An Iranian-made drone in a Russian attack on Kyiv, Ukraine, October 10, 2022
Putin’s Ukraine War Turns Russia Into “Terrorist State”
EA on Times Radio: Ukrainians v. Desperate Putin’s Missiles
Source: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1728 GMT:
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has assued Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of financial assistance and aid for power and heating.
Von der Leyen said the EU will “as quickly as possible” deliver 200 medium-sized transformers and a large auto-transformer from Lithuania, a medium-sized auto-transformer from Latvia, and 40 heavy generators from the EU reserve in Romania.
Zelenskiy responded:
Discussed the #GrainfromUkraine initiative with @vonderleyen. Thanked for the huge 🇪🇺 financial assistance, for work started on the 9th sanctions package. Noted that the price cap for Russian oil should be effective. Cooperation on ensuring 🇺🇦 energy stability was also discussed.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 25, 2022
UPDATE 1621 GMT:
Vladimir Putin has told mothers of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine that he had no regrets about his “special military operation”.
In a pre-recorded meeting on State TV, Putin said the mothers should not believe everything they see on television or read on the Internet.
The Kremlin has only given two updates on troop casualties during the 9-month invasion: a total of 1,351 deaths in late March and of 5,397 last month. The Ukrainian military says more than 85,000 Russian soldiers have died.
Putin told the mothers, “I would like you to know that, that I personally, and the whole leadership of the country — we share your pain.”
Kremlin appears to have gone all out with the soldiers' mothers. One, from Chechnya, has two sons: one is a senior military commander and the other is a local police chief who threatened mobilisation dodgers that they wouldn't be allowed to walk the streets if he made it home.
— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) November 25, 2022
UPDATE 1616 GMT:
UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk says Russian missile strikes have killed at least 77 civilians since October.
Millions are being plunged into extreme hardship and appalling conditions of life by these strikes. Taken as a whole, this raises serious problems under international humanitarian law, which requires a concrete and direct military advantage for each object attacked.
UPDATE 1610 GMT:
All nuclear power plants in Ukrainian-held parts of the country are back on-line and connected to the main electricity grid.
Three plants — Rivne, Pivdennoukrains, and Khmelnytskyi — were taken off-line with emergency protections after Russia’s missle strikes on Wednesday.
The CEO of State energy provider, Ukrenergo, Volodymyr said blackouts will now be on a scheduled rather than emergency basis.
Ukrenergo said “more than 70% of the country’s consumption needs” are covered, with priority given to critical infrastructure facilities. However, restoration of power to homes is being slowed by “strong winds, rain and sub-zero temperatures at night”.
UPDATE 1550 GMT:
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged the European Union to adopt a price cap on Russian oil, as the EU’s members continue to debate the measure.
Zelenskiy said in a video address to a conference in Lithuania:
There is no split, there is no schism among Europeans and we have to preserve this. This is our mission number one this year.
Europe is helping itself. It’s not helping Ukraine to stand against Russia, this is helping Europe to stand against Russian aggression.
Zelenskiy asked the EU leaders to set the cap at $30 per barrel of Russian oil:
The price cuts are very important. We hear about $60 or $70. Such words sound more like a concession.
But I’m very grateful to our Baltic and Polish colleagues for their proposals, quite reasonable ones, to set this camp at $30 a barrel. It’s a much better idea.
UPDATE 1545 GMT:
Having retreated from the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine in a symbolic and strategic defeat, Russian forces are shelling its residents.
Local officials said 10 people were killed and 54 seriously wounded over night by the shelling across the Dnipro River from the Russians on the eastern bank.
Hospital patients are being evacuated. Children at the Kherson regional clinical hospital will go to Mykolaiv, and 100 patients at a regional psychiatric center are heading to Odesa.
UPDATE 0912 GMT: Half of Kyiv’s population is still without electricity following Wednesday’s Russian strikes.
The city administration announced, “As soon as the power system stabilizes, communication will appear in all districts of Kyiv.”
Water supply was restored throughout the capital by Thursday night.
UPDATE 0636 GMT:
In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said electricity and water are still being restored in 15 regions after Wednesday’s Russian missile attacks.
“The most difficult situation is in the Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Poltava and Kharkiv regions,” he said.
