Here we go again-Ukraine once again

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

For second time in year, Russia will hold Thunder-2022 nuclear drills. First were held five days before full-scale invasion of Ukraine

The Russian Federation plans to conduct the "Thunder" exercises after the conclusion of the Steadfast Noon nuclear deterrence exercises, which started on October 17 and will last until October 30.

This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to Defense Express.

Russia will conduct the second nuclear deterrence exercise "Thunder-2022" this year. The first exercises took place on February 19 and were partly held near Ukraine with the launch of ballistic and cruise missiles.

The new exercises will focus on testing intercontinental ballistic missiles. Probably, the north of the Russian Federation will be the key test area.

In Russia, they traditionally check the readiness of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the service life of which for some systems has long exceeded all established standards. For example, R-36M2 "Voivode" in the amount of up to 46 missiles are responsible for delivering more than 30% of all nuclear charges of ballistic missiles. Their production ended with the collapse of the USSR, and their maximum useful life was estimated to be 2005.

And the verification of their real readiness was carried out by firing the oldest rocket, if it performed its task, the service life continued. If not, another one was started and so on until the task was completed.

The question of readiness also applies to such a ballistic missile as the Topol, which was adopted in the 1980s and was upgraded to the Topol-M in the mid-1990s. 18 Soviet "Topols" are still in service, another 78 Russian "Topol-M" were manufactured until 2011.

If we take the ground component, then 88 missiles of the Russian Federation were produced more than 30 years ago, 78 units about 20 years ago, which is almost 50% of the entire arsenal. A similar situation applies to submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3376177

[Jimbuna]

Return of Crimea will mean revival of real peace, - Zelensky

Real peace, which will end Russia’s war against Ukraine, is possible only after the return of the occupied Crimea.

This was stated by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during an online speech at the first parliamentary summit of the Crimean Platform, which is being held in Croatia, informed by Censor.NET.

"It all started with Crimea. Its return will mean the rebirth of true peace. The Russian potential for aggression will be destroyed to the core when the Ukrainian flag is back in its rightful place in the cities and villages of Crimea. Crimea must be freed from Russia's use as a bridgehead. Then the world will feel, that there will be no more losses, and people will feel that the world is becoming safer," the president believes.

Zelensky emphasized that it will not be easy to reintegrate Crimea after years of occupation, "but thanks to our cooperation, we will be able to ensure this." Source: https://censor.net/en/n3376179

[Jimbuna]

Steinmeier spent about two hours in shelter in Chernihiv region due to air raid. PHOTOS

Today, October 25, Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in Ukraine. In the first half of the day, he went to the Chernihiv region and there he was caught by an air alarm.

This is reported by Censor.NET with a link to LIGA.net.

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany reached Chernihiv by train, and then went by car to the district center of Koriukivka.

It was planned that the President of Germany would discuss aid to Koriukivka during the winter period. When Steinmeier was in Koriukivka, an air alert was announced in the Kyiv region.

The President of Germany was forced to go to the shelter and, as Spiegel writes, "the conversation with the civilian population had to be conducted spontaneously in the bomb shelter."

The alarm lasted about two hours. Source: https://censor.net/en/p3376163

[Skybird]

The NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG writes on the "Marshal plan" for Ukraine:
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Daily rocket fire, power cuts lasting for hours, targeted bombing of power plants: peace and normality are hard to imagine in Ukraine at the moment. At the international expert conference in Berlin on Tuesday, however, the focus was precisely on this: How can the Ukrainians be helped to rebuild their country in the short and long term once the weapons are silent?

To that end, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen invited top politicians and experts from around the world on Tuesday. The meeting in a former warehouse in western Berlin follows the first Ukraine conference in Lugano in the summer.

In his opening statement, Scholz reiterated the historic significance of the Berlin conference and the immense costs that war entails: "A Marshall Plan for the 21st century is needed. This is a generational task that begins now."

Even at the Berlin conference, however, much remains vague and unclear. The goal here is to coordinate long-term support for Ukraine. A financial Ramstein is needed, says Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Schmihal, who was in attendance. In April, Western defense ministers met at the air base in Ramstein, Germany, to coordinate their arms deliveries to Ukraine. But as with military aid, the first differences in the Ukraine allies' camp are already becoming apparent.

