#i particularly said donetsk and luhansk

[shattered-pieces]

Dream last night -

President Bush was doing some sort of official visit or speech and afterwards he appeared outside on this sort of hilly lawn in the dusk. He talked to me about something then I said "what do you think about the war?"

He said "Israel-Palestine?" (Like. Of course what else would it be)

I said, "no, the war in Ukraine."

He was like, I don't know about that war. (Like, why should i? - implied)

I was a bit annoyed he didn't know about it as it is important.

He said, "well, there are 2 scenarios. Either the US and allies wants to win and drive the bad guys out, or we are looking for a way to end it, slowly withdraw so we don't have anything to do with it anymore."

I said, "well. The 2nd one probably. Because we can't get to putin. It is unlikely we can get that far. We won't want to go all the way. We can get to the leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk, but they're just putin's people he put in place. It takes too much effort to get to him."

He said, "you should go into foreign policy."

I was happy that I could get this boost from his recommendation and gain some connections rather than starting from the bottom and I could fulfill my dreams of going into foreign policy and affecting world events.

[beardedmrbean]

A group of Russian troops sent to Ukraine to fight for the Kremlin’s “new” territory is threatening to raise absolute hell over what they describe as pointless suicide missions—and they’ve made clear they’re willing to turn their weapons on members of their own team if necessary.

The draftees from Kaliningrad have already appealed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin to complain of ancient weapons, lack of training, and people dying “for nothing.” In a video released publicly earlier this week, they shamed top military brass by saying there appears to be no battlefield strategy whatsoever and declaring that “this is no way to fight a war.”

Now, a video has leaked capturing the aftermath of their complaints. In a five-minute clip released by the independent outlet Ostorozhno, Novosti, the men can be seen surrounding a commander sent out from Kaliningrad and warning him they will put up a fight if they are not heard.

“You can jail us all! How many years is it, 5, 7, 10? We don’t give a fuck!,” one soldier yells after the commander tries but fails to convince them to obey orders and storm Ukrainian positions.

The troops say they were never meant to be part of assault teams, but were instead assigned as members of territorial defenses. The Kremlin-backed proxy troops fighting in occupied Donetsk, they say, send them on suicide missions while they themselves “run away” or sit around away from the gunfire.

‘You’ve Been Screwed’: Russian Inmates Rebel and Flee From Commanders

They shout that they’d rather go to jail than go on guaranteed-to-fail assault missions “for who knows what.”

“Did you see that puddle of blood here? That person was sent to storm [Ukrainian positions], so he pulled the trigger, because he knew where he was headed,” one soldier says. “Do you want suicides here?”

After the commander responds that they’ve presented a “weak” argument for not obeying orders, they warn that they will use force.

“No one is going on this storm. You can fucking jail us all. And if someone tries to trick us and say we supposedly aren’t going there and then they throw us on the frontline, it will be a shitshow, it won’t be forgiven, we will just go head to head against them,” one soldier says.

“Honestly, we’re ready for that,” he says, asking the entire group: “Is everyone ready for that?”

“Yes, yes! Everyone!” the group responds in unison.

“We are so fucking angry after the deaths of our friends, … we’ll walk on foot, we’ll leave by taxi. Fight your fucking self!” the apparent leader of the group says.

He goes on to tell the commander that several other soldiers had been “taken away,” apparently after also protesting conditions.

“They came at night. What is that? Is it 1939? NKVD? Black ravens?” he said, referring to the Soviet secret police rounding up “enemies” in night-time raids.

The latest uprising by draftees is just the latest of many as the Russian war machine finds itself running out of men to use as cannon fodder. And in a particularly ironic twist, more and more of the same young Russian citizens that Putin claimed to be trying to protect from outside forces with his full-scale invasion are now being sacrificed for the sake of his conquest on Ukrainian land.

“Previously, the Donetsk and Luhansk draftees were used as expendable materials, but now it’s the Russians,” military analyst Kirill Mikhailov told iStories of the mounting conflict between Kremlin-backed troops in Ukraine’s occupied territories. “They cannot fight any other way. If the approach doesn’t fundamentally change, which I doubt, then Russian draftees will keep dying this way.”

[mariacallous]

In January 2022, Valeria Shashenok uploaded a TikTok video of herself playing tourist in Paris: red beret, fresh croissants, posing in front of the Eiffel Tower. A month later, her videos took on a much different character: Touring the bombed-out buildings of her town, Chernihiv, Ukraine; racing for cover as the air raid sirens sounded; reviewing the military rations served in her local bomb shelter.

Through the next year, Shashenok’s social media documented her life in the early days of the war, before seeking refuge in Western Europe—and then returning to Ukraine. In October, Shashenok uploaded a video promising to show her followers “how people live without electricity in Ukraine.” More than 3 million people watched the tour of her darkened city, all set to George Michael’s “Careless Whisper.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago tomorrow, it has worked feverishly to stop Ukrainians like Shashenok from broadcasting to the world. Yet, even with the power out, Shashenok continued streaming to the world. The enormous work that has gone on behind the scenes to make that possible is a story of resiliency, planning, and batteries.

In the early days of the war, Russian airstrikes hit cell towers, hackers targeted Ukrainian internet service providers, and soldiers cut fiber optic cables. In the areas that Russian forces managed to occupy, internet traffic was rerouted through Russia’s heavily censored and aggressively monitored version of the internet. As the war raged on—and Moscow’s territorial ambitions were rebuffed by fierce Ukrainian resistance—Moscow resorted to even more desperate tactics, like shelling energy infrastructure, plunging Ukrainians like Shashenok into the dark.

“One thing that was demonstrated by the war is how important communication is for us,” Yurii Shchyhol, the head of Ukraine’s State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection, said in a media briefing last month. “When it’s up and running, everyone thinks that everything is normal—and this is how things should be. But when the communication disappears, we realize that we cannot get in touch with our loved ones, with our relatives.”

From the first month of Russia’s full-scale invasion, SpaceX’s Starlink service helped keep Ukraine online, even as the country’s communication infrastructure was being knocked offline. “We cannot ignore the fact that Starlink has been the signal of life for Ukraine,” Olha Stefanishyna, a deputy prime minister of Ukraine, told journalists late last year. “Our government has been able to be operational because I had Starlink over my head.”

