What's new

The Russian invasion of Ukraine

KingKhanWC said:
Russia has pulled out some lovely but serious toys now.

The Iskander Missile has been launched, its very high tech with the ability to manoeuvre. Russian Tanks which are very powerful have also entered the confilct.

The next few weeks will be a disaster for Ukraine.

They may try another false flag on another Nato member or attack the nuclear plant/
Click to expand...

I am also expecting false flag stuffs from Ukraine. They probably tried that by attacking Poland but it didn't work.
 
sweep_shot said:
I am also expecting false flag stuffs from Ukraine. They probably tried that by attacking Poland but it didn't work.
Click to expand...

Not prob they did. The missile which killed two innocent farmers in Poland needed radar to land there, it cannot be an accident as claimed.

With the World Cup going on, Russia can go all out attack and end this by Xmas if they wanted.

Ukrainians should stand up, get rid of puppet Zelensky and demand a peace deal. They are not getting back Crimea and those lands even if every British soldier and every American soldier joined their fight. Russia will use every weapon to defend their lands.
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
Let's see how much the British public value liberty come the next election. The Tories will be booted out of power, and that's the last we'll hear of snake oil salesman, dishy Rishi.
Click to expand...

Nothing to do with the war. Every UK PM ever would have done the same. It’s the constant lying and incompetence that has brought the Tories low.
 
Putin is a great man even Western academics say he is not corrupt. He has transformed a broken land into one of the most powerful nations in history. A nation which is not a slave of the west and will do what it takes for its people.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
KingKhanWC said:
Putin is a great man even Western academics say he is not corrupt. He has transformed a broken land into one of the most powerful nations in history. A nation which is not a slave of the west and will do what it takes for its people.
Click to expand...

Putin is not perfect but I think he is an excellent leader. Very strong leader like Erdogan.

What I like about Putin is that he is not a hypocrite. He is clear about where he stands. You can count on his words.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
sweep_shot said:
Putin is not perfect but I think he is an excellent leader. Very strong leader like Erdogan.

What I like about Putin is that he is not a hypocrite. He is clear about where he stands. You can count on his words.
Click to expand...

'kherson is Russia forever'

4 weeks later....
 
Robert said:
Nothing to do with the war. Every UK PM ever would have done the same. It’s the constant lying and incompetence that has brought the Tories low.
Click to expand...

Nothing to do with the war? Energy prices have doubled, you yourself have been talking about power cuts round the corner. Businesses are closing, there's less money for healthcare and interest rates are rising along with inflation. When people's livelihoods are threatened, they tend to care less about what's going on across the world. That is what will see the Tories crash out of power.
 
Ukraine war: Power cuts across the country and in Moldova as missiles hit

Ukraine's western city of Lviv is without power after a wave of Russian missiles pounded the country.

Critical infrastructure in Kyiv was also targeted, and the city's officials said three people died in the attack.

Across the border, Moldova also reported "massive" blackouts, although it has not been directly hit.

Moscow has recently increased strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving half of the country's power grid in need of repair.

Ukraine's national power grid operator has said the damage sustained by power generating facilities in recent weeks has been "colossal" and warned that Ukrainians could face long power outages over the winter months.

Early on Wednesday, an air-raid alert was issued across Ukraine, followed by reports of explosions in a number of locations.

Ukraine's air force said over 70 cruise missiles were launched by Moscow, with air defences intercepting 51 projectiles. Officials said five drones were also launched.

But the attack has caused significant damage to infrastructure across the country.

Ukraine's state energy company, Energoatom, said three nuclear reactors were taken offline due to the blackout.

And in the capital Kyiv, parts of the city have been let without water and completely without power, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

Lviv mayor, Andriy Sadovy, said children had been taken to shelters with their teachers - and urged parents not to pick them up until the alarm was over.

Shortly before the fresh reports from Kyiv and Lviv, officials said southern Ukraine had come under renewed assault.

The governor of the Mykolaiv region warned of "many rockets" arriving from the south and east.

In the nearby Zaporizhzhia region, a newborn baby was killed when a missile hit a maternity unit, emergency services said.

Russia was blamed for that attack, but is yet to comment on any of Wednesday's alleged strikes.

Blackouts in Moldova

More than half of Moldova was also left without electricity, deputy prime minister Andrei Spinu wrote on Twitter. He said the attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure has caused a "massive blackout" across Moldova.

Within a few hours power was starting to be restored in the Moldovan capital Chisinau, a Reuters journalist reported.

Moldova also experienced widespread power cuts as a result of strikes on Ukraine on 15 November, Mr Spinu said. Mobile networks were also badly affected.

Sergiu Tofilat, a local energy policy analyst, told Moldova's TV8 channel that the country's energy supplies relied on a power line that passed through Transnistria, a breakaway Russian-controlled territory in Moldova bordering Ukraine, before reaching the capital Chisinau.

"When there are bombings in Ukraine, this line is automatically disconnected and we are left without electricity," he was quoted as saying.

In response to the outages, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said Russia had "left Moldova in the dark".

"Russia's war in Ukraine kills people, destroys residential blocks and energy infrastructure with missiles..." she wrote on Facebook. "But the electricity supply can be restored. We will solve the technical problems and we will have light again. All state institutions are working in this direction."

BBC
 
President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of "crimes against humanity" after a new missile barrage caused blackouts across Ukraine.

He told the UN Security Council via videolink that the Russian "formula of terror" had forced "millions of people to stay without energy supplies, without heating, without water" in sub-zero cold.

The strikes killed at least seven people, Ukraine said.

Nuclear power plants went off-line.

The three plants still under Ukrainian control were disconnected from the grid and the Zaporizhzhia plant - Europe's largest - was forced again to rely on diesel generators to power its cooling systems and key safety equipment.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has voiced great concern about the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia plant, which has suffered damage from repeated shelling.

Neighbouring Moldova also experienced massive blackouts on Wednesday, but was not directly hit.

With winter setting in, Moscow has stepped up strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Officials say Russia's missile strikes on power stations have caused "colossal" damage and left more than half of the country's grid in need of repair.

BBC
 
Germany's Uniper sees bailout cost rising to $53 billion

FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Uniper, the largest corporate casualty of Europe's energy crisis so far, said Berlin would need to pump as much as 25 billion euros ($25.8 billion) of additional equity into the struggling gas importer to cover losses incurred after Russia cut supplies.

The amended bailout deal reflects the cancellation of a gas levy designed to help German gas importers bear additional costs, and raises the tally for Uniper's nationalisation to more than 51 billion euros.

Sources said last month that tens of billions in additional funding were necessary to stabilise Uniper after Berlin decided to scrap the levy, which would have allowed gas companies to pass on most of the higher procurement costs to customers.

3 minute readNovember 23, 20221:07 PM ESTLast Updated 15 hours ago
Germany's Uniper sees bailout cost rising to $53 billion
By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
Summary
Companies
Berlin to inject up to 25 bln eur in additional equity
Shareholders to meet on Dec. 19 to approve package
Uniper must demonstrate need for capital - Berlin
Uniper expects EU Commission clearance
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Uniper, the largest corporate casualty of Europe's energy crisis so far, said Berlin would need to pump as much as 25 billion euros ($25.8 billion) of additional equity into the struggling gas importer to cover losses incurred after Russia cut supplies.

The amended bailout deal reflects the cancellation of a gas levy designed to help German gas importers bear additional costs, and raises the tally for Uniper's nationalisation to more than 51 billion euros.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Sources said last month that tens of billions in additional funding were necessary to stabilise Uniper after Berlin decided to scrap the levy, which would have allowed gas companies to pass on most of the higher procurement costs to customers.

article-prompt-devices
Register for free to Reuters and know the full story

"It's about nothing less than a substantial portion of Germany's gas bill, which will now be paid out of tax revenues – and not, as originally planned, through a gas surcharge," Uniper (UN01.DE) Chief Executive Klaus Dieter Maubach said on Wednesday.

"Without this relief, our customers, including many municipal utilities, would inevitably have faced an even higher wave of costs," he added.

Uniper's shares closed 8.4% lower.

Under the most recent agreement, Berlin will subscribe to tranches of authorised capital totalling up to 25 billion euros to cover losses from outstanding Russian gas volumes until 2024, Germany's largest gas importer said.

EU APPROVAL

The German Economy Ministry said this would happen "only to the extent that Uniper can demonstrate a need for capital (in particular in connection with replacement procurement costs)".

3 minute readNovember 23, 20221:07 PM ESTLast Updated 15 hours ago
Germany's Uniper sees bailout cost rising to $53 billion
By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
Summary
Companies
Berlin to inject up to 25 bln eur in additional equity
Shareholders to meet on Dec. 19 to approve package
Uniper must demonstrate need for capital - Berlin
Uniper expects EU Commission clearance
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Uniper, the largest corporate casualty of Europe's energy crisis so far, said Berlin would need to pump as much as 25 billion euros ($25.8 billion) of additional equity into the struggling gas importer to cover losses incurred after Russia cut supplies.

The amended bailout deal reflects the cancellation of a gas levy designed to help German gas importers bear additional costs, and raises the tally for Uniper's nationalisation to more than 51 billion euros.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Sources said last month that tens of billions in additional funding were necessary to stabilise Uniper after Berlin decided to scrap the levy, which would have allowed gas companies to pass on most of the higher procurement costs to customers.

article-prompt-devices
Register for free to Reuters and know the full story

"It's about nothing less than a substantial portion of Germany's gas bill, which will now be paid out of tax revenues – and not, as originally planned, through a gas surcharge," Uniper (UN01.DE) Chief Executive Klaus Dieter Maubach said on Wednesday.

"Without this relief, our customers, including many municipal utilities, would inevitably have faced an even higher wave of costs," he added.

Uniper's shares closed 8.4% lower.

Under the most recent agreement, Berlin will subscribe to tranches of authorised capital totalling up to 25 billion euros to cover losses from outstanding Russian gas volumes until 2024, Germany's largest gas importer said.

EU APPROVAL
Illustration shows Uniper logo
Uniper logo is displayed in this illustration taken September 5, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The German Economy Ministry said this would happen "only to the extent that Uniper can demonstrate a need for capital (in particular in connection with replacement procurement costs)".

Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Investors will vote on the deal - including up to 33 billion euros in state-backed equity, up to 18 billion euros in credit lines from state-lender KfW (KFW.UL) and 500 million to buy out Uniper parent Fortum (FORTUM.HE) - at a meeting on Dec. 19.

Uniper said it was in talks with the EU Commission, which needs to approve the rescue deal under state-aid and merger-control law, adding it expected to get the green light from Brussels before the planned shareholder meeting.

Maubach said government's support was "indispensable" for Uniper, adding it was the only way the company could continue to exist and contribute to energy security.

Harald Seegatz, head of Uniper's workers' council and the group's deputy supervisory board chairman, said he hoped EU approval would come quickly and that the Commission would not "impose any unjustified conditions".

Uniper nearly collapsed after Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM), its biggest supplier, halted gas flows earlier this year in what Berlin said was retaliation against sanctions over the war in Ukraine, which Moscow denies.

This not only triggered a 40 billion euro net loss, the biggest in German corporate history, but also forced Germany to nationalise the company to avoid what it described as a Lehman Brothers-style effect in the energy sector.

Reuters
 
This thread, specifically the quantity and nature of the posts should be evidence enough of the fact people are growing tired of the conflict.
 
bones said:
This thread, specifically the quantity and nature of the posts should be evidence enough of the fact people are growing tired of the conflict.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I have observed that too.

Even media isn't being as whiny as before.

All normal people want this war to end. Only people who want to prolong probably have mental problems.
 
According to Sky's military expert winter will be extremely difficult for the Russian conscripts. No mention of winter being difficult for the Ukranian conscripts. Apparently Russia are planning a false flag to gather support for a 2nd wave of mobilisation. Yep, these are the experts giving the public in the UK their information. According to this guy and most of MSM Ukraine are winning still...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npE1lWZiFhQ
 
Weapons industry booms as Eastern Europe arms Ukraine

PRAGUE/WARSAW, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Eastern Europe's arms industry is churning out guns, artillery shells and other military supplies at a pace not seen since the Cold War as governments in the region lead efforts to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Allies have been supplying Kyiv with weapons and military equipment since Russia invaded its neighbour on Feb. 24, depleting their own inventories along the way.

The United States and Britain committed the most direct military aid to Ukraine between Jan. 24 and Oct. 3, a Kiel Institute for the World Economy tracker shows, with Poland in third place and the Czech Republic ninth.

Still wary of Russia, their Soviet-era master, some former Warsaw Pact countries see helping Ukraine as a matter of regional security.

But nearly a dozen government and company officials and analysts who spoke to Reuters said the conflict also presented new opportunities for the region's arms industry.

"Taking into account the realities of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the visible attitude of many countries aimed at increased spending in the field of defence budgets, there is a real chance to enter new markets and increase export revenues in the coming years," said Sebastian Chwalek, CEO of Poland's PGZ.

State-owned PGZ controls more than 50 companies making weapons and ammunition - from armoured transporters to unmanned air systems - and holds stakes in dozens more.

It now plans to invest up to 8 billion zlotys ($1.8 billion)over the next decade, more than double its pre-war target, Chwalek told Reuters. That includes new facilities located further from the border with Russia's ally Belarus for security reasons, he said.

Other manufacturers too are increasing production capacity and racing to hire workers, companies and government officials from Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic said.

Immediately after Russia's attack some eastern European militaries and manufacturers began emptying their warehouses of Soviet-era weapons and ammunition that Ukrainians were familiar with, as Kyiv waited for NATO-standard equipment from the West.

As those stocks have dwindled, arms makers have cranked up production of both older and modern equipment to keep supplies flowing. The stream of weapons has helped Ukraine push back Russian forces and reclaim swathes of territory.

Chwalek said PGZ would now produce 1,000 portable Piorun manpad air-defence systems in 2023 - not all for Ukraine -compared to 600 in 2022 and 300 to 350 in previous years.

The company, which he said has also delivered artillery and mortar systems, howitzers, bulletproof vests, small arms and ammunition to Ukraine, is likely to surpass a pre-war 2022 revenue target of 6.74 billion zlotys.

Companies and officials who spoke to Reuters declined to give specific details of military supplies to Ukraine, and some did not want to be identified, citing security and commercial sensitivities.

