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2022-07-23 18:32:01+00:00
UK to Pump More Arms into Ukraine
The UK will send Ukraine anti-tank weapons, drones, artillery guns and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition in the coming weeks, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told Parliament on Thursday.
Ukraine will receive more than 20 M109 and 26 L119 artillery guns, as well as counter-battery radar systems and more than 50,000 rounds of ammunition for its existing Soviet-era artillery systems. The UK will also send 1,600 anti-tank weapons as well as drones, including hundreds of “loitering aerial munitions,” more commonly known as “suicide drones.”
Wallace’s announcement comes several weeks after outgoing PM Boris Johnson pledged an additional £1bn ($1.2bn) in military support to Kiev. In total, the UK has spent £2.3 billion on weapons and training for Kiev’s military since Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began in February.
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2022-07-23 15:44:01+00:00
British Pedophiles Targeted Ukrainian Refugee Children in Poland
10 known British pedophiles have been sent home from Polish refugee camps after claiming they were there to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukrainian refugees.
A National Crime Agency official told the Independent it was only after Polish immigration officials interviewed them that they were then sent back since they had initially neglected to declare their criminal records.
There are around 5,000 unaccompanied Ukrainian children who’ve arrived in Poland from Ukraine, but it is unclear if the British pedophiles had any contact with them.
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2022-07-23 13:02:01+00:00
Kiev Should “Confiscate” Russian Gas – Ukrainian Politician
Ukraine should “confiscate” Russian gas from transit pipelines, argues former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Dmitry Razumkov, warning without it “a difficult winter awaits” his country.
“As a transit country, we must fulfill obligations to our international partners. But surplus Russian gas should be confiscated in accordance with the law and pumped into our storages,” Razumkov wrote in a column for the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper on Wednesday.
Russia transports some of its gas to Western Europe using a route, created during the Soviet-era, through Ukraine.
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2022-07-23 10:37:01+00:00
⚡️Russia Signs Grain Export Deal With Turkey, UN
▪️Export of Ukrainian grain across Black Sea from Odessa, Chornomorsk, Yuzhny ports secured - agreement valid for 120 days, with extension possible
▪️The ports will not be de-mined, but safe corridors provided. Agreement does not imply military escort of ships
▪️A coordination center will be created to resolve any incidents if they occur
▪️Ships bound for Ukraine will be inspected for weapons - Russian representatives will also have access
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2022-07-23 08:12:23+00:00
South American Trade Bloc Snubs Zelensky
South America’s Mercosur trading bloc has turned down a request from Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky to address their upcoming summit after members Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina failed to agree.
Paraguay’s FM Julio Cesar Arriola revealed earlier this month that his country’s President Mario Abdo Benitez had spoken to Zelensky and agreed to discuss the possibility.
The snub comes after only a handful of leaders attended the African Union’s virtual meeting, with Chairperson Macky Sall insisting Africa’s neutrality over the conflict in Ukraine remained unchanged.
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2022-07-22 17:46:25+00:00
European Central Bank to raise interest rates for first time in over a decade - collapse of Italian govt adds new dimension to crisis (AFP)
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2022-07-22 13:44:25+00:00
Putin Health Fine, Western Rumors Fake News - Peskov
"Ukrainian, American and British “information specialists” have been throwing in fake news about the president's health in recent months,” assured Kremlin spox Dmitry Peskov. “This is nothing but fake news.”
On Wednesday Putin said that he caught a little cold under the air conditioner during his visit to Tehran on Tuesday and periodically coughed at the ASI forum during his speech.
CIA Director William Burns admitted Wednesday that Putin appears "entirely too healthy".
“I'm also hoarse. I have the same thing. I don't know how it was with other members of the delegation. It happens,” added Peskov.
