Presidential administration skewers West’s miscalculation of Russia's 'expected' downfall

First Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko
© Alexey Nikolsky/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

The West's bet on Russia's economy collapsing and a would-be rift in Russian society turned out to be a major miscalculation discrediting those who bought into it, First Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko said on Tuesday.

"This is not just a hot war against Russia, but also an economic war, and an absolutely unprecedented one.... An informational and psychological war is being waged, but those who unleashed it, bet on the wrong horse. Now they admit that their belief that the Russian economy would collapse has fallen flat on its face," Kiriyenko said, speaking at the Municipal Dialogue marathon organized by the National Association for the Development of Local Government.

"They very much expected that in the spring there would be a rift in public opinion, the Russian leadership would not have time to defend their own people in Donbass, nor defend the geopolitical interests of our country, because tens of millions of protesters were supposed to flood the streets of Russian cities and the Russian leadership was supposed to be forced to deal with [these] domestic problems," the politician recalled.

He noted that the main mistake Western analysts made was trying to mathematically predict the behavior of Russians.

"There are good analysts in the West, one wonders why they are so grossly mistaken. They're not wrong, they're just trying to judge Russians by themselves. They're good at math, but it's just not math. And the way people in Russia come together and unite when there is a threat to the country, when we have to defend our homeland, when we have to defend our people in Donbass and New Russia, it is not mathematical, that is why no analysts and supercomputers can calculate it," Kiriyenko stressed.

Russia is living under pressure of "endless sanctions" — Putin

Russia is currently under pressure of endless sanctions of unfriendly countries but is coping with them unnervingly, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday at the meeting of judges of arbitration, military, and common jurisdiction courts.

"We are living under the constant pressure from abroad - I mean all these endless sanctions," the President said. "As we all see, we are passing through all these sanctions with a cool head," Putin noted.

The response to unfriendly acts of foreign countries and their attempts to ruin the Russian economy "can only be the expansion of the sphere of freedom and protection from the side of law enforcement authorities on the whole and the judicial system in particular," the head of state added.

And what about the judges: Putin urged to protect business from pressure from the state

Russia’s withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights should not lead to a decrease in the level of protection of citizens, Vladimir Putin said on February 14 at the All-Russian Congress of Judges. At the same time, the head of state called for especially careful consideration of the cases of the military participating in the NWO, taking into account “not only all legal aspects, but also life circumstances.” He singled out entrepreneurs: according to the president, under the conditions of sanctions, businesses should not feel pressure from the state either.

Life after release

At the All-Russian Congress of Judges, the main results of the past year were summed up. One of the most important events for the system was Russia’s withdrawal from the ECHR – it ceased to be part of the relevant convention on September 16. After that, “thinking people”, according to the president, began to worry that this could lead to a decrease in the level of protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens in the country. Vladimir Putin admitted that he himself thought about it.

"We must ensure the interests of citizens, to ensure in any case. Ultimately, our judicial system, using national judicial mechanisms, is able to reliably protect them,” the president added.

Complaints from Russia were most appeals to this international judicial body are over 24%. Since the ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights by Russia in 1998, the total number of judgments issued by the ECtHR on Russian applications has amounted to 3495, of which 309 are leading ones, i.e. identifying structural and systemic problems.

The decisions of the ECtHR “were not impartial and unbiased,” Olga Kovitidi, a member of the Federation Council committee on constitutional legislation and state building, told Izvestia. The bias of this international body is “incompatible” with the protection of human rights, the senator is sure. Nevertheless, the European Court of Human Rights considered a huge number of social cases from Russia, Moscow City Duma deputy Elena Yanchuk noted in an interview with Izvestia. For example, on the recovery of pensions, parental benefits and other payments.

“Thus, the ECtHR essentially performed an important social function at the international level. The legal culture in our country is now, frankly, not at the highest level. In addition, it is far from possible to reach the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in all cases, many issues are considered no higher than the level of the regions. Therefore, the development of independent legal assessment tools is, of course, necessary so that the judicial system can improve, she added.

