Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 #8

[Niner]

I don't believe this has been posted yet.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/vladimir-putin-set-undergo-cancer-26838452?int_source=nba

April , 2022

Vladimir Putin may soon vanish for a period as he is due to undergo surgery linked to cancer, according to a new claim.

He has allegedly secretly nominated his hardline security council security secretary Nikolai Patrushev - a former KGB counterintelligence officer - to take “control” of Russia while he is incapacitated.
[.....]
The extraordinary unconfirmed claims come from General SVR Telegram channel, which first raised issues of Putin’s health - including abdominal cancer and Parkinson’s - some 18 months ago.

They come amid speculation that Putin will announce all-out war in Ukraine, and order mass mobilisation of military-age men. Such a move would be seen as high-risk since many may refuse to fight.

It is suggested Putin, 69, has already delayed surgery, which is now unlikely to take place before he presides over the grandiose Red Square 9 May Victory Day commemoration of the defeat of Hitler.

The surgery had been scheduled for the second half of April but was delayed, it was claimed.
[.....]
It went on: “The Russian President Vladimir Putin has oncology, and the latest problems identified during [his latest] examination are associated with this disease.”

He also suffers from “Parkinson's disease and schizoaffective disorder”.

The latter is defined as “a mental health disorder that is marked by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania”.

my bold - no wonder he's gone crazy... and threatening the world with nuclear weapons!!

 

[margarita25]

Lions trapped in a zoo in Kharkiv are now safe in Odesa

 

[dotr]

May 1 2022

''What would it mean if Finland and Sweden join Nato? - BBC News''
Apr 28, 2022

May 1 2022

 

[PommyMommy]

NEXTA on Twitter - 7 hrs ago, Video
Dog Patron continues to clear areas near #Chernihiv. In the past 24 hours, together with Chernihiv pyrotechnicians of the State Emergency Service, he helped to destroy 262 explosive objects.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 6 hrs ago
Ukraine’s Intelligence: Russia continues to prepare Transnistria for war with Ukraine. According to the report, a local newspaper in the Russian-occupied part of Moldova will publish an article calling on Putin to involve the Transnistrian forces in Russia’s war on May 2.

Transnistria - Wikipedia

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 5 hrs ago
SBU: Russia planned a terrorist attack to blame on Ukraine. The Security Service reported that they neutralized Russia’s sabotage reconnaissance group that had been planning to shoot down a passenger plane over Russia or Belarus and blame it on Ukraine and its allies.

NEXTA on Twitter - 4 hrs ago
Head of the #Kharkiv regional administration, Oleg Sinegubov, recommends city's residents not to leave their homes throughout the day because of the intense shelling of the northern and eastern districts of the city, particularly #Saltovka.

NEXTA on Twitter - 2 hrs ago
#Ukrainian Armed Forces inflicted new strikes on Snake Island "Three Strela-10 anti-aircraft missile systems and a communication vehicle were destroyed," the Southern operational command said in a statement. Also reported on the loss of personnel of the #Russian troops.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Ukrainian ambassador asks Germany to pass lend-lease law. Andriy Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, has suggested in an interview with Bild am Sonntag that Germany should adopt a law to aid Ukraine similar to the lend-lease act passed by the U.S. Congress on April 29.

Володимир Зеленський on Twitter -1 hr ago (President of Ukraine)
Evacuation of civilians from Azovstal began. The 1st group of about 100 people is already heading to the controlled area. Tomorrow we’ll meet them in Zaporizhzhia. Grateful to our team! Now they, together with #UN, are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant.

 

[CSIDreamer]

NEXTA on Twitter - 7 hrs ago, Video
Dog Patron continues to clear areas near #Chernihiv. In the past 24 hours, together with Chernihiv pyrotechnicians of the State Emergency Service, he helped to destroy 262 explosive objects.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 6 hrs ago
Ukraine’s Intelligence: Russia continues to prepare Transnistria for war with Ukraine. According to the report, a local newspaper in the Russian-occupied part of Moldova will publish an article calling on Putin to involve the Transnistrian forces in Russia’s war on May 2.

Transnistria - Wikipedia

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 5 hrs ago
SBU: Russia planned a terrorist attack to blame on Ukraine. The Security Service reported that they neutralized Russia’s sabotage reconnaissance group that had been planning to shoot down a passenger plane over Russia or Belarus and blame it on Ukraine and its allies.

NEXTA on Twitter - 4 hrs ago
Head of the #Kharkiv regional administration, Oleg Sinegubov, recommends city's residents not to leave their homes throughout the day because of the intense shelling of the northern and eastern districts of the city, particularly #Saltovka.

