Austria Confirms It Would Arrest Putin If He Entered the Country
Russia moves nuclear weapons into storage in Belarus
Both Russia and Ukraine are engaging in a propaganda war—Russia to brainwash the citizens of Russia into believing that Ukraine belongs to Russia and that the war is to save Ukrainians from the Nazis running Ukraine, and Ukraine is promoting democracy and liberty to appeal to countries to help them fight the Russians. In the latter case, the aim is to encourage countries to supply weapons and to gather support. After the fall of Crimea, many didn’t think Ukraine would fight, but they did under Zelenskyy’s watch.
The tank coalition had led to Putin claiming that Russia will develop new tanks with an announcement that nuclear weapons will be deployed to Belarus, a satellite state. Fighter jets have now been offered to Ukraine, and a year ago many countries claimed they could not supply fighter jets as it would be seen as an act of escalation—even NATO chipped in and agreed. Now that they have accepted that Putin will not back down, does not wish to have peace or to negotiate, they know that after tanks comes jets.
Countries are having to pick sides, and the majority of the world supports Ukraine, yet there are some countries who silently support Russia (because of trade ties), and the neutral countries want to stay out of things. However, globalisation and a world war doesn’t mean you can turn a blind eye to what is morally right.
There have been deaths, tortures, kidnappings, and these atrocities continue on a daily basis. Bakhmut is a city of rubble, yet some people stubbornly refuse to evacuate and prefer to take their chances in the most dangerous place in Ukraine at present. What angers me is that they aren’t being brave, but volunteers risk their lives to deliver food and water to them and that’s how many die getting caught in the crossfire. That’s why I think it’s selfish of people not to evacuate because they aren’t helping the army or themselves. Many humanitarian volunteers have died as a result of trying to provide aid or to help people who refused to evacuate areas that were under attack.
In addition, it seems that Russians are targeting ambulances, and medics which means many have to disguise themselves to avoid being targeted. Its’ a war crime to target a medic wearing an insignia, but the Russians don’t care about the Geneva Convention when it doesn’t suit them.
The crackdown on Russian propaganda extends to children, where Masha Moskaleva (a 12 year old child) drew a picture depicting a Ukrainian flag with ‘Glory to Ukraine’ and a Russian flag on the other side with ‘No to war’. The authorities were informed after the father sought advice from a town councillor, and the child has now been put in a children’s home, and the father is under house arrest after being investigated. That is how extreme things are in Russia, and people are afraid to speak out or to voice an opinion knowing it may land them in prison.
Day 395 (25 March)
Erdogan of Turkey is still calling Putin and declaring that the war can end through negotiations. Obviously the man can’t be trusted as Turkey has permitted Russian tourists to visit the country to boost their economy, and even NATO and the UN know that negotiations are not enough to end this war.
Zelenskyy has stated that China did not respond to requests to speak to China after Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia. There was no proposal to mediate peace, after China had declared they would act as a mediator to their peace plan. Again, it seems China wishes to say the right thing, but then do not act—just as Russia behaves. How can China claims to advocate peace talks if they don’t have any interest in speaking to the side being attacked>
I did not get a proposal from China to mediate. I didn't get a proposal to meet. (Zelenskyy)
US Senators have been urging Biden to assist the ICC with evidence of war crimes by the Russians in Ukraine. The US does not recognise the ICC and have opted not to provide evidence because it may lead to the arrests of Americans, and the claim is that the ICC doctrine contradicts the US Constitution.
The Ukrainian MFA has criticised the UN Human Rights Office and their recent report which claims that both Ukraine and Russia have killed and tortured prisoners of war. One must act if they took into account acts of perfidy? The order was to take as many Russian PoW for exchange purposes.
We are grateful to the monitoring mission for its work, in particular for documented violations of international human rights law, committed by the Russian federation in the context of its armed aggression against Ukraine.
At the same time, we consider it on acceptable to place responsibility on the victim of aggression. According to the UN Charter, Ukraine has the right to self defence.
The US has imposed sanctions against some Belarusian entities. It is only a matter of time before more countries do the same as Belarus as been used as a transit country to import materials for Russia, especially components to make weapons.
The Austrian Justice Ministry has stated that if Putin was to visit Austria, they would arrest him as per the ICC arrest warrant that has been issued.
Hungary has been playing games again, and claims they cannot support Ukraine being integrated into the EU, claiming schools in Zakarpattia are in danger (only the southwest of the region is Hungarian). Hungary seems to be making excuse after excuse not to support Ukraine, and to make up reasons not to provide aid to the country. It’s time they were expelled from the EU and NATO and we will then see them become Russian allies.
Reports claim that in occupied Crimea, the head of the administration (Aksyonov) is forming a private military group that is affiliated to the Wagner group.
In Crimea, radio stations have been broadcasting message to tell Russians to leave, and other reports claim that properties have been sold and families have already left Crimea. After the Kerch Bridge incident, and the explosion of aircraft last year, many had already chosen to leave the territory and returned to Russia.
Portugal is assisting the documentation of the war crimes committed in Ukraine. They are sending $80,000 and are planning to send experts to help with the investigations.
Children who were taken to occupied regions in Ukraine (Kherson) have been returned to their parents. They were taken to be ‘re-educated’ as is the Russian excuse for the illegal detention of children. More have been taken to Russia, and it is a struggle now to locate them and to return them to Ukraine.
Day 396 (26 March)
Putin has announced that Belarus will receive tactical nuclear weapons from Russia, where they will be stationed but for what purpose? He further claims that this does not violate any nuclear non-proliferation agreements. Basically, he is looking to loopholes in the agreement to claim that he isn’t doing anything wrong, but it is an act of provocation. Funny that only Russia can claim acts of provocation, but other countries can’t when Russia is making threats to others. Nuclear warhead are already in Kaliningrad, which is a Russian enclave. The storage facility is being built and will be completed by 1 July 2023, and Iskander missile systems to launch the missiles have already been transferred to Belarus. These announcements can only be considered as warnings to Ukraine and their allies, and come after Ukraine requested fighter jets and has received pledges from two countries so far.
It is likely that Putin started moving nuclear weapons to Belarus prior to 24 February 2022, but is publicly declaring the existence of the weapons as a warning to the West
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Hanna Maliar of the Defence Ministry has requested the Ukrainian media to ‘stay quiet’ on Ukrainian counteroffensives. Only Zelenskyy, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov and the Commander in Chief, Valerie Zaluzhnyi are permitted to comment on counteroffensive plans. We should remember that this is a war, and while Ukraine wishes to balance things, but stating they are holding their position especially in Bakhmut, they need to also make it clear that this does not mean the allies can stop sending weapons.
Hungary has been interfering again, and claims that it seeks a ceasefire but does not agree that the annexed regions should be occupied by the Russians. Is that what they believe or because they know they have to say that because that is the position of NATO and the EU, and they must abide by those positions?
Russia has also announced that they will modernise 1,600 tanks and also manufacture new ones. This appears to be in response to the tank coalition where a number of allied countries are sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
Ukraine is demanding a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the movement of nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus. Would China and Russia be exempted from the meeting?
“Ukraine expects effective actions to counter the nuclear blackmail of the Kremlin. We demand to immediately convene an extraordinary meeting of the U.N. Security Council for this purpose.”
Amid all the bad news it's good to hear some Ukrainian children have been returned to their parents. I pray they have not been severely damaged and will recover surrounded by their loving families; while the dreadful news is, even MORE have been taken to Russia.