Russia Attacks Ukraine - 23 Feb 2022 **Media Thread** NO DISCUSSION #4

[PommyMommy]

JUL 16, 2022

White House: Russian officials visited Iran to see drones

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Russian officials visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice in recent weeks to view weapons-capable drones it is looking to acquire to use in its war against Ukraine, the White House said.

apnews.com

[...]

Hours before the Gulf Cooperation Council summit, the White House released satellite imagery that indicates Russian officials have twice visited Iran in recent weeks for a showcase of weapons-capable drones it is looking to acquire to use in its war in Ukraine.

None of the countries represented at the summit have moved in lockstep with the U.S. to sanction Russia, a key foreign policy priority for the Biden administration. If anything, the United Arab Emirates has emerged as a sort of financial haven for Russian billionaires and their multimillion-dollar yachts. Egypt remains open to Russian tourists.

[...]

Sullivan told reporters earlier this week, before Biden arrived in the region. that the U.S. had determined that Iran was preparing to train Russian forces to use the drones as soon as this month. He argued that Russia’s “deepening an alliance with Iran to kill Ukrainians is something that the whole world should look at.”

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[PommyMommy]

JUL 17, 2022

Ukraine's Zelenskyy fires top security chief and prosecutor

VINNYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) — As Russian troops pressed their offensive in Ukraine's east, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his state security chief and prosecutor general on Sunday, citing hundreds of criminal proceedings into treason and collaboration by people within their...

apnews.com

As Russian troops pressed their offensive in Ukraine’s east, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his state security chief and prosecutor general on Sunday, citing hundreds of criminal proceedings into treason and collaboration by people within their departments and other law enforcement agencies.

“In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the SBU (state security service) have remained in the occupied territory and work against our state,” Zelenskyy said.

“Such an array of crimes against the foundations of the state’s national security, and the links recorded between Ukrainian security forces and Russian special services raise very serious questions about their respective leaders,” he said in his nightly video address to the nation.

[...]

Russia Has Lost 50,000 Soldiers In Ukraine, U.K. Military Chief Says

Russia has lost some 50,000 killed or wounded soldiers in its invasion of Ukraine and nearly 1,700 tanks have been destroyed, the head of Britain's armed forces says.

www.rferl.org

Russia has lost some 50,000 killed or wounded soldiers in its invasion of Ukraine and nearly 1,700 tanks have been destroyed, the head of Britain's armed forces says.

But Admiral Tony Radakin told the BBC in an interview broadcast on July 17 that any speculation the losses could bring down the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin was just "wishful thinking."

"I think some of the comments that he's not well or that actually surely somebody's going to assassinate him or take him out, I think they're wishful thinking," he said of Putin.

"As military professionals, we see a relatively stable regime in Russia. President Putin has been able to quash any opposition. We see a hierarchy that is invested in President Putin and so nobody at the top has got the motivation to challenge President Putin," Radakin added.

"And that is bleak."

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[PommyMommy]

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Russian shelling leaves six dead in eastern Ukraine, reports say – as it happened

