Surrounded ... Ukrainian forces vehicles are seen parked on a road between Artemivsk and Debaltseve, Donetsk region, at the weekend. The city is now surrounded by pro-Moscow forces. Source: AFP Source: AFP
UKRAINE’S army is on the brink of a major defeat as Russian-backed separatists rebound refreshed from a short ceasefire to encircle the defenders of a key city.
Russian President Vladimir Putin overnight demanded the Kiev government tell its soldiers in the city of Debaltseve to lay down their weapons and surrender to pro-Moscow rebels.
“I hope that the Ukrainian authorities are not going to prevent the Ukrainian soldiers from laying down their weapons,” Putin said in a press conference in Budapest.
Putin went on to say the Ukraine conflict could not be solved by “military means”, though the loss of the central rail-hub city would be a devastating blow to Ukrainian infrastructure and communications.
The UN Security Council responded by calling for an immediate end to Ukraine hostilities.
Smoke, snow and mirrors ... Ukrainian servicemen ride on a tank along a road from Artemivsk to Debaltseve after pro-Moscow forces breached a ceasefire agreement and attacked the city. Source: AFP Source: AFP
CEASEFIRE CHARADE
Ukraine on Tuesday accused rebels and Russia of scuppering a fragile three-day-old ceasefire after insurgents stormed the flashpoint town and engaged thousands of troops in intense combat.
Heavy artillery fire had been directed at the defenders to remove any opportunity to organise a defence.
Fierce fighting is now raging in the streets of Debaltseve, a strategic railway hub between the main rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Ilya Kiva, a deputy regional police chief inside the town, said the rebels had entered Debaltseve and were using small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
“There are wounded and killed, but we cannot confirm the numbers yet as the battles are still continuing,” Kiva said.
Ukraine military spokesman Alexander Motuzyanik said: “Battles are going on right now with rebels storming our positions. Groups of rebel fighters are penetrating into the town itself.” WAR ZONE: What life is really like in Ukraine
“The hopes of the world for peace are being destroyed,” the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Valeriy Chaly, told a news conference in Kiev.
“Russia and the DNR (the rebels’ self-styled breakaway Donetsk republic) are not abiding by the agreement” underpinning the truce, he said, warning that the situation was careening towards “further escalation”.
“Street battles are continuing and the rebels are attacking the town in groups with support from artillery and heavy armour,” the Ukraine defence ministry said in a statement. “Part of the town has been captured by the bandits.”
A defence spokesman, Anatoliy Stelmakh, told AFP that “several (army) units were surrounded” and some soldiers were captured but did not give figures.
Rebels quoted by Russian-language news agencies said their forces had entered from the east and the north, and killed “many” Ukrainian soldiers in a “mopping up” operation in the town. They said they were in control of the railway station.
The pro-Moscow separatists reportedly said their fighters rushed in from the north and the east of Debaltseve and had seized its vital railway station.
Many Ukrainian troops were killed and taken prisoner, they claimed. Some 80 per cent of the town was now in rebel hands, the “defence minister” of the separatist Donetsk republic, Vladimir Kononov, told Russian news outlet LifeNews.
Winter war .. A man of Ukrainian forces sleeps at their position not far from Debaltseve, Donetsk region. Source: AFP Source: AFP
SURRENDER DEMAND
Rebel commander Vladimir Kononov echoed President Putin’s surrender call on Russian television. He insisted that most of Debaltseve was under his control.
“Their only choice is to leave behind weaponry, lay down arms, and surrender,” he said.
The commander insisted that his troops were complying with the ceasefire, which did not include the city of Debaltseve.
The rebels claim they have entirely surrounded the city and so it should be considered part of their territory and therefore, not covered by the ceasefire.
But Kiev argues its army was holding the town, which is enclaved in rebel-held territory, and that all hostilities there should have stopped as with the rest of the front line.
Another rebel commander, Igor Plotnitsky, told Russian news agency Tass: “I was at the front line last night, and our tanks, our artillery were pulling back.” He said that he “expects the same from Ukraine.”
Terrible toll ... A part of a destroyed Ukrainian Army tank sits outside Uglegorsk, 6km southwest of Debaltseve. Source: AFP Source: AFP
RUSSIAN MILITARY SUPPORT
The truce was agreed by Kiev and the rebels last week after painstaking peace talks in Belarus between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France.
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of deploying troops, tanks and missiles to support the separatists in the 10-month conflict that has killed more than 5,660 people. Moscow denies that and describes the Russian fighters seen in Ukraine as “volunteers”.
