News Forum - Ukraine’s Zelensky defies Russia’s ultimatum to lay down weapons

[Fanta]

2 minutes ago, EdwardV said:

Besides the question of knowing how many "foreign mercenaries" there are, and what exactly is one per the Russian definition would be interesting to know.  Clearly the quote above explains why they are not surrendering. To place yourself at the mercy of a Russian court as a prisoner of war, well it's probably better to go out with your boots on. 

That’s simple. A mercenary is anyone that has received bread, water or shelter and is shooting at Russians ;-) I don’t know what the fuss is about calling them volunteer fighters or mercenaries. The intent is the same. I have yet to understand any motivations behind not releasing the non-combatants. 

[Rookiescot]

The news just keeps getting better for Czar Putin.

Finland and Sweden to join NATO as early as May. Thats another huge NATO border with Russia.

Sweden and Finland agree to submit Nato applications, say reports | Nato | The Guardian

 

[Rookiescot]

4 hours ago, NorskTiger said:

It is??

   By what measure?  Please enlighten us..

Good grief. If you honestly believe the Ruble is in a better place than the Dollar then there is no hope for you.

Whats the interest rate in Russia?

[Rookiescot]

Seems the Ukrainians are being proactive in their war against Czar Putins thugs.

Large fires break out at Russian oil depots | Russia | The Guardian

 

[Fanta]

1 minute ago, Transam said:

Tell me, did Russia invade Ukraine and trash civilian homesteads for no apparent reason. ?

Yes or No will do....

Try Google.....

[EdwardV]

2 hours ago, Rookiescot said:

Finland and Sweden to join NATO as early as May. Thats another huge NATO border with Russia.

While not official, it also didn’t take them long to reach a decision. Huge backfire on Russia and Putin. Almost doubled the border they need to defend and adds two very capable militaries to NATO. Both Finland and Sweden have modern armies and air forces. Russia already doesn’t have enough combat battalions to cover its existing front. When you add in Norway, it’s a nightmare scenario for Russia in the north. 

[Smithydog]

16 hours ago, Thaidup said:

One with a curious mind may ask, Why?, then ask Why now?. Don't get me wrong, I feel that this whole situation is shit, And I feel deeply for the population of Ukraine, I could not imagine if this happened to me or my family, But something stinks about the whole thing. First was the Nazi narrative then the Bio Lab narrative, Then the corruption in Ukraine narrative with Hunter Biden and the child trafficking, etc? I don't know but something is suss concerning Ukraine.

https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/ukraine/

Yes something is suss. You are correct. The Russian narrative! Sorry for the length, but this false Russian narrative has gone on for too long.

Let's look at just one aspect you didn't mention. What actually happened in 2014 and the Russian involvement. It seems to back President's Zelensky's concerns as to what is happening and why to his country.

How was Russia involved? Well let us allow a Russian to say why Russia were involved. Also, interesting how little action was taken at the time against a known neo-nazi on their side, considering their current "narrative".

https://khpg.org/en/1552794859

Further, in this 2019 article, one of the Donbas militant Leaders said:

“I want to say that we are rather beholden to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.  By we I mean those volunteers who arrived in 2014. We owe him that smallest of things – our lives. Everybody who arrived in the first half of 2014 remembers what the situation was like in the second half of July 2014. If not for his policy, if not for his decisions and actions, we would not be here. In the same way as that there would not be Russian Donbas, and the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics”.

https://khpg.org/en/1565889311

I also don't know what the report you attached has anything to do with the discussions in hand. But here is the equivalent report on Russia for you to peruse which indicates much the same happens there as it does sadly in far too many countries. It is abhorent and needs to be stamped out where ever it occurs.

https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-trafficking-in-persons-report/russia/

As to Bio -weapons. This article from expert scientists in and outside Russia debunks what was just false propaganda. Sadly, too many just believe the un-qualified military, reporters etc and not the scientists.

https://theintercept.com/2022/03/17/russia-ukraine-bioweapons-misinformation/

The backgrounds of the people involved in Donbass shows their past associations with Crimea and Transnistria, as well as for some, Bosnia, and Chechnya, and in itself tells a story. In particular their links to Igor Girkin, the founder of the Russian National Movement which is described as:

"a political group in favor of "uniting the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, and other Russian lands into a single all-Russian state and transforming the entire territory of the former USSR into an unconditional zone of Russian influence."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Girkin

All of this forms a clear and evidenced rebuttal to a false and unsupported Russian narrative. The longer President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine defy the actions of Russia will be tragic, but may perhaps help delay the same in other areas of Ukraine and in other countries.

