War Invasion of Ukraine News Megathread - Thread is only for articles and discussion of articles, general discussion thread is still in Happenings.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that the United States will impose sanctions “far beyond” the ones that the United States imposed in 2014 following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Biden said in a White House speech, signaling a shift in his administration’s position. “We will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates,” he added.

Russian elites and their family members will also soon face sanctions, Biden said, adding that “Russia will pay an even steeper price” if Moscow decides to push forward into Ukraine. Two Russian banks and Russian sovereign debt will also be sanctioned, he said.

Also in his speech, Biden said he would send more U.S. troops to the Baltic states as a defensive measure to strengthen NATO’s position in the area.

Russia shares a border with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

A day earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to go into the separatist Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine after a lengthy speech in which he recognized the two regions’ independence.

Western powers decried the move and began to slap sanctions on certain Russian individuals, while Germany announced it would halt plans to go ahead with the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

At home, Biden is facing bipartisan pressure to take more extensive actions against Russia following Putin’s decision. However, a recent poll showed that a majority of Americans believe that sending troops to Ukraine is a “bad idea,” and a slim minority believes it’s a good one.

All 27 European Union countries unanimously agreed on an initial list of sanctions targeting Russian authorities, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and EU foreign affairs head Josep Borell claimed the package “will hurt Russia … a lot.”

Earlier Tuesday, Borell asserted that Russian troops have already entered the Donbas region, which comprises Donetsk and Lugansk, which are under the control of pro-Russia groups since 2014.

And on Tuesday, the Russian Parliament approved a Putin-back plan to use military force outside of Russia’s borders as Putin further said that Russia confirmed it would recognize the expanded borders of Lugansk and Donetsk.

“We recognized the states,” the Russian president said. “That means we recognized all of their fundamental documents, including the constitution, where it is written that their [borders] are the territories at the time the two regions were part of Ukraine.”

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Putin said that Ukraine is “not interested in peaceful solutions” and that “every day, they are amassing troops in the Donbas.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday morning again downplayed the prospect of a Russian invasion and proclaimed: “There will be no war.”

“There will not be an all-out war against Ukraine, and there will not be a broad escalation from Russia. If there is, then we will put Ukraine on a war footing,” he said in a televised address.

The White House began to signal that they would shift their own position on whether it’s the start of an invasion.

“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” said Jon Finer, the White House deputy national security adviser in public remarks. “An invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway.”

For weeks, Western governments have been claiming Moscow would invade its neighbor after Russia gathered some 150,000 troops along the countries’ borders. They alleged that the Kremlin would attempt to come up with a pretext to attack, while some officials on Monday said Putin’s speech recognizing the two regions was just that.

But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Tuesday that Russia’s “latest invasion” of Ukraine is threatening stability in the region, but he asserted that Putin can “still avoid a full blown, tragic war of choice.”

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[Tovarisz]

I don’t think this war is going the way Soros planned either. Globohomo needs boogeymen and martyrs. If a corrupt Eastern European country can fight the Russian Bear to a standstill, they’re not exactly the eternal menace to child sex changes or whatever, now are they? I think Zelensky choosing to stay and fight instead of running off to Brandon’s cuckshed disrupted their original plans for them to dictate the terms and narrative. And at this point even if Russia takes all of Ukraine they’re permanently humiliated. No one will take them seriously for a long time.
Their only hope now is to get Putin removed completely and have one of their guys installed instead.

I agree with the Zelensky part, everyone I know, myself included thought the entire Ukrainian government was going to be two steps behind the Ukrainian Oligarchs who skipped the country like a week before the invasion, if US Intelligence report is anything to go by, so did Russians.

Though really it says a lot about what we generally think of all politicians, that they're all cowards and only tough if there's ten lines of full riot gear between them and anytone who disagrees, Zelensky staying in Kiev and acting like an actual leader is probably one of the biggest factors for the Ukrainian army not disintegrating, no one wants to fight for a "government in exile".

Putin on the other hand is allegedly already sitting in a bunker in Ural mountains and he isn't the one facing around 400 mercenary headhunters sent to kill him, just his fellow comrades.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

I wonder if we are ever going to get an accurate telling of this war. I'm not pro-Russia, I think this conflict is the fault of the US putting the Ukraine into the position of threatening a powerful neighbor's security. Then leveraging that threat into shady dealings to profit corporations and politicians.

However, I don't believe anything that is said about the Russians having an embarrassing performance in this engagement. There is a full court multinational media press too make Russia look bad, and so much of it already has been proven to be shoddily fabricated that I don't believe anything negative said about their forces.

There's enough proof to show that Russia isn't doing as good as both sides thought they would. Combine that with their social problems, the problems with their army, (soldiers not even knowing what the hell is going on) and the fact that their entire country coughs up less money than New York State, and that makes the reports about their weaknesses believable.

Look no further than Putin himself; he went from calmly ordering the annihilation of an entire nation to freaking out and threatening to launch the nukes. He went from 1939 Hitler to Der Untergang Hitler in a matter of days. That is not the kind of man who is getting his way. Even during the worst days of the Iraq and Afghan wars, the US never threatened to launch nukes.

I'm wondering how many of these Russian vehicles that allegedly "broke down" or "ran out of gas" are really like "ooperator came down with a sudden case of the fuck its."

I know, fog of war and all that, so this is probably bullshit, but they had a civilian on CNN yesterday standing in front of some burned out Rooskie shitbox and the civilian said that the vehicle broke down, a bunch of Russians came popping out, the Ukrainians killed one Russian, and the rest took off running.

It's not that hard to believe it. These soldiers didn't have optimal morale when the war started, and now that the war is turning against them, they don't want to be caught in the crossfire, so they're off to save themselves, which is a perfectly human thing to do. It's not like Putin is making the life of the average Russian better anyways; he created more national unity, but instead of eradicating/humbling the oligarchs and allowing for free-market competition, he made the oligarchs into the friends of the state and allowed them to carry on sucking the lifeblood of the Russian economy dry like vampires, which is why the country makes less money than Texas, when it should be making as much, if not more than, the US and China, due to its massive amounts of raw materials and resources. These soldiers are deserting the army of a man who sees them all as disposable pawns in his war to revive the Soviet Union.