Now the largest category in the courts are cases of debt collection on loans, Chairman of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev said at the congress. They make up 44% of the total number of civil cases. At the same time, according to him, the number of crimes in the field of computer information has recently been growing: in 2020, 137 people were convicted, and in 2022 – 244.

No pressure

Vladimir Putin emphasized the rights of those who participate in the NWO in Ukraine. Recently, decisions have been made to support military personnel and mobilized citizens. The President called for careful consideration of cases relating to their rights and social guarantees. They should be conducted taking into account “not only all legal aspects, but also specific, life circumstances and situations,” the head of the Russian Federation noted. Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation Vladimir Khomchik said that more than 60% of incoming complaints are satisfied by military courts.

Against the backdrop of anti-Russian sanctions, the congress also touched upon the topic of protecting the rights of entrepreneurs. Especially now, Russian business, according to the president, should not experience excessive pressure from the authorities.

"Of course, in today’s conditions, when we live under constant pressure from abroad, I mean all these endless sanctions – as we all see, we calmly go through all these sanctions – but in response to these unfriendly actions and There can be only one attempt to destroy our economy: expanding the sphere of freedom and protection on the part of law enforcement agencies in general and the judiciary in particular,” Vladimir Putin said.

According to him, the entrepreneur must comply with the law, “but should not feel pressure from the state.”

Last year, criminal prosecution was terminated against more than a quarter of those accused in business cases, Vyacheslav Lebedev noted. The President instructed the judges, within their competence, to also work and submit proposals for amending the bankruptcy law.

On the eve of the elections, which are scheduled for September, the head of the Russian Federation called for keeping under special control the observance of the electoral rights of Russians. Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court Tatyana Petrova reported to the President that a corresponding draft resolution of the Supreme Court is being prepared. The document is planned to reflect the practice of litigation, as well as indicate issues that cause difficulty and provide clarifications on them.

In addition, due to the earthquakes that shook Turkey and Syria, Vladimir Putin asked the judges to pay special attention to construction issues when considering cases. “All sorts of movements are taking place there, connected with the desire of those who are engaged in this type of activity to receive additional profit from the reconstruction of the premises. Then they go to the courts and they all approve it. This is a very dangerous trend,” the President warned. The head of state noted that there are many seismically dangerous zones on the territory of Russia – both in the south of the country and in the Far East.

The theme of the recently annexed territories was also touched upon at the congress. The courts are actively integrating the new regions of the Russian Federation into the domestic legal field, Vyacheslav Lebedev said. According to him, the Russian State University of Justice is working to organize professional retraining and advanced training of judges. Also, the level of skills of the judiciary staff is increasing.

Russian forces hammer Ukrainian troops in southern Donetsk, Zaporozhye areas — top brass

©Russian Defence Ministry/TASS

Russian forces inflicted damage on Ukrainian army units in the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Zaporozhye area over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday

"In the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, operational-tactical aircraft and artillery of the battlegroup East delivered strikes by combined firepower, inflicting damage on the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Ugledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Levadnoye and Orekhov in the Zaporozhye Region," the spokesman said.

The enemy’s losses in that area amounted to "40 Ukrainian personnel, one tank, three armored combat vehicles and two Msta-B and D-30 howitzers," the general specified.

Russian forces also obliterated a Ukrainian ammunition depot near the community of Malinovka in the Zaporozhye Region, he said.

Russian combat aircraft and artillery struck Ukrainian manpower and equipment in the Kupyansk area, eliminating roughly 70 enemy troops over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, assault and army aviation aircraft and artillery of the western battlegroup inflicted damage on the enemy’s manpower and military hardware in areas near the settlements of Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic, and also Dvurechnaya, Tabayevka, Peschanoye and Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region," the spokesman said.

The strikes eliminated enemy manpower and equipment, the general said.

"As many as 70 Ukrainian personnel, five pickup trucks, three motor vehicles and a Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer were destroyed in that direction in the past 24 hours," Konashenkov reported.

Russian artillery, combat aircraft and heavy flamethrowers struck Ukrainian army units in the Krasny Liman area, destroying about 100 enemy troops and a Grad multiple rocket launcher over the past day, he said.

