Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
Poland will abandon versions of Russia's guilt in the Kaczynski Tu-154 crash |
2023-12-16 |
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. Commentary by Russian military blogger Andrey Chervonets The Poles admitted that the Polish side falsified the results of the examination of the Smolensk disaster. ![]() The head of the office of the Prime Minister of Poland said that the Polish commission of inquiry into the 2010 Smolensk disaster, in which the country's President Lech Kaczynski died, falsified the examinations of American and European specialists. The Poles dug up and buried again Kaczynski. As a result, the investigation was stopped today. What are you doing, sir? What is it like? I can’t believe my eyes? Have you really been reborn? I don’t believe and never will believe in my life that the Poles have stopped lying!!! For almost 15 years, the Poles investigated the disaster near Smolensk. They blamed Russia - the Russians planted a bomb, created fog... And then the Russian dispatchers initially suggested for some reason to go to an alternate airfield... But the pilot was pressured by the high-ranking Polish bureaucrats on board (and drunk) about a mandatory landing - like there was no other way comme il faut. Now the Poles have begun to recognize Goebbels’ version of the Katyn execution as a lie. And submit on your knees - the Poles in 1919-22. The Poles destroyed about 100,000 prisoners Red Army soldiers in their concentration camps. |
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
Chronology of the war in Ukraine: Friday, December 2 (updated) |
2022-12-03 |
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Vesti] December 2 is the 282nd day of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Briefly about the main thing that is happening in the country on this day, about the situation in the regions, the exchange of prisoners, as well as all the relevant information from key departments - online Vesti.ua . ![]() 07:00 . The main thing from the morning summary of the General Staff: During the day, units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled the attacks of the Russian army in the areas of Novoselovskoe, Stelmakhivka, Chervonopopovka and Belogorivka of the Luhansk region and Grigorievka, Vyemka, Bakhmut, Experienced, Klischeevka, Kurdyumovka, Severnoye, Pervomaiskoye, Krasnogorovka and Maryinka in the Donetsk region. 08:00 . Zaporozhye region. At night, the Russians launched a missile attack on the industrial and energy infrastructure of Zaporozhye. There was a huge fire, which has already been extinguished. There were no casualties. Dnipropetrovsk region. At night, the Russian Federation fired about 40 shells at Nikopol and its environs. There are no victims. Kharkov region. A high-rise building in the village of Klugino-Bashkirovka was under fire. One woman was injured. 10:00 a.m. Kherson region. During the day, the Russians shelled the region 42 times - three dead, seven more wounded. Russia is purposefully attacking the civilian infrastructure of the region and killing civilians, according to the head of the region, Yaroslav Yanushevich. Shells hit private and apartment buildings. 12:00 . Donetsk region. Donetsk is under heavy shelling for the second day in a row. At least three dead civilians are known. 13:30 . Nikolaevkskaya area. The head of the Nikolaev OVA, Vitaly Kim, announced the take-off from the Engels airport (RF) of three TU-95 aircraft. There are no air alerts in Ukraine at the moment. 14:20 . Dnipropetrovsk region. Explosions in the Dnieper. There is an air raid in the city. Puffs of smoke are visible in one of the districts. 14:30 . The Sejm of Poland did not recognize the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism. During the discussion that preceded the vote, factions and groups unanimously supported the resolution. Discord was made by an amendment from the ruling party. It says that the Russian Federation is directly responsible for the plane crash in Smolensk (2010). It killed the President of Poland Lech Kaczynski, Polish high-ranking officials and the military, a total of 96 people. The head of the opposition faction "Civil Coalition" Boris Budka explained the refusal to vote for the resolution by saying that the amended document could draw Poland into a war with the Russian Federation. It is not known when the Seimas will return to consider the resolution. 15:30 . Dnipropetrovsk region. The smoke that rose in the city was not the result of an explosion. This is the result of coke cooling by metallurgists, Mayor Boris Filatov said. 16:15 . Donetsk region. Housing estates under fire. The former grocery store "Moskva" was damaged, not far from which the "administration" of Pushilin is located. Also flew to the area of the so-called. "police department". In one of the yards of Donetsk, which flew in, a fire started. There are wounded. 18:00 . The main thing from the evening summary of the General Staff: The Russian Federation launched 13 air strikes on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 4 missile strikes on civilian targets, and also carried out more than 10 attacks from the MLRS. 20:20 . Kyiv. Mayor Klitschko has published a plan for the people of Kiev in the event of a complete blackout:
Klitschko also recommended that Ukrainians wear winter clothes and have warm clothes with them, as the average temperature at metro stations is 12-14 degrees. 21:00 . The head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said that experts are close to an acceptable agreement between Ukraine and Russia on the creation of a security zone around the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. |
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: March 12th, 2022 |
2022-03-12 |
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [Korrespondent] 21:54 Erdogan said that the insufficient reaction of the world community to the occupation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 led to the current aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. ![]() "If the whole West and the whole world had raised their voice against the invasion of Crimea in 2014, would we be faced with today's picture?" - he said. 21:53 The US State Department said it would consider Russia's involvement of Syrian militants to participate in the war with Ukraine as an escalation. 21:48 After the second missile attack on Ivano-Frankivsk airport, its infrastructure is almost completely destroyed. Local authorities are asking people living near the airport to leave their homes. 21:46 In Irpen, 26 marauders were detained on a hot trip. According to the mayor of the city Alexander Markushin, they are immediately sent to corrective labor in the terrorist defense. 21:43 The State Department said that the United States is imposing sanctions against Peskov's wife and his adult children. 21:40 In the Nikolaev region, the Russian military staged "indiscriminate firing at civilian objects," Governor Vitaly Kim said. According to him, in this way the invaders cover their movement. 