17 Mar, 2022 14:11

Zelensky calls on Germany to ‘tear down the wall’ in Europe

The day after the speech before US lawmakers, Ukraine's President addressed German Bundestag, continuing appeals for help against Russian attack

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky addressed German authorities at Bundestag on Thursday morning, calling on the Chancellor to help destroy a new “wall” Russia was building in Europe by its offensive on Ukraine.

The speech came the day after his speech before the US Congress on Wednesday night.

“It’s not a Berlin Wall — it is a wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this wall is growing bigger with every bomb dropped on Ukrainian territory,” Zelensky told the lawmakers in a video address.

“Dear Mr. Scholz, tear down this wall,” he asked the Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, referencing the 1987 appeal by then-US President Ronald Reagan to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.

The Ukrainian president claimed his cities have been hit by air strikes and that sanctions on Russia were “too few” to stop the offensive, asking Germany for more military support. He reiterated his request to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, repeatedly rejected by Western leaders due to fears of escalation of conflict with Russia.

Volodymyr Zelensky also made explicit reference to the Holocaust, evoking the famous slogan.

“Every year politicians say: ‘never again.’ Now I see that these words are worthless. A whole nation is being exterminated in Europe," he stated.

In his speech, Zelensky reproached Germany for putting its economy before other countries’ security prior to the Russian attack, criticizing the many ties German enterprises had with Russia, indirectly sponsoring the upcoming hostilities. He also accused the German government of supporting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which was meant to transfer Russian natural gas to Europe, as Ukraine was among the countries opposing the project and insisting it could be a menace European security.

Moscow attacked its neighbor in late February, following a seven-year standoff over Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk.

Russia has demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force

https://www.rt.com/russia/552161-zelensky-addressed-bundestag-help/

17 Mar, 2022 14:17

Ukraine pleads for mass sabotage in Belarus

A senior Ukrainian official has askedBelarusians sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause to do “what they do best” and carry out mass sabotage against the national railway systemto stop Russian troops from attacking Ukraine. Presidential aide Alexey Arestovich made the call in a “motivational video” published on Facebook on Thursday.

The proposed campaign would be part of a larger “total rail war” that Arestovich wants Ukrainians to wage in the part of their country controlled by Russian troops and in Crimea, Russia. He claimed that acts of sabotage disrupting military shipments in northern Ukraine have helped slow down the offensive.

“By the way, there have been good examples of the rail war in Belarus. So, Belarusian brothers, if you stand against this war, do what you were always best at: wage a partisan war. Preferably in Belarus itself,” he said.

He was referring to partisan operations in Belarus during World War II, which helped cripple the supply lines of Nazi forces invading the USSR. Arestovich stressed that the proposed attacks should only affect the “transportation routes of the Russian troops” and “probably” not the railways connecting Belarus to Russia.

The official is one of the key people in the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky, and has served as his spokesman amid the attack on his country.

Prior to his current job, Arestovich was part of a Ukrainian nationalist political force. After the 2014 armed coup in Kiev, he became a popular public speaker, who was often invited by Ukrainian media to comment on military affairs. In 2017, heinfamously acknowledged that he had been “lying a lot” to boost morale and depict Russia in the worst possible way, stating that his “propaganda” was necessary for a nation fighting in a war.

A “total rail war” against Russia was requested by the presidential aide

https://www.rt.com/russia/552159-arestovich-rail-war-belarus/

17 Mar, 2022 12:52

Kremlin comments on reported draft peace plan with Ukraine

Russia denies that “significant progress” has been made in talks with Kiev

The Kremlin has said that a report in the Financial Times about a supposed 15-point draft peace plan with Ukraine was false.

The sides held several rounds of talks after Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, later switching to regular discussions via video link.

Replying to a reporter's question on Thursday if Russia and Ukraine were close to sign a peace deal, Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, said: “No, the work continues [on the matter].” He added Russia will inform the public of any breakthrough in the talks.

The statement comes after the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the sides had made “significant progress” and were discussing a 15-point draft plan, which would include the withdrawal of Russian troops, and Ukraine becoming a neutral state in exchange for protection by Western allies.

Peskov confirmed that some of the issues mentioned by FT were on the agenda but dismissed the overall report as “essentially false.”

Mykhailo Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian negotiating team, said that the draft from the FT report represented what Russia wanted from Kiev and “nothing more.” He reiterated that Kiev was seeking a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Russian forces, and legally binding security guarantees.

The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, meanwhile, said on Wednesday that Ukraine tabled a proposal for it to become a non-aligned state, like Sweden or Austria.

Russia has been demanding that Ukraine officially declares itself a neutral country, renouncing a bid to join NATO. Ukrainian officials previously said they were ready to discuss the matter with Moscow.

Moscow attacked its neighbor following a seven-year standoff over Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state.

Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

https://www.rt.com/russia/552146-kremlin-ukraine-peace-plan/

17 Mar, 2022 08:51

China hits back at NATO over Russia demand

Beijing will never forget who bombed its embassy in Belgrade, its mission to the EU said

China has dismissed calls from NATO for it not to support Russia in any way on Thursday, reminding the bloc it was its US-led forces which bombed its embassy in Belgrade during the 1999 attack on Yugoslavia.

“Chinese people can fully relate to the pains and sufferings of other countries because we will never forget who had bombed our embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. We need no lecture on justice from the abuser of international law,” a spokesman for the Beijing’s diplomatic mission to the EU said, responding to remarks made by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Branding NATO a “Cold War remnant,” the diplomat suggested the organization needed to do some self-reflectionto examine if it was contributing to world peace and stability, with its expansion and military operations.

Stoltenberg targeted China on Tuesday ahead of a NATO defense ministers’ emergency meeting. He suggested Beijing should “join the rest of the world in condemning strongly the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia” and said that any kind of support for Moscow now would help it “to continue to wage war which is causing death, suffering and an enormous amount of destruction.”

“China has an obligation as a member of the UN Security Council to actually support and uphold international law,” he added.

Russia’s attack against Ukraine, which it launched in late February, was partially justified by NATO’s creeping expansion. Moscow said it posed an increasing threat to its national security that had to be eliminated after the US and its allies refused to deescalate the situation peacefully. Russia also said it had to protect rebels in eastern Ukraine from continued attacks by Ukrainian government forces.

Beijing voiced support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, but agreed with Moscow’s rationale, saying that NATO’s European expansion was clearly provocative. China refused to impose sanctions against Russia and criticized nations that did so, calling such measures illegal and damaging to the world economy.

An American B-2 bomber hit the Chinese embassy in Belgrade at around midnight onMay 7, 1999, killing three Chinese journalists and injuring some 20 people. The targeting was done by the CIA, which later claimed it wanted to provide coordinates for a nearby military depot.

President Bill Clinton apologized for the attack, calling it an accident.

NATO launched the 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia without authorization from the UN Security Council, where both Russia and China vetoed all attempts. The military action was justified by a need to protect rebels in Kosovo from continued attacks by Yugoslav forces.

https://www.rt.com/news/552122-nato-bombing-chinese-embassy/

17 Mar, 2022 09:27

Russia promises more disclosures on Ukraine biolabs

Human samples from a Kharkov lab were evacuated to the UK and other European countries, the military claims

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday it will soon release additional documents pertaining to the operation of Pentagon-funded biolabs in Ukraine. Moscow believes they have been involved in bioweapons research.

Russian military specialists in weapons of mass destruction are analyzing documents obtained from staff members of the Ukrainian labs, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a daily briefing. He claimed they detailed “implementation by the US in Ukraine of a secret project to study the ways humans can be infected from bats,” which was done in Kharkov.

The official said the same Institute of Experimental and Clinical Veterinary Medicine in the Ukrainian city worked for years to study under which conditions wild birds carrying flu could cause an epidemic in humans and to assess the damage that would result.

Konashenkov didn’t explain why such research should be considered military in nature, as assessed by the defense ministry.

The spokesman further said more Ukrainian documents will soon be released on the transfer of human samples from Ukraine to the UK and other European nations. The materials will be accompanied by Russian military assessments of the work they detail, he said.

The Pentagon sponsors dozens of labs around the world under the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The work they do, the US government claims, is benign and is meant to monitor emergence of new dangerous infections. Countries like Russia and China believe they may be more sinister in nature.

US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said under oath that labs in Ukraine have been destroying research materials to prevent Russia from seizing them.It was not clear why Washington saw the scenario as dangerous. US officials claimed that the pathogens in question were remnants of Soviet bioweapons programs, which Moscow would presumably already have access to.

Some American public figures, such as Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, were attacked for asking questions about the Ukrainian labs, which supposedly amounts to repeating “Russian propaganda.”

Utah Senator Mitt Romney accused Gabbard of spreading “treasonous lies” with her concerns about the safety of pathogen samples in Ukraine. The hosts of The View television show suggested people asking such questions should be arrested and investigated as possible Russian agents.

https://www.rt.com/russia/552128-ukraine-biolabs-documents-kharkov/

16 Mar, 2022 19:11

Civilians feared trapped and killed in theater explosion in Ukraine

Russia says neo-Nazi “Azov” militants blew up building where they were holding hostages

Responding to claims by Ukraine that an airstrike destroyed a theater in Mariupol and killed civilians sheltering there, theRussian Defense Ministry said there had been no such strikes against ground targets in that city, and accused the neo-Nazi “Azov” battalion of killing its hostages.

The Russian military was aware of reports that “Azov” militants had kept civilians inside the theater as human shields, and did not consider the building a target for airstrikes for that reason, Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

“Previously, it was known from the refugees who got out of Mariupol that the Nazis of the Azov Battalion could hold civilians hostage in the theater building, using the upper floors as firing points,” Konashenkov said.

Taking into account the potential danger to civilians, and “the provocation already carried out by the nationalists on March 9 with hospital No. 3 in Mariupol, the theater building in the city center was never considered a target for destruction,” he added.

According to Konashenkov, the “available reliable information” indicates that Azov militants committed “a new bloody provocation by blowing up the theater building they had mined.”

The paramilitary Ukrainian unit that uses WWII Nazi symbols had made Mariupol its base, and reportedly forbid civilians from fleeing to safety as Russian forces and fighters of the Donetsk People’s Republic surrounded the city.

https://www.rt.com/russia/552101-mariupol-theater-ukraine/

16 Mar, 2022 20:49

American military expert explains ‘slow’ Russian advance in Ukraine

Propaganda in the West has created false expectations of Ukrainian success, retired US officer says

Russia has largely achieved its objective of neutralizing the Ukrainian military, but Western governments mistakenly believe the deliberate progress designed to avoid civilian casualties reflects weakness and are funneling weapons to prolong the fighting, a former top Pentagon adviser has said.

RussianPresident Vladimir Putin has given strict orders from the outset to avoid civilian casualties and extensive property damage, retired US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor told the Grayzone in an extensive interview on Tuesday.

This has slowed the Russians’ advance “to the point where it has given false hope both to the Ukrainians … but seized on by people in the West, to try and convince the world that a defeat is in progress, when in fact the opposite is the case,” Macgregor said.

“The war, for all intents and purposes, has been decided,” the retired colonel said. “The entire operation from day one was focused on thedestruction of Ukrainian forces. That’s largely complete.”

The Ukrainian units still active “are completely surrounded, cut off and isolated in various towns and cities,” said Macgregor, including as many as 60,000 on the border with Donetsk, whose supplies are likely running out by now.

Media coverage of the fighting, however, ignores this reality and paints a picture of the Russian military being “inept” – in the words of some US senators – because it didn’t defeat Kiev in mere days. This is then used as an argument by advocates of NATO intervention and a “no-fly zone,” but also those who wish to send more weapons to Kiev.

It’s very obvious Washington wants this to continue as long as possible, in hopes Russia would be desperately harmed. I just don’t see that happening,” Macgregor told Grayzone on Tuesday.

The biggest problem right now is that “in the West, there is no truth. There is wishful thinking and there is this impression of success by the Ukrainians that doesn’t stack up,” the colonel added. “The biggest lie I’ve heard repeated on television is, Russian troops have been told to deliberately murder Ukrainian civilians. That’s absurd, it’s nonsense.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the US Congress on Wednesday to send fighter jets, air defense missiles and other weapons to Kiev, as well as establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine, so his army could defeat Russia. He made the same argument to Canadian lawmakers on Tuesday.

Macgregor, however, believes that such shipments will have no effect and that Zelensky’s refusal to negotiate an armistice is only going to get more Ukrainians killed.

https://www.rt.com/russia/552098-ukraine-speed-operations-civilians/

16 Mar, 2022 19:40

Russian children being bullied over Ukraine war

Youngsters are facing abuse at school because of the war in Ukraine, a Save the Children official tells Danish broadcaster TV2

Human rights group Save the Children has called out bullying of Russian kids, saying they have become targets for abuse at school and online because of hatred being stoked against their nationality amid Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.

The bullying has gotten so bad that children of Russian origin in Denmark are afraid of being dropped off at school in the morning, Save the Children senior adviser Jon Kristian Lange told Danish broadcaster TV2 on Tuesday. The children “claim to have a stomachache” in hopes that they won’t have to go to school, he added, citing reports from multiple concerned parents.

Lange said the discrimination is similar to what children of Asian descent suffered after the Covid-19 virus originated in China. Save the Children has approached schools to raise awareness of the latest bigotry-based bullying and offered suggestions on how to discuss the war in Ukraine without shaming Russian students.

TV2 noted such examples as a Russian girl being accused of being a spy or “Putin’s friend” at Bankagerskolen in Horsens, Denmark. Officials at the school told TV2 that they have worked to prevent such abuse. “We take it really seriously,” said Vibeke Stensgaard, a supervisor at Bankagerskolen. “We talk to the parents and to the child and draw attention to it in all the classes. We work every single day to create safe communities.”

Lange, who is based in Copenhagen, said the bullying often stems from the way parents talk at home about the war and Russian troops. Online hatred directed against Russians also has a way of spreading quickly into the schoolyard. “We have to be careful because what we say is taken into the school,” he said, adding that many children go to school worrying that no one will play with them because of their Russian roots.

The bullying issue is just the latest example of anti-Russian sentiment that has escalated amid the violence in Ukraine. The vitriol has been stoked partly by public officials, such as US Representative Eric Swalwell (D-California), who suggested that all Russian students attending American colleges should be expelled from the country.

READ MORE: Facebook and Instagram to allow calls for violence against Russians

Ukrainian TV host Fahruddin Sharafmal took the rhetoric much further, quoting a Nazi war criminal to advocate killing all Russian children to wipe out Russia.

https://www.rt.com/news/552102-russian-children-bullied/