Ukraine invasion by Russia Discussion and it's impact on Singapore and Asia? (compiled)

[singalion]

 

 

On 3/2/2022 at 11:23 AM, sgmaven said:

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, as well as sending in troops to assist the separatists in the Eastern Luhansk and Donetsk provinces. The occupation of Crimea has lasted since, and was used as a launching point of the Southern flank of the current invasion.

What has the US and UK done for Ukraine since 24 February? Increased sanctions of Russia, and the delivery of some weapons. Yet, not all Russian oligarchs have been affected. Some are still doing business in London, since the City of London is a major money laundering capital for the Russians.

Watch Boris Johnson being grilled by Ukrainian Activist, Daria Kaleniuk, and his weak response.

 

 

 

On the money from rich Russian oligarchs.

The filthy thing might be that the UK or Switzerland may have much anti money laundering regulation but surely did not question illegal origins with the desired scrutiny.

 

However, Singapore is not an angel in that sense also.

 

The welcome of such wealthy business men can be seen in all countries.

 

This is a general issue that has to be more scrutinised in the future, to source with better means whether the source of wealth had been from illegal means.

 

The problem with Russia is that many of these oligarchs have been politicians in the past and also their connections to the Kremlin / Putin. Also that companies were politically created or the Russian Government confiscated normal business men's businesses on pretext (Ex: Yukos) and merged them with existing oligarch companies. The Secret Services seems also involved in such depositions of businesses.

 

But if you ask to sanction all such businesses or doubtful businessmen, it would be a never ending story for plenty.

 

 

[Guest Director]

On 3/2/2022 at 10:38 AM, Guest Try and see said:

Am I the only one who thinks that the Ukraine president is fucking hot?!

 

This is him getting his Covid vaccine 😍

Of course he is good looking hot, he was movie actor. This story told us don't vote for movie actor. your country going to be ruined by them. 

[Neh Neh]

On 3/2/2022 at 9:32 PM, Guest Director said:

Of course he is good looking hot, he was movie actor. This story told us don't vote for movie actor. your country going to be ruined by them. 

A joke to make a tv comedian be president of a country 😆

 

[Guest The Truth]

On 3/2/2022 at 10:38 AM, Guest Try and see said:

Am I the only one who thinks that the Ukraine president is fucking hot?!

 

This is him getting his Covid vaccine 😍

He was not a legitimate president. The anti russian protestors gave him the seat. The democratically voted one was ousted.  Ukranians are double standard. I don't blame Putin.

[Guest Guest]

On 3/2/2022 at 9:32 PM, Guest Director said:

Of course he is good looking hot, he was movie actor. This story told us don't vote for movie actor. your country going to be ruined by them. 

 

Ronald Reagan was a Hollywood actor before he became the POTUS, and he is still quite a highly-regarded post-WW2 President, and even ahead of Barrack Obama etc.  

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States#2021_Gallup_poll

[singalion]

On 3/2/2022 at 11:52 PM, Guest The Truth said:

He was not a legitimate president. The anti russian protestors gave him the seat. The democratically voted one was ousted.  Ukranians are double standard. I don't blame Putin.

 

This is false. The President elected in May 2014 after the Maidan protest events was Petro Poroshenko. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected as President in 2019 following to Poroshenko who wasn't re-elected. 

 

The ousted president Viktor Yanukovych from 2014 could have taken part as a candidate. There was no limitation but he fled to Russia. 

 

The 2019 election was legitimate and OECD observers judged the election as ok. 

The Donbas and Luhansk part did not permit elections in these territories, same as the Russian annexed Crimea. 

 

 

[singalion]

On 3/2/2022 at 11:52 PM, Guest The Truth said:

He was not a legitimate president. The anti russian protestors gave him the seat. The democratically voted one was ousted.  Ukranians are double standard. I don't blame Putin.

 

This is false. The President elected in May 2014 after the Maidan protest events was Petro Poroshenko. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected as President in 2019 following to Poroshenko who wasn't re-elected. 

 

The ousted president Viktor Yanukovych from 2014 could have taken part as a candidate. There was no limitation but he fled to Russia. 

 

The 2019 election was legitimate and OECD observers judged the election as ok. 

The Donbas and Luhansk part did not permit elections in these territories, same as the Russian annexed Crimea. 

 

 

[Guest Steve]

Today I listened to Ukraine's National Anthem for the first time.  Not bad...  So many anthems are dumb!  But this one has nice music and good text.

 

This version is practical because it has a translation to English during the singing.  I don't understand Ukraine's language.  Cossacks, eh?  Tough people!

 

 

 

This anthem sounds even more melodious when it is played by a symphony orchestra.   And we hear its words beforehand:

 

The Ukrainians seem to act today in a way that honors their anthem!

 

 

[sgmaven]

On 3/2/2022 at 9:38 PM, Neh Neh said:

A joke to make a tv comedian be president of a country 😆

 

To the contrary, I think that Zelensky is standing up well in the face of this crisis, and is standing firm, rather than many politicians who would have escaped the country at the first sign of trouble. I think he is a true leader for the Ukrainian people, with his impassioned speeches (especially to the European Parliament that caused the translator to get emotional during translation of his speech). I am sure Putin is trying to take him out, but I also think that removing him will only make him a martyr.

[Guest Chee Bye]

 I don't blame Russia anymore.  The cunning Westerners are to be blamed for being exploitive towards the border of Russia long before the war started.   Why do I feel such strong sentiment?  Because I noticed my neighbour is also taking up my corridor space and put their own cupboards and chair.  They wanted to make full use of other people corridor space outside their own 5-room flat.  If I tell them off, they will cry bully.  Mediation has no effect on how they behaved. 

[Guest Talk cock]

On 3/3/2022 at 11:41 AM, Guest Chee Bye said:

 I don't blame Russia anymore.  The cunning Westerners are to be blamed for being exploitive towards the border of Russia long before the war started.   Why do I feel such strong sentiment?  Because I noticed my neighbour is also taking up my corridor space and put their own cupboards and chair.  They wanted to make full use of other people corridor space outside their own 5-room flat.  If I tell them off, they will cry bully.  Mediation has no effect on how they behaved. 

What kind of wumao CB logic is this again?

There's no corridor between the flats. Since when does Ukraine dare to occupy Russia space? Only Russia blatantly claim Ukraine belong to them.

惡人先告狀

 

Ukraine wanted to invite western friends to his flat. Russia got jealous. They want to occupy the Ukraine flat and  attacked them.

 

[singalion]

This is also historic.

You need to know that not all countries can join the UN General Assembly as countries not paying the membership fees are stripped of their attendance. Which translates that there are less than 193 countries with voting rights.

 

Only 4 other countries besides Russia namely Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria voted against the Resolution.

 

Cuba abstained!

 

 

UN votes to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calls for withdrawal

In an emergency session, 141 of the 193 member states voted for the resolution, 35 abstained and five voted against

 

The Guardian, Wed 2 Mar 2022

The United Nations has voted overwhelmingly for a resolution deploring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for the immediate withdrawal of its forces, in a global expression of outrage that highlighted Russia’s increasing isolation.

