-The pro-Russian Crimean leader, Sergei Aksyonov, has accused Ukraine of launching a missile strike on drilling platforms off the coast of the peninsula. Three people were injured and a search is underway for seven other workers after the attack on the drilling platforms of Chernomorneftegaz, Aksyonov said in a post on Telegram.
-Russia has demanded that Lithuania immediately lift a ban on the transit of some goods to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Russia’s foreign ministry summoned Lithuania’s top envoy in Moscow to warn that unless the transit was swiftly restored, Russia would respond to protect its interests.
-Lithuania banned the transit of Russian goods to Kaliningrad effective today, June 18, 2022. Kaliningrad, which is wedged between Poland on the west and Lithuania on the east, is home to almost a half-million Russians and the headquarters for the Russian Navy’s Baltic Sea force. Lithuania claims it is simply abiding by the sanctions imposed by the European Union. After all, Lithuania is a member of the European Union and NATO. But that is the point. This is a deliberate provocation. It is laying economic siege to a vital interest of Russia. While there is no immediate danger to the Russian population of Kaliningrad, this is a flash point that could lead to an actual war as opposed to a special military operation.
Kaliningrad, formerly known as Königsberg, was put under Soviet control in 1945 according to the terms of the Potsdam Agreement, which was backed by the United States and Great Britain. The Russian people paid blood for this land in 1945 and are not going to relinquish it in the face of bullying or threats from the west.
-Lithuania’s decision to block the transit of goods by rail from Russia to Kaliningrad – the country's western-most exclave that sits between Poland and Lithuania – was made after consulting and getting the approval of the European Commission, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsberg said on Monday. Landsberg made the statement during an EU foreign ministers meeting, where he explained that starting June 17, Lithuania would no longer allow the transit of sanctioned goods through its territory. “This decision was made after consultations with the European commission and implemented under its guidance,” the minister said. Last week, Kaliningrad Region Governor Anton Alikhanov warned that the authorities in Vilnius were planning to cut the rail transit of goods from other parts of Russia to the region.
-US military officials have told The Wall Street Journal that Russia forces have carried out multiple military operations against the US-led coalition in Syria this month. This included a Wednesday attack on the al-Tanf garrison along the Iraq border in southeast Syria, though so far it appears the operations have targeted American proxies, namely local Arab and Kurdish factions that US trainers have been supporting. Given that Russia informed the Americans of the attacks ahead of time via a military-to-military communications line, the Pentagon believes Russia "wasn’t actively targeting American troops but was harassing the US mission in Syria."
With al-Tanf, US officials described that "a combat outpost at the garrison" was hit in the Russian strike, but no US troops were there at the time, in an attack that appeared to target ”US-backed Maghawir al-Thawra fighters" - which Russia says was responsible for an earlier roadside bomb attack against its troops. There were no reports of casualties, as coalition forces quickly evacuated due to the prior Russian warning.
-The Pentagon is considering whether to send four additional M142 HIMARS rocket launcher systems to Ukraine, Politico reported on Saturday. The US has already pledged four such systems to Kiev’s military, but Ukrainian officials want far more.
-Germany has said it will limit the use of natural gas for electricity production and increase its reliance on coal-fired power plants amid concerns about possible shortages caused by a cut in supplies from Russia. “That’s bitter, but in this situation it’s almost necessary to reduce gas consumption,” Robert Habeck, minister for economic affairs, said in a statement on Sunday.
-Reduced gas supply from Russia is set to force Berlin to take additional measures to secure energy reserves, including providing a loan worth billions of euros and organizing a “gas auction” for German industrial consumers, the news agency dpa reported on Sunday, citing a policy paper by the Economy Ministry it had obtained. Germany must further reduce its consumption and store more of the fuel unless it wants to face “really hard” times this winter, Economy Minister Robert Habeck warned in the five-page document, according to the dpa.
-Russia has become China’s top oil supplier amid Ukraine war sanctions. China’s crude oil imports from Russia soared by 55% from a year earlier to a record level in May, displacing Saudi Arabia as the top supplier, as refiners cashed in on discounted supplies amid sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
-Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the security council of Russia and long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has posted to Telegram to advise against nuclear negotiations with the US, saying that the relationship between the two countries is at “zero Kelvin”.
-Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin, is to be banned from Parliament’s estate in Westminster “until further notice” according to a message sent out by the Commons Speaker and the Lord Speaker this morning.
-The former director of the British special forces said the UK must “prepare for war” as a deterrent against Russia. The comment by Gen Sir Adrian Bradshaw came after the new head of the British army, Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, told troops they must prepare “to fight in Europe once again”.
-Ukraine’s parliament has voted through two laws which will place severe restrictions on Russian books and music in an attempt to break cultural ties between the two countries. One law will forbid the printing of books by Russian citizens, unless they renounce their Russian passport and take Ukrainian citizenship. The ban will only apply to those who held Russian citizenship after the 1991 collapse of Soviet rule, Reuters reports.
-The war in Ukraine could last for years and will require long-term military support, according to Nato and other western leaders. “We must prepare for the fact that it could take years,” Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild on Sunday. British prime minister, Boris Johnson, added: “I am afraid that we need to steel ourselves for a long war.”
-Ukraine has thanked Australia for sending four armoured vehicles to the war-torn country.
-Morocco’s national human rights body has urged Russian authorities to guarantee a “fair trial” for a young national appealing a death sentence imposed by a pro-Russian court in Ukraine. Amina Bouayach, president of the National Council of Human Rights (CNDH), has contacted the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation and urged the Russian body to take “the necessary steps to ensure Brahim Saadoun receives a fair trial during his appeal.”
-Here we go again: top officials in the West warning their populations against "Ukraine fatigue", saying that 'sacrifices' must be made for the long-term despite the 'high costs' in blood and treasure of continuing to ramp up support for Ukraine. This time it's NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg making unusually blunt statements, addressing the common masses. "We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine," he began by saying in an interview published Sunday by Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper. He stressed this should be the case "even if the costs are high, not only for military support, also because of rising energy and food prices."
So it seems Western leaders who have been stoking what is now clearly a Russia-NATO proxy war in Ukraine are now increasingly content to say the quiet part out loud. And it's not even promised to be a momentary or short-lived "cost" for citizens of Europe or America, but years-long sacrifices must be made, we are told.
Stoltenberg explained, as if trying to preempt the expected majority of skeptics, that "the costs of food and fuel are nothing compared with those paid daily by the Ukrainians on the front line." He said further:
If Russian President Vladimir Putin should reach his objectives in Ukraine, like when he annexed Crimea in 2014, "we would have to pay an even greater price," Stoltenberg added.
This warning from Stoltenberg comes not only as Russian forces are steadily advancing over the whole of the Donbas, and amid a general shift in the media narrative strongly suggesting Ukrainian losses are much bigger than previously known, but as signs of popular pushback and anger among populations in Western countries begin to emerge, as billions of dollars are shoveled into Kiev while people suffer at home amid soaring food and gas prices.
-The Russian military offensive in Ukraine is likely to last for a long time and will bring about the “decoupling” of the Russian and Western economies, Fyodor Lukyanov, a prominent expert on international relations and editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs said on Thursday. Speaking to RT, Lukyanov spoke about short-term prospects for the conflict, noting that at the beginning of the Russian “special military operation” in Ukraine both Moscow and the West probably had some “illusions” that the conflict could be resolved diplomatically. “Now we have this particular situation where military force only decides,” he said. Both Russia and Ukraine, he stressed, are now led by “a military logic” which suggests that any cessation of military action would give the other side a chance to regroup and prepare for further actions.
-Several Ukrainian officials on Friday claimed that Ukrainian forces used two US-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles to sink a Russian tugboat in the Black Sea. The claim has not been verified, and as of early Saturday morning in Moscow, Russian officials haven’t commented on the incident. But it marks the first time Ukraine said it used the Western-provided weapons. The Ukrainian military said on Twitter that it "demilitarized" the Russian tugboat Vasiliy Bekh but did not specify what type of weapon was used. The Ukrainian military claimed the Vasiliy Bekh was transporting personnel, weapons, and ammunition to Snake Island, although tugboats are not typically used as transport vessels since they are smaller than most warships. The Vasiliy Bekh is about 187 feet long and was designed for rescue operations, such as towing disabled vessels.
No comments:
Post a Comment