Tag: russia

Four NATO States Agree To Buy $1 Billion In US Weapons For Ukraine

Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands announced they would buy $1 billion in weapons for Ukraine from the US. 

Copenhagen is pledging to buy $500 million in arms that will be matched by the three Scandinavian countries. “Ukraine is not only fighting for its own security, but also for our security,” Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson. 

The Wall Street Journal reports this is the first of several weapon sales to Ukraine paid for by NATO members this summer. 

NATO and President Donald Trump recently unveiled a scheme to send Ukraine $10 billion in US weapons funded by Europe and Canada. However, several European countries have announced they will not participate in the program. 

The WSJ report makes mention of Kyiv’s shopping list:

NATO and Ukraine have established a shopping list of Kyiv’s requirements for lethal and nonlethal equipment, dubbed the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List. NATO, Ukraine and NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, will ensure the packages meet Kyiv’s needs. NATO is dividing the list into packages valued at roughly $500 million apiece

Governments are making financial commitments toward the packages and NATO, which has pledged “rapid delivery from U.S. stockpiles” will coordinate delivery of the arms to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Zelensky celebrated the announcement. “We already have commitments from the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark – over one billion dollars for American weapons that Ukraine will receive,” he wrote on X. “Thank you! This cooperation with NATO countries will continue.”

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Zelensky Says Mercenaries From Asia & Africa, Including Pakistan, Fighting For Russia

President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of deploying foreign mercenaries along front lines in northeastern Ukraine. This certainly isn’t the first such accusation like this, but he has named some new, unexpected countries – unleashing new diplomatic tensions.

He alleged that foreign forces fighting in his country are from China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and several African nations, citing what he said are eyewitness accounts from Ukrainian soldiers.

He issued the allegation during a battlefield visit to the Vovchansk sector, where the Ukrainian leader met with commanders to discuss the current situation.

Vovchansk is a mere three miles from the Russian border, and has recently seen renvewed intense fighting since related to Russia’s 2024 campaign focused on Kharkiv Oblast.

“The soldiers on this front are recording the participation of mercenaries from China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and African countries in the war. We will respond,” Zelensky said in the statement.

While the last months have seen China and North Korea accused of sending troops to help Russia, the allegation against Pakistan is a first.

Pakistan’s government has responded quickly to the Monday remarks of Zelensky, blasting the idea of Pakistani troops fighting alongside Russia as “baseless and unfounded.”

“To date, Pakistan has not been formally approached by the Ukrainian authorities, nor has any verifiable evidence been presented to substantiate such claims,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry Tuesday.

Back in April, Ukraine published images and footage showing Chinese nationals in military custody. “If the Chinese government is allowing their citizens to fight on behalf of the Russia government, this would be a concerning escalation and the US will consider options moving forward,” Zelensky had said at the time.

North Korea has also been involved in sending troops, and this is much better documented, given Pyongyang may have sent some 10,000 or more. These have been mostly active in Russia’s Kursk region.

Meanwhile, the allegation of foreign employing foreign fighters certainly goes both ways…

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Russian Intel Warns of UK Plan to Stage Tanker Incident

British intelligence agencies are planning to involve NATO allies in launching a large-scale crackdown on the so-called “shadow fleet” carrying Russian oil, the press bureau of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said on Monday.

“According to information received by the SVR, British intelligence services are planning to engage NATO allies to carry out a massive sweep of the ‘shadow fleet’. London’s idea is to trigger such a campaign with a high-profile incident involving one or several tankers. The plan envisions staging a major act of sabotage, the damage from which would allow them to declare Russian oil transportation a threat to global maritime navigation,” the statement said.

According to the SVR, this would give the West free rein in choosing methods of counter-action.

“In the extreme scenario, this could mean detaining any ‘suspicious’ vessels in international waters and escorting them to NATO member-state ports,” the statement added.

