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[RD] Russia Invades Ukraine: Eight

Ukrainian army psychiatrist arrested on $1m corruption charge​

Ukraine has detained its army's chief psychiatrist for alleged "illegal enrichment" charges related to earnings of more than $1m (£813,000) accrued since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022.

In a statement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the man sat on a commission deciding whether individuals were fit for military service.

The SBU statement did not name him - however, a man called Oleh Druz was previously identified as the Ukrainian Armed Forces' chief psychiatrist.

The SBU said he owned three apartments in or near Kyiv, one in Odesa, two plots of land and several BMW luxury cars, and investigators searching his home also found $152,000 (£124,000) and €34,000 in cash.

The statement said the man did not declare the property, which was registered in the name of his wife, daughter, sons, and other third parties.

He now faces ten years in jail for the alleged charges of illegal enrichment and making a false declaration.

Druz was implicated in a similar case in 2017 which saw him fail to declare two SUVs and several properties, leading him to be suspended.

Ukraine has long battled endemic corruption.

In May, a Ukrainian MP was charged with embezzling £220,000, while in 2023 more than 30 conscription officials accused of taking bribes and smuggling people out of the country were sacked in an anti-corruption purge.

Last year, the Ukrainian parliament voted to abolish military medical commissions after several officials were accused of accepting bribes in exchange for issuing exemptions from military service.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7dvl0gn1lo


He may actually have saved a few young people from catching the illness of death. Of course for a very nice personal profit.
If their families are rich enough, maybe they will still stay away from the war despite the psychiatrist being arrested.
 
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened massive tariffs and sanctions on Russian products if Vladimir Putin fails to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

"Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, directed at the Russian president.
 
One more sanction bro, just one more sanction, pls bro, you don't understand, Russian economy is about to collapse, one more sanction bro


U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened massive tariffs and sanctions on Russian products if Vladimir Putin fails to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

"Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, directed at the Russian president.

"Trump will end the war in Ukraine"

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Isn't the US-Russia trade negligible already?

The stat was only 5 billion, in 2023. Even if one assumes it is still around that (?), and that it would all disappear, would Russia care?
 
One more sanction bro, just one more sanction, pls bro, you don't understand, Russian economy is about to collapse, one more sanction bro



"Trump will end the war in Ukraine"

View attachment 716112

did you misquote ?

or did you thought I was believing that the war would end yesterday ?

my previous references to the "peace in 24h" was about countering Russia propaganda that had made some people believe Russia was the side ready to make concession for peace any time and Ukraine was the side opposing it.

now that those people should have realized Russia does not want peace, I think I'm allowed to rub their nose in it.

and you were opposing any form of NATO intervention when the war started IIRC, now you are also opposing more sanctions ? how do you think more pressure should be applied on Russia ?
 
Well certainly they should be hounded wherever they appear..


He said a Royal Navy submarine had been authorised to surface close to Yantar - a highly unusual move.
Healey described this "strictly as a deterrent measure" and "to make clear that we have been covertly monitoring its every move".
 
did you misquote ?

or did you thought I was believing that the war would end yesterday ?

No, you posted the news so you got quoted.

and you were opposing any form of NATO intervention when the war started IIRC, now you are also opposing more sanctions ? how do you think more pressure should be applied on Russia ?

I think more pressure should be applied to Russia by building a defense industry that is designed to win wars, not to pad the profits of defense contractors. Sanctions have not been particularly effective and I don't think another round of them is gonna change that.
 
Well an arms industry is not built overnight, but progress is being made :


Following what Scholz famously called a “Zeitenwende” — a historic turning point — it has presided over the loosening of rules for the sale of German arms, skyrocketing military exports and a significant expansion of domestic military procurement.
 

A Few Days After Double-Tapping A Russian Bomber Base, Ukraine’s Drones Target The Factory That Builds The Bombers​

On Jan. 8, Ukrainian drones motored at least 400 miles to strike a sprawling fuel storage facility near the Russian air force’s Engels bomber base in Saratov in southern Russia. Six days later, drones struck the same fuel depot again, stoking a blaze that continued to burn days later.

Now Ukraine’s long-range unmanned aerial vehicles are going after the factory that builds and maintains many of the Russian air force’s bombers: the Kazan Aircraft Plant in Kazan, around 700 miles from the front line in Ukraine. Overnight on Sunday, Russian Telegram users reported drones overhead—and a blast and fire at a fuel depot near the factory.

“Lighting up the night sky in Russia's Kazan region, burning Russian aircraft manufacturing facilities for the production and repair of the long range strategic bombers that regularly rain missiles on the people of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communication celebrated as the flames rose and smoke billowed in Kazan.

The Sunday night strike was just part of a wider wave of raids. At the same time Kazan exploded, Ukrainian munitions—drones or missiles—struck a helicopter factory in the city as well as a fuel depot in Bryansk Oblast, in southern Russian just 25 miles from Ukraine. “And there will be more,” the Center for Strategic Communication vowed.

It’s unclear what types of drone were involved in attacks on Kazan. Ukraine has developed a dizzying array of long-range UAVs, including some based on modified A-22 sport planes. The earlier Saratov raids may have involved the smaller PD-2, Beaver, Liutyi and UJ-22—all of which are between six and 10 feet long, propeller-driven, presumably GPS-guided and capable of flying hundreds of miles with explosive payloads.

It’s notable that so many of Ukraine’s recent deep strikes have been targeting fuel depots. The raids are a kind of corollary to the ongoing campaign of strikes targeting the Russian oil industry—in particular, its refineries. Oil doesn’t just fuel the Russian war machine, it’s also a main source of revenue for the Russian state.

Blowing up the fuel tanks attached to Russian bomber bases—and the industrial sites associated with the bomber bases—probably can’t stop the Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities, but it can make the bombardment costlier for Moscow.

And blowing up fuel tanks and factories is easier than blowing up the bombers themselves. The bombers—120 Tupolev Tu-22Ms, Tu-95s and Tu-160s—fly high and fast, launch their cruise missiles hundreds of miles from Ukrainian cities and, when they are on the ground, are spread across potentially dozens of bases.

By contrast, the tanks and factories are big and unmoving. Easy targets for Ukraine’s drones.
 
I think more pressure should be applied to Russia by building a defense industry that is designed to win wars, not to pad the profits of defense contractors. Sanctions have not been particularly effective and I don't think another round of them is gonna change that.

Agree that we need a credible conventional deterrence, that also require soldiers, technological difference are not as important as they were 20 years ago, numbers are becoming relevant again, and not just for ammo/equipment.

Would have been good to have before, is a requirement for after, but currently that's not helping Ukraine, while this...


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... and add the possible lowering of oil price this year, at some point the situation will not be sustainable any more. Ok, that's not short term, so Russia is betting on Ukraine collapsing before they do, and if that happen, yes sanctions were not effective enough. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't put more pressure that way, on the contrary, there are no other solutions available. And nations that are actually not (very) affected by heavy sanctions are also not waging a high intensity war with the level of attrition of the current war.
 
Ok, that's not short term, so Russia is betting on Ukraine collapsing before they do, and if that happens, yes sanctions were not effective enough.
There is no reason to think that they ever were. Well, not against Russia anyway. They were extremely effective in making energy very expensive in the Eu - both due to artificial alternation of the market to import from half a planet away, and the local cartels having a field day.
 
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