Some news about Ukraine
Ukraine said Thursday its forces had withdrawn from a district in the key eastern town of Chasiv Yar, where Russian forces have recently claimed several advances.
The fall of the small hilltop town is a worrying prospect for Ukraine because it would likely accelerate Russian advances towards large civilian hubs in the wider eastern Donetsk region.“It became impractical to hold the Kanal district, which the enemy had entered, because it threatened the lives and well-being of our soldiers,” a Ukrainian military spokesman said on state-run television.
“Our defenders’ positions had been destroyed. The command decided to retreat to better protected and prepared positions,” Nazar Voloshyn added.
Russia had said earlier this week that its forces had advanced around Chasiv Yar but it was unclear if it was claiming its forces had crossed a canal which runs through the eastern part of the town.
Chasiv Yar — a prized military hub that was once a sleepy home to some 12,000 people — lies near the larger towns of Kostyantynivka and Kramatorsk, which are both important military centres, too.
Ukraine Bridge to NATO- Is a bridge to far and too dangerous
The possibility of Ukraine’s future NATO membership is being hotly debated ahead of the alliance’s upcoming summit in Washington.
The Article 5 argument is common among those opposing Ukraine’s membership, but such a public stance from more than 60 analysts provides a sneak peek at the arguments likely to be levied at the three-day event starting on Tuesday.
“The closer NATO comes to promising that Ukraine will join the alliance once the war ends, the greater the incentive for Russia to keep fighting the war,” reads the letter, obtained by POLITICO. “The challenges Russia poses can be managed without bringing Ukraine into NATO.”
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000190-7a1f-db0b-a39e-fa5fbcdb0000
News agency RIA Novosti was among Russian outlets reporting that, posing as Petro Poroshenko, the former president of Ukraine, one of the pranksters, although it is not clear which one, suggested to Clinton that a Ukrainian parliamentary hearing could find something on Trump, which could be used to attack him on all sides.
"Good, anything you can do to attack him, I'm all for it," was the purported reply from Clinton.