Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev (File)

EA on Australia’s ABC: Putin Lashes Out at Home and in Ukraine

Thursday’s Coverage: Russian Military Blogger Dies After Reporting Moscow’s Losses in Avdiivka Offensive

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Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1840 GMT:

Canada has also added to its sanctions list over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, naming 153 entities and 10 individuals.

Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said those cited enable the invasion through finance and logistics and evade existing sanctions.

Among the individuals are an aide to Vladmir Putin and senior officials of private and state-owned companies registered in Russia and Cyprus. The entities provide goods and services such as components for Kalibr missiles and drones; insurance and retail services to Russian soldiers and the Defense Ministry; and oil transportation and logistics services to Moscow.

UPDATE 1211 GMT:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is meeting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Lviv in western Ukraine.

On Thursday, Frederiksen announced another Danish military aid package of 1.7 billion crowns ($247.4 million) to Ukraine. The Danish Defense Ministry said the first US-made F-16 fighter jets will be delivered this summer.

Zelenskiy is also seeing US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, amid the effort to get Congressional passage of $60.1 billion in authorization for military, economic, and financial assistance.

UPDATE 1132 GMT:

US President Joe Biden has imposed sanctions against more than 500 entities and individuals over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions targets Russian firms that contribute to the invasion, including drone and industrial chemical manufacturers and machine tool importers, and financial institutions.

Three Russian officials are named over the death of Alexei Navalny, and visa restrictions are imposed on Russian officials involved in the kidnapping and confinement of Ukrainian children.

The list includes 26 third-country people and firms from China, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, and Liechtenstein for assisting Russia in evasion of existing sanctions.

Biden said in a statement:

These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents.

They will ensure [Vladimir] Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home.

Biden repeated that Congress must pass a supplemental bill for national security, which includes $60.1 billion for Ukraine.

Congress knows that by supporting this bill, we can strengthen security in Europe, strengthen our security at home, and stand up to Putin. Opposing this bill only plays into his hands….

Two years into this war, the people of Ukraine continue to fight with tremendous courage. But they are running out of ammunition. Ukraine needs more supplies from the United States to hold the line against Russia’s relentless attacks, which are enabled by arms and ammunition from Iran and North Korea.

The European Union confirmed its 13th package of sanctions on Friday, citing a further 88 entities and 106 individuals.

The blacklisted are primarily in “the military and defense sectors”, with some involved in North Korean arms supply to Russia and some in Moscow’s access to drone technology.

Others are “members of the judiciary, local politicians and people responsible for the illegal deportation and military re-education of Ukrainian children” in Russia and Belarus.

UPDATE 0951 GMT:

Russian authorities have imposed criminal and administrative charges on at least 116,000 citizens since the start of Vladimir Putin’s fourth term in office in 2018, according to the opposition outlet Proekt.

Politically-motivated criminal charges have been filed against 11,442 people for purported offenses such as engaging in extremism, justifying terrorism, discrediting the Russian military, and spreading “fake” information about the invasion of Ukraine.

Of these cases, 5,829 were for crimes against the state, including espionage, disclosure of state secrets, cooperation with foreign organizations, and refusal to participate in the invasion. Another 329 cases concerned disclosing state secrets since 2018 — more cases than the Soviet Union filed during all of the Cold War.

Administrative charges were brought against 105,000 people over speech, conscience, and assembly, including at protests.

UPDATE 0748 GMT:

At least three civilians have been killed in Odesa in southern Ukraine by a Russian drone attack.

The building of an enterprise on the coast was set afire and destroyed.

Another Iran-made attack drone hit a high-rise building in Dnipro in south-central Ukraine, injuring eight people.

The Ukraine Air Force said air defenses intercepted 23 of 31 drones fired overnight by Russia. The UAVs were downed over the Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv regions.

Russia also fired three S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles, a Kh-31P missile, and two Kh-22 missiles.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev has amplified Vladimir Putin’s goal of conquering Ukraine, declaring that Russian forces “probably” must seize and occupy Kyiv “if not now, then after some time”.

In an interview published on Thursday, Medvedev, now Deputy Chair of the State Security Council, responded to a question if there will “still be any part of Ukraine left that [Russia] will consider as a legitimate state, whose borders [Russia] will be ready to recognize”

The ex-President replied that the Ukrainian Government “must fall, it must be destroyed, it must not remain in this world”. Russia had to create a “protective cordon” to protect against “encroachments on [Russia’s] lands”.

Echoing Vladimir Putin’s spurious invocation of history and portrayal of Russia as defending itself against Western plots, Medvedev claimed Kyiv is historically a “Russian” city and the source of “international” threats to Russia’s existence.

Medvedev boasted that “if…something remains of Ukraine,” it “probably” has a low chance of survival.

The former President, replaced by Putin in 2021, declared Ukrainian citizens in occupied area who “harm” Russia in must be “exposed and punished, sent to Siberia…for re-education in forced labor camps”.