TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

2nd su-34

https://kyivindependent.com/air-force-ukraine-downs-2nd-russian-su-34-aircraft-in-single-day/

One of two

https://kyivindependent.com/air-force-ukraine-downs-russian-su-34-aircraft/

Russia uses Red Cross as a propaganda tool. Not one Red Cross visit to Ukrainian POWs

https://kyivindependent.com/media-investigation-kremlin-uses-russian-red-cross-as-propaganda-tool/

Resisting occupation of Crimea
https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/22276

They got one of the guys shooting soldiers who were surrendering.
https://t.me/WarriorsUkrainian/22329

Alla Sweetka died in the village of Velikiy Burluk, in the Kupyan district of the Kharkiv region. On February 14, 2024, the Russian army fired at the settlement with S-300 missiles.

Alla Sweetka was 27 years old. Graduated from Kharkiv National Agrarian University. She loved to sing. She dreamed of creating a family.

When in September 2022 the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated Velikiy Burluk from occupation, Alla headed the local cultural center. Even after an enemy rocket hit this building on January 8, 2024, she did not give up.

It is possible to destroy just the premises, but it is impossible to destroy our DNA in culture,
Alla wrote then.

She was supposed to be a future artist of Ukraine... Everyone loved her. She survived the occupation and continued to stay at home, worked for victory,
- added friend Lidia Bukhanko.

Sending Western troops on the ground to Ukraine should not “be excluded” in the future - French President Macron

“There is no consensus today to send ground troops in an official, assumed and endorsed manner. But in dynamics, nothing should be excluded. We will do everything necessary to ensure that Russia cannot win this war ,” explained the French president.

After an international conference in support of Ukraine, bringing together 21 heads of state held this Monday in Paris, Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed Paris's commitment to Ukraine. “The defeat of Russia is essential for security and stability in Europe ,” he declared at a press conference.

The head of state also announced that Ukraine's allies would create a coalition to deliver medium and long-range missiles to Ukraine.

It was decided to “create a coalition for deep strikes and therefore medium and long range missiles and bombs ,” he declared.

Several European countries support the Czech initiative for the EU to buy munitions outside Europe to further support Ukraine's war effort, participants at a meeting on Ukraine said Monday in Paris.

“The Czech initiative enjoys great support from several countries ,” declared Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala at the end of this meeting which brought together more than 25 countries allied with Kyiv at the Élysée presidential palace.

“This is a very strong message sent to Russia ,” declared the leader, assuring that fifteen countries were ready to join this initiative which aims to respond to the shortage of ammunition, in particular artillery shells, for Ukraine.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte affirmed that his country would contribute “more than 100 million euros” to the Czech plan and that “other countries would follow” this path.

“On ammunition, there is this very good Czech initiative which consists of purchasing ammunition and shells throughout the world for Ukraine ,” explained Mr. Rutte.

A "very irritated" German Chancellor Scholz explains why he continues to oppose Taurus deliveries to Ukraine - even after the Bundestag voted in favor of a recommendation to provide Ukraine with "long-range weapons".

Scholz said in Berlin that he does not want a situation to arise in which German expertise is used directly for the aquisition of Russian targets.

"We must not be linked to the targets that this system reaches at any point and in any place," said Scholz.

Scholz is concerned that if Germans were involved in target aquisition, rather than simply weapons supply, then this would make Germany a party to the war.

Counter-arguments have been made that Germany can train Ukrainians, who have demonstrated their technical aptitude on numerous occasions, how to operate the system independently, which would limit Germany's role to remain as a supplier of weapons and training, rather than a direct participant in the war.

Scholz has previously expressed concerns about the system being used by Ukraine to strike targets in Russia, which could "escalate" the conflict.

A number of counter-arguments have been made to this position. Ukraine has on many occasions shown how reliable they are to stick to agreements made with partners in the west to only use weapons within Ukrainian borders. A strike using Taurus in Crimea would be completely within the internationally recognised territory of Ukraine - a fully legitimate strike on its own
territory.

Further, the war launched by Russia is already an all-out war, where Putin has already stated that he is in an existential war against the West, that the true enemy of his country is the West rather than Ukraine itself.

Former NATO commander, retired General Wesley Clark, made the point in a recent interview by DW, that western countries needs to recognise the "inconvenient fact" that Russia believes it is at war against the West.

Scholz said that he was "very irritated" by "the lack of balance between what is really needed now and the debate about this one system".

It is certainly true that artillery ammunition is urgently needed by Ukraine, but not only. Retired General Wesley Clark explained that Ukraine "certainly need long range weapons" and that "they need not only the Taurus missile, but also other ballistic missiles".