While Starlink has been a critical stopgap, Kyiv has turned its attention to getting its regular infrastructure back up and running—thanks in no small part to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s hot-and-cold routine with Ukraine. Just this month, SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said the company cut off Ukraine from using Starlink to connect its fleet of drones.

“Given this huge range of instability in the position of the SpaceX CEO—from the willingness and then unwillingness to continue financial support—we’re doing contingency planning for ourselves,” Stefanishyna said.

That’s where Shchyhol’s ministry comes in. Working with private industry, his agency has laid or repaired 3,200 kilometers of fiber optic cable and built or rebuilt 1,500 mobile base stations—another name for cell towers—since the war began. That work has returned Ukraine’s mobile communications to about 77 percent of its pre-war capacity. The biggest problems are in the areas along the front lines, such as Zaporizhzhya and Odessa, and towns occupied by the Russians in Luhansk and Donetsk regions. 

Kherson, which was liberated in November, has had a particularly hard time getting back online. “When the occupiers leave the occupied areas of Ukraine, they destroy the base stations, they destroy the fiber optic cables. So in the south of the country, we rebuilt the internet from scratch,” Shchyhol said during the press conference, adding that they have managed to repair about 20 percent of Kherson’s infrastructure. That’s only one part of the challenge, Shchyhol said. There’s still “the issue of electric power supply.”

Mobile base stations are normally hooked up to the power grid, using that electricity to amplify the cell signal to the broader area. During a power outage, an on-site battery kicks in to keep the tower running. If the outage persists, a crew could arrive with a diesel generator to keep powering the tower. That means Shashenok can keep uploading TikToks by candlelight in her neighborhood restaurant.

But Ukraine hasn’t just experienced a few short outages. Since October, it has faced an onslaught of attacks against its power grid, causing long periods of darkness. Ukraine responded by outfitting around 5,000 base stations with better generators. But those generators, and the diesel they rely on, are increasingly scarce, expensive, and in high demand everywhere in Ukraine. But they’ve been necessary, as the old lead batteries attached to its base stations only run for two or three hours, if that.

So Kyiv has turned to a simple solution: better batteries.

High-capacity lithium-ion batteries mean the base stations, Shchyhol said, “should have reserve power sources for at least three days.” And they can recharge themselves when the power comes back online.

Two of the biggest telecommunications firms in Ukraine have, between them, already sourced and installed 22,000 new high-capacity batteries. Shchyhol said his ministry has identified another 8,000 base stations that need to become “energy independent.” With demand for those batteries only increasing as Russia mounts a more serious offensive to break a stalemate in eastern Ukraine, there is a scramble to source more. And not every cell company is about to source tens of thousands of those batteries on their own.

“The main reason why we can still talk and have access to the internet, first of all, is because we have a very diverse market of internet providers,” says Vitaliy Moroz, a Kyiv-based outreach and support consultant for cybersecurity firm eQualitie. “This is quite a good situation for the customers because they can switch from one ISP to another.”

The Montreal-based firm has stood up an array of tools to help Ukrainians defend themselves against Russian cyberattacks and connect Ukrainians living under occupation to uncensored news and information, creating peer-to-peer connections that aren’t reliant on local internet access.

Late last year, eQualitie began crowdfunding to source batteries for some smaller ISPs in Ukraine. The money they raised helped them buy 172 batteries from Poland—the shipment weighed about 6.5 tons. Some of those batteries went to a small ISP in Chernihiv, which services hundreds of large residential buildings in the north-central Ukrainian city. ”With just five batteries, which they received within this donation, it means that tens of thousands of residents of Chernihiv remain connected,” Moroz says—residents like Valeria Shashenok.

“The issue of connectivity is not very clear for everyone,” Moroz says the morning after another wave of airstrikes on the country’s energy grid. “Ukrainians have, for example, apps or websites where they can follow all the air alarms, which may happen almost every day.”

Internet and mobile service in Ukraine is surprisingly good, even by American standards. Moroz points out that for about $8 per month, Ukrainians can get download speeds of around 100 megabytes per second. “People now need immediate information. They want to know, right now, what's happening,” he says. “So access to internet … means security for people, it means being connected with their families and friends.”

Staying connected also means staying hopeful.

When the Ukrainian Army liberated Izium, which is near the border of Dontesk, they also liberated the residents from Russian propaganda—the only source of news for many in the city. “They believed Kharkiv was also surrounded by Russians. And it was under Russian control, which is not true,” Moroz says. 

“So all this, the combined efforts to keep Ukraine connected, is because everyone understands that the ultimate goal of Russia is to demoralize civilians—because if civilians are demoralized, the government will lose support,” Moroz says. “Instead, it’s the opposite: Civilians realize they might have some hardship in their lives, but still they manage to build their lives around all these difficulties.”

eQualitie is still raising money to purchase a new shipment of batteries to Ukraine. Shchyhol, meanwhile, is bullish that he could get Ukraine’s mobile networks back to 100 percent.

But, like many aspects of this war, Ukraine continues preparing for the worst. Late last year, after waves of brutal assaults on Ukraine’s cities and critical infrastructure, president Volodmyr Zelensky announced the creation of thousands of Points of Invincibility across the country—in government buildings, pharmacies, gas stations, and banks.

“All basic services will be there, including electricity, mobile communications and the Internet, heat, water, and a first-aid kit,” Zelensky posted on Telegram. “Absolutely free and 24/7.” The sites will be powered by generators and connected to the world via Starlink.

“This is what the Russian flag means—complete desolation,” Zelensky said in another address in November. “There is no electricity, no communication, no internet, no television. The occupiers destroyed everything themselves—on purpose.”

[xtruss]

Most Countries Side With Russia in Ukraine Conflict While US's Credibility Slips - Seymour Hersh

Seymour Hersh. © AP Photo/Eckehard Schulz

Moscow (Sputnik) — Most of the world's population supports Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, while the United States lost its credibility, Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said on Sunday.

"The percentage of the [countries], particularly of the African and Central Asian and South Asian countries, that have changed from being pro-America to being pro-Russia is really quite dramatic. Much more than a half of the world's population supports Russia in the war and not the United States. This was never the way it was," Hersh said in an interview with talk show host George Galloway.

The journalist opined that "things are not as good as they used to be in Russia" amid Western sanctions, but "the idea that they are desperate is just wrong."

Hersh also argued that Washington "lost so much credibility around the world," citing Saudi Arabia's diplomatic rapprochement with Iran as an example.

