Any public protest against the war in Russia is fraught with criminal charges
Thousands of people chanted anti-war slogans at a rock concert in Russia last weekend in a growing sign of public discontent with the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Concert-goers at a popular girl band show in St Petersburg at the weekend were chanting “F–ck the war!” in unison in a video that was widely circulated online.
h/t RM
A court in Ukraine has jailed a Russian tank commander for life for killing a civilian at the first war crimes trial since the invasion.
Captured soldier Sgt Vadim Shishimarin was convicted of killing Oleksandr Shelipov, 62, in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivka on 28 February.
He admitted shooting Mr Shelipov but said he had been acting on orders and asked forgiveness of his widow.
Multiple other alleged war crimes are being investigated by Ukraine.
Amid Russian Calls For ‘Tribunals,’ Concerns Expressed Over Fate Of Azovstal Defenders
Concerns have been expressed over the fate of Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner by Russian forces after abandoning the Azovstal steel-mill complex in the Azov Sea port city of Mariupol.
Prominent Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia’s faction in the State Duma and chairman of the Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said on May 22 that the fate of the captured soldiers, many of whom are members of the ultra-nationalist Azov Regiment, “should be determined by a tribunal.”
Four Km?
#Ukraine: A really impressive strike from a Ukrainian Stugna-P operator – hitting a moving and partially visible Russian MT-LB APC from a distance of 4 kilometers. pic.twitter.com/hZd4t0tqkt
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 23, 2022
Partisans fighters have assassinated 100 high-ranking Russians
The bodies of the two Russian officers lay on the pavement for an hour in Melitopol city centre before the sun rose and their comrades picked up the courage to come and collect them.
A few hours later a hand grenade detonated next to the building where the Russians had set up their headquarters. A gunfight ensued in broad daylight before the attackers melted away.
A food insecurity expert said the world has only about 10 weeks of wheat supplies left in storage amid the conflict in Ukraine and as India has moved to bar exports of wheat in recent weeks.
Sara Menker, the CEO of agriculture analytics firm Gro Intelligence, told the United Nations Security Council that the Russia–Ukraine war “simply added fuel to a fire that was long burning,” saying that it is not the primary cause of the wheat shortage. Ukraine and Russia both produce close to about a third of the world’s wheat.
Another shortage!
Over 50 specialists skilled in delivering crude explosive working with Putin’s forces
Technicians linked to the Syrian military’s infamous barrel bombs that have wreaked devastation across much of the country have been deployed to Russia to help potentially prepare for a similar campaign in the Ukraine war, European officials believe.
Intelligence officers say more than 50 specialists, all with vast experience in making and delivering the crude explosive, have been in Russia for several weeks working alongside officials from Vladimir Putin’s military.
Their arrival is understood to be one factor behind US and European warnings that the Russian military may have been preparing for the use of chemical weapons in the conflict, which has entered its fourth month with little sign of slowing.
#Ukraine: The 59th Motorized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army struck a Russian armoured vehicle, which detonated in dramatic fashion. pic.twitter.com/n5iulu4Jif
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 21, 2022
YouTube has taken down more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine for violating content guidelines, including removal of videos that referred to the invasion as a “liberation mission”.
The platform is hugely popular in Russia, where, unlike some of its US peers, it has not been shut down despite hosting content from opposition figures such as Alexei Navalny. YouTube has also been able to operate in Russia despite cracking down on pro-Kremlin content that has broken guidelines including its major violent events policy, which prohibits denying or trivialising the invasion.
Thanks for the PR win says Putin!
NATO’s northward expansion is nothing to celebrate.
‘There is a before and after 24 February.’ So said Swedish prime minister Magdalena Andersson when she announced Sweden’s intention to apply for NATO membership last week. Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin voiced a similar sentiment when she announced her country’s NATO application. ‘Our security environment has fundamentally changed’, she told parliament.
All this is true. The Kremlin’s decision on 24 February to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine has proven a singularly transformative event. In a very real sense, there is a before and an after Putin’s act of aggression.
More than 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers defending the Azov steel plant in Mariupol have been taken into Russian custody since May 16, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Wounded soldiers were among them, some of whom were taken to Novoazovsk, in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, for treatment.
