


The big picture: Ukraine has pressed the U.S. and its allies to deliver more advanced weapons to counter Russian missiles, which have destroyed much of the country's critical infrastructure, including its energy facilities.


U.S. media reported this week that Washington was expected to soon announce plans to send the Patriot missile battery to Ukraine. If the reported plans go ahead, it would be the most advanced weaponry sent to Ukraine since the war began.
What they're saying: Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a weekly briefing that the U.S. had "effectively become a party" to the war in Ukraine, per AP.


Ramping up U.S. military assistance, including the transfer of these weapons, "would mean even broader involvement of military personnel in the hostilities and could entail possible consequences," she added, without going into details.
What to watch: UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned on Thursday that further strikes on Ukraine's infrastructure could "lead to a further serious deterioration in the humanitarian situation and spark more displacement."


He said more than "10 million consumers -- including families, businesses, hospitals, and schools -- are facing cuts in electricity, and millions are cut off from a regular supply of water and heat."

Just a moment...

----------


## sabang

A former US official described the plan as 'classic mission creep'

by Dave DeCamp Posted onDecember 14, 2022 

The Pentagon is discussing the possibility of sending a small number of additional troops to Ukraine to step up the tracking of weapons being sent into the country, _NBC News_ reported on Monday.


Back in October, the Pentagon said that US military personnel based at the US embassy in Kyiv began conducting “onsite” weapons inspections in Ukraine. According to _NBC_, the US currently has a couple of dozen troops inside Ukraine, including a small number involved in tracking weapons.
The current tracking effort involves traveling outside of Kyiv to scan bar codes on weapons and other supplies, although US officials say the US troops are not traveling to the frontlines.


The _NBC_ report said that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is considering increasing this small troop presence to enhance the oversight mission but also to ensure there are “experts in country to help Ukraine use critical weapons systems,” signaling they may be doing more than tracking weapons.


_POLITICO_ reported Wednesday that the US is considering other measures to increase oversight, including relying on Ukrainian troops to do their own inspections. Citing a State Department cable from September, POLITICO said the US was struggling to track weapons and was preparing to hire an unnamed private firm to launch a three-year initiative to aid in oversight.


“Above all, kinetic activity and active combat between Ukrainian and Russian forces create an environment in which standard verification measures are sometimes impracticable or impossible,” US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said in the cable.


Senior US officials speaking to _NBC_ insisted that any additional US troop presence would be small, likely involving only numbers in single digits. But the move would reflect Washington’s growing involvement in the war, and one former US official described the plan as “classic mission creep.”


The weapons inspectors are the only US military presence inside Ukraine that has been confirmed by the Pentagon. _The Intercept_ recently reported that US special operations forces and CIA personnel are also inside the country, but the US hasn’t officially acknowledged the covert campaign.


The Biden administration is considering enhancing weapons tracking inside Ukraine due to increasing pressure from Republicans over the lack of oversight. Even hawkish Republicans who have criticized the administration for not sending enough weapons to Ukraine say that they favor more accountability for the tens of billions the US has spent on the war.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/12/14/report-us-mulls-sending-small-number-of-troops-into-ukraine-to-track-weapons/

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Russia warns of "consequences" if U.S. sends Patriot missiles to Ukraine*


Russia warns of "consequences" if the US gives Ukraine defensive weapons.

Yeah, fuck off Vlad.

----------


## sabang

Can't really disagree on this one 'arry. Patriot is a defensive system, and a single system will only protect a limited area (downtown Kiev?). Storm in a teacup.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Can't really disagree on this one 'arry. Patriot is a defensive system, and a single system will only protect a limited area (downtown Kiev?). Storm in a teacup.


But of course Puffy sees it as limiting his ability to carry out war crimes.

----------


## misskit

A* Biden admin official recently told members of Congress that Ukraine has the military capability to take back Crimea
*
A Biden administration official recently told members of Congress that Ukraine has the military capability to retake Crimea, but some officials are concerned any large-scale offensive that threatens Russia’s hold on the peninsula could push Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons, say two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.


The late November Ukraine briefing to some members of Congress included discussion of the reasons Ukraine will continue to need U.S. weapons and equipment for the foreseeable future. The two officials said a Biden official, when asked during the briefing about continued support for the Ukrainian military and whether it would try to retake Crimea, responded that Ukraine now has the ability to take it back.


Asked about the response, a U.S. official said that Ukraine has no near-term objective to retake Crimea and that a military offensive is not imminent but did acknowledge that Ukraine has shown resilience and perseverance throughout the war. Administration officials say they believe three recent deadly drone strikes against Russian military bases were carried out by Ukrainians, although they say it’s still not clear whether the Zelenskyy government ordered them directly.


Washington and other governments have provided Kyiv with more powerful weapons, including HIMARS artillery, that have inflicted serious damage on Russian forces. U.S. and Western perceptions of Ukraine’s armed forces have changed since the February invasion, when U.S. and European officials worried Russian troops and tanks would crush their adversaries in a matter of days or weeks. Senior U.S. military officers and Western governments say Ukraine has shown ingenuity and grit in fighting a larger, better-armed military and quickly incorporated new weapons systems provided by NATO members.


The Ukrainians “continue to shock the world with how well they’re performing on the battlefield,” a U.S. official said. 

The Biden official’s apparent confidence in Ukraine’s abilities comes as the administration debates whether to grant the continued requests of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government for more powerful weaponry, like ATACMS missile systems and tanks, and as Ukraine says Russia is preparing to send 200,000 fresh troops to attack Kyiv.


A spokesperson for the National Security Council declined to comment. 


‘The red line’


No Ukrainian offensive in Crimea is believed to be imminent, officials and experts say, mainly because the current fight does not support it.


Ukraine is struggling and has lost some ground around Bakhmut in the east. The two sides are in a virtual standstill there, and U.S. officials assess that based on where the Ukrainian troops and battlefield lines are now, the Ukrainian military will move northeast in the coming months, rather than south to Crimea.


“A lot would have to happen militarily first” before Ukraine could begin a real offensive to retake Crimea, a U.S. official said. 


Some administration officials, however, are privately discussing what could happen if Ukraine launches an offensive into Crimea, which Russia has held since 2014, and U.S. officials are concerned Putin could feel backed into a corner.


“Putin may react more strongly to Crimea,” a U.S. official said. 

A central concern is that a real threat to Russian control could push Putin to use a dirty bomb or other nuclear device, one former and two current officials said. “That’s the red line,” a former U.S. official said.


Three U.S. officials stressed that the U.S. has not seen any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon or a dirty bomb right now.


In addition, a real fight for Crimea would include heavy battlefield losses on both sides, and taking it back would be a daunting task for Ukrainian forces because of the heavy Russian military presence and the difficult geography, military experts say. Bloody battles were fought over the area in the Russia civil war and World War II.


The peninsula, which juts south into the Black Sea, is connected to mainland Ukraine by a narrow isthmus. Russia has up to 70,000 troops defending the peninsula’s northern approaches, and they are dug in, two U.S. officials said.

Ukraine lacks sufficient airborne or naval forces that could launch effective attacks against the dug-in forces.


The Ukrainians would have better prospects attacking other Russian targets on the mainland in eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are more exposed, experts and a U.S. official said.


If Ukraine made more advances against Russian forces in eastern and southern Ukraine, it could be better placed to eventually strike at Crimea, experts and a U.S. official said.


Unclaimed attacks


Some Biden administration officials are already concerned about continued Ukrainian strikes inside Russia that could provoke a stronger response from Putin and spread the conflict to Ukraine’s neighbors.


A series of unclaimed attacks have targeted Russian forces in Crimea since July, including a drone strike that hit Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol and explosions at a suspected Russian ammunition dump. In October, Ukraine indirectly claimed credit for damaging the Kerch Bridge in eastern Crimea, which connects it to mainland Russia.

While administration officials believe Ukrainians carried out the three recent drone strikes against Russian bases, they don’t think they were made with drones provided by the U.S.


The White House was surprised by the strikes, two U.S. officials and a U.S. defense official said, creating a moment of frustration with the government in Kyiv, as occurred after the Kerch Bridge attack and the killing of the daughter of a close Putin ally. But other officials said that the frustration has been going on since the invasion and that in some cases it helps the U.S. to have plausible deniability about an incident.


U.S. officials concede that Ukraine has taken a series of escalatory actions against Russia without informing the U.S. or Western allies in advance.


A U.S. official said Ukraine does make its own battlefield decisions, but the White House is confident that Ukraine would not begin an extensive operation like re-taking Crimea without notifying the U.S. in advance.


Attacks deep inside Russian territory, which the Kremlin has blamed on Ukraine, have also raised concerns in Washington and European capitals that Kyiv could overplay its hand and provoke more escalatory action from Russia and derail any chance of peace talks, Western officials said.


Nuclear tensions with Russia spiked in October, but they have since calmed considerably, the officials said, and there are no U.S. intelligence assessments that Putin plans to use a nuclear weapon at this time. 


Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, held a closed briefing for House members on Ukraine on Thursday mornin

A Biden admin official recently told members of Congress that Ukraine has the military capability to take back Crimea

----------


## bsnub

HELSINKI  — Nuclear-armed submarines slip in and out of the frigid waters along  the coast of Russia’s Kola Peninsula at the northern edge of Europe.  Missiles capable of destroying cities are stored by the dozens in  bunkers burrowed into the inland hills.

Since  the Cold War, this Arctic arsenal has been protected by a combat unit  considered one of Russia’s most formidable — the 200th Separate Motor  Rifle Brigade — until it sent its best fighters and weapons to Ukraine  this year and was effectively destroyed.

The  200th was among the first units to plunge into Ukraine on Feb. 24, as  part of a fearsome assault on the city of Kharkiv. By May, the unit was  staggering back across the Russian border desperate to regroup,  according to internal brigade documents reviewed by The Washington Post  and to previously undisclosed details provided by Ukrainian andWestern military and intelligence officials.

A document detailing a mid-war inventory of its ranks shows that by late May, fewer than 900 soldiers were left in twobattalion  tactical groups that, according to Western officials, had departed the  brigade’s garrison in Russia with more than 1,400. The brigade’s  commander was badly wounded. And some of those still being counted as  part of the unit were listed as hospitalized, missing or “refuseniks”  unwilling to fight, according to the document, part of a trove of  internal Russian military files obtained by Ukraine’s security services  and provided to The Post.

The  brigade’s collapse in part reflects the difficulty of its assignment in  the war and the valiant performance of Ukraine’s military. But a closer  examination of the 200th shows that its fate was also shaped by many of  the same forces that derailed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s  invasionplans — endemic  corruption, strategic miscalculations and a Kremlin failure to grasp  the true capabilities of its own military or those of its adversary.

After  months of ceding territory and losing thousands of troops, Putin is now  trying to salvage his grandiose aims with an entire force that  resembles the 200th: badly depleted, significantly demoralized, and  backfilled with inexperienced conscripts.

This  reconstruction of the brigade’s decimation is based on the document  trove, interviews with members of the unit and their families, as well  as accounts from officers in Ukraine’s military units that faced the  200th in battle. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss  sensitive intelligence or, in the case of Russian soldiers, to maintain  their own security. The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to  requests for comment.

The record reveals a brigade in crisis, according to officials and experts who examined the documents at The Post’s request.

“They  are barely at 60 percent strength, being forced to rely on  reinforcements that aren’t near enough,” Pekka Toveri, former director  of Finland’s defense intelligence service, said in an interview. “You  have guys who are refusing to fight, guys who are missing. It all tells  us that for Russia the war has gone terribly wrong.”

The warcontinued to get worse for the 200th.

The  unit’s commander sustained such severe head injuries in a strike that  he was left vomiting, disoriented and unable to remember battlefield  events, and would soon have to be hospitalized, the internal brigade  documents show. Many of the unit’s most potent weapons, including mobile  rocket launchers and tanks, were either destroyed or captured.

In  the months since the May inventory, the brigade has sustained further  losses in engagements including a July firefight in the northeastern  village of Hrakove, and it was among the Russian forces routed in  Ukraine’s September offensive to recapture large parts of the Kharkiv  region.

All  the while, the brigade was being degraded from within. The skilled  troops and professional officers sent into battle at the start of the  war with state-of-the-art T-80BVM tanks have given way to an assemblage of poorly trained conscripts pressed into service with paltry or outdated gear.

Some of the brigade’s own soldiers described its condition as dire.

“The  unit is in a state of decay,” said a soldier now serving in the 200th  after being drafted under mobilization orders that Putin issued in  September. He and others were initially issued “painted helmets from  1941 and vests without plates,” he said in an interview with The Post  this month. “They are not even training us. … They just tell you, ‘You  are a shooter now. Here you go, here is a machine gun.’”

In  a war that has been disastrous for much of Russia’s military, the  dismemberment of the 200th stands out. It entered the conflict with  better training, newer equipment and more experience — including prior  combat missions in Ukraine — than most other units. Now, given the  magnitude of its losses, one European military official said, it “cannot  be considered a fighting force.”

*‘There will be shooting’
*
In  peacetime, the 200th is garrisoned at spartan bases that lie inside the  Arctic Circle, less than 10 miles from Russia’s border with Norway. The  location in the municipality of Pechenga, northwest of Murmansk,  underscores its mission: to serve as a wedge between the NATO powers to  the west and the Barents Sea bases of Russia’s Northern Fleet.

The ports, which served as a point of departure for the fictional submarine in “The Hunt for Red October,”  have existential significance in Russian strategic doctrine. The  Northern Fleet forms the core of Russia’s “second strike” nuclear  capability, meaning that its subs are expected to maneuver into the  Atlantic and unleash a final, cataclysmic barrage if the United States  manages to knock out Russia’s land-based missile silos.

The  200th is part of an interlocking system of defenses for the fleet and  its bases, one that also relies on their remote location, layers of  perimeter security and additional units on the Kola Peninsula.

Despite  the stakes of this Arctic assignment, the 200th has repeatedly been  tapped by the Kremlin for priority missions. Officers were sent to Syria  to help President Bashar al-Assad maintain his grip on power and,  according to Ukrainian officials and a report by the investigative outlet Bellingcat, the unit was clandestinely involved in Russia’s 2014 attempt to seize territory in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

In  January of this year, two heavily armed battalion tactical groups from  the 200th began boarding trains for the Ukraine border. Images online  show flatbed rail cars carrying tanks across a snow-swept landscape and  soldiers playing cards in packed passenger cabins.

The  troops, like others in the invading force, were led to believe they  were deploying to take part in drills, according to Ukrainian officials  citing accounts of captured 200th soldiers. Only at 3 a.m. on Feb. 24  were they told, “There will be shooting,” an official said.

A  convoy of about 100 brigade vehicles began streaming across the border  that morning. Photos taken by civilians show one of the unit’s tanks  being used to set up a roadblock on the northern outskirts of Kharkiv —  an attempt to impose order that soon proved futile.

By  day’s end, multiple units of the 200th had been ambushed or attacked,  dozens of soldiers killed or wounded, and equipment including tanks and  “Grad” mobile rocket launchers destroyed or abandoned on roadsides,  according to Ukrainian and Western accounts.

The  devastation was due in part to the 200th’s drawing one of the most  difficult tasks of the invasion. “The front they were assigned proved to  be well defended with very motivated Ukrainians,” a senior European  intelligence official said.

The  Ukrainian war plan was organized above all around protecting Kyiv, the  country’s capital, but it also called for multiple armored units,  including the 92nd Mechanized Brigade, to focus their firepower on  defending Ukraine’s second-largest city — Kharkiv.

The  punishment inflicted on the 200th in those early battles and dozens  more that followed remain a point of martial pride for senior Ukrainian  officers. “What’s there to know about them?” Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky,  who later commanded the Kharkiv offensive, said recently in an  interview when asked about the 200th. “They run away very well.”

The  brigade was also hobbled by problems that plagued other Russian units.  It was low on food and fuel after consuming or selling critical stores  in the weeks leading up to the invasion, officials said. Putin’s  decision to keep even senior advisers in the dark left commanders scant  time to prepare troops, let alone coordinate attack plans with other  units.

Stunned  by Ukraine’s resistance, the 200th spent the ensuing weeks fending off  further attacks while digging into defensive positions north of Kharkiv,  officials said. It was during this stretch that the brigade commander,  Col. Denis Kurilo, 44, was severely injured in a strike that Western  officials said obliterated his vehicle. Ukrainian officials initially  reported that the strike occurred in late March and that Kurilo had been  killed. But internal brigade records refer to a “combat injury dated  April 22” that ultimately required him to be hospitalized.

Only  hints of the carnage were made public back at brigade headquarters. In  mid-March, the governor of Russia’s Murmansk region, which encompasses  the 200th’s garrison, announced online that three soldiers and one  officer had been killed in Ukraine, calling them “real heroes.”

But these were only a small fraction of the true casualties.

The  internal brigade records include a detailed count of surviving  personnel in May after they had retreated across the Russian border into  the Belgorod region. The authenticity of the documents was confirmed by  Western security officials.

One  page includes a table that lists 892 servicemen still “present” and  attached to the two battalion tactical groups that had deployed from  Pechenga in the run-up to the war. Officials with European security  services that closely monitor the 200th said those two units had started  out with a combined 1,400 to 1,600 soldiers.

One official described the damage that such losses would have done to the unit’s effectiveness and morale as “catastrophic.”

Among  those remaining, the table lists 21 as hospitalized, six as missing and  nine as “refuseniks.” It also shows that the brigade was awaiting 138  reinforcements, though it does not indicate their training or  background.

Wording  at the top of the document indicates that it was to be approved on May  28 by Kurilo, suggesting that he was still with the unit despite his  recentinjury. A medical file in the trove, however, indicates  that he was suffering severe symptoms from a “craniocerebral injury,”  including nausea, vomiting, memory loss and “short-term disorientation.”  It says he left the unit on July 11 to be treated at Burdenko military  hospital in Moscow and was released in late August. The medical file  alsosays his duties were temporarily assigned to another officer.

Kurilo, whose passport and military résumé also appear in the trove,could  not be reached for comment. On Wednesday, a woman identifying herself  as his wife answered a number associated with Kurilo. She said he had  not served with the 200th for about half a year, a period that would  correspond with the start of his hospitalization. She said he has since  been transferred to another military unit and is unreachable.

The  avatar for Kurilo’s WhatsApp account is a “Z” sign used by Russian  forces in Ukraine, along with Russian words meaning “for victory.”

For  all the seeming exactitude of the brigade’s roll call record, certain  categories are conspicuously missing. It does not say how many soldiers  had initially been part of the two battalion tactical groups, and makes  no mention of those wounded or killed to that point in combat.

Toveri,  the former Finland intelligence chief, said the record appears to  represent an effort by commanders to take stock of their force without  accounting for the causes of its attrition.

“They  just did new bookkeeping,” Toveri said, adding that doing so would be  consistent with a Russian military culture seen as more calloused than  its Western counterparts about casualties. 

“They had been at war for  three months and don’t mention any killed in action,” Toveri said. “Let  bygones be bygones.”

*‘They just bled to death’
*
The  losses created a two-front crisis for the 200th: It was scrambling to  find reinforcements back in Murmansk, even as the broken battalions in  Belgorodwere being ordered to return to Ukraine.

In a sign of growing desperation, the brigade in June began forming what it called a “mixed volunteer battalion”  including sailors pulled off Northern Fleet ships, logistics  specialists from depots and others often coerced into action despite  having little or no experience or training in ground combat, according  to Western officials.

The  battalion remnants in Belgorod tentatively crossed back into Ukraine in  late spring and took positions hugging the Russia border.

Ukrainian  military officials described the returning 200th force, though  degraded, as more professional than the Russian-backed separatists they  had previously faced outside Kharkiv.

The  200th soldiers were less prone to talking on open phone lines, brought  far greater firepower and proved adept at targeting, said Taras  Shevchenko, commander of an artillery and reconnaissance unitin Ukraine’s 127th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade.

In  early June, he said, his unit encountered the 200th in the village of  Velyki Prokhody, north of Kharkiv. The Ukrainians were caught off guard  by a flurry of strikes, including one that tore off the third floor of a  building being used as a base of operations, Shevchenko said, leaving  him with a concussion.

After  a series of inconclusive exchanges, Shevchenko said, he convinced  Ukrainian artillery units to hold their fire for several days, hoping to  create the impression they were low on ammunition as quadcopter drones  were used to get a clearer fix on Russian positions.

Amid the lull, surveillance images showed 200th troops letting down their guard.

“Nothing  was attacking them, so they could safely sunbathe,” Shevchenko said.  “They took outdoor showers. They were running around without body armor,  without helmets.”

Ukrainian  forces took advantage by unleashing a 40-minute barrage involving  mortars, tanks and Soviet-era artillery pieces, then launched a  follow-on attack the next day after nightfall.

“They  didn’t know where to run,” Shevchenko said. After the village was  liberated, he said, he spoke with residents who estimated that about 100  Russian troops had died as a result of the two-day engagement, though  there are no official numbers. He said the strikes dismantled vehicles  that could have evacuated the wounded. “The locals said that many died  during the night,”  
Shevchenko said. “They just bled to death, because  those who were injured — they couldn’t evacuate them.”

*‘Unauthorized abandonment of military unit’
*
In  that one sequence, the 200th had shown that it could be both lethally  effective and fatally undisciplined. The erratic performance is  characteristic of a unit that Western security officials describe as one  of Russia’s higher-performing brigades but nevertheless plagued by  systemic rot and dysfunction.

Attached  to the elite Northern Fleet, 200th troops get special gear and training  for Arctic conditions and are often first in line for Russia’s most  advanced equipment. In 2017, the brigade was the first in Russia’s armed  services to receive new T-80BVM tanks rolling off assembly lines.

And  yet Westerners who ventured to Pechenga before Russia restricted travel  describe the base as a grim garrison where officers neglected troops’  morale and soldiers could seem clueless about the brigade’s identity and  mission.

Thomas Nilsen, editor of the Barents Observer  — a Norwegian news site that closely follows the 200th — described an  encounter several years ago with soldiers at a bar near the base who  were oblivious to their proximity to NATO, until he pulled up a map on  his phone to show them.

In  2020, three servicemen died — including one by suicide and another by  choking on vomit — and several were injured in incidents that raised  concerns about brigade conditions and safety, according toan  investigation by the Russian news outlet Sever.Realii. One soldier was  blinded and another reportedly lost a hand while training with a  miniature drone armed with high-power explosives.

That same year, a warrant officer in the 200th posted videos  on social media accusing superiors of neglect and corruption. One  showed scenes of squalor in apartments reserved for officers, with  rusted appliances, mold creeping up walls, and piles of trash stuffed  into unoccupied units.

“This  is how ensigns and officers of the Russian army live!” the warrant  officer, Mikhail Balenko, said on the video, describing the compound  with an expletive. “The brigade commander does not even come here. He  doesn’t care how his subordinates live.”

In  another video, Balenko accused commanders of stealing supplies, bribing  military inspectors and selling fuel meant for brigade vehicles.  Balenko did not respond to attempts to reach him for comment.

The war appears to have exacerbated these problems of morale and cohesion.

Dozens  of soldiers in Pechenga refused to deploy during the initial months of  the invasion, according to officials from Western security services.  It’s unclear what happened to them.

Ukrainian  commanders described battles in which 200th soldiers wouldn’t fight or  defied orders. In mid-July, a Ukrainian reconnaissance unit captured  audio of a Russian tank commander in Hrakove screaming at subordinates.

“Should  I show you how to kill Ukrainians? I’ll get in the tank myself,” the  commander shouted, shortly before the tank was destroyed by a Javelin  missile, according to Oleksandr, a reconnaissance scout in Ukraine’s  92nd Mechanized Brigade, who spoke on the condition that his surname not  be published to maintain his security.

By  the end of that battle, dozens of Russian troops had been killed or  wounded and 12 tanks had been destroyed, Oleksandr said, adding that  additional intercepts indicated that numerous soldiers had at one point  or another refused to use their weapons.

The  brigade documents also hint at inner turmoil. One set of files lists  criminal referrals made to Russian military prosecutors regarding four  200th soldiers — a senior lieutenant, two corporals and a private.

Two  were accused of the “illegal sale of explosives,” and two others of  “unauthorized abandonment of military unit.” The documents indicate that  prosecutors declined to proceed with charges against the soldiers,  though no reasons are cited. The soldiers’ surnames appear in the  records, but attempts to reach them were unsuccessful.

Accurate  casualty counts for the 200th remain elusive. No figures have been  released by the brigade, and only a handful of soldier deaths have been  acknowledged in public statements from the Murmansk government.

Still, there have been other clues to the war’s toll on military families in Murmansk. In late August, the regional legislature passed a law providing free meals to schoolchildren whose parents were serving in Ukraine or had been killed or wounded, and announced that 1,274 students qualified.

*‘It will take years to rebuild’
*
The  200th’s involvement in the siege of Kharkiv concluded in September when  it was routed near Kupiansk in the Ukrainian offensive, said Col. Pavlo  Fedosenko, commander of Ukraine’s 92nd Mechanized Brigade, the unit  that delivered the blow and has faced off against the 200th more than  any other.

Afterward,  only fragments of a single battalion were left, composed of a  hodgepodge of soldiers that bore little resemblance to the skilled units  that had set out for Ukraine seven months earlier, Fedosenko said.

Most  of the unit’s officers had been killed or injured, Fedosenko said, and  about 70 percent of its equipment — including about 32 tanks and 100  vehicles — had been destroyed or captured.

“Nothing of that brigade is left,” he said in a recent interview with The Post. “It’s completely wiped out.”

Western  security officials provided similar assessments. Because so many of its  contract soldiers and senior members of its officer cadre were lost,  “it will take years to rebuild the 200th,” said a senior European  intelligence official.

On  Sept. 17, Kurilo left command of the brigade to become deputy chief of  another motor rifle division, according to a copy of an order by Russian  Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that was in the document trove.

Remnants  of the 200th later surfaced in the Luhansk region, where intercepted  communications provided to The Post by a Ukrainian military official  showed Russian officers raging about insubordination. In one exchange, a  regimental commander berates a subordinate over soldiers abandoning  their positions.

“I  am f-----g tired after one and a half months of these people,” the  commander said. He goes on to describe platoons melting away and his  efforts to drag soldiers back into battle. In one case, “there were 30  people leaving their positions, and now it is f-----g over 60, 75, maybe  the entire platoon,” he said. After listing similar problems in other  units, he said, “What the f--- are you doing? Are you going to assemble  the battalion or not?”

At  least 20 of the 200th’s troops were wounded in recent skirmishes in  Luhansk, the Ukrainian intelligence official said. A fact sheet provided  by the official lists the wounded soldiers’ names and birth dates;  their ages range from the low 20s to the early 50s.

Contacted  by The Post, one of those soldiers acknowledged that he was at home  recuperating, but declined to discuss his deployment or injuries in  detail. He described himself as “a civilian person. I have a family,  kids. I never even had a thought about needing to go fight” before being  swept up by Putin’s mobilization.

“When  I was in the hospital, there were guys from Moscow, just simple guys,  some worked in car repairs or some other places,” he said. “They were  just pulled out of their civilian lives and sent to ‘take villages.’”  Many were reassured that “we are going to be in the rear, not on the  front line,” he said. “But it turned out to be the opposite.”

The  soldier, who could face prison if caught speaking about the war, was  one of a tattered group of about 500 conscripts who were sent to Ukraine  in Octoberas part of yet anotherattempt to replenish  the 200th there, according to Western security officials. The  conscripts’ departure from the Kola Peninsula capped a remarkable  hollowing out of a unit that is supposed to defend Russia’s border with  Norway, a NATO country, and with Finland, now seeking to join the  alliance.

In  August and September, Russia moved a squadron of bombers capable of  carrying nuclear weapons to an air base near Finland, according to  satellite images and a report in the Israeli press. Western officials  said they interpreted that as a sign Russia is likely to rely more than  ever on nuclear deterrence in the Kola Peninsula given the reduced state  of the 200th and other units.

“In the Murmansk region we now have our borders bare,” the wounded soldier said. “They are all empty now. No one is left there.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...mated-ukraine/

----------


## sabang

Exclusive: Oleksii Reznikov suggests attack could happen by February, but other officials indicate it could come in January


Senior Ukrainian officials say Vladimir Putin is preparing for a major new offensive in the new year, despite a series of humiliating battlefield setbacks for Russia in recent months.

In an interview with the Guardian, Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said that while Ukraine was now able to successfully defend itself against Russia’s missile attacks targeting key infrastructure, including the energy grid, evidence was emerging that the Kremlin was preparing a broad new offensive.

Reznikov’s comments echoed similar remarks made to the Economist this week – including from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the head of the armed forces, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and the chief of ground forces, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskii.

The briefings appeared to be part of a broad, coordinated effort to warn against complacency among western allies and highlight the continuing threat Russia poses to Ukraine.

While Reznikov suggested a new offensive could happen by February, the other senior officials indicated they believed it might come as early as January.
Referring to Russia’s partial mobilisation of about 300,000 soldiers, Reznikov suggested that while half – often after receiving minimal training – were being used to reinforce Moscow’s forces after a series of battlefield setbacks, the remainder were being prepared more thoroughly for future offensives.

“The second part of the mobilisation, 150,000 approximately, started their training courses in different camps,” said Reznikov, speaking of Russia’s mobilisation drive, which started in October.

“The [draftees] do a minimum of three months to prepare. It means they are trying to start the next wave of the offensive probably in February, like last year. That’s their plan.”

The warnings come amid evidence of Putin’s continuing desires to continue the war into next year, including missile procurement efforts from Iran, and analysis by Russian commentators suggesting that the Kremlin sees no way of retreating from the conflict.

Reznikov said he expected Russia would continue to mobilise its citizens beyond the current partial mobilisation, describing the main tactic of Russian commanders as a “meat grinder” whereby they throw as many bodies at a battle as possible in the hope they will overwhelm the smaller Ukrainian force.

“The Kremlin is trying to find new solutions [for] how to get the victory,” said Reznikov. In the Economist, Gen Zaluzhnyi delivered a similar warning, discounting some western claims that Putin’s mobilisation had largely been a failure.

“Russian mobilisation has worked,” said Zaluzhnyi. “They are 100% being prepared.” He added that a major new Russian attack could come “in February, at best in March and at worst at the end of January”.

In another briefing on Thursday, the deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar also warned against allowing complacency to set in after recent Russian military setbacks.
“We and the world should not relax, because the ultimate goal of the Russian Federation is to conquer all of Ukraine, and then it can move on,” Maliar said.

The assessment that Russia may be preparing a new large-scale campaign against Ukraine in the coming months runs counter to intelligence briefings and recent analysis that has suggested the tempo of the war – and Russian efforts – will slow through the depths of the Ukrainian winter.

With Ukrainian troops being trained in a number of western countries, and arriving foreign-trained soldiers being seeded in units across the country, Reznikov said Ukraine’s hybrid tactics, well-trained troops and the wishlist of weapons it hopes to receive from allies, would enable it to withstand fresh attacks.

“If it was meat grinder against meat grinder, we would lose. It was a mistake to perceive us as a small Soviet army [that] will fight a big Soviet army. Certainly, a big Soviet army would win and a small Soviet army would lose but we are not a Soviet army.”

Speaking hours after another mass drone attack on Kyiv on Wednesday, when Ukraine’s air defence said it shot down all 13 drones that were launched, Reznikov said he believed Ukraine was now winning against Russia in the air.

Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy facilities on a regular basis in the autumn after Moscow’s forces were pushed out of Kharkiv and the Crimean Bridge attacked.
The aim was to debilitate Ukraine to increase the chances of success on the battlefield. However, since then, Ukraine has shown increasing skill in shooting down rockets and drones.

Reznikov said Ukraine’s air defence systems had increased their efficiency from 50% at the beginning of the war to 80% in December. He also gave the example of the previous barrage on 5 December, when Ukraine shot down 60 out of 70 rockets fired by Russia.

Ukraine has also been appealing for new weapons systems including better air defences, even as it appears to have escalated its targeting of bases in Russia, including with drones, strikes Reznikov declined to comment on.

Ukraine was using a combination of air defence systems gifted by its partners, Soviet-era systems and repurposed mobile machine guns to combat the threat, said Reznikov. On Tuesday, CNN reported that US officials had agreed to send Ukraine powerful and effective US-made Patriot air defence systems that Ukraine has been asking for for months.

The US had previously worried the long-range Patriot defence systems, which can travel up to 60 miles, would provoke an escalation from Russia.
Ukraine has had to constantly prove to its partners that it is worth investing in its military through wins on the battlefield. Reznikov gave the example of how Ukraine sank the Moskva warship with a Ukrainian-made Neptune system in April and how each win has led to more supplies.

“When we used a Ukrainian invention, the Neptune, and we sank the warship Moskva … after that, we get [US-made] Harpoons to defend our sea line,” he said.
The series of wins had created something that transcended diplomatic trust between Ukraine and its partners, said Reznikov.


“It’s something more: you became the believer of us and you started to invest, not only, I would say, not only weapons in Ukraine, [but] because you want to see the new Ukraine after this victory, not the old Soviet Ukraine.”

The UK and other western allies are in the process of training thousands of Ukrainian troops, from novices, to specialising those who are already experienced soldiers. Reznikov claims that Russia, meanwhile, is “only using Soviet systems and training courses”.

The comments came as fighting continued on the southern and eastern fronts. In the south, Russian shelling on Thursday killed two people in the city of Kherson and left it without power, Ukrainian officials said, in the latest bombardments since Kyiv recaptured the city last month.

The deputy head of the president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said on social media that Russian forces had shelled the city centre.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ve-in-new-year

What has happened to that major new Ukrainian offensive recruit snubski?  ::chitown::

----------


## bsnub

> What has happened to that major new Ukrainian offensive recruit snubski?


Once the ground freezes over, you will have a lot of humiliation coming...

*Ukrainian Troops May Be Massing For Their Fourth Counteroffensive. Russian Artillery Is Already Trying To Stop Them.*

Russian and Ukrainian forces recently swapped artillery around  Hulyaipole and Polohy in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Oblast, 65  miles northeast of Russian-occupied Melitopol.

 Artillery-on-artillery “counterbattery” battles aren’t uncommon as Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its 10th month.

 What’s special about the Dec. 9 artillery duel is what reportedly  instigated it. According to Russian sources, the Ukrainian army is  massing mechanized forces around Hulyaipole.

 If that’s true, it could be a sign that Ukraine’s fourth  counteroffensive might be imminent, despite the onset of winter. This  widely-anticipated attack—the Zaporizhzhia left hook—would  aim to liberate much of southern Ukraine and push Ukrainian troops all  the way to the narrow neck of land connecting mainland Ukraine to the  Crimean Peninsula, which Russian forces seized in 2014.

 Russian troops at present are thin on the ground in Zaporizhzhia. But  then, so are Ukrainian troops. The sector along the Hulyaipole-Polohy  axis since this spring has been the haunt of separate brigade-size  Russian and Ukrainian units.

 On the Russian side: the 291st Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, which  on paper has a couple thousand soldiers and scores of armored vehicles.

