Omnibus Russia Ukraine crisis

[Ron in Regina]

Ok, so maybe (but probably not?) Kaliningrad is joining NATO? Or it’s not joining NATO like Ukraine isn’t joining NATO? Kind of a Nope-ATO?

Is NATO signing a deal.......suckers!

So, who’s the suckers in your statement?

PS…Nice boat there North Korea, etc…it will come to active duty sometime next year.

Anyway, Kaliningrad is a strategically important Russian port city on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, located in Kaliningrad region. It is a territory separate from the rest of Russia and bordered by NATOmembers Lithuania and Poland.

Patrushev alleged that NATO forces are actively rehearsing for the region's capture under the guise of routine military exercises in the Baltic Sea, etc…& are NATO forces actually rehearsing for the region’s capture (?) or is this just more bullshit in a “Look over There!” Sort’a thing?

Meanwhile, in a show of force, Russia carried out military drills off Kaliningrad's coast in recent weeks, practicing using hypersonic missiles to repel a simulated air and sea assault. Does Kaliningrad have Rare Earth Metals that Trump wants or something? Is that where you’re going here?

Russia and Belarus are planning to conduct a joint strategic exercise this fall dubbed Zapad 2025. It is expected to "simulate a large-scale conflict with NATO and will likely feature cyberattacks, nuclear signaling, and pressure across the Baltic Sea and High North," according to the Center for European Policy Analysis think tank, etc…

So what’s the point? Russia isn’t gonna give up this chunk of ground from the sounds of it, so this is just a bunch of posturing and flexing on everybody’s part?

 

[petros]

Kiss Kaliningrad good bye. Hello Lithuania. ( I love kalina jelly aka high bush cranberry)

There are no deals Ron, it just beginning.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Kiss Kaliningrad good bye. Hello Lithuania.

Who’s kissing Kaliningrad good bye? NATO? Russia? Botswana?

 

[petros]

Who’s kissing Kaliningrad good bye? NATO? Russia? Botswana?

Botswana. In all these talks and deals, where is NATO? Eating freeze dried burrito MREs? Canada is in deep. Command deep.

 

[Twin_Moose]

The deal was finally signed

NOELREPORTS
@NOELreports
·
6h
Just after the signing of the mineral deal, Trump administration approves first $50M arms sale to Ukraine through direct commercial sales (DCS). The move signals continued U.S. support despite calls for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

 

[Taxslave2]

Eating freeze dried burrito MREs? Canada is in deep. Command deep.

Do the MREs come with free menstruation products for the male soldiers that menstruate?

 

[Taxslave2]

The deal was finally signed

NOELREPORTS
@NOELreports
·
6h
Just after the signing of the mineral deal, Trump administration approves first $50M arms sale to Ukraine through direct commercial sales (DCS). The move signals continued U.S. support despite calls for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

More weapons for the good guys sounds fairly diplomatic to me.

 

[Twin_Moose]

Whole bodied F-16's sent to Ukraine for parts

Guy Plopsky
@GuyPlopsky
·23h
1/ "Non-operational F-16s are being pulled from the boneyard and sent to Ukraine to support the growing fleet of European-donated fighters that the country is now using in combat against Russia."

 

[spaminator]

Putin says he hopes there will be no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published May 04, 2025 • 3 minute read

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen and that he hopes it will not.


In comments aired Sunday in a film by Russian state television about his quarter of a century in power, Putin said Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion.”

Responding to a question about Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, Putin said: “There has been no need to use those (nuclear) weapons … and I hope they will not be required.”

“We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires,” he said.

Putin signed a revamped version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine in November 2024, spelling out the circumstances that allow him to use Moscow’s atomic arsenal, the world’s largest. That version lowered the bar, giving him that option in response to even a conventional attack backed by a nuclear power.

In the film, Putin also said Russia did not launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine — what he called a “special military operation” — in 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea, because it was “practically unrealistic.”


“The country was not ready for such a frontal confrontation with the entire collective West,” he said. He claimed also that Russia “sincerely sought to solve the problem of Donbas by peaceful means.”

Putin said that reconciliation with Ukraine was “inevitable.”

11 wounded in attacks on Kyiv, 2 killed elsewhere

Russia and Ukraine, however, remain are at odds over competing ceasefire proposals.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday, in comments made public Saturday, that Moscow’s announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War II is merely an attempt to create a “soft atmosphere” ahead of Russia’s annual celebrations.

