Ukraine war mega thread

[HermantheGerman]

Then corrupt Ukrainians could not make money from it.

Corrupt Ukrainians & Russians killing each other.

The plan in working

[OhOh]

Oh dear, it appears the 16% bankers and bondholders are getting rather concerned, that their "investments", will not be repaid.

Allies sound alarm over plight of Ukraine’s public finances

Budget crisis now acute because of falling revenues and hold-ups in financial support from Kyiv’s partners

Sam Fleming in Brussels, Ben Hall and Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv and Colby Smith in Washington

July 13 2022

"Ukraine’s international partners are sounding the alarm about the mounting pressure on Kyiv’s public finances as Russia’s invasion drives down tax revenue and its allies struggle to provide rapid financial support.

The US Treasury warned that emergency measures such as money-printing being used by Kyiv to prop up its public finances risked damaging its ability to provide critical public services over time, underscoring the need for allies to meet commitments to provide tens of billions of dollars of grants and cheap loans as quickly as possible.

EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday agreed on a fresh €1bn emergency loan for Ukraine, but they are struggling to land an agreement on a wider package for the country.

Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission executive vice-president, said Ukraine was facing “massive short-term financing needs” and more work was needed to meet them. He urged EU member states to provide financial guarantees sufficient for the commission to advance a planned €9bn package to Kyiv.

Ukraine’s budget crisis has become acute because of a slump in tax revenues and customs duties since the invasion began almost five months ago together with higher war spending.

A halt to grain and steel exports has deprived Kyiv of foreign currency earnings. Ukraine is being forced to burn through its foreign exchange reserves at an accelerating pace, as the central bank purchases government bonds to plug its financing gap.

The G7 and EU have announced official financing commitments to Ukraine worth $29.6bn. According to Dragon Capital, a Kyiv-based investment bank, Ukraine’s allies and international financial institutions have thus far disbursed $12.7bn to the country.
EU leaders in May pledged additional support of up to €9bn, on top of a previous €1.2bn emergency loan; they are still negotiating how to structure that financial support. Officials warn the EU’s full assistance package is unlikely to be settled before the August break.

Germany in particular has been questioning the idea of providing all of the assistance in the form of loans, diplomats say. Berlin has already contributed bilateral support of €1bn to Ukraine, and on Tuesday it backed the EU’s additional €1bn loan.

The German finance ministry said the commission would put forward a further proposal to reach €9bn and that as soon as this was available, it would be assessed by the member states. “Together with our international partners we stand by Ukraine,” it added.

Oleg Ustenko, an economic adviser to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the country now needed $9bn a month from its western backers to plug the budgetary shortfall, almost double its previous request.

The finance ministry said its assessment of the gap was still $5bn a month but even that was way more than western capitals had so far provided.

But Ustenko said Ukraine needed an extra $4bn a month for the next three months to cover the cost of emergency accommodation and housing repairs for millions of people and to fund a basic minimum income for people who have lost their jobs.

“We will try to survive in any case, but without financial support from our allies it will not only be difficult to do so, it will be next to impossible.”

The fiscal strains are showing more broadly. Naftogaz, the state-owned energy company, on Tuesday asked holders of $1.5bn of its bonds to accept a delay in payments as it seeks to preserve cash for purchasing gas. It would amount to the first default by a Ukrainian state entity since the war began.

The Naftogaz move may signal a change of approach by the Ukrainian government to its foreign bondholders. Until now, Kyiv has refused to reschedule its debt payments, saying it was important to maintain the confidence of international investors.

Ukraine’s central bank said last week that it had used up $2.3bn or 9.3 per cent of its international reserves in June alone, partly because it is monetising the deficit at an increasing pace.

The National Bank of Ukraine bought $3.6bn worth of government bonds last month, more than double the $1.7bn rate for April and May. The central bank still has enough reserves to cover three months of imports.

The US on Tuesday announced an extra $1.7bn in direct economic assistance to the government of Ukraine. “This aid will help Ukraine’s democratic government provide essential services for the people of Ukraine,” Treasury secretary Janet Yellen said as she announced the support.

US international development agency USAID and the Treasury have provided $4bn in direct budgetary support to the Ukrainian government, meaning they are halfway towards the total commitments made under bipartisan legislation."

Additional reporting by Guy Chazan in Berlin

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

[harrybarracuda]

Ukraine suffering from an invasion by a psychopathic dictator?

Who knew?

[russellsimpson]

President says that staff of both officials in the occupied territories have been ‘working against our state’

So why not quietly remove the accused parties?

And we understand that the Zelensky's are migrating to France.

Zelensky obviously entertains visions of grandeur. He's a little man on a big stage.

Putin is increasingly more dangerous but let's remember to keep an eye on Zelensky.

[bsnub]

And we understand that the Zelensky's are migrating to France.

Where did you come up with that nonsense?

I'm not saying Russian troops are getting tired of this disastrous war or anything, but when they start shooting down their own aircraft.....

