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Category Archives: Ukraine

Now It’s Germany’s Turn to Frustrate Allies Over Ukraine – The New York Times

Posted: March 6, 2024 at 3:59 pm

First it was Frances president, Emmanuel Macron, who angered his NATO allies by suggesting that soon the West could be forced to send troops to Ukraine, portending a direct confrontation with Russian forces that the rest of the alliance has long rejected.

Then Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany took his own turn exposing new divisions. Trying to justify why Germany was withholding its most powerful missile, the Taurus, from Ukrainian hands, he hinted that Britain, France and the United States may secretly be helping Ukraine target similar weapons, a step he said Germany simply could not take. While neither Britain or France has commented officially they almost never discuss how their weapons are deployed Mr. Scholz was immediately accused by former officials of revealing war secrets.

Scholzs behavior has showed that as far as the security of Europe goes he is the wrong man in the wrong job at the wrong time, Ben Wallace, Britains former defense minister, told The Evening Standard, a London daily. Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative who once chaired a key defense committee in the House of Commons was widely quoted in the British press calling the statement a flagrant abuse of intelligence.

Coming in a week when President Vladimir V. Putin threatened nuclear escalation if NATO troops entered the conflict, the tensions among Western allies underscored the ways they are struggling to maintain unity at a moment of apparent stalemate in the war and of flagging support, particularly in Washington.

For NATO the challenge now is to find some combination of new weapons and financial support without prompting a direct confrontation with Mr. Putin, never knowing precisely where that line is. It is a particularly difficult dance for Mr. Scholz.

Germany has provided more arms and promised more aid to Ukraine than any nation bar the United States but Mr. Scholz has drawn the line at the Taurus, whose powers, he fears, could particularly provoke Mr. Putin.

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Now It's Germany's Turn to Frustrate Allies Over Ukraine - The New York Times

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Nato is growing reckless over Ukraine and Russias German military leak proves it – The Guardian

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Nato is growing reckless over Ukraine and Russias German military leak proves it  The Guardian

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Putin the only winner as Poland’s Tusk flounders over Ukraine border fight – POLITICO Europe

Posted: at 3:58 pm

Russian grain producers recently boasted that they doubled their exports to the EU last year and are on course to reap another record harvest.

And Russia is using its prodigious exports to drive down international grain prices, which in turn has pushed prices in the EU to their lowest levels since 2020. That has made it less profitable for Polish farmers to sell their own grain. Instead of blaming Moscow, however, they have turned their anger on Kyiv.

In any case, an embargo on Russian goods just like the existing Ukrainian one, which was imposed by the previous Polish government but maintained when Tusk took over in December would do nothing to ease their situation because the amounts entering Poland are too small to cause market problems, according to Olipra, from Credit Agricole.

"This is a very short-term solution that puts out part of the fire, but let's not forget what the source of this fire is," he said, referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which exposed the extreme vulnerability of Poland's agricultural sector to foreign competition due to decades of political neglect and a lack of structural reforms.

Instead of letting the protesters direct their anger at Ukraine, Tusk and his government would be better off pursuing more pragmatic solutions, such as improving infrastructure and securing better contracts for farmers, according to Przemysaw Baejewski, an agricultural commodities broker at BST Brokers.

We are treating the situation by sticking on more Band-Aids, Baejewski wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

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Ukraines Zelensky struggles to draft more troops as Russia advances – The Washington Post

Posted: at 3:58 pm

KYIV Even as he promises international partners that Ukraine will handle the fighting if given needed weapons and other support, President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top military commanders have failed so far to come up with a clear plan to conscript or recruit many thousands of new soldiers critically needed to defend against Russias continuing attacks.

Zelenskys inability to forge a political consensus on a mobilization strategy despite months of warnings about a severe shortage of qualified troops on the front has fueled deep divisions in Ukraines parliament and more broadly in Ukrainian society. It has left the military relying on a hodgepodge of recruiting efforts and sown panic among fighting-age men, some of whom have gone into hiding, worried that they will be drafted into an ill-equipped army and sent to certain death given that aid for Ukraine remains stalled in Washington.

The quandary over how to fill the ranks has confronted Zelensky with perhaps the greatest challenge to his leadership since the start of the February 2022 invasion. The lack of a clear mobilization strategy or even agreement on how many more troops Ukraine needs factored into Zelenskys dismissal of his top general in February, but the new commander in chief, Oleksandr Syrsky, so far has brought no new clarity.

Syrsky has been tasked with auditing the existing armed forces to find more combat-eligible troops, after Zelenskys office recently announced that of the 1 million people who have been mobilized, only about 300,000 have fought at the front lines. But nearly a month after his promotion, no one in the military leadership or the presidential administration has explained where those 700,000 are or what they have been doing.

Ukrainian lawmakers say the lack of a unified message from the president and the military has added confusion over next steps.

I dont know why Zelensky or his team still try to convince society that everything is always fine, said Solomiia Bobrovska, a lawmaker from Holos, a liberal opposition party. Its not especially with the army.

