Patriot Missile Systems Too Complex and Expensive to Be Sent to Ukraine Without US Chaperones

©AP Photo/Michal Dyjuk

While more and more US-supplied weapon systems are taken out by Russian forces in the Ukrainian conflict, the Pentagon vehemently denies the presence of US military personnel in Ukraine who may be operating and maintaining this hardware.

Though a spokesperson for the Pentagon told Russian media that there are no US personnel in Ukraine servicing Patriot missile launchers or some other US hardware, retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, a former analyst for the US Department of Defense, did not seem convinced by these claims.

“I think the US government is lying, by omission and also directly, on this question of US servicemen operating or maintaining equipment, specifically the Patriot system, in Ukraine,” Kwiatkowski told Sputnik.

“Given the vulnerability and the expense and the limited number of these systems, I find it difficult to believe that the US contractors and US operators are not involved and monitoring day-to-day activities in each of these areas of operation,” she said. “Maintenance of these systems requires over a year of training, and I expect major maintenance is being monitored and done by US contractors and servicemen.”

Noting that the Patriot missile systems supplied to Kiev were provided by Germany and the US, along with “some missiles and parts from the Netherlands,” the former analyst speculated that “contracted US support connected directly to those countries may also be in the country,” thus “providing deniability for the Pentagon.”

Kwiatkowski also brought up the recent affair involving a leaked call between German military officers discussing attacks against Russian territory, who mentioned “somewhat humorously the large number of people aiding the fight in Ukraine who have ‘an American accent’.”

She pointed out that the CIA that has been “heavily involved in Ukraine” since long before 2022, “often serves as a vehicle with which to take on experts from the US military via direct hiring, temporary assignment, or via the contracted use of skilled retirees from the US active duty military and reserve forces.”

Kwiatkowski added that, considering the cost of the Patriot systems and their missiles, along with the “extensive training required for all aspects of this expensive system,” it would seem that the predictions made last year about the transfer of these weapons being “largely a political statement of support rather than a significant system of air defense for Ukrainian cities” were correct.

Watch Annihilation of Ukrainian Saboteurs Who Dared Approach Russian Border

On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that another attempt by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to invade the Russian border territory near Spodaryushino in the Belgorod region had been thwarted.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing the ill fate of Ukrainian saboteurs near the village of Spodaryushino in the Belgorod region. Fire from Russian artillery combined with airstrikes decimated militants and destroyed their vehicles, including five tanks.

"Preemptive actions by Russian units have thwarted another attempt by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to break through into the border area of the Russian Federation near the settlement of Spodaryushino in the Belgorod region," the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"As a result of air strikes and artillery fire, up to 195 servicemen, five tanks, four armored combat vehicles, three UR-77 mine clearing vehicles and three military engineering vehicles were destroyed," the Defense Ministry added.

Watch Russian TOS-1A Solntsepyok Heavy Flamethrowers Demolish Ukrainian Positions

Russia’s TOS-1A Solntsepyk (Scorching Sunlight) is a powerful and devastating multiple rocket launcher system, designed to deliver a high volume of high-explosive incendiary (HEI) rockets capable of causing massive damage to enemy forces and infrastructure.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage of crews of TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrowers destroying Ukrainian positions near Artemovsk.

The heavy flamethrower system crews eliminate enemy fortifications, hardware, and personnel on a daily basis, with servicemen having to carry out tasks more often at night, as it is safer and creates an additional surprise effect for the enemy, the ministry added.

‘Neo-Nazi Kiev regime’ tried to disrupt Russian elections – Putin

President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with permanent members of the Russian Security Council via videolink on February 15, 2024.
©Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel

The continuing Ukrainian incursions into and strikes on Russia's border regions are primarily aimed at disrupting the ongoing election in the country, President Vladimir Putin has said.

The president made the remarks on Friday during a meeting with permanent members of the Russian National Security Council. Putin condemned the efforts made by Kiev to disrupt the ongoing election, vowing retaliation for the attacks.

In order to disrupt the voting process and intimidate people, at least in the regions bordering Ukraine, the Kiev neo-Nazi regime has conceived and is trying to carry out a series of “demonstrative criminal armed actions,” Putin stated.

The effort includes continuous indiscriminate drone and artillery strikes, as well as a concentrated effort to breach the country’s border, launched by Ukrainian forces earlier this week, the president explained, describing Kiev’s actions as “senseless from the military, and criminal from a humanitarian standpoint.”

The escalation may also be used as a PR stunt for Kiev to show the Ukrainian public and its Western backers some military gains, Putin suggested. As for trying to intimidate the Russian people, the Ukrainian leadership will never achieve such a goal, with the country’s people responding to such actions only with “further consolidation,” he added.

