₦airaland Forum

Malawian:
For those who don't understand physics, if they shoot that missile in sokoto, it will reach Lagos under 2 minutes. I am not even sure you will have enough time to get out of the way before you are toasted "extra crispy".

Very correct.

it too fast for almost all present day anti missiles reaction time and only Russia S550 can try to stop Hypersonic missiles but it very few in Russian inventory.( one or two battalions available)

Russia is not even selling S500 not to talk of S550 to any country.

(08:00 GMT)
Russia says has again fired hypersonic missiles in Ukraine
Russia said it had again fired its newest
hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, destroying a fuel storage site in the country’s south.
“Kinzhal aviation missile systems with hypersonic ballistic missiles destroyed a large storage site for fuels and lubricants of the Ukrainian armed forces near the settlement of Kostyantynivka in the Mykolaiv region,” the Russian defence ministry said.
The strike marked the second day in a row that Russia used the Kinzhal, a weapon capable of striking targets 2,000km (1,250 miles) away at a speed 10 times the speed of sound.

18 Mar 2022 - 22:04 GMT
War has thrown space industry ‘into turmoil’: Astrophysicist
Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has said that despite continued cooperation at the International Space Station (ISS), the war in Ukraine has thrown the space industry “into turmoil”.
“Western satellites were meant to go up on Russian rockets; they’re now stranded. And yet at the ISS, it’s as if nothing had happened … But I don’t see how that can be sustained in the long run,” McDowell said.
“And indeed, America has been trying to persuade Russia to extend the life of the station project until 2030, currently scheduled to end in 2024. I can’t see how that’s going to happen now.”

Countries Supplying weapons to Ukraine are now running out of weapons to supply while some don't want to supply again.

Read between the lines even though some will still be cajoled by United States to do supply.

Canada says it has ‘exhausted’ its stock of weapons
rt.comMar 19, 2022 1:00 PM
The country has sent thousands of rocket launchers, grenades, and kit to assist Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia

© AP / Chris Young
Canada has depleted its own stock of weapons in its bid to support Ukraine amid Russia’s military operation in the country, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand has acknowledged.

“I believe that we have exhausted our inventory … to the extent that we are not able to provide [more] weapons,” Anand said during a live appearance on CBC on Friday.

“There are capacity issues we need to make sure we are on top of for the purposes of ensuring the Canadian Armed Forces are well resourced,” she added.

Ottawa had been among Western capitals that have provided Kiev with so-called “lethal aid.” It has so far sent or is in the process of sending 4,500 rocket launchers, 7,500 hand grenades, 100 anti-tank launchers with 2,000 rounds, two C-130J tactical aircraft, and various other pieces of kit from Canada.

Russia sent its troops into Ukraine in late February, following a seven-year standoff over Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the breakaway Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state.

Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc.

Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

One man, Vitaliy Kalman, was standing beside his suitcase hoping for a lull in the fighting. He said he had tried to go back into the district to retrieve some clothes from his apartment but came under mortar fire just beyond the ruined bridge that marks the entrance into Irpin. The bridge was destroyed by Ukrainian troops to forestall advancement by Russian troops in the first days of the war.
“They are very close,” he said of the Russians. “I saw the shell explode just near my house, and I ran back here with the evacuation team.”
A volunteer member of the Territorial Defense Forces described the street fighting in Irpin as an all-out guerrilla war. On the attacking side are the Russian troops, which Western military analysts say are likely elite airborne Special Forces units.
Defending against them are local volunteers, many of whom had just been handed rifles a few days before the Russians arrived in their town, alongside veteran militia fighters and uniformed troops.
Street fighting had been raging for days, according to soldiers interviewed on the edge of the town on Saturday. As of then, Russians controlled one of the three main thoroughfares, one was contested and the third was under tenuous Ukrainian control.
The locals have been slipping out at night and shooting at Russian positions, said the volunteer, who asked only to be identified by his nickname, Spotter, for security reasons. “It’s understood that they will be taking no prisoners,” he said of the firefights. “These are people who have weapons and know the local area perfectly.”
A doctor at a nearby hospital said it had received 25 wounded soldiers on Wednesday on the first day of the counterattack.
Ms. Myhova said Russian troops had twice entered her home in recent days. First, two soldiers who seemed to be scouts came into the yard, then three days ago, just before the Ukrainian counterattack, 10 Russian soldiers entered the house.
“They searched everything,” she said. “They said they had picked up a telephone signal from the house.”
The soldiers warned the family that if they informed anyone about the location of the Russian troops, they would shoot them. “They pointed their guns at us,” she said. “They said, ‘We can shoot you because we know your location.’”
When Mr. Burykov’s 70-year-old grandfather, the owner of the house, began to remonstrate with them, the Russian soldiers told them that they were securing control over what was Russian land, citing the medieval kingdom of Kievan Rus, which Russia claims as its ancestral state.
“My grandfather tried to argue,” Mr. Burykov said. “He said, ‘It’s rubbish that it’s your land. I was born here. Go away.’”
On Wednesday, the day Ukraine mounted its counter-strikes, residents said the shelling worsened dramatically. There were four explosions around the house that shook the doors, and the sound of gunfire from assault rifles in the yard, Ms. Myhova said.
When they learned that volunteers were evacuating an elderly woman nearby, the couple, along with a sister of Mr. Burykov, asked to get out. But Mr. Burykov’s parents, grandfather and other siblings stayed behind.
“They want to go when there is a green corridor,” Ms. Myhova said, referring to a humanitarian evacuation with guarantees of safety. “But there will not be any,” she said, “since even if one is agreed, they shoot at the cars.”

Turkish Interior Minister: NATO is bankrupt and EU under Soros’ control
freewestmedia.comMar 19, 2022 8:41 AM

In view of the Ukraine conflict, Turkey is in the process of repositioning itself in foreign policy. A recent statement by Turkey's Interior Minister Soylu is all the more noteworthy in this context given that Turkey is still a NATO member.

Ankara

In an interview with the Turkish pro-government daily Sabah, Soylu underlined that “Turkey has not surrendered to globalization”. Rather, it has “well-established regional trade links, presented to it by history”. Had Turkey “surrendered” to globalization, it would have gotten the country into more trouble than Ukraine.