The President assured:
We endured nine months of the full-scale war and Russia hasn’t found a way to break us. And it will not find it. We must continue to hold on like this in the future! In unity and helping each other.
UPDATE 0624 GMT:
Russian forces have again struck a hospital in the city of Zaporizhzhia, says regional governor Oleksandr Starukh.
Starukh said there were no casualties when rockets blew out dozens of windows.
Early Wednesday Russia hit a maternity ward, killing a newborn. Later in the day, it launched 70 missiles and five attack drones, forcing another three Russian nuclear plants off-line.
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe, was already dormant amid Russian shelling of the area. The attacks have repeatedly cut power to the complex, threatening overheating that could damage reactors.
The Zaporizhzhia plant was reconnected to the power grid on Thursday.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: A senior Ukrainian official has confirmed that Ukraine’s strikes have killed Iranian military personnel in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said the Iranians are in Crimea to help Russia direct the Shahed-136 attack drones supplied by Tehran.
He did not give a number of casualties. Reports in Israeli media in October said 10 Iranians were killed by Ukraine’s strikes on Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014.
Danilov emphasized that the Iranians will continue to be targeted:
You shouldn’t be where you shouldn’t be. They were on our territory. We didn’t invite them here, and if they collaborate with terrorists and participate in the destruction of our nation, we must kill them.
Iran delivered surveillance and attack drones — Ukrainian officials say up to 2,500 — to Moscow during the summer. Russia began using the Shahed-136s in assaults on energy infrastructure and civilian sites in September, escalating the attacks from October 10.
Hundreds of Shahed-136s have been launched. Most have been shot down by Ukrainian air defenses; however, “swarms” have been able to get through to targets.
The Iranian regime repeatedly lied that it provided any drones to Russia. Last month, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said a “small number” had been delivered; however, he insisted that this was months before Vladimir Putin’s February 24 invasion and that no Iranian drones were used in Russian assaults.
Tehran also denies the despatch of Iranian trainers to Crimea to assist the Russians.
Danilov summarized:
The Iranians keep insisting that they are not suppliers of weapons to the Russian Federation but we need confirmation. Do we have this confirmation as of today? No we don’t.
We understand these things don’t fly without [people] learning how to operate them, and the Russians don’t have the brains to figure it out themselves….In the modern world you can’t hide anything. It is just a matter of time when it will be made public.
US officials have told the media of Iranian intentions to deliver ballistic missiles to Russia. Danilov said it was unclear if this has occurred.
We are trying to answer this question and we’ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen.
But if it does happen, it will tell us two things. First, that Russia has no capability of manufacturing their own missiles, at least in the numbers that would allow it to continue a large-scale war. Second, if a country that has been under sanctions since 1979 has a capability of producing such weapons, what kind of sanctions are we talking about? So it raises a big question about enforcement.
[Editor’s Note: Of course this commenter cannot seem to comprehend that one can be thinking both of football and of the situation for Iranian people regarding their quest for rights and justice.]
World Cup 2022: Gregg Berhalter apologises for Iran flag change on social media by US: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63785767
“United States manager Gregg Berhalter has apologised after a modified version of Iran’s flag was used in social media posts by the US national team. Before their World Cup meeting on Tuesday, the US removed the the Islamic Republic emblem from the flag in graphics posted online, which were later deleted.”
Apology accepted. It is clear that Berhalter just wants to play football and to win tomorrow. But if the social media team of the US team had wished to support women’s rights in Iran, they didn’t need to deface the Iranian flag, especially when the emblem contains the name of God.
Berhalter, however, contradicted himself in saying: “Of course are thoughts are with the Iranian people, the whole country, and everyone. But our thoughts are only on this match.” So his thoughts are only on the match..AND with everyone??? This is what happens when you turn sport into political theater.
Blogger and WSJ columnist Hossein Ronaghi, shown in hospital recovering: https://www.hamshahrionline.ir/news/723444
He went on hunger strike after being arrested. https://www.jahannews.com/news/820579/
Iran complains to FIFA for flag desecration by the United States: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-soccer-iran-flag-world-cup-qatar-b2234032.html
“Iran’s football federation has lodged an official complaint with Fifa after the US Soccer Federation removed the Islamic Republic’s emblem from its flag in social media posts. “‘We wanted to show our support for the women in Iran with our graphic for 24 hours,’ a USSF spokesperson said.””