"It's happened because, I think, because of Ukraine and dislike of the war. Saudi Arabia, by the way, they're selling 25% of [their] oil to China, as I have mentioned, but the Saudis immediately cut a deal. And the Iranians immediately responded … They have a lot of control in Yemen over the Houthi tribes," Hersh said.

Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, following calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The world has split into those who support Moscow and accuse NATO of provoking the conflict, and those who condemn Russia's actions and impose sanctions on the country, while also ramping up their financial and military aid to Kiev. Some countries have avoided taking sides in the conflict.

— Sputnik International | June 11, 2023

[ratfuck]

genuinely confused about what you’ve said about ukraine. isn’t donbas the part of ukraine that has been occupied by russia for 8 years and they want russia out? is russia promising to leave donbas entirely or are they asking ukraine to just surrender that area to russia and then they’ll stop their push further in? also why should they let russia tell them not to join nato?

Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk are largely populated by ethnic Russians which over the past few years have been targeted by extremist nationalist far-right militias (such as Azov Battallion, which was formally incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard) which is why Crimea was annexed in 2014 after the coup that ousted the former president of the country. Ethnic Russians in Donetsk and Luhansk wanted to separate from Ukraine and become their own republics following the coup/annexation of Crimea, which lead to a series of border conflicts between Ukraine's government and the separatist regions, which lead to a massive series of military strikes, primarily shellings, by the government in Donbas which killed a lot of civilians. It has received material and political support from the Russian government, but it's important to note that the people of Donbas and Crimea have historically considered themselves Russian peoples. This is why the annexation of Crimea was bloodless, the majority of the people there legitimately wanted it.

Russia has already given their demands to the Ukrainian government, which includes military neutrality (refered to as Finlandization, where a country neighboring Russia such as Finland can have close political and economic ties to the West, without the addition of NATO strategic forces on their soil), demilitarization (Russian officials have specifically stated they do not want ballistic missiles stationed in Ukraine), and "de-nazification" (I assume this means the banning of far-right nationalist groups that engaged in terrorist attacks on ethnic Russians, such as the aforementioned Azov Battallion), along with the formal recognition of Crimea and Donbas as Russian territories. Not much information has come from the recent peace talks since the war started, but the Russian foreign ministry has implied that it does not care what the Ukrainian government does internally so long as it follows these conditions.

Ukraine should not be part of NATO, in fact, NATO should've been disbanded at the end of the Cold War in 1991. Western officials promised the new Russian government that NATO would not move "one inch eastward", and since then a majority of post-Soviet republics bordering Russia have joined the alliance.

NATO is not a peacekeeping force for good, it's been used innumerable times in crimes against humanity such as the Yugoslavian bombings in 1999, which killed an estimated 1,200-2,000 civilians and displaced many thousands more. It's been involved in bombings of civilians in the Middle East, and is a tool of Western imperialism and militarism. Historically, NATO has been also been a military alliance particularly against Russia. Russia doesn't want a Western military alliance on their borders, especially since NATO bases are prepared to house nuclear weapons and strategic bombers. This is a very reasonable demand, because why the fuck would you want to be enveloped by a nuclear-equipped military organization that is historically hostile against you.

Rather than agree to any of these or at least negotiate for a ceasefire, President Zelensky seems adamant to try and coerce further Western/NATO involvement by rejecting these terms and protracting this conflict. His calls for a no-fly zone are repeatedly shut down as it would pit NATO forces against Russian forces, sparking an even worse war, and him going on TV and emotionally manipulating the global audience to try and pressure us into entering this conflict directly is something we HAVE to ignore. We absolutely CANNOT engage directly in this conflict.

I am absolutely not saying this war is just, that Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin are in the right, or anything of such nature. It's awful and civilians are dying in a fucked up conflict which shouldn't happen in the 21st century. I am, however, incredibly adamant that this war be viewed as an entirely completely avoidable tragedy that can be stopped almost as quickly as it started. Russia is not seeking to reform the old Russian Empire, or the Soviet Union. All the news media out there screaming about world war 3, nuclear war, or fucking whatever are selling you on a historical revisionist lie that is making this conflict is "good vs evil, democracy vs autocracy", when this scenario has it's roots in early 1990s geopolitics. NATO, specifically the US, needs to stop fucking encroaching onto Russia, the Ukrainian military needs to stop fucking shelling ethnic Russians in Donbas and supporting goddamn neo-nazi groups, and Russia needs to stop fucking bombing civilian cities if they want their demands heard.

The situation is extremely volatile with routes that could lead to further escalation and a major, potentially nuclear, war in Europe, but it also has many clear detours that could lead to a shitty but stable peace. Putin expected Kyiv to be captured and agree to demands 2 days into the war, the raising of alert level in Russian nuclear deterrence wasn't an explicit threat of nuclear war but out of fear NATO retaliating in a first-strike after underestimating Western response to the invasion. NATO, specifically the US, have made it adamantly clear that they will not deploy forces inside Ukraine, or order a No-Fly Zone, which would entail NATO forces actively engaging in combat with Russian forces. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has responded to comments about Russia's nuclear deterrent, informing then that they're not insane and will not engage in a nuclear first-strike or tactical nuclear deployment as per Russia's doctrine on the matter, and commented how he found it strange that nuclear war is always on the mind of western officials when it is rarely brought up in the Kremlin, though this hasn't stopped our media from headlines such as "RUSSIAN MINISTER WARNS NUCLEAR USE IN WORLD WAR 3", that shit earns tons of money through engagement clicks. Neither side, Russian or Western, wants a war as it would strictly be a nuclear one as Russian forces absolutely cannot hold their own against NATO. Fortunately, somehow, both Western and Russian governments are sensible enough to prevent escalation.

As much as it would be nice for Ukraine to win this war, that is an absolutely illogical idea and not feasible. NATO will not engage in Ukraine beyond limited arms and humanitarian aid supplying because anything like a NFZ or boots on the ground would be suicidal, and Russian forces outnumber and outgun Ukrainian forces, with Putin making it very clear that they will not leave until Russia's concessions are made either through diplomacy or military. The best fucking thing, right now, would be a ceasefire, for Ukraine to remain militarily neutral between Russia and NATO and to stop fucking shelling ethnic minorities in Donbas, for Russia to make reparations for Ukrainians killed, injured, displaced or otherwise affected by the war and leave the country, for the West to lift Russian sanctions as they withdrawl and promise not to expand NATO into Ukraine and allow permanent residency and humanitarian aid for war refugees.

