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Papa Francisco: La entrevista con 60 Minutos, en español
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Papa Francisco: La entrevista con 60 Minutos, en español – CBS News
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Russian strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region kill at least 11
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A view shows a crater that appeared after a Russian missile strike on a structure at a resort, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine May 19, 2024. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
Valentyn Ogirenko | Reuters
Russia struck a busy lakeside resort on the edge of Ukraine’s second largest city on Sunday and also attacked villages in the surrounding region, killing at least 11 people and wounding scores.
The missile strikes were the latest in what have been constant Russian attacks in recent weeks on the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, where Russian troops have launched an offensive.
Valentyna, 69, had blood running down her face at the lakeside resort area where her home had been destroyed and a busy restaurant nearby been obliterated. Her husband was killed down by the water, she said, gesturing to the area near the shore where there was now a crater, rubble and corpses.
“To lose my husband, to lose my house, to lose everything in the world, it hurts, it hurts me,” she shouted through tears “They (the Russians) are animals, why do they need to kill people?”
Prosecutors said six people were killed there, one was still missing and 27 wounded. Rescuers said the initial strike was followed by a second strike around 20 minutes later, targeting emergency crews at the scene in a so-called “double tap”.
“There were never any soldiers here,” said Yaroslav Trofimko, a police inspector who arrived after the first strike and was then caught up in the second. “It was a Sunday, people were supposed to be here to rest, children were supposed to he here, pregnant women, resting, enjoying a normal way of life.”
Another five people were killed and 9 injured later in the day in two villages in Kupiansk district. Local governor Oleh Syniehubov said Russian forces shelled two villages of the district with a self-propelled multiple rocket launcher.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again called on Western allies to supply Kyiv with additional air defence systems to protect Kharkiv and other cities.
“The world can stop Russian terror – and to do so, the lack of political will among leaders must be overcome,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
“Two Patriots for Kharkiv will make a fundamental difference,” he said, referring to Patriot missile defence systems. Air defence systems for other cities and sufficient support for soldiers on the front line would ensure Russia’s defeat, the president added
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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 813
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As the war enters its 813th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Friday, May 17, 2024.
Fighting
- Visiting Kharkiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation in the northeast was “extremely difficult” but “under control” after the military partially halted a Russian advance, most notably thwarting an invasion of Vovchansk, 5km (3 miles) from the border with Russia.
- Sergiy Bolvinov, the head of police investigations in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, accused Russia of taking “30 to 40” civilians captive in Vovchansk to use as “human shields” near their command centre.
- General Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s supreme allied commander in Europe, said he did not believe Russia’s military had the troop numbers to make a strategic breakthrough in the Kharkiv region and he was confident Ukrainian forces would hold their lines there.
- Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia was directing its most intense assaults on the front line near the cities of Pokrovsk and Kramatorsk in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia’s offensive has been unrelenting for months.
- An air raid alert in the northeastern Kharkiv region remained in place for more than 16 and a half hours amid Russian drone and missile attacks. Officials said five drones hit parts of the city of Kharkiv, starting a fire. There were no reports of casualties. The alert was lifted in the early hours of Friday.
- Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, said a woman and her four-year-old son were killed when their car was hit by a Ukrainian drone. Two other people in the vehicle were injured.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The two held talks, walked in a park and drank tea. Xi said the two countries’ deepening relationship was a “stabilising force” in the world and that he hoped the war in Ukraine could be resolved peacefully. China has not condemned Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Putin said he was grateful for China’s efforts to resolve the crisis.
- Russia expelled Adrian Coghill, the United Kingdom’s defence attache, from Moscow a week after Britain ordered Russia’s defence attache to leave London for being an “undeclared military intelligence officer”. UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said Moscow’s move was because Coghill “personified the UK’s unwavering support for Ukraine“.
- Sri Lanka said it would send a high-level delegation to Russia to investigate the fate of hundreds of nationals reportedly fighting in the war in Ukraine. The Defence Ministry said social media campaigns via WhatsApp have targeted ex-military personnel with promises of lucrative salaries and citizenship in Russia, warning its nationals not to be duped.
Weapons
- The United States announced sanctions on two Russian nationals and three Russian companies for facilitating arms transfers between Russia and North Korea, including ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine. US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Russia had already used at least 40 North Korean-produced ballistic missiles against Ukraine.
- Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, denied Pyongyang was selling weapons to Russia, saying it was a “most absurd theory”, according to state media. UN monitors have found debris from North Korean missiles in Ukraine.
- Denmark said it would send Ukraine a new military aid package, mostly of air defence and artillery, worth about 5.6 billion Danish crowns ($815.47m).
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Ex-Ukrainian president says US delay in war aid let Putin inflict more damage
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Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said the long delay by the U.S. Congress in approving military aid for his country was “a colossal waste of time,” allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to inflict more suffering in the two-year-old invasion and prolonging the war.The severe lack of ammunition, which forced outgunned Ukrainian forces to surrender village after village on the front lines, also sowed concern among Ukraine’s other Western allies about Kyiv’s prospects in repelling the Russian invasion, Yushchenko told The Associated Press in an interview Monday.That sent a signal to Putin to “attack, ruin infrastructure, rampage all over Ukraine,” said Yushchenko, a pro-European reformer who sought to distance Kyiv from Moscow during his 2005-2010 administration.”And, of course, this undermines the morale of those in the world who stand with and support Ukraine,” said Yushchenko, who was in Philadelphia to speak at a World Affairs Council event.The delay “is not fatal” to Ukraine, but it forced Ukraine’s war planners to revise the current year’s campaign, he said. Yushchenko has backed the handling of the war by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and has asserted that no Ukrainian politician would give up territory in order to end the war.Yushchenko said it would be a “big mistake” for the U.S. and Europe to expect such a deal for peace, and would only embolden Putin to attack again.It would, he said, “give Putin five or seven years to get stronger and then start this misery again.”On the battlefield, Russia is pushing ahead with a ground offensive that opened a new front in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and put pressure on overstretched Ukrainian forces. Yushchenko urged Western allies to make political decisions faster to aid Ukraine in a fight that soldiers are waging every day around the clock.”The front line is working 24 hours, it doesn’t take vacation,” he said.After the U.S. aid was approved last month, President Joe Biden said he was immediately rushing badly needed weaponry to Ukraine as he signed into law a $61 billion war aid measure for Ukraine. Without it, CIA Director Bill Burns has said, Ukraine could lose the war to Russia by the end of this year.Still, only small batches of U.S. military aid have started to trickle into the front line, according to Ukrainian military commanders, who said it will take at least two months before supplies meet Kyiv’s needs to hold the line. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that the Biden administration was “trying to really accelerate the tempo” of U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine following the monthslong delay by Congress. “The level of intensity being exhibited right now in terms of moving stuff is at a 10 out of 10,” he said. The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday in an unannounced diplomatic mission to reassure Ukraine that it has American support.Biden and Ukraine’s allies in Congress pushed for months to overcome resistance from hard-right Republican lawmakers in the House over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.Final action only came after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed past that opposition last month to bring Ukraine aid to a vote.The funding impasse dated back to August, when Biden made his first emergency spending request for Ukraine. Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, the U.S. has sent more than $44 billion worth of weapons, maintenance, training and spare parts to Ukraine. Yushchenko acknowledged the huge losses that Ukraine has suffered in over two years of war, costing lives every day and forcing regular Ukrainians to join the fight. But he said that he was ashamed to hear arguments about “war fatigue” and that it shouldn’t be an excuse to stop fighting.”Every day we pay with our lives,” Yushchenko said. “The lives of children and women, the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. Our infrastructure is being destroyed every day.”Despite his harsh criticism of the U.S. delay in approving the latest military aid, Yushchenko acknowledged that Ukraine has been able to recapture a significant part of the occupied territory thanks to Western support.More gains can be achieved if the allies are united, Yushchenko said. “For Putin, the main geopolitical challenge is freedom and democracy. And today he is using all available resources to show that the Western world is weak” and unable to coalesce, Yushchenko said.He has said he believes victory for Ukraine is inevitable, given the sacrifice of the country’s citizens to fight, and sees the war as a larger, defining battle to defend democracy from tyranny and imperialism.Yushchenko came to power as a popular opposition leader in the 2004 Orange Revolution protests, beating Putin’s preferred candidate. As president he adamantly pushed to move Ukraine out of Moscow’s shadow and integrate more closely with Western Europe. But his presidency was marked by political skirmishing that paralyzed government and prevented any of his promised reforms from being passed. He lost power amid a plunging Ukrainian economy during the 2008 global financial crisis and tensions with Russia highlighted by a clash over gas prices.Yushchenko survived a dioxin poisoning during his 2004 election campaign, and several former Russian intelligence officers accused Moscow of being behind the poisoning.The poisoning forced Yushchenko to temporarily abandon campaign activities in the midst of Ukraine’s hotly contested presidential race, and severely disfigured his face. But it also earned him the sympathy of many Ukrainians. He has said he subsequently underwent more than two dozen surgeries. Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
PHILADELPHIA —Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said the long delay by the U.S. Congress in approving military aid for his country was “a colossal waste of time,” allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to inflict more suffering in the two-year-old invasion and prolonging the war.