Ukraine’s representative to the UN in Geneva, Yuriy Klymenko, said a “so-called humanitarian” convoy of 176 Russian trucks crossed into Ukraine on Sunday and many of them were believed to be carrying cargo such as fuel for “Russian-provided tanks” in preparation for the fresh assault.
The violence in Debaltseve has unsettled world powers and agencies. The US expressed “serious concern” while a UN official in Geneva, Rupert Colville, said: “We are alarmed.” EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the situation in Ukraine was “not encouraging” but “I would not say there is a failure” yet of the peace deal.
She said “we knew from the beginning that it was going to be difficult, fragile,” but the Russians and separatists know that “it’s all the international community looking for the implementation of these agreements”.
The UN Security Council was to hold a meeting today at Russia’s request
Winter wasteland ... A pro-Russian separatist fighter stands in Uglegorsk, 6 km southwest of Debaltseve. Source: AFP Source: AFP
UNKNOWN NUMBER OF CASUALTIES
Ukrainian officials denied the rebels’ casualty claim, but admitted troops in a supply convoy on Monday were captured. They previously said 10 soldiers had been killed since the start of the truce on Sunday, several of them in or around Debaltseve.
Russia and the rebels claim some 8000 Ukrainian soldiers are in the key town. An estimated 5000 civilians are also trapped there, cowering in cellars with little food or water.
Ilya Kiva, a Kiev-loyal deputy regional police chief inside the town reached by telephone, said the fighting precluded counting of dead and wounded. He said the soldiers “are waging a fierce battle; the battle for the city continues”.
Up until Tuesday, the heavily armed rebels had surrounded Debaltseve and had been pounding it with rockets and mortars.
The separatists blocked access to the town to journalists and monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) seeking to enter to verify conditions.
Tuesday’s combat dealt a harsh blow to the shaky, European-mediated ceasefire. Both sides have refused to pull back their heavy weapons along the frontline in Ukraine’s east because of what each said was violations of the truce by the other.
Reinforcements ... A convoy of Ukrainian forces drives to Debaltseve at the weekend. Reports are that the Ukrainian forces within that city have now been surrounded. Source: AFP Source: AFP
BLAME GAME
The development severely undermined an already shaky European-brokered ceasefire that came into effect across eastern Ukraine on Sunday.
The second step of that truce was meant to see the warring sides move their heavy weapons back from the front line from Tuesday. But Kiev and the rebels accused each other of repeated violations that prevented that happening.
The US and Germany had called for a stop to the hostilities and urged free access for OSCE monitors who have been blocked from entering Debaltseve.
#UNSC unanimously adopts resolution endorsing #Minsk Agreements. Calls on all parties for full implementation, inc. comprehensive ceasefire.
— UN Political Affairs (@UN_DPA) February 17, 2015
“The United States is gravely concerned by the deteriorating situation in and around Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement issued before the street-to-street fighting broke out.
Ukraine and the West say Russia is fomenting the insurgency, ordering in troops and tanks in a similar operation that preceded the annexation of Crimea last year. Moscow denies the allegation and says Russian fighters seen in east Ukraine are “volunteers”.
On Monday, the EU ratcheted up its sanctions against Russia by black-listing five Russians, including two deputy defence ministers, along with 14 Ukrainian rebel figures. Russia vowed it would respond to the “illogical” move.
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Photographer Max Avdeev embeds with the rebel fighters known as the First Slavyansk Brigade in Logvinove, Ukraine, to capture the horrific sights of conflict for BuzzFeed News. Warning: Several of the images in this gallery are NSFW and extremely graphic.
posted on Feb. 17, 2015, at 2:49 p.m. BuzzFeed News Foreign Correspondent
LOGVINOVE, Ukraine — When Russian-backed rebels went on the offensive in east Ukraine a month ago, the focal point of the clashes quickly switched to Debaltseve, a strategically key rail junction linking their two unsanctioned states. For weeks, Ukraine’s government denied rebel claims to have the town surrounded, even as artillery fire prompted most civilians to flee, killed hundreds, and destroyed the town beyond recognition.
On Tuesday, however, rebels seized most of the town and took several Ukrainian soldiers captive. A catastrophic defeat is now all but inevitable. In the days preceding their victory, photographer Max Avdeev embedded with the First Slavyansk Brigade of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in the nearby town of Logvinove. The rebels had just seized the town, cutting Debaltseve off from the last road leading to Ukrainian territory. The soldiers were mostly local volunteers, though their commanding officers were Russian — as were the men who delivered them tanks and artillery. As the deadline for a new cease-fire deal came and went overnight on Sunday, the rebels kept on shelling Debaltseve.
