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Bushmasters, now Hawkeis. These light armoured vehicles are Ukraine’s ‘new crush’

April 12, 2023 by www.abc.net.au Leave a Comment

With AC/DC’s Back in Black blaring, and large macho-looking font exclaiming “how great these rigs are”, Ukraine is ramping up its attempts to get Australia’s attention.

Key points:

  • Ukraine has called on Australia to send its Hawkei protected mobility vehicles to the battlefield
  • The light armoured four-wheel-drive is designed and built at the Thales factory in Bendigo
  • The vehicle would complement the larger Australian-made Bushmaster already being used in Ukraine

After the effectiveness and popularity of the Australian-made Bushmaster armoured personal carriers, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has released a social media video calling for its new military “crush”.

“Our soldiers absolutely love Australian Bushmasters. But now they have a new crush: the Hawkei,” the defence ministry tweeted.

“These two would be a perfect match on the battlefield.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, has also made repeated requests for the Hawkei vehicles.

He said they will not only help save soldiers’ lives, but the war will provide a testing ground for the new piece of equipment.

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What is a Hawkei?

Designed and built at the Thales factory in Bendigo, Victoria, the Hawkei is a light armoured four-wheel-drive patrol vehicle.

It only recently went into service in Australia, after the government spent $1.3 billion on 1,100 Hawkeis and 1,058 associated trailers to replace the Army’s ageing Land Rover fleet.

It was initially developed as a armoured support vehicle, but evolved to include light armoured fighting vehicle features.

It carries up to five personnel, is highly mobile and — at seven tonnes — is light enough to be “slung on a CH-47 helicopter”, Ian Langford, a retired military officer and national security expert, said.

“You can move to different places when you need to.”

One of its key capabilities is that it can operate command and control networks over large distances.

It also has a “protected mobility combat system” which provides protection from blasts, while offering significant striking ability.

“It’s the Toyota HiLux of protected mobility systems,” Mr Langford said.

The US equivalent would be the Humvee, but Mr Langford said Hawkeis were designed to have more emphasis on the “survivability of soldiers”.

Mr Myroshnychenko said there are several reasons why Hawkeis would be “very helpful” for Ukraine.

“Firstly, they’re very good vehicles, [they] really save lives,” he told ABC News Breakfast.

“They could help Ukraine fend off the enemy.”

In terms of mobility, Mr Langford described Hawkeis as “a bit of a Swiss Army Knife”.

“It can be used for tasks that include utility, reconnaissance, liaison, and command and control,” he said.

How do they differ from Bushmasters?

Australia has so far given Ukraine 90 Bushmasters as part of its $475 million military assistance package.

The 15-tonne four-wheel-drive vehicles are designed for all environments and are blast-resistant.

They were used to drive back Russian forces from the Kharkiv region in north-eastern Ukraine, and are reportedly playing a role in the battle for Bakhmut transporting infantry and evacuation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Bushmasters have “performed masterfully” on the battlefields.

“We associate Australia with Bushmasters not kangaroos and koalas,” Dr Yuriy Sak, advisor to Ukraine’s Minister of Defence, said at an Australian Strategic Policy Institute event last week.

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The main difference between Bushmasters and Hawkeis is size.

Hawkeis can perform similar tasks as the Bushmaster, but not at the same scale.

Bushmasters can carry mortars and heavier weapons and sustain itself for a period of up to three days.

“A Bushmaster is a protected mobility vehicle that can carry up to a section, which has up to nine people, including the driver and gunner,” Mr Langford said.

As a smaller tactical vehicle, Hawkeis are seen as being complementary to Bushmasters.

“It really is that vehicle that provides the ability for land forces to be able to move, as well as be able to communicate both in a network but also in a manoeuvre context,” Mr Langford said.

Is Ukraine likely to get them?

There were reports last year that the the delivery of some Hawkeis to the ADF had been delayed over problems with the brakes.

Defence had quietly started rejecting the vehicles, but later reached an agreement with Thales to resolve the issue.

Mr Langford said on Thursday Hawkeis are “on the road” to full operational capability certification.

“But like all major programs, when they come into service they always have teething problems and they are working through that,” he said.

“Australia sets a pretty high standard for the safety conduct of these sorts of machines, so I don’t think there are any issues that would stop them from potentially being exporters in that context.”

Mr Myroshnychenko suggested that Ukraine could be used as a testing ground for Hawkeis in a war environment.

“This is a new piece of equipment which Australia has, we’ll be able to provide feedback,” he said.

The ambassador said discussions were continuing with the Australian government on what else could be provided this year.

“It’s not only about the shopping list, Hawkei is one of the items we request and many other things that Australia could support to Ukraine,” Mr Myroshnychenko said.

“What is important is that that support continues.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong did not confirm whether Australia would send Hawkeis, but said the government “will consider any requests from Ukraine”.

“The point about Ukraine … it is a long way away,” Ms Wong told ABC News Breakfast.

“But the principle is it matters deeply to Australia and the region.”

Even if Australia were to answer Ukraine’s calls, it would all come down to capacity, Mr Langford said.

“The manufacturing of these vehicles all comes out of Bendigo, so the question would be: How quickly can you build these things off the line?

“And if you’re going to give them now, then they’re going to come out of army stocks and I’d hazard a guess to say the Army needs all the vehicles it can get at the moment.”

In August last year, Thales axed 29 jobs at its Bendigo facility after the contract to build 1,100 Hawkeis ended.

At the time, Bendigo MP Lisa Chesters said the factory was at risk of closure if Thales didn’t secure another defence contract.

Posted 12 Apr 2023 12 Apr 2023 Wed 12 Apr 2023 at 8:06pm

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Boris Johnson dines with Donald Trump to shore up support for Ukraine

May 26, 2023 by www.telegraph.co.uk Leave a Comment

Boris Johnson met Donald Trump on a visit to the United States this week as he sought to shore up support for Ukraine.

As well as Mr Trump, who the former prime minister reportedly had dinner with on Thursday, Mr Johnson also met other Republicans including Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state.

The two former leaders discussed “the situation in Ukraine and the vital importance of Ukrainian victory” this week, a spokesman for Mr Johnson said.

Mr Johnson has been a staunch ally of Ukraine , repeatedly urging Western countries to do more to support Kyiv.

At a CNN town hall earlier this month, Mr Trump refused to say whether Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is a war criminal, or who he wanted to win in the conflict , saying only that he wants “everybody to stop dying”.

As president, Mr Trump had a close relationship with the man he once called “Britain Trump”, reportedly going so far as to give Mr Johnson his personal mobile phone number.

But their friendship appears to have soured recently, after Mr Trump accused Mr Johnson’s government of lurching towards the “far left” over its support for renewable energy projects

“They really weren’t staying Conservative,” he told GB News last month.

US support for sending weapons falls

US support for sending weapons to Ukraine has suffered a sharp year-on-year decline, a new poll has found.

Just 50 per cent of Americans said in April that they strongly favoured or favoured the US sending weapons to Ukraine , compared with 61 per cent last year.

Public support for economic sanctions against Russia has also dropped, the poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and NORC at the University of Chicago found, as well as the acceptance of Ukrainian refugees.

The only support that did not drop was for sending government funds to Ukraine rather than weapons.

Despite this, the majority of Americans, totalling 70 per cent, disapproved of Russia’s invasion.

Approval was split along political lines . Around 80 per cent of Democrats said they were against Russia’s actions in Ukraine, compared to 69 per cent of Republicans, according to the Harris School of Public Policy.

A number of Republicans are pushing for US aid to Kyiv to cease. Presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump have appeared lukewarm on military support for Ukraine, with neither seeing the war as a vital interest for the US.

Mr DeSantis has said that he does not want to see US troops involved and that there is not “sufficient interest for us to escalate more involvement”.

At a CNN town hall earlier this month, Mr Trump refused to say whether Vladimir Putin is a war criminal, or who he wanted to win in the conflict.

Experts said that the findings highlight a divide between Americans’ principles and what they are willing to fund economically.

Despite a vast majority of Americans uniting in their negative view of Russia’s invasion, the vital question is whether they are “willing to send the tax dollars or send significant portions of U.S. resources to the Ukrainians to undermine these Russian efforts,” Sibel Oktay, a nonresident senior fellow of public opinion and foreign policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, told the New York Times.

