Mop-up operations are still ongoing in the city of Mariupol. The Russian military and the armed forces of the DPR continue to corner the remaining troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Azov nationalists in the key port city. As of Apr 7, out of 14 000 soldiers of the AFU, including servicemen of the Azov regiment, besieged in Mariupol a month ago, around three thousand are still fighting. The center of the city and almost all administrative buildings have come under the control of Russian and DPR troops. AFU units and Azov fighters are divided into three groups, which are besieged at the Azovstal, the Ilyich plant, and the seaport area. Assault units of the DPR People’s Militia and the Armed Forces of Russia, including Chechen soldiers of the regiment named after the Hero of Russia Akhmat-Hadji Kadyrov, have already entered the territory of Azovstal.
The assault on the plant began from the northern direction, under close artillery fire and airstrikes from the Russian Aerospace forces, but the advance faces fierce resistance from Azov fighters. The artillery of the Russian military and the DPR pounded the remnants of the AFU and Azov in the port of Mariupol. According to the DPR, the besieged nationalists burned a number of ships in the port, including the Donbass command ship of the Ukrainian Navy. According to unconfirmed reports by Russian military commanders on the ground and several sources, NATO officers, including high-ranking commanders of the US and European Armies may be blocked in Mariupol. The reports about NATO commanders taking shelter with Azov militants in Mariupol may explain why NATO member states especially France and Turkey insist on carrying out a humanitarian mission in Mariupol, but only with the participation of their military.
On the other fronts in the Donbass, heavy fighting continues. The Russian military and the armed forces of the LDPR continue to push forward in the region of Izyum despite fierce resistance from the AFU, nationalist units and foreign mercenaries. Joint forces are moving towards Barvenkovo and Slavyansk. At the same time, joint Russian-DPR forces continue to advance west of Donetsk city. The village of Sladkoe came under their control on Apr 7. Developing the offensive, the grouping of the Russian Armed Forces completely blockaded the village of Novomikhailovka and began to mop up the nationalists inside. In pursuit of the retreating units of the 54th Mechanised Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russian units have also blockaded the city of Ugledar and are now fighting on its outskirts. Meanwhile, the Russian military continued its missile strikes on military targets in different parts of Ukraine. On Apr 6-7, air- and sea-launched missiles destroyed four fuel storage bases near Nikolaev, Zaporozhye, Kharkov and Chuguev from which Ukrainian forces were supplied with fuel near Kharkov, Nikolaev and Donbass. A strike with air-launched missiles also hit a cluster of Ukrainian military equipment at the Novograd-Volynsky railway station in the Zhytomyr region. As a result of the strike, equipment prepared for deployment to the Donbass was destroyed.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, on Apr 7, Russian air-defense systems shot down two Ukrainian military helicopters in the air, a Mi-8 and a Mi-24, near the city of Kherson. Also destroyed were six drones near Novoselovka II, Chervonaya, Novogradovka, Ilovaisk, Khartsizsk and three other drones, including two Bayraktar TB-2s, over the settlements of Krivoy Rog and Trudovoi. According to the most recent briefing by the Russian Ministry of Defense, 125 Ukrainian warplanes, 95 helicopters, 416 UAVs, 227 anti-aircraft missile systems, 2,003 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 220 MLRS, 869 field artillery and mortars, as well as 1,902 units of special military vehicles have been destroyed since the beginning of the Russian special military operation. The city of Mariupol will likely remain the hottest front for the next few days. The Russian military and the armed forces of the DPR and LPR will not likely develop their offensive on the other fronts in Donbass before Mariupol is fully secured.
Mariupol: Russian Forces Gained Strategic Position, Secure Evacuation Of International Crews South Front, Apr 9 2022
On April 8, first footage from the port of Mariupol confirmed that the Armed Forces of the DPR and the Russian Federation partially took control over several facilities and reached the port moving from the west along the sea coast. The port of Mariupol is one of the three main strongholds of the AFU, including militants of the nationalist Azov regiment, in the city. According to some reports, most of the seaport is already under the control of the Russian military. Currently, clashes continue in the area and joint forces are likely pushing Ukrainian fighters towards the large industrial plant of Azovstal located in the Left Benk district of Mariupol.
DPR, Russian forces took control of a coast guard post located on a hill next to the port, which served as a military base of the AFU, and where the AFU radar stations guarding the coast of the city and the nearest districts were located. Now the facility, which was severely damaged during the clashes, serves as an important observation post of the DPR forces, from where they monitor the port and prevent attempts by Ukrainian aircraft to approach the city for the evacuation of Ukrainian commanders, Azov fighters, as well as NATO military personnel who may be reportedly blocked in the city. The video shows that the territory was fortified with equipped trenches. During the retreat, the Ukrainian nationalists fled to the nearby civilian sector and fired from civilian houses.
Evacuation of some crews was secured
The military confirms that crews remain on the vessels that were blocked in the city, among them citizens of various states, including Russians, Ukrainians, Azerbaijanis. Their evacuation is not possible at the moment, since this territory is under fire of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to approximate data, more than 100 sailors remain on the ships.
The sailors were held captive for more than a month. There are reportedly women among the team members. 7 civilian vessels could not leave the city port after Azov militants mined sea routs in the area.
The main battles in Ukraine continue on the Donbass front lines. Despite fierce resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their heavily fortified positions in the region, the LDPR armies supported by Russian forces continue to slowly advance in different directions, claiming victories on a daily basis. On Apr 7, the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that units of the Russian armed forces blockaded the town of Ugledar, where the mop-up operation was launched. The main forces of the units of the 54th Mechanized Brigade of the AFU were forced to retreat to the north. The major Russian assault on Ugledar is expected to begin in the coming days.
On Apr 6, footage of strikes on civilian facilities in Ugledar was shared online. Civilian casualties were not avoided. So far, civilians have not been evacuated from the town. Ugledar risks to be significantly damaged after street fighting breaks out.
In the south of the DPR front lines, main clashes continue between the towns of Velikaya Novoselka and Ugledar. The situation in the town of Velikaya Novoselka remains unchanged. There have been no reports about any progress of Russian troops in the area for about a week. The main clashes reportedly continue on the eastern outskirts, near the village of Blagodatnoye. Russian forces are yet to cross the Kashlagach River to advance in the direction of the Zaporozhye-Donetsk highway. On the south-western outskirts of the city of Donetsk, Russian forces are advancing fast towards the town of Mariinka from the south.
On Apr 6, Russian forces took control over the village of Sladkoe, located about 30 km to the south Mariinka. The 11th unit of the DPR PM broke through the AFU defence after fierce clashes in the area. During the day they advanced more than a dozen kilometres and reached the village of Novomikhailovka. On Apr 7, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed that the Russian armed forces completely blockaded the village of Novomikhailovka. The mop up operation against the AFU remnants in the village was launched. The advance is slowed down by the heavily fortified positions of the AFU in Novomikhailovka, as well as by the artillery shelling from the AFU positions near the village of Kostyantinovka. Battles for the control over the towns of Olexandrivka and Mariinka continue for more than two week. No side has claimed any significant successes in the towns so far.
DPR troops supported by Russian forces are pushing Ukrainian positions out of the city of Donetsk in order to end shelling on civilian areas which have continued for years. The pressure significantly increased after a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile hit the center of the city of Donetsk on Mar 14. As a result of the bloody and senseless attack dozens of civilians were killed and wounded. The advance is slow, fierce clashes continue and the shelling on civilians continues. Dozens of civilians in the DPR and LPR are killed and wounded on a daily basis.
DPR air defense systems hit targets over the city of Shakhtersk
Artillery fire on the AFU positions south of Mariinka
Battles in Mariinka
Another hotspot in the Donbass region is the area of Avdiivka. The last success claimed by the DPR troops was the capture of the village of Novobakhmutivka, north of Avdiivka. DPR and Russian troops avoid entering the streets of Avdiivka. They have recently imposed control over the smaller villages to the north of the town and have secured their positions in the area. The fortified positions of the AFU near Avdiivka are constantly shelled by the DPR artillery and the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are carrying air strikes almost on a daily basis.
Avdiivka is an important stronghold of the AFU on the North-Western outskirts of the city of Donetsk, from where the AFU artillery constantly shelled the nearby areas, including civilian facilities and houses. In the Donetsk region Russian high-precision air-launched missiles hit the railway stations Pokrovsk, Slavyansk, Barvenkovo. Weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian troops who were destroyed.
Strike with high-precision ammunition “Krasnopol” on the AFU positions
In the LPR, no significant advances on the main front lines have been recently reported. The main hotspots remain the town of Popasnaya and nearby areas and the Severodonetsk-Lisichansk agglomeration. Fierce clashes continue in the town of Popasnaya. No advances were reported by any side for more than a week. Artillery shelling has significantly intensified from the both sides. Pervomaisk and Zolotoe are the main strongholds of the LPR Army in the region.
To the north of Popasnaya, clashes continue on the approaches to the town of Novotashkivske, which is under the AFU control. On April 7, LPR forces took control of the 29th checkpoint on the road west of the town. The fighting for this area has been going on since 2014. It was a fortified position of the AFU, which controlled the road to Lisichansk. It was difficult to approach the checkpoint in an open area and forces of the LPR were not enough for an assault. Today, LPR troops deployed their equipment in the area, preparing for the assault of the AFU in Novotashkivske.
On the outskirts of the city of Severodonetsk, LPR are yet to repel Ukrainian forces from the souther regions of Rubezhnoye. The town is heavily shelled by the AFU artillery, clashes on the streets continue. North of Rubezhnoye, the AFU have launched a counterattack, however any successes are yet to be confirmed. While the southern outskirts of Rubezhnoe are yet to be secured, a big number of the T-80 tanks of the LPR were spotted heading to the firing line in Severodonetsk. On Apr 8, a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile hit the railway station in the city of Kramatorsk. The bloody provocation of the AFU lead to at least 30 civilian casualties.
Recently, no changes were reported in the Izyum area in the Kharkiv region. Fighting continues for the villages of Suligovka and Dolgenkoe, from where Russian are expected to move towards the city of Slavyansk or Barvenkovo to surround the AFU groupings on the Donbass front lines. An attempt of counter offensive of the AFU was reported in the village of Topolskoye, southwest of Izyum. Heavy fighting broke out, but the AFU reportedly suffered heavy losses and were forced to step back. They hold their positions on the outskirts and continue shelling on Russian forces in the village.
Rare air raids by Ukraine aircraft and helicopters also continue in the area of Izyum. At the moment, the both sides are reinforcing their positions in the area. The AFU are amassing forces in the towns of Kramatorsk, Artemovsk, Druzhkovka. Heavy machinery and trucks with Ukrainian soldiers are continuously driving along the highway through the city towards Konstantinovka. The AFU is constantly shelling the town of Izyum, especially at night time. Russian forces provide evacuation of civilians from the town. On Apr 8, the first Russian column with humanitarian aid came into the city.
LDPR and Russian forces are slowly advancing on several front lines in the Donbass region. Mainly positional battles and artillery duels continue in the region. It is expected that the major assault will begin after the AFU grouping in the city of Mariupol is destroyed. Some Russian and DPR troops have already been sent from Mariupol to the Ugledar region to support the advance on the southern front lines of the Donbass. The Russian reinforcement also comes from the Kiev and Chernihiv regions. Some of these units were already deployed in the Kharkiv region. At the same time, Moscow does not even announce a partial mobilization in the country to strengthen the grouping in the Donbas. Not so long ago, Russian volunteers were allowed to go to Ukraine. Earlier, it was announced about 16k military personnel wishing to join the Russian troops from abroad, including from Syria. However, the mechanism of their transfer to Donbass has not yet been worked out, and it is unknown whether they will go to Ukraine at all.
Ukrainian troops are supplied with more advanced weapons and heavy equipment from the West. That’s why it is vitally important for the Russian Army to destroy the supply facilities, oil depots, roots and rail ways which are used for transfer of reinforcements to the AFU groupings in the Donbass. What is not an easy task. Moreover, the third wave of general mobilization was launched in Ukraine. Reservists who graduated from military departments of universities, as well as those who were not mobilized during the previous mobilization waves will be conscripted into the Armed Forces. Time is flying, and the advance of Russian troops, DPR and LPR forces must be accelerated in order to lead to any strategic successes in the East of Ukraine.
Russia Strikes Train Station, Ukraine Says, as Thousands Flee From East. “Dozens” were feared dead and injured, a local official said, after a missile strike in Kramatorsk, which had been a main point of evacuation for people trying to leave eastern Ukraine.
Two missiles struck the station, according to the head of Ukraine’s national rail system, Oleksandr Kamyshin. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of Donetsk regional military administration, said the Russian military used Iskander short-range ballistic missiles.
A pro-Ukrainian twitter account also describes this as a result of the missile attack (the time stamp is UTC+2):
Reports from Kramatorsk indicate that a Russian ballistic missile carrying cluster munitions hit the train station, killing more than 30 people. Strikes using ballistic missiles are weighed carefully & it's clear that this strike was a premeditated attack on evacuating civilians. pic.twitter.com/VAiiWGnu0o
The same account describes this as the remains of the booster section of the missile that hit the train station:
The side of the Russian missile that killed 30+ civilians in Kramatorsk says "for the children" in Russian, implying that Russia is avenging the killing of children. Hard to imagine a more fitting symbol for Putin's war. pic.twitter.com/kw5Em4ovYK
Another view of the debris from a different account:
It says "За детей" – "For the children" (as in: revenge for the children). I'm no expert on missiles, does that look like it was shot down by AA? pic.twitter.com/5VpIKbaNqD
— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) April 8, 2022
A check with Tineye proves that the pictures above have not be published earlier. They are new. The booster section of a missile typically departs from the war head in mid-flight and lands separately. However, the booster section shown in the above pictures is from a Tochka-U missile. Here are pictures from GlobalSecurity.org of the SS-21 SCARAB (9K79 Tochka) system. The booster section is the aft half to the right:
When unfolded the fins and the grid stabilizers are clearly identifiable.
Russia, unlike the Ukraine, is no longer using Tochka-U missiles. They have been replaced by Iskander missile systems. As the not recently edited Wikipedia entry about Tochka operators says:
Russia – 220 launchers. Missile systems have been upgraded since 2004 (replacing the onboard automated control systems) and are scheduled to be replaced by the 9K720 Iskander missiles by 2020.
In a Mar 16 press release Russia denied that its forces still use Tochka-U missiles:
UN, Mar 16. TASS – Tochka-U tactical missiles are not in service in Russian Armed Forces, Russian mission to the UN said in its letter to the UNSC and UNGA. “Given the proven record of the Kiev regime promoting false allegations and fake evidence, it should be noted that Tochka-U tactical missiles are not in service in the Russian Armed Forces,” the letter says.
Ukraine, which has retained some 90 launcher systems for Tochka-U missiles from Soviet times, has recently firedseveral of these against Russian and Donbas forces. I have failed to find any recent reports of the use of Tochka missiles by Russian forces. This clipping from the most recent Southfront map shows Kramatorsk right in the middle and not immediately near the frontline.