21:22 In the Kharkiv region on March 11, as a result of the Russian invasion, ten people were killed, of which three were children. According to the National Police, since the beginning of the war, 201 people have died in the region, including 11 children. 21:20 The war in Ukraine can increase world food prices by 20 percent, the UN warns. 21:13 Melitopol media report that on March 12 at 07:00 the city's residents are going to protest because of the abduction by the Russians of Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who refused to cooperate with the occupiers. 21:11 More than 40 Republican senators call on Biden in an open letter to send fighter jets to Ukraine, which independently opposes Russia, BBC News reports. 20:55 The head of the Zaporozhye regional administration Oleksandr Starukh said that the humanitarian convoy from Mariupol was again unable to reach Zaporozhye due to the shelling of the Russian military. 20:30 According to UN estimates, 18 million Ukrainians may suffer from Russian aggression, including up to 6.7 million will become internally displaced persons. 20:28 Ukraine is ready for Belarusians to join Russia , NSDC Secretary Aleksey Danilov said. At the same time, he warned the Belarusians: "It is better to stay at home than to go home with a load of 200." 20:20 The head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Oleg Sinegubov said that Russia had disrupted the evacuation from Izyum. The city was left without electricity, heat, water and communications. Ukraine prepared 20 buses, created a green corridor, but because of the shelling of the occupiers, it was never launched. 20:19 The European Commission will propose a ban on imports from Russia of key iron and steel products, and will also consider a ban on investments in the energy sector of the Russian Federation, Ursula von der Leyen said. 20:15 Biden said that 12,000 US troops have been moved to the borders of Russia, and the US will protect "every inch of the NATO countries." Biden also stressed that the US will respond to any Russian move that threatens NATO. 20:09 The UN stated that they received evidence of the use of cluster munitions by the Russian Federation in Ukraine. In particular, they were used in Kharkov and Vugledar. The UN stressed that the use of cluster munitions in populated areas "is incompatible with the principles of international humanitarian law." 20:07 Vitaly Kim reports that the Russian occupiers are shelling Nikolaev from the northeast side. 19:58 Russian propaganda media are spreading another fake - a photo of an allegedly Ukrainian Tu-141 Strizh drone shot down over Crimea, from which they did not even bother to erase the red star. 19:52 Zelensky, in an address to the Poles, recalled the words of Lech Kaczynski, said in Tbilisi in 2008: "We know very well: now Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine, the day after tomorrow the Baltic countries, and then, perhaps, the time will come for my country - Poland." “On February 24, this terrible “tomorrow” came for Ukraine, which President Kaczynski spoke about. And today we are fighting so that such an evil time does not come for the Baltic countries and Poland,” Zelensky said. 19:42 YouTube begins blocking Russian state media channels around the world, Reuters writes. YouTube is also suspending all monetization methods on its platform in the Russian Federation and will remove war content that violates the site's policy. "Our community guidelines prohibit content that denies, downplays, or trivializes well-documented events of violence. We are currently removing content about Russia's invasion of Ukraine that violates this policy," the company said. 19:27 The Chernobyl nuclear power plant received additional diesel fuel for the operation of generators - this will provide emergency power supply for spent nuclear fuel storage facilities, the State Nuclear Regulatory Agency reports. 19:25 The authoritative Polish publication Rzeczpospolita writes that Warsaw has already received 200,000 refugees from Ukraine and is unable to accept more. A similar situation is observed in Krakow. 19:21 The General Staff warns that there is a high probability that Russia will strengthen terrorist methods of warfare. In particular, we are talking about missile and bomb strikes on civilian infrastructure facilities, residential areas; intimidation of the local population, carrying out informational, psychological actions in order to undermine the trust of the population in local government representatives, spreading misinformation, taking the local population hostage. 19:19 British American Tobacco ceases operations in Russia. 19:18 Roskomnadzor announced that Instagram will be blocked in Russia on March 14, at midnight Moscow time. 19:09 Zelensky thanked Poland: "I feel that we have already formed a very strong alliance with Poland. Let it be informal. But an alliance that grew out of reality, and not from words on paper. If God willing and we win this war, then we share the victory with our brothers and sisters. This is our greatness. And your greatness." 19:02 PMC Wagner has opened a large-scale recruitment of mercenaries to be sent to the war in Ukraine, the Air Force reports. According to the publication, the organization has canceled most of the previous restrictions, so they accept almost everyone. 18:58 The Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council told the details about Russia's planned provocation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In particular, near the airport in Gostomel, Russian automobile refrigerators were seen collecting the bodies of dead Ukrainian defenders - they will be passed off as killed saboteurs in the Chernobyl zone. Belarusian and Russian "specialists" entered the plant under the guise of nuclear workers to organize the terrorist act. The probable "action" is very similar to the provocation with the shelling of the maternity hospital in Mariupol, in which Russia tried to blame the Ukrainian military. 18:54 The EU will adopt the fourth package of sanctions against Russia on March 12, the European Commission said. Including, as expected, the European Union, following the United States, will ban the export of luxury goods to Russia. The EU will also propose a "big ban" on new European investments in the Russian energy sector. 18:50 According to The Wall Street Journal, Biden personally vetoed the supply of Polish fighter jets to Ukraine so as not to provoke Putin. 18:42 Meduza writes that Putin launched repressions against the 5th service of the FSB, which, on the eve of the war, supplied him with data on the political situation in Ukraine. So, the head of the FSB foreign intelligence service Sergey Besed and his deputy Bolukh were arrested. 18:30 Macron said that the EU cannot apply exceptional measures to join the Union of a country that is at war. 18:27 Biden banned the supply of dollar bills to Russia. 18:19 Biden listed Putin's defeats: "He hoped to dominate Ukraine without a fight - he failed. He wanted to split European resolve - he failed. He wanted to weaken the transatlantic alliance - he failed. He wanted to divide American democracy in terms of our positions - he failed. The world is united and we support the people of Ukraine." 18:05 Biden again said that the United States will not fight against Russia in Ukraine, because a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia should be avoided. "But we know that Putin will never win in Ukraine because he is opposed by us and our allies. We are for the people of Ukraine and we will not allow autocrats who claim to be emperor to threaten democracy," he added. 17:56 During the 12 days of the blockade of Mariupol, Russian invaders killed 1582 civilians, the city council said. 17:55 The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, as well as a number of Ukrainian media reports that, according to preliminary data, Belarusian troops may be involved in the invasion of Ukraine as early as today at 21:00. 17:52 1,800 people were evacuated from Bucha today, accompanied by the Ukrainian Red Cross. The wounded from the Buchansk hospital were also transported to a safe place. From Gostomel, 1000 residents arrived in Belogorodka. Further logistics are provided to Kyiv and, if necessary, to the west of the country. 17:50 The United States will impose "blocking sanctions" on deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and the heads of Russian banks that have fallen under sanctions, the White House said. 17:49 The Ministry of Defense of Belarus called the information about the shelling of the Belarusian village fake. 17:45 Borrell said that Putin could be tried in The Hague. According to him, Russia is not able to capture Ukrainian cities, so it bombs them, as in Syria and Chechnya. 17:43 The G7 countries will deprive Russia of access to financing through international organizations, including the IMF. 17:42 The evacuated residents of Energodar, Dneprorudny and Vasilyevka were brought by bus to Zaporozhye, said Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Kirill Tymoshenko. 17:38 The United States is imposing a ban on the import of alcohol, diamonds and seafood from Russia, Biden said. The United States also prohibits the supply of luxury goods to Russia. In addition, according to Biden, the United States, the EU and the G7 will cancel the most favored nation treatment in trade with the Russian Federation. 17:37 Zelensky talked with Biden, discussed further defense support and new sanctions against the Russian Federation. 17:36 Invaders from small arms fired at people who were waiting for evacuation in Bucha, Kiev region. One person was injured, the Attorney General's Office said. 17:32 Fighting is underway in the Brovarsky district of the Kiev region, some communities are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe , the governor said. 17:29 Von der Leyen and Macron assured that Ukraine is a member of the European family and the path to Europe is open to the Ukrainian people. 17:19 Roskomnadzor has restricted access to Instagram on the territory of the Russian Federation "due to calls for violence against Russians." 17:14 Kiva was arrested in absentia by a Ukrainian court. As the chairman of the Lychakovsky district court of Lvov, Serhiy Girich, said, a preventive measure in the form of detention was chosen for him. Kivu is suspected of encroaching on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, treason and dissemination of symbols of communist regimes. 17:12 Macron said that, together with Scholz, he would again talk with Putin in the coming hours. 17:09 NATO will continue sanctions pressure on Russia until it stops hostilities, Stoltenberg said. 17:01 By mid-May, the European Commission will present a plan for phasing out Russian energy carriers until 2027 and a draft reform of the energy market, said the head of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen. 16:54 Ukraine bought Russian fuel for its nuclear power plants in the amount of 6-8 billion hryvnias a year, now the aggressor will not receive this money, said the head of Energoatom Petr Kotin. 16:53 The command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also reported on the shelling of the settlements of Bukhlichi and Upper Terebezhov in Belarus. 16:50 The Turkish Embassy moves from Kiev to Chernivtsi. 16:48 In the Zhytomyr region, a Russian Forpost drone was shot down, which was used to adjust and direct artillery fire, Gerashchenko reports. 16:46 The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed that Su attack aircraft, flying into the territory of Ukraine from Belarus, bombed Ukrainian territory, after which they launched air raids on the territory of Belarus. 16:43 In Melitopol, the invaders kidnapped the mayor of the city Ivan Fedorov , who refused to cooperate with the enemy, Gerashchenko said. According to him, the mayor was detained at the city crisis center and put a plastic bag over his head. 16:39 The EU will prepare a fourth package of sanctions against Russia, said the head of the European Commission von der Leyen. 16:17 Today at 14:30, information was received from the State Border Service that Russian planes took off from the Dubrovitsa airfield in Belarus, entered the territory of Ukraine, turned around and fired on Kopani Belarus , the command of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports. Reznikov wrote that the Russian occupiers plan to shell Belarus from the territory of Ukraine in order to draw Belarusian troops into the war. He stated that the Ukrainian army had never shelled and was not going to shell Belarus. 16:00 The damage inflicted by the Russian army on Ukraine's infrastructure reaches at least $120 billion, the Economy Ministry said. 15:49 Canada has imposed sanctions against five Russians: Roman Abramovich, Alisher Usmanov, Ella Pamfilova, Elena Morozova and Igor Yanchuk. They will be banned from operations in Canada and their assets will be frozen. Canada also banned 32 Russian companies and government agencies from receiving defense equipment from the country. 15:45 Free-fall high-explosive bombs were used in Kharkov, the radius of destruction of which is 60 meters, one of the captured pilots said at a briefing. 15:27 Adviser to the Mayor of Mariupol Petr Andryushchenko reports that right now 86 Turkish citizens are hiding in the territory of the mosque, including 34 children. The Russian army has been firing from the area of the village of Shirokaya Balka in the direction of the city without a break since 06:00. The direction of the shelling - including on the building of the mosque. 15:23 Russian pilots were told back in January that they would bomb Ukraine, one of the prisoners said at a briefing in Kiev. 15:22 Canada has banned the import of petroleum products from Russia. 15:15 A Ukrainian court has arrested RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan in absentia, Venediktova said. 15:11 Canada has included in the sanctions list the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Foreign Intelligence Service, Rosoboronexport, the RCC Progress, the Kazan Helicopter Plant, the Russian aviation corporation Irkut, the Admiralty Shipyards and Russian Helicopters enterprises. 15:02 The mayor of Odessa, Gennady Trukhanov, said that the Russian invaders plan to surround the city through Voznesensk from the side of Transnistria and the Nikolaev region. "We also assume that at this time the Russian military landing ships will approach and surround Odessa from the sea. We assume that the city may be surrounded, and we are preparing for such a situation - we are stocking long-term food and medicines," he added. Trukhanov. 