 

In an emergency session of the UN’s general assembly, 141 of the 193 member states voted for the resolution, 35 abstained, and five voted against. The only countries to vote no in support of Moscow were Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria. Longstanding allies Cuba and Nicaragua joined China in abstaining.

 

 

The resolution said the UN “deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine”. It demanded that “the Russian Federation immediately cease its use of force against Ukraine” and “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces”.

 

The resolution is not legally binding, but is an expression of the views of the UN membership, aimed at increasing pressure on Moscow and its ally, Belarus.

“It isn’t going to stop Russian forces in their stride, but it’s a pretty enormous diplomatic win for the Ukrainians and the US, and everyone who has got behind them,” Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group, said.

 

Speaking before the vote, the US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, compared the Russian invasion to the Nazi conquest of Europe.

“A few of the eldest Ukrainians and Russians might recall a moment like this, a moment when one aggressive European nation invaded another without provocation to claim the territory of its neighbour, a moment when a European dictator declared he would return his empire to its former glory and invasion that caused a war so horrific, that it spurred this organization into existence,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

 

The Ukrainian permanent representative, Sergiy Kyslytsya, appealed to countries considering an abstention on the grounds that “it is not my war”.

 

“It is a mistake. The evil will never stop. It requires more and more space to conquer. If tolerated it advances further and further,” Kyslytsya said. “The draft resolution is one of the building blocks to build a wall to stop it in Ukraine and not to let it go further.”

 

The Russian permanent representative, Vasily Nebenzya, repeated Moscow claims that its forces were not targeting civilian areas. He attributed the lopsided nature of the vote to behind-the-scenes coercion on member states from Ukraine’s allies.

 

“We know about the unprecedented pressure that our western partners are exerting on a large number of countries urging them to vote as they [the west] see fit,” Nebenzya said. “This is not something even we can call pressure. It was open and cynical threats.”

On Friday, Russia was the sole vote against a similar resolution in the security council, but because Russia is one of the five powers with a veto, the resolution was not upheld. So Ukraine’s allies referred the matter to the general assembly.

 

It is the first time in 40 years the security council has referred a crisis to the assembly and only the 11th time an emergency session of the UN general assembly has been called since 1950.

 

It was summoned under a “uniting for peace” resolution, in which global threats are referred to the body “if the security council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility to act as required to maintain international peace and security”.

 

The resolution can be read here:

 

Download original document

 

 

In a reflection of the worldwide outrage at the Russian attack on Ukraine, six of Moscow’s allies who stuck by Russia in 2014, in a similar vote after the annexation of Crimea, abstained on this occasion: Armenia, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Another supporter from 2014, Venezuela, did not vote on Wednesday. Its voting rights had been suspended as a result of unpaid UN membership dues.

 

Hungary and Serbia, European countries with the closest ties to Moscow, voted for the resolution condemning the Russian invasion.

 

“The Republic of Serbia is committed to observing principles of territorial integrity and political independence of states as one of the basic principles of international law,” the country’s permanent representative, Nemanja Stevanović, told the assembly.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/02/united-nations-russia-ukraine-vote

 

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by singalion

[singalion]

 

 

 

Moscow police detain children for laying flowers at Ukrainian embassy

Wed 2 Mar 2022

 

Five children aged seven to 11 with peace signs held for hours while two women face trial on unspecified charges

Police in Moscow detained two women and five children who wanted to lay flowers at the Ukrainian embassy.

Photographs of their detention showed the children holding a poster saying “No to War.”

 

 

 

The children, aged 7 to 11, were held with their mothers in a police van before being taken to a police station. They were released hours later, according to anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova.

Arkhipova said that the two women detained were Ekaterina Zavizion and Olga Alter along with Liza, 11, Gosha, 11, Matvey, 9, David, 7, and Sofya, 7.

 

 

A 77-year-old artist and activist, Yelena Osipova, was also marched away by a group of police while she protested against the war in St Petersburg.

 

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/02/moscow-police-arrest-children-for-laying-flowers-at-ukrainian-embassy

 

PS: The people around the 77y old lady are shouting "No to war" (Нет войне )

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by singalion

[singalion]

The from Putin named "empires of lies" are striking back... No more champagne parties at the yacht harbour of St. Tropez...

 

Germany seizes Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s $600m superyacht – report

Hamburg authorities seized the 156-metre Dilbar as yachts belonging to five other Russian billionaires headed to the non-extradition Maldives

 

Thu 3 Mar 2022

 

German authorities have reportedly seized the $600m superyacht belonging to Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov in a Hamburg shipyard.

Usmanov was on a list of billionaires to face sanctions from the European Union in response to Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine.

 

A Forbes report based on three sources in the yacht industry said his 156-metre (512-foot) yacht Dilbar, valued at $600m and regarded as the largest motor yacht in the world by gross tonnage, was seized by German authorities on Wednesday

At least five other superyachts owned by Russian billionaires are now anchored or cruising in Maldives, an Indian Ocean island nation that does not have an extradition treaty with the US, ship tracking data showed.

The vessels’ arrival in the archipelago off the coast of Sri Lanka follows the imposition of severe western sanctions on Russia.

The Clio superyacht, owned by Oleg Deripaska, the founder of aluminium giant Rusal, who was sanctioned by the US in 2018, was anchored off the capital Male on Wednesday, according to shipping database MarineTraffic.

The Titan, owned by Alexander Abramov, a cofounder of steel producer Evraz, arrived on 28 February.

Three more yachts owned by Russian billionaires were seen cruising in Maldives waters on Wednesday, the data showed. They include the 88-metre (288 ft) Nirvana owned by Russia’s richest man, Vladimir Potanin. Most vessels were last seen anchored in Middle Eastern ports earlier in the year.

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/03/germany-seizes-russian-billionaire-alisher-usmanovs-600m-superyacht-report

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Chee Bye]

On 3/3/2022 at 12:49 PM, Guest Talk cock said:

 

Ukraine wanted to invite western friends to his flat. Russia got jealous. They want to occupy the Ukraine flat and  attacked them.

 

Ukraine is a corridor space between Europe and Russia but the "Western Friends" wanted to put garbage there.

[sgmaven]

Ukraine is a sovereign state that can decide on what it wants to do by itself. It does not have to "consult" with Russia on whether it wants to join the EU or NATO, since it is not a vassal of Russia.

 

Putin thought that the Russian-speaking Ukrainians who tend to favour closer ties with Moscow in the past would support the invasion. It looks like he has been proven wrong, with many civilians in the Eastern cities putting up a spirited protest against the occupying Russian forces. If even those who used to look towards Moscow going against the Russian forces, what more the Ukrainian-speaking pro-European part of Ukraine!

[Neh Neh]

Zelensky is just a tv comedian that can act, cry as long as Biden asks. The mastermind is US. Since the war begins, US dollar soars higher than Russian missiles, making many things more expensive and apparently petro price too. US has a huge fuel reserve and why doesn't Biden open up the reserve to bring down fuel price?

Everyday i see news about Ukraine and people condemn Russia, pity Ukranian refugees such and such...

Don't get too emotional. This is world power struggling. We just layman and can do nothing. Might just suck thumb and let it be. I can only say "Poor Ukrainian" live in the thug war between powers.

[singalion]

On 3/2/2022 at 11:23 AM, sgmaven said:

Unfortunately, Ukraine is a mere pawn in the grander scheme of the power politics of Russia and the European Union/NATO.

 

I contradict two of your expressions used in your post:

 

a) pawn

I don't think pawn is the proper word.

Actually, I don't see the military as the main reason for Russia's invasion or obsession for Ukraine not joining the West.

It is more a fight of liberty and life conditions that pose a threat to Russia and Putin.

If Ukraine can be a successful model of liberty and a "Western" democracy it becomes a threat to Putin's society. 

 

Sure Russians may see the NATO membership of Ukraine as a loss of their power and as a loss of status.

 

The main issue Putin has with Ukraine is, that they don't allow him to control the country or have the last word.

Look at Belarus. While officially it is independent it is bonded with Russia and if Putin says A Lukashenko will do A.

Putin treated Lukashenko very bad when he tried to run his own show.

 

However, Ukraine being in the NATO would bring back the feeling that Russia lost the cold war to the US.

But the main reason in my view is that if Ukraine is successful in being a country providing Western liberties, then Russia would look even worse and Putin as a miserable politician to his own people.

 

A more appropriate word would probably be "sphere of influence".

 

 

b) European Union/ NATO

 

I don't think the European Union is the one on the other side. You probably meant more the

US - Russia dispute.

The power politics are more of a US - Russian dispute. The European Union is not so much the "enemy".

 

As there had been tensions between the US and Russia the past 15 years more intensively than after the first years following fall of the Soviet Union.

 

NATO is a military organisation created in the after war (WWII) to prevent Soviet Union to interfere into Europe / West Europe and build a military bloc against the threat from Soviet Union for Europe and to keep the Soviet Union at bay to extend their influence and communism to more West European states.

 

From Putin's view of the world he sees the European NATO states as US satellites. 

 

 

 

 

 

[singalion]

On 3/2/2022 at 11:23 AM, sgmaven said:

Unfortunately, Ukraine is a mere pawn in the grander scheme of the power politics of Russia and the European Union/NATO.

 

 

 

Details on the independence of Ukraine

 

The independence of Ukraine or better to say having permitted the Ukraine to become independent was in my view a lapse or oversight by the Soviet Union/ Russian Federation.

Nobody forced Russia to let all Russian Soviet Republics to become independent.

What plenty people are not aware I guess, is that it was Putin himself who from March 1991 was the security and military advisor to then President Boris Yeltsin. Putin headed the Security Council of Russia which gives the advice to the President on the appropriate security policy.

There were no people on the street during these times that demanded the independence of Belarus or Ukraine from Russia. While there was a first declaration of independence by the "parliament" of Ukraine on 16 July 1990 it was not binding.  The declaration was more or less a result of the losing authority of Russia and the fear of the states ending in turmoil.

President Gorbachev had worked out a new Federation of the Soviet Union Republics named Union of Sovereign States and  had presented his ideas to the Union members. The idea was more liberty and self-governance for the Soviet Union member states.

 

However, something came into his way:

The causing factor for rushing the Ukraine people into independence was actually the August coup in Russia/ Soviet Union on 19 - 21 August 1991 when generals and secret service officers tried to chase Gorbachev from power.

 

The Soviet Union people feared ending up in the hostile living conditions of the old pre Perestroika Soviet Union and that Gorbachev's reforms giving more freedom would be withdrawn .

 

This started the collapse of the Soviet Union and power grip of Russian onto the other Union member states.

 

Individual Union states started to look for independence and self governance. Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine signed treaty that separated them from the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev resigned as there was no longer any Soviet Union.

 

Ukraine held a referendum on its independence on 1 Dec 1991. The outcome was 90% for independence (participation 84%))

Here you can see that all regions of Ukraine voted in overwhelming majority for independence (also the Eastern parts Donbas and Luhansk, which have a higher "Russian" population) -83 for both parts respectively and Crimea by 54% [Russian population on Crimea in 1989 was at 65%]).

 

 

It was the President Yeltsin, the President of the Russian Federation who signed and approved the independence of Ukraine on 2 December 1991.

 

Even until 1994 everything was still in the hands of the Russian Federation to object the independence of Ukraine but it was confirmed by the Budapest Memorandum. At least the Russian Federation could have started discussing about the Crimea island.

But nothing happened here.

 

Russia should blame itself for having not stopped the process of independence and never voiced any objection plenty of years after.

 

The tide changed only when the Ukrainians ousted the pro Russian leaning President Yanukovych  in early 2014, Yanukovych had signed an agreement on 21 February 2014 to hold elections in 2014 but fled the country to Russia one day after this agreement. 

 

Russia invaded on 22 February 2014 already into Crimea and started the 2014 war with Ukraine.

 

 

 

[sgmaven]

Ukraine is a complicated issue. The East is predominantly Russian-speaking (like in Kharkiv), and tends to favour closer ties with Russia; whereas the West is predominantly Ukrainian-speaking (like in Lviv) and look towards the rest of Europe. Crimea, which was annexed back in 2014 is very Russian.

 

Russia, of course, doesn't like the fact that Ukraine may end up in the EU/NATO grouping, which would put NATO right at its border. Russia wants to feel "safe" with a ring of countries that at least separate it from NATO.

 

Even though Russia maintains that it does not oppose Ukraine joining the EU, I doubt they really mean that. Joining the EU means adhering to certain philosophies of freedom. So I doubt Russia will be able to stomach an increasingly liberal democracy in Ukraine. Do remember that many Russians and Ukrainians see each other as brothers, so such changes in Ukraine will only cause more yearning for political freedoms in Russia - something the Kremlin will not want.

 

Let's see how this conflict continues to play out. I think the "soft" "special military operation" that Russia conducted initially was due to the fact that any violent action on a fellow Slavic brother is not looked upon favourably. Also because Russia thought that the Russia-leaning side of Ukraine would welcome the Russian invaders. Now that the whole country has galvanised against Russia, they seem to be stepping up the campaign, targeting civilian infrastructure in addition to military targets. I think the Russians will have a hell of time trying to hold any city/town that they conquer, as the civilian population in Ukraine have been quite aggressively asking them to "go home". Looks like it will be even bloodier...

[Guest Guest]

On 3/3/2022 at 8:07 PM, Neh Neh said:

Zelensky is just a tv comedian that can act, cry as long as Biden asks. The mastermind is US. Since the war begins, US dollar soars higher than Russian missiles, making many things more expensive and apparently petro price too. US has a huge fuel reserve and why doesn't Biden open up the reserve to bring down fuel price?

