Ukraine, Poland, Belarus

A general round up of related news articles

English Alarabiya

Russia’s armed forces on Tuesday prevented an attempt by a group of Ukrainian saboteurs to cross the border into Russia’s Bryansk region, the region’s governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said in a post on Telegram.

Missile Strikes in Western Ukraine, closer to Polish border

https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-russia-fires-missiles-at-several-regions/live-66531277

Large crater in Lviv @ Anton Gerashchenko

Newsweek

Last Week Sergei Shoigu claimed Poland has plans to occupy western Ukraine

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu claimed on Wednesday that Poland has created plans presumably for security but are in fact for the “occupation of Western Ukraine.”

“There are plans to create on a regular basis the so-called Polish-Ukrainian connection supposedly to ensure the security of Western Ukraine, but in fact – for the subsequent occupation of this territory,” Shoigu said according to state news agency TASS.

Poland moved 10000 troops to the border with Belarus/Ukraine

https://nord.news/2023/08/15/10000-more-polish-troops-to-border-with-belarus/

NATO has significantly increased its defensive presence in the eastern part of the alliance in response to Russia’s aggressive actions, and we continue to do what is necessary to deter any threat and protect every inch of allied territory,” Lungescu said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

I’ve long thought Poland intended to occupy Western Ukraine- It’s previously held territory, so I don’t take issue with Shoigu’s claim- In fact Poland has moved additional troops to the area, reported above

“Tusk is personification of pure evil” and opposition “must be morally exterminated”, says Kaczyński

Jarosław Kaczyński, the chairman of Poland’s ruling party, has described his main election rival Donald Tusk as “the personification of pure evil” and called the opposition “traitors [who] must be morally exterminated”.

The Law and Justice (PiS) leader, who also serves as deputy prime minister, was speaking at a series of “military picnics” being organised by the defence ministry around Poland.

At one today in the town of Uniejów, central Poland, Kaczyński declared that “Tusk is the personification of evil in Poland, pure evil”.

He accused the opposition leader of “gathering all dark elements under his banner in order simply to win, to implement a plan that is not Polish, but [a plan] of the Brussels bureaucracy”. The only way to prevent this from happening is “voting for Law and Justice, for a strong Poland”.

Yesterday, at another military picnic in the southeastern town of Zawichost, Kaczyński warned that “in Poland there is a truly powerful camp of national treason that today is striving for power”.

“Someone here among the audience said that traitors should be exterminated,” the PiS leader continued. “Yes, they must be morally exterminated.”

For his part, Tusk recently suggested that Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party is supported by – and shares a mentality with – unemployed men who beat women and children.

Donald Tusk. I remember the name very well. Rose to prominence years back when Poland lost most of it’s government in a very odd plane crash-

Bribes and hiding at home: the Ukrainian men trying to avoid conscription

“I knew there was no way I would be able to sit in a trench, so I took my savings and contacted a ‘fixer’. Everyone knows where to find them. I paid in cash, they sent me to a hospital to do a spinal MRI; the hospital gave me a medical report claiming I had a major spinal defect, and with that I could get papers allowing me to leave the country. I had the feeling that, at every stage of the way, people knew what was happening and were getting a cut,” said the man.

It is believed that tens of thousands of Ukrainian men have left the country illegally since the full-scale war with Russia started last February, many by paying bribes.

Left illegally? So, they weren’t free to leave Ukraine?

Reports that Russia had struck Odessa on a mass scale, Monday, yet Ukraine claimed to have intercepted every incoming missile, drone etc.,

Russia launched three waves of drones and missiles against the southern Ukraine port city of Odesa, officials said Monday, though the Ukrainian air force said it intercepted all the airborne weapons fired during the nighttime attacks.

Falling debris from the interceptions of 15 Shahed drones and eight Kalibr missiles damaged a residential building, a supermarket and a dormitory of an educational facility in the city, Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said.

There are contradictory claims regarding the strikes on Odessa- suggesting Ukraine didn’t intercept everything. Also, as Ukraine attempted to intercept, Russian military was able to locate the placement of these air defense weapons and take them out.