Zelenskyy instead renewed calls for a more substantial 30-day pause in hostilities, as the U.S. had initially proposed. He said the proposed ceasefire could start anytime as a meaningful step toward ending the war.


The Kremlin said the truce was on humanitarian grounds and will run from the start of May 8 and last through the end of May 10 to mark Moscow’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 — Russia’s biggest secular holiday.

A Russian drone attack overnight on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, wounded 11 people, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Sunday. Two children were among the wounded.

The attack woke up Valentyna Fesiuk, an 83-year-old resident of Kyiv’s Obolon district.

“I was just sleeping when the house shook,” said Valentyna Fesiuk, an 83-year-old resident of Kyiv’s Obolon district. “It was at 12:30. An apartment on the 12th floor caught fire,” she told The Associated Press.

Another resident, Viacheslav Khotab, saw his car burning. “I was covered with broken glass,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything.”

The 54-year-old was frustrated with stalled peace negotiations: “They can’t agree on anything, and we are the ones who suffer the consequences.”


Daryna Kravchuk, an 18-year-old student in the district, described how “five to six minutes after the air raid was activated, we heard a strong impact, everything started shaking. … There were three strikes almost in a row after the air raid was activated.”

“It’s very scary to witness, we have been suffering from this for so long. People are just suffering all the time. … It’s still very hard to see our country constantly being destroyed,” she told the AP.

Two people were killed by Russian guided bombs Sunday, one each in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions, local officials said.

Russia fired a total of 165 exploding drones and decoys overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. Of those, 69 were intercepted and a further 80 lost, likely having been electronically jammed. Russia also launched two ballistic missiles.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 13 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Putin says he hopes there will be no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen and that he hopes it will not.

torontosun.com

 

[petros]

Putin says he hopes he survives to see Labour Day.
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published May 04, 2025 • 3 minute read

FIFY

 

[Taxslave2]

FIFY

I hope he doesn't.

 

[petros]

 

[Ron in Regina]

Moscow has previously said that before considering a ceasefire, the West must first halt its military aid to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Ukraine to take part in "direct talks" on 15 May, hours after European leaders urged Moscow to agree to a 30-day ceasefire.

In a rare televised late-night address from the Kremlin, Putin said Russia was seeking "serious negotiations" aimed at "moving towards a lasting, strong peace".

Earlier on Saturday, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer travelled to Kyiv with counterparts from France, Germany and Poland to put pressure on Russia to commit to an unconditional ceasefire, starting Monday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said Moscow would "have to think this through" - but warned that "trying to pressure us is quite useless".

Zelensky says Russia considering end to war a 'positive sign' — BBC News

The Ukrainian president reiterates calls for a 30-day ceasefire after Vladimir Putin offered "direct talks".

apple.news

 

[Ron in Regina]

Moscow has previously said that before considering a ceasefire, the West must first halt its military aid to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited Ukraine to take part in "direct talks" on 15 May, hours after European leaders urged Moscow to agree to a 30-day ceasefire.

“As President Trump has repeatedly stated, if both parties agree to a cease-fire, the United States will continue to help ensure longstanding peace,” a White House official said, confirming the call to The Post.

The lack of movement on the peace talks has increasingly frustrated Trump and his foreign policy team. Vice President JD Vance said this week that Russia was asking for “too much,” including territory it hasn’t conquered yet.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was open to the 30-day cease-fire — but that there were “nuances” that needed to be discussed, according to state-run media.

“As soon as it was advanced by [the Trump administration], it was supported by President Putin with the reservation that it is very difficult to discuss this in detail if no answers are found to a large number of nuances around the notion of a cease-fire,” Peskov said Friday.

Trump, European leaders threaten 'massive' sanctions if Putin doesn't accept 30-day cease-fire by Monday — New York Post

President Trump and European leaders are demanding Russian President Vladimir Putin agree to a 30-day cease-fire starting Monday.

apple.news

 

[spaminator]

Harvard researcher charged with trying to smuggle frog embryos into United States
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Michael Casey
Published May 14, 2025 • 3 minute read

This undated photo provided by Polina Pugacheva in April 2025 shows Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist who was a researcher at Harvard University.
This undated photo provided by Polina Pugacheva in April 2025 shows Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist who was a researcher at Harvard University.
BOSTON — A Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher, who was already facing deportation back to Russia, was charged Wednesday with trying to smuggle frog embryos into the country.