The national emblem of the Islamic Republic consists of four crescents and a sword which both represent the name “ALLAH” (God) and resemble the shape of a tulip (in commemoration for those who had died for their country). Some Iranians inside Iran are outraged about this with #ExpelUSA being a new trend on Twitter and Instagram. According to the first paragraph of Chapter 13 of the FIFA Statute, any country or individual who insults the identity of a country will be banned from playing at least 10 games.
Meanwhile, the Klinsmann comments about Iranian “culture” being about cheating have caused an uproar: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/jurgen-klinsmann-flag-controversies-set-ominous-tone-for-usa-iran-world-cup-clas
“Watch @J_Klinsmann dismiss brown athletes, from Iran to Guatemala, repeatedly saying “this is their culture”, while the host and other guests are sitting there listening to him go on and on, live on @BBCSport”
Klinsmann never made a reference to skin colour, but he did depict Asians and South Americans as not being capable of fair play.
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World Cup 2022: Jurgen Klinsmann to speak to Carlos Queiroz after row: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63772068
Klinsmann said on the BBC, “They worked the referee. They work the linesman and fourth official, they are constantly in their ear. There were a lot of incidents we didn’t see. This is their culture, they take you off your game.”
The reality is that the Iranians were furious when the referee gave the Welsh goalkeeper only a yellow card when he pole-axed Mehdi Taremi after coming outside of his box. VAR showed it was a clear sending off foul. I like Klinsmann but what he said about Iran is not part of our “culture”. Stop the Iranophobia!
US football team shows Iranian flag without the national emblem of the Islamic Republic: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/nov/27/usa-show-iran-flag-without-emblem-of-islamic-republic-before-world-cup-clash
“The Twitter account of the USMNT on Sunday displayed a banner with the squad’s matches in the group stage, with the Iranian flag only bearing its green, white and red colours. The same could be seen in a post on the team’s Facebook and Instagram accounts laying out the points totals so far in the group.”
The politicization continues.
Voria Ghafouri and Hossein Ronaghi released on bail: https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1401/09/05/2812489
Ghafouri is a footballer who has criticized the security forces for killing armed rioters in Kurdistan. Ronaghi is an anti-regime activist and WSJ columnist.
Ummm, iri thugs march and dance to any tune their masters command.
Here is a video compilation of events related to football match. In it shows the common thugs murderers dispatched to qatar to cheer for iri, and harass protesters. There are videos of Bngaladeshi workers in qatar wrapping themselves in iri flags and clothing
So, no, there is no celebrations. There is murders in streets of iran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMr4mv8S4kA&list=WL&index=89&t=395s
Masih Alinejad is claiming that only the security forces are celebrating Wales victory: https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1596199758372167682
“Only our jailers, interrogators and murderers are celebrating the victory of Islamic Republic’s football team in the World Cup.”
Huge celebrations in the center of Tehran: https://twitter.com/OrderofAlamut/status/1596471516656734209
Iranian media showing women not wearing a headscarf after Iran victory over Wales: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fid1FfgVUAQqbnD?format=jpg&name=medium
[Editor’s Note: Commenter is wrong about 2017 and 2019, where there were protests across Tehran and the rest of the country.
Commenter also distorts the map and analysis of Peyman Asadzade — https://twitter.com/PeymanAsadzade — who concludes, “Is this a cross-class movement at least in Tehran? Yes if we compare it to the 2009 uprising. In general, however, working-class neighborhoods have so far refrained from joining the movement.”
Other analysts have explained that the map is of where protests have *occurred” in Tehran, where demonstrators tend to gather along two north-south axes. Of course, working-class Tehranis who live elsewhere in the capital may have gone to the sites of these demonstrations.]
Analysis of protests in the city of Tehran shows that most of the working-class areas to the south and west have remained quiet throughout: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FiR2m10VUAAXg26?format=jpg&name=900×900
In the 2019 and 2017 over the price of fuel and the budget, the opposite was true. The more affluent districts, in central and northern Tehran were relatively quiet, but have this time round been where the protests within the capital have been happening. Few protests have been reported in the other cities of Tehran province. In 2019, there were many violent confrontations with the security forces.