Russia Tightens Grip on Ukraine, Greeks on the Move, NATO Sentiments Shift

ATHENS — Day 8 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine dawned with thousands of Ukrainians fleeing to relative safety near the country’s western border with Poland and more reports that the Black Sea port city of Kherson has decisively fallen to Russian forces — a grim reality earlier disputed by President Zelensky. As of Thursday, the 40-mile-long Russian military convoy approaching Kiev — perhaps the worst-kept military secret of modern times, thanks to satellite imagery and blanket media coverage — had inched to less than 20 miles from the city center. Britain’s Ministry of Defense says the column has been delayed by Ukrainian resistance, mechanical breakdowns, and congestion, according to an AP report. In an early indication that the battle for Kiev, should there be one, will be no slam-dunk for Moscow, seven “bus-size” Russian military ambulances, windows blocked with gray shades, have according to AP already arrived at a hospital Mazyr, Belarus, which is just north of that country’s border with Ukraine. In Kherson, meanwhile, the new iron curtain that Mr. Zelensky evoked in a speech last week appears to have fallen hard. The BBC reports that the city’s mayor, Igor Kolykhaev, said Russian troops had forced their way into the city council building and imposed a curfew on residents. In a Facebook post the mayor confirmed Russian troops were in control and urged Russian soldiers not to shoot at civilians, saying there were no Ukrainian forces in the city. If Russia sets up a military administration in Ukraine, as some media outlets have reported Russian officers are telling the mayor, that would contradict a claim President Putin has made that Russia does not intend to occupy Ukraine.Air raid sirens sounded throughout many Ukrainian cities overnight. The mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, told the BBC that shelling and cruise missile strikes were hitting residential areas and inflicting heavy civilian casualties. So far that city remains under Ukrainian control. The southeastern city of Mariupol has also come under ferocious aerial bombardment from Russian forces. Greek newspaper Kathimerini reports today that a convoy of vehicles transported 82 Greeks over a circuitous route to Zaporizhzhia from Mariupol on the Dnieper River Wednesday. The convoy traversed some areas controlled by Ukrainian forces and some under Russian control and encountered sporadic crossfire. It is expected to cross into Moldova today. The U.S. ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey Pyatt, expressed his wish for a safe conclusion to the mission and, the paper reports, said that Greece “has been and will remain a critical NATO ally in reinforcing the Alliance’s southeastern flank.”There has been more Russian saber-rattling over NATO issues, and not only those concerning Ukraine. The Jerusalem Post reports that “Russia confronts Finland, Sweden.” Russia has sent letters to Finland and Sweden demanding that they provide security guarantees, according to the article. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has profoundly changed Europe’s security outlook, the AP reports, including for Nordic neutrals Finland and Sweden, where support for joining NATO has surged to record levels.The article cites a poll commissioned by Finnish broadcaster YLE this week showing that, for the first time, more than 50 percent of Finns support joining the Western military alliance, while in neighboring Sweden, a similar poll showed those in favor of NATO membership outnumber those against. This may have been what prompted a former Swedish prime minister, Carl Bildt, to tweet, “The unthinkable might start to become thinkable.”Also in the realm of the formerly unthinkable is the West’s mounting zeal for seizing the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs. The Guardian reports that Germany has taken Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s Dilbar, a $600 million “superyacht” now berthed in a Hamburg shipyard. Citing a Forbes report, the newspaper says the 512-foot über-boat is thought to be the largest motor yacht in the world by gross tonnage. Yachts owned by five other Russian billionaires, according to the newspaper, are headed to the “non-extradition” Maldives.In aviation news, Britain’s Sky News was reporting Thursday morning that multiple Russian aircraft entered Swedish airspace on Wednesday, despite it being closed to the country. Two Russian SU-27 and two SU-24 fighter jets are said to have overflown the country’s skies east of the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.

Russia Tightens Grip on Ukraine, Greeks on the Move, NATO Sentiments Shift

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