Ukraines dwindling number of battle-ready troops is now a strategic crisis that was at least partially to blame for its recent retreat from the eastern city of Avdiivka and surrounding villages, where Ukrainian forces were far outnumbered.

Oleksiy Bezhevets, an adviser to the Defense Ministry on recruitment, said civilians of fighting age must accept that theres no time for you left to sit home.

Its quite possible Russians will move much closer quite soon if theres nobody to stop them, Bezhevets said. If, in addition to the lack of ammunition, weapons, shells and so on, weve got a lack of personnel, its a tragedy, he added.

But after two years of all-out war, the sense of public urgency that spurred new troops to the battlefield and fueled Ukraines early successes has faded. Many soldiers are wounded or exhausted.

For all this time, men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been banned from leaving the country, and men 27 and older have been eligible to be drafted, with some exceptions. Civilians between 18 and 27 can sign up on their own. Parliament has now spent months heatedly debating a bill that would change the mobilization process and widen the scope of the draft, in part by lowering the eligibility age to 25.

More than 4,000 amendments have been made to the mobilization bill, and some lawmakers see the measure as an attempt by Zelensky to pass off responsibility to parliament for inevitably unpopular decisions.

Its time to start an adult conversation with society and not to be afraid of it, Bobrovska said. Its not 2022, when emotions took over.

Zelensky has long tried to control public messaging about the state of the war to preserve public morale. He publicly announced a death toll for Ukrainian troops for the first time last weekend, saying that 31,000 have been killed since February 2022 a number that could not be independently confirmed.

Zelensky is also facing mounting pessimism at home and abroad about Ukraines chances of holding off the Russian onslaught without more help from the United States. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has refused to take up legislation that includes some $60 billion in aid for Ukraine.

Its time for serious talks with society serious and honest talks and to explain what we have to do without any artificial bravery, said Volodymyr Aryev, a lawmaker from the opposition European Solidarity party.

Bobrovska is backing proposed changes to the bill that would ensure the demobilization of troops who have already served lengthy stints in front-line positions. As it stands, she said, the only way to be back is injured or killed.

War is math, she added. We have to count our resources.

Aryev voted against an earlier draft of the mobilization bill that he deemed too punitive. He opposes measures like suspending drivers licenses and seizing bank assets of citizens who do not register for the draft. In January, fearing such measures, account holders rushed to withdraw their money, taking out more than $700 million in a single month the most withdrawn since February 2022.

The priority, Aryev said, should be to guarantee to people who will be mobilized for military service that they will not be sent to the front line without trainings and without proper equipment. Its really scaring people and creates a lack of trust [in] the government.

Those fears are driving some draft-eligible men to take evasive steps.

One 31-year-old man, whose parents are living under Russian occupation in eastern Ukraine, said he is hiding in an apartment in Kyiv, fearful that he will be drafted and sent to the front unprepared and ill-equipped. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns for his safety.

In December, while visiting the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, soldiers stopped him on the street and handed him a draft notice. He left without visiting the recruitment office there, hoping his case would disappear into a disorganized bureaucratic system.

But a month later, police in Kyiv stopped him for a random check. When they searched his name in their database, he saw the word WANTED pop up in big red letters. Officials in Vinnytsia had registered his failure to appear.

He was ordered to appear at a recruitment office the next morning, but had a panic attack and did not go. He has no military experience. You cannot imagine a person who is further from the army or military stuff, he said. It just doesnt really make sense to me to hunt me like that.

In November, the Defense Ministry partnered with Lobby X, a recruiting platform that posts job openings in the military, ranging from front-line roles to rear-end logistics or IT.

People first of all want to control their future as much as possible and want to have clarity about what they will do in the army, said Vladyslav Greziev, co-founder of Lobby X. While applications have soared for less risky posts, the challenge is to fill the combat positions, Greziev said.

The 31-year-old in hiding said he considered applying for a noncombat role but fears that once enrolled, he could be transferred to combat duty. For now, he plans to stay inside indefinitely until a lawyer can help resolve his case. Its still better than going there and dying in a week, which is my maximum, I think, he said.

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a member of parliament from the Holos party, said lawmakers are seeking an appropriate motivation mechanism to encourage enlistment, including bonuses for destroying Russian equipment and new financial benefits for veterans.

Its a hard discussion because previously we mobilized people who have this feeling of duty, Yurchyshyn said. Now we must motivate our people to serve in the army.

Bezhevets, the adviser to the Defense Ministry, said, The country has a future up to the moment where there are people who are ready to fight for it and to die for it.

I dont like to die for it its better to kill for it, he added. But despite the existential threat to Ukraine, many civilians, he said, are just dust in the wind.

Kostiantyn Khudov and Serhiy Morgunov in Kyiv contributed to this report.

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Ukraine Slams the Door on Bringing Russian Gas to Europe – Bloomberg

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Ukraine Slams the Door on Bringing Russian Gas to Europe  Bloomberg

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Ukraine first lady declines State of the Union invitation – The Hill

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Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska was invited to attend President Biden’s State of the Union address but is unable to come, according to the White House.