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Most Russian troops at the border now inside Ukraine, U.S. official says​

About 75 percent of the combat power Russia that had been amassed at the Ukraine border is now inside the country, a senior U.S. Department of Defense official said Monday.

The Russians' main objectives appear to be the capital of Kiev as well as the city of Kharkiv, the official said, adding the Kremlin's advance on Kyiv remains slowed. Russian troops have advanced about 5 kilometers in the last 24 hours, and are still about 25 kilometers outside of the city, the official said.

The official said the U.S. expects Russia will try to encircle the city in the coming days, and is trying to do the same with Kharkiv, which has already seen heavy fighting in and around the city. The official said the U.S. believes all the troops in Ukraine are Russian, and no soldiers from Belarus, which has allied with Russia, are involved.

The official said there has been no significant new naval activity in the area, and the airspace over Ukraine remains contested, with air dominance shifting back and forth between the two countries.

Russia has launched more than 380 missiles at Ukraine since the attack began, the official said, and there's been no evidence of any change in Russia's nuclear posture, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement on Sunday that he was putting his country's nuclear deterrent forces on high alert.

The U.S. has seen no “appreciable or noticeable muscle movements” of Russian nuclear forces, and “we remain comfortable and confident in our own strategic deterrence posture.”

Ukraine-Russia talks have concluded​

The Russian delegation says discussions with Ukraine have concluded.

Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian parliament’s international affairs committee, speaking on Russia 24 from Belarus, said, "The talks have just finished."

“The Ukrainian delegation was prepared to listen and get deep into details," said Slutsky. "We were not sure if the conversation would work, but it did."

In the lead-up to the talks at the Belarusian border, Ukraine said that it would push for an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country.

Facing widespread condemnation, Russia continues to blame Ukraine​

Facing widespread criticism at the U.N. General Assembly's rare emergency special session, Russia's ambassador placed blame on Ukraine for the violence.

"Mr. President, I wish to state that the Russian Federation did not begin these hostilities, the hostilities were unleashed by Ukraine against its own residents, the residents of Donbas and all of those who are dissenters and Russia is seeking to end this war," said the representative.

The representative said Russia does not support the draft resolution to condemn Russia’s actions being handled by the General Assembly as opposed to the U.N. Security Council, which voted in favor on Sunday.

"We're guided by the fact that that this measure proposes that we register that the Security Council failed to comply to uphold its main responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security and at the same time, there was not even a hint at an attempt to find a constructive solution at the Security Council, attempt to circumvent the position of the Russian Federation, to disregard the position of the Russian Federation runs counter to the very bedrock of the United Nations," said the representative.

"There's a need to find common ground, regardless of our Western partners attempts to avoid this, including when they disregarded our legitimate concerns in connection with NATO policy and Western countries' breach of the core principles of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] on indivisibility of security," he continued.

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russia Central Bank Assets frozen, Switzerland joins sanctions

Russia and Ukraine met for talks on the Belarusian border Monday morning.

www.nbcnews.com

UK says it will freeze assets of all Russian banks in days

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the freeze would take effect "in days", as part of new legislation to squeeze Russia's economy for its "unjustified aggression".


UN chief says nuclear conflict 'inconceivable'

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an emergency session of the 193-member General Assembly on Ukraine on Monday that the idea of a nuclear conflict was "simply inconceivable."

Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia's nuclear deterrent on high alert on Sunday, a development Guterres described as a "chilling development", reported news agency Reuters.

UK will lead on efforts to get Russia suspended from Interpol

UK will lead international efforts to see that Russia is suspended from the global police agency Interpol.

"The Ukrainian government has today requested that the Russian government be suspended from its membership of Interpol and we will be leading all international efforts to that effect," interior minister Priti Patel said.

Ukraine War: UK Bans Russian Vessels From Its Ports Over Ukraine Invasion

British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Monday ordered all UK seaports to turn away Russian vessels, in response to the country's invasion of Ukraine. The banning order applied to "any ship which they have reason to believe is owned, controlled or operated by any person connected with Russia" or on a sanctions list, "flying the Russian flag; registered in Russia", he tweeted. (AFP)

US says "no reason to change" nuclear alert levels at this time

The United States sees "no reason to change" its nuclear alert levels at this time, the White House said on Monday after Russian President Vladimir Putin put Russia's nuclear deterrent on high alert amid a barrage of Western reprisals over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, reports Reuters.

Russia Ukraine War Live: Ukraine Says Application Signed For EU Membership Amid Russia Attack

Talks between Ukraine and Russia have started at Belarussian border, news agency Reuters informed quoting an Ukrainian presidential advisor, as Moscow's invasion of its neighbour reached Day 5.

www.ndtv.com

 

[Useful_Mistake]

How to think about the risk of nuclear war, according to 3 experts​

The threat of nuclear weapons never went away. But Putin’s invasion of Ukraine makes it visible again.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, he also made a more nebulous threat: “No matter who tries to stand in our way or … create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.”

Another part of his speech seemed to make his meaning clear. “Today’s Russia remains one of the most powerful nuclear states,” Putin said. As justification for the invasion, Putin also made unfounded claims that Ukraine was on a path to build its own nuclear arsenal. “There’s no evidence of that at all,” said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.

On February 27, Putin went a step further, ordering his country’s nuclear forces to a “special regime of combat duty” and blaming “illegal sanctions” and “aggressive statements” from countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Jen Psaki, press secretary for the Biden White House, quickly responded. “At no point has Russia been under threat from NATO,” she said on ABC’s This Week. “We have the ability to defend ourselves.”

The Russian invasion has relied entirely on conventional weapons — tanks rattling down highways, bombers flying overhead, ships landing in the port city of Odesa — and experts told Vox that in the absence of a shocking escalation, that isn’t likely to change.

Still, Putin’s remarks were a stark reminder that nuclear weapons aren’t just the boogeymen of a bygone age, but remain a key part of the security order that emerged after the end of World War II. By Kristensen’s count, Russia has about 6,000 nuclear weapons and the United States has about 5,500. Either nuclear arsenal is large enough to kill billions of people — but also to serve as a deterrent against attack.

In recent decades, the so-called nuclear order has remained fairly stable. The seven other countries known to have nuclear weapons have much smaller arsenals. Most countries in the world have signed onto the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which limits the development of nuclear weapons. We asked three researchers of nuclear arms control about the risks the world faces now and what we might be able to do about them.