NEXTA on Twitter - 2 hrs ago
#Ukrainian Armed Forces inflicted new strikes on Snake Island "Three Strela-10 anti-aircraft missile systems and a communication vehicle were destroyed," the Southern operational command said in a statement. Also reported on the loss of personnel of the #Russian troops.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Ukrainian ambassador asks Germany to pass lend-lease law. Andriy Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, has suggested in an interview with Bild am Sonntag that Germany should adopt a law to aid Ukraine similar to the lend-lease act passed by the U.S. Congress on April 29.

Володимир Зеленський on Twitter -1 hr ago (President of Ukraine)
Evacuation of civilians from Azovstal began. The 1st group of about 100 people is already heading to the controlled area. Tomorrow we’ll meet them in Zaporizhzhia. Grateful to our team! Now they, together with #UN, are working on the evacuation of other civilians from the plant.

While I'm grateful for anyone evacuated from Azovstal, it's just pathetic they cannot do a mass evacuation. They have enough busses to do so. JMO

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1520799098999291911?t=Yq8xAF7RqPpQVJYpAuTtmQ&s=19

The first photos emerged of the evacuation of civilians from Azovstal, Mariupol, amid a heavy Russian military presence.
via Мариуполь сейчас https://t.co/8tHjKLuphj

 

[PommyMommy]

More photos of the evacuation in Mariupol.

Russia-Ukraine war: UN evacuation under way from Mariupol steelworks; Pelosi dismisses fears of provoking Russia – live (theguardian.com)

1h ago 11.44
Pictures have emerged of the first people to leave the area near the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, after the UN confirmed that an evacuation operation was underway.

Azovstal steel plant employee Natalia Usmanova (left), 37, who was evacuated from Mariupol, along with other evacuees near a temporary accommodation centre today in the village of Bezimenne in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol walk accompanied by a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at a temporary accommodation centre in the village of Bezimenne in Russian-separatist eastern Ukraine. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol walk accompanied by a service member of pro-Russian troops at a temporary accommodation centre during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the village of Bezimenne in eastern Ukraine. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

*****

From 3h ago 09.35
[...]

Officials reached the factory on Saturday, and the exercise is being coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Ukraine and Russia.

According to Reuters, the UN’s Saviano Abreu added that further information was not being shared to ensure the safety of evacuees. It’s believed about 1,000 people are at the site.

 

[Sundog]

Glad to see that the UN Secretary General's trip to Moscow was successful in terms of getting trapped civilians out of the steel plant. Engagement of high-ranking officials to negotiate with both Ukraine and Russia is critical, good that the UN finally stepped in to engage with Russia.

Live: UN confirms deal with Russia, Red Cross on evacuating civilians from Mariupol plant

The United Nations confirmed on Sunday that a deal on a "safe passage operation" had been agreed with Russian and Ukrainian officials as well as with the Red Cross on evacuating civilians trapped at the Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Follow FRANCE 24's liveblog for all the latest. All times are in Paris time [GMT+2].

 

[dotr]

By Frank Gardner
Security correspondent 1 day ago
Ukraine - the narrative the West doesn't hear - BBC News
"Ukraine and its allies, including London, are threatening Russia for the last 1,000 years, to move Nato to our borders, to cancel our culture - they have bullied us for many, many years."

That is what Yevgeny Popov, a member of the Russian Duma (parliament) and an influential TV host in Russia, told the BBC's Ukrainecast on 19 April. "Of course Nato plans for Ukraine are a direct threat to Russian citizens."

His views were both surprising and enlightening as to the very different narrative put out by the Kremlin, compared to the way it's viewed in the West. To European and Western ears, these pronouncements sound almost unfathomable, even amounting to a blatant disregard for carefully documented evidence. Yet these are just some of the beliefs held not only by Kremlin supporters in Russia and across the wider population there but also in several other parts of the world.''

 

[Sundog]

I don't believe this has been posted yet.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/vladimir-putin-set-undergo-cancer-26838452?int_source=nba

April , 2022

Vladimir Putin may soon vanish for a period as he is due to undergo surgery linked to cancer, according to a new claim.

He has allegedly secretly nominated his hardline security council security secretary Nikolai Patrushev - a former KGB counterintelligence officer - to take “control” of Russia while he is incapacitated.
[.....]
The extraordinary unconfirmed claims come from General SVR Telegram channel, which first raised issues of Putin’s health - including abdominal cancer and Parkinson’s - some 18 months ago.

