kraine and Russia have blamed each other for renewed shelling on Saturday night of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for new international sanctions on Moscow for “nuclear terror”, including sanctions to be imposed on the Russian nuclear industry and nuclear fuel.
Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, Energoatom, said a worker was wounded when Russian forces reportedly shelled the plant, the biggest in Europe, on Saturday evening.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has raised grave concerns about shelling at the plant.
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inian defenders holed up under the Azovstal steelworks plant in besieged Mariupol.
The harrowing images reveal the horror of a dimly lit, makeshift ‘hospital’ inside the plant where soldiers receive treatment, many for lost limbs. The photos were published alongside a statement pleading for help.…
ror attack, along with the sorrow comes the hard question that follows most similar incidents: how could this have happened?
Rooting out determined and well-trained terrorist cells is not an easy task for security services in any country, but there are numerous signs that failing to prevent Friday’s attack was in large part down to a catastrophic security failure on the part of Russian authorities.
First, there was the public warning from the US government earlier in March that it had learned of “imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow” by terrorists. The warning, also shared privately with the Russian government, suggested Washington had picked up some fairly specific intelligence relating to an upcoming attack. But Putin, three days before the attack, brushed off these warnings, calling them an “attempt to scare and intimidate our society”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/24/did-ukraine-war-russian-security-services-neglect-islamist-threat-moscow…
.
The results mean the country is headed for a coalition government, with neither of the largest two parties winning enough support to command a parliamentary majority. If Fico’s Smer leads that coalition, it could reverse Slovakia’s strong support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.
“We think Ukraine is a great tragedy for everyone involved,” Fico said in a news conference after the results were in. “And if Smer gets to form a government, we will do everything we can — also within the E.U. — to start peace talks as quickly as possible. Further killing won’t benefit anyone.” He also said Smer is prepared to continue providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine and predicted it would take two weeks to form a coalition.
Washington Post
https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=5c9582c7ae7e8a468e5f7d9a&s=651a419538ed510b3f27ec39&linknum=5&linktot=59&linknum=5&linktot=59…
tions, said: "President Putin is continuing to escalate this war in a manner that is totally unacceptable."
Liz Truss, Britain's Foreign Secretary, had earlier warned any use by Russia of its tactical battlefield nuclear weapons against Ukrainian forces would represent an "extremely serious escalation" of the conflict. On Monday morning, Ben Wallace, the UK's Defence Secretary, accused Russia of posturing.
"We've looked at their posture. There isn't a significant change," he said on LBC radio, adding that the Russian leader was trying to "flex muscles" with his invasion of Ukraine bogged down. Mr Wallace said he had assured his 12-year-old son: "No, we're not going to have a nuclear war. "What I've said to him is, look, President Putin is dealing at the moment in a rhetoric, he wants to distract from what's gone wrong in Ukraine, and he wants us all to be reminded that he has a nuclear deterrent." However The Nato Chief, Jens Stoltenberg, said: "This is dangerous rhetoric and irresponsible behaviour on Putin's part."
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ments in Kiev certainly have the potential to turn into such a catastrophe, for they are not
just about Ukraine. Just as the Syrian civil war reflects a wider regional struggle between Iran and
Saudi Arabia for political and religious supremacy, Ukraine finds itself the luckless victim of much
bigger forces than its own internal divisions - centuries old East/West rivalries and ambitions.
Ukraine’s disgusting kleptocracy deserves to fail; genuine democracy and rule of law in this
brutalised nation would be an overwhelmingly positive development. Yet there is something
almost Napoleonic about the idealistic fervour with which Europe pursues its eastern ambitions.
That said, the forces that turned the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand into the greatest
conflict in history simply don’t exist today. Despite occasional sabre-rattling, the world is
generally better at muddling along together than it has ever been. The big, intra and inter-regional
conflicts of the last century are unthinkable.
…
Added by Michael Grove at 15:48 on February 26, 2014
y troops in Bucha were a "provocation" and no resident suffered violence at the hands of Russians.
The bodies of 410 civilians found in formerly Russian occupied territory around Kyiv are being examined by forensic experts as Ukrainian prosecutors prepare war crimes cases.
On Sunday night, Mr Johnson promised to send specialist police and military investigators to help the International Criminal Court's investigations with a view to bringing charges in The Hague.
The Telegraph understands that the UK is also leading a drive within the "Five Eyes" alliance to consider sharing classified intelligence on war crimes with Ukrainian prosecutors.
Russian troops 'murderers, torturers, rapists, looters', says Zelensky
... and SURPRISE SURPRISE Germany is the main roadblock to imposing tougher sanctions on Russia, Poland's Prime Minister has said, as calls mount to punish Moscow for apparent war crimes.
YET a.n.other nail in the coffin so to speak, with regard to and respect for my long standing diatribe concerning the actions of our Lords & Masters since Severin Suzuki gave her impassioned speech to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.
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ng, Delhi, Brasilia, Budapest, Ankara, Riyadh and Washington.
Gideon Rachman's details • in his The Age of the Strongman classic • of Putin's rise to power and his time spent in Dresden, have most certainly filled in the gaps for me so to speak, as to how and why Canon got the inside track to the potential opportunity of utilising my Interactive Multimedia Bureau System, in Eastern Germany after 'the wall' came down, so to speak. I say 'the wall' having experienced same in a visit to Coburg some decades before, to realise that in most places it was only a fence and not a wall.
http://letschangetheworld.ning.com/profiles/blogs/summary-of-the-ukraine-situatio-today…
e launch, Boris, and England is gone,” he said. “Once and for all. Why play with us?”
Putin may also hint at the potential for nuclear conflict as he stands before the heavy weaponry, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, that he returned to the Red Square parade in 2008.
“He also knows that we’re going to be listening to him, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some nuclear rhetoric in there as well,” said the CNA’s Edmonds. He said he remained sceptical that Russia could use a tactical nuclear weapon in the conflict, but like others noted that the Kremlin has become more unpredictable. “If Putin sees this as becoming existential, then all bets are off the table.”
Seeing the limited potential for victory, Putin could also seek to de-escalate the conflict. Standing before his military and the country on Monday, Putin could announce that Russia has achieved its major war aims in Ukraine by allegedly destroying Ukrainian military capacity, and by taking near control of several mid-sized cities such as Mariupol and Kherson. But that may also be a tough sell, as the Ukrainian military could try to retake lost ground, leading to further losses even if Russia stakes a defensive position.
Andrew Roth THE OBSERVER for THE GUARDIAN
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