Here we go again-Ukraine once again pt2

[ET2SN]

Meanwhile,

[Skybird]

I think polticla leader sin Europe already have started to move back into their convenience zones of just ignroing what they do not want to see. In NATO and in many countries, improvements of defence topics has alreadsy been started to ciruelcate back and fiorth in panning gremia endlessly, in potlicla boiards, and committees where everybody fights to have his ego getting enough attention paid to. Like the Zeitenwende by Babble Olaf already was watered down within the very same week he spoke that speech, all claims and plans and ambiitons declared one year ago and before have started to get watered down as well again. Worse, they alraeyd have started to ignore Russian threats again. Esoecially bad the siutaiton is with the German SPD, the chancellor'S own party, that now openly lobbies for giving Russia what in their perception it wants in this moment - and ignroign that in fact Russia wants uch, much more - that gets compeletly ignored, to a adegree where they even refuse to asnwer quesiton for that.


Th Germans are a very, very big problem. Not the only one, but probably the biggest one. Politically, and militarily.



Also, a general issue with NATO is too low reserves of evertyhing, at least in Europe, but smart weapons soon will run out for America as well if it gets engaged in Takwan or Eastenr Europe.



Politicians behave and act as if we had all time in the world. We haven't. And I fear we once again will wake up too late, and then pay a very very cruel, bitter price for our idiocy. Our stupidity is unforgivable.



I do not believe that NATO is as strong and deterring as many popular names claim.



Regarding Hodges, he ahs amde many wrong assessments about the Ukriane war and the chance sof Ukraine last year, too many as if I still pay too much attention to him. Also, his political assessments on the situation of European suppoort and how it would develope, was totally off the mark in parts. Hodges to me is hopelessly optimistic. Maybe he thinks he miust painmt the situaiton rozy, as moral support and to blind the Russians. But I doubt they buy it, and certainly I don't.

[Jimbuna]

10 injured in missile attack on Kyiv after Moscow’s ships destroyed in Crimea

At least 10 people have been injured in Moscow’s attack on Kyiv, according to officials, after Ukraine destroyed two Russian ships in Crimea.

A 16-year-old girl was among those rushed to hospital on Monday after Russia launched missiles against the Ukrainian capital for the third time in five days, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

It comes after Ukraine’s military said two Russian warships and a communications centre were hit in attacks on the annexed Crimean peninsula on Sunday.

Moscow said air defences had shot down more than 10 missiles over the port of Sevastopol during the incident in the early hours.

Meanwhile, parts of the City of Odesa were plunged into darkness after a Russian air attack damaged one of the high-voltage facilities.

The administration of Odesa said on Telegram that the city and the region were attacked by several waves of drones launched by Russia. Four of the air weapons were shot down over the Odesa and neighbouring Mykolaiv regions.

Debris from a falling drone sparked a fire at the power facility, which was promptly put out, the administration added.

Power had since been restored to two city regions by Monday morning.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2518005.html

[Jimbuna]

[mapuc]

Markus

[Jimbuna]

[mapuc]

There's a huge different in how they fight in the war. Ukraine goes after non-civilian targets, while Russia goes after civilian targets



Markus

[em2nought]

Somebody is fighting total war? No fair, we only want to play at fighting a war.

Funny how characterizing your enemy as "Hitler incarnate" or some such thing seems to alleviate the need to try and negotiate any kind of peace deal in this day and age. Also seems to absolve you of cheating in elections, rewriting election law at the last second, or any other questionable behavior such as leaving your border totally open.

[Jimbuna]

Moscow attack: Putin blames 'radical Islamists' but accuses Ukraine too

Russia's Vladimir Putin has acknowledged "radical Islamists" carried out Friday's deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall.

But he has repeated his claim that they had some kind of link to Ukraine and the West.

Ukraine has rejected the Russian claim as absurd.

The Islamic State (IS) group says it was behind the atrocity, in which 139 people were killed, and it has released footage of the attack.

Twenty-two people are still in a serious condition in hospital, including two children, according to Russian officials.

The Russian leader said during a televised meeting on Monday: "We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries."

