The New York Times

Ukrainian Forces Are Using Their Home-Turf Knowledge to Stymie Russia, Top U.S. General Says

Helene Cooper – March 3, 2022

STUTTGART, Germany — The Ukrainian military is conducting a hugely effective and “mobile” defense, using its innate knowledge of its home turf to stymie Russian forces on multiple fronts, Gen. Mark Milley, the top military adviser to President Joe Biden, said early Thursday.

Although the strategic city of Kherson fell to Russia on Wednesday, officials said that Ukrainian forces were mounting battles up and down the Russian lines with what they described as a resourcefulness and creativity that could trip up Russian troops for weeks or months to come.

Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the tactics employed by Ukrainian troops included using mobile weapons systems to bedevil the Russians wherever they could. Ukraine’s troops, he said, are “fighting with extraordinary skill and courage against Russian forces.”

In standing up to an invading country that dwarfs their own and demonstrating their willingness to die to protect it, “fighting Ukrainian people have become the eyes and ears of the world,” Milley said.

The public comments, made to reporters traveling with him to meet with European officials at NATO, were Milley’s first since President Vladimir Putin of Russia began his brutal efforts to seize Ukraine and topple the democratically elected government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Milley met with NATO’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, in Brussels before traveling to Stuttgart to confer with U.S. European Command.

Stoltenberg said the Ukrainian military, which has been backed in recent days with arms shipments from NATO countries, was “performing better and putting up more resistance than most experts expected, and surely more than Russia expected.”

Esquire

Here Are the Russian Oligarch Super-yachts That Have Been Seized

Jack Holmes – March 3, 2022

For years, many in the West lamented Russia’s system of kleptocratic oligarchy while Western governments happily welcomed in the oligarchs and their gobs of cash. New York City is home to a flock of “ghost buildings,” where elites from Russia—and beyond—have pied-a-terres that are seldom lit up at night because nobody is ever there. Entire neighborhoods in London were oligarched over the years, along with one of the city’s flagship soccer teams, Chelsea, when Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003. But that all began to change, slowly, in 2014, as Russia engaged in naked aggression towards Ukraine. And now, with Vladimir Putin’s campaign of violent terror against that country, it’s all begun to come apart.

The headline-grabber in the sweeping sanctions regime imposed on Russia’s elite class is the ritual seizing of the yachts. Rich people of every national origin love a big boat, but one could make the case the Russian bigwigs love a boat most of all. And some of these things are, in addition to a gross exhibition of resource-hoarding, fairly impressive feats of engineering and design. So here’s a list of the oligarch superyachts that have changed hands since Putin truly crossed the line.

CNBC reports many oligarchs have begun moving their yachts to the Maldives and elsewhere in an attempt to shield them from European Union sanctions. We’ll update this if any others see new ownership.

Al Raya, Alisher Usmanov

Formerly known as Dilbar, this thing is reportedly 512 feet long and weighs 15,917 tons, making it the world’s largest motor yacht by weight. Forbes tells us it usually hosts a crew of 96 people. It has two helipads, a beauty salon, a gym, and 12 suites, along with the largest swimming pool ever put on a boat at 82 feet. A custom job, it reportedly took German shipbuilder Lürssen 52 months to build. Usmanov paid $600 million for it. Forbes reports that German authorities seized the vessel from a shipyard in Hamburg, where it was undergoing some renovations. Tough luck for Usmanov, an Uzbek-born mining magnate who’s held stakes in telecom companies and Facebook. He’s also got extensive real-estate holdings, and was once a major shareholder in London’s Arsenal Football Club, adversary to fellow oligarch Abramovich’s Chelsea.

Amore Vero, (allegedly) Igor Sechin

Reuters reports French authorities are the captain now of this 280-foot vessel, the name of which translates to “True Love” from Italian. The crew was reportedly preparing a hasty departure from La Ciotat, a town near Marseille in the Cote d’Azur, when French customs officers took over management. This one also has a beauty salon and a gym, and France24 reports it hosts a swimming pool that turns into a helipad. The French say that the yacht is owned by a holding company in which Igor Sechin is a the main shareholder. Sechin has been the CEO of Rosneft, the Russian state oil firm, since 2012, and is one of Putin’s closest friends and advisors.