14:56 The Ukrainian government is negotiating with the governments of European countries so that the arrested 415 billion dollars of Russian reserves will be used to compensate for damage to Ukraine from the Russian invasion, First Deputy Economy Minister Denis Kudin said. 14:52 To hide the defeat near Nikolaev, invaders are going to carry out rotation of troops on March 17, but they will not be in time, the head of Regional State Administration Vitaly Kim promised. 14:49 The EU has provided Ukraine with the first 300 million euros of macro-financial assistance. 14:29 On March 10, a month ahead of schedule, 12.5 billion hryvnias were transferred to military units to pay additional remuneration for the duration of martial law to all categories of military personnel, Reznikov said. He specified that this is the first tranche for February - early March. After the systematization of combat orders, other tranches will follow. The minister recalled that the payment to the combatants is 100,000 hryvnia per month, not counting bonuses for destroyed equipment, etc. 14:22 Zelensky: "If this continues, then the sanctions packages against Russia are not enough. I expect new sanctions decisions from our partners today." 14:18 Lukashenka told Putin that his conscience is clear: "An attack was being prepared on Belarus, and if six hours before the "operation" a preventive strike had not been delivered on positions (I will show four positions now, I brought a map), they would have attacked our troops of Belarus and Russia, who were at the exercises. Therefore, we did not unleash this war, our conscience is clear." 14:16 Zelensky said that Ukraine has already achieved a "strategic turning point" and is moving towards victory. 14:05 In the Sumy region, more than half a million subscribers, or about half of the population, are left without electricity, said the head of the Regional State Administration Dmitry Zhivitsky. 14:03 Today, the commander of the 29th Army of the Eastern Military District, Major General Andrey Kolesnikov, was killed, Gerashchenko reports. 14:00 The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation applied to the court with a request to recognize Meta as an extremist organization and ban its activities in Russia. The Prosecutor General's Office also demanded that Roskomnadzor restrict access to Instagram. 13:55 There is a battle in Izyum, the Russians are advancing on the southern part of the city. Local authorities report that the evacuation has been thwarted. 13:53 Oleg Lyashko found an apartment belonging to Kiva in Koncha-Zaspa with an area of 500 square meters, bought "for the money of the FSB", and asks the Prosecutor General's Office to arrest her, transferring the funds for the needs of the Ukrainian army. 13:48 Podolyak says that Russia's use of ex-ISIS fighters and propaganda statements about chemical weapons indicate an attempt to implement the Syrian scenario in Ukraine. 13:46 According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Putin ordered the preparation of a terrorist attack at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In particular, it is planned to create a man-made disaster, the responsibility for which the occupiers will try to lay on Ukraine. 13:34 Putin said that the USSR has always lived under sanctions and "achieved success." 13:33 Lukashenka believes that by the end of the year people will forget about the "conflict" in Ukraine. Also, the Belarusian "leader" said that he brought to the meeting with Putin a map "revealing plans for an attack on Belarus." According to him, Ukraine would have attacked Belarus if not for a "preemptive strike" from Russia. 13:32 Putin told Lukashenka that there are "certain positive shifts" in the negotiation process with Ukraine, Russian media report. 13:31 Great Britain imposed sanctions against 386 Russian deputies who voted for the independence of the LDNR. 13:23 Peskov threatens "drastic measures" if Facebook and Instagram do not block "calls for violence against the Russian Federation." 13:21 The authorities of Ivano-Frankivsk are asking those who live near the local airport to temporarily leave their homes. 13:15 Kazakh Air Astana and Turkish Pegasus cancel flights to Russia at the request of insurers. 13:12 From under the rubble of the airfield in Lutsk, which was hit by an airstrike today, the bodies of two dead were removed, Mayor Igor Polishchuk said. Thus, the death toll rose to four, six more were injured of varying severity. 12:54 The EU has not yet changed enough to grant membership to Ukraine, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janshi said. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Cros, in turn, noted that Ukraine, before becoming a full member of the EU, must complete all the necessary procedural steps. At the same time, he added that closing the doors for the country would be a mistake. 12:48 The White House once again stated that the United States will not send its military to Ukraine under any circumstances, even if Russia uses chemical weapons. According to Psaki, the United States is already involved in the war, as it provides Ukraine with weapons and humanitarian aid. 12:34 Peskov said that "the crisis around Ukraine and in relations between the Russian Federation and the West will end when the demands of Russia" transferred to Kiev are met. 12:31 From March 14, training resumes in eight regions of Ukraine: Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Khmelnytsky, Zaporozhye, Odessa, Kirovohrad. According to the Ministry of Education, each institution will choose the format of training independently. 12:26 The Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated the village of Viktorovka, Chernihiv region, from the invaders. 12:24 In the Romensky district of the Sumy region, the police, together with representatives of the terrorist defense, captured 29 invaders who were moving towards the border on the map. 12:22 The most dangerous areas in the Kiev region are the Zhytomyr highway, Bucha - Irpin - Gostomel, Makarov and the north of the Vyshgorod region, Governor Alexei Kuleba said. 12:21 As a result of the shelling of the Oskol psycho-neurological boarding school in Kharkiv, there are no casualties, all 30 staff members and 330 patients were in shelter at the time of the shelling, the State Emergency Service reports. 12:20 The European Nuclear Society (European Nuclear Society) suspends all activities with organizations associated with the authorities of the Russian Federation and Belarus until the end of Russian aggression in Ukraine, Energoatom reports. 12:18 Denmark has resumed the construction of the Norway-Poland gas pipeline, which was stopped nine months ago for environmental reasons. 12:16 US intelligence chief William Burns believes that Moscow is now agreeing to some kind of negotiations with Kiev in order to obtain tactical benefits, since Putin does not have a specific permanent goal in this war. 12:15 Stoltenberg said that Russia's war against Ukraine should not turn into a NATO war with Russia, CNN Turk reports. At the same time, the Secretary General added that the world community should do everything possible to put an end to Russia's war against Ukraine. 