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Moscow confirms Putin interview with Tucker Carlson
Kremlin said interview was granted because Carlson was neither pro-Russian or pro-Ukrainian, unlike, it said, other western media

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 16:39 schreef BlaZ het volgende:
Oekraïne gaat verder mobiliseren:

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/27739

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 20:16 schreef Bensel het volgende:
Schijnt iets groots in de fik te staan in Izhevsk. Zou een raketfabriek zitten, die putin eens bezocht heeft: https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/a9q9Np6_460svav1.mp4

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 21:09 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Zo ne grote vuurbal jonge BAM !

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twitter

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 17:18 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Lijkt me terecht. Andere propagandisten staan ook op de shitlist.

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 21:05 schreef Perrin het volgende:

[..]
Ja de fabriek voor intercontinentale ballistische raketten.

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 21:14 schreef Anton91 het volgende:
Zullen zometeen wel wat tweets voorbij zien komen van een Russische burgemeester dat alle drones uit de lucht geschoten zijn en dat er een beetje debris op de fabriek is gevallen maar dat er niemand gewond is geraakt.

Edit:
Hoe verzinnen ze het toch telkens

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[ twitter ]

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 21:14 schreef Anton91 het volgende:
Zullen zometeen wel wat tweets voorbij zien komen van een Russische burgemeester dat alle drones uit de lucht geschoten zijn en dat er een beetje debris op de fabriek is gevallen maar dat er niemand gewond is geraakt.

Edit:
Hoe verzinnen ze het toch telkens

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[ twitter ]

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 21:14 schreef Anton91 het volgende:
Zullen zometeen wel wat tweets voorbij zien komen van een Russische burgemeester dat alle drones uit de lucht geschoten zijn en dat er een beetje debris op de fabriek is gevallen maar dat er niemand gewond is geraakt.

Edit:
Hoe verzinnen ze het toch telkens

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[ twitter ]

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 22:30 schreef ach het volgende:
Dat zou toch gewoon een statische test van een raketmotor kunnen zijn? Aangezien het 'uitgaat' en het geluid een constant geraas is

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Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 22:30 schreef ach het volgende:
Dat zou toch gewoon een statische test van een raketmotor kunnen zijn? Aangezien het 'uitgaat' en het geluid een constant geraas is

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NATO allies warn Hungary not to hold up Sweden’s membership as US patience wears thin
BRUSSELS — U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that he and his NATO counterparts cautioned Hungary on Wednesday against further delaying Sweden’s membership in the military alliance, and he warned that patience in Washington has its limits.

Lawmakers from the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán boycotted an emergency session of parliament on Monday where a vote was scheduled to place Sweden’s bid to join NATO on the legislative agenda, adding to 18 months of delays that have angered Hungary’s allies.

The governing Fidesz party, which holds an absolute majority in Hungary’s parliament, has stalled Sweden’s bid since July 2022, alleging that Swedish politicians have told “blatant lies” about the state of Hungarian democracy. The party insists that Sweden’s prime minister must come to Hungary first.

“We heard security adviser after security adviser say that it’s past time for Sweden to get in, and to directly address the representative from Hungary,” Sullivan told reporters after a meeting of the organization’s top security officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Sullivan said that he and his colleagues had impressed upon Hungary that “it’s a matter of credibility and obligation that they take the necessary steps” to complete the parliamentary procedures to ratify Sweden’s accession.

Sweden, along with neighboring Finland, set aside decades of military nonalignment to seek protection under NATO’s collective security umbrella after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Finland has since joined the trans-Atlantic alliance. The country, along with the other 30 allies, must all agree that Sweden should stand among NATO’s ranks. Hungary is the only member standing in its way.

Sullivan said that he wouldn’t “stand here today and make particular threats, or speculation about steps that we would take down the road, but of course our patience on this can’t be unlimited either.”

He said the U.S. will “continue to watch it carefully, but hope that there is a constructive resolution to this issue in the very near term.”

Orbán, who has broken ranks with NATO allies by adopting a Kremlin-friendly stance toward Russia’s war in Ukraine, has said that he invited Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to Budapest to discuss “future cooperation in the field of security and defense as allies and partners.”

Unless another emergency session of Hungary’s parliament is called to debate Sweden’s bid, the assembly is due to sit for its regular session on Feb. 26.

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Senate blocks bipartisan $118bn bill on US-Mexico border and Ukraine
Bill would have granted president new power to shut border, and provided billions for Ukraine, Israel, Gaza and West Bank

The Senate blocked a bipartisan border and national security bill from advancing on Wednesday, as Democrats accused Republicans of bending to the political wishes of Donald Trump at the expense of their constituents.

The vote was 49 to 50, with 45 Democrats and four Republicans supporting the bill’s advancement. Sixty votes were needed to begin debate on the bill.

Most of the Republican conference opposed the bill’s advancement after complaining that the legislation did not go far enough in addressing the needs at the US-Mexico border, where arrests for illegal crossings have hit record highs. Five members of the Democratic caucus also voted to block the bill, out of concern about the severity of the border-security measures and the added funding for Israel’s military amid the war in Gaza.

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, initially supported the bill’s advancement but then changed his vote – a procedural maneuver that would allow the chamber to revisit the proposal in the future.

The $118bn bill would have granted the president a new power to shut down the border when daily crossings pass a certain limit while also expediting the asylum review process, which could have led to quicker deportation for many migrants. The bill would have provided $60bn in military assistance for Ukraine, $14bn in security assistance for Israel and $10bn in humanitarian assistance for civilians affected by wars in Ukraine, and Gaza and the West Bank.

With the border deal dead, the Senate attempted to advance a separate foreign aid package that would include only the funding for US allies outlined in the bipartisan bill. There was some apparent confusion over how much support that bill had, forcing senators to keep an initial vote on the proposal open for four hours as they debated the best path forward.

When the vote finally closed on Wednesday evening, 58 out of 100 senators were on record supporting the bill’s advancement. But 60 votes will be required to start debate on the bill, so it currently lacks the necessary support to pass the Senate. Taking to the Senate floor on Wednesday evening, Schumer announced the chamber would reconvene Thursday to vote on the bill again.

“We will recess until tomorrow and give our Republican colleagues the night to figure themselves out,” Schumer said. “We’ll be coming back tomorrow at noon, and hopefully that will give the Republicans the time they need. We will have this vote tomorrow.”

However, it remained deeply unclear whether a foreign aid package without border measures could pass the Senate, which considered a similar proposal back in December. Republicans, who insisted that the legislation must address the border, previously blocked that package from advancing.

Some hard-right Republicans had already indicated that they would oppose the standalone bill, demanding more concessions from Democrats on border policy. Senator Mike Lee, a Republican of Utah, said members of his party should not approve the bill without “language conditioning any Ukraine funds on the achievement of border-security benchmarks”.

On Tuesday, Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, had tried to pre-empt a potential foreign aid package by holding a vote on a bill that would only provide funding to Israel. The bill was designed to appeal to hard-right Republicans, who have grown increasingly resistant to Ukraine funding, but the House voted it down on Tuesday evening.

A man speaks from behind a lectern
‘Show a little courage’: Biden attacks Republicans for ‘caving’ to Trump on US-Mexico border security bill
Read more
In a pointed speech delivered at the White House on Tuesday, Joe Biden blamed the border bill’s expected failure on Trump, who had encouraged Republicans to oppose the deal. Writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, Trump dismissed the bill as “nothing more than a highly sophisticated trap for Republicans to assume the blame on what the Radical Left Democrats have done to our Border, just in time for our most important EVER Election”. Echoing Trump’s concern about the impact that the bill’s passage could have on the presidential race, some Republican lawmakers have suggested border security should not be addressed until after the November election.

“All indications are this bill won’t even move forward to the Senate floor. Why? A simple reason: Donald Trump. Because Donald Trump thinks it’s bad for him politically … He’d rather weaponize this issue than actually solve it,” Biden said on Tuesday. “Every day between now and November, the American people are going to know that the only reason the border is not secure is Donald Trump and his Maga [Make America great again] Republican friends.”

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Massive attack on Ukraine: more than 40 victims in Kyiv, Kharkiv Oblast was fired upon by missiles produced in the DPRK
On February 7, Russian forces launched a series of attacks across Ukraine, targeting civilian homes and properties. Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat confirmed the strikes, noting casualties.

Russian forces have targeted private properties and homes of Ukrainians, as stated by Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat. Serhii Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the Kharkiv region police, reported that two of the five missiles launched by Russian troops on February 7 at Kharkiv were manufactured in North Korea.

Russian attacks on Ukrainian private property
In Mykolaiv, 71 residential buildings sustained damage due to the impact. Yuri Ignat, speaking on Channel 24, questioned whether the targets of Russian attacks have shifted. He noted that occupiers are launching rockets and drones at private properties and houses of Ukrainians. Ignat highlighted the tragic incident where a newborn child was killed by an S-300 missile during a previous terrorist attack by the occupiers.

Similarly, during the shelling on the morning of February 7, a Kh-22 rocket caused serious destruction in a settlement in the Mykolaiv region.

Overview of Russian attacks on Ukraine
On February 7, the aggressor country attacked six regions of Ukraine with drones and missiles of various types. The majority of missiles were launched at Kyiv, where Serhii Popko, head of the KMVA, reported that air defense forces destroyed about 20 missiles.

The attack resulted in the deaths of four people and more than 40 injuries in the capital. Furthermore, Serhiy Bolvinov confirmed that two of the five missiles fired at Kharkiv on February 7 were produced in North Korea. Metal fragments of ballistic missiles collected by explosives experts in the industrial zone indicate preliminary conclusions of specialists point to North Korean HWASON 11GA (KN-23) missiles. This isn't the first time Russia has used missiles from North Korea.

Earlier, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin provided evidence of missile launches at Kharkiv from North Korea.

The White House stated on January 4 that North Korea recently provided Russia with ballistic missiles and launchers for use in its war against Ukraine. However, both Russia and North Korea deny supplying ballistic missiles for use by the Kremlin in the war in Ukraine. In Mykolaiv, Russian forces targeted residential buildings, resulting in significant damage.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkovych reported that 71 buildings were damaged, with three completely destroyed. One person died, and more than 10 others were injured during the morning attack. Psychological assistance was provided to 60 residents. The mayor stated that assistance is being provided to those whose homes were damaged by the explosion, with offers of resettlement, though many have refused.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosyniak-Kamysh commented on the missile attack on Ukraine, noting that Russia had replenished its losses suffered at the start of a full-scale invasion. He emphasized that Poland should be prepared for any scenario.

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Explosions were heard in Belgorod
In the Russian city of Belgorod, sirens and explosions are heard today.

Russian air defense tried to shoot down something in the sky, but it was unsuccessful.

Footage taken by local residents shows a noticeable explosion at the ZhSK-1 building materials plant.

fire broke out at the plant; no casualties have been reported yet.

Judging by reports on local telegram channels, the attack lasted at least an hour.

Local residents also said that the ammunition hit the cab of the truck; the number of casualties is unknown.

In addition, city residents complain that windows in apartments were broken by the shock wave.

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MOSCOW — As Russian state television propagandists salivated over Tucker Carlson’s interview with President Vladimir Putin, the first of Carlson’s falsehoods about his visit to Moscow was punctured, fittingly enough, by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who presumably helped arrange the whole strange venture.

Carlson, the conservative former Fox News host with a history of airing bogus “news,” claimed — falsely — that prominent U.S. newspapers and television outlets had refused to interview Putin since his invasion of Ukraine and were ignoring Russia’s perspective. Carlson labeled Western media as “corrupt” and accused them of lies on Tuesday in a video confirming that he was in Moscow for a Q&A with the president.

“Mr. Carlson is wrong,” Peskov said during his daily briefing for reporters. “We receive many requests for interviews with the president.”

Peskov conceded that the Kremlin routinely blocked media interview requests from large Western outlets, but he said it gave Carlson the nod because “his position is different” from the major “Anglo-Saxon media.” (Anglo-Saxon is a common blanket jab at the West even when mostly Americans are involved.)

Carlson’s assertion was astonishing, given that two journalists who are U.S. citizens are now jailed in Russia: Evan Gershkovich, of the Wall Street Journal, who was accused of espionage and seized by Federal Security Service agents last year during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, and Alsu Kurmasheva, of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who has dual U.S. and Russian citizenship and who was arrested in October while visiting Russia from Prague, where she had been living.

Carlson was sacked by Fox News this past April.

The Kremlin’s decision to allow the interview demonstrated Putin’s interest in building bridges to the disruptive MAGA element of the Republican Party, and it seemed to reflect the Kremlin’s hope that Donald Trump would return to the presidency and that Republicans would continue to block U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

Halting aid from the United States, which is Ukraine’s biggest Western supporter, could provide Russia with a path to victory in the nearly two-year war. Although the war is largely at a stalemate, Ukraine is facing critical shortages of soldiers, ammunition and weapons as it battles a much larger and better-equipped Russian force.

Putin portrays himself as a guardian of traditional conservative values, showing common cause with MAGA conservatives, who have opposed gender-neutral bathrooms. Putin has made repeated, derisive references about the West’s promotion of transgender rights.

Putin’s government also has crushed free speech, banned any public expression of LGBTQ+ identity and jailed hundreds of antiwar activists, critics, feminists, lawyers and cultural figures for speaking out.

Pro-Trump Republicans are a natural ally for Putin on LGBTQ+ and other issues but also because the Kremlin has long sought to exploit divisions in American society and interfere in U.S. politics, including through the use of internet troll farms.

“Carlson is smart and his agenda is clear. He and Putin will work together brilliantly to reinforce the false narrative about Ukraine, weaken Biden, and strengthen Trump,” Janis Kluge, a Berlin-based Russia analyst, wrote about the likely U.S. presidential rematch. “This co-production of theirs may be the most effective and toxic propaganda clip yet created.”

Peskov said the Kremlin prefers Carlson’s to major Western media, which Peskov accused of bias, adding that there was “no benefit” to the Kremlin in giving interviews to established Western news outlets.

Nonetheless, Peskov insisted that Western media outlets were eager to interview his boss. “When it comes to the countries of the collective West, we receive requests from large network media, traditional TV channels and large newspapers, which can in no way boast of trying to at least look impartial in terms of covering what is going on,” Peskov said.

“These are all media outlets that take a one-sided stance,” he added. “Of course, we have no desire to communicate with such media, and there is no benefit in giving them interviews.”

Peskov confirmed that Carlson interviewed Putin in person. Peskov also described Carlson as “pro-American.”

Carlson has often echoed Kremlin propaganda about Russia’s war on Ukraine, by attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and opposing U.S. military aid to help Ukraine defend itself.

Pro-Kremlin commentator Sergei Markov was among the jubilant voices celebrating Carlson’s Putin interview and its capacity to reach Trump Republicans, regurgitating Putin’s spin on the war.

Markov claimed falsely that Western governments have “banned” major Western news media from interviewing Putin, because “all Western governments know in principle that Russia is right.” He offered no evidence for the assertion.

“This is the worldwide conspiracy that Tucker Carlson can partially destroy,” Markov said.

Konstantin Sonin, a prominent Russian economist and Putin critic who is now at the University of Chicago, said it was “amazing” that Carlson would go to Moscow “to find out what is going on,” instead of visiting Ukraine, which faces daily barrages of Russian missiles.

“How would a visit to Moscow, the capital of the aggressor country, 500 miles from the war frontiers … help in figuring out what is going on?” Sonin posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Others expressed similar dismay.

“Unbelievable!” posted prominent Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats, who is a supporter of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny and currently living in the United States.

“I am like hundreds of Russian journalists who have had to go into exile to keep reporting about the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine,” Albats wrote. “The alternative was to go to jail. And now this [jerk] is teaching us about good journalism, shooting from the $1000 Ritz suite in Moscow.”

Ukrainians were deeply offended by Carlson’s interview, posting images on social media of Kyiv residents sheltering with their pets in the subway as Russian missiles hit the Ukrainian capital Wednesday.

Putin for months has asserted that he is ready for peace talks and has blamed Zelensky for the continuing war. However, in suggesting talks, Russia continues to demand Ukraine’s total capitulation, including the surrender of territory that Russia is trying to seize. Moscow is also demanding Ukraine’s “neutrality,” which means it would have to abandon its aspiration to join the European Union and NATO, as well as “demilitarization” and “denazification.” Putin has accused Ukraine of being led by a Nazi regime but has provided no evidence of that.

Moscow officials have been steeling Russian citizens for a long war of attrition, despite shocking casualties on both sides and growing fatigue among Russians, the majority of whom want a swift peace deal that does not return occupied land to Ukraine, according to recent opinion polling.

Such a deal, however, would be unacceptable to Ukrainians, including many living in occupied areas.

A Russian media channel on Telegram, Ostorozhno Novosti, reported that Russian state media have mentioned Carlson more than 2,000 times in recent days. Some outlets have even tailed his vehicle, reporting where he ate, with whom he met and where he visited.

Local media reported that Carlson visited the fast-food outlet Vkusno i Tochka, which replaced McDonald’s when the chain left Russia.

“Such attention to the U.S. citizen has led to the appearance of jokes in social networks about state propaganda’s love for a foreigner who came to the Russians,” Ostorozhno Novosti reported.

Pro-war Russian state television military reporter and blogger Yevgeny Poddubny, who is popular among Russian nationalists and has more than 700,000 Telegram subscribers, said Carlson’s interview with Putin was proof that in the West, “our truth is in demand like never before.”

State television propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, one of the Kremlin’s anti-Western attack dogs, seemed to suggest that Carlson’s interview would torpedo any last hope for approval of new American military aid for Ukraine.

Solovyov said Carlson’s visit came “at the worst possible time for the West,” and he begged Carlson to join the Russian Union of Journalists, which Solovyov heads.

Another pro-Kremlin propagandist and prominent TV host, Olga Skabeyeva, simply posted a stark black-and-white image of Carlson’s face next to Putin’s with the words: “Thank you. We are waiting.”

Yuriy Hempel, a pro-Russian lawmaker in Crimea, called on Carlson to fly to Crimea, the Ukrainian territory illegally invaded and annexed by Russia in 2014.

Independent Russian journalist Dmitry Kolezev noted that Putin has given numerous interviews to American television in past years, and no one really cared.

“But now an interview with a presenter with a particular reputation is apparently seen as an unprecedented breakthrough,” Kolezev posted on X. “Literally the second coming happened.”

Kolezev joked that Carlson had been “naive” to claim on his video Tuesday that Russia had invaded Ukraine, adding that Putin would correct him with the Kremlin’s official version: “that Putin did not invade anywhere; it was NATO that attacked Russia.”

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Russia, Having Weathered an Aviation Crisis, Now Confronts a Railway Catastrophe as its Railroads Battle a Severe Locomotive Shortage Amidst Relentless Western Sanctions; Read Report
Western sanctions on high tech equipment and new or replacement parts for locomotives have reduced the Russian state-run rail system's ability to move freight.

Moscow, February 7, 2024 – The Russian state-owned railway, RZHD, finds itself in a severe locomotive shortage, a crisis exacerbated by Western sanctions on critical parts supplies.

Since the latter half of 2023, RZHD has been grappling with a dwindling number of operational locomotives as the volume and duration of rolling stock repairs have surged due to a shortage of sanctioned imported components.

Reports from the Russian publication Vedomosti corroborate the challenges faced by RZHD, shedding light on the severity of the situation.

According to representatives of the state monopoly, the crisis reached a critical juncture in the fourth quarter of 2023, prompting urgent efforts to address the issue with service providers.

While nominally, RZHD has sufficient locomotives for cargo transportation, the operational capacity of the Russian railway network is steadily declining.

The ramifications of this crisis are particularly pronounced on the Sverdlovsk railway, where extended periods of locomotive downtime during repairs are disrupting operations.

Sources close to RZHD reveal that repair operations need to be conducted more effectively, leading to frequent breakdowns of locomotives during transit.

Mikhail Burmistrov, the general director of Infoline-Analytics, underscores the gravity of the situation, highlighting a decline in the technical readiness ratio of the locomotive fleet from 95 per cent to 93 per cent by mid-2023, with further deterioration noted in January 2024.

With approximately 20,000 traction rolling stock units scattered across the RZHD network, repair responsibilities are distributed among various entities, including Lokotech and STM service.

However, these service providers need help with their own challenges, including losing access to specialized components due to sanctions.

Burmistrov further elucidates that a shortage of skilled personnel exacerbates the crisis besides procurement difficulties.

While efforts are underway to integrate domestically produced locomotives into the fleet, the transition is marred by reliability issues and insufficient availability.

Parallel challenges confront the Russian civilian aviation sector in the aftermath of the country’s full-scale invasion.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s pledge to bolster domestic aircraft production echoes President Putin’s vision of self-sufficiency by 2030. However, recent safety incidents underscore the urgency of this initiative.