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Ukraine Claims Drone Strike On 5 Russian Fighter Jets At Crimean Base

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) announced it conducted a successful drone assault on a Russian airbase in Saky, a city in Crimea, in the overnight hours. This comes after weekend attacks deep inside Russia which hit oil refineries and a military-linked electronics factory.

The SBU claimed direct hits on five Russian military aircraft at the base, which reportedly destroyed one Su-30SM fighter jet and damaged another. Ukraine also said its drones hit three additional Su-24 bombers, along with an attack on a depot storing aviation munitions.

The Saky airfield has long been a key hub for Russian military activity in the Black Sea region. The SBU hailed the strike as “significant” – given that a single Su-30SM jet is worth up to around $50 million.

“The successful special operation carried out by the SBU in Saky marks another step toward weakening the enemy’s capacity to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine,” the SBU said.

However, Russia has yet to confirm or deny the Crimea airbase strike, or the jet losses – and is not likely to. If accurate, the aircraft destruction would mark the biggest such assault since Operation Spiderweb on June 1st, which targeted four airbases deep inside Russian territory.

Ukraine claimed it took out 41 Russian military aircraft in that operation, but Moscow consistently said this figure was exaggerated – but never disclosed a precise damage assessment.

The Su-30SM is a two-seat, twin-engine multirole fighter aircraft introduced by Russia early last decade, while the Su-24 is a twin-engine, supersonic strike aircraft developed by the Soviet Union – both of which are frequently used for combat missions in Ukraine.

Soon after Operation Spider’s Web, Ukraine’s military vowed there would be more such attacks to come. Russia has of late been pummeling Ukrainian cities with drone and missile strikes, so it appears Kiev is mounting more and more cross-border revenge attacks over the last several days.

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Cold War 2.0 Heats Up

Last week the nuclear rhetoric between the US and Russia made some of us feel like we were transported back to 1962. Back then, Soviet moves to place nuclear-capable missiles 90 miles off our coast in Cuba led to the greatest crisis of the Cold War. The United States and its president, John F. Kennedy, could not tolerate such weapons placed by a hostile power on its doorstep and the world only knew years later how close we were to nuclear war.

Thankfully both Khrushchev and Kennedy backed down – with the Soviet leader removing the missiles from Cuba and the US president agreeing to remove some missiles from Turkey. Both men realized the folly of playing with “mutually assured destruction,” and this compromise likely paved the way to further US/Soviet dialogue from Nixon to President Reagan and finally to the end of the Cold War.

Fast forward more than 60 years later and we have a US president, Donald Trump, who last week stated that he had “ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions,” meaning nearer to Russia.

Had Russia attacked the US or an ally? Threatened to do so? No. The supposed re-positioning of US strategic military assets was in response to a sharp series of posts made by former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on social media that irritated President Trump.

The war of words started earlier, when neocon US Senator Lindsey Graham’s endless threats against Russia received a response – and a warning – from Medvedev. Graham, who seems to love war more than anything else, posted “To those in Russia who believe that President Trump is not serious about ending the bloodbath between Russia and Ukraine… You will also soon see that Joe Biden is no longer president. Get to the peace table.”

Medvedev responded, “It’s not for you or Trump to dictate when to ‘get at the peace table’. Negotiations will end when all the objectives of our military operation have been achieved. Work on America first, gramps!”

That was enough for Trump to join in to defend his ill-chosen ally Graham and ended with Medvedev alluding to Soviet nuclear doctrine which provided for an automatic nuclear response to any first strike on the USSR by US or NATO weapons.

The message from the Russian politician was clear: back off. It was hardly Khruschev banging his shoe at the UN screaming “we will bury you,” but it was enough for Trump to make a rare public pronouncement about the movement of US nuclear submarines.