Everyday i see news about Ukraine and people condemn Russia, pity Ukranian refugees such and such...

Don't get too emotional. This is world power struggling. We just layman and can do nothing. Might just suck thumb and let it be. I can only say "Poor Ukrainian" live in the thug war between powers.

 

Nope. In this case, USA is not the mastermind of the war. But even though he was not the mastermind of the war, he is the mastermind of sitting back and letting the war wage on, and perhaps even adding fuel to the fire by making statements such as "Russia will not fire the nuclear weapons" along the way.

 

Biden is definitely happy that the war has broken out. What better way than this to serve as his badly-needed distraction from all the issues that he has created in his own homeland ever since he became the President? 

[sgmaven]

I do not doubt that Zelensky and many Ukrainians want to join the EU and NATO. However, knowing Ukraine's position next to Russia, you know it is easier said than done. The US and European nations are stoking the flames by saying all sorts of nice things to Ukraine, knowing full well that Russia is not going to take things lying down. Doesn't help when you have a former-KGB agent at the helm of Russia...

[singalion]

On 3/3/2022 at 2:51 PM, sgmaven said:

Ukraine is a sovereign state that can decide on what it wants to do by itself. It does not have to "consult" with Russia on whether it wants to join the EU or NATO, since it is not a vassal of Russia.

 

Putin thought that the Russian-speaking Ukrainians who tend to favour closer ties with Moscow in the past would support the invasion. It looks like he has been proven wrong, with many civilians in the Eastern cities putting up a spirited protest against the occupying Russian forces. If even those who used to look towards Moscow going against the Russian forces, what more the Ukrainian-speaking pro-European part of Ukraine!

 

Kudos to your creativity!

 

войны is the plural of war, meaning wars.

 

However, "no to war" or "No War" would have the following Cyrillic letters: Нет войне!

 

In our transliteration the pronunciation and letters from the Cyrillic would be :

 

N(j)ET VOYNE

 

The Russians hold these signs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[singalion]

On 3/3/2022 at 8:07 PM, Neh Neh said:

Zelensky is just a tv comedian that can act, cry as long as Biden asks. The mastermind is US. Since the war begins, US dollar soars higher than Russian missiles, making many things more expensive and apparently petro price too. US has a huge fuel reserve and why doesn't Biden open up the reserve to bring down fuel price?

Everyday i see news about Ukraine and people condemn Russia, pity Ukranian refugees such and such...

Don't get too emotional. This is world power struggling. We just layman and can do nothing. Might just suck thumb and let it be. I can only say "Poor Ukrainian" live in the thug war between powers.

 

You forgot a bit the history of Asia.

Such same wars were carried out in Asia from the 1950s to the 1990s.

 

Just think of North Korea and South Korea, or Vietnam, even Cambodia can be counted to it.

 

If you had to make a choice, would you want to live in South or North Korea?

 

And if you had to make a choice would you have wanted to live in Russia or Ukraine (before Russia's invasion)?

 

[singalion]

 

 

Demoralised Russian soldiers tell of anger at being ‘duped’ into war

Videos of PoWs used for Ukraine propaganda, but there is an authentic sense of regret among Russian servicemen

 

 

•  

Two Russian soldiers taken prisoner near Kyiv, by Ukraine following Russia's military operation in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

 

 

Luke Harding Lviv

Fri 4 Mar 2022 05.00 GMT Last modified on Fri 4 Mar 2022 07.26 GMT

 

 

Five Russian soldiers sit in a brick building. They are blindfolded: the latest prisoners to be captured inside Ukraine. A Ukrainian voice interrogates them. “Speak,” he says to the group’s Russian officer. What message would he like to send to his soldiers and to Russians back at home?

 

 

“Frankly speaking, they tricked us,” the officer replies, referring to his military superiors sitting in Moscow. “Everything we were told was a fake. I would tell my guys to leave Ukrainian territory. We’ve got families and children. I think 90% of us would agree to go home.”

 

The three-minute video was filmed under conditions of duress. The soldiers are evidently scared. And yet there are numerous similar interviews with Russian captives which have been circulating on Ukrainian social media channels, expressing similar sentiments.

 

Asked what he would tell his commanders, one said bluntly: “They are faggots”. Another phrase frequently used is oni obmanuli nas: they duped us. Eight days after Vladimir Putin’s invasion it is clear that a significant number of his servicemen are demoralised and reluctant to fight. Some have given themselves up.

 

Others have abandoned their vehicles and have set off back towards the Russian border on foot, lugging their weapons and kitbags, videos suggest. These episodes do not mean that the Kremlin will fail in its attempts to conquer Ukraine, as its tactics shift to brutal shelling of civilians.

 

But low morale among invading troops might be one reason why Russia’s blitzkrieg plan to overwhelm Ukraine appears not to have progressed at the speed Putin would have wanted. The assumption in Moscow was that the operation would be swift and successful. Soldiers were given food and fuel supplies for only two or three days, the videos suggest.

 

The Kremlin also appears to have had a totally fantastical idea of the reception they would get. Several prisoners of war said they had been assured Ukrainians would welcome them as liberators. Russian forces were expecting flowers and cheers, not bullets and bombs, they said.

 

 

Moments of defiance: how Ukraine has stood up to Russia – video

 

 

“Some of them thought they were on military exercises. They didn’t anticipate resistance,” Artem Mazhulin, a 31-year-old English teacher from Kharkiv said. “A lot are conscripts born in 2002 or 2003. We are talking about 19-year-old and 20-year-old boys.”

 

He added: “Since 2014 the Russian government has been brainwashing its population with propaganda. They try and make Russia believe Ukraine is not a real country and say fascist monsters have captured it.”

 

Mazhulin said his uncle and aunt, Viktor and Valentina, had talked with Russian soldiers when they rolled past their house in Kupiansk, in north-east Ukraine, close to the border. The soldiers explained they were looking for Banderivtsi, or followers of the second world war Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.

 

“My uncle said to them: ‘Where the fuck do you see Banderivtsi?’ My aunt told them to get off her flowerbeds,” Mazhulin recounted. “They called my uncle Batya (Dad) and chatted with him about pigeon breeding, his hobby. Then they drove off on their tank.”

 

In a video address on Thursday Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelesksiy pressed home the same message: that Putin has sent his invading forces into Ukraine without an understandable mission. “They are demoralised. They are doomed,” he said, telling enemy soldiers to “go home”.

Ukraine claims to have killed several thousand Russian troops. This figure may be an exaggeration, but on Wednesday, however, even the Kremlin admitted 498 of its servicemen had died, with 1,591 wounded.

 

Armed servicemen wait in Russian army vehicles outside a Ukranian border guard post in the Crimean town of Balaclava, 1 March 2014. Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters

 

Alex Kovzhun, a one-time adviser to Ukraine’s former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, said Russian soldiers could be divided into two sorts: “There are the young conscripts who are scared shitless. And there are career guys who have fought in Syria and the Donbas.”