Since the onset of the new year, numerous safety-related incidents involving foreign commercial aircraft operated by Russian airlines have been reported.

From technical malfunctions to emergency landings, these incidents underscore the precarious state of the industry.

To mitigate the impact of sanctions, S7 airline announces staff layoffs amidst constraints in fleet maintenance.

The decision reflects the broader repercussions on aviation employment, with a significant portion of its aircraft grounded due to sanctions-related issues.

In a related development, Rosaviatsiya directs airlines to suspend the usage of specific aircraft on flights to Egypt, citing the risk of impoundment.

This directive follows legal disputes surrounding leased aircraft, underscoring the far-reaching consequences of sanctions on Russian aviation operations.

The locomotive shortage plaguing Russian railways and challenges in the aviation sector paints a grim picture of the nation’s transportation infrastructure.

As authorities grapple with the immediate ramifications of sanctions, the long-term implications for Russia’s economic and logistical landscape remain uncertain.

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Leading Chinese bank halts operations in Russia, Belarus
China's Chouzhou Commercial Bank has notified its clients in Russia and Belarus that it is ending all of its operations there due to payment issues associated with Western sanctions, the Russian state-controlled media outlet Vedomosti reported on Feb. 7, citing sources.

The news appears to be related to enhanced restrictions the U.S. announced in December 2023 to target financial institutions that help support Russia's war effort. The measures expanded sanctions authority over any financial institutions "determined to have conducted or facilitated any significant transactions...or provided any services" for already sanctioned individuals or companies involved in Russia's military-industrial complex.

Sources told Vedomosti that all payments have been impacted, not just those that use SWIFT.

Russian and Chinese payment systems still produce records viewable by Western regulators regardless of their SWIFT usage. Western sanctions enforcers have been putting increased pressure on Chinese banks to access transactions associated with Russia.

Major Chinese banks have reportedly strengthened their compliance with Western sanctions after the new U.S. restrictions were announced in December 2023.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said at the time that the measures would apply even to unwitting financial partners, putting the onus on financial institutions and exporters in third-party countries to preemptively prevent any potential collaboration with Russia's military-industrial complex.

A Russian financial analyst told Vedomosti that so far, not all transactions with Chinese banks have been halted, and payments using Chinese yuan may still be possible, albeit at a slower pace.

Most of the top Chinese banks have branches in the U.S., making them vulnerable to sanctions enforcement.

"China’s political will is not used at the expense of its own interests, and the Chinese logically want to avoid their banks being subjected to Western sanctions," the analyst told Vedomosti.

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Ex-Wagner commander who fled to Norway has asylum request rejected
Andrey Medvedev, the former Wagner Group commander who made headlines in January 2023 for escaping to Norway, had his asylum request rejected by Norwegian authorities, his lawyer told Reuters on Feb. 6.

Since Medvedev’s first arrival in Norway, he spoke out about various war crimes committed by the Wagner Group and said he was willing to testify against the late former Wagner Group commander, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Medvedev was also arrested by Norwegian police in February 2023 after a bar fight.

After stating that he feared for his life if he were to return to Russia, Medvedev sought asylum in Norway but also expressed concern that he might be extradited to Ukraine for his role in war crimes committed by Wagner Group forces.

Medvedev's lawyer told Reuters that his asylum request was rejected because the Norwegian government did not consider him to have been an official member of the Russian armed forces.

While Medvedev's asylum request was denied, Norway does not plan to deport him, his lawyer said.

"He risks being punished for desertion and being killed by people from Wagner," Medvedev's lawyer said, adding that he plans to appeal the case.

It is unclear how the supposed threat against Medvedev's life in Russia has changed since September 2023, when he was arrested after he allegedly tried to illegally cross back into Russia from Norway, supposedly over fears he would be extradited to Ukraine.

Medvedev had previously told a local Norwegian newspaper that he had no plans to return to Russia.

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Iranian diplomat dies in Moscow
An Iranian diplomat at the embassy in Moscow allegedly died in a fitness club on February 4, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia.

The paper identified the man as “A. Jahangiri,” 66, saying he felt unwell while exercising on a treadmill and died soon afterwards.

There is a long history of Iranian and Russian diplomats dying in sudden circumstances in recent years. Jahangiri’s death comes amid growing discontent in Tehran with Moscow’s handling of its security contracts with the country, with one Iranian MP accusing Russia of Betrayal.

Preliminary information revealed that the diplomat's sudden death was caused by a blood clot rupturing during training in a gym, according to the Russian newspaper.

Neither the Iranian embassy nor Persian media have published any reports on the tragic death of the embassy employee, which is now adding to questions on social media for the blackout.

This is not the first instance of sudden death of Iranian officials and their families in Moscow. The daughter of the former Iranian Ambassador Mehdi Sanaei died after a reported “heart attack,” according to Russian media reporting on the late-night occurrence.

Emerging reports of suicide in the diplomatic mission were called a provocation by the Iranian mission at the time.

“This was not the case; the embassy refutes this, the embassy noted, adding that she had a heart attack,” it said in response.

Meanwhile, Russian diplomat Konstantin Alekseev, who worked in the embassy in Tehran and consulate in Rasht, was reportedly found dead by his wife in December 2023 in their apartment in Moscow.

It was unclear if the diplomat, returning from Rasht in 2019, was still involved with Iran.

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Russia began exchanging oil for Indian bananas
The Russian authorities are launching a “banana scheme” to solve the problem of trade imbalance with India, which increased oil purchases from the Russian Federation 11 times after the start of the war, but did not launch a return flow of goods into the Russian market.

In January, the first batch of bananas left India for Russia, the press service of Rosselkhoznadzdor reported on Tuesday. The department emphasized that the decision to open the Russian market for Indian bananas was made after long negotiations and supply volumes will increase.

“The next delivery is planned until the end of February,” Rosselkhoznadzor said, adding that Russia has no restrictions on the import of fruits and vegetables from India, and local farmers are also interested in exporting mangoes, pineapples, papaya and guava.

India is the world's largest producer of bananas: last year, according to FAO, the country grew 33 million tons of this fruit. Russia is the world's main banana importer, accounting for a fifth of all purchases in the world.

Indian bananas will replace Ecuadorian bananas on the Russian market: in early February, Rosselkhoznadzor banned their import after discovering a polyphagous humpback fly in several batches. The decision was made after the Ecuadorian government announced the transfer of Soviet weapons to the United States for subsequent shipment to Ukraine.

Bananas should plug the “hole” in the Russian-Indian trade balance and, perhaps, solve the problem of rupees stuck in India, the volume of which, according to Reuters, could reach $39 billion. We are talking about the money with which Indian refineries paid for Russian oil, obeying the demand to carry out transactions in national currencies. However, it turned out to be impossible to withdraw rupees from India: local currency regulations prohibit this. Since late 2022, Russian officials have been pressing India for reciprocal supplies to Russia so that the accumulated rupees can be spent. The Indian government was asked to export equipment to the Russian Federation: pistons, oil pumps, ignition coils, bumpers, equipment for the textile industry, as well as threads and paints and almost 200 goods for metallurgy. But it was not possible to get the process off the ground.

At its peak, in the summer of 2023, India purchased more than 2 million barrels of Russian oil daily. By early 2024, supplies had dropped sharply to 1.2 million barrels per day. At the same time, India refused to accept 14 tankers with Sokol oil in its ports after the United States imposed sanctions against the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet.”

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Customs service general fired after drunken brawl in Kaliningrad
Lieutenant General Oleg Zavgorodniy, who caused a drunken brawl during a business trip to Kaliningrad, resigned from the Federal Customs Service (FCS). The department's press service reported that he himself submitted his resignation.

“We confirm the fact of the dismissal of the head of the main logistics department of the Federal Customs Service of Russia O. A. Zavgorodniy at his own request on February 6, 2024,” the service noted ( quoted from RIA Novosti).

On February 5, the general was detained for disorderly conduct in Kaliningrad, where he came on a business trip to participate in a meeting on the results of the work of the regional customs for 2023. A video has spread online showing Zavgorodniy lying in handcuffs on the floor of a police station, threatening members of the Russian Guard and kicking them.

The telegram channel “VChK-OGPU” wrote that after arriving in Kaliningrad, a high-ranking customs officer, together with colleagues from Moscow, settled in the five-star Crystal House hotel, in a room with an area of ​​300 m², accommodation in which costs 235 thousand rubles per day.

After drinking alcohol in the hotel restaurant, the general began to behave aggressively and attracted the attention of the hotel security, who called the National Guard squad with a panic button. Upon the arrival of the officers, Zavgorodny got into a fight, first with the guards, and then with them, after which he was detained and taken to the department.

According to the channel, along with Zavgorodniy, the deputy head of the Federal Customs Service, Colonel-General Andrei Strukov, took part in the brawl at the hotel, but after the squad arrived, he locked himself in the room and then helped the detainee to freedom. Zavgorodny was never able to take part in the board.

According to sources, after this the Federal Customs Service tried to hush up the scandal and sent the general on sick leave, but in the end it eventually came to dismissal. However, he retained all the privileges and compensation. The Federal Customs Service has not yet decided what to do with Strukov.

The story of the rowdy behavior of high-ranking customs officers reached the Kremlin. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that he was not in the know and advised that the details of the incident be clarified with the relevant departments.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 08:34 schreef xpompompomx het volgende:
nice

[ twitter ]

Bonus biem:
[ twitter ]

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 10:41 schreef Barbusse het volgende:
Tegenstander van Poetin mag niet meedoen aan presidentsverkiezingen

[ afbeelding ]

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 10:41 schreef Barbusse het volgende:
Tegenstander van Poetin mag niet meedoen aan presidentsverkiezingen

[ afbeelding ]

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 11:41 schreef Elan het volgende:

О�танн� фаза на�тупу 2023: жор�ткі бої 3 ОШБр на шл�ху до звільненн� �ндріївки

Bizar. Alsof je een potje Warzone zit te kijken.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 10:58 schreef MaxMark het volgende:

[..]
*Insert mild shock*

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 14:30 schreef Perrin het volgende:
wtf Elon?!
[ twitter ]

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 14:30 schreef Perrin het volgende:
wtf Elon?!
[ twitter ]

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 14:30 schreef Perrin het volgende:
wtf Elon?!
[ twitter ]

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 17:08 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Roulatie aan de top.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 17:08 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Roulatie aan de top.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 17:50 schreef Discombobulate het volgende:
Geen Budanov dus.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 11:41 schreef Elan het volgende:

О�танн� фаза на�тупу 2023: жор�ткі бої 3 ОШБр на шл�ху до звільненн� �ндріївки

Bizar. Alsof je een potje Warzone zit te kijken.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 18:28 schreef Pleun2011 het volgende:

[..]
Indringende film. Ik lees hier een beetje mee en zag laatst een paar enigszins laffe users verkondigen dat ze liever zouden vluchten dan in dienst te gaan, mochten de Russen aan de poort rammelen. Voor dat soort figuren past het woord 'faggots' wel. In het filmpje roepen de Oekrainers dit steeds naar de Russen.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 18:04 schreef Nebelwerfer het volgende:

[..]
Deze keuze is ook veel logischer. Nu nog hopen dat het de juiste blijkt.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 18:55 schreef Perrin het volgende:
Die special ops teams hebben het maar druk achter de linies.
[ twitter ]

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 18:28 schreef Pleun2011 het volgende:

[..]
Indringende film. Ik lees hier een beetje mee en zag laatst een paar enigszins laffe users verkondigen dat ze liever zouden vluchten dan in dienst te gaan, mochten de Russen aan de poort rammelen. Voor dat soort figuren past het woord 'faggots' wel. In het filmpje roepen de Oekrainers dit steeds naar de Russen.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 18:51 schreef Elan het volgende:

[..]
Ik vermoed dat Nederlanders zich ook niet meer zo goed kunnen identificeren met hun land. Om uiteenlopende redenen.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:20 schreef Joppiez het volgende:

[..]
Komt denk ik omdat Nederland tegenwoordig een samengeraapte hoop van allerlei culturen en etniciteiten is zonder iets van een eenheid. Zomaar een gokje.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:21 schreef Perrin het volgende:

[..]
Ja vroeger tijdens de verzuiling, toen waren we pas een eenheid.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 18:55 schreef Perrin het volgende:
Die special ops teams hebben het maar druk achter de linies.
[ twitter ]

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:21 schreef Perrin het volgende:

[..]
Ja vroeger tijdens de verzuiling, toen waren we pas een eenheid.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:23 schreef Joppiez het volgende:

[..]
Het is er in ieder geval niet beter op geworden.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 18:55 schreef Perrin het volgende:
Die special ops teams hebben het maar druk achter de linies.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:20 schreef Joppiez het volgende:

[..]
Komt denk ik omdat Nederland tegenwoordig een samengeraapte hoop van allerlei culturen en etniciteiten is zonder iets van een eenheid. Zomaar een gokje.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:28 schreef Perrin het volgende:

[..]
[ afbeelding ]

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:59 schreef Joppiez het volgende:

[..]
Tja of gewoonweg niet willen sterven of gehandicapt worden door een domme oorlog. Je leeft maar 1 keer, dus als hier de pleuris uitbreekt pak ik ook de eerste de beste mogelijkheid naar Amerika/Canada/Australie enz

SPOILER

twitter

quote:

Op zaterdag 3 februari 2024 10:44 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]
Hang de Russische vlag nog maar niet in top. Er zal best wat gedoe zijn achter de schermen, en dat Zelenskyy niet blij is geloof ik ook wel, maar Zalushny is niet ontslagen of tot vertrekken gedwongen.

[ twitter ]

quote:

Ukraine's president has sacked the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

It follows speculation about a rift between the president and Gen Zaluzhnyi, who has led Ukraine's war effort since the conflict began.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:40 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ twitter ]

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 01:40 schreef oheng het volgende:
Het lijkt erop dat Avdiivka verloren is als ik de geluiden uit die richting mag geloven. Al een tijd terug is de weerstand minimaal. Artillerie tekort is nijpend.

De stad wordt simpelweg aan puin geschoten. Met burgers en al.

Oja, hier zijn de gelekte russische bestanden. Zou ze nog doorlezen maar heb geen tijd. Shaheed drones blijken een factor 10 keer zo duur te zijn als werd aangenomen.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 20:20 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
Betekend dit dat de hulp er nu gaat komen? En dat de republikeinen nu de grensgebeuren kunnen vergeten door hun eigen domme fout door het steeds weer afwijzen van de toezeggingen/de lat steeds hoger te leggen?

Dat ze nu dus om het congress heen gewerkt hebben?

Of betekend dit eigenlijk nog helemaal niks/iets heel anders?

Amerikaanse politiek is zo nu en dan een beetje verwarrend.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 20:42 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]
Dit gaat gewoon om de presidentsverkiezingen. Van republikeinse kant is het in stant houden van de grensproblematiek waarschijnlijk een methode om de verkiezingen in het voordeel van Trump te kunnen beslechten. Biden probeerde doormiddel van koehandel dit toch er door te krijgen.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:17 schreef Akkerdjie het volgende:

[..]
Mja, het gros in Nederland zou niet meevechten. Jij waarschijnlijk ook niet als je de statistieken volgt. Het is ook een vrij rationele keuze in een land waar het leven niet ronduit kut is. Je hebt immers meestal wel wat geld hier om elders een leven op te bouwen. Als die niet-faggots die zijn gaan vechten toen de oorlog in Oekraine uitbrak zijn dood.

Lekker boeiend wat mensen van je vinden. Het zijn altijd de armen die de eer krijgen te mogen sneuvelen voor hun plaatselijke elite.

https://www.defensieplatf(...)en%20in%20Defensie).

quote:

Senate advances $95 billion Ukraine, Israel funding bill, faces uphill battle as budget talks loom
• The Senate advanced a motion to begin debate on a $95 billion package to fund Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, which was a stripped-down version of the Senate’s failed $118 billion bill.
• The vote allows debate to begin on the aid package, days before their two-week recess and with only a few weeks until government shutdown deadlines in early March.
• Ukraine funding disagreements caused a near government shutdown in September and senators have been trying to negotiate a compromise in the months since.

Senators on Thursday advanced a foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, garnering momentum for a funding package that has been a persistent thorn in the side of federal budget talks over the past few months.

By a final tally of 67-32, senators voted to begin debate on a $95 billion aid package to fund Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian aid in war-torn regions.

“This is a good first step,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. said on the Senate floor following the vote.

The bill still faces an uphill battle as senators now begin discussion on amendments with just a few days until they are supposed to break for two weeks.

If senators postpone talks for the two-week recess, the aid package will likely get sidelined as budget negotiations take the front seat, given looming government shutdown deadlines on March 1 and March 8.

The $95 billion bill was a stripped-down version of the Senate’s $118 billion bipartisan funding package, which was released on Sunday.

The initial, more expensive bill failed Wednesday in a 49-50 vote after days of Republican opposition to the border security provisions.

Anticipating that the first vote would fail, Schumer devised a plan to force a vote on the new $95 billion version of the bill, this time subtracting the disputed border security elements.

“For all those Republicans who first said, ‘We want it with border,’ and now say, ‘We want it without border,’ they got both options,” Schumer said Wednesday morning.

The success of Thursday’s vote is a hopeful next step for an issue that has been a point of paralysis for budget negotiations in the past.

Ukraine aid was the centerpiece of a particularly dramatic saga in September. House Republican hardliners tanked a budget deal in opposition to $6 billion of Ukraine aid. At the time, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to remove the Ukraine funding and pass a short-term bill to keep the government running. Days later, McCarthy was ousted from his post.

Since then, Congress has continued to keep the government’s lights on with short-term, stopgap budget measures, called continuing resolutions, passed hastily at several different points over the past year to avoid government shutdowns.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has been adamant about his disdain for continuing resolutions.

“I think operating by CRs and shutting down the government is a dereliction of duty,” he said in December.

Still, deadlocked congressional disagreements have forced Johnson’s hand. In January, he helped pass yet another continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown, which now expires in early March.

With roughly a month until that short-term budget dries up, passing the aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan could leave lawmakers with one less thing to fight over and help clear a path toward a long-term budget.

But Johnson’s hatred for CRs might not be enough to outweigh his desire to torpedo the Senate’s foreign aid bill. Even if senators can pass the $95 billion, border-less bill, House Republicans have not confirmed which way they will swing on it.

“The House will review the Senate’s product,” Speaker Johnson’s office said in a statement on Wednesday. “The Speaker believes the House should review each issue individually on its merits.”

quote:

The UN commission has called on the Russian Federation to stop deporting Ukrainian children
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has demanded an immediate cessation of Russia's forced removal of children from Ukraine.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has issued a damning indictment against Russia, urging an immediate cessation of the forced removal of children from Ukraine. Voice of America reports that the committee's latest findings underscore a dire situation requiring urgent attention.

Russia Urged to Cease Forced Export of Children from Ukraine
In a sternly worded report, experts from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child have called on Russia to halt its practice of forcibly exporting or deporting children from the occupied territories of Ukraine. The report demands transparency from the Russian Federation, insisting on the disclosure of the exact number of children taken from Ukraine and the swift facilitation of their return home.

The committee's findings highlight Russia's violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by stripping deported children of their Ukrainian citizenship. This action underscores a blatant disregard for international law and human rights standards.

Bragi Gudbrandson, a member of the UN Human Rights Committee, expressed grave concerns over reports of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence in Ukraine, Crimea, and Sevastopol, areas currently under Russian occupation. The committee emphasizes the urgent need for intervention to address these egregious violations of children's rights.

Allegations of War Crimes
Gudbrandson highlighted accusations of war crimes directed at the Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights, raising serious doubts about Russia's commitment to upholding international norms and protecting children in conflict zones.

The committee underscored the importance of protecting children from all forms of violence, including abuse and neglect. Urgent measures are needed to ensure that children are provided with appropriate support and intervention to prevent further victimization.

The UN expressed deep concern over the politicization and militarization of schools, emphasizing the need for education systems to promote values of peace, tolerance, and mutual understanding. Attempts to rewrite school curricula to serve military-political agendas are condemned as detrimental to the well-being of children.

Violation of Children's Rights in Ukraine
During discussions on Ukraine, the Russian Federation faced severe criticism for violating children's rights, including the killing and injury of hundreds of children due to indiscriminate attacks. The forced displacement and deportation of children from Ukraine were also condemned as grave violations of human rights.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child emphasized the importance of ensuring access to education for all children, including those belonging to ethnic groups and indigenous communities in Crimea. Education in the Ukrainian language must be made available to promote cultural diversity and inclusion.

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Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 21:12 schreef sp3c het volgende:
@:achja

quote:

ANALYSIS: Use of Another Putin ‘Wonder Weapon’ – Sign of Russian Determination or Desperation?
The 40 plus strong missile attack on Ukraine on Wednesday probably saw the first appearance of the “Tsirkon” hypersonic missile that Putin has been “promising” to use for over a year.

