RAY McGOVERN: Ukraine For DummiesImportant Read, during Trump's first impeachment.

November 14, 20191/3

There was no excuse for Congress’ ignorance of Ukraine. Here is a guide to help them.

By Ray McGovern Special to Consortium News

At Wednesday’s debut of the impeachment hearings there was one issue upon which both sides of the aisle seemed to agree, and it was a comic-book caricature of reality.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff led off the proceedings with this: “In 2014, Russia invaded a United States ally, Ukraine, to reverse that nation’s embrace of the West, and to fulfill Vladimir Putin’s desire to rebuild a Russian empire…”

Five years ago, when Ukraine first came into the news, those Americans who thought Ukraine was an island in the Pacific can perhaps be forgiven. That members of the House Intelligence Committee don’t know — or pretend not to know — more accurate information about Ukraine is a scandal, and a consequential one.

As Professor Stephen Cohen has warned, if the impeachment process does not deal in objective fact, already high tensions with Russia are likely to become even more dangerous.

So here is a kind of primer for those who might be interested in some Ukraine history:

•Late 1700s:Catherine the Great consolidated her rule; established Russia’s first and only warm-water naval base in Crimea.

•In 1919,after the Bolshevik Revolution, Moscow defeated resistance in Ukraine and the country becomes one of 15 Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Khrushchev: Gave Crimea away. (Wikipedia)

•In 1954,after Stalin’s death the year before, Nikita Khrushchev, a Russian born near the Ukrainian border, assumed power. Pandering to Ukrainian supporters, he unilaterally decreed that henceforth Crimea would be part of the Ukrainian SSR, not the Russian SSR. Since all 15 Republics of the USSR were under tight rule from Moscow, the switch was a distinction without much of a difference — until later, when the USSR fell apart..

•Nov. 1989:Berlin wall down.

•Dec. 2-3, 1989:President George H. W. Bush invites Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev to summit talks in Malta; reassures him “the U.S. will not take advantage” of Soviet troubles in Eastern Europe. Bush had already been pushing the idea of a Europe whole and free, from Portugal to Vladivostok.

A Consequential Quid Pro Quo

•Feb. 7-10, 1990:Secretary of State James Baker negotiates a quid pro quo; Soviet acceptance of the bitter pill of a reunited Germany (inside NATO),in return for an oral U.S. promise not to enlarge NATO “one inch more” to the East.

•Dec. 1991:the USSR falls apart. Suddenly it does matter that Khrushchev gave Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR; Moscow and Kyiv work out long-term arrangements for the Soviet navy to use the naval base at Sevastopol.

• The quid pro quo began to unravel inOctober 1996during the last weeks of President Bill Clinton’s campaign when he said he would welcome Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic into NATO — the earlier promise to Moscow notwithstanding. Former U.S. Ambassador to the USSR Jack Matlock, who took part in both the Bush-Gorbachev early-December 1989 summit in Malta and the Baker-Gorbachev discussions in early February 1990, has said, “The language used was absolute, including no ‘taking advantage’ by the U.S. …I don’t see how anybody could view the subsequent expansion of NATO as anything but ‘taking advantage,’ particularly since, by then, Russia was hardly a credible threat.” (From 16 members in 1990,NATO has grown to 29 member states— the additional 13 all lie east of Germany.)

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/14/ray-mcgovern-ukraine-for-dummies/

>>23113325

2/3

•Feb. 1, 2008:Amid rumors of NATO planning to offer membership to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warns U.S. Ambassador William Burns that “Nyet Means Nyet.” Russia will react strongly to any move to bring Ukraine or Georgia into NATO. Thanks to WikiLeaks, we have Burns’s original cable from embassy in Moscow.

•April 3, 2008:Included in Final Declaration from NATO summit in Bucharest: “NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO.”

•Early September 2013:Putin helps Obama resist neocon demands to do “shock and awe” on Syria; Russians persuade President Bashar al-Assad to give up Syrian army chemical weapons for destruction on a U.S. ship outfitted for chemical weapons destruction. Neocons are outraged over failing to mousetrap Obama into attacking Syria.

Meanwhile in Ukraine

•Dec. 2013:In a speech to the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland says: “The United States has supported Ukraine’s European aspirations. … We have invested over $5 billion to assist Ukraine in these and other goals that will ensure a secure and prosperous and democratic Ukraine.”

