Oorlog in Oekraïne #926 Sinking ducks

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Macron Condemns Killing of French Aid Workers in Ukraine
Ukrainian police said they had died as a result of a drone attack in what Macron called a “cowardly and outrageous act.”
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed on Friday that two French aid workers had been killed in a Russian strike in Ukraine and condemned the attack as “outrageous”.

Ukranian officials said the two men died in a recent drone attack in southern Ukraine.

“Two French aid workers have been killed in Ukraine by a Russian strike. A cowardly and outrageous act,” Macron said on X (formerly Twitter).

“My solidarity goes out to all the volunteers who are committed to helping people,” he added.

Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne added: “Russia will have to answer for its crimes.”

Ukranian officials said that two French nationals were killed and three other foreigners wounded on Thursday in Beryslav, near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.

Ukrainian police said they had died as a result of a drone attack.

Beryslav, which sits on the Dnipro River close to the front line, has regularly been targeted by Russian drones and artillery.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky voiced gratitude for the Frenchmen’s work in his war-torn country.

“Russian terror knows no boundaries or victims’ nationalities.

“The brave French aid workers assisted people and we will always be grateful for their humanity.

“My condolences go out to their loved ones,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

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Ukraine Will Get 16 French Self-Propelled Pontoon Bridges
Ukraine needs a lot of different equipment. For example, the French company CEFA won the tender to supply 16 mobile pontoon bridges EFA to Ukraine. This kind of machinery will soon be very important to this country.

Of course, this was not an official reason for ordering 16 self-propelled pontoon bridges, but these systems remind us that the defenders of Ukraine have established themselves on the left bank of the Dnipro River.

For several months now, Ukrainians have controlled a small patch of land near the destroyed Krynky village in the Kherson region. Ukrainian soldiers don’t have the ability to push forward there – they don’t have any armoured vehicles at all on that side of the river. But they did destroy a lot of Russian tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers there with drones and missiles.

A couple of days ago, the representative of the Southern Operational Command Nataliya Humeniuk confirmed that the Ukrainians have expanded the territory under their control on the left bank of the river Dnipro. Soon the bridgehead there might be strong enough to move tanks and other equipment to that side.

ontoon bridges are not placed in random locations because they immediately become targets. But who knows – perhaps after the creation of a good air defence shield and the deterioration of the Russian capabilities in that area, Ukrainian equipment will soon roll over such bridges across the Dnipro river in the Kherson region.

The Chaudronnerie et Forges d’Alsace company developed the self-propelled pontoon bridge Engin de Franchissement de l’Avant (EFA) back in 1989. EFA has been serving with the French forces since 1993. Ukraine will soon receive 16 such machines.

EFA is not a self-propelled bridge layer that simply delivers and deploys a steel bridge. EFA is a self-propelled pontoon bridge that can also function as a ferry. This is important because it means that these machines can quickly complete the mission and leave the area, leaving the Russians with no target.

When operating as a ferry, EFA is 34.55m long, can carry loads of up to 70 tonnes and is ready for operation in less than 5 minutes. The M1A1 Abrams tank weighs around 57 tonnes. EFA can sail in either direction – this machine does not need to turn around.

You can make a strong 100-metre bridge by connecting four EFA machines. Such a bridge is created in less than 10 minutes and even very heavy equipment can roll over it without a problem.

The Twitter page Maks 23 reports that Ukraine will receive a total of 16 EFA self-propelled bridges. These are used French machines, which means they can be transferred to Ukraine quite quickly. It is easy to imagine EFA bridges quickly moving equipment across the Dnipro River and retreating before Russian drones and missiles arrive. Perhaps the Russians on the left bank of the Dnipro will soon be surprised to meet Ukrainian tanks.

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Op vrijdag 2 februari 2024 23:44 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/27517
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Tijd om het Franse vreemdelingenlegioen die kant op te sturen dus.

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Republican Senator Gives Away the Game on Why They Killed Border Deal
Josh Hawley is admitting point-blank this fight was never about the border at all.