 On the Ukrainian side: the 106th Territorial Defense Brigade, a  lightly-equipped formation with a few thousand volunteers from the local  area. The 19th Separate Rifle Battalion, a 400-strong active-army unit,  reinforces the territorial brigade.

 Both sides have supporting artillery. Both sides harass the other.  The Institute for the Study of War in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 7 noted “routine artillery and missile strikes west of Hulyaipole.”

It was these big guns and rockets that traded fire on Dec. 9. The  skirmish began when “the movement of large mechanized forces of the  armed forces of Ukraine near the front was revealed by Russian  intelligence,” Igor Girkin, a pro-Russian separatist leader, wrote on social media.

The intel prompted “massive artillery strikes on enemy positions and  near rear areas in the Hulyaipole ... region,” Girkin added. Ukrainain  artillery in return struck Polohy.

 It’s unclear what Ukrainian mechanized forces may have moved into  Hulyaipole in possible anticipation of an offensive toward Melitopol.  The 65th Mechanized Brigade is nearby, as is the 1st Tank Brigade.

 A drive on Melitopol could require more than just a couple heavy  brigades. Ukraine’s previous counteroffensives—around Kyiv in March and  then around Kharkiv and Kherson six months later—each involved at least  half-a-dozen heavy brigades.

 To liberate Melitopol then turn right and free southern Kherson  Oblast on the left bank of the Dnipro River, a Ukrainian force would  have to advance 200 miles and defeat a dozen or more Russian brigades  and regiments.

 The Ukrainians already have made efforts to fix in place some of  those Russian units—first by pushing to the Dnipro’s right bank and then  by landing special operations forces on the Kinburn Peninsula on the southern side of the river delta where the Dnipro empties into the Black Sea.

 But even if these forces can’t risk moving to react to a possible  Ukrainian attack northeast of Melitopol, they still would be in the path  of that attack as it hooked toward the mouth of the Dnipro and the land  bridge with Crimea.

 All that is to say, the Ukrainian armed forces will need to concentrate a _lot_  of heavy forces in order for the Zaporizhzhia left hook to succeed.  There’s a good chance the Russians will see them coming together—and try  to disrupt their assembly with artillery.

 Indeed, the spoiling bombardments may already have begun.

Ukrainian Troops May Be Massing For Their Fourth Counteroffensive. Russian Artillery Is Already Trying To Stop Them.

----------


## bsnub

Even Igor Girkin can see the forest for the trees...

A former Russian commander and prominent military blogger has given  another scathing assessment of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in which he  described how Vladimir Putin's troops had already been dealt a "strategic defeat" by Ukraine.

Igor  Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, is an army veteran and former  intelligence officer who played a key role in Russia's annexation of  Crimea in 2014 and the conflict in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

He  is among a number of milbloggers who give candid accounts of Russia's  war effort that are far removed from the picture portrayed by  Kremlin-backed television channels.

On his Telegram channel he has pulled no punches in his criticism of Russia's military failures in Ukraine, earlier this month describing how Moscow's forces do not have "the slightest idea about the ultimate strategic goals of the current military campaign."

He resumed this theme in a video posted on Friday in which he said  the "sluggish" war in Ukraine was playing into the hands of Ukraine's  western allies, "primarily the United States."

He said that the  "prolonged internal meatgrinder within Russia which is now being called  the Russian-Ukrainian war", could result in the "collapse of the  political regime and the state of the Russian Federation."

He then  outlined what he thinks needed to happen for Russia to gain the  ascendancy and carry out "offensive strategic operations of a decisive  nature."

"Victory is made in the rear," he said, as he lamented how nothing was done "in the rear to make this victory (possible)."

Previously  critical of Putin's mobilization, which was beset by inadequate  training and equipment and accusations that it had been botched, Girkin  said that the question of Russian military personnel in Ukraine "is not  solved at all."

In a swipe at the military top brass, he said that  if the Red Army during World War Two had kept the same commanders in  1942 and 1943 that it had when the Soviet Union entered the war in 1941,  the German army might have made it "beyond the Urals" in western  Russia.

"We have a roughly similar picture taking place," Girkin said, noting  that the war in Ukraine had been ongoing for nearly 10 months and that  the "heaviest defeats suffered" by Russia have been "of a strategic  nature." Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

"Because the fact  that Ukraine is not defeated and nowhere near the end of the war is a  strategic defeat," he said. He also lamented that no one had been held  responsible, except for "scapegoats" like General Alexander Lapin, who was removed in October from his command of Russia's Central Military District.

The  clip was tweeted by War Translated which added the message, "Depressed  Girkin declares strategic defeat as the war with Ukraine is nowhere near  its end after almost 10 months of fighting."

_ Newsweek_ has contacted Russia's defense ministry for comment.

In November, Girkin was sentenced in absentia by the Hague to life in prison for his role in shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014, which killed 298 passengers.

The  plane bound for Kuala Lumpur was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July  17, 2014, amid fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian  forces.

Russia Has Suffered 'Strategic Defeat' As War Nears 10th Month: Igor Girkin

Video here: https://twitter.com/wartranslated/st...girkin-1767914

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine war and popularity worries
*

Why Putin is skipping his annual press conference

The cancellation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual press conference earlier this week was a last-minute decision taken due to growing fears the televised event would be dominated by the Ukraine war, six Kremlin and government officials told The Moscow Times.


Putin has held 17 such press conferences — a set piece of the Russian political calendar — since he first became president in 2000 and they traditionally offer him a chance to showcase his command of the issues of the day.


In particular, there were worries in the Kremlin that Kyiv might be able to stage a major attack in the run-up to the event.

“The president was aware of this and it was a strong argument against holding the press conference.”


Russia has suffered a series of military humiliations in Ukraine in recent months, including its retreat from Kherson, the only Ukrainian regional capital occupied by Russian forces in the 10-month invasion, and apparent Ukrainian drone strikes on airfields deep inside Russia.


The decision to skip the press conference is a rare sign of how events on the battlefield are directly impacting political decision making in Moscow.


But it is not the only major set piece political event that the Kremlin has side-lined amid the fighting in Ukraine.


“No one could give a 100% guarantee” that such an attack wouldn’t take place, one Kremlin official told The Moscow Times on condition of anonymity.


“The president was aware of this and it was a strong argument against holding the press conference.”


Russia has suffered a series of military humiliations in Ukraine in recent months, including its retreat from Kherson, the only Ukrainian regional capital occupied by Russian forces in the 10-month invasion, and apparent Ukrainian drone strikes on airfields deep inside Russia.


The decision to skip the press conference is a rare sign of how events on the battlefield are directly impacting political decision making in Moscow.


But it is not the only major set piece political event that the Kremlin has side-lined amid the fighting in Ukraine.

Putin has not held his traditional televised call-in show this year — the last such event took place in June, 2021. And the Kremlin has still not set a date for the annual state-of-the-nation address to lawmakers despite Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, promising in September it would take place this year.


Preparations for Putin’s marathon press conference, which involves both Russian and foreign journalists and can last as long as four hours, were well advanced when Putin opted to pull the plug, according to six Kremlin and government officials and a government relations adviser at a major Russian company who all requested anonymity to speak freely.


Speechwriters had even been tasked with working on the major topics on which the president would focus, according to two officials.


“The situation on the frontlines and how it was not developing in the most favourable way was discussed,” said the Kremlin official. “But everyone nodded their heads — the boss is a rock, he can handle it. He will not want to cancel [the press conference], and his ability and experience of working in ‘big genres’ will allow him to turn the situation in his favour. After all, Russia today really is a besieged fortress, and Putin is its commander.”


But doubts began to emerge among top officials last month, according to those familiar with the discussions.


In particular, it was military setbacks in Ukraine that began to worry planners for the event: the withdrawal of the Russian Armed Forces from occupied Kherson, the explosion on the Crimean Bridge, problems associated with the mobilization campaign and Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.


The last straw for the president was the security services being unable to guarantee that a major Ukrainian attack would not take place in the immediate run-up to the press conference, according to the Kremlin official.


There are similar fears among those in the Kremlin who are preparing for Putin’s state-of-the-nation address, according to the Russian officials who spoke to The Moscow Times.


State-controlled news agency TASS reported Wednesday that the address, which is delivered to both houses of parliament, would be pushed back to 2023.


One of the Kremlin’s other major worries for set piece Putin appearances such as the press conference and the state-of-the-nation address is that associating Putin too closely with the war will negatively impact his popularity.

While draconian censorship laws make assessing the attitude of ordinary Russians toward the Ukraine war extremely difficult, recently leaked government surveys suggest that weariness with the fighting may be spreading.


One Kremlin-commission poll reported by independent media outlet Meduza last month showed 55% of Russians favour peace negotiations with Ukraine, while independent journalists Farida Rustamova and Maxim Tovkaylo reported last week that a government-linked poll suggested 60% of Russians believe Putin did the wrong thing in starting the conflict.


“Take note how the ‘chief’ has been silent about the surrender of Kherson for more than a month,” said the second Kremlin official. “Any statement about the retreat instantly dents his popularity… Others must take the rap.”


Had the press conference gone ahead, it would have been impossible to avoid the Ukraine war from becoming its main topic, according to all six officials who spoke to The Moscow Times.


Traditionally, at the highly scripted event, Putin devotes lots of time to answering questions about social issues — such as housing and healthcare — as well as offering to help out with specific, local problems. But it would have been extremely difficult to impose such an agenda this time.


“Most of the questions would have been like: ‘My brother was mobilised and given a helmet from 1942 and we had to buy footwear for him with our own money… Vladimir Vladimirovich, sort it out!’ And other questions would have been even more inappropriate,” said a second Kremlin official.


Peskov declined to reply to written questions from The Moscow Times about the reasons for the cancellation of the press conference.


But he told journalists Monday that it would not happen this year — and did not give an alternative date in 2023.


Rather than having the president give a speech to the Federal Assembly and host his annual press conference, the Kremlin is looking to associate Putin with “good news” stories, according to officials.


Employees at four major companies in the energy, transport and communications sectors confirmed to The Moscow Times this week that they had received inquiries from the presidential administration about positive events in which Putin could be included.

Lately, Putin has taken part in an unusually large series of public events: from the opening of a turkey farm to birthday celebrations for nuclear energy agency Rosatom and defence conglomerate Rostec, and the unveiling of a newly repaired highway.


Cancelling the press conference and postponing the state-of-the-nation address were wise moves from a tactical perspective, according to political analyst Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Putin.


But it creates long-term problems for the Russian leadership that cannot publicly ignore the topic of the war forever, he told The Moscow Times.


“This decision testifies to the strategic impasse in which the Kremlin finds itself,” Gallyamov said.

Новая газета Европа

----------


## malmomike77

Dancing in the tranches

Ukraine: Russia to deploy musicians to front to boost morale

Russia says it will deploy musicians to the front lines of its war in Ukraine in a bid to boost morale.


The defence ministry announced the formation of the "front-line creative brigade" this week, saying it would include both vocalists and musicians.


The UK's ministry of defence highlighted the brigade's creation in an intelligence update on Sunday.


Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited frontline troops in Ukraine, the government said.


In a statement posted to Telegram, the defence ministry said Mr Shoigu "flew around the areas of deployment of troops and checked the advanced positions of Russian units in the zone of the special military operation".


It added that he "spoke with troops on the frontline" and at a "command post" - but the BBC cannot confirm when the visit took place or whether Mr Shoigu visited Ukraine itself.


The reported visit comes as UK defence officials said low morale continues to be a "significant vulnerability across much of the Russian force".


The UK said the new creative brigade - which follows a recent campaign, urging the public to donate musical instruments to troops - is in keeping with the historic use of "military music and organised entertainment" to boost morale.


But they questioned whether the new brigade would actually distract troops, who have been primarily concerned about "very high casualty rates, poor leadership, pay problems, lack of equipment and ammunition, and lack of clarity about the war's objectives".


According to the Russian outlet RBC news, the brigade will consist of troops mobilised under President Vladimir Putin's recruitment drive, as well as "professional artists who voluntarily entered military service".


The new unit will be tasked with maintaining "a high moral, political and psychological state [among] the participants of the special military operation," the outlet cited the defence ministry as saying.

more Page cannot be found - BBC News

----------


## sabang

A barrage of 40 Ukrainian rockets hit homes, shops and a cathedral in the frontline city’s center, causing severe damage 



The city of Donetsk has been subjected to the largest-scale Ukrainian artillery attack since the region rebelled against Kiev in the wake of the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, local officials have said. A cathedral was among the buildings hit by Kiev’s artillery.

Ukrainian troops fired 40 rockets from Grad multiple rocket launchers at several neighborhoods of central Donetsk at around 7 a.m. local time (4 a.m. GMT), Mayor Aleksey Kulemzin said on social media. Several conventional shells also hit the city both before and after the barrage, he added.

Official images following the strikes show damaged buildings and cars amid widespread destruction. The central dome of a cathedral has been hit, according to photos published on social media. At least one projectile landed near a school, while others struck homes, shops and a children’s playground, according to the mayor.\

Kulemzin said at least six people were hurt during the shelling. Some were reportedly trapped under rubble, with emergency crews working to get them out, TASS news agency reported, citing the city rescue service.

On Wednesday, a watchdog recording attacks by Ukrainian troops on targets in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics estimated that over 4,500 civilians had been killed in the two regions since mid-February, when Kiev intensified its strikes, before the Russian military intervention later that month.

READ MORE: Watchdog estimates civilian death toll from Ukrainian attacks on Donbass

In late February, Moscow recognized the two breakaway regions as sovereign states, citing Kiev’s unwillingness to implement a peace plan that would have allowed reconciliation with Donetsk and Lugansk. When Kiev refused to pull back troops, Russia sent its troops into Ukraine.

Moscow has since incorporated both provinces into its territory, after people living there voted in referendums for a transition. Kiev rejected the vote as a “sham” and pledged to continue hostilities against Russia.

Ukraine hits Donetsk with worst shelling in eight years – mayor — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

A couple of short Youtubes, if you follow the Link.

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## harrybarracuda

> Moscow has since tried to incorporate both provinces into its territory, after faking a referendum


FTFY.

----------


## misskit

*Ottawa leading social media effort to demoralize Russian soldiers, Moscow says*

Russia‘s ambassador to Canada says Ottawa is at the vanguard of an effort to isolate his country, following a series of social-media squabbles and ongoing salvos where each country summons the other’s top diplomat.


Oleg Stepanov told Russian state media that he’s exasperated by Canada’s foreign-affairs department tweeting unflattering information about the war in Ukraine, particularly recent tweets about Russian men fleeing a military draft.

“When there is no real diplomacy on the Canadian side, no ability or appetite to deal with matters serious to Russia, they turn on this Twitter megaphone,” Stepanov told RIA Novosti last week, in Russian.

He added that Canada appears to be leading an effort by Western countries to isolate Russia.


Relations between Ottawa and Moscow have been strained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.


Moscow started drafting men with no military experience in September, and rejects statements by the governments of Georgia and Kazakhstan about a subsequent uptick in people moving from neighbouring Russia.

Last week, Global Affairs Canada tweeted the draft has “targeted ethnic minorities, triggered protests, and led to the fleeing of thousands of Russian citizens.”


In a rebuttal, Stepanov described citizens who have fled Russia as “cowards.” He said real Russians would defend the country “regardless of one’s political views.” He said there is “no moral alternative” to standing by the national army.


“Those who have left are just a dried-up husk of a man, dust in the wind. It is that very case when the history separates the wheat from the chaff,” he wrote in remarks to TASS news agency, which the embassy translated into English.


Earlier this month, Russia summoned Canada’s ambassador in Moscow, in protest of Ottawa doing the same to Stepanov five times this year.

Summoning an ambassador is a normally a rare occurrence that countries undertake to formally object to either the policies of the foreign country, or the conduct of their diplomatic mission.


Ottawa first summoned Stepanov shortly after the February invasion, and then after the April massacre in the city of Bucha, followed by October bombings of central Kyiv. The fourth summons came after the embassy tweeted anti-LGBTQ messaging in November, and again this month for arguing the 1930s famine in Ukraine, known as the Holodomor, was not a result of Soviet policy.


Russia returned the favour this month, summoning Canada’s ambassador Alison LeClaire over what Russia’s foreign ministry called “numerous unwarranted cases” of Ottawa summoning Stepanov.

The five summons “go far beyond normal diplomatic practice,” the ministry argued in a Dec. 9 press release.

Moscow previously summoned LeClaire in September, over allegations Global Affairs Canada had not taken seriously incidents involving the Ottawa embassy, such as security video of a Molotov cocktail being tossed onto the grounds of the mission.


Both countries say they want to maintain diplomatic relations, even if Ottawa has withdrawn from working with Moscow on numerous files.

Ottawa leading social media effort to demoralize Russian soldiers, Moscow says - National | Globalnews.ca

----------


## panama hat

> Russia‘s ambassador to Canada says Ottawa is at the vanguard of an effort to isolate his country


I'd suggest Vlad is doing that all by himself very nicely and needs no help

----------


## bsnub

*US officials tried to stop Ukraine from  killing high-ranking Russian general who was on a risky visit to the  front lines, report says*


The US tried to prevent Ukraine from killing a high-ranking Russian  military official at the onset of Russia's war in Ukraine, according to  an investigation published Saturday by The New York Times.

In  April, Russian Gen. Valery Gerasimov made plans to travel to Russia's  frontlines, according to The Times. American officials found out about  Gerasimov's plans but decided to keep the information from Ukraine.

As  the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, US officials began  to realize they had "vastly overestimated" the strength of the Russian  military, The New York Times reported.

Russian troops have been  poorly equipped, according to The Times; one soldier complained of  having a helmet that is from the 1940s, another asked someone how to  switch his gun to fully automatic just before running into battle, and  some were told they would "never see combat" when they were drafted into the Russian military, the report says.

"Nobody  is going to stay alive," Aleksandr Khodakovsky, a pro-Russian military  commander told The New York Times. "One way or another, one weapon or  another is going to kill you."

As months passed and poorly trained  Russian soldiers continued to lose battles and territory to Ukrainian  forces, Russia started moving its high-ranking generals to the front  lines, according to The Times. According to The Times, many Russian  generals made the "deadly mistake" of positioning themselves near  antennae and communications centers, making them easier to find, and  Ukrainian forces began killing them.

When Gerasimov decided to travel to the front lines in April, US  officials withheld the information from Ukraine because it would  "sharply escalate" the conflict. Still, Ukrainian officials got wind of  Gerasimov's plans and planned to attack him, but "senior American  officials" asked them to call off the assault, according to The Times.

"We told them not to do it," a senior American official told The Times. "We were like, 'Hey, that's too much.'"

Ukraine  decided to continue with the attack because the message from the US  arrived too late, The Times reported. The attack killed "dozens of  Russians" in the attack. Gerasimov however, escaped the strike.

Following the attack, Russian generals began visiting the frontlines of the invasion less, The Times reported.

US officials tried to stop Ukraine from killing high-ranking Russian general who was on a risky visit to the front lines, report says

The full NYT article with multimedia: How Putin’s War in Ukraine Became a Catastrophe for Russia - The New York Times

----------


## bsnub

From the article...




> We told them not to do it," a senior American  official told The Times. "We were like, 'Hey, that's too much.'"
> 
> Ukraine decided to continue with the attack because the message from the  US arrived too late, The Times reported. The attack killed "dozens of  Russians" in the attack. Gerasimov however, escaped the strike.


You got to love the Ukrainians. The message arrived too late.

 :smiley laughing: 

Shit like this is exactly why they are winning the war.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Oleg Stepanov told Russian state media that he’s exasperated by Canada’s foreign-affairs department tweeting unflattering information about the war in Ukraine, particularly recent tweets about Russian men fleeing a military draft.


If Canada is inundated with Russian civilians trying to avoid becoming cannon fodder, it has every right to say so.

So fuck Oleg Stepanov.

----------


## panama hat

> "We told them not to do it," a senior American official told The Times. "We were like, 'Hey, that's too much.'"


Because a recalcitrant fascist wanker is more important than your average person?  Fuck 'em.

----------


## Hugh Cow

> *US officials tried to stop Ukraine from  killing high-ranking Russian general who was on a risky visit to the  front lines, report says*
> 
> 
> The US tried to prevent Ukraine from killing a high-ranking Russian  military official at the onset of Russia's war in Ukraine, according to  an investigation published Saturday by The New York Times.
> 
> In  April, Russian Gen. Valery Gerasimov made plans to travel to Russia's  frontlines, according to The Times. American officials found out about  Gerasimov's plans but decided to keep the information from Ukraine.
> 
> As  the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022, US officials began  to realize they had "vastly overestimated" the strength of the Russian  military, The New York Times reported.
> 
> ...


Interesting. It is possible that U.S. intelligence may have thought him to be anti ukraine war or Anti Putin in which case could be much more value alive than dead. While I am on an alternative bent, I believe any peace negotiation with Russia (that must take place eventually) cannot happen without a part of Crimea at the very least being ceded back to the Russians. They see it as strategically important to Russia especially at the gateway to the sea of Asov and access to Rostov as well as the port at sevastopol as strategically important. An inevitable now pro western Ukraine with its black sea ports in the hands of the west may make svastopol eventually  untenable for the Russian and may require them to upgrade Novorossiysk. While it might be possible to get back the Donbas I cant see the posibility of the Russians not keeping a portion of crimea if not all. I think the west will view that as an acceptable outcome and the Ukraine may be forced to cede at least part if not all if the price of continuing is to lose U.S./western support. To me this is the only possible outcome where Putin can come out without a total loss of face. He will of course spin this as a victory if the west recognises Crimea as part of russia and eases sanctions. There must be some reparations by Russia to make this politically acceptable in the west and might include a "royalty" on russian energy exports in exchange for relief of sanctions on oil and gas exports. A drop in oil price would certainly benefit Biden (as well as the world economy) after eating humble pie from the Saudis and then being slapped in the face. What do other TDers think? Please feel free to disagree and punch holes in my argument an objective alternative view is always welcome.

----------


## sabang

The new Ukraine aid is more than the $37.7 billion President Biden requested

by Dave DeCamp Posted onDecember 20, 2022CategoriesNewsTagsUkraine

Congress unveiled on Tuesday a massive $1.7 trillion omnibus funding bill that includes $45 billion in new Ukraine aid, which will bring total US spending on the war to about $112 billion.

The $45 billion is over $7 billion more than the $37.7 billion in Ukraine aid that the White House asked Congress to authorize before the next congressional session begins in January.

According to a summary of the new Ukraine aid, the $45 billion includes $9 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the US to purchase arms for Kyiv and funds other types of support, including training and intelligence sharing.

The aid includes $11.8 billion to replenish US military stockpiles that have been sent to Ukraine. US European Command will get $6.98 billion for “mission support, intelligence support, pay, equipment, and related activities.” The US is set to open a new command in Germany dedicated entirely to overseeing the training and arming of Ukrainian forces.

Other types of aid include $13.37 billion for economic assistance and direct budgetary support and $2.47 billion for humanitarian aid. When it comes to oversight, the new aid includes $6 million for the Pentagon’s Inspector General and requires an IG report on the new funds.

The 4,155-page $1.7 trillion omnibus bill includes the funds for the $858 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which has been passed through Congress and is expected to be signed by President Biden sometime this week. Congress needs to pass the omnibus bill by December 23 to avoid a government shutdown.

The NDAA will allow the US to arm Ukraine even more as it includes another $800 million in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. The NDAA will also grant the Pentagon wartime purchasing powers by allowing non-competitive, multi-year contracts for certain arms. The authority could be used to refill US stockpiles, arm Ukraine, and assist foreign governments that have provided support for Ukraine.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/12/20/...-funding-bill/

----------


## misskit

*Putin says situation extremely difficult in Russian-annexed Ukrainian regions*

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the situation in four areas of Ukraine that Moscow has unilaterally declared part of Russia was proving “extremely difficult”, one of his clearest public admissions yet that his invasion is not going to plan.


He also called for an increase in surveillance in his comments to mark Security Services Day in Russia on Tuesday. They followed a visit to close ally Belarus that fuelled fears, dismissed by the Kremlin, that the country could help Russia open a new invasion front against Ukraine.


Kyiv renewed calls for more weapons after Russian drones hit energy targets in a third air strike on power facilities in six days.


Putin ordered the Federal Security Services (FSB) to step up surveillance of Russian society and the country’s borders to combat the “emergence of new threats” from abroad and traitors at home. Western countries have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia and the rouble slumped to an over seven-month low against the dollar on Tuesday after the European Union agreed to cap prices of gas, a major Russian export.


In a rare admission of the invasion of Ukraine not going smoothly, Putin cautioned about the difficult situation in regions of Ukraine that Moscow moved to annex in September and ordered the FSB to ensure the “safety” of people living there.


“The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is extremely difficult,” Putin said in a video address to security workers translated by Reuters.


In September, Putin sought to regain the initiative after a series of battlefield defeats by declaring that four partially occupied regions in Ukraine’s east and south had joined Russia. Kyiv and its Western allies said the move was illegal.


In October, Russian forces drew back in one of the regions – Kherson – and dug in elsewhere. They have failed to gain ground and earlier this month, Putin said the war could be a “long process”.


On Monday, Putin made his first visit to Belarus since 2019, where he and his counterpart extolled ever-closer ties at a news conference late in the evening but hardly mentioned Ukraine. On Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported that Belarus had reached an understanding with Moscow on the restructuring of its debt and had agreed on a fixed price for Russian gas for three years.


Kyiv, meanwhile, was seeking more weapons from the West after weeks of attacks on energy facilities which have knocked out both power and water supplies amid freezing temperatures.


“Weapons, shells, new defence capabilities … everything that will give us the ability to speed up the end to this war,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his evening address.


Ukraine’s military said it had shot down 30 of 35 “kamikaze” drones fired by Russia on Monday, mostly at the capital Kyiv. The unmanned aircraft fly towards their target, then plummet and detonate on impact.


Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday that five people had been killed in the eastern Donetsk and southern Kherson regions, with eight wounded, and that 21 missiles had knocked out power in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.


BELARUS ACTIVITY


To the northwest of Ukraine, there has been constant Russian and Belarusian military activity for months in Belarus, which Moscow’s troops used as a launch pad for their abortive attack on Kyiv in February.


Lukashenko has said repeatedly he has no intention of sending his country’s troops into Ukraine. But the commander of Ukraine’s joint forces, Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev, said his country was prepared.


“The level of the military threat is increasing, but we are taking adequate measures,” he was quoted as saying by the defence ministry on Telegram. “The Armed Forces’ General Staff provides for the expansion of units in the event of a significant increase in the other side’s forces.”


The Kremlin on Monday dismissed the suggestion that Putin wanted to push Belarus into a more active role. The RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying such reports were “groundless” and “stupid”.


Both Putin and Lukashenko were also at pains to dismiss the idea of Russia annexing or absorbing Belarus.


“Russia has no interest in absorbing anyone,” Putin said.


Asked about this comment, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said it should be treated as the “height of irony”, given it was “coming from a leader who is seeking at the present moment, right now, to violently absorb his other peaceful next-door neighbour.”


FIGHTING GRINDS ON


The 10-month-old conflict in Ukraine, the largest in Europe since World War Two, has killed tens of thousands of people, driven millions from their homes and reduced cities to ruins.


Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian artillery hammered 25 towns and villages around Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the east and several areas around Kupiansk, a northeastern town retaken by Ukraine in September.


Alexei Kulemzin, the Russian-installed mayor of the city of Donetsk, said Ukrainian shelling hit a hospital wing, along with a kindergarten, posting on Telegraph a photo of what appeared to be a waiting room with smashed furniture and fittings.


Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts of either side.


Russia says it is waging a “special military operation” in Ukraine to rid it of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and the West describe the Kremlin’s actions as an unprovoked war of aggression.

https://www.thaipbsworld.com/putin-s...inian-regions/

----------


## harrybarracuda

Vladimir Putin has attempted to deflect responsibility for his ailing war in Ukraine by staging a choreographed televised meeting with top Russian officials also involved in the invasion, the UK has suggested.

As his war grinds into its 10th month, with winter setting in, the Russian president visited what was reported by Russian media to be his Ukraine command headquarters last Friday, the location of which was not disclosed.

He was filmed meeting with several senior military officers, including Russias chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov and defence secretary Sergei Shoigu.

At the headquarters, Mr Putin invited proposals for the next steps of what he terms his special military operation, and his recently-appointed commander Sergei Surovikin was among those who presented a report, according to the British Ministry of Defence (MoD).

In this choreographed meeting Putin likely intended to demonstrate collective responsibility for the special military operation, the ministry said in its intelligence update on Tuesday.

This display likely aimed to deflect Putins responsibility for military failure, high fatality rates and increasing public dissatisfaction from mobilisation.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2248972.html

----------


## pickel

From Bakhmut to the White House. Already en route. 


Biden and Zelensky planning to meet in Washington for Ukrainian president's first foreign trip since war began

Biden and Zelensky planning to meet in Washington for Ukrainian president's first foreign trip since war began | CNN Politics

----------


## sabang

I trust he didn't forget his begging bowl.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> I trust he didn't forget his begging bowl.


You of course would prefer he just rolled over so your precious Putin's military didn't have to take such a hiding.

----------


## Norton

> I trust he didn't forget his begging bowl.


That's his job and he is damn good at it. Analogous to Churchill meeting with FDR and we all know how that ended for the Yermans.

----------


## bsnub

> I trust he didn't forget his begging bowl.


At least he is not sucking up to Kim Jong-un like your pathetic bald little god. What a joke Russia has become in front of the entire world. You grovelling apologists are looking more and more stupid every day. 

 :rofl:

----------


## Hugh Cow

> I trust he didn't forget his begging bowl.


What a fatuous comment.

----------


## HermantheGerman

> I trust he didn't forget his begging bowl.


Stupid comment as usual.

Anyway did you know that that the Ukrainian President has already traveled to the combat zone several times – in contrast to Putler, who has not been at the front once.

What does that tell you?

----------


## HermantheGerman

> According to Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov, Russian companies are interested in cooperation with Iran in the field of gas turbine technology. The companies could also imagine joint production.


I don't think this news needs any comments  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## HermantheGerman

Some more good news  :Smile: 

*Russia rocked by monster explosion as devastating fireball erupts from gas pipeline**A powerful explosion has hit a gas pipeline in Russia releasing a massive fireball.* Russia rocked by monster explosion as devastating fireball erupts from gas pipeline | World | News | Express.co.uk

Russia hit by third huge explosion in days witth gas pipeline ablaze | Metro News

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Stupid comment as usual.
> 
> Anyway did you know that that the Ukrainian President has already traveled to the combat zone several times – in contrast to Putler, who has not been at the front once.
> 
> What does that tell you?


He did do a photo shoot in front of his crappy bridge.

----------


## Mendip

*Vladimir Putin stays in Moscow as Volodymr Zelensky meets his soldiers on the frontline
*
*Even the most avid Kremlin supporters had a hard time hiding their disappointment with the Russian leaders lack of touch
*
By
Nataliya Vasilyeva,

 RUSSIA CORRESPONDENT, IN ISTANBUL
20 December 2022  9:58pm


*President Zelensky went to Bakhmut to give awards to his soldiers fighting on the frontline*
A few days ago Vladimir Putin gathered his generals together in a war room in an undisclosed location.

It  was the perfect photo op; Russia state media praised Mr Putin for  working all day with his military leaders at the headquarters.

A  couple of weeks earlier Mr Putin had dared cross the Kerch Bridge  connecting mainland Russia to Ukraine - the closest he has come to the  country since he launched his invasion.

But efforts to seize the narrative and burnish his strongman credentials were somewhat overshadowed on Tuesday in Bakhmut.

In  a show of genuine bravery and leadership, Volodymr Zelensky, the  Ukrainian president, paid a visit to soldiers in what is perhaps the  most dangerous place across the frontline.

As  Mr Zelensky was seen shaking hands of Ukrainian soldiers who had  apparently only just left the trenches, Mr Putin was handing out awards  to Russian-appointed heads of annexed Ukraine from the safety of Moscow.

Russian  state TV is likely to ignore Mr Zelenskys frontline tour, fearing an  awkward comparison but even the most avid Kremlin supporters who follow  international media had a hard time hiding their disappointment with the  Russian leaders lack of touch with the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine.

Zelensky went to Bakhmut to give awards to his soldiers fighting  on the frontlines against us while Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) is  honouring his heroes right at the Kremlin: Just look at those honest,  brave faces! Igor Girkin, a former Russian-backed leader in Ukraine,  jokingly said of the Kremlin award ceremony.

Aside from yesterdays optics, Bakhmut is turning into a major headache for Mr Putin and the Kremlin.

Fighting around this Ukrainian town has been going on for months.

For  days, Russias defence ministry spokesman has been speaking of  successful advances in Bakhmut but the frontline hardly budged, making  it impossible for the Kremlin to boast of any tangible gains to the  Russian public.

The battle around the town has  been described as a senseless vortex of violence, sucking in resources  from both sides to fight over a town with no clear strategic  significance.

One of the men leading the charge  from Russia is said to be Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the  increasingly powerful Wagner mercenary group.

Mr  Prigozhin, a former petty criminal known as Putins chef for his time  catering in the Kremlin, is said to be growing in influence, which is  likely to concern Mr Putin and his grip on power.

*Increasingly critical of Russian tactics*
Meanwhile,  some proponents of the Russian war are becoming increasingly critical  of the Russian tactics around Bakhmut that claimed hundreds if not  thousands of lives.

Mr Girkin is one of the most vocal, and emerging as another challenge to Mr Putins authority.

The  man who famously led the first group of Russian nationals to capture a  town in Ukraines Donetsk region in 2014 and went on to briefly lead the  separatist forces there, in a recent video called the strategy in  Bakhmut idiotic.

Mr Putin, despite launching  Europes most devastating war since 1945, has proven unwilling to change  his ways and, if anything, has grown even more distant, not only from  ordinary Russians but even from his own officials, who still have to  take numerous Covid tests and quarantine before they can get close to  him.

The closest the Russian president has come  to visiting Ukraine was the fleeting trip to drive along a section of  the damaged Kerch bridge earlier this month.

Meanwhile Mr Zelensky continues to grow in stature.

Once  Ukraines most beloved comedian, in the past ten months he has evolved  into a war leader who takes every opportunity to share tragic moments  with his people - be it the residents of the liberated city of Kherson  or soldiers on the front line in Bakhmut.


Vladimir Putin stays in Moscow as Volodymr Zelensky meets his soldiers on the frontline

----------


## panama hat

> Meanwhile Mr Zelensky continues to grow in stature.


While the Russian piece of shit is shrinking

----------


## sabang

It seems somewhere along the line in this News thread, you forgot the News. #2423-




> *Congress Includes $45 Billion in New Ukraine Aid to $1.7 Trillion Funding Bill*The new Ukraine aid is more than the $37.7 billion President Biden requested

----------


## bsnub

> It seems somewhere along the line in this News thread, you forgot the News. #2423-


Antiwar.com is not NEWS, it is PROPAGANDA. Shameful that that post was not tossed in the doghouse where it belongs.

