Tag: Ukraine

Opinion | Ukraine Needs a Roadmap to NATO Membership ASAP

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This means taking steps to ensure that Ukraine 1) wins this war and reestablishes full control over its internationally recognized 1991 borders; and 2) is fully anchored in the security and economic arrangements that from 1945 until 2014 made Europe a continent of peace, prosperity and cooperation. The transatlantic community can only be stable and secure if Ukraine is secure. Ukraine’s entry into NATO, fulfilling the promise made at the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, would achieve that.
In Vilnius, NATO heads of state and government should offer an unequivocal statement of alliance support for Ukraine and for Kyiv’s aim of regaining sovereignty and territorial integrity within its 1991 borders. They should further underscore their readiness to supply Ukraine weapons — including longer-range missiles such as ATACMS, Western fighter planes and tanks — in sufficient quantities to prevail on the battlefield. This will demonstrate the allies’ unequivocal commitment to Ukrainian victory and send a clear message to Moscow that its military situation in Ukraine will only grow worse the longer the conflict continues.
In Vilnius, the alliance should launch a roadmap that will lead clearly to Ukraine’s membership in NATO at the earliest achievable date. As with Finland and Sweden, the process can bypass the Membership Action Plan in light of the close and ongoing interactions between NATO and Ukraine. NATO heads of state and government should task the Council in permanent session to develop recommendations on the timing and modalities of an accession process for Ukraine for decision at the next NATO summit in Washington in 2024.
To enhance Ukraine’s security until it joins NATO, NATO and Ukraine at Vilnius should establish a deterrence and defense partnership under which:
· the allies will provide all necessary arms, training, equipment, and intelligence and other support to deter or defeat ongoing and new aggression by Russia; and
· Ukraine will continue to carry out essential steps to expedite its integration into the alliance and its command structures.
At the Vilnius summit, the allies and Ukraine should upgrade the NATO-Ukraine Commission to a NATO-Ukraine Council. The Council will oversee the deterrence and defense partnership and serve as a crisis consultation mechanism — in the spirit of Article 4 of the Washington Treaty — in the event of a threat to the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or security of Ukraine or any of the NATO member states.
In Vilnius, the allies should reaffirm their commitment to enhance coordinated measures to meet Ukraine’s urgent needs for military and defense equipment, focusing directly on air defense systems, long-range missiles and necessary ammunition, tanks and advanced combat aircraft.

To expand practical assistance to Ukraine, the allies should invite Ukraine to assign additional liaison officers at NATO headquarters and commands to support the launch of a joint process of developing a Ukrainian long-term national security strategy, national defense strategy, and national defense posture compatible with NATO standards and planning.
The allies should also approve the updated Comprehensive Assistance Package to facilitate Ukraine attaining full interoperability with NATO forces and making a comprehensive transition to NATO standards. The focus should be on the transition to Western weapons systems; creation of a modern, NATO-compatible air and missile defense system; creation of a medical rehabilitation system for wounded soldiers, as well as a system for soldier reintegration into civilian life and a comprehensive demining effort.
Vilnius can be a historic NATO summit. The above steps would bring closer NATO membership for Ukraine and, with it, the elimination of gray zones and ambiguous security situations that have proven to be an invitation to aggression. The result would be a more stable, secure, and prosperous transatlantic community.
Signed:
Stephen E. Biegun
Former U.S. deputy secretary of state
Hans Binnendijk
Former director for defense policy and arms control at the National Security Council; distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council
Stephen Blank
Senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute
Gen. Philip Breedlove (ret.)
U.S. Air Force, 17th Supreme Allied Commander Europe; distinguished professor at the Sam Nunn School, Georgia Institute of Technology
Ian Brzezinski
Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO Policy; senior fellow at the Atlantic Council
Dora Chomiak
Chief executive officer at Razom for Ukraine
Gen. Wesley Clark (ret.)
U.S. Army, 12th Supreme Allied Commander, Europe; senior fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center
Luke Coffey
Senior fellow at the Hudson Institute
Andrew D’Anieri
Assistant director at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center
Larry Diamond
Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution; senior fellow at Stanford University
Amb. Paula Dobriansky
Former under secretary of state for global affairs
Amb. Eric S. Edelman
Former under secretary of defense for policy 2005-2009
Evelyn Farkas
Executive director of the McCain Institute; former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia
Daniel Fata
Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO; senior advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Amb. Daniel Fried
Former assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia; former U.S. ambassador to Poland
Francis Fukuyama
Senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University
Melinda Haring
Nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center
Amb. John Herbst
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine; senior director at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center
Maj. General William C. Hix (ret.)
U.S. Army
Lieut. Gen. Ben Hodges (ret.)
Former commanding general, U.S. Army Europe
Donald N. Jensen
Adjunct professor at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University
Andrea Kendall-Taylor
Former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia
Amb. John Kornblum
Former U.S. ambassador to Germany
David Kramer
Former U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor; executive director at the George W. Bush Institute
Franklin Kramer
Distinguished fellow and board director at the Atlantic Council; former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs
Matthew Kroenig
Vice president and senior director at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security
Jan M. Lodal
Distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council
Lieut. Gen. Doug Lute (ret.)
Former U.S. Army; former U.S. ambassador to NATO 2013-17
Jane Holl Lute
Former deputy secretary of homeland security
Shelby Magid
Deputy director at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center
Tom Malinowski
Former U.S. member of Congress; senior fellow at the McCain Institute
Nadia McConnell
President of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation
Robert McConnell
Co-founder of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation; director of external relations at the Friends of Ukraine Network
Amb. Michael McFaul
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia; director at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University
Amb. P. Michael McKinley
Former U.S. ambassador to Peru, Colombia, Afghanistan, and Brazil
Amb. Carlos Pascual
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
Amb. Steven Pifer
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
Amb. Stephen Sestanovich
Former U.S. ambassador-at-large for the former Soviet Union 1997-2001; senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations; professor at Columbia University
Amb. Andras Simonyi
Former Hungarian ambassador to NATO; nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council
Angela Stent
Nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
Amb. William B. Taylor
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
Amb. Alexander Vershbow
Distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council; former NATO deputy secretary general; former U.S. ambassador to Russia and South Korea
Amb. Melanne Verveer
Former U.S. ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues; executive director at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security
Alexander Vindman
Lieutenant Colonel (ret.), U.S. Army
Amb. Kurt Volker
Former U.S. ambassador to NATO; former U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations
Amb. Marie Yovanovitch
Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
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#Opinion #Ukraine #Roadmap #NATO #Membership #ASAP
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

