Ukraine 3

[240B]

[Timber Rattler]

What is happening in Moldova, Ukraine’s tiny European neighbor with a pro-Russian movement?

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/17/what-is-happening-in-moldova-is-it-putins-next-target-after-ukraine.html

Moldova, a small European nation to Ukraine’s western border, has found itself increasingly caught in the crosshairs of Russia’s war, following the collapse of its government last week.

President Maia Sandu on Monday accused Russia of plotting a coup to overthrow her pro-European Union government using “foreign saboteurs.”

Sandu said authorities had confirmed allegations first voiced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, who warned his intelligence agencies have uncovered “a detailed Russian plan to undermine the political situation in Moldova.”

Analysts said it is entirely possible that Moscow is using Moldova — and separatist groups in its pro-Russian breakaway state of Transnistria — to sow discord and disarm Ukraine from a new front, ahead of the war’s one-year anniversary.

“Russians have created an inverse of what they did last year in Belarus, bringing Moldova and Transnistria into the mix from the south,” Clinton Watts, a former fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told CNBC, referring to the amassing of tanks along Ukraine’s northern border ahead of its invasion.

Until now, Ukraine’s defense forces and Western allies have estimated that Russia’s renewed offensive would be concentrated in the east of the country.

“From the Kremlin’s perspective, it’s a pretty smart strategy. Every time I start to underestimate Russia’s ability to create unrest, you see things like this,” added Watts, who now leads Microsoft’s Digital Threat Analysis Center.

[Timber Rattler]

Tank plant in small Ohio city plays big role in Ukraine war

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-military-technology-business-55e3f4ef1696ca381e069883d5836399

Thousands of miles from the front lines, a sprawling manufacturing plant in the small midwestern city of Lima, Ohio, is playing a critical role in the effort to arm Ukraine as it fends off the Russian invasion.

Owned by the Army and operated by General Dynamics, the plant is expected to refurbish Abrams tanks for the U.S. to send to Ukraine, and is already preparing to build an updated version of the vehicle for Poland, U.S. Army officials said Thursday as they toured the facility.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who walked through the plant with a number of other Army leaders and senior officers, said it’s highly likely the plant will provide the tanks for Ukraine.

“We’re still looking at options for exactly what variant of tanks will be provided to the Ukrainians. I think there’s still a little bit to be worked out, but certainly, the tanks being built here in Lima are central,” she said.

An Associated Press reporter was allowed to accompany Wormuth on the tour, the first journalist to walk the production lines since the U.S. pledged Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

U.S. officials have declined to provide details about the Abrams that will eventually go to Ukraine, saying they have to decide whether to send refurbished older Army tanks, Marine tanks or some other version. But in most cases, the tanks would need upgrades at the Lima plant before being shipped to Ukraine’s battlefront.

Not "upgrades" but downgrades, i.e. turn them into stripped down "monkey models."

[Elderberry]

Russia put 6,000 Ukrainian kids in re-education camps, Yale study finds

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/02/russia-put-6000-ukrainian-kids-in-re-education-camps-yale-study-finds/

Russia has placed thousands of Ukrainian children in camps where they’re subjected to Russian propaganda and forcible adoption by Russian families, with some even undergoing military training, a U.S. government-backed report from Yale University found.

The campaign violates the Geneva Conventions and could constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly genocide, researchers from the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab said. It has involved children from 4 months old to 17 years.

The research was supported by the State Department’s bureau of conflict stabilization operations.

While at least 6,000 children could be confirmed to have participated in the camps, the researchers “think the number is probably significantly higher,” Nathaniel Raymond, a Yale researcher who worked on the report, told reporters in a phone briefing on Tuesday. “The primary purpose of the camps appears to be political reeducation.”

More at link.

[Kamaji]

New blow for Putin as military intelligence colonel, 37, is killed in Ukraine as Britain reveals Russian casualties are as high as 200,000

By CHRIS JEWERS and WILL STEWART FOR MAILONLINE
17 February 2023

Vladimir Putin has suffered a double blow to his war effort in Ukraine, losing a military intelligence colonel and a decorated paratrooper in a matter of days, as Britain estimates Russia has suffered as many as 200,000 casualties.

Lt-Col Viktor Fursov, 37, was killed on a combat mission, although the exact circumstances of his death have not been disclosed.

He has since been posthumously awarded the Russian Order of Courage, and his funeral is due to take place on Friday.

The army intelligence officer had trained in the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School at the Faculty of Intelligence.