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2022-07-22 09:56:25+00:00
Russia Is Hungary's Only Choice To Buy 700mn Cubic Meters Gas - FM Szijjarto
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto insisted Russia was Budapest's only option to buy 700mn cubic meters of gas in his press conference alongside Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
▪️Both nations to further develop nuclear energy ties, and seek ways to cooperate despite the EU sanctions effort drive
▪️“There is a struggle in the EU between European bureaucracy and the desire of member states to understand the limits of Brussels' powers” - Lavrov
▪️“Russia proceeds from the fact that the West at some stage will understand the danger of pumping Ukraine with weapons” – Lavrov
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2022-07-22 07:15:23+00:00
Stephen King Denies Praising Ukrainian War Criminal, Despite Footage of Him Doing So
Vocal liberal and famous horror novelist Stephen King was flooded by accusations of “lying to his Twitter followers about something that's unambiguous and documented,” after he saying that there was “no truth” to him saying that Ukrainian nationalist icon and ethnic cleanser extraordinaire Stepan Bandera “was a great man”.
“Stephen King was prank called by Vovan and Lexus. They asked him what he thinks of Bandera. His answer “I think Bandera was a great man”. Pure crap. Troll s***. No truth to it,” the writer tweeted.
Posing as Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, the pranksters asked King what he thought of WWII Nazi collaborator Bandera, to which he replies “You can always find things about people to pull them down… On the whole I think Bandera is a great man”.
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2022-07-19 16:57:24+00:00
After a relatively even second live TV debate between the five remaining contenders for the Tory party leadership, a snap poll found FM Liz Truss closing in on rival Penny Mordaunt behind Rishi Sunak.
Among Tory voters, those three were split by just 3% based on their performance in the debate, leaving Tom Tugenhat trailing in last place on 13%. The candidate with the lowest votes in tonight’s ballot will be eliminated.
Sunak had tried to attack Truss by asking whether she was more embarrassed about voting against Brexit or her Liberal Democrat past, before she hit back accusing the Chancellor of encouraging a recession with raised taxes.
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2022-07-19 13:43:25+00:00
Switzerland Rejects NATO Ukrainian War-Wounded Treatment Request
Swiss health and Foreign Affairs officials have rejected a request from NATO’s disaster response unit to treat Ukraine’s wounded citing legal and practical concerns surrounding neutrality.
Under the Geneva Convention neutral states must ensure rehabilitated combatants do not return to action afterwards, while the lawmakers argued distinguishing between civilians - who technically could be treated - and military wounded would be near impossible.
The rejection comes after some cantons had reportedly expressed a willingness to accept the proposals a few weeks ago.
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2022-07-19 07:17:02+00:00
Germany Warns It Will Not Survive Winter Without Russian Gas
Senior German official, Klaus Muller, who heads the federal agency in charge of natural gas supplies, has warned the country faces a harsh winter without crucial supplies from Russia.
And while sanctions imposed by Western powers against Russia have been hurting their own countries, EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell has said the measures require “strategic patience.”
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2022-07-18 13:49:08+00:00
💢 NATO admits it’s been preparing for conflict with Russia since 2014
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that increases in deployments and military spending were done with Russia in mind
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Wednesday that increases in military spending and rising numbers of troop deployments in Eastern Europe since 2014 were carried out in anticipation of a conflict with Russia.
Speaking after a meeting of NATO members and partner states in Madrid, Stoltenberg accused Russia of “using force in the eastern Donbass since 2014,” despite the fact that Kiev’s forces have shelled cities in the region ever since the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics declared independence from Ukraine that year.
Nevertheless, Stoltenberg said that the US-led military bloc decided in 2014 to start beefing up its forces in Eastern Europe.
“The reality is also that we have been preparing for this since 2014,” he stated. “That is the reason that we have increased our presence in the eastern part of the alliance, why NATO allies have started to invest more in defense, and why we have increased [our] readiness.”
Updated strategy, new members, old enemies: NATO summit highlights
According to NATO figures, the alliance’s European members and Canada have increased their military expenditure by between 1.2% and 5.9% every year since 2014. However, only 10 out of 30 NATO states currently meet the bloc’s target of spending 2% of GDP on defense.
