What happens to weapons sent to Ukraine? The US doesn't really know

Washington (CNN)The US has few ways to track the substantial supply of anti-tank, anti-aircraft and other weaponry it has sent across the border into Ukraine, sources tell CNN, a blind spot that's due in large part to the lack of US boots on the ground in the country -- and the easy portability of many of the smaller systems now pouring across the border.

It's a conscious risk the Biden administration is willing to take.


A senior defense official said Tuesday that it is "certainly the largest recent supply to a partner country in a conflict." But the risk, both current US officials and defense analysts say, is that in the long term, some of those weapons may wind up in the hands of other militaries and militias that the US did not intend to arm.
"We have fidelity for a short time, but when it enters the fog of war, we have almost zero," said one source briefed on US intelligence. "It drops into a big black hole, and you have almost no sense of it at all after a short period of time."

Originally @ https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/19/politics/us-weapons-ukraine-intelligence/index.html

Peaceful life is being restored in the village of Rozovka, which has come under the control of the DPR.

There is an employment center, people write applications for pensions from the Republic, as well as get socially significant jobs.

https://t.iss.one/sputnik/1839

BEIJING, April 20. /TASS/. China has demanded explanations from Washington over Chinese media reports saying the CIA is using a powerful platform, "Beehive", as cyber warfare, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said at a regular briefing on Wednesday.

"China has expressed its deep concern over the irresponsible and harmful activity on the part of the US government in cyberspace," Wang Wenbin said when asked to comment on the media reports. "We are calling on the US to provide relevant explanations and to immediately stop this activity," the diplomat says.

In recent years, the US government has repeatedly proposed that China’s neighboring countries expand cooperation in cyberspace, potentially setting a new stage for geopolitical confrontation.

Chinese experts have uncovered a global espionage system being used by US special forces, the Chinese newspaper Global Times wrote on Tuesday, citing the National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center. The "Beehive" platform the system is based on was developed jointly by the US' Central Intelligence Agency and defense giant Northrop Grumman.

The platform enabled its operators to remotely scan, exploit vulnerabilities, extract files and even destroy computer systems, the Global Times reported. According to the newspaper, the CIA widely distributed equipment for operations using the "Beehive" platform in Canada, Malaysia, Turkey, France, Germany and other countries.

Originally @ https://tass.com/world/1440493

UK lawmaker offers to disband NATO for peace on the planet

Jeremy Corbyn, who led the Labour Party between 2015 and 2020 believes that military alliances like NATO must be disbanded in order to ensure peace and security on the planet.

"I would want to see a world where we start to ultimately disband all military alliances," Corbyn said in an interview for the Times Radio. "The issue has to be what’s the best way of bringing about peace in the future? Is it by more alliances? Is it by more military build-up? Or is it by stopping the war in Ukraine and the other wars [that are not being talked about much] that are going on at the present time, which are also killing a very large number of people? And ask yourself the question, do military alliances bring peace? Or do they actually encourage each other and build up to a greater danger?"

Originally @ https://tass.com/world/1440623

Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation: Statement of the Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response in Ukraine

Despite all the difficulties and obstacles imposed by the Ukrainian side, over the past day, without the participation of Kiev, 14,982 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, 2,940 of them children, and in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 894,030 people have already been evacuated, of which 163,761 are children. The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 118,810 personal vehicles including 1,843 per day.

More than 9,500 temporary accommodation centres continue to operate in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and are fully equipped with recreational facilities and hot meals. The refugees are treated individually and provided with qualified medical and psychological assistance.

Over the past 24 hours, the hotline of the Joint Coordination Headquarters of the Russian Federation for Humanitarian Response, federal executive authorities, subjects of the Russian Federation and various public organizations received 357 appeals from foreign and Ukrainian citizens, with a total of 2,751,150 from 2,128 locations in Ukraine in the database.

Originally @ https://eng.mil.ru/en/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12418195@egNews

Biden didn't have a lot of goodwill left with the public before this week.

But the conflicting messages coming out of the White House -- and the broader Democratic Party -- make it look like there is no plan to turn things around in advance of the midterm elections, which are now just over 200 days off.
Perhaps in an attempt to address this sense of a lack of direction, Biden put out a series of tweets Wednesday morning blaming inflation on Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine and urging Congress to take action. "I've called on Congress to move immediately to lower the cost of families' utility bills, prescription drugs, and more — while lowering the deficit to reduce inflationary pressure," Biden tweeted.
It's not clear that there is much desire among Democrats -- many of whom are eager to get home and campaign before the midterm elections -- to follow through on Biden's push.
It's all a mess for Democrats. And a mess without any clear -- or easy -- solutions.

Originally @ https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/20/politics/biden-mask-mandate-approval-rating/index.html

"The most important thing is that our children will study in Russian. It was a nighmare, literally a nightmare, the Russian-speaking population, how they tormented us".

Residents of Mariupol talk about what this operation is for.

Originally@ https://t.iss.one/gramotyyaroslava/3788

🇺🇦"Don't interfere with natural selection."

The press secretary of the Nikolaev OVA reacted to the call of the head of the city to take refuge in shelters.

The comment has already been deleted.

Originally@ https://t.iss.one/sputnik/1905

Originally@ https://t.iss.one/oper_goblin/13872

The World Federation of International Music Competitions has excluded the Tchaikovsky International Competition from its membership.

https://t.iss.one/sputnik/1860

Putin says do not storm Azovstal!

Let them come out on their own. Is there more than meets the eye?

👆Apparently, judging by how many times Macron called Mr. Putin, and that Nuland seems to want NATO involved in evacuating the people in Azovstal... We dare say, it's someone really, like OMG-class VIP sitting down there somewhere. Who? There were rumors about some US general or other, and maybe even French and British 'advisers'.
Anyway, seems like Mr. Putin decided to turn this 'heroic' adventure right into 'die-like-rats-or-surrender' story with a single decision.

U.S.-led biolabs pose potential threats to people of Ukraine and beyond

U.S.-led biolabs in Ukraine have carried out secret research for a long time, posing potential threats to people of Ukraine & beyond, while locals were unaware of this. This is my interview to the Chinese CCTV. Text version is here - https://english.news.cn/20220414/0e3010deb95249418969ff876304b236/c.HTML

Originally@ https://t.iss.one/ukr_leaks_eng/141

Germany Is Displacing Afghan Refugees to Make Way for Ukrainians
Hundreds of Afghans who fled the Taliban have been evicted as an even larger flood of Ukrainian war refugees arrive.

Originally @ https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/20/germany-refugee-policy-afghanistan-ukraine/

Akhmed Sheikh Imam, a Member of Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, speaks his mind about the current situation
Originally@ https://t.iss.one/orda_mordora/11487

People in Georgia are breaking up a rally of Ukrainian supporters in Tbilisi

Originally @ https://t.iss.one/ukraina_ru/67431

Macron vs Le Pen, the presidential debate

Le Pen: "We cannot commit hara-kiri with the hope of hurting Russia"

Originally @ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-debate-quotes-idAFKCN2MC1SF

Happy Birthday, Your Majesty! Which one is Boris? 🙂

Ukraine against art

One more of attention-grabbing stunts by some of "particularly gifted" Ukrainians – the painted statue in Piazza della Signoria (Florence).

The sky is the limit. There are still the Eiffel Tower, pyramids and temple of Artemis to give another brush to.

Originally @ https://t.iss.one/rrharisov_live/538