A current situation report says that Russia has recently systematically disabled train tracks along the Ukrainian supply lines to the Donbas front:
As the big showdown in Donbass looms, a lot of forces are pouring in on both sides. Russia has shifted strategies and is now striking railway stations and reinforcement hubs / corridors, as many have hoped it would do. Overnight there were several reports of important railway hubs being hit by missiles. One near Zhytomir, which is possibly the single most important reinforcement hub to the frontlines in all of western Ukraine. Reinforcements being sent to frontlines were reportedly destroyed in the strike, though there’s no visual confirmation. And another in Kharkov region just south, in Lozovaya, which evoked a video message plea from the Kharkov mayor who said railways were hit, oil has run out, but pleaded for people not to flee (presumably because the militants who control him need citizens to use as hostages / human shields just like in Mariupol). As can be seen on this map, the Lozovaya junction is a critical resupply / reinforcement route for the Ukrop Donbass cauldron and specifically their stronghold of Kramatorsk, which had been the central headquarters of the entire JFO for some time. And other reports said a railway bridge was hit leading to that junction as well.
Of note is that so far all Russian attacks on train junctions were reported to have happened at nighttime. As Russia has already interrupted the train lines west of Kramatorsk, and thereby stopped resupplies to it, it has no need to attack Kramatorsk station at all. It is therefore almost assured that it was a Ukrainian missile that today hit Kramatorsk station. It was either aimed badly, went off course or was intentionally aimed at it for propaganda purposes. (The ‘for the children’ marking in Russian on the booster section may point to the later cause.) We have no further information for us to decide which is the case.
This is a follow-on to yesterday’s Tochka-U missile strike on the Kramatorsk railway station. Russia no longer has Tochka missiles while the Ukraine, Belarus and several other states still use them. There is now additional evidence that the missile was fired by Ukrainian forces. The facts do not matter in ‘western’ media, which stick to whatever story they are told to produce. Still, I do believe that facts matter at least in the long term and that there is a historic value in documenting them. The Tochka-U is a tactical missile with a maximum range of some 120 km. It is typically fired from a transporter, erector, launcher vehicle (TEL) with little need of preparations. The TEL vehicle for the Tochka is a six wheeled BAZ 5921/5922. These are amphibious floating hull chassis. The picture below shows a BAZ TEL in parade mode with a Tochka missile slightly erected. In the normal transport mode the missile lies horizontally under a protective roof.
There were several claims of such vehicles being seen in Belarus or with Russian forces in Ukraine. But not every six-wheeled BAZ vehicle can be said to be a Tochka missile TEL or Tochka transporter. There are various look-alike variants of the vehicle with radar or communication equipment or simply used as transporters or ferries for all kind of goods.
The Tochka missile, below in a firing position, consists of a rocket engine, four fins and grids to direct its course, a solid fuel compartment and a warhead. A complete missile weighs about 2,000 kg.
There are various warhead types available which weigh about 500 kg each. The warhead which was used in Kramatorsk is a fragmentation one with 20 sub-munitions (gray) each with some 7.5 kg of explosives.
These sub-munitions get expelled and explode while still in the air and each one creates some 800 fragments. The warhead thus leaves no hole in the ground but expels a huge number of deadly metal fragments at high speed over a relative large area. The Tochka missiles are not very precise. They have a circular error probability (CEP) of some 150m. They are so called area weapons to be used against concentrations of infantry or unarmored vehicles. After being fired, the rocket engine propels the warhead towards is destination. Shortly before the impact, the warhead separates from the missile or booster section and continues its path while the rocket engine shuts down. Having lost its drive and aerodynamic tip the booster section will then tumble to the ground. If everything works as designed the booster section always falls short of the warhead section. Which brings us to the scene in Kramatorsk. Several pictures from the scene show the booster section of the missile.
The place where it landed was geolocated as being near a parking space some 60m WSW of the railway station. Here is the Google maps view of the railway station area. The warhead explosions happened on the east side of the station over the departure platform. The location of the booster debris and where the explosion happened allows one to point out the trajectory from where the missile was fired. I have checked the locations depicted below and found them to be correct.
North is to the top. The station is encircled and the point is where the booster section landed. The arrow shows the trajectory the missile must have taken. Oh, the map is annotated in Russian and you don’t trust Russian sources? Well, here is the NYT posting a similar map:
About 4,000 people were at the Kramatorsk train station trying to escape eastern Ukraine when a missile strike tore through it on Friday, killing at least 50 people and wounding nearly 100, according to Ukrainian officials.
Here is a map from Liveuamap depicting the current front lines in Ukraine. Kramatorsk is marked in yellow.
Note that there are no Russian or Russia-aligned forces WSW of Kramatorsk within the 120 km maximum range of a Tochka missile. The missile must have been fired by Ukrainian forces. Unsurprisingly the Russian military has come to the same conclusion:
An analysis of the engagement radius of the warhead, as well as the characteristic position of Tochka-U missile’s tail section, clearly confirm that it was launched from a south-western direction away from Kramatorsk. According to intelligence reports, one of the divisions of the 19th Missile Brigade armed with Tochka-U missile systems at the time of the strike on Kramatorsk was located near Dobropol’e in Donetsk Region, 45 km SW of Kramatorsk. This area is still under the full control of the Ukrainian military grouping troops in Donbass.
The publicly available evidence shows that the Ukrainian military must have fired the missile that killed some 50 Ukrainian civilians in Kramatorsk. The only purpose of the attack I can think of was to create propaganda that, when distributed as ‘Russian attack’ through ‘western’ media, will create more military support for Ukraine. Everyone who urges to give more arms to the Ukraine or who eggs it on to continue this war is guilty of creating impetus for more incidents like the one seen in Kramatorsk.
British politician and broadcaster George Galloway has made headlines in the UK with his threat to press legal action against Twitter for designating his account “Russia state-affiliated media,” a label which will now show up under his name every time he posts anything on the platform. A viral tweet by Galloway reads:
Dear @TwitterSupport I am not “Russian State Affiliated media”. I work for NO #Russian media. I have 400,000 followers. I’m the leader of a British political party and spent nearly 30 years in the British parliament. If you do not remove this designation I will take legal action.
Galloway argues that while his broadcasts have previously been aired by Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik, because those outlets have been shut down in the UK by Ofcom and by European Union sanctions he can no longer be platformed by them even if he wants to. If you accept this argument, then it looks like Twitter is essentially using the “state-affiliated media” designation as a marker of who Galloway is as a person, rather than as a marker of what he actually does. Regardless of whether you agree with Galloway’s argument or not, this all overlooks the innate absurdity of a government-tied social media corporation like Twitter labeling other people “state-affiliated media.” Twitter is state-affiliated media. It has been working in steadily increasing intimacy with the US government since the US empire began pressuring Silicon Valley platforms to regulate content in support of establishment power structures following the 2016 election. In 2020 Twitter was one of the many Silicon Valley corporations which coordinated directly with US government agencies to determine what content should be censored in order to “secure” the presidential election. In 2021 Twitter announced that it was orchestrating mass purges of foreign accounts on the advice of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), which receives funding from many government institutions including the US State Dept. Veteran Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh told Mintpress News earlier this year:
ASPI is the propaganda arm of the CIA and the US government. It is a mouthpiece for the Americans. It is funded by the American government and American arms manufacturers. Why it is allowed to sit at the center of the Australian government when it has so much foreign funding, I don’t know. If it were funded by anybody else, it would not be where it is at.
Twitter has also coordinated its mass purges of accounts with a cybersecurity firm called FireEye, which this 2019 Sputnik article by journalist Morgan Artyukhina explains was “founded in 2004 with money from the CIA’s venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel.”
[Thread] Twitter is partnering with a crazy, hawkish, US-govt & arms industry funded think tank to regulate false info online.
This should be alarming to anyone who cares about truth, free speech or peace, as my new @MintPressNews investigation explains:https://t.co/8Wi11qfpf3
It has been an established pattern for years that whenever Twitter reports that it has purged thousands of accounts which it suspects of inauthentic behavior on behalf of foreign governments, you know it’s never going to be accounts from US-aligned countries like the UK, Israel or Australia, but consistently from US-targeted nations like Russia, China, Venezuela or Iran. You can choose to believe that’s because the US only aligns with saintly governments who would never dream of engaging in unethical online behavior, but that would be an infantile position which defies all knownevidence. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Twitter has been aggressively boosting US narratives about the war by frequently showing users a Twitter Topic without their having subscribed to it which is full of imperial spinmeisters, including The Kyiv Independent with all its shady CIA–affiliated origins. Twitter also promotes US narratives about the war by keeping a “War in Ukraine” section perpetually on the right-hand side of the screen for desktop users, which runs stories that are wildly biased toward the US/NATO/Ukraine alliance. There was a full day last month where any time I checked Twitter on my laptop I was informed that “Russia continues to strike civilian targets in Kyiv and across Ukraine.” The claim that Russia had been “targeting” civilians during that time was dismissed as nonsense shortly thereafter by US military experts speaking to Newsweek.
This is the message desktop Twitter users are receiving at the top right of their screen. We talk a lot about Silicon Valley's role in facilitating US government censorship, but we should probably talk a lot more about its role in facilitating US government propaganda as well. pic.twitter.com/PL9ms8gVU7
When the invasion began Twitter also started actively minimizing the number of people who see Russian media content, saying that it is “reducing the content’s visibility” and “taking steps to significantly reduce the circulation of this content on Twitter.” It also began placing warning labels on all Russia-backed media and delivering a pop-up message informing you that you are committing wrongthink if you try to share or even ‘like’ a post linking to such outlets on the platform. Twitter also began placing the label “Russia state-affiliated media” on every tweet made by the personal accounts of employees of Russian media platforms, baselessly giving the impression that the dissident opinions tweeted by those accounts are paid Kremlin content and not simply their own legitimate perspectives. This labeling has led to complaints of online harassment as propaganda-addled dupes seek out targets to act out their media-instilled hatred of all things Russian. As more and more people find themselves branded with the “Russia state-affiliated media” label, Twitter has concurrently announced that it will be hiding the visibility of any account that wears it, announcing on Tuesday that the platform “will not amplify or recommend government accounts belonging to states that limit access to free information and are engaged in armed interstate conflict.” Which is a bit rich, considering the fact that the US does both of those things. Twitter said:
This means these accounts won’t be amplified or recommended to people on Twitter, including across the Home Timeline, Explore, Search, and other places on the service. We will first apply this policy to government accounts belonging to Russia.
This diminished visibility has been verified by people who’ve been slapped with the “Russia state-affiliated media” label. So you can understand why imperial narrative managers whose job is to quash dissent want that designation applied to as many critics of the US empire as possible.
Incredible. It appears every account hit w/ the “Russian state-affiliated media” label is not only shadow banned from Twitter but banned from appearing in searches by new users—all in the name of protecting free speech and democracy.@HelenaVillarRT@rachblevins@afshinrattansipic.twitter.com/U9xb78U1FZ
If you are curious why the “state-affiliated media” label has not been applied to Twitter accounts associated with government-funded outlets of the US and its allies like NPR and the BBC, it’s because Twitter has explicitly created a loophole to exclude those outlets from such a designation. Twitter’s rules say:
State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.
Which is of course an absurd and arbitrary distinction. Whether you like George Galloway or not, I think anyone who’s familiar with his personality would agree that if anyone ever tried to take away his editorial independence and tell him what he is or isn’t permitted to say, it would take an entire team of surgeons to remove Galloway’s footwear from their personal anatomy. Many people who’ve worked with Russian media have said they’ve never been told what to say, and Galloway is surely one of them. The audacity of a social media company which works hand-in-glove with the most powerful government on earth to go around branding people “state-affiliated media” is appalling. Twitter is state-affiliated media. It is an instrument of imperial narrative control, just like all the other billionaire Silicon Valley megacorporations of immense influence. Putin could only dream of having state media that effective.
Secretary general for defense: Our aim is to double allied presence ERR, Apr 8 2022
Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense Kusti Salm said that Estonia will head to the NATO summit this summer seeking the doubling of allied military presence in the country. This would grow Estonia’s wartime force to 50k members. Salm said: “This level can be achieved if NATO can have a division-size land unit in each of the three Baltic countries. This would involve doubling the current allied presence in Estonia. The division will have to consist of a division headquarters, an allied mechanized brigade, made up of a headquarters and at least three battalions. A division-level formation that would have an indirect fire, air defense, intelligence or other unit which is being negotiated in terms of what our allies can contribute, as well as prepositioned equipment as part of the decision. All of this will create certainty that NATO can have a land division in Estonia on the brink of war: units physically present in Estonia, units that are trained and know every patch of forest, every local government, how to fight a war in Estonia and that have considered maneuvers and other operational aspects from every possible aspect. We will be in intensive talks April through June on the military, diplomatic and political levels. These will be especially important with our British and American, but also Baltic colleagues. The decision should materialize by the third week of June, which is when a NATO defense ministerial is planned.”
Germany and Britain vowed to send Ukraine more weapons and work together to put pressure on Putin, downplaying differences over imposing tougher sanctions on Moscow. Speaking after talks in Downing Street, PM Boris Johnson said the UK would send a further £100m worth of military equipment, including precision munitions that can linger in the sky until they find their target. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany would also continue deliveries to Kyiv. Scholz said: “Unity is key: unity in the EU, unity in the G7 and in NATO.”
CYBERCOM has played a pivotal role in shielding networks and critical infrastructure stateside and abroad in the run up to and during Russia’s attack on Ukraine, its leader told Congress this week. Along with tasking teams with identifying cyber vulnerabilities and threats, operations that have since “bolstered the resilience of Ukraine” and others, the command has gleaned and shared intelligence, worked hand-in-glove with US government and industry, and pursued extensive contingency planning, Gen Paul Nakasone said Apr 5. In Ukraine, specifically, CYBERCOM has provided remote analytic support and conducted network defense activities, Nakasone testified. The general is also the director of the NSA.
ForMin Aurescu: New NATO strategic concept must explicitly mention Russia as the main threat to Alliance Nine O’Clock News, Apr 7 2022
A new NATO strategic concept must explicitly state that Russia poses the main threat to the Alliance’s security. Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Thursday, before the meeting of the foreign ministers from NATO member states, which is held in Brussels: “We need to reflect on strengthening the Eastern flank’s posture in the Alliance. We need to reflect clearly on the fact that collective defence is the key task of the Alliance. We also need to focus on more issues, such as strengthening the resilience of the allies and a new, innovative strategic agenda of relations with the Alliance’s partners. I underscored, in this context, that the strategic concept must explicitly state that Russia is posing the main threat to the security of the Alliance right now.” Aurescu also underscored the need to create “as soon as possible” the NATO Battle Group in Romania, approved in the second half of March.
ForMin Aurescu talks with British counterpart need to strengthen Allied defense position on Eastern Flank Agrepres, Apr 7 2022
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, met on Thursday in Brussels with the British counterpart, Liz Truss, the two officials having a “consistent” exchange of views on the regional security situation, with emphasis on the Black Sea area, and the concrete ways of NATO’s response to the new context, the Foreign Ministry (MAE) informed in a press release. The meeting took place on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the North Atlantic Alliance’s headquarters. According to the release, Truss and Aurescu discussed the implications of the new security reality and concrete ways of intensifying the Romanian-British cooperation in this context. They also stressed the importance of continuing the support for the Republic of Moldova. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “The head of the Romanian diplomacy presented the serious security situation in the Black Sea region and referred to the need for the accelerated consolidation, in a coherent and unitary manner, of the Allied position of deterrence and defense on the Eastern Flank, including in its south, at the Black Sea.” Minister Aurescu referred especially to the accelerated operationalization of the Battle Group in Romania and to the acceleration of the process of transformation and adaptation of NATO. The Romanian Foreign Minister welcomed the United Kingdom’s contribution to the Allied position on the Eastern Flank, especially in the Black Sea region, and in the case of Romania in the field of NATO air policing. Bogdan Aurescu also referred to the need to finalize and sign the new Joint Declaration of Strategic Partnership between Romania and the UK.
Bulgarian soldiers are in Mariupol to rescue trapped Bulgarian sailors Novinite, Apr 8 2022
Prime Minister Kiril Petkov announced: “A special group of Bulgarian military under the command of the Chief of Military Intelligence Gen Venelin Venev is in Mariupol to pull the sailors from the Bulgarian ship blocked there. The group was ready to withdraw the crew earlier this week, but the situation was too risky. I would also like to assure you that General Venev, who is personally responsible for this operation, is in communication with both the Russian side and the Ukrainian side.” According to the Prime Minister, there are 15 Bulgarians on board the ship Tsarevna.
Russia is expelling two Bulgarian diplomats in retaliation for Bulgaria’s “groundless” decision to expel two Russian diplomats in March, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said on Apr 8. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the Chargé d’Affaires of the Bulgarian embassy, Nikolai Trifonov, had been called to the ministry to be presented with a note declaring the two persona non grata. On Mar 2, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry announced that it was expelling two Russian diplomats. This was followed on Mar 18 by the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats, and on Apr 2, by the expulsion of the First Secretary of the Russian embassy in Sofia, in both cases after investigations established that they had been committing espionage. On Mar 24, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said that the country’s ambassador in Moscow was being recalled to Sofia for consultations. The Prime Minister signalled that he expected that the Kremlin would retaliate by recalling the Russian ambassador in Sofia, Eleonora Mitrofanova.
Pentagon Press Sec Admed the following readout: Sec Def Austin spoke with Slovak Minister of Defense Jaroslav Nad’ to salute Slovakia for providing a critical S-300 air defense system to Ukraine. The two leaders discussed the important role the defensive system would play in supporting Ukraine and saving lives in that country. Minister Nad’ thanked Secretary Austin for EUCOM’s upcoming repositioning of a US Patriot system to Slovakia to help ensure deterrence and defense of NATO territory.
Slovakia has sent its S-300 anti-aircraft missile defence system to Ukraine. The secret transfer allegedly took two days, according to private broadcaster TV Markíza, which broke the news, reported on its website. PM Heger announced: “I would like to confirm that Slovakia has provided Ukraine with an air-defence system S-300.” Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď later added that the USA would send another Patriot missile defence array to Slovakia, which will be added to the Patriot system already provided by Germany and the Netherlands. Earlier this week, TV Markíza confronted Naď with video footage from Sereď (Trnava Region), where military equipment resembling the S-300 system was was being loaded onto military transporters. At the time, the minister said that they were carrying out many logistic operations to secure the operation of NATO troops coming to Slovakia and that he had no idea what the equipment was.
Slovakia confirms Patriot, S-300 air defense systems are heading to Ukraine AP, Apr 8 2022
Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad says the US will deploy a Patriot air defense system in his country next week. Friday’s announcement came shortly after Slovakia donated its Soviet-era S-300 air defense system to Ukraine at its request. Nad previously said his country was willing to provide its S-300 to Ukraine on condition it has a proper replacement. Additionally, Germany and the Netherlands have agreed to send troops armed with Patriot missiles to Slovakia as part of 2,100-strong force made up of soldiers from several NATO members states, including the US. The force will form a battlegroup on Slovak territory to boost NATO defenses on the alliance’s eastern flank.
The Japanese government said Friday it will expel eight Russians including diplomats in a concerted effort with the US and European countries, strongly condemning Moscow’s killing of “many innocent civilians” in Ukraine. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the decision was made “given the current situation in Ukraine,” though he failed to elaborate on Japan’s first expulsion of Russian diplomats over the Ukraine crisis. Even as Russia is likely to take counter-measures such as sending Japanese diplomats there back home, Japan will “take all possible measures to protect activities of Japanese nationals and businesses in Russia,” the premier said at a press conference. Japan’s Vice Foreign Minister Takeo Mori summoned Russian Ambassador to Japan Mikhail Galuzin and told him about Tokyo’s decision after he referred to recent reports of alleged atrocities of civilians in the suburbs of Kyiv, according to the Foreign Ministry. The eight Russians include diplomats at the Russian Embassy and personnel of Russia’s trade representative, according to the ministry. The last time Japan carried out an expulsion was in 2012 when the then Syrian ambassador was sent home in protest at violent actions against civilians by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the official said.
Japan punishes Russia over Ukraine with import bans, asset freezes Kyodo News, Apr 8 2022
Japan will enforce additional sanctions against Russia over alleged “war crimes” in Ukraine, banning imports of coal and vodka, freezing assets held by major lenders Sberbank and Alfa Bank and halting new investments, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday. The five-point sanctions list is part of Japan’s latest efforts to add economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia, Kishida told a press conference. Japan will target an additional 400 individuals for asset freezes, including lawmakers and those linked to the Russian military, bringing the total to around 550. It has already frozen the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his subordinates, considered by the G7 to be “the architects” of the aggression in Ukraine. The number of organizations whose assets are frozen will double to around 40 under the bolstered sanctions regime. Kishida said: “Russia has committed repeated violations of international humanitarian law by killing civilians and attacking nuclear power plants.” To hold Russia accountable for its “cruel and inhumane” acts, Japan supports an investigation by the International Criminal Court into the aggression that began in late February, he said. Shortly before Kishida’s press conference, the Japanese Foreign Ministry announced that it will expel eight Russians, including diplomats, from Japan, joining similar moves by the US and European nations. Japan’s raft of economic and financial sanctions could risk significantly worsening bilateral ties with Russia after years of efforts to resolve a territorial dispute and sign a postwar peace treaty. Kishida said: “Japan will reduce dependence on Russian energy as a whole, including crude oil.” Kishida touched on a speech by Zelensky, who addressed the Japanese parliament virtually last month. Kishida said: “President Zelensky said Japan is the first Asian nation to have applied pressure on Russia. Keep up the sanctions.” During the press conference, Kishida said increased activity by Russia’s military around Japan was concerning, as it comes at a time when the international order has been shaken to its core by Moscow. Japan has pledged support for the people of Ukraine. In a rare move, the nation, known for its strict immigration and refugee policy, has begun to take in people fleeing the war-torn country.
Japan will phase out Russian coal imports, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday, in a major shift toward cutting its reliance on a nation facing renewed condemnation for its invasion of Ukraine and alleged atrocities. The decision, part of Japan’s expanded sanctions against Russia, reinforces its resolve to be aligned with other Group of Seven nations to punish Moscow. But the resource poor nation now faces the challenge of finding alternative sources to satisfy its domestic energy needs. Kishida said at a press conference: “Japan will ban Russian coal imports. We will gradually cut imports by securing alternative sources swiftly.” Russian coal makes up 13% of the total used for power generation in Japan. With most of Japan’s nuclear power plants offline since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi disaster, coal-fired thermal power is one of the major electricity sources. Australia will likely be among alternative sources of coal to replace Russian imports for Japan, which relies almost entirely on overseas coal. Industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said at a regular news conference: “We will work further to reduce our dependency on Russia by pushing forward the diversification of energy sources including renewables and nuclear power.” Energy has been one of the key areas for cooperation between Japan and Russia as Tokyo sought to improve ties with Moscow by resolving a territorial dispute. Besides coal, Japan imports LNG from Russia. Regarding Sakhalin oil and gas projects in the Russian Far East, industry minister Hagiuda said Japan will not withdraw from them because they are not subject to new investments and they are considered vital to the country’s energy security.
Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger on Friday said the EU member had given Ukraine an S-300 air defense system, adding that it did not mean Slovakia had joined the conflict with Russia. He added that Slovakia’s defense “will be strengthened in the coming days by an additional missile defense system from our allies,” Heger said. The comments from Heger came as he was visiting Kyiv with top EU officials ahead of a planned meeting with Zelensky on Friday. Zelensky mentioned S-300s by name when he spoke to US lawmakers by video last month, appealing for defense systems that would allow Ukraine to “close the skies” to Russian warplanes and missiles. NATO members Bulgaria, Slovakia and Greece have the S-300s, which can fire missiles hundreds of kilometers and knock out cruise missiles as well as warplanes. Slovakia previously said it was willing to give its S-300 to Ukraine on the condition that it has a proper replacement. Last month, Bratislava said it would provide the Russian-made anti-aircraft missile system to Ukraine only on the condition that it receive a substitute to avoid a NATO security gap.
If there was ever a time to fast-track NATO’s expansion in the Balkans, now is the time. Led by the US, the West should move to integrate the Balkans within the Atlantic Alliance. The Biden administration is now in a unique position to push for the accession of Bosnia and Kosovo into NATO. By integrating both Bosnia and Kosovo, the Biden administration would achieve a significant milestone. Furthermore, the US should exert pressure on the EU to bring Bosnia and Kosovo closer to full membership. Similarly, the EU should change its policy and open the door to Kosovo. The country’s commitment to the West has been proven on multiple occasions. The country remains committed to joining both NATO and the EU. Biden is now into his second year, with mid-term elections coming up this November. While his administration has responded well to the invasion of Ukraine, Biden still needs to consolidate his foreign policy legacy. Almost three decades ago, Biden was a hawkish senator advocating a robust American response to the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. As president, Biden is in a position to move forward with the integration of Bosnia and Kosovo into NATO. Fast-tracking NATO accession for Bosnia and Kosovo would also be scoring a major foreign policy success that would dovetail with Biden’s commitment to the Balkans in the 1990s.
Finland plans to apply for NATO membership in the first week of May, according to local news report on Friday. Finnish news outlet Iltalehti said Helsinki will start preparations to join the military alliance on Apr 14 and membership application will be submitted in the first week of May. Meanwhile, Alexander Stubb, former prime minister of the Nordic country, said Finland “will apply within weeks” and latest by May. He tweeted: “In the beginning of the war I said that Putin’s aggression will drive Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership. I said it was not a matter of days or weeks, but months. Time to revise: Finland will apply within weeks, latest May. Sweden to follow, or at the same time.” In an interview with Anadolu Agency during last month’s Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said: “We keep the NATO option. According to opinion polls, the majority of Finnish citizens are in favor of NATO partnership.” Another recent survey by YLE said 112 of the deputies in the Finnish parliament support NATO membership, while 71 oppose and 17 of them are undecided. Separately, in his speech at the NATO foreign ministers meeting on Thursday, Stoltenberg said if Finland and Sweden wanted to join the alliance, this demand would be fulfilled quickly.
At a meeting with Nordic journalists, Stoltenberg reiterated on Thursday that a political decision on Finland’s NATO membership could be made very quickly if necessary. A decision on membership would also open the door to political protection during the ratification period, Stoltenberg said. Stoltenberg also spoke with Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) at a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels. Among other topics, Stoltenberg expressed his interest in the ongoing NATO discussion in Finland. He said that there is no ambiguity about the positions of NATO countries on Finland’s membership. Stoltenberg told journalists: “I am sure that NATO’s 30 member states will warmly welcome Finland as a member of Nato and that we can make a decision quickly.” Stoltenberg assessed that the decisive factor in Finland’s membership will be to invite Finland to join NATO. This would happen after Finland submits a potential application. He also said that this decision to invite Finland into NATO would offer it political protection during the ratification process. Stoltenberg said Russia protested whenever NATO expanded. Nevertheless, the number of NATO members has doubled since the end of the Cold War.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog: I hope to see us fulfil an additional milestone, in the opening of the Azerbaijan Embassy in Israel Azeri Press Agency, Apr 8 2022
President of the State of Israel Isaac Herzog wrote in his letter of congratulation addressed to President Ilham Aliyev on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries: “This anniversary is an opportunity to commend the good bilateral relations between the State of Israel and the Republic of Azerbaijan, which include collaboration in various fields. This auspicious occasion of the renewal of the relations is close to my heart, as my father, the late Sixth President of the State of Israel, Chaim Herzog was the President at the time. As we mark this significant landmark in our relations, I hope to see us fulfil an additional milestone, in the opening of the Azerbaijan Embassy in Israel [to] attest to our close and strategic ties. I would like to reiterate my invitation to Your Excellency to visit Israel during this upcoming year, so we may jointly inaugurate your new embassy. It gives me great pleasure to also wish you and all the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan a very happy and healthy Novruz. May these relations continue to expand and deepen in the future.”
President Ilham Aliyev receives co-chair of Israeli-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission, Minister of Tourism Yoel Razvozov AzerTag, Apr 5 2022
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today received Israeli Co-Chair of the Israeli-Azerbaijani Joint Intergovernmental Commission, Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov. Touching upon relations in the economic sphere, the head of state stressed the importance of cooperation in the energy sector, noting that Azerbaijan is one of Israel’s important oil suppliers. President Ilham Aliyev expressed satisfaction with the participation of Israeli companies in the restoration and reconstruction work carried out in our liberated territories. The head of state noted that the two countries had been successfully cooperating in the military-technical sphere for many years. President Ilham Aliyev noted the participation and courage of members of the Jewish community in the first and second Armenian-Azerbaijani wars. “Israel has always supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We welcome the restoration of the territorial integrity of your country. This is very important,” the guest said. Yoel Razvozov said that Israeli companies are interested in participating in the liberated territories of our country in various fields.
US Sailors and Marines joined multiple Allied Nations in kicking off US Sixth Fleet’s Exercise Northern Viking 2022 in Keflavik, Iceland, Apr 2 2022. Participating NATO Allied Nations include France, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, the UK and the US. The combined forces bring significant capabilities across the air, land and at-sea domains. US Navy and Marine Corps forces include the USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) Amphibious Ready Group/22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, P-8A Maritime Patrol Aircraft from Keflavik Air Base, the underway replenishment oiler USNS Patuxent (T-AO-201), Sailors from Task Force 68 and the submarine USS John Warner (SSN 785). “We look forward to operating side-by-side with our Icelandic Allies while enhancing professional relationships and improving overall coordination with Allied Nations.”
Azerbaijani Defence Minister Col-Gen Zakir Hasanov along with the top brass has inspected a number of combat positions in liberated Kalbajar and Lachin regions on the state border, the ministry reported on Apr 8. Hasanov instructed the relevant officers on how to organize combat duties and improve the troops’ fighting capacity. Later, the minister toured the newly constructed military facilities in Kalbajar and Lachin regions.
A joint meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament’s legal policy and state building committee along with the defence, security and anti-corruption committee has been held in liberated Shusha city, local media reported on Apr 8. The draft law on the approval of the memorandum of understanding between the governments of Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia on the “Caucasian Eagle” military exercises of special forces was first presented to the deputies for discussion. This is the first meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament committees held in Shusha since the city’s liberation from the 30-year Armenian occupation in 2020. Shusha, which was occupied by Armenian forces on May 8 1992, was liberated from Armenia’s occupation on Nov 8 2020. The city, which played a critical role in liberating Karabakh, is located on the road to Khankandi, the region’s largest city. President Ilham Aliyev declared 2022 as the “Year of Shusha.” Considering the historical and cultural significance of the second capital for the Azerbaijani nation, this is a big step in the promotion of our country. The declaration of 2022 as the “Year of Shusha” will provide new opportunities to demonstrate Azerbaijan’s determination in restoring liberated territories, according to officials.