In an interview on March 14, Soylu said: “We are altogether seeing the collapse of global organizations like the United Nations and NATO… I also think Europe carries no meaning as a community. Europe is being managed with Soros’ rules.”

He added: “Soros is the one responsible for all children who die at war.”

Soylu further stated: “We all see the bankruptcy of the UN, NATO and global organizations in the world. They no longer have value. I’ve been saying that for years. I also think that Europe as a community has no meaning.” Rather, Europe is “governed by Soros rules”. And: “I will say this very clearly, no country in the world will accept Soros again. Soros is responsible for all the children who died in the war (…) Look at the problem of Ukraine, Soros has been there from the beginning. He is a murderer.” (mü)

All rights reserved. You have permission to quote freely from the articles provided that the source (www.freewestmedia.com) is given. Photos may not be used without our consent.

THE TRUTH IS COMING OUT ( Zelensky aide blames conflict with Russia on ex-president Petro Poroshenko)

19 Mar, 2022 14:27
Zelensky aide blames conflict with Russia on ex-president
Ingraining NATO aspirations in the country’s constitution is among the causes of the conflict, a presidential aide has claimed
FILE PHOTO. Petro Poroshenko. © AP / Alik Keplicz
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Alexey Arestovich, said on Saturday that former president Petro Poroshenko is partly responsible for the ongoing conflict with Russia. The official pointed the finger at Poroshenko’s decision to write NATO aspirations into the country’s constitution.
The clause, outlining Kiev’s pathway to becoming a full-fledged member of the EU and US-led NATO alliance, was added into Ukraine's constitution in February 2019 and shortly before presidential elections. While the move was a pure PR stunt for the former president, it turned out to have long-lasting consequences, Arestovich told local media.
“When Poroshenko introduced this, it was his personal pre-election PR technology. He knew beforehand that NATO would never accept us. Not the least share of the blame for what is happening now in Ukraine lies with those who adopted and promoted this constitutional provision,” he said, implying that those Ukrainian MPs who supported the clause share the blame for it as well. The constitutional change received overwhelming support back then with 334 out of 450 MPs voting for it.
Under Poroshenko, the desire to join NATO was also incorporated into the country’s military doctrine in 2015. That document also formally established Russia as a “military adversary” of Kiev.
Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, however, actually date well before the February 2019 constitutional reform. The country was cozying up to the US-led bloc since the late 1990s, sending a “peacekeeping unit” to Iraq in 2002, adopting legislation allowing military access of NATO forces onto its soil in 2004, and so on.
The bloc itself formally recognized Ukraine’s aspirations in 2008, when the alliance announced in the Bucharest Summit Declaration that it welcomed “Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO.” The summit participants agreed that eventually these countries would “become members of NATO.”
Moscow attacked the neighboring state following a seven-year standoff over Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk ceasefire agreements, and Russia's eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols were designed to regularize the status of the breakaway regions within the Ukrainian state.
Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join NATO military bloc. Kiev says the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it had been planning to retake the two rebellious republics by force.

Latest Update right now.

Russian forces have pushed deeper into Ukraine’s besieged and battered port city of Mariupol where heavy fighting shut down a major steel plant and local authorities pleaded for more help.
The fall of Mariupol, the scene of some of the war’s worst suffering, would mark a crucial battlefield advance for the Russians, who are largely bogged down outside key cities more than three weeks into the biggest land invasion in Europe since World War II.
“Children, elderly people are dying. The city is destroyed and it is wiped off the face of the earth,” Mariupol police officer Michail Vershnin said on Saturday from a rubble-strewn street in a video addressed to Western leaders.
Russian forces have already cut the city off from the Sea of Azov, and its fall would link Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, to territories controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in the east.
“[There is] street fighting in the city centre,” Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of Mariupol, was quoted as saying by the BBC.
“There are tanks… and artillery shelling, and all kinds of weapons fired in the area. Our forces are doing everything they can to hold their positions in the city but the forces of the enemy are larger than ours, unfortunately.
“There isn’t a small piece of land in the city that doesn’t have signs of war,” he said.
Ukrainian and Russian forces battled over the Azovstal steel plant, Vadym Denysenko, adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Saturday.
“One of the largest metallurgical plants in Europe is actually being destroyed,” Denysenko said in televised remarks.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said the nearest forces that could assist Mariupol’s defenders were already struggling against “the overwhelming force of the enemy” or at least 100km (60 miles) away.
“There is currently no military solution to Mariupol,” he said late on Friday. “That is not only my opinion, that is the opinion of the military.”

Update ( Who is calling who )

Military commanders from NATO countries are working on the phones with their Russian counterparts to make sure the U.S. and its allies don’t get dragged into a war.

They're working to prevent escalation.

(Russia No Be Beans To Go and Fight Militarily.)

READ BETWEEN THE LINES ( Russia No Be Beans To Go Fight For War)

Military commanders from NATO countries are working the phones with their Russian counterparts.

March 18, 2022, 9:28 AM UTC
Military commanders from NATO countries are working the phones with their Russian counterparts to make sure the U.S. and its allies don’t get dragged into a war over a misunderstanding on the Ukrainian border.

The Reason

In the past 24 hours, Russian missiles landed near Lviv, the city in western Ukraine that has been a gathering point for people fleeing the conflict. At the weekend Russia hit a military facility in the region about 22 miles from Poland and last week a reconnaissance drone darted through several eastern European countries before crashing in the Croatian capital Zagreb.

This war is getting deadlier by the day.

Russia says it has used a hypersonic weapon for the first time, to destroy an underground military depot in western Ukraine. Hypersonic missiles are fast weapons that can evade detection by missile defence systems. The defence ministry said it had destroyed a large underground depot for missiles and aircraft ammunition in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. The missiles would have been destroyed to warn Ukraine and the west that it “has the means to escalate” the conflict further, said Dr James Bosbotinis.

THE TRUTH ARE COMING OUT ON UKRAINE.

Al Jazeera

Latest on Ukraine

Rescue operations underway: Rescue efforts are taking place in Mykolaiv on Saturday morning at the scene of a missile strike on a barracks housing soldiers, regional boss Vitalli Kim said. Dozens of troops are reported to have been killed in the attack by Russian forces, according to journalists from CNN Swedish affiliate Expressen who were at the scene.