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Climbing Aboard the Titanic: Trump’s New Ukraine Policy

When Donald Trump entered the White House for his second term as president, he had an excellent opportunity to extricate the United States from the quagmire war between Russia and Ukraine.  His instincts–that continued involvement in that conflict was not in America’s best interests—were sound.  Indeed, he signaled throughout the 2024 presidential campaign that he intended to terminate military and financial aid to Kyiv as soon as possible.  Most of his MAGA supporters seemed to agree that the Biden administration’s willingness to send billions of dollars to Ukraine when the United States had pressing needs at home was disgraceful.

Just months into his term, however, the president seems to have abandoned the goal of jettisoning the Ukraine commitment.  Instead, he has continued weapons shipments to Kyiv and authorized new ones.  He also expresses growing hostility toward Russian President Vladimir Putin and is making ever more unrealistic demands on Moscow.  In mid-July, that shift in policy included his insistence that the Kremlin accept a comprehensive ceasefire as the first stage of a peace accord with Ukraine—and do so within 50 days.  In late July, Trump moved up the deadline for Moscow’s acquiescence to such terms to no more than 10 to 12 days.  Otherwise, he warned, the United States would impose new economic sanctions on Russia far more onerous than those already in effect.  

The threat to impose stronger economic sanctions, though, has lost much of its clout.    Despite suffering some economic pain, Russia has been surprisingly resilient in handling existing sanctions.  Moscow has done an especially impressive job of finding alternative markets for its principal exports, most notably oil and natural gas.  There is no reason to believe that the situation would be different this time.  Increasing Washington’s military support for NATO’s Ukrainian proxy might have more impact, but it also would be utterly reckless, bringing the specter of World War III into play. 

Trump has picked an especially inauspicious time to join Ukraine’s Western fan club.  It is ironic that he is continuing– and even escalating–Washington’s commitment to Ukraine at precisely the moment that Kyiv’s status as viable U.S. and NATO client has become increasingly doubtful.  Russia continues to make gains on the battlefield, slowly conquering additional Ukrainian territory.  The bloodied Ukrainian forces appear increasingly beleaguered, and Russia (because of its much larger population and military reserves) is better positioned for a continuing war of attrition. 

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Zelensky Signs Law Allowing Ukrainians Over 60 To Join The Military

Ukrainians aged 60 and older can now serve in non-combat roles thanks to new legislation. The elderly Ukrainians will need special approval and get medical clearance before enlisting.

The law was passed by the Ukrainian legislature earlier this month and signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, allowing people over the age of 60 to serve in limited roles until martial law in Ukraine is lifted.

While the current martial law authorization is set to lapse next month, Zelensky has requested that lawmakers extend it for an additional 90 days. Zelensky’s presidential term has already expired, and he has used martial law to remain in office.

Zelensky signed the law increasing the age limit as Ukraine continues to struggle with manpower in the war with Russia. Last year, Ukraine lowered its draft age from 27 to 25, but has resisted calls from the US to drop it to 18.

Regional media explains:

According to the Verkhovna Rada website, the law was returned with the president’s signature on Tuesday, July 29. Parliament had passed the legislation on Wednesday, July 16.

The law applies exclusively to volunteers – there is no provision for compulsory service in this age group.

Under the updated Law “On Military Duty and Military Service,” citizens aged 60+ can now enlist under contract during martial law, provided they are deemed medically fit by a military commission and have written consent from a unit commander.

Ukrainian MP Anna Skorokhod explained earlier this month that her country was facing a severe manpower shortage, saying, “Our main problem is people. Nobody is giving us people.”

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Putin Criminalizes Online Searches for ‘Extremist’ Content

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law that criminalizes searches for “extremist” content on the internet, with fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($64) for each violation.

The Moscow Times noted that even some of Russia’s more enthusiastic censors are uneasy about the new law because they might get busted for seeking out extreme content so they can censor it:

Yekaterina Mizulina, head of the Kremlin-aligned Safe Internet League and a prominent advocate of online censorship, voiced unease over the bill earlier this month. She warned that it could obstruct the League’s work, roughly 30% of which involves identifying extremist content and forwarding it to authorities.