Defense News

Transfer three A-10 aircraft squadrons to Ukraine now

Everett Pyatt – March 3, 2022

“Give us the tools, and we will finish the job,“ spoke U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill in February 1941. Following this powerful speech, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt proposed and Congress approved the lend-lease program. This provided the U.K. equipment and access to United States production capacity. This action was essential to stopping the Nazi advances.

History often rhymes. Now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is making the same plea for equipment necessary to stop the advance of the Russian autocratic Army. Now is the time for another lend-lease program supporting Ukraine.

Congress is acting in a supportive manner, but details are important. Russia must face a military defeat to enforce sanctions. The history of sanctions supports the conclusion that they do not change policy, but rather make conduct of business far more difficult while imposing distress on the economy as shown in Iraq, Iran, North Korea and others.

Sanctions must be accompanied by military success.

Zelenskyy has requested weapons and support in line with Churchill’s philosophy. Ukrainian soldiers have proved their courage and bravery. There is one more step that could be decisive: the transfer of three squadrons of A-10 aircraft to the Ukrainian Air Force.

This aircraft and its gun system were designed to counter an armored assault in Europe. They proved effective in Desert Storm’s target-rich environment, quite similar to the current advancing Russian force. They also became the infantry’s friend in close-air support missions.

The United States Air Force has deployment packages ready to go. The whole transfer to the Ukrainian Air Force could be completed in days after congressional authorization.

Firepower is needed to defeat the coming onslaught of armored forces. Other weapons are necessary for ground forces, but air power will be decisive. The A-10 has proven this ability and was designed for this purpose.

Zelenskyy asked NATO for air support. This request was declined by NATO. That is an appropriate decision since Russia has not attacked NATO.

However, that decision leaves each country an opportunity to decide based on its own moral compass. Many, including the United States, have decided to provide and have already supplied lethal aid necessary to slow the Russian advance. Some effects are notable, but military analysts agree that the long-term outlook for Ukraine’s survival is not good. One predicts a continuing resistance war for decades.

Zelenskyy is right in requesting air power support. It is necessary to slow or stop the oncoming juggernaut of Russian armored forces. The United States has the most effective weapon for this role — the U.S. Air Force’s A-10 aircraft. It is available since the service wants to retire most of the 30-year-old fleet. The airplane was designed to operate in Europe from ill-prepared facilities. Pilot retraining is minimal. All that is needed is painting Ukrainian insignia and delivering the aircraft. This could be done in days.

Each day is critical to slowing the momentum of Russia’s invading force. It is time to implement the United States’ moral compass and add the A-10 to the list of weapons already scheduled. Failure to add defensive capability to current Ukraine forces, while sanctions develop, weakens the potential impact of sanctions. They are complementary actions.

Everett Pyatt is a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy for shipbuilding and logistics.

Business Insider

Ukrainian colonel says Russian troops are ‘hungry, without fuel, demoralized’ as 40-mile-long convoy near Kyiv is stalled for days

Sinéad Baker – March 3, 2022

• Russian troops are struggling without food and fuel, a Ukrainian colonel told The Wall Street Journal.
• It comes as the US and UK say the 40-mile-long Russian military convoy bearing down on Kyiv is stalled.
• UK intelligence said it was “delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion.”

The 40-mile-long Russian military convoy bearing down on Ukraine’s capital city appears to have been stalled for days, and a Ukrainian colonel said Russian troops were running low on supplies and morale.

The Ukrainian colonel told The Wall Street Journal: “The Russians thought they could break through and be in Kyiv in a couple of days. They didn’t realize that we have learned how to wage war in the past eight years.”

“Now they sit there, hungry, without fuel, demoralized, and we just come in every little while and pop them off. And every day, we are pushing them back.”

The remarks come as the US and UK said the military convoy, which was spotted in Sunday satellite images apparently approaching Kyiv, had made little progress.

