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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy returned from a visit to Turkey on Saturday, bringing home five former commanders of Ukraine's garrison in Mariupol despite a prisoner exchange last year under which the men were meant to remain in Turkey. Russia immediately denounced the release of the men. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Turkey had violated the prisoner exchange terms and had failed to inform Moscow. -snip- "We are returning home from Turkey and bringing our heroes home," said Zelenskiy who met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan for talks in Istanbul on Friday. "Ukrainian soldiers Denys Prokopenko, Svyatoslav Palamar, Serhiy Volynsky, Oleh Khomenko,...

Hollywood star Mark Hamill, best known for his portrayal of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga, ended up committing quite a blunder after he participated in a video chat with members of Ukrainian armed forces. During said chat, a fragment of which Hamill shared on Twitter, Hamill praised the Ukrainian militants who he claimed were "fighting the good fight" and compared Ukrainian forces to the rebels from Star Wars. "It was a pleasure meeting with the brave Ukrainian drone operators. We talked about the challenges they face on a daily basis, but they also wanted to talk about Wookiees...

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle sat down for one The Gaggle's regular conversations with Scott Ritter. Much of the highly informative discussion focused on what took place in Kharkov last week.

KYIV, April 21 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the biggest battle of the Ukraine war on Thursday, declaring the port of Mariupol "liberated" after nearly two months of siege, despite hundreds of defenders still holding out inside a giant steel works. In a televised meeting with his defence minister inside the Kremlin, Putin said there was no need for a final confrontation with the last defenders who were boxed in after surviving nearly two months of Russia's siege. "I consider the proposed storming of the industrial zone unnecessary," he told Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in a televised...

In a corner of the third Jewish cemetery in Odessa, among the overgrowth and tombs that no one visits anymore, there is a monument that the present has recovered from oblivion. It is an amphitheater made up of large stone blocks and black granite columns. There are steles with 305 names in Hebrew. They are the identified victims of the 1905 pogrom against the city’s Jews. That episode of ethnic persecution also triggered the creation of the Jewish self-defense groups of Odessa, the largest armed organization of the Jewish people on Ukrainian soil. More than a century later, the members...

[https://twitter.com/michael_mils/status/1505091956657082371] מיכאל Michael Milshtein/ميخائيل ميلشطاين @michael_mils Head of the Palestinian Studies Forum - Dayan Center/Tel Aviv University Mar 19, 2022: To imagine the integration of Jews into Ukrainian national action, the one that was tightly connected to religious and ethnic foundations and mostly saturated with anti-Semitism. Indeed, all of Ukraine's struggles for independence over the past 350 years have been accompanied by massacres of Jews [falsely] "identified" with Kyiv's enemies and oppressors, particularly Russia and Poland. The last and most horrific expression was the widespread (and enthusiastic) involvement in the Nazi extermination effort accompanied by independent pogroms by Ukrainians, participation...

In the absence of effective military forces or law enforcement, Ukrainians are taking the defense of the nation in their own hands through loosely organized militias. One of them popped up in a YouTube video on May 2. Although the group was unidentified, the clip was posted by a pro-Ukrainian group of former military and law enforcement officers, calling themselves the Donbass Volunteer Battalion. The video shows men armed with Kalashnikov rifles and clad in black ninja outfits dismantling a Kremlin-backed roadblock near Krasnoarmiysk in western Donetsk Oblast. The national warriors also claim that 15 pro-Russian rebels were handed over...

Israeli rabbi Michael Finkel says the Jewish community is on high alert because of the influence of the neo-Nazi's within Kiev's temporary government. "This is Right Sector. This is the peole who are marching in Nazi uniforms with SF on their arms and on their military uniforms," Finkel says. According to the rabbi, it is possible that Ukraine could turn into a country similar to Lebanon. "In Lebanon, there's an official government and there is Hezbollah, which is a terrrorist organization linked to the government. They're members of the parliament, and there's a Hezbollah militia over thre, a separate army,...

The Russian government today claimed there are more than 100 American 'mercenaries' from a defense contracting company disguised as Ukrainian troops in the embattled former Soviet nation, a claim the American firm and top U.S. officials deny. ... The latest news relesae from Greystone, as posted on a company blog, is from September 2012, titled "New business in Russia" and simply says the company "provided executive protection services in Russia." In April 2012, the company announced it had been awarded a similar contract in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. ...

<p>Thousands of pro-Russian demonstrators across eastern Ukraine and Crimea are protesting against the new government. Helga Zepp LaRouche is a German journalist and politician, founder of the Schiller Institute said in an interview with the VoR that the current Ukrainian authority is a result of the Nationalist intervention, and has no legitimacy.</p>

Awarding Ukrainian national hero angers Poles 06.02.2010 11:30 The Chairman of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland Piotr Tyma said he understands the negative reaction of President Lech Kaczynski to the decision of honouring Stepan Bandera by President Viktor Yushchenko. The Ukrainian head of state awarded Bandera with the Hero of Ukraine title and declared the soldiers of the Ukrainian Nationalist Partisan Army UPA as fighters for independence. Piotr Tyma underlined that Polish Ukrainian relations have been neglected for long while WWII brought tragedy to civilians in Poland and Ukraine. “This dialogue on the past had its very good moments...

Bandera rally banned from Poland 07.08.2009 13:04 Poland's Foreign and Interior Ministry have banned bikers commemorating Stepan Bandera, founder of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army accused of killing Poles in the 1940s, from entering Poland. The decision was made at the last minute as the bikers were waiting at the border. The Polish government claims that those participating in the rally attempted to weedle visas from the Polish Consulate. "We are not judging and we are not talking about history," claims Tomasz Siemoniak, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior. The rally has faced much controversy in Poland as Bandera...

Cowboys, wannabes set out on 650-mile trail ride BY T.A. BADGER Associated Press Writer BANDERA, Texas - Dozens of cowboys and wannabes hitched up their horses and wagons in this Hill Country town on Monday and pointed them north along a historic route used by 19th-century cattle drovers to get their beef to market. The hardy travelers plan to take seven weeks to cover the 650 miles from Bandera, the self-proclaimed Cowboy Capital of the World, to the famed Wild West outpost of Dodge City, Kan. The ride will follow what was known as the Western Trail, along which millions...

Okay, okay... I know this is late for The Birthday, but I just received it.  I checked snopes and they don't seem to have it yet.  The e-mail came from a woman whose brother went to high school with Bum at French High School (Beaumont, Tx), so I'm thinking he really wrote it.  It sure sounds like him, anyway.  Does anyone know him personally so we can verify? HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TEXAS -- FROM BUM PHILLIPS  Being Texan by Bum PhillipsDear Friends,   Last year, I wrote a small piece about what it means to me to be a Texan. My...

Bonilla to lose portion of Webb Times Staff Reports WASHINGTON D.C.- The redistricting battle is likely over and Congressman Henry Bonilla's 23rd district is seeing some changes. "I've become very attached to the people of the 23rd district. We work well together and have supported one an other for the past eleven years," said Bonilla. "I fought hard to keep all my constituents, but when it came down to drawing the final lines, the state legislators made a few changes." Unfortunately, the new redistricting map forces Bonilla to lose both Reagan and Upton counties. He will also lose portions of...