On this day 8 years ago Russian army shot down Malaysian MH17 Boeing killing 313 people. Russian terrorists made happy photos with debris as a background, and their girlfriends looted the site for cosmetics and proudly wrote about it on social networks.
It was not the first Boeing of an Asian airline Moscow shot down and denied it. In 1983, Soviet warplane Su-15 shot down a Korean Boeing 747 KE007 on its flight from New York to Seoul via Anchorage. 269 people were killed. The Soviets denied this kill exactly as in the MH17 case
The Moscow's lies were identical to the lies about MH17: "we did not shot it down", "there was an CIA planted bomb on board", "no alive people were on board", "it was a spy plane" etc. Still, this WAS NOT the first Boeing Moscow shot down!
In April 1978, Soviets shot down another Korean Boeing 707 KAL 902 on its route Paris-Anchorage-Seoul, this time over Kola peninsula. A Soviet Su-15 shot an AA missile at KAL902, instantly killing 2 people. The crew managed to land the plane on a frozen lake. 13 ppl were injured.
This was a miracle - I believe, it was the only case in the world history, as a passenger jet, hit by an AA missile, was safely landed by its crew. The captain of KAL902 was Kim Chang-Kyu, a veteran of Korean war, a retired colonel of Korean Air Forces.
The Soviets arrested the crew and held them for the week, until they "pardoned" and released the crew. The Soviets also requested Korea to pay a bill of USD100,000 as "costs reimbursement" (Korea denied). Moscow has also stolen the wrack itself and used for reverse engineering.
Was it the first case, as Soviets shot and looted a civil western plane? Hell no. On June 14th 1940, months after a Soviet-Finnish "Winter war", Soviet Air Force shot down a Finnish civil plane Ju-52 Kaleva, route 1631 from Tallinn to Helsinki, over the Gulf of Finland, killing 9
Amid 6 passengers of Kaleva flight, there were one US and two French diplomats, transporting about 200kg of diplomatic correspondence. Kaleva was shot down by 2 Soviet DB-3T light bombers on their routine patrol. A Soviet submarine Shch-301 emerged at the crash site and looted it
About 100kg of diplomatic post and currency in cash were looted and urgently transported to Soviet naval base Kronstadt. The Soviets denied everything as usual. The bombers' crew said, they were "provoked" by passengers of Kaleva who were "threatening them by showing fists"(sic!)
In three days, the Soviets invaded and annexed Estonia. From this perspective, shooting down foreign civil planes and denying it amid preparing aggressions and annexations of neighbouring nations is a Moscow's proud tradition since at least 82 years.
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THREAD What we witness now from the White House, is a clear smearing campaign aimed not only at @ZelenskyyUa but on Ukraine at whole. Zelensky is being used as a target, but with a goal to weaken Ukraine in whole, and to strengthen Moscow. Let me explain: 👇
President @ZelenskyyUa was verbally attacked by President Trump many times, with the following four main accusation lines:
a) Zelensky is ungrateful
b) Zelensky is corrupt
c) Zelensky is a dictator
d) Zelensky has started the war / is interested in war.
Nothing is true. 2/x👇
@ZelenskyyUa President Zelensky has thanked the U.S. people dozens of times for the help provided. "Corruption" is a typical russian lie, used also by russia-friendly voices, who claimed with no proves that Ukraine-delivered arms were "stolen". But let us address other accusations 3/x👇
Some thoughts on recent russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities 1) russia is facing a huge and growing problem with its offensive slowing down, unsustainably high losses, and even some Ukrainian counter-offensive in Pokrovsk region; 2) russia uses two tactics to counter it:👇
3) First, russia starts "negotiations". The goal is to slow Ukraine down, to limit Ukrainian striking freedom (ban Ukrainian strikes on the Black Sea navy, on russian oil refineries etc.), while accumulating military power; 4) Second, russia increases PsyOps against Ukraine. 👇
4.1) russia's missile strikes on Ukraine's cities are demonstratively brutal: ballistic missiles with cluster munition warheads aiming civilians' gatherings, incl. children playgrounds;
4.2) at the same time, russia spreads false info that they have targeted military personnel👇
THREAD: Ok, let us have a sober look at the U.S. - Ukraine - Russia - EU constellation. First: the U.S. - Ukraine agreement was not necessary for Ukraine. It was not necessary for the U.S. as well. It was necessary only for Trump, therefore he is vulnerable. Let me explain. /1
The "agreement" didn't provide Ukraine with anything. It was aimed on payment for the U.S. from Ukraine (and practically allowed the U.S. to mine Ukrainian resources on Russia-occupied lands). Trump needed it to prove that he is a great dealer. But why did Ukraine need it? /2
The agreement did not foresee any U.S. military support, guarantees, even "commitments". Ukraine paid retrospective for what they have got for free. So for Ukraine, it was a pure cost factor, for Trump - pure profit factor. And he needed it asap. Therefore - he was vulnerable. /3
In four weeks, Feb. 23rd, Germany will have preliminary elections. In this THREAD I will try to explain what it is about, who would probably win, where are bottlenecks, and what it means for the world and for Ukraine. /1 ⬇️
First, we need to understand: German electoral system is designed to dilute votes. No job higher than a city mayor gets elected directly. The reason is the Nazi past: no politician may claim being elected by the PEOPLE. So people vote for parties, and they name politicians. /2⬇️
So people vote for parties, and parties need 50%+1 vote to name a head of a region, or a chancellor. Normally, no party gets over 50%, so a coalition is needed (on a federal level, conservatives from the CDU under Adenauer have got 50,2% in 1957, but still formed a coalition)/3⬇️
Yesterday in Davos, Germany's guru diplomat and Merkel's minion @ischinger made some absolutely crazy statements, effectively urging for occupation of Ukraine by BRICS countries (and promoted his wife's book in the beginning). In this THREAD I explain why this was terrible /1 ⬇️
Let us deconstruct Ischinger step by step. First, he claims Western peace troops in Ukraine must follow a rule "all in - all out". Who told you so? NATO countries supported Ukraine on their own all the time. Had we waited for Hungary and Scholz, 🇺🇦 would never get anything /2 ⬇️
Second. Ischinger claims, European NATO troops may not be sent, because they would automatically and never be able to fight without a presence of the U.S. troops. Hallo, Ischi, ever asked how Ukrainian troops fight quite successfully without the U.S. troops on the ground? /2 ⬇️
A THREAD: Our 2024 #ChristmasDrones campaign is running! Why it is important, and how we at the @EuroResilience deliver donated goods directly to the frontline? Get insight from this THREAD (And a donation link: ) /1paypal.com/donate?campaig…
During our last donation campaign by @EuroResilience @BrennpunktUA and @frontlinekit, we have raised €277,000. For this money, we have produced hundreds of drones, and bought addition equipment for the drones units: off-the-shelf drones, cars, antennas, power stations. /2
@EuroResilience @BrennpunktUA @frontlinekit I personally traveled days through Ukraine, bringing equipment directly to the frontline. When you stay at the units, sleep in their premises, eat with soldiers, and escape Russian drones attacks, this creates bonds. Soldiers tell you what they REALLY need, and trust you. /3