Kseniia Petrova, 30, was sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana after her February arrest. She continues to await a judge’s decision on whether she will be deported to Russia, where she fears she will be imprisoned or worse. A hearing on her case was held Wednesday in Vermont.

But in the case’s latest twist, federal prosecutors charged her with one count of smuggling goods into the United States. It says she was taken into custody Wednesday. If convicted, Petrova faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

A lawyer for Petrova could not be reached for comment. It is unclear if she is being moved from the ICE facility.

Petrova had been vacationing in France, where she stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples to be used for research.


As she passed through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Boston Logan International Airport, Petrova was questioned about the samples. Petrova told The Associated Press in an interview last month that she didn’t realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak in anything. After an interrogation, Petrova was told her visa was being cancelled.

“The truth is on my side,” said Petrova, who spoke with the AP in a video call from the Louisiana ICE detention centre in Monroe.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on the social platform X that Petrova was detained after “lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.” They allege messages on her phone “revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.”


Federal prosecutors said Petrova was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents after a law enforcement canine alerted them to her checked duffle bag. Upon inspection, the frog embryos were discovered in a foam box. She initially denied carrying any biological material in her checked baggage, prosecutors said, but later acknowledged it.

Petrova’s boss and mentor, Leon Peshkin, said in an interview last month that the samples were not in any way dangerous or biohazardous.

“I don’t think she did anything wrong,” Peshkin told the AP. “But even if she did, at most she should have gotten a warning or maybe a fine of up to $500.”

Harvard said in a statement that the university “continues to monitor the situation.”


Petrova told the AP that she left her country to avoid conflict or possible political repression. She fled after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, marking the start of a bloody three-year war.

“If I go back, I am afraid I will be imprisoned because of my political position and my position against war,” Petrova said.

Petrova’s case is being closely watched by the scientific community, with some fearing it could impact recruiting and retaining foreign scientists at U.S. universities.

“I think that there is a wrong perception that foreign scientists are somehow privileged to be in the United States. I feel it’s the opposite,” Peshkin said. “Foreign scientists come here with gifts … they are highly skilled experts who are in demand. They enrich the American scientific community.”

Harvard researcher charged with trying to smuggle frog embryos into United States

Kseniia Petrova, 30, was sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana after her February arrest.

torontosun.com

 

[Ron in Regina]

 

[petros]

Harvard researcher charged with trying to smuggle frog embryos into United States
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Michael Casey
Published May 14, 2025 • 3 minute read

This undated photo provided by Polina Pugacheva in April 2025 shows Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist who was a researcher at Harvard University.
This undated photo provided by Polina Pugacheva in April 2025 shows Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist who was a researcher at Harvard University.
BOSTON — A Russian-born scientist and Harvard University researcher, who was already facing deportation back to Russia, was charged Wednesday with trying to smuggle frog embryos into the country.


Kseniia Petrova, 30, was sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana after her February arrest. She continues to await a judge’s decision on whether she will be deported to Russia, where she fears she will be imprisoned or worse. A hearing on her case was held Wednesday in Vermont.

But in the case’s latest twist, federal prosecutors charged her with one count of smuggling goods into the United States. It says she was taken into custody Wednesday. If convicted, Petrova faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

A lawyer for Petrova could not be reached for comment. It is unclear if she is being moved from the ICE facility.

Petrova had been vacationing in France, where she stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples to be used for research.


As she passed through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint in Boston Logan International Airport, Petrova was questioned about the samples. Petrova told The Associated Press in an interview last month that she didn’t realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak in anything. After an interrogation, Petrova was told her visa was being cancelled.

“The truth is on my side,” said Petrova, who spoke with the AP in a video call from the Louisiana ICE detention centre in Monroe.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on the social platform X that Petrova was detained after “lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country.” They allege messages on her phone “revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them.”


Federal prosecutors said Petrova was stopped by Customs and Border Protection agents after a law enforcement canine alerted them to her checked duffle bag. Upon inspection, the frog embryos were discovered in a foam box. She initially denied carrying any biological material in her checked baggage, prosecutors said, but later acknowledged it.

