The war in Ukraine has lasted longer than the Russians had expected, and it is obvious the invasion had been planned for years (with Covid lockdowns hampering the plans) with so many spies being caught, and also proxies who live in Ukraine who support the Russian model of living. Spy networks have been uncovered in European countries, with agents from Belarus posing as students, leaving all European countries on the lookout for spy rings as Schengen permits border free passage without checks. Therefore, it is much harder to track people once they are in a Schengen country.
The question is, how do you un-brainwash these people when Ukraine does win, and what do you do with them? You can’t imprison all of them, but they remain a risk as they had been plotting to help destabilise the country and government.
In Bakhmut, around 3,000 people with 33 children remain according to the recent reports. Hopefully, the government has found a means by legally evacuating the children in their best interests. You wonder why people remain in a battlefield with no water, heat, or food when the government will rehouse them elsewhere and provide for them. The only conclusion is that some are waiting for the Russians to ‘save them’. Some might be too old and frail to move, but then again they have had more than 7 months to move, and the war in Donetsk has been raging since 2014 so many knew things were not going to get better.
Each day, there are talks of more equipment and weapons being pledged and sent to Ukraine. It might seem wonderful that Spain is sending an additional 4 Leopard tanks but need to repair them first, so that’s another delay. Is it great when you know Spain has 250 tanks, and that they are not in imminent danger as members of NATO and the EU? I’m not singling Spain out, but they are the latest country to add to their donation. France is not much better despite Macron’s charm as it appears the French are holding up paperwork to push plans through to produce ammunition, wanting guarantees that all production will benefit EU companies. Is this really the time to look at profits over production? War is a business with so many grants being allocated that companies want a share of the benefits.
The situation in the world is tense with the recent US drone incident and the Russian jets. Video footage was released by the US in an unprecedented move to prove their version of events, even though the entire interaction was not shown. The race to retrieve the drone is on, although Russia claims to have found the debris already. Then there is the Moldova situation, where leaked documents show that Russia had been planning to destabilise the country through Transnistria, and had been planting people in the country to stage coups as they had done in Ukraine for decades.
Meanwhile, how will the UN cope if Moldova suffers the same fate as Ukraine, and what will or can they do if the war extends outside of Ukraine with Russia retaining its seat as a permanent member of the UN Security Council? Ukraine is challenging the position, stating that the membership is invalid they did not formally rejoin after the USSR became the Russian Federation, and that the two states are wholly different.
Day 386 (16 March)
Today is the anniversary of the attack on the Mariupol theatre that was being used as a shelter for 600 people. Many of them died as the Russians targeted a civilian building that had been marked ‘children’ as a target. The Russians then occupied Mariupol, no thanks to the non-action of the UN, and the theatre has been demolished to destroy any evidence of war crimes. This is why Russia must be held accountable for their actions as these were planned murders, and one can say it is genocide by trying to wipe out Ukrainians.
Leaked documents indicate that Russia have plans to destabilise and take control of Moldova by 2030 from Transnistria. The document, ‘Strategic goals of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova’ was created in 2021 during Covid-19 lockdowns. The focus was on military, political, and economic objectives which included prevention of NATO membership, and planting pro-Russian groups and their policies through political parties.
Zelenskyy has dismissed three regional heads of state, quite possibly due to corruption and by collaborating with the Russian occupiers. Serhiy Hayday in Luhansk, Serhiy Hamaliy in Khmelnytskyi and Maksym Marchenko in Odesa.
The US military has released footage of the drone over the Black Sea and the interaction with the Russian jets. In an unusual move to declassify such footage it seems to be in an attempt to prevent Russian propaganda and to validate their version of events.
Russia has claimed that it has salvaged the debris of the drone, but there has been no evidence to support such a claim. There was a race to retrieve the drone, and the US admitted that it was going to be very difficult to do so.
The defence secretaries of the US and Russia (Lloyd James Austin III and Sergei Shoigu) have spoken on the phone, but no details have been released, except that the US had initiated the action.
The Polish Security Services have detained a spy ring of 9 people working for the KGB. They were caught on the border of Poland and Ukraine on a sabotage mission including monitoring the railway routes, and included a couple posing as students from Belarus. Their families have taken to social media to deny they are spies, but the question remains as to why they need to defend themselves publicly. The spies were also found to have been planning to spread propaganda to destabilise Polish relations with Ukraine.
Russia accused the West of Russophobia in a UN Security Council meeting. The UK responded (https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/uk-addresses-security-council-meeting-on-russophobia-uk-at-the-un)
Thank you President.
Colleagues, Russophobia is one of the ever-growing list of excuses that Russia has come up with to justify its war in Ukraine.
The fact that they are inventing so many of these is itself a good indication that they know none of them stands up to full scrutiny.
Let me be clear, on behalf of the UK, and let me say it in Russian.
Мы не русофобы. Наоборот, у нас есть исторические отношения между нашими странами.
Мы вместе сражались в двух мировых войнах. Мы глубоко уважаем богатое культурное наследие России.
Я сам семь лет изучал русский язык, его историю и замечательную литературу.
[Translation: We do not suffer from Russophobia. We have a long history between our two countries. We fought together in two world wars. Across our country people respect and admire Russia’s rich cultural heritage.
[I myself spent seven years studying Russia’s language, its history and its remarkable literature.]
