🔄 Click here to see the most recent posts
5 posts
7 mins ago
A Ukrainian official urges the West to forget the "illusion" of Russian normalcy
By Mick Krever
Russian President Vladimir Putin with Ukrainian separatist leaders Vladimir Saldo, left, Yevgeniy Balitsky, second left, Leonid Pasechnik, right, and Denis Pushilin, second right, during the annexation ceremony of four Ukrainian regions in the Kremlin on September 30.
(Photo: Getty Images)
A senior Ukrainian official on Wednesday urged Western leaders to stop thinking of Russia through the lens of "normalcy," in which negotiations are a possibility.
"Western politicians must get rid of the illusion of 'normality of the RF', with the possibility of negotiating," said Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, referring to the Russian Federation.
"Listen to Putin's speeches. He is steeped in contempt for the Western world, the traditional system of international relations and international law. His dream is Europe under the 'Russian boot'."
Earlier this Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin enacted measures that seek to annex four Ukrainian regions to the Russian Federation.
The claimed annexations of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson are illegal under international law.
8 mins ago
Zelensky calls for a "special court" to prosecute Russian leaders for their crimes against Ukraine
By Mick Krever
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called for the creation of a "special court" to prosecute Russian political and military leaders for their role in the invasion of Ukraine.
"We must bring to justice those whose decisions started all this," he told a conference in Paris.
"Those who committed the original crime. A crime in which all the evil shown by the Russian occupiers is concentrated. And we still do not have that institutional basis to hold the Russian political and military leaders accountable for the crime of aggression," he said.
Zelensky praised the work of the International Criminal Court in investigating alleged crimes committed by Russian troops on Ukrainian territory.
But he added that "for the original crime of armed aggression to also receive a just response, we must complement the activities of the International Criminal Court."
"A special court for the crime of aggression against Ukraine should be created. So that it can punish those who, unfortunately, cannot be reached by the International Criminal Court and all other available judicial institutions in the world," Zelensky said.
"You all know how Russia's leaders, hiding behind false stories about state sovereignty, avoid fair responsibility for what they have done. We have to get past that."
12 mins ago
Russian authorities fine Miss Crimea for singing Ukrainian patriotic song
By Olga Voitovych
Miss Crimea 2022 winner Olga Valeeva poses for a selfie on Instagram.
(Photo: olga_rijjylya/Instagram)
The Miss Crimea 2022 winner was fined 40,000 Russian rubles ($680) by Russian occupation authorities for singing a patriotic Ukrainian song, according to Russian state media and pro-Russian regional authorities.
Olga Valeeva escaped jail time because she has young children, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Her friend was sentenced to 10 days in prison.
"In Crimea no one is punished for normal Ukrainian songs," Oleg Kryuchkov, adviser to the head of the Russian administration of occupied Crimea, told Telegram.
"But! No one here will allow nationalist anthems to be sung! If you want to sing 'Chervona Kalyna' or 'Our father is Bandera...' we will provide you with a platform, we will take you to neutral territory to Nikolaev or Zaporizhia. Sing everything you want." want".
"Chervona Kalyna" is a Ukrainian patriotic song that has gained virality over the course of the full-scale invasion of Russia, including a Pink Floyd cover.
The lyrics urge the Ukrainian nation to rise up and "rejoice" like a red kalyna bush ("chervona kalyna") that has fallen on the field.
The Ukrainian region of Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
A spokesman for the Crimean Interior Ministry said it had identified an online video in which "two girls were singing a song that is the battle hymn of an extremist organization."
The two were detained on suspicion of "committing illegal actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as well as publicly displaying prohibited symbols," the spokesman added.
They were later found guilty by a court, the ministry said.
14 mins ago
In rare admission on state TV, Russian war correspondent acknowledges Kherson losses
By Josh Pennington
Russian war correspondent Alexander Sladkov at the Ostankino television center in Moscow on June 23, 2021. (Photo: Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS/ZUMA Press)
A senior Russian war correspondent admitted Tuesday on state television that Russian forces had suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, saying "we are still learning."
"In the Kherson region, we have lost 17 settlements," Alexander Sladkov said, laying the blame on "fat" US arms shipments and "information obtained through satellite reconnaissance."
Sladkov is one of several Russian reporters who have reported on the losses Moscow is suffering in Ukraine in recent days.
War correspondent Alexander Kots told his Telegram followers on Tuesday that the army was in "operational crisis", while state media reporter Evgeniy Poddubnyy said "at the moment it will be even more difficult".
Sladkov, however, tried to put a positive spin on things.
"This does not mean that we have collapsed like a house of cards. These mistakes are not gigantic strategic failures. We are still learning," he said.
"I know it's hard to hear this in our eighth month of special operation. But we are journalists. We are waiting for reinforcements," he added, referring to Russian men recruited as part of a "special mobilization" declared by President Vladimir Putin last month. .
16 mins ago
Putin signs laws with which he intends to annex four Ukrainian regions
By Mick Krever, Josh Pennington, Rob Picheta
President Vladimir Putin has enacted legal measures that seek to annex four Ukrainian regions to the Russian Federation.
The alleged annexations of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson are illegal under international law.
ANALYSIS |
Annexation fails to hide the gulf between what Putin wants and what his forces can sustain
Leaders around the world said they are the result of "bogus" referendums conducted at gunpoint and will never be recognized.
However, the move is an important step in Russia's faltering effort to take control of Ukraine, with Putin claiming that the will of the occupied Ukrainians is to belong to Russia, offering a false pretext for his efforts to claim the occupied territories as from Moscow.
Read the complete news here.
war in ukraine
