“Ukraine – Russia”

Russia says it used its newest Kinzhal hypersonic missiles for the first time in Ukraine to destroy a weapons storage site in the country’s west.

Russia’s Interfax news agency said it was the first time Russia had deployed the hypersonic Kinzhal system since it sent its troops into Ukraine on February 24.

“The Kinzhal aviation missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a large underground warehouse containing missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Deliatyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.

Launch of Putin's 'unstoppable' missile similar to one he just fired at Ukraine

FULL STORY 👉 https://t.co/RQ0qmdozgw pic.twitter.com/gqxV38Xvv4

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 19, 2022

The Treaty of Versailles, doling out spoils to the victors at the end of the First World War, was a Carthaginian peace that sliced and diced Germany, surrendering provinces to Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, and cutting homeland ties to seven million ethnic Germans. Three and a half million landed in the eastern region of the former Czechoslovakia, then called Sudetenland.

Anti-imperialist activists won’t let go of America

Last week, Philip Bump of the Washington Post wrote a column about Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and referred, in passing and without elaboration, to “Right-wing pundit Glenn Greenwald”. The results were predictable. Greenwald’s defenders protested that he had previously supported the likes of Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn and Bolivia’s Evo Morales, doggedly opposed the last Bush administration, and used to write for the Guardian and the Intercept, which he co-founded.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has run smack into the irony of history. History records that wars start because various heads of state or their commanders believe in at least three ideas: first, this war will be comparatively short; second, this war will end in a victory for our side; third, the cost of war, in terms of military and civilian casualties and economic losses, will be comparatively small relative to the expected gains. In addition, net assessments of the enemy’s goals and capabilities, when they are done at all, are frequently obtuse and based on outdated information or biased interpretations.

Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald said the same people who pushed the U.S. into war with Iraq and Afghanistan for Republicans are now back to do the same for the Democrats with a war against Russia. Greenwald told FOX News’ Laura Ingraham on Thursday that people should be cautious when the two parties are in lockstep when it comes to war because that means there was very little debate and people were coerced.

Greenwald also said Russiagate and the hatred and distrust for Russia that was created is one of the reasons why the Russia-Ukraine conflict could not be solved diplomatically.

Vladimir Putin has today given a tub-thumping speech to tens of thousands of banner-waving Russians in an attempt to drum up support for his stalled invasion of Ukraine, as he peddled debunked claims about why the war started and shilled a false narrative of Russia’s battlefield ‘success’.

The despot took to the stage at Moscow’s Luzhniki World Cup stadium dressed in a £10,000 Loro Piana jacket – despite his country’s economy crumbling under the weight of Western sanctions – to address a crowd waving Russian national flags and banners marked with the letter ‘Z’, which has become a potent symbol of the invasion.

Putin, who called the rally to mark the anniversary of the last time he attacked Ukraine to annex the Crimea region, spoke of sharing a ‘common destiny’ with Crimeans, of ‘de-Nazifying’ the region in 2014, and of the ‘bravery’ of soldiers currently fighting in Ukraine. He was met with chants of ‘Russia, Russia, Russia.’

On Wednesday morning, when the Ukrainian president addressed the US Congress he tried to appeal to Americans. He spoke of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and 9/11. And he tried to summon up the foundational ideals of this country.

He said that “Just like anyone else in the United States I remember your national memorial in Rushmore, the faces of your prominent presidents, those who laid the foundation of the United States of America as it is today.”

The reference was touching, but wildly outdated.

The burnt-up wreckage of a Russian tank lies in the dirt, while in an accompanying photo next to it, a Ukrainian soldier carries the armaments said to have caused the destruction.

The images posted to Twitter by the Ukrainian Armed Forces are labelled with a triumphant caption, declaring that this was the result of “hits from Javelins on [Russian] military equipment”.

… Mr Herbst said that the administration’s mention of Stingers as part of the aid package to Ukraine is a “sign of weakness”.

“They do need more Stingers, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “But they need higher altitude anti-aircraft weapons as well…that’s a serious omission.”

#Ukraine: Apparent new footage of an obliterated Russian convoy, approximately 12x trucks, 2x T-80BV(M), and an apparent BMP, although ID is very difficult.

Location is unknown but we don't recognise the wreckage at this time. pic.twitter.com/WnYlYfloRn

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 17, 2022

A Russian missile attack near Lviv airport has raised fears of Vladimir Putin’s war spreading to western Ukraine, as Russia claimed to be “tightening the noose” around the south-eastern port city of Mariupol.

A facility for repairing military aircraft by Lviv’s international airport – only 43 miles from Poland’s border – was hit by two cruise missiles fired from the Black Sea on Friday morning.

Ukrainian officials said they had shot down a further four missiles launched in the attack, the second on facilities near the historic city in recent days.

#Ukraine: In #Kharkiv Oblast, the Russian Army lost a MT-LBVMK and a 2S3 Akatsiya 152mm SPG, apparently in good condition. pic.twitter.com/kzrZQEKRxz

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 17, 2022

Even the worst war comes to an end. Sometimes, as in 1945, the only outcome is a fight to the death. Mostly, though, wars end in a deal which doesn’t satisfy anyone entirely, but at least brings the bloodshed to an end.

And often, even after the worst and most bitter conflicts, the two sides gradually resume their old, less hostile relationship.

If we’re lucky, we’re beginning to see the start of this process happening now between Russia and Ukraine.

On Monday, United Nations secretary general António Guterres warned that, “Raising the alert level of Russian nuclear forces is a bone-chilling development. The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility.”

As hyperbolic as that claim may seem, the circumstances that would spur the Russians to use a tactical nuclear weapon are starting to fall into place. As laid out yesterday, the war is going badly for the Russians. Advances are moving slowly, when they’re moving at all, and casualties are mounting. The Russian economy is collapsing. Something’s going to break; it’s just a question of what breaks first.