Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 **Media Thread** NO DISCUSSION #3

[PommyMommy]

Today, President Zelesky appealed for help, on live tv, to Canadian Parliament. Tomorrow, on live tv, he will address the U.S. Congress. Also, tomorrow President Biden is scheduled to respond to President Zelesky's speech.

Zelesky wants a no-fly zone over Ukraine and NATO has lots of reasons not to comply.

What is a no-fly zone, and what would enforcing one take?

No-fly zones prevent a country from using warplanes to attack military targets or civilians on the ground, but simply declaring airspace off-limits is not enough.

Once declared, NATO would be responsible for patrolling the area with its own planes and would have to be prepared to fire at enemy ones to ensure the safety of civilians on the ground.

"There’s tremendous reluctancy on the part of the Pentagon and the political establishment," Mark Cancian, senior adviser to the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an interview. "The president and NATO have been very emphatic, and the reason is that it’s a combat mission."

"We'd be flying dozens of aircraft, maybe hundreds of aircraft, over Ukraine and shooting
at the Russians, and they’d be shooting at us," Cancian said.

What is a no-fly zone, and why has NATO so far rejected calls for one over Ukraine?

 

[PommyMommy]

Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska issues plea to the world: 'STOP WAR'

With targets on the backs of her and her husband and from an undisclosed safe place, Ukraine's first lady Olena Zelenska sent out a desperate two-word plea to America and the world: "STOP WAR."

In an exchange of written messages with ABC News, Zelenska described the blitz of Russian missiles raining on Ukraine and the deaths of civilians, including at least 71 children, as "genocide."

"I guess my message is very similar to the one the whole world delivers. Only two simple words: STOP WAR," the 44-year-old Zelenska wrote, unable to speak by phone or in-person due to high-security risks.

PHOTO: In this Aug. 24, 2020, file photo, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska arrive to lay the wreath on the monument at Mykhailivska Square at the 29th Independence Day celebrations in Sofiyska Square in Kiev, Ukraine.

 

[PommyMommy]

Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins 2h
Now 20 days into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a senior defense official tells reporters that security assistance from U.S. and others has continued to flow into Ukraine, including weapons sent in the last 24 hours.

https://mobile.twitter.com/LatestAnonPress/status/1503904583898255361
Air alarm in almost all of Ukraine. The air alarm was announced in:

kyiv and region;
Lviv and regions;
Dnieper and region;
Cherkassy and region;
Ivano-Frankivsk and the region;
Odessa;
Kropyvnytskyi;
vinnytsia;
Poltava.

 

[PommyMommy]

Exclusive: Biden admin mulls providing Ukraine with Switchblade drones

The Biden administration is considering providing Ukraine with U.S.-made killer drones— cutting edge guided missiles that could accurately target Russian tanks and artillery positions from miles away, two Congressional officials briefed on the matter told NBC News.

No decisions have been made, but the officials said the White House is mulling whether to equip Ukraine with explosive-laden “loitering missiles,” called Switchblades, as part of a new package of military aid President Biden is expected to discuss on Wednesday.

There are two variants of the weapon, the Switchblade 300 and 600, that have been sold to U.S. Special Operations Command by manufacturer AeroVironment, based in suburban Washington, DC. The 300 is designed for pinpoint strikes on personnel, and the larger 600 is meant to destroy tanks and other armored vehicles.

<snip>

The Switchblades are essentially robotic smart bombs, equipped with cameras, a guidance system and explosives. They can be programmed to automatically strike a target miles away, and they can be steered around an objective until the time is right to strike. The company says the 600 can fly for 40 minutes and up to 50 miles.

They are a single-use weapon, which is why they have been dubbed “kamikaze drones.” But they are orders of magnitude cheaper than the Hellfire missiles fired by U.S. Reaper drones. The 300 can cost as little as $6,000, by some estimates.

Both weapons can be set up in minutes and launched from a tube. They fly much faster than the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones that Ukraine has been using to inflict damage on Russia, and presumably would be able to penetrate the spotty air defenses Russia is currently maintaining over its forces.

Exclusive Look At New ‘Killer’ Drone Small Enough To Fit In A Backpack

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 15, 2022
3 EU prime ministers visit Kyiv as Russian attacks intensify | AP News
[...]

“It is here, in war-torn Kyiv, that history is being made. It is here, that freedom fights against the world of tyranny. It is here that the future of us all hangs in the balance,” Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Twitter.

