Frightened occupation authorities transfer Pion self propelled guns to Kherson Oblast Pivden (South) Operational Command
Olha Hlushchenko – June 4, 2022
Russian occupation authorities in Kherson Oblast are afraid of the resistance put up by the local residents and have brought in four Pion-type self-propelled heavy artillery guns.
Source: Pivden [South] Operational Command on Facebook
Quote: “The occupiers are afraid of the resistance which is growing among the local population in Kherson Oblast.
Every day, new flags, motivational statements, and missives to the occupiers appear in the administrative centre of the oblast [the city of Kherson – ed.], and leaflets are being distributed.
The leaders of the occupation government are moving around with large numbers of security personnel, wearing body armor and in armored vehicles. They fear for their lives.
“The chicken soup in her thermos stayed hot all day while her body grew cold. She never had a chance to eat the baloney and cheese sandwich. I got up 10 minutes early to cut the crust off a sandwich that will never be eaten.
Should I call and cancel her dental appointment next Wednesday? Will the office automatically know? Should I still take her brother to the appointment since I already took the day off work? Last time Carlos had one cavity and Amerie asked him what having a cavity feels like. She will never experience having a cavity. She will never experience having a cavity filled. The cavities in her body now are from bullets, and they can never be filled.
What if she had asked to use the bathroom in the hall a few minutes prior to the gunman entering the room, locking the door, and slaughtering all inside? Was she one of the first kids in the room to die or one of the last? These are the things they don’t tell us. Which of her friends did she see die before her? Hannah? Emily? Both? Did their blood and brains splatter across her Girl Scout uniform? She just earned a Fire Safety patch. What if it got ruined? There are no patches for school shootings.
Was she practicing writing GIRAFFE the moment he walked in her classroom, barricaded the door and opened fire? She keeps forgetting the silent “e” at the end. We studied this past weekend, and now she doesn’t need to take the spelling test on Friday. None of them will take the spelling test on Friday. There will be no spelling test on Friday. Because there is no one to give it. And no one to take it.
These are the things I will never know:
I will never know at what age she would have started her period. I will never know if she had wisdom teeth. (Or if they would have come in crooked.)I will never know who she spoke to last. Was it the teacher? Was it her table partner, George? She says George is always talking, even during silent reading. Did she even scream?
She screamed the lyrics to We Don’t Talk About Bruno at 7:58 AM as she hopped out of my car in the circle drive. She always sings the Dolores part, her sister sings Mirabel and I’m Bruno. “And I wanted you to know that your bro loves you so Let it in, let it out, let it rain, let it snow, let it goooooo……..”Did the killer ever see Encanto?
Could we have sat in the same row of seats, on the same day, munching popcorn? What if Amerie brushed past him in the aisle? Did she politely say, “Excuse me,” to the boy who would someday blow her eye sockets apart? Was he chomping on bubble gum as he destroyed them all? If so, what flavor? Cinnamon? Wintergreen?
Was the radio on as he drove to massacre them? Or did he drive in silence? Was the sun in his eyes as he got out of the car in the parking lot? Did his pockets hold sunglasses or just ammunition? These are the things I will never know.
There is laundry in the dryer that is Amerie’s. Clothes I never need to fold again. Clothes that are right now warmer than her body. How will I ever be able to take them out of the dryer and where will I put them if not back in her dresser? I can never wash clothes in that dryer again. It will stand silent; a tomb for her pajamas and knee socks.
Her cousin’s graduation party is next month and I already signed her name in the card. Should I cross it out? That will be the last card I ever sign her name to. The dog will live longer than she will. The dog will be 12 next month and she will be eternally 10. What will the school do with her backpack? It was brand new this year and she attached her collection of key-chains like cherished trophies to its zipper. A beaded 4 leaf clover she made on St. Patty’s Day. A red heart from a Walk-a-Thon. A neon ice cream cone from her friend’s birthday party.
Now there will be no more key-chains to attach. No more trophies. Surely they can’t throw it out? Would they throw them all out? 19 backpacks, full of stickered assignments and rain boots, all taken to the dumpster behind the school? Is there even a dumpster big enough to contain all that life?
These are the things someone else knows:
The moment the semiautomatic rifle was put into his hands–was “Bring Me a Higher Love” playing in the gun store? “Get off my Cloud” by the Rolling Stones? Maybe it was Elton John’s “Rocket Man.” Did the Outback Oasis salesperson hesitate as they slid him 375 rounds of ammunition? not my problem my kids are grown and out of school Or I don’t have kids, so I don’t have to worry about their skulls getting blown across the naptime mat. Or fingers crossed there’s a good guy with an equally powerful gun that will stop this gun if needed. Did they sense any danger or were they more focused on picking that morning’s Raisin Bran out of their teeth?
My Nana used to say, “Pay attention to what whispers, and you won’t have to when it starts screaming.” But now I know there is a more deafening sound than children screaming. More horrific even, than automatic rifles on a Tuesday morning.
I beg the world:
Pay attention to what’s screaming today, or be forced to endure the silence that follows.”
U.S. general calls on West to send fighter jets to Ukraine ‘as soon as possible’
Lara Seligman – June 3, 2022
The commanding general of the California National Guard is calling on U.S. and other Western officials to explore sending fighter jets to Ukraine “as soon as possible,” rekindling a longstanding request by Kyiv.
In a statement to POLITICO on Friday, Maj. Gen. David Baldwin, California National Guard adjutant general, also said sending Soviet-era MiG fighters in the near term is the best “immediate solution.”
“MiGs are the best immediate solution to support the Ukrainians, but U.S. or western fighters are options that should be explored as soon as possible,” Baldwin said.
The comments come a day after Baldwin told reporters that U.S. military officials are working with Ukrainian counterparts on Kyiv’s request to Western nations for fighter aircraft to help repel the Russian invasion.
Although a three-way deal to send U.S. F-16s to Poland if Warsaw provided MiGs to Ukraine fell apart in March, Guard officials are still “steering them” toward the Soviet-era planes in the near term.
“There is a lot of goodness in them going to MiGs because they are already trained in that, but if they are going to use Western-type aircraft, it’s a discussion about numbers and types and capabilities of aircraft that may be available,” Baldwin said.
Members of the California National Guard have a longstanding relationship with the Ukrainian military. Guardsmen have been training with their Ukrainian counterparts in Eastern Europe under a state partnership since the 1990s. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Guard members have also been helping to craft Kyiv’s requests to the Pentagon for weapons to use against Russian forces, Baldwin said.
In response to questions from POLITICO after the Thursday news conference, Lt. Col. Brandon Hill, a spokesperson for the California National Guard, stressed that a final decision about providing U.S.-made fighters to Kyiv would be up to the White House and the Pentagon. But he noted that, even before the conflict started, the intent was always for Ukraine to become “NATO-interoperable,” including giving them the opportunity to operate Western fighters.
California Guard members, particularly the pilots, are communicating with Ukrainian soldiers and airmen on a daily basis to share tactics and ideas, Baldwin noted.
“At our one-star generals, down to our colonels and some of our senior NCOs, they engage with Ukrainian leaders, the Ukrainian defense attaché and others, to help them refine their requests in terms of types of weapons systems are asking for and providing them information of things that might be available at the more tactical level,” Baldwin said Thursday. “The current one that we are working through is, ‘what’s the right fighter aircraft for them?’”
While “we are steering them toward those MiGs first,” there is also an “over-the-horizon” discussion of what aircraft will be needed in the future, Baldwin said.
“In the midterm, over the course of the next six months to the year and then the long term: What’s in the realm of possibility for systems that would be effective, available and affordable for them?” he said.
NATO members Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia all operate the MiG-29, but their limited inventories are on the way out. Slovakia will replace its Soviet-era jets with U.S. F-16s in 2024, and the U.S. approved the sale of several F-16s to Bulgaria in April. Poland meanwhile signed a deal in 2020 for 32 F-35s, and Polish leaders have recently said they’re interested in adding to that number as soon as possible.
“We do not support the transfer of the fighters to the Ukrainian air force at this time and have no desire to see them in our custody either,” John Kirby told reporters at the time, after Poland offered to hand over the MiGs to the U.S. for eventual transfer to Ukraine. The Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community had assessed the warplanes wouldn’t materially improve Ukraine’s ability to fend off Russia, but instead could draw NATO directly into the conflict, Kirby added.
