26 Apr, 2023 23:09

Zelensky’s right-hand man contradicts US general

Kiev has not received 98% of vehicles it needs for the offensive, Mikhail Podoliak has stated

Ukraine still needs more weapons and equipment for the much-hyped spring “counteroffensive,” especially artillery ammunition, President Vladimir Zelensky’s adviser Mikhail Podoliak said on Wednesday. He disagreed with the US general commanding NATO forces in Europe, who told Congress earlier in the day that 98% of promised combat vehicles had already been delivered.

General Christopher Cavoli gave that statistic to the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday morning. “I am very confident that we have delivered the materiel that they need and we’ll continue a pipeline to sustain their operations as well,” Cavoli added, responding to questions about the expected Ukrainian attack.

Podoliak challenged that assessment later in the day, speaking during a telethon hosted by Ukrainian television. He said only the Ukrainian General Staff can offer accurate numbers, and that Cavoli’s statistics weren’t up to date.

In my opinion, 98% is too much, too large a number. He proceeds from certain mathematical data, things he knows today,”the adviser said, referring to Cavoli. “There should be much more equipment, there is a real shortage of shells, especially of heavy calibers. We are trying to solve this problem.”

The current rate of supply allows the Ukrainian military to take “certain actions” at the frontline, Podoliak said, adding that there is “never enough” weapons and equipment when facing an enemy such as Russia.

The much-anticipated counteroffensive may have already begun, he suggested, urging the public not to regard it as a single event but a large number of engagements on various fronts

Multiple US outlets have sought to temper expectations about the Ukrainian attack over the past week, citing anonymous government officials worried about the political fallout from its possible failure. Last Friday, the White House even warned of a possible Russian offensive taking place instead.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575400-ukraine-podoliak-never-enough-weapons/

26 Apr, 2023 21:41

Terrorist attack thwarted in Crimea

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a suspect that was allegedly planning an attack on a military hospital

Russian security services have prevented an attack on amilitary hospital in Crimea, the Federal Security Service (FSB) revealed in a statement on Wednesday. The security officers detained a suspect and seized improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from him, the statement added.

The identity of the suspect has not been made public, although a video published by the FSB showed a bald and bearded middle-aged man being escorted by the security officers. According to the FSB, the man was in possession of at least two IEDs: one that contained nails designed to serve as “killing agents” and another one that had “an incendiary effect.”

The video showed what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail in a glass bottle, as well as a small metal can and an unidentified object wrapped in a piece of cloth with some wires coming out of it. According to the statement, the suspect planned to attack the Russian Defense Ministry’s Navy Hospital in the Crimean capital of Simferopol.

The man has been charged with plotting a terrorist attack, as well as illegal acquisition and possession of explosives. The investigation – as well as “intelligence gathering operations” – are ongoing, the FSB said, without revealing if there were any other suspects in this case.

The developments come just a week after a 52-year-old Russian-Ukrainian citizen in the Crimean city of Kerch was arrested on suspicion ofintending to plant an explosive device at a power system facility. He has been charged with plotting an act of sabotage and now faces 20 years to life in prison.

According to FSB director Alexander Bortnikov, since Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, security serviceshave prevented some 118 terrorist attacksin the country, many of which were being prepared by young people and minors.

In April, Bortnikov also warned that Western and Ukrainian intelligence services had launched an “aggressive brainwashing and recruitment [campaign]” in an attempt to involve Russian youths in sabotage, extremist activities, and terrorist attacks against their own country.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575398-terrorist-attack-thwarted-crimea/

26 Apr, 2023 19:31

Zelensky’s top advisor blames US for Ukraine conflict

Mikhail Podoliak wants NATO membership for Ukraine and total victory over Russia

Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky’s top adviser, Mikhail Podoliak, praised a ‘Ukrainian victory’ resolution proposed by US lawmakers on Wednesday. Washington, he said, seeks to make amends for a 'historical mistake' by admitting Kiev into NATO and endorsing its war aims.

“The House of Representatives’ resolution is unequivocal: TheUnited States, unfortunately, along with other Western countries,encouraged Ukraine to give up nuclear and other weapons to ensure security and stability in the region under safeguards. This was a wrong policy that was misinterpreted by the aggressor and led to a major war in Europe,” Podoliak tweeted.

Kiev has insisted for years that the US was obligated to protect it from Moscow because Ukraine agreed to return atomic weapons to Moscow under in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in exchange for guarantees of territorial integrity. Former US President Bill Clinton offered an “apology” for that in an interview with the Irish broadcaster RTE earlier this month.

Moscow has maintained that thearsenal wasn’t Ukraine’s to begin with, but belonged to the Soviet Union, of which Russia was recognized as the sole heir. Russia has also pointed to Zelensky’s statements about re-acquiring nuclear weapons, made in January 2022, as justification for its current military operation.

Only the “return of the occupied territories back to Ukraine, bringing war criminals to justice, and the country's full membership in NATO,” would help bring security back to Europe, he added. (Fuck that shit, its never going to happen you feral Nazis)

Podoliak's comments came in response to a resolution proposed by US representatives Joe Wilson and Steve Cohen, a South Carolina Republican and a Tennessee Democrat. Though its text has not been made public, the Ukrainian government appears to be familiar with its contents. Kiev’s ambassador in Washington, Oksana Markarova, tweeted on Tuesday that it “includes important elements” of Zelensky’s “peace formula.”