The severe lack of ammunition, which forced outgunned Ukrainian forces to surrender village after village on the front lines, also sowed concern among Ukraine’s other Western allies about Kyiv’s prospects in repelling the Russian invasion, Yushchenko told The Associated Press in an interview Monday.
That sent a signal to Putin to “attack, ruin infrastructure, rampage all over Ukraine,” said Yushchenko, a pro-European reformer who sought to distance Kyiv from Moscow during his 2005-2010 administration.
“And, of course, this undermines the morale of those in the world who stand with and support Ukraine,” said Yushchenko, who was in Philadelphia to speak at a World Affairs Council event.
The delay “is not fatal” to Ukraine, but it forced Ukraine’s war planners to revise the current year’s campaign, he said.
Yushchenko has backed the handling of the war by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and has asserted that no Ukrainian politician would give up territory in order to end the war.
Yushchenko said it would be a “big mistake” for the U.S. and Europe to expect such a deal for peace, and would only embolden Putin to attack again.
It would, he said, “give Putin five or seven years to get stronger and then start this misery again.”
On the battlefield, Russia is pushing ahead with a ground offensive that opened a new front in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and put pressure on overstretched Ukrainian forces.
Yushchenko urged Western allies to make political decisions faster to aid Ukraine in a fight that soldiers are waging every day around the clock.
“The front line is working 24 hours, it doesn’t take vacation,” he said.
After the U.S. aid was approved last month, President Joe Biden said he was immediately rushing badly needed weaponry to Ukraine as he signed into law a $61 billion war aid measure for Ukraine. Without it, CIA Director Bill Burns has said, Ukraine could lose the war to Russia by the end of this year.
Still, only small batches of U.S. military aid have started to trickle into the front line, according to Ukrainian military commanders, who said it will take at least two months before supplies meet Kyiv’s needs to hold the line.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that the Biden administration was “trying to really accelerate the tempo” of U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine following the monthslong delay by Congress. “The level of intensity being exhibited right now in terms of moving stuff is at a 10 out of 10,” he said.
The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday in an unannounced diplomatic mission to reassure Ukraine that it has American support.
Biden and Ukraine’s allies in Congress pushed for months to overcome resistance from hard-right Republican lawmakers in the House over renewed American support for repelling Russia’s invasion.
Final action only came after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed past that opposition last month to bring Ukraine aid to a vote.
The funding impasse dated back to August, when Biden made his first emergency spending request for Ukraine. Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, the U.S. has sent more than $44 billion worth of weapons, maintenance, training and spare parts to Ukraine.
Yushchenko acknowledged the huge losses that Ukraine has suffered in over two years of war, costing lives every day and forcing regular Ukrainians to join the fight. But he said that he was ashamed to hear arguments about “war fatigue” and that it shouldn’t be an excuse to stop fighting.
“Every day we pay with our lives,” Yushchenko said. “The lives of children and women, the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. Our infrastructure is being destroyed every day.”
Despite his harsh criticism of the U.S. delay in approving the latest military aid, Yushchenko acknowledged that Ukraine has been able to recapture a significant part of the occupied territory thanks to Western support.
More gains can be achieved if the allies are united, Yushchenko said.
“For Putin, the main geopolitical challenge is freedom and democracy. And today he is using all available resources to show that the Western world is weak” and unable to coalesce, Yushchenko said.
He has said he believes victory for Ukraine is inevitable, given the sacrifice of the country’s citizens to fight, and sees the war as a larger, defining battle to defend democracy from tyranny and imperialism.
Yushchenko came to power as a popular opposition leader in the 2004 Orange Revolution protests, beating Putin’s preferred candidate. As president he adamantly pushed to move Ukraine out of Moscow’s shadow and integrate more closely with Western Europe.
But his presidency was marked by political skirmishing that paralyzed government and prevented any of his promised reforms from being passed. He lost power amid a plunging Ukrainian economy during the 2008 global financial crisis and tensions with Russia highlighted by a clash over gas prices.
Yushchenko survived a dioxin poisoning during his 2004 election campaign, and several former Russian intelligence officers accused Moscow of being behind the poisoning.
The poisoning forced Yushchenko to temporarily abandon campaign activities in the midst of Ukraine’s hotly contested presidential race, and severely disfigured his face. But it also earned him the sympathy of many Ukrainians. He has said he subsequently underwent more than two dozen surgeries.
Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
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Ukrainian kids go to underground classrooms amid Putin’s brutal offensive
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UKRAINIAN children have been seen gathering in underground classrooms as they stay safe from Vladimir Putin’s devastating Kharkiv offensive.
Schools stayed open despite the fresh Russian blitz on the battered city as kids were forced into bomb-proof bunkers by brave teachers.
Ukrainian kids have been going to school like normal despite the latest Russian onslaught in Kharkiv as they learn in underground bunkersCredit: EPA 
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Children were seen walking to their classes holding hands as they escaped Vlad’s furyCredit: Reuters 
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The heavily fortified underground schools let the children continue to learn with their teachers in wake of the fighting around themCredit: Reuters 
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Russia’s latest attack on the Kharkiv region has left buildings and people decimatedCredit: EPA 
It comes as Russian snipers take aim above ground at anyone trying to flee to safety.