Mizulina claimed that the legislation could even put police officers at legal risk for viewing content as part of their duties.

In a similar vein, the head of Russian state propaganda network RT, Margarita Simonyan, lamented that her apparatchiks would be hindered in their quest to “investigate and bring to shame” critics of the Kremlin and the Ukraine war if they were “forbidden to even read them.”

The vote in the Russian parliament to pass the bill was more divided than usual, with opposition from factions that usually give Putin what he wants, including the Communist Party. An aide to a liberal Russian politician who protested the bill by comparing it to the Big Brother dystopia of George Orwell’s 1984 was immediately arrested.

Internet freedom advocates, meanwhile, raised the objection that “extremism” can be difficult to define and Putin is likely to stretch the term to include all criticism of his government.

Human Rights Watch pointed out that Putin has previously designated anti-corruption groups, LGBT organizations, independent media outlets, human rights groups, and political opponents as “extremists.” It is a safe bet that Russian courts will find most criticism of the Ukraine war to be “extremist” in character.

The new law empowers Putin’s enforcers to go after people who search for “extreme” content, not just those who create it. The chilling effect on dissent will be formidable in a nation where dissent was already half-frozen to death.

Putin’s digital minister, Maksut Shadayev, was predictably evasive when asked how the regime would define “extremist” content, or tell the difference between users who intentionally seek it out compared to those who stumble across it by accident. Shadayev said it would be up to prosecutors to demonstrate “intent.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Putin’s new law was the “most serious step in censorship and the fight against dissent” since the 2022 bill that established 15-year prison sentences for disseminating “fake news” about Russia’s military activities.

“This vaguely worded, fast-tracked bill shows a clear disregard for open debate and create an even more repressive environment for the media and the public,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Senior Researcher Anna Brakha.

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Russian Drone Found At Military Base In Lithuania Which Hosts NATO Troops

A suspected errant Russian drone has breached a NATO country’s airspace this week – though certainly not for the first time, and is setting off the proverbial alarm within Lithuania’s military

The drone was discovered crashed at a Lithuanian military training area after entering the country’s airspace from Belarus, after first being spotted early Monday morning, Lithuania’s army reported on Friday. The military first tracked in on radar over Belarusian airspace, near the border.

Several area residents actually captured footage of it flying over Vilnius before it vanished, and later was found on the ground at the military training base.

“It’s likely the same drone that breached our airspace on Monday. Initial analysis suggests it may be a Gerbera model, though this is still being confirmed,” the Lithuanian military said in the statement.

At least one Lithuanian lawmaker has portrayed the drone breach incident as intentional, also given it ended up at a military site.

“This looks like a provocation,” said Mindaugas Sinkevičius, interim leader of Lithuania’s ruling Social Democratic Party, while describing that the sensitive area where it was found leads to the conclusion that the breach was on purpose or a test of sorts.

It has been identified as a Gerbera drone, a type which Russia’s military often utilizes as a decoy to mislead or distract air defense systems in Ukraine.

Interestingly, the Gaižiūnai training grounds near Rukla – where it was recovered – actually hosts a NATO multinational battalion, regional reports say.

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Trump Deploys 2 Nuclear Subs After Medvedev’s “Foolish, Inflammatory” Statement

On Tuesday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued the Kremlin’s response to President Trump’s Monday announcement from Scotland that he’s reducing a deadline for Russia to agree a peace settlement from 50 days to 10 or 12 days, citing ‘disappointment’ in Putin not ending or at least winding down the war.

Medvedev warned: “Russia isn’t Israel or even Iran” and thus that “Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with (Trump’s) own country.”

That followed comments by Medvedev that Trump ‘steamrolled, humiliated’ Europe with his trade deal.

Then Thursday, Trump told Medvedev to “watch his words”

And now, Friday morning, President Trump took to his Truth Social account and escalated from words to actions moving two nuclear submarines to be positioned “in the appropriate regions” based on “highly provocative” statements from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

“Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances,” Trump says

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