•Feb. 4, 2014:Amid rioting on the Maidan in Kiev, YouTube carries Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s last minute instructions to U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt regarding the U.S. pick for new Ukrainian prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk (aka “Yats”) and other plans for the imminent coup d’etat in Kiev. When Pyatt expresses concern about EU misgivings about mounting a coup, Nuland says “Fuck the EU.” She then apologizes to the EU a day or two later — for the profanity, not for the coup. She also says that Vice President Joe Biden will help “glue this thing together”, meaning the coup.

•Feb. 22, 2014:Coup d’etat in Kyiv;appropriately labeled “the most blatant coup in history”by George Friedman, then President of the widely respected think-tank STRATFOR.

•Feb. 23, 2014:The date that NATO, Western diplomats, and the corporate media have chosen – disingenuously – as the beginning of recent European history, with silence about the coup orchestrated in Kyiv the day before. President Vladimir Putin returns to Moscow from the winter olympics in Sochi; confers with advisers about Crimea, deciding — unlike Khrushchev in 1954 — to arrange a plebiscite to let the people of Crimea, most of whom strongly opposed the coup regime, decide their own future.

•March 16, 2014:The official result from the voters in Crimea voted overwhelmingly for independence from Ukraine and to join Russia. Following the referendum, Crimea declared independence from Ukraine and asked to join the Russian Federation. On March 18, the Russian Federal Assembly ratified the incorporation of Crimea into Russia.

• In the following days, Putin made it immediately (and publicly) clear that Yatsenyuk’s early statement about Ukraine joining NATO and – even more important – the U.S./NATO plans to deploy ABM systems around Russia’s western periphery and in the Black Sea, were the prime motivating forces behind the post-referendum re-incorporation of Crimea into Russia.

Putin: Reacted to coup. (Russian government)

•No one with rudimentary knowledge of Russian history should have been surprised that Moscow would take no chances of letting NATO grab Crimea and Russia’s only warm-water naval base. The Nuland neocons seized on the opportunity to accuse Russia of aggression and told obedient European governments to follow suit. Washington could not persuade its European allies to impose stringent sanctions on Russia, though, until the downing of Malaysian Airlines MH17 over Ukraine.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/14/ray-mcgovern-ukraine-for-dummies/

>>23113340

RAY McGOVERN: Ukraine For Dummiescontinued

November 14, 2019

3/3

Airplane Downed; 298 Killed

•July 17, 2014:MH 17 shot down

•July 20, 2014:Secretary of State John Kerry told NBC’s David Gregory, “We picked up the imagery of this launch. We know the trajectory. We know where it came from. We know the timing. And it was exactly at the time that this aircraft disappeared from the radar.” The U.S., however, has not shared any evidence of this.

• Given the way U.S. intelligence collectors had been focused, laser-like, on that part of the Ukrainian-Russian border at that time, it is a near certainty that the U.S. has highly relevant intelligence regarding what actually happened and who was most likely responsible. If that intelligence supported the accusations made by Kerry, it would almost certainly have been publicized.

• Less than two weeks after the shoot-down, the Europeans were persuaded to impose sanctions that hurt their own businesses and economies about as much as they hurt Russia’s – and far more than they hurt the U.S. There is no sign that, in succumbing to U.S. pressure, the Europeans mustered the courage to ask for a peek at the “intelligence” Kerry bragged about on NBC TV.

•Oct. 27, 2016:Putin speaks at the Valdai International Discussion Club.

How did the “growing trust” that Russian President Putin wrote about in his September 11, 2013 New York Times op-ed evaporate?

How did what Putin called his close “working and personal relationship with President Obama” change into today’s deep distrust and saber-rattling?A short three years later after the close collaboration to resolve the Syrian problem peacefully, Putin spoke of the “feverish” state of international relations and lamented:

“My personal agreements with the President of the United States have not produced results.” And things have gone downhill from there.(I'll post the article next)

Ray McGovern works with Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in inner-city Washington. His 27 years as a CIA analyst included leading the Soviet Foreign Policy Branch and conducting the morning briefings of the President’s Daily Brief. In retirement he co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/14/ray-mcgovern-ukraine-for-dummies/

Numerous links from this article.

Nuland-Pyatt leaked phone conversation _COMPLETE with SUBTITLES

Diddley Squat

https://youtu.be/WV9J6sxCs5k

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

A Plea for Caution From Russia

By Vladimir V Putin

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html

>>23113352

Obama betrayed Putin, and Putin wrote this Op Ed, Putin's warnings were prescient and almost all of them have occurred based on what Obama started.You can see the HRC greed in every movement Obama and America did at that time.

