|
Post by Admin on Sept 22, 2023 1:56:55 GMT
Ukraine's president Volodomyr Zelenskyy called his meeting with Joe Biden "very important" as he arrived at the White House.
Mr Biden said the latest aid focuses on air defence, as well as sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine, adding he is committed to supporting reforms that "combat corruption".
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 22, 2023 19:01:38 GMT
President Joe Biden promised his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that the United States will soon provide Kyiv with a small number of long-range missiles to help its war with Russia, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
Biden made the pledge to Zelenskyy during the Ukrainian leader’s visit to the White House on Thursday, fulfilling a long-held wish by Kyiv, according to the officials who like others for this story were granted anonymity to speak about private conversations.
The Army Tactical Missile Systems will likely be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The White House declined to comment on the matter
The news is a major win for Zelenskyy and officials in Kyiv, who have long sought the missiles. ATACMS have a range of 45 to 190 miles and Ukrainians have long argued that they are crucial to striking deep behind entrenched Russian positions along a 600-mile front line.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 23, 2023 6:31:34 GMT
Poland’s prime minister has told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to never “insult” Poles again, returning to harsh rhetoric towards Kyiv after the Polish president had sought to defuse a simmering dispute between the two countries over the issue of Ukrainian grain imports.
Zelenskyy angered his neighbours in Warsaw – a key military ally against Russia – when he told the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week that Kyiv was working to preserve land routes for its grain exports amid a Russian blockade of the Black Sea, but that “political theatre” around grain imports was helping Moscow’s cause.
Poland extended a ban last week on Ukrainian grain imports in a unilateral move that broke with a European Union ruling. The move has shaken Kyiv’s relationship with Warsaw, which has been seen as one of its staunchest allies since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
“I … want to tell President Zelenskyy never to insult Poles again, as he did recently during his speech at the UN,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told an election rally on Friday, according to the State-run news agency PAP.
Earlier on Friday, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said the dispute between Poland and Ukraine over grain imports would not significantly affect good bilateral relations, in an apparent move to ease tensions.
“I have no doubt that the dispute over the supply of grain from Ukraine to the Polish market is an absolute fragment of the entire Polish-Ukrainian relations,” Duda told a business conference. “I don’t believe that it can have a significant impact on them, so we need to solve this matter between us.”
Duda’s comment followed after Prime Minister Morawiecki was reported as saying that Poland would no longer send weapons to Ukraine amid the grain dispute.
“We are no longer transferring weapons to Ukraine because we are now arming Poland with more modern weapons,” Morawiecki said on Wednesday, according to a local media report.
How will the Ukraine war affect Poland's future? Poland is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on October 15, and Morawiecki’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has come in for criticism from the far right for what it says is the government’s subservient attitude to Kyiv.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said in an article by Politico that Poland wanted to see “a strong Ukrainian state emerge from this war with a vibrant economy”, and that Warsaw “will continue to back Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO and the EU”.
However, speaking to reporters in New York, Rau said that while Poland had not changed its policy towards Ukraine, there had been a “radical change in Polish public opinion’s perception” of the countries’ relationship.
Asked by the PAP news agency what it would take to improve this perception, Rau said repairing the atmosphere would require a “titanic” diplomatic effort.
Slovakia, Poland and Hungary imposed national restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports after the EU executive decided not to extend its ban on imports into those countries as well as fellow EU members Bulgaria and Romania.
Ukraine grain exports: Russian attacks threaten remaining supply routes The countries have argued that cheap Ukrainian agricultural goods – meant mainly to transit further west and to ports – get sold locally, harming their own farmers.
Speaking in Canada on Friday, Zelenskyy did not mention the tension with Poland but said that when Ukraine lacked support, Russia was strengthened.
“You help either Ukraine or Russia. There will be no mediators in this war. By weakening assistance to Ukraine, you will strengthen Russia,” Zelenskyy told reporters after a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“And a powerful Russia and what to expect from it… I think history in books and witnesses has long since answered this question. If someone wants to take a risk, fine, weaken assistance to Ukrainians,” he said, according to a statement posted on the Ukrainian president’s website.
“To be frank and honest, freedom, democracy and human rights must be fought for,” he added.
The Kremlin said on Friday that it was watching the situation between Kyiv and Warsaw closely, adding that tensions would inevitably grow between Kyiv and its European allies as the dispute over grain escalates.
“We predict that these frictions between Warsaw and Kyiv will increase. Friction between Kyiv and other European capitals will also grow over time. This is inevitable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“We are, of course, watching this closely,” Peskov said, calling Kyiv and Warsaw “the main” centres of Russophobia.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Sept 25, 2023 2:47:30 GMT
OTTAWA, Ont. — A ranking Canadian parliamentarian is apologizing to Jewish communities around the world for a blunder during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit that led to lawmakers honoring a veteran accused of belonging to a Nazi division in WWII. It followed demands by Canadian Jewish organizations Sunday for an apology after it was revealed members of Parliament across party lines awarded a 98-year-old veteran on Friday with a standing ovation shortly after Zelenskyy addressed Canada’s House of Commons. Yaroslav Hunka stood and appeared to salute from the public gallery when he was recognized by House Speaker Anthony Rota, who introduced Hunka as a Canadian-Ukrainian war hero from his political district. “We have here in the chamber today a Ukrainian-Canadian veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today, even at his age of 98,” Rota said Friday, followed by a lengthy round of applause and a wave by Zelenskyy. “He’s a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service. Thank you.” Jewish advocacy groups the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and B’nai Brith Canada condemned his honoring as disturbing and “beyond outrageous” because he fought with the First Ukrainian Division — also known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division, which served under command of the Nazis. Jewish news website The Forward reported that Hunka wrote blog posts describing his time in the unit on a Ukrainian-language website run by an association of the unit’s veterans, called “Combatant News.” In a statement late Sunday afternoon, Rota said he recently became “aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision” to recognize Hunka. He said he takes full responsibility for the seismic gaffe.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Nov 11, 2023 3:44:52 GMT
As Russia continues to invade Ukraine, the US administration of President Joe Biden has provided huge amounts of military aid to Ukraine.
At the same time, the United States asked Ukraine to refrain from cross-border attacks and "covert operations" on Russian territory. It also imposed a rule against using American weapons on Russian territory.
The United States fears that if Russia were to receive a direct attack, it could expand its front lines in retaliation and end up attacking North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies.
For this reason, U.S. intelligence agencies have been monitoring the words and actions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Defense Ministry Director General Kirillo Budanov, head of the General Directorate of Intelligence (GUR), and using wiretapping and other methods to find out their true intentions. This fact was revealed in classified documents from the US National Security Agency (NSA) obtained by The Washington Post.
Although the United States and Ukraine appear to be in a tight scrum, they actually lack mutual communication.
In fact, within his own office, President Zelenskiy is proposing radical operations such as "occupying cities" within Russia and "blowing up oil pipelines" between Russia and Hungary. Secretary Budanov had ordered preparations for a ``large-scale attack against Russia'' on February 24, the first anniversary of the start of the war.
Ukraine relented when the US requested a postponement of the war anniversary attack plan, and two days earlier, on the 22nd, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) reported that the GUR had agreed to the postponement.
However, as a result of such consideration by the United States, Russia's expansion into NATO countries does not seem to have been restrained. The reality is that even as Ukraine continues to carry out cross-border attacks, such as bombing Moscow with drones and shelling villages in the Belgorod region, Russia has no intention of attacking NATO countries in retaliation.
For this reason, the United States changed its policy in late May and decided not to request Ukraine to prohibit direct attacks on Russia.
John Kirby, Strategic and Public Affairs Coordinator for the National Security Council (NSC), announced the following new policy at a press conference on May 31:
Our country does not tell them where not to attack. He also does not say what kind of military action he will take. We will provide equipment and training. I will give advice and discuss. We will also support you with diagram exercises. But ultimately military action will be decided by President Zelenskiy and his commanders.
That's what it means. This is an argument to begin with, but the conclusion seems to have taken into account the fact that the reality of Western wars is that it would normally be impossible to argue that the war would be solely about defense and fighting the enemy only within Ukrainian territory.
However, at a press conference the following week on June 5, Coordinator Kirby again explained the extremely delicate US position on this issue as follows.
“Our country does not encourage or enable attacks on Russian territory. Our nation's efforts are to help them defend themselves, defend their territory, and protect their sovereignty. Our country will help them regain their independence and territory.
|
|