Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 #4

[sunshineray]

Complete speculation, imo.fwiw.
It would not surprise me if there were/are imposters, OR, P had cosmetic work (done in advance just prior to the invasion) and disguising/hiding it under a facial prosthetic piece.
Feb 2020
Putin denies conspiracy theory that he uses body double | Vladimir Putin News | Al Jazeera
''One of the more elaborate theories compares photographs of Putin over the years, claiming to have identified a number of different individuals posing as him.''

''Asked “Are you real?” by the interviewer, Putin replied, “Yes,” before going on to deny that he uses a lookalike for public appearances for his own safety.
But he said he had been offered the opportunity.
“I declined these body doubles. This (the offer) was during the most difficult periods of the fight against terrorism,” Putin said, adding that he was referring to the beginning of the 2000s.''

2015
Vladimir Putin's face has changed dramatically through the years | Daily Mail Online

March 1, 2022
I get paid to be a Vladimir Putin impersonator – but now I fear for my life (nypost.com)
''When asked what he would say to Putin should he meet his dopplegänger face to face, Sobola said: “I would ask him to look at me and think how you can have the same face but perceive the world differently.”

2015 rbbm.
The very scary reality behind the silly rumors of Putin’s death - Vox
''Rumors that Putin is ill or injured arise with some regularity. "These sort of rumors happen all the time," Thoburn told me. "Is Putin sick? Is he this, is he that? Did he have plastic surgery?"
In 2012, Putin canceled and postponed foreign trips for more than a month. Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said Putin had suffered a spinal injury during a judo bout, and there were rumors that he was seriously injured.''

''The rumors may not be true, but that does not mean they are irrelevant. They speak to Russians' nervousness about what would happen if Putin really were to become incapacitated. Because power is so centralized around him, there is no fallback plan for what would happen if he really were to suddenly become unable to rule. A system of government that rests on the health of a single man is very fragile, and that fragility — that weakness — is frightening.''

Oh if something were to happen to Putin the Kremlin will be able to spit out someone who wants to be in charge. I fact, IMO, it might spit more than one and turn into the Godfather...Part 2 of course.

 

[JerseyGirl]

UK says Putin used Mariupol ceasefire to reset forces – latest news

 

[PommyMommy]

Yosef Yisrael on Twitter - 3 minutes ago (International correspondent,
@newsisrael13)
#UPDATE Israeli PM @Bennett spoke also with Ukraine President @ZelenskyyUa
and briefed him on his meeting with President Putin

Yosef Yisrael on Twitter - 2 hours ago
#BREAKING The Kremlin has revealed that Israeli PM @naftalibennett
is in Moscow now, engaged in talks about the war Ukraine with Putin

 

[Sundog]

American basketball star Brittney Griner detained in Russia on drug charges, faces up to 10 years in prison

 

[JerseyGirl]

Russia demands that Baltic countries protect its embassies

Moscow demanded on Saturday that authorities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania take measures to protect Russia's embassies after a Russian diplomat was attacked in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, the Russian RIA news agency said.

 

[Herat]

Whoa!

2m ago 11:42

Axios reporter Barak Ravid says that Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett traveled to Moscow in secret:

Barak Ravid(@BarakRavid)
BREAKING: Israeli Prime Minister Bennett travelled secretly to Moscow. Meeting Putin now

March 5, 2022

Whatever it takes !

 

[Sundog]

BREAKING NEWS 1 hour ago

US asks all Americans to leave Russia immediately

The State Department Saturday issued new guidance to Americans in Russia, urging them to leave "immediately."

The new guidance is a step-up from Wednesday's guidance that Americans in the country should "consider" leaving.

The U.S. embassy in Moscow also announced Ambassador Sullivan will host a virtual town hall for Americans in Russia this Wednesday.

Ukraine humanitarian ceasefire with Russia not holding: LIVE UPDATES

 

[Herat]

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter:
️Cyprus forbids 5 Russian navy ships from mooring and refueling in Limassol.
Cyprus banned Russian ships from its port following EU sanctions over Russia’s war, Philenews reported.