July 5, 2023
Russia launches biggest ever ‘kamikaze’ drone attack on Ukraine

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Kiev: Air raid sirens have sounded across Ukraine after Russia launched the biggest ever “kamikaze” drone attack on Kiev since Moscow waged its war in February 2022.
In capital Kiev, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said nearly 60 drones had been launched by Russia on Monday, adding that 36 were destroyed, the BBC reported.
Klitschko added that five people had been injured by falling debris from downed drones.

This was the fourth attack in eight days on Kiev and came just 24 hours before Russia’s Victory Day, which commemorates the erstwhile Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany during World War Two.
Emergency services responded after drone wreckage fell on a runway at Zhuliany international airport — one of the capital city’s two commercial airports, Kiev’s military administration said.
Civilians were injured after drone debris hit a residential building in the central Shevchenkivskyi district, the administration added.
Meanwhile in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, a warehouse was set ablaze after eight missiles were fired at targets by Russian bombers, the BBC quoted Ukrainian officials as saying.
In a statement, Ukraine’s Red Cross said its warehouse with humanitarian aid was destroyed and all aid deliveries had to be suspended.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Command, later said a body of a security guardwas pulled from the wreckage.
Missile strikes were also reported in the Kherson, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions.
At least eight people, including a child, were injured in two villages in Kherson.
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#Russia #launches #biggest #kamikaze #drone #attack #Ukraine
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 9, 2023
Russia accused of using phosphorus bombs in Ukraine war

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Kiev: Ukraine has accused Russia of attacking the besieged city of Bakhmut with phosphorus munitions, a media report said.
In drone footage released by Ukraine’s military, Bakhmut can be seen ablaze as what appears to be white phosphorus rains down on the city, BBC reported.
White phosphorus weapons are not banned, but their use in civilian areas is considered a war crime. They create fast-spreading fires that are very difficult to put out. Russia has been accused of using them before as well.

Russia has been trying to capture Bakhmut for months, despite its questionable strategic value. Western officials have estimated that thousands of Moscow’s troops have died in the assault.
Taking to Twitter, Ukraine’s defence ministry said the phosphorus attack targeted “unoccupied areas of Bakhmut with incendiary ammunition”.
Kiev’s special forces command added that Moscow’s forces continued “to destroy the city”.
It is unclear when exactly the alleged attack took place. But the footage shared by Ukraine – seemingly captured by a surveillance drone – showed high-rise buildings engulfed in flames, BBC reported.
Other videos posted to social media showed fires raging on the ground and white clouds of phosphorus illuminating the night sky.

