Russia's plans are now 'doomed' as Putin 'awakens sleeping giant' with threat to Europe | Biden, G-7 leaders huddle on energy, inflation, Ukraine war | Russia-linked actors may be behind an explosion at a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas
The news comes as more weapons and supplies are reaching Ukrainian defence forces who are not only holding off Russian advances but now pushing them back. With Vladimir Putin’s forces now seemingly in stagnation in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin’s dreams of a quick and effective “special operation” are fast becoming a nightmare.
Taking to Twitter to argue why Russian plans are doomed, military expert Nicholas Drummond described some of the reasons military equipment and united support of Ukraine is proving so decisive.
He wrote: “Scholz + Germany in partnership with Macron and France, Johnson and Britain, Biden and America, Morawiecki and Poland, and many others, show there is more that unites us than divides us.
“Such solidarity with Ukraine suggests that Russian plans to subsume it are doomed.”
The expert went on to explain Putin’s plans for a short war are also now fast becoming a pipedream.
He continued: “The war in Ukraine seems unlikely to be over soon.
“Today, Scholz expressing his commitment to Ukraine for as long as it needs Germany’s support is a clear admission that Putin will not be allowed to succeed in Ukraine.
“Putin has awakened a sleeping giant.”
Solidarity is keeping Russia in check says one export (Image: Getty)
Nicholas Drummond says Russia is doomed as a cause of European unity towards Ukraine (Image: Getty)Germany has finally approved the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine with supply of seven Panzerhaubitze 2000 Howitzer cannons, with France and The Netherlands also providing variants of the Howitzer to Ukraine, giving Kyiv a geographical advantage in defending key cities in the country.
Many took the opportunity to criticize Berlin for its late reaction to helping Ukraine, yet this delay was commended by Mr Drummond who said: “Don’t criticise Germany for being late to the party.
“After 1945, it wanted to become a country known for its economic strength, not its military might.
“Its industry has since set a global standard. It has been a fantastic European partner and deserves international respect.”
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A German Howitzer similar to those supplied to Ukraine by Berlin (Image: Getty)
Olaf Scholz has been cautious over supplying Ukraine with weapons (Image: Getty)“However, Olaf Scholz and his government had barely taken power when Russia invaded Ukraine.
“To his great credit, he realised Germany had to change to meet the threat posed by such aggression.”
Mr Drummond was also highly praising of Britain for its role in supplying Ukraine with much-needed weapons.
He said: “I feel duty-bound to mention Ben Wallace in all this.
“His early decision to send NLAW, Javelin and an enormous quantity of munitions to Ukraine set a great example and was crucial in the early stages of the conflict.
“He has since worked to bind Europe and the USA together.”
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The N-LAW has been an effective weapon in destroying Russian tanks (Image: Getty)Mr Drummond blamed Putin for the war, suggesting the Russian President has alienated himself and Russia from the world due to his actions.
He concluded: “Ultimately, Putin has sacrificed Russian lives for no substantive gain.
“He is bankrupting Russia’s economy and has trashed its international reputation.
“These things will only be restored when Russia decides to get rid of him.”
With the war now fast approaching its fifth month, Russian losses have been heavy, and could potentially worsen as more Western aid reaches Ukrainian defences.
Economic sanctions on Russia are also starting to bite as the ability to fund the production of more weapons is making the re-supply to front lines ever harder, adding to a demotivated and under-resourced Russian front line.
For more stories like this, follow Express.co.uk Defence and Security Correspondent James Lee on Twitter @JamesLee_DE
ELMAU, Germany (AP) — President Joe Biden and his Group of Seven allies will huddle Sunday on strategies to secure energy supplies and tackle inflation, aiming to keep the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from splintering the global coalition working to punish Moscow.
Biden arrived in Germany’s picturesque Bavarian alps early Sunday morning for the annual meeting of the leading democratic economies, where the reverberations from the brutal war in Ukraine will be front and center in the discussion. He and the allies aim to present a united front in support of Ukraine as the conflict enters its fourth month.
Biden will open his visit with a bilateral meeting with the summit’s host, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, before spending the afternoon in both formal and informal settings with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union.
John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said the summit will address problems such as inflation and other “challenges in the global economy as a result of Mr. Putin’s war — but also how to continue to hold Mr. Putin accountable” and subject to “constant consequences.”
“There will be some muscle movements,” Kirby said from Air Force One as Biden flew to Germany. He declined to preview any announcements before the leaders met.
Among the issues to be discussed are price caps on energy, meant to limit Russian oil and gas profits that Moscow can put to use in its war effort. The idea has been championed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
A senior German official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department rules, said the U.S. idea of price caps was being discussed intensely, in terms of how it would work exactly and how it would fit with the U.S., EU, British, Canadian and Japanese sanctions regimes.
Officials were also to discuss how to maintain commitments to address climate change while also solving critical energy supply needs as a result of the war.
“There’s no watering down of climate commitments,” Kirby said.