The results indicate that Americans could view the conflict as less important to their national interests compared to last year, she added.

The overriding concern for the White House since Feb 24 last year has been to avoid direct combat between US and Russian forces.

But Joe Biden, the US president, has been steadfast in his support for Ukraine and has pledged that the country will “ never be a victory ” for Putin, repeatedly vowing to help until the end

Filed Under: Uncategorized Russia-Ukraine war, Donald Trump, Standard, World News, Ron DeSantis, US News, USA, Joe Biden, US content, boris johnson donald trump brexit, boris johnson et donald trump, donald trump boris johnson owen wilson

Russia warns the West is ‘playing with fire’ as it unleashes biggest drone attack since start of Ukraine invasion

May 29, 2023 by www.thesun.co.uk Leave a Comment

RUSSIA has issued a stark warning to the West saying it is ‘playing with fire’ after it agreed to provide Ukraine with F16 fighter jets.

The warning comes after Vladimir Putin ‘s forces unleashed a heavy air strike on Kyiv that was described as the largest drone attack since the start of the war.

The hit was followed by another attack in the capital this morning .

Speaking in a TV interview, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned that Western countries were “playing with fire” by agreeing to provide Ukraine with “game-changing” F-16 fighter jets .

He described the move as an “unacceptable escalation” of the war and said: “It’s playing with fire, without a doubt”.

Lavrov denounced it as an attempt to “weaken Russia by “Washington, London and their satellites in the EU.”

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Kyiv was rocked by explosions today just hours after Russian forces launched dozens of missiles and drones on targets across the country, sending panicked locals running for shelter.

Heart-breaking footage shows terrified children screaming as they ran for their lives to the nearest bomb shelter.

Russia struck with unmanned aerial vehicles and Kh-101/555 missiles, reports suggested.

Sunday’s hit was described as the largest drone attack in the city since the start of the war, by local officials.

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The attack lasted more than five hours, with air defence shooting down 58 of the 59 launched drones .

The strike happened when the capital celebrates the anniversary of the city’s founding, Kyiv Day and left one person dead.

This morning the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said there were explosions in the capital’s central districts and that emergency services had been dispatched before urging residents to stay in shelters.

He posted on Telegram: “Emergency services have responded to a call near the centre of the capital. The attack on Kyiv continues. Don’t leave the shelters!”

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ihnat, said the attack had been conducted with ballistic missiles – thought to be Iskanders – and possibly also S-300 and S-400 missiles.

The city’s military administration said Ukrainian air defences shot down all missiles fired at Kyiv and that no targets were hit.

The air attack followed hours after overnight missile and drone strikes and was the 16th in Kyiv this month, it said.

Ukrainian officials said the attack put five aircraft out of action on a military target in western Ukraine and caused a fire at the Black Sea port of Odesa.

Ukrainian officials said the attack put five aircraft out of action on a military

Authorities said work was underway in the region of Khmelnitskiy to restore a runway and five aircraft were taken out of service.

“At the moment, work is continuing to contain fires in storage facilities for fuel and lubricants and munitions,” the Khmelnitskiy region governor’s office said.

Ukraine’s military said the attack on Odesa port had caused a fire and damaged infrastructure.

“A fire broke out in the port infrastructure of Odesa as a result of the hit. It was quickly extinguished. Information on the extent of the damage is being updated,” the military’s southern command said on Facebook .

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The attacks were part of a fresh wave of air strikes in Ukraine this month as Kyiv is preparing for a counteroffensive to reclaim territory seized by Moscow .

Ukraine ‘s Ministry of Defense shared a trailer on Sunday promising to destroy the country’s enemies and vowed to avenge “the murder of our brothers and the rape of our sisters.”

Filed Under: Uncategorized Vladimir Putin, Global politics, Nuclear Weapons, Ukraine war, Russia, Ukraine, russia and ukraine, russia and ukraine conflict, russia in ukraine, russia ukraine, russia ukraine conflict, russia warns us, russia attacks ukraine, drone attacks, biggest terrorist attacks, biggest terrorist attack in the world

Ukraine Defends China from Reports Beijing Pressured It to Let Russia Keep Occupied Land

May 29, 2023 by www.breitbart.com Leave a Comment

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba published a live video on Facebook this weekend defending the Chinese Communist Party from allegations that a special delegation from Beijing that visited Kyiv this month pressured Ukraine to cede occupied territories to Russia.