Senator Josh Hawley said the quiet part out loud on Friday, explicitly tying the GOP’s border security grandstanding to a coordinated effort to hurt President Joe Biden’s reelection chances.

“Senator, is this deal dead, effectively?” Fox News’s Laura Ingraham asked Hawley Thursday evening.

“I hope so,” Hawley said. “It should be. If it’s not dead yet it should be dead. There is absolutely no reason to agree to policies that would further enable Joe Biden.”

The Senate reached a bipartisan border deal this week, which would include additional funding for border security as well as aid for Ukraine. But the minute Donald Trump criticized the deal, Senate Republicans caved and said they probably won’t pass it.

Hawley’s statement is more proof that Republicans aren’t all that interested in the so-called border crisis. They just want to use it as a political tool in the 2024 election.

Republicans have spent months quietly killing any bipartisan packages related to the border and foreign aid in favor of their own proposition. Also, on Friday the House’s highest member rejected the Senate’s bipartisan deal.

“I wanted to provide a brief update regarding the supplemental and the border, since the Senate appears unable to reach any agreement,” House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in a letter to his colleagues on Friday. “If rumors about the contents of the draft proposal are true, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway.”

“Nine months have now passed since we sent our Secure the Border Act (HR 2) to the Senate,” Johnson wrote, referring to an extreme asylum-limiting immigration bill that died in the Senate. “Since the day I became Speaker, I have assured our Senate colleagues the House would not accept any counterproposal if it would not actually solve the problems that have been created by the administration’s subversive policies.”

The wavering deals come part and parcel with a showdown along the U.S.-Mexico border between Texas and the federal government over the placement of concertina wire by Texas’s local authorities along the Rio Grande.

On Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared the influx of immigrants across the border an “invasion”—a status that Abbott claimed supersedes federal mandates—and issued a statement on the state’s constitutional right to defend itself.

That was just two days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of President Joe Biden by declaring that Texas went outside its jurisdiction by erecting makeshift concertina wire fences along the Rio Grande section of the U.S.-Mexico border, effectively preventing the U.S. border patrol from doing their job. Texas has continued building new wire barriers since that ruling.

At least 25 Republican governors have issued their support for Abbott, including Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.

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London’s Revenge: The Former Russian “Governor” of Occupied Sevastopol Detained
Dmitry Ovsyannikov was detained in London. The former Russian “governor” of occupied Sevastopol is accused of circumventing sanctions and opening an account in a London bank. He is suspected of violating sanctions legislation.

Ovsyannikov is currently under arrest and will appear in court on February 20. He is accused of circumventing sanctions, opening an account at a London bank, making four payments totaling £65,000, and keeping £77,500 in cash.

The former Russian governor is being held in one of the London prisons. The Russian service of the BBC notes that this is an unusual case: those arrested for non-violent crimes are often released on bail.

Great Britain introduced sanctions against Ovsyannikov at the end of 2020. His assets were frozen. In 2023, Ovsyannikov was excluded from the list of EU sanctions by a court decision, according to the fact that the official no longer holds the positions for which he was sanctioned. He was not excluded from the British sanctions list.

Ovsyannikov headed the Russian-occupied city from 2017 to 2019. Before and after that, he was the Russian Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade. In 2020, he was removed from his post and dismissed from the government, allegedly due to a scandal involving indecent behavior at the Izhevsk airport.

The case of Ovsyannikov indicates that any person circumventing sanctions has to be punished. That is why the Governments of Western countries should monitor all the suspicious financial activities and check whether companies and individuals involved in these activities violate sanctions legislation.

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Orban agrees to grant Ukraine ¤50bn not during summit: what happened behind scenes
Espreso correspondent Tetiana Vysotska explains how EU leaders managed to convince Orban to grant Ukraine EUR 50 billion
She said this on Espreso TV.

