True Left

When asked if the US is involved in the talks between Russia and Ukraine, Psaki says the US is trying to destroy Russia’s economy and give Ukraine more weapons.

I’ll say it again: they don’t want this war to end

It comes as Ukrainian forces killed another top Russian general, the fifth to die since Vladimir Putin's troops invaded the country last month.

Lieutenant-General Andrei Mordvichev, commander of the 8th Combined Arms Army, died in fighting at Chornobaivka, near the southern city of Kherson.

Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, was killed in Mariupol on Wednesday, bringing the total number of Russian officers to die since the start of the war to 13.

Ukraine claimed on Saturday (19 March) to have shot down two Russian planes and three helicopters in the past 24 hours.

Russian forces are meeting fierce resistance and taking casualties as they try to move towards the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. On March 18, a Ukrainian special search group collected the dead bodies of Russian soldiers in the hope they could be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners of war.

A railway car is filled with bodies in Russian uniforms, a local resident recalls confronting Russian troops who entered his front yard during the Russian assault on the area. Voznesensk was attacked by Russian forces but is still in Ukrainian hands.

U.S. officials say that Russia may be plotting a false flag operation in which they would deploy chemical or biological weapons, and then blame Ukraine for doing so. Russia claims to have complied with international treaties calling for the elimination of these outlawed weapons. But the specter of chemical and biological warfare, like nuclear power, has been hovering over this conflict from the start and could bring it to a whole new level.

Brin was born on August 21, 1973, in Moscow in the Soviet Union,[4] to Russian Jewish parents,[5] Mikhail and Eugenia Brin, both graduates of Moscow State University (MSU).[6] His father is a retired mathematics professor at the University of Maryland, and his mother a researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.[7][8]

This is a fucken circus not a military operation....

An intercepted phone call has revealed that Russian troops are suffering from frostbite and low morale.

Its military can’t adapt to the reality on the ground in Ukraine, including poor logistics and deaths of senior officers

A pro-Kremlin newspaper has revealed that Russia has lost nearly 10,000 troops since it launched its invasion against Ukraine.

Adviser to the Head of the office of the president of Ukraine Serhii Leshchenko refuted new portion of Russian fakes about Ukraine. Among other lies are occupation by Russians of half of Ukrainian territory as well as mining by Ukrainians of the hospital in Ukrainian city Dnipro. Leshchenko also explained how Russians trying to spread their fakes about Ukraine through their sympathizers abroad.

Vladimir Putin is in a "total panic" about the prospect of a revolution in Moscow, Boris Johnson has said.

"He has been in a total panic about a so-called colour revolution in Moscow itself and that is why he is trying so brutally to snuff out the flame of freedom in Ukraine and that's why it is so vital that he fails," Mr Johnson said.

Oleksiy Arestovych, advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, notes that the Russian occupiers have almost lost the ability to advance anywhere on Ukrainian territory. Three Russian strike armies and one aviation army have been destroyed in Ukraine, Arestovych said in a video address: “Our troops on the 26th day of the active phase of the Russian-Ukrainian war destroyed: 11 battalions of tanks, 34 battalions of armored combat vehicles, 5 divisions of multiple rocket launchers, 17 divisions of artillery pieces, almost 5 aviation regiments of aircraft and 5 regiments of helicopters. This amounts to 3 combat units of Russian armies as operational-strategic formations.  That is, we have destroyed 3 Russian strike armies and 1 air army – altogether 4 armies out of 10 that the Russian Federation has”.  He added that during the night, the Ukrainian servicemen conducted powerful strikes against the enemy.

Ukraine claimed today that its forces had shot dead the deputy commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in another significant blow to Vladimir Putin's forces.

A Russian advance to cut Ukrainians off in the city of Mykolaiv in the south of Ukraine was pushed back, Ukraine claims, forcing the invading army to leave behind old equipment.

In signs suggesting the Russian attack was ill-equipped and unprepared, footage shows dressings dating back to 1978 on the deserted battlefields.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the Western military alliance was concerned Russia may be preparing a pretext to use chemical weapons. "We see the rhetoric and we see that Russia is trying to create some kind of pretext accusing Ukraine, the United States and NATO allies of preparing to use chemical and biological weapons," he told reporters after a NATO summit in Brussels. "Our top military commander ... has activated NATO's chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense elements and allies are deploying additional chemical and biological and nuclear defenses," he said. He reiterated the significant impact any use of chemical weapons would have on the course of events, not just in Ukraine, but also in neighboring countries. He also stressed the continuity of NATO's Open Door policy, which has been one of Moscow's main complaints and justifications for its invasion of Ukraine. Asked whether NATO would provide Ukraine with the list of weapons and equipment requested by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Stoltenberg said that alliance members are already supplying weapons and equipment, but "at the same time, we have a responsibility to prevent this conflict from becoming a full-fledged war in Europe."

Stoltenberg said that the alliance will increase its support for Ukraine as well as its deployments in Eastern Europe during a press conference that came after an emergency session of NATO member-state leaders. Stoltenberg's comments coincided with the release of a statement from the alliance as well as the announcement that he will stay on for an extra year due to the invasion, delaying his plan to step down from the position.
NATO members are "equipping Ukraine with significant military supplies including anti-tank and air defense systems and drones, which are proving highly effective, as well as substantial financial and humanitarian aid," Stoltenberg said. "Today we agreed to do more, including cyber security assistance and equipment to help Ukraine protect against biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear threats," he added. The NATO chief warned against escalating the war and pledged more support for other countries facing threats from Russia, namely Georgia and Bosnia.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry released a statement on Thursday claiming that Russian forces have "forcibly deported about 6,000 Mariupol residents to Russian filtration camps." It said that Russia is also trying to do the same to the 15,000 residents in the Left Bank region of the city. "The Russian occupiers are forcing them to move to Russia. The invaders confiscate people's passports and other identity documents," the statement said, adding that it was "in order to use them as hostages and put more political pressure on Ukraine." The statement also accused Russian forces of firing on columns of civilians fleeing from the city that was the subject of intense bombardment by the Russian military and a siege that left thousands of people without access to food, water and power for days.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on NATO to provide "unrestricted" military aid while speaking to representatives of the alliance over video-link. "To save people and our cities, Ukraine needs military assistance without restrictions. In the same way that Russia is using its full arsenal without restrictions against us," he said. He thanked the members of the alliance for the support they have already provided, but said it was not enough. "You can give us one percent of all your planes. One percent of your tanks. One percent!" During the call, Zelenskyy also accused Russia of using phosphorus weapons — which ignite in contact with air and can burn for a long time as well as causing severe burns on people it comes into contact with. "This morning, by the way, phosphorus bombs were used. Russian phosphorus bombs. Adults were killed again and children were killed again," Zelensky said. "The Alliance can once more prevent the death of Ukrainians from Russian strikes, from Russian occupation, by giving us all the weapons we need."

The Times’s Visual Investigations team analyzed dozens of battlefield radio transmissions between Russian forces during an initial invasion of the town of Makariv, outside Kyiv. They reveal an army struggling with logistical problems and communication failures.