Heading towards World War III?

Intelligence obtained by Russia suggests that Poland and the US are working on a plan for Warsaw to regain control of Ukrainian areas that Warsaw considers as “historically belonging” to it, Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) chief Sergey Naryshkin has said.

According to the alleged plan, the first stage of this “reunification” will see Polish “peacekeepers” deployed in western Ukraine under the pretext of “protection from Russian aggression,” Naryshkin revealed in a statement on Thursday.

The details of the operation are now being discussed between Warsaw and the Biden administration, he claimed, adding that it’s going to be carried out without a NATO mandate, with only volunteer countries taking part.

www.rt.com/russia/554671-poland-ukraine-spy-split

Eva Bartlett is a Canadian independent journalist. She has spent years on the ground covering conflict zones in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Palestine (where she lived for nearly four years).

According to recent Western media, Russian forces have buried up to 9,000 Mariupol civilians in “mass graves” in a town just west of the Ukrainian city. These reports use satellite imagery as supposed evidence and repeat the claims of officials loyal to Kiev that “the bodies may have been buried in layers” and “the Russians dug trenches and filled them with corpses every day throughout April.”

I went to the site in question and found no mass graves.

On April 23, I joined RT journalist Roman Kosarev on a visit to the location, in the town of Mangush. What I saw were new, orderly grave plots including some still empty ones – an extension of a cemetery that already exists at the spot. No mass pit. Many of the graves have placards with the names and dates of birth of the deceased when available, and the remaining plots were numbered according to burial.

Since the media is essentially copy-pasting from the same source – the former mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko (who seems to be far from the city now) – I'll cite from the Washington Post's article.

Boichenko, the article notes, “called the site the 'new Babyn Yar,' referring to one the largest mass graves in Europe located in the outskirts of Kyiv, where 33,000 Jews where killed by Nazis in 1941 during World War II.”

This is ironic on several levels. A mayor who is whitewashing the neo-Nazis who have run amuck in hso city – notably those from the Azov Battalion, who have used civilians as human shields, occupied and militarized civilian infrastructure, point-blank executed civilians – is comparing an alleged (non-existent) mass grave to a Nazi massacre of WW2.

www.rt.com/russia/554617-mass-grave-mariupol-ukraine

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has triggered a global surge in food and fuel prices. It has driven up the cost of living across countries and now the international monetary fund report says that the economic spillover of the Russia Ukraine war may likely result in social unrest in Africa.

A scheme to send US weapons to Ukraine, using the “lend-lease” formula pioneered during WWII to skirt neutrality laws, was officially approved by Congress this week. However, it was put together all the way back in January – more than a month before Moscow recognized the Donbass republics as independent and sent troops into Ukraine.

Republican Senator John Cornyn introduced the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, also known as S.3522, on January 19, 2022. This is according to the official Congress.gov page for the bill. On the same date, it was co-sponsored by senators Benjamin Cardin, Jeanne Shaheen and Roger Wicker.

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Lindsey Graham endorsed it the very next day, January 20. Other endorsements trickled in over the following weeks, with a total of 14 senators on board by February 9, again according to Congress.gov.

Russia did not recognize the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk until February 21. The “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine began on what was already February 24 in Washington.

www.rt.com/news/554747-senate-lend-lease-ukraine-advance

The US isn’t interested in peace in Ukraine but is instead doing everything it can for the conflict in the country to last as long as possible, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a briefing on Friday.

“While the international community is calling for the end to hostilities, the US keeps adding fuel to the fire and shows readiness to fight until the last Ukrainian,” Zhao insisted, referring to the ongoing financial aid and deliveries of weapons from Washington to Kiev.

“Their actual goal isn't achieving peace, but making sure that the conflict drags on. As [the Americans] say it themselves, they're looking to weaken Russia,” he said.

“As for whether the US brings peace or war, security or chaos – I suppose we all know the answers to those questions,” the spokesman added.

www.rt.com/russia/554720-china-us-goals-ukraine

NATO is preparing to support Ukraine“over a long period of time”, for as long as the military conflict with Russia will last. Even if it's “for months and years,” the bloc’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday.

www.rt.com/russia/554736-nato-ready-support-ukraine

The US government needs Congress to approve its $33 billion request as soon as possible because it only has $250 million remaining from the previous package of assistance for Ukraine, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki has disclosed.

US President Joe Biden signed the request on Thursday. He admitted that $33 billion “is not cheap” but claimed that “caving to aggression is going to be more costly.”

During a press briefing on the same day, Psaki was asked what the deadline was for when the government “absolutely needs” the new funding. She responded that the “need is urgent, as is the need for Covid funding urgent.”

www.rt.com/russia/554740-ukraine-cash-us-weapons