₦airaland Forum

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/25d0f9eb95b20753122f140cbcdd38b00d4d5e01/2303_379_2697_1618/master/2697.jpg?width=465&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=d3fffd4f5f313e8cccc2ffa30d8d832c
A Russian Special Forces operator on guard duties in oblast severodonetsk.

Russia asserted Saturday that its troops and separatist fighters had captured a key railway junction in eastern Ukraine, the second small city to fall to Moscow’s forces this week as they fought to seize all of the country’s contested Donbas region.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the city of Lyman had been “completely liberated” by a joint force of Russian soldiers and the Kremlin-backed separatists, who have waged war in the eastern region bordering Russia for eight years.

Lyman, which had a population of about 20,000 before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, serves as a regional railway hub. Ukraine’s train system has ferried arms and evacuated citizens during the war, and it wasn’t immediately clear how the development might affect either capability.

Controlling the city would give the Russian military a foothold for advancing on larger Ukrainian-held cities in Donetsk and Luhansk, the two provinces that make up the Donbas. Since failing to occupy Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, Russia has concentrated on seizing the last parts of the region not controlled by the separatists.

“If Russia did succeed in taking over these areas, it would highly likely be seen by the Kremlin as a substantive political achievement and be portrayed to the Russian people as justifying the invasion,” the British Ministry of Defense said in a Saturday assessment.

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5befec0bb3c73dc5cd367e84404460b220b1f337/0_30_3500_2101/master/3500.jpg?width=465&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=33cde7f915dae70535a2b51fee58c6ec
A serviceman of the Donetsk People’s Republic walks on a damaged war memorial in Donetsk. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters.

Fighting continued Saturday around Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk, twin cites that are last major areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk province. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated that the situation in the east was “difficult” but expressed confidence his country would prevail with help from Western weapons and sanctions.

“If the occupiers think that Lyman or Sievierodonetsk will be theirs, they are wrong. Donbas will be Ukrainian,” he said.

On Tuesday, Russian troops took over Svitlodarsk, a small municipality south of Sievierodonetsk that hosts a thermal power station, while intensifying efforts to encircle and capture the larger city.

The governor of Luhansk had warned that Ukrainian soldiers might have to retreat from Sievierodonetsk to avoid being surrounded, but he said Saturday that they had repelled an attack.

“We managed to push back the Russians to their previous positions,” Gov. Serhii Haidai said. “However, they do not abandon their attempts to encircle our troops and disrupt logistics in the Luhansk region.”

The advance of Russian forces raised fears that residents would experience the same horrors as people in the southeastern port city Mariupol in the weeks before it fell.

Elvictor:


USA hates Russia so much that everything Russia is portray as evil in their media, and movies, US create imaginary enemies to make her citizens occupy.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66137681/lego_iss_international_space_station_007_32.5.jpg
https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/151/590x/NASA-astronauts-clash-with-Russian-cosmonauts-on-ISS-We-are-not-the-bad-guys-1615841.jpg
NASA astronauts clash with Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station: 'We are not the bad guys!.

Conflicts arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine are beginning to spill over onto space, with tensions growing between NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts on board the ISS.

A NASA astronaut who recently returned to Earth after a long stay onboard the ISS has suggested that tensions have been growing onboard the research station between Russian cosmonauts and US astronauts. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sours relations between NATO countries and the Kremlin, the ISS has largely been free from conflict, with some bizarre exceptions.

NASA and Roscosmos crew members even appeared to be friendly with each other, when last month NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn handed over the metaphorical (and ceremonial) keys to the ISS to Russian cosmonauts, as they descended back to Earth.

Mr Marshburn said during a webcast: "I think the lasting legacy of the space station is very likely to be international cooperation and a place of peace.

Meanwhile, cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev responded in English saying: "Thank you for the key, and thank you for the friendship."

However, it appears that things weren't always as cordial on the research station, according to astronaut Mark Vande Hei.

https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/151/590x/secondary/Mr-Vande-hei-would-disagree-with-Russian-on-some-topics-4089529.jpg
Mr Vande hei would disagree with Russians on some topics (Image: Bill Ingalls / NASA via Getty Images)

Mr Vande Hei recently returned from the ISS after spending a record 355 days onboard the orbital outpost and spoke to the Washington Post about his experience.

The astronaut noted that at some point, he would “poke holes” in the cosmonauts’ “logic,” suggesting that spacemen from both countries would sometimes disagree on certain issues.

However, he also admitted that he was forced to acknowledge American culture’s misrepresentation of Russian people, particularly in cinema.

These moments particularly came during the weekly movie night onboard the ISS, where astronauts from both camps would sit together to enjoy movies.

However, Hollywood stereotypes about Russians made the ritual awkward.

Mr Vande Hei said: “I realized at one point that all the bad guys were Russians.

“It kind of gives me chills even thinking about it because at one point, I looked at my cosmonaut crewmates and said, ‘How does that make you feel?’