President Zelensky made the following statement on Sunday: "Taurus missiles are very important to us. But the order of action is as follows: first the United States, then Germany".

What could be interpreted from this statement, is that Zelensky believes that if the US provides longer range (300 km) ATACMS or other long range missiles, then Germany would be willing to supply Taurus.

In other words, Scholz could be waiting for the US to provide the leadership and risk coverage of providing longer range missiles, rather than Berlin taking the leadership.

This conclusion could also be read into an answer provided today by a representative of the press service of the German government, who said: "German Chancellor Scholz will make a statement about the possible transfer of TAURUS missiles to Ukraine at the 'appropriate time'".

The "appropriate time" for Scholz appears to be "awaiting US leadership", something which is currently lacking, with support for Ukraine blocked in the US Congress.

This is not the time for Europe to appear weak. Leadership and concrete actions are needed!

❗️ Powerful explosions in Kherson. Kherson is under heavy artillery fire.

❗️A guided air missile, probably Kh-59, in the direction of Dnipropetrovsk region!

❗️ Launches of guided air bombs by tactical aircraft in Donetsk region.

👀Some monitoring channels report that one Russian UAV allegedly crossed the border with Moldova.

❗️ Explosions in Kryvyi Rih!

❗️Drone from Kharkiv region to Poltava region.

❗️A rocket changed the direction towards Kirovohrad region!

❗️There is a shahed in the direction of Kremenchuk from the Kirovohrad region!

(all above in the last 20 minutes)

"We are seeing the return of industrial warfare to Europe" - Professor Michael Clarke

"We didn't think we would see it after 1945, but it is back with us again now. The war is won by the side who can gear up its industry to fight a long campaign in what is a war of attrition.", he stated.

"The EU has delivered economic support, keeping the [Ukrainian] government running. The US has delivered the military support. The US can't deliver more ammunition without agreement in congress."

"Ukraine is the crucible for the ability of the western democracies to push back against the tide of autocracy which seems to be taking over the world"

"If the western word is seen to be a paper tiger, to not be able to deliver on its commitment, the rest of the world will take due notice of that and begin to lean towards Putin and Xi Jinping in China and other dictators on the assumption that the world is now moving in their direction."

The CIA helped create a network of secret spy bases on the territory of Ukraine and a Ukrainian intelligence network in countries where Russian intelligence services are active.

According to The New York Times, American intelligence has maintained a secret partnership with Ukrainian intelligence services for 10 years, exchanging intercepted information with Ukrainian colleagues.

With the support of the CIA and MI-6, the SBU created the paramilitary Fifth Directorate to conduct operations behind Russian lines. It was staffed by employees born after the collapse of the USSR and with no ties to Russia, the newspaper notes.

In 2014, the CIA delivered secure communications equipment to Ukraine for the first time and trained members of the Fifth Directorate and two other elite Ukrainian intelligence units.

The CIA also oversaw a training program for Ukrainian intelligence officers, which took place in two European cities. Among other things, Ukrainians were taught to work undercover. This is how a new generation of Ukrainian intelligence officers appeared who worked in Russia, throughout Europe, in Cuba, and other places of Russian presence.

With the help of the American department, Ukrainian intelligence has created 12 forward operating bases along the Russian border, the newspaper writes. From these centers, Ukrainian officers managed a network of agents who collected intelligence inside the Russian Federation. The bases were equipped with equipment for collecting intelligence information. After the start of a full-scale war, two more secret bases were built to intercept Russian communications. They are almost entirely financed and partially equipped by the CIA.

"As a result of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the state expenditures of Ukraine have more than doubled," stated the head of the Budget Committee, Roksolana Pidlasa.

"In order to understand how the government of Ukraine functions during the war, it is necessary to know that as a result of the full-scale invasion, government expenditures have actually doubled, increased by 2.5 times, compared to pre-war indicators and, according to experts' forecasts, will increase to more than 52 billion US dollars in 2024. Ukraine's budget deficit is unprecedented — 41 billion US dollars," Pidlasa said during a special YES meeting "Two years — the struggle continues."

She emphasized that the risk of not covering the funding is obvious and involves a reduction in both military and non-military spending.

"Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel, at least for this year: the IMF and the country's leadership reached a staff-level agreement on the third review of the program. Currently, Ukraine expects to pay $800 million by the end of March.
We are almost certain that the EU will finally approve the program for Ukraine (€50 billion) at the end of February and we hope that the US Congress will soon vote on the future of Ukraine.
In addition, it is important to note that Japan and Canada provided enormous assistance in covering the remaining deficit of public finances," Pidlasa added.

Russia will go to war with Nato if troops are deployed to Ukraine - Kremlin

The Kremlin has warned that a conflict between Russia and Nato would be inevitable if European members of the alliance send troops to fight in Ukraine.

