The battle for Bakhmut continues…..
Ukraine leaders say they will NOT withdraw from the area and have sent in reinforcements….
Could the next front be in Zaporizhzhia…..
It has been pointed out here that the Ukraine Spring Offense is sure to drive across the Donbas region to Mariupol or Melitopol….
In doing that the Ukraine would recover its nuclear power plant and cut the Ukraine territoty land route to the Crimea…
Doing this would probably allow Ukraine President Zelensky to agree to some sort of settlement leaving Russia with about 5% of the land it stole vs 20% right now….
Intelliegence people now think the Nord Stream pipeline dmanage may have been done by Pro-Ukraine entities….
Hungary seems ready to Ok Sweden and Finland into NATO….
Turkey seems ok for Finland…..They are still on the fence for Sweden….
Here’s a piece on the exodus of Russian’s from their country since the conflict started ……
(Remember the stories about Russian men being snatched off the streets and turning up on the frontlines without much of anything to face heavily armed Ukrainme forces?)
President Aleksandr Lukashenko said Belarus had arrested a man he said had been recruited by Ukrainian intelligence services to carry out the attack. Ukraine has denied responsibility.
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The Belarusian leader blames Ukraine’s intelligence service for an attack on a Russian surveillance plane.
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Top Chinese officials signal a harder stance against Western efforts on Ukraine and other fronts.
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A Ukrainian ex-prosecutor involved in events related to Trump’s first impeachment loses his military command.
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Police break up protests in Georgia over a ‘foreign agents’ bill that resembles an oppressive Russian law.
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Ukraine says the Wagner mercenary group is running out of prison recruits in the battle for Bakhmut.
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Conditions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have deteriorated, Ukraine says.
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Ukrainian incursions into Russia have usually been kept quiet, until now.
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Ukraine urges Kherson residents to evacuate amid Russian shelling…..
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
- There is still no forensic evidence from the blast site that ties the Nord Stream sabotage to any country, officials said. But a senior Western security official said governments investigating the bombing had uncovered evidence that pro-Ukraine individuals or entities had discussed the possibility of carrying out an attack on the pipelines before the explosion.
- Zelensky said the push to hold on to Bakhmut was “tactical,” even as some military analysts suggested Ukrainian forces should withdraw. “We understand that after Bakhmut,” Russian forces “could go further,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview that aired Tuesday. “They could go to Kramatorsk, they could go to Sloviansk, it would be an open road for the Russians after Bakhmut to other towns in Ukraine, in the Donetsk direction,” he said, naming other Ukrainian towns and cities.
- China pushed back against U.S. warnings against arming Russia. “Why, while asking China not to provide arms to Russia, has the United States sold arms to Taiwan in violation of a [1982] joint communique?” Foreign Minister Qin Gang said at a news conference. The rhetorical question appeared to be an accusation of American hypocrisy rather than a suggestion that Beijing was preparing to supply weapons to Moscow. He denied that China has provided weapons to either side in the conflict.
- Ukrainian authorities said they tentatively identified a captured soldier who was shown in a video on social media saying “Glory to Ukraine” before he appeared to be shot by Russian forces. The Post has not verified the video or the identity of the apparent victim, and it is not clear when the video was recorded. Citing preliminary information, Ukraine’s military said the soldier disappeared early last month.
- The State Department is aware of the video purportedly showing the execution of a Ukrainian soldier while in Russian captivity, spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday. “The harrowing imagery of this unarmed Ukrainian being executed after making the simple statement of ‘Glory to Ukraine’ is just breathtaking in terms of its barbarity,” Price said at a briefing. “Russia, we believe, should be ashamed of itself,” he said. “It is flouting the basic rules of war, basic humanity, basic decency… when its forces take part in atrocities like this.”
- Ukraine’s chief military officer, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, met with senior U.S., British and European commanders on Tuesday, he said in a Telegram post. The military leaders discussed security assistance and the ongoing training of Ukrainian troops, Zaluzhny said, adding that he had a “direct conversation” with the commanders about the situation in Bakhmut.
- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu described Bakhmut as “an important defense node for Ukrainian forces” in the country’s east. “Taking it under control will make it possible to conduct further offensives deep into the Ukrainian armed forces’ defenses,” he said Tuesday.
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said a Russian reconnaissance plane was damaged last monthin his country in a drone attack that was claimed by an opposition group but not confirmed by authorities. Lukashenko said authorities arrested an unnamed saboteur, whom he described as an IT expert with Ukrainian and Russian citizenship. He said the aircraft “did not suffer any significant damage” but was returned to Russia to be serviced….