Zelenska was invited by the White House to sit with first lady Jill Biden on Thursday during Biden’s address to Congress, but she declined.

The effort to have her present comes as the president has been pushing lawmakers to pass more aid to Ukraine for its war effort, a push he is expected to make during his speech because the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion into the region recently passed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington in December to call for more aid and to urge unity in Congress against Russian aggression.

The White House had also invited Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but she was also unable to come, according to the White House.

Biden met Navalnaya and her daughter, Dasha, in San Francisco last month shortly after Navalny died in a Russian prison on Feb. 16.

The first lady will sit at the address with Kate Cox, who sued for the right to terminate a nonviable pregnancy in Texas and later left the state to receive abortion care.

Also in attendance for the address will be the parents of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who were invited by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

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Ukraine war: Germany under pressure to explain intercepted phone call – BBC.com

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Ukraine war: Germany under pressure to explain intercepted phone call  BBC.com

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Poland sees its most violent protest yet by farmers and supporters against Ukraine imports, EU rules – The Associated Press

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Poland sees its most violent protest yet by farmers and supporters against Ukraine imports, EU rules  The Associated Press

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Ukraine hits behind frontlines as Odesa blasts rock Greek PM visit – Yahoo! Voices

Posted: at 3:58 pm

Ukraine stepped up attacks behind Russian lines on Wednesday with the apparent killing of a Russian election official in a car bomb and a drone assault on a metals plant.

Strikes also rocked the Ukrainian port city of Odesa during a visit by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was holding talks in the city with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Both Russia and Ukraine have increased their aerial attacks as Moscow's troops advance on the frontlines and Kyiv faces a shortage of manpower and weapons.

"We heard the sound of sirens and explosions that took place near us. We did not have time to get to a shelter. It is a very intense experience," Mitsotakis said through a translator in Odesa.

Zelensky said the strike had left "dead and wounded", but he did not have figures.

"You can see who we are facing. They don't care where they strike," he he told the joint press conference.

The apparent hit comes just days after 12 people, including five children, were killed when a Russian drone hit an apartment block in the Black Sea city, one of the deadliest attacks on civilians for weeks.

- Car bomb -

Authorities in the Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine said a local election official had been killed in a car bombing it blamed on Kyiv.

"A homemade explosive device was planted under the vehicle of a member of the precinct election commission," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

"The victim died from her injuries," it added, publishing a video of a blown-out small beige car parked on a dirt track.

The attack came with early voting already underway across occupied Ukraine for this month's Russian presidential election.

The Moscow-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky blamed Ukrainian authorities for the attack and said they were trying to "intimidate" residents ahead of the ballot.

A number of Russian-installed officials have been targeted since Moscow launched its full-scale military operation in Ukraine two years ago.

Russia also said Ukraine hit a fuel tank at a metals plant in the Kursk region in an early morning drone strike.

"A drone attacked a fuel and lubricants warehouse," at the Mikhailovsky Mining and Processing Plant in the city of Zheleznogorsk, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border with Ukraine, Kursk governor Roman Starovoyt said.

Videos posted on Russian social media showed thick grey smoke billowing as a fire raged inside a cylindrical fuel storage tank.

- Fortifications -

Ukrainian forces have launched a wave of drone attacks at Russian energy facilities in recent months, trying to target the country's vital energy and gas sector that it says fuels the invasion.

Meanwhile, Russian-installed officials said a Ukrainian artillery strike on Kreminna, a town in Ukraine's Lugansk region, killed two people.

Five more were killed when a bus drove over a mine in Kirovsk, also in Lugansk, the Moscow-appointed head of the region said.

Lugansk is one of the four Ukrainian regions -- along with Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia -- that Russia claimed to annex in 2022.

The region has been at war since 2014 when Russian-backed separatists tried to secede following a pro-EU revolution in Kyiv.

On the frontlines, the Ukrainian army said Wednesday it had built an "extensive system" of fortifications near the town of Adviivka -- captured last month by Russia -- in a bid to stop further Russian advances.

Hold-ups to Western aid, mainly a crucial $60-billion package from the United States, have left Ukraine's troops in a vulnerable position, forced to ration ammunition and unable to mount large-scale offensives.

- 'Active combat zone' -

Russian President Vladimir Putin also held talks with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, in Sochi to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The facility, Europe's largest nuclear energy site, was seized by Russian troops in the first days of the war.

Speaking to AFP ahead of the meeting, Grossi rejected Russian suggestions that the plant could be put back online.

"That is not imminent," he told AFP in response to suggestions by the Russian operator that it could be switched back on.

"First of all, this is an active combat zone, and this cannot be forgotten. Secondly, this plant has been in shutdown for a prolonged period of time," he added.

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Even Without Speaker Johnson, Democrats Could Act to Save Ukraine Today – Kyiv Post

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Even Without Speaker Johnson, Democrats Could Act to Save Ukraine Today  Kyiv Post

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