HISTORIC INDUSTRY

Eastern Europe's arms industry dates back to the 19th Century, when Czech Emil Skoda began manufacturing weapons for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Under Communism, huge factories in Czechoslovakia, the Warsaw Pact's second-largest weapons producer, Poland and elsewhere in the region kept people employed, turning out weapons for Cold War conflicts Moscow stoked around the world.

"The Czech Republic was one of the powerhouses of weapons exporters and we have the personnel, material base and production lines needed to increase capacity," its NATO Ambassador Jakub Landovsky told Reuters.

"This is a great chance for the Czechs to increase what we need after giving the Ukrainians the old Soviet-era stocks. This can show other countries we can be a reliable partner in the arms industry."

The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and NATO's expansion into the region pushed companies to modernise, but "they can still quickly produce things like ammunition that fits the Soviet systems", said Siemon Wezeman, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Deliveries to Ukraine have included artillery rounds of "Eastern" calibres, such as 152mm howitzer rounds and 122mm rockets not produced by Western companies, officials and companies said.

They said Ukraine had acquired weapons and equipment via donations from governments and direct commercial contracts between Kyiv and the manufacturers.

NOT JUST BUSINESS

"Eastern European countries support Ukraine substantially," Christoph Trebesch, a professor at the Kiel Institute, said. "At the same time it's an opportunity for them to build up their military production industry."

Ukraine has received nearly 50 billion crowns ($2.1 billion) of weapons and equipment from Czech companies, about 95% of which were commercial deliveries, Czech Deputy Defence Minister Tomas Kopecny told Reuters. Czech arms exports this year will be the highest since 1989, he said, with many companies in the sector adding jobs and capacity.

"For the Czech defence industry, the conflict in Ukraine, and the assistance it provides is clearly a boost that we have not seen in the last 30 years," Kopecny said.

David Hac, chief executive of Czech STV Group, outlined to Reuters plans to add new production lines for small-calibre ammunition and said it is considering expanding its large-calibre capability. In a tight labour market, the company is trying to poach workers from a slowing car industry, he said.

Defence sales helped the Czechoslovak Group, which owns companies including Excalibur Army, Tatra Trucks and Tatra Defence, nearly double its first-half revenues from a year earlier, to 13.8 billion crowns.

The company is increasing production of both 155mm NATO and 152mm Eastern calibre rounds and refurbishing infantry fighting vehicles and Soviet-era T-72 tanks, spokesman Andrej Cirtek told Reuters.

He said supplying Ukraine was more than just good business.

"After the Russian aggression started, our deliveries for Ukrainian army multiplied," Cirtek said.

"The majority of the Czech population still remember times of a Russian occupation of our country before 1990 and we don´t want to have Russian troops closer to our borders."

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/weapons-industry-booms-eastern-europe-arms-ukraine-2022-11-24/
 
I have heard the Ukrainians are looking to evacuate some of their major cities in the firing line including kherson.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few months.
 
Freezing Ukraine tries to restore power after Russian strikes on grid

KYIV, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Millions of Ukrainians were still without heat or power on Friday after the most devastating Russian air strikes on its energy grid so far, with residents warned to brace for further attacks and stock up on water, food and warm clothing.

Moscow says the attacks on Ukraine's basic infrastructure are militarily legitimate, and that Kyiv can end the suffering of its people if it yields to Russian demands. Ukraine says attacks intended to cause civilian misery are a war crime.

"Together we endured nine months of full-scale war and Russia has not found a way to break us, and will not find one," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address overnight.

Russia has been striking Ukrainian energy network far from the frontlines of the nine-month old war with barrages of long-range missiles around once a week since early October.

Attacks on Wednesday caused the worst damage so far, leaving millions of people with no light, water or heat even as temperatures around the country have fallen below zero.

Nearly 48 hours after the strikes, national grid operator Ukrenergo said the power system was still 30% short of meeting demand.

"Priority was given to critical infrastructure facilities in all regions: boiler houses, gas distribution stations, water supply, sewage treatment facilities, public electric transport operates in some regions," it said.

The three nuclear power stations on Ukrainian-held territory were now working, it said, two days after the attacks had forced Ukraine to shut them all down for the first time in 40 years, creating what Kyiv had called a risk of atomic catastrophe.

Zelenskiy also accused Russia of incessantly shelling Kherson, the southern Ukrainian city that it abandoned earlier this month. Seven people were killed and 21 wounded in a Russian attack on Thursday, local authorities said.

DARK PATCH

Viewed from space, Ukraine has become a dark patch on the globe at night.

Russia insists it does not target civilians in the "special military operation" it launched in late February. International human rights officials say that is difficult to reconcile with the countrywide attacks on civil infrastructure.

"Millions are being plunged into extreme hardship and appalling conditions of life by these strikes," U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.

"Taken as a whole, this raises serious problems under international humanitarian law, which requires a concrete and direct military advantage for each object attacked."

Nigel Povoas, lead prosecutor with a team of international experts assisting Ukrainian war crimes investigators, said the strikes were "focused on eliminating infrastructure crucial to means of civilian survival such as heat, water, power and medical facilities".

"Each wave of attacks tends to reinforce the strength of the allegations of grave criminality being levelled against the Kremlin. That these attacks have very little, if anything, to do with military objectives," he told Reuters.

"Rather, that they reflect a criminal intent to inflict widespread terror, large-scale humanitarian suffering and death, particularly on the vulnerable, so as to coerce the Ukrainian people into submission."

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion and has called up hundreds of thousands of reservists in Russia's first mobilisation since World War Two, held a televised meeting with mothers of soldiers on Friday, praising them for the sacrifices of their sons.

"I would like you to know that, that I personally, and the whole leadership of the country - we share your pain," Putin said in the pre-recorded meeting, sitting with the mothers around a table with tea, cakes and bowls of fresh berries.

British Foreign Minister James Cleverly visited Ukraine and pledged millions of pounds in further support, his office said on Friday. Cleverly, who met Zelenskiy on the trip, condemned Russia for its "brutal attacks" on civilians, hospitals and energy infrastructure.

More than 15,000 people have gone missing during the war, an official in the Kyiv office of the Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) said.

The ICMP's programme director for Europe, Matthew Holliday, said it was unclear how many people had been forcibly transferred, were being held in detention in Russia, were alive and separated from family members, or had died and been buried in makeshift graves.

In Kherson, recaptured from Russian forces this month, Anna Voskoboinik, a one-legged woman in a wheelchair, was clutching aid she received at a crowded humanitarian distribution point. She has been searching for three months for her son, Oleksii, 38, who vanished after being arrested at a Russian checkpoint.

"Where is he now? I don't know. I would go to the end of the world to find out. He's my only son. He was always nearby. Now..." she said.

Russia says it launched its operation in Ukraine to protect Russian speakers in what Putin has called an artificial country carved from Russian territory. Kyiv calls it an unprovoked war of aggression, reflecting what it sees as malice towards Ukrainians dating back to Soviet and imperial days.

This week, Ukrainians will observe the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor, a man-made famine in which millions of Ukrainians starved to death while the Soviet Union was exporting food.

Germany's Bundestag parliament is expected to vote overwhelmingly to recognize it as a genocide, following similar moves this week by Romania, Moldova and Ireland. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba praised the move, thanking Germany "for honoring the Ukrainian people".

In November 1932, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin dispatched police to seize all grain and livestock from newly collectivised Ukrainian farms, including the seed needed to plant the next crop. Yale University historian Timothy Snyder described the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians that followed as "clearly premeditated mass murder".

Reuters
 
British government is the biggest instigator of this proxy war or/and is doing the bidding of the Yanks.

Ukraine is on the brink of collapse yet Brits are urging them to keep fighting, keep dying and keep suffering.

British nation should be ashamed!

Klitkcho mayor of Kyiv is advising all to leave the City, no power, lack of water and lack of food now.

The beginning of the end is in progress.
 
KingKhanWC said:
British government is the biggest instigator of this proxy war or/and is doing the bidding of the Yanks.

Ukraine is on the brink of collapse yet Brits are urging them to keep fighting, keep dying and keep suffering.

British nation should be ashamed!

Klitkcho mayor of Kyiv is advising all to leave the City, no power, lack of water and lack of food now.

The beginning of the end is in progress.
Click to expand...

Indeed.

They are using Ukrainians as cannon fodders. Shameful.
 
Ukraine's president says six million Ukrainian households are still without power, after massive missile strikes hit the country this week.

"As of this evening, blackouts continue in most regions and in Kyiv," Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address.

The number of affected households has reduced by half since Wednesday, he added.

But millions have been left without light, water or heat as winter sets in.

Speaking in a video address, President Zelensky said the capital and its surrounding region are among the worst affected by the attacks. He said many residents in the city have been without power "for 20 or even 30 hours".

He said other areas among the worst affected are the regions of Odesa, in the south, Lviv in the west, as well Vinnytsia and Dnipropetrovsk which are more central.

President Zelensky appealed to everyone to use appliances which use energy sparingly: "If you don't have a power outage, it doesn't mean the problem is over. Please, if you have electricity, this does not mean that you can turn on several powerful electrical appliances at once."

"We have to endure this winter, a winter that everyone will remember," he said

BBC
 
Ukraine nuclear boss says he sees signs Russia may leave occupied plant

KYIV, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The head of Ukraine's state-run nuclear energy firm said on Sunday there were signs that Russian forces might be preparing to leave the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which they seized in March soon after their invasion.

Such a move would be a major battlefield change in the partially-occupied southeastern Zaporizhzhia region where the front line has hardly shifted for months. Repeated shelling around the plant has spurred fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

2 minute readNovember 27, 20223:43 PM GMTLast Updated 40 min ago
Ukraine nuclear boss says he sees signs Russia may leave occupied plant
Reuters
A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant outside Enerhodar
A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict outside the city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, November 24, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo

KYIV, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The head of Ukraine's state-run nuclear energy firm said on Sunday there were signs that Russian forces might be preparing to leave the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which they seized in March soon after their invasion.

Such a move would be a major battlefield change in the partially-occupied southeastern Zaporizhzhia region where the front line has hardly shifted for months. Repeated shelling around the plant has spurred fears of a nuclear catastrophe.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Report an ad

"In recent weeks we are effectively receiving information that signs have appeared that they are possibly preparing to leave the (plant)," Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom, said on national television.

"Firstly, there are a very large number of reports in Russian media that it would be worth vacating the (plant) and maybe worth handing control (of it) to the (International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA)," he said, referring to the United Nations nuclear watchdog. "One gets the impression they're packing their bags and stealing everything they can."

Russia and Ukraine, which was the site of the world's worst nuclear accident in Chornobyl in 1986, have for months repeatedly accused each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia reactor complex, which is no longer generating energy.

Asked if it was too early to talk about Russian troops leaving the plant, Kotin said on television: "It's too early. We don't see this now, but they are preparing (to leave)."

"All of the (Ukrainian) personnel are forbidden to pass checkpoints and travel to Ukrainian(-controlled) territory."

The IAEA chief met a Russian delegation in Istanbul on Nov. 23 to discuss setting up a protection zone around the plant, Europe's largest, to prevent a nuclear disaster. Zaporizhzhia used to provide about a fifth of Ukraine's electricity.

Russia's RIA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov a day after the meeting as saying a decision on a protection zone should be taken "fairly quickly".

Ukraine this month recaptured the southern city of Kherson and a chunk of land on the right bank of the Dnipro in Kherson region that lies to the east of Zaporizhzhia province.

On Friday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Ukraine's three nuclear plants on government-held territory had been reconnected to the grid, two days after a Russian missile barrage forced them to shut for the first time in 40 years.

Reuters
 
<b>Winter shaping the war effort</b>

Deteriorating weather conditions have slowed down the overall pace of military operations on the battlefield, experts say, but fighting is expected to pick up again in the next few weeks as temperatures drop and the ground freezes.

“Ukrainian and Russian reporting from critical frontline areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine … indicates that operations on both sides are currently bogged down by heavy rain and resulting heavy mud,” read a paper from the Institute for the Study of War, a United States-based think-tank.

“Temperatures are forecasted to drop throughout Ukraine over the next week, which will likely freeze the ground and expedite the pace of fighting as mobility increases for both sides,” read the report.

As things stand currently, with heavy snowfall expected in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko says the electricity supply has been restored in 90 percent of residential buildings, while one-quarter of consumers are still without power.

Al Jazeera
 
Andreevka came under the control of Wagner PMC

Units of the PMC "Wagner" continue to move south of Bakhmut, breaking into the prepared enemy defenses and inflicting heavy losses on the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
 
UK must lead creation of tribunal to punish Russian war crimes, Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska says

Ukraine's first lady has urged the UK to lead the way in the creation of a special international tribunal to prosecute Russia for aggression against her nation - as she stressed that "just to stop the war is not enough".

Speaking to Sky News' Beth Rigby Interviews programme, Olena Zelenska said Russia is using sexual violence as "a weapon" and that she wants Rishi Sunak's government and MPs to help "find and punish those who perpetrated the war crimes".

Ms Zelenska claimed the youngest girl who was raped by the Russian occupiers was four years old and that the oldest survivor was 85.

Promising to raise her wish with the prime minister, Ms Zelenska said: "And, of course, until justice is done, we will not feel safe."

She continued: "I haven't had the chance to discuss with the prime minister yet, but I hope that I will do during the visit. So I've got the chance to do that and I know that the prime minister discussed it with the president of Ukraine.

"It's not an immediate solution. It can't be resolved just by a request. There's quite a complex number of players here, so that to start to kick-start the process.

"But the key thing is that what we do hope that the prime minister's leadership will actually prevail and lead to the creation of this."

Put to her that the International Criminal Court has only convicted two people for rape in the last 20 years and that it is evidently hard to get justice, Ukraine's first lady admitted it will be a "battle" - but said if the Ukrainian state and victims fight for justice together, "we will manage together".
Advertisement

Asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin has any conscience or is "simply a monster", Ms Zelenska replied: "The second one."

She also disclosed that she has no direct message for the Russian leader.

"I'll be very honest with you. I do not want to talk to him directly, ever. I do not want to be in that situation," Ms Zelenska said.

Probed on how important it is that President Putin faces justice for the crimes he has committed or has asked people to commit in Ukraine, the nation's first lady stressed that all those complicit in crimes should be reprimanded.