"The EU will provide Ukraine with EUR 50 billion over the next four years. We finally managed to convince Orban, and it happened in an interesting way. Orban gave his consent not during a meeting of the EU leaders' summit, but during an informal meeting. How did it happen? Yesterday Orban arrived in Brussels in the evening and was invited to dinner by Charles Michel. Other EU leaders are supposed to be present at that dinner. Apparently, it was during the dinner that they were going to have a conversation with Orban, but Orban did not come to the dinner. Instead, he went to the farmers, where he once again said that the EU was doing the wrong thing by supporting Ukrainian farmers rather than European ones," Vysotska said.

According to the Espreso correspondent, it was not clear what Orban was going to do until this morning.

"In the morning, journalists were waiting for him at a press conference, but Orban did not come out to the press. So the intrigue continued. Later, it turned out that Orban immediately went to a closed meeting with the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission, and the leaders of France, Germany, and Italy. The summit of EU leaders began in such a narrow circle. During this conversation, something was promised to Orban, that he agreed to approve EUR 50 billion for Ukraine. Later, the leaders of Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, and the Baltic states joined the meeting, so the closed meeting was expanding. At some point, Orban said yes. Then everyone moved to the big hall, where all 27 EU leaders approved EUR 50 billion," Vysotska added.

• All 27 EU member states have agreed to provide Ukraine with EUR 50 billion in aid. Kyiv expects to receive the first tranche of this package in March.

EUR 50 billion for Ukraine: what is known
On December 15, 2023, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban vetoed the EU's decision on the EUR 50 billion budget assistance program for Ukraine.

On December 18, it became known that a special summit of the European Commission to discuss the allocation of EUar 50 billion for 4 years to Ukraine would be held on February 1, 2024.

On January 10, despite Hungary's opposition, Brussels voted to begin negotiations with the European Parliament on providing Ukraine with EUR 50 billion in macro-financial assistance over the next four years.

On January 16, Orban called for separating financial aid to Ukraine from the EU budget.

On January 17, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed confidence that all EU member states would agree to provide assistance to Ukraine, and on January 26, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that all 27 EU member states had agreed to provide EUR 50 billion to Ukraine.

On January 30, Orban said that he was ready to support the provision of assistance to Ukraine from the EU budget, provided that every year the EU would decide "whether to continue to send this money or not.”

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Ukraine wants to defeat the enemy. Looking for volunteers for "special missions"
The Ukrainian army seeks volunteers for special missions in Crimea. The Main Intelligence Directorate calls for recruits aged 18-40 with a motivation to destroy the enemy.

The Ukrainian army is seeking volunteers for special missions organized in Crimea. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has announced the recruitment of volunteers for units of active operation in Ukrainian intelligence. Special missions are to be temporarily held in occupied Crimea. Ukraine is moving against Crimea, wielding a “punishing sword”.

Ukraine is going after Crimea. They will be a “punishing sword”
News
Changing approach and focusing on drones: the most important information from Zaluzhny's
Ukraine is going after Crimea. They will be a “punishing sword”
"Do you enjoy thunderclaps in the mountains? When was the last time you heard them in the mountains of Crimea? Perhaps it's time to organize them together with us. Join the active units of the GUR MO of Ukraine, and you will have the opportunity to unleash real 'thunderclaps' on enemies, wherever they may be, and if they try to hide," the Intelligence Directorate wrote on its Facebook profile, encouraging people to participate in the recruitment process.

The statement emphasized that the GUR MO of Ukraine is the force responsible for implementing the plans of the General Directorate of Intelligence. It was reported that its soldiers carried out “special missions” that involved surprising the enemy. Their attacks are often directed against the invader's fleets and landing grounds.

"They are the punishing sword that will reach all those who plotted evil against our homeland!"
it emphasized.

Ukraine is actively seeking volunteers. The requirements go beyond age. Every volunteer who decides to join the army must complete the application form provided below the entry. If selected, someone from the Ukrainian military will contact them by phone.

The requirements outlined in the survey include not only age - from 18 to 40 years - but also "motivation to destroy the enemy" and "no close relatives who are citizens of the Russian Federation."

The army offers all volunteers financial support of up to UAH 140,000.

