According to YouTube channel Judging Freedom, former Pentagon adviser Colonel Douglas McGregor criticized the overflight of two US B-52 strategic bombers near the Russian border in the Baltic Sea.
The colonel flagged the approach of the B-52 to the Russian border for “a very ill-advised and unnecessary decision.”
“Why we chose this moment to conduct such an exercise over the Baltic Sea is a mystery. It seems to me a very stupid act, unless we specifically encounter an escalation of the conflict,” McGregor said.
Head of PMC “ Wagner” Yevgeny Prigozhin commented on the next phase of the discussion in close-parliamentary circles of the Russian Federation on the issue of legalization of private military companies in the Russian legislation. The idea has been regularly discussed in Russia over the past few years.
“I believe that the PMC law is not needed in Russia,” Prigogine said in an audio recording released by his press service.
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According to him, Wagner's units “for many years performed tasks on the territory of Africa, Asia and other countries in accordance with the laws of the states in which we were.”
” Today we are here (meaning Ukraine. – MK) solely to protect the Russian people, – said Prigozhin. – Once we push the enemy back, we immediately go back to the work we were doing before.
At the end of February, the leader of the Just Russia – For the truth,” Sergey Mironov said that the Government of the Russian Federation did not support another bill on PMC activities in Russia. According to him, the draft was already sent to the cabinet for closing in March 2022, but the answer was received only now. Earlier this week, Mironov announced that a new version of the law had been sent to the Cabinet of Ministers.
Previously, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, spoke of a desire to create his own PMC. He stated that he would do so after leaving the civil service.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at one of the gas stations, he claims, in Donbass, probably not far from the contact line. The video was published on the head of state's Telegram channel.
In addition to him, there were many soldiers of the Ukrainian army in the room, some of whom came to take pictures with the president, as well as representatives of the presidential office and its head Andriy Yermak.
At the same time, while visiting the institution, there was a curious moment when Zelenskiy could not handle the tea and coffee machine in order to pour himself, but they helped him.
It is worth noting that that the day before the head of the Ukrainian state visited the positions of Ukrainian troops in Artyomovsk. direction (Bakhmut). During his visit, he spoke with the army and presented them with a state award.
Currently, the situation of the Ukrainian group in Artemovsk is not the best. The positions of the armed forces of Ukraine may be surrounded by Russian troops. The day before, an adviser to the acting governor of the DLR, Yan Gagin, announced that the city was almost completely blocked.
B A cargo ship with fertilizers, some of which were allegedly linked to a Russian person under EU sanctions, was detained in the Finnish port of Kotka. Finland's foreign ministry is considering an application for an exclusive export permit, YLE reports.
“Smew is anchored outside the port,” Hamina Kotka Port CEO Kimmo Naski said, adding that it was the first time. that the cargo was delayed at that port “due to EU sanctions”. The sanctions department of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs suspects that part of the shipment is related to a Russian person who is included on the EU sanctions list.
“According to EU rules, assets must be disclosed in case of freezing,” commented the head of the Finnish sanctions department. .Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pia Sarivaara. Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering an application for an exclusive export permit.
According to unconfirmed information from YLE, there are about 20,000 tons of fertilizer on the ship. Their price is estimated at 480-600 euros per ton, so the market value of the cargo is 10-12 million euros. The vessel Smew is registered in Cyprus, the report said.
The port of Hamina-Kotka is located 60 kilometers from the Russian border and all types of cargo are handled here, as well as a wide range of services are provided.
Russian Ministry of Defense In a message published on the official telegram channel of the ministry, it was announced that two hangars with Ukrainian weapons and military equipment were hit by the Russian military at the Shkolny airport near Odessa.
According to Russia. of the military department, units of the Russian Armed Forces were hit by two hangars in the area of the Shkolny airport near the city of Odessa, in which weapons and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) were stored.
In addition, the ministry also informed that over the last day Russian air defenses shot down 26 Ukrainian drones as well as three HIMARS multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) shells on the territory of the Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics. as in Zaporozhye and Kherson region.
