Tag: ukraine

Ukraine To Be First European Country To Establish Diplomatic Ties With HTS-Led Syria

Ukraine is among the first countries in Europe to declare it is working to re-establish diplomatic ties with Damascus and that it will soon recognize post-Assad Syria under Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)

President Zelensky in last week’s comments made no mention that a US-designated terrorist organization which is an offshoot of al-Qaeda is running things in Damascus, as this is apparently but a minor detail to him.

“We are preparing to renew our diplomatic relations with Syria and our cooperation within international organizations. I want to thank our intelligence for the security framework of these contacts,” Zelensky said.

The comments followed closely on the heels of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha visiting Syria to meet with HTS officials, including the jihadist group’s head Abu Mohammad al-Jolani.

The Ukrainian government has long acknowledged that it provided drone and intelligence support for months to the originally Idlib-based HTS.

Ukrainian officials had previously openly boasted that they would assist in hitting Russian assets and bases in Syria, in order to bog its forces down there and distract the top Russian command from the Ukrainian front lines.

Small drone warfare has been described by many analysts to have been a key component further demoralizing Syrian Army positions after Assad’s military and state institutions had been essentially hollowed out after years of grinding war and crippling Western sanctions.

Ukraine first severed diplomatic relations with Syria in 2022. It was triggered by then President Bashar-al Assad recognizing Russian sovereignty over the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics in eastern Ukraine.

“Certainly the Syrian people and the Ukrainian people have the same experience and the same suffering that we endured over 14 years,” an HTS representative said during last Monday’s visit of the Ukrainian delegation.

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US ‘Quietly’ Sent Heavy Weapons To Ukraine Well Before Invasion Started, Blinken Reveals

The United States is currently dealing with conflicts in multiple hot spots from Eastern Europe to Gaza to dealing with a collapsed Syrian state and continued standoff with Iran over its nuclear program.

But the Biden administration regrets nothing – so says Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a major end of term interview given to the NY Times and published this weekend. Among the more interesting pieces of new information from the interview is Blinken’s direct admission that Washington was covertly shipping heavy weapons to Ukraine even months before the Russian invasion of February 2022.

“We made sure that well before [Russia’s ‘special military operation’] happened, starting in September and then again in December, we quietly got a lot of weapons to Ukraine,” he said in the interview published Saturday. “Things like Stingers, Javelins.”

The Kremlin at the time cited such covert transfers, which were perhaps an ‘open secret’, as justification for the invasion based on ‘demilitarizing’ Ukraine and keeping NATO military infrastructure out. Moscow had issued many warnings over its ‘red lines’ in the weeks and months leading up to the war.

Below is the full section from the NY Times interview transcript where Blinken boasts of the pre-invasion transfers:

QUESTION:  You made two early strategic decisions on Ukraine.  The first – because of that fear of direct conflict – was to restrict Ukraine’s use of American weapons within Russia.  The second was to support Ukraine’s military offensive without a parallel diplomatic track to try and end the conflict.  How do you look back on those decisions now?

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  So first, if you look at the trajectory of the conflict, because we saw it coming, we were able to make sure that not only were we prepared, and allies and partners were prepared, but that Ukraine was prepared.  We made sure that well before the Russian aggression happened, starting in September – the Russian aggression happened in February.  Starting in September and then again in December, we quietly got a lot of weapons to Ukraine to make sure that they had in hand what they needed to defended themselves – things like Stingers, Javelins that they could use that were instrumental in preventing Russia from taking Kyiv, from rolling over the country, erasing it from the map, and indeed pushing the Russians back.

Blinken claims elsewhere in the interview that the Biden White House kept diplomacy going the whole time, and tried to engage Moscow, but explains that this basically involved keeping the Western allies and backers of Kiev unified and on the same track.

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Biden regime rushes $21 Billion in aid to Ukraine, escalating conflict

In a desperate last-minute push to escalate a proxy war against Russia, the Biden administration has announced a massive 21 billion aid package to Ukraine, with just weeks left before President?elect Donald Trump takes office. This latest package includes 21 billion aid packages to Ukraine, with just weeks left before President?elect Donald Trump takes office. This latest package includes 1.22 billion for new weapons procurement, 1.25 billion in weapons from U.S. stockpiles, 1.25 billion in weapons from U.S. stockpiles, 3.4 billion in direct budgetary support, and $15 billion secured from frozen Russian assets.

