This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“President Biden has significant power to effect immediate, meaningful change for people across America, and we urge him to use it aggressively,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
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“President Biden has significant power to effect immediate, meaningful change for people across America, and we urge him to use it aggressively,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“Organizing works,” said one advocacy group. “Now, all insurers must stop supporting fossil fuel expansion.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“Organizing works,” said one advocacy group. “Now, all insurers must stop supporting fossil fuel expansion.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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To protest Moscow’s war on Ukraine, roughly 100 diplomats from countries around the globe walked out of a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Yevheniia Filipenko, led the walkout, which left a mostly empty conference hall to hear Lavrov’s pre-recorded video message during the council’s meeting on disarmament.
The Ukrainian envoy said that this action “sends a very strong signal” to Moscow that the Russian military’s ongoing invasion and assault is “not acceptable.”
Lavrov said that he had planned to attend the session in person but was unable to travel to Switzerland after the European Union banned flights from Russia.
According to the New York Times:
He accused Ukraine of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, an unsubstantiated claim that Moscow has used as one of the justifications for its invasion. Ukraine gave up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in 1994 in exchange for security guarantees.
Mr. Lavrov repeated the Kremlin’s assertions that Ukraine had “made territorial claims against the Russian Federation, threatened to use force and acquire a military nuclear capability.” In earlier comments to the Conference on Disarmament, he said that Ukraine still possessed Soviet-era technology that would enable it to deliver such weapons, adding: “We cannot fail to respond to this real danger.”
Speaking just two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin put his country’s nuclear forces on special alert and one day after Belarus agreed to host Russian nuclear weapons, Lavrov said that the Kremlin believes a “nuclear war cannot be won and should never be fought” — repeating a phrase adopted by Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden at a July 2021 summit.
However, the Times reported:
Lavrov added that the United States should pull its nuclear weapons out of Europe and dismantle the associated infrastructure.
The current “hysteria” in NATO and the European Union confirmed that “it was and still is the aim of the U.S. and all its allies built by Washington to create an ‘anti-Russia,’” he said.
Lavrov’s remarks came just before the Russian Defense Ministry warned Kyiv residents to leave their homes immediately as Russia’s forces advanced on the Ukrainian capital and announced plans to bomb targets in the city.
Earlier on Tuesday, a Russian missile struck the main square of Kharkiv, killing at least seven people, injuring dozens, and damaging an administrative building in Ukraine’s second-largest city.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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“Where is Build Back Better and why are two people standing in its way?” asked Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“Where is Build Back Better and why are two people standing in its way?” asked Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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The Ukrainian envoy said that this action “sends a very strong signal” to Moscow that the Russian military’s ongoing invasion and assault is “not acceptable.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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The Ukrainian envoy said that this action “sends a very strong signal” to Moscow that the Russian military’s ongoing invasion and assault is “not acceptable.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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More than 5,500 peace advocates have been detained across the country since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine, according to a human rights group.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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More than 5,500 peace advocates have been detained across the country since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine, according to a human rights group.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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After Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his invading army to attack “from all directions,” Ukraine’s defense forces and civilian volunteers reportedly repelled an assault on Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, but battles remain underway nationwide on Sunday as diplomatic efforts unfold.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Sunday that Kyiv intends to send a delegation to the Ukraine-Belarus border to hold discussions with Moscow “without preconditions.”
Zelenskyy rejected Putin’s earlier offer to meet his delegation in Minsk — saying that talks there could have been possible had Russia not attacked Ukraine from Belarus — but agreed after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko assured him during a phone call that “all planes, helicopters, and missiles stationed on Belarusian territory remain on the ground during the Ukrainian delegation’s travel, talks, and return” from the border.
Just before the planned negotiations were announced, Putin ordered the Russian military to put its nuclear forces on “special alert.”
The move, made in response to what Putin called “aggressive statements” by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), makes it easier to launch nuclear weapons more quickly, though it doesn’t necessarily mean that Russia intends to use them.
According to BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera, Putin is likely trying to “deter NATO support for Ukraine by creating fears over how far he is willing to go and creating ambiguity over what kind of support for Ukraine he will consider to be too much.”
Earlier Sunday, regional governor Oleh Sinegubov said that Ukrainian forces successfully expelled Russian troops following intense street fighting and are in full control of Kharkiv, a city roughly 300 miles east of the capital of Kiev, which is also still in Ukraine’s hands.
One video, verified by the BBC, shows a group of Ukrainian soldiers taking cover and launching missiles at Russian military vehicles in Kharkiv.
Street fight in Kharkiv. Ukrainian side. pic.twitter.com/i9DvKf6oEe
— Nikolay Zhigalin (@_ZhN_) February 27, 2022
The BBC reported on overnight developments:
Residents described intense shelling, with one woman saying it was “something like Star Wars above your head.”
A nine-story residential tower was hit, emergency services said.
The building was severely damaged and an elderly woman was killed, according to emergency services. Rescuers said about 60 people were spared injury as they had taken refuge in the basement.
Ukrainian government ombudsman Lyudmyla Denysova said Sunday that more than 210 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and more than 1,100 wounded since the start of Russia’s invasion.
“With unseen cruelty, the enemy is destroying residential buildings, hospitals, kindergartens, and schools, taking away the right to live from the sons and daughters of Ukrainian land, including children,” she said in a social media post, according to the BBC.
Russia should be “punished severely for these crimes,” added Denysova. “Ukraine is noting down all these facts and will pass them on to the military tribunal in The Hague.”
Damage to homes and critical infrastructure has left hundreds of thousands of people in Ukraine without access to water and electricity, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Russian forces blew up a gas pipeline in Kharkiv hours after bombing an oil terminal in Vasylkiv, 18 miles south of Kyiv, resulting in a huge explosion and toxic air warnings.
The residents of Kyiv, where fighting continues, have been directed by mayor Vitali Klitschko to remain underground, and a curfew is currently in place through 8 a.m. on Monday.
#UPDATE Map of Ukraine locating areas where explosions, strikes and fighting have been reported and under Russian control.
Updated as of 0900 GMT #AFPgraphics @AFP pic.twitter.com/ks3YdEclst— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 27, 2022
Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Hanna Malyar estimated Sunday that 4,300 Russian soldiers have been killed and dozens of pieces of military equipment — including planes, helicopters, tanks, armored vehicles, and cannons — destroyed since Putin ordered a full-scale invasion four days ago.
“Ukrainian civilians have also been attempting to block the advance of Russian forces peacefully,” the BBC reported. “One video, believed to be recorded in the Chernihiv region, shows local residents halting a convoy of Russian tanks by walking at them en masse.”
Люди зупиняють російких фашистів і не пускають в своє місто!!! pic.twitter.com/RfrP6wSs7V
— Аслан (@antiputler_news) February 27, 2022
The number of people who have fled Ukraine to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and other nations has grown to 368,000, according to U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. They are mostly women and children, as Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are ordered to stay and fight.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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“We’re horrified that Putin has escalated the potential for nuclear war,” said one peace group.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“We’re horrified that Putin has escalated the potential for nuclear war,” said one peace group.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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The on-the-ground situation remains fluid. Kyiv and Moscow plan to send delegations to the Ukraine-Belarus border for negotiations.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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The on-the-ground situation remains fluid. Kyiv and Moscow plan to send delegations to the Ukraine-Belarus border for negotiations.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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With Ukraine under attack, a Russian labor confederation boasting an estimated two million members on Friday called for a “cessation of military action” and “renewal of peaceful dialogue” between officials in Moscow and Kyiv, arguing that workers in both countries are the victims of war.
“The Confederation of Labor of Russia [KTR], as a part of the international trade union movement, considering its direct responsibilities to the working people of Russia, Ukraine, and the whole world, and recognizing its role in promoting and ensuring peace between peoples, is extremely disturbed at the events now taking place,” the organization consisting of more than 20 unions said in a statement.
“All disagreements and contradictions — however deep and however longstanding — must be resolved by negotiations, on the basis of goodwill and adherence to the principle of world peace,” KTR continued. “This vision has been an integral part of the global and anti-militarist outlook of the workers’ movement for more than a century, and has been realized through the establishment of international institutions and mechanisms tasked with ensuring peace.”
KTR noted “with great bitterness” that “it is the working people of our countries, on both sides, who are suffering as a direct result of military conflict.”
“Intensification of the conflict threatens a devastating shock to our nations’ economies and social support systems, and a fall in workers’ living standards,” added KTR. “It would open the door to a massive wave of breaches of working citizens’ labour rights.”
In light of these observations, KTR called for “the cessation of military action, as rapidly as possible, and the renewal of peaceful dialogue and coexistence between the multinational peoples of Russia and Ukraine.”
However, as Jeff Schuhrke, a lecturer in history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, pointed out on social media, there is not currently an anti-war consensus among leaders of the Russian labor movement.
The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia — a larger organization of 120 unions with roughly 20 million members, which Schuhrke said is “closely aligned” with Russian President Vladimir Putin — issued a statement supporting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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“We must come together across borders to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops and immediate talks to find a diplomatic solution,” says Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“We must come together across borders to demand the withdrawal of Russian troops and immediate talks to find a diplomatic solution,” says Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“We are defending the country, the land of our future children,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Kyiv and key cities around the capital are controlled precisely by our army.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“We are defending the country, the land of our future children,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Kyiv and key cities around the capital are controlled precisely by our army.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“It is the working people of our countries, on both sides, who are suffering as a direct result of military conflict,” said the Confederation of Labor of Russia.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“It is the working people of our countries, on both sides, who are suffering as a direct result of military conflict,” said the Confederation of Labor of Russia.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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The Biden administration announced that it will sanction the Russian president and foreign minister as well as top members of the country’s national security team.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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The Biden administration announced that it will sanction the Russian president and foreign minister as well as top members of the country’s national security team.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“You do not, in fact, have to choose between American and Russian imperialisms,” wrote one anti-war reporter. “The correct choice is to detest and resist both.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“You do not, in fact, have to choose between American and Russian imperialisms,” wrote one anti-war reporter. “The correct choice is to detest and resist both.”
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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Experts attribute the increased radiation levels to the Russian military’s current assault on Ukraine.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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Experts attribute the increased radiation levels to the Russian military’s current assault on Ukraine.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.
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“This is going to impose severe cost on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time,” said U.S. President Joe Biden.
This post was originally published on Common Dreams – Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community.