Land Robbers should not be rewarded for their illegal acts.

[Freeduhdumb]

18 hours ago, oldschooler said:

No Case = No Argument=Childish One Liners🫠

Beaten out of sight by Reason & Facts.

Nobody buying your hate- fueled FSB-supplied false bankrupt “ narrative”. 

The West continues to be perfectly content to drag the current situation out for as long as it takes to get what they want. If the West had had ANY sincere commitment to either the Minsk Accords or to peace in Ukraine, it would have long ago forced Kiev to enter into direct negotiations with the recognized breakaway republics of LPR and DPR in Donbass and to implement all the aspects of the Minsk Accords. It hasn't done so because it knows that a federated Ukrainian state, as envisaged by the Minsk agreement, would never support joining NATO as this would be vetoed by the Donbass. A federal Ukraine would also never join the EU, which demanded back in 2013, as a condition of doing business with Ukraibe, that Ukraine not participate in the Eurasian trading block. With that demand, the EU deliberately violated the Budapest Memorandum (its Article 3, prohibiting the use of economic blackmail for geopolitical ends), the only international legal document that guaranteed Ukraine's territorial integrity. It was for his refusal to sign on to that EU bit of geopolitical extortion that Yanukovich had to be removed from power by the west in a coup de tat, regime change operation back in 2014. That regime change operation, and failure to fully implement those Minsk accords, is in fact what has set all of the events in motion that have lead up to our present situation. Now that the "West" has forced the hand of Russia... we are now witnessing the effects of REAL war. The only question now is, will the West continue to push this into a wider global hot war. 
 

War is a Racket... Smedley Butler on Interventionism -- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, United States Marine Core

“Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” ― Henry Kissinger

"A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag. I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism. It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service. I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

[KRLMRX]

15 hours ago, EdwardV said:

Meaningless since Russia has capital controls in effect. You can't sell Rubles, and total value traded per day is almost zero. With no one selling, Russia has to spend little foreign reserves to buy Rubles to raise their value to whatever level they wish. Fact is there is no way to know what the value of the Ruble is until the capital controls are removed.  

The Ruble-Yuan-Rupee swaps are the same, meaningless. Currency swaps are just a postponement of the inevitable. At some point the currency has to be swapped back and you are in the same spot you were before, just a little later. These are economic deals done for political reasons. Neither China nor India really want Rubles since they can't use them. Heck China doesn't even want it's Yuan back, but that's a different matter. 

Free fall, I get that from the Russian central bank governor (you know the person Putin has personally put in charge of keeping the country afloat): 

In revealing testimony before the Duma parliament, the head of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) told the country’s lawmakers she had to throw everything but the kitchen sink just to prevent a full-blown run on the banking system. “The sanctions imposed against Russia affected the situation in the financial sector, spurred the demand for foreign currencies, and caused fire sales of financial assets, a cash outflow from banks, and surging demand for goods,” said Elvira Nabiullina in prepared remarks first published in English on Friday. The frank assessment of Russia’s economic problems contrasts sharply with political attacks launched against the current U.S. administration for a sanctions policy that failed to force Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. Presenting the CBR’s annual report to parliament this week, Nabiullina painted a picture to lawmakers of just how grim the situation was that confronted her. Depositors withdrew 2.4 trillion rubles in the first weeks after the war broke out, eating up a year’s worth of bank profits and a third of its accumulated capital cushion. Without the imposition of strict capital controls, there would have been “a series of defaults and a domino effect” throughout the financial system, she argued.

Russian official admits sanctions are crippling the economy as the country grapples with a selloff and mass shortages (yahoo.com)

the economic situation is difficult. the main difficulty lies in the fact that such processes occur for the first time and market participants find it difficult to adapt to them. It is premature to say that this is a free fall (and the head of the Central Bank does not say this in your link).

