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The U.S. on Friday announced a $400 million security aid package for Ukraine, providing more ammunition, equipment and munitions for Kyiv in its fight against Russia. The State Department said the latest package includes munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and howitzer artillery guns, as well as ammunition for the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles the U.S. first announced for Ukraine in January. The latest round of security aid also includes demolitions munitions, equipment and other material, as well as services for maintenance, training and support of Ukrainian troops, who have been fighting against a Russian invasion for...

Lawmakers in the state of Oregon are considering a bill that would provide homeless people with $1,000 a month with no strings attached. Is there any wonder why so many people in Oregon are trying to secede to the state of Idaho? If Oregon wants to become the homeless capital of the country, this is an excellent way to do it. FOX News reports: Oregon bill would pay homeless people $1,000 a month The state of Oregon is weighing a bill to give homeless and low-income people $1,000 a month in universal basic income. The Oregon legislature is considering a...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree Sunday removing the commander of the military’s Joint Forces Operation (JFO), which is involved in the ongoing counteroffensive in the eastern Donbas region of the country.Zelensky announced Eduard Moskalyov’s dismissal in a one-line decree without any explanation, according to Reuters. Moskalyov had been appointed to the position last March.The JFO was launched as a resistance force in 2014 after Russia’s seizure of the Crimean peninsula and parts of the Donbas, and has been heavily involved in fighting since Moscow’s full invasion a year ago.Moskalyov’s dismissal is the latest in a series of changes...

Belarusian anti-government activists have claimed responsibility for what they said was a drone attack on a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft at an airfield near the Belarus capital of Minsk on Sunday. "Those were drones. The participants of the operation are Belarusian," Aliaksandr Azarov, leader of Belarusian anti-government organization BYPOL, was quoted as saying on the organisation's Telegram messaging app and on the Poland-based Belsat news channel. "They are now safe, outside the country."

When will the US stop flooding Ukraine with arms and money? According to Biden National Security spokesman John Kirby, spokesman, he “doesn’t know”. That comment came during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” FNC host Shannon Bream brought up the matter by asking him when the aid packages would end, saying: “Despite the question that’s being asked increasingly on Capitol Hill, and there’s gonna be another fight over another round of aid, we’re about $200 billion into this so far. There are questions about where the US commitment ends to this. I mean, we had a couple of lawmakers just...

President Joe Biden visited Kyiv on Monday for the first time since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago, demonstrating in dramatic personal fashion his commitment to the country and its struggle as the war enters an uncertain new phase. While in Kyiv, Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as first lady Olena Zelenska at the Ukrainian presidential palace. Biden’s visit comes at a critical moment in the 12-month conflict, with Russia preparing for an expected spring offensive and Ukraine hoping to soon retake territory. The United States and other western nations have...

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the Biden administration should declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Graham said, “Number one, there are 30 United States senators in Munich along with a big House delegation. Senator McConnell and Schumer both came. Virtually unanimous belief that we should be training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 today so they can get the jets as soon as possible. The British are training Ukrainian pilots. I believe a decision will be imminent here when we get back to Washington that the administration will start training Ukrainian pilots on the...

In early 2022 Ukraine had finished the preparations for an overwhelming attack on the renegade People Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LNR). Half of the Ukrainian army, some 120,000 men recruited and trained during the last 7 years, were stationed near the ceasefire line and ready to go. On the opposing side only some 40,000 men were under arms. They would have little chance to withstand an onslaught. Russia could not let a Ukrainian attack happen. If Ukraine could regain the renegade provinces it would have been able to join NATO. Russian public opinion was decisively on the...

@mtracey "The Biden administration is preparing to ask Congress for the largest Pentagon budget in history, according to the Defense Department’s chief financial officer" -- per POLITICO Remember when "progressives" used to pretend to care about this 😂

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said during a speech Monday that the national debt is the “greatest threat” to America’s future and called on President Joe Biden to negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling. McCarthy said during the press conference, addressing the looming debt ceiling deadline: Americans are getting hammered by higher prices. Today, nearly two-thirds of all Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, struggling to make ends meet. Meanwhile, China is infiltrating our culture, our farmland, and our skies because they see us as weak. This is not sustainable. But of all the dangers we face, the greatest threat to...

ransomnote: There are many useful charts and tables at the link shown in the Tweet. The last table at the bottom matches donation amounts with names.https://unusualwhales.com/politics/article/senate_ftx

Ukrainian forces are unlikely to be able to recapture Crimea from Russian troops in the near future, four senior Defense Department officials told House Armed Services Committee lawmakers in a classified briefing. The assessment is sure to frustrate leaders in Kyiv who consider taking the peninsula back one of their signature goals. It’s unclear what led the briefers to that assessment. But the clear indication, as relayed by three people with direct knowledge of Thursday’s briefing’s contents, was that the Pentagon doesn’t believe Ukraine has — or soon will have — the ability to force Russian troops out of the...

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian state security officials searched the home of billionaire businessman Ihor Kolomoiskiy on Wednesday, in what several media outlets said was an investigation into possible financial crimes. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the reports, and Kolomoiskiy could not be reached for comment. A senior governing party official confirmed Kolomoiskiy's home had been searched - as well as that of a former interior minister - but did not state the reason for the search.

Ukraine scored 33 out of 100 on corruption in 2022, which puts the country near the bottom third out of 180 countries scored, according to the annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published this week by non-profit Transparency International. Out of 180 countries scored, Ukraine was the 116th most corrupt, according to the yearly ranking published on Tuesday. Ukraine’s score of 33 was one point higher than in 2021, but the same as the year before, 2020.

For the first time ever, the military aid will include longer-range missiles, according to Reuters. Reuters reported: The United States is readying more than $2 billion worth of military aid for Ukraine that is expected to include longer-range rockets for the first time as well as other munitions and weapons, two U.S. officials briefed on the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The weapons aid is expected to be announced as soon as this week, the officials said. It is also expected to include support equipment for Patriot air defense systems, precision guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank weapons, they added.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday that a lot of the U.S.’s military aid to Ukraine “could have been done sooner.” “I think the only thing I would have said is that a lot of this could have been done sooner,” Gates said when asked by Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he would have advised President Biden to do anything differently. “And, you know, they’re talking about potentially being six months, a year or more before the Abrams tanks get there,” he added. “I think the key thing about the Abrams tank decision was that...

Longtime CIA officer and former Moscow station chief Dan Hoffman called out President Joe Biden for not being transparent about the role of the United States in the war in Ukraine. "The president needs to take a page out of President Reagan's book or FDR's book or JFK — somebody — and explain to us what's going on and why it matters to us," Hoffman said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. The U.S. announced this week that it would be sending three dozen tanks to the Ukrainians ahead of an expected Russian offensive. The 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks will...

American aid to Ukraine has eclipsed the annual expenditure of “endless” wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As the protracted war between Ukraine and Russia continues unabated, congressional lawmakers and President Joe Biden have appropriated $110 billion in military and economic aid to Ukraine. Some pro-Ukraine advocates have contended that the costs of aiding Ukraine’s fight with Russia amounts to “peanuts” in “grand strategy terms.”

WASHINGTON ― The U.S. defense-industrial base is not ready for a battle over Taiwan, as it would run out of key long-range, precision-guided munitions in less than one week, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.U.S. military aid to Ukraine has helped prevent a Russian victory against the neighboring nation, but that assistance has depleted Pentagon stockpiles and shown that the American defense industry cannot surge for a major war, the think tank found.“As the war in Ukraine illustrates, a war between major powers is likely to be a protracted, industrial-style conflict that needs...