In a second setback, a Russian paratrooper honoured by Putin in his New Year address has also been killed in Ukraine.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11763021/New-blow-Putin-colonel-killed-Ukraine-UK-says-200-000-Russian-casualties.html

[Kamaji]

Bodies of Putin's fallen troops are 'piling up' in trenches as Wagner chief slams Moscow's 'monstrous bureaucracy' for slowing military gains in embattled Ukrainian city

By ALASTAIR LOCKHART
16 February 2023

The head of Russia's mercenary outfit Wagner has slammed Moscow's 'monstrous bureaucracy' for slowing military gains, saying it could take months to capture the embattled Ukraine city of Bakhmut.

Russia has been trying to encircle and capture the city ahead of February 24, the first anniversary of its invasion, but the bodies of Vladimir Putin's forces are said to be 'piled up' in trenches as his army continues to struggle.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the infamous Wagner mercenary group, has attacked the Russian military for slowing efforts to retake Bakhmut, arguing the city could have already been captured from Ukraine.

He said in a series of messages online: 'I think it's [going to be in] March or in April.

'To take Bakhmut you have to cut all supply routes. It's a significant task.

'Progress is not going as fast as we would like.

'Bakhmut would have been taken before the New Year, if not for our monstrous military bureaucracy.'

He added: 'Because there are a huge number of problems that need to be solved. Naturally it will also depend on whether we continue to be bled,' in a reference to the end of prisoner recruits.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11760451/Bodies-Putin-troops-piling-trenches-Wagner-boss-slams-Moscows-monstrous-bureaucracy.html

[ScottinVA]

That "suicide" thing seems to happen quite often in RuZZia.

[ScottinVA]

Russia put 6,000 Ukrainian kids in re-education camps, Yale study finds

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/02/russia-put-6000-ukrainian-kids-in-re-education-camps-yale-study-finds/

Russia has placed thousands of Ukrainian children in camps where they’re subjected to Russian propaganda and forcible adoption by Russian families, with some even undergoing military training, a U.S. government-backed report from Yale University found.

The campaign violates the Geneva Conventions and could constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly genocide, researchers from the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab said. It has involved children from 4 months old to 17 years.

The research was supported by the State Department’s bureau of conflict stabilization operations.

While at least 6,000 children could be confirmed to have participated in the camps, the researchers “think the number is probably significantly higher,” Nathaniel Raymond, a Yale researcher who worked on the report, told reporters in a phone briefing on Tuesday. “The primary purpose of the camps appears to be political reeducation.”

More at link.

Nothing...NOTHING RuZZia touches is the better for it.  RuZZia is one of the most destructive forces of evil this world has ever seen.

[sneakypete]

New blow for Putin as military intelligence colonel, 37, is killed in Ukraine as Britain reveals Russian casualties are as high as 200,000

By CHRIS JEWERS and WILL STEWART FOR MAILONLINE
17 February 2023

Vladimir Putin has suffered a double blow to his war effort in Ukraine, losing a military intelligence colonel and a decorated paratrooper in a matter of days, as Britain estimates Russia has suffered as many as 200,000 casualties.

Lt-Col Viktor Fursov, 37, was killed on a combat mission, although the exact circumstances of his death have not been disclosed.

He has since been posthumously awarded the Russian Order of Courage, and his funeral is due to take place on Friday.

The army intelligence officer had trained in the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School at the Faculty of Intelligence.

In a second setback, a Russian paratrooper honoured by Putin in his New Year address has also been killed in Ukraine.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11763021/New-blow-Putin-colonel-killed-Ukraine-UK-says-200-000-Russian-casualties.html

@Kamaji

What the hell does Pooty-Poot or any  of his accomplices in the Kremin care? None of THEM or their familes are dying in his war.

[sneakypete]

Nothing...NOTHING RuZZia touches is the better for it.  RuZZia is one of the most destructive forces of evil this world has ever seen.

@ScottinVA

Well,I would call it a tie between Russia and their commie bosum-brothers,the freaking Chinese.

We just don't hear much about what the Chinese are up to in the 'murikan press.

Other than coming here to steal our tech and learn from us how to manufacture items that don't self-destruct within a week of purchase,that is.

ANY US company/corporation that does  business  with  the Chinese should have their taxes raised by double the amount of the additional profits they are making from using slave labor.

[240B]

[sneakypete]

@240B

Chances are she got caught stealing part of "his cut" from a more poweful Kremlin figure,and ended up paying  the price.