[tchaikovskaya]

(i lied that is not my last post) (but this one will be bc im blocking tumblr on my laptop after i hit send on this one lol)

another incoming hot take: i dont think the referendums (referenda?) in occupied territory of eastern ukraine are entirely illegitimate. but i also dont think theyre legitimate. theres a lot going on there.

but to put in briefly, and likely reductively, i think there have always been pro russia contingents (perhaps pluralities, in relation to the sum of ones who are "indifferent" or opposed?) in those regions, in some enclaves they are the overhwelming majority, but looking at the whole regions on average there would have been many MANY more people who, if polled, would have said "yes if the district/region/oblast i live in were part of the russian federation when i woke up tomorrow i would be happy about it" in early february than now in late september. for obvious reasons.

like i just think reducing it to "people were coerced into voting one way!" isnt super useful here. particularly because it erases a lot of context that predates the war.

the same was true to a much greater extent in crimea in 2014, given the demographic makeup. but this is clearly a very different scenario and one with very different stakes/consequences.

do i think there are people in donetsk and luhansk who genuinely see the invasion as a positive thing (or even a "liberation")? yes. do i think there are people there who have never NOT wanted to be ukrainian de jure? yes. do i think there are people who dont/didnt give much of a fuck because their daily lives wouldnt change much and just want all this shit to be over with, and especially just want not to die or starve for months/years on end because of it? yes. what is the breakdown of those numbers? nobody truly knows. but i can say pretty confidently that the only thing that russian troops killing and pillaging and r*ping and displacing the population of eastern ukraine did for them was turn the neutral/apathetic parties into enemies. and all this shit is, above all, fucking incomprehensible and tragic.

[ukrainenews]

Daily Wrap Up May 20, 2022

Under the cut:  The last of Azovstal defenders surrendered. Here’s the separate entry I made about that; Dmytro Kozatskyi has posted images to Twitter from Azovstal; Russia’s Gazprom is stopping gas to Finland on Saturday morning; Germany is giving Ukraine 15 tanks in July; Severodonetsk sees intense fighting as Russia steps up efforts there.

The last of Azovstal defenders surrendered. Here’s the separate entry I made about that.

~

Dmytro Kozatskyi has posted images to Twitter from Azovstal. He’s also linked to his Google Drive with pictures of his time there. Warning, the pictures show injuries. (This Drive folder was shared on US National news sites, so I’m assuming it’s safe.)

https://twitter.com/Kozatsky_D/status/1527552273781600256

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1efz3M_yHIJG6EYB57J9Di8V85MJco51I

~

“Russia will stop gas flows to neighbouring Finland on Saturday morning, Finnish state-owned gas wholesaler Gasum said in a statement.

The company has refused to pay Gazprom Export in roubles as Russia has requested European countries to do.

The statement by Gasum read:

On the afternoon of Friday May 20, Gazprom Export informed Gasum that natural gas supplies to Finland under Gasum’s supply contract will be cut on Saturday 21 May at 04.00 (GMT).

The company will continue to supply gas to customers in Finland from other sources through the Balticconnector pipeline.

Gasum CEO, Mika Wiljanen, described the news as “regrettable” and sought to reassure customers that there would be enough gas in the coming months:

We have been carefully preparing for this situation and provided that there will be no disruptions in the gas transmission network, we will be able to supply all our customers with gas in the coming months.

-via The Guardian

~

“Ukraine will receive 15 anti-aircraft "Gepard" tanks from Germany in July, a German Defense Ministry spokesperson said Friday.

Included with the arms delivery will be training support by the German Armed Forces and the provision of nearly 60,000 rounds of ammunition, Germany's dpa news agency reported.

The announcement came after a meeting Friday between German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht and her Ukrainian counterpart Olexii Resnikov.

Lambrecht said that the Gepard is an "effective" weapon with a "considerable deterrent effect ... for the protection of critical infrastructure."”-via DW

~

“Intense fighting has been reported around the Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk as Russian forces appear to be stepping up an offensive to encircle its Ukrainian defenders.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk – known collectively as the Donbas – were being turned into “hell” and warned that what he called the “final stage of the war” would be the bloodiest.

“In Donbas, the occupiers are trying to increase pressure. There’s hell, and that’s not an exaggeration,” Zelenskiy said. “The brutal and absolutely pointless bombing of Severodonetsk … 12 dead and dozens wounded in just one day. The bombing and shelling of other cities, the air and missile strikes of the Russian army – all this is not just hostilities during the war.”

According to multiple sources, Russian troops were pushing west of the Russian-occupied town of Popasna and also attempting to gain ground to the north of Severodonetsk, advancing more than 10km in at least one region with residents fleeing under shellfire.

The focus of the main Russian advance appeared to be the town of Soledar amid speculation that their initial aim was to cut one of the main supply routes to thousands of Ukrainian defenders, who are outnumbered by Russian forces.

Severodonetsk, and the Ukrainian forces there, are particularly vulnerable, with Russian forces threatening from three sides and the operation would put one of the remaining areas of the Luhansk region under Ukrainian control under threat.”-via The Guardian

[gungieblog]

Putin declares martial law in annexed Ukrainian regions

The announcement comes as Ukrainian forces advance on Russian positions in the eastern parts of the country, particularly the critical city of Kherson.

Oct. 19, 2022, 8:03 AM EDT / Updated Oct. 19, 2022, 8:53 AM EDT

By Matthew Bodner

President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday that Russia would impose martial law in the four regions in Ukraine he illegally annexed last month, as his military struggles to maintain its grip on territory amid Ukrainian advances.

“Now we need to formalize this regime within the framework of Russian legislation. Therefore, I signed a decree on the introduction of martial law in these four subjects of the Russian Federation,” he said on national television.

Speaking to his Security Council, Putin announced the immediate declaration of martial law in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk, as well as the establishment of a new state coordination council aimed at fulfilling the objectives of his so-called special military operation.