Good to see. Cyprus has a big component of the UK Royal Air Force current operations stationed in RAF Akrotiri in southern Cyrpus very close to Limassol

Best to keep anything Russian Navy as far away from them as possible.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Russian plane due to land in D.C. soon to pick up expelled ‘spies’

The plane, an Ilyushin Il-96, left Moscow en route to St. Petersburg on Friday night and is now on its way to Dulles airport outside Washington, where it’s scheduled to land just before 2 p.m. eastern time.

“The U.S. government approved a flight chartered by the Russian government to facilitate the departure of Russian UN Mission personnel who were expelled for abuse of their privileges of residence,” said a State Department spokesperson. “This special exception was done in accordance with federal regulations to ensure Russian mission personnel and their families departed by the date we had instructed.”

RSD88 Special Flight Detachment Rossiya Flight Tracking and History - FlightAware

 

[Herat]

There are many surveillance planes out there on FR24 than aren't being picked up on their system and not being identified.. For obvious reasons

A prototype spy plane is tracking Russian force movements for the US Army - Breaking Defense

Flight data shows that ARTEMIS tends to make the same flight path every day, first taking off from Romania and flying through Slovakia and Hungary, where it can get a quick glimpse of Ukraine. From there, it moves along Poland’s eastern and northern borders — a route that allows ARTEMIS to project its sensors into Belarus, where Russia has staged troops, as well as Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.

 

[Herat]

Anyone else seeing information that the head of Aeroflot has quit and left the country?

I'm seeing stuff like this on sites I don't want to link into.

 

[Mo Thuairim]

Ukrainians defy Putin’s hopes of swift victory as 66,000 return from overseas to fight

(...)

Ten days after Vladimir Putin’s invasion, Ukraine continues to fight back. The country’s armed forces claimed to have shot down two Russian warplanes on Saturday, with a second fighter downed in the south of the country. It was on a reconnaissance mission when it crashed. Its two pilots survived and were interrogated in a muddy field.

The crew on board a Russian military helicopter were less fortunate. Video shows a missile hitting the transport. It crashes seconds later in a ball of fire. Meanwhile, in the Kharkiv region Ukrainian troops staged a counterattack, seizing Russian weapons and armoured vehicles. These were immediately redeployed in the existential fight against Moscow.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Putin’s war plan assumed a quick and decisive victory over Ukraine’s inferior army. Tanks would roll in from the north and Belarus, as well as the south and Crimea. They would crush any resistance. Meanwhile, paratroopers would secure strategic aerodromes before dropping into Kyiv and decapitating its government, the crowning moment in what Putin called a “special operation”.

Most Ukrainians would adjust to these new realities, it was thought. A pro-Russian puppet government would be installed. Those who continued to resist would face condign punishment – imprisonment, arrest and execution.

(...)

“The Ukrainians still have a significant majority of their air combat power available to them, both fixed-wing and rotary wing as well as unmanned systems and surface-to-air systems,” a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

With its land invasion apparently stalled, and with little progress made in the advance of a Russian super-column towards Kyiv, Moscow is increasingly turning to indiscriminate shelling and bombing of civilians. The objective, Kyiv believes, is to spread panic and terror.

(...)

“Russia has a 20th-century army. Ukraine is using 21st-century weapons,” Olena Chebeluik, a historian in Lviv, said. She added: “We are fighting in small mobile groups. Our fighters can hide. They know the territory. Locals support them.”

(...)

 

[Sundog]

Good to see. Cyprus has a big component of the UK Royal Air Force current operations stationed in south Cyprus.

Best to keep anything Russian as far away from them as possible.

How about the north part of Cyprus that is under Turkey's government? Do they have ports that Russian ships could use if turned away by southern Cyprus?

 

[PommyMommy]

Anyone else seeing information that the head of Aeroflot has quit and left the country?

I'm seeing stuff like this on sites I don't want to link into.

I read yesterday that Aeroflot was denying that. Will look for link...