The UK Ministry of Defence said on Thursday the convoy was about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Kyiv’s center and struggling with issues including resistance from Ukrainians. Since last week’s invasion, ordinary Ukrainians have been taking up arms to fend off Russian forces.

“The main body of the large Russian column advancing on Kyiv remains over 30km from the centre of the city having been delayed by staunch Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdown and congestion. The column has made little discernible progress in over three days,” it said.

A senior US defense official also told reporters on Wednesday: “We believe that the convoy is stalled.”

NPR reported that the convoy includes tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and supplies.

A senior US defense official told reporters on Tuesday that some of the Russian forces in Ukraine were “literally out of gas” and are “having problems feeding their troops,” Insider’s Abbie Shull reported.

It is not clear if the official was talking about the convoy near Kyiv, or other Russian operations in Ukraine.

The official said that Russians “face greater resistance than they thought, that they have experienced fuel and logistics challenges.”

But the official warned that Russia may have decided to pause its operations as “they are possibly regrouping, rethinking, reevaluating.”

NBC News

Volunteers cross Polish border into Ukraine to fight Russian forces

Markus Schreiber, Konstantin Shukhnov, Corky Siemaszko – March 3, 2022

MEDYKA, POLAND — While busloads of Ukrainian refugees streamed across the border Thursday into Poland, small groups of determined-looking men were heading in the opposite direction to fight the Russians.

Most appeared to be Ukrainian émigrés in their 20s and 30s, but some could also be heard speaking other languages. Many of the men had black tactical boots hanging from their duffle bags.

And judging by the license plates of the cars dropping them off at the crossing in this Polish border town, they had come from as far away as Italy and Germany.

Among those heading east into Ukraine was a man with a military bearing from Great Britain who identified himself only as Ian and said he was 62.

“I’m going to fight,” Ian told NBC News correspondent Jay Gray.

Then Ian walked up to the Ukrainian border guards, who looked him over, checked his papers and sent him to the left to join the other hard-eyed men waiting for a bus bound for the battle against the Russians.

Ian and the others were answering the call that embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on his website Sunday for “friends of peace and democracy” to join their new brigade, the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, and help them fight the Russians.

“This is the beginning of a war against Europe, against European structures, against democracy, against basic human rights, against a global order of law, rules and peaceful coexistence,” his statement said.

Zelenskyy said Thursday that some 16,000 foreigners have already joined the brigade, a number NBC News could not immediately confirm.

The Ukrainian leader’s appeal harkened back to the 1930s when the embattled Spanish government called for international volunteers to help fight in the civil war against Gen. Francisco Franco and the fascists, a struggle Ernest Hemingway immortalized in “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

In France, the Ukrainian Embassy has been actively recruiting former soldiers to join the fight, and it set up a Facebook page with information and paperwork they would need to fill out, The New York Times reported.

More than 1 million Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have fled in the eight days since the Russians invaded their country, and the pace at which civilians have been crossing the border into Poland has been accelerating as the fighting has grown fiercer.

An army of Polish volunteers backed by relief workers from other countries has set up refugee aid centers in nearby cities, like Przemysl, an ancient city of some 61,000 people.

From there, Ukrainian refugees have been bused to major Polish cities like Warsaw, Krakow and Gdansk, as well as to Germany, Austria and even Denmark.

In recent days, the border crossing at Medyka has been the scene of emotional reunions as émigré Ukrainians reunited with loved ones who had traveled for days to get there.

There have been outbursts of anger from Ukrainians frustrated by the bureaucracy on both sides of the border. And there have been allegations of racism lodged by Africans and Asians who had been living in Ukraine and who say their escape was delayed by Ukrainian border guards.

But on Thursday, the evacuation appeared to be going smoothly.

Rather than marching across the border, most of the escapees boarded buses provided by Poland’s national fire department on the Ukrainian side.

Waiting on the Polish side was a couple who gave their names as Jim and Alyona and said they had driven to Medyka from Belgium.

Alyona, who’s Ukrainian, was waiting to collect her sister, who had been traveling by train for several days from the city of Dnipro.

