Guess he didn't fly so good, RIP Mr Prigozhin.

edition.cnn.com

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner who staged a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in June, was on board a plane that crashed northwest of Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said.

Zelensky hails ‘historic’ supply of F-16s as Ukraine seeks to counter Russian air supremacy

CNN — The Netherlands and Denmark will provide Ukraine with much sought-after F-16 fighter jets in an agreement hailed by President Volodymyr Zelensky as “historic.”

Kyiv has urgently been calling on its Western allies to provide it with the US-made aircraft, as its slow-moving counteroffensive is hampered by Russian air superiority.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Zelensky at Eindhoven airport on Sunday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his country would “commit to delivering F-16 aircraft to Ukraine” once “the conditions for such a transfer have been met.”

Zelensky hailed the agreement as “historic” and “the most important” one yet. “The Netherlands became the first country to agree to provide Ukraine with F-16s after training. I am very grateful,” he added.

Even with the news it will take months until Ukraine will be able to use the jets.

On Monday, Zelensky said on X, the social network previously known as Twitter, that Ukraine would receive 42 F-16 from the Netherlands and 19 from Denmark.

However, the Dutch government has not yet publicly confirmed the number of jets it would provide. Rutte said his country, which is currently in the process of upgrading to the newer F-35 fighter jets, had 42 F-16s in its arsenal.

“At this moment, the Netherlands still owns 42 F-16s. Out of these 42, we need planes to help training in Denmark and later on in Romania,” Rutte said. He added that the Netherlands would look into whether all of the remaining planes could be supplied but stated that he could not yet give a definitive number.

The Netherlands, a NATO member, has been a strong ally to Ukraine since well before Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

In 2014, 196 Dutch citizens were killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukrainian territory held by pro-Russian separatists. Dutch investigators said in February there were “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the decision to provide separatists with the missile system that downed the plane.

The Dutch government has promised €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion) in support to Ukraine this year.

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement published Sunday it had agreed to provide F-16s. Conditions for the transfer include training Ukrainian personnel, setting up infrastructure and logistics, and receiving the necessary authorization, it said.

Zelensky traveled on to Denmark after visiting the Netherlands where he met Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

“Today we announce that we will provide 19 F-16 jets to Ukraine, we believe Danish fighter jets will help protect your skies,” Frederiksen said.

“The aim of this delivery is to protect Ukraine. We plan to provide the jets closer to the new year, about six of them, then eight in the next year and then another five.”

The meetings come after a US official on Friday said the US had committed to approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine as soon as training is complete.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Saturday that Ukrainian pilots had begun training.

F-16s are single-engine, multirole jet aircraft, meaning they can be used in air-to-air or ground-attack missions.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/20/europe/netherlands-denmark-f-16-fighter-jets-ukraine-intl/index.html

Wagner Group has made a U-turn.....

edition.cnn.com

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, has agreed to leave Russia for Belarus, the Kremlin said on Saturday, in a deal that ends his armed insurrection, which posed the greatest threat to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority in decades.

IN PICTURES: Scenes from Russia’s Rostov-on-Don where Wagner forces have taken over key military facilities in an attempt to oust the military leadership.

An armoured personnel carrier is parked in a street as members of Wagner group patrol an area in the centre of Rostov-on-Don, on Jun 24, 2023.

Members of Wagner group sit atop of a tank in a street in the city of Rostov-on-Don, on Jun 24, 2023.

Members of Wagner group inspect a car in a street of Rostov-on-Don, on Jun 24, 2023.

Military vehicles of Wagner group are parked outside the headquarters of the Russian Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, on Jun 24, 2023.

Members of Wagner group patrol the center of Rostov-on-Don, -- a hub for Russia's Ukraine campaign -- where the rebellious Wagner mercenary force said it had taken over key facilities on Jun 24, 2023.

An armoured personnel carrier is parked in a street as a member of Wagner group patrols an area in the centre of Rostov-on-Don -- a hub for Russia's Ukraine campaign -- where the rebellious Wagner mercenary force said it had taken over key facilities on Jun 24, 2023

Putin in crisis: Wagner chief Prigozhin declares war on Russian military leadership

Vladimir Putin is facing a major military crisis after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared war on Moscow’s own defense ministry, claiming Kremlin officials had killed thousands of his soldiers.

In a statement issued Friday night, the FSB security agency said it had “legally and reasonably begun criminal proceedings” against the Wagner Group warlord “for the organization of armed insurrection.” Russian media outlet TASS reported Saturday morning that Putin plans to make an address soon.

