Russia invades Ukraine - 6 - from 7 August 2024

[sine_nomine]

All respect for the USA on the $US175 billion in aide to Ukraine. Just, please revise your guidelines on how the weapons you provided can be used.

Biden administration sends Congress long-awaited Ukraine strategy report, sources say

Tue, September 10, 2024 at 7:47 AM GMT+8

FILE PHOTO: Ukraine’s Zelenskiy and US President Biden are shown in Washington

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has sent Congress a classified report on its strategy for the war in Ukraine, three sources said on Monday, months after a June deadline mandated in a multibillion-dollar spending bill lawmakers passed in April.

A congressional aide said the long-awaited report had reached lawmakers on Monday and they had not yet had a chance to review it. Two other sources, requesting anonymity to discuss a classified matter, confirmed that it had been delivered. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress has approved nearly $175 billion of aid and military assistance for Ukraine and allied nations in the 2-1/2 years since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

After months of delay, the Republican-led House of Representatives passed a $95 billion supplemental spending bill in April that included $61 billion in funding for Ukraine, as well as billions for Israel, civilians in conflict zones around the world and to “counter communist China” in the Indo-Pacific.

As part of that bill, Congress asked the Biden administration to submit a detailed strategy for Ukraine by early June.

Biden’s support for Ukraine is backed by Democrats and many Republicans in Congress. Some Republicans, however, have criticized his administration for restricting how Ukraine can use U.S. equipment, for example by refusing to supply weapons that could strike targets deep inside Russia, for fear it would escalate the conflict.

Weeks after the deadline passed with no report, some members of Congress said they were frustrated and would consider blocking further funding.

In a statement emailed to Reuters in late August about the report, Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he supported assisting Ukraine but did not do so blindly.

“Since the earliest days of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war on Ukraine, we have asked the Biden-Harris Administration for a strategy on how the U.S. and our allies can help Ukraine win the war,” Risch said.

“When they did not respond to our requests, we mandated in law that a strategy be sent to Congress, but the deadline has passed with no response. President Biden and VP (Kamala) Harris owe a strategy not just to us, but to the American people, and their dereliction suggests they don’t have one or are afraid to share it.”

Biden administration sends Congress long-awaited Ukraine strategy report,...

[barry_day]

[barry_day]

[barry_day]

[Houli_Dooli]

@sine_nomine

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has sent Congress a classified report on its strategy for the war in Ukraine

so whats the strategy?
oh it’s classified.

[Captain_Jack]

Talk about the walking wounded. That looks like it could have been an updated version of Monty Python & The Holy Grail.

[Red_Black_Ops]

Melbourne FC doctor working for Russia?

[goon_squad]

@Nexta

haha that’s great. He very quickly hit the brakes and into reverse quick smart

[barry_day]

[sine_nomine]

Ukraine’s drones target Moscow, more than 30 airline flights suspended, Russia says

September 10, 20241:11 PM GMT+8Updated 22 min ago

• Summary

• At least 15 drones downed around Moscow

• Multi-storey residential buildings near Moscow on fire

• Flights suspended at Moscow’s key airports, media report

Sept 10 (Reuters) - Russian officials said on Tuesday they shot down at least 15 drones around Moscow overnight in a wave of attacks that set residential buildings on fire, killed a woman and forced more than 30 flights in the capital to be suspended.

More than 60 drones were also downed over Russia’s southwestern region of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine and the Lipetsk region in Russia’s south, regional governors said. There was no damage or casualties reported there.

Ukraine’s domestic drone industry has been growing rapidly and Kyiv has been stepping up drone attacks on Russian energy, military and transport infrastructure.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on the Telegram messaging app that at least 15 drones were downed around Moscow, with emergency crews dispatched to several sites across the region and near the Zhukovo airport and to the Domodedovo district - home to one of the Moscow’s largest airports.

Russia’s RIA agency reported that both the Domodedovo and Zhukovo airports were closed for air traffic following the suspension of more than 30 domestic and international flights there and at other airports that serve the Russian capital.

The overnight drone attacks damaged at least two high-rise apartment buildings in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow region, setting several flats on fire, Moscow’s governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram.

A 46-year-old woman died and three people were injured in Ramenskoye, Vorobyov said. He added that 43 people were evacuated to temporary accommodation centres.

The Ramenskoye district, some 50 kms (31 miles) southeast from the Kremlin, has a population of around quarter a million of people, according to official data.

Russia’s SHOT and Baza Telegram channels, which are close to Russia’s security services, posted videos with flames coming out from a multi-storey residential building, saying that five flats were destroyed in the drone attack in the Ramenskoye district.

Authorities of the Tula region, which neighbours the Moscow region to its north, told Russian state news agency that a drone wreckage fell onto a fuel and energy facility, but that “technological process” of the facility was not affected.

Tuesday’s attacks follow a deluge of drones Ukraine launched in early September targeting chiefly Russia’s energy and power facilities.

The attacks come at a critical juncture in war, with Russia pressing an offensive in eastern Ukraine while still struggling to expel Kyiv forces that broke through its western border in a surprise August incursion.

Russian officials often do not disclose the full extent of damage inflicted by Ukrainian attacks.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks.

Ukraine has been pressing the United States for permission to use more powerful Western-supplied weapons to inflict greater damage inside Russia and impair Moscow’s abilities to continue its attacks on Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-destroys-ukraine-launched-drone-flying-towards-moscow-mayor-says-2024-09-09/

[Nexta]

Here we go again

[sine_nomine]

Am I miss-remembering?
Hasn’t Australia got large reserves of uranium that they are yet to develop?