The defense ministers of Turkey, Italy, and the UK are scheduled for a tripartite meeting in Istanbul late on Apr 8 for discussing bilateral and regional security and defense cooperation, along with the issue of Ukraine. Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini and British Defense Minister Ben Wallace would attend the tripartite meeting slated to be hosted by Defense Minister Hulusi Akar in Istanbul, the Defense Ministry said.
Turkey’s top diplomat has said he will be in the US in May for talks with his US counterpart as part of the recently launched Strategic Mechanism, which aims to bolster ties between the two allies. Çavuşoğlu will meet with Blinken in Washington on May 18, in a first highest governmental level meeting between the two countries since the Biden administration took office in Jan 2021. Talking to reporters following a meeting at NATO in Brussels, Çavuşoğlu said he received an invitation from Blinken for the talks slated for May 18. The meeting comes as the dialog between the two allies gained serious momentum in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Turkey and the US have launched what they call the Strategic Mechanism, a format that brings different institutions of the two sides together for a more comprehensive and holistic review of ties. Çavuşoğlu said: “Anthony Blinken has invited me to Washington on May 18 to hold the meeting at the level of foreign ministers. We will discuss this issue at this meeting. We want this mechanism to be goal-oriented and fruitful.” Turkey and the US are negotiating over the former’s demand of purchasing 40 new F-16 fighter jets and 80 modernization kits for its existing fleets. A letter sent to the Congress by the State Department expressed the administration’s positive approach toward the sale. The minister described his talks with his NATO counterparts, stressing that all the allied countries were praising the role Turkey has been playing since the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Çavuşoğlu said: “We observe a serious attitude change. They emphasize they know the importance of Turkey. Some countries had already taken steps in a bid to ease restrictions in the field of the defense industry. Countries such as Canada also said they want to take steps accordingly.”
Bomber Task Force trains with Exercise Frisian Flag NATO, Apr 8 2022
Allied fighters integrated with two US B-52s during Exercise Frisian Flag in Leeuwarden Air Base, Netherlands on Apr 7 2022. The Allied fighters from France, Canada, Italy, Germany the UK and the US have been participating in the high intensity combat training over the past two weeks. This mission saw both Allied fighters and heavy bombers working together on escort procedures as well conducting strikes against land based targets. This is the second time the US bombers have supported a large-force exercise during this deployment. Gen Jeff Harrigian, NATO Allied Air Command and USAF Europe Commander, said: “This is a prime example of exercising our forces as a collective.” Last month, Allied fighter aircraft and support equipment arrived in Leeuwarden to participate in the two-week exercise.
Ruling party head: Georgia won’t be used to circumvent sanctions imposed against Russia Agenda.ge, Apr 8 2022
Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Thursday Georgia would not be used to circumvent sanctions imposed against Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine. Kobakhidze also accused the United National Movement opposition party in having an “obvious goal” to see economic sanctions approved against Russia, and “involve this country in the war,” leading to “dire consequences for Georgia and its people.”
Parliament Speaker to Ukraine’s Georgian diaspora: Georgia “on frontlines” of Ukraine war Agenda.ge, Mar 28 2022
The war in Ukraine “must end as soon as possible,” and the “human tragedies we see in the 21st century must be stopped,” Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said on Monday in a remote meeting with representatives of Georgian diaspora organisations in Ukraine. In the meeting, Papuashvili spoke about the specific steps being taken by the Georgian legislative and executive authorities to support Ukraine amid the Russian invasion, and highlighted the heightened tensions in the Black Sea region caused by the conflict. This war must end as soon as possible. The human tragedies we see in the middle of Europe in the 21st century must be stopped,” Papuashvili said to the diaspora members while also telling them Georgia’s “support for Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, [the country’s] territorial integrity and sovereignty is strong and unequivocal.”
Georgian, Canadian FMs discuss bilateral relations, Black Sea security issues Agenda.ge, Apr 8 2022
Bilateral relations, security issues in the Black Sea region and Canada’s support for Georgia were discussed on Thursday in a meeting between the Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili and his Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly. Joly underlined Georgia was “a valued partner of the Alliance,” emphasising the country’s role in regional security and Canada’s strong support for Georgia’s integration into NATO, the Georgian foreign office said. The top Canadian diplomat said her country was ready to help Georgia overcome the existing challenges and strengthen its capabilities. Ilia Darchiashvili also briefed his counterpart on the situation in the Russian-occupied regions of Georgia.
Air Defense Will Shoot Down Russian Aircraft Flying To Transnistria – General Staff Of Armed Forces Of Ukraine Ukrainian News Agency, Apr 7 2022
Ukrainian air defense systems will shoot down military aircraft of the Russian Federation when they try to get into the territory of the unrecognized “Transnistrian Moldavian Republic.” The head of the Public Relations Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Bohdan Senyk announced this to the Ukrinform publication today, Apr 7. On Mar 9, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that Russia could use up to 800 military personnel of the unrecognized “Transnistrian Moldavian Republic” in the war in Ukraine. Senyk said: “Ukrainian air defense forces will shoot down military and military transport aircraft of the Russian Armed Forces over the territory of Ukraine in the event of attempts to transfer them to Tiraspol.”
The Biden administration announced that it would send 12k anti-tank systems, 1,400 anti-aircraft systems, hundreds of kamikaze drones, and other weapons to Ukraine as part of a military assistance package to repel Russian attacks. This shipment of weapons goes in addition to $100m worth of weapons previously pledged from US stockpiles. It includes $300m approved a week ago as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, under which new weapons will be purchased from defense contractors for shipment to our country. The list of weapons transferred to Ukraine includes:
Over 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems
Over 5,000 Javelin anti-tank systems
Over 7,000 other anti-tank systems
Hundreds of tactical Switchblade UAVs
Over 50 million rounds
45k sets of body armor and helmets
Laser-guided missile systems
Puma UAVs
Night vision devices, thermal imaging systems, and optics
Commercial satellite imagery services
As Ukrainian News Agency eported, on Apr 7 the US Senate unanimously voted to resume the lend-lease program, which will allow the country’s leadership to supply weapons to Ukraine more efficiently and promptly. On Apr 6, Blinken announced that the American side intends to supply Ukraine with 10 anti-tank systems per Russian tank located in its territory. Meanwhile, Austin publicly announced for the first time that the US is providing the Armed Forces of Ukraine with intelligence data for operations in Donbas, where the second phase of the war unleashed by Russia is now beginning.
US Sec Def Austin for the first time publicly stated that the US provides the Armed Forces of Ukraine with intelligence for operations in the Donbas, where the second phase of the war unleashed by Russia is now beginning. He stated this during a speech to the US Senate Armed Forces Committee, CNN reported. Austin said: “We are providing them intelligence to conduct such operations in the Donbas. That’s correct.” He also stressed that the US is not discouraging Ukraine from launching attacks against Russian forces in these areas.
At a foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels last week, NATO paired an escalation of the US-led confrontation against Russia with bellicose condemnations of China and pledges to expand NATO’s presence in the Indo-Pacific region. The focus of the summit was on Ukraine. The political exploitation of Russia’s reactionary invasion, provoked by the US and NATO, to activate long-standing plans in Washington and Berlin for an aggressive war targeting Moscow was on full display. NATO and its member states pledged vast weapons shipments to the US-backed regime in Kiev, on top of the billions of dollars worth of armaments sent in recent weeks. This was linked to the other front in American imperialism’s drive to maintain global hegemony: its plans for conflict with China. That was signalled in the attendance at the meeting. US Indo-Pacific allies Japan and South Korea were invited to the foreign ministers’ meeting for the first time. They were joined by Australia and New Zealand, both partners in the US-led Five Eyes network. The Australian government, as it has during the past month, functioned as an aggressive attack dog of the Biden administration, seeking to use the Ukraine crisis to ramp up pressure on Beijing. According to Australian media reports, the country’s foreign minister Marise Payne lobbied for NATO to commit to greater intervention in the Indo-Pacific, explicitly directed against the Chinese regime. The Murdoch-owned Australian newspaper reported:
NATO has agreed to an Australian request to step up co-operation in the Asia-Pacific region, including in areas of maritime security, noting that China’s unwillingness to condemn Russia’s aggression in Ukraine poses ‘a serious challenge.’
In addition to a meeting with Blinken, Payne held a closed-door discussion with Stoltenberg, even though Australia is not a NATO member. In his closing public remarks, Stoltenberg declared that NATO had “agreed that we must support other regional partners under pressure, and we agreed to step up co-operation with our partners in the Asia-Pacific because the crisis has global ramifications. He said:
We have seen what is happening in Ukraine is being closely watched around the world. We have seen that China is unwilling to condemn Russia’s aggression and Beijing has joined Moscow in questioning the right of nations to choose their own path.
In reality, the Chinese government has reacted nervously to the Ukraine crisis. It has pointed to the central role of the US in stoking the crisis, through the 30-year eastward expansion of NATO and the transformation of Ukraine into a US-armed garrison state on Russia’s border. But it has not endorsed the Russian invasion, nor provided it with any assistance. Despite this, US allies, led by Australia, have denounced China’s refusal to condemn the Russian operation as “unconscionable.” The Australian government, backed by the Labor Party opposition, has threatened to extend the sweeping sanctions imposed against Russia to China if it allegedly provides any aid to the Russian operation in Ukraine. Australian government ministers have sought to draw a parallel between Russia’s actions and supposed Chinese aggression against Taiwan. In fact the US has deliberately transformed Taiwan into a key flashpoint in its aggressive confrontation with Beijing. Biden’s administration, following on from Trump’s, has undermined the One China policy, under which Beijing is recognised as the government of all of China, including Taiwan. Biden has sent senior officials to Taipei, along with military advisors, and threatened war if Beijing seeks to establish control over the island. The plans for an expanded NATO presence in the Indo-Pacific coincide with the push by several European powers, including France and the UK, to extend their military influence in the region. But above all, the focus on China at the summit was driven by the US.
The Australian reported that Payne and Blinken expressed “shared concerns” over the revelation last month that there was a supposed draft military agreement between China and the tiny Pacific nation of Solomon Islands. The US and Australia have both warned publicly against the deal, and are doing everything they can to prevent it from being signed. This underscores the fraudulent character of claims that the US-led build up in the Indo-Pacific is directed at ensuring the rights of countries throughout the region. Instead, Washington and its partners, like Australia, are seeking to shore up their hegemony over the Indo-Pacific and block growing Chinese influence. The aggressive character of this campaign was underscored by a joint announcement by Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British PM Boris Johnson, timed to coincide with the NATO meeting. Expanding AUKUS, an Indo-Pacific military alliance of the three countries established last September, they unveiled a program to build hypersonic missiles, some of which would be stationed in Australia. The development of these advanced long-range weapons systems, which could carry nuclear payloads, is part of an escalating military buildup by the three countries. Australia is planning to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, hasten its construction of missiles, build new naval bases and expand its military. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian condemned the hypersonic missiles announcement as a move that would “undermine peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.” He warned:
Their ultimate goal is to create the Asia-Pacific version of NATO and serve US hegemony outright. Asia-Pacific countries are of course firmly opposed to this.
The state-owned Global Times cited the comments of Yang Xiyu, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, who said the Brussels meeting was a further step in NATO’s eastward expansion. He wrote:
The US has used NATO to shift its global strategic focus and alliance system to the east. From the Iraq war to the Afghan and Syria wars, we have witnessed NATO’s more frequent military operations outside NATO and more NATO members’ presence in the South and East China Sea and the Asia-Pacific region.
Australia’s prominence at the NATO summit and in the hypersonic missile announcement demonstrates its central role in the US plans for war against China. This has a domestic political component. With a federal election due to be called, the Liberal-National Coalition government and the Labor opposition are competing with one another in their hawkishness and military aggression. Virtually every day brings a new government announcement of expanded defence spending. For his part, Labor leader Anthony Albanese is pitching his party to the military-security apparatus as a more reliable partner for the Biden administration. Labor has sought to outdo the Coalition, demanding over recent days that the government expel Russian diplomats from the country, in line with the actions of the US and several European powers. Albanese has denounced Putin as a “war criminal,” without any substantiation, echoing earlier comments by Biden that seek to block any diplomatic resolution to the Ukrainian crisis. The turn to a “khaki election” is also aimed at diverting widespread anger over the disastrous official “live with the virus” COVID policies, soaring inflation and accelerating social inequality.
Imran Khan attends a military parade in Islamabad, Mar 23 2022.
(Photo: Anjum Navid/AP)
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ordered parliament to meet Saturday and remain in session until a vote on an opposition motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government is concluded. According to all reports, the motion is all but certain to pass. Such an outcome would legally compel Khan and his cabinet to resign, paving the way for the opposition parties to form an alternate government, which would aim to hold office until the next regularly scheduled general election in 2023. With the military signalling that it no longer supports Khan, the government has suffered significant defections in recent days. Both PTI coalition partners and PTI legislators have crossed over to the opposition. The National Assembly had been due to act on the opposition no confidence motion last Sunday, Apr 3. However, capping weeks of desperate manoeuvres to prevent a vote or exclude those who had defected from the government from participating, Khan prevailed on Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri, a staunch Khan loyalist, to void the motion and shut down parliament. Khan then instructed the largely ceremonial president, Arif Alvi, to dissolve parliament and call a snap election. But the PTI leader retained his full powers as Prime Minister pending the setting of an election date and the formation of an interim election-campaign government.
Suri justified his suppression of the opposition motion, on the face of it a flagrant violation of basic constitutional norms, by claiming Khan and his government were the victim of a “foreign conspiracy.” This only echoed the assertions of Khan, including in a televised address to the nation, that a foreign power understood to be the US is determined to remove him from office. Over the course of four days last week, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court heard the petitions from the opposition parties challenging the legality of Deputy Speaker Suri’s actions. In a short ruling issued Friday evening, the court unanimously declared Suri’s voiding of the no confidence motion “contrary to the Constitution and the law and of no legal effect.” It further declared parliament “to have been in existence at all times, and continues to remain and be so,” thereby annulling the presidential dissolution order. Making clear that no further delay in acting on the opposition’s no-confidence motion should be brooked, the court stipulated parliament must meet no later than 10.30am on Saturday and remain in session until the vote on the motion is taken. The Supreme Court ruling has received enthusiastic backing from the establishment press, further indicating Khan’s loss of support within the capitalist elite. In an editorial highly critical of Khan, Dawn, the country’s most widely read English daily, welcomed the court ruling, which it said had “defeated a most egregious assault on the country’s democratic order.”
The political-constitutional donnybrook in Islamabad is unfolding amid a massive economic crisis that compelled the Khan government to again seek IMF support at the beginning of the year and has fueled seething popular anger over soaring inflation, mass joblessness and endemic poverty. As of Apr 1, the country’s foreign reserves had declined to $11.3b, which is not even sufficient to pay the country’s import bill for the next two months. Yet the IMF has announced that it will halt its bailout program until a new government is formed and presumably recommits to the massive austerity program the PTI coalition government agreed to implement. The COVID-19 pandemic and now the NATO-Russia war over Ukraine have dealt body-blows to an already crippled economy. Pakistan’s central bank has said inflation in March was higher than expected, acknowledging a major spike in the cost of food, diesel and other essentials. Persistent double-digit inflation has already substantially increased food insecurity across the country, including among salaried workers. As part of the IMF bailout package, subsidies have been slashed and sales taxes, whose burden fall far heaviest on working people and the poor, hiked.