[240B]

@240B

Chances are she got caught stealing part of "his cut" from a more poweful Kremlin figure,and ended up paying  the price.

Every Russian checking in to any Hotel worldwide is demanding 'ground floor' or nothing.
This 'falling out of a window' schtick is more prolific than Hillary's business partners and suicide.

[mountaineer]

While Biden continues to decimates your retirement savings, he's covering Ukrainian pensions:

Biden announces that US tax dollars will go towards supporting Ukrainian social services, including paying for government pensions.

https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1626736360743931909

[Hoodat]

While Biden continues to decimates your retirement savings, he's covering Ukrainian pensions:

Biden announces that US tax dollars will go towards supporting Ukrainian social services, including paying for government pensions.

If just a third of that money was diverted to weapons instead, this war would be over.  Been saying that since Day One.  All the money that Biden claims have been going to Ukraine are instead going to agencies like USAID and Dept of State.

[mountaineer]

Thomas Massie
@RepThomasMassie
Biden bragged about paying pensions for Ukrainians, but we hit the debt limit and his Treasury Secretary is taking “extraordinary measures,” which means Biden is now literally selling investments of US pensions to fund Ukrainian pensions.

12:45 PM · Feb 18, 2023

[Kamaji]

If just a third of that money was diverted to weapons instead, this war would be over.  Been saying that since Day One.  All the money that Biden claims have been going to Ukraine are instead going to agencies like USAID and Dept of State.

[Smokin Joe]

If just a third of that money was diverted to weapons instead, this war would be over.  Been saying that since Day One.  All the money that Biden claims have been going to Ukraine are instead going to agencies like USAID and Dept of State.

Yep. I, too, have questioned just how much of the announced amounts is actually getting to Ukraine.

Arm them and let them handle the rest.

[sneakypete]

The Golden Rule for the Dims is "First of all,help yourself!"

The end result is the pols and their relatives/associates get the majority of the cash after it has been laundered,and the "good deed" that was the announced target of all that money get the remains.

Just enough to keep them from complaining because they can maintain the hope that some of the money approved to help them will eventually find it's way to them.

[Timber Rattler]

Joe Biden's surprise trip to Ukraine

https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2023/02/20/joe-bidens-surprise-trip-to-ukraine-n531865

Just as people were waking up on the east coast, the news broke out that President Joe Biden had arrived in Kyiv on a secret trip to visit Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife.  The meeting was fairly brief, and in only a couple of hours (by 7:00 am eastern) Biden had flown out of the Ukrainian capital again. The expected speeches were given, with Biden reaffirming America’s solidarity with Ukraine and promising our continued support of the war effort there. But was this a good idea? Possibly. But it’s complicated.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1627624363171147776

[Timber Rattler]

Biden Visits Kyiv, Ukraine’s Embattled Capital, as Air-Raid Siren Sounds

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/us/politics/biden-ukraine-visit.html

President Biden made a surprise trip to the embattled capital of Ukraine on Monday, traveling under a cloak of secrecy into a war zone to demonstrate what he called America’s “unwavering support” of the effort to beat back Russian forces nearly a year after they invaded the country.

Mr. Biden arrived unannounced early Monday morning to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the two stepped out into the streets of Kyiv even as an air-raid siren sounded, a dramatic moment captured on video that underscored the investment the United States has made in Ukraine’s independence.

“One year later, Kyiv stands,” Mr. Biden declared at Mr. Zelensky’s side in Mariinsky Palace, the gilded ceremonial home of the Ukrainian president. “And Ukraine stands. Democracy stands.”

“Thank you so much for coming, Mr. President, at a huge moment for Ukraine,” Mr. Zelensky said.

Mr. Biden promised to release another $500 million in military aid in coming days, mentioning artillery ammunition, Javelin missiles and Howitzers, but he did not talk about the advanced arms that Ukraine has sought. Mr. Zelensky told reporters that he and the president spoke about “long range weapons and the weapons that may still be supplied to Ukraine even though it wasn’t supplied before.”