FIRST USE OF HYPERSONIC MISSILE IN THE WORLD.

US officials confirm Russia has used hypersonic missiles against Ukraine
From CNN's Natasha Bertrand, Jim Sciutto and Barbara Starr
US officials confirmed to CNN that Russia launched hypersonic missiles against Ukraine last week, the first known use of such missiles in combat. The US was able to track the launches in real time, the sources said.
The launches were likely intended to test the weapons and send a message to the West about Russian capabilities, multiple sources told CNN.
Russia's Ministry of Defence said Saturday that
it had launched hypersonic Kinzhal missiles against a military ammunitions warehouse in western Ukraine on Friday, destroying the structure in the Ukrainian village of Delyatin. CNN is unable to independently verify this claim.
Traveling at Mach 5 speed or faster, hypersonic weapons are difficult to detect, posing a challenge to missile defense systems. Hypersonic missiles can travel at a far lower trajectory than high-arcing ballistic missiles, which can be easily detectable. Hypersonics can also maneuver and evade missile defense systems.
The Pentagon has made developing hypersonic weapons one of its top priorities, particularly as China and Russia are working to develop their own versions.
CNN's Oren Liebermann contributed to this report.

Al Jazeera

Latest on Ukraine

Rescue operations underway: Rescue efforts are taking place in Mykolaiv on Saturday morning at the scene of a missile strike on a barracks housing soldiers, regional boss Vitalli Kim said. Dozens of troops are reported to have been killed in the attack by Russian forces, according to journalists from CNN Swedish affiliate Expressen who were at the scene.

US officials confirm Russia has used hypersonic missiles against Ukraine
From CNN's Natasha Bertrand, Jim Sciutto and Barbara Starr
US officials confirmed to CNN that Russia launched hypersonic missiles against Ukraine last week, the first known use of such missiles in combat. The US was able to track the launches in real time, the sources said.
The launches were likely intended to test the weapons and send a message to the West about Russian capabilities, multiple sources told CNN.
Russia's Ministry of Defence said Saturday that
it had launched hypersonic Kinzhal missiles against a military ammunitions warehouse in western Ukraine on Friday, destroying the structure in the Ukrainian village of Delyatin. CNN is unable to independently verify this claim.
Traveling at Mach 5 speed or faster, hypersonic weapons are difficult to detect, posing a challenge to missile defense systems. Hypersonic missiles can travel at a far lower trajectory than high-arcing ballistic missiles, which can be easily detectable. Hypersonics can also maneuver and evade missile defense systems.
The Pentagon has made developing hypersonic weapons one of its top priorities, particularly as China and Russia are working to develop their own versions.
CNN's Oren Liebermann contributed to this report.

THE TRUTH ARE COMING OUT

USSANews.com

The second phase of the military operation has begun. Russia first used hypersonic missile “Daggers” and began to destroy entire brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, now the fighting will be tougher At today’s briefing of the Ministry of Defense, information was announced about the use of the Bastion and Dagger complexes as part
ussanews.comMar 19, 2022 2:03 PM
The second phase of the military operation has begun. Russia first used hypersonic missile “Daggers” and began to destroy entire brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, now the fighting will be tougher

At today’s briefing of the Ministry of Defense, information was announced about the use of the Bastion and Dagger complexes as part of a special military operation. This is the first officially confirmed use of these types of weapons in a real conflict.

This fact, as well as the emerging information about the successful use of cruise missiles against the mercenary base near Lvov and the location of the 79th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Nikolaev, suggests that Russia, with a high degree of probability, has begun the second phase of the NMD. And now, unlike the first stage, the conduct of hostilities is built not on the classical concept of a large-scale offensive, but on the principles of “new generation” armed conflicts, when, instead of a ground offensive, priority is given to the use of long-range precision weapons and mobile special-purpose sabotage groups. Such an approach, although it will require more time for the complete demilitarization of Ukraine, will significantly reduce the possible losses of regular ground formations of the RF Armed Forces.

Thus, the military operation is increasingly beginning to look like a tough modern war by all the rules, which greatly frightens the Ukrainian leadership, which is increasingly turning to NATO with a request to create a no-fly zone. However, predictably, there is no talk of any no-fly zone.

More and more details on the results of the strike on a military base near Lviv

According to radio interception, losses among foreign mercenaries and special forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a result of a strike on a base near Lvov have already amounted to at least 267

According to 50-year-old Peter from Austria, who was a member of the “International Legion of Ukraine”, on the basis of the Yavoriv training ground, at the time of the strike of the Russian Aerospace Forces there were from 800 to a thousand foreigners.

The wounded are still being taken out – about 450/300 have been evacuated to Poland.


Many have burns to their faces and bodies, and some have their limbs torn off.

The number of missing people, who are under the rubble of the corps, in which there were American, Romanian and Polish mercenaries, is not yet completely known.


Arms deliveries worth $400 million have been completely destroyed.

Among the dead are a large number of officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and former NATO officers.

The authorities of Ukraine and the United States carefully hide the real scale of the losses, secretly raking up the consequences of a successful attack by the Russian Armed Forces.

After the incident, the enthusiasm of mercenaries from all over the world noticeably faded.

An Austrian mercenary said this about the strike on the Yavorovsky training ground: “These people will all die, no one will get out of here alive!”

This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.algora.com and its author.

Few days ago, I stumbled on western media real combat report of an European volunteer who went to fight for Ukraine and have to escape from Ukraine after staying there for less than a month.

I tried posting it but couldn't and thought I do so later but I can't find it again. However, I'm still searching for it and will post it.

Summary of what he said as per real time account.

The western medias are on propaganda shit as what he experienced was hell while fighting with the Russians.

He said " For every 10 Ukraine soldiers that go to fight, only 2 return most times", He also said that most of Ukraine weapons have been destroyed and most volunteers are now been given weapons without training to go out and fight the Russians.( Mostly Ukrainian child soldiers are now been used).

He had to escape as it was like suicide out there though everyone is trying there best to resist the Russians and keep everything secret.