"I think it's not just one person as Putin, we are talking about collective Putin and we think that, and I think that, the whole collective Putin should be punished," she said.

In a deeply personal interview, Ms Zelenska - a mother of two children, the youngest being just nine years old - also described how the war in Ukraine is impacting her own family.

"Well, we do talk a lot about our children. Sometimes I feel they adapt faster than adults. They are much braver than adults. Volodymyr and I try to behave in such a way that they are not worried about us and know that everything is OK.

"I feel we're doing the right thing. My job is to keep them safe. Unfortunately, right now while we are talking, there is an air raid siren in Kyiv.

"At this very moment, my child is being picked up from school and taken home. And now I worry about whether he [my son] will make it home safely."

Asked about her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ms Zelenska discloses that her children "don't see their father very often" and that she tries "to give them the confidence and stability that they crave".

"When they see their father, we try to enjoy every minute. But, of course, we are looking forward to the time when we don't have to watch the time and count the minutes until we all have to go in different directions," she added.

Ukraine's first lady told Sky News it is her country's "main goal" to ensure peace is restored in the nation and that traditional Christmas celebrations can take place in 2023.

But she said Ukrainians will "warm each other with our hearts" this year, as Russia continues to attack the country's energy infrastructure including transmission lines, power stations and pipelines.

Ms Zelenska also urged Britons to both "enjoy Christmas" and "wish Ukraine peace as well in your Christmas wishes".

Ukraine's first lady later reiterated her call for the UK to become a leader in helping her nation achieve "justice" against Russia as she addressed an audience of MPs and peers that included Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer.

In front of both a Union Jack and a Ukrainian flag, she said: "We need to unite the world community just as it happened in January 1942 to support the special tribunal against the aggression of Russia against Ukraine."

SKY
 
ex-q-zit said:
UK must lead creation of tribunal to punish Russian war crimes, Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska says

Ukraine's first lady has urged the UK to lead the way in the creation of a special international tribunal to prosecute Russia for aggression against her nation - as she stressed that "just to stop the war is not enough".

Speaking to Sky News' Beth Rigby Interviews programme, Olena Zelenska said Russia is using sexual violence as "a weapon" and that she wants Rishi Sunak's government and MPs to help "find and punish those who perpetrated the war crimes".

Ms Zelenska claimed the youngest girl who was raped by the Russian occupiers was four years old and that the oldest survivor was 85.

Promising to raise her wish with the prime minister, Ms Zelenska said: "And, of course, until justice is done, we will not feel safe."

She continued: "I haven't had the chance to discuss with the prime minister yet, but I hope that I will do during the visit. So I've got the chance to do that and I know that the prime minister discussed it with the president of Ukraine.

"It's not an immediate solution. It can't be resolved just by a request. There's quite a complex number of players here, so that to start to kick-start the process.

"But the key thing is that what we do hope that the prime minister's leadership will actually prevail and lead to the creation of this."

Put to her that the International Criminal Court has only convicted two people for rape in the last 20 years and that it is evidently hard to get justice, Ukraine's first lady admitted it will be a "battle" - but said if the Ukrainian state and victims fight for justice together, "we will manage together".
Advertisement

Asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin has any conscience or is "simply a monster", Ms Zelenska replied: "The second one."

She also disclosed that she has no direct message for the Russian leader.

"I'll be very honest with you. I do not want to talk to him directly, ever. I do not want to be in that situation," Ms Zelenska said.

Probed on how important it is that President Putin faces justice for the crimes he has committed or has asked people to commit in Ukraine, the nation's first lady stressed that all those complicit in crimes should be reprimanded.

"I think it's not just one person as Putin, we are talking about collective Putin and we think that, and I think that, the whole collective Putin should be punished," she said.

In a deeply personal interview, Ms Zelenska - a mother of two children, the youngest being just nine years old - also described how the war in Ukraine is impacting her own family.

"Well, we do talk a lot about our children. Sometimes I feel they adapt faster than adults. They are much braver than adults. Volodymyr and I try to behave in such a way that they are not worried about us and know that everything is OK.

"I feel we're doing the right thing. My job is to keep them safe. Unfortunately, right now while we are talking, there is an air raid siren in Kyiv.

"At this very moment, my child is being picked up from school and taken home. And now I worry about whether he [my son] will make it home safely."

Asked about her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ms Zelenska discloses that her children "don't see their father very often" and that she tries "to give them the confidence and stability that they crave".

"When they see their father, we try to enjoy every minute. But, of course, we are looking forward to the time when we don't have to watch the time and count the minutes until we all have to go in different directions," she added.

Ukraine's first lady told Sky News it is her country's "main goal" to ensure peace is restored in the nation and that traditional Christmas celebrations can take place in 2023.

But she said Ukrainians will "warm each other with our hearts" this year, as Russia continues to attack the country's energy infrastructure including transmission lines, power stations and pipelines.

Ms Zelenska also urged Britons to both "enjoy Christmas" and "wish Ukraine peace as well in your Christmas wishes".

Ukraine's first lady later reiterated her call for the UK to become a leader in helping her nation achieve "justice" against Russia as she addressed an audience of MPs and peers that included Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer.

In front of both a Union Jack and a Ukrainian flag, she said: "We need to unite the world community just as it happened in January 1942 to support the special tribunal against the aggression of Russia against Ukraine."

SKY
Click to expand...

Wouldn’t trust a person who was posing for a magazine cover during a war
 
ex-q-zit said:
UK must lead creation of tribunal to punish Russian war crimes, Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska says

Ukraine's first lady has urged the UK to lead the way in the creation of a special international tribunal to prosecute Russia for aggression against her nation - as she stressed that "just to stop the war is not enough".

Speaking to Sky News' Beth Rigby Interviews programme, Olena Zelenska said Russia is using sexual violence as "a weapon" and that she wants Rishi Sunak's government and MPs to help "find and punish those who perpetrated the war crimes".

Ms Zelenska claimed the youngest girl who was raped by the Russian occupiers was four years old and that the oldest survivor was 85.

Promising to raise her wish with the prime minister, Ms Zelenska said: "And, of course, until justice is done, we will not feel safe."

She continued: "I haven't had the chance to discuss with the prime minister yet, but I hope that I will do during the visit. So I've got the chance to do that and I know that the prime minister discussed it with the president of Ukraine.

"It's not an immediate solution. It can't be resolved just by a request. There's quite a complex number of players here, so that to start to kick-start the process.

"But the key thing is that what we do hope that the prime minister's leadership will actually prevail and lead to the creation of this."

Put to her that the International Criminal Court has only convicted two people for rape in the last 20 years and that it is evidently hard to get justice, Ukraine's first lady admitted it will be a "battle" - but said if the Ukrainian state and victims fight for justice together, "we will manage together".
Advertisement

Asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin has any conscience or is "simply a monster", Ms Zelenska replied: "The second one."

She also disclosed that she has no direct message for the Russian leader.

"I'll be very honest with you. I do not want to talk to him directly, ever. I do not want to be in that situation," Ms Zelenska said.

Probed on how important it is that President Putin faces justice for the crimes he has committed or has asked people to commit in Ukraine, the nation's first lady stressed that all those complicit in crimes should be reprimanded.

"I think it's not just one person as Putin, we are talking about collective Putin and we think that, and I think that, the whole collective Putin should be punished," she said.

In a deeply personal interview, Ms Zelenska - a mother of two children, the youngest being just nine years old - also described how the war in Ukraine is impacting her own family.

"Well, we do talk a lot about our children. Sometimes I feel they adapt faster than adults. They are much braver than adults. Volodymyr and I try to behave in such a way that they are not worried about us and know that everything is OK.

"I feel we're doing the right thing. My job is to keep them safe. Unfortunately, right now while we are talking, there is an air raid siren in Kyiv.

"At this very moment, my child is being picked up from school and taken home. And now I worry about whether he [my son] will make it home safely."

Asked about her husband, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ms Zelenska discloses that her children "don't see their father very often" and that she tries "to give them the confidence and stability that they crave".

"When they see their father, we try to enjoy every minute. But, of course, we are looking forward to the time when we don't have to watch the time and count the minutes until we all have to go in different directions," she added.

Ukraine's first lady told Sky News it is her country's "main goal" to ensure peace is restored in the nation and that traditional Christmas celebrations can take place in 2023.

But she said Ukrainians will "warm each other with our hearts" this year, as Russia continues to attack the country's energy infrastructure including transmission lines, power stations and pipelines.

Ms Zelenska also urged Britons to both "enjoy Christmas" and "wish Ukraine peace as well in your Christmas wishes".

Ukraine's first lady later reiterated her call for the UK to become a leader in helping her nation achieve "justice" against Russia as she addressed an audience of MPs and peers that included Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer.

In front of both a Union Jack and a Ukrainian flag, she said: "We need to unite the world community just as it happened in January 1942 to support the special tribunal against the aggression of Russia against Ukraine."

SKY
Click to expand...

Meanwhile there are videos circulating of Ukranian soldiers executing Russian soldiers.
 
Russia Liberates Kurdyumovka

After yesterday's success with the liberation of Ozaryanovka and Zelenopolye, the liberation of Kurdyumovka was a matter of time.

It is reported from the localities that the settlement is completely under the control of the Russians. In addition, Wagner PMCs reached the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal.

"Bakhmut meat grinder" continues.
 
NATO pledges more aid to Kyiv as air raid sirens blare again across Ukraine

KYIV, Nov 29 (Reuters) - NATO allies promised on Tuesday more arms for Kyiv and equipment to help restore Ukrainian power and heat knocked out by Russian missile and drone strikes, as air raid sirens blared across Ukraine for the first time this week.

Ukrainians fled the streets for bomb shelters, although the all-clear later sounded across the country. In the eastern Donetsk region Russian forces pounded Ukrainian targets with artillery, mortar and tank fire.

Foreign ministers from the NATO alliance, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, began a two-day meeting in Bucharest, seeking ways both to keep Ukrainians safe and warm and to sustain Kyiv's military through a coming winter campaign.

"We need air defence, IRIS, Hawks, Patriots, and we need transformers (for our energy needs)," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters on the sidelines of the NATO meeting, enumerating various Western air defence systems.

"In a nutshell: Patriots and transformers are what Ukraine needs the most."

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO against providing Ukraine with Patriots and denounced the Atlantic alliance as a "criminal entity" for delivering arms to what he called "Ukrainian fanatics".

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russian President Vladimir Putin was "trying to use winter as a weapon of war" as Moscow's forces lose ground on the battlefield.

In a statement, NATO ministers condemned Russia's "persistent and unconscionable attacks on Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure" and confirmed a 2008 decision that Ukraine will eventually join the alliance. But it announced no concrete steps or timetable that would bring it closer to NATO.

U.S. and European officials said ministers would focus in their talks on non-lethal aid such as fuel, medical supplies and winter equipment, as well as on military assistance. Washington said it would provide $53 million to buy power grid equipment.

The foreign minister of Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, urged his NATO colleagues to take the political decision to send modern battle tanks to Ukraine to give them a military edge against Russian forces. Western powers have been reluctant to go down that road for fear of stoking direct conflict with Russia.

ACCUMULATING DAMAGE

Russia has been carrying out huge attacks on Ukraine's electricity transmission and heating infrastructure roughly weekly since October, in what Kyiv and its allies say is a deliberate campaign to harm civilians, a war crime.

Moscow says hurting civilians is not its aim but that their suffering will end only if Kyiv accepts its demands, which it has not spelled out. Although Kyiv says it shoots down most of the incoming missiles, the damage has been accumulating and the impact growing more severe with each strike.

A senior U.S. military official said on Tuesday Russia was firing unarmed cruise missiles that were designed to carry nuclear warheads at targets in Ukraine to try to deplete Kyiv's stocks of air defences.

The worst barrage so far was on Nov. 23, leaving millions of Ukrainians in cold and darkness. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainians at the start of this week to expect another soon that would be at least as damaging.

There are no political talks to end the war. Moscow has annexed Ukrainian territory which it says it will never relinquish; Ukraine says it will fight until it recovers all occupied land.

Kyiv said it wants weapons to help it end the war - by winning it.

"No eloquent speech will say more than concrete action. 'Patriot', 'F-16', or 'Leopard' for Ukraine," tweeted presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, referring to U.S. anti-aircraft missiles and fighter jets, and German tanks.

'RISKS ARE GROWING'

Russia called off nuclear talks with the United States this week at the last minute. Moscow said it had "no choice" but to cancel the talks, aimed at resuming inspections under an arms control treaty, because Washington refused to address its wider concerns about strategic stability.

Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as warning Washington of unspecified risks because of its support for Kyiv against what Russia calls a "special military operation" to disarm its neighbour.

"We are sending signals to the Americans that their line of escalation and ever deeper involvement in this conflict is fraught with dire consequences. The risks are growing," Ryabkov was quoted as saying.

In Kyiv, snow fell and temperatures were hovering around freezing as millions in and around the capital struggled to heat their homes. After a week of trying to restore electricity from the last attacks, national grid operator Ukrenergo said the system was still suffering a 30% shortfall of needed power.

Ukraine's military General Staff said on Tuesday evening Russian forces in the Donetsk region were continuing to focus their efforts on taking the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka. A Russian missile strike on Lyman killed one person and injured three others, it said.

Ukrainian aircraft carried out nine strikes targeting Russian servicemen and equipment, notably in the southern central Zaporizhzhia region, the General Staff said.

In the southern Kherson and Kriviy Rih regions, it added, Russian forces are consolidating their defences and keeping up artillery attacks, including on the city of Kherson which Ukraine recently recaptured.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Kherson regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said electricity had been restored to 50% of Kherson city after heavy Russian bombardment.

Both sides will have to keep troops supplied and healthy in cold, wet trenches for the first long winter of the war, a bigger challenge for the Russians as an invading force with longer and more vulnerable supply lines.

Reuters
 
Russia's Medvedev warns NATO over supplying Ukraine with Patriot systems

ov 29 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned NATO on Tuesday against providing Ukraine with Patriot missile defence systems, denouncing the alliance as a "criminal entity" for delivering arms to what he called "extremist regimes".

Medvedev, who once cast himself as a liberal moderniser as president from 2008 to 2012, has increasingly emerged as one of the most hawkish proponents of Russia's war in Ukraine, posting scathing denunciations of the West on his social media channels.

