From 24 February 2022, which marked the start of the large-scale armed attack by the Russian Federation, to 4 June 2023, OHCHR recorded 24,425 civilian casualties in the country: 8,983 killed and 15,442 injured.
(…)
OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.
South Africa‘s Ramaphosa, Zambia‘s Hakainde Hichilema and Comoros‘ Assoumani look much happier to be in Russia than they looked in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun talks with a delegation of seven African nations that arrived in St. Petersburg to look for solutions to the Ukraine crisis.
The meeting is taking place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, which was a residence of the Romanov imperial family and now hosts official events, including international ones.
„Judging by the schedule, after visiting Kiev [South African President Cyril] Ramaphosa will be the first to come here, President of the Union of the Comoros Azali Assoumani will be here, as well as Senegalese President Macky Sall, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuly. There will also be representatives of Congo and Uganda. This will be the African delegation that visited Kiev on the previous year, holding a meeting with [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky,“ Peskov added.
„I reiterate that we are thankful to every country, every state or every public figure – because many initiatives were personally proposed by prominent figures, internationalists; we are grateful to everyone, who speaks about peace, who speaks about [peaceful] settlement and, who wants to be useful regarding this issue,“ she said.
„There are interesting ideas, which may work. There are ideas that are in sync with our approaches, and, for instance, it includes the Chinese initiative,“ she continued.
(April 12, 2023)
According to an assessment collated by the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency, Russia has suffered 189,500-223,000 total casualties, including 35,500-43,000 killed in action and 154,000-180,000 wounded.
Ukraine has suffered 124,500-131,000 total casualties, including 15,500-17,500 killed in action and 109,000-113,500 wounded in action, according to the document entitled „Russia/Ukraine – Assessed Combat Sustainability and Attrition.“
The figures are around 10 times bigger than any public casualty figures published by either Moscow or Kyiv.
Neither side gives timely data on military losses.
“A lot depends on our activity in the region, on dialogues and contacts at different levels, on Minister Kuleba‘s direct tour and on the upcoming visit of the presidents of African countries. But, I emphasize: we should not expect that a change in the positions of countries will occur in the short term. This is a ‘long game.’ And it requires strength, enthusiasm and faith. I believe that in the end it will become absolutely clear to African countries that Ukraine is fighting for the same values, freedoms, and rights for which these countries have been fighting and shedding blood for many years,” the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
(14.06.2023)
The absence of a date or clear conditions that Ukraine would need to meet to gain automatic Nato status will lead to Ukrainian accusations that Nato is doing little more than re-offering the promise of membership made to Ukraine at the Nato Bucharest summit in April 2008 when Nato said it had agreed Ukraine and Georgia will become members of Nato. Western countries said it would be perfectly understandable for Ukraine to be angry but insist the wording, coupled with the security commitments, can be an improvement.
Without question, Russia is committing horrific, inexcusable aggression against Ukraine, and imperialist attitudes in Moscow run deep. But partly because of those attitudes, Russia’s leaders are also reacting to NATO’s expansion. Folding Ukraine into the alliance won’t end that impulse, even with U.S. backing and the nuclear guarantee it brings. Ukraine’s best path to peace is to be well armed and supported outside NATO. (…)
In the run-up to NATO’s summit in 2008, Mr. Bush wanted to give Ukraine and Georgia a formal path to enter the alliance, called a Membership Action Plan. Before the meeting, William Burns, the current C.I.A. director who was then ambassador to Russia, cautioned that such a move would have deadly consequences.
(5. März 2022)
Was eine (weitere) verantwortliche, eine rationale, eine solidarische Maßnahme aus dem Weißen Haus wäre, ähnlich wie die Zurückhaltung was die Provokationen aus dem Kreml angeht: von sich aus auf eine N.A.T.O.-Mitgliedschaft der Ukraine zu verzichten. Neben der Lieferung von Defensivwaffen gäbe es nichts Besseres, was “der Westen” derzeit für die Ukraine tun kann. Man könnte vielleicht auch verkünden, man habe sich in den letzten 30 Jahren mit der N.A.T.O. genug gedehnt. Und zwanzig Jahre lang genug ruhmreichen Terrorkrieg geführt. Ein paar Millionen Tote würden nun reichen.
Das Ende des Afghanistan-Krieges, allein beendet durch den Befehl eines einzigen Mannes, Joe Biden, war diesbezüglich ein guter Anfang. Zur Erinnerung; die “Authorization for Use of Military Force” aus 2001, das entscheidende Kriegsermächtigungsgesetz was in Deutschland bis heute fast keiner kennt, ist vom Kongress immer noch nicht aufgehoben, obwohl dies bereits 2013 von Barack Obama angekündigt wurde.
