Thread: Russia launches Ukraine invasion

Originally Posted by DrWilly

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.

Originally Posted by Troy

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

​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.

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?

Originally Posted by malmomike77

​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.

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

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 1900

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

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'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Originally Posted by 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.

What a cbump.

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

But you said:

Originally Posted by DrWilly

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?

Anti-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

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