Ukraine

What’s NATO’s article 4 and why are people talking about it?

Article 4 of the NATO treaty covers the case when a member state feels threatened by another country or a terrorist organization. The 30 member states would then start formal consultations at the request of the threatened member. The talks, would look at whether a threat exists and how to counter it, with decisions arrived at unanimously. Article 4 does not, however, mean there would be direct pressure to act.

This consultation mechanism has been triggered several times in NATO’s history. For instance, by Turkey one year ago, when Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack from Syria. At that time, NATO decided to consult, but did not take any action.

Poor Ukraine

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inNATO, Ukraine

Oil tops $100 and shares sink as Russia invades Ukraine

Oil prices have surged past $100 (£74) a barrel to hit their highest level for more than seven years after Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine.

Global shares fell and the price of gold rose as investors worried about the possible impact of the conflict.

Russia is the second biggest exporter of crude oil, and is also the world’s largest natural gas exporter.

The price of oil topped $105 a barrel, and UK motoring groups said petrol prices had hit another record high.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Ukraine, USA, WTF?

Trudeau condemns Russia’s attack on Ukraine, says Russia will suffer consequences

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine and calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw all military forces from the country.

“Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia’s egregious attack on Ukraine,” Trudeau said in a statement late Wednesday.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inJustin Trudeau Air Head, Justin Trudeau Mocked On World Stage, Russia, Ukraine

Ukraine conflict: Russian forces invade after Putin TV declaration

In a pre-dawn TV statement Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia did not plan to occupy Ukraine and demanded that its military lay down their arms.

Moments later, attacks were reported on Ukrainian military targets.

Ukraine said that “Putin has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine”.

Russia’s military breached the border in a number of places, in the north, south and east, including from Belarus, a long-time Russian ally. There are reports of fighting in some parts of eastern Ukraine.

Russia attacks Ukraine; conflict reverberates around globe

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a wide-ranging attack on Ukraine on Thursday, hitting cities and bases with airstrikes or shelling, as civilians piled into trains and cars to flee. Ukraine’s government said Russian tanks and troops rolled across the border in what it called a “full-scale war” that could rewrite the geopolitical order and whose fallout already reverberated around the globe.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, Ukraine

How the West let down Ukraine

We have goaded Russia into invading a country we had no intention of defending.

In the almost three months of what is now known as the Ukraine crisis, one unanswered question stands out – and it is not the one most people are asking. It is not why Vladimir Putin has behaved as he has – stationing large numbers of troops close to Ukraine’s borders, receiving a stream of foreign leaders at the Kremlin, staging a nuclear exercise to coincide with the annual gathering of the world’s security elite in Munich, and then suddenly ditching the diplomacy and recognising the two rebel regions of Ukraine, maybe reinforced by Russian troops as ‘peacekeepers’.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUkraine

Putin announces military operation in Ukraine

Putin announces military operation in Ukraine

Russia’s Putin announces military operation in Ukraine

From RT – Putin announces ‘special operation’ in Donbass

The special military operation will be aimed at “the defense of” the newly-recognized republics of Donetsk and Lugansk

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced he ordered his country’s military to conduct a special operation in the Donbass region after the leaders of the breakaway republics asked Moscow for military assistance in response to what they claim is an increase in “Ukrainian aggression.”

Assuming that remains the goal then nothing has really changed.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, Ukraine

Business brisk at Kyiv gun shops as Ukrainians rush to buy arms

Ukrainians are buying guns, ammunition and sniper rifles ahead of a possible Russian invasion, with long queues inside weapons stores on Wednesday.

With a state of emergency set to be unveiled, the country’s parliament approved a draft law that gives Ukrainians permission to carry firearms. Previously they were forbidden from leaving home with lethal weapons.

Most Ukrainians – boys and girls – learn how to shoot at school. About 400,000 people are estimated to have combat experience, following Vladimir Putin’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the Moscow-supported armed uprising in the east.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUkraine

Harsh conditions mean Russian troops near Ukraine will need to be moved soon

Russian forces massing near Ukraine’s borders can only remain in position for a few days before they have to be sent back to nearby bases or risk their capability being significantly degraded, western officials and experts believe.

That means that President Vladimir Putin will come under increasing pressure to use them in a full invasion of Ukraine – or send them back to staging areas, still in Russia’s south or west, but tens or even hundreds of kilometres back.

Such advance positions, often with poor protection from the cold, can be held only for a short period – and there is some evidence on social media of the poor conditions endured by soldiers near the border.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, Ukraine

Canada announces new sanctions on Russia amid Ukraine tensions – Oh. Does that mean we’re gonna stop buying Putin’s Oil?

“… Trudeau said the first round of economic sanctions will ban Canadians from all financial dealings with the breakaway regions Putin recognized, Donetsk and Luhansk. The sanctions will also target members of the Russian Parliament who voted for the decision to recognize the separatist regions, as well as ban Canadians from engaging in purchases of Russian sovereign debt, Trudeau said.”

WTF? We Buy Putin’s Oil?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Russia, Ukraine

Ukraine crisis: Russia orders troops into rebel-held regions

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops into two rebel-held regions in eastern Ukraine, after recognising them as independent states.

Russia said the troops have not yet been deployed but will be “peacekeeping” in the regions, which it has backed since 2014.

The US said calling them peacekeepers was “nonsense”, and accused Russia of creating a pretext for war.

Several countries have announced sanctions in response.

Ukraine’s president said his country was “not afraid of anything or anyone”.

Poor Ukraine.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUkraine

Ukraine crisis: Five reasons why Putin might not invade

The optics look dreadful.

Russia has deployed more than two-thirds of its military combat capability to within striking distance of Ukraine’s borders.

Its 30,000 troops that were supposed to withdraw from neighbouring Belarus at the weekend are still there. So are pontoon bridges and other logistic equipment needed for an invasion.

Violence is flaring in the two Russian-backed breakaway republics in Eastern Ukraine. Russia’s demands from Nato remain unmet and diplomacy has so far failed to bring about any significant withdrawal of Russian forces.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, Ukraine

Do Russian Troops In Belarus Mean War Is Inevitable?

On Saturday, in a novel way to appeal for support, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky denounced world leaders for not aligning themselves more forcefully with his country. At the annual security conference in Munich, where Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2007 had originally decried what he depicted as America’s hubristic quest for global hegemony, Zelensky upbraided various governments for “arrogance” and “appeasement.” Even as Zelensky issued his complaints, however, Putin continued to up the pressure on Ukraine, conducting nuclear drills and taking in civilians into Russia from Donetsk.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, Ukraine

As War Drums Beat, Ukrainians Find Bomb Shelters Converted To Strip Clubs, Tattoo Parlors

Strip Club Bomb Shelter Ukraine

KYIV — Finding protection from an air raid or artillery bombardment might prove difficult for residents of Kherson, a vital port city where the Dnieper River flows into the Black Sea in southern Ukraine.

With a buildup of what Ukraine’s defense minister says are some 140,000 Russian troops near the borders stoking fears of a new Russian invasion, cities across the country of 44 million are inspecting their bomb shelters, or at least notifying residents where the Cold War-era refuges are located.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUkraine

Ukraine reaffirms desire to join NATO after envoy comments

Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO and the European Union remain an absolute priority, a spokesman for Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.

The country’s Foreign Ministry took it a step further, saying its security would be guaranteed by Ukraine’s immediate admission to the US-dominated alliance.

Their comments come after Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, told the BBC his country might be willing to drop its ambition to join NATO to avert war.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUkraine