Ukraine War – Page 139 – The Tarbabys Blog

Zelenskyy invited Angela Merkel to look at mass graves in Bucha, saying they were the result of a 2008 decision not to let Ukraine join NATO

Insider

Zelenskyy invited Angela Merkel to look at mass graves in Bucha, saying they were the result of a 2008 decision not to let Ukraine join NATO

Sophia Ankel – April 4, 2022

Ukraine’s president condemned European leaders for their 2008 decision not to let Ukraine join NATO.
Zelenskyy’s comments followed shocking reports of mass casualties in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv.
Germany and France shot down Ukraine’s bid to join NATO during a summit in 2008.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited former German Chancellor Angela Merkel to look at the mass graves in Bucha, saying they were the result of her 2008 decision not to let Ukraine join NATO.

Zelenskyy’s comments came in a Sunday address to the nation after shocking reports and images emerged of mass civilian casualties in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv that was retaken by Ukrainian forces last week.

In his speech, Zelenskyy accused Russia of “genocide” and singled out Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France, for their roles in a 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania.

“Under optimistic diplomatic statements that Ukraine could become a member of NATO, then, in 2008, refusal to accept Ukraine into the alliance was hidden. The absurd fear of some politicians toward Russia was hidden,” Zelenskyy said.

“They thought that by refusing Ukraine, they would be able to appease Russia, to convince it to respect Ukraine and live normally next to us.”

He added later: “I invite Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy to visit Bucha and see what the policy of concessions to Russia has led to in 14 years. To see with their own eyes the tortured Ukrainian men and women.”

During the 2008 summit, NATO leaders discussed requests by Ukraine and Georgia to join the Membership Action Plan, which is required for any country that wants to qualify for NATO membership.

While then-US President George W. Bush pressed for both countries to be given the MAP, Germany and France argued that such a step would increase friction with Russia, which had strongly opposed Ukraine’s request.

In the end, the alliance did not take any immediate action but pledged that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually become NATO members, according to an official summary of the talks. They reiterated this promise at another NATO summit in Brussels in July.

Russia has continued opposing NATO’s eastward expansion and cited it as a reason for invading Ukraine. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

Last month Zelenskyy said he had accepted that his country could not join NATO at the moment, telling Western officials: “It is clear that Ukraine is not a member of NATO. We understand that.”

Ukraine also offered never to join NATO during peace negotiations with Russia last week.

Biden calls for war-crimes trial of Putin after mass graves found around Ukraine capital

Los Angeles Times

Biden calls for war-crimes trial of Putin after mass graves found around Ukraine capital

Patrick J. McDonnell, Jaweed Kaleem, Jenny Jarvie – April 4, 2022

Mother stroking face of dead son in casket — The mother of 41-year-old Simakov Oleksandr strokes the fallen soldier’s face during his funeral in Lviv, Ukraine, on Monday. (Nariman El-Mofty / Associated Press)

Russian leader Vladimir Putin faced mounting global condemnation Monday, with President Biden and a growing number of world leaders calling for a war-crimes trial, following the discovery in Ukraine of mass graves and streets littered with the bodies of civilians around the suburbs of Kyiv.

“This guy is brutal, and what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous,” Biden told reporters, referring to a town near Kyiv where numerous civilians were found dead, some bearing marks of torture or execution. The Ukrainian government said it has counted more than 400 civilian deaths so far in the suburbs of the capital city.

Biden previously branded Putin a “war criminal” in remarks March 17, but at that time the White House said he was speaking personally and not outlining a formal U.S. position. But six days later, the U.S. formally accused Russia of war crimes and said it was collecting evidence to help prove it.

“He is a war criminal,” Biden said of Putin on Monday. “But we have to gather information, we have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue to fight.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the charred rubble in Bucha as armed guards surrounded him. The president called on the media to come to the city to “show the world what happened here.”

Zelensky has described the scenes in Bucha, where photos and videos show mass graves and dead men and women face down on residential roads, as evidence of Russian “genocide” against Ukrainians.

“Ordinary residents of an ordinary city near Kyiv,” Zelensky said later in an address to Romanian parliament. “Their hands were tied behind their backs, they were shot in the back of the head or in the eye, killed just in the streets. Civilian vehicles were crushed by military equipment. Vehicles with people! They raped women and girls.”

Aerial view of a church and probable mass grave site — This satellite image shows the church of St. Andrew in Bucha, Ukraine, and the site of a probable mass grave just above it. (Maxar Technologies)

Zelensky also warned that the most brutal images from newly liberated areas, such as Bucha, were still to come.

“Not all evidence has been collected yet,” he said. “Not all burials have been discovered yet. Not all basements where the Russian military tortured people have been inspected yet.”

He pledged to set up a special judicial mechanism, with the participation of international prosecutors and judges, to investigate alleged war atrocities. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that she had spoken with Zelensky and the European Union had set up a joint investigation team to work with the Ukrainian government to “investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

“The perpetrators of these heinous crimes must not go unpunished,” she said in a statement.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday dismissed the scenes outside Kyiv as a “stage-managed anti-Russian provocation,” saying that Bucha’s mayor had not spoken of atrocities immediately after Russian troops left the area last week.

The horrific scenes have generated calls for tougher sanctions on Moscow over the war, which is in its 40th day.

“We will do everything to ensure that those who have perpetrated these war crimes do not go unpunished,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Monday, citing “alleged cases of [crimes against] humanity, war crimes and — why not say it too — genocide.”

Germany and France on Monday expelled dozens of Russian diplomats. French President Emmanuel Macron described the gruesome images as “unbearable.” Macron, who said he supported additional sanctions, such as banning imports of Russian oil and coal into the European Union, said it was “very clear” that Russia committed war crimes.

And a top government official in Germany, a primary importer of Russian gas and one of the strongest holdouts against cutting off such trade, signaled Sunday that it might change course and support a ban. “There has to be a response,” Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said. “Such crimes must not remain unanswered.”

More than half of Germany’s gas comes from Russia. Europe overall receives 40% of its gas and 25% of its oil from Russia.

Covered corpse of a man in a stairwell — The body of a man was found in the stairwell of a building in Bucha, Ukraine, on Sunday. (Vadim Ghirda / Associated Press)

The Biden administration said Monday that it will try to get Russia kicked off the main human rights body of the United Nations.

“Russia’s participation on the Human Rights Council is a farce,” the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said at a news conference in Bucharest, Romania. “We cannot let a member state that is subverting every principle we hold dear to continue to sit on the U.N. Human Rights Council.”

The 47-nation Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, has been criticized in the past for including countries with questionable human rights records, such as Saudi Arabia and Cuba. The Trump administration pulled the United States from the group, but U.S. membership was restored this year.

Removing a member requires a two-thirds vote in the full 193-nation U.N. General Assembly. It has been done only once: Libya was suspended in 2011 during the chaos surrounding the overthrow of dictator Moammar Kadafi.

State Department spokesman Ned Price acknowledged that removal is a “rare” and “extraordinary” action but that the administration believes the atrocities reported in Ukraine have outraged a sufficient number of nations to join the vote against Russia.

At a White House briefing, Jake Sullivan, U.S. national security advisor, said Russia appeared to be “revising its war aims” and scaling back its initial goal of toppling Zelensky and conquering the entire country.

Russian forces were “retreating” from Kyiv and “repositioning” to concentrate on taking over already contested regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, Sullivan said, where they would probably “seek to surround and overwhelm Ukrainian forces.” Meanwhile, he said, the administration expects Moscow to continue its aerial assault on Kyiv and other major cities to cause “damage” and “terror.”

“Russia’s goal in the end is to weaken Ukraine as much as possible,” he said, warning that the conflict is shifting into what will probably be a “protracted” phase with fighting continuing for months to come.

The U.S. and NATO allies are planning to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia this week, Sullivan said, adding that he expected “additional new [defense] capabilities beyond what’s already been sent to Ukraine” to be delivered in the near future.

Pressed on why the administration rejected Zelensky’s characterization of the Bucha atrocities as a genocide, Sullivan said: “We have not yet seen a level of systematic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people to rise to the level of genocide.”

Although they were unable to enter central Kyiv, Russia said its forces had successfully completed the “first phase” of the war against Ukraine and were shifting east to the industrial Donbas region and other areas that are home to pro-Russia separatist movements.

Russian troops appeared to have left several towns around the northeastern city of Chernihiv by Monday, according to regional Gov. Viacheslav Chaus.

Chaus, who said that about 70% of the city is destroyed, warned remaining residents not to get too comfortable. In a message posted to the Telegram app, he counseled patience as Ukrainian troops clear mines.

“We must avoid new victims,” he said.

Major aid routes into the city have been cut off for weeks, but Ukrainian news outlet RBK Ukraina reported a positive development: The 92-mile car route between Kyiv and Chernihiv had been partially reopened Monday morning.

Farther east in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, the local prosecutor’s office said Monday that shelling of residential buildings Sunday left seven people dead and 34 injured.

In Mariupol, a battered southern port city that has seen some of the worst publicly documented atrocities of the war, officials have continued to struggle to evacuate residents and send in aid.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Monday that a convoy of seven buses bound for Mariupol had been blocked in the Russian-held city of Manhush. Efforts to bring aid and evacuate residents have repeatedly fallen apart, with Ukraine accusing Russian forces of failing to honor the pledge to allow safe corridors out of Mariupol.

New strikes were reported overnight on the historic Black Sea port of Odesa and the city of Mykolaiv, both in the south. No information was available on deaths or injuries.

The shifting terrain of war has left western parts of Ukraine in relative peace as local recovery efforts began even as war rages in the south and east.

The British Ministry of Defense warned Monday that Russian fighters were in a “consolidate and reorganize” phase as they planned more offensives in the Donbas. The ministry said fighters from Wagner, a Russian paramilitary company, were staging in the area.

At the same time, the Ukrainian military said in a Monday report that a “hidden mobilization” was underway by Russians to regroup amid their pullback from some parts of Ukraine.

“The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation plan to engage around 60,000 people during the mobilization,” the report said.

According to the United Nations, at least 1,417 civilians have been killed since Russia launched the war Feb. 24. About a quarter of Ukraine’s population of 44 million has been displaced, with more than 4 million fleeing the country.

McDonnell reported from Lviv, Kaleem from London and Jarvie from Atlanta. Tracy Wilkinson and Eli Stokols contributed to this report from Washington.

‘Torture Room’ Discovered After Putin’s Killing Spree

Daily Beast

‘Torture Room’ Discovered After Putin’s Killing Spree, Ukraine Says

Shannon Vavra – April 4, 2022

This story contains graphic descriptions and images.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers have discovered a torture room in Bucha, just outside Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

Russian forces have tortured and killed civilians inside the torture room, the office claimed.

“Soldiers of the Russian Federation armed forces tortured unarmed civilians and then killed them,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a Facebook post about the alleged torture room.

‘Worse Than Animals’: Emotional Zelensky Views Carnage in Ukraine Town

The Prosecutor General’s Office shared photos it says depict several Ukrainians that were killed in the room. The Daily Beast has not independently verified the photos, although Reuters provided photos of the men allegedly killed in the room.

The discovery is the latest in a series of horrific disclosures about alleged Russian atrocities in Ukraine since the war began in February. Just this weekend Ukrainian authorities and journalists uncovered mass graves with Ukrainians shot dead, allegedly by Russian forces, in Bucha. Images of dead naked women, some of them burned, have also emerged from Bucha in the last several days. Ukrainians have also had their hands bound behind their backs, and been shot dead in the streets, images taken in the city show.

And although Russia has denied the allegations that it has been behind the string of disturbing killings, suggesting that they happened after Russia began to withdraw from the region, satellite imagery shared with The Daily Beast and first reported by The New York Times reveals Russia is lying through its teeth. Many of the dead bodies in question were on the streets of Bucha approximately 20 days before Russia withdrew.