As per my thoughts, Ukraine and Russia need to end this War via peace because the west are Using Ukraine to test how effective their weapons, strategies, communications, command and control works against that of Russia, While Russia is using Ukraine to understand more about that of United States and Nato.

it's a military playbook that's playing out in Ukraine.

Weapons testing, calibration of weapons and equipment, fault finding and correction etc.

To many people/soldiers are dying than reported and several towns and villages have been completely destroyed in Ukraine due to fightings.

The most terrible one will be the one going on around Maripulo where the main instigator of this conflict from the beginning ( Azov battalion are) they are Russian speakers enemy number 1).

The Azov or Azoz battalion are elites fearless fighters on the Ukrainian side whom is the main symbol of Ukraine strength and resistance but they're being cut down as we speak and the Russians may want to kill everyone of them to avoid the mistake they make due the Donbass battle where Putin instructed Russian soldiers open a safe passage to let all Ukrainian Soldiers who they encircled go out of contested areas safely during their intervention which turned the battle in Russian militias favor and completely encircled thousands of Ukraine soldiers whom they were about to kill after killing several within 30 to 40mins of fighting.

Those Ukrainian Soldiers the Russians allowed safe passage then are now mostly the ones fighting them now.

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. The Russian Aerospace Forces have carried out missile strikes on the positions of Ukrainian nationalists, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
"The air attack destroyed a Ukrainian nationalist unit’s strongpoint and disguised armored vehicles," the statement reads.
According to a video released by the ministry, Russian crews operated in pairs, conducting strikes from low and very low altitudes.
The mission of army aircraft involved in Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine is to escort convoys, destroy armored vehicles, transport paratroopers, deliver military supplies and provide air support to troops taking part in the operation.

Other Media won't update you on the below as it will reveal a lot of what's actually going on ground. ( The below destroyed facilities and equipments mostly have Ukrainian Soldiers operating them)

Russia’s Aerospace Forces downed 12 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles
MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Russian aircraft destroyed four missile systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the early hours of March 19, including three S-300 systems and a Buk-M1 system, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
"Russia’s tactical, army and unmanned aircraft targeted 69 Ukrainian military facilities in the early hours of March 19, among them four command posts, including a brigade management headquarters in the Zabuyanye settlement, four missile systems, including three S-300 systems and a Buk-M1 system, a guidance and targeting radar, three multiple rocket launchers, 12 depots containing missile and artillery weapons and 43 military equipment storage sites," he specified.
According to Konashenkov, the air defenses of Russia’s Aerospace Forces downed 12 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles.
Bastion
Russia’s Bastion coastal missile system has destroyed electronic intelligence centers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Ukraine’s Odessa region, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General said.
"A Bastion coastal missile system destroyed electronic intelligence centers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Odessa region’s Veliky Dalnik and Velikodolinskoye settlements," he pointed out.
Kinzhal
Russia’s Kinzhal missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed the Ukrainian military’s underground depot containing missiles and aviation ammunition in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankovsk region, Konashenkov said.
"On March 18, the Kinzhal missile system with hypersonic aeroballistic missiles destroyed a major depot of the Ukrainian army in the Delyatin settlement in Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankovsk region, which contained missiles and aviation ammunition," he noted.
The Russian Armed Forces
The Russian Armed Forces have destroyed about 200 unmanned aerial vehicles and over 1,400 tanks and other armored vehicles since the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
"A total of 196 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, 1,438 tanks and other armored vehicles, 145 multiple rocket launchers, 556 field artillery pieces and mortars, as well as 1,237 military motor vehicles, have been destroyed since the start of the special military operation," he specified.

sangresan:
Zelensky should use his head. This is Slav against Slav. They should come to the table and settle the issue. Respect Russia and forget joining NATO.

You're correct; probably his advisers ain't doing the needful

update 13/3/2022

Russia strikes Ukraine army base near Poland as it widens attacks
Russia launched more than 30 missiles at the training facility near the western city of Lviv, killing 35 people, the governor says.
The governor of Lviv region said at least 35 people were killed and 134 others wounded in the air strike on the facility [Alejandro Martinez/Anadolu Agency]
Updated: an hour ago
Dozens of people have been killed as Russian troops launched multiple air raids on a large Ukrainian military facility outside the western city of Lviv near the Polish border, Ukrainian officials said, in what appeared to be the westernmost attack since Moscow launched an invasion on February 24.
More than 30 Russian cruise missiles targeted the sprawling facility that is less than 25km (15 miles) from the closest border point with Poland, Lviv Governor Maxim Kozitsky said on Sunday.
Kozitsky said at least 35 people were killed and 134 others wounded in the attack.
Al Jazeera was unable to verify the reports regarding the attack and casualties. Russia offered no immediate comment.
The 360 square km (140 square miles) Yavoriv military facility, also known as the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, has long been used to train Ukrainian military personnel, often with instructors from the United States and other NATO countries.
The base has also hosted international NATO drills and a senior NATO official, Admiral Rob Bauer, previously hailed it as embodying “the spirit of military cooperation” between Ukraine and international forces. As such, the site symbolises a longstanding Russian complaint: that the 30-member Western military alliance has expanded in Eastern Europe too close to Russian territory.
One of Moscow’s stated conditions for ending the hostilities in Ukraine is for the country to drop its ambitions to join NATO.
The strikes on Sunday followed Russian threats to target foreign weapon shipments that are helping Ukrainian fighters defend their country against Russia’s grinding assault.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said foreign military instructors worked at the facility. “Information about the victims is being clarified,” he said in an online post.
Many Ukrainians have fled to relative safety in Lviv since the launch of Russia’s invasion. The city is also a transit hub for those leaving Ukraine.
Zelenskyy warns Russia against Kyiv assault
Separately, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine said the city’s airport was targeted in an attack.
“According to preliminary information, this morning’s explosions were from an attack on the airport,” Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv said on Facebook.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned Russian forces they face a fight to the death if they try to occupy Kyiv as air raid sirens again woke residents on Sunday morning.
“If they decide to carpet bomb and simply erase the history of this region … and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. If that’s their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves,” Zelenskyy said on Saturday.
The president, who has repeatedly appeared on social media from the capital, said some small towns no longer existed in the third week of the Russian attacks, the biggest assault on a European country since World War II.
Russian shelling has trapped thousands of people in besieged cities and sent 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing to neighbouring countries.
Ukraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kyiv. France said Russian President Vladimir Putin had shown no readiness to make peace.
The Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, including one child, were killed as they fled the village of Peremoha and that “the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back”.
Moscow denies targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on February 24. It blames Ukraine for failed attempts to evacuate civilians from encircled cities, an accusation Ukraine and its Western allies strongly reject.