12:12 Ukrainian air defense forces shot down a missile over Novye Sanzhary, Poltava Mayor Oleksandr Mamay said. 11:53 According to UN estimates, the total number of refugees from Ukraine since February 24 has exceeded 2.5 million people. Polish border guards report that the country has received about 1.5 million Ukrainians. 11:51 Erdogan's spokesman said that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky is possible in the near future. According to him, "there are reasons to believe so." 11:50 Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that there is no consensus in the EU on the status of Ukraine as a candidate, so the decision has not yet been made: "We are ready to give a perspective and start the procedure. I would like Ukraine to receive the status of a candidate right now. It was a task maximum, but it is impossible to get now, but we will return to this issue." 11:37 AFU liberated five settlements in the Chernihiv region, OK Pivnich reported, without specifying their names. 11:25 NATO called on all European allies to increase their defense budgets. 11:22 Over the past 24 hours, Russian troops have been shelling Severodonetsk, Lisichansk and Rubizhne almost continuously. The police registered 34 cases of shelling. There are dead and wounded, their number is specified. 11:05 According to CNN, the Russian military is actively using the territory of Belarus as a springboard for aircraft sorties that bomb Ukrainian cities. So, in one day up to 20 aircraft took off. 11:03 Borrell said that the West made "a number of mistakes", including the promise to Ukraine and Georgia of NATO membership, which is still impossible to fulfill. 11:01 This year there will be no EIT for applicants. According to the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Shkarlet, "it will be created like an UPE, but without the participation of a child." "Everything will be transparent, because the computer is not involved in any corruption schemes," the minister added. 10:57 Moody's downgraded Belarus' credit rating from B3 to pre-default Ca. 10:56 The head of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva, said that Russia is expecting a "sharp decline", after which global economic growth will also slow down. 10:52 Lyashko called on Western partners "who know the system of biosecurity and epidemic surveillance in Ukraine thoroughly" to make an official statement about the absence of biological weapons development in Ukraine. 10:44 Putin agreed to attract "volunteers" from the Middle East to the war in Ukraine. "If you see that there are people who want to come on a voluntary basis and help people living in the Donbass, you need to meet them halfway and help them move to the war zone," Putin told Defense Minister Shoigu. He, in turn, replied that about 16,000 applications had already been received from the Middle East for "voluntary participation" in the "special operation in Ukraine." Earlier, the media reported that the Russian Federation was recruiting Syrians to participate in urban battles in Ukraine. 10:41 Russian troops have made "limited progress" in advancing to Kiev and may be preparing for a new attack on the Ukrainian capital in the coming days, the British Ministry of Defense said. 10:38 The Armed Forces of Ukraine are asking Ukrainians to report the location of especially dangerous weapons and equipment of the enemy. In particular, we are talking about means of electronic warfare (EW) and electronic intelligence (REW) of various modifications. You can report them through the Telegram bot @stop_russian_war_bot or to the Ministry of Defense hotline 0800 500 442. 10:36 It is impossible to deliver spare parts, equipment and specialized personnel to the Zaporizhzhya NPP, captured by Russian invaders, for scheduled repairs. The maintenance of one power unit has been reduced to the minimum allowable level, said IAEA Director General Rafael Grosi. 10:34 A missile attack was carried out on Baryshevka, Kiev region. According to preliminary information, the shelling was carried out by the Iskander system. Four apartment buildings and ten private houses were completely damaged, information about the victims is being established. 10:33 Greece is ready to take 30,000 Ukrainian refugees from Poland. 10:28 In Kharkov, the invaders fired at the Oskol psycho-neurological boarding school, where there were 330 people, 50 of them inactive. The number of victims is being specified, the Kharkiv Regional State Administration reported. 10:26 In Gorodnya, Chernihiv region, a local resident who did not want to work for the invaders shot himself. The Russians wanted to make him mayor, said former Prime Minister Alexei Goncharuk. According to him, the FSB officers began to look for someone to replace the mayor, and they came to a local resident, Roman Makas. The man was put under pressure. Propagandists started rumors that he agreed to cooperate with the invaders, then Roman shot himself. 10:17 The Ministry of Defense announced the approximate combat losses of the enemy on March 11: personnel - more than 12,000 people, tanks - 353, BBM - 1165, artillery systems - 125, MLRS - 58, air defense systems - 31, aircraft - 57, helicopters - 83, automotive equipment - 558, ships/boats - 3, tanks with fuel and lubricants - 60, UAV operational-tactical level - 7. 10:01 Australia supported the embargo on Russian oil and other raw materials. The decision is registered in the register of legislative acts of Australia, it was signed by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From April 26, Australia will no longer buy coal, gas, oil and refined products from the Russian Federation. 09:57 Biden today will call for the termination of normal trade relations with Russia, Reuters reports. 09:48 In Chernihiv, Russian invaders bombed the Gagarin stadium and the library tonight, the head of the Regional State Administration Vyacheslav Chaus said. 09:47 Vereshchuk named humanitarian corridors and evacuation routes for March 11: Mariupol-Zaporozhye (with mandatory clearance of the entire route); Pologi-Zaporozhye; Volnovakha-Pokrovsk; Energodar-Zaporozhye; Izyum-Lozovaya (Kharkiv region); Bucha-Kyiv; Gostomel-Kyiv; Kozarovichi-Kyiv; Mikulichi-Kyiv; Andreevka-Zhytomyr (Kyiv region); Makarov-Zhytomyr; Borodyanka-Zhytomyr. 09:34 Chairman of the Volyn Regional State Administration Yuriy Pogulyayko specified that as a result of the shelling by Russian invaders of a military airfield in Lutsk, two people were killed and six were injured. 09:16 The Russian military dispersed a huge convoy of equipment in the Kiev region , the BBC reports, citing satellite images. The 64-kilometer Russian column "largely dissipated," the newspaper notes. The equipment was dispersed in forest belts near the villages of Lubyanka and Ozera, Borodyansky district, Kiev region. 09:12 The United States explained that they are not sending Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, since they need the US military on site to use them. 09:11 Russia has fired more than 775 missiles at Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, according to the US Department of Defense. A senior official told CNBC that they were missiles "of all stripes" and varieties, including short-range, medium-range, ballistic and cruise missiles. 09:06 As a result of a rocket attack on Lutsk, one person was killed, the mayor of the city, Igor Polishchuk, said. 09:05 Detachments of Kadyrov's supporters are standing near Kiev to hold back the fire of Russian occupiers who do not want to fight or are trying to flee, MP Fyodor Venislavsky said. He stressed that the Russian Federation repeats the Stalinist and Hitlerite methods of warfare. 09:04 The Ukrainian military liquidated the captain of the Russian army Maklagin and the chief of intelligence of the regiment, Major Burlakov. 08:59 In Dnipro, according to the State Emergency Service, there were three air strikes around 06:10 in the Novokodat district. A hit was recorded near a kindergarten and an apartment building, as well as in a two-story shoe factory, followed by a fire. Previously, one person died. 08:57 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that the strikes on airfields in Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk were carried out by "high-precision long-range weapons." 08:50 Chernihiv was left without water supply due to shelling. 08:49 The command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the attack aircraft of Ukraine, supported by helicopters, struck two large columns of equipment of the Russian troops. The Ukrainian air defense forces also hit four air targets - previously, three Su-25 and Su-34 attack aircraft. At least four air targets were destroyed, mainly Su-25 aircraft. Ground Forces units shot down two Su-25 attack aircraft. 08:48 Energoatom announced that Ukraine completely refuses to purchase Russian nuclear fuel. 08:47 Vitaly Kim reported that in the Nikolaev area at night for the first time there were no attacks. 08:31 Facebook temporarily allowed to publish posts about the war in Ukraine with a call for violence against Russian soldiers invading the country. Also, the social network will not block messages calling for the death of Putin, according to Reuters. 08:04 Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk were subjected to air strikes on the morning of March 11 . According to preliminary information, there are no victims. The mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ruslan Martsinkiv, said that the attack was on the city's airport. According to him, the air defense warning system did not work. 07:45 The Russian military in some settlements are engaged in looting and killing the civilian population, the General Staff reports. In the Rostov region, prisoners are being "mobilized" with a proposal to join the occupying forces in exchange for an amnesty. 07:27 For the first time in two weeks of the war , three air strikes were carried out on the Dnieper . According to preliminary data, one person died. 06:29 The US Senate finally approved the allocation of 13.6 billion dollars of assistance to Ukraine and Eastern Europe. About half of this amount will be used to arm and equip the Ukrainian army. 06:07 The EU Council recognized the European aspirations and the choice of Ukraine. The European Commission was asked to provide its findings on the Ukrainian application for membership in the European Union. EU leaders also stressed their readiness to continue providing political, financial, material and humanitarian support to Ukraine. 04:00 Twitter and Facebook removed from their platforms a message from the Russian embassy, which says that the maternity hospital in Mariupol, fired upon by the Russian Federation, allegedly did not function and was used as a military base. 00:05 Zelensky: "I am the president of an adequate country and an adequate people. And the father of two children. No chemical or any other weapons of mass destruction have been developed on my land. The whole world knows this. And if Russia does something like that against us, it will get harshest sanctions." 00:02 Russia asks to hold a meeting of the UN Security Council on US military biological programs in Ukraine on March 11. |
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Europe |
Polish Prosecutor-Officer Takes His Job Deadly Seriously |
2012-01-12 |
The Polish military prosecutor who shot himself in the head on Monday just moments after cutting short a press conference claims he had a US$782,000 contract on his head. Colonel Mikolaj Przybyl said Tuesday his suicide attempt was an effort to expose what he called serious corruption in defence procurement contracts and said there was a contract out to kill him. Przybyl shot himself on Monday during a break in a press conference in Poznan, western Poland, at which he had spoken about issues his office was probing, notably claims of high-level corruption in the Polish military. My act was influenced by the cases I am investigating: one of them is the most serious involving financial issues in the Polish military, Col. Przybyl told Polands PAP news agency Tuesday as he recovered from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his cheek. He is expected to leave hospital within days. He said his act was intended to prevent the dismantling of the institution of military prosecutors, and that his recent high-level corruption probe had sped up steps being taken to get rid of military prosecutors and replace them with civilians. I was defending the people, whom I know and who do excellent work. I wanted the prosecutors office to survive, he said. In his news conference, Col. Przybyl had criticized media leaks from the ongoing probe into the 2010 crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others, mostly senior Polish military officials, in Smolensk, western Russia. Reporters at the conference said Col. Przybyl then asked them to leave the room so that he could take, in his words, a break. |
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Europe | ||
Komorowski wins Polands election | ||
2010-07-05 | ||
[Iran Press TV Latest] Exit polls in Poland's presidential run-off show liberal Bronislaw Komorowski has defeated the late president's identical twin Jaroslaw Kaczynski by a narrow margin.
The run-off came after both main rivals -- Komorowski and Kaczynski -- failed to secure an overwhelming majority of ballots needed in the first round of the vote, which was forced by the death of former President Lech Kaczynski in an air tragedy on April 10. Buoyed up following the release of the exit polls, Komorowski addressed his supporters at his campaign headquarters, saying "This is a victory for Polish democracy". On the other side of the campaign, Jaroslaw Kaczynski conceded defeat in Poland after exit polls suggested he had lost, BBC reported. Both candidates are former anti-communist activists with conservative Roman Catholic background, but they have portrayed contrasting visions for the future of the country with population of 38 million. Komorowski campaigned on the platform of privatization particularly directed at state-run companies and slicing the welfare benefits, while Kaczynski has vowed to block the drive. Exit polls also indicate that the turnout was around 56.2 percent, 2 points higher than in the first round. Official results are expected on Monday.