Biden is also set to formally launch on Sunday a global infrastructure partnership meant to counter China’s influence in the developing world, which he had named “Build Back Better World” and introduced at last year’s G-7 summit. Kirby said Biden and other leaders would announce the first projects to benefit from what the U.S. sees as an “alternative to infrastructure models that sell debt traps to low- and middle-income partner countries, and advance U.S. economic competitiveness and our national security.”
After Germany, Biden will travel to Madrid on Tuesday to meet with the leaders of the 30 members of NATO to align strategy on the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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Superville reported from Telfs, Austria.
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A Russian hacking group may be responsible for a cyber attack against a liquefied natural gas plant in Texas that led to its explosion on June 8.
The explosion took place at the Freeport Liquefied Natural Gas (Freeport LNG) liquefaction plant and export terminal on Texas’ Quintana Island. The June 8 incident will have a lasting impact on Freeport LNG’s operations.
Preliminary investigations suggested that the incident resulted from the overpressure and rupture of a segment of an LNG transfer line, leading to the rapid flashing of LNG and the release and ignition of the natural gas vapor cloud.
At this time it is not clear why the safety mechanisms in place did not prevent the explosion. Experts speculate a cyber attack may have turned off the industrial safety controls at the natural gas facility.
ICS malware like TRITON, which experts associated with Russia-linked APT group XENOTIME, has offensive capabilities to shut down industrial safety controls and cause extensive damages to industrial facilities.
“On March 24 the U.S. Department of Justice brought charges against four Russian nationals suspected of using TRITON malware in cyber attacks on behalf of the Russian government between 2012 and 2018. That same day, the FBI issued an advisory warning that TRITON malware tools still remain a major threat to industrial systems around the world.” reported the American Military News website.
The Washington Times national security writer Tom Rogan confirmed that the explosion at the Freeport LNG facility could be consistent with a hacking campaign conducted by APT groups like XENOTIME.
Rogan added that the company does have in place the Operation Technology/Industrial Control Systems network detection systems.
At this time, Freeport LNG denied the theory that sees a cyber attack as the root cause of the incident.
“Unless Freeport LNG has OT/ICS network detection systems deployed appropriately and has completed a forensics investigation, a cyberattack cannot be ruled out,” Rogan wrote.
“Two more sources who spoke with Rogan said that around the time of Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, a cyber unit of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service conducted targeting-reconnaissance operations against Freeport LNG.” continues the American Military News website.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital in the early hours of Sunday morning, striking at least two residential buildings, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, as elsewhere Russian troops consolidated their gains in the east.
Associated Press journalists in Kyiv saw rescue services battling flames and rescuing civilians. Klitschko said two people were hospitalized with injuries.
Ukraine Member of Parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app that “according to prelim data 14 missiles were launched against Kyiv region and Kyiv.”
Before Sunday’s early morning attack, Kyiv had not faced any such Russian airstrikes since June 5.
Meanwhile, Russian forces have been seeking to swallow up the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the eastern Luhansk region, pressing their momentum after taking full control Saturday of the charred ruins of Sievierodonetsk and the chemical plant where hundreds of Ukrainian troops and civilians had been holed up.
On Saturday, Russia also launched dozens of missiles on several areas across the country far from the heart of the eastern battles. Some of the missiles were fired from Russian long-range Tu-22 bombers deployed from Belarus for the first time, Ukraine’s air command said.
The bombardment preceded a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, during which Putin announced that Russia planned to supply Belarus with the Iskander-M missile system.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said late Saturday that Russian and Moscow-backed separatist forces now control Sievierodonetsk and the villages surrounding it. He said the attempt by Ukrainian forces to turn the Azot plant into a “stubborn center of resistance” had been thwarted.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk province, said Friday that Ukrainian troops were retreating from Sievierodonetsk after weeks of bombardment and house-to-house fighting. He confirmed Saturday that the city had fallen to Russian and separatist fighters, who he said were now trying to blockade the neighboring city of Lysychansk from the south. The city lies across the river just to the west of Sievierodonetsk.
Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted a spokesman for the separatist forces, Andrei Marochko, as saying Russian troops and separatist fighters had entered Lysychansk and that fighting was taking place in the heart of the city. There was no immediate comment on the claim from the Ukrainian side.
Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk have been the focal point of a Russian offensive aimed at capturing all of the Donbas and destroying the Ukrainian military defending it — the most capable and battle-hardened segment of the country’s armed forces.
Capturing Lysychansk would give Russian forces control of every major settlement in the province, a significant step toward Russia’s aim of capturing the entire Donbas. The Russians and separatists control about half of Donetsk, the second province in the Donbas.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
image/jpeg 3000.jpegDAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Hundreds of Syrian paratroopers took part in a joint drill with their Russian counterparts in the war-torn country in the second joint maneuver this month, state media reported.
The agency did not give further details in its Saturday night report about the drill or say where they took place. It said the aim was to train Syrian paratroopers how to respond in varied circumstances.
