Russia flaunts Western military hardware captured in war in Ukraine
But it has nothing to do with World War Two. On display is Western military hardware captured by the Russian army in Ukraine. They are war trophies and Russia has decided to flaunt them. Among the armour here is a British Army Husky tactical support vehicle which had been donated to Ukraine. Its windscreen is covered in bullet-holes. Opposite the Husky I can see Western tanks that had been transferred to the Ukrainian military. There's an American Abrams which had been damaged on the battlefield. A German Leopard tank, too. In fact, there's a long line of German armour. And above it a sign: "History is repeating itself."
The Russian authorities want the public to think that the war in Ukraine and World War Two have a common denominator: Russia as the victim, under attack from enemies abroad. In reality, the two wars are very different. In 1941 Germany invaded Russia. In 2022 Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war trophy exhibition is packed out. In bright sunshine Russians are crowding round the military hardware, posing for photographs in front of tank gun barrels and, from the sounds of it, thoroughly enjoying the display. "It's incredible. Jaw-dropping," says Natalya, who's here with her husband and small daughter. "It's amazing to think that our guys managed to get these trophies."
Russia flaunts Western military hardware captured in war in Ukraine
But it has nothing to do with World War Two. On display is Western military hardware captured by the Russian army in Ukraine. They are war trophies and Russia has decided to flaunt them. Among the armour here is a British Army Husky tactical support vehicle which had been donated to Ukraine. Its windscreen is covered in bullet-holes. Opposite the Husky I can see Western tanks that had been transferred to the Ukrainian military. There's an American Abrams which had been damaged on the battlefield. A German Leopard tank, too. In fact, there's a long line of German armour. And above it a sign: "History is repeating itself."
The Russian authorities want the public to think that the war in Ukraine and World War Two have a common denominator: Russia as the victim, under attack from enemies abroad. In reality, the two wars are very different. In 1941 Germany invaded Russia. In 2022 Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war trophy exhibition is packed out. In bright sunshine Russians are crowding round the military hardware, posing for photographs in front of tank gun barrels and, from the sounds of it, thoroughly enjoying the display. "It's incredible. Jaw-dropping," says Natalya, who's here with her husband and small daughter. "It's amazing to think that our guys managed to get these trophies."
That is not really a big deal. Byes, they captured some burned out wrecks but they served their purpose. Unlike Russia made equipment most of their crews actually survived and lived to fight another day. That is the big difference between Western and Russia equipment; the equipment might get hit but the crews survive. That is what makes them better even if Ukraine only gets old and not the best and latest equipment.
Ukraine may have talks eventually with Russia, intelligence officer says
Ukraine will at some point have to enter into talks with Russia to bring an end to their more than two-year-old war, a senior Ukrainian intelligence official said in an interview published on Thursday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly ruled out talks with the Kremlin, and a decree he issued after Russia formally annexed four Ukrainian regions in 2022 deems negotiations "impossible".
But Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, deputy chief of Ukraine's HUR military intelligence directorate, told the Economist magazine that talks would eventually be needed, as would be the case with any war. "General Skibitsky says he does not see a way for Ukraine to win the war on the battlefield alone. Even if it were able to push Russian forces back to the borders — an increasingly distant prospect—it wouldn’t end the war," the magazine wrote.
Cubans lured to Russian army by high pay and passports
Russia has likely been recruiting Cuban nationals to fight in its army in Ukraine, research by the BBC has shown.
In September and October 2023, passport details belonging to over 200 Cubans who allegedly joined the Russian army were leaked online by a pro-Ukrainian platform called InformNapalm. The passport details were obtained, the site said, by hacking the emails of a Russian military recruitment officer in Tula, south of Moscow. A Facebook search has shown that 31 of the names mentioned in the Ukrainian leak match accounts whose owners appear to be in Russia or linked to the Russian army. Some, for instance, have posted photos of themselves wearing Russian military uniform, or in locations that bear Russian street signs or Russian number plates. Others list Russia as their current place of residence.
Many of those Facebook users started posting Russia-related content in August 2023, indicating when they might have arrived in the country. Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has suffered heavy losses on the battlefield. A BBC investigation confirmed the names of more than 50,000 Russian troops killed in Ukraine - but the real number is likely to be much higher. Ukraine's own estimate puts the number of Russian soldiers killed or wounded in the war at 500,000. Recruiting foreigners to replace some of the losses also helps the Kremlin avoid the risks posed by trying to mobilise Russians by force. When Russia declared a partial mobilisation in 2022, hundreds of thousands of men left the country.
Russia blames Baltic countries for the severing of most ties
The "hostile line" of the Baltic countries have led to the severance of most of their ties with Russia, the Russian foreign ministry said in remarks published on Sunday, warning also that Moscow will respond with asymmetric measures. "Because of the openly hostile line of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, all interstate, interdepartmental, regional and sectoral ties with Russia have been severed," Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of the Russian foreign ministry told the RIA state news agency, referring to the capitals of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. She added that Moscow will continue to use diplomatic measures of influence on the Baltic countries. Estonia last week accused Russia of violating international airspace regulations by interfering with GPS signals and the Baltic countries are among those that are "deeply concerned" about activities they called Russian espionage, NATO said last week. Zakharova, without specifying what steps taken by the Baltic countries she was referring to, told RIA that Moscow will respond to the hostile actions by Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, with asymmetric measures.
As the war enters its 802nd day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Monday, May 6, 2024.
Fighting
At least one person was killed and 24 injured in Russian drone and bomb attacks on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv and the surrounding region. Power cuts were also reported. Ukraine’s Air Force said that Russia had launched 24 Shahed attack drones and 23 were shot down. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had captured the village of Ocheretyne, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The village had a population of about 3,000 people before Russia began its full-scale invasion. There was no comment from Ukrainian officials and no mention of Ocheretyne in the evening report of the Armed Forces General Staff. Drone footage obtained by The Associated Press news agency showed the village battered by fighting and not a single person in the street. No building in Ocheretyne appeared to have been left untouched by the fighting.
Politics and diplomacy
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in France afor a state visit during which French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to press him over the war in Ukraine. In a video to mark Orthodox Easter, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on his fellow Ukrainians to unite in prayer for each other and the country’s soldiers on the front line. God, he said, has a “Ukrainian flag on his shoulder” and with “such an ally… life will definitely win over death”.
Putin hails army 'heroes' and warns off West in WW2 parade
The annual Red Square military parade felt different this time round. And not just because of the spring snowstorm. There were 9,000 people marching across the square. Sounds a lot. But in previous years – before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – the numbers were often higher. There was less military hardware on display, too, today. The only tank was one T-34. What there were plenty of were references to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Among the participants of the parade were soldiers who’d been fighting there. “We mark Victory Day at a time when we are carrying out the Special Military Operation,” President Vladimir Putin said in his Red Square address. “Those taking part on the frontline are our heroes.” In recent days Russia has accused Western nations, including the UK and France, of threatening Russia. President Emmanuel Macron has not ruled out sending ground troops to Ukraine.
Today Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the West. Accompanied by more nuclear sabre-rattling. “Russia will do everything to avoid a global confrontation,” the Kremlin leader said. “But at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always on combat alert.” Under Vladimir Putin, Victory Day has become Russia’s most important secular holiday. A day for remembering, not only the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany, but also the enormous human cost of that victory - the more than 27 million Soviet citizens killed in what’s known here as the Great Patriotic War. But in many ways Victory Day isn’t just about the past. It’s about Russia now. If this country today has any kind of national idea, it is the idea of victory. Russians are constantly being told that throughout history their country has come under attack from enemies abroad – like Napoleon and Hitler – and has emerged victorious.
Russia mounts surprise assault on northern Ukraine in most serious cross-border offensive in two years
Russian forces have made two cross border assaults inside northern Ukraine, according to information from Ukrainian sources and officials – in what President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling a ‘new wave of counteroffensive actions” by Russia. In the first development, Russian soldiers penetrated at least one kilometre towards the town of Vovchansk, a Ukrainian military source told CNN. The aim, the source said, “was to get 10 kms deep and create a buffer zone at the border to secure Russian territory from feeling the war.” In an official statement, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Russian soldiers supported by armored vehicles had moved across the border at about 5:00am Friday, following a day of stepped-up attacks on the border area with guided aerial bombs and artillery. The statement added that Ukrainian reserve units had been deployed to strengthen defenses in the area. Ukrainian officials have not given much information about the second Russian push, though Ukraine’s General Staff, in its Friday evening update, did note Russian attacks in the area of Krasne and two neighbouring villages. It is also noteworthy that DeepStateMap, a Ukrainian monitoring group which updates frontline developments daily, showed four villages next to each other - including Krasne - in the grey area, representing territory currently contested rather than under full Ukrainian control.
Ukraine Is Now a World War. And Putin Is Gaining Friends.
Global proxy conflicts were a constant in Cold War I, and Russia’s invasion marked the first of Cold War II.
Foreign policy experts have worried for decades about a second Korean War. No one ever imagined it would happen in Ukraine. Today, Seoul and Pyongyang are waging their decades-long struggle on Ukrainian battlefields. It is a microcosm of the world proxy war underway. Since 2022, the two Koreas have made themselves central to a raging war in Europe. South Korea has indirectly given Ukraine a small mountain of artillery ammunition — solid gold in a protracted ground war. North Korea has served as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s armory, supplying ballistic missiles used to ravage Ukraine’s cities and artillery shells used to pound its troops. Both countries, moreover, are part of clashing coalitions that have turned the fight between Ukraine and Russia into a grander, more encompassing test of strength.
The notion of the Ukraine war as a proxy war isn’t new, of course. From the outset, Kremlin officials have alleged that the US is using Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia. Two years ago, I explained that they were basically correct: In helping Ukraine defend itself, America is also imposing heavy costs on one of its fiercest enemies. What has changed since 2022 is that the proxy war has expanded — and been fully joined by both sides. Ukraine has the support of democracies spanning North America, Europe and the Indo-Pacific — countries committed to sustaining Kyiv’s independence and punishing Putin severely in the process. Yet that support is being matched and blunted by a cohort of Eurasian autocracies lending vital aid to Moscow and making life more difficult for the West. Two vast alliances are squaring off, albeit indirectly, on European battlegrounds. The fight in Ukraine has become the first global conflict of a new cold war.
Ukrainian troops pull out of some areas and Zelenskyy postpones foreign trips amid Russian offensive
Ukrainian forces withdrew from some parts of the country’s northeast and battled Russian troops in other areas Wednesday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision to postpone all his upcoming foreign trips underscored the seriousness of the threat his soldiers face. Against that grim backdrop, visiting U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken sought to reassure Ukraine of continuing American support, announcing a $2 billion arms deal. Most of the money comes from a package approved last month.
The top diplomat’s trip comes as Russian troops press a new offensive in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. It began last week, marking the most significant border incursion since the full-scale invaision began in 2022 and forcing thousands to flee their homes. In recent weeks, Moscow’s forces have also sought to build on gains in the eastern region of Donetsk. Taken together, the developments mean the war has entered a critical stage for Ukraine’s depleted army.
It was not possible to independently verify either side’s claims. Vovchansk — just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Russian border — has been the focus of much of the recent fighting, and Ukrainian and Russian troops battled in its streets Wednesday. Oleksii Kharkivskyi, head of the city’s patrol police, said Russian troops were taking up positions in the city, while the Ukrainian General Staff said its forces were trying to flush them out. Gunfire could be heard in the background of a video the police official posted on his Instagram page.
US announces $2bn in new aid for Ukraine as Russian forces advance
Antony Blinken says US rushing military support as Ukraine struggles to hold off renewed Russian offensive.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced $2bn in additional military aid for Ukraine as he visits the country at a crucial phase in the war, with Russia striking deeper into Ukrainian territory and claiming to have seized three more settlements. Speaking at a joint news conference in Kyiv alongside Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday, Blinken said the support, which comes on top of $61bn in US support approved by Congress last month, would be aimed at investing in Ukraine’s industrial base. He announced that the United States and Ukraine had already done the “heavy lifting” on a bilateral security agreement, which could be signed within weeks. He said the US was rushing ammunition, armoured vehicles, missiles and air defences to Ukraine in order to ensure their speedy delivery to the front line.
His remarks came as Ukrainian forces are being stretched across the long front line, struggling to fend off a renewed Russians offensive. On Wednesday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said Russian forces had taken control of the settlements of Hlyboke and Lukyantsi in the northeastern Kharkiv region, and Robotyne in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, the latest in a run of incremental gains that have alarmed Kyiv. He announced that the United States and Ukraine had already done the “heavy lifting” on a bilateral security agreement, which could be signed within weeks. He said the US was rushing ammunition, armoured vehicles, missiles and air defences to Ukraine in order to ensure their speedy delivery to the front line.
Ukrainian officials have said that more than 30,000 Russian forces have been deployed to the northeastern region. Emergency services have evacuated about 8,000 people, most of them women, elderly people, people with reduced mobility, and people with disabilities and children. In central Ukraine, at least two people were killed in a Russian air attack on the city of Dnipro, according to the regional governor. “Putin is ramping up yet another offensive against Ukraine in Kharkiv and across the east, sending wave after wave of Russian soldiers, Iranian drones, North Korean artillery, and tanks, missiles and fighter jets built with machines and parts supplied by China.
Putin says Iran’s Raisi was ‘true friend of Russia’, Ukraine and Russia exchange tit-for-tat strikes
Law enforcement officers work at the site of a Russian missile strike after an
attack on a recreation center in Cherkasska Lozova, Kharkiv region, Ukraine on
May 19, 2024.
Russia and Ukraine attacked each other’s neighboring border regions on Sunday, with the northeast Ukrainian region of Kharkiv and the Russian region of Belgorod just over the border both coming under attack. A day of mourning has been declared in Kharkiv on Monday after a popular leisure spot and several villages were shelled by Russian forces on Sunday, leaving at least 11 civilians dead and many wounded. Kharkiv has become the prime target for Russian forces since they launched a new offensive in the border region on May 10. A lakeside recreation spot in the outskirts of Kharkiv city was among the areas attacked Sunday, leaving at least five people dead and 16 injured, among them two ambulance workers hurt in a second attack on the same location.
Meanwhile, air raid alarms have continued in Russia’s Belgorod region on Monday morning, with the regional governor warning residents to seek shelter. Earlier, Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladko said on Telegramv that the town of Shebekino had been attacked by a Ukrainian drone. No civilians were injured but two apartment buildings were damaged. The latest attack, which has not been confirmed by Ukraine, comes a day after various towns in Belgorod were targeted on Sunday, injuring 13 people. CNBC was unable to independently verify the reports.
Kremlin says Zelenskyy ‘slipping into hysterics’ wanting the West to get directly involved in the war
The Kremlin said Tuesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s latest appeal for more Western aid and involvement in the conflict is due to Ukraine’s “extremely unfavorable” situation on the battlefield. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that new arms supplies will not change the dynamic on the battlefield either. In other news, Poland has arrested nine people in connection with acts of sabotage committed in the country on the orders of Russian services. “We currently have nine suspects arrested and charged with engaging in acts of sabotage in Poland directly on behalf of the Russian services,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told private broadcaster TVN24 late Monday, Reuters reported.
Inside the White House, a Debate Over Letting Ukraine Shoot U.S. Weapons Into Russia
After a sobering trip to Kyiv, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is urging the president to lift restrictions on how Ukraine can use American arms.
Since the first American shipments of sophisticated weapons to Ukraine, President Biden has never wavered on one prohibition: President Volodymyr Zelensky had to agree to never fire them into Russian territory, insisting that would violate Mr. Biden’s mandate to “avoid World War III.” But the consensus around that policy is fraying. Propelled by the State Department, there is now a vigorous debate inside the administration over relaxing the ban to allow the Ukrainians to hit missile and artillery launch sites just over the border in Russia — targets that Mr. Zelensky says have enabled Moscow’s recent territorial gains. The proposal, pressed by Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken after a sobering visit to Kyiv last week, is still in the formative stages, and it is not clear how many of his colleagues among Mr. Biden’s inner circle have signed on. It has not yet been formally presented to the president, who has traditionally been the most cautious, officials said. The State Department spokesman, Matthew A. Miller, declined to comment on the internal deliberations over Ukraine policy, including Mr. Blinken’s report after his return from Kyiv.
But officials involved in the deliberations said Mr. Blinken’s position had changed because the Russians had opened a new front in the war, with devastating results. Moscow’s forces have placed weapons right across the border from northeastern Ukraine, and aimed them at Kharkiv — knowing the Ukrainians would only be able to use non-American drones and other weaponry to target them in response. For months, Mr. Zelensky has been mounting attacks on Russian ships, oil facilities and electricity plants, but he has been doing so largely with Ukrainian-made drones, which don’t pack the power and speed of the American weapons. And increasingly, the Russians are shooting down the Ukrainian drones and missiles or sending them astray, thanks to improved electronic warfare techniques.Now, the pressure is mounting on the United States to help Ukraine target Russian military sites, even if Washington wants to maintain its ban on attacking oil refineries and other Russian infrastructure with American-provided arms. Britain, usually in lockstep with Washington on war strategy, has quietly lifted its own restrictions, so that its “Storm Shadow” cruise systems can be used to target Russia more broadly.
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By: CeeJay | February 4, 2022