----------


## sabang

WASHINGTON ― With Congress on track to hit $100 billion in aid this year to help Ukraine repel Russia, the Pentagon’s law enforcement agency is watching for signs of fraud and abuse in the contracts being awarded.

The Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s Ukraine focus is on the Pentagon’s many speedy contracting actions and on the potential black market diversion of U.S. aid, said James Ives, principal deputy director for DCIS, which falls under the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General. No contracting fraud has become public so far.

“The risk is very real by virtue of the fact that we’re dealing with such an incredible volume of items, many that have warfighting capabilities, and we’re doing it very quickly,” Ives said in an interview. “Any time where you see accelerated efforts of this nature, there’s potential for all sorts of activities that should be of concern.”

The Pentagon said this month it’s so far inked Ukraine-related contracts worth $9 billion, with more coming. Of that, $2.7 billion falls under the $9.3 billion Congress approved for the Pentagon to buy new defense items for Ukraine, and another $3.4 billion is part the $6.7 billion the Pentagon committed to replace materiel sent to Ukraine from its stocks.

The Defense Department, according to a recent fact sheet, “is working closely with industry to produce these systems ... as quickly as possible,” using undefinitized contract actions, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts, and “other tools that accelerate acquisition timelines.”

In an effort to head off criminal exploitation in activities related to Ukraine assistance, Ives in September led a team of DCIS investigators on a trip to Poland, a hub for the transfer of foreign military equipment and supplies to the Ukrainian government. The visit was meant to spread the word that fraud, abuse and diversions should be reported.

“A good deal of our efforts right now [are] making sure we’re out and about, letting folks know that when these facts come to the government’s attention, investigative agencies need to get involved,” Ives said. “It’s an effort to remind folks that although we understand there’s a need to engage in this accelerated procurement that’s going on, there’s a need to bake oversight into the process.”

Potential reports could come from the Pentagon workforce, which Ives called the inspector general’s “eyes and ears on the ground,” as well as senior leaders. Meanwhile, he said, investigators received “assurances” from the Ukrainian government that its officials take potential weapons diversion seriously and, along with the U.S. State Department and military officials, will report any instances to the watchdog agency.

“They fully understand that accountability is expected,” Ives said of Ukrainian officials. “They obviously have a vested interest in ensuring they have the correct processes in place ... and they’re certainly aware that any issues need to be brought to the [U.S.] government’s attention.”

Ives said DCIS coordinates with the State Department and other U.S. law enforcement agencies, and it also maintains “a really strong network of international partners within the law enforcement community.”

While the Defense and State departments said they haven’t found credible evidence of diversion of U.S.-provided weapons, both say they are taking steps to safeguard those weapons.

Small teams with the defense attache office within the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine have conducted inspections, which include keeping records of aid before it’s handed over and then tracking it from border logistics hubs to the front line, a senior defense official told reporters in October. The Defense Department is also training Ukrainians to provide data from areas where U.S. teams cannot go.

NBC reported the Defense Department is working to pick up the pace of weapons checks before January, when there will be more pressure from the incoming House Republican majority about how U.S. weapons are distributed and used. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in line to become House speaker, has said Republicans will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine.

Asked about the political dynamics, Ives told Defense News that DCIS is “apolitical.”

“The bottom line is where there is money, there’s potentially fraud. So given the extensive amount of taxpayer dollars that are going towards this, we are naturally going to prioritize oversight,” he said.

When it comes to potential diversions, Ives said the inspector general’s office is particularly concerned about “weapons systems that are portable but pack a punch,” like man-portable air-defense systems, which “tend to be in demand regardless of the actor.” Any sort of U.S. technology will be “a constant target given that our nation deploys the most advanced weapons systems,” he added.

While the Ukraine situation is unique, the inspector general’s office plans to apply lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan — where the Pentagon was doing much of its own contracting — when it comes to the potential for fraud and abuse at any stage of contracting.

“High-value, accelerated contracting can lead to significant fraud, waste and abuse, and oversight is absolutely paramount when it comes to these types of situations,” he said. “We certainly saw in Afghanistan and Iraq that some of the most significant fraud schemes we’ve ever seen came in the early stages of those engagements, where oversight wasn’t a prime consideration. That lesson, I believe, has been learned.”


About Joe Gould
Joe Gould is the senior Pentagon reporter for Defense News, covering the intersection of national security policy, politics and the defense industry. He served previously as Congress reporter.

https://www.armytimes.com/pentagon/2022/12/21/deluge-of-money-for-ukraine-puts-pentagons-top-cops-on-high-alert/

----------


## helge

> In a show of genuine bravery and leadership, Volodymr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, paid a visit to soldiers in what is perhaps the most dangerous place across the frontline.


Hmm

Smells like a typical propaganda piece.

There would be no reason to put him in any danger



> As Mr Zelensky was seen shaking hands of Ukrainian soldiers who had apparently only just left the trenches,


Oh

Way behind the front then ?

Ofcourse

----------


## pickel

> Oh
> 
> Way behind the front then ?
> 
> Ofcourse


It was close enough to hear artillery in the background during the visit. And much closer than Putin has ever come.

----------


## sabang

Russia is expected to dramatically increase military spending over next two years, as it signals it is preparing for a long war


Vladimir Putin has pledged to give his army anything it asks for in a meeting with Russia’s top military officials as the war in Ukraine enters its 11th month.

Speaking in Moscow at the closing session of the expanded board of the ministry of defence, Putin said there were no “funding restrictions” for the military. “The country, the government will give everything that the army asks for. Everything,” the Russian president added.

Russia is expected to dramatically increase its spending on the military in the next two years, as Putin signals that he is preparing for a prolonged and costly war with Ukraine. Earlier this month, he said the conflict could turn into a “long-term process”, and the Kremlin shows no intention of climbing down from its maximalist goals of regime change in Ukraine.

Putin’s speech on Wednesday was also an acknowledgment that the mobilisation he announced in September – the first since the second world war – had not gone smoothly.

There have been public expressions of anger from citizens over the way the mobilisation has been handled, including complaints that the conscripts were not adequately prepared and equipped.

“The partial mobilisation that was carried out revealed certain problems, as everyone well knows, which should be promptly addressed,” he said.

“I ask the ministry of defence to be attentive to all civilian initiatives, including taking into account criticism and responding correctly, in a timely manner.”

Praising Russian troops as “heroes”, Putin said that half of the 300,000 mobilised soldiers were currently stationed away from the battlefield.

“This is a sufficient reserve for conducting the special military operation,” Putin said.

Senior Ukrainian officials have said Moscow is preserving its recently mobilised troops for future offensives.

“The second part of the mobilisation, 150,000 approximately, started their training courses in different camps,” Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said last week.

“The [draftees] do a minimum of three months to prepare. It means they are trying to start the next wave of the offensive probably in February, like last year. That’s their plan.”

Mainly Putin once again defended what Moscow calls its “special military operation”, repeating his earlier claims that the west was responsible for the conflict which he said was “inevitable”.

“What is happening now in Ukraine is a common tragedy, but this is not the result of Russian policy … This conflict was inevitable – better to have it today than tomorrow.”

FULL- Vladimir Putin promises army anything it asks for, as invasion enters 11th month | Russia | The Guardian


Oh well, hunker down. Doesn't look to me this fabled 'Winter offensive' is coming, from either side. Certainly, the Ukrainian military seems more concerned about a pending Russian offensive going by recent statements. We'll see.

----------


## bsnub

Live press conference...

----------


## Norton

> Vladimir Putin has pledged to give his army anything it asks for in a meeting with Russia’s top military officials as the war in Ukraine enters its 11th month.


No surprise. As long as he has the political power and the means he will continue. There is no indication he will anytime soon lose power so as I have said before this war is far from over.

----------


## malmomike77

He's backed himself into a corner like Xi did with zero COVID. The only way I can see him sustaining any kind of support is to turn this into a Russia v NATO/West narrative.

----------


## bsnub

When Russia called up 300,000 reservists  to fill out the army’s ranks for the ongoing Ukraine war, the  bureaucratic chaos and public angst that erupted as men were dragged  from their civilian lives into unexpected military service got a lot of  media coverage.

But there is a parallel, economic mobilization  that is still going on, to rapidly reallocate resources and labor from  the civilian sector to war production. And it remains largely shrouded  in secrecy and controversy.

Russia may have more men to throw into  a coming winter offensive, but the thousands of fresh Russian troops  now headed for the front will need the full gamut of provisions, from  heavy weapons and ammunition to cold-weather gear, body armor, daily  meals, and medical supplies. The Ukrainian military is being funded and  supplied by a nearly united effort of powerful Western economies.

Hence, the most critical question of the moment in Russia, yet one of  the most difficult to answer, is whether the country’s industry will be  able to deliver matching support for its forces in the field. The  results so far are murky, as most information is classified. But experts  who are willing to talk about it insist that the Russian economy will  prove far more capable of delivering the needed materiel than its  detractors claim. That said, sanctions and three decades of peacetime  economics have left severe bottlenecks and import dependencies that the  economy will struggle to overcome.

“The past 10 months has shown  that the Russian economy can adapt [to the near-total sanctions regime]  faster than even we expected, but in some specific areas it will be hard  to replace Western imports,” says Ivan Timofeev, an expert with the  Russian International Affairs Council, which is affiliated with the  Foreign Ministry. “We should not underestimate Russia’s capacities.”

*“We’re going to have a different economy”*

No  one ever doubted the ability of the former USSR to field huge  mechanized armies, or the capacity of its military-industrial complex to  churn out masses of weaponry, from ballistic missiles, tanks, and  fighter planes to assault rifles, helmets, boots, and field hospitals.  But after the superpower’s collapse, its war machine disintegrated. Many  of the most advanced military industries, ironically, ended up in the territory of the newly minted Ukrainian state, including those in the areas of missiles, tanks, aviation, shipbuilding, and helicopters.

Post-Soviet Russia also made the political decision to build a  Western-style consumer economy, and until recently, even Russian  President Vladimir Putin was warning about the dangers of repeating the disastrous experience of waging an arms race with the West. After a brief war with Georgia in 2008 revealed the serious shortcomings of Russia’s Soviet-legacy armed forces, the Kremlin ordered sweeping military reforms including reduction of conscription, an increase of professional forces known as _kontraktniki_, and reequipping all services with modern weaponry.

After  Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, amid growing discord with the  West, Russia began working to sanctions-proof its defense sector.

Dr. Timofeev argues that much of the public discussion in Western  media about the impact of sanctions assumes that once a blow is struck  against the Russian economy, the damage will be incapacitating and  irreparable. Less thought is given to the possibility of blowback, and  the abilities of the targeted country to find alternatives and  workarounds, or even generate its own substitutes for the lost  capacities. Though Dr. Timofeev would not comment directly on military  industry, he did say that the principles that allow Russia’s civilian  industry to adapt to new conditions should apply equally to Russia’s  military production sector.

“Russia  is a dynamic society; it learns and adapts and rearranges its  priorities,” he says. “Russia’s economy is in the throes of profound  change, and it might take some time for it to reach its new level.  Import substitution, especially things like advanced technologies,  microchips, etc., will be difficult. We’re going to have a different  economy. In some areas it may be less modernized, but it will be  sustainable.”

“I was a member of the public council in 2014, and  that was the time authorities started a large-scale program for import  substitution,” says Iosif Diskin, an economics professor at Moscow’s  Higher School of Economics. “The aim was to close windows of  vulnerabilities, to create our own technologies, microchips,  electronics, etc., to lead to the independent development of our armed  forces.”

Dr. Diskin says the effort has been at least partially  successful. The impact of sanctions has been far less acute than widely  predicted: Russia’s economy is facing only a shallow recession next  year, and industrial production actually hit a six-year high last month. Much of that is probably due to state orders for military goods.

“Many  military factories are currently working around-the-clock with three  shifts. That has not happened since the end of World War II,” he says.  “State orders are a boon. Maybe some sectors, like insurance, banking,  and tourism, have suffered. But the total volume of industrial  production is increasing.”

*A boom in defense spending*

National security spending has increased massively this year, after actually declining somewhat  in recent years. President Putin has appointed a high-level council to  oversee the country’s first wartime economic mobilization since World  War II. But he has also promised to avoid Soviet-style state controls,  such as nationalization and subordination to central planning.

Officially, defense spending is set to grow by 50% next year,  though it’s impossible to know the actual amount, or any details about  its disbursement. “Defense spending is a military secret. 

These are  closed budget items, the disclosure of which is a criminal offense,”  says Dr. Diskin. “If someone tells you a figure, it will either be a  fiction or a direct path to prison.”

Some  civilian businesses, such as textiles, food catering, and makers of  drones, backpacks, and body armor, report a big uptick in production,  which is presumably fueled by state orders.

Public sources indicate  that deliveries of even the most sophisticated military hardware  continue, and analysts privately scoff at any suggestion that the  Kalashnikov Works in Kaluga can’t produce enough assault rifles, or the  UralVagonZavod in Nizhni Tagil enough tanks, for the Russian army’s  needs. Despite media predictions for months that Russia would likely  “run out of ammunition,” there seems no letup of Russian artillery  barrages in the Donbas, and a recent examination  of the remains of Russian cruise missiles that have been raining down  on Ukrainian infrastructure targets found that some of them have been  made quite recently.

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Euro...to-supply-them

----------


## bsnub

*LIVE: Ukrainian President Zelensky ADDRESSES U.S. Congress in HISTORIC Speech*

----------


## misskit

*Putin threatens to strengthen nuclear triad, pledges 'unlimited' funds for Russian army*

Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged in a speech to his defense chiefs that the state will invest "unlimited" funds in its military.


He also emphasized Russia's commitment to maintaining and developing its nuclear triad, calling it the "main guarantee of preserving our sovereignty and territorial integrity." A nuclear triad is a military force structure that consists of land-launched nuclear missiles, nuclear-missile-armed submarines, and aircraft with nuclear bombs and missiles.


Putin vowed to ensure that Russia's nuclear forces are combat-ready, adding that Russia's hypersonic Sarmat missile, nicknamed "Satan II" and capable of mounting nuclear strikes against the U.S., will be ready for deployment in the near future.


Putin gave the speech on Dec. 21 as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky headed off to Washington for talks with U.S. President Joe Biden and speaking in Congress.


Zelensky's trip to Washington, the first foreign visit since the start of the full-scale invasion in February, comes as the U.S. prepares to send a Patriot surface-to-air missile system to Ukraine — the most advanced air defense weapon in its arsenal that Kyiv has been long pleading for, the White House reported.


The U.S. will provide Ukraine with a Patriot battery, which includes up to eight launchers with 4-16 missiles each, depending on the type of munition used. The system is expected to be part of a new $2 billion military aid package that the U.S. plans to unveil on Dec. 21, the report said.


The same day, Russia's Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, traveled to China for an unannounced meeting with President Xi Jinping to discuss the "no limits" strategic partnership between Moscow and Beijing, as well as Russia's war in Ukraine.

Putin threatens to strengthen nuclear triad, pledges 'unlimited' funds for Russian army

----------


## OhOh

The Budapest's parliamentary speaker's press conference.

21 Dec, 2022 07:41  HomeWorld News


*Hungary outlines Wests key mistake in Ukraine*

                     Trying to convert the nation into a military base  against Russia was an error, Budapest's parliamentary speaker has  claimed 

_"__The West made a huge blunder when it tried to turn Ukraine into an  anti-Russian stronghold, leaving Moscow no other choice than to  intervene, the speaker of the Hungarian parliament, Laszlo Kover, said  on Tuesday.
__
Speaking to InfoRadio, Kover noted that the Ukraine  conflict has changed the global geopolitical map. He added that as the  West introduced new sanctions against Russia, European political elites,  for some reason, became enthusiastic about destroying Russia economically [and] politically while separating it from the EU by creating a new iron curtain._
_
While condemning Russias military campaign in Ukraine, the speaker noted that the West had been pushing Moscow back from its old imperial borders for several decades. Moreover, Moscow saw that this is not enough for the West, as it was getting closer to the nations core territories, he said._
_
I  think the Western world made a strategic mistake when it tried not only  to remove Ukraine from Russias sphere of interest, but also to turn it  into a large population and military base against Russia, he stressed, adding that Moscow felt it could no longer sit idle in the face of these efforts.
_
_He went on to point out that the sanctions regime against Moscow has hurt Europe much more than Russia, stressing that Central Europe should do its best to avoid becoming the eastern periphery of a North Atlantic empire.
_
_While calling for a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict, the speaker also stated that the optimal scenario for Europe would be the establishment of a European peace system in which each others security needs are taken into account from both sides.
_
_His  remarks come after French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday  that the conflict would eventually be settled diplomatically,  reiterating that the West would have to come up with some sort of  security guarantees not only for Kiev, but also for Moscow.
_
_On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russias military operation against Ukraine was absolutely necessary amid recurring Western attempts to turn Ukraine into anti-Russia."

Hungary outlines Wests key mistake in Ukraine  RT World News
_

----------


## pickel

> On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia’s military operation against Ukraine was “absolutely necessary” amid recurring Western attempts to turn Ukraine into “anti-Russia.”"


Putin has definitely made Ukraine more "anti-Russia" than the West ever could have. Great strategy he has there.

----------


## HermantheGerman

Those responsible in Moscow waged war and wasted human lives - the lives of other people, not that of their loved ones, not their own lives, but that of others, and that's only because a group in the Kremlin doesn't know how to admit mistakes and is terribly afraid of reality. But the reality speaks for itself.

Zelenskyy

----------


## misskit

*U.S. Says North Korea Has Sold Arms to Russias Wagner Group
*
North Korea has delivered arms to Russia's Wagner mercenary group, the White House said on Thursday, calling Wagner a "rival" to other ministries in Moscow for power in the Kremlin.


White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said that the U.S. would impose additional sanctions on the Wagner group following North Korea's sale of rockets and missiles to the group last month, in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.


"Wagner is searching around the world for arms suppliers to support its military operations in Ukraine," Kirby told reporters.


"We can confirm that North Korea has completed an initial arms delivery to Wagner, which paid for that equipment," he added.


Kirby said the Wagner group, which is independent of the Russian defense establishment and is leading a bloody siege of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, is spending more than $100 million each month on its Ukraine operations.


"Wagner is emerging as a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries," Kirby said.


In a statement, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the U.K. concurred with the American assessment that North Korea delivered arms to Russia for the Wagner group in violation of UN resolutions.


"The fact that President Putin is turning to North Korea for help is a sign of Russia’s desperation and isolation," Cleverly said.


"We will work with our partners to ensure that North Korea pays a high price for supporting Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine."

The Wagner group is controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman often nicknamed "Putin's chef" for his work catering dinners for Vladimir Putin before and after he became the Russian president.


Prigozhin — who also controls the notorious St. Petersburg internet "troll farm" that allegedly disrupted the 2016 U.S. election — has been a vocal critic of the Russian defense establishment's handling of the war in Ukraine.


His mercenary group has been carrying out operations with implicit Kremlin approval in countries including Syria, Libya, Sudan, and the Central African Republic.


In several locations Wagner has been accused of participating in atrocities.


In Ukraine, the group has served as an elite special forces-type operation that has better training, equipment and supplies than the Russian military itself.


But Wagner has taken significant casualties, and Prigozhin has relied on prisons to supply Wagner with convicts to fill out its ranks.


Kirby estimated that the Wagner force now numbers about 50,000, including 10,000 skilled "contractors" and 40,000 convicts.


In Bakhmut and other areas of heavy fighting, Ukrainian forces say that the relatively untrained convicts have been forced to the front, where many have been killed or injured.


According to U.S. information, Kirby said, 1,000 Wagner fighters had been killed in the fighting in recent weeks, 90% of whom were convicts.


"It seems as though Mr. Prigozhin is willing to just throw Russian bodies into the meat grinder in Bakhmut," he said. 


Kirby said Prigozhin appeared more interested in "influence peddling at the Kremlin" than protecting his troops.


"For him, it's all about how good he looks to Mr. Putin, and how well he's regarded at the Kremlin," Kirby said.

U.S. Says North Korea Has Sold Arms to Russia's Wagner Group - The Moscow Times

----------


## 39TG

Not surprising that the fat North Korean is giving shorty Putin a hand.

----------


## Troy

^^ Paid to have your weapons tested in combat. Can hardly complain when doing the same.

----------


## sabang

^ Good point Troy. Unlike the US, Iran and Nth Korea have not had an opportunity to have their latest weaponry tested on the battlefield- simply because they have not been at perpetual war. Until Ukraine, of course. Given the unrelentingly aggressive and threatening posture of US foreign policy these days, I'm a wee bit surprised China hasn't said to Russia, "here try some of these". Of course they might just be doing so on the sly.

----------


## panama hat

> Unlike the US, Iran and Nth Korea have not had an opportunity to have their latest weaponry tested on the battlefield


You've not paid attention to the war in Ukraine?

----------


## sabang

You've not read my post?

----------


## misskit

*Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin slammed the West for trying to 'tear apart' Russia*

Russian President Vladimir Putin slammed the West for trying to "tear apart" Russia. Putin also said that he aims to "unite the Russian people". While speaking in an interview with Rossiya 1 state television, Putin mentioned "historical Russia", which apparently indicated that Ukrainians and Russians are one people. 


Putin said that Russia's "geopolitical opponents (were) aiming to tear apart Russia, historical Russia". The excerpts of the interview were shared by news agencies. 


Putin added: "Divide and conquer, that's what they have always sought to accomplish and are still seeking to do." He added that "but our goal is different: it's to unite the Russian people." 

With a veiled reference to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Putin said his government was acting "in the right direction... protecting our national interests, the interests of our citizens, of our people." 


Putin accused Kyiv and the Western allies that they are refusing to opt for the diplomatic channels and said that Russia is ready to negotiate with all parties that are involved in the war in Ukraine. 


He said, "We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are." 


Putin added, "I believe that we are acting in the right direction, we are defending our national interests, the interests of our citizens, our people. And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens." 

Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin slams the West for trying to '&#39;'tear apart'&#39;' Russia - World News

----------


## Takeovers

> Putin accused Kyiv and the Western allies that they are refusing to opt for the diplomatic channels and said that Russia is ready to negotiate with all parties that are involved in the war in Ukraine.
> 
> 
> He said, "We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are."


In other words, he is losing on the battlefield and wants to negotiate a victory.

----------


## Shutree

Ukraine war: Drone attack on Russian bomber base leaves three dead


A Ukrainian drone attack on Engels bomber base in south Russia has left three people dead, Moscow says.

Air defences reportedly shot down the drone but falling debris caused the casualties in the overnight attack.

Earlier this month Russia accused Ukraine of a similar attack on the airfield, home to strategic bombers that have taken part in missile attacks on Ukraine.

The base lies about 500km (310 miles) north-east of Ukraine's border.

The Ukrainian military has not officially commented on the attacks but BBC Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg says the latest incident will come as an embarrassment to Russian authorities.

Russia's defence ministry says its air defences shot down the Ukrainian drone flying at low altitude at about 01:35 on Monday (22:35 GMT Sunday).

Three Russian servicemen died of injuries caused by drone debris, it adds.

Saratov governor Roman Busargin expressed his condolences to the men's families and friends, and said there was "absolutely no threat to residents" in the town of Engels itself.

Earlier, social media users posted videos where what sound like blasts and air sirens can be heard at the Engels airfield.

In the previous reported attack on 5 December on the airfield and another air base in the Ryazan region, three servicemen were also killed by debris from a downed Ukrainian drone, Moscow said at the time. Two aircraft were lightly damaged.

The Ukrainian military made no comment on the reported attacks.

The Engels air base has been repeatedly used by Russia to carry out missile strikes on various targets in Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on 24 February.

The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of attacking its territory before, but the alleged attacks in December are deeper into Russia than previous ones. 

Ukraine war: Drone attack on Russian bomber base leaves three dead - BBC News

----------


## bsnub

This video is very important. It needs to be in this thread as it is news. Not all news is print journalism, and this was a several month's long investigative report that is very compelling. It needs to stay in this thread and not be doghoused. Sabang will lobby hard to get this suppressed. That can not be allowed. A must-watch for anyone that monitors this thread. 

Video - The New York Times

----------


## bsnub

An overnight drone attack on Monday targeted the Engels airbase deep  inside Russia for the second time this month, killing three servicemen  in what appears to be a renewed sign of Ukraine’s readiness to target offensive threats way beyond its border areas.  

    Russian Telegram channels reported a strong explosion and a fire,  while Russia’s state-run Ria-Novosti news agency, citing the defense  ministry, said air defenses downed a Ukrainian drone heading towards the  base. Engels air base is located about 600 km northeast of the  Ukrainian border.

    Delivering a symbolic blow, this second long-range attack on one of  Russia’s most strategically important bases — home to nuclear-capable  bombers — came on the same day the Russian army was celebrating the  107th anniversary of the creation of its air defense units.

    The previous attack happened on December 5.  New York Times has reported  that Ukraine carried out the attack with drones and the help of a  military reconnaissance unit coordinating it deep inside Russian  territory. Russian authorities claimed that attack damaged two planes, killed three servicemen and wounded four others. 

On Monday, locals reported a strong blast in the same airfield but  the Russian defense ministry claimed no significant damage was done to  its aircraft. 
    Ukraine has not taken responsibility for either strike.

    “There is absolutely no threat to residents. Civil infrastructure  facilities were not damaged,” Roman Busargin, governor of the Saratov  region, said in a statement.
    “Law enforcement agencies have been investigating the incident at a military facility.”

    Busargin also issued a warning about criminal liability for spreading  false information, claiming that news on the incident published in  media and by citizens will be promptly sent to law enforcement agencies.

    Engels airfield is a base for Russian strategic bombers used to carry  missile strikes against Ukraine. In addition, those bombers are also a  part of Russia’s nuclear triad, as they can carry nuclear warheads.

Drone attack hits Russia’s Engels airbase for second time in a month – POLITICO

----------


## panama hat

> You've not paid attention to the war in Ukraine?





> You've not read my post?


I did, hence my assertion . . . you haven't been paying attention . . .

----------


## panama hat

> This video is very important.


Russian war crimes . . . nothing new - bastards

----------


## malmomike77

German double agent ‘passed Ukraine intelligence to Russia’

Germany’s spy agency fears that Moscow was able to turn one of its agents in the months following the outbreak of war in Ukraine, it has emerged.


The agent, who worked for Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, is believed to have had access to secret information about the Ukraine war from Britain’s GCHQ spy agency and the National Security Agency (NSA) in the US.


The alleged double agent, identified only as Carsten L in accordance with German privacy regulations, was arrested on suspicion of treason in Berlin last Wednesday. He was remanded in custody after appearing before a judge.


Security sources are now investigating the possibility that the agent was blackmailed into betraying his country, German broadcaster Tageschau reported.


If confirmed, the recruiting of an agent in the aftermath of the invasion in February would represent a major coup for Russia and a blow to Western intelligence.


The Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the intelligence operative had passed “state secrets” to a Russian spy agency.


“The accused is suspected of state treason,” prosecutors said in a statement. “In 2022, he transmitted information that he had obtained in the course of his professional activities to Russian intelligence services.”


He may have been turned by the Russians through blackmail, German media reported on Monday.


Neither the BND nor federal prosecutors would comment on the claims, but previously said the investigation was ongoing.


‘Particularly alarming’


Commenting on the arrest last week, Robert Habeck, Germany’s vice-chancellor, called the case “particularly alarming”.


The alleged double agent was a senior official in a surveillance unit of the BND, according to news portal Focus Online.


It said that one of his responsibilities was to analyse information obtained through wiretaps and he also had access to wiretap operations by other Western security services, including in the UK and US.


Wolfgang Kubicki, the vice chairman of the FDP party, a member of the ruling coalition, said he was concerned that the scandal could affect ties between the BND and its counterparts overseas.


“If information could get to Russia from the BND, that will make cooperation with our partners even more difficult,” he told Handelsblatt, a financial newspaper.


German security agencies have warned for several years that Russia has stepped up its efforts to penetrate intelligence circles.


Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, German authorities have conducted several investigations into Russian espionage activities and expelled dozens of Russian diplomats.


“With Russia, we are dealing with an actor where we must reckon with its ruthlessness and willingness to be violent,” said Bruno Kahl, the head of the BND intelligence agency.


Last month, a German man was handed a suspended sentence for passing information to Russian intelligence services while working as a reserve officer for the German army.


In October, Arne Schoenbohm, Germany’s cyber-security chief, was sacked after a television satire programme broadcast allegations that he had ties to Russian intelligence services.


The last time a German intelligence employee was arrested for treason was in 2014 – but back then it was for betraying secrets to the CIA. In 2016, he was sentenced to eight years in prison. The episode strained relations between Berlin and Washington.

http://Germany’s spy agency fears th...nd Washington.

----------


## sabang

War crimes should be documented, whoever commits them. Hushing up one sides war crimes while amplifying the others hardly makes one a reliable narrator, or morally guilt-free.

----------


## bsnub

> Hushing up one sides war crimes while amplifying the others hardly makes one a reliable narrator, or morally guilt-free.


Pushing egregious lies about one side that is far more open and clear about how it wages warfare against a side that clearly is committing mass murder is something that is unforgivable. Going to sleep at night on your pillow must be a horrible thing.

----------


## misskit

*Russia's Lavrov: Either Ukraine fulfils Moscow's proposals or our army will decide*

(Reuters) -Moscow's proposals for settlement in Ukraine are well known to Kyiv and either Ukraine fulfils them for their own good or the Russian army will decide the issue, TASS agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.


"Our proposals for the demilitarization and denazification of the territories controlled by the regime, the elimination of threats to Russia's security emanating from there, including our new lands, are well known to the enemy," the state news agency quoted Lavrov as saying late on Monday.


"The point is simple: Fulfil them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army."


Moscow has been calling its invasion in Ukraine a "special military operation" to "demilitarise" and "denazify" its neighbour. Kyiv and its Western allies call it an imperial-style aggression to grab land.


In September, Moscow proclaimed it had annexed four provinces of Ukraine - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - after holding so-called referendums that were rejected as bogus and illegal by Kyiv and its allies.


On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was open to negotiations and blamed Kyiv and its Western backers for a lack of talks, a stance Washington has previously dismissed as posturing amid persistent Russian attacks.


Lavrov told TASS that when it comes to how long the conflict will last, "the ball is in the regime's court and Washington behind it."


There is no end in sight to the war, which has entered its 11th month and which has killed thousands, displaced millions and turned cities into rubble.


Kyiv has ruled out conceding any land to Russia in return for peace, and publicly demands Russia relinquish all territory. Moscow has insisted it is pursing "demilitarisation" and "denazification" but in reality its aims have not been fully defined.

Russia's Lavrov: Either Ukraine fulfils Moscow's proposals or our army will decide

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Russia's Lavrov: Either Ukraine fulfils Moscow's proposals or our army will decide*
> 
> (Reuters) -Moscow's proposals for settlement in Ukraine are well known to Kyiv and either Ukraine fulfils them for their own good or the Russian army will decide the issue, TASS agency quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying.
> 
> 
> "Our proposals for the demilitarization and denazification of the territories controlled by the regime, the elimination of threats to Russia's security emanating from there, including our new lands, are well known to the enemy," the state news agency quoted Lavrov as saying late on Monday.
> 
> 
> "The point is simple: Fulfil them for your own good. Otherwise, the issue will be decided by the Russian army."
> ...


I'm pretty sure the answer is "fuck off you fat putin sock puppet wanker".

----------


## malmomike77

Russia has failed to take Bakhmut, say UK defence spies

Costly onslaught hasn't made much of a dent... any gains have come at a high price, concludes British military intelligence

Russia's all out assault on the town of Bakhmut has largely failed despite resorting to costly World War One-style tactics, British military intelligence has said.

The city, and the central Donbas region where it lies, have been the focus of a Russian onslaught since August, leading to some of the bloodiest attritional warfare of the Ukraine conflict.

But British military intelligence on Tuesday said Russia had continued to launch frequent small-scale assaults but little territory has changed hands. Any gains are thought to have come at a very high cost in manpower.

Defence analysts assess that Bakhmut, which confers little strategic advantage, has become a symbolic target for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, who is desperate to end the year with a victory.

The area has been the scene of ferocious fighting in recent weeks, with the Wagner paramilitary group thought to be leading Russias attack.

The group is led by former businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, 61, known as Putins chef for his lucrative Kremlin catering contracts, and has been accused of trying to convert battlefield success in Ukraine and across Africa into political power.

The failure to take Bakhmut is seen as a blow for Mr Prigozhins political ambitions and an embarrassment for Russias leader.

Tensions between the Russian military and the mercenary group appear to be rising over the lack of progress.

In an unprecedented public criticism, two Wagner artillery gunners took aim at the Russian armys most senior staff for failing to supply gun crews with enough ammunition, saying the mercenary group was doing all the fighting in Bakhmut. 

One of the soldiers accused Gen Valery Gerasimov, the Russian armys chief of staff, of deliberately obstructing the delivery of more shells to let our guys die. 

They added that Russian attacks against Bakhmut were getting nowhere and that assault groups were being cut to pieces.

Ukraine meanwhile claimed to have halted Russias attacks.

Anna Malyar, Ukraines deputy defence minister, told a televised briefing that Russia had massed its greatest concentration of force to support the assault on Bakhmut.

Our fighters are inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy and he cannot advance further, she said.

The British defence intelligence update also said elements of Russias 1st Guards Tank Army were probably among forces Moscow recently deployed to Belarus.

However, it cautioned: This formation was likely conducting training before its deployment and is unlikely to have the support units needed to make it combat ready.

Footage also emerged of a Russian T-90M tank, one of Moscows most modern vehicles, being destroyed by an improvised grenade dropped from a Ukrainian drone.

The clip on social media shows an RKG-3 high-explosive grenade being dropped through the open turret of a stationary tank which then erupts, blowing the turret off.

Russian tanks have automatic loaders meaning the explosive charges used to propel the munitions are not held in protective armoured containers, as is the case in most western tanks.

Any fire or blast in the turret is highly likely to set off all the charges held in the tank, resulting in a catastrophic explosion.

Despite continued battlefield setbacks, Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday warned Ukraine that it must demilitarise, saying "the Russian army will solve the issue" if it does not.

In an apparent response, Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser, tweeted that "Russia needs to face the reality".

"Neither total mobilisation, nor panicky search for ammo, nor secret contracts with Iran, nor Lavrov's threats will help," he said. "Ukraine will demilitarise the RF [Russian Federation] to the end, oust the invaders from all occupied territories. Wait for the finale silently."

Russia has failed to take Bakhmut, say UK defence spies

----------


## Iceman123

The discussion on this thread appears to be very much on the side of Team Ukraine, that is understandable as the majority of contributors are western and are influenced by their own country's media.

However in any debate both sides should have a fair hearing before a propagandized judgement is made to the exclusion of all other facts.

Team Russia is under represented therefore a few posters have taken the position of playing Devil's advocate. This does not mean that they are Putin stooges but merely wanting to highlight the facts from the other side.

Have we been whipped into a frenzy by the US and UK regarding the possible ramifications of Putin's "invasion?" 
If we don't stop him now he will just keep going etc, etc.

Was this not the same old domino theory we heard about Vietnam. If its not the same it certainly rhymes.

The people who supply the bullets and bandages are usually the clear winners in any war. 

If you can engage your enemies forces without putting your troops on the ground then this a much preferable scenario to actually having to bring home your own troops in body bags.

The Russians wish to have clear space between themselves and NATO - understandable due to recent history. 

Russia is far from perfect, but there again so is Ukraine. We may have forgotten how dishonest a regime we are helping. A regime that would never been admitted to the EEC nor NATO because of their own corruption and ineptitude.

The winner so far is the US, having a battle fought far away from there shores and supplying the ammunition to sustain it. Not to mention the uplift is their gas exports and weapon sales.

Many people are now questioning the motives of the US, helping poor Ukraine just does not sound entirely believable to me.

----------


## malmomike77

^ There's truth in that and as i've said the US is doing very nicely out of this proxy war with Russia.

----------


## pickel

^^
Do you think Ukrainians would stop fighting if the US cut off aid?

If so, you are in dire need of a conversation with a Ukrainian.

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## Iceman123

> ^^
> Do you think Ukrainians would stop fighting if the US cut off aid?
> 
> If so, you are in dire need of a conversation with a Ukrainian.


Well it would seriously limit their options, and make a negotiated settlement happen faster.
This will inevitably be the end result. 

I do not know any Ukrainians to have the conversation with, you will have to do.

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## pickel

> Well it would seriously limit their options, and make a negotiated settlement happen faster. This will inevitably be the end result.


Like in Afghanistan? Or Vietnam?

What did Kissinger say about the negotiated settlement in Vietnam?

“We bombed the North Vietnamese into accepting our concessions.”

----------


## bsnub

The list of American security assistance to Ukraine since the  beginning of Russia’s “unprovoked and brutal invasion” is impressive.  What is more impressive is that $21.9 billion in U.S. military aid  has been dominated by largely second-string gear, comprised of  unpopular or lower-tech systems that were, in many cases, on the way to  the scrapyard.

 As Congress gears up to constrain the Biden Administration’s relative  largesse, it is worth emphasizing that the aid, to date, is neither  excessive nor threatening to U.S. national security.

 In fact, U.S. military support to Ukraine has cost less than what Congress is paying to procure two _Gerald R. Ford_ (CVN 78) class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. In total, taxpayers will put some $26 billion into the USS _Gerald R. Ford_ (CVN 78) and the USS _John F. Kennedy_  (CVN 79). In comparison to these troubled flattops, the $21.9 billion  for Ukraine appears to be a far more effective return on investment.

 Aid to Ukraine has, in effect, shattered the Russian military,  exposing it as little more than a paper tiger. The war has helped  destroy Russia’s once-burgeoning arms bazaar,  ruining Russian efforts to destabilize strategic regions. Enabling the  fight has bolstered Ukraine’s commitment to their nation, critical for  advancing society-building and anti-corruption efforts there.  Facilitating Ukraine’s resistance may even end the kleptocratic reign of  Vladimir Putin, paving the way for a more just—if not more  democratic—society in Russia itself.

  The war served a good proving ground for modern conflict, forcing the  U.S. to recognize old “big war” conflict models it had eschewed for  decades. The war has also reinforced the value of basic, boring old  consumables, items the U.S. often ignores in the constant pursuit of the  newest and shiniest technology—like the pricey _Ford_Class carrier.
 In all, the $21.9 billion has been very well spent. Had America held  back the support, and just let Russia roll over Ukraine, America would  have spent far more in keeping Russia from suborning the rest of Europe.

Helping Ukraine stand against overt aggression has already offered a great return on investment. America has frittered away far more for far less strategic benefit.  The second Iraq War of 2003 cost the United States over a trillion  dollars. Afghanistan cost another trillion in 2022 dollars. Those two  conflicts—which offered little strategic advantage the U.S.— make the  $21 billion in Ukraine security aid look like chump change.

*Second-String U.S. Gear Has Rarely Been Used So Effectively*

 While the numbers and lists of gear are impressive, America hasn’t  given very much that might impact America’s security in any substantial  way. We’ve handed over a lot of former Russian or otherwise obsolete  equipment, including 45 Russian-built T-72B main battle tanks and 20  Mi-17 helicopters. Much of the gear sent to Ukraine was headed for  either the scrapheap or to other allies.

 To a general audience, armored personnel carriers sound impressive.  The fact that America gave Ukraine some 200 M113 Armored Personnel  Carriers sounds like a big deal. But military experts know that America  stopped building these tracked utility vehicles about 25 years ago and  is busy stripping them from the U.S. force.

Other surplus gear has gone to Ukraine. During America’s  counterinsurgency conflicts, the Army procured lots of M1117 Armored  Security Vehicles—a wheeled armored car—between 1999 and 2014. More  appropriate for military constabulary duties than full-scale conflict,  the U.S. has already been drawing down the vehicle inventory, so the 250  sent to Ukraine won’t be missed. To give an idea of where Ukraine sits  in terms of donations, the U.S. gave 200 of these vehicles to Columbia  in 2020. Over 700 were produced for the Afghanistan Army and 400 went to  the Iraqi armed forces. At least, in Ukraine, these vehicles are  directly supporting U.S. goals.

 Some fancy militarized-sounding gifts have centered around mobility. A  grant of almost 300-400 “Tactical Vehicles” may impress a general  audience, but they’re all just military trucks built to carry between  2.5 or 5 tons.

 American taxpayers gave Ukraine 477 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected  Vehicles (MRAPs). Built for a grinding counterinsurgency, the U.S.  military has been so eager to shed the heavy, hard-to-maintain vehicles  it has handed them out to police departments all over the United States.

 America also provided some 1,200 “High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled  Vehicles.” Better known as Humvees, the U.S. is busy replacing this  modern retake of the old military jeep with a newer version called the  “Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.”

Even the newly popular tube artillery systems—when donated, the  future of much of the 142 155mm and 36 105mm howitzers, the 10 120mm, 10  82 mm and 10 60mm mortar systems donated to Ukraine were in doubt. The  Marine Corps was aiming to cut their M777 howitzer batteries from 21 to  five, but the importance of artillery on the Ukraine battlefield may  have changed a few opinions.

 In air defense, all the focus has been on the yet-to-be-delivered  Patriot air defense battery and the eight National Advanced  Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NSAMS). But the bigger story is in the  old HAWK missiles the U.S. is supplying. The U.S. hasn’t used HAWK  missiles since 2002, and, given that we made thousands of them, it would  be very interesting to know more about how these old missiles are doing  in the field.

*Amid The Dross, Ukraine Has Gotten Some “Good Stuff”*

 This isn’t to say that the U.S. hasn’t supplied “good stuff”—complex,  front-line weapons, coupled with always in-demand consumables. But,  while the new gear gets a lot of headlines, the truly modern systems are  few and far between, dwarfed the array of nearly-obsolete U.S.  weaponry.

 The modern gear gets headlines. But then again, those modern,  front-line systems in Ukraine are very few and far between, reflecting a  jaundiced assessment of Ukrainian strategies, technical capabilities,  and training. That’s why a modern Patriot air defense system may take  time to be fielded in Ukraine. In a few years, eight batteries of  National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NSAAMS) will arrive.  New operators need a lot of training to fully exploit America’s  high-tech gear.

 Ukraine supporters, when agitating for more and better weaponry point  toward Ukraine’s quick exploitation of the 38 U.S. supplied High  Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS. But these front-line  assets are largely “fire-and-forget” platforms, and, as export items,  their effectiveness depends more on the end-user’s prowess in finding,  reporting and targeting relevant enemy assets.

That is why the U.S. has put a lot of emphasis upon modern command  and control assistance. Command post vehicles, including well over 80  different radars of various types, jamming gear, tactical communications  systems, SATCOM terminals and surveillance equipment helped Ukraine  plug critical capability gaps. And yet, while these tactical tools are  high-demand and are, in many cases, considered relatively modern  equipment, the U.S. has plenty to offer.

 Some high-tech, relatively “experimental” gear has also gone to  Ukraine. The U.S. has fed 700 Switchblade kamikaze drones, 1,800 Phoenix  Ghost unmanned aerial systems, unmanned costal defense vessels and  other interesting trinkets into the war zone. These new high-tech  “experiments” do cost money, but, for the U.S., getting an understanding  of how these platforms perform on a modern battlefield is invaluable.

 Use rates of relatively modern man-portable or other small defensive  anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems—1,600 Stinger anti-aircraft  missiles, 8,500 Javelin anti-armor missiles, 46,000 other anti-armor  systems, as well as 1,500 TOW anti-tank missiles, and 13,000 grenade  launchers—have likely outstripped America’s ability to produce the  munitions. But, again, this largesse has only made a small dent in  America’s supplies—over the years America produced tens of thousands of Stingers and almost 50,000 Javelins.

Another worry is Ukraine’s consumption of modern artillery shells.  But this “revelation” is, again, worth an enormous amount to the U.S.  military. For years, only a lonely team logisticians and other defense  experts worried about America’s habit of underfunding munitions  production and weapons sustainment.

 Until now, their concerns went unheard by a military more interested  in funding shiny new weapons than in refreshing the grubby, dirty, and  dangerous industrial base devoted to making munitions. Discovering that  the critics were right, and identifying this manufacturing shortfall as a  major constraint, enables the U.S. to do something about it now, when  U.S. national security is not directly threatened on the battlefield.

 While, in total, the amount of military funding sent to Ukraine seems  large, in real terms, much of the military aid sent to Ukraine—outside  of ammunition—is comprised of systems that the Pentagon has already  written off. That is worth remembering when demagogues try to sew public  doubts about America’s support of Ukraine.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/craigho...h=6ee67c3b370a

----------


## sabang

Russia’s electronic warfare capabilities have decimated Ukraine’s drones


Russia may already be gaining the upper hand over the electronic war in Ukraine, knocking out the latter’s drones and potentially blinding its artillery.
In an article this month in Forbes, David Axe cites a November report by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) that Russian electronic warfare (EW) capabilities have knocked out the majority of Ukraine’s drones, with the average lifespan of a small quadcopter drone reduced to three flights, and that of fixed-wing models to six.

According to the RUSI report, 90% of the thousands of drones Ukraine managed to amass before Russia’s invasion in February were shot down or crashed by summer, forcing Ukraine to request replacement drones and fighter jets from the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Axe also notes that Russia’s EW has blunted Ukraine’s intelligence advantages, which enabled its much smaller artillery force to punch far above its weight early in the war.

In a May article for Forbes, David Hambling noted that Ukrainian artillery crews were using various drone models to deliver precise artillery fire against Russian positions, making the most of its limited artillery ammunition stocks by hitting critical targets to maximize the strategic effect.

This advantage may have saved the city of Kiev during the early days of the war. In an article this month for Insider, Michael Peck claims that it was mass fire from old-fashioned Ukrainian artillery that repelled Russia’s February assault on Kiev, not high-tech drones or anti-tank guided missiles.

But Axe says that as Ukraine’s drones are falling out of the sky at an alarming rate, this complicates artillery fire control, removing any precision advantage, increasing the survivability of Russian forces, and allowing them to reconsolidate for further offensive operations.

In addition, Ukraine’s artillery batteries may soon be firing blind, compounding its artillery ammunition woes and further straining US and NATO strategic patience in supplying Ukraine to keep it in the fight. 

Ukraine’s air force is also buckling under the effects of improved Russian EW capability. Axe says Ukraine’s fighter pilots were the first to feel the effects of enhanced Russian EW, noting that the pilots frequently discovered that their air-to-air and air-to-ground communications were jammed, their navigation equipment suppressed, and their radars knocked out.

Given these reports, the drone war in Ukraine has potentially changed course. Asia Times has previously reported on the early successes of Ukraine’s Bayraktar TB-2 drones, which inflicted huge losses against Russian forces, and could be behind the most significant casualties of the war, such as the loss of the cruiser _Moskva_ and critically damaging the frigate _Admiral Essen_.

However, these early successes may have been due to the Russian military’s shortcomings rather than the combat effectiveness of the TB-2. In a report last year by the Turkish think-tank SETA, the TB-2’s success can be ascribed to Russian shortcomings.

The source says Russian forces acted out of their standard tactics, techniques, and procedures that required them to operate under an extensive air defense umbrella with EW capabilities, leaving them vulnerable to TB-2 strikes. In addition, the report states that Russia has yet to establish air superiority fully over Ukraine, which may be due to the latter’s substantial Soviet-era air defense network.

The source says poor coordination and logistics and sub-par maintenance have left Russian forces vulnerable to ambushes and drone strikes. Also, it says Russia’s Soviet-era air defenses are not optimized to deal with the TB-2, as it is small, quiet, does not show a sizable thermal signature, and flies below the minimum detection altitude of long-range radars.

Further, the lack of coordination between Russian combat and EW units may have prevented the latter from using their capabilities to full effect against the TB-2 during the early phases of the Ukraine war.

But in a July article in IEEE Spectrum, Bryan Clark wrote that Russia’s EW was gaining an advantage as the Ukraine conflict turned into a war of attrition.

Clark wrote that during the early stages of the conflict, Russian columns were moving along multiple axes into Ukraine, could not send EW drones over the horizon, and had Ukrainian units interspersed among them. As a result, he says any Russian jamming would have also taken out Russian radios, which forced limits on using EW capabilities.

Moreover, Clark noted that the densely populated areas around Kiev resulted in mixed civilian transmissions and military communications, which prevented Russia from using its EW capabilities to pinpoint and target Ukrainian troops.

He also noted Ukraine’s use of NATO SINCGARS (single channel ground and airborne radio system) jamming and interception-resistant radios to phase out their older Soviet/Russian units, which had back doors built into them for Russian intelligence agencies.

Also, Clark says that during the war’s mobile early stages, Russian forces were unable to advance and change positions quickly enough, resulting in their EW affecting themselves. At the same time, he notes that as Russian troops could not stay for long in their positions, it prevented them from setting up larger, more powerful EW systems to blind NATO satellites and airborne radars.

However, Clark says that as the fighting is now concentrated in less-populated eastern Ukraine and that Russian forces are dug in and no longer thinly spread out, Russia is now using its EW capabilities to detect and degrade Ukrainian communications to support a strategy of incrementally capturing territory using its 10-to-1 advantage in artillery firepower. 

https://asiatimes.com/2022/12/russia...ar-in-ukraine/

----------


## bsnub

> Russia winning the electronic war in Ukraine


Why not just quote the original article? Asia times is a Chinese propaganda site. As usual, your "source" omits key parts of the article.

Russia’s Electronic-Warfare Troops Knocked Out 90 Percent Of Ukraine’s Drones

----------


## sabang

Stop being such a ridiculous child. So a "Chinese propaganda site" publishes articles like this:-

Chinese dark influence coming to light in Thailand – Asia Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Why not just quote the original article? Asia times is a Chinese propaganda site. As usual, your "source" omits key parts of the article.


He learned that off RT.

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## sabang

Redux-




> Stop being such a ridiculous child. So a "Chinese propaganda site" publishes articles like this:-
> 
> Chinese dark influence coming to light in Thailand – Asia Times

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Redux-


No - Bollux.

----------


## misskit

*Russia launches one of its biggest missile barrages ahead of New Year’s Eve. But Ukrainians say celebrations will go on*


 — 
Explosions rattled villages and cities across Ukraine on Thursday, damaging civilian infrastructure and killing at least three people in what Kyiv has called one of Moscow’s biggest missile barrages since the war began in February.


Authorities have been cautioning for days that Russia was preparing to launch an all-out assault on the power grid to close out 2022, plummeting the country into darkness as Ukrainians attempt to ring in the New Year and celebrate the Christmas holidays, which for the country’s Orthodox Christians falls on January 7.


“Russian terrorists have been saving one of the most massive missile attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion for the last days of the year,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Twitter Thursday. “They dream that Ukrainians will celebrate the New Year in darkness and cold. But they cannot defeat the Ukrainian people.”

When Anastasiia Hryn, a 34-year-old Kyiv resident, woke up to the sound of air raid sirens followed by an explosion, she and her son descended to the basement shelter beneath their building. But they were not particularly surprised, nor did they let it dampen their spirits.


“I expected this kind of attack before the New Year. There were reports in the news that something like that was being prepared,” she told CNN.


After the sirens gave the all clear, life in the capital went back to normal, Hryn said: “In the elevator I met my neighbors with their child who were in hurry to get to the cinema for the new Avatar movie on time.” Parents took their children to school and people went to work, while others continued with holiday plans in defiance.

MORE Ukrainians defiant amid one of Moscow's biggest missile barrages | CNN

----------


## bsnub

This would be game changing...

The US government is considering sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to  Ukraine as part of a further package of military support, according to  people familiar with the matter.

A final decision hasn’t yet been  made, one of the people said. When the vehicles would be operational is  also unclear, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to  discuss the sensitive issue.

                            A White House spokesperson, who also spoke on  condition of anonymity, said the US is in constant communications with  Ukraine on the capabilities it needs to defend itself but had nothing to  announce or preview.

Kyiv has been asking allies  for tanks, longer-range missiles, armor and air defense systems, with  Russia’s war now in its 11th month. Fighting continues on the ground in  the east even as the onset of winter has slowed advances by either side,  leaving Moscow resorting to missile strikes against the country’s  energy and civilian infrastructure. Russia launched dozens of cruise  missiles on Ukrainian cities on Thursday in one of its heaviest barrages  of the war, though Ukraine said it shot down most of them.

“Bradleys would provide a major increase in ground combat capability because it is, in effect, a light tank,” said Mark Cancian,  a former White House defense budget analyst who’s now with the Center  for Strategic and International Studies. “Unlike the previously provided  M113s, the Bradley is heavily armed with a powerful 25mm gun and TOW  anti-tank missiles. The United States has many Bradleys, though some are  older and need upgrades, so inventories are not a problem.”

              Cancian added it would be months before Ukraine  could field them because crews and maintainers would need to be trained  on the vehicles, which are built by BAE Systems Plc.

Ukrainian  officials have warned that Russia might be gearing up for a fresh  offensive in the spring. Equally, the warmer weather might allow Kyiv’s  forces to again press the advantage, having pushed Russian forces back  out of areas they occupied in the early days of the war.

Still,  some of Ukraine’s allies have been reluctant to send Kyiv all of the  more advanced weapons it has been asking for, out of concern it could  prompt Moscow to escalate further, or potentially draw other countries  into the conflict more directly.

The  US also has announced plans to send a Patriot missile battery to  Ukraine. But it’s also unlikely to be ready to use before the spring,  due to the time it takes to train Ukrainian troops on the system, the  people said.

In addition to serving as a lightly armored transport for soldiers, a US Army website says the Bradley’s capabilities include “reconnaissance, fire and maneuver, and ‘hunter-killer”’ engagements.

“The  Bradley would be a significant improvement over current Ukrainian  fighting vehicles,” said David Perkins, a retired four-star general who  as a brigade commander sent tanks into downtown Baghdad during the US  invasion of Iraq and later headed the Army’s Training and Doctrine  Command. He said in his experience the Bradley is “more than a match”  for Russia’s infantry fighting vehicles and its T—72 tanks.

Michael  Allen, who held national security policy roles during the presidency of  George W. Bush, said providing Ukraine with the fighting vehicles would  be “significant because most experts are forecasting that the war will  be more like Kherson than Kharkiv, that is to say more grinding and  incremental than a break through a weak line and recapturing hundreds of  square miles.”

              “Bradley is fast and maneuverable and suits our  political objectives to give the Ukrainians weapons to hasten the end of  the war,” according to Allen, who is now managing director of Beacon  

Global Strategies, an advisory firm. “Also, Ukraine is desperate for  armor generally.”

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

----------


## bsnub

Russia's war against Ukraine should "culminate" by the summer of 2023, according to a retired U.S. Army official.

Retired Major John Spencer told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Georgian service  that he doesn't share the opinion that the war will last for years as  others have predicted, due to Ukraine's strength on the battlefield and  support from Western allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's  initial strategy of overtaking Kyiv in April was a failure, Spencer  said, followed by another unsuccessful attempt to alienate Ukrainian  allies. Russia's continued attacks on critical Ukrainian infrastructure  to literally "freeze" Ukraine and its people are "futile," he said.

"I  think it's clear that Putin is not going to let his own intentions go.  He doesn't care how many Russian soldiers will die," Spencer said. "But  the Russian Army is in trouble, very big trouble. Putin wants to slow  down the war. He needs time to give at least a little military training  to the thousands of people who were forced into military service.

"At this point, I don't see any direction in which the Russian Army  can advance. Their only goal is to keep what they've captured and I  think they won't succeed, either."

Hilary Appel, government professor at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California, told _Newsweek_ that Russia has other options for military support, such as Iran and North Korea. 

Iran's drones are having a significant impact  on the war, she said, on the battlefield and on the calculations of  other countries such as Israel, which has shown restraint because of its  own strategic considerations.

"The first few days in February  2022 failed to achieve the downfall of the Zelensky regime, as hoped for  by the Russian government," Appel said. "Yet it is important to recall  that the most important advances leading to the control of nearly 20  percent of Ukraine's territory occurred early in the war.

"But  the Russian military's poor logistics and an ineffective command  structure, combined with the well-trained and highly motivated Ukrainian  troops, succeeded in stopping the advance and de-occupying captured  territory."

Spencer's comments came as Russia launched a massive missile attack  in several regions of Ukraine on Thursday, including in Kyiv. Ukrainian  officials reported three injuries and damage to homes, a hospital and  other properties.

The newest attacks come as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the "collective West" of first declaring war on Russia in 2014, headed by the U.S.

"This  war was declared on us quite a long time ago, after the coup d'etat in  Ukraine that was orchestrated by the United States and, in fact, backed  by the European Union," Lavrov said.

Lavrov also accused Ukraine of not acting in good faith for peace talks while adding that Russia will not negotiate if certain preconditions are part of any such discussion.

"Putting  forward all sorts of ideas and 'formulas of peace,' Zelensky cherishes  the illusion of achieving, with the help of the West, the withdrawal of  our troops from the Russian territory of Donbas, Crimea, Zaporizhzhia  and Kherson region, the payment of reparations by Russia, and the  surrender of international tribunals and the like," Lavrov said.

Mikhail Alexseev, a political science professor at San Diego State University, told _Newsweek_  that Thursday's attacks indicate Russia is continuing "its Mariupol 2.0  strategy to subjugate Ukraine." He said that despite major Ukrainian  military advances, it's no time for complacency.

That is due to  potentially larger-than-expected Russian stockpiles, he said, in  addition to an ability to replenish munitions quicker than others might  have expected. There is also the question of what Belarusian troops under Russian command could potentially contribute.

"Russia  has also been building up its manpower capacity with a view to  acquiring capability to rapidly increase the number of troops it can  throw into battle," Alexseev said. "It appears the Russian strategy is  to deplete Ukraine's power supply and possibly launch new massive  attacks from several directions.

"In addition, the regular flow of  internal news in Russia indicates the state is beefing up longer-term  military footing, switching from two to three shifts at armament  factories, conducting mass hiring there, ordering military training at  major universities and intensifying claims on all of Ukraine as part of  Russia."

Spencer said Ukraine has become "the most proficient  military in the world because they're learning how to kill Russians  better than anybody in the world."

"I think by next summer Ukraine  will have caused the Russian military to culminate, because Russia  doesn't have resupply, it doesn't have alliances, it barely has  manpower," he said.
It is a war based on logistics, not tactics, Spencer added.

"Ukraine  will not run out of bullets, it won't run out of soldiers," Spencer  said. "Russia doesn't have a million soldiers to put into the fight. In  order to do that, you have to threaten Russia's survival, you've got to  make this a fight about Mother Russia, you have to make this about a  fight for survival.

"And Russians have already shown that they  don't believe that this is a war for survival. That's why more men left  the country than joined the mobilization."

https://www.newsweek.com/putins-army...-major-1770188

This is the entire interview. It is an excellent read for those of us who are based in reality...

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-war-...2710_245401755

----------


## misskit

*Putin, unaccustomed to losing, is increasingly isolated as war falters*

When Vladimir Putin visited Minsk last week to discuss deepening cooperation, a sarcastic joke by his host, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, seemed to ring all too true. “The two of us are co-aggressors, the most harmful and toxic people on this planet. We have only one dispute: Who is the bigger one? That’s all,” Lukashenko said.

As Putin approaches New Year’s Eve, the 23d anniversary of his appointment in 1999 as acting Russian president, he appears more isolated than ever.


More than 300 days of brutal war against Ukraine have blown up decades of Russia’s carefully cultivated economic relations with the West, turning the country into a pariah, while Kremlin efforts to replace those ties with closer cooperation with India and China appear to be faltering the longer the war grinds on.


Putin, who started his career as a Soviet KGB agent, has always kept his own counsel, relying on a close inner circle of old friends and confidants while seeming to never fully trust or confide in anyone. But now a new gulf is emerging between Putin and much of the country’s elite, according to interviews with Russian business leaders, officials and analysts.


Putin “feels the loss of his friends,” said one Russian state official with close ties to diplomatic circles, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. “Lukashenko is the only one he can pay a serious visit to. All the rest see him only when necessary.”

Even though Putin gathered leaders of former Soviet republics for an informal summit in St. Petersburg this week, across the region the Kremlin’s authority is weakening. Putin spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping over video conference on Friday morning in Moscow in an effort to showcase the two countries’ ties. Although Xi said he was ready to improve strategic cooperation, he acknowledged the “complicated and quite controversial international situation.” In September, he’d made clear his “concerns” over the war.


India’s Narendra Modi this month wrote an article for Russia’s influential Kommersant daily calling for an end to “the epoch of war.” “We read all this and understand, and I think he [Putin] reads and understands too,” the state official said.


Even the Pope, who at the beginning of the war appeared to take care to accommodate Kremlin views, this month compared the war in Ukraine to the Nazi genocide of the Jews.

Among Russia’s elite, questions are growing over Putin’s tactics heading into 2023 following humiliating military retreats this autumn. A divide is emerging between those in the elite who want Putin to stop the military onslaught and those who believe he must escalate further, according to the state official and Tatyana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Despite a media blitz over the past 10 days, with Putin holding carefully choreographed televised meetings with military top brass and officials from the military-industrial complex, as well as a question-and-answer session with a selected pool of loyal journalists, members of the Russian elite interviewed by The Washington Post said they could not predict what might happen next year and said they doubted Putin himself knew how he might act.


“There is huge frustration among the people around him,” said one Russian billionaire who maintains contacts with top-ranking officials. “He clearly doesn’t know what to do.”


The Russian state official said Putin’s only plan appeared to lie in “constant attempts to force the West and Ukraine to begin [peace] talks” through airstrikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and other threats. Putin repeated the tactic this week by declaring on Christmas Day that he was open to peace talks even as Russia launched another massive missile strike just days later on Thursday, taking out electricity supplies in several regions. “But,” the official said, Putin is willing to talk “only on his terms.”


The billionaire, the state official and several analysts pointed to the postponement of Putin’s annual State of the Nation address, when the Russian president generally lays out plans for the year ahead, and the cancellation of his annual marathon news conference as signs of Putin’s isolation and an effort to shield him from direct questions since he has no map for the road ahead.


The news conference, in particular, could have proved risky given that hundreds of journalists are typically brought to Moscow from Russia’s far-flung regions, which have been disproportionately affected by casualties and the recent partial mobilization.


“In the address, there should be a plan. But there is no plan. I think they just don’t know what to say,” the billionaire said. “He is in isolation, of course. He doesn’t like speaking with people anyway. He has a very narrow circle, and now it has gotten narrower still.”


In the question-and-answer session with the handful of journalists, Putin countered such assertions about the postponement of his speech to parliament. He said he had addressed key issues in recent public meetings, and it was “complicated for me, and the administration, to squeeze it all again into a formal address without repeating myself.”


But his comments on the war have been short on details. He has gone no further than saying conditions in the four Ukrainian territories that he claims to have annexed, illegally, are “extremely difficult,” and that his government would try to end the conflict “the faster, the better.”

Putin again sought to lay the blame on the United States and NATO for dragging out the war, in what seemed almost a tacit admission that he had lost control of the process. “How can he tell us everything is going to plan, when we are already in the 10th month of the war, and we were told it was only going to take a few days,” the state official said.


Putin appeared exhausted in his recent appearances, Stanovaya said. And even if he does have a secret plan of action, most of the Russian elite is losing faith in him, she said.


“He is a figure who in the eyes of the elite appears to be incapable of giving answers to questions,” she said. “The elite does not know what to believe, and they fear to think about tomorrow.”


“To a large degree, there is the feeling that there is no way out, that the situation is irreparable,” she continued, “that they are totally dependent on one person, and it is impossible to influence anything.”


Alexandra Prokopenko, a former adviser at Russia’s Central Bank who resigned and left Russia in the weeks after the start of the invasion, said in an interview that her former colleagues “try not see the war in terms of winners and losers. But they know there is no good exit for Russia right now.”


“There is a feeling that we cannot attain the political aims that were originally forwarded,” the state official said. “This is clear to all.” But no one knows how large a loss Russia can sustain before its leaders believe its existence is in jeopardy, he said.


Further underscoring the growing distance between the president and the business elite, Putin also canceled his annual New Year’s Eve meeting with the country’s billionaires, officially citing infection risks.


With such a huge question mark hanging over the year ahead, two camps have emerged within the elite: “The pragmatists who consider that Russia took on the burden of a war it can’t sustain and needs to stop,” and those who want to escalate, Stanovaya said.

Those in favor of escalation include Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the Putin ally who leads the Wagner Group of mercenaries and continues to publicly berate Russia’s military leadership.


The growing split presents Putin with yet another risk as he heads into 2023, the last year before presidential elections in 2024.

Even though recent polls show Putin retains the support of the vast majority of the population, who for now continue to accept Kremlin propaganda, the overwhelming perception among the elite is that next year, things could become more precarious.


“We don’t know what will happen in the future,” said a longtime member of Russian diplomatic circles, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “There might be another wave of mobilization. The economic situation in the next year will start to worsen more seriously.”


Sergei Markov, a hawkish former Kremlin adviser who is still in contact with Putin’s team, said it was clear Putin still did not have an answer to the principal question ahead of him. “There are two possible paths ahead,” Markov said. “One is that the army continues to fight while the rest of society lives a normal life — as it was this year. The second path is as it was when Russia went through World War II, when everything was for the front and for victory. There was such a mobilization of society and the economy.”

There are also inescapable questions about glaring weaknesses in the Russian military that have become apparent in recent months, including its evident inability to properly train and equip the 300,000 called up during the autumn mobilization.


“The fact is that these 300,000 mobilized do not have enough weapons,” Markov said. “When will they get the military technology? Putin also does not have the answer to this question.”


According to Markov, who supports escalation, India and China’s doubts have arisen because Putin did not win fast enough. “Privately they say, ‘Win quicker, but if you can’t win, we can’t build good relations with you,’” he said. “You should either win or admit your loss. We need most of all for the war to end as fast as possible.”


Others said the reason for the tepid relations with India and China’s leaders was because they were clearly more worried about further escalation. “We hear there is a worry about the prospect of escalation to the nuclear level,” the longtime member of Russian diplomatic circles said. “And here, it seems to me everyone spoke very clearly that this is extremely undesirable and dangerous.”


Inside Russia, every now and then, members of the liberal-leaning elite are voicing their growing concern.


In an interview last week with Russian daily RBK, Mikhail Zadornov, chairman of Otkritie, one of Russia’s biggest banks, who served as finance minister from 1997 to 1999, noted that Russia had lost markets in the West that it had been building since Soviet times. “For 50 years, a market, mutual economic connections, were being built. Now they are destroyed for decades to come,” Zadornov said.


On the whole, members of Russia’s economic elite “understand this isn’t going to end well,” the Russian billionaire said. Prokopenko, the former Central Bank official, said the Russian elite, including many under sanctions, are watching the situation in horror: “Everything they built collapsed for no reason.”

Putin, unaccustomed to losing, is increasingly isolated as war falters

----------


## harrybarracuda

> “Everything they built collapsed for no reason.”


If you tried to find one, you can only think of the war criminal trying to cling onto power.

----------


## HermantheGerman



----------


## bsnub

Russia is running out of troops in the intensifying battle for Bakhmut  in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, while battalions are being split up,  according to an assessment by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The U.S. think tank said on Tuesday that Russian forces in Bakhmut may  be nearing "culmination"—the point at which an attacking military force  can no longer continue its advance—as Russian forces in the southern  Kherson region did in August.

Russian losses, the ISW said, are likely forcing the Russian military in the Bakhmut area to use squad-sized assault groups.

The  think tank noted that on Tuesday, Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces  Spokesperson Colonel Serhiy Cherevaty reported that Russian forces in  the Bakhmut area are no longer operating as company and battalion  tactical groups, but are instead operating in smaller groups of 10 to 15  service members, in squad-size organizations.

This move echoes a  similar decision by Russia's military in August in the Kherson region,  the ISW said, when Russian forces similarly degenerated from company and  battalion tactical groups to individual squad-sized groups.

"The  Russian military's rate of advance in the Bakhmut area has recently  slowed amidst growing personnel and munitions constraints that will  likely prevent it from maintaining a high pace of offensive operations  in the area in the near term," the ISW said.

According to the  think tank's assessment, the Russian military's reported use of  squad-sized groups is likely a result of prolonged attritional warfare  and indicates the degradation of larger formations above the platoon  level.

"Russian  rate of advances in the Bakhmut area will likely decrease if Russian  forces continue advancing at all unless significant new reinforcements  and supplies of artillery rounds arrive soon," it concluded.

_Source: Institute for the Study of War and AEI's Critical Threats Project.
_
Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, said on his Telegram channel on Monday that thousands of Russian troops have died in the battle for Bakhmut.

Bakhmut is one of the most intense spots of fighting in the war,  and Russian forces in the region are being led by members of a  notorious mercenary unit, the Wagner Group, founded by Yevgeny  Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Haidai said on Monday that the battle for Bakhmut is "no longer even a  strategic military plan, although there is such a thing, but a rather  symbolic matter—which the Kremlin regime loves very much." He alleged  that Chechen forces, led by Ramzan Kadyrov, and Prigozhin's Wagner  Group, want to prove themselves to Putin.

While the town of  Bakhmut doesn't hold a lot of strategic value, its location does.  Seizing the region would enable Putin's troops to launch artillery  strikes on key places, such as the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk in  the Donetsk region.

_Newsweek_ reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment.

Russia Running Out of Troops in Battle for Bakhmut, Battalions Split Up—ISW

----------


## misskit

*Russia Making Slow Progress in “Fortress” Bakhmut*

Russian troops attacking the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut are bogged down because of a tenacious Ukrainian resistance and an extensive network of defensive fortifications, the head of Russia’s mercenary company Wagner said Tuesday. 