The conferees are aware of the discrepancy between Ukraine's short-term needs and its long-term vision. After all, just to meet current expenses, such as pensioners, repairs and the war, Ukraine needs grants of between 3 and 5 billion euros - per month. Where this money is to come from must first be clarified.

EU Commission President von der Leyen promised in Berlin that the EU would provide one-third of this short-term budgetary support. 1.5 billion euros are to be transferred monthly to Ukraine by the member states. As with the overall EU budget, Germany is likely to shoulder the bulk of these grants. The economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodimir Selensky, Alexander Rodnianski, expressed the hope to the newspapers of the Funke media group on Tuesday that Germany would transfer about 500 million euros per month to Ukraine.

In the long term, the cost will become much higher: In Lugano, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Schmihal spoke of $750 billion. Then, in September, the World Bank, the Ukrainian government and the EU Commission set the required sum much lower. They estimated that $349 billion would be needed for reconstruction.

But this figure referred to the first three months of the war. In recent days, the Russian army has intensified its targeted attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure, and an end to the fighting is not yet in sight. In the long run, the cost is probably closer to the $750 billion that the Ukrainian prime minister has estimated. That is roughly equivalent to Switzerland's entire annual gross domestic product.

The politicians present are aware that this is an enormous sum. So they also emphasize that the expenditure is in the very own interest of their constituents. Olaf Scholz explains that the support of today's Ukraine is equivalent to the future support of an EU member state. Ursula von der Leyen opts for even more pathos: "Every euro, dollar, pound and yen for Ukraine is an investment in the democratic future of the world."

The Ukrainian President Selenski, who is on the line, has no problem agreeing with these statements. Sitting in a green military fatigues in front of two Ukrainian flags, Selenski makes a forceful appeal to the audience. "Ukraine, this is the physical security of Europe. We guarantee that Russian revanchists cannot destroy Europe."

But Selenski unequivocally addresses one aspect that previous speakers left out. Reconstruction of Ukraine, he said, must be paid for with frozen Russian funds. Thus, at the Ukrainian president's request, these should not only be frozen, but also confiscated and put to new uses.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is also taking the same line. "We have access to a huge pot of gold that can be allocated to Ukrainian reconstruction: These are assets of the Russian Federation and Russian oligarchs that are frozen in Switzerland and many other countries around the world." At the second sentence, he looks at his counterpart, Swiss President Ignazio Cassis, who is also sitting on the podium next to Morawiecki as the host of the Lugano conference.

The latter had previously affirmed that Switzerland stood firmly by Ukraine's side. As a neutral country, Switzerland does not supply weapons. "But our legal obligations, which arise from respect for neutrality, do not imply indifference to Russia's violent breach of international law," the president noted.

In his speech, Cassis, who traveled to Kiev last week, pointed to the Lugano Principles. Among other things, these stipulate that reconstruction should be carried out in partnership and under Ukraine's leadership. However, assistance will be linked to a reform process or the further development of rule-of-law norms.

By actively supporting Ukraine in this area, Cassis is pursuing the idea of a Swiss foreign policy in the 21st century: The law of neutrality does not prohibit political and humanitarian solidarity. Olaf Scholz acknowledged this course in his concluding remarks: Lugano had been the first step for the reconstruction of Ukraine, which would now be continued in Berlin.

However, differences remain over the concrete plans: As with arms deliveries to Ukraine, the Eastern Europeans are calling for even more commitment and a stricter anti-Russian policy than Germany, for example, is doing. According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Schmihal, Poland is ready to pass a law confiscating Russian assets.

When Scholz is asked about the issue at the later press conference, he answers evasively. Confiscation, he said, is a very difficult legal issue that requires a lot of work. It would be necessary to look closely at whether confiscations were possible within the framework of rule-of-law principles.

However, a much more important aspect also remains unresolved at the Berlin conference. What role will Ukraine's so far most solvent ally play? For American government representatives are absent from the conference. A looming conflict between the Europeans and the Americans over the structure of support for Ukraine can already be foreseen.

Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had already proposed a "Ukraine Reconstruction Platform" in May, in which all international donors would participate. The Commission and Ukraine should jointly manage the funds.

In Berlin, von der Leyen admitted that all partners, including those outside Europe, were needed for the enormous task. But the EU Commission, she said, was best suited to combine investment in Ukraine with the reforms needed for the country's future accession. Therefore, he said, the Commission stands ready to take on "secretariat functions" in the reconstruction process - that is, control over the distribution of money.

However, it is considered impossible that the U.S. will let the Europeans coordinate their aid to Ukraine on their own. Thus, far from all contentious issues were resolved in Berlin. Rather, it is to be expected that the fault lines will become even clearer in the future - for example at the next Ukraine conference. This will take place in London in 2023.

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[Jimbuna]

Putin told nuclear threats won't prevent his humiliating defeat as he's 'already lost'

Russia has "already lost" to Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin's desperate nuclear threats will do nothing to prevent his inevitable defeat, a European defence chief has said. However, Artis Pabriks, Latvia's defence minister, took a thinly veiled swipe at an unspecified European country, likely to be Germany, whom he accused of "betrayal" by going against the interests of both his country and Ukraine itself.

Mr Pabriks, who also served as a member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2018, made his outspoken remarks during an interview with Radio Free Europe in Riga, Latvia's capital.

He said: "Even if Putin drops one of two nuclear bombs, or something happens to the nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia, does he really think he can win Ukraine over with this?

"He cannot win Ukraine over like this, that's impossible."

Nothing Putin did would persuade the West to halt its support for Ukraine, Mr Pabriks pointed out.

He added: "In other words if someone in Russia still has common sense - I still do not consider Russians to be out of their minds - they must understand that by dropping nuclear bombs they cannot win this war.

"They have already lost.

"Given that, there is no military point to do this because it will not improve Russia's position, it will only make it worse."

In comments addressed directly to Ukraine itself, Mr Pabriks said: "The outcome of the war in Ukraine will have a big and serious impact on the interests of my country and my people.

"In other words, Ukraine must win.

"This is in our national interests, because to a certain degree, Ukrainians are fighting for our interests.

"You are fighting for Europe, for democracy, for freedom of human rights."

With that in mind, he also questioned the commitment of some of Ukraine's partners in Europe, explaining: "If someone in Europe does not understand that, not only do they do against the interests of Ukraine, but they also go against the interests of Latvia.

"And if they are members of the European Union and NATO, and go against the interests of my country, what else is it but a betrayal?"

While he did not mention Germany by name, Mr Pabriks has been a frequent critic in recent months.

In January, prior to Putin's invasion on February 24, he branded Berlin "immoral and hypocritical" for its links with Russia and China, warning its behaviour risked driving a wedge between western and eastern European nations.

On Friday, he tweeted his interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, commenting: "We expect more courage from German society and faster reactions from the Federal Government.

"Almost everything depends on Germany. We are at war. And that's where the largest countries in Europe have to lead."

Speaking yesterday in response to a question about calls from within his own party for more diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said all relevant political actors in Germany, and everyone in government, agreed that Ukraine's territorial integrity must be preserved.

Social Democrat caucus leader Rolf Muetzenich caused a stir at the weekend after highlighting opinion polls suggesting many Germans had wanted diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war get underway as soon as Putin launched his invasion.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...bb62d7f60406de

[Jimbuna]

What does ‘lose’ look like for the Russia-Ukraine war? We need room to discuss how this ends

It was Emmanuel Macron who first invited a storm of criticism by saying the West should avoid humiliating Russia in a peace deal.

Then came the turn of former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who in May said Kyiv should cede territory to Russia and that pushing Moscow’s forces beyond the lines they held before February 23rd would lead to catastrophe.

In September, the Conservative MP and former defence minister Andrew Murrison waded in, arguing that defeating Russia on the battlefield would be undesirable and Putin should be allowed to save face.

The current Minister for the Armed Forces, James Heappey, quickly slapped him down.