"In the Krasny Liman direction, operational-tactical and army aviation aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems of the battlegroup Center struck the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Terny and Krasny Liman in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic and in the area of the Serebryansky forestry," the spokesman said.

The strikes eliminated as many as 100 Ukrainian personnel, a D-30 howitzer, three armored combat vehicles, two motor vehicles and a Grad multiple launch rocket system in that area in the past 24 hours, the general specified.

Russian forces supported by aircraft and artillery eliminated over 60 Ukrainian troops in their advance in the Donetsk area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Donetsk direction, over 60 Ukrainian personnel, four motor vehicles, four Msta-B howitzers and a Grad multiple rocket launcher were destroyed as a result of the offensive by the southern battlegroup, air strikes and artillery fire," the spokesman said.

Russian forces also destroyed a hangar storing military equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 110th mechanized brigade near the community of Avdeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the general added.

Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian Msta-B howitzer in counter-battery fire in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kherson direction, a Msta-B howitzer was destroyed in counter-battery fire," the spokesman said.

In the areas of the settlements of Antonovka in the Kherson Region and Vesyoloye in the Dnepropetrovsk Region, Russian forces obliterated two Ukrainian ammunition depots, the general added.

Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian electronic warfare (EW) command post in the Kharkov Region over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian electronic warfare (EW) command post in the Kharkov Region over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the past 24 hours, operational-tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 93 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 108 areas. In the area of the community of Monachinovka in the Kharkov Region, the command post of a Ukrainian army EW unit was destroyed," the spokesman said.

Russian combat aircraft shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter and a Mi-8 helicopter in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 plane in the area of the settlement of Cherevkovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and a Mi-8 helicopter near the community of Slavyanka in the DPR," the spokesman said.

Russian air defense forces destroyed seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and intercepted four HIMARS rockets over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities intercepted four rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system and destroyed seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Novovodyanoye, Kolomiychikha and Zhitlovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Aleksandrovka and Kirillovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Pologi in the Zaporozhye Region," the spokesman said.

In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 385 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 208 helicopters, 3,121 unmanned aerial vehicles, 404 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,859 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,019 multiple rocket launchers, 4,091 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,377 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.

Snowden: US Creates Panic Over Downed Objects to Distract Attention From Nord Stream Blast

©Photo : Chase Doak

Former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, who lives in Russia, said the panic over the possible alien or extraterrestrial origin of flying objects downed above the United States and Canada is designed to distract journalists from investigating Nord Stream pipeline blasts.

"It's not aliens. I wish it were aliens but it's not aliens. It's just the ol' engineered panic, an attractive nuisance ensuring natsec reporters get assigned to investigate balloon bullshit rather than budgets or bombings (à la nordstream)," Snowden wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, White House spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said there is no indication that recent incidents involving unknown flying objects over the United States and Canada are linked to alien or extraterrestrial activity.

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh earlier published a report saying that US Navy divers during NATO Baltops exercises in the summer of 2022 planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, which Norway activated three months later. According to the report, US President Joe Biden decided to sabotage the Nord Streams after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team.

The US later denied its involvement in blowing up the Russian gas pipelines last year.

On September 26, 2022, three of the four strings of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were damaged after an underwater blast. The pipeline's operator Nord Stream AG reported that the damage was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the timeframe for repairs.

‘Damn Stupid’: US Journalist Behind Nord Stream Bombshell Takes Aim at Biden, Legacy Media

©Photo : Swedish Coast Guard

In his first interview since publishing his bombshell story on the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh fleshed out the details of his explosive report exposing the role of the US Navy in blowing up critical German-Russian energy infrastructure.

American journalist Seymour Hersh is “taking heat” over his recent explosive report documenting how the US sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines, the legendary reporter revealed in a new interview.

In a wide-ranging discussion on the War Nerd podcast, Hersh called on US President Joe Biden to come clean to the American people about the Biden administration’s role in the attack. The journalist underscored that the US public is being misinformed about the proxy war in Ukraine en masse.