Petrova’s boss and mentor, Leon Peshkin, said in an interview last month that the samples were not in any way dangerous or biohazardous.

“I don’t think she did anything wrong,” Peshkin told the AP. “But even if she did, at most she should have gotten a warning or maybe a fine of up to $500.”

Harvard said in a statement that the university “continues to monitor the situation.”


Petrova told the AP that she left her country to avoid conflict or possible political repression. She fled after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, marking the start of a bloody three-year war.

“If I go back, I am afraid I will be imprisoned because of my political position and my position against war,” Petrova said.

Petrova’s case is being closely watched by the scientific community, with some fearing it could impact recruiting and retaining foreign scientists at U.S. universities.

“I think that there is a wrong perception that foreign scientists are somehow privileged to be in the United States. I feel it’s the opposite,” Peshkin said. “Foreign scientists come here with gifts … they are highly skilled experts who are in demand. They enrich the American scientific community.”

Harvard researcher charged with trying to smuggle frog embryos into United States

Kseniia Petrova, 30, was sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana after her February arrest.

torontosun.com

Has she been to Australia?

 

[Ron in Regina]

Ukraine's military intelligence agency said on Sunday Russia planned to conduct a "training and combat" launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile to intimidate Ukraine and the West.


The overnight launch was ordered to be implemented from Russia's Sverdlovsk region, the GUR agency said in a statement on the Telegram app. It added the flight range for the missile was more than 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles).

"In order to demonstratively pressure and intimidate Ukraine, and also EU and NATO member states, the aggressor state of Russia intends to make a ‘training and combat’ launch of the RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missile from the Yars complex," GUR said in the statement.

There was no immediate comment from Russia on the Ukrainian military intelligence statement.

Russia plans to launch intercontinental ballistic missile, Kyiv says — Reuters

Ukraine's military intelligence agency said on Sunday Russia planned to conduct a "training and combat" launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile to intimidate Ukraine and the West.

apple.news

Ukraine is under enormous pressure as Russia seeks frontline gains in the Ukrainian east, and diplomatic efforts to end the war have so far yielded no results.

(YouTube & Russia launches largest drone attack of the war on Ukraine)

 

[Taxslave2]

Some friends are Visiting Ukraine right now. Spent some time with google earth and found they are far to the west.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Ukraine is under enormous pressure as Russia seeks frontline gains in the Ukrainian east, and diplomatic efforts to end the war have so far yielded no results.

President Donald Trump has grown “frustrated" with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the White House said Monday ahead of separate calls Trump is holding in hopes of making progress toward a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.

Trump call with Putin underway as he hopes for ceasefire progress in Russia-Ukraine war — The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has grown “frustrated

apple.news

Trump expressed his hopes for a “productive day” Monday — and a ceasefire — in a social media post over the weekend. His effort will also include calls to NATO leaders. But ahead of the call, Vice President JD Vance said Trump is “more than open” to walking away from trying to end the war if he feels Putin isn't serious about negotiation.

Putin outlined Russia's terms for a ceasefire and negotiations in June 2024. He said that Russia must be allowed to keep all the land it occupies, and be handed all of the provinces that it claims but does not fully control. He also said that Ukraine must officially end its plans to join NATO. Further, he demanded that the international community recognize Russia's annexations and lift their sanctions against it.

Trump has struggled to end a war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022, while the world was distracted by the Ottawa parking kerfuffle and Trudeau clown show in response, and that makes these conversations a serious test of his reputation as a deal maker after having claimed he would quickly settle the conflict once he was back in the White House, if not even before he took office.

Bridget Brink said she resigned last month as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine "because the policy since the beginning of the administration was to put pressure on the victim Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia.”

Brink said the sign that she needed to depart was an Oval Office meeting in February where Trump and his team openly berated Zelenskyy for not being sufficiently deferential to them.

“I believe that peace at any price is not peace at all,” Brink said. “It’s appeasement, and as we know from history, appeasement only leads to more war.”

In January 2024, Putin again made statements which suggested, according to the Institute for the Study of War, that his "maximalist objectives in Ukraine" remained unchanged, "which are tantamount to full Ukrainian and Western surrender". He again called for the overthrow of the Ukrainian government.