The economic crisis, coupled with the government’s privatization and austerity policies and its ruinous mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, have drastically eroded the popular support for Khan and his PTI. Prior to coming to power, Khan had demagogically denounced his opponents’ repeated implementation of IMF austerity and “structural readjustment” programs. But once in office, he quickly reneged on his claim he would never turn to the IMF and has worked with it to impose the full burden of the country’s economic crisis on the backs of the masses. Khan’s indifference to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the already unbearable living conditions for the vast majority of the population. His government has only officially acknowledged 30,361 pandemic deaths. A study published in the medical journal The Lancet in March estimated the true death toll to be more than 664k. The opposition parties are exploiting the mounting popular anger against Khan. Moreover, the Islamabad elite is aware of the increasing danger that the simmering popular anger erupting against the government could rapidly develop into an open rebellion against the utterly corrupt political establishment as a whole. Sections of the ruling elite are no doubt following the emergence of mass protests in Sri Lanka with increasing alarm. Ultimately, however, it is the military, the real powerbroker in Islamabad, which has directly ruled the country for over half of its existence and controls its foreign and security policy, that is playing the decisive role in the almost certain ouster of Khan.
Two main issues are at stake in the power struggle unfolding in Islamabad. The opposition campaign, which is led by the PML-N and PPP, the two parties that dominated parliamentary politics from the late 1980s to Khan’s election in 2018, is animated by more than just lust for pelf and power. Large sections of the ruling class have concluded that Khan is incapable of implementing highly unpopular policies dictated by the IMF. After Khan attempted to slash prices of fuel and electricity to placate growing mass anger, the IMF criticized the government’s “one step forward, two steps back” approach in March. Khan had just received a $1 billion loan tranche in February. Khan’s critics fear that the country’s economy will be in freefall if it fails to secure IMF support. Secondly, serious differences over foreign policy are being bitterly fought out in Islamabad. Khan’s professed policy of “neutrality” in the US-NATO war with Russia over Ukraine has been sharply condemned by the US and other Western powers and opposed by the Pakistani military. Addressing a security conference in Islamabad on Apr 2, the day before parliament was originally to debate the no-confidence motion, the Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa contradicted Khan, declaring:
Sadly, the Russian invasion against Ukraine is very unfortunate. Despite legitimate security concerns of Russia, its aggression against a smaller country cannot be condoned.
The military top brass hope to patch up Pakistan’s seriously frayed relations with the US, which have deteriorated sharply over recent years as Washington has made India a frontline state in its diplomatic, military, and economic offensive against China. Pakistan’s military believes it can take advantage of India’s significant economic and military dependence on Russia to present Islamabad as a more dependable ally to the US than Delhi. Broad sections of Pakistan’s elite, which have found themselves ever more economically reliant on China under conditions in which Washington has made India its principal South Asian ally, are hoping to restore some type of precarious balance in its relations with its two principal traditional partners. After the vote on the no-confidence motion was scheduled, Khan publicly accused the US of demanding his ouster. He stated that a diplomatic communication in Washington he received through his ambassador warned of “dire consequences across the world” for Pakistan if he is not voted down in the parliament. There is no doubt Washington would welcome his ouster. However, Khan’s rage did not extend to the military establishment that was clearly opposing his foreign policy and tacitly allowing the challenge of the opposition to gain steam. The military has a long history of close ties to Washington and the Pentagon that were always separate from the relations of the civilian government with the US. The military is widely acknowledged to have orchestrated Khan’s 2018 election victory from behind the scenes, but later distanced itself from the government, especially over the past year.
Eight British trade unions are officially taking part in a “Unions stand with Ukraine Demonstration” in London today, supported by the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine. These are the GMB, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), ASLEF, TSSA, the University and College Union (UCU) and the supposedly more radical Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU). This is a politically filthy event, lending support to the right-wing government of Ukraine as a means of lining up behind the US, Britain and other NATO powers whose proxy war against Russia it is fighting. The demonstration’s condemnation of the Russian invasion is not a show of “solidarity with the people of Ukraine” as it claims, but with the imperialist powers trying to perpetuate the bloodshed and using the country as a staging ground for a wider war for regime change in Moscow, with China the next target. The character of the protest is shown by its organiser, the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, fronted by pro-NATO warmonger Paul Mason. In a promotional video for the demonstration Mason insists:
Everybody progressive in the world has the duty to side with Ukraine, to give them the arms they need, to give them the money they need…
Stirring the inflammatory hysteria generated by unfounded government and media propaganda, he accuses the Russian army of “potential genocide.” There is nothing to distinguish Mason’s comments from those of Johnson or Biden. They are working to the same agenda. Mason’s role in this partnership is to open up a “left” cover for the war drive by mobilising the trade union bureaucracy and presenting it as the voice of working people. Shortly before the Russian invasion, he led a “Labour, Plaid Cymru and trade union delegation” to Ukraine including ASLEF train drivers’ union leader Mick Whelan and the head of the essentially defunct NUM, Chris Kitchen. They met with members of the Territorial Defence Brigade in Kyiv sporting the insignia of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), Stepan Bandera’s Nazi-collaborationist organisation during WW2.
A tweet posted by Mason showing volunteers with OUN patches on uniforms in a discussion with a “Labour, Plaid Cymru and trade union delegation” to Ukraine.
Once the war had begun, Mason and the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign joined in a witch-hunt of the Stop the War Coalition for its criticisms of NATO’s eastward expansion. The Corbynite “left” Labour MPs and the trade unions rapidly abandoned their long association with a group now placed beyond the pale. Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell led the way, joining Mason on a Ukraine Solidarity Campaign protest on Feb 26 and pulling out of a STWC event days later. Mason has now gained fresh recruits to his campaign for a NATO victory over Russia in the GMB, TSSA, UCU, PCS, BFAWU and CWU. The NUJ also published details of today’s demonstration for “members wishing to attend.” The right-wing nationalist character of the protest is clear, whatever weasel words are employed by this or that trade union about their commitment to “peace.” In the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign’s video publicising tomorrow’s demonstration, speakers declare “Sláva Ukrayíni!” and “Heróyam sláva!”, slogans associated with the Ukrainian nationalist movement, particularly the OUN, and the contemporary neo-Nazi brigades which form the shock troops of Ukraine’s armed forces.
To line up behind the Zelensky government and its fascist allies in the name of working-class solidarity is grotesque. During the 2014 US-backed coup that overthrew the government of Viktor Yanukovych and established the current pro-NATO setup, far-right forces at the centre of the movement carried out a massacre in Odessa’s trade union hall. Since its bloody birth, the Ukrainian regime, together with the US and European Union, has carried out a staggering impoverishment of the mass of the population. That programme was being accelerated in the run up to the war. In late 2019 and early 2020, the government attempted to push through a new labour code allowing the termination of contracts without reason, reducing overtime premiums, expanding the use of zero-hours contracts, limiting the number of trade unions allowed representation in each workplace, increasing the number of members required to start a union and allowing managers to refuse to negotiate with unions. The UN special rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association commented:
Several provisions, if approved, might be incompatible with Ukraine’s obligations under international human rights law and standards.
When these moves were defeated by popular opposition, the government attempted to achieve the same ends through a series of smaller laws removing labour law protections, allowing employers unlimited use of successive short-term contracts, granting additional grounds for dismissal, scrapping protections for the disabled and young workers, removing working time, rest period, overtime and leave guarantees, and restricting union organising rights. The British state and the Johnson government was closely involved. Last November, Open Democracy reported on a “communication plan” designed to push the “liberalisation” agenda which was drafted by an international development consultancy and bore the seal of the British embassy in Kyiv. The document was supported the Foreign Office’s £150m UK Aid Direct fund.
Rishi Sunak with Frances O’Grady of the TUC and Dame Carolyn Julie Fairbairn of the CBI,Sep 24 2020
(Photo: Frank Augstein/AP)
As in every country, the Ukrainian trade unions would have acceded to the government’s demands. The same Open Democracy article quotes Pavlo Prudnikov, deputy head of Ukraine’s Nuclear Power and Industry Workers Union, saying:
We’ve shifted to an extent to a different form of activity: tripartite negotiations on labour reform with government, business and unions.
The war has dramatically accelerated this offensive. A new law passed by the Ukrainian parliament last month On the Organising of Employment Relations During Martial Law:
removes trade unions’ right to resist dismissals;
extends the normal working week by 50%;
allows employers unlimited rights to stipulate the beginning and end times of workdays;
allows employers to transfer workers between jobs and change their working conditions without consent;
relaxes restrictions on involuntary redundancy;
allows women to be employed in heavy and underground work; and
removes restrictions on overtime, night and weekend work for employees with young children.
One can only imagine the outcry at such legislation were it passed in Russia. The Ukrainian trade unions have waved through this assault on the working class, with openDemocracy reporting of one union spokesperson:
He explained that in wartime trade unions would not oppose the changes, which he hopes will be temporary.
The European and International Trades Union Congresses (ETUC & ITUC), who in Dec 2019 denounced the Ukrainian government for “side decisively with oligarchs and multinational enterprises against its own people”, now support anti-Russian sanctions by “by governments which support democracy and the rule of law” in support of Ukraine’s “democratic state.” The support of Britain’s trade unions for Zelensky and NATO’s war drive flows from their domestic role as allies of the Johnson government and the employers in sabotaging every struggle waged by the working class. In the course of the pandemic, a long process of corporatist integration of the trade unions into the structures of company management and the state took finished form. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) joined the Labour Party in supporting a massive handout of cash to the corporations and then policing a return to unsafe workplaces and schools in line with the Tory “herd immunity” agenda. As lockdowns ended, the trade unions turned to finishing off major industrial disputes they had sat on for months. But even after more than a year of betrayals and sellouts, at British Gas, British Telecom, throughout public transport, in universities, schools and hospitals, strikes have continued to erupt, fuelled by a cost-of-living crisis that threatens working families with ruin.
The onset of war in Ukraine is being used to redouble efforts to suppress the class struggle. That is the real content of today’s demonstration. The trade unions’ declaration of solidarity with Ukraine equates to a declaration of amnesty for the Johnson government. On Mar 3, two weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the TUC issued a boilerplate statement condemning the “illegal invasion of a sovereign nation” and demanding that Russia “respect Ukrainian territorial integrity,” then calling “for peace” and for “all governments to reach a negotiated solution through diplomacy.” But the trade unions’ real priority is “peace” with the British government, leading to their ever-closer alignment with its plans for war to a NATO victory in Ukraine, in which the unions are offering their services as managers of the home front. This year’s annual TUC national protest outside the Conservative Party conference was cancelled with an announcement:
Over the coming fortnight we will be mobilising trade unionists in support of the ITUC day of solidarity with Ukraine on Mar 15. And we will support the mobilisations in London and around the UK for the UN Anti-Racism Day on Mar 19-20, particularly as this government refuses to welcome enough refugees from Ukraine into the UK.
The reference to refugees is cynical. They are being used as bargaining chips for closer relations with Johnson and the corporations. A Mar 16 TUC statement on Ukrainian refugees centred on the demand, “The government must meet with business and unions together.” As a down payment on an enforced wartime industrial peace, the trade unions have been busy this month bringing key strikes to a halt, including on the London Underground, London buses, in universities and at London hospitals, so that today’s demonstration takes place in a capital transformed into a virtual strike-free zone. The working class must reject all appeals to back the Tory government and the NATO powers in the war in Ukraine. It is a matter of historical record that NATO’s steady encroachment on Russia’s border and systematic arming of Ukraine following the 2014 pro-US coup was aimed at deliberately provoking a Russian invasion which could be used as a pretext for a broader offensive against Moscow and Beijing. This desperate and politically reactionary move by the Putin regime on behalf of the Russian oligarchy must be opposed by the working class by its own methods, not by lining up behind a conflict that can end in nuclear war.
The 1953 “Grable” nuclear test conducted by the US in Nevada.
In 1963, Barry Goldwater, the future Republican Party nominee for POTUS, published a book entitled “Why Not Victory?” which argued that the US was insufficiently aggressive in confronting the Soviet Union because the American population was too fearful of nuclear war. Goldwater wrote:
A craven fear of death is entering the American consciousness. We want to stay alive, of course; but more than that we want to be free.
In the following year’s presidential campaign, Democratic candidate LBJ countered Goldwater’s slogan, “In your heart, you know he’s right” with the rhyme, “In your heart, you know he might,” implying Goldwater might end human civilization by using nuclear weapons. The Johnson campaign ran the famous “daisy” political ad, showing a young girl picking petals from a flower and counting aloud, before cutting to a missile launch countdown and a nuclear explosion.
Commenting on Goldwater’s campaign, the American political theorist Richard Hofstadter wrote, “What had become clear by 1964, and what could not be undone in the campaign, was the public impression that Goldwater’s imagination had never confronted the implications of thermonuclear war.” Goldwater, Hofstadter wrote, “seemed strangely casual about the prospect of total destruction.” More than half a century after the 1964 presidential race, the US and Russia are engaged in a deadly proxy war over Ukraine, threatening to spill over into full-scale conflict. As the war spins out of control, significant sections of the US political establishment are again, to use Hofstadter’s phrase, “strangely casual about the prospect of total destruction.” It is not merely Goldwater’s political progeny on the far right, but the entire political establishment that is flirting with the prospect of a nuclear apocalypse. With no input from the population or serious public discussion, the US government is taking a series of actions that threatens the most devastating consequences.
The present threat of nuclear war between the US and Russia is, however, only the violent eruption to the surface of systematic preparations for nuclear war that have been years in the making. With no public debate and with no opposition within the political establishment, three successive presidents have made sweeping, far-reaching preparations for using nuclear weapons in combat to target Russia and China. In 2016, Obama initiated the most dramatic expansion and modernization of America’s nuclear forces since the end of the Cold War, at a projected cost of $1.2t. Obama’s nuclear arms race sparked what commentators at the time called the “second nuclear age.” In contrast to the Cold War’s doctrine of “mutually assured destruction,” this “second nuclear age” would, in the words of a 2016 report by the CSIS, involve combatants “thinking through how they might actually employ a nuclear weapon, both early in a conflict and in a discriminate manner.” To this end, Obama’s nuclear modernization program involved the construction of low-yield nuclear weapons that, in the hopes of US military theorists, could actually be used in combat without triggering a full-scale thermonuclear exchange.
In addition to making nuclear weapons smaller, lighter, less destructive and more portable, the corollary of making “usable” nuclear weapons was the scrapping of restrictions on shorter-range weapons. In 2018, the Trump administration intensified the arms race initiated under Obama by unilaterally withdrawing from the INF Treaty, freeing the US to ring Russia and China with short-range nuclear weapons capable of hitting major cities in a matter of minutes. This was accompanied by the systematic expansion of the US nuclear modernization program, the cost of which subsequently ballooned to nearly $2t. The Biden administration has doubled down on the nuclear preparations of its predecessors, and Biden’s proposed 2023 budget calls for creating new versions of every single weapons system in the US nuclear “triad.” While Biden eschews the “fire and fury” rhetoric of his predecessor, his administration has been even more aggressive in provoking conflicts with Russia and China than either Obama or Trump. In 2021, the White House signed the US-Ukraine Strategic Partnership, announced on Sep 1 2021, which declared that the US would “never recognize Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea.” The agreement was signed just months after Ukraine made the retaking of the Donbas official state doctrine, all but announcing a planned Ukrainian war against Russia.