“We let them out once, and now they’ve come back to fight with us again. We told them to surrender in Debaltseve, but they didn’t. Now we’re not going to let anyone out,” said Sergei, a rebel commander whose nom de guerre is “Kunduz.”
“As soon as our enemy started to run out of breath, suddenly it’s time for peace, we lay down our weapons?” he added. “Did our comrades die for nothing?” Warning: Several of the following images are NSFW and extremely graphic.
Max Avdeev for BuzzFeed News
Max Avdeev for BuzzFeed News
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
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“You Americans are so gullible.
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Published on Feb 20, 2014
Anti-government forces armed with hunting rifles took up sniper positions in a downtown Kiev hotel on Thursday, overlooking protesters and police clashing in Maidan Square below. Police marksmen targeted gunmen appearing in the windows as the two groups exchanged live fire.
Dozens of killed and injured people crowded the lobbies of hotels around the square as temporary triage centres struggled to deal with casualties. At least 30 people are reported dead, including one medic.
[eng subs] (18+) UAF squad surrenders at Debaltsevo 17/02/15
A Russian bomber photographed from a Royal Air Force plane off the coast of Britain in October 2014. A new episode this week magnified concerns that Russia sought to test NATO. Credit Sac Robyn Stewart/British Ministry of Defence, via European Pressphoto Agency
LONDON — The British Royal Air Force scrambled warplanes to intercept two Russian bombers off the coast of Cornwall in southwest England, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday, as a government minister sounded alarms about the Kremlin’s intentions elsewhere in Europe.
The episode magnified concerns about the possibility of further moves by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that could draw in the NATO alliance after advances by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Typhoon warplanes took off from an air base in eastern England and escorted the two Russian airplanes in international airspace “until they were out of the U.K. area of interest,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The encounter happened on Wednesday.
“At no time did the Russian military aircraft cross into U.K. sovereign airspace,” the statement said. During the Cold War, Russian bombers routinely tested Western defenses by flying toward the coast, and there have been reports that the practice has been resumed as tensions have mounted over the conflict in Ukraine.
The number of intercepts of Russian military aircraft approaching Western airspace has tripled compared with 2013, British researchers said in November, citing NATO officials.
“I suspect what’s happening here is that the Russians are trying to make some sort of a point,” Prime Minister David Cameron said during a visit to eastern England, “and I don’t think we should dignify it with too much of a response.”
The Russian flights came as Britain’s defense minister, Michael Fallon, said that Mr. Putin could replicate the tactics used in Ukraine on the Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, former Soviet bloc countries that are now members of NATO.
“NATO has to be ready for any kind of aggression from Russia, whatever form it takes. NATO is getting ready,” Mr. Fallon said, adding that he was worried about Mr. Putin exerting “pressure on the Baltics, the way he is testing NATO.”
“You have tanks and armor rolling across the Ukrainian border and you have an Estonian border guard being captured and not yet still returned,” Mr. Fallon told reporters from The Times of London and The Daily Telegraph traveling with him on a visit to Sierra Leone.
Mr. Fallon also recalled an earlier intercept over the English Channel between Britain and France.
Mr. Putin “flew two Russian bombers down the English Channel two weeks ago.”
“We had to scramble jets very quickly to see them off,” Mr. Fallon continued. “It’s the first time since the height of the Cold War, it’s the first time that’s happened.”
“That just shows you, you need to respond, each time he does something like that, you need to be ready to respond,” he said.
“When you have jets being flown up the English Channel, when you have submarines in the North Sea, it looks to me like it’s warming up,” he said.
Mr. Fallon described Mr. Putin’s strategy as “a very real and present danger.”
“He was testing NATO all last year, if you look at the number of flights and the maritime activity,” he continued.
Mr. Fallon was also said to have asserted that Mr. Putin “is as great a threat to Europe as Islamic State,” a reference to militants fighting to establish a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
In Moscow, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Russia would seek a way to respond to Mr. Fallon’s “absolutely unacceptable” remarks, which had gone beyond “diplomatic ethics,” Reuters reported.
After the earlier flights over the English Channel, the British government summoned the Russian ambassador to demand an explanation.
Russian military planes flying near British airspace caused “disruption to civil aviation,” the British Foreign Office said at the time, calling the maneuvers “part of an increasing pattern of out-of-area operations” by Russia.
Dismissing Britain’s concerns, the Russian ambassador said the patrols were routine.
Libertatem Prius!
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Re: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards
Russian bombers testing the RAF hark back to cold war for Putin and the west
Tensions grow across Europe as Russian president exploits divides in Nato and EU in his efforts for paternalistic world order that rejects western ‘weakness’
Russian president Vladimir Putin meets members of veterans’ organisations outside Moscow on Sunday. His relationship with the west is becoming increasingly fraught. Photograph: Ria Novosti/Reuters Simon Tisdall
Against a background of overt and tacit threats to former satellite states, tit-for-tat spy expulsions, high-risk military games of chicken, gas supply cut-offs, and angry diplomatic exchanges, it seems the west is rapidly rewinding to the bad old days of confrontation with Soviet Russia.
And as the Ukraine ceasefire appears to unravel, the question on the lips of every western leader, army general, business analyst and spy chief is: what does Vladimir Putin want?
The Russian president’s apparent bad faith in honouring the Minsk peace accord is seen as part of a pattern of threatening behaviour that has raised tensions across Europe. Russia’s armed forces, both nuclear and conventional, are formidable, and have global reach.
Russia’s navy comprises the Northern Fleet, based at Murmansk, the Baltic Fleet, Black Sea Fleet, Caspian Flotilla, and Pacific Fleet, while the army, partly based on conscription, is believed to number about 300,000 men – Britain’s army totals about 86,000.
American estimates suggest Russia has approximately 1,500 deployed strategic nuclear warheads, plus more than 1,000 in reserve. It can also deploy 2,000 tactical nuclear warheads. Missile system platforms included land-based silos, submarines, and air-launched warheads.
Of particular alarm to analysts is Russia’s development of new nuclear-armed cruise missiles and long-range submarines as 1980s arms control treaties expire. So-called close encounters with Russia’s conventional military have grown exponentially in the past year, from the Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean.
Russia’s air force, of particular concern to Britain, comprises 38 advanced fighter squadrons, including MiG29s, 15 Su-24 bomber squadrons and 14 assault squadrons, plus other assets.
David Cameron, criticised for his silence over Russia’s actions, is now showing increased urgency. He waded in on Wednesday after it became clear the Moscow-armed separatists had Ukraine’s army on the run. “We must not allow people to cause instability and bully their neighbours,” he said.
This all seems slightly hysterical. Looked at from Putin’s perspective, Russia is more attacked than aggressor. His narrative of national victimhood begins in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent “tragic” implosion of the Soviet Union.
Argument still rages over whether the then US secretary of state James Baker promised President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 that Nato would not enlarge up to Russia’s borders. Whatever people say now, Putin insists the promise was made – and cynically broken.
In Putin’s mind, Nato’s expansion is matched by EU enlargement into central and eastern Europe, which he views as little more than another American-inspired attempt to deny Russia its traditional spheres of influence in its “near abroad”.
Putin’s grievances, real and imagined, include overbearing US militarism in the Middle East, notably in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, and in its crude attempts to dictate the future of Syria and Iran.
Western domination of global political and economic forums such as the UN security council and the G7 have led him to alternative international structures such as the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Putin is actively building bilateral ties with China, including big oil and gas export deals, as a way of off-setting US influence and reducing Russia’s dependency on European energy markets.
Yet Putin is not merely reactive and pragmatic. He is, equally, an opportunist and an ideologue – a passionate, patriotic Russian nationalist, fiercely proud of the Motherland (the beloved Rodina) and determined to restore lost greatness. It is this sense of mission that makes him truly dangerous and unpredictable.
But it is Putin’s belief in western, especially American weakness – even moral decadence – that is perhaps most threatening of all.
Peering out from his Kremlin perch, Putin sees a European continent divided between wealthy and poor countries, between north and south, and senses an opportunity. He sees a Nato alliance similarly riven yet, like the EU, united in its wish to avoid an open fight with Russia.
He sees a risk-averse US president who, his many domestic critics say, has abandoned America’s global leadership role. He sees, in the end of the American unipolar moment, a chance to forge a Bush-ian new world order conformable to his authoritarian, paternalistic philosophy. Putin sees himself, above all, as a muscular champion and guardian of traditional, patriotic and national values and of familial, religious and sexual orthodoxy. The legacy he draws on is neither Soviet nor Marxist-Leninist, but imperial. What Putin wants is power and pre-eminence, personal and national.
In Russia, a tsar is born.
Libertatem Prius!
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Re: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards
Babay @Truth_Seeker_11 · 10 min.