“Another possible goal of such actions is to divert the attention of their own people and the public in other countries, whom the Kiev regime is trying to beg for money and all sorts of handouts, to divert attention from the real situation on the front line,” the president said.

According to Moscow’s estimates, the Ukrainian military has deployed over 2,500 servicemen, some 35 tanks and around 40 other armored vehicles to attack multiple locations along the border, Putin noted. All the attacks have been repelled, with the Ukrainians sustaining heavy personnel and material casualties.

Unfriendly Countries Tried to Disrupt Voting of Russians Abroad - Foreign Ministry

Unfriendly countries have tried to do everything to disrupt the process of voting of Russians abroad in the presidential election but they have failed, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

©Sputnik/Ramil Sitdikov/Go to the mediabank

The spokeswoman was asked about the decrease in the number of polling stations abroad.

“But in terms of the number of [polling] stations, there are indeed significantly less this time. For one simple reason: these are precisely the actions of those very unfriendly regimes that are doing everything in order to prevent, disrupt, intimidate our citizens, and exert political pressure but they see no success,” Zakharova said.

Italian Election Observer Tours a Moscow Polling Station

One of the ways the ongoing 2024 Russian presidential election ensures transparency is by engaging international electoral observers who monitor the voting process.

©Photo

Delegations of international observers from 36 countries and independent election experts have arrived in Russia. Dr. Marco Marsili, a researcher at Cà Foscari University of Venice and associate fellow at the Centre for Strategic Research (Cesran International) is among them. He holds research positions in major civil and military institutions in Portugal, the UK and Italy and was a public official and election observer for the OSCE. These days, he is an independent observer at the presidential elections taking place across the country on March 15-17.

In an exclusive video, he showed Sputnik how a typical polling station operates, including some of Russian unique technical features aimed at facilitating the casting of votes.

"We are here with a delegation of representatives, former parliamentaries and journalists and other experts from different countries like Georgia, France, Portugal and Italy, like me," he pointed out.

"This is the equipment for the electronic voting. So people scan their passport (through which they are identified) and they are allowed to vote," he pointed out.

Marsili also underlined the effectiveness of local election commissions and their commitment to assisting the voters.

"The voters are assisted promptly by personnel of the polling station and they receive all the information promptly in a way that they can vote in the proper way," he added.

LIVE UPDATES - Russians Head to the Polls to Elect Next President

Russia is holding its 2024 presidential election from March 15 to 17. The list of candidates running for the nation's highest office include Vladimir Putin (independent), Leonid Slutsky (LDPR), Nikolai Kharitonov (CPRF), and Vladislav Davankov (New People party).

Out of Russia's 145+ million citizens, over 110 million voters are eligible to vote at more than 100,000 polling stations, in addition, remote voting is also available.

Around 1 million election organizers are there to ensure that every single vote is secured and accounted for. Besides, the 2024 voting process also involves election observers and CCTV monitoring systems present at polling stations across the country.

This year’s election will also usher in such technical innovations as remote electronic voting (REV) and ballots with QR codes. According to the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC), these features will make the voting process more convenient and transparent.

On the first day of the presidential elections, over a million people took part in remote voting on Russia's federal online platform, according to the data of the monitoring portal.

Houthis Attack 3 US, Israeli Ships in Indian Ocean - Statement

Houthi supporters attend a rally in Sanaa, Yemen [File: Osamah Abdulrahman/AP Photo]

Yemen’s Houthis said on Friday that they have attacked three US and Israeli vessels in the Indian Ocean.

"The Yemeni Armed Forces, within the framework of implementing these directives, carried out three operations against three Israeli and American ships in the Indian Ocean, using a number of suitable naval missiles and drones, and all three operations successfully achieved their objectives," the statement said.

The Houthi movement, which controls large parts of northern and western Yemen, vowed in November 2023 to attack any ships associated with Israel until it halts military actions in the Gaza Strip.

This led the United States to announce a multinational operation to secure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. US and UK forces later launched multiple strikes against Houthi positions in a bid to degrade their ability to target commercial vessels.

"Our main battle is to prevent ships linked to the Israeli enemy from passing through not only the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, but also the Indian Ocean towards the Cape of Good Hope. This is a major step and we have begun to implement our operations related to it," al-Houthi said in a televised speech.

Around 34 Houthi members have been killed since the group began the attacks, al-Houthi added.

Months of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa, and stoked fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spread to destabilise the wider Middle East.

