Ukraine-Russia war latest: Steel giant claims Putin will seek World War III if the West lets Putin win in Ukraine

Zelenskiy said in a night speech late Monday that Russia had captured the key strategic city of Avdiivka in recent days and was amassing troops in several locations along its 1,500-kilometre front, which were apparently He added that he was aiming to attack the defenders. Weaknesses of the Ukrainian army.

“The situation has become extremely difficult in some areas of the front, and the Russian military has accumulated maximum reserves. They are taking advantage of the delay in providing aid to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in his speech. He said his concerns were “very specific issues.”

He acknowledged that Ukraine is facing a shortage of artillery. “We need front-line air defense and longer-range weapons,” Ukraine’s president said.

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A staunch opponent of Vladmir Putin, he also voraciously read books by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov and Solzhenitsyn, trying to keep his mind occupied so as not to fall into despair in the harsh conditions of his captivity.

In a Dec. 3 letter to Evgeny Feldman, a photographer who covered his 2018 presidential bid and is currently in exile in Latvia, Navalny said that something was wrong with President Joe Biden. I wrote that I am concerned that this is a clear possibility if it happens. Given America’s age, he said, “Trump will be president.”

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Russia’s top general, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, visited troops fighting in Ukraine to discuss next steps after capturing the town of Avdiivka, state media reported on Wednesday.

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russian troops would make further incursions into Ukraine to build on their success on the battlefield after the fall of the town of Avdiivka, where Ukrainian forces were forced to flee amid the chaos.

According to state media, Mr. Gerasimov was shown awarding medals to Russian troops involved in the capture of Avdiivka, and he was handed a report by Colonel Andrei Mordovichev, the man responsible for the Russian attack on Avdiivka. It is said that it was done.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN that Avdiivka would not have fallen if Kiev had received the weapons it had because the U.S. Congress did not approve a major aid package.

The Russian government is working to pacify Ukrainian forces just as Kiev is considering a new large-scale mobilization after Ukraine failed to break through Russian lines in the east and south last year.

A Los Angeles woman has been detained in Russia on treason charges for allegedly providing funds to Ukraine, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

The woman, a 33-year-old dual American and Russian citizen, was not identified in a statement released by the FSB, which said she was “involved in financing foreign countries in activities contrary to the security of our country.” ”

The Federal Security Service in Yekaterinburg, in the central Urals, accused her of participating in pro-Ukrainian protests outside Russia and sending aid to Kiev.

The newspaper said the woman was “actively collecting funds…which were then used to purchase tactical medical supplies, equipment, means of destruction and ammunition for the Ukrainian army.”

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A Moscow city court rejected an appeal filed by Gershkovych’s lawyers against his detention, upholding an earlier decision to keep him in prison until the end of March.

This means Gershkovitch, 32, will spend at least a year behind bars in Russia after his arrest in March 2023 during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, a city in Russia’s Ural Mountains.

Mr. Gershkovic and the Journal have denied the spying allegations, and the U.S. government has declared that Mr. Gershkovic is being unfairly detained. Russian authorities have not provided detailed evidence supporting the charges.

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The founder of the Edinburgh Charity, who has personally delivered aid to “devastated” frontline villages in Ukraine and saved thousands of civilians, has set out to help ordinary people affected by the war in the country. He appealed to the British people to continue to be considerate.

Oleg Dmitriev, 43, told the PA news agency that he flew to Ukraine on February 24, 2022, two weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion began, driven by a “feeling of injustice and catastrophe.” He said he started helping with the project.

Since then, he has set up his own charity, Sunflower Scotland, which has supported over 11,700 people in Ukraine’s frontline villages, liberated areas and hospitals.

Almost two years later, Dmitriev has visited at least 16 frontline villages and towns, delivering aid to people living in the most dangerous and impoverished conditions.

He first visited the city of Kharkiv, which he said was a “heartbreaking experience.”

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Ukraine’s air force said Wednesday that Russia launched 19 attack drones and six missiles toward Ukraine overnight, and that Ukraine’s air defense systems destroyed 13 drones and one missile. did.

The Air Force said on the messaging app Telegram that some of the drones that were not destroyed did not reach their targets, but did not provide further details. The 13 destroyed drones were mainly shot down over areas close to the front lines, the statement said.

The Air Force also announced that it had destroyed a Kh-59 air-to-ground guided aviation missile in the Poltava region. The newspaper said Russia fired five more missiles, but did not say whether any of the missiles that were not destroyed reached their targets.

Reuters could not independently verify the Ukrainian Air Force report. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Russia claimed to have captured the key village of Klinki, territory it has been fighting over for months in Ukraine.

Ukraine has rejected Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s claim that Russia has taken full control of the region, calling it a “fabrication of facts.”

Anonymous U.S. sources say Russia is developing space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapons, but President Vladimir Putin has said he opposes nuclear weapons in space, and the Russian government has rejected U.S. claims. He flatly denied it.

The United States believes Russia is developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon whose detonation could disrupt everything from military communications to phone ride-hailing services, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. revealed.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the system is understood to include a nuclear explosive device placed in orbit.

Reports of possible Russian developments emerged after the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee issued a cryptic statement on February 14 warning of a “grave national security threat.”

The clearest public sign that the U.S. government believes Moscow is working on developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon is Thursday’s White House report that the U.S. believes the system being developed violates the Outer Space Treaty. It was a comment from a government official.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the system is understood to include a nuclear explosive device placed in orbit.

Reports of possible Russian developments emerged after the Republican chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee issued a cryptic statement on February 14 warning of a “grave national security threat.”

The clearest public sign that the U.S. government believes Moscow is working on developing a space-based anti-satellite nuclear weapon is Thursday’s White House report that the U.S. believes the system being developed violates the Outer Space Treaty. It was a comment from a government official.

President Vladimir Putin gifted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a Russian-made limousine. This is the latest sign of deepening ties between the two countries, which are increasingly isolated on the world stage.

North Korean state media said the car was handed over by a Russian delegation over the weekend, and on Tuesday the Kremlin confirmed that Putin had sent a full-size luxury sedan limousine from Russia’s first luxury car brand, Aurus.

Mr. Putin’s gift to Mr. Kim would likely violate Kremlin-backed United Nations Security Council sanctions against North Korea. The sanctions prohibit the supply of luxury goods, including all “transportation”, to East Asian countries.

KCNA reported that the car was received by Kim Yo Jong, Kim’s sister and close aide, and other senior North Korean officials on February 18.

my colleague Shweta Sharma Full report can be found here: