► Ukraine: separatist leaders in Moscow to finalize annexation
The leaders of the four separatist regions controlled by Russia in Ukraine were Thursday, November 29 in Moscow to finalize the annexation of these territories after elections qualified as “simulacra” by kyiv and the West. Officials installed by Moscow in the regions of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, as well as Zaporizhia and Kherson in the south, arrived by plane in Moscow on Wednesday evening, according to Russian news agencies.
“I am in Moscow”also announced Thursday to the Russian press agency Tass the official installed by Russia at the head of the Luhansk region (east), Leonid Passetchnik. They were to be received soon by Russian President Vladimir Putin to ratify the annexation by Russia. On Wednesday, the four separatist leaders had already sent him requests “official” in this sense.
“A meeting with the president is of course planned. I can’t say where, what, when. I don’t have this information”simply indicated an official of the Russian occupation administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremoussov.
► US Arms Deliveries
The United States on Wednesday announced massive new, long-term military aid to Ukraine. The Pentagon has indicated that this new tranche of military aid of 1.1 billion dollars to Ukraine will mainly take the form of arms orders from the American defense industry, and not immediate deliveries.
This new aid, intended to strengthen the country’s defense in the medium and long term, includes in particular eighteen Himars precision artillery systems, which doubles the number of equipment of this type offered to Ukraine. So far the United States has already sent to the Ukrainian army sixteen of these « High Mobility Artillery Rocket System »rocket launcher systems mounted on light armor, which have played an important role in recent counter-offensives against the Russians.
The promised aid also includes 150 armored vehicles « Humvees », 150 tactical armament towing vehicles, radars and anti-drone defense systems, the US Department of Defense said. This new aid “demonstrates the commitment of the United States to continue to support Ukraine for the long term”underlines the ministry.
► Three Russians sentenced for denouncing the mobilization
A Russian court on Wednesday ordered the imprisonment of three young poets who had participated in a literary reading against the mobilization to fight in Ukraine, one of them claiming to have been raped by the police during his arrest. According to the specialized NGO OVD-Info, Artiom Kamardine, Egor Chtovba and Nikolaï Daïneko have been remanded in custody for two months.
According to this source, they are suspected in an open investigation for “incitement to hatred with threat of use of violence”. If charged, they face six years in prison, as Russian authorities crack down on criticism of the conflict in Ukraine.
On Sunday, the three men took part in reading verses in front of the statue of poet Vladimir Mayakovsky in central Moscow, a place where dissident intellectuals already gathered during the Soviet period.