World’s largest uranium miner warns Ukraine war makes it harder to supply west

Pull towards Russia and China grows stronger, says boss of Kazatomprom

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email [email protected] to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found here.
https://www.ft.com/content/b8b34ec4-20ca-4c00-937b-fc620ae7503e

Kazatomprom’s chief executive has warned that Russia’s war on Ukraine is making it harder for the world’s largest uranium producer to keep supplying the west as the gravitational pull towards Moscow and Beijing grows stronger. Meirzhan Yussupov, chief of the Kazakh state miner, said that sanctions caused by the war had created obstacles to supplying western utilities. “It is much easier for us to sell most, if not all, of our production to our Asian partners — I wouldn’t call [out] the specific country . . . They can eat up almost all of our production, or our partners to the north,” he told the FT. He added however: “It’s much easier to sell to them but we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket.” The Astana-based miner, of which the Kazakh state owns 75 per cent, wants to keep a diverse mix of customers that includes US and European utilities, even though shipping material on the traditional, cheaper route via St Petersburg is no longer an option because of sanctions risk. Kazatomprom, which is listed in Astana and London, has sought to establish an alternative route to ship material through the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Black Sea, at a higher cost. Kazakhstan produces 43 per cent of the world’s uranium, equivalent to the market share that the Opec cartel has over oil. But the potential influence of Russia over its Central Asian neighbour has been an increasing source of concern for western utilities and industry partners. “You will see some changes,” said Leigh Curyer, chief executive of NexGen Energy, which is developing a large uranium mining project in Canada. “Perhaps their production will increase to servicing Russia and China. If that’s the case, western world utilities will look to western world suppliers . . . I think we’re already seeing signs of that.” Rosatom, Russia’s nuclear monopoly, holds a stake in five of Kazatomprom’s 14 deposits. Under those arrangements, it receives 20 per cent of the country’s output, said Yussupov. Adding to the challenge is that Russia and China are leading the construction of new nuclear plants globally. In 2022, the company disclosed in a footnote in its annual report that the ownership of the company holding a 49 per cent stake in Budenovskoye, a giant deposit that Kazatomprom is developing, was transferred to entities including Rosatom’s subsidiary Uranium One. The lack of transparency over the disposal caused concerns internally, according to one person with direct knowledge of the matter. A dozen senior Kazatomprom executives have left over the past two years, according to disclosures. Kazatomprom denied that the exodus was partly related to the stake sale. “There is not that big a concern” about Rosatom’s level of involvement, citing lower levels of interdependence between the two countries compared with the oil and gas sector, Yussupov said. But he also added: “There is, of course, concern”. The chief’s comments came after the company last month downgraded its output forecast for 2025 by 17 per cent and suspended its 2026 guidance. It cited shortages of sulphuric acid, essential to extract uranium, and construction delays for surface facilities and infrastructure. Kazatomprom sent 49 per cent of uranium under its control to the Asian market, 32 per cent to Europe and 19 per cent to the American market last year, according to its latest annual report. “We are very serious about diversifying the geography of our sales,” Yussupov said. Katie Mallinson, partner of Prism Political Risk Management, a business intelligence company, said that Kazakhstan had been under increasing pressure from Russia and China to restrict its interaction with western nations, particularly since US troops left Afghanistan in 2021. “This is particularly the case for uranium, where it has a pivotal role in the global supply chain,” she said. “Russia has increased its stake in Kazakhstan’s production of uranium and Kazakhstan has been committing more and more of its supply to the Chinese market. This is leaving serious questions in the long term as to how much uranium will be available on western markets.”

https://www.ft.com/content/b8b34ec4-20ca-4c00-937b-fc620ae7503e

[Nexta]

Another russian propaganda ■■■■ up

[sine_nomine]

In some good news, Russia’s Special Military Operation has frighted the fark out of most Russians.

Russia records with lowest birth rate in 25 years amid Ukraine war

ReutersSeptember 10, 2024, 09:01:09 IST

According to data published by the statistics service Rosstat, 599,600 children were born in Russia in the first half of 2024, which is 16,000 fewer than in the same period in 2023 and the lowest since 1999

Russia recorded its lowest birth rate since 1999 in the first six months of this year, according to official data published on Monday, with births in June below 100,000, marking their first monthly decline.

Why it’s important

The conjuncture of declining births and rising mortality has led to a decrease in Russia’s population, posing an issue for the Kremlin as it wages a protracted war in Ukraine, which Moscow launched with a full-scale invasion in 2022.

The Kremlin in July called Russia’s low birth rates a disaster for the country.

According to data published by the statistics service Rosstat, 599,600 children were born in Russia in the first half of 2024, which is 16,000 fewer than in the same period in 2023 and the lowest since 1999.

In June, the number of newborns fell 6%, to 98,600, which is the first time the number fell below 100,000, Russian media reported.

Russia’s natural decline of population accelerated this year, with 325,100 deaths recorded between January and June, or 49,000 more than in the corresponding period of last year.

The population decline was somewhat offset by 20.1% growth in migrants in January-June, data showed.

Key quotes

“This is catastrophic for the future of the nation,” Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in July, according to Russian state news agencies.

Nina Ostanina, the head of the Committee for the Protection of Families at the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, told the state RIA news agency that a “special demographic operation” is needed to improve the birth rate.

“We must organise ourselves and conduct another special operation,” Ostanina said. “Just like a special military operation - a special demographic operation.”

Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine “a special military operation,” while Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked aggression to grab land.

Russia records with lowest birth rate in 25 years amid Ukraine war

[Nexta]

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[Nexta]

Julia Davis’ report on MS’s weird confession. The video is at post 1611

Onward Putin Soldiers

[tassiehammer]

Might the new mine clearing division.

[barry_day]

Arty losses back up.

Russian losses over the past 24 hours reported by the Ukrainian General Staff.

+1380 men
+50 artillery systems
+19 AFVs
+1 tank
+36 UAVs

[barry_day]