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Ukraine said their units have managed to stop Russian forces in Kharkiv, but Moscow said they would continue to advance.
Ukrainian forces fought to stop the advance of Russian troops in the Kharkiv region, home to the second-largest city in Ukraine and located in the country's northeast. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military sent reinforcements to the area. As Russia tries to gain ground near the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian soldiers do what they can to bring residents to safety, reports from Vovchansk say, just a few kilometers from the Russian border. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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US President Joe Biden’s cabinet has made a major policy mistake by driving Russia and China into a strategic partnership,
Heritage Foundation fellow Michael Pillsbury said on Thursday. Pillsbury spoke to Fox and Friends as Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing on his first foreign trip since inauguration. “To draw, to push together two nuclear powers, Russia and China, it’s really a blunder of the highest order,” he told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade. According to Pillsbury, China spent much of the past 75 years in conflict with the Soviet Union, “so to see them come together like this to me is just shocking.” Pillsbury has helped Washington formulate its China policy since the 1970s. He held a variety of posts at the Pentagon and as a staff member for the US Senate, before settling at China-centric desks at the Hudson Institute and later at Heritage. It has long been a policy objective of Washington to keep China and Russia apart, starting with President Richard Nixon’s detente with Beijing in the 1970s. This policy was in effect as late as 2020, with President Donald Trump trying to use tariffs to pressure China into working with the US, noted Pillsbury. “This would never happen under Trump,” he said. “This was one of Trump’s goals never to allow this to happen.” When Kilmeade suggested that China “needs” the US and EU markets, so the West has leverage over Beijing, Pillsbury pointed out that this “simply isn’t happening under Biden.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also commented on the US attempts to split China away from Russia. In an interview on Thursday, he said that China was “strong enough” to resist the “brazen” attempts at pressure. China and Russia both “defend the principles of fairness and the democratic world order based on the multipolar realities and international law,” Putin said on Thursday, adding that relations between the two countries “are not aimed against anyone.” Putin described the Russo-Chinese cooperation as “one of the main stabilizing factors on the international stage.” Xi agreed, arguing that ties between Beijing and Moscow are a “model of relations between large powers and neighbouring states, characterized by mutual respect, trust, friendship and mutual benefit.” The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Putting British or other NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine would not make sense, but there are other ways of helping Kiev, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has said.
Some officials in Kiev have proposed sending Western military veterans as civilian contractors to train Ukrainian soldiers inside the country in order to quickly raise enough brigades to offset battlefield losses. “I don’t want to step over that line that puts British, sort of, troops on the ground in Ukraine. I don’t think that makes sense to do. But what I do think is sensible is potentially moving training closer,” Shapps said on Wednesday, speaking to a Telegraph podcast about the situation in Ukraine. “There may be other models that we could look at. Not something I would want to go into in detail currently,” the defence minister added. He pointed out that the UK has already trained 65,000 Ukrainian soldiers since 2014, most of them since February 2022, and that London’s commitment to Kiev “is absolutely rock-solid.” Shapps admitted that the situation north of Kharkov is rather dire for the Ukrainian military and blamed it on “the civilized world” not paying attention. “I think the world took its eye off the ball,” Shapps told the Telegraph, but added, “I think it’s rescuable, at this stage.” According to Shapps, other “civilized” countries should follow the UK´s lead and send even more money to Kiev, to ensure that Ukraine has all the weapons, training and equipment it needs to defeat Russia. Earlier this week, Shapps told Times Radio that London saw “no sense at all” in persuading or “strong-arming” Kiev into accepting any peace conditions and “giving up some of their territory” to Moscow. Boris Johnson, who was the British prime minister at the time, made a similar argument during his visit to Kiev in April 2022, which was seen as crucial in persuading Ukraine to reject a proposed armistice with Russia and continue fighting. Shapps was appointed defence minister last August. Unlike his predecessor Ben Wallace, he has no military experience, having been a printing salesman before entering politics. He has served in a variety of cabinet posts under several Tory governments, from housing and transportation to Home Office and net zero. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Putin and Xi meet in Beijing5/16/2024 Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing during his state visit to China on Thursday.
