The fight for Bakhmut continues….
Ukraine forces feel they have stopped losing ground….
There are whispers of a forthcoming Ukraine Spring offensive….
We do below a look at volunteers coming to the Ukraine to fight and some ending up fighting among themselves…
The UN says the vast amount of humanrights violations have come from the Russians.
But?
Some have been from the Ukraine force’s also….
China’s possible peace idea’s may not make Putin happy…
Ukraine troops combat troops continue to graduate from Western training ……
Russia is still bleeding out people against the Ukraine war….
Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe.
- U.N. human rights monitors said the vast majority of the human rights violations they documented were committed by Russian forces. Russia committed 621 cases of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions of civilians, while Ukraine committed 91, they said. They also alleged that Russia was responsible for 109 cases of sexual violence, and Ukraine for 24. Brutal treatment of prisoners of war is common on both sides, the mission said.
- Canada and the United States pledge to keep the “torch of liberty burning brightly” for Ukraine, President Biden said in an address to the Canadian parliament in Ottawa on Friday. Biden said both nations had sent military hardware to Ukraine and imposed economic sanctions on Moscow, “denying Russia critical inputs for its war machine.” He also praised Canada for taking in Ukrainian refugees and for its “strong and united” commitment to NATO, along with the United States.
- 10,000 Ukrainian civilians, mostly the elderly and disabled, face the brunt of living in the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. Those who haven’t fled fierce fighting live in “very dire conditions,” spending days facing “intense shelling” in underground shelters, said the ICRC’s spokesman Umar Khan, Reuters reported. “All you see is people pushed to the very limits of their existence and survival and resilience.”
- U.S. prosecutors accused a Russian national of espionage and wire fraud, among other charges. Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov used a Brazilian alias to study at an unidentified American university in Washington D.C., obtain a driver’s license in Virginia and make connections with “persons of interest,” before unsuccessfully trying to get a job at the International Criminal Court in April 2022, prosecutors said. He was arrested in Brazil for fraud charges.
- China’s peace proposals show it’s not fully aligned with Russia, said the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. Beijing wanted to be a “facilitator” rather than a mediator, he said, but also expressed skepticism at China’s 12-point plan, largely viewed as inadequate by the West. Borrell’s comments follow a high-profile state visit to Moscow by China’s President Xi Jinping. The focus on an economic rather than a military partnership showed there remained “some limits” to Moscow and Beijing’s ties, he added.
- Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden agreed to strengthen joint air defenses against Russia. The four countries’ air forces will ultimately aim to operate as one by integrating command and control, conducting combined airspace surveillance and joint training, according to a news release.
- Charged with war crimes by the ICC, Putin must limit travel to avoid arrest, reports The Washington Post. Some 123 countries are parties to the U.N. treaty that underpins the International Criminal Court and are in theory obligated to detain him — making much of the globe off-limits to the Russian president. The Kremlin said Friday no decisions had been made on whether Putin would attend an August summit in South Africa, a country reportedly seeking legal advice on the matter.
- Russia’s assault of Bakhmut has “largely stalled,” according to a daily intelligence update from Britain’s defense ministry Saturday. It said “tensions” between Russia’s Defense Ministry and the private mercenary group, Wagner, were probably exacerbating problems. Russian and Ukrainian forces have been locked in a stalemate of fighting for the eastern city. Moscow has “likely shifted its operational focus toward Avdiivka” south of Bakhmut, it added, suggesting an “overall return to a more defensive operational design after inconclusive results from its attempts to conduct a general offensive since January 2023.”
- Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut are “managing to stabilize” the front line, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, head of Ukraine’s armed forces, said during a phone call with his British counterpart, Adm. Sir Tony Radakin, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. However, Bakhmut remains “the toughest” part of the front line, Zaluzhny said….
Volunteer’s have flocked to the Ukraine….
Such characters have a place in Ukraine’s defense because of the arms-length role the United States has taken: The Biden administration sends weapons and money but not professional troops. That means people who would not be allowed anywhere near the battlefield in a U.S.-led war are active on the Ukrainian front — often with unchecked access to weapons and military equipment.
Many of the volunteers who hurried to Ukraine did so selflessly and acted with heroism. Some have lost their lives. Foreigners have rescued civilians, aided the wounded and fought ferociously alongside Ukrainians. Others raised money for crucial supplies.
But in Europe’s largest land war since 1945, the do-it-yourself approach does not discriminate between trained volunteers and those who lack the skills or discipline to assist effectively…
…
The International Legion, hastily formed by the Ukrainian government, spent 10 minutes or less checking each volunteer’s background early in the war, one Legion official said. So a Polish fugitive who had been jailed in Ukraine for weapon violations got a position leading troops. Soldiers told The Kyiv Independent that he had misappropriated supplies, harassed women and threatened his soldiers.
Ukrainian officials initially boasted of 20,000 potential Legion volunteers, but far fewer actually enlisted. Currently, there are around 1,500 members in the organization, say people with knowledge of the Legion.
Some are experienced fighters working as part of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. But there have been high-profile problems. A former Army private first class, John McIntyre, was ejected from the Legion for bad behavior. Mr. McIntyre defected to Russia and recently appeared on state-run television, which said he had provided military intelligence to Moscow.
Internal documents show that the Legion is struggling. Recruitment has stagnated. The Washington-based Counter Extremism Project wrote in March that the Legion and affiliated groups “continue to feature individuals widely seen as unfit to perform their duties.”….
Ted Nugent Calls Zelensky a ‘Homosexual Weirdo’
Ted Nugent appeared at Donald Trump’s rally in Waco, Texas and inexplicably called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “homosexual weirdo.”
He then called for a “moment of silence for the political prisoners in the gulags of Washington, D.C., because of jack-booted thugs in our own government.”
Russia to Put Nuclear Weapons in Belarus
“Russia has struck a deal with neighboring Belarus to station tactical nuclear weapons on its territory, President Vladimir Putin said Saturday,” NBC News reports.
“Such a move would not violate nuclear nonproliferation agreements, Putin said, adding that the United States had stationed nuclear weapons on the territory of European allies.”
Turkey’s Erdoğan urges end of Ukraine war in call with Putin
Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday called for the “immediate cessation” of the war in Ukraine during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Erdoğan also “thanked President Putin for his positive stance regarding the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative” and added that the two countries “could take further steps” when it comes to economic cooperation, the Turkish presidency’s communications directorate said in a statement on Saturday….
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