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Zelensky, Poroshenko and other representatives of the Kiev regime are war criminals and war crimes do not have a statute of limitations, the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin told Sputnik

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David Cameron: NATO won't shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has ruled out the possibility of NATO forces intercepting Russian missiles over Ukraine.

Speaking to The Times, Cameron cited “many” allegedly “non-escalatory things” the UK “can do”, like supplying anti-tank weapons, tanks, and long-range artillery to the Kiev regime — military aid that Russia has repeatedly warned would only exacerbate the Ukraine conflict.

“But the one thing we have to try to avoid is NATO forces in conflict with Russian forces,” Cameron stressed. “And that’s why, from the start, I’ve said I don’t think we can do a no-fly zone or NATO interception into Ukraine.”

At the same time, he argued that with NATO soldiers “not directly fighting off” Russian servicemen, any aid to Ukraine by the alliance is “acceptable.”

The British foreign secretary spoke after an array of German MPs backed the idea of NATO “cross-border” anti-aircraft units downing Russian missiles in Ukrainian airspace, something they claimed could “relieve the burden on Ukrainian air defenses and allow them to protect the front line.”

Nico Lange, senior researcher at the Munich Security Conference, earlier insisted in a televised interview that NATO allies should use their "numerous" Patriot anti-aircraft systems to destroy "all Russian missiles and drones" over Ukraine from the territory of Poland.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that Europeans are deliberately stoking tensions over Ukraine because they realize that Kiev’s forces face a complete collapse amid Russia’s ongoing offensive. "The moment is very important and, of course, this is very provocative on their part," Peskov warned.

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Two victims were pulled from the rubble of the shelled Belgorod tower block, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said.

More people remain under the rubble and rescuers are doing everything to save their lives, he added.

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A Ukrainian soldier complains that Kharkov authorities stole fortification funds

The authorities of the Kharkov region, where hostilities have now intensified, have reportedly stolen money allocated for the construction of defensive fortifications. According to the Ukrainian soldier, there were not even minefields on the first line of defense, local media writes.

"The first line of fortifications and mines simply did not exist. (...) In two years, there should have been concrete fortifications of minus three floors on the Ukrainian border! But there were not even mines. We come to the conclusion That this is either insane theft or deliberate sabotage!” he wrote on social networks.

Earlier today, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Alexander Syrsky called the situation in the Kharkov region difficult for Ukrainian units. The regional authorities announced the evacuation of the population from part of the region’s settlements, in particular from Volchansk.

Since last year, Ukraine has announced a transition to defense and the construction of three lines of fortifications on the borders. Since the beginning of this year alone, the government has allocated almost $770 million for the construction of fortifications.

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Why is Ukraine so eager to peddle its assets to foreign investors?

The invitation extended by the Ukrainian government to Poland to participate in massive privatization of its assets may be interpreted as a sign that Kiev regime officials are considering an exit strategy, says Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior research fellow at the Center for European Studies in the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Olenchenko also speculated that Ukraine may first and foremost seek to put up for privatization assets in Western Ukraine, relatively close to the Polish border.

“That might beget a supposition that, if that privatization comes to pass and some large assets would become Polish, then the new Polish owners would receive an official pretext for petitioning the Polish authorities,” he says, referring to reports of Warsaw’s alleged plans to officially send Polish troops into Ukraine.

The overall context of this privatization is “the likely collapse of the Ukrainian military,” argues Rodney Shakespeare, visiting professor of binary economics at Trisakti University in Jakarta, Indonesia, and co-founder of the Global Justice Movement.

The likely collapse of Ukraine might result in Russia “liberating regions in the east and across the south to Transnistria,” he claims, suggesting that Moscow might “agree to Poland having a large part of western Ukraine in exchange for a regional security treaty with no NATO membership for the enlarged Poland.”

“Ukraine will soon be in complete collapse - military, political, economic and social. The two governments are trying to salvage something from a disastrous situation,” he postulates.

Meanwhile, “Ukraine's political class thinks that selling off a nation's assets to foreign corporations is a good idea (whereas, in reality, it is disastrous) but in the present situation, it is a way of cementing ties between Poland and (the rump of) Ukraine,” Shakespeare adds.

