"We are witnessing a historic process -- Russians are leaving for the first time in two centuries," independent Azerbaijani analyst Elhan Shahinoglu told AFP.
If passed, the legislation will provide a crucial financial lifetime for #Ukraine at a time when the country’s military appears at its most vulnerable since the start of the war, due to dwindling supplies of ammunition and air defense missiles.
In a #bipartisan vote, 210 #Democrats and 101 #Republicans joined to support Ukraine, with 112 Republicans – a majority of the #GOP members – voting against. The House erupted into applause when the #Ukraine bill passed, with the chair, #MarcMolinaro of New York, admonishing members not to wave Ukrainian flags.
Ultimately, the #UkraineWar has presented #China with a stark choice: double down on propping up a diminished Russian state or pursue a new reality by engaging seriously in peace talks to end the war.
The protracted war has strengthened potential rivals, exposed China to novel #sanction threats, disrupted its #economy, and drained its principal partner of resources and #MilitaryCapability.
Voldoymyr #Zelenskiy said in an interview with US television that the vote showed #Ukraine would not be “a second #Afghanistan”, whose pro-western government collapsed during an American-led pullout in the summer of 2021. #Russia
Armed Finnish #BorderGuards on cross-country skis patrol the country’s eastern flank, #NATO’s newest and longest border with its main adversary, #Russia. Helicopters and drones buzz overhead along new fences being constructed—13-feet high in places—with barbed wire on top and 24-hour electronic surveillance. #NATO#Ukraine
"Daily, Russian missiles and drones pummel Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. A recent missile attack on a power generation plant in the north means that hundreds of thousands, if not a million more...
Unable to occupy what is an unoccupiable country, #Russia has decided it wants to make Ukrainian cities uninhabitable."
About 46,000 aircraft in total have logged problems with #GPS over the #BalticSea in the same time period, the Sun reported, based on analysis of flight logs with the website GPSJAM.org.
In a sweeping 80-19 vote, the #USSenate overwhelmingly voted to advance the measure in a step hailed by the Senate majority leader as “one of the greatest achievements the Senate has faced in years”.
#JoeBiden said on Wednesday he signed into law legislation that rushes $95bn in foreign aid to #Ukraine, #Israel and #Taiwan, a #bipartisan legislative victory he hailed as a “good day for world peace” after months of congressional gridlock threatened Washington’s support for Kyiv in its fight to repel #Russia’s invasion
Congress has approved $60 billion in military aid for #Ukraine. Here's a look at what it it's likely to include and how it might reshape the battlefield. [AUDIO]
The arms and ammunition in the $61 billion military aid package should enable #Ukraine to slow the Russian army’s bloody advances and block its strikes on troops and civilians. And it will buy Ukraine time — for long-term planning about how to take back the fifth of the country now under Russian control.
The Polish parliament is due to consider new regulations next week that would require all #Ukrainians to show a valid #passport to be able to access benefits in #Poland. Previously, Ukrainian #refugees had been able to do so by showing any other documents proving their identity. #Ukraine
Russian President #VladimirPutin said Thursday he plans to visit #China in May, in what could become the first foreign trip for the Russian leader after he extended his rule by six more years in an election that offered voters little real choice.
#Putin’s inauguration is scheduled for May 7, Russian lawmakers said earlier this week. #Ukraine
“Fuelling #Russia’s defence industrial base not only threatens Ukrainian security, it threatens #EuropeanSecurity. #Beijing cannot achieve better relations with Europe while supporting the greatest threat to European security since the end of the cold war.” Blinken said. #Ukraine
The commander-in-chief of #Ukraine's armed forces said Sunday #Kyiv's position on the frontline had deteriorated and that #Russia had made a number of recent battlefield gains.
The #Kremlin-owned gas company #Gazprom has plunged to its first annual loss in more than 20 years, after gas sales more than halved following Vladimir #Putin’s invasion of #Ukraine.
#Berlin recalled Alexander Graf Lambsdorff on Monday, three days after accusing #Moscow of #cyberattacks on the governing #SocialDemocraticParty (SDP) and the country’s defence, aerospace, and IT companies. The envoy’s return was ordered just a day before the inauguration of Russian President Vladimir #Putin. #Ukraine
Tusk said #EU countries should take joint action to increase spending on defence by at least 100 billion euros ($107 billion). A joint #AirDefence "must become a European project that will be a financial effort to build a dome over #Europe," he said. "We have many more initiatives and meetings than real actions to defend the European sky. #DonaldTusk#Ukraine
#EU senior diplomats meeting on Wednesday agreed a compromise on using the estimated €4.4bn #WindfallProfits to aid #Ukraine, smoothing over a dispute about #Taxation and #ManagementCosts in #Belgium, the country where most of the frozen assets are held.