"If, as (NATO Secretary-General Jens) Stoltenberg hinted, NATO were to supply the Ukrainian fanatics with Patriot systems along with NATO personnel, they would immediately become a legitimate target of our armed forces," Medvedev wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

It was not clear from his message whether he was referring to Patriot systems, Ukrainian forces or NATO personnel becoming a target.

"The civilised world does not need this organisation. It must repent to humanity and be dissolved as a criminal entity," he wrote in an earlier post.

Ukraine has asked its Western partners for air defences, including U.S.-made Patriot systems, to protect it from Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.

NATO ministers have condemned what they call Russia's "persistent and unconscionable attacks on Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure", and pledged to step up their support for Kyiv.

Reuters
 
Russia Should Use Advanced Weapons In Ukraine War: Defence Minister

Russia's defence minister said on Wednesday that the armed forces should use new advanced weapons systems in the conflict in Ukraine.

"It is necessary to continue the modernisation and creation of promising systems with their subsequent use during the special military operation," Sergei Shoigu said at a defence ministry meeting of senior generals.

Shoigu, one of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies, did not specify which advanced weapons should be used, though he said he wanted to discuss with the generals new ways of improving artillery and missile attacks.

"New ways of using them in combat are being tested," Shoigu said, without giving specifics.

In Ukraine, Shoigu said, counter-battery fire was being improved by using long-range rocket systems such as Tornado-S and high-power "Malka" artillery systems.

"This makes it possible to effectively hit foreign rocket and artillery systems," Shoigu said. His comments were shown on state television.

The conflict in Ukraine, likely the deadliest in Europe since World War Two, has killed tens of thousands on both sides and raised fears of a much broader conflict between the U.S.-led NATO alliance and Russia.

NDTV
 
Russia Must Withdraw From Nuclear Plant For Protection Plan To Succeed: Ukraine

Bucharest: Russia must withdraw its heavy weapons and military personnel from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant if the U.N. atomic watchdog's efforts to create a protection zone are to succeed, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been shuttling between Russia and Ukraine for several months to secure a deal between the two parties to create a protection zone around the Russian-controlled plant to prevent a nuclear disaster.

Kuleba met Grossi in Bucharest on Tuesday on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial meeting just days after meeting a Russian delegation in Istanbul.

"We both agreed that Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has to be protected and to achieve that Russia has to withdraw its heavy weapons and military personnel from the station," Kuleba said.

"We will be considering ways on how to achieve this goal and Rafael will be doing shuttle diplomacy between Kyiv and Moscow on this."

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling at the plant in recent months that has damaged buildings and knocked out power lines supplying the plant that are crucial to cooling the six reactors' fuel and avoiding a nuclear meltdown.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state-run nuclear energy agency, to seize the plant's assets and transfer its Ukrainian staff to a new Russian legal entity. Kyiv said that move amounts to theft.

A European diplomatic source said the establishment of such a protection zone had been complicated since Ukraine retook the strategic city of Kherson.

"We want to create a protective zone, but are also facing Ukraine's legitimate desire to recover its territory including this power plant which is even more important strategically because of Ukraine's electricity needs since the Russians have bombarded its infrastructure," the source said.

"So we don't want to put in a system that would make Russian occupation legitimate."

NDTV
 
UK Unveils New Sanctions On Russia Over Ukraine Mobilisation

London: Britain Wednesday unveiled a new round of sanctions on Russian officials over the war in Ukraine, targeting those accused of spearheading recent mobilisation efforts and the recruitment of "criminal mercenaries".

The new package of 22 sanctions hit Russia's deputy prime minister Denis Manturov, who London said is responsible for overseeing the country's weapons industry and equipping newly mobilised troops.

It also targeted 10 governors and regional heads in places including Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kalmykia, from where it noted "a significant number" of conscripts have been drawn.

It follows the UK in July sanctioning 29 regional governors for their role in providing financial support to Russian proxy administrations in annexed parts of Ukraine.

Among the other new targets is Arkady Gostev, the head of Russia's prison service, for "supporting the recruitment of prisoners" into Russian mercenary outfit Wagner.

Western officials and Russian rights groups accuse Wagner's head Yevgeny Prigozhin -- a businessman close to the Kremlin -- of personally participating in a recruitment drive at Russian prisons to send to Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21 announced a partial mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists to be sent to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Western military intelligence say thousands of Wagner personnel are deployed there, in what one official told reporters earlier this month looked "more and more like an integral part of Russian forces".

"They have drafted criminals, including murderers and sex offenders, in exchange for pardons from President Putin," the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office said.

The new sanctions increase the number of individuals now targeted by London this year to 1,200, while more than 120 entities have been penalised in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Welcoming the punitive measures, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly branded Moscow's partial mobilisation decision a "desperate" but failing bid to overwhelm "valiant" Ukrainian forces.

"Today we have sanctioned individuals who have enforced this conscription, sending thousands of Russian citizens to fight in Putin's illegal and abhorrent war," he added.

"The UK will continue to use both sanctions and military aid to support Ukraine in the defence of their independence."

NDTV
 
bones said:
According to some Ukraine had lost less men than Russia. Well if Ursula's statement is anything to go by then either the Ukranians were lying all along or Russia has lost over 100k men. I am pretty sure that we know the Ukranians have been lying. The figure for Ukranian is probably more than double that now.

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_22_7307
Click to expand...

From the reports I have read, it seems Ukranians have lost upto 8-10X more troops compared to Russia.

It makes sense as Ukranian offences have been rather desperate.

Russia will also intensify its missile strikes on Ukranian facilities, mainly power. This is causing a rift between them, which doesnt help as Russia is not far from sending in its reservists.
 
KingKhanWC said:
From the reports I have read, it seems Ukranians have lost upto 8-10X more troops compared to Russia.

It makes sense as Ukranian offences have been rather desperate.

Russia will also intensify its missile strikes on Ukranian facilities, mainly power. This is causing a rift between them, which doesnt help as Russia is not far from sending in its reservists.
Click to expand...

Any chance you could provide a link to these reports, thank you.
 
Gilly said:
Any chance you could provide a link to these reports, thank you.
Click to expand...

No. In the UK the website is banned.

Besides, ALL PRO Nato and esp Israeli supporters will never accept what is written.

If you feel more Russians have been killed, believe it. It makes no difference as Russia has left Ukraine in tatters and eventually it will collapse or negotiate the new Russian lands.

What you should care about is why Britain and others are using terrorism against pipelines and bridges. Why UK and others are sending big weapons to Ukraine because this only makes it a risk for Britain, Europe and the World. USA has secretly been asking Ukraine to negotiate now, this wouldnt happen if Ukraine was winning.
 
Gilly said:
I'm not in the UK, we don't get much news on the conflict here so if you have good links it can help others find the information.
Click to expand...

Are you no longer seeing the BBC as the Gospal from God?

Here is a tip. BBC is pro-Ukraine more than some Ukrainians. Im sure you agree.

The most senior US general estimates that around 100,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured in the war in Ukraine.
Click to expand...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63580372

Acc to US its equal , therefore its fair to assume Ukrainian numbers are far higher due to propaganda.
 
KingKhanWC said:
Here you go, please dont thank me.

https://www.bbcstudios.com.au/

But its the MOST SENIOR US General saying equal deaths. Are you suggesting he's wrong and more Russians have been killed? IF so what is your est?
Click to expand...

I just asked if I could have a link to the report that Ukraine have lost upto 8-10X more troops compared to Russia.

I don't have an estimation, that's why I'm interested in the report that you have read, if we all read the same report then it is easy to see what we are talking about but if you read reports that no one else has access to then it is natural conclusions could be different.

So if you can just post a link to the report then we all have the same information.
 
Gilly said:
I just asked if I could have a link to the report that Ukraine have lost upto 8-10X more troops compared to Russia.

I don't have an estimation, that's why I'm interested in the report that you have read, if we all read the same report then it is easy to see what we are talking about but if you read reports that no one else has access to then it is natural conclusions could be different.

So if you can just post a link to the report then we all have the same information.
Click to expand...

He does not have a link. Not to a credible source for certain, Hence beating around the bush
 
The Ukranians have according to Rybar gone through 8 waves of mobilisation. The Russians have gone through 1 wave of mobilisation which has been extended.

That in itself should tell you the losses being suffered on both sides.
 
KingKhanWC said:
From the reports I have read, it seems Ukranians have lost upto 8-10X more troops compared to Russia.

It makes sense as Ukranian offences have been rather desperate.

Russia will also intensify its missile strikes on Ukranian facilities, mainly power. This is causing a rift between them, which doesnt help as Russia is not far from sending in its reservists.
Click to expand...

Please provide the link so we can put this to rest
 
Japan will use G7, UN roles to pressure Russia on Ukraine - foreign minister

TOKYO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Japan will use its turn next year in leadership roles at the Group of Seven and the United Nations to pressure Russia to halt its war in Ukraine, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi said at the Reuters NEXT conference.

"Russia's ongoing aggression against Ukraine is a clear violation of international law. It is an unacceptable and outrageous act threatening the very foundation of the international order," Hayashi said.

Japanese leaders have said Russia's attack on Ukraine poses a challenge to their own national security, and fear it may encourage North Korea to further threaten its neighbours and embolden China to use military force to push its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea and East Asia, including against nearby Taiwan.

Japan's presidency of the G7 industrial democracies in 2023 and its return for a two-year stint as a non-permanent Security Council member will give it a more conspicuous international platform to voice its concerns.

In October, the G7 committed to providing financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support to Ukraine for as long as necessary. Hayashi said Japan would work to keep the group united.

"No one nation can shrug Russia's aggression off as someone else's problem," Hayashi said. Japan wants to coordinate with other "G7 nations and like-minded countries to keep on good teamwork vis-a-vis such issues as Russia's aggression on Ukraine and other measures."

UNITED NATIONS

In May of next year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will host G7 leaders in Hiroshima for a summit that is expected to focus on threats posed by nuclear weapons.

Hayashi also reiterated that Japan would make a fresh push for United Nations reforms next year to tackle a "dysfunctional" Security Council that has failed to address Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

Japan, which is the third biggest contributor to the UN's budget, and is still designated by the UN as an "enemy state" along with other nations defeated in World War Two, has long advocated for expansion of the 15-member council, including the first addition of permanent seats since its creation almost eight decades ago.

"We would like to further strengthen the movement for reform for the United Nations," Hayashi told Reuters.

"Since the start of the United Nations, the membership has not changed. It should reflect the current status of the world, not in 1945," he added.

Such reforms will prove a difficult challenge given Russia's and China's vetoes on decisions, a privilege they enjoy with the United States, Britain and France.

The effort could, however, add pressure on Moscow over its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Frustration among the UN's 193 members is growing, said Hayashi. After Russia invaded Ukraine, almost three-quarters of the General Assembly voted to reprimand it.

Reuters
 
Ukraine says Russia pulls back forces from river towns opposite Kherson

KYIV, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Ukraine's military said on Thursday Russia had pulled some troops from towns on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from Kherson city, the first official Ukrainian report of a Russian withdrawal on what is now the main front line in the south.

The statement gave only limited details and made no mention of any Ukrainian forces having crossed the Dnipro. Ukrainian officials also stressed that Russia had intensified shelling across the river, knocking out power again in Kherson where electricity had only begun to be restored nearly three weeks after Russian troops vacated the city and fled across the river.

Since Russia abandoned Kherson last month, nine months into its invasion of Ukraine, the river now forms the entire southern stretch of the front.

Russia has already told civilians to leave towns within 15 km of the river and withdrawn its civilian administration from the city of Nova Kakhovka on the bank. Ukrainian officials have previously said Russia pulled back some artillery near the river to safer positions further away, but until now had stopped short of saying Russian forces were quitting towns.

"A decrease in the number of Russian soldiers and military equipment is observed in the settlement of Oleshky," the military said, referring to the town opposite Kherson city, on the far side of a destroyed bridge over the Dnipro.

"Enemy troops were withdrawn from certain settlements of the Kherson oblast and dispersed in forest strips along the section of the Oleshky - Hola Prystan highway," it said, referring to a 25-km (15-mile) stretch of road through riverside towns scattered in woods on the bank opposite Kherson city.

It said most of the Russian troops in the area are recently mobilised reservists, suggesting that Moscow's best-trained professional troops had already left.

Reuters could not independently confirm the report.

Separately, Ukraine tightened security at its diplomatic missions around the world on Thursday after a mail bomb exploded at its embassy in Madrid, one of several devices sent to targets in Spain, including to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Ambassador Serhii Pohoreltsev told the Ukrainian news site European Pravda that the suspicious package addressed to him had been opened outside the building by the embassy's Ukrainian commandant, who was injured in the blast.

"After opening the box and hearing a click that followed, he tossed it and then heard the explosion," he said. "Despite not holding the box at the time of the explosion, the commandant hurt his hands and received a concussion."

New air raid sirens wailed again across Ukraine on Thursday and residents took to shelters, but there were no immediate reports of major missile strikes and the warning was lifted.

Since early October, Russia has also launched near weekly massive missile and drone attacks across Ukraine to knock out its power supply, water and heat, which Kyiv and the West say is intended to harm civilians, a war crime.

The last huge volley of strikes last week knocked out heat and power for millions, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Ukrainians to expect another wave soon.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov defended those strikes on Thursday, saying Moscow was targeting Ukraine's civil infrastructure to prevent Kyiv from importing Western arms. He did not explain how such attacks could achieve that aim.

"We disable energy facilities (in Ukraine) that allow you (the West) to pump lethal weapons into Ukraine to kill Russians," Lavrov said.

Kyiv said on Thursday recent volleys had included dud Russian missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, fired with no payload apparently to distract Ukrainian air defences.

BATTLEGROUND

The Ukraine war is entering a relentless new phase with the onset of the first winter since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

After pulling back in the south in November, Moscow has focused its firepower on a section of the front line in the east near the city of Bakhmut, where hundreds of soldiers are thought to be dying each day in fighting in cold and muddy trenches, yielding scant reported gains of territory on either side.

Ukraine's armed forces reported heavy shelling of a number of frontline villages in the area.

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine had handed over 50 prisoners in the latest exchange between the two countries. Moscow is expected to release a similar number.

