Author: Steven Sahiounie

The legislation was signed amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine and could see people jailed for up to 15 years Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law that allows for the jailing of anyone helping Russia amid its ongoing military offensive against Ukraine, the deputy speaker of Ukraine’s parliament said. Speaking to Ukraina 24 on Tuesday, Alexander Kornienko argued that the punishment should also apply to around 20 “unpatriotic” MPs, who he said have fled the country in the face of the Russian attack that began on February 24. The law, which was passed by parliament in early March, provides…

A cacophony of Western lawmakers and media figures have called on their leaders to institute a no-fly zone over Ukraine, notwithstanding the risks of sparking a war between NATO and Russia. President Putin stressed last week that Moscow would see any attempt to set up a no-fly zone as “participation of the respective country in an armed conflict.” Any effort to institute a no-fly zone over Ukraine would require approval from the United Nations Security Council, and the only alternative is war with Russia, European Union military committee chairman Claudio Graziano has said. “The decision can only be taken by…

The Russian Defense Ministry has claimed that the city of Mariupol was unblocked. Forces of the DPR, with the support of the Russian military, destroyed almost all firing points of Ukrainian nationalists in the suburbs of Mariupol. Special forces eliminated the main nationalist forces in residential areas in villages around the city, the Russian Defense Ministry said in an emergency statement. The successful operations made it possible to secure humanitarian corridors for civilians from 3 p.m. Moscow time on March 14. Mass evacuation of civilians who had been held hostage by Ukrainian nationalists began. Source: South Front

Written by Khaled Iskef Cooperating with the SDF, the US forces transported dozens of ISIS detainees to the prisons of the northern countryside of al-Hasakah in preparation for releasing them and employing them in terrorist operations. Sources said that the US forces transported a number of ISIS detainees from “Camp al-Bulgar”, “Al-Shaddadah”, and “Al-Sour” prisons in the southern countryside of al-Hasakah to other prisons to the north of the city. The sources clarified that the transporting process was carried out by large trucks provided with weapons belonging to the US forces accompanied by 4wd cars of the SDF, where the detainees…

Russia’s military “do not exclude” taking surrounded Ukrainian cities under their “full control” Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at the beginning of the military attack on Ukraine ordered armed forces to refrain from an immediate assault on the country’s cities, including Kiev, in order to prevent heavy losses among the civilian population, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed. Speaking to the journalists on Monday, Peskov said that planning of the “military operation” in Ukraine involved taking into account the strategy of “armed nationalist formations” allegedly deploying weapons in densely populated residential areas. He apparently refuted the Ukrainian authorities’ accusations of indiscriminate shelling…

This comes just hours after a Mirage 2000 fighter jet of the Taiwanese air force crashed into the sea during a training flight. The Taiwanese air force was scrambled to ward off thirteen Chinese aircraft that entered its air defence zone, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said. Earlier on Monday, a Taiwanese Mirage 2000 fighter crashed into the sea during a training flight, but the pilot managed to escape, the office of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said. Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949, but Beijing sees it as a breakaway province. China has repeatedly condemned US assistance to the…

The Donbass republic’s officials have said that at least 17 people were killed in the shelling A Tochka-U ballistic missile was launched into Donetsk, the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), on Monday, officials said. The reported incident took place amid the Russia military campaign in Ukraine. DPR military spokesman Eduard Basurin said the missile was intercepted and destroyed mid-air, but one of its explosive parts managed to hit the city. DPR defense officials reported that at least 17 people were killed and 28 wounded. “If the missile hadn’t been shot down, we’d have a lot more casualties,” DPR head…

Turkey was unceremoniously booted out of the F-35 programme in 2019 over its decision to buy Russia’s S-400 air defence system, notwithstanding its membership in NATO and the fact that its defence industry helped to develop the fifth-gen fighter jet.Turkey has no interest in purchasing US Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, and considers the F-35 issue “closed” for the moment, Turkish Defence Industries president Ismail Demir has said. “At the moment there is no demand for Patriots from our side. If we’re talking about the defence industry, we have turned the page on the matter. This issue has been removed from…

If Pentagon-funded research is as benign as Washington claims, why not subject it to scrutiny? – Chinese Foreign Ministry Washington should prove that the global network of biolabs funded by the Pentagon does not conduct nefarious research by subjecting the facilities to international scrutiny, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a daily briefing on Monday. “If the US wants to prove their activity is benign, why not open those biolabs to independent examination by international experts?” he asked. There are dozens of biolabs funded by the US through the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) scattered throughout the globe. The…

Russia started a military operation in Ukraine on February 24 in response to calls from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk for protection against attacks by Ukrainian forces.The pilot of the Russian Su-25 attack aircraft was able to land the plane after being hit by a missile from a Ukrainian man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS), the Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday. “While performing a combat mission in the special military operation zone, a Su-25 attack aircraft, the second in the pair, was hit by a missile from a man-portable air defence system fired from the ground by a…