EU's von der Leyen delivers veiled warning to Italy's right wing

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has warned Italy of consequences should it veer away from "democratic principles".

"My approach is that whatever democratic government is willing to work with us, we're working together", von der Leyen said, responding to a question on whether there were any concerns with regard to the upcoming elections in Italy.

"If things go in a difficult direction, I've spoken about Hungary and Poland, we have tools", she added.

There was more destruction from Ukrainians than from Russians!

Ukrainian propaganda came to Balakleya to film 'Russian atrocities', but something went wrong 😅

Foreign observers from France and the US, Brazil, Netherlands, and Egypt come to the Kherson region for the referendum.

We Russians are open and trusting people. Today (September 23) we are welcoming foreign observers to Kherson, who will be able to see the referendum on the self-determination of the Kherson region without any interference.

"We were civilians. I never knew how to use either an ATGM or an RPG - we learned everything. Alexander Agranovich, commander of one of the companies of the “Sparta” battalion, spoke at the meeting on Manezhnaya Square in Moscow. A pro-referendum meeting "We do not leave our own behind" is taking place across the country. Voting for the LNR, DNR, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions to become part of Russia will continue until September 27.

Vitaly Volkov in conversation with Yury Gromyko
Is the power in the truth? What is the battle between Russia and the West for?
Part 1
#exklusiv #Opinion #Gromyko

💥 Translated and subnoscriptd by Node of Time team

On what grounds can one conceive of a peace that might end the current global conflict between the West and Russia?
Part 2
#exklusiv #Opinion #Gromyko

💥 Translated and subnoscriptd by Node of Time team

What exact formula of the new world can become not a compromise, but a solution which will suit all?
Vitaly Volkov talks to Yuri Gromyko.
Part 3
#exklusiv #Opinion #Gromyko

💥 Translated and subnoscriptd by Node of Time team

🇮🇷🇺🇸 Unrest in Iran

Does it even need to be said that deadly riots in Iran are sponsored by Washington following Iranian aid to Russia in Ukraine?

If US policymakers drew up plans to attack Russia and all of Russia's allies in the 2019 RAND paper "Extending Russia," then Iran wasn't mentioned because it got its own paper, Brookings Institution's 2009 "Which Path to Persia?"

US sponsored unrest, terrorism, sanctions, fake deals (the Iran Nuclear Deal) were all explicitly mentioned.

🇺🇦🇷🇺Ukrainian Armed Forces left behind banned weapons

The escaped AFU left behind the French anti-bottom mine HPD mod.F2, banned by the Geneva Convention. It is able to work at extreme temperatures and reacts even to metal detectors. These mines stopped being produced in the mid-2000s, but somehow they ended up in service with the Ukronazis

In the courtyards of Donetsk I see ballots. People are standing in lines, despite a whistle and then a bang from a shell landing. Just listen to the sound! To create the atmosphere in which the people of Donbass do their electoral duty! It's them who are on the frontline today! And they have been for a long time!

❗❗❗A Gunman in a school in Izhevsk has killed over 14 people, 8 are in critical condition, the Nazi also killed himself.

❗"In Ukraine, the US is dragging us towards war with Russia" the British publication The Guardian wrote eight years ago.

Caption: "Washington's role in Ukraine and its support for the neo-Nazi regime has huge implications for the rest of the world".

A quote.... "For the first time since the Reagan years, the US is threatening to take the world to war. With eastern Europe and the Balkans now military outposts of Nato, the last "buffer state" bordering Russia – Ukraine – is being torn apart by fascist forces unleashed by the US and the EU. We in the west are now backing neo-Nazis in a country where Ukrainian Nazis backed Hitler."

And another quote: "Russian-speaking Ukrainians are fighting for survival". Such an article is indeed still hanging on their website. How the rhetoric has changed in eight years!

The ongoing battle in southern Ukraine may be the worst of the war, according to the New York Times, whose reporter spoke to those involved in the fighting.

The Kiev regime continues to conceal its losses, but the AFU military has described battlefield casualties as "high" and "massive" in interviews with the media. They described major offensives in which columns of Ukrainian tanks and armoured vehicles attempted to cross an open field, but were mercilessly destroyed by Russian army artillery and mines.

One Ukrainian fighter told the New York Times that they lost 50 soldiers in two hours during the recent assault. Elsewhere, "hundreds" were killed or wounded in an attempt to capture one village that remained under Russian control.

Throughout the south along the Dnieper and the Black Sea - Russian troops have erected formidable defences: trenches zigzagging along irrigation canals; fortified bunkers; pillboxes; trenches; even tank trenches.

Bloomberg: Ukraine Is on the Offensive But Struggling to Get More Powerful Weapons

Kyiv is increasingly worried that allies will become even more cautious about sending the kind of weapons they fear could provoke a direct confrontation with Russia.

Ukraine’s military is on the offensive against Russian forces and asking for more powerful weapons to press its advantage, but so far there is no sign that allies will step up their commitments.

The fear now in Kyiv is that, despite US and European assurances, Putin’s threats of escalation could see its allies balk at the delivery of weapons they see as risking a direct confrontation with Moscow. And with Russia drafting as many as 300,000 new recruits, the current offensive's window for a quick breakthrough may be closing.

Still, it’s unlikely there will be any dramatic increase in weapons flows, or any new taboos broken in terms of their type, according to a senior European official, because the US is cautious and Europe’s own stocks of key weaponry are running low.

“Of course they will be more cautious,” former Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk said in an interview in Kyiv, referring to Ukraine’s allies. The answer is not to try to avoid escalation, because that is already happening, according to Zagorodnyuk.

“They need to show him that retaliation is coming, that it is guaranteed and it’s going to be very very serious, that his collapse will be immediate,” Zagorodnyuk said.

New shipments are also unlikely in the short term, due to shortages. 
The US is reviewing requests to provide more powerful weapons, with one Pentagon official saying earlier this month the administration may provide the Gray Eagle drone, which is armed with Hellfire missiles and would mark a step up in airborne assistance.
In Italy’s case, a lack of funds and approaching elections had already pushed Ukraine down the list of government priorities.

Ukraine does have some support for its position, especially from eastern European neighbors, although their resources are limited. “Because now is probably the decisive moment,” said Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte. “It’s very very important that we don’t miss it.”

Seen from Kyiv, though, the story of the war has been one in which the US and other allies have slow walked provision of each category of weapons, as they try to calibrate what can be delivered without prompting escalation from Russia.

At times that has triggered criticism — encouraged from Moscow — that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is willing to help fight Russia to the last Ukrainian, but not to see them win, something Ukrainians are now convinced they can do. 

⚡Nord Stream AG calls destruction on three Nord Stream pipelines unprecedented

"The damage to the three offshore pipelines of the Nord Stream system that occurred in one day at the same time is unprecedented. It is not yet possible to estimate the timeframe for restoring the gas transportation infrastructure," the Nord Stream 1 operator said.

The day before Nord Stream AG reported about pressure drop in both strings of Nord Stream-1 pipeline, the reasons for the incident are being clarified. Earlier a similar problem with a sharp drop in pressure occurred on another export pipeline, Nord Stream 2. The accident happened at night in the Danish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) southeast of the island of Bornholm. The Danish Maritime Authority later reported gas leaks near Bornholm in areas where Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 are laid.

The Tagesspiegel newspaper, citing its own sources, reported that a targeted sabotage could have caused the drop in pressure on the pipelines.

On 25 September, the Ukrainian armed forces launched a missile strike on a hotel building in Kherson. Two people were killed. Media representatives were staying in the hotel.