There is a “fortress in every house” in Bakhmut, Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview with state news agency RIA Novosti. 


“The lads are fighting over every house, sometimes for more than a day. Sometimes it takes them weeks to capture a house. They take one house, they take another.”


Wagner soldiers — including inmates recruited from Russian prisoners — have been leading a Russian assault on Bakhmut that has lasted almost eight months and intensified in early winter as Russian military commanders apparently came under pressure to deliver a battlefield victory. 

Russia’s determination to take Bakhmut, a city of little strategic significance, has puzzled many military experts, who question Moscow’s huge commitment of men and resources.


Bakhmut has been badly damaged in the bitter fighting and fewer than 10,000 civilians from a pre-war population of about 70,000 are believed to remain. 


Prigozhin offered little reassurance that Bakhmut could be seized any time soon. 


“They took one house this morning and broke through the defenses. But behind that house were new defensive lines — and not just one,” he told RIA Novosti. 


“And how many such defensive lines are there in Artemovsk [Bakhmut]? If we say 500 we probably won’t be making a mistake. Every 10 meters there is a defensive line,” he said.

Russia Making Slow Progress in ‘Fortress’ Bakhmut — Wagner Boss Prigozhin - The Moscow Times

----------


## sabang

*Russia raises death toll to 89, blames soldiers' mobile phone use for Ukraine's strike in Donetsk's Makiivka*



Russia's defence ministry has blamed the illegal use of mobile phones for a deadly Ukrainian missile strike that killed 89 servicemen, raising the reported death toll significantly.

*Key points:*


Russia raised the death toll from the New Year's strike after more bodies were found under rubble The deaths sparked renewed criticism within the country of Russia's senior military commandRussian reports indicate that many of the troops killed were recently mobilised reservists


Moscow previously said 63 Russian soldiers were killed in the New Year's Eve strike, but on Wednesday announced more bodies had been found under rubble.

The ministry's reaction came amid mounting anger among some Russian commentators, who are increasingly vocal about what they see as a half-hearted campaign in Ukraine.

Most of the anger on social media was directed at military commanders rather than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian defence ministry said four Ukrainian missiles hit a temporary Russian barracks in a vocational college in Makiivka, the twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine's military has said it launched a strike that resulted in Russian loss of equipment and possibly personnel near Makiivka, but it has given no further details.
Ukraine has said as many as 400 Russians were killed.

Although an official probe has been launched, the main reason for the attack was clearly the illegal mass use of mobile phones by servicemen, Russia's ministry said.
"This factor allowed the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers' location for a missile strike," it said in a statement.

*Russians mourn deaths of servicemen*

The new announcement came after mourners gathered in several cities of the Volga region of Samara — where some of the servicemen came from — to mourn the dead.
Some 200 people laid roses and wreaths in a central square in the city of Samara — where some of the servicemen came from — as an Orthodox priest recited a prayer.

Soldiers also fired a gun salute at the commemoration, where some of the mourners could be seen holding flags for President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.
"It's very tough. It's scary. But we cannot be broken. Grief unites," Ekaterina Kolotovkina, head of a group of army spouses, said at the ceremony.

Local media reported similar gatherings in other parts of the Samara region.


The deaths immediately sparked heavy online criticism in Russia of the army's senior command, including from nationalist commentators favourable to Russia's military intervention.

Russian military correspondents, who have gained influence in recent months, said hundreds could have been killed and accused Russia's top commanders of not learning from past mistakes.

The outrage has been amplified by reports that many of the victims were reservists recently mobilised into the army.

There have also been reports that the servicemen were quartered next to a munitions depot that exploded in the strike.

"What conclusions will be drawn? Who will be punished?" Mikhail Matveyev, a member of the Russian parliament representing Samara, wrote on social media.

The Telegram account Rybar, which has about 1 million followers, said it was "criminally naive" for the army to store ammunition next to sleeping quarters.

Mr Putin has yet to react to the Makiivka strike, which comes during the holiday season before Orthodox Christmas, which many Russians spend with their families.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made no mention of the attack in a video address on Tuesday in which he said Russia was set to launch a major offensive to improve its fortunes.

"We have no doubt that current masters of Russia will throw everything they have left and everyone they can round up to try to turn the tide of the war and at least delay their defeat," Mr Zelenskyy said in a video address.

*Calls for revenge*

At the gathering in Samara, Kolotovkina, the wife of a general, said she had asked her husband to "avenge" the victims.

"We will crush the enemy together. We are left with no choice," she told mourners.


The defence ministry said the strike was carried out by Himars rocket systems supplied to Ukraine by the United States.

Russia raises death toll to 89, blames soldiers''' mobile phone use for Ukraine'''s strike in Donetsk'''s Makiivka - ABC News

----------


## Norton

OTTAWA, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to talk to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax news agency on Tuesday.

The two leaders have had several phone calls since Russia invaded Ukraine last February. Turkey acted as mediator alongside the United Nations in 2022 to set up a deal allowing grain exports from Ukrainian ports.

Putin plans to talk to Turkish President Erdogan on Wednesday - Interfax | Reuters

I wonder what Putin expects to get out of the meeting? Any guesses?

----------


## bsnub

Excellent news...

After months of resisting Kyiv’s pleas for tanks to face increasingly  dug-in Russian forces along the lengthy southern and eastern fronts, the  United States and its allies are now poised to deliver a variety of  armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine.

Asked  Wednesday if U.S.-produced Bradley Fighting Vehicles were under  consideration for transfer to Ukraine, President Biden replied in the  affirmative. A senior administration official said that Bradleys could  be included in a package of weapons to be announced as soon as this  week.

Earlier Wednesday, France said it would provide Ukraine with an unspecified number of light tanks.

The  first supply of Western mobile armor is another major milestone in the  escalating provision of advanced weaponry to Ukrainian forces, including  heavy artillery and long-range precision rocket launchers. It comes  just weeks after the Biden administration announced that it would supply  Kyiv with a Patriot missile battery, the most sophisticated air defense  weapon in the U.S. arsenal, to defend against waves of Russian missile  and drone attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure far from the  front line.

That  line, where the Ukrainian military is engaged in a grueling fight for  incremental gains against Russian ground forces, is spread for hundreds  of miles along a north-south front in the eastern part of the country.  U.S. officials have said the Ukrainians need the ability to conduct  combined arms maneuvers, with armored vehicles allowing them to engage  the enemy and move forward while under fire.

The  United States assesses that “there will be continued fighting along  that line ... for the foreseeable future,” a second senior  administration official said, with little expectation that combat will  slow during the winter months. In a shift from training only small units  to operate specific weapons systems, the allies are now pulling  thousands of Ukrainian soldiers off the front lines for combined  maneuver training in Europe.

But until now, Ukraine’s allies have rebuffed Kyiv, arguing that the Western armor is too logistically complicated to be useful.

Germany has repeatedly turned down Ukrainian requests  for its Marder infantry fighting vehicles and Leopard 2 main battle  tanks, largely on grounds that it didn’t want to be the first to provide  such weaponry.

Much  of the West’s hesitation to send advanced armaments has revolved around  reluctance to provoke Russia to escalate the war. Decisions to send  systems such as HIMARS, the U.S. precision rocket launchers that were  first transferred last summer, have come as the situation on the  battlefield “evolved,” the second administration official said.

As  expected, each advancement in arming Ukraine has brought charges from  Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO is actively fighting a war  against Russia. But it is Moscow’s brutality, especially attacks against  civilians, that has made the West more forward-leaning, administration  officials counter.

“Let’s  just be crystal clear here,” the second official said angrily. “Mr.  Putin can claim all he wants that this is a war by the West,” and he is  fighting “essentially for [Russia’s] security. ... We all know this is a  bunch of BS. This is a Russian war of aggression on Ukraine.”

“We are and will continue to provide them the kind of systems to defend themselves,” this official said.

The  decision to send armored combat vehicles comes just weeks after  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urgently appealed for tanks  during a lightning visit  to Washington late last month. 

On Wednesday, in his nightly address to  the Ukrainian people, Zelensky hailed the French announcement as “a  clear signal to all our other partners: There is no rational reason why  Ukraine has not yet been supplied with Western-style tanks. ... We must  put an end to the Russian aggression this year exactly, and not postpone  any of the defensive capabilities that can speed up the defeat of the  terrorist state.”

“Modern Western armored vehicles, Western-type tanks are just one of these key capabilities,” Zelensky said.

The  administration continues to rule out sending even larger Abrams battle  tanks, which weigh 55 tons and rely on a turbine engine that guzzles  fuel at a drastic rate, said the first official, one of several who  spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive issue. They are  also prone to breakdowns and require extensive maintenance expertise.

The battle tanks are so heavy that then-President Trump was dissuaded from plans to include them  in the 2019 July Fourth celebration in Washington on grounds that their  steel-plate tracks would destroy city streets. The Abrams ultimately  stayed in a “static display” on rail cars near Anacostia Park, while  Trump was flanked by Bradleys for his Independence Day speech.

The  Bradley, while technically not a tank, would offer a significant  upgrade for Ukrainian ground forces. Weighing about 28 tons, it travels  on tank-like tracks and carries a three-person crew with room for up to  six additional soldiers inside. The United States has thousands of the  vehicles, and sending an unspecified number to Ukraine would not  undercut U.S. inventories.

Named  after Gen. Omar Bradley, a senior U.S. commander during World War II,  the Bradley lacks the firepower of the 120mm “main gun” cannon fitted on  an Abrams. But it is equipped with heavy armor and an array of other  weapons, including a 25mm chain gun and M240 machine gun. It is designed  to travel up to 35 miles per hour, fast enough to keep up with the  Abrams in American combat units.

France’s  plan to supply French-made AMX-10 RC light tanks was announced  Wednesday after a phone call between Zelensky and French President  Emmanuel Macron. It was not immediately clear how many tanks would be  delivered, or when they would arrive.

The  wheeled vehicles have been in service with the French military since  1981 and are being gradually decommissioned and replaced with an updated  system. Primarily used for reconnaissance and transporting troops, its  105mm gun is smaller than that of many tanks, but the vehicle is  considered highly agile and maneuverable.

Also  on Wednesday, Poland signed a $1.4 billion deal to purchase a second  tranche of U.S. Abrams tanks, replacing more than 300 Soviet-era tanks  and armored personnel carriers sent to Ukraine last summer.

Ukrainian forces have also added hundreds of captured or abandoned Russian tanks,  infantry fighting vehicles, and armored personnel carriers to their  existing stock of Soviet-era vehicles. But spare parts and ammunition  have been hard to find.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...hting-vehicle/

----------


## bsnub

What an amazing day! This is a historic day!

The  United States and Germany will supply Ukraine with armored combat  vehicles, President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a  joint statement Thursday, marking a significant policy shift after  months of resisting Kyiv’s pleas for tanks to face increasingly dug-in  Russian forces along the lengthy southern and eastern fronts.

The  statement, which followed a telephone call between the two leaders,  confirmed that U.S.-produced Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Germany’s  Marder infantry fighting vehicles would be transferred. “Both countries  plan to train Ukrainian forces on the respective systems,” the statement  said.

Scholz  has been under increasing pressure from within his own ruling coalition  to overcome his reluctance to have Germany be the first NATO country to  supply advanced Western-made fighting vehicles. That logjam was broken  Wednesday, when France announced it would provide Ukraine with an  unspecified number of light tanks, and Biden acknowledged to reporters  that Bradleys were on the table.

U.S. officials said the Bradleys could be included in a new package of weapons to be announced as soon as this week.

The  first supply of Western mobile armor is another major milestone in the  escalating provision of advanced weaponry to Ukrainian forces, including  heavy artillery and long-range precision rocket launchers. It comes  just weeks after the Biden administration announced that it would supply  Kyiv with a Patriot missile battery, the most sophisticated air defense  weapon in the U.S. arsenal, to defend against waves of Russian missile  and drone attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure far from the  front line.

In Thursday’s statement, Biden and Scholz also said Germany will supply an additional Patriot battery to Ukraine.

The  front line, where the Ukrainian military is engaged in a grueling fight  for incremental gains against Russian ground forces, is spread for  hundreds of miles along a north-south front in the eastern part of the  country. U.S. officials have said the Ukrainians need the ability to  conduct combined arms maneuvers, with armored vehicles allowing them to  engage the enemy and move forward while under fire.

The  United States assesses that “there will be continued fighting along  that line … for the foreseeable future,” a senior administration  official said, with little expectation that combat will slow during the  winter months. In a shift from training only small units to operate  specific weapons systems, the allies are now pulling thousands of  Ukrainian soldiers off the front lines for combined maneuver training in  Europe.

But  until now, Ukraine’s allies have rebuffed Kyiv regarding Western armor,  arguing that the equipment is too logistically complicated to be  useful.

Much  of the West’s hesitation to send advanced armaments has revolved around  reluctance to provoke Russia to escalate the war. Decisions to send  systems such as HIMARS, the U.S. precision rocket launchers that were  first transferred last summer, have come as the situation on the  battlefield “evolved,” the administration official said.

As  expected, each advancement in arming Ukraine has brought charges from  Russian President Vladimir Putin that NATO is actively fighting a war  against Russia. But it is Moscow’s brutality, especially attacks against  civilians, that has made the West more forward-leaning, administration  officials counter.

“Let’s  just be crystal clear here,” said the administration official, one of  several who discussed the sensitive issue on condition of anonymity.  “Mr. Putin can claim all he wants that this is a war by the West,” and  he is fighting “essentially for [Russia’s] security. … We all know this  is a bunch of BS. This is a Russian war of aggression on Ukraine.”

“We are and will continue to provide them the kind of systems to defend themselves,” this official said.

The  decision to send armored combat vehicles comes just weeks after  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urgently appealed for tanks  during a lightning visit  to Washington late last month. On Wednesday, in his nightly address to  the Ukrainian people, Zelensky hailed the French announcement as “a  clear signal to all our other partners: There is no rational reason why  Ukraine has not yet been supplied with Western-style tanks. … We must  put an end to the Russian aggression this year exactly, and not postpone  any of the defensive capabilities that can speed up the defeat of the  terrorist state.”

“Modern Western armored vehicles, Western-type tanks are just one of these key capabilities,” Zelensky said.

The  administration continues to rule out sending even larger Abrams battle  tanks, which weigh 55 tons and rely on a turbine engine that guzzles  fuel at a drastic rate, said a second senior administration official.  They are also prone to breakdowns and require extensive maintenance  expertise.

The battle tanks are so heavy that then-President Donald Trump was dissuaded from plans to include them  in the 2019 July Fourth celebration in Washington on grounds that their  steel-plate tracks would destroy city streets. The Abrams ultimately  stayed in a “static display” on rail cars near Anacostia Park, while  Trump was flanked by Bradleys for his Independence Day speech.

The  Bradley, while technically not a tank, would offer a significant  upgrade for Ukrainian ground forces. Weighing about 28 tons, it travels  on tank-like tracks and carries a three-person crew with room for up to  six additional soldiers inside. The United States has thousands of the  vehicles, and sending an unspecified number to Ukraine would not  undercut U.S. inventories.

Named  after Gen. Omar Bradley, a senior U.S. commander during World War II,  the Bradley lacks the firepower of the 120mm “main gun” cannon fitted on  an Abrams. But it is equipped with heavy armor and an array of other  weapons, including a 25mm chain gun and M240 machine gun. It is designed  to travel up to 35 mph, fast enough to keep up with the Abrams in  American combat units.

France’s  plan to supply French-made AMX-10 RC light tanks was announced  Wednesday after a phone call between Zelensky and French President  Emmanuel Macron. It was not immediately clear how many tanks would be  delivered, or when they would arrive.

The  wheeled vehicles have been in service with the French military since  1981 and are being gradually decommissioned and replaced with an updated  system. Primarily used for reconnaissance and transporting troops, its  105mm gun is smaller than that of many tanks, but the vehicle is  considered highly agile and maneuverable.

Also  on Wednesday, Poland signed a $1.4 billion deal to purchase a second  tranche of U.S. Abrams tanks, replacing more than 300 Soviet-era tanks  and armored personnel carriers sent to Ukraine last summer.

Ukrainian forces have also added hundreds of captured or abandoned Russian tanks,  infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers to their  existing stock of Soviet-era vehicles. But spare parts and ammunition  have been hard to find.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...hting-vehicle/

----------


## panama hat

Excellent move by France, Germany and the US

----------


## sabang

Putin orders ceasefire over Orthodox ChristmasMove follows an appeal by Russian Orthodox ChurchUkraine earlier dismissed Orthodox Church appeal


MOSCOW, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday ordered a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine over Orthodox Christmas, the first major truce of the more than 10-month long war that has killed tens of thousands and devastated swathes of Ukraine.

www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-will-cease-fire-ukraine-orthodox-christmas-kremlin-2023-01-05/

----------


## pickel

> the first major truce


Truce's require two parties to agree. Putin can go fuck himself. There'll be a cease fire when he leaves.

----------


## sabang

Recently elected Republicans are ready to fire up the base with anger over billions spent to protect allies overseas.

The most revealing Trump comment this month wasn’t about his legal jeopardy, his taxes or even the get-yours-now NFTs he began hawking ahead of the holidays for a cool $99 each.

In fact, the comment wasn’t even made by Donald Trump himself.

“Zelensky is basically an ungrateful international welfare queen,” Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, said on Twitter shortly before the Ukrainian president traveled to Washington.

Like much from his social media oeuvre, Trump the younger was thirsting for clicks and attention (mission accomplished!). Yet his attack, wrapped with a dog whistle-shaped bow for his fellow conservatives, represented more of a substantive critique on a signal foreign policy issue than his dad has ventured in recent weeks.

More significantly, the invective, from a dedicated troll who’s obsessive about properly channeling the right’s id, was a reminder of the churning debate within the Republican Party — one the party’s putative presidential frontrunner is effectively sitting out but that’s only intensifying.

After six years of defeat and coming on two decades since one of their standard-bearers claimed the popular vote, the GOP is in the midst of an identity crisis.

It must grapple with whether it’s going to retain the Reagan-shaped form most of its elites prefer, a light touch on the market and firm hand abroad, or shift to better reflect an increasingly working-class coalition with no doctrinal allegiance to the free markets and free people Gospel of Paul (Gigot). Or, the more likely outcome: try to forge a hybrid between the two approaches while emphasizing issues of tribal consensus — confronting the left at home and the Chinese abroad — and hope the Democrats put forward a weak nominee.

“A lot of people, I think, tried to put off this policy debate for years now by saying, ‘Well this is all just a question about Trump,’ and it’s like, ‘Oh no it’s not, no it’s not,’” Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told me. “He got elected president because he appealed to our new coalition and tapped into it but it’s well beyond any one guy, not to take anything from him.”

Hawley is perhaps the party’s leading exponent of realigning toward what he calls cultural conservatism and economic and foreign policy nationalism. Few Republican lawmakers are more eager than Hawley to transition away from the libertarian-and-interventionist approach favored by so many Republican donors and their allies in the Senate and on the Gigot-led Wall Street Journal editorial page.

Full Article (quite long and detailed)- The Looming GOP Crisis Over Ukraine  - POLITICO


There is no question that US domestic politics are going to play a major part in the Ukraine war. How important a factor it will be in the next Presidential election though, not so sure.

^ It isn't actually a truce, it's a 36 hour ceasefire- and has been unilaterally declared by Putin, for right or wrong.

----------


## Norton

> There is no question that US domestic politics are going to play a major part in the Ukraine war.


Of course it will but anyone who thinks the Republicans will be less hawkish on arming the Ukraine than the Dems is clearly smoking some heavy dope.  :Smile:

----------


## bsnub

> Truce's require two parties to agree. Putin can go fuck himself. There'll be a cease fire when he leaves.


Spot on. Russia is losing the war, that is why Putin wants a truce. It ain't gonna happen, especially not when the ground is just about to freeze over. 

M2 Bradley's and Marder infantry fighting vehicles being delivered to Ukraine is the real news today. Both of those have guns capable of penetrating the armor of a T-72 when using armor piercing ammunition and can move at 40 km/h overland, just what Ukraine needs to execute combined arms maneuvers.

----------


## sabang

Will there be increasing domestic resistance when the next $50bn goes into the black hole? Then the next $50bn? I can only see it increasing.
Will there be any patience left from Joe sixpack when Ukraine urgently needs funds for reconstruction, not war machines?

----------


## bsnub

> Will there be increasing domestic resistance when the next $50bn goes into the black hole? Then the next $50bn?


It is not a black hole it is going directly to the liberation of Ukraine. The majority of Americans understand this. 




> I can only see it increasing.


Your predictions have proven to be shit.

----------


## sabang

You're probably gonna deny the epic level of corruption in Ukraine next. The money basically goes into a black hole.
Ukraine doesn't need liberating, and novorussiya already has been, at least most of it.

----------


## Takeovers

> Will there be any patience left from Joe sixpack when Ukraine urgently needs funds for reconstruction, not war machines?


There are at least 700+ billion $ of frozen Russian assets. Rest assured those will not go back to Russia, they will go to rebuilding Ukraine.

----------


## bsnub

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges  about when we might see another major military offensive in Ukraine.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: 

      Let's bring in Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of the  U.S. Army in Europe. We have found him in Germany. General, welcome to  the program. And Happy New Year.

     BEN HODGES: Happy New Year, Steve. Thank you.

     INSKEEP: So we just heard that survey. Many, many Ukrainians seem  to think that victory is within their grasp within eight or nine  months, end of summer. Is that possible?

     HODGES: It's absolutely possible, Steve. And I would say it's  likely. I think that Ukraine has the chance to liberate Crimea by the  end of August, the end of this summer. And once Crimea is liberated,  which is the decisive part of Ukraine for this war, the rest would  follow soon after that because that would unleash all sorts of internal  challenges for the Kremlin afterwards.

     INSKEEP: Wow. That would be a dramatic change. You're saying that  you think Ukraine has a chance to move forward, not just recapture  territory that the Russians captured in recent months, but to recapture  this peninsula that the Russians have held since 2014. I'm just thinking  of the technical difficulty - the tactical difficulty of that, General.  It's a very narrow neck of the peninsula even getting on there. The  Russians, you think, could not even defend that little space?

     HODGES: Well, of course, if this was the 18th or even the 19th  century, that's how people would try to attack it. But that's not how  the Ukrainians are going to do it. I'm glad you mentioned 2014 because  here we are after eight years since Russia invaded Ukraine, eight years.  Russia still controls only about 10 to 12% of Ukraine despite having  every single advantage. And they are losing their grip on the percentage  that they do control. I anticipate that Ukraine will isolate Crimea by  going after the only two roads that connect the Crimean Peninsula to the  mainland. The most well-known, of course, is where the Kerch Bridge  connects.

     INSKEEP: Yeah.

     HODGES: And it's already been hit very hard. And I'm sure it will  be revisited several times. The other land line of communication is the  so-called land bridge that runs from Rostov through Mariupol to  Melitopol and to Crimea. And the Ukrainians are already able to hit  that. So by doing that over the next couple of months, pretty soon, I  think, Crimea becomes untenable for the Russians.

     INSKEEP: You're telling me that acting through the air or through  the water, the Ukrainians can isolate and besiege Crimea until they  give up?

     HODGES: Yeah, war is a test of will. And it's a test of  logistics. And the Russian logistics system was never designed to  support sustained land operations outside of Russia. But that's what  they've been having to do for 10 months. And so they're trying to string  it out as long as they can by feeding untrained, unlucky men into the  battle around Bakhmut, as Julian just talked about, but also by going  after the power grid to make this go as long as possible until we lose  the will to support Ukraine. That's not working. And so the Ukrainians  will be able to disrupt and degrade Russian logistics enough that Crimea  eventually becomes a trap for the Russian forces there.

     INSKEEP: Do you see any sign, General, that the Russians are recognizing their own errors and making proper course corrections?

     HODGES: I think that it's a great question. I can't tell for sure  what all is going on inside there. They have tried to fix one of their  main problems, which was unity of command, by appointing this guy,  General Surovikin. But even he does not have total command over  everything. You've got mercenary groups like the Wagner Group. Shoigu,  the defense minister, has his own private military company. And Kadyrov,  the leader of the Chechens, is doing a pretty good job of keeping  Chechen forces out of the meat grinder so that he is positioned, in the  aftermath, to either be the savior or to - or the replacement.

     INSKEEP: You're telling me that there's really not unified command, that people are still not putting everything on the line?

     HODGES: It is a very incoherent command organization. Not one day  in 10 months have they done what the U.S. would call joint operations,  where you have air, land and sea operating together. Thank God they have  not been able to fix that. And I don't think it's in their culture to  fix it. Instead, they rely on what they did. They rely on what they did a  hundred years ago, which is mass artillery and untrained infantry.

     INSKEEP: And sending masses and masses of people into the fight. General, thank you so much.

     HODGES: Thanks for the privilege.

     INSKEEP: That's U.S. Army retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.

When another military offensive might happen in Ukraine, and what it would look like : NPR

Another longer talk with General Ben on the topic here...

Gen Ben Hodges (Ret) - @MriyaReport news from Ukraine & replays of guests you might have missed or want to listen to again. | Podcast on Spotify

----------


## bsnub

The U.S. government is expected to announce on Friday that it is providing Ukraine with Bradley Fighting Vehicles,  which would offer Ukrainian troops greater protection and mobility than  their Russian and Soviet-era vehicles, experts told Task & Purpose.

    Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed  on Thursday that the next tranche of U.S. military aid to Ukraine would  include Bradley Fighting Vehicles, but he had no further details.

    Bradleys have several significant advantages over most of the  fighting vehicles the Ukrainians had prior to Russia’s latest invasion,  including older versions of Soviet-era BMPs and BTRs, said retired Marine Col. J.D. Williams, a defense policy researcher with the RAND Corporation.

    Because they are tracked vehicles, Bradleys are much more mobile than  wheeled vehicles, especially during Ukraine’s muddy winter and spring  months, Williams told Task & Purpose.

    Bradley Fighting Vehicles also have more modern combat systems —  including optics, firing systems, and communications — than their  Soviet-era counterparts, he said. Bradleys are armed with a 25mm gun and  TOW anti-tank missiles, and many of the vehicles have upgraded armor  that make them more survivable than BMPs and BTRs.

BMP-1s and BMP-2s, for example, are lightly armored and have exterior  fuel tanks on the rear doors from which troops exit and enter the  vehicle, making them vulnerable to ambushes from the rear, he said.

“Russians — they don’t take crew survivability as seriously as we  take crew survivability, and that’s really important for the  Ukrainians,” said retired Army Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who led the 1st  Cavalry Division and served as head of Multi-National Corps-Iraq.

    Both Soviet-era and Russian tanks, for example, have autoloaders at  the base of their turrets that hold up to 20 rounds of ammunition — all  of which are likely to explode if the tanks are hit, Chiarelli noted.  When that happens, the tank turrets are thrown into the air in a  horrific explosion known as the “jack-in-the-box-effect.”

The added protection that Bradley Fighting Vehicles provide to their  crew and the troops inside would be especially important to the  Ukrainians given the size of their forces and how long they have been  fighting, Chiarelli told Task & Purpose.

    “They provide tremendous overwatch to infantry,” Chiarelli said.  “You’re able to move them in a relatively secure vehicle to a position  of advantage. I’m sure the Ukrainians will be able to get more [troops]  in them because they don’t have quite as much kit as we do — possibly as  many as 10 folks in the back of that thing.” 

    During the Iraq War, Bradley Fighting Vehicles proved their value in urban environments, he said.

If the Ukrainian military launches an offensive against Russian  forces, the Bradley Fighting Vehicles would be more useful than  Ukraine’s current fleet of BMPs, in part because Bradleys have a better  fire control system than their Soviet and Russian counterparts, said Hlib Parfonov, a defense analyst who works with the Jamestown Foundation think tank in Washington, D.C.
    The main challenge would be making sure the Ukrainians have enough  spare parts to repair and maintain the Bradleys, said Parfonov.

    Not only have the Ukrainians already received several other types of  fighting vehicles — such as American M113 Gavins, British FV103  Spartans, and French VABs — but the Ukrainians also use captured Russian  vehicles, such as BMP-3s.

    “Maintenance in UAF [the Armed Forces of Ukraine] is another side of  hell,” said Parfonov, adding they have a “zoo” of various kinds of  vehicles, making it difficult to find spare parts,Parfonov said.

    But retired Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges,  former commander of U.S. Army Europe, noted that the United States has  thousands of Bradley Fighting Vehicles, so finding spare parts for the  Ukrainians should not be a major challenge.

    “One of the things that I would like to see us, the United States and  others do, is help establish maintenance capability inside Ukraine for  them to work on all these different vehicles vs. having to bring them  back to Poland, or Germany, or Slovakia, or wherever,” Hodges told Task  & Purpose.

    Hodges proposed that private industry could help the Ukrainians  develop their abilities to repair their assortment of military vehicles  and other equipment, or the U.S. and its allies should train Ukrainian  mechanics so that the work can be done inside Ukraine.

    Ultimately, it may be easier to help the Ukrainians repair Bradleys  than finding spare parts for their older Soviet and Russian vehicles,  Chiarelli said.

    Chiarelli also said he expects it would take weeks rather than months  to train Ukrainian troops how to operate Bradleys because they have  proven to be very adept at learning how to use new technology quickly,  such as High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.

    The key thing to remember about Bradley Fighting Vehicles is that they work together with dismounted infantry, he said.

    “The Ukrainians, from everything that I’ve been able to see from  afar, understand the criticality of the armor-infantry team in looking  at urban areas,” Chiarelli said. “The Bradley will provide the kind of  overwatch for the dismounted infantry — and the dismounted infantry will  provide the near-in protection for the Bradleys in urban areas. Neither  one of those does very well without the other in urban areas — or  anyplace else. It’s the infantry-armor team that is so effective.”

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/mili...icles-ukraine/

----------


## HuangLao

The disconnected stench of militarism romance and championing is terribly strong among the fanciful flag-wavers.

----------


## S Landreth

U.S. announces $3 billion in new military aid for Ukraine

The U.S. has authorized a new military aid package for Ukraine worth more than $3 billion, the Department of Defense announced Friday.

*The big picture:* The Biden administration has now sent $24.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion last February, per the DOD.


This marks the 29th time the Biden administration has sent equipment to Ukraine since August 2021, the DOD said.

*Zoom in:* The aid package includes infantry fighting vehicles, artillery rounds, and ammunition for rocket systems, among other items.

*What they're saying: "*The Biden Administration will continue to encourage Allies and partners to make additional donations of air defense systems, artillery, combat vehicles, and other critical capabilities to support Ukraine in defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity for as long as it takes," the DOD news release states.

----------


## Norton

> The Biden Administration will continue to encourage Allies and partners to make additional donations of air defense systems, artillery, combat vehicles, and other critical capabilities to support Ukraine in defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity for as long as it takes,"


Aussies need to step it up. They have big wine surplus now the Chinese have stopped buying. Some of the best in the world. Sure Ukrainians would love a few ship loads of 2015 Cloudburst Malbec.  :Smile:

----------


## sabang

*UPDATE: Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries reportedly capture Ukraine’s Soledar*

By *Matthew Roscoe* • 06 January 2023 • 15:23



*ACCORDING to initial reports from Ukraine, Russian forces comprising the Wagner PMC, the 58th Army and units of the 2nd DNR AK have captured Ukraine’s Soledar hours after claiming Bakhmutske.*

*UPDATE 3.23 pm (January 6)* – Reports from Ukraine suggest that Soledar is now under the control of Russia after Wagner Group mercenaries alongside Russia’s 58th Army and units of the 2nd DNR AK forced Ukrainian soldiers to retreat.

The news comes hours after Russia troops reportedly captured Bakhmutske and were advancing towards the centre of Soledar, a city in Bakhmut Raion, which is located in Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine.

Prominent Twitter account @AZgeopolitics wrote: “The Soledar Center is under the control of the Wagner PMCs and other divisions.

“AFU is withdrawing en masse, Russian Army troops are moving densely further.”

Another account wrote: “According to archangels, entire central Soledar is taken, ukies ran to the outskirts. This is highly sus.”

Earlier, Semen Pegov’s WarGonzo reported that the Russian army in the Donetsk People’s Republic was advancing towards the centre of Soledar in Ukraine’s Bakhmut Region, following the capture of Bakhmutske, after breaking through the defences of the Ukrainian Armed Forces overnight.

Artur Micek, a military expert, noted that the situation for Ukrainian troops at Sołedar had become very difficult.

“The city is attacked from 3 sides,” he wrote on Twitter.

“For at least 2/3 days there has been a strong pressure of the VDW forces, the Wagnerians, cadre units with the support of tanks and artillery.

“The RUS sent the best units from this section of the front to fight here.”

*ORIGINAL 9.59 am (January 6)* – According to Russian reports on Friday, January 6, Russia’s troops were able to advance towards the centre of Ukraine’s Soledar after allegedly capturing Bakhmutske.

Claims made by WarGonzo, run by recently injured Semen Pegov, suggested that the Russian army in the Donetsk People’s Republic was able to advance towards the centre of Soledar in Ukraine’s Bakhmut Region following the capture of Bakhmutske after breaking through the defences of the Ukrainian Armed Forces overnight.

“In the course of heavy offensive operations, Russian forces comprising the Wagner PMC, the 58th Army and units of the 2nd DNR AK stormed the key settlement of Bakhmutskoye and, developing the initiative, broke through to the centre of Soledar,” Pegov wrote on his Telegram channel.

Pegov, who was recently awarded the Order of Courage by Russian President Vladimir Putin for his “courage and selflessness”, later added: “Operational sources of the @wargonzo project report that at the moment the Russian Army has taken full control of the residential area from Kosmonautov Street to Telman Street, as well as half of the central Oktyabrskaya Street.

“The enemy is retreating to the north of the city to the strongholds in the area of Yurchina Gora.”

The news outlet said that “the main objective of the Russian troops at the moment is to cut off the supply route of the AFU grouping in Soledar, close off the remaining enemy units without supplies and finally destroy them.”

Following the news, prominent war tracker @wartranslated wrote on Twitter: “There are multiple reports from the Russian side claiming advances of the Russian forces in Soledar after allegedly capturing Bakhmutske last night.

“They claim the Ukrainian forces are falling back to the north of the city.
“Importantly, no evidence so far, only words.”

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

https://euroweeklynews.com/2023/01/0...ng-bakhmutske/

----------


## harrybarracuda

Well that's odd. I'm sure I read that Putin had ordered a ceasefire.

 :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## bsnub

A small town on the outskirts of Bakhmut is the best they can do after months of ramming their heads into a wall. Now they are acting like they just took Berlin. Utterly laughable propaganda clown car.

 :rofl:

----------


## sabang

It's a (small) city, pop'n about 10,500.  Famous for it's salt mines.

"Soledar is an important stronghold of Ukrainian defense along the Seversk-Soledar-Bakhmut (Artemovsk) line. Russian victory in the city will sharply complicate the situation of the Bakhmut garrison of the AFU".
https://southfront.org/russian-fighters-reached-center-of-soledar/

Looks to me like Bakhmut is gonna hold out for a while yet though- it's a fortress. Like Mariupol.

