Countdown to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

05CA4CAE-974A-4209-AA4B-8D55A7301E5C.jpegPresident Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has addressed the European Parliament.
Thank you very much! Ladies and gentlemen, you know, in recent days I don’t know how to greet anyone. Because I can't say "Good morning," or "Good afternoon," or "Good evening." I can't, and this is absolutely true because every day, that day is definitely not good for some, that evening is the last one for some, every day. I’m talking today, now, about my citizens of Ukraine, who are defending our walls and freedom at the cost of their lives.
I’m very glad that what I saw here is this unifying mood. I’m glad that we have united all of you today – the EU countries, but I didn’t know that it would be at such a price. And this is a tragedy for me, a tragedy for every Ukrainian, a tragedy for every state.
You know, I don’t speak from, I don’t read from papers because the papers are gone from my country’s life. All of this is real, including these dead bodies, this is real life. And you know, I believe that today we sacrifice for values, for rights, for freedom, just for our desire to be close, just like you, like everyone else, we sacrifice our best people: the strongest, mightiest, most extraordinary Ukrainians.
And we very often like to say that we will all win, and I’m very glad that you are not only talking about it, but also seeing it. And we will all win for sure, I'm positive. There is such an expression: "Ukraine is choosing Europe." That’s what we’ve been aspiring to, what we’ve been going, and still going toward. And I would very much to hear from you something addressed to us: "Now it’s Europe choosing Ukraine."
I have a couple of minutes to talk to you because there are small strikes and missile attacks. This morning was tragic to all of us. Two cruise missiles hit Kharkiv. The city, which is near the border with Russia, where there have always been a lot of Russians and they have always been friends, there used to be very warm relations, there are more than 20 universities there, it was and is the hub hosting the largest number of universities in our country. The youths there are bright, smart, always gathering for all holidays in our country’s largest square. Freedom Square. Also, this is the largest square in Europe. And this is true, it’s Freedom Square. Imagine this: in the morning, two cruise missiles hit Freedom Square. Dozens of casualties. So this is the price of freedom.
We are simply fighting for our land and our freedom, and believe me, despite the fact that all the big cities of our state are now under blockade, no one will penetrate our freedom and state. Believe me. Every square today, whatever it is called, will be referred to as Freedom Square. In every city of our state. Nobody will break us, we stand strong, we are Ukrainians.
We want our children to live on. It seems to me that this is fair. Yesterday, 16 children died. And again, President Putin will say that this is some kind of an “operation,” and that they are bombing only our military infrastructure. Where are our children? At what military plants do they work? Which rockets do they operate? Maybe they drive our tanks? You killed 16 children!
We have very motivated people, very much. We are fighting for our rights – freedom and life. And now we are fighting for survival, and this is our main motivation, but we are also fighting to be equal members of Europe. And I think today we are all showing that we are. With us on board, the EU will definitely be stronger. Without you, Ukraine will be lonely. We have proven our strength, that we are at least the same as you. Prove that you’re with us. Prove that you are not giving up on us, prove that you’re truly Europeans, and then life will beat death, and light will beat darkness.
Glory to Ukraine!
 

Russia has been slammed as 'barbaric' for bombing the Babyn Yar holocaust memorial in Kyiv on the site of one of the biggest single massacres of Jews during the Holocaust.

Explosions erupted around the capital's 1,300ft TV tower this afternoon, built by the ravine where nearly 34,000 Jews were killed in two days in 1941 during Adolf Hitler's campaign against the Soviet Union.

At least two large blasts were seen near the foot of the tower, around three miles from central Kyiv, around 5.30pm local time. The first missile struck the TV tower but the second hit the memorial.

At least five people were killed in the latest onslaught which came just hours after Russia told civilians to evacuate because it was about to begin bombarding 'strategic' targets.

It was not immediately clear whether the tower had been the target of the strikes, or whether they had been targeting nearby buildings. The tower remained standing, but several state broadcasts went off air.

After the latest attack, Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted: 'To the world: what is the point of saying "never again" for 80 years, if the world stays silent when a bomb drops on the same site of Babyn Yar? At least 5 killed. History repeating…'

Meanwhile the Ukrainian foreign ministry said: 'Russian troops fired on the TV tower, near the Memorial complex #BabynYar. Russian criminals do not stop at anything in their barbarism. Russia = barbarian.'

It came shortly after Moscow's ministry of defence said it would be launching strikes into the city targeting Ukraine's security service and intelligence agencies with what it called 'precision munitions'.

That raised fears that Kyiv was about to come under heavy bombardment after the cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol and Kherson were hit by indiscriminate shelling earlier in the day.

A column of Russian artillery units and tanks 40 miles long has been pictured snaking its way towards Kyiv as analysts warned it will likely be tasked with surrounding the city, besieging it and bombing it into submission as Putin resorts to 'medieval' tactics in an attempt to force victory.