www.theguardian.com

2h ago 20.14

Summary​

• Russian forces shelled a town in eastern Ukraine, killing six people, according to Ukrainian officials. “Early in the morning, the town of Toretsk was shelled. A two-story building with people inside was destroyed,” Ukraine’s state emergency services said. “Rescuers found and recovered the bodies of five dead people in total. Three people were rescued from the rubble and one of them died in hospital.”
• Zelenskiy has appointed a new security official as acting head of the domestic security agency after two top officials were fired over claims of failure to counter Russian infiltration. Zelenskiy’s childhood friend, Ivan Bakanov, will be replaced by Vasyl Maliuk, a former first deputy head of the SBU who led the anti-corruption and organised crime unit of the agency’s central directorate.
• Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, met with US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Monday as she began a series of high-profile appearances in Washington that will include a session with US counterpart Jill Biden.
• Russia’s Gazprom has told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas supplies because of “extraordinary” circumstances, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The Russian state gas monopoly said it was declaring force majeure on supplies, starting from 14 June.
• Turkey has said a meeting with Ukraine, Russia and the UN this week to discuss resuming Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports is “probable”, while a Turkish official said lingering “small problems” should be overcome. A Kremlin aide also told reporters that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Erdoğan will discuss the export of Ukrainian grain at their meeting in Tehran on Tuesday.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened once again to “freeze” Sweden and Finland’s Nato bids unless the military alliance complies with his conditions. “I want to reiterate once again that we will freeze the process if these countries do not take the necessary steps to fulfil our conditions,” he said. Last month, Erdoğan urged the two countries to “do their part” in the fight against terrorism, accusing them of providing a haven for outlawed Kurdish militants.
• Ukraine will break diplomatic ties with Belarus if its forces cross the border in support of the Russian invasion, foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with Forbes. “Belarus is an accomplice to the crime of aggression, there is no doubt about that. We broke off diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation immediately after the start of the full-scale attack. Relations with Belarus will likewise be severed if the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus cross the border of Ukraine,” he said.
• Foreign ministers from European Union countries have agreed another €500m (£425m) of EU funding to supply arms to Ukraine, taking the bloc’s security support to €2.5bn since February. “Today at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting, a political agreement was reached on the fifth tranche of military assistance to Ukraine,” Sweden’s minister for foreign affairs, Ann Linde, said.
• Putin said it would be impossible to cut Russia off from the rest of the world, adding that sanctions imposed by western countries would not turn the clock back on Russia’s development.
• The United States will continue to provide intelligence to Ukraine despite recent changes in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s inner circle, the US state department said on Monday. Zelenskiy removed his security service chief and top prosecutor from office on Sunday. US state department spokesperson Ned Price said: “We invest not in personalities, we invest in institutions. We do have an intelligence-sharing relationship with our Ukrainian counterparts ... We continue to proceed ahead with that.”
• EU foreign ministers are discussing a ban on Russian gold imports to further curb funding for the Kremlin’s war machine. The EU’s high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said the ban on Russian gold was the most important measure of the latest plan, which is focused largely on “improving the implementation of the already existing sanctions”.
• The independent Russian TV station, Dozhd, has begun broadcasting from abroad. The outlet was blocked in March as the government cracked down on independent media outlets following the invasion of Ukraine.

 

[PommyMommy]

EU to soften sanctions on Russian banks to allow food trade​

Amid criticism from African leaders, the European Union will weaken sanctions against Russia by easing bottlenecks in the global trade of food and fertilizer.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[PommyMommy]

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[PommyMommy]

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[PommyMommy]

July 20 2022
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/sergei-lavrov-russia-ukraine-donbas-1.6526026
''Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow's military "tasks" in Ukraine now went beyond the eastern Donbas region, in the clearest acknowledgment yet that its war goals have expanded in the past five months.''

"Now the geography is different, it's far from being just the DPR and LPR, it's also Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and a number of other territories," he said, referring to territories well beyond the Donbas that Russian forces have wholly or partly seized.

"This process is continuing logically and persistently," he said, adding that Russia might need to push even deeper.

If the West, out of "impotent rage" or desire to aggravate the situation further, kept pumping Ukraine with long-range weapons such as the U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), "that means the geographical tasks will extend still further from the current line," Lavrov said.

Russia could not allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "or whoever replaces him" to threaten its territory or that of the DPR and LPR with the longer-range systems, he said — referring casually, and without any evidence, to the possibility that the Ukrainian leader might not remain in power.''

May 2022
'Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov animated gif - Google Search

Amb. Taylor: Lavrov’s Hitler comments show ‘evil nature of the Russian government’ and ‘ludicrous’ justification for invasion​

Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor and New York Times Pentagon Correspondent Helene Cooper join Andrea Mitchell to address Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s remarks on the 'denazification' of Ukraine, which drew a level of condemnation from Israel unprecedented since Russia’s...

www.msnbc.com

 

[PommyMommy]

July 20 2022

Ukraine Live Updates: Russia Signals Its Goal Is to Capture More of Ukraine

www.nytimes.com​

''Ukrainian officials have said that Russia’s aims have been clear from the outset and remain unchanged: the destruction of Ukraine as a sovereign nation and the annihilation of Ukrainian culture, evidenced by Russia’s unrelenting bombardment, naval blockade on Ukrainian ports and the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to Russia.

After Russia failed to swiftly capture Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv in the initial stage of the war, Moscow’s narrative began to shift, with Mr. Putin citing the protection of pro-Russia breakaway republics in the country’s eastern Donbas region as the Kremlin’s main aim.

Since scaling back its publicly stated ambitions, Moscow redirected the bulk of its combat forces to a grueling campaign aimed at claiming territory in the east. After seizing control of Luhansk Province, which with neighboring Donetsk Province makes up the Donbas, Russia has not made any notable gains in more than two weeks.

The Russian government has been under pressure from pro-war military bloggers, an increasingly vocal group that has criticized the army’s performance and kept pushing the Kremlin to expand its territorial ambitions.''