How worried should we be about the threat of nuclear weapons right now?​

When Russia first invaded Ukraine, the scholars who spoke to Vox said a nuclear strike is unlikely but still a cause for concern, given that the invasion introduced the largest military operation in Europe since the Second World War.

“I’m more worried than I was a week ago,” Kristensen said. He pointed out that NATO increased its readiness levels for “all contingencies” in response to Putin’s speech, and with increased military buildup comes increased uncertainty. “That’s the fog of war, so to speak,” Kristensen said. “Out of that can come twists and turns that take you down a path that you couldn’t predict a week ago.”

When asked about Putin’s decision to place his nuclear forces on higher alert, Kristensen said, “There is nothing in Russia’s stated public nuclear doctrine that justifies this.” He added, “Putin has now taken yet another step that unnecessarily escalates the situation to what appears to be a direct nuclear threat.”

Matthew Bunn, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and former adviser to President Bill Clinton’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, initially told Vox, “I think there is virtually no chance nuclear weapons are going to be used in the Ukraine situation.” The main reason, Bunn said, is that the United States and its NATO allies have made it clear that they will not send troops to Ukraine. Without the threat of military intervention, Putin has little reason to use his nuclear weapons, especially since Russia has a staggering numbers advantage over the Ukrainian military.

Bunn qualified his statements after Putin’s escalation. “No one outside of Putin’s inner circle knows for sure why Putin has taken this action,” he said in an email. “My guess — and it’s only that — is that it is intended as further signaling to deter anyone in the West from even thinking about intervening militarily to help Ukraine.”

Paul Hare, senior lecturer in global studies at Boston University, argued that Putin’s real goal is to “swallow Ukraine” and restore the historical power of imperial Russia. “His objective is not to bring the world to nuclear war,” Hare said.

Hare interpreted Putin’s escalation as a reaction to a wave of international pressure and sanctions. “He feels that this is suggesting Russia is being pushed around by the severe sanctions and unity of Europe,” Hare said in an email. “We do of course hope that Putin is still a rational actor,” he added, by remembering that nuclear war will not serve his aims.

What does Russia’s nuclear arsenal look like? How does it compare to others in the world?​

Russia’s roughly 6,000 warheads make it the country with the largest nuclear arsenal. When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Kristensen said most of those warheads were in reserves, with only about 1,600 deployed as land, sea, and air-based weapons, such as missiles in silos or bombs dropped by planes. (When the USSR fell apart at the end of the Cold War, there were nuclear weapons left behind on Ukrainian soil, but Ukraine returned them to Russia.)

The countries known to have nuclear weapons are Russia, the US, China, France, the UK, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. That includes every permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, which have been working to modernize their nuclear weapons over the past few decades, and three members of NATO. The total number of weapons has dropped by about 80 percent since the end of the Cold War, from an estimated 70,300 in 1986 to 12,700 in early 2022.

That’s still a lot of nukes. “There has been much discussion about whether that means Russia has a sort of trigger-happy nuclear posture,” Kristensen said. “It’s hard to pin down. if Russian officials were asked to sit down around a table and entirely consider how many tactical nuclear weapons were needed, purely based on real, strategic rationales, I suspect that number would quickly drop to a lot less [than what it is today].”

Does Putin have a reason to consider using nuclear weapons?​

From a strategic standpoint, the experts said, there’s no reason for Russia to use nuclear weapons. But they said Putin himself was the biggest source of uncertainty. “The element of emotion and anger that’s crept into Putin’s statements in particular is striking,” said Hare. “Normally we’ve associated Russia’s diplomatic style with a kind of laconic, almost sarcastic manner.”

But a nuclear war would undermine any victory Putin might claim in Ukraine, Hare said, likely serving to alienate not just the West but also potential allies such as China. “China will be increasingly alarmed by Putin’s demeanor and will likely be urging him to restore the world order of global trade and investment on which China’s prosperity depends,” he explained. “A nuclear war is China’s worst nightmare.”

It’s worth remembering, Kristensen added, that Putin often makes allusions to Russia’s nuclear arsenal as a show of strength. In 2015, he said in a Russian state TV documentary that he had considered putting Russian nuclear forces on alert during the Russian annexation of Crimea a year prior.

This could be a sign that Putin’s nuclear rhetoric is more bark than bite, but Kristensen wasn’t ready to say that for sure. “He lives in a very small bubble, and he’s deeply paranoid,” Kristensen said. “He’s willing to do really not very rational things.”

Is the fear of a nuclear war enough to stop countries from using nuclear weapons?​

“The physical fact of a nuclear weapon’s destructive power absolutely creates fear,” said Bunn. Nuclear deterrence — the idea that one country wouldn’t dare attack another for fear of a nuclear strike — was the major security policy of the Cold War period, and experts say it remains very much alive today. As my colleague Zack Beauchamp recently wrote, the threat of nuclear weapons is the reason the US won’t send troops to Ukraine.

But nuclear deterrence clearly didn’t end all wars. The existence of nuclear weapons “didn’t help us in Vietnam, they didn’t help us in Iraq, they didn’t help us in Afghanistan,” Bunn said. “Nuclear weapons aren’t useful for the majority of the security and well-being challenges that the United States faces.”

Since the Cold War, it’s been widely accepted that nuclear deterrence would help ensure that the borders of Europe would not be challenged. The Ukraine crisis, said Hare, is casting some doubt on that idea. “The credibility of deterrence hasn’t been tested for decades,” Hare said. “The whole international order is sort of being thrown up in the air. Is the Ukraine attack going to be a prelude to an attack on, say, the Baltic states that are even more vulnerable, or is Putin going to be satisfied with Ukraine?”

The answer, Hare said, will shape how the United States and its NATO allies decide to deploy their forces — conventional and nuclear — around the world. “We’re starting to see large powers begin to sort of entertain the thought of limited tactical nuclear weapons use scenarios, in a way that they didn’t spend very much time thinking about 10 years ago,” said Kristensen. These are the sorts of unlikely scenarios that have been tossed around in war games as contingencies since the Cold War, and could entail strikes on isolated military targets that are far from population centers, for example.

