General William Morgan

04/03/2022

Russia has depicted its drawdown of forces near Kyiv as a goodwill gesture in peace talks. Ukraine and its allies say Russia was forced to shift its focus to east Ukraine after suffering heavy losses near Kyiv.

The shift, however, does not mean the country faced a reprieve from more than five weeks of war or that the more than 4 million refugees who have fled Ukraine will return soon.

Zelenskyy said he expects the towns Russian forces withdrew from to endure missile and rocket attacks from afar and for the battle in the east to be intense.

In his nightly video address on Saturday, the Ukrainian leader said the country’s troops were not allowing the Russians to retreat without a fight: “They are shelling them. They are destroying everyone they can.”

Russia, Zelenskyy said, has ample forces to put more pressure on Ukraine’s east and south.

“What is the goal of the Russian troops? They want to seize the Donbas and the south of Ukraine,” he said. “What is our goal? To defend ourselves, our freedom, our land and our people.”

Fighting in Kharkiv has displaced more than a third of the city's population.Many of those left behind have been hiding in makeshift bomb shelters.Al Jazeera...

04/03/2022

The whole Kyiv region is liberated from the invader,” Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, wrote on Facebook.

There was no immediate Russian comment on the claim.

In total, Ukraine’s troops have retaken more than 30 towns and villages around Kyiv, according to officials. The recaptured towns bore the scars of five weeks of fighting, with destroyed armoured vehicles, military gear and dozens of bodies lying scattered over streets.

In Bucha, a town northwest of the capital, Ukrainian soldiers used cables to pull the bodies of civilians off the streets out of fear that Russian forces may have left them booby-trapped.

Bucha’s Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said authorities there have buried 280 people in a mass grave and said the victims included women as well as a 14-year-old boy.

“All these people were shot, killed, in the back of the head,” Fedoruk said.

04/03/2022

Millions of Ukrainians have fled to neighbouring Poland since the Russian invasion.Many are settling in the capital. But services in the city are strained, a...

04/03/2022

About 300 residents had been killed on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital during a monthlong occupation by the Russian army, authorities said, with the streets littered with corpses.

Locals said the dead in Bucha were civilians killed by departing Russian soldiers without provocation. Anti-tank mines were scattered across a bridge in Bucha.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned residents that Russian forces were creating a “catastrophic” situation for civilians by leaving mines around homes, abandoned equipment and even corpses.

Ukraine’s troops have retaken more than 30 towns and villages around Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, claiming complete control of the capital region for the first time since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.

After five weeks of fighting, Russia pulled back forces that had threatened Kyiv from the north. Experts and Ukrainian leaders say Russia has now shifted focus to eastern Ukraine.

04/03/2022

03/30/2022

The world is right to be focusing on Ukraine: As President Joe Biden says, it could pave the way to World War III, which must be avoided. As someone who helped build the Operation Southern Watch no-fly zone in Iraq in August 1992 from the National Security Council staff, I agree fully that a no-fly zone in Ukraine is a declaration of war with Russia.

But we should also make every effort to end the war in Yemen, as Biden promised a year ago. The immediate step is to end the blockade which causes so much damage to the most vulnerable, the children of Yemen who need America’s help and protection.

03/30/2022

In the Ukraine war the Houthis have tilted toward Russia, but they have nothing to offer Moscow. Along with Damascus, they recognized the independence of the two Russian-created rebel states in eastern Ukraine. They have blamed Kyiv — and in particular, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Jewishness — for the war. The intense anti-American ideology of the Houthis, reinforced by seven years of being bombed by American-made aircraft with American munitions, probably explains the decision to appease Moscow. Russia has also been a longtime critic of the one-sided United Nations Security Council resolution that tilts toward the Saudis and was pushed through the council by Washington in 2015. It was renewed last month.

03/30/2022

There is one crucial difference between the war in Ukraine and the war in Yemen. The Houthis are not a democratically-elected government. They are serial human rights abusers. They have rallied support and sentiment behind them because of the invasion and blockade from Yemen’s historic enemy, Saudi Arabia. They have included other parties and leaders in their government, but they are not democrats.

03/30/2022

The Houthi strikes are far fewer than the Saudi air strikes in Yemen. The Saudis have launched almost 25,000 air strikes in seven years while the Houthis have fired fewer than 1,300 missiles and drones in the same period.

03/30/2022

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘😘 The Houthis continue to take the war to the Saudis by firing missiles and drones at targets in the kingdom. Most of the targets are in the border area near Yemen, but the Houthis also strike Riyadh and other cities. Earlier this month they attacked a refinery in the Saudi capital; last Sunday they launched a wave of attacks including on oil installations. So far the damage has been small, but one shot could injure hundreds of people if it hits a crowded place like an airport lounge or a hotel.

03/30/2022

The blockade also prevents fuel from getting into the country. By one estimate, Yemen is getting only one tenth of the fuel it imported before the war. This impacts on the already weak health and education infrastructure.

03/30/2022

The partial Saudi blockade of Yemen has led to a massive humanitarian catastrophe. Yemen imports most of its food and medicine. According to the World Food Program, at least half of Yemeni children under the age of five — 2.3 million people — are at acute risk of malnutrition. The United Nations estimates 377,000 deaths in seven years, the vast majority from malnutrition and related causes. With the war in Ukraine blocking exports of grain from the two combatants, which together make up a third of global wheat exports, food prices are going up, and the poorest country in the Arab world will suffer.