The Biden administration’s relentless focus on Ukraine has now surpassed 66 billion in security assistance since taking office. This latest move empties the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) account, leaving no funds for new weapons procurement before the Trump administration takes over. While billions remain in the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) account, it is unclear whether the Biden team will spend the remaining 4.33 billion before January 20.

The weapons being sent to Ukraine include advanced air defense systems, anti-tank missiles, artillery ammunition, and unmanned aerial systems, among others. While the Pentagon claims these donations are necessary to counter Russian aggression, critics argue that this endless flow of taxpayer dollars is fueling a war with no clear endgame.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed gratitude for the aid, calling it a “critical” lifeline as Russia intensifies its assaults. However, the Biden administration’s approach raises serious questions about accountability and oversight. With billions being spent on weapons and direct budgetary support, there is little transparency about how these funds are being used or whether they are effectively addressing the conflict.

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Ukraine Attacks Russian Belgorod Region With U.S. Long-Range ATACMS, Drones

This evening, the Ukrainian military fired drones and long-range ATACMS missiles into the Belgorod region of Russia.

Drones overnight on Jan. 4 attacked Russia’s Avangard factory in Smolensk Oblast, which makes solid-fuel rocket motors, and missile transport and launch containers. Drones also reported in Bryansk, Smolensk, Belgorod and Pskov, and St. Petersburg airport was closed, reported accounts on X.

The Belgorod governor reported multiple explosions in civilian areas; Tsarizm cannot verify that information at this time. He declared no one was hurt.

The Russian government declared all projectiles were shot down but this cannot be confirmed.

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Former German FinMin Admits Corruption In Ukraine Is “Rampant”, And Large Majority Of Ukrainians Agree

“Ukraine is now ruled by an oligarch who increasingly relies on foreign aid. A state where corruption is rampant and there are no real democratic structures,” former German Finance Minister Oskar Lafontaine told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, cited by news agency V4NA.

The former minister emphasized that independent parties and mass media are banned in Ukraine and establishing democracy and independence would take a long time.

Reports of corruption are common in Ukraine, especially in the military, according to Magyar Nemzet. A recent anti-corruption investigation identified 30 Ukrainian officials suspected of embezzling funds, including employees of housing and maintenance departments, as well as representatives of commercial structures across Ukraine. Prosecutors say 15 of them were members of organized crime groups.

And as Zelensky goes begging for more money from President Joe Biden for the war, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced last week that it has uncovered a large-scale scheme to embezzle more than $3.7 million from the state budget — funds that had been meant for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to finance everything from heating and electricity to military infrastructure construction work. 

Prosecutors say some of these goods were purchased at significantly higher prices than market prices. Some of the suspects are also accused of abuse of power and negligence in military service. One of the defendants, the head of a regional housing and maintenance department, is suspected of illegally purchasing $285,000 worth of commercial equipment, land and other valuables that were registered in the name of an intermediary. 

Magyar Nemzet lists several scandals, including in January 2023 when Deputy Defense Minister Vitaly Polovenko announced that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry had terminated contracts with companies owned by Lviv businessman Ihor Hrynkevich, who was involved in the scandalous procurement of clothing for the armed forces. That same month, the Security Service of Ukraine announced that it had detained a colonel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the CEO of a defense supply company on suspicion of corruption.

In Ukraine, high-level corruption ranks second among the main concerns of Ukrainians after the Russian-Ukrainian war, a survey conducted by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption revealed. The results of the research previously presented by the Transcarpathian news portal Kárpáti Igaz Szó show that 71.6 percent of the population consider this to be the country’s second-biggest problem, and 73 percent of entrepreneurs think the same.

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Exposing Territorial Recruitment Centers In Ukraine – Human Trafficking To Support The War Effort

A man captured and sold to the war industry in Ukraine managed to make a short video inside one of many Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRCs) in Ukraine. These men are captured and sold to the military and rapidly shipped to the front lines. The police and the military, trying to avoid the fighting, capture others to fight in their place. Avoiding fighting is one motivation, and the other is profit-making. Some abductors make $2,000-$2,500 per day in human trafficking. The letters on the wall stand for Jesus Christ, and a letter was also found in the cellar talking about the targeting of the Christian population. Many Christians are conscientious objectors, as allowed by Ukrainian law, but the law is ignored because money can be made.

In this video, you can witness another attempt to abduct somebody; in this case, they managed to escape.

