Tag: ukraine

CIA Director Ratcliffe declassifies intelligence on Biden’s 2015 visit to Ukraine

On Tuesday morning, CIA Director John Ratcliffe shared “intelligence regarding Ukraine after determining it is in the public interest.” The 8-page redacted document, dated Dec. 2015, regards the visit from then-Vice President Joe Biden to Ukraine from Dec. 7-8 of that year.

Ukrainian officials in then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s administration “expressed bewilderment and disappointment” at Biden’s visit to Kiev.

“After the visit, these officials assessed that the Vice President of the United States has come to Kiev almost exclusively to give a generic public speech and has no intention of discussing substantive matters with Poroshenko or other officials within the Ukrainian government,” the document reads.

It goes on to say that ahead of the visit, Ukrainian officials “expected the U.S. Vice President to discuss personnel matters with Poroshenko” while he was on the ground and “had assumed that the U.S. Vice President would advocate in support or against specific officials within the Ukrainian government.”

Following the visit, which did not go as expected, “officials within the Poroshenko administration privately mused as the U.S. media scrutiny of the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corrupt business practices in Ukraine.”

This, the officials believed, was “evidence of a double-standard,” as Biden spoke out against corruption in Ukraine but was accused of being guilty of similar practices himself.

The speech given by Biden to the Ukrainian Rada, or Parliament, while in Kiev during that state visit, included a call for the firing of a prosecutor who was investigating Ukrainian energy giant Burisma, on whose board his son Hunter sat. Hunter Biden was paid $80,000 per month for his service.

“As the Prime Minister and the President heard me often say,” Biden told gathered officials, “I never tell another man or another nation or another woman what’s in their interest. But I can tell you, you cannot name me a single democracy in the world where the cancer of corruption is prevalent. You cannot name me one. They are thoroughly inconsistent. And it’s not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption.” 

Keep reading

US Now Violating Long-Standing Informal Proxy War Rules

NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine is attracting growing attention as it threatens to spiral out of control.  There is ample reason for concern.  What began as a limited military assistance program to Kyiv from the United States and its European allies following Moscow’s expanded invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has morphed into something much larger and more dangerous.  NATO members are no longer just supplying Ukraine with weaponry that could arguably be described as purely defensive; they are equipping their Ukrainian proxy with far more destructive, long-range weapons capable of reaching targets deep inside Russia.  In addition, the United States and other NATO governments are assisting Ukrainian attacks by providing crucial military intelligence, including targeting data.

By engaging in that conduct, the United States is violating some informal but very real rules governing previous proxy wars that Washington has waged against adversaries.  One especially significant taboo barred attacks against the homelands of either the United States or its great power rival.  By allowing Ukraine, much less members of NATO, to be involved in attacks inside Russia, Washington has trashed that prohibition. Such reckless behavior threatens to entangle America and NATO as a whole in the Ukraine war as an outright belligerent against a nuclear-armed Russia and risk triggering World War III.

The conflict in Ukraine is hardly the first proxy war in history or even during just the period since the end of World War II.  Such ploys go back to the days of the Roman Empire and probably earlier.  The Korean War in the early 1950s had distinct features of a proxy war. Josef Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union pushed its North Korean client to attack the Western-backed government in Seoul in an effort to unite Korea under communist rule.  Washington (along with a few close allies) intervened to thwart that offensive and prop-up its anti-communist protectorate in South Korea.

The conflict threatened to become much more than a Korean civil war or a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union, however.  Matters escalated sharply when Moscow’s prominent ally, communist China, intervened with its own troops.  That development highlighted how clients, especially significant powers with their own policy agendas, can create a perilous situation during a proxy war even if the homelands of the two main players remain off limits.  At one point, U.S. leaders considered attacking China, perhaps even using nuclear weapons.  Such a move might have transformed the existing proxy war on the Korean Peninsula into a direct armed conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Keep reading

President Trump Opts For Nuclear War – Why? Who Is Controlling Him? Trump Will Lose All MAGA Support

We have written before, if President Trump actually wanted the war in Ukraine to end, he would stop funding and arming the corrupt Zelenskiy regime.

The war would end; the killing would stop — on both sides.

America could focus on its own problems.

But Trump is not doing that, he is enabling nuclear war. Why?

President Trump said yesterday he has made a decision to allow Tomahawk cruise missiles to be given to Ukraine. He says he wants to ‘see how they will be used’. The Tomahawk is an infamous long-range cruise missile with tremendous, accurate destructive power.

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy recently boasted that he ‘got what he wanted’ from President Trump in a recent discussion. The implication was Trump approved Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine.

Giving this to Zelenskiy will bring on Armageddon.

Today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Trump’s words.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made it very clear how Moscow would respond to the potential supplies of US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles to Kiev at a Valdai Club session, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a briefing, reported Russian state news agency TASS.

“As for Moscow’s position, President Putin spelled it out quite unequivocally at the recent meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club. Everything was explicit there,” he noted.

Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out at the plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club on October 2 that it was impossible to use Tomahawk missiles without the direct involvement of US troops, “which would mean an entirely new, qualitatively different phase of escalation, including between Russia and the United States.” Putin stressed on October 5 that Washington’s potential decision to send Tomahawk missiles to Kiev would undermine positive trends in Russia-US relations.

President Trump — what the Hell are you doing? Who is controlling you?

Keep reading

Joe Biden’s team blocked CIA from distributing report on son Hunter’s Ukraine business dealings

Then-Vice President Joe Biden’s team intervened in February 2016 to prevent the CIA from disseminating an intelligence report to policymakers about the perceptions senior Ukrainian officials held about his son’s business dealings, newly declassified memos show. 

The request that the intelligence community withhold the report from others in the U.S. government by Biden’s national security advisor was “extremely rare and unusual,” a senior CIA official told Just the News. 

“I just spoke with VP/NSA and he would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated,” the vice president’s Presidential Daily Brief briefer told the CIA. “Thanks for understanding.” 

The report, reviewed by Just the News, compiled the reactions of senior Ukrainian government officials to the December 2015 visit of Vice President Biden to Kyiv. 

In the aftermath of the country’s Maidan Revolution and the Russian seizure of Crimea, Biden had been appointed President Barack Obama’s point man to manage U.S. policy towards the fledgling, pro-Western government.  

The document shows that the Ukrainian officials in the government of then-President Petro Poroshenko, were disappointed with the vice president’s visit to their country for his lack of substantive discussions with their leader. Those same officials “privately mused” about the U.S. media’s scrutiny on Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine, the report shows. 

“These officials viewed the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corruption in Ukraine as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power,” the CIA relayed.

The intelligence report also shows that the Ukrainian officials “expressed bewilderment and disappointment” about the vice president’s visit because he did not engage in any of the expected discussions about substantive matters with Poroshenko or other senior officials.

You can read the declassified document below: 

File

Ukraine _Redacted_Final.pdf

Keep reading

Ukrainian Intelligence Says China Helping Russia Target Western-Funded Facilities In Ukraine

Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Agency official Oleh Alexandrov has told the state news agency Ukrinform that China has been directly assisting Russia with intelligence for use on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Specifically he said China is providing foreign intelligence to target those sites in Ukraine which benefit from foreign investment, meaning Western-backed and funded facilities, likely such as weapons production sites.

“There is evidence of a high level of cooperation between Russia and China in conducting satellite reconnaissance of the territory of Ukraine in order to identify and further explore strategic objects for targeting,” said Alexandrov. “As we have seen in recent months, these sites may belong to foreign investors.”

The Kremlin on Monday responded by rejecting the allegation, saying that it possesses all capabilities to not have to rely on any outside country or ally.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov when specifically asked about the new allegation from Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Agency said as follows:

“We have our own capabilities, including space capabilities, to accomplish all the tasks the special military operation poses,” he told reporters.

But the last year of the war has seen Moscow deepen its cooperation both with the Chinese and North Korean militaries.

The presence of North Korean troops within Russian forces is well-known, but Kiev has more recently alleged Chinese troops are fighting alongside Moscow forces as well.

There’s also reported to be training programs between Russian and Chinese militaries. For example, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate has told local media, the Kyiv Post, that “The Kremlin has decided to allow Chinese military personnel to study and adopt the combat experience Russia has gained in its war against Ukraine.”

Also, Iran has factored into the equation given it has established a drone production facility within southern Russia.

Beijing has additionally in the past issued statements calling out NATO for its constant expansion, and activity which has even been lately introduced in the Pacific region, and growing ties to Japan.

Keep reading

Zelensky Floated Stepping Down from Power ‘For Peace’, but Instead He Is Intimidating and Silencing Opponents, Paving the Way for a Vote That Keeps Him in Office: REPORT

Zelensky is working hard to remain in power.

Between his endless trips abroad to get support and money from his war sponsors, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is moving strongly to cement his chances in the event of an upcoming election.

But because his popularity is so low, to achieve that, he has to neutralize his opponents.

Almost no one believed his recent claims that he is ‘ready not to go for the second term’ because ‘it’s not [his] goal’, repeating the claims he made last winter.

Politico reported:

“In a move presumably aiming to take the sting out of the ‘autocrat’ allegation, Zelenskyy announced [last winter] dramatically that he was ‘ready’ to go if his resignation would help secure a ceasefire with Russia and gain Ukraine’s admission into NATO. ‘If [it guarantees] peace for Ukraine, if you really need me to resign, I am ready. I can exchange it for NATO’, he said.

This time round he told Axios: ‘My goal is to finish the war’ and not necessarily to continue to run for office. He also vowed to ask Ukraine’s parliament to organize elections if a ceasefire is agreed.”

Keep reading

Kremlin Denies Drone Incursions – ‘Something Fishy Going On’, Zelenskiy Ramps Up Drone Production

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov today denied Russian involvement in European drone incursions in recent weeks.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov cautioned EU leaders against blaming Russia for any drone incursion, saying they should expand their horizons instead, reported Russian state news agency TASS.

