Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 10-27-2024

Duda says a new Iron Curtain may be needed to protect Poland and Europe.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Sunday Times, Polish President Andrzej Duda described the country’s “Eastern Shield” initiative as a new version of the Iron Curtain.

This line of fortifications along Poland’s eastern borders is part of a broader effort by the country to bolster its defenses amid rising tensions with Russia.

Official tallies on Sunday show the ruling pro-Moscow party took 54% of the vote, while pro-Western opposition got 38%, setting the stage for a showdown and jeopardizing Georgia’s EU hopes.

Georgia plunged into political turmoil on Sunday after the ruling party declared victory in parliamentary elections decried by the opposition as “falsified.”

The European Union had warned that Saturday’s vote, seen as a crucial test of democracy in the Caucasus country, would determine Tbilisi’s chances of joining the bloc.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

The pro-Russian Georgian Dream party is set to extend its control of parliament, according to preliminary results of the country's October 26 elections, but the stark difference in exit polls triggered cries of a "stolen election" from the pro-Western opposition. Georgian Dream, led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, garnered just over 54 percent of the vote in the pivotal vote, with more than 99 percent of districts counted. According to the initial results published by the Central Election Commission on October 27, four opposition parties were positioned to cross the 5 percent threshold to secure seats in parliament. Opposition forces -- the Coalition for Change, Unity-To Save Georgia, Strong Georgia, and For Georgia -- received just over 37 percent of the vote combined. Fueling opposition protests in the vote's aftermath, exit polls conducted on behalf of pro-government and opposition organizations showed significantly different results. Whereas Georgian Dream received 56 percent in the exit poll conducted by pro-government Imedi TV, it did not receive more than 42 percent in the two opposition exit polls. Final results are expected to be announced on October 27 - RFE/RL

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions. At one point, Putin asked the billionaire to avoid activating his StarLink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said two people briefed on the request. Musk has emerged this year as a crucial supporter of Donald Trump’s election campaign, and could find a role in a Trump administration should he win. While the U.S. and its allies have isolated Mr. Putin for recent years, Musk’s dialogue could signal re-engagement with the Russian leader, and reinforce Trump’s expressed desire to cut a deal over major fault lines such as the war in Ukraine - WSJ

There is growing evidence that one method of payment Russia has used to Iran and North Korea in return for them supplying Moscow with weapons of war was Su-35 fighter aircraft.

For some time, there has been growing suspicion that Russia has been offering cash (or gold), technology, know-how and modern weaponry in return for the drones, ammunition, missiles and now, in the case of North Korea, people to support its war in Ukraine – as Kyiv Post previously reported.

Most military analysts believe that the contract for the delivery of 24 Sukhoi Su-35 (NATO: Flanker E) multirole fighter aircraft, delivery of which began in April 2023, was one of those transactions. These aircraft were available on relatively short notice, as they were part of a $2 billion deal that Egypt had pulled out of probably concerned about US sanctions if it purchased weapons from Russia.

Putin’s war on Ukraine is more than just brute revanchism. He wants to annihilate Ukrainian national identity. As such, he needs to brainwash Ukrainian children into faithful Russians.

Since the beginning of Russia’s attack of Ukraine in 2014, the Kremlin’s objectives have been more than territorial gains. Over the last 10 years, Ukrainian classrooms in areas occupied by Moscow have also become a key battleground, where Russia aims to not only shift international borders, but what’s more, national identities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been abducting masses of Ukrainian children since the onset of his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A year later an arrest warrant was issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for his role in the abductions of thousands of these children who have been subjected to a scheme of indoctrination meant to rob them of their Ukrainian nationality.

Such a proposed security arrangement ignores a how the Soviet occupation of parts of Germany differs fundamentally from the Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine.

While I am generally supportive of the idea of offering NATO membership to Ukraine without including territories outside of Kyiv's sustainable control under the Article 5 umbrella, I think we should be honest to ourselves: if that, indeed, happens, Ukraine will unlikely ever regain those territories in any foreseeable future.

The reason why the above-mentioned security arrangement cannot be called "a divided Germany scenario" lies in the conceptual difference between the Soviet occupation of parts of Germany and the Russian occupation of parts of Ukraine.

A Ukrainian business group has acquired Poland’s iconic Ursus tractor brand at a bankruptcy auction, purchasing key production assets and pledging to revive the historic manufacturer.

A Ukrainian business group has acquired Poland’s iconic Ursus tractor brand at a bankruptcy auction, purchasing key production assets and pledging to revive the historic manufacturer.

M.I. Crow, led by Kyiv-based entrepreneur Oleg Krot, snapped up the tractor firm for €17 million after two previous auctions failed to attract buyers, leading officials to reduce the price by 40% from €28.7 million.

All major parties in the elections the Baltic state agree on maintaining NATO and EU member’s strong support for Kyiv, fearing Lithuania could be targeted if Moscow succeeds in Ukraine.

Lithuania is voting in the second round of its general elections on Sunday, likely to replace the ruling conservatives with a center-left coalition amid security concerns about neighboring Russia.

The Social Democratic Party won the most seats in the first round of voting two weeks ago and were readying to take power in a shift that is expected to leave intact the NATO and EU member’s strong support for Ukraine.