Among the debris found following the Feb. 7 Russian missile attack on Ukraine, was what appears to be the remnants of a 3M22 Tsirkon (or Zircon) hypersonic missile which was one of Moscow’s “wonder weapons” first revealed in March 2018.

The 3M22 was not included in the official breakdown of missiles shot down during Wednesday’s attack given by Ukrainian Air Force’s, which only mentioned Kh-555/101 and Kalibr cruise and Shahed drones. However, earlier in the morning, they had warned of the approach of a “high-velocity missile” towards Kyiv.

Military commentators feel that, as the wreckage was found adjacent to powerlines in the Dniprovsky district of Kyiv, this was an unlikely target for a multi-million-dollar missile, making it probable that it was indeed shot down by Ukrainian air defense.

The Monitor Telegram channel first drew attention to the missile as being “something different” and said had been fired from a land-based launcher in occupied Crimea.

They described the missile as flying on an “atypical trajectory,” different, but similar, to that previously witnessed when Onyx and Kinzhal missiles were fired on Ukraine.

While markings on the missile wreckage indicated that it was indeed from a Tsirkon, they seem to be hand written which, along with the fact it did not reach hypervelocity during flight, casts some doubt on its identification. It is possible that this was a “prototype” and another example of Russia deploying a “test sample” to see how it would perform.

Russia’s armed forces test-fired the Tzirkon in public for the first time in December 2022, after which Putin announced that from the following January Russian ships, specifically the newly-commissioned Admiral Gorshkov frigate and the Severodvinsk nuclear submarine, would be armed with the weapon.

Tzirkon was slated to replace the P-700 Granit and P-800 Oniks anti-ship missiles using the universal UKSK 3S14 missile launcher, in a move the Kremlin described as making Moscow's international security guarantees “more convincing.”

Little is really known about the Tzirkon other than the few details Russia has let slip and its designation as a hypervelocity is based purely on those. It has not been seen to achieve such speed either during its earlier testing or on this operational deployment.

So far, the exact tactical and technical characteristics of the product have not been officially reported with publicly released specifications changing over time.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced it had been accepted into service in June 2022 and mass production would start immediately. At the time they mentioned it would have a 300-kilogram warhead, a range of 400 kilometers and a flight speed of Mach 6 (Mach 5 being the usually recognized hypervelocity threshold).

During his December 2022 announcement, however, Putin claimed a range of 1,000 kilometers at a speed of Mach 9.

As neither of the naval vessels known to carry the missile have access to the Black Sea, because of Turkish-imposed constraints, and Monitor’s suggestion the missile was fired from land in the Crimean Peninsula there are questions concerning the platform used to launch the Tsirkon (if that is what it was).

The most likely candidate seems to be the K-300 Bastion coastal defense system which had earlier been adapted to fire the Oniks anti-ship missiles for attacks on residential areas, infrastructure, grain storage and handling facilities in Odesa.

While, if the wreckage recovered in Kyiv is from a Tsirkon, it would suggest that it is likely to be as vulnerable to Ukraine’s more capable air defense systems such as Patriot as the KH72 Kinzhal has been.

The greater threat is, however, because unlike the “early warning” that take-off of the MIG-31Ks which carry the Kinzhals gives a land-based system can be launched without prior warning.

quote:

NYT: American officials confirm Patriot missile shot down Il-76 plane
The American-made Patriot missile system is likely responsible for the Russian Il-76 plane crash, American officials anonymously told The New York Times. The plane was also likely carrying at least some Ukrainian prisoners, officials reported.

Russia's Il-76 military transport plane crashed in the country's Belgorod region on Jan. 24, allegedly killing everyone on board.

The cause of the crash is unclear, with Russia claiming that Ukraine's military shot the plane down as it carried 65 Ukrainian POWs. Kyiv has demanded an international probe into the incident.

Ukraine's military intelligence agency did not confirm whether prisoners were on the plane nor have they commented on what might have caused the crash.

Ukrainian officials did reveal that a prisoner exchange had been planned for that day.

Ukrainian military sources told Ukrainska Pravda that the plane was carrying S-300 missiles, regularly used by Russia to strike Kharkiv Oblast.

The Patriot air defense system is a crucial component in protecting Ukrainian air space from Russian missile attacks.

Although American officials have been unable to confirm who was on the plane, sources told the NYT that it appeared probable that at least some of the passengers were Ukrainian prisoners.

The New York Times reported that American officials would not comment on what brought down the plane publicly. According to the news outlet officials who spoke privately on the condition of anonymity said that it was in fact the Patriot missiles.

After Russia claimed that 65 Ukrainian POWs were killed in the crash, Ukraine requested that Russia return the bodies of the killed POWs home.

Russia's government never responded to the appeal. Russia also reportedly blocked the International Committee of Red Cross from investigating the circumstances of the crash.

Officials report that Ukraine likely acted on weak intelligence as the plane was previously used to transport missiles, making it a valuable target for Ukraine's military.

quote:

Russia may be trying to build 10,000 attack drones a year for use in Ukraine
A purported cache of stolen Iranian documents also suggests Moscow is paying a lot more than expected.

Is Russia aiming to build 10,000 Shahed-136 loitering munitions a year?

Plans for massive domestic production of the 200-kg, 2,500-km Iranian-designed suicide drones—and the high price Moscow is paying for them—are just two of the purported revelations of files that an Iranian hacking group says it stole from a company controlled by Tehran’s leading paramilitary arm.

On Feb. 4, the Prana hacking group released thousands of emails and multiple documents that it claimed to have purloined from Sahara Thunder, which it calls a front company for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Defense One could not confirm the authenticity of the documents.

Much of the metadata of the files had been deleted, making it difficult to determine whether the files were authentic, said Ruslan Trad, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.

One of the documents, dated “November 2022,” describes a trip to Iran earlier that year by employees of Alabuga, a state-owned company that manages a large industrial park in Russia. In August 2023, the Washington Post reported, citing its own leaked documents, that Alabuga was central to a plan to build 6,000 Shahed-136s.

The file posted by Prana said Russia had agreed to buy the technology and components to assemble 6,000 “Dolphin 632 boats.” It also said Russia would produce up to 10,000 a year once it had received all the relevant technology.

But numerous details in the Prana files suggest that these “boats” are in fact UAVs. The “November 2022” document, for example, lists such components as “avionics,” jet-assisted take-off, and a Nassir-2 anti-jamming system.

A separate, Alabuga-branded slideshow titled “Factory Production,” describes the “boat” as including a fuselage and elevons. Their construction requires specialists in “REB,” a Russian acronym referring to electromagnetic warfare.

Other documents, by contrast, seemed to go into exhaustive detail to try to hide that the boat is a drone, with one production schedule listing various boat-related parts.

It is unclear whether the “Dolphin 636” is the Shahed-136, although other documents in the Prana dump explicitly discuss the drone’s technical characteristics. One Alabuga-branded slideshow, "motor boat production technology,” offers multiple images of the propeller-driven aircraft.

And if the drone is in fact the Shahed-136, the documents suggest that Moscow has paid a heftier-than-expected price for the weapon, which it has used in large numbers during its invasion of Ukraine.

Iran initially wanted to charge Moscow a licensing and component fee of $375,000 to assemble each Shahed-136 in Russia, which negotiated that down to $193,000 apiece for 6,000 drones, according to the “November 2022” document.

That price is six times the previously estimated cost of the drone, which is made from low-cost components and carries a 40-kilogram warhead.

Many of the components can be acquired locally, with around 10 percent of components coming from abroad, according to the document.

Russia is also seeking to license-produce several other types of Iranian drones, according to a document titled “April 2023.” These include two variants of a “236” drone—one turbo-powered, and one piston-powered with a “seeker”—and type “107” reconnaissance and strike drones.

The 107 is presumably the Shahed-107 drone, while the 236 is likely in the same product family as the jet-powered Shahed-238.

The prices for the 236 seeker variant is given as $900,000, $1.4 million for the 236 turbo-jet, and $460,000 for the 107 drone, according to the document. The price of the 236 turbo-jet makes it more expensive than the estimated cost of Russia’s Kalibr cruise missile.

The document also said the delivery schedule would depend on its “partner’s” production capabilities. For each category of drone, deliveries would be between ten and 100 per month for the next six months, but eventually ramp up to hundred per month, for a total of 2,130 of the 236 seekers, 677 of the 236 jet-powered drones, and 3,360 of the type 107 drones.

The Shahed-136 reportedly has a range of 1,500 miles, but its top speed is just over 100 miles an hour, making it an easy target for Ukrainian air defenses. In one attack in November, officials claim to have destroyed 74 of 75 incoming drones. Russia has occasionally been successful in using the drone against Ukraine’s infrastructure, including one attack that knocked out Odesa’s electrical system.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 21:11 schreef sp3c het volgende:

[..]
imo een beetje een flutonderzoekje wmb, oorlog is zo ver weg voor Nederland en Nederlanders, je hebt geen idee hoe je reageert als je moedertje beschoten wordt en je basisschool platgebombardeerd is

net zoiets als vragen of je op het water zou staan als het keihard is geworden

in de Sahelregio zeggen ze fuck no, waarom zou het water keihard zijn geworden?

in Nederland zeggen we IT ... GIET .... OAN!!!!!!

BIETCHES!

geschiedenis leert ons dat de Nederlander komt vechten als het moet

quote:

Experienced Ukrainian pilot killed in action

Vladislav Rykov, a highly experienced Ukrainian Air Force pilot, was killed in action on Feb. 7, the 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade reported on social media.

Rykov "had 385 sorties under his belt — he was the best pilot and commander I knew," fellow Air Force pilot Rostyslav Lazarenko posted on Facebook. "My heart was ripped out yesterday."

No further details about Rykov's death were provided.

A month earlier, Vladyslav Zalistovskyi, a 23-year-old MiG-29 pilot known by the call sign "Blue Helmet," was also killed during a combat mission.

He was known through his Instagram channel named Blue Helmet, where Zalistovskyi published videos of his flights. The account has amassed over 3,000 followers.

In another incident from last August, three Ukrainian pilots, including well-known aviator Andrii Pilshchykov with the call sign "Juice," died in a mid-air collision between two training jets.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 20:37 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]
Het is ook de vraag wat de invloed van Sirski hier gaat zijn. Dat is toch zover ik kan lezen een minder voorzichtige commandant dan Zaluzjni. Hij zal toch niet direct Avdiivka willen verliezen lijkt me gezien zijn geschiedenis in Bagmoet.
Ik zie buiten dit stukje van Röpke wel redelijk wat negatieve reacties op het ontslag van Zaluzjni, maar goed we gaan het zien.

https://twitter.com/JulianRoepcke/status/1755640285575450880

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 21:56 schreef oheng het volgende:

[..]
Ja, geen idee wat het effect zal wezen. Ik weet wel dat het verlies van Bakhmut best wel goed heeft uitgepakt voor Oekraine. Immers, daardoor is Wagner onthoofd en uitgeschakeld (onderdeel van Rosgvardia, volgens de huidige Wagner commandant). Interne stabiliteit van rusland is in gevaar gekomen, en volgens Prigozhin zijn er 20.000 russen omgekomen in Bakhmut.

Ik heb ook niet het idee dat er nog veel Oekrainsche troepen nog in Avdiivka zijn.

quote:

EU debunks viral claims it is considering sanctions on Tucker Carlson over his interview with Putin
The European Union has refuted reports that it is considering sanctions on American polemist Tucker Carlson for his controversial interview with Vladimir Putin, recorded during his trip to Moscow.

On Wednesday, a flurry of conservative commentators falsely claimed the bloc was mulling slapping a travel ban on Carlson, a former Fox News anchor, after the Kremlin confirmed his sit-down with the Russian president had taken place. It marks Putin's first interview with a Western reporter since he launched the all-out war on Ukraine.

The claim was initially reported by the American magazine Newsweek, based on comments made by a current and former Member of the European Parliament (MEP) who called on member states to consider sanctions on Carlson for acting as a "mouthpiece" and "propagandist" for Putin's regime.

The remarks of the two lawmakers, who have no competence to propose or approve sanctions, were mistakenly associated with formal EU plans to target Carlson with restrictive measures, and amplified by X owner Elon Musk, who described the allegations as "disturbing" and a move that would "greatly offend the American public." Musk's post garnered over 25 million views.

On Thursday, Peter Stano, the European Commission's spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, shut down the rampant speculation. "Currently there are no discussions in the relevant EU bodies linked to this specific person (...) the American person who is in Moscow," he said.

But Stano underlined that the bloc is able to blacklist "propagandists" who have "a continued track record" of information manipulation aimed at undermining the "sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

The confusion was sparked by the comments of Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt and former Spanish MEP Luis Garicano, both of the liberal Renew Europe group.

Verhofstadt said earlier this week on social media platform X that if Carlson "enables disinformation for Putin," the EU should "explore" a travel ban.

Responding to Elon Musk’s remarks that EU measures against Carlson would "offend" the US public, Verhofstadt shared a photo of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich behind bars in Moscow, saying "this is what a real journalist in Russia looks like."

"That should greatly offend the American people!" Verhofstadt said.

Musk's platform X, formerly known as Twitter, is under the EU's legal scrutiny for infringements of its digital rulebook, the Digital Services Act, relating to the spread of disinformation and illegal content.

No fact-checking community notes have been added to Newsweek's original story.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 21:11 schreef sp3c het volgende:

[..]
imo een beetje een flutonderzoekje wmb, oorlog is zo ver weg voor Nederland en Nederlanders, je hebt geen idee hoe je reageert als je moedertje beschoten wordt en je basisschool platgebombardeerd is

net zoiets als vragen of je op het water zou staan als het keihard is geworden

in de Sahelregio zeggen ze fuck no, waarom zou het water keihard zijn geworden?

in Nederland zeggen we IT ... GIET .... OAN!!!!!!

BIETCHES!

geschiedenis leert ons dat de Nederlander komt vechten als het moet

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 22:16 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]
We hebben een hoop te verliezen. Naar welk land wil je vluchten als er ellende komt? Onze portemonnee is hier en als je daar aan komt willen we er misschien idd voor vechten. En we hebben wel een geschiedenis van bloedvergieten en gemene spelletjes. Zo beschaafd zijn de Nederlanders niet als het er op aan komt.

quote:

Occupier's accomplice detained in Lviv: Trying to flee to EU
The SBU and the National Police have detained a collaborator in Lviv who served in the occupation "Ministry of Internal Affairs" in the temporarily seized part of Zaporizhzhya.
The SBU and the National Police have prevented a collaborator who was part of the occupation "Interior Ministry" in the temporarily seized part of Zaporizhzhya from escaping from Ukraine. The attacker was involved in the capture of local members of the resistance movement. About it on 8 February reports the SBU.

Counterintelligence SBU detained the accomplice of the occupiers in Lviv, where he covertly arrived for further departure to the European Union, - stated in the message.

According to the investigation, the figure is a resident of Vasilievsky district in Zaporozhye, who in June 2022 joined the ranks of the occupation "district police department".

There, the attacker was included in the "punitive detachments" that kidnapped local residents on the streets or from their own homes. Also, the collaborator together with the RF troops robbed the homes of local residents under the guise of searches. Money, clothes, office equipment and other private property were stolen from citizens.

In addition, the defendant was involved in guarding the occupation "election committees" during the pseudo-referendum of the Russian Federation on the "joining" of the region to the aggressor country.

At the end of 2023, the attacker left for Lviv as an internally displaced person from the temporarily occupied territory in southern Ukraine. In the city, the man settled with his relatives and was preparing to illegally cross the border towards the EU.

Investigators of the SBU informed the defendant of suspicion under part 7 of article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (collaboration activities). He faces up to 15 years in prison.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 22:16 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]
We hebben een hoop te verliezen. Naar welk land wil je vluchten als er ellende komt? Onze portemonnee is hier en als je daar aan komt willen we er misschien idd voor vechten. En we hebben wel een geschiedenis van bloedvergieten en gemene spelletjes. Zo beschaafd zijn de Nederlanders niet als het er op aan komt.

quote:

Commander: Ukraine downs Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter near Avdiivka
Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter near Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast on Feb. 7, Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of Ukraine's Tavria group fighting on the southeastern front lines, said on Feb. 8.

"The enemy's Alligator with its crew was hit by a portable anti-aircraft missile complex and fertilized the soil in the Avdiivka direction," Tarnavskyi said on Telegram.

The Ka-52 Alligator is an updated twin-seat variant of Russia's Ka-50 attack helicopter designed to destroy enemy armored and unarmored ground targets, tanks, low-speed aerial targets, and personnel, according to the Airforce Technology website.

Russia has lost over 300 combat helicopters since the start of the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Feb. 8.

The Tavria group of Ukraine's military is fighting in some of the hottest spots on the front, including the ongoing battle for Avdiivka.

Russian forces are now concentrating their offensive operations near Novopavlivka and Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast, according to Tarnavskyi.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 21:32 schreef AchJa het volgende:

[..]
Bajonetten plaatsen en voorwaarts!

We zullen er wel even met de blanke klewang op ingaan!

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 22:05 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
Tevens kan ik Tucker sowieso geen echte journalist noemen. Van een journalist verwacht ik namelijk dat zij opzoek zijn naar de waarheid, en dit met feiten en bewijs ondersteunen. Terwijl Tucker zelf al heeft aangegeven dat hij er meestal maar wat uit flapt.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 21:51 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Draad over Syrskyi.

quote:

‘World is grateful': India keeps oil prices cheaper by buying from Russia, Indian oil minister says
• India keeps global crude prices affordable by buying oil from Russia, India's energy minister said.
• "If we start buying more of the Middle Eastern oil, the oil price will not be at $75 or $76. It will be $150," he told CNBC's Sri Jegarajah on the sidelines of the India Energy Week conference in Goa.
• The minister said he was confident that India's renewable targets "will be met totally."

India keeps global crude prices affordable by buying oil from Russia, India's energy minister said.

"The world is grateful to India for buying Russian oil. It's not that they don't want us to buy Russian oil," India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told CNBC's Sri Jegarajah on the sidelines of the India Energy Week conference in Goa.

"If we start buying more of the Middle Eastern oil, the oil price will not be at $75 or $76. It will be $150," he added.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India's refiners have been snapping up discounted Russian oil.

Moscow has since become India's leading source of crude oil, accounting for about 36% of the South Asian nation's crude imports.

Consequently, India's imports of Middle Eastern oil fell to a record low.

Oil prices have been under pressure in spite of rising tensions in the Red Sea and fears of a widening conflict in the Middle East. Such uncertainty would typically push energy prices higher but gains have been limited amid record output from the U.S., and an ongoing global economic slowdown.

The Indian minister said he was not "unduly worried" about whether there will be a spike in prices as a result of a lack of availability or affordability of the oil.

"The fact of the matter is half the work is in recession," he said, adding that higher oil prices will invariably end up becoming a "self fulfilling prophecy" where higher prices will curtail demand.

India is expected to be the largest driver for growth in global oil demand from 2023 to 2030, the International Energy Agency said in a report Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced plans to boost the country's annual oil refining capacity by almost 80% to 450 million tons, in what could possibly pose as another challenge to India's renewables goals.

India has set an aspirational target of meeting 50% of its electricity demand from renewable sources 2030, and a 100% transition to renewable energy by 2050. Currently, 75% of the nation's total power is derived from coal-fired plants.

That said, the minister said he was confident the renewable targets "will be met totally."

"We are well on the way of meeting our targets and we'll meet them all before time," he said, adding that many of India's major oil companies have net zero targets at 2035 and 2040.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 22:39 schreef Akkerdjie het volgende:

[..]
Jij misschien wel, maar mensen met geld maken gewoon dat ze wegkomen, dat ging vroeger al zo, dat gaat nu ook voornamelijk zo. De armen zijn doorgaans degenen die grotendeels sterven. Onze portemonnee is digitaal en in andere landen net zo te gebruiken en als mijn huis toch kapot geschoten wordt heb ik er verder toch niks aan als de oorlog voorbij is.
Ik begeleid enkele Oekraïnse mannen momenteel die gevlucht zijn, een heeft in 2014 gediend, maar heb in het verleden ook twee soldaten behandeld met ptss. Oorlog wordt veel teveel geromantiseerd wat mij betreft. Het is absurd en iedereen die het kan en die iets om zijn leven geeft en geen religioot of overmoedig persoon is met wat onrealistische realiteitszin probeert het te ontwijken. Àls je het al overleeft (bijvoorbeeld zo’n gehaktmolen als de frontlinie in de Oekraïne heeft nog maar enkele procenten van de oorspronkelijke mobilisatie in leven is de schatting) heb je ptss voor het leven. Fuck die shit. Als anderen dat wel willen of er anders over denken, kunnen ze hun ding doen. Ik vang je wel op mocht je terugkeren en probeer er nog wat van te maken.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 23:00 schreef Joppiez het volgende:

[..]
Vind het best debiel dat ze hem aangesteld hebben. Geboren in Rusland, blijkt niet eens Oekraïens te spreken. Ook op de Soviet manier oorlog voeren aan zijn reputatie te zien, en dat ga je als Oekraïne gewoon niet winnen zo. Begin van het einde dit?