The EU deal opens the door to a broader discussion in the #G7 about using #Russia’s frozen billions of assets,
For the past year Shyshak’s brigade, the 241st, has scoured the heavens for Russian flying objects. Its task is to shoot them down before they can reach the capital. A machine-gun post has been set up on the 12th floor of a residential apartment block on the edge of the city. Nearby is a thermal power plant. This spring, #Russia has relentlessly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
I never thought I'd hashtag Ukraine & the South China Sea in the same post 😬
#Russia is the top supplier of weapons to #Vietnam and also plays a crucial role in the exploitation of Vietnam's gas reserves in the #SouthChinaSea, in waters that #China claims as its own.
The #EU, an important trading partner for Vietnam, has imposed wide-ranging sanctions on #Moscow over its war in #Ukraine.
"Gazprom is engaged in a (real estate) fire sale. They had their worst year in decades, and their production has fallen precipitously, down to what it was in the 1970s," said Tom O'Donnell, an energy and geopolitical analyst based in Berlin. #Russia#Ukraine
#Pentagon officials working with #ElonMusk’s #SpaceX have blunted the Russian military’s unauthorized use of #Starlink internet terminals on the battlefield in its war with #Ukraine, according to the Defense Department’s space policy chief.
#MOSCOW, May 12 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir #Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defence minister on Sunday in an attempt to gird #Russia for economic war by trying to better utilise the defence budget and harness greater innovation to win in #Ukraine.
#JoeBiden has signed into law a bipartisan bill that bans the import of enriched #uranium from #Russia, in the latest effort by Washington to apply further pressure on Vladimir #Putin over his invasion of #Ukraine.
Billions of dollars had been spent by the #US on rebuilding #Georgia after the fall of the #SovietUnion and hundreds of millions more were planned for the country’s economy and military.
“All that has to be under review if we are now regarded as an adversary and not a partner,” O’Brien told reporters at a press conference in #Tbilisi. #Russia#Ukraine
#Putin and #Xi have met over 40 times; the Chinese president last travelled to #Moscow in March 2023, while Putin went to Beijing in October for a summit of #China’s #BeltAndRoad initiative.
#China’s major #banks are throttling payments out of concern over #USSanctions, Maslov said, and #Russia has proposed to solve the issue via a decentralised payment system that the west would be unable to track. “Both sides will look for sanctions-proof mechanisms going forward,” said Maslov. #Ukraine
China, once the junior partner of Moscow in the global Communist hierarchy, remains by far the most powerful of #Russia’s friends in the world. #Ukraine
"#China is not only the more powerful partner, but also the one that has many more options than #Russia and the war has exacerbated that. Russia is now locking itself into #vassalage to China,” - Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin
The new law offers #parole to #convicts who sign a contract to join the army, a move that some officials have said could generate a maximum of 20,000 soldiers for the Ukrainian war effort.
Those convicted of the most serious crimes, such as the premeditated murder of two or more people, rape and crimes against national security, would still not be allowed to enlist.
The head of the #OfficeOfThePresident has always wielded enormous influence in #Ukraine. Wartime conditions, including #MartialLaw, have concentrated extraordinary authority in the presidential administration, making #Yermak perhaps the most powerful #ChiefOfStaff in the country’s history — virtually indistinguishable from his boss.
As fierce street battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces continue in the northern part of the town, a band of local police and volunteers have been journeying in daily to evacuate the last, terrified residents out of a place which was once home to 18,000 people.
#Kallas is one of many European politicians trying to spell out the many negative consequences to #Europe of a #UkrainianDefeat, and rebut those who claim such a reverse could be contained.
She was speaking the day after the former Estonian president #Toomas Ilves predicted that if #Ukraine fell to #Russia as many as 30 million Ukrainians would seek to flee
Ms #Kallas said the current world order is under threat from #Russia’s full-scale war in #Ukraine that is now in its 27th month and, more broadly, Chinese “#GreyZone” tactics (in the #SouthChinaSea) – referring to harassment and aggression that skirt near the threshold of war. Tensions are also rising in the #MiddleEast.