They come amid speculation that Putin will announce all-out war in Ukraine, and order mass mobilisation of military-age men. Such a move would be seen as high-risk since many may refuse to fight.

It is suggested Putin, 69, has already delayed surgery, which is now unlikely to take place before he presides over the grandiose Red Square 9 May Victory Day commemoration of the defeat of Hitler.

The surgery had been scheduled for the second half of April but was delayed, it was claimed.
[.....]
It went on: “The Russian President Vladimir Putin has oncology, and the latest problems identified during [his latest] examination are associated with this disease.”

He also suffers from “Parkinson's disease and schizoaffective disorder”.

The latter is defined as “a mental health disorder that is marked by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania”.

my bold - no wonder he's gone crazy... and threatening the world with nuclear weapons!!

Interesting article, but I think it is based on both hearsay about the cancer surgery and speculation about the impact of Parkinson's disease on Putin if, in fact, he does suffer from the latter.

 

[Charlot123]

Interesting article, but I think it is based on both hearsay about the cancer surgery and speculation about the impact of Parkinson's disease on Putin if, in fact, he does suffer from the latter.

There were talks about cancer since early 2000es. As to Parkinson's, interestingly, the treatment (geared at stimulating dopamine in the brain) can cause psychotic symptoms. But there were so many articles and so many cancers mentioned, that I came to the conclusion it was not even about the person. Rather, a "TM Putin" and maybe, a group who makes the decisions.

 

[PommyMommy]

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 4 hrs ago
Ukrainian intelligence: Russian troops steal, destroy medical equipment in occupied areas. Russian troops have stolen all equipment from the infectious disease unit of a hospital in the city of Starobilsk, Luhansk Oblast, Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate reported.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter - 2 hrs ago
US congressman calls on troops' deployment in Ukraine if Putin uses chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger introduced a resolution on May 1 to authorize U.S. President Joe Biden to send troops to Ukraine in such cases.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter - 1 hr ago
Russian forces began a new shelling of Mariupol's Azovstal immediately after the evacuation of civilians Commander of the Ukraine National Guard's 12th brigade, Col, Denys Schleha, who's been at Azovstal now, said this on the air of the national telethon. Evacuation from Azovstal on May 1, 2022 – the invaders resumed shelling – latest news (obozrevatel.com)

Euromaidan Press on Twitter - Video
Azov Regiment provided footage of today's evacuation of civilians from Azovstal in Mariupol. Video: https://t.me/David_Arakhamia/73

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Zelensky: Azovstal evacuation to resume at 8 a.m. on May 2. According to Ukraine’s estimates, around 1,000 civilians, mostly women and children, have been trapped at Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol, surrounded by Russians. Some 100 of them evacuated on May 1.

The Kyiv Independent on Twitter
Russian occupiers resume shelling of Azovstal. About 1,000 people are still trapped with Ukrainian soldiers under Mariupol's metallurgic factory, according to Ukraine's estimates. The first 100 people were evacuated on May 1. The evacuation is expected to resume on May 2.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
Vovchansk Regional Tuberculosis Dispensary, Kharkiv region, is being filled with wounded Russians, tuberculosis patients were sent away from the hospital, medical staff are forced to work for the occupiers. - Ukraine Intelligence

NEXTA on Twitter
The Kremlin decided to attack Moldova The Times, citing to Ukrainian intelligence data, claims that Russia has developed clear plans for the invasion of #Moldova. A successful takeover would lead to Russian troops moving into Black Sea port of Odesa. Russia ‘is already paving the way for a takeover of Moldova’ | News | The Times

 

[Mo Thuairim]

What we saw there was just terrible - Mariupol evacuee

Cowering in the labyrinth of Soviet-era bunkers far beneath the vast Azovstal steel works, Natalia Usmanova felt her heart would stop with terror as Russian bombs rained down on Mariupol, sprinkling her with concrete dust.

Ms Usmanova, 37, spoke to Reuters after being evacuated from the plant, a sprawling complex founded under Josef Stalin and designed with a subterranean network of bunkers and tunnels to withstand attack.

"I feared that the bunker would not withstand it - I had terrible fear," she said, describing the time sheltering underground.

"When the bunker started to shake, I was hysterical, my husband can vouch for that: I was so worried the bunker would cave in.

"We didn't see the sun for so long," she said, speaking in the village of Bezimenne in an area of Donetsk under the control of Russia-backed separatists around 30 km east of Mariupol.