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 23:37 schreef Perrin het volgende:
Aardig fikkie daar.

[ twitter ]

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 20:16 schreef Drxx het volgende:

[..]
Het heeft niet eens een week geduurd.
[..]

quote:

Russian Infantry ‘Banned from Using Armored Vehicles’ to Attack Dnipro Bridgehead
A Ukrainian official said Moscow’s assaults were now only being carried out by unsupported infantry in what they described as groups of “suicide bombers.”

Russian forces attempting to dislodge a Ukrainian bridgehead on the Dnipro River have been banned from using armored vehicles and are now attacking on foot as “suicide bombers,” Ukraine’s military has said.

Speaking to the United News telethon on Thursday, South Operational Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk said the ban was due simply to how much materiel Moscow’s forces have been losing in the now months-long battle.

“For a long time, we have been observing that they have a ban on using armored vehicles during assaults, meaning that at first they were making assaults using classic tactics of fighting with armored vehicles,” she said.

“But they were losing equipment, so after a while, they stopped using it.

“We found out that they have a ban on it, meaning that assaults are carried out directly by infantry groups.”

Humeniuk said the number of Russian attacks had dropped in recent days from 10-15 per day to three or four.

She suggested this was because it was “increasingly difficult for the enemy to assemble a group of suicide bombers” and that Russian forces were losing 50-80 men a day.

As Kyiv Post reported last month, Ukrainian Marines are deeply dug-in and, backed by masses of strike drones, are firmly holding ground first captured in mid-October.

According to a number of independent observers, no matter what Russian forces try to do they haven’t been able to dislodge the Ukrainians who will “still be there in weeks and months to come.”

Evidence is now mounting that Russian forces have suffered such heavy losses that some troops are reportedly refusing to attack.

According to multiple Ukrainian and Russian sources, Moscow’s attempts to wipe out the bridgehead employing substantial ground attacks have virtually come to a halt.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 23:37 schreef Perrin het volgende:
Aardig fikkie daar.

[ twitter ]

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 23:43 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/27777
[..]

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 23:45 schreef Hatseflats22 het volgende:

[..]
Op het oog een gek fikkie eigenlijk, alsof het dak over de gehele lengte in brand staat maar verder niets.

Ik speculeer even vrijuit... dat door corruptie geen brandvertragend materiaal op het dak gelegd is maar goedkope troep.

Maar zoals Russen altijd schijnen te zeggen:

Oost west,
as best.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 23:51 schreef Perrin het volgende:

[..]
Ja dat dak lijkt heel brandbaar. Of iets met gas dat zich via de zolders heeft verspreid?

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 00:42 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
Putler blijft in het interview maar benadrukken dat hij wil onderhandelen. Kennelijk gaat de speciale operatie niet zo best.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 21:52 schreef Akkerdjie het volgende:

[..]
Dat zal best allemaal, maar het is natuurlijk wel een signaal dat in een recenter onderzoek het wederom maar 16% is terwijl marokko weer boven de 90% en amerikanten ruim 50% scoort bijvoorbeeld. Het zijn toch afspiegelingen van de situatie nu.


In deze boekenstein en de wijk- aflevering wordt er dieper op ingegaan:


https://www.bnr.nl/podcas(...)-in-crisis-en-oorlog

Overigens is 16% ruim een miljoen mensen, met die mensen die bereid zijn alvast als eerste dood te gaan in strijd kom je al een heel eind.

Overigens is het ook wel een ding als je vanuit religie ervan overtuigd bent dat je bergen maagden ter beschikking krijgt als je sterft in de strijd en heel veel eer krijgt (de doodscultus van islam) of als je sterft in de hemel komt (christenen), t.o.v. het voornamelijk atheistische NL, waar het gewoon klaar is als je sterft aan de kogel, voor wie of wat dan ook.

Edit: in Oekraïne zijn de studenten nu zowat aan de beurt om te sterven voor hun land en geen fagot te zijn. Mensen schrijven zich nu in als student om het te ontlopen, maar het is al maanden een discussie om het puur op leeftijd te doen en niet meer op studentstatus. De ondergrens wil men verlagen naar 25 jaar, er moeten nog 450-500k mannen aan kanonnenvoer bij. Eens kijken wat die ervan vinden.
Overigens in Nieuwsuur is het nu toevallig een item over hoe ze met weigeraars omgaan.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 00:02 schreef loveyoulongtime het volgende:

[..]
Asbest springt juist compleet uit elkaar bij vuur? Lijkt dan hier weer geen sprake van...

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 03:55 schreef kanovinnie het volgende:

[..]
Hoe kom je hierbij?

quote:

Putin walks away with propaganda victory after Tucker Carlson’s softball interview
It’s evident now why Vladimir Putin granted an interview to Tucker Carlson.

Over the course of the more than two-hour sit-down, the former Fox News host turned online commentator largely refrained from challenging the Russian authoritarian, whose brutal war on Ukraine has led to the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Those expecting a hard-hitting face-off will have surely walked away sorely disappointed by the long-winded and rambling interview, in which Tucker himself at times appeared lost.

Instead of pressing Putin on the many topics at hand, including credible accusations Russia has committed war crimes and the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Carlson allowed the autocrat a free lane to manipulate the public and tell his version of history, no matter how deceptive it may have been. At times, between the airing of grievances, Putin appeared to school Carlson on historical events as the host looked on in bewilderment. Or to put it more plainly, Carlson provided Putin a platform to spread his propaganda to a global audience with little to no scrutiny of his claims.

“What you see from watching the first 45 minutes of this, is that this is President Putin’s platform,” Clarissa Ward, CNN’s chief international correspondent, remarked, adding that it was “clear from the very beginning” of the interview that Carlson did “not have control.”

In some cases, Carlson even fed into Putin’s narratives. For instance, Putin advanced an absurd deep state-style conspiracy theory that the U.S. government is not controlled by its elected leaders but by unelected powers at the Central Intelligence Agency who direct the president like a puppet from the shadows.

“So, twice you’ve described US presidents making decisions and then being undercut by their agency heads,” Carlson said after Putin made the assertion, earnestly summing up the Russian leader’s mendacious narrative. “So it sounds like you’re describing a system that’s not run by the people who are elected, in your telling?”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Putin replied.

Carlson never followed up to challenge the absurdity.

It was a massive propaganda victory for Putin, who can — and will – now twist the encounter for his own ends. If there was any doubt that Putin did not view the sit-down with Carlson as a big win, a glance at how his own state-run media covered the affair should erase it. Immediately after Carlson published the chat online, Putin’s mouthpieces rushed to amplify it.

TASS featured the sit-down as the top story on its homepage, amplifying Putin’s claim that Ukraine is an “artificial state” and devoting an entire section of its website to special coverage of the interview. RT, the English-language broadcaster now exiled from much of the Western world, aired significant swaths of the interview on its air.

“VLADIMIR PUTIN’S INTERVIEW GAINS OVER 20 MILLION VIEWERS IN FIRST TWO HOURS,” RT boasted in one on-screen graphic.

None of this should come as any surprise.

While Carlson was once a critic of the Russian government, in recent years he has been far more sympathetic to the Putin-led state, dragging the GOP with him. Carlson’s commentary on Russia’s brutal war on Ukraine has been anything but favorable toward Kiev, with the right-wing extremist even likening Volodymyr Zelensky to vermin last year.

Which is precisely why Putin agreed to the interview with Carlson, while actual journalists who would have pressed the Russian leader on a range of critical issues, have been denied access for years. You don’t have to take our word for it, either. Putin’s own spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters this week that Carlson was selected because he “has a position that is different from the rest” of Western media.

There was one moment, however, in which Carlson did gently press Putin. At the end of the interview, Carlson asked Putin if he would be “willing to release” Evan Gershkovich, the imprisoned reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Putin declined to release Gershkovich now, to which Carlson said, “He’s a kid, and maybe he was breaking your law in some way, but he’s not a super spy and everybody knows that.”

While Carlson did advocate for the immediate release of Gershkovich, his remark did not go over well at The Journal. Ted Mann, a reporter at the newspaper, wrote on X that it was “disgraceful of Carlson to suggest Evan was ‘breaking [their] law.’”

“He wasn’t,” Mann added. “Carlson knows that. Evan is a law-abiding, decent reporter being held hostage for geopolitical leverage. He should be released immediately.”

The Journal also released a statement following the interview.

“Evan is a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. Any portrayal to the contrary is total fiction,” the newspaper said. “Evan was unjustly arrested and has been wrongfully detained by Russia for nearly a year for doing his job, and we continue to demand his immediate release.”

SPOILER

quote:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested “an agreement can be reached” with the United States to release detained American journalist Evan Gershkovich, as he brought up the conviction of a “patriotic” Russian hitman in Germany.

The comments came during a lengthy and at times ponderous interview with American right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson, Putin’s first with a Western media figure since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022.

The sit-down interview in Moscow sparked controversy for Carlson before it even aired and saw the former Fox News host largely refrain from challenging the Russian authoritarian. For some two hours, Putin repeated lengthy treatises on Russian history, his perceived grievances with the West, as well as his often-voiced justifications for launching the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested last March while on a reporting trip in the country. The Federal Security Service, Russia’s main security service, accused him of trying to obtain state secrets – a charge Gershkovich, his employer and the US government have strenuously denied.

“We have made so many goodwill gestures that, it seems to me, we have run out of them,” Putin said when asked by Carlson whether he would be willing to release Gershkovich, according to a transcript from Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti.

“No one has ever responded to our goodwill gestures with similar gestures. But we, in principle, are ready to say that we do not exclude the possibility that we can do this with counter-movement from our partners.”

During the two-hour long interview filmed in the Russian capital Moscow, Putin said talks are ongoing with between representatives of Russian and US “special services” and the issue must be solved through the proper channels.

“We have no taboo about solving this problem. We are ready to solve it, but there are certain conditions that are being discussed through special services channels between the intelligence services. I think an agreement can be reached,” he told the former Fox News host.

A Russian court has repeatedly extended his pretrial detention but if convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

The US State Department has officially designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained by Russia.

In December Gershkovich’s sister told CNN that the ordeal for his family is “painful” and “getting harder” as they await progress on his release.

“He’s missed out on so much. And we dearly miss him, but we have to stay strong and just keep fighting for Evan,” Danielle Gershkovich said.

The Biden administration’s efforts to secure his release have not yet yielded results. The White House offered to trade a large number of Russian nationals detained on espionage charges abroad in exchange for the release of Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, two people familiar with the matter told CNN in December, but the offer was not accepted.

When Putin said Gershkovich was working with US special services, Carlson did push the Russian president, saying: “This guy is obviously not a spy, he’s a kid. He’s being held hostage.”

Murder in a Berlin park
In reply, Putin indicated Russia’s interest in the release of a Russian national currently serving out a life sentence for murder in Germany.

Putin alluded to the case of Vadim Krasikov, a former colonel from Russia’s domestic spy organization convicted of assassinating a former Chechen fighter in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019.

“Listen, I’ll tell you: sitting in one country, a country that is an ally of the United States, is a man who, for patriotic reasons, eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals,” Putin said.

Russian government officials have previously requested that Krasikov be released as part of a proposed prisoner swap of notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for US citizens Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan according to US officials and CNN reporting.

Griner, a professional basketball player, was freed in a prisoner exchange for Bout while Whelan remains in prison.

Paul Whelan, a US former marine who says he was visiting Russia for a friend’s wedding, was arrested in Moscow on December 28, 2018 and imprisoned on charges of espionage that he has consistently and vehemently denied.

The Wall Street Journal responded to Putin’s suggestion that Gershkovich could be released, saying: “Evan is a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. Any portrayal to the contrary is total fiction.”

“Evan was unjustly arrested and has been wrongfully detained by Russia for nearly a year for doing his job, and we continue to demand his immediate release,” the newspaper said in a statement.

“We’re encouraged to see Russia’s desire for a deal that brings Evan home, and we hope this will lead to his rapid release and return to his family and our newsroom.”

History lessons and Ukraine war
Carlson was widely criticized ahead of the interview airing over concerns it would give Putin an outlet for his propaganda points. In recent years, he has offered flattering interviews to Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán and Argentina’s far-right president Javier Milei, giving the figures a stage to push their agenda.

Carlson had also said western journalists had “not bothered” to interview Putin and accused them of engaging in “fawning pep sessions” when interviewing Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who the former Fox News host asserted he would like to earnestly sit down with, but once likened to a rat.

In fact, journalists have repeatedly been requesting interviews with Putin, but the Russian President had declined to grant access. And Putin not only has declined to participate in interviews with the free press, but over the past two years he has waged a war against the media, locking up journalists, fining Big Tech companies for hosting “fake” information about the Ukraine invasion, and pushing through censorship laws that clamp down on news organizations.

The interview provided little groundbreaking substance that would enlighten American audiences as to what Putin intends to do about Ukraine, which has been devastated by nearly two years of unprovoked Russian bombardment and unlawful occupation.

Putin has an arrest warrant against him issued by the International Criminal Court over an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia. And on Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the Russian president should face a war crimes inquiry for Moscow’s brutal assault on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which killed thousands of people, destroyed countless buildings and was followed by a widespread campaign of Russification.

The first question from Carlson on why Russia invaded sparked a 30 minute revanchist lecture on the history of Russia and Ukraine, before repeating his talking points of NATO’s expansion and what he calls the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine as justification for his brutal war.

“Putin really railroaded Tucker Carlson,” said Jill Dougherty, CNN contributor and former CNN bureau chief in Moscow.

“I expected the reverse. I expected a lot of energy from Carlson, and he never asked the questions that you would have to ask, specifically about the war. The incessant bombing, taking Ukrainian children to Russia, the people who are arrested in Russia right now, the people who have left Russia because of the war. There are many questions that could have been asked and they never were,” said Dougherty.

Carlson’s interview style, for example, contrasted heavily with that of Austrian journalist Armin Wolf, who had a famously testy sit-down with Putin in 2018 in which he repeatedly challenged the Russian leader.

On relations with the United States, Putin said he has not spoken with President Joe Biden since before the war in February 2022, but added that Moscow and Washington have “certain contacts” that continue.

“I cannot remember when I talked to him,” Putin said. “But why should I remember everything? I have a lot of my own things to do. We have domestic political affairs.”

Putin added that Biden had made a “huge mistake of historical proportions” by supporting Ukraine.

The Russian President denied that Moscow has expansionist ambition, the continued occupation of sovereign Ukrainian territory and said Russia had no interest in attacking Poland, Lativia or other European nations. He dismissed such claims as “just threat mongering,” according to a translation provided by Carlson.

Putin also appeared to dismiss the use of tactical nuclear weapons, suggesting the idea was being evoked by western leaders to “extort additional money from US and European taxpayers.”

“It goes against common sense to get involved in some kind of global war … and a global war would bring all humanity to the bring of destruction.”

Last year, Putin deployed tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring ally Belarus and former Russian president and deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said strategic nuclear weapons could be used to defend territories incorporated into Russia from Ukraine.

The Russian President suggested that the path to ending the war in Ukraine was through direct negotiations between Washington and Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously rejected suggestions it was time to negotiate peace with the Kremlin and has repeatedly said he would not give up Ukrainian territory. “When you want to have a compromise or a dialogue with somebody, you cannot do it with a liar,” he told CNN in September.

“You have issues on the border, issues with migration, issues with the national debt.” Putin said. “You have nothing better to do, so you should fight in Ukraine? Wouldn’t it be better to come to an agreement with Russia? Make an agreement, already understanding the situation that is developing today, realizing that Russia will fight for its interests to the end.”

The US and its allies have supported Ukraine with weaponry and economic support since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022; they have not sent troops to Ukraine, which is not a NATO member.

The interview came as US lawmakers debate a multi-billion dollar funding package for Ukraine. On Thursday, the US Senate voted to advance the $95.3 billion foreign aid package, which provides assistance for Ukraine and Israel, after Republicans blocked a broader bill that included border security measures earlier this week.

quote:

Guard Chief: First Ukrainian F-16 Trainees Are ‘On Track,’ But Funds Aren’t There for More
The first four Ukrainian pilots training to fly the F-16 at Morris Air National Guard Base, Ariz., are “on track,” the head of the National Guard Bureau said Feb. 8, and the first batch of pilots are funded to complete their schooling. But Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson told the Pentagon press that Congress must authorize more funding to add additional pilots to the training queue.

Ukrainian pilots arrived in the U.S. to train to fly F-16s in September, first at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, for a crash course in English, and then beginning in October at Morris Air National Guard Base, Ariz., home of the 162nd Wing, where the day-to-day mission is focused on training foreign pilots to fly F-16s.

The U.S. and its allies expect the Ukrainian Air Force to achieve initial operating capability with its F-16s by the end of 2024, according to Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Celeste Wallander, who said pilot training was on track.

Hokanson echoed Wallander’s assessment, but added the caveat that without additional funding, things could change in the coming months.

“Everything we see right now, they’re on track,” Hokanson said. “Obviously as we get further on to higher levels, they may be more advanced or less. But we look at each pilot individually, because what we want to do is prepare them, as much as possible before they go back to Ukraine, to be successful.”

Pilots at Morris complete the six-month “B Course”—or Basic Course—to become proficient in the fundamentals necessary to transition to the F-16. That is the course the four Ukrainian pilots are now undergoing, a defense official previously told Air & Space Forces Magazine.

Hokanson’s senior enlisted advisor, Air Force CMSgt. Tony L. Whitehead added that maintainers currently being trained on the F-16 will get resources to help them over the long term.

“Our standard operating procedures and [operating instructions] are translated for those maintainers, so they can make sure that the continuity of training can continue when they go back to Ukraine,” he said.

Such resources will likely be crucial, as officials and observers alike have noted that maintaining F-16s inside of Ukraine will represent a major effort in and of itself.

Building out a corps of F-16 pilots and maintainers takes time, though, and while Ukrainian personnel are also training in Denmark, the possibility of expanding training in the U.S. appears unclear.

“We do have the resources to continue the training that has already started … and hopefully get all of those folks completed later on this year,” Hokanson said. “Then if we decide to increase that, then obviously we’ll need the resources to train additional pilots and ground support personnel.”

Hokanson did not specify where such resources would come from, but lawmakers in Congress are currently locked in a heated debate on Ukraine funding. On Feb. 8, the Senate took a procedural step to advance a massive foreign security aid package that includes $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and more. However, that bill’s fate remains uncertain in the House. Lawmakers must also pass a budget for the federal government by early March or risk a shutdown.

Previously approved funding for Ukraine ran out in late January.

quote:

President Zelenskyy’s dual citizenship proposal presents wartime dilemmas
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the country’s recent Unity Day holiday on January 22 by thanking Ukrainians around the world for their wartime support and calling for changes to the Ukrainian Constitution that would allow for dual citizenship. Zelenskyy confirmed he was submitting the relevant legislative proposal to the Ukrainian Parliament.

If passed, the bill would allow Ukrainians to hold more than one citizenship. This would have significant implications for Ukraine itself and for the large international Ukrainian diaspora. According to the Ukrainian World Congress, the Ukrainian diaspora currently numbers around 20 million people. Most would potentially be eligible for Ukrainian citizenship. Restrictions on dual citizenship have previously deterred many members of the diaspora from applying for Ukrainian passports.

Zelenskyy’s proposal has been welcomed by many within the Ukrainian diaspora. If adopted, it could help strengthen ties between Ukraine itself and the global Ukrainian community, while granting diaspora members an opportunity to have a greater say in Ukraine’s development. It would make it far easier to visit Ukraine and open a business, purchase property, or otherwise invest in the country, while also providing diaspora Ukrainians with the chance to vote in elections or even run for office themselves.

For existing Ukrainian citizens, acquiring a second passport would potentially open multiple doors in terms of travel, work, and study. Ukrainians have enjoyed visa-free access to the European Union’s Schengen Zone for limited time periods since 2017, and have also benefited from a range of measures to ease border restrictions since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Nevertheless, the prospect of holding an EU, US, or other Western passport would certainly appeal to many.

While there is likely to be considerable public support for Zelenskyy’s dual citizenship proposal, any attempt at implementation in today’s wartime environment could prove highly problematic. Crucially, it remains far from clear what the initiative would mean for military service.

With Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine now approaching the two-year mark, most analysts believe the conflict has evolved into a war of attrition. With its far larger population, economy, and industrial base, this places Russia at a considerable advantage. The Russian military has also demonstrated a striking disregard for heavy losses in Ukraine, repeatedly employing so-called “human wave” or “meat assault” tactics to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses by sheer weight of numbers.

Ukraine cannot afford to accept such high casualty rates. The country has a far smaller pool of military-age men to draw from, and has already experienced a major decline in population as a direct result of Russia’s invasion. Current martial law restrictions mean most Ukrainian males eligible for military service are not permitted to exit the country. However, if changes to the Ukrainian Constitution made it possible to apply for a second citizenship, opportunities may arise for Ukrainian citizens to use newly acquired passports in order to leave Ukraine and avoid conscription.

Meanwhile, a relaxation in Ukraine’s dual citizenship restrictions could also potentially result in members of the Ukrainian diaspora who took Ukrainian passports becoming eligible for military service. Any uncertainty over the status of new passport holders with regard to conscription would be likely to deter many from applying.

The issue of military service is currently high on the Ukrainian wartime agenda amid debate over how best to bolster the depleted ranks of the army. A recent proposal by Ukraine’s military chiefs to conscript up to 500,000 civilians has met with a mixed reaction in Kyiv, with Zelenskyy refusing to offer his public support and instead calling for further details before making a decision.

Differences of opinion over the correct approach toward mobilization are believed to have contributed to mounting tensions between Ukraine’s civilian and military leadership. This was widely cited as a contributing factor behind Zelenskyy’s February 8 decision to replace Ukraine’s top general, Valery Zaluzhny. Any constitutional changes to introduce dual citizenship would further complicate an already challenging and politically sensitive situation.

President Zelenskyy’s proposal to enshrine the right to dual citizenship in the Ukrainian Constitution reflects growing awareness of the important role played by the global Ukrainian diaspora. If implemented, it would probably prove a popular measure that would significantly increase the number of Ukrainian passport holders and provide millions more people with a stake in the country’s future. However, there are a number of practical reasons why progress on this issue remains unlikely in the current wartime conditions.

SPOILER

quote:

Donald Trump had his best day of 2024 so far…

► The former president was handed a political gift. An independent special counsel poured kerosene on concerns about Joe Biden’s age with pointed language about the president’s poor memory after concluding Biden had willfully mishandled classified documents – and that his failing memory makes him impossible to convict. Biden was on defense at a hastily called White House news conference. “My memory is fine,” Biden said.

► He is on a glide path to the Republican nomination. Trump romped in the Nevada and US Virgin Island caucuses Thursday night, continuing his unbeaten streak and making Nikki Haley’s campaign feel futile.

► He appears poised for a win at the Supreme Court. Justices expressed deep skepticism that Colorado could declare him an insurrectionist and bar him from their election ballots.

It’s a one-two-three combo that should have Trump feeling solid about his political future, at least for a moment.

Feeding the frenzy about Biden’s age
In concluding Biden should not be prosecuted, Special Counsel Robert Hur, a former Trump-appointed US Attorney in Maryland, offered a political indictment of the president’s fitness. Hur described the leader of the free world as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” that would make him impossible to prosecute.

The odd assessment in a justice department document created an instant feeding frenzy among Biden’s opponents and will last much longer in the public consciousness than any of the other news.

“Is this a joke?” North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis wrote on social media, reposting quotes from Hur’s report.

“A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office,” House Republican leaders said in a quickly released joint statement, seizing on the special counsel’s description of Biden in the report.

In a statement, Biden pointed out his cooperation with the special counsel probe and said he was pleased with the outcome, arguing the matter is now closed.

Hardly. Questions about his age already existed and are now sure to grow, especially with Republicans primed to pounce on any misstep or verbal mistake, such as when he mixed up dead European leaders this week.

In stern comments acknowledging the outcry, Biden reprimanded Hur for questioning his memory of his son.

“How in the hell dare he raise that?” Biden said. “Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, ‘Wasn’t any of their damn business.’”

He pulled at a rosary of Beau’s that he wears and added, “I don’t need anyone to remind me of when he passed away.”

Biden’s memory during interview with investigators
Hur said Biden could not remember key details during his meeting with authorities and forgot key dates, including the year his son Beau died and the years when he was vice president.

The White House immediately disputed the accounts.

“The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events,” White House counsel Richard Sauber and Biden personal attorney Bob Bauer said in a five-page letter to Hur.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, tried to deflect concerns about Biden’s age, calling them “ridiculous cheap shots,” and noted Trump has also had some gaffes caught on tape in recent weeks.

“I just spent an hour with president Biden and the entire Democratic caucus, where he regaled and entertained everyone,” Raskin told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Thursday night after attending a retreat for House Democrats in Virginia.

Other elements for Trump to exploit
Trump has sought to create a false equivalence between his own standoff with the government over classified material – which led to one of his federal indictments – and what was found in Biden’s Delaware garage and den. Pictures in the report of boxes in Biden’s garage, next to his Corvette, will almost certainly be placed by Trump supporters alongside the infamous pictures of Trump’s boxes in an unused Mar a Lago bathroom.

Trump will also point to the decision not to prosecute Biden as evidence of a double standard in the justice system, although the politically loaded language Hur used to describe Biden could be seen as evidence to prove there is no double standard. Hur was appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who serves under Biden.

Biden vs. Trump on classified material
People may soon forget that the bottom line of the special counsel’s report should actually be unhelpful to Trump. After all, it concluded that Biden should not be prosecuted for his willful mishandling of classified documents, most of which appear to be handwritten notes by Biden in notebooks. Hur took pains to distinguish between Biden’s mishandled classified material and the case for which Trump is set to be prosecuted in federal court in Florida as soon as this summer.

Biden notified the National Archives when classified material was found; Trump fought the National Archives for more than a year before the FBI raided Mar a Lago.
Biden willingly handed the material over and cooperated with the probe; Trump is accused of a conspiracy with his employees to obstruct the search for missing classified documents.
The classified material described by Hur’s report concerned policy in Afghanistan when Biden was vice president and includes a handwritten memo in which he advised then-President Barack Obama not to send more troops to Afghanistan. Obama ultimately ignored the advice. Biden’s decision as president to remove all US troops from Afghanistan – allowing the Taliban to retake control of that country in 2021 – is widely seen as a blemish on his foreign policy record.

The large amounts of classified data Trump kept were not described in any detailed way in the criminal indictment against Trump, but CNN has reported they included detailed military attack plans.

More good news for Trump
After wins Thursday in Nevada and the US Virgin Islands, Trump remains undefeated and in total command of the primary race.

Trump’s win in Nevada was never in doubt in a state where party leaders molded the delegate-awarding contest to benefit him. Trump’s chief rival, Haley, was not even an option for caucusgoers Thursday. The former South Carolina governor chose instead to take part in the state-run primary conducted earlier this week, where Trump was not on the ballot. Haley finished second to “none of these candidates,” an embarrassment that confirmed her fading relevance in the race.

The state’s Republican delegates will all go to Trump.

Haley has said she will stay in the race through Super Tuesday in early March, even after the embarrassment in Nevada and with polling showing her trailing badly in her home state of South Carolina, which holds the next Republican primary on February 24.

Good signs for Trump in this one Supreme Court case
While his victory in the Supreme Court after oral arguments Thursday is perhaps not as assured as his romp in the Nevada caucuses, Trump must be happy with how things look.

Even liberal justices were skeptical Thursday that Colorado should be able to, after a judge heard evidence last year, declare the former president an insurrectionist and disqualify him from the state’s ballot.

The question of whether Trump actually engaged in insurrection was barely mentioned at the arguments, a tell for many court watchers that the justices could sidestep Trump’s behavior on January 6, 2021, entirely in a decision that seems likely to affirm his eligibility to appear on presidential ballots.

Still, larger Trump-related questions loom for the Supreme Court, such as whether Trump enjoys absolute immunity from prosecution. His lawyers have until Monday to ask the Supreme Court to review a DC appeals court ruling last week that, no, Trump does not have super immunity and that he can be prosecuted for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Trump’s federal trial for election interference was to have begun the day before Super Tuesday, the most important day on the primary calendar, when voters in Colorado and other states could essentially seal the Republican nomination for Trump.

It will be a very bad day for Trump if, as some court watchers suspect, the court refuses to consider the issue and allows his trial in Washington, DC, to proceed. But if they do take up the issue, it might be another reason for Trump to celebrate.

quote:

Russia complained about mass drone attack
Russia has stated that combat drones attempted to attack at least four regions. It is reported that air defense forces allegedly shot down 19 kamikaze drones, according to RIA Novosti.

"The air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 19 drones overnight over the territories of the Kursk, Bryansk, and Oryol regions, the Krasnodar Krai, and the Black Sea," the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.

Explosions were heard and a fire was recorded at the Il'sky Oil Refinery overnight, located in the Krasnodar Krai of the Russian Federation. Eyewitnesses report that before the explosions and the large blaze, the characteristic sounds of drone operation were heard.

What preceded this
Before this, experts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stated that Russia is increasingly concerned about the significant advantage of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the use of drones.

Additionally, former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin previously stated that the front line buzzes like a beehive due to the large number of Ukrainian drones, which systematically and accurately strike targets, complicating the rotation of Russian personnel.

quote:

Op donderdag 8 februari 2024 19:17 schreef Akkerdjie het volgende:

[..]
Mja, het gros in Nederland zou niet meevechten. Jij waarschijnlijk ook niet als je de statistieken volgt. Het is ook een vrij rationele keuze in een land waar het leven niet ronduit kut is. Je hebt immers meestal wel wat geld hier om elders een leven op te bouwen. Als die niet-faggots die zijn gaan vechten toen de oorlog in Oekraine uitbrak zijn dood.

Lekker boeiend wat mensen van je vinden. Het zijn altijd de armen die de eer krijgen te mogen sneuvelen voor hun plaatselijke elite.

https://www.defensieplatf(...)en%20in%20Defensie).

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 07:53 schreef Mr.Anderson83 het volgende:
Vrije pers!

[ afbeelding ]

Voor de liefhebbers hier:

https://tuckercarlson.com/the-vladimir-putin-interview/

Enjoy!

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 09:08 schreef TLC het volgende:

[..]
had die vent nog in de Tweede Wereldoorlog geleefd dan had ie vast hitler in zijn bunker geinterviewd zonder ook maar 1 kritische vraag te stellen

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 07:19 schreef Delenlill het volgende:
https://edition.cnn.com/2(...)eme-court/index.html
Trump has his best day of 2024

SPOILER

[..]

Een goede dag voor Trump is een zwarte dag voor de wereld.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 09:10 schreef Mr.Anderson83 het volgende:

[..]
Jij hebt het interview gezien zie ik...

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 09:10 schreef Mr.Anderson83 het volgende:

[..]
Jij hebt het interview gezien zie ik...

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 00:49 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
Dat is deel van de Russische propaganda/hun narratief.

Rusland wil vrede, Rusland will onderhandelen. Het is juist Oekraïne en het westen die oorlog willen.

Terwijl de manier waarop hij vrede willen betekend dat Oekraïne ophoudt met bestaan. Dat Oekraïne afstand doet van hun grondgebied. Dat ze niet bij de NAVO komen of de EU (neutraal blijven). Dat ze ontwapend worden en dat de huidige regering hun ontslag in dient en waarschijnlijk vervolgd moeten worden.

Dat ze eigenlijk dus gewoon weer worden ingelijfd in het Russische rijk.

En helaas zijn er veel mensen en landen op de wereld die hem geloven. Ook veel mensen in die westerse landen die nu Oekraïne steunen.

En over een paar jaar beginnen ze gewoon opnieuw, dan vallen ze Oekraïne of een ander land binnen, wetende dat wanneer het moeilijk wordt voor het westen wij zullen opgeven en hun zullen overwinnen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 09:29 schreef zalkc het volgende:

[..]
Ik las ook ergens dat Poetin wilde dat 'het westen' alle kosten van de oorlog zou betalen, en paar honderd miljard.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 09:14 schreef TLC het volgende:

[..]
Nee ik heb geen interview gezien maar propaganda tv

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 00:42 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
Putler blijft in het interview maar benadrukken dat hij wil onderhandelen. Kennelijk gaat de speciale operatie niet zo best.

Hij wil onderhandelen met de hoofdschuldige: de Vs.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 09:08 schreef TLC het volgende:

[..]
had die vent nog in de Tweede Wereldoorlog geleefd dan had ie vast hitler in zijn bunker geinterviewd zonder ook maar 1 kritische vraag te stellen

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 10:43 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]
Hij wil onderhandelen met de hoofdschuldige: de Vs.

Ik heb ondertussen begrepen dat Putin niet wil onderhandelen, de VS moet gewoon stoppen met het leveren van wapens.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 11:33 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ twitter ]

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 13:05 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

[..]
Huh, die Syrsky was toch de nieuwe top dog?

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 13:06 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]
Pavlyuk komt om de plek waar Syrskyi zat.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 09:29 schreef zalkc het volgende:

[..]
Ik las ook ergens dat Poetin wilde dat 'het westen' alle kosten van de oorlog zou betalen, en paar honderd miljard.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 15:07 schreef TLC het volgende:
https://nos.nl/artikel/25(...)nse-leger-wie-is-hij

Toch wel ironisch, de man die de Oekrainse troepen nu leidt is een Rus

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 13:23 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]


Maar wel een eindbaas sowieso

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 13:23 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]


Maar wel een eindbaas sowieso

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 15:07 schreef TLC het volgende:
https://nos.nl/artikel/25(...)nse-leger-wie-is-hij

Toch wel ironisch, de man die de Oekrainse troepen nu leidt is een Rus

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 16:07 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]
Zelenskyy zou volgens de Russen ook bij Rusland willen, die is namelijk Russisch sprekend opgevoed.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 16:07 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]
Zelenskyy zou volgens de Russen ook bij Rusland willen, die is namelijk Russisch sprekend opgevoed.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 16:21 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Het gaat om Abby Spanberger,D-VA, Jason Crowe, D-CO, French Hill, R-AR, Zach Nunn R-IO, Mike Turner, R-OH

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 16:30 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

[..]
Wat betekenen die afkortingen?

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:16 schreef sturmpie het volgende:
https://tuckercarlson.com/the-vladimir-putin-interview/

interview bekeken en conclusie is dat Rusland Oekraine is ingevallen op basis van geschiedenis en de situatie rondom NAVO.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:16 schreef sturmpie het volgende:
https://tuckercarlson.com/the-vladimir-putin-interview/

interview bekeken en conclusie is dat Rusland Oekraine is ingevallen op basis van geschiedenis en de situatie rondom NAVO.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:24 schreef Joppiez het volgende:

[..]
Poetins verzonnen geschiedenis.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:47 schreef sturmpie het volgende:
Rusland had in de tijd van Bill Clinton interesse om lid te worden van NAVO

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:48 schreef xpompompomx het volgende:

[..]
En dus?

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:49 schreef sturmpie het volgende:

[..]
en dus goed om te weten dat ze er in het verleden wel interesse in hadden maar niet werden gehoord door NAVO.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 11:44 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:
Syr yes syr

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:49 schreef sturmpie het volgende:

[..]
en dus goed om te weten dat ze er in het verleden wel interesse in hadden maar niet werden gehoord door NAVO.

quote:

Despite efforts to structure forums that promote cooperation between Russia and NATO, relations as of 2024 have become severely strained over time due to post-Soviet conflicts and territory disputes involving Russia having broken out, including Azerbaijan (1990–1994);[1][2] Moldova (1992–present); Georgia (2004–present); Lithuania (2006); Estonia (2006–2007); Poland (2006–present); Belarus (2007); Ukraine (2014–present); Syria (2015–present); Turkey (2015–2016); Kazakhstan (2021–2022);[3] and Armenia (2022).[4][5]

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:47 schreef sturmpie het volgende:
Rusland had in de tijd van Bill Clinton interesse om lid te worden van NAVO

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 20:10 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO%E2%80%93Russia_relations#
[..]
Een handje vol redenen waarom Rusland nu niet bij de NAVO zit. Ze zijn na het uiteenvallen van de Sovjet-Unie nonstop in conflict geweest (daarvoor waren er ook al genoeg conflicted). Waarvan iets van de helft oorlogen waren die door hun gestart waren.

Lijkt mij logisch dat wij uiteindelijk nee hebben gezegd. Omdat Rusland gewoon niet wou veranderen. En ze wouden zich geen regels opgelegd laten krijgen vanuit de NATO. Ze wouden wel de lusten maar niet de lasten.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 20:19 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]
Dit is wat te simpel, dat er conflicten ontstaan na het uiteenvallen van een unie is niet meer dan normaal aangezien het machtsveld veranderd. De overgang van een soort suzerein richting een soeverein systeem geeft ook problemen aangezien de status van autonomie binnen een soeverein systeem anders ligt.

In principe had er na het uiteenvallen van de Soviet-Unie een conferentie moeten komen waarbij landsgrenzen opnieuw vastgesteld hadden moeten worden op basis van etnische grenzen, dan had een deel van de conflicten in ieder geval voorkomen kunnen worden.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 20:37 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
Veel van de landen waren geforceerd om deel te nemen aan de Sovjet-Unie ze hadden geen keus. En dan hadden ze ook maar even hun grenzen moeten opgeven en ze een nieuwe indeling te geven nadat de Sovjet-Unie uit elkaar viel?

En Rusland zijn volk was over de hele Sovjet-Unie uitgespreid (wat ze nu als argument gebruiken dat zij recht hebben op bepaald grondgebied). Net zoals er burgers van alle andere landen ook te vinden zijn in Rusland. Maar hun zie je Rusland niet aanvallen.

Etnische grenzen was dus een win geweest voor Rusland en een verlies voor de andere landen. Historische grenzen was dan beter geweest. Maar ook daar valt aan te trekken. Een conferentie was een optie geweest, maar ik denk niet dat dat conflicten had opgelost/tegengehouden. Rusland pakt wat hij wil pakken. Deden ze toen al en doen ze nu nog steeds.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 20:19 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]
Dit is wat te simpel, dat er conflicten ontstaan na het uiteenvallen van een unie is niet meer dan normaal aangezien het machtsveld veranderd. De overgang van een soort suzerein richting een soeverein systeem geeft ook problemen aangezien de status van autonomie binnen een soeverein systeem anders ligt.

In principe had er na het uiteenvallen van de Soviet-Unie een conferentie moeten komen waarbij landsgrenzen opnieuw vastgesteld hadden moeten worden op basis van etnische grenzen, dan had een deel van de conflicten in ieder geval voorkomen kunnen worden.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 21:31 schreef -XOR- het volgende:

[..]
Dagestan en Tsjetsjenië?

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 21:47 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Ollongren [ afbeelding ]

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 22:02 schreef -XOR- het volgende:

[..]
Lekker man, eeuwig oorlog.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 22:07 schreef Cilantro het volgende:

[..]
Helaas wil Putler doorvechten tot de laatste rus.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 22:02 schreef -XOR- het volgende:

[..]
Lekker man, eeuwig oorlog.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 22:02 schreef -XOR- het volgende:

[..]
Lekker man, eeuwig oorlog.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 21:47 schreef Cilantro het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Ollongren [ afbeelding ]

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 22:44 schreef Discombobulate het volgende:

[..]
Typisch een politicus.

Maar zo veel hebben we niet en kunnen het ook niet maken. Dat is de grens.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 20:19 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]

In principe had er na het uiteenvallen van de Soviet-Unie een conferentie moeten komen waarbij landsgrenzen opnieuw vastgesteld hadden moeten worden op basis van etnische grenzen, dan had een deel van de conflicten in ieder geval voorkomen kunnen worden.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 22:39 schreef Digi2 het volgende:

[..]
De mens als soort voert oorlog, net zoals chimps, en de meeste mierensoorten. Dus ja, de mens voert eeuwig oorlog. Leren te leven met dat feit lijkt me beter dan te trappen in mythes en utopien die iets anders veronderstellen.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 23:01 schreef -XOR- het volgende:

[..]
De mens wel, maar dat hoeven niet per se specifiek de Oekrainers te zijn.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 01:36 schreef Vliegbaard het volgende:

[..]
Dan zit je in het verkeerde topic.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:16 schreef sturmpie het volgende:
https://tuckercarlson.com/the-vladimir-putin-interview/

interview bekeken en conclusie is dat Rusland Oekraine is ingevallen op basis van geschiedenis en de situatie rondom NAVO.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 23:01 schreef -XOR- het volgende:

[..]
De mens wel, maar dat hoeven niet per se specifiek de Oekrainers te zijn.

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 20:52 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]
In elk rijk krijg je verspreiding van etniciteiten, dat is niet te voorkomen. Wat wel voorkomen had kunnen worden zijn onder andere de problemen in Georgië, die vooral te danken waren aan het opkomend Georgisch nationalisme na de val van de Soviet-Unie, waarbij de rechten van minderheden, autonome gebieden en minderheidstalen bij het grof vuil werden gegooid.
Hetzelfde probleem zien we eigenlijk bij een groter aantal autonome gebieden binnen de SSR structuur.

Zie deze academische bron aangaande Georgië bijvoorbeeld: https://pesd.princeton.edu/node/706

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 23:01 schreef -XOR- het volgende:

[..]
De mens wel, maar dat hoeven niet per se specifiek de Oekrainers te zijn.

quote:

Some Day, Ukraine Will Run Out Of Su-25 Attack Jets. That’s Why It Wants Ex-American A-10s.
Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian air force Sukhoi Su-25 attack jet while it was flying a combat sortie over eastern Ukraine on Thursday. Pilot Stanislav Rykov, the veteran of more than 380 missions—that’s one sortie every other day since Russia widened its war on Ukraine—tragically died.

Mourn for Rykov, but don’t mourn—yet—for the air force’s 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade, the sole Ukrainian operator of the subsonic, twin-engine Su-25. Nearly two years after Russia attacked, the 299th Brigade has ... exactly as many Su-25s as it started with.

Which is not to say the air force isn’t looking ahead to the day when the aging Su-25s begin to run out. It’s not for no reason that some Ukrainian officials have been asking for ex-U.S. Air Force Fairchild Republic A-10 attack jets.

The Ukrainian air force inherited scores of the armored Su-25s from the Soviet air force as the latter withdrew from Ukraine after 1991. By early 2022, 43 of the aging planes still were flyable, according to aviation journalist Vladimir Trendafilovski.

The journalist counted 30 operational Su-25s, one that was undergoing overhaul at the Zaporizhzhia State Aircraft Repair Plant plus another 12 that were in flyable storage at Mykolaiv-Kulbakino, the 299th’s Brigade home base in southern Ukraine.

When Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022, the Su-25s and their pilots and crews scattered across Ukraine to dodge Russian missiles—and then flew into action, streaking toward Russian forces at extremely low level to drop bombs and fire rockets.

The Russians over the next two years shot down or blew up on the ground 18 Su-25s, and killed many pilots. But between them, Macedonia and Bulgaria donated to Ukraine—you guessed it—18 Su-25s. While it’s possible the 299th Brigade has stripped some of the donated airframes for spare parts, it’s equally possible the unit instead cannibalized older ex-Soviet Sukhois—and sent the donated jets into action.

All that is to say that, despite heavy losses, the 299th Brigade very much remains in the fight. It’s the same situation the Ukrainian air force’s other brigades are in. Units flying Sukhoi Su-24 bombers, Sukhoi Su-27 fighters and Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters have maintained their front-line strength by acquiring fresh jets from abroad—in the MiG-29 brigades’ case—or by reactivating old stored jets.

Still, Ukrainian officials seem to appreciate that there no longer is an abundance of excess Su-25s in the arsenals of allied countries. Any further losses could eat into the 299th Brigade’s strength.

So it should come as no surprise that Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky—formerly chief of the ground forces, now the head of the entire armed forces—has his heart set on American A-10s. The subsonic, twin-engine A-10 broadly is similar to the Su-25. If anything, it’s better-protected and much better-armed.

“This is not a new machine,” Syrsky said about the A-10, “but a reliable one that has proven itself in many wars, and which has a wide array of weapons for destroying land targets to help the infantry.”

The U.S. Air Force operates around 200 of the 1970s- and ’80s-vintage A-10s. Hundreds more are in storage. There’s no reason that, given a few months of training, Ukrainian pilots couldn’t fly the tough attack jets.

But there are political reasons the 299th Brigade might never get A-10s. Starting last fall, Russia-aligned Republicans in the U.S. Congress refused to vote on any further aid to Ukraine: aid that could provide the Ukrainians with ammunition, armored vehicles, artillery and—yes—warplanes.

So the 299th Brigade must make do with its 40 or so Su-25s—or get in line for fresh jets from some donor other than the United States. Say, Lockheed Martin F-16s from Norway, The Netherlands and Denmark or, potentially, Dassault Mirage 2000s from France.

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Putin is being demanded to be prosecuted under the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism
It is reported that a representative of the Committee-2024 association, Sergei Antonov, appealed to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation with a demand to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin under the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism.

The basis was Putin’s interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, in which the head of the Russian state spoke about the events of World War II.

During the interview, Putin said that “the Poles got too carried away and forced Hitler to start World War II.”

These statements became the basis for Antonov’s appeal to the Investigative Committee, since, in his opinion, they contain “denial of the facts established by the verdict of the International Military Tribunal for the trial and punishment of the main war criminals of the European Axis countries, approval of the crimes established by the said verdict.”



Antonov admitted that the article on the rehabilitation of Nazism is often used for politically motivated purposes, but noted that the words of the President of the Russian Federation fall within its wording.

He also claims that Putin “committed this crime under aggravating circumstances” by disseminating information “using his official position” and through “the media or information and telecommunications networks.”

The politician notes that his application has already been registered and he is awaiting a reaction from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

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Finland announces military aid package for Ukraine
The government of Finland has announced another military aid package to Ukraine, which will be the 22nd since Russia’s first full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Finnish government announced this.

The relevant decision was made by the President of Finland on February 9, 2024, on the proposal of the government. The new military aid package is worth approximately ¤190 million.

The total value of all aid packages delivered from Finland to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion is ¤1.8 billion.

The official announcement does not disclose the contents of the aid package or delivery details for security reasons.

Additionally, this aid package will include products purchased from Finnish manufacturers. Separate funding of ¤30 million has been allocated for this purpose.

Currently, the country’s government is developing a long-term plan to support Ukraine with both military equipment and funding.

In addition, the production of 155-mm artillery shells continues in Finland to expand aid to Ukraine.

As Militarnyi previously reported, Finland will double its ammunition production to help Ukraine.

The agency has committed to investing approximately ¤24 million to boost the production of heavy ammunition and secure long-term orders from the Finnish industry. This initiative aims to enable the industry to make independent investments.

In addition, the Finnish industry will be able to apply to the EU for support under the financial package of the Ammunition Production Support Regulation, known as ASAP (Act in Support of Ammunition Production).

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 08:14 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
Klinkt mij als een interne aangelegenheid. En niet één die Rusland toestemming geeft om landje pik te doen. Dat is net zoals Geert Wilders die aan de macht komt en dat dan landen als Marokko een stuk land van ons afpakt omdat daar toevallig veel marrokkanen wonen. Of dat de islamitische landen ons binnen vallen om de moslims te beschermen. (en dan een zogenaamde autonome staat starten op ons grondgebied. Wat Rusland ook als excuus heeft gebruikt in Oekraïne en Moldavië).

Eerlijk is eerlijk ik heb slechts 1/3 van die hele lap tekst gelezen.

quote:

5 lies and 1 truth from Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson
Fact-checking the Russian president reveals inconsistencies (shocker!).

How much — if any — of what Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his interview with Tucker Carlson can we believe?

Putin, after all, struggles to recall his last conversation with his counterpart in the United States, President Joe Biden — yet can cite Russian history from 400 years ago with precision.

We listened to Putin’s historical narratives and justifications for invasion to look for contradictions, inaccuracies … and maybe even some truth.

Justification for invasion
What he said: “It’s not that America was going to launch a surprise strike on Russia. I didn’t say that.”
Why he’s wrong: He did say that.

Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine by alleging a threat from the U.S., stating just three days before the war began: “We also know who the main adversary for the U.S. and NATO is — it’s Russia. In NATO documents, our country is officially and directly declared the main threat to Euro-Atlantic security. And Ukraine will serve as the advanced foothold for such an attack.”

Who banned peace talks?
What he said: “The president of Ukraine has legislated a ban on negotiating with Russia.”
Why he’s wrong: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree banning negotiations specifically with Putin, not Russia as a country.

“With this Russian president, it is impossible. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. We are ready for dialogue with Russia, but with a different president,” Zelenskyy said.

Putin, however, perceives that he himself is the single legitimate representative of Russia. His key officials share the same feeling: “There is no Russia today if there is no Putin,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, head of the lower house of Russia’s parliament.

Why the Soviet Union collapsed
What he said: “Russia even agreed voluntarily and proactively to the collapse of the Soviet Union. … After all, the collapse of the Soviet Union was effectively initiated by the Russian leadership.”
Why he’s wrong: Ex-Russian President Boris Yeltsin was one of three signatories to the Belovezha Accords in December 1991, which declared the USSR’s dissolution. But the collapse of the USSR was primarily due to internal political and economic struggles, with several Soviet republics declaring independence against Moscow’s wishes.

Who has the more powerful propaganda
What he said: “In the war of propaganda, it is very difficult to defeat the United States because the United States controls all the world’s media and many European media. The ultimate beneficiaries of the biggest European media are American financial institutions.”
Why he’s wrong: The biggest news media companies are privately owned and operate without direct government control, in contrast to the state-controlled media landscape in Russia. Russian state TV and the primary news agencies there are the property of the government, and the Kremlin controls other media or destroys those not willing to collaborate.

In 2023, Russian authorities threw 28 reporters behind bars, according to Reporters Without Borders. Among them were two American citizens: Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage; and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent.”

Regarding Evan Gershkovich
What he said: “If a person gets secret information and does that in a conspiratorial manner, then this is qualified as espionage. And that is exactly what he was doing. He was receiving classified, confidential information, and he did it covertly.”
Why he’s wrong: The WSJ has vehemently denied Gershkovich’s arrest in Yekaterinburg and the charges against him. Putin accused Gershkovich of espionage without providing evidence for his claims that the FSB caught the reporter “red-handed.”

Russia’s real power (but who actually said that?)
What he said: “The West is afraid of a strong China more than it fears a strong Russia, because Russia has 150 million people and China has a 1.5 billion population. As Bismarck once put it, potentials are the most important.”
Why he’s right (almost): Putin’s admission that the West fears a strong China more than a strong Russia reflects a realistic assessment of geopolitical power dynamics. However, his citation of Otto von Bismarck to support his argument is questionable; POLITICO couldn’t confirm Bismarck making the statement Putin used.

Putin does, however, love using fake quotes. In December 2023, Putin cited Bismarck as saying that “wars are not won by generals but by schoolteachers and parish priests,” although Bismarck never actually said that.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 08:42 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]
Als dit je conclusie is na het lezen van 1/3 had je dat ook beter achterwege kunnen laten. Wat een flauwekul.

quote:

Defence Forces destroyed a weapon system of the Buk SAM in the Kherson region
The Ukrainian military destroyed a TELAR of a Buk anti-aircraft system, as well as a number of other equipment in the south.

The news was announced by the 14th Regiment of Armed Forces of Ukraine in its social media.

In the left-bank Kherson region, soldiers of the 14th Regiment hit a number of Russian military equipment of the enemy with the help of coordinated operation of reconnaissance units and artillery.

In particular, the Buk anti-aircraft system of invaders was hit. The video shows a large-scale detonation of ammunition with a rocket fuel fire, which can definitely be regarded as an irretrievable loss of a TELAR.

Overall, the video released shows the destruction:
• 2S5 Giatsint-S 152mm self-propelled gun
• 9S36 radar
• Buk-M2 SAM launcher
• R-330Zh Zhitel EW system

The video shows how each defined target is destroyed by a direct hit, which indicates the use of precision weapons. Most likely, HIMARS rocket systems were involved for this.

From the received footage, it was possible to geolocate the position of the R-330Zh Zhitel electronic warfare system of invaders on the outskirts of the village of Chelburda, Kherson region.

The enemy system was located 13 kilometers from the right bank of the Kherson region.

As previously reported, the 14th Regiment of Armed Forces of Ukraine last month in the same direction destroyed the 9A310M1-2 launcher of another Buk-M1-2 SAM.

Знищенн� ро�ій�ької техніки 14 полком ЗСУ [Лютий 2024]

quote:

Armenia donated 10 tons of medicines to Ukraine for a military hospital

The Union of Armenians of Ukraine and the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Ukraine handed over 10 tons of medicines to the National Military Medical Clinical Center “Main Military Clinical Hospital”.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported on this.

The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Natalia Kalmykova and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia in Ukraine Vladimir Karapetyan.

Also, the Commander of Medical Forces of Armed Forces of Ukraine, Major General of the Medical Service Anatolii Kazmirchuk, the Head of the Main Military Clinical Hospital, Colonel of the Medical Service Oleh Kolisnyk, and representatives of the Armenian community in Ukraine.

“The humanitarian aid in the form of medicines that the Union of Armenians of Ukraine and the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia in Ukraine are handing over to the Main Military Clinical Hospital today is a very important contribution to the treatment and recovery of Ukraine’s defenders. Thank you very much for your help and support!” Natalia Kalmykova said.

It is noted that the transferred humanitarian aid can be used in many clinical areas, including antibacterial therapy and pain relief for the wounded and sick.

“In this difficult time for Ukraine, when a full-scale war has been going on for almost two years, Armenia offers a helping hand. For the first time, such large-scale humanitarian aid to Ukrainian schoolchildren was brought in September 2023 by the wife of the Prime Minister, Mrs. Anna Hakobyan. Today, the Headquarters of the Union of Armenians of Ukraine is handing over the medicines,” said Ambassador of Armenia in Ukraine Vladimir Karapetyan.

According to him, up to 12,000 Armenians – citizens of Ukraine and other countries – are fighting in the ranks of Ukrainian Defense Forces.

He noted that more than 300 have been awarded for heroism.

“Together with the Union of Armenians of Ukraine, its Headquarters, these people are the most important element in strengthening relations between our people and countries,” the Ambassador emphasized.

The Ministry of Defense also said that within the framework of the humanitarian project, representatives of Armenia have already handed over an aid to a military hospital in the city of Dnipro.

The Ministry of Defense also said that Kharkiv will receive the same cargo in the near future.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 08:58 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
En jouw rechtvaardigingen van de oorlogen die Rusland gestart is na het uiteenvallen van de het Russische rijk/Sovjet-Unie vindt ik onzin. Hij (Putin, maar ook Rusland voor Putin) gebruikt dezelfde excuses in bijna elke oorlog die hij gestart is. En die hij aan het plannen is om te starten (wil niet zeggen dat hij ze daadwerkelijk zal uitvoeren. Slechts dat hij het grondwerk aan het leggen is).

Zoals ik al zei. Veel van deze landen hadden geen keus of zij bij de Sovjet Unie zouden komen of niet. Hun bevolking werd onderdrukt en uitgebuit.

Een simpele oplossing is voor Rusland om deze etnische Russen de keus te geven om terug te verhuizen naar Rusland als zij het zo moeilijk hebben in de landen waar ze nu zitten. Er is meer dan genoeg land vrij om ze te huisvesten.

En ja ik ben het er mee eens dat er niet gediscrimineerd moet worden tegen minderheden. Dat deze minderheden dezelfde rechten moeten hebben als de meerderheid. Maar deze minderheid moet zich wel realiseren dat ze nu in een ander land worden. Ongeacht waarom dit nu zo is. Of ze er nu heen gevlucht zijn, of ze er heen verhuisd zijn ooit om een beter leven op te bouwen. Of dat ze er al woonden en door een historische oorlog/conflict bij dit land zijn gekomen. Deze minderheid moet zich dus aanpassen. Dat hoeft niet voor 100 procent. Ze mogen een culturele identiteit voor een groot deel behouden. En daar moet rekening mee gehouden worden.... tot op zekere hoogte in elk geval.

Maar dit is geen excuus om dan maar een oorlog te starten. Er zijn andere/betere manieren om dit soort conflicten op te lossen.

quote:

ICC ‘turf war’ blocking Ukrainian bid to have top Russians tried, advocate says
Philippe Sands KC backs Ukrainian call for international tribunal to prosecute Kremlin leaders for crime of aggression

SPOILER

quote:

The international criminal court is locked in a deplorable turf war that is blocking Ukraine’s efforts to set up a special international tribunal with the authority to try Russia’s leadership for the crime of aggression, Philippe Sands KC claims.

Sands, a leading advocate of an international tribunal, blamed the deadlock on Karim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, and some unnamed judges on the court, an international body based in The Hague that prosecutes people for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. He said they were opposing a special international tribunal not on the basis of principle, but because of a self-interested turf war.

Sands told a conference in London last week, attended by many Ukrainian ministers, that it was “so sad the institution that seems most opposed to this idea is the ICC in the form of its prosecutor and some of its judges. This is not an issue of principle for them, but an issue of turf. It strikes me as deplorable that when a conflict rages on the territory of Europe, of the kind that has dragged on for two years and plainly could extend into a much bigger conflict, the idea that protecting your institution – turf – is driving your opposition is utterly appalling. It is a deplorable situation.”

Debate has been deadlocked for a year on whether it is politically feasible to persuade the UN to set up a special ad hoc international tribunal – separate from the ICC – to try the senior Russian leadership for the crime of aggression, or instead leave the task to a less authoritative court in Ukraine.

Ukrainians have been left frustrated by the delays, and have urged the UK to take a lead.

It is widely accepted that although the ICC can charge individuals for war crimes, it does not have jurisdiction over Russian crimes of aggression, since Russia is not a party to the Rome statute, the ICCs’s founding treaty. The ICC is instead seeking to charge President Vladimir Putin over the abduction of children from Ukraine.

Sands said some G7 countries – the US, UK and France – were nervous about an international tribunal as it might set a precedent that led to other world leaders being charged by other future tribunals.

So far, 40 countries have joined the Ukraine core group that supported action on the crime of aggression, but there is no diplomatic consensus on the model of court.

Sands said: “For this deadlock to continue, basically, is to assist only one side, and that is the Russian side. It reveals the west is divided and unable to act even on this issue.”

He urged everyone to seek a bridge between a purely Ukrainian and an international tribunal, arguing that far from minimising the role of the ICC, a special tribunal could accentuate and reinforce it.

“The nightmare scenario would be that in three, four years’ time a raft of junior people have been charged, but the people at the top table get off scot-free. The thing about the crime of aggression is that it is direct and goes to the top table.” He said work had been done on an international tribunal but not in Ukraine, and not as part of the Ukrainian judicial system.

Fears remain that the UN general assembly, or security council, may not vote to establish the tribunal, reducing its international legitimacy. Russia, for instance, could veto any tribunal if the security council were asked to establish such a body.

But Frank Hoffmeister, the head of the EU foreign affairs legal department, called for “a dose of realism” about the suggested alternative course of trying to set up the court through a vote of the UN general assembly.

He pointed out that although 140 states at the general assembly voted to condemn Russia’s invasion as an act of aggression, support fell below 100 when countries had been asked about setting up a register of damages in Ukraine caused by Russia.

He said “I do not know how many votes you would get if you said: ‘Let us punish Putin’. If there is not enough support, the whole exercise is dead and it is a recipe for failure.”

Another alternative is for the Council of Europe to establish the body through a multilateral treaty, but that would be an affirmation of the global south’s exclusion from western-dominated international justice.

Sands was speaking at a conference organised by Justice and Accountability for Ukraine – an independent NGO working with the office of the president of Ukraine – where Ukrainian leaders called for Britain to end its year-long prevarication and back an international tribunal, and not a hybrid model.

Andrii Smyrnov, the deputy head of the office of the president, said international law was being held hostage by global politics. He said a purely Ukrainian model would probably be unable to overcome the immunity the Russian leadership would assert. He argued: “Given its global influence and historic leadership of human rights issues, the UK can play a vital role in galvanising support for an international tribunal.”

Dr Anton Korynevych, ambassador at large in the Ukraine foreign ministry, said: “A special tribunal on the crime of aggression goes to the primary root cause of the war crimes that started on our territory in February 2014. There is no existing court that can do that.”

He added that to gain greater political momentum behind the proposal, the discussion needed to be taken out of Europe to Latin America, Asia and Africa. “In the end we need broad support,” he said.

Oksana Zolotaryova, the director of the international law department at the Ukraine foreign ministry, said: “What the people of Ukraine need is justice for what has happened throughout these 10 years. Every day we have a huge number of losses, civilian and military, and the people say they want those responsible put on trial. They don’t care so much about money. They want to see [that] the people like Putin who did it will first of all be in jail.

“They cannot wait for 30 years more for Putin and for the political and military leadership of the Russian federation to be found guilty of the crime of aggression.

“Yes, we can charge Putin in the district court of Mykolayiv, but the war that Putin launched was not just against Ukraine, the war was against the international order. The response should not just be Ukrainian but in the name of the international community.”

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 09:22 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]
Welke rechtvaardiging? Het gaat puur hier puur om het conflict in Georgië.
Kortom als Rusland Oekraïne veroverd dan moeten de Oekraïners zich maar aanpassen, immers: "maar deze minderheid moet zich wel realiseren dat ze nu in een ander land worden, ongeacht waarom dit nu zo is."

