Truss singled out China, which has refused to condemn invasion of Ukraine, while increasing imports

from Russia and commenting on “who should or shouldn’t be a Nato member”.

Countries must play by the rules.

And that includes China...

China is not impervious. They will not continue to rise if they do not play by the rules.

China needs trade with the G7. We represent around half of the global economy. And we have choices.

We have shown with Russia the kind of choices that we’re prepared to make when international rules are violated.”

UK’s foreign secretary Liz Truss




I agree 100%, china is as disgusting as russia in my book. Its time for the West to break the economic hold china has on us.

Put in prison

A top executive at one of Russia's largest private banks said he has quit his post and fled to Kyiv

Ukrainian-born Igor Volobuev, vice president of Gazprombank, said he “could no longer be in Russia” and that he wants to “wash off” his Russian past.

In an interview with the independent Russian news outlet The Insider, Volobuev said he wanted to join the Ukrainian territorial defence after Russia invaded on 14 February.

Volobuev said: I could no longer be in Russia. I am Ukrainian by nationality, I was born in Akhtyrka, I could no longer observe from the outside what Russia is doing to my homeland.

Volobuev said he worked for six years at Gazprombank, a subsidiary of the Russian energy giant, as well as Gazprom for over 16 years. He said he now wanted “to stay in Ukraine until the victory”.

As I posted earlier about the 2 American volunteer soldiers wounded in Ukraine I wondered

where all the flag waving right wingers blasting "i'm Proud To Be An American" on their radios? After reading that report about our brave volunteer soldiers going into harms way to protect another democracy I can say today that I am proud to be an American, something I thought I would never say again after 4 years of tRump.

Two American volunteers fighting in Ukraine were wounded by artillery fire near the city of Orikhiv

US army veterans, Manus McCaffrey and Paul Gray, were working together as a team targeting Russian tanks with Javelins when they were injured, journalist Nolan Peterson reports.

https://twitter.com/nolanwpeterson/status/1519333208520859649

https://twitter.com/nolanwpeterson/status/1519334107892826112

Them there are fightin words, pootie may just open a can of whoopass he's not ready for

Reuters: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that any countries attempting to interfere in Ukraine would be faced with a swift response from Russia and said all decisions on how Moscow would react in that situation have already been taken.

Addressing lawmakers in St Petersburg, Putin said the West wanted to cut Russia up into different pieces and accused it of pushing Ukraine into conflict with Russia.

You can bet the farm that the West made their decisions on how to react if he's dumb enough to try something.

Putins back to using his improbably long, white table

Russia cuts gas supplies to Poland

Russia has reportedly halted gas deliveries to Poland in an escalation of tensions between Moscow and European capitals over crucial energy supplies, according to Polish news website Onet.pl.

The report cited Polish government sources and the country’s state gas company PGNiG. There has been no official confirmation of the news yet.

European gas prices surged as much as 17% after the report, Bloomberg reports.

Without confirming the report, Poland’s minister of climate and environment, Anna Moskwa, said the country has enough gas in storage.

Ukraine has started to receive 155mm calibre artillery from the US and other partners.

Ukraine’s defence minister said today that Ukraine has started to receive 155mm calibre artillery from the US and other partners.

From CNN’s Bianna Golodryga citing a report from the Financial Times:

Ukraine’s Defense Minister says Ukraine is already starting to receive 155mm calibre artillery — the standard Nato size — from the US and from other partners, including France. He predicts that longer-range weaponry will ‘fundamentally’ change fight with Russia.

Sweden and Finland have agreed to submit applications to join Nato at the same time, perSwedish news

Sweden and Finland have agreed to submit applications to join Nato at the same time, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reports.

Both countries have agreed to announce their applications in the week of 16 to 22 May, during Finland’s president Sauli Niinistö’s visit to Stockholm, according to Swedish government sources.

Guardian news feed

Update, The Finnish daily Iltalehti said on Monday that Stockholm had “suggested the two countries indicate their willingness to join” on the same day, and that Helsinki had agreed “as long as the Swedish government has made its decision”.

The Swedish newspaper Expressen cited government sources as confirming the report. The two countries’ prime ministers said this month they were deliberating the question, arguing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had changed Europe’s “whole security landscape” and “dramatically shaped mindsets” in the Nordic region.

Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, said then that her country, which shares a 1,300km (810 mile) border with Russia, would decide whether to apply to join the alliance “quite fast, in weeks not months”, despite the risk of infuriating Moscow.

Her Swedish counterpart, Magdalena Andersson, said Sweden had to be “prepared for all kinds of actions from Russia” and that “everything had changed” when Moscow attacked Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly warned both countries against the move.