Pennsylvania Zombie Response Team

Western Leaders: Russian Troops Move Into East Ukraine

Quote:A Reuters witness saw tanks and other military hardware on the outskirts of Donetsk, the capital of one of two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized them as independent.
Tuesday, 22 February 2022 09:30 AM

Western leaders said Tuesday that Russian troops have moved into rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine after President Vladimir Putin’s recognized their independence — but some indicated it was not yet the long-feared, full-fledged invasion.
For weeks, Western powers have been bracing for an invasion as Russia massed an estimated 150,000 troops on three sides of neighboring Ukraine. They warned an attack would cause massive casualties, energy shortages in Europe and economic chaos around the globe — and promised swift and severe sanctions if it materialized. The European Union and Britain announced Tuesday that some of those measures were coming.
Western leaders have long warned Moscow would look for cover to invade — and just such a pretext appeared to come Monday, when Putin recognized as independent two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, where government troops have fought Russia-backed rebels in a conflict that has killed over 14,000 people. The Kremlin then raised the stakes further Tuesday, by saying that recognition extends even to the large parts now held by Ukrainian forces.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia has recognized the rebel regions’ independence “in borders that existed when they proclaimed” their independence in 2014 — broad territories that extend far beyond the areas now under the rebel control and that include the major Black Sea port of Mariupol.
Putin's move to recognize the territories' independence opened the door for him to formalize his hold on them and send forces in, though Ukraine and its Western allies have charged Russian troops have been fighting there for years. Moscow denies those allegations.
Condemnation from around the world was quick. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would consider breaking diplomatic ties with Russia and Kyiv recalled its ambassador in Moscow.
But confusion over what exactly was happening in eastern Ukraine threatened to hobble a Western response.
“Russian troops have entered in Donbas,” the name for the area where the two separatist regions are located, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in Paris. “We consider Donbas part of Ukraine.”
But in a distinction that could complicate a European and Western response, he added: “I wouldn’t say that (it is) a fully fledged invasion, but Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil.”
Poland's Defense Ministry and British Health Secretary Sajid Javid also said Russian forces had entered Ukraine's east, with Javid telling Sky News that “the invasion of Ukraine has begun.”

Not all in Europe saw it that way. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares noted “if Russia uses force against Ukraine, sanctions will be massive.”
The Kremlin hasn't confirmed any troop deployments to the rebel east, saying it will depend on the security situation. Vladislav Brig, a member of the separatist local council in Donetsk, told reporters that the Russian troops already had moved in, but more senior rebel leaders didn't confirm that. Late Monday, convoys of armored vehicles were seen rolling across the separatist-controlled territories. It wasn’t immediately clear if they were Russian.
In response to the moves thus far, top EU officials said the bloc was prepared to impose sanctions on several Russian officials and banks financing the Russian armed forces and move to limit Moscow’s access to EU capital and financial markets. They gave few details.
EU foreign ministers are meeting later Tuesday to discuss the measures — but they did not appear to include the massive punishment repeatedly promised in case of a full-fledged invasion.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said the U.K. would slap sanctions on five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals.
While he said that Russian tanks have already rolled into eastern Ukraine, he warned a full-scale offensive would bring “further powerful sanctions.”
The White House has also moved to respond, issuing an executive order to prohibit U.S. investment and trade in the separatist regions, and additional measures — likely sanctions — were to be announced Tuesday. Those sanctions are independent of what Washington has prepared in the event of a Russian invasion, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The Russian moves also pushed Germany to suspend the certification process for Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was to bring natural gas from Russia. The pipeline was built to help Germany meet its energy needs, particularly as it switches off its last three nuclear power plants and phases out the use of coal, and it has resisted calls by the U.S. and others to halt the project.
As world leaders scrambled to decide on their response, legislation that will likely set the stage for a deeper move into Ukrainian territory moved through Russia's parliament.
The bills, which sailed quickly through the Kremlin-controlled parliament, envisage military ties between Moscow and the separatist regions, including possible deployment of Russian military bases in the separatist regions.
Even as alarm spread across the globe, Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, sought to project calm, telling the country in an address overnight: “We are not afraid of anyone or anything. We don’t owe anyone anything. And we won’t give anything to anyone.”
His foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, will be in Washington on Tuesday to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the State Department said.
Russia has long denied it has any plans to invade Ukraine, instead blaming the U.S. and its allies for the current crisis and describing Ukraine’s bid to join NATO as an existential challenge to Russia. Putin reiterated those accusations in an hourlong televised speech on Monday, when he announced that Russia would recognize the rebels.
“Ukraine’s membership in NATO poses a direct threat to Russia’s security,” he said.
Russia says it wants Western guarantees that NATO won’t allow Ukraine and other former Soviet countries to join as members. Moscow has also demanded the alliance halt weapons deployments to Ukraine and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe — demands flatly rejected by the West.
Putin warned Monday that the Western rejection of Moscow's demands gives Russia the right to take other steps to protect its security.
Sweeping through more than a century of history, Putin painted today’s Ukraine as a modern construct used by the West to contain Russia despite the neighbors inextricable links.
In a stark warning to Ukraine, the Russian leader charged that it has unfairly inherited Russia's historic land granted to it by the Communist rulers of the Soviet Union and mocked its effort to shed the Communist past in a so-called “decommunization” campaign.
“We are ready to show you what the real decommunization would mean for Ukraine,” Putin added ominously in an apparent signal of his readiness to raise new land claims.
Amid the soaring tensions, U.S. President Joe Biden and Putin tentatively agreed to a meeting in a last-ditch effort to avoid war. But the U.S. always said that if Russia moved in, the meeting would be off.

Biteme rehearsing the American surrender speech now!



Putin Orders Military Operations in Ukraine, Demands Surrender

(AP)
Thursday, 24 February 2022 12:49 AM

Quote:Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities and landed troops on its south coast on Thursday, officials and media said, after President Vladimir Putin authorized what he called a special military operation in the east.
Shortly after Putin spoke in a televised address on Russian state TV, explosions could be heard in the pre-dawn quiet of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Gunfire rattled near the capital's main airport, the Interfax news agency said, and sirens were heard over the city.
"Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.

"This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now."
U.S. President Joe Biden, reacting to an invasion the United States had been predicting for weeks, said his prayers were with the people of Ukraine "as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces."
Russia has demanded an end to NATO's eastward expansion and Putin repeated his position that Ukrainian membership of the U.S.-led Atlantic military alliance was unacceptable.
He said he had authorized military action after Russia had been left with no choice but to defend itself against what he said were threats emanating from modern Ukraine, a democratic state of 44 million people.
"Russia cannot feel safe, develop, and exist with a constant threat emanating from the territory of modern Ukraine," Putin said. "All responsibility for bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine."
The full scope of the Russian military operation was not immediately clear but Putin said: "Our plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. We are not going to impose anything by force."
Speaking as the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting in New York, Putin said he had ordered Russian forces to protect the people and appealed to the Ukrainian military to lay down their arms.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and border guards, and that explosions had been heard in many cities.
He said that martial law had been declared and that he had spoken by telephone to Biden. Reservists were called up on Wednesday.
Media reported that military command centers in Kyiv and the city of Kharkiv in the northeast had been struck by missiles while Russian troops had landed in the southern port cities of Odessa and Mariupol.
A Reuters witness later heard three loud blasts in Mariupol.
Russian-backed separatists said they had launched an offensive on the Ukrainian-controlled town of Shchastia in the east, Russia's Interfax news agency said, and explosions also rocked the breakaway eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
Hours earlier, the separatists issued a plea to Moscow for help to stop alleged Ukrainian aggression - claims the United States dismissed as Russian propaganda.
Global stocks and U.S. bond yields dived, while the dollar and gold rocketed higher after Putin's address. Brent oil surged past $100/barrel for the first time since 2014.
'DECISIVE WAY'
Biden said Putin had chosen a premeditated war that would bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering.
"Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its Allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable," he said.
While he has ruled out putting U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine, he said he would announce further sanctions against Russia on Thursday, in addition to financial measures imposed this week.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg strongly condemned Russia's "reckless and unprovoked attack" on Ukraine and said NATO allies would meet to tackle the consequences of Moscow's "aggressive actions."
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a last-minute plea to Putin to stop the war "in the name of humanity', after the Russian leader announced the military operation.
"President Putin, in the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia," Guterres said, speaking after the Security Council meeting.
The consequences of a war would be devastating for Ukraine and far-reaching for the global economy, he said.
Russia's U.N. envoy said his country was not being aggressive against the Ukrainian people but against the "junta" in Kyiv.
Ukraine earlier restricted civilian flights in its airspace hours after a conflict zone monitor warned airlines should stop overflights over the risk of an unintended shooting down or cyber attack.
Shelling had intensified since Monday when Putin recognized two separatist regions as independent and ordered the deployment of what he called peacekeepers, a move the West called the start of an invasion.
In response to Putin's Monday announcement, Western countries and Japan imposed sanctions on Russian banks and individuals but have held off their toughest measures until an invasion began.
The United States stepped up the pressure on Wednesday by imposing penalties on the Russian firm building the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and its corporate officers.
Germany on Tuesday froze approvals for the pipeline, which has been built but was not in operation, amid concern it could allow Moscow to weaponise energy supplies to Europe.

