China sending body armor components to Russia, investigation finds

Brady Knox

March 28, 10:30 PM March 28, 10:30 PM

Chinese body armor components are being sent to Russia and used by soldiers fighting in Ukraine, an investigation found.

Customs and trade data, personal testimony from Ukrainian soldiers, and photographs viewed by Politico revealed that several Chinese companies, some state linked, have sent crucial components of the armor to Russian body armor manufacturers with close ties to law enforcement and the military.

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Some of the body armor was taken from Russian soldiers by Ukrainians and put up for sale on eBay. Though the extent of the use of the Klass vests is unknown, it is the first confirmed case of Chinese body armor components being used by Russia in Ukraine.

The presence of the equipment also poses an awkward situation for the United States. Body armor's double status as commercial and military equipment blurs the line between what constitutes military aid and what doesn't.

“The administration has likely seen a lot of things in the record that are discomforting. But they could say, ‘Well, it is not a surface-air missile system, so maybe we’ll just kind of look the other way on this,’” Ivan Kanapathy, the former director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the National Security Council, told the outlet. “The line is fuzzy by design. And the assessment is being influenced by the U.S.-China relationship, perhaps naively hoping that China isn’t already in the Russia camp.”

Two of the Chinese companies that shipped the materials were Yantai Tayho Advanced Materials Ltd., which produces specialized fiber, and Beijing Tongyizhong New Material Technology Corp., which sells polyethylene fiber products and is linked to the Chinese government.

One of the Ukrainians looking to sell the body armor on eBay told Politico that it had been captured during the country's successful September counteroffensive in the Kharkiv oblast.

“This bulletproof vest was used in the Russian army and was obtained by the Ukrainian military during the counter offensive in the Kharkiv region,” he said. “During the liberation of the city of Izyum in one of the houses where the [Russians] temporarily lived, they ran away so quickly that they abandoned their things.”

The U.S. has imposed some sanctions on other Chinese companies that have supplied Russia with materials that help the war effort, such as drones.

German Leopard 2 tanks and first British tanks arrive in Ukraine

Mike Brest

March 27, 05:02 PM March 27, 05:02 PM

Ukraine received its first tanks from Germany and the United Kingdom, among other tactical vehicles, officials of all three countries announced on Monday.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Facebook they had received Challengers, main battle tanks, from the U.K.; Strykers, infantry fighting vehicles, and Cougars, infantry mobility vehicles from the mine-resistant ambush-protected family, from the U.S.; and Marders, infantry fighting vehicles, from Germany.

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“A year ago, no one could have imagined that the support of our partners would be so strong. That the entire civilized world would reboot and eventually resist the bloody aggressor, the terrorist country of Russia,” he said. “This year, everything has changed. Ukraine has changed the world. The resilience of the Ukrainian people and the skill of our army convinced everyone that Ukraine will win.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany had also delivered the much-sought-after 18 German Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine that had been promised to them.

“Our tanks, as promised, arrived on time in the hands of our Ukrainian friends," German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on social media. "I am sure that they can do something important at the front!”

Germany had initially refused to provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks, going as far as to give them up only if President Joe Biden did the same with U.S. tanks. Biden ultimately gave in, ending the stalemate when he announced a plan to provide Ukraine with 31 M1A2 Abrams tanks, though the Pentagon later decided they would provide them with M1A1 tanks because it would reduce the length of time before they would arrive in Ukraine.

By making the change, the tanks will reach Ukraine "by the fall of this year," Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters last week, while initially officials thought it could take longer.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier this month that the U.S. and allies had collectively provided Ukraine with "more than nine brigades of tanks and other armored vehicles."

China's Xi leaves meeting with Putin without pledging military cooperation

Mike Brest

March 22, 11:29 AM March 22, 11:29 AM

Chinese leader Xi Jinping left Moscow on Wednesday after his multiday visit in which he and Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support for continued and growing bilateral relations, but neither made any mention of military assistance.

Xi's highly anticipated and choreographed three-day trip projected unity for the growing partnership as both face an increasingly tense outlook with the West. Leaders globally were focused on the two leaders' discussion of Russia's war in Ukraine and whether Beijing would provide Russia with lethal aid, as U.S. officials have warned for about a month.

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Beijing has repeatedly attempted to position itself as a neutral arbiter. However, it has not condemned the war and has often pushed Russia's account of the war, and a recently published peace plan from China was quickly dismissed as a nonstarter by Ukraine and its allies due to the tenets of the deal that would benefit Russia.

Putin said he supports "many of the provisions of the peace plan put forward by China" on Tuesday, which includes a ceasefire that would freeze the current battlefield positions in place, effectively solidifying Russia's gains, which U.S. officials have explained would provide Russia the opportunity to refit, resupply, and redeploy its troops for a future offensive.

The two leaders did not discuss Ukraine's peace plan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday, according to Russian state media outlet Tass.

U.S. officials have denounced the Chinese peace plan and warned preemptively that Xi may seek to play the role of peacemaker in the war.

"I don't think you can reasonably look at China as impartial in any way," National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said on Tuesday. "They haven't condemned this invasion. They haven't stopped buying Russian oil and Russian energy."

While there was no public mention of military aid, the two leaders affirmed their country's growing partnership. They jointly signed and released the Joint Statement of the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era.

“Russia reaffirmed that it was committed to restarting peace talks as soon as possible, and China expressed its approval,” an excerpt from the joint statement said. “Settlement of the Ukraine crisis must respect the reasonable security concerns of every country and prevent the formation of confrontational blocs that add fuel to the flames.”

The White House made a sharp rebuttal to the joint statement, accusing China of parroting Russian propaganda.

“If China wants to play a constructive role in this conflict, then it ought to press Russia to pull troops out of Ukraine,” Kirby added.

U.S. officials reiterated this week that they have not seen intelligence to suggest China has decided to provide Russia with lethal aid.

US announces $400 million military aid package for Ukraine

Mike Brest

March 03, 01:22 PM March 03, 01:22 PM

The Biden administration announced its newest military aid package for Ukraine on Friday worth an estimated $400 million and mainly consisting of ammunition for the weapons it has already provided.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the package, which is the 33rd drawdown of U.S. stockpiles for Ukraine since August 2021, saying in a statement, “We are again reminded of the boundless courage and steadfast resolve of the people of Ukraine as well as the strong support for Ukraine in the international community.”

TIMELINE OF RUSSIA'S YEARLONG WAR IN UKRAINE

“This military assistance package includes more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS and howitzers, which Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself, as well as ammunition for Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, Armored Vehicle Launched Bridges, demolitions munitions and equipment, and other maintenance, training, and support,” he added.

A day earlier, Blinken had a brief in-person conversation with his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in India. It was their first in-person meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago.

During the conversation, which the U.S. diplomat requested, Blinken reiterated the country's long-term support for Ukraine. He also urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend its participation in the New START nuclear treaty between the two countries, and he pushed Moscow for the release of detained American Paul Whelan.

President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are set to meet at the White House later on Friday.

The leaders are expected to discuss the war in Ukraine as well as the possibility China could provide lethal aid to Russia for the war.

Biden administration officials have warned for weeks that Beijing was considering such an action, hoping that it could preempt the lethal assistance, but have reiterated that it hasn't seen Beijing do it yet. U.S. officials have threatened consequences if China goes through with it, but officials have declined to specify what that would entail.

"I certainly would expect in the context of talking about what's going on in Ukraine that the issue of a third-party support to Russia could come up," National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said on Thursday in reference to whether Scholz and Blinken would discuss sanctions against China.

'Kyiv stands tall': Biden vows to remain steadfast against Putin in Ukraine

Christian Datoc

February 21, 12:54 PM February 21, 12:54 PM

President Joe Biden sought to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine and targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin in a speech delivered in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday.

Biden's remarks, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, came one day after a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine, where he visited with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Earlier on Tuesday, Biden held bilateral talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw.

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"I've just come from a visit to Kyiv," the president declared in his opening remarks. "Kyiv stands proud. It stands tall, and, most importantly, it stands free."

"When Russia invaded, it wasn't just Ukraine being tested. The whole world faced a test for the ages. Europe was being tested. America was being tested. NATO was being tested. All democracies were being tested. The questions we faced are as simple as they were profound. Would we respond?" he said. "One year later, we know the answers. Yes, we would stand up for sovereignty, and we did. Yes, we would stand up for the right of people to live free from aggression, and we did, and we will stand up for democracy, and we did. And yesterday, I had the honor to stand with President Zelensky in Kyiv to declare that we will keep standing up for these same things, no matter what."

Biden named Putin multiple times throughout his remarks and contrasted his miscalculations in the lead-up to the war with the "courage" of Zelensky, "forged" through "fire and steel."

"President Putin is confronted with something today that he didn't think was possible a year ago. The democracies of the world have grown stronger, not weaker, but the autocrats of the world have gotten weaker, not stronger," he said.

The Biden administration has stopped short of advocating regime change in Russia, but the president demanded that autocrats "must be opposed" on Tuesday.

"Tonight, I speak once more to the people of Russia. The United States and the nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia. The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today. And the millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbors are not the enemy," the president said. "This war is never a necessity. It's a tragedy. President Putin chose this war."

Biden's speech came ahead of an expected reelection campaign announcement and as some critics in the U.S. have questioned his handling of the war, specifically his seemingly open-ended pledge to support Ukraine's resistance for "as long as it takes."

National security adviser Jake Sullivan previewed Biden's remarks to reporters Tuesday morning and claimed the president will "speak to the larger contest between those aggressors who are trying to destroy fundamental principles and those democracies who are pulling together to try to uphold them."

"That tells you everything you need to know about who is responsible for this war," Sullivan stated. "This was a war of choice. Putin chose to fight it. He could have chosen not to, and he can choose even now to end it, to go home. No one is attacking Russia. There’s an absurdity to the notion that Russia was under some kind of military threat from Ukraine or anyone else."

Just prior to Biden's speech, the White House released a fact sheet outlining U.S. support for Ukraine throughout the first year of the war.

In total, the U.S. has supplied Ukraine nearly $45 billion in security and other aid, buttressed the country's frequently targeted energy system, and placed or expanded sanctions on more than 2,000 Russian people and entities. Furthermore, Biden said that the U.S. and allies will announce new sanctions next week in conjunction with the NATO summit in Washington, D.C.

The Biden administration, however, has not met Ukraine's request for F-16 fighter jets to patrol the skies over Kyiv and potentially go on the offensive against Russian forces.

You can watch Biden's remarks in full below.

Russia launches 'one of the most massive missile attacks' in the war, Ukraine says

Mike Brest

December 29, 11:26 AM December 29, 11:26 AM

Russian forces launched one of their largest aerial campaigns on Thursday, though Ukraine's military said it was able to shoot down 65 missiles.

Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said that infrastructure in Kyiv, in the north-central part of the country, and Odesa, in the south, were damaged in a missile barrage and subsequently were experiencing emergency power outages.

YEAR IN REVIEW: THE PENTAGON'S 2022 DEFINED BY HELPING UKRAINE IN WAR WITH RUSSIA

"Today the enemy carried out another massive attack on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine," Halushchenko said in a post on Facebook. "Unfortunately, there is some damage to generation facilities and power grids."

Earlier this week, Halushchenko said that the power situation across the country remains “really difficult” and warned that New Year's Eve could see "maximum damage to the energy system."

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said they were able to shoot down 65 drones, composed of both Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones that have been provided to Russia.

"Russian terrorists have been saving one of the most massive missile attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion for the last days of the year. They dream that Ukrainians will celebrate the New Year in darkness and cold. But they cannot defeat the Ukrainian people," Ukraine's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Twitter. "Today, Ukraine's Air defense forces shot down 54 Russian missiles and 11 Shahed-131/136 drones."

For three months, Russia has launched waves of missile attacks at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in what U.S. and Western officials say is a strategy designed to weaponize the winter climate to demoralize the population. The strikes, which are launched on roughly a weekly basis, frequently result in parts of the country losing electricity, heat, and running water, and the ensuing damage is putting extraordinary strain on Ukraine's energy grid.

The Western world has pledged more than a billion dollars to support Ukraine's efforts to secure and rebuild its power grid.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said earlier this week United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should mediate a “peace” summit between his government and the Kremlin, and he'd like to see it happen by the end of February. However, he demanded that Moscow would need to face prosecution for war crimes in an international court before Ukraine would extend an invitation to the Kremlin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Kuleba’s proposal, telling state media Ria Novosti that they “never followed conditions set by others. Only our own and common sense.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin also claimed days ago that he’s ready to engage in talks to end the war and blamed Kyiv for not taking that step, saying in a state television interview that Russia is “prepared to negotiate some acceptable outcomes with all the participants of this process,” and he argued, “It’s not us who refuse talks, it’s them.”

Russia launches a new massive wave of strikes against Ukraine

Mike Brest

December 16, 10:50 AM December 16, 10:50 AM

Russian forces launched their latest barrage of missiles across Ukrainian territory, damaging Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in several regions on Friday.

Ukraine’s ministry of defense said it had destroyed 60 of the 76 air and sea-based cruise missiles fired at targets across the country from Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, as well as in the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the central city of Kryvyi Rih. Kyiv, Odesa, Poltava, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, and Sumy all reported strikes.

Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said “nine power generation facilities” were damaged in Friday’s attacks. The damage will lead to “restrictions of electricity production at nuclear generation facilities,” he added.

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At least two people were killed, and eight more were injured, when a residential building was hit by one of the strikes in Kryvyi Rih, officials said, according to the Washington Post. Most of the missiles had been targeted at Kyiv.

White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told reporters on Friday that the attacks hit “largely civilian infrastructure.” Kirby said Russia is “again trying to put fear into the hearts of the Ukrainian people and to make it that much harder on them as winter is now upon them.”

The United States announced late last month that it would provide more than $53 million to Ukraine to support efforts to repair the destroyed critical infrastructure that Russia has spent weeks deliberately targeting. Kirby said that the first tranche had “arrived in Ukraine.”

“It includes the kinds of equipment that they need to make emergency repairs, such as relays, and bus bars, and surge arresters, disconnectors, [and] circuit breakers, that kind of thing,” he said. “So this first tranche is really designed to assist them with emergency repairs, but it's just the first tranche. There will be more coming in, in coming weeks, to fulfill that pledge of more than $50 million.”

Kirby did not announce new military aid despite reports that the administration is finalizing plans to send Ukraine the Patriot missile defense system. While the highly sophisticated U.S. system that is designed to track and intercept incoming ballistic and cruise missiles would help Ukraine, it would also likely take weeks or months of training in a third country before Ukrainians would have the system on the battlefield.

World leaders connect Stalin's crimes to Ukraine's current plight

Mike Brest

November 24, 04:00 AM November 24, 04:00 AM

Leaders from around the world are honoring the Ukrainian victims on the anniversary of the Holodomor — “death by hunger” — brought on by the Stalin regime in the 1930s and comparing those circumstances to the present day.

The Holodomor was a man-made famine in then-Soviet Ukraine in 1932-1933 brought on by Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s policies that resulted in the deaths of millions of Ukrainians.

RUSSIA TARGETS UKRAINIAN INFRASTRUCTURE AHEAD OF LONG, HARD WINTER

Ukraine commemorates the anniversary of the start of the family on the fourth Saturday of November, and this year will be the 90th anniversary.

“This November marks the anniversary of the Holodomor — ‘death by hunger.’ During his regime, Joseph Stalin imposed harsh and repressive policies on Ukraine, including creating a deliberate famine in 1932-33 that caused millions of innocent Ukrainian women, men, and children to perish,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “We commemorate all the lives lost in this senseless tragedy, and we pay tribute to the resilience of the Ukrainian people who endured devastation and tyranny to ultimately create a free and democratic society.“

The president also tied in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has taken the lives of thousands and displaced millions in the nearly nine months of the war.

“Even as the brave Ukrainian people continue to defend their democracy and freedom from Russia’s brutal aggression, we pause to also honor the victims of past injustices and horrors inflicted on Ukraine,” the president added.

The Holodomor is recognized as a genocide by only 16 countries, including the United States and the Vatican City.

Pope Francis also made a similar comparison in comments to thousands of people in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, according to the .

“Saturday begins the anniversary of the terrible genocide of the Holodomor, the extermination by starvation artificially caused by Stalin between 1932-1933,” Francis said. “Let us pray for the victims of this genocide and let us pray for so many Ukrainians — children, women, elderly, babies — who today are suffering the martyrdom of aggression.”

Russian forces have been targeting Ukraine's critical infrastructure for weeks ahead of the winter, putting millions of civilians at risk of facing the cold without electricity, heat, or running water. U.S. officials have accused the Russians of war crimes, and targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure could amount to war crimes.

Andrew Weinstein, U.S. Public Delegate of the United States to the General Assembly of the United Nations, spoke at the Holodomor Remembrance Prayer Service earlier this week at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, and he said this year’s commemoration “is set against the backdrop of yet another tragedy against the Ukrainian people.”

“90 years ago, we saw a complete disregard for human life and the weaponization of food. Today, we see the same,” he added. “The Holodomor included deliberate acts to impose suffering and repress dissent. And today, we see the Kremlin create the exact same misery and deploy policies to suppress the ability of Ukrainians to express their separate identity and attempt to impose 'Russification' and annexation."

White House asks Congress for more than $37 billion in new Ukraine aid

Mike Brest

November 15, 04:24 PM November 15, 04:34 PM

The White House requested Congress approve another $37.7 billion in additional aid for Ukraine on Tuesday.

The Biden administration is requesting $21.7 billion in defense aid to continue providing equipment to Ukraine and to replenish depleted U.S. stockpiles, $14.5 million for direct budget support, $626 million to provide nuclear security support, and another $900 million for healthcare and support services.

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“Since the beginning of Putin’s war, the United States has rallied the world to support Ukraine,” Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) requesting the funds. “Together, with strong, bipartisan support in Congress, we have provided significant assistance that has been critical to Ukraine’s success on the battlefield — and we cannot let that support run dry.”

Young said that roughly 75% of the money previously allocated by Congress for Ukraine has been disbursed or committed, with more expected to follow by the year's end, and, "That is why we are urging the Congress to provide additional appropriations to ensure Ukraine has the funding, weapons, and support it needs to defend itself, and that vulnerable people continue to receive lifesaving aid."

The request from the administration comes as Republicans are on the verge of clinching a majority in the House following last week’s midterm elections. There have been some House Republicans who have opposed providing additional aid to Ukraine, though a significant majority of the caucus voted in favor of previous aid bills.

“These guys don’t get it. It’s a lot bigger than Ukraine,” President Joe Biden said in response to comments from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) about not providing Ukraine with a "blank check," last month. “It’s Eastern Europe. It’s NATO. It’s really serious, serious consequential outcomes.”

The Biden administration has provided more than $18 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in late February. The U.S. most recently announced its latest package on Friday valued at roughly $400 million.

The White House also requested an unspecified amount of aid for natural disaster relief to help Florida and Puerto rebuild from national disasters.

US military inspectors in Ukraine to keep track of weapons and equipment

Mike Brest

November 01, 02:55 PM November 01, 02:56 PM

American military personnel are in Ukraine to help track and maintain the billions of dollars of military aid the United States has provided to Ukrainian forces, according to U.S. officials.

The Biden administration has provided more than $18 billion of military equipment to Ukraine since Russia invaded in late February after U.S. military personnel had left the country. Administration officials have repeatedly said they will continue to provide assistance to Ukraine as the war goes on.

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The U.S. recently resumed “on-site inspections to assess weapon stocks in country whenever and wherever the security conditions allow,” a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Monday. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder could not say when the inspections resumed during Tuesday’s briefing.

The return of the U.S. defense attache, led by Brig. Gen. Garrick Harmon, to Ukraine and the Office of Defense Cooperation personnel have allowed these inspections to restart, the official explained, adding that the Defense Department is “conducting hands-on training with the Ukrainian Armed Forces on U.S. best practices so they can provide better data, for example, from the sites close to the front lines that U.S. personnel cannot visit.”

"There have been several of these inspections," the official noted.

There are several areas that the Defense Department attempts to monitor, according to the official: keeping comprehensive records of U.S. weapons distributions prior to transferring them to Ukrainian hands where they then log and track the security assistance (they also provide expenditure and damage reports), training them on how to provide better data, and then the U.S. inspections.

Ryder insisted that the department has “no indication that there has been any type of illicit spread.”

Last week, the State Department announced a new plan to ensure that weapons provided to Ukraine don’t fall into malign actors. While the Ukrainian government “has committed to appropriately safeguard and account for transferred U.S.-origin defense equipment,” keeping these weapons out of the hands of bad actors “is essential to post-conflict recovery and regional security.”

UN nuclear watchdog begins investigation of alleged ‘dirty bomb’ in Ukraine

Mike Brest

November 01, 12:06 PM November 01, 12:08 PM

The United Nations's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has begun its investigation into Russia’s allegation that Ukraine is producing a “dirty bomb” to use in the war.

Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Monday that the inspections of two sites “had begun” and “would soon complete,” according to a readout from the agency. Ukraine had requested the independent inspection following Russia’s claims of a “dirty bomb,” which was quickly repudiated by Western leaders.

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Western leaders took Russia’s accusation, which came from Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin leaders, seriously as Russia has a history of accusing its adversaries of actions or plans it is about to take itself.

Similarly, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg noted last week that “Russia often accuses others of what they intend to do themselves. We have seen this pattern before,” and he also added that “Russia must not use false pretexts for further escalation. The world is watching closely.”

A dirty bomb is a conventional bomb that includes radioactive, biological, or chemical agents that disperse upon detonation, creating a much larger impact radius.

"A dirty bomb is a bomb where you use conventional explosives to expand and scatter and to release agents which can cause more widespread and long-standing injuries beyond just the explosive blast," National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters last week. "In the case of this particular allegation, it's really about radioactive material."

The IAEA said in a statement last week that it previously did an inspection of “one of the two locations a month ago and no undeclared nuclear activities or materials were found there.”

Russian strikes caused ‘widespread impact’ on Ukraine’s power grid, US says

Mike Brest

October 31, 02:45 PM October 31, 02:45 PM

The barrage of Russian strikes across Ukraine has had a “widespread impact" on the power grid, a senior U.S. military official said.

The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity Monday afternoon, declined to provide percentages regarding the damage and noted that the department is still gathering information on the latest strikes that took place on Monday.

WHITE HOUSE: IRAN AND RUSSIA HAVE GROWN CLOSER SINCE INVADING UKRAINE

"In terms of the infrastructure, by virtue of the electrical grid being impacted, we are seeing impacts in terms of water supply systems, water treatment, things like that, which is affecting access to water among the civilian population," the official added.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said there had been strikes on 18 targets in 10 regions, making it the most significant and widespread missile campaign since a barrage roughly two weeks ago, according to the Washington Post.

DOD officials could not provide information about the latest strikes but spoke broadly about what they had seen recently.

“We’re still kind of gathering information on the latest strikes,” a senior defense official added. “And I don't have anything more than what you're seeing in media reporting regarding the most recent strikes. When it comes to the question of the power grid and repairs for Ukraine's critical infrastructure. I can tell you that that is a topic that we're talking a lot about inside of the U.S. government.”

Monday’s barrage came in response to an incident this weekend in which Ukrainian drones swarmed Russian warships in the port of Sevastopol, which is in Russian-occupied Crimea. The defense officials did not provide additional information regarding the attack.

Over the last couple weeks, Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukraine's power grid, which they argue are legitimate military targets, despite that there are parts of the country where civilians are without power or water as a result.

Putin oversees Russian response to nuclear attack amid ‘dirty bomb’ allegations

Mike Brest

October 26, 11:20 AM October 26, 11:24 AM

Russia has begun a series of drills designed to simulate its response to a nuclear attack on Wednesday, including practice launches of ballistic and nuclear missiles.

President Vladimir Putin remotely oversaw the annual exercise, called “Grom” (a word that translates to “thunder”), following the Russian leader’s warning that his forces have to be ready to use “all means available” to stop foreign adversaries.

The test launches of nuclear-capable ballistic and cruise missiles were successful, Russian officials said, according to Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti. Specifically, it included the test firing of a Yars land-based intercontinental ballistic missile, the launch of a Sienna ICBM from a Russian nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea, and the launch of cruise missiles from Tu-95 strategic bombers.

RUSSIA WALKS BACK RISK OF DIRTY BOMB PLOT AMID NATO WARNINGS

These Russian military exercises are annual, and the country notified the United States ahead of time in compliance with a U.S.-Russia arms agreement.

“Yes, the U.S. was notified,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday. “As we've highlighted before, this is a routine annual exercise by Russia. And so, in this regard, Russia is complying with its arms control obligations and its transparency commitments to — to make those notifications.”

The routine Russian military test comes as Russian leaders have alleged Ukraine is planning to deploy a "dirty bomb," which Western officials have universally said is untrue.

"A dirty bomb is a bomb where you use conventional explosives to expand and scatter and to release agents which can cause more widespread and long-standing injuries beyond just the explosive blast," National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters earlier this week. "In the case of this particular allegation, it's really about radioactive material."

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu brought up the notion in recent conversations with his counterparts from the U.S., France, and the United Kingdom, while the foreign ministers from the three Western countries released a joint statement days ago calling the Russian allegations “transparently false.”

Similarly, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg noted on Tuesday that “Russia often accuses others of what they intend to do themselves. We have seen this pattern before” and added that “Russia must not use false pretexts for further escalation. The world is watching closely.”

Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy appeared to downplay the risk of a dirty bomb plot while speaking to reporters at the United Nations, saying on Tuesday: "If this all does not happen, I do not mind people saying that Russia is crying wolf because we are speaking about a terrible disaster that might potentially threaten the whole Earth.”

Ukrainian officials have invited the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency to send a team of inspectors to the two facilities Russia claims are where Ukrainians are conducting their dirty bomb research.

“The IAEA inspected one of these locations one month ago, and all our findings were consistent with Ukraine’s safeguards declarations,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said this week. “No undeclared nuclear activities or material were found there.”

Ro Khanna stands by ‘common sense’ letter to Biden urging diplomacy in Ukraine

Mike Brest

October 25, 04:41 PM October 25, 04:41 PM

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is standing by a now-withdrawn letter he and colleagues sent to President Joe Biden urging him to emphasize diplomacy in Ukraine.

On Monday, 30 House progressives signed the letter, which some have said they signed over the summer. There was a backlash as critics suggested the push was unrealistic given the circumstances in the war. Roughly 24 hours after the letter was publicly revealed, the Progressive Caucus withdrew it, with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the caucus chairwoman, saying that it “unfortunately was released by staff without vetting.”

Khanna, however, doesn’t support Jayapal’s decision to withdraw the letter, saying in an interview on CNN on Tuesday, “I think the letter was common sense. I support making sure we arm Ukraine and provide arms to Ukraine and continue to fund it, but I also believe that the president, as he said, we are at a risk of nuclear war. Don’t you think our counterpart should be talking to Russia? Of course they should, to be sure that it doesn’t escalate.”

'INAPPROPRIATE FOR US TO SPECULATE': PENTAGON DOWNPLAYS MIDTERM IMPACT ON UKRAINE AID

Other progressive members, including Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) distanced themselves from the letter, with the former saying she wouldn’t sign it currently after having signed it in late June.

The letter, at the time it was published, appeared to represent a significant shift within the Democratic Party on Capitol Hill, in addition to calling for diplomacy as Russia has engaged in alleged war crimes and the possibility of military escalation.

Another underlying aspect of the timing of the letter is that it was released only two weeks before the midterm elections, in which the Republican Party is expected to retake control of at least one chamber of Congress. There has been more consternation among Republicans about the continued aid to Ukraine, which has topped $65 billion since Russia invaded, some of whom voted against the aid the United States has already provided.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) made headlines last week when he said the Ukrainians will not provide them with a “blank check,” though he has since expounded upon those comments, saying he supports helping Ukraine defeat Russian forces.

With the makeup of Congress set to change once November's winners are sworn-in in early January, Democrats could look to pass another large aid package, and NBC News is reporting that it could be in the ballpark of another $50 billion.

Last Friday, in response to McCarthy, President Joe Biden said he didn’t “understand the threat that [Republicans are] saying they may have to stop funding the Ukrainians in their war against this brutal dictator.”

Lloyd Austin has first conversation with Russian counterpart in months

Mike Brest

October 21, 12:23 PM October 21, 12:24 PM

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his Russian counterpart, Minister of Defense Sergei Shoygu, on Friday for the first time since May.

The DOD leader "emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid the ongoing war against Ukraine" during their conversation, according to Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder in a statement to reporters, while the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Telegram that the two defense leaders "discussed international security problems, notably the situation in Ukraine."

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Austin "initiated" the call, deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said during a press briefing on Friday. She declined to provide much additional information outside the readout, but Singh noted that "today provided a good opportunity to connect."

Friday's call between Austin and Shoygu is only the second time they've spoken since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. That call was back on May 13, and a readout from then-Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that Austin "urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication."

Prior to that conversation, they hadn't spoken since roughly a week before the invasion.

Also on Friday, Austin spoke with Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov, where he "reiterate[d] the unwavering U.S. commitment to supporting Ukraine's ability to counter Russia's aggression," according to a separate readout from Ryder. "Secretary Austin also underscored the international community's continued support in building Ukraine's enduring strength and safeguarding Ukraine's ability to defend itself in the future, as demonstrated by the security assistance commitments made by allies and partners at the most recent Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on October 12."

A day earlier, the Biden administration revealed that Iranian military officials traveled to Crimea to train Russian forces on the drones they purchased from the Middle Eastern country, which denies the claims.

The administration will "pursue all means to expose, deter, and confront Iran's provision of these munitions against the Ukrainian people," Kirby, who is now at the National Security Council, told reporters on Thursday. "We're going to continue to vigorously enforce all U.S. sanctions on both the Russian and Iranian arms trade. We're going to make it harder for Iran to sell these weapons to Russia."

Russian forces have used Iranian drones in a consistent campaign of missile strikes over the past two weeks that have targeted dozens of cities and villages across Ukraine, including some that have largely avoided the front lines of the war.

Mercenary group seeking 1,500 convicted felons to battle in Ukraine, US states

Mike Brest

September 19, 05:06 PM September 19, 05:06 PM

With the Russian forces in Ukraine depleted, the Wagner mercenary team has sought to recruit convicted felons to sign up for the war, but some have declined, according to a senior U.S. defense formal.

The mercenary group is on the lookout to pad its drive by 1,500, "but many are refusing," the formal informed reporters on Monday afternoon. "Our details signifies that Wagner has been struggling high losses in Ukraine, primarily and unsurprisingly between younger and inexperienced fighters."

The admission by the defense formal comes times right after a online video of Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group, went viral of him telling inmates that if they don’t want to be part of the war, they really should send out their kids to struggle as a substitute. He mentioned in a assertion later that if he have been in jail, he’d “dream of” signing up for the war to “pay my credit card debt to the motherland,” in accordance to the BBC, which confirmed the online video and geolocated it to a penal colony in Russia’s central Mari El Republic.

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"We're observing the Kremlin ever more straining to find new recruits to fill out their thin ranks," the senior official ongoing. "And the Russians are carrying out so inadequately that the news from Kharkiv province has impressed many Russian volunteers to refuse beat."

DOD officers have infrequently supplied death counts for either facet of the war, citing complications in monitoring this sort of info, although most a short while ago, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl advised reporters on Aug. 8 that the Russians have been in the "ballpark" of possessing "most likely taken 70,000-80,000 casualties," a overall that included these killed or injured in the war.

In addition to on the lookout at Russian prisoners for padding the troops, they have also sought to influence Tajiks, Belarusians, and Armenians to be a part of the war, the formal continued.

Even with Russia's large dying toll and clear need to have for much more troopers, Kremlin officials have repeatedly declined to call up their reserve forces. If they pick out to do this, it would probable necessarily mean admitting to the Russian persons that there is a war heading on, which they have labeled as a "specific military services operation," and that it is really not going properly.

In the latest days, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to accept the limits of the troop full, stating, “I must emphasize that we are combating not with a total army but only with component, with contracted forces. Of training course, this is connected with selected personnel parameters and so on. This is why we are not in a hurry in this regard.”

Comparatively, the Ukrainian forces have higher morale, a supply of wrestle for the Russian armed forces because it invaded in late February, in component simply because in the thriving counteroffensive in the northeast, they've "liberated over 300 settlements in Kharkiv province," the official additional, but, "We all know that this battle is considerably from in excess of."

"In the vicinity of Kharkiv, we evaluate that the Ukrainians continue on to make endeavours to consolidate their gains and are holding the border," a senior U.S. armed service official instructed reporters, nevertheless the formal mentioned that Russia had produced restricted gains in the Donbas. "We have viewed Russian forces make some insignificant gains in phrases of territory, but we're talking a few 100 meters and practically nothing considerably sizeable at this stage."

Russia not mobilizing extra forces even with Ukrainian counteroffensive

Mike Brest

September 13, 11:00 AM September 13, 11:00 AM

The Kremlin will not initiate a nationwide mobilization exertion to bolster its army, a spokesperson stated on Tuesday, even as Ukraine is engaged in its most productive counterattack considering the fact that Russia's invasion of the region began.

"At the minute no, there is no discussion of this," spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained when asked about the probability that Russia could mobilize its reserve forces. His responses contradicted Mikhail Sheremet, a Condition Duma deputy from the ruling party, who stated a working day earlier that “full mobilization” was required for Russia to realize success in Ukraine, according to Reuters.

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Communist Occasion chief Gennady Zyuganov said on Tuesday that "most of all, we require maximum mobilization of our energy and methods" in order to gain what he explained as a "war" versus the United States, Europe, and NATO. Zyuganov’s reference to the “war” is noteworthy simply because Kremlin leaders, because the invasion started, have explained it as a “special navy procedure.”

Really should Russia connect with up its reserve forces, it would possible be pressured to accept to its people today that the “special armed service operation” is both of those not likely properly and a whole military services operation.

Ukrainian forces have recaptured virtually all of Kharkiv Oblast, in accordance to the Institute for the Review of War’s Sunday update, immediately after they recaptured the town of Kupiansk, which is situated approximately 30 miles north of Izyum, in current days. In some locations, Ukrainian forces have penetrated Russia’s army to a depth of about 40 miles.

“From the commencing of September until finally nowadays, our warriors have previously liberated more than 6,000 square kilometers of the territory of Ukraine in the east and south,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated in his nightly tackle on Monday. “The motion of our troops carries on.”

A senior U.S. defense formal advised reporters on Monday that Russia believed it had an "advantage" and was mistaken.

"It was just a make a difference of time right before these basic resources started to have their affect on the Russian operations in the east, where they believed they had an gain, but a whole lot of the important components of a powerful protection are the capabilities of your soldiers, the capabilities of logistics and demand, and we have observed fractures in all of these components, and they played out in many destinations in additional time in the east."

A senior military services official also famous "anecdotal experiences of deserted … Russian equipment, which could be indicative of Russia's disorganized command and management."