French president Emmanuel Macron opened the door on Monday to European nations sending troops to Ukraine, although he cautioned that there was no consensus at this stage as allies agreed to ramp up efforts to deliver more munitions to Kyiv.

“Nothing should be excluded. We will do everything that we must so that Russia does not win,” Mr Macron said.

Asked about Mr Macron’s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that if it came to pass, talks would have to change to the inevitability of a Nato-Russia conflict.

“In that case, we would need to talk not about the probability, but about the inevitability (of a direct conflict),” Mr Peskov said.

Discussion by Western democracies of direct military intervention in Ukraine’s war against Russia is good and shows awareness of the risk to Europe from Russian aggression, a senior Ukrainian presidential official told Reuters.

“This shows, firstly, an absolute awareness of the risks posed to Europe by a militaristic, aggressive Russia,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.

Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary-general, said there are no plans for Nato combat troops on the ground in Ukraine. 

From "The Analyst":

RUSSIAN ECONOMIC UPDATE

The value of the Russian rouble is falling sharply again, despite an ever decreasing number of trading partners refusing to use it.
Putin’s policy to get it back to under 100 to $1 meant that capital controls forced a false revaluation. Any exporter was forced to repatriate 80% of any money they were paid in foreign currency. They then had to change 90% of those repatriated funds into roubles within 14 days - artificially creating a demand for the roubles and propping its value up.
Add to that, an increase in interest rates to 15% and it held the value.
Yet suddenly in the last few weeks the value is sliding again, and is clearly heading back to the 100:1 value.
It’s not just the USD either, it’s falling against the Euro - now at 101:1. Just to make things worse the Chinese Yuan has gone from 8 roubles to 1 to 13:1 in the past few days.
All of this means Russian imports are costing the country more and more money.
In the space of 2 years the Indian rupee has gone from 1 to 0.65 roubles to the point there is now 1 rupee to 1.13 roubles - another huge fall in value for Russia.
Inflation rates officially in Russia have it rising further to 7.4% - and nobody believes for a second it’s that low in the real world. Food inflation is said to be in 30% band.
The Russians interest rate is now 16% - only economic basket case Argentina and inflation riddled Turkey have higher rates inside the G20 states.
On top of this the Russian Federation is refusing to publish the economic data for January - it’s likely so bad they don’t want it publicly available.
So why is the rouble diving again?
Principal likelihood is Russian companies refusing to repatriate cash by bartering instead. That reduces demand and value.
Almost without a doubt there’s something distorting the Russian economy way beyond its tolerances. Things tend to spin out the tighter controls become. Military spending skyrockets, oil sales failing, gas sales through the floor, economic stagnation when it comes to the internal consumer market, all stand out. Add to that damage to
key industries by Ukraine - oil and gas terminals, heavy industrial sites and damage, all cost money and resources to fix that Russia doesn’t have, and also reduce income for Russia from abroad and taxation.
Increasingly the Russian economy is straining at every turn. The cracks are opening up and the pressures are many.
Only ending the war can really stop this inevitable demise.

From "The Analyst":

AVDIVKA FIGHTING RETREAT COSTS RUSSIA DEARLY

Ukraine continues to hold two villages so that Russian forces are not given the opportunity to gain any momentum, as defending forces withdraw to their prepared defence lines on the river behind them. Much of the ground is open terrain.
The incredible operation to take down the A50-U AWACS plane - which may have used some kind of modified S200 long range anti-air missile used in the earlier days of the Cold War for bomber defence, has had a dramatic consequence.
Ukrainian intelligence said that five aircraft already en-route on bombing missions were instantly recalled. This confirms the AWACS was being used for target acquisition and threat assessment against the aircraft, as well as confirming the operational detection range of the AWACS, along with the sophistication level of its radar.
The Russians have been using groups of infantry, usually about ten strong, to push into the area as Ukraine withdraws. Ukraine has been using snipers to take them out with considerable success. This led to the Russians starting to use armour to support the infantry.
During the attacks on Avdivka the Russians used long range mine rockets to try and block the Ukrainians from withdrawing - however these were used after they’d already left.
The Russians failed to communicate and their armour started running into their own mines, taking out almost a dozen vehicles.
Ukraine continues to withdraw to its defence line, but this is unlikely to be where Russia will push harder. The real threat is from Bakhmut all the way to Kupiansk- multiple axis of attack are under way as Russia pushes hard to find a weak spot.

Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦!

Russia will impose a six-month ban on gasoline exports starting March

According to Reuters, the ruzzians say that "demand for fuel will grow because of summer vacation travel, spring fieldwork on farms and planned repairs at oil refineries".

