Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 02-12-2024

While pro-Kremlin media hailed the Russian President’s interview with Tucker Carlson as a victory, many others found his version of history risible, according to the memes that soon appeared.

The rapturous Russian response to the occasion of the much-hyped Feb. 9 Tucker Carlson interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin, which continued before, during and after the event, was captured “tongue in cheek” by a blogger calling himself Russian Politics No Context claimed: “Feb. 9 – Victory day in the information war”:

Polish police have said they are investigating an incident during which farmers had stopped a truck carrying Ukrainian grain on Sunday as it crossed the border and poured out its cargo.

Ukraine called on neighbouring Poland on Monday to act against "xenophobia" after Polish farmers spilt EU-destined Ukrainian grain on the ground during protests on the border between the allies.

Polish police have said they are investigating an incident during which farmers had stopped a truck carrying Ukrainian grain on Sunday as it crossed the border and poured out its cargo.

A Russian mil-blogger said of the fierce fighting in Avdiivka, where Moscow’s troops are trying to close a pincer on the Ukrainian salient: “You can’t hold a front with just bodies.”

Kremlin troops advanced hundreds of meters in the battleground city of Avdiivka over the weekend, as Ukrainian military spokesmen said Kyiv forces manning front lines will hold and were inflicting heavy losses on Russian attacks.

The most advanced Russian forces reportedly were locked in close battle for Avdiivka’s Coke and Chemical plant, a hulking complex of industrial buildings overlooking the key 00542 highway, the main Ukrainian supply route in and out of the Soviet-era factory town.

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) on Sunday reported that the Russian military is employing Starlink satellite communication systems in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has debunked reports circulating as false news claiming that the Russian military has obtained access to Starlink satellite Internet and is using it in the war zone in Ukraine.

Musk clarified on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter, owned by Musk’s company) that SpaceX has not sold any Starlink terminals to Russia directly or indirectly.

Another Ukrainian basketball player, Artem Kozachenko, who was injured in the same incident, is receiving treatment at the Essen hospital.

Volodymyr Yermakov and Artem Kozachenko, two Ukrainian youth basketball players, were attacked with their friends, a 14-year-old Syrian boy from Gelsenkirchen and a 13-year-old German girl with Lebanese roots, at Oberhausen Central Station, Germany on Saturday. The assault was carried out by a gang of eight people, described as being of “Arabic appearance,” using knives. 17-year-old Yermakov was stabbed to death in the assault and his three companions injured.

Police in the German city of Essen have already detained two suspects in the murder of 17-year-old Volodymyr Yermakov, a Ukrainian basketball player, Oleg Nikolenko, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote on his Facebook. According to the t-online portal, two teenagers aged 14 and 15 were detained on suspicion of murdering the young Ukrainian.

The Big Meet, the number one networking organization in Kyiv, gets ready to celebrate its 6-year anniversary: Put on your Vyshyvanka and join in at Ostannya Barykada on Friday, Feb. 16

Kyiv Post had the pleasure of being the first to congratulate The Big Meet, the number one networking organization in Kyiv, on its 6-year anniversary.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Olga Kearley, the owner, and organizer, to reflect on this significant milestone. From navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine to witnessing the evolution of The Big Meet’s networking culture and its impact on the community, Olga shared her insights and experiences as The Big Meet prepares to celebrate on Feb16.

Agents of the Atesh guerilla group gave the exact number of Russian aircraft and the location of warehouses storing missiles used to attack Ukraine to the AFU.

Atesh (“Fire”) partisan spokespersons told Kyiv Post its local pro-Ukrainian agents gathered critical intelligence information at a military airbase in Yeysk, in Russia’s Krasnodar region, which is routinely used for attacks on Ukraine.

“Our agents carried out a complex [series] of actions in Yeysk, beginning with reconnaissance of the airfield,” read a Feb. 12 message from Atesh via Telegram.

About $44.5 billion in arms have flowed from the US to Ukraine since February 24, 2022. But Washington's failure to agree to a new tranche of support could leave it up to Europe to plug a vast gap.

European nations have pumped billions into defence spending and military aid since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but analysts say the continent's defence industry is still far from able to supply Kyiv alone.

About $44.5 billion in arms have flowed from the United States to Ukraine since Russian tanks rolled in on February 24, 2022.