Russia has been accused of using white phosphorus several times since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, including during the siege of Mariupol at the beginning of the war.
Moscow has never publicly admitted to using white phosphorus, and last year Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov insisted that “Russia has never violated international conventions” after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said it had been used.
White phosphorus is a wax-like substance which ignites on contact with oxygen, creating bright plumes of smoke, BBC reported.
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#Russia #accused #phosphorus #bombs #Ukraine #war
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 6, 2023
Russia accuses Ukraine of an assassination attempt on Putin

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Moscow: Russian authorities accused Ukraine on Wednesday of attempting to attack the Kremlin with two drones overnight in an effort to assassinate President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin decried the alleged attack attempt as a “terrorist act” and said Russian military and security forces “disabled” the drones before they could strike. It did not elaborate.
A statement on the Kremlin’s website said debris from the unmanned aerial vehicles fell on the grounds of the seat of Russia’s government but did not cause any damage. The statement, which did not explain what caused the drones to break up, said no casualties were reported.

A video published overnight on a local Moscow news Telegram channel, which appeared to have been shot across the river from the Kremlin, showed what looked like smoke rising over the Kremlin.
According to the text accompanying the video, residents of a nearby apartment building reported hearing bangs and seeing smoke at around 2:30 a.m. local time (7:30 p.m. Eastern.) It was impossible to independently verify the posted footage.
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities. The Kremlin didn’t present any evidence to back up its account, including the allegation of an assassination attempt as Russia prepares to observe its annual Victory Day on Tuesday.
“We consider these actions as a planned terrorist act and an attempt on the life of the president of Russia, carried out on the eve of the Victory Day, the parade on May 9, where foreign dignitaries are expected,” the Kremlin’s statement read.
Russia retains the right to respond “when and where it sees fit,” the statement said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti that Putin wasn’t in the Kremlin at the time and was working from the Novo-Ogaryovo residence.
The Kremlin added that Putin was safe and his schedule was unchanged. Peskov said at the parade would take place as scheduled on May 9.
Shortly before the news about the alleged attack broke, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued a ban on using drones in the Russian capital, with an exception for drones launched by authorities.
Sobyanin didn’t cite a reason for the ban, saying only that it would prevent “illegal use of drones that can hinder the work of law enforcement.”
A lawmaker who represents Crimea in Moscow, Mikhail Sheremet, told Russian state media that the Kremlin should order a missile strike on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s residence in Kyiv in retaliation for Wednesday’s alleged incident.
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#Russia #accuses #Ukraine #assassination #attempt #Putin
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

May 3, 2023
Kevin McCarthy forcefully defended aid to Ukraine in remarks following his speech to Israel’s Knesset.

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“Our values are your values. Our heritage is your heritage. Our dreams are your dreams,” he said.

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#Kevin #McCarthy #forcefully #defended #aid #Ukraine #remarks #hisspeech #IsraelsKnesset
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 1, 2023
Kevin McCarthy forcefully defended aid to Ukraine in remarks following his speech to Israel’s Knesset.

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“I support aid for Ukraine. I do not support what your country has done to Ukraine,” he told a Russian reporter.

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#Kevin #McCarthy #forcefully #defended #aid #Ukraine #remarks #hisspeech #IsraelsKnesset
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 1, 2023
Inside the group that’s saving Ukraine

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But on the sidelines of the group’s April 21 meeting in a cavernous, wood-paneled ballroom here at the American-run Ramstein Air Base, it was clear that staying united — which the group has succeeded at for more than a year — will be an increasing challenge.
A number of fissures have emerged recently in the group, particularly over whether and when to send Western fighter jets to Ukraine, and delays in certain weapons shipments — most pressingly, German and Spanish tanks. Meanwhile, the mass transfer of weaponry to Kyiv has left donor nations worried about their own stockpiles, and recent meetings have started to turn to the issue of NATO allies reequipping themselves as well as sustaining the weapons donated to Ukraine for the long haul.
“We have done a lot already in terms of the donations, but now the question is more on sustainability,” Esa Pulkkinen, the permanent secretary, or deputy, in Finland’s defense ministry, said as military leaders gathered at Ramstein last month.
“Besides supporting Ukraine, we also need to replenish our own stocks, right?” one European diplomat said.
Austin, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov sit at a head table draped in white tablecloths, flanked by American and Ukrainian flags. Crystal chandeliers hang over their heads. Aides sip coffee and mingle in hushed voices on the sidelines.
The meeting starts, as always, with a battlefield update from the Ukrainians. The other members sit at two narrow tables perpendicular to the leaders’ table, forming three sides of an open rectangle. Each country is represented by a miniature flag next to its member’s microphone.
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#group #saving #Ukraine
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 1, 2023
Pope speaks of secret peace ‘mission,’ help for Ukraine kids