----------


## pickel

> Famous for it's salt mines.


Which is exactly why Prigozhin wants it.

----------


## bsnub

> Looks to me like Bakhmut is gonna hold out for a while yet though- it's a fortress.


I have been telling you that for months.

----------


## HuangLao

This whole geopolitical mess will have it's end by mid-year. 
Leaving the "good guys" grasping for air on the world stage.

BRICS is advancing quicker than some of you folks might consider.

----------


## bsnub

If Ukraine gets these, it is game over...

In the space of a few days this week, France, the United States and  Germany all announced they would donate to Ukraine powerful armored  vehicles: French AMX-10RC scout vehicles, American M-2 infantry fighting vehicles and German Marder IFVs.

 So which of Ukraine’s allies is going to be the first to pledge  Leopard 2 tanks? There are several candidates, and it might be only a  matter of time—and not _much_ time—before one of them opens up its arsenals and turns the engines of long-stored, surplus Leopards.

 It was clear, with the trio of decisions, that something had changed  on the political front of Russia’s 11-month-old wider war on Ukraine.  Kyiv’s NATO allies have pledged many thousands  of mostly secondhand vehicles to the war effort, but so far most of  those vehicles have been either artillery pieces, or lighter armored  vehicles that are best suited for support roles.

 Now NATO is offering up heavier, deadlier hardware—vehicles that  could complement or supplement Ukraine’s pre-war inventory of aging,  ex-Soviet tanks and fighting vehicles and tip the tactical balance in  battles with Russia’s own aging, ex-Soviet vehicles.

 But so far, none of Ukraine’s allies has offered up Western tanks.  Yes, Poland, the Czech Republic and Macedonia have donated a few hundred  of their surplus, Soviet-made T-72 tanks. And Slovenia sent to Ukraine a  couple dozen M-55Ss—basically, super-upgraded, 1960s-vintage Soviet T-55s.

 While the Ukrainian army already had T-72s in its inventory and  certainly welcomed fresh copies to both make good battlefield losses and  form new tank battalions, the army is desperate for more and better  tanks. Surplus Leopard 2s, of which there are many hundreds across  Europe, are the obvious solution. "We need these tanks," Oleksii  Makeiev, the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, said back in May.

 It’s not hard to see why Ukrainian tankers crave Leopard 2s. They easily outmatch Russian tanks such as the T-72, T-80 and T-90.

 West Germany developed the Leopard 2 in the 1970s and fielded the  early models in the 1980s. A series of updates have kept the 69-ton,  four-person tank with its 120-millimeter cannon at the bleeding edge of  armored warfare for five decades.

 With its exquisite balance of speed, armor and firepower, it’s widely  considered at least the equal of the American M-1, itself the gold  standard for modern tanks.

 And there’s no shortage of Leopard 2s. German firm Rheinmetall has  built 3,600 Leopard 2s. Hundreds of older models, including many of the  most popular Leopard 2A4s, are in storage in Germany, Finland, The  Netherlands and Spain, among other countries.

 Other NATO members have kept all their Leopard 2s in active service, but _also_ possess  other tank types and thus could, in theory, let go of their Leopard 2s  without totally sacrificing their heavy combat capability. Poland, for  instance, operates both Leopard 2s and M-1s.

 There are more than enough idle Leopard 2s in Europe to re-equip all  of the Ukrainian army’s active tank brigades. More than enough Leopard  2s, that is, totally to alter the battlefield calculus as _Ukrainian_ brigades clash with _Russian_ brigades.

 Today, the Ukrainians and Russians use roughly the same ex-Soviet tanks. Leadership, tactics and logistics—_not_  weaponry—decide which army wins a mechanized battle. With Leopard 2s,  the Ukrainians would begin a fight with a technological advantage.

 So what’s the hold-up? Germany controls the export license for all  Leopard 2s, so Berlin ultimately decides whether any country can sell or  donate its tanks. So far, German chancellor Olaf Scholz has been  unwilling to approve any transfer of Leopard 2s to Ukraine. Scholz  apparently considers the tanks “escalatory.”

 There’s been a lot of pressure on Scholz to change his mind. “Not a  single rational argument on why these weapons cannot be supplied, only  abstract fears and excuses,” tweeted Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs. “What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?”

 In Finland, politicians Anders Adlercreutz and Atte Harjanne have  formed an advocacy group whose sole mission is to shame European  governments into offering Leopard 2s to Ukraine while _also_ shaming  the German government into approving the offers. "Through a joint  European effort, we could, in a way that might be decisive, contribute  to Ukraine being able to maintain momentum in the war,” Adlercreutz and  Harjanne wrote.

 It’s taken months, but something is changing. The Americans are now  offering heavier vehicles, as are the French and, yes, the Germans. In a tweet thanking  French president Emmanuel Macron for a batch of AMX-10RC scout  vehicles, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky hinted at bigger  weapons to come. “Intensifying work with partners in the same  direction,” was his exact phrasing.

 Perhaps taking a cue from the shifting attitudes in Berlin, Polish officials reportedly are reconsidering Ukraine’s request for some of Poland’s Leopard 2s.

 If the proverbial dam breaks and Berlin rubber-stamps all the  potential tank-transfers, hundreds of Leopard 2s could begin arriving in  Ukraine as early as this spring. Just in time for warmer weather ... and a possible new Ukrainian counteroffensive.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=13841f7a30c4

----------


## bsnub

*Ukraine gets fighting vehicles*

For the first time, the U.S., Germany and France will each send armored fighting vehicles to Ukraine, a significant escalation in Western military support after almost 11 months of war.

The  combat vehicles are not tanks, which President Volodymyr Zelensky has  requested for months, but they will strengthen Ukraine’s capabilities on  the battlefield, military experts say. They could also open the door to  deliveries of even more powerful weapons as Ukraine warns of a planned Russian offensive in the spring.

The  announcements from Paris, Berlin and Washington signal that Ukraine’s  allies are gearing up for another bloody year, as the war enters a new  phase of Ukrainian offensives against dug-in Russian forces, my colleagues Steven Erlanger and Thomas Gibbons-Neff  report.

The Biden administration today announced a new $3 billion package of military assistance for  Ukraine that will include Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The Bradleys will  offer Ukrainian soldiers greater protection and firepower than any of  the trucks or armored personnel carriers the West has sent to date, my colleague John Ismay reports.

The  Bradley can carry troops into battle and support them with a  25-millimeter gun that can fire explosive rounds — smaller than the guns  of U.S. tanks like the M1 Abrams, but still capable of taking out  Russian tanks. “It’s not a tank, but it’s a tank killer,” a Pentagon  spokesman said. The U.S. will send 50 of the vehicles, according to an  official.
Germany and the U.S. will also supply Kyiv with a second Patriot missile battery.

Germany’s announcement that it would provide its Marder infantry fighting vehicle was a long awaited U-turn.

Chancellor  Olaf Scholz had rejected Ukraine’s requests for the vehicles out of  concern that the deliveries could drag NATO into the war. Scholz argued  that no other Western country was supplying them and that Germany would  not go it alone.

That argument appeared to fall to the wayside when France on Wednesday announced deliveries of its AMX-10 RC vehicles,  turning up pressure on Germany to follow suit. The U.S. and Germany  announced the contribution after a phone call between President Biden  and Scholz.

The three vehicles are  arguably the most advanced armored vehicles sent by the West to Ukraine,  occupying a category of war machines that are not quite armored  personnel carriers, though some can carry troops, nor are they tanks.

The  Pentagon said that providing the Bradley vehicles and the Patriot air  defense system had become more feasible because the war was dragging on,  providing time to train Ukrainian forces to use them.

Der Spiegel reported  that the decision to make the new deliveries was based on the analysis,  shared by the three allies, that the Ukrainian army needed more heavy  equipment to break Russian positions in the south and east of the  country. Germany will provide up to 40 Marders, according to the report.

“This  year Ukraine will receive weapons from the allies that it failed to get  in 2022,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba wrote in a Facebook post. “The first week of 2023 proves it. The time of weapons taboo has passed.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/b...war-tanks.html

----------


## pickel

> UPDATE: Russias Wagner Group mercenaries reportedly capture Ukraines Soledar


You need better sources.

Wagner Group financier, Yevgeny Prigozhin emphasized it was exclusively his troops who had made these purported gains *although talk of the total capture of Soledar was premature,* he said in a statement on his Telegram social media channel.

Ukrainian Forces Face Being Surrounded By Wagner Troops In Bakhmut—ISW - Public News Time

----------


## panama hat

> BRICS is advancing quicker than some of you folks might consider.


Sure, Jeff . . . 





> The news we are receiving is of the death of very many people.


Ah, alate Christmas present for you  :Smile: 







The first of 40 tanks this quarter are being shipped

----------


## harrybarracuda

> This whole geopolitical mess will have it's end by mid-year. 
> Leaving the "good guys" grasping for air on the world stage.
> 
> BRICS is advancing quicker than some of you folks might consider.


You're trying really hard, eh Jeff?

When do you plan on resuming the:

"Disinfecting Demagoguery. Constipation" 

-type shit you used to post?

----------


## sabang

*Russia claims to have hit Ukrainian troop accommodation in revenge attack, 'killing 600 servicemen'*


Russia's defence ministry has claimed it killed more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen in a massive rocket strike on two buildings in eastern Ukraine temporarily housing Ukrainian forces.

*Key points:*


The Kremlin says the attack was revenge for a Ukrainian missile attack last week that killed dozens of Russian servicemenRussia's defence ministry said it used what it called reliable intelligence to target the Ukrainian troopsUkraine has not commented, but a local mayor in the town targeted said nobody had been killed during strikes in the city


Reuters could not immediately verify the defence ministry's assertion.

There was no immediate comment on the Russian claim from Ukraine.

However,  the mayor of Kramatorsk  the eastern Ukrainian town Russia said it had targeted  said earlier on Sunday on Facebook that nobody had been killed in an attack on various buildings in the city.

Russia's defence ministry said the strike on the buildings in Kramatorsk on Sunday was revenge for a deadly Ukrainian attack last week on a Russian barracks in Makiivka in part of the Donetsk region controlled by Moscow's forces in which at least 89 servicemen were killed.





In that attack Ukraine said as many as 400 Russians were killed.

The Russian defence ministry said in a statement that it had used what it called reliable intelligence to target the Ukrainian troops.

It said more than 700 Ukrainian troops had been housed in one hostel and more than 600 in another.

"As a result of a massive missile strike on these temporary deployment points of Ukrainian army units, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were destroyed," the defence ministry said.

If true, it would be the single largest loss of Ukrainian troops since Russia invaded on February 24 last year.


https://www.xxx.xxx.xx/news/2023-01-09/russia-ukrainian-troops-revenge-attack-600-dead/101836214


https://southfront.org/russian-retaliation-strike-killed-hundreds-of-ukrainian-servicemen-in-kramatorsk-russian-mod/


Russia&#39;s war on Ukraine latest: Russia claims mass casualties in rocket strike on Ukraine soldiers


https://www.thehindu.com/news/intern...le66353367.ece


https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-l...racks-12541713

----------


## helge

> The mod who oversees this thread has big issues to deal with in the real world right now,


Sorry to hear about that



> Sabang knows this, so he has been flooding this news thread with propaganda for the last two days. Really scummy behavior.


Hmm

I doubt that he would speculate in such circumstances

----------


## harrybarracuda

> *Russia claims to have hit Ukrainian troop accommodation in revenge attack, 'killing 600 servicemen'*


Might have, then again it might just have hit more civilian housing or something, hard to tell with these war criminals.

----------


## sabang

That is why I considerately provided multiple sources 'arry- so you can pick one, and call it Russian propaganda.   :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## pickel

> That is why I considerately provided multiple sources 'arry- so you can pick one, and call it Russian propaganda.


Here's what one of your links now says:

'Barracks strike' claim was successful Russian propaganda - but why did Moscow make it?
Analysis by Alex Rossi, international correspondent

The fact that you are reading this speaks to the success of Russian propaganda. Its MoD report of a massive air strike killing 600 Ukrainian soldiers in Kramatorsk is almost certainly a grotesque untruth.

But for Russia it matters not.

As a work of misinformation it's out there and will work its way through social media and mainstream news sites.

If people do believe it so much the better, but its not really the point.

As long you doubt everything everyone says its a victory for the propagandists.

You are assailed by information and don't know whats true.

1: In this instance it's quite easy to debunk. Images of the site itself show a place of very limited destruction.

2: Kramatorsk is easy to get to - so reality can be verified.

3: The claim is not consistent with Ukrainian military practice. 600 troops dont bunk up in artillery range, they disperse.

4: It's been emphatically denied by the Ukrainians whove issued this statement.

"The Russian information is not true. Russian army attacked Kramatorsk with seven missiles at 11.30pm yesterday. But it did not have any impact on the Ukrainian army" Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson of Ukrainian Joint Forces.

The information though also has a market inside Russia. The regime is desperate for a victory, especially after the huge loss of troops in Makiivka on New Year's Eve.

The claim of a revenge attack then will be packaged for domestic consumption on TV news bulletins, where a substantial chunk of the population will digest it unquestioningly.

But there is something else in it.

Moscow sees its force as one of the greatest armys in the world, so surely making up victories - even of clear propaganda design - does smack of desperation.

----------


## sabang

> You are assailed by information and don't know what’s true.


I know that is very true.

_P.S:-  Which link?_

----------


## pickel

> P.S:- Which link?


The Sky News one.

And Ukraine doesn't put that many troops in barracks near the frontline. That bit of propaganda isn't aimed at you, me, or the West. It's for Russian consumption only.

----------


## bsnub

> Russia claims to have hit Ukrainian troop accommodation in revenge attack, 'killing 600 servicemen'


 :smiley laughing: 

The lies just keep flowing as he continues to flood the thread with propaganda, knowing full well that this thread is currently very lightly moderated.




> And Ukraine doesn't put that many troops in barracks near the frontline.


Only the Russians are that stupid.

----------


## misskit

*Moscow to mobilize 500,000 new conscripts, Kyiv military intelligence says*

Ukrainian intelligence officials are warning that the Kremlin plans a new mobilization wave for up to 500,000 men to fight in Ukraine starting in mid-January.


The new conscription drive, which would be larger than last autumn’s Russian draft of 300,000, would include a push in big cities, including some strategic industrial centers in Russia, Andriy Cherniak, an official with the Main Military Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, told POLITICO on Saturday.  


Russian President Vladimir Putin in December said a suggested new conscription wave would be pointless as currently only 150,000 previously mobilized soldiers have been deployed in the invasion of Ukraine. The rest are still training or serving in the Russian rear.

Russia announced the end of the earlier “partial” mobilization of 300,000 men on October 31. But Cherniak claimed that Moscow has continued secret conscription all along. 

Now, Ukrainian military intelligence expects a new major wave of official mobilization might begin after January 15.


“This time the Kremlin will mobilize residents of big cities, including the strategic industries centers all over Russia,” Cherniak said. “This will have a very negative impact on the already suffering Russian economy.”


Moscow plans to use the 500,000 extra conscripts in a possible new massive offensive against Ukraine, the Guardian reported, citing Vadym Skibitsky, deputy chief of Ukrainian military intelligence.


The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that Russia has seen more than 100,000 soldiers killed in action in Ukraine. The latest blow that Moscow’s army has endured was in Makiivka, a town in the occupied part of Donetsk Oblast, where hundreds of newly conscripted Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in a high-precision strike by Ukrainian forces on January 1. Although the number of casualties cannot be verified independently, the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged the deaths of 89 soldiers, which makes it the biggest one-time military loss recognized by Moscow in the Ukraine war.


Ukrainian Armed Forces Chief Commander Valery Zaluzhnyy, in a December interview with the Economist, said Russia will conduct a new attempt at a massive offensive against Ukraine in February-March 2023. It might not start in Donbas, but in the direction of Kyiv through Belarus.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine keeps watching Russian steps in all directions.


“Russia will not be able to conceal in silence its preparations for a new wave of aggression against Ukraine and the whole of Europe. The world will know in all details — how and when the aggressor is preparing a new escalation in this war,” Zelenskyy said in an evening video statement on January 5.


“And every new mobilization step of Russia will be known to the world even before Russia makes it,” Zelenskyy said. “We will ensure this.”

Moscow to mobilize 500,000 new conscripts, Kyiv military intelligence says – POLITICO

----------


## misskit

*100 prisoners of war exchanged between Russia and Ukraine*


Russia and Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange Sunday with a total of 100 soldiers returning to their respective home countries, according to authorities from both countries.  


As a result of the negotiation process, 50 Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine were returned to Russia, Russian defense ministry said in a statement. 


Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential office confirmed the exchange, saying that 50 Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia returned home.  


“We returned the people who were captured at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as well as the defenders of Mariupol, the guys from the Donetsk direction, from near Bakhmut, as well as from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kherson and other regions,” Yermak said in a statement. 


“This is not the last exchange. Our task is to return all our people and we will fulfill it,” he said. 


This is the 36th exchange between Russia and Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, with 1,646 people -- military and civilians -- returned home to Ukraine, according to the Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War in Kyiv. 

January 8, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

----------


## harrybarracuda

> That is why I considerately provided multiple sources 'arry- so you can pick one, and call it Russian propaganda.


Sabang, your idea of multiple sources is posting a Cuban government site that's quoting a Russian government site, then claiming that is "multiple sources" -
You complete imbecile.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Only the Russians are that stupid.


Actually, like I said earlier, sabang is dumb enough to believe some of it.

----------


## sabang

Nice to have it confirmed that 'arry considers even Sky news and Reuters to be Russian propaganda, when they report what he doesn't like to hear.

----------


## harrybarracuda

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian soldiers are in a "difficult" situation as Russian forces amass near the fiercely contested front line town of Soledar, a top defense official said Sunday in Kyiv. Holding on to Soledar and Bakhmut, about nine miles apart, is vital to Ukraine keeping its defensive wall that protects Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, major cities in the eastern Donbas region still under Kyiv's control. Taking the cities would be tantamount to conquering the Donbas — one of Russia's publicly stated goals at the start of the war. "At the moment it is difficult in Soledar," Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on her Telegram channel on Sunday. She said Russia is launching attacks via the regular army and mercenaries from the shadowy Wagner Group. Russian military blogs recently reported a breakthrough of the defense lines in Soledar, but this has not yet been confirmed by Moscow.


Read more at: Ukrainian soldiers in ‘difficult’ situation in key Donbas area, Kyiv says | Miami Herald

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Nice to have it confirmed that 'arry considers even Sky news and Reuters to be Russian propaganda, when they report what he doesn't like to hear.


Yeah, throwing the odd legit story in there because you're being constantly ridiculed for posting propaganda nonsense - nice try.

 :smiley laughing:

----------


## qwerty

Multiple sources, but they all quote the Russian MoD, so all of these different stories actually just quote one original source.

Actually, this is a problem will all modern 'journalists'.  Very few of them actually do original reporting, almost all news writers (I hesitate to call them reporters), simply quote a single source without any effort to verify the news that they are repeating.  It's ironic that we now have access to hundreds of newspapers and magazines, but actually read less real reporting than we did in the past.

----------


## harrybarracuda

> Multiple sources, but they all quote the Russian MoD, so all of these different stories actually just quote one original source.
> 
> Actually, this is a problem will all modern 'journalists'.  Very few of them actually do original reporting, almost all news writers (I hesitate to call them reporters), simply quote a single source without any effort to verify the news that they are repeating.  It's ironic that we now have access to hundreds of newspapers and magazines, but actually read less real reporting than we did in the past.


Cost cutting. A lot of papers like the Post subscribe to AP or Reuters and just cut and paste whatever they report.

By the same token, I don't generally post anything from Ukrainian government sources and their ilk because obviously they have an interest in bigging up their side of it too.

----------


## bsnub

> I don't generally post anything from Ukrainian government sources and their ilk because obviously they have an interest in bigging up their side of it too.


That may be the case, but they are not even on the same planet as Russia is when it comes to propaganda. 

In this case, the Russian MOD did what it always does when Russia gets its teeth kicked in. It fabricates some massive casualty revenge attack and if the can get someone like Sabang to fall for it then it is icing on the cake, but it is primarily meant for a domestic audience within Russia upset about the fact that hundreds of their troops actually did get killed in  Makiivka.

----------


## bsnub

No surprise here...

KRAMATORSK,  Ukraine, Jan 8 (Reuters) - A Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian  city of Kramatorsk missed its targets and there were no obvious signs of  casualties, a Reuters reporter said on Sunday, after Moscow claimed the  strike killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers.

A  Reuters team visited two college dormitories that Moscow said had been  temporarily housing Ukrainian personnel and which it had targeted as  revenge for a New Year's attack that killed scores of Russian soldiers and caused outcry in Russia.

But  neither dormitory in the eastern city of Kramatorsk appeared to have  been directly hit or seriously damaged. There were no obvious signs that  soldiers had been living there and no sign of bodies or traces of  blood.

Serhiy  Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian military spokesperson for the eastern region,  described the claim of mass casualties as an attempt by the Russian  defence ministry to show it had responded forcefully to Ukraine's recent  strikes on Russian soldiers.

"This is an information operation of the Russian defense ministry," Cherevatyi told Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne News.

Authorities in Kyiv did not immediately comment. Kramatorsk's mayor earlier said there had been no casualties.

As  Moscow's invasion of Ukraine grinds towards the one-year mark, Russia's  military is under domestic pressure for battlefield successes. Hawkish  voices have sought an escalation of the war effort after setbacks  including loss of captured territory and high rates of death and injury.

Bad  winter weather has hindered fighting on the front lines, although a  cold snap that freezes and hardens up the ground could pave the way for  both sides to launch offensives with heavy equipment, Serhiy Haidai,  governor of Ukraine's Luhansk region said.

There  have also been growing concerns that Belarus - a close ally of the  Kremlin - could be used as a staging post to attack Ukraine from the  north after military activity including planned joint aviation drills in  the country and a fresh transfer of Russian troops there.

*REVENGE ATTACK*

Russia's defence ministry, in a statement, said the strike on the buildings in Kramatorsk was a revenge operation for the deadly Ukrainian attack  last week on a Russian barracks in Makiivka, in part of the Donetsk  region controlled by Moscow's forces, in which at least 89 servicemen  were killed.

It  said Moscow had used what it called reliable intelligence to target the  Ukrainian troops. More than 700 Ukrainian troops had been housed in one  hostel and more than 600 in another, it said.

"As  a result of a massive missile strike on these temporary deployment  points of Ukrainian army units, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were  destroyed," the defence ministry said.

If  true, it would be the single largest loss of Ukrainian troops since  Russia invaded on Feb. 24 last year. Neither side in the war, now in its  eleventh month, usually disclose losses.

Ukraine  was believed to have stopped housing troops close together in single  facilities after a deadly Russian missile strike on a base in western  Ukraine in March which killed dozens.

The  practice of housing soldiers all together came into focus too after  Ukraine's New Year's Day strike, with Russian military commanders  subject to fierce criticism inside Russia for not dispersing their  forces.

*'A NORMAL DAY'*

In  Kramatorsk, residents in the populated area around the dormitories  described the force of the explosion that rocked their homes overnight  but said it was not out of the ordinary for the region, close to the  eastern front.

The  residents said they heard explosions shortly after 11 p.m. local time -  midnight Moscow time - when a ceasefire declared by Russia for Eastern  Orthodox Christmas had been due to end.

The  Russian statement named two buildings, the dormitory of a site called  College No.47 and a dormitory affiliated with College No.28, both in  Kramatorsk.

Reuters  visuals showed some of the windows broken at the College No.47  dormitory. There was a large crater in the courtyard. The windows of the  nearby college had been smashed.

The  College No.28 dormitory was entirely intact. A crater lay about 50  metres away from it closer to some garages. Some of the college's  windows were smashed.

"It  was very loud, it threw people out of their beds. Some people hurt  their fingers because of the blast wave," said Polina, 74, a resident  who lives across from one of the dormitories.

"There  was an explosion, and then another explosion. The windows shook...  Really, there's nothing else to tell you. Just a normal day," said  Mykhailo, a 41-year-old resident.

Oleksandr  Honcharenko, Kramatorsk's mayor, said the attack had damaged two  educational facilities and eight apartment buildings and garages but  that there had been no casualties.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine's governor of Donetsk, had said earlier that Russia had launched seven missile strikes on Kramatorsk.

Russia  has repeatedly shelled Kramatorsk, which is also in the Donetsk region,  one of four regions Moscow claims to have formally incorporated into  Russia, something Ukraine and most countries in the world do not  recognise.

Kramatorsk  lies a few miles northwest of Bakhmut, a small city which Russia has  been trying to take for more than five months in a brutal battle which  has become the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in recent weeks.

Ukrainian officials earlier said  at least two people had been killed elsewhere in Russian overnight  bombing after the unilateral Russian Orthodox Christmas ceasefire had  expired.

A  50-year-old man had been killed in the northeastern region of Kharkiv,  Oleh Synehubov, the governor of the region, said on the Telegram  messaging app.

Another person had been killed in overnight attack on Soledar, close to Bakhmut, local officials said.

No sign of casualties after Russia claims revenge attack on Ukrainian soldiers | Reuters

----------


## bsnub

More propaganda debunked...




> Sen. Angus King says that on his recent trip to Ukraine, he asked Pres. Zelenskyy about the accounting of U.S. military aid.   "I was very impressed by the level of accountability and so this argument that somehow the money's being wasted, I don't think holds water," King says.


https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/st...41639723540481

----------


## bsnub



----------


## harrybarracuda

It's good that Sky published this because sabang considers it a trusted source.




> *Pro-war bloggers hit out at 'fictional' Kremlin claim of 600 deaths*
> 
> By Diana Magnay, Moscow correspondent
> 
> The air of desperation behind Russia's claim of a massive strike on Ukrainian facilities in Kramatorsk and the supposed deaths of 600 Ukrainian servicemen, seemingly false according to satellite images of intact dormitory buildings, has not been lost on Russia's pro-war military bloggers.
> 
> "Instead of the real destruction of enemy personnel, which would have been a worthy response, a fictional retaliatory operation was invented for the media," said the Military Informer telegram channel, widely reposted across the pro-war blogosphere.
> 
> "Six hundred! Can you count?" wrote another popular account, the Grey Zone, questioning the numbers.
> ...

----------


## sabang

He said/ She said innit?




> 3h ago21.15 AEDT
> *Russia* *says it is confident the defence ministry was correct when it said that 600 Ukrainian servicemen had been “destroyed” in an attack on the city of Kramatorsk,* despite reporting which showed the attack missed its target.
> “The Kremlin has absolute confidence, I would like to remind you of the president’s words that the main source of information is the ministry of defence”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a daily briefing on Monday, according to Reuters.
> Earlier, the Guardian reported the *mayor of Kramatorsk*, the eastern Ukrainian town Russia said it had targeted, said earlier on Sunday via Facebook that nobody had been killed in an attack on various buildings in the city.
> The ministry previously said the strike was revenge for Ukraine’s New Year’s Day attack that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers


Russia-Ukraine war live: Russians hit village market in deadly missile attack; reports UK considering supplying Ukraine with tanks | Ukraine | The Guardian

----------


## harrybarracuda

> He said/ She said innit?


Yeah but it was Russians wot said it, innit.

----------


## helge

Popular German influencer covers the war in Ukraine: 'It's not the Russians who are the bad guys'
'The Russians are in the process of disarming the Nazis,' says 29-year-old Alina Lipp from the back seat of a vehicle in a Russian military convoy.


OF DR'S
CORRESPONDENT IN GERMANY
Michael Reiter
TODAY AT 11:31 am

Populaer tysk influencer daekker krigen i Ukraine: ’Det er ikke russerne, der er de onde’ | Udland | DR
The thunderous, deep booms of artillery fire are not audible on the mobile recordings. They mix with the sound of Alina Lipp's rapid breathing as she films herself on foot through a ruined landscape.

- I really wanted to say something, but it makes so much noise, she says and laughs into the camera.

The 29-year-old German calls himself a war correspondent. She covers the war in Ukraine, not least in the eastern Donbas region, where the bloody battles between Ukrainians and Russians are particularly fierce.

But her reports are not broadcast on German TV stations' newscasts. Instead, she posts her videos on social media. Alina Lipp is first and foremost a popular influencer.

- I have lived in Donbas for a year now and have really just filmed what is happening there. Donbas was such an unknown black hole in German media, and I wanted to fill that hole, she says on a Skype connection from Russia.



Mouthpiece for Putin

Since the start of the war, Alina Lipp's following has grown from a few thousand to now upwards of 200,000. So she has been good at filling the gap. She has clearly hit a need, despite  or perhaps because of  her message.

What Alina Lipp tells her followers about the war in Ukraine is the opposite world of what Western journalists report. Whether she's interviewing locals or filming their destroyed cities, the message is always the same.

- This war and what you see behind me are the consequences of a National Socialist government in Ukraine, says Alina Lipp, for example, in a mobile video that has the ruins of the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol as a backdrop.

- It's really true. It's not the Russians who are the bad guys. To put it squarely, the Russians are in the process of disarming the Nazis, she states, as she follows a Russian military convoy in a conquered area.

These are words that could have come out of the mouth of Vladimir Putin or his propaganda mouthpiece in Russian ministries and media. What has taken many in Germany by surprise is that the words come from a bright, young German woman who was on her way to a political career in her home country.


Alina Lipp "thinks that much of what Putin says makes a lot of sense when you listen to the full translation". She calls it "an eye opener for a lot of people". 

Discriminated as half-Russian

Alina Lipp was born in the German city of Hamburg. She is the daughter of a German mother and a Russian father who fell for each other in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

- After I left school, I started to take an interest in my father's homeland. I lived for several months with my grandmother in Saint Petersburg and learned to speak Russian. I returned to Russia several times. I traveled around the country and ended up falling in love with it, she explains.

Alina Lipp says that as a child she was never discriminated against because of her Russian background. But that changed in 2014 when Russia invaded the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. Allegedly, many in Germany suddenly began to look askance at people like her and her father. Alina Lipp claims that it was mainly due to one-sided German media coverage of the conflict in Crimea.

- The exclusion of Russians in Germany and the condemnation you felt only because of your nationality, it hit me really hard. And I found that when I discussed with people, I came more and more to adopt a pro-Russian position, explains Alina Lipp.

She had just completed a master's degree in climate and sustainability. She had become active in the German environmental party De Gronne. But when her father chose to emigrate to Russia, she followed. First to Crimea, where she initially filmed her daily life and travels on the peninsula for social media.

Then to Donbas, where she began to depict the horrors of war from the Russian side of the front

A successful product' for the Kremlin

The fact that Alina Lipp films her experiences with her mobile phone makes the reports seem immediate and authentic. The fact that she puts herself in the foreground  selfie-style  like so many other young influencers, makes it easy to identify with her. She seems completely ordinary.

She calls herself an independent journalist, and perhaps she appears that way. But a closer examination of her videos paints a different picture.

Although Alina Lipp claims she can travel freely on the Russian side of the front, she is almost always surrounded by Putin's combat troops. She rides along in their military convoys and follows in their footsteps through conquered cities and lands. When she interviews locals, she is usually flanked by Russian soldiers ready to shoot.

It apparently intimidates several of the people she talks to. They can hardly do anything but answer affirmatively to her leading question, whether everything has improved now that the Russians have moved in.

In several cases, you even see security guards interfering with Alina Lipp's recordings. Black-gloved hands push her and the camera forward when she films something she's not allowed to. They move her into place so that she is right in the picture.

They put cans in her hands, which she has to give to war-torn locals while the camera rolls. It shines through that Alina Lipp is influenced or perhaps even controlled in her coverage of the war in Ukraine.

- Seen from the Kremlin's point of view, Alina Lipp is a successful product, exactly as you want it to be. An attractive young woman you like to look at and listen to.

This is the assessment of Danilo Höpfner from the Russian human rights organization Memorial - in a feature on pro-Russian influencers that the German television station ZDF showed in the autumn. Others call Alina Lipp a "propaganda horn" or "Putin's useful YouTube weapon".

The criticism of the 29-year-old is consistent in virtually all German media. And it is becoming more and more pronounced, as more and more followers gather around her.

Support for Russia is growing

A new study by the German think tank CEMAS gives an idea of ​​why Alina Lipp's popularity is growing. It shows that people south of the border are increasingly opening up to the pro-Russian messages that are repeated in her videos and written posts on social media.

For example, as many as 40 percent of surveyed Germans fully or partially agree with the influencer when she claims that NATO provoked the war and that Russia was forced to invade Ukraine.

24 percent agree that the war was necessary - to remove a so-called fascist Ukrainian regime. Both figures have advanced by around ten percent compared to a similar survey shortly after the start of the war.

The growing support for Russia and its messages is felt not only on social media, but also in German reality. Admittedly, a large majority of Germans continue to support Ukraine. But since the start of the war, more and more pro-Russian demonstrations have popped up all over the map - not least in the eastern part of Germany.

For example, in Leipzig, on a Saturday at the end of last year.



One of the city's central squares has been transformed into a billowing sea of ​​Russian flags. Some participants have striped ribbons on their lapels, signaling support for the Russian invasion.

Others present posters where America's Uncle Sam is a zombie and America's soldiers have faces like skulls. "Ami go home" - American go home - is what the posters say, referring to the troops still in Germany.

Heino Zech is a pensioner and often comes to the pro-Russian demonstrations. He grew up in Leipzig, when eastern Germany was called the GDR and was a communist dictatorship occupied by soldiers of the Soviet Union.

- The Russians have always been good to us, he states.

- They don't want to go to war with us. They just want to live in peace and trade, says Torsten Seefluth, another protester.


Demonstrator Torsten Seefluth:
- If Germans and Russians stood together, we would be invincible, states Kerstin Woiton, who also grew up in the GDR.

Germans generally more open to Russia
These are attitudes that do not surprise Josef Holnburger, one of the researchers behind the think tank CEMAS' new study.

- In Germany there is a particularly fertile breeding ground for Russian disinformation, he says.

Because the Germans are generally more open to Russia than, for example, the Danes are, he assesses.

According to Josef Holnburger, this is mainly due to the fact that Germans and Russians have established close cultural ties that go back several centuries. When Peter the Great was Russian tsar in the 17th century, many German farmers, craftsmen and academics began emigrating to Russia, for example.

After World War II, the Soviet Union shaped the communist satellite state of the GDR, where Russian was the first foreign language in elementary school, and top politicians were educated in Moscow. The East Germans were indoctrinated to see the Russians and the Soviet state as role models.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, many of the emigrants of the past returned to Germany. They became "Russlanddeutsche" - Russian Germans - one of the largest minorities south of the border.

Josef Holnburger, disinformation researcher  think tank CEMAS. 

- In recent decades, we have also seen more and more intertwining between German and Russian economies, but also closer political ties between Germany and Russia, notes Josef Holnburger and adds:

- These are some special circumstances on which Russian disinformation can easily be based.

