WW3? Ukraine/US vs. Donbass/Russia

[Vicus]

Russian troops did not stop behind Avdeevka and continued their offensive Yesterday

After the liberation of Avdeevka in the DPR from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russian troops did not stop outside the city, but continued to advance forward, advancing further. Official sources and monitoring resources reported this on February 18.

Thus, according to the bottom of the Russian Ministry of Defense, units of the Russian Armed Forces are already in full control of Avdeevka (the clearing has been carried out) and have advanced to a depth of 8,6 km beyond its borders, pursuing the retreating Ukrainian formations. The Russian command wants to prevent the Ukrainian Armed Forces from gaining a foothold on new frontiers and building a defense.

Stopping the offensive actions of the Russian Armed Forces will give the enemy time to take a break and organize fresh fortifications and defensive lines west of Avdeevka. The Russians are trying to prevent this from happening and go as far as they can.

In turn, the Ukrainian information platform DeepState confirmed information from the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to experts, the Russians, after taking Avdiivka, really did not stop, but continued to put pressure in this direction, pursuing the retreating Ukrainian units.



Currently, they are actively storming the village of Lastochkino. There are fierce battles for this settlement. The speaker of the United Press Center of the Ukrainian Defense Forces of the Tauride direction, Dmitry Likhovoy, reported to the public that the Russians have already carried out 14 powerful attacks and will likely continue their efforts.

https://en.topcor.ru/44517-rossijski...stuplenie.html

[Vicus]

The Rabotinsky garrison is being cut into two parts: the Russian Armed Forces are demonstrating to Kyiv’s NATO sponsors what a counteroffensive in the Zaporozhye region is

Russian troops continue the offensive operation in the Zaporozhye direction. Since the beginning of the last day, the Russian Armed Forces have advanced a distance of at least 1,3 km in the Rabotino area. The greatest advance was made to the east of this settlement, which is still controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The situation is such that the enemy’s Rabotinsky garrison is being cut into two parts by our troops. Moreover, one of the parts of this garrison is literally squeezed onto a narrow strip of territory northwest of the village of Verbovoye.

The enemy, who himself laid minefields on this section of the front, now finds himself in a situation where his own minefields are preventing him from maneuvering in such a way as to achieve success in defense.

Simultaneously with the division of the Ukrainian Armed Forces garrison into two parts, Russian fighters are putting pressure on enemy units in the southern part of Rabotino. In this regard, the enemy is trying to disperse its forces, including to counter attacks from the eastern flank. With every hundred meters of advance of the Russian Armed Forces between Rabotino and Verbov, it becomes more and more difficult for enemy formations to do this.

In this regard, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine withdraws part of its forces from the Kherson direction, throwing them into the Orekhov area, fearing that Russian troops will go there.

And the Russian Armed Forces, by their actions, demonstrate to the NATO sponsors of the Kyiv regime what a counteroffensive in the Zaporozhye region is.

https://en.topwar.ru/236609-razrezaj...j-oblasti.html

[Vicus]

Ukraine Used US Chemical Weapons Against Russian Troops - MoD 5 hours ago



MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has recorded cases of Ukrainian troops using US chemical munitions during the special military operation, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian armed forces, said on Monday.

"During the special military operation, cases of US chemical weapons used by the armed forces of Ukraine were recorded," Kirillov told a briefing.
The Ukraine military used US-made chemical grenades dropped from UAVs several times against the Russian armed forces in 2023, and this January, Ukrainian units used an unknown toxic chemical against the Russian troops, which led to burns, nausea and vomiting.

"Ukraine, with the complicity of Western countries, does not limit itself to the use of non-lethal chemicals, but actively using chemicals from the list. I would like to draw attention to the statement by representatives of the Ukrainian armed forces about the availability of such compounds at their disposal, including analogues of the combat toxic substance Tabun, which is included in List 1 of the Convention [on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction]," Kirillov said.