Ukraine officials have offered assurances that soldiers held could return home through an exchange, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed hope of saving the soldiers’ lives, saying: “Ukraine needs living Ukrainian heroes.”
#Ukraine: The Ukrainian 24th Mechanized Brigade destroyed a LNR (Separatist) BRDM-2 armoured car with an 9M111 Fagot/9M113 Konkurs ATGM in the vicinity of #Rubizhne. pic.twitter.com/m0jKTu3NpE
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 21, 2022
Western leaders face the challenge of resolving blockaded exports and the prospect of famine without instigating direct conflict with Russia
In his desperation to achieve some semblance of a victory in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has demonstrated that he is perfectly willing to employ far from conventional military force to achieve his aims.
The Russian president began the conflict by threatening to cut off Europe’s energy supply if it continued providing military support to Ukraine; a form of blackmail he has subsequently applied against Finland following Helsinki’s decision this week to apply for Nato membership.
He has also made threatening noises about the deadly capabilities of Russia’s nuclear arsenal. And Russian hackers even launched a clumsy attempt to disrupt voting during the Eurovision song contest, which was eventually won by Ukraine.
Senior Russian officials have proposed a new law that would eliminate age limits for military contract soldiers, in another sign the country is facing a shortage of infantry to continue its offensive in Ukraine.
Two members of the ruling United Russia party who introduced the law said the move would enable the military to utilise the skills of older professionals.
“For the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed. Experience shows that they become such by the age of 40-45,” it said.
Russia halts gas supplies to Finland
Russia is halting its supply of natural gas to Finland, the Finnish state-owned energy firm Gasum says.
Finland has been refusing to pay for its supplies in roubles. But it also follows an announcement that Finland will apply for Nato membership.
Gasum said the move was “regrettable” but said there would be no disruption to customers.
Despite the Ukraine conflict, Russia continues to supply gas to many European countries.
#Ukraine: Incredible footage reminding us the first days of the war – A Russian supply convoy was destroyed by the Ukrainian forces in Luhansk Oblast recently. pic.twitter.com/f8vyIoLyWR
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 20, 2022
#Ukraine: The Ukrainian 80th Air Assault Brigade used a Stugna-P ATGM to strike a likely TZM-T (TOS-1 reloading vehicle), causing a massive explosion. pic.twitter.com/Z64wvTmqy5
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 20, 2022
Russia claims to have used laser weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine, although the US says it has seen no evidence of this and Ukraine has derided it as propaganda. What are laser weapons and how effective could they be in the conflict?
Yury Borisov, the deputy prime minister in charge of military development, told Russian TV that a laser prototype called Zadira was being deployed in Ukraine and had burned up a Ukrainian drone within five seconds at a distance of 5km (three miles).
The sounds of war have become louder in Belgorod, a mid-sized Russian city about 25 miles (40km) from the Ukrainian border. And the blasts are more frequent.
“On Sunday, we were woken up again by explosions. You never know if it’s them or us firing,” said Vladimir, a shopkeeper in the city.
Locals such as Vladimir first witnessed Russia’s military buildup at the start of the year, when thousands of troops amassed near Belgorod prior to Moscow’s attack in late February.
At a former paintball park in west Ukraine, Canadian, British and American military instructors were putting two dozen recruits through a warm-up drill.
“Breathe!” a U.S. army veteran told the trainees, who lay prone in the ankle-high grass, aiming their AK-47 rifles at the treeline.
“Keep your fingers on those triggers!”
The instructors were members of the Wolverines, a group started by international veterans who have been quietly operating in Ukraine.
After initial hesitation about the seriousness of Turkey’s objections, its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has doubled down on his threat to veto Finland’s and Sweden’s applications for membership of Nato, saying there is no point in either country sending delegations to Ankara to persuade him otherwise.
On Wednesday, he also extended his demands from the two he outlined on Monday to 10, leading to claims that he is using blackmail.
Farmers are being killed and their barns looted
Lviv, Ukraine
“In the old days, we had horses and cows and pigs and chickens. Now we are dying of hunger. In the old days, we fed the world. Now they have taken all we had away from us and we have nothing. In the old days, I should have bade you welcome, and given you as my guest chickens and eggs and milk and fine, white bread. Now we have no bread in the house. They are killing us.”
