Author Topic: Ukraine  (Read 12731 times)

guest98

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #465 on: February 21, 2023, 04:19:42 pm »
https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/belarus-to-form-100000-150000-strong-volunteer-military-force

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Belarus to form 100,000-150,000 strong volunteer military force

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday he had ordered the formation of a new volunteer territorial defense so everyone knows how to “handle weapons” and be ready to respond to an act of aggression and keep public order in peacetime.

Lukashenko, who allowed Russia to use Belarus to send troops into Ukraine a year ago, has often said his army would fight only if Belarus was attacked. He has also said the “experience” in Ukraine necessitates additional defense.

“In case of an act of aggression, the response will be fast, harsh and appropriate,” Lukashenko said on Monday.

Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin said the territorial defense force will have 100,000-150,000 volunteers, or more if needed. The paramilitary formation will be ideally in every village and town.

The dependence has fanned fears in Kyiv that Putin would pressure Lukashenko to join a fresh ground offensive and open a new front in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.


War

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #466 on: March 08, 2023, 02:38:08 pm »
Nord Stream could be 'false flag' operation: Germany
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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...
Entire article: https://sports.yahoo.com/nord-stream-could-false-flag-142225910.html

West cautious on Nord Stream blasts, Germany confirms raiding suspect ship
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...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...
Entire article: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-says-nord-stream-attacks-may-be-false-flag-smear-ukraine-2023-03-08/

See also: https://trueleft.createaforum.com/true-left-vs-right/western-civilization-is-a-health-hazard/
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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).
https://www.c2es.org/content/natural-gas/

War

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #467 on: March 08, 2023, 02:51:16 pm »
Ukraine denies any involvement in September's Nord Stream blasts
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Ukraine has denied any involvement in the Nord Stream pipelines blast. The pipelines, which supply Russian natural gas to Germany and other EU states, were severely damaged after being hit by a series of explosions in September.

A report by the New York Times now has now quoted US officials holding a pro-Ukrainian group responsible, but only after US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report claiming the US carried out the attack.




DamagedPropeller

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #468 on: March 14, 2023, 01:50:39 pm »
Russian fighter jet forces down US drone over Black Sea after intercept
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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

DamagedPropeller

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #469 on: March 14, 2023, 01:53:00 pm »
LIVE: Pentagon holds briefing after officials say Russian jet struck U.S. drone over Black Sea
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Pentagon officials are briefing the media after the U.S. military said a Russian Su-27 fighter jet collided with an American MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday. "Our MQ-9 aircraft was conducting routine operations in international airspace when it was intercepted and hit by a Russian aircraft, resulting in a crash and complete loss of the MQ-9," U.S. Air Force General James Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and Air Forces Africa, said in a statement.

#russia #drone #news

DamagedPropeller

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #470 on: March 14, 2023, 01:57:39 pm »
US Army vet fighting in Ukraine responds to waning support within GOP
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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

guest98

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #471 on: March 16, 2023, 03:12:14 pm »
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64975770
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Poland to send four fighter jets to Ukraine 'in coming days'

Poland will send four Soviet-era Mig fighter jets to Ukraine - becoming the first Nato country to send planes since Russia invaded last year.

Polish President Andrzej Duda said they would be sent in the coming days, with others handed over in the future.

Though a welcome boost to Ukraine's air defence, the extra jets are not expected to be decisive in the war.

The deputy speaker of Ukraine's parliament Olena Kondratyuk said she hoped more countries would follow.

Other Nato countries are considering sending the Soviet-era planes, which Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly.

President Biden has previously ruled out sending jets from the US to Ukraine.

Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik told the BBC: "We need them to strengthen our air defence systems and to help our army in the spring counter-offensive.

"It's also a good sign to everybody that getting fighter jets to Ukraine is not something unspeakable or surreal - that this is something that can happen; that the only thing that is needed to make it happen is political will."


guest98

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #472 on: March 17, 2023, 02:36:10 pm »
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/icc-russia-war-crimes-1.6782182

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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.




guest98

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #473 on: March 18, 2023, 01:15:42 pm »
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Russia threatens Ukraine fighter jets after Slovakia joins Poland in pledging warplanes

Slovakia has joined Poland in announcing plans to send fighter jets to Ukraine — something for which Kyiv has been pleading since the war began.

