Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 #11

[Dotta]

'Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine with ceasefire ​

that recognises current battlefield lines - ​

but will fight on if the West does not respond."​

Putin ready to halt Ukraine war on one key condition

Russia's Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine if a negotiated ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines can be agreed, Russian sources claim.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Arkay]

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is in custody on espionage charges, makes a heart-shaped gesture behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants as he attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, April 23, 2024. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva

https://twitter.com/x/status/1782821278711234796

I’m so relieved he is holding up, but on the other hand it frightens me because it’s so reminiscent of what Navalny used to do.

 

[PommyMommy]

MAY 23, 2024

With Ukraine losing ground, allies debate how to squeeze cash for Kyiv out of frozen Russian assets

Ukraine's allies are looking for ways to squeeze money out of frozen Russian assets and use it to help Kyiv fend off Moscow's invasion.

apnews.com

Ukraine and many of its supporters have called for the confiscation of $260 billion in Russian assets frozen outside the country after the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion.

But European officials have resisted, citing legal and financial stability concerns. Most of the frozen assets are located in Europe.

A European plan to merely use the interest on the Russian funds would provide only a trickle of money every year — about $2.5 billion-$3 billion at current interest rates, which would barely meet a month’s financing needs for the Ukrainian government.

Russian missiles kill 7 in Ukraine's second-largest city as Moscow's troops press offensive

Officials say that Russian missiles have slammed into Ukraine’s second-largest city in the northeast of the country and killed at least seven civilians.

apnews.com

At least 20 people were wounded as S-300 missiles struck the city of Kharkiv, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Explosions reverberated around the city of some 1 million people.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “extremely cruel” and expressed renewed frustration at not getting enough air defense systems from the country’s Western partners to prevent the barrages after more than two years on unrelenting war.

MAY 24, 2024

Russia smashes train tracks in a battered Ukrainian border region where children are being evacuated

Officials say a nighttime Russian attack has destroyed train tracks and rolling stock in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region.

apnews.com

Authorities have evacuated more than 11,000 people from the Kharkiv region since Russia launched an offensive there on May 10, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said. Officials on Friday announced the mandatory evacuation over the next 60 days of 123 orphans and children living without their parents in the area.

Russia’s Kharkiv push appears to be a coordinated new offensive that includes testing Ukrainian defenses in the Donetsk region further south, while also launching incursions in the northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the Kremlin’s army is attempting to create a “buffer zone” in the Kharkiv region to prevent Ukrainian cross-border attacks.

 

[PommyMommy]

MAY 26, 2024

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/25/europe/kharkiv-russian-strike-hypermarket-ukraine-intl/index.html

At least 16 people have been killed and dozens injured after a Russian strike hit a large hardware store in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, according to officials.

Among the dead is a 12-year-old girl, police said Sunday. The attack came as Russian forces continue to advance in northeastern Ukraine after crossing the border earlier this month and opening a new front in the two-year-old conflict.

[...]

Officials have said there were nearly 200 people inside the building when the strike occurred.

[...]

Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, noted that there is “not a single military object nearby” the site of the strike.

[...]

“Russia continues its savage attacks on Kharkiv this week, striking a busy shopping center, a book publishing house and other civilian targets,” US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said Saturday. “We condemn these attacks and commit to holding Russia accountable for its unprovoked war,” she added.

After Saturday’s attack, Zelensky reiterated that “if Ukraine had enough air defense systems and modern combat aircraft, such Russian strikes would have been impossible.”

[...]

 

[Puzzles8]

MAY 26, 2024

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/25/europe/kharkiv-russian-strike-hypermarket-ukraine-intl/index.html

At least 16 people have been killed and dozens injured after a Russian strike hit a large hardware store in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, according to officials.

Among the dead is a 12-year-old girl, police said Sunday. The attack came as Russian forces continue to advance in northeastern Ukraine after crossing the border earlier this month and opening a new front in the two-year-old conflict.

[...]

Officials have said there were nearly 200 people inside the building when the strike occurred.

[...]

Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, noted that there is “not a single military object nearby” the site of the strike.

[...]

“Russia continues its savage attacks on Kharkiv this week, striking a busy shopping center, a book publishing house and other civilian targets,” US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said Saturday. “We condemn these attacks and commit to holding Russia accountable for its unprovoked war,” she added.

After Saturday’s attack, Zelensky reiterated that “if Ukraine had enough air defense systems and modern combat aircraft, such Russian strikes would have been impossible.”

[...]