At the same time, the administration has systematically worked to undermine the One China policy, with Biden pledging in a town hall meeting to defend Taiwan from China. Last year, the Nikkei published reports that the US was working on plans to station offensive nuclear weapons on the “first island chain,” including Japan and Taiwan. But with the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine, the far-reaching plans for “great power conflict” prepared behind the backs of the population are now being put into effect, confronting humanity with the threat of nuclear annihilation. Echoing the 1964 declaration by Barry Goldwater, USAF General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s former SACEUR, told VoA this week:
We have been so worried about nuclear weapons and WW3 that we have allowed ourselves to be fully deterred. And he (Putin) frankly, is completely undeterred.
The inevitable conclusion is that the population must accept the threat of nuclear war and overcome its “craven fear of death.” The utter casualness and total recklessness with which the US political establishment is treating the prospect of a war that threatens to escalate into a full-scale nuclear exchange is of a piece with the ruling class’s indifference to mass death in the pandemic. One million Americans have died of COVID-19 since Jan 2020. In a typical month, 37k Americans lost their lives, the equivalent of twelve 9/11 attacks. A significant attribute of media commentary on the pandemic in the US was the claim that the struggle to preserve life, the first right enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, is synonymous with “fear.” NYT writer David Leonhardt has made this insinuation his specialty. In column after column prematurely declaring the pandemic over and claiming that COVID-19 is less harmful than the seasonal flu, Leonhardt has referred to “Irrational Covid Fears,” demanding to know “Why do so many vaccinated people remain fearful?” Commenting on the relationship between the pandemic and war, Bloomberg observed last year:
Yes, the US has botched its response to COVID-19. At the same time, its experience shows that America as a nation can in fact tolerate casualties, too many in fact. It had long been standard Chinese doctrine that Americans are ‘soft’ and unwilling to take on much risk. If you were a Chinese war game planner, might you now reconsider that assumption?
In other words, COVID-19 has cheapened life in America. One million people are dead, and the US media and political establishment simply ignore the death toll. Mass death is simply expected to become part of the background noise. This paradigm shift is not being discussed, it is simply imposed upon the population through propaganda. Nowhere does anyone in the media ask: What would a nuclear war between the United States and Russia look like? Earlier this year, Admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s former SACEUR, published a novel describing a fictional future nuclear war. Describing an American nuclear attack on Shanghai, Stavridis wrote:
These many months later the city remained a charred, radioactive wasteland. The death toll had exceeded thirty million. After each of the nuclear attacks international markets plummeted. Crops failed. Infectious diseases spread. Radiation poisoning promised to contaminate generations. The devastation exceeded (the human) capacity for comprehension.
The American survivors of a Chinese nuclear attack on San Diego are left to live in “wretched camps,” where “cyclical outbreaks of typhus, measles, and even smallpox often sprouted from the unbilged latrines and rows of plastic tenting.”
Since the publication of his book, Stavridis has become a regular on the Sunday talk shows, where he expostulates on the crimes and cruelties of America’s enemies, who he has dubbed the “butchers of Bucha.” No one interrupts him to ask about the relevance of the description of nuclear war contained in his book to the growing threat of a Third World War. Rather, the news is full of war propaganda, designed to work upon the emotions of the population and incite it to support actions that threaten a war between the two largest nuclear powers. The total devaluation of human life, the indifference to mass death in the pandemic and the recklessness with which American capitalism is rushing into conflict with Russia, reflect the views and social character of the American ruling class. This parasitic oligarchy feasts upon the impoverishment and exploitation of the working population. Living on financial speculation made possible by a credit bubble inflated by the Federal Reserve, fearing and hating the working population of America and the world, the American ruling class is as desperate and reckless as it is ruthless. The central question is what will develop more quickly: The war drive of the capitalist oligarchy or the growing global rebellion of the working class. Throughout the world, the surging prices of food and energy have produced outpourings of working-class opposition, such as the mass demonstrations against the Rajapakse government in Sri Lanka. As workers enter into struggle, they must take up the demands of fighting to end the COVID-19 pandemic and oppose the war threats of the capitalist oligarchy.
They Saw and Heard the Truth — Then Lied About it: media on Donbass delegation omitted mention of Ukraine’s 8 year war on the autonomous republics Eva K Bartlett, Apr 5 2022
Photos from site of Ukraine’s Mar 14 missile attack on Donetsk. Photo: Eva Bartlett, Mar 24 2022.
Following is a lengthy overview of my recent re-visit to the Donbass, on a two day media delegation, with a brief critique of some of the media’s slanted reporting. It is also a follow up from my 2019 visit to hard hit areas of the DPR. It is now 8 years of Ukraine’s war on the people of the LDPR.
Point of impact of Mar 14 Ukrainian missile attack on Donetsk. Photo: Eva Bartlett, Mar 24 2022.
In the last week of March, I stood on a central Donetsk main street next to two of the impact points of a Ukrainian missile attack that killed 21 civilians and injured nearly 40 more on Mar 14. The DPR maintains that their military intercepted Ukraine’s Tochka-U ballistic missile, that not all of the cluster munitions inside exploded in the city streets, thereby lessening the already terrible bloodshed it caused. Indeed, if all of the munitions exploded in the streets, it would have been a bloodbath more horrific than the 21 killed.
Photo: Eva Bartlett, Mar 24 2022.
Near the ATM, flowers and candles laid in memory of the civilians murdered that day, with haunting photos nearby depicting the aftermath of the bombing, the grisly scenes of the dead and the maimed; scenes you will generally never see blasted across Western corporate media, just as the same media were silent when terrorism struck civilian areas of Syria. I’m intimately familiar with war zones, and with Western corporate media’s whitewashing of the perpetrators’ crimes (Israeli crimes against Palestinians; Western-backed terrorists’ crimes against Syrians; Ukrainian military and Nazi crimes against the civilians of the Donbass—and also against Ukrainians proper), so the lack of media coverage on this recent Ukrainian war crime doesn’t surprise me. They don’t report on it, or the myriad Ukrainian war crimes prior, because it doesn’t suit their narrative, the narrative which erases the eight years of Ukraine’s war against the 4m people of the Donbass republics, killing at least 14k people, a modest estimate. War crimes investigator Ivan Kopyl spoke about Ukraine’s Mar 14 attack, noting:
The warhead of a Tochka-U missile contains 50 cassettes of cluster munitions. We managed to find 28 traces of cluster explosions on the soil. A Tochka-U missile changes its orientation just before landing, so after it flies on a trajectory it makes a turn and falls vertically down before detonating at a certain height. The fragments then shower the surface in a radius of approximately 150m.
I have one of those cluster fragments, a twisted and jagged square-shaped piece of metal, seemingly harmless looking on its own, but deadly when flying through the air at high speed, in great numbers. The attack occurred around noon, when this central city street—not a military area, but a civilian one—would have been busy. Photos show a gutted bus and gutted cars. Pensioners, Koply noted, would have been lined up at the ATM right where the blasts occurred. He wrote:
There was also damage to a yard where there are two kindergartens. There were several craters there.
The strike on the heart of the city is among the latest of Ukraine’s litany of war crimes. Ukraine again bombed Donetsk following the Mar 14 attack. Donetsk News Agency reported on Mar 30 Ukrainian forces’ bombing killed one person and seriously injured four others. Of that attack, the DPR Ombudsman noted that one of the injured, a girl, fell into a coma. And just now, news of another Ukrainian Tochka-U attack. According to RT, at least 50 people were killed at a railway station in Kramatorsk. Eduard Basurin, a representative of the DPR People’s Militia, stated the attack was a missile containing prohibited cluster munitions.
This is a fragment of the missile that hit the Kramatorsk train station, and killed at least 30 civilians who were waiting to evacuate. The AFU has blamed the Russians, but this picture of the missile shows that it is indisputably a Tochka-U rocket, used exclusively by the Ukrainian side. It’s the same kind of missile that two weeks ago hit the center of Donetsk and killed 27 civilians. What’s that saying? Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times…
As of Mar 31, the Ombudsman reported 6k deaths, including 96 children, since Ukraine’s war began in 2014. And that’s only with regards to the DPR. In the neighbouring LPR, also under Ukrainian fire since 2014, as of late February, 1,762 civilians were killed, including 35 children. During my 2019 visit to the DPR, I went to the northern city of Gorlovka, of which I wrote: Gorlovka was hardest hit in 2014, especially on Jul 27, when the center was rocked by Ukrainian-fired Grad and Uragan missiles from morning to evening. After the dust settled and the critically-injured had succumbed to their wounds, at least 30 were dead, including five children. The day came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
A monument commemorates the Gorlovka victims of Ukrainian bombings and sniping from 2014-2017. Near a sculpture of an angel, over 230 names fill the marble slabs, the first dedicated solely to children, 20 of them.
Photo: Eva Bartlett, Mar 24 2022.
At the site of the Mar 14 bombing, DPR head Denis Pushilin spoke, outlining the chronology the last 8 years, from the violent coup in Ukraine and subsequent increase in radical Ukrainian nationalism, to the two republics’ decision to push for autonomy, to Ukraine unleashing hell on the 4m people and continual violations of the (2014 & 2015) Minsk Agreements and the massive amounts of weapons pumped from the West to Ukraine (see also). The town of Volnovakha, on the road between Donetsk and Mariupol further south, was secured by DPR forces nearly two weeks prior to our visit. Entering the town, we passed destroyed homes and buildings, expected as there was heavy fighting to liberate the area of the Ukrainian forces.
As they did in their copy-paste reporting on liberated areas of Syria, most Western media reports on Volnovakha focus on the destruction, without any context as to why it occurred. These residential areas were occupied by Ukrainian forces, and not all of the destruction was from DPR forces’ fighting against the Ukrainian forces. The Ukrainian forces themselves fired on homes, and according to hospital staff, on the hospital itself. In addition to not giving this context, most Western media in general depict the liberating forces as deliberately and wantonly destroying everything in sight. Some media went as far as to claim Putin himself destroyed the town. This cartoonish narrative so prevalent in Western reports whitewashing terrorism in Syria and now in whitewashing Ukrainian forces’ crimes unfortunately does achieve its intended effect: duping Western viewers into believing the opposite of reality, that the liberators are the war criminals. Again, just as terrorist factions in Syria occupied schools and hospitals, so too did Ukrainian forces, including in Volnovakha. When DPR forces liberated the city, they found foreign weapons used by Ukrainian forces inside the hospital. In a central area of Volnovakha, Russian soldiers handed out humanitarian aid to lines of residents: bags of canned goods, fresh bread, water.
According to Alexander Yurievich Kachalov, the interim mayor, Ukrainian forces used civilians as human shields. He said:
They made sure to destroy as much infrastructure as possible. They bombed buildings in order to leave ruins after they left, to make harder for us to restore it.
This was common in Syria, terrorist factions destroying buildings and vehicles when fleeing, also leaving mines and booby-traps on streets and in houses, to kill still more civilians and soldiers. A woman waiting in line for humanitarian aid said:
They say Russia did this. This wasn’t Russia, Ukraine did it, destroyed everything here! They shot at our hospital. I work there. The new children’s and infection units have been destroyed. The outpatient clinic was destroyed. And then they left. They took the medical staff’s car and went away.
At the destroyed hospital, Chief Physician, Viktor Fedorovich Saranov, said:
They were there. There were tanks on our territory. There were guns and Grads outside the territory. I asked them to act in accordance with the Hague and Geneva conventions. I asked them to leave the hospital. They said it was war. Many people come to us from nearby houses under fire. About 500 to 600 people came to our basement. We gave everyone three meals a day. The second and third floors were occupied here. We were preparing for a long siege, and then it turned out like this: they conducted an attack. They evacuated the soldiers. And they mined the entrance to the intensive care unit. On the last day when they were leaving, they shot at the intensive care unit.
The ICU, he said, had already been evacuated. A woman who said she had worked at the hospital as a nurse for nearly 58 years said:
On the 28th I was home alone. They soon started shelling. How can they do it with their native hospital? With patients here. They were laying in corridors, as they had been evacuated. They said there were no one in the hospital, no staff, no patients. This is a lie.
Later, researching, I came across this news (*warning, graphic video at the link):
Foreign mercenaries who were wounded in the Volnovakha hospital were shot by their own before leaving the city so that they could not tell anything. All the wounded have a control shot in the temple or the back of the head.
On the road back towards Donetsk, we stopped at a school that had been shelled in late February.
According to Victoria Terichenko, head of education department of the Dokuchaevsk city administration, the shelling was by Ukrainian forces. She said:
Of course, Ukraine. There were only Ukrainian troops there. We had no military here, we were only civilians here.
Fortunately, children weren’t at school at the time of the shelling, but Terichenko said a kindergarten in the area had been shelled, with children inside, but again fortunately, not on the side of the building shelled. Ukraine’s relentless bombing and sniping of the Donbass people is bad enough, along with it being ignored by Western press and politicians. But in its eight years of warring on a people who rejected the rule of ultra-nationalists and Nazis, who just wanted to live autonomously, speak their own language, remember their history (Ukraine has rewritten history to glorify Nazis and Nazi collaborators and to vilify those who defeated Nazism, namely the Soviets), Ukraine has committed war crimes as heinous as ISIS and co-terrorists in Syria, with more and more testimonies coming out of mass graves, rapes, torture of civilians and Donbass soldiers, beheadings … none of this shocking given the crimes these extremists commit against even Ukrainian civilians and journalists. Along a sidewalk flanking a central park, a row of photos, incredibly disturbing images of murdered LPR civilians. Elders slaughtered on benches, in wheelchairs. The corpse of an infant. Mass graves. A room used to imprison and torture people. The insignia of the notorious rapists and murderers of the “Tornado” battalion.
One photo shows Nazi graffiti left on a wall.
Similar to what I saw in Gaza in Jan 2009, graffiti left by Israeli soldiers who occupied the home of a Palestinian family, half of which were killed by Israeli-fired White Phosphorous. One of the slogans written in Hebrew was: “Next time it will hurt more.” This, to the family whose infant had burned alive due to the White Phosphorous bombing and whose surviving family members were badly mutilated from the prohibited weapon. In another house in eastern Gaza, likewise occupied and desecrate by Israeli soldiers, more hate and death graffiti left for the traumatized inhabitants. Different people and places, same violent hatred of the population being targeted.
In the same park area, a monument to two journalists killed in 2014 by Ukrainian forces. Were these journalists killed by Russia or Syria, their names would have been front page, on TIME magazine covers. In Syria, dozens of journalists have been killed by terrorist forces, to the silence of not only Western media by also the groups supposedly advocating for journalists’ rights and safety. In Shchastia, north of Lugansk, more civilians received humanitarian aid in the liberated town.
Humanitarian aid being handed out in Shchastia,
a town north of Lugansk, liberated in early March.
In the two republics, we saw some of the vehicles and weapons captured from Ukrainian forces. Telesur journalist Alejandro Kirk spoke to me about these weapons and vehicles that have been captured, noting the many foreign made weapons sold to Ukraine. Western countries continue selling weapons to Ukraine.