#UK jets flash their missiles at russian bear bomber during routine flight in international waters [link to www.youtube.com (secure)] …
Destroyed position of 128th brigade in the area of Debaltsevo:
Ukraine: Anti-Kiev forces take control of Chernukhino
Reportage from destroyed postition of Kiev forces:
Village of #Chernukhino after #NAF forces liberated the settlement
In Chernukhin hoisted the flag of New Russia. Chernukhin in hands of militia
Chernukhin Today - How to Destroy Ukrainian Flag
Transcript: “It’s perfectly simple. You need to kill 1.5 million people in Donbass”
Translated from Ukrainian by Valentina Lisitsa
Bogdan Boutkevitch: Ok, you ask me “How can this be happening?” Well, it happens because Donbass, in general, is not simply a region in a very depressed condition, it has got a whole number of problems, the biggest of which is that it is severely overpopulated with people nobody has any use for. Trust me I know perfectly well what I am saying.
If we take, for example, just the Donetsk oblast, there are approximately 4 million inhabitants, at least 1.5 million of which are superfluous. That’s what I mean: we don’t need to [try to] “understand” Donbass, we need to understand Ukrainian national interests.
Donbass must be exploited as a resource, which it is. I don’t claim to have a quick solution recipe, but the most important thing that must be done – no matter how cruel it may sound – is that there is a certain category of people that must be exterminated.<50% [link to slavyangrad.org]
Hromadske.TV (Ukrainian: translated "Public TV") is an Internet television station in Ukraine that started to operate on 22 November 2013. The project was announced in June 2013 by 15 journalists. It is registered as an NGO.
..The station is publicly funded and has a bank account (Privat Bank) posted on its website. Individual contributions in 2013 amounted to over 1.1 million Ukrainian hryvnias, and almost 1.5 million in the first quarter of 2014.
According to their own interim financial reports, Hromadske TV was funded in 2013 by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands (793,089 Ukrainian hryvnias, ), the Embassy of the United States of America (399,650 ) and by George Soros International Renaissance Foundation (247,860). By April 2014, Hromadske TV had received another 287,898 from the United States Embassy in Kyiv, 207, from auction organized by 'Dukat' (the Auction House) and 1,408,324 from individual contributors. [link to en.wikipedia.org]
DPR Troops gather American Arms, Munitions after Ukrainian retreat from Donestk Airport (Subtitles)
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
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Nato must be ready for aggression in "whatever form" said Michael Fallon
There is a "real and present danger" of Russia trying to destabilise the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the UK defence secretary says.
Michael Fallon said he was worried about "pressure" from Russian President Vladimir Putin on the ex-Soviet states, which are Nato members.
Russia might use tactics there similar to those it used in Ukraine, he said.
Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander told the BBC he too had "very real concerns" about the situation.
Mr Fallon's comments came after PM David Cameron called on Europe to tell Russia it faced economic and financial consequences for "many years to come" if it did not stop destabilising Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence has said RAF jets were scrambled on Wednesday after two Russian military aircraft were seen off the Cornwall coast.
'Getting ready' Speaking to journalists from the Times and Daily Telegraph during a flight to Sierra Leone, where British troops are helping tackle the Ebola outbreak, Mr Fallon said: "I'm worried about Putin.
"I'm worried about his pressure on the Baltics, the way he is testing Nato."
He said Nato must be prepared for aggression from Russia "in whatever form it takes" - because Russia was likely to use covert tactics such as those he said it had used to annex Crimea and during the current Ukraine conflict.
Russia has denied helping pro-Russian separatists, but it has been repeatedly accused of sending weapons and troops and using propaganda to inflame tensions.
Analysis
Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent
The comments from Defence Secretary Michael Fallon are an indication of a fundamental shift in the Nato perception of the crisis in Ukraine.
Nato governments clearly believe that what began as a localised Ukraine problem that strained ties with Moscow has now become a Russia problem, and a Russia problem that is likely to persist for some time.
Ukraine is thus seen as a manifestation of a much broader policy shift on the part of the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Fallon's belief that there is indeed a potential threat to Nato territory - in particular the Baltic Republics - is widely shared; hence Nato's desire to underline in the most emphatic terms that its security guarantees to its members will be honoured in full.
Mr Fallon went on: "When you have jets being flown up the English Channel, when you have submarines in the North Sea, it looks to me like it's [the situation is] warming up," he said.
Mr Cameron warned that rebels in eastern Ukraine were using Russian military hardware, pointing out: "You can't buy this equipment on eBay, it hasn't come from somewhere else, it's come from Russia and we know that."
He added that one of the principles of Nato - which is made up of 26 European countries as well as the US and Canada - is that an "attack against one or several members is considered as an attack against all".
Elsewhere, Admiral Lord West, a former First Sea Lord and Nato commander, said it was important Nato "stands united at this dangerous and difficult moment".
It could not afford to let a line in the sand be crossed if Russia interfered with the Baltic states, he said.