The shortage concerns only foreign industrial equipment and some household goods. In everyday products, I don’t observe any mass shortages. Non-cash dollars and euros can be bought and sold in bank applications at a rate less than before the crisis. They say that there is a shortage of cash dollars and euros, but in today's world I have no idea who needs cash.

[KRLMRX]

14 hours ago, Alavan said:

Kosovo was attacked by Serbia, just like Bosnia, It was not NATO but UN forces, including Russians, who intervened. Those forces couldn’t even prevent Srebrenica. 
Please put the blame where it lies, not by countries trying to prevent further bloodshed.

it is not true.

NATO intervened. KFOR was created ostensibly in the name of the implementation of UN Resolution 1244, but in this resolution there is not a single word about NATO.

KFOR are NATO military units that tried to replace the official forces of the UN. KFOR was forced to let the Russian army into its ranks only after the march of the Russian army to Pristina in 1999. This is one of the many examples of chauvinistic behavior of the West towards Russia, with which Putin today justifies aggression in Ukraine.

C'est la Vie.

https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFOR

 

 

[KRLMRX]

14 hours ago, Alavan said:

If you can exchange ruble against Dollars or euro in Russia, yes.

Try doing that outside the Russian supporting sfere. 

this was unlikely even before the crisis.

Unless, in Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, they accepted rubles in exchange offices.  

But today's tourists report that rubles are again accepted in Thailand.  Alas, business sometimes does not work the way officials want.  

But officials, of course, have the power to change everything.

[KRLMRX]

13 hours ago, Fanta said:

This doesn’t explain why the non-combatants are not being released.

explains very well.  

the presence of civilians increases the chances of not being captured not only by the Ukrainian military from the neo-Nazi Azov battalion, which most likely threatens them with big problems, but also by foreign soldiers, because then they will have to explain how they ended up there.

[Rookiescot]

1 hour ago, Freeduhdumb said:

The West continues to be perfectly content to drag the current situation out for as long as it takes to get what they want. If the West had had ANY sincere commitment to either the Minsk Accords or to peace in Ukraine, it would have long ago forced Kiev to enter into direct negotiations with the recognized breakaway republics of LPR and DPR in Donbass and to implement all the aspects of the Minsk Accords. It hasn't done so because it knows that a federated Ukrainian state, as envisaged by the Minsk agreement, would never support joining NATO as this would be vetoed by the Donbass. A federal Ukraine would also never join the EU, which demanded back in 2013, as a condition of doing business with Ukraibe, that Ukraine not participate in the Eurasian trading block. With that demand, the EU deliberately violated the Budapest Memorandum (its Article 3, prohibiting the use of economic blackmail for geopolitical ends), the only international legal document that guaranteed Ukraine's territorial integrity. It was for his refusal to sign on to that EU bit of geopolitical extortion that Yanukovich had to be removed from power by the west in a coup de tat, regime change operation back in 2014. That regime change operation, and failure to fully implement those Minsk accords, is in fact what has set all of the events in motion that have lead up to our present situation. Now that the "West" has forced the hand of Russia... we are now witnessing the effects of REAL war. The only question now is, will the West continue to push this into a wider global hot war. 
 

War is a Racket... Smedley Butler on Interventionism -- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, United States Marine Core

“Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” ― Henry Kissinger

"A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag. I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism. It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service. I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

Most people, when their country is invaded want to kick the invader out. 

What you want is for the country that has been invaded to capitulate. Thats not going to happen any time soon in the Ukraine. Get used to it.

Your moral outrage about the west supplying arms to facilitate what the Ukrainians want to do is totally faux. 

It was the Russian backed terrorists in the Donbass who repeatedly broke the Minsk agreement. Thats why it never held. 

The Budapest memorandum was signed by Czar Putin in which he guaranteed to respect the Ukraines  sovereignty and not to invade it so the Ukraine would get rid of their nukes. This turned out to be a total lie by Czar Putin. But then again he is known for being a total liar.

Had the Ukraine held onto those nukes do you think liar Putin would have invaded?

The Ukraine has never asked for, or even qualified for NATO membership. Such a claim is total nonsense. However when this war is over and Czar Putins thugs and mercenaries have been killed or thrown out you better expect that the Ukraine WILL be accepted into both the EU and NATO. Along with Finland and Sweden.