[zloyodessit]

Russia suffers another fiasco at UN Security Council

It was expected that, by convening a UN Security Council briefing on February 18, Russia wasn't doing this out of pure enthusiasm, but with certain intent, aimed to play by the elaborated scenarios. The attack by the occupation forces in Donbas on Ukraine Army defense positions on Tuesday made it clear that such a scenario was to subsequently accuse Ukraine at the UNSCC platform of violation of Minsk agreements. And that's what happened.

Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the UN Security Council, Vasily Nebenzya, accused Ukraine of the latest escalation in Donbas, also mentioning Russophobia and the other standard messages usually voiced by the Krelmin's "talking head". Speaking at the UN Security Council briefing, the Russian envoy said: "[T]he Ukrainian law enforcers are persistently trying to take up positions of self-defence forces in the so-called grey zones where there should be no military forces at all."

Acting Deputy Permanent Representative at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Cherith Norman Chalet noted: "In 2014, Russia occupied Crimea and fueled the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 13,000 people, displaced millions, and precipitated an alarming humanitarian crisis. Russia’s ongoing aggressive actions are an affront to international norms and a threat to our common security."

The U.S. deputy UN mission chief also stressed that while Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky remain committed to the peaceful settlement of the conflict and the implementation of Minsk agreements, Russia hasn't shown similar willingness to fulfill its obligations under the Minsk accords. The attack by pro-Russian forces near Zolote, which led to casualties on the Ukrainian side, was carried out on the fifth anniversary of the seizure by Russian proxy forces of the strategic railway hub of Debaltseve, in direct violation of Minsk agreements, approved just a week earlier.

A joint statement by EU states, current members of the UN Security Council – Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany and Poland – contained absolute support for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. The statement said: "We condemn the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol and the destabilization of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions."

In fact, the Russian side has received absolutely no support in the Security Council, while its attempt to accuse Ukraine of the latest escalation in Donbas failed. Deputy Foreign Minister Serhiy Kyslytsya particularly noted the attempts of the Russian Federation to play a game of shifting blame for own crimes on others.

"As it has happened before, Russia tries to present the victim of its aggression as a perpetrator, which is one of the hallmarks of its information war against Ukraine. Such vain attempts to twist the truth could have been viewed as pathetic and even laughable — if it were not a cynical insult to the memory of thousands of my compatriots who have lost their lives defending their land, to the memory of those protesters, who were gunned down in cold blood in Maidan six years ago on the night of 18 February, which is now often called the Night of the Apocalypse..." said Serhiy Kyslytsya, adding that in the current situation the dialogue with Moscow would be a path to nowhere, or just a trap.

Russia's total failure of Russia at the UN Security Council was, in fact, predictable. To be honest, I predicted this briefing to be the way it ultimately turned out to be, as seen by the widest audiences – major humiliation of the Russian envoy almost by every speaker. But this rather predictable and expected result still can't undo the very fact of violent aggression and deaths of Ukrainian troops.

This proves that Russian provocations these days don't place the key bet on being efficient in the international arena. It is important for them, through this show of strength and permissiveness, to create appropriate, chaotic moods within Ukraine and at least provoke an internal crisis.

So, yes, Russia's ever-lying envoy was once again publicly smashed at the UNSC session hall, which de facto means that Russia, too, was humiliated, but the Kremlin doesn't seem to care. Also, they couldn’t care less about a dozen lives of their troops that their latest foiled offensive on Ukrainian positions took. Neither of these is, especially the latter, constitutes any losses in the Kremlin's perception. It's precisely this inhumane and immoral approach, which has nothing to do with the policies of a civilized state, that should be most alarming to the international community.

https://zloy-odessit.livejournal.com/3054024.html

Читайте так же в Telegram https://t.me/zloyodessit

[beardedmrbean]

Six Russian generals are believed to have been killed and a Lieutenant Colonel captured in Ukraine as Vladimir Putin’s lighting invasion plan has been derailed, western officials said on Wednesday.

The senior officer captured may be linked to a sizeable amount of electronic warfare equipment that was also seized.

Some 20 Russian generals have taken part in the invasion, according to the officials, with those killed having been replaced.

They stressed that Russian advances “continued to stall” on Day 28 of the conflict, including around Kyiv, from Kherson to Mykolaiv and in the Donbas region to the east of the country where there are the two breakaway areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Ukrainian forces have carried out limited counterattacks, leading to Russian military equipment being destroyed and the capture of Russian personnel including the Lieutenant Colonel.

After Mr Putin’s initial invasion plan has disintegrated, his forces are now increasing using “dumb” munitions in air strikes to bombard the besieged city of Mariupol including 500-1000 pound bombs, as well as indiscriminate shelling, which will lead to more civilian casualties, one official said.

The air strikes and shelling continue across the country focusing on the capital, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and other cities, with heavy fighting in the southern city of Mariupol

Around 7,000 thousand residents were evacuated from Mariupol on Tuesday, but more than 100,000 are believed to remain inside the city where there is “chronic shortages” of food and clean water.

It comes as one of Mr Putin’s closest advisors quit his role and fled Russia over the disastrous invasion.

Russia’s climate envoy, Anatoly Chubais, dramatically defected. Western officials said it was a “significant statement” but the Russian president still had a “ iron grip” on the Kremlin.

“[Chubais] has got a long history that goes all the way back through previous regimes, particularly the sort of tail end of Gorbachev and was was a key figure in the Yeltsin era,” they said.

“He’s something of a peripheral finger in the sense that he’s not aligned with the hardcore Putin regime, but he’s still a representative of the administration and therefore, I think it is a significant statement.

“It’s encouraging that there are senior members of the Russian political class that are doing such things, but it doesn’t lead me to a conclusion that this is in any way undermining the kind of the security of Putin and his regime given the kind of the iron grip that he holds.”

[toldnews-blog]

New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/ukraines-president-elect-rejects-russian-passport-plan/

Ukraine's president-elect rejects Russian passport plan

Image copyright AFP/Getty

Image caption Volodymyr Zelensky won a landslide victory in Ukraine’s presidential election in April

Ukraine’s president-elect has mocked Russia’s offer to give passports to his countrymen, saying the document would provide “the right to be arrested”.

In a Facebook post rejecting the idea, Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to give citizenship to “suffering” Russians.

Earlier this week, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed a decree offering people in eastern Ukraine’s separatist territories passports.

He later said he was mulling extending the scheme to all Ukrainians.

But Mr Zelensky – a former comedian with no political experience who was elected last Sunday – said he did not believe many of his countrymen would take up the offer.