There are no political talks under way to end the war, which Russia launched as a "special military operation" claiming its aim was to disarm its neighbour and root out leaders it characterises as dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and the West call it an imperialist land grab. The war has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides.

The European Union called this week for a special tribunal to prosecute Russian officials accused of aggression, the war crime of attacking another state without justification.

"As for attempts to establish some kind of tribunal: they will have no legitimacy, will not be accepted by us and we will condemn them," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a briefing call with reporters on Thursday.

Ukraine's nuclear power company said it had sacked a senior engineer at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for collaborating with Russia, a day after Moscow said the engineer, Yuriy Chernichuk, was promoted to become the plant's new boss.

In October, Russia said it was taking control of the plant, which is located in Russian-held territory along the Dnipro but still operated by Ukrainian engineers. Kyiv says the plant still belongs to Ukraine and Russia's seizure is illegal.

Reuters
 
U.S. embassy latest target in spate of letter bombs in Spain

MADRID, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Bomb disposal experts defused a letter bomb at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid on Thursday, the sixth such device sent to high-profile targets in a wave that prompted Spain to step up security and vow not to be deterred from supporting Ukraine.

The campaign began with a package sent to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Nov. 24, spurring Madrid to tighten security around public buildings. Since Wednesday, similar devices have also been sent to the defence ministry, an air force base, a weapons manufacturer and the Ukrainian embassy - where a security officer was slightly injured.

Defence Minister Margarita Robles, who was visiting the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Thursday and met her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, said the letter bombs would not deter Spain from supporting Ukraine's "just cause".

"What must be very clear is that none of these deliveries or any other violent action will change the clear and firm commitment of Spain, NATO countries and the European Union to support Ukraine," she said.

The latest package was intercepted at the U.S. Embassy by security officials and was later detonated in a controlled explosion by Spanish police.

On Wednesday, a package addressed to the Ukrainian ambassador to Spain detonated at the country's embassy as a security official investigated it, causing him to suffer minor injuries to his hands and a concussion. Security has now been stepped up around embassies as well.

Later on Wednesday, Instalaza, an arms manufacturer in Zaragoza, northeastern Spain, that has send more than 1,000 C90 rocket launchers to Ukraine received another package. On Thursday an air force base housing a European Union satellite centre, Spain's defence ministry and the U.S. Embassy also received packages.

UKRAINE POINTS FINGER AT MOSCOW

After the package sent to the Ukrainian embassy detonated, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered all of Kyiv's embassies abroad to "urgently" strengthen security.

Ukraine's ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, appeared to blame Russia.

"We have instructions from the ministry in Ukraine that given the situation we have to be prepared for any kind of incident... Russian activities outside the country," he told Spanish television station TVE on Wednesday.

Russia invaded Ukraine nine months ago in what it calls a "special military operation" that Kyiv and the West describe as an unprovoked, imperialist land grab.

Spain has sent or committed to send military and humanitarian equipment to support Ukraine in the conflict, including surface-to-air missile launchers, a battery of six light howitzers, ammunition and body armour and light weapons as well as offering its airmen training in air defence in Spain.

On Thursday, the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Spain posted a statement condemning "any threat or terrorist act" in relation to the five letter bombs, "particularly directed at a diplomatic mission".

"SUDDEN FLAMES"

The delivery of letter bombs across the Spanish capital caused road closures and traffic chaos around major diplomatic and public buildings.

Speaking before the latest package was found at the U.S. Embassy, Spain's deputy interior minister said early indications suggested the first five packages were sent from within Spain.

Rafael Perez, the junior minister responsible for security, told a news conference that the homemade devices were sent in brown packages containing a flammable powder and tripwire that would generate "sudden flames" rather than an explosion.

The packages were addressed to the heads of the institutions they were sent to.

One device had been kept intact for investigative purposes, Perez said, while the others were detonated by the security forces in controlled explosions.

"It appears that they were all sent from within the country but we are basing this on early visual inspections without yet having an in-depth technical report," he said.

Perez said it did not yet appear necessary to convene the security committee that would evaluate stepping up Spain's terrorist threat level, already at the second-highest level following Islamist attacks around Europe over the past decade.

A source close to the investigation said that while the devices were homemade, "they were not something anyone could make", and investigators were now seeking to trace their contents to their origin.

Another source involved in the judicial investigation said the large envelopes all had the same typeface and appeared to have come from the same sender. They contained an "electrical ignition mechanism" and a substance similar to gunpowder, the source said.

The postal service has been told to screen all letters addressed to high-profile institutions, he added.

Spain's High Court that specialises in terrorism has opened an investigation.

Reuters
 
Gilly said:
I just asked if I could have a link to the report that Ukraine have lost upto 8-10X more troops compared to Russia.

I don't have an estimation, that's why I'm interested in the report that you have read, if we all read the same report then it is easy to see what we are talking about but if you read reports that no one else has access to then it is natural conclusions could be different.

So if you can just post a link to the report then we all have the same information.
Click to expand...

I would suggest you read my post more carefully. I wrote I've read REPORTS , this is plural. Ive been following this conflict for months. Try various sources, Al Jazeera, Military pages, Russian Ministry of Defence, US generals etc. Reading these over months its my estimate. Im not going to do your homework.
 
BBC News
Russia says the West's refusal to recognise "new territories" seized from Ukraine makes peace talks harder, after President Joe Biden indicated he would be ready to meet Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin said it was open to negotiations, but not on the West's demand to pull out of Ukraine.

Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions at the end of September, without controlling any of them.

Nine months into its invasion, it has lost more than half the land it seized.

President Biden told reporters on Thursday night that he was ready to meet the Russian leader "if in fact there is an interest in him deciding that he's looking for a way to end the war".
 
Vladimir Putin Says Strikes On Ukraine's Infrastructure "Inevitable"

Moscow: President Vladimir Putin said on Friday Russia's strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure were "inevitable" as the Kremlin rejected US President Joe Biden's terms for talks and warned the assault would continue.

After suffering humiliating military defeats during what has become the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II, Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure in October, causing sweeping blackouts.

Speaking with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the first time since mid-September, Vladimir Putin slammed what he called the West's "destructive" policies in Ukraine and said Russian strikes were a response to "provocative" attacks from Kyiv.

Moscow "had long refrained from precision missile strikes against certain targets on the territory of Ukraine", Vladimir Putin told Olaf Scholz, according to a Kremlin readout of the phone talks.

"But now such measures have become a forced and inevitable response to Kyiv's provocative attacks on Russia's civilian infrastructure," the Kremlin said, referring in particular to the October attack on a bridge linking Moscow-annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland.

During the hour-long call with Mr Putin, Mr Scholz "urged the Russian president to come as quickly as possible to a diplomatic solution including the withdrawal of Russian troops", according to the German leader's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.

President Putin urged Berlin to "reconsider its approaches in the context of the Ukrainian events", the Kremlin said.

He accused the West of carrying out "destructive" policies in Ukraine, stressing that its political and financial aid "leads to the fact that Kyiv completely rejects the idea of any negotiations".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had ruled out any talks with Russia while President Putin is in power shortly after the Kremlin claimed to have annexed several Ukrainian regions.

Offensive 'continues'

The Kremlin also indicated Moscow was in no mood for talks over Ukraine, after President Biden said he would be willing to sit down with President Putin if the Russian leader truly wanted to end the fighting.

"What did President Biden say in fact? He said that negotiations are possible only after Putin leaves Ukraine," Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding Moscow was "certainly" not ready to accept those conditions.

"The special military operation continues," he added, using the Kremlin term for the assault launched on February 24.

Russia's strikes have destroyed close to half of the Ukrainian energy system and left millions in the cold and dark at the onset of winter.

In the latest estimates from Kyiv, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Volodymyr Zelensky, said as many as 13,000 Ukrainian troops have died in the fighting.

Both Moscow and Kyiv are suspected of minimising their losses to avoid damaging the morale.

Top US general Mark Milley last month said more than 100,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded in Ukraine, with Kyiv's forces likely suffering similar casualties.

'We are not defeated'

The fighting in Ukraine has also claimed the lives of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions to flee their homes.

Those who remain in the country have had to cope with emergency blackouts as authorities sought to relieve the pressure on the energy infrastructure.

In an attempt to boost the mood in the capital Kyiv, musicians played a classical music concert on Thursday with hundreds of LED candles lighting up the stage.

"We thought it was a good idea to save energy," Irina Mikolaenko, one of the concert's organisers, told AFP.

She said they wanted to spread "inspiration, light and love" and "tell people that we are not defeated".

Ukrainian officials have said they are expecting a new wave of Russian attacks shortly.

Meanwhile, Western nations have been seeking ways to further starve Russia of resources to fight in Ukraine by imposing a price cap on its oil exports on top of a multitude of sanctions already introduced against Moscow.

On Thursday evening, European diplomats were close to nodding the plan through, but Poland refused to back the scheme, saying the $60 a barrel ceiling was not low enough.

Moscow has previously warned that it will not export oil to countries enforcing a price cap.

NDTV
 
"No Surrender": Ragtag Militia Helps Hold Ukraine In Donbas

Donetsk, Ukraine: Underarmed and with limited ammunition, Volodymyr Regesha is adamant his volunteer battalion won't be joining the Ukrainian army even if it means taking their chances on the front.

For nearly eight years, the leader of "Santa's Unit" has helped bolster Ukraine's frontline in the eastern Donbas region, insisting that they have done it on their own terms.

"The motivation is simple. An enemy has come to my land. Period. No more motivation is needed," the hulking figure with a thick, greying beard told AFP.

"For us, success is signified by the fact that we do not retreat, but hold on to these positions with our teeth," Regesha said while taking gentle drags on a cigarette as salvos of Russian artillery exploded in the distance, rattling the windows of his cottage.

His phone constantly vibrated with messages arriving from the front, detailing the progress or setbacks of the latest fight.

"It will be quiet now," he said after a heavy barrage and a spate of texts. Moments later, an eerie calm settled in.

- Far right fears -

The 48-year-old has been fighting in this south-eastern stretch of Donbas since a Russian-backed separatist movement first began waging war against Kyiv in 2014.

It was then, with the Ukrainian army in disarray, that so-called volunteer battalions first took up arms to blunt the onslaught and little by little began to claw back territory lost to the insurgents.

"The appearance of volunteer battalions played a positive role," said Sergiy Zgurets, a Kyiv-based military analyst. "It was society's response to the threat that arose."

For men like Regesha, the militias offered the fastest way to the frontline, bypassing the bureaucracy and waiting periods that came with official enlistment in the Ukrainian military.

Most of the battalions were eventually incorporated into the national guard and brought under the military's chain of command, as part of an effort to professionalise the forces and weed out extremists.

Regesha first joined the Right Sector ultranationalist battalion, but later split from the group and formed his own force that he commands to this day.

However, the groups have been dogged by controversy as fears grew that the battalions had become potential breeding grounds for far-right activists to receive military training.

The existence of the battalions served as part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's pretext for invading Ukraine in February in his quest to "de-Nazify" the country.

Regesha dismissed the accusations, saying he and his fighters are simply patriots.

"If Russians love their country, this is considered loving the motherland. And when a Ukrainian loves his own country, he is called a nationalist or even a Nazi," he said.

Lacking official enlistment standards, the militia over the years has attracted a motley crew of characters imbued with outlaw bravado -- including foreign nationals, amputees and the elderly.

The commander however remains coy about the precise numbers in his group, only offering that he has "enough".

"I was not taken into the army, because I was already old," said a 71-year-old member of the group who goes by the call sign Grandpa. "That's why I joined the volunteer battalion."

- 'Punch them in the teeth' -

While he remains formally outside of the military, Regesha said Ukraine's armed forces depend on his troops.

When the full-scale Russian invasion erupted, Regesha wanted to redeploy his fighters to defend Kyiv, but the military asked him to stay put in Donbas to help repel the Kremlin's thrust there.

"For eight years there has been war here. That's why there was no shock or panic. We were ready to punch them in the teeth," he insisted.

The arrangement is a Faustian bargain, he admitted, that allows them greater freedom in the field but also means they have more limited access to heavy weapons and much-needed ammunition.

"I'm not a man of the system," said Regesha, while pointing out that joining the chain of command comes with its own risks.

The Azov Regiment, a former volunteer battalion, came under the military's control in 2014. The group gained international notoriety in the early days of the war with their defiant last stand at a Soviet-era steel plant in Mariupol.

While their fierce resistance earned them widespread adoration in Ukraine, Regesha drew other lessons from the battle.

In May, the outnumbered and outgunned Azov fighters were ordered to surrender by the high command in Kyiv and fell into Russian hands.

In the months afterwards Azov captives began to trickle out in prisoner exchanges, with emancipated soldiers claiming they had been starved and tortured.

Regesha is sure that a similar fate, or perhaps worse, would await his group if they were to fall into Russia's hands.

"It is clear that we must not be captured, because it would be a long and painful death," he said.

"None of us can surrender... but God forbid if someday we have to make such a choice, we will fight until the very end."

NDTV
 
Last edited:
EU, G7, Australia to cap price on Russian oil at $60 per barrel
Price cap aims to reduce Russia’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine from selling crude oil internationally.
The Group of Seven (G7) nations, Australia and the European Union have agreed on a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil as part of an international campaign to curb Russia’s ability to finance its war against Ukraine through energy sales.

The EU agreed on the price on Friday after holdout Poland gave its support, paving the way for formal approval over the weekend.

The G7 and Australia said in a statement the price cap would take effect on December 5 or very soon thereafter.

“The Price Cap Coalition may also consider further action to ensure the effectiveness of the price cap,” the statement read. No details were immediately available on what further actions could be taken.

The price cap, a G7 idea, aims to reduce Russia’s income from selling oil while preventing a spike in global oil prices after an EU embargo on Russian crude takes effect on December 5.

Poland had resisted the proposed $60 level and had pushed in EU negotiations for the cap to be as low as possible to squeeze revenues to Russia and limit Moscow’s ability to finance the war.

Poland’s EU Ambassador Andrzej Sados told reporters his country had backed the EU deal, which included a mechanism to keep the oil price cap at least 5 percent below the market rate.

US officials said the deal was unprecedented and demonstrated the resolve of the coalition opposing Russia’s war on Ukraine.