 

[PommyMommy]

JUL 20, 2022

EXCLUSIVE: Inside Ukraine’s covert operation to take out elite Wagner Group mercenaries in Donbas

Editor’s Note: The names of the people interviewed by the Kyiv Independent have been changed in this story to protect their identity as they have shared sensitive information that could place them and their families in danger. Not all of

kyivindependent.com

[...]

It was through locals that intelligence officers learned in May about the Wagner Group mercenaries stationed in Kadiivka.

[...]

The Wagner Group, widely known as a private military company, is controlled by the Kremlin through Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin often dubbed “Putin’s chef,” because another company of his provides food catering to the Kremlin.

[...]

Oleh declined to say how he was able to pass the information about Wagner Group's location to Ukraine’s Special Forces so as not to endanger future operations.

“Transmission always happens in different ways. One informant may hand over information immediately, another, two weeks later. It's often a matter of chance,” Anton says.

[...]

Following verification, there is a risk assessment for civilians, after which a final decision is made on the target.

“One of the problems is when a new group of Russians settles on the lower floor of an apartment building. Civilians are living on the upper floors. Russians frequently do it, using civilians as a human shield,” says Anton. “They can settle between a kindergarten and a school, or inside one of them.”

[...]

... For the strike on the Wagner base in Kadiivka, preparations took about two weeks – from receiving the tip in May to striking the group on June 9.

[...]

Ukraine hit the stadium with artillery on early in the morning on June 9. The site was destroyed.

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“The place was immediately cordoned off after the attack,” says Oleh. The local militia was not allowed to enter. Russian officers took over the site.

“Because of this, it was difficult to verify information on casualties. After a laptop was found at the site by a local, it was immediately torn out of his hands by the Russians,” says Oleh.

It took a week to clean up the debris.

Anton puts the number of killed mercenaries at around 250.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

Cyber Command shares bevy of new malware used against Ukraine​

U.S. Cyber Command on Wednesday disclosed dozens of forms of malware that have been used against computer networks in Ukraine, including 20 never-before-seen samples of malicious code.

The indicators of compromise were shared with the command’s Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF) by the Security Service of Ukraine, that country’s law enforcement authority and intelligence agency.

The disclosure is part of what has become a regular effort by Cyber Command and other U.S. agencies to highlight hacking tools used by foreign adversaries like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea to blunt the impact of their digital operations.

Russia to punish Wikimedia Foundation over Ukraine conflict 'fakes'​

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - Russia's communications watchdog said on Wednesday it was taking steps to punish the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts online encyclopedia Wikipedia, for violating Russian law around the conflict in Ukraine.

In a statement, Roskomnadzor said that Wikipedia still hosted "prohibited materials, including fakes about the course of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine", and that search engines would be used to inform users that Wikimedia violated Russian law.

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Russia fines Google $365 million over YouTube videos containing ‘prohibited’ content​

Russia imposed a nearly $365 million fine (21.1 billion rubles) on Google for failing to delete YouTube videos that go against the country’s laws, as reported earlier by Reuters. In a translated press release, Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor states that YouTube didn’t follow orders to remove “prohibited content,” which includes videos “promoting extremism and terrorism,” as well as supposedly false information about the war in Ukraine.

 

[PommyMommy]

'The mouth of a bear': Ukrainian refugees sent to Russia

NARVA, Estonia (AP) — For weeks Natalya Zadoyanova had lost contact with her younger brother Dmitriy, who was trapped in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

apnews.com

[...]

Dmitriy Zadoyanov was facing the next chapter of devastation for the people of Mariupol and other occupied cities: Forcible transfers to Russia, the very nation that killed their neighbors and shelled their hometowns almost into oblivion.

Nearly 2 million Ukrainians refugees have been sent to Russia, according to both Ukrainian and Russian officials. Ukraine portrays these journeys as forced transfers to enemy soil, which is considered a war crime. Russia calls them humanitarian evacuations of war victims who already speak Russian and are grateful for a new home.

[...]

The abuses start not with a gun to the head, but with a poisoned choice: Die in Ukraine or live in Russia. Those who leave go through a series of what are known as filtration points, where treatment ranges from interrogation and strip searches to being yanked aside and never seen again. Refugees told the AP of an old woman who died in the cold, her body swollen, and an evacuee beaten so severely that her back was covered in bruises.

Those who “pass” the filtrations are invited to live in Russia, and often promised a payment of about 10,000 rubles ($170) that they may or may not get. Sometimes their Ukrainian passports are taken away, and the chance of Russian citizenship is offered instead. And sometimes, they are pressured to sign documents denouncing the Ukrainian government and military.

[...]

The story of Zadoyanov, 32, is typical. Exhausted and hungry in the basement in Mariupol, he finally accepted the idea of evacuation. The Russians told him he could board a bus to either Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine or Rostov-on-Don in Russia.