Thousands of school children aged between six and 16 are being taught in five converted metro stations away from Putin’s horror bombardments.
Some of the old stations, where locals fled to at the start of the brutal Ukraine war, even have miniature playgrounds inside.
The Sun visited one of the renovated schools earlier this year and spoke to teacher Olenna Volodomyr, who said: “It is strange having classes underground, but it is the only way to teach face to face.
“It is much better for the children.
“The children feel safe here, we feel safe here, and the parents feel better because they know their children are safe.”
As the children remain safe underground, thousands of adults have been trying to escape the fighting altogether since the second bloody assault on Kharkiv was launched on Friday.
Military policeman Vlad Yefarov was trying to rescue a pensioner trapped in the north-east border town of Vovchansk when Russian snipers shot at him.
Vlad told The Telegraph: “We were driving past the old shoemaker’s factory when a Russian sniper’s bullet hit the windscreen right in front of me.
“We tried to turn around, but as we did so, a Russian machine-gunner opened fire on us, and the sniper put another round in my driver’s side window.”
This is just one horrific example of Russian fighters bullying Ukrainian civilians and not allowing them to leave areas, such as Kharkiv, where fighting has brutally intensified.
Putin launches surprise fresh invasion across Ukraine border into KharkivIt was also revealed earlier today, that Russian forces had managed to seize miles of ground in the shock offensive.
Putin’s troops claimed they captured five villages this morning.
They later said four more had been taken in the last few hours taking the total to nine.
Ukraine’s armed forces admitted Moscow had achieved some “tactical successes” around the north-eastern city near the Russian border over the weekend.
Russian troops marched between two and five miles in a multipronged attack across more than 20 miles of front line.
Close to 40,000 soldiers and 500 tanks had been amassed along the border ahead of the large-scale ground attack Kyiv had feared was coming for weeks.
Kharkiv’s regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said: “The enemy is trying to deliberately stretch the front line, attacking in small groups, but in new directions.”
Last night, fighting raged on the outskirts of bomb-blitzed Vovchansk and nearby Lyptsi, which sit a few miles south of the Russia-Ukraine frontier.
Almost 6,000 civilians fled Vovchansk although 300 remain, local officials said yesterday.
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A woman and child venture down into one of Kharkiv’s underground schoolsCredit: Rex 
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Civilians have been evacuating Vovchansk and the surrounding regions to escape Russian soldiers advancing through UkraineCredit: Rex 
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Kids have been seen smiling and laughing as they socialise and develop normallyCredit: EPA 
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Russian missile strikes have bombarded Kharkiv since the offensive began on FridayCredit: Getty 
Despite Putin’s relative success with gaining ground he has reportedly suffered record losses with 1,740 killed in a single day of war.
Russian troops are being continuously thrown into meatgrinder assaults in northeastern Ukraine as part of the brutal new ground offensive.
Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin is using the tried-and-tested Russian tactic of launching human wave attacks – sending forward a disproportionate amount of infantry units to exhaust Ukrainian troops and firepower.
Dramatic footage also showed Ukraine decimating a column of five tanks from above as they attempted to plough further into the Kharkiv region.
Analysts say the Russian onslaught is designed to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western weapons shipments can reach the frontline.
Russia first stepped up attacks on Kharkiv in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlements with constant airstrikes in what analysts predicted were preparations for a new offensive.
Its mayor had warned the West that it risked being turned into a “second Aleppo” – the Syrian city which heavy Russian bombing helped to decimate a decade ago.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukrainian troops had been carrying out counterattacks in the border villages.
“Disrupting Russian offensive plans is now our number one task,” he said.
Troops must “return the initiative to Ukraine”, the president insisted, again urging allies to speed up arms deliveries.
The key moment in the conflict comes as Putin sacked his long-term defence minister and appointed a tech geek with zero military experience.
Civilian Andrei Belousov, 65, will now take the reins of Russia’s war in Ukraine as the Kremlin ruler carries out a major shake-up of his cabinet.
The Institute for the Study War said the high-level reshuffle signals that Putin is taking significant steps to prepare for a protracted war in Ukraine and a possible future confrontation with Nato.
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Police in Ukraine have been helping to evacuate thousands of people including the elderly so they can be safe away from Vlad’s terror regimeCredit: AP 
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The schools have been designed inside underground metro stationsCredit: EPA 
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The aftermath of a savage Russian strikeCredit: Getty [ad_2]
Georgie English
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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 807
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As the war enters its 807th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
Fighting
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Ukrainian strikes have killed three people and caused a large fire at an oil storage depot in Luhansk, the region’s Russia-installed governor, Leonid Pasechnik, has said in a Telegram message. Eight people were hospitalised.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will quash a new major Russian ground assault in the northeastern Kharkiv region, as he acknowledged the latest “heavy battles along the entire front line”, and appealed to Western allies to deliver more military aid.
- Ukrainian reinforcements have headed to Kharkiv, launched artillery and drone counterstrikes in response to the latest Russian offensive, while the authorities told civilians to flee the heavy fighting.
- General Oleksandr Pavliuk, commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, has played down the significance of possibly losing the eastern town of Chasiv Yar, which is described as a gateway to other cities that Russia is targeting, like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
- Hundreds of people in Ukraine’s city of Vinnytsia have bid their final farewell to Nazary Gryntsevych, a member of the Azov Brigade who had become a national hero and symbol of bravery after fighting Russian forces despite the fall of Mariupol.
Diplomacy and politics
- White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby has said the United States expects Russia to intensify its new offensive and commit additional troops, with the aim of establishing a buffer zone along the Ukrainian border.
- “It is possible that Russia will make further advances in the coming weeks, but we do not anticipate any major breakthroughs,” Kirby said. “And over time, the influx of US assistance will enable Ukraine to withstand these attacks over the course of 2024.”
- The US has announced a new $400m military aid package – including armoured vehicles, surface-to-air missiles and rockets – for Ukraine amid the Russian assault in the northeast of the country. It is the third package for Ukraine in less than three weeks, following two in late April valued at a total of $7bn.
- Poland’s central bank governor, Adam Glapinski, has warned that his country faces further economic risks if the war in Ukraine comes closer to its borders.
- Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair has announced a $76m Canadian dollar ($56m) financial package that would allow Germany to ramp up its air defence aid for Ukraine.
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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has declared that the aim of nuclear exercises planned by Russia is to work out the response to any attacks on Russian soil. Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, warns the West that Russia could attack not only Ukraine in response to such attacks.
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I watched Russian zealots taunt West at WW3 flashpoint border
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RUSSIAN zealots taunted Western protesters during Vladimir Putin’s elaborate Victory Day celebration just metres from Nato territory.
Giant screens showed clips from World War Two on the grounds of the Ivangorod Fortress — while Vlad said his troops were “ready” to battle the West.
Sun reporter Thomas Godfrey pictured in Narva, Estonia 
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Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on the 79th anniversary of the victory over Nazi GermanyCredit: Reuters 
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Soldiers on the Victory Day military parade in central MoscowCredit: AFP 
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Russian military vehicles on military parade on Russia’s Victory DayCredit: Reuters 
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In a rambling address the tyrant, 71, hailed the supposed success of his “special military operation” in Ukraine.