The #US and the #UK argue that instead of handing relatively small sums such as €500m from the #interest annually, it would be better if a #loan or #bond worth about €30bn could be handed to #Ukraine with the interest paid from the profits generated from the larger frozen assets.
#Ukraine’s President Volodymyr #Zelenskyy has said he is pushing partners to get more directly involved in the war by helping to intercept #RussianMissiles and allowing his country to use Western weapons against military equipment amassing near the border.
While American officials have long detailed the costs of #Moscow's invasion for its armed forces and its economy, in the last two months they've started to acknowledge #Russia is recovering faster than the #US expected. #Ukraine
Any #RussianCitizens whose purpose is #tourism and other non-essential travel will be turned back at the border. Exceptions may be granted in cases such as visits to close family residing in #Norway, the ministry said in a statement. #Russia#Ukraine
I'm a bit worried that Belousov seems to know what he's doing. Was hoping the Russian army would remain hopelessly corrupt & woefully incompetent.
Rogov noted that the removal of Achmedov from his position fulfills the new Russian Defense Minister #AndreiBelousov’s statement about the “need to take care of military personnel.” #Russia
#EuropeanUnion foreign policy chief #JosepBorrell on Friday called the removal of Estonian buoys by Russian border guards on a river separating the Baltic country from #Russia “unacceptable,” and demanded an explanation from Moscow and the immediate return of the orange floats. #Estonia#Ukraine
Clever. The possibility of Trump being the next president is driving this.
Under the discussed structure, Western nations would lend to a newly created financing entity, which would, in turn, disburse the money as #grants to #Kyiv, according to people familiar with the matter. The #profits on the frozen #RussianAssets would then go toward paying back Western nations for the loan to the financing entity.
Many #US.-made #SatelliteGuided ammunitions in #Ukraine have failed to withstand Russian #JammingTechnology, prompting Kyiv to stop using certain types of Western-provided armaments after effectiveness rates plummeted, according to senior Ukrainian military officials and confidential internal Ukrainian assessments obtained by The Washington Post. #Russia
Earlier, Minister Kuleba had requested the South Korean government to provide #PatriotMissiles. Upon hearing the news, the Korean government reiterated its existing position of not supporting lethal weapons and expressed its intention to reject the request.
#Estonia installed the #buoys following the treaty on the #StateBorder and the agreement on the placement of buoys concluded between the border services in 2022. The first 50 buoys were installed on May 13, and #Russia removed about half of them. #NarvaRiver#Ukraine
#Zelenskiy appealed in particular to the US president, #JoeBiden, and the Chinese leader, #XiJinping, to attend the summit, which is due to start on 15 June. “Please, show your leadership in advancing the peace – the real peace and not just a pause between the strikes,” said Zelenskiy in English. #China#US
Under new defence minister #AndreiBelousov, #FSB is tackling corruption aggressively with serious implications for #Ukraine
"Shoigu and Gerasimov provided a buffer, but now #Putin decided he had to do something. Shoigu kept the FSB largely away from the ministry throughout his tenure, there were very few arrests." Capt John Foreman, the UK’s former defence attache
Security services say spate of fires and infrastructure attacks could be part of systemic attempt by Russia to destabilise continent.
“I think this has been a way that #Russia and also
the #SovietUnion has worked throughout recent history, really; in the 75 years of #NATO I think we’ve seen it often." #KajsaOllongren, Dutch defence minister
#JoeBiden has allowed #Ukraine to use some US-made weapons over one part of the Russian border, to allow #Kyiv’s forces to defend against an offensive aimed at the city of #Kharkiv, relaxing an important constraint on Ukraine’s able to defend itself.
Limits on the use of #US#LongRangeWeapons such as the army tactical missile system (#ATACMS) will remain, however.
Malaysian semiconductor maker #Jatronics SDN BHD is among nearly 300 entities that #Washington slapped with #USSanctions last month over their alleged links to #Russia’s military suppliers.
Jatronics, based in #KualaLumpur, is accused of shipping electronic parts and components to #Russia that #Moscow needs to sustain the conflict. #Ukraine
This is the comparison that China doesn't want to happen - to be equated with Russia.