The long journey over land from Poland to Kyiv by Morawiecki, Poland’s deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Prime Ministers Petr Fiala of the Czech Republic and Janez Jansa of Slovenia sent the message that most of Ukraine still remains in Ukrainian hands.

[...]

The Central European leaders said they were on an EU mission. But officials from the 27-nation bloc insisted that the trio had undertaken the trip independently.

All three countries were once part of the communist bloc and now belong to both the EU and NATO.

Jansa described the visit as a way to send a message that Ukraine is a European country that deserves to be accepted one day into the EU. Two weeks earlier, Zelenskyy made an emotional appeal to the European Parliament on that very subject.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 15, 2022
US Senate approves resolution probing Putin for war crimes | AP News
The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution late Tuesday seeking investigations of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime for war crimes over the invasion of Ukraine.

[...]

It says the Senate condemns Putin, the Russian Federation, the Russian Security Council, members of the Russian military and others of committing flagrant acts of aggression and other atrocities that rise to the level of war crimes.

The resolution calls for the U.S. and others to seek investigations of Putin and his regime at the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice for potential war crimes.

 

[PommyMommy]

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1503904432035176459?t=m75VpE3Nd4iksEouligpKA&s=19

20,000 people were able to leave Mariupol today. So far only by own transport. Ukrainian humanitarian column is again blocked by Russian troops,–Zelenskyy."The situation there is very difficult"–he said

In total, on 15 March 28,893 people were evacuated.
Log into Facebook

 

[margarita25]

 

[PommyMommy]

[URL='https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/mar/15/ukraine-war-large-explosions-heard-in-kyiv-zelenskiy-calls-on-russian-troops-to-surrender-putin-china-latest-news']Ukraine-Russia war latest: ‘room for compromise’ in ceasefire talks; three EU leaders meet Zelenskiy in Kyiv – live | World news | The Guardian[/URL]

5m ago 22:10
Nato is set to tell its military commanders on Wednesday to draw up plans for new ways to deter Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, including more troops and missile defences in eastern Europe, officials and diplomats said.

[...]

30m ago 01:46
The United Nations has said that since the war in Ukraine started on 24 February, every day 70,000 children in Ukraine have become refugees.

“That is equivalent to 55 children fleeing the country every minute, according to UNICEF — nearly one every second,” said a UN spokesman.

[...]

43m ago 12:35
More from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s late-night national address:

The third week is coming to an end. We all want peace. We all want victory. And there’s a feeling that just a little bit longer and we will achieve what we, Ukrainians, are entitled to by right.

Zelenskiy added that meetings between Ukrainian and Russian officials continue.

Meetings continue. I’m being reported that the positions at negotiations are more realistic now. However, we need more time to make sure that the decision is in the interests of Ukraine.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

Putin's Road to War - Video

FRONTLINE tells the story of what led to Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. Veteran filmmaker Michael Kirk and his team examine the events that shaped the Russian leader, the grievances that drive him and how a growing conflict with the West exploded into war in Europe.

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 15, 2022
‘They draw bombs, tanks and wishes for peace’: Ukraine’s child mental health crisis | Ukraine | The Guardian
[...]

“The first week was very difficult,” says Dr Orest Suvalo, psychiatrist and coordinator of the support centre. “There were people arriving from Kyiv and Kharkiv who showed critical signs of distress. Many children, but also adults, were panicking, looking for shelters and buses to Poland.’’

Mental health workers and doctors in Lviv report that thousands of Ukrainian refugee children displaced by the war are showing severe symptoms of trauma. “I have seen children here with catatonic symptoms, where they kind of freeze and don’t react to any outside stimulation,” says Dr Viktor Balandin, psychologist for the Ukrainian NGO Osonnya. “Many of them have stopped speaking, others cannot move their hands or fingers. They just freeze.”

[...]

The trauma of the conflict runs deep for young people who are displaced, with many, if not most of them, bearing the psychological scars of terror.

[...]

Beyond the train station, those who work in the arts have responded to the need for therapeutic support. Bohdan Tykholoz, director of the Franko Museum in Lviv, welcomes about 1,000 children every day to the theatre he runs with a team of child psychologists, artists, musicians and teachers. Children are engaged in art and music activities in order to offer them a bit of normality and a space to play.

[...]