The UK Joint Delegation to Nato tweeted that Russia had deployed the country's "most advanced anti-aircraft artillery system" in Ukraine.
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The fraught relationship between Russia and the West, which was supposed to improve following an agreement over Ukraine, has descended instead into renewed acrimony after a series of tense military and diplomatic confrontations.
France and Germany, which had brokered the Minsk accord last week, were yesterday trying to hold together the increasingly fragile ceasefire in Ukraine amid reports that fighting was spreading once again. Kremlin-backed separatists and Cossack fighters triumphantly paraded through the shattered town of Debaltseve, a strategic point they had captured in the past 48 hours.
Britain, which along with the EU will be strongly criticised by a House of Lords committee today for “sleep-walking into this crisis”, was drawn towards centre-stage after two Russian Bear bombers off the coast of Cornwall – but just outside UK airspace – were met by RAF jets scrambled from their base in Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
The apparent probe of British readiness came soon after the Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, accused President Vladimir Putin of trying to extend his campaign of destabilisation to the Baltic countries. The Russian leader, he said, presented as much of a threat to Europe as Isis.
David Cameron said Moscow was trying to make “some sort of point” by its repeated deployment of planes close to British airspace, adding: “I don’t think we should dignify it with too much of a response.”
Russia reacted with fury at Mr Fallon’s remarks, however. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Lukashevich declared that his comments were “already beyond diplomatic ethics”, adding: “The characterisation of Russia is completely intolerable. We will find a way to respond to the comments.”
But Mr Fallon received support at home and abroad for his warning on Moscow’s intentions. Valdis Dombrovskis, the vice-president of the European Commission, and a former Prime Minister of Latvia, said: “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is very worrying for Baltic states. It shows that Russia is looking to redraw Europe’s 21st-century borders by force, and it must be noted that Ukraine is not the first country to face Russian aggression.”
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said: “Russia is behaving aggressively now as we speak. I really do see threats to all countries, If we fail to act now to what’s happening in Ukraine, there will be a big temptation [for Russia] to further instigate situations elsewhere.”
Latvia’s Finance Minister, Janis Reirs, said that his country had already detected elements of “hybrid warfare” against his nation.
In London, Rory Stewart, the chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said the West was on a “political razor-edge” over how to balance its response to Mr Putin, weighing the risk of allowing Russian expansionism to go unchecked and triggering further conflicts.
He said: “There’s no doubt at all that probably the most vulnerable part of the NATO alliance at the moment is the Baltic states.”
He urged all British political parties to write into their manifestoes a commitment to spend two per cent of GDP on defence – as required by NATO – to send a message to Mr Putin. He also asked them to prepare to deal with threats such as cyber-attacks, irregular troops, and propaganda.
The EU committee of the House of Lords also argued, in the findings of an inquiry to be published today, that Western Europe failed to detect the real character of the Kremlin. For too long, it said, the relationship had been based on the “optimistic premise” that Russia was on a trajectory to democracy.
The British Government, which is one of the guarantors of the territorial integrity of Ukraine in return for it giving up a nuclear arsenal, was heavily criticised for not being “as active or as visible as it could have been”.
“It [the committee] believes that the EU, and by implication the UK, was guilty of sleep-walking into this crisis,” said the committee chairman, Lord Tugendhat. “The lack of robust analytical capacity, in both the UK and the EU, effectively led to a catastrophic misreading of the mood in the run-up to the crisis.”
Western governments stressed that continuing fighting risked the breakdown of the Minsk agreement, but the language was markedly muted. The US administration has put on hold a decision on whether or not to supply the Ukrainian government with heavy weaponry; White House spokesman Eric Schultz said: “What was agreed to last week was not a shopping list.”
NATO insists measures have already been taken to counter Russian aggression in the Baltic and eastern Europe, with bases in the area manned by Allied troops.
Kremlin officials have complained that the move breaches an agreement, made during Boris Yeltsin’s presidency, that NATO would not set up military bases in former Warsaw Pact states close to Russia’s borders.
Douglas Lute, the US ambassador to NATO, said: “These bases are not permanent and, as far as we are concerned, they are fully within the agreement.”
Re: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said: “Russia is behaving aggressively now as we speak. I really do see threats to all countries, If we fail to act now to what’s happening in Ukraine, there will be a big temptation [for Russia] to further instigate situations elsewhere.”
Had a conversation with a young man a couple of days ago about this. He is just out of the military, eight years. His thinking is that America meddles too much in foreign affairs. The whole ME thing is "our fault". That Russia is acting out is "our fault".
If today's younger generation is to be believed, if we just didn't have an America, the world would be SOOOOO much better.