Kuleba – who met personally with the delegation and its leader, former Chinese ambassador to Russia Li Hui – said that, following a report accusing China of fighting for Russian interests published in the Wall Street Journal , he reached out to other foreign diplomats who met with the delegation and could not find any to confirm the story.

Kuleba’s defense of China is the latest in a string of compliments and defenses out of the Ukrainian government backing China, which President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly and enthusiastically encouraged to meddle in the conflict. Zelensky has repeatedly urged genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping to speak with him – which Xi did in April – and “Chinese businesses” to rebuild the war-torn regions of Ukraine once the conflict ends. Ukraine is a member of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), its global debt trap program to erode the sovereignty of poorer nations, and has not vocalized any significant condemnation of the Communist Party’s human rights atrocities and genocide of the indigenous communities of occupied East Turkistan.

China, one of Russia’s closest allies, has insisted it is neutral in the conflict while opposing sanctions on Russia or any policies that harm Russia’s interests.

Li and his team launched a European tour on May 15 that began in Kyiv and ended in Moscow, with stops in Poland, France, and Germany along the way. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the tour was intended to promote China’s “political settlement” plan to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine through dialogue. The Chinese plan calls for both sides to “calm down as soon as possible” but does not urge Russia to withdraw from Ukraine or support sanctions on Russia for its invasion.

Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, colonizing the southern Crimea region and maintaining an illegal political presence there to this day. The country spent much of the eight years prior to the current invasion aiding separatists in the eastern Donbass region, where war has continued unabated for nearly a decade. In February 2022, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced an expansion of this occupation, a “ special operation ” intended to oust the democratically elected Zelensky on the grounds that he is a “Nazi.” The “special operation” has continued in the capital and much of eastern Ukraine; Putin “ annexed ” the two Donbass regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, along with Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in September.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrive for a working session at the Elysee Palace Monday, Dec. 9, 2019 in Paris. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's president are meeting for the first time at a summit in Paris to find a way to end the five years of fighting in eastern Ukraine. (Ian Langsdon/Pool via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrive for a working session at the Elysee Palace Monday, Dec. 9, 2019, in Paris (Ian Langsdon/Pool via AP).

Reports from Li’s time in Ukraine indicated that he did not address the “annexations” or any specifics about the war, instead simply demanding that the Ukrainians “build up trust” with their invader and “create conditions for ceasefire and peace talks.”

The Wall Street Journal article that prompted Kuleba’s response cited, as is typically for the corporate American media outlet, anonymous sources that claimed Li’s primary objective in the trip was to sell China as an “economic alternative to Washington,” rather than discuss Ukraine at all. To the extent that Li addressed the war, according to the anonymous alleged “Western officials,” he urged the Ukrainians and other European diplomats to accept “leaving Russia in possession of the parts of its smaller neighbor that it now occupies.”

“I immediately contacted my colleagues in the capitals that he visited,” Kuleba said in his Facebook video on Saturday. “None of them confirmed that any negotiations were held about recognizing the Ukrainian territories where Russia stay[s] now [as Russian].”

“Therefore, I urge you to keep a cool head and use your common sense. There is no need to behave and react emotionally to every article. We control the process,” Kuleba urged Ukrainians:

The Ukrainian foreign minister said his country would continue to involve China in the conflict, “but it will be conducted according to three basic principles. The first is respect for territorial integrity. The second is no initiatives that involve any territorial concessions by Ukraine. And the third is no frozen conflict. Ukraine will achieve victory.”

Asked about the Wall Street Journal rumors on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning directed reporters to Kuleba’s video. Mao also celebrated Li’s visit to Ukraine and Russia as influential.

“All parties attach high importance to Special Representative Li Hui’s visit, fully recognize China’s positive role in promoting talks for peace,” Mao claimed, “commend China’s call for respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity and observing the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and express the hope that China will continue to exercise its constructive influence.”