“The theory is very much like it was during the Cold War,” Kristensen explained. “You just sort of have some smaller nukes that you can pop off here and there, to force an adversary to take an off-ramp during a conflict.”

Is the world doing a good job keeping nuclear weapons under control?​

For the most part, global efforts to prevent nuclear weapons from spreading, like the Non-Proliferation Treaty, have been strikingly successful. But these efforts need constant attention and maintenance. “Globally, the nuclear order is in pretty bad shape,” said Bunn. North Korea continues to build up its nuclear arsenal, India and Pakistan appear to be engaging in an arms race to build up short-range tactical nuclear weapons, and hostility is ratcheting up between the US, Russia, and China.

“People should pay attention,” said Kristensen. “They have to be vigilant about holding their governments accountable, and make sure that the policies that are in place and the way they’re implemented are constructive, that they actually lead to improving the situation rather than making it worse.” A key US-Russia agreement to limit nuclear-armed missiles, known as the New START Treaty, is set to expire in February 2026, and the degraded relations between the United States and Russia will make negotiating a renewal much harder.

“The huge increase in US-Russian hostility will lead to increased risks of conflict and make it more difficult to work with Russia,” Bunn said. “Whether it’s working to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to other countries or improving security for nuclear weapons and materials and facilities, all of that goes better if the United States and Russia are working together. And they’re not going to be doing that for some time to come.”

There is some good news, Bunn said. There are promising signs for the reinstatement of the Iran nuclear deal, which would affirm the principles of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. “It’s important to remember that only 5 percent of the countries in the world have nuclear weapons,” Bunn said. “Every other state has pledged to never develop nuclear weapons.”

For decades, Bunn added, about one in every 10 US lightbulbs was powered by uranium from decommissioned Russian warheads, which was sent to American nuclear power plants — a reminder that the world actively worked together to turn a tool of destruction into a force for good. “That’s remarkable,” Bunn said. “It’s never been true before in human history that the most powerful weapon available to our species was widely forsworn.”

Update, February 27, 3 pm ET: This story has been updated with additional expert comments following Putin’s order that Russia’s nuclear forces increase their readiness level.

How to think about the risk of nuclear war, according to 3 experts

The threat of nuclear weapons never went away. But Putin’s invasion of Ukraine makes it visible again.

www.vox.com

 

[Tovarisz]

"Mr. President, I wish to state that the Russian Federation did not begin these hostilities, the hostilities were unleashed by Ukraine against its own residents, the residents of Donbas and all of those who are dissenters and Russia is seeking to end this war," said the representative.

Russians have the same excuse since before WW2 "We are just taking care of our own citizens in a hostile land"

Motherfuckers, fuck off, you have enough land to resettle every Russian citizen somewhere nice and give them something to do, I'd be more then willing to believe that all their talk about "genocide" is shit they themselves orchestrated to get an excuse for an intervention and I'm not someone who's unaware of the fact Ukrainians have Stephan Bandera as their national hero or what that asshole was responsible for.

They have a seat on the UN council, why not just gather all evidence for genocide and show it, make it loud, demand sanctions against Ukraine for something, no, gotta invade, "This land is historically ours anyway", very China of them but they don't have the GDP for playing that game.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Russians have the same excuse since before WW2 "We are just taking care of our own citizens in a hostile land"

Motherfuckers, fuck off, you have enough land to resettle every Russian citizen somewhere nice and give them something to do, I'd be more then willing to believe that all their talk about "genocide" is shit they themselves orchestrated to get an excuse for an intervention and I'm not someone who's unaware of the fact Ukrainians have Stephan Bandera as their national hero or what that asshole was responsible for.

They have a seat on the UN council, why not just gather all evidence for genocide and show it, make it loud, demand sanctions against Ukraine for something, no, gotta invade, "This land is historically ours anyway", very China of them but they don't have the GDP for playing that game.

Basically, yes. It's like they haven't changed. Same tactics, same bungling of logistics, shit, they would have lost WW2 to the Germans if the French, British, and Americans weren't supporting them. It seems that the last Russian leader who was worth a damn was Catherine the Great. Every other ruler after her bungles their way to war or lets mother nature fight their battles for them. Well, Putin wanted to restore Russia to the way it was before Yeltsin. It seems that he succeeded, in ways he never expected.

Trying to play China's game without having their GDP is just classic hubris, for them to ignore the financial aspects of war. They bought into their own hype as a restored superpower, without even stopping to think if they actually had the money to burn in this war. At least China was rich enough to bribe countries and corporations to act the way they want to, in the past. Russia doesn't even have that. Outside of pro-Russia internet trolls and a few dictatorships who take money and support from them, they have no one. India is a lukewarm ally at best, and China would turn on them on a moment's notice.

 

[KiwiFuzz]

He went from 1939 Hitler to Der Untergang Hitler in a matter of days.

Shit, now I need to see a really good Downfall parody.

"Okay, the 3rd battalion will arrive in Kiev by breakfast and they will have taken Parliament by lunch, so prepare to issue a vodka ration to celebrate. Zelinskyy is expected to flee along this route, so put a full news crew right here to film his body hanging from the canopy of a gas station, and get a few crisis actors to play Ukrainian peasants distressed at the cowardice of their leader."

"Mein fuhrer..." :everyone in the room starts shifting uncomfortably:

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Shit, now I need to see a really good Downfall parody.

"Okay, the 3rd battalion will arrive in Kiev by breakfast and they will have taken Parliament by lunch, so prepare to issue a vodka ration to celebrate. Zelinskyy is expected to flee along this route, so put a full news crew right here to film his body hanging from the canopy of a gas station, and get a few crisis actors to play Ukrainian peasants distressed at the cowardice of their leader."

"Mein fuhrer..." :everyone in the room starts shifting uncomfortably:

I got you covered there, pal:

This shit writes itself.

 

[Tovarisz]

Well, Putin wanted to restore Russia to the way it was before Yeltsin. It seems that he succeeded, in ways he never expected.

Funnily enough, a lot of older Russians support Putin to death because before him, during Yeltsin they had their "retirement" be biscuits and tea bags (literally) and when Putin came they got cash, it was fuck all but it was cash. It might go full circle now and they'll be getting ration cards in no time if this keeps going the way it is and looking at Russian soldiers eating their rations... they won't like it.