Je snapt hopelijk wel dat je met dergelijke standpunten eerder aan de kant van Putin dan het westen staat.

quote:

The Poles have already blocked three checkpoints on the border: near "Medyka" non-transfer and passenger cars
Due to the protests of Polish farmers, movement through the checkpoints "Medyka-Sheghini", "Grebenne - Rava-Ruska" and "Dorogusk-Yagodin" has become difficult.

Source: the spokesman of the State Border Service Andriy Demchenko in a comment to "Ukrainian Pravda"

Details: On February 9, Polish farmers started protest actions, during which they restricted the possibility of movement on the roads that lead through the Polish-Ukrainian border.

In particular, as reported, after 10:00 a.m. (Kyiv time), protest actions began in front of the "Medyka" checkpoint.

Traffic is blocked by about 100 people and about 50 vehicles. The protesters are determined to let 1 truck, 1 bus and 1 car pass each hour.

At the same time, drivers of buses and cars are given the opportunity, at their own discretion and risk, to bypass the place of protest via a detour . Taking into account the above, the border guards suggest that travelers, if possible, plan their route through other checkpoints , Demchenko said.

After 11:00, about 200 people and 35 units of agricultural machinery blocked traffic near the "Grebenne" checkpoint.

Here, the protesters plan to let 2 trucks per hour in both directions. The movement of passenger vehicles and buses will not be restricted.

After 11:30, a protest action began near the Dorogusk checkpoint. Protesters announced their intention to let 1 truck pass every hour in both directions. Bus traffic, according to preliminary data, will be unchanged.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 09:22 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]
Welke rechtvaardiging? Het gaat puur hier puur om het conflict in Georgië.
Kortom als Rusland Oekraïne veroverd dan moeten de Oekraïners zich maar aanpassen, immers: "maar deze minderheid moet zich wel realiseren dat ze nu in een ander land worden, ongeacht waarom dit nu zo is."

Je snapt hopelijk wel dat je met dergelijke standpunten eerder aan de kant van Putin dan het westen staat.

Ik vindt is zonder t overigens.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 08:22 schreef grrrrg het volgende:

[..]
Je bedoelt toch dat Putin moet stoppen met de oorlog?

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 19:16 schreef sturmpie het volgende:
https://tuckercarlson.com/the-vladimir-putin-interview/

interview bekeken en conclusie is dat Rusland Oekraine is ingevallen op basis van geschiedenis en de situatie rondom NAVO.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 14:33 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:
Wie of wat is die Kuvalchuck clan?

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 14:48 schreef Ulx het volgende:

[..]
Poetin's bankier/bagman en naar men zegt vertrouweling/persoonlijk nr 2.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 10:28 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

https://www.reddit.com/r/(...)ls_of_meat_assaults/
[b]Russian soldiers reveal details of meat assaults they're thrown into. In the infamous 155th brigade, which is trying to take Novomikhailovka, discontent is growing.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 14:51 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

[..]
Hmmmm interessant.
Niet bepaald iemand die je dus binnenkort uit een raam zou kunnen verwachten.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 15:20 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Wow....Als hij echt de commandant was...

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 15:25 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

[..]
En niemand die bij zichzelf bedenkt: fuck it ik laat me niet een zekere dood in sturen, laten wij ons als simpele soldaten organiseren en ons tegen de leidinggevenden keren.
Wij zijn immers bewapend, en met meer.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 09:22 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

[..]

Ik vindt is zonder t overigens.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 14:51 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:

[..]
Hmmmm interessant.
Niet bepaald iemand die je dus binnenkort uit een raam zou kunnen verwachten.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 10:26 schreef sexbierum het volgende:

[..]
Jij hebt de discussie gewonnen hoor. Hulde!

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 09:31 schreef Delenlill het volgende:

[..]
Ik had het over historische conflicten. Maar wanneer over laat maar zeggen 100 jaar de landgrenzen voor een langere periode vast staan. En dit erkend is door een een grote meerderheid van de wereld (Zoals de landgrenzen nu zijn). Dan moet er uiteindelijk inderdaad geschikt worden. Op den duur komt er gewoon vrede. Wij weten nu nog niet in welke hoedanigheid dit in Oekraïne zal zijn. Dat is aan de Oekraïense regering (al zijn daar wel restricties aan verbonden in mijn mening)

En dan worden dit soort conflicten waar wij het nu over hebben interne aangelegenheden. (Al is dit niet helemaal het geval, daar her allerlei instanties zijn zoals de VN die er ook bij betrokken raken, maar in elk geval geen reden om weer een oorlog te starten om dit gebied te bevrijden).

Daarmee speel ik helemaal niet Rusland/Putin in de hand. Want Rusland moet gewoon stoppen met zijn expansiedrift. Het maakt niet uit wat voor een reden zij daar nu ook voor gebruiken.

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 15:11 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Starlink ontkent een beetje halfslachtig het gebruik door Russen. Het mag wel even verder worden onderzocht, vooral gezien de voorkeur van de eigenaar voor de Russen.

[ twitter ]

quote:

Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 09:24 schreef BlaZ het volgende:
Kharkiv is vanacht overigens zeer zwaar getroffen:

https://kyivindependent.c(...)mass-fire-killing-1/

quote:

Op vrijdag 9 februari 2024 17:32 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ twitter ]

Edit: Kans op een photoshop is groot. Gras is wel erg groen.

edit2: Het toestel schijnt op de basis in Denemarken te staan.

quote:

Op zaterdag 3 februari 2024 11:00 schreef ExTec het volgende:
Dan wordt budanov de volgende CIC. Die komt mij niet onbekwaam over.

Keep in mind dat oekrainse leger nog steeds redelijk gevuld is met sovjet unie opgeleidde officieren. Het is voor te stellen dat zaluzhni met die 'kaste' meer geduld heeft dan budanov, want daar komt hij zelf uit voort. Budanov niet, die is echt van na de SU.

quote:

Zelenskyy’s new top commander has a reputation as a ‘butcher’

By replacing his top general, Ukraine’s president will have to shoulder full responsibility if the war goes badly.

KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted to give his military a shakeup by appointing General Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief: many of his troops reacted with despair.

“Syrskyi will kill us all,” said one soldier, who like others in this story spoke on condition of being granted anonymity.

The 58-year-old Syrskyi, who until Thursday was the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, has a reputation as a hard-driving Soviet-style general who puts his men in danger to reach his military goals, said a person with knowledge of Syrskyi’s operating style.

That was highlighted by Syrskyi overseeing last year's dogged nine-month defense of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian troops suffered high casualties against relentless "meat waves" of Russian attackers before having to abandon the eastern city. That earned him the gruesome nickname of "Butcher."

On hearing of his appointment, a Ukrainian soldier tweeted a message in a group chat of veterans of the Bakhmut fight: "We're all fucked."

Another officer posted on X that Syrskyi's leadership "is bankrupt, his presence or orders coming from his name are demoralizing, and he undermines trust in the command in general. His relentless pursuit of tactical gains constantly depletes our valuable human resources, resulting in tactical advances such as capturing tree lines or small villages, with no operational goals in mind.”

That's not the reaction Zelenskyy was hoping for when he removed the popular General Valery Zaluzhny from the job of running the military.

“When the president asked Zaluzhny who should stay and be promoted, he named Syrskyi as one of the most experienced generals,” said an official in Zelenskyy's office. “He is a good, decent military man, with a lot of experience and a very good strategic vision of war.”

Syrskyi on Friday laid out his plans, addressing the concerns about his leadership head-on.

“The life and health of servicemen have always been and are the main value of the Ukrainian army,” he said. “Therefore, maintaining a balance between the performance of combat tasks and the restoration of units and units with the intensification of training and training of personnel remains more relevant than ever.”

Syrskyi and Zaluzhny have appeared to get along.

Zaluzhny was not available for comment, but in a December 2022 interview with the Economist, he said that he trusted Syrskyi.

“If he tells me he needs another brigade, it means that he needs another brigade. I certainly don’t think I am the smartest one here. I must and do listen to those who are in the field. Because the initiative is there,” Zaluzhny said.

Syrskyi is an experienced general who has served in the Ukrainian army since the collapse of the USSR, took part in the war in Donbas against Russia and its local supporters in 2014, and is seen by the president as the man responsible for the successful defense of Kyiv and Ukraine’s rapid counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region in 2022.

Those are also campaigns where Zaluzhny got a lot of praise.

"He’s credited with the military repelling the initial Russian onslaught and then taking back 50 percent of the territory the Russians had captured,” said Edward Arnold with the Royal United Services Institute think tank. “He’s shown the ability to plan operations on a national scale … he’s had an outsized impact on the war.”

However, there have been frictions over Zaluzhny's management style, the way he publicly differed with Zelenskyy over the conduct of the war, and his inability to gain headway against the Russians in last year's disappointing counteroffensive.

"Zelenskyy wanted a plan of war, but all he heard was, 'Give us more troops and millions of artillery shells,'" said an official in the president's office.

That's putting enormous pressure on Syrskyi to change the way the military is managed and to shift the dynamic on the battlefront.
A troubled takeover

"Zaluzhny’s successor is inheriting many challenges," said Dara Massicot, an expert on the war at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

For Zelenskyy, the key is to have a commander-in-chief in sync with the country's political leadership.

“We all have one goal. We must win the war and for that, we must eliminate the current problems of the Ukrainian army: logistics, rotation, and supplies. We, for some reason, have many troops that are very far away from the front. Overstaffed headquarters,” said the official in the presidential office. “Syrskyi will have carte blanche on structural changes, he will have a team of super experienced officers. He will be doing war 24/7.”

One of Syrskyi's first tasks will be to ensure that the change of leadership doesn't damage morale already on the ropes as casualties mount, allies waver and Moscow shows no sign of backing down from its effort to conquer Ukraine.

Zaluzhny has been "the glue that’s kept the Ukrainian military together. It would be a hit to morale and take a little while for the successor to settle in and get the same level of kudos with the troops,” said Arnold.

Syrskyi will also have to improve the way the military functions.

The key challenges are improved organization, improved training and improved logistics — which can then be leveraged by improved equipment and weaponry from allies, said Austrian military analyst Tom Cooper.

"With all due respect, and with or without Zaluzhny, these are also the three major problem zones of the Ukrainian army. Even after two years since the all-out invasion, none of these is working well, and improvements observed so far remain relatively minimal,” Cooper added.

Syrskyi addressed that in his Friday note, saying: "Knowing all the needs of the front without exception and mastering the situation in each of its areas is the task of headquarters at all levels."

He also called for the use of more technology like the drones that have enabled Ukrainian troops to fend off Russian attacks despite their shortage of artillery ammunition.

But in the end, it's the country's top political leadership that will bear the blame for defeat and garner the praise for victory — and Zelenskyy's decision to fire Zaluzhny puts the outcome of the war squarely on his shoulders.

“Of course, if the situation at the war front worsens, Zelenskyy will get the blame. People will say, everything was good when Zaluzhny ruled the army,” said Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko.

SPOILER

Goed verhaal, lekker lang ook!

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 20:55 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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[..]
Politico.eu

SPOILER

Goed verhaal, lekker lang ook!

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 20:55 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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[..]
Politico.eu

SPOILER

Goed verhaal, lekker lang ook!

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Op zaterdag 3 februari 2024 15:17 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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Ik schets gewoon een mogelijkheid, niks meer niks minder. Jij doet net alsof het leger een soort overleg organisatie is waar de mening van de eerste de beste soldaat leidend is. Impopulaire beslissingen nemen waarbij mensen kunnen sneuvelen hoort bij het commandant zijn.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 21:31 schreef ExTec het volgende:

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Boeiend, wat die en die vinden.
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Of ga je nou naar gelang het je argument dient beetje switchen tussen de 2?

Is het ineens schrodingers organisatie, erg democratisch en meeste stemmen gelden, en niks democratie, doen je wat je opgedragen wordt tegelijkertijd?

Verwarrend.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 21:41 schreef Nebelwerfer het volgende:

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Het gaat in dit geval over politiek die zich bemoeit met het leger. Een beetje militair vindt daar wat van, zeker als er veel twijfels zijn.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 21:53 schreef ExTec het volgende:

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Natuurlijk bemoeid de politiek zich met het leger. Zoals ik al eerder opmerkte, oekraine / europa is geen zuid-amerika, waar de mensen met grote petten met veel sterren erop het voor het zeggen hebben.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 22:01 schreef Nebelwerfer het volgende:

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Tja, maar dat is een wezenlijk verschil. Uiteindelijk moeten we het afwachten. Maar vooraf was de beslissing al omstreden. Als dan met de vervanging ook vraagtekens worden opgeroepen, denk je eerder negatief dan positief. Zeker als Zelensky ook nog eens motieven heeft een populaire generaal te vervangen.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 22:08 schreef ExTec het volgende:

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Eens, ik vond syrsky niet de gedoodverfde kandidaat.

Maar verhalen in oorlogen a'la: jullie mogen je en daar kansloos dood gaan vechten, zodat ze daar en daar ademruimte krijgen - zijn veel voorkomend. Zelfs patton stond op een bepaald moment bekend als een slachter. Maar daarna op het schild gehesen, want grote winnaar, enzovoort.

We zullen het gaan merken.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 22:01 schreef Nebelwerfer het volgende:

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Tja, maar dat is een wezenlijk verschil. Uiteindelijk moeten we het afwachten. Maar vooraf was de beslissing al omstreden. Als dan met de vervanging ook vraagtekens worden opgeroepen, denk je eerder negatief dan positief. Zeker als Zelensky ook nog eens motieven heeft een populaire generaal te vervangen.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 22:26 schreef Nebelwerfer het volgende:
Er was ook niet echt zo’n kandidaat.

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En nu met grote tekorten en veel dreiging van Russen lijkt een beheerste leider beter.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 22:41 schreef ExTec het volgende:

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Zoals eerder opgemerkt, je kan niet een NL Leger checklist pakken: die opleiding? check. Zoveel jaar ervaring? check - pakken en dat laten prevaleren en dan precies 1 kandidaat hebben. Die luxe heeft oekraine niet.

En natuurlijk doet ervaring er toe. Iemand die net economie op de uni heeft afgerond wordt in de regel niet meteen ergens CFO.

Maar of je de benodigde bagage hebt? Ja. Komen dat soort talenten wel eens bovendrijven? Ja, bij moderne startups zie je dat wel eens.
[..]
Als slachter syrsky tegen behoorlijke kosten ergens een doorbraak weet te forceren, hangen we de vlag voor hem uit, ook hier. Fortune favors the bold, who dares wins.

De tijd zal het ons leren.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 23:00 schreef Nebelwerfer het volgende:

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Yeah, sowieso eerst maar eens zien dat ze de munitie krijgen om überhaupt 2024 door te komen. Weinig zaken zijn zeker voor dit jaar.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 23:06 schreef ExTec het volgende:

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Ik ben redelijk teleurgesteld, qua dat, in ons.

Die clowns in de VS zijn wmb afgeschreven.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 20:55 schreef AchJa het volgende:

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[..]
Politico.eu

SPOILER

Goed verhaal, lekker lang ook!

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 23:12 schreef BlaZ het volgende:

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Ik denk dat er nog wel een oplossing komt door met Europese fondsen Amerikaanse wapens te kopen.

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Op zaterdag 10 februari 2024 22:01 schreef Nebelwerfer het volgende:

[..]
Tja, maar dat is een wezenlijk verschil. Uiteindelijk moeten we het afwachten. Maar vooraf was de beslissing al omstreden. Als dan met de vervanging ook vraagtekens worden opgeroepen, denk je eerder negatief dan positief. Zeker als Zelensky ook nog eens motieven heeft een populaire generaal te vervangen.

SPOILER

Kathmandu, Nepal
CNN
—
Ramchandra Khadka stood in front of a temple in the middle of Kathmandu, Nepal, praying for his fellow countrymen who are fighting for Russia in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

As the ceremonial bells rang and the sweet smell of incense filled the air, he lit candles and offered flowers to a deity. All he wants is for his Nepali friends to survive the brutal war.

The 37-year-old recently returned to Nepal after suffering injuries on the front lines in Ukraine. He told CNN he witnessed horrific scenes and regrets his decision to join the Kremlin’s army as a foreign mercenary.

Russia’s war in Ukraine is not the first battle Khadka has fought. He was among Nepal’s Maoist rebels, who fought a bloody war with the country’s forces for 10 years from the mid-1990s. He then went to Afghanistan after being hired by a private military contractor to assist NATO forces in the country. He thought he had experienced it all in his lifetime – bloodshed, death and pain. But, some 17 years after the Maoist war ended, with no hope of a job in Nepal, he decided to fly to Russia to join the country’s military for money.

“I didn’t join the Russian military for pleasure. I didn’t have any job opportunities in Nepal. But in hindsight, it wasn’t the right decision. We didn’t realize we would be sent to the frontlines that quickly and how horrible the situation would be,” Khadka said.

He arrived in Moscow in September last year. After only two weeks of training, he said, he was sent to the front lines in Bakhmut – a town in eastern Ukraine that saw some of the heaviest fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces – with a gun and a basic kit.

“There isn’t an inch of land in Bakhmut that’s not affected by bombs. All the trees, shrubs, and greenery… they are all gone. Most of the houses have been destroyed. The situation there is so gruesome that it makes you want to cry,” he recalled.

Khadka was deployed to Bakhmut twice and spent a total of one month there. During his second deployment, he was struck by a bullet in his hip. After he was rescued and taken a few hundred meters back from the front line, he was hit by shrapnel from a cluster bomb.

“I still get a headache when I think about the terrible scenes I saw in the war zone,” he said.

He is one of as many as 15,000 Nepali men to have joined the Russian military, multiple sources have told CNN, after the Russian government last year announced a lucrative package for foreign fighters to join the country’s military.

The package included at least $2,000 salary a month and a fast-tracked process to obtain a Russian passport. Nepal’s passport is ranked one of the worst in the world for global mobility, below North Korea, according to an index created by global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners, and the Himalayan nation is among the world’s poorest, with a per capita GDP of $1,336 for 2022, according to World Bank data.

The Nepali government says about 200 of its citizens are fighting for the Russian army and that at least 13 Nepalis have been killed in the war zone. But lawmakers and rights’ campaigners in Nepal say those official estimates vastly underestimate the real numbers.

A prominent opposition Nepali lawmaker and former foreign minister, Bimala Rai Paudyal, told the upper house of the county’s parliament on Thursday that between 14,000 and 15,000 Nepalis are fighting on the front lines, citing testimony from men returning from the war zone, and called on the Russian authorities to provide the figures.

“The Russian government must have the data of how many foreign fighters have joined the Russian army and how many Nepalis are fighting for Russia,” she said.

Four Nepali fighters are currently being held as prisoners of war (POWs) by Ukraine, according to Nepal’s foreign ministry.

The Russian foreign ministry has not responded to CNN’s questions about the number of Nepalis recruited by the Russian army and how many of them have died so far.

Kritu Bhandari, a Kathmandu-based politician and social campaigner, has become the leader of a group of family members of Nepali men fighting in Russia. She says around 2,000 families have approached her in recent weeks asking for help either to get in touch with their missing loved ones or to bring those who are still in contact home to the small South Asian nation.

Hundreds of families say their relatives in Russia haven’t been in contact for many weeks or months, according to Bhandari.

‘I try not to think of the worst’
Januka Sunar’s husband went to Russia three months ago to join the military. He hasn’t been in touch with his family in Nepal for two-and-a-half months.

The last time Sunar spoke to her husband, she told CNN, he said that the Russian military was moving him to a different location and that they would not allow him to take his mobile phone with him. He didn’t tell her where he was being relocated to.

“I’m very worried. I don’t know what happened to him. He may be injured… and I wonder if they will return his phone eventually. I’m scared. I try not to think of the worst,” she said.

Sunar said her husband, the sole breadwinner in the house, who used to work making silver jewelry and utensils, had joined the Russian army solely for money – to build a better life for the family. She has two children who live with her in a town on the outskirts of Kathmandu.

CNN met her along with other family members of those in Russia, who had gathered at the headquarters of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center) in the Nepali capital to try to put pressure on the country’s top politicians to repatriate their loved ones.

“If the worst has happened to him, it’ll be worse than going to hell for us. We don’t have a future for the rest of our lives,” she said.

Sunar burst into tears as she shared how she was unable to explain to her children where their father is.

“They say: ‘Where is our dad, mummy? All of our friend’s dads who went abroad for work have returned… when is our dad coming back? We want to talk to our dad just for once.’”

Sunar is desperate for help from the authorities. “We just want information – from our government or the Russian government. Just tell us about his condition. Please see if you can rescue him. If they want to keep him there… .at least we want to know how he is… and speak to him,” she said.