Drawing by a young visitor to a library in Lviv. The text reads: ‘We will win!’ Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The Guardian

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 8 hrs ago
Russia announces leaving the Council of Europe, hours before its expected expulsion. It means that Russian citizens will not be able to bring cases to the European Court of Human Rights, and the Russian government can re-introduce the death penalty.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
Journalists noticed the movement of a train with military equipment of the Belarusian armed forces and trucks with Iskander missiles near Minsk, Anton Motolko, a journalist and photographer from Belarus reports. MotolkoHelp on Twitter

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 7 hrs ago
Russian warships shelled Ukrainian coast in Odesa Oblast on March 15, leaving 2 people injured, according to Odesa authorities. Satellite images showed 14 ships of the Russian fleet sailing towards the city of Odesa, among them a 120-meter landing ship Pyotr Morgunov.

NEXTA on Twitter - Video
Another proof of the genocide in #Mariupol The occupiers fired from a tank at a man

Euromaidan Press on Twitter - 3 hrs ago
UK Intelligence, March 15: "Russia is struggling to combat offensive in the face of sustained Ukrainian resistance. It is redeploying forces from as far as its Eastern Mil District,Pacific Fleet, Armenia. It will likely attempt to use them to free up its combat power" @DefenceHQ

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
As of March 15, Russia lost up to 40% of units involved in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine (they were either completely destroyed or lost their combat capability),–General Staff of UA, 24:00 EET Log into Facebook

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
The task of reaching Donetsk&Luhansk Obl.borders was not fulfilled by Russia; suffering losses, it returned to its starting position The worst situation remains near Mariupol where Russia is trying to block the city. Has significant losses, was forced to introduce marine reserves

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
The Russian leadership decided on the early graduation of Russian cadets with their subsequent involvement in hostilities against Ukraine, acc to the available info of Gen.Staff of UA.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter - 2 hrs ago
On March 15, Ukrainian Air Forces destroyed three Russian planes. Two are Su-34 fighter-bomber, one has not yet been identified. 1 RU, 3 UAVs, 2 cruise missiles were also shot down. Also, 9 air raids on columns of RU equipment and clusters were made.–Air Forces of UA

Euromaidan Press on Twitter - 35 min ago
The Ukrainian army destroyed at least 3 Russian military helicopters at the Kherson Airport, new satellite images show. It's the most destructive known strike the Ukrainian military has conducted against Russian helicopters during the war,–CNN, 04:00 EET Live updates: Russia invades Ukraine (cnn.com)

 

[PommyMommy]

Ukraine's wartime rail chief has to be faster than the Russians tracking him - BBC News
There is a last-minute change of plan. He won't be leaving from the main station after all. The bodyguards move fast and we follow, racing along the quiet streets behind the convoy, and into the suburbs.

The Russians would like to kill him.

Oleksandr Kamyshin is sure of this. So the 37-year-old chairman of Ukraine's railway network constantly changes his travel plans. Never stay in one place too long. Never have a routine that the Russians can discover.

"We have to be faster than those people who try to track us," he tells me.

The railway is the country's biggest employer with 231,000 staff across 233,000 square miles (603,470 sq km) of territory - Ukraine is the second-largest country in Europe.

So far Mr Kamyshin estimates his staff have helped to move 2.5 million people to safety. But the vast operation has come at a cost. Schedules have to be constantly updated because of Russian attacks. Since Vladimir Putin's invasion began, 33 railway staff have been killed.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 15, 2022

'The Spirit Is High': A Kharkiv Resident Describes Her City's Defiant Resilience (rferl.org)
Video caption: A few weeks ago, Nargiz Gurbanova was working as a criminal defense lawyer, but now she spends her days sheltering in a hospital basement as the Russian military bombards her city, Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine. In an interview with RFE/RL on March 15, she says the mood there is "amazing," and that she is now gathering evidence of war crimes.

'It's You That's Fascist': Russian Soldiers Not Welcomed In Ukrainian Village (rferl.org)
Video caption: On March 14, residents of the village of Bilozerka, near Kherson, went unarmed to protest against the Russian occupiers. Only bursts of gunfire in the air forced them to disperse.

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 15, 2022
Evacuee from besieged Mariupol: "Last week was pure horror" | Euromaidan Press
On 14 March, Maya Sh. and her family managed to escape from Mariupol, a southeastern Ukrainian port city besieged by Russian troops since March 2. “Horror” is the only word she keeps repeating describing the situation in her hometown. And the horror is getting worse day by day.

[...]

We used to live on Troitska street (on the western end of Mariupol, – Ed.). The last week was pure horror and hell. The bombings were going on practically non-stop. In various ends of the city. Not a single house remained intact around us.

