“Ukraine – Russia”

Russian MPs have been accused of setting up a remote reconnaissance unit far behind the front line so they and their military-age sons can serve in Ukraine without being killed.

The Kremlin has told politicians to back its invasion if they want to earn the respect of ordinary Russians.

Since then, Russian MPs have signed up to serve in the secretive Cascade unit, based somewhere in Donbas, for a month or so – guaranteeing useful photos of themselves in military uniform, and perhaps a medal.

#Ukraine: A valuable Russian R-934UM jamming station along with another KAMAZ-based vehicle was destroyed by the Ukrainian army using three M982 Excalibur and one GMLRS rocket somewhere in the East.

This appears to be the first documented loss of this electronic warfare asset. pic.twitter.com/nmFruYkoBB

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 26, 2023

Nato has condemned Russia’s “dangerous” and “irresponsible” rhetoric after Vladimir Putin’s decision to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

The organisation is “closely monitoring” the situation and said the move would not lead it to change its own nuclear strategy.

The US said it did not believe Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons.

Belarus shares a long border with Ukraine, as well as with Nato members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

People who would not be allowed anywhere near the battlefield in a U.S.-led war are active on the Ukrainian front, with ready access to American weapons.

They rushed to Ukraine by the thousands, many of them Americans who promised to bring military experience, money or supplies to the battleground of a righteous war. Hometown newspapers hailed their commitment, and donors backed them with millions of dollars.

Now, after a year of combat, many of these homespun groups of volunteers are fighting with themselves and undermining the war effort. Some have wasted money or stolen valor. Others have cloaked themselves in charity while also trying to profit off the war, records show.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russia cannot start until Western allies send more military support.

He told a Japanese newspaper he would not send his troops to the frontlines without more tanks, artillery and Himars rocket launchers.

In an interview with Yomiuri Shimbun, he said the situation in eastern Ukraine was “not good”.

“We are waiting for ammunition to arrive from our partners,” he said.

The invaders trying to recover their T-90 tank 😁 Also the BMP doesn't look like it made it 🔥

Glory to the heroes 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/oyAgTkpxCP

— International Observers Ukraine (@INTobservers) March 24, 2023

The ruling body of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) appealed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Friday, asking that he reconsider his decision to evict it from its headquarters, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery. Many outside Ukraine, including some who have admired Zelensky and hoped he would manage to defeat the Russians, have been puzzled as well as Zelensky has moved decisively against the Church. In December, he signed a decree banning the UOC, to which millions of Ukrainians belong. In mid-March, thousands of those Ukrainians gathered outside the monastery to pray and show their support for the monks whom Zelensky has ordered to vacate the premises. This is all at odds with Zelensky’s image in the West: this is the new Churchill? A man who evicts monks from their monastery and closes churches?

Six months after the explosions fragments of clues have emerged but the whodunnit is far from being solved

One evening last September the P524 Nymfen, a Danish naval vessel that tracks suspicious Russian shipping, made an unexpected detour from its usual patrol route.

For the first time in years, it skirted the Baltic island of Bornholm and made its way northeast to the outer fringe of Denmark’s estimated radar range. It paused for half an hour, turned around and switched off its transponder, vanishing for several hours from international tracking systems.

Minutes later a Swedish air force surveillance aircraft began prowling back and forth nearby and a Swedish corvette set off for the site at considerable speed before circling the surrounding waters.

Kremlin eyes object found next to Nord Stream pipeline

MOSCOW, March 24 (Reuters) – The Kremlin on Friday said it was important to identify an object discovered next to one of the Nord Stream pipelines, and said the ongoing investigation into blasts that struck the pipelines last September must be conducted with full transparency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters it was a positive sign that Denmark had invited the Russian-controlled operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to help salvage an unidentified object found close to the Baltic Sea pipelines.

Open-source researchers have found evidence that Moscow is dusting off Stalin-era tanks — some first deployed more than 70 years ago — and shipping them west, possibly a sign that battlefield losses have led to a shortage of armor for Moscow’s forces on the front in Ukraine.