Prigozhin claimed he had pulled his troops back from Ukraine and into the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, and vowed: “If anyone gets in our way, we will destroy everything!” The outspoken mercenary commander also threatened to move on Moscow if his demands were not met, and Russian authorities responded by saying the key highway from Moscow to the south was blocked.

POLITICO could not verify the claim that Wagner troops had entered Rostov and Prigozhin did not present evidence of the massive troop movements he claimed were underway. But in the early hours of Saturday morning, videos began circulating on social media that reportedly showed unidentified armed men dressed in camouflage entering Rostov-on-Don, the administrative center of the Rostov region, and seizing government buildings.

The feud between Prigozhin and Russia’s ministry of defense has been building for months but now appears to have boiled over.

According to Russian state media, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin is aware of the rapidly unfolding situation and “all necessary measures are being taken.”

“Prigozhin’s statements and actions are actually the calls for the beginning of an armed civil conflict on the territory of Russia and are a ‘stab in the back’ for Russian servicemen,” the FSB was cited as saying by the Ria Novosti news service.

The move comes after Prigozhin accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of having hidden “colossal” failings on the battlefield from Putin, claiming that 2,000 Wagner men were killed as a result of strikes ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

In a later statement on Telegram, Prigozhin called Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces and the overall commander of the war on Ukraine, “criminals” who had “destroyed around 100,000 Russian soldiers.”

In an audio recording posted just after 5 a.m. Rostov time, Prigozhin repeated his threat that his troops would destroy anything that stood in their way. “Once again I’m warning everyone: we will … destroy everything around us. You can’t destroy us. We have goals. We are all ready to die. All 25,000 of us.”

In response to Prigozhin’s allegations, Moscow issued a strong denial and a procession of generals have lined up to urge Wagner fighters to stand down.

In one video appeal, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, first deputy chief of the general staff of the armed forces, said Prigozhin does not have the authority to give orders. “This is a state coup,” he insisted, “come to your senses!”

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commander of Russian forces in Ukraine Sergei Surovikin — known as “General Armageddon” — urged Wagner to hold its positions and not to turn on its own allies. “Stop the columns, return them to the points of permanent deployment,” he pleaded.

Russia’s defense ministry issued a statement in the early hours of Saturday morning, warning that Ukrainian forces are “taking advantage of Prigozhin’s provocation” on the front lines around the key battleground town of Bakhmut, which Wagner troops previously held. Moscow’s top brass also said the 35th and 36th brigades of Ukraine’s Marine Corps “are on the starting lines for offensive operations.”

In a tweet in the early hours of Saturday, Ukraine’s defense ministry said: “We are watching.”

Rolling the dice

Earlier Friday, the Wagner Group founder questioned Moscow’s rationale for launching its invasion of Ukraine, saying that “the Armed Forces of Ukraine were not going to attack Russia with NATO,” and that “the war was needed for a bunch of scumbags to triumph and show how strong of an army they are.”

In a bombastic video statement, he called the Russian military leadership “evil” and vowed to march for “justice,” threatening anyone who stood in his way.

In a second message released on his Telegram channel in the early hours of Saturday morning, Prigozhin said that “at the current time, we are entering Rostov,” in Russia, adding that conscripts had been sent to turn Wagner Group fighters back. However, he went on to claim, those guarding the frontier had greeted his troops with open arms.

“If anyone gets in our way, we will destroy everything!” Prigozhin vowed.

In a post on his Telegram account, Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region, said: “The current situation requires the maximum concentration of all forces to maintain order. Law enforcement agencies are doing everything necessary to ensure the safety of residents of the area. I ask everyone to stay calm and do not leave the house without the need.”

Russian state media said checkpoints have been erected in Rostov-on-Don, close to the souther border with Ukraine. At the same time, unnamed officials told news agency TASS that security has been tightened in Moscow with national guard units deployed to keep the peace. Unverified videos purport to show armored vehicles parked on the streets of the capital.

Russian state media also said Moscow’s Red Square will be closed to the public on Saturday, claiming the reason for the closure was because an event was to be held there.

Speaking to POLITICO, Colonel Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer and ex-NATO planner, said that it was “too early to tell” if a coup was underway. “Clearly Moscow is worried and has activated a defense plan — Prigozhin is trying to push something focused on Shoigu, but it could be many things.”

According to Ian Garner, a Russia expert and author of a new book on the fallout of the war in Ukraine, the Wagner chief has overplayed his hand. “Prigozhin has rolled the dice, and now the state is going to do away with him for good,” he said.

“I suspect Prigozhin’s chances of launching a successful coup are slim. The state can offer everything he does — money, freedom, prestige — without him. Why would the Wagner fighters side with Prigozhin in a battle to the death?” Garner said.

Death knell for Wagner

The chaos amounts to a death knell for the Wagner Group, which has been active not just in Ukraine but also in Africa, according to one analyst.

“Whatever this is, it is definitely the dismantling of Wagner,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst and founder of the R-Politik consultancy firm, on her Telegram channel.

“This is the end of Prigozhin and the end of Wagner. An important moment: many within the elite will hold it against Putin that things have come this far and that the president did not react sooner. That’s why this entire story is also a blow to Putin.”

In his increasingly unhinged voice memos on Telegram, Prigozhin also claimed a Russian military helicopter had opened fire on a convoy of his troops — and that Wagner had shot it down.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson on Russia Adam Hodge said: “We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin published a pre-recorded video of President Putin in honor of Youth Day.

https://www.politico.eu/article/putin-in-crisis-as-wagner-chief-prigozhin-declares-war-on-russian-military-leadership/

Russian billionaires see wealth rise to over half a trillion dollars - Forbes

Russia's richest people added $152 billion to their wealth over the past year, buoyed by high prices for natural resources and rebounding from the huge loss of fortunes they experienced just after the Ukraine war began, Forbes Russia said.

Russia has 110 official billionaires in the list, up 22 from last year, according to Forbes' Russian edition, which said their total wealth increased to $505 billion from $353 billion when the 2022 list was announced.

Five billionaires renounced their citizenships

The list would have been longer had not five billionaires - DST Global founder Yuri Milner, Revolut founder Nikolay Storonsky, Freedom Finance founder Timur Turlov, and JetBrains co-founders Sergei Dmitriev and Valentin Kipyatkov - renounced their Russian citizenships, Forbes said.

"Last year's rating results were also influenced by apocalyptic predictions about the Russian economy," Forbes said, adding that the total wealth of Russia's billionaires was $606 billion in 2021, before the war began.

After President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24 last year, the West imposed what it casts as the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia's economy - and some of its richest people - in an attempt to punish Putin for the war.

Putin said the West was trying to destroy Russia and has repeatedly touted the failure of Western sanctions to destroy the Russian economy, or even stop Western luxury goods - let alone basic parts - from ending up in Russia.

Russia's economy shrank 2.1% in 2022 under the pressure of Western sanctions, but it was able to sell oil, metals and other natural resources to global markets, in particular to China, India and the Middle East.

The International Monetary Fund this month raised its forecast for Russian growth in 2023 to 0.7% from 0.3%, but lowered its 2024 forecast to 1.3% from 2.1%, saying it also expected labor shortages and the exodus of Western companies to harm the country's economy.

The price of Urals oil, the lifeblood of the Russian economy, averaged $76.09 per barrel in 2022, up from $69 in 2021. Fertilizer prices were also high last year.

The three richest Russians

Andrei Melnichenko, who made a fortune in fertilizers, was listed as Russia's richest man by Forbes with an estimated worth of $25.2 billion, more than double what he was estimated to be worth last year.

Melnichenko could not be reached for immediate comment on the Forbes ranking.

Vladimir Potanin, president and biggest shareholder of Nornickel, the world's largest producer of palladium and refined nickel, was ranked as second richest in Russia with a fortune of $23.7 billion. Potanin could not immediately be reached for comment on the Forbes ranking.

Vladimir Lisin, who controls steelmaker NLMK and was ranked last year as Russia's richest man, was placed third in the Forbes Russia list with a fortune of $22.1 billion. Lisin could not be immediately reached for comment on the Forbes ranking.

Many Russian billionaires cast Western sanctions as a clumsy, and even racist, tool.

Building fortunes as the Soviet Union crumbled, a small group of tycoons known as the oligarchs persuaded the Kremlin under late president Boris Yeltsin to give them control over some of the biggest oil and metals companies in the world.

The privatization deals often propelled the tycoons into the league of the world’s super rich, earning them the enduring dislike of millions of impoverished Russians.

But under Putin, some of the original oligarchs, such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Boris Berezovsky, were stripped of their assets, which eventually ended up under the sway of state companies often run by former spies.

New Russian names in the Forbes list include billionaires who made their money in snacks, supermarkets, chemicals, building and pharmaceuticals, indicating that Russian domestic demand has remained strong despite the sanctions.

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-739952

Putin repeats claim that Ukraine invasion was necessary to defend Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin began his address to the Federal Assembly with a familiar refrain: Russia had no choice but to attack Ukraine.

Putin claimed that the West was preparing to turn Ukraine into a launchpad bristling with weapons to attack Russia, meaning that Moscow had to act before it could do so.

This echoes his speech from February 24 last year, when he argued that Russia had no choice but to use force against Ukraine.

"They did not leave us any other option for defending Russia and our people, other than the one we are forced to use today," he said.

