Oorlog in Oekra�ne #972 - Iran zonder president

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When A 70-Year-Old Russian BTR-50 Attacks Ukrainian Troops, It’s Bad News For The Whole Russian War Effort
BTR-50s are only slightly better than the golf carts some Russian troops ride in

The thinly-protected, 1950s-vintage BTR-50 might not be the worst vehicle the Russian army has sent in a direct assault on Ukrainian positions, but it’s probably the oldest.

And while it’s safer for Russian troops to ride in a 70-year-old BTR-50 with its 10-millimeter-thick armor than to ride in, say, a brand-new Chinese golf cart, it’s still an ominous sign for Russia that more BTR-50s are appearing on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine as Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds toward its 28th month.

“Without mechanized units fully equipped with proper combat vehicles like tanks, achieving swift and decisive penetration of defenses will be very challenging,” Ukrainian analysis group Frontelligence Insight explained. “This limitation is likely to result in slower and more limited advances, hampering the overall progress of Russian forces.”

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Ukrainian Teenager Critically Injured After Stabbing Attack in Germany
A 15-year-old Ukrainian refugee was critically injured in a stabbing attack in Dortmund, Germany, on the evening of May 19th. The boy was walking with friends in the Nordstadt district when they encountered another group.

According to German newspaper Bild, an interaction with two girls sparked a confrontation between the teenagers. The situation escalated when a young man from the opposing group pulled out a knife and stabbed the Ukrainian boy’s neck before inflicting a further stab wound to his upper body.

The teenagers managed to escape the scene. The victim walked for a kilometer before collapsing, with paramedics arriving to find him in a critical condition. Emergency medical personnel fought for his life on the street before transporting him to a local hospital. Fortunately, authorities report his condition has since stabilized.

German police are currently investigating the incident as attempted manslaughter. The attacker remains at large, and a search is underway.

In April, a Russian national was accused of murdering Ukrainian soldiers undergoing rehabilitation in the country. Earlier this year, an attack in D�sseldorf resulted in the deaths of two young Ukrainian men, basketball player Volodymyr Yermakov and his friend Artem Kozachenko. In September 2023, in the German city of Einbeck, a man attacked children from Ukraine because they were speaking Ukrainian.

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Germany’s initiative to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense has raised almost a billion euros
The German initiative to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense has raised almost a billion euros.

The German Foreign Ministry announced this on the occasion of the visit of the head of the department, Annalena Baerbock, to Kyiv on Tuesday, May 21.

The German Foreign Ministry noted that the purpose of the Minister’s visit was to assure the Ukrainian side that, despite the deteriorating situation in the combat zone, Germany and Europe would continue to stand firmly on the side of Ukraine and would not stop supporting it.

“The global initiative to strengthen air defense, which the Foreign Minister recently launched together with Defense Minister Pistorius, should also be considered in this context,” the German Foreign Ministry stated.

The Ministry said that almost a billion euros have already been raised to provide additional assistance to Ukraine’s air defense.

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Russia's Cutting-Edge Icebreaker Faces Delay After Ukraine Factory Bombed
Russia has boasted it will have the world's most powerful icebreaker vessel by the end of the decade but the project has been hit by delays exacerbated by Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it has been reported.

Russia's first deputy prime minister, Denis Manturov, said that the "one of a kind" vessel Rossiya, intended for year-round navigation along the Northern Sea Route, one of several routes in the Arctic, would be built by "approximately by 2030," Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported Monday.

But this is three years later than the original deadline of December 2027 as the vessel's construction faces cost overruns and delays that follow damage to a Ukrainian site, which was supposed to supply some of the components.

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Russian oil tankers stand idle for months due to sanctions
Dozens of Russian oil tankers have been idle for three to six months. US sanctions against Russian oil have been effective.

On the sanction list, Russia’s Sovcomflot owns 21 of the 40 ships under sanctions, while a UAE company controls the remaining vessels. SCF Primorye is the only one removed from the sanctions list.

Since October last year, dozens of vessels carrying Russian oil have remained under sanctions for violating the price cap. Many of them have been inactive for 3 to 6 months, Bloomberg reported.

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Tucker Carlson became an anchor on Russian television

It has become known that the scandalously famous American journalist Tucker Carlson has started hosting his show on Russian television.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has suddenly started hosting his own program on Russia 24. The name is banal – TUCKER.