She recalled the lack of oxygen in the shelters and the fear that had gripped the lives of people hunkered down there.

Ms Usmanova was among dozens of civilians evacuated from the plant in Mariupol, a southern port city that has been besieged by Russian forces for weeks and left a wasteland.

She escaped in a convoy agreed by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

She said she joked with her husband on the bus ride out that they would no longer have to go to the lavatory with a torch.

(...)

 

[PommyMommy]

Pelosi pledges U.S. support in Ukraine visit as evacuations begin in war-torn Mariupol

 

[LadyL]

Supermarkets are limiting the amount of cooking oil people can buy as the Ukraine war leads to shortages and surging prices

 

[Charlot123]

Some stories like this bring tears to my eyes

Ukrainian Woman Risks Her Life To Protect Over 700 Animals, Including A Lion!

 

[Charlot123]

OMG, no words...!

Watch how Russian TV explains slow progress of war with Ukraine

Since the start of the war, state-controlled Russian TV has been telling its viewers that the 'military operation' in Ukraine is going according to plan.

But as Putin's army stalls in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance, pundits have attempted to explain the lack of progress.

Russians are told that their troops exercise restraint, with Ukraine repeatedly accused of using civilians as human shields.

“In such conditions we naturally have to act quite carefully, and that is indeed extending the length of the campaign,” Vyacheslav Nikonov, an MP for the Kremlin-backed United Russia party, told viewers of his own talk show, The Great Game.

Nikonov, whose grandfather was Stalin’s foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, claimed that Russian forces were acting with “nobility”, something that “simply does not exist in the West”.

You have to understand, these "talking heads" are paid unbelievable amount of money to say what they say.

There is a clan of Russian journalists, such as Solovyov, Kiselyov, Simoniyan, Skabeeva, etc. Dmytry Gordon calls them "the very bottom". Navalny made some movies about Solovyov (very rich, owns a resplendent villa in Italy), as well as a power couple Simonyan-Keosayan (she is just a Kremlin mouthpiece, her spouse has an idiotic TV show - both are fantastically rich). Recently a group of people were arrested in Moscow and accused of planning to assassinate Solovyov. Solovyov said Ukraine ordered his assassination. Ukrainians were laughingly asking who'd invest time and money into removing such useless piece of @@@@.

Alongside with these media people doing what they always did, there is another process going on. Many well-off, popular actors, TV anchormen, singers leave Russia. This is not anything that is easy to conceal, when suddenly people having their own, popular shows on Russian TV disappear, and then post from abroad that they had to take some time off. Their audience is Russian, so they do lose major sources of income by leaving, but they still do.

 

[Charlot123]

By Frank Gardner
Security correspondent 1 day ago
Ukraine - the narrative the West doesn't hear - BBC News
"Ukraine and its allies, including London, are threatening Russia for the last 1,000 years, to move Nato to our borders, to cancel our culture - they have bullied us for many, many years."

That is what Yevgeny Popov, a member of the Russian Duma (parliament) and an influential TV host in Russia, told the BBC's Ukrainecast on 19 April. "Of course Nato plans for Ukraine are a direct threat to Russian citizens."

His views were both surprising and enlightening as to the very different narrative put out by the Kremlin, compared to the way it's viewed in the West. To European and Western ears, these pronouncements sound almost unfathomable, even amounting to a blatant disregard for carefully documented evidence. Yet these are just some of the beliefs held not only by Kremlin supporters in Russia and across the wider population there but also in several other parts of the world.''

He speaks from the position of geopolitics. Geopolitics in general thinks differently from average people. Access to trade routes, to seas, the issue of "protection" of own borders. But also, how many people will live within these borders 20 years from now?

Now, in Russian Federation that is geographically the largest part of Russian Empire, the mindset is very imperial. Russia is very heterogeneous in its population, and the population is dwindling (the process noticeable everywhere in the world), so the inhabitants of former Central Asia move into Russia to make some money. Alongside with this, Slavo-Centrism is on the rise; it views Russia, Ukraine and Belarus as part of one huge Slavic nation. It plays a huge role in the policy of RF towards Ukraine and Belarus.

So it is an old story. Since the beginning of the 2000es Ukraine was leaning towards EU, for the same obvious reason, jobs in the West. And alongside with it, Russia's policy was to drag Ukraine back into imperial orbit.