Kherson Region & LPR Heads Survived Poisoning Plots by Ukrainian Forces
In August 2022, Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Kherson region administration, was hospitalized after being poisoned with ricin, a substance detected in his biomedical samples, revealed Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Chemical Defense Forces.
In December 2023, the head of the Lugansk People Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, suffered a serious poisoning attempt from phenolic compounds, said Kirillov. Prior to that incident, Pasechnik had never experienced any such poisoning attempts.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on the facts of the use of poisonous substances by the Ukrainian military:
-On August 19, 2022, a toxic chemical, an analog of the warfare poisoning agent "Bi-Zet," was used.
-A similar substance was found on January 28, 2024, during operational-search activities in a cache in Melitopol. It was in vials labeled "Biosporin".
-On February 8 and 16, 2023, cases of hydrocyanic acid use with drones were recorded.
-On January 31, 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used an unknown toxic chemical that caused burns. Analysis showed the presence of a compound known as anthraquinone.
-On December 28, 2023, American-made gas grenades loaded with a substance called "CS" capable of causing skin burns and respiratory paralysis were dropped in the area of Krasny Liman.
-On June 15, 2023, a drone carrying a plastic container with a mixture of chloroacetophenone and chloropicrin was used against Russian troops near Rabotino.

According to him, Ukraine's requests for the supply of antidotes, gas masks and other personal protective equipment indicate plans for the large-scale use of toxic substances.

continue: https://sputnikglobe.com/20240219/ru...116874393.html

[Vicus]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=lkRnbzykW-o

[Vicus]

Disguised NATO personnel fighting in Ukraine - Russian general 19 Feb 2024


Patriot air defense system.

Western specialists operate Kiev's air defenses and rocket systems, Colonel General Sergey Rudskoy claims.

NATO soldiers are fighting against the Russian Army in the Ukraine conflict disguised as mercenaries, a senior Russian defense official has claimed, days after Moscow dealt a major blow to Kiev with the capture of the key Donbass city of city Avdeevka.

Ukraine's shelling of Russian civilians - a significant part of which was carried out from Avdeevka in the years prior - is happening at Kiev's behest and with the tacit consent of Western states, the deputy head of the Russian General Staff, Colonel General Sergey Rudskoy, told Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on Monday.


The US and its allies pump Ukraine full of weapons and provide it with communications services and intelligence information, but some of the equipment requires qualified Western personnel on the ground, the official said.

"NATO soldiers disguised as mercenaries participate in the military operations. They control air defense systems, operational-tactical missiles, and multiple launch rocket systems, and enter into assault detachments," Rudskoy said.

NATO officers directly prepare military operations for the Ukrainian armed forces.

In mid-January, the Russian MOD announced it had killed over 60 foreign fighters in a precision strike, of which the majority were French speakers. Although France subsequently denied that any of their armed forces were in Ukraine, the French defense minister acknowledged that some French nationals went to fight as "volunteers" - and claimed that as a "democracy," Paris can't stop them from doing so.

According to the Russian MOD's estimates, more than 5,900 foreign mercenaries have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict in February 2022.

https://www.sott.net/article/489040-...ussian-general

[Vicus]

Moscow condemns neo-Nazi march in US 19 Feb 2024



The 'Blood Tribe' group has marched through Nashville, Tennessee, openly displaying Nazi symbols and chanting offensive slogans.


The US concept of freedom applies exclusively to the "forces of evil" and effectively boils down to unleashing everything that is "taboo," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said, commenting on a recent rally held by the neo-Nazi group 'Blood Tribe' in Nashville, Tennessee.


The group's balaclava-clad members marched through the city on Saturday, carrying black flags bearing Nazi swastikas, while chanting anti-immigration slogans such as "Deportation saves the nation." Some of the masked individuals wore sport shirts with assorted runic symbols commonly used by neo-Nazis worldwide, as well as the code '2218', which stands the slogan 'Bring back Adolf Hitler'.


The offensive march went on effectively unhindered, with few onlookers confronting the Blood Tribe members, Zakharova noted in a statement on the matter released Sunday. She claimed the US has consistently made an effort to whitewash the Nazis, namely by repeatedly voting against the UN General Assembly resolution condemning "glorification of Nazism" offered annually by Moscow.