That is why I don't think there is a split between PDJT and Putin, but we will see.

Opinion Op-Ed Contributor

A Plea for Caution From Russia

By Vladimir V Putin Sept. 11, 2013

MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.

Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.

The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.

Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.

Vladimir V. Putin is the president of Russia.

A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 12, 2013, Section A, Page 31 of the New York edition with the headline: A Plea for Caution From Russia. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html

2 Jun, 2025 16:53

Details of Russian peace proposal revealed

The memorandum, seen by RT, includes conditions for a lasting peace and a path to reach a ceasefire

The peace memorandum developed by Russia and presented to the Ukrainian delegation during the talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Mondaycalls on Kiev to withdraw its troops from the former Ukrainian territories that have joined Russia and confirm its neutral and non-nuclear status, according to the text of the document seen by RT.

The proposal consists ofthree parts, which include the conditions for a comprehensive settlement of the Ukraine conflict, steps toward achieving a ceasefire, and a peace roadmap that includes some unilateral steps by Russia.

The “final settlement” of the conflict would require international recognition of the former Ukrainian territories as parts of Russia. The two Donbass republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, officially joined Russia following a series of referendums in autumn 2022. Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in 2014 in the wake of the Western-backed armed Maidan coup in Kiev.

Ukraine would also have to withdraw all its forces and armed groups from those territories, the document states.

Kiev would have to reaffirm its neutral status and introduce a ban on any military activities by third-party states on Ukrainian territory, as well as to withdraw from international treaties incompatible with such a status. It would also have to reaffirm its nuclear-free status and prohibit the acquisition, transit, or deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory.

The memorandumexpects Ukraine to set certain limits on the size of its armed forces, as well as military equipment, but does not provide any fixed numbers.All Ukrainian nationalist armed groups within the armed forces and the National Guard would have to be disbanded, according to the document.

Under the peace proposal, Kiev would have to guarantee the rights of the Russian and Russian-speaking people in Ukraineand grant Russian the status of an official language, stop the persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, ban Nazi propaganda and any nationalist groups, as well as lift sanctions imposed against Moscow. Both Russia and Ukraine would renounce claims to compensation of damage linked to the conflict.

The documentsuggests two options for reaching a ceasefire. One of them requires Kiev to start withdrawing its troops from the territories that have joined Russia and pulling them away from the Russian borders to a certain distance. This process would have to be completed within 30 days.

The second option – the “package option” –would include a ban on any Ukrainian troop movements(except for the withdrawal of forces) and the cessation of the Ukrainian mobilization campaign and Western military aid to Kiev, including arms shipment and intelligence sharing. The sides would then establish a bilateral monitoring center and release each other’s citizens held by the other side.

Ukraine would also have to lift martial law and set a date for presidential and parliamentary elections. All the steps listed within this option would also have to be completed within 30 days, according to the document.

According to the proposal, thefinal peace treaty between Moscow and Kiev would be signed after the electionsin Ukraine and endorsed by a legally binding UN Security Council resolution.

Last week, Reuters published what it called the details of Ukraine’s peace proposal where Kiev reportedly rejected Moscow’s demands for the recognition of Ukraine’s former territories as parts of Russia, and also ruled out abandoning its ambition to join NATO. The Ukrainian memorandum also demanded reparations from Russia.

https://www.rt.com/russia/618553-memorandum-russian-peace-details/

(Russia cut back a lot of what was on their wish-list.)

2 Jun, 2025 20:37

Tesla execs ‘questioned’ Musk over denial of company plans – Reuters

The carmaker’s CEO had dismissed a 2024 report about an internal decision to scrap a low-cost electric vehicle project

Some senior Tesla executives “questioned” CEO Elon Musk after he publicly dismissed a Reuters story last year that the company had dropped plans for a low-cost electric vehicle, the news agency reported on Monday.

Musk accused Reuters of “lying (again)” in April 2024, following a report that Tesla had quietly shelved development of the so-called Model 2 EV and shifted its focus to self-driving robotaxis.

According to people familiar with the matter, Tesla executives had already been told weeks earlier that the project was dead. Musk’s denial post on X caught some managers off guard, prompting them to ask whether he had reversed course. He reportedly confirmed the plan was still shelved, leaving staff unsure of how to respond to suppliers and investors.