Mr. Biden joined Mr. Zelensky for a visit to St. Michael’s monastery in downtown Kyiv, where the sun glittered off the golden domes as the air-raid alarm wailed. Trailing two soldiers bearing a wreath, the two leaders walked along the Wall of Remembrance, where portraits are on display of more than 4,500 soldiers who have died since Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and first fomented a rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

[Timber Rattler]

Revealed: Leaked document shows how Russia plans to take over Belarus

https://news.yahoo.com/russia-belarus-strategy-document-230035184.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9mcmVlcmVwdWJsaWMuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAADZAWNGYEGA5FEie3Skhhg8K53ykCMP2frW1CJWebEXMk9KM7fxGzI_N6V7EbYwpaBqAsIvaCEaT6GHSqTIVTIv1QnTDzle8XS39l0ccVCtX-PDf-O5s_ksabo8iFKKuhqXXJ4dJbtiT_LNCoBsoQhtlRaFM3vZrjnhRMtrrnM9Z

A leaked internal strategy document from Vladimir Putin’s executive office and obtained by Yahoo News lays out a detailed plan on how Russia plans to take full control over neighboring Belarus in the next decade under the pretext of a merger between the two countries. The document outlines in granular detail a creeping annexation by political, economic and military means of an independent but illiberal European nation by Russia, which is an active state of war in its bid to conquer Ukraine through overwhelming force.

“Russia’s goals with regards to Belarus are the same as with Ukraine,” Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told Yahoo News. “Only in Belarus, it relies on coercion rather than war. Its end goal is still wholesale incorporation.”

According to the document, issued in fall 2021, the end goal is the formation of a so-called Union State of Russia and Belarus by no later than 2030. Everything involved in the merger of the two countries has been considered, including the “harmonization” of Belarusian laws with those of the Russian Federation; a “coordinated foreign and defense policy” and “trade and economic cooperation … on the basis of the priority” of Russian interests; and “ensuring the predominant influence of the Russian Federation in the socio-political, trade-economic, scientific-educational and cultural-information spheres.”

In practice, this would eliminate whatever remains of Belarus’s sovereignty and reduce a country about the size of Kansas, with 9.3 million people, to the status of a Moscow satellite. It would put Belarusians at the mercy of the Kremlin’s priorities, whether in agriculture, industry, espionage or war. And it would pose a security threat to Belarus’s European neighbors, three of which — Latvia, Lithuania and Poland — are members of NATO and the European Union.

Excerpt.

Par for the course...it's exactly what Putin tried to do with Ukraine in 2013-2014 before the Maidan protests and Yanukovych's flight from office put a stop to it.

[LMAO]

Thomas Massie
@RepThomasMassie
Biden bragged about paying pensions for Ukrainians, but we hit the debt limit and his Treasury Secretary is taking “extraordinary measures,” which means Biden is now literally selling investments of US pensions to fund Ukrainian pensions.

12:45 PM · Feb 18, 2023

We’re not only facing insolvency with Medicare and Social Security, but many state public employee pensions are also facing insolvency and this will make the much needed cuts a harder sell

[Kamaji]

'Putin's chef' Wagner chief accuses Russian defence minister of TREASON and depriving his forces of ammunition in a bid to destroy his mercenary company

By HARVEY LINDSAY
21 February 2023

A onetime catering entrepreneur who once shunned the public spotlight, Prigozhin has called out Sergei Shoigu for causing the arms shortages after assuming a more public role since the start of the war in Ukraine a year ago.

Prigozhin's Wagner Group spearheaded Russia's months-long battle for the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk region.

'There is simply direct opposition going on, 'Prigozhin said in a voice message posted on his Telegram channel. 'This can be equated to high treason'.

It is the second such message published by Prigozhin in two days. On Monday, he complained that unnamed officials were denying Wagner supplies out of personal animosity to him.

*  *  *

Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11775647/Wagner-chief-accuses-Russian-defence-minister-TREASON-depriving-forces-ammunition.html

[Timber Rattler]

Putin: Russia Suspends Participation in Last Remaining Nuclear Treaty With U.S

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2023-02-21/putin-russia-suspends-participation-in-last-remaining-nuclear-treaty-with-u-s

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty with the United States that limits the two sides' strategic nuclear arsenals.

Putin stressed that Russia was not withdrawing from the treaty but the suspension further imperils the last remaining pillar of arms control between the United States and Russia, which between them hold nearly 90% of the world's nuclear warheads - enough to destroy the planet many times over.

"In this regard, I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the strategic offensive arms treaty," Putin told lawmakers towards the end of a major speech to parliament, nearly one year into the war in Ukraine.

Putin said Russia's nuclear energy company Rosatom must also ensure the country's readiness to test a nuclear weapon, if needed.

"Of course, we will not be the first to do this. But if the United States tests, then we will," he said. "No one must be under any dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be destroyed."

Excerpt.