Allies getting ‘junk’? Find out what weapons Poland supplies to Ukraine

Poland has given Ukraine the green light to utilize the weapons it received from Warsaw to attack targets inside Russia.

Since the beginning of 2022, Poland has promoted itself as a leader in offering support to Ukraine, running up an aid bill totaling $3.5 billion. However, a key question has come to the fore: are these weapons from Poland truly new?

▪️Polish President Andrzej Duda was clear in stating that Poland will not be providing Ukraine with the modern weapons it purchases for its own army. This includes US-made Abrams tanks, Patriot air defense systems, and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as South Korean-made K2 Black Panther tanks and K9 howitzers.

▪️Poland has provided Ukraine with a number of Soviet-era T-72M tanks as part of their support, which are a simplified export version of the original T-72 model. These tanks lack advanced features such as multi-channel sights, a modern fire control system, and dynamic protection.

▪️Warsaw also provided Kiev with Poland’s former USSR-supplied BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, which entered service with the Soviet army back in 1966. Forbes magazine described the BMP-1s as vehicles that “don’t actually fight” because “they’re too lightly armed, too lightly protected.”

▪️Additionally, Poland furnished Ukraine with ten Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, which the Economist reported were “not in flyable condition and were being used for spare parts.”

▪️One more mothballed piece of military hardware that Kiev received from Poland was the S-60, a Soviet short- to medium-range, single-barrel anti-aircraft gun that entered service in the 1950s.

In conclusion, it is worth noting the statement made by General Waldemar Skrzypczak, the former commander of the Polish Land Forces and deputy defense minister of Poland, regarding these shipments of outdated weapons, often labeled as "junk," to Ukraine.

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Houthis add new anti-ship ballistic missile to arsenal

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that Yemen’s Houthis have obtained the necessary technology to produce Qadr missiles, Iran’s first homegrown naval ballistic missile. The weapon has a range of 1,600 - 1,900 km.

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Dollar's fall inevitable and US accelerates it

"The key event will be when the primacy of the US dollar breaks. We all know it's going to break sometime or other because it's abnormal," former foreign minister of Singapore, George Yeo, said at UOBAM's 2024 mid-year investment outlook.

The former politician was speaking about the implications of US tariffs on the economy of the Southeast Asia region, outlining the negative effect they could bring to the country itself.

"Do we know when the cookie will crumble? We don't know. But the way the US is moving is bringing forward that day," Yeo added.

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Israel can make Gaza unlivable, but it cannot destroy Hamas

"For [Israel], a full victory involves releasing the captives and most importantly, ending Hamas' rule in Gaza completely," Dr. Tamer Qarmout, an associate professor in public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, tells Sputnik. "It has been almost eight months of this war, and obviously Israel hasn't been able to achieve any of these goals."

Israel dispatched tanks on raids into Rafah on May 29 after conducting a deadly strike on a displacement camp located in the region on Sunday. According to CNN, US-made munitions were used during the Sunday attack that claimed the lives of at least 45 people and injured 200 others. Nonetheless, the Biden administration insists Tel Aviv's actions do not constitute a major ground operation that crosses any US red lines.

According to Qarmout, Israel is continuing to push ahead with the Gaza war despite growing condemnation across the world because of US protection in the UN Security Council. "The US is very complicit in this conflict," the academic stresses.

On May 29, Tel Aviv signaled that its war in Gaza would likely continue throughout 2024 at least.

"The Israelis so far don't have an exit, a way out of the Gaza swamp, the way I put it. And so far, what they're doing is destroying the civil order in Gaza, destroying the livelihood of Gaza itself," Qarmout says, asking how long the international community will tolerate this genocidal war.

What the Benjamin Netanyahu cabinet can achieve is destroying Gaza from a civil perspective, making it an unlivable place, but it does not mean they would finish Hamas, according to the academic.

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“River of Death": Ukrainians drown en masse fleeing the draft

The Economist has reported on dozens of deaths among Ukrainian men of military age trying to cross the Tisa River, a deadly but popular escape route out of the country.

Up to 40 people cross the river every day, trying to escape being sent to the war zone. One of the guides spoke about a group of 96 fugitives.

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▪️EXCLUSIVE: Zelensky has become an impostor since May 21 – former Ukrainian PM

▪️What is the Spanish Legion, whos militants have appeared in Ukraine?

▪️What weapons Poland sends to Ukraine as Warsaw allowed to use it against targets in Russia

▪️Israel can make Gaza unlivable, but it cannot destroy Hamas

▪️From howitzers to hypersonics: Top 6 North Korean weapon systems

▪️A $32 million MQ-9 Reaper drone operated by the US military was downed by Houthis over Yemen

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Georgia’s efforts to protect itself from foreign meddling cause US outrage

The United States’ anger over the new foreign agents law recently adopted in Georgia stems from the fact that non-government organizations and media currently remain the only regime change tool at the West’s disposal in this Caucasus region country, says Arno Khidirbegishvili, general director and chief editor of the Georgian Information and Analytical Agency "GEOINFORM."