This first episode of the program talked about ticks and Lyme disease.

Journalist Carlson during the broadcast communicates with an expert on the spread of the disease.

Video of the broadcast. The host of the program Tucker Carlson. TV channel Russia 24.

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Moldova, EU sign pact on security, defense
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean and the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, signed a Security and Defense Partnership on May 21, Borrell said on X.

Moldova became the first country to sign such a document with the EU, which is designed to "enhance the country's resilience."

Chisinau has moved closer to Europe amid worries that the Kremlin is attempting to carry out a destabilization campaign in the country.

Russo-Moldovan relations have soured since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with fears that Russia's aggression may spill over via Transnistria, a Moldovan territory where Russian troops have been stationed since the early 1990s.

"It (partnership) will allow to jointly address common security challenges, make our engagement more effective, and explore new areas of cooperation," Borrell said.

The partnership will function as an umbrella mechanism for all interactions between Moldova and the EU, including the spheres of cybersecurity, countering disinformation, and defense, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry said.

The document does not have the status of an international treaty and is based on political commitments.

Moldova and France signed a bilateral defense deal in March, days after Moldova's intelligence agency warned that Russia would seek to destabilize the country as it prepares for a presidential election and a referendum on EU membership.

President Maia Sandu will run for re-election in October. Sandu has put the country on a decisively pro-EU course, helping to secure Chisinau's membership candidacy and accession talks.

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Russia has tightened restrictions on travel abroad for those with access to state secrets
Persons with access to state secrets in the Russian Federation are now required to notify the FSB and the SVR of their intention to travel abroad no later than a month before departure, according to Vladimir Putin’s decree. Source: portal of legal information of the Russian Federation

Read also: In Russia they are going to deprive access to state secrets for dual citizenship

The decree applies to senators, State Duma deputies, judges, deputies of legislative bodies of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, heads of municipalities and lawyers who have access to top secret information or information of special importance.

According to the bill, an employee who violates the conditions for traveling abroad may be deprived of access to state secrets. For those who have access to top secret information or information of special importance, a violation threatens liability up to and including criminal liability.

Let us recall that due to fears that foreign states may try to gain access to state secrets during the most intense crisis in relations with the West in the last sixty years, the Russian Federation is tightening the rules for traveling abroad for its officials.

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Russia Fails in Rival UN Bid on Nuclear, Other Weapons in Space
A Russian-drafted UN Security Council resolution that called on all countries to prevent “for all time” the placement, threat or use of any weapons in space failed on Monday, May 20.

A Russian-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution that called on all countries to prevent “for all time” the placement, threat or use of any weapons in outer space failed on Monday (20 May) with the 15-member body split over the move.

The draft failed to get the minimum nine votes needed: seven members voted in favor and seven against, while one abstained. A veto can only be cast by the United States, Russia, China, Britain or France if a draft gets at least nine votes.

Russia put forward the text after it vetoed a US-drafted resolution last month that called on countries to prevent an arms race in outer space. The Russian veto prompted the United States to question whether Moscow was hiding something.

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Russia jails hypersonic missile scientist for 14 years for treason
Anatoly Maslov is among a string of prominent Russian scientists to have been charged with treason in recent years.

Russian physicist Anatoly Maslov has been convicted of treason, according to the press service for courts in the city of Saint Petersburg.

On Tuesday, he was sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony. Maslov, 77, who protests his innocence, is among a string of eminent Russian scientists to have been charged with treason in recent years.

He and a number of the others had conducted theoretical work in areas relevant to the development of hypersonic missiles – cutting-edge weapons capable of carrying payloads at up to 10 times the speed of sound to punch through air-defence systems.

Maslov was accused of sharing top-secret data related to Russia’s hypersonic missile programme with Germany.

Alexander Shiplyuk and Valery Zvegintsev, two other scientists from the same Siberian institute, all specialists in hypersonics, who have also been arrested since 2022 on treason charges, are awaiting trial.

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‘Code 9.2’: The secretive Ukrainian drone unit tasked with dropping mines into Russia
Near the Russian border, Kharkiv region, Ukraine
CNN — Dusk brings an urgent race to hide before dark.