“And they said, ‘It’s kind of scary when we see that everybody in the United States, the mass media in the United States, is portraying Russians as the bad guys.'”

He added that the crew adapted to these difficulties by adopting a strategy in which “everybody got a turn to pick a movie they’d seen and wanted to share with everybody else.”

https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/151/590x/secondary/Dmitry-Rogozin-threatened-to-abandon-Mr-Vande-Hei-4089534.jpg
Dmitry Rogozin threatened to abandon Mr Vande Hei. (Image: MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV / Sputnik / AFP via Getty Images)
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/30/science/30astronauts2/30astronauts2-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg
Astronauts and Cosmonauts may no longer enjoy movie nights together.

The NASA astronaut also noted that the movie nights were on a “previous flight,” which suggests that NASA and Roscosmos space voyagers are no longer watching movies together.

Mr Vande was previously at the centre of US-Russia tensions in space after a Russian official threatened to abandon him in space.

In a terrifying video posted to social media, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos, cast doubt over the astronaut's safety.

However, Roscosmos later backtracked, assuring NASA that they would uphold their promise and let the astronaut leave on board the Russian spacecraft.

https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/220329125138-nasa-vande-hei-and-cosmonauts-large-169.jpg
From left to right: Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov.

https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2022/05/1470/828/Russia-Tu-95-China-exercise.png?ve=1&tl=1
A Russian Tu-95 strategic bomber flies during Russian-Chinese military aerial exercises to patrol the Asia-Pacific region, at an unidentified location on Tuesday, May 24.

Russian and Chinese strategic Nuclear bombers encircled Japan and flew over the Sea of Japan as Joe Biden attended a Quad summit in Tokyo, in a joint exercise the Japanese government denounced as “unacceptable”.

The nuclear-capable bombers conducted a joint flight on Tuesday that began over the Sea of Japan as the US president was meeting his counterparts from Japan, Australia and India, Japanese and US officials said.

Moscow said the 13-hour flight was carried out “strictly in accordance with the provisions of international law” and was not directed against third countries. But Nobuo Kishi, Japan’s defence minister, condemned the exercise as “provocative” and “unacceptable”.

A US official said the exercise showed China was continuing military co-operation with Russia in the Indo-Pacific “even as Russia brutalises Ukraine”.

“It also shows that Russia will stand with China in the East and South China Seas, not with other Indo-Pacific states,” the official said.

Russia and China conducted joint nuclear bomber exercises over the Sea of Japan in 2019, 2020 and 2021, but Tuesday’s flight was the first time such a manoeuvre occurred with a US president in the region.

The exercises were held on the final day of Biden’s trip to Asia as he participated in a summit of the Quad — the security group of the US, Japan, Australia and India that China has criticised as an Asian “Nato”.

https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2022/05/1470/828/Russia-China-military-drill.png?ve=1&tl=1
A Russian TU-95 bomber and Chinese H-6 bombers fly over East China Sea on Tuesday, May 24. (Joint Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan/Handout/Reuters).

Chinese analysts have previously cited one purpose of the joint bomber patrols with Russia as warning the US against “stirring up trouble” with initiatives such as the Quad.

Russia’s defence minister said the Russian Tu-95MS strategic missile carriers and Chinese H-6 bombers had carried out air patrols over the Japan and East China Seas.

“The aircraft of both countries acted strictly in accordance with the provisions of international law,” the Russian ministry said. “There were no violations of the airspace of foreign states.”

The exercises were conducted as tensions mount over Taiwan, a democratic country over which China claims sovereignty. Over the past year, China has flown increasing large sorties of fighter jets and bombers close to Taiwan, in what US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has described as rehearsals for military action against the island.

Biden on Monday vowed to use military force to intervene if China attacked Taiwan. His comment appeared to overturn the US policy of “strategic ambiguity” in which Washington does not specify whether it would come to Taiwan’s defence.

Asked on Tuesday if his comments meant that “strategic ambiguity” was defunct, Biden said that “the policy has not changed at all”.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/05/24/world/24dc-chinarussia-01/24dc-chinarussia-01-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg

FT || Fox News || New York Times

IbrahimMav:
That woman wey do you dis tin eh, e no go beta for am.

abduleez1:
Yea. E be like say you no know as I don dey dream of her as Power Girl. But I no say e no fit happen.

I for just say make WB bring am come since we doing Multiverse now. The movie will make $1bn guaranteed just cos of her. Power Girl appearance alone is contributing $500mn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaRnlsyhD7M

RT.com || ABC News || TIME

The Sun UK || Sportbible

Kylian Mbappe...

- New 3 year deal
- 300 million signing bonus
- 100 million a year salary after tax
- Will help decide the coach
- Will have a say on the sporting director.
- Can approve signings and sales

Does this man own PSG or something?

✍️ Kylian Mbappé signing a new 3-year contract at PSG:

� €300M signing bonus
� €100M a year salary AFTER tax
� He will help decide the coach.
� He will have a say on the sporting director.
� He can approve signings and sales