But in a veiled threat he added: “Russia will do everything to avoid a global confrontation.
“But at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us.
“Our strategic forces are always on combat alert.”
Putin was flanked in Moscow by officials carrying his so-called “nuclear briefcase”.
He gave the speech following a toned-down parade featuring only 9,000 troops — less than in previous years — and just one T34 Army tank.
The Red Square parade also showed off three Yars atomic missile launchers.
It comes after Moscow defence chiefs said Putin had ordered the Russian Army to prepare for “non-strategic” nuclear strikes.
They also warned British bases could become targets after Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron gave the green light for UK weapons to be used to hit targets inside Russia.
On the Russia-Estonia border, hundreds packed waterside bars to witness the celebration event marking the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union and the Allies.
Putin’s dreaded ‘nuclear briefcase’ spotted at Victory Day parade…but TV coverage HACKED to show destroyed Russian tanksA stage facility just 100 meters from Russia’s border with Estonia had hundreds of seats set up for VIP guests with a giant May 9 “Victory” logo.
Another two screens were set up metres from the riverbank, while cinema-style speakers boomed Russian procession music and transmitted speeches by military veterans and officials.
One guest even wrapped a Russian flag around himself and held it up in view of watching Estonians, while border cops continuously kept watch.
But activists on the Estonian side of the river attempted to hinder celebrations by unfurling a giant Ukrainian flag within view of the special guests.
The protest sparked a dramatic confrontation with a Russian family visiting Narva for the day and watching the Victory Day event from across the water.
The group of Russians, including a mum pushing a gold-coloured pram, took issue with the Estonian group who posed for photos beneath Narva Castle – where a giant banner proclaims Putin, 71, to be a “war criminal”.
Milan Skubi, 18, who held up the Ukrainian flag, said one of the Russians threatened him for speaking to The Sun.
He said: “The youngest, he told me, ‘If there were no police here, I would throw you in the river’.”
During their demonstration, the trio were also approached by Estonia’s military police, who told the group they could not intervene if tensions boiled over into a physical confrontation.
Milan, joined by pals Aleksei Mehailainen and Sergei Nikitin, told The Sun: “They weren’t happy that we had the Ukrainian flag.
“They told me, ‘If you like Ukraine so much, why don’t you go there.’
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Estonian and Ukrainian flags stand side by side next to an anti-Putin posterCredit: Peter Jordan 
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Aleksei Mehailainen who was holding the Ukrainian flag was urged to be carefulCredit: Peter Jordan 
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Meanwhile, across the river, Russians were holding up a Russian flagCredit: Peter Jordan 
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A Russian family watching the parade on the banks of the Narva RiverCredit: Peter Jordan 
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Huge screens were showing scenes from World War 2Credit: Peter Jordan “When the police came over, they told me to be careful. They said there isn’t anything they can do if things escalate.
“In the months after Ukraine was invaded a lot of people here were worried. We thought that if Russia could invade Ukraine they could invade here too.
“But now I feel more safe because Nato would protect us.”
“It isn’t just an age divide. There are old people that support Ukraine and there are young people that support Russia.
Asked about a poster branding mad tyrant Vladimir Putin a “war criminal”, he added: “I support this poster because it is correct.”
Narva and Ivangorod, a town of just 10,000, are separated by a 100-metre bridge connecting Estonia and Russia.
The road crossing was more heavily monitored by gun-toting border guards after Putin invaded Ukraine and has been fully locked down with barbed wire and concrete boulders since February.
Some 96 per cent of Narva’s 60,000-strong population speak Russian as a first language while around one in four have Russian passports.
Residents of Narva with both Estonian and Russian citizenships can still cross the bridge on foot for day trips.
Russians settled in the coastal town after it was heavily bombed during World War Two, forcing Estonian natives to flee west.
Once it was rebuilt by the Soviet Union, Russians moved in until the super-state dissolved in 1991.
It means Russian is still the main language spoken in Narva while some locals celebrate Russian holidays and sympathise with Kremlin dictator Putin.
One Russian-born Narva resident, Alexander, said he was not worried about the prospect of Russia invading and claimed supporting Ukraine was a form of “propaganda”.
UK, US & Russia’s alliance in WW2
IN World War 2, the three great Allied powers – the UK, US and Soviet Union formed an alliance that was key to securing victory of Nazi Germany.
On New Year’s Day in 1942, all three nations signed the United Nations Declaration to join together to fight the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan).
The ‘Big Three’ gathered together in Yalta in February 1945 as they were closing in on Germany from both the east and west with very different goals.
Soviet forces pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Hitler committed suicide and the red Soviet Victory Banner was raised over the German Reichstag in 1945.
The alliance ended after the Nazi’s unconditional surrender came into force at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945.
The Soviet Union lost about 27 million people in the war, an estimate that many historians consider conservative, scarring virtually every family.
In his ranting speech today, Putin said: “In the West, they would like to forget the lessons of the Second World War,” adding that Russia honoured all the allies involved in the defeat of Nazi Germany.
However he failed to mention these allies by name, instead praising the Chinese people’s fight against Japanese imperialism.
Putin added: “But we remember that the fate of mankind was decided in the grand battles near Moscow and Leningrad, Rzhev, Stalingrad, Kursk and Kharkiv, near Minsk, Smolensk and Kyiv, in heavy, bloody battles from Murmansk to the Caucasus and Crimea.”
The 37-year-old said: “I support Russia. I don’t agree with the position of the Estonian state. I condemn it.
“Supporting Ukraine only harms the country and our security. I don’t believe our authorities and propaganda.
“I believe that public opinion is being manipulated (to support Ukraine) in order to distract people from the reality.”
He added: “I want to wish you a happy Victory Day, because without this neither of our countries would exist.”
But British ex-pat Jeff Green said: “Everyone here is petrified of Russia invading but I don’t think it will ever happen.
“If Mr Putin wanted to take control of this city, he could drop 5,000 paras in and take it overnight. He could have done it any time he wanted.
Jeff, 77, who moved to Narva from Aldershot in 2018, continued: “The reason it will never happen now is because Finland and Sweden are in Nato.
“They have a pretty good air force and if Russia came across the border there would be a response in minutes.”
The Kremlin last threatened Narva in 2022 when Putin said he considered the city to be a historical Russian territory.
But Narva’s defiant mayor, Jaan Toots, told The Sun: “It will not happen because there would be big consequences as we are part of Nato.”
He added: “There is a danger and there always will be.
“In our past there have been several countries (here)… Denmark, Sweden, Russia, so there were a lot of owners of our land.
“In 1944 this land was taken from us by the Russian city on the other side.
“Russia annexed the land from us, not vice-versa.”
The mayor continued: “We can develop our security and our protection. Last year we spent not two per cent of our GDP, but already three per cent.”
In February, the Estonian secret police arrested ten alleged Russian actors on suspicion of plotting to attack the cars of a government minister and a prominent journalist.
Asked whether he was worried he could become a target for Kremlin agents, Mr Toots said: “I am not afraid. There is no problem”.
It comes less as Nato launches the Swift Response exercise at Tapa Army Base today (FRI).
The huge cross-country military drill – including air assaults, live-fire exercises and multinational training – is designed to simulate a response to an enemy state.