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Europe |
Hungary Passes Law Equating Communism With Nazism - Criminalizing Denialism |
2010-06-11 |
Hungarian lawmakers have passed a bill equating Communist era crimes to the Holocaust and banned denying it under threat of imprisonment. An amendment to the Criminal Code was passed by the parliament's majority center-right party FIDESZ (Hungarian Civic Union) on Tuesday, Itar-Tass reports. According to the new legislation, those denying, casting doubts on, or depreciating the crimes committed by the Communist regime will be facing from one to three years behind bars. Earlier, in February this year, the former coalition of the left wing parties passed a law banning the denial of the Holocaust. Now the rightists -- who won over 68% of seats in the parliament in spring 2010 -- have struck a balance between Communism and Nazism. The decision is among the first crucial ones made by the Hungarian Civic Union since it came to power. Russian Communists have labeled the decision as a provocation and said it is disreputable for a parliament to do so. According to Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, the move is an echo of the Nazi regime, which terrorized Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. "Back then, 23 European states were ruled by the Nazis and pro-Nazi regimes and Hungary was Hitler's first accomplice," he said in an interview with Echo Moskvy radio station. "This voting is a 100% provocation which humiliates our fathers, the victors of WWII. In the year of the 65th anniversary of the victory I consider it to be not just a provocation but a sign of a Nazi plague which is spreading across Eastern Europe," Zyuganov stated. In its history, Hungary experienced living under both the Nazi and Communist regimes. During the Second World War the country was a member of the so-called Axis powers. Collaborating with Italy and Germany back then, Hungary benefited territorially. Fighting on the Nazi's side, the Magyars took part in the invasion of Yugoslavia and the USSR. After suffering tremendous losses in the battle of Stalingrad and realizing Hitler would likely lose the war, Hungary got involved in talks with Western allies in 1944 to seek an armistice. As a result, however, Hungary -- which turned from Hitler's friend into foe -- was occupied by the German forces. Under the occupation, up to 500,000 Jews living in Hungary died from maltreatment or were murdered. Only about a third of the Jews who lived in the country before the war survived the Holocaust. After the war came the years of the People's Republic of Hungary and the Communist regime. In 1956, a student rally demanding reforms and political freedom led to a chain of events that resulted in what is known as Hungarian Revolution. The revolt was suppressed by Soviet tanks and troops which entered the country at the request of the Hungarian Working party. As a result, thousands of Magyars were killed and up to 200,000 Hungarian refugees fled the country. The idea of equating the Nazi and the Communist regimes is not new for the former Iron Curtain states. In November last year, Polish President Lech Kaczynski approved an amendment to the criminal code which outlaws the production, possession, spread and sale of items or recordings containing symbols of communism. A year before that a similar law was passed by the Lithuanian parliament which banned the display of Nazi and Soviet symbols, such as the swastika and the hammer and sickle. |
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Europe |
Mass held in Krakow for Poland's President Kaczynski |
2010-04-18 |
KRAKOW, POLAND -- A solemn Mass was celebrated in the city's main cathedral Sunday for President Lech Kaczynski, an unyielding Polish nationalist who died along with his wife, Maria, and 94 others in a plane crash in western Russia. The memorial ceremonies, including burial in a crypt at the Wawel Castle reserved for Polish monarchs and national heroes, were conducted without the presence of President Obama and many other world leaders, who were unable to fly in because a giant cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano drifted in the skies over Western Europe. President Dmitry Medvedev was on hand at the head of a large Russian delegation that traveled from Moscow. Also present were several leaders from neighboring nations, who arrived in helicopters, trains and automobile convoys. Obama played golf instead ... The Krakow services were designed to draw an official close to an extraordinary outpouring of grief and patriotism touched off by Kaczynski's death on April 10. They followed similar ceremonies Saturday in Warsaw, where thousands of people lined up in front of the presidential palace for the eighth day in a row to pray and light votive candles for the deceased president. "We have been sad for the entire week," said Henryk Zimba, 59, a retired farmer who drove in from the countryside to attend the memorial. "There is this mood of mourning. It's all anybody's talking about." In the nearby square, tens of thousands of people listened to memorial speeches by government leaders and bowed in prayer during services presided over by the papal nuncio, Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, and the head of the Polish episcopate, Archbishop Jozef Michalia. Caskets containing the bodies of Kaczynski and his wife were carried in a solemn procession to the Warsaw Cathedral for a funeral Mass. "There are certain moments in the life of a nation, when we know we are together, that our feelings and our emotions are one," Parliament speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, who is acting president, told the Warsaw crowd. "The catastrophe of that airplane was one of them." Kaczynski, accompanied by senior government and military officials, was on his way to a ceremony commemorating the massacre in Katyn, Russia, of about 20,000 Polish military officers and professional leaders by Soviet secret police in 1940, at the outset of World War II. In his funeral address, Komorowski saluted the compassion displayed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials. In particular, Polish people have been impressed by a decision attributed to Putin to show a documentary on the Katyn killings for the first time on a Russian television channel. During the Soviet era, the Katyn massacre was rarely discussed. Kaczynski had been at the forefront of those demanding it be recognized in Russia and openly discussed around the world as an example of Poland's long struggle against foreign domination. It was in pursuit of such truths that Kaczynski was on his way to Katyn, Komorowski said, adding: "Today the truth about Katyn is shared by the entire world." |
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
The Bear is Back; Poland's Tragedy, Russia's Gain |
2010-04-17 |
H/T: Michael Savage By Arthur Herman The plane crash that killed Poland's president and 95 others is a tragedy for the Polish people and a loss of a good friend for the United States. For Poland's neighbor Russia, however, it's an opportunity to push for hegemony over Eastern Europe, as in the Iron Curtain days. For the Russian bear is back. Like Dracula rising from his coffin, it now stalks the world long after we thought it dead and buried. And President Obama's feckless handling of foreign affairs is giving Russia's authoritarian leadership a chance like no other to expand its power -- and steadily diminish ours. Some will believe the Russian account of the crash, that the Polish pilot deliberately endangered the lives of his president and the entire upper echelon of his country's leadership by trying to land in a thick fog despite repeated warnings from Russian ground control. Others won't believe -- remembering that President Lech Kaczynski was a bitter foe of Russia's Vladimir Putin, and how Putin's dreaded FSB (the KGB's successor) was linked six years ago to a plot to poison Ukraine's president. Either way, expect new, perhaps irresistible, pressure on Poland to toe the Kremlin line. Throw in the START treaty that Russia extracted from our president just last week, and anyone who imagined we won the Cold War had better think again. Americans watched the Soviet Union implode in 1990, and saw Russia reduced to a national basket case. Her former empire splintered into 15 independent republics, from the Ukraine and Georgia to Kyrgyzstan. Her once-mighty army, navy and nuclear arsenal split the same way. American policymakers simply wrote Russia off as a country without a present, and no clear