The “Code 9.2” drone unit, from the 92nd assault brigade, are moving into a new launch position from where they are about to conduct a rare and potent mission: flying drones into Russia and dropping mines onto key roads inside enemy territory.

Twilight provides a moment of opportunity to set up new equipment and unload their Humvee before dark makes these complex tasks impossible. They can only hope the grey, fading light shields them from the endless stream of Russian drones that fly overhead, looking for something to strike.

A Starlink dish, a longer range drone antenna, dozens of battery packs, and two huge “Vampire” quadcopters are dumped into trenches and bunkers, set up, and in use within 30 minutes. It is only when the dark has set in that their work can begin.

And immediately the threat is apparent. Before operators Andrey and Artem can leave the bunker to begin work, a noise sends them rushing back in for cover.

“Sssshhh,” Andrey hisses. “Orlan.” The only way to protect yourself from being seen by an Orlan – a spotter drone that can also have thermal cameras enabling it to see in the dark – is to hide. And to silently listen for it to pass. “They will be flying all night,” he says.

The horizon is peppered with flashes – distant explosions. Across its center twinkles the Russian city of Belgorod, now repeatedly hit by Ukrainian strikes. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed his week-old offensive into Kharkiv region in Ukraine is partially aimed at creating a buffer zone along the border to protect a population whose safety was never in doubt when he launched his invasion in February 2022.

The bunker is quickly turned into an operations hub, the team finding it hard to adjust to the silent open fields of their new home, after months of fierce battles around Bakhmut.

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Ukraine Vows to Take Responsibility For Any Russian Missiles Intercepted By NATO
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an exclusive interview with Reuters in Kyiv on May 20, expressed frustration over the prolonged decision-making process of Western allies regarding military support for Ukraine.

The President emphasized the urgent need for increased direct involvement from partners in the war, particularly in intercepting Russian missiles over Ukrainian airspace and permitting the use of Western weaponry deeper in the Russian territory. He stressed the necessity to expedite aid and redefine “red lines” of engagement in the war.

Describing the current battlefield situation as “one of the most difficult” since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Zelenskyy highlighted recent incursions by Moscow’s troops into northeastern Ukraine, which have further strained Kyiv’s defenses.

“A very powerful wave (of fighting) is going on in Donbas… No-one even notices that there are actually more battles in the east of the country, specifically in the Donbas direction: Kurakhove, Pokrovsk, Chasiv Yar,” the President emphasized.

However, he stated that the situation north of Kharkiv was now “under control.”

Zelenskyy suggested that the armed forces of neighboring NATO countries could aid Ukraine by intercepting incoming Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory, bolstering Kyiv’s defense capabilities in the face of overwhelming odds.

“I immediately relayed the signal to Poland, other countries, and the United States; I personally informed the leaders of these countries. We are ready to sign all documents stating that if a Russian missile is shot down over Ukrainian territory, they will not be held responsible if it falls or explodes.”

With Russia deploying around 300 planes within Ukrainian borders, Zelenskyy underscored the urgent need for additional aircraft to effectively defend Ukrainian airspace, highlighting Ukraine’s anticipation of the delivery of F-16 fighter jets.

“But it is what it is: one big step forward, but before that two steps back. So we need to change the paradigm a little bit,” the President Zelenskyy concluded.

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90% of the electronics imported by the Russian Federation come from China. This gives it the opportunity to produce tanks and ammunition at a record pace, - Blinken
China provides enormous support to the defense and industrial base of the Russian Federation in the form of supplies of microelectronics. This gives Russia the opportunity to quickly produce weapons that are then used in the war against Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated this during hearings in the Senate of the US Congress, writes Ukrinform, Censor.NET reports .

According to Blinken, there has been no record of China transferring weapons to Russia, as Iran and North Korea do . However, the PRC supplies the Kremlin with dual-purpose goods, including microelectronics.

Blinken noted that 70% of all machines imported by Russia come from China. In addition, according to him, 90% of microelectronics also comes to Russia from China.

The head of the US State Department noted that the Russian Federation will direct Chinese dual-purpose goods to the development of its military industry.

"A lot of that goes into building up the defense industrial base, and as a result we see Russia producing tanks, artillery ammunition at a record pace," Blinken said.

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