Ukrainian Troops Dig In at New Front Line in Bid to Stop Russian Advance; Putin’s stooges threaten to reclaim Alaska from US, Gov taunts, ‘Good luck’; Ukrainians cling to life at front line: ‘We are patriots’; Ukraine says Western weapons making a difference, but needs more, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

By admin On Jul 8, 2022