Ya' gott love THIS babblin' bullshit.

How to talk to children about the conflict in Ukraine

Quote:February 25, 2022 at 2:29 pm ESTBy Lauren Silver, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
The images of the rapidly unfolding events in Ukraine as Russian forces invade are hard to avoid, and it’s important for parents to check in with their children to make sure that they are not anxious.
>> Russia attacks Ukraine: Live updates
Checking in with a child is important no matter what age they are, but the conversations can be brief. “For children under the age of 7, it might just be acknowledging that something is happening between Ukraine and Russia and ask, ‘Have you heard anything?’ Take the child’s lead,” clinical psychologist Janine Domingues told The Associated Press.

>> Read more trending news
The American Psychological Association suggests caregivers plan out what they want to say in advance, practicing in front of a mirror or with another adult. The APA also said it’s okay to share your feelings with your child, saying, “They see you are human. They also get a chance to see that even though upset, you can pull yourself together and continue on. Parents hear it often: Be a role model. This applies to emotions, too.”
Honesty is very important, no matter what age the child is, the APA said. While that means laying out facts, that doesn’t mean graphic details need to be included.
“They know things are troubled. They know things are problematic. They may ask you if you’re worried. Kids of all ages may ask if you’re worried. And frankly, you’ve got to be honest. You can say, ‘Yes, I am, but we can manage this. We can get through this.’ I would indulge them a little bit,” Dr. Gene Beresin, the executive director of The Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, told The AP.
Dr. Meg Meeker, a pediatrician and author of the Parenting Great Kids series, told Fox News, “Many parents fall into the trap of overspeaking, of giving too much information that kids can’t handle or understand.”
Even though the fighting is many miles away from the U.S., television coverage and social media can make it seem far closer for children, so some parenting experts, including the APA, recommend making sure to take a break from watching coverage on television or screens, The AP reported.
Dr. Nick Hatzsis, the medical director of child and adolescent programs for the Compass Health Center in Chicago, told The AP the most important thing for parents to do is to “create a space that allows for listening.”

Ya' tell 'em that the babblin' bullshitter-in-chief is a powerless dementia-addled sockpuppet of George Soros, & he & his corrupt son's dealings in the Ukraine are gonna be brought to light so that he goes to Ft. Leavenworth for the rest of his life, when Trump is elected to a third term!!!

Biteme won't hesitate to drop a tactical nuclear shiite in his drawers, if he hasn't already - pre-emptive shitzizpantz!!!



Putin Won't Hesitate to Use Tactical Nuclear Weapons; Will Biden?

Quote:During the buildup before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and West European allies moved thousands of troops into East European NATO countries – but the whole amounts to merely about 10,000 soldiers and a dozen jet fighters, hopelessly outnumbered by the 190,000 Russians invading Ukraine, and by the rest of the Russian Army, numbering over one million, that could quickly follow.
The very thin U.S. military presence – even accounting for the 7,000 troops ordered to Germany on Thursday afternoon – in East European NATO countries is intended as a "nuclear tripwire" to deter Russia from invading NATO countries, with the threat of U.S. nuclear escalation. The U.S. recently raised the nuclear stakes by flying a few B-52 strategic nuclear bombers to Britain and then, for the first time ever, to Poland.