There were also logistical issues involved in getting fighter jets over the border into Ukraine, and with flying the planes from a NATO country into a war zone.
Officials debated sending the HIMARS for weeks over concerns that sending advanced, longer-range rockets could provoke Vladimir Putin into escalating the conflict. Ultimately, they decided to send shorter-range munitions, and said they had received assurances that Kyiv would not use them to strike targets in Russia.
“America’s goal is straightforward: We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression,” Biden wrote in a New York Times oped announcing the move. “We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia.”
In Mariupol, Russians execute and torture officials who refused to cooperate – the mayor
Alona Mazurenko – June 3, 2022
In the Mariupol district, occupiers are imprisoning and shooting Ukrainian volunteers and officials who have refused to cooperate with collaborators and the occupying authorities.
Source: Mariupol City Council, quoting Mayor Vadym Boichenko, Interfax-Ukraine
Quote: The “fake court of the DPR” [self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic] sentenced the head of one of the Azov villages to 10 years in prison.
At least one civil servant was executed by firing squad.
Dozens of volunteers are also being held in the Olenivka prison. In March-April, they helped evacuate Mariupol residents and tried to deliver food and water to the besieged city.
A Ukrainian judge is also awaiting the verdict from the fake republic. There are reports of her being tortured.”
Details: At a press conference on 3 June, Boichenko said that the occupiers were imposing “sentences” on those who were taken prisoner and refused to work with the occupiers.
According to him, the minimum term of such imprisonment is 10 years.
The mayor of Mariupol added that “thousands of Mariupol residents and people from the region” are in the [newly] established prisons in the occupied territory of Donetsk Oblast.
According to Boichenko, the captured people are being held in terrible conditions: “This is a 2 by 3 (meters – ed.) cell, and 10-15 men or women are being held in it. They are allowed to go to the toilet once a day; they are given something resembling food once a day and they are given water.”
“15 weeks of cruelty, 15 weeks of bestiality, 15 weeks of violence, with so many reports of casualties, forced deportations, rape, filtration camps and destruction … it (is) difficult to comprehend the scale of the slaughter perpetrated by the Russian Federation,” said Carpenter.
“After 15 weeks, the terror that Russia is deliberately using against Ukraine’s civilian population has no end in sight.”
Carpenter described Russian tactics as medieval: Moscow uses destruction to force local populations to abandon their homes and flee, thereby making it easier to occupy barren lands.
He added that looting and pillaging of Ukrainian resources by the Russians are similarly hallmarks of barbaric approaches to warfare.
“Sadistic bestiality and the ‘filtering’ process could have a goal,” the official said.
“Especially if this goal is to eradicate the very concept of Ukrainian statehood in regions under Russian occupation, in order to absorb these parts of Ukraine more easily.”
From officials in Kyiv to residents in Kharkiv, the message is clear: The country will not accept concessions of territory in order to reach a peace agreement with its invading neighbor.
In conversations with people around the Kharkiv region, just miles from the Russian border, many expressed frustration and anger at recent suggestions that their country should consider giving up some territory currently under occupation in order to achieve a cease-fire agreement that might avert a bloody war of attrition that could drag on for another 100 days — or longer.
Image: Two women pass by a residential building at the site of multiple Russian strikes on May 25, 2022 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. (Pete Kiehart / For NBC News)
Yet, Ukrainian public opinion illustrates just how challenging it could be to reach an acceptable diplomatic resolution with Russia.
“Of course, we want peace, but we also want our territories back,” said Anna Ockmanko, 57, whose house in a small village outside of Kharkiv was destroyed when the Russian forces invaded. “If not, then what are we suffering for?”
Anna Ockmanko. (Mariia Vovk)
Olena Ruban, 53, said that conceding territory in exchange for peace “should not even be a discussion.”
“We will fight to the end. I will pick up a gun and fight myself if I need to,” she said, as she worked to clean up her house that was damaged when Russian forces occupied the region. Ukrainian troops pushed them out last month in a successful counterattack outside the country’s second-largest city of Kharkiv.