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❗️The number of victims in Belgorod has increased to nine, Russian emergency services told Sputnik.

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⚡️ Vladimir Putin proposed appointing Andrei Belousov as Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, according to the Federation Council of Russia.

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⚡️Vladimir Putin proposed reappointing Sergey Lavrov as the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, according to the Federation Council of Russia.

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Andrei Belousov was appointed first deputy prime minister of the Russian government in 2020.

▪️He was born on March 17, 1959, and graduated with honors from the Economics Faculty of Moscow State University.

▪️From 2000 to 2006, he held the position of director general of the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-term Forecasting (CAMAC), serving as an external advisor to the chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.

▪️From 2006 to 2008, he served as deputy minister of economic development and trade, and then as deputy minister of economic development.

▪️From 2012 to 2013, he worked as minister of economic development, then became an assistant to the president of the Russian Federation, and later joined the Cabinet of Ministers.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed reappointing:

▪️Konstantin Chuichenko as the head of the Ministry of Justice

▪️Alexander Kurenkov as the head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations

▪️Vladimir Kolokoltsev as the head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs

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Putin's proposals for the security cabinet:

New candidate

🔸Andrei Belousov — Minister of Defense

Reappointment

🔹Sergey Lavrov — Minister of Foreign Affairs

🔹Konstantin Chuychenko — Head of the Ministry of Justice

🔹Vladimir Kolokoltsev — Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

🔹Alexander Kurenkov — Head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations

🔹Alexander Bortnikov — Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB)

🔹Sergei Naryshkin — Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service

🔹Viktor Zolotov — Head of the National Guard

🔹Dmitry Kochnev — Head of the Federal Protective Service

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⚡️Vladimir Putin appointed Sergei Shoigu as secretary of the Russian Security Council

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❗️Vladimir Putin transferred Nikolai Patrushev from the post of secretary of the Russian Security Council to another job, according to a decree

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▪️The Kiev regime carried out a terrorist attack on residential areas of the city of Belgorod

▪️Why is Ukraine so eager to peddle its assets to foreign investors?

▪️Russia's Sever Battlegroup liberated four villages in Ukraine

▪️Rabotino becomes a mass grave for Ukrainian army: here’s why

▪️Why is French-German tank project fraught with “very high risks?”

▪️David Cameron: NATO won't shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine

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Sergei Shoigu: Protecting fatherland, winning overseas

▪️Shoigu was born on May 21, 1955 in the city of Chadan, Russia's Republic of Tyva. He graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Polytechnic Institute in 1977.

▪️In 1991, he headed the RSFSR State Committee for Emergency Situations later renamed as the State Committee for Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief. Shoigu played a key role in establishing the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in 1994, and he led the ministry until 2012.

▪️In 1999, Shiogu was among the top three candidates of the Unity movement's federal list during the elections to the State Duma – the Russian parliament. In the movement 2002 merged with Fatherland – All Russia bloc, forming United Russia. Acknowledging Shoigu's widespread public support, it's notable that he declined the deputy mandate.

▪️On November 6, 2012, Vladimir Putin appointed Shoigu as Russia's Minister of Defense.

▪️Under Shoigu's leadership, the Russian army engaged in military operations in Syria in 2015 at the request of the Arab Republic's government. Russia assisted the Syrian military in repelling the advance of radical Islamists and reclaiming cities such as Damascus, Aleppo, Palmyra, as well as areas in the provinces of Latakia, Hama, Homs, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Idlib.

▪️Since February 24, 2022, the Russian Armed Forces, under Shoigu's leadership, have been conducting a special military operation aimed at demilitarizing and de-Nazifying Ukraine. Over the past few months, the Russian military has advanced along the entire frontline to liberate the Donetsk People's Republic and other territories that joined Russia on September 30, 2022, following a series of referendums.

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⚡️Putin decided that the Russian Ministry of Defense should be headed by a civilian; the department should be open to innovation and advanced ideas, the Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

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⚡️Andrei Belousov has been proposed as Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

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Sergei Shoigu will oversee the work of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation of Russia, continuing to work in the field he knows intimately, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

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The president’s decision to appoint Andrei Belousov as defense minister suggests that such a person is needed in the post today, Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Duma Defense Committee, told Sputnik.

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