He then went on to say: "We want to know who ordered it." Many questions remained unanswered, he argued, repeating an unfounded claim that the attackers had tried to flee south to Ukraine.

"Who was waiting for them there?" he asked. "This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014."

The US was trying to convince the world that Kyiv had no connection to the attack, he said. And he pointed the finger at the West, saying the attack could only be linked to attempts made by those who had fought against Russia by using Kyiv.

One of Mr Putin's longest-serving allies, security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, doubled down on the Kremlin claim on Tuesday when he was asked whether IS or Ukraine was behind the attack: "Of course, Ukraine."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68663043

[Dargo]

And... Lukashenko ruined everything as usual "As soon as there was information from the security services that the car with terrorists was moving in the direction of Bryansk, it was agreed that Belarus would block its part of the direction of the likely movement of criminals, and the Russian side its own. They saw that, that's why they turned away and went to the section of the Ukrainian-Russian border," said Lukashenko. Thus, Lukashenko questioned the Kremlin's unlikely version that the terrorists were moving to a pre-opened "window" on the border with Ukraine.

Putin: It was Ukraine.
ISIS-K: No, it was us, we claimed it.
Putin: It was Ukraine!
ISIS-K: No, it was us, here we made videos with the proof.
Putin: IT WAS UKRAINE!!!!
Lukashenko: The ISIS-K terrorist wanted to flee to our border, Ukraine was second choice.
Putin: Bugger, you got a tea invitation.
ISIS-K: See! It was us.

[mapuc]

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Ukraine receives $880 million tranche from IMF

Ukraine has received $880 million from the International Monetary Fund. This is the third tranche of financial support within the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, notes Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in his post on Telegram.

"The funds will help cover priority budgetary expenditures and support macroeconomic stability," he announced.

Ukraine's EFF agreement with access to $15.6 billion was approved on March 31, 2023. Ukraine has received political commitments from its partners to provide $122 billion by 2027. It is expected that the IMF will provide Ukraine with $5.4 billion in 2024.

On March 21, the IMF Board of Directors completed the third review of the agreement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Ukraine and approved the disbursement of a tranche of approximately $880 million.
In addition, on March 20, the European Commission transferred the first tranche of financing to Ukraine for 4.5 billion euros. Also, on March 20, Ukraine received $1.5 billion from Canada.

Earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) noted that the part of the international assistance to Ukraine of $10 billion in March-April will enter the foreign exchange market and affect the situation.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/othe...fe658307&ei=34

[Jimbuna]

[mapuc]

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Russia says it's hard to believe Islamic State could have launched Moscow attack

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that it was "extremely hard to believe" that Islamic State would have had the capacity to launch an attack on a Moscow concert hall last Friday that killed at least 140 people.

At a briefing with reporters, Zakharova instead doubled down on Moscow's assertions, for which it has not yet provided evidence, that Ukraine was behind the attack on the Crocus City Hall, the deadliest Russia has suffered in 20 years.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the massacre and U.S. officials say they have intelligence showing it was carried out by the network's Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan. Ukraine has repeatedly denied it had anything to do with the attack.
But Zakharova said the West had rushed to pin responsibility on Islamic State, also known as ISIS, as a way of deflecting blame from Ukraine and the Western governments that support it.

"In order to ward off suspicions from the collective West, they urgently needed to come up with something, so they resorted to ISIS, pulled an ace out of their sleeve, and literally a few hours after the terrorist attack, the Anglo-Saxon media began disseminating precisely these versions," she said.

President Vladimir Putin has said the attack was carried out by Islamist militants but has suggested it was to Ukraine's benefit and that Kyiv may have played a role.

He has said that someone on the Ukrainian side had prepared a "window" for the gunmen to escape across the border before they were captured in western Russia on Friday night.

On Tuesday, however, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said the gunmen had initially sought to cross into his country before turning away and heading towards Ukraine once they realised that crossings into Belarus had been sealed.

The director of Russia's FSB security agency said on Tuesday that he believed Ukraine, along with the United States and Britain, were involved in the Moscow attack.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron responded on X, saying: "Russia’s claims about the West and Ukraine on the Crocus City Hall attack are utter nonsense."
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...bc6d0445&ei=12