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Russians gathered to watch Victory Day celebrationsCredit: Peter Jordan 
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Vladimir Putin at the parade in Moscow’s Red SquareCredit: Reuters [ad_2]
Thomas Godfrey
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What Putin hopes to accomplish in 5th presidential term
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Haunting drone pics show Ukraine village razed to apocalyptic wasteland
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CHILLING drone pictures show how a once lively Ukrainian village has been razed to an apocalyptic wasteland by Vladimir Putin’s troops.
Ocheretyne has been battered by relentless fighting and is now just a shadow of its former self.
Drone pictures show the damage caused to the Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne by the warCredit: AP 
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Smoke still plumes from houses that are now just rubbleCredit: AP The village has been a prime target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Russian soldiers have been advancing in the area, pounding Kyiv’s depleted, ammunition-deprived forces with artillery, drones and bombs.
Ukraine’s military acknowledged the Russians have gained a foothold in Ocheretyne
Before the war the village had a population of about 3,000 but now not a soul can be seen in the images as the conflict rages on.
Last week residents scrambled to flee the village.
Among them was a 98-year-old woman wearing slippers who walked almost six miles alone, supported by a cane, until she reached Ukrainian front lines.
No building in Ocheretyne has managed to escape the unrelenting bombardment and most appear to be damaged beyond repair.
Many houses have been pummelled so badly they are reduced to just piles of wood and bricks and a factory on the outskirts has also been severely damaged.
The pictures also show smoke billowing from several houses, and fires burning in at least two buildings.
Elsewhere, Russia has in recent weeks stepped up attacks on Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, in an attempt to dismantle the regions energy infrastructure and terrorize its 1.3 million residents.
Ukraine given ‘green light’ to blitz targets in Russia with long-range Brit weapons amid WW3 fearsFour people were wounded and a two-story civilian building was damaged and set ablaze overnight after Russian forces struck Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, with exploding drones, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday.
The four, including a 13-year-old, were hurt by falling debris, he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russian state agency RIA reported Saturday that Moscows forces struck a drone warehouse in Kharkiv that had been used by Ukrainian troops overnight.
It cited Sergei Lebedev, described as a coordinator of local pro-Moscow guerrillas but his comments could not be independently verified.
On Saturday another Russian strike hit a civilian business in an industrial district of Kharkhiv, Syniehubov said.
Initial reports indicated that four people were wounded.
In the Black Sea port of Odesa, which has been repeatedly targeted in recent days, three people were hurt in a rocket attack on civil infrastructure, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.
Ukraines military said Russia launched a total of 13 Shahed drones at the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions of eastern Ukraine overnight, all of which were shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.
Ukraines energy ministry on Saturday said the overnight strikes damaged an electrical substation in the Dnipropetrovsk region, briefly depriving households and businesses of power.
According to Serhii Lysak, the province’s governor, falling drone debris damaged unspecified critical infrastructure and three private houses, one of which caught on fire.
Two residents, a man and a woman, were rushed to hospital.
Russias Defense Ministry claimed early on Saturday that its forces overnight shot down four U.S.-provided long-range ATACMS missiles over the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The ministry did not provide further details.
Ukraine has recently begun using the missiles, provided secretly by the United States, to hit Russian-held areas, including a military airfield in Crimea and in another area east of the occupied city of Berdyansk, U.S. officials said last week.
Long sought by Ukrainian leaders, the new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the striking distance of up to 190 miles further than it had with the mid-range version of the weapons it received from the U.S. last October.
A Ukrainian drone also damaged telecommunications infrastructure on the outskirts of Belgorod, a Russian city some 31 miles from the Ukrainian border, according to the local governor.
Vyacheslav Gladkov did not say what the site was used for.
Hours later, Gladkov reported that five people in Belgorod were hospitalized, with shrapnel wounds and other injuries, following a strong blast on Saturday that also damaged around 30 private homes and sparked two fires.
He did not immediately clarify what caused the explosions.
It comes as Ukraine blitzed another major Russian oil refinery in a kamikaze drone strike, the explosions sparking a huge inferno near Moscow.
Dramatic video from the scene showed flames raging from the Rosneft energy giant facility in the city of Ryazan on Wednesday.
Residents of Ryazan, located 125 miles southeast of Moscow, were said to have heard the rumble of drones about 3am.
Two explosions followed the sound, triggering the inferno.
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Ukraine’s military has acknowledged the Russians have gained a “foothold” in OcheretyneCredit: AP 
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Villagers fled their homes last week including an elderly woman who had to walk many miles to safetyCredit: AP 
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Many of the building appear to be damaged beyond repairCredit: AP [ad_2]
Olivia Allhusen
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US sanctions crypto addresses tied to Russian drone developer
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The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s OFAC has sanctioned a Russian one-way attack UAV developer, which solicited donations in crypto on Telegram.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on May 1 sanctioned nearly 300 individuals and entities in a bid “to limit the Kremlin’s revenue and access to the materiel it needs to prosecute its illegal war against Ukraine.” In a press release, OFAC said the sanctioned entities have enabled Russia to acquire “desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad.”
One of the sanctioned individuals appears to be a developer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) called the OKO Design Bureau. According to a blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis, the Russian drone maker operated a Telegram channel where it solicited donations in crypto. OFAC has sanctioned three crypto addresses associated with the Saint Petersburg-registered firm:
- BTC: 13fhnkmpBBWXUQucJd6efWvXdEj78DKavk.
- ETH (including USDT): 0x19F8f2B0915Daa12a3f5C9CF01dF9E24D53794F7.
- TRX (including USDT): TFdTr9C3BqQrzKBXqSxJfAZFTh8UwBAfSg.
Researchers at Chainalysis say that the aforementioned addresses are listed underneath detailed descriptions and videos of OKO Design Bureau’s operations on Telegram, including testing with the Russian Ministry of Defense, and “usage of their UAVs against Ukraine.”
One of the cases where OKO Design Bureau mentions crypto addresses for donations | Source: Chainalysis However, OKO Design Bureau “had limited success” in their Telegram crypto donation efforts, the researchers say, adding that the firm raised well under $1,000 in total collection. Although OKO Design Bureau’s total crypto activities were limited, Chainalysis notes this is not the first time Russian militia groups explicitly detailed their military operations while publicly soliciting crypto donations.
According to the New York-headquartered blockchain firm, over 50 volunteer groups committed to crowdfunding Russian military purchases, “spreading disinformation, and creating pro-invasion propaganda.” The analysts say the organizations had received roughly $2.2 million in donations by July 2022, although it’s unclear whether that dynamic has grown or declined since then.
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Denis Omelchenko
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The Dangerous Rise of GPS Attacks
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The disruption to GPS services started getting worse on Christmas Day. Planes and ships moving around southern Sweden and Poland lost connectivity as their radio signals were interfered with. Since then, the region around the Baltic Sea—including neighboring Germany, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—has faced persistent attacks against GPS systems.