After a last-minute flurry of negotiations on Friday, the EU presidency, currently held by the Czech Republic, tweeted that “ambassadors have just reached an agreement on price cap for Russian seaborne #oil”.

Why cap the price of oil?
The introduction of the cap means participating countries will only be allowed to buy oil and petroleum products transported via sea that are sold at or below the price cap.

As the most important shipping and insurance firms are based in G7 countries, the price cap would make it very difficult for Russia to sell its oil at a higher price.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the price cap would significantly reduce Russia’s revenues.

However, the chair of the Russian lower house’s foreign affairs committee told state news agency TASS that the bloc was jeopardising its own energy security.

It was also violating the laws of the market, Leonid Slutsky said.

Von der Leyen said on Twitter that “it will help us stabilise global energy prices, benefitting emerging economies around the world”, adding that the cap would be “adjustable over time” to react to market developments.


The White House welcomed the news.
“A price cap will help limit Mr Putin’s ability to profiteer off the oil market so that he can continue to fund a war machine that continues to kill innocent Ukrainians,” national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Europe needed to set the discounted price that other nations will pay by Monday, when the EU embargo on Russian oil shipped by sea and a ban on insurance for those supplies takes effect.

“Crippling Russia’s energy revenues is at the core of stopping Russia’s war machine,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said, adding that she was happy the cap was pushed down a few extra dollars from earlier proposals.

She said every dollar the cap was reduced amounted to $2bn less for Russia’s war chest.


“It is no secret that we wanted the price to be lower,” Kallas added, highlighting the differences within the EU.

“A price between 30-40 dollars is what would substantially hurt Russia. However, this is the best compromise we could get.”

The $60 figure sets the cap near the current price of Russia’s crude, which recently fell below $60 a barrel. There has been criticism that it is not low enough to cut into one of Russia’s main sources of income. It is still a big discount to international benchmark Brent, which slid to $85.48 a barrel on Friday, but could be high enough for Moscow to keep selling even while rejecting the idea of a cap.

Putin has previously warned that Russia would not sell oil under a price cap and would retaliate against nations that implement the measure.

Putin and Biden: Will they, or won’t they?
It is unlikely that Putin and US President Joe Biden will be speaking anytime soon, about oil or the war in Ukraine.

Biden was not intending to speak to Putin right now, the White House said on Friday, a day after the US leader said he was willing to talk if his Russian counterpart was looking for a way to end the war.

Biden said on Thursday that he was prepared to speak with Putin “if, in fact, there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war”. But he added that Putin “hasn’t done that yet”.

Kirby told reporters on Friday that “we’re just not at a point now where talks seem to be a fruitful avenue to approach right now”.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Putin remains open to talks but the Western demand that Moscow first withdraws its troops from Ukraine is unacceptable.

Al-Jazeera
 
Russia says it won't accept oil price cap and is preparing response

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Russia "will not accept" a price cap on its oil and is analysing how to respond, the Kremlin said in comments reported on Saturday, in response to a deal by Western powers aimed at limiting a key source of funding for its war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had made preparations for Friday's price cap announcement by the Group of Seven nations, the European Union and Australia, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.

"We will not accept this cap," RIA news agency quoted him as saying. He added that Russia would conduct a rapid analysis of the agreement and respond after that, RIA reported.

Russia has repeatedly said it will not supply oil to countries that implement the cap - a stance reaffirmed by Mikhail Ulyanov, Moscow's ambassador to international organisations in Vienna, in posts on social media on Saturday.

"Starting from this year Europe will live without Russian oil," he said.

The G7 price cap will allow non-EU countries to continue importing seaborne Russian crude oil, but it will prohibit shipping, insurance and re-insurance companies from handling cargoes of Russian crude around the globe, unless it is sold for less than $60. That could complicate the shipment of Russian crude priced above the cap, even to countries which are not part of the agreement.

Russian Urals crude traded at around $67 a barrel on Friday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the cap will particularly benefit low- and medium-income countries that have borne the brunt of high energy and food prices.

"With Russia's economy already contracting and its budget increasingly stretched thin, the price cap will immediately cut into (President Vladimir) Putin’s most important source of revenue," Yellen said in a statement.

In comments published on Telegram, Russia's embassy in the United States criticised what it called the "dangerous" Western move and said Moscow would continue to find buyers for its oil.

"Steps like these will inevitably result in increasing uncertainty and imposing higher costs for raw materials' consumers," it said.

"Regardless of the current flirtations with the dangerous and illegitimate instrument, we are confident that Russian oil will continue to be in demand."

Reuters
 
Ukraine war shows Europe too reliant on U.S., Finland PM says

HELSINKI, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shown that Europe is too reliant on the United States for its own security, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Friday.

Speaking at a think tank in Sydney, Australia, Marin advocated boosting Europe's defence capabilities, including arms production.

"I must be brutally honest with you, Europe isn't strong enough right now. We would be in trouble without the United States," Marin told an audience at the Lowy Institute.

She added she had spoken with many U.S. politicians who had said they think Europe should be stronger.

"The United States has given a lot of weapons, a lot of financial aid, a lot of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Europe isn't strong enough yet," Marin said.

"We have to make sure that we are building those capabilities when it comes to European defence, European defence industry."

In a recent speech in Helsinki, Marin said Europe was currently too reliant on China for technology and should invest more in fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Reuters
 
The fighting in Ukraine has been slowing down and this will likely continue in the coming winter months, US intelligence agencies believe.

However, there has been no evidence of fading resistance on the part of Ukrainian forces, US director of intelligence Avril Haines said.

She said both sides would try to "refit, resupply and reconstitute" for any counter-offensive in the spring.

It follows Russian attacks on Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure.

The war in Ukraine is now in its ninth month, but Russia has lost more than half the land it seized.

Ms Haines told a defence forum in California that most of the fighting is currently around the Bakhmut and Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

She said fighting had slowed down following Russia's withdrawal of troops from the west of the Kherson region last month.

"We're seeing a kind of a reduced tempo already of the conflict... and we expect that's likely to be what we see in the coming months," she said.

She said both Ukraine and Russian militaries would be looking to to prepare for any counter-offensive after the winter.

"But we actually have a fair amount of scepticism as to whether or not the Russians will be, in fact, prepared to do that," she said.

"I think more optimistically for the Ukrainians in that time frame."

BBC
 
Ukraine Slaps Pro-Russia Church Clerics With Sanctions: Report

Ukraine is slapping sanctions on 10 senior clerics linked to a pro-Moscow church on the grounds they agreed to work with Russian occupation authorities or justified Moscow's invasion, the security service said on Saturday.

The announcement is the latest in a series of steps against a Ukrainian branch of the Orthodox Church linked historically to Moscow. The Orthodox Church in Russia itself backs the war.

In a statement, the security services said the 10 clerics had variously agreed to cooperate with occupation authorities, promoted pro-Russian narratives and justified Russian military aggression in Ukraine.

Most of the clerics - all either members of the church or closely linked to it - live in territories controlled by Russia or are abroad, the service said.

"The Security Service of Ukraine continues to carry out comprehensive work on the protection of Ukrainian statehood and will continue to expose persons who threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," it said.

The Ukrainian branch formally severed ties with the Russian Orthodox Church last May, but is still mistrusted by many Ukrainians and accused of secret co-operation with Russia.

The sanctions, which last for five years, will freeze the assets of those on the list, block them from exporting capital from Ukraine and prevent them from owning land.

The security service has also carried out several raids on parishes and buildings linked to the church, which says it has always followed Ukrainian laws.

Orthodox Christians make up the majority of Ukraine's 43 million people. Since the collapse of Soviet rule, competition has been fierce between the Moscow-linked church and an independent Ukrainian church proclaimed soon after independence.

NDTV
 
Ukraine war: Oil prices rise as cap on Russian crude looms

Oil prices have risen after major producers agreed to continue to cut output and the G7 and its allies agreed to cap the price of Russian oil.

Brent crude rose by about 0.6% to above $86 a barrel on Monday morning.

On Friday, the G7 agreed to cap the price of Russian oil at $60 a barrel to raise pressure on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, oil producers' group Opec+ said at the weekend it would stick to its policy of reducing output.

Opec+ is a group of 23 oil-exporting countries, including Russia, which meets regularly to decide how much crude oil to sell on the world market.

"This decision by Opec+ to keep the quota where it is... is by itself an implicit sort of support to the oil market," Kang Wu of S&P Global Commodity Insights told the BBC.

Analysts said oil prices had also been boosted by the easing of Covid restrictions in some Chinese cities, which could lead to an increase in demand for oil.

More cities in China, including Urumqi in the north west, have said they will loosen curbs after mass protests against the country's zero-Covid policy.

Price cap
In a joint statement last week, the G7 and Australia said the $60 cap on Russian oil would come into force on Monday or "very soon thereafter".

They said the measure was meant to "prevent Russia from profiting from its war of aggression against Ukraine".

The price cap means only Russian oil bought for less than $60 a barrel will be allowed to be shipped using G7 and EU tankers, insurance companies and credit institutions.

This could make it difficult for Moscow to sell its oil at a higher price, because many major shipping and insurance companies are based within the G7.

Russia has said it will not accept the price cap, and has threatened to stop exporting oil to countries adopting the measures.

Jorge Leon, senior vice-president at Norwegian energy consultancy Rystad Energy, told the BBC's Today programme that oil prices could increase as a result.

"Russia has been very clear that they will not sell crude (oil) to anybody signing up to the price cap," he said.

"So probably what's going to happen is that we will see some disruptions in the coming months and therefore probably oil prices are going to start increasing again in the coming weeks."

The G7 is an organisation of the world's seven largest so-called "advanced" economies, which dominate global trade and the international financial system. They are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the United States.

Supply fears
Prices of oil and gas have soared on concerns that Russia's invasion of Ukraine could hit supply.

Russia is the world's second top producer of crude oil after Saudi Arabia, and supplies around a third of Europe's needs.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the price cap would further constrain Russian President Vladimir Putin's finances and "limit the revenues he's using to fund his brutal invasion" while avoiding disrupting global supplies.

However, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called the cap "a weak position" that was not "serious" enough to damage to the Russian economy.

An EU-wide ban on Russian crude oil imported by sea will also take effect on Monday.

Although the measures will most certainly be felt by Russia, the blow will be partially softened by its move to sell its oil to other markets such as India and China, who are currently the largest single buyers of Russian crude oil.

BBC
 
Russia Launches New Missile Strikes On Ukraine, At Least 2 Killed

Kyiv: Ukraine said Russia had destroyed homes in the south and knocked out power in the north in a new round of missile attacks on Monday as the West tried to limit Moscow's ability to finance its invasion by imposing a price cap on Russian seaborne oil.

Air alerts sounded across Ukraine and officials urged civilians to take shelter from what they said was the latest in waves of Russian missile strikes since its Feb. 24 invasion.

Two people were killed in the Zaporizhzhia region where several houses were destroyed, the deputy head of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said in one of the first reports of the damage. Buildings had been hit in the suburbs of the city of Zaporizhzhia and some Russian missiles had been shot down, a city official said.

The governor of the Kyiv region said its air defences were working there, and told residents to remain in shelters. An energy provider said power had been knocked out on the northern region of Sumy in the latest missile strikes.

Russian forces have increasingly targeted Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks as they faced setbacks on the battlefield, causing major power outages as winter sets in.

"Don't ignore the alarm," said Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential staff.

Ukraine had only just returned to scheduled power outages from Monday rather than the emergency blackouts it has suffered since widespread Russian strikes on Nov. 23, the worst of the attacks on energy infrastructure that began in early October.

Russia has said the attacks are designed to degrade Ukraine's military. Ukraine says they are clearly aimed at civilians and thus constitute a war crime.

A $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil came into force on Monday, the latest Western measure to punish Moscow over its invasion. Russia is the world's second-largest oil exporter.

The agreement allows Russian oil to be shipped to third-party countries using G7 and EU tankers, insurance companies and credit institutions, only if the cargo is bought at or below the $60 per barrel cap.

Moscow has said it will not abide by the measure even if it has to cut production. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said $60 was too high to stop Russia's assault.

A Russian oil blend was selling for around $79 a barrel in Asian markets on Monday - almost a third higher than the price cap, according to Refinitiv data and estimates from industry sources.

On the ground in Ukraine, both sides reported casualties from attacks overnight, on an industrial enterprise and another location in southern Ukraine and on state-run accommodation in Russian-held territory in the east. Reuters was not immediately able to verify those reports.

NDTV
 
Ukrainians face emergency blackouts after Russian missile attacks
Outages will be most severe in the Kyiv region, as teams work to repair damaged infrastructure in freezing conditions.

Ukraine has warned of more emergency blackouts, particularly in the Kyiv region, after a wave of Russian missile attacks damaged energy infrastructure that had only just been repaired.

The barrage of missiles, which plunged parts of Ukraine back into freezing darkness with temperatures below 0C (32F), was the latest in weeks of attacks hitting critical infrastructure.

At least four people were killed, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address late on Monday, adding that most of the estimated 70 missiles had been shot down.

“In many regions, there will have to be emergency blackouts,” Zelenskyy said. “We will be doing everything to restore stability.”

The national electricity provider Ukrenergo said on Telegram that there would be renewed power cuts in all regions of Ukraine “due to the consequences of shelling”.

About half of the Kyiv region – which does not include the capital and had a population of about 1.8 million before the war – will be without electricity in the coming days, the region’s governor said.

The attack caused damage to power plants in the regions of Kyiv and Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, Odesa in the south and Sumy in the north, officials said.

Nearly half of Ukraine’s energy system has already been damaged after months of raids on power infrastructure, leaving people in the cold and dark for hours at a time.

The country had only just returned on Monday to scheduled power outages rather than the emergency blackouts it has suffered since November 23, the most intense day of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.

Ukraine says such attacks are aimed at civilians and constitute war crimes; Moscow denies targeting civilians.

The United States said it would convene a virtual meeting on Thursday with oil and gas executives to discuss how it can support Ukrainian energy infrastructure, according to a letter seen by the Reuters news agency.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia would fail in its “current gambit of trying to, in effect, get the Ukrainian people to throw up their hands”.

“The point is this, unless and until Russia demonstrates that it’s interested in meaningful diplomacy, it can’t go anywhere. If and when it does, we’ll be the first to be ready to help out,” he said at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council in Washington, DC.