 

[Thomas Talus]

I wonder if we are ever going to get an accurate telling of this war. I'm not pro-Russia, I think this conflict is the fault of the US putting the Ukraine into the position of threatening a powerful neighbor's security. Then leveraging that threat into shady dealings to profit corporations and politicians.

However, I don't believe anything that is said about the Russians having an embarrassing performance in this engagement. There is a full court multinational media press too make Russia look bad, and so much of it already has been proven to be shoddily fabricated that I don't believe anything negative said about their forces.

I still don't get how Ukraine would have posed a meaningful threat to Russia.

So is there footage of Russian troops in Kiev that is being suppressed, and are those statements about taking down the internet, dropping the ISS, and nuke saber-rattling faked?

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Funnily enough, a lot of older Russians support Putin to death because before him, during Yeltsin they had their "retirement" be biscuits and tea bags (literally) and when Putin came they got cash, it was fuck all but it was cash. It might go full circle now and they'll be getting ration cards in no time if this keeps going the way it is and looking at Russian soldiers eating their rations... they won't like it.

That's what the sanctions are for. To convince everyone to "relieve" Putin from command. Especially the oligarchs.

I still don't get how Ukraine would have posed a meaningful threat to Russia.

So is there footage of Russian troops in Kiev that is being suppressed, and are those statements about taking down the internet, dropping the ISS, and nuke saber-rattling faked?

They didn't pose any meaningful threat to Russia. Even if Ukraine had nukes up the ass and an American NATO garrison in Kiev, that would all just be posturing and talk if Russia did nothing violent. It would just be politics and talk, and the Russian and Ukrainian troops could probably play soccer at the border with the Americans serving as referees.

 

[Dread First]

They didn't pose any meaningful threat to Russia. Even if Ukraine had nukes up the ass and an American NATO garrison in Kiev, that would all just be posturing and talk if Russia did nothing violent. It would just be politics and talk, and the Russian and Ukrainian troops could probably play soccer at the border with the Americans serving as referees.

Ukraine actually does pose a threat to Russia. The geography of Central and Eastern Europe is dominated by the European Plane which in and of itself is flat, indefensible land. By the time it reaches Ukraine and Russia, the European Plain expands to a staggering length of several thousand kilometres. Due East of Ukraine is the Volgograd Gap which Germany tried to exploit twice in both World Wars because cutting off the Volgograd Gap from Russian control means that the Russian heartland gets cut off from their gas reserves in the Caspian Sea along with their holdings in the Caucasus. Russian geography in the post-Soviet world is cursed beyond all belief because the Russian heartland exists on flat, indefensible land. The reason why the Russian Empire and the later USSR spanned such a great distance is specifically because of the interests of Russia itself.

If Ukraine ever joins NATO, the Volgograd Gap and thus, the very means of Russian survival in the first place gets put into jeopardy. It would’ve been better off as a neutral buffer state, but Putin has shown us all that he’s not willing to play ball with any nation that isn’t squarely within the firm grasp of the Kremlin.

 

[KiwiFuzz]

This plus Putin is sitting up here like "We need to de-Nazify Ukraine, they are killing ethnic Russians, it's annudah shoah!"

Meanwhile, Zelinskyy grew up speaking Russian and his "Early Life" section, well...

 

[Tovarisz]

That's what the sanctions are for. To convince everyone to "relieve" Putin from command. Especially the oligarchs.

We can only hope it'll work, Russian civilians would need to be 20x as pissed off as BLM Riots of 2020 to make a dent before OMON cleans them off the streets and oligarchs, well, idk if people noticed but a lot of countries that did sanction Russia asked for sanctions to omit luxury goods, oligarchs are rich enough they won't have to care for a long while.

Thought Putin reportedly did forbid them from leaving Russia going as far as taking their jets, they're pissed off for sure but it'll take almost all of them to actually get Putin replaced, I'm sure a lot of money will need to change hands from to Oligarchs to Russian Military Commanders. West needs to start nationalizing anything and everything Oligarchs and their families own fast and while west talks the talk we'll see about walking the walk there as catering to those fucks is very lucrative for western elites.

 

[LORD IMPERATOR]

Ukraine actually does pose a threat to Russia. The geography of Central and Eastern Europe is dominated by the European Plane which in and of itself is flat, indefensible land. By the time it reaches Ukraine and Russia, the European Plain expands to a staggering length of several thousand kilometres. Due East of Ukraine is the Volgograd Gap which Germany tried to exploit twice in both World Wars because cutting off the Volgograd Gap from Russian control means that the Russian heartland gets cut off from their gas reserves in the Caspian Sea along with their holdings in the Caucasus. Russian geography in the post-Soviet world is cursed beyond all belief because the Russian heartland exists on flat, indefensible land. The reason why the Russian Empire and the later USSR spanned such a great distance is specifically because of the interests of Russia itself.

If Ukraine ever joins NATO, the Volgograd Gap and thus, the very means of Russian survival in the first place gets put into jeopardy. It would’ve been better off as a neutral buffer state, but Putin has shown us all that he’s not willing to play ball with any nation that isn’t squarely within the firm grasp of the Kremlin.

And yet NATO won't launch a preeminent attack unless provoked. The most they can do is have strategic advantages, but since the west wasn't looking to start another war with Russia, that would all just be politics and talk. Ukraine won't strike first, NATO won't strike first, and if Russia played its diplomatic cards right, like they did in the Yeltsin years, they could get Ukraine to disarm, like they did in real life when they persuaded Ukraine to give up their nukes. Only Poland and America gave a shit about NATO before the war started. They'd rather have peace with Russia than war. But now? NATO is going to make good use of any advantage they have, and they'll squeeze Russia for all it's worth.

This plus Putin is sitting up here like "We need to de-Nazify Ukraine, they are killing ethnic Russians, it's annudah shoah!"

Meanwhile, Zelinskyy grew up speaking Russian and his "Early Life" section, well...

For a guy screaming about how bad Ukrainian Nazis are, it's funny that his mortal enemy in this war is a Jew.

We can only hope it'll work, Russian civilians would need to be 20x as pissed off as BLM Riots of 2020 to make a dent before OMON cleans them off the streets and oligarchs, well, idk if people noticed but a lot of countries that did sanction Russia asked for sanctions to omit luxury goods, oligarchs are rich enough they won't have to care for a long while.