This article dated March 5, 2024

"Ukraine is set to receive U.S.-made F-16 fighter aircraft within months, an upgrade that Kyiv and its Western allies hope will help level the playing field with Russia’s formidable air force. But the F-16s will only have a meaningful impact on the war in Ukraine if Kyiv and its partners can build and maintain the extensive support and logistics infrastructure necessary to keep these world-class warplanes in the air."
"The F-16 Fighting Falcon (also known as the “Viper”) is a major upgrade from the Soviet-era fighters that Ukrainians currently fly."

What It Takes to Fly the F-16: Challenges for Ukraine

The advanced U.S. fighter aircraft will mark a significant upgrade to Ukraine’s air force, but their impact on the war with Russia will hinge on several factors.

www.cfr.org

IMO, this is a well written article explaining the importance of the F-16.

JMO

 

[sds71]

The Biden administration has quietly given Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia — solely near the area of Kharkiv — using U.S.-provided weapons, a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the move said Thursday, a major reversal that will help Ukraine to better defend its second-largest city.

“The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them,” a U.S. official confirmed, adding that the policy of allowing long-range strikes inside Russia “has not changed.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/30/biden-ukraine-weapons-strike-russia-00160731

 

[JennieM]

Ukraine allowed to hit some targets in Russia with US weapons - reports​

16 minutes ago
US President Joe Biden has given Ukraine permission to use US-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia, but only near the Kharkiv region, US media are quoting officials as saying.

[…]

While the US policy of not allowing long-range strikes inside Russia has not changed, according to reports, Moscow will likely view the latest measure as an escalation.

[…]

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

Biden allows Ukraine to hit some targets in Russia with US weapons

The US president gives Ukraine permission to use US-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia, but only near Kharkiv.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Turkeytrot]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/08/europe/ukraine-russian-strike-childrens-hospital-intl/index.html

 

[sds71]

US intelligence discovered earlier this year that the Russian government planned to assassinate the chief executive of a powerful German arms manufacturer that has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine, according to five US and western officials familiar with the episode.

The plot was one of a series of Russian plans to assassinate defense industry executives across Europe who were supporting Ukraine’s war effort, these sources said. The plan to kill Armin Papperger, a white-haired goliath who has led the German manufacturing charge in support of Kyiv, was the most mature.

When the Americans learned of the effort, they informed Germany, whose security services were then able to protect Papperger and foil the plot. A high-level German government official confirmed that Berlin was warned about the plot by the US.


For more than six months, Russia has been carrying out a sabotage campaign across Europe, largely by proxy. It has recruited local amateurs for everything from arson attacks on warehouses linked to arms for Ukraine to petty acts of vandalism — all designed to stymie the flow of weapons from the West to Ukraine and blunt public support for Kyiv.

But the intelligence suggesting that Russia was willing to assassinate private citizens underlined to Western officials just how far Moscow was willing to go in a parallel shadow war it is waging across the west.

Papperger was an obvious target: His company, Rheinmetall, is the largest and most successful German manufacturer of the vital 155mm artillery shells that have become the make-or-break weapon in Ukraine’s grinding war of attrition. The company is opening an armored vehicle plant inside of Ukraine in the coming weeks, an effort that one source familiar with the intelligence said was deeply concerning to Russia. After a series of gains earlier this year, Moscow’s war effort has once again stalled amid redoubled Ukrainian defenses and punishing losses in personnel.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/11/politics/us-germany-foiled-russian-assassination-plot/index.html

 

[sds71]

According to diplomatic sources, Greece is preparing to significantly boost its military support for Ukraine. The country plans to transfer 32 decommissioned F-16 fighter jets.

According to Konstantinos Filis, a professor of international relations who directs the Institute of Global Affairs at the American College of Greece, the decision follows a narrowly avoided incident on 6 March, when a Russian missile struck near Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Odesa.

“As we were getting into our cars, we heard a large explosion. We were all concerned, especially if you consider that we were in an open space with no cover. It was quite savage,” Mitsotakis said.

Konstantinos Filis said that this was a deliberate message from Russia. “It was a message to Greece, a message to the Russophilic portion of Greek society,” Filis told Al Jazeera.

The incident has further galvanized Greek support for Ukraine. Public opinion in Greece has shifted dramatically, with favorable views of Russia dropping from 70% before the war to just 30% last year.

Greece to transfer 32 decommissioned F-16s to Ukraine - Euromaidan Press

Greece is preparing to significantly boost its military support for Ukraine. The country plans to transfer 32 decommissioned F-16 fighter jets.

euromaidanpress.com