Al Jazeera update 13/3/2022

Russia strikes Ukraine army base near Poland as it widens attacks
Russia launched more than 30 missiles at the training facility near the western city of Lviv, killing 35 people, the governor says.
The governor of Lviv region said at least 35 people were killed and 134 others wounded in the air strike on the facility [Alejandro Martinez/Anadolu Agency]
Updated: an hour ago
Dozens of people have been killed as Russian troops launched multiple air raids on a large Ukrainian military facility outside the western city of Lviv near the Polish border, Ukrainian officials said, in what appeared to be the westernmost attack since Moscow launched an invasion on February 24.
More than 30 Russian cruise missiles targeted the sprawling facility that is less than 25km (15 miles) from the closest border point with Poland, Lviv Governor Maxim Kozitsky said on Sunday.
Kozitsky said at least 35 people were killed and 134 others wounded in the attack.
Al Jazeera was unable to verify the reports regarding the attack and casualties. Russia offered no immediate comment.
The 360 square km (140 square miles) Yavoriv military facility, also known as the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, has long been used to train Ukrainian military personnel, often with instructors from the United States and other NATO countries.
The base has also hosted international NATO drills and a senior NATO official, Admiral Rob Bauer, previously hailed it as embodying “the spirit of military cooperation” between Ukraine and international forces. As such, the site symbolises a longstanding Russian complaint: that the 30-member Western military alliance has expanded in Eastern Europe too close to Russian territory.
One of Moscow’s stated conditions for ending the hostilities in Ukraine is for the country to drop its ambitions to join NATO.
The strikes on Sunday followed Russian threats to target foreign weapon shipments that are helping Ukrainian fighters defend their country against Russia’s grinding assault.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said foreign military instructors worked at the facility. “Information about the victims is being clarified,” he said in an online post.
Many Ukrainians have fled to relative safety in Lviv since the launch of Russia’s invasion. The city is also a transit hub for those leaving Ukraine.
Zelenskyy warns Russia against Kyiv assault
Separately, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine said the city’s airport was targeted in an attack.
“According to preliminary information, this morning’s explosions were from an attack on the airport,” Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv said on Facebook.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned Russian forces they face a fight to the death if they try to occupy Kyiv as air raid sirens again woke residents on Sunday morning.
“If they decide to carpet bomb and simply erase the history of this region … and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. If that’s their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves,” Zelenskyy said on Saturday.
The president, who has repeatedly appeared on social media from the capital, said some small towns no longer existed in the third week of the Russian attacks, the biggest assault on a European country since World War II.
Russian shelling has trapped thousands of people in besieged cities and sent 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing to neighbouring countries.
Ukraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kyiv. France said Russian President Vladimir Putin had shown no readiness to make peace.
The Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, including one child, were killed as they fled the village of Peremoha and that “the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back”.
Moscow denies targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on February 24. It blames Ukraine for failed attempts to evacuate civilians from encircled cities, an accusation Ukraine and its Western allies strongly reject.

update 13/3/2022 ( Ukraine just lost at least 35 with 134 others wounded close to Polish border.

Russia strikes Ukraine army base near Poland as it widens attacks
Russia launched more than 30 missiles at the training facility near the western city of Lviv, killing 35 people, the governor says.
The governor of Lviv region said at least 35 people were killed and 134 others wounded in the air strike on the facility [Alejandro Martinez/Anadolu Agency]
Updated: an hour ago
Dozens of people have been killed as Russian troops launched multiple air raids on a large Ukrainian military facility outside the western city of Lviv near the Polish border, Ukrainian officials said, in what appeared to be the westernmost attack since Moscow launched an invasion on February 24.
More than 30 Russian cruise missiles targeted the sprawling facility that is less than 25km (15 miles) from the closest border point with Poland, Lviv Governor Maxim Kozitsky said on Sunday.
Kozitsky said at least 35 people were killed and 134 others wounded in the attack.
Al Jazeera was unable to verify the reports regarding the attack and casualties. Russia offered no immediate comment.
The 360 square km (140 square miles) Yavoriv military facility, also known as the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, has long been used to train Ukrainian military personnel, often with instructors from the United States and other NATO countries.
The base has also hosted international NATO drills and a senior NATO official, Admiral Rob Bauer, previously hailed it as embodying “the spirit of military cooperation” between Ukraine and international forces. As such, the site symbolises a longstanding Russian complaint: that the 30-member Western military alliance has expanded in Eastern Europe too close to Russian territory.
One of Moscow’s stated conditions for ending the hostilities in Ukraine is for the country to drop its ambitions to join NATO.
The strikes on Sunday followed Russian threats to target foreign weapon shipments that are helping Ukrainian fighters defend their country against Russia’s grinding assault.
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said foreign military instructors worked at the facility. “Information about the victims is being clarified,” he said in an online post.
Many Ukrainians have fled to relative safety in Lviv since the launch of Russia’s invasion. The city is also a transit hub for those leaving Ukraine.
Zelenskyy warns Russia against Kyiv assault
Separately, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine said the city’s airport was targeted in an attack.
“According to preliminary information, this morning’s explosions were from an attack on the airport,” Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv said on Facebook.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned Russian forces they face a fight to the death if they try to occupy Kyiv as air raid sirens again woke residents on Sunday morning.
“If they decide to carpet bomb and simply erase the history of this region … and destroy all of us, then they will enter Kyiv. If that’s their goal, let them come in, but they will have to live on this land by themselves,” Zelenskyy said on Saturday.
The president, who has repeatedly appeared on social media from the capital, said some small towns no longer existed in the third week of the Russian attacks, the biggest assault on a European country since World War II.
Russian shelling has trapped thousands of people in besieged cities and sent 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing to neighbouring countries.
Ukraine accused Russian forces on Saturday of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children trying to flee fighting near Kyiv. France said Russian President Vladimir Putin had shown no readiness to make peace.
The Ukrainian intelligence service said the seven, including one child, were killed as they fled the village of Peremoha and that “the occupiers forced the remnants of the column to turn back”.
Moscow denies targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on February 24. It blames Ukraine for failed attempts to evacuate civilians from encircled cities, an accusation Ukraine and its Western allies strongly reject.