Thought Putin reportedly did forbid them from leaving Russia going as far as taking their jets, they're pissed off for sure but it'll take almost all of them to actually get Putin replaced, I'm sure a lot of money will need to change hands from to Oligarchs to Russian Military Commanders. West needs to start nationalizing anything and everything Oligarchs and their families own fast and while west talks the talk we'll see about walking the walk there as catering to those fucks is very lucrative for western elites.

Considering how Putin is freaking out about the sanctions, it looks like they are having the intended effect.

 

[Useful_Mistake]

BP will exit its multibillion-dollar investment in Russian oil company Rosneft

BP, the energy giant formerly known as British Petroleum, plans to sever its close ties to the Russian oil company Rosneft over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It's a major move for BP, one that has financial implications beyond symbolic resonance.

Rosneft is controlled by the Russian government, but after that, BP is its biggest shareholder, with nearly 20% of the company's stock. It's not yet clear who would buy those shares.

BP's stake is valued at some $14 billion, and the British company rakes in cash both through dividends and through joint ventures. Last year, Rosneft earned BP some $2.4 billion dollars and represented about a third of BP's total oil and gas production.

BP also had two seats on Rosneft's board, one occupied by BP CEO Bernard Looney and the other by former BP group CEO Bob Dudley. Both men are resigning those seats.

BP "has operated in Russia for over 30 years, working with brilliant Russian colleagues," the company's chair, Helge Lund, said in a statement.

But the military action is a "fundamental change" that led the board to conclude that "our involvement with Rosneft, a state-owned enterprise, simply cannot continue," he continued.

The U.K. government had been putting pressure on BP to extricate itself from this relationship to Rosneft, and by extension the Russian government.

Oil giants Shell and Exxon are also closely linked to the Russian oil industry. Russia is the worlds second-largest producer of oil and natural gas — after the United States.

Russia invades Ukraine live updates for Sunday, Feb. 27

Governments, private businesses and global organizations took more measures to protest Russia's actions against Ukraine. The European Union is sending military aid to the besieged nation, and a British energy giant is cutting ties to a Russian oil company.

www.npr.org

FIFA announces punishments for Russia but doesn’t ban it from the World Cup

FIFA announced new penalties against Russia on Sunday, the latest example of the far-reaching consequences President Vladimir Putin is facing over his invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

The international governing body for soccer said in a statement that no international competitions would be played on Russian territory, and “home” matches would have to be played on neutral soil without a crowd.

Russia will have to participate in any competition under the name “Football Union of Russia” and its flag and anthem will be banned during matches.

“Violence is never a solution and FIFA expresses its deepest solidarity to all people affected by what is happening in Ukraine,” the organization's leadership said. FIFA decided the penalties in coordination with the Union of European Football Associations.

The World Cup is slated to take place in Qatar later this year. Although a number of countries — including the Czech Republic, Poland and Sweden — have said their national teams won’t play Russia during playoffs, FIFA stopped short of expelling Russia from the competition.

UEFA announced on Friday that its executive committee decided to relocate this year's Men’s Champions League final from St. Petersburg to Saint-Denis, France. It will still take place on May 28.

Soccer players and clubs, including within Russia, have expressed their opposition to the invasion of Ukraine with a variety of protests both on and off the field.

FIFA also said it was in touch with the Ukrainian Association of Football as well as members of the Ukrainian football community who’ve been requesting support to leave the country amid the ongoing invasion.

Russia invades Ukraine live updates for Sunday, Feb. 27

Governments, private businesses and global organizations took more measures to protest Russia's actions against Ukraine. The European Union is sending military aid to the besieged nation, and a British energy giant is cutting ties to a Russian oil company.

www.npr.org

The U.N. will have an emergency session of its General Assembly in a rebuke of Russia

The United Nations will convene an emergency session of its General Assembly for only the 11th time in more than seven decades in a historic rebuke of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The emergency session will allow all 193 members to debate and vote on a resolution calling for Russia’s immediate withdrawal of troops from Ukraine. The emergency session is scheduled to begin Monday.

The resolution, while nonbinding, would carry political weight. The U.S. has pushed for such resolutions in an effort to show that Russia is politically isolated.

The move follows the failure of such a resolution in the smaller, 15-member Security Council after Russia vetoed the measure Friday. Russia is not able to veto a resolution by the full assembly.

“Russia cannot veto our voices. Russia cannot veto the Ukrainian people. And Russia cannot veto the U.N. Charter. Russia cannot and will not veto accountability,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Sunday’s vote passed along the same lines as Friday’s resolution — but because of the procedural nature of the vote, Russia could not veto. Instead, it was the lone vote against, while India, China and the United Arab Emirates abstained.

Joining the U.S. in voting in favor of the special session were permanent members France and the U.K., along with rotating members Albania, Brazil, Gabon, Ghana, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway.

The 11 countries that voted in favor of the emergency session expressed alarm at reports of harm to civilians and civilian locations and urged Russia to immediately end hostilities and return to the diplomatic table.

“All member states — especially the small ones, like mine, which constitute a majority of the U.N. — must remember that international law, rules and the U.N. charter are their best friend, their best army, their best defense, their best insurance,” said Ferit Hoxha, Albania’s permanent representative to the U.N.

Russia, for its part, accused the other members of the Security Council of speaking “lies, deceit and fakes” about its actions in Ukraine, which it continues to call a “special military operation” rather than an invasion.

Members of the U.N. have a “moral responsibility” to respond to Russia’s invasion with humanitarian aid and military support, Thomas-Greenfield said.

Speaking directly to Russian soldiers, she said: “The world is watching. Photographic and video evidence is mounting, and you will be held to account for your actions. We will not let atrocities slide.”

Russia invades Ukraine live updates for Sunday, Feb. 27

Governments, private businesses and global organizations took more measures to protest Russia's actions against Ukraine. The European Union is sending military aid to the besieged nation, and a British energy giant is cutting ties to a Russian oil company.

www.npr.org

In a historic first, the EU says it will buy and deliver weapons to a country under attack

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU would close the airspace above its member states to Russian-owned, Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft.

“These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off or overly the territory of the EU,” von der Leyen said in a statement.

Von der Leyen also announced new military assistance for Ukraine, a move she described as a "watershed moment."