Mao vowed that dictator Xi would continue his campaign to elevate China’s profile through the conflict, “strengthen dialogue and communication with all parties, continue to build up common understandings and mutual trust, encourage the international community to find the broadest common understandings and make China’s contributions to a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.”

Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022, on April 21, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua News Agency/People's Republic of China)

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022, on April 21, 2022 (Photo: Xinhua News Agency/People’s Republic of China).

The Chinese state-run Global Times newspaper, its most belligerent English-language mouthpiece, condemned the Wall Street Journal as peddling “disinformation” and celebrated Kuleba.

“The latest WSJ report is part of the disinformation campaign which even some Ukrainian officials who have friendly ties with the West like Kuleba can no longer tolerate, and this shows how groundless and childish those claims were,” a Global Times Chinese regime-approved “expert” bellowed.

On Sunday, the newspaper proclaimed that Li’s tour proved China would “be more actively involved in international affairs in the future” regardless of its overt irrelevance to the affairs in question.

Xi Jinping himself appeared to make that promise during a visit to Moscow during which he declared China would “stand guard over the world order based on international law.” Xi’s friendly visit to the invading country followed a year of Zelensky urging him to engage the Ukrainians and preceded a phone call with Zelensky a month later in which Xi promised to send Li’s delegation to Ukraine.

Zelensky has repeatedly defended China from accusations of supporting Russia. In May 2022, Zelensky told a video conference at the World Economic Forum that he was “satisfied” with China “staying away” from the conflict.

xi zelensky

Hennadii Minchenko/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images

“China has chosen the policy of staying away. At the moment, Ukraine is satisfied with this policy. It is better than helping the Russian Federation in any case. And I want to believe that China will not pursue another policy. We are satisfied with this status quo, to be honest,” Zelensky said. “Although there is a rather good and long history between the countries [Ukraine and China]. Therefore, I would like to have an advantage in these relations compared to Russia.”

“It’s a very powerful state. It’s a powerful economy … So (it) can politically, economically influence Russia. And China is [also a] permanent member of the U.N. Security Council,” Zelensky told the South China Morning Post in August. “This is a war on our territory, they came to invade. China, as a big and powerful country, could come down and sort of put the Russian Federation [in] a certain place.”

In that interview, Zelensky also asked “Chinese businesses” to help rebuild Ukraine.

Follow Frances Martel on Facebook and Twitter .

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Ukraine’s Kostyuk booed after not shaking hands with Belarus’ Sabalenka at French Open

May 29, 2023 by sports.nbcsports.com Leave a Comment

PARIS – At first, Aryna Sabalenka thought the boos and derisive whistles coming from the French Open crowd were directed at her after a first-round victory Sunday. Instead, the negative reaction was aimed at her opponent, Marta Kostyuk, for not participating in the usual post-match handshake up at the net.

Kostyuk, who is from Ukraine, avoided so much as any eye contact with Sabalenka, who is from Belarus, after the match, instead walking directly over to acknowledge the chair umpire. Sabalenka walked toward the net as if expecting some sort of exchange.

But this is something Kostyuk has been doing whenever she has faced any opponent from Russia or Belarus since her country was invaded by Russia, with help from Belarus, in February 2022.

Perhaps the fans on hand at Court Philippe Chatrier did not know the backstory and figured Kostyuk simply failed to follow tennis etiquette by congratulating the winner after the lopsided result: Sabalenka grabbed six games in a row during one stretch and came out on top 6-3, 6-2.

“It was a very tough match – I would say tough emotionally,” said the No. 2-seeded Sabalenka, who won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

During an on-court interview in the main stadium, Sabalenka told the spectators she was sure their jeering “was against me, so I was a little surprised, but then I felt your support.”

Before play began on Day 1 of the clay-court tournament, the players did not pose together for the standard photos up at the net after the coin toss to determine who would serve first.

Kostyuk, a 20-year-old who is ranked 39th, won her first WTA title in March at Austin, Texas, by beating a Russian opponent and neither player went to the net afterward that day.

During her pre-tournament news conference on Friday, Sabalenka was asked about the likelihood there would be no handshake on Sunday.

“If she hates me, OK. I can’t do anything about that. There is going to be people who loves me; there is going to be people who hates me,” Sabalenka said then. “If she hates me, I don’t feel anything like that (toward) her.”

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