Russia is using the methods of the Second Chechen War
María Senovilla, journalist and contributor to the magazine Atalayar and other media, spoke on the programme "De cara al mundo" on Onda Madrid about the current situation of the war in Ukraine.
Fortunately, there have been no fatalities, but there have been injuries in this new Russian bombing of a journalists' hotel in Kharkov. It's no coincidence, is it?
It is no coincidence that this is the second journalists' hotel to be directly bombed in less than a week. They did it to the Palace Hotel, a hotel where the international press, especially the American press, stays. This time it was the Park Hotel, where it is common to see Spanish journalists staying and other nationalities.
Two colleagues from the Turkish media have been hospitalised at the moment. Of the 30 people who were staying there at the time, 13 were injured. It is a hotel that is not in the centre of the city surrounded by other points that could be targeted. It is a hotel that is quite on the outskirts, almost in the middle of nowhere, and two S-300 missiles were fired directly at it. It was an attack on a civilian target, on a target frequented by the international press. The second in less than a week.
Russia is using a method similar to that of the Second Chechen War, when it tried to get as many international journalists out of there as possible so that they would not witness the siege and the massacre that was being perpetrated. It seems that Russia is going after international journalists on Ukraine's eastern front to stop them from documenting the siege that is, once again, being endured in the city of Kharkov, which has been under Russian fire every day since the beginning of the year.
Yes, it is an overused tactic of not wanting to have international observers, journalists who can tell what is going on, and they are attacked, attacked directly. Meanwhile, Zelenski warns that pauses in support for Ukraine are beneficial and many. Yes or no?
Yes, he warns that a ceasefire at this time would only benefit Russia, because right now the foundations for a fruitful dialogue are not really in place and the Kremlin's only objective is to gain time to rearm. Zelenski recalled in Estonia that Russia had already received a million projectiles from North Korea a few months ago, but warned that now it is Iran that is preparing new packages, new shipments, of ammunition such as suicide drones that have been used in multiple attacks since the beginning of the year, which have not stopped occurring in Ukraine.
It is also worth noting that Zelenski's remarks came just after the White House made public that military aid packages for Ukraine were completely stalled. The Democrats were trying to push through Congress a package worth more than 55 billion euros that included both arms and economic aid to pay the salaries of the army and civil servants. But Republicans have stopped short and have said they will not give the green light to this new shipment until additional measures are approved to control the illegal immigration that is arriving at the US-Mexico border.
US aid to Ukraine is at a complete standstill, raising alarm bells. The reason for Zelenski's speech in which he spoke of halting the ceasefire, of slowing down the pace of the war, was to warn of what this would mean for both Ukraine and its Western allies.
In this case, politics has strange interests in order to win the presidency in the elections; it should be remembered that there are elections in the United States next November. We can now talk about Spanish military personnel decorated by Ukraine in Toledo, military personnel who have participated in the training of Ukrainian military personnel.
These decorations took place yesterday at a ceremony held at the Infantry Academy in Toledo. The event was attended by the Ukrainian ambassador to Spain and the Defence attaché, as well as the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, and the Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Calderón. The 34 troops who have taken part in the training of these Ukrainian soldiers, which has been carried out at various military bases in our country over the past year, were decorated.
The personal involvement that these Spanish soldiers have had with the Ukrainian soldiers has gone beyond their professional obligations. Most of these soldiers who have come to train in Spain and other European Union countries were not professional soldiers before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began; they were civilians and worked in professions as diverse as taxi driver, university lecturer or lawyer.
They were people who showed the voluntary courage to go forward to lead the fight, knowing the harsh situation that was being experienced on those battlefronts and the number of personal casualties that were occurring. I know that the Spanish soldiers have made every effort to give them the best possible training, the best possible training and that these Ukrainian men and women, when they return to Ukraine and go to the front lines, will have an opportunity.
Minister Robles also took the opportunity to give Spain's support for Ukraine, as she always does when Ukrainian personnel take part in an event, and she literally said that Spain will always feel very proud to have been on the right side of history. She also made it clear that Spain's commitment to Ukraine will continue for as long as necessary.