"For the first time ever, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack," she said.

Her announcement came on the same day that several European leaders announced plans to provide military equipment to Ukraine. Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said her country would send 2,700 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, while Sweden's minister for foreign affairs announced a shipment of 5,000 anti-tank weapons, 5,000 helmets, 5,000 body shields and 135,000 field rations.

Von der Leyen laid out additional punishment on Russia, announcing that the EU would ban Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik as well as their subsidiaries.

The commission will also impose new sanctions on President Alexander Lukashenko's regime in Belarus, a key ally of Russia. Those sanctions will target key economic sectors including mineral fuels, tobacco, wood and timber, cement, iron and steel.

Von der Leyen said the commission was mobilizing to help its eastern member states take in and care for the many Ukrainian refugees escaping the violence.

"President Zelensky's leadership and his bravery and the resilience of the Ukrainian people are outstanding and impressive," she said. "We welcome with open arms those Ukrainians who have to flee from Putin's bombs and I am proud of the warm welcome that Europeans have given them," she said.

Russia invades Ukraine live updates for Sunday, Feb. 27

Governments, private businesses and global organizations took more measures to protest Russia's actions against Ukraine. The European Union is sending military aid to the besieged nation, and a British energy giant is cutting ties to a Russian oil company.

www.npr.org

U.S. says it won’t ‘indulge’ dangerous nuclear rhetoric​

The Biden administration again pushed back on Russia placing its nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, as the State Department on Monday said it would not “indulge” in rhetoric about the threat of nuclear weapons.

“Russia and the United States have long agreed that nuclear use would have devastating consequences, and have stated many times, including earlier this year, that a nuclear war cannot be won, and must never be fought,” a spokesperson for the department said, according to NBC News.

“We think provocative rhetoric regarding nuclear weapons is dangerous, adds to the risk of miscalculation, should be avoided, and we will not indulge in it,” the person said. “We are assessing President Putin’s directive and at this time are comfortable with our strategic defensive posture.”

“Throughout this crisis, Russia has falsely alleged that it is under threat – including from Ukraine and from NATO. Neither the United States nor NATO has any desire or intention for conflict with Russia. We are unwavering in our commitment to extended deterrence and confident in our ability to defend ourselves and our allies,” the spokesperson said.

A U.S. Defense official told reporters Sunday that Russia’s step was “unnecessary and escalatory.”

“It’s clearly essentially putting at play forces that if there’s a miscalculation could make things much, much more dangerous,” that official said.

Twitter will add labels to Russian-affiliated media sites​

Twitter will start labeling content that shares links to Russian state-affiliated media websites, the company’s head of site integrity Yoel Roth said Monday. The social media giant will also work to “significantly reduce” the circulation of that content on its site.

Roth said that since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine, the site has seen more than 45,000 tweets a day sharing links to the state-funded media sites.

“As people look for credible information on Twitter regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we understand and take our role seriously. Our product should make it easy to understand who’s behind the content you see, and what their motivations and intentions are,” Roth said.

Russia and Ukraine say first talks have ended, Macron urges Putin to stop attack

A Ukrainian delegation has arrived near the border with Belarus to hold talks with Russian officials.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Retink]

I wonder if we are ever going to get an accurate telling of this war. I'm not pro-Russia, I think this conflict is the fault of the US putting the Ukraine into the position of threatening a powerful neighbor's security. Then leveraging that threat into shady dealings to profit corporations and politicians.

However, I don't believe anything that is said about the Russians having an embarrassing performance in this engagement. There is a full court multinational media press too make Russia look bad, and so much of it already has been proven to be shoddily fabricated that I don't believe anything negative said about their forces.

Anyone who fully accepts what the media reports as fact has learned nothing in the past several years. The media is a propaganda entity first and has no issues lying about the citizens of its own country, so why would it have any hesitation to lie about those who have even less relation to it.

 

[What the shit]

FIFA Suspends Russia, Ejecting It From World Cup Qualifying​

World soccer’s global governing body suspended Russia and its teams from all competitions on Monday, ejecting the country from qualifying for the 2022 World Cup only weeks before it was to play for one of Europe’s final places in this year’s tournament in Qatar.

The suspension, which was announced on Monday evening in coordination with European soccer’s governing body, also barred Russian club teams from international competitions. The decision came a day after FIFA was heavily criticized for not going far enough in punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, and amid mounting demands from national federations for stronger action.

The initial pressure for an outright ban of Russia came from soccer officials in Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic, whose national team faced the prospect of games against Russia in a World Cup playoff in March. Other countries and officials, including the federations representing France, England and the United States, quickly said they would not play against Russia under any circumstances.

FIFA and its European counterpart, UEFA, said the ban on Russia would be in place “until further notice.”

“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” FIFA said in a statement. Ukraine’s team, which is set to play Scotland in its own World Cup playoff in March, will remain in the competition.
UEFA then went a step further in breaking its deep ties to Russia: It announced that it had ended a sponsorship agreement with the Russian energy giant Gazprom. The deal was worth a reported $50 million a year to European soccer.
UEFA had last week stripped St. Petersburg, the home of Gazprom, of this year’s Champions League final. The game will be played in France instead.

FIFA and UEFA decided to bar Russia only hours after the International Olympic Committee called for international sports federations to prohibit Russian athletes and teams from all global sporting events where possible. The Olympic officials said Russia had breached a commitment — known as the Olympic Truce, and signed before the start of the Beijing Winter Games and scheduled to run through the Paralympics that open this week — when it invaded Ukraine.

The immediate consequence of soccer’s ban on Russia is that it will lose its place in a four-team group for one of Europe’s final places for the World Cup. Poland, which was scheduled to play Russia in March in Moscow, had said flatly that it would refuse to take the field for the game, a stance it repeated after FIFA announced its initial slate of penalties on Sunday night.

Cezary Kulesza, the president of Poland’s soccer federation, called FIFA’s initial decision not to eject Russia “totally unacceptable.” In a post on Twitter, he added: “We are not interested in participating in this game of appearances. Our stance remains intact: Polish National Team will NOT PLAY with Russia, no matter what the name of the team is.”

Sweden and the Czech Republic, the teams that could have met Russia — also in Moscow — if the Russians beat Poland, said that they, too, would refuse to play, even at a neutral site.

