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  1. #1251
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    ‘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

  2. #1252
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    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post
    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.

  3. #1253
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    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.

  4. #1254
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    The Pope might be getting regime changed. Maybe Ukraine related

  5. #1255
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    Quote Originally Posted by Backspin View Post
    The Pope might be getting regime changed. Maybe Ukraine related
    You really prove time and again that you are a fucking idiot.

  6. #1256
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    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."

    Quote Originally Posted by FO David48atTD View Post
    Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions


    _______________




    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.
    Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

  7. #1257
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    Ukrainian officials urge Kherson residents to leave via Crimea

    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

  8. #1258
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    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.

    ___________




    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.
    Last edited by S Landreth; 22-06-2022 at 12:46 AM.

  9. #1259
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    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

  10. #1260
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    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
    The next post may be brought to you by my little bitch Spamdreth

  11. #1261
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    Two months on, Russia is still struggling to capture this small Ukrainian city

    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

  12. #1262
    Guest Member S Landreth's Avatar
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    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.

    ______________




    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.

    ____________




    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.




    Quote Originally Posted by FO David48atTD View Post
    Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions
    Last edited by S Landreth; 23-06-2022 at 04:18 AM.

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    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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    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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    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 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.

    _____________




    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

    Quote Originally Posted by FO David48atTD View Post
    Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions

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    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post
    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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    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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    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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    Fall of Severodonetsk is Russia’s biggest victory since Mariupol

    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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    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

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    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."

    ______________




    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.
    ____________




    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.



    Quote Originally Posted by FO David48atTD View Post
    Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions
    Last edited by S Landreth; 27-06-2022 at 05:18 AM.

  22. #1272
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    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

  23. #1273
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    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.”

    _____________




    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.

    ___________




    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.”

    Quote Originally Posted by FO David48atTD View Post
    Russia remains strong despite 'insane' sanctions
    Last edited by S Landreth; 27-06-2022 at 05:18 AM.

  24. #1274
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    Quote Originally Posted by S Landreth View Post
    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!
    "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect,"

  25. #1275
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    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.

    ____________




    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.”

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