Author: Steven Sahiounie

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the start of a special operation by the Russian armed forces in Donbass with the goal of protecting the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR). He explained that the operation was needed to stop atrocities committed by Ukrainian forces in Donbass.Air strikes by the Russian military destroyed 74 military infrastructure targets of the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian Defence Ministry has stated. Among them are 11 airfields, three command centres, a Ukrainian Navy post, 18 S-300 radars (NATO reporting name SA-10 Grumble), and Buk (NATO reporting name Gadfly) air defence systems of the…

Kiev tells Ankara to close two straits that Moscow relies on Ukraine has asked Turkey to cut off Russian access to the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits after Moscow launched an attack on multiple Ukrainian cities in the early hours of Thursday morning. Kiev’s demand to suspend Russian ships’ access through the straits was conveyed by Ukraine’s Ambassador to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, who also lobbied for the closure of Turkey’s airspace to Russian planes, news agency Reuters reported. The move comes in response to Russian air and ground attacks launched on Ukrainian military installations, airports, and cities, including the capital, Kiev, throughout…

A Russian special operation in Ukraine was announced by President Vladimir Putin earlier on Thursday, when he said in a televised address that the operation aims to demilitarise and denazify the country. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Russia has started a military operation in Ukraine in order to clear the country of Nazis. “Ideally, it is necessary to liberate Ukraine, clear it of Nazis, as well as pro-Nazi people and ideology”, Peskov told reporters, when asked about how denazification should be interpreted. Peskov did not elaborate on whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is considered a “pro-Nazi” person, saying, “I…

The morning of February 24 was marked by a statement by Russian President V. Putin on the provision of military assistance to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. The decision was made following the demands of the DPR and the LPR for military support. The main objectives outlined by the President are the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine and the protection of civilians in the DPR and LPR. At the moment, the situation indicates a military operation by the Russian Army. The territory enshrined in the constitutions of the DPR and LPR is being liberated from the Armed Forces of…

The escalation takes place amid continuing attacks by the Ukrainian military on the positions of the DPR and LPR and following the start of a Russian special operation aimed at protecting the Donbass republics. Two civilian ships sailing under the Russian flag were hit by Ukrainian missile strikes in the Sea of Azov, the Russian border service in the Kuban region has stated. “At 11am [8am GMT] on 24 February, 2022, Russian civilian cargo ships SGV-FLOT and SERAPHIM SAROVSKIY were subjected to a missile attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the waters of the Sea of ​​Azov. The missiles…

The decision is “a logical conclusion” of Russophobic post-coup policies, Moscow says The Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday that it’s not surprised by Kiev cutting all diplomatic relations with Moscow. Russia would not have made this choice but considers it “the logical conclusion” of the “Russophobic policies” of the Ukrainian leadership, according to a remark cited by RIA Novosti. The ministry noted that Ukraine has been ramping up discriminatory policies against ethnic Russians living in Ukraine and downgrading the relationship with Russia since the 2014 armed coup, which ousted elected then-President Viktor Yanukovich from power. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky announced that all diplomatic…

Kiev says financial institutions and government departments have been taken down Government websites and banks in Ukraine have been hit by outages as part of a reported cyberattack against the country’s digital infrastructure, with officials in Kiev say is a major attempt from hackers to take down online platforms. A statement issued on Wednesday evening by the country’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mikhail Fedorov, said that “at around 4.00pm, another massive ‘denial-of service’ attack on our state began. There is data to this effect from a number of banks and there are also problems with accessing the website of the…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the Munich Security Conference on 19 February that Kiev may reconsider the country’s non-nuclear status under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. What message does this statement send to the US, Europe, NATO, and Russia? “The [Ukrainian] president’s words should be very disturbing for Europe because it means that security will depend on a strategic military buildup, which must sound very dangerous to Brussels”, says Alberto Hutschenreuter, a professor at the Institute of Foreign Service of the Nation (ISEN) and former professor at the Escuela Superior de Guerra, Argentina. “For the world, this means that nuclearisation…

The Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republic’s representative offices at the JCCC reported that the bombardment of the LDPR territory by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) has significantly increased. The LDPR People’s Militias recorded 114 incidents of shelling by the Ukrainian side . The LPR Representative Office at the JCCC identified the following incidents as the most significant ones last night. One LPR serviceman was killed on the front lines near the village of Zhelobok.Two civilians were killed as a result of the shelling of the village of Berezivske when ammunition hit their car. A massive shelling on the village of…

n February 21, five fighters of the pro-government Baqir Brigade we killed in Syria’s central region when they stumbled on a landmine that was planted by ISIS cells. The incident took place in the Homs desert, which lays between the eastern countryside of Homs and the western Deir Ezzor countryside. The desert area is ISIS main stronghold in the central region. A day after the incident, warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out more than 100 airstrikes on ISIS hideouts in the Homs desert. Furthermore, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and other pro-government formations deployed additional forces around the…