(June 14, 2023)
The hope in the push is that once Ukraine is a full member of the alliance, Russia would not dare to try to topple the government in Kyiv because an attack on one NATO country is considered an attack on them all. Ukrainian membership has become a “consuming debate,” both in Europe and inside the Biden administration, according to one senior U.S. official who is deeply involved in the discussions.
Only Germany has sided fully with Mr. Biden, though some of the other 29 allies have their own quiet doubts about Ukraine’s readiness to fully join the alliance — and the risks that NATO nations could get sucked directly into a conflict with Russia in the future.
(28. Juni 2008)
Durch das aggressiv-expansionistische Ausdehnen der Westblöcke EU und NATO bis an die eigenen Grenzen hat man offenbar gelernt in den Denkfabriken um den neuen Präsidenten Russlands. Man sieht die “globale Situation diktiert von rigiden Regeln” und rechnet offenbar mit drei strategischen Entwicklungsmodellen:
1. Die Schaffung eines Eurasien Orwell´schen Ausmasses, in der Vision dreier totalitärer Blöcke aus “1984” (siehe Grafik oben)
2. Einen Deal mit NATO und EU, vielleicht sogar mit dem gesamten Shanghai-Pakt, zur Schaffung eines Superimperiums auf der Nordhälfte des Planeten. Dies käme praktisch einer Weltregierung gleich.
3. Eine Konfrontation zwischen Shanghai-Pakt einerseits und USA, NATO und EU andererseits.
Die Völker, die Demokratien, die Republiken, die Öffentlichkeit, die Verfassungen, sie spielen auf diesem planetaren Schachbrett nicht die geringste Rolle, für keine der imperialen Plutokratien und Apparate, weder in Russland, noch in der EU und schon gar nicht in der NATO.
(15. April 2018)
Putins Rolle dabei ist ähnlich dem eines der vielen Monarchen vor und im Ersten Weltkrieg. Und seine Funktion, wie der „prorussischen“, also der pro-regierungs-russischen Lobby insgesamt, ist es, in verdeckter Dialektik mit ihren spiegelbildlichen „proamerikanischen“ bzw „proeuropäischen“ Pendants in der U.S.-Hegemonie die jeweilige innere Opposition, gerade die fortschrittliche und pazifistische, in Verbindung mit dem jeweils anderen Blockgegner zu bringen, sie von diesem absorbieren zu lassen und so im Inneren erst zu diskreditieren und letztlich neutralisieren zu können.
(…)
Es sollten sich grade politisch links stehende bzw progressive Kräfte in der U.S.-Hegemonie dreimal überlegen, ob sie eine unreflektierte “prorussische” Position adaptieren und es dann sein lassen. Umgekehrt ist allen Dissidenten in der Russischen Föderation und deren Macht- und Einflussbereich dringend zu raten, von allen vermeintlich guten Freunden aus dem “Westen” den weitestmöglichen Abstand zu nehmen.
I have spent many years studying the history of nuclear strategy and have come to an unequivocal, if unscientific, conclusion. The advent of nuclear weapons is the result of the intervention of the Almighty, who, appalled that mankind had unleashed two world wars within a generation, costing tens of millions of lives, gave us the weapons of Armageddon to show those who had lost their fear of hell that it existed. On that fear rested the relative peace of the last three-quarters of a century.
But now that fear is gone. The unthinkable in terms of previous notions of nuclear deterrence is happening – a group of ruling elites, in a fit of desperate rage, have unleashed a full-scale war in the underbelly of a nuclear superpower.
The fear of atomic escalation must be restored. Otherwise humanity is doomed.
Firstly, Kiev must accept that any potential peace agreement will need to take into account the loss of the Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye Regions, which voted to join the Russian Federation last year. Before sending its military into Ukraine, Moscow offered more generous terms, and Lavrov warned on Friday that “the longer they put off talks, the more difficult it will be for them to reach an agreement with us.”
Ukraine and its European backers have admitted that the 2014 and 2015 Minsk agreements – under which Kiev promised to grant limited autonomy to Donetsk and Lugansk – were a ruse to buy Ukraine time to prepare for war with Russia. This situation will never be repeated, Lavrov told RT.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched six Kalibr cruise missiles, six Kinzhal ballistic missiles, and two drones to carry out the strikes.
No buildings or facilities were damaged in the attack, Klitschko said.
(16.06.2023)
The delegation from South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville, Comoros, Zambia, and Uganda is meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday and President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
But the timing of the visit seems off. It comes just as Kyiv is launching its much-vaunted counter-offensive.