The noose tightens.

So really the only option remaining to Czar Putin is to become Chinas vassal state. Oh how the mighty have fallen. 

[Freeduhdumb]

30 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

Most people, when their country is invaded want to kick the invader out. 

Now you understand the plight of the LPR and DPR... and is why the Minsk Accords were agreed upon. Ukraine never held their part of the bargain to recognize the ethnic Russian population and their disenfranchisement. You've completely mis-understood and dismissed the history of this conflict. 

[Guest1]

15 hours ago, Alavan said:

Kosovo was attacked by Serbia, just like Bosnia, It was not NATO but UN forces, including Russians, who intervened.

You better read that up again, because: Nato bombed "Yugoslavia" WITHOUT Un-mandate! (NATO bombing of Yugoslavia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombing_of_Yugoslavia )

" NATO countries attempted to gain authorisation from the UN Security Council for military action, but were opposed by China and Russia, who indicated that they would veto such a measure. As a result, NATO launched its campaign without the UN's approval, stating that it was a humanitarian intervention. The UN Charter prohibits the use of force except in the case of a decision by the Security Council under Chapter VII, or self-defence against an armed attack – neither of which were present in this case.^[34]"

[KRLMRX]

14 hours ago, Fanta said:

That’s simple. A mercenary is anyone that has received bread, water or shelter and is shooting at Russians ;-) I don’t know what the fuss is about calling them volunteer fighters or mercenaries. The intent is the same. I have yet to understand any motivations behind not releasing the non-combatants. 

I'm not sure about English, but in Russian a mercenary is who, besides food and shelter, receives money for participating in battles

[Fester]

1 hour ago, KRLMRX said:

it is not true.

NATO intervened. KFOR was created ostensibly in the name of the implementation of UN Resolution 1244, but in this resolution there is not a single word about NATO.

KFOR are NATO military units that tried to replace the official forces of the UN. KFOR was forced to let the Russian army into its ranks only after the march of the Russian army to Pristina in 1999. This is one of the many examples of chauvinistic behavior of the West towards Russia, with which Putin today justifies aggression in Ukraine.

C'est la Vie.

https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFOR

NATO (KFOR) intervened as a consequence of the UN resolution. Putin still sees Milosevic as an innocent and thinks the Yugoslavian problems were caused by the US and NATO. It is as if Putin thinks he can justify the invasion of Ukraine using Yugoslavia as an excuse!

Putin rues the lost Soviet empire, especially in the Balkans, and especially the Geographical isolation of Serbia. Can I have my empire back? Nyet!

[Rookiescot]

19 minutes ago, Freeduhdumb said:

Now you understand the plight of the LPR and DPR... and is why the Minsk Accords were agreed upon. Ukraine never held their part of the bargain to recognize the ethnic Russian population and their disenfranchisement. You've completely mis-understood and dismissed the history of this conflict. 

And YOU simply fail to see that the most devastated areas in this war ARE the ethnic Russian towns, cities and villages. And they were wrecked by Czar Putin and his thugs.

He does not care about those people. Why were they not lining the streets to welcome their "liberators".

The LPR and DPR only existed because they were useful fools for Czar Putin.

[Guest1]

14 hours ago, Fanta said:

I have yet to understand any motivations behind not releasing the non-combatants. 

The Azov battalion and the "foreign fighter" had 2 times a chance, to surrender.  The non-combatants, mainly woman and children, are imho the reason, that the basement bunkers are still existing! If they would be allowed to leave, what reason would Putin have not to bomb that factory till everyone in there is dead?

[Rookiescot]

3 minutes ago, Guest1 said:

You better read that up again, because: Nato bombed "Yugoslavia" WITHOUT Un-mandate! (NATO bombing of Yugoslavia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombing_of_Yugoslavia )

" NATO countries attempted to gain authorisation from the UN Security Council for military action, but were opposed by China and Russia, who indicated that they would veto such a measure. As a result, NATO launched its campaign without the UN's approval, stating that it was a humanitarian intervention. The UN Charter prohibits the use of force except in the case of a decision by the Security Council under Chapter VII, or self-defence against an armed attack – neither of which were present in this case.^[34]"

Oh look who vetoed. Quality democracies both. Oh no wait they are rogue states with horrendous records when it comes to human rights. 