The indefinite ban on Russia also extends to its club teams, meaning that Spartak Moscow, its last remaining participant in a continental competition, will no longer be able to compete in its Europa League knockout out game against Germany’s RB Leipzig. That match was already in doubt before Monday’s decision, with officials unsure how the Russian team could travel after the European Union issued a blanket ban on Russian flights into the 27-member bloc.

It remains unclear if the decision to exclude Russia will face a challenge in the courts. Russia, as well as some of its athletes, have in recent years successfully fought exclusion from other events, including the Olympic Games, by getting punishments watered down through appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

---

Link to the article

 

[Useful_Mistake]

Russian forces shell civilian areas as first round of peace talks ends​

As a first round of peace talks concluded at the Ukraine-Belarus border on Monday, Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv in the east were continuing to face some of the heaviest shelling of the war thus far, with reports of significant civilian casualties.

The latest: A senior U.S. defense official told reporters that Russian forces advanced toward Kyiv by around 5 kilometers in the past 24 hours, putting them roughly 25 kilometers outside the city center. Journalists in the Ukrainian capital are reporting missile fire and loud explosions.

• Russia has deployed nearly 75% of its assembled combat power inside Ukraine, and has launched approximately 380 missiles so far, the official said.
• Five days into the war, Russia has still not achieved air superiority over Ukraine, with its ground forces "running out of gas and having logistics problems," the official added.
• The official said the Russians' goal continues to be to "encircle Kyiv from multiple locations," and to capture the cities of Kharkiv and Mariupol to isolate eastern Ukraine.
• Zoom in: In the town of Berdyansk, which is now under Russian control, residents shouted at the occupying troops to go home and sang the Ukrainian national anthem.

What they're saying: Ukraine's defense minister Oleksii Reznikov wrote in a Facebook post, "We offer Russian soldiers a choice: to die in an unjust war or full amnesty and 5 million rubles of compensation if they put down their guns and voluntarily surrender to prison."

State of play: As the first round of talks ended one of the Ukrainian representatives, Zelensky adviser Mikhail Podolyak tweeted that the Russian side was "extremely biased." Expectations of a breakthrough remain low.

• As peace talks were just beginning, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said dozens of civilians had been killed and hundreds wounded by indiscriminate shelling in Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million on the border with Russia.
• French President Emmanuel Macron had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Putin said a deal "is possible only if Russia’s legitimate security interests are unconditionally taken into account," according to a Kremlin readout.
• The State Department accused Russia on Monday of "widespread" human rights abuses during the invasion: "Russia’s invasion has damaged and destroyed schools, hospitals, radio stations, and homes, killing and injuring civilians, including children."

The big picture: Zelensky's office called for an "immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine" as several high-ranking Ukrainian officials headed to the talks, but he expressed little optimism that the negotiations would result in an end to the attack.


What else is happening: Zelensky signed an application on Monday for his country to join the EU, a day after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine is "one of us and we want them in."

• 16 Ukrainian children have been killed and 45 have been wounded during the war, while Russia has suffered 4,500 casualties, Zelensky said in his latest address. International monitors have not verified these numbers.
• Zelensky said that he will allow prisoners with combat experience to be released to help defend the country and "compensate their guilt."
• Ukraine's deputy defense minister also claimed Ukraine has received "thousands" of requests from foreign volunteers to join a new "International Legion" to fight Russia.
• Russia closed its airspace to Germany, France, the U.K. and 33 other countries, after the EU froze out Russian aircraft on Monday.
• More than 500,000 refugees have fled to neighboring countries, including Poland, Hungary, Romania and Moldova, the U.N. said.

Zoom out: Russia's currency collapsed in overnight trading, with the ruble plummeting against the dollar as the West imposed unprecedented, crippling sanctions and massive corporations said they would end their business in Russia.

• The Russian central bank raised interest rates from 9.5% to 20% and announced a raft of measures — including the suspension of stock trading on the Moscow Exchange — in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding.
• The Biden administration announced Monday morning that Russia's central bank will be prohibited from undertaking transactions in dollars under a new concerted effort by the U.S. and its allies that is set to accelerate Russia's economic tailspin.

Ukraine war enters new, uglier phase as convoy advances on Kyiv

Peace talks ended on Monday with no sign of concessions.

www.axios.com

Ukrainians abroad return home to fight against Russia​

As Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth day, Ukrainians abroad have been been returning home to join the fight against Russia.

Driving the news: Russian forces have shelled civilian areas and prompted concerns of a humanitarian crisis. The UN Refugee agency on Monday said that 500,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled into neighboring countries since Russia's attack began.

• On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on all "citizens of the world" to join the fight against Russia's invasion, encouraging those so inclined to contact their country's Ukrainian embassy.

The big picture: Most of the Ukrainians living across Europe who are returning to their homeland to fight the Russian invasion have no combat experience, little to no training, and only a few have their own weapons, the Wall Street Journal reported.

• Poland's border guard estimated Sunday that since the start of the invasion roughly 22,000 people have crossed its border into Ukraine to join the fray, AP reported.
• The Czech Republic, which doesn't border Ukraine but has a large Ukrainian population, is preparing to distribute bonuses to financially support Ukrainian families in the country who may lose income if family members leave to join the fight against Russia's invasion, per AP.
• The Czech Republic's state-run railway will also allow Ukrainians traveling back to Ukraine to take any train free of charge.
• Some Ukrainians living in Ireland have also been flying out to Poland, with plans to drive to Ukraine from Krakow and take part in the fight, RTE reported.

Worth noting: The call to fight has also been heard by non-Ukrainians.

• One Facebook group has rallied Belarusians living in Poland to go to Kyiv to join the resistance, per the Journal.
• In a since-deleted post, the the Ukrainian embassy in Tel Aviv issued a callout Saturday for volunteers willing to join the fight in Ukraine to submit their contact information, the Guardian reported.
• British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told the BBC Sunday that she would support individuals from the U.K. who choose to go to Ukraine to fight.
• Some Irish people living in Ukraine have chosen to stay and defend their adopted country rather than returning to Ireland, Irish Central reported.

Ukrainians abroad return home to fight against Russia

Ukrainian President Zelensky called on all "citizens of the world" to join the fight against Russia's invasion.

www.axios.com

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]