We talking about Russia and Ukraine?

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
Whatever he has, it’s not doing a good enough job of eliminating him.

He’s consolidated power so thoroughly in Russia… who even is set up as his successor?
I was reading so called verified accounts of him having body doubles and getting them plastic surgery to look more like him. The only differences are supposedly their ears and heights. Idk what to think about that but it got me thinking that if it’s true then he’s probably really ill and needs serious treatment that’ll be apparent like chemo or he’s declining fast but wants to keep up appearances.

To answer your question, there is no successor. They hold elections but they’ve all been rigged in his favor. His successor will either be someone he’s handpicked or whoever takes power once he’s dead.

ETA: His sucesor will probably be whoever kills him. That’s probably the only way to take his power.
 

lavaflow99

In search of the next vacation
 

lavaflow99

In search of the next vacation
Now they are calling the Polish strike an accident.




Poland, NATO say missile strike wasn’t a Russian attack​

By VASILISA STEPANENKO26 minutes ago


Children look at a crater created by an explosion in a residential area after Russian shelling in Solonka, Lviv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys)
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Children look at a crater created by an explosion in a residential area after Russian shelling in Solonka, Lviv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys)


PRZEWODOW, Poland (AP) — NATO member Poland and the head of the military alliance both said Wednesday that a missile strike in Polish farmland that killed two people appeared to be unintentional and was probably launched by air defenses in neighboring Ukraine. Russia had been bombarding Ukraine at the time in an attack that savaged its power grid.
“Ukraine’s defense was launching their missiles in various directions, and it is highly probable that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,” said Polish President Andrzej Duda. “There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to suggest that it was an intentional attack on Poland.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, at a meeting of the 30-nation military alliance in Brussels, echoed the preliminary Polish findings. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, disputed them and asked for further investigation.
The assessments of Tuesday’s deadly missile landing appeared to dial back the likelihood of the strike triggering another major escalation in the nearly 9-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine. If Russia had targeted Poland, that could have risked drawing NATO into the conflict.
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Still, Stoltenberg and others laid overall but not specific blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.



“This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility,” Stoltenberg said.
Zelenskyy told reporters he had “no doubts” about a report he received from his top commanders “that it wasn’t our missile or our missile strike.” Ukrainian officials should have access to the site and take part in the investigation, he added.
“Let’s say openly, if, God forbid, some remnant (of Ukraine’s air-defenses) killed a person, these people, then we need to apologize,” he said. “But first there needs to be a probe, access — we want to get the data you have.”
On Tuesday, he called the strike “a very significant escalation.”
Before the Polish and NATO assessments, U.S. President Joe Biden had said it was “unlikely” that Russia fired the missile but added: “I’m going to make sure we find out exactly what happened.”
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman in Moscow said no Russian strike Tuesday was closer than 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the Ukraine-Poland border. The Kremlin denounced Poland’s and other countries’ initial response and, in rare praise for a U.S. leader, hailed Biden’s “restrained, much more professional reaction.”
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“We have witnessed another hysterical, frenzied, Russo-phobic reaction that was not based on any real data,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Later Wednesday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Polish ambassador in Moscow; the discussion reportedly lasted about 20 minutes.
The Polish president said the missile was probably a Russian-made S-300 dating from the Soviet era. Ukraine, once part of the Soviet Union, fields Soviet- and Russian-made weaponry and has also seized many more Russian weapons while beating back the Kremlin’s invasion forces.
Russia’s assault on power generation and transmission facilities Tuesday included Ukraine’s western region bordering Poland. Ukraine’s military said 77 of the more than 90 missiles fired were brought down by air defenses, along with 11 drones.
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The countrywide bombardment by cruise missiles and exploding drones clouded the initial picture of what happened in Poland.
“It was a huge blast, the sound was terrifying.” said Ewa Byra, the primary school director in the eastern village of Przewodow, where the missile struck. She said she knew both men who were killed — one was the husband of a school employee, the other the father of a former pupil.
Another resident, 24-year-old Kinga Kancir, said the men worked at a grain-drying facility.
“It is very hard to accept,” she said. “Nothing was going on and, all of a sudden, there is a world sensation.”
In Europe, NATO members called for a thorough investigation and criticized Moscow.
“This wouldn’t have happened without the Russian war against Ukraine, without the missiles that are now being fired at Ukrainian infrastructure intensively and on a large scale,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
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Swaths of Ukraine were without power after the aerial assault. Zelenskyy said about 10 million people lost electricity, but tweeted overnight that 8 million were subsequently reconnected. Previous strikes had already destroyed an estimated 40% of the country’s energy infrastructure.
Ukraine said the bombardment was the largest on its power grid so far.
A Washington-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said Ukraine’s downing of so many Russian missiles Tuesday “illustrates the improvement in Ukrainian air defenses in the last month,” which are being bolstered with Western-supplied systems. Sweden said Wednesday that an air defense system with ammunition would form part of its latest and largest package of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, worth $360 million.
The U.S. has been Ukraine’s largest supporter, providing $18.6 billion in weapons and equipment. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the flow of weapons and assistance would continue “throughout the winter so that Ukraine can continue to consolidate gains and seize the initiative on the battlefield.”
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Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he tried to speak to his Russian counterpart Wednesday, but those efforts were not successful. Milley didn’t elaborate on the efforts, but the lack of a conversation, at a time when there were questions about whether Russia had struck a NATO ally, raises concerns about high-level U.S.-Russian communications in a crisis.
At the United Nations, the organization’s political chief said the missile strike in Poland was “a frightening reminder” of the need to prevent any more escalation of the war.
As long as the fighting continues, Rosemary DiCarlo warned the U.N. Security Council, “the risks of potentially catastrophic spillover remain all too real.”
The Russian attacks followed days of euphoria in Ukraine sparked by one of its biggest military successes — the retaking last week of the southern city of Kherson.
With its battlefield losses mounting, Russia has increasingly resorted to targeting Ukraine’s power grid as winter approaches.
Russian attacks in the previous 24 hours killed at least six civilians and wounded another 17, a senior official, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said Wednesday.
Lviv Gov. Maksym Kozytskyy said two of three Russian missiles hit critical energy infrastructure in the western province. Power was restored to about 95% of the province, he said, but only 30% of consumers can use electricity at the same time.
Power shortages caused extensive train delays extending into Wednesday, but there were no cancellations because diesel locomotives were pressed into service, rail officials said.
Kyiv resident Margina Daria said Tuesday’s strikes knocked out cellphone service in her area.
“We have already adapted to life without light, because we have scheduled outages every day, but without communication it was quite disturbing,” she said. “There was no way to even tell our families that we were OK.”
___
AP journalists Vanessa Gera and Monika Scislowska in Warsaw; Lorne Cook in Brussels; John Leicester in Kyiv, Ukraine; Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia; Zeke Miller in Nusa Dua, Indonesia; Michael Balsamo and Lolita Baldor in Washington; Elise Morton in London; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; and James LaPorta in Wilmington, North Carolina, contributed.
 

PatDM'T

Well-Known Member
Proof of this?
According to Google:


 

Kitamita

Well-Known Member

Biden assures Zelensky that US will continue to support Ukraine after historic Oval Office meeting​


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky embarked Wednesday on a dramatic visit to the United States – his first trip outside his homeland since it was invaded 300 days ago – to rally his top international partner behind sustained military and economic assistance.

Zelensky is taking part in a joint news conference with President Joe Biden at the White House following discussions in the Oval Office about the path forward in Ukraine.

At the start of the news conference, Biden relayed that he felt it was “particularly meaningful” to speak to Zelensky in person and “look each other in the eye.” The Ukrainian president’s leadership, Biden said, has inspired the world.

“We understand in our bones that Ukraine’s fight is part of something much bigger,” Biden continued.

Earlier Wednesday in the Oval Office, Biden told Zelensky, “It’s good to have you back.”

“It’s an honor to be by your side in the united defense against what is a brutal, brutal war that is being waged by Putin,” he said.

“The Ukrainian people continue to inspire the world,” Biden went on. “I mean that sincerely – not just inspire us, but inspire the world with their courage.”

The trip, which US and Ukrainian officials arranged in secret over the past week, came with heavy risks. After arriving in Poland by train, Zelensky flew to Washington aboard an American military aircraft, US officials said. He arrived in the US shortly after midday at Joint Base Andrews, just outside the nation’s capital.

Biden shakes hands with Zelensky as he arrives at the White House.


Zelensky, left, is greeted by Rufus Gifford, chief of protocol for the state department, after landing in the United States on Wednesday.


President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office  of the White House in Washington on Wednesday, December 21.

President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Wednesday, December 21.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Zelensky speaks after giving Biden a gift. Zelensky <a href=https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-12-21-22/h_5daaaace8ac5173e9d501b3b86978113 target=_blank>presented Biden</a> with a Ukrainian Hero's award.

Biden and Zelensky walk down the Colonnade of the White House as they make their way to the Oval Office.


Biden and Zelensky walk into the White House after Zelensky's arrival.


Biden and first lady Jill Biden welcome Zelensky at the White House on Wednesday.


Biden shakes hands with Zelensky as he arrives at the White House.


Zelensky, left, is greeted by Rufus Gifford, chief of protocol for the state department, after landing in the United States on Wednesday.


President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with President Joe Biden in the Oval Office  of the White House in Washington on Wednesday, December 21.


Zelensky speaks after giving Biden a gift. Zelensky <a href=https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-12-21-22/h_5daaaace8ac5173e9d501b3b86978113 target=_blank>presented Biden</a> with a Ukrainian Hero's award.

In pictures: Zelensky's wartime visit to US​

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Zelensky arrived to the South Lawn just after 2 p.m. ET, eschewing a suit for his now-familiar military green shirt. A military honor guard lined the White House driveway as his black vehicle pulled toward the building.

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“I understand that we have very important topics and we’ll discuss them, everything, so many challenges in Ukraine, in Europe, in the world, from energy to the situation on the battlefield,” Zelensky said in the Oval Office. “But first of all, really, all my appreciations from my heart, from the heart of Ukrainians, all Ukrainians, from our nation.”

Just ahead of Zelensky’s arrival, the Biden administration announced it is sending nearly $2 billion in additional security assistance to Ukraine, including a sophisticated new air defense system. Following the White House news conference Zelensky will address members of Congress on Capitol Hill in prime time.

The visit by the Ukrainian leader to Washington, expected to last only a matter of hours, amounts to a remarkable moment 10 months since Russia’s war in Ukraine began.

[IMG alt="Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits Ukrainian service members at their position in the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 20, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

"]https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/221220224304-01-zelensky-bakhmut-122022.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_144,w_256,c_fill[/IMG]

Analysis: Why Zelensky's surprise US visit is so hugely significant

Pulled together quickly by American and Ukrainian officials over the past 10 days, the wartime visit was meant to demonstrate in stirring fashion the continued American commitment to Ukraine at a moment when Biden’s ability to maintain that support at home and abroad is being tested.

It will also provide an opportunity for Biden and top American officials to sound out Zelensky on how he views the trajectory of the conflict, and to offer their thoughts on what it would take to bring the war to an end.

“Together with our partners, we’re also going to impose costs on the Kremlin and will support Ukraine in pursuing a just peace,” Biden said in the Oval Office, a reference to how Zelensky has said he hopes to see the war end. “President Zelensky, the United States stands with the brave people in Ukraine.”

Sitting before a roaring fireplace, Zelensky offered Biden a military cross medal from a Ukrainian soldier serving on the front lines.

“He said, ‘Give it to a very brave president,’” Zelensky said.

“Undeserved but much appreciated,” Biden replied as he accepted the medal, asking if it would be possible to contact the Ukrainian soldier.

A surprise visit​

US President Joe Biden and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office  of the White House, in Washington, DC on December 21, 2022. - Zelensky is in Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden and address Congress -- his first trip abroad since Russia invaded in February. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

US President Joe Biden and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC on December 21, 2022. - Zelensky is in Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden and address Congress -- his first trip abroad since Russia invaded in February. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Biden first discussed the prospect of Zelensky visiting Washington during a telephone call with the Ukrainian leader on December 11, an administration official said. A formal invitation was extended a week ago that Zelensky accepted, launching joint consultations on the security parameters of the risky, highly secretive trip.

Zelensky, who the official said was “very keen” to visit the US, determined those parameters met his needs, and the US set to work executing them. The trip was finally confirmed on Sunday.

“We are working in lockstep with him and his staff to make sure we can make this trip safely, both coming to the United States and coming back. We will continue to support his travel requirements as best we can,” said John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council.

Zelensky traveled to Poland by train as part of his journey to the United States on Wednesday. Video by CNN affiliate TVN in Poland captured the moment Zelensky arrived by train in Przemysl, near the Polish/Ukrainian border. Zelensky was then seen in a white 4x4 vehicle waiting to depart in a convoy.

Tight security has been enforced around Zelensky’s visit amid concerns that Russia wants to incapacitate the Ukrainian president, a source close to the Ukrainian leader told CNN on Wednesday. Because of this ongoing threat, senior top government officials – as well as embassy staff in the US – were not informed about the schedule of the visit.

According to the source, the military risk had to be calculated allowing the Ukrainian president to make the short overseas trip without jeopardizing the military situation. Scheduling also had to be worked with the White House to assess availability for this to happen.

In weighing a visit, Zelensky suggested he did not want to travel had there not been a significant development in the bilateral relationship between Ukraine and the US. Zelensky viewed the US decision to send Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine as a major shift in the relationship between the two allies.

Zelensky leaves Ukraine for first time since war began​

Over the course of the 10-month invasion, Zelensky has emerged as the international personification of Ukrainian resistance and has spent much of the year appealing to nations for support. He has remained inside his country for the duration of the war, a reflection both of his desire to rally alongside his besieged country and the precarious security situation he would face outside Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden walks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky through the colonnade of the White House, in Washington, DC on December 21, 2022. - Zelensky is in Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden and address Congress -- his first trip abroad since Russia invaded in February. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

US President Joe Biden walks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky through the colonnade of the White House, in Washington, DC on December 21, 2022. - Zelensky is in Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden and address Congress -- his first trip abroad since Russia invaded in February. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

As the war nears its one-year anniversary, however, international support for Ukraine is being tested. Sanctions on Moscow have contributed to higher energy prices, particularly in Europe, which is heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas. In the United States, Republicans who are poised to take control of the House of Representatives have signaled they won’t quickly approve massive new assistance packages for Ukraine.

On the battlefield, Ukraine has retaken key cities and shown unlikely resistance to an unprepared and ill-equipped Russian army. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no indication he plans to ease up, and has been ruthless in targeting civilian energy infrastructure, lending a degree of misery to Ukraine’s cold winter.

The timing appeared ripe for Zelensky to make a dramatic gesture like slipping out of Ukraine for the first time since the invasion began. For Biden, the visit presents an opportunity to reinforce his convictions for supporting Ukraine, even as the war plods on.

New military assistance includes crucial missile system​

The new, $1.8 billion package Biden unveiled includes a Patriot surface-to-air missile system, which has been a longstanding request of Ukraine’s to fend of Russian air attacks. CNN was first to report the US was expected to send the Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Unlike smaller air defense systems, Patriot missile batteries need much larger crews, requiring dozens of personnel to properly operate them. The training for Patriot missile batteries normally takes multiple months, a process the United States will now carry out under the pressure of near-daily aerial attacks from Russia.

A senior administration official said US troops would train Ukrainians to use the system in a third country. CNN has previously reported the training would occur at a US Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany.

The system is widely considered one of the most capable long-range weapons to defend airspace against incoming ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as some aircraft. Because of its long-range and high-altitude capability, it can potentially shoot down Russian missiles and aircraft far from their intended targets inside Ukraine.

Russia has warned on unspecific “consequences” if the US provided Ukraine with Patriot missiles, viewing the shipments as further US engagement in the war. The official was clear, however, that Biden remained steadfast in keeping the United States out of direct conflict with Russia, despite the enhanced security assistance.

“The President has been very clear that we are going to lean forward and be robust in our support for Ukraine on the military, economic, energy and humanitarian fronts, but we are not seeking to engage in a direct war with Russia. And nothing about that will change tomorrow,” the official said.

CNN’s MJ Lee and Matthew Chance contributed to this report.

 
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