Comment: See: US & Ukraine vote AGAINST anti-Nazi resolution proposed by Russia at UN General Assembly, eyebrows raised as Germany abstains

https://www.sott.net/article/489042-...zi-march-in-US

[kfm27917]

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/...evka-liberated

[kfm27917]

All Seeing Eye: Can Russia Break Through The West's ISR Overmatch?
We explore how Russia can deal with NATO/Five Eyes' vast space-recon capabilitiess during the coming offensives.

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/...-break-through

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/MaimunkaNews/status/1759638723132559764

https://x.com/MaimunkaNews/status/1759654996763726268

[Rizotto]

As a Canadian I am so disgusted with Canadian politicians, of all parties, that blindly applaud a nazi in parliament AND continue to provide military aid to corrupt Ukraine.
Meanwhile, homeless people right now in Canada are freezing to death.

"Canada will donate more than 800 drones to Ukraine as part of an additional aid package, Defence Minister Bill Blair announced."
Canada to donate more than 800 drones to Ukraine, defence minister says | CANADA-UKRAINE

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=NB9wVdeS4WE

What gives me hope is the comment section below that video, most comments are ridiculing the 'donation' of military aid to Ukraine.

[Tintin]

"In particular, I was complacent in my dismissive attitude to the argument that the Western powers would back ethnic cleansing and massacre in the Donbass, by forces including some motivated by Nazi ideology. The same powers who are funding and arming Ukraine are funding and arming a genocide by racial supremacist Israeli forces in Gaza. It is beyond argument that my belief in some kind of inherent decency in the Western political Establishment was naive. I apologise."

- Craig Murray, February 19, 2024

---------------------------------------------

Craig Murray re-evaluates his position on the Ukraine conflict with this piece published on his blog yesterday, February 19th. It has been abundantly obvious to many of us here who have explored the history of both Israel and Ukraine that the very same mindset and vested parties are behind BOTH, and it's a source of some relief, for me, that Craig has outrightly recognised as much publicly although he would of course, I imagine, have drawn that parallel at some juncture, at least privately quite some time ago.

It's a balanced and interesting article particularly regarding national identity.

----------------------------------------------

Rethinking Ukraine: Putin and the Mystery of National Identity

By Craig Murray

Source: https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archi...onal-identity/

The genocide in Gaza – or more precisely the major NATO powers’ active and practical support for the genocide in Gaza – has forced me to re-evaluate my views on Ukraine in a manner more sympathetic to the Russian narrative.

In particular, I was complacent in my dismissive attitude to the argument that the Western powers would back ethnic cleansing and massacre in the Donbass, by forces including some motivated by Nazi ideology. The same powers who are funding and arming Ukraine are funding and arming a genocide by racial supremacist Israeli forces in Gaza. It is beyond argument that my belief in some kind of inherent decency in the Western political Establishment was naive.

I apologise.

This does not mean that I was wrong to call the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian state illegal. I am afraid it was. You see, the law is the law. It has only a tenuous connection to either morality or justice. A thing can be justified and morally right, but still illegal.

The proof of this is that we have an entire legal structure governing transactions which is designed to achieve massive concentration of wealth. In consequence, the world is predicted to have its first trillionaires inside the next five years, while millions of children go hungry. That is plainly immoral. It is plainly unjust. But it is not only legal, it is the purpose of the system of law.

I am, however, content that the “Right to Protect” doctrine has not become accepted in international law, because it is in general application neo-imperialist. It was developed by the Blair government initially to justify NATO bombing of Serbia and the British re-occupation of Sierra Leone, and was used by Hillary Clinton to justify the destruction of Libya on the basis of lies about an imminent massacre in Benghazi. We should be wary of the doctrine.

(That is the major theme of my book The Catholic Orangemen of Togo).

The causes of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are plain. Alarm at NATO expansionism and forward positioning of aggressive military assets encircling Russia. The Ukrainian coup of 2014. Exasperation at Ukrainian bad faith and the ignoring of the Minsk accords. The continuing death toll from shelling of Russian speakers in the Donbass.

The suppression of the Russian language, of Russian Orthodox religion and of the main pro-Russian opposition political party in Ukraine are simple facts. These I have always acknowledged: until I saw the positive enthusiasm of leaders of the Western states for massacre in Gaza, I was not convinced they could not have been addressed by diplomacy and negotiation. I now have to reassess that view in the light of new information, and I now think Putin was justified in the invasion.