Just another of many examples of the massive incompetence on all levels of the Russian armed forces in this war.

[russellsimpson]

Where did you come up with that nonsense?

It was posted up here yesterday, can't remember whom.

[cyrille]

And we understand that the Zelensky's are migrating to France.

Where did you come up with that nonsense?

Believe me - there's a shitload more where that came from.

[bsnub]

It was posted up here yesterday, can't remember whom.

And you were gullible enough to swallow it hook line and sinker.

there's a shitload more where that came from.

There is no end to it.

[russellsimpson]

And you were gullible enough to swallow it hook line and sinker.

It obviously got deleted. Unfortunate.

Is MS back anytime soon?

Let's let individual posters separate the heat from the chaff.

there's a shitload more where that came from.

Back at you Cy.

[bsnub]

Let's let individual posters separate the heat from the chaff.

Some of us are better than others. You have proven your ability to do that is sorely lacking.

[OhOh]

A four-year-old little girl was among the dead.

That's a very sexist and ageist comment. Or are only young females, special in your world.

Only one eh. Try reporting the number of deaths, of men, women and children of both sexes, cutesy of NaGastan and vassals in the last eight years.

[kingwilly]

Let's let individual posters separate the heat from the chaff.

clearly you are unable to do anything of the sor.t

[HermantheGerman]

That's a very sexist and ageist comment. Or are only young females, special in your world.

Only one eh. Try reporting the number of deaths, of men, women and children of both sexes, cutesy of NaGastan and vassals in the last eight years.

We already know that young females are worthless creatures in your beloved Chinkystan.

Thanks again for reminding us that you are a low life scumbag.

[HermantheGerman]

Putler the clown is upset

Russia threatens the @NZZ
with an ad. The reason: A Putin caricature was printed.

«We reserve the right to report this and possible future slanderous and insulting publications (...).

https://twitter.com/bigliel/status/1...327554/photo/1



Russia threatens Swiss newspaper over Putin caricature - SWI swissinfo.ch

Russia threatens Swiss newspaper over Putin caricature

[OhOh]

In my opinion,

You introduced the girl being killed as exceptional.

You obviously have no knowledge of what has been recorder for years, of actions, which your government has supported.

[Backspin]

[bsnub]

You obviously have no knowledge of what has been recorder for years, of actions, which your government has supported.

You dimwitted fuckwit. The civilian casualties in this still rather short war dwarf the rates of civilian deaths in any recent war the US was involved in over a similar period of time. America never shelled entire cities and turned them into glass, it never deliberately targeted buildings with no military value. The fact that you are too propagandized to distinguish the difference is just a further confirmation that you are a piece of shit.

[misskit]

Russia Says It’s Losing Because Ukraine Has Experimental Mutant Troops Created in Secret Biolabs


Nearly five months into its senseless war against Ukraine, Russia has concocted a wild new explanation for why the Kremlin’s plans for a quick takeover fell apart so spectacularly—because Ukrainian troops were turned into superhuman killing machines during “secret experiments” in American-run biolabs, of course.


Never mind the myriad reports of Russian troops refusing to fight by the thousands, sabotaging their own shoddy equipment and even deliberately wounding themselves to abandon the war, Russian lawmakers claim the real setback for Moscow was “drugged up” Ukrainian soldiers.


That claim was made Monday by two Russian lawmakers heading up a commission to investigate “biolaboratories” in Ukraine, Kommersant reported.


Konstantin Kosachev, the deputy speaker of Russia’s Federation Council, and Irina Yarovaya, deputy chair of the State Duma, touted what they described as bombshell findings from the “investigation.”


Testing of Ukrainian POWs’ blood, they claimed, uncovered “a range of diseases” that suggest they were secretly experimented on “for military purposes.”


“And we see: the cruelty and barbarity with which the military personnel of Ukraine behave, the crimes that they commit against the civilian population, those monstrous crimes that they commit against prisoners of war, confirm that this system for the control and creation of a cruel murder machine was implemented under the management of the United States,” Yarovaya was quoted telling reporters.

“And those performance enhancing drugs that they are still given in order to completely neutralize the last traces of human consciousness and turn them into the most cruel and deadly monsters also confirm this,” she claimed.


Bizarrely, she also claimed that the presence of Hepatitis A antibodies in Ukrainian prisoners’ blood was proof of an American biolabs conspiracy, since a former health minister for Ukraine was a dual Ukrainian-American citizen who had worked to acquire drugs for the treatment of hepatitis in the country.


“It is quite possible that this was about testing these drugs on military personnel,” Yarovaya said.


The claims appeared to be a new take on the biolabs conspiracy theory that Russia’s Defense Ministry has routinely rolled out to try and justify the war.


While the conspiracy theory dates all the way back to the Soviet Union, it has been amplified more frequently by Kremlin figures after the Feb. 24 invasion, as Moscow’s initial claim that it invaded Ukraine in order to “de-Nazify” a country led by a Jewish president failed to gain much traction beyond its own domestic propaganda.