In a short interview before leaving #Manila on June 3, the wartime Ukrainian President says "unity" for #Ukraine and its survival sends a clear message to "other countries not to try, even to think to occupy other independent countries" #Ukraine#Philippines#ZelenskiyInManila
Asked Monday if the president was sending the wrong message globally by forgoing the #PeaceSummit to attend a glitzy California fundraiser, #WhiteHouse national security spokesman #JohnKirby said “there hasn’t been any single leader around the world who has supported #Ukraine more and more stridently than #JoeBiden.”
In the run-up to the elections for the #EuropeanParliament, which will be held on 6-9 June, however, #Ukraine, and the implications of a #RussianThreat, has become a go-to issue for centrists as they seek to fend off the populist challenge from left and right. #russi
#Thailand has accepted an invitation to participate in the upcoming #PeaceSummit, which will be held in #Switzerland from June 15-16, according to Thai PBS.
Until recently, military analysts saw #Hanwha as a relic, its products insufficient for 21st century warfare.
The #UkraineWar fought almost entirely on the ground, has proved them wrong. In the 2 years since #Russia's invasion, Hanwha's annual export revenue from weaponry grew elevenfold to US$1.1 billion; it now makes up 26 per cent of the company's total arms sales.
This is #France flexing it's military muscles to show that the #EU too has fighter jets (& training capacity) to offer
The type’s merits are well-known. “The dash-five is a rather old aircraft, but it is also specialized,” French air force Col. #AnneLabadie told Combat Aircraft. “It is an aircraft exclusively dedicated to #AirDefense, and its pilots are specialized in this.” #UkraineWar
The #WhiteHouse sees him as something of a wild card, and #Macron has called for policy options in #Ukraine that make the #Biden administration nervous.
But in spite of their substantive and cultural differences — and across a yawning, 35-year age gap — the two men have come to trust each other in striking ways.
#Ukraine’s President Volodymyr #Zelensky on Friday is set to address the #FrenchParliament. His speech comes a day after world leaders marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in World War II, and after French President #EmmanuelMacron announced his country would provide Ukraine with an unspecified number of #Mirage2000 fighter jets.
In a sign that enthusiasm to help #Ukraine may be faltering, the #NationalAssembly, which gave #Zelenskyy several standing ovations, seemed far less full that when the Ukrainian leader first addressed them in March 2022. #France
Great interview, I like his answer about "Allied boots on the ground" 👍
#JoeBiden promised his administration "would not walk away from #Ukraine" when he met with Ukraine President Volodymyr #Zelensky in Paris on Friday, but will the same hold true if Donald #Trump wins the US presidential election later this year? #RolandFreudenstein, founder of the Brussels Freedom Hub explains.
The strike took place on Saturday at the #Akhtubinsk base in southern #Russia, the GUR said. The plane, capable of carrying #StealthMissiles, was among “a countable few” of its type in service. Russia’s #Su57 fleet has been largely absent from the skies over #ukraine and has instead been used to fire long-range missiles from across the border.
As reported earlier, nearly 90 countries and organizations, half from #Europe, have confirmed attending the Swiss-hosted #Ukraine#PeaceSummit over the weekend despite #russias refusal to participate in the conference
Let's see if #Putin has the balls to attack an Ukrainian #F16 parked in a #NATO country.
A senior Ukrainian air force commander said in comments published late on Sunday that some of the #F16s set to be delivered by European allies for the war with #Russia will be held at foreign bases while military personnel train to use them.
#Russians are preparing for the arrival of Western fighter jets in #Ukraine. #SergeiShmotyev, director of the Ural company Fores, has even announced cash rewards for shooting them down.
A soldier can expect 15 million rubles and half a million rubles for each subsequent destroyed #F16 fighter jet.
In #Moscow, panic prevails as the upcoming #PeaceSummit threatens the Russian narrative of a divided world over the support of #Ukraine, said Ukraine’s top diplomat. #Russia
#Murdoch said #Khan’s applications for the arrest warrants linked to the conflict in #Gaza “were the first of their kind” relating to #starvation as a #WarCrime, and had highlighted the issue in the minds of lawyers and prosecutors (re: #MariupolSiege). “What it showed is where the #ICC’s thinking is,” she said. #TheHague#Israel#Ukraine
The proximate causes of the current conflicts in #Ukraine, the #MiddleEast, the #SouthChinaSea and even #Armenia might be different, but the bigger picture showed an interconnected battlefield in which #PostColdWar certainties had given way to “great-power competition” in which authoritarian leaders were testing the boundaries of their empires. #Russia#China#XiJinPing