Russia has 9,000 troops on Ukrainian soil, Poroshenko tells Davos forum

Russia has 9,000 troops on Ukrainian soil, Poroshenko tells Davos forum

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told the World Economic Forum on Wednesday that Russia had 9,000 troops on Ukrainian soil and he called on Moscow to withdraw them.

In a speech to the forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said the Russian troops were backed by a range of heavy weapons including tanks and artillery systems.

"If this is not aggression, what is aggression?" Poroshenko asked. He called on Moscow to comply with a peace plan and cooperate in closing the long joint border with Ukraine and withdrawing Russian forces. 

Source: news.yahoo.com

IS THERE NO ONE WHO WILL STAND UP FOR UKRAINE?

Seems the West will do anything these days to avoid a confrontation with Vladimir Putin.

IS THERE NO ONE WHO WILL STAND UP FOR UKRAINE?

Oleksander Turchynov, the secretary of Ukraine's national defense council, told the country's parliament something startling last week. He said that there were 8,500 Russian regular troops now deployed in eastern Ukraine and that another 52,000 were poised just on the other side of its eastern border.

The figures are dramatic-and so much larger than what has been reported during the months of Russian attempts to destabilize Ukraine, while Vladimir Putin 's denials of his troops' presence continue with stubborn ridiculousness. I asked a Western security expert if the numbers sounded plausible.

He responded: "It would be difficult to believe that the Ukrainians could have such hard numbers on Russian troop presence without that also being visible to Western intelligence." A day later, Alexander Vershbow, NATO's deputy secretary-general, described the situation in Ukraine as deteriorating.

US Investigating Civilian Casualties in Airstrikes Against ISIS

The Pentagon gave its most upbeat assessment to date Tuesday on progress in the fight against ISIS while acknowledging for the first time that U.S. Central Command was investigating "credible" incidents of civilian casualties from airstrikes.

US Investigating Civilian Casualties in Airstrikes Against ISIS

U.S. military officials have previously disputed reports of airstrikes killing civilians from human rights and Syrian opposition groups, but Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said that CentCom was now looking into several "credible allegations of possible civilian casualties" from the airstrikes.

Taken from: military.com

At a Pentagon briefing, Kirby was not specific on where or when the incidents occurred, other than to say that CentCom was investigating allegations made in recent weeks.

"We're very mindful" of the impact that so-called collateral damage can have on efforts to defeat insurgencies following the previous U.S. experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kirby said. "It matters to us" to avoid civilian casualties, Kirby said.

The Ultimate Cold Warrior: 5 Weapons Russia Could Use in an Arctic War

Over the past decade, nations bordering on the Arctic have found themselves with a big new security problem. The melting of the arctic ice has opened up shipping lanes and opportunities for the exploitation for undersea resources, but has also exposed vulnerabilities for countries that have long considered their northern frontier secure.

It’s not surprising that Russia has prepared its military for arctic operations better than any other country. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union prepared to fight across the Arctic, both in the air and at sea. Many of the weapons and much of the expertise from that era have remained, leaving the Kremlin with a lethal set of capabilities. Here are five systems we can expect Russia to use in order to defend its interests in the Arctic Ocean, in case the unthinkable ever occurred.