The Model 2 was part of Musk’s longstanding goal to bring affordable electric cars to the masses. First teased in 2020, it was expected to start at $25,000 — well below Tesla’s current entry-level Model 3, which sells for $42,500. A year after Musk’s denial, no such car has materialized, and neither Musk nor Tesla has confirmed that the project is canceled.

Tesla is instead preparing stripped-down versions of the Model 3 and Model Y, now expected in 2025 after delays. “The key is they’ll be affordable,” engineering chief Lars Moravy told investors this April.

Gary Black, a Tesla investor who manages money for the Future Fund LLC, said hedidn’t view Musk’s statement as a “denial” at the time, noting that Musk often makes “brief and abrupt” comments that “can be about anything.”

Some Tesla executives reportedly raised concerns that denying the Model 2 was dead could mislead the public and even draw scrutiny from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Musk settled with the SEC in 2018 over a tweet about taking Tesla private, agreeing to have certain posts pre-approved by a lawyer – a requirement he reportedly ignores.

The development comes as Chinese auto giant BYD has overtaken Tesla in global EV sales. The company’s $10,000 Seagull hatchback helped BYD outsell Tesla in Europe for the first time in April.

Musk dismissed BYD in a 2011 Bloomberg interview, questioning its quality and technology.

Last week, the tech mogul, who had been leading the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced he would step down from the role to refocus on his companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink, and X.

(Doesn’t it seem strange a very confidential discussion with the Board is transmitted to the news when the Media is trying to destroy him, there will be denials by the Board.)

https://www.rt.com/business/618520-musk-tesla-executives-electric-vehicle/

‘Come On!’ Reporter Doesn’t Buy Jasmine Crockett’s Wild Claim That Republicans Praise Her In Private

Kipp JonesJun 2nd, 2025, 1:28 pm

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) said in a televised interview Sunday that some Republicans have privately expressed admiration for her, a claim that drew skepticism from her interviewer.

Crockett sat down with WFAA senior political reporter Jason Whitely for a wide-ranging Inside Texas Politics segment, where she addressed her role on the House Oversight Committee, her career aspirations, and how she’s perceived across party lines.

Asked about recent polling showing her name in early 2028 chatter, Crockett dismissed talk of national ambitions.

“No,” she replied when Whitely asked if she had plans to lead the Democratic

Party or run for higher office.

She then pivoted to how she believes her public persona is evolving:

I think that people just have found a way to connect with me, and I think, you know, there was a point in which people in the party, well, within parties, not within our specific party, felt like, oh, she’s Black and she’s proud, so only Black people will listen to her. And then it’s like, well, wait a minute, maybe just liberals will listen to her, and now it’s become clear as I have been out in various cities throughout this country.Where I’ve had Republicans walk up to me and tell me how much they like me.

Whitely replied, “No, you haven’t! Are you serious?”

“Oh yeah, yeah,” Crockett responded. “You’d be surprised. Oh yeah.”

Whitely fired back, “Come on!”

Elsewhere in the interview, Crockett addressed some of her viral committee hearing moments, telling Whiteley she will remain unapologetic for promoting her party’s values. She also said she expects Democrats to take the House next year, where they will explore impeaching President Donald Trump a third time.

“Once we get to the majority, which I’m hoping and praying we get to, next cycle, that allows me to start to open up and do the things that would look like an impeachment,” she said. “Now, whether or not we would put it to a vote, you know, he’s been impeached twice, couldn’t get convicted.”

Watch above via WFAA.

Once a liar, always a liarDo the Democrats ever get tired of Constantly Lying about everything, even little things? They are constantly caught but they never change. They even lie to their base, that's why their approval is at 16%.

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/come-on-reporter-doesnt-buy-jasmine-crocketts-wild-claim-that-republicans-praise-her-in-private/?cfp

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett would seek impeachment inquiry if elected member of powerful committeeyoutube

16:32

https://youtu.be/z9Kia-GIQTk

2 Jun, 2025 14:17

US senator posts ominous message to Greta Thunberg

Lindsey Graham has said he hopes the activist, who is sailing to Gaza to protest the Israeli naval blockade, can swim

(WTF is wrong with this asshole? First he threatens Putin and Russia two days before the Kiev attacks and Xi of China in the same day, while he is in Ukraine. I think he should be checked to see if he has lost his mind.)