He rejected related accusations against Russia as groundless, referring to a recent report about the arrest of a European aircraft enthusiast for testing a drone. “The report said that guy was not even affiliated with Russia at all. While that is just a small unrelated case, well, [they should] expand their horizons,” Peskov concluded.

Europe has been swept with “drone hysteria” in recent days, with closures of the airspace over cities amid unidentified drone incursions. Mass media and politicians tend to link every such incident to Russia or its alleged plans to somehow strike the European Union amid the “drone wall” proposal put forward by Brussels, added TASS.

“There’s no reason to blame Russia for the drones spotted across Europe.

“There’s something strange about this whole story.”

Russia’s former president Medvedev chimed in.

“European cities have been engulfed by an epidemic of UFDs, or Unidentified Flying Drones. 

“UAVs are everywhere: near military bases, airports, fields, and cities. Whose they are remains unclear.

“The main thing is for short-sighted Europeans to feel the danger of war, to tremble and shake like dumb animals driven to slaughter, to soil themselves with fear of their coming end.

“Maybe then they will understand war and tear the heads off freaks like Merz and Macron, who profit from blood.”

Ukrainian President Zelenskiy highlighted the country’s progress in building domestic drone production.

“Our production potential for drones and missiles next year will already be $35 billion.

“We are already producing 40 Bohdan howitzers per month… and 2.4 million mortar and artillery munitions last year.

“We have successfully used Neptunes… soon we will regularly use our own ballistic missiles.

“Already, more than 40% of the weapons used on the front are Ukrainian. By the end of the year, no less than 50% must be our own weapons.

“The time has come to launch the export of our Ukrainian weapons.”

Keep reading

Ukrainian Drones Hit Oil Refinery, Chemical Plant 1500km Deep Into Russia

Despite fresh warnings from President Vladimir Putin issued the day prior at the Valdai summit in Sochi, Ukrainian drones have once again targeted two major industrial facilities deep inside Russia overnight – an oil refinery in the Orenburg region and a chemical plant in the Perm region – regional officials announced Friday.

The Orsknefteorgsintez oil refinery was struck and suffered damage in the first attack, which lies near the border with Kazakhstan. Videos circulating on social media showed a drone crashing within the refinery grounds, followed by thick black smoke rising above the site.

Regional Governor Yevgeny Solntsev stated that no one was injured and claimed that operations at the refinery were not disrupted, however.

Orsknefteorgsintez is one of Russia’s top oil refineries, with a capacity of 6.6 million tons per year and producing around 30 petroleum products including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and bitumen, regional reports say.

In Perm, the Azot chemical plant was also attacked, resulting in a disruption of operations there, after eyewitnesses widely reported two loud blasts. At least three drones may have been involved in the strike. Azot is part of billionaire Dmitry Mazepin’s Uralchem holding.

The plant reportedly manufactures products such as ammonium nitrate, nitric acid, sodium nitrate, and urea – and is also said to be Russia’s only producer of higher aliphatic amines and crystalline sodium nitrite.

Keep reading

FBI had three informants reporting Biden corruption in Ukraine, but no record of real investigation

The FBI had three separate confidential sources who reported the Biden family was engaged in corruption in Ukraine. However, FBI Director Kash Patel says that there is no record that the bureau sought to thoroughly investigate those claims.  

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., released two new FBI FD-1023s—records of reporting from the bureau’s confidential human sources—that focus on allegations of Biden family corruption.

These records match closely to a previous memo Grassley released in 2023 containing similar claims. The senator wants to get to the bottom of why the FBI apparently failed to fully investigate those claims. 

“To date, the FBI has never answered Congress whether they investigated the text messages, audio files and financial records referenced in that 1023,” Grassley said in a hearing with Patel in September.  

More Biden whistleblowers came forward about Ukraine/Biden

“Whistleblowers have provided my office with two additional FBI 1023 documents. These documents memorialize statements from FBI sources,” Grassley continued. “These two new 1023 documents are from separate FBI confidential human sources during different years.”

Grassley asked Patel directly at the hearing about how the FBI handled these three related allegations from human sources and whether the bureau made any effort to corroborate or obtain any of the records cited by those sources that could serve as proof of their claims.

“Regarding those records, did the Wray FBI make any effort to determine whether they existed? Did the Wray FBI make any effort to obtain those records?” Grassley asked. 

“Not to my knowledge, Mr. Chairman,” Patel replied.

Both confidential human sources told the FBI about an alleged corruption scheme involving Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings and its founder Mykola Zlochevsky, who were under investigation by the Ukrainian government, the memos show.

Keep reading

Putin claps back at Trump’s ‘paper tiger’ comment

Following accusations from President Donald Trump that Russia is a “paper tiger” in the war against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not hold back.

“We are fighting against the entire bloc of NATO and we keep moving, keep advancing and feel confident and we are a paper tiger; what NATO itself is?” Putin said. “A paper tiger? Go and deal with this paper tiger then.”

The fiery comments come as the White House is considering approving a request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Tomahawk cruise missiles that would allow Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia.

During a forum of international foreign policy experts in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin said this request would bring a “new stage of escalation” between Russia and the U.S.

However, he added that with the missiles, not much would change in their air defenses.

Keep reading