 

Kovzhun said the Russian general staff had thought the invasion would be “easy peasy”, and a repeat of the operations to seize Crimea in 2014, or their recent deployment to Kazakhstan, which were largely unopposed. Instead, Ukrainian civilians had stood in front of enemy tanks, blocked armoured columns with their bare hands and had sung the national anthem in front of twitchy Russian guards.

 

“They shout expletives in front of armed people. I’ve seen the Russian faces. They are very uncomfortable because it’s not what they expected. They were told Ukrainians were imprisoned by mythic Nazis,” he added.

 

Nick Reynolds, a research analyst for land warfare at the defence and security think tank the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said the Ukrainian figure for killed enemy soldiers was likely to be a more reliable than the Russian estimate, adding that the footage of engagements involving Russian forces available online suggested the toll the Kremlin was willing to admit to had already been exceeded.

 

Ukraine president says defences are holding against Russian invasion – video

 

Nevertheless, he added, there is little to show how the Ukrainian authorities have arrived at their own total. The several thousand dead tally could itself be a slight exaggeration, he said.

 

There is no doubt Ukraine is utilising the discomfort of captured soldiers for propaganda purposes. Several videos show young men calling their mothers back in Russia, who have no idea their sons are fighting in Ukraine. The mothers typically break down. The Ukrainian authorities have opened a hotline for worried Russian relatives, in another PR scoop.

 

Nonetheless, there is an authentic sense that many Russian servicemen regret ever having come to Ukraine, a journey that has ended for some in death or disillusionment. One interrogator asks a prisoner: “So, what do you think, are you soldiers of the strong Russian army or cannon fodder?”

 

“We are cannon fodder,” the PoW replies.

“Was it worth it?” the interrogator says, by way of follow-up.

“No,” the prisoner says.

Additional reporting by Kevin Rawlinson

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by singalion

[sgmaven]

On 3/4/2022 at 3:26 PM, singalion said:

 

Kudos to your creativity!

 

войны is the plural of war, meaning wars.

Thanks! Corrected.

[sgmaven]

My initial concern when Russia invaded, was the fate of the Nuclear Power Plant at Chernobyl. Looks like that is not the only worry. The Russians attacked the Zaporizhzhia plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Thank goodness there were no major issues at the plant so far, and I hope that it remains that way.  Else, we could be looking at a second and more severe Chernobyl incident!

[Guest Rasputin]

Which side are you in this conflict?

[LeL9]

When I saw the news that Russian hit the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, I was worried. The ongoing war is going to cause a lot of damage and loss of lives. With the dictator threatening using nuclear weapons and now hit the nuclear power plant, I started to get worried. I don't know why, but the mind keep having this constant worry that this is going to be very serious.  Cant really sleep well. 

 

After this war is over, Europe will never be the same. Russia will be a very different country. The next 5 years, people will be on their toes and there will be people living in fear. The next country will be in Asia.

[Neh Neh]

On 3/5/2022 at 2:13 AM, LeL9 said:

When I saw the news that Russian hit the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, I was worried. The ongoing war is going to cause a lot of damage and loss of lives. With the dictator threatening using nuclear weapons and now hit the nuclear power plant, I started to get worried. I don't know why, but the mind keep having this constant worry that this is going to be very serious.  Cant really sleep well. 

 

After this war is over, Europe will never be the same. Russia will be a very different country. The next 5 years, people will be on their toes and there will be people living in fear. The next country will be in Asia.

Lesson learnt is nuclear plant might be the biggest threat to humanity and national security during war time. The world should de-commission all nuclear plants asap.

[sgmaven]

On 3/5/2022 at 2:13 AM, LeL9 said:

 I don't know why, but the mind keep having this constant worry that this is going to be very serious.

You mean you don't think it is already very serious? When a country like Russia, can invade an independent and sovereign nation like Ukraine?

[sgmaven]

On 3/5/2022 at 3:10 AM, Neh Neh said:

Lesson learnt is nuclear plant might be the biggest threat to humanity and national security during war time. The world should de-commission all nuclear plants asap.

Automobile accidents kill more people every year than accidents at nuclear plants. Does that mean we should also "decommission" all automobiles? The key issue is that Russia is invading Ukraine, and didn't flinch at attacking a nuclear power plant, knowing full well that they may unleash a second and bigger Chernobyl incident. It is not about nuclear safety, which has generally been very good.

[sgmaven]

 

I hope and pray that humanitarian corridors will hold in Mariupol and other cities, and that humanitarian help can be extended to those in need.

[singalion]

France's Macron: Russia's Putin alone chose war in Ukraine

Reuters March 3, 2022

 

PARIS, March 2 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday denounced the "lies" spread by the Russian government to justify a war in Ukraine, but said he would remain in contact with President Vladimir Putin to try and obtain a ceasefire.

Macron, who has led European efforts to avert war by visiting Putin in Moscow last month and mediating over the phone between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the Russian leader, squarely put the blame of hostilities on the Kremlin.

"It is alone, betraying his international commitments one by one, that President Putin chose war," Macron said in a nationwide address to the French people, hailing Zelenskiy as the face of "honour, freedom and courage".

"This war is not a conflict between the West and Russia, as some would like us to believe. There is no NATO base in Ukraine. These are lies. Russia is not aggressed, it is the aggressor. This war is not a fight against Nazism ... it's a lie," Macron added.

 

Russia says it is conducting a "special military operation", aimed at disarming Ukraine and capturing "neo-Nazis" Putin says are running the country.

Macron, who was speaking less than two months before a presidential election in which he is still to declare his candidacy, said he would continue to defend France's values and standing in the world.

 

"War in Europe does not only belong to history books any more, it's here. Democracy is no longer unquestioned, it is being challenged under our eyes," Macron said.

 

 

Germany's Scholz talks with Russia's Putin on the phone

Reuters March 4, 2022

 

BERLIN, March 4 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has talked with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone and called on Moscow to halt all military actions immediately, a German government spokesperson said on Friday.

 

Scholz also called on Putin to allow access for humanitarian aid in areas where fighting was taking place, while the Russian president announced a third round of Russia-Ukraine talks this weekend, a government spokesperson said in a statement.

During the one-hour conversation, the leaders agreed to hold further talks soon, the spokesperson said.

 

 

 

 

It is questionable whether it is to be supported if the European leaders make calls to Putin.

However, I prefer they keep talking and remind Putin on their views on the invasion.

 

This is also necessary as Putin has shut off all Western media to be accessed in Russia.

I m sure the more educated people will know how to circumvent such bans.

Interesting to note that a country like Russia needs to resort to Myanmar style of blocking off media apps in fear their own people will know what is going on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by singalion

[singalion]

This one is interesting.

 

Could be that Putin now ordered to attack all media to stop any ugly news on the attacks coming from the attacks.

 

 

You need to open the link to watch the video if you prefer a clearer image. 

 

https://news.sky.com/story/sky-news-teams-harrowing-account-of-their-violent-ambush-in-ukraine-this-week-12557585

 

Saturday 5 March 2022 05:09, UK

 

 

Sky News team's harrowing account of their violent ambush in Ukraine this week

 

 

Not "intentionally" attacking civilians seems to be another obvious untruth... by Putin...

 

 

[sgmaven]

Like I said, Putin initially thought that the Russian-speaking part of the Ukraine, who tend to favour closer links with Moscow, would welcome the Russian troops. Instead, cities like Kharkiv have become centres of resistance against the Russians. So, the initial rhetoric of "special military operation" to "liberate" the Russian-speakers no longer worked.

 

Now, Putin is being pushed into a corner, and he is one person who will not change course. So, it is not at all surprising that he has clamped down hard on any voices of dissent within Russia. At the same time, the military commanders now in the Ukraine, know they will probably be sent to the gulags if they fail in their military operations. As such, they can only step up the military pressure on the Ukraine. They started with the soft-approach, avoiding direct attacks on civilian targets. That not having worked, they are now in a free-for-all... Just look at the attack on the nuclear plant!

[singalion]

 

Russia cannot keep the promise of the ceasefire for the humanitarian corridor for Mariupol. Anything "agreed" at the moment with Putin is not worth the word. 

 

 

Humanitarian situation in Mariupol 'catastrophic' - Doctors Without Borders

The humanitarian situation in the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol is “catastrophic” and it is vital that civilians be evacuated, a senior official from the NGO Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières MSF) has warned.

The city has been under siege by Russian forces and is near the border with its larger aggressor, in the south-eastern part of Ukraine.

 

People lie on the floor of a hospital during shelling by Russian forces in Mariupol, Ukraine, yesterday. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

 

A supposed ceasefire agreement there to allow civilians to be evacuated safely never really came to fruition.

“It is imperative that this humanitarian corridor, which could have been created today but which has not really been put in place following non-respect of the ceasefire, is put in place very quickly to allow the civilian population, women and children, to get out of this city... the situation is catastrophic and getting worse day by day,” MSF’s emergency coordinator in Ukraine, Laurent Ligozat, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

 

 

 

[Guest Wise Suggestion]

Ukraine should surrender.  They are not going to win.  American president is rhetorical.

[singalion]

 

 

 

 

Mariupol evacuation fails again

Straits Times 6 March 2022

 

Russian forces have made progress in southern Ukraine since their Feb 24 invasion, overrunning the city of Kherson and besieging the port of Mariupol, but Odessa has so far been largely spared.  

 

Mariupol fails again to evacuate civilians

The Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which is surrounded by Russian troops, said it will restart efforts to evacuate civilians on Sunday, after earlier efforts were scuppered by ceasefire violations.

"From 1200 (1000 GMT) the evacuation of the civilian population begins," city officials announced in a statement, which said a ceasefire was agreed with Russian-led forces surrounding the city.

 

But pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine’s National Guard later on Sunday accused each other of failing to establish a humanitarian corridor out of the city.  

 

Ukraine 24 television showed a fighter of the Azov Regiment of the National Guard who said Russian and pro-Russian forces that have encircled the port city of about 400,000 continued shelling the areas that were meant to be safe.  

The Interfax news agency cited an official of the Donetsk separatist administration who accused the Ukrainian forces of failing to observe the limited ceasefire.  

The Donetsk official said only about 300 people have left the city. Ukrainian authorities have earlier said they planned to evacuate over 200,000 people from Mariupol.

 

An earlier attempt on Saturday to allow civilians to leave by buses and private cars along the road north-west towards Zaporizhzhia also failed when both sides accused the other of shelling.

According to aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the humanitarian situation in Mariupol, a key target for the Russian invasion forces, is "catastrophic" with no power or water in civilian homes.

"It is imperative that this humanitarian corridor... is put in place very quickly," MSF's emergency coordinator in Ukraine, Ms Laurent Ligozat, told AFP.

Ukrainian authorities accused the Russians of shelling even when civilians were gathering to form an escape convoy, but Moscow's Defence Ministry accused the city's defenders of exploiting a "human shield".

Fire is seen in Mariupol at a residential area after shelling amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine

 

 

Does anyone have a guess why Russians seem to block the humanitarian corridor?

I have a personal assumption...

 

 

[Guest Steve]

Reading about important times and events in history one wonders how it must have felt to personally experience them.

 

We have today the opportunity to see history being made.  The last time such an important event occurred goes back nearly a century to the start of WWII.  Then, it was Hitler the feared madman at the head of the German Nazi.  Today, a not less mad and book-perfect-picture of a devil in Hell, Vladimir Putin,  is at the head of the evil totalitarian, one of the largest military powers on earth, Russia.

 

At stake is much more than the fighting nations, Russia vs. Ukraine.  If Ukraine is defeated,  Russia will not stop there.  But if events turn the way they should,  Russia's may not succeed and its situation will be much worse than not having defeated Ukraine.  As the days pass it is increasingly evident that Russia cannot back out of what it started.  Unless a peace agreement is reached where Russia will back out of Ukraine in exchange of all the economic sanctions being lifted,  and knowing Putin this would not happen unless he sees no way to defeat Ukraine and therefore he would not have a strong hand to impose his conditions,  Russia is going to pay dearly. 

 

There are countless evidences of war crimes by Russia.  The intentional killing of civilians,  Its use of cluster bombs.  The lack of legitimate reasons of having started the conflict.  And being the Russian leader,  Putin is the central war criminal.  How will Russia escape the judgment by the international tribunals?  The Nazis were prosecuted by the Nuremberg trials, and many were executed. 

 

Surely Putin knows that he cannot escape the consequences of what he has done, and this makes him so much more dangerous.  Of course if things are done right there won't be a WWIII and nobody will invade Moscow and pull out Putin by his hairs and throw him into a cell.  This will have to come from the Russian people as the country digs further into misery. 

 

It is not possible to isolate the Russians from information coming from the rest of the world.  Even if internet could be completely blocked,  satellites can beam tons of information from up there.  How long can Putin keep his countrymen duped with his lies?  And when they find that he is pure lie and deception,  and he brought them the disgrace of their situation,  how will they react?  Maybe not as brave as the Ukrainians,  the Russians are also Slavic and not willing to be fooled around too much. 

 

The Russian Kremlin is an anachronism today.   Even WWII had some positives:  it did away with Germany's Reich and Japan's Empire.  Today these two countries are pacific democracies weary of war and friendly with all the democracies.  If things happen the way they should,  maybe Russia will also become a pacific democracy friendly with all its neighbors.  And with things happening the way they should,  maybe China will think it twice before making a senseless attack on Taiwan and maybe join the fate of Russia. 

 

There is no gain in being fatalistic and negative.  One does not need to pay one more dollar by being optimistic.  And optimism has a good anti-aging effect, delaying the onset of ugly wrinkles in the face.  Steve is very convinced about this.

[sgmaven]

The problem with "Great Powers" is that their time will pass, and will go into decline. However, there will be people who will see it as their mission to bring back the "glory days". This is the situation in Russia, and Putin wants to reverse the "humiliation" of the collapse of the USSR and the dismantling of the Soviet state. As such, he sees everything through that lens, and that the West's primary goal is to humiliate Russia.