It is Putin’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in for a fifth term as president earlier this month. The leaders shook hands outside the Great Hall of the People building on Tiananmen Square and listened to a military orchestra perform the two countries’ national anthems. They later posed for photographs and left for a meeting between the delegations. Putin is accompanied by multiple state ministers, who will participate in the negotiations on joint projects aimed at deepening bilateral ties. In an interview with Xinhua before the trip, Putin hailed the “unprecedented level of strategic partnership” between the two states. “Having lasted three quarters of a century, China-Russia relations have grown from strength to strength despite the ups and downs, and have stood the test of changing international landscape,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. “Steady development of China-Russia relations is … conducive to peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world at large.” Russia and China have similar positions on the Ukraine conflict. Speaking to Xinhua, Putin praised Beijing for understanding “its root causes and global geopolitical significance.” China has refused to blame Russia for the tensions and instead condemned the expansion of NATO and Washington’s “Cold-War mentality.” The fighting between Russia and Ukraine entered its third year in February, with Kiev’s Western backers renewing their pledges to support Ukraine with money and weapons for “as long as it takes.” At the same time, tensions continue between China and the US in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently described China as “the main country that is enabling Russia to conduct its war of aggression.” Beijing unveiled its 12-point roadmap to peace in Ukraine last year, emphasizing on diplomacy. “We should prioritize the upholding of peace and stability and refrain from seeking selfish gains,” Xi said last month, urging all sides to “cool down the situation and not add fuel to the fire.” Beijing also rejected Washington’s sanctions policy and trade war as a way to ensure a dominant position on the world stage. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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EU shifts toward ‘War Economy’5/15/2024 The European Union’s defence industry has partially switched to a war economy, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton has said.
Kiev could face a “dangerous period” this year as the focus of Western politicians backing it has now turned to the European Parliament elections on June 6-9 and US presidential election on November 5, Breton explained in an interview with French broadcaster BFMTV on Monday. Russia may well take advantage of this “uncertainty” and “move forward” on the front line, he said. “Because of this, we in Europe have decided to significantly increase our subsidies in terms of weapons and ammunition” for Ukraine, the commissioner stressed. According to Breton, the EU is now on track to be producing 2 million shells, including 155mm calibre, per year for Ukraine. He said that it is fair to say the EU has “moved into a war economy” at least in terms of shell production. “Now the challenge is for us to move into a war economy in all segments of the European defence industry,” the commissioner added. In March, the European Commission approved the allocation of €500 million ($590 million) to boost the production of shells in the EU. According to Brussels, the bloc will be able to make 2 million shells annually by the end of 2025. Last year, the EU vowed to supply Kiev with 1 million shells by March 2024. However, it later acknowledged that it would not be able to meet this goal. Ukrainian officials said that they received around a third of what had been promised. In April, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that the switch to a war economy was “necessary” as defence spending and military orders have been on the rise across the EU. Russia has warned repeatedly that foreign weapons being sent to Kiev will not prevent Moscow from achieving its military goals, but will merely prolong the fighting and increases the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. According to officials in Moscow, the provision of arms, intelligence sharing, and the training of Ukrainian troops mean that Western nations have already become de-facto parties to the conflict. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Poland cannot give Ukraine any US-made Patriot missile systems because it does not have the full system for its own defense, Polish President Andrzej Duda reiterated on Tuesday.
Kiev has been asking its Western backers to provide more long-range air defense systems to repel Russian strikes. Poland has only just started receiving the first elements of the Patriot surface-to-air batteries that it ordered from the US seven years ago, Duda told Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. Warsaw is currently in the process of building its own defense shield, part of which will be formed by the Patriot, he added. “It’s difficult to say right now if we could be providing Patriot systems to Ukraine because, as a matter of fact, we still do not have the system in Poland, we do not have it complete to provide for our own defense,” Duda stated. Ukraine earlier received several Patriot launchers, each of which costs more than $1 billion, from the US, Germany, and the Netherlands. The Financial Times reported in April that Kiev was lobbying Poland, Spain and Romania for batteries to be donated. Both Duda and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated last month that Poland didn’t have any Patriot missile systems available to donate to Ukraine. Germany and Spain recently agreed to send additional batteries to Kiev. Greece ruled out a donation, and Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said some members of his government were against the idea of sharing such weapons. Poland has already donated $4 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine, including more than 300 battle tanks and Soviet-designed MiG 29 fighter jets, Duda said on Tuesday. Poland is modernizing its armed forces, and it must replace what it donated to Ukraine, he added. Warsaw spends 4% of its GDP on defense, which is higher than NATO´s 2.5% target. The Polish leader reiterated the claim that if Russia is allowed to win in Ukraine, it will keep attacking, and may target other neighboring countries. The Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – have increasingly voiced fears that they could be next. That would be “a huge threat to the whole world,” Duda said. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Putin to visit China this Week5/14/2024 Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China later this week to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, the Kremlin has announced.
