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| Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP |
Russian military's reputation in tatters as NATO expands, Europe cuts dependence on Moscow's oil, gas
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was designed to topple the government in Kyiv, fracture NATO and cement Moscow’s status as a fearsome 21st-century military machine and an irreplaceable energy kingpin that could use its oil and gas reserves to bully Europe.
Less than three months into the war, none of those goals has been met. Instead, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine gambit has backfired spectacularly across the board, culminating in the blockbuster announcement Thursday that Finland will abandon 75 years of neutrality and formally apply to join NATO.
Finnish leaders did not mince words when explaining exactly why their nation, which shares an 833-mile border with Russia, is aligning itself with Moscow’s No. 1 adversary
“You caused this. Look in the mirror,” Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said this week in comments directed squarely at the Kremlin.
The decision by Finland and a similar announcement from Sweden, expected as soon as this week, represent the exact opposite outcome that Mr. Putin was anticipating. By launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and threatening the West with nuclear war should it intervene, the Russian leader was banking on cracks emerging within NATO. Members of the alliance, he seems to have believed, would disagree about the extent to which they should aid Ukraine militarily, paralyzing the organization and exposing it as a paper tiger incapable of concrete action when it matters most. --->READ MORE HERE
Ukraine, May 13 (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces destroyed parts of a Russian armoured column as it tried to cross a river in the Donbas region, video from Ukraine's military showed on Friday, as the Ukrainian defence minister predicted many weeks of grinding fighting ahead.
Ukrainian forces have driven Russia from the second-largest Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in their fastest advance since Kremlin troops pulled away from Kyiv and the northeast over a month ago to focus their offensive on the Donbas region bordering Russia.
The city, which had been under fierce bombardment, has been quiet for at least two weeks and Reuters journalists have confirmed Ukraine now controls territory stretching to the Siverskyi Donets River, around 40 km (25 miles) to the east.
However, Moscow is still bombarding villages north of Kharkiv.
Some 10 km (six miles) north of the city, firefighters doused smouldering wreckage in Dergachi after what local officials said was an overnight Russian missile attack on the House of Culture, used to distribute aid. Volunteers inside were trying to salvage packages of baby diapers and formula. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
+++++Russia-Ukraine News LATEST UPDATES: (REUTERS) (AP) (NY POST) and (WSJ)+++++
+++++Russia takes losses in failed river crossing, officials say+++++
+++++Ukrainian servicemen load bodies of Russian soldiers onto refrigerated rail cars+++++
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