Putin marks Crimea takeover anniversary – DW – 02/27/2024

Ukraine’s minister of strategic industries said his country is producing drones that are a match for the Iranian-made Shahed drones used by Russia during its invasion.

Speaking on Ukrainian television, Oleksandr Kamyshin said the Ukrainian drones were the equal of Shaheds “both in terms of the size of the explosive devices and in terms of range and other technical parameters.” 

“This year we are in no way behind Russia in the production of these drones,” he added.

Kamyshin said Ukraine was also using other types of drone in its fight against Russian invaders, including for attacks far inside Russia’s borders.

“What explodes in Russia — that comes from us,” said the minister.

Ukraine has been boosting its domestic arms production amid concerns that military assistance from Western allies might be faltering.  

A Moscow court has sentenced 70-year-old human rights activist Oleg Orlov to 2 1/2 years in prison, having found him guilty of discreting Russia’s armed forces.

The verdict came after a retrial requested by the prosecution, which opposed an earlier verdict that imposed only a fine on Orlov.

Orlov is a long-time member of the Russian rights group Memorial, which won a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.

The group has been banned and dissolved in Russia itself. 

Orlov was convicted of “repeatedly discrediting” the Russian army in an article he wrote denouncing the invasion of Ukraine. 

The prosecution reportedly said that Orlov was motivated in writing the article by hostility “against traditional Russian spiritual, moral and patriotic values.”  

Russia introduced a series of laws starting in 2022 making it an offense to make statements seen as derogatory about Russian armed forces. They have since been used to quash any criticism of Moscow’s Ukraine invasion.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is not ruling out the deployment of French ground troops in Ukraine.

Speaking after hosting a Ukraine aid conference in Paris on Monday, Macron said, “There is no consensus today on officially deploying ground troops, but nothing can be ruled out in the dynamic.”

“We will do everything necessary to ensure that Russia cannot win this war,” he said. “We are convinced that the defeat of Russia is indispensable to security and stability in Europe.” 

Macron’s remarks were seconded on Tuesday by French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who said, “You can’t rule anything out in a war.”

He told broadcaster RTL there was “no consensus” on any “official” deployment of ground troops.

“But no dynamic can be ruled out. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia cannot win this war,” he said, in an almost word-for-word repetition of Macron’s statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia’s occupation of Crimea 10 years ago carried the seeds of Moscow’s current invasion of his country and stressed that the peninsula must return to Ukraine.

“It all began in Crimea — this Russian revanchism, this Russian war,” Zelenskyy said in a video address on Monday as Ukraine commemorated a 2014 rally by Crimean Tatars against the Russian occupation.

 “It is precisely there, in Crimea, that Russian evil must suffer a decisive defeat,” he said.

The recapture of all territories occupied by Russia, including Crimea, is one of Ukraine’s declared war aims as it fights against Moscow’s invading troops.

Crimea was declared a part of Russian territory on March 18, 2014, after its gradual occupation by Russian special forces without national insignia on their uniforms who were called the “little green men” at the time.

The annexation remains illegal under international law, with few countries, including Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan and North Korea, recognizing Russian sovereignty over the peninsula. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised to make his country’s Special Operations Forces more mobile and capable in a video to mark the 10th anniversary of the takeover of Crimea’s parliament by Russian forces.

Russia’s Special Operations Forces, a part of the Russian Armed Forces, are units that remain in a constant state of combat readiness and perform specific tasks.  

In addition to their participation in the occupation of Crimea, they have been involved in Russia’s interventions in Syria in the past decade and in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We will continue to strengthen the Special Operations Forces, increase their mobility and striking potential, and arm them with new-generation weapons and equipment,” Putin said in his message.

He said they had shown the ability during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine to carry out “assigned tasks with honor, act boldly, competently, and decisively.”

Russia has been celebrating Special Operations Forces Day on February 27 since 2015, when Putin declared a holiday on the first anniversary of the takeover in Ukraine’s Crimea.

tj/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters, DPA)