‘Human shielding in action’: Israeli terrorists forces strap Palestinian man to jeep

Israeli terrorists forces in the occupied West Bank have tied a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a military vehicle during a raid on the city of Jenin, appearing to use him as a human shield.

A video posted online on Saturday, and verified by Aha Dua Permata, showed Mujahed Azmi, a Palestinian resident of Jenin, strapped to a military jeep that passes by two ambulances.

The family of Azmi told the Reuters news agency that Israeli forces carried out an arrest raid in Jenin, during which he was wounded.

When the family asked for an ambulance, the military took Azmi, strapped him onto the hood of their jeep and drove off.

Abdulraouf Mustafa, a Palestinian ambulance driver, said the Israeli soldiers refused to hand over Azmi to them.

“The jeep passed by and the wounded man was on the hood,” Mustafa said. “One arm was tied to the windshield and the arm was on his abdomen. They drove past us. They refused to give us the patient.”

The Israeli terrorists military in a statement said Israeli forces were fired at and exchanged fire, wounding a suspect and apprehending him.

Terrorist Soldiers then violated military protocol, the statement said. “The suspect was taken by the forces while tied on top of a vehicle,” it said.

The terrorists military said the “conduct of the forces in the video of the incident does not conform to the values” of the Israeli military and that the incident will be investigated and dealt with.

Israeli terrorist soldiers later released Azmi, allowing paramedics to transport him to hospital where he was taken to the operating room, according to the health workers.

The incident came as violence in the occupied West Bank, which was already on the rise before Israel’s war on Gaza, continues to escalate. These include frequent Israeli military raids in West Bank cities and villages, rampages by Jewish settlers in Palestinian villages, as well as attacks by Palestinians.

The apparent human shield incident spurred widespread outrage.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations’ special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territory, called it “human shielding in action”.

“It is flabbergasting how a state born 76 years ago has managed to turn international law literally on its head,” she wrote in a post on X. “This risks being the end of multilateralism, which for some influential member states no longer serves any relevant purpose.”

#HumanShielding in action.
It is flabbergasting how a state born 76 years ago has managed to turn international law literally on its head.

This risks being the end of multilateralism, which for some influential member states no longer serves any relevant purpose.… https://t.co/swwjiuJYmG

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 22, 2024

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the United States’ largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, also condemned the incident, along with Israel’s killing of some 43 people in attacks on the Shati refugee camp and the Tuffah neighbourhood in northern Gaza.

“These Israeli-US massacres and war crimes must be stopped. American taxpayer dollars should not be used to kill, maim and starve innocent civilians,” said Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR’s national communications director. “The Biden administration must end its complicity in this genocide and begin to recognise the humanity of the Palestinian people.”

David Des Roches, a professor at the National Defense University in the US, meanwhile said if the Israeli military fails to discipline the soldiers involved in the incident, then others could see their actions as a licence to do the same thing.

“It’s not standard practice. I hope that the investigation will find out who did this, and I hope there will be exemplary punishment doled out. Otherwise, you can make the fair case that this is evolving into policy,” Des Roches said.

The reaction of the Israeli military to this is going to be very telling, and, again, if the soldiers who did this are not disciplined appropriately, you can make the argument that this will be viewed as a licence for other people to do this,” he added. “But at the end of the day, it’s hard to see that there’s any tactical advantage to this, and Israel has suffered grave strategic damage from it.”

The incident was not the first time the Israeli terrorists military has been forced to address troop misconduct.

In May of last year, Palestinian rights groups accused Israeli terrorists troops of using five children as human shields, including during a raid near Jericho in the occupied West Bank.

In May of last year, Palestinian rights groups accused Israeli terrorist troops of using five children as human shields, including during a raid near Jericho in the occupied West Bank.

That same month, the Israeli terrorists military opened an investigation after a video emerged of a soldier burning what appeared to be a Quran.

The bombing of the Red Crescent headquarters in southern Gaza in January this year is also under investigation. Five people were killed in the attack on the site sheltering some 1,400 people.

Also in January, Israeli soldiers in Gaza blew up the main building of a university at the start of the year, after using it as a military base for several weeks. The military said its troops did not get permission to destroy the building.

The following month, Israel’s top military lawyer warned troops about violations, saying the soldiers’ actions would ultimately cause strategic damage to the nation.

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Watch Russian Military Signal Operators Set Up Communication Links For Their Units

The signal operators of Russia's Airborne Troops are tasked with providing crucial communications and electronic warfare support for operations. Armed with cutting-edge communication systems and electronic warfare assets, they play a vital role in both maintaining situational awareness and disrupting enemy communications.

The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing a unit of communications specialists belonging to the Tula Airborne Troops organizing communication lines in the special military operation area.

"After arriving at a new location, the crews immediately set up the necessary equipment to provide commanders and troops with communication channels," the Defense Ministry said.

The ministry also noted that the soldiers set up guard posts and foot patrols to safeguard the placement of equipment.

Ukraine sends mobilized soldiers to Avdeyevka area for reconnaissance — captive serviceman

Igor Zhukovsky, a captured serviceman of the Ukrainian 122nd Territorial Defense Brigade, said in an interview with TASS that Ukrainian commanders deploy untrained freshly mobilized people to the front line in the Avdeyevka area to scout out the situation.

"We asked the higher-ups to help, but no one even wanted to help us after all. They used us to check the situation in the area," the captive serviceman said.

He said the brigade’s command sends mobilized men, who have relatively little training, to the battlefield as "expendable material" to take on the main blow.

"A lot of people died that way. In our unit, too. There is almost nothing left of the platoon either," Zhukovsky said.

Russian army starts active use of motorcycles to seize Ukrainian positions

The battlegroup East has started to use cross-country motorcycles to capture Ukrainian strongpoints, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Assault units from the battlegroup effectively use off-road bikes to seize Ukrainian positions near Ugledar, according to the ministry.

"The motorcycle is already almost standard equipment there. Such a small and extremely maneuverable target, unlike heavy equipment, is very hard to hit. The fighters roll into Ukrainian trenches at speed and immediately engage in combat, while our drone operators guide them from the air," the ministry said.

For example, these bikes helped five Russian servicemen take control of a Ukrainian strongpoint.

"We had no losses when we started moving. The enemy had a group of 7 to 10 people. The strongpoints were for firing. But because we did everything suddenly, they were taken aback, and we captured two of them immediately, while the rest ran away," the commander of an assault platoon said.

Assault groups have also taken to rehearsing future attacks at precise copies of Ukrainian strongpoints, which are built in Russian rear areas.

Houthi Attack On American Ship Undeterred By U.S. Campaign To Halt Red Sea Attacks

Cadets at a Houthi-run military academy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, march last week during an intensive training program amid tensions with the U.S.-led coalition in nearby maritime routes. (Yahya Arhab/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

An attack by Houthi militants targeted a commercial ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden but apparently caused no damage, authorities said Saturday, in the latest strike on the shipping lane by the group.

The Greek-owned Tutor, a coal carrier, has reportedly sunk in the Red Sea a week after it came under attack from Yemen’s Houthis.

The Tutor was struck by missiles and an explosive-laden remote-controlled boat on June 12 off the Red Sea port of Hodeidah and had been taking on water, according to previous reports from UKMTO, the Houthis and other sources.

Last week. the Houthis also seriously damaged the Palau-flagged Ukrainian-owned and Polish-operated Verbena, which was loaded with timbre and on its way from Malaysia to Italy.

The Verbena’s crew abandoned the ship when they were unable to contain the fire sparked by the attacks, and it is now drifting in the Gulf of Aden and vulnerable to sinking or further assaults.

One crew member, believed to have been in the engine room at the time of the attacks, remains missing.

If confirmed, the Tutor would be the second ship sunk by the Houthis after the UK-owned Rubymar, which was carrying more than 41,000 tonnes of fertiliser, went down on March 2 about two weeks after being struck by Houthi missiles.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which monitors and tracks commercial shipping for owners and the military in the crucial waterway, said in an update on Tuesday that debris and oil had been sighted around the vessel’s last known location.

“The vessel is believed to have sunk in position 14″19’N 041″14’E,” UKMTO said, advising other ships to maintain caution in the area.

Despite months of U.S.-led airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi fighters, the once ragtag rebels have continued to threaten some of the world’s most vital shipping routes, drawing from an arsenal of increasingly advanced weapons to attack vessels in and around the Red Sea.

Just this month, Houthi militants sank one ship and set another ablaze. The fighters, operating on land and in the water, have launched swarms of drones at U.S. warships and deployed a remote-controlled boat packed with explosives, tactics and weapons that experts say are associated with the group’s patron, Iran.