Russian bases hit
Moscow on Monday confirmed a “massive attack on Ukrainian military command systems and related defence, communications, energy and military facilities” as it blamed Ukraine for drone attacks on two airbases inside Russia, which left three soldiers dead and two aircraft damaged.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks. If it was behind them, they would be the farthest incursions inside Russian territory since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said it was “likely” Ukrainian forces were behind the attacks, and noted that anger over Moscow’s inability to prevent them outweighed praise for the latest raids on Ukrainian infrastructure among influential military bloggers.

Russia’s defence ministry said the attacks were “acts of terrorism” intended to disable long-range aircraft and that the low-flying drones had been shot down. The deaths were reported on the Ryazan base, 185km (115 miles) southeast of Moscow.

Meanwhile, on the war’s front lines in Ukraine’s east, Russian soldiers were attempting to cut roads to the town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region from the west and northwest, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on YouTube.

Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian television late on Monday that only about 12,000 people were left in Bakhmut, compared with a population of approximately 80,000 before the war. He also said the city had neither electricity nor gas.

Al-Jazeera
 
Ukraine has somehow managed to start hitting Russian airbases deep inside Russia.

3 as of now, with new reports of a 4th.
 
Winter Will "Not Stop Ukrainian Forces Because...": Ukraine Minister Dmytro Kuleba

New Delhi:

Ukraine intends to carry on the fight against Russian forces through the bitter winter, its foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba told NDTV today. Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February this year and this is the first time Ukrainian forces will be fighting through the winter, when temperature drops to sub-zero levels.

Asked if the winter will "lock down" the Ukrainian forces, Mr Kuleba, in an exclusive interview to NDTV, said, "We will not stop for a single day because every pause means more time for the Russians to dig into the ground, to build fortifications and to strengthen their defensive lines in the occupied territories of Ukraine".

"So, we will continue our operations but of course we are also human. Soldiers get tired. They are fighting for their land, they understand how high [the] stakes are and we will continue moving forward in every direction we can," he added.

While Ukraine has recently won a huge military victory in Kherson, a city in the south, Mr Kuleba said the Russian missiles are "specifically targeting" power plants and other energy infrastructure in "a deliberate attempt to create unbearable conditions for the civilian population to survive during the winter".

Giving an example of the hardships in store, the minister spoke of his own experience.

"It is minus 5 (degrees Celsius) in Kyiv, it's very cold, windy, a lot of snow and two weeks ago, when the entire Ukraine was blacked out, when I came to my home, to my apartment, there was no light, there was no water supply, there was no heating. So we used candles to light up the apartment. We bought fresh water to have something to drink, and to use for cooking purposes. And this lasted for… and it was extremely cold in the apartment I must say…and this lasted for a little bit more than 30 hours," he said.

"Now imagine that every new massive missile attack will cause a blackout that will last more and more days. And it will take more and more time to recover the system and to restart the supply of electricity. And while there is no electricity, people die in hospitals, because they do not have access to their basic needs," he added, underscoring that the Russians are trying to "terrorise the civilian population".

The Russians, Mr Kuleba said, have an edge because they have the maps of the Ukrainian electricity grid that was built in the Soviet era.

"They hit it one by one, knocking out one transformer after another. They do it in a very systematic way with only one purpose - to terrorise the population of Ukraine, to create unbearable conditions for civilians and to break us down. But they are not going to break us down. Whatever they do, we will survive and we will prevail," he added.

NDTV
 
Russia Appointed Mayor Says 6 Killed By Ukraine Shelling In Donetsk

Moscow: The Russian-appointed mayor of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine said Tuesday that incoming fire from Kyiv's forces had killed at least six civilians in the city controlled by the Russian military.

"Preliminary data shows that, today six civilians were killed as a result of shelling in Donetsk, the number of wounded is being specified," Alexei Kulemzin, the Moscow-installed head of the city, said on social media.

NDTV
 
<b>Volodymyr Zelensky named Time’s Person of the Year for 2022</b>

Less than 48 hours after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he knew he had made it to the top of the enemy’s hit list.

For the Russians, he told Ukrainians in an early-morning address, he was “target number one.”

Months later, Zelensky, 44, has climbed to the top of another list: Time’s Person of the Year for 2022.

“Zelensky really galvanized the world in a way we haven’t seen in decades,” Edward Felsenthal, Time’s editor in chief, said Wednesday of the wartime leader on NBC’s “Today” show.

The “spirit of Ukraine,” “embodied by countless individuals inside and outside the country,” Felsenthal wrote, was also named Person of the Year.

That a leader with no previous military experience chose to remain in the country as war erupted speaks volumes about his character, Time reporter Simon Shuster wrote in a profile of Zelensky on Wednesday.

“Zelensky’s success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious,” Shuster wrote. “It spread through Ukraine’s political leadership in the first days of the invasion, as everyone realized the President had stuck around.”

The former comedian, television personality and actor, who once played Ukraine’s president on a TV show, has drawn widespread praise from Ukrainians and world leaders as he steers Kyiv through one of the deadlier conflicts in the last 200 years.

Zelensky graduated from Kyiv National Economic University in 2000 with a law degree. He was elected as Ukraine’s leader in 2019.

Time has chosen a Person of the Year since 1927.

The magazine grants the title, which isn’t necessarily an award, to the person or group it deems the most influential in the past 12 months.

The distinction was originally referred to as Man of the Year.

President Biden and Vice President Harris received the nod in 2020, and Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, received the title in 2021.

Time’s other finalists included Musk, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Supreme Court, outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, protesters in Iran, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and gun-control advocates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/07/zelensky-ukraine-time-person-of-the-year/
 
James said:
<b>Volodymyr Zelensky named Time’s Person of the Year for 2022</b>

Less than 48 hours after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he knew he had made it to the top of the enemy’s hit list.

For the Russians, he told Ukrainians in an early-morning address, he was “target number one.”

Months later, Zelensky, 44, has climbed to the top of another list: Time’s Person of the Year for 2022.

“Zelensky really galvanized the world in a way we haven’t seen in decades,” Edward Felsenthal, Time’s editor in chief, said Wednesday of the wartime leader on NBC’s “Today” show.

The “spirit of Ukraine,” “embodied by countless individuals inside and outside the country,” Felsenthal wrote, was also named Person of the Year.

That a leader with no previous military experience chose to remain in the country as war erupted speaks volumes about his character, Time reporter Simon Shuster wrote in a profile of Zelensky on Wednesday.

“Zelensky’s success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious,” Shuster wrote. “It spread through Ukraine’s political leadership in the first days of the invasion, as everyone realized the President had stuck around.”

The former comedian, television personality and actor, who once played Ukraine’s president on a TV show, has drawn widespread praise from Ukrainians and world leaders as he steers Kyiv through one of the deadlier conflicts in the last 200 years.

Zelensky graduated from Kyiv National Economic University in 2000 with a law degree. He was elected as Ukraine’s leader in 2019.

Time has chosen a Person of the Year since 1927.

The magazine grants the title, which isn’t necessarily an award, to the person or group it deems the most influential in the past 12 months.

The distinction was originally referred to as Man of the Year.

President Biden and Vice President Harris received the nod in 2020, and Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, received the title in 2021.

Time’s other finalists included Musk, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the Supreme Court, outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, protesters in Iran, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and gun-control advocates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/07/zelensky-ukraine-time-person-of-the-year/
Click to expand...

Zelensky joins company with Hitler, Stalin, and Putin - all of whom were awarded the Times person of the year.
 
Technics 1210 said:
Zelensky joins company with Hitler, Stalin, and Putin - all of whom were awarded the Times person of the year.
Click to expand...

Times Person of the Year and Noble Prizes are big jokes. I am not surprised Zelenksy got it.

It seems like there is no real criteria to receive these. You just have to be liked by the leftists to win it.
 
Putin: Nuclear risk is rising, but we are not mad

Vladimir Putin has said the threat of a nuclear war was rising, but insisted Russia had not "gone mad" and would not use its nuclear weapons first.

The Russian president insisted that his country would only use weapons of mass destruction in response to an attack.

Speaking at Russia's annual human rights council meeting, he also said the war in Ukraine could be a "lengthy process".

Western officials believe Putin initially planned for a rapid victory.

Russia's capacity to use nuclear weapons has come under increased scrutiny since it invaded Ukraine in February.

"Such a threat is growing, it would be wrong to hide it," Putin warned while talking about the prospect of nuclear war via video link from Moscow.

But he asserted that Russia would "under no circumstances" use the weapons first, and would not threaten anyone with its nuclear arsenal.

"We have not gone mad, we are aware of what nuclear weapons are," he said, adding: "We aren't about to run around the world brandishing this weapon like a razor."

Putin also boasted that Russia had the most modern and advanced nuclear weapons in the world, and contrasted its nuclear strategy to the US - who he said had gone further than Russia by locating its nuclear weapons on other territories.

"We do not have nuclear weapons, including tactical ones, on the territory of other countries, but the Americans do - in Turkey, and in a number of other European countries," he said.

Putin has previously insisted that Russia's nuclear doctrine only allowed for the defensive use of nuclear arms.

Appearing to recognise that his plan to claim victory within days of invading Ukraine had failed, Putin admitted the war could be a "lengthy process".

However, he said the results had already been "significant" - for example, the new territories Russia has illegally claimed after sham-referendums in four regions of Ukraine.

He boasted that the annexations had made the Sea of Azov - which is bordered by south-east Ukraine and south-west Russia - an "internal sea" of Russia, adding that this was an aspiration of Russian Tsar Peter the Great. President Putin has compared himself to the 17th and 18th Century ruler before.

But - despite claiming the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk as Russia's new territory - Moscow does not fully control any of those areas.

Last month, Russian forces were forced to retreat from Kherson city, the only regional capital they had seized since the February invasion.

The setbacks on the frontline have led to Russia targeting Ukraine's power grid by launching massive air strikes across the country,

The airstrikes have caused widespread damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving millions without heating and electricity for hours, or even days, as temperatures dropped below zero.

The Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, warned that Ukraine's capital - which has been badly affected by power cuts - could face "apocalypse".

"Kyiv might lose power, water, and heat supply. The apocalypse might happen, like in Hollywood films, when it's not possible to live in homes considering the low temperature," Mr Klitschko told Reuters in an interview.

Though heated shelters have been set up in the city, Mr Klitschko admitted there were not enough for all residents, and people should be ready to evacuate if the situation worsens.

Back in Russia, any potential criticism of Putin's invasion was stymied before the human rights council.

In the run-up to Wednesday's meeting, 10 members of the council who had expressed doubts about the war were removed. Pro-war replacements were brought in instead.

Subjects to be discussed during the meeting were also heavily vetted beforehand, according to the independent Russian news outlet Verstka.

In recent weeks, Russia's nuclear doctrine has come under close scrutiny on when nuclear arms could be used, in particular a "tactical" weapon that might be unleashed on the battlefield in Ukraine.

A tactical nuclear weapon is for use in combat, as opposed to the larger "strategic" weapons which are designed to cause massive destruction.

BBC
 
Another win for Russia/Putin

--------------------

Brittney Griner: Russia frees US basketball star in swap with arms dealer Bout

The US and Russia have exchanged jailed US basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, held in an American prison for 12 years.

President Joe Biden said Griner was safe and on a plane home from the United Arab Emirates.

"I'm glad to say Brittney's in good spirits... she needs time and space to recover," he said at the White House.

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for possessing cannabis oil and last month sent to a penal colony.

The Biden administration proposed a prisoner exchange last July, aware Moscow had long sought Bout's release.

Russia's foreign ministry confirmed the swap and said it had taken place at Abu Dhabi airport. "The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland," it said in a statement.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Griner's wife Cherelle praised the efforts of the Biden administration in securing her release: "I'm just standing here overwhelmed with emotions."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63905112

---------------

So, it is true, Amreeka does negotiate with 'terrorists'

All this talk of isolating Russia due to the Ukraine war is mere noise, and Putin knows it. Afterall, Putin's smartness/intellect is no match for senile Biden - Viktor Bout is coming home - who'd have thought this 12 months ago?
 
Russia's Putin Vows More Strikes On Ukraine Energy Infrastructure

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday vowed to continue attacking Ukrainian energy systems despite global criticism of strikes that have left millions without electricity and water at the start of winter.

"There's a lot of noise about our strikes on the energy infrastructure of a neighbouring country. Yes, we do that. But who started it?" Putin said at an awards ceremony in the Kremlin, adding that the criticism would "not interfere with our combat missions."

He presented the strikes as a response to a blast on Moscow's bridge to annexed Crimea and other attacks, accusing Kyiv of blowing up power lines from the Kursk nuclear power plant and not supplying water to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

"Not supplying water to a city of more than a million people is an act of genocide," Putin said.

He accused the West of "complete silence" on this and of bias against Russia.

"As soon as we move and do something in response, there is uproar and clamour spreading through the whole universe," he said.

NDTV
 
Ukraine's Nobel Prize Laureate Wants Russia's Putin Brought To Justice

The co-winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, Ukraine's Oleksandra Matviichuk, called on Friday for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be brought before an international tribunal.
ADVERTISING

Speaking to reporters in Oslo on the eve of the Nobel prize award ceremony, the human rights lawyer said she was confident Putin would be tried "sooner or later".

"For decades, (the) Russian military committed war crimes in many countries of the world, and they have never been punished", she said.

"Now, we must break the circle of impunity. We must establish an international tribunal and hold Putin, (Belarus President Alexander) Lukashenko and other war criminals accountable, not only for Ukrainians but for the other nations in the world", she said.

Founded in 2007, the Kyiv-based Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) headed by Matviichuk documents war crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine.

"This war has a genocidal character," she said in English. "If Ukraine stops its resistance, there will be no more of us."

"So I have no doubt that sooner or later Putin will appear before an international court."

The CCL was in October awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with jailed Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski and the Russian human rights organisation Memorial, which Russia's Supreme Court has ordered dissolved.

The trio were honoured for their struggle for "human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence in the neighbour countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine", the Nobel committee said at the time.

They represent the three nations at the centre of the war in Ukraine, which has plunged Europe into its worst security crisis since World War II.