Poland’s president says his country plans to give Ukraine a dozen MiG-29 fighter jets, becoming the first NATO member country to fulfill the Ukrainian government’s increasingly urgent requests for warplanes.

President Andrzej Duda said Thursday that Poland would hand over four of the Soviet-made warplanes in the coming days and the rest need to be checked and would be supplied later.

But as Chrystal Goomansingh reports, Russia is playing it down,  saying the donated jets will be destroyed.




guest98

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #474 on: March 19, 2023, 01:06:37 pm »
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2023/03/18/russia-has-taken-thousands-of-ukrainian-children-its-struggling-to-care-for-them-but-seldom-lets-them-go.html

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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.


guest98

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #475 on: March 21, 2023, 03:03:51 pm »
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/this-is-also-our-war-polish-minister-on-sending-jets-to-ukraine-1.6321410

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'This is also our war': Polish minister on sending jets to Ukraine


When asked about how Poland came to the decision to send Ukraine jets to aid in its conflict against Russia, Polish health minister Adam Niedzielski said: “The most important issue for us is that this is also our war.

“We have the feeling that we are also defending our borders, so this is not a case of too much discussion. We simply have to help them,” he said.

When Kapelos asked Niedzielski if he expects the United States to follow Poland’s lead and supply jets, he called the situation “dynamic.”

“I think that the situation is very dynamical. We have very good diplomacy. Our prime minister, president and the minister of foreign affairs [have had] a lot of talks with our allies, and I think that until now we [have been] quite effective,” he said.






guest98

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #476 on: March 21, 2023, 03:06:59 pm »
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russian-jet-us-nuclear-bomber-baltic-b2305050.html

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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.






Incompetent

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #477 on: March 23, 2023, 10:22:58 pm »
President Xi ‘embarrassed’ by Putin
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“I think Xi is probably a little embarrassed by the timing of the visit."

Putin wants China to provide weapons but former US ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst says it’s “highly likely” China would face sanctions.

guest98

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #478 on: March 25, 2023, 03:41:55 pm »
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/russia-largely-stalled-in-bakhmut-shifting-focus-u-k-says-1.6328884

Russia 'largely stalled' in Bakhmut, shifting focus, U.K. says

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The top commander of Ukraine's military said Saturday that his forces were pushing back against Russian troops in the long and grinding battle for the town of Bakhmut, and British military intelligence says Russia appears to be moving to a defensive strategy in eastern Ukraine.

"The Bakhmut direction is the most difficult. Thanks to the titanic efforts of the defense forces, the situation is being stabilized," Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi

The seven-month fight for Bakhmut, where Russian forces have closed in on three sides, is the longest battle of the war, with Russia deploying both regular soldiers and fighters of the mercenary Wagner Group.

Russia is likely shifting its focus toward two other sectors, which "suggests an overall return to a more defensive operational design after inconclusive results from its attempts to conduct a general offensive since January," the U.K. ministry wrote on Twitter.


guest98

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Re: Ukraine
« Reply #479 on: March 26, 2023, 02:29:34 pm »
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/ukraine-demands-emergency-un-meeting-over-putin-nuclear-plan-1.6329547

Ukraine demands emergency UN meeting over Putin nuclear plan

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Ukraine's government on Sunday called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to "counter the Kremlin's nuclear blackmail" after Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed plans to station tactical atomic weapons in Belarus.

One Ukrainian official said Russia "took Belarus as a nuclear hostage."

Further heightening tensions, an explosion deep inside Russia wounded three people Sunday. Russian authorities blamed a Ukrainian drone for the blast, which damaged residential buildings in a town just 175 kilometres (110 miles) south of Moscow.

Russia has said the plan to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus comes in response to the West's increasing military support for Ukraine.

"Ukraine expects effective action to counter the Kremlin's nuclear blackmail by the U.K., China, the U.S. and France," the statement read, saying these countries "have a special responsibility" regarding nuclear aggression.

"The world must be united against someone who endangers the future of human civilization," the statement said.

Similar drone attacks have been common during the war, although Ukraine hardly ever acknowledges responsibility. On Monday, Russia said Ukrainian drones attacked civilian facilities in the town of Dzhankoi in Russia-annexed Crimea. Ukraine's military said several Russian cruise missiles were destroyed, but did not specifically claim responsibility.