The latest iteration appears to be aimed at explaining away Russia’s military setbacks by way of mutant Ukrainian troops.

Russia Says It’s Losing Because Ukraine Has Experimental Mutant Troops Created in Secret Biolabs

[harrybarracuda]

Christ they're fucking nutters. You can see where sabang and hoohoo get it from.

[sabang]

Watch politicians begin to change their tune as a brand new CNN/SSRS poll shows the majority of Americans opposing Biden’s Ukraine policy. With out of control inflation and a lurking economic catastrophe, blaming everything on “Putin’s price hike” is backfiring on the Administration. Also today: A new Gallup poll shows historic lows in Americans’ confidence in media. And: Mexico’s president calls Assange the best journalist of our time.


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[sabang]

Europe is facing a declining euro, rising inflation, and soaring energy prices

by Dave DeCamp Posted onJuly 18, 2022CategoriesNews

The US-led sanctions campaign against Russia has done nothing to stop the war in Ukraine or hurt Vladimir Putin, but the toll continues to mount on Western economies and there are increasing signs that Europe is facing a major economic crisis.


The euro has reached a 20-year low against the dollar, inflation is at a record-high 8.6%, and economists are predicting a recession if the EU is cut off from Russian gas. Russia has already stopped supplying some EU members for their refusal to pay in rubles, something Putin required in retaliation for sanctions that targeted Russia’s use of the dollar and euro.


The Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline that connects Russia and Germany is currently shut down for routine maintenance, but there are growing fears that the pipeline might not come back into service. The Russian gas company Gazprom delivered a letter to European buyers dated July 14 that said they cannot guarantee gas supplies because of “extraordinary” circumstances.


Russia already reduced the amount of gas Nord Stream 1 carried by 40% in June because a turbine being serviced was stuck in Canada due to Western sanctions. Canada eventually agreed to return the turbine, a move that was denounced by Ukraine.


Germany and other European nations are preparing to ration gas for the coming winter. Bloomberg reported Monday that a halt of Russian gas supplies to Europe could potentially reduce the EU’s gross domestic product by as much as 1.5% if the winter is cold and the EU doesn’t take enough measures to save energy.


Meanwhile, Russia is making more profit from oil sales than before the war and the ruble is the strongest performing currency of the year as Russia had worked to shield itself from Western sanctions. Russia defaulted on its foreign debt, but it’s not a true default since it has the funds to pay, but its foreign currency reserves have been frozen by Western sanctions.


The US is mulling ways to correct its failed sanctions campaign, including by trying to implement a price cap on Russian oil. But the plan is doomed to fail as it would require the cooperation of Russia and its new top oil buyers, China and India. Analysts have warned attempting the price cap could send global oil prices to over $300 per barrel if Russia retaliates by reducing production.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/07/18/...gainst-russia/

[Takeovers]

Wedding photo shoot among ruins of her own house: Russian missile hit Daria’s flat in Vinnytsia the day before wedding - We Are Ukraine

Daria from Vinnytsia and her fiancée planned the wedding in Ukraine no matter what. The day before the event Daria’s flat was ruined by a Russian missile that hit the center of Vinnytsia on July 14, 2022, killing 25 people.


Daria was lucky not to be at home at the time of the attack because the missile hit 100 meters from Daria’s house, and the shock wave destroyed her apartment.


At first, the couple planned to postpone the wedding but later decided to get married anyway. Wedding photo shoot they decided to have in the ruined apartment.


“When I entered the yard, I saw the roofs of nearby buildings destroyed and windows broken in the whole apartment block. The photoshoot was planned differently, but today’s situation dictates new circumstances, we decided to highlight them, because this is reality. It cannot be expressed in words. I was even afraid to imagine that it could be my house. I did not tell Daria how to pose and what to do. The photos shouted anyway,” photographer Oleksandr Demianenko told The Village Ukraine.

[harrybarracuda]

Not really a shock that seppos think gas prices are more important than stopping crazed dictators thousands of miles away.

They are a mostly selfish lot.

Maybe if puffy bombed Pearl Harbour...

[russellsimpson]

Canada eventually agreed to return the turbine, a move that was denounced by Ukraine.

Hear he goes again. The Americans agreed with returning the turbine. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, especially when your appetite is voracious.

Ursula wishes all members to sign onto a 15 percent across the board reduction and then declares that the bad Russkies are weaponizing oil. A bit rich, no?

Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and even G7 member Italy are going to find the request pretty rough going. I see several members breaing rank on this one.

One has to seriously wonder why the Yanks are spearheading this. Is the plan to replace Russian energy with North American. That would be diabolical and stupid.

In the coming days and weeks I expect to see turmoil in NATO ranks.



Hope I'm wrong. I'm no fan of Putin.

[pickel]

Hear he goes again. The Americans agreed with returning the turbine. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, especially when your appetite is voracious.

What are you babbling on about?

Trudeau's a pussy. It was his decision, not America's.