The fight for Bakhmut continues…..
The Russian’s ARE working on entrapping Ukraine forces which are withdrawing…
US Attorney Gnereal Garland gets out of town and turns up in the Ukraine capital to meet the Ukraine President Zelensky….It is his second trip there….
President Biden’s admin annouces an additional $400 Million for the Ukraine….
Biden meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House…
Is the Russia economy going in the toilet?
One the countries businessmen IS saying so out loud….
Training continues for Ukraine troops in Germany….
Ales Bialiatski was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year along with recipients from Ukraine and Russia.
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A Belarusian Nobel Peace laureate is sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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As fighting intensifies, Ukraine says its forces are still holding Bakhmut.
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The U.S. attorney general meets with Zelensky during a surprise visit to Ukraine.
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The U.S. will send $400 million in new military aid to Ukraine, including precision-guided rockets.
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A Russian tycoon’s fiscal warning hints at unease with Kremlin policies….
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The U.S. imposes sanctions on six Russian officials involved in the jailing of a prominent dissident…..
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Fierce fighting continues to rage over the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The head of Russia’s Wagner Group, a mercenary outfit, claimed Friday that his fighters had “practically surrounded” the city, but a Ukrainian defender told The Washington Post that Ukrainian forces still control it and have not been ordered to retreat. Russian forces are “constantly hitting the city randomly with artillery, grads and mortars,” the soldier said.
- Russian forces have fought for months to seize Bakhmut — which would give Moscow its first symbolic victory of the year and a broader foothold in the Donbas region, even though military experts say the city is of limited strategic value.
- Wagner Group boss Yevgeniy Prigozhin said that “the pincers are closing” on Bakhmut, in a video posted Friday on Telegram in which he claimed to be speaking from a rooftop in the city. He paraded three men who appeared to be captured local fighters on camera and said Ukrainian forces should withdraw to “give them a chance to leave the city.” The Washington Post could not independently verify Prigozhin’s claims to have “practically surrounded” Bakhmut. The Institute for the Study of War, citing geolocated footage, said Thursday that pro-Kremlin forces have made gains in areas near Bakhmut.
- A Ukrainian soldier defending Bakhmut said enemy forces are “right now on three sides trying to get to us,” with some of the heaviest fighting striking the city’s south. Yuriy Syrotyuk, who is stationed with Ukraine’s Fifth Independent Assault Brigade, dismissed Prigozhin’s claims as “boasting.” In a phone interview Friday, Syrotyuk added that it does not feel as though the situation has significantly changed in the past 24 hours and that his last meal — chicken strips and rice — was even served hot, a sign of relative normalcy. Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, wrote Friday on Telegram that “intense fighting is taking place in and around” Bakhmut, as Russia “continues to accumulate forces to occupy the city.”
- The United States announced an additional $400 million in military aid for Ukraine on Friday. The arms package mostly consists of ammunition for howitzers and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS — along with Bradley fighting vehicles, demolition munitions and other equipment, according to the statement from Blinken. The announcement, less than two weeks after a $2 billion package, brings the administration’s total military aid to more than $30 billion, including nearly $20 billion in off-the-shelf drawdowns, with the rest in U.S.-funded contract purchases for Ukraine.
- A Russian anti-Putin group fighting on Ukraine’s side claimed responsibility for an attack in Russia’s western Bryansk region, which Russian officials said killed two people. The Russian Volunteer Corps said it carried out Thursday’s attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine and described it as a “terrorist attack.” Ukrainian officials have denied involvement. Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, released what it claimed to be footage of the attack on Friday, appearing to show a vehicle riddled with bullet holes and two bodies. The Washington Post could not independently verify the footage.
- The Wagner mercenary group is stepping up recruitment efforts at sports clubs throughout Russia, according to a statement on founder Prigozhin’s Telegram channel. “This effort likely represents a youth-targeted expansion of ongoing Wagner recruitment efforts,” the Institute for the Study of War said…..