“Highly effective” depleted uranium munitions provided by the UK will be used by Ukrainian forces against Russian tanks.

On Monday, British Minister of State for Defense, Annabel Goldie, said that the U.K. would provide Ukraine with some depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds for donated Challenger 2 main battle tanks. The U.K. pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine back in January.

Putin warns UK over depleted uranium tank shells for Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow would be “forced to react” if the United Kingdom provides Ukraine with armour-piercing tank ammunition that contains depleted uranium.

Putin was reacting on Tuesday to news the UK’s minister of state for defence, Annabel Goldie, had confirmed that ammunition containing depleted uranium was part of a military aid package being sent to Ukraine along with Challenger 2 battle tanks.

Vladimir Putin has no immediate plans for peace in Ukraine and so the west needs to brace itself to supply lethal aid to Kyiv for a long time to come, Nato’s secretary general has warned in an interview with the Guardian.

Jens Stoltenberg said the Russian president was engaged in “a war of attrition”, and said he wanted Nato members to agree that spending 2% of GDP on defence as a minimum at the alliance’s next summit, in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.

The fierce fighting, currently centred around Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, demonstrates Russia is willing “to just throw in thousands and thousands more troops, to take many casualties for minimal gains”, the Nato head said.

#Ukraine: The Ukrainian Army destroyed a Russian 2S3 Akatsiya 152mm self-propelled howitzer with a M982 Excalibur precision artillery strike near #Donetsk City. pic.twitter.com/J73xS37xTx

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 21, 2023

The freelance Ukrainian-sponsored attack version has the virtue of being completely logical

Vladimir Putin has his story, and he’s sticking to it: the destruction of three of the four Gazprom-owned Nord Stream pipelines on September 26, 2022 was the work of the American government. Speaking to reporters in Siberia last week, Putin insisted that the Nord Stream attacks had been carried out on a “state level” and dismissed as “sheer nonsense” a slew of recent stories pointing the finger at a group of freelance Ukrainian-backed divers operating off a small hired yacht.

But reported facts have been stacking up against Putin’s version of events. Earlier this month, the New York Times published a detailed investigation that suggested that the blasts were, in fact, carried out by a handful of freelance divers using commercial explosives and backed by a shadowy Ukrainian individual apparently unconnected to the Zelensky government.

Smoke and mirrors. Putin or the New York Times? Neither can be considered a reliable source.

I believe the USA was behind the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage.

To admit to it would be a political nightmare potentially ending support for Ukraine and likely rattling NATO.

So let’s make up a narrative about a not-connected to anyone oligarch and his very own saboteurs acting entirely alone.

Follow the money.

Xi Jinping said China was ready with Russia “to stand guard over the world order based on international law” as he arrived for a state visit to Moscow that comes days after Vladimir Putin was made the subject of an arrest warrant by the international criminal court.

The Chinese leader is expected to position himself as a potential peacemaker in the Ukraine war during his two-day visit to Russia – his first state visit since Putin’s invasion. For his part, the Russian president will be hoping to project unity in the face of western isolation, as the US condemned Xi for providing “diplomatic cover” for Moscow to continue to commit further crimes in Ukraine.

#Ukraine: The first footage of a 🇫🇷 French Crotale NG short-range air-defense system in service with the Ukrainian army.

We can see two missiles fired in an attempt to take down a Russian cruise missile- the second one hits the target. pic.twitter.com/avdf9HBn5J

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 20, 2023

She doesn’t have the flowing locks, soaring voice, or radiant smile of Vera Lynn. But for Russian “turbo-patriots” who cheer Putin’s war with Ukraine, there’s a modern forces’ sweetheart every bit as inspiring: Yulia Chicherina.

Her dark, short-cropped curls often encased in a black balaclava, her guitar strung over military fatigues, she performs her self-penned songs to troops in draughty halls in occupied Ukrainian towns and forest clearings behind the trenches.