The Ukrainian leader made his remarks at the historic event virtually on Wednesday, just a day after Turkey agreed to lift its opposition toward Finland and Sweden joining the alliance.

“Next year, the situation may be worse, not only for Ukraine, but also for several other countries, possibly NATO members that may be under fire from Russia,” Zelenskyy stated. “Then it will be our common failure — both for Ukraine and for NATO.”

“Please, look at our state — this is what it all can lead to in your countries,” he continued.

Zelenskyy followed up by posing a question to NATO officials regarding which countries Russian President Vladimir Putin could target next. He suggested that Moldova, the Baltic states, and Poland could soon be at risk of the Kremlin’s aggression.

“This is not a war of Russia only against Ukraine; this is a war for the right to dictate conditions in Europe. For what the future world order will be like,” the Ukrainian president explained.

The comments from Zelenskyy come as President Joe Biden revealed at the summit the same day that the United States would, for the first time, permanently station forces on NATO’s eastern flank, according to The New York Times.

“In a moment when Putin has shattered peace in Europe and attacked the very tenets of the rules-based order, the United States and our allies — we’re going to step up,” Biden said, adding that an Army garrison headquarters and a field support battalion would soon deploy in Poland.

Source: https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/ukraine-russia-zelenskyy-nato-summit/2022/06/29/id/1076670/

The post Zelenskyy: Russia Could Invade NATO Country by ‘Next Year’ first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

France wants sanctions-hit Iran and Venezuela to return to the oil markets to alleviate a Russian squeeze of energy supplies that has spiked prices, a French presidency official said on Monday.

It also wants a planned mechanism to cap the price of oil to be as broad as possible and not be limited to Russian output.

The French official also said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told G7 leaders on Monday morning that the conditions were not right to negotiate with Russia and wanted to be in a position of strength before began any negotiations.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/france-wants-iran-venezuela-return-to-oil-markets/articleshow/92493085.cms

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—3 European leaders go to Kyiv, expected to meet with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy
—10,000 civilians remaining in Sievierodonetsk, governor says
—Germany says can deliver weapons to Ukraine ‘end of July or the start of August’

This was last updated at 07:22 UTC/GMT

Governor says 10,000 civilians still in Sievierodonetsk
Serhiy Gaiday, the governor of the eastern Ukrainian Luhansk region, said that around 10,000 civilians are still in the key city of Sievierodonetsk, where fighting has been raging amid a dire humanitarian condition.

“Out of 100,000 residents, around 10,000 remain,” Gaiday said on the Telegram messaging app.

He said Ukraine’s army is “holding back the enemy as much as possible.”

Earlier this week, Ukraine said Russian forces destroyed all bridges connecting the city, making it difficult to evacuate civilians or deliver humanitarian aid.

Russia is believed to be now in control of at least the majority of the city.

European leaders arrive in Kyiv
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi arrived in Kyiv on Thursday, the French presidential palace said.

Scholz said the three leaders wanted “to show their support for Ukraine and the citizens of Ukraine.”

“But we don’t just want to demonstrate solidarity, we also want to assure that the help we organize — financial and humanitarian, but also when it comes to weapons — will be continued,” he said. Support will continue for as long as is necessary, he said.

The trio took an overnight train to Kyiv from Poland. They are expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Major German and Italian media outlets, including Germany’s ZDF and Italy’s Repubblica, had earlier published a photo of the three leaders on the train.

It is the first time the three travel to Kyiv since the war started in Ukraine.

There had been speculation earlier this week that Scholz would be part of the joint trip ahead of a G7 summit at the end of June.

The visit also comes a day before the European Commission is set to make a recommendation on Ukraine’s status as an EU candidate.

The three leaders have come under criticism over their response to the war. Critics say France and Germany, and, to a lesser extent, Italy, have been slow to deliver weapons to Ukraine. Scholz and Macron have also been criticized for maintaining contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

German minister: Weapons can be delivered to Ukraine by August
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said three multiple rocket launchers could be delivered to Ukraine in July or August after Ukrainian forces receive adequate training on them.

Kyiv has complained that weapons that Germany pledged to Ukraine were not delivered. Berlin says Ukrainian troops must first be trained to use them.