"In these circumstances, we have to take bold and immediate action. The people’s republics of Donbas have asked Russia for help."

On Tuesday, Putin said that Russia has done "everything possible" to resolve the conflict peacefully, and accused the West of turning a blind eye to "terrorist activity" in eastern Ukraine.

Putin also repeated the unsubstantiated claim that Ukraine was pushing to be provided with nuclear weapons, and doubled down on his framing of the invasion as a pre-emptive, defensive action.

He went on to double down on blaming the West for the war in Ukraine.

"I want to repeat: it was they who unleashed the war," said Putin. "And we used and continue to use force to stop it."

Ukraine is serving the interests of "Western masters," Putin says

Putin said in his Tuesday address that the Ukrainian government is protecting the interests of its "Western masters" rather than the country's own national interests.

"The Kyiv regime and their Western masters have completely taken over the economy of the country," the Russian president claimed.

"They have destroyed the Ukrainian industry and economy," he said.

Putin added that the "material state" for those living in Ukraine has degraded.

"They're responsible for the escalation of the situation in Ukraine ... for the huge numbers of casualties," said Putin.

"And of course, the Kyiv regime is essentially alien to the people of Ukraine. They are not protecting their own interests, but those of their minder countries."

Putin repeats criticism of NATO expansion and claims West wants to widen Ukraine conflict

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeated his criticism of the expansion of the NATO military alliance, which he has repeatedly used as an excuse for the invasion of Ukraine.

"We have been open, frank and sincere in wanting an open dialogue with the West and we have said many times that the world needs indivisible security and we invited all countries of the world to talk about that," Putin said in his annual address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow.

"But as a response, all we got was a hypocritical, incomprehensible reply, as well as quite substantive, concrete actions -- the expansion of NATO -- the so-called umbrella of defense of our country and Central Asia."

"They are not going to stop. The threat continues every day," Putin said. "And they're preparing for bloodshed in the Donbas."

The Donbas comprises the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine.

"The elite of the West does not conceal their ambitions, which is to strategically defeat Russia. What does that mean? It means to finish yourself once and for all," Putin said. "They do that by making local conflicts into much wider and bigger ones."

Putin added that the United States in particular sees the conflict in Ukraine "as an anti-Russian project."

"The aim is to seize these historically Russian lands from us," Putin added. "Nothing has changed. It is just a question of a continuation of the same policy."

https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-2-21-23/index.html

Key bridge linking Crimea to Russia hit by huge explosion

A huge explosion has destroyed part of the Kerch bridge from Russia to Crimea, a hated symbol of the Kremlin’s occupation of the southern Ukrainian peninsula, one of Vladimir Putin’s prestige projects and a vital logistical link for the Russian military.

A section of the Ukraine-bound road bridge collapsed into the Kerch strait after the blast, and a fierce fire engulfed a train on the parallel railway connection, creating a vast column of black smoke. The parallel road towards Russia still appeared passable in images from the blast site.

The attack, which came the day after Putin’s 70th birthday, is a major blow to Russian military prestige and its supply chains for the invasion and the defence of Crimea.

Moscow had claimed the bridge was protected by impenetrable layers of defences, ranging from military dolphins to the latest weapons systems, but had also threatened harsh retaliation if it was targeted.

Ukraine has not directly claimed responsibility for hitting the bridge, but senior officials publicly celebrated and on Saturday morning the only real question about the attack was not who ordered it, but how it was carried out.

The explosion, which witnesses said could be heard miles away, happened about 6am on Saturday while a train was crossing the bridge. Pictures of the damage began emerging soon after.

Russia set up a committee to investigate the attack and within hours said three people had been killed and blamed a truck bomb for the blast. It added that they identified the driver of the exploded truck as a resident of the southern Russian Kuban region.

“According to preliminary data, three people died as a result of the incident. These are, presumably, the passengers of a car that was next to the blown-up truck,” Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement.

“At present, the bodies of two dead men and women have already been raised from the water; their identities are being established.”

Footage shared on Russian Telegram channels and news agencies appeared to show the moment of the explosion with two vehicles, a truck and a car, at the centre of the blast, although it was unclear whether either was responsible or simply caught up in the detonation.

The bridge, which was built on the orders of Putin, and inaugurated in 2018, was a key transport link for carrying military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, especially in the south, as well as ferrying troops there.

A lot more at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/08/crimea-kerch-bridge-explosions-russia-ukraine

Putin drafts up to 300,000 reservists, backs annexation amid war losses

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a partial military mobilization Wednesday to call up as many as 300,000 reservists in a dramatic bid to reverse setbacks in his war on Ukraine, including the recent humiliating retreat from the northeastern Kharkiv region.