 

Another thing about Putin's psyche (one that has been widely discussed recently), is his belief that one shouldn't corner a mouse/rat.This comes from his own experience growing up in a small apartment, when a cornered rat jumped and scratched Putin. The more pressure mounts of Putin, the more he is likely to see himself as the rat. Putin does not believe in changing course, so a Russian retreat is highly unlikely. In fact, Russian forces are likely to become more and more brutal.

 

I hope that the Ukraine will be able to survive the Russian onslaught. The Ukrainians are brave people, putting up stiff resistance against the Russians, but totally outnumbered and outgunned.

[Guest Guest]

On 3/7/2022 at 12:06 PM, sgmaven said:

The problem with "Great Powers" is that their time will pass, and will go into decline. However, there will be people who will see it as their mission to bring back the "glory days". This is the situation in

 

... "Russia"? For a moment of time, I thought you were talking about Singapore, and how some people see it as their mission to sing fake praises about how well the government is handling the COVID situation.  

[riznoir]

 

[sgmaven]

I hope people fact-check what has been said about Ukrainian politics before making conclusions. The far-right in Ukraine formed a consolidated front in the last elections, but only managed to get 2.15% of the vote, below the 5% threshold for getting a seat in parliament. As a result, the far right does not have a single seat in the parliament of the Ukraine. This is a far better position than in many Western Democracies like Germany.

[singalion]

Mariupol evacuation postponed as Russia accused of breaking ceasefire

Local authorities in Ukrainian city ask residents to return to shelters and wait for further information

 

 

It is not getting better in other parts of Ukraine....

 

Kyiv seems now under heavy attack.

 

 

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy vows revenge on Russian forces after fleeing family killed in shelling of Irpin

Attack on civilians in town on the outskirts of Kyiv comes as vast numbers of Ukrainian civilians attempt to flee cities under bombardment

 

Mon 7 Mar 2022

 

 

Volodymr Zelenskiy has vowed to punish “every bastard’” who committed atrocities during the invasion of Ukraine amid outrage at Russia’s shelling of civilians as they tried to flee a town on the outskirts of Kyiv, killing a young family.

The president of Ukraine said in a video address on Sunday night: “They were just trying to get out of town. To escape. The whole family. How many such families have died in Ukraine. We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war.”

 

 

 

To the Russian forces behind the attack, in the town of Irpin on the western edge of the capital, Zelenskiy said: “There will be no quiet place on this earth for you. Except for the grave.”

Hundreds of civilians had gathered near the bridge at Irpin on Sunday, seeking to escape the capital, with only a dozen Ukrainian soldiers there, mostly helping them with their luggage, according to the New York Times, whose team were filming at the time of the shelling.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/06/world/europe/ukraine-irpin-civilian-death.html

 

 WARNING: Pictures at the NYT article with "viewer discretion advised"...

 

I don't dare to post it here.

 

 

The mortar fire from the Russians began some distance away from the bridge, before coming nearer to the street where the civilians were caught out in the open, the Times reported. Eight died in the attack, including a woman, her teenage son and a primary school-age daughter, plus a family friend. Their belongings lay scattered around the street. In footage of the attack a group of fighters could be seen trying to help the family.

The mayor of Irpin described seeing the four killed “in front of my eyes” when a shell hit them. “It is impudence, they are monsters. Irpin is at war, Irpin has not surrendered,” Oleksandr Markushyn said on Telegram, adding that part of the city was in Russian hands. Markushyn said another evacuation effort would begin on Monday morning.

from the Russians began some distance away from the bridge, before coming nearer to the street where the civilians were caught out in the open, the Times reported. Eight died in the attack, including a woman, her teenage son and a primary school-age daughter, plus a family friend. Their belongings lay scattered around the street. In footage of the attack a group of fighters could be seen trying to help the family.

The mayor of Irpin described seeing the four killed “in front of my eyes” when a shell hit them. “It is impudence, they are monsters. Irpin is at war, Irpin has not surrendered,” Oleksandr Markushyn said on Telegram, adding that part of the city was in Russian hands. Markushyn said another evacuation effort would begin on Monday morning.

 

 

Civilians cross amid rubble of a damaged bridge in Irpin Photograph: Oleksandr Ratushniak/EPA

 

Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday morning it would cease fire to allow civilians in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Sumy to leave, but only for Russia or Belarus.

 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered the fasting-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the second world war, according to the head of the UN’s refugee agency. Vast numbers of Ukrainian civilians continue to flee cities under bombardment, including the besieged coastal city of Mariupol where Russian forces agreed again to allow a second urgent evacuation that ended in a fresh bombing.

 

“It’s murder, deliberate murder,” Zelensky said in his address as he warned of more shelling to come on Monday. “Instead of humanitarian corridors, they can only ensure bloody ones.”

 

Amid reports of increasingly indiscriminate attacks, the UK’s ministry of defence released its latest intelligence report, speculating that Russian forces had made “minimal ground advances” over the weekend, while a “high level of Russian air and artillery strikes” continued to hit military and civilian sites across the cities of Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol.

 

Ukraine will ask the international court of justice, the United Nations’ top court, on Monday to issue an emergency ruling requiring Russia to stop its invasion, arguing that Moscow’s justification for the attack is based on a faulty interpretation of genocide law.

 

The UN security council is also expected to hold an emergency meeting for an update on the humanitarian crisis the war has created.

 

In Russia, Vladimir Putin’s invasion has caused further outcry, with more than 4,300 people arrested after demonstrations in 21 cities. The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had called for protest across the country and the world.

 

Oil prices have soared more than 10% and are closing in on their all-time high levels on global markets as the US and Europe considered a ban on Russian crude and the geopolitical impact of the invasion spread.

 

With a humanitarian crisis spiralling inside Ukraine, it had been hoped that 200,000 of the 430,000 residents in Mariupol – where medicines and food are running short and people are living in freezing conditions with no heating – would be able to escape during an agreed nine-hour ceasefire on Sunday, but only a few hundred people are believed to have made it out before shelling resumed. 

 

 

 

The International Committee of the Red Cross implored the two sides to renegotiate, saying there were “devastating scenes of human suffering in Mariupol”.

A third round of Russian-Ukrainian talks aimed at finding a way out of the bloody conflict is set for Monday.

 

During a tense call with Putin in which Macron had also emphasised the need to avoid disaster at Ukraine’s nuclear power sites after the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia plant by Russian forces last week, France’s president reiterated the west’s demand that civilians be given safe passage.

 

“The [humanitarian] situation is difficult” in Mariupol, a French official said. “Our demands remain the same: we want Russia to respond to these demands … very quickly and clearly.”

 

Very few refugees from the strategic city on the Azov Sea made it out on Saturday, but one family, who did not give their names, arrived in the central city of Dnipro and recounted their harrowing experience.

 

“We stayed in the basement for seven days with no heating, electricity or internet and ran out of food and water,” one of them said.

 

“On the road, we saw there were bodies everywhere, Russians and Ukrainians … We saw that people had been buried in their basements.”

 

The Kremlin said Putin had pinned the blame for the failure of the ceasefire to hold in Mariupol and neighbouring Volnovakha on “Ukrainian nationalists”.

 

Putin “drew attention to the fact that Kyiv still does not fulfil agreements reached on this acute humanitarian issue”, the Kremlin said. “And the pause in hostilities was again used only to build up forces and means in their positions.”

 

Rejecting Moscow’s denials, US secretary of state Antony Blinken told CNN: “We’ve seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians, which would constitute a war crime.”

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by singalion

[sgmaven]

If you understand what Putin is like, he will not back down. He will go for broke. Either he succeeds (and we don't really know what he really wants), or he will drag the whole of Russia and the the world down, trying to get what he wants...

[singalion]

 

 

Russian forces announce ceasefire and open corridors - reports suggest

7 March 2022 1.30pm (Singapore time, 5.30am Europe)

 

The Russian military will reportedly hold fire and open humanitarian corridors in several Ukrainian cities, the Interfax news agency reports.

Corridors will be opened from Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy at the request of French president Emmanuel Macron, the agency cities the Russian defence ministry as saying.

 

 

RIA Novosti also reports:

The Russian armed forces, following a request from French President Emmanuel Macron to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, declare a ceasefire regime from 10:00 and open humanitarian corridors, the Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine said in a statement. Thus, civilians will be able to leave Kyiv, Mariupol, Kharkov and Sumy.

 

At the same time, during the opening of humanitarian corridors, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will carry out continuous objective monitoring of the evacuation, including with the use of UAVs. Therefore, we warn that all attempts by the Ukrainian side to once again deceive Russia and the entire civilised world in disrupting the humanitarian operation, allegedly through the fault of the Russian Federations this time around are useless and pointless.”

The corridors will reportedly be in place from 10am Moscow time.

 

 

Russian state media outlet Russia Today quotes the ministry: “Kyiv’s attempts to accuse Russia of disrupting the humanitarian operation this time are meaningless, control will be carried out with the help of drones.”

 

On Thursday, both Ukrainian and Russian sides agreed to open humanitarian corridors to allow civilians out of some combat zones, however Ukraine’s president said Russia withdrew on their promise. “We heard the promise that there would be humanitarian corridors. But there are no humanitarian corridors,” he said in a national address on Sunday night.

 

 

 

But the humanitarian corridors come with a twist:

 

I don't think people will buy it!

 

7 March 2022 2.27pm (Singapore time, 6.27am Europe)

We’re receiving more information surrounding the corridors Russia has reportedly agreed to open this morning.

According to various Russian state media outlets all citing Russia’s defence ministry, the corridors - which will be opened from the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mariupol and Sumy - are being set up at the personal request of French President Emmanuel Macron.

 

Some corridors appear to involve the evacuation of Ukrainian civilians to Russian cities and Belarus.

According to routes published by the RIA Novosti news agency, the corridor from Kyiv will lead to Belarus, and civilians who are seeking to flee Kharkiv will only have one corridor leading to Russia.

 

Corridors from Mariupol and Sumy will lead both to other Ukrainian cities and to Russia.

 

Those who want to leave Kyiv will also be able to be airlifted to Russia, the ministry said, adding that it would use drones to monitor the evacuation and “attempts by the Ukrainian side to deceive Russia and the whole civilised world ... are useless this time”.

 

Two planned evacuation operations from Mariupol and the nearby city of Volnovakha failed over the last two days as both sides accused each other of failing to stop shooting and shelling.

 

In Mariupol alone, Ukrainian authorities said they planned to evacuate over 200,000 civilians, or half of the city’s population. However, Russia claimed its forces resumed their offensive in Mariupol and Volnovakha due to “unwillingness of the Ukrainian side.”

 

Just in:

 

Here’s an example of the widespread scepticism that’s meeting Russia’s claims of a ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors (Via PA):

 

The UK’s Europe minister, James Cleverly, said Russia’s latest offer of a ceasefire and an escape route for civilians was “cynical beyond belief”.

 

Two previous attempts to create humanitarian corridors have ended with civilians being shelled as they tried to flee to safety.

 

Evacuation routes published by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency showed that civilians will only be able to leave to Russia and Belarus.

 

Cleverly told BBC Breakfast:

It appears cynical beyond belief. There is a view that Vladimir Putin believed there was a widespread desire of Ukrainians to be closer to Russia, to be more Russian. I think that has been proven to be a complete nonsense by the circumstances we are seeing. Providing evacuation routes into the arms of the country that is currently destroying yours is a nonsense.

He added:

Ultimately the most humanitarian thing the Russians could do is end this completely illegal, completely unjustified invasion of Ukraine.

 

 

My personal guess was right, because Putin fears that the Ukrainians will use the humanitarian corridors to bring weapons or soldiers into the cities...

 

I just wonder what Ukrainian people would like to flee to Belarus or Russia?

Russia just doesn't seem honest with the humanitarian corridors and ceasefires.

Putin wants to see the cities and people surrender and to raise white flags...

 

 

Edited March 7, 2022 by singalion

[sgmaven]

Putin has never been honest with "Humanitarian Corridors". Even if they get set up, and civilians actually get safely evacuated, he will then use that as an excuse to claim that all the rest of the people who have not evacuated from the cities are not civilians and are fair game in his bombardments.

[singalion]

at least China starts moving also:

 

 

China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, has stressed that the friendship between Beijing and Moscow is still very strong - despite international condemnation of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine - and says China is open to helping mediate peace.

 

Beijing has walked a tight diplomatic tightrope throughout the crisis, refusing to condemn its close ally Moscow after only last month touting a “no limits” strategic partnership between the two countries.

 

“The friendship between the two peoples is rock-solid, and both sides’ future cooperation prospects are very vast,” Wang told an annual press briefing on Monday.

 

But he said China was “willing to work with the international community to carry out necessary mediation, when necessary”.

 

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said last week that China should mediate future peace talks between Russia and Ukraine as Western powers cannot fulfil the role.

 

Beijing has repeatedly said it would play a “constructive role in calling for negotiations” to resolve the crisis, but has not previously committed to joining or hosting any peace talks.

 

Wang also said China would send humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

 

He described the China-Russia relationship as “the world’s most crucial bilateral relationship”, which “is conducive to world peace, stability and development”.

 

The foreign minister referred to last month’s partnership commitment as “clearly and unmistakably showing the world” that both countries “jointly oppose the revival of the Cold War mentality and stoking ideological confrontations”.

Wang also said the informal alliance would “not brook interference by third parties”, in a warning to the US and its Western allies who in recent days have lobbied China to play a more active role in mediating the conflict. (Via AFP)

[sgmaven]

Some interesting countries that have stepped up to mediate in the conflict:

 

1. Israel

2. Türkiye