All of which makes a toxic background for the letter this week sent to President Biden from a group of Democratic congressional members urging, among other requests, greater diplomatic efforts for a negotiated settlement and direct talks with Russia.

Public discourse about the war’s end currently has no room for talk of ‘negotiation’. Any such suggestion is immediately snuffed out and labelled appeasement.

Similarly, calls for direct talks are castigated, despite the fact phone calls this week by Russia's defence minister and armed forces chief to their opposite numbers in the US, UK and France were generally welcomed.

There is currently no prospect of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia; neither side wants, nor has the domestic appetite, for talks.

But we, the international communities outside Ukraine, are not just idle, even if disgusted, bystanders. We have a direct and personal interest in what happens in the war, how it ends and what comes next.

This conflict has the potential to escalate past the nuclear threshold. That impacts us all and while it is correct to hold Biden to his line “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” there has to be room to discuss these issues if mistakes, with potentially global impact, are not to be made when the end arrives.

Very few wars end with an outright winner on the battlefield.

Nato, leading the international military support for Ukraine, wants Russia to lose this war. Given Russia’s woeful performance so far there is every possibility this conflict could buck the historical trend.

If not though, what does ‘lose’ look like? Is there a military limit at which point weapon deliveries give way to some future security model? If so, where? The lines as they were on Feb 23? Or 2014? If Kyiv’s troops do not eject Russian forces from their country entirely and Nato is not prepared to put boots on the ground and jets in the air, what happens then?

There has to be room to discuss the mucky stuff in the space between peace and war, victory and defeat. Shutting down such debates as accommodating Putin only gifts him the diplomatic initiative.

To be clear, the letter from the Congressional caucus made clear that Ukraine must end this war sovereign and independent. It said there is no place for the US to pressure President Zelensky's government regarding sovereign decisions.

Even though it has been withdrawn, it will undoubtedly be used by the Kremlin to highlight imaginary cracks in the international consensus against this vile and illegitimate war.

Sensible observers will see through that of course, but perhaps it would have been better had the contents not been made public.

However, if the letter does nothing more than encourage serious discussion on how we - Ukraine and the international community together - want this war to end, with all the messy detail that entails, it will have served a common good.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...5c7fd5a204437e

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

[mapuc]

Had to change the comment-I wrote before watching the video. I thought 101st Air borne was preparing to intervene in Ukraine.

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Accusations of Russian Federation regarding "dirty bomb" are false, world is watching this very carefully, - Stoltenberg

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Russia against escalation on the pretext of Ukraine’s accusations of plans to use a "dirty bomb".

This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to Ukrinform.

"Russia is now trying to falsely accuse Ukraine of preparing to use a radioactive 'dirty bomb' on its own territory. NATO allies reject this obviously false accusation. Russia often accuses others of what they intend to do themselves. We have seen this trend before, from Syria to Ukraine. Russia should not use false pretexts for further escalation. The world is watching this very carefully," Stoltenberg emphasized.

The NATO Secretary General noted that Russia's brutal war against Ukraine is entering a decisive moment. President Putin responds to his failures on the battlefield by intensifying aggression, strikes on the civilian population and civilian energy infrastructure, and drone and missile attacks on residential areas.

He reminded that during the past days it became obvious that Iran provides military support to Russia in its war against Ukraine. The head of NATO called such a situation "unacceptable".

"No country should help the aggressor in this criminal war. I welcome the fact that the Allies and the European Union are applying strong sanctions against Tehran," the NATO Secretary General said. Source: https://censor.net/en/n3376322

[Rockstar]

Hard to cut and paste this one. But worth the time to read.

Abandoned Russian base holds secrets of retreat in Ukraine

https://www.reuters.com/investigates...s-russia-base/

When Russian troops fled the Ukrainian town of Balakliia last month, they left behind thousands of documents that detail the inner workings of the Russian war machine.

By MARI SAITO, MARIA TSVETKOVA and ANTON ZVEREV
Photographs by ZOHRA BENSEMRA

Filed: Oct. 26, 2022, 11 a.m. GMT