“Ukrainians are free people in a free country,” he said.

Instead, he offered citizenship to “all people who suffer from authoritarian and corrupt regimes”, but firstly “to the Russian people who suffer most of all”.

The Facebook post was written in both Ukrainian and Russian “so that everyone can hear us”, Mr Zelensky said.

Ukraine country profile

What does a comic president mean for Ukraine?

Relations between the two countries were further strained this week when Ukraine’s parliament passed a law making the use of the Ukrainian language mandatory for public sector workers.

Russia says the move discriminates against Russian speakers in Ukraine – for many, particularly in eastern regions, Russian is still the first language.

The new tensions add to the challenges facing Mr Zelensky, who ousted Petro Poroshenko by a landslide.

What did Putin say?

On Wednesday, the Russian leader announced the passport scheme would be applied to Donetsk and Luhansk, the self-declared republics seized by Russian-backed separatists in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

Crimea itself was incorporated into Russia, giving its inhabitants the same citizenship rights as those in Russia.

Mr Putin said people living in Donetsk and Luhansk who considered themselves Russian were entitled to Russian passports.

On Saturday, he said: “We’re considering providing a simplified procedure [of obtaining Russian citizenship] to all the residents of Ukraine.”

How did Ukraine respond?

Mr Zelensky said a Russian passport provides “the right to be arrested for a peaceful protest” and “the right not to have free and competitive elections.”

He also demanded a “complete de-occupation” of eastern Ukraine and Crimea stressing that his country “doesn’t give up”.

Ukrainian politicians accuse Russia of trying to make its territorial divisions permanent.

Image copyright EPA

Image caption Tens of thousands of people have died in Ukraine’s eastern regions since 2014

But Mr Zelensky also struck a conciliatory tone, saying he was ready for negotiations on the armed conflict, that has claimed about 13,000 lives since 2014.

“I hope that Russia is more inclined to speak than to shoot,” he wrote.

Zelensky team plans Ukraine anti-corruption drive

In the run-up to his election, he said he had wanted to “renew relations” with eastern Ukraine and start a “powerful information war to end the conflict”.

In response, Russia said it wanted him to show “sound judgement”, “honesty” and “pragmatism” so that relations could improve.

What is the new language law?

Under the new law:

Ukrainian must be used for signs, letters and in adverts

Local TV channels are set a target of 90% Ukrainian content

Ukrainian should be used for all official duties of public servants ranging from the president to judges, doctors and bank workers

Mr Zelensky, whose own first language is Russian, defended the new legislation, which Mr Poroshenko had championed.

However, he added that he intended to review it once he took office.

[eastbridge-sb]

UEFA Europa League Match Betting Previews – 24th October Thursday

Qarabag v APOEL Nicosia

I’m keen to oppose goals in one of the more unfashionable games in the early kick offs between Qarabag and APOEL. It’s two nations not particularly famous for footballing exploits in Azerbaijan and Cyprus; it must be a challenge for bookmakers to try and get a hold of the difference in quality between the pair. The odds suggest Qarabag are a slightly better side and I’d tend to agree with that thought process and 2.150 on the hosts do look fair to me. That being said I’m much more inclined to take the 1.810 on under 2.5 goals.

Funnily enough these two met in the qualifying for the Champions League in the summer and APOEL actually won the tie but eventually we’re denied a place in the top tier European competition by Ajax. Qarabag won the first leg in the Cypriot capital 2-1 but went down 2-0 in the home leg to many peoples surprise. Away from home APOEL do set up in a defensive formation and that’s what Qarabag face week in week out in their native league and they tend to struggle to break teams down, well they rarely thrash teams, 1-0 and 2-0 are regular scorelines for ‘The Horsemen’.

APOEL managed to hold Sevilla to just a 1-0 win which showcases their defensive resolve. They managed a clean sheet against Ajax too so they’ve kept it tight against better teams than the Azerbaijani champions. Their last three games have seen under 2.5 cop and three of the last four Qarabag games have also seen this bet profit.

Asian Total Goals Betting Recommendation: Under 2.50 goals at 1.810

Saint Etienne v Oleksandria

I was surprised by the goal line in this game as hosts Saint Etienne tend to be a team involved in tight, dour games. We backed the under 2.5 line when they hosted Wolfsburg in Matchday 2 and that landed, we’re getting a higher line here even though the visitors don’t pose as much of an attacking threat as the Germans.

Claude Puel is the new man in at the Stade Geoffrey Guichard, a controversial choice given his history as manager of fierce rivals Lyon. However he has done good things in Ligue 1 if not to everyone’s taste in the premier league, his sides tend to be more defensive than most and that’s been seen with back to back 1-0 successes over Lyon and Bordeaux. 

Loic Perrin is the glue that holds the backline together, his experience is invaluable for Les Verts and since William Saliba has come back on loan from Arsenal they’ve formed a formidable partnership at the back. He’s also helping 18 year old defender Wesley Fofana improve and he made the grade for the last game. When he’s out Mathieu Debuchy can slot in on the right side of a back 3. It’s proven an impenetrable trio.

Visitors Oleksandria are debuting in this competition. Sure, Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev are mainstays on the European scene but the alternative side usually changes year on year. We’ve had Vorskla Poltava last year who weren’t so successful but Zorya Luhansk and Dnipro have both upset the applecart and done better than expected. Six of their last eight games in all competitions have seen fewer than three goals and they would be delighted if they can get a point here.

I’d expect the visitors to let the hosts have plenty of the ball but that’s not really where Saint Etienne thrive, they themselves prefer to play without the ball and it could be a game sorely lacking in creativity. Saint have seen their last five see 2 goals or fewer, 1 or fewer goals has been scored in four of those five too. With that in mind, opposing a goal heavy game is the way to go in the Loire region on Thursday evening.

Asian Total Goals Betting Recommendation: Under 2.75 goals at 1.925

CSKA Moscow v Ferencvaros

This has to be a must win for CSKA Moscow after back-to-back defeats in the UEL. A 5-0 chastening away at Ludogorets will have shocked the CSKA faithful but they were with 10 men for that game, a 2-0 reverse against Espanyol wasn’t the ideal response either so it places a lot more pressure on a win here.