Visibly distraught, Alyona said she had heard from her sister, who was still at least three to five hours away from Medyka.

“I will wait here all night if I have to,” Alyona said.

Konstantin Shukhnov reported from Medyka, Poland, and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.

Reuters

Fearing martial law or conscription, some Russians try to flee abroad

March 3, 2022

MOSCOW (Reuters) – As Russian troops slowly advanced on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Thursday, some people back in Moscow were attempting to flee to destinations abroad that have not banned flights from Russia, stomaching soaring prices in the rush to escape.

The Kremlin dismissed speculation that Russian authorities plan to introduce martial law following the invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation”, or that they will stop men of fighting age leaving Russia, but some did not want to risk staying.

One Russian man, who moved back to Moscow from western Europe around a year ago, said he had bought a flight to Istanbul for the weekend, adding that living in Moscow may no longer be possible.

“I’m afraid that mobilisation will be introduced tomorrow and I won’t be able to fly out,” said the 29-year-old, requesting anonymity like others cited in this article.

Related video: Ukraine invites Russian moms to collect captured sons

Hennadiy Maksak, executive director of “Ukrainian Prism,” discusses the information war Ukraine is fighting against Russia, and explains their effort to reach the relatives of Russian soldiers who have been captured by Ukrainian forces.

“In my worst nightmares I couldn’t have dreamt of such hell when I was coming back a year ago.”

Another man, aged 38, said he had managed to buy an expensive ticket to fly to the Middle East at the weekend.

“I don’t want to fight in this war. We’ve heard lots of rumours and I don’t trust the Kremlin when it says they aren’t true,” he said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its second week on Thursday with Ukrainian cities surrounded and under bombardment. Hundreds of Russian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians have been killed and Russia has been plunged into an isolation never before experienced by an economy of such size.

FEARING ARREST

The cost of plane tickets has leapt since Russia closed its airspace to airlines from the European Union and many other countries in a tit-for-tat response to sanctions imposed by the West, severely limiting Russians’ ability to travel.

The unprecedented Western sanctions on Moscow have already sent prices rising and started hitting the lives of ordinary Russians, while those who protest have been swiftly arrested.

Some 7,669 people have been detained at anti-war protests since the invasion began on Feb. 24, according to the OVD-Info protest-monitoring group.

After giving her cat to her family to look after, a 29-year-old woman flew to Israel on Sunday before prices rose even further, worried that things in Moscow can only get worse.

“I am ashamed that I haven’t stayed in Russia, that I am not fighting to the end, not protesting in the streets,” she said.

“But if you go out against the war, they arrest you, and there is this law on state treason.”

Russia’s state prosecutor’s office on Feb. 27 issued a reminder that anyone providing financial or other assistance to a foreign state or international organisation aimed against Russia’s security could be convicted of treason and face a maximum sentence of 20 years.

VISA PROBLEMS

Others faced bureaucratic hurdles. Russians require visas to enter most European countries, and a modest queue had formed at the Italian visa application centre in Moscow, which was still accepting requests by appointment only, with the nearest available slots over a week away.

“I will make an appointment for March 11, although what may happen in the near future is scary and uncertain,” said one 40-year-old Russian woman.

“I want to have a visa ready. I think they will let me in with a PCR test (against COVID) and then I’ll sort something out,” she added.

Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has not been approved by the EU, meaning many Russians without a shot recognised in the West may be denied entry on health grounds.

It was not just Russians trying to flee. A Filipino woman who works as a nanny in Moscow was also applying for a visa.

“I desperately want to get a visa, I’m scared here,” she said.

(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Axios

Russia’s financial “fortress” falters under the West’s sanctions

Kate Marino – March 3, 2022

Re-created from the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center; Chart: Axios Visuals; Does not include gold held domestically. *This value also encompasses smaller financial institutions. The status of these reserves is unclear.

Russia spent seven years building a financial “fortress” that could help it withstand the impact of sanctions imposed by the West — and the keystone was $630 billion in central bank foreign exchange reserves.

Driving the news: Presumably, Russia didn’t expect the G7 nations to go so far as to freeze those reserves, which they did this week — a move nearly unprecedented in scope.

Why it matters: That fortress isn’t so strong after all if Russia can’t use its billions to support its war efforts and fund domestic spending.

• The G7 has locked up nearly $400 billion of that money, according to estimates by the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center.

Backstory: Since March 2014, Russia has cut its foreign assets held in the U.S. and Europe, while increasing those in China and Japan, as well as its domestic gold holdings, the FT reports.

The big question: How will China handle Russia’s yuan assets? China’s not expected to freeze them — but faces a dilemma in how to aid its strategic partner, Russia, without running afoul of Western sanctions, Bloomberg writes.

Reuters

‘Hedgehogs’ v tanks, as Kyiv braces for Russian onslaught

Aleksandar Vasovic – March 3, 2022

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues in Kyiv

KYIV (Reuters) – As Russian troops closed in on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Thursday, a muddy construction site in a local neighborhood was teeming with workers and welders of the KAN real estate developer.

Instead of homes and offices, they were making giant, metal anti-tank barricades known as “hedgehogs”, and smaller spiked barriers aimed at stopping wheeled vehicles.

After Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24, KAN, a large local property company, reinvented itself to help the defenses of the city of 3.4 million people.

Zakhar, a foreman, picked up the phone and started calling the company’s construction workers who had remained in Kyiv. Almost everyone volunteered to stay and contribute, he said.

“We build things. We do not know how to fight, but we knew we could be useful,” Zakhar said. A few metres away sparks flew as builders cut through and welded together large metal beams.

It is another example of how Ukrainian civilians are supporting regular troops as they try to repel Russia’s advance, including through civil defence units and independent militia that have formed across the country.

Russia says its actions in Ukraine are a “special operation” not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it calls dangerous nationalists.

Ukraine’s military is dwarfed by that of its powerful neighbour, but resistance in the first week of the conflict has slowed Russia’s progress, particularly in urban areas.

Russia has captured one Ukrainian city so far – the southern Dnipro River port of Kherson – and has bombarded others with increasing intensity, including Kyiv and the country’s second city Kharkiv.

A giant column of Russian armour has stalled as it approaches Kyiv from the north, delayed by resistance, mechanical failures and congestion, according to the British defence ministry.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the violence and crossed into neighbouring countries. Men of fighting age are prevented from leaving Ukraine.

‘WE WILL THROW SPEARS’

On Feb. 25, Kyiv’s mayor and boxing champion, Vitali Klitschko, said the city “has gone into the defensive phase.”

Heavy equipment was brought in to build concrete checkpoints, blocking positions and bunkers inside the city and along all major roads and in the suburbs.

At KAN, workers cut long pieces of girder using blow torches and angle grinders, welding them together into triangular barriers used to bolster fortifications and slow the movement of tanks and tracked armoured personnel carriers.

Oleksandr Bodyuk, the company’s deputy director, said workers were also using reinforcing bars and girders salvaged from construction sites to produce spiked, movable defences against wheeled vehicles, including trucks.

So far the makeshift factory, which started operating this week, has produced 110 large hedgehogs, including 40 in the fist 12 hours, Bodyuk said, adding that the company runs other similar sites in the city.

“We have demands from many places for these types of blocking devices, we deliver them wherever they are needed in the area … subcontractors and friends are providing transportation for the products and the material,” he said.

Andriy Kryschenko, Kyiv’s deputy mayor who was wearing military fatigues, said many similar firms and workshops had adapted to produce hedgehogs, concrete barriers and other defences.

He added that tens of thousands of people in Kyiv had received weapons and many more were waiting at enlistment and recruitment offices. The city hall was also supporting Territorial Defence units and troops at the frontline, Kryschenko said.

At the construction site, Serhiy Serdyuk, a grizzled welder in his 50s, said workers were ready to take up weapons and join the fight.

“If we have to, when the materials run out, we will make spears and we will throw those spears at them.”

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Mike Collett-White)