28 April 2022 18:33

Politics

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Same old song "Ze is a puppet" and UN Secretary General’s absurdity: Western media digest as of April 28

Authors

Olexandr Zakharov , Ksenia Lisna

The third month of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues. From the very beginning, our struggle has not left the pages of the Western media.

On April 28, they reported about the new intimidation of the West by Maria Zakharova, the visit of the UN Secretary General to Bucha, Borodianka, and Irpin, as well as Warsaw's calls to penalize countries that pay for Russian gas in rubles.

offers an up-to-date digest of the 64th day of active Russian invasion in English-language online outlets.

Blinken: Ukrainians themselves choose the tactics of resistance

Photo: Getty Images

The Washington Post quotes U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken as being asked whether Americans should support Ukraine's offensive operations against Russia.

Blinken said that Ukraine can choose its own tactics to stop the Russian invasion:

"It’s vital that they do whatever is necessary to defend against Russian aggression. And the tactics of this are their decisions."

The remarks came after explosions in southern Russia and a fire at an ammunition depot on April 27, events that Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described as "karma" for the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces.

Blinken stressed that the goal of Western arms shipments to Ukraine was "making sure that Ukrainians have the means to defend themselves."

Liz Truss: It is necessary to push Russians out of the whole of Ukraine

Photo: twitter.com/trussliz

The Washington Post also quotes British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as calling on Western countries to unite and "double down" in support of Ukraine.

She stressed that it is important to push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine ater the appalling barbarism and war crimes committed during President Vladimir Putin’s illegal war.

Truss warned that a victory for Putin would bring "untold further misery across Europe and terrible consequences across the globe."

She urged world leaders to send Ukraine more military support, including weapons, aircraft and tanks.

In addition, Truss argued for cutting off oil and gas imports once and for all to ensure there would be nowhere for Putin to fund this appalling war.

British media outlets have noted the significance of Liz Truss using the phrase "whole of Ukraine."

This could suggest that she is not just calling for the Russian troops that invaded on February 24 to be ousted, but also for the annexed Crimea and the partially occupied Donbas to be liberated.

UN Secretary General in Borodianka: "War is absurdity"

The BBC reports that UN chief António Guterres visited sites around the Ukrainian capital that were occupied by Russian troops for several weeks in March.

The first stop was Borodianka where the damage from air strikes and shelling is breathtaking, the outlet reports.

"When I see those destroyed buildings, I imagine my family in one of those houses now destroyed and black. I see my granddaughters running in panic,"Guterres shared his impressions.

According to him, the war "is an absurdity in the 21st century."

"The war is evil and when you see these situations our heart of course stays with the victims, our condolences to their families. But our emotions — there is no way a war can be acceptable in the 21st century. Look at that," the UN chief said.

In Bucha at the site of the mass grave behind a church, Antonio Guterres was told about the killing of civilians. The UN secretary-general said:

"Here, you feel how important it is for a thorough investigation and accountability."

Guterres avoiding accusing Russia

Photo: Getty Images

Guterres assured that he fully supported the international criminal court and appealed to the Russian federation to agree to cooperate with the ICC.

"But when we talk of war crimes we cannot forget that the worst of crimes is war itself," he said cautiously.

After Borodianka and Bucha, the UN chief visited Irpin. Looking at the destruction and burnt houses, Guterres said he was struck by how innocent civilians "always pay the highest price… wherever there is war".

But as in Bucha and Borodianka he chose his words carefully, talking about war in general and not blaming or criticising Russia directly.

Photo: Getty Images

After that the UN convoy headed back to Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who previously criticised Guterres for visiting Moscow and Vladimir Putin first, before seeing what his troops have done here.

Zakharova intimidates West: "Zelenskyy is a puppet"

The Guardian reports that at a press briefing, Maria Zakharova the spokesperson for Russia’s foreign affairs ministry issued another "stern" warning to Western countries, in particular the UK, over encouragement given to Ukraine to strike within Russian territory.

She said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was being used by the west, and told the west to stop trying the patience of Russia.

"Such aggression against Russia cannot remain without an answer. We would like Kyiv and western capitals to take seriously the statement by the Russian ministry of defence that further provocation prompting Ukraine to strike against Russian facilities will be met with a harsh response from Russia."

She commented on the words of James Heappey, Minister of the Armed Forces of Great Britain, about the right of Ukraine to strike at Russian logistics:

"In other words, Heappey was effectively calling for Kyiv to use weapons provided by NATO countries."

According to the propagandist, the Ukrainian government is just a "puppet regime of the West."