Occasionally, someone captured will die in the hands of the police. 

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Accused Cybertruck Bomber Served the US Army IN Ukraine

Accused Cybertruck Bomber Matthew Livelsberger not only recruited fighters for Ukraine, it has been revealed that he also served the U.S. Army in Ukraine as well.

“Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners,” the AP said Thursday evening. “He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said.”

It is still unclear the dates he was stationed within Ukraine. Alex Jones had previously revealed that U.S. armed forced were stationed in Ukraine back when it was still being denied in the mainstream media.

Interestingly, the second Donald Trump attempted assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, worked with U.S. intelligence agencies to expand The American Foreign Legion in Ukraine.

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Will Warnings of A Nuclear War Go Unheeded?

On December 7th, former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter hosted a panel entitled “No Nuclear War: A Call for Reason” at the National Press Club in the nation’s capital.

The three-part symposium brought together a range of anti-war speakers to address the growing threat of a nuclear confrontation between the United States and Russia. Trepidation over that increasingly likely scenario has only mounted following the reckless brinkmanship by the lame duck Biden administration in supplying long-range ATACMs (Army Tactical Missile Systems, pronounced “attack-’ems”) to Ukraine.

Not only do the precision-guided munitions give Kyiv the ability to strike deep within Russian territory, but the U.S.-made missiles must be launched with the help of Western personnel, something that will be interpreted by Moscow as an attack by NATO. While the live-streamed discussion was overshadowed by the earth-shattering news of the fall of Damascus to Western-backed jihadists, the catastrophic developments in the Middle East only made the apocalyptic theme more pertinent.

Participants in the forum included former Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, retired Army colonel and Washington insider-turned-critic Lawrence Wilkerson, Code Pink organizer Medea Benjamin, The Grayzone founder Max Blumenthal, his wife and fellow journalist Anya Parampil, Black Agenda Report editor Margaret Kimberley, broadcast host Wilmer Leon of (now defunct) Sputnik radio, political commentator Garland Nixon, author and human rights lawyer Dan Kovalik, MIT physicist Theodore Postol, and 25-year-old LaRouche Party agitator Jose Vega.

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Zelensky Says Ukraine Will Establish Diplomatic Ties With HTS-Led Syria

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was working to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria following the takeover of the country by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a US-designated terrorist organization that’s an offshoot of al-Qaeda.

“We are preparing to renew our diplomatic relations with Syria and our cooperation within international organizations. I want to thank our intelligence for the security framework of these contacts,” Zelensky said.

His comments came after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha visited Syria and met with HTS officials, including Syria’s de facto leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, who has been going by his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Ukraine severed diplomatic relations with Syria in 2022 after former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia, recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk Republics in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian intelligence supported the HTS takeover of Syria by providing drones and drone operators a few weeks before the offensive was launched. Ukraine’s military intelligence, known as the HUR, had also reportedly been involved in attacks on Russian bases in Syria.

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Trump Should Terminate The Bilateral Security Agreement Between The US & Ukraine

He should do this on his first day in office if he’s serious about implementing his foreign policy agenda.

New York Times contributor Rajan Menon wrote in a mid-December op-ed that Trump is unlikely to agree to give Ukraine the security guarantees that Zelensky is demanding in temporary lieu of NATO membership. He’s apparently unaware that Trump will soon inherit the bilateral security agreement that the Biden Administration reached with Ukraine in June. It essentially institutionalizes existing US military aid for Ukraine and obligates it to resume the present scale and scope of such if the conflict reignites.

Nevertheless, Menon’s factually inaccurate assessment raises the question of whether Trump would terminate that agreement as part of his plan to “Pivot (back) to Asia” for more muscularly containing China, which his administration could never do in full if it maintains such commitments to Ukraine. Last June’s document stipulates that “Either Party may terminate this Agreement by providing a written notification through diplomatic channels to the other Party” within six months of planning to abandon it.

It’s therefore legally feasible, but Trump would predictably get a lot of flak from his “deep state’s” Russophobic hawks, though he’d then free the US up to “Pivot (back) to Asia” without worrying about being dragged back into another proxy war with Russia in Europe. Moreover, by depriving Ukraine of the US security guarantees that it took for granted, he’d make it less likely that Kiev would violate the ceasefire in an attempt to manipulate America and others into fighting Russia on its behalf afterwards.

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