If they were to watch this in the Kremlin 🇷🇺 they might start to understand what they are up against 🇺🇦. twitter.com/razdjensia/sta
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Carl Bildt
@carlbildt
Co-Chair European Council on Foreign Relations . World Health Organization Special Envoy for ACT-Accelerator . På svenska på .
carlbildt.wordpress.comJoined January 2009
Carl Bildt’s posts
Putin has obviously suppressed any memory of this, but these are the numbers for the Yes vote in the 1991 referendum in 🇺🇦 on independence. Every single region voted clearly for independence.
There are photos that will be with us for a long time.
Readers added context
Last year there were app 50% more murders only in Orlando/Orange in Florida, where Trump spoke the other day, than in all of Sweden. Bad.
Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound.
Incredible. Now Berlusconi 🇮🇹 defending his friend said that “Putin just wanted to replace the Zelensky government with a government of decent people.” This man is a disgrace.
Great to see the women of 🇮🇷 fighting for their rights! You will win - sooner or later!
From
Masih Alinejad 
Tomorrow morning 🇫🇮 will officially announce its intention to seek membership. And 🇸🇪 will follow within days.
All of us must now face the reality that we will not have peace in Europe until there is regime change in Russia. Then we should seek to welcome a new Russia as a partner for peace.
I don’t know what the 🇷🇺 ambassador to 🇰🇿 really said, but the rebuttal he got was certainly most powerful.
A 🇺🇦 soldier is now equipped with 🇸🇪-supplied AT4 light anti-tank weapon. 5.000 will be delivered, and if 20% of those score a hit at some point a thousand 🇷🇺 vehicles will be destroyed.
It’s indisputable that 🇷🇺 is using indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire against civilian targets in cities in 🇺🇦. These photos from the center of the country’s second largest city shows clearly what is happening.
Two SU27 fighters and two SU24 fighter-bombers from 🇷🇺 air force briefly violated 🇸🇪 airspace East of the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea today. They were intercepted by 🇸🇪 Gripen fighters.
Now there is a publicity campaign in Moscow 🇷🇺 saying that 🇸🇪 is a country of Nazis. Are there any limits to these guys? Or are they preparing a ”denazifying” operation against 🇸🇪 as well? I think this will further solidify support for 🇸🇪 joining .
Reports of White House been in lockdown after someone tried to climb over the fence. Doesn’t say in which direction.
In the one country after the other what was unthinkable yesterday becomes necessary today. 🇸🇪 now announces sending also 5.000 AT4 antitank weapons to 🇺🇦. That’s substantial. It’s an effective weapon highly regarded by also the US Army.
Kherson 🇺🇦 right now - a picture Vladimir Putin said would never happen. It’s his third major defeat in this war - Kyiv, Kharkiv and now Kherson. At the end, he will lose the Kremlin as well.
I see that 🇷🇺 continues to demand demilitarization or severe limits on 🇺🇦 armed forces in the future. It’s not too difficult to understand what’s behind that demand. After one invasion will come another - that’s the pattern so far, and the one that must be stopped for the future.
George Orwell couldn’t have done it better… This is Sergey Lavrov answering the question on whether 🇷🇺 will invade other countries: “Are we planning to attack other countries? No, we're not planning to. We didn't attack Ukraine."
Singers from the renowned opera in Odessa 🇺🇦 performing in front of the tank traps set up to protect their opera building.
From
Tanya Kozyreva
In informal talks 🇷🇺 is rumored to ask for 🇺🇦 to reduce its army to a fifth. That’s resonable only if the 🇷🇺 army is reduced to less than a fifth of its previous size. Otherwise it’s just an effort by 🇷🇺 to prepare for its next wave of aggression and ought to be treated as such.
Remarkable exchange. And shows that tensions are building up in 🇷🇺 over the high losses in the war it has started.
From
Kamil Galeev
I have seen it before, it’s now with new pictures as well, and I can see it many times! 🇺🇦
From
Sofia Ukraini
This is truly disgraceful. Despicable. Any thought of inviting this man to an 🇪🇺 summit should be shelved.
Quote
Words fail me that this loathsome man actually just compared the Ukrainian people's current quest for freedom to the UK voting for Brexit
Just when you thought he couldn't sink to new depths 
There are now reports of protests in all the regions of 🇮🇷, and of the streets of Teheran dominated by them.
Chilling. Prisoner transport vehicles lining up in Kherson 🇺🇦 after the city was captured by 🇷🇺 after several days of fighting. Darkness descends. An empire of evil has come.
This was the scene when Putin ordered his nuclear alert. It tells tons about the state of isolation of the man with his finger on the button.
Looks like the 🇷🇺 mobilization is going very well…
From
Francis Scarr
We have no right to ignore what’s said on 🇷🇺 state TV these days. This unfortunately has all the potential for getting much worse.