Joining the flotilla that aims to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip may end badly for Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, US Senator Lindsey Graham has warned in a post on X.

On Sunday, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FCC) announced that one of its yachts, crewed by 12 people, including Thunberg, had left Sicily for Gaza with a “symbolic” cargo of humanitarian aid.

"Hope Greta and her friends can swim!” wrote Graham, a staunch supporter of Israel and an ally of US President Donald Trump, apparently implying that Thunberg’s boat, the Madleen, could be sunk.

The previous Freedom Flotilla mission was aborted in early May after one of the boats, namedConscience, was hit by two drones in international waters near Malta. The FCC blamed Israel for the attack. Israel did not comment.

Thunberg said before her departure that “no matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the lives being genocized [sic],” in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has denied accusations of perpetrating genocide, and has blamed the brutal suffering of the Palestinian population on the unwillingness of Hamas to lay down arms. West Jerusalem has justified the naval blockade of Gaza, in place since 2007, by the need to prevent arms deliveries to the Palestinian fighters.

According to the UN, one in five people in the Gaza Strip is now facing starvation, following a renewed Israeli offensive that began in March.

Israel began its military operation in the enclave in response to a cross-border raid by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people died and 250 others were taken prisoner. Israel’s 18-month military response has killed more than 54,400 Palestinians, almost half of whom are women and children, and wounded over 124,000, according to the latest data from the enclave’s Health Ministry.

https://www.rt.com/news/618513-gaza-israel-graham-thunberg/

1 Jun, 2025 22:06

UK must prepare for direct conflict with Russia – defense secretary

London will invest $8 billion in long-range missile production, John Healey has said

(NATO accelerating their plans without the US input)

The UK plans to mobilize billions of pounds to bolster its military-industrial base in preparation for a potential conflict with Russia, Defense Secretary John Healey has said.

The statement comes ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defense Review on Monday. According to theBBC, the report is expected to portray Russia and China as major threats to the UK.

The review is expected to allocate £1.5 billion ($2 billion) toward building six new munitions factories. Over the next five years, London will dedicate around £6 billion to manufacturing long-range weapons, including Storm Shadow missiles, Healey told the BBC on Sunday.The missile, developed jointly with France, has reportedly been used by Ukraine to strike civilian targets in Russian territory, according to Moscow.

“This is a message to Moscow as well. This is Britain standing firm – not only strengthening our Armed Forces, but also reinforcing our industrial base. It’s part of our readiness to fight, if required,” Healey said.

Western support for Ukrainehas exposed serious weaknesses in arms production, with British military leaders warning that weapons stockpiles are dangerously low, the BBC reported.

As one of Kiev’s strongest backers in Europe, London has provided Ukraine with around €15.16 billion ($17.2 billion) in aid, more than two-thirds of which is military support, according to data from Germany’s Kiel Institute.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have both advocated for placing Western troops in Ukraine. They have lobbied for a peacekeeping force to be deployed in the event of a full ceasefire.

Russia has warned that any NATO troops deployed to Ukraine – even under the designation of peacekeepers – would be treated as legitimate targets. It has also stated that foreign involvement would only escalate the conflict and ultimately fail to prevent Russia from achieving its military objectives.

(This proxy war with Ukraine was always supposed to start WWIII with Russia, that is their only goal. Rutte, leader of NATO came out in the last two years, and predicted it to start by 2027 to 2030.BTW these countries are starving their elderly and withholding and decreasing money from the government but their focus is on war with Russia.)

https://www.rt.com/news/618465-uk-preparing-for-direct-conflict/

2 Jun, 2025 12:12

US-born Ukrainian military trans spokesperson sentenced in Russia

Sarah Ashton-Cirillo is known for issuing death threats to journalists and mocking J.D. Vance

An American transgender woman who was dismissed from the Ukrainian militaryafter issuing death threats to journalists has been sentenced in absentia in Russia for acting as a mercenary.

The Prosecutor General’s Office in Moscow announced on Monday that Sarah Ashton-Cirillo was convicted by a court in the Donetsk People’s Republic. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison for taking part in combat roles with the Ukrainian military and for making defamatory statements against the Russian military on behalf of Kiev in 2023.

Ashton-Cirillo, who transitioned in 2019,gained public attention in 2021 after claiming to have infiltrated the far-right Proud Boys group by posing as a sympathizer.

