Kyiv Attacked with Suicide Drones
Russian attacks have continued into Tuesday on Ukraine’s energy and water facilities. Parts of Kyiv and other cities were left without power and water. In a video released on Twitter, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky said that 30% of Ukraine’s power stations had been destroyed in the past eight days, causing massive blackouts across the country.
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In the city of Zhytomyr, in northwest Ukraine, the mayor said there was no water and hospitals were working on back-up power. The Troyeschyna area on the left bank of Kyiv was also left without electricity and water.
Infrastructure in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia was also hit. The power station there was supplied with backup power from a nearby coal-fired power plant after its main 750-kilovolt (kV) power line was cut again.
Russian Training Flight Crashes Into Apartment, 13 Killed
At least 13 people were killed after a Russian warplane crashed into an apartment building in the Russian port city of Yeysk. The Russian defense ministry said that the Su-34 bomber came down when one of its engines caught fire during takeoff for a training mission.
Looming Threats On Spanish Front Page
The front page of Spanish daily El Periodica de España focuses on the “nuclear threat and drones that mark a new turning point in the war.”
Prisoner Swap Frees 108 Ukrainian Women
In a prisoner swap, Russia has exchanged 108 Ukrainian women held as prisoners of war for 110 Russian captives held by Ukraine, according to officials on both sides. Of the Ukrainian women, 37 had been captured after surrendering at the siege of the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol last May.
Most of the Russians that were freed are sailors from merchant ships held in Ukraine, while others include members of pro-Russian separatist military units from the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian presidency's chief of staff, confirmed on social media that 108 women had been released in the "first all-female exchange”, and added that they included mothers and daughters who had been held captive together.
Two More Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant Officials Kidnapped By Russian Forces
The Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest such facility, continues to be under the control of the Russian military, and the site of ongoing tensions and intrigue. On Tuesday, there was no word of the whereabouts of Oleh Kostyukov, the plant’s head of the information technology service, and Oleh Osheka, the assistant director general, after Russian forces arrested the two men.
This comes a week after the Deputy Director General of Zaporizhzhya, Valeriy Martyniuk, was kidnapped.
Ukraine’s Energoatom believes that by dong so, Russia is trying to force the top management of the nuclear power plant to cooperate and connect the plant to the Russian energy network of Rosatom.
U.S. Secretary Blinken: Ukraine War Marks End Of Post-Cold War World
Secretary of State Antony Blinken
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the war in Ukraine had brought the “post-Cold War world to an end,” with technology now at the heart of the competition between world powers.
During a press conference at Stanford University, Blinken said, “We are at an inflection point. The post-Cold War world has come to an end, and there is an intense competition underway to shape what comes next. And at the heart of that competition is technology. Technology will in many ways retool our economies. It will reform our militaries. It will reshape the lives of people across the planet. And so it’s profoundly a source of national strength.”
The U.S. Secretary of State also commented on report that Moscow is resorting to drones provided by Iran to hit targets across Ukraine, which he called a “sign of increased desperation.”
600+ Bodies Exhumed So Far As Grim Discoveries Continue Across Ukraine
In a nationwide TV address, Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrsky said that more than 600 bodies had already been exhumed in the Kharkiv region alone, as Ukrainian forces keep discovering mass graves left by the retreating Russian army in regained territories.
Monastyrsky highlighted the challenges faced in the identification process, saying that despite the presence of mobile laboratories, ”this work could take weeks, maybe months.”
Last month, Ukraine forces found 447 bodies in a mass grave dug in a forest in Izium, in the Kharkiv region.
Authorities continue to make similarly grim discoveries across Ukraine: In Lyman, in Donetsk region, troops have recovered the bodies of five children killed by Russian shelling.
What Is The Union State?
This overlooked treaty from the mid-1990s reveals that Vladimir Putin’s ambitions go far beyond Ukraine, with the aim of building a kind of USSR 2.0.
Originally signed with Belarus, Putin’s vision for the union doesn’t stop there as he has been quietly but diligently building the formations of a new Russian empire for decades.
And just in the past few weeks, Russia has announced that the occupied territories of Ukraine that have been annexed into Russia — as well as their armed militias — would also become part of the Union State. Read the Livy Bereg story here.
Exxon Mobil Corp Exits Russia Following Expropriation
Exxon Mobil Corp has left Russia after President Vladimir Putin expropriated its properties following seven months of discussions over an orderly transfer of its 30% stake in a major oil project.
The U.S.-based energy company said it "safely exited" Russia after the government earlier this month terminated its interests in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project, the largest in the country. This comes after Putin seized Exxon shares earlier this month, in the oil production joint venture and transferred them to a government-controlled company.
Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last February as well as Putin’s constant threats of using nuclear weapons, BP, TotalEnergies, Equinor and Shell have all transferred properties to Russian partners or even left operations behind.