It is not that any of the arguments are new. It is simply that before I did not believe that the West would sponsor mass ethnic cleansing and genocidal attack on the Donbass by extreme Ukrainian nationalist-led, Western-armed forces. I thought the “West” was more civilised than that. I now have to face the fact that I was wrong about the character of the NATO powers.

The alternative to Putin’s action probably was indeed massacre and ethnic cleansing.

The urgent need now is for negotiation to put an end to the war. On that my position has not changed. The war is a disaster for the people of Europe. The American destruction of Nord Stream has devastated the German economy and resulted in huge energy price increases for consumers all across Europe, including the UK. There was a step jump in food inflation which has not been pulled back.

The continuation of the war will of course prime the pump of the military-industrial complex. Massive defence spending is the most efficient way to ensure kickbacks to the political class who control the flow of state funds, through both legal and illegal forms of corrupt reward to politicians.

As Julian Assange said, the object is not to win wars: the object is forever wars, to keep the funds flowing.

The truth is that the longer the war persists, the less generous Russia will be over returning occupied territory to Ukraine. The deal which was torpedoed by the West nearly two years ago (and in truth the US played more of a role than Boris Johnson – I was actually there in Turkey) ceded only the Crimea to Russia, with a Minsk plus deal for the Donbass which would have remained Ukrainian. That is unthinkable now. The major question is how large a coastal corridor Russia will insist on keeping westward from Crimea, and whether Putin can be persuaded to accept less than the historical dividing line of the Dnieper.

I do not share the Russian triumphalism at the dwindling manpower resources of the Ukraine. With the obscene billions the West is pumping into remote warfare in Ukraine, that is not the factor you might expect. But the political will of the West to continue to pump in these billions is plainly sapping, as it becomes obvious there will be no successful Ukrainian offensive. Put simply, Russia will outlast its opponents.

It has always been the case that the sooner Ukraine and the West settle, the better deal they will get, and that is more true every day. But prolonging the war is an end in itself to those who make money from it.

Putin’s historical disquisition to Tucker Carlson opened some Western eyes to another national perspective, and gave rise to widespread claims by Western media that Putin was factually wrong. In fact almost all of his facts were correct. The interpretation of them, and the position of other facts which were omitted or given less weight, is of course the art of history.

There is no question I find more fascinating in history than the formation and dissolution of national identities.

My own perspective on this – and there is no subject on which it is more important to understand the vantage point of the person writing – is governed by two factors in particular. Firstly, I am a Scot and come from one of Europe’s oldest nation states, which then lost its independence and struggles to regain it after being submerged in a new “British” national identity.

Secondly, as a former diplomat I lived and worked in the political field in a number of countries with differing histories of national identity.

These include Poland, a nation state which the historian Norman Davies brilliantly quipped “Has emerged from time to time through the mists of history – but never in the same place twice”.

It includes Ghana, a state with an extremely strong sense of national identity but which was an entirely artificial colonial creation.

It includes Nigeria, another entirely artificial colonial creation but which has struggled enormously to build national identity against deep and often violent ethnic and cultural differences.

It includes Uzbekistan, a country which also has entirely artificial colonial borders but which the western “left” fail to recognise as an ex-colony because they refuse to acknowledge the Soviet Union was a continuation of the Russian Empire.

So I have seen all this, as someone with a training and interest as a historian, who has read a great deal of Eastern European history. I have also lived in Russia and was for a time both a fluent Russian and Polish speaker. I do not write this to claim I am right, but so that you know what has formed my view.

Putin argued at great length that there never was such a country as “Ukraine”. The BBC has run a “fact check” and claimed this is “Nonsense”.



There are several points to make about this. The first is that the BBC did not, as it claimed, go to “independent historians”. It went to Polish, Ukrainian and Armenian historians with their own very distinct agenda.

The second is that these historians did not actually take issue with Putin’s facts. For a fact-check it does not really examine any of Putin’s historical facts at all. What the historians did was put forward other facts they felt deserve more weight, or different interpretations of the facts referenced by Putin. But none argued convincingly for the former existence of a Ukrainian national state or even the long term existence of Ukrainian national identity.