They did not mention high use of gasoline by the armed forces, and more to the point, the recent Ukrainian UAV attacks against refineries - hardly "planned" repairs..

- Is the petrol station running out of petrol?

⚠️ Warning from the Ukrainian Defence Intelligence

📄 Statement of the Intelligence Committee under the President of Ukraine, — the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine

❗️ Dear Ukrainians and our international partners!

▪️ Two years after russia unleashed a full-scale war of aggression, Ukraine is facing an objective threat to its existence as a state, as a nation, as a community of free and equal people.

▪️ In the context of deliberate distraction of the world's attention from the ongoing and bloody russian-Ukrainian war, the leadership of the aggressor country has resorted to a plan of planned sabotage, information operations and outright provocations.

▪️ The main directions and goals of the enemy are to disrupt Ukrainian mobilisation, spread disinformation about Ukraine's inability to win, create and spread fakes about "fatigue from Ukraine" among our partners and allies in the world. The russians' global international goal is to reduce support for our country from the pro-Ukrainian coalition in the world.

❗️ The goal of the russians inside Ukraine is to demoralise Ukrainians, sow panic among the population, drive a wedge between the military and civilians, and put everyone at odds with everyone, including representatives of the country's political leadership and civil society.
russian special services have extensive experience in conducting hybrid wars. They spend no less on information attacks against Ukraine than on conventional warfare.

👉 As reported by the Intelligence Committee under the President of Ukraine, in November last year, as part of the Maidan 3 special operation, russia spent almost $250 million on spreading anti-Ukrainian sentiment on the Telegram platform alone. The total budget of the operation was an astronomical $1.5 billion. This is the most expensive "action" of russian special services in history.

❗️ Special operation "Maidan-3" will reach its culmination in March-May 2024, and in the coming weeks, the enemy will make every effort to spread narratives destructive to global security and attempt to incite conflicts — both inside Ukraine and in other parts of the world where there is effective support for Ukraine.

✔️ The methodology of the campaign is traditional for russian special services: to question the legitimacy of government decisions made in Ukraine after 20 May, to spread panic and disbelief, to artificially oppose civilians and the military, to quarrel us with our allies, and to spread all sorts of "conspiracy theories" in society. This is happening against the backdrop of russia's public statements about the creation of new types of superweapons, which, according to the russians, should ensure russia's technical superiority over the West for the next decade. It follows that opposition to russia's goals in Ukraine is dangerous for the world, and therefore russia will push other countries to engage in direct dialogue on Ukraine without our participation.

⚔️ Also, the russians, through their own agents of influence in Ukraine and around the world, will rely on organising various protest actions and deliberately discredit the prisoner of war exchange process.

▪️ According to the enemy's plan, in the first half of June, the situation in our country will be shaken and then, taking advantage of the situation, Ukraine will be defeated militarily in the East, which is the key idea of their operation.

‼️ In view of the above circumstances, we call on Ukrainian society, our international
partners and allies to strengthen joint resistance and comprehensive security measures, especially in the information space, to effectively counter global threats and challenges of the new global hybrid war. The war waged by the russian federation and its criminal allies against the entire civilised world today.

🤝 Our society needs unity.

🇺🇦 Glory to Ukraine!

Ukraine downs another

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/28704

Sweden predicts quick response on shipping Gripen fighters to Ukraine.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/28718

U.S. President Joe Biden will meet with Congressional leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, at the White House on Feb. 27 to discuss a funding bill for Ukraine’s security needs

President Biden and members of Congress "will discuss the urgency of passing the bipartisan national security supplemental [aid for Ukraine] and keeping the government open.”

Johnson's office confirmed to Bloomberg that he will be attending the meeting with President Biden. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will also be attending the meeting.

“This is one of those instances where one person can bend the course of history. Speaker Johnson, if he put this bill on the floor, would produce a strong, bipartisan majority vote in favor of the aid to Ukraine,” Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said on Sunday.

Sullivan stressed that Ukrainians need weapons and ammunition to fend off Russian forces, and that in his personal conversations with the speaker, he “has indicated that he would like to get the funding for Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN that Avdiivka would not have been lost if Ukraine “had received all the artillery ammunition that we needed to defend it.”

Zelensky appealed to the Republican-led House to unblock the latest US aid package after Ukraine marked the second anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion amid increasing signs the war is tilting Moscow’s way as Ukrainian soldiers run out of bullets.

He told CNN in an interview in Kyiv on Sunday that Republicans such as Trump ally Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance – who have been speaking out against more Ukraine aid – do not comprehend the stakes of the conflict.

“To understand it is to come to the front line to see what’s going on, to speak with the people, then to go to civilians to understand … what will (happen to) them without this support. And he will understand that millions … will be killed. It’s a fact,” Zelensky said.