Day: May 23, 2023

Moscow has condemned Kiev’s latest attack on Russia’s Belgorod Region, accusing its armed forces of carrying out terrorist acts against the civilian population. The comments came after a Ukrainian saboteur group launched a raid into the district of Grayvoron on Monday, injuring at least eight locals.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said a Ukrainian nationalist unit had crossed the border following intensive artillery shelling of an international checkpoint and civilian targets in the Grayvoronsky district of Belgorod Region.

“The Kiev regime, having suffered a defeat in the city of Artyomovsk [known as Bakhmut in Ukraine], switched to the implementation of terrorist actions against the civilian population,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, describing Monday’s attack.

The unit, however, was completely destroyed in the course of a counter-terrorist operation, the ministry stated. It added that the Ukrainian nationalists had been defeated by airstrikes, artillery fire, and the actions of border guards from the Western Military District.

“The remnants of the nationalists were driven back to the territory of Ukraine, where they continued to be hit until they were completely eliminated,” the ministry reported. It claimed that over 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armored combat vehicles, and five pickup trucks had been destroyed in the process.

The ministry also published a video purportedly showing the destruction of the Ukrainian saboteur group.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has also suggested that Monday’s attack was intended to distract from Ukraine’s loss of Artyomovsk. The Donbass city was recently fully liberated by Russian forces, although Kiev has disputed claims of the settlement’s capture.

Peskov described Monday’s raid as “a matter of deep concern” and stated that it “once again confirms that Ukrainian militants continue their activities against our country.”

“This requires a lot of effort on our part. These efforts continue, and so does the special military operation in order to prevent such intrusions in the future,” Peskov added.

Officials in Kiev have distanced themselves from the Belgorod raid, claiming it was staged exclusively by the so-called ‘Freedom of Russia Legion’ and the ‘Russian Volunteer Corps’ (RDK) – a neo-Nazi group said to be composed of far-right militants.

A similar attack took place in early March in Russia’s Bryansk Region, leaving two civilians dead. The RDK claimed direct responsibility for the incident at the time, but also stated that Ukrainian authorities had directly “signed off” on the operation.

Source: Russia Today

It’s “obvious” that Kiev can’t win the war against Moscow, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said, urging for a diplomatic solution to the crisis instead of the West continuing to pour military aid into Ukraine. The PM made the remarks in a Bloomberg interview during the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday.

“Emotionally, it’s tragic, all of our hearts are with the Ukrainians. But I’m speaking as a politician who should save lives,” Orban stated, noting that Hungary views the ongoing hostilities from a “special angle” that differs from the “mainstream” European position.

Hungary itself is “losing lives” daily as well due to the conflict, Orban explained, referring to members of Ukraine’s Hungarian ethnic minority that have been “conscripted” to fight Russia. He abstained from condemning Moscow for the “invasion” of Ukraine, stating only that the hostilities were due to a major failure in diplomacy.

“[The] position of Hungary was, from the very first moment, that this war is the failure of diplomacy, it should have never happened,” Orban stated. “For us it’s obvious that the battlefield solution does not work.”

Pressed further on whether, in his opinion, Kiev was able to win the conflict, Orban replied that the course of the hostilities had clearly shown it “obviously” was not possible. The PM also implied neither side could actually win the conflict, adding that it can only end in a “ceasefire” followed by peace talks.

Orban’s remarks come as Hungary has opted to block a new €500 million ($544 million) military aid package from the EU’s so-called European Peace Facility (EPF). The fund – which is designed to reimburse the bloc’s own members to send arms and equipment overseas, as well as to finance foreign militaries directly – has been used almost exclusively to pour weaponry into Ukraine.

Hungary has taken a neutral stance on the ongoing hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, consistently refusing to provide military aid to Kiev or even allow the transport of military shipments through its territory. Budapest has also opposed the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions, particularly those that would have damaged the country’s own economy, including its nuclear and conventional energy sectors.

Source: Russia Today

A resident of the village of Kozinka was killed by Ukrainian militants in Monday’s raid on Russia’s Belgorod Region, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Tuesday. Initial reports spoke of a dozen wounded civilians, but no deaths.

“Very regrettably, we have a casualty. A peaceful villager of Kozinka was killed by the Ukrainian armed forces,” Gladkov said on his official Telegram channel. “My sincere condolences to his family and friends.”

Gladkov did not identify the villager by name, but said his wife was wounded in the raid and is currently being treated at an area hospital.

Around 100 civilians, including children and the elderly, were evacuated from Kozinka and nearby Glotovo due to the raid. All the villages have been fully re-taken and local authorities are working to restore utilities, the governor said.

Gladkov visited Glotovo, Kozinka and Gora-Podol on Tuesday, meeting with locals and inspecting the aftermath of the Ukrainian incursion. Among the items that the would-be invaders left behind was an American armored car, decorated with German crosses, he said.

A group of Ukrainian raiders crossed the border into the Grayvoron district, west of Belgorod city, on Monday. The Russian military described them as a “sabotage-reconnaissance group” and estimated their strength at around 50-200 men, using US-made armored cars.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the incursion on Tuesday as “a matter of deep concern,” adding that the special military operation in Ukraine will continue in order to prevent such events in the future.

Ukrainian officials insisted they had nothing to do with the raid, describing it as an autonomous operation of the ‘Freedom of Russia Legion’ and the ‘Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK)’. The latter group, composed of neo-Nazi militants fighting for Ukraine, had claimed responsibility for the March incursion into Russia’s Bryansk Region, which left two civilians dead.

Asked to clarify why he described them as “Ukrainian militants,” Peskov said he had been very precise. “There are a lot of ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, but they are still Ukrainian militants,” he explained.

The US also poured cold water on Ukrainian denials. On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said the US government “did not approve of the transfer of equipment to any third parties,” such as “paramilitary groups that are not part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” nor had Kiev requested such supplies. He added that the US military was “studying” reports of American equipment being used in the raid.

The State Department told reporters on Monday that the US doesn’t “enable or encourage” cross-border attacks, but that “it is up to Ukraine to decide how they want to conduct their military operations” against the Russian “aggressor.”

Source: Russia Today

Ukraine has the weapons it needs to start its much-anticipated “counteroffensive,” but actually defeating Russia will require more, the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Kirill Budanov, said in an interview on Tuesday.

“We already have the necessary minimum of weapons” for the attack, Budanov told the Japanese state broadcaster NHK. “I can only say that it will begin soon.”

To successfully pursue a long campaign against Russia, however, Ukraine needs even more, according to Budanov.

“We need a large stockpile of weapons and ammunition to successfully continue the operation,” he said. “We need more weapons. We need fighter jets. I hope the international community is ready to really help Ukraine.”

Kiev’s top spy added that he would pay close attention to the progress of military aid from the West after the G7 summit in Hiroshima, where President Vladimir Zelensky made an appearance as a surprise guest.

Zelensky has assured his Western backers that the long-anticipated “counteroffensive” will be launched as soon as Kiev accumulates the minimum of weapons and ammunition necessary for the effort, and that Ukraine needed some more time. Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba has sought to manage expectations as well.

Last week, the Financial Times reported that Kiev has about “five months” to impress Washington, at which point President Joe Biden’s government will be under too much pressure to negotiate.

Multiple Western outlets and experts have warned that Russia’s air campaign targeting Ukrainian supply depots and troop concentrations has already affected the planned offensive, going so far as to describe it as a “game changer.”

Budanov waved off the campaign by telling NHK that Kiev had shot down 90% of the incoming missiles. He did not comment on last week’s destruction of the US-supplied Patriot air defense system in Kiev.

Source: Russia Today

Former Polish President Lech Walesa says his retirement income is not quite enough to make ends meet, though it’s four times the national average. He once led the Solidarity trade union in its confrontation with the USSR, and served as Poland’s president from 1990 to 1995.

Walesa was the guest on the most recent episode of ‘Politicians’ Kitchen’, a video series produced by the tabloid Super Express. He told the presenters, Piotr Lekszycki and Kamil Szewczyki, that he was doing a lecture tour at the age of 79 in order to complement his pension.

“I’m doing this to make some money, because I don’t have any,” Walesa said. “I don’t care about money, I didn’t care at all, but it was enough for me, and now it’s not enough for me, so I have to make extra money.”

He revealed that his pension is 11,000 zloty (approximately $2,640), which the outlet described as “really gigantic” compared to the national average of 2,700 zloty. Walesa noted that the amount had gone up from 5-6,000 about six months ago.

“Now it’s a little better, but everything has become more expensive, so it’s more or less the same,” he said.

As of April 2023, the official year-on-year inflation in Poland was 14.7%, with food going up by almost 20% and energy prices rising 14.8%.

Walesa attributed some of his financial woes to the fact he sometimes chips in to help some of his seven surviving children, three sons and four daughters. “Who has bees, has honey; who has children, has hardship,” he told Super Express.

Born in German-occupied Poland in 1943, Walesa became an electrician at the Gdansk shipyard and eventually rose to leadership in the independent trade union Solidarity. The union’s political work and collaboration with the Roman Catholic Church – led by the Polish-born Pope John Paul II – are considered crucial to Warsaw’s break with socialism in 1989.

Though celebrated internationally, Walesa lost the 1995 election to former Communist cabinet minister Aleksander Kwasniewski. After winning just 1.01% of the vote in 2000, he retired from politics permanently. He also resigned from Solidarity in 2006, amid a feud with brothers Jaroslaw and Lech Kaczynski, leaders of the Law and Justice (PiS) party that currently runs Poland.

Source: Russia Today

Russian energy giant Gazprom is continuing to supply gas for transit to Western and Central Europe through Ukrainian territory, via the Sudzha gas pumping station, the company confirmed on Tuesday.

Supplies rose to 41.2 million cubic meters (mcm) on May 23, compared to 40.9 mcm pumped the previous day through the entry point, which remains the only operating interconnector in Ukraine.

“Gazprom supplies Russian gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine in the amount confirmed by the Ukrainian side through the Sudzha… Application for ‘Sokhranovka’ was rejected,” Gazprom spokesperson Sergey Kupriyanov told reporters.

Ukraine shut down transit through the Sokhranovka station, a key gas transit route which handled around a third of the Russian gas flowing through the country to the EU, in early May, citing “interference by the occupying forces.”

Russian gas deliveries to the EU via Ukraine were slashed last May in the aftermath of the bloc’s sweeping sanctions, with shipments plunging to 24 mcm in January this year. Since February, however, daily transit volumes have been gradually increasing.

Gas transit through Ukraine remains the only route for Russian supplies to the countries of Western and Central Europe after sabotage attacks in September rendered the Nord Stream pipeline inoperable. Gazprom also exports gas via the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines to Southern and Southeastern Europe.

Source: Russia Today