It will be the Russian leader’s first foreign trip of his new presidential term. In a statement on Tuesday, the Kremlin said that the state visit at the invitation of the Chinese leader is scheduled for May 16 and 17. During the summit, the two leaders “will discuss in detail the entire range of issues of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction” between Moscow and Beijing, as well as determine key directions for the further development of Russian-Chinese ties. Putin and Xi will also discuss the “most pressing international and regional issues,” the Kremlin added. The leaders are expected to sign a joint statement and a number of bilateral documents, the announcement said, without giving further details. The Russian leader will also hold talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, the second-highest ranking official in the country. The meeting will focus on bilateral trade, economic and humanitarian cooperation. In addition, Putin and Xi will attend a gala marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Beijing, as well as the opening of the Russian-Chinese Years of Culture.The Russian president will also visit the city of Harbin in northeast China, which was founded by Russian settlers in the late 19th century. There, he will take part in the opening ceremony of the Russian-Chinese EXPO, which will be held from May 17 to 21. Putin will also oversee the opening of the Russian-Chinese Forum on Interregional Cooperation, and meet with students and professors of Harbin Institute of Technology. Russia and China have maintained close ties for several decades, declaring in early February 2022 that “friendship between the two states has no limits, there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.” Against this backdrop, Beijing has not denounced Moscow’s military campaign against Kiev, nor joined unprecedented Western sanctions over the conflict. At the same time, China has floated a plan to settle the Ukraine conflict, calling for a ceasefire, “respecting the sovereignty of all countries” and “abandoning the Cold War mentality.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised the initiative, noting that it is the most “clear” and detailed plan of its kind. In March 2023, Chinese leader Xi Jinping paid a landmark visit to Moscow, with the two sides signing a package of documents on economic cooperation. In October of that year, Putin traveled to the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing where he held one-on-one talks with Xi, discussing a number of “sensitive issues.” The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Kiev to get first of F-16s5/13/2024 Ukraine may receive the F-16 fighter jets promised to it by its Western backers “within weeks,” the British newspaper Evening Standard claimed, citing what it called a “high-ranking military source.”
The aircraft were due to be supplied to Kiev either by June or July, the source said. The paper did not report on which nation would supposedly deliver the jets or what their total number is to be. In March, Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren said that Denmark would be the first nation to deliver the F-16s and would do it at some point this summer. The Netherlands was to follow soon after and provide Ukraine with their batch of fighter jets “in the second half of the year,” the minister said at that time. Earlier in May, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Ilya Evlash stated that Kiev could get the jets as early as after May 5. He also admitted that the delivery date had already been “changed several times.” Kiev has been seeking to acquire the US-made jets for quite some time amid its ongoing conflict with Moscow, which entered its third year this February. In 2023, Western countries announced an international coalition to help Ukraine procure US-designed F-16s and train its pilots. More than 40 aircraft were pledged to Kiev in total by several Western nations, including Denmark, which vowed to provide 19 jets of this type, and by the Netherlands, which said it would send 24. The Ukrainian officials admitted that the country may face infrastructure difficulties in maintaining the US-designed jets. Some of the nation’s senior military officials also told Politico in April that the aircraft could even be no longer relevant, since Russia had already taken measures to counter them. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last November that, although the F-16s would surely add to Ukraine’s capabilities, they would be far from “a silver bullet” that could fundamentally change the situation on the front lines. Russia has repeatedly stated that continued Western arms shipments to Kiev only prolong the conflict without changing its future outcome. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Today, May 12, 2024, the Dresden Peace Prize was awarded to Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who died under mysterious circumstances in an Arctic Circle prison camp on February 16.
