VILNIUS, Lithuania — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tore into NATO leaders including President Biden on Tuesday for not extending membership to his war-torn country — introducing fresh diplomatic drama into the annual gathering of the military alliance’s leaders.
Zelensky slammed the reticence as “weakness” and “absurd” just moments after Biden referred to the development of new non-public language laying out steps for NATO ascension.
If these munitions are some sort of last resort, then Ukraine is in a double bind
When the war in Ukraine was only a few months old, Amnesty International published a report condemning what it had found to be the extensive use of cluster munitions in Kharkiv — by Russia. It noted that the weapons were banned by more than 100 countries and said that in Kharkiv they had claimed hundreds of civilian victims. Cue accusations of war crimes and western outrage against Russia’s uncivilized way of war.
I think Joe’s handlers want the two sides in peace talks at the least before the election revs up.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin after the failed Wagner group mutiny last month, the Kremlin says.
Prigozhin, who heads the mercenary group, was among 35 Wagner commanders invited to the meeting in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added.
He said that President Putin had given an “assessment” of the Ukraine war effort and the mutiny.
The rebellion, launched on 23 June, lasted only 24 hours.
Ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Lithuania, U.S. leaders are insisting that the war with Russia must end before Ukraine is invited to join the powerful military alliance.
President Biden said during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that aired Sunday that he doesn’t believe there will be “unanimity” on the issue of Ukraine’s membership while the nation remains “in the middle of a war.”
#Ukraine: A Russian 2S5 Giatsint-S 152mm self-propelled gun was destroyed by the Ukrainian 77th Airborne Brigade in #Donetsk Oblast after being hit by counter-battery fire. pic.twitter.com/raKuRTCQP1
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 9, 2023
With Ukraine’s counteroffensive progressing more slowly than hoped, a change in the relationship between Kyiv and its Western backers may lie in store. In an interview with CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed the West for the faltering operation, saying that slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine thwarted plans to begin sooner.
#Ukraine: Ukrainian T-72EA and PT-91 Twardy tanks along with a M113 APC were destroyed by the Russian army in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
This is the first confirmed loss of the PT-91 donated by Poland. pic.twitter.com/fKXp577ZHx
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 9, 2023
False and misleading posts about the Ukraine conflict continue to go viral on major social media platforms, as Russia’s invasion of the country extends beyond 500 days.
Some of the most widely shared examples can be found on Twitter, posted by subscribers with a blue tick, who pay for their content to be promoted to other users.
A month into Ukraine’s counteroffensive, Kyiv’s forces continue to advance, especially in their effort to retake Bakhmut. Despite the turmoil behind the Russian lines, with the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group, there have not yet been the dramatic breakthroughs some had once predicted. In part this reflects a Ukrainian focus not on taking ground but degrading capabilities, but also unexpected Russian tenacity.
#Ukraine: The Ukrainian 44th Artillery Brigade destroyed a Russian 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzer and a BM-21 Grad 122mm MRL with counter-battery fire in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/G7CGmeVPZQ
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 5, 2023
Germany is set to insist on delaying Ukraine’s accession to Nato over fears the move could take the alliance to war with Russia.
An alliance source said Berlin would use the annual Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania this week to urge others to focus on security assurances, rather than membership proposals, to help Ukraine defend itself in the absence of accession.
Bad choice there Ukraine – Ukraine looks to Trudeau to play key role in NATO membership bid
#Ukraine: Two Russian Uragan 9P140 220mm multiple rocket launchers (one with a cope cage) were destroyed by GMLRS strikes of the Ukrainian army in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/WWc1opR8wm
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 8, 2023
More than 500 days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the embattled country’s political leaders say they expect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to be in their corner at next week’s NATO summit.
The leaders of the western military alliance are set to debate the timing and conditions of Ukraine’s admission to NATO.
Some members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have deep reservations about how quickly the eastern European country should be given membership guarantees.
I doubt Junior pulls weight with anyone.
Five hundred days on, both sides are caught in the same paradox
At an otherwise newsy event last month, Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato chief, made a low-key administrative announcement: “We are working on a multi-year package with substantial funding…”
Not the stuff of headlines, but a rather sobering admission that, as the war approaches its 500th day tomorrow, there is no end in sight. Not this year, or next year or the year after. That should be deeply concerning, especially because, contrary to received wisdom, all those who really matter — the Ukrainians, Russians and the Americans — are actually trying very hard to end it.
#Ukraine: In #Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the Ukrainian 102nd TDF Brigade hit a Russian staging point with drone-dropped munitions- destroying two BTR-82A APC that were hidden inside. pic.twitter.com/wRkohgsSGF
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 6, 2023
Is the end in sight? With the shock of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine long since replaced by Europe’s exhaustion with war, reports of secret talks between former American national security officials and Kremlin insiders hint at an impending hairpin turn in the conflict.
Separately, less than a week before a much-anticipated NATO summit at Vilnius, there is growing tension on the Continent over the prospect of Ukraine joining the military bloc. That too is an indication that a different dynamic is afoot, and one that spells the expiration if not of the war itself, then of certain expectations as to what the end of the ordeal might look like.
This is convenient, the Democrats don’t really want the Ukraine-Russia war hanging round old Joe’s neck during the next election.
And what’s Joe doing hyping EU Queen Ursula von der Leyen for NATO’s top Spot angering Great Britain?
Five large objects have been photographed on the roof of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, increasing fears that Russia may be preparing to blow it up.
Satellite images of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, taken by San Francisco-based Planet Labs on 5th July, showed that packages had been placed on the roof of Reactor No. 4.
None of the objects can be identified but this week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was planning on blowing up the plant and then blaming it on Ukraine.
For more than six months, President Biden and his aides have been wrestling with one of the most vexing questions in the war in Ukraine: whether to risk letting Ukrainian forces run out of the artillery rounds they desperately need to fight Russia, or agree to ship them cluster munitions — widely banned weapons known to cause grievous injury to civilians, especially children.
On Thursday, Mr. Biden appeared on the verge of providing the cluster munitions to Ukraine, a step that would sharply separate him from many of his closest allies, who have signed an international treaty banning the use, stockpiling or transfer of such weapons.
#Ukraine: A Russian T-72B3 tank with KMT-7 mine roller was disabled by an AT mine in the vicinity of Marinka, #Donetsk Oblast, and was then struck with an ATGM by Ukrainian Forces. pic.twitter.com/H489AeGSVB
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 6, 2023
Yevgeny Prigozhin is still in Russia, the Belarusian president has claimed as bizarre photographs emerge of the Wagner mercenary leader disguised in wigs.
“He is not on the territory of Belarus,” President Lukashenko told a news conference on Thursday, saying that Prigozhin was in St Petersburg, Russia’s second city, or even Moscow.
#Ukraine: An uncommon 2B26 Grad 122mm multiple rocket launcher on a KaMAZ-5350 chassis was destroyed by a GMLRS strike of the Ukrainian army in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/XLkS03c8aC
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 6, 2023
For a long while now, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made oddly optimistic comments about China playing some sort of useful role in bringing the Russian invasion of Ukraine to an end. For much of the war, the Chinese government has combined bland calls for peace with criticism of NATO supplying Ukraine with weapons, declaring, “the continued supply of heavy weapons to one side of the war is not conducive to the end of the war as soon as possible, it is adding fuel to the fire.” (Indeed, a rapid Russian conquest of Ukraine would end the war quickly, but it’s hard to blame the Ukrainians or the West for attempting to avert that outcome.)
Trust in Xi?