Just as the EU is unwinding its rescue package to counteract the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine means that Brussels is having to weigh up another raft of financial support measures.
The European Commission is exploring options to shelter its economy from the blowback of Western sanctions on Russia, including surging energy prices and potential retaliatory countermeasures from the Kremlin, five EU officials and diplomats told POLITICO.
The package, which could be adopted as early as next week ahead of an EU leaders' summit in Paris next Thursday and Friday, is still under discussion. Early talks, however, suggest that its elements could include repurposing of existing
loans, fresh debt to raise money for loans in case of energy price spikes, and new
guidance on fast-track approval of state subsidies.
"In the short term, there is a set of measures on which we have worked with the European Commission, in particular with [European Commission Executive Vice President] Margrethe Vestager, which can relate either to state aid or to special loans for companies ... They must target in priority the most fragile companies, the companies that are gas-intensive and the companies that are exposed to international competition. This is the framework that we are defining and that has to be validated," France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, after an online meeting of EU finance ministers.
EU countries have not yet been formally consulted, but initial reactions from some diplomats were cool, with one describing it as the Commission "getting ahead of itself."
In recent days, EU leaders have been calling on Brussels to make these kinds of proposals: "If you have a situation of sanctions and countersanctions, that will have an impact,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told reporters on Tuesday. “Hence, at the European level, we strongly urge the European Commission to develop a package of measures to limit the economic impact.”
Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, one of the countries that would be severely impacted if Putin turns off the gas taps,
told senators on Tuesday that "the war will have consequences on the price of energy, which we will have to face with new measures to support companies and families. It is appropriate that the European Union facilitates them, to avoid excessive repercussions on the recovery."
This would detail the conditions under which capitals would be allowed to shore up their companies affected by the Ukraine crisis, and ensure a fast-track approval from Brussels. Ongoing discussions focus on what would be the scope, the duration and the triggering event for such a new framework.
Brussels could also invite EU countries that haven't used up their entitlement of loans under the bloc's Recovery and Resilience Facility , the €723.8 billion joint-debt coronavirus recovery package, to ask for more financing. No country except Italy has requested the full amount of loans. Any new financing request under the facility would need to come with a spending plan subject to the Commission and Council's approval.
A third option would be for the EU to issue fresh debt to raise money that it would then lend to capitals at attractive rates, that could be used to counter a further spike in energy prices. The EU
treaties allow for the bloc to provide financial assistance to its members under "exceptional circumstances beyond its control," and "in particular if severe difficulties arise in the supply of certain products, notably in the area of energy."
Officials stressed this would require a signoff from EU capitals and some diplomats noted that raising new debt isn't their preferred option. "Better look into existing instruments than start fights about new money," said one EU diplomat.
Another EU diplomat was even more scathing: "The Commission is once more getting ahead of itself. Of course, we all need to look carefully at the economic and financial consequences of the current situation. But for some time to come, EU member states will still benefit largely from the recovery fund. Those extra billions should help them weather the current situation. In any case, the debate is taking a wrong turn: Our priority must be to urgently chip in to help Ukraine defend its statehood and preserve its economic basis — and not to look for some extra bucks from the EU."
The Commission refused to comment on any potential upcoming measures.
Bjarke Smith-Meyer, Lili Bayer and Barbara Moens contributed reporting.

Just as the EU is unwinding its rescue package to counteract the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine means that Brussels is having to weigh up another raft of financial support measures.
The European Commission is exploring options to shelter its economy from the blowback of Western sanctions on Russia, including surging energy prices and potential retaliatory countermeasures from the Kremlin, five EU officials and diplomats told POLITICO.
The package, which could be adopted as early as next week ahead of an EU leaders' summit in Paris next Thursday and Friday, is still under discussion. Early talks, however, suggest that its elements could include repurposing of existing
loans, fresh debt to raise money for loans in case of energy price spikes, and new
guidance on fast-track approval of state subsidies.
"In the short term, there is a set of measures on which we have worked with the European Commission, in particular with [European Commission Executive Vice President] Margrethe Vestager, which can relate either to state aid or to special loans for companies ... They must target in priority the most fragile companies, the companies that are gas-intensive and the companies that are exposed to international competition. This is the framework that we are defining and that has to be validated," France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, after an online meeting of EU finance ministers.
EU countries have not yet been formally consulted, but initial reactions from some diplomats were cool, with one describing it as the Commission "getting ahead of itself."
In recent days, EU leaders have been calling on Brussels to make these kinds of proposals: "If you have a situation of sanctions and countersanctions, that will have an impact,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told reporters on Tuesday. “Hence, at the European level, we strongly urge the European Commission to develop a package of measures to limit the economic impact.”
Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, one of the countries that would be severely impacted if Putin turns off the gas taps,
told senators on Tuesday that "the war will have consequences on the price of energy, which we will have to face with new measures to support companies and families. It is appropriate that the European Union facilitates them, to avoid excessive repercussions on the recovery."
This would detail the conditions under which capitals would be allowed to shore up their companies affected by the Ukraine crisis, and ensure a fast-track approval from Brussels. Ongoing discussions focus on what would be the scope, the duration and the triggering event for such a new framework.
Brussels could also invite EU countries that haven't used up their entitlement of loans under the bloc's Recovery and Resilience Facility , the €723.8 billion joint-debt coronavirus recovery package, to ask for more financing. No country except Italy has requested the full amount of loans. Any new financing request under the facility would need to come with a spending plan subject to the Commission and Council's approval.
A third option would be for the EU to issue fresh debt to raise money that it would then lend to capitals at attractive rates, that could be used to counter a further spike in energy prices. The EU
treaties allow for the bloc to provide financial assistance to its members under "exceptional circumstances beyond its control," and "in particular if severe difficulties arise in the supply of certain products, notably in the area of energy."
Officials stressed this would require a signoff from EU capitals and some diplomats noted that raising new debt isn't their preferred option. "Better look into existing instruments than start fights about new money," said one EU diplomat.
Another EU diplomat was even more scathing: "The Commission is once more getting ahead of itself. Of course, we all need to look carefully at the economic and financial consequences of the current situation. But for some time to come, EU member states will still benefit largely from the recovery fund. Those extra billions should help them weather the current situation. In any case, the debate is taking a wrong turn: Our priority must be to urgently chip in to help Ukraine defend its statehood and preserve its economic basis — and not to look for some extra bucks from the EU."
The Commission refused to comment on any potential upcoming measures.
Bjarke Smith-Meyer, Lili Bayer and Barbara Moens contributed reporting.

