Russo-Ukraine War - March 2024
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In November, Johnson talked up the idea of using more than $300 billion in seized Russian assets to help Ukraine. He told the New York Post: It would be pure poetry to finance the Ukrainian war effort with Russian assets. Nothing has been done on that front either. “We still need more legislative authority from Congress for the president to be able to act like this,” John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said on Tuesday, in response to a reporter’s question about the Russian billions.
In Hannity's October interview, Johnson also pledged: We will put forward a stand-alone measure to fund Israel in excess of $14 billion. In early February, the House of Representatives failed to pass a standalone $17.6 billion funding bill for Israel because it was introduced under a procedure that requires a two-thirds majority.
Johnson said he wanted legislation to secure the US southern border and enforce immigration laws more tightly, a perfectly reasonable priority, given the chaos and strain on resources that migrants are putting on cities coast to coast. However, when Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) came out with his joint proposal on foreign aid and border security, Johnson immediately rejected it, without offering a counteroffer.
A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.
On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
"To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal]
Russia sends soldiers into meat assaults, but does not take back corpses.
UK Defence Intelligence reported 03 March 2024 "The average daily number of Russian casualties (killed and wounded) in Ukraine throughout February 2024 was the highest rate it has been, since the start of the war, at 983 per day. The increase in the daily average almost certainly reflects Russia's commitment to mass and attritional warfare. Although costly in terms of human life, the resulting effect has increased the pressure on Ukraine's positions across the frontline. • To date, Russia has highly likely lost over 355,000 personnel killed and wounded during the Ukraine war."
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, says Ukraine is part of Russia as he rules out peace talks with the current Ukrainian leadership. In a bellicose speech on 04 March 2024 at a youth festival in the southern city of Sochi, Medvedev said Russia would prosecute what it calls its “special military operation” until the other side capitulated.
Dmitry Medvedev presented a map of the borders of the Russian Federation after the collapse of Ukraine, which “is Russia.” The territorial concessions to Poland and Romania look unexpected. Medvedev spoke in front of a map of Ukraine, which showed the country as a much smaller landlocked slice of territory squeezed up against Poland with Russia in complete control of its east, south and Black Sea coast.“One of Ukraine’s former leaders said at some point that Ukraine is not Russia,” Medvedev said. “That concept needs to disappear forever. Ukraine is definitely Russia,” he said to applause from the audience.
Medvedev clarified that “the territories on both banks of the Dnieper are an integral part of Russia’s historical strategic borders.” Therefore, Russia is not annexing anything, but is only restoring its historical borders. Medvedev called peace negotiations with the current leadership of Ukraine “impossible,” and negotiations with the new authorities will only be possible “if realities are recognized,” and the status quo on the reunified territories is recognized for the Russian Federation.
The map behind the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council looks interesting. According to it, the entire territory of the former Ukraine goes to the Russian Federation, but the Vinnitsa region is part of Romania, and the Zhitomir region is part of Poland. Ukraine itself remains within the borders of the Kyiv region. But, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said , “Kiev is a Russian city,” and Zhitomir, we note, is its suburb.
Why is Medvedev making such a generous offer to the Poles and Romanians? According to the Ukrainian Telegram channel ZeRada, this is a bonus for these countries entering into negotiations at the current stage. Russia, according to the author of the channel, is hinting that Kyiv made a mistake when it decided to leave “Istanbul” and launch a counter-offensive - it raised the stakes. And therefore “must pay for the mistake with additional alienation of territories.”
According to ZeRada, Romania and Poland are close to Britain. Therefore, this proposal can be regarded as an offer to the British. Let us add that these two countries are the main ones in the logistics of military supplies to Ukraine. The Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council believes that if the West recognizes the Russian Federation, it will also recognize all the regions included in it according to the Constitution. Therefore, Moscow is not interested in verbal passages in the West about non-recognition of the inclusion of reunified lands in the Russian Federation. Medvedev is confident that the Russian Federation will bring the SVO in Ukraine “to its logical conclusion.”
The World Youth Festival takes place in Sochi from March 1 to 7. About 20 thousand Russian and foreign young leaders in the field of business, media, international cooperation, culture, science, education, volunteering and charity, sports and various spheres of public life take part in it. This message from Medvedev is a signal to a new generation of world politicians.
On 01 March 2024, the head of Russian state broadcaster RT, Margarita Simonyan, published what she said was an audio recording between German officers, including the chief of the Air Force, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz. the audio includes a discussion about whether Taurus cruise missiles would be capable of destroying a bridge, seemingly a reference to the new bridge linking Russia-occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland over the Kerch Strait. The recording was apparently made from a video conference between four Air Force officers discussing Russia's war in Ukraine. On the audio leak, they spoke about ways German officers could supply Ukrainians with targeting information without appearing to be directly involved in the conflict with Russia.
Western defense officials have expressed concerns that Scholz's politics are hindering a larger strategy. "Scholz's behavior has shown that as far as the security of Europe goes, he is the wrong man, in the wrong job at the wrong time," Ben Wallace, who was the UK's defense secretary until last year, told The Standard, a British newspaper.
The call " revealed a tension, I think, between senior German military who want to see Taurus dispatched, and the German chancellor who seems increasingly focused on his political survival rather than what's best for the continent," Tobias Ellwood, the former chair of the UK parliament's defense select committee, told BBC Radio 4.
Niall Ferguson, a Scottish–American historian, Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, author of several bestselling books: "If Russia wins this war, or if it, to put it very, very modestly, is able to retain control of those parts of Ukraine that it currently does control, that so-called "land bridge" that extends right down to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, that will be the first big defeat of Cold War II for the West. Because we were all in, we were all in in our support for Zelenskyy. How many speeches did Western leaders make in support of Ukraine? How many promises did they make? How many pledges were there to be there for as long as it took? If we lose, our credibility is shot."
US President Joe Biden concluded his State of the Union address 07 March 2024 as he began it: highlighting the importance of defending democracy at home and around the world. "Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond. If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you: He will not. But Ukraine — Ukraine can stop Putin. Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons that it needs to defend itself. That is all — that is all Ukraine is asking. They’re not asking for American soldiers. In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine, and I’m determined to keep it that way. But now assistance to Ukraine is being blocked by those who want to walk away from our world leadership. It wasn’t long ago when a Republican president named Ronald Reagan thundered, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Now — now my predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, quote, “Do whatever the hell you want.” ... If the United States walks away, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe is at risk. The free world will be at risk, emboldening others to do what they wish to do us harm.""
France is planning to have some of its arms manufacturers produce much-needed military equipment directly on Ukrainian soil to help the country in its war against Russia, Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu said 08 March 2024. "Three French companies will be setting up partnerships with Ukrainian companies, in particular in the drone and land equipment sectors, to produce spare parts on Ukrainian soil, and perhaps ammunition in the future," he said.
"The idea is to have the first production units running this summer," Lecornu added. He hinted the companies involved would include tank maker KNDS, the holding structure formed by France's Nexter and Germany's Krauss-Maffei-Wegmann.
Pope Francis was criticized for his 'white flag' remarks regarding the War in Ukraine. Francis was quoted on March 9 in a partially released interview suggesting Ukraine, facing possible defeat, " ... the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates."
"The strongest is the one who, in the battle between good and evil, stands on the side of good rather than attempting to put them on the same footing and call it 'negotiations,'" Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said. "Our flag is a yellow and blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags."
Tetiana Hranchak, a visiting assistant teaching professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, responded: "The Pope only revealed out loud one of the presented within the Western establishment approaches to the war termination. Unfortunately, the end of the war in Ukraine at the expense of Ukraine does not automatically mean either peace or an end of human losses. Putin's global goal is to divide the world into spheres of influence and regain control over at least part of Europe. Therefore, the peace is possible under two conditions: either the defeat of Russia and its rejection of the global goal, or the “courage” of Western countries to agree with the Kremlin's demands, at least those outlined in the December 2021 ultimatum. Otherwise, the absorption of Ukraine by Russia will be only a stepping stone to a new - more large-scale - war."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg rejected Pope Francis' call for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, emphasizing that capitulation is not peace and urging continued military support for Ukraine against Russian aggression. Polish FM Sikorski on the Pope's call for Ukraine's capitulation: "How about, for balance, encouraging Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Peace would immediately ensue without the need for negotiations"
After holding a Paris-hosted conference on Ukraine on February 26, Macron said that Western leaders have discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine and nothing can be ruled out, although no consensus had been reached. After this position of the French president, the Russian Kremlin warned that the deployment of NATO forces in Ukraine would make a direct conflict between the alliance and Russia inevitable. The Kremlin also stated in response to Macron's statements: Russia must be vigilant, because the current generation of European politicians do not have the instinct to protect themselves.
French President Emmanuel Macron declared in an interview broadcasted by TF2 and France 2 that there will be no "lasting peace" in Ukraine unless Kiev establishes control over all the territories it has lost, including Russia's Crimean Peninsula. The French President also described Russia as France's "adversary", while simultaneously stressing that France is merely "supporting" Ukraine and has not been "waging war on Russia."
"Certainly, today, Russia is an adversary. The Kremlin regime is an adversary," Macron explained before adding, "We are doing everything so that it can put Russia in check because, I will tell you very simply, there is no lasting peace if there is no sovereignty, a return to the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine, including Crimea."
Its deploymen would not be in active conflict zones but will rather function as "a screening force/tripwire to stop Russia’s advance" or " a replacement force deployed to a non-active zone to free up Ukrainian soldiers for combat duty. Additionally, the French Brigade will be augmented by smaller units from the Baltic states.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov remarked that Macron apparently “won’t mind increasing the degree of his involvement” in the war in Ukraine. "Yes, it’s obvious that Russia is an adversary of France because France is already involved in the war in Ukraine; it is indirectly taking part in this war."
The head of Russia's foreign intelligence service claimed 19 March 2024 that France is preparing to send hundreds of troops to Ukraine. Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's foreign intelligence service, revealed that France is preparing to send a military unit to Ukraine. According to Naryshkin, in the first phase, France will deploy nearly 2,000 military forces in Ukraine.
National Security Adviser of the White House pointed out that Washington has no intention of sending its troops to Ukraine. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in response to reporters' questions about French President Emmanuel Macron's recent statements: "We have made our position clear, and that is that we do not intend to send American troops to Ukraine."
A Ukrainian military official anonymously told The Atlantic that Russia is likely firing missiles at Ukraine using satellite images it buys through intermediaries from US companies, including the two largest — Maxar and Planet. According to the source, during the two years of the full-scale war, there were many such coincidences: an unknown customer makes a request for satellite imaging of this or that object in Ukraine, and in a few days or weeks it is shelled. Examples: strikes on a plant in Lviv , on the Myrhorod airfield , on Ovruch and Lubny in the spring of 2022. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine suspects that the Russian Federation buys images through third-party companies — the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, commented on these assumptions to Suspilno : "All countries buy [satellite images], and so do we. This is a purely commercial service. They have used commercial images before."
Russia is not using the Crimea Bridge to supply weapons to temporarily occupied peninsula after it was hit by Ukrainian security agencies. That’s according to the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Maliuk, who spoke in an interview with ICTV, Ukrinform reported 25 March 2024. "At one time, we received a task from the President of Ukraine to sever the enemy's military supply routes in that direction. Actually, two successful operations were executed. Now you must understand that they do not use the Crimea Bridge for arms supplies. Before our successful attacks, 42 to 46 trains carrying weapons and ammunition used to pass across the bridge on a daily basis. Today it’s four to five trains. Four carry passengers and another one – consumer goods. That is, the enemy does not use the bridge today at all to supply weapons and means of destruction," he said.
Washington does not approve of Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. Sources of the Financial Times claim that the US has repeatedly called on the intelligence and Security Service of Ukraine to stop attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. The United States warned that this could cause a jump in world oil prices. Already in 2024, fuel prices have increased by about 15% — up to $85 per barrel. "Nothing scares the current American president (Joe Biden - ed.) more than a sharp increase in prices in an election campaign year," Bob McNally, a former White House energy adviser, told the FT. In addition, the Americans fear retaliatory measures from Russia. For example, the CPC pipeline is important for the West, which transports oil from Kazakhstan through Russia to the world market. Russia already blocked it for some time in 2022.
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