11 May, 2022 20:02

Fatal shelling from Ukraine shakes Russian village

One killed, six wounded, including a teenager, in an artillery attack on Belgorod Region

One Russian civilian was killed on Wednesday in a Ukrainian artillery strike on Solokhi, a village near the border in the Belgorod Region. Six more people have been injured, the regional governor said on social media. The village is being evacuated.

“The village of Solokhi, Belgorod Region, has been hit by shelling from the Ukrainian side,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram on Wednesday evening.

The governor said the situation was the worst since the artillery attacks began.

Preliminary reports said one person was injured and that there was some property damage. About an hour after the initial report, Gladkov gave an update: One person had died en route to a hospital, while three more were receiving medical assistance. The number of injured later grew to six.

Video and photos from the site that made rounds on social media showed flames. Gladkov said this was a field set ablaze by the attack and that “the village was not on fire.” One house was destroyed in the shelling, however.

Gladkov said that reports of a 14-year-old boy also dying were incorrect, and that the teen was among the injured being treated at an area hospital.

Solokhi is a village of just over 600 residents, about 11 kilometers (seven miles) inside Russia. It is due north from the city of Kharkov, where Ukrainian forces have been massing over the past several weeks. Governor Gladkov said the residents would be evacuated to a safer place.

This was not the first time the Belgorod Region was targeted from Ukraine, injuring Russian civilians, but no previous attack has resulted in confirmed civilian deaths.

https://www.rt.com/russia/555330-solokhi-belgorod-ukraine-shelling/

11 May, 2022 18:11

US Democrats use Ukraine biolab profits for campaign funding – Russia

Big Pharma, the Pentagon and leading Democrats are implicated in a secret research scheme

Democrats in the US partnered with Big Pharma companies and friendly foundations led by George Soros and Bill Gates to set up biological research in Ukraine, using the project to generate additional funding for elections, the Russian military said on Wednesday in the latest biolab briefing.

“It needs to be said thatthe ideologues of US military biological research in Ukraine are leaders of the Democratic Party,” said Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Force.

The US government set up a way to fund the military bio-research directly from the federal budget, but also used government guarantees to raise funds from “non-governmental organizations controlled by the leadership of the Democratic Party,” Kirillov added.

As an example of such organizations, he showed a slide with the names of theBill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the [Bill and Hillary] Clinton Foundation, George Soros’s Open Society and investment funds, the Rockefeller Foundation, EcoHealth Alliance, and Hunter Biden’s Rosemont Seneca Partners.

Kirillov also namedPfizer, Moderna, Merck and Gileadas “large pharmaceutical companies” involved in this scheme, using it to test medications while bypassing international safety standards. This reduces the cost of their research and development, Kirillov argued, and the increase in pharma profits “allows the leaders of the Democratic Party to receive additional financial contributions for election campaigns and hide their distribution.”

Using Ukraine as a testbed effectively outside international control and leveraging the technological capacities of transnational pharma companies, the Pentagon has “significantly expanded its research potential not only in the field of creating biological weapons, but also obtaining information about antibiotic resistance and the presence of antibodies to certain diseases in populations of specific regions,” Kirillov noted.

Head of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin told RT last week thathis service has “clearly identified” Americans involved in military biological research in Ukraine, including employees of the US Department of Defense and several companies with ties to the Pentagon.

The US had spent more than $224 million on biological programs in Ukraine between 2005 and early 2022, Bastrykin said.

The Russian military has presented evidence of US government involvement in Ukrainian biolabs before. At the end of March, Kirillov showed slides that pointed to current US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter being involved in procuring funding for some of the projects. Kirillov also presented documentation that showed Kiev was interested in equipping drones for distribution of weaponized pathogens.

US officials have confirmed the existence of “biological research facilities” in Ukraine, but said Washington only provided what they called “assistance” for efforts that did not involve development of bioweapons.

https://www.rt.com/russia/555328-democrats-pentagon-pfizer-ukraine-biolabs/

11 May, 2022 16:37

‘Syrian scenario’ possible in Ukraine, Russia warns

A potential false-flag chemical attack would trigger a probe to blame Moscow, using fabricated evidence, the military says

Moscow has accused the Ukrainian authorities of plotting to use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to frame the Russian military. The incident would be used to trigger a “Syrian scenario” investigation to falsify evidence and assign blame, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Force, said on Wednesday.

“The Russian Ministry of Defense has information about the preparation of provocations with the goal of accusing the Russian Armed Forces of using weapons of mass destruction, followed by a ‘Syrian scenario’ investigation, which allows the necessary evidence to be fabricated and blame to be assigned,” Kirillov said, apparently in reference to the events surrounding the alleged 2018 chemical attack in Douma, Syria.

At the time, the US, UK, and France immediately blamed the government in Damascus and launched strikes on Syrian territory before an investigation could take place. The subsequent probe by the OPCW, which also pinned the blame on Damascus, was marred by inconsistencies and a whistleblower scandal.

Kiev was preparing to stage a chemical incident well before the ongoing conflictbetween Russia and Ukraine broke out in late February, the official said.

“The high probability of such provocations is confirmed by the requests of the Kiev administration for the supply of personal protective equipment for the skin and respiratory organs which provides protection against toxic chemicals and biological agents,”he added.

The facts of the supply of antidotes of organophosphorus poisons to Ukraine are concerning. In 2022 alone, at the request of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, more than 220,000 ampoules of atropine were delivered from the United States.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Kiev of seeking to stage a false-flag attack to blame Russian troops. In late April, Kirillov outlined“three scenarios” for the potential use of WMDs by Kiev’s forces. At the time, he said that a false-flag attack on civilians or “an act of sabotage on Ukrainian sites which were involved in the development of the components of weapons of mass destruction”were the most probable.

Other options allegedly considered by Kiev include the “discrete” use of WMDs “in small quantities,” as well as the “open use of WMDs on the battlefield.” The latter, however, would be the least likely, Kirillov noted.

https://www.rt.com/russia/555317-ukraine-syrian-chemical-scenario/