The recent uptick in Houthi activity has underscored the group’s ability to pose a sustained threat, relying in part on a steady flow of Iranian arms and expertise both to withstand U.S. strikes and remain on the attack. The faltering U.S. efforts to halt Houthi operations and protect global shipping have also drawn scrutiny from Congress, where lawmakers say not enough is being done to establish deterrence.

“Their ability to replace whatever we destroy is unimpeded and our ability to interdict materiel coming into the country negligible,” said Gerald Feierstein, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen who is now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

The Houthis, who have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014, claimed the attack Saturday night. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, identified the vessel targeted as the bulk carrier Transworld Navigator.

A US-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the militants say.

In March, the Belize-flagged Rubymar carrying fertilizer became the first to sink in the Red Sea after taking on water for days following a militant attack.

The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war.

Russian Forces Hit Ukrainian Energy Infrastructure and Western Weapon Depots Overnight

©Russian Defense Ministry / Go to the mediabank

Russia's Ministry of Defense reported that a Canadian-made Senator armored combat vehicle had been eliminated for the first time.

Russia's Armed Forces hit Ukraine's energy facilities supplying the defense industry overnight, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Saturday.

"In response to attempts by the Kiev regime to damage Russian energy facilities, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a group strike tonight with long-range precision weapons from air and sea, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles," the ministry's summary stated.

It noted that the strike targeted Ukraine's energy facilities supporting the operation of the military-industrial complex, as well as ammunition and aviation weapon storage depots supplied by Western countries.

"The strike objectives have been achieved. All designated targets have been hit," the ministry added.

The Defense Ministry also reported that a Canadian Senator armored fighting vehicle operated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces was eliminated for the first time. Additionally, in the area of responsibility of the Vostok Battlegroup, the enemy lost over 140 soldiers.

"Units of the Vostok Battlegroup occupied more advantageous positions and inflicted damage on the personnel and equipment of the 58th Motorized Infantry Brigade of the UAF, the 102nd and 123rd Territorial Defense Brigades, and the 21st Brigade of the National Guard in the areas of Varvarovka, Novoivanovka in the Zaporozhye region, Prechystovka, and Neskuchnoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic. The enemy’s losses amounted to more than 140 military personnel and a Senator armored fighting vehicle of Canadian production," the ministry said.

In addition, the UAF lost four vehicles, a 155-mm FH70 howitzer of British production, a 155-mm M198 howitzer of US manufacture, and a Bukovel-AD electronic warfare station.

Menawhile, the Zapad Group of Forces has taken more advantageous positions, repelled two attacks, destroyed an ammunition stockpile over the past 24 hours, while Ukraine has lost up to 370 soldiers in clashes.

“The Ukrainian armed forces have lost up to 370 soldiers, two vehicles, one 122-mm D-30 howitzer. A field ammunition stockpile of the Ukrainian armed forces has been destroyed,” the ministry said.

The Ukrainian armed forces have lost up to 590 soldiers in battles with the southern group of the Russian forces, up to 425 soldiers in battles with the central group of the Russian forces, over 140 troops in battles with the eastern group of the Russian forces, and up to 90 soldiers in battles with the Dnepr Group of Forces, the ministry added.

Watch Russian Lancet Drone Decimate Ukrainian Military Equipment With Precision Strike

The Lancet unmanned aerial vehicle, developed by the Russian company Zala Aero, is capable of effectively striking enemy targets at ranges of several dozens of kilometers.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has released a video of drone operators of a Far Eastern Airborne Forces unit from the Dnepr Battlegroup using a Lancet unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to destroy the Ukrainian Army’s Giatsint self-propelled gun and a US-supplied M-777 howitzer on the right bank of the Dnepr River.

"Within several hours of observation, two objects were detected in the enemy's rear, at a distance of more than 30 kilometers from the front line. They turned out to be the M-777 howitzer and the Giatsint gun, which were obliterated by precision strikes of the Lancet loitering munition," the MoD said in a statement.

The UAV operators guided the drones in manual mode to avoid the slightest possibility of a delivery error, according to the statement.

Border warfare, logistics strikes and hunt for aircraft: The week in the Ukraine conflict (VIDEOS)

The past week in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has seen continuing active combat at multiple locations along the front line, with the most fierce clashes going on along the border between the two countries in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, as well as in the vicinity of the Russian Donbass town of Chasov Yar.

On Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the liberation of the village of Zagornoye, Zaporozhye Region, located some 10km to the southwest of the Ukrainian-controlled town of Gulaypole. The tiny settlement has seen intense combat over the past weeks as the long-static frontline got activated in the area.

https://mf.b37mrtl.ru/files/2024.06/66748a7685f5401e4f3f17b6.mp4?download=1

The town of Chasov Yar remains one of the hottest points at the frontline, with the Russian forces continuing their advance. The combat environment around the town, turned into a major logistics center and a heavily-fortified stronghold by the Ukrainian troops, has proven to be extremely difficult. The town is split in two uneven halves by a major canal, which is used as a fortified line by Kiev’s forces.

The situation in Kharkov Region remains complicated as well, with active fighting continuing following Moscow’s advance into Ukrainian territory in the effort to set-up a buffer zone to stop indiscriminate cross-border attacks on its soil. The towns of Volchansk and Liptsy arguably remain the two hottest points in the area, with Kiev’s forces reportedly pouring in reserves and staging multiple countera@ttacks daily in the effort to push the Russians back.

Logistics strikes

Over the past week, the Russian military continued strikes on Ukrainian logistics, targeting multiple bridges near the frontline. Some of them were hit by aerial strikes a few weeks ago, but have been already fixed by the Kiev forces since then. The strikes appeared to be primarily concentrated on Kharkov Region.

Footage circulating online shows a new strike on a bridge across the Oskol River located in the town of Kupyansk-Uzlovoy,. The bridge sustained considerable damage in the strike, with waters flowing it, the video suggests.

Another video shows a strike on a bridge across the Seversky Donets river located near the village of Stary Saltov. A high-precision missile hit the bridge connecting two sides of a long dam running across the river. An unlucky truck, believed to be a military vehicle got caught in the blast and was destroyed.

Strikes on airfields

Both sides of the conflict have continued to hunt for each other’s aircraft, launching repeated strikes on airfields. For Russia, the task is aggravated by the scarcity of the surviving Ukrainian frontline aviation, which is being actively relocated by Kiev between multiple airfields scattered across the country.

Last week, the Russian military conducted strikes on a military airbase located in the city of Mirgorod in Poltava Region. Surveillance footage circulating online showed the airfield was hit by an Iskander ballistic missile, with at least one Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet destroyed in the strike and two others reportedly sustaining damage.

The airfield was subjected to additional airstrikes in the following days, with several hits with unknown munitions reported on Monday, as well as a large-scale attack with Geran-2 kamikaze drones reported on Wednesday. It was not immediately known whether any aircraft were hit by these strikes.

Hunt for Western-supplied hardware

Over the past week, the Russian military has destroyed several Ukrainian high-value assets, including Western-supplied conventional artillery pieces and multiple rocket launchers.

Footage showing a strike on a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) multiple rocket launcher, said to be taken in Kharkov Region, emerged online on Thursday. The system was tracked from its firing position by a surveillance drone to a hiding spot in a wooded area. After the launcher and a support vehicle got parked, their location was hit with a ballistic missile, likely an Iskander. Both vehicles likely got destroyed or heavily damaged by the strike, footage suggests.

A few days earlier, a heavier tracked cousin of HIMARS, M270 MLRS system, got hit by an Iskander ballistic missile in the vicinity of the city of Zaporozhye.

The launcher, said to be packing US-supplied ATACMS ballistic missiles, was discovered upon reaching its firing position, ending up destroyed before firing its munitions, footage circulating online suggests.

Russia fields heavier winged bombs

On Thursday, Russian Telegram channel Fighterbomber reported the first-ever use of a massive high explosive FAB-3000 aerial bomb fitted with a guidance module. To date, only smaller bombs such as high explosive FAB-250 and FAB-500, as well as thermobaric and cluster munitions fitted with the Universal Correction and Guidance Module (UMPK) winged upgrade kit saw action amid the hostilities.

The reported debut of FAB-3000 occurred in Liptsy, with the bomb hitting near a building used by the Ukrainian forces to station personnel. The blast left the building heavily damaged while obliterating smaller utility structures nearby, drone footage shared by the channel shows.

While the development has not been officially confirmed yet, it apparently indicates that the UMPK kit received a bigger brother, given that the original modules were too small to fit a FAB-3000. Should the new larger kit get adopted, the development potentially paves way for use of even larger bombs, such as FAB-6000 or even FAB-9000.