In fact their arguments were largely consistent with Putin. The BBC quote Prof Ronald Suny:

Mr Suny points out that the inhabitants of these lands when they were conquered by Russia were neither Russian nor Ukrainian, but Ottoman, Tatar or Cossacks – Slavic peasants who had fled to the frontiers.

Which is absolutely true: 18th century Russia did not conquer a territory called “Ukraine”. Much of the land of Ukraine was under Muslim rule when conquered by Catherine the Great, and nobody called themselves “Ukrainian”.

The BBC then gives this quote:

But Anita Prazmowska, a professor emerita at the LSE, says that although a national consciousness emerged later among Ukrainians than other central European nations, there were Ukrainians during that period.

“[Vladimir Putin] is using a 20th Century concept of the state based on the protection of a defined nation, as something that goes back. It doesn’t.”

Which is hardly accusing Putin of speaking “nonsense” either. Prazmowska admits the development of Ukrainian national consciousness came “later than other Central European states”, which is very definitely true. Prazmowska herself has a very Central European take – the idea of the nation state in England, Scotland and France, for example, developed well ahead of the period of which she was speaking.

I should address the weakness in Putin’s narrative, around the origins of World War 2. Russian nationalists have great difficulty in accommodating the Stalin/Hitler pact into the narrative of the Great Patriotic War, and while Putin did briefly reference it, his attempt to blame World War 2 essentially on Poland was a low point. But even here, there was a historical truth that the standard Western narrative ignores.

The Rydz-Smigly–led military dictatorship in Poland after the death of Pilsudski was not a pleasant regime. Putin was actually correct about Munich: both the UK and France had asked Poland to allow the Soviet army to march through to bolster Czechoslovakia against Germany, and Poland refused (Ridz-Smigly did not trust Stalin, and frankly I don’t blame him). But this is an example of part of Putin’s narrative that countered the received Western tradition, that most well-informed people in the West have no idea happened, and is perfectly true.

The fusing back then of Ukrainian nationalism with Nazism, and the atrocities of Ukrainian nationalists in WW2 against not just Jews but also Poles and other minorities, were also perfectly true.

It is a simple and stark truth there never was a Ukrainian state before 1991. There just was not. Lands currently comprising Ukraine were at various times under the rule of Muslim Khans, of the Ottomans, of Cossack Hetmans (possibly the closest thing to proto-Ukrainians), the Polish-Lithuanian confederation and Russian Tsars.

As I have stated on this blog before, the boundary between Polish/Lithuanian and Russian influence became settled on the Dnieper. I have also published this map before, showing that history resonates through the current conflict.


Truce of Andrusovo 1667

There is also the case of third-party recognition of the Ukrainian nationality. I have read, for example, the letters and memoirs, both published and unpublished, of scores of British soldiers and civil servants involved in the Imperial rivalry with Russia in Asia. Many had contact with Russian officers or diplomats. They did clearly recognise different ethnic identities within the Russian Empire. The Russian diplomat Jan Witkiewicz was described repeatedly by British officers as “Polish”, for example. “Cossack” and “Tartar” were frequently used. I cannot recall any of these British sources ever using the description “Ukrainian”.

Nor did British officers who actually passed through Ukraine, like Fred Burnaby and Arthur Connolly, describe it as such in their memoirs. Now I am not claiming that if British imperialists did not notice something, it did not exist. But if there were a centuries-old recognition by the rival Empire of the existence of a Ukrainian national identity, that would definitely mean something. There does not appear to be such.

I should be interested to know where Ukrainian nationalists claim their cultural heritage lies as proof of early national identity. What is the Ukrainian equivalent of Shakespeare’s John of Gaunt speech, of Scotland’s Blind Harry, or even of Poland’s Pan Tadeusz? (This is a genuine question. There may be areas of Ukrainian historic identity of which I am unaware).

Putin was not wrong about history (apart from the dodgy bit about origins of the second world war). But the correct question is whether any of this matters.