From what anonymous congressional staffers told Yahoo News, the resolution practically echoes Zelensky’s talking points, declaring the US policy to be restoring Ukraine’s 1991 borders and having Russia pay reparations and for its leadership to be put on trial for war crimes. (This will never happen, it doesn’t matter what Congress wants. Bidan wanted tge country destroyed.)

“Perhaps the most important feature of Western civilizational culture is the ability to analyze past experience and acknowledge mistakes,” Podoliak told Yahoo when reached for comment about the resolution on Tuesday. This was presumably a reference to the resolution’s claim that the US had wrongly pressured Ukraine to give up nuclear weapons.

The US continues to claim it is not a participant in the conflict, but insists that Russia “must lose” and has provided more than $100 billion in financial and military aid to Kiev over the past year.

TheWilson-Cohenresolution will need to be approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee before getting a vote before the full chamber. A companion resolution was introduced in the Senate on Tuesday evening, sponsored byDemocratsRichard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham.

https://www.rt.com/russia/575391-ukraine-congress-resolution-victory/

26 Apr, 2023 21:28

Poland seizes Russian embassy and trade mission funds

Moscow’s envoy has called the move a “flagrant violation” of the Vienna Convention

All themoney in the accounts of the Russian embassy and trade officein Warsaw has been seized by the Polish prosecutor’s office, Ambassador Sergey Andreyev revealed on Wednesday.

“We received a notification from the prosecutor’s office that the funds from the Santander Bank accounts of the embassy and the trade representation were transferred to the accounts of the prosecutor’s office,”Andreyev told RIA Novosti.

Santander Bank then informed the embassy that it had “ceased cooperation” with the Russian government and closed the accounts, Andreyev added. There were “significant amounts” of both US dollars and Polish zlotys in both accounts, according to the diplomat.

Andreyev called the incident “a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the 1961 treaty governing the rights and responsibilities of diplomats.

The Polish authorities had previously frozen the embassy account, citing suspicions that it might be involved in “money laundering or terrorism.” When this prevented the embassy from paying the lease on a recreational facility near Warsaw, the Polish authorities terminated the lease and seized the property in November 2022.

Another property, a residence on 100 Sobieski Street, was seized last spring. Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski said at the time it should be handed to refugees from Ukraine. The Polish foreign ministry said the building was “illegally owned” by the embassy as it was not being used for diplomatic or consular purposes. The embassy’s explanation, that the building was unfit for occupancy as it needed repairs, was ignored.

Poland has also sought to confiscate theembassy-operated school in Warsaw, citing the same pretext. The Russian Foreign Ministry has protested both seizures as a flagrant violation of international law.

Many EU and NATO countries have expelled dozens of Russian diplomats after the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, but most did not go so far as to sever relations with Moscow. The US and its allies have insisted they are not actually involved in the conflict, even while they sent Kiev over $100 billion worth of weapons and financial aid.

https://www.rt.com/news/575396-poland-russian-embassy-accounts/

26 Apr, 2023 20:23

Biden threatens North Korea with annihilation

A nuclear attack by Pyongyang would “result in the end” of Kim Jong-un’s regime, the US president has warned

US President Joe Biden declared on Wednesday that a North Korean nuclear attack on his country or South Korea would spell doom for Pyongyang. Under a new agreement between Washington and Seoul, theUS would respond to such an attack with nuclear weapons, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol added.

“A nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies or partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of whatever regime were to take such an action,”Biden told reporters at the White House.

Speaking alongside Biden, Yoon declared that“sustainable peace on the Korean peninsula does not happen automatically.”

“We can achieve peace through the superiority of overwhelming forces and not a false peace based on the goodwill of the other side,” Yoon said, adding that in the event of a nuclear attack from the north, the US and South Korea would “respond swiftly, overwhelmingly and decisively using the full force of the alliance, including US nuclear weapons.”

Biden’s words echo those of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who in 2017 warned North Korea that he would respond with “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if the country threatened the US with nuclear weapons. Although the north tested a nuclear bomb a month later, Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to a detente and went on to meet several times, and the north’s missile tests came to a halt for most of Trump’s remaining time in office.

These tests have since restarted and ramped up. Pyongyang has test-fired more than 100 missiles since the beginning of 2022, and this month tested its first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile and a nuclear-capable underwater attack drone. Officials in Washington and Seoul have claimed since last year that the north is gearing up for its seventh underground test of a nuclear weapon.

Yoon’s predecessor, Moon Jae-in, largely went along with Trump’s policy of diplomatic outreach to Kim. Yoon, however, has taken a much more hardline stance on his neighbor to the north. In a speech in January, Yoon raised the possibility of his administration acquiring “our own nuclear weapons,” something that more than two thirds of South Koreans want, according to recent polls.

Bidan is not Trump, not even close. Bidan wants a nuclear war with anyone

https://www.rt.com/news/575394-biden-north-korea-nuclear/