We do not want Russia to fail as a state, as the Russian delegation sometimes claims. Quite the opposite, in fact. We want Russia to be a stable and prosperous nation – just one that does not invade and try to annex its neighbours.
What Ukraine wants, what we all want, is peace in line with the UN Charter.
The problem in Ukraine today is not caused by Russophobia. It is caused by President Putin’s desire to annex a sovereign nation, in breach of the most fundamental principles of the UN Charter.
So when the Russian state complains about Russophobia, what they actually object to, very simply, is Ukraine’s determination that it should remain an independent nation: its refusal to bend to Russia’s will and to give Russia its land.
And in pursuit of Ukraine’s land, the Russian military has killed and injured many tens of thousands of Ukrainians, and displaced millions. There have been widespread reports of atrocities, with the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine recording more than 70,000 potential war crimes so far.
Hundreds of Ukrainian apartment buildings, train stations, hospitals and schools have been hit. Ukrainian cultural property has been looted and cultural heritage sites destroyed.
And more than that. To build domestic support for his war, Putin’s government is pushing out propaganda about Ukraine, to dehumanise the people it is killing, and to delegitimise the country it is invading. All while falsely claiming that Russia is somehow the victim.
In the run up to the invasion, President Putin called Ukraine an intolerable “anti-Russia” and declared that it was an “inalienable part of Russia’s own history, culture and spiritual space”.
We have since heard relentless false claims, including from President Putin, that the Ukrainian government are ‘neo-Nazis’. And from former President Dmitry Medvedev that Ukrainians are “scum and freaks”, “cockroaches” and “grunting pigs”.
The Russian government may believe that this propaganda will help to justify at home the lives of the tens of thousands of Russian soldiers who have been sacrificed.
But the consequences for innocent civilians, for Ukraine as a nation state, and for the rest of the world are catastrophic.
Colleagues, Russia is not under attack. There is only one aggressor here. So we must all tell the Russian government, very clearly, to turn off its war machine: to stop the invasion, to stop the killing, and to stop the propaganda.
Thank you
Published 14 March 2023
Reports claim that Turkey will permit US warships pass through the Bosphorus due to the incident with the US MQ-9 drone and Su-27 Russian jet.
The Latvian Prime Minister, Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš, visited Ukraine and announced a $74 million military aid package.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Violations in Ukraine at the UN, published their report on the alleged war crimes carried out by Russia. While they confirm that there was evidence of war crimes, and crimes against humanity, they did not state that genocide had been carried out. People are apprehensive about using the word genocide as it the one of the worst crimes and parallels will be drawn with the Nazis. It also means that countries can take further action against Russia if an international body states that the crime of genocide is being carried out.
Poland will deliver 4 MiG-29 jets within the week reports claim. Other aircraft are being serviced and prepared. Should this happen, it means other countries have no reason not to follow suit. Poland has been a staunch supporter of Ukrainian democracy as it shares a border and also knows that what happens to the country affects the Polish. Duda, the Polish president is keen to get the ‘wings of freedom’ coalition started as other countries continue to hesitate.
Day 387 (17 March)
Former F-16 pilots in the US have stated they are willing to fly the jets fro Ukraine on a private basis as contractors. This still causes issues as they are Americans, and as veterans can the government have a say in matters and should they express public approval or disapproval? Either way, Russia will use their position for propaganda.
Belgium will provide Ukraine with 240 more military trucks and aims to have them delivered by next week.
France has announced that AMX-10 RC reconnaissance vehicles have arrived in Ukraine and are already active in the front line.
At the Ramstein 10, nine countries have pledged to transfer 150 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but as a battalion is considered 31 tanks, that’s only 5 battalions and one must also factor in tanks having to be repaired.
Russia, China, and Iran are holding joint naval exercises in the Gulf of Oman until 19 March 2023. This is an indication of how neutral or not China and Iran are in this war.
A woman in Kharkiv has been imprisoned for 15 years for treason. She was found to have provided information for the Russians detailing movement of the Ukrainian troops from 25 February - 22 March 2022 when Kharkiv was occupied.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative is to expire on 18 March 2023, and reports claims that Russia has been exporting stolen Ukraine grain from a port in Berdiansk (occupied).
Sweden is to send further military aid in the form of 8 Archer self-propelled artillery systems.
France has been blamed for stalling the EU plan to replenish ammunition stocks, stating that the €2 billion plan should have assurances that only EU companies will be used, hence benefit from the funding.
Slovakia has announced they will supply Ukraine with 13 MiG-29 jets. This comes after Poland announced it was sending jets yesterday.
Xi Jinping is to visit Moscow on 20-22 March 2023 at the invitation of Putin to discuss ‘strategic cooperation. Read into that what you will, and China states they will speak to Ukraine afterwards
The latest news is that the ICC has issued arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova for war crimes.
Today, 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on 7 October 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).
Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, born on 25 October 1984, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Ms Lvova-Belova bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute).
Pre-Trial Chamber II considered, based on the Prosecution’s applications of 22 February 2023, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children.
The Chamber considered that the warrants are secret in order to protect victims and witnesses and also to safeguard the investigation. Nevertheless, mindful that the conduct addressed in the present situation is allegedly ongoing, and that the public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes, the Chamber considered that it is in the interests of justice to authorise the Registry to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the name of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants are issued, and the modes of liability as established by the Chamber.
The abovementioned warrants of arrests were issued pursuant to the applications submitted by the Prosecution on 22 February 2023.
Fighter Jets, Drones, And The UN