It is not whether Putin’s historical analysis is broadly correct, it is whether this matters. I am inclined to the view that Putin is correct that there is little evidence that the people living in Ukraine, hundreds of years ago, ever considered themselves a distinct national entity.

But they are all dead, so they don’t get a vote. The only thing that matters is the opinion of those living there now.

It seems to me beyond dispute that there is now a Ukrainian national identity. I know several Ukrainians who consider themselves joyously and patriotically Ukrainian, just as I know patriotic Ghanaians and even patriotic Uzbeks. The question of how this identity was forged and how recently is not the point.

I should add there are undoubtedly a great many Ukrainians whose sense of national identity is not linked to Nazism. There is a historical and a current strain of Nazism in Ukrainian nationalism, and it is far too tolerated by the Ukrainian state; that is certainly true. But to claim all Ukrainian nationalists are Nazis is a nonsense.

The formation of national identity is a very curious thing. Ivory Coast has just won the African Cup of Nations at soccer, beating Nigeria in the final. The competition arouses huge patriotic fervour throughout the continent of Africa. But the boundaries of all the African nations, except arguably Ethiopia, are entirely artificial colonial constructs. They cut right across ethnic, cultural and linguistic boundaries.

Much of modern Ghana was the old Ashanti kingdom, but that extended much further into now Ivory Coast. The coastal areas were never Ashanti. In the east, the Ewe people’s lands are cut by a completely artificial boundary with Togo. To the north, largely Muslim populations live a much more rural lifestyle. Yet Ghanaians are fiercely proud of this imposed state of Ghana. They are proud it was the first African state to attain Independence, they are proud of its heritage of supporting African liberation movements including the ANC, they are proud of its education system. They have a real sense of national identity that goes far beyond the passionate support of its sporting teams.

Ghanaian identity is modern, ahistoric, within entirely colonial boundaries. But it is real and valid.

In Central Asia, the boundaries of the “stans” are again colonial boundaries that cut right across the pre-existing Khanates. The boundaries of these ex-Soviet republics were carefully designated by Stalin not to be ethnically or culturally coherent, to guard against the development of national opposition. So the greatest Tajik cities, Bokhara and Samarkand, are not in Tajikistan but Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan has important similarities to Ukraine. Both are states with boundaries of Soviet republics, which have no relationship to any pre-existing state or nation. In both – and this may be a legacy of Soviet authoritarianism – the state has attempted to force national identity by compulsory homogeneity. So Russian language medium in education was first banned in Uzbekistan, and then Tajik. Ukraine has similarly banned the Russian language. This of course is nothing new in state behaviour, as Highland Scots well know.

Yet even in Uzbekistan, a passionate national identity has been created, even among Kazakhs, Tajiks etc who reside there. The alchemy by which this happens is mystifying; partly it seems to depend on a natural loyalty to whatever authority exists, which is a rather troubling thought. For Central Asia, Olivier Roy’s The New Central Asia, the Creation of Nations has some thoughts on the sociology of the process.

I am aware I need to read more on the creation of national identity, because most of my thought is based on simple observation. It is however entirely plain that national identity can appear, and can be genuine, and can do so in a period of merely decades. There is now a Ukrainian national identity, and those who subscribe to it have the right to their state.

That they have a right to the former boundaries of Soviet Ukraine is a different proposition. Given the reality that it is plain a significant minority of the population do not subscribe to Ukrainian national identity, that civil war broke out, and that this relates to historic geographic fracture lines, it seems that division of territory is now not only inevitable but desirable.

All people of good will should therefore wish to see an end to fighting and a peace settlement, of which the territorial elements are somewhere close to the current lines between the forces, with Russia giving back some territory in return for recognition of its gains. The alternative is more death, human misery and economic malaise.


————————————————

[Jaak]

https://twitter.com/vicktop55/status...51674420383996

Who owns the lands of Ukraine for 2024 - suddenly someone forgot.

In 2021, the law on the sale of land came into force in Ukraine. As the Australian National Review neatly reported, "companies from the United States have used the new legislation to make massive investments in the country."

Now Cargill, Monsanto and Dupont (investors - Vanguard, Blackrock and Blackstone) own 40% of Ukraine's arable land. For permission to sell land, Ukraine received a $17 billion loan from the IMF, and offices of all three corporations were opened in Kiev.