“The training on these multiple rocket launchers can begin at the end of June, meaning they can be delivered at the end of July or the start of August,” Lambrecht told reporters as she arrived for a second day of talks with her NATO counterparts in Brussels.

German ex-chancellor seeks to recuperate parliamentary office
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has sent a letter to the Bundestag budget committee that challenges the decision to revoke his right to a parliamentary office.

Schröder was Germany’s chancellor from 1998 to 2005. After leaving office he was involved with Russian energy firms Gazprom and Rosneft. Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, he has drawn criticism for his ties to Moscow.

The committee voted in May to wind down his office. The office was allocated more than €400,00 ($418,000) last year.

In a letter to the committee’s chair, Schröder’s lawyer said that the former chancellor had learned “via the media” that his office was being “put on hold.”

“This decision is based on the determination that he no longer has any ‘continuing obligations arising from the office,'” Schröders lawyer said in the letter, adding that this determination is not substantiated and that it was unclear what these “continuing obligations” would constitute.

The letter also argues that a resolution taken from the media is “evidently illegal and unconstitutional.”

Schröder’s lawyer said that he hopes for “the chance to reach a mutually acceptable settlement by way of conversation on an even playing field.”

Gazprom cuts gas supply to Germany by around 60% in 2 days
Russian energy giant Gazprom has begun reducing the volume of gas it supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to a daily maximum of 67 million cubic meters early on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Gazprom announced it would reduce the maximum delivery volume to 100 million cubic meters of gas per day, down from 167 million cubic meters.

Overall, the cut represents an approximate 60% reduction in gas supplies to Germany in just two days.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck accused Moscow of attempting to create unease and increase gas prices. He added that it was still possible to source alternative gas supplies on the market, albeit at a high price.

Report: 2 US volunteers in Ukraine missing
Two Americans who volunteered to support Ukraine’s armed forces have reportedly gone missing.

The Telegraph newspaper cited an unnamed fellow fighter as saying that the two Americans were captured by Russian forces during a June 9 battle northeast of Kharkiv.

The two Americans are identified as Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, US military veterans who had been living in the state of Alabama.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said that he could not confirm the disappearance, but that “if it’s true, we’ll do everything we can to get them safely back home.”

Kirby went on to discourage Americans from volunteering to fight in Ukraine.

“It is a war zone. It is combat. And if you feel passionate about supporting Ukraine, there’s any number of other ways to do that that are safer and just as effective,” Kirby said.

Ukraine says Russian companies use Georgian entities to bypass sanctions
David Arakhamia, Ukraine’s chief negotiator with Russia, said Russian people and companies are circumventing Western sanctions by making use of Georgian entities to do so.

He told a German Marshall Fund event in Washington that Russians are “heavily” using “Georgian banks, Georgian financial system, Georgian companies and so on,” to dodge the West’s sanctions regime.

“If you are a sanctioned Russian person, you go to the Internet, you open up a Georgian company, open up remotely the bank account and start processing,” Arakhamia added.

He also urged Washington to take action to close the loophole.

What happened in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said defending the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine was “vital” as the outcome would indicate “who will dominate in the coming weeks” of the war.

Serhii Haidai, the governor of Luhansk province, said that the fighting around the contested city of Sievierodonetsk and other places in eastern Ukraine “is getting more difficult.” By contrast, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said that Russian forces were now in control of the city of Sievierodonetsk.

The United States will provide Ukraine with another $1 billion (€963 million) to help the country amid Russia’s assault in the eastern Donbas region. The latest boost of aid will include major weapons systems that the Ukrainian government has appealed for such as howitzers, anti-ship missile launchers and rounds for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.

The US will also send an additional $225 million in humanitarian aid to provide assistance for drinking water, food, shelter and other essential items.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its missiles had destroyed a warehouse in the Lviv region, which was being used to store ammunition for weapons donated by NATO members.

Germany will only be able to deliver three instead of four planned rocket launchers to Ukraine, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country is ready to host four-way talks with the UN, Russia and Ukraine in order to unblock the passage of grain through the Black Sea.

A UN panel investigating possible human rights violations said they are collecting evidence, but that it is too early to say whether the allegations constitute war crimes.

Chinese state media reported Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin by phone and said his country would continue to support Russia’s “sovereignty and security.”

You can revisit our updates from Tuesday, June 15, here.

fb, ar, sdi/jsi (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-german-chancellor-scholz-arrives-in-kyiv-live-updates/a-62146502

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The question preoccupying Europe is whether Russia is on the brink of a surprise breakthrough on the Ukraine battlefield, allowing it to declare a victory on its own terms. The big issue, were this to materialize, is to ask what then?

The artillery battles across the Donbas have recently been going well for the Russian high command. A traditional attack plan has been prosecuted, involving tactics that Russia has favored for almost century. The original presumptions of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership are now within its sights.

Having annexed Crimea and sustained the two breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk since the first round of this conflict in 2014, Moscow wants a contiguous strip of south-eastern Ukraine to say that it has secured the future of the Russian-speaking population in the area.

It has also overcome and vanquished the resistance of the neo-Nazi-tainted Azov Battalion after weeks of resistance to a Russian onslaught in Mariupol, the port city on the Black Sea. That means that the Kremlin’s “denazification” justification for the assault on Ukraine – it said the specter of Nazism had risen in the country – can also be defined as a success.

Any such victory declaration would be viewed from several angles.

The western countries that backed Kyiv would be forced to confront the fear that they had not in the end done enough for their ally to withstand the Russia tempest. Yet, for Russia having drawn the broadest aim for its offensive, the resulting gains look awfully puny on a map.

Faced with this, allies of Ukraine are stepping up the weapons shipments. The shoulder-fired missile systems that proved so effective when Russia’s army was advancing in columns and could be picked off are not the game changer they once were.

Ukrainian forces are only now getting access to mobile artillery. The French Caesar howitzer gun has turned up on the battlefield and offered a tantalizing glimpse of what bulk deliveries could do. The US has been trying to get M777-towed 155-millimetre howitzers to Ukraine’s frontline for a month.

The German government is being criticized for not enabling the next step, which is the delivery of main battle tanks. The Ukrainian military desperately needs these to meet the mass of forces that Russia is bringing to bear in a relatively small section of terrain.

Last week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for the delivery of M270 multiple launch rocket systems, or MLRS, to Ukraine after receiving a downbeat assessment from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding how long Kyiv’s forces can hold out in the eastern region.

The introduction of this system has escalatory potential. Reports that US officials opened talks with Kyiv over placing limits on the range of outgoing fire for any donations Washington might make underline this. The MLRS can target as far away as 300 kilometers but the US cannot allow its guns to be striking inside Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov came out to warn that the “few sane” minds in the West should think twice.

Intelligence reporting indicates that Russia has lost 1,000 of the tanks it sent to Ukraine. Its new-generation tanks have proved to be sitting ducks.

So it has removed from mothballs the hundreds of T-72s left over from the erstwhile Soviet Union’s Red Army. Pictures of its heavy fire power are telling. Iron armour will now have to do the job that was not done by the smart or next-generation technology that Russia gambled on.

Days before the war was launched, a western think tank expert predicted to me that Russia would not rush to war because the modernization of its armed forces was incomplete. To do so now would be to “waste” the heavy expenditure since 2012 under the New Look reform programme, the expert said. He pointed out that Russia’s army could only say that its pace of change was well behind the target of renewing 70 per cent of its equipment inventory by 2020. It is believed to have been hovering near 50 per cent when the war began.

Western officials view any move by Russia to draw a line north of Crimea and along to Donetsk and Luhansk as unsustainable peace. Not only would Russia have an iron hand on the export of Ukraine’s all-important crops as a result. It is not clear that the boundaries it is currently targeting would guarantee the water supply to Crimea, a key Moscow objective.

Yet, this is the type of outcome Henry Kissinger, the realist diplomatic thinker and former US secretary of state, argued for last week in his controversial intervention in Davos. Mr. Kissinger argued about two things: that Ukraine cede territory to Russia for a peace agreement, and that a humiliating defeat for Russia would endanger Europe’s stability.

Currently serving European officials, instead, argue that a peace deal would be more likely to kick off a new eight-year cycle of rearmament by Moscow. The inevitable result would be a renewed effort thereafter to carve up Ukraine. In such an atmosphere, and with global food shortages, there can be no reliable turning point in the confrontation.

If Russia is able to achieve a short-term comeback, the outcome looks likely to merely open the next phase of a deeply destabilizing situation.

Damien McElroy
Damien is a foreign correspondent who has covered politics and conflict across Europe, the Middle East, the US, Africa and Asia. Before joining The National in 2017, he worked for The Sunday Times and Telegraph titles as an editor and roving reporter. He started his career in China and has a degree in finance.

Source: https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/2022/05/30/what-if-russia-succeeds-in-ukraines-donbas-region/

The post What if Russia succeeds in Ukraine’s Donbas region? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Putin’s “back is against the wall and now he’s talking about new false flags he’s setting up including, asserting that we in America have biological as well as chemical weapons in Europe, simply not true,” Biden said at a Business Roundtable event, as quoted by Reuters.

“They are also suggesting that Ukraine has biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine. That’s a clear sign he’s considering using both of those,” he added.

Russia recently claimed that Ukraine is running chemical and biological labs with US support.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki later rejected the claims from Russia as “false” and “preposterous,” and warned they could serve as a pretext for the Russians to deploy chemical weapons in their assault on Ukraine.

“It’s the kind of disinformation operation we’ve seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent,” Psaki said.

“Also, Russia has a track record of accusing the West of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating. In December, Russia falsely accused the US of deploying contractors with chemical weapons in Ukraine,” she continued.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also insisted that no chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction were developed in his country.

“No chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction were developed on my land. The whole world knows that. You know that. And if Russia do something like that against us, it will get the most severe sanctions response,” he said.

Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/324397

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“The 19th day of our resistance is over. Historical war. Another difficult day, which is still approaching our victory. Approaching peace for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy began, according to his presidential office.

He noted that “the enemy is confused” and did not expect stiff resistance. “Their soldiers know this. Their officers are aware of this. They flee the battlefield. They abandon equipment.”

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES

“We take trophies and use them to protect Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “Today, Russian troops are, in fact, one of the suppliers of equipment to our army. They could not imagine such a thing in a nightmare.”

He then addressed the Russian soldiers, urging them to surrender.

“Russian conscripts! Listen to me very carefully,” Zelenskyy warned. “Russian officers! You’ve already understood everything. You will not take anything from Ukraine. You will take lives. There are a lot of you. But your life will also be taken. But why should you die? What for? I know that you want to survive.”

“Therefore, I offer you a choice,” the president said. “On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I give you a chance. Chance to survive.”

“If you surrender to our forces, we will treat you the way people are supposed to be treated. As people, decently. In a way you were not treated in your army. And in a way your army does not treat ours,” Zelenskyy added. “Choose!”

UKRAINE MILITARY TURNS AWAY VOLUNTEERS AS 140K UKRAINIANS COME HOME TO FIGHT RUSSIA

He also praised the Russians “who do not stop trying to convey the truth” despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on protests and journalists who buck his government narrative. Zelenskyy specifically mentioned the woman who disrupted the Russian state television broadcaster Channel One.

He said he is “grateful … personally to the woman who entered the studio of Channel One with a poster against the war. To those who are not afraid to protest. As long as your country has not completely closed itself off from the whole world, turning into a very large North Korea, you must fight. You must not lose your chance.”

The president also warned that Russian military leaders will be held responsible for war crimes.

“Responsibility for war crimes of the Russian military is inevitable,” he said. “Responsibility for a deliberate humanitarian catastrophe in Ukrainian cities is inevitable. The whole world sees what is happening in Mariupol. Kharkiv. Chernihiv. Sumy. Okhtyrka. Hostomel. Irpin. In all our cities.”

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Zelenskyy briefly addressed the peace talks with Russian negotiators, saying they appear to be “pretty good.”

“Our delegation also worked on this in negotiations with the Russian party. Pretty good, as I was told,” he said. “But let’s see. They will continue tomorrow.”

