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[h=Russia threatens Zelensky: 'We will strike decision-making centers' in Ukraine]1[/h]
Victor I. Nava - Yesterday 10:42 PM
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The Russian military on Wednesday threatened to strike "decision-making centers" in Kyiv if Ukrainian forces continue attacks across the border in Russia.
The warning comes as Russia has begun to stage its forces just across the Ukrainian border for the next phase of Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" in Ukraine. The capital city of Kyiv has hosted several foreign leaders in recent weeks, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has refused to leave Kyiv since the start of Russia's invasion.
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"We are seeing Ukrainian troops' attempts to carry out sabotage and strike Russian territory," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. "If such cases continue, the Russian armed forces will strike decision-making centers, including in Kyiv."
Russian officials have blamed Ukraine for several attacks on Russian soil since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24. Ukrainian authorities have not claimed responsibility for any of the alleged attacks, but some officials have said that Ukrainian forces have the right to strike military targets inside Russian territory.
Russia's Belgorod region, just 25 miles from the Ukrainian border, has been the site of several attacks, some of which have been attributed to Ukraine by Russian officials.
On April 1, Russian authorities alleged that Ukrainian forces used two helicopters to attack a fuel depot in Belgorod, causing a massive fire.
A Russian railway bridge in Belgorod was also reportedly damaged on Tuesday, possibly the result of an explosion. No explanation was given by Russian officials as to the cause of the blast.
Last month, Russian media reported that an ammunition depot at a military base in Belgorod had exploded. The cause of that explosion is unclear.
Most recently, Russian authorities in the Kursk region on Wednesday claimed a border checkpoint in a western Russian village had come under fire by Ukrainian forces.
Senior Ukrainian official Oleksandr Danilyuk told the Washington Examiner in March that "of course we will try to destroy [Russia's] capabilities."
"It's enormous, but anyhow, especially those arsenals and those storages which are on our borders — they are our targets for sure," Danilyuk said.
Satellite images released by Maxar Technologies on Tuesday show a Russian convoy with more than 200 vehicles, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, towed artillery, and support equipment, moving into Ukraine from Belgorod.
© Provided by Washington ExaminerThis satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a new deployment of troops, tents and vehicles west of Soloti, Russia, Monday, April 11, 2022. AP
The satellite images also show that the Russian towns of Soloti and Biriuch appear to be the staging grounds for the new troop deployments. Soloti is approximately 25 miles from the Ukrainian border, and Biriuch is only about 5 miles from the border.
The threat of a new wave of Russian assaults on Kyiv came on the same day the presidents of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia traveled by train to meet with Zelensky. The countries have been supplying Ukraine with weapons they call "defensive."
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On Saturday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise trip to Kyiv to meet with Zelensky as well.
The prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia also met with the Ukrainian president in Kyiv last month.
Zelensky has refused to leave the Ukrainian capital even as Russian and Chechen hit squads roamed the capital city early in the invasion, attempting to assassinate him.
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Zelensky,
is actually hiding in Florida,
so the Russians can't capture him.
and he cant
snitch on the goverment,
of the USA.
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3708 replies | 465514 view(s)
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more bs from the Fascist,
that run the USA
[h=U.S. quietly paying millions to send Starlink terminals to Ukraine, contrary to SpaceX claims]4[/h]
SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, is credited with helping to keep the Internet on in Ukraine. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)
After Russia launched its invasion, Ukrainian officials pleaded for Elon Musk’s SpaceX to dispatch their Starlink terminals to the region to boost Internet access. “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route,” Musk replied to broad online fanfare.
Since then, the company has cast the actions in part as a charitable gesture. “I’m proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in Ukraine,” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said at a public event last month, later telling CNBC, “I don’t think the U.S. has given us any money to give terminals to the Ukraine.”
But according to documents obtained by The Technology 202, the U.S. federal government is in fact paying millions of dollars for a significant portion of the equipment and for the transportation costs to get it to Ukraine.
On Tuesday, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it has purchased more than 1,330 terminals from SpaceX to send to Ukraine, while the company donated nearly 3,670 terminals and the Internet service itself.
While the agency initially called it a “private sector donation valued at roughly $10 million,” it did not specify how much it is contributing for the equipment or for the cost of transportation.
Sometime after the announcement, the agency removed key details from its release. It now states that USAID “has delivered 5,000 Starlink Terminals” to Ukraine “through a public-private partnership” with SpaceX but does not specify the quantity nor value of the donations.
USAID agreed to purchase closer to 1,500 standard Starlink terminals for $1,500 apiece and to pay an additional $800,000 for transportation costs, documents show, adding up to over $3 million in taxpayer dollars paid to SpaceX for the equipment sent to Ukraine.
In a letter to SpaceX last month outlining the deal, the USAID mission director to Ukraine said the terminals would be “procured” and sent on behalf of USAID by a third-party contractor, which would “arrange for transportation and delivery of the equipment” from Los Angeles International Airport to Ukraine via Poland.
The letter said the nearly 3,670 terminals donated by SpaceX would come with three months of “unlimited data.” In addition to the more than 1,330 terminals that USAID confirmed it had purchased, the agency earlier agreed to buy a separate 175 units from SpaceX, according to the documents.
On Thursday, USAID spokesperson Rebecca Chalif said in a statement that the “delivery of Starlink terminals were made possible by a range of stakeholders, whose combined contributions valued over $15 million and facilitated the procurement, international flights, ground transportation, and satellite Internet service of 5,000 Starlink terminals.”
The agency declined to answer questions about how much USAID funding is going toward buying and transporting equipment for Ukraine, referring them to SpaceX. SpaceX did not return a request for comment on the arrangement and the specific financials of the deal.
It is also unclear whether the price the U.S. government is paying for individual Starlink units matches their typical market price.
USAID is paying $1,500 for each standard terminal and the accompanying service, documents show. According to the Starlink website, a standard terminal set costs $600, while the monthly service charge costs $110, plus an additional $100 for shipping and handling.
According to The Verge, Starlink recently unveiled a separate premium service that prices the equipment at $2,500 and the monthly Internet charge at $500, but it remains unclear whether that is what Ukraine has received. SpaceX did not return a request for comment on the pricing.
The revelations show that while SpaceX appears to have donated a significant sum to Ukraine’s cause, it has done so with public assistance.
The United States and other countries have paid to send much of the known equipment to Ukraine. The transportation costs USAID has paid to ship the 5,000 terminals exceeds $800,000, according to the documents. French officials confirmed they also helped with transportation.
The office of the French state secretariat for digital affairs Cédric O told my colleague Rick Noack that SpaceX “transported 200 Starlink satellite kits, bound for the Ukrainian authorities, via cargo plane to Poland.” The office said that while they “provided logistics and transport,” they did not purchase the equipment, which was a donation from SpaceX.
Shotwell, the SpaceX president, had told CNBC that “France helped” and “I think Poland is helping.” The Polish Embassy did not return a request for comment Thursday.
Ukrainian officials have lauded the SpaceX contributions and credited the Starlink equipment with helping to keep their Internet online during the war.
“We are using thousands, in the area of thousands, of terminals with new shipments arriving every other day,” Mykhailo Fedorov, the Ukrainian minister of digital transformation, told my colleagues in an interview last month, using a Starlink connection from an undisclosed location.
His office did not return a request for comment Thursday on exactly how many terminals have been donated by SpaceX and other sources, including foreign governments.
not to mention,
wefare for the Rich
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