Geopolitical situation
Switzerland takes over the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the first time since 2002, when it became the 190th full member of the United Nations. Swiss Ambassador to the UN Pascale Baeriswyl told the traditional opening press conference that her country seeks unity among the 15 members of the Council and is a "bridge builder". However, she admitted that she expected "some heated or polarised discussions".
Switzerland's agenda mentions tomorrow's session aimed at securing the future of peace, as well as later events on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts and a meeting on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
Utterly empty talk. How can we 'build bridges' when we are discussing measures to ensure peace in the future, when there is slaughter in Ukraine, when the civil war in Sudan has entered an even more violent phase, and when Israel has decided to bomb the airport of Aleppo, Syria, which is the lifeline of humanitarian aid to a country that has been experiencing the horrors of years of war?
John Bolton, former US Ambassador to the UN and National Security Adviser to former President Donald Trump, said that it was 'unfortunate, but ironic to say the least' that the promise made at the end of the Cold War in 1990-1991 for the Security Council to be truly effective in dealing with global crises had turned into nothing. He was referring to its long-standing and continuing paralysis due to the Russian or Chinese veto, which prevents it from dealing substantively with Ukraine and other world hot spots.
However, when it comes to terrorist Russia, the problem is much deeper than its veto or China's veto.
The Western countries are supporting and bailing out Ukraine in a very strange way: not only by sending arms and aid to the Ukrainians themselves with one hand, and trading with a war criminal aggressor with the other hand, but also by forcing Ukraine to ensure the transit of Russian gas through its territory. On average, 40 million cubic metres of gas have reached Europe from Russia every day for the last year via the Suez pipeline, and we find it very strange that in such a long gas supply system, somehow nothing ever 'breaks down beyond repair'.
What is more, as Russian terrorists fire missiles at hospitals and kindergartens, the US and the EU are continuing to trade with Russia on the very dubious-sounding excuse that severing economic relations would 'destroy the global economy'. Up until March this year, US trade with Russia brought half a billion US dollars to terrorists every month, while trade with the EU brought an average of 5 billion euros.
At this rate, supporting Ukraine "as much as necessary" will unfortunately have to wait for Moscow to be crushed.
Significant steps forward
Following Monday's attack, Moscow's missiles hit Pavlohrad in the eastern Dnipro region. Two people were killed and 40 wounded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Seven missiles were fired at the city and "some were intercepted", but others hit an industrial facility and caused a fire, authorities said. According to regional authorities, 24 apartment blocks, 89 houses, six schools and five shops were damaged.
The missiles also hit three other areas in the Dnipro region, damaging residential buildings and a school, said Serhiy Lysak, a regional official.
A spokesman for Russia's terrorism ministry, Konashenkov, said yesterday that the war-criminal state had staged a "group missile strike with long-range precision-guided aerial and naval weapons on facilities of the Ukrainian defence industry... all the specified objects were hit".
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-appointed official in the occupied Zaporizhzhya region and a collaborator in the Zaporizhzhya region, rejoiced that the attack had hit ammunition and fuel depots in Pavlohrad, which, he said, would hamper Ukraine's planned counter-attack.
According to Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine's Energy Minister, the attacks also damaged Ukraine's electricity grid infrastructure, which will take several days to rebuild. He said that nearly 20 000 people in Kherson and the wider region, as well as in the Dnipro region, were without electricity.
The sub-headquarters of the FSB and the General Staff in Maskovia are aware that the fields of Ukraine, covered with two-foot snow from the Rassieya latitudes, are sending one clear message: an attack on Ukraine is imminent and there is no one left to defend. Therefore, the last ditch efforts can only be made with missiles. One of the authors of these lines experienced such terrorist attacks first-hand when the Taliban shelled allied bases in Afghanistan. The only difference is that the representatives of the Russo-Taliban, with Lavrov's so-called face, have been scuttling around international institutions of global importance.
The White House said on Monday that it estimates that Russia has suffered 100 000 casualties since December alone, including more than 20 000 deaths, when Ukraine repelled a heavy assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the US assessments are based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not elaborate on how the intelligence community arrived at this figure.
Mr Kirby said that almost half of those killed since December are Wagner mercenaries, many of them convicts who have been released from prison. These figures are in line with our estimate that we gave a few months ago. We are glad that we were not wrong and we hope that the analysts have obtained these figures themselves rather than taking them directly from our reviews. Just kidding.
Kirby said that the number of Russian casualties "in this little town of Bakhmut" corresponds to some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, including the Ardennes Offensive - the last major German offensive on the Western Front - and the Guadalcanal Campaign - the first major Allied offensive against Japan.
Briefly
Ukraine develops the Trembita combat missile. Volunteers plan to develop a small cruise missile with a jet engine. The main purpose of this weapon would be to strike distant targets and force the enemy to deplete air defence supplies.
The Swedish and Finnish navies have declared a high combat alert due to the presence of Russian warships in the vicinity of power lines at sea.
"I have been thinking a lot lately about creating a good kind of army, so that it can move to different countries and defend the peoples who are oppressed by the countries that call themselves the most democratic", Putin's puppet, Kadyrov, declared. Here we have one question: who was thinking what, where?
The guerrillas continue to work: A train carrying oil products has derailed in the Briansk region. The Russian media report that the railway tracks were blown up.
Russia is keeping about 25 000 Russian troops near Bakhmut, said Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He said Russia has 65 tanks, 450 armoured fighting vehicles, 154 guns and 56 volley fire systems in the area. The daily casualties of the Russian armed forces in this direction amount to around 100 soldiers.
The defence cooperation agreement between Finland and the United States provides for the deployment of US troops and military equipment on Finnish territory, as well as joint military exercises.
Lithuania
Mateusz Morawiecki, Prime Minister of Poland, visits Lithuania. He will meet our top political leaders in Vilnius. The Heads of Government are expected to meet to discuss regional security, support for Ukraine defending itself against Russian military aggression, bilateral cooperation between Lithuania and Poland, and preparations for the NATO Summit in Vilnius.
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki are scheduled to attend the opening of an extension to the Polish House of Culture in Vilnius.
We know that many of you think that the Poles are only after our lands, the land of Vilnius, and that you are worried that you cannot forgive the occupation of the capital city nearly twenty years ago, a century ago.
However, we should go beyond our pains, draw a clear line through the common history of our countries, which has had its black days, and move on. Moscow has long sought to stir up trouble between Vilnius and Warsaw, and it would be very unwise to continue to play into its hands.
As always, it seems to us, both in Lithuania and in dealing with our foreign neighbours, both Christian and pragmatic to look for what unites rather than what divides.
Of course, with the very clear understanding that neither Christianity nor pragmatism has anything to do with terrorists and war criminals being sought internationally. In their case, together with our neighbours, we need to take our sticks in our hands and give the rapists and kidnappers a good thrashing.
Photo shows Ukrainian soldiers preparing ammunition at a frontline position near Vuhledar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, 1 May 2023 (AP Photo/Libkos)
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