Libertatem Prius!
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Re: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards
And this is the generations mindset who will be shouldering the brunt of our national security when we are boarded.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ."
We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
Re: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards
And THAT Vector is the problem.
It won't be the "Wolverines" and young high school kids taking up the challenge. It will be us old farts and we might have to shoot a few kids to get the rest to line up and fight the enemy.
THAT is what worries me the MOST.
Libertatem Prius!
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Re: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards
Originally Posted by American Patriot
Had a conversation with a young man a couple of days ago about this. He is just out of the military, eight years. His thinking is that America meddles too much in foreign affairs. The whole ME thing is "our fault". That Russia is acting out is "our fault".
If today's younger generation is to be believed, if we just didn't have an America, the world would be SOOOOO much better.
This is definitely the position propagated by many of our leaders and is taught often by those we've allowed to indoctrinate our children. It's identical to the BS that states that "If America would only stop harassing Muslims and provide them with monetary aid that they will then stop killing us." The ignorance employed is astounding.
Re: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards
Originally Posted by MinutemanCO
This is definitely the position propagated by many of our leaders and is taught often by those we've allowed to indoctrinate our children. It's identical to the BS that states that "If America would only stop harassing Muslims and provide them with monetary aid that they will then stop killing us." The ignorance employed is astounding.
The whole problem with this ignorance is that it kills people.
The main thing about "stop harassing Muslims and provide them with monetary aid" is PRECISELY what they want and will CONTINUE to take hostages and kill people.
If the fuckers EVER take me hostage alive (which they won't, I'll fucking fight them to the death and take as many with me as possible before they get me) then they WON'T get the chance to kill me by beheading or burning.
If not, I Hope the US Government is smarter by then and nukes them (and me if necessary) to obliterate their asses.
Libertatem Prius!
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Re: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards
Ukraine Says Truce Isn’t Working and Rebels Not Withdrawing Arms
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by Daryna KrasnolutskaKateryna ChoursinaMilda Seputyte
10:51 AM MST
February 23, 2015
Ukraine Truce Fails, Rebels Say Withdrawing Weapons
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Putin Rejects Talks to Bolster Ukraine Cease-Fire
(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine said a cease-fire with pro-Russian separatists isn’t working as it disputed an announcement by rebel groups that they are withdrawing heavy weapons from the conflict zone.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics began a pullback of heavy weapons on Tuesday in line with the peace agreement signed in Minsk, Belarus, the separatist-run DAN news service reported, citing rebel official Eduard Basurin. The withdrawal will be “absolutely transparent,” he said.
“The cease-fire has not happened,” Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. “The militants are just relocating and re-grouping using the cover of a heavy-weapons pullback. The information from militants on withdrawing heavy weapons is not true.”
The latest tensions in the fragile peace deal emerged as the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine meet in Paris on Tuesday to try to ensure implementation of the agreement negotiated by the four countries’ leaders on Feb. 12. The Minsk accord requires both sides in the 10-month conflict to withdraw heavy weaponry behind buffer zones within 14 days of a cease-fire that came into effect Feb. 15 and which was breached when rebels took the strategic town of Debaltseve last week.
Withdrawal ‘Rhetoric’
Even if there’s “the rhetoric of withdrawal” after Debaltseve, “I’m very skeptical that this really will happen,” Stefan Meister, an analyst at the German Council of Foreign Relations, said by phone from Berlin on Tuesday. “We’ve had so many announcements from the Russian side that have never been fulfilled.”
Ukraine, the U.S., the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization accuse Russia of supporting the rebels with hardware, troops and cash -- accusations the Kremlin denies -- in a conflict that the United Nations estimates has killed more than 5,600 people. Russia says Ukraine is waging war on its own people and discriminates against Russian speakers, a majority in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier are due to hold talks in Paris as the authorities in Kiev and the rebels accused each other of continuing to breach the truce.
Disputed Pullback
Government troops at Shyrokyne, east of the port city of Mariupol, came under rifle and mortar fire overnight and rebels are concentrating vehicles in the area, Ukrainian military spokesman Dmytro Chalyi said by phone on Tuesday.
Ukrainian troops are shelling in the area near Mariupol, while rebel forces are not planning any attack on the city and have no new equipment nearby, Basurin said, according to the Interfax news service.
The rebels must cease fire for two days before Ukrainian troops start to pull back their weaponry, though places have been prepared for the withdrawal, Lysenko said.
If the Minsk agreements are implemented, “I am confident that the situation will gradually return to normal,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with state-run Rossiya 1 television on Monday. “I imagine that Europe is just as interested in implementing the Minsk agreements as Russia. Nobody needs a conflict on the periphery of Europe, especially an armed conflict.”