4 Rekomendasi Kartu Kredit Terbaik dan 4 Kartu Kredit Tidak direkomendasikan

Bank Indonesia membuat daftar catatan untuk hal-hal yang perlu diperhatikan dalam memilih kartu kredit, di antaranya, tingkat bunga, besar denda, keamanan, kenyamanan dan kemudahan.

Di Indonesia, hampir semua bank mengeluarkan kartu kredit, namun hanya 4 kartu kredit yang dikeluarkan bank rekomendasi kartu kredit, sebagai berikut:

1. BRI


2. BNI


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4. CIMB NIAGA

Dan ada 4 kartu kredit yang dikeluarkan bank yang tidak direkomendasikan untuk Anda, berdasarkan aturan yang dibuat oleh karu kredit bank tersebut.

Kartu Kredit ini tidak sepenuhnya melayani Anda pada sisi kepuasan, lebih mengedepankan memposisikan sebagai majikan dan Anda sebagai budaknya.

Bank ini kebanyakan bank dari etnis China yang setengah hati melayani pribumi.

3 Bank yang tidak direkomendasikan untuk Anda sebagai pribumi bangsa Indonesia berurutan berdasarkan kriteria terburuk.

1. BCA


2. PANIN BANK


3. HSBC BANK


4. BANK MEGA

Dari 4 kartu kredit yang dikeluarkan bank yang terbaik dan terpercaya masih banyak lagi yang masuk dalam kategori dapat direkomendasikan untuk Anda

Begitu juga untuk 4 kartu kredit yang dikeluarkan bank yang tidak direkomendasikan untuk Anda.

Demikian informasinya semoga bermanfaat.

Putin Upstages Swiss Summit With Russian Peace Plan as US, German Leaders Bail

©Sputnik/Alexey Maishev/Go to the mediabank

Moscow has reiterated its requirements for peace with Ukraine, undermining Western claims of Russian intransigence.

As Western leaders prepared to gather at President Volodymyr Zelensky’s summit on the Ukraine conflict in Switzerland, Russian President Vladimir Putin preempted negotiations by promoting Moscow’s own peace plan during an address at the Russian Foreign Ministry Friday evening.

Putin’s speech at the venue, where he has traditionally offered important statements on foreign policy, restated many of the demands Russia has made dating back to the early days of the country’s special military operation, including the neutrality and demilitarization of the Kiev regime. Putin also reiterated that Moscow views Ukraine’s accession to NATO as an existential threat, insisting Ukraine must abandon attempts to join the anti-Russia bloc.

“Ukraine must return to neutrality,” said security analyst Mark Sleboda on Sputnik’s The Final Countdown program, summarizing Putin’s address. “It cannot join NATO. It must not try to gain nuclear weapons, and it must respect the rights of Russian speakers and Russian ethnics and other minorities, like Hungarian speakers and so forth, in the country.”

The international relations expert joined hosts Ted Rall and Angie Wong Monday to discuss the implications of Ukraine’s much-derided “peace summit” this weekend at a luxury Swiss resort.

The communiqué that emerged from the meeting represented “a watered down version of Zelensky's 'peace formula,' a demand from the losing side of the conflict, a childish demand for Russia's unconditional surrender,” said Sleboda.

Wong noted that many countries present at the summit opted not to sign the statement, citing the futility of negotiations that did not include representatives from Russia.

“Two of them then withdrew their signatures – Iraq and Jordan,” noted Sleboda. “The countries who signed it were mostly the West and a few client states. That's essentially it.”

“Evidently (US Vice President) Kamala Harris and (German Chancellor) Olaf Scholz – the conference was such an exercise in damage control that they left early,” he continued. “They didn't even stay for the signing, for the crafting or the signing of the statement of this not peace party. They left right after the opening ceremonies and the photo op. So that tells you how important the US and Germany thought the work being done there was.”

The analyst said any potential impact of the event was diminished after Putin’s address Friday, undermining Western claims of Russian intransigence. Moscow’s peace formula called for Kiev to withdraw from the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, which have opted to join Russia via popular referenda, and also continued to demand the denazification of Ukraine.

Western countries have continued to downplay the influence of anti-Russia neo-Nazi elements in the country, a problem that was widely acknowledged in mainstream media before Moscow launched its special military operation in Ukraine in 2022.

“Everytime I listen to Putin's and Russia's demands, what strikes me is that they've been basically the same,” said host Ted Rall. “It's very interesting that even though their military position has improved… with the exception of the two areas that you're mentioning, Kherson and Zaporozhye, pretty much not that much has really changed much.”