Tens of thousands of planes flying in the region have reported problems with their navigation systems in recent months amid widespread jamming attacks, which can make GPS inoperable. As the attacks have grown, Russia has increasingly been blamed, with open source researchers tracking the source to Russian regions such as Kaliningrad. In one instance, signals were disrupted for 47 hours continuously. On Monday, marking one of the most serious incidents yet, airline Finnair canceled its flights to Tartu, Estonia, for a month, after GPS interference forced two of its planes to abort landings at the airport and turn around.
The jamming in the Baltic region, which was first spotted in early 2022, is just the tip of the iceberg. In recent years, there has been a rapid uptick in attacks against GPS signals and wider satellite navigation systems, known as GNSS, including those of Europe, China, and Russia. The attacks can jam signals, essentially forcing them offline, or spoof the signals, making aircraft and ships appear at false locations on maps. Beyond the Baltics, war zone areas around Ukraine and the Middle East have also seen sharp rises in GPS disruptions, including signal blocking meant to disrupt airborne attacks.
Now, governments and telecom and airline safety experts are increasingly sounding the alarm about the disruptions and the potential for major disasters. Foreign ministers in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have all blamed Russia for GPS issues in the Baltics this week and said the threat should be taken seriously.
“It cannot be ruled out that this jamming is a form of hybrid warfare with the aim of creating uncertainty and unrest,” Jimmie Adamsson, the chief of public affairs for the Swedish Navy, tells WIRED. “Of course, there are concerns, mostly for civilian shipping and aviation, that an accident will occur creating an environmental disaster. There is also a risk that ships and aircraft will stop traffic to this area and therefore global trade will be affected.”
“A growing threat situation must be expected in connection with GPS jamming,” Joe Wagner, a spokesperson from Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security, tells WIRED, saying there are technical ways to reduce its impact. Officials in Finland say they have also seen an increase in airline disruptions in and around the country. And a spokesperson for the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency, tells WIRED that the number of jamming and spoofing incidents have “increased significantly” over the past four years, and interfering with radio signals is prohibited under the ITU’s rules.
On the Upswing
Attacks against GPS, and the wider GNSS category, come in two forms. First, GPS jamming looks to overwhelm the radio signals that make up GPS and make the systems unusable. Second, spoofing attacks can replace the original signal with a new location—spoofed ships can, for example, appear on maps as if they’re at inland airports.
Both types of interference are up in frequency. The disruptions—at least at this stage—mostly impact planes flying at high altitudes and ships that can be in open water, not people’s individual phones or other systems that rely on GPS.
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Matt Burgess
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How 2024 election winner could shape international crises
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Putin parades captured Brit armoured cars & American tanks in new exhibition
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PUTIN has boasted captured British armoured cars and American tanks in a sick new exhibition.
Weapons and tanks seized from Ukrainian forces have been put on display in Moscow as a way to glorify the invasion.
The exhibition will include 30 tanks which were seized during Ukraine warCredit: AP 
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Rows of tanks donated to Ukraine by Nato are showcased in Moscow’s Victory ParkCredit: EPA 
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Among them is a British Saxon armoured personnel carrier which was donated in 2015Credit: AP 
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Some of the tanks can be seen riddled with still fresh bullet holesCredit: AFP Pictures from Moscow’s Victory Park, which commemorates Russia’s victory against Nazi Germany, show rows of Western military vehicles “captured by Russian servicemen”.
Putin flaunts his military might at the West by showcasing 30 tanks and other pieces of war equipment captured during the war.
A British Saxon armoured personnel carrier, donated to Ukraine in 2015, can be seen pictured under the red banners that proudly claim “Our victory is inevitable”.
An American Bradley tank, a Swedish CV90 and a French-made AMX-10RC armoured fighting vehicle can all be seen riddled with bullet holes.
The military vehicles also spot the flags of their respective countries, including Turkey, Sweden, Czech Republic, South Africa, Finland, Australia and Austria.
Alongside weapons, the month-long exhibition features Ukrainian combat documents and “ideological literature”.
Russia blows its own trumpet with the showcase aimed to celebrate its success “against Ukrainian militants and their Western supporters”.
Ahead of its May 1st opening, trucks bearing military hardware – donated from Nato to the Armed Forces of Ukraine – were spotted pulling up to the open-air museum.
Putin shows off his trophies in light of the Victory Day parade which is held annually to celebrate the country’s victory in World War 2.
The May 9th celebrations are usually used by the warmonger to showcase the might of the Russian military machine and boost national pride.
But this year, many regional parades have been scrapped over fears of Ukrainian kamikaze drone attacks.
Ukraine is ramping up its military arsenal as the US has now approved £49billion military aid to strengthen the 600-mile frontline.
Among the donations is a “game changing” long-range ballistic missiles which can hit targets anywhere and could leave Russian troops “terrified”.
But experts fear that the fresh ammunition could send Putin into an unpredictable spiral.
A former US ambassador issued a chilling warning that reckless Putin is deadly serious about “confronting the West” and could even resort to the use of nukes.
Frank G. Wisner, who served under President Bill Clinton, lashed out at Putin and described the Russian tyrant as “extraordinarily reckless”.
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The proud banner claims ‘Our victory is inevitable’ with German Leopard tank in the backgroundCredit: EPA 
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The showcase is aimed to celebrate Russia’s success against Ukraine and its western alliesCredit: Getty [ad_2]
Aiya Zhussupova
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Ukraine pulls back from three villages in east as Russia claims gains
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Ukraine’s top commander has said Kyiv’s outnumbered troops fell back to new positions west of three villages on the eastern front, where Russia has concentrated significant forces in several locations.
Sunday’s statement by Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskii reflected on Ukraine’s deteriorating position in the east, which Kyiv hopes it can stabilise once it receives United States weapons under a $61bn aid package approved in the US this week.
“The situation at the front has worsened,” Syrskii wrote on the Telegram app, describing the “most difficult” areas as west of occupied Maryinka and northwest of Avdiivka, the town captured by Russian forces in February.
Kyiv’s troops, he said, had taken up new positions west of the villages of Berdychi and Semenivka, both north of Avdiivka, and Novomykhailivka, further south near the town of Maryinka.
“In general, the enemy achieved certain tactical successes in these areas, but could not gain operational advantages,” Oleksandr Syrskii said, adding that Russia had committed four brigades to the assault.
Freshly rested Ukrainian brigades were being rotated in those areas to replace units that had suffered losses, he said.
His statement did not mention the status of Novobakhmutivka, another village near Berdychi, which Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Sunday its forces had captured.
Superior ammunition and air power
Al Jazeera’s John Holman, reporting from Kyiv, said Russian forces are concentrating on several different points on the front line.
“This gives them the initiative on the battlefield,” Holman also said, adding that the Russian side has superior ammunition and air power.
He said that Ukrainian army personnel on the front lines told Al Jazeera that “they are out-shelled six or seven to one”.
Holman added that the Ukrainian military is waiting for the recently approved US aid to arrive, which will help close the firepower disparity between the sides.
Ukrainian officials say the aid is critical to holding off Russia’s two-year-old invasion.
Moscow’s troops have been slowly advancing since capturing the bastion town of Avdiivka, taking advantage of Ukrainian shortages of artillery shells and manpower.
Online battlefield maps produced by open-source intelligence analysts suggest they have advanced more than 15km (9.3 miles) in the direction of the village of Ocheretyne since capturing Avdiivka.
