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

[PommyMommy]

Chinese banks restrict lending to Russia, dealing blow to Moscow

It was a surprising twist and points to potential cracks showing in the relationship between Moscow and Beijing. The two countries are frequently geopolitical allies who have united in the past against the U.S.; they have formed increasingly close bonds over recent years, with Russia a key supplier of energy to China.

The leaders of the two nations – Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia – spoke on Friday, during which Xi reportedly urged Putin to solve the crisis with negotiations.

"China supports Russia and Ukraine in resolving the issue through negotiation."

 

[PommyMommy]

China lays out 5-point position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Driving the news ... Following a call with his British, EU and French counterparts, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined Beijing's position on Ukraine in five points:

1. China "firmly advocates" abiding by the UN Charter and respecting the territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine.
   
   
2. The security of one country cannot be strengthened at the expense of another, and Russia is justified to have concerns about five rounds of NATO expansion.
   
   
3. China believes "all parties" should exercise restraint and protect civilian life and property to prevent a large-scale humanitarian crisis.
   
   
4. China supports "direct dialogue and negotiation between Russia and Ukraine as soon as possible," and believes Ukraine "should be a bridge between East and West, not a frontier of great power confrontation."
   
   
5. The UN Security Council should be used to "facilitate a diplomatic solution and "cool tensions rather than fuel them." China has always opposed UN resolutions that invoke Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which authorizes military and non-military steps to "restore international peace and security."

 

[PommyMommy]

Russia-Ukraine latest news: Zelenskiy warns tonight will be ‘the hardest’; explosions heard in capital
Zelenskiy had a dire message for Ukrainians tonight :

“This night will be the hardest... We must withstand,” he said in an address. “This night the enemy will be using all available means to break our resistance. This night they will launch an assault.”

“This night will be harder than the day. Many cities of our state are under attack: Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, our boys and girls in the Donbas, the cities of the south, special attention to Kyiv,” he added. “We can’t lose the capital.”

(...)

The Ukrainian ambassador to the US said today that attacks from Russia on Ukraine have “been more brutal”, but that Russian forces did not advanced as planned.

“The enemy is clearly surprised by the result of the armed forces and volunteers to protect the integrity of our country,” said Oksana Markarova, who is currently speaking at the the embassy of Ukraine in Washington DC.

Markarova also said that Ukrainian authorities are gathering evidence of “crimes” by Russian authorities to submit to international tribunals.

On the Chernobyl power plant that Russian troops captured yesterday, Markarova said that responsibility for it now lies with Russia as strict regulations for the plant are not being observed, adding that 92 plant personnel were taken as hostages.

Markarova also confirmed that Russian troops hit an orphanage in Ukraine, but did not injure any of the 50 children that were inside.

(...)

 

[PommyMommy]

‘Rooted in NATO’: Iran responds to Russia’s Ukraine attack

“Tehran, Iran – While Iran says it is opposed to war in Ukraine, it will not outright denounce Russia’s military operation, instead blaming the West for NATO’s presence in the region.

Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said in his first reaction on Thursday following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the crisis is “rooted in NATO’s provocations”.

 

[PommyMommy]

Chinese Communist Party’s long march of lies - The Sunday Guardian Live

Chinese Officials Can’t Help Lying About the Wuhan Virus

https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.go...d-by-the-Chinese-Communist-Party-CCP-V2-2.pdf

 

[PommyMommy]

THE DEBATE ON NATO ENLARGEMENT

1997 Debate on NATO Enlargement:

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE

 

[PommyMommy]

Russia invades Ukraine: Live updates
Fifty countries have issued a joint statement saying Russia abused its veto power by blocking a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Delta SUSPENDS code-share agreement with Russian flag-carrier airline Aeroflot | Daily Mail Online

 

[PommyMommy]

Latika M Bourke
@latikambourke
12h

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says Russia is not 'intentionally' firing at civilian targets. Earlier
@DmytroKuleba
said evidence of attacks on a kindergarten and an orphanage was being gathered to give to the Hague. More: https://latika.me/RussiaAdvancesonKyiv

Dmytro Kuleba
@DmytroKuleba
13h

Today’s Russian attacks on a kindergarten and an orphanage are war crimes and violations of the Rome Statute. Together with the General Prosecutor’s Office we are collecting this and other facts, which we will immediately send to the Hague. Responsibility is inevitable.