In a national address broadcast Wednesday morning, Putin lashed out at the West, voiced his support for staged referendums that are being planned as a precursor to annexation of occupied areas of Ukraine, and hinted ominously that he was ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory — as he defines it.

“In the face of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal,” Putin warned. “This is not a bluff,” he said, in a clear reference to Russia’s nuclear capabilities.

“I will emphasize this again: with all the means at our disposal,” he added.

Russia’s faltering military performance in Ukraine leaves Moscow relying on its nuclear arsenal to affirm its status as a global power. Brimming with resentment and anger, Putin called the war an effort by Western elites to destroy and dismember Russia, framing it as a confrontation between Moscow and NATO countries.

Those comments were reinforced in a separate address by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, although Western leaders — including President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — urged Putin not to invade and have put limits on military support for Ukraine to signal that their nations are not in direct conflict with Russia.

The plans to stage referendums from Friday to Tuesday in four occupied regions of eastern and southern Ukraine — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — pave the way for their illegal annexation by Russia, a step that will be rejected globally. But it could be used by Russia to claim that Ukraine’s attacks to liberate its own territory amount to attacks on Russia itself.

Putin’s blunt, uncompromising rhetoric underscored his growing international isolation. The war has dominated discussions at the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York, where world leaders condemned the violence and lamented the global hardship caused by soaring food and energy prices.

A lot more at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/21/putin-speech-annexation-ukraine-russia/

100,000 “volunteers” offered by North Korea to aid in the war against Ukraine, according to Russian state TV:

Ukraine war: Every bridge leading to key city Severodonetsk destroyed

All bridges to the embattled Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk have now been destroyed, the local governor says.

With the city effectively cut off, Serhiy Haidai says delivering supplies and evacuating civilians are now impossible.

Fierce fighting is taking place in the eastern city where Ukrainian officials said Russian artillery had driven its forces out of the centre.

For weeks capturing Severodonetsk has been a top military goal for Russia.

Taking Severodonetsk and the nearby city of Lysychansk would give Moscow control of the entire Luhansk region, much of which is already controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

All three bridges into Severodonetsk were destroyed, Mr Haidai posted on Telegram. Those residents remaining in the city were being forced to survive in "extremely difficult conditions", he added.

Former British soldier Jordan Gatley is among those to have been killed while fighting to defend the city, his family confirmed on Sunday.

Ukraine's President Volodomyr Zelensky described the human cost of the battle for the city as "terrifying". Ukrainian troops, he said, had been fighting Russian forces for "literally every metre".

Reports suggest that about 70% of the city is now under Russian control.

Ukrainian troops remaining in the city must "surrender or die", a military representative of the pro-Russian self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said.

Speaking to media in Donetsk, Eduard Basurin said, "Ukrainian divisions that are there [in Severodonetsk] are there forever."

A top Russian official said Moscow's objective was to protect the self-declared people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

"In general, the protection of the republics is the main goal of the special military operation," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency.

When President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on 24 February he claimed Russia's goal was to "demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine". However, it soon became clear Russia was intent on seizing Ukrainian territory and it is now focused on controlling the industrial east.

Also on Monday, Ukrainian officials said weapons being supplied by the West were not arriving as quickly as they should.

A senior presidential adviser to President Zelensky said that to end the war Ukraine's military needed "heavy weapons parity", posting a list of military hardware he said Kyiv required.

Speaking to the BBC World Service's Newshour, an adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister said troops defending Severodonetsk would have been more effective if heavy weapons had been supplied earlier.

Troops are defending the city "with what we can" but would be "much more efficient at repelling the enemy and liberating Ukrainian land had we received more heavy weaponry by now", Yury Sak said.

He added that Russia's advantage was overwhelming - firing an average of 50,000 rounds a day and creating a "barrage of mortar shells, air bombardment, missile strikes" over Ukraine.

In recent weeks Western countries have committed to sending longer-range weapons to Kyiv, including the UK which for the first time said it would be sending multiple-launch rocket systems to help Ukraine defend itself.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61786949

Russia made £79.4bn in first 100 days of Ukraine war by selling oil and gas to the world

Russia made €93bn (£79.4bn) in the first 100 days of the war against Ukraine by selling its fossil fuels to countries all over the world.

This staggering total came despite a significant fall in export volumes in May as the international community tried to reduce dependency on Moscow's oil and gas.

According to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the EU received 61% of Russia's fossil fuel exports.

And even as Russian oil is being sold at a discount because of its origin, a global increase in demand for fossil fuel and soaring energy prices have still been lucrative for President Vladimir Putin's regime, helping to finance his invasion of Ukraine.