hope for the future. Soviet experts like Condoleezza Rice, once the heavyweights of every Washington think tank, scrambled to find other work. They should have realized that a country rich in resources from oil and natural gas to iron, gold and diamonds wouldn't stay poor for long -- and that a nation with a long history of aggressive imperial expansion wouldn't rest easy at having shrunk to a size smaller than when Peter the Great became czar. In 2000, Russians elected Putin president. As rising oil prices began to fill Russia's coffers, he promised to restore Russia's pride and power -- with the price soon revealed as the end of her 10-year chaotic experiment with democratic freedom. Putin the ex-KGB agent had learned a valuable lesson buried in the ashes of defeat: Communism had held back the Soviet Union. When it came to intimidating Russia's European neighbors as well as her own people, the cold, naked exercise of power for power's sake worked far better -- especially when the United States insisted on looking the other way. So, for 10 years, America sat by while Putin massacred the Chechens, murdered dissident journalists and jailed Russia's leading industrialists while installing his cronies in their place. We sat by while Putin tripled Russia's defense budget, helped Iran build and equip its nuclear reactor at Bushehr and sent the mullahs advanced missile systems and nuclear-sensitive technologies. The US did nothing, for Rice and others insisted that nothing interfere with our effort to get Russia to endorse UN sanctions against Iran -- a country the Russians were helping to arm. Finally, in the summer of 2008, the brutal Russian incursion into independent Georgia made the Bush administration change its mind about Putin. But then came a US election, and a new foreign-policy team. Far from learning from Bush's mistakes, Obama is now determined to compound them. The first step was abandoning our democratic Eastern European allies, including Poland, that had defied Putin by agreeing to host US missile-defense systems in their countries: Obama dropped the plan because it offended the Russians. This was followed a week ago by the START treaty that locks us into permanent nuclear decline while Russia is free to modernize its nukes and even build its own missile-defense shield. And the very day the treaty was signed came the coup against the government of Kyrgyzstan, which is a vital air-supply line to our troops in Afghanistan. Like the crash that killed Kaczynski, this eliminated a leader who had defied the Kremlin over a US base in his nation. What's next? Putin and his puppet president, Dmitry Medvedev, now say they won't support any gasoline boycott against Iran -- the one sanction that might halt the Iranian nuclear program as it comes into the final turn. We won't know the truth about this weekend's crash until the plane's "black box" flight recorder is safely out of Russian hands. But we already know the truth about Putin. People laughed when Bush said he'd looked into Putin's soul and saw a good man. Obama has looked at Putin's bloodstained hands and sees a leader we can deal with. |
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Europe |
Poland to end political uncertainty |
2010-04-14 |
[Iran Press TV Latest] Poland's acting president vows to end political ambiguity with an early election after the sudden deaths of President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of top officials. "The election date must be set...This must be done as soon as possible to shorten the period in which Poland is in a period of uncertainty." Bronislaw Komorowski, the acting president, was quoted by TVP Info on Tuesday. The remarks came as family members received the coffin of Kaczynski's wife, who was also killed in Saturday's tragic plane crash. All of the 96 passengers onboard the aging government plane, including Polish military heads, top opposition figures and the central bank governor, were killed when their Tu-154 plane struck trees and caught fire while trying to land in an airport in fog-shrouded western Russia. As the Polish Constitution dictates that the election must take place within 60 days of the announcement, the favored Sunday election date will most likely be set for May 30 or June 13, Reuters reported. According to recent opinion polls, Komorowski is favored to win the vote. The 57-year-old lower house speaker is the official candidate of Prime Minister Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Platform (PO) for the upcoming election. Warsaw is planning a state funeral for the late presidential couple in Krakow province's 1,000-year-old cathedral, the main resting place of Polish monarchs for over seven centuries. |
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Europe |
Crash Inquiry Is Focusing on Decision to Land Polish Jet |
2010-04-12 |
MOSCOW -- Investigators examining the crash of the Polish president's plane appeared Sunday to be focusing on why the pilot did not heed instructions from air traffic controllers to give up trying to land in bad weather in western Russia. Their inquiry may lead to an even more delicate question: whether the pilot felt under pressure to land to make sure that the Polish delegation would not be late for a ceremony on Saturday in the Katyn forest, where more than 20,000 Polish officers and others were massacred by the Soviets during World War II. Officials have recovered the flight voice recorder, but on Sunday they did not release transcripts of conversations in the cockpit or the control tower. Still, attention has been drawn to the pilot's state of mind because of a previous incident involving the Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, who died along with numerous other senior Polish government and military officials in the crash. |
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Europe |
Poland mourns President Lech Kaczynski |
2010-04-11 |
Poland has been plunged into mourning by the deaths of President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of political and military leaders in a plane crash. The jet crashed as it attempted to land at Smolensk air base in Russia in thick fog, killing all 97 people on board. Russian officials have said the pilots ignored warnings from air traffic control to divert to another airport. A week of mourning has been called in Poland where a two-minute silence will be held at noon (1000 GMT) on Sunday. Russia has also declared Monday a day of mourning for the victims, whose remains have been flown to morgues in Moscow. Relatives of the dead have begun arriving in the Russian capital, officials there said. Thousands of people gathered at the presidential palace in Warsaw on Saturday to lay flowers and light candles. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the crash was the most tragic event of the country's post-World War II history. Prime Minister Tusk said the business of government would continue. "We are completely devastated and shocked," Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told the BBC. "People have just been to church, to a mass, people are crying." He added: "We could not have conceived a more horrible, poignant, tragic occurrence than our president going to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the murder of 20,000 Polish officers at Katyn, himself dying with his wife, with the army commander, with parliamentarians, with the head of the national bank. It's just beyond belief." The parliamentary speaker, Bronislaw Komorowski, has now become the acting president. "Today in the face of such a drama our nation stays united," he said in a televised address. "There is no division into left and right, differences of views don't matter. We are together in the face of this tragedy." |
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Europe |
Polish president's plane crashes, no survivors |
2010-04-10 |
Poland' state news agency PAP says there are no survivors from the crash of a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski today to the western Russian city of Smolensk. The report of deaths has not yet been officially confirmed by the Polish Foreign Ministry. Russian news agencies quote the Smolensk governor and emergency officials as saying 87 people were killed as the plane crashed while on approaching Smolensk airport for landing. The governor, Sergei Antufiev, said the plane "clipped the tops of the trees, crashed down and broke into pieces." Kaczynski had been expected for a memorial service in Katyn. Who's the veep? |
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