The New York Times
@nytimes
12h

Ukraine’s foreign minister accused Russian forces of attacking a kindergarten and an orphanage. He said the Ukrainian authorities would send evidence of the attacks to The Hague, tweeting, “Responsibility is inevitable.” https://nyti.ms/3JRd9Ww

 

[PommyMommy]

https://twitter.com/KyivIndependent/status/1497394091910443010?t=1AfvheK1kw8oXMAvuJX9xA&s=19

Washington Post: U.S prepared to evacuate Zelensky to avoid being captured or killed by the invading Russian forces.

But the Ukrainian president has so far refused to leave the country.

Washington Post:

https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1497389222180892672?t=P9-C0y-_SajiKCmH3ZDgtA&s=19

The U.S. government is prepared to help Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leave Kyiv to avoid being captured or killed by advancing Russian forces, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials.
https://t.co/w0oHddyIN9

 

[PommyMommy]

What to know about the kindergarten hit by shelling in Ukraine - The Washington Post
[...]

The Ukrainian military reported 29 cease-fire violations up and down the border before noon, the vast majority of them with weapons that violate previous agreements. But officials singled out shelling of the kindergarten building near the separatist-controlled Luhansk territory as particularly shocking.

A howitzer shell blew a hole through one wall, scattering bricks, toys and soccer balls across the room. One impact crater landed near a play area. In all, 32 artillery rounds landed in the village, the statement said, which disrupted electricity for half the population.

[...]

Russia said it has moved some troops from border areas. At a NATO meeting in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that Russia instead has boosted its forces and now has about 150,000 troops near Ukraine.

 

[PommyMommy]

Russia warns of ‘military consequences’ if Finland and Sweden join Nato

One of Russia's closest allies denies request for troops
Kazakhstan, one of Russia's closest allies and a southern neighbor, is denying a request for its troops to join the offensive in Ukraine, officials said Friday.

War Powers Resolution - Wikipedia
The War Powers Resolution (also known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973 or the War Powers Act) (50 U.S.C. ch. 33) is a federal law intended to check the U.S. president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress. The resolution was adopted in the form of a United States congressional joint resolution. It provides that the president can send the U.S. Armed Forces into action abroad only by declaration of war by Congress, "statutory authorization", or in case of "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces".

 

[PommyMommy]

Joseph Haboush on Twitter
President Biden has authorized up to $600 million in immediate military aid to #Ukraine.

Euromaidan Press on Twitter
6 am EET: At the Beresteyska metro station in Kyiv, the 101st Brigade destroyed a Russian column: two cars, two loaded trucks, a tank. – Land Forces of Ukraine have reported, adding that at the moment everything is calm there. На метро Берестейська 101-ю... - Сухопутні війська ЗС України | Facebook

SUSHIL PANDEY on Twitter
Indian students in a bunker in Sumy State Medical University in #Ukraine on Friday evening.

 

[PommyMommy]

Bel Trew on Twitter (Video)
Families are leaving with one small bag or literally nothing. Some wearing blankets, towels anything to keep warm. Children are scared and freezing. Many are clutching their pets. For 40km into Ukraine saw people appearing through the darkness, waking to Poland in the ice.

‘If Kyiv Falls, We Keep Hacking Putin’: On The Cyber Front Line In Ukraine (forbes.com)
In this war of cyberattacks, waves of phishing emails hit Ukraine’s military personnel, allegedly originating with a Belarussian hacking crew. Distributed denial of service attacks, or DDoS, which flood websites with traffic until they collapse, continue to inundate government targets. Wiping malware spreads across the nation, capable of destroying a computer’s memory in seconds. Some reports citing a U.S. official have indicated that power plants have been under attack, though no details were provided. Even cybercriminals—the Conti ransomware crew, namely—have threatened to hit critical infrastructure in response to attacks on Russia. And physical attacks are having an impact—one IT professional who fled Kyiv earlier this week said Wi-Fi was down where he’d relocated because Ukrainian forces had blown up bridges, taking down internet cables.