On Mar 20, journalist Alexander Rubinstein wrote of the West’s exorbitant shipping of billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine over the years. He noted:
At least 32 countries have announced their intention to ship billions of dollars in weapons into Ukraine for use against Russian forces in Ukraine. Photographic evidence shows that these weapons have already ended up in the hands of neo-Nazi paramilitaries, units which have already received training and arms the US and its NATO allies. All of this builds on $3.8b in military aid from the US to Ukraine, the training of 55k Ukrainian soldiers by Canada and the UK, and a long-standing CIA program aimed at cultivating an anti-Russian insurgency. Weapons furnished by NATO allies have been placed in the hands of the Azov Battalion, a neo-Nazi former paramilitary organization incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard. The governments of Canada, the US and the UK have presided over a massive program to train and equip Ukrainian soldiers for a full-scale war with Russia. Trainees have included top commanders of the Azov Battalion. In late February, the EU opened the floodgates of weapon shipments to Ukraine, approving financing through the aptly-named “European Peace Facility” to reimburse countries sending weapons to the country to the tune of $500m. Another $55m is earmarked for non-lethal military aid. This February, the State Dept announced $350m in additional military aid to Ukraine, bringing “the total security assistance the US has committed to Ukraine over the past year to more than $1b.” Another $200m was sent in early March, and following Zelensky’s March 16 appeal to Congress for more weapons, Biden is reportedly set to dole out another $800 in military aid including 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 9k anti-tank systems, 5k rifles, 1k pistols, 400 machine guns, 400 shotguns, 400 grenade launchers, 20 million rounds of ammunition, 100 tactical drones, 25k sets of body armor and 25k helmets. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. These figures add to the $2.5b in military aid the US delivered between 2014 and the summer of 2021, bringing the total to $3.8b.
A shipment of NLAW grenade launchers and instructors from #NATO countries arrived in #Kharkiv. The Azov regiment was the first to learn about new weaponry pic.twitter.com/CCzjN40rW7
After my Sep 2019 visit to the DPR, I wrote about the mostly elderly civilians I met who were living in battered homes damaged by Ukrainian shelling and heavy machine gun fire just 500 or 600 metres from Ukrainian forces. They remained there, they told me, mostly because they had nowhere else to go. Some spoke to me on camera, others were afraid of Ukrainian retaliation were they to be interviewed.
But their stories were all pretty much the same: at night, when the observers of the OSCE left, the Ukrainian terrorizing began, with shelling throughout the night. I also met a couple who had been living for 6 years in the stinking dank basement of a battered school, after Ukrainian bombing destroyed their home.
The DPR press officer who accompanied me and provided translations, spoke of how Ukrainian forces use weapons prohibited under the Minsk Agreements.
Dmitri, press officer of the DPR People's Militia, explaining the Ukrainian-fired shell found at home Zeitsevo resident. According to him, Ukrainian forces ~600m from this point.
Irina Dikun, head of the administration of Zaitsevo, another frontline village, spoke at length on the Ukrainian bombing that erupts nearly every night. She said:
They are destroying street by street in the town. They take one street and destroy it house by house. Then they turn to another street. There was a school, and a kindergarten, before, but they were both destroyed by Ukrainian artillery.
As in Syria, when schools and hospitals are actually destroyed (in Syria by terrorist factions), the same media that howls over militarized hospitals being targeted, the same media that also manufactures stories that never even occurred, is silent when the destroying is actually done, by Ukrainian forces. In Zaitsevo, Irina explained fire trucks and medics couldn’t reach targeted homes, because ambulances themselves became targets for Ukrainian forces (as happens in Gaza, medics targeted by Israeli forces, as I myself witnessed). During that 2019 visit, I also interviewed some of the defenders of the DPR, painted by Western media as “separatists”, “pro-Russian forces” and other such descriptions meant to dehumanize. The same Western media so quick to humanize terrorists, including one who chewed the organ of a dead Syrian soldier. One more relevant note from that visit: Dmitri asked what people in the west think about the fact there is a Nazi state in Europe. I replied most people don’t know, because of the media whitewashing. Which brings me to my recent return to the Donbass: I was curious to see whether the journalists on the same delegation reported truthfully, partial truths or fabricated lies. As it turned out, my scepticism was warranted.
Telesur’s report gave historical context needed to understand the present: including the coup in Ukraine, the active neo-Nazis in Ukraine and entrenched in the Ukrainian army, the past eight years of Ukraine’s war on the Donbass and the 14k killed during these years, and the media blackout on the suffering of the Donbass people. Sky News’ report was good, mentioning the civilians killed in the Donbass by Ukraine’s war, including the Mar 14 attack, the school shelled, as well as giving air time to the DPR’s Pushilin. Neither of the two French channels’ (FranceInfo and TF1Info) reports on the delegation’s visit mentioned of the Mar 14 Tochka-U attack, even though we visited the site & Pushilin spoke at length of it, much less mentioned of the roughly 8k civilians alone killed in the two republics. I couldn’t find mention of the Azov or other Nazi battalions participating in the atrocities against the Donbass people, even though we heard about them and saw the graphic photo display in Lugansk. Their reports were framed as, “this is what Russia wants us to see,” regarding the humanitarian aid and reclaimed towns.
🔴 Le Kremlin a organisé ces dernières heures le premier voyage de presse dans le #Donbass, région d'#Ukraine où l'armée russe a réalisé ses plus fortes percées. @JeromeGarro était présent : notre envoyé spécial vous explique l'un des objectifs de cette opération, regardez ⤵. pic.twitter.com/3NN4cj6tRA
And of course, they focused greatly on the destruction, but not on the reasons for it, the implications being the Russians and the “pro-Russian separatists” were responsible. The chief physician of the hospital in Volnokava had spoken at length, and did specifically state the Ukrainian army had occupied the hospital, as did the nurse I cited, both of whom spoke in front of the group of journalists. FranceInfo’s mention of the hospital was framed as, “The Russians accuse the Ukrainians of having bombed it.” They included a few seconds of the chief physician saying he didn’t know who did it, there were soldiers in the area, he didn’t know who. But actually, the physician spoke to us for about several minutes, during which he did specifically address the presence of the Ukrainian army in the hospital, as I wrote earlier.
One journalist asked: “Why did such destruction happen?” To which the chief physician replied:
I don’t know. They were military. And who they were: military, national battalions, army? I don’t know.
That’s the bit France TV cherry-picked, omitting his previous words about the Ukrainian army occupying the hospital, as well as omitting what he said after:
There was Ukrainian territory on that side and the rockets were from that side. They mined the entrance to the intensive care unit. On the last day when they were leaving, they shot at the intensive care unit.
Likewise, TF1Info included a few seconds of the physician’s words on Ukrainian cannons and machine guns’ presence at the hospital, but then followed with the presenter’s caveat: “it is one of the arguments often presented by the Kremlin,” in spite of the fact that not only he, but the nurse and many people I encountered in the town specifically blamed the Ukrainian army for occupying the hospital and further attacking it themselves when leaving. If there were any further TF1Info reports from their journalist’s visit which might have included mention of Donbass’ dead, I couldn’t find them. Likewise of FranceInfo. It is already bad enough that Western media generally don’t report on Ukraine’s relentless bombing of the Donbass. But all the more disgusting when using a scene from the Mar 14 bombing of Donetsk and depicting it as Lvov under Russian bombing.
“The aftermath of the bombing of Donetsk by Ukrainian “Tochka-U” missile, used by Italian newspaper
“La Stampa” as an image from Lvov.“ Propaganda noted in this article.
At the site of the Tochka-U missile attack in Donetsk, photos of the moments after the bombing,
including the scene depicted in Western media as in Lvov. Photo: Eva Bartlett, Mar 24 2022.
This isn’t the only instance. More recently, different Western media used the scene of a Mar 30 Ukrainian bombing of a Donetsk multi-story apartment building to infer the scene depicted areas of Ukraine bombed by Russia. If you followed the war propaganda around Syria, you will be aware that this practise is common, not accidental.
New York Post using Donetsk bombing photo to infer the scene was Kiev or elsewhere, under Russian bombing.
The article has since been updated, photo removed. They would say it was a mistake. With corporate media, it never is.
Luckily, at the time, some observers caught the lie.
And as with war propaganda on Syria, some media will use footage not even from Ukraine:
I could add paragraphs of examples of how Western media did this in Syria, but for the sake of brevity will state simply that this is one of many deceitful and deliberate propaganda tactics used to both downplay the hell the civilians are suffering under Ukraine’s bombing, and instead to pretend Ukraine is the victim. How the journalists that propagate such lies live with themselves, I’ll never understand. Finally, a note on some in independent media who feel the need to denigrate Russia’s denazification operation in Ukraine by being snidely putting “special operation” in quotation marks, or others who took to social media to tell the world they don’t like war, and denounced Russia for its military operation (to stop a war), the people of the Donbass don’t like war, they didn’t ask for Ukraine to unleash hell upon them. Such posturing disrespects the at least 14k killed by Ukraine’s 8-year war (including 8k civilians in the Donbass). As journalist Roman Kosarev, who has covered Ukraine’s war on the Donbass republics for eight years, said:
Russia isn’t starting a war. Russia is ending one.
Ukrainian Tochka-U Hit Kramatorsk In Another Bloody Provocation. Dozens Of Civilians Killed South Front, Apr 8 2022
According to updated data, the attack on the Kramatorsk railway station was carried out by a missile division of the Ukrainian armed forces from the area of the settlement of Dobropillya 45 km southwest of the city. The aim of the Kiev regime’s strike on the station in Kramatorsk was to disrupt the mass departure of residents from the city in order to use them as a “human shield” to defend the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as in many other settlements of Ukraine. In his turn DPR Representative Basurin claimed that during the attack on Kramatorsk, the Ukrainian military used a Tochka-U missile equipped with a cluster warhead, about 30 people were killed, about 100 were injured. Another video was shared from the spot. On the video, a woman is crying that there were a lot of children killed.
On Apr 8, a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile hit the railway station in the city of Kramatorsk. As a result, there are civilian casualties. The head of the Ukrainian Railways, Alexander Kamyshin, reported that two rockets hit the Kramatorsk railway station. According to preliminary data, about 30 civilians were killed and about 100 other were wounded. Judging by the footage, civilians were preparing for evacuation from the city. On the debris of the rocket it is written “For the children.” Ukraine immediately claimed that the attack was carried out by Russian forces with an Iskander missile with a cluster warhead.
Footage shared from teh spot revealed that the strike was carried out with a “Tochka-U” missile which is used only by the AFU. The Kiev authorities are already lost in their claims. While notorious Mr Arestovich and Mr Kirilenko claimed that it was Russian Iskander missile, President Zelensky then changed his mind and clarified that this was not Iskander, but Tochka-U missile, only the Russian one.
1) Rocket of the Tochka U complex, which is in service with Ukraine
2) Fragments of a rocket that fell in Kramatorsk
3) Rocket of the Iskander complex.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation officially removed all Tochka-U missiles years ago, they were replaced by modern Iskanders. Moreover, there is not a single video confirming the combat use of Tochka-U missiles by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation or the armies of the DPR and LPR in the Donbass. Meanwhile, the MSM are already spreading claims about Russian Iskander missile, blaming Russian forces for another fake massacre of civilians. The city of Kramatorsk remains under the AFU control. Such a provocation by the Ukrainian side has a number of reasons profitable for the nazi regime in Kiev. The population of Donbass, including Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, is considered disloyal by the AFU, so they can easily be sacrificed. Another media scandal against Russian forces is aimed to pity western allies of the Kiev regime and increase the military supplies to the AFU, as well as assure the European countries that more sanctions are necessary to be imposed against the “cruel” Russian population, despite the fact that these sanctions hurt the population of European countries.
This is not the first case of the AFU strikes on civilians in the Donbass region which deliberately targeted crowds of civilians. On the morning of Mar 14 around 1120, Ukrainian units struck the center of Donetsk with a Tochka-U tactical missile equipped with cluster munitions. Dozens were killed. The strike targeted the center of the city, where there is no military infrastructure or equipment. Civilians were deliberately chosen as targets. The nationalist units of the Kiev regime, using cluster munitions, sought to hit as many of the city’s inhabitants in the central part of the city as possible. Dozens of Ukrainian Tochka-U missiles are targeting cities and nearby areas that are under the DPR and LPR control on a daily basis. However, this cases are silenced by the MSM. Today’s massacre of civilians in Kramatorsk is not an accident, but another case of war crime carried out by the Kiev regime against the population. The Russian Ministry of Defence commented on the attack of the AFU on civilians in Kramatorsk, denying all the Kiev’s accusations against Russian forces. Here are some details shared by the Russian MoD:
In order to accuse Russia of an alleged missile strike on the Kramatorsk railway station, the Kiev regime has shared photos of the Tochka-U launchers that took part in the Russian-Belarusian exercise “Allied Resolve-2022” in Feb 2022 on social networks. Pay your attention that all photos published by Kiev of the exercises “Allied Resolve-2022” do not depict Russian missile systems.
After the withdrawal of Russian forces from the Kiev and Chenihov regions, pressure on the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Donbass front lines increased. While the shelling on Ukrainian military targets around Ukraine continues on a daily basis, the joint DPR, LPR and Russian forces are claiming small victories on the front lines. DPR units with support of Russian forces are advancing and securing their rears to the east of the town of Maryinka, where fierce street fighting continues. On Apr 6, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed that DPR units finished the mop-up operation in the village of Sladkoye. The 11th regiment of the DPR broke through fierce resistance of the AFU and took control over the village. Meanwhile, units of the Russian army entered the village of Novomikhailovka to the south of the town of Maryinka.
Positional battles continue to the north of Avdiivka. After DPR forces took control over the village of Novobakhmutovka, they are strengthening their positions there. Several streets are still under the AFU control. Ukrainian soldiers attempted a counter-attack on the village of Verhnetoretskoe with 6 tanks and infantry, but were repelled. Advance of DPR forces at the Avdiivka—Konstantinovka highway is expected. One of the main strongholds of the AFU in the region is the town of Novgorodskoe to the west of Gorlovka. After years of war, Ukrainian forces have heavily fortified the area. Fierce clashes reached some streets of the town, but the DPR advance is slowed down by the AFU advantage in forces. The DPR assault is carried out with the air support of the Russian Aerospace forces.
The AFU are amassing in the Kramatorsk, Artemovsk (or Bakhmut), Druzhkovka area, while Russian forces are attempting to surround the AFU grouping from the north. The main hotspot on the Donbass front lines is the region of Izyum. Amid fierce resistance by the AFU, Russian forces are slowly advancing to the south and southeast of Kamenka in the direction of Barvenkovo and Slavyansk. The villages of Brazhkovka and Sukhaya Kamenka are now under the Russian control. In their turn, LPR forces are slowly advancing on the streets of the town of Popasnaya. In the Severodonetsk-Lysychansk area, LPR troops reached the outskirts of the Severodonetsk city, clashes continue in the eastern regions of Rubezhnoe, where the AFU blew up a tank with toxic substances at the Zarya chemical plant.
