Author: M Barbu

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 42nd day, here is a look at the main developments.

Fighting

Heavy fighting and Russian air strikes continue in Mariupol, according to British military intelligence.
“The humanitarian situation in the city is worsening,” Ukraine’s defence ministry said. “Most of the 160,000 remaining residents have no light, communication, medicine, heat or water. Russian forces have prevented humanitarian access, likely to pressure defenders to surrender.”
The Russian defence ministry says its forces will “liberate” Mariupol from Ukrainian “nationalists”.
US President Joe Biden approved a $100m transfer of Javelin armour-piercing missiles to Ukraine, according to an administration official.
Authorities in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk urged residents to get out “while it is safe” through five “humanitarian corridors”.

The Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency quietly conducted a successful hypersonic missile test last month.

A defense official told Defense News the Pentagon chose not to announce the test of the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, or HAWC, for about two weeks to avoid inflaming already-delicate tensions with Russia.

Ukraine, the China Challenge, and the Revival of the West

Does anyone have a right to be surprised? A gangster regime in the Kremlin has declared that its security is threatened by a much smaller neighbor—which, the regime claims, is not a truly sovereign country but just a plaything of far more powerful Western states. To make itself more secure, the Kremlin insists, it needs to bite off some of its neighbor’s territory. Negotiations between the two sides break down; Moscow invades.

Report identifies U.S.-based neo-Nazis, white supremacists fighting on both sides of Russia’s war in Ukraine

Neo-Nazis and white supremacists from the United States and Europe have traveled to Ukraine to fight on both sides of the war with Russia, providing these extremists with valuable battlefield experience as they seek to increase their violent operations domestically, according to a report from a watchdog group monitoring the situation.

Russian ‘Dark Money’ Funding ‘Green’ Groups in West

“Germany and several other European countries have largely banned fracking. This has transformed European leaders into the equivalent of 16th-century naval explorers, praying for favorable winds and weather as energy prices rise and fall depending on cloud cover and wind conditions.” — Wall Street Journal editorial, October 20, 2021.

Kyiv was a Russian defeat for the ages. The fight started poorly for the invaders and went downhill from there.

When President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Feb. 24 after months of buildup on Ukraine’s borders, he sent hundreds of helicopter-borne commandos — the best of the best of Russia’s “spetsnaz” special forces soldiers — to assault and seize a lightly defended airfield on Kyiv’s doorstep.

NATO’s former Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), Retired Four-star General Wesley Clark, stated that Putin’s goal was to obtain Ukraine, the Baltic states, and control over Eastern Europe during an interview with CNN last April 3.

As Ukraine continues to liberate areas north of Kyiv, global audiences are being confronted by shocking photo and video evidence of crimes against humanity. Weeks spent under Russian occupation have transformed the once sleepy suburbs of the Ukrainian capital into a vast killing field. It is becoming increasingly apparent that Putin’s invasion force has committed war crimes that echo the worst excesses of the totalitarian twentieth century.