In 2023, she was appointed as an English-language spokesperson for Ukraine’s territorial defense forces,producing anti-Russian videos in her new role. She was suspended in September of that year after declaring that “Kremlin propagandists” would soon be “hunted down.”

Her comments sparked backlash in the US, prompting then-Senator J.D. Vance to contact the Department of State, the Pentagon, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, andquestion whether Ashton-Cirillo was acting on behalf of the US government.

”I’ve seen claims this individual is an American, a former intelligence operative in the United States, and an employee of the Ukrainian government,” Vance, now the vice president under US President Donald Trump, wrote. “Others have argued Ashton-Cirillo is pulling an elaborate prank. If so, kudos for the delivery of high quality humor.”

Ashton-Cirillo referenced the controversy during the 2024 US presidential race, when she mentioned viral online rumors disparaging Vance and mockingly offered her sympathies.

”I support you during this time of confusion and during this time of really weird behavior,” she said.“I have served a lot more at the line of contact here in Ukraine than you ever did in Iraq. And that’s fine. Some of us are infantry. Some of us are press officers.”

Trump’s reelection campaign centered on criticism of the administration of former President Joe Biden. He blasted its policy of sending aid to Kiev and promoting transgender rights, including allowing trans women to compete in women’s sports and mandating diversity-based hiring in government. Since returning to office, Trump has moved to reverse many of these policies.

https://www.rt.com/russia/618502-ukrainian-trans-spokesperson-sentenced/

(I doubt the US will try to do a prisoner swap for him/her/it. She is vile, but she belongs in an insane asylum.)

2 Jun, 2025 14:57

Kiev comments on latest round of negotiations with Moscow

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced that the two sides agreed to exchange the bodies of fallen soldiers (==That’s it, Kiev is delaying this intentionally, because they have no intention to enact anything!)

Moscow and Kiev have agreed to exchange the bodies of thousands of fallen soldiers, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced on Monday following the second round of direct talks in Istanbul, Тürkiye.

Speaking to the press after the negotiations, Umerov, who led Kiev’s delegation, stated that the two sides had discussed a number of topics, including a ceasefire, humanitarian issues, and a potential meeting between Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

On the question of prisoner exchanges, Umerov said Moscow and Kiev had agreed to “focus on specific categories, not numbers.” Both sides have reportedly reached an agreement to exchange all seriously wounded and seriously ill prisoners of war in an “all-for-all” format.

“The second category is young soldiers aged 18 to 25. Also all for all. We also agreed to return 6,000 for 6,000 bodies of dead soldiers,” Umerov said.

Umerov added that Kiev has proposed holding a third round of talks at some point between June 20 and 30.

Monday’s talks mark the second time Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have met directly to discuss the resolution of the Ukraine conflict since Kiev abandoned peace efforts back in 2022. The first round of the renewed talks was held at the initiative of Putin on May 16.

https://www.rt.com/russia/618542-russia-ukraine-talks-umerov/

(The meeting last about 60 minutes, where US meetings went on for hours. They didn’t even discuss their documents they worked so hard on.)

Doesn’t this just shout gratitude to President Donals J. Trump and the USA, from the Ukraine, Kiev Independent and Kiev Daily. Titles of numerous articles in the last week. Yes this is the ingrate country we’ve lost $350 Billion toI wonder if this paper got money from USAID until they were cut off?

• ‘Dangerous and cruel’ — Trump’s reported Crimea proposal sparks horror among Ukraine’s lawmakers

• As Russia refuses to accept ceasefire, will Trump pressure Moscow?

• As Trump fails to sanction Moscow, few expect breakthrough during upcoming Russia-Ukraine talks

• ‘Trump doesn’t know how to deal with gangsters’ — US lets Ukraine down, once again

• ‘There we go again’ — For war-weary Europe, Trump-Putin call yet another signal to ‘wake up’

• Bracing for more Russian attacks, an anxious Ukraine waits for Trump to do… something

• ‘Conditions for Ukraine’s surrender’ — Why Putin’s demands for ceasefire make no sense

..Trump frustrated but fails to act

Oleg Sukhov, Reporter

https://kyivindependent.com/as-trump-fails-to-sanction-moscow-few-expect-breakthrough-during-upcoming-russia-ukraine-talks/Sign In

>>23113805

yes, it is a disgusting gutter rat

>>23113798

Yes it's absentia, but there is no doubt Russia has ways to find people.

>>23113658

Answer this why aren't any in Congress charged with a crime, they all do it. Are they exempt from punishment?