Ukraine War Watch Thread

weatheriscool
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Biden seeks $33 billion for Ukraine, powers to liquidate Russian assets
Source: Washington Post

The White House on Thursday announced a proposal to allow U.S. authorities to liquidate the assets of Russian oligarchs and donate the proceeds to Ukraine, seeking what appears to be broad new legal powers to expand America’s financial war on the Kremlin amid bipartisan pressure in Congress.

President Biden will send the new plan to Congress along with a broader request for $33 billion to help the Ukrainians fight Russia’s invasion. Biden’s funding request includes $20 billion in military assistance for Ukraine, $8.5 billion in economic assistance and $3 billion in humanitarian aid, among other pots of money, such as $500 million to support production of U.S. crops to address the global food shock caused by the war.

The White House has not revealed the legislative text behind its Russian oligarchs proposal but said the proposal “would improve” the federal government’s ability to send seized funds to Ukraine. Under current law, the United States can typically only freeze — not seize or liquidate — the assets of sanctioned individuals. Civil liberties groups had raised concerned that prior congressional proposals to do so ran afoul of constitutional protections by allowing federal law enforcement to circumvent judicial procedure. It was not immediately clear how the White House would seek to change existing statute without violating those protections.

“This package of proposals will establish new authorities for the forfeiture of property linked to Russian kleptocracy, allow the government to use the proceeds to support Ukraine, and further strengthen related law enforcement tools,” the White House said in a fact sheet. The White House’s requests to Congress will now be subject of intense wrangling on Capitol Hill as lawmakers face a crunch of spending fights in a worsening economy. The administration is also pushing Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars in funding to fight the pandemic, with the White House warning of diminishing funds for vaccines and other treatments.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... s-ukraine/
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Russian forces will collapse and Putin to face coup after 'major strategic shift in war', expert says

6h ago 10:28

Dr Mike Martin, a military expert and war studies visiting fellow at King's College London has offered some interesting analysis this morning on the recent developments on the ground in Ukraine and what they could mean.

He suggests the Russian assault on Donbas has "fizzled" and that Moscow has squandered its one chance to take the region - and achieve something it could present as a successful outcome to the invasion.

Dr Martin says the battle will last another two to four weeks, as Russia runs out of troops and Ukraine counterattacks.

And, he says, the war has now seen "a major strategic shift" that has prompted the UK to outline a clearer and more ambitious strategic aim, citing UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

However, he indicates Ms Truss is wrong to predict the goal of evicting Russian forces entirely from Ukraine would take 10 years - saying "Russian forces will collapse before that, and we'll see a coup".

Read more: https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war- ... eblog-body
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Cracks emerging in Russian elites as oligarchs begin to speak out on Putin's invasion

20m ago
16:11

The nature of Vladimir Putin's regime and the harsh measures meted out to those publicly critical of him and his actions have ensured very little dissent among prominent figures in the country since he launched the invasion.

However, a report in the Washington Post indicates this may, very slowly, be changing.

The newspaper quotes a number of the 37 wealthy business executives who were summoned to the Kremlin for a meeting with Mr Putin hours after the war began.

While none have directly criticised the Russian president, the quotes they gave to the newspaper on condition of anonymity suggest growing displeasure among the Russian elite about the impact the invasion has had on them.

"In one day, they destroyed what was built over many years. It's a catastrophe," said one businessman who was called to the meeting with Mr Putin, according to the post.

https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war- ... eblog-body
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It soon became clear the presidential offices were not the safest place to be. The military informed Zelensky that Russian strike teams had parachuted into Kyiv to kill or capture him and his family. “Before that night, we had only ever seen such things in the movies,” says Andriy Yermak, the President’s chief of staff.

As Ukrainian troops fought the Russians back in the streets, the presidential guard tried to seal the compound with whatever they could find. A gate at the rear entrance was blocked with a pile of police barricades and plywood boards, resembling a mound of junkyard scrap more than a fortification.
Friends and allies rushed to Zelensky’s side, sometimes in violation of security protocols. Several brought their families to the compound. If the President were to be killed, the chain of succession in Ukraine calls for the Speaker of parliament to take command. But Ruslan Stefanchuk, who holds that post, drove straight to Bankova Street on the morning of the invasion rather than taking shelter at a distance.

Stefanchuk was among the first to see the President in his office that day. “It wasn’t fear on his face,” he told me. “It was a question: How could this be?” For months Zelensky had downplayed warnings from Washington that Russia was about to invade. Now he registered the fact that an all-out war had broken out, but could not yet grasp the totality of what it meant. “Maybe these words sound vague or pompous,” says Stefanchuk. “But we sensed the order of the world collapsing.” Soon the Speaker rushed down the street to the parliament and presided over a vote to impose martial law across the country. Zelensky signed the decree that afternoon.
Somewhere outside the capital, a secure bunker was waiting for the President, equipped to withstand a lengthy siege. Zelensky refused to go there. Instead, on the second night of the invasion, while Ukrainian forces were fighting the Russians in nearby streets, the President decided to walk outside into the courtyard and film a video message on his phone. “We’re all here,” Zelensky said after doing a roll call of the officials by his side. They were dressed in the army green T-shirts and jackets that would become their war-time uniforms. “Defending our independence, our country.”
https://time.com/6171277/volodymyr-zele ... raine-war/
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weatheriscool
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wjfox wrote: Fri Apr 29, 2022 3:29 pm Russian forces will collapse and Putin to face coup after 'major strategic shift in war', expert says

6h ago 10:28

Dr Mike Martin, a military expert and war studies visiting fellow at King's College London has offered some interesting analysis this morning on the recent developments on the ground in Ukraine and what they could mean.

He suggests the Russian assault on Donbas has "fizzled" and that Moscow has squandered its one chance to take the region - and achieve something it could present as a successful outcome to the invasion.

Dr Martin says the battle will last another two to four weeks, as Russia runs out of troops and Ukraine counterattacks.

And, he says, the war has now seen "a major strategic shift" that has prompted the UK to outline a clearer and more ambitious strategic aim, citing UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

However, he indicates Ms Truss is wrong to predict the goal of evicting Russian forces entirely from Ukraine would take 10 years - saying "Russian forces will collapse before that, and we'll see a coup".

Read more: https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war- ... eblog-body

History repeats a lot in Russia. I am talking about 1917-1918.
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Yuli Ban
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I don't know, it feels a bit like wishful thinking.
And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
weatheriscool
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Re: Ukraine War Watch Thread

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Russia's Donbas offensive has made little progress in fierce combat, Western officials and analysts
Source: New York Times
The clenched fist of military forces that Russia mustered in eastern Ukraine appears to be losing some of its punch, with the effort to capture all of the Donbas region stalling, according to a senior Pentagon official and other military analysts.

The Russian offensive seems to be several days behind schedule, the Pentagon official said on Friday. It is facing stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces and suffering from some of the same problems with logistics and low troop morale that have plagued the Russian military since it launched a sweeping invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the official said.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/29 ... d=url-copy
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