- Putin will stop 'when stopped' -

Seemingly ruling out negotiations, Matviichuk again urged the West to help Ukraine free its territory occupied by Russia, including Crimea.

"Putin will stop when he will be stopped", she stressed.

"Authoritarian leaders ... see any attempt to dialogue as a sign of weakness".

At her side, the chairman of the board of Memorial, Yan Rachinsky, also called for war crimes to be rapidly tried in court -- without specifically referring to those committed in Ukraine.

But he said the International Criminal Court in The Hague was best suited, rather than an ad hoc tribunal preferred by Matviichuk.

"This punishment should come straight away, without any delay, because we have seen a lot of examples when criminals were left unpunished and died safely in their own beds", Rachinsky said.

NDTV
 
US says Iran now Russia's 'top military backer'

Russia and Iran's relationship has warmed to a fully fledged defence partnership, the US has said.

Russia is giving an unprecedented level of military support, said US national security council spokesman John Kirby.

The US has seen reports that the two countries are considering joint production of lethal drones, he added.

Australia has announced it is sanctioning three Iranians and one Iranian business for supplying Russia with drones to use against Ukraine.

Co-operation between Russia and Iran has been highlighted recently, with Ukraine accusing Russia of using Iranian drones in its attacks.

After initially denying sending any drones to Russia, the Middle Eastern country later admitted it had supplied some before the invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Kirby said that a partnership between Iran and Russia to produce drones would be harmful to Ukraine, Iran's neighbours and the international community.

"Russia is seeking to collaborate with Iran in areas like weapons development, training," he said, adding that the US fears that Russia intended to "provide Iran with advanced military components" including helicopters and air defence systems.

"Iran has become Russia's top military backer..." he said. "Russia's been using Iranian drones to strike energy infrastructure, depriving millions of Ukrainians of power, heat, critical services. People in Ukraine today are actually dying as a result of Iran's actions."

In response to Mr Kirby's comments, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said that Iran had become one of Russia's main military supporters and that the relationship between them was threatening global security.

The "sordid deals" between the two countries have seen Iran send hundreds of drones to Russia, he said.

"In return, Russia is offering military and technical support to the Iranian regime, which will increase the risk it poses to our partners in the Middle East and to international security," he added.

He said the UK agreed with the US that Iranian support for the Russian military would grow in the coming months as Russia tried to get hold of more weapons, including hundreds of ballistic missiles.

Ukraine accused Iran of supplying Russia with "kamikaze" drones used in a series of attacks which killed at least eight people on 17 October.

After denying this, Iran later admitted sending a "limited number" of drones to Russia, "many months" before the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said this was a lie and that Ukraine was shooting down about 10 Iranian drones a day.

On Saturday, Penny Wong, Australia's foreign minister, said in a statement: "The supply of drones to Russia is evidence of the role Iran plays in destabilising global security. This listing highlights that those who provide material support to Russia will face consequences."

She also announced measures against 19 other people and two entities, including Iran's Morality Police, for the brutal treatment of anti-government protestors following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody earlier this year.

BBC
 
"India Has Taken "Side" Of...: Foreign Minister On Ukraine War

India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have become the "voice of the world", especially of the developing countries, in pushing for an end to the Ukraine conflict through dialogue and diplomacy as soon as possible, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday.

He also said that New Delhi has taken the "side" of the well-being of Indian citizens in the conflict and that India is among the countries with whom all sides are sharing their views.

"The Indian government has taken the side of the well-being of Indian citizens," the external affairs minister said at the Aaj Tak Agenda programme, while replying to a question on which side New Delhi is backing. Mr Jaishankar said a large number of countries are pushing for ending the conflict as soon as possible through dialogue and diplomacy as its impact is being felt on prices of food, energy and fertilisers.

"I think today India and Prime Minister Modi, in a way, have become the voice of the world, particularly of the developing countries because its (conflict's) is being felt by the developing countries," he said.

Since the Ukraine conflict began in February, Prime Minister Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a number of times.

In a phone conversation with Zelenskyy on October 4, PM Modi said that there can be "no military solution" and that India is ready to contribute to any peace efforts.

In his bilateral meeting with Putin in Uzbekistan on September 16, PM Modi said "today's era is not of war" and nudged the Russian leader to end the conflict.

Asked whether India can become the peacemaker in ending the conflict, Mr Jaishankar said did not give a direct reply.

"It is difficult to say anything at this point," he said, but added that it will depend on the situation.

"I can at least say that there are some countries with whom all sides share their views. We are among these countries," he said.

Asked about India's presidency of the G20, Mr Jaishankar described it as a matter of pride and that the Centre has support of all states and other stakeholders.

To a question on allegations by certain opposition leaders that the government was hyping up India's presidency of the grouping, the external affairs minister said they are entitled to have their views.

At the same time he added that "G20 is not a matter of politics and it is not a matter of dispute." "There is a view across the country that the success of the G-20 summit will be a matter of pride for all of us," he said.

On the eastern Ladakh border row, he said there have been some results following the talks between the two sides.

He said the results have come because of the deployment of the Army India made in the region following escalation of tensions in 2020.

On ties with Pakistan, Mr Jaishankar said cross border terrorism should never be accepted as normal.

"Can you give one example of one neighbour resorting to terrrism day and night against another neighbour," he asked, making it clear that talks with Pakistan cannot happen if that country does not stop cross border terrorism against India.

"We should never accept that any country has any right to support terrorism," he said.

Asked about government's views India-Pakistan cricket ties and requirement of cricket players to visit each other's country for certain tournaments, Mr Jaishankar did not give a direct reply.

NDTV
 
Zelenskyy says Russia reduced Bakhmut city to a ‘burned ruin’
Ukrainian military’s General Staff reported some 20 air raids, more than 60 rocket attacks between Friday and Saturday.

Russian attacks have turned the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut into “burnt ruins”, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, while Ukraine’s military has reported missile, rocket and drone attacks in multiple parts of the country that have killed civilians and destroyed critical infrastructure.

Zelenskyy said on Saturday that the situation “remains very difficult” in several front-line cities in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.

“Bakhmut, Soledar, Maryinka, Kreminna. For a long time, there is no living place left on the land of these areas that have not been damaged by shells and fire,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, naming cities that have again found themselves under sustained Russian barrages.

“The occupiers actually destroyed Bakhmut, another Donbas city that the Russian army turned into burned ruins,” he said.

Zelenskyy also said that more than 1.5 million people were without power in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa after a night attack by drones.

“After the night strike by Iranian drones, Odesa and other cities and villages of the region are in darkness,” Zelenskyy said.

“As of now, more than one and a half million people in Odesa region are without electricity.”

Ukraine’s military on Saturday also reported raids in other provinces: Kharkiv and Sumy in the northeast, central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia in the southeast and Kherson in the south.

Approximately 20 air attacks and more than 60 rocket attacks hit targets across Ukraine between Friday and Saturday, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff reported earlier.

Writing on Telegram, the deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said two civilians died, and another eight were wounded during dozens of mortar, rocket and artillery attacks over the previous day. Residential areas, a hospital, shops, warehouses and critical infrastructure in the Kherson region were damaged, he said.

To the west, the overnight drone attack left much of Odesa province, including its namesake Black Sea port city, without electricity when several energy facilities were destroyed at once, leaving all customers except hospitals, maternity homes, boiler plants and pumping stations without power, electric company DTEK said Saturday.

The Odesa regional administration’s energy department said late Saturday that fully restoring electricity could take as long as three months, and it urged families whose homes are without power to leave the region if possible.

‘Most active fighting’ – Bakhmut
The spokesperson for Ukraine’s General Staff, Oleksandr Shtupun, said the most active fighting was in the Bakhmut district, where more than 20 populated places came under Russian fire.

Russia has battered Bakhmut with rockets for more than half of the year, but some analysts have questioned Russia’s strategic logic in the relentless pursuit to take Bakhmut and surrounding areas that also came under intense shelling in the past weeks, and where Ukrainian officials reported that some residents who remained in the area were living in basements.

“The costs associated with six months of brutal, grinding, and attrition-based combat around #Bakhmut far outweigh any operational advantage that the #Russians can obtain from taking Bakhmut,” the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, DC, posted on its Twitter feed on Thursday.

The Institute also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to frame stalled discussions as a way of “separating Ukraine from its Western supporters by portraying Kyiv as unwilling to compromise or even to engage in serious talks” to bring peace.

Putin is both warning that he is preparing for a lengthy war in Ukraine while also claiming that Russia is open to peace negotiations.

The Russian Defence Ministry said Saturday that its troops also pressed their Donbas offensive in the direction of the Donetsk city of Lyman, which is 65km (40 miles) north of Bakhmut.

Al-Jazeera
 
Ukraine Attacks Occupied Melitopol, Says "Key To Defence Of The South"

Ukraine attacked occupied Melitopol in the country's southeast on Saturday evening, the Russian-installed and exiled Ukrainian authorities of the strategically located city said.

The pro-Moscow authorities said a missile attack killed two people and injured 10, while the exiled mayor said scores of "invaders" were killed.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports of the attacks or deaths.

"Air defence systems destroyed two missiles, four reached their targets," Yevgeny Balitsky, the Moscow-appointed governor of the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, said on the Telegram messaging app.

He said a "recreation centre" where people were dining was destroyed in the Ukrainian attack with HIMARS missiles.

The exiled mayor, Ivan Fedorov, said on his Telegram channel that the attack hit a church that Russians had turned into a gathering place.

Vladimir Rogov, another Moscow-installed official in the Russian-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia, said a big fire caused by the strike engulfed the recreation centre. He posted a video of a structure in flames.

HIMARS multiple rocket launchers have been among Ukraine's most effective weapons in the war, delivering precision fire on hundreds of targets, including Russian command posts. On Friday, the United States said it was sending more aid to Kyiv to strengthen its air defences and defeat drones.

An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Oleksiy Arestovych, said Melitopol, a major industrial and transport centre occupied by Russia since March, is key to the defence of the south.

"All logistics linking the Russian forces on the eastern part of the Kherson region and all the way to the Russian border near Mariupol is carried out through it," Arestovych said in a video interview on social media.

"If Melitopol falls, the entire defence line all the way to Kherson collapses. Ukrainian forces gain a direct route to Crimea."

There was no immediate comment from the Ukrainian army about the attacks. Earlier in the day, the central command of the Ukraine's Armed Forces said it had been conducting strikes on Melitopol.

NDTV
 
<b>Ukraine’s Odesa plunged into darkness after energy facilities hit</b>

<I>Zelenskyy said that more than 1.5 million people in the southern Ukrainian port city were without electricity.</I>

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that more than 1.5 million people in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa and the surrounding region had no electricity, and he described the situation as very difficult.

All non-critical infrastructure in Odesa was left without power after Russia used Iranian-made drones to hit two energy facilities, Ukrainian authorities said, adding it could take months to repair the damage.

“As of now, the city is without electricity,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential administration, said on messaging app Telegram.

Only critical infrastructure, including hospitals and maternity wards, had access to electricity.

Russia began targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure as they withdrew after suffering humiliating military defeats.

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to keep battering Ukraine’s energy grid despite an outcry against the attacks that have plunged millions into cold and darkness as temperatures dipped.

The regional administration said people who relied solely on electricity to power their homes should consider leaving.

Officials said Russian strikes hit key transmission lines and equipment in the early hours of Saturday.

“According to preliminary forecasts, it will take much more time to restore energy facilities in the Odesa region than after previous attacks,” the administration said.

“We are talking not about days, but even weeks and possibly even two to three months,” it said in a Facebook post.

Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port city, had a population of over 1 million before Russia’s February 24 invasion.

Kyiv says Russia has launched hundreds of Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones – rebranded as Geran-2 – at targets in Ukraine. Kyiv describes the attacks as war crimes due to their devastating effect on civilian life.

In a video address, Zelenskyy said there was a significant shortfall in the amount of power being generated.

Ukraine’s armed forces said on Facebook that 15 drones had been launched against targets in the southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, and 10 had been shot down.

Tehran denies supplying drones to Moscow after the war began in late February.

Britain’s defence ministry said on Saturday that it believed Iran’s military support for Russia was likely to increase in the coming months, including possible deliveries of ballistic missiles.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022...ged-into-darkness-after-energy-facilities-hit
 
European Union Adds 2 Billion Euros To Fund Used To Arm Ukraine Amid War

The European Union on Monday agreed to add two billion euros ($2.1 billion) to a fund used to help arm Ukraine, as it seeks to ensure it can keep delivering weapons to Kyiv.

The 27-nation bloc has drained a "peace facility" budget originally meant to last to 2027 in just 10 months of war as it has covered the cost of some arms being sent to battle back Russia's invasion.

"The EU remains committed to provide military support to Ukraine and other partners alike," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote in a social media post.

The European Peace Facility was set up last year to help the European Union fund military assistance to its international partners as the bloc looks to increase its global clout.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February saw the vast bulk of the fund diverted to help arm Kyiv, as Brussels broke a long-standing taboo on not paying for arms deliveries.

Only around 800 million of the facility's original budget of 5.7 billion euros to 2027 was left in the kitty.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday reached a "political agreement" to add an extra two billion euros to the fund next year, a statement said.

That amount could rise to 5.5 billion euros by 2027 if member states agree later there is a need, it said.

The fund has been used to reimburse arms supplies by individual EU countries to Kyiv.

So far, together with its member states, the European Union has committed about eight billion euros of military support to Ukraine, which is about 45 percent of the amount the United States has given.

NDTV
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Bhaijaan
Narendra Modi: A true global leader - The ultimate statesman and ambassador of peace
3 4 5
Replies
386
Views
50K
Human786
H
Tera Gawaandi
'Russian invasion of Ukraine must be stopped immediately' : COAS Bajwa
Replies
74
Views
8K
Poseidon
P
Slim
[VIDEOS] Racism against Indians in Canada and the paranoia of being misidentified as one
2 3
Replies
217
Views
5K
sweep_shot
sweep_shot
KingKhanWC
  • Poll Poll
Should Ukraine replace Iran in the FIFA World Cup 2022?
Replies
29
Views
2K
MenInG
MenInG
James
Pakistan will be open to buying discounted Russian oil if no threat of US sanctions: Miftah Ismail
Replies
48
Views
5K
FearlessRoar
FearlessRoar
Back
Top