The UN Admits A Ceasefire Isn't Likely
Day 50 ~ The Russian Flagship, The Moskva Is Damaged By The Ukrainians
Day 50 (14 April)
Nine humanitarian corridors have been opened again today, as to whether people can be evacuated safely is another matter.
The UN Secretary General (Guterres) admits that a ceasefire is unlikely given that Russia has failed to respond to their requests to allow humanitarian corridors. He said that the UN is focusing on other ways to deliver aid to Ukraine, but it does show that the UN has little to no powers to enforce matters, and is not effective as an organization that is supposed to deter war and to keep the peace.
The Ukrainian Post has issued a set of stamps with an image of Ukrainian solider on Snake Island telling the Russian warship ‘to go f*** yourself’ with his middle finger up.
Evidence indicates that some Ukrainians have been sent to filtration camps in Russia as far as Siberia and to Chechnya.
The US appear to be wondering how to transport helicopters to Ukraine without going into Ukraine. The obvious answer is to land them in Poland and let Ukrainians soldiers come over and get them. The US are also going to train some soldiers to use some of the equipment that they will be sending.
Claims have been made that a video showing a Russian soldier raping a baby have been circulated on the internet.
The BBC is taking action to remove a fake video that claims to have been made by the BBC regarding the attack on Kramatorsk train station, where the fake video suggests that Ukraine was responsible.
The Moskva, the Russian flagship has been damaged by Ukrainian missiles and the crew have had to evacuate. This is more of a symbolic ‘win’ for Ukraines as the warship was a control centre and is more about Russian pride as it was involved in the Snake Island incident at the start of the war.
The Irish foreign and defence minister (Simon Coveney) made a solidarity visit to Kyiv today. While Ireland is neutral it supports Ukraine in their fight for democracy and have provided aid and support, and will also support the Ukrainian application for EU membership. This comes after the presidents of other European countries made a symbolic visit of solidarity yesterday,
The main story is that Russian has threatened a potential nuclear attack if Sweden and Finland join NATO, They claim that it is inconsistent with a non—nuclear status in the Baltic region, and that Russia would be ‘forced’ to deploy nuclear weapons to defend themselves. NATO is a defensive alliance that we can clearly will not attack, but hopefully will defend, therefore , the Russian claims are propaganda for the Russians would not need to defend themselves unless they attacked first.
The beauty company L’Occitane has chosen to keep their Russian stores open, claiming they are doing it to protect their 700 staff members who may suffer because they have Ukrainians relatives. The company are aware of the public backlash, and their social media channels are packed with people stating they will not buy from the company that is well-known for their soaps and hand creams. Further criticisms are on the social media channels of QVC that is a major retailer of the brand, with calls for QVC to stop stocking the brand. L’Occitane also owns Elemis, a premium skincare brand and the public have also called for the brand to be boycotted. Even if L’Occitane closes the shops now, their reputation has been damaged as their image included donations to UNICEF, the use of eco-friendly refills and a recycling scheme, plus the use of fair-trade ingredients.
Zelenskyy calls out Hungary and Germany for continuing to use Russian oil. He calls it ‘blood money’ as is all money that people are willing to spend to prop up the Russians.
Regarding the Reuters report that Russia has nuclear weapons in the Baltic region, according to the Lithuanian Prime Minister, Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea coast between Poland and Lithuania is a Russian militarized zone and has been for many years, as Russia threatens to increase its military presence.