Russia-Ukraine War Latest News: Kamala Harris Calls for War ...
www.wsj.com › livecoverage › russia-uk...
13 minutes ago · Full coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. ... Mar 10, 2022 at 12:13 pm ET ... Ukraine War Destruction Surpasses $100 Billion, Presidential Adviser ...

Russia says any foreigner captured in Ukraine war will not be treated as prisoner of war.


10 Mar, 2022 10:54
Around 100 Americans screened to join Ukrainian forces
Kiev’s military attaché in Washington DC has been conducting interviews with volunteers via Zoom
A Ukrainian soldier in an armoured vehicle on the west side of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on February 26, 2022. © AFP / Daniel LEAL
Approximately 100 US citizens have passed the screening to join the Ukrainian armed forces fighting the Russian offensive, Kiev’s military attaché in Washington DC has revealed.
Since Moscow launched its invasion of its neighbor on February 24, some 6,000 people, mostly Americans, have reached out to the Ukrainian Embassy in the US to express their willingness to serve alongside Ukrainian forces, Major General Borys Kremenetskyi, has told the news agency AP.
Interviews with volunteers have been conducted by Kremenetskyi and other diplomatic staff in the US capital via Zoom.
According to the official, half the applicants had to be rejected early in the vetting process as they did not have the required military experience, had a criminal background, or were either too young or too old. Others did not make the list because the embassy was not able to adequately check their background. To be granted official permission to fight for Ukraine, those candidates who make it through the initial stages have to undertake a final Zoom interview.
Before any foreigner can join up, they are required to sign a contract to serve without pay in the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine. The combatants have first to get themselves to Poland, then cross the Polish-Ukrainian border at a specified point. They are given weapons on arrival in Ukraine, but are expected to provide their own protective gear.
Kiev estimates suggest that, since the start of the war, approximately 20,000 foreign fighters from dozens of countries across the world have joined the Ukrainian forces.
Kremenetskyi said that among those American volunteers deemed eligible were veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars with combat experience, including a number of helicopter pilots.
The US government has advised its citizens against heading to the war zone. In fact, last Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Americans who might be thinking of traveling there “ not to go. ” The State Department says that it is unclear how many have arrived in Ukraine since the start of the war, however.
According to an unnamed senior US federal law enforcement official cited by AP, Americans taking part in a military conflict abroad could face criminal charges at home or even lose their citizenship, under certain circumstances.
Several other experts the news outlet spoke with noted that such volunteers could potentially be recruited by foreign intelligence services while in the war zone and continue working for them on their return to the US. Others pointed to the risks to America’s national security posed by white supremacists, who are believed to be among the new recruits, and who could become even more radicalized in Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, for its part, warned “ foreign mercenaries ” last week that they would not be considered prisoners of war should they be captured by Russian troops.
Ukraine’s military attaché in the US insists that the volunteers are “ not mercenaries who are coming to earn money, ” but rather “ people of goodwill who are coming to assist Ukraine to fight for freedom. ” Kremenetskyi told AP it was the “ unfair ” and “ unprovoked” nature of Moscow’s attack that was compelling Americans to “ go and help ” Ukraine, asserting that “ Russians can be stopped only with hard fists and weapons. ”
You can share this story on social media:
Top stories
Subscribe to RT newsletter to get news highlights of the day right in your mailbox
Subscribe
RT Features
ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺑﻴﺔ ESP РУС DE FR

Just came across the below and thought someone may pick one or two things from it.

Achike Chude of Sahara ....

Hell is on the loose in Ukraine. And it brings with it all the fiendish ingredients of death, destruction, blood, tears and sorrow. They come through the muzzles of the Kalashnikovs, the sub-machine guns, tanks, and missiles from the land, sea, and air.

