Month: March 2022

The Ukraine Battle That Had Us Filming Our Dying Words

A gory onslaught in the south of Ukraine will haunt us for the rest of our lives. For the people of Ukraine, it’s only the beginning.

Will Cathcart, William Cooper – March 2, 2022

KHERSON, Ukraine—We hid in a town called Kherson, in the south of Ukraine, for 18 hours caught in the middle of a horrific battle. Russians attacked a vast line of Ukrainian tanks, transport vehicles, and personnel carriers from two directions. When a tank we passed was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, we ditched our car. We ran from one place to another only to be turned back by rockets and artillery. We jumped into the bed of an old Soviet transport truck and cowered among stacks of tires. Bullets whizzed by above.

We were still in Mariupol when Russia invaded Ukraine—though it has been invading since 2014. We headed west as fast as we could, but that drove us straight into Kherson, in that truck right in the middle of the worst battle Ukraine had seen in a long time.

It was one of the first major clashes since Russia had invaded Ukraine early that morning. At this stage, Russia was making massive land grabs. Troops from Crimea had come north to seize a nearby airport.“The corpses of dead Russian soldiers were left out on display.”

The attack began at an overpass on the P-47 highway at 3 p.m. on Feb. 24, just outside Kherson, a strategic juncture near a small airport 100 km from the northern border of Crimea. As the explosions grew closer, we took out our phones and recorded videos saying goodbye to our 2-year-old sons and our families.

When we watch those videos now, we are overcome with shame and loathing for putting ourselves in that position.

In front of us was a dilapidated concrete structure. We ran for it, crawled beneath, and hid in the dirt. A truck driver and a farmer followed us. There were no windows or blankets, but the farmer found a moldy bed lining for us. And though magnificent flames reached into the sky around us in every direction, there would be no fire for us.

It was the longest and coldest night of our lives, and we didn’t sleep a wink. In the days since, when we can sleep, we dream of the dismembered, mutilated bodies we passed on our way out of that place. We spent the night freezing in the room above, uploading and deleting videos, photos, and interviews from our 14-hour embed the day before.

That day was spent with the volunteer Ukrainian paramilitary team Third Force, on the front near Mariupol. We had bonded with these men, an almost mythic team of 15 fighters, whose commander goes by the codename Groz. He knows that even guerrilla warfare is a war of hearts and minds. It is the first thing that he told us, and the last.

Ukraine has been at war for about eight days, but these guys had been at war for eight years. They have been fighting the Russian-backed separatists and FSB agents who attack them from the other side of the line just east of Mariupol, in the breakaway territory called the Donetsk People’s Republic, which Russia recognized as independent of Ukraine the day before we embedded with them. In our time together, they showed us everything: their methods and tactics, their improvisation, their tech campaigns, and their tremendous cache of ammo. They fed us and told us about themselves.

Earlier that day, they led us down a road lined with minefields on either side. The mines were left by Russian-backed separatists who took control of this area but knew they would not have it for long. There are ominous warning signs posted along the field. As we were walking, Groz yelled at me to stay on the road—with genuine panic in his eyes.

Eventually, we reached a strikingly beautiful beach on the sea of Azov where we were given a demonstration of their drones. One of the younger soldiers slips on the VR headset. Groz scans the area with his assault rifle. The drone takes off at 90 mph, straight to the front line. Soon afterwards, we heard bursts of gunfire, and the fighter with the VR headset began laughing. The drone came back unharmed, and we walked back to the base more carefully than we’ve ever walked in our lives.

That night, we met the head of an NGO called Blue Yellow, which delivers supplies to various battalions on the front. His codename is Panda. The work of Blue Yellow has become the stuff of legend, and for those seeking to help the front lines Blue Yellow would be a good place to start. Groz and Panda tell me that nearly all of the funding from the United States government never makes it to its destination. They believe that this is a matter of inefficiency rather than corruption.

When Groz dropped us off at the hotel that night, he hugged us. He removed the signature arm patch of the battalion from his shoulder and handed it over to us. Then he was gone.

Several hours later, the real war began. We realized the danger we were in and also the danger that Third Strike could face if we were detained. We knew we wouldn’t be treated like journalists. For the Russian forces currently targeting civilian dwellings, the Geneva Conventions are just a punchline. The easy thing to do would be to delete everything. But Groz went to great risk in giving away his position and tactics,and for a reason: He was counting on us to tell his story. Groz wants the world to know that this fight will not be the fight Russia is expecting. These men are ready for all types of warfare. They are innovative. And there are many more like them.

In seeking to put as much distance between ourselves and Mariupol, we drove straight into the hell in Kherson that has followed us both home and will likely drag us back.

In that concrete structure in Kherson, we watched as Russian tanks rolled by just outside the window and forces from both sides roamed around the surrounding forests. The battle shifted to a nearby bridge, which Ukrainian forces were trying to take back. We were in Russian-controlled territory, and this bridge was our only way out. All night, Russian jets bombed Ukrainian forces as they struggled to maintain control. Somehow, the Ukrainians prevailed.

Just before dawn, we received a message from an intelligence contact who had been checking in on us all night looking for a way to get us out. He said that Ukrainians had taken back the bridge but he had no idea if it was safe to get there. We knew this might be our only chance. So, we made a mad dash for that bridge.

As we drove back onto the highway towards the overpass where we had been when the fighting broke out, we were witness to a charred wasteland. Bombed-out Ukrainian tanks were everywhere. The corpses of dead Russian soldiers were left out on display. As we got closer to the bridge, the scenery grew worse. We passed pieces of dead Russian soldiers. Near the top of the bridge, in the middle of the road was the nude upper torso of a bifurcated human being.

We were told that 30 minutes after we crossed that bridge, Russian forces took it back. We headed west for Odessa. But we knew we couldn’t stay there long. There were reports of Russian groups roaming the city at night, creating havoc. We hired a driver to take us to the Moldovan border. But refugee crises had already begun. Traffic was backed up for miles.

So instead, we headed for the unrecognized state of Transnistria, a narrow strip of Russian-backed breakaway Moldovan territory along the Ukrainian border. Upon entry, we were detained by the Transnistria KGB and politely interrogated. They didn’t know what to make of us. The suspicion quickly turned to fascination and bafflement. Eventually, they let us go, and we crossed into Moldova. Our relief to be on EU territory was immeasurable. But Moldovan airspace was closed, and it would be days before we would get back home.

Many more have died since that night on Feb. 24, and many more are likely to die in the days and weeks to come. It’s been a long time since one man held the Free World hostage with his own self-serving pragmatism. But as Putin deprives 44 million people of their humanity and their allies of our honor and integrity, the least we could do, as journalists, was put his depravity on full display.

Daily Beast

Russia Threatens ‘Nuclear’ World War as Its Paratroopers Descend on Ukraine

Barbie Latza Nadeau – March 2, 2022

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that a third world war would be “nuclear” and “destructive,” essentially warning NATO not to intervene militarily in Ukraine, a day after peace talks failed to temper the bloodshed and as Russian paratroopers descended on the city of Kharkiv, the second largest city in the nation and the epicenter of fierce fighting.

Ukraine’s defense ministry confirmed the arrival of Russian airborne troops on Telegram, though it is unclear if they are involved in a ground battle just yet. “There is an ongoing fight between the invaders and the Ukrainians,” they said. Authorities confirmed Wednesday midday that “massive shelling and bombing” as well as urban warfare was underway. Images showed municipal buildings in the city center on fire.

Ukraine’s interior minister said that more than 2,000 civilians had already been killed in the six-day-old conflict.

Kharkiv was paralyzed by increased fighting Wednesday morning, with Ukrainian Interior Ministry Adviser Anton Gerashchenko confirming that a Russian airstrike ignited the barracks of a flight school that housed some Ukrainian troops. “Practically there are no areas left in Kharkiv where an artillery shell has not yet hit,” he said in a statement on Telegram Wednesday morning.

The mayor of Kharkiv said Wednesday that 21 people had been killed in overnight fighting, pushing the death toll higher.

Russia also claimed early Wednesday to have taken control of the port city of Kherson, which the Ukrainian military denies. “According to the information from our brigade the battles are going on now,” a Ukrainian military spokesman told CNN. “The city is not captured totally, some parts are under our control.”

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Russian troops in a 40-mile long convoy are now around 15 miles from the capital Kyiv as precision attacks slammed a TV tower and devastated a Holocaust memorial site and private maternity clinic on Tuesday continue to “soften” the city for what many believe is an imminent ground invasion. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky gave CNN and Reuters interviews from a fortified bunker deep below a building in Kyiv on Tuesday, the first face-to-face interactions he has had with Western journalists. He told CNN, “Everyone has to stop fighting before we’re ready to talk about peace.” When asked if the negotiations were a waste of time if Russia continued shelling, he said, simply, “We’ll see.”

A number of military analysts say that the existence of the convoy backs up Russia’s claim that it does indeed control Ukrainian air space, leaving them unable to attack the somewhat vulnerable convoy. Kyiv mayor, the former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, vowed to hold the city. “We stayed in front of one of the strongest armies in the world. The will to be independent is (the) main priority for us. And we’re defend(ing) our families, our city, our country and our future,” he told CNN Wednesday. “There is a huge patriotic movement right now. Old people—can you imagine—doctors, actors, actors from theater, many professions that never had expectation to fight, to keep weapons, but right now they (are) coming to us. They’re ready to fight. It’s amazing.”

Reaction inside the war theater to President Joe Biden labeling Vladimir Putin a “dictator” in his State of the Union speech was muted, with analysts predicting the Russian president would not react. “I think those personal comments by Joe Biden were probably things that would get under—into the craw of the Russian president,” CNN’s former Moscow bureau chief and expert on Russian affairs Jill Dougherty said. “Things like ‘dictator, Putin alone is to blame, more isolated than ever.’ But I don’t think they’re going to engage in that. You know, you can’t really defend yourself by saying ‘No, I’m not a dictator.’ But what they can do is try to pick apart the argument.”

Meanwhile, inside Russia, clearly fearing an exodus of the country’s wealthy multinationals who have secured European passports through residency, Putin has signed a decree to block anyone from leaving the country with more than $10,000 in foreign currency to “ensure Russia’s financial stability,” according to the Kremlin.

Oleksiy Arestovich, a top aide to Zelensky, noted Wednesday that Russian soldiers were getting increasingly younger. “The Russian Army is running out of resources,” he told the UNIAN news agency. “They are sending cadets from military academies to war, a troop of second-year cadets of a military school has surrendered to us.” If confirmed, it would help explain why Russia’s much-feared military is not able to move faster.

On Wednesday morning, Russia announced its delegation “would be in place” for new talks with Ukraine negotiators later in the day, though no location was announced. Tass news agency later confirmed that an aide to Zelensky said the Ukrainian delegation would be at the table for a second try to reach a peace accord to stop the deadly conflict.

Air Force Times

Ukraine jets hit Russian column; Russia has used thermobarics, Ukraine military says

Howard Altman – March 2, 2022

Ukraine armed forces have been striking that long line of Russian troops heading to Kyiv while the Russians have used thermobaric weapons against Ukrainian cities, the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency tells Military Times.

“We are striking the enemy’s columns,” Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told Military Times in an exclusive interview Wednesday morning. “We burn many columns of the enemy.”

The strikes, he said, are being conducted by Ukraine Su-24 and Su-25 fighter jets, artillery and missile barrages.

“My intelligence officers and agents are directing and calling the strikes,” he said.

Marine Lt. Col. Anton Semelroth, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday morning he “would not speak to intel assessments.”

Ukraine invasion live updates: March 2

The Russian troops staged around the outside of Ukraine’s capital city appear to be in a holding pattern of some kind, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters Tuesday.

Formations that had been moving toward Kyiv are essentially in the same spot today as they were Monday, the official said, roughly 17 miles outside the city center.

“We believe that that’s for a number of reasons,” the official said. “Obviously, the resistance that they’re facing, the fuel and sustainment problems that they’re having. We are also picking up signs that they’re having problems feeding their troops, that they’re not only running out of gas, but they are running out of food.”

The Pentagon’s assessment echoes multiple reports from recent days that Russian troops are looking for fuel and sustenance as they roll toward Kyiv.

There’s also the possibility, the official said, that the Russians are taking a strategic pause to regroup, possibly after a stiffer defense than anticipated from the Ukrainian armed forces.

Budanov also told Military Times that the Russians have been using thermobaric weapons in the assault on Kharkiv and near Kyiv.

They were fired, he said, by TOS-1M weapons systems.

Thermobaric weapons produce more heat and overpressure than conventional weapons by exploding a vapor in the blast zone, according to the Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health. Such weapons create tremendous damage to the human body, according to the journal.

The Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately return a request seeking comment on both claims by Budanov.

Human Rights Watch condemned Russia’s reported used of the weapons a year earlier in Chechnya in 2000, according to The Guardian, as “a dangerous escalation” with “important humanitarian implications”.

The Guardian described the weapons as effective at their “specific purpose” of “primarily destroying defensive positions.” While they would not be used to penetrate a tank, they could be a “”very destructive weapon” against an apartment complex or other building.

“They are not illegal, even though their effects can be pretty horrific because of … creating a vacuum and sucking the air out of the lungs of defenders,” Marcus Hellyer, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told The Guardian.

A senior U.S. defense official on Tuesday said the Pentagon has seen weapons systems that can launch themobaric weapons inside Ukraine, but could not confirm the thermobaric weapons are actually in Ukraine or their use. Semelroth on Wednesday told Military Times there was no update to that assessment.

Military Times Pentagon Bureau Chief Meghann Myers contributed to this report.

Bloomberg

Russian Oligarchs’ Yachts Head for Maldives as Sanctions Levied

Kevin Varley – March 2, 2022

A growing number of superyachts belonging to Russian tycoons have made their way to the Indian Ocean, cruising around the Maldives and Seychelles just as sanctions are imposed on their homeland following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The four biggest luxury yachts in the Maldives right now are Russian-owned, according to an analysis of vessel data by Bloomberg News. The largest, the 459-foot (140-meter) Ocean Victory, belongs to steel magnate Victor Rashnikov, according to SuperyachtFan.com, while another — the 238-foot Clio — is linked to aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska.

The 465-foot Nord, owned by Alexei Mordashov, another steel billionaire, is in the Seychelles after sailing from the Maldives, the data show. Russian banker Andrey Kostin’s Sea Rhapsody is heading to the island chain after departing Turkey on Feb. 18.

An estimated 7% to 10% of the global superyacht fleet is owned by Russians, according to industry watcher Superyacht Group. Overall yacht counts have dipped to 10 from 19 this time last year in the Maldives, while they’ve climbed from five to 12 in the Seychelles, a former British colony known for its palm-fringed islands and sandy beaches. 

The movements come as the U.S. signals it will take aim at Russian business leaders’ assets as part of its economic campaign against Moscow over the invasion. In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Joe Biden said that the U.S. and its allies are preparing to seize the yachts, luxury apartments and private jets of wealthy, politically connected Russians.

“We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” Biden said. 

People

School Superintendent Responds After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Scolds Students For Wearing Masks

Virginia Chamlee – March 2, 2022

Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

A school superintendent is responding after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was filmed berating students for wearing face masks during a visit to the University of South Florida on Wednesday.

Before a speech, DeSantis was filmed telling a group of high school students standing behind him, “You do not have to wear those masks. I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything and we’ve gotta stop with this COVID theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous.”

While some of the students could be seen removing their masks in response to the comments, others kept them on.

In a statement sent to PEOPLE, Hillsborough Schools Superintendent Addison Davis said the district was “proud of the manner in which our students represented themselves,” noting that it is their choice “to protect their health in a way they feel most appropriate.”

According to the district seven children were in attendance at the press conference, which was held to announce funding for cybersecurity education. All of the students attend Tampa’s Middleton High School.

“We are excited our students from Middleton High School were highlighted as part of the statewide focus around cyber security education,” Davis said in the statement. “Our Cyber Security pathway at MHS has had tremendous success through student’s earning industry certifications, participating in internships and leading the way in computer systems and information technology.”

The statement continued: “As always, our students should be valued and celebrated. It is a student and parents’ choice to protect their health in a way they feel most appropriate. We are proud of the manner in which our students represented themselves and our school district.”

While DeSantis is widely rumored to be preparing a 2024 presidential run, he is shot down that speculation, saying in previous interviews that he is “not considering anything beyond doing my job.”

The Republican governor, who narrowly won his 2018 election, is not without controversy.

Still, he’s worked to raise his national profile over the past few years, sometimes by fueling culture-war conflicts similar to former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis has touted his decision not to impose widespread restrictions during the pandemic (though it’s worth noting he did order a statewide lockdown in April 2020) but he has faced much scrutiny for his handling of the virus. He opposed mandating public health measures in the state and attempted to block local leaders’ authority to issue mask mandates in municipalities throughout the state.

Last July, DeSantis issued an order barring local school districts from requiring students to wear masks, despite federal recommendations that all students in kindergarten through 12th grade wear face coverings when they return to the classroom in the fall.

A fundraising group affiliated with DeSantis also released a line of merchandise that takes aim at masks and White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci, such as a $12 “Don’t Fauci My Florida” koozie.

Insider

3 House Republicans voted against a bipartisan resolution to stand ‘steadfastly’ with the Ukrainian people

Grace Panetta – March 2, 2022

• Three House Republicans voted against a bipartisan resolution supporting Ukraine on Wednesday.
• Reps. Paul Gosar, Thomas Massie, and Matt Rosendale were the only “nay” votes on the measure.
• The three congressmen all embrace an isolationist view of foreign policy.

Just three members of the US House — all Republicans — voted against a bipartisan congressional resolution expressing support for the Ukrainian people and Ukraine’s territorial integrity as the country battles the Russian invasion.

Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana were the only nay votes on House Resolution 956, titled “Supporting the People of Ukraine.” The resolution passed the House on Wednesday with 426 votes in favor.

The non-binding resolution, among other things, says the House “supports, unequivocally, Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “states unambiguously that it will never recognize or support any illegitimate Russian-controlled leader or government installed through the use of force.” It also calls for the US and other nations “to deliver additional and immediate defensive security assistance.”

It ends by stating the House “stands steadfastly, staunchly, proudly, and fervently behind the Ukrainian people in their fight against the authoritarian Putin regime.”

The three congressmen have all embraced an isolationist view of foreign policy.

Gosar tweeted “God be with the people of Ukraine” on February 23, but subsequently blamed both President Joe Biden and NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, for Russia’s war in the country.

“NATO has no business inviting Ukraine into membership. This is Russia’s backyard. Biden failed to recognize this geopolitical reality,” Gosar tweeted.

The House resolution emphasizes “that NATO’s relationship with Ukraine is a matter only for Ukraine and the 30 NATO allies.”

Gosar, who has come under scrutiny for his ties to white nationalist groups, was censured by the House in November 2021 after sharing an edited video on Twitter that showed him, stylized as an anime character, slashing President Joe Biden and killing Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Massie, a libertarian, was one of three House Republicans, along with Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, to vote against the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act on Tuesday.

“If you want to fight communists in Eastern Europe, head on over,” Massie tweeted at a critic on February 25. “I’m worried about the abandonment of our Constitutional Republic and troubling shift toward communism and autocracy here.”

Rosendale said in a February 24 statement that the United States “has no legal or moral obligation to come to the aid of either side” in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“In talking to folks across Montana, they are much more concerned with stopping the invasion taking place in our country by millions of illegal aliens than they are the invasion of an Eastern European country halfway across the world,” he said.

The US, along with other European nations, has sanctioned Russia over its invasion. But Biden has repeatedly said the US does not plan to send troops into Ukraine to fight Russia.

Both Rosendale and GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina have introduced legislation limiting the US from providing material aid to Ukraine until more resources are put towards US border security and, in the case of Rosendale’s proposal, building a wall on the US-Mexico border.

“The American people are sick and tired of career politicians consistently putting the interests of foreign nations above our own, we must put America first,” Rosendale tweeted on Monday.

The New York Times

NATO Countries Pour Weapons Into Ukraine, Risking Conflict With Russia

Steven Erlanger – March 2, 2022

BRUSSELS — The Dutch are sending rocket launchers for air defense. The Estonians are sending Javelin anti-tank missiles. The Poles and the Latvians are sending Stinger surface-to-air missiles. The Czechs are sending machine guns, sniper rifles, pistols and ammunition.

Even formerly neutral countries like Sweden and Finland are sending weapons. And Germany, long allergic to sending weapons into conflict zones, is sending Stingers as well as other shoulder-launched rockets.

In all, about 20 countries — most members of NATO and the European Union, but not all — are funneling arms into Ukraine to fight off Russian invaders and arm an insurgency, if the war comes to that.

At the same time, NATO is moving military equipment and as many as 22,000 more troops into member states bordering Russia and Belarus, to reassure them and enhance deterrence.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought European countries together, minds concentrated by the larger threat to European security presented by the Russia of President Vladimir Putin.

“European security and defense has evolved more in the last six days than in the last two decades,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive arm, asserted in a speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday. Brussels has moved to “Europeanize” the efforts of member states to aid Ukraine with weapons and money and put down a marker for the bloc as a significant military actor.

But whether European weaponry will continue to reach the Ukrainian battlefield in time to make a difference is far from certain. However proud Brussels is of its effort, it is a strategy that risks encouraging a wider war and possible retaliation from Putin. The rush of lethal military aid into Ukraine from Poland, a member of NATO, aims, after all, to kill Russian soldiers.

Putin already sees NATO as committed to threaten or even destroy Russia through its support for Ukraine, as he has repeated in his recent speeches, even as he has raised the nuclear alert of his own forces to warn Europe and the United States of the risks of interference.

World wars have started over smaller conflicts, and the proximity of the war to NATO allies carries the danger that it could draw in other parties in unexpected ways.

Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, hit his constant themes again Tuesday as he visited a Polish air base. “Putin’s war affects us all and NATO allies will always stand together to defend and protect each other,” he said. “Our commitment to Article 5, our collective defense clause, is ironclad.”

“There must be no space for miscalculation or misunderstanding,” Stoltenberg said last week. “We will do what it takes to defend every inch of NATO territory.”

But for now the fight is in Ukraine, and while NATO and the EU have made it clear that their soldiers would not fight Russia there, they are actively engaged in helping the Ukrainians to defend themselves.

Western weaponry has been entering Ukraine in relatively large but undisclosed amounts for the past several days. If it can be deployed quickly, it will have impact.

Speed is of the essence as the Russian invasion of Ukraine proceeds and while Ukraine’s border with Poland remains open. Russian troops are trying to surround cities and cut off the bulk of the Ukrainian army east of the Dnieper River, which would make resupply much more difficult.

While 21 of the 27 EU countries are also members of NATO, the effort to move equipment and weapons rapidly into Ukraine from Poland is being carried out by individual countries and is not formally either a NATO or EU operation.

The French say that the E.U.’s military staff is trying to coordinate the push. Britain and the U.S. are doing the same, setting up something called, deliberately blandly and neutrally, the International Donors Coordination Center. It is doubtful that Putin will be fooled by the name.

In fact, even if no NATO soldier ever crosses into Ukraine, and even if convoys of materiel are driven to the border by nonuniformed personnel or contractors in plain trucks, the European arms supplies are likely to be seen in Moscow as a not-so-disguised intervention by NATO.

Supplying Ukraine to allow the resistance to bloody Russia’s nose is a good idea, “but the more it ramps up you wonder how Putin will respond,” said Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute, a defense research institute. “What happens if he attacks on the other side of the border? We pursue terrorists across borders, why not him?”

From the Russian point of view, NATO military veterans who are now contractors helping the Ukrainians and training them, Chalmers said, “might be viewed by Moscow as the Western equivalent of ‘little green men,’” the Russian soldiers without identifying insignia who first moved in to annex Crimea.

Then there is always the possibility of Russian aircraft straying into NATO airspace as they try to interdict convoys or chase Ukrainian planes. Something similar happened the only time a NATO country shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet, near the Turkish-Syrian border in 2015.

More supplies of ground-to-air missiles like Stingers and antitank weapons like the Javelin are crucial, as is secure communications equipment, so the Ukrainian government can continue to be in contact with its military and its people if the Russians take down the internet, said Douglas Lute, a former lieutenant-general and U.S. ambassador to NATO.

“On NATO territory, we should be the Pakistan,” he said, stockpiling materiel in Poland and organizing supply lines to the Ukrainians as Pakistan supplied the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The European fund being used to buy lethal arms is called the European Peace Facility.

The fund is 2 years old and is intended, at least, to prevent conflict and strengthen international security. It has a financial ceiling of 5.7 billion euros — about $6.4 billion — for the seven-year budget of 2021 to 2027. If Ukraine needs more money, the EU official said, it can be provided.

According to NATO, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Britain and the U.S. have already sent or are approving significant deliveries of military equipment to Ukraine, as well as millions of dollars, while other member states are providing humanitarian aid and welcoming refugees.

On Feb. 25, the day after Russia attacked Ukraine, the White House approved a $350 million package of weapons and equipment, including Javelins and Stingers. Pentagon officials said shipments began flowing within days from military stockpiles in Germany to Poland and Romania, from where the materiel has been shipped overland through western Ukraine.

Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, promised Ukraine to provide tens of thousands of shells and artillery ammunition, anti-aircraft missiles, light mortars, reconnaissance drones and other reconnaissance weapons. Poland, Hungary and Moldova are also welcoming thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the war.

Sweden, not a member of NATO, announced that it would send Ukraine 5,000 antitank weapons, 5,000 helmets, 5,000 items of body armor and 135,000 field rations, plus about $52 million for the Ukrainian military. Finland, similarly, has said it will deliver 2,500 assault rifles and 150,000 rounds of ammunition for them, 1,500 antitank weapons and 70,000 combat rations.

But NATO has also moved to sharply reinforce its deterrence in member states on its eastern flank, to ensure that Russia does not test NATO’s commitment to collective defense.

The U.S. alone has deployed 15,000 extra troops to Europe — 5,000 to Poland, 1,000 to Romania and 1,000 to the Baltic States — while committing another 12,000 troops, if necessary, to NATO’s Response Force, being used in collective defense for the first time.

Washington has also deployed more fighter jets and attack helicopters to Romania, Poland and the Baltic States.

In other examples of the rapid NATO effort to beef up its eastern borders, France sent its first tranche of troops to Romania on Monday, to lead a new NATO battalion there, and provided Rafale fighter jets to Poland.

Germany, which already is the lead nation of a NATO battalion in Lithuania, has sent another 350 troops and howitzers there, six fighter jets to Romania, some troops to Slovakia and two more ships to NATO’s maritime patrols. Berlin also said it would send a Patriot missile battery and 300 troops to operate it to NATO’s eastern flank, but did not specify where.

Britain, the lead nation of the NATO battalion in Estonia, has sent another 850 soldiers and more Challenger tanks there, plus 350 more troops to Poland. It has also put another 1,000 on standby to help with refugees, and sent another four fighter jets to Cyprus, while sending two ships to the eastern Mediterranean.

Canada has sent some 1,200 soldiers, artillery and electronic warfare units to Latvia, as well as another frigate and reconnaissance aircraft, while putting 3,400 troops on standby for the Response Force.

Italy sent eight fighter jets to Romania and put 3,400 troops on standby, while the Dutch have sent 100 troops to Lithuania and 125 to Romania, and assigned eight fighter jets to NATO duties.

Denmark is sending a frigate to the Baltic Sea and will send 200 soldiers and deploy four fighter jets to Lithuania and some to Poland to support of NATO’s air-policing mission, while Spain has sent four fighter jets to Bulgaria and ships for maritime patrols.

This is hardly a complete listing, but gives an indication of the seriousness with which NATO is taking the threat of further Russian aggression or of a spillover of the war into NATO territory.

Esquire

Putin Is Getting CANCELLED!

Jack Holmes – March 2, 2022

Vladimir Putin has united much of the world in opposition to his barbarism in Ukraine, and he has also united a Fox News talking head and a Washington Post columnist in a particular assessment of the situation: the Russian dictator and the state he controls are getting “cancelled.” “We are witnessing the first geopolitical ‘cancellation’ of the 21st century,” said the WaPo‘s Jason Willick. Monica Crowley, once of the Trump Treasury Department, offered that “Russia is being cancelled” and cited the sweeping international sanctions levied against its economy, its ejection from international sporting competition, and…the Ukrainian military resistance?

To be fair, both seem to think the cancellation is justified. Willick called it “righteous.” But it remains hilarious, if concerning, to watch people attempt to cram a land war in Europe into the tiny box of a worldview that seems to be entirely defined by culture wars here at home. Sometimes, the tired maxims of America’s ritualized political combat are not suited to the moment, particularly when the moment is dominated by an international crisis. Putin and his oligarchy are being punished and isolated in perhaps an unprecedented way. At the very least, we’ve never organized such a crushing sanctions regime against an economy of Russia’s size. But maybe this requires a different term than the one we use for Louis C.K.

This is all enlightening, though, because the admission here is that there are scenarios in which people are justifiably cancelled. The handwringing about Cancel Culture usually revolves around cases that are unjustified, and they certainly exist, though it’s worth interrogating whether the worst outcomes are primarily the fault of the Woke Mob or corporate H.R. departments that overreact to an incident of public shaming. A Georgetown Law professor made a fool of himself regarding Biden’s Supreme Court pick, but that doesn’t mean he should lose his job. Jennifer Jacquet, a professor at New York University and the author of Is Shame Necessary? New Uses for an Old Tool, sees shame as necessary and useful. The problem is not that members of the public will organize to engage in public opprobrium against someone they think has done something unacceptable according to the norms of our society. It’s that, when these pitchfork brigades roll into town—sometimes with excessive force, or targeting someone based on a misreading of what they said—the target’s employer folds too easily and destroys their livelihoods. Public shaming is inevitable in a free society, it’s about how institutions respond in these moments.

And as Jacquet told me for an article in January 2018—and as has become fairly obvious to everyone in the time since—shame is in precipitous decline as a social force. Shamelessness is now a superpower. Our siloed media ecosystems and political tribalism have blunted shame considerably. A sitting member of Congress addressed a conference organized by a white nationalist last weekend and was welcomed to speak at a mainstream event alongside all the most prominent figures of the Republican Party the next day. Will she face any real repercussions within the congressional caucus, beyond a passing rebuke from the House Minority Leader? Seems like a problem for the ball club, particularly when you’ve got players in the farm system venturing even father into the abyss. The decline of public opprobrium, a nonviolent way to sanction people for antisocial behavior, is dangerous in a democratic context. It allows people to get away with ghastly shit, and leaves those who oppose them with few options in response.-

So maybe it’s time to be clear that all of us have a line that we draw, and on the other side is behavior we consider completely unacceptable in today’s society. We are fighting over where to draw it. Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing star of yesteryear, has seen his career destroyed after video emerged of him offering his particular thoughts on pedophilia. This seems entirely appropriate. There are cases where Cancellation is justified, and cases where it is not. We ought to evaluate them individually, along with the responses from powerful institutions that can determine the fate of those involved. And we probably ought to use a different term when we attempt to punish a dictator for war crimes. Let’s pull our gaze away from our own navels for a minute, shall we?

USA Today

Russia has been accused of using ‘vacuum bombs’ in Ukraine. What are those?

Gabriela Miranda, USA TODAY – March 1, 2022

Russian forces have been accused of using the widely banned and dangerous weapons known as vacuum bombs that “obliterate” their victims.

Amnesty International accused Russia of using vacuum bombs, or thermobaric weapons, to attack a preschool in northeastern Ukraine while civilians took shelter inside. CNN reported that one of its teams had spotted a Russian thermobaric multiple rocket launcher near the Ukrainian border early on Saturday afternoon.

Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, told reporters after meeting with members of the U.S. Congress on Monday that Russia had used a thermobaric weapon.

“They used the vacuum bomb today,” Markarova said after a meeting with lawmakers. “The devastation that Russia is trying to inflict on Ukraine is large.”

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she had seen reports but did not have confirmation that Russia had used such weapons. Psaki added that if it’s true, “it would potentially be a war crime.”

What are thermobaric weapons, and how dangerous can they be?

How do ‘vacuum bombs’ work?

The thermobaric weapon, also known as a fuel-air explosive, uses a container of fuel and two separate explosive charges, according to a study by the Human Rights Watch.

The Humans Rights Watch is an international nongovernmental organization in New York City that focuses on human right issues.

The weapon is fired or dropped, and the first explosive charge spreads the fuel in a cloud that sucks up oxygen and then flows “around objects and into structures.” As the fuel cloud spreads, the second charge detonates. The explosion creates a blast wave that is most destructive in enclosed spaces, buildings and foxholes.

Amnesty International said international humanitarian law prohibits the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions and thermobaric weapons.

From soccer to vodka: Here are some sanctions, bans and boycotts placed on Russia

Have they been used before?

In 2000, Human Rights Watch reported and condemned Russia’s suspected use of the weapons in Chechnya, a Russian republic, as “a dangerous escalation” with “important humanitarian implications.”

In August 1999, the Russian military reportedly used FAE bombs against the Dagestani village of Tando, Russia. The U.S. used similar thermobaric bombs in Islamic State group caves in Afghanistan in 2017, The New York Times reported.

How dangerous can they be?

A CIA study said the weapons are “prone to indiscriminate use,” and people closest to the explosion are “obliterated.”

The pressure wave of the vacuum bomb is said to kill its victims by “rupturing lungs,” and if the bomb doesn’t detonate, the victims will inhale the burning fuel, according to a CIA study.

“Since the most common FAE (fuel-air explosive) fuels, ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, are highly toxic, undetonated FAE should prove as lethal to personnel caught within the cloud as with most chemical agents,” the study said.

In addition, when multiple thermobaric weapons are detonated, they reinforce one another and create a stronger, more dangerous blast, the Human Rights Watch reported.

People close to the blast can experience injuries “including burst eardrums and crushed inner ear organs, severe concussions, ruptured lungs and internal organs, and possibly blindness,” according to the study.

Business Insider

Biden is sending Stinger missiles to Ukraine for the first time, which could be used to shoot down Russian helicopters

Jake Epstein and John Haltiwanger – March 1, 2022

• President Joe Biden for the first time is sending Ukraine Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
• The missiles could be used to shoot down Russian helicopters.
• It’s part of a $350 million military aid package for Ukraine approved by the US on Friday.

President Joe Biden for the first time is sending Ukraine Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, which could be used to shoot down Russian helicopters.

The direct delivery of Stinger missiles is part of a military aid package approved last week by the US, Army Times reported on Monday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that he authorized the Defense Department to send Ukraine $350 million in military aid “to help defend itself from Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war.”

On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his country planned to send 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles to Ukraine.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.