Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin ‘better informed’ of war reality; Russia condemns oil cap
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has finally been given the war wake up call he needs, as Moscow denounced an oil price cap agreed on by Australia, the EU and G7.
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Vladimir Putin is now “better informed” about the shortcomings of his forces but still may not have the “full picture”, according to the head of US intelligence.
Avril Haines, the US director of national intelligence, told a defence forum Putin was no longer being sheltered from the bad news by his Kremlin advisors.
“He’s becoming more informed of the challenges that the military faces,” Ms Haines said.
“But it’s still not clear to us that he has a full picture of at this stage of just how challenged they are,” she told the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.
Her comments come as concern over Russia’s faltering war and battlefield defeats have begun to appear on Russian social media and even in comments made by Kremlin figures.
Meanwhile, it appears support for the war in Russia is falling.
The Guardian reported a survey by the Russian Federal Protection Service found 55 per cent of people supported peace talks with Ukraine while 25 per cent wanted the war to go on.
It followed a similar poll in November.
The British Ministry of Defence said Russia would find it “increasingly difficult” to maintain support for the war.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 04 December 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) December 4, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/wgwjroo1ys
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/pSq13JBIrv
RUSSIA SLAMS OIL CAP
Russia has denounced a price cap on its oil that was agreed on by the EU, G7 and Australia, even as Ukraine suggested it was not tough enough and might have to be revisited.
“We will not accept this price cap,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told domestic news agencies, adding that Russia, the world’s second-largest crude exporter, was “analysing” the move.
The $US60 oil price cap will come into effect on Monday or soon after, alongside an EU embargo on maritime deliveries of Russian crude oil.
The embargo will prevent seaborne shipments of Russian crude to the European Union, which account for two thirds of the bloc’s oil imports from Russia, potentially depriving Russia’s war chest of billions of euros.
But while Kyiv welcomed the price cap, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Saturday that the level set was not “serious” as it would not do enough damage to the Russian economy.
“Russia has already caused huge losses to all countries of the world by deliberately destabilising the energy market,” he argued in his nightly address, describing the decision on the price cap as “a weak position”.
It is “only a matter of time when stronger tools will have to be used”, Mr Zelenskyy added.
The G7 nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – along with Australia have already said they are prepared to adjust the price ceiling if necessary.
The cap stops countries paying more than $US60 a barrel for Russian oil deliveries by tanker vessel and is designed to make it harder for Russia to bypass EU sanctions by selling beyond the European Union at market prices.
Meanwhile, Russian forces carried out strikes in the east of Ukraine on Saturday, hitting a “civilian infrastructure facility” in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, the Ukrainian army said.
After suffering humiliating defeats during what has become the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II, Russia began targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure in October.
The strikes have caused sweeping blackouts, and cut off water supplies and heating to civilians at a time when the temperature in some regions has dropped to minus five degrees Celsius.
More than 500 Ukrainian localities remained without power on Sunday following weeks of Russian air strikes on the electric grid, an interior ministry official said.
FEARS FOR PUTIN’S HEALTH GROW AFTER FALL
Russian President Vladimir Putin suffered a fall at his official Moscow residence and ‘soiled himself’ according to reports as speculation grows over his declining health.
According to an anti-Kremlin Telegram channel with apparent links to Mr Putin’s security team, the Russian leader fell down a set of stairs at his home on Wednesday.
The fall and its aftermath was reported by the Telegram channel ‘General SVR’ which is said to be run by a former Russian spy.
According to the channel, the ailing 70-year-old Putin allegedly fell down five stairs before landing on his coccyx, or tailbone.
His guards immediately rushed to his aid, the New York Post reported, but the impact of the fall caused Mr Putin to “involuntarily defecate” due to “cancer affecting his stomach and bowels” according to the channel.
The incident is another health scare for Putin, who is rumoured to be suffering from cancer and Parkinson’s disease, as he continues to rage his war in the Ukraine.
“Three bodyguards helped the president get to the nearest couch and summoned medics, who are on duty at the residence,” General SVR said.
“Nothing critical [was diagnosed], the president’s condition closer to night-time was stable, he can get around on his own, with pain in the coccyx area while sitting being the only thing that bothers him.”
The channel said an investigation was launched to determine the cause of the fall.
Mr Putin put the injury behind him on Thursday as he toured a lab in Moscow.
KREMLIN REJECTS BIDEN’S UKRAINE TALKS
The Kremlin on Friday rejected US President Joe Biden’s terms for Ukraine talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, saying Moscow’s offensive will continue.
“What did President Biden say in fact? He said that negotiations are possible only after Putin leaves Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding Moscow was “certainly” not ready to accept the conditions.
“The special military operation is continuing,” Peskov said, using the Kremlin term for the assault on Ukraine.
It comes after Mr Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron emerged from White House talks on Thursday (local time) pledging to close ranks in helping Ukraine and pressuring Mr Putin to make peace.
Following lengthy Oval Office talks they also signalled they’d calmed the waters on a burgeoning US-EU trade dispute.
Addressing a joint press conference on the second day of Mr Macron’s rare state visit to Washington, both leaders emphasised their desire to forge a powerful transatlantic alliance supporting democracy – and facing down Russia and China.
On Ukraine, Mr Biden said, “We reaffirm that France and the United States together, with all our NATO allies and the European Union and the G7, stand as strong as ever against Russia’s brutal war.”
The US leader also said that he would be ready to meet with Mr Putin but only “if he is looking for a way to end the war.”
It was Mr Biden’s strongest suggestion so far that he would be prepared to sit down with Mr Putin, but Mr Macron said they both agreed “we will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise that will not be acceptable for them.”
13,000 UKRAINIAN TROOPS KILLED SINCE FEBRUARY
As many as 13,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed since Russia’s invasion in February, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
“We have official estimates from the General Staff … And they range from 10,000 … to 13,000 dead,” Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukraine’s Channel 24 on Thursday local time.
Mr Zelenskyy would make the official data public “when the right moment comes”, he added.
In June, as Russian forces battled to take full control of the easternmost Lugansk region, Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was losing “60 to 100 soldiers per day, killed in action, and around 500 people wounded in action”.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in September said 5937 Russian troops had been killed in the nearly seven months of fighting to that point.
Both sides are suspected of minimising their losses to avoid damaging the morale of their troops.
Top US general Mark Milley last month said more than 100,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded in Ukraine, with Kyiv’s forces likely suffering similar casualties.
Those figures – which could not be independently confirmed – are the most precise to date from the US government.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the worst fighting in Europe in decades.
RUSSIA PLOTTING ‘IMMINENT LARGE-SCALE ATTACK’
Dozens of Russian bombers have been spotted at a key air base with fears Russia is preparing for another large-scale air attack on Ukraine, military analysts say.
Experts noticed the unusually high level of activity at the Engels-2 airfield, near the city of Saratov, with nearly two dozen long-range Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers reportedly being prepared for an operation.
Satellite images of the airfield were captured on November 28 and first published by Germany’s Der Spiegel.
“The unusually high number of bombers on the tarmac is an indication of an increase in operations, if not an imminent large-scale attack,” military analyst Arda Mevlutoğlu told the German newspaper Spiegel.
Fuel tankers can also be seen parked next to the long-distance bombers, which were surrounded by ammunition boxes.
ðŸ“Russia is preparing for a new massive strike: the Engels-2 airfield is on high alert
— Ukraine-Russia war (@UkraineRussia2) December 1, 2022
Two dozen Tu-95 and Tu-160 long-range bombers were spotted. Fuel tanks, ammo crates, vehicles and repair materials can also be spotted. pic.twitter.com/nbTWazLsM9
“The unusually high number of bombers on the tarmac is an indication of an increase in operations, if not an imminent large-scale attack,” military analyst Arda Mevlutoğlu told the magazine.
The attack will almost certainly focus on destroying Ukraine's already-battered power and water network as devastating strikes have left Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities without water or power.
The satellite images comes as Ukraine braces for more Russian air strikes with at least two countrywide air raid alerts issued this week that were subsequently called off.
“We understand that the terrorists are planning new strikes. We know this for a fact,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
“And as long as they have missiles, they, unfortunately, will not calm down.”
Mr Zelenskyy said the coming week could be as difficult as the previous week, when attacks on electricity infrastructure subjected Ukrainians to the most acute power cuts since Russian troops invaded in February.
“Our defence forces are getting ready. The entire country is getting ready,” he said.
“We have worked out all the scenarios, including with our partners.”
NATO leaders are currently meeting in Romania to discuss the next phase of support for Ukraine, with advanced missile defences top of the agenda.
UKRAINIAN EMBASSY TARGETED WITH ‘LETTER BOMB’
A security guard at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid has sustained mild injuries after opening a letter bomb addressed to the Ukrainian ambassador, prompting Kyiv to boost security at its embassies.
The letter, which arrived by regular post, exploded as the guard opened it in the embassy garden, according the central government’s representative in Madrid, Mercedes Gonzalez.
“Fortunately it was not serious, the person has a small injury to his right hand. The letter was addressed to the ambassador,” she said during an interview with TV station Telemadrid.
A police source said the man had been “lightly” injured and “went himself to a hospital” for treatment.
Spain’s National Police force were informed at around 1pm local time of an explosion at the Ukranian embassy in Madrid, the source added.
Police have opened an investigation “which includes the participation of forensic police,” the source said without giving further details.
A security cordon was put in place by the police around the embassy, located in a leafy residential area in northern Madrid.
A man who lives in front of the embassy, who asked not to be identified, told AFP that he had stepped out to walk his dogs and now police where preventing him from returning home.
“I heard it, I thought it was gunshot. It was not too loud,” he said. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered the strengthening of security at all Ukrainian embassies, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on social media after the letter bomb went off.
Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares has spoken with Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain by telephone “to ask about the wellbeing of the Ukrainian worker who was injured,” the Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement.
Albares also contacted Kuleba by telephone to express his “support and solidarity”, it added
RUSSIA SLAMS ‘RACIST’ POPE OVER INTERVIEW
Pope Francis has sparked outrage after he suggested that non-Slavic minorities showed more cruelty in Ukraine than ethnic Russian soldiers.
In an interview with the Catholic magazine America, the Pope said that soldiers from Buryatia, where Buddhism is a major religion, and the Muslim-majority Chechnya republic, were “the cruellest” while fighting in Ukraine.
“When I speak about Ukraine, I speak about the cruelty because I have much information about the cruelty of the troops that come in,” Pope Francis said.
“Generally, the cruellest are perhaps those who are of Russia but are not of the Russian tradition, such as the Chechens, the Buryati and so on.”
Russia has been accused of disproportionately relying on ethnic minorities to provide its main fighting force in Ukraine.
The Pope’s comments were swiftly condemned by Russian officials on Monday evening.
“This is no longer Russophobia, it’s a perversion on a level I can’t even name,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel.
“We are one family with Buryats, Chechens and other representatives of our multinational and multi-confessional country.”
Founder of the anti-war Free Buryatia organisation, Alexandra Garmazhapova, said the comments were “inexcusable and racist.”
“I was extremely disappointed to read these racist, inexcusable statements,” she said.
“Russia is waging an imperial war started and led by Vladimir Putin, who is by all accounts not a member of an ethnic minority. The Pope should condemn him personally, but he decided to sidestep the Russian president.”
RUSSIA ACCUSED OF CUNNING NEW PLAN
Ukraine has urged NATO members to speed up weapons deliveries and help restore its shattered power grid, as Western allies looked to bolster support to aid Kyiv through winter in the face of Russia’s attacks.
Moscow has unleashed waves of strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as its troops are pushed back on the ground, plunging millions of people into darkness.
The Russian strikes have left millions of Ukrainians without electricity and running water in freezing temperatures.
Ukraine has for months been asking NATO for more advanced air defence systems.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Tuesday for supplies of weapons, especially advanced air defence systems, to come “faster, faster, faster” as he joined a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
“When we have transformers and generators, we can restore our system, our energy grid, and provide people with decent living conditions,” Mr Kuleba said.
“When we have air defence systems, we will be able to protect this infrastructure from the next Russian missile strikes.”
“In a nutshell, Patriots and transformers is what Ukraine needs the most”, he added, referring to the US-made missile defence systems.
The appeal came after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of targeting infrastructure in a bid to use the winter as “a weapon of war” against Ukraine.
Mr Stoltenberg said the message from NATO allies was “we need to do more” to help Kyiv fix its gas and electricity infrastructure and provide air defence to help it protect itself better.
He said he expected Russia to carry out more attacks on Ukraine’s grid as the Kremlin suffers defeats on the ground and warned Europe should “be prepared for more refugees”.
“Russia is actually failing on the battlefield. In response to that they are now attacking civilian targets, cities, because they’re not able to win territory,” Stoltenberg said at the start of the meeting.
Under the Geneva conventions, attacks on civilians, or the infrastructure vital to their survival, could be interpreted as a war crime.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced a package worth $US53 million ($A79m) “to support acquisition of critical electricity grid equipment” by Kyiv.
A senior US official said the assistance would “not be the end” and pointed out the Biden administration had budgeted $1.1 billion ($A16b) for energy spending in Ukraine and neighbouring Moldov.
“This targeting of civilian infrastructure, of energy infrastructure is obviously designed to try and freeze the Ukrainians into submission,” said British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.
“I don’t think it’ll be successful.”
Allies have given arms worth billions of dollars to Ukraine, but Kyiv is pleading for more air defence, tanks and longer-range missiles to push the Kremlin’s forces back.
But there are growing concerns that weapon stores in some NATO countries are running low as stockpiles have been diverted to Ukraine.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said his request to fellow NATO ministers was simple: “Keep calm and give tanks”.
Germany, which currently chairs the G7, convened a meeting Tuesday afternoon on the sidelines of the NATO gathering to discuss the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.
NATO says the meeting in Bucharest has showcased its unity on continuing to support Ukraine as Moscow’s war against its neighbour drags into its tenth month.
The alliance will not, however, make any progress on Ukraine’s request to join, initially made some 14 years ago when NATO first pledged that Kyiv would one day become a member.
Mr Stoltenberg insisted that the “door is open” to new members but said the focus now was on assisting Ukraine in its fight with Moscow.
NATO has bolstered its eastern flank in the face of Russia’s war by sending more troops and equipment to countries neighbouring Ukraine, like Romania.
Non-NATO Moldova, which has also seen blackouts caused by the fallout from the attacks on neighbouring Ukraine, will attend the alliance’s talks on Thursday along with Bosnia and Georgia.
– with AFP
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Originally published as Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin ‘better informed’ of war reality; Russia condemns oil cap
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