The Kharkiv and Sumy front lines remain without significant changes. A large offensive of Russian forces is expected in the region, after more Russian troops are transferred form the Kiev region to the Eastern front lines. The Kiev officials are preparing to the battle by their traditional means, sharing lies. The notorious adviser to the office of the President of Ukraine Alexey Arestovich has recently claimed that of the 648 soldiers of the Russian 200 motorized rifle brigade, only three survived on the Kharkov outskirts. In response, servicemen of the brigade responded with a video showing them carrying out combat missions a few kilometers from the city. Despite unconfirmed reports of the Mykolaiv officials, no changes on the border of the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions are confirmed. The village of Snegirevka and the outskirts of Alexandrovka are under the Russian control. The AFU forces are attempting to attack from the Nikopol direction in the area of Novorontsovka.
The mop-up operations in the city of Mariupol continue. According to the official representative of the DPR People’s Militia, about three thousand soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including nationalist regiments may currently be besieged in Mariupol. The main battles in the central part of the city are over. Fighting moved to the port of the city and to the territory of the heavily fortified industrial area of the Azovstal plant.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to strike at the the military infrastructure of Ukraine. On Apr 6, high-precision ground-based missiles destroyed the command post of Ukraine’s 56th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade near Novogrodovka, as well as a nationalist base in Grodovka, in Donetsk Region. High-precision air-based missiles destroyed a fuel depot near Chuguev, in the Kharkov Region, from where fuel was supplied to Ukrainian troops. In addition, a large concentration of foreign-made weapons and military equipment supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces was destroyed on the eve at the Lozovaya railway station in Kharkov Region.
Leaked Recording Allegedly Confirms Massacre In Bucha Was Staged By Ukrainian Militants South Front, Apr 8 2022
On Apr 7, another evidence reportedly confirmed that the ‘Bucha massacre’ was staged by Ukrainian military. As soon as Ukrainian journalists reached the area of the Kiev region left by Russian forces, the streets of Bucha turned out to be covered by corpses of Ukrainian civilians. Obviously, Russian servicemen are blamed for mass murders after leaving the area. Numerous evidences from the area confirmed that the Bucha massacre was another propaganda provocation by the Kiev regime. On the video from Bucha, one of alleged corpses of civilians is seen getting up from the ground. Another argument confirming that the video is fake is the fact that there were no women allegedly killed by Russian servicemen, seen on the streets.
On Apr 7, an audio recording of the alleged negotiations between the militants of the unit of the so-called territorial defence under the command of Ukrainian Nazi Sergei “Bossman” Korotkov. This unit was one of the first to enter Bucha after Russian forces left the area, and they were free to kill civilians without a blue armband, as a sign for Ukrainian military.
Some of the MSM have already tried to present the recording as a conversation between Russian soldiers who were allegedly preparing a provocation in Ukraine. However, it is evident that the servicemen are speaking Ukrainian, they discussed the exact video staged in Bucha, and that ‘Sergey’ mentioned during the conversation is likely the notorious Ukrainian commander. At the same time, the sources of the recording have not yet been confirmed, and there is a possibility that this is nothing but another fake spread by any of the warring sides within the ongoing information war. (Audio recording at South Front)
– Hello.
– Hello Vasya, are you talking?! Can you fucking hear me right now?
– Yes, I hear you well. Yes.
– Vasya, can you answer me one fucking question. What the fuck, Vasya, are you all really fucked up there? Could you do anything well for me or not?!
– Such as what?
– Shut up, Vasya. Why the fuck are they moving on camera, tell me, Vasya, fuck. Can’t they fucking lie down for five minutes?! Sergey Sergeevich fucked me over for half an hour now in front of everyone.
– I understand everything, this will not happen again.
– Don’t fucking do it anymore, Vasya. Do you understand or not? Next fucking time, you’ll follow that Russian shit, fuck, and I will go with you.
– Taras Grigoryevich, I understand everything, everything. Next time it will be different.
– How the fuck is there any other way?! Was it difficult to put a woman on the road? You tell me! There was no fucking normal woman? You have only fucking men lying in the frame, fuck that. I found some fucking idiots in a civilian settlement.
– I assure you, Taras Grigoryevich, next time we will definitely do it well.
– That’s a fuck-up, Vasya. I’m telling you, it’s just a fuck-up. And tell fucking Feder too, he is gonna get shit from the office now, fuck. That’s it, fuck.
Briefly around Kramatorsk. As a result of the arrival of a tactical missile at Kramatorsk station, 30 civilians were killed and about 100 civilians were injured. Ukraine immediately stated that it was Russia who fired at people in a hurry to evacuate and it was an Iskander with a cluster warhead. When photos of fragments of the missile appeared, it turned out that it was Tochka-U used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. After that, Zelensky changed his tune and began to claim that it was not Iskander, as Arestovich and Kirilenko broadcast, but Tochka-U, only Russian. In the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Tochka-U was officially withdrawn from service with missile brigades in connection with the transition to “Iskanders”. There are not a single video with the combat use of Tochka-U of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation or the armies of the LDPR in Donbass, even if we assume that they will begin to be taken from long-term storage bases. At the same time, a lot of videos of the combat use of Iskander and other types of missiles. At the same time, Ukraine uses Tochka-U everywhere, including to strike Donetsk, where the SBU specially gathered a rally through fake people in social networks for this blow. The rocket allegedly arrived from the southwest. According to some data, it was shot down. According to others, it worked normally. There was an inscription “For Children” on the rocket. It is also worth noting that the population of Donbass, including Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, is considered disloyal to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so they can easily be sacrificed. In Ukraine, residents of Donbass are actually deprived of voting rights.
US ‘Intelligence’ Says Its ‘Intelligence’ Is Bullshit Moon of Alabama
US ‘intelligence’ folks tell their stenographers at NBC News that their obvious lies are obvious lies. That announced ‘break with the past’ of faking ‘intelligence’ happened when? How ‘rock solid’ was the ‘intelligence’ about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction or chemical weapons attacks in Douma, Syria? US ‘intelligence’, then and now, is pure imagination for the purpose of deceiving the US and ‘western’ public about the reality of this or that conflict:
It was an attention-grabbing assertion that made headlines around the world: US officials said they had indications suggesting Russia might be preparing to use chemical agents in Ukraine. President Joe Biden later said it publicly. But three US officials told NBC News this week there is no evidence Russia has brought any chemical weapons near Ukraine. They said the US released the information to deter Russia from using the banned munitions.
The OPCW’s inspection teams have verified the destruction at seven chemical weapons destruction facilities in the Russian Federation. On Sep 27 2017, the last of these facilities, located in Kizner, officially concluded its operations. With the total elimination of Russia’s declared chemical weapons programme, 96.3% of all chemical weapon stockpiles declared by possessor States have been destroyed under OPCW verification.
That is why the US ‘intelligence’ claim of a potential use of Russian chemical weapons was obvious nonsense from the get-go:
It’s one of a string of examples of the Biden administration’s breaking with recent precedent by deploying declassified intelligence as part of an information war against Russia. The administration has done so even when the intelligence wasn’t rock solid, officials said, to keep Russian President Vladimir Putin off balance. Coordinated by the White House National Security Council, the unprecedented intelligence releases have been so frequent and voluminous, officials said, that intelligence agencies had to devote more staff members to work on the declassification process, scrubbing the information so it wouldn’t betray sources and methods.
Sure, devote more people for the ‘declassification process’ of creating mere fantasies or for the the reproduction of public sources:
Just this week, national security adviser Jake Sullivan stood at the White House podium and read out what officials said was more declassified intelligence, asserting that Russia’s pullout from areas around Kyiv wasn’t a retreat but a strategic redeployment that signals a significant assault on eastern and southern Ukraine, one that US officials believe could be a protracted and bloody fight.
That ‘declassified intelligence’ Sullivan read out was the copy of a public announcement the Ministry of Defense of Russia had made on Mar 30:
Planned regrouping of troops in Kiev and Chernigov directions is underway. The first stage of the special military operation conducted by the Russian Armed Forces in Donbas and Ukraine was planned to force the enemy to concentrate its forces, means, resources and military equipment to hold on to high populated areas in these directions, including Kiev. To bring them down on the battlefield and, without storming these cities to avoid civilian casualties, inflict such a defeat on the armed formations of the Kiev regime that it would not be able to use these forces in the main direction of our Armed Forces in Donbass. All these goals have been met. At the same time, the Russian army also solved another task, namely, in the absence of an inflow of fresh enemy forces from the western and central regions of Ukraine, through professional military action, using the absolute air dominance it had gained, also using modern high-precision weapons, to create all the necessary conditions for the final stage of the operation to liberate the People’s Republics of Donbass. Thus, all the main tasks of the Russian Armed Forces in Kiev and Chernigov directions have been completed. The objective of the regrouping of the Russian Armed Forces is to intensify action in priority areas and, above all, to complete the operation for the total liberation of Donbass.
To claim that official public announcement by the Russian military are ‘declassified intelligence’ is of course bullshit. But NBC News stenographers won’t tell you that. Instead we get more of this nonsense:
Multiple US officials acknowledged that the US has used information as a weapon even when confidence in the accuracy of the information wasn’t high. Sometimes it has used low-confidence intelligence for deterrent effect, as with chemical agents, and other times, as an official put it, the US is just “trying to get inside Putin’s head.”
Does anyone believe that Putin gives a fuck about US ‘intelligence’ claims? No:
Some officials believe, however, that trying to get into Putin’s head is a meaningless exercise, because he will do what he wants regardless. The biggest success of the US information offensive may have been delaying the invasion itself by weeks or months, which officials believe they did with accurate predictions that Russia intended to attack, based on definitive intelligence.
Those ‘accurate predictions’ included the false claims that Russia would invade the Ukraine on Feb 11, 14 and 16. The noise has become deafening.
The US intelligence briefing included specific reference to next Wednesday, Feb 16, as a start date for the ground invasion, three officials based in Washington, London and Ukraine told Politico.
1am or 3am? Which is it? And in what timezone? In fact, Russia had not decided to invade Ukraine at that time. The decision was most likely made after Feb 19, after the Ukrainian military had intensified its bombardment of Donbas and after Zelensky had threatened to acquire nuclear weapons. Starting in mid February the OSCE observers around Donbas noted in their daily reports a strong increase in ceasefire violation and explosions.
Most of the violations came from the Ukrainian site and the explosions of the fired shells and missile happened on Donbas held grounds. On Feb 19, at the hight of the fire, Zelensky gave a speech at the Munich Security Conference. He prominently mentioned the Budapest Memorandum under which the Ukraine had given up the nuclear weapons it had inherited from the USSR:
Ukraine will have every right to believe that the Budapest Memorandum is not working and all the package decisions of 1994 are in doubt.
One of the package decisions Ukraine took in 1994 was the entering of Ukraine into the NNPT. Russia understood Zelensky’s remark in Munich as a threat by Ukraine to acquire nuclear weapons. It already has the expertise, materials and means to do that. A fascist-controlled government with nukes on Russia’s border? This is not about Putin at all. No Russian government of any kind could ever condone that. I believe that this credible threat, together with the artillery preparations for a new war on Donbas, was what convinced Russia’s government to intervene by force. The Russian military operation was clearly provoked. It started on Feb 24, months after US ‘intelligence’ had falsely warned of an ‘imminent’ attack, eight days after Ukrainian artillery preparations to attack Donbas had begun, five days after Zelinsky’s nuclear speech and two days after the US and its allies had implemented unprecedented sanctions against Russia. NBC News, as well as other western outlets, allow themselves to be abused by presenting US ‘intelligence’ claims they know are outright lies:
Game or not, US intelligence officials say it has been successful. Intelligence is rarely definitive, and Biden officials have calculated in some cases that it’s better to pre-empt something that might not happen, rather than stay silent and watch it unfold. A US official said: “It doesn’t have to be solid intelligence when we talk about it. It’s more important to get out ahead of them, Putin specifically, before they do something. It’s preventative. We don’t always want to wait until the intelligence is 100% certainty that they are going to do something. We want to get out ahead to stop them.”
Egged on by the ‘intelligence’ community, the ‘western’ media ‘get ahead’ and produce one lie after the other. Here they are, reporting on some scruffy cat in Bucha, a town that had seen five weeks of intense front-line fighting.
The recently sensationalized mass graves in Bucha were of its Volkssturm ‘civilian defenders’ and of Russian soldiers deceased there. They were dug on Mar 12 and had nothing to do with the recent pull-back of Russian forces. Some carefully filmed bodies in the streets of Bucha have likely been casualties of weeks old Ukrainian artillery strikes. Others bound and killed there, likely by Ukrainian Azov fascists, were wearing white armbands identifying them as neutral to Russian forces. Only rarely do we get insight from ‘western’ media of what the people on the ground in Ukraine really feel:
We visited the town of Lysychansk, about a mile from the front line. It’s one of many residential areas to have been hit by Russian artillery over the past few days. A Ukrainian soldier led us through the mostly-deserted streets to an underground shelter. Inside in a gloomy room we talked to two old women, who were trying to keep warm in front of an electric fire. We asked them who they thought was responsible for shelling their town. Astonishingly, neither blamed Russia or Putin. They thought their grim situation was as much the fault of Ukraine and Zelensky.
Whenever such rare reality reports, like the above or this one, come out, they get buried in an overwhelming stream of ‘intelligence’ bullshit and pro-war propaganda:
A video posted online on Monday and verified by the NYT appears to show a group of Ukrainian soldiers killing captured Russian troops outside a village west of Kyiv. “He’s still alive. Film these marauders. Look, he’s still alive. He’s gasping,” a man says as a Russian soldier with a jacket pulled over his head, apparently wounded, is seen still breathing. A soldier then shoots the man twice. After the man keeps moving, the soldier shoots him again, and he stops. At least three other apparent Russian soldiers, including one with an obvious head wound who has his hands tied behind his back, can be seen dead near the victim. All are wearing camouflage, and three have white arm bands commonly worn by Russian troops. Equipment is scattered around them and there are bloodstains near each man’s head.
For every atrocity Ukrainian troops and militia commit, US ‘intelligence’ will create five or more fairy tales of ‘Russian atrocities’ which the media, well knowing that such claims are likely false, will lap up and repeat. The only advice one can give in such a situation is to always assume that it is the exact opposite of what any ‘intelligence’ claims that is actually happening.
Evacuation of some crews was secured
Foreign Minister Marise Payne
Imran Khan attends a military parade in Islamabad, Mar 23 2022.
Paul Mason
A tweet posted by Mason showing volunteers with OUN patches on uniforms in a discussion with a “Labour, Plaid Cymru and trade union delegation” to Ukraine.
Rishi Sunak with Frances O’Grady of the TUC and Dame Carolyn Julie Fairbairn of the CBI,Sep 24 2020
The 1953 “Grable” nuclear test conducted by the US in Nevada.
Photos from site of Ukraine’s Mar 14 missile attack on Donetsk. Photo: Eva Bartlett, Mar 24 2022.
Point of impact of Mar 14 Ukrainian missile attack on Donetsk. Photo: Eva Bartlett, Mar 24 2022.
Photo: Eva Bartlett, Mar 24 2022.
Photo: Eva Bartlett, Mar 24 2022.
One photo shows Nazi graffiti left on a wall.
“The aftermath of the bombing of Donetsk by Ukrainian “Tochka-U” missile, used by Italian newspaper
At the site of the Tochka-U missile attack in Donetsk, photos of the moments after the bombing,
New York Post 
Niqnaq 