"Naval forces targeted the Israeli ship Pacific 01 in the Red Sea, with appropriate naval missiles," the group's military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement.

The group also targeted "a US destroyer in the Red Sea with drones, and the operation successfully achieved its objectives," he added.

The spokesperson emphasized "the expansion of operations against Israeli ships or those affiliated with Israel or heading to the ports of occupied Palestine to include the Indian Ocean via the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait."

Hezbollah tells Iran it would fight alone in any war with Israel

A supporter of Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah holds his picture during a rally commemorating the group’s late leaders in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon February 16, 2024. (REUTERS)

With ally Hamas under attack in Gaza, the head of Iran’s Quds Force visited Beirut in February to discuss the risk posed if Israel next aims at Lebanon’s Hezbollah, an offensive that could severely hurt Tehran’s main regional partner, seven sources said.

The conversation turned to the possibility of a full Israeli offensive to its north, in Lebanon, the sources said. As well as damaging the Shiite Islamist group, such an escalation could pressure Iran to react more forcefully than it has so far since Oct. 7, three of the sources, Iranians within the inner circle of power, said.

Over the past five months, Hezbollah, a sworn enemy of Israel, has shown support for Hamas in the form of limited volleys of rockets fired across Israel’s northern border.

At the previously unreported meeting, Nasrallah reassured Qaani he didn’t want Iran to get sucked into a war with Israel or the United States and that Hezbollah would fight on its own, all the sources said.

“This is our fight,” Nasrallah told Qaani, said one Iranian source with knowledge of the discussions.

Calibrated to avoid a major escalation, the skirmishes in Lebanon have nonetheless pushed tens of thousands of people from their homes either side of the border. Israeli strikes have killed more than 200 Hezbollah fighters and more than 50 civilians in Lebanon, while attacks from Lebanon into Israel have killed a dozen Israeli soldiers and six civilians.

In recent days, Israe’s counter-strikes have increased in intensity and reach, fueling fears the violence could spin out of control even if negotiators achieve a temporary truce in Gaza.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant indicated in February that Israel planned to increase attacks to decisively remove Hezbollah fighters from the border in the event of a Gaza ceasefire.

The Beirut meeting highlights strain on Iran’s strategy of avoiding major escalation in the region while projecting strength and support for Gaza across the Middle East through allied armed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, analysts said.

A war in Lebanon that seriously degrades Hezbollah would be a major blow for Iran, which relies on the group founded with its support in 1982 as a bulwark against Israel and to buttress its interests in the broader region, two regional sources said.

Despite American Perception, Iran Does Not Control Yemeni Houthis

On Thursday, multiple media outlets reported on secret meetings between Iranian and US officials with Omani officials acting as a conduit. According to the reports, the US asked Iran to instruct the Yemeni Houthis to stop their blockade in the Red Sea.

However, Iran has made it very clear that they will not negotiate on behalf of their allies, Dr. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a professor of English literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran, told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Thursday.

“It’s obvious that the Iranians are not going to negotiate on behalf of Yemen,” Marandi explained, pointing to when Saudi Arabia and Iran were negotiating to reestablish diplomatic relations. “There were years of negotiations to reestablish ties. The sticking point was that the Saudis wanted Iran to negotiate on behalf of Yemen because [Saudi Arabia was] at war with Yemen… and the Iranians insisted that they [would] not negotiate on their behalf… ultimately, the Saudis removed that precondition.”

Marandi insisted that contrary to media reports, “No negotiations between Iran and the United States took place [regarding Houthi attacks in the Red Sea] because the Iranians would not accept such negotiations.”

To stop the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the US simply has to stop supporting Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Marandi argued. “[The Houthis] have said from the very beginning when the genocide in Gaza began that they will block shipping to Israel, to Israeli ports, in order to put pressure on the regime to stop the genocide and they said they will do it in accordance with the Genocide Convention,” Marandi explained. “They are actually working within the framework of international law and their position is a deeply moral position… Yemen has said repeatedly that if the genocide stops, their actions in the Red Sea will stop.”

Meanwhile, the US and its “sidekick, the British” are working to help the Israeli genocide, including by killing Yemeni citizens, Marandi said.

However, that has caused problems for those countries who were added to Yemen’s blockade list in response. “[The US and UK] created a problem for themselves,” he explained. “In this upside-down world that we live in today, the United States is attacking Yemen in order to help the Israeli regime continue with genocide unimpeded.”

The reverberations of that decision and the US insisting that shipping companies go around Africa instead of through the Red Sea, is hurting more than just the US and its allies. “What the Americans want to do, is they want to make this a crisis, a global economic problem,” Marandi said. “They want everyone to suffer so that they can gain leverage and put pressure on Yemen to end the blockade… for the sake of Israel and for the sake of the Israeli genocide, they’re willing to make everyone suffer.”

