Russian President Putin drop’s in on the Crimea…..
Ukrainan’s ARE suffering……
Russian is looking to draft more soliders….
The battle for Bakhmut continues …
The US assure the Ukraine that DeSantis and Trump are NOT the US policy makers…..
Ukraine grain will continue to be exported….
But as the war drags on, an almost unbearable amount of pain builds up. And just like the sudden outburst at the restaurant, which surprised everyone at the table, especially the man himself, so many people here try to conceal their suffering that it creates a precarious emotional landscape, full of unmarked cliffs.
“People don’t want to open up, because they’re afraid that if they do, they’ll lose it,” said Anna Trofymenko, a psychotherapist in Kremenchuk, a city in central Ukraine…
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President Vladimir V. Putin made a surprise visit to occupied Crimea to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of the peninsula, state media reported on Saturday, a defiant gesture just one day after an international court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Mr. Putin had been scheduled to participate in ceremonies in Crimea via video link, but instead he traveled to the Black Sea port city of Sevastopol, local officials said. State media broadcast images of Mr. Putin, dressed in a cardigan, visiting a children’s art school and speaking with Mikhail Razvozhaev, the governor of Sevastopol.
“On such a historic day, the president is always with Sevastopol and the people of Sevastopol,” Mr. Razvozhaev wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “Our country has an incredible leader.”
The visit signaled the Kremlin’s determination to continue with business as usual, less than 24 hours after the International Criminal Court accused Mr. Putin of war crimes and issued a warrant for his arrest….
President Biden said the International Criminal Court was “justified” in issuing an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has “clearly committed war crimes.”
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
- About “25 million metric tonnes of grain and foodstuffs have been moved to 45 countries” since the deal was enacted in July, United Nations spokeswoman Stephane Dujarric said Saturday morning. Turkish and U.N. officials did not specify the duration of the extension. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said it was for 120 days, and Kremlin representatives did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment Saturday morning.
- Moscow said this week that it did not object to another extension, but only for 60 days. Russia has accused Western countries of failing to lift restrictions that have hampered Russia’s agricultural and fertilizer exports. Western sanctions do not target the country’s agricultural sector, but Moscow says restrictions on Russian shipping, logistics companies and banks have hindered its exports.
- Countries in the Middle East and Africa had been watching the negotiations with concern. The regions rely heavily on grain from Ukraine, and they feared that a lapse of the deal could mean rising hunger among vulnerable populations or domestic unrest.
- The ICC on Friday issued warrants for Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, accusing them of participating in the abduction and deportation of children from Ukraine to Russian-occupied territories. Ukraine is investigating more than 16,000 cases of forced removals. Neither the United States nor Russia recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, and the court does not try people in absentia.
- Putin visited Crimea on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of Russia’s illegal 2014 annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine, whose leaders want to recapture the territory. The Kremlin said on Telegram that he was touring an art and education site in Sevastopol.
- Senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials held a video call to discuss the battleground situation and U.S. support, Ukrainian officials said Saturday. The White House also confirmed Friday’s call, which involved national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley. “The U.S. officials reaffirmed the unwavering support of the United States for Ukraine as defends its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the White House statement said, adding that President Zelensky joined at the end of the call.
- Russia is likely preparing to widen its military conscription, the British Defense Ministry said Saturday. A bill introduced earlier this month proposes changing the age for serving from 18-27 years to 21-30, a change the British ministry said was probably intended to ensure that 18 to 21-year-olds, who often seek exemptions based on being in higher education, are nonetheless “eventually forced to serve.” Although conscripts are currently officially barred from serving in Ukraine, “extra conscripts will free up a greater proportion of professional soldiers to fight,” the ministry added.
- A group of European Union countries will sign an agreement Monday to buy artillery rounds for Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified E.U. official. The pact aims to quickly provide Ukraine more of the 155mm shells it has said are a vital need, as it burns through rounds in a war of attrition.
- A top Ukrainian military official said Russia has used most of its forces to try to encircle Bakhmut. Ground Forces commander Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote in a Telegram post Friday that the eastern city remains the epicenter of fighting, but fierce battles continue in Kreminna, Torske, Bilohorivka, and Spirne….