[Rookiescot]

4 minutes ago, Guest1 said:

The Azov battalion and the "foreign fighter" had 2 times a chance, to surrender.  The non-combatants, mainly woman and children, are imho the reason, that the basement bunkers are still existing! If they would be allowed to leave, what reason would Putin have not to bomb that factory till everyone in there is dead?

The Azov battalion know their fate if they fall into the hands of Czar Putins thugs. Might as well die with your boots on.

Which is ironic given it will probably be neo nazi groups like Chechen mercenaries or the Wagner group who carry out the executions. 

[Freeduhdumb]

7 minutes ago, Rookiescot said:

And YOU simply fail to see that the most devastated areas in this war ARE the ethnic Russian towns, cities and villages. And they were wrecked by Czar Putin and his thugs.

He does not care about those people. Why were they not lining the streets to welcome their "liberators".

The LPR and DPR only existed because they were useful fools for Czar Putin.

Hey friend... I'll let you in on a little secret... I lived there for four years as a member of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine from 2016-2021. I lived with the people in Mariupol, Kramatorsk and Lugansk. The coup de tat, regime change operation unseating the democratically elected leader Yakonovich in 2014 and the subsequent failure of Kiev to fully implement the Minsk II accords is what devastated the Donbass, long before this latest push by the West to escalate the conflict. The LPR and DPR existed as a natural response to when your country is invaded by the west deposing your democratically elected leader, and then attempt to wipe out your ethnicity within your own country... I stood with the Ukrainians and the Ethnic Russians... I now their plight. I don't simply fail to see anything. 

[Rookiescot]

15 minutes ago, KRLMRX said:

I'm not sure about English, but in Russian a mercenary is who, besides food and shelter, receives money for participating in battles

So the Wagner group, Chechen and Syrian volunteers in Czar Putins group of murderous rapists and thugs.

[Rookiescot]

1 minute ago, Freeduhdumb said:

Hey friend... I'll let you in on a little secret... I lived there for four years as a member of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine from 2016-2021. I lived with the people in Mariupol, Kramatorsk and Lugansk. The coup de tat, regime change operation unseating the democratically elected leader Yakonovich in 2014 and the subsequent failure of Kiev to fully implement the Minsk II accords is what devastated the Donbass, long before this latest push by the West to escalate the conflict. The LPR and DPR existed as a natural response to when your country is invaded by the west deposing your democratically elected leader, and then attempt to wipe out your ethnicity within your own country... I stood with the Ukrainians and the Ethnic Russians... I now their plight. I don't simply fail to see anything. 

Then you would know its called Kyiv not Kiev.

[Rookiescot]

11 minutes ago, Freeduhdumb said:

Hey friend... I'll let you in on a little secret... I lived there for four years as a member of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine from 2016-2021. I lived with the people in Mariupol, Kramatorsk and Lugansk. The coup de tat, regime change operation unseating the democratically elected leader Yakonovich in 2014 and the subsequent failure of Kiev to fully implement the Minsk II accords is what devastated the Donbass, long before this latest push by the West to escalate the conflict. The LPR and DPR existed as a natural response to when your country is invaded by the west deposing your democratically elected leader, and then attempt to wipe out your ethnicity within your own country... I stood with the Ukrainians and the Ethnic Russians... I now their plight. I don't simply fail to see anything. 

OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine - Wikipedia

 

Monitoring restrictions[edit]

OSCE monitoring frequently faces access restrictions and signal jamming of the monitoring UAVs. In 2021 OSCE reported that 62.5% long-range UAV flights "encountered GPS signal interference" with jamming so strong, it occasionally prevented UAV from even taking off.[27] OSCE has on numerous occasions reported presence of Russian electronic warfare equipment in the separatist-controlled areas[28][29][30] including specifically anti-UAV Repellent-1 systems.[31] On 30 April 2021 OSCE further reported two members of armed formations approaching the monitor team as it prepared to launch an UAV and threatening it will be shot down if launched.[32]