GMA-Monsanto Corporation directly and through a number of intermediary companies already in 2022 owned 78% of the land fund of Sumy region, 56% of Chernihiv, 59% of Kherson and 47% of Mykolaiv region, She also has 34% of the land in the Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk regions pledged.

Also in 2013, the South China Morning Post reported that China (represented by Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps) had acquired 3 million hectares of Ukrainian land — land the size of Belgium "leased for 99 years with the right of redemption."

"28% of Ukraine's arable land is owned by a mixture of Ukrainian oligarchs, European and North American corporations, as well as the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia."
The scientists also reported that the owners of Ukrainian (on paper) agricultural holdings "have long been American NCH Capital, French AgroGeneration, German ADM Germany, KWS, Bayer and BASF, Saudi PIF and SALIC."

In the end, American researchers come to an amazing conclusion - the Russian SMO "takes place on chernozems sold to foreigners for a long time"

https://t.me/vicktop55/21514

[Vicus]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dQCVNd38qsc

With this 2 Giant guest , many interesting topics (military strategy,old and new politics,each one experience about U.S. ,history,the real role from Navalty,culture, etc.
and something new (for me)about some list from acknowledge people in the media
picture them quasi as enemy or worse ...(not the Ukros kill list) from "west" "story line"...
Mark: 1:25:32

[Vicus]

Victory in Avdeevka: How Russia forced Ukraine to retreat from the most fortified city in Donbass 20 Feb, 2024

The area was the scene of heavy fighting back in 2014, but Kiev managed to hold it against local rebels



On Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Avdeevka – long an important stronghold of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) northwest of Donetsk city – had been liberated. The area had been seen as strategically vital as far back as 2014, when Kiev’s troops fought local Donbass separatists.

After the start of Russia’s military operation, in 2022, the situation near Avdeevka escalated again and, for the past two years, battles in the surrounds were ongoing.

The most recent encounter, which began on October 10, last year, and ended with the defeat of the Ukrainian garrison, involved additional Russian troops transferred from the Liman direction and commanded by Colonel-General Andrey Mordvichev.

The Ukrainian Army, which could not stop the Russian advance and wasn’t able to provide a permanent supply line for its garrison, hastily fled from Avdeevka, leaving behind about 850 prisoners, many bodies of its dead servicemen, and a lot of military equipment. The Ukrainians also had insufficient time to blow up high-rise buildings in the area, from which Russian troops can now obtain a clear view of the AFU’s future lines of defense. The number of Ukrainian troops killed during the battle and in the course of the withdrawal is currently unknown. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, in the 24 hours prior to the capture of Avdeevka, the AFU lost more than 1,500 people.

The fact that Russian troops have successfully captured the city changes the operational situation in the Donetsk direction. In addition to reducing the number of potential Ukrainian attacks on Donetsk, Makeyevka, and Yasinovataya (since the front line has been pushed to the west and north), the liberation of Avdeevka will allow Russia to rebuild the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway as well as the major railway junction in Yasinovataya. Moreover, the AFU has been forced to retreat to new, less fortified positions.

Among other things, this victory has significantly boosted the morale of Donetsk residents, giving them hope that life can go back to normal and the artillery terror under which they have been living for many years may stop. To fully understand their joy, we must delve into history. So, if you don’t mind I will take only 30 seconds or one minute of your time to give you a brief historical background.

War in Donbass and the Minsk Agreements

Before the outbreak of the war in Donbass in 2014, Avdeevka was a typical industrial city. The Avdeevka Coke and Chemical Plant, located on the northern outskirts of Avdeevka (and later turned into a strongpoint by the AFU), used to be one of the major metallurgical facilities in Ukraine.

When civil war broke out, the city came under the control of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Avdeevka was strategically important, since it was located between Donetsk (the capital of the DPR) and Gorlovka – one of the largest cities controlled by the insurgents. Battles for Avdeevka broke out in July. However, the pro-Russian militia of Novorossiya were unable to maintain control over the city, and on July 28, Ukrainian forces occupied it and continued to advance in the direction of Yasinovataya.