CREA's lead analyst Lauri Myllyvirta said of the current international sanctions against Moscow: "The progress to date is far too slow given Ukraine's urgent need for support. Much stronger action is needed to cut off the flow of cash to Russia.

"Globally, we need to speed up the deployment of clean energy to replace fossil fuel imports and ease the high fuel prices which are driving up Russia's revenues."

The EU has pledged to block most Russian oil imports by the end of the year although it is struggling to agree on how and when to end its dependency on Russian gas.

Still, Poland and America made the largest impact on Russia's income by dramatically reducing imports, along with countries like Lithuania, Finland and Estonia.

According to CREA's research, India, France, China, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia all increased imports, with India buying 18% of Russia's crude oil exports, and France the largest buyer of discounted liquid natural gas and oil cargoes on the short-term market.

Mr Myllyvirta said: "The exports of Russian oil to new markets are being enabled by Greek and other European shipping companies.

"As Russian oil is shipped to more distant markets, more tanker capacity than ever before is needed for the transport.

"80% of the tankers carrying Russian oil to India and the Middle East, for example, are European or US-owned.

"This should be the next focus of EU action."

CREA, which focuses on environmental and air pollution issues, carried out its research by tracking cargo ships, shipping data, gas pipeline flows, and by estimating the value of imports using its own pricing models.

https://news.sky.com/story/russia-made-79-4bn-in-first-100-days-of-ukraine-war-by-selling-oil-and-gas-to-the-world-12632810

Grandfathers are to fight: Putin signs a law admitting people to the army under contract up to age 65

The Russian army is to accept personnel up to the age of 65 to work under contract - a law on this has been signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Details: Putin has signed a law abolishing the age limit for concluding the first contract with the Russian Armed Forces.

According to the State Duma website, people will now be able to serve in the army under a contract until they reach retirement age (which is 60 for women and 65 for men).

Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister clarified that it will be possible to sign the first contract for military service in Russia up until the age of 50.

Russian law used to provide that [Russian] citizens aged 18-40, and foreign nationals aged 18-30, could sign their first contract for military service.

Background:

On 25 May, the State Duma passed a law in three readings abolishing the age limit for concluding the first contract for military service in Russia.

https://news.yahoo.com/grandfathers-fight-putin-signs-law-100548454.html

Mariupol defenders surrender to Russia but their fate is uncertain

More than 250 Ukrainian fighters surrendered to Russian forces at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol after weeks of desperate resistance, bringing an end to the most devastating siege of Russia's war in Ukraine and allowing President Vladimir Putin to claim a rare victory in his faltering campaign.

Even as the Kremlin prepares to take full control of the ruins of Mariupol, it faces the growing prospect of defeat in its bid to conquer all of Ukraine's eastern Donbas because its badly mauled forces lack the manpower for significant advances, some analysts of the Russian campaign said.

Buses left the steelworks late on Monday in a convoy escorted by Russian armoured vehicles. Five arrived in the Russian-held town of Novoazovsk, where Moscow said wounded fighters would be treated.

Seven buses carrying Ukrainian fighters from the Azovstal garrison arrived at a newly reopened prison in the Russian-controlled town of Olenivka near Donetsk, a Reuters witness said.

There were some women aboard at least one of the buses in Olenivka, Reuters video showed.

Some of the women wore olive green uniforms, as did most of the men. All of them appeared exhausted. One rested against duffel bags stacked on the floor.

What will happen to the fighters was unclear. The Kremlin said Putin had personally guaranteed the prisoners would be treated according to international standards, and Ukrainian officials said they could be exchanged for Russian captives.

TASS news agency said a Russian committee planned to question the soldiers, many of them members of the Azov Battalion, as part of an investigation into what Moscow calls "Ukrainian regime crimes".

The denouement of a battle which came to symbolise Ukrainian resistance gives Moscow total control of the Azov Sea coast and an unbroken stretch of eastern and southern Ukraine, even as its troops retreat from the outskirts of Kharkiv in the northeast.

Officials from both sides said on Tuesday that peace talks aimed at ending the war had stagnated.

Negotiators last convened in-person in late March, and there has been little communication between them in recent weeks.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said Ukraine "has practically withdrawn from the negotiation process," While Russian negotiator Leonid Slutsky said talks were not being conducted in any format.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said talks were "on hold" as Russia is not willing to accept that it will not achieve its goals.

PRISONER SWAP?

The complete capture of Mariupol is Russia's biggest victory since it launched what it calls a "special military operation" on Feb. 24. But the port lies in ruins, and Ukraine believes tens of thousands of people were killed under months of Russian bombardment.

