An image that emerged on social media showed what looks to be an Il-22 with visible damage to its tail. A briefing from the UK's Ministry of Defence on 23 February said that Russia likely had six operational A-50s in service. The planes can cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build. Ukraine has struggled to make significant recent advances against Russian forces in the south-east. Ukraine's military says it has shot down a Russian military spy plane over the Sea of Azov, in what analysts say would be a blow to Moscow's air power. But even though justification of the Ukraine invasion can be found among Russians, there have been no demonstrations of support. The second narrative, prevalent on news programmes, emphasises that the “special military operation” in Ukraine is being conducted by professionals to liberate the Russian people of Donbas and other regions. But as time passed, I got used to it, no matter how terrible it was. Meanwhile Russia's currency, the rouble, fell to an all-time low against the dollar and the euro. Millions of Russians like him are starting to feel the effect of Western economic sanctions designed to punish the country for invading neighbouring Ukraine. A source familiar with the situation said the drone fell at about 7am local time but had not affected fuel output. Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been serving prison time since 2021 after leading street protests and starting a nationwide opposition movement, was recently moved to a penal colony in Russia's far north. The Russian president has intensified a crackdown on opposition since the start of his invasion of Ukraine, and this has ramped up further as the elections have approached. Balazs Orban, chief political aide to the prime minister, said Hungary sent a proposal to the EU over the weekend showing it was open to using the budget for the aid package if other caveats were added. A Muslim faith leader calls for stronger moral leadership in the Middle East But everyone who wants to participate can easily find out about it. For example, in certain online communities, they’ll just post a single number (indicating a date) and everyone understands everything. But I don’t feel safe expressing my opinion, especially when I talk about it online or on the phone. It’s too scary, the idea of dying or being locked up for life. Plus, I can see that despite many years of huge protests, the people have not achieved anything at all. It was rather cheap, but now I want to buy AirPods and they’re really expensive. In 2010, with the election of Viktor Yanukovych, Russian attitudes toward Ukraine dramatically improved, doubling to a 70 percent approval rating. Of course, that may be a strange example, but I just mean those of us who are against war still suffer from it. Mr Szijarto will be in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak. Ilya (name changed), who is in his early 30s, has just finished paying off his mortgage in Moscow. Over the weekend the central bank appealed for calm amid fears of a run on the banks, which happens when too many people try to withdraw money. I also couldn't pay in a shop today - for the same reason. I always pay with my phone but it simply didn't work. There were some other people with the same problem. It turned out that the barriers are operated by VTB bank which is under sanctions and cannot accept Google Pay and Apple Pay. Weeks after tearing down his government, Turnbull did a welfare check on Abbott. Here's how it went down These are themes he has highlighted from the start of the war. One-quarter of respondents say they already feel the effect of those sanctions, according to Volkov. People who are from disadvantaged groups are suffering the most, he adds, because they don't have the resources to adapt. Volkov found that some 80% of respondents do support the military, but that group is by no means a monolith. https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-big-is-ukraine-compared-to-uk.html says about 50% have definite support without any qualms, but the other 30% have support with reservations. Public opposition to the war can result in criminal prosecution, so people who are critical of the war and the regime are less likely to agree to speak to a pollster. This results in skewed samples and inflates the level of support for the war. In mid-March, Aleksei Miniailo, a former social entrepreneur and current opposition politician, oversaw another telephone survey with the aim of trying to capture the effects of fear and propaganda on survey data. And that figure came from among those who agreed to participate at all; Miniailo suspected that the polls were not capturing a majority of the real antiwar sentiment, whatever its size. To understand the nature and composition of the pro-war majority, you need to dig deeper. Like many Australians, the prime minister is outraged by this unprovoked and senseless killing. It's July 2014, and Angus Houston is Australia's special envoy to Ukraine, appointed by Abbott to recover, identify and repatriate the remains of Australians killed in the tragedy. Abbott wants to discuss the option of sending a large military deployment to Ukraine in response to the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 by Russia-backed separatists. It's 4am in Kyiv where the former Australian Defence Force chief is staying. Sometimes I can’t help but try to convince them, which obviously doesn’t work. For the record, they don’t support the war in general, they do want it to stop; however, they can justify it in their heads somehow. I’m against the war, and most of my friends and people I know feel the same way. These are mostly people around my age with the same level of education. However, when it comes to family, I, unfortunately, do have a conflict with my parents. Understanding Putin’s soft power can also provide insights into the long-term consequences of the conflict for his leadership and for the future of both countries. Blaming Nato's expansion eastwards is a Russian narrative that has gained some ground in Europe. Before the war, President Putin demanded Nato turn the clock back to 1997 and remove its forces and military infrastructure from Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Baltics. Russia has captured the town of Soledar this year and has hopes of seizing the eastern city of Bakhmut on the road to key cities to the west, and of recapturing territory it lost last autumn. It’s not that she doesn’t know alternative information is out there, but that she doesn’t want it, lest her vision of the world come under threat. That is because it is built on corruption and sycophancy, not competence. And if I am not imprisoned soon for speaking out against war, I want to try – together with like-minded people – to do everything I can to give our country hope for a peaceful future. It has cut diplomatic ties with Russia, offered weapons to anyone who wants them and declared an overnight curfew for Kyiv. Russia said it has destroyed more than 70 military targets in Ukraine. The Russian offensive was preceded by artillery fire and there were injuries to border guards, the DPSU said. Ukraine will probably try to exploit the success it has had in re-establishing its control over the western Black Sea and its vital trade corridor to the Bosphorus. Ukraine's position is that Russian troops must pull back beyond Ukraine's internationally recognised borders for there to be peace. It is backed by two UN resolutions, passed days after the invasion and hours before the first anniversary of the war. His declared goal on 24 February 2022 was to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine and not occupy it by force, days after backing independence for eastern Ukrainian territories occupied by Russian proxy forces since 2014. Practically along the entire line of contact our armed forces are improving their situation, to put it modestly, he said at his marathon news conference. A classified US intelligence report estimated this week that 315,000 Russian soldiers had been either killed or wounded since the war began - which it said was almost 90% of Russia's military personnel at the start of the invasion. Much of the largely choreographed event focused on what he calls the special military operation in Ukraine. Volkov adds that public opinion matters, even though the Russian government isn't taking the public's pulse in order to plan its next moves. He says officials are instead monitoring the situation to make sure that it's under control. Army chief Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi said the air force had destroyed an A-50 long range radar detection aircraft, and an Il-22 control centre plane. Further east in Kramatorsk, in the eastern Donetsk region, the BBC's Eastern European Correspondent Sarah Rainsford said people did not expect such a full-on assault.
https://euronewstop.co.uk/how-big-is-ukraine-compared-to-uk.html
