Ukrainian War, Day 780 – 2024-04-13 11:31:07

Putin’s explanations: Russia was “forced” to attack

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia was forced to strike Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. With this “need” he justified, among other things, the attacks on Ukrainian power plants.

Russia hit Ukraine with force on Thursday. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia fired a total of 82 missiles and drones. According to the military, Ukraine managed to repel 18 missiles and 39 drones.

Russian missiles and drones destroyed, among other things, the Tripilska power plant. In addition to the power plant located near the capital Kyiv, Russia attacked power plants in various parts of Ukraine.

“Unfortunately, we recently noticed a series of attacks on our energy targets and we were forced to respond,” Putin told Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, according to Russian news agencies.

Putin seems to have forgotten that the attacks in Ukraine are the result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Speaking to Lukashenko, Putin linked the attacks on the energy infrastructure to Russia’s goal of demilitarizing Ukraine.

Putin, who launched a full-scale war of aggression, said Russia had deliberately tried to avoid such attacks in the winter for “humanitarian reasons”.

Ukraine has asked its allies for help with air defense in an increasingly desperate manner.

– We need air defense and other defense support, not turning a blind eye and long discussions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi says on Telegram.

Zelenskyi condemns the attacks as terrorism.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also commented on the need for defense support in a strict tone. Kuleba used American-made Patriot anti-aircraft systems.

– What is there to discuss? Kuleba said in an interview with Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform.

– There is only one question: give us Patriot systems. If we had the Patriots, we wouldn’t have lost all of this today.

Vladimir Putin justified Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with “necessity”.

Book: Trump thought Ukraine belonged to Russia

In her book, Fiona Hill, who served as an advisor to former US President Donald Trump, says that Trump stated very clearly that Ukraine should belong to Russia.

The Guardian reported on the matter.

The news book deals with Russia and China in terms of the US national security threat.

– He couldn’t get over the fact that Ukraine was an independent state, New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West – is told in the book.

Hill served as the US National Security Council’s leading Russia expert from 2017 to 2019. Hill was one of the key witnesses in Trump’s criminal investigation.

FT: This is how the USA would multiply billions in economic aid to Ukraine

The United States is proposing to use the proceeds from frozen assets from the Russian state as guarantees for loans that could quickly raise tens of billions of dollars for Ukraine.

The matter is reported by the Financial Times, according to which the United States wants to discuss the proposal at next week’s meeting of finance ministers of the G7 countries in Washington. The purpose is to find a solution to the matter before the June meeting of the G7 countries.

The G7 countries have been divided on what should be done with Russia’s frozen assets of around $260 billion. The United States has supported the idea of ​​confiscating assets in full for Ukraine.

However, European leaders have rejected the idea, fearing that it would violate international laws and destabilize the market. EU countries prefer to give Ukraine only interest income accumulated from frozen funds.

– We are at the point where we have to figure out all possible ways to maximize the value of the frozen funds for the benefit of Ukraine, acting as an advisor to the White House Daleep Singh says.

– We can’t wait forever.

After the US support for Ukraine got stuck in the House of Representatives, Western countries have tried to urgently find ways to help Ukraine.

According to Singh, the U.S. proposal would give value to the interest income that will later be obtained from Russia’s frozen funds already now, if they could be used to collect billion loans for Ukraine.

Until now, European countries have transferred to Ukraine every six months the income accumulated from Russian funds. According to Singh, it would be possible to multiply this.

– Instead of transferring annual interest income [–] it is conceptually possible to transfer interest income from 10 or 30 years in advance, he says.

According to the Financial Times, Ukraine has so far received $3.85 billion in revenues from frozen Russian assets.

The Ukrainian parliament approved the mobilization law

On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament gave its approval to the mobilization law that caused outrage.

A total of 283 MPs voted in favor of the law in the 450-seat parliament, and 49 MPs abstained.

The disputed law includes several incentives for soldiers serving in the Ukrainian armed forces, such as bonuses for soldiers fighting on the front lines and compensation offered to the families of soldiers killed in war.

However, Ukrainian soldiers and their families are outraged that the passage in the previous draft that would have given soldiers who served in the armed forces for 36 months the opportunity to be exempted was removed from the approved law.

The leadership of the Ukrainian Armed Forces demanded an express protest due to the shortage of men afflicting the Ukrainian forces.

According to the New York Times, which reports on the matter, the need for new soldiers for the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been clear since last fall. The Ukrainian troops are tired, but fresh faces are available in the same way as in Russia.

– The attack continues along the entire front line. At the moment, it is impossible to weaken the defense forces, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine commented.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyin still has to pass the bill, but he is expected to sign it into law soon.

Zelenskyi signed a law last month that lowered the minimum age for enlistment in the armed forces from 27 to 25. This law was also disputed, which is why Zelenskyi waited almost a year before signing it.

Although Ukraine is in dire need of soldiers, the soldiers fighting on the frontline are skeptical of the law passed on Thursday. A 46-year-old gunner interviewed by the news agency AFP Oleksandr considers the law a “disaster”.

– If a person is like a slave, nothing good comes of it, he says.