Germany supports heavy weapons for Kyiv

Photo: Getty Images

The Guardian also reports that the Lower House of the German Parliament overwhelmingly approved a petition supporting the supply of weapons to Ukraine, including heavy ones.

"Alongside the broad economic isolation and decoupling of Russia from international markets, the most important and effective means to stop the Russian invasion is to intensify and speed up the delivery of effective weapons and complex systems including heavy arms," the petition read.

The petition was backed by the three parties in the ruling coalition as well as the opposition conservatives, passing with 586 votes in favour, 100 against with seven abstentions.

It will be difficult for Russia to link up troops with Transnistria

Photo: TBA

Sky News quotes retired Air Vice Marshal Sean Bell as saying it would be difficult for Russian forces to link up with troops stationed in the unrecognized Transnistrian region.

Fears have been growing about whether troops from the formation artificially created by Russia could launch an attack in Ukraine or Moldova, but they would face some logistical struggles.

Bell, says the only way for Russian troops in Ukraine to link up with those in Transnistria is for them to take the city of Odesa. However, the port city is fiercely well fortified and Russia has so far had little luck in capturing large cities, he says.

Russian forces are also "tied up" with their offensive on the Donbas region. Bell says it is "very difficult" to see how Russia could take Odesa "any time soon".

Meanwhile, Russia's offensive on the Donbas is taking place across a broad front.

According to Bell, Russian forces are using heavy artillery and mortars to weaken Ukraine and find weak spots.

The Ukrainians are "gently ceding ground" but also inflicting heavy casualties on the Russians in return.

Russians executed Ukrainians in Donetsk

Зрщещ: law.stanford.edu

Sky News also reports that the US has credible evidence of Russian forces executing Ukrainians who attempted to surrender in Donetsk, a United Nations meeting has been told.

US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice Beth Van Schaack said:

"We now have credible information that a Russian military unit operating in the vicinity of Donetsk executed Ukrainians who were attempting to surrender, rather than take them into custody."

Such actions are in violation of a core principle of the law of war: the prohibition against the summary execution of civilians and of combatants who are hors de combat by virtue of surrender, injury or other forms of incapacitation, she noted.

Expulsion of diplomats and Peskov's threats

Photo: Wikipedia

CNN reports that Japan has lodged a protest with Moscow over its decision to expel eight Japanese diplomats from Russia, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said.

He accused Moscow of the breakdown in bilateral ties. Japanese diplomats must leave the country by May 10. Japanese Ambassador to Moscow Toyohisa Kozuki is not among those expelled.

The move comes after Tokyo expelled eight Russian diplomats and officials in April over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's Foreign Ministry summoned a representative of the Embassy of Japan and said that Tokyo has embarked on a "deliberately anti-Russian course".

Collage with Getty Images

CNN also reports that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cautioned on April 28 against "pumping up" Ukraine and other countries, such as Georgia and Moldova, with weapons, saying this threatens security of the European continent and provokes instability in the region.

Poland demands penalty for paying for gas in rubles

Photo: Getty Images

Reuters quotes Anna Moskwa, Poland's climate minister.

According to her, the EU should penalize countries that use roubles to pay for Russian gas. She believes that the bloc should completely ban the purchase of Russian gas.

"Today what is missing is full sanctions on gas, that would solve the problem with Gazprom, the problem with following sanctions 100%," Anna Moskwa stated.

The main EU member states resisting tougher gas sanctions on Russia are Austria, Germany and Hungary, she added.

Instead of an afterword. As you can see, even the United States already believes that strikes against Russian logistics are not unacceptable in case of Ukraine's self-defense. Meanwhile, Russia has completely lost its mind, threatening the countries of the West every day and calling Zelenskyy a "puppet".

Even ’s digests show how the rhetoric of the West has changed since February 24, when intelligence agencies gave us a maximum of 21 days and were in no hurry to help, and it was the efforts of the Ukrainian diplomatic team that helped to reach out to Western countries. In addition to the obvious consequences of Russians’ atrocities in the occupied territories and in Mariupol that shocked Europe and the USA.

However, the UN Secretary General is still trying to use cautious diplomacy — avoiding blaming the Russians for the horrific crimes in the Kyiv region, even seeing the consequences with his own eyes, and even visiting Vladimir Putin before the Ukrainian leader.

Meanwhile, while new evidence of the invaders’ crimes appears — now about the execution of people who tried to surrender — some EU countries are not averse to paying for bloody gas in rubles.

Ukraine continues to fight for its right to exist for 64 days.