“20 Days in Mariupol” is a full-length film about the truth of Russia’s full-scale invasion, a chronicle of the horrifying realities faced in that city which must be recognized and remembered.

A film based on a true story is always interesting. But a documentary film shot in a way that is a chronicle of events during a war as they happened is something completely different.

“20 Days in Mariupol” is not just a film based on real events - it is footage of the city’s real life during the genocidal war that one nation inflicted on another.

Operation INTERFLEX is a British-led multinational training program aimed at Ukrainian military personnel with limited or no prior military experience.

Instructors from Great Britain continue to teach Ukrainian recruits the basics of fire training on the territory of the United Kingdom as part of the multinational operation INTERFLEX.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported this on Facebook and shared a video, Ukrinform saw.

Georgia's pro-Russian party claims election victory while pro-Western opposition decries the result.

Georgia's ruling party has won the country's parliamentary elections, the central election commission said Sunday, after the opposition decried the results as fraudulent.

Brussels had warned that Saturday's vote, seen as a crucial test of democracy in the Caucasus country, would determine the EU-candidate's chances of joining the bloc.

The implications of Russia’s interference in the elections in Moldova and Georgia should be taken with all the seriousness they deserve.

The elections in Moldova and Georgia were not just routine domestic political affairs in small Eastern European countries. They were a battle for the souls of nations caught between two diametrically opposed futures – one tied to the European Union and the other shackled by Russia’s authoritarian constraints. At the heart of this struggle was not just a choice between a pro-European and a pro-Russian candidate but a referendum in which Moldovans decided whether they wanted a future with the EU or with Russia.

In many ways, these elections represent a microcosm of the current geopolitical struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, with Moldova and Georgia on the frontlines of a broader conflict that has potential implications for the entire democratic world. The stakes have never been higher.

With the UN having been and continuing to be unable to show moral leadership in Ukraine, perhaps it’s time that we should consider a new League of Democracies.

When the United Nations was founded in 1945, it emerged from a world in ruins. In Europe and Asia, the rank application of totalitarian power had dissolved order, left tens of millions dead, and offered the new horror of systematic murder in concentration camps on an industrial scale implemented with engineering precision to the world. The world was numb.

From this shock emerged the organization founded with principles that on the face of it are laudable. Article 1 of its purposes states that it will “maintain international peace and security… take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace,” and “take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace.”

Unfortunately, the plan reads more like a wish-list for Ukraine’s partners rather than a document outlining how Ukraine will achieve victory.

Ukrainian President Zelensky has presented his five-point “Victory Plan” to the public. During a speech in the Ukrainian parliament, Zelensky outlined the Ukrainian government’s vision for what would be needed to secure a meaningful end to the Russo-Ukrainian War.

First and foremost, the plan calls for an immediate invitation of Ukraine into NATO. While there is no specific timeline or process attached to this proposal, it is apparent that Zelensky’s government has no interest in moving forward with any sort of post-war settlement that does not include meaningful, strong guarantees of security.

With US elections looming on Nov. 5, Kyiv Post takes a closer look at which Congressional Republicans have offered their support to aid for Ukraine and which have grandstanded against it.

As in every US general election, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs in 2024. And, as usual, this year showcases some tight races and some with fairly predictable outcomes.

But as voters examine their representatives’ records on Ukraine, Democratic incumbents don’t offer much variety on that account: When the House voted on H.R. 8035 on April 20, 2024, allocating about $61 billion for Ukrainian aid, not a single Democratic representative voted against it. This trend seems likely to continue.

A quarter of election officials reported having suffered abuse or threats between 2020 and 2022, according to a survey by the nonpartisan Elections and Voting Information Center.

For two decades her neighbors have trusted Cindy Elgan to run elections in her small corner of Nevada. Now those same neighbors think she is part of a conspiracy to rob Donald Trump of the presidency.

Never mind that in 2020 the Republican got 82 percent of the votes cast in Esmeralda County -- whose 700-or-so people make it one of the least populated in the United States.

During a visit to South Korea, the Polish President said on Friday that Poland would not be supplying newly purchased weaponry to Ukraine, in response to a question from journalists.

As part of Poland’s modernization of and increase to its armed forces it’s in the process of purchasing tanks, self-propelled howitzers, missile launchers and light attack aircraft from South Korea amid speculation that, as a work around to Seoul’s restriction on supplying weapons to a country at war, Warsaw could transfer some weapons it was buying to Ukraine on the understanding other allies would replace them.

During a press conference following his meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Polish President Andrzej Duda was asked questions along those lines. According to Poland’s RMF 24 he ruled out the possibility of supplying the weapons that his country has ordered from South Korean manufacturers during a press conference.

Six consecutive votes so far have failed to yield a stable government, and voter turnout is expected to be low, amid fears of electoral fraud.

Bulgarians vote Sunday in their seventh election in less than four years, with dim hope of an end to political turmoil that has favored the country’s far right.

The European Union’s poorest member state has been at a standstill since 2020, when massive anti-corruption protests brought down the cabinet of conservative three-time prime minister Boyko Borisov.