Author: Steven Sahiounie

Food and energy prices are expected to soar, according to the World Bank Global energy prices are projected to rise dramatically, culminating in the biggest price jump in commodities in nearly half a century, the World Bank has warned. According to the bank’s April Commodity Markets Outlook report, global energy prices, which have already seen a dramatic surge due to ongoing Covid-19 lockdowns in China and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, are expected to surge by 50.5% in 2022. “This amounts to the largest commodity shock we’ve experienced since the 1970s. As was the case then, the shock is being aggravated by…

We witness the manifestation of classic double standards and hypocrisy of the Western establishment at present, the minister said NATO countries are doing everything to prevent completion of the Russian special operation in Ukraine by political agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in the interview with the Xinhua news agency. “We witness the manifestation of classic double standards and hypocrisy of the Western establishment at present. Publicly expressing support to the Kiev regime, NATO countries are doing everything to prevent completion of the operation by way of reaching political agreements,” the Russian Minister said. Source: TASS

Washington offers to expand the information it shares with Kiev The US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has reportedly lifted more restrictions on intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, sources told Bloomberg on Wednesday, adding that the expanded access is aimed at helping Kiev seize the breakaway republics in Donbass. The source claimed Haines told Congress about the expanded intel-sharing after Congressman Mike Turner (R-Ohio), the chief Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, insisted in a classified letter that the Biden administration remove any restrictions on sharing intelligence. Turner has long criticized the administration’s backing of Ukraine as insufficiently forceful, arguing for more weapons to be sent…

Washington supports ‘whatever is necessary’ for Kiev to win the conflict with Russia, says top diplomat Blinken It is up to Ukraine to decide whether to expand the conflict with Russia beyond their own borders, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Senate on Wednesday. His comments come after Moscow condemned a senior British official who said it would be “legitimate” for Kiev to use NATO-supplied weapons to attack Russian territory. “We are determined to get them what they need to deal with this Russian aggression and to push the Russians out of the country. It’s another matter as to whether…

On April 26, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced that the German government had authorized Krauss-Maffei Wegmann to transfer 50 Flakpanzer Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (SPAAGs) to Ukraine. Lambrecht announced the move during her opening remarks at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, ahead of a US-hosted defense conference meant to support the Kiev regime against the Russian military who is currently conducting a special military operation in Ukraine. “Yesterday we decided that Germany will make the delivery of ‘Gepard’ anti-aircraft tanks possible to Ukraine,” DW quoted Lambrecht as saying. The Gepard SPAAG was developed in the 1960s, fielded in the 1970s, and…

President warns that Russia won’t hesitate to use ‘weapons that no other country’ possesses to defend itself Russian president Vladimir Putin has warned outside forces against interfering in the Ukrainian conflict, promising a “lightning-speed” response to such actions, with the use of Moscow’s most advanced weaponry. “If someone decides to intervene into the ongoing events from the outside and create unacceptable strategic threats for us, they should know that our response to those oncoming blows will be swift, lightning-fast,” Putin said in an address to lawmakers on Wednesday. “We have all the tools to do this. Tools that no one except us…

Such reports are absolutely groundless, Andrey Denisov underscored Western press reports saying Russia has been receiving armaments from China are groundless, Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov said on Wednesday. “I think [the reports] are absolutely [groundless]. To be honest, I have no idea where they could have come from. Perhaps, they wanted [the report] to resonate as much as possible, so they cooked up a spine-tingling story,” Denisov said in a live broadcast by the Rossiya-24 television channel, commenting on the claims of Chinese arms supplies to Russia. The diplomat emphasized that even US defense officials who “wouldn’t be…

Beijing accuses Washington of “deliberately” harming peace and stability The Chinese military on Wednesday condemned the latest US patrol mission in the Taiwan Strait, calling the arrival of the warship a “provocation.” The USS Sampson guided-missile destroyer sailed through the strait on Tuesday and, according to a statement by the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command, was “tracked and monitored” by Chinese vessels along its entire route. “The US frequently carries out such provocative actions, sending wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ forces, and deliberately undermining the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” the statement read, adding that the Chinese military “firmly opposes” such moves. The…

Russia says its missiles struck an arms depot in the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye A large batch of weapons and ammunition shipped to Kiev by Western countries was destroyed in southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry has said. A military warehouse set up on the territory of the Zaporozhye industrial aluminum plant was struck by Kalibr missiles, fired from Russian Navy vessels in the Black Sea. The facility hosted “a large batch of foreign weapons and ammunition, supplied by the US and European countries to the Ukrainian army,” the ministry said. Russian warplanes hit 59 Ukrainian military targets overnight, while artillery…

Against the backdrop of the crisis in Ukraine, the AFU continue the attacks on the Russian territory. The locations of the strikes have not changed; these are the same border territories of the Russian Federation – the Kursk, Belgorod, and Voronezh regions. The Russian Ministry of Defense notes that villages in Bryansk, Belgorod, and Kursk regions were shelled. On April 25, the AFU struck the Druzhba oil depot and a second oil storage facility on the territory of a military unit in Bryansk. Kursk Region On April 13, Ukraine shelled a border checkpoint in the Korenevsky District of the Kursk…