Киев не отменил свою ночную атаку на объекты в России, это идет вразрез с усилиями по мирному урегулированию Путина и Трампа, отметил Песков.
При этом команда президента России о прекращении атак по объектам инфраструктуры Украины была незамедлительно исполнена, подчеркнул он.
Сейчас власти России внимательно наблюдают, прислушается ли Киев к намерению Москвы и Вашингтона сделать все возможное для выхода в мирное русло.
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Атаки Украины на энергетическую инфраструктуру России — подготовленная провокация для срыва мирных инициатив президента США, заявили в Минобороны РФ.
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Trump issues WW3 warning and says Americans 'could' be dragged into Ukraine war if it escalates - as Russia and Kyiv trade attacks hours after he agreed infrastructure ceasefire in Putin call
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ВС РФ после приказа Путина о прекращении ударов по энергетической инфраструктуре Украины обезвредили свои же дроны, заявили в Минобороны.
◾️в воздухе находилось семь БПЛА, нацеленных на украинские энергообъекты в Николаевской области, связанные с ВПК. Шесть из них сбили «Панцирем», один — истребителем ВКС;
◾️Киев через несколько часов после завершения переговоров Путина и Трампа атаковал тремя дронами объект энергетической инфраструктуры в станице Кавказской;
◾️объект обеспечивает перевалку нефти в трубопроводную систему Каспийского трубопроводного консорциума;
◾️при падении БПЛА произошла разгерметизация резервуара с возгоранием на 1,7 тыс. кв. м, идёт тушение;
◾️в Минобороны РФ назвали действия киевского режима специально подготовленной провокацией, направленной на срыв мирных инициатив Трампа.
JFK FILES RELEASED: What's inside? | LiveNOW from FOX.
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JFK Assassination-Related Records: What is Currently Available Online. What’s Newly Digitized?
The records of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, more commonly known as the “Warren Commission,” are actively being digitized. These records include administrative records pertaining to the Commission’s investigation and compilation of their report, records received by the Commission from federal agencies, and drafts and proofs of the final report and hearings of the Commission. The Commission records also include artifacts, photographs, and recordings. Many of these records are now available in the National Archives Catalog.
President John F Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally, and others smile at the crowds lining their motorcade route in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Minutes later the President was assassinated as his car passed through Dealey Plaza.
Records of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (the Warren Commission), 1954–1965
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President Putin has outplayed President Trump – now it is not just Ukraine that is at stake
Editorial: The Washington and Moscow phone call represents a historic geopolitical shift in the world order – one that goes beyond any previous thawing of relations between the two countries. It is also a confirmation of Europe’s worst fears.
An exchange of 175 prisoners of war and some wounded soldiers, talks covering Iran and Israel, Russia’s “legitimate interests” in the field of security and “expert groups” convened to discuss an eventual peace settlement over Ukraine. Even ice hockey games.
There was plenty of ground that presidents Trump and Putin covered during their 90-minute discussion – but only a limited ceasefire, for a month, covering energy and infrastructure, coupled with a proposal to end the flow of arms and intelligence to Ukraine. President Putin has given the least he could possibly get away with to President Trump without actually saying “nyet”. The fighting on the front line goes on.
Nothing that has emerged about Trump’s phone call with Vladimir Putin – one that reportedly went “very well” – suggests that the Russian president is in any hurry to settle the war he started three years ago.
Mr Trump certainly does want to put a stop to the fighting he used to boast he could end “within 24 hours”. However, if President Putin wants to play for time, and President Trump is reluctant to exert any serious pressure on him, then the ceasefire will just have to wait. Not indefinitely, perhaps, but at the pleasure of the Kremlin.
Even with the resumption of US military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, the Russian “meat grinder”, augmented with North Korean cannon fodder, will probably continue to help Russia make modest gains on the ground in the short run. Certainly, its Chinese and Iranian friends are as willing as ever to supply materials and bust the sanctions.
Following the phone call, presidents Trump and Putin can be said to have more in common than that which divides them. Both want to end the war, albeit on slightly different terms and timescale. Both want to normalise Russian-American relations. Both are “strongmen” – impatient, if not contemptuous, of democracy and “European” liberal values.
The historic geopolitical shift that the Trump-Putin call represents goes beyond any previous thawing of relations between the two countries, during either the 1970s era of detente or since the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. Everything that has happened since Donald Trump was elected last November – from the bust-up in the Oval Office with Volodymyr Zelensky to the warmth of the US-Russia relationship – is a mere confirmation of Europe’s worst fears.
In such a context, things were never going to go well for Ukraine and its European allies. And so it seems to be proving.
We should also bear in mind at this juncture how poignant this situation is for President Zelensky. As always in this peace process, it is worth taking a step back and realising the full enormity of what is unfolding before us. The people of Ukraine, victims of unprovoked and bestial military aggression, are having their country and its “assets” dismembered by the leaders of both Russia and the United States, with their president reduced to a mere bystander, at best. Imagine any country being asked to accept that its land, people and resources be carved up by others – and that if it didn’t like the outcome, it would be forced to fight to the death and almost certain extinction.
Putin is plainly negotiating on his own behalf, with maximalist demands for territory and material assets, with time on his side militarily. He can do so safe in the knowledge that Mr Trump is desperate for a deal – virtually any deal, so that he can proceed with normalising relations with Russia, an outrageous appeasement – and, however fancifully, chasing a Nobel Peace Prize
Equally clearly, the personal interests of President Trump and those of the United States are not aligned with those of Ukraine. If they were, then these talks might have some hope of approximating an end to the conflict that would guarantee future security for Ukraine, rather than enshrine an unjust peace.
Trump has already delivered to Putin victory from the jaws of Russia’s impending defeat. As the former British secretary Ben Wallace has rightly said, the Russian economy is probably about a year away from collapse. Putin has lost more than 800,000 soldiers so far – a substantial figure, even for a country like Russia where life is cheap.
It is not just Ukraine that is at stake as President Putin outplays President Trump. Democracy, freedom, international law, the rules-based post-war system, and the Atlantic Alliance all stand in jeopardy as America slides towards authoritarianism. America is thus a loser, too, sacrificing its role as the leader of the free world, its closest international friends and allies, and even its self-respect in favour of a supposed friendship with the most untrustworthy man on the planet and his small, corrupt, kleptomaniac economy.
Mr Trump, astonishingly, has hinted at a new three-way axis, running from Washington through Moscow to Beijing, with himself, President Putin and President Xi as a modern-day Big Three. Mr Trump seems not to be entirely able to make his mind up about China, slapping tariffs on it at the same time as inviting President Xi to the inaugural festivities. But it may be that Taiwan, like Ukraine, will be another loser in this more chaotic, irrational and uncivilised new world order.
European unity no longer feels like an option, but an imperative.
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Ukraine left hamstrung by Trump-Putin talks – and can’t agree to their plan.
The apparent olive branch offered by Moscow after lengthy talks on Tuesday in fact suits the Kremlin tactically, writes world affairs editor Sam Kiley.
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have agreed to shackle Ukraine after hours of talking on the telephone over ceasefire terms, which won’t work but are intended to further divide Ukraine and Europe from the White House.
“The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace,” the White House said in a statement about the call.
The Kremlin added: “It was emphasised that the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working towards its resolution by political and diplomatic means should be a complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv.”
So there has not been a Russian agreement to a ceasefire. But if there is to be one, then all foreign military and intelligence assistance has to stop.
That means the Anglo-French efforts to create a coalition of the willing to back Ukraine and support a long-term peace with military muscle must stop. US assistance must stop, again. All intelligence sharing, by both the US and other Nato members, must also be ended. Ukraine, Russia has demanded, must be hog-tied, muzzled and blinded before substantial talks can begin.
The “terms” set out by the conversation will lead to talks being started almost immediately in the Middle East.
Who will attend them is a tricky question to answer as Ukraine cannot accept the Kremlin’s demands. And Europe has already set about dividing itself from the American security structures after Trump’s infidelity to America’s allies.
In what initially looks like an olive leaf, the Kremlin said that Putin had immediately issued orders to his forces to end attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Kyiv, Washington and Moscow may believe, should do the same.
This suits the Kremlin tactically. Ukraine has been staggeringly effective in attacking the energy infrastructure of Russia’s military. A pause in those long-range assaults on gas lines, pool refineries and other energy nodes is essential for Russia while it sets about reinforcing its efforts to continue to plough into Ukraine.
Neither the White House nor the Kremlin has mentioned any concessions on the part of Russia.
Worse still, from Ukraine’s point of view, is continued talks – between Russia and the US – on a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea.
Ukraine has largely won the battle for the Black Sea. It sunk the Moskva, Russia’s greatest battleship, and has driven its fleet out of the area where it skulks in Russian ports. A ceasefire in the Black Sea will give Russia time to manoeuvre its fleet into an attacking formation, without fear.
Ukraine and Europe will reject the results of these talks but welcome the continued process. It’s nothing but a distraction and will buy time for Europe, the UK, Canada, Australia and much of the civilised world to put together enough support for Ukraine to allow Kyiv to continue to defend democracy in the West – without America.
Anti-plague amulets and IOUs: the excavation that brings Roman London thundering back to life
With sandals that look fresher than last year’s Birkenstocks, gossipy messages recovered from writing tablets and 73,000 shards of pottery, London Museum’s new collection is like falling head-first into the first century
Archaeologists don’t always get lucky when a site is redeveloped in the middle of London. People have been building in the city for millennia and, in more recent times, bombing it. But if the building before went too deep, or there has been too much exposure to the air by bomb damage in the past, there won’t be much to find. Things were especially bad before 1991, when there was no planning protection for anything but scheduled ancient monuments. “We used to have to beg to get on site,” says Sophie Jackson, archaeologist at Museum of London Archaeology (Mola).
It’s not that developers are insensitive, says Jackson: “When we did the excavation at Barts hospital, [it] was functioning above us – we were right under the MRI machines. Developers recognise the social value.” It’s just that the stars don’t often align.
But when Bloomberg, the financial media company, acquired the Bank junction site in 2010, the stars were aligned. Before this excavation, I’m afraid, I conformed to the gender stereotype and rarely thought about the Roman empire. Since I saw London Museum’s new, unparalleled, internationally seismic collection, I have thought of little else. A total of 14,000 objects, 81,000 fragments of animal bones and 73,000 shards of pottery were recovered from this single site – the largest acquisition the museum has ever had from one place. Some items will be on display from 2026 at what used to be the site of Smithfield meat market.
Geography mattered on the Bloomberg site in the heart of the City, close to the Bank of England. The Walbrook, a lost river of London, had carved a deep valley into the landscape and the Romans constantly tried to reclaim the banks as the city grew and prospered. They did this by packing the ground with rubbish, building on it, then packing it again, three more times, so there is a stratigraphical layer cake of Roman trash going almost all the way back to London’s creation, in AD47 or 48. The river also waterlogged the ground, protecting the material from oxygen: leather, brooches, shoes, writing tablets, wood, animal bones and ceramics were all phenomenally well preserved. There are sandals that look fresher than last year’s Birkenstocks.
Site B2Y10 – to give it its academic name – was previously occupied by Legal and General, which dug deep in the 1950s, to create the biggest post-blitz rebuild in the City. Excavating archaeologists found the third-century Temple of Mithras, and oral histories from Londoners who witnessed the find in 1954 recall a magical atmosphere, when the secrets of the ancient past met the regeneration of the postwar present to create a sense of enormous hope and renewal. People queued for hours to see the temple. One woman who was pregnant at the time called her baby Mithra. As significant as that archaeological yield was, it was pretty haphazard – workers on the site were just picking things up and handing them in.
The Legal and General building had huge double basements, except on one side, where they had had to stay shallow for fear of jeopardising a Christopher Wren church on the opposite corner. “We were so excited by that single basement,” Jackson says. “We knew that in the layer underneath, that they hadn’t dug into, a lot of material would have survived.” Across 150 years of previous Roman recoveries in London, 19 writing tablets were found in total. In this one find, there were 400, of which 80 have already been deciphered. These are wooden frames, with an inset writing area about “the size of a Ryvita”, which would be filled with black wax, then written on.
The wax has long degraded, but you might get lucky with a heavy-handed scribe and be able to read the indented text on the wood beneath. Or it might be a palimpsest, an original script overwritten at a later date, and you’ll see fragments of numerous messages, obscuring each other. The first tablet they read, dated 8 January AD57, was a financial document – an IOU. “They were amazing bureaucrats, the Romans,” Jackson says. “And it’s nice for Bloomberg, isn’t it?”
The team managed to recover the names of 100 Roman Londoners we had never heard of. “One tablet says, ‘Take this to someone’s house, it’s by the house of Catalus.’ It really struck me. These people had their city, as much as we have it as our city,” Jackson says. “There’s a really gossipy one,” says curator Meriel Jeater, “a bloke who’s writing to someone called Titus: ‘Everybody’s talking about you in the market, saying you’ve lent them money. You’ve done a really bad deal; you shouldn’t appear shabby.’”
Alan Pipe, Mola’s animal bones specialist, shows me some skeletal remains on which “every tool mark, every nick made by a butcher’s knife” is visible. He could almost recreate a day in the life – or certainly the meals – of a Roman Londoner. Many of the bones are from cows, pigs and sheep; there are others from chickens but fewer. Chickens only appeared in the UK during the iron age, and were not regularly consumed until the third century. Hares and other game, as well as fish, give us an overall picture of the diet.
You can gauge the skeletal age of the beasts from scores of amazingly preserved mandibles (lower jaws) and how worn the biting surfaces of the teeth are, Pipe explains. If a pig died at a year old, you can infer an amount of animal husbandry and agriculture. He shows me chunks of bone resultant from “splitting and smashing, way beyond what’s necessary for butchery”. This was probably for boiling and grease extraction.
You can also cross-reference these bones with other items found in the same layer, and archaeologically date the whole lot with associated finds – with ceramics in particular, as the techniques and ingredients evolved quite quickly and distinctively. You can pinpoint an era more precisely from a shard, sometimes, than from a coin, which may still have been in use 40 years after it was minted. Dendrochronology (dating by analysing tree trunk rings) is better still because trees would have been built into a building, so you can pinpoint it to the year. Sure, if some helpful Roman wrote the actual date on to a tablet, that works as well.
Mola’s senior finds specialist, Michael Marshall, has 750 pairs of Roman shoes believed to date from the second half of the first century AD. The Claudian invasion (that is, the main Roman invasion in AD43, led by Claudius) brought new Mediterranean styles and materials, such as a dainty flip-flop – the adults’ hobnailed, the children’s not. You can see evidence of a big military presence – the paraphernalia of war, the ceramic leftovers of those catering to thirsty soldiers.
There is plenty of evidence of people living very comfortable, good lives in the centre of London in AD50: the shoes are finely made, and there are gradations of material and craft in the pottery, which suggests some people were already considerably wealthier than others. There are a number of face pots (domestic pots with facial features carved into or applied on to them), for example, some of which are very crude, others exquisitely detailed. One depicts a woman with complicated hair and is thought to represent a maenad, a female follower of Bacchus, god of wine, who were associated with divine frenzy. There are a lot of snakes on the ceramics, representing agriculture, hope, rebirth and fertility, and also suggesting cultural cross-pollination with the European continent and people moving between one place and another – almost as if they had invented freedom of movement by the first century AD. There was also slavery – there are shackles in the find, too.
Then there are anomalies that tell us something about the limits of Roman understanding. Jackson shows me a black, pebble-like object with three indentations on it, in which someone has tried to make a hole, to turn it into a pendant. Finding the material unnaturally unyielding, the Romans decided these were “solidified thunderbolts”, she says. “It’s so interesting to think of Romans doing archaeology themselves.” Not very well, mind; it wasn’t a solidified thunderbolt, it was a neolithic hand-axe made of obsidian.
It’s a reminder that we modern humans are also capable of misreading the signs. In the 1954 excavation, for example, they found beads that were assumed to have been worn by a woman, but here, those same beads and amulets were found still on their original strings, alongside other material that indicates they were worn by a horse. “It might have been a lady horse,” Marshall allows. Horses wore amulets covered in sexual imagery – such as fist-and-phallus amulets, with a clenched fist gesture at one end and an unmetaphorical phallus at the other, which was thought to ward off the evil eye. Children also wore amulets to ward off plague.
As Jackson says, these people had their London as much as we have ours. A trove this size, when it goes on display next year, offers not so much a glimpse of the past as an immersion into it. It’s like falling head-first into the first century – in so much detail you can almost smell it.
«Первый пошёл»: слухи о сбитии F-16.
Сегодня вечером распространились сообщения о том, что украинский истребитель F-16 был сбит над Сумской областью.
Хотя официально информацию пока не подтверждали, многочисленные свидетельства указывают на её высокую достоверность. По данным источников, летчик также ликвидирован, а сам самолет фактически открывает счет боевым успехам наших пилотов и операторов ПВО в борьбе с американскими самолетами.
И, после появления данных объективного контроля (чего все очень ждут), инцидент станет очередным ударом по репутации западных оборонных корпораций.
📌Подробности операции пока остаются вне освещения, но полагаем, что была организована засада. Вчера F-16 активно летал над Сумами, и его повторное появление читалось на этом направлении.
Вероятно, поближе к границе был перетянут расчет ЗРК С-400. После взлета истребителя, зафиксированного РЛС, и появления вблизи границ наш пилот Су-35 взял его на контроль бортовой радиолокационной станцией, то есть подсветил, а расчетам С-400 уже осталось только поразить мишень.
❗️Полет F-16 с высокой вероятностью осуществлялся (https://t.me/rybar/68256) с аэродрома Васильков. При работе на Курском направлении они взлетают оттуда и, как правило, действуют над окрестностями Сум, прикрывая на удалении МиГ-29. И, видимо, в этот момент и был «пойман» F-16.
So bold are Putin’s ceasefire demands, it’s hard to believe he is entirely serious.
The extraordinary demands of the Russian leader to weaken Ukraine would make a mockery of any peace deal
Donald Trump began his conversation with Vladimir Putin with a simple demand: a 30-day ceasefire on land, sea and air which Ukraine has already signed up to, as an initial measure on which to build towards a peace.
Instead, what the US president got from Putin were questions, half-offers and limited concessions – and, above all, an extraordinary demand from the Russian leader to weaken Ukraine that would make a mockery of any peace agreement.
The “key condition” for resolving the conflict, the Kremlin said in a statement after the call, should be “the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv”.
That means halting military support not just from the US but from all Ukraine’s foreign backers, including Britain, France and all those putting together plans for a post-conflict “reassurance force” intended to provide a long-term security guarantee to Kyiv, allowing it to open its ports and airports, and safeguard utility supplies.
It is nowhere near a position Ukraine can accept. Kyiv has spent three years fighting off Russia, incurring tens of thousands of casualties and successfully preventing a full takeover of the country – albeit for loss of around a fifth of its territory, which it accepts it cannot win back through fighting.
So bold is the demand, it is hard to believe that Putin is entirely serious. “It sounds like the Russians are projecting their desires,” said Matthew Savill, an analyst with the Royal United Services Institute thinktank, simply describing the Kremlin position as “incompatible” with the European-led security plan.
It is not yet clear how far Trump pressed the full 30-day ceasefire proposal, negotiated a week earlier with Ukraine by his secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Lord Ricketts, a former UK national security adviser, said: “We need to know how Trump reacted to it. But I can only assume it was designed to ensure a Zelenskyy rejection, taking the pressure off Putin.”
Key European leaders did not appear too impressed either. France and Germany’s leaders, hosting a press conference, reiterated their continuing support for Ukraine. “We will continue to support the Ukrainian army in its war of resistance,” the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said, speaking alongside Germany’s Olaf Scholz.
What Trump did obtain was something considerably more modest than a full ceasefire: an immediate commitment from Putin to cease bombing Ukraine’s energy infrastructure if Kyiv would “mutually refrain” from similar attacks of its own.
Over the past three years, Russia has repeatedly bombed Ukraine’s power plants to the point where there is little energy generation left that is not nuclear, too risky for even Moscow’s forces to attack. Ukraine, meanwhile, is being asked to halt a destabilising campaign of refinery attacks in the Russian rear that probably has some way to run – though any cooling of hostilities has to be welcomed.
Orysia Lutsevych, a Ukraine expert at the Chatham House thinktank, adds that the arrival of spring means that Kyiv gains relatively little from a 30-day halt to energy attacks. She described Putin’s offer as “a kind of goodwill gesture to keep Trump interested and get a bigger prize: [the] US abandoning Ukraine”.
Nevertheless, the White House said both sides would begin “technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire”. Trump himself added that came “with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a complete ceasefire” though this latter point was obscured by Russia.
Instead, the Kremlin emphasised that Ukraine would remain shut out from the talks. “The leaders confirmed their intention to continue efforts to achieve a Ukrainian settlement in a bilateral mode,” negotiations that also restore legitimacy to a country whose aggression and war crimes had left it isolated and sanctioned by the west.
The positive is that talks continue, though the concern must be that Russia will use them to try to detach the US from Europe. In the meantime, Trump and Putin did also agree to organise ice hockey matches between players in the American and Russian leagues. The puck, at least, does not stop here.
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Putin has no intention of keeping his word.
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Europe can crush Putin with their military and economic power | Lt General Ben Hodges.
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How effective is 'Trump propaganda' in the UK? | LBC debate.
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Kaja Kallas Announces Europe's Biggest Defense Revolution: ReArm Europe & Readiness 2030!
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Kaja Kallas' Urgent Call: Combating Foreign Manipulation Threatening EU Democracy.
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Zelenskyy Meets Finnish President In Wake Of Trump-Putin Talks | N18G | News18 Live.
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Ukraine whipped into compliance after a 90 minute call between trump and putin.
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Ukraine Expects US Briefing on Trump-Putin Call on Wednesday, Official Says.
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Keir Starmer holds crisis call with Zelensky after Trump hails 'great' two-hour talks with Putin where Russia rejected unconditional ceasefire and demanded West halts all arms supplies and intelligence sharing with Kyiv
Keir Starmer held crisis talks with Volodymyr Zelensky last night after Donald Trump's two-hour call with Putin ended with more Russian demands.
The PM took stock with the Ukrainian president after Moscow only agreed to work towards a limited ceasefire on energy infrastructure - rather than the unconditional ceasefire the US wanted.
Putin also laid out that he would not accept a settlement without 'complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence to Kyiv'. That is likely to prove unacceptable to Mr Zelensky and European allies.
Mr Trump described the conversation with the Russian dictator as 'great' last night, insisting he was working to avoid 'World War Three'.
But Boris Johnson was among the UK politicians warning that Putin is 'laughing at us', while ex-defence secretary Ben Wallace said the Russian 'plays better chess than Trump' and accused the US of chasing a 'rotten' deal.
The American and Russian leaders agreed to try for a package to stop attacks on Ukraine's power grid, as well as Kyiv's raids on Russia's critical refineries.
Mr Trump voiced hope that would pave the way for a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, and then a full and sustained end to the fighting.
But almost immediately there was another round of Russian attacks on Ukraine, with Mr Zelensky calling for action after Putin 'rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire'.
Keir Starmer (pictured) held crisis talks with Volodymyr Zelensky last night after Donald Trump 's two-hour call with Putin ended with more Russian demands
Boris Johnson was among the senior UK politicians warning that Putin is 'laughing at us'
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: 'The Prime Minister spoke to President Zelensky this evening.
'They discussed progress President Trump had made towards a ceasefire in talks with Russia.
'President Zelensky updated on the situation on the front line and the Prime Minister reiterated (the) UK's unwavering support.'
No10 had earlier given a very guarded response to the outcome of the call, referring to 'the progress President Trump has made towards a ceasefire'.
The spokeswoman added: 'This process must lead to a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
'We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes to ensure Russia can never launch an illegal invasion again.'
Mr Trump told Fox News that he wanted to get the war 'over with' and suggested that 'Russia has the advantage'.
The Republican said: 'Right now, you have a lot of guns pointing at each other and a ceasefire without going a little bit further would have been tough.'
He argued that his push for a ceasefire was part of a larger bid to keep US troops out of conflict.
'Look, we're doing this – there are no Americans involved. There could be if you end up in World War III over this, which is so ridiculous,' he said. 'But, you know, strange things happen.'
Mr Zelensky has said he would support American efforts to stop strikes on his country's energy grid.
But the Ukrainian leader said he hoped to speak to Mr Trump to understand what he and the Russian leader discussed.
After a fresh round of Russian attacks last night, Mr Zelensky said: 'Today, Putin effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire.
'It would be right for the world to respond by rejecting any attempts by Putin to prolong the war. Sanctions against Russia.
'Assistance to Ukraine. Strengthening allies in the free world and working toward security guarantees.
'And only a real cessation of strikes on civilian infrastructure by Russia, as proof of its willingness to end this war, can bring peace closer.'
Western nations, including the UK, have condemned Russia for attacks on facilities used to generate electricity for Ukraine's population, though the Kremlin has denied such strikes have taken place.
Ahead of crunch talks between the two presidents, David Lammy signalled the UK and EU are planning to speed up arms shipments to Ukraine ahead of a full ceasefire.
The Foreign Secretary told Bloomberg that Kyiv's European allies intended to 'put Ukraine in the strongest possible position militarily and economically'.
Mr Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey both met Kaja Kallas, the EU's high representative on foreign affairs, to discuss Ukraine and Europe's security.
Speaking to Ms Kallas, Mr Healey said the UK and EU recognised the need to 'maintain our strong support for Ukraine'.
According to the White House, Mr Trump and Mr Putin agreed in their call 'that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace.
'These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.'
The Kremlin, meanwhile, said Mr Putin told Mr Trump that America and its allies must end military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine to halt hostilities.
The Prime Minister spoke to Mr Trump on Monday ahead of the call.
He and French President Emmanuel Macron have been leading efforts to form a 'coalition of the willing' made up of nations prepared to offer troops or support to a peacekeeping force if there is a deal to end the war.
Mr Putin has said he agrees in principle to a ceasefire but has put a series of conditions on any peace plan.
The US president said Washington and Moscow have already begun discussing 'dividing up certain assets' between Ukraine and Russia as part of a deal to end the conflict, which could include Mr Putin being handed land and power plants by Kyiv.
Such a move would cause unease in Europe, being seen as a reward for Russia's invasion of its neighbour.
Цитата:
Kaju: see, et Trump ja Putin ei teinud kiireid kokkuleppeid, on pigem hea.
See, et USA president Donald Trump ja Venemaa juht Vladimir Putin teisipäevase telefonikõnega olulisi kokkuleppeid ei teinud, on pigem positiivne ja näitab ühtaegu nii seda, et USA ei tee kiireid mööndusi, kui ka seda, et esimene kontakt oli keeruline ja võimalike lõplike kokkulepeteni läheb kaua aega, ütles ERR-ile USA ekspert Andreas Kaju.
USA president Donald Trump pidas teisipäeval telefonivestluse Venemaa režiimi juhi Vladimir Putiniga ning Kremli teatel nõustus Putin ettepanekuga, et Venemaa lõpetab 30 päevaks Ukraina energiarajatiste ründamise.
Kaju sõnul tasub olla ettevaatlik üksikutest sündmustest suure pildi välja lugemisega ning läbirääkimiste sisu, strateegia ja tulemuslikkus selgub alles pika aja pärast. Kui lugeda Valge Maja kokkuvõtet telefonikõnest ja arvestada Putini ja Trumpi varasemat suhtlust, siis võib öelda, et see ei olnud kõige hullem, märkis ta.
"Pigem praegune protsess võimaldab arvata selle vähese pinnalt, mida me teame, et tegu on siiski kuigivõrd struktureeritud läbirääkimisprotsessiga, kus presidendid väga palju ise ei tundu improviseerivat. Ja meile on see pigem hea, sest kui suures osas otsustaks liidrite omavaheline dünaamika, siis meil oleks sel puhul kindlasti rohkem karta. Praegu tundub, et jälgitakse protsessi, kus osapoolte läbirääkimismeeskonnad valmistavad oma põhjalike läbirääkimisvoorudega liidrite omavahelisi kohtumisi ette," lausus Kaju.
Teiseks positiivseks märgiks pidas Kaju seda, et ei tulnud kiireid kokkuleppeid.
"Me teame, et venelastel on kindlasti väga tugev strateegia ja väga kogenud nii diplomaadid kui ka kahjuks president. See, et ei tulnud kiireid suuri kokkuleppeid, näitab, et ameeriklastel on ka selgelt oma lähtekohad, huvid fikseeritud, mille osas ei oldud valmis tegema kiireid mööndusi lihtsalt selleks, et saavutada edu asjana iseeneses. See on pigem hea, sest me teame, et ka Ameerika presidenti ümbritsevad väga erinevate kaalutlustega ja ideedega inimesed ja ametkonnad, kellest osa võib-olla näeb läbirääkimistes Venemaaga suurt geopoliitilise ümberrivistumise võimalust, näevad võimalust Venemaaga ühisteks huvideks kas majandusteemadel või Lähis-Idas rahu saavutamisel," rääkis Kaju.
Kaju sõnul oleks meie jaoks probleem olnud see, kui Trump oleks andnud märku, et on nõus taolise globaalse ümberrivistumise nimel tegema Venemaaga kompromisse.
"Senise põhjal ei ole põhjust veel arvata, et see käsitlus suurest mingisugusest ümberrivistumisest domineeriks Ameerika läbirääkimisstrateegias, aga me muidugi ei tea seda," ütles ta.
Kaju sõnul on meie jaoks positiivne, et ameeriklased ei olnud nõus tegema kiireid kokkuleppeid olukorras, kus Putin nõuab meie jaoks absurdsena tunduvaid asju.
"See, et peaaegu üldse milleski kokku ei lepitud, ja on tõenäoline, et see vähenegi, mida venelased pakkusid, et ameeriklased ka seda vähest ei täida, näitab seda, et ei ole mitte mingit põhjust arvata, et Putin oleks valmis väga kiiresti kokku leppima, kui talle ei tehta suuri mööndusi strateegilistes küsimustes või kui talle ei avaldata reaalset survet," lausus Kaju.
Kaju märkis, et ka sellest, et Valge maja ja Kremli resümeed telefonikõnest mõnevõrra erinesid, saab ühtteist välja lugeda.
"Kremli versioon oli, et Venemaa nõudmine on ka, et ameeriklased lõpetasid igasuguse luureinfo ja sõjalise abi andmise Ukrainale. Kui ma õigesti aru sain, siis Trump kommenteeris, et see ei olnud üldse jututeemaks. See aga näitab, et küllap see vestlus oli keeruline," lausus Kaju.
Saks: Venemaa üritab näidata, et initsiatiiv pole USA käes
Julgeolekuekspert Rainer Saksa sõnul võib niinimetatud energiarahu kohta küsida, kas seda saab üldse mingisuguseks tulemuseks nimetada.
"See on väga deklaratiivne kokkulepe või ma isegi ei oska öelda, kas see on kokkulepe, see on nagu lihtsalt väljendatud tahe. Sest ega seal ei ole ju kokku lepitud, kuidas seda jõustatakse. Selles mõttes ma sellele episoodile omandaks tähelepanu nii palju, kui et Venemaa president tahtis näidata, nagu tuleks ta USA presidendile vastu millegagi, see on kogu selle asja mõte. Rohkem sellel mitte mingisugust tähendust ei ole," lausus Saks.
Riigikogu väliskomisjoni esimees Marko Mihkelson märkis kolmapäeval, et tema hinnangul lähtuvad USA ja Venemaa vahelised kokkulepped vaid Venemaa huvidest. Saksa sõnul jääb tõesti mulje, et Venemaa suutis oma tahte kehtestada.
"Me ei näe praegu väga tõsiseid kommentaare USA poolt, mis räägiks, kuidas kõik täpselt oli (telefonikõnes) ja on väga napid lausungid, mis lubabki arvata seda, et USA ei suutnud Venemaale mingisugust protsessi enda poolt peale suruda. Aga ma olen täiesti kindel, et Venemaa ei taha seda protsessi ka täiesti katkestada ja üritab suruda USA-le peale midagi, mida nemad peavad endale kasulikuks. Selles mõttes USA president teeb halva mängu juures head nägu ja ega tal midagi väga palju muud üle ka ei jää," lausus Saks.
Saks märkis, et tegelikkuses mingeid rahuläbirääkimisi alanud pole ning need ei saagi ilma Ukrainata alata. Praegu on vaid umbmääraselt öeldud, et millalgi kuskil Lähis-Idas peaksid läbirääkimised algama.
"Mis on kõige olulisem või märkimisväärsem selle telefonikõne juures, on see, et Venemaa väga kiiresti tormas meediat teavitama sellest, mida seal räägiti, ja kohati üsna detailselt. Venemaa üritab näidata, et initsiatiiv ei ole mitte USA käes, vaid on pigem nende käest. Ja see on minu arvates see, mida Venemaa praegu taotleb," lausus Saks.
Saksa hinnangul vajab ka Venemaa sõjast pikemat pausi, sest reservidega pole seis kiita ning suuremat pealetungi nad praegu läbi viia ei suuda.
"See, et nad Kurski oblasti suutsid uuesti enam-vähem oma kontrolli alla saada, on kahtlemata edu, aga kokkuvõttes on see kõrvaline episood nende ülesannete hulgas, mida Venemaa president on oma armeele seadnud, sellest kõigest ollakse veel väga kaugel," lausus Saks.
"Вашингтон готов это принять!" | Новые границы, союз России и США, теневой правитель Украины | Гигин.
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Как Украина решила Трампа надуть, или Закулисные интриги | Казаков | Сафаров.
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«НАСЛЕДИЕ (16+)» 19.03/ВЕДУЩИЙ: Николай Стариков//ГОСТЬ: Виктор Бут.
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Trump Putin Call - Europe Responds w/Ian Puddick.
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Andrei Martyanov: Yemen Shatters Trump’s Plan – Putin Turns Up the Heat!
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Zelensky Furious Putin Unyielding As US-Russia Agree Direct Talks On Ukraine Conflict; EU Excluded.
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Russia advances. Ukraine attacks fall apart.
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US-Russia bilateral talks. Trump/Putin menu. Elensky, I am not salad. Starmer coalition crumbles.
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Are we ready for the end of NATO? With Admiral James Stavridis.
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Putin Crushes Trump’s Illusions! | Larry C. Johnson & Mark Sleboda.
Цитата:
Prof. Gilbert Doctorow : Putin and Ceasefire.
Цитата:
19.03.2025 Каллас и Кубилис: дуэт из-за Железного занавеса.
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Переговоры России и США: Путин и Трамп ПЕРЕЗАПУСТЯТ за газ в Европу?!
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British Gas boss to receive £245,000 pay rise on the day household energy bills rocket by £100
The boss of British Gas owner Centrica will get a £245,000 pay rise next month on the day household energy bills jump by more than £100.
Chris O'Shea's basic salary will soar 29 per cent from £855,000 to £1.1million on April 1.
The energy price cap will increase by £111 to £1,849 on the same day.
Mr O'Shea – who has said his pay is 'impossible to justify' – could earn as much as £5.9million once bonuses and other awards are included, according to the company's latest annual report.
Andrew Speke, of the High Pay Centre think-tank, said: 'For the chief executive of a major private utilities firm to see their pay increase just days before the price cap on energy bills goes up, is a sad indictment of how the current model is failing the British public.'
The salary hike came after Centrica announced in February it would increase payouts to investors despite household supply profits at British Gas more than halving last year.
This decline came as energy costs subsided after a surge in 2023 when Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused upheaval in natural gas markets. Energy firms at the time were supported by allowance payments that enabled them to recover costs incurred by the price spikes.
But these were controversial as they led to profits soaring at some companies.
Centrica boss Chris O'Shea's basic salary will soar 29 per cent from £855,000 to £1.1million
Centrica announced in February it would increase payouts to investors despite household supply profits at British Gas more than halving last year
British Gas's tumble meant Mr O'Shea took a sharp pay cut last year, with his total package dropping to £4.3million from £8.2million in 2023. However, it looks set to rise – boosted by Centrica's decision to increase his salary.
Mr O'Shea was appointed to his role in April 2020, when he was placed on a £775,000 yearly income.
The firm justified the upcoming raise by saying it would be 'inappropriate' to continue paying Mr O'Shea below market rate due to the 'complexity' of the business.
It added the firm needed to keep its pay offer 'competitive' so Centrica was 'capable of attracting candidates [for chief executive] in the future'.
In contrast to the 29 per cent pay bump offered to its boss, Centrica's staff are in line for salary increases of just 3.5 per cent to 4 per cent on average.
The raise also comes in the face of Mr O'Shea previously saying he would not be doing the job if he was motivated by money, insisting to The Times in 2022 that he was 'not coin-operated'. And in January last year, when households were still struggling with the cost-of-living crisis fuelled by higher energy bills, Mr O'Shea said there was 'no point' in trying to defend his pay but stressed he was not responsible for setting the pay amount.
He told the BBC: 'You can't justify a salary of that size. It's a huge amount of money to anyone looking at it.'
The energy price cap will increase by £111 to £1,849 for families across the UK next month
But the boss is facing a difficult year ahead and may struggle to earn his keep as British Gas finds itself on the back foot in the UK's cut-throat energy market.
The company was last year dethroned as the UK's largest home supplier by Octopus Energy, ending nearly four decades of dominance after it was privatised by Margaret Thatcher's government in 1986.
Octopus – whose boss Greg Jackson is an adviser to the Government – controlled 23.7 per cent of the household energy market at the end of 2024, compared with the 23.1 per cent by British Gas.
So far Mr O'Shea has been defiant, saying last month that losing the top spot should 'galvanise' British Gas staff to focus on cutting bills.
Цитата:
COL. Douglas Macgregor : Will US Attack Iran?
Цитата:
Graham E. Fuller: Trump’s Middle East Dreams Are Doomed.
MOD offers huge public sector pay package of £640,000 - more than three-times that of the PM - for person leading re-arming of Britain's military.
Ministers are offering one of the largest public sector pay packages to the person who is chosen to lead the re-arming of the UK's Armed Forces.
The Ministry of Defence is seeking to appoint a national armaments director with a pay and bonuses deal that could hit £640,000 a year, almost the highest known deal for a civil servant.
They will lead efforts to make sure the Army, Navy and Air Force are 'properly equipped to defend Britain'.
This will include reform of UK defence exports and acquisition, which seeks to cut waste and duplication which have plagued many materiel programmes in recent years.
The person chosen will be put on the same footing as the MOD permanent secretary, David Williams, and the Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of the Armed Forces, currently Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.
The job advert says it will come with a basic salary of between £290,000 and £400,000, plus 'a bonus of up to 60 per cent of salary per annum', which would take it to a maximum of £640,000.
That would almost equal the £645,000 package received by HS2 chief executive Mark Thurston in 2022, the last year for which figures are currently available.
It is also more than three times the £172,000 salary of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
The Ministry of Defence is seeking to appoint a national armaments director with a pay and bonuses deal that could hit £640,000 a year, almost the highest known deal for a civil servant.
They will l ead efforts to make sure the Army, Navy and Air Force are 'properly equipped to defend Britain'.
The person chosen will be put on the same footing as the MOD permanent secretary, David Williams, and the Chief of the Defence Staff, the professional head of the Armed Forces, currently Admiral Sir Tony Radakin (above, right)
The new national armaments director will be a standalone role rather than part of the role held by the defence equipment and support chief executive.
A search is under way for candidates for the role, which will be put on the same footing as the permanent secretary and the chief of the defence staff.
Applicants have until April 14 to put themselves forward.
The new hire will be in charge of the UK's reform of defence exports and acquisition which seeks to cut waste and duplication.
They will also be tasked with ensuring supply chains are resilient and the national arsenal is ready as required.
They will also be responsible for shaping and delivering the defence industrial strategy due to be launched in the coming weeks.
This comes alongside reforms that give new powers to Admiral Radakin to oversee a new Military Strategic Headquarters (MSHQ) where he will formally command the individual service chiefs for the first time.
Sir Keir last month announced a dramatic increase in defence spending from its current 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent by 2027 in response to 'tyrant' Vladimir Putin and amid uncertainty over the US's commitment to European security.
The increase in military funding increase is coming at the expense of the aid budget, which has triggered fierce criticisms from charities, but Sir Keir has defenced his choice, telling reporters that there is 'no driver' of of poverty like conflict.
That will mean spending £13.4 billion more every year from 2027, something which Sir Keir acknowledged will require 'extremely difficult and painful choices'.
He said he wants that figure to reach 3 per cent of gross domestic product during the next Parliament.
And earlier this month the Armed Forces Minister called for the modernisation of UK defence.
Warning that UK defence policy remained 'fundamentally shaped' by the demands of the post-Cold War era, Luke Pollard told a conference at Chatham House that raising defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP was 'just the starting gun' in a race to modernisation.
He said: 'The more fundamental challenge is to fully bring our armed forces into the modern era and build a leading, tech-enabled military capable of deterring, fighting and winning through constant innovation at a wartime pace.'
Mr Pollard also pledged to cut procurement bureaucracy, criticising a system where some areas had '11 checkers for each decision-maker' and the company running the naval dockyard at Devonport had to tell the Ministry of Defence every day whether it was snowing or not.
_________________
С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Now Zelensky has his opportunity to beckon Trump back into Ukraine’s corner
Putin’s rejection of ceasefire terms means Zelensky has been handed a chance to bring the US president on side - and he is beginning to understand his new American audience, writes Sam Kiley in Odesa
Seizing the opportunity to drive a wedge between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s president has moved swiftly to usher the American president back towards his corner.
By respecting, vocally, Trump’s efforts to get a ceasefire with Russia, Ukraine has exposed Putin’s deep reluctance to agree to any lowering of hostilities until he can be sure of permanently mangling Ukraine’s sovereignty.
According to a briefing on a call between Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump the US president has calmed down, stopped calling him a “dictator”, and come up with an agreement to supply some badly needed air defences for Ukraine.
Trump suspended military aid and intelligence sharing to drive Zelensky to talks on a 30-day ceasefire.
“President Zelensky thanked President Trump for a productive start…… President Zelensky thanked President Trump for the support of the United States, especially the Javelin missiles that President Trump was first to provide and his efforts towards peace," the White House said.
Zelensky did a lot of thanking and got some of what he needs back by carefully echoing what the White House was saying.
“President Zelensky asked for additional air defence systems to protect his civilians, particularly Patriot missile systems, and President Trump agreed to work with him to find what was available, particularly in Europe."
Zelensky knows that Putin’s rejection of the terms that the US and Ukraine agreed for a ceasefire will have smarted for Trump. Putin’s sudden additional demand that all foreign military and intelligence assistance be suspended to Kyiv must have especially stung Trump, who wanted to see Moscow sign up to his pre-cooked plan.
So now the US and Ukrainian presidents “reviewed the situation in Kursk and agreed to share information closely between their defence staffs as the battlefield situation evolved”.
Ukraine’s forces have dug in on high ground in Russian territory along their border, and concentrated forces there, to try to stop the advance that drove them out of the rest of the salient they captured from Moscow last year.
The high ground allows them to protect routes into Ukraine’s Sumy province. This week Zelensky said that Putin was massing troops on Ukraine’s northern border for what looked like a renewed invasion.
Now Zelensky has got Trump’s ear he is trying to make sure that the US president has a vested interest in what happens on Kursk and on his border. A regular feed of Ukrainian intelligence will flatter the US president and give him a sense of personal investment in what happens there.
Zelensky, who was one of Ukraine and Russia’s most celebrated comic and straight actors, is starting to understand his new American audience.
The White House went on: "The two leaders also agreed on a partial ceasefire [of attacks] against energy [infrastructure]”.
Smart Ukrainian move. Both Kyiv and Moscow ignored the Kremlin’s announcement of a partial ceasefire to protect both nation’s energy systems the previous night – with Ukraine enjoying a successful drone attack on a Siberian oil refinery in Kemerovo.
(выделено а.п.)
…
Major gaps still exist between the US and Ukraine. First is that Trump’s administration will not acknowledge that Russia invaded Ukraine. The White House has agreed with Russia that Ukraine will have to concede territory its has lost to Moscow. And Ukraine’s request for US military support to guarantee its security after any peace deal is signed remains off the table, as far as Trump is concerned.
But Putin may fear that the unison he has enjoyed with the White House is now discordant as Kyiv and Washington start singing a few lines together.
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Trump suggests to Zelenskyy that US should take ownership of Ukrainian power plants for security.
Цитата:
Analyysi: Zelenskyi ja Stubb yrittävät estää Trumpia myymästä Ukrainaa
Helsingissä annettiin tuki Trumpin rauhanponnisteluille, koska muuta ei nyt ole, kirjoittaa Ylen Nato-erikoistoimittaja Maria Stenroos.
Helsingistä lähti keskiviikkona viesti Yhdysvaltoihin, missä presidentti
Donald Trump
yrittää junailla rauhaa Ukrainaan.
Viesti kuuluu: Venäjä on sotaan syyllinen, eikä Vladimir Putiniin voi luottaa. Ukraina ja Eurooppa taas tekevät kaikkensa rauhan eteen. Näistä rauhan ehdoista Ukraina ja Eurooppa haluavat tulla kuulluiksi.
Esimerkkinä Venäjän presidentin Vladimir Putinin tavasta toimia Ukrainan presidentti
Volodymir Zelenskyi
käytti eilisen tapahtumia, kun Trump ja Putin neuvottelivat.
Putin ei keskustelussa suostunut tulitaukoon, mutta antoi juuri sen verran siimaa kuin Trump tarvitsi voidakseen sanoa, että rauhanponnistelu etenee.
Venäjä lupasi olla iskemättä energialaitoksiin ja -verkkoon. Kului vain muutama tunti, ja Venäjän droonit iskivät jälleen.
Ukraina taas sanoi jo viikko sitten olevansa valmis tulitaukoon ilman ehtoja.
Donald Trumpin erikoinen rauhanprosessi
nostaa jatkuvasti eurooppalaisten sykettä. Eilen myös Suomen ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikan johto odotti jännittyneenä, kun Trump puhui Putinin kanssa ja Zelenskyi seurasi tilannetta Helsingistä. Ukrainaa ei kuitenkaan vielä myyty.
Ukraina ja eurooppalaiset yrittävät estää sitä tapahtumasta seuraavissakaan keskusteluissa.
Keskiviikkona illalla Zelenskyi puhui Trumpin kanssa ja kuuli yksityiskohtaisemmin, mitä Trump oli puhunut Putinin kanssa. Zelenskyi viesti olevansa keskusteluun tyytyväinen. Keskustelu energiaa koskevasta tulitauosta alkaa pian Saudi-Arabiassa, mutta se on Zelenskyin mukaan tekninen, ei diplomaattitason keskustelu.
Trumpin ja Zelenskyin välien korjaantuminen antaa aihetta ainakin niukkaan optimismiin. Samoin se, että jonkinlainen keskustelu jatkuu.
Ukraina ja Eurooppa tukevat Trumpin ponnisteluita
rauhaa kohti ja varovat arvostelemasta Trumpia, sillä tällä hetkellä ei ole muuta, mihin tarttua. Zelenskyin mukaan hauraskin rauhanprosessi on parempi kuin ei mitään.
Epäonnistuneen Valkoisen talon vierailun jälkeen Zelenskyi on muistanut kehua Yhdysvaltojen rauhanponnistelua ja avuliaisuutta.
Myös Stubb kehui toistuvasti Trumpia. Hän sanoi, että presidentti Trumpin haluaa rauhaa, ja Ukraina ja Eurooppa haluavat rauhaa, mutta se ei ole selvää, tahtooko Venäjä rauhaa.
Stubbilta kuultiin myös tarkasti punnituin sanoin kritiikkiä Trumpia kohtaan. Rauhan tekeminen ei kuitenkaan ole edennyt tasapainossa, vaan Yhdysvallat on painostanut Ukrainaa enemmän kuin Venäjää, Stubb sanoi. Hän kertoi toivovansa, että keskustelut palaavat nyt oikealle ladulle.
Ukraina ja länsi yrittävät eri kanavia pitkin kertoa Yhdysvaltoihin, millaiseen rauhaan ei pidä suostua. Yksi punainen linja, jota Ukraina ei halua ylittää, on kysymys Venäjän Ukrainalta miehittämistä alueista. Ukraina ei suostu luopumaan niistä, Zelenskyi painottaa. Se tarkoittaa, että Ukrainan olisi saatava ne takaisin hallintaansa.
Yhdysvallat on ollut merkittävässä roolissa
Ukrainan kannalta ja luovuttanut sille merkittävän määrän tehokkaita aseita. Ukraina kuitenkin tietää, että tämän tuen jatkuminen on kiinni yksinomaan Donald Trumpin omasta ratkaisusta, eikä siihen voi vaikuttaa.
Siksi Ukraina panee toivonsa Eurooppaan ja myös läheiseen kumppaniinsa Suomeen. Vaikka nyt keskustellaan rauhasta, Ukraina keskittyy vahvistamaan puolustustaan sodan jatkumista ja sodan jälkeistä aikaa varten. Tätä tukea ja yhteistyötä se odottaa yhä lisää Euroopalta ja myös Suomelta.
Myös Eurooppa näyttää vihdoin havainneen
, että Ukrainan ja Euroopan kohtalo ei voi olla kiinni vain siitä, mitä Yhdysvallat ja Venäjä sopivat.
Tilanteen poukkoilevuutta kuvaa se, että eilisessä Trumpin ja Putinin puhelussa tavoiteltu tulitauko ei juuri edennyt, mutta sen sijaan johtajat suunnittelivat, että Venäjä ja Yhdysvallat voisivat kohdata jääkiekkokaukalossa.
Euroopan maat yrittävät rakentaa itselleen uskottavan puolustuksen ja ottaa vastuun myös Ukrainan tukemisesta. Huomenna Lontoossa tapaavat halukkaiden maiden koalition eli Britannian, Ranskan ja muiden Ukrainaa tukevien maiden sotilaat, jotka suunnittelevat Ukrainan turvaamista aselevon aikana. Brysselissä kokoontuvat Euroopan maiden johtajat.
Цитата:
Presidentti Zelenskyin vierailu eduskunnassa 19.3.2025
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Ukraińcy nielegalnie sprzedają Starlinki od Polski? Rząd zabrał głos w sprawie
"Instytut Łączności wielokrotnie weryfikował ogłoszenia w serwisach internetowych i nigdy nie stwierdzono, by przedmiotem sprzedaży były udostępnione przez Polskę Starlinki" - wyjaśnia resort cyfryzacji. W Instytucie Łączności czeka na dostawę na Ukrainę jeszcze 3,4 tys. urządzeń.
•
W latach 2022-2024 Instytut Łączności kupił 24,5 tys. terminali Starlink dla Ukrainy.
• 323 mln zł - to finalne wydatki na utrzymanie łączności. 28,7 mln zł kosztowały same terminale, resztę przeznaczono na abonamenty.
• Jak zapewnia MC, Instytut Łączności monitoruje wykorzystanie terminali. Wbrew sugestiom publikowanym w social media nie stwierdzono przypadków ich nielegalnej sprzedaży.
Od początku pełnoskalowej wojny Polska przekazuje Ukrainie terminale Starlink. Są one kluczowe dla utrzymania łączności. Rosja wkraczając na terytorium kraju niszczyła, infrastrukturę telekomunikacyjną, a odbiorniki produkowane przez należącą do Elona Muska spółkę SpaceX łączą się z prywatnymi satelitami tej firmy.
Około połowy wszystkich terminali dostarczonych na Ukrainę kupiła Polska. Jak informuje nas Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji,
od 2022 na sam zakup terminali wydano łącznie 28,7 mln zł
(ta kwota nie obejmuje urządzeń, które kupił Orlen - to dodatkowe 5 tys. sztuk). Wydatek ten był możliwy dzięki przyjęciu ustawy o pomocy obywatelom Ukrainy w związku z konfliktem zbrojnym na terytorium tego państwa w marcu 2022 r. Dla porównania - rząd federalny Niemiec sfinansował Ukraińcom 10 tys. terminali.
Najnowszą partię MC zakupiło pod koniec 2024 roku. Chodzi o 5 tys. urządzeń, z których dotychczas strona ukraińska odebrała 1584 sztuk
. Dlaczego nie przekazano wszystkich? Jak słyszymy w resorcie, to w gestii Ukraińców jest organizacja transportu.
Strona polska monitoruje wykorzystanie Starlinków
Terminale formalnie są własnością Instytutu Łączności - strona ukraińska jedynie je wypożyczyła.
Umowa zawiera jednak kruczek: w przyszłości do Polski mają wrócić te urządzenia, które „nie ulegną zniszczeniu w toku działań wojennych”
. Odzyskanie ich może być jednak o tyle trudne, że były rozprowadzane po kraju w bardzo małych partiach.
W social mediach co jakiś czas pojawiają się informacje, że Ukraińcy handlują przekazanymi przez Polskę Starlinkami. Jak jednak zapewnia resort cyfryzacji,
wykorzystanie terminali jest stale monitorowane.
“IŁ-PIB dysponuje szczegółowym spisem numerów seryjnych udostępnionych Starlinków. Monitoruje także na bieżąco sposób użycia i konsultuje się w tym zakresie z ukraińskim partnerem, tj. Ministerstwem Transformacji Cyfrowej (MTD) Ukrainy.
IŁ-PIB wielokrotnie weryfikował ogłoszenia w serwisach internetowych i nigdy nie stwierdzono, by przedmiotem sprzedaży były udostępnione przez Polskę Starlinki”
- czytamy w odpowiedziach udzielonych przez resort WNP.PL.
Jak dodają przedstawiciele resortu cyfryzacji, Polska opłaca tylko abonament za Starlinki faktycznie aktywowane, “zgodnie z zapotrzebowaniem zgłaszanym każdorazowo przez stronę ukraińską”.
Kłótnia o wyłączanie Starlinków i deklaracja Muska
Dyskusja o Starlinkach wróciła, kiedy w serwisie X doszło do wymiany zdań między Elonem Muskiem a ministrem spraw zagranicznych Polski Radosławem Sikorskim. W jednym z wpisów Musk stwierdził, że gdyby zdecydował o odłączeniu Ukrainy od Starlinków, front by się załamał, a Ukraina przegrałaby wojnę. W odpowiedzi Sikorski przypomniał, że terminale zostały kupione i są utrzymywane przez Polskę na podstawie umowy handlowej. A jeśli SpaceX wyłączy usługę, zostaniemy zmuszeni do szukania innego dostawcy.
W rozmowę włączył się amerykański sekretarz obrony Marco Rubio, a w jej trakcie Musk zapewnił publicznie, że nie odetnie Kijowa od sieci satelitarnej.
Tak czy inaczej, Ukraińcy szukają alternatywnych rozwiązań dla zapewnienia łączności w kraju. Kyryło Budanow, szef ukraińskiego wywiadu wojskowego (HUR), zapewnił w czasie podsumowującej trzy lata pełnoskalowej agresji konferencji, że “już jest alternatywa”. Nie zdradził jednak dokładnie, o co chodziło. Jak nieoficjalnie słyszymy w źródłach na Ukrainie, realnie Starlinki są na razie niezastąpione.
Unia pracuje nad własnym systemem satelitarnym
Nad rozwojem własnych możliwości satelitarnych pracuje Komisja Europejska. UE dysponuje systemem zintegrowanej łączności satelitarnej krajów członkowskich GOVSATCOM. Docelowo UE będzie miała własny system satelitarny IRIS2. Pod koniec 2024 r. KE podpisała umowę koncesyjną na internet satelitarny z konsorcjum europejskich firm SpaceRISE.
System IRIS2 ma osiągnąć pełną zdolność operacyjną w 2030 r.
Jak jednak zaznacza Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji,
oficjalnych rozmów o wstrzymaniu finansowanych przez Polskę usług Starlink na terytorium Ukrainy nie ma
. “Nie mamy też informacji o ew. rozmowach dotyczących zastąpienia systemu Starlink innym rozwiązaniem” - informują nas urzędnicy resortu.
Co ciekawe, Polska wykorzystuje terminale Starlink także na własnym terytorium. Posiadamy tysiąc własnych zestawów. Były one wykorzystywane w czasie wyborów parlamentarnych w 2023 r., samorządowych oraz europejskich w 2024, a także w czasie ubiegłorocznej powodzi na Dolnym Śląsku. "Podobnie będzie w przypadku wyborów prezydenckich w 2025 roku" - zapowiada MC.
American tourists who 'attempted to dodge a horse carriage fare' in Dublin are 'whipped by the driver' - dividing opinion online
Footage shared online on Tuesday captured the moment when the frustrated man appeared to aim his whip at the duo while they cowered in the corner of an alleyway
'I have money,' shakily replies one of the tourists. 'It's 100 US, it's extra,' he adds as he hands over what appears to be some cash to the outraged driver, who continues to direct his whip at the two men, yelling: 'F****** b*******.'
The unidentified tourists soon apologise to the angry man, saying: 'I'm sorry, we've learned our lesson, thank you!' It's unclear if the pair did in fact pay the driver or not.
The clip was shared on X with the caption: 'Dublin... Two American tourists over for St Patrick's Day attempted to do a runner on a horse carriage driver. They won't be doing that again in a hurry.'
Commenters were quick to comment on the footage - which had thousands of likes and was shared by multiple social media accounts.
One person wrote: 'Served them right!' while another added: 'Brilliant, well deserved. He wasn't holding back anyway.'
'Best video of the day,' insisted a third individual. 'I'm an American and I approve of this,' wrote someone else.
'Why they just standing there taking it,' questioned a fifth, as another amused person asked: 'Did he say “thank you” at the end?'
But not everyone approved of the scenes, with some highlighting that horse carriage rides in Dublin can often be quite expensive and sometimes the price might apparently vary from what was first negotiated.
'Probably being ripped off and overcharged,' wrote one viewer, while someone else claimed: 'Con artists those carriage drivers. Tell ya €50 then at the end of the ride it’s €50 each.'
'Glad they done a runner, no sympathy for him. Poor horses,' penned a third in the comments on X.
The American tourists were 'over for St Patrick's Day', according to the caption of the video in one post - and they weren't the only ones taking to Dublin to celebrate the Irish holiday.
Ireland's capital became a sea of green and orange on Monday as thousands of people filled the city's streets to watch the national St Patrick's Day parade.
Visitors from across the world packed the city centre, many sporting leprechaun and shamrock costumes and green and tricolour attire as they enjoyed the celebrations.
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
UK troops in Ukraine 'to be kept away from frontline' to avoid spooking Russia with 20,000-strong force guarding cities, ports and power plants
Any British troops deployed to Ukraine would be kept away from front line areas to avoid clashes with Russian forces, it was reported today as Keir Starmer gathered military leaders in London for talks.
The Prime Minister has been trying to assemble a 'coalition of the willing' pact of nations to help enforce any peace deal that could be reached between Kyiv and Moscow.
Talks between military leaders from interested countries took place in London today with Sir Keir saying that if a peace deal comes to fruition the UK and its allies need to be ready to defend it.
The BBC reported today that the international troops will not be a 'peacekeeping' force, because at 20,000-strong they will not b enough to keep the peace.
Instead a source told the broadcaster they would be a 'reassurance force' posted to guard cities and power plants, and keep Black Sea ports open.
They also said troops would stay away from the frontline in Ukraine's east to avoid accidental clashes with Putin's troops.
Sir Keir told broadcasters that any peace deal would need to be defended to ensure Vladimir Putin did not simply ignore it.
'What matters to me is that we're clear that Ukraine must be secure and sovereign, and therefore able to make decisions on behalf of the Ukrainian people, and that if there's a deal, it has to be defended, because there been deals in the past that haven't had security arrangements and Putin's taken no notice of them,' he said.
'So, we know from history what the risk is here, which is why we're working with allies to ensure that the political alignment and momentum that we've built up in recent weeks – which is a good thing, to have so many countries aligned – is now turned into military planning, military operations.'
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In a statement on Wednesday evening, a Downing Street spokesperson said: 'We welcome the progress President Trump has made towards a ceasefire deal, and we will continue to work with international partners on putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position.
'We now need to ensure the implementation of the ceasefire deal to see a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.'
Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky is also expected to address European leaders on Thursday when he dials in to the European Council meeting via video link.
Elsewhere on Thursday, the Prime Minister is also due to visit Barrow-in-Furness after hailing the town as a 'blueprint' for how increasing defence spending can boost prosperity.
He will lay the keel of the first of the Dreadnought class of submarines, a fleet of four vessels that will make up the next generation of the UK's nuclear deterrent.
Цитата:
Starmer ignores Putin to keep pushing Ukraine peacekeeping plan
The British prime minister is pushing his “coalition of the willing” — but there are big questions over its viability while the U.S. and Russia continue to sideline Europe.
LONDON — Hopes of a ceasefire in Ukraine appear distant after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s phone call this week. Perhaps someone should tell the U.K. prime minister.
European military leaders will gather on Thursday at Northwood, west London, as Britain, led by Keir Starmer, continues undaunted in its push to act as a guarantor for any ceasefire that might be achieved in Ukraine.
The summit comes despite the brush-off that Russia's president gave his U.S. counterpart in a much-hyped call Tuesday, dismissing a plan for a fuller 30-day ceasefire presented by the U.S. and Ukraine.
Putin continues to hold fast to seemingly impossible red lines — including the end of all foreign military aid and Western intelligence-sharing with Kyiv — while the U.S. has been unwilling to offer any security guarantee for a postwar peacekeeping presence in Ukraine.
Starmer is nonetheless determined to move toward what he calls the "operational phase" of planning to protect any potential Ukraine ceasefire. Kyiv’s allies, led by Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron, are aiming to sustain the pressure for a pause in fighting, and to isolate Putin as the main roadblock to peace.
The backdrop to Thursday's summit — which aims to flesh out a so-called coalition of the willing — is daunting.
And as the talks begin it is far less clear what the ultimate objectives of the peacekeeping force might be — or whether Ukraine's allies can really sustain it for the long haul.
Down to brass tacks
The U.K. and France have led the way in promising to help provide the military force needed to keep Russia at bay if a ceasefire is reached while negotiations for a more lasting peace continue.
Yet at this point it is not clear what such a setup would actually look like. The options floated have ranged from a 30,000-strong “reassurance force” to a much larger peacekeeping presence, which one former British army head estimated would require 100,000 troops.
Other key issues include whether British troops would be permitted to fire at Russian soldiers, a question the prime minister has so far declined to answer.
Thursday’s U.K.-hosted meeting will see army chiefs and defense planners attempt to fill in some of that detail, discussing what equipment and personnel will be needed where, and who is best placed to provide it.
While the logistics are still very much in play, Starmer has been expansive in his commitments. He has repeatedly said the country will do “whatever it takes” to back Ukraine, suggesting an arrangement that could last for years.
A senior U.K. government official, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said ministers were not thinking of “an endpoint” to peacekeeping efforts but were instead focused on “making sure what’s there on the ground is strong enough in order to ensure durable peace.”
That is also the hope and expectation of Britain’s allies, anxious for security guarantees. “I do think the international commitments in support of a possible peace agreement need to be long-term,” said Teija Tiilikainen, the former Finnish foreign minister who now directs the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.
What next?
Such talk of a long-term peacekeeping force in Ukraine has already set alarm bells ringing in defense circles.
Despite a promised uplift in defense spending, the U.K.’s military is currently underpowered. Defence Secretary John Healey told POLITICO last year that the country’s armed forces are not “ready to fight” a war and need to be “more effective” in deterring future aggression against NATO members.
Marina Morin, from the war studies department of King’s College London, said this should be a major concern for the peacekeeping effort. “The U.K. and European partners have not, at least in the public space, articulated any sort of a coherent strategy," she warned.
Morin asked: “How long can we realistically support Ukraine if we need to re-arm because our own stockpiles are empty? You can say to Ukraine ‘we will support you as long as it takes,’ but those words don't mean anything if you cannot follow through."
The U.K. Ministry of Defence has relied heavily on the recommendations of the damning Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war of the 2000s for its own guidance on planning for a military operation. But some fear those conclusions are now being ignored.
In particular, Ed Arnold, senior research fellow at RUSI and an army veteran, highlighted the need set out by Chilcot to have a clear idea of what success would look like in any intervention. “It’s a noble endeavor from the U.K. and the others in Europe, but it’s also potentially a terrible idea,” Arnold said. “We don't know what the mission is.”
Outside the room
U.K. officials insist this is the wrong way to think about it, and maintain that the commitment to underpin a peace deal needs to be made as swiftly and forcefully as possible.
Tiilikainen argued: “It doesn’t mean that the U.K. troops need to be there for decades, as long as the arrangement is such that a solid support of an international presence can be granted." That could entail some rotation of responsibilities, she said.
Yet no matter how willing the U.K. and its coalition partners are, they are ultimately stuck on the sidelines of conversations going on between Moscow and Washington.
Ben Wallace, former U.K. defense secretary, told Times Radio that Putin and Trump are “having lots of discussions without effectively the now de facto guarantor of Ukraine, which is Europe and the United Kingdom.”
“Ultimately, I think what needs to happen is all those four stakeholders need to be in that room.”
For now, the U.K.’s military planners can only knock at the door.
Цитата:
Prince William arrives in Estonia to visit British troops on front line of Russian aggression
Prince William to meet Estonia’s president Alar Karis before travelling to visit UK’s largest permanent overseas deployment of troops at Tapa army base
The Prince of Wales has arrived in Estonia for the start of a two-day visit to bolster ties with Tallinn and show support for UK troops guarding Nato’s border with Russia.
Prince William began his trip on Thursday by sitting down for talks in the capital Tallinn with Estonia’s president, Alar Karis, who has been prominent among those giving military equipment and political support to Ukraine.
William is travelling to Estonia predominantly in his role as colonel-in-chief of the Mercian Regiment – which is taking over Nato defence duties in the country from the Royal Dragoon Guards.
The Prince of Wales met Estonian president Alar Karis at the Estonian presidential office in Tallinn (REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool)
On the second day of his visit, the royal will travel to attend a handover ceremony at the Tapa Army Base, which houses the UK’s largest permanent overseas deployment. There are around 800 British service personnel in total in Estonia.
William will meet both soldiers from his regiment and Estonian troops based at Tapa, where forces are stationed ready to defend Nato’s eastern flank.
British forces are deployed to Estonia and Poland under Operation Cabrit, the UK’s contribution to Nato’s Forward Land Forces in the two countries. During a visit to Tapa in March 2022 – just days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – then prime minister Boris Johnson told British troops that their deployment was “fundamental” to Nato’s safety.
Estonia’s defence minister Hanno Pevkur told ITV News on Wednesday: “The reality is we cannot change our neighbour – our neighbour is very hostile towards its neighbours. This is our response to how Russia is acting at the moment.”
William’s visit comes as Europe’s major nations – including the UK – prepare to step up spending on their armed forces in response to the changing world order ushered in by US president Donald Trump.
Boris Johnson and Estonia’s then prime minister Kaja Kallas – now the EU’s foreign policy chief – met Nato troops at Tapa just days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (Leon Neal/PA)
Vladimir Putin’s Russia is seen as a growing threat in the region following its three-year long invasion of Ukraine, and the Baltic states bordering Russia – Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – appear increasingly concerned by their neighbour.
Following his talks with Mr Karis on Thursday, Prince William will also visit a school founded by the Ministry of Education and Research of Estonia in May 2022 to respond to the war in Ukraine.
He will meet teachers from Ukraine to hear about their experiences at the school, and how they have helped students settle in Tallinn and looked after their mental wellbeing.
The prince founded his Earthshot Prize to help recognise and scale up solutions to repair the planet, and he will also attend an event to learn about renewable energy startups.
William met Estonian schoolchildren during his trip to Tallinn (Aaron Chown/PA)
A Kensington Palace spokesperson said: “This will be an important meeting for the prince to highlight the strong bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and Estonia.
“The meeting also allows His Royal Highness the opportunity to applaud Estonia’s strong support for Ukraine since the conflict with Russia.
“It is also yet another example of the Prince of Wales representing the United Kingdom at the highest level on the global stage.”
Цитата:
W Polsce będą stacjonować szwedzkie samoloty bojowe. Wskazano na zagrożenie aktami sabotażu
Parlament Szwecji wyraził w czwartek zgodę na stacjonowanie w Polsce ośmiu wielozadaniowych samolotów bojowych Gripen. W ramach operacji NATO szwedzkie siły powietrzne będą strzec przekazywania pomocy wojskowej dla Ukrainy.
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Do ośmiu szwedzkich myśliwców Gripen ma być dostępnych na potrzeby operacji powietrznej NATO w Polsce od 1 maja do 31 sierpnia. Jak oszacowano, misja wiązać się będzie z uczestnictwem do 150 żołnierzy, w tym pilotów i personelu naziemnego.
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Ukraine’s long-range Neptune cruise missile is a potential trump card
Russia is talking of halting energy infrastructure attacks just as Ukraine unleashes a powerful new cruise missile.
KYIV — Donald Trump's effort to cajole Russia's Vladimir Putin into agreeing to a 30-day ceasefire was a flop, but the Kremlin does seem interested in pausing energy infrastructure attacks — at the same time that Ukraine has unleashed its devastating new Neptune cruise missile.
Ukraine successfully tested its first long-range cruise missile on Friday night, hitting an oil refinery in Tuapse, about 1,000 kilometers from Ukrainian-controlled territory in Russia’s Krasnodarskiy Kray region. It caused a fire that took three days to extinguish.
"After the attack of the Kyiv regime, on the night of March 14, a tank containing about 20,000 tons of gasoline caught fire at the oil depot. On the surface, the fire covered more than a thousand squares, the fire was assigned the fourth degree of danger," Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratiev said in a statement on Monday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a statement saying: "We’re happy with the results of Long Neptune."
The refinery attack increases the danger for Russia's oil industry — a crucial export earner keeping the economy afloat. Ukraine has been targeting Russian refineries, pipelines and pumping stations for months with its drones — leading to reports that it has knocked out about 10 percent of Russia's refining capacity.
"In essence, Putin has quietly confirmed to Trump how much our deep strikes are hurting the Russian energy sector. This is our trump card," Ukrainian MP Roman Lozinskyi said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
Cruise missiles are more effective than the drones, which have been Ukraine's go-to weapon for long-range attacks on Russia. Those drones fly slowly, and are more easily intercepted, while cruise missiles fly close to the speed of sound and are much more difficult to shoot down.
But they are not a miracle weapon.
“These cruise missiles alone cannot change the course of the war, even if there are many times more of them than now. We have the experience of Russia, which has launched many more different missiles at us, and we are functioning,” said Mykola Bielieskov, research fellow at the National Institute for Strategic Studies and senior analyst with the Kyiv-based Come Back Alive Initiatives Center NGO.
“But this does not mean that we do not need to develop strike potential — both in the context of strategic defense now and from the point of view of deterrence in the future,” Bielieskov added. "Missiles plus drones will carry out combined strikes."
Long Neptune puts Kyiv into a very select club of cruise missile producers. These are weapons with ranges above 500 kilometers that carry powerful warheads able to do extensive damage to a target.
France and the United Kingdom have the Storm Shadow/SCALP, which has been donated to Ukraine, while Germany and Sweden have the Taurus, which has so far been withheld from Kyiv. The United States is talking about supplying its JASSM cruise missiles, but so far there are no reports of them arriving in Ukraine.
The Neptune isn't the only such weapon. Last month, Zelenskyy showed off Ukraine’s turbojet-propelled Peklo missile-drone with a 700-kilometer range.
Missile development
Ukraine has been working on transforming the Neptune into a long-range missile for years.
The R-360 Neptune was originally designed as a shore-to-ship cruise missile carrying a 150-kilogram warhead and with a range of up to 300 kilometers; it was first shown by Ukraine in 2025. The design is based on the Soviet Kh-35 anti-ship missile but with enhanced range, targeting capabilities and electronics.
In the immediate aftermath of Russia's full-scale invasion more than three years ago, Ukraine used the Neptune with devastating effect against Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Kyiv says that Russia's flagship, the cruiser Moskva, was sunk in 2022 after being hit with two Neptune missiles. The missiles have been used against other naval targets, as well as Russian air defenses along the Black Sea.
Ukraine worked on extending the Neptune's range and turning it into a missile suitable for use in land attack. The result is the Neptune-MD, also called the Long Neptune. It uses the same ground-launcher as the R-360, but has a new guidance system and uses an infrared homing system in the final approach to its target, reported Ukraine's Militarnyi website.
In recent months it has been fired at targets close to the border with Ukraine. Last week's attack is the longest-range strike by a Neptune.
“A new Ukrainian missile, precise strike. The range is a thousand kilometers. Thank you to our Ukrainian developers, manufacturers and military. We continue to work to guarantee Ukrainian security," Zelenskyy said in a statement.
“For me, messages about the success of Long Neptune look credible,” Bielieskov said. According to him, Ukraine changed Neptune’s control system, adapting the coastal guidance software for strikes on land targets. “And at the same time, they increased the range — this is not an impossible task, just a bigger missile and more fuel in it."
Long Neptune is a cruise missile, with all its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are the speed of production and less complexity compared to ballistic missiles. The disadvantages are that they fly much more slowly than ballistic missiles, carry smaller warheads and are easier to intercept, Bielieskov said.
Ukraine is now working to ramp up production. Zelenskyy said in November that about 100 missiles of various types had been produced.
Romania last year set up a partnership with Ukraine to build Neptunes.
"Funding from the EU would help increase production and give Ukraine greater freedom of action — regardless of the U.S.,” said Bielieskov.
Цитата:
So much for the Brexit 'reset'! EU 'will shut UK out of €150 billion defence fund unless fisheries deal is agreed' amid fury at 'puerile' French action
The EU has sparked fury by excluding British arms companies from a €150 billion defence fund - with anger directed at 'puerile' French behaviour.
European Commission proposals, published yesterday, set out strict rules for the bloc's new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative.
These include a 'buy European' clause that means the fund can only be used to purchase arms from EU-linked countries or Ukraine - and not the UK, US or Turkey.
Brussels officials outlined how the fund would only consider buying British arms if the UK strikes a new security and defence pact with the EU.
The Prime Minister is hoping to agree such a deal as part of his Brexit 'reset', with EU leaders due to travel to London for a summit in May.
But Sir Keir Starmer has been stung by French-led demands to back down on post-Brexit fishing rights in exchange.
A senior Government source told The Times: 'Europe needs Britain's defence industry a bit more than the French need a few extra fish.
'It is astonishing how puerile the French are behaving. They have not grasped the enormity of the moment.'
The new EU defence fund has been established in the wake of US President Donald Trump's threats to scrap American security guarantees for Europe and Ukraine.
The €150 billion fund will allow EU member states to take out loans from funds raised against the EU budget.
But, among other restrictions, it will prohibit the purchase of complex weapons systems where non-EU countries hold 'design authority'.
Concerns were recently expressed in Germany that the US has the power to shut off F-35 fighter jets, which are widely used across Europe.
But the US denied the existence of a 'kill switch'.
Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign affairs chief, yesterday hinted at French pressure to exclude the UK as she outlined 'different worries' among member states.
'We are working on having this defence and security partnership with the UK,' she told a press conference in Brussels.
'I am really hoping that for the summit, which is in May, we can have results. But of course, like you know, it is related to member states and also different worries.'
Sir Keir today swerved a suggestion that Britain was being 'snubbed' by the EU, although he said there was 'scope for more joint work' on defence among the UK and European allies.
'I'm very pleased that the EU is signalling their intent to spend so much on defence,' he said on a visit to Barrow-in-Furness, the Cumbria port where the UK's nuclear submarines are based.
'I've been making the argument, as others have, that all of us in Europe need to step up.
'Not just in relation to Ukraine, but more generally in our own collective self-defence. That does mean more spend, more capability, more coordination.
'I want to have those discussions with our European allies - we're continuing those discussions with them, because I do think there's scope for more joint work here.'
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Цитата:
USA mogą uziemić nasze F-35? Pentagon zabrał głos w sprawie tajemniczego przycisku "kill-switch"
Pentagon poinformował swoich międzynarodowych partnerów w programie F-35, że w tym myśliwcu stealth nie ma tzw. kill-switch, czyli wyłącznika awaryjnego, którego USA mogłyby użyć, aby uczynić go nieskutecznym.
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Wśród krajów, które były zainteresowane kupnem F-35, istnieją obawy dotyczące amerykańskiego zarządzania programem w obliczu napięć z USA.
• Wyjaśnienia Pentagonu pojawiły się po tym, jak dwa państwa publicznie oświadczyły, że planują dokonać ponownej oceny swoich przyszłych potrzeb w zakresie myśliwców.
• Polska też czeka na samoloty F-35. Czy zatem również powinniśmy się martwić, że Amerykanie, jak nie będziemy grzeczni, wyłączą nam "pstryczek"?
- Nie ma wyłącznika awaryjnego. Program działa na podstawie dobrze ugruntowanych porozumień, które zapewniają, że wszyscy operatorzy F-35 mają niezbędne możliwości, aby skutecznie obsługiwać swoje odrzutowce. Siła programu F-35 tkwi w globalnym partnerstwie, a my nadal jesteśmy zaangażowani w zapewnianie wszystkim użytkownikom pełnej funkcjonalności i wsparcia, których potrzebują - poinformowało w oświadczeniu biuro Joint Program Office (JPO) F-35.
Dyskusja na temat potencjalnego wyłącznika pojawiła się w europejskiej prasie
na początku tego miesiąca po decyzji prezydenta Donalda Trumpa o wstrzymaniu pomocy wojskowej dla Ukrainy.
Wówczas zagraniczni przywódcy nie poparli tego pomysłu, a obawy dot.
F-35 wydawały się wynikać bardziej z faktu, że ten zaawansowany technologicznie odrzutowiec jest zależny od bieżących aktualizacji ze Stanów Zjednoczonych, zwłaszcza w odniesieniu do złożonego oprogramowania samolotu, a także wsparcia logistycznego.
Program F-35, którego głównym wykonawcą jest Lockheed Martin, obejmuje 19 międzynarodowych partnerów i klientów.
- Nie ma elektronicznego wyłącznika bezpieczeństwa. Stany Zjednoczone nie mogą również zdalnie przejąć kontroli nad F-35 - powiedziała Stacie Pettyjohn, dyrektor programu obronnego w Center for a New American Security w rozmowie z Breaking Defense.
Portugalia i Kanada analizują możliwe opcje nabycia myśliwców
Jednak odcięcie wsparcia serwisu, dostaw części zamiennych i zagranicznych F-35 od amerykańskich sieci komputerowych unieruchomiłoby samolot.
- Bez aktualizacji oprogramowania F-35 mogłyby latać, ale znacznie wzrosłaby szansa na unieszkodliwienie ich przez wrogie systemy obrony powietrznej. Ponadto
bez amerykańskich części zamiennych i serwisantów trudno byłoby utrzymać samolot w zdolnościach operacyjnych
przez długi czas, ponieważ jest to niezwykle złożony system uzbrojenia - powiedziała.
Od czasu tych pierwszych doniesień w prasie europejskiej urzędnicy dwóch amerykańskich sojuszników, Portugalii i Kanady, publicznie oświadczyli, że ich ministerstwa obrony analizują możliwe opcje nabycia myśliwców w świetle nowych realiów geopolitycznych.
Podczas gdy Lizbona jeszcze nie zobowiązała się do zakupu myśliwca F-35, Ottawa planowała zakupić prawie 90 samolotów F-35A. Kanadyjski departament obrony poinformował Breaking Defense, że ma podpisany kontrakt na zakup pierwszych 16 myśliwców, ale prowadzi analizę w celu ustalenia, czy pozyskanie pozostałych jednostek nadal jest zgodne z interesem Kanady, mając na uwadze trwającą wojnę handlową z USA.
JPO zapewnia, że międzynarodowy charakter programu jest jego największym atutem
- Żeby było jasne, nie anulujemy kontraktu na F-35, ale musimy przeprowadzić analizę, biorąc pod uwagę zmieniające się czynniki, i upewnić się, że kontrakt w obecnej formie leży w najlepszym interesie Kanadyjczyków i kanadyjskich sił zbrojnych - powiedział w oświadczeniu Laurent de Casanove, rzecznik prasowy kanadyjskiego ministra obrony Billa Blaira.
Polska też czeka na samoloty F-35. Czy zatem również powinniśmy się martwić, że Amerykanie, jak nie będziemy grzeczni, wyłączą nam "pstryczek", i bajecznie drogi F-35 zamieni się w model maszyny bojowej w skali 1:1 nienadający się do walki?
„F-35 został zaprojektowany, opracowany i nadal jest eksploatowany oraz utrzymywany jako platforma koalicyjna
, zbudowana na silnym partnerstwie z sojusznikami USA i krajami sojuszniczymi na całym świecie” - czytamy w oświadczeniu. „Od samego początku F-35 był wspólnym wysiłkiem, integrującym wiedzę specjalistyczną i wkład wielu krajów, aby zapewnić, że spełnia on potrzeby operacyjne wszystkich swoich użytkowników”.
Lockheed Martin we własnym oświadczeniu stwierdził, że firma „zaangażowana jest w pomaganie klientom we wzmacnianiu ich siły powietrznej i bezpieczeństwa dzięki F-35. Program F-35 przekroczył niedawno 1 milion godzin lotu w 16 jednostkach wojskowych, które operują tym odrzutowcem".
Цитата:
Hegseth vows to appeal judge's block on transgender troops ban efforts
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration's efforts to ban transgender people from serving in the military. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed to appeal.
The big picture:
"The Military Ban is soaked in animus and dripping with pretext," wrote U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in a scathing ruling that found the restrictions that were due to take effect this month were a violation of transgender people's constitutional rights.
• "Its language is unabashedly demeaning, its policy stigmatizes transgender persons as inherently unfit, and its conclusions bear no relation to fact," added the Biden-appointed judge in D.C.
• "Thus, even if the Court analyzed the Military Ban under rational basis review, it would fail."
Driving the news:
President Trump signed an executive order in January, which states that the federal government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and it calls on the Pentagon to formulate a new policy that would target transgender service members.
• A lawsuit challenging the order contends these efforts are unconstitutional.
Where it stands:
Reyes issued a preliminary injunction, which she stayed until Friday morning to give the Trump administration time to appeal.
• Hegseth said on X Thursday, "We are appealing this decision, and we will win."
What they're saying:
"This is the latest example of an activist judge attempting to seize power at the expense of the American people who overwhelmingly voted to elect President Trump," a Justice Department spokesperson said.
• "The Department of Justice has vigorously defended President Trump's executive actions, including the Defending Women Executive Order, and will continue to do so."
• Representatives for the Defense Department referred Axios to the Justice Department for comment.
• Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment in the evening.
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
9.36
СК России возбудил уголовное дело о теракте в связи с подрывом боевиками ВСУ газораспределительной станции «Суджа».
«20 марта 2025 года боевики ВСУ, незаконно вторгшиеся на территорию Российской Федерации, произвели целенаправленный подрыв газораспределительной станции «Суджа». В результате объект получил значительные повреждения», — заявили в ведомстве.
Londoni Heathrow lennujaam peatas tulekahju tõttu töö
…
Minister: pole andmeid, et tegemist oleks sabotaažiga
Briti energiaminister Ed Miliband ütles reedel Heathrow lennujaama töö peatanud tulekahju kommenteerides, et pole mingit vihjet sellest, et tegemist võiks olla süütamisega.
"Ei ole vihjeid sellele, et tegemist oleks pahatahtliku tegevusega," ütles Miliband LBC raadiole.
...
Цитата:
Heathrow closes for the day and planes are rerouted, passengers stranded.
Цитата:
Heathrow airport chaos after major fire at substation.
Цитата:
Aerial view of London substation after major fire forces Heathrow Airport closure
Цитата:
London's Heathrow Airport plunged into darkness | 9 News Australia
Цитата:
Counter terrorism police probe Heathrow fire amid claims of Russian sabotage: Substation blaze fits the pattern of Putin's disruption attacks in Europe, and exposes 'vulnerability' in UK infrastructure, say experts
Counter terrorism police are now investigating an electrical substation fire that has shut London Heathrow Airport for the whole of today amid claims it could be a Russian sabotage attack linked to Vladimir Putin's campaign of disruption.
More than 1,300 flights to and from the UK's busiest airport will be impacted today due to its closure following a fire at the nearby North Hyde electrical substation.
Thousands of homes were left without power with more than 100 people evacuated after a transformer at the substation caught fire as a huge explosion was heard.
Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
They allege that the disruption campaign is an extension of President Putin's war, intended to sow division in European societies and undermine support for Ukraine - although the Kremlin has denied carrying out sabotage efforts against the West.
Earlier this week, Putin had agreed to a limited ceasefire that stops Russia targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure after a phone call with US President Donald Trump.
Now, experts are analysing whether Russia could be linked to the UK substation fire, which is affecting 679 flights scheduled to land and 678 departures from Heathrow.
Counter terrorism police will be involved in the investigation given the need to quickly establish whether sabotage was involved and the pressing security questions relating to how a single fire took down a major piece of infrastructure, reported The Times.
It comes after Russian spies sent a package of electric sex toys to western Europe before concealing incendiary devices ignited in UK and German DHL depots last July in what was alleged to have been a test run for a potential US-bound flight attack.
Reacting to the Heathrow fire today, security expert Will Geddes, director and founder of the International Corporate Protection Group, told MailOnline: 'Heathrow has been looking at expanding - this isn't a great advert for their ability to do so safely.
'If I was a foreign hostile party and I wanted to disrupt one of the busiest airports in the world, cause international embarrassment, create many, many question marks, I would target something like a substation.
'The Russians are looking at everything. They're looking at our fibre optics under the sea, they're looking at our nuclear power stations, we know hostile reconnaissance is going on right now.
'So for this to be taken down so easily and cause such an impact, one has got to say if I was Russia, that's where I would focus my attentions as well.'
He said the incident had the potential to be a similar act of sabotage to the fires on railway tracks in France ahead of the Paris Olympics in July.
Mr Geddes continued: 'If anybody did this it would either be down to some serious reconnaissance in advance to determine that this was a massive vulnerability.
'They would have had to determine what leaning and what depth of responsibility and sort of impact would this substation have not only obviously on the local homes, but also on Heathrow Airport itself.
'Or you've got the easier, simpler answer that these guys have fallen asleep and they have not battle readied this substation for any type of eventuality of potential power outs, fires or anything like that.
'Where is the fire suppression system, why has that not worked? Is that because it's faulty or because it has been tampered with?'
He said Russia and other hostile states would be glad to see the chaos it has caused 'and it's not outside the scope of a foreign hostile state to attack a substation or a power or utility supply to a key site.'
Bob Seely, a Russia expert and former Conservative MP, told MailOnline that the chaos at Heathrow was at least a 'warning' about the threat of sabotage.
He said: 'This has exposed a massive security vulnerability. If a substation fire can shut down one of the world's largest airports and Britain's busiest airport, it shows a dangerous lack of resilience.
'We should be building resilience into our critical national infrastructure, especially given the rise in Russian sabotage operations in Europe as well as the threat of home-grown terrorism or extremist protests designed to bring modern life to a halt.'
Dr Seely, whose new book 'New Total War' is out this summer, added: 'Until we see different, this was very likely to have been an accident, but it is also a warning to us.
'We need to design in and build in greater resilience in our critical national infrastructure.'
Sky News security and defence editor Deborah Haynes said: 'Folk who track Russia's campaign of unconventional warfare in Europe will likely wake up wondering if the fire that cut power to Heathrow was an accident or something sinister.
'Understanding how or why the fire at a substation started will of course be key. Either way… this does really rather highlight the vulnerability of a piece of national infrastructure as critical as our largest and most important civilian airport.'
And Professor Lucy Easthope, an adviser on disaster response and recovery, and author of 'When the Dust Settles', added: 'It actually does not matter whether it was a Bic lighter and pile of newspapers or a deliberate attack.
'Either shows up the current vulnerability of national infrastructure, civil defence - I use that term deliberately - and the resourcing of response and readiness.'
It comes after Richard Gaisford, chief correspondent for ITV's Good Morning Britain, said: 'Heathrow Airport is a key piece of UK national infrastructure.
'Now brought to a standstill by a fire outside of its well protected boundaries, that creates chaos around the world. Security services must be considering sabotage.'
And Nick Ferrari asked on his LBC radio breakfast show: 'Anybody know where Vladimir Putin was last night wandering around with a can of unleaded?'
Meanwhile Russian trolls on social media also claimed the Heathrow fire could have been a Putin sabotage operation.
One post on Kremlin-funded Readovka Telegram channel declared: 'Petrov and Boshirov came to see the cathedral again.'
Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - real names Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin - were the notorious suspects in the Novichok poisonings of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury in 2018.
(выделено а.п.)
The GRU military intelligence officers, who posed as tourists visiting Salisbury Cathedral, are both wanted in Britain for murder and attempted murder.
But they have since been claimed to be spearheading a major Russian operation to sabotage Western countries.
Another comment said: 'Are Petrov and Boshirov on vacation?' And a third wrote: 'Now Petrov and Boshirov went to see Big Ben. The excursion was a success.'
A fourth said: 'Thus [with this fire] Putin is trying to break the will of the British people to help their Ukrainian brothers for free.'
And a fifth added said: 'Are they going to look for a 'Russian trace' again?'
Back in the UK, the chairwoman of the Commons transport committee said it was 'speculative' to suggest at the moment that something sinister caused the Heathrow fire.
Asked by Times Radio if she thought the fire may have been caused intentionally, Labour MP Ruth Cadbury replied: 'I think that's somewhat speculative.
'There are obviously questions about it, and I don't know enough about electricity, but for the airport to be dependent on one substation, it does raise questions.'
She added it was 'very, very concerning' that 'one substation can close down an airport and there isn't an alternative source of energy'.
Meanwhile Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the Government was doing everything it could to restore power to Heathrow.
He was asked by Sky News whether a Cobra meeting of senior ministers would be convened to address the matter.
Mr Miliband replied: 'I'm sure the Government will be convening in the most appropriate way. I'm not going to anticipate the precise form of that, but I'm already in touch with my colleagues on this issue.
…
'We're talking about several days worth of disruption to get the planes recovered and start using them again to move planned and disrupted passengers.'
He likened the disruption to what happened after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, when flights were grounded across the US.
He said: 'It's a contained version of 9/11'.
Rory Boland, editor of magazine Which? Travel, said affected passengers are not entitled to compensation but airlines should provide assistance such as overnight accommodation if required and re-routing bookings, including with rival carriers from alternative airports.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said there was a large-scale power outage in Hayes, Hounslow and the surrounding areas impacting more than 16,300 homes.
…
Emergency services were called to the scene at 11.23pm last night. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
The fire came after the Associated Press documented 59 incidents in which European governments, prosecutors, intelligence services or other Western officials blamed Russia, groups linked to Russia or its ally Belarus for cyberattacks, spreading propaganda, plotting killings or committing acts of vandalism, arson, sabotage or espionage since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The incidents range from stuffing car exhausts with expanding foam in Germany to a plot to plant explosives on cargo planes.
They include setting fire to stores and a museum; hacking that targeted politicians and critical infrastructure; and spying by a ring convicted in the UK.
Richard Moore, the head of Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, called it a 'staggeringly reckless campaign' in November.
Proving Russia's involvement in any incidents can be difficult, and the Kremlin has denied carrying out a sabotage campaign against the West - but more governments are publicly attributing attacks to Russia.
The alleged disruption has a double purpose, according to James Appathurai, the Nato official responsible for the alliance's response to such threats.
One is to create 'political disquiet' and undermine citizens' support for their governments and the other is to 'undercut support for Ukraine,' said Mr Appathurai, deputy assistant secretary-general for Innovation, Hybrid, and Cyber.
During its investigation, the AP spoke to 15 current officials, including two prime ministers, and officials from five European intelligence services, three defence ministries and Nato, in addition to experts.
Experts say the scope of the campaign is particularly worrying at a time when US support for Ukraine is wavering and European allies are questioning Washington's reliability as a security partner and ally.
The cases are varied, and the largest concentrations are in countries that are major supporters of Ukraine.
Some incidents had the potential for catastrophic consequences, including mass casualties, as when packages exploded at shipping facilities in Germany and the UK Western officials said they suspected the packages were part of a broader plot by Russian intelligence to put bombs on cargo planes headed to the US and Canada.
In another case, Western intelligence agencies uncovered what they said was a Russian plot to kill the head of a major German arms manufacturer that is a supplier of weapons to Ukraine.
European authorities are investigating several cases of damage to infrastructure under the Baltic Sea, including to a power cable linking Estonia and Finland.
Finnish authorities detained a ship, suspected of being part of Russia's 'shadow fleet' used to avoid sanctions, after that cable and others were damaged.
When a fake French Defence Ministry website claimed citizens were being called up to fight in Ukraine, a French minister denounced it as Russian disinformation.
German authorities suspect Russia was behind a campaign to block up scores of car exhausts ahead of national elections, according to a European intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
…
Germany Seizes Russian Tanker: A Bold Move Against Sanctions Evasion.
Цитата:
Spiegel: Saksamaa konfiskeeris Vene varilaevastiku tanker.
Saksamaa konfiskeeris oma põhjaranniku lähedal seisnud tankeri, mis arvatakse olevat osa varilaevastikust, mida Venemaa kasutab lääne kehtestatud naftasanktsioonidest kõrvalehoidmiseks, teatas uudisteajakiri Spiegel reedel julgeolekuallikatele viidates.
Panama lipu all sõitva halvas seisukorras laeva Eventin võtsid Saksa võimud oma kontrolli alla reedel pärast seda, kui see oli alates jaanuari keskpaigast triivinud juhitamatuna Läänemeres Rügeni saare lähistel.
Sellise sammuga andis Berliin tugeva sõnumi Moskvale, märkis Der Spiegel.
Eventin, mis oli võtnud oma lasti peale Venemaa Ust-Luuga sadamast ning suundunud Egiptuse suunas, kaotas jaanuari keskpaigast Rügenist põhja pool manööverdamisvõime. Vahetu naftareostuse ohu tõttu pukseeriti tanker Sassnitzi lähistele reidile, kus seda jälgisid päeval ja öösel Saksa rannavalve ja föderaalpolitsei.
Alates veebruari lõpust on laev Euroopa Liidu sanktsioonide nimekirjas kui Venemaa varilaevastiku koosseisu kuuluv alus, sest EL lülitas selle oma 16. sanktsioonipaketti. Sanktsioonid on Venemaale kehtestatud selle 2022. aasta veebruaris alanud täiemahulise sissetungi tõttu Ukrainasse.
16. paketi eesmärk oli avaldada lisasurvet Venemaa varilaevastikule, mis koosneb laevadest, mida Venemaa kasutab oma nafta, relvade ja teravilja eksportimiseks, rikkudes sanktsioone. Varilaevastiku aluseid ei järgi lääne regulatsioone ja neid ei kindlusta tavapärased lääne kindlustusfirmad.
Pärast Eventini nimekirja kandmist otsustas Saksa valitsus laeva pigem konfiskeerida, mitte lasta sellel minna, teatas Der Spiegel. Laeva kohta väljastati konfiskeerimisotsus, mis tähendab, et laev ja selle last – umbes 100 000 tonni naftat väärtuses umbes 40 miljonit eurot – lähevad nüüd Saksamaa omandisse.
Kantsleriamet ja välisministeerium usuvad, et sellise ebatavaliselt karmi lähenemisega antakse Venemaale signaal, et Saksamaa ei jää käed rüpes vaatama Läänemerd läbivat Venemaa naftatransporti, milleks kasutatakse varilaevastiku sageli kehvas seisukorras aluseid.
Saksa tolliamet ja Saksamaa välisministeerium ei vastanud kohe Reutersi meili teel saadetud kommentaaritaotlustele.
Цитата:
Zoll beschlagnahmt Schiff aus russischer Schattenflotte.
Trotz Sanktionen verschifft Russland weiter Öl in alle Welt. Nun hat die Bundesregierung nach SPIEGEL-Informationen einen Tanker der geheimen Schattenflotte einkassiert, samt kostbarer Ladung. Und sendet damit ein Signal an Moskau.
Die Bundesregierung hat sich für ein robustes Vorgehen gegen einen Tanker der geheimen Schattenflotte entschieden, mit der Russland trotz der geltenden Sanktionen weiter weltweit Öl verkauft. Am Freitag vergangener Woche beschlagnahmte der Zoll den unter panamaischer Flagge fahrenden Tanker »Eventin«, der seit Mitte Januar vor der Küste Rügens ankert. Durch einen sogenannten Einziehungsbescheid der Generalzolldirektion gehen nun sowohl der altersschwache Tanker als auch die rund 100.000 Tonnen Rohöl im Wert von gut 40 Millionen Euro in deutsches Eigentum über.
Ungewöhnlich harsches Vorgehen
In Sicherheitskreisen hieß es, die »Eventin« werde nach dem Erlass des Bescheids umgeflaggt. Zuvor hatte es intensive Gespräche zwischen verschiedenen Ministerien gegeben, wie man mit dem Tanker umgehen soll, der vom russischen Hafen Ust-Luga durch die Ostsee mit Ziel Ägypten unterwegs war. Die »Eventin« trieb zunächst Mitte Januar manövrierunfähig nördlich von Rügen. Wegen der drohenden Gefahr eines Ölaustritts wurde der Tanker ins Gewässer vor Sassnitz geschleppt und dort von Küstenwache und Bundespolizei Tag und Nacht überwacht. Seit Ende Februar ist das Schiff von der EU als Teil der Schattenflotte Russlands gelistet.
Mit einer ganzen Armada von Tankern verkauft Moskau weltweit weiterhin für Milliardensummen Öl, meist sind es altersschwache Schiffe, die nicht unter russischer Flagge fahren. Nach der Listung der »Eventin« entschied sich die Bundesregierung, das Schiff zu beschlagnahmen, statt es ziehen zu lassen. Das ungewöhnlich harsche Vorgehen soll aus Sicht des Kanzleramts und des Außenministeriums ein Zeichen an Russland sein, dass Deutschland dem Transit von russischem Öl durch die Ostsee nicht tatenlos zusieht.
Фитнес-клуб Fitness Plaza не имеет права запрещать посетительницам надевать бикини для плавания в бассейне, заявил вице-губернатор Санкт-Петербурга Игорь Потапенко во время прямой линии, трансляцию вел телеканал «Санкт-Петербург».
Ему поступил вопрос от петербуржца, который попросил оценить решение «некоторых фитнес-клубов» ввести «нормы шариата», и запретили женщинам «плавать в бикини, но зато разрешили костюм надевать буркини — купальный костюм для мусульманок».
Потапенко попросил перепроверить информацию и предоставить конкретный адрес фитнес-клуба. «Ну, как я понял, здесь вообще-то грань, если не перешагнули уважаемые хозяева данных заведений, [то] нарушение уголовного кодекса Российской Федерации», — сказал он.
Цитата:
_________________
С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Drone wars erupt in countryside as foxhunting battles turn hi-tech.
Footage shows hunt’s aerial camera equipped with weighted wire as saboteur suffers ‘unprovoked assault’
The countryside war over foxhunting is turning hi-tech as hunters and hunt saboteurs use “attack drones” to film or attack one another’s activities.
The battle to uphold the legal ban on foxhunting has repeatedly led to violence since the activity was outlawed in 2005.
But now, in at least one case, hunts have been filmed using a drone equipped with a weighted wire in what’s thought to be an attempt to destroy aerial footage that would expose illegal foxhunting.
Wildlife protectors say drones enable them to watch hunts’ behaviour without being physically attacked and to see what happens when hunts or hounds go onto private land.
Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs have revealed footage taken by their drone of what they say is the Beaufort Hunt hunting foxes and their hounds attacking a fox in a badger sett.
Using their own drone, Wiltshire saboteurs captured video of a hunters' drone with vertical weighted wire attached 'designed to disable another drone' (Wiltshire Hunt Sabs)
In what’s thought to be the first case of its kind in the UK, the hunt allegedly targeted the saboteurs’ drone with one of their own equipped with a wire and weight to entangle and disable the other drone.
Eventually, it caused both drones – each weighing nearly 1kg – to crash, according to Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs, who captured the footage.
The hunt’s remote control on top of members’ car (Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs)
A hunt rider rushed to the scene and was filmed by hand-held cameras stamping something into the ground, allegedly to destroy the drone and erase any evidence. Hunt employees were then filmed “hiding the remains of the sab drone while others relaunched the hunt’s attack drone”, according to Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs.
Police were called but the hunt monitors accused them of failing to conduct a thorough search.
In a later case, the Beaufort Hunt again tried to target a drone monitoring their activities. This time, the saboteurs’ drone evaded destruction, capturing footage of the “hostile” drone, which showed three hunt members “untangling the wire from their drone”.
The saboteurs told police there was clear evidence of illegal drone use, aviation offences and illegal hunting.
The same day, hunt monitors filmed a man they said they knew was a hunt member leaping out of his car to launch an “unprovoked physical assault” on a saboteur walking past on a public road.
“Without provocation or warning he grabbed the sab by the hair and kept pulling, wrenching his head and neck, causing pain,” a spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs said. Footage shows the man pulling on his victim’s hair.
As the saboteur tried to escape into a car, the attacker allegedly tried to steal further recording equipment to “suppress evidence of his assault”.
A woman, who monitors also identified as a long-standing hunt member, scratched and pulled the hair of another saboteur who tried to intervene, video footage shows.
The saboteurs say they know the identities of the hunters.
A hunt member is accused of attacking a saboteur (Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs)
Police arrested a woman, and the male huntsman was alleged by saboteurs to have fled.
The hunt saboteurs reported both drone incidents to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Some saboteur groups have been using drones, which cost from £300 to about £2,500, since 2021.
Police also use them, but hunts are only just starting to use them.
Roger Swaine, a covert surveillance specialist, said hunts were very nervous of drones because they allow access to areas such as woods and hollows that saboteurs and monitors historically struggle to reach on foot.
He said drone footage, because it lacks sound, may not be sufficient to support a charge and conviction. “But the footage can be damning enough to hurt the public reputation of the hunters involved. And that is all that is required for effective campaigning and lobbying,” he said.
In a separate case, a hunt master and assistant were in September found guilty of illegally hunting a fox with dogs, and fined after Weymouth magistrates saw drone footage from saboteurs showing the fox running out of a maize field with foxhounds in close pursuit.
A spokesperson for the saboteurs said: “The Duke of Beaufort Hunt, which was frequented by the King, Queen and Prince of Wales, are attempting to prevent legal evidence-gathering by assaulting saboteurs and disabling their drones in flight.
“What we captured in just one day demonstrates the desperate ruthlessness and violence as illegal foxhunts engage in across the country to try and cover up their ongoing crime spree against Britain's wildlife.
Saboteurs say drone footage allows them to see illegal activity in sheltered areas. Here, hounds scented a fox (Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs)
“This footage shows how hunts are dedicated to carrying on hunting, they have not changed their behaviour since the ban, instead they are putting their energy and effort into new ways of getting away with it, and avoiding exposure.”
A spokesperson for the Beaufort Hunt, which says it legally hunts trails, said: “The Beaufort Hunt does not condone illegal activity or anti-social behaviour, even in the case of extreme provocation.”
A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police, who are investigating the assaults, said: “The investigation remains ongoing and officers continue to carry out enquiries. A woman was arrested on suspicion of common assault and causing actual bodily harm and has been released on conditional bail.”
The British Hound Sports Association and Countryside Alliance did not respond to requests to comment.
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Не помогайте врагу охотиться на F-16: Воздушные силы обратились к украинцам.
Воздушные силы призывают граждан не обнародовать видеозаписи пролета военной авиации, в частности истребителей F-16.
Воздушные силы призывают граждан не обнародовать видеозаписи пролета военной авиации, в частности истребителей F-16.
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Детали: Отмечается, что публикации с пролетами боевой авиации, выложенные в соцсетях, могут существенно помочь противнику. Даже несколько секунд видео в открытом доступе могут стать важными разведданными для врага.
Дословно: "Пилоты Воздушных сил ежедневно героически выполняют боевые задачи в прифронтовых районах, где есть чрезвычайно высокий риск от вражеских ракет класса "воздух-воздух" и средств ПВО противника.
Любая информация об их местах базирования, маршрутах полетов или маневрах может быть использована врагом для их уничтожения!
Особую угрозу представляют видеозаписи пролета военной авиации в прифронтовых районах (в частности истребителей F-16) с указанием геолокации, примечательными ориентирами или объектами.
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TRUMP LOVES PUTIN! 80 Funny Cartoons about the Bromance of the Two Lovesick Dictators
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Starmer asus Ukrainasse maavägede saatmise asemel pooldama õhu- ja merekaitset
Ühendkuningriigi peaminister Keir Starmer on asunud Ukraina julgeoleku toetamisel senise maavägede kohalesaatmise asemel pooldama Kiievi abistamist õhu- ja merekaitse korraldamisel, kirjutas väljaanne Financial Times (FT).
Starmer ütles Londoni lähedal peetud 31 riigist koosneva tahtekoalitsiooni riikide sõjaliste planeerijate koosolekul esinedes, et Venemaa režiimijuht Vladimir Putin peab teadma, et relvarahu rikkumine Ukrainas toob kaasa tõsised tagajärjed. Kuid kui varem on Starmer keskendunud maavägede (i.k. boots on the ground) saatmisele Ukrainasse rahu tagama, siis neljapäeval rõhutas ta mere- ja õhujõu rolli rahu kaitsmisel, teatas Financial Times.
Briti peaminister ütles, et alalise relvarahu saavutamiseks võib olla erinevaid teid, lisades: "Me vaatame merd ühe stsenaariumi järgi, taevast, ilmselgelt maad ja piire ning [Ukraina] taastamist."
Kuid ta rõhutas, et prioriteediks peab olema Ukraina toetamine enda kaitsmisel: "Neil on võimekus, neil on sõdurid ja rindekogemus," ütles ta Northwoodi sõjaväebaasis ajakirjanikele. "Seega me ei räägi millestki, mis seda võimet asendab – me räägime millestki, mis seda tugevdab ja seejärel asetab ümber võimed seoses õhu, vee, mere ja maaga."
Eelmisel laupäeval peetud Ukraina rahutagamises osaleda soovivate nn tahtekoalitsiooni riikide liidrite videoarutelul oli kohtumisel osalenud inimese sõnul samuti märgata nihet liikuda maavägede kohalesaatmiselt õhu- ja merepatrullidele, märkis FT.
Leht meenutas ka, et Putin on selgelt öelnud, et ei kavatse sallida NATO riikide vägede viibimist Ukrainas ühegi rahulepingu alusel.
Starmer on ka möönnud, et seni pole ühtegi märki sellest, et USA president Donald Trump oleks valmis tagama sõjalise julgestuse, mida selline rahutagamisjõud vajaks.
Üks Briti ametnik ütles, et Starmer neljapäeval lihtsalt laiendas seda, milline võib reaalsuses brittide roll olla ja milline see oleks operatsioonifaasi liikumisel.
Samas rõhutas Ühendkuningriigi peaminister, et Putinil ei ole vetoõigust koalitsiooni vägede paigutamise üle Ukrainasse. "Putin tahab kaitsetut Ukrainat," ütles Starmer.
Briti ametnikud on varem öelnud, et mitmerahvuselistesse vägedesse võib kuuluda kuni 30 000 sõdurit. Samas on Venemaal ja Ukrainal sõjas hõivatud sadu tuhandeid sõdureid.
Esinedes mitmesajale sõjalisele planeerijale, kes olid peamiselt pärit Euroopast, aga ka teistest riikidest, sealhulgas Austraaliast, Kanadast ja Uus-Meremaalt – ütles Starmer, et oluline on olla valmis relvarahu korral kiiresti tegutsema. Ta lisas ka, et pärast teisipäeval Trumpi ja Putini vahel peetud kõnelusi on fookusesse tõusmas ajakava võimalikuks relvarahuks.
Kohtumine järgnes eelmisel nädalavahetusel Londonis kokku kutsutud poliitiliste liidrite videokõnele ja eelmisel nädalal Pariisis toimunud kaitsejõudude staabiülemate esialgsele kohtumisele.
Emmanuel Macron teatas neljapäeval, et võõrustab järgmisel neljapäeval Pariisis Euroopa liidrite ja Ukraina presidendi Volodõmõr Zelenski kohtumist, et arutada Kiievi edasist toetamist.
Starmer rõhutas lisaks, et Briti vägede tegevus Ukraina julgeoleku tugevdamiseks ei tähenda oma võetud kohustustest taganemist teistes riikides. Ühendkuningriigi väed on paigutatud NATO idatiivale, sealhulgas Eestisse.
Jack Watling Briti mõttekojast Royal United Services Academy ütles neljapäeval toimunud konverentsil, et Ukrainas asuv Euroopa kontingent põhineks tõenäoliselt õhujõududel, mitte maavägedel.
"Venelastel vabanes nädal tagasi Kurskis 22 brigaadi ulatuses vägesid ja nad suunavad need rinde teistesse osadse," ütles ta. "See moodustab umbes 70 000 sõduri võrra rohkem lahingujõudu, kui kogu Briti armee suudaks lahinguväljale tuua."
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Russian tanks roll across the border, a barrage of missiles are fired on Britain - then nuclear hell breaks out: GENERAL SIR RICHARD SHIRREFF reveals how he believes WW3 will begin... and we have just two years to prepare
I predict there will be war in two years at the outside, unless we do what is needed to deter Russia, says Sir Richard Shirreff (pictured)
Ceasefire: even the word is ominous. The deal being brokered by America to bring a halt to the battlefield slaughter in Ukraine is not a peace treaty.
It is exactly what it implies – a temporary cessation in the fighting.
Whatever emerges from the negotiations, there can be no lasting peace, not as long as Russia is intent on expansion.
The concessions being forced on Ukraine amount to little more than appeasement.
As Adolf Hitler took advantage of Allied naivety in 1938 at Munich, using the paper-thin treaty negotiated by British PM Neville Chamberlain to buy more time for his war preparations, so Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will use this ceasefire to rebuild his forces and get ready for all-out war with the West.
We don't yet know all the details of the deal with Russia. But one thing is certain: when the Kremlin is ready, Russia will renege in the most bloodthirsty fashion.
I predict there will be war in two years at the outside, unless we do what is needed to deter Russia.
What dictates whether the West can survive is how well prepared we are.
Europe's 'coalition of the willing', urged on by the UK, has pledged to put peacekeeping troops into Ukraine to enforce the ceasefire.
President Donald Trump and his vice-president JD Vance have made it clear the US will do no such thing – there will be no military guarantees from Washington, merely hundreds of American miners overseeing the extraction of up to half a trillion dollars-worth of rare minerals from Ukraine soil.
As well as the possibility of the US taking ownership of Ukraine's nuclear power plants to provide 'the best protection' for the country's energy infrastructure.
This civilian contingent, Trump claims, is the only US presence required because Russia would never dare attack if it meant putting American lives at risk. He is living in cloud cuckoo land.
Putin proved he cares nothing for the lives of Westerners when he ordered the assassination of defector Sergei Skripal in Salisbury seven years ago, using a weapons-grade nerve agent.
Skripal and his daughter Yulia survived but an innocent Briton was killed and a policeman suffered life-changing harm. The death toll could easily have been in the tens of thousands in the quiet cathedral city of Salisbury.
Western politicians have to work on the basis that, intentionally or not, Trump is effectively a Russian asset.
There's plenty of solid evidence to show that he was close to the Soviet regime in the 1980s and, when his business empire faltered in the 1990s, he was bankrolled by Russians.
Whether he is actively colluding with the Kremlin has not been established, but without doubt he is a sympathetic agent of influence for Putin's regime.
I would also nominate him as Putin's most useful idiot, aided and abetted by his blundering diplomats, Marco Rubio and his real estate sidekick Steve Witkoff.
Some sort of European peace enforcement presence will need to be in Ukraine, without active US involvement, but Russia will strongly resist any front line presence. Wherever the border is drawn between free Ukraine and the annexed territories, Putin will never agree to having Nato troops on his doorstep.
The worst-case scenario would be an under-powered, nominal force in the centre and west of Ukraine, around Kyiv and Lviv, too far away for a rapid reaction to any Russian incursion, and lacking the firepower to defend themselves against a full-throttle attack.
It's very unlikely that Putin will launch a surprise assault on the peacekeepers. His instinct is to proceed by a steady stream of provocations, testing what he can get away with.
To Putin, his war on the West has already begun, with a constant barrage of lies and conspiracy theories polluting social media.
His aim for the past decade has been to destabilise our democracies, stirring up division and polarising debate, with considerable success.
Only this week it was revealed that Russian agents researched fire protocols at a factory owned by a German arms firm shortly before it burst into flames last summer. Putin's saboteurs were seemingly trying to disrupt arms deliveries to Ukraine.
The fire which brought Heathrow to a standstill yesterday may be an accident. But if it is sabotage, it is straight out of the Kremlin playbook.
Though he regards Britain as a particular enemy, all Nato countries are his targets. Russia already has allies within the hard-right governments of Slovakia and Hungary, and Romania is next.
Putin's ultimate goal is to reunite the Eastern Bloc, from Bulgaria to Poland, under a new Russian empire. The more this can be done by subverting democracy instead of military means, the easier it will be.
The far-Right Romanian populist rabble-rouser Calin Georgescu lost his appeal this month against a ruling that bars him from standing in May's presidential elections.
Georgescu won the first round of voting last year but was disqualified when Romanian intelligence discovered that hundreds of TikTok accounts backing his candidacy were set up by Russian agents.
But the damage is done. Thousands of Georgescu supporters have staged angry protests, no doubt stirred up by Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU. They are proclaiming his victory and denouncing the judges who barred him as traitors.
Every Nato country which shows support for Russia will weaken the Western alliance that has kept the peace for nearly 80 years. But a far greater loss to our unity than Hungary or Romania is the effective withdrawal by the US.
Trump has made it plain that Article 5, the common pledge between Nato members that we protect each other, no longer applies in all circumstances, even issuing threats against a Nato country, Denmark, over its refusal to cede Greenland to the US.
We cannot rely on American troops and munitions in a conflict with Russia. More shocking still, as Ukraine discovered earlier this month, we cannot rely on the US to share its intelligence.
Perhaps we cannot even be fully sure, in the event of war, whose side Trump would be on.
Europe has perhaps two years to prepare for a head-on confrontation with Russia and we must be ready now for the unconventional war of sabotage, arson, cyber attacks, propaganda and assassination which will set the conditions for full-scale war.
It is no exaggeration to say that tens of millions of lives and the national survival of Britain, France, Germany and all our true allies are at stake.
Earlier this month, the European Commission's president Ursula Von der Leyen announced up to 800billion euros will be spent on rearming the continent and delivering aid to Ukraine.
Welcome though that decision is, we might have left it too late.
When war comes, as it will come, events will unfold at devastating speed.
This is how the timeline could look:
Monday March 1, 2027: A Russian unit patrolling occupied Donetsk is attacked and, after a brief firefight, surrenders. The soldiers are executed in cold blood. Russia blames Ukrainian special forces.
Kyiv immediately denies it. Bodycam footage from one of the dead soldiers shows the ambush was carried out by men in Ukraine uniforms.
Tuesday March 2: The Kremlin announces that, for the safety of its citizens and soldiers, and the protection of American mining installations along the border, it will be establishing a 100-mile 'buffer zone'.
Heavily equipped Russian forces immediately roll into Ukraine.
President Vitali Klitschko, who succeeded Volodymyr Zelensky after the 2025 elections, denies again the involvement of Ukrainian troops and accuses Russia of a 'false flag' operation.
'Putin is a psychopath,' he says, 'who murders his own soldiers to create a lie.' Klitschko demands Nato support Ukraine in driving back the Russian advance.
More than 500 miles away, the peacekeeping force prepares to mobilise, but Trump steps in. The White House welcomes the creation of a buffer zone, he says, to keep American mining operations safe from Ukraine rebels.
Thursday March 4: At a UN Security Council emergency meeting, the US votes with Russia to redraw the map. Poland's prime minister Donald Tusk warns that Putin is testing Europe's resolve.
Unless we have the determination to force a Russian retreat, without US involvement and in open battle if necessary, he will interpret our weakness as an invitation to go further. Russia offers to negotiate a withdrawal.
Klitschko rejects the ploy, dismissing it as a cynical trick: the longer the West delays, the more time Putin has to reinforce his positions. But Nato chiefs agree to talks.
Sunday March 7: Tusk is proven right. Putin has decided we are toothless. At 4.30am, a full Russian armoured division begins to roll across the border into Estonia and Latvia. Within four hours they are approaching the Estonian capital of Tallinn.
The British-led Enhanced Forward Battle Group in Estonia puts up brief resistance but takes heavy losses before being overwhelmed and forced to withdraw.
This is a tripwire force, numbering just over a thousand, of which around 90 per cent are British with the rest from other nations. More than 50 UK soldiers are among those killed and seriously wounded in the ferocious first action.
At 11am, Sir Keir Starmer announces Britain is formally at war with Russia.
Televised statements are made by the German chancellor, the French president and the Italian prime minister.
But not all Nato countries are united in the reaction. As well as Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, the US refuses to offer support.
On his Truth Social service, Donald Trump posts: 'This is Europe's mess. I gave them peace. They screwed it up. America is staying out of this fight, as long as our great Engineers in Ukraine are safe under Russian protection. Vitali, this warning is for you.'
Monday March 8: The blitzkrieg continues, with forces surging into Latvia over the Russian border and driving towards the Baltic sea.
But the Estonians, combined with the remains of the Nato battle group and reinforcements hastily flown in from UK and other Nato nations, are putting up fierce resistance.
The RAF, German Luftwaffe, Finnish and Swedish airforces, with support from the French, rapidly establish dominance in the air.
Putin unleashes a missile attack on RAF bases in east England, but Britain's air defences prove solid. Patrolling in the North Sea, a pair of newly commissioned Type 45 destroyers pick off the Geran-2 rocket drones, fired in clusters from Kaliningrad.
Some missiles hit targets in Western Europe, but the hundreds of billions of euros poured into strengthening our armed forces in the past two years means we can defend ourselves – and hit back hard.
Retaliatory strikes deep inside Russia take out oil refineries and missile silos. But the European war plan is not to win by sheer firepower. Instead, we turn the tables on the Kremlin's cyber-warfare tactics, with a devastating barrage of electronic tricks.
As night falls, Russia's computer networks are crippled, taking down their fuel supplies, electricity grid and financial systems. It's -6C in Moscow and millions are without heating.
Tuesday March 9: Fighting intensifies in the Baltic states. The advance has slowed but defenders are hugely outnumbered. They will face a bitter struggle to fend off the invaders until reinforcements can arrive by sea – and even then Russia could still have the upper hand.
Their forces are battle-hardened after three years of trench warfare and house-to-house fighting in Ukraine, and they can absorb horrendous losses.
But if Putin is close to winning on the battlefield, he is close to losing control in his cities. European missiles continue to pick off vital targets in Russia.
Transport is grinding to a halt. Food is scarce. The internet is not functioning, and the security forces are stretched, trying to contain anti-war protests.
Russia, consumed by the demands of an insane warmongering dictator for so many years, is on the brink of total collapse.
Wednesday March 10: In a desperate last attempt to blackmail the world, Putin announces he will use nuclear weapons before allowing the West to defeat Russia. Satellite intelligence suggests this is no bluff, and that Kyiv is a likely first target.
That is all the provocation Ukraine needs. During two years of ceasefire, its own nuclear scientists have not been idle.
They have the Bomb and a burning hatred of everything Russian. In an act of stupendous revenge, Ukraine launches a nuclear strike against the industrial Volgograd. The city is instantly obliterated.
Within the hour, Trump declares Ukraine a terrorist state. But he also warns Russia – and others – against retaliation with nuclear weapons. China orders the Kremlin to sue for peace immediately.
There is no need. By nightfall, ultra-nationalists enraged at the destruction of their country have staged a palace coup and overthrown Putin.
The madman of Moscow has finally gone. Russia's vassal republics in the far east and Caucasus begin to declare their independence from Putin's rapidly disintegrating empire.
Fiction this might be, but if we duck the opportunity to become masters of our fate, it will be Putin, not us, who is in control.
Again, whether the West can survive depends on how well prepared we are. Tens of millions of lives and the very existence of Britain, France, Germany and the democracies of Europe are at stake.
Defence must be our only priority, taking precedence over everything. Because without it we will cease to exist.
Sir Richard Shirreff is former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe for Nato.
Heathrow airport: Urgent probe ordered into power outage which was branded ‘national embarrassment’
Energy secretary Ed Miliband orders grid operator to conduct ‘urgent’ probe into fire which caused ‘unprecedented’ Heathrow shutdown
Ministers have ordered an urgent probe into the substation fire which forced Heathrow airport to close for 15 hours on Friday – as experts claimed the remarkable meltdown had “embarrassed” Britain on the global stage.
The travel plans of up to 300,000 passengers were cast into disarray on Friday after the blaze at a single west London substation grounded more than 1,300 flights between Europe’s busiest airport and locations across the globe.
While the airport declared itself “fully operational” once again on Saturday – with hundreds of extra airport staff rallied to facilitate an additional 10,000 passengers travelling through Heathrow – more than 100 flights were cancelled, including those travelling to New York and arriving from Dubai. Heathrow would typically expect to facilitate 600 flights on Saturday.
Passenger aircraft operated by British Airways on the tarmac at London Heathrow airport on 21 March (Getty Images)
After counter-terrorism officers were initially called in to lead the investigation into the fire, police confirmed on Saturday that the blaze was believed to be non-suspicious and said the London Fire Brigade would instead lead a probe focusing on electrical distribution equipment.
Criticism of the situation has since intensified, with Labour peer Toby Harris – who leads the National Preparedness Commission, which campaigns to improve resilience – saying: “It’s a huge embarrassment for the country that a fire in one electricity substation can have such a devastating effect.”
Jason Bona, owner of supply chain firm PS Forwarding, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the incident made Heathrow a “laughing stock” in the global freight community.
“It is a clear planning failure by the airport,” said Willie Walsh, a former British Airways chief who now leads the global airline body IATA and has long been a fierce critic of Heathrow.
Vowing that the government “is determined to do everything it can to prevent a repeat of what happened at Heathrow”, energy secretary Ed Miliband said on Saturday evening he had ordered the grid operator to “urgently investigate” the outage.
A view of the North Hyde electrical substation on Saturday, after the fire was extinguished (Maja Smiejkowska/PA Wire)
In conjunction with regulator Ofsted, Mr Miliband commissioned the National Energy System Operator (Neso) to carry out the independent probe “to properly understand what happened and what lessons need to be learned” regarding “energy resilience for critical national infrastructure, both now and in the future”.
Neso is expected to report to Ofgem and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero with its initial findings within six weeks.
Welcoming the investigation, Heathrow’s chief executive Thomas Woldbye vowed to “support every effort to understand the causes and impacts” of the fire and said his staff were “committed to working closely with all stakeholders to ensure a thorough investigation to help strengthen the airport’s future resilience”.
Heathrow chair Lord Paul Deighton further confirmed on Saturday evening that former transport secretary Ruth Kelly, who is an independent member of the airport’s board, will undertake a review of the airport’s crisis management plans.
The London Fire Brigade warned its own investigation to establish the exact cause of the fire at the Hayes high-voltage substation could take weeks.
Deputy commissioner Jonathan Smith said: “The fire involved a transformer comprising 25,000 litres of its cooling oil fully alight. This created a major hazard owing to the still live high voltage equipment and the nature of an oil-fuelled fire.”
The travel plans of up to 300,000 passengers were cast into disarray on Friday following the fire (PA)
After the fire in Hayes knocked out both the substation and its backup, Heathrow was left with only two remaining grid supply points to fall back on.
While these two supply points are capable of powering the airport, Mr Woldbye said this was only after a complex process that involved reallocating supplies and resetting systems across the airport, which took most of Friday to complete.
Firefighters will maintain a small presence at Hayes in the coming days to ensure any remaining hotspots within the electrical equipment are fully extinguished.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said: “Heathrow is a massive airport that uses the energy of a small city, so it’s imperative we identify how this power failure happened and learn from this to ensure a vital piece of national infrastructure remains strong.
“Whilst Heathrow is back to business, some disruption is expected over coming days as things get back to normal so I encourage anyone travelling to check with their airlines and plan their journeys.”
The Heathrow Express service will also be running a reduced service on Sunday (Getty Images)
In a double blow for travellers, that disruption will also extend to rail travel to and from the airport. The Heathrow Express announced it will be out of action for upgrade work on Sunday morning.
A Heathrow Express spokesperson said: “A gentle reminder: Due to planned railway upgrade work, Heathrow Express will be running a reduced service on Sunday, 23 March, with no service before 9.12am.”
With British Airways – whose main hub is Heathrow – saying it expected around 85 per cent of its schedule to proceed on Saturday, chief executive Sean Doyle warned of a “huge impact on all of our customers flying with us over the coming days”.
However, Virgin Atlantic said it was planning to run a near-full schedule on Saturday with limited cancellations. Air India said it had restarted flights to and from Heathrow and expected to operate “as per schedule”.
As some passengers described “nightmarish” bids to reach their intended destinations on Saturday, others praised Heathrow and their airlines’ handling of the situation.
In a double blow for travellers, that disruption will also extend to rail travel to and from the airport. The Heathrow Express announced it will be out of action for upgrade work on Sunday morning.
A Heathrow Express spokesperson said: “A gentle reminder: Due to planned railway upgrade work, Heathrow Express will be running a reduced service on Sunday, 23 March, with no service before 9.12am.”
With British Airways – whose main hub is Heathrow – saying it expected around 85 per cent of its schedule to proceed on Saturday, chief executive Sean Doyle warned of a “huge impact on all of our customers flying with us over the coming days”.
However, Virgin Atlantic said it was planning to run a near-full schedule on Saturday with limited cancellations. Air India said it had restarted flights to and from Heathrow and expected to operate “as per schedule”.
As some passengers described “nightmarish” bids to reach their intended destinations on Saturday, others praised Heathrow and their airlines’ handling of the situation.
Passengers queue at a check-in desk at Heathrow Terminal 2 in London (Maja Smiejkowska/PA)
Holidaymaker Tim Kolb, who travelled from Dallas, Texas, said: “I thought I was going to be there delayed two days, but I went over yesterday. It was organised well. In fact, they had several planes leaving within an hour of each other to Heathrow.”
Mr Woldbye apologised to stranded passengers and defended the airport’s response to the situation, saying the incident was as “as big as it gets for our airport” and that “we cannot guard ourselves 100 per cent”.
Aviation experts said the last time European airports had experienced disruption on such a large scale was the 2010 Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that grounded some 100,000 flights.
Heathrow and London’s other major airports have also been hit by other major outages in recent years, most recently by an automated gate failure and an air traffic system meltdown, both in 2023.
With the travel industry facing the prospect of a financial hit costing tens of millions of pounds and a likely fight over who should foot the bill, Mr Woldbye responded to questions about who would pay for the disruption on Friday. There were “procedures in place”, he said. “[But] We don’t have liabilities in place for incidents like this.”
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Why Ukraine’s minerals are so special – and why Trump wants them so much
Ukraine’s minerals have become central to global geopolitics, with the US president, Donald Trump, seeking a deal with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky to access them.
But what are these minerals exactly and why are they so sought after?
Ukraine is often recognised for its vast agricultural lands and industrial heritage, but beneath its surface lies one of the world’s most remarkable geological formations, the “Ukrainian Shield”.
This massive, exposed crystalline rock formed over 2.5 billion years ago, stretches across much of Ukraine. It represents one of Earth’s oldest and most stable continental blocks.
The formation has undergone multiple episodes of mountain building, the formation and movement of magma and other change throughout time.
These geological processes created favourable geological conditions for forming several mineral deposits including lithium, graphite, manganese, titanium and rare earth elements.
All these are now critical for modern industries and the global green energy transition.
Ukraine has deposits containing 22 of 34 critical minerals identified by the European Union as essential for energy security. This positions Ukraine among the world’s most resource-rich nations.
International race
As the world races to decarbonise, demand for critical minerals is skyrocketing. Electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels and energy storage systems all require lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements which Ukraine has in abundance.
The price of lithium has surged from US$1,500 (£1,164) per ton in the 1990s to around $20,000 per ton in recent years. Demand is expected to increase nearly 40-fold by 2040.
According to the International Energy Agency, the number of electric vehicles is projected to exceed 125 million by 2030. Similar growth is expected for other battery metals. Each electric vehicle requires significantly more lithium than conventional electronics. For example, a Tesla Model S battery requires approximately 63kg of high-purity lithium.
Ukraine has three major lithium deposits. These include Shevchenkivske in the Donetsk region as well as Polokhivske and Stankuvatske in the centrally located Kirovograd region – all within the Ukrainian Shield. Despite the significant mineral potential, many of Ukraine’s mineral deposits have remained largely unexplored due to the war with Russia, which has disrupted mining operations and damaged infrastructure.
The Shevchenkivske lithium deposit contains high concentrations of spodumene — the primary lithium-bearing mineral used in battery production. Its reserve is estimated as 13.8 million tonnes of lithium ores. That said, extracting it requires an estimated US$10–20 million in exploration investment before mining can begin.
Meanwhile, the Polokhivske deposit at is approximately 270 thousand tonnes of lithium is considered one of the best lithium sites in Europe. That’s because of its favourable geological conditions, making extraction more economically viable.
But lithium represents just one element of Ukraine’s mineral resources. According to the US geological survey, Ukraine ranks globally as the third-largest producer of the mineral rutile – making up 15.7 per cent of world’s total output. It is the sixth-largest producer of iron ore (3.2 per cent of total output) and titanium (5.8 per cent), as well as the seventh-largest producer of manganese ore (3.1 per cent).
Ukraine also has Europe’s largest uranium reserves, crucial for nuclear power and weapons. It boasts significant deposits of rare earth elements, including neodymium and dysprosium, which are needed for manufacturing everything from smartphones to wind turbines and electric motors.
In addition, Ukraine is home to the world’s largest proven reserves of manganese ores. There’s approximately 2.4 billion tonnes of it concentrated primarily in the Nikopol Basin on the southern slope of the Ukrainian Shield.
The strategic significance of Ukraine’s minerals has gained recognition in international diplomacy. Recent bilateral negotiations between Ukraine and the US highlight the geopolitical importance of these resources.
A proposed minerals deal would involve Ukraine contributing 50 per cent of future proceeds from state-owned mineral resources, oil and gas and other extractable materials to a reconstruction investment fund for Ukraine’s post-war rebuilding. The fund would be jointly managed by Kyiv and Washington.
What about the US’s own minerals?
The US’s interest in Ukrainian minerals reflects a broader geopolitical concern over increasing demand, volatile price movements and supply chain vulnerabilities.
While the US has many of the same critical minerals as Ukraine, it has historically outsourced mining and refining due to environmental regulations, high labour costs and more attractive foreign markets.
This has led to a reliance on imports, particularly from China, which dominates critical mineral production and processing. Getting access to Ukraine’s minerals in exchange for military protection means the US can avoid having to buy these minerals from China.
The US federal strategy in fact states it will prioritise diversification through mineral security partnerships aiming to establish a more stable and resilient supply chain.
The US’s critical minerals are distributed across various geological provinces including the Appalachian Mountains, the Cordilleran Belt and the Precambrian Shield exposed in parts of the midwest.
While the US has developed substantial lithium resources, particularly in Nevada’s Clayton Valley and North Carolina’s Kings Mountain, much of its current lithium production comes from “brine operations”. This is the extraction from salt solutions, such as seawater or saline lakes, which can be more expensive than hard-rock mining.
The global shift toward green energy and electric transportation is accelerating, and minerals are at the heart of this transition. Around 80 per cent of the lithium produced globally is used for battery production. Major automakers are investing billions in electric vehicle production, driving unprecedented demand for the minerals that power this technology.
Ukraine’s mineral wealth positions it as a potential leader in the clean energy revolution. Once stability returns, Ukraine will have a golden opportunity to reshape the global supply chain for critical minerals. Even with a 50 per cent allocation to the US, Ukraine would still be able to fund domestic infrastructure, industry growth, jobs and economic recovery.
Why Seb Coe lost the room in crushing IOC presidential election defeat
Coe finished a distant third in the race for the prestigious role leading the Olympic movement after making enemies inside the IOC, writes Lawrence Ostlere – but that was not the only reason
Coe is accosted by journalists after his election defeat (Getty Images)
For almost 30 minutes, IOC members and officials sat in tense silence in the windowless auditorium of the Costa Navarino hotel in Greece while the vote was verified. The IOC president, Thomas Bach, finally returned with his compliance officers and a white card in his hand. He stepped on to the stage and as he turned over the card, revealing the name “Kirsty Coventry” in block capitals, some of the IOC’s younger female members shed tears of joy.
For so long, the International Olympic Committee has been the domain of men. More specifically, since its inception in 1894, eight of the nine presidents have been greying European men (the sole exception was the former decathlete Avery Brundage, elected in 1952 – he was a greying American man). But in June, Coventry – a decorated Zimbabwean swimmer turned politician – will officially become the first woman, and first African, to lead the Olympic movement.
The result would have been unthinkable until only recently. The IOC held a men-only membership until 1981, and the only previous woman to stand for the presidency, the American former rower Anita DeFrantz, was eliminated in the first round in 2001. But gradually the deeply conservative IOC has entered the modern world, accelerating gender equality both in sport and inside the hierarchy under Bach’s leadership.
Thomas Bach ushers his successor Kirsty Coventry to the stage (Reuters)
As Coventry walked up to the stage to accept the presidency, she embraced her beaten rivals. Among them was Sebastian Coe, who finished in a distant third place. Coe felt this role was his destiny, the natural culmination of a perfectly carved career path: winning Olympic gold on the track; winning a seat in parliament; winning London the 2012 Olympics against all odds; and winning the presidency of World Athletics, the Olympics’ king sport.
Here was a natural winner with a bullet-proof CV, hitting every checkmark on the road to power. He arrived in Greece this week with confidence in his campaign message, in which he vowed to protect the female category and devolve power to the athletes. Heavyweights from the world of sport and politics lined up to endorse him on social media, from Usain Bolt and Mo Farah to Manchester United and Boris Johnson. “I feel there is momentum,” Coe said on Thursday.
But few of his backers were holding an electronic keypad in their hand in that auditorium. When the results were made public Coe was nowhere, winning only eight votes out of 97 cast by the IOC’s members. Coe had lost the room. But then he never really held it.
Coe attends the 144th IOC Session in Costa Navarino, Greece (AFP via Getty Images)
Two things went against him, one of which was somewhat self-inflicted. In his influential role as president of World Athletics, Coe has been outspoken on major issues and often butted heads with the IOC, notably after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when he banned Russians and Belarusians from athletics, going against the IOC’s recommendation to accept them as individual neutral athletes. “I am not neutral,” he said, in what felt like a pointed retort.
The most contentious moment came when Coe suddenly announced last spring that athletics gold medallists at Paris 2024 would be awarded $50,000 prize money. IOC leaders were stunned and felt he was “playing solo” on a sensitive issue that conflicted with the Olympics’ roots in amateur sport. One member told The Independent in the build-up to this election that Coe was “loathed” by senior Olympic figures, while a member high up in the hierarchy added: “He doesn’t show a lot of love for the IOC.”
Coe’s supporters would argue he was admirably principled, headstrong and determined, showing the tenets of leadership rather than playing a political game. The IOC felt he showed disregard. Bach certainly didn’t want him to become president. If an established name was going to succeed him it was more likely to be vice-president Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr: smooth and slick, respected and popular on the inside, whose father was president for 21 years. Samaranch Jr has two decades’ experience as a member while Coe is a relative newcomer having only been made a member in 2020.
Coe speaks to the media after his election defeat (AP)
But his defeat was also a symptom of a wider shift inside the IOC, of something much bigger than just his taut relationship with its leaders.
The membership is a weirdly secretive and exclusive club made up of royalty, billionaires, business leaders, sports executives and athletes from around the globe. The 109 members include a Mongolian banker, a former Cape Verdean school teacher, a Fijian doctor, an Oscar-winning actor, a Bhutanese prince, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Princess Anne. It is an eclectic bunch but it is hardly democracy in action: Princess Nora of Liechtenstein has been a member for 41 years.
But increasingly it has become a more youthful and more gender-balanced pool, partly after Bach encouraged an influx of recently retired athletes, with the proportion of women now past 40 per cent. These new female members were a key part of Coventry’s support base. As one source texted The Independent from Thursday’s vote: “Younger IOC members voted for Coventry because they wanted generational change. Many of the other candidates simply looked too old school.”
This was an election about more than sport. The IOC president is a powerful figure on the world stage with sway across global politics – the first person to call and congratulate Bach on winning the 2013 election was Vladimir Putin. Some members looked at the new world order run by strongmen like Putin, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, who will inevitably hijack the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles for his own ends, and chose Coventry to represent them.
Coventry addresses IOC members after winning the election (Thanassis Stavrakis/AP)
Against Coe, Samaranch Jr and the rest, the 41-year-old stood out as someone more dynamic and in touch with sport, with recent experience of being an Olympian (Coe was the only other ex-athlete among the seven candidates) and an extensive record at the IOC, particularly in representing Olympians as chair of the Athletes’ Commission. All seven candidates cheered about “athlete empowerment” but when it came from Coventry, the message landed.
It was an open secret that she was Bach’s favoured pick, to the point that his private endorsement of her irked some of the other candidates. This was the final act of his 12-year reign, and perhaps it is one of his most significant legacies: that in reshaping the IOC’s membership he has pulled up the golden ladder from beneath, ensuring men like him – like Samaranch Jr, like Coe – no longer hold hegemony over the Olympic throne.
British Museum is right to keep Parthenon marbles, says new trustee
Historian Dr Tiffany Jenkins is one of the lineup of new appointees that has raised cultural and historical hackles
The British Museum houses the Parthenon marbles.
The latest appointments to the British Museum’s trustees include an academic expert opposed to the ¬restitution of stolen antiquities.
Dr Tiffany Jenkins, author of Keeping Their Marbles, will join new trustees including TV broadcaster and writer Claudia Winkleman, Lord Finkelstein, a Conservative peer who was an adviser to prime minister John Major, the historian and podcaster Tom Holland and the former BBC radio news anchor Martha Kearney for a four-year term. The chair of trustees is George Osborne, the former Conservative chancellor of the exchequer.
The Parthenon, or Elgin, marbles are the ancient Greek sculptures that once decorated the temple on the Acropolis in Athens. They were removed between 1801 and 1815 by Lord Elgin, the British ambassador to the Ottoman empire, who claimed he had permission to take them, although no supporting document has been found. The sculptures were acquired by the British Museum in 1816, but their rightful ownership has been ¬disputed since the 1980s.
In her book Keeping Their Marbles: How the Treasures of the Past Ended up in Museums… and Why They Should Stay There, Jenkins examined the influences behind the high-profile battle to return museum artefacts in an attempt to repair historical wrongs. Her views are at odds with those of another well-known historian and broadcaster, Dr Alice Roberts, who recently met the Greek culture minister, Lina Mendoni, while filming her series on Ancient Greece for Channel 4.
Earlier this month Roberts told Radio Times: “They belong back in Athens. It’s not equivalent, but I imagine we might be upset in England if another country had significant bits of Stonehenge and wouldn’t give them back. But actually the argument goes deeper than that. There’s a pressing need to recognise some of the questionable practices of the past, which often went hand in hand with the history of colonialism.”
Last month, Greece elected a new president, Constantine Tassoulas, who is a prominent advocate for the return of the marbles. A former culture minister, Tassoulas played a key role in revitalising efforts to reclaim the 2,500-year-old sculptures.
Until recently, the British response has been based on the idea that the removal was legal, and that the British Museum is the safest custodian. But the argument shifted in recent years as Greece moved away from simply claiming ownership. The question is often now framed as one of “reunification”, involving sharing the legacy.
This attitude was emphasised by the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who suggested that art can be kept in a different country without losing its significance. But in 2023, Rishi Sunak, who was prime minister at the time, cancelled a meeting with Mitsotakis at the last minute in a move interpreted as a way to avoid the issue.
Jenkins, an honorary fellow at the University of Edinburgh, was congratulated on her appointment by Claire Fox, her colleague at the Academy of Ideas. This thinktank, founded by Fox 25 years ago on the closure of Living Marxism, is non-party political but promotes what it describes as “a robust stance on contentious issues”.
Also welcoming the appointment was author and presenter Timandra Harkness, who told the Observer that Jenkins was solely concerned with the serious business of protecting history and would “not be joining the board to fight any external battles”.
Additionally, there was criticism that the new trustees are all white. “If no one black or brown from outside London applied to become a trustee, they should have gone out to look for someone. They are out there,” said one leading cultural figure who wanted to remain anonymous but who is dismayed by the lineup.
The museum’s board of 20 trustees does contain a mix of cultural backgrounds, including the Indian-American Amazon executive Priyanka Wadhawan and economist prof Abhijit Banerjee as well as the economist Weijian Shan from China and the Colombian-American philanthropist Alejandro Santo Domingo.
Last July, culture secretary Lisa Nandy announced a drive to attract the widest pool of talent to the public appointments system.
Announcing the appointments, culture minister Chris Bryant said: “Public appointees help to lead some of the UK’s best-known institutions, and these immensely talented individuals with a wide range of personal and professional experience will make great contributions to how they are run and help to promote British soft power abroad.”
The airline that sold a £190,000 ticket - it ended up costing them millions
A former American Airlines boss has revealed the real reason why the firm terminated a passenger's 'lifelong' first-class plane ticket - after the frequent flier cost the company millions.
Steven Rothstein, a businessman from Chicago, purchased an exclusive £190,000 AAirpass ticket in 1987, which granted him unlimited first-class flights for life.
In addition to the AAirpass, Rothstein also splurged a further £115,000 for a companion pass, allowing him to travel with a guest.
At the time, Rothstein was 37 years old and considered the AAirpass to be a savvy investment, given his frequent business trips.
Over the following two decades, Rothstein flew approximately 10,000 times, travelling more than 30 million miles.
His extensive flying habit, reportedly cost American Airlines a staggering $21 million (£16 million).
The businessman's former wife, Nancy, told reporters at the time that Rothstein 'got on a plane like most people get on a bus'.
Despite his regular and lavish travel, Rothstein's golden ticket came to an abrupt end in December 2008.
Steven Rothstein, a businessman from Chicago, purchased an exclusive £190,000 AAirpass ticket in 1987, which granted him unlimited first-class flights for life
Speaking to the Guardian in 2019, he recalled the moment he was informed of the termination.
He said: 'I went to the ticket counter, checked in my luggage for London, walked to the gate... and just as I was walking on the plane, they handed me a letter terminating the AAirpass.
'Why did they let me go to the gate? Why didn’t they tell me up front, which would have been the nice thing to do?'
But Rothstein's journey didn't end there: American Airlines soon launched a legal battle against Rothstein, claiming he had abused the scheme by making a series of 'speculative bookings' for non-existent passengers.
According to the airline, Rothstein booked 14 flights under names such as 'Bag Rothstein' and 'Steven Rothstein Jr', which they argued violated the terms of the AAirpass.
In defence, Rothstein maintained that the only rule he was ever told to follow was that he could not allow anyone else to use the AAirpass.
He also claimed he turned down offers from people willing to pay him thousands of dollars a week for the privilege of using it.
The stockbroker's wife and daughter also argued he had 'never used a computer' and that 'every single reservation he ever made was made with an American Airlines paid employee'.
American Airlines soon launched a legal battle against Rothstein, claiming he had abused the AAirpass scheme by making a series of 'speculative bookings' for non-existent passengers
Rothstein explained: 'When I bought the AAirpass, they made it very clear: the only rule was that I couldn't give anybody else the AAirpass. And those were the days before they took identification from passengers.'
American Airlines went on to accuse several other flyers of breaching their contracts by either offering strangers a seat reserved for their companion, or keeping it empty entirely for more space.
Rothstein hit back against the travel giant's accusations by countersuing, accusing the company of violating the terms of the ticket by revoking it.
However, the dispute was eventually settled out of court and the pass has since been discontinued.
Bob Crandall, American Airlines' chairman and chief executive between 1985 and 1998, later told the Los Angeles Times that the pass, launched in 1981, was originally imagined to 'be something that firms would buy for top employees'.
He added: 'It soon became apparent that the public was smarter than we were.'
It comes after budget airline Wizz Air launched a new 'all you can fly' deal for just £426-a-year with customers able to jump on unlimited flights.
The subscription service, priced at €499 (£426) for a short time in August 2024, allows passengers to fly as far as the Maldives for a flat fare of £9 per hop.
Starmer's not-so-willing coalition? PM's plans for European allies to enforce Ukraine peace are dismissed as 'political theatre' by military insiders - after US envoy called his idea 'simplistic'
Keir Starmer's peacekeeping proposals in Ukraine have been dismissed as 'political theatre' by senior military insiders.
The Prime Minister laid out plans for a 'coalition of the willing' earlier this month, suggesting several nations were ready to enforce any deal brokered between Russia and Ukraine.
The aspiration has not yet been backed up with concrete detail, while Germany, Poland and Italy are not expected to be part of any joint force.
Yesterday military sources said the Prime Minister had 'got ahead of himself' and that it was not 'remotely possible' for a plan to be drawn up by April 20 - the White House's target date for a peace deal.
One senior figure told The Telegraph: 'There is no defined military end-state or military-strategic planning assumptions. It's all political theatre.
'Starmer got ahead of himself with talk of boots on the ground before he knew what he was talking about, which is why we hear less about it now and more about jets and vessels which are easier to do and don't need basing in Ukraine.'
Another said there was 'no military sense' in the plans due to the disparity between any joint European cohort and both the Russian and Ukrainian troop numbers.
'There are about 700,000 Russians in and around Ukraine and over a million Ukrainians under arms,' they said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, Keir Starmer and France's President Emmanuel Macron held a meeting earlier this month to discuss future peace arrangements
'What is a 10,000-international force based in the west of the country over 400km from the front line meant to do?
'It cannot even protect itself. What is the mission? What is its legitimacy? What are the rules of engagement? How is it commanded, supplied and housed? How long is it there for and why? No one knows.'
Former Conservative Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warned of 'coalition waffle' without any 'resolve', suggesting recent talks were more 'spin' than substance.
Downing Street have said military planners will meet this week to discuss the 'details and structure of any future force'.
Starmer's 'coalition of the willing' refers to a group of countries prepared to enforce any agreement by sending soldiers to act as peacekeepers.
Led by the UK and France, the initiative could see troops from several nations deployed to Ukraine to act as a buffer to any future Russian aggression following a hypothetical peace deal.
Spain, Turkey, Finland, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states - Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia - are all likely to be involved, according to reports.
Canada and Australia are seen as the two most likely countries from outside Europe to support the plans.
But the plans appear to be opposed by the US, with President Donald Trump's special envoy dismissing the plans as a 'posture and a pose'.
In an interview this weekend, Steve Witkoff said the idea was based on a 'simplistic' notion of the UK prime minister and other European leaders thinking 'we have all got to be like Winston Churchill'.
He told journalist Tucker Carlson: 'Russians are going to march across Europe. That is preposterous by the way. We have something called Nato that we did not have in World War Two.'
Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, who will host French officials today at the Ministry of Defence, dismissed criticism of the Ukraine military planning as 'nonsense'.
He said: 'Anyone who isn't aware just how serious the discussions underway by chiefs of defence and chiefs of operations from 30 countries is simply proving they are too junior or too out of the loop to know what they are talking about.
'The process underway, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Macron, is preparing Europe and Ukraine for whatever comes next, and while providing a running commentary on the potential options would be unhelpful to the planning and detrimental to potential peace, no one should be in any doubt that this work is critical and substantial.'
Ministry of Defence sources also stressed that momentum was building up behind the proposed coalition, with leaders 'prepared to step up to secure a peace'.
They also insisted Starmer was 'leading from the front' on the issue and that he is commanding 'respect' for his approach.
Earlier today the US and Russia began talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at making progress towards a broad ceasefire in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman played down hopes of a deal being reached in the coming weeks, saying that the parties were 'only at the beginning of this path' to peace.
American officials have already spoken to their Ukrainian counterparts, with the initial aim being a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea to allow the free flow of shipping.
The fighting has still continued to rage inside Ukraine, however, with the country's air force saying it shot down 57 drones out of 99 launched by Russia overnight, with another 36 failing to reach their target.
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Peking lükkas tagasi väited Hiina rahuvalvajate saatmisest Ukrainasse
Hiina välisministeerium lükkas esmaspäeval ümber väited, et Peking võib liituda võimaliku rahuvalvemissiooniga Ukrainas.
Saksa väljaanne Die Welt kirjutas möödunud nädalavahetusel diplomaatilistele allikatele tuginedes, et Hiina kaalub väidetavalt ühinemist rahuvalvejõududega osana Euroopa juhitavast hea tahte koalitsioonist, et tagada relvarahu Ukrainas.
Hiina välisministeerium lükkas esmaspäeval need väited tagasi.
"Tahaksin rõhutada, et kõnealused teated ei vasta tõele ning Hiina seisukoht Ukraina kriisi suhtes on järjekindel ja selge," seletas Hiina välisministeeriumi pressiesindaja Guo Jiakun.
Hiina ise väidab, et on Ukraina ja Venemaa sõjas neutraalne pool. Kompartei on aga säilitanud Moskvaga tihedad majanduslikud suhted ning jäänud Venemaa peamiseks liitlaseks kogu täiemahulise invasiooni vältel.
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‘Insecure baby’: Trump draws ridicule after throwing fit over Colorado capitol portrait
Even some Republicans have called president’s public demand to remove the painting ‘petty’
Donald Trump critics aimed ridicule at the president after he publicly demanded the removal of his portrait at Colorado’s state capitol building, calling it “truly the worst”.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump shared an image of the portrait and complained about the painting, saying it was bad and blaming it on Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis – whom the president insulted as being “radically left”.
A Republican admirer of Trump actually commissioned the portrait.
In two follow-up posts, Trump shared separate images of himself in an apparent attempt to distribute photos that he considered more flattering.
Liberal and anti-Trump commentators laughed at the president’s reaction on social media.
On X, Sam Stein of MSNBC wrote that he was “absolutely dying” over how Trump was so upset by his portrait “that he couldn’t resist posting” about it. Stein said it was also funny “how objectively bad the portrait is”.
Former Republican attorney Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of the liberal news website MeidasTouch Network, wrote on X that Trump was “the most fragile, sensitive snowflake in history” while sharing a screenshot of the president’s Truth Social post.
Another social media account named Republicans Against Trump also shared the president’s post while calling him “a petty, insecure baby”.
Trump alleged without evidence that his portrait had been “purposefully distorted”. The president then complained that his Democratic presidential predecessor Barack Obama “looks wonderful” in his portrait at the Colorado capitol.
Despite Trump’s criticism of Polis for the painting, it was actually unveiled by a Republican group in 2019. A former Republican state senator had crowdfunded nearly $10,000 to commission the painting, according to Colorado news station KUSA.
Trump did not have a portrait hanging in the Colorado state capitol for his first presidency, which began in 2017. In 2018, a liberal political activist placed a large portrait of Vladimir Putin – whom Trump openly admires – in the empty space, but it was quickly removed by capitol staff.
That prompted then Republican state senator Kevin Grantham to raise money through a GoFundMe campaign to hang Trump’s portrait in the state capitol.
“I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post, and further said the governor “should be ashamed of himself”!
It was unclear what triggered Trump’s tirade about the portrait.
A Polis spokesperson told KUSA that the governor was “surprised to learn the President of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado state capitol and its artwork”.
“We appreciate the president and everyone’s interest in our capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience,” the Polis spokesperson added.
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Trump calls on Polis to remove ‘purposefully distorted’ portrait of himself hanging in the Colorado capitol
“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves,” Trump said.
President Donald Trump's portrait hangs in the Colorado Capitol after an unveiling ceremony on Aug. 1, 2019, in Denver. | Thomas Peipert/AP
President Donald Trump on Sunday night disparaged a portrait of himself hanging in the Colorado Capitol as “purposefully distorted” and called on the state’s Gov. Jared Polis to take it down.
“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” Trump wrote to his social media platform Truth Social.
He acknowledged that the artist, Sarah Boardman, had also painted a portrait of former President Barack Obama, which he said looks “wonderful,” calling his “truly the worst.”
The painting targeted by Trump’s tirade has been hanging up in the Colorado Capitol since 2019 — during the president’s first term in office — according to an article published by The Denver Post.
Trump’s social media message didn’t stop at the portrait. His post went on to berate Polis, calling him a “Radical Left Governor” and demanding the portrait be removed.
“I am speaking on their behalf to the Radical Left Governor, Jared Polis, who is extremely weak on Crime, in particular with respect to Tren de Aragua, which practically took over Aurora (Don’t worry, we saved it!), to take it down,” he wrote. “Jared should be ashamed of himself!”
A spokesperson for the governor said Polis was “surprised to learn the President of the United States is an aficionado of our Colorado State Capitol and its artwork” in a statement to POLITICO.
“The State Capitol was completed in 1901, and features Rose Onyx and White Yule Marble mined in Colorado, and includes portraits of former Presidents and former governors,” the spokesperson said. “We appreciate the President and everyone’s interest in our capitol building and are always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience.”
Polis has pushed back against Trump’s agenda since the president’s return to office, particularly the Department of Government Efficiency’s federal cutting spree. He accused DOGE of “tearing down the old without necessarily having a more efficient way of doing it” during POLITICO’s Governors Summit last month.
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Никас Сафронов.
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В Кремле высказались о портрете, который Путин подарил Трампу
Песков: подарок Путина Трампу был личным, президент может рассказать о нем сам.
Президент России Владимир Путин действительно передал американскому коллеге Дональду Трампу подарок. Об этом рассказал пресс-секретарь российского лидера Дмитрий Песков.
«Единственное, что я вам могу сказать, что это был абсолютно личный подарок, который президент передал своему американскому коллеге. В связи с тем, что подарок личный, мы не хотели бы давать дополнительную информацию, если президент сам не расскажет», — сказал он.
До этого спецпосланник главы Белого дома Стивен Уиткофф в интервью журналисту Такеру Карлсону заявил, что Трамп получил портрет в подарок от российского лидера. По его словам, работа была заказана Путиным у ведущего российского художника. Уиткофф отметил, что Трамп был «по-настоящему тронут».
Художник и академик Российской академии художеств Никас Сафронов заявил, что подаренная американскому президенту картина — бесценное произведение искусства. При этом он также уточнил, что авторы, как правило, не комментируют свои работы и не раскрывают, для кого они были созданы.
Владислав Юрьевич Сурков - Действительный государственный советник Российской Федерации 1 класса (17 января 2000), что есть высший классный чин государственной федеральной гражданской службы России.
Обсуждать здесь грани противоречивой личности (или противоречивые грани) Владислава Суркова не буду, приведу лишь свежую цитату, с которой, уверен, многие уже знакомы:
«Когда-то я поднял на уровень официальной идеологии бытовавшее в философских кружках понятие «Русский мир». У Русского мира границ нет. Русский мир везде, куда в той или иной мере проникает культурное, информационное, военное, экономическое, идеологическое, гуманитарное влияние России. То есть, на всех континентах. Концентрация нашего влияния очень разная в разных регионах, но нигде не нулевая. Так что будем расширяться во все стороны, а уж там, как бог даст, и на сколько ресурсов хватит. Тут главное не надорваться. Не схватить слишком тяжелый трофей, который не сможешь унести».
Цитата взята из большого интервью Суркова французскому журналу L'Express, которое, на мой взгляд, весьма интересное, потому привожу его полностью.
Предисловие журнала L'Express: «Отличный разговор. Изобретатель путинизма не высказывался с начала войны на Украине. L'Express смог с ним побеседовать».
L'Express:
— «Есть десятилетия, когда ничего не происходит, и недели, за которые происходят десятилетия». Такие ли сейчас недели происходят для Европы?
В.Сурков:
— Да, в эти недели США обрушили на Европу настоящий вербальный шторм. Но пока это только «trash talk», собственно «main event» еще впереди.
Вашингтон выходит из застоя. Там теперь перестройка, гласность и новое мышление. Советская перестройка завершилась распадом Восточного блока. Распадутся ли по итогу американской перестройки НАТО и ЕС, вопрос уже не риторический, а вполне практический. Вам решать.
L'Express:
— После встречи в Эр-Рияде, переговоры начинаются, похоже, весьма удачно для России. Но какой исход можно было бы считать победой России?
В.Сурков:
— Военный или военно-дипломатический разгром Украины. Раздел этого искусственного квазигосударства на естественные части. На этом пути могут быть маневры, замедления и даже остановки. Но он будет пройден.
L'Express:
— Изменились ли цели России на Украине с 24 февраля 2022 года?
В.Сурков:
— Стратегические цели не изменились, тактические корректируются в процессе реализации стратегии.
L'Express:
— Вы написали в одной статье «Для России постоянное расширение не просто одна из идей, а подлинный экзистенциал нашего исторического бытия» а также, в другой статье «тесно и скучно, и неловко... и немыслимо оставаться России в границах похабного мира». Какие должны быть, по-вашему, границы России?
В.Сурков:
— Когда-то я поднял на уровень официальной идеологии бытовавшее в философских кружках понятие «Русский мир». У Русского мира границ нет. Русский мир везде, куда в той или иной мере проникает культурное, информационное, военное, экономическое, идеологическое, гуманитарное влияние России. То есть, на всех континентах. Концентрация нашего влияния очень разная в разных регионах, но нигде не нулевая. Так что будем расширяться во все стороны, а уж там, как бог даст, и на сколько ресурсов хватит. Тут главное не надорваться. Не схватить слишком тяжелый трофей, который не сможешь унести.
L'Express:
— Эта философия не оставляет места для субъектности народов. Быть частью «Русского мира» обязательно означает хотеть сближения или соединение с Россией? Можно ли насильно присоединить народы к себе? И главное, зачем?
В.Сурков:
— Не вижу в том, что сказал, ни малейшего намека на отрицание субъектности народов.
Субъектность украинского народа игнорируется как раз Европой, дважды поддержавшей госперевороты в Киеве. Более половины украинцев в 2014 году, например, в быту, в семье и на работе говорили по-русски. Менее половины поддерживали вступление в ЕС и еще меньше — в НАТО. Вопреки мнению народа, по крайней мере, его большинства, Украину пытаются насильно подчинить Западу, не понятно, зачем.
Прямо сейчас, когда мы ведем диалог, европейское, в том числе, и французское оружие применяется против моей страны для поддержки марионеточного киевского режима, опирающегося не на большинство украинского народа, а на антирусское прозападное меньшинство. Запад продолжает попытки насильственной колонизации Украины.
L'Express:
— Если «правильные» границы России включают, по вашему, Украину, то является ли возвращение Украины в сферу влияния России осознанной целью внешней политики России с тех пор, как распался Советский Союз? Иными словами, обратное присоединение Украины является ли целью, которую Москва преследовала, разными способами, с 1991 года?
В.Сурков:
— Эту цель преследовала не только Москва, но и Киев. В разные периоды по-разному, то более, то менее успешно. И в России, и на Украине с момента краха СССР всегда были люди, много людей, думавших о сближении или даже воссоединении наших стран. Их и сейчас очень много по обе стороны фронта. Что естественно, ведь мы однокоренные народы. Мирному сотрудничеству помешали два поддержанных Западом государственных переворота на Украине в 2005 и 2014 годах. В обоих случаях украинцам незаконно навязали власть агрессивного меньшинства, помешанного на мифах политизированной этнографии и миражах евроинтеграции. Это меньшинство втянуло Украину в войну.
L'Express:
— Не кажется ли Вам, что конфликт с Россией мог создать украинскую нацию и её «антирусскую» идентичность? В том числе среди тех русскоязычных украинцев, которые могли до 24 февраля 2022 года испытывать больше симпатии к России? Другими словами, не создала ли сама Россия то, чьё существование она отрицала?
В.Сурков:
— Украина - это искусственное политическое образование, в которое были противоестественно втиснуты как минимум три очень разных региона: русские юг и восток, русско-нерусский центр и антирусский запад. Они так и не срослись, да и не могли изначально.
Военное воздействие на Украину позволит отделить русское от антирусского, или, выражаясь евангелически, овец от козлищ.
Антирусского не станет больше, чем было. Зато оно будет заперто на его исконной территории и прекратит расползаться по русским землям.
Украина, возможно, когда-нибудь обретет настоящую государственность, но только в естественных, а значит, гораздо более скромных границах.
L'Express:
— Возвращаясь к теме текущих переговоров, европейцев не позвали на них, хотя они в первую очередь заинтересованы. Что вы об этом думаете?
В.Сурков:
— Что значит, не позвали? Американцев тоже никто не звал. Они сами себя позвали. Проявили инициативу. Россия все эти годы заявляла, что готова к переговорам. Европа могла в любой момент откликнуться на эти заявления и начать диалог. Не начала. Начали другие.
При этом все понимают, что без участия ЕС устойчивое урегулирование невозможно. Сбалансированный раздел Украины должен предусматривать долю для Брюсселя.
L'Express:
— Судя по некоторым Вашим высказываниям, у вас низкая оценка Европейского Союза. Тем не менее, Вы часто говорите о Европе как о едином сюжете международной политики. Какой должен быть, по-вашему, образ политической Европы?
В.Сурков:
— ЕС создан в 1992 году, сразу после распада СССР. Ваш Союз поднялся над руинами нашего. Это немного вскружило вашим политикам голову. Евросоюз начал безудержно и, я бы сказал, неосмотрительно расширяться. Набрал лишний вес. Увлекся количеством в ущерб качеству. Сформировалась раздутая, чрезмерно коллегиальная структура управления, генерирующая сплошные полумеры. В такой обстановке выросло несколько поколений европолитиков, чья профессия — половинчатость. Европе пора определиться — она государство или нет? Страны-участники делегировали свой суверенитет Союзу, но не весь — очередная полумера! В результате ни ЕС, ни его члены всей полнотой суверенитета не обладают. Из этого шаткого промежуточного положения надо либо вернуться в прежнее состояние чисто экономического сообщества, либо сделать решительный шаг к суверенной федерации. И для того, и для другого нужны воля и хорошая порция старого доброго авторитаризма.
Многие европейцы так думают. Евротрамписты и европутинисты набирают силу. Возможно, они укрепят Европу. Надо дать им шанс, чтобы сохранить великую европейскую культуру, родственную русской и американской. В противном случае о будущем Франции, и не только Франции, вы сможете узнать из романа Уэльбека «Покорность».
L'Express:
— Вы в статье написали «Наша победа изменит и нас, и так называемый Запад. Явится новым шагом к интеграции Великого Севера, где наша страна будет выступать как солидер глобального триумвирата». Верите ли вы еще, особенно в свете последних событий, в появление этого «Великого Севера», объединяющего Европу, США и Россию?
В.Сурков:
— В будущем Запад станет более авторитарным, а Россия менее авторитарной, чем сейчас. Соотношение дисциплины и свободы в наших политических системах сблизится. Пусть и очень нескоро, через конфликты и трагедии, но наверняка США, Европа и Россия достигнут высокого уровня взаимопонимания и взаимодействия. Это вопрос выживания великой северной цивилизации, частью которой являются русская, европейская и американская культуры, в условиях почти невыносимого демографического давления со стороны юга.
L'Express:
— Зачем и как Россия может стать менее авторитарной? До сих пор, система двигалась только в сторону большего авторитаризма — какие условия должны быть выполнены чтобы случилась обратная тенденция?
В.Сурков:
— Задача внутриполитической стабилизации России была в целом решена еще в нулевые годы. Сейчас идет процесс стабилизации международного положения страны. Когда и эта цель будет достигнута, возникнут предпосылки для частичного смягчения системы.
L'Express:
— Какое место Вы видите для Китая и его союза с Россией в этом проекте «Глобального Севера»?
В.Сурков:
— В основе геополитической доктрины Китая лежит тезис о многообразии, сосуществовании и сотрудничестве различных цивилизаций. Это очень продуманная и привлекательная модель мироустройства. Великая китайская цивилизация будет сосуществовать и сотрудничать с великой северной цивилизацией. Союз Китая и России — часть этого межцивилизационного сотрудничества.
L'Express:
— Появление Трампа в США и рост националистических партий в США являются ли признаками сближения этих блоков? И является ли такое сближение горизонтом окончания «геополитического одиночества» России?
В.Сурков:
— Геополитическое одиночество константа самовосприятия нашей нации. Упрощенно, это понимание, что рассчитывать можно только на себя. И поэтому надо запасаться терпением, хлебом и оружием «на черный день».
Приход Трампа здесь ничего не меняет. Эта категория не из области актуальных международных отношений. Она относится к сфере нашего национального сознания и подсознания.
L'Express:
— Вы создали «Путинизм». Можно ли считать, что Трамп его адаптировал для США?
В.Сурков:
— Когда Трамп избрался на первый срок, во вполне солидных американских изданиях выходили статьи, в которых утверждалось, что его команда использовала мои методы пропаганды и некоторые мои политические идеи. Не знаю, правда ли это, или постправда, или полуправда. Президент США тогда публично говорил, цитирую: «будущее принадлежит не глобалистам, а патриотам», «свободный мир должен принять свои национальные основы, которые не нужно заменять», «если хотите демократии, держитесь за свой суверенитет»... Все это по существу принципы суверенной демократии, сформулированные мной в начале нулевых и ставшие концептуальной базой путинизма. Совпадение? Кто знает?
Так или иначе, очевидно, что идеологически Трамп ближе к Путину, чем, скажем, к Макрону.
L'Express:
— Считаете ли Вы, что, как говорит Виктор Орбан, либеральная демократия устарела, в том числе для создавших её западных стран?
В.Сурков:
— Я с уважением отношусь к особенностям культуры других народов, даже если эти особенности кажутся мне немного странными. Если либеральная демократия является особенностью политической культуры тех или иных наций, это исключительно их право и дело. Так же, если либеральная демократия не подходит моей стране, это дело моей страны. Либерализм, а вместе с ним и либеральная демократия не устарели. То, что с ними происходит, это кризис, а не гибель. Просто опровергнута гипотеза об их превосходстве и универсальности.
L'Express:
— Могут ли США Дональда Трампа стать союзником России?
В.Сурков:
— Трамп не производит впечатление человека, которому нужны союзники.
L'Express:
— Политическая система, которую Вы создали в России, «демократии с монархическим архетипом» не уязвима ли в своей зависимости от личности одного человека — лидера?
В.Сурков:
— Идеальных политических систем не бывает. В любой модели отыщется уязвимость. В нашей модели так же, как во всякой другой, заложены специфические риски и коды саморазрушения. Просто для нашей страны она наиболее эффективная. Я создавал ее десять лет. Посмотрите, она работает. Нам нужен царь. Периоды безцарствия всегда заканчивались у нас катастрофой. Многополярность хороша во внешней политике, но не во внутренней.
L'Express:
— «Периоды безцарствия всегда заканчивались у нас катастрофой» — по Вашему, почему это так? Что, в природе России, заставляет её нуждаться в Царе?
В.Сурков:
— На этот вопрос у меня есть сто тысяч ответов. Дам самый короткий из них: не знаю.
L'Express:
— Похожа ли сегодняшняя Россия на ту, которую Вы представляли в 1999 г.?
В.Сурков:
— Да. На 99,9%.
L'Express:
— К политическому авторитаризму Россия добавила в течение последних лет поворот в сторону консервативных ценностей (повышенная роль РПЦ в общественной жизни, повестка «анти-ЛГБТ*»). Была ли эта эволюция запланированной? Консерватизм является для вас политтехнологией, позволяющей мобилизовать общество в данный конкретный момент, или свойством России?
В.Сурков:
— Все преобразования политической системы, стартовавшие в 1999 году с самого начала опирались на достаточно консервативные и относительно традиционалистские идеи. Уже тогда я говорил о матрице, об архетипах национального сознания, которые нельзя игнорировать. Ошибка российских либералов конца 80-х и начала 90-х годов была в том, что они относились к России как к пустому месту, на котором можно построить все, что угодно. Они забыли, что Россия существует уже тысячу лет, что ее фундамент и несущие конструкции построены не нами и задолго до нас. И что этот фундамент и эти конструкции предопределяют не только широко открытые возможности, но и очевидные ограничения для дальнейшего государственного строительства.
Что касается политтехнологий, их значение вообще преувеличено. Политика – сфера прежде всего эмоций, страстей, а уже потом технологий. Она в конечном итоге всегда сводится к вопросу о власти, самой древней, темной и иррациональной стороне человеческой сущности. Технологии помогают оседлать волну, но не они волну создают.
L'Express:
— Что бы Вы выбирали перед вопросом Евгения Замятина: «или счастье без свободы — или свобода без счастья»?
В.Сурков:
— Если вопрос ставится именно так, то выбора у меня нет. Сартр сказал: «человек обречен быть свободным». Обречен! Поэтому да, свобода. Не важно, с чем и без чего.
L'Express:
— Какая может быть свобода без политических свобод?
В.Сурков:
— Для меня свобода понятие абсолютно не политическое. Для меня режиссер, который в условиях либеральной демократии боится пригласить в свой фильм великого актера только потому, что его «отменили» из-за клеветнического доноса, — раб. Для меня белый человек, вставший на колени перед чернокожим только потому, что когда-то давно кто-то белый кого-то черного угнетал, — раб.
Для меня директор компании, назначивший на важный пост в фирме кого-то не потому, что этот кто-то лучший, а потому что он трансгендер, — раб.
При этом у всех этих рабов формально есть все политические свободы.
L'Express:
— Чем Вы занимаетесь с тех пор как ушли из Кремля?
В.Сурков:
— Живу частной жизнью. А про свою частную я никогда публично не рассказываю.
L'Express:
— Значит ли это, что Ваше активное участие в политической жизни России закончилось? Создали ли Вы все, что должны были создать?
В.Сурков:
— Я уже сказал, что то, что создано с моим участием, на 99,9% соответствует моим представлениям. До сих пор не могу определиться, чем считать 0,1% несоответствия: незначительным отклонением результата от плана, или же моей существенной недоработкой? Буду думать.
Редакция L'Express сопроводила интервью собственным предисловием, которое может помочь более точно оценить некоторые особенности нынешнего восприятия российских взглядов на Западе:
«Еще ни разу с начала российского вторжения в Украину он не давал политических интервью. Он не дал ни малейшего публичного комментария по поводу этой войны, опустошающей сердце Европы.
Владислав Сурков, возможно, самая загадочная фигура в России, погрузился в молчание. Тем не менее, человеку, который «произвел» Владимира Путина, теневому советнику, который стал прототипом грозного Кремлевского мага в произведениях Джулиано да Эмполи, есть что сказать о России и человеке, который ею управляет.
Нам потребуется время, чтобы подойти к нему и убедить его. Потому что этот грозный политик, которого можно считать «архитектором» российской политической системы, дистанцировался от того, кому он служил в течение двух десятилетий, Владимира Путина. Никто не знает, чем сегодня занимается Сурков. В интервью, которое он нам дал, он уклонился от этого вопроса.
Зачем брать интервью у Владислава Суркова, который представляет собой полную противоположность нашему демократическому идеалу?
Стоило ли посвящать репортаж в L’Express тому, кто считает Украину «искусственным политическим образованием», которое можно вернуть «только силой», как он заявил в интервью российскому Telegram-каналу WarGonzo за несколько месяцев до начала войны?
Безусловно, да. Дать слово настоящему кремлевскому магу – это в некотором смысле значит проникнуть в голову Владимира Путина.
Хотя он больше не у дел, Сурков, тем не менее, разбирается во всех тонкостях путинизма. Он знает его основные направления и цели, поскольку именно он в значительной степени установил их…
Именно так и следует воспринимать это интервью: редкий документ, который показывает нам, как российская власть в эти моменты сильной международной напряженности преследует свои актуальные и долгосрочные цели, находясь за тысячу миль от хаотичного Дональда Трампа».
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Vladislav Sourkov, Donald Trump, Algérie… Arrêtons de nier la réalité, par Pierre Bentata
Idées. Pour l’économiste, l’incapacité à bien nommer les choses est l’une des principales causes des turbulences que connaissent nos sociétés libérales.
Comme le notait Charles Péguy dans Notre jeunesse, il est bien difficile de voir ce que l’on voit. Car ce qui s’offre au regard s’impose. Le réel a cela de décevant qu’il dissipe les illusions et se dérobe aux interprétations. D’où l’aversion de l’adepte de grands concepts à la simplicité des faits. Pourtant, voir les choses dans leur évidente simplicité relève d’une hygiène mentale élémentaire, sans quoi, l’on prête inévitablement le flanc à un retour du refoulé.
Le récent entretien accordé à L’Express par Vladislav Sourkov fait figure d’exemple. Contrairement au magicien d’Oz, celui du Kremlin ne cache rien. Tout y est. Inutile d’aller chercher entre les lignes, il suffit de lire ce qu’on lit.
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In focus: the Royal Navy’s anti-submarine sentry – the Towed Array Patrol Ship
In this guest article, Lee Pilgrim highlights the work of the Towed Array Patrol Ship (TAPS), the RN’s frigate specifically assigned to the anti-submarine task in UK waters and beyond.
The mission
TAPS duty is allocated to one of the RN’s ASW frigates, typically for periods that can last up to about 2 months. The main aim is to detect adversary submarines and sanitise the waters around the UK. This is to protect the movement of the deterrent-carrying SSBNs but more broadly to counter Russian submarine activity in waters further afield. Operating primarily out of Devonport Naval Base, the six remaining Type 23 frigates (HMS Somerset, Richmond, Portland, St Albans, and Sutherland and Kent) equipped with the Type 2087 Towed Array Sonar ‘tail’ rotate in and out of TAPS duty, one maintaining a constant vigil against submarine threats.
Until recently the TAPS tasking was not even acknowledged publicly and has a much lower profile than the Fleet Ready Escort (FRE) missions such as monitoring Russian surface ships close to the UK. A rare exception was the 2022 Channel 5 documentary Warship – Life at Sea that featured HMS Northumberland on patrol inside the Arctic Circle and although heavily edited, showed the moment a Russian SSN collided with her towed array sonar.
ASW (or Awfully Slow Warfare) requires persistent concentration and can be a mundane task, with occasional excitement but often spent operating independently in the North Atlantic, GIUK Gap, North Sea and the Norwegian Sea in poor weather. Consequently, this duty is not especially popular with crews and opportunities for attractive runs ashore are limited. However, TAPS can be professionally rewarding, being foundational to national security and offers the opportunity to get up close with the adversary and contribute directly to the defence of the UK.
TAPS is tasked from Northwood in coordination with the US and other NATO partners that manage water space for allied submarines and surface units. (Another example of how deeply US forces are embedded within highly sensitive aspects of UK defence.) The TAPS will be cued into position, perhaps using the approximate location of the submarine initially detected by underwater arrays of Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS).
TAPS is part of an ecosystem that extends beyond the ship itself, including a network of platforms and personnel. NATO submarines, Merlin helicopters, maritime patrol aircraft and other assets form a layered defence system. This collaborative approach amplifies the TAPS capabilities, integrating real-time intelligence and multi-domain awareness to counter increasingly quiet and sophisticated adversary submarines.
HMS Northumberland (no longer in service) heading up the Clyde to while on TAPS duties for logistic stop in Faslane, January 2022. The low frequency active sonar body element of the towed array can be seen on port quarterdeck. The passive array is streamed through the hole in the centre of the transom (Photo Sheila Weir).
The platform
Conceived in the late 1970s during the Cold War, the Type 23 frigate was specifically designed to counter Soviet nuclear submarines in the North Atlantic. Despite their age the platform is still a highly effective submarine hunter, having been substantially upgraded over time.
The unique propulsion system — a Combined Diesel-Electric and Gas (CODLAG) configuration is optimised for stealth. The system employs electric motors for low-speed, silent running, minimising acoustic signatures during submarine hunting. Two of the Type 23’s four diesel generators are sited on the upper deck, level further reducing noise radiated into the sea. Two, much nosier, Rolls Royce Spey gas turbines can be used to provide sprint speeds when needed. This adaptability ensures the Type 23 can operate stealthily, a critical advantage when deploying its towed array sonar.
The Sonar 2087, a low-frequency active/passive towed array system developed by Thales, is the Type 23’s primary ASW sensor. Unlike traditional hull-mounted sonars, the towed array is streamed from a winch system, trailing up to one and a half kilometres behind the ship, reducing interference from the vessel’s self-generated noise and allowing variable depth deployment to exploit oceanographic conditions like thermoclines. The active component emits low-frequency pulses, capable of detecting submarines at significant distances, while the passive array listens for faint acoustic signatures, providing a dual-mode capability that far outranges submarine-launched torpedoes.
The detection capabilities of S2087 are highly classified but it is regarded as being one of the best sensors of its type in the world. In the hands of experienced operators and in the right conditions, it can detect submarines at great distances and has been proven on many occasions. The frigates also have a bow-mounted active/passive Type 2150 sonar (recently upgraded from the S2050) useful for closer range detection and warning of torpedoes and mines. A shortage of specialist Torpedo and Sonar operators (‘TAS apes’) has been an issue for the RN and occasionally frigates have deployed without enough watchkeepers needed to operate the towed array.
Complementing the Sonar 2087 is the Merlin HM2 helicopter, an integral part of the Type 23’s ASW arsenal. Equipped with Thales FLASH dipping sonar, sonobuoys, and Sting Ray torpedoes, the Merlin extends the frigate’s sensor and strike range. Its ability to hover and deploy dipping sonar into specific water layers enhances detection in complex underwater environments, while its onboard processing allows rapid target classification. The synergy between the towed array and the Merlin’s reach is formidable and capable of prosecuting targets beyond the horizon.
The frigate typically deploys its Sonar 2087 in a patrol pattern, streaming the arrays and listening for the acoustic footprint of the adversary boat. When the array is deployed, the ship’s manoeuvrability is considerably constrained and the system is best suited to the deep ocean rather than more confined, shallower waters.
Once a possible contact is found, the Merlin helicopter is launched and localises the target, using its dipping sonar or sonobuoys to refine the submarine’s position, and classify the target before delivering torpedoes if necessary. Data-sharing networks like the Multi-static Sonar Data Network (MSSDNA) integrate acoustic intelligence across platforms, allowing the frigate and helicopter to work with MPAs and other allied assets.
In future, the Type 26 may be able to complement the Merlin’s capabilities with uncrewed RWUAS (such as PROTEUS) that can add endurance and another means to prosecute the submarine. Detection ranges could potentially be extended by deploying UUVs or XLUAVs up threat. The RN is also exploring the purchase of an ASROC-type weapon to provide a 24/7 capability to deliver torpedoes onto fleeting targets at medium-range.
The Type 2087 sonar fit on a Type 23. The ‘wet end’ comprising of two large winches, LFA handling system and control cabin occupies a considerable space in the after section of the frigate.
The thin grey line
The 2021 Defence White Paper expected the RN to maintain a force of least 17 escorts (six Type 45 destroyers and 11 frigates), yet delays to the Type 26 programme have reduced this margin. Frigate numbers are bottoming out with the premature retirements of two S2087-equipped frigates, HMS Westminster and Northumberland, compounding the pressure on ASW resources. Maintenance cycles, crew shortages, and concurrent commitments limit the availability of the ageing Type 23s. The surface fleet is tasked with multiple operational demands while the RN must also prepare for the transition to the Type 26 and Type 31s.
The impending CSG25 deployment will further tax the fleet, requiring at least one, ideally, two Type 23s acting as the primary ASW pickets for the carrier strike group working with the carrier-based Merlin’s. This demand risks operational overstretch, potentially compromising the TAPS mission at a time when Russian submarine activity in the North Atlantic is resurgent.
The RN was primarily an ASW navy for much of the Cold War period and this specialist skill set must be preserved. It encompasses not just technology but operational expertise in underwater acoustics, tactics, and inter-platform coordination. This institutional knowledge cannot be reconstituted quickly if lost, making the smooth introduction of the Type 26s a key priority.
Conclusion
Arguably, the Russian submarine threat and the vast geographical area suggest the RN needs significantly more than 6 towed array-equipped ships (This should rise to 8 when the final Type 26, HMS London commissions around 2035).
The frigates assigned to the unsung TAPS role quietly help ensure CASD’s viability and, by extension, the UK’s nuclear credibility. Any further weakening of the protective ring around the SSBNs would undermine deterrence, embolden adversaries, and weaken NATO’s collective defence. More broadly, effective ASW is the first line of maritime defence for the UK which was nearly brought to its knees by the submarine threat twice in the 20th Century.
There is no question that the RN needs more frigates and delivery of the Type 26 frigates cannot come fast enough. Even if there was more funding and construction could be accelerated slightly, other means must be found to add ASW mass as soon as possible.
Anger in Greenland over Usha Vance and Mike Waltz’s planned visit this week
Greenland’s prime minister says move is ‘demonstration of power’ and accuses US of interfering in its political affairs
Greenland’s prime minister, Múte B Egede, has called for the international community to step in after it was announced that Donald Trump’s national security adviser and the US second lady will visit the Arctic island, accusing Washington of “foreign interference”.
Mike Waltz and Usha Vance are scheduled to arrive in Greenland this week as part of a delegation that will also include the US energy secretary, Chris Wright. A spokesperson for the Danish police confirmed on Monday that they had sent extra personnel and sniffer dogs to Greenland as they step up security measures before the visit.
Local media also reported the arrival of four bulletproof cars in Nuuk city centre, delivered by plane from the US.
Trump told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Monday: “I think Greenland is going to be something that maybe is in our future.” He has previously pledged to make the autonomous territory part of the US “one way or the other”, and has refused to rule out using military or economic force to do so.
Greenland is part of the kingdom of Denmark, which ruled the island as a colony until 1953 and continues to control its foreign and security policy.
René Gyldensten, the Danish police spokesperson, said the extra officers, deployed on Sunday, were part of regular steps taken during visits by dignitaries but declined to specify the number of extra police flown in on a chartered aircraft. News reports put the figure at dozens.
Greenlandic parties are in coalition talks after an election less than a fortnight ago in which the country voted for a complete overhaul of its government, with the Democrats replacing Egede’s party, Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), as the biggest party in the Inatsisartut, the Greenlandic parliament.
Egede reacted angrily to the White House announcement, accusing Greenland’s allies of “hiding” and “almost whispering” their support. If the international community did not step up its support for Greenland, he warned, the situation would escalate.
“Yes, the western allies stood together and helped each other through thick and thin, but it has turned upside down now with the sitting president in the USA,” he told the Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq.
“But the fact that our other allies in the international community feel like hiding in a small corner and almost whispering that they support us has no effect, and if they do not speak out loudly about how the USA is treating Greenland, the situation will escalate day by day, and the American aggression will increase.”
He added: “So we need our other allies to clearly and distinctly come with their support and backing for us.”
The most pro-Trump and pro-US party in the Greenland coalition talks – Naleraq, which came second in the vote – left the negotiations on Monday, according to the leader of the Greenland Democrats, Jens Frederik Nielsen.
“It has always been my intention to form a broad coalition, as I believe it is the right thing to do in the situation our country finds itself in,” he said. “But it requires that one is able to agree on the conditions for entering into an agreement. And that has proven to be too difficult in the negotiations with Naleraq.
“Our country needs a coalition to be formed as soon as possible that can pull together and work for the entire population and for our common future. The time has come to stand together.”
Nielsen, who is expected to become the next prime minister, had earlier called for calm and said they would continue to take the time needed to reach a “solid and sustainable political agreement”. He accused the US of a “lack of respect” in planning the visit while coalition talks were still happening.
“The visit, which is said to be ‘private’, is pure charm offensive, and if we allow ourselves to be influenced by it, for example by rushing to form a new coalition, we may become even more vulnerable to pressure,” Nielsen told Sermitsiaq.
“So let’s cool our nerves and maintain our common goal of showing the outside world that our country is not a commodity, and that we have sovereignty over the country, which must be respected and no one can take it away from us.”
Vivian Motzfeldt, the chair of the social democratic party Siumut, which was in coalition with IA in the last government but suffered its biggest ever defeat in this month’s election, said she understood concerns about the upcoming US visit. But she said she believed it was time to look at what opportunities increasing cooperation with the US might offer Greenland.
She wrote on social media: “The United States wants a closer relationship with our country, and if that had happened a year ago, we would have had a very different reaction in our country. The president’s words, which change everything, are the basis for our assessment today, and it is understandable, since the words used should not be used among countries that are allies.
“Instead of worrying, we should examine how the opportunities that arise can benefit our country.”
The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said on Sunday that the planned visit “cannot be seen independently of the public statements that have been made”. She added: “In the kingdom, we want to cooperate with the Americans. But it must be a cooperation that is based on the fundamental values of sovereignty and respect between countries and peoples …
“This is something we are looking at seriously. The dialogue with the US regarding Greenland will take place in close coordination between the Danish government and the future Greenlandic government.”
Announcing the trip on Sunday, the second lady’s office said Vance would visit Greenland together with her son and a US delegation from Thursday to Saturday this week. The White House later announced that Waltz and Wright would visit the US military base in Greenland, Pituffik, for briefings from US personnel. They are expected to join Vance to visit historical sites and attend a dog sled race.
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Russia and Ukraine agree to avoid strikes on energy infrastructure or vessels in the Black Sea, following successful US talks
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to an effective maritime ceasefire, as well as a halt on strikes on energy infrastructure, following U.S.-mediated talks in Saudi Arabia today, the White House said.
Both parties agreed separately to avoid military strikes on vessels, the issue touted by the Trump administration as being of primary importance to allow for unhindered commercial shipping in the region.
In parallel statements, the White House said that each country had 'agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea.'
It also said that the U.S. and Ukraine had agreed to develop measures for implementing a ban on strikes against energy facilities in both Ukraine and Russia, after both sides accused each other of breaching the ceasefire last week.
But as the Trump administration championed its role in the agreements, Ukrainian president Zelensky, speaking to reporters in Kyiv, lamented the concession of helping restore Russia's access to the world market, branding it a 'weakening of the position and a weakening on sanctions'.
Ukrainian defence minister Rustem Umerov added in a statement that while 'no one wants a just peace more than Ukrainians', the Ukrainian side 'emphasizes' that any Russian movement of military vessels outside of the eastern part of the Black Sea would be seen as a violation of the agreement.
'In this case, Ukraine will have full right to exercise right to self-defence,' he wrote, drawing clear red lines for engagement.
'If the Russians violate this, then I have a direct question for President Trump,' President Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv. 'If they violate, here is the evidence - we ask for sanctions, we ask for weapons, etc.'
The Ritz-Carlton hotel, where talks between Russia and U.S. are being held aimed at ending the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 24
The White House published two readouts from the talks, highlighting the main achievements from both the Russian and Ukrainian perspectives.