Buddhi Maya Tamang, who was also at the gathering, received a call at the end of January from a Russian number after midnight. She thought her husband, Shukra Tamang – a retired Nepali army soldier fighting for Russia – was the person calling.

It was someone else. A Nepali commander who was leading a unit on the front lines told her that her husband had been killed during the fighting.

“I was then speechless and senseless… I was hoping it was a prank call,” she said.

She hasn’t received confirmation of his death from either the Nepali or the Russian government.

“I just need an official proof of his condition – regardless of whether it’s good news or bad news.”

Recruits ‘from global south’
After analyzing the TikTok profiles of 10 Nepali men who travelled to Russia to join the army, CNN used satellite imagery to geolocate them to the Avangard training center, a military academy outside of Moscow.

The academy was designed as a youth military academy and describes itself as a “patriotic education” center. It has been re-outfitted into a training academy for foreign mercenaries entering the ranks of the Russian army. This was where Khadka received his brief training.

“Over here they teach you how to assemble and fire guns,” explained Shishir Bishwokarma, a Nepali soldier who has documented his journey to Russia and life at the training camp on YouTube.

The geolocated social media video shows an indoor wrestling gym converted into a training area for familiarization with small arms such as AK-47s, while the gym’s old Moscow Oblast flag appears to have been switched out for the colors of the Russian defense ministry.

A Nepali soldier in Russia, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told CNN he had trained on rocket launchers, bombs, machine guns, drones, and tanks while staying at Avangard.

The soldier described his fellow academy cadets as coming from across the global south. He cited Afghan, Indian, Congolese and Egyptian classmates, among others. Class photos from Avangard posted on social media show dozens of what appear to be South Asian soldiers with native Russian instructors.

Following their basic training at Avangard, CNN traced at least two soldiers to a nearby secondary base known as the Alabino Polygon.

At this mechanized infantry training compound, which was geolocated with the help of the Bellingcat Discord community, a handful of South Asian soldiers in full combat gear appear to be familiarizing themselves with operating alongside armored vehicles and heavy weaponry, as well as packing gear bags and organizing into larger units among Russian soldiers.

One of Bishwokarma’s videos shows drones flying over the center of the Avangard academy complex, while he narrates “now guys, we have come to a drone class.”

“We don’t understand Russian, but they have turned on Russian movies in our waiting room so that we can watch,” he explains.

Multiple Nepalis enlisting in the Russian army have stated that they don’t speak Russian but explain that instructors at Avangard seek to accommodate this by training the men in English.

That language barrier has played a large part in the deaths of many Nepalis on the front lines, said Khadka, the former fighter.

“Sometimes you can’t even understand where you’re supposed to be going or how to get there,” he said.

Khadka said he used to communicate with Russian officers by using a voice-translating app – and many times, just hand signals.

Several returned Nepali fighters who spoke with CNN blamed Russia for using them as cannon fodder in the war.

“It’s the Nepalis and other foreign fighters that are actually fighting in the front of war zones. The Russians position themselves a few hundred meters back as support,” said Suman Tamang, who returned from Russia last week.

“Some of my friends were mistreated by the Russian commander when they tried to voice their concerns,” Tamang recalled.

The 39-year-old also said that the Ukrainians were attacking their position with drones, something his unit didn’t have. He blamed the lack of modern fighting machinery for their losses.

CNN has reached out to the Russian defense and foreign ministries about Tamang’s claims.

Some fighters claim that while they signed up for the money, they do not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“It’s not right to invade another country. Everyone has the right to live. All countries should respect the sovereignty of another country. It’s not right for people of any country to be killed in such a hideous way. It’s not right for tens of thousands of people to die for the interest of a few,” Khadka said.

Each year, around 400,000 people are estimated to enter the Nepali job market with limited skills and opportunities. A staggering 19.2% youth unemployment rate among individuals aged 15 to 29 underscores the hurdle the younger demographic faces in the pursuit of employment.

Bonuses paid
Nepali men who want to join the Russian army first travel to Russia on a tourist visa. Most of the people CNN spoke with said they went via the United Arab Emirates or India. After landing in Moscow, they go to a recruitment center, where a physical checkup is done, they said.

“The recruiters get very happy when Nepalis show up,” a former fighter said.

A one-year contract is signed and the men get a Russian bank account, where at least $2,000 monthly salary is deposited. Many fighters say bonuses were also given – and the longer they stay on the front lines, the more bonuses they receive. Some say they made up to $4,000 a month.

Several of the Nepalis who fought for Russia said they had received only brief training before being sent into combat.

Such a short training period before sending Nepali soldiers to fight “shows the desperation of the Russian government and their need for human resources on the frontline,” said Binoj Basnyat, a retired major general from the Nepali army, who now works as a strategic analyst.

CNN spoke with one Nepali man who recently left Russia after spending three months there. CNN is referring to him by the pseudonym Ram Sharma for his security.

Like many Nepalis who fled Russia without being discharged from their contracts, Sharma has no idea how to withdraw the money he still has in a Russian bank account.

“After I escaped from the military camp, it took me three days to get to Moscow. I was worried that by going to a bank to withdraw the money, I would risk getting caught,” he said. “I can access my bank account on my phone, but I don’t know if it’s possible to transfer that money overseas.”

Sharma, a retired Nepali police officer, was working as a security guard in a Dubai hotel when a Nepali agent in Kathmandu contacted him about the terms Russia was offering for foreigners to join its military. Sharma was making around $450 a month in Dubai and was immediately lured by the offer.

“After seeing gruesome images on the frontlines, seeing your friends die next to you, realizing chances of survival is very slim…. you then realize the money is not worth it. That’s why I escaped,” he said.

Agents in Nepal charge between $5,000 and $7,000 to arrange a tourist visa for an individual through a third country, according to the police.

‘I’m done with fighting wars’
The Nepali government has now banned its citizens from traveling to Russia for work and has implemented stricter requirements for people trying to go to countries such as the UAE on a visit visa.

Nepal’s foreign ministry in December urged Russia to stop recruiting Nepali citizens and send home the remains of those killed in the war.

“We are very much concerned that Russia has recruited our citizens and sent them to war zones in vulnerable situations,” Nepali Foreign Minister N. P. Saud told CNN in an interview in his office in Kathmandu.

The minister said that Russia’s deputy foreign minister had last month assured him that “they will sort it out” with regard to Nepal’s concerns but acknowledged that Moscow hasn’t taken any steps so far.

“We don’t have any information that Russia is doing anything,” he said, stressing that Moscow should “respect Nepal’s point of view.”

“We have a traditional treaty with a few countries for the recruitment of our citizens in the military of those countries,” he explained. “But we don’t have such treaty with Russia for such type of military or security recruitment.”

The minister said he had asked to travel to Moscow to discuss the issue but was waiting for an invitation from the Russian government.

Saud also said Nepal was talking to Ukrainian officials about releasing the four Nepali POWs taken by Ukraine from the front lines. He said Ukraine had some “reservations” and “legal questions” which the Nepali government was working to address.

It’s unclear if there will be any legal consequences against individuals who either defy the Nepali government’s ban to travel to Russia for work or who take part in combat operations against Ukraine.

Kathmandu police said they broke up a racket last month, leading to the arrest of 18 people allegedly involved in sending Nepali men to join the Russian army.

They raided several hotels where those arrested were staying and confiscated dozens of passports and several hundred thousand Nepali rupees, the police said.

But Nepalis haven’t stopped flying to Russia.

Sharma, the man who recently returned, said he had met a few Nepalis in Moscow who had just arrived and were looking to get into the army.

Kathmandu police chief Bhupendra Bahadur Khatri said the number of Nepalis going to a third country on a visit visa to eventually fly to Russia had slowed but hadn’t completely stopped.

“We are getting some intelligence that some of these agents are still active in recruiting Nepal men. We have gathered some undercurrent of their activities, and our investigation continues,” Khatri said.

Basnyat, the analyst, blames political instability and rising unemployment in Nepal as a major factor driving Nepalis to seek out dangerous employment in Russia.

More than 15% of its people live below the poverty line. The estimated unemployment rate in 2022 was 11.1%, according to the World Bank, compared with 10.6% in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. Tens of thousands of Nepalis travel to Gulf countries for work every year, with international remittances amounting to nearly 23% of the country’s GDP. An overwhelming 70% of the country’s workforce is employed in the informal sector, exposing them to heightened job insecurity and limited protections.

Khadka is also planning to go to the Middle East as a migrant worker once he recovers from his conflict injuries.

“I want to do commercial farming in Nepal but it’s proving next to impossible for me to take a loan. I’m looking to go to one of the Gulf countries. I’m done with fighting wars,” he said.

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They were recruited by Russia to fight in Ukraine. Now thousands of them have lost contact with their families
The Russian government is recruiting foreign mercenaries in Nepal by offering them a lucrative package to fight in Ukraine. CNN's Matthew Chance spoke with former foreign fighters about what they witnessed and families who have lost contact with their loved ones.

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Trump says he would encourage Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to any NATO country that doesn’t pay enough

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to any NATO member country that doesn’t meet spending guidelines on defense in a stunning admission he would not abide by the collective-defense clause at the heart of the alliance if reelected.

“NATO was busted until I came along,” Trump said at a rally in Conway, South Carolina. “I said, ‘Everybody’s gonna pay.’ They said, ‘Well, if we don’t pay, are you still going to protect us?’ I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ They couldn’t believe the answer.”

Trump said “one of the presidents of a big country” at one point asked him whether the US would still defend the country if they were invaded by Russia even if they “don’t pay.”

“No, I would not protect you,” Trump recalled telling that president. “In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills.”

The White House later Saturday called Trump’s remarks “appalling and unhinged” and touted President Joe Biden’s efforts to bolster the alliance.

“President Biden has restored our alliances and made us stronger in the world because he knows every commander in chief’s first responsibility is to keep the American people safe and hold true to the values that unite us. … Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability, and our economy at home,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.

At the core of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the promise of collective defense — that an attack on one member nation is an attack on all the nations in the alliance. Trump has long complained about the amount other countries in NATO spend on defense compared with the United States and has repeatedly threatened to withdraw the US from NATO. But his comments Saturday are his most direct indication he does not intend to defend NATO allies from Russian attack if he is reelected.

Trump has for years inaccurately described how NATO funding works. NATO has a target that each member country spends a minimum of 2% of gross domestic product on defense, and most countries are not meeting that target. But the figure is a guideline and not a binding contract, nor does it create “bills”; member countries haven’t been failing to pay their share of NATO’s common budget to run the organization.

As president, Trump privately threatened multiple times to withdraw the United States from NATO, according to The New York Times. Trump has described NATO as “obsolete” and has aligned himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wants to weaken the alliance. Trump has long praised Putin and went as far as to side with the Russian leader over the US intelligence community over Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

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Hungary’s president resigns amid uproar over child sex abuse case pardon

Hungarian President Katalin Novak has announced that she is resigning from office following mounting public criticism over her decision to pardon a man implicated in a child sexual abuse case.

“I decided to grant a pardon last April, believing that the convict did not exploit the vulnerability of the children whom he had overseen,” Novak said in her speech during a national televised address on Saturday.

“I made a mistake, as the pardon and the lack of reasoning were conducive to triggering doubts about the zero tolerance that applies to pedophilia,” she said.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the country’s capital Budapest on Friday, calling for Novak to step down.

In April 2023, Novak had pardoned some two dozen people ahead of a visit by Pope Francis – among them the deputy director of a children’s home who had helped the former director hide his crimes. The director was sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually abusing underaged boys between 2004 and 2016, Reuters reported.

The deputy director received a three-year sentence.

Novak was away on an official visit to Doha when protesters arrived at her office, according to Reuters.

Hungarian opposition parties have demanded Novak’s resignation.

Novak is a close ally of Hungary’s hardline nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán and was the former family minister. In 2022, she became the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial role of Hungarian president.

Saturday’s address was her final one as president, less than two years after she took office.

She apologized to victims and their families in her televised speech on Saturday, saying she had “made a mistake.”

Her apology was “to those whom I may have offended and to all the victims who might have felt that I did not stand up for them,” Novak said, adding that she had always “consistently advocated for the protection of children and families.”

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Russia To Create Blacklist Of YouTube Vloggers Who Refuse To Join Kremlin-Backed Platform
Russia plans to create a blacklist of YouTube vloggers who refuse to join a Kremlin-backed alternative to the U.S. video platform as it seeks to tighten its grip on information.

Aleksandr Malkevich, a member of Russia’s Civic Chamber, told a conference on February 10 dedicated to the topic of blogging that the list would target those individuals focusing on a Russian audience.

He said the list should be used as the basis for taking “measures” against such individuals, but did not disclose what such measures could include.

Malkevich said the blacklist would be the first of many steps taken to force Russian vloggers onto a Kremlin-controlled platform.

Russia has already launched an alternative to YouTube called Rutube and many say the Kremlin could eventually ban the U.S.-based platform once it gets enough of its own citizens onto the domestic alternative.

YouTube and other U.S. social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have been a thorn in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s side.

Since coming to power nearly a quarter century ago, the 71-year-old Putin has increasingly sought to control what Russians read, see, and hear.

The nation’s television stations, news portals, and major newspapers are owned either by the state or Kremlin-friendly tycoons who censor material unfavorable to Putin.

However, the Russian leader has no control over material on Western platforms and they have become lifelines for the voice of the battered Russian opposition.

YouTube has arguably been the most powerful of the Western platforms in combating Kremlin propaganda.

Jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny used the platform to post his team’s investigations into corruption at the highest levels of government, including into Putin and his former prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev.

The investigative videos on Navalny's have racked up hundreds of millions of views over the years.

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Air Force: Ukraine downs 40 drones overnight
Ukrainian air defense destroyed 40 of the 45 Shahed-type drones Russia launched from the occupied Crimea, the Air Force reported on Feb. 11.

From the onset of the full-scale invasion, the Russian military has utilized Crimea and other occupied territories in Ukraine as launch sites for missiles and other weapons targeting Ukraine.

Anti-aircraft missile units, mobile firing groups, and electronic warfare equipment were involved in repelling the air attack.

The drones were destroyed over Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Odesa, Dnipro and Kherson oblasts.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said via his official Telegram page that the air alert in the capital lasted for almost two hours. All attack drones enemy heading for Kyiv have been destroyed by air defense forces on the outskirts of the city, according to Popko.

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VOA: F-16s are ‘exceeding expectations’ of Ukraine's pilots
Ukrainian pilots are "very impressed" with American-made F-16 fighter jets, the Ukrainian service of the Voice of America reported.

A pilot, identified by the call sign "Phantom," mentioned in an interview with the outlet that Ukrainian pilots undergoing training on multirole fighters in the U.S. and Europe had praised the aircraft.

Several Western allies pledged to transfer F-16 jets to Ukraine. The exact number of the jets to be delivered has not yet been announced, but The Telegraph estimated in January that the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway are offering as many as 60 F-16s to Ukraine. All of the jets are around 40 years old.

On Feb. 5, the Netherlands announced that the country is preparing to send Ukraine an additional six U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. This brings the total number of jets pledged to Ukraine by the Netherlands to 24.

"Our pilots are very impressed," Ukrainian pilot interviewed by the Voice of America said. "This aircraft has simply exceeded their expectations. Even with the amount of information they have received during their training, they already see great prospects for how this aircraft will help our Air Force increase the capabilities of our combat aviation."

"Phantom" noted, however, that the process of retraining pilots on the sophisticated aircraft posed certain challenges, as many of them were accustomed to operating older Soviet-built Su-27s and MiG-29s.

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder announced in August that the U.S. would begin training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 jets "in support of the international effort to develop and strengthen Ukraine's long-term defenses."

A coalition of 11 countries was established a month earlier, aimed at coordinating the delivery of fighter jets and facilitating the training of Ukraine and its pilots in their operation. Subsequently, this coalition expanded to encompass 14 countries.

The U.S. began training Ukrainian pilots in October, while the Royal Air Force of the U.K. initiated its training program in August. Pilots underwent flying and English language courses before the first group commenced specialized F-16 training in Denmark in December.

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Nato chief urges Europe to ramp up arms production to avoid ‘decades’ of conflict with Russia
Stoltenberg says that defeat for Ukraine could mean more Putin-inspired aggression

Europe must shift to wartime weapons production to deter Russian aggression and help Ukraine, the secretary general of Nato has said.

Jens Stoltenberg warned that “we need to reconstitute and expand our industrial base faster, to increase deliveries to Ukraine and refill our own stocks”.

“This means shifting from slow peacetime to high-tempo conflict production,” he told the German Sunday daily Welt am Sonntag.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine proved that “peace in Europe cannot be taken for granted”, he said ahead of this month’s second anniversary of Putin’s illegal invasion.

“If Putin wins in Ukraine, there is no guarantee that Russian aggression will not spread further,” he said.

“Supporting Ukraine now and investing in Nato’s own capabilities is our best defence.

“Nato does not seek war with Russia, but we need to brace ourselves for potentially decades of confrontation.”

Mr Stoltenberg’s comments came amidst growing pleas for shells, ammunition and other military aide from Ukraine as it battles Russian forces into a third year.

Moscow has shifted to a wartime economy and invested huge sums in its military. Russia is spending 40 per cent of its GDP on the war, which the West is struggling to match.

On Friday, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden urged American lawmakers to approve a long-delayed military aid package for Ukraine.

“The failure of the United States’ Congress in not supporting Ukraine is close to criminal neglect,” Mr Biden said as he hosted Mr Scholz in the Oval Office.

EU leaders backed a ¤50 billion (£42.6 billion) aid package for Kyiv after Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Putin’s closest EU ally, dropped his veto on the funds on February 1.

In November, Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, admitted that an EU pledge to provide Ukraine with a million shells by March this year would not be met.

Mr Stoltenberg said: “As long as we invest in our security and we stay united, we will continue to deter any aggression.

“We monitor closely what Russia does and we have increased our presence in the eastern part of the alliance.”

Nato defence ministers will meet in Brussels on February 15, one week ahead of the second anniversary of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.

A meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group will be a key feature of the talks.

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Op zondag 11 februari 2024 09:05 schreef StateOfMind het volgende:
Mooi dat ze bevallen
Hopelijk zien we ze snel vliegen boven Oekraïne.

Al zal het wel wennen zijn als ik ze straks nooit meer zie hier in de lucht

Al sinds jongs af aan horen overvliegende F16's er hier gewoon bij, een vreemd idee dat dat straks tot het verleden behoort.

Gelukkig hebben we de foto's, en F35's nog.

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Op zondag 11 februari 2024 14:12 schreef byah het volgende:
Putin heeft ons gewoon bij de ballen. Of Trump nou wint of niet, de helft van de VS zal achter steun aan Europa in een conflict met Rusland staan

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Op zondag 11 februari 2024 14:41 schreef Cilantro het volgende:

[..]
Mwa het is niet alsof het Russische leger nou zoveel voorstelt.

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Op zondag 11 februari 2024 15:26 schreef byah het volgende:

[..]
Het gaat helemaal niet om het Russische leger, Putin weet ook wel dat de NAVO veel sterker is in een conventioneel conflict. Het gaat om de eenheid in Europa en de NAVO. Putin zal proberen de artikel 5 bluf te callen. Wat als een klein stuk Litouwen wordt ingenomen door de Russen, gaan wij dan als eenheid de oorlog verklaren, of komt er onenigheid? De volgende dominosteen zijn de Amerikaanse verkiezingen, als Trump wint garandeer ik dat Putin de NAVO gaat testen.

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Op zondag 11 februari 2024 15:26 schreef byah het volgende:

[..]
Het gaat helemaal niet om het Russische leger, Putin weet ook wel dat de NAVO veel sterker is in een conventioneel conflict. Het gaat om de eenheid in Europa en de NAVO. Putin zal proberen de artikel 5 bluf te callen. Wat als een klein stuk Litouwen wordt ingenomen door de Russen, gaan wij dan als eenheid de oorlog verklaren, of komt er onenigheid? De volgende dominosteen zijn de Amerikaanse verkiezingen, als Trump wint garandeer ik dat Putin de NAVO gaat testen.

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Op zondag 11 februari 2024 16:34 schreef sturmpie het volgende:

[..]
val je 1 navo-lidstaat aan dan is dat 'n aanval op de hele navo
denk nou niet dat putin zo dom is dat hij iets gaat proberen

dat hij oekraine is binnengevallen is 'n heel ander verhaal, oekraine is niet lid van eu/navo dus die staat er alleen voor .

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Op zondag 11 februari 2024 22:33 schreef havanagila het volgende:
Laten we eerst eens afwachten hoe ver het Kremlin komt in Oekraïne.

Die 3 daagse operatie duurt tenslotte al 2 jaar.