They should have too much against this Ferencvaros team though, the Hungarians haven’t been in Europe for a while and they lost out to Ludogorets too 3-0. They rode their luck a little on matchday 1 at Espanyol too where they scraped a draw. I highly doubt they’ll qualify from this group and they face a long trip to the Russian capital in search of their first win.

CSKA youthful midfield trio of Ivan Oblyakov, Ilzat Akhmetov and Nikola Vlasic have impressed this season and their dynamism will be key for the hosts. There’s a youthful look about this side going forward, Fedor Chalov is and has been the chief goalgetter in recent years, it feels like he’s been about forever but he’s still only 21. Strike partner Arnor Sigurdsson is only 20 years old too, I’m sure they’ll want to make their mark on the continental stage to try and gain some admiring glances.

The ‘Armeitsy’ are around 1.500 to win this one which isn’t too surprising given their opponents but we can get 1.900 on the hosts with a -1 start on the asian handicap and that looks worth a play. As long as they win we don’t lose anything, if Moscow win by a single goal then we get our stakes back, any other win for the home side and we take a full profit.

Asian Handicap Betting Recommendation: CSKA Moscow -1.00 at 1.900

Have access with Saint Etienne v Oleksandria, CSKA Moscow v Ferencvaros, and Qarabag v APOEL Nicosia’s most competitive odds though the best betting broker service or through VOdds!

The post UEFA Europa League Match Betting Previews – 24th October Thursday appeared first on Eastbridge.

source https://eastbridge-sb.com/uefa-europa-league-match-betting-previews-241019/

[trunewsofficial]

With the New World Order’s Life Support Pulled, Will the Globalist Try to Trigger World War III?

With all the apparent preparations for war with Iran, it’s important not to forget NATO is still poking its large, American-made stick at the Russian bear, risking global security in the process. In fact, while Moscow is hardly a cheerleader for the mullahs in Tehran, the Middle East could be a flashpoint for a much bigger conflict with Russia that could lead to World War III. At the very least, President Vladimir Putin is looking to expand his influence there, sending a top official to Iraq for important exchanges. Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov is now in Baghdad for two days of talks with President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi. The agenda of those meetings will be to discuss economic and scientific-technological cooperation between the two countries. In the meantime, neighboring Syria has repeated its demand that American, British, French, and Turkish troops illegally stationed on its soil remove themselves immediately. Deputy Defense Minister said “all political issues should be tackled by Syrians without outside interference,” adding: “We demand that the illegal presence of foreign troops … on our soil should be stopped and the international alliance disbanded. That guarantees the end of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by them.” Despite pressure from the U.S., Turkey is reportedly preparing to receive its first S-400 aerial defense batteries from Russia’s arms trade officials. Putin has ordered that the delivery of those systems be accelerated, meaning the first S-400s will arrive in July. In response to the deal, the U.S. has already cut off the delivery of F-35 stealth fighters to the NATO ally and is weighing additional sanctions on Ankara. Turkey’s economy has been in freefall for months under the threat of crippling sanctions. NATO remains a sticking point for the Kremlin, particularly with the latest development: the deployment of Aegis Ashore missile defense shield in relative close proximity to Russia’s borders with Romania and Poland. General Staff Main Operations Department First Deputy Chief Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir told the Moscow Conference on International Security today: “The deployment of missile defense systems near our borders creates a powerful strike potential for the U.S. enabling it to deliver a surprise [the attacked party won’t be able to strike in response] missile and nuclear strike on Russia.” The senior Russian commander warned this could give the U.S. a “pre-launch interception” capability in which ICBMs possessed by any country—but primarily Russia and China—could be targeted for destruction while still in their launchers. This has led Moscow to press forward with the development of the Sarmat and Avangard missiles, he added, but he warned this has made the nations hosting the U.S./NATO missile defense shield priority targets for destruction in a shooting war. Poznikhir also noted the U.S. could use “space assets” for pre-emptive strikes against Russia, China, or any other country deemed an adversary. He eluded to the Reagan-era “Star Wars” concept of the 1980s, saying: “Of particular concern are Washington’s intentions to create a space train with missile defense weapons to hit ballistic missiles in the early stages of their flight. In essence, the concept of ‘Star Wars’ of the 1980s is being revived. As is the case with the Mk-41 (missile launchers), the possibility of using space means to launch a preemptive strike at targets in Russia and China is not excluded. And taking into account the global nature of the operation of space assets, such a blow can be inflicted on objects of any state.” Also speaking at the Moscow Conference on International Security, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said the U.S. and its allies seek to dismantle the system of international agreements that maintain geopolitical stability. He said this “points to an alarming trend.” Those sentiments were echoed by Russian Chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov: “The worst influence on global and regional security is caused by subjective factors stemming from the aggressive policies of the United States and its allies. In attempts to retain global domination and control of the world mineral resources and transport links Washington ignores international law and is systematically pushing for the elimination of the collective security mechanism enshrined in the UN Charter.” The general also claimed it is the West, not Moscow, that has engaged in “hybrid warfare methods.” He accused NATO of employing them on a long-term basis against Russia. Also speaking to the conference, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the world’s leading nations should join forces to combat terrorism instead of competing with each other: “We reiterate that it is necessary to assume genuine, non-biased, coordinated efforts free of double standards in line with the known initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin to form a universal UN-sponsored anti-terrorist front.” The Eighth Moscow Conference on International Security is now underway and will feature government officials and experts from more than 100 countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Among those in attendance at this year’s conference: • North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol, • Saudi Arabian Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, • Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami, and • former Afghan President Hamid Karzai were present. Tensions have been further inflamed by an interview in a Slovakian newspaper in which a politician claimed secret talks were underway for the U.S. to base nuclear weapons in that country. In response to the article, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said: “I absolutely rule this out because the alliance undertook under the Russia-NATO Founding Act not to deploy nuclear weapons outside the countries where they were not deployed and not to create infrastructure for this. We qualify this as a provocation.” Meanwhle, the Russian Embassy in London has accused the United Kingdom of using Ukraine as a pawn in its ongoing fight with Moscow. In response to British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s congratulatory statement to Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the embassy issued the following statement: “We have taken note of the statement by the Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, congratulating Volodymyr Zelenskiy on being elected President of Ukraine. In his statement Mr. Hunt said the UK interest in supporting Ukraine was due to the country’s position ‘on the front-line of Russia’s challenge to the rules-based international system.’ The Foreign Secretary also mentioned that Ukraine’s ‘stability is essential for Europe’s security.’ ‘Cooperation on defense and security’ was identified as the first among the areas of future cooperation between London and Kiev. “Such statements only underline that the real aim of the so-called ‘support’ provided over the last years to the Ukrainian government by the UK and other Western countries is not at all helping the Ukrainian people and improving their lives but using Ukraine as a tool of military-political confrontation with Russia. It is worth mentioning that the statement, while expressing readiness for defense cooperation with Ukraine, does not say a word on the need for political settlement of the conflict in the East of the country through negotiations based on the Minsk Agreements. “The best way to bring stability to Ukraine, the issue ostensibly so important to Britain, is to encourage the Ukrainian government to engage in direct dialogue with its own citizens in the East. The continuation of the current British rhetoric, not to mention the practical implementation of the proposed plans, is unlikely to contribute to a normalization in Donbass.” Those particular tensions were further stoked today when Putin signed a decree making it easier for Ukrainians of Russian descent in the Donbass regions in Donetsk and Luhansk to obtain Russian citizenship. The simplified rules bypass the requirements for residency permits and continuous residency in Russia proper and shrinks the timeline down to just three months. Western analysts say this puts additional pressure on Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has said he hopes to “reboot” the Donbass civil war negotiations. They also claim it opens the door for another Crimea-style annexation of the eastern portion of Ukraine. (Photo Credit: Russian Foreign Ministry) source https://trunews.com/stream/with-the-new-world-orders-life-support-pulled-will-the-globalist-try-to-trigger-world-war-iii