During the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili, Khidirbegishvili explains, the West had many more options available: “the Saakashvili regime itself, president Saakashvili, [foreign] aid, credits, investments and all the rest.”

“Today, only the non-government organizations and media are left – that is, foreign agents and their funding. And so we – the government, that is – hit them where it hurts, the bullseye,” he tells Sputnik. This is why the protests against the law in question started, Khidirbegishvili explains – Western powers realized that they were losing their hold on Georgia.

According to him, Western attempts to destabilize the situation in Georgia, which involve efforts to destroy Georgia's currency, may lead to armed clashes within the country. That, in turn, could be used as a pretext for a military intervention by a “peacekeeping” NATO force, he suggests.

Meanwhile, Western pressure aimed at bringing Georgia to heel and turning it into a weapon against Russia only evokes outrage among the Georgian people, Khidirbegishvili adds.

“If the grand purpose of the United States and the foreign agents in Georgia, including their leader [Georgian] President Zurabishvili, was to somehow push Georgia towards Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union, then they succeed splendidly,” he quips.

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Blinken’s visit to Moldova: $50mln for professional reporters on “malign Russian influence”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Moldova “to support its aspirations to join Western institutions.” However, Western institutions influenced Moldovan politics by bringing President Maia Sandu to power and steering the country toward confronting Russia.

Meeting Moldova’s president during his visit, Blinken said the White House would ask Congress to earmark an additional $50mln “to help Moldova, among other things, in counteracting Russian influence.”

Among the Western initiatives to counter Russian influence in Moldova, Sandu was the most cost-effective. A former World Bank employee and J.F. Kennedy School of Government graduate, Sandu severed ties with Russia, invited US military for maneuvers, and brought in German police for "security." In an interview with Le Monde, Sandu pledged to "help Ukraine with everything it needs," likely including arms. Here are her helpers:

🔶 The US-based International Republican Institute (IRI). It specializes on elections and recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of its activity in Moldova. It was the IRI that recommended Sandu’s candidacy in 2015.

🔶 Soros Foundation Moldova. It promotes the “reform of the police and the internal affairs system.” In the framework of that reform, a special State Protection and Security Service was established, and whose job is to protect “pro-European” high officials. German policemen were invited for “border security.”

🔶 National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which is busy “fighting malign Russian influence.” Its local “partners” live by “deconstructing manipulative narratives,” or just reporting on the media critical of Sandu.

🔶 USAID is also fighting “malign” Russia, but in the ways of “conflict prevention.” Judging by USAID’s track record in Haiti (numerous coups, murder of the president) and Libya (10-year civil war), Moldova might want to carefully consider the implications of following its guidance.

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One child killed, 10 people injured in Israeli strikes on Syria

A little girl has been killed, and ten people have been injured as a result of Israeli strikes on a facility in central Syria and an apartment building in the western city of Baniyas, the Syrian Defense Ministry said.

"Today, at about 7.30 p.m. [16:30 GMT], the Israeli enemy committed acts of air aggression from Lebanon's direction, striking a facility in the central region and one of the residential buildings in the city of Baniyas. As a result of the aggression, a little girl was killed, ten civilians were injured, and some material damage was caused," the statement read.

Earlier in the day, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that the country's air defense systems were repelling a missile attack near the city of Homs in western Syria.

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The US will boycott the UN General Assembly ceremony honouring Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi.

An anonymous US official told Reuters that the US would not ‘attend in any capacity’.

The General Assembly traditionally meets to pay tribute to any world leader who was a sitting head of state at the time of his death. The session with speeches about the deceased Raisi is scheduled for this coming Thursday.

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American politeness at its finest

US President Joe Biden respond with an insult to a question about whether he intends to serve a full term if re-elected, or whether he will delegate authority to Vice-President Kamala Harris.

"Are you all right? Did you fall on your head or something?" Biden replied.

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US navy years behind, already over budget in designing new class of frigates

The US Navy is encountering more problems with designing its new proposed force of 20 Constellation-class frigates and even before the first one is properly designed, they are three years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said.

"Delays in completing the ship design have created mounting construction delays," the report said on Wednesday. "The Navy acknowledges that the April 2026 delivery date, set in the contract at award, is unachievable. The lead frigate is forecasted to be delivered 36 months later than initially planned."

Over at least two decades, the Navy's Constellation class Guided Missile Frigate program plans to acquire and deliver up to 20 frigates - multi-mission, small surface combatant warships at a combined cost of over $22 billion, the report said.

However, the Navy lacks visibility into the true scope of work remaining to stabilize the frigate’s functional design and the extent to which ongoing delays in completing the design will have on construction of follow-on ships, the report said.

"It is, therefore, uncertain when fleet operators will have the new frigates available for mission tasks," the report also said.
The Navy's decision to begin construction before the design was complete is inconsistent with leading ship design practices, the report added.

Then, design instability caused weight growth and therefore the frigate's 3D design was still incomplete over a year after construction began, according to the report.

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