The Russia-specific readout emphasized that the U.S. would help 'restore Russia's access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions'.
The Ukraine-specific readout emphasized that the U.S. 'remains committed to helping achieve the exchange of prisoners of war, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of forcibly transferred Ukrainian children'.
Today's talks followed a summit between U.S. and Russian representatives, also in Riyadh, on Monday, aimed at rejoining some of the key differences in demands between the warring factions.
Sergei Lavrov, making sense of Russia's recent talks with the U.S., said that the Kremlin was willing to strike a new agreement tantamount to a ceasefire at sea with Ukraine - subject to certain security guarantees.
'Given the sad experience of agreements with just Kyiv, the guarantees can only be the result of an order from Washington to Zelenskyy and his team to do one thing and not the other,' Lavrov said in an muted affront to Ukraine, ahead of the agreement.
Washington has taken a central role in mediating with renewed talks in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.
The most recent round - comprising three days of meetings, and without direct negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv - are part of an attempt to move towards a partial pause in the three-year conflict in Ukraine.
But progress has been slow. A limited 30-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure was nearly derailed within just hours of an agreement in principle late last week, as Ukraine accused Russia of striking launching air attacks that damaged infrastructure claimed to be exempt under the terms of the agreement.
A lingering issue was ambiguity around what was off-limits. Zelensky said that Ukraine could supply a list of its facilities in order for an agreement to be properly implemented, while urging that the U.S. oversee the ceasefire.
Russia subsequently accused Ukraine of using drones to attack an oil depot near Kavkazskaya village, sparking a fire. It also claimed missiles that hit Ukrainian infrastructure were already in the air when the order to cease fire came in.
The latest developments go some way towards repairing the rift and securing a crucial maritime ceasefire.
Details of the prospective deal are yet to be released, but it appears to mark a revival of a 2022 agreement to ensure safe transit via Ukraine's Black Sea ports that was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
Russia pulled out of the initiative in 2023, accusing the West of failing to uphold its commitments to ease sanctions on Russian exports. It also argued the agreement failed to ensure safety of its Black Sea exports.
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'US and its NATO allies are on a collision course': Experts reveal how Europe must react to White House texts about 'bailing out pathetic free-loaders' - and it's going to hit taxpayers
Experts warn the leaked text messages (pictured) have revealed that there is a 'growing and disconcerting narrative' amongst White House officials that 'Europe is not doing its fair share'
America and its NATO allies 'remain on a collision course' after bombshell leaked text messages revealed that Donald Trump's top security officials branded Europe as 'pathetic' and 'free-loading', military experts have warned.
Team Trump has come under fire today after it emerged that secret exchanges on the messaging app Signal were mistakenly sent to the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
The chat, which appears to have served as a virtual war room for some of the top White House players, saw Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confess that they 'hate bailing Europe out'.
Military experts have now warned that Washington is 'frustrated' at Europe for 'not taking more ownership of security issues' and urge NATO allies to evaluate their defence spending.
'It is essential that Europe recognise that Team Trump overall believes NATO is over-relying on the US to protect what the Trump White House chiefly believes are European national security interests,' Mark Toth and Jon Sweet told MailOnline today.
'The substantial US budgetary outlays that Team Trump is determined to redirect back to meet the domestic needs of the US economy. Europe, in that vein, would be wise to hit Trump's initial 5 per cent GDP target for NATO member-state defense spending in as short of a timeframe as possible.'
European Parliament member Wouter Beke echoed the warning, claiming that 'for too long' the European Union has been 'at ease under the safety umbrella by the US'.
'A strong and resilient EU with more investments in defence is necessary,' he said, adding that it would 'strengthen the EU pillar within NATO and subsequently also the US in the long term'.
The leaked text messages have revealed that there is a 'growing and disconcerting narrative' amongst White House officials that 'Europe is not doing its fair share'.
'Intentionally leaked by Team Trump or not – and we think not – the US and its European NATO allies remain on a collision course,' Toth and Sweet said of the texts, which they referred to as the 'Signal fiasco'.
'Team Trump is increasingly becoming frustrated with Europe not taking more ownership of security issues – especially those that primarily or disproportionately affect London and Brussels.'
The military experts warned that Europe will have to take these messages into account going forward and encouraged them to follow Poland's lead of defence spending.
'Poland, presently, stands out as a model state to Team Trump. Europe would be well-advised to collectively emulate their approach,' they said.
However, Beke, who sits on the EP's Foreign Affairs & Security and Defence committees, says that despite the 'difficulties with the new administration, we still believe in a strong EU-US and therefore also EU-NATO relationship'.
'It is however absolutely true that Europe should work on its strategic autonomy and has some work to do when it comes to investing in its own security,' he told MailOnline today.
He also hit back at the remarks made by Team Trump, claiming the messages demonstrate that 'some officials don't have a good understanding of global trade' or the 'necessity of a stable international order'.
'It's in the best interest of both our economies to have safe maritime routes all over the world since our economies are highly intertwined,' he said, adding that 'it doesn't surprise me Europe is once again the scapegoat'.
'Instead of pursuing a better reciprocal beneficiary relationship with the EU, some officials within the Trump administration are so deep into the 'America First' ideology that they are unable to see the perverse effects,' Beke added.
Mārtiņš Staķis, another MEP who sits on the Committee on Security and Defence, says the text messages 'won't drastically change relations' between the US and its European allies.
'The current US administration has already signaled that European security is no longer its top priority. Europe must be ready to defend itself,' Staķis said.
He also responded to Hegseth's name-calling, alleging his remarks are disrespectful to European forces who fought alongside American troops.
'European countries have always been a reliable ally to the US in times of need. After 9/11, Europe was a crucial force in the US-led coalition against terrorism,' he told MailOnline. 'Calling Europe 'freeloaders' is an insult to the European soldiers who were wounded or gave their lives.'
It was reported Monday night that senior American officials, including the defence secretary and national security adviser, texted plans for an attack on Yemen to a group chat on messaging app Signal that had accidentally included a journalist.
The chat appears to have served as a virtual war room for some of the top players in the Trump White House, including Vance, Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles.
The conversation was initially centred around the military strikes against Houthi strongholds in Yemen, which started after the Houthis threatened to begin targeting 'Israeli' ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip.
In the chats, the user identified as Vance expresses concerns about the strikes but ultimately agrees to go along with Hegseth's plan - before adding 'I just hate bailing Europe out again.'
Hegseth responds: 'I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC.'
Insiders warn that Waltz is facing the sack over the saga - as he's believed to have been the official who 'added the editor-in-chief to the group'.
'Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f***ing idiot,' one source told Politico.
According to The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, the messages featured information that could easily have been weaponised by enemies of the US to harm their personnel and assets.
Goldberg wrote: 'The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command's area of responsibility.
'What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing.'
The chats were confirmed as legitimate by the US government but a White House spokesperson said it was a 'demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials'.
The National Security Council has also said the text chain 'appears to be authentic.'
Several Trump administration's top intelligence officials will face Congress this week to offer their first testimony in office about the threats facing the US and tackle urgent questions about the security breach.
Ratcliffe, Gabbard, and FBI Director Kash Patel are among the witnesses who will appear Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee and Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee in back-to-back hearings.
The hearings are also unfolding against the backdrop of a starkly different approach toward Russia following years of Biden administration sanctions over its war against Ukraine.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a lengthy call with President Trump to an immediate pause in strikes against energy infrastructure in what the White House described as the first step in a 'movement to peace.'
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Whose side ARE they on? Fury at US plot to 'extort' Europe over key global shipping route as extraordinary security bungle reveals Team Trump branding closest allies 'pathetic freeloaders'
MPs voiced fury today after an extraordinary security bungle revealed some of President Donald Trump's most senior team condemning Europe as 'pathetic freeloaders'.
A bombshell exchange on the Signal messaging app - accidentally shared with a journalist - showed an elite group including Vice-President JD Vance, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth and national security advisor Michael Waltz voicing 'loathing' for their long-term European allies.
They also discussed how to get money out of European countries in return for US military strikes intended to stop Houthis rebels disrupting critical shipping routes in the Red Sea
But UK politicians said the glimpse behind the scenes showed America was 'unreliable' and accused them of plotting 'extortion'. One normally US-friendly MP described the situation as a 'nightmare' and warned Europe must 'take it seriously and not think it's just casual chat'.
The brutal barbs in the conversation underline the gaps that have opened up between the US and Europe since Mr Trump returned to the White House - which appear to go far wider than the fate of Ukraine.
Bizarrely, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg was added to the confidential chat.
Mr Goldberg revealed it contained a large volume of highly classified information, publishing details of the conversation on Monday.
The chat appears to have served as a virtual 'War Room' for some of the top players in the Trump White House, as well as Mr Vance, Mr Hegseth and Mr Waltz the list included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and Mr Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles.
The conversation was initially centred around the military strikes against the Houthis' strongholds in Yemen, which started after the armed group threatened to begin targeting 'Israeli' ships again over Israel blocking aid entering the Gaza Strip.
In the chats, the user identified as Mr Vance expresses concerns about the strikes but ultimately agrees to go along with defence secretary Mr Hegseth's plan - before adding 'I just hate bailing Europe out again.'
Mr Hegseth responds: 'I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It's PATHETIC.'
There are claims that Mr Waltz is facing the sack over the saga - as he's believed to have been the official who 'added the editor-in-chief to the group'.
One source told Politico: 'Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f***ing idiot.'
According to Mr Goldberg, the messages featured information that could easily have been weaponised by enemies of the US to harm their personnel and assets. He wrote: 'The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command's area of responsibility.
'What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.'
The chats were confirmed as legitimate by the US government, but a White House spokesman said it was a 'demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials'.
Asked by about the leaked messages, the President Trump told reporters at the White House overnight that he hadn't seen The Atlantic story - before attacking the publication.
Looking puzzled, Mr Trump said: 'I don't know anything about it. I'm not a big fan of The Atlantic. It's to me, it's a magazine that's going out of business.'
Defence minister Luke Pollard suggested people would face disciplinary proceedings in the UK for a similar breach of operational security - although he stressed, he was not making a judgment on the US situation.
Giving evidence to the Commons Defence Committee he said: 'The Ministry of Defence has very clear policies in relation to what information can be shared and the format in which it can be shared. We don't comment on how allies share their information.'
He added: 'I'm confident that we have robust measures to safeguard our information and our data, but we also have a very clear set of systems where individuals don't follow procedures, with sufficient consequences to reflect the actions that have been taken.'
Mr Pollard said there would be 'a clear consequence and disciplinary process for anyone that was not following those procedures'.
Meanwhile, former Conservative defence secretary Grant Shapps said: 'I agree Europe must do more on security - but Sir Keir Starmer should remind USA the UK led from the front.
'I authorised four RAF strikes on the Houthis & the Royal Navy defended Red Sea shipping. Our forces risked their lives to protect trade. Some in DC need reminding.
Lib Dem MP Mike Martin, an Afghanistan veteran and defence committee member, posted on X: 'US Vice President and Secretary of Defence loathe Europe (as they try to extort money out of it).
'I wonder how much more evidence the UK government needs that Trump et al are deeply unreliable and we need to pivot towards Europe.'
One senior Tory MP, a long-term 'Atlanticist', told MailOnline that the situation was a 'nightmare'.
'I think Europe needs to take it seriously and not think it's just casual chat,' they said.
The MP said it appeared to confirm the 'hatred' of Europe at the top level of the Trump administration, but voiced hope that the wider government still had a grip of the country's real interests.
'The military leaders will have an opinion based on strategic importance, and Congress won't let them run mad,' they added.
Former Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton responded to news of the leaked messages on X, saying 'You have got to be kidding me'.
However, the exchanges do suggest differences of opinion between some of the best-known figures in the current administration.
In the exchanges, the user identified as 'JD Vance' wrote that 'Andy baker for VP' was representing him.
That is presumably a reference to Andrew Baker, a national security advisor who has played a key role in shaping Mr Vance's foreign policy positions, especially his opposition to US aid to Ukraine and his scepticism of NATO.
Messages from the Vance account advise against a military strike in Yemen.
'Team, I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan. But I think we are making a mistake,' the Vance user stated to the group.
'There is a real risk that the public doesn't understand this or why it's necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message,' the Vance user continued.
The military strike against the Houthis, the team argued, was necessary to keep shipping lanes open on the Red Sea, as the insurgents were targeting ships.
Mr Vance's account expressed concerns about the timing of the proposed operation, warning of oil prices spiking as a result.
'I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now,' he wrote. 'There's a further risk that we see a moderate to severe spike in oil prices.'
The Vance user said that he would remain publicly silent about his concerns but expressed them to the team.
'I am willing to support the consensus of the team and keep these concerns to myself. But there is a strong argument for delaying this a month, doing the messaging work on why this matters, seeing where the economy is, etc,' he said.
Vance's communications director William Martin said the vice president remained aligned with Trump's decision but wanted to make sure he was properly briefed by his advisors.
'The Vice President's first priority is always making sure that the President's advisers are adequately briefing him on the substance of their internal deliberations,' he said in a statement.
'Vice-President Vance unequivocally supports this administration's foreign policy. The President and the Vice President have had subsequent conversations about this matter and are in complete agreement.'
In the chat, the Hegseth user said he understood Mr Vance's concerns and urged him to raise them with the president but argued for immediate action.
'We are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should,' he wrote.
The Walz user also said the United States would have to act and reminded Vance that 'Per the president's request we are working with DOD and State to determine how to compile the cost associated and levy them on the Europeans.'
'If you think we should do it let's go. I just hate bailing Europe out again,' the Vance user replied.
The SM user, identified in the article as Trump's advisor Steve Miller, reminded the group about the president's goal.
'As I heard it, the president was clear: green light, but we soon make clear to Egypt and Europe what we expect in return,' he wrote.
Trump ultimately ordered the strikes against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over the weekend from his club at Mar-a-Lago in a successful mission.
The relationship between Trump and his European counterparts has been one of wariness and conflict even before the real estate mogul was sworn in as the 47th president.
The US leader's team told European officials in December that the bloc would have to more than double its spending target of 2 per cent - a target which over a quarter of its members were on course to fail to meet.
Trump called for European nations to up their military budgets to 5 per cent of GDP - far higher than the US's own defence spending.
The two-term president also said in February 2024 that he would encourage Russia to do 'whatever the hell they want' with any of the 32 NATO member states who failed to meet such ambitious defence spending targets.
However, even back in Mr Trump's first term there were multiple signs that the real estate mogul was ready to resort to more drastic measures.
Senior officials in the first Trump administration said that their boss spoke numerous times in private over the course of 2018 about his desire to withdraw from NATO, The New York Times reported.
While he has so far avoided actively calling for the US to exit the North Atlantic alliance, that position is one favoured by several close members of his team including DOGE head honcho Elon Musk and Utah senator Mike Lee.
Vice-President Vance had some European ministers in tears back in February after he argued that free speech and democratic institutions were being eroded across the continent in an address to the Munich Security Conference.
He accused European politicians of forcing people to shut down social media accounts and urged leaders to do more to stem illegal immigration.
Mr Vance reserved particular scorn for the UK, citing the case of a British man arrested after praying near an abortion clinic.
'Europe faces many challenges, but the crisis this continent faces right now, the crisis I believe we all face together, is one of our own making,' he said.
'If you're running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you, nor, for that matter, is there anything that you can do for the American people who elected me and elected President Trump.'
President Trump's brinkmanship over the Ukraine-Russia conflict has also been a source of consternation for European leaders.
After initially claiming that he would stop the war on his first day in office, that timeline was quickly extended - with tempers flaring on several occasions.
Last month Mr Trump called Ukarine's President Volodymyr Zelensky a 'dictator' when speaking at a Saudi-backed investment meeting in Florida after talks between the US and Ukrainian president broke down following Mr Trump's insistence on including mineral rights in any prospective deal - but without the promise of a security guarantee for Ukraine.
But only a week later, when asked about that comment, Mr Trump glibly told reporters in the Oval Office: 'Did I say that? I can't believe I said that. Next question.'
However, things took an even more calamitous turn for the worse following Mr Zelensky's dramatic bust-up with President Trump and Mr Vance in the Oval Office.
While European leaders have sought to mend bridges between the two sides, there is no question that this in the most fractured the Euro-US alliance has been in decades.
Royal Navy boasts about its 'largest ever' luxurious new submarine with an interior containing three impressive features - but it won't be ready for half a decade
Britain's mighty fleet of fearsome new nuclear submarines, dubbed the Royal Navy's future 'silent enforcers', will feature separate cabins for female sailors, an on-board gym and study room for its 130-strong crew.
The new Dreadnought-class submarines will soon prowl the globe's oceans, cutting silently under the waves while carrying Britain's arsenal of nuclear weapons.
The four vessels – HMS Dreadnought, HMS Valiant, HMS Warspite and HMS King George VI – will replace the ageing Vanguard fleet and become the UK's main nuclear deterrents.
Sailors will be forced to spend months underwater locked inside them, with zero contact with their loved ones as they carry out patrols.
Much of the design of the boats has remained shrouded in secrecy. However, last week the world was given a fresh insight into them when Prime Minister Keir Starmer laid the keel for the first sub, HMS Dreadnought.
The exact date Dreadnought will enter service has not been revealed. However, it's thought it will be in the early 2030s, as part of a 20-year project costing £31billion.
But in a social media video boasting about the deadly submarines, the Ministry of Defence said: 'The Dreadnought Class submarines are the largest, most complex and capable submarines ever built in the UK.
'They will start to replace the current Vanguard Class from the early 2030s and keep the UK safe with our continuous at sea nuclear deterrent – 365 days a year.'
Pictured: The Royal Navy's submarine HMS Vanguard which carries trident missiles. The fleet will be replaced by the new Dreadnought vessels
The new Dreadnought class of nuclear submarines will feature a gym, female-only cabins and three chefs. Pictured is what the boat will look like once it's fully built
Displacing more than 17,000 tonnes and at a length of 14 buses, HMS Dreadnought will be the most-advanced boats of its kind in service anywhere, featuring – for the first time – 'adaptive' lighting to simulate day and night on board.
The nuclear-armed subs have been built in secret, with engineers constructing huge 'mega-units' that were transported in big 'black binbags' to the Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, where they will be stitched together.
However, the boats are 'too fat to fit' into existing berths, armed forces minister Luke Pollard admitted, meaning work is underway to redesign submarine ports to accommodate the vast vessels.
Inside the boats, three chefs will keep the 130-strong crew fed while they remain underwater on their secret nuclear deterrent mission. An on-call doctor will also be available.
And for the first time, the submarines will feature female-only cabins.
It comes following a series of scandals within the submarine service that has seen female sailors reportedly being sexually assaulted and harassed by male colleagues.
So 'abhorrent' was the behaviour, it prompted a major inquiry by naval top brass in a bid to stamp out the abuse.
Whistleblowers previously told the MailOnline the submarine service was plagued by 'gang bangs', drugs, sordid initiation ceremonies, 'rape lists', with lewd officers sharing Top Trump-style cards celebrating the worst kinds of debauched behaviour.
The 'mega-unit' section of the Royal Navy's newest nuclear submarine HMS Dreadnought was kept under wraps as it headed north to Barrow shipyard
As part of a £31bn programme, the huge section of HMS Dreadnought is seen protected against the elements by what the Royal Navy describe as 'what must be the world's largest black bin bag'
The Dreadnought subs will be built in Barrow. Pictured is Keir Starmer meeting some of the personnel at the shipyard last week
A former nuclear submarine captain said the British public will be 'rightly appalled' by the 'levels of depravity and failures in leadership'. While a former head of the Royal Navy branded the reports 'extraordinary' and 'unpleasant'.
Sources claimed vile 'initiation ceremonies' are carried out by the crew, where new young sailors are terrorised and told to get onto 'their hands and knees' before being forced to perform sex acts on other experienced sailors.
Male personnel on one nuclear-armed sub created a sickening 'crush depth rape list' which ranked which crewmates would be raped first in the case of a catastrophic event at sea - with senior officers allegedly aware of the document.
One young teenage male sailor was left so 'petrified' about being named on the list they begged older crewmates to protect them, amid claims complaints about the file had been 'swept under the carpet' and ignored by commanders.
'The lunatics are in charge at the asylum,' an insider told MailOnline. 'We had a rape list on my submarine. There was a 19-year-old kid [on it]. When he realised he was on it, he was s***ing his pants. Everyone wanted to rape him. He was petrified.'
Sailors also created a vile Top Trumps-style cards dubbed 'Disgraced Dabbers', which appears to celebrate the some of the worst offenders of alleged debauched behaviour - including high-ranking officers.
The claims appalled former nuclear submarine captain, Commander Ryan Ramsey, who said he was 'depressed and saddened' by the allegations.
Pictured is an example of the Top Trumps card which have been shared among crew on a nuclear submarine
A mock-up of the deck of cards, dubbed 'Disgraced Dabbers' appeared to show a number of Royal Navy sailors
Allegations have also been made that young sailors are forced to undergo repulsive 'initiation ceremonies' when they join a boat, which include performing sex acts on other sailors. (Pictured, HMS Vanguard arrives back at HM Naval Base Clyde)
'I really don't understand how we have got to these levels of depravity and failures in leadership and it needs to be sorted,' Cdr Ramsey said.
'When I was a junior officer, the thing was bullying and shouting and screaming. That was the really bad stuff. But now we're talking about rape lists.'
'The general public will be rightly concerned about those environments and those people in particular. They should be rightly appalled by the behaviours described.'
Former First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord Alan West, also expressed concern. He told MailOnline: 'It's very clear how one should behave in the Royal Navy - in my time if anyone did something wrong, we came down on them like a ton of bricks to sought them out. It all sounds very unpleasant and extraordinary.'
The Dreadnought subs have a lifespan of about 30 years and an 'unlimited range' thanks to its new nuclear reactor, defence giant BAE Systems claimed.
First steel was cut for Dreadnought nearly a decade ago and huge sections have already been completed. Last week's keel laying was broadly symbolic, with the ceremony attended by military and political top brass.
'This keel laying ceremony is considered the 'birth' of a vessel and I congratulate all those involved across the Alliance for reaching this important milestone in the life of HMS Dreadnought and look forward to bringing this exciting and highly capable submarine into service,' said First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Ben Key.
'Whilst the Vanguard-class of submarines continues to deliver our continuous at-sea deterrent today, the Royal Navy is greatly looking forward to operating highly sophisticated and advanced Dreadnought class submarines.'
Цитата:
Colorado state capitol caves and removes Trump portrait after complaints from riled president
The request to remove Sarah Boardman’s 2019 oil painting was said to have come from Republican state legislators
The offending portrait (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
We all have that one picture of ourselves that we simply can't stand. But Donald Trump has the power to do something about it.
The Colorado state legislatures agreed on Monday to “immediately” take down a painting of the mercurial president that he had blasted on Truth Social as "distorted" and "the worst."
State Democrats said the request came from their Republican colleagues, who apparently felt moved by the pleas of their leader.
"The [Democratic] speaker and majority leader are focused on keeping Coloradans safe and reducing costs, not hanging portraits. If the GOP wants to spend time and money on which portrait of Trump hangs in the Capitol, then that’s up to them," a spokesperson said.
Republicans haven’t always been against the portrait Trump found so offensive. Painted in oils by Colorado artist Sarah Boardman during Trump’s first term, it was funded through a Republican-run GoFundMe campaign, approved by the state GOP, and has hung in the capitol's Gallery of Presidents since 2019.
"Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado ... was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before," Trump said on his own social platform on Sunday.
"The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst. She must have lost her talent as she got older,” he added.
"In any event, I would much prefer not having a picture than having this one, but many people from Colorado have called and written to complain. In fact, they are actually angry about it!" Trump claimed.
He added that he was speaking on behalf of said constituents to Colorado's Democratic governor Jared Polis, who Trump claimed was "extremely weak on crime" and "should be ashamed of himself".
The portrait will reportedly be put into long-term storage once it’s been removed.
According to The Denver Post, the portrait Trump hates was commissioned in 2018 after a citizens’ effort to raise fund for a Trump portrait failed to raise any money,
Afterward, a Democratic aide helped a protest group sneak a portrait of Russian president Vladimir Putin into Trump’s place on the wall, prompting former Republican state legislator Kevin Grantham to launch a new fundraising campaign.
On Monday, Grantham told the Denver Post that he was “caught a little off guard” by Trump’s reaction, but that it would be “silly” and disrespectful not to take down a presidential portrait disliked by the subject it represents.
A spokesperson for Governor Polis said he was “surprised to learn” that the President is “an aficionado of our state capitol and its artwork,” and said he was “always looking for any opportunity to improve our visitor experience.”
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С интересом и понятными ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Уровень доступа: Вы не можете начинать темы, Вы не можете отвечать на сообщения, Вы не можете редактировать свои сообщения, Вы не можете удалять свои сообщения, Вы не можете голосовать в опросах
Владимир Нерюев, заместитель генерального директора коммуникационного агентства Аура поделился мнением, какие изменения произошли или произойдут в профессии PR-специалиста.
Генеральный директор агентства мобильного маркетинга Mobisharks (входит в ГК Kokoc Group) — об эффективном мобильном маркетинге и примерах успешных стратегий.
За последние пару лет реклама банков изменилась. Появились новые сюжеты и герои. Реклама по-прежнему — не только инструмент продвижения услуг, но и способ формирования доверия к финансовым организациям. Главный тренд, который отмечают эксперты,— переход от сухого перечисления выгод к эмоционально окрашенным коммуникациям.
Антитрендами наружной рекламы в текущем году стали прямолинейность и чрезмерная перегруженность сообщений. Наружная реклама продолжает показывать рост: число рекламных конструкций за последний год увеличилось более чем на 2 тысячи.
Чего не хватает радио, чтобы увеличить свою долю на рекламном рынке? Аудиопиратство: угроза или возможности для отрасли? Каковы первые результаты общероссийской кампании по продвижению индустриального радиоплеера? Эти и другие вопросы были рассмотрены на конференции «Радио в глобальной медиаконкуренции», спикерами и участниками которой стали эксперты ГПМ Радио.
Деловая программа 28-й международной специализированной выставки технологий и услуг для производителей и заказчиков рекламы «Реклама-2021» открылась десятым юбилейным форумом «Матрица рекламы». Его организовали КВК «Империя» и «Экспоцентр».
28 марта в Центральном доме художника состоялась 25-ая выставка маркетинговых коммуникаций «Дизайн и реклама NEXT». Одним из самых ярких её событий стал День социальной рекламы, который организовала Ассоциация директоров по коммуникациям и корпоративным медиа России (АКМР) совместно с АНО «Лаборатория социальной рекламы» и оргкомитетом LIME.
На VII Международном форуме «Матрица рекламы», прошедшем в ЦВК «Экспоцентр» в рамках международной выставки «Реклама-2018», большой интерес у профессиональной аудитории вызвала VI Конференция «Интернет-реклама».
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