They lied. The buses went only to Russia.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

Russia Strikes Odessa Port After Signing Deal to Unblock Ukrainian Grain Exports​

The strike appeared to violate the terms of the agreement signed by Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul on Friday, which stipulated that both countries would refrain from attacking port facilities or civilian ships used for grain transport.

 

[PommyMommy]

Russian missiles strike Odesa one day after grain export deal agreed​

amp.cnn.com

Russian missile strikes have hit the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa, just one day after Ukraine and Russia agreed on a deal that would allow the resumption of vital grain exports from the region.

"That's all you need to know about deals with Russia," Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas added on Twitter. The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said the bloc "strongly condemns" the attack.

"Striking a target crucial for grain export a day after the signature of Istanbul agreements is particularly reprehensible & again demonstrates Russia's total disregard for international law & commitments," Borrell wrote Saturday on Twitter.

"This was a glimmer of hope," Samantha Power, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, said Saturday in relation to the grain deal.

"Now, we just get word that Russian forces have bombed the port infrastructure of Odesa, the very port infrastructure that is needed to move these grains out on the black sea," Power said.

"This is grotesque and it's just the latest indication of the cold indifference Vladimir Putin has for the cost of the war in Ukraine -- a manmade war that he created for no reason; the cost in Ukraine to human life there; and the ripple effects all around the world," she said.

 

[PommyMommy]

Russia-Ukraine war: missile strikes on Odesa threaten grain deal, says Ukraine; US calls Russian attack ‘outrageous’ – live​

Ukraine’s infrastructure minister says, despite the attack, grain exports are still being prepared from the port

www.theguardian.com
2h ago 12.23

Turkey’s defence minister, Hulusi Akar, has said Turkish officials are “concerned” following the Russian missile attack on Odesa, highlighting that the attack occurred a day after a deal to safely export Ukrainian grain was signed in Istanbul.

Akar said the Turkish defence ministry spoke to the Ukrainian defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, and infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s signatory for the grain deal yesterday.

“We received the necessary information,” said Akar. “There was a missile attack there. They stated that one of the missile attacks hit one of the silos there, and the other one fell in an area close to the silo, but that there was no negativity in the loading capacity and capability of the docks, which is important, and that the activities there can continue.”

Akar added that he had also spoken with the Russian side: “In our contact with Russia, the Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack and that they were examining the issue very closely and in detail.

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[PommyMommy]

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[PommyMommy]

JUL 24, 2022

Russia to cut gas through Nord Stream 1 to 20% of capacity

BERLIN (AP) — Russian energy giant Gazprom said Monday that it would further reduce natural gas flows through a major pipeline to Europe to 20% of capacity, citing equipment repairs.

apnews.com

[...]

The Russian state-owned company tweeted that it would reduce “the daily throughput” of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 33 million cubic meters as of Wednesday, saying it was shutting down a turbine for repairs. The head of Germany’s network regulator, Klaus Mueller, confirmed that the flow was expected to be cut in half.

Deliveries were at 40% of capacity after Nord Stream 1 reopened last week following 10 days of scheduled maintenance. The German government said it rejected the notion that technical reasons would lead to further gas reductions.

Russian President Vladimir “Putin is playing a perfidious game,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told news agency dpa. “He is trying to weaken the great support for Ukraine and drive a wedge into our society. To do this, he stirs up uncertainty and drives up prices. We are countering this with unity and concentrated action.”

[...]

EU struggles with how to cut off its reliance on Russian gas

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations struggled Monday to find common ground on how to wean the bloc off its reliance on Russian natural gas, seeking to appease wary, stressed consumers at home while upholding unity as Moscow turns down the tap .

apnews.com

[...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has weaponized gas exports to pressure the bloc into reducing its sanctions over the war in Ukraine or to push other political aims. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday called Russia’s cuts to gas deliveries “a form of terror” and urged European countries to respond by tightening sanctions on Moscow.

On the eve of an emergency meeting to discuss plans to cut EU gas use 15% over the coming months, envoys on Monday were still brokering a possible compromise that should keep all 27 nations in line by Tuesday night.

“This a still a work in progress,” said a senior diplomat who asked not to be identified because the talks were still ongoing.

The bloc is bracing for a possible full Russian cutoff of natural gas supplies that could add a big chill to the upcoming winter, leaving nations like economic juggernaut Germany especially exposed. But some other EU countries, like Spain and Portugal, which have little dependence on Russian gas, do not want to force such a major cut on their people.

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[PommyMommy]

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