At night on 13 March, we said goodbye to our lives. The shells were falling so close that we believed that they were going to hit us. The walls literally trembled, staggered. From the roaring sounds, everything inside us was shrinking away with such an animal fear. The fear for my child.

[...]

We reached Berdyansk without any problem. There was a mined area near Melekino, the mines were clearly visible, we turned around them across the field. But further on we moved just fine. ...

The information on the route safety was available only through word of mouth. We were told that there were hostilities on the Zaporizhzhia highway, so we didn’t proceed in that direction, but moved towards Tokmak.

[...]

They inspected the car, checked the documents. Some even asked, how is the “Pentagon” (the popular name of one of Mariupol’s districts, – Ed.). Well, that is, at some checkpoints there were locals. Young guys.

And each time I tried to look into their eyes. I wanted to understand what it was like to go and kill your own people, shoot at them, level the city where you once lived or visited it more than once. I didn’t see anything in their eyes. I’ll probably never understand this. Although some told us, “Leave and never come back.”

Most difficulties began after Tokmak because no one really knew where we should go. We headed to Kamyanske. The bridge turned out to be blown up there, but there was a bypass across the field. It’s scary because the field is mined. But there were run-in tracks that you should strictly follow.

[...]

Behind Kamyanske we found a Ukrainian checkpoint. They didn’t let us through right away. Everyone there was very much surprised that we left Mariupol. While checks were going on, a battle started.

We spent an hour and a half there on the road and once again said goodbye to life silently because Grad rockets were flying over us, bursts of small arms were heard. My daughter had a breakdown, started to breathe heavily, I was afraid that her heart could not stand it.

[...]

In the city, they took us to the circus building. They welcomed us, provided a meal, and started to choose the sleeping accommodation for us. In different places. My daughter and I were in a kindergarten. For the first time in two weeks, we were able to sleep. Today we moved on, to a safer place.

I think that all this horror that our children have experienced will take a toll on their health. But I will think about it later. Now it’s important to survive.

 

[PommyMommy]

MAR 15, 2022
Russian soldiers refusing to redeploy to Ukraine, become 'cannon fodder' | Euromaidan Press
[...]

Sergeant Sapar M. Mirapov wrote in his personal statement to the commander of the Military Unit #61899: “… I hereby report that I consider it impossible to re-deploy due to the unit’s poor organization, lack of communications and technical means. [On my original tour], I arrived without understanding why I was needed there, without any explanations of the task. I don’t want to be ‘cannon fodder.’”



Military Unit #61899 is a shorthand for the 27th Separate Guards Sevastopol Red Banner Motor Rifle Brigade, which has participated in the following engagements since the collapse of the Soviet Union: the 1991 Soviet coup d’état attempt, the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, the First Chechen War, the Second Chechen War, and the Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war.

[...]

The commander of the 2nd motorized rifle platoon of the 9th motorized rifle company, Lieutenant A. Yegorov, stated that “… from the very beginning we were faced with [the command’s] deception and concealment of the true goals and tasks of the military deployment. Incomprehensible ‘military exercise tasks’ meant a dramatically different thing … After our crossing the border into Ukraine, we completely discredited ourselves in the eyes of both the world and the Slavic community. From that moment on, our actions and nature were of an occupation army, which was clearly expressed by the reaction of the civilian population.

[...]

In addition, a Guildhall source in the Ukrainian government reported that due to the refusal of some officials of the Russian military, including deputy commanders of the 76th Airborne Assault Division (based in Pskov, Russia), to comply with the order to conduct hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, four members of the division were detained by the military police.

According to the press service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, as of March 15, the total combat losses of the Russian military amounted to more than 13,500 personnel.

(There are nine more photos of letters in the article.)

 

[PommyMommy]

Euromaidan Press on Twitter - 21 min ago
6:00 EET Ukrainian army inflicted devastating blows on groups of Russian troops, counterattacked in some areas, making the invader retreat there. Russian main effort is focused on maintaining the previously occupied areas - General Staff

Original source (linked in the above tweet) with full post and photos/video: Оперативна інформація станом на Генеральний штаб ЗСУ / General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine | Facebook

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
During the last 24hr, Ukrainian Air Force launched nine missile and bomb strikes on columns of equipment and groups of invading troops. Russians contrinued their bombing of civilian houses and infrastructure - General Staff https://bit.ly/3Jg4ahz

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 9 min ago
Explosions reported in Zaporizhzhia. Secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council Anatoliy Kurtev confirmed reports of explosion at the city’s railway station.