Russia said at least 256 Ukrainian fighters had "laid down their arms and surrendered", including 51 severely wounded. Ukraine said 264 soldiers, including 53 wounded, had left.

Russian defence ministry video showed fighters leaving the plant, some carried on stretchers, others with hands up to be searched by Russian troops.

While both sides spoke of a deal under which all Ukrainian troops would abandon the steelworks, many details were not yet public, including how many fighters still remained inside, and whether any form of prisoner swap had been agreed.

Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar told a briefing that Kyiv would not disclose how many fighters remained inside until all were safe. Ukraine's military said units in Azovstal had completed their combat mission.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Kyiv aimed to arrange a prisoner swap for the wounded once their condition stabilises, but neither side disclosed terms for any specific deal.

High-profile Russian lawmakers spoke out against any prisoner swap. Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma, Russia's lower house, said: "Nazi criminals should not be exchanged."

Lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, one of Russia's negotiators in talks with Ukraine, called the evacuated combatants "animals in human form" and said they should be executed.

Natalia, wife of a sailor among those holed up in the plant, told Reuters she hoped "there will be an honest exchange". But she was still worried: "What Russia is doing now is inhumane."

The United Nations and Red Cross say the true death toll from the Mariupol siege is still uncounted but it is certain to be Europe's worst since the 1990s wars in Chechnya and the Balkans.

UKRAINIAN ADVANCES

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces have been advancing at their fastest pace for more than a month, driving Russian forces out of the area around Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city.

Ukraine says its forces had reached the Russian border, 40 km (25 miles) north of Kharkiv. They have also pushed at least as far as the Siverskiy Donets river 40 km to the east, where they could threaten supply lines to Russia's main advance in the Donbas.

Russia is still pressing that advance despite taking heavy losses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had shelled the areas in the north and west on Tuesday to compensate for what he called Russia's failures in the east and south.

"They cannot produce any successes for their combined forces in areas where they are trying to advance," Zelenskiy said in a late night address. "These strikes, like many of those that came before them, will give them nothing."

Putin may have to decide whether to send in more troops and hardware to replenish his dramatically weakened invasion force as an influx of modern Western weaponry bolsters Ukraine's combat power, analysts said.

"Time is definitely working against the Russians. They're running out of equipment. They're running out of particularly advanced missiles. And, of course, the Ukrainians are getting stronger almost every day," said Neil Melvin of the RUSI think-tank in London.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukrainian-troops-evacuate-mariupol-ceding-control-russia-2022-05-17/

Putin may declare war on May 9 and start conscription, US officials warn

Zaporizhzhia: Russian President Vladimir Putin could formally declare war on Ukraine on May 9, US officials have warned, as Russia moves to annex large swaths of eastern Ukraine.

May 9 is known as Russia’s Victory Day. As Putin’s long-term Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov doubled down on the claim that the invasion was a “special operation” aimed at “de-nazifying” Ukraine, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday there was “good reason to believe that the Russians will do everything they can to use” May 9 to justify the war.

“We’ve seen the Russians really double down on their propaganda efforts, probably, almost certainly, as a means to distract from their tactical and strategic failures on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Price said at a State Department briefing.

Price said it would be a great irony if Putin used Victory Day to declare war, which would allow the Kremlin to draft conscripts to reinforce its battered military force.

“I’m quite confident that we’ll be hearing more from Moscow in the lead-up to May 9,” Price said.

“I’m quite confident that you will be hearing more from the United States, from our partners, including our NATO partners, in the lead-up to May 9 as well.”

Separately, Michael Carpenter, US ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said that Russia would hold sham referendums in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics to attach the entities to Russia, while the captured city of Kherson would be declared an independent republic.

He noted that mayors and local legislators there have been abducted, that internet and mobile phone services have been severed and that a Russian school curriculum is soon to be imposed.

Ukraine’s government has said Russia has also introduced the rouble as currency there.

Russia’s Hitler claims

Russia’s foreign ministry accused Israel on Tuesday of supporting neo-Nazis in Ukraine, further escalating a row that began when Lavrov claimed Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins.

The Israeli foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador and demanded an apology.

“Such lies are intended to accuse the Jews themselves of the most horrific crimes in history that were committed against them,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.

“The use of the Holocaust of the Jewish people for political purposes must stop immediately,” he added.

Israel lambasted Lavrov on Monday, saying his claim – made when talking about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish – was an “unforgivable” falsehood that debased the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.

“Foreign minister Lavrov’s remarks are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, calling for a Russian apology.

“Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of anti-Semitism.”

Leaders from several Western nations denounced Lavrov’s comments and Zelensky accused Russia of having forgotten the lessons of World War II.

The Russian ministry said in a statement thatLapid’s comments were “anti-historical” and “explaining to a large extent why the current Israeli government supports the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv”.

Moscow reiterated Lavrov’s point that Zelensky’s Jewish origins did not preclude Ukraine from being run by neo-Nazis.

“Anti-Semitism in everyday life and in politics is not stopped and is on the contrary nurtured [in Ukraine],” it said in a statement.

Lavrov made the Hitler assertion on Italian television on Sunday when he was asked why Russia said it needed to “de-nazify” Ukraine if the country’s own president was Jewish.

Israel has expressed support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February. But, wary of damaging relations with Russia, a powerbroker in neighbouring Syria, it initially avoided direct criticism of Moscow and has not enforced formal sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

However, ties have grown more strained, with Lapid last month accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

Lavrov’s claims were condemned by Zelensky as proof “the Russian leadership has forgotten all the lessons of World War II”.

“Or perhaps they have never learnt those lessons,” Zelensky said in his nightly video message. Hitler, Nazi Germany’s wartime leader, oversaw the systematic death of up to 6 million European Jewish civilians in a network of concentration camps his regime built. Nazism was premised on the supposed ethnic purity of the blood of the German race.

Mariupol’s misery

In bombed-out Mariupol, more than 100 people – including elderly women and mothers with small children – left the rubble-strewn Azovstal steelworks on Sunday and set out in buses and ambulances for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 230 kilometres to the north-west, according to authorities and video released by the two sides.

Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told the BBC that the evacuees were making slow progress. Authorities gave no explanation for the delay.

At least some of the civilians were apparently taken to a village controlled by Russian-backed separatists. The Russian military said some chose to stay in separatist areas, while dozens left for Ukrainian-held territory.

In the past, Ukraine has accused Moscow’s troops of taking civilians against their will to Russia or Russian-controlled areas. The Kremlin has denied it.

The Russian bombardment of the sprawling plant by air, tank and ship picked up again after the partial evacuation, Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, which is helping to defend the mill, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Orlov said high-level negotiations were under way among Ukraine, Russia and international organisations on evacuating more people.

The steel-plant evacuation, if successful, would represent rare progress in easing the human cost of the almost 10-week war, which has caused particular suffering in the southern port city.

Previous attempts to open safe corridors out of the city and other places have broken down. Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of shooting and shelling along agreed-on evacuation routes.

Before the weekend evacuation, overseen by the United Nations and the Red Cross, about 1000 civilians were believed to have been in the plant along with an estimated 2000 Ukrainian defenders. Russia has demanded that the fighters surrender; they have refused.

As many as 100,000 people overall may still be in Mariupol, which had a prewar population of more than 400,000. Russian forces have pounded much of the city into rubble, trapping civilians with little food, water, heat or medicine.

Some Mariupol residents got out of the city on their own, often in damaged private cars.

As sunset approached, Mariupol resident Yaroslav Dmytryshyn rattled up to a reception centre in Zaporizhzhia in a car with a back seat full of youngsters and two signs taped to the back window: “Children” and “Little ones”.

“I can’t believe we survived,” he said, looking worn but in good spirits after two days on the road.

Child death toll

Also on Monday, Zelensky said that at least 220 Ukrainian children had been killed by the Russian Army since the war began, and 1570 educational institutions have been destroyed or damaged.

Thwarted in his bid to seize Kyiv Putin has shifted his focus to the Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Russia said it struck dozens of military targets in the region, including concentrations of troops and weapons and an ammunition depot near Chervone in the Zaporizhzhia region, west of the Donbas.

Ukrainian and Western officials say Moscow’s troops are raining fire indiscriminately, taking a heavy toll on civilians while making only slow progress.

The governor of the Odessa region along the Black Sea Coast, Maksym Marchenko, said on Telegram that a Russian missile strike on an Odessa infrastructure target caused deaths and injuries. He gave no details. Zelensky said the attack destroyed a dormitory and killed a 14-year-old boy.

Ukraine said Russia also struck a strategic road and rail bridge west of Odessa. The bridge was heavily damaged in previous Russian strikes, and its destruction would cut a supply route for weapons and other cargo from neighbouring Romania.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/ukraine-fighter-says-civilians-remain-trapped-in-mariupol-steel-plant-20220503-p5ahy7.html

A graveyard of burned-out and destroyed vehicles was filmed Wednesday in Bucha, Ukraine, where mass graves and bodies in the streets were found after the withdrawal of Russian forces.

Google has a message for its ad publishers regarding the ongoing Ukraine War:

Aftermath of a missile attack at a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, where more than 30 people were killed as they tried to escape the area: