Author: Steven Sahiounie

Joe Biden is set to announce even more ‘assistance’ to Ukrainian troops US President Joe Biden is reportedly set to announce an additional $800 million in aid for Ukraine, bringing the total amount of US aid to over $1 billion amid Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. An unnamed senior White House official told reporters on Tuesday that an additional $800 million in aid would soon be announced which would bring “the total announced in the last week alone to $1 billion.” The official did not state what equipment would be included in the coming aid; however, a $200 million package announced on Saturday included equipment…

Corsica has been gripped by protests after a pro-independence activist was badly beaten in a French prison Speaking to Corsican newspaper Corse Matin on Tuesday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the French government was prepared to discuss autonomy for the island province, adding, however, that the restoration of public order was a prerequisite for that. Darmanin’s statement came amid mass protests over the brutal beating of a pro-independence activist in a French prison. In the exclusive interview, the official revealed that the “discussion around the institutional question” would be “unprecedented.” According to Darmanin, the dialogue will be “initiated during…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The conflict in Ukraine has divided the world into those who support the US, and those who do not support a superpower in charge of the world. The Ukraine conflict is pitting the US and their western allies, against other nations who seek a new world order, free of US domination. Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Ararat Kostanian in an effort to understand the back-story of the events in Ukraine, and the emergence of a new multi-polar world order. Ararat Kostanian is an expert on Middle Eastern studies and International Relations. He currently works…

Earlier, the head of the Russian delegation at talks with Ukraine, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said that Kiev had expressed readiness to demilitarise, but said that wants to keep its own armed forces, like Sweden or Austria. Ukraine’s conversion into a demilitarised country, like Austria or Sweden, with its own army, can be regarded as a compromise, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday. “This is the option that is really being discussed now and which can be seen as a real compromise,” Peskov told reporters. At Russia’s negotiations with Ukraine, according to presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, Kiev earlier expressed willingness…

Four people were injured after a Tochka-U missile struck Makeevka, officials said A Ukrainian Tochka-U ballistic missile landed in a residential area of Makeevka, a town outside Donetsk, on Tuesday evening, Pavel Fomenko, a Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) military spokesman, said. He added that four people, including two children, had been injured. The projectile left a crater, damaging the facades and windows of apartment complexes nearby. Videos from the scene show what appear to be missile parts recovered by rescue teams. The news comes a day after the DPR reported that another missile of the same class was shot down…

The aircraft that came from Ukraine was an unarmed “toy” that could only be used for reconnaissance, the defense minister said Romania’s defense minister downplayed the incident in which a drone entered its airspace from Ukraine and landed in a rural area. In an interview on Monday evening, Vasile Dincu dismissed the aircraft as so small and unthreatening that he initially thought reports of its discovery were a prank. The mystery drone was recovered by villagers in the Bistrita-Nasaud County in northern Romania on Monday from some bushes where it was stuck. Speaking to Digi24 news, the minister said the drone was…

Moscow has announced sanctions against US leadership, including Joe Biden, as well as the chiefs of the Pentagon and the CIA Russia on Tuesday sanctioned US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and ten other administration officials and political figures. Moscow has said that the sanctions are a reciprocal measure, imposed after Washington blacklisted top Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin. The latest additions to Russia’s “stop list” were announced by the Kremlin on Tuesday, and were described as a “counter reaction” to the “extremely Russophobic course taken by the current US administration.” Appearing at the top of the…

Last week, the Ukrainian president said he had “cooled down” on the idea of Kiev’s membership in the Western bloc “a long time ago,” saying he didn’t want to be the leader of a country “that is begging for something on its knees.” As recently as January, NATO indicated that Ukrainian and Georgian membership in the bloc was just a matter of time. Kiev has heard loud and clear that it will not be joining NATO, and this is a reality which Ukrainians must come to terms with, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. NATO opened the door to Ukraine and Georgia’s “Euro-Atlantic…

BEIJING (Sputnik) – Beijing calls on Washington to avoid damaging China’s interests when trying to settle its relations with Russia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday.On Monday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price raised concerns over alleged China’s attempts to use the Ukrainian crisis “to advance Beijing’s long-term interest in its competition with the United States” and warned Beijing that any support extended to Russia, including “helping to avert sanctions imposed by the US and its allies, “would have implications not only for China’s relations with the United States, but for “its relationships around the world.” “The…

The United States and its allies have already delivered well over $3 billion in military equipment to Ukraine in recent years, and committed to send hundreds of millions of dollars more after Russia and its Donbass allies began an operation to demilitarize the country late last month.The State Department is ‘working to identify’ which countries have access to Soviet-made S-300 air defence system and brainstorming how they can be sent to Ukraine, sources said to be familiar with the matter have told CNN.Sources further indicated that Washington was not sure at the moment where they would get the missiles used…