Russia is a main backer of President Bashar Assad and has a broad presence in Syria where an 11-year conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s pre-war population.
Russia became involved militarily in Syria in September 2015 helping to tip the balance of power in favor of Assad’s forces.
Earlier this month, the Syrian and Russian air forces conducted drills over different parts of the country, including on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Four months ago, the two countries conducted a drill a week before Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. In mid-February, the Russian military deployed long-range nuclear-capable bombers and fighter jets carrying state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles to Syria for massive naval drills in the Mediterranean Sea.
image/png 700.pngNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, speaking at a rally Saturday night with former President Donald Trump, called the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade a “victory for white life.”
Miller’s spokesman said the Illinois Republican had intended to say the decision was a victory for a “right to life.” The line as delivered was out of step with the disproportionate impact the repeal of abortion rights will have on women of color.
Miller is running for reelection in the state’s newly redrawn 15th Congressional District against GOP Rep. Rodney Davis with the former president’s blessing. She had been invited on stage to speak by Trump, who held the rally in Mendon, Illinois, to turn out the vote ahead of the state’s Tuesday primary.
“President Trump, on behalf of all the MAGA patriots in America, I want to thank you for the historic victory for white life in the Supreme Court yesterday,” she said, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Miller spokesman Isaiah Wartman told The Associated Press that it was “a mix-up of words.”
“You can clearly see in the video ... she’s looking at her papers and looking at her speech,” Wartman said.
Her campaign noted that she is the grandmother of several nonwhite grandchildren, including one with Down syndrome.
The freshman congresswoman, who was among those who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, previously came under criticism for quoting Adolf Hitler.
“Hitler was right on one thing. He said, ’Whoever has the youth has the future,’” Miller said in a speech last year, according to video posted by WCIA-TV. She later apologized after Democrats in Illinois called for her resignation.
The rally came as some elements of the far right have pushed the “great replacement theory,” a racist ideology that alleges white people and their influence are being “replaced” by people of color. Proponents blame both immigration as well as demographic changes, including white birth rates.
During the rally, Trump took a victory lap for the Supreme Court’s bombshell ruling Friday ending the constitutional right to abortion. The three conservative justices he appointed all voted in favor.
He noted that in 2016, he promised to appoint judges who opposed abortion rights.
“Yesterday the court handed down a victory for the Constitution, a victory for the rule of law, and above all, a victory for life,” he told the crowd, which broke into a chant of “Thank you Trump!.”
Trump at the rally also endorsed Republican Darren Bailey, who is running to become the party’s nominee for governor.
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For AP’s full coverage of the Supreme Court ruling on abortion, go to https://apnews.com/hub/abortion
image/jpeg 3000.jpegA wildfire raging along southwestern Turkey's Aegean coast is now under control after burning 4,500 hectares of forest over three days.
It was deliberately started on Tuesday, and destroyed a forested area near the Aegean coastal resort of Marmaris.
The Turkish government is now considering tougher sentences for those convicted of starting wildfires.
Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu reports from Marmaris - on Turkey's Aegean coast.
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#Türkiye #TurkeyWildfires #Marmaris
Putin: "I don't believe in anything. I am just here for the violence."
image/jpeg 630_360_1652444749-689.jpgThe UK government said on June 26 that it’s ready to provide $525 million in guarantees for the World Bank lending to Ukraine. “The U.K. will continue to back Ukraine every step of the way," the statement reads.
According to the Defense Ministry's Intelligence Directorate, Russia plans to increase the number of operational and tactical aircraft in Belarus, claiming it's needed to conduct drills.
Протягом дня 26 червня російські військові можуть ще завдати ракетних ударів по Києву. Мешканців столиці закликали зважати на повітряну тривогу.
Про це на своїй Facebook-сторінці повідомив радник голови Офісу президента Олексій Арестович.
“Сьогодні протягом дня можуть ще працювати по Києву. Не нехтуйте запобіжними заходами”, — ідеться в дописі.
Нардеп Олексій Гончаренко також закликав киян не нехтувати мірами безпеки — особливо на Липках і в урядовому кварталі.
Загроза ракетних ударів зберігається і в інших містах України.
Нагадаємо, вранці 26 червня Росія завдала ракетного удару по Шевченківському району Києва. Одна з ракет вдарила в багатоповерхівку, інша — у майданчик дитячого садка.
The post #FBI: And I should add, FBI tries to #control #politics, most importantly, and despite their copious protestations. This continuing, #structural, built-in tendency should be investigated very carefully, it should be addressed with the preventive reforms. thenewsandtimes.blogspot.com/2022/06/fbi-an… first appeared on Advertising at The News And Times.
Michael Novakhov retweeted:
@mikenov Good luck in your Assembly race.
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The post #FBI: And I should add, FBI tries to #control #politics, most importantly, and despite their copious protestations. This continuing, #structural, built-in tendency should be investigated very carefully, it should be addressed with the preventive reforms. thenewsandtimes.blogspot.com/2022/06/fbi-an… first appeared on Advertising at The News And Times.
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