 

[PommyMommy]

Putin needs to end this war and make it look like a victory

It's fair to assume that Moscow would be thrilled if Ukraine followed through on what we're getting hints of from President Zelensky - some kind of commitment that Ukraine would never join Nato.

That's certainly one of Moscow's aims in this war, but it's hard to say if it would be enough to stop President Putin.

He also wants Ukraine to hand over chunks of territory. That, at the moment, is considered an unacceptable demand by Zelensky. So it's hard to see how much progress is actually being made in these talks - although the fact that they're continuing to happen is a positive sign in itself.

We should be in no doubt that Putin needs to find a way to bring this war to an end, because so many Russian soldiers are dying and being injured. But he needs to be able to tell his people that he's won this war, so needs to feel he's got something significant out of it.

Ukraine war latest: Zelensky says Russia talks more realistic - BBC News

 

[PommyMommy]

Girl who has been documenting war experiences welcomed

A 12-year-old Ukrainian girl, who has been documenting her experiences of war in a journal, said she feels safe now that she has arrived in Ireland.

Yeva Skaletskaya and her grandmother Irina fled their home city of Kharkiv after their apartment block was bombed.

Their efforts to get to safety, and Yeva's journal recording her experiences, were first reported on by Channel 4 News last weekend.

Watching the reports prompted a Dublin couple, Catherine Flanagan and Gary Abrahamian, to get in contact and invite them to stay in their home.

"I teach English and I was taken by the fact that she was writing a diary... we thought 'wow this girl is like Anne Frank' and how terrible that is in 2022, but isn't it wonderful that she is writing a story that needs to be told," Gary said.

"At the end (of one of the Channel 4 reports) it spoke about the challenges of where she might go and (difficulties getting) access to England, and we both turned to each other and said she should come to Ireland," Gary and Catherine told RTÉ News.

With help from Channel 4 News, Ms Flanagan managed to make contact with Yeva and Irina, and she invited them to stay with them in their family home in Glasnevin.

On Friday night they arrived into Dublin Airport.

"It was such a lovely moment when the two of them walked through, it was just sheer relief," Catherine said.

(...)

Yeva thought she might stop writing once she arrived to Ireland but she has decided that she will keep writing.

"I will write news from Kharkiv and my life in Ireland," Yeva said.

As long as the fighting continues, she said, she will keep writing.

"The name of my book is 'War (in 2022: Through the eyes of a child)' and I think I will finish this book when (the war) stop," she said.

 

[PommyMommy]

'Militia out!' - life in Russian-occupied Ukraine

In the early stages of the invasion of Ukraine, troops from Russian-occupied Crimea entering the country quickly took control of a number of cities and towns on the southern coast.

One such town is Berdyansk, 85km west of the besieged city of Mariupol. On the Sea of Azov, the port town of just over 100,000 is now three weeks into Russian occupation.

On 27 February, Russian troops and tanks rolled and installed Russian military police in the City Hall.

Local Berdyansk journalist Galina Plahotnik documented life there for Prime Time over recent days.

On Monday, the town became the first stop for many evacuees fleeing Mariupol. Some 160 cars escaped the city yesterday and 2,000 are reported to have left on Tuesday. Those stopping temporarily are en route to Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia.

One evacuee, a woman, spoke to Ms Plahotnik through flowing tears.

"There is no city. There is no longer a city at all. Everything is destroyed there. There are no apartment buildings left. Nothing is left there."

"I was working at the hospital. But [the Russians] have bombed everything. There were many wounded in the hospital with debris wounds [from explosions]. The surgeons are real heroes," the woman said.

"They perform surgeries and, when they finish, they sleep on the surgical theatre floor. The only electricity in the building is from a generator, reserved for the surgical theatre."

(...)

Despite the hardship, most locals refuse food aid offered by the Russian militia. On 5 March, supplies were offered out of the back of a military van. Local reports, according to Ms Plahotnik, suggested that only a few elderly people, desperate enough, approached it.

(...)

Local TV and radio stations have shut down and the broadband was cut. The only local news available is via patchy internet connections from the mobile network.

By contrast, the Orwellian Russian propaganda drones out over the airwaves hour after hour.

"Locals were complaining to Russian militia about their poverty, which was caused by high unemployment, low pensions and salaries, high prices for food and utilities. Be healthy and know Berdyansk is ours and only we can make it better."

Locals show their resistance and opposition with daily protests in front of the City Hall.

"Militia out, militia out" they shout. Or, "Go home, go home, Russkies, go home."

(...)