Further up the front, the Ukrainian-held town of Chasiv Yar is a key emerging battleground because of its position on elevated ground that could serve as a gateway to the cities of Kostiantynivka, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Syrskiy described Chasiv Yar and the village of Ivanivske to its northeast as the “hottest spots” on that part of the front. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said it had repelled Ukrainian counterattacks near Chasiv Yar.
Meanwhile, in what could prove a worrying development for Ukraine, Syrskii said his forces were closely monitoring an increase in the number of Russian troops in the area of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
The northeastern city of 1.3 million – located just 30km (18.6 miles) from the Russian border – has been hammered by air attacks in recent months in what Kyiv has said is a deliberate effort by Moscow to make Kharkiv uninhabitable.
Syrskii said there were signs that Russia was directly preparing for an offensive in the north of the country.
“In the most threatening directions, our troops have been reinforced by artillery and tank units,” he said.
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Russia attacks Ukrainian energy sector as Kyiv launches drones at southern Russia
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Russia launched a barrage of missiles against Ukraine overnight, in attacks that appeared to target the country’s energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Russia said its air defense systems had intercepted more than 60 Ukrainian drones over the southern Krasnodar region.
Ukraine’s air force said Saturday that Russia had launched 34 missiles against Ukraine overnight, of which 21 had been shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.
In a post on Telegram, Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko said energy facilities in Dnipropetrovsk in the south of the country and Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv in the west had been attacked and that an engineer was injured.
Private energy operator DTEK said four of its thermal power plants were damaged and that there were “casualties,” without going into detail.
Earlier this month Russia destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest power plants and damaged others in a massive missile and drone attack as it renewed its push to target Ukraine’s energy facilities.
Ukraine has appealed to its Western allies for more air defense systems to ward off such attacks. At a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the U.S. will provide Ukraine with additional munitions and gear for its air defense launchers.
Yakiv Liashenko / AP
Further east, a psychiatric hospital was damaged and one person was wounded after Russia launched a missile attack overnight on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Photos from the scene showed a huge crater on the grounds of the facility and patients taking shelter in corridors. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said a 53-year-old woman was hurt.
Also in the Kharkiv region, a man was killed in an overnight attack on the city of Vovchansk, according to Ukraine’s State Service for Emegency Situations.
In Russia, the Defense Ministry said Russian air defense systems had intercepted 66 drones over the country’s southern Krasnodar region. Two more drones were shot down over the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
The governor of the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev, said that Ukrainian forces targeted an oil refinery and infrastructure facilities but that there were no casualties or serious damage. The regional department of the Emergency Situations Ministry reported that a fire broke out at the Slavyansk oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban during the attack.
Ukrainian officials normally decline to comment on attacks on Russian soil, but the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said Saturday that two oil refineries in the Krasnodar region had been hit by drones.
Five people were wounded in a drone attack in a border village in Russia’s Belgorod region, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
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Ukraine ‘to ramp up long-range strikes inside Russia’ amid new weapons funding
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UKRAINE will ramp up long-range strikes inside Russia as billions of pounds of new weapons flood in, Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff says.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin signalled that Britain had no opposition to the attacks on Russian soil.
Ukraine will ramp up long-range strikes inside RussiaCredit: Reuters 
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The UK agreed an extra £500million military aid to Ukraine, pictured Ukrainian troops training with British troopsCredit: EPA He said plane-loads of new western weapons would help the blitzes.
He told a newspaper yesterday: “It’s ability to conduct deep operations will increasingly become a feature of the war.”
It comes after US President Joe Biden signed a £50billion lifeline to buy arms for Ukraine.
But US weapons come with a caveat that they must be used only in Ukraine’s sovereign territory.
Long-range missiles provided by the US were reportedly used last week to strike Russian targets in occupied Crimea.
Britain has pledged more than 1,600 long-range armaments including Storm Shadow missiles and Paveway IV laser-guided bombs.
The UK agreed an extra £500million military aid to Ukraine last week, bringing our contribution to £3billion this year.
President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine desperately needs more air defences to intercept Moscow’s bombardments.
General Sir Jim Hockenhull, head of the UK’s Strategic Command, also backed Ukraine’s long-range strikes on Russia — because it was “fighting a war of national survival”.
He said: “The fact that they see military value in attacking the Russians in depth is unsurprising and entirely understandable.”
How Ukraine’s new $50BILLION war chest will grind Russia’s war machine to halt & buy them precious time to defeat Vlad
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Ukrainian servicemen with British NLAW anti-tank weaponsCredit: EPA [ad_2]
Jerome Starkey
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Vance Compares Today’s Ukraine Talking Points To ‘Propaganda’ Used To Justify Iraq War
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Screenshot: Andrew Surabian X Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) tore into the Senate’s approval of a $95 billion aid package to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan during a speech to the chamber earlier this week. He compared the narrative to propaganda used to draw America into the Iraq War.
History, he believes, is repeating itself. And it’s repeating itself on the same level of incompetence when it comes to dealing with the region.
“There is another historical analogy that I think is worth pointing out, and that is the historical analogy of the early 2000s,” Vance railed.
“Now, in 2003, I was a high school senior, and I had a political position back then: I believed the propaganda of the George W. Bush administration that we needed to invade Iraq, that it was a war for freedom and democracy, that those who were appeasing Saddam Hussein were inviting a broader regional conflict.”
“Does that sound familiar to anything that we’re hearing today?” he asks. “It’s the same exact talking points 20 years later with different names. But have we learned anything over the last 20 years? No, I don’t think that we have.”
Sen. @JDVance1 compares the propaganda from the establishment that pushed us into the Iraq War, to the propaganda pushing for unlimited funding and escalation in Ukraine today 🔥🔥🔥
“It’s the same exact talking points 20 years later with different names.” pic.twitter.com/XZuQF62PiN
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) April 23, 2024
RELATED: J.D. Vance Cautions ‘Never Trump’ Republicans Against Fighting Trump: I Have A Long Memory
Is Ukraine And Iraq War Propaganda The Same?
Senator Vance said that today’s Ukraine propaganda is similar to that surrounding the Iraq War. That, by beating the war drums, we will achieve success rather than engaging in competent diplomacy.
“We learned that if we talk incessantly about World War II, we can bully people and cause them to ignore their basic moral impulses and lead the country straight into catastrophic conflict,” he laments.
The Congress today says we must provide endless military aid to Ukraine to avoid further war, and to stop greater death and destruction.
In the early 2000s, they gave us the ‘weapons of mass destruction’ excuse. A narrative that we must fight to stop greater death and destruction. That argument led to a nearly 9-year war in Iraq that cost countless military and civilian lives.
Likewise, the war in Afghanistan lasted so long that some of the people who fought in it weren’t even born yet on 9/11.
RELATED: George W. Bush Accidentally Condemns ‘Unjustified and Brutal Invasion of Iraq’
Iraq War Too, Had Bipartisan Support
Critics of the Iraq war and the preceding intelligence failure involving weapons of mass destruction have become more prevalent.
The war effort was authorized at the time by a bipartisan vote in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in October 2002.
The Iraq War resolution passed the House by a vote of 296-133, and the Senate 77-23.
But those votes were based on faulty intelligence. Are we operating in Ukraine under the same faulty talking points and information?
