Russia admits to loss of more than 1,300 troops in the month long war in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin insists on calling the conflict in Ukraine as a “special military operation.” It began on Feb. 24 and Russia has finally admitted to loos of its forces. U S News says more than 1,300 Russian troops have been killed. However, the figures are much less than the assessment of Western powers and Kyiv. Incidentally, an official of the Russian Ministry of Defense indicated the state would take care of rehabilitation of the families of soldiers who lost their lives in the war. Casualties will be there during wars and the United States. had lost 7,000 troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan. That was across two decades.

Russia conducted different methods to subdue Ukraine. However, it seems various issues have bogged down the plans. Some of these are a depletion of Russian armaments coupled with effective defenses of Ukraine. Putin took a decision to use more indiscriminate weaponry and siege tactics against dense civilian centers like Mariupol and the capital Kyiv. These have led to increased civilian casualties. There are concerns in some quarters about Russia going in for chemical weapons or biological warfare. It seems Putin could induct foreign fighters to carry out such attacks.


Source - U S News 25 March 2022.

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Russia-Ukraine war into its 23rd day

When Russia invaded Ukraine, it had presumed that it would be a cakewalk to conquer it. However, resistance offered by the people of Ukraine has forced the invader to rethink its strategies. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, had justified his action by saying that modern, Western-leaning Ukraine was a constant threat and Russia could not feel "safe, develop and exist." This is reported by The BBC. Ukraine became independent in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It has gradually tried to align with the West - both the EU and NATO. The war has gone on for 23 days with destruction of properties, loss of lives and displacement of millions of innocents. Those who once had homes became homeless and are now refugees.

Putin described the war as a "special military operation." Russia initially had plans to overrun Ukraine and depose its government. The intention was to ensure that it did not join the Western defensive alliance NATO. The Russian President had said there was no plan to occupy Ukraine but subsequent events revealed a different picture. The BBC says the bombardment continues. Peace talks tend to suggest Russia is no longer seeking to overthrow the government but will try for a neutral Ukraine.

Germany to mark 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall had been built around West Berlin in 1961 by the German Democratic Republic – in their terminology, it was called it the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart" and its main purpose was to prevent defections to the west.
However, on 9th November 1989, the first of the East Germans started to clamber across the divide into the west to bring to an end the great divide.
To commemorate the moment of the fall of the Berlin Wall, German Chancellor Angela Merkel would release 8000 balloons along a nine-mile stretch of the former concrete frontier. The time has been set for 7.18pm local time, the moment when the first men crossed over from the East to the West.
The Berlin Wall had been there for 28-years from 1961 to 1989 and had come to be a potent symbol of the Cold War with its watchtowers and so-called "death-strip" where an estimated 5,000 people risked their lives to escape the hardline regime. Cracks started to appear as a result of bloodless revolutions in Poland and Hungary that heralded the loosening of communism's grip in Eastern Europe.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gave momentum to the breakup by his policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). The 83-year-old Gorbachev is expected to be in Berlin to join the commemoration ceremonies. While referring to the current standoff between the west and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, he has indicated that such signs could be harbinger of bad tidings like a new Cold War.
Among the programs is a concert at the Brandenburg Gate and the reopening of a museum dedicated to the Wall.

Topless Femen protesters take to the streets as Putin and Porosheko meet in Milan

Topless Femen agitators have taken to the streets to protest the meeting of Putin and Poroshenko in Milan. It is a two-woman demonstration against Vladimir Putin theguardian.com - the two protesters stood in front of Milan’s cathedral and poured buckets of red wine over their bare tops – the red wine was symbolic of the blood of Ukrainian people.
The message on the chest of one woman was “Stop ignoring Ukrainian bloodshed” and her companion made direct reference to the two-day summit of more than 50 European and Asian leaders. The message on her chest was: “ASEM allies of Putin.”
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, are scheduled to meet at a breakfast on Friday morning. The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, will also host David Cameron, Angela Merkel, François Hollande and the top officials of the EU.
There are possibilities of Putin and Poroshenko meeting face-to-face in a separate bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit. It seems Poroshenko has reportedly said that the whole world had “high expectations” of his talks with Putin.

NATO pushing Russia to the brink with new sanctions

Despite mounting pressure on Russia to bring normalcy to the disturbed regions in east Ukraine, and the adamant attitude of Russia, NATO is formulating tough new measures that would be designed to halt Russian aggression in Ukraine news.sky.com. These would be unveiled on the second and final day of a NATO summit in Wales.
It is expected that both the United States and European Union would join hands and come together to announce a new round of coordinated economic sanctions against Russia. This has been reported by US and British government sources.
The proposed sanctions would include restrictions on some of the country's all important energy firms apart from travel restrictions.
Speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit, the Deputy White House national security adviser Ben Rhodes has indicated that the key point is that Russia must continue to face costs for its own escalation. Or, in short, if Russia escalates, the others would also escalate their pressure.
The conflict in Ukraine is set to top the agenda for the second day of the NATO summit, with western leaders accusing Russia of sending thousands of troops into the east of the country.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has cautioned that Russia's incursion into Ukraine poses the most serious security threat to Europe since the Cold War – of course, Moscow has consistently denied about any direct military involvement in Ukraine.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, US President Barack Obama and other senior NATO leaders have already met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko who has announced plans to order a ceasefire. His condition is that a peace plan should be agreed upon during separate talks in Minsk which would be attended by representatives from Ukraine, Russia and pro-Russian rebel forces.,br> Incidentally, Russian President Vladimir Putin has also expressed hopes that a truce will come into force later, two days after he unveiled his own seven-point peace plan.
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10 Russian soldiers caught in Donetsk - Russia says: they must have crossed the border by mistake

Russia is continuing to insist that it has not sent any military into Ukraine but the fact remains that ten Russian soldiers were found in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine and have been detained edition.cnn.com. The country's Security Service has confirmed this even as tensions simmered over the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels.
These 10 Russian soldiers were captured with documents and weapons on them and this automatically shows that Russia is not making correct statements – it has repeatedly denied claims by Kiev that it has sent troops and weapons over the border into Ukraine, where the Ukrainian military is fighting pro-Russian rebels.
The explanation offered by Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency quoting a source in the Russian Defense Ministry is that the soldiers had been patrolling the border and must have crossed the border by accident at an unmarked point.
This latest development comes as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, meet for the first time since June in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, for trade talks related to the Eurasian Customs Union. This is a trade bloc made up of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Senior European Union officials, headed by EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton, are also present in Minsk for the summit.
Some more similar reports ...
UN report reveals that over 3000 killed in Ukraine violence
NATO pushing Russia to the brink with new sanctions
Ukraine and Iraq high on agenda of NATO talks
EU pushing Russia into a corner on Ukraine issue with threats of more sanctions
Pro-Russian activists force Ukraine troops to abandon Luhansk airport
Setback for Ukraine as pro-Russia separatists take over coastal town of Novoazovsk
Poroshenko cancels visit to Turkey because of Russian troop deployments in Ukraine
Russia hoodwinks Ukraine – sends military equipment in guise of humanitarian aid