Currency Tumbles
Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, slumped 14.5 percent to a record 32.75 per dollar at 2:08 p.m. in Kiev on Tuesday, a day after the central bank announced it is tightening the amount of foreign currencies available to importers and banning banks from lending money to clients to buy currencies other than the hryvnia. The benchmark government bond due July 2017 rose for the first time in eight days, by 0.7 percent to 41.64 cents on the dollar.
The hryvnia, the world’s worst-performing currency, has declined 72 percent against the dollar in the past year as Ukraine grapples with the insurgency and an economic crisis that is forcing it to seek International Monetary Fund loans to avert a default. The ruble weakened 1.5 percent to 62.9650 at 3:03 p.m. in Moscow.
Ukraine’s western allies are “aware of the seriousness” of its economic situation and “politically there’s a strong tendency to support Ukraine and not let it disintegrate,” Michael Ganske, head of emerging markets at Rogge Global Partners Plc in London, said by phone. “The containment of the war in eastern Ukraine is not working properly so we don’t know what the fallout on the economy is, we don’t know what the costs are.”
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron warned Russia of “further significant EU and U.S. sanctions” if Ukrainian rebels push for more territorial gains. Russia’s supply of equipment and fighters made it possible for the insurgents to take Debaltseve and “Russia must change course now –- or the economic pain it endures will only increase,” Cameron told lawmakers in London on Monday.
Libertatem Prius!
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US 173rd Airborne Brigade Commander Michael Foster said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC said the US would deploy personnel by the end of this week to train the Ukrainian national guard.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States will deploy personnel by the end of this week to train the Ukrainian national guard, US 173rd Airborne Brigade Commander Colonel Michael Foster said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC on Monday. “Before this week is up, we’ll be deploying a battalion minus… to the Ukraine to train Ukrainian forces for the fight that’s taking place,” Foster stated. “What we’ve got laid out is six United States companies that will be training six Ukrainian companies throughout the summer.”
The training will take place at the level of US and Ukrainian national guard companies, Foster explained, adding that “we have nothing above battalion staff level” engaged in the military training.
The current plan is for US forces to stay six months, he said, and noted there have been discussions about how to increase the duration and the scope of the training mission. The current channels for military training set up between Ukraine and the United States would not be used for transferring defensive lethal aid if the United States decided to provide arms to Ukraine, Foster told Sputnik on Monday.
“It would go through something separate… We would not funnel the lethal aid or arms through that [training] event, we would use a secondary method for that,” Foster said, adding that a completely separate process is preferable.
The United States and NATO have been engaged in military training exercises with Ukraine since the fall of 2014, according to NATO press releases.
United Kingdom’s (UK) Prime Minister David Cameron announced last week that the UK will also be sending military advisors to Ukraine.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ."
We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
WASHINGTON — Mar 9, 2015, 1:55 PM ET
By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press
About 3,000 U.S. soldiers from the Georgia-based 3rd Infantry Division will deploy to Eastern Europe beginning next week, to conduct training exercises with forces from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Pentagon said Monday.
The deployment is part of an ongoing U.S. military troop rotation aimed at bolstering support for NATO allies who are worried about escalating aggression by Russia.
Army Col. Steve Warren told reporters that about 750 U.S. military tanks, helicopters, and other vehicles and equipment arrived in Riga, Latvia, on Monday, as part of the deployment. Much of the heavy equipment is expected to stay in the region, as the U.S. continues to rotate troops in and out of the Baltics.
The Defense Department has announced plans to reduce its overall permanent basing in Europe. But at the same time, it is ramping up its program to send military units on short-term deployments across Europe for training and exercises. Over the past year, the U.S. has sent a variety of troops, including special operations forces, to exercises and training program in Eastern Europe, including Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Those nations are particularly concerned about potential threats from Russia in the wake of Moscow's annexation of Crimea and the ongoing fighting between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country.
The 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division soldiers, based at Fort Stewart, will take over as the 2nd Cavalry Regiment leaves this month. The brigade is expected to be in the region for military exercises for about three months.
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Nikita Khrushchev:"We will bury you"
"Your grandchildren will live under communism."
“You Americans are so gullible.
No, you won’t accept To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. outright, but we’ll keep feeding you small doses of To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. ."
We’ll so weaken your To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. until you’ll To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 15 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. like overripe fruit into our hands."
Re: Russian Invasion Of Ukraine (Formerly: Democratic Malaise Draws Ukraine Eastwards
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Originally Posted by American Patriot
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