From
Maria Avdeeva
Bernie Sanders was lucky to be able to get to the Soviet Union in 1988 and praise all its stunning socialist achievements before the entire system and empire collapsed under the weight of its own spectacular failures.
From
Reagan Battalion
This guy - Matteo Salvini - has just contributed to bringing down the Draghi government in 🇮🇹, and now hopes that a new election will bring him to power. Corks are popping in the Kremlin.
Today 🇸🇪 announces that it will deliver a second batch of 5.000 anti-armor AT4 weapons to 🇺🇦. That makes for a total of 16.000 AT4 from 🇸🇪 and 🇺🇸 to help 🇺🇦 stop the aggression. I hope other 🇪🇺 countries are also prepared to step up deliveries.
I think it’s time to recognize that the 🇫🇷 role of being “a mediating power” with 🇷🇺 - pursued since years - has so far been a spectacular failure.
There are many confusing discussions on conditions for 🇷🇺🇺🇦 peace. On neutrality it should be remembered that 🇺🇦 had neutrality in its constitution when 🇷🇺 invaded in 2014. And 🇷🇺 had guaranteed its territorial integrity in Budapest memorandum in 1994 as well as other documents.
Sergey Lavrov 🇷🇺 wasn’t allowed to the ministerial meeting in 🇵🇱 and had to restrict himself to a live press conference in Moscow that seems to have attracted 13 viewers.
I don’t think Putin 🇷🇺 gets many awards these days, and whether he’ll appreciate this one might of course be slightly doubtful. But there is little doubt that he fully deserves it.
After this, Europe can never again be at peace with the regime in 🇷🇺 of Vladimir Putin.
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From
Hanna Hopko
I guess Donald Trump is now preparing to launch a tweet. It will lift off in smoke and fire, and then with a roar disappear into nowhere.
As 🇮🇹 approaches its election it should not be forgotten that Silvio Berlusconi joined Vladimir Putin in visiting Crimea after it had been occupied and annexed by 🇷🇺, explicitly endorsing what 🇪🇺 has unanimously condemned.
The US President is now in open conflict with the US Congress, the US Federal Reserve, the US Secretary of Defense, China, the EU, the World Trade Organisation and a couple of others. Otherwise it’s OK.
Just a piece of friendly advice: when you are in a hole, stop digging.
Here the moment President Vucic 🇷🇸 was informed that he was going to move his Israel 🇮🇱 embassy to Jerusalem.
From
PaoloStefanini
This was grain that should have fed the world.
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I hear assessments here in DC that after two weeks up towards a quarter of 🇷🇺 military equipment in the 🇺🇦 invasion has been destroyed or disabled. I remember from my old military days that a military unit which has losses of a third is considered unusable.
If Putin 🇷🇺 can’t win, it’s going to be very tough going for him. You can see the beginning of the debate here. Much more to come.
From
Kamil Galeev
Here the countries that are helping 🇺🇦 defend itself. Where is 🇫🇷?
Would anyone describe this is a happy and confident trio? Putin obviously doesn’t even want to talk with the commander of the 🇷🇺 armed forces.
From
Mary Ilyushina
The rule of the law applies to everyone equally and is exercised by an independent judiciary. That’s the way it is in the US, and that’s certainly the way it is in Sweden. Political interference in the process is distinctly off limits! Clear?
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Very disappointed in Prime Minister Stefan Löfven for being unable to act. Sweden has let our African American Community down in the United States. I watched the tapes of A$AP Rocky, and he was being followed and harassed by troublemakers. Treat Americans fairly! #FreeRocky
On this day in 2014 a 🇷🇺 missile unit shot down airliner MH17 over the territory of 🇺🇦.
I remember how cold it was in Tallinn and Riga when the then Soviet Republics sought independence and Moscow cut the gas in order to force them back into the fold. Politically it back fired with a vengeance. People got every more determined. Today 🇱🇹 🇱🇻 🇪🇪 are free countries.
The protests in 🇷🇺 today are undoubtedly the largest since the Bolotnaya protests in 2011-2021. Numbers are difficult to compare, but these now seem to be far more spread all over the country. It’s no longer just Moscow.
For the first time the 🇸🇪 Chief of Defense sits around the table when all the NATO military commanders meet - this time in nearby Tallinn 🇪🇪. Also 🇫🇮 makes its debut.
Europe. March 2022. A desperate dictator trying to destroy a European nation.
It’s difficult not to be moved by this. A still sunny days outside the opera in Odessa.
From
Pierre Alonso
It’s really preposterous when 🇷🇺 tells 🇹🇷 that it had nothing to do with the missile attack against the Odessa port. Kalibr cruise missiles are sophisticated weapons launched from ships and submarines of the 🇷🇺 navy and from nowhere else.
From
Mustafa Nayyem
It’s difficult to see this morning’s missile attack against residential areas of Kyiv 🇺🇦 as anything but a deliberate 🇷🇺 escalation and a signal to the G7 meeting in Elmau today.