War, that eternal mischief and ruination of civilizations, peoples, and humanity is afoot in Ukraine. Hatched by people of dubious human credentials and encouraged by warmongers who are in truth disposed to cowardice, fear, and avarice of the worst kind, the victims are almost always people who had nothing to do with the reasons for the war in the first place.
It was unthinkable before now that war in modern times could be fought in Europe. With the level of sophisticated and lethal weaponry available, such a war would have all the frightening potential of bringing about greater peril to the entire human race if anything went spectacularly wrong.
For all the claims mankind makes about advancement in human civilization and culture, today's modern man is no different from his counterpart from the dark or middle ages. Perhaps he is worse because he at least has the benefit of the gadgets, technology, and information of the modern age. Today's modern man is more vicious, self-loving, and self-loathing than his forebears.
Not too long ago, the United States and coalition allies dropped over 415 cruise missiles and 600 bombs over the skies of Saddam Hussein's Iraq, killing over 200,000 - 700,000 thousand people - all on a lie. The bombing and carnage of Libya followed suit afterward under the direction of the Europeans and Americans until that country became a no man's land and is now a haven for non-governance, anarchy, terrorists, human slavery and all forms of debased human conducts. From there, bands of mercenaries and unsavoury characters have laid siege on African nations from the Islamic Maghreb in North Africa to the Sahel of West Africa and adjoining countries like Nigeria and Cameroon.
To be fair to the human race of then, and now, there were voices of dissent against those wars, voices that rose in condemnation of the mindless conflicts created deliberately to satiate the base and venial instincts of politicians, policymakers and capitalist enterprises intent on making profit from human misery and the despoilation of the environment. Remember the blood diamonds of Sierra Leone and Liberia?
Russian aggression has done incalculable damage to Ukraine and her peoples and must continue to be condemned for its heinousness, but American and European policies, their diplomatic faux pax, political miscalculations have all contributed to creating an atmosphere of war.
But we will not fool ourselves about the inevitability of the carnage currently going on in Eastern Europe. Though it had been brewing for 31 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was absolutely preventable.
As the war rages in the cities and hamlets across Ukraine, pitting the mighty Russian military might against the less militarily endowed Ukraine, one is confronted with the harrowing and regrettable feeling that this tragedy was within the ability of the American and European political establishments to prevent.
Nothing gives us greater ground for such knowledge, insight, and conclusion, other than the reluctance of NATO to impose a no-fly zone across Ukrainian skies. The obvious consequence of such an action is known to them. It will pit the mighty NATO military arsenal against the full might of the Russian military establishment. Since the end of the 2nd world war, great power rivalry has never resulted in a direct military confrontation. Both sides have strenuously avoided any potential for direct conflict. They are doing the same thing over Ukraine. With a nuclear possession and ability of over 10,000 nuclear warheads shared amongst them, Armageddon would beckon on the entire human race.
So, why would the West lead Ukraine unto a path that they knew would end in absolutely certain defeat with the attendant cost in human lives and destruction of social and public infrastructure? Was it about principle? What principle? Was it about making a declaration that any invasion of a sovereign country by any other country is illegitimate unless the invading countries are in alliance with the United States and Western Europe? Was it about hoping that Putin would not cross the line? Which Putin? They had already described Putin in very ghastly and unflattering epithets - a beast, a mad man, Hitler, etc.
Why would they then hope that a beast, a mad man, or Hitler would have limits? Or did the Americans and Europeans secretly seek this war with the hope that Putin would show his weaknesses and vulnerabilities which they would then exploit? Like Soviet Union's Mikhail Gorbachev and his Glasnost and Perestroika which seemingly started well and ended up with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
If this calculation is true, then it simply means that Ukraine and the Ukrainians are mere pawns on the chessboard of geopolitical calculations. They are necessary dispensable and collateral damage in the grand scheme of trying to undermine Putin's Russia.
President Zelensky and his government were extremely naive about the circumstances and events that have led to the present situation of blood and death in their country. The handwriting was always on the wall even for the blind to see. It was just barely a year ago that the world watched in awe and confusion as the Americans hurriedly, fearfully, and shamefully left Afghanistan without even informing her allies.
The sight of terrified Afghanis hanging unto American planes in flight and falling off the planes in the air should have been enough warning about the inconsistency of the American government in her international engagements - an inconsistency that has culminated in the executions of hundreds of former Afghan military personnel by the Taliban for aligning with the United States during the war.
This ongoing war in Ukraine should never have been fought. Russia started it, America and Europe facilitated it and Ukraine condoned it.

Sky News

Armed forces minister says Russia is committing war crimes and British soldiers should not be going to fight in Ukraine
James Heappey, the armed forces minister, has told Sky News that "what you see on your TV screens is a war crime", after a hospital was bombed in the southern city of Mariupol.
He said: "Western countries are working together to make sure that that evidence is gathered in the best way so that people can be held to account.
"But let's be clear - what Putin is doing is not a war waged between two militaries. He has besieged a number of Ukrainian cities, and he's waged a war against Ukrainian civilians."
Mr Heappey also confirmed that more defensive aid is on its way to Ukraine.
On accepting refugees, the minister said that personnel would be bolstered in Poland rather than Calais, as that is the busiest centre "by some margin". He also confirmed that the home secretary is considering changes to the visa process.
Mr Heappey also said that serving British soldiers should not be going AWOL (absent without leave) to fight in Ukraine, adding that it is illegal to do so.
"They will be in an awful lot of trouble" if they go and fight, he said.
"This is not the time for people to be going there, and the Ukrainians have made clear, once you cross the border with the with the expectation to fight, you're in it for good.
"So people who think they can go and do a couple of weeks, take some selfies, get some Instagram shots, and then come home - that is not the way the Ukrainians are viewing the people that go to fight for British people should not be doing it."
It comes after the Army yesterday confirmed a number of British soldiers had gone AWOL and may have travelled to Ukraine.
About Sky News

Let both Countries just come together and make peace to end this war .

Ukrainian Soldiers and civilians are dying but all the West care about are Russian Soldiers that are rumored to be killed...

This war should have been prevented since last year but some felt like " Let them do their worst"

I will sure get out of hand the moment the last Civilians willing to leave go out of those Cities as it will be legit for both Militaries to target and destroy each other.

However, Turkey is trying to stop the war via peace talk which is a good move...

AP News

Workers in Mariupol on Wednesday continued hastily and unceremoniously burying scores of dead civilians and soldiers in a mass grave dug in a cemetery in the heart of the city.
With morgues overflowing and corpses uncollected in homes, city officials decided they couldn’t wait to hold individual burials. Forty bodies were placed in the grave Tuesday and at least 30 more were put there Wednesday, though the number was rising so quickly that the total became unclear.
Some were brought wrapped in carpets or plastic bags. Workers quickly made the sign of the cross after pushing the bodies into the common grave. No family members or other mourners were there to say goodbye.
Civilians from towns northwest of the capital made their way toward Kyiv on Wednesday through a humanitarian corridor, with firefighters and police helping people carry their animals and belongings across a damaged bridge.

Musk says Starlink has been told by some governments to block Russian news
SpaceX chief Elon Musk has said that its Starlink satellite broadband service has been told by some governments, not Ukraine, to block Russian news sources.
“We will not do so unless at ‘gunpoint’, sorry to be a free speech absolutist”, he said in a tweet

Musk says Starlink has been told by some governments to block Russian news
SpaceX chief Elon Musk has said that its Starlink satellite broadband service has been told by some governments, not Ukraine, to block Russian news sources.
“We will not do so unless at ‘gunpoint’, sorry to be a free speech absolutist”, he said in a tweet