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/zelenskyy-predicts-victory-in-ukraine-offers-russian-soldiers-a-chance-to-survive/ar-AAV3Omb?ocid=uxbndlbing

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The vote came after a series of speeches during which the majority of countries called on Russia to end the violence in Ukraine, which has continued for nearly one week.

Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N., urged countries to vote in favor of the resolution in an emotional address that ended with applause from the chamber.

“It’s already clear that the goal of Russia is not an occupation only. It is genocide,” Kyslytsya said.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the U.N., asked members to vote against the resolution and said Western powers were exerting pressure on other countries to vote in favor of it. Belarus and Syria were among the countries that spoke out against the resolution.

There was widespread international support for the resolution
Ultimately, the resolution passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 141-5 with 35 abstentions. The five countries that voted against it were Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea.

“The truth is that this war was one man’s choice and one man alone: President Putin. It was his choice to force hundreds of thousands of people to stuff their lives into backpacks and flee the country,” said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

“Those were President Putin’s choices. Now it is time to make ours. The United States is choosing to stand with the Ukrainian people,” she added.

The measure’s passage showed that “a global anti-Putin coalition has been formed and is functioning,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a tweet after the vote.

“The world is with us. The truth is on our side. Victory will be ours!” Zelenskyy added.

Russia’s invasion has continued despite diplomatic pressure
The vote came amid multiple efforts to wall off Russia diplomatically, a surge in the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine, an initial estimate that the humanitarian effort within the country will cost more than $1 billion, and an emergency, often heated debate at the General Assembly. None of the diplomatic activities appeared to slow Russia’s attacks Wednesday morning, as new reports said Russian airstrikes had hit a regional police headquarters in Kharkiv, injuring three people.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, singling out Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in her speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, said the war was based on lies.

“Mr. Lavrov, you can deceive yourself, but you won’t deceive us. And you won’t deceive our people and you won’t deceive your own people,” she said.

Russian diplomats, including Nebenzia, have called the attacks against Ukraine a “special military operation” intended to defend two separatist regions.

“Russia is seeking to end this war,” Nebenzia said earlier this week.

The resolution “demands that the Russian Federation immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.” It also expresses “grave concern at reports of attacks on civilian facilities such as residences, schools, and hospitals, and of civilian casualties, including women, older persons, persons with disabilities, and children.”

Last week, Russia vetoed a similar resolution at the 15-member Security Council. It was mostly isolated: No other nation opposed it, and China, India and the United Arab Emirates abstained. Eleven nations, including the United States, supported it.

“No state should be able to get away with what Russia got away with without facing diplomatic isolation,” Samuel Charap, a political scientist at the Rand Corp. said. “The question is, does it alter the course of the war, really? And there, it doesn’t seem likely.”

The United Arab Emirates assumed the rotating chair of the Security Council on Tuesday, and Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s permanent representative to the U.N., became president of the Security Council on Monday. She said Monday that the UAE’s abstention from the Security Council’s resolution would not affect how it chairs the panel.

“We must leave space for a diplomatic off-ramp,” she said. “Those countries that did abstain have those channels with President Putin and will use them to help.”

She did not say whether the UAE would abstain from Wednesday’s General Assembly vote. The United Arab Emirates did not co-sponsor the resolution.

Leaders say the war in Ukraine is creating a humanitarian crisis
Separately, the United Nations said on Tuesday it estimates the initial humanitarian and refugee needs will cost $1.7 billion. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said humanitarian agencies need $1.1 billion to fund emergency relief within Ukraine for the next three months. He also requested another $551 million to help pay for services for Ukrainians fleeing the country, especially in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Moldova.

The money, he said, would help people access health supplies, safe drinking water, shelter and protection.

“The most effective humanitarian relief is to silence the guns,” he said.

An estimated 650,000 people have fled Ukraine and entered European Union countries since Russia invaded last week. The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to allow them to stay for up to two years under a “temporary protection directive.” If approved by EU member states, Ukrainians would be allowed to work and children would be allowed to attend school within the entire EU.

“All those fleeing Putin’s bombs are welcome in Europe,” said EC President Ursula von der Leyen.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/02/1083872077/u-n-set-to-hold-vote-that-would-demand-russia-end-war-in-ukraine

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