Pronounced skepticism towards 'mainstream media'
That it actually succeeds can be felt in Leipzig, among other places. Many here know and follow influencers like Alina Lipp, despite - or rather because of - the fierce criticism that hits her in the established media.

Because the support for the pro-Russian messages that you feel here is also due to a pronounced skepticism towards German and Western "mainstream media", which in the opinion of several demonstrators covers the war in Ukraine too one-sidedly.

- We are trying to understand what reality looks like over there. And that's why we need people who show reality and not just selected images or invented stories, thunders Torsten Seefluth.

- Let me put it this way: I believe more in the Russian propaganda. Or... It's not propaganda, it's the truth, says Demonstrator Heino Zech.



Such attitudes are admittedly not representative of Germans in general. Two out of three still have great trust in, for example, public service television stations such as ARD and ZDF. But the trend is diminishing, and this can give influencers like Alina Lipp greater leeway.

Josef Holnburger from the think tank CEMAS mentions two other factors when explaining the growing support for pro-Russian messages:

- Russian disinformation works in such a way that a very large number of false stories are spread. For example, that the Russians were forced to respond to NATO provocations, or that they invaded because of alleged biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine.

In the volume of those stories, the facts  namely that it is a Russian war of aggression  can be displaced in people's consciousness. And it is a method that pro-Russian influencers make targeted use of. It is a way of casting doubt, explains Josef Holnburger.

The researcher goes on to say that unmanageable times of crisis  with a past pandemic, a new war with inflation and an energy crisis as a result  cause more people to join conspiracy theories.

- They often give very simple explanations for challenges that are difficult to understand, states Josef Holnburger.




Accused of supporting war crimesIt is not only in Germany that pro-Russian influencers such as Alina Lipp gain attention.

 On social media, you find other young, self-proclaimed war correspondents who convey the same messages as the German - but in English, Italian or Spanish.

The places they visit are also always the same, and the pictures in their selfie videos are almost identical.Alina Lipp insists that she neither works for state-run Russian media nor for the Russian state, and that her work is solely funded by followers in Germany who donate money to her.

The fact is, however, that the 29-year-old German regularly participates in propaganda talk shows on Russian television, where her videos are also included. The fact is also that she goes in and out of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow.

 For example, last November, when she attended a conference for pro-Russian opinion makers from 40 countries.

In a speech at the conference, Alina Lipp made it unequivocally clear that the participants share a common mission:- Russia is currently in a war with NATO.

 Help Russia! Use the media actively. They are very powerful weapons, sometimes more powerful than regular weapons!In Germany, the public prosecutor's office has now begun to investigate Alina Lipp.

 She is accused of actively supporting Russian war crimes. In Germany, it is considered a criminal offense that can result in up to three years in prison.

 Therefore, she says, she is forced into exile in Russia.- It makes me sad that I can't return. It makes me sad that I am actually convinced that I am doing the right thing - but that I am being persecuted for it in the country I grew up in, she says.
However, Alina Lipp has no intention of stopping the mission as a pro-Russian influencer. Shortly after DR's interview with her, she is on her way back to the front.







Hope it was worth something

Took some time to translate

----------


## DrWilly

> About a hundred more died in the hospital from heart failure after viewing Konashenkov's reports." (Lt-Gen Igor Konashenkov is the Russian Defence Ministry spokesman and face of its daily briefings.)



 :rofl:  


Who said Russians don't do humor?

----------


## helge

All oppressed nations, such as danes and russians, have sublime humour.

It's a matter of survival

----------


## sabang

Did you translate #2549 yourself helge, or use Google translate? Anyway, well done- interesting read. I wish we anglos were privy to more non-English media actually- I do find Google Translate works OK for Russki to fractured English  :Smile: . Will green ya when I can.

----------


## helge

> Did you translate #2549 yourself helge, or use Google translate?


Google

But google has limits, so had to do it in many bits.

I found it interesting; no harm in knowing how others feel and think

----------


## pickel

> I wish we anglos were privy to more non-English *media* actually





> However, Alina Lipp has no intention of stopping the mission as a *pro-Russian influencer.*


i.e. Not a journalist. Just another useful idiot.

----------


## helge

> i.e. Not a journalist. Just another useful idiot.


Could be

What do you think about the article ?

----------


## Loy Toy

I was watching some missile launches and wondered how much a Javelin missile costs not to mention the cost of the launching weapon.

According to the U.S. Army's 2023 budget for missile procurement, the cost for a single Javelin all-up round  that is, one missile  is *$197,884. That's only slightly cheaper than a new 2022 Ferrari Roma, and more than enough for older models.*

----------


## helge

> $197,884.


There is also winners in wars

----------


## pickel

> What do you think about the article ?


This pretty much sums it up.




> Although Alina Lipp claims she can travel freely on the Russian side of the front, she is almost always surrounded by Putin's combat troops. She rides along in their military convoys and follows in their footsteps through conquered cities and lands. When she interviews locals, she is usually flanked by Russian soldiers ready to shoot.
> 
> *It apparently intimidates several of the people she talks to. They can hardly do anything but answer affirmatively to her leading question, whether everything has improved now that the Russians have moved in.*

----------


## pickel

> According to the U.S. Army's 2023 budget for missile procurement, the cost for a single Javelin all-up round  that is, one missile  is $197,884. That's only slightly cheaper than a new 2022 Ferrari Roma, and more than enough for older models.


Ferrari's are harder to launch at Russian tanks though, and don't do as much damage.

----------


## bsnub

> There is also winners in wars


Let me guess. You will be bringing up the Rothschild's next. 

 :rofl:

----------


## helge

> This pretty much sums it up.


Hmm

The article is a failure then.

I think the aim was to desribe 'influencers', pro russian influencers at that, and to listen to their stories and motives.


I think that your own quote from the article, should document that the author ..isn't pro russian

Nevermind

----------


## Loy Toy

> There is also winners in wars


A patriot missile costs costs 4 million with the launcher costing 10 million.

----------


## DrWilly

An influencer is not media outlet or journalist.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

----------


## sabang

The rise of 'citizen journalism' is a good thing, seeing as our "Free press" have so egregiously discarded the Media code of ethics. Surprise, surprise- so now they clamp down on social or people's media outlets too, such as Youtube and Twitter, cancelling content for the perceived crime of 'Thought Crimes'- how ahead of his times was George Orwell. Why are they so scared? 

Thank goodness for Russian owned Telegram.  :Smile:

----------


## Norton

> There is also winners in wars


WIn or lose, always a few make $$$ at the high price paid by the vast majority.




> So definitely worth checking out what she and the people she is reporting for have to say


Of course it is as is any other source but "intelligent readers" know that no matter the source it will be biased. If you want an unbiased opinion, go to the war zone yourself but do keep in mind what you choose to observe will be a reflection of your own bias.

Enjoy your dueling posts guys. All a nice source of daily entertainment for me. I only regret The Gent not active as his name calling skills would be appreciated.  :Smile:

----------


## helge

> An influencer is not media outlet or journalist.


'Influencer' isn't what she calls herself, to be fair. It's a label DR has put on

She calls herself "war correspondent", which I guess covers it too.


Most wars are being covered from select hotels and hotel bars, ala Caravelle in Saigon or Commodore in Beirut.

She lives in Donbas. Worth something, I guess


"an influencer isn't a media outlet" you say

Can a media outlet be an influencer ?

----------


## bsnub

> Thank goodness for Russian owned Telegram.


A platform that you are light years behind the times in figuring out about. Surprising that your handlers did not train you in its use out of the gate. Telegram is owned by Pavel Durov he may be Russian but he is no friend of your puppet masters in the Kremlin...




> On 16 April 2014, Durov publicly refused to hand over the personal  data of Ukrainian protesters to Russia's security agencies and block Alexei Navalny's page on VK.[5] Instead, he posted the relevant orders on his own VK page,[27][28] claiming that the requests were unlawful. 
> On 21 April 2014, Durov was dismissed as CEO of VK. The company claimed it was acting on his letter of resignation a month earlier that he failed to recall.[5][29] Durov then claimed the company had been effectively taken over by Vladimir Putin's allies,[29][30] suggesting his ouster was the result of both his refusal to hand over personal details of users to federal law enforcement and his refusal to hand over the personal details of people who were members of a VK group dedicated to the Euromaidan protest movement.[29][30] Durov then left Russia and stated that he had "no plans to go back"[30] and that "the country is incompatible with Internet business at the moment".[5]





> 9 years ago I defended the private data of Ukrainians from the Russian government — and lost my company and my home. I would do it again without hesitation.


https://twitter.com/durov/status/1500909092990341121

----------


## helge

> Of course it is as is any other source but "intelligent readers" know that no matter the source it will be biased.


 :Smile: 

You don't have to be an 'intelligent reader' when the word influencer is in the fucking headline.

She is .BIASED !

The article is not


Fuckin hell

----------


## Joe 90

I blame global warming on the war not ending sooner.
It should be -40oC now on the front line and all the poorly equipped Russians should have perished by now as in the battle of Stalingrad,  albeit the commies are the Nazi's now.

----------


## bsnub

BERLIN/PARIS — Less than a week after Germany finally agreed to  supply Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles, pressure is  building on Berlin to step it up and send modern battle tanks.

    France and Poland are pushing the EU’s biggest economy to equip Kyiv  with its powerful Leopard 2 tank, while Britain is reportedly  considering sending about a dozen of its Challenger 2 main battle tanks  to Ukraine. If Britain did so, this would make it significantly harder  for Berlin to hide behind its current argument that it does not want to  act alone in sending heavy weaponry.  

    Almost a year into Russia’s war against Ukraine, Western military analysts fear Moscow will launch a new offensive in the coming weeks or months, seizing on the depletion of Kyiv’s ammunition reserves.

    Supplying modern Western tanks such as the Leopard 2 would be a big  boost for Ukraine’s military, as Kyiv’s allies have so far only been  willing to send older Soviet-era tanks that had still been in the stocks  of Eastern European countries, as well as other weapon systems such as  howitzers and air defenses.

A French official told POLITICO that Paris is turning the screws on  Germany in the hope of extracting an agreement from Berlin to send  Leopard tanks to Ukraine ahead of a Franco-German summit on January 22,  the 60th anniversary of the Élysée partnership treaty between the two  nations.

    Similar pressure is coming from Poland, which wants to form a broad  coalition among Western partners to jointly hand over Leopards to  Ukraine. “We encourage other countries to form a broad coalition for the  transfer of more modern tanks to Ukraine, such as Leopard tanks,”  Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński told Polish public radio on Monday.

    Germany, Spain, Poland, Greece, Denmark and Finland are among  numerous countries already using the approximately 60-ton Leopard 2,  which is equipped with a 120-millimeter cannon as well as a  state-of-the-art defense system and armor. This would allow allies to  jointly organize delivery of both the tanks and required ammunition, and  team up on the required maintenance and repair.

    “The Ukrainians really want the Leopards because there are lots in  stock across Europe,” said the French official, who is familiar with the  tank discussions.

    However, since the Leopards are being produced by Munich-based  defense company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, their delivery to Ukraine demands  a re-export authorization by the country of origin, Germany — meaning  that international pressure is now concentrating on Berlin.

    “Poland can hand over Leopards only in a coalition of countries,”  Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters on Saturday,  adding that talks with other countries on forming such an alliance are  ongoing.

    “I talked about it with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz a couple of  weeks ago in Brussels, and I think we may know more about it in the next  few days,” Morawiecki added.

*German line of defense*

    Asked about demands by partners such as Poland to form such a tank  alliance, a German government spokesperson said Monday he was “not aware  of any such requests at the moment,” but stressed that “we constantly  reassess the situation and then derive our closely internationally  coordinated decisions from it.”

    Just last Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and U.S. President Joe Biden announced in a joint statement  that their countries would send infantry fighting vehicles — up to 40  German Marders and around 50 American Bradleys — to Ukraine; one day  after French President Emmanuel Macron had rushed ahead by announcing the delivery of French AMX-10 RC armored fighting vehicles.

While German officials insist the announcement resulted from close  coordination, many factors — such as Defense Minister Christine  Lambrecht saying just weeks earlier that it would be impossible for  Germany to send any Marders to Ukraine, as it needed them for its own  military — suggest that Berlin took the decision reluctantly and only  amid growing international pressure.

    That suggestion was supported by the French official who, speaking on  the condition of the anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter,  said that “the aim” of Macron’s announcement last week to hand over the  French armored fighting vehicles “was to break the taboo [of sending  Western tanks to Ukraine], so that the Germans start moving.”

    “There’s a complicity between Macron and Zelenskyy, and this was  somewhat staged to lift the U.S. and Germany reluctance [on sending  tanks],” the official said.

    Ukraine has also asked Paris to send French Leclerc battle tanks to  Ukraine, a request that is currently being examined by the French  authorities. French officials caution, however, that Leclerc tanks are  no longer in production, raising questions over maintenance and the  provision of spare parts — problems that the Leopards, due to their wide  availability in many nations and their continued production, do not  face.

    Still, France would be willing to deploy its Leclerc tanks to NATO  allies that send some of their own Leopard tanks to Ukraine, in order to  fill gaps, an official in Paris said.

    One official in Berlin said that a recent notable diplomatic success  by Scholz, namely getting China and a broader coalition of other G20  countries to sign a statement urging Russia not to use nuclear weapons,  has alleviated concerns in Berlin that the delivery of more Western  military equipment to Ukraine could lead to a third world war.

    However, the German government spokesperson stressed Monday that one  of Berlin’s key goals remained avoiding becoming an active party to the  war, and added that there was “no automatism” that would make the  delivery of Leopards “the next logical step” following the decision to  send Marder tanks.

    Meanwhile, German news outlet Der Spiegel reported  Monday that the U.K. government is considering supplying about a dozen  Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, which would make it the first country to  support Kyiv with Western main battle tanks. 

    London has already announced the possible delivery to partners “in a  nonbinding manner,” Der Spiegel wrote, adding that the decision will  probably only be made official at a planned meeting of Western defense  officials at the Ramstein military base in Germany on January 20.

    The U.K. defense ministry neither denied nor confirmed the report,  with a spokesperson saying: “The government has committed to match or  exceed last year’s funding for military aid to Ukraine in 2023, and we  will continue to build on recent donations with training and further  gifting of equipment.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/fran...ks-to-ukraine/

----------


## helge

> I blame global warming on the war not ending sooner.


See your point



> all the poorly equipped Russians should have perished by now


Together with all the ukranian civiliens without heating ?

You are a City scumbag, sir !



 :Smile:

----------


## bsnub

The  U.S. is considering sending Stryker armored combat vehicles to Ukraine  in an upcoming aid package to help Kyiv fend off an expected Russian  spring offensive, according to two people familiar with the discussion.

 The news follows the Biden  administration’s announcement last week that it will send 50 Bradley  Fighting Vehicles, a powerful tracked armored vehicle that carries an  autocannon, a machine gun and TOW missiles.

   The Strykers may be part of the next  tranche of military aid, according to a Defense Department official, who  like others asked for anonymity to discuss internal deliberations ahead  of an announcement. The administration could announce the package, with  or without Strykers, late next week around the time of the next Ukraine  Defense Contact Group meeting in Germany.


     The people stressed that no final  decision has been made, and the administration could decide to send the  Strykers in a future package instead.

 “We have no announcements to make at  this time,” said Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn. A  spokesperson for the National Security Council did not comment by press  time.

 Strykers would be another capability  boost for Kyiv’s rapidly growing arsenal and would help meet a critical  need for armor, as concerns grow that Russia is planning a second mobilization for a major new offensive in the coming weeks.

 While Strykers are not as powerful or  protective as tanks, the eight-wheeled armored fighting vehicle built  by General Dynamics Land Systems can operate in snow, mud and sand,  though off-road mobility is somewhat limited by its lack of tracks.

 “Ukrainians need armored personnel  carriers and short of other countries providing it, is what we have in  inventory,” the DoD official said. “Not as good as a Bradley for a tank  fight, but good to protect infantry and get up close to a fight.”

The U.S. has already sent Ukraine  thousands of combat vehicles, including Humvees and mine-resistant  vehicles used to move troops on the battlefield. But Strykers could  offer a balance between a tank and an armored personnel carrier.

 Army operators say the wheeled  vehicle moves more quietly than a Bradley and note that it can ferry  more troops, nine compared to six in a standard M2.

 The vehicles were deployed regularly  to Iraq with U.S. infantry battalions where they allowed U.S. troops to  move quickly along paved roadways while offering more protection than a  Humvee, along with a .50 caliber machine gun operated remotely by a  soldier inside the vehicle.

 Ukraine already operates a similar  vehicle, as the first of a planned 39 Canadian Armoured Combat Support  Vehicles — a Canadian version of the Stryker also built by General  Dynamics — started to arrive in Ukraine in recent weeks. The vehicles  were initially purchased for the Canadian armed forces, but in June  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was diverting their  delivery to Ukraine.

The U.S. has sold 60 Strykers to Thailand, and North Macedonia is buying 16.

 Sending powerful armored vehicles such as the Bradley and Strykers could be a precursor to providing tanks. But Western nations remain stuck in much the same place they have been for months — debating who goes big first.

 “There’s a strange back and forth  with the Europeans where any time anyone asks, the Europeans they say,  ‘Well, you know, the U.S. should go first.’ And the administration said,  ‘Well, we want the Europeans to go first or we want to do it together.’  And the Ukrainians are just saying, ‘For the love of God, just give us  the tanks,’” said a person familiar with those discussions.

Pentagon weighs sending Stryker combat vehicles to Ukraine  - POLITICO

----------


## sabang

> Telegram is owned by Pavel Durov he may be Russian but he is no friend of your puppet masters in the Kremlin...


Exactly!! But he doesn't use his own Opinions to censor or cancel what the millions of subscribers to Telegram write or are allowed to be exposed to. That is Telegram's selling point, which other social media platforms have discarded- and is why he is a very wealthy man now. Kudos.

----------


## bsnub

> Together with all the ukranian civiliens without heating ?


You have never travelled to a former Soviet state, I would guess. Most big towns and cities have a centralized heating system that runs off boilers and is not dependent on the electrical grid. Those that do not live in those places mostly use wood to heat their homes in the winter. No one in Ukraine is going to freeze without electricity. 

For someone who tries to pass themselves off as a well travelled intellectual, you sure are ignorant.

----------


## helge

> Most big towns and cities have a centralized heating system that runs off boilers


Correct



> and is not dependent on the electrical grid.


Oh dear



But apart from that:

Wooosh !

----------


## Joe 90

Hey Snubbless, watch bald and bankrupt on YT.

----------


## bsnub

> Hey Snubbless, watch bald and bankrupt on YT.


I do.

----------


## HermantheGerman

> 'Influencer' isn't what she calls herself, to be fair. It's a label DR has put on
> She calls herself "war correspondent", which I guess covers it too.
> Most wars are being covered from select hotels and hotel bars, ala Caravelle in Saigon or Commodore in Beirut.
> She lives in Donbas. Worth something, I guess
> "an influencer isn't a media outlet" you say
> Can a media outlet be an influencer ?


Here are the FACTS:

As part of the investigation, the public prosecutor's office confiscated around 1,600 euros. The money seized is said to be donations that Alina Lipp uses to finance her activities on social media.
The pro-Russian activist Alina Lipp is currently the focus of the German judicial authorities. The public prosecutor's office in Göttingen has started investigations against the Youtuber - and that triggers excitement on social media. The allegation is raised online that Lipp, who has since emigrated to Russia.

Questions?

----------


## tomcat

Estonia to Move Ahead of EU With Plans to Seize Russian Assets




Kaja KallasPhotographer: Kenzo Tribouillard/Getty Images
By Ott Tammik (Bloomberg)

January 9, 2023 at 9:58 PM GMT+7

Estonia plans to introduce a legal blueprint for seizing Russian assets this month as the Baltic nation moves ahead with a bid to deliver funds frozen under European Union sanctions to Ukraine. 

The legal framework will come by the end of January after the government in Tallinn tasked ministries in late December to come up with a plan for asset seizures, Mihkel Tamm, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, said on Monday. 


Estonia aims to present the plan by the time the European Commission develops a bloc-wide arrangement to deal with 300 billion ($322 billion) in Russian central-bank reserves and billions more in frozen assets of sanctioned Russian individuals. 

EU members need to take work forward on securing accountability for the crime of aggression and to use Russias frozen assets, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who has gained popularity at home and abroad for her vocal stance against President Vladimir Putin, said in December.
Estonias anti-money-laundering authority estimates that frozen funds in Russian-owned accounts in the country amount to almost 20 million. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholzs government is open to converting Russian assets to aid for Ukraine as long as complex legal issues can be resolved, according to people familiar with the discussions. One option would be to target assets from individuals involved in war crimes rather than imposing blanket seizures that could take years to be resolved legally, according to one of the people.

----------


## bsnub

Recurring pro-Kremlin  disinformation narrative aimed at shifting the responsibility from  Russia to Ukraine for not fulfilling the agreements, claiming that  Ukraine is not willing to implement the Minsk and Normandy agreements, and Ukraine's position is the only obstacle on the way to the peace process in Donbas. 

This narrative is part of the support campaign of Russian aggression against Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022. Leaders of the European Union recognized that Moscow's actions should be evaluated  as “acts of violence and the violation of international law”. By  shifting the blame on Ukraine, this disinformation story aims to deny any Russian responsibility for the situation. 

Contrary to the claims, the main impediment to a peace settlement in Donbas is, in fact, Russia and its proxies’ deliberate unwillingness to implement the Minsk agreements. Moreover, Moscow illegally provides weapons to the separatists. This is a well-known fact, although Russia denies it and accuses the US of selling weapons to Kyiv. Ukraine, on the other hand, does not conceal the military aid it receives because it is legal and transparent. 

Recently,  Russia has completely violated the Minsk agreements by recognising the  "independence" of the so-called DPR and LPR. The world leaders, the EU,  the UN, and other key international organisations condemned this  decision as a gross violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial  integrity. 

The EU High Representative Josep Borrell strongly condemned  Russia's decision as an illegal act: "With the decision to recognise  the non-government controlled region of eastern Ukraine as “independent  states”, Russia is clearly violating the Minsk agreements, which  stipulate the full return of these areas to the control of the Ukrainian  government. [It] is a severe breach of international law and  international agreements, including the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act,  Paris Charter, and Budapest Memorandum."

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterress defined the decision  to recognise the so-called “independence” of certain areas of Donetsk  and Luhansk regions as a "direct violation of the Charter of the UN." He  also said that "It is a death blow to the Minsk Agreements endorsed by  the Security Council."

By making statements alleging that Ukraine has done nothing to implement the Minsk agreements, Moscow and the separatists it backs are delaying a peace settlement and are trying to deflect attention away from this responsibility.

Read more disinformation reports alleging that Ukraine is blocking the peace settlement in Donbas. See also our recent article about 7 frequent myths of Russian disinformation regarding Ukraine and the conflict. 

https://euvsdisinfo.eu/report/ukrain...nsk-agreements

----------


## Joe 90

To even things out, the war is not going  all Ukraine's way if you would believe General Snubbles...


Russia looks set to capture the salt-mining town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, with Kyiv calling the situation there "extremely difficult".

The fall of the small town would allow Russian troops to encircle the nearby city of Bakhmut.

Russian troops and the mercenary Wagner Group were "likely" to now be in control of the town, the UK said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said there was "almost no life" left in Soledar and "no whole walls left".

He also praised the resilience of his forces.

He said "the whole land near Soledar is covered with the corpses of the occupiers".

"This is what madness looks like," he added.

The strategic importance of Soledar is debated, but its capture would be significant for two reasons.

First, it would allow Russian forces to inch closer to the regional city of Bakhmut. Russia could use access to Soledar's deep, city-like network of salt mine tunnels, dormant since April, to penetrate Ukrainian-controlled territory.

Secondly, invading forces would be able to give Ukraine a taste of its own medicine.

Ukraine war: Russia set to capture Soledar and its vast tunnel network - BBC News

----------


## helge

Yes

Reuter has had this out for some time.

No comments from the russians yet.

----------


## bsnub

There has been a substantive change in the type of weaponry the  US and its allies are providing to Ukraine to meet Kyivs requests for  firepower, two senior US officials tells CNN.    

           The USs latest aid announcement included more offensive weapons, such as Bradley Fighting Vehicles and  advanced long-range rocket systems, reflecting the nature of the  battlefield in Eastern Ukraine and a belief that Ukraine sees a window  to regain territory before Russia regroups, one of the officials said,  describing the new weapons systems as giving the Ukrainians much more  capability.   

           One US official also noted that Ukraine has abided by limitations  on the use of the weapons the West has provided so far, tempering  reservations about sending more capable systems.    

           US officials emphasized that the Ukrainians are developing and  following their own strategy, and US moves are intended to support that  strategy and meet their needs on the battlefield.   

           We are in constant touch with Ukraine about what it needs to  defend itself and we believe we are meeting the need. As the situation  evolves, so does our assistance, NSC spokesperson Adrienne Watson told  CNN.   

           Last week, in the largest military aid announcement since the war  began, the US said it was providing Bradleys, which one top Pentagon  official said was meant to bolster Ukraines offensive fighting  abilities.    

           Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder also said last week  that Bradleys, which are armored vehicles that can carry troops into  battle and can be equipped with TOW anti-tank guided missiles, will  provide a level of firepower and armor that will bring advantages on  the battlefield as Ukraine continues to defend their homeland.     

*Iron fist*

           Experts agree that the Bradleys provide Kyiv with a significant new offensive capability.   

           What I would imagine the Ukrainians will do is take these 50  Bradleys and put most of them in one battalion or one armored brigade   and create an iron fist that would be used to penetrate Russian linear  defenses, said retired Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commander of US  Army Europe and NATO Allied Land Command and currently a senior adviser  for Human Rights First. 

           We are positioning Ukraine to be able to move forward and retake  territory, Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Laura Cooper added on  Friday.   

           The Biden administration has thus far emphasized that they are  supporting Ukraines defense against Russian attacks, particularly air  defense, which Ryder said on Friday was still a top priority.    

           The substantive change in the weapons theyre providing gives  Ukraine more offensive capability compared to early months of the war,  one of the US officials said.    

       The changes, including providing advanced longer-range missile defense systems like the Patriot missile system and  armored vehicles such as the Bradley which officials have described as a  tank killer, follow Ukrainian forces demonstrating they can utilize  the systems appropriately by not striking within Russian territory. The  US has already provided other long-range systems like the High Mobility  Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which Ukraine recently used in a  strike against Russian forces in the occupied city of Makiivka.   

           The US and its partners assess that Ukraine will benefit from  expanding offensive operations now, to retake territory before Russia is  able to regroup its forces for any of its own offensive operations.    

           On Friday, Cooper said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has  not given up his aims of acquiring Ukrainian territory, but that the  reality of Russian weakness  has collided with those aims. Ryder  added that one of those weaknesses is Russias ability to defend the  territory theyve taken.    

           And so, as you look at the US and the international response by  providing the equipment, and importantly now the training that were  providing, it does afford Ukraine an opportunity to change the equation  on the battlefield and gain momentum and not only defend their  territory, but hopefully take back territory, Ryder said.   

       Advocates for putting more capabilities in the hands of Ukraines  military say that now is the time to increase the capabilities  Washington is providing to Kyiv. In a Washington Post op-ed on  Saturday, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of  Defense Bob Gates called for a dramatic increase in military supplies  and capability. And the most important capability they need, Rice and  Gates said, is armor.   

           Since the announcement of the Bradleys to Ukraine, there have been  questions surrounding what could come next, namely if the US would  consider M1 Abrams tanks. Asked about reluctance to provide Abrams tanks  to Ukraine on Friday, Cooper told reporters that the administration is  always looking at what Ukraine needs but that they have to be  cognizant of maintenance and sustainment considerations with tanks.    

           Certainly we know that the Abrams tank in addition to being a gas guzzler is quite challenging to maintain, Cooper said.   

           The US is also conscious of domestic politics, with a  GOP-controlled House less supportive of Ukrainian military assistance.  House Republicans have long called for increased oversight  of aid packages to Ukraine. Some, however, have taken a more aggressive  approach and said they would oppose certain weapons packages.   

US has made 'substantive' change in weaponry provided to Ukraine, officials say | CNN Politics

----------


## sabang

At this rate, we are gonna run out of _wunderwaffen_.  ::chitown::

----------


## Joe 90

A Bradley is not going to be much use in the tunnels  of Soledar.

----------


## bsnub

> At this rate, we are gonna run out of wunderwaffen.


You are already losing the war, and HIMARS is a big reason why. Are you really that stupid? You Russian Z Nazi's really have a bunker mentality. Heads buried deep in the sand. 

 :rofl: 




> A Bradley is not going to be much use in the tunnels of Soledar.


No one is going to be fighting in tunnels. There is no point. Just cut them off and starve/burn them out. Brads are amazing at smashing over frontline defenses and crushing resistance in urban areas. A ferocious weapon that will be wreaking havoc on the Russians, and soon you will see that prove out on the battlefield.

----------


## sabang

*Ukraine FM Says ‘No One Has Done Enough’ to Support Ukraine*


The US has authorized around $112 billion to spend on the war

by Dave DeCamp Posted onJanuary 9, 2023

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Monday that none of Ukraine’s Western backers has “done enough” to support Kyiv in a call for more military aid.

“Ukraine is grateful to partners for their military aid, but we should remain honest with one another: no one has done enough as long as Russian boots remain on Ukrainian ground,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.


“Arming our country for victory is the shortest way to restoring peace and security in Europe & beyond,” the Ukrainian diplomat added.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the US has authorized about $112 billion to spend on the war, almost twice Russia’s entire military budget for 2021.
 According to the Pentagon, the US has pledged Ukraine more than $24.2 billion in military equipment alone since the Russian invasion.

Support for Ukraine also includes training, humanitarian assistance, and tens of billions provided directly to the Ukrainian government, known as direct budgetary aid.

Despite the massive support, Ukrainian officials keep demanding more. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s message to Congress and President Biden during his recent visit to Washington DC was that he was thankful for the help but that it wasn’t enough.

“We have artillery, yes. Thank you. We have it. Is it enough? Honestly, not really,” Zelensky said in his address to Congress. He also said the US should send heavy tanks and planes to Kyiv, which it has yet to provide.

https://news.antiwar.com/2023/01/09/...pport-ukraine/



*Former High-Level US Officials Warn Time Is Not on Ukraine’s Side in the Conflict*

Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates call for a 'dramatic' increase in military aid so Ukraine can make gains this year

by Dave DeCamp Posted onJanuary 9, 2023

Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned in an op-ed published by _The Washington Post_on Saturday that “time is not on Ukraine’s side” as its economy is in shambles and the country is entirely reliant on foreign aid.

The former officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin believes “that he can wear down the Ukrainians and that US and European unity and support for Ukraine will eventually erode and fracture.” They said while Russia’s economy will “suffer as the war continues,” Russians “have endured far worse.”

Ukraine, on the other hand, they said, has an economy that’s “in shambles,” and the country is entirely reliant on aid from the US and its allies. “Millions of its people have fled, its infrastructure is being destroyed, and much of its mineral wealth, industrial capacity, and considerable agricultural land are under Russian control,” they wrote.

Rice and Gates said that absent any major Ukrainian “breakthroughs,” the West will pressure Kyiv to negotiate a ceasefire. “Under current circumstances, any negotiated ceasefire would leave Russian forces in a strong position to resume their invasion whenever they are ready. That is unacceptable,” they said.

Their prescription to help Ukraine on the battlefield is a “dramatic” increase in Western military aid in the form of longer-range weapons and heavier equipment. “Congress has provided enough money to pay for such reinforcement; what is needed now are decisions by the United States and its allies to provide the Ukrainians the additional military equipment they need — above all, mobile armor,” they wrote.

Rice and Gates said that the US decision to send Bradley Fighting Vehicles is “commendable” but said heavier tanks need to be provided as well. “NATO members also should provide the Ukrainians with longer-range missiles, advanced drones, significant ammunition stocks (including artillery shells), more reconnaissance and surveillance capability, and other equipment. These capabilities are needed in weeks, not months,” they said.

While the two former officials recognize that “defeat is not an option” for Russia and Putin, they make no mention of the risk of nuclear escalation and imply the US must help Ukraine win at all costs. “We have a determined partner in Ukraine that is willing to bear the consequences of war so that we do not have to do so ourselves in the future,” they said.

The two officials claim that Russia wants to conquer all of Ukraine and imply it will move into NATO territory next, but they ignore the real motives for the war, which include NATO expansion and US support for Ukraine after the 2014 ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Gates previously recognized that NATO’s eastward expansion and attempts to absorb Ukraine might provoke Russia. In his memoir, published in 2014, Gates said, “trying to bring Georgia and Ukraine into NATO was truly overreaching” and added that it was “recklessly ignoring what the Russians considered their own vital national interests.”

Rice, who served as secretary of state from 2005 to 2009, was warned in 2008 by then-US Ambassador to Russia William Burns, who is currently the CIA director, that attempting to bring Ukraine and Georgia into NATO could lead to war in the region. Burns warned Rice in a memo that was later released by WikiLeaks that “Ukrainian entry into NATO is the brightest of all redlines for the Russian elite (not just Putin).”

Burns said that experts warned Russia was “particularly worried that the strong divisions in Ukraine over NATO membership, with much of the ethnic-Russian community against membership, could lead to a major split, involving violence or at worst, civil war. In that eventuality, Russia would have to decide whether to intervene; a decision Russia does not want to have to face.”

https://news.antiwar.com/2023/01/09/...-the-conflict/

----------


## bsnub

*Russia is letting prisoners soak up  withering Ukrainian fire in a 'savage' battle, 'trading' them and others  for bullets, US official says*


Russia is using prisoners and freshly mobilized troops to absorb  heavy Ukrainian fire along the war's front lines in order to clear the  way for its better trained forces to take ground, a US official said,  calling the move a classic Russian tactic. 

Prisoners recruited by the Wagner Group — a notorious paramilitary organization with close ties to the Kremlin — and others have recently been deployed  to the forefront of fighting around eastern Ukraine's war-torn city of  Bakhmut, which has become the epicenter of hostilities between Moscow  and Kyiv.  

These recruits have been forced to "take the brunt" of  Ukrainian firepower in the area before they are replaced by "better  trained forces" who move in behind them to try and claim territory, a  senior US military official told reporters on Monday.

The official  added that Moscow's current tactic of "trading individuals for bullets"  has been used on the battlefield throughout Russian history. Russia,  for example, did this with conscripts who were sent into the Chechnya region during the First Chechen War of the mid-1990s.

                                                  The senior military official described  fighting in the area around Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of  over 73,000 people, as "really severe and savage." They said rolling  exchanges of artillery fire are often followed up with maneuvers by  "people that are not their best fighters."

"You're talking about  thousands upon thousands of artillery rounds that have been delivered  between both sides," the official said. In many cases, they said, there  may be "several thousand artillery rounds in a day that are being  exchanged."

