Day 400~ Zelenskyy Invites China To Ukraine
Russia, to chair the UN Security Council Meeting in April
The stakes are getting high, with Zelenskyy inviting China to visit Ukraine for talks after they declined to respond through diplomatic channels for a phone conversation. Countries are choosing sides, and after the discovery of a deep cover Russian agent who studied in the US as a graduate student and who created networks in Washington DC, Russia has decided to retaliate by arresting a Moscow based journalist for the Wall Street Journal on espionage charges. This has led to the US advising all Americans to leave Russia.
Tanks, armoured vehicles and some fighter jets have arrived in Ukraine, but to defeat Russia they need new technology and not weapons in dribs and drabs to be effective. We are talking about saving lives here and saving a country from being destroyed, and it has taken a year to get this far already. How many more lives will be lost while the allies decide what weapons they are willing to give Ukraine.
In other news, apparently Russia will chair the UN Security Council meeting in April. How can anyone take the UN seriously when a country that is provoking and attacking another be permitted to head a meeting in the UN as well as being a permanent member of the UN Security Council?
Day 399 (29 March)
Zelenskyy has invited Xi Jinping to Ukraine for talks. So far, China has not made any comment.
Alexei Moskalyov, the father of a girl who drew an anti-war picture has been sentenced to 2 years imprisonment. He did not show up at the hearing having anticipated the verdict and has escaped house arrest and is on the run.
The US have charged Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov with acting as an agent for a foreign power. He posed as a graduate student using the name Victor Ferreira in Washington DC in 2018 gathering intelligence for Russia. His messages advice that the US would not actively support Ukraine in a war but would give the impression that they did support Ukraine for appearances sake, thus suggesting that an invasion would not yield any US support and could be successful.
He is currently in Brazil on charges of visa fraud, wire fraud, identify theft, and acting as a agent for a foreign power after he was deported from the Netherlands when he attempted to apply to be an intern at the ICC. The Russians state that he is a Russian citizen and are looking to extradite him from Brazil.
Poland is discussing a coalition to boycott the 2024 Olympics with Russian and Belarusian competitors being allowed to compete under a neutral flag.
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker in Star Wars), a United 24 ambassador has lent his voice to the air raid alert app in Ukraine, ending with ‘May The Force Be With You’.
Day 400 (30 March)
Alexei Moskalyov made it out of Russia into Belarus, but was tracked in Minsk when he switched on his cellphone. Belarusian authorities have detained him and seek to send him back to Russia. He had been warned not to use his phone, and assumed he was safe in Belarus, but the country is an extension of Russia and that becomes clearer each day.
Sweden has summoned the Russian ambassador in Stockholm to explain their comments and interference regarding their NATO application. The Russian ambassador said that;
“If anyone still believes that this (NATO membership) will somehow improve Europe’s security, you can be sure that the new members of the hostile bloc will become a legitimate target for Russia’s retaliatory measures, including military ones…”
In Russia, Evan Gershkovich a Wall Street Journal reporter has been detained accused of espionage. This comes after it has been revealed a Russian deep cover spy (Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov ) had posed as a graduate student in Washington DC collating information for Russia. They were apprehended when they attempted to apply as an intern at the ICC last year. It seems that this arrest is a Russian response to the arrest of Cherkasov, where it looks as if they are seeking a means to swap the detainees in order to get their spy back.
Ukrenergo, has signed an emergency assistance agreement with other EU countries that will permit them to seek assistance with electricity. This means that Ukraine is gaining EU ties, making their membership to becoming full members highly probable.
Leaked documents from the FSB indicate that Putin had planned for a Russian Empire to include Belarus and Ukraine. Russia more or less controls Belarus and that is why they have invaded Ukraine. These plans had been in place since 2012 according to the documents.
The lease on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Monastery has not expired but the monks have not left and insisted on carrying out a service. Authorities have said they will not use force to remove them but will proceed with an inventory as the property is to be transferred back to the state. However, some buildings were locked and parishioners blocked the exit preventing state commissioners access to the building. A new acting vicar has been appointed (Archimandrite Abraham) who is appealing against the government decision.
The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy has filed a police complaint against the blockage by the parishioners and representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Moscow Patriarchate.
The State Property Fund in Ukraine is looking to auction off the Ocean Plaza shopping centre that was partially owned by sanctioned Arkady Rotenberg. The state owns 66.65% and the rest is owned by Ukrainian businessmen.
Zelenskyy gave a speech to the Austrian parliament where the right wing politicians walked out. He was thanking the country for humanitarian aid and reminding them that one cannot be morally neutral when it comes to evil. It’s hard to be objective on this because sovereign countries have a right to decide how they are governed and it is for the citizens to voice their concerns. The problem I see here is that Ukraine has been promoting itself as wishing to be democratic, but they must also accept that other countries have a different ways to democratic. Until Ukraine sorts out its corruption problem, they should not start offering advice to other countries. We have seen too many politicians caught either as traitors, or ones that have abused their position to embezzle money.
There will be a mandatory evacuation of families with children in Avdiivka next week. They have learnt from Bakhmut, where the evacuation should have taken place months ago. One of the issues is the risk to the army and humanitarian aid who risk their lives to save people who refuse to leave their homes in a battlefield. It makes no sense at all to stay and risk death by each minute.
In April, Russia is to chair the UN Security Council meeting. Will others boycott the meeting, because how can the UN consider itself a credible entity when the leader of Russia has a warrant out for his arrest by the ICC?
Japan is to provide $400 million to help with the reconstruction of Ukraine. North Macedonia has approved the transfer of a dozen Mi-24 combat helicopters to Ukraine.
Grossi has visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant where his appearance makes no difference to the situation whatsoever. He came to oversee the rotation of the observation staff and admitted that the military presence has increased and thus the plant is not safe and cannot be protected. Nothing that we didn’t know or expected.