ETA: Not sure if anything's changed since yesterday...

Ilya Lozovsky on Twitter
Aeroflot is denying earlier reports that its general director can’t be found and left the country. “He’s at his post,” they say. (meanwhile I am interested to see that business daily @kommersant is still tweeting, since Twitter is reportedly blocked in Russia. Are they VPNing?)

Коммерсантъ on Twitter
Генеральный директор «Аэрофлота» Михаил Полубояринов продолжает работу на своем посту, сообщили «Ъ» в авиакомпании. http://amp.gs/jZX9o

Translated from Russian by Google:
Aeroflot CEO Mikhail Poluboyarinov continues to work in his post, the airline told Kommersant.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Live updates: Ukraine: Next talks with Russia on Monday

The next round of talks between Ukraine and Russia will be held on Monday, Ukrainian official Davyd Arakhamia said Saturday.

Monday’s will be the third round of talks as the two sides try to negotiate a cease-fire and safe passage corridors for civilians.

 

[Herat]

Also, SABRE, a company that handles the majority of airline ticket sales all over the world has cancelled their activities in Russia, further hampering commercial airline travel within Russia.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/03/air...crippling-carriers-ability-to-sell-seats.html

 

[JerseyGirl]

Live updates: Ukraine: Next talks with Russia on Monday

Russian forces have now seized two Ukrainian nuclear power plants and are advancing toward a third, Ukraine’s president said during a call with U.S. senators Saturday.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the third plant currently under threat is the Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant, located 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Mykolaiv, one of several cities the Russians were trying to keep encircled Saturday.

One of the plants under the Russians’ control is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar, the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe.

The other is Chernobyl, which is not active but is still staffed and maintained.

Previous Russian shelling sparked a fire at the Zaporizhzhia plant that was extinguished without a release of radiation.

 

[Herat]

Live updates: Ukraine: Next talks with Russia on Monday

The next round of talks between Ukraine and Russia will be held on Monday, Ukrainian official Davyd Arakhamia said Saturday.

Monday’s will be the third round of talks as the two sides try to negotiate a cease-fire and safe passage corridors for civilians.

After today's false announcement from Putin of a cease-fire for humanitarian conditions, I think UN peacekeepers should be the ones who help organize and monitor civilian and humanitarian evacuations.

There needs to be a major non-combatant international organization involved. If it can't be NATO, or EU, then it should be the United Nations.

 

[PommyMommy]

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - Video, 33 minutes ago
A video from the control room of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant amid Russia’s fire towards the facility. “Immediately stop fire. You are you endanger the security of the whole world,” the control room says trough loud speakers. Video: Energoatom.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 27 minutes ago
As of March 5, the nuclear power plant is under control of Energoatom.

 

[PommyMommy]

55m ago 13:29
Russia-Ukraine war latest: Ukraine calls for more Nato help in meeting with US; western sanctions akin to declaration of war, says Putin – live | World news | The Guardian

Interim summary
[...]

Here’s where things stand this hour:

• Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has demanded a new round of sanctions on Russia, reports Reuters. He has been discussing the situation with US secretary of state Antony Blinken, who is in eastern Europe.
• The International Monetary Fund has announced it could approve $1.4 billion emergency funding as early as next week as the body warns of war’s ‘severe impact’ on the global economy.
• The United Nations recorded 351 civilians killed and 707 injured just on Friday in Ukraine, according to the UN high commissioner for human rights, as reported by BuzzFeed.
• Russia and Ukraine plan another round of talks on Monday, even though previous talks that produced an agreement to a limited ceasefire in order to protect corridors for civilian have not been honoured by Russia.
• The US government has warned American citizens living or travelling in Russia to “depart immediately”, in new guidelines, published today, by the US state department.
• Volodymyr Zelenskiy reportedly made a “desperate plea” for eastern Europe to provide Russian-made aircraft to Ukraine. In a call with US senators, he is also understood to have called for a no-fly zone, lethal aid, a ban on Russian oil and a suspension of Visa and Mastercard in Russia.