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Dramatic moment Russian fighter jet ‘intercepts two US nuclear bombers over Baltic Sea’

Russia has claimed it scrambled one of its fighter jets to intercept a pair of US nuclear bombers over the Baltic Sea.

The Russian Defence Ministry released the footage on Tuesday, which it claimed was captured from a Russian Su-45 on Monday.

It said its fighter jet met B-52 strategic bombers flying towards the Russian border on Monday, but that it returned to base after they moved away.

“On March 20, radar facilities of the air defence forces of the Western military district on duty over the Baltic Sea detected two air targets flying in the direction of the Russian Federation’s state border,” the ministry said of the latest incident, according to TASS.

Russia claimed they used their jet to prevent a border violation, and added, “after the foreign military aircraft moved away from the Russian Federation state border, the Russian fighter returned to its base airfield.”

The ministry added the flight was in line with international rules of the use of airspace. “No violation of the state border of the Russian Federation was permitted,” it said.

Concerns have been raised by experts that there could be an incident in or over the Black Sea between the US and Russia, that could lead to an escalation in the conflict in Ukraine, which some analysts say could spill over Nato borders.

Russia is struggling to find new ‘homes’ for the thousands of Ukrainian children it’s taken

Thousands of Ukrainian children have been captured and transferred to Russia — a crime that meets the international definition of genocide, according to Daria Herasymchuk, Ukraine’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights.

Kira was rescued weeks later through a complex special operation and became the first Ukrainian child rescued from Russian captivity. But since her return, only a few hundred of the estimated hundreds of thousands of children deported to Russia have been retrieved. Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called this “the largest instance of state-sponsored kidnapping of children in the history of our modern world.”


More than 700,000 children have been “evacuated” from Ukraine, according to Russia’s Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters. Ukrainian authorities believe this number may be overstated. But at least 16,200 Ukrainian children have been forcibly kidnapped and are unable to contact their families, according to a Ukrainian government website that shows names and photographs of missing children.

Russia is struggling to find enough homes that will take confused and terrified abducted Ukrainian children. Dina Magnat, head of Russia’s School for Foster Families, acknowledges it’s hard to find families for these children and says they are being put under guardianship, not being adopted.

Russia may well have struggled to find homes for the children it already had, without adding “evacuated” Ukrainian children.

The government does not appear to have a public estimate of how many abducted children it is “re-educating.” However, a website in that country reports that 18.5 billion rubles ($330 million) has been allocated to the “Movement of the First,” a new state-sponsored children’s and youth organization for “patriotic education of children”; Putin himself heads the advisory board.

Putin’s dark effort to add Ukrainian children to the Russian population appears to be part of his Decade of Childhood initiative in response to his country’s prolonged demographic decline. There are expected to be 20 per cent fewer Russians by 2100, according to United Nations forecasts, and Putin’s initiative was mostly designed to encourage more childbirth. But adding a large number of Ukrainian children would suit those ends as well.

International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Putin over war crimes in Ukraine

Russian government spokesperson says arrest warrant has 'no significance whatsoever'

"The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel. "Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it."

The ICC issued the warrant for Putin's arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Separately the court issued warrants for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, on the same charges.

The court's president, Piotr Hofmanski, said in a video statement that while the ICC's judges have issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them. The court has no police force of its own to enforce warrants.

"The ICC is doing its part of work as a court of law. The judges issued arrest warrants. The execution depends on international co-operation."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia found the very questions raised by the ICC "outrageous and unacceptable," and that any decisions of the court were "null and void" with respect to Russia.

A possible trial of any Russians at the ICC remains a long way off, as Moscow does not recognize the court's jurisdiction and does not extradite its nationals.

However, the warrant means that Putin could be arrested and sent to The Hague if he travels to any ICC member states.

Miro Popovich, a US Army veteran who has been fighting alongside Ukrainians, reacts to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' stance that continued US support in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is not a “vital national interest.”

#CNN #News

A Russian fighter jet forced down a US Air Force drone over the Black Sea after damaging the propeller of the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, according to a US official familiar with the incident. #CNN #News

STORY: Germany's government is warning that the story in the New York Times this week that a pro-Ukrainian group may be behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year should be treated with caution, because the attack could still have been a so-called "false flag" operation.

In other words, the true perpetrators could have staged the incident to blame Ukraine, even if that country had nothing to do with it.

The reactions to the story from world powers highlight both the mystery of the incident and the secretive nature of their war plans.

Germany's defense minister, Boris Pistorius, on Wednesday said it wouldn't be first time such a false flag event happened, and that there were what he called "expert opinions" indicating it, without elaborating.