Former President George W. Bush made one of the all-time Freudian slips in 2022 when he attempted to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accidentally stepped on a rake.
Former President George W. Bush: “The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine.” pic.twitter.com/UMwNMwMnmX
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) May 19, 2022
Speaking on the topic of democracy, Bush condemned Russia where “elections are rigged” and “political opponents are imprisoned or otherwise eliminated from participating in the electoral process.”
Sound familiar?
“The result,” he said, “is an absence of checks and balances in Russia and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq.” Paging Dr. Freud.
Right now there are no checks and balances on US aid to foreign nations. There are no checks and balances on our own border protection.
Vance, meanwhile, slammed European countries for not taking greater responsibility in coming to Ukraine’s aid. Perhaps their propaganda isn’t as effective as our own.
“For three years, the Europeans have told us that Vladimir Putin is an existential threat to Europe,” the senator states. “And for three years, they have failed to respond as if that were actually true.”
The United States Congress though, has continuously been duped into providing an open spigot of taxpayer money to one of the most corrupt nations in Europe.
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Rusty Weiss
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Biden Sent Secret Shipments Of Long-Range Missiles To Ukraine — Which Were Used Against Russia – The Political Insider
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Politico reported on Wednesday that the Biden administration had secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine and that Kiev had used them in their ongoing war with Russia.
Ukraine has long sought weapons that can strike deep inside of Russia, which critics argue could severely escalate the conflict.
How much deeper can America get in this war?
❗️ Ukraine in March secretly received more than 100 ATACMS missiles with a range of 300 km and a large number of cluster munitions, the NYT has quoted its sources as saying
It is reported that the missiles Ukraine received, in particular, hit the military airfield in Dzhankoy,… pic.twitter.com/rXszKrq9Rm
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 25, 2024
RELATED: Is It Finally Time To Defund NPR After Journalist Suspended for Revealing the Truth About Bias?
Biden Continues to Give to Ukraine
Ukraine has been demanding such weapons since early in the conflict with Russia, and the matter had been presented to the American public as a hot-button issue between the U.S. and Kiev. Apparently, not so anymore.
Politico reported, “The provision of the long-range version of the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) ends a lengthy drama in which Ukraine clamored for years to receive the weapon, driving a wedge between Washington and Kyiv. The U.S. quietly sent the medium-range version of the missile in October, but Ukraine continued to press for a weapon that would allow it to strike farther behind Russia’s lines.”
These aren’t show weapons, either. They have already been put to use against Russia.
“Ukrainian forces have used the long-range missiles twice, first against a Russian military base in Crimea and more recently against Russian forces east of Berdyansk near the Sea of Azov, the senior administration official said,” the report noted.
This news comes as the U.S. announced Wednesday that a new $1 billion package of weapons will be sent to Ukraine ASAP.
Biden signed off on the $95 billion foreign aid package on Wednesday, of which Ukraine is a significant beneficiary. To the tune of over $60 billion.
In March, Politico reported that the U.S. was sending Ukraine a second round of a different version of ATACMS.
According to a White House official, one of the missiles travels 100 miles. Controversially, the missile carries warheads containing hundreds of cluster bombs. More than 100 nations are party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions banning the latter. The U.S. is not a signatory.
That official chose to remain anonymous.
The U.S. has already provided long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine, according to a Pentagon spokesperson. https://t.co/jaWTDfO7Sy
— The Hill (@thehill) April 25, 2024
Biden Administration Believes ATACMS Can Help Ukraine Advance
So what caused the Biden administration to flip-flop on sending long-range missiles to Ukraine?
“The U.S. was initially reluctant to send ATACMS — even under sustained domestic and international pressure — due to stockpile concerns and fear of escalating the war,” Politico observed. “But Russia’s increasingly brutal tactics and more American production of the long-range version convinced Biden to authorize the transfer.”
“The Biden administration believes providing ATACMS can give Ukraine some new momentum in the two-year war, forcing Russia to move back critical command and control nodes and other high-value targets such as aviation assets, said the second U.S. official,” the report noted.
It remains to be seen how much further embroiled the U.S. will become.
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John Hanson
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5 explosions & inferno rip through Russian oil depot in Ukraine drone attack
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UKRAINIAN kamikaze drones blitzed more of Vladimir Putin’s valuable oil depots in an impressive attack on three regions overnight.
Dramatic clips show an enormous wall of fire raging at a valuable fuel plant in Smolensk, not far from the Ukrainian border.
Dramatic footage showed the oil refinery in Smolensk caught in a raging blaze 
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More clips captured the huge outpouring of black smoke at the fuel hubs 
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The powerful blow hit oil refineries overnight More fuel and energy hubs were hit in the bold ambush as locals reported hearing five huge explosions.
Enormous plumes of black smoke filled the sky as flames completely engulfed the targeted buildings.
Lipetsk Tractor Plant was also hit – a factory that produces key parts for military vehicles used in Putin’s illegal war.
The local governor in Smolensk was forced to admit to a Ukrainian drone attack on the Rosneft oil depot.
But the Russian immediately went on the defensive – claiming most of Ukraine’s drones were downed.
Putin’s crony in Lipetsk – another region targeted in last night’s attack – said one of Kyiv’s drones struck an industrial zone.
While he claimed no one suffered any injuries, he did confirm that people were evacuated from the area.
The border region of Voronezh was also hit as Ukrainian drones hit an air field and oil centre.
Russia claimed air defences had protected a key military air base there.
Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko shared footage of the string of attacks and said Kyiv managed to hit a fuel hub and several energy facilities.
The Russian defence ministry said it was attacked by eight Ukrainian kamikaze drones, but other accounts suggest there was more incoming fire.
The hubs are a target for Kyiv’s forces as they supply Russia’s army with vital fuel and run factories where military equipment is built.
Aiming at energy, military and transport centres near the border also helps keep Putin’s forces at bay as they push forward in the grim meat grinder war.
Vasily Anokhin, Vlad’s puppet in Smolensk, wrote on Telegram: “Our region is again under attack by Ukrainian UAVs.
“As a result of the enemy attack on civilian fuel and energy facilities, fires broke out in the Smolensk and Yartsevo districts.”
And Igor Artamonov, his counterpart in Lipetsk, said “It was decided not to turn on warning systems in the city and to evacuate only the area where the UAV fell.”
Just days ago Ukraine landed another impressive drone blitz on two valuable oil depots.
Incredible footage showed the impressive 50-drone hit on a massive eight different regions in an embarrassing blow for Putin.
Both Russian oil companies that were hit are also central to Putin’s economy and his military fuel supplies.
Witnesses heard at least eight explosions as two infernos erupted.
The Russian defence ministry predictably launched a defence afterwards, claiming all of Ukraine’s drones were downed or missed their targets.
It said in a statement: “Kyiv regime’s attempts to carry out a number of terrorist attacks using aircraft-type UAVs against targets on the territory of the Russian Federation were stopped.”
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Footage from Ukraine’s impressive drone attack just days ago 
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The Russian governor in Smolensk was forced to admit to a Ukrainian attackCredit: Twitter 
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Emergency vehicles at the scene of the fire [ad_2]
Ellie Doughty
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