Olena Ruban. (Mariia Vovk)
“I understand even more clearly now that compromise is not an option,” she said. “We still believe in victory.”
As the death toll increases, oil prices skyrocket and fears mount of a global food shortage, some Western officials have recently suggested that Ukraine should consider giving up land to Russia in exchange for peace.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said Kyiv should accept ceding territory to bring an end to the invasion, while Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called for a cease-fire in Ukraine “as soon as possible.” The New York Times’ editorial board argued in a recent piece that Ukraine would have to confront “painful territorial decisions.”
Ukrainian officials have slammed the idea.
Zelenskyy compared the suggestion to the 1938 Munich Pact — a failed European attempt to appease Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler by giving up territory in Czechoslovakia.
In a video address posted online, Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said that “no one is going to trade a gram of our sovereignty or a millimeter of our territory.”
“Our children are dying, soldiers are being blown apart by shells, and they tell us to sacrifice territory. Get lost. It’s never going to happen,” he said.
Since the war started Feb. 24, Ukrainian forces have successfully pushed Russia out of territory around the capital city of Kyiv, as well as Kharkiv in the northeast. But Russia controls the strategically important cities of Kherson and Mariupol in the south, and is gaining ground in the eastern provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, which together make up the Donbas region. Moscow may not be far off creating a much-desired land corridor to Crimea, which it invaded and annexed in 2014.
Zelenskyy has acknowledged that the war will only end through a diplomatic solution rather than a military victory. In a television address last month, he said the war “will be bloody, there will be fighting, but it will only definitively end through diplomacy.”
But peace negotiations have stalled, and Ukrainian public opinion could continue to harden as new allegations of Russian atrocities are uncovered.
A recent poll from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that 82 percent of Ukrainian adults believe that “no territorial concessions should be allowed” in order to reach a peace agreement, compared to 10 percent who thought some territorial concessions should be made.
“Russia wants to establish control of all of Ukraine, and Ukrainians do not want this,” said Anton Grushetskyi, the deputy director of the institute. “When some politicians, experts in the West try to put pressure on Ukraine in this very complicated situation to concede some territory, they should understand that’s just not the real intentions of the population.”
The Kremlin seems determined to exert long-term control over areas it has seized, but Zelenskyy has said that any peace agreement would require Russia pulling back to its pre-invasion positions.
Some Ukrainians say that’s not enough.
Olena, 59, who asked not to use her last name out of fear that Russian troops could identify her son who is serving in the Ukrainian military, said that Russia’s brief occupation of her town changed how she felt about Crimea and other parts of the country’s east that have been under the control of Russian-backed separatists since 2014. Any peace agreement should include those territories, she said.
Olena. (Mariia Vovk)
“We think about the people who’ve been living under occupation for eight years. We’re crying for them,” she said. “I feel guilty that we didn’t do more earlier on, but now having lived under occupation for just one month, I understand so much better now what they are going through — the exhaustion, the fear.”
Serhii, 55, who also asked not to use his last name out of concern that Russian troops could return to the region and identify him, said that Ukrainians were clear eyed about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plan “to conquer all of Ukraine.”
“The only option is to get everything back,” he said. “But we also need to accept that it might not happen soon.”
‘Whatever I want with my guns’: GOP lawmaker pulls out handguns during House hearing on gun control
Candy Woodall – June 3, 2022
WASHINGTON – Florida Congressman Greg Steube pulled out multiple handguns during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday aimed at curbing mass shootings.
The Republican congressmanappeared by video conference from his Florida home, arguing that Democrats are trying to strip Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms by restricting the ammunition they use.
“Don’t let them fool you that they’re not attempting to take away your ability to purchase handguns,” Steube said. “They are using the magazine ban to do it.”
The congressman said his Sig Sauer P365 XL comes with a 15-round magazine and would be banned if the Democrats’ “Protecting Our Kids Act” passes. The congressman also said the Glock 19 would be banned.
He also displayed his Sig Sauer P226 and Sig Sauer 320.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., holds up his own handgun as he speaks via videoconference as the House Judiciary Committee holds an emergency meeting to advance a series of Democratic gun control measures, called the Protecting Our Kids Act, in response to mass shootings in Texas and New York, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 2, 2022.
The display of weapons added to the tension of a legislative hearing packed with partisan and personal broadsides over an issue that has deeply divided Ameicans.
As Steube demonstrated his firearms, Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, of Texas, could be heard cutting into his speech.
“I hope the gun is not loaded,” she said.
Steube sharply responded: “I’m at my house. I can do whatever I want with my guns.”
Video: Biden calls for ‘common sense’ gun reform
Biden calls for ‘common sense’ gun reform amid a series of deadly mass shootings
President Biden addressed gun control as mass shootings continue to plague the nation’s schools, stores, and most recently, a hospital.
The congressman also drew criticism from Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif.
“This is who Republicans are. Kids are being buried and they’re bragging about how many guns they own during our gun safety hearing,” he said. “They are not serious. They are a danger to our kids.”
Everything you need to know about this gun control package: Democrats don’t even want to let me show what they’re trying to ban.
I’m an American in my own home, and I’ll do whatever I want with my guns, Mr. Chairman. pic.twitter.com/pH2OIsnlVp
— Congressman Greg Steube (@RepGregSteube) June 2, 2022
Candy Woodall is a Congress reporter for USA TODAY.
In Ukraine, broken lives in a broken house, just one of many
Oleksandr Stashevskyi and Natacha Pisarenko – June 2, 2022
Nila Zelinska holds a doll belonging to her granddaughter, she was able to find in her destroyed house in Potashnya outskirts Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Zelinska just returned to her home town after escaping war to find out she is homeless. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)Nila Zelinska, center, and Natalia Didenko, left, embrace a neighbor as they both arrive to their home town after escaping war in Potashnya, on the outskirtsof Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)From right, Nila Zelinska, Eduard Zelenskyy, and Natalia Didenko arrive to their home town after escaping war in Potashnya, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)The home of Eduard Zelenskyy and Nila Zelinska destroyed by attacks in Potashnya, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)Eduard Zelenskyy stands outside his home destroyed by attacks in Potashnya, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Zelenskyy just returned to his home town after escaping war to find out he is homeless. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)Eduard Zelenskyy pets his dog at his home destroyed by attacks in Potashnya, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Zelenskyy just returned to his home town after escaping war to find out he is homeless. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)Nila Zelinska, left, walks to her home town after escaping war in Potashnya, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Zelinska’s home was destroyed during attacks. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)Eduard Zelenskyy walks inside his home destroyed by attacks in Potashnya, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. Zelenskyy just returned to his home town after escaping war to find out he is homeless. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)Nila Zelinska sits inside her neighbor’s home as she arrives to her town to find out her house was destroyed during attacks in Potashnya, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
POTASHNYA, Ukraine (AP) — In 100 days of war in Ukraine, countless lives have been forever shattered, ripped apart, upended. For tens of thousands, life has been brutally ended. Those who have survived sometimes barely know how to begin picking up the pieces.
When a house symbolizing a lifetime of labor and memories is destroyed, how does one rebuild?
Nila Zelinska and her husband, Eduard, returned for the first time this week what used to be their home in a village outside Kyiv. It was in ruins, reduced to charred walls with no roof by shelling in the days after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
“Rex! Rex!” she yelled, calling for the black Labrador they’d been forced to leave behind. Only later did the faithful hound finally reappear, tail wagging under its owner’s loving caresses.
But Rex aside, nothing was as it had been.
Instead of a home, their broken house is now a symbol of their broken lives.
Nila Zelinska recalled the terror of the bombardments that forced them to leave. They scooped up her 82-year-old mother and then escape the flames and explosions by fleeing with her through their garden.
“Everything was on fire,” she said. ”I didn’t think I could get her out of there, because she is very old. But we grabbed her by the arms and began to run.”
Much of what happened next is a hazy memory. The family evacuated westward, well away from the fighting that engulfed the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital and other cities to the north and east.
Repelled by Ukrainian defenders from capturing Kyiv, Russia has since redirected its troops and concentrated its attacks on the eastern industrial Donbas region, where the fighting is still fierce.
Reaching the 100-day milestone of war is both a tragedy for Ukraine but also an indication of how fiercely it has resisted: Some analysts thought its troops might quickly crumble against Russia’s larger and better-equipped military.
Nila Zelinska sobbed in the ruins of her home when she and her husband returned to their village, Potashnya. From the rubble, she recovered a doll that belonged to one of her grandchildren. She held it tightly, as though it was a real child.
Her husband gingerly picked his way through the piles of bricks and shattered glass.
“There is no place to live. If there was housing, we would return and plant a garden for ourselves, as we always did,” she said. “We had a garden here. Potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes grew here. Everything was from the garden.”
Neither of them know right now what the future holds, but Nila knows what she wants.
“May there be peace on earth, peace so that our people are not suffering so much,” she said.
NY passes bill raising age to buy, own semi-automatic rifles
Marina Villeneuve- June 2, 2022
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s legislature voted Thursday to ban anyone under age 21 from buying or possessing a semi-automatic rifle, a major change to state firearm laws pushed through less than three weeks after an 18-year-old used one of the guns to kill 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo.
The bill raising the age limit is the most significant part of a package of gun control measures announced earlier this week by Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Other new legislation will restrict civilian purchases of bullet-resistant armor, which was worn by the killer in Buffalo, and require new guns to be equipped with microstamping technology that can help law enforcement investigators trace bullets to particular firearms.
The age limit bill passed the Senate along party lines, 43-20, and in the Assembly 102-47, and will now head to Hochul’s desk for her signature.
New York already requires people to be 21 to possess a handgun. Younger people would still be allowed to have other types of rifles and shotguns under the new law, but would be unable to buy the type of fast-firing rifles used by the 18-year-old gunmen in the mass shootings in Buffalo and at a Texas elementary school.
New York vows change this Gun Violence Awareness Month
New York State is expected to pass sweeping gun control legislation. CBS2’s John Dias has the details.
Besides raising the legal purchase age to 21, the bill would also require anyone buying a semi-automatic rifle to get a license — something now only required for handguns.
Many Republicans opposed the new gun limitations, arguing they would inconvenience law-abiding firearms owners and could be easily circumvented by people determined to get weapons.
Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Bronx Democrat, said he had no problem putting up obstacles.
“It is meant to be a hassle to those folks who might want to get their hands quickly on something with which they could mass murder people,” he said.
The age limit change would largely impact areas outside New York City, which already requires permits to possess, carry and purchase any type of firearm and prohibits most applicants under 21.
New York would join a handful of states — including Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Vermont and Washington – that require buyers to be at least 21 instead of 18 to purchase some types of long guns. Similar legislation has been proposed in Utah.
Legal fights over the legislation are expected. New York’s law limiting who can get a handgun license is already the subject of a lawsuit now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
California’s attempt to raise the legal buying age for semi-automatic weapons has also been challenged.
On May 11, a U.S. appeals court panel in northern California ruled 2-1 that the state’s ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons to adults under 21 is unconstitutional. The two judges who ruled in the majority were part of Republican President Donald Trump’s wave of conservative-approved nominees that reshaped the famously liberal court.
The National Rifle Association is also challenging Florida’s ban on the sale of rifles and other firearms to adults under age 21, which was passed in the wake of a 2018 shooting that killed 17 students and staff at a high school in Parkland.
Semi-automatic rifles automatically load each bullet after firing, although firing requires pulling the trigger for each round. That makes it possible for mass murderers to kill more people in a short amount of time.
Previously, people as young as 16 could possess long guns like rifles and shotguns without a license in New York, although they had to be 18 to buy one from a federally licensed firearms dealer.
Sen. Alexis Weik, a Republican of Long Island, pointed out that an 18 year old could still travel to another state and buy a semi-automatic rifle.
Sen. Kevin Thomas, a Long Island Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors, replied, “Are you advocating for federal gun control? Because that what’s needed.”
New York lawmakers were also passing legislation expanding the list of people who can apply for an extreme risk protection order, a court order that can temporarily prohibit someone from purchasing or possessing a firearm if they are believed to be a danger to themselves or others.
“Even as we take action to protect New Yorkers, we recognize that this is a nationwide problem. I once again urge Congress to seize this moment and pass meaningful gun violence prevention measures. We have no time to waste,” Hochul said in a statement.
German leader says Russian economy is collapsing; Putin fires 5 more generals: Live Ukraine updates
John Bacon, USA TODAY – June 2, 2022
Russia’s economy is falling apart and “time is working against Russia” and its president, Vladimir Putin, a top German official said Thursday.
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck made the remarks the same day Russian officials revealed that five more generals had been fired.
Since invading Ukraine more than three months ago, Russia has secured modest gains in its battle for control of the eastern Donbas region. Income from energy sales to Europe has played a major role in funding Russia’s war, and Habeck acknowledged that Russia has been aided by historically high energy prices and Europe’s inability to completely halt purchases.
“We can only be ashamed that we haven’t yet managed to reduce this dependence more significantly,” said Habeck, who is also Germany’s economy minister. But he added that “Putin is still getting money, but he can hardly spend it” because of Western sanctions.
“Time is not working for Russia. It is working against Russia, it is working against the Russian economy,” he said. “No one wants to invest in Russia any more.”
Major developments:
►Ukraine’s soccer team won at Scotland, setting up a fixture against Wales for a spot in the World Cup tournament that begins Nov. 21 in Qatar.
►Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said Thursday that he expects Denmark to join the European Union’s common defense on July 1. In a referendum on Wednesday, two-thirds of voters opted to abandon a 30-year-old waiver that kept the NATO member from full participation.
Mourners attend the funeral June 2, 2022, of Ukrainian soldier Valentyn Zvyryk who was killed during fighting with Russian troops in the Kharkiv region.
Putin fires 5 more generals
Russian President Vladimir Putin has fired five generals and a police colonel in what state-run media outlet Pravda described as “a standard employee reshuffle procedure.” All six had been assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is responsible for law enforcement across the nation of 145 million people.
Putin has fired several high-ranking military members amid the mixed results his troops have seen. Lt. Gen. Serhiy Kisel, a leader of the Russian Army’s failed effort to capture the northeastern city of Kharkiv was dismissed, as was Vice Adm. Igor Osipov, who led Russia’s Black Sea fleet when Ukrainian forces sank its flagship, the Moskva.
Lawmaker: Ukraine cities could vote on joining Russia this summer
Referendums to join Russia are likely to be organized this summer in the separatist Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk along with the occupied cities of Kherson Zaporozhye, a high-ranking Russian lawmaker said Thursday. Leonid Slutsky, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party and chairman of the Russian Duma’s Committee on International Affairs said it is “no secret that there is such sentiment in Donbas and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.”
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such referendums would require “the will and the desire of the people living there” along with other conditions.
Russia gains in Luhansk, but struggles loom
Russian troops are making steady gains in separatist Luhansk Oblast, enabled by a heavy concentration of artillery, the British Ministry of Defense said Thursday. But the assessment adds that those gains “have not been without cost,” citing losses sustained by Russian forces.
Crossing the Siversky Donets River is vital for Russian forces as they secure Luhansk and switch focus to Donetsk Oblast, the assessment says. Potential crossing sites remain controlled by Ukrainian forces that have destroyed existing bridges.
“It is likely Russia will need at least a short tactical pause to re-set for opposed river crossings,” the assessment says. “To do so risks losing some of the momentum they have built over the last week.”
Impact of long-range rockets on war unclear
President Joe Biden’s decision to provide Ukraine with longer-range precision rockets unleashed angst in Moscow and applause in Kyiv. But it’s not clear yet how much of a difference the advanced weapons will make in what has become a stalemate with no clear end game. It also remains to be seen how Russia will respond to the U.S. move. As the U.S. has ramped up the flow of American-made weapons to Ukraine, the Kremlin has increasingly tried to frame its invasion of Ukraine as a proxy war between Washington and Moscow, although Biden has repeatedly said he would not send American troops to fight in the conflict.
“The Biden administration argues this most recent military aid package will help Kyiv target Russian artillery behind the front and give the Ukrainians more leverage when or if negotiations resume,” said Daniel DePetris, a fellow at Defense Priorities, a Washington-based think tank that advocates for military restraint. “Unfortunately, no negotiations are on the horizon.” Read more here.
– Tom Vanden Brook, Maureen Groppe and Deirdre Shesgreen