[todaynewsstories]

Ukraine′s public broadcaster struggling for state support | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW

Ukraine’s media landscape is not particularly diverse. Indeed, most of country’s television and radio stations are owned by businessmen with close ties to the political class. President Petro Poroshenko, for example, owns his very own news channel, although he has officially relinquished control over the station.

Now, things appear to have gotten worse: Ukraine’s public television station UA:Pershyi, or UA:First in English, has had its analogue broadcasting service suspended. The official reason is outstanding debt for transmission services provided by a state-run company.

Read more: Could a rock star become Ukraine’s next president?

The result is that just half a year ahead of Ukraine’s presidential election, people in the countryside are cut off from public television. “It is an absurd situation,” the acting director of the Ukrainian Institute of Media and Communication, Diana Dutsyk, told DW. That’s because, she explained, analogue broadcasting services are often the only option available in rural Ukraine. That the country is currently embroiled in civil war only makes the situation more unacceptable, Dutsyk added.

Western money and pressure

For decades, UA:Pershyi was part of Ukraine’s state broadcasting operation. Since 2017 and with support from Germany and other outside parties, the television station is gradually being modernized and is now part of country’s new public broadcasting company, UA:PBC. This rebranding was kicked-started in the winter of 2013 with the rise of Ukraine’s pro-Western Europe protest movement. However, the process was dogged by setbacks as Ukraine’s government initially showed little interest in the idea. Western pressure reportedly helped push the project forward.

Savin heads the international effort to modernize Ukraine’s public broadcaster

The European Commission has pledged €5 million ($6 million), and Germany’s Foreign Ministry €1.5 million, to help Ukraine establish a modern, multimedia news station. Kyryl Savin of the DW Akademie, who runs this international initiative, says that preparations are currently underway to launch the project. “I hope construction work on the station will begin in October,” he said. The station’s new headquarters is set to be completed by 2020.

It will mark a major change in the country’s media landscape. In the past, Ukrainian public broadcasting produced low-quality content with government-friendly overtones that reached very few viewers. Now, new television formats have been planned that emphasize investigative reporting and critical analysis.

Read more: Ukraine: “Reporting on a process affecting us all”

“The station is basically independent and autonomous from the government,” said Dutsyk, though she conceded that there is still room for improvement in its political reporting.

German ambassador demands support

As Ukraine’s analogue television broadcasts were gradually being switched off over the past few weeks and months, an exception was made for UA:Pershyi. The regions in eastern Ukraine bordering rebel-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk kept receiving its analogue signal. And similarly, residents in these parts of Ukraine can receive its programs digitally or via cable. But given the problem of chronic underfunding, it is unclear how much longer that will continue.

Amid funding concerns, residents in war-torn eastern Ukraine may soon lose public broadcaster access

Ukrainian law stipulates that UA:PBC should receive 0.2 percent of the previous year’s state budget. However, parliament decided to only grant half of this sum for 2018, or the equivalent of €23 million. That amount is a major problem, according to UA:PBC financial director Rodion Nikonenko. “There is enough money to pay our employees’ salaries,” he explained, but not to run the station or produce any programs.

On Wednesday, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an alliance of public media outlets, called on the Ukrainian government to provide UA:PBC proper funding. “The EBU is extremely concerned about the future of public service media in Ukraine after broadcasts from EBU Member UA:PBC were terminated,” the organization said in a statement.

Read more: Politics, powers, and struggle over Ukraine’s Orthodox church

Germany’s ambassador in Kyiv, Ernst Reichel, took to Twitter a day later, urging Ukraine to swiftly address UA:PBC’s dire financial situation and guarantee funding for coming years. The country must ensure the station is “fully operational” ahead of the upcoming presidential election, he said.

Suppressing investigative journalism?

Svetlana Ostapa, who sits on the UA:PBC supervisory board, suspects the government decided to switch off analogue broadcasting for political reasons. In light of the upcoming presidential election, Ukraine’s leadership is displeased with the station’s investigative reporting and the fact that authorities “can no longer order it around,” she said.

Denis Bihus, who hosts the station’s investigative show “Nashi Hroshi” (Our Money), agrees. He said the government is deliberately withholding funds as an indirect form of “punishment.”

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function (event) { if (DWDE.dsgvo.isStoringCookiesOkay()) { facebookTracking(); } }); function facebookTracking() { !function (f, b, e, v, n, t, s) { if (f.fbq) return; n = f.fbq = function () { n.callMethod ? n.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments) }; if (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n; n.push = n; n.loaded = !0; n.version = '2.0'; n.queue = []; t = b.createElement(e); t.async = !0; t.src = v; s = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s) }(window, document, 'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '157204581336210'); fbq('track', 'ViewContent'); } Source link

The post Ukraine′s public broadcaster struggling for state support | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW appeared first on Today News Stories.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2R6jUZX via IFTTT