Britain's defense ministry shared in a Tuesday intelligence update  that Russian and Wagner forces have been able to advance into the town  of Soledar, just a few miles north of Bakhmut. It added that Moscow is  likely to use this access to attempt to approach Bakhmut from the north,  though it is unlikely to "imminently" do so because Ukraine has control  of its supply routes and has held solid defensive lines.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a nightly address on Monday that Russia has concentrated its "greatest efforts" on Soledar.

                                                  "And what did Russia want to gain there?  Everything is completely destroyed, there is almost no life left. And  thousands of their people were lost," he said. "The whole land near  Soledar is covered with the corpses of the occupiers and scars from the  strikes. This is what madness looks like."

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in a recent analysis  that Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and  the leader of Wagner, has used the mercenary group's achievements in  Soledar as a way to demonstrate that it's the one force that is able of  finding any success in Ukraine.

Laura Cooper, the Pentagon's deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, acknowledged at a Friday briefing that Wagner has been able to move at a "more rapid clip" than other units in the Russian military.

However, even Prigozhin has said that capturing Bakhmut will be a challenge. In a video  published to social media earlier this month, the Wagner founder said  that the city features layers of defense and that his fighters lack the  necessary heavy armor and equipment.

https://www.businessinsider.com/russ...fficial-2023-1

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## bsnub

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine  enters its 11th month, US and Ukrainian officials tell CNN that  Russia’s artillery fire is down dramatically from its wartime high, in  some places by as much as 75 percent.   

          US and Ukrainian officials don’t yet have a clear or singular  explanation. Russia may be rationing artillery rounds due to low  supplies, or it could be part of a broader reassessment of tactics in  the face of successful Ukrainian offenses.    

           Either way, the striking decline in artillery fire is further  evidence of Russia’s increasingly weak position on the battlefield  nearly a year into its invasion, US and Ukrainian officials told CNN. It  also comes as Ukraine is enjoying increased military support from its  western allies, with the US and Germany announcing last week that they  will be providing Ukrainian forces for the first time with armored fighting vehicles, as well as another Patriot Defense missile battery that will help protect its skies.   

           Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, is apparently  clambering to shore up domestic political support, US intelligence  officials believe, for a war he initially would only describe as a  limited “special military operation.”     

           US officials believe the 36-hour ceasefire  Putin ordered in Ukraine last week to allow for the observance of  Orthodox Christmas was an attempt to pander to Russia’s extensive  Christian population, two people familiar with the intelligence told  CNN, as well as an opportunity for Putin to blame Ukrainians for  breaking it and paint them as heretical heathens.    

*“The bucket is getting smaller”*

           Much of the domestic opposition Putin and his generals have faced  over the handling of the war has come from one of the Russian leader’s  closest allies: Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the mercenary  organization Wagner Group. Prigozhin has complained that the Russian  Ministry of Defense has botched the war effort, and that Wagner Group  should be given more equipment, authority and autonomy to carry out  operations in Ukraine.   

           But Wagner Group has lost thousands of fighters in Ukraine the last two months alone, a senior US official said.    

       Russia suffered another setback earlier this month when Ukrainian forces hit a weapons depot in Makiivka  in eastern Ukraine, destroying more Russian supplies and killing scores  of Russian troops housed nearby. The strike also raised questions among  prominent Russian military bloggers about the basic competence of the  Russian military brass, which had apparently decided to house hundreds  of Russian troops next to an obuvious Ukrainian target.   

           “Maybe this one strike is a drop in the bucket, but the bucket is  getting smaller,” a US defense official said, referring to the Russians’  dwindling stockpiles.     

*40 year-old shells*

           To date, questions about Russia’s stockpile of weapons have mostly  focused on their precision-guided munitions, such as cruise missiles  and ballistic missiles. But US officials said their dramatically reduced  rate of artillery fire may indicate that the prolonged and brutal  battle has had a significant effect on Russia’s supply of conventional  weapons as well.    

           Last month, a senior US military official said that Russia has had  to resort to 40-year-old artillery shells as their supply of new ammo  dwindled. To the US, the use of degraded ammunition, as well as the  Kremlin’s outreach to countries like North Korea and Iran, was a sign of  Russia’s diminished stocks of weaponry.   

       The rationing of ammunition and lower rate of fire appears to be a  departure from Russian military doctrine, which traditionally calls for  the heavy bombardment of a target area with massive artillery fire and  rocket fire. That strategy played out in cities like Mariupol and  Melitopol as Russian forces used the punishing strikes to drive slow,  brutal advances in Ukraine.    

           Officials said the strategy shift could be the doing of the  recently installed Russian theater commander, General Sergey Surovikin,  who the US believes is more competent than his predecessors.

           Ukraine has had little choice but to ration its ammunition since  the beginning of the war. Ukrainian troops rapidly burned through their  own supply of Soviet-era 152 mm ammunition when the conflict erupted,  and while the US and its allies have provided hundreds of thousands of  rounds of Western 155 mm ammunition, even this supply has had its  limits.    

           As a result, Ukraine has averaged firing around 4,000-7,000 artillery rounds per day – far fewer than Russia.    

*“It looks ridiculous now”*

           The Russians’ declining rate of fire is not linear, one US defense  official noted, and there are days when Russians still fire far more  artillery rounds – particularly around the eastern Ukrainian cities of  Bakhmut and Kreminna, as well as some near Kherson in the south.    

           US and Ukrainian officials have offered widely different estimates  of Russian fire, with US officials saying the rate has dropped from  20,000 rounds per day to around 5,000 per day on average. Ukraine  estimates that the rate has dropped from 60,000 to 20,000 per day.   

           But both estimates point to a similar downward trend.    

       While Russia still has more artillery ammunition available than  Ukraine does, early US assessments vastly overestimated the amount that  Russia had its disposal, a US military official said, and underestimated  how well the Ukrainians would do at hitting Russian logistics sites.   

           It appears now that Russia is focused more on bolstering its  defense fortifications, particularly in central Zaporizhzhia, the UK  Ministry of Defense reported in its regular intelligence update on  Sunday. The movements suggest that Moscow is concerned about a potential  Ukrainian offensive either there or in Luhansk, the ministry said.     

           “A major Ukrainian breakthrough in Zaporizhzhia would seriously  challenge the viability of Russia’s ‘land-bridge’ linking Russia’s  Rostov region and Crimea,” the ministry said, while Ukrainian success in  Luhansk would “undermine Russia’s professed war aim of ‘liberating’ the  Donbas.”   

           Ukraine’s counter-offensives last fall targeting Kherson in the  south and Kharkiv in the north resulted in humiliating defeats for  Russia – and were aided enormously by sophisticated western weaponry  like HIMARS rocket launchers, Howitzer artillery systems and Stinger  anti-aircraft missiles that the US had previously been reluctant to  provide.    

            “The fact of the matter is we have been self-deterring ourselves  for over a year now,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former  commander of US Army Europe and NATO Allied Land Command and currently a  senior advisor for Human Rights First.    

           “There’s been so much anxiety about the possibility of Russia’s  escalation – I mean ten months ago, there was concern about giving  Stingers…obviously that’s ridiculous, and it looks ridiculous now.”   

*Russia’s war with bureaucracy*

           Tensions between Kremlin defense officials and Wagner Group  leaders have also been rising amid public complaints by the mercenaries  that they are running low on equipment and reports that their leader,  Prigozhin, wants to take control of the lucrative salt mines near  Bakhmut.    

           In a video that ran on Russian state media, Wagner Group fighters  complain that they are running low on combat vehicles, artillery shells  and ammunition, which is limiting their ability to conquer Bakhmut –  shortages Prigozhin then blames on “internal bureaucracy and  corruption.”    

           “This year we will win! But first we will conquer our internal  bureaucracy and corruption,” he says in the clip. “Once we conquer our  internal bureaucracy and corruption, then we will conquer the Ukrainians  and NATO, and then the whole world. The problem now is that the  bureaucrats and those engaging in corruption won’t listen to us now  because for New Year’s they are all drinking champagne.”    

       Prigozhin’s ambitions are not limited to greater political power,  however, the US believes. There are also indications that he wants to  take control over the lucrative salt and gypsum from mines near Bakhmut,  a senior administration official tells CNN.     

           “This is consistent with Wagner’s modus operandi in Africa, where  the group’s military activities often function hand in hand with control  of mining assets,” the official said, adding that the US believes these  monetary incentives are driving Prigozhin and Russia’s “obsession” with  taking Bakhmut.    

           The official also said that Wagner Group has suffered heavy  casualties in its operations near Bakhmut since late November.    

           “Out of its force of nearly 50,000 mercenaries  (including 40,000  convicts), the company has sustained over 4,100 killed and 10,000  wounded, including over 1,000 killed between late November and early  December near Bakhmut,” the official said, adding that about 90% of  those killed were convicts.   

           The official said that Russia “cannot sustain these kinds of losses.”   

           “If Russia does eventually seize Bakhmut, Russia will surely  characterize this, misleadingly, as a ‘major victory,” the official  added. “But we know that is not the case. If the cost for each 36 square  miles of Ukraine [the approximate size of Bakhmut] is thousands of  Russians over seven months, this is the definition of Pyrrhic victory.”   

Russian artillery fire down by nearly 75%, US officials say, in latest sign of struggles for Moscow | CNN Politics

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## sabang

Oh no! They are running out of ammo yet again!  :rofl:

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## Hugh Cow

You are certainly doing well as an agent provocateur Sabang. 
In any case, the problem for Russia is that there is no possible win for them now. Even if they managed a settlement taking a small part of the Donbas they will be left with an unstable area with Ukrainian emnity for generations. Belorus will eventually fall. It is not an if but when, further isolating Russia. Lukashenko needs a strong Russia to survive. The Russian economy will take a long time and may never recover from this, especially if there is an ongoing sanction regime, at least until until there is a democratic government in Moscow and Putin and his cronies are long gone. It is now possible to see the end of the regime. This was not possible to see before 24/02/22. Putin is a dead man walking. There is no face saving way out for him.

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## sabang

> You are certainly doing well as an agent provocateur Sabang.


Thank you. But doesn't the milky bar kid kinda beg for it?  :Smile: 



> Even if they managed a settlement taking a small part of the Donbas they will be left with an unstable area with Ukrainian emnity for generations


That is utter nonsense- the Donbas, indeed the whole of Luhansk and Donetsk are strongly pro-Russian. To say nothing of Crimea.

No doubt, when this debacle that should have been avoided is sorted out, both sides will claim victory. But neither side wins actually._ "Oh but.... Yeh, right"._

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## sabang

Kyiv has not confirmed the seizure of the town

The head of Russias mercenary Wagner group Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed late Tuesday that his units took control of Ukraines eastern town of Soledar, after days of fierce fighting.

A small salt-mining town close to the strategic city of Bakhmut - currently seen as Russias main military objective in Ukraines Donbas region - Soledar has been almost completely destroyed by the constant attacks of the Russian army and mercenaries.

"Wagner units took control of the entire territory of Soledar. A cauldron has been formed in the center of the city, in which urban fighting is going on," Prigozhin, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said, according to Russian news agencies.

"The number of prisoners will be announced tomorrow," he added.

The Russian state _RIA news agency later reported that Wagner group took over Soledars salt mines after fierce fighting. Washington has previously said Prigozhin may be seeking personal control of the area's mines.

_
Kyiv has not confirmed the seizure of the town. Ukraines Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said just a few hours before Prigozhins statement that heavy fighting is continuing.

The Ukrainian military's morning summary listed Soledar among other towns that are being shelled in the Donetsk region. Ukraine's Defense Ministry tweeted late Tuesday: "Even after suffering colossal losses, Russia is still maniacally trying to seize Soledar - home to the largest salt mine in Europe." 

Britain's Defense Ministry earlier said that Soledar was close to falling to Russia but noted that Moscow was unlikely to capture Bakhmut, where Ukraine has stable defense lines. The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War in turn said that Prigozhin will continue to use both confirmed and fabricated Wagner group success in Soledar and Bakhmut to promote the Wagner group as the only Russian force in Ukraine capable of securing tangible gains. 

Russian Mercenary Wagner Group Claims Capture Of Ukraine’s Soledar - I24NEWS

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## bsnub

Posting propaganda in the news thread again. 

 ::chitown::

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## sabang

124News is propaganda now? So what does that make your childish warporn?  ::chitown::

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## S Landreth

^I enjoyed that 4 F remark  :Smile: 


European oil sanctions costing Russia $172 million per day, report says

The European Unions (EU) ban on crude oil imports from Russia and its price cap on the countrys oil are costing Moscow about $172 million per day, a new report has found.

Those losses could rise to roughly $300 million per day (280 million euros) on Feb. 5, when the EU will be implementing further restrictions, according to the report, published by the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

The EU ban on Russian oil was an extraordinary step taken to axe the funds from Europe financing Putins war, the independent research organization said in a statement.

At the same time, however, the authors described current measures as too lenient and called upon Western nations to further choke off Russias funding for the war.

This past June, the European Council adopted a sanctions package to prohibit the purchase, import or maritime transport of Russian crude oil by Dec. 5. These measures will expand to include other refined petroleum products on Feb. 5.

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## bsnub

*Yet another military reshuffle in Russia, as chief of armed forces is handed the ‘poisoned chalice’*

Russia’s Defense Ministry announced yet another realignment of the commanders leading the war in Ukraine on Wednesday, as criticism mounts over its handling of the stalled campaign.    

           It said that General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian  General Staff, would become the overall commander of the campaign, with  the current commander, Sergey Surovikin, becoming one of his three deputies.    

           Surovikin was only appointed as the overall commander of what the  Kremlin euphemistically calls the “Special Military Operation” in  October.    

           In terms of the bureaucratic hierarchy, the announcement is hardly an upheaval. Surovikin already reported to Gerasimov.    

           “Generals are moved, shuffled from the Front to the Headquarters.  From Headquarters to the Front,” Russian television commentator Sergey  Markov said Wednesday on Telegram.   

           “Surovikin is not punished and Gerasimov is not punished. It’s all  one team. Well, of course with competition, which always happens among  the top dogs.”    

           But the decision puts Gerasimov, who has been chief of the General  Staff for more than a decade, closer to direct supervision of the  campaign – and to responsibility for it. While Gerasimov was a key  figure in planning the invasion, he appears to have been at arms’ length  since, with just one reported visit to the command of the campaign  inside Ukraine, though the Defense Ministry did not confirm that either.      

           Mark Galeotti, senior associate fellow with the Royal United  Services Institute, said “it is a kind of demotion [for Gerasimov] or at  least the most poisoned of chalices. It’s now on him, and I suspect  Putin has unrealistic expectations again.”    

       Gerasimov has sometimes gone weeks without public appearances and  was not seen at the Victory Day parade in Moscow last year, which at the  time led to speculation about his position.    

           He now combines direct command of the Ukraine campaign with that  of chief interlocutor with the United States on issues such as military  “de-confliction.”     

           He last spoke with the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,  General Mark Milley, in November after a Ukrainian air defense missile  landed in Poland.    

           Just why the Russian Defense Ministry has made this move at this  moment is unclear. It said there was a “need to organize closer  interaction between the branches and arms of the Armed Forces” and  improve the support and effectiveness of “command and control of  groupings of troops.”    

*New structure*

           Gerasimov will have three deputies – Surovikin, the army commander  Oleg Salyukov and the Deputy Chief of the General Staff Colonel-General  Aleksey Kim.     

           The new structure implies that Gerasimov’s seniority will improve  coordination in a campaign where different branches of the armed forces  have frequently seemed less than synchronized.     

           Some analysts believe the move may also be an attempt by the  ministry to exert tighter control over the campaign ahead of a critical  few months in which the remainder of the reserve force mobilized in the  autumn of 2022 will be deployed after training.    

       The Ukrainian military has said it expects a fresh Russian  offensive in the early spring. The overall military commander in  Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, told The Economist in December: “They [Russian forces] are 100% being prepared.”      

           A major Russian attack could come “in February, at best in March and at worst at the end of January”, he said.    

           Rob Lee at King’s College London tweeted that Wednesday’s  announcement “reasserts the MoD’s position overseeing the war… this may  also partially be a response to Wagner’s increasingly influential and  public role in the war.”    

           Wagner’s boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been both vocal and visible  on the front lines, as his contract fighters have been prominently  involved in the assault on Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region. He has  repeatedly said that Wagner mercenaries fighters are exclusively  responsible for advances in the Soledar area.     

       There’s been a long history of tension between Prigozhin and  Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. But Prigozhin has praised  General Surovikin for managing an orderly withdrawal of Russian forces  in the southern Kherson region, as their position became less and less  tenable.    

           In November, Prigozhin said on his Telegram channel: “Generals  have to win victory after victory every day. To whom can Surovikin be  compared? Surovikin is honest and principled, he is trusted by the  army.”    

           Some commentators wonder whether the ministry is “circling the  wagons” as criticism persists of its handling of the campaign.  Wednesday’s announcement follows news that the man who lost his job as  commander of the Central Military District in October, Colonel-General  Aleksandr Lapin, had been appointed Chief of the General Staff of the  Ground Forces, according to state news agency TASS.     

           Both Prigozhin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov singled out Lapin  for criticism. “It’s not just that Lapin is worthless. It’s the fact  that he is covered at the top by the leaders in the General Staff,”  Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel in October last year.    

           It is inconceivable that Gerasimov’s appointment would have  occurred without President Vladimir Putin’s approval and more likely his  order. If Gerasimov turns the tide of the war, it will look like a  brilliant move. If he fails, then he will take the blame.     

*‘Hanging by a thread’*

           A Russian military analyst who blogs under the pseudonym ‘Rybar,’  and has more than a million followers on Telegram, does not expect the  shake-up to be successful – suggesting it’s hoping for “a miracle in the  11th month of the special operation.”    

           “The sum does not change by moving around its parts,” Rybar wrote.    

           Dara Massicot, a senior researcher at the Rand Corporation, says  the Ministry of Defense is “demoting their most competent senior  commander and replacing him with an incompetent one. This is a story  that has it all: infighting, power struggles, jealousy “   

           She says that while Surovikin committed no strategic blunders,  Shoigu and Gerasimov are to blame for the poor planning of the campaign.  “They flunked it. They signed off on a secret plan, multiple bad  assumptions, didn’t tell the majority of their troops. [It] led to big  casualties and a partially broken force,” Massicot tweeted.   

       Galeotti says Gerasimov is “hanging by a thread”, tweeting: “I  don’t think this is intended to create a pretext to sack him as the war  is too important and Putin can sack who he wants. But he needs some kind  of win or a career ends in ignominy.”    

           Gerasimov is 67 years old and was appointed by Putin in 2012. He  gained a profile among western analysts after a speech that was reported  in the Russian newspaper Military-Industrial Courier.

           Gerasimov said the use of propaganda and subversion meant that “a  perfectly thriving state can, in a matter of months and even days, be  transformed into an arena of fierce armed conflict, become a victim of  foreign intervention, and sink into a web of chaos, humanitarian  catastrophe, and civil war.”    

           The arrival of Russia’s “little green men” on the Ukrainian  peninsula of Crimea in the spring of 2014 was seen as a successful  example of this approach, sometimes dubbed “hybrid warfare.”    

Galeotti says that “what  Gerasimov was talking about was the use of subversion to prepare the  battlefield before intervention, precisely the kind of operations used  in Ukraine [in 2014]. 

Breaking the chain of command, stirring up local  insurrections, jamming communications — these are all classic moves that  hardly began in Crimea.”    

           But now General Gerasimov has to run a real war.     

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/europ...ntl/index.html

----------


## bsnub

*Russian prisoners sent to the front lines in  Ukraine have been publicly executed for not charging into enemy fire,  captured inmates say*

Captured Russian inmates who have been sent to the front lines in  Ukraine as part of the Wagner Group, an infamous mercenary organization  with ties to the Kremlin, say they've witnessed public executions of  deserters and disobedient troops, according to a Tuesday report from Polygon Media and the independent Mozhem Obyasnit news outlet. 

"Those  who disobey are eliminated — and it's done publicly," Yevgeny Novikov, a  former inmate who the report said was recruited by the mercenary group,  said, according to a translation of the report from The Daily Beast.

Novikov said there were "squadrons of liquidators" that dealt with troops considered problematic.

In  one instance, according to The Beast's translation, Novikov said:  "Shelling began, one of the prisoners laid down and didn't cover his own  [men]. The shelling stopped, he went back, and the higher-up shouted to  him: 'Why didn't you go forward?' And they killed him. The higher-up is  killed if his team deserts."

                                                  Alexander Drozdov, another former inmate  cited in the report, said many of the Russian prisoners sent to the  front lines in Ukraine by Wagner had drug addiction and were "completely  insane." 

While some recruited prisoners may desert or disobey orders,  others "are just fucked up and bulldoze their way through," Drozdov  said, adding that these fighters "are very different from ordinary  mercenaries."

The first batch of prisoners to survive six months of fighting in Ukraine was recently released back into Russia,  with the head of the mercenary group celebrating them as heroes  deserving of great respect, while advising them not to drink too much,  do drugs, rape women, or kill.

The Russian military has suffered  staggering losses since Moscow launched an invasion of Ukraine in  February last year. In an effort to address issues around dwindling  personnel, the Wagner Group has fought alongside the Russian military  and has recruited Russian prisoners in the process. 

Last month, a  top Ukrainian military advisor said Russian prisoners fighting with  Wagner were being shoved to the front lines and "killed in big quantities."

                                                  A senior US military official told reporters  Monday that prisoners and other recently mobilized troops were being  used by Russia to "take the brunt" of Ukrainian fire on the front lines to clear a path for "better-trained forces" amid heavy fighting in Ukraine's east.

Russian  forces have been pushing hard to take the city of Bakhmut in the  Donetsk region and have managed to make some advances in recent days  into the nearby town of Soledar, according to assessments from the US  military and British Defense Ministry.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group and an ally of  Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Tuesday there were "heavy bloody  battles" being fought over Soledar, The Moscow Times reported.

"On  the western outskirts of Soledar there are heavy bloody battles. The  Armed Forces of Ukraine are honorably defending the territory of  Soledar," Prigozhin said.

                                                  In his nightly address Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy painted a grim picture of the situation in the town. 

"Everything is completely destroyed. There is almost no life left," Zelenskyy said  of the situation in Soledar. "And thousands of their people were lost:  The whole land near Soledar is covered with the corpses of the occupiers  and scars from the strikes. This is what madness looks like." 

https://www.businessinsider.com/russ...-report-2023-1

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## sabang

*US Secretary of the Navy: Further fighting in Ukraine will create problems for the US military industry*



The prolongation of the armed conflict in Ukraine poses a certain threat to the supply chains of the US military-industrial complex. This was stated by US Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro, describing the situation in the defense industry.

According to the official, if the fighting continues for another six months or more, then this situation will inevitably affect the supply of the American military industry, creating certain problems. But the conflict, as we understand it, is unlikely to end within the next six months, so the American leadership should already be concerned about the existing risks for the military-industrial complex.

The US Secretary of the Navy urged defense companies to invest more in recruiting labor and preparing the infrastructure to increase military output. The conflict in Ukraine will keep the production lines of the American military industry busy, as the demand for ammunition and military equipment for the Kyiv regime only grows.

The Ukrainian leadership regularly demands more and more from the West weapons, explaining the lack of success at the front with a lack of weapons.

However, the desire to produce weapons and make money on it is not enough. A large-scale increase in production volumes requires both financial injections and, for example, qualified specialists - engineers, technicians, workers, and the shortage of trained "workers" in the United States is well known, despite high unemployment. Supply chains can also be disrupted, including due to further complications in relations with China, as well as due to fluctuations in energy prices.

Just a moment...

Too much of a good thing?

----------


## Norton

> qualified specialists - engineers, technicians, workers, and the shortage of trained "workers" in the United States is well known


Hmmmm... I smell a personal financial windfall here.  :bananaman:

----------


## sabang

You could probably mint it.  :Smile:  Fixed contract, not permanently employed = lotsa dosh. I guess it's an option if you're short a quid.   ::chitown::

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## Norton

> You could probably mint it.  Fixed contract, not permanently employed = lotsa dosh. I guess it's an option if you're short a quid.


Nah. I couldn't handle the BS anymore. I have become guite comfy here in Ban Nock.

----------


## bsnub

Poland intends to transfer a company of German-developed Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda told reporters  Wednesday during a visit to western Ukraine, where he met with  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Lithuanian President Gitanas  Nauseda.

But  Warsaw wants the tanks to be sent as part of a broader package of  military aid backed by an international coalition, Duda said, suggesting  that Poland will not unilaterally or immediately ship the advanced  tanks to Ukraine. British officials also said this week that the country  could send “game-changing” tanks to join the fight, though no specific plan or timeline was announced.

Duda  made the remarks ahead of a meeting next week of the U.S.-led Ukraine  Defense Contact Group in Germany, where defense ministers from dozens of  countries will gather to discuss Kyiv’s most urgent needs. Top U.S.  officials and allies are expected to discuss next steps in military  support, including the question of tanks.

The  United States and Germany last week joined France in pledging armored  combat vehicles to Ukraine, answering Kyiv’s call for new weapons at a  moment when Ukrainian forces are trying to push back Russian forces in  the south and east. The decisions were seen as a new phase in support  for Ukraine, although armored combat vehicles fall short of Kyiv’s  desire for Western main battle tanks, which countries backing the  Ukrainian war effort have been reluctant to send.

Germany  must approve the reexport of the Leopard tanks from Poland to Ukraine  because they were manufactured in Germany. Steffen Hebestreit, a  spokesman for the German Defense Ministry, said  Berlin was not aware of such a request. The latest versions of the  Leopards would probably outmatch most of Russia’s tanks in Ukraine, such  as the T-72s.

A typical Polish tank company has 14 tanks, according to the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform.

Zelensky  said Kyiv expects a joint decision from European countries. A single  country “cannot help us with ‘Leopards,’ because we are fighting against  thousands of tanks of the Russian Federation,” he said in a statement  after the meeting.

Although more than a dozen countries near Ukraine possess Leopard tanks, not all of the vehicles are in operable condition, according to the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank. “The more that countries donate tanks, the easier it will be to share the burden of giving them away,” it said in a column last year.

Last week, Poland’s deputy foreign minister told Polish radio  that Warsaw wants European countries to send more modern tanks to  Ukraine like the Leopard. German lawmaker Sara Nanni, a member of a  party in Germany’s ruling coalition, expressed support for Poland’s  offer, tweeting a news story in which she was quoted as supporting plans to ship Leopards to Ukraine.

Finnish lawmaker Atte Harjanne, who has repeatedly demanded that Europe send Leopards to Ukraine, launched a “free the Leopards” campaign that aims to pressure Berlin to permit the shipments of the Leopards.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has also repeatedly asked for more advanced tanks. “To win faster we need tanks,” it tweeted on Jan. 6.

Two days later, it tweeted a more cryptic message. “Abrams or Leopard? What’s your bet?” the ministry said, in reference to the U.S.-designed M1 Abrams tank, which serves as the U.S. military’s main battle tank.

Ukraine’s  supporters have shipped Soviet-era tanks to Kyiv since Russia’s  invasion last year, but they have been hesitant to provide more modern  armored vehicles until this month,  when the United States pledged to send Bradley Fighting Vehicles and  Germany promised a batch of Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles. France  also announced a  shipment of an unspecified number of its AMX-10 RC “light tanks,” a  wheeled armored vehicle with a 105mm cannon that is also called a “tank  destroyer.”

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February,Poland  and other NATO countries close to Russia have led the push to provide  Ukraine with modern military gear. In March, less than a month after the  start of the Russian invasion, Poland offered to send MiG-29 fighters  to Kyiv, using a U.S. base in Germany — a move that Washington opposed  out of fear it could provoke Moscow.

U.S.  officials have expressed sympathy for Ukraine’s need for tanks. Last  week, Laura Cooper, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense, told reporters  that “we absolutely agree that Ukraine does need tanks.” She said that  was partially why the United States has partnered with the Netherlands  to provide Ukraine with refurbished Soviet-designed T-72 tanks.

Cooper  said the United States and allies wanted to be sure that Ukraine could  maintain modern Western tanks before agreeing to supply them. “We have  to be cognizant of maintenance and sustainment considerations with  tanks, and certainly we know that the Abrams tank, in addition to being a  gas guzzler, is quite challenging to maintain,” she said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...mpany-ukraine/

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## Loy Toy

It seems that the west are upping the anti with regard to weaponry which, if Ukraine falls, they will never see a return payment.

Like Putin, they will also pass the point of no return and must continue to supply the Ukraine with weapons until the bitter end.

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## bsnub

> Like Putin, they will also pass the point of no return and must continue to supply the Ukraine with weapons until the bitter end.


Ukraine is going to have to be supplied with NATO weapons going forward. There will simply be no other option, as it surely will not be able to buy arms from Russia.

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## bsnub

Leopard 2s From Poland. Challenger 2s From The United Kingdom. All Of The Sudden, Ukraine Could Get Tanks From All Over Europe.

A dozen Leopard 2s from Poland. Potentially 10 Challenger 2s from the  United Kingdom. As Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its 11  months, Ukraine’s allies finally are beginning to pledge some of their  heavy tanks to the Ukrainian war effort—but in tiny numbers, so far.

 Expect those numbers to grow. Possibly by a lot.

 The Ukrainian government for months has been pleading for its allies  to provide modern, Western-made tanks to complement its arsenal of  increasingly war-weary ex-Soviet tanks.

 Polish president Andrzej Duda was the first to heed the call. During a  visit to Lviv in western Ukraine on Wednesday, Duda announced Poland  would donate a company of Leopard 2 tanks. A company might include a  dozen or 14 vehicles.

 “We have taken the decision to contribute a first package of tanks, a  company of Leopard tanks, which, I hope, together with other companies  of Leopard and other tanks that will be offered by other countries will  .... be able to strengthen Ukraine’s defense,” Duda said.

 The Leopard 2 is a German-made tank and Berlin holds the export  license. Germany’s reluctance to involve itself with Ukraine’s offensive  operations previously functioned as a virtual veto on any  country—Poland, Spain, Finland, The Netherlands—donating its surplus  Leopard 2s to Ukraine.

 Duda’s announcement seems to imply that Germany’s resistance has  softened. It’s perhaps no coincidence that the U.K. government this week  signaled increasing willingness to donate around 10 Challenger 2 tanks—enough for a small company. Europe is coming around to being Ukraine’s tank-supplier.

 The Leopard 2 and Challenger 2 are not new tanks. The Leopard 2  entered service with the German army in 1979. The Challenger 2 debuted  in U.K. service in 1998. German manufacturer Rheinmetall steadily has  upgraded the Leopard 2. British firm BAE Systems’ upgrades to the newer  Challenger 2 have been somewhat less ambitious.

 But both tanks still are among the best in the world. The 69-ton  Leopard 2 with its 120-millimeter smoothbore gun perfectly balances  speed, armor and firepower—like its cousin the American M-1 does.

 The 71-ton Challenger 2 with its 120-millimeter _rifled_ gun  by contrast emphasizes armor protection and long-range  firepower—somewhat at the expense of speed. The Leopard 2 can reach 43  miles per hour on road. The Challenger 2’s top road speed is just 37  miles per hour.

 Both tanks have four crew and sophisticated day and night optics.

 If the Ukrainians take to their new tanks—and there’s no reason to  believe they won’t—expect more of each type to follow, perhaps as early  as this spring.

 Rheinmetall built more than 3,000 Leopard 2s, and many hundreds of  them are in storage across Europe. Poland alone has around 250 Leopard  2s and, as it also is acquiring American-made M-1s, could give away its  German-made tanks without jeopardizing its own national defense.

 The British Army once possessed nearly 400 Challenger 2s but, after  repeated cutbacks, now is upgrading just 150 or so of the tanks for  future use. The United Kingdom could give away hundreds of Challenger 2s  without making a dent in its own diminished armored corps.

 It’s fair to ask why Poland and the United Kingdom don’t just donate all their surplus tanks, all at once.

 Ukraine’s allies clearly believe it’s more efficient, and less  disruptive to Ukrainian operations, gradually to dial up the supply of  new weapons. Recall that, when the United States began supplying Ukraine  with world-class High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems last spring, it  _also_ initially did so in small quantities.

 Four, initially. Then another 20 in dribs and drabs. Then a big batch of 18.

 There are good reasons for a ramp-up. First you hand over just enough  new rocket-launchers or tanks to train a core contingent of Ukrainian  crews and logisticians who then can train _additional_ operators. At the same time, you help the Ukrainians to establish processes for supporting the new weapons.

 “They need to know not just how to use the systems, but of course how to _maintain_ the system,” Colin Kahl, U.S. the under-secretary of defense for policy, told reporters in June. “So, think of logistics, maintenance, things like that.”

 The Ukrainian army’s logistics corps in particular faces a difficult  winter and spring as begins supporting not just one or two new tanks  types, but also American-made M-2 fighting vehicles, ex-German Marder fighting vehicles and AMX-10RC reconnaissance vehicles from France.

 This eclectic mix of vehicles could get even more eclectic if the  United States offers up some of the thousands of older M-1s it has in  storage.

 U.S. officials so far are being coy. “As has been the case since the  beginning of this campaign, we maintain a very robust and ongoing  dialogue with our Ukrainian partners and the international community to  look at what Ukraine security assistance needs are based on the  conditions on the battlefield,” Air Force brigadier general Pat Ryder,  the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Tuesday.

 “And so, we'll continue to have those conversations.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=6bd24e51d2f8

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## misskit

*NATO to send surveillance planes to Romania to monitor Russian activity*

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — NATO said Friday it plans to deploy three surveillance planes to Romania next week to perform reconnaissance missions and to “monitor Russian military activity ” within the 30-nation military alliance’s territory.


The Airborne Warning and Control System surveillance planes, or AWACS, belong to a fleet of 14 usually based in Germany. Three of the aircraft will be sent Tuesday to an airbase near Romania’s capital, Bucharest, on a mission expected to last several weeks, the 30-nation alliance said in a statement.


The planes “can detect aircraft hundreds of kilometers away, making them a key capability for NATO’s deterrence and defense posture,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in a statement.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, NATO has bolstered its presence on Europe’s eastern flank, including by sending additional battlegroups to Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia.


AWACS have conducted “regular patrols over eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea region to track Russian warplanes near NATO borders” throughout the Russia-Ukraine war, the statement said.


The NATO planes, Boeing E-3s, were jointly purchased at a cost of almost $8 billion in 1977 at the height of the Cold War, when Jimmy Carter became U.S. president and as a missile crisis with the Soviet Union was beginning to fester in Europe.


Along with a small drone fleet in Italy, the planes are among the few military assets that NATO owns as an alliance. They’ve been routinely refurbished to ensure that they can keep flying until 2035.


Some of the planes were deployed in U.S. skies 24 hours after the September 11, 2001 attacks to help protect cities and nuclear power plants. Beyond their role as NATO’s eye in the sky, the planes can be used for air-policing, support in counter-terrorism or evacuation operations, and provide help during natural disasters.

NATO to send surveillance planes to Romania to monitor Russian activity | PBS NewsHour

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