Satellite imagery from private company Maxar Technologies shared with The Daily Beast Sunday appears to show a 45-foot-long trench dug in Bucha as well—the excavation of which began March 10, well in advance of Russian troops’ withdrawal, Maxar said.

President Joe Biden labeled Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal” Monday and said that Putin should be tried for war crimes as the disturbing images emerged from Bucha and other cities in Ukraine.

Putin’s Minions Demand Grotesque ‘Rewards’ for Mass Killers in Ukraine

Already, the International Criminal Court, along with a Ukrainian investigation, is probing alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the killings a “genocide,” while the Biden administration stopped short of using the label. But Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that label still hasn’t been ruled out.

Sullivan suggested that Ukrainians and the rest of the world should be prepared for more heartless attacks and grim images to emerge from Ukraine, even as Russia works to change its ground game to focus more on eastern regions of the country.

“We should be under no illusions that Russia will adjust its tactics, which have included and will likely continue to include… brazen attacks on civilian targets,” Sullivan said in a briefing Monday, warning that although Moscow is retreating from Kyiv, Russia forces will likely continue to launch air and missile strikes in Ukraine.

The images of the atrocities in Ukraine have rallied world leaders to step up the sanctions against Russia—the European Union is working on a new sanctions package rollout, and the Biden administration is preparing to announce new sanctions against Russia later this week, according to the White House.

Putin’s Minions Demand Grotesque ‘Rewards’ for Mass Killers in Ukraine

Daily Beast

Putin’s Minions Demand Grotesque ‘Rewards’ for Mass Killers in Ukraine

Julia Davis – April 4, 2022

This story contains graphic descriptions and images.

While most of the world gasped at the latest round of atrocities perpetrated by invading Russian troops in Ukraine, Kremlin propagandists and government officials are only doubling down. The shocking footage of the massacre that took place in the Ukrainian city of Bucha was repeatedly broadcast on Russian state television this week with the label “Fake” slapped across the screen.

During Monday’s broadcast of state TV show 60 Minutes, host Olga Skabeeva speculated that the town was chosen for an elaborate fabrication because of its name. “Biden said that Putin is a butcher. Bucha sounds like “butcher.” How could they not take advantage of such a town?” She later added: “President Putin described them all as “the Empire of lies,” and here is our confirmation.”

The so-called “lies” Skabeeva is referring to are the scenes of indescribable horror that were discovered by Ukrainian troops who arrived in Bucha this weekend after the Russian Army withdrew from the city. Scores of bodies, including those of women and children, were littered on roads and in yards, many of them found with their hands bound behind their backs and signs of rape or torture.

<div class="inline-image__title">UKRAINE-CRISIS/</div> <div class="inline-image__caption"><p>Dead bodies of five men are pictured, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, April 4, 2022. </p></div> <div class="inline-image__credit">REUTERS/Marko Djurica </div> — UKRAINE-CRISIS/Dead bodies of five men are pictured, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, April 4, 2022.REUTERS/Marko Djurica

Russian state media churned out ridiculous assertions, claiming in part that the corpses of women and children depicted in the footage from Bucha—some of which were charred beyond recognition—were “moving their arms,” “getting their limbs out of the way to avoid the wheels of military vehicles” or even “getting up and walking away.”

While scenes from Bucha made headlines around the world, Interfax published a report on a ceremony conducted by the Russian military on April 2, in which several awards were presented to the Airborne Forces (VDV) of the Russian Federation in the Kyiv region. According to state TV outlet Zvezda, that unit had been involved in “holding back the actions of the enemy forces” and “performing the cleaning of settlements” in Bucha.

“In the Kyiv region, in the area where the tasks of the formation of the Airborne Forces were performed, the awarding of Russian paratroopers took place.The commander of the formation presented state awards to servicemen who distinguished themselves in combat missions during this special military operation,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement about the awards.

Horrific New Details of Carnage in Ukraine Town Emerge

The same day, the media outlet Ria Fan published the names of seven Russian soldiers to its listing of “Z Heroes.” The state TV program Vesti Nedeli, hosted by Dmitry Kiselyov, showcased the medals awarded to the invading troops: “For Courage”, “Suvorov” and “Zhukov.”

Immediately, participants of the state TV show Sunday Evening With Vladimir Soloviev jumped to heap praise upon the Russian troops and called for various rewards and bonuses, from debt forgiveness to pay raises. Instead of shaming the killers of Ukrainian civilians, Mikheyev loudly asserted: “We need to support them!” He added: “We need to raise their salaries, because they’re risking their lives! Their consumer debts should be written off… During war, we need to support the Russian warrior.”

Despite overwhelming evidence of the massacre, the Russian Defense Ministry has claimed that “not a single local in Bucha” suffered any harm while the town was under control of the Russian Armed Forces. During his meeting with UN Deputy Secretary General Martin Griffiths on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the extensive evidence of Russia’s war crimes “a staged production, organized on the streets,” which is being used “for anti-Russian purposes.”

The same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov asserted: “From what we have seen, the video materials cannot be trusted in many respects, because our specialists from the Ministry of Defense have identified signs of video fraud and all sorts of fakes.” Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that the videos from Bucha “were fabricated and are a provocation,” claiming that Russian troops left Bucha on March 30. Despite Russia’s denials, satellite images obtained by The New York Times confirmed that bodies of massacred civilians lay in the streets of Bucha for weeks, while the town was in full control of the Russian troops.

Meanwhile, on his Sunday show, host Vladimir Soloviev angrily yelled that the goal of the West is a total destruction of Russia. He demanded: “Don’t get in the way of our Army’s work, on all levels! Free their hands!” Political scientist Sergey Mikheyev then chimed in with his own take on Bucha: “Maybe it’s a production, or maybe they brought the corpses from elsewhere. There is no shortage of dead bodies over there. There are no problems with [getting] corpses.”

‘Tortured, executed civilians’: Reaction to Ukraine war dead

Associated Press

‘Tortured, executed civilians’: Reaction to Ukraine war dead

The Associated Press – April 4, 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy examines the site of a recent battle, in Bucha close to Kyiv, Ukraine. Russia is facing a fresh wave of condemnation after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
BidenPresident Joe Biden speaks to members of the media at Fort Lesley J. McNair, as he returns to Washington and the White House after spending the weekend in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
The Kremlin says there was no breakthrough in the latest round of talks with Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday it was a “positive factor” that Ukraine submitted its written proposals, but added that “we can’t say there has been something promising or any breakthroughs.” He emphasized in a call with reporters that there is still a lot of work ahead following Tuesday’s talks in Istanbul. (AP Photo)
French President Emmanuel Macron and centrist candidate for reelection delivers his speech during a meeting in Paris, France’s first round of the presidential election will take place on April 10, with a presidential runoff on April 24 if no candidate wins outright. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday, April 4, 2022, described reports of rape and other atrocities by Russian troops in Ukraine as “reprehensible.” (Mark Mitchell/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi attends a news conference with his Polish counterpart Zbigniew Rau in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, April 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy examines the site of a recent battle in Bucha, close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Apr. 4, 2022. Russia is facing a fresh wave of condemnation after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy examines the site of a recent battle in Bucha close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Apr. 4, 2022. Russia is facing a fresh wave of condemnation after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola during her meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, April 1, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — Global reaction Monday to what appears to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine in areas north of Kyiv, the capital, where Russian soldiers have either retreated or been pushed back:

“Hundreds of people killed. Tortured, executed civilians. Bodies on the streets. Boobytrapped area. Even the bodies of the dead are boobytrapped. Widespread aftermath of looting. Concentrated evil has visited our land. The killers, executioners, rapists, marauders who call themselves an army … The world has already seen many war crimes. At different times. On different continents. But it is time to do everything so that the war crimes of the Russian military become the last manifestation of such evil on earth.” ___ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video address.

___

“The bloody massacres committed by the Russians, by the Russian soldiers, deserve to be called by their name. It is genocide and this crime must be tried as the crime of genocide … When we look at the terrible crimes against women, children and entire families, our scream should be even louder. Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, Motyzhyn: (these) are the names of the places that each of us will probably remember for the rest of our lives. The Russians committed the crime of genocide.” ___ Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

___

“This information should be seriously doubted. From what we have seen, the video material can’t be trusted, as our specialists from the Defense Ministry detected signs of video forgery and various fakes. The facts, the chronology of events also doesn’t speak in favor of the credibility of these claims … We would require many world leaders not to rush with statements, groundless accusations.” ___ Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

___

“You may remember I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter is we saw what happened in Bucha. This warrants him … he is a war criminal. … We have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue the fight. And we have to gather all the detail, so this can be an actual, have a war crimes trial. This guy is brutal. And what’s happening in Bucha is outrageous.” U.S. President Joe Biden talking to reporters.

___

“We are all extremely shocked and we have condemned it with the utmost strength. Secondly, it is clear that there is clear evidence of war crimes. It was the Russian army that was in Bucha. We have told Ukrainian authorities that we were at their disposal to help with the investigation they’re carrying out. International justice must prevail. Those who committed these crimes will have to answer for them … What just happened in Bucha calls for a new round of sanctions and very clear measures” ___ French President Emmanuel Macron on France-Inter.

___

“The reports of Ukrainian civilians who have been killed, raped and severely wounded by Russian troops is beyond reprehensible. Russia must answer to the world for what they’ve done.” ___ New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

___

“I hope that everything possible can be done so that those behind these war crimes don’t go unpunished, and that they can appear before the courts, in this case the International Criminal Court, to answer these alleged cases of crimes against humanity, war crimes and, why not say it, of genocide, too.” __ Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the “Wake Up, Spain” forum.

—-

“The atrocities committed by the Russian army in Ukraine are horrific, they are disgraceful and they are shameful. The reality is that the images from Bucha and Irpin are the same as other reports from other cities in Ukraine. They underlined the level of threat facing Ukraine and the global rules-based world order. In Kiev, I was clear. These are war crimes that are perpetrated by war criminals, and these coordinated acts of inhumanity cannot remain unanswered and that we will hold all those responsible to account.” European Union Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

___

“This is scary, this is genocide, this is fascism. This is the extermination of people, innocent people, children, women and the elderly.” ___ Olena Kolesnik, a refugee from Kharkiv, Ukraine.

___

“I was strongly shocked that a brutal act of violence was conducted on civilians in the outskirts of Kyiv. Murdering innocent civilians is a violation of international humanitarian law and it’s absolutely unacceptable.” ___ Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi at a government briefing.

Conscripts sent to fight by pro-Russia Donbas get little training, old rifles, poor supplies

Reuters

INSIGHT -Conscripts sent to fight by pro-Russia Donbas get little training, old rifles, poor supplies – sources

April 4, 2022

LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) – Military conscripts in the Russian-backed Donbas region have been sent into front-line combat against Ukrainian troops with no training, little food and water, and inadequate weapons, six people in the separatist province told Reuters.

The new accounts of untrained and ill-equipped conscripts being deployed are a fresh indication of how stretched the military resources at the Kremlin’s disposal are, over a month into a war that has seen Moscow’s forces hobbled by logistical problems and held up by fierce Ukrainian resistance.

One of the people, a student conscripted in late February, said a fellow fighter told him to prepare to repel a close-quarter attack by Ukrainian forces in southwest Donbas but “I don’t even know how to fire an automatic weapon.”

The student and his unit fired back and evaded capture, but he was injured in a later battle. He did not say when the fighting took place.

While some information indicating poor conditions and morale among Donbas conscripts has emerged in social media and some local media outlets, Reuters was able to assemble one of the most comprehensive pictures to date.

Besides the student draftee, Reuters spoke to three wives of conscripts who have mobile phone contact with their partners, one acquaintance of a draftee, and one source close to the pro-Russian separatist leadership who is helping to organize supplies for the Donbas armed forces.

Reuters verified the identity of the student, as well as the other sources and the draftees they are associated with. The news agency was unable to confirm independently the accounts of what happened to the men once they were drafted.

The six sources all asked that their full names not be published, saying that they feared reprisals for speaking to foreign media.

The Donbas armed forces are fighting alongside Russian soldiers but are not part of the Russian armed forces, which have different rules about which troops they send into combat.

Several Donbas draftees have been issued with a rifle called a Mosin, which was developed in the late 19th century and went out of production decades ago, according to three people who saw conscripts from the separatist region using the weapon. Images shared on social media, that Reuters has not been able to verify independently, also showed Donbas fighters with Mosin rifles.

The student said he was forced to drink water from a fetid pond because of lack of supplies. Two other sources in contact with draftees also told Reuters the men had to drink untreated water.

Some Donbas conscripts were given the highly dangerous mission of drawing enemy fire onto themselves so other units could identify the Ukrainian positions and bomb them, according to one of the sources and video testimony from a prisoner of war published by Ukrainian forces.

Asked to comment about the treatment and low morale of the Donbass draftees, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was a question for the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), the self-proclaimed separatist entity in Donbas. The Russian defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman for the DNR administration, after viewing Reuters questions, said there would be no response on Friday. She did not say when the administration would reply. Messages left with a spokesman for the separatist military went unanswered.

After being pushed to the front line near the port of Mariupol — scene of the heaviest fighting in the war — a group of about 135 Donbas conscripts laid down their arms and refused to fight on, according to Veronika, the partner of a conscript, who said her husband was among them. Marina, partner of another conscript, said she had been in contact with a friend who was part of the same group.

“We’re refusing (to fight),” the friend wrote in a text message to Marina, seen by Reuters.

The men were kept in a basement by military commanders as punishment, Veronika and Marina said. Commanders verbally threatened them with reprisals but subsequently allowed the group out of the basement, pulled them back from the front line and billeted them in abandoned homes, Veronika said.

Neither the Kremlin nor separatist authorities answered Reuters questions about the incident.

CALL-UP

All sides in the Ukraine war have systems of conscription, where young men are required by law to do military service.

Ukraine’s government has declared a general mobilisation, meaning that conscripts and reservists have been deployed to fight.

Russia says it is not deploying conscripts in Ukraine, though it has acknowledged a small number were mistakenly sent to fight.

The Donetsk separatist authorities announced in late February they were drafting all fighting age men for immediate deployment.

Military recruitment officers appeared at workplaces around the Donetsk region and told employees to report for duty, while police ordered people in the streets to report to their local draft office, according to a Reuters reporter who was there in late February. Anyone not complying risks prosecution.

Reuters could not determine how many people have been called up, nor what proportion of Donbas forces is comprised of draftees.

None of the five draftees had prior military experience or training, and four of the five were given no training before they were sent into combat, according to the injured draftee, the three wives of conscripted men, and the acquaintance.

“He never served in the army,” said one of the partners, who gave her name as Olga and lives in the town of Makeevka. “He doesn’t even really know how to hold an automatic weapon.”

Two of the wives said their partners were deployed to the front line, where they saw heavy fighting.

“I’m in the war,” read a text message, seen by Reuters, that Marina, also from Makeevka, said came from her drafted husband.

Marina said she learned from messages from her husband that his unit, fighting in the Donbas region, was ordered to draw enemy fire on to themselves.

Ukrainian forces on March 12 published a video showing a prisoner of war. He said his name was Ruslan Khalilov, that he was a civil servant from Donbas and that he was sent with zero training to Mariupol where his role was to draw enemy fire to facilitate the bombing of Ukrainian targets.

A person in Donbas who knows Khalilov confirmed to Reuters his identity, that he was drafted and has no military training. Reuters established that the person knows Khalilov.

“SLAUGHTERHOUSE”

The student draftee who spoke to Reuters said that a day after reporting for duty he was put in a mortar unit then sent towards the fighting. “We were taught nothing,” he wrote to Reuters via messenger app.

“Up to that point I had only seen mortars in movies. Obviously, I didn’t know how to do anything with them.”

He said that before he left, his unit had been under repeated attack by Ukrainian troops. “There were lots of casualties,” he wrote. “I hate the war. I don’t want it, curse it. Why are they sending me into a slaughterhouse?”

All the accounts gathered by Reuters mentioned an acute shortage of supplies. The sources described little or no safe drinking water, field rations for one man being shared among several, and units having to scavenge food.

“We drank water with dead frogs in it,” said the student conscript.

“Supplies for the soldiers right now are a disaster,” said the source close to the Donetsk separatist leadership, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Neither the Kremlin nor the separatist authorities replied to Reuters’ questions about supplies and equipment for the draftees from Donbas.

WORLD WAR TWO RIFLE

The same source said some conscripts were issued with the Mosin rifle from reserve stocks that date back to the Second World War.

The student conscript said he has seen fellow fighters using the rifle: “It’s like we’re fighting with World War Two muskets.”

A soldier in the Russian armed forces who is fighting near Mariupol told Reuters he had seen soldiers from the Donetsk separatist military carrying Mosin rifles. A video posted on social media on Tuesday by Russian military journalist Semyon Pegov showed a man who said he was a Donbas draftee brandishing a Mosin rifle.

Soon after the men were drafted in late February, many of their wives, mothers, and sisters started writing petitions to the separatist leadership, to Donbas draft offices, and to the Kremlin, describing their treatment and seeking help.

“Bring us back our men,” said one petition addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, seen by Reuters.

The three wives of draftees who spoke to Reuters said they received no definitive answers.

On March 11, about 100 women gathered outside the separatist administration’s offices in Donetsk to demand answers, in a rare public show of dissent.

Two women who took part in the gathering said Alexander Malkovsky, the head of the DNR draft office, came out and told them that men aged 18 to 27 would be exempted from the draft. Reuters couldn’t determine if this has been implemented, and was unable to reach Malkovsky.

Two of the conscripts’ wives said that since the gathering they learned from their partners that conditions had improved: some units were pulled back from the front line and allowed to sleep in abandoned homes, instead of in trenches. (Editing by Daniel Flynn)

Stridsvagn 122: The Powerful Tank From Sweden That Russia Hates

1945

Stridsvagn 122: The Powerful Tank From Sweden That Russia Hates

By Brent Eastwood – April 4, 2022

Swedish soldiers with the Wartofta Tank Company, Skaraborg Regiment in a Stridsvagn 122 main battle tank conduct the defensive operations lane during the Strong Europe Tank Challenge, June 7, 2018. U.S. Army Europe and the German Army co-host the third Strong Europe Tank Challenge at Grafenwoehr Training Area, June 3 – 8, 2018. The Strong Europe Tank Challenge is an annual training event designed to give participating nations a dynamic, productive and fun environment in which to foster military partnerships, form Soldier-level relationships, and share tactics, techniques and procedures. (U.S. Army photo by Gertrud Zach)

Sweden’s Stridsvagn 122 Main Battle Tank Comes to Focus After the Russian Invasion of Ukraine – Sweden is not the first country you think of when it comes to armored maneuver warfare. But they do have a main battle tank, based on a German Leopard import, that serves the Swedish army well. The Stridsvagn 122 has some enviable characteristics for the Scandinavian country that is now taking the possibility of joining NATO seriously since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. New Swedish conscripted troops are being trained on the Stridsvagn 122, which shows the Swedes are executing home defense in a more earnest fashion.

Ukraine Jumpstarts Swedish Stridsvagn 122 Readiness

The Swedes began planning their own combat training activities late last year as the Russians increased their military build-up on the Ukrainian border. They started removing some of the rust from their armored maneuver battalions that hadn’t trained on the Stridsvagn 122 in years.

Get Those New Soldiers Trained on the Tank

For example, the Swedish Gotland Regiment had not trained in a live-fire exercise with the Stridsvagn 122 since 2000. That’s an astonishing lack of training and shows that the Swedes have been neglecting realistic military maneuvers for new troops. So, it took the War in Ukraine to wake up the Swedish army.

The Swedish Army also began supplementing the Stridsvagn 122 with new ammunition recently. In a $27 million deal, the Swedes just ordered new Israeli M339 tank projectiles that are manufactured by Elbit Systems. It’s a step up for the Stridsvagn 122 that needed to happen.

According to Yehuda Vered, the general manager of Elbit Systems, “The M339 not only meets the requirements of the Swedish army but will significantly improve the accuracy and firepower of the Swedish main battle tank Stridsvagn 122 when operating on the battlefield and hit different types enemy targets,” he told Boyko Nikolov of BulgarianMilitary.com on March 21 of this year.

Good Thing It’s Based on German Technology

The Stridsvagn 122 entered the Swedish military in 1996 and by 1998 there were 180 tanks. It’s based on the Leopard 2A5 Main Battle Tank. That was a good move by the Swedes to pick such a tried-and-true platform. The significant benefit of the Leopard 2A5 is that it provided the Stridsvagn 122 with modern armor on the hull and turret. It also borrowed from the French a top-notch survivability system that can sense an infrared anti-tank missile and fire infrared decoys to spoof the incoming missile.

Internal Controls Have Been Modernized

The 68-ton Stridsvagn 122 is known for digital fire controls and an encrypted radio and internal comms system. The tank commander has his own computer terminal. The driver has a video monitor and there is a state-of-the-art navigation system.

Top of the Turret Armor Is Improved

The Swedish main battle tank has improved armor along the top of the turret which is a weakness for many tanks when anti-tank guided missiles use a deadly downward trajectory attack angle. The fire control system has been modernized as well over the original Leopard platform.

Stridsvagn 122 – Nothing Wrong With Its Engine or Firepower

It retains the twin-turbo diesel engine from the Leopard with a hefty 1,500 horsepower. There is a 120mm smoothbore main gun. A 7.62mm coaxial machine gun and a 7.62mm anti-aircraft machine gun is included.

The tank is made for the frontlines and to excel in tank-on-tank warfare, plus it is able to survive against improvised explosive devices and anti-tank mines.

Bottom Line

There is much to admire about the Stridsvagn 122. Leopard tanks are known for reliability and survivability. There is ample firepower. The fire controls, navigation, and internal and external comms are up to date. The new Israeli projectiles will help even more.

A Swedish leopard 2 tank (Strv 122) on exercises, taken in Sweden, February 16th 2006. Taken with a canon 350D.

But the Swedes need to beef up the numbers of troops who are qualified to operate their main battle tank. They must increase the operational tempo and practice realistic training in all weather and in night and day conditions. They will need to show they can complete live fire and maneuverability exercises, ideally against “red team” opposing forces that can be comparable to the rehearsals that tank forces in NATO countries execute.

If they can conduct this type of training, the Stridsvagn 122 will be the main battle tank that can better accomplish home defense missions for the Swedes.

Now serving as 1945’s Defense and National Security Editor, Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer.

Now serving as 1945s New Defense and National Security Editor, Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer.

Zelenskyy accuses Putin of ‘genocide’ in Ukraine, says Russia wants the ‘elimination of the whole nation and the people’

Business Insider

Zelenskyy accuses Putin of ‘genocide’ in Ukraine, says Russia wants the ‘elimination of the whole nation and the people’

Katie Balevic – April 3, 2022

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, late Saturday, April 2, 2022. — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, late Saturday, April 2, 2022. Zelenskyy accuses Putin of ‘genocide’ in Ukraine, says Russia wants the ‘elimination of the whole nation and the people’ Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia is committing “genocide” in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy called Russian soldiers “murderers, looters, butchers.”
He made the comments to Margaret Brennan on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday said Russia is seeking the “elimination” of Ukrainians.

“Indeed, this is genocide,” Zelenskyy said. “The elimination of the whole nation and the people. We are the citizens of Ukraine we have over 100 nationalities. This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities.”

The Ukrainian president made the comments to Margaret Brennan during an interview on “Face the Nation” on CBS News.

“We are the citizens of Ukraine, and we don’t want to be subdued to the policies of the Russian Federation, and this is the reason we are being destroyed and eliminated,” Zelenskyy said. “This is happening in the Europe of the 21st century, so this is the torture of the whole nation.”

In Bucha, just outside the capital of Kyiv, nearly 300 people have been buried in mass graves. The town’s mayor said the streets were “littered with corpses.”

Zelenskyy posted a series of photos of Ukrainian deaths in Bucha on Telegram Sunday morning.

“Mothers of Russian soldiers should see that. See what bastards you’ve raised. Murderers, looters, butchers,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no signs that he would slow his invasion of the country, even as reports of low morale among Russian soldiers emerge and the Ukrainian military continues to resist the incursion.

A top Russia expert last week warned that Putin will not abandon his goal of dominating Ukraine as long as he remains in power, Insider previously reported.

“So as long as Putin’s in the Kremlin, he’s not going to give up on Ukraine,” Angela Stent, who served in the Office of Policy Planning at the State Department from 1999 to 2001 and as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council from 2004 to 2006, told Insider.

“He is not going to give up on his goal of subordinating Ukraine” and “having a government there that’s pro-Russian,” Stent said.

Zelenskyy on Sunday said that in the besieged city of Mariupol, the city is dealing with a “humanitarian disaster” brought on by blocked humanitarian corridors and failed ceasefires.

“There have been lots of people and all the corridors have been blocked, including humanitarian corridors, the supply of food and water,” Zelenskyy said. “The evacuation happens only when the Russian side agrees to a Ukrainian proposal to open a corridor. So the corridor for the food or water simply do not exist in those cities that are occupied by Russia.”

He added that in Mariupol, there are “lots of dead bodies in the street. Lots of wounded people among the military and civilians.”

As for evacuations, some people have had to whether the deadly conditions and go on foot, Zelenskyy said.

“Some of them are walking by foot, dozens of kilometers to reach the place where we are,” he said. “Many of them have died on their way. Some of them had to be picked up by other people and taken out from these blocked cities… So many people were shot at and killed.”

He added that the war must end “if we don’t want hundreds of thousands, millions to die.”

Colwell: Things would surely be different in Ukraine if Trump were president

South Bend Tribune

Colwell: Things would surely be different in Ukraine if Trump were president

Jack Colwell – April 3, 2022

Donald Trump is right. If he were still president, the situation would be far different in Ukraine.

If Mike Pence had ignored his Hoosier values of truth, justice and the Constitution and cooperated in overturning the election results, Trump could now be president.

There would be no danger of armed conflict between Russia and NATO over Ukraine.

There would be no NATO. Trump contended throughout his first term that NATO was outdated. He belittled and insulted leaders of European nations in the alliance. He was reluctant to support the collective-defense agreement known as Article 5. By now in a second term, he would have pulled out of the alliance and scuttled it.

There would be no suggestion from a President Trump that Vladimir Putin is a butcher and must go after Russia invaded Ukraine. Trump praised the “genius” of Putin as Russia amassed troops for the invasion. And he wouldn’t let a little thing like Russia seeking to dominate its neighbor ruin his bromance with Putin. Hey, he pulled out of Syria and let Russia dominate there.

There would be no long, heroic stand by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He would have been dead a month ago. Trump holds a grudge. Zelenskyy didn’t announce an investigation of Joe Biden before the election, even when Trump held up needed defensive weapons for Ukraine to force it. Fervent Trump supporters like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn haven’t forgotten. They call Zelenskyy a “thug” and “corrupt.” Trump, if still president, wouldn’t forget and wouldn’t coordinate massive arms shipments and sanctions to save Zelenskyy and thwart friend Putin.

There would be no Ukraine. Without the United States and a unified NATO providing the help to stall the invasion, Russia would have smashed into Kyiv and disposed of Zelenskyy, still with a terrible toll in Ukraine civilian deaths but with less delay against an outgunned Ukrainian military left without needed weapons.

Trump, though no longer president, still speaks out, claiming that he really won re-election and demonstrating how he would be responding to Putin if still in the White House.

Trump calls for Putin to do something now, something very important.

It wasn’t a call for Putin to halt the massacres in Ukraine. It was a call for Putin to release possible dirt on President Biden’s black-sheep son Hunter.

Trump resurrected and embellished a controversial, last-minute 2020 campaign contention that Hunter Biden might have (or might not have) received money through funding of a firm by the wife of Moscow’s mayor.

“She gave him $3.5 million,” Trump stated as fact. Why? “I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it,” Trump said. “I think we should know that answer.”

Putin would of course be believed if he announced, “Yes, the Bidens accepted millions in bribes along with that thug Zelenskyy to set up a Nazi government and germ warfare labs in Ukraine.”

Well, U.S. intelligence agencies didn’t believe Putin’s claims that troops on Ukraine’s border weren’t going to invade. They wouldn’t believe he had turned truthful now after a life of lies.

But Trump would believe. He famously declared at a meeting with the Russian leader that he believed the word of Putin over findings of his own intelligence agencies.

If Putin did provide dirt helpful for Trump’s election in 2024, it would pretty much cinch that Trump, if president again, would approve Putin’s conquest of Ukraine and signal no concern over Putin’s desire to return other countries, Poland, Hungary and the Baltics, to their status in the old Soviet Union.

While investigations continue into what Hunter Biden and Donald Trump Jr. might have done wrong, the possible transgressions of either child of a president, proven or not, shouldn’t hinder the efforts to save all those children in Ukraine.

Jack Colwell is a columnist for The Tribune. Write to him in care of The Tribune or by email at jcolwell@comcast.net.

Does war in Ukraine justify an even bigger U.S. military budget?

Yahoo! News – 360

Does war in Ukraine justify an even bigger U.S. military budget?

Mike Bebernes, Senior Editor – April 3, 2022

Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

What’s happening

The Biden administration asked Congress to approve $813 billion in defense spending in its budget for next year, $30 billion more than lawmakers allocated for 2022. The request came as part of President Biden’s sprawling $5.8 trillion budget proposal for 2023 that was released earlier this week.

“This will be among the largest investments in our national security in history,” Biden said in a speech outlining the proposal, pointedly mentioning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Some people don’t like the increase, but we’re in a different world today.”

For the most part, presidential budgets are a political messaging document, since Congress has sole authority to approve government spending. Key measures in a president’s proposal are trimmed or cut out entirely by the time a final bill emerges. When it comes to defense spending, though, Congress typically meets or exceeds the presidential request. This year’s budget, for example, provided about $30 billion above what Biden requested last year.

America’s defense budget dwarfs that of any other nation and accounts for roughly 35% to 40% of all defense spending worldwide. In 2020, the U.S. spent more on defense than the next 11 highest-spending countries combined.

Why there’s debate

Defense spending proposals can be something of a no-win situation for presidents. Whatever number they put forward, it will be criticized as both wildly inflated and woefully insufficient. Biden’s budget inspired that familiar dynamic this week, but the war in Ukraine has added a new wrinkle into this well-worn debate.

Many Republicans in Washington made the case that Biden’s request is far too small to meet the challenges currently facing the U.S. around the world. They argue that competitiveness with Russia and China requires an even greater investment to ensure the U.S. has a modern military capable of winning a major war. Biden’s critics also say that his numbers are a lot less significant once last year’s inflation is taken into account.

Those calling for less military spending say the war in Ukraine is no reason to continue pumping more money into what they see as a bloated defense budget. They argue that huge portions of that money get wasted on technology that never reaches the battlefield, are diverted to private contractors or are used to fund misguided interventions abroad like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Nobody doubts, nobody, that there are tens of billions of dollars in waste and fraud and cost overruns,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said on Wednesday.

Many progressive Democrats also say it’s dishonest for Congress to keep increasing military spending year after year while at the same time claiming that critical programs like COVID funding, the Child Tax Credit and climate initiatives are too expensive.

What’s next

Congress has made a habit in recent years of running right up to, sometimes past, the deadline to reach a budget deal. The most recent spending bill funds the government through September, so it will likely be several months before it becomes clear how closely next year’s military budget reflects Biden’s proposal.

Perspectives

More spending

The U.S. spends more on its military because it does more than any other nation

“In post-Cold War America, it’s simply a myth that the Pentagon has had a bottomless pit of funding from which it can buy new weapon systems and capabilities. The United States, unlike our adversaries or individual allies, has global commitments and interests in two hemispheres, in four oceans, and on six continents.” — Editorial, National Review

The war in Ukraine shows how critical a dominant military is

“The West’s response to Ukraine is a reminder that economic and financial sanctions can be powerful, and the same is true of soft power and moral umbrage. Yet what is happening on the ground this week is also a reminder that there is no substitute for hard power—for having the men and materiel to deter and, if it comes to that, defeat a foreign adversary.” — Rich Lowry, Politico

Our current military isn’t strong enough to win wars against China, Russia, or both

“The military scarcity we now face is most acute and consequential in our ability to fight major wars with China and Russia in anything like concurrent timeframes. As a practical matter, we lack enough of the key capabilities—such as penetrating bombers, attack submarines, advanced munitions, and the right reconnaissance platforms—to defeat them both at the same time.” — Elbridge A. Colby, Time

Operating a military is more expensive than it has ever been

“Inflation makes the military poorer overnight. Price increases are affecting military commodities like steel for weapons and building materials for base upgrades, fuel and electricity, and general maintenance and parts for equipment. … Similarly, military construction has seen a triple whammy of price hikes due to lingering national supply chain challenges, labor shortages affecting many industries, contracting uncertainties, and now inflation.” — Mackenzie Eaglen, Dispatch

Biden’s reluctance to emphasize military power makes U.S. less safe

“What the Biden administration has done with its policies, strategy, and budget is demonstrate that it doesn’t understand how to integrate all the elements of national power; it is so reluctant to use military force that both allies and adversaries will wonder whether there is anything the U.S. will actually fight for.” — Kori Schake, Atlantic

Less spending

The argument that Ukraine means we must spend more makes no sense

“Ask yourself: What precisely is the question the Ukraine war raises for which the answer is, ‘We have to spend more money’? What would we like to do that we don’t currently have the budget for? … Most of the time these days, there are no specific ‘gaps’ mentioned when we debate the military budget. The arguments we get are a series of grunts referring vaguely to threats to our dominance. China bad! Must be strong!” — Paul Waldman, Washington Post

The defense budget can’t get a rubber stamp when so many other programs go unfunded

“With Ukraine in turmoil thanks to a Russian war of aggression and the world’s stability threatened by an ascendant China, it makes sense that Biden would need a well-funded military. What makes less sense, though, is such robust military spending coupled with claims that the country can’t afford robust and necessary social welfare programs — a claim we often hear from Republicans and conservative Democrats alike.” — Jill Filipovic, CNN

A larger defense budget just means more profits for unaccountable military contractors

“The only winners are for-profit military contractors. It’s tempting to think — as many in Congress and the military brass would have us believe — that the more money we give to the Pentagon, the safer the world will be. But it was never that simple. Colossal military spending didn’t prevent the Russian invasion, and more money won’t stop it.” — Lindsay Koshgarian, Newsweek

No one wins, and plenty suffer, when nations compete to be the biggest military spender

“How this self-defeating feedback loop plays out is like this: If my adversary increases its military expenditure, then I must also increase mine or accept a security cost, which forces my adversary to increase its expenditure even more. In the end, costs increase for all parties without any of them gaining the slightest competitive advantage; at the same time, humanity as a whole suffers from underinvestment in the areas that are truly essential to its survival.” — Carlo Rovelli and Matteo Smerlak, Scientific American

It’s a myth that more defense spending automatically makes the U.S. safer

“Providing military defense is a valid function of the federal government. However, that doesn’t give license to Congress to simply pile on more spending, even when there are dangers out there. Nor does it mean that more spending will result in a completely safe world for us Americans. That’s in part because that world doesn’t exist. There’s only so much safety money can buy.” — Veronique de Rugy, Orange County Register