54809359-10564973-image-a-47_1646148742857.jpg

Smoke and flames rise up the side of Kyiv's 1,300ft TV tower after Russia bombed it on Tuesday. The tower remained standing but buildings around it were damaged, with some broadcasts knocked off air
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...tells-civilians-evacuate-Kyiv-airstrikes.html
 

"It's a disaster": Moscow deputies called on Putin to end the war
The Council of Deputies of the Gagarinsky Municipal District in Moscow condemned the hostilities on the territory of Ukraine and called on Vladimir Putin to withdraw troops immediately.

In a letter to the Russian president, deputies called the invasion of Ukraine a catastrophe.

"This is a way to degrade and impoverish the country. No other action could cause greater damage to Russia's economy," the statement said.

Earlier, the Council of Deputies of the Khamovniki district of Moscow also made an anti-war statement
 
Russian soldiers taking part in the invasion of Ukraine are in 'complete disarray', according to voice recordings obtained by a British intelligence company.

The intercepted radio messages indicate that troops are refusing to obey central command orders to shell Ukrainian towns and are complaining about running out of supplies of food and fuel.

The recordings are among around 24 hours of material obtained by intelligence firm ShadowBreak since the invasion of Ukraine began last week.

In one of the eavesdropped conversations, listened to by The Telegraph, a soldier reportedly sounds as though he is crying.

In another, a soldier is heard losing his temper when asking when food or fuel will arrive. He says: 'We've been here for three days! When the hell is it going to be ready?'

A third message reveals a tense exchange in which the same soldier has to remind a colleague speaking from a command centre that they cannot use artillery on an area until civilians - who are labelled 'the goods' - have left.

ShadowBreak's founder Samuel Cardillo, 26, told The Telegraph he had been sent the messages by amateurs listening in with antennas.

He said: 'What we have found is that the Russian operatives are operating in complete disarray.

'They have no clue where they are going and how to really communicate with each other properly.'

He added: 'There were periods where we heard them [Russian soldiers] crying in combat, a period where they were insulting each other – obviously not a sign of great morale.'

Mr Cardillo said the some of the messages were also 'proof of war crimes' because they revealed ordered to fire missiles into urban areas.

Other video recordings are said to show Russian soldiers retreating back into Russia after becoming frustrated, whilst a text message sent by a soldier to his mother is alleged to have said: 'The only thing I want right now is to kill myself.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...s-overheard-complaining-Ukraine-invasion.html
 
Kyiv Independent...
This is the plan....

Fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych is currently in Minsk, and the Kremlin is currently preparing him for a special operation, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
Source: UE interlocutor in Ukrainian intelligence
Details: It is noted that according to one of the scenarios, they will try to declare him "President of Ukraine" there.
The information obtained indicates that the Kremlin may be preparing an information operation or action to return President Yanukovych to Ukraine or to publish an appeal on his behalf to the Ukrainian people in the near future.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/03/2/7327392/
 
A haunting video shows a Russian mother trying to explain to her tearful daughter why they have been detained by armed police for opposing Vladimir Putin’s war.

They went to put flowers at the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow, and the children handed in ‘No to War’ posters they had drawn. But the mothers and children were all detained.

Sociologist Alexandra Arkhipova told of her horror when mothers Ekaterina Zavizion and Olga Alter and their children Sofya Gladkova, seven, Liza Gladkova, 11, Gosha Petrov, 11, Matvey Petrov, nine and David Petrov, seven, were held by Russian officers.

'All of them were detained by the police,' she said.

54828317-10567031-According_to_photographs_shared_on_Tuesday_by_opposition_politic-a-4_1646184773277.jpg


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...calm-little-girl-women-children-arrested.html
 
Kyiv Independent...
This is the plan....

Fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych is currently in Minsk, and the Kremlin is currently preparing him for a special operation, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
Source: UE interlocutor in Ukrainian intelligence
Details: It is noted that according to one of the scenarios, they will try to declare him "President of Ukraine" there.
The information obtained indicates that the Kremlin may be preparing an information operation or action to return President Yanukovych to Ukraine or to publish an appeal on his behalf to the Ukrainian people in the near future.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/03/2/7327392/
Yanukovych would never win the hearts of the Ukrainian people. That would be disastrous. First thing he'd do is create laws to silence and shackle the people; he knows they hate him or at least distrust him completely.
 
Thanks for that live blog stream @Paco Dennis

As someone just coming to understand what has been going on, pretty much in line with the several posts I've already made in the Ukraine threads. Of course there is more to this than just the weapons warmongers and their political allies. The horror is the whole human race faces extinction by provoking Russia with its warmongering leader with 6000 nukes. Neutrality is a small pragmatic choice versus the abomination of death and destruction to those ordinary Ukraine people caught in the middle. Read my posts for deeper information. Of course the same games played out when I came of age after the staged false Gulf of Tonkin provocation that led to the Viet Nam War that ruined my own young life. And the same game keeps playing out in each new generation.

Something one won't read on news sites is it is not just NATO, The West, and Russia we need to worry about regarding nukes with heightened war levels as now. A rogue country like Iran, North Korea, and others, or some maniac terrorist that has a small portable nuclear weapon might have already smuggled such into large cities, London, Moscow, New York, Paris, whereve, that some psychopath could blow up just to start WWWIII they would then clean up with just like in James Bond movies. It is ridiculously easy to smuggle large items into shipping containers in our ocean ports, few of which are actually checked.
 
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You got to be careful how you deal with a crazy man with his finger on the nuke. All that's left of Russia is a big gas station and nukes. Just think though, if he wants to use them on Ukraine he'll blow himself out of the world. By the way, Texas has lots of "ammo"...lol.
This is why I believe Putin is totally bluffing. He knows exactly what the west's nuke capabilities are, and probably where they are. If he "pressed the button" nukes would immediately rain on Russia, he knows this.

The west doesn't want the cost and to have to cleanup afterward, or any finger-pointing either, but I think Putin knows the west is willing to deal with all that if it has to.
 
Why does the US continue to buy more than 200,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia?
The U.S. did import 206,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Russia in October 2021, but that's less than 10% of what the U.S. imports. Russia is not the US's biggest supplier. Actually, the US produces the most crude oil in the world. So when they put an imbargo on Russian oil, while it does raise the price of gas it's no big deal otherwise.
 
Why does the US continue to buy more than 200,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia?
It was 634K bpd in October; 595K bpd in November; 405K bpd in December. Per EIA.

As to the why, it should be understood there are over 170 types of crude in the world. Refiners "blend" various types to achieve optimal operating conditions to maintain product output. An example would be that MARS (Gulf of Mexico), which is an intermediate sour, is sometimes mixed with URALS (Russia), Light and Medium Sour for usage in Gulf Coast refineries. Sour refers to sulfur content and intermediate is similar in viscosity to maple syrup with light as thinner and heavy as thicker. That is the very short over simplified version.

There are several types of crude oil from Russia. None of this information is intended to excuse using Russian oil. Everything comes with a cost, which I am ready to pay, but I doubt others are.
 
The U.S. did import 206,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Russia in October 2021, but that's less than 10% of what the U.S. imports. Russia is not the US's biggest supplier. Actually, the US produces the most crude oil in the world. So when they put an imbargo on Russian oil, while it does raise the price of gas it's no big deal otherwise.
Not sure I understand -- "when they put an embargo on Russian oil"? What embargo is that, and who are "they"? 206,000 barrels a day at $108 a barrel is $22,248,000 or more than $8 billion a year. Considering what's going on in Ukraine that seems like a lot.
 
It was 634K bpd in October; 595K bpd in November; 405K bpd in December. Per EIA.

As to the why, it should be understood there are over 170 types of crude in the world. Refiners "blend" various types to achieve optimal operating conditions to maintain product output. An example would be that MARS (Gulf of Mexico), which is an intermediate sour, is sometimes mixed with URALS (Russia), Light and Medium Sour for usage in Gulf Coast refineries. Sour refers to sulfur content and intermediate is similar in viscosity to maple syrup with light as thinner and heavy as thicker. That is the very short over simplified version.

There are several types of crude oil from Russia. None of this information is intended to excuse using Russian oil. Everything comes with a cost, which I am ready to pay, but I doubt others are.
I don't mind paying for it, but I do mind paying Russia for it. I would like to avoid politics but it does seem that until recently we were a net oil exporter.
 
Not sure I understand -- "when they put an embargo on Russian oil"? What embargo is that, and who are "they"? 206,000 barrels a day at $108 a barrel is $22,248,000 or more than $8 billion a year. Considering what's going on in Ukraine that seems like a lot.
US, NATO, EU. Sanctions and embargoes are being discussed. Many of the sanctions have been implemented, others are imminent.

Producers in the Middle-East wouldn't say no to that $22,248,000, or the US can simply increase prices to make up the $8 billion a year loss and even endure some temporary shortages.
 
but it does seem that until recently we were a net oil exporter.
This is mostly an illusion, buried in political rhetoric. https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WTTNTUS2&f=W
The week ending of November 30th 2018, saw the first net export week since records starting in 1991. That was followed by 10 weeks in 2019. Both years were net imports. 2020 brought covid and we finally and barely achieved net exports, not because of consumer demand, but lack thereof. 2021 saw us become a net importer once again.
 
This is mostly an illusion, buried in political rhetoric. https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WTTNTUS2&f=W
The week ending of November 30th 2018, saw the first net export week since records starting in 1991. That was followed by 10 weeks in 2019. Both years were net imports. 2020 brought covid and we finally and barely achieved net exports, not because of consumer demand, but lack thereof. 2021 saw us become a net importer once again.
Hmmm. The following seems pretty clear. Same EIA.GOV web site:
In plain English ...

"The United States was a net total energy exporter in 2019 and 2020"​

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/imports-and-exports.php
 


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