Heavy and light weapons must be removed from the Zaporizhzhia power plant, French President Emmanuel Macron urged President Vladimir Putin in a conversation on Sunday about the plant, which is under siege from Russian forces.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock paid a surprise visit to Kyiv during the weekend to express continued solidarity – backed by new polls showing most Germans want to keep supporting Ukraine despite high gas prices.
With her third visit to Kyiv this year – the second since the start of Russia’s attack on the country – Baerbock said on Saturday that she wanted to “show that Germany will support Ukraine for as long as necessary.”
The Russian Defense Ministry accused “terrorist groups” affiliated with Turkey are excavating antiques in the occupied Afrin, according to SANA.
The Russian Defense Ministry revealed that terrorist groups affiliated with the Turkish regime are excavating antiques in the occupied Afrin, preparing to load them to Turkey and sell them on the black market later.
This week we saw the first real challenge to the EU’s ever-growing sanctions regime against Russia. Predictably, it was Hungary who threatened to derail what should have been a standard renewal of the over 1,200 people and 100 companies that the bloc has slapped visa bans and asset freezes on since Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine in February.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has inspired civilisationalist leaders to emerge from the woodwork and publicly define their states as civilisational rather than national entities.
These leaders speak of civilisational or ethnic worlds with borders that transcend national frontiers, not nation-states. How far they may wish to push claims that challenge the nation-state-based international order is likely to be heavily influenced by whether Mr. Putin achieves his civilisationalist goals in Ukraine.
The Wisdom of Rummy
Almost 20 years ago, in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, I had the opportunity to meet the late Donald Rumsfeld. Say about him what you will, but he was great with the troops and, despite being the US Secretary of Defense, spoke to us all well and treated us as equals. He came off as “one of the guys” and didn’t want any special perks. He even tried to wave off a personal security detail (PSD) as he insisted on walking a few hundred meters to a large outdoor speaking engagement. He indeed walked, PSD alert and close by, chatting with soldiers the entire time.
As Russians struggle to maintain a steady source of ammunition and artillery, they look to their Asian neighbor North Korea for arms.
The infamous Ukrainian right-wing extremist Azov Battalion – Полк Азов – was founded on the 5th of May 2014, in the port city of Berdyansk, in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast province in South-eastern Ukraine near the Sea of Azov. Hence, its name. Initially was set up as a voluntary militia in the turmoil of the Euromaidan protests and the subsequent political instability of the country, Asov rose to prominence. Asov-men operated against the illegal armed intrusion by Russia into Donbass and Crimea. The co-founder and the first leader of the Azov Battalion is Ukrainian Andriy Biletsky.
For the plan to be effective, other countries will have to take part -particularly large nations – such as India and China, some of Russia’s most important clients.
Capping the price of Russian oil, an approach G7 members said they want to pursue “urgently,” would be an unprecedented move and one which some analysts say could backfire.
Ukraine’s troops say some southern areas have been retaken, but Russia has reportedly slowed their advance.
Ukraine’s armed forces claim to have launched a long-awaited ground operation to take back territories in the Kherson region in the 27th week of the war, striking in eight directions simultaneously.