Russia targets employees of the Federal Air Transport Agency, who removed 59 aircraft from the state inventory and transferred them abroad, after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Nearly five dozen aircraft in Russia’s state aviation fleet were allegedly transferred abroad illegally by Rosaviatsiya, the Kremlin’s Air Transport Agency, since Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with some going to “unfriendly” countries, according to Russia’s national newspaper.

The pro-Kremlin news site Izvestia reported that a joint raid was carried out on offices of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsiya, by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Ukraine’s intelligence agency says the training of Russian soldiers in Syria includes mastering Iranian drones and remotely piloted aircraft for future use on the “special military operation.”

Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate (HUR) said on Monday, Feb 12 that Russian troops are being trained on the use of Iranian drones at the Shayrat airfield in Syria’s western province of Homs.

The training is being conducted by Lebanese Hezbollah Police and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and is teaching the Russian to become operators of Iranian Shahed-136 and Ababil-3 UAVs, as well as the Raad remote-controlled aircraft.

Tucker Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin reveals much more than the foolishness of fascism. It offers us a view into the mechanism of how genocide is justified.

In a talk with Tucker Carlson, Putin uttered sentences about the past. I will explain how Putin is wrong about everything, but first I have to make a point about why he is wrong about everything. By how I mean his errors about past events. By why I mean the horror inherent in the kind of story he is telling. It brings war, genocide, and fascism.

Putin has read about various realms in the past. By calling them “Russia,” he claims their territories for the Russian Federation he rules today.

Paris, Berlin and Warsaw are hoping to ramp up cooperation and reinvigorate the so-called “Weimar Triangle” format initially created in 1991.

The top diplomats of France, Germany and Poland were set on Monday to launch a joint initiative to fight Russian disinformation attacks as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine enters a third year.

The trio will meet at a historic chateau outside Paris as Polish Prime Minister and former EU chief Donald Tusk visits France and Germany on Monday to tighten Warsaw’s cooperation with Paris and Berlin.

Austin's hospitalization comes weeks after it emerged that the 70-year-old had kept previous hospital stays secret and had not immediately informed US President Joe Biden of a cancer diagnosis.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has been admitted to the critical care unit as he undergoes treatment for a bladder issue, the Pentagon said late Sunday, in a statement citing his doctors.

"Tonight, after a series of tests and evaluations, the Secretary was admitted into the critical care unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for supportive care and close monitoring," the statement read.

The Senate, which has a very slim Democratic majority, voted 67-27 to break a procedural hold placed on the bill, making it almost certain it will pass a final simple-majority vote around midweek.

A sweeping US foreign aid package, including $60 billion for Ukraine, passed a key procedural vote Sunday, although opposition from right-wing Republicans may block it from becoming law.

The $95 billion package includes funding for Israel's fight against Hamas militants and for key strategic ally Taiwan, but the lion's share would help pro-Western Ukraine restock depleted ammunition supplies, weapons and other crucial needs as it enters a third year of war.

Zelensky has dismissed General Valery Zaluzny as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The European press has very different ideas about what to expect from this change.

After much speculation, it is now official: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed General Valery Zaluzny as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The former ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrsky has been appointed as his successor. The European press has very different ideas about what to expect from this change.

The newcomer needs to deliver

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Lieutenant General Oleksandr Pavlyuk as Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander, replacing current Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi.
• Russian forces appear to have constructed a 30-kilometer-long barrier dubbed the “tsar train” in occupied Donetsk Oblast, possibly to serve as a defensive line against future Ukrainian assaults.
• Ukrainian military observers indicated that the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) is not as productive as Russian authorities portray it to be, but that the Russian DIB is still capable of sustaining Russia’s war effort.
• Russia’s current limited DIB production capacity and insufficient serial tank production lines are not guarantees that Russia will struggle to produce enough materiel to sustain its war effort at its current pace or in the long term.
• Russian forces made confirmed advances near Avdiivka and in western Zaporizhia Oblast amid continued positional engagements along the entire frontline.
• CNN reported on February 11 that Russia has recruited as many as 15,000 Nepalis to fight in Ukraine, many of whom complained about poor conditions and lack of adequate training before their deployment to the most active frontlines in Ukraine.
• Russian authorities continue efforts to solidify social control over youth and students in occupied Ukraine and to culturally indoctrinate them into Russian identity and ideology.