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Russian Court Jails Woman for Wearing 'Extremist' Rainbow Earrings
A court in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod has jailed a woman for wearing rainbow earrings, the human rights group Egida reported late Wednesday, marking the second case of its kind after Russia banned the so-called “LGBT movement” as an “extremist” organization in November.

According to Egida, law enforcement agents tasked with combating “extremism” detained the woman after a group of “aggressive people” approached her and her friend at a local cafe and filmed them on camera.

A video shared by ultra-conservative bloggers showed an unidentified man threatening to turn the pair into the police for wearing a Ukrainian flag pin and rainbow earrings.

The woman, who was identified as Anastasia Yershova in court documents, was questioned by police and then brought before a judge, who cited the Russian Supreme Court's November ruling when ordering her arrest.

“Also, during the process, the earrings themselves were examined, and it was found that they have the shape of a frog with an image of a 7-color rainbow,” Egida quoted an unnamed defense attorney as saying.

Nizhny Novgorod’s Sormovsky District Court found Yershova guilty of publicly displaying symbols of an “extremist” organization, a misdemeanor offense, and jailed her for five days.

“We were confident we would win the court case,” the defense lawyer said, according to Egida. “But it turned out to be an unexpected decision.”

The ruling was handed down one day after a photographer went on trial in the southern city of Saratov, the country’s first case for displaying an LGBT symbol.

The photographer, 33-year-old Inna Mosina, maintained that the rainbow flags she shared on her Instagram page do not represent LGBTQ+ symbols.

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In First, Russian Stands Trial for Displaying ‘Extremist’ Rainbow Flag
A Russian photographer went on trial Tuesday for posting a rainbow flag online, marking the first case of a person being charged for displaying the LGBT symbol since Russia banned the so-called “international LGBT public movement” as an “extremist” organization.

Russia’s Supreme Court in November outlawed the “international LGBT movement,” with individuals facing up to six years in prison if convicted of involvement.

Earlier this month, media outlets published the full text of the Supreme Court ruling, which describes the six-color gay pride flag as an “extremist symbol.”

The document was attached to a misdemeanor case involving “the display of extremist symbols” in the southwestern Russian city of Saratov, according to the local news website FreeNews-Volga

The independent news website Mediazona identified the defendant as 33-year-old photographer Inna Mosina, who had allegedly posted a rainbow flag on her Instagram page a month before the Supreme Court ruling went into force.

Mosina told Saratov’s Leninsky District Court on Tuesday that the rainbow flags on her Instagram page are “creative solutions” and do not represent LGBTQ+ symbols, according to Mediazona.

Mosina faces up to 15 days in prison or a fine of up to 2,000 rubles ($22) if found guilty of “displaying extremist symbols,” according to the human rights group Pervyi Otdel, whose lawyers represent her in court.

Perviy Otdel argued that the case against Mosina violates Russia's Constitution, which guarantees freedom of opinion.

Mosina’s court hearing was adjourned until Feb. 5, when the judge is expected to question the police officer who opened the country’s first case for the “display of extremist symbols,” according to Mediazona.

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Op vrijdag 2 februari 2024 23:18 schreef HiZ het volgende:

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Ze hebben toch al e.e.a. moeten terugtrekken uit Sebastopol?

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Op zaterdag 3 februari 2024 08:20 schreef Nebelwerfer het volgende:
https://nos.nl/l/2507299

Speelt blijkbaar nog steeds? Klinkt allemaal niet positief natuurlijk. zodra de Oekraïense legertop onbekwaam wordt zal het westen niet lang door gaan met hun materiaal sturen. Dan kun je wachten op vredesbesprekingen.

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Op vrijdag 2 februari 2024 23:54 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://newrepublic.com/p(...)h-killed-border-deal
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[ twitter ]

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Op zaterdag 3 februari 2024 09:35 schreef Ulx het volgende:

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Misschien was de invloed van die lobby schromelijk overdreven.

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Op zaterdag 3 februari 2024 01:10 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
Lol, arme captain America.
[ twitter ]

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