In 2021, Ukraine is hosting a series of NATO military exercises. Some perceive the drills as pouring gasoline over fire, since the host country still has an unresolved military conflict in Donbass.

It’s the grand opening of a war games season for Kiev. 11,000 NATO troops are being deployed to Ukraine to hold joint manoeuvres alongside some 21,000 local soldiers – all at the invitation of the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The war games, which are partially under way at the moment, will cover land, sea, and air. The maritime part features “Sea Breeze” – a simulation which will bring together 30 ships, 30 warplanes and 1,400 troops representing 27 nations. Prior to 2014, NATO staged “Sea Breeze” in Crimea, but even after the region re-joined Russia following a referendum, the scenarios haven't changed much and still revolve around the peninsula.

Ukrainian military personnel are also taking part in other manoeuvres - the “Defender Europe-2021”. The largest exercise of the kind in the past 25 years is being carried out simultaneously in 16 European countries, with the main locations being close to the Balkans and the Black Sea region.

During the first stage of “Defender Europe”, which is called “Swift Response”, 7,000 troops from 11 countries took part in missions across Eastern Europe – from Bulgaria to Romania, as well as in Estonia. The second stage of the drills is called “Immediate Response”. It includes shooting exercise for 5,000 soldiers from eight countries. Two more stages focus on anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence, as well as on setting up coordination between multinational forces.

In April this year, Aleksey Arestovich, the speaker of the Ukrainian representation in the so-called Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbass, said that “Defender Europe” is a “simulation of a war, an armed conflict with Russia”. He added that “The main focus is on the Balkans and Crimea, and, naturally – everything to the North of Crimea”.

When it comes to the possibilities of Ukraine joining NATO, the rhetoric of the alliance’s top brass remains oblique and cautious, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg saying that Kiev will have to “modernise and reform its security and defence institutions” first. But in reality, NATO is already in Ukraine and is pumping the country up with more and more weapons.

Indubitably, NATO’s expansionist policies are nothing new for Moscow. The alliance has been doing the opposite of what its leaders proclaimed regarding NATO’s eastward encroachment for decades, gradually increasing its military presence in Eastern Europe since 1991, and later accepting former Communist bloc nations as members.

But the full weight of criticism and the accusations of any global military-related wrongdoing were always twisted around by the Western mainstream media and politicians, and placed on Moscow. For instance, in April 2021, Russia was pressured by the US and Germany earlier this year for organising army drills on its own soil, dozens of tightly intertwined and significantly larger military manoeuvres involving Kiev were being organised by the West itself in the vicinity of Russia’s borders.

Both warring sides in Donbass continue to accuse each other of ceasefire violations. But it’s likely that after NATO’s manoeuvres, more Western-made ammunition will appear in the shelling reports from the frontline.

According to the Russian MoD, advanced armaments and munitions delivered by NATO for holding the drills will eventually be supplied to Ukrainian nationalist formations in Donbass, adding more tension to the situation in the region.

While Ukrainian officials prefer to stick to their usual anti-Russian rhetoric while beefing up the military in the vicinity of Russia's borders under the guise of army drills, it appears that Kiev is slowly locking itself up within new political and military boundaries. These new boundaries are being set in Brussels and in Washington, while Moscow is still habitually portrayed by Ukrainian and Western media as the key villain and the main threat to Ukraine's sovereignty.

ATO leaders will be holding a summit in Brussels next week. But despite President Zelensky’s eagerness to integrate his country into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as soon as possible, it doesn’t seem that he will be getting any closer to achieving this goal anytime soon.

By now, it looks like Washington is not prepared to sanction such moves openly, possibly preferring to keep Ukraine as a bargaining chip, and an instrument for Biden’s administration to keep irritating Russia. But whether the Ukrainian people, who appear to have no say in this whole situation, really want such a role for their country remains to be seen.

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https://sputniknews.com/world/202106111083127426-will-ukraine-benefit-from-playing-war-games-with-nato/

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Blinken took to Twitter on Friday to hail Albright, a former US ambassador to the UN and secretary of state under former President Bill Clinton, as a ‘woman of courage’.

“During her diplomatic career as U.S. Ambassador to the UN & the first female Secretary of State, her tenacity & effectiveness left the U.S. stronger & more respected globally,” Blinken tweeted, adding that Albright is a role model for him and “many of our diplomats.”

His choice of role model struck many as odd. The replies were inundated with the clip of Albright’s infamous 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl, in which Albright said that the deaths of half a million Iraqi children allegedly due to sanctions was “worth it.”

“Albright, yourself, and your predecessor Pompeo all prove that the US only chooses literal psychopaths to head the State Department,” Independent Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone tweeted, calling the State Department “America’s other war department.”

“So proud to have a woman justifying mass murder! Neoliberal imperialism. It’s like the slow-boiling lobster. People don’t realize it until it’s too late,” a self-professed anti-fascist and BLM supporter said. 

Another critic said that with his praise for Albright, he was at least admitting that imposing sanctions that cause children to suffer is what US officials deem “role-model behavior.”

One person said Blinken could have avoided all the controversy by simply picking a “non-war criminal.”

Albright later criticized Stahl’s interview, claiming she unwittingly fell into a trap planted by the journalist and did not mean to suggest that Iraqi children are dispensable. However, the backlash she faced following the segment did not appear to influence her views on the issue of sanctions. Asked at an event in Charlottesville in 2012 about the US sanctions on Iran, Albright outright rejected the parallel with Iraq, saying they were “absolutely not the same.”

Albright was also one of the most outspoken champions of the 1999 US-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, over alleged atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

She has also been criticized for blocking UN peacekeepers from intervening in the Rwanda genocide, among other things. 

Most recently, the former diplomat courted controversy for saying there is “a special place in hell for women” who do not support then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.  

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/usa/519407-albright-role-model-blinken/

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Blinken is the bastard boy from hell.... "if you kill one person, you are a murdered, if you kill thousands/millions you are a hero..."

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Ukrainian authorities have found themselves buried in controversy after official pictures showed female soldiers practising for a parade in heels.

Ukraine is preparing to stage a military parade next month to mark 30 years of independence following the Soviet Union’s breakup, and the defence ministry on Friday released photographs of fatigue-clad women soldiers marching in mid-heel black pumps.

“Today, for the first time, training takes place in heeled shoes,” cadet Ivanna Medvid was quoted as saying by the defence ministry’s information site ArmiaInform.

“It is slightly harder than in army boots but we are trying,” Medvid added in comments released on Thursday.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/03/idiotic-fury-in-ukraine-after-female-soldiers-made-to-march-in-heels

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England produced a magnificent display as they thrashed Ukraine in Rome to set up a Euro 2020 semi-final against Denmark at Wembley. 

Manager Gareth Southgate's side followed up the landmark victory over Germany in the last 16 by producing a performance of composure and the highest quality to continue their impressive progress in this tournament. 

Harry Kane was back to his predatory best after struggling in the group stage, following up his goal against Germany by poking home a superb pass from Raheem Sterling after only four minutes. 

Ukraine barely threatened and England - having reached the last four at the 2018 World Cup - were on their way to a second successive semi-final when Harry Maguire powered home a header from Luke Shaw's free-kick seconds after the break. 

And the outstanding Shaw was the creator once more four minutes later with a perfect cross that was headed in from six yards by Kane. 

England were so impressive as they simply overpowered Ukraine with substitute Jordan Henderson getting the fourth - his first international goal, in his 62nd appearance - when he arrived with perfect timing to head in Mason Mount's corner. 

To add to England and Southgate's satisfaction, they kept their fifth successive clean sheet to maintain their record of not conceding a goal at Euro 2020.

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https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51198691

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On 13 June 2021, the funeral of former SS Orest Vaskul (Vaskoul) took place at the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, St. Michael Golden-Domed Monastery, in Kiev.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was represented by soldiers from his personal regiment. Defense Minister and former military attaché in Washington, Lieutenant General Andriy Taran, was also represented.

The Ukrainian flag draped the coffin of the deceased.

Orest Vaskoul voluntarily enlisted in the SS (Galicia Division) in 1943 and fought, by choice, as a Ukrainian Nazi for the Third Reich against the Soviet Union.

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https://www.voltairenet.org/article213597.html

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KIEV (Sputnik) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Russia and Western Europe a weapon that Moscow could use against his country.

"The biggest challenge to Ukraine at the moment in this [energy] sphere is the completion and launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Its operational launch is not related to economics. It is a weapon against Ukraine and, I am certain, will be a weapon against all of Europe in the future", he said.

Zelensky, who spoke at a Ukrainian political forum on Monday, called on Western allies to torpedo the project, which aims to carry 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year across the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied using gas contracts as a tool, while Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic states urged Europe to stop the cooperation with Moscow and backed the US-imposed sanctions against the project.

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https://sputniknews.com/world/202107051083311098-zelensky-calls-nord-stream-2-weapon-against-ukraine-and-europe/

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