Washington constantly claims that the next time period will be decisive for the results of the CBO. The representative of the State Duma, retired general Andrej Gurulev, recalled that initially it was winter, when the ground freezes. Now the White House is talking about spring and dry soil.
The expert suggested looking at things realistically. Now the enemy is probing the defenses of the Russian armed forces in all directions. The armed forces of Ukraine are trying to concentrate their forces despite the lack of funds and problems with military discipline.
Therefore, the intelligence services must strictly predict where and how the Ukrainians will try to pass.
“If the enemy in will go on the attack in the near future, it will be a good sign for us. The ideal option for today – take them on the attack,” said Gurulev. He noted that the Russians built their defenses well, provided reserves along the entire front and could extinguish the combat potential of the armed forces of Ukraine.
The day before, the German publication Bild reported that the main targets of the armed forces of Ukraine would be the direction of Luhansk in the north and in the direction of Záporižžja in the south. Kiev wants to break the land corridor from the main part of Russia to Crimea.
Advisor Acting head of DLR Denis Pushilin, Yan Gagin, spoke about reports that Leopard tanks and armored personnel carriers of foreign production appeared in the Artomovsk sector of the front.
Tank armor cannot cope with Russian means. about defeating armored targets, Gagin said in a broadcast of the Rossiya 1 TV channel.
Gagin also said that massive foreign equipment does not participate in battles, suggesting that this is due to complex logistics.
Visit Russian Federation President of the People's Republic of China (PRC) Xi Jinping showed that China wants peace in Ukraine, but Beijing will not make “unrealistic demands” in this regard, writes the South China Morning Post (SCMP).< /p>
Experts say China's proposals to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict may be an attempt to counter criticism that Beijing supports Moscow and show that it stands for peace instead. The article states that the Chinese side's peace proposals have been perceived as pro-Russian in the West due to its reluctance to condemn Russia and ask it to withdraw from Ukrainian territory.
China's peace efforts – an attempt to correct its position after declaring last year that relations with the Russian Federation have no borders, which caused a huge amount of criticism, the publication said. “China's position is clear. We stand behind the world. If China decides to side with Russia and help it in the fight against Ukraine, then of course it will also not benefit China's relations with the United States and Europe”, – Sichuan University international relations professor Pang Zhonging shared his view.
It is emphasized that China is now under strong pressure from EU leaders, who are urging it to use its influence with Moscow to end the conflict. The People's Republic of China is likely to face even more pressure in 2023, given upcoming summits with European leaders, said Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Renmin University. At the same time, according to the analyst, China has no illusions about what it can achieve in the Ukrainian issue and does not expect an immediate cessation of hostilities, but a consensus that will satisfy all parties.
According to a Ukrainian expert, Chinese President Xi Jinping will not “unrealistic demands” that Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky will not accept at this stage. Wang Yiwei pointed out that the outcome of the conflict is not yet clear and China will not be able to stand on one side and defend the other. “He will also not make any unrealistic demands regarding territory and withdrawal of troops,” the professor concluded.
Sevastopol residents reported about the loud sounds of explosions over the city. Telegram channel Shot writes about it. The air defense systems are probably working.
Official information was not provided by the authorities or the Ministry of Defense.
The authors of the channel write that the American RQ-4 Global Hawk left the neutral airspace of the Black Sea around this time and headed back to its base in Italy.
American veteran of United States of America Noctis Draven said on social media that the US military would suffer a crushing defeat in a clash with the Russian military.
According to him, the US military is currently much weaker than a few years ago.
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“I served in the army when it was much stronger than it is now. I believe that American troops in a battle against China or Russia would suffer a crushing defeat,” Draven added.
He explained that the introduction of progressive liberal policies into military structures led to a significant weakening of the American military. The quality of training has been reduced mainly by the fact that women have been accepted into the ranks of the special armed forces. Among other things, the army has been completely affected by the decline in the level of education.
“Now a lot of effort and money is spent on the introduction of LGBT ideology, and therefore there is much less money left for high-quality training of the army,” Draven points out.