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Deportations of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Francis said the Holy See had already helped mediate some prisoner exchanges and would do “all that is humanly possible” to reunite families.
“All human gestures help. Gestures of cruelty don’t help,” Francis said.
The International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s commissioner, accusing them of war crimes for abducting children from Ukraine. Russia has denied any wrongdoing, contending the children were moved for their safety.
Last week Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met with Francis at the Vatican and asked him to help return Ukrainian children taken following the Russian invasion.
“I asked His Holiness to help us return home Ukrainians, Ukrainian children who are detained, arrested, and criminally deported to Russia,″ Shmyhal told the Foreign Press Association after the audience.
Francis recalled that the Holy See had facilitated some prisoner exchanges, working through embassies, and was open to Ukraine’s request to reunite Ukrainian children with their families.
The prisoner exchanges “went well. I think it could go well also for this. It’s important,” he said of the family reunifications. “The Holy See is available to do it because it’s the right thing,” he added. “We have to do all that is humanly possible.
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#Pope #speaks #secret #peace #mission #Ukraine #kids
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

May 1, 2023
The week around the world in 20 pictures

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Tel Aviv
Protesters carry a banner as they attend a mass ‘independence party’ in a demonstration against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his nationalist coalition government’s judicial overhaul. The fight over the judicial changes ‘transcends issues of left and right, and comes down to public distrust in government’, said one of the architects of the plans, Simcha Rothman.
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#week #world #pictures
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 29, 2023
Russia launches deadly wave of missile attacks on Ukraine cities

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Russian cruise missiles have killed at least 19 people in the central Ukrainian cities of Uman and Dnipro, days after Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, begged his allies for more air defence supplies.
The attacks were part of a wave of Russian missile and drone strikes in the early hours of Friday morning, the most intense aerial bombing of major Ukrainian cities in weeks.
In Uman, at least 17 people were killed including two children when a missile hit a high-rise building. The impact sheared off a column of apartments, reducing them to rubble at the base of the tower, and leaving nearby rooms on fire.
To the south, on the outskirts of the port city of Dnipro, a mother and her three-year-old daughter were killed in their home in a rural suburb.
Seven missiles targeted the city, Serhii Lysak, the head of the military administration for the Dnipro region told a news conference. Fragments of one of them, shot down by air defences, appeared to have fallen on the house, police told neighbours.
“It was loud enough to understand that someone was probably hurt,” said Oleksandr Kalinichenko, a neighbour who lives about 300 metres away.
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Most of Russia’s attacks were intercepted, with 21 out of 23 missiles shot down by the Ukrainian military. The missiles that got through were a grim reminder of why the country is so vulnerable when Moscow aims its weapons at civilian targets.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted: “Missile strikes killing innocent Ukrainians in their sleep, including a … child, is Russia’s response to all peace initiatives.”
Air raid alarms sounded across the country in the early hours of Friday, while explosions were heard in Kyiv, and southern Mykolaiv was targeted again.
Twenty-four hours earlier, another round of cruise missiles aimed at the port city had killed at least one person and ended nearly four months of relative calm there.
Ukraine strengthened air defences over the winter, with help from western allies, after a Russian bombing campaign against power stations and other civilian infrastructure tried to cut off heating and power to major cities.
However, leaked US military documents dated to February this year warned that by May the country risked running out of missiles and ammunition.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian officials pleaded with Nato allies for more supplies, the Financial Times reported, fearing large-scale Russian bombing campaigns could break through depleted systems.
The missiles launched on Friday were the first to target Kyiv in 50 days, although Iranian-made drones have tried to break the city’s air defences repeatedly in that time.
The wave of strikes comes as Moscow, and the world, wait for Kyiv to launch a spring counter-offensive against Russian forces.
The Ukrainian defence minister, Oleskii Reznikov, on Friday said it was close to beginning the assault. “As soon as there is God’s will, the weather and a decision by commanders, we will do it,” he told an online news briefing.
Ukraine was “to a high percentage ready”, he said, with new modern weapons to provide an “iron fist”.
On Thursday, Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said almost all the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine by western allies had been delivered, putting Ukraine in a “strong position” to recover further ground.
Last year brought a string of humiliating military defeats for the invading army, but Russia still occupies nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory, which Zelenskiy has vowed to retake.
Stoltenberg said the western allies had sent more than 1,550 armoured vehicles, 230 tanks and “vast amounts of ammunition” to Ukraine, Reuters reported. They have also trained and equipped about 30,000 troops, the equivalent of more than nine new brigades. “They will put Ukraine in a strong position to continue to retake occupied territory.” he said.
On Thursday, the Kremlin said it still needed to achieve the “aims” of its invasion, a day after China’s president, Xi Jinping, spoke to Zelenskiy over the phone for an hour.
Beijing, which has a close strategic partnership with Moscow, has drawn up a peace proposal for Ukraine, but there is no sign that either side is ready to stop fighting and come to the negotiating table.
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 28, 2023