“If this were America in the same situation, the demands would keep escalating, right? ... Americans are dealing with a country that has a different temperament and its politicians have a different temperament than our own, and that's part of the problem why it's difficult to resolve things,” he argued, suggesting the consistent nature of Russia’s requirements for peace undermines Western claims the country is fighting a war of aggression.

But Sleboda reiterated that Moscow would not allow Ukraine to persist as an existential threat to the Russian state, noting the country would be forced to continue westward if Kiev is continuously weaponized as an anti-Russia beachhead.

“This is the last peace proposal by Russia,” he warned. “The next will not even be presented as a negotiation. They will be a set of unconditional surrender terms delivered to the Kiev regime and the West at the end of this conflict.”

Russia Willing to Commit to Peaceful Negotiations, as Ukraine Continues to Rely on Western Aid

At the end of March of this year, a nationwide poll asked Ukrainians how they thought their draft-age acquaintances might respond to a call to serve. Just 10% who responded to the poll said they would accept.

Ukraine’s current military recruitment campaign has fallen short of expectations, a recent article from The Conversation suggested. The recruitment plan was first announced on April 16, 2024, with the goal of enlisting “hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainian men”, the report claimed.

However, the effort has been met with “public skepticism, draft dodging and opposition to unpopular, heavy-handed attempts to root out those not heeding the call to sign up,” the report writes, adding that it has “left Ukraine struggling to fill the positions officials say are needed to beat back the invading army.”

Nicolai Petro, a professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island, sat down with Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Monday. According to Petro, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s specific proposals on Ukraine, and world development in the future comes down to “two points”.

“Putin simplified the path to negotiation, because from Russia's perspective it's now boiled down to just two points,” said Petro. “Withdraw Ukrainian troops from the four regions that have been admitted to Russia and, secondly, issue an official statement. Ukraine should issue an official statement that it does not intend to join NATO. And as soon as that happens, Russia is willing to commit to an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations.”

“So why is this easier than what Ukraine proposed? Well, because Ukraine has ten sets of demands rather than just one from Russia's perspective, which is an official statement that Ukraine will not join NATO,” he added. “The second thing that's interesting about Russia's proposal is that it is offering something that Ukraine has not offered, which is an end to the bloodshed. In other words, you want to stop the fighting and the killing? Just withdraw troops.”

Issues with Ukraine’s draft also highlight the fundamental issue: without funding from Western allies, Ukraine is likely to “exhaust its resources long before Russia does”, The Conversation report writes.

In December of 2023, former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi told leader Volodymyr Zelensky that he needed nearly 500,000 more troops. But a nationwide poll conducted at the end of March showed that Ukrainians believe only 10% of their draft-age acquaintances might respond to a call to serve.

“And thirdly,” the professor continued. “Putin's proposal essentially [shows the lie of] Western statements that Russia intends to conquer all of Ukraine and then all of Europe, because he now specifically says Russia's territorial ambitions are limited to the four occupied regions of Crimea, which is why I think it is aimed primarily not at Ukraine."

“The Ukrainian, Western position is we cannot negotiate and we don't want to negotiate because negotiation itself would be an acknowledgment of an immoral act of aggression, and therefore there's nothing to negotiate, which is why we have this summit in Switzerland not even including Russia.”

“So we're not actually negotiating or willing to negotiate anything,” Petro said. “We're simply making a statement of defiance against a Russian invasion versus the other side, in Russia's case, which is saying [Russia] feels threatened by NATO's expansion, which is why [they are] taking these actions. There's also humanitarian reasons, but we are, we have always been and continue to be willing to negotiate on what our mutual security interests are.”

Sputnik’s Wilmer Leon noted that the US has a habit of “capitulation” when it comes to negotiating. He suggests that the US is only willing to talk, if who they are negotiating with meets their demands first. Russia has repeatedly indicated that they are willing to discuss peace plan negotiations, and said this spring that an aborted 2022 peace deal between Russia and Ukraine could still be used as the basis for new negotiations.

“I think the Russian position, and this is what I think Putin has articulated not only in this last speech, there is a win-win scenario here. And the win-win scenario is: let's have an agreement that allows for mutual security for all sides. And Putin, a number of times in his recent speech, reiterated that Russia has tried to take into account what are legitimate Ukrainian security interests,” said Petro.