He was at a summit in Stockholm also attended by NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukraine's defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, who called the media reports "strange" and that the incident had nothing to do with Ukraine's government.

Stoltenberg said investigations are ongoing. The U.S. has said the same.

"There are ongoing national investigations and I think it's right to wait until those are finalised before we say anything more about who was behind."

The New York Times story revolves around intelligence reportedly reviewed by U.S. officials. Reuters can't verify the claims. The Times says the intelligence reports drew no firm conclusions, but that pro-Ukraine saboteurs were likely behind it.

It also said there was no evidence that Ukrainian President Zelenskiy or any of his top officials played a role.

The possible motive, according the Times: That destroying the pipeline would remove a potential method for Russia to get leverage over Europe through gas exports...

...A separate report by Germany's ARD broadcaster and Zeit newspaper said on Tuesday the operation to place explosives on the seabed was carried out by six people, five men and one woman, who used forged passports.

They transported explosives on a yacht rented from a German charter company by a Poland-based firm owned by Ukrainian citizens, according to the report and prosecutors.

"We have to make a clear distinction whether it was a Ukrainian group, whether it may have happened at Ukrainian orders, or a pro-Ukrainian group (acting) without knowledge of the government," German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday.

"But I am warning against jumping to conclusions," Pistorius said on the sidelines of a summit in Stockholm.

Pistorius said earlier the likelihood was "equally high" that it could have been a "false flag operation staged to blame Ukraine".

Germany, meanwhile, confirmed its investigators had raided a ship in January that may have been used to transport the explosives used to blow up the pipelines.

But a statement by the federal prosecutor said there was no reliable information yet on motives or perpetrators, including on whether the attack was state-sponsored...

Methane (the primary component of natural gas) has a global warming potential 21 times higher than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period, though methane persists in the atmosphere for much less time (around a dozen years) than carbon dioxide (many decades).

Biden, Putin offer contrasting views on Ukraine in major speeches one year after invasion

Putin threatens to suspend participation in New START Treaty, which sets limits on nuclear arsenals

During a brief visit to Poland after visiting Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden told a crowd in Warsaw that democracy 'lifts up the human spirit,' and that decisions made over the next five years will shape the world for decades.


"Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, never," he said at another point in his speech from the gardens of Warsaw's Royal Castle.

While Biden is looking to use his whirlwind trip to Europe as a moment of affirmation for Ukraine and allies, the White House has also emphasized that there is no clear endgame to the war in the near term and the situation on the ground has become increasingly complex.

Biden said there would be "hard and bitter days ahead, but he cast the world as being at an inflection point characterized by a number of stark choices, including between "democracy that lifts up the human spirit and the brutal hand of the dictator who crushes it."

Polish President Andrzej Duda preceded Biden, praising his "incredible gesture" of visiting Kyiv on Monday. Duda also offered Poland's continued support for Ukraine's defence.

"I call on all European states, NATO states, to show solidarity with Ukraine, to provide military support to Ukraine, so that they have something to fight with," said Duda. "Do not be afraid to provide this support."

The U.S. has committed about $113 billion US in aid to Ukraine since last year, while European allies have committed tens of billions of dollars more and welcomed millions of Ukrainian refugees who have fled the conflict.

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western countries of igniting and sustaining the war in Ukraine, dismissing any blame for Moscow.

In his long-delayed state-of-the-nation address, Putin cast Russia — and Ukraine — as victims of Western double-dealing and said Russia, not Ukraine, was the one fighting for its very existence.

Putin said that Russia would suspend its participation in the New START Treaty, signed with the U.S. in 2010 and extended in the early days of the Biden administration in 2021. But some hours later the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Russia will continue to observe limits on the number of nuclear warheads it can deploy as outlined in the treaty.

The Russian leader vowed no military let-up in Ukrainian territories he has illegally annexed, apparently rejecting any peace overtures in a conflict that has reawakened fears of a new Cold War.

"Western elites aren't trying to conceal their goals, to inflict a 'strategic defeat' to Russia," Putin said in the speech broadcast by all state TV channels. "They intend to transform the local conflict into a global confrontation."

Putin accused the West of launching "aggressive information attacks" and taking aim at Russian culture, religion and values because it is aware that "it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield."

Biden on Tuesday praised the commitment of Poland and its "willingness to open your hearts." More than 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees have settled in Poland since the start of the war, and Poland has also provided Ukraine with $3.8 billion in military and humanitarian aid, according to the White House.

'Russia's starting over again' with 'slow, destructive' strategy, one year into war with Ukraine