The Minsk I Agreements – an effort to settle the internal conflict in Ukraine by means of diplomacy and with the aid of Russia, France, and Germany – stipulated that Avdeevka would remain under the control of Ukraine. It became the main stronghold of the AFU in this direction, along with the territory of the Donetsk airport and the village of Peski near Donetsk. According to the Minsk Agreements, Ukrainian forces had to withdraw from some of these territories to create a buffer zone. But the AFU did not want to lose this foothold, which it could use to attack Donetsk and other parts of the DPR with artillery fire.

continue: https://swentr.site/russia/592738-triumph-in-avdeevka/

[Vicus]

Ukraine’s Bloody Maidan Coup: See How It Started (Updated: 5 hours ago)

This February marks the 10th anniversary of the Maidan coup that shook Ukraine to the core and sparked a chain of dramatic events throughout the country.

What started as social unrest in late 2013 due to the then-president’s decision to delay a trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU eventually erupted into massive political demonstrations backed by the US and the EU calling for closer ties with Europe.
Amid the bloody developments in the streets of Kiev, political upheaval was brewing in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada parliament. Radicals soon declared the government as illegitimate, thus resulting in putschists seizing power in direct violation of Ukraine’s Constitution.

The protests quickly grew increasingly violent and ultimately led to full-fledged armed clashes with Ukrainian law enforcement. Pressured by the opposition, President Viktor Yanukovych fled Ukraine, effectively abandoning the country amid a profound crisis.
The new Kiev government took political measures infringing on the rights of Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine. This prompted people in Eastern Ukraine to take to the streets to oppose the new authorities.

Euromaidan triggered Ukraine's war on Donbass

The deep social and political rift within the Ukrainian society sparked the beginning of the ongoing Ukrainian crisis.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240221/uk...116905208.html

[ExomatrixTV]

• Roger Waters SLAPS DOWN Bono’s Pro-War Propaganda:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yd1wOWkqZXE

[ExomatrixTV]

• Russia has broken the stalemate in Ukraine. On the offensive' along the 600-mile war front:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CTsKxVBxLoo

From Bill:

A silly video title. There never has been a 'stalemate'. That's just more western media propaganda. This is exactly the kind of video which deserves further personal comment.

As far I am aware, that is what he says ... he was quoting western mainstream-talking points to debunk them! Coming to the same conclusions you are! (or we all are).

cheers,
John 🦜🦋🌳

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by ExomatrixTV (here)

• Russia has broken the stalemate in Ukraine. On the offensive' along the 600-mile war front:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CTsKxVBxLoo

From Bill:

A silly video title. There never has been a 'stalemate'. That's just more western media propaganda. This is exactly the kind of video which deserves further personal comment.

[ExomatrixTV]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by ExomatrixTV (here)

• Russia has broken the stalemate in Ukraine. On the offensive' along the 600-mile war front:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=CTsKxVBxLoo

From Bill:

A silly video title. There never has been a 'stalemate'. That's just more western media propaganda. This is exactly the kind of video which deserves further personal comment.

As far I am aware, that is what he says ... he was quoting western mainstream-talking points to debunk them! Coming to the same conclusions you are! (or we all are).

[Bill Ryan]

An astonishing interview — not for the content, but the skill, courtesy and tact with which Judge Napolitano discusses the war with Matt VanDyke. The way he handles this is exemplary, despite his strong personal opinion about VanDyke's participation as a mercenary.

VanDyke is an American fighting for Ukraine, wearing a Ukrainian uniform. Scott Ritter, who holds VanDyke in contempt (as do I, I have to say), predicted he would die. But it seems he's not dead yet.

Napolitano asks all the perfect questions, opting with quite some discipline NOT to respond to some of VanDyke's stated absurdities. (Such as it was the absence of US funding which led to the fall of Avdeyevka.)

And VanDyke, despite having survived his ongoing ordeal at the front lines so far, is clearly demoralized. This is highly recommended, simply for the human condition aspect of all this. The video title is a gentle play on words, as VanDyke is indeed (somehow!) still alive.

Matt VanDyke: A LIVE View from Ukraine

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=52yFM2O0KZU