Ukraine Update.
Shelling in Ukraine resumed at 4 this morning. Civilian targets have been shelled, not just military. Statements by Russian troops that civilian targets are not their target are a lie, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his address published early today:
“The second morning of a large-scale war. At four o’clock Russian forces continued to launch missile strikes on Ukrainian territory. They say that civilian objects are not allegedly a target for them, but it is a lie. In fact, they do not distinguish in which areas to operate. As was the case yesterday, the military and civilians are under Russian attack,” Zelensky said.
He noted that the purpose of this attack is to put pressure on society. Zelensky stressed that this was pressure not only on the Ukrainian government, but on all Ukrainians. According to him, today it is felt more than yesterday.
Meanwhile, the country is under martial law, and all Ukrainian males have been conscripted for the defence of their country. Zelensky has said he will not leave Kyiv. His speech of yesterday, appealing to Russia to stop the war, a speech which deserves the widest dissemination possible (you’ll see why when you listen to it) is linked below.
Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary (who does at least have a measure of intelligence) has said he estimated Russia has lost more than 450 personnel and that the Russian army failed to deliver its major objectives on day one of its invasion. Ukrainian forces are blowing up bridges to halt or delay the Russian advance, and there have been Russian, as well as Ukrainian losses.
The UK’s ministry of defence earlier released an intelligence update on the developments in Ukraine.
“Russian forces have likely captured the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Workers have reportedly been detained by Russian troops.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have reportedly halted Russia’s advance towards Chernihiv. Fighting probably continues on the outskirts of the city.
It is unlikely that Russia has achieved its planned day one military objectives.
Ukrainian forces have presented fierce resistance across all axes of Russia’s advance.”
The following more detailed update is from Reuters:
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia resumed missile strikes at 4 a.m. but its troops had been stopped from advancing in most directions. He has vowed to stay in Kyiv.
* Ukrainian forces downed an aircraft over Kyiv, which then crashed into a residential building, said Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister. read more A missile hit a Ukrainian border post in the southeast, killing and wounding some guards, the border service said.
* Russian forces had captured the Chernobyl former nuclear power plant on the route between Belarus and Kyiv, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said.
* French President Emmanuel Macron said he held a “frank, direct and quick” phone call with Putin on Thursday to ask him to stop military operations because Zelenskiy had asked him to.
* Britain, Canada, the EU, Australia, Japan, Taiwan and others unveiled sanctions against Russia, targeting banks, military exports and members of Putin’s inner circle.
* Putin “must and will fail,” EU leaders said as they agreed new sanctions.
* Ukraine needs more weapons to defend against Russian missiles, its ambassador to Japan said.
* Thousands of Ukrainians sought to escape to neighbouring countries.
– “Last time our capital experienced anything like this was in 1941 when it was attacked by Nazi Germany,” Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.
NATO has confirmed that it will not fight in Ukraine, which is not a NATO member, but that it will fight if a member country (such as Lithuania, which has declared a state of emergency) is attacked.
What can be expected today?
It’s expected that Kyiv will come under heavy and sustained attack, and may fall. Zelensky has pleaded with the world to do more than impose sanctions: he says they’re not enough to stop Russia.
Some very recent reports suggest that Putin might be attempting to make it look as if there is an internal coup in Kyiv, with Ukrainians themselves ousting Zelensky, as per this report:
“Ukraine’s deputy minister of defence, Hanna Malyar, said the Russian military seized two cars of the Ukrainian armed forces before changing into the uniform of the Ukrainian military and then driving to the centre of Kyiv from Obolon.
Ukrainian lieutenant general Valerii Zaluzhniy appeared to confirm reports in a statement on the website of Ukraine’s armed forces.
The Kyiv Independent
(@KyivIndependent)
⚡️The Russian military seized two vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, changed into Ukrainian uniform and are moving to the center of Kyiv. They are followed by a column of Russian military trucks, says Deputy Defense Minister.
February 25, 2022
Верховна Рада України
(@verkhovna_rada)
Заступник Міністра оборони України Ганна Маляр інформує:
Російські військові захопили 2 автомобілі ЗСУ, переодяглися у форму українських військових і на швидкості рухаються до центру Києва з Оболоні.За ними слідує колона російських військових вантажівок.
Вони будуть знешкоджені!
February 25, 2022″
(For Putin, a quick end to the conflict might be to make it look as if there has been an internal military takeover. There may be further news on this later.)
What’s happening elsewhere?
More protests against the war are expected in Russia: hundreds of protesters were arrested yesterday, during widespread protests in Moscow and St Petersburg. The police in St Petersburg reacted with particular brutality.
Meanwhile, as other countries prepare to accept Ukrainian refugees, Britain has not set up a route for them to reach UK shores, it emerged last night, as thousands headed to the border following the Russian invasion. The UK has stopped accepting visa applications from Ukrainians stuck in the country, meaning there is no safe and legal route for them to seek asylum in Britain unless they have British relatives.
Hacker collective Anonymous is making repeated and sustained attacks on Russian websites, and managed to take down the Kremlin’s website and the Russian defence department briefly yesterday, as Russia also mounts cyber attacks on Ukrainian systems. Cyber-attacks are expected to continue. Zelensky has called for hackers worldwide to counter Russian attempts to destroy Ukraine’s internet and systems.
Why Chernobyl?
Why did the Russians take Chernobyl? It’s partly because the route into Ukraine via Chernobyl was undefended because of the exclusion zone: it offered an easy route in. It’s also symbolic: the 1986 Chernobyl disaster was considered to be an instigating factor in the ultimate fall of the USSR, and retaking it has historical significance. Has it been damaged? Yesterday evening, Reuters had this report:
“VIENNA, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s operational nuclear power plants are running safely and there has been no “destruction” at the remaining waste and other facilities at Chernobyl, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Thursday, citing Ukraine’s nuclear regulator.
Facilities including the now-defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) were captured by Russian forces on Thursday after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office said. read more
The remaining activities around the plant where Europe’s worst nuclear disaster occurred in 1986 include nuclear waste management and storage, according to the website of the operator, the State Specialized Enterprise Chornobyl NPP.
“Ukraine has informed the IAEA that ‘unidentified armed forces’ have taken control of all facilities of the State Specialized Enterprise Chornobyl NPP, located within the Exclusion Zone,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.
“The counterpart added that there had been no casualties nor destruction at the industrial site.”
The IAEA lists four operational nuclear power plants in Ukraine on its website.
The IAEA “is following the situation in Ukraine with grave concern and is appealing for maximum restraint to avoid any action that may put the country’s nuclear facilities at risk,” it said.
“The Ukraine regulatory body … has earlier informed the IAEA that it is maintaining communications with Ukraine’s operational nuclear power plants, which it said are operating safely and securely.””
So there we are. More updates later.
Things to do?
Support Ukrainians around you. The Ukrainian Embassy website in London has details.
Lobby your MP to push the government to resume processing visa applications from Ukrainians and to provide a safe and legal route into the UK for people who want to come here. (Although they’d be mad to want to, when Ireland has offered as many of them as want it immediate safe haven in a country not ruled by a corrupt cabal funded by Putin’s money.)
Be aware that Farage and Arron Banks, Steve Bannon and other architects of Brexit are vocally supporting Russia and denying the sovereignty of Ukraine in this conflict. And if that doesn’t tell you what Brexit was all about, I don’t know what does. I, for one, intend to speak to everyone I know who still supports Brexit and make sure they know exactly who is on what side.
Read Zelensky’s powerful speech yesterday asking for peace, and disseminate it.