Israeli strikes kill at least 29 Gazans awaiting aid, say Palestinian officials

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas (Reuters)

At least 29 Palestinians were killed while awaiting aid in two separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Gaza’s health ministry said.

In the first incident, Palestinian health officials in the Hamas-ruled strip said eight people were killed in an airstrike on an aid distribution center in Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip. Later, at least 21 people were killed and more than 150 wounded by Israeli gunfire at a crowd awaiting aid trucks at a northern Gaza roundabout, Gaza’s health ministry said.

In a statement, Israel’s military denied attacking aid centers, describing the reports as “false.”

“As the IDF assesses the incident with the thoroughness that it deserves, we urge the media to do the same and only rely on credible information,” the statement said.

The Gaza conflict has displaced most of the enclave’s 2.3 million population. Chaotic scenes and deadly incidents have taken place during aid distributions as desperately hungry people scrambled for food.

On Feb. 29, Palestinian health authorities said Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over.

In Deir Al-Balah, also in central Gaza, an Israeli missile hit a house on Thursday, killing nine people, Palestinian medics said. Residents said Israeli aerial and ground bombardments persisted overnight across the enclave, including in Rafah in the south, where over a million displaced people are sheltering.

The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7 that left 1,200 people killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel’s air, sea and ground assault on Gaza has killed more than 31,000 people and wounded over 71,500, according to Gaza health authorities.

Efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist militant Hamas have so far failed. While Israel said it sought a deal that would secure the release of hostages in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinians held by Israel, Hamas insists an agreement should end the war.

Late on Thursday, Hamas said it presented to mediators a comprehensive vision of a truce deal based on stopping what it calls Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, providing relief and aid, the return of displaced Gazans to their homes, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the new Hamas position was based on “unrealistic demands.”

With the war now in its sixth month, the UN has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – one quarter of the population – are on the brink of famine and global pressure has been growing on Israel to allow more access.

Israel denies obstructing aid deliveries into Gaza. It has blamed failures by aid agencies for delays and accuses Hamas of diverting aid. Hamas denies this and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon in its military offensive.

A ship carrying aid was approaching Gaza where the US military plans to set up a dock to enable distribution of up to two million meals a day. While welcoming aid ships, Palestinian and UN officials say maritime deliveries are not a substitute for sending aid through land crossings.

Hamas on Thursday called for an escalation of protests and attacks against Israel in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem on Friday, the first day of Friday prayers in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In a restaurant at a southern Israel junction, a soldier was stabbed on Thursday, Israeli police said. It said the suspected attacker, a 22-year-old from the nearby Bedouin city of Rahat, was shot and “neutralized.”

MUI issues ban on Israeli dates

Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, the boycott has also resonated with dates getting a call-out by religious authorities.

The country’s highest clerical body the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) and Nadhatul Ulema, the largest Muslim mass organisation, issued separate injunctions against consuming dates imported from Israel or those grown in the West Bank.

“We wish to remind Indonesians, Muslim or otherwise, to be on the side of humanity and refrain from buying Israeli dates during Ramadan,” said Sudarnoto, MUI chair for international relations on Wednesday, adding emphatically the boycott of products by “corporations affiliated with Israel” must continue.

Separately, Nadhatul Ulema chairman Ahmd Fahrur Rozi, said his organisation, representing 40 million Indonesian Muslims, supported MUI’s fatwa on declaring Israeli dates “haram” or forbidden.

“This is the most peaceful way for us to show solidarity with the Palestinian people,” he said.

Indonesian media has released a host of brand names for Israeli dates.

A wholesale seller of dates based in southern Surabaya, who asked to remain anonymous, said it was possible some of the non-label dates sold in bulk had Israeli origin.

“But we can’t tell for sure because they arrived from importers with no label whatsoever,” she explained, adding unlabelled dates were typically cheaper.

According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2023 Indonesia’s import of dates amounted to US$80.5 million, almost 30 per cent of which originated from Egypt. There is no specific data on dates imported from Israel.

Hasan Johnny Widjaya, chairman of the Indonesian Importers of Fruit and Vegetables claimed his members had no business links with Israeli companies. “No dealing with Israel at all, so no imported dates from them!”

Despite the assurances, Surabaya homemaker Amirah Purborekso, 35, admitted she was still worried about unknowingly buying Israeli dates.

“Logically, sellers, after knowing about the fatwa, would probably conceal the origin of their dates if they came from Israel.”

