The Russian offense seems to be beginning ….
The Ukraine reports skirmishes all along the South East part of the Ukraine….
The Russian’s obviously want to get into action bwefore the Ukraine gets western tanks and armoured vehicles…(F-16’s WILL probably arrive when things are over)
The Russian plan seem to be to throw large masses of poorly trained troops at the Ukraine forces in a attempt to just plain overwhelm them….
Zelensky continues to ‘clean house’…..Now with his military which is facing a critical pharse after making headway against the Russian’s….Then stalling into a fight just to hold ground waiting for more western trained troops with morfe mocerm weapons…..
Oh, and quietly?
Russia is snooping around Africa in its eternal quest for expansion…..
Here’s what we know:
The scope of Moscow’s assault appears to be widening as Ukraine warns of a new Russian offensive.
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The Ukrainian military reports attacks at dozens of points across the eastern front.
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A possible shake-up looms in Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
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Leopard training, a Russian diesel ban and the battle for Bakhmut: What to watch for this week.
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Russia’s foreign minister heads to Mali, his third trip to Africa in recent months.
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What weapons is Ukraine getting, and will they arrive in time?
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Millions of Ukrainians will face mental health challenges because of the war, the W.H.O. country head says.
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Russia’s soaring death toll offers a grim insight into its tactics…..
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Here are some of the developments to watch this week in the war in Ukraine:
Tank Training: Ukrainian soldiers on Monday will begin trainingoutside the country on German-made Leopard 2 tanks, dozens of which were pledged by Western allies last month.
Ahead of a new anticipated Russian offensive, Western allies of the government in Kyiv are rushing battle tanks, armored vehicles and other advanced weapons to help Ukraine. Although many are not expected to arrive for months, officials are trying to condense training on the German-made tanks to a few weeks.
The United States last week announced a new $2.2 billion aid package for Ukraine that, for the first time, includes funding for a rocket-boosted weapon with a range of up to 93 miles. Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, emphasized on Sunday that his government has promised that any weapons it receives from allies would not be used to strike targets within Russia’s internationally recognized borders.
E.U. Embargo: Two months after banning most crude oil from Russia, the European Union on Sunday expanded the embargo to Russian supplies of diesel and gasoline, the lifeblood of transportation.
The escalation is aimed at further throttling Russia’s energy business, cutting it off from its most important export market. Sales of petroleum products are crucial for financing the country’s budget and, ultimately, its war in Ukraine.
Battle for Bakhmut: The founder of the Wagner private military company, whose forces have helped lead Russia’s fight for Bakhmut, said on Sunday that Ukrainian troops were “fighting to the last” in the key eastern city, denying reports on social media that Kyiv’s forces were withdrawing.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine are not retreating anywhere,” the founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in a statement posted by one of his companies on Telegram. He said Ukrainian troops were defending “every street, every house, every stairwell,” he said, as they waged an increasingly desperate effort to deny Moscow its first significant battlefield success in months.
While Mr. Zelensky has vowed that “no one will give away Bakhmut,” some Ukrainian soldiers deployed there are increasingly pessimistic about the city’s fate. They are killing Russians, one soldier recently told The New York Times, but not fast enough.
Nuclear Security: The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog will meet with Russian officials in Moscow this week to discuss security at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, the Russian news agency Tass reported.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has spent months attempting to broker a deal to create a demilitarized security zone around the facility, which has been hit by frequent shelling. He met last month with Mr. Zelensky, but a Kremlin spokesman said on Monday that Mr. Grossi would not meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia this week.
Last week, Mr. Grossi said that progress on the talks was “too slow and more determined efforts are required from all sides.”….