 

[margarita25]

 

[PommyMommy]

'I don't want to die': Ukrainians fear as invasion closes in | Deccan Herald
Yurii Zhyhanov woke to his mother's screaming and found himself covered in dust. Before dawn on the second day of Russia's invasion, their residential building had been struck by shelling on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

[...]

His weariness and shock reflected that of his country on Friday as people climbed out of bomb shelters, basements and subways to face another day of upheaval.

Those who didn't wake to explosions were roused by another day of air raid sirens. Then came the news that Russian forces had advanced to the outskirts of the capital.

[...]

The body of a dead soldier lay on the ground near a Kyiv underpass. Elsewhere, fragments of a downed aircraft smoked amid the brick homes of a residential area. Black plastic was draped over body parts found beside them.

[...]

In the city of Horlivka, a body covered with a blanket lay on the ground outside a house that had been hit by shelling. A man standing nearby spoke on the phone.

“Yes, Mom's gone, that's all,” he said. “That's it, Mom's gone.”

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

BNO News on Twitter
Ukrainian President Zelenskiy turns down U.S. request to evacuate Kyiv, saying: "I need ammunition, not a ride" - AP

 

[PommyMommy]

Live updates: Zelenskyy declines US offer to evacuate Kyiv | AP News
A second Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane was shot down near Bila Tserkva, 50 miles (85 kilometers) south of Kyiv, according to two American officials with direct knowledge of conditions on the ground in Ukraine.

On Friday, Ukraine’s military said it had shot down a Russian military transport plane with paratroopers on board.

According to a statement from the military’s General Staff, the first Il-76 heavy transport plane was shot down near Vasylkiv, a city 25 miles south of Kyiv. The Russian military has not commented on either incident so far, and the reports could not be immediately verified.

 

[PommyMommy]

Russia-Ukraine latest news: fighting on the streets of Kyiv as Zelenskiy vows to hold the capital
Fierce fighting has broken out in Kyiv as Russian forces tried to push their way towards the city centre and were met with resistance from the Ukrainian military.

Throughout Friday night, explosions rocked the capital. Artillery fire could be heard in the streets and as dawn broke, a post on the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Facebook page said “active combat” was taking place in the city.

The Ukrainian military claimed to have repelled one attack by Russian forces on an army base located on a main avenue in the Ukrainian capital. The Russians “attacked one of the military units on Victory Avenue in Kyiv. The attack was repulsed,” Ukraine’s army said.

Ukrainian officials say cruise missiles have been launched at Ukraine from the Black Sea and, separately, that areas near Sumy, Poltava and Mariupol have been hit by airstrikes, Reuters reports.

 

[PommyMommy]

Review: 'Servant of the People', a satire about the Ukrainian president (crikey.com.au)
So opens Servant of the People, a show about a non-politician who is swept unexpectedly to the Ukrainian presidency. It premiered in 2015, roughly four years before its star, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was swept unexpectedly to the actual Ukrainian presidency. Now that Russia has invaded and Ukraine is at war, the story of the naive but good-hearted man trying to change a system he doesn’t fully grasp plays as unbearably poignant.

Ukraine’s ‘servant of the people’ Zelenskiy leads them in war
When he entered politics in 2019 as a wartime president, with the conflict against Russian separatists still simmering in eastern Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy offered his people a heartfelt pledge.

“Throughout my entire life, I’ve tried to do everything so Ukrainians smiled,” Zelenskiy, a former comedian and actor, said in his inauguration speech. “In the next five years, I will do everything so that you, Ukrainians, don’t cry.”

Right now, Ukrainians are crying for help, and some are crying in terror — with Russian forces bombing Kyiv, the capital, and cities around the country in a military campaign that is obviously intended to topple Zelenskiy and his government, and destroy Ukraine as an independent state.

With his life clearly in danger, the 44-year-old president has appeared on television in recent days wearing an army green T-shirt and matching fleece jacket, looking utterly exhausted, exhorting Russia and the Russian people in their native language, which is also his own, to stop the killing.

 

[margarita25]