Last week, Hersh published a dizzying report detailing how US Navy divers planted C-4 charges on the Nord Stream pipelines during a NATO training exercise and then remotely detonated them with a Norwegian reconnaissance plan.

The veteran war journalist suggests media outlets are refusing to cover his new revelations because “they think that the story I wrote supports Russia” – which “it does,” he concedes.

But Hersh said that despite being “colossally bad” for the European economy and “inexcusable,” the American government’s intentional attack on the critical energy infrastructure of a US ally is not technically illegal under international law.

“The law on the sea is very interesting. There are treaties that go back to 1884, when we began to lay Telegraph lines across the ocean, and if you inadvertently or deliberately ran across the line that was a real bad deal.”

But “there were mostly economic consequences” for those infractions, Hersh pointed out, noting there's actually “no law on the books that says deliberately building up a pipeline is a crime.”

But “there were mostly economic consequences” for those infractions, Hersh pointed out, noting there's actually “no law on the books that says deliberately building up a pipeline is a crime.” Such a crime “has never been considered,” Hersh said, but there are “certainly a lot of law about damages, if you damage a pipeline. And this is a pipeline that's probably going to cost… — there's a Swiss company that did an estimate — 1.5 billion to fix the pipelines.”

Asked if he’s ever covered anything like a government “blowing up your ally’s critical infrastructure,” Hersh replied that the Biden administration “didn’t see it that way.” Instead, Biden “saw that gas as a weapon, Hersh claimed, “because as long as Russia was selling that much gas they thought Russia would weaponize if… there was a war.”

In reality, Hersh said “the fear was: Biden wants this war.”

“Don’t ask me why presidents want war. I think it’s good for their ratings. I just don’t know.”

“But Biden was very big on showing the Russians that in the Ukraine, with Ukrainian bodies, soldiers, we’ll show ‘em – we can stand up to Russia,” the journalist explains.

Anti-Russian posturing is “good politically in America too,” Hersh added, noting that in the US, “we all, you know, we wake up everyday kicking Russia and Putin, our...”

“Our nemesis,” the host chimed in.

In the comprehensive interview, Hersh took aim at outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post, who he said are only interested in burning his source for the Nord Stream story. According to his recent report, that anonymous figure had “direct knowledge of the operational planning” of the pipeline attack.

“I'm taking heat, I have a source, I'm taking heat – but that's okay, that’s my job, right? But it's their job to understand the business a little better.” And in terms of the conflict in Ukraine, mainstream Western outlets “don't seem to have anybody inside,” Hersh said.

“The coverage of the Ukrainian war is, compared to what I'm hearing from my friends who have access to the information… it's – the thinking is so dumb.”

“The war I know about isn't the war you're reading about,” Hersh said cryptically, pointing out that military operations against Russia were by no means going well. "No, of course not. Are you kidding?"

While he admitted Russian forces “made great misjudgments,” he acknowledged “they have a 350,000 man regular army that hasn't gone in yet.”

One of the likely causes for those waves of misinformation may be what the host refers to as the “Bellingcats and the OSINT [open source intelligence] bros.” Responding to their mention, Hersh doesn’t mince words: “No one cares about those people.”

The storied journalist seemingly suggested instead that Bellingcat, the self-professed ‘independent’ outlet upheld by much of the mainstream media, is actually a British intelligence operation:

“I mean, why don’t you think about their nexus to certain intelligence agencies in a certain country,” Hersh asked rhetorically. “You know, you get to know who’s who.”

“But there are legitimate people complaining” about his reporting as well, he added.

“It’s amazing to me how they fall in line, my colleagues,” the reporter expressed. “When I was at the New York Times, they didn’t do that.”

“I’m not sure they underestimate the American people,” Hersh said. “We’re ready to accept the fact that an American president did this.”

And “it’s not only accepting it,” the journalist added. “You have to hold the president to account.”

Of the mainstream Western outlets that covered the story, Hersh faced fierce pushback from most of them, which tended to emphasize White House and CIA denials of the Nord Stream allegations.