She said she had taken part in the ongoing boycott of Israeli-affiliated products for months now and was determined to carry on.

“So, for dates, I’ll just buy those that come in boxes with clear labels and information on where they came from.”

As part of the movement to boycott products and goods produced by Israel, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has banned Muslims in the country from purchasing or consuming dates grown in the Jewish state

Sudarmoto, the head of international relations and cooperation at the MUI, announced earlier this week that Israeli-grown dates should be considered haram or forbidden by Islamic law.

"If you come across Israeli dates, please don't buy those," the senior MUI cleric was quoted by Detik.com as saying.

He said that the ban against Israeli dates was in fact a follow-up to an edict issued by the MUI in 2023 on the obligation to support the Palestinian cause.

"The MUI edict has been issued, and this is a reminder that that Muslims and Indonesians in general who care about humanity must boycott Israeli products and the products of companies or countries affiliated with Israel," he said.

The council also provided a list of brands of dates grown and packaged in Israel including "Star Dates," "Dates Medjoul" and "Jordan River".

Consumer boycott widens to include Israeli dates as Muslims in Malaysia, Indonesia observe Ramadan

Dates from Israel are the latest goods to fall foul of a consumer boycott across Muslim nations in Southeast Asia, after Malaysian customs arrested a man for allegedly mislabelling the fruit for local sale, while Indonesia’s highest Muslim authority reminded the public to snub Israeli imports of the sweet snack during the holy month of Ramadan.

Muslims across the region have observed a months-long boycott of Israeli goods and companies in protest against the brutal assault on Gaza, which has killed over 30,000 Palestinians so far, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, the overwhelming majority of them civilians. Israel says 1,200 of its citizens were killed by the October 7 attack on its territory by Hamas militants, who took scores more hostage into Gaza.

The boycott, amped up by social media, has hit the bottom line of some companies in Malaysia over apparent links to Israel, prompting a plea from the wealthy owner of the local unit of Starbucks for consumers to ease up on his firm, and legal action by McDonald’s for damages.

Now Israeli dates, a sweet fruit eaten to break fast during Ramadan, are in the cross hairs of a consumer campaign which is flying across Malaysian and Indonesian chat groups over fears Israeli dates are being sold to unwitting buyers in the Muslim nations.

A Malaysian minister on Thursday warned “strict action” would be taken against people who “mislead consumers” after a man was detained in a raid on a warehouse in Klang Port, Selangor.

“During the raid, officers confiscated 73 packs of jumbo medjool dates believed to have come from Israel,” Armizan Mohd Ali, minister in charge of domestic trade and cost of living told parliament on Thursday, responding to questions.

“We view this issue seriously and will take strict action against those who mislead consumers,” he said.

Customs officials on Wednesday said the dates were bulk-imported along with other food items from European countries in 2022, according to local news reports.

The dates were declared as “foodstuff” and later repackaged for sale on the local market, customs deputy director general Datuk Sazali Mohamad said.

Malaysia has long maintained strict trade sanctions on Israel. Any import or export between the two countries can only be carried out with a special permit from the ministry of investment, trade and industry.

Last December, Malaysia announced an immediate ban on vessels owned by Israeli shipping giant Zim from docking and unloading cargo at its ports, along with any ship bearing the Israeli flag.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim this week said he made “no apologies” for maintaining diplomatic links with Hamas despite Western pressure to denounce the militant group.

Anwar, who is seeking the approval of an increasingly vocal Muslim electorate, has been among the loudest critics of Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Malaysia’s public has also led Southeast Asia’s boycott drive.

A day before the start of the Ramadan fasting month, Malaysia’s national newswire released a graphic on its social media accounts on the various types of dates that were popular among Malaysians, which included a brief reminder to avoid buying boycotted goods such as dates from Israel, the West Bank and Jordan Valley.

In the weeks ahead of Ramadan, Malaysian social media was awash with posts urging Muslims to be wary of unknowingly buying dates from Israel, listing 32 brands which have allegedly flooded the local market.

“Be careful, everyone! Pay attention to everything we buy in our daily lives, continue the boycott of products from companies that are enriching Israel,” read a Facebook post by one Hairul Nizam, who shared a video claiming that Israel grows its dates for export on Palestinian land.

“Starbucks, McD, and all brands that fatten them up, we maintain a boycott. Replace them with local brands or companies that support the Palestinian struggle.”

Many of the posts included long lists of brands that allegedly sourced the mildly-sweet fruit from Israel, with some even accusing local Chinese businesses of ignoring Muslim sensitivities by selling repackaged Israeli dates on the local market.

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