"The resistance of the opposition politician was and is an emboldening example to all the human rights defenders who are continuing his activities," the organizers said of the winner. Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya accepted the prize and the laudatory speech was held by former German President Joachim Gauck. Gauck, who had already praised Navalny as an "icon of all decent Russians" shortly after the news of his death, used a German sporting expression on Sunday and called the dissident a "feared opponent" for President Vladimir Putin. The ceremony also included a performance of "Alexei Navalny's Speeches in Court" by the Dresden State Theatre ensemble. The award comes with a €10,000 (roughly $10,800) prize. A blogger with a sense of humour Born in 1976, Navalny gained worldwide attention for his many years of work to expose corruption and human rights abuses in President Vladimir Putin's Russia. As a blogger, Navalny reached millions with his humor, especially younger Russians. In doing so, he made many powerful enemies. The Kremlin endeavored to keep him out of politics but Navalny still managed to organize supporters across the country. Businessman, lawyer, politician Navalny began his career as a businessman and lawyer. At the end of the 1990s, in his mid-20s, he became involved in the left-liberal Yabloko party but was expelled in 2007 due to conflicts with the party leadership and his nationalist views. He was subsequently active in a nationalist movement — a reason that he was also controversial in Russian opposition circles. Keeping up the fight His poisoning in 2020 attracted a great deal of international attention. Navalny was flown to Berlin for treatment and survived. He accused Russia's Federal Security Service, the FSB, and Putin personally, of attempting to murder him. Once healthy again he returned to Russia despite the risks, only to be immediately arrested at Moscow airport and subsequently sentenced to 19 years in prison. Last December Navalny went missing for several weeks. It was later discovered that he had been transferred to a penal camp in northern Siberia. Navalny believed that Russian authorities wanted to isolate him even further ahead of presidential elections in March, elections that Putin won. Powerful even in prison Before his death Navalny had lodged a series of complaints against the ongoing violation of his rights as a prisoner. Until he died, he used his court appearances to voice biting criticism of Putin's authoritarian rule and Russia's war on Ukraine. A few weeks after his death, Putin himself confirmed that there had been preparations for a prisoner exchange shortly before Navalny's death. It remains unclear why the exchange never took place or if the claim is true. Russian crackdown continues Since Navalny's death the Russian regime has continued its brutal crackdown on critics. Supporters recently expressed concern about the health of one of Navalny's close companions, Vladimir Kara-Murza. The 42-year-old was sentenced to 25 years in prison for "high treason" in April 2023 after accusing Russia of war crimes in Ukraine during a speech in the United States. Parallel to Navalny's fate, Kara-Murza's family and lawyers claim that the FSB attempted to poison him too, in 2015 and 2017. He has suffered from serious health problems ever since. A danger to Putin Navalny repeatedly drilled into the wounds of the Russian dictatorship, becoming the greatest danger to Putin and his system. That is why he became a political prisoner whose death is representative of countless people who stand up for freedom and democracy in Russia," said the statement by Friends of Dresden Deutschland association. The prize has been awarded annually since 2010 to commemorate the Allied bombing of Dresden on February 13, 1945, with the intention of countering the appropriation of the anniversary by right-wing extremists. Previous recipients include former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and the conductor Daniel Barenboim. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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Ukraine has never been in a position to get a favorable settlement to end the enduring conflict with Russia and so Washington has never actually encouraged Kiev to negotiate with Moscow, former US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and former acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has claimed.
The ex-official and one of the key proponents of supporting Ukraine through military means made the remark in an interview with Politico published on Saturday. A vast part of the interview revolved around the Ukrainian conflict, with Nuland producing a typical mainstream American assessment of it. “Let’s start with the fact that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has already failed in his objective. He wanted to flatten Ukraine. He wanted to ensure that they had no sovereignty, independence, agency, no democratic future – because a democratic Ukraine, a European Ukraine, is a threat to his model for Russia, among other things, and because it’s the first building block for his larger territorial ambitions,” Nuland asserted, without providing any supporting evidence. The official insisted that Kiev can still “succeed” in the conflict, though she dodged the question of whether she believes Ukraine could seize its former territories from Russia, including the Crimean Peninsula, which broke away from Kiev in the aftermath of the 2014 Maidan coup and joined Moscow after a referendum. It can definitely get to a place where it’s strong enough, I believe, and where Putin is stymied enough to go to the negotiating table from a position of strength. It’ll be up to the Ukrainian people what their territorial ambitions should be,” she said, adding that “whatever is decided on Crimea, it can’t be remilitarized such that it’s a dagger at the heart of the center of Ukraine.” The former official revealed Washington has never actually pressed Kiev into negotiations with Moscow, claiming its “negotiating position” was never actually strong enough, including in late 2022. “They were not in a strong enough position then. They’re not in a strong enough position now. The only deal Putin would have cut then, the only deal that he would cut today, at least before he sees what happens in our election, is a deal in which he says, ‘What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is negotiable.’ And that’s not sustainable,” she claimed. Victoria Nuland has been widely perceived as one of the key figures behind the whole Ukrainian crisis that started with the Maidan events, which ultimately brought down Ukraine’s democratically-elected president, Viktor Yanukovich, in 2014. The diplomat, who at the time was Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, infamously showed up among Maidan activists, handing out pastries. The affair became widely known as “Nuland’s cookies,” serving as a textbook example of direct US involvement in the coup. The Blog Tags Widget will appear here on the published site.
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