With the arrest of Leonid Gozman I have to note that all my friends in the politics of 🇷🇺 in the pre-Putin years are now murdered, in prison or in exile - a brilliant generation that could have made 🇷🇺 a great, prosperous and respected country. It’s a tragedy in every sense.
From
Visegrád 24
Huge numbers of people are trying to leave 🇷🇺. This is from the chaos at the border with 🇬🇪 . Long lines even to 🇲🇳 with people just wanting out.
The world that Putin is creating.
A brutal honesty in this message from the 🇷🇺 Kremlin - 🇺🇦 should be erased from the map. A country that’s chairing the 🇺🇳 Security Council this month simply denies another country its right to exist. I think this is unique in the annals of international behavior in modern times.
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Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev believes that no-one in the world needs Ukraine, therefore it will cease to exist, he said in his post on social media:
bit.ly/3GrctI2
Important lesson: my direct experience with the 🇷🇺🇺🇦 crisis of 2014 is that there is a distinct disconnect between the diplomacy of 🇷🇺 and what they actually do. Their diplomatic noise then had virtually no relation to what they really did on the ground.
This picture will enter the history books of this age of COVID-19. The Pope is blessing the world alone at a deserted St Peter’s Square in Rome yesterday evening.
In the morning news from back home I see that there is emerging a clear majority in the 🇸🇪 parliament for NATO membership when 🇫🇮 asks for the same. A solid security analysis is obviously needed, and modalities during the next few weeks remain to be sorted out. But that’s it.
This is the first great crisis of the post-American world. The UN Security Council is nowhere to be seen, G20 is in the hands of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the White House has trumpeted America First and Everyone Alone for years. Only the virus is globalized.
This is the planned departures from Moscow SVO 🇷🇺 airport tomorrow. A city in deepening isolation. A tragedy for which one person is solely responsible.
This is Tbilisi 🇬🇪 yesterday evening. Iconic image on also international women’s day.
Looking back we should recognize how important it was that 🇱🇹 🇱🇻 🇪🇪 were able to join NATO nearly two decades ago. If they today had been outside in some sort of grey zone, there would have been an imminent danger of them become part of a war zone. Now, NATO gives them security.
It looks as if 🇺🇦 has used its new military assets to target in particular 🇷🇺 ammunition depots well behind the front line.
I hear that 🇷🇸 has invited 🇷🇺 FM Lavrov to visit Belgrade in the next few days. If President Vucic was to sink his prospects with the 🇪🇺 that’s of course a perfect move. It’s a move in direct contradiction to the 🇪🇺 accession process and should be treated as such.
Putin’s language in his rambling TV speech today on “scums and traitors” and how to deal with them start to approach the language of the times of the purges of Stalin. This will not end well.
This is 🇷🇺 at war. In Europe today. Destruction. Devastation. From Marinka in the Donetsk region 🇺🇦. twitter.com/_mcccxii/statu
This is the worst that’s been seen in 🇽🇰 for many years. Serb militants in northern 🇽🇰 attack Nato forces and wound eleven of them. The cycle of escalation must be broken quickly!
Giving speeches in Brussels 🇪🇺 on “strategic autonomy” and “global role”is one thing, but when it really matters for the security of Europe it’s the 🇺🇸 that steps in. Embarrassing.
Impressive. No less than 22 tracked heavy howitzers M109 have been delivered by 🇳🇴 to 🇺🇦, and allegedly they have already seen service in the war.
News reports speak of 🇷🇺 firing up to 60.000 artillery rounds and rockets against 🇺🇦 forces every day. And 🇺🇦 urgently needs ammunition resupply to be able to fire back.
There are many reasons to remember the 🇷🇺 shooting down of MH17. One is the total refusal of 🇷🇺 to accept obvious facts and its practice of massive disinformation efforts to avoid responsibility. That’s a pattern we see repeated day by day in its aggression against 🇺🇦 today.
I see that has complained that the media is "out of control". Well, that's sort of the way it's supposed to be in free societies.
And now 🇷🇺 state TV talks about “war against Europe and the world” once the operation against 🇺🇦 has been concluded. Without mercy.
From
Julia Davis
The 🇷🇺 navy is currently blocking more than 90 civilian ships from accessing ports in the Black Sea. They seek to transport grain and other good products to nations in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Some ships have even been shelled.
Things do happen - this was on the main 🇷🇺 news this evening.
From
Christo Grozev
Here the PM , Foreign Minister and Finance Minister of Norway. Men are also represented in the government.
It looks like a very nervous evening in Sevastopol.
There are many reflections than can be made over what this map shows. Interesting.
I guess has now been made aware of the fact that Sweden has an independent judiciary, and political meddling in it from whoever is distinctly off limits. Such a talented person as he should have known.
President Trump triumphantly announced that he was elected by Pittsburgh rather than Paris. Well, actually, he lost in Pittsburgh.