But as long as Ukraine was governed by the old guard, essentially, the same as Russia, a mix of old party/KGB leaders, quietly getting rich the same way the Russian leaders did, it was all good. But slowly, new, pro-Western leaders grew up. Poland nearby was doing very well in the EU. Maidan changed everything. In many ways. After Maidan, Russian policymakers made a wrong assumption that centrifugal forces in Ukraine were too strong, and the ease with which Crimea was annexed gave them another proof. But the fact that even Donetsk and Luhansk, Russian-speaking and Russian-bordering, proved a nut not to crack, for eight years - should have been a warning sign. That no one could analyze the situation is telling.

 

[Charlot123]

Активист призвал ООН обратить внимание на "непропорционально высокое число погибших из национальных республик"

This might be interesting. How many times have we discussed genocidal attitude towards small nations? And again…

“The chief elder of the Erzya people, Syres Bolyaen, speaking at the 21st session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, publicly accused Moscow "of turning the national republics and places of compact residence of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation into socially backward regions, where local youth are saved from poverty by signing a contract with the Armed forces of the Russian Federation.

"While we are discussing the mandate of the Forum, the Kremlin sends representatives of my and other indigenous peoples of Russia to destroy Ukraine. Russia does not recognize the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and uses the rhetoric about protecting minorities only to seize foreign lands. Russia has long been not a federation, but a prison of peoples, where for the ninth year it has also been holding millions of citizens of Ukraine. The Russian invaders are killing Ukrainians, but they themselves are suffering heavy losses. The share of representatives of the indigenous peoples of Russia in the total number of dead interventionists is disproportionately high. It significantly exceeds the share of these peoples in the structure of the Russian population," Erzya leader has said.

The twenty-first session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues takes place in New York from 25 April to 6 May.

Bolyaen said that the leading regions in terms of the number of military causalities per thousand population are North Ossetia, Buryatia, Tyva, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Chukotka and the Volga region. (“Idel.Realii" keep their own statistics of the natives of the Volga region who died in Ukraine.)

Earlier, investigator Khristo Grozev also drew attention to this. He believes that the Kremlin "throws people from the most remote parts of the country into the heat of war so as not to provoke protests in large urban centers."

Expert Harun Sidorov believes that the participation of representatives of the Russian republics in the war against Ukraine is nothing more than "fixing their "second-class" status in modern Russia."

(For those who don’t know, Erzya are a Finno-Ugric tribe that had resided in the area of modern Mordovia well before the Slavic invasion. - char).

 

[sunshineray]

Now what do you suppose the average Russian, man or woman, thinks when they see one of the most popular and watching state tv program talk about in how little time Russian nuclear missiles could annihilate Berlin, Paris and London? Do they look at that and shudder for the shear craziness that's being talked about or do they say, heck yeah let's kill the planet!

You know nothing is getting on Russian state tv without the approval of Putin and his minions. Are the people recognizing this madness yet or still backing it? I want to scream from the mountaintop, OPEN YOUR EYES AND EARS!!! AJMO

Russian state TV simulates terrifying nuclear strike on Europe

 

[sunshineray]

I don't believe this has been posted yet.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/vladimir-putin-set-undergo-cancer-26838452?int_source=nba

April , 2022

Vladimir Putin may soon vanish for a period as he is due to undergo surgery linked to cancer, according to a new claim.

He has allegedly secretly nominated his hardline security council security secretary Nikolai Patrushev - a former KGB counterintelligence officer - to take “control” of Russia while he is incapacitated.
[.....]
The extraordinary unconfirmed claims come from General SVR Telegram channel, which first raised issues of Putin’s health - including abdominal cancer and Parkinson’s - some 18 months ago.

They come amid speculation that Putin will announce all-out war in Ukraine, and order mass mobilisation of military-age men. Such a move would be seen as high-risk since many may refuse to fight.

It is suggested Putin, 69, has already delayed surgery, which is now unlikely to take place before he presides over the grandiose Red Square 9 May Victory Day commemoration of the defeat of Hitler.

The surgery had been scheduled for the second half of April but was delayed, it was claimed.
[.....]
It went on: “The Russian President Vladimir Putin has oncology, and the latest problems identified during [his latest] examination are associated with this disease.”

He also suffers from “Parkinson's disease and schizoaffective disorder”.

The latter is defined as “a mental health disorder that is marked by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, and mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania”.

my bold - no wonder he's gone crazy... and threatening the world with nuclear weapons!!

Unfortunately it seems there are many others ready and willing to escalate the conflict in Putin's absence, be it momentary or permanent. To what end do they really think all this aggressive war will all turn out? Where has this generation of Russian morons come from...the military and the Duma included?!