The increase in expenditure has been most noticeable in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, with Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania all meeting the target for the first time in 2022.
Earlier on Wednesday, NATO members agreed to adopt a new Strategic Concept. This policy blueprint sets out the alliance’s stance toward partners, non-members, and adversaries, with the 2022 iteration naming Russia as the “most significant and direct threat” to the bloc.
On the other hand, Moscow has labeled NATO’s expansion into former Soviet states since the end of the Cold War – which Western leaders explicitly promised in the early 1990s would not happen – as a threat against its own security. NATO’s official position on Ukraine, set out in the 2008 Bucharest Declaration, is that it and Georgia “will become members of NATO” at an unspecified future date. Russia has cited Ukraine’s pursuit of NATO membership as a key factor behind the current conflict.
Despite the alliance’s post-Cold War march into the former Eastern Bloc, Stoltenberg claimed on Wednesday that “NATO has strived for a better relationship with Russia for decades.”
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2022-07-18 07:00:41+00:00
Yesterday was eighth anniversary of MH17 crash. The Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over the village of Hrabove, Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 people onboard died. We present to your attention one of the versions of why this could happen.
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2022-07-17 15:12:00+00:00
Russian Military Destroys Ukrainian Militant Facilities
The MoD has reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine has lost 600 troops in two days of fighting.
Russian high-precision weapons hit four command posts in the DPR and Kharkiv region, an ammunition depot near Konstantinovka, as well as militants and equipment in a further 25 districts.
Three Ukrainian aircraft were also destroyed.
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2022-07-17 12:44:01+00:00
EU Leaders’ Attention Riveted to Ukraine Leads to More Trouble at Home
As the Ukrainian crisis occupies the minds of EU leaders these days, the focus appears to be backfiring on them, exacerbating their domestic troubles.
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2022-07-17 06:15:52+00:00
Poland Buys Used US Tanks After Row With Germany
Poland will purchase 116 used M1 Abrams main battle tanks from the US in order to backfill the armored vehicles it had delivered to Ukraine.
Warsaw has reached an agreement on the matter with the White House, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told news agency IAR.
The agency reported that the first US-made tanks would be delivered early next year and replace more than 240 Soviet-era T-72 tanks, which Poland transferred to Ukraine in April.
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2022-07-14 15:46:22+00:00
West Plans To Cap Russian Oil Prices
The US and its allies are plotting a buyers’ cartel that will establish a price cap on Russian oil after analysts warned last month that current plans to cut Russian oil altogether risk forcing oil prices shooting over $200/barrel.
Treasury Sec Janet Yellen announced Tuesday after her meeting with Japanese Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi that the two countries will explore “the feasibility” of a price cap.
“It’s an international diplomatic challenge on how you get people to agree… if India and China continue to buy at elevated prices, there’s no impact on Russian revenues,” warned economist James Hamilton.
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2022-07-14 12:13:22+00:00
China Says it ‘Drove Away’ US Destroyer
The Chinese military intercepted a US destroyer reportedly sailing near the Paracel (Xisha) Islands in the South China Sea, PLA Command said Wednesday.
Beijing claims the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold “illegally trespassed into Chinese territorial waters.”
In response “the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command organized sea and air forces to follow, monitor, warn and drive away” the ship, the PLA statement claims.
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2022-07-14 09:53:22+00:00
❗️Russia’s Hurricane Missile System in Action
The Ministry of Defense released footage of a barrage firing towards camouflaged Ukrainian positions.
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2022-07-14 07:17:34+00:00
Eurozone Faces Mounting Recession Risk – Bloomberg
The risk of recession in the euro area is growing, economists polled by Bloomberg warned on Tuesday, citing the shortage of natural gas, as well as inflation – which remains at record levels – as the main factors.
The likelihood of a significant contraction has reportedly surged to 45% from 30% in the previous survey, and 20% before the launch of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, which led to sanctions on Moscow and a reduction in Russian energy flows, mostly to Germany.
The analysts still see Eurozone inflation peaking in the current quarter. Inflation forecasts were raised from the previous poll, though price growth is still expected to slow to the European Central Bank’s 2% target in 2024.
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2022-07-11 07:08:09+00:00
Germany plans winter ‘warm-up spaces’ in case of gas shortage
Gas shortages and skyrocketing heating costs might see many Germans unable to afford their heating bills this winter, Germany’s Bild tabloid reported on Sunday, adding that the nation’s Cities and Municipalities Association has suggested providing the most vulnerable people with public “warm-up” places instead. Some German cities have already gone ahead with such plans, the paper added.
The western German city of Ludwigshafen is about to convert its Friedrich-Ebert-Halle arena into a giant warm-up hall, Bild reported, citing the city mayor, Jutta Steinruck. The facility that used to host sports events, exhibitions and concerts and served as a vaccination center during the Covid-19 pandemic will now be potentially saving people from freezing winter temperatures, according to media reports.
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2022-07-10 15:59:01+00:00
China tells US to stop ‘smearing and attacking’
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday that China wants the US to respect its foreign and domestic policies, drop economic sanctions, and “abandon the Cold War mentality.” Blinken told reporters that he pressed Wang over China’s refusal to sanction Russia, apparently to no avail.
Blinken and Wang met on Saturday, one day after a gathering in Indonesia of the top diplomats of the G20 nations. The meeting came at a critical point for Washington-Beijing relations, with the FBI warning this week of “pervasive” industrial espionage and cybercrime emanating from China, and with US President Joe Biden recently stating that American troops would fight any Chinese attempt to retake Taiwan – a statement his aides swiftly corrected.
“Since the US has promised that it has no intention of conflict with China, it should respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity [and] stop interfering in China’s internal affairs,” Wang told Blinken, according to a readout from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Wang accused the US of attempting to “hollow out and distort the One China Policy,” referring to Washington’s official position that it recognizes, but does not endorse, China’s sovereignty over Taiwan.
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2022-07-10 12:28:01+00:00
'End of quote. Repeat the line’ - President Joe Biden’s blunder during speech goes viral
US President Joe Biden’s speech has gone viral after his gaffe involving the teleprompter.
Biden was giving a press conference about protecting women’s reproductive rights when he accidentally said “end of quote, repeat the line” as he finished a sentence.
The blunder caught the attention of many social media users, who blamed it on an erroneous reading of the speech off a teleprompter.
Others, including Assistant Press Secretary Emilie Simons, defended him saying it was being misinterpreted.
Mandatory credit: White House
This grandpa is over. Bring the new one
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2022-07-10 07:16:57+00:00
EU to build new top-secret bunker – media
The European Union is spending €8 million ($8.1 million) to build a secure bunker in Brussels where leaders can meet in secrecy, EUobserver has reported. The chamber will be insulated against electronic interference, and all gadgets will be banned from entering, with the news site claiming that such measures are necessary against “Russian or other eavesdroppers.”
Claiming to have seen an EU memo describing the project, EUobserver reported that the chamber will be designed to host around 100 people comprising up to 34 leaders and associated staff. Due to be built by 2024, the bunker will be located somewhere within the European Council’s complex in the Belgian capital.
The meeting room will be offline, but will contain microphones wired to secure booths for interpreters. Both the room and these booths will be shrouded in a “NATO-certified insulation cage” to stop electromagnetic and radio waves from within being picked up outside, and anyone seeking to enter, even cleaners, will need a “SECRET EU” security clearance – the bloc’s second-highest level of classification.
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2022-07-08 07:15:38+00:00
Nothing To Say To West If They Want Russian Defeat On Battlefield - Lavrov
Speaking outside the G20 summit in Bali, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attacked Western countries’ bellicose rhetoric claiming it made negotiations futile. Here’s what else he had to say:
▪️If Western countries want to "defeat Russia on the battlefield" in the situation around Ukraine, then there is nothing to talk about with them.
▪️If the West wants to withdraw Ukrainian grain, it is only necessary to force Kiev to de-mine ports.
▪️The US is forcing Europe and the rest of the world to abandon cheap energy resources and switch to much more expensive ones.
▪️The fact western countries didn’t use the G20 for the purposes for which it was created are obvious.
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2022-07-07 11:39:05+00:00
Some arguments about Ukraine's membership in the EU
https://telegra.ph/Ukraine-in-the-EU-means-the-collapse-of-established-European-principles-07-07
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2022-07-07 08:18:07+00:00
JUST IN - Boris Johnson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
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2022-07-06 18:53:19+00:00
Turkey Boosts Central Asian Influence - Threat To Russia, Claims Frmr US Official
Turkey’s expanding trade links through Central Asia will be setting off alarm bells in Moscow and Beijing according to Paul Goble, former adviser to US Sec State James Baker.
Ankara has signed 15 bilateral trade agreements with Kazakhstan, agreed sales of drones to Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan - the latter boasting the world’s 4th largest natural gas reserves - and signed deals worth $290mn to build two power plants in Uzbekistan.
Gobel claims Russia is “terrified” of Turkey’s rising influence in the region, claiming it “represents a threat to the southern part of the Russian Federation.”
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2022-07-06 15:15:18+00:00
A resident of Severodonetsk spoke about shelling from the Ukrainian side
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2022-07-06 13:05:05+00:00
Dutch Police Shoot at Peaceful Farm Protesters Military Vehicles Deployed
Cops in the Netherlands fired their service weapons at farmers protesting new environmental reforms, with authorities deploying military vehicles in order to tow demonstrators’ tractors blocking traffic.
Social media footage appears to show bullet holes in vehicles, reportedly left by live police rounds.
“A threatening situation arose. Warning shots were fired and targeted shots were fired,” local law enforcement said, adding that nobody was injured in the encounter.
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2022-07-03 14:25:18+00:00
Ukraine urged to lift arbitrary restrictions on journalists
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has criticized Ukrainian authorities over “abuses” against foreign and local journalists covering the conflict with Russia. It urged Kiev to swiftly eliminate obstacles for the media.
“Some 9,000 or so reporters covering the war in Ukraine have difficulties gaining access to certain places and difficulties filming or taking photos, and even are occasionally detained,” the organization, which safeguards freedom of information around the globe, said in a statement on Friday.
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2022-07-03 08:53:42+00:00
A resident of Volnovakha talked about the looting by Ukrainian fighters
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2022-07-01 14:51:18+00:00
⚡️Scholz Urges Lithuania to Lift Kaliningrad Blockade
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz argued that Lithuania was overstepping the framework of EU sanctions against Russia by restricting transportation of goods from its territory to the enclave Kaliningrad region.
Speaking at a presser at the NATO summit in Madrid, Scholz said that it was "a matter for the European Union to set the necessary framework and rules” for transit regulations in question.
EU officials are currently in talks with Vilnius, aiming to exempt traffic between Russia and its Kaliningrad enclave from sanctions, after Moscow vowed retaliation.
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2022-07-01 08:55:38+00:00
Russia Makes Move to Alleviate Global Food Crisis
Russian troops were withdrawn from Ukraine’s Snake Island on Thursday, the defense ministry announced during a daily briefing. The move was described as a goodwill gesture meant to alleviate concerns over Russia possibly blocking attempts to haul grain out of Ukraine.
“This demonstrated to the international community that the Russian Federation does not hinder the UN effort to organize a humanitarian corridor to ship agricultural products from the Ukrainian territory,” Col. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the spokesman for the ministry, said.
Western nations and Ukraine have been accusing Russia of blocking seaborne exports from Kiev-controlled ports like Odessa, claiming that it was a major factor of the global hike in food prices