Facing Russian Advance, a Top Ukrainian General Paints a Bleak Picture
#Ukraine’s forces are stretched thin & have minimal reserves to draw on, the chief of #military#intelligence said, in addition to shortages of #weapons.
MAGA Republicans creating a shit storm to try and block Ukraine aid funding bill from coming to a House vote!
MAGA House Speaker Mike Johnson has faced mounting pressure from all sides to act on President Biden’s long-delayed request for billions of dollars in security assistance.
A #PrisonerSwap for #Navalny was in the final stages before the opposition leader’s death
Associates of Russian opposition leader #AlexeiNavalny said Mon that talks were underway shortly before his death to exchange him for a Russian imprisoned in Germany.
“Alexei Navalny could have been sitting here now, today. It’s not a figure of speech,” Maria Pevchikh, who lives outside #Russia, said in a video statement.
Pevchikh alleged in her video that #Putin “wouldn’t tolerate” setting #Navalny free & decided to “get rid of the bargaining chip.” She offered no evidence to back that claim.
Asked at a regular news conference in Berlin about the claim by the Navalny team, German government spox Christiane Hoffmann said she couldn’t comment.
#POTUS Joe #Biden on Fri announced >500
new #sanctions on #Russia & its #war machine in the largest tranche of penalties since Moscow’s invasion of #Ukraine nearly 2 yrs ago.
Biden followed through on a promise to further punish #Putin 1 wk after opposition leader #AlexeiNavalny died in a Siberian prison. The sanctions — as well as those added Fri by the #EU — come 1 day before the 2nd anniversary of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The #American people & people around the #world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond #Ukraine,” #Biden said in a statement announcing the #sanctions. “If #Putin does not pay the price for his death & destruction, he will keep going. And the costs to the #UnitedStates — along w/ our #NATO#Allies & partners in #Europe & around the world — will rise.”
The bulk of the #sanctions, to be unveiled later Fri by the #Treasury Dept, were already in the works for the #invasion anniversary, though a few were added this week to target those involved in #Navalny’s death [#murder / #assassination ] at an Arctic penal colony. #Biden met Thurs w/ #YuliaNavalnaya, Navalny’s widow, & daughter in SF & praised her late husband’s bravery.
Russian authorities have declared that the opposition leader #AlexeiNavalny died of natural causes but are refusing to release his remains until his mother agrees to a “secret funeral,” #Navalny’s mother & his spox said on Thurs.
#LyudmilaNavalnaya, #Navalny’s mother, said she had been “secretly” taken to a morgue Wed night, “where they showed me Aleksei.” She was shown a medical report on Navalny’s death that said he died of natural causes.
But #Navalnaya said she now was locked in a grim battle w/local authorities in the northern Russian city of Salekhard who, taking orders from Moscow, were not releasing custody of the remains.
#Navalnaya said the authorities warned that if she did not “agree to a secret funeral,” then “they will do something with my son’s body.”
“They’re blackmailing me,” Navalnaya said in a video posted on her son’s YouTube channel. “They are setting me conditions on where, when & how Aleksei should be buried.”
🧵1/3 The European Union unanimously agreed on Thursday to extend 50 billion euros ($54 billion) in aid to Ukraine, overcoming weeks of resistance by Hungary https://t.ly/MNaMH
Wouldn't it be cool if Trump's assets were liquidated and the funds went to Ukraine? Biden could start the conversation telling Zelensky about the funding with "We'd like to do you a favor, though." #FundUkraine