Reuters called his jaw-dropping exposé a “blog post,” and one headline from Insider described the report as a “claim by a discredited journalist” which the authors insist “is proving a gift to Putin.”

Hersh faced major attacks on his reputation in the wake of stories debunking now–discredited claims from Western governments about Syrian forces using sarin gas, and for his writings dismantling the official story of the killing of Osama Bin Laden. As for the criticism, he says he’s “used to it.” But this time, it “sort of stunned me because this was such an obvious story,” he said.

As Hersh noted in his story, top US officials - including Biden - repeatedly threatened to sabotage the pipeline in the event that Russian troops engaged Ukrainian forces. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland warned in January: “if Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.”

“So what does that mean?” Hersh asked. “I don't know what anybody's thinking but I'Il tell you what that means: that's called a threat.”

“A friend of mine put it this way: what you've done, [Seymour]… you're an expert at deconstructing the obvious. What else was it? What else was it?”

“The Russians didn’t do it, [and] if the Russians didn’t do it, which country in NATO [did]?” he questioned.

“It’s just not even a hard story to understand – the president of the United States and the undersecretary of state both said they were going to do it and then they did it,” Hersh stated, adding: “they waited a long time but they cut off oil.”

“Literally within a month of the actual event,” Hersh noted, Secretary of State Antony Blinken “gave a speech in which he talked about stopping Russia from weaponizing oil and gas – ‘now is the time we can do it,’ he said.”

Meanwhile, the effect on the European economy is “devastating.”

As Hersh pointed out, Germany’s BASF, the largest chemical producer in the world, shut down nearly 100 plants and “has actually been talking to China about moving some facilities there.”

In terms of “the economic stuff, which hasn't been reported nearly enough in the Western press here,” Hersh said, “this is called, I guess you could [say], shooting off your left foot.”

“For no reason whatsoever, yes, we shot ourselves in the foot. Yes, it's stupid beyond belief. Yes.”

“I would think that it's certainly, unquestionably, a wonderful degree of stupidity at the White House and on [the] part of the president. It's just stupid – it's just damn stupid.”

The journalist said it’s unlikely Biden will face scrutiny for his actions in many mainstream media outlets anytime soon, because “this White House,” Hersh said, has “the New York Times and the Washington Post and MSN and CNN fronting for them.” And “the enemy is Fox News.”

But “the only reporter that has called me from any TV station – outside of somebody that's running out of the kitchen of their mother's house” was Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Hersh declined the request, but said Carlson has been “dead right” about the Nord Stream attack. “And I’ll tell you something else - Tucker’s been right about is the war in Ukraine.”

The reporter repeatedly emphasized his unwillingness to discuss his sourcing, explaining “the one thing government’s good at is tracking down people who talk.” But ultimately, he suggested the information could be coming from someone inside the US oil and gas industry, telling his interviewer: “there’s something called a pipeline industry.” “There’s an industry [with] American companies involved. They build pipelines around the world. Are you listening to me? They know what happened," Hersh said. “The last thing they want to do is end up in a goddamn newspaper story, but they know who did what."

“Of course they know – they built the goddamn things!”

“I’m not talking necessarily about Nord Stream 1 or 2, but they build pipelines and they talk to divers, and they know what’s happening, they know who has the capability, and they know what they hear inside,” Hersh concluded.

Turkey’s Erdogan reveals number of people rescued from under the rubble after earthquake

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
©Turkish Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

Over 8,000 people have been rescued in Turkey from under the rubble after earthquakes, the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, the death toll is rising as the rubble of thousands of collapsed houses is being removed. In total, more than 8,000 people have been rescued. More than 81,000 people have been injured, most have already been discharged from hospitals," the president said in a video message to the World Government Summit taking place in Dubai. The recording of Erdogan's speech was released by his office.

"We expect to heal our wounds from this scourge of the century soon. We plan to rebuild all destroyed cities quickly. More than 100 countries around the world, especially the Arab states, have sent us aid or offered words of condolence," the president added.

As a result of the earthquakes in the south-east of Turkey, which happened on February 6, 31,643 people died, with over 81,000 people affected. Some 6,444 buildings were destroyed. Rescue and debris removal works are still going on in the disaster areas. Temperatures are dropping to subzero levels at night.

Six pulled from the rubble as survivors leave Turkey quake zone

Six survivors were rescued from the rubble in Turkey on Tuesday, eight days after a devastating earthquake, as the focus shifts to helping those who survived find shelter, food or a haven elsewhere.

The disaster, with a combined death toll in Turkey and neighbouring Syria now exceeding 37,000, has ravaged cities in both countries, leaving survivors homeless in the bitter cold, at times sleeping on piles of rubble.

The six rescued on Tuesday included two brothers, aged 17 and 21, pulled from an apartment block in Kahramanmaras province, and a woman rescued from the rubble of a building in the southern Turkish city of Hatay, Turkish media said.

But U.N. authorities have said the rescue phase was coming to a close, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling, as those who survived said they were struggling.

"People are suffering a lot. We applied to receive tent, aid or something but until now we didn't receive anything," said Hassan Saimoua, a refugee staying with his family in a playground in Turkey's southeastern city of Gaziantep.

Saimoua and other Syrian refugees who had found refuge in Gaziantep from the war at home but were made homeless by the quake used plastic sheets, blankets and cardboard to erect makeshift tents on a patch of grass in the playground.

"The needs are huge, increasing by the hour," said Hans Henri P. Kluge, the World Health Organizations's director for Europe. "Some 26 million people across both countries need humanitarian assistance."

"There are also growing concerns over emerging health issues linked to the cold weather, hygiene and sanitation, and the spread of infectious diseases - with vulnerable people especially at risk."

Meanwile, survivors joined a mass exodus from earthquake-hit zones, leaving their homes unsure if they can ever come back.

VERY HARD

"It's very hard ... We will start from zero, without belongings, without a job," said 22-year-old Hamza Bekry, a Syrian originally from Idlib who has lived in Hatay, in southern Turkey, for 12 years.

"Our house collapsed completely. Several of our relatives died, there are still ones under the rubble," he added, as he prepared to follow his family to Isparta in southern Turkey.

People gather items from the rubble following the deadly earthquake in Hatay province, Turkey, February 14, 2023. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

He will become one of more than 158,000 people who have evacuated the vast swathe of southern Turkey hit by the quake, one of the deadliest tremors in the region's modern history.

Drone footage in Kahramanmaras showed empty buildings with their walls ripped open by the quake, which caused the collapse of dozens of structures and forced hundreds of families to live in tents erected in a stadium in freezing temperatures.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who faces an election scheduled for June that is expected to be the toughest of his two decades in power, acknowledged problems in the initial response but said the situation was now under control.

Turkey's Urbanisation Minister Murat Kurum said some 42,000 buildings had either collapsed, were in urgent need of demolition, or were severely damaged across 10 cities.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad agreed to allow U.N. aid to enter from Turkey via two more border crossings late on Monday, the world body said, in a move that could help get aid to those in opposition-held northwest Syria.

'DAD, AFTERSHOCK!'

Meanwhile, the search for survivors is about to end in the north west of Syria, the head of the White Helmets main rescue group, Raed al Saleh, said, adding: "The indications we have are that there are not any (survivors) but we are trying to do our final checks and on all sites."

Russia also said it was wrapping up its search and rescue work in Turkey and Syria and preparing to withdraw from the disaster zone.

The Turkish toll was 31,974 killed, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said on Tuesday. More than 5,814 have died in Syria according to a Reuters tally of reports from Syrian state media and a U.N. agency.

At a Turkish field hospital in the southern city of Iskenderun, Indian Army Major Beena Tiwari said patients initially reported physical injuries but that was changing.

"Now more of the patients are coming with post-traumatic stress disorder, following all the shock that they've gone through during the earthquake and whatever they have seen," she said.

In Aleppo as well, a former frontline in Syria's war, families who had to leave their homes are now dealing with the psychological aftermath of the quake.

"Whenever he forgets, he hears a loud sound and then remembers again," Hassan Moaz said of his nine-year-old. "When he's sleeping at night and hears a sound, he wakes up and tells me: Dad, aftershock!."

Russian troops liberate another DPR community in Donetsk advance, top brass reports

©Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

Russian forces liberated the community of Krasnaya Gora in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Monday.

"In the Donetsk direction, volunteers of assault units with the fire support of missile troops and artillery of the southern battlegroup liberated the settlement of Krasnaya Gora in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

Russian artillery inflicted damage on Ukrainian army units in the Kupyansk area, eliminating over 30 enemy troops in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, artillery of the western battlegroup inflicted damage on Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Dvurechnaya, Krakhmalnoye, Gryanikovka and Timkovka in the Kharkov Region, and also Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

The strikes eliminated enemy manpower and equipment, the general said.

"Over 30 Ukrainian personnel, two armored combat vehicles, three motor vehicles and a D-20 howitzer were destroyed in that area in the past 24 hours," Konashenkov reported.

Russian forces destroyed over 80 Ukrainian troops and a D-30 howitzer in the Krasny Liman area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Krasny Liman direction, over 80 Ukrainian personnel, three armored combat vehicles and a D-30 howitzer were destroyed as a result of artillery and heavy flamethrower fire by the battlegroup Center in areas near the settlements of Yampolovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Chervonaya Dibrova, Chervonopopovka, Kuzmino and Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

Russian forces eliminated over 150 Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"The enemy’s losses in the past 24 hours totaled over 150 Ukrainian servicemen, four armored combat vehicles, six pickup trucks and two D-30 howitzers," the spokesman said.

Russian forces eliminated over 60 Ukrainian troops in the southern Donetsk area in the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the southern Donetsk direction, artillery of the battlegroup East inflicted damage on amassed Ukrainian manpower and military equipment in the areas of the settlements of Prechistovka and Ugledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.

In the past 24 hours, Russian forces destroyed "over 60 Ukrainian troops, three armored combat vehicles, four pickup trucks, a D-20 howitzer and two D-30 howitzers," the general specified.

Russian forces destroyed two Ukrainian Grad multiple launch rocket systems and two Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the Kherson direction, two Grad multiple rocket launchers and two Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers were destroyed in counter-battery fire in the past 24 hours," the spokesman said.

Russian forces struck the Ukrainian army’s equipment repair base near Slavyansk in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the area of the city of Slavyansk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the armaments and military equipment repair and recovery base of the Ukrainian army’s 95th air assault brigade was struck," the spokesman said.

In the past 24 hours, Russian forces hit 82 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military hardware in 126 areas, the general specified.

Russian air defense forces shot down nine Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and six HIMARS rockets over the past day, Konashenkov reported.

"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities shot down six rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, and also destroyed nine Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Kremennaya, Chervonopopovka, Zhovtnevoye and Golikovo in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Petrovskoye in the Zaporozhye Region, Sagi, Katerinovka and Marinskoye in the Kherson Region," the spokesman said.

In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 384 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 207 helicopters, 3,114 unmanned aerial vehicles, 404 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,852 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,017 multiple rocket launchers, 4,082 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,363 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.

Ban on access to Artyomovsk may be prelude to withdrawal of Ukrainian troops — NYT

The ban on civilian and volunteer access to Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) imposed by Kiev on Monday could be a prelude to a Ukrainian withdrawal from the city, the New York Times reported.

According to the newspaper, the decision to ban civilians from entering the city may suggest that the Ukrainian military cannot secure even areas in the city that had been considered relatively safe before, such as districts on the western bank of the Bakhmutka River.

The New York Times quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying that the village of Krasnaya Gora, lying north of Artyomovsk, had been taken by Russian troops.

Ukraine’s Klymenko Time news outlet reported on Sunday, citing a Ukrainian commander who goes under the nickname of Madyar, that the military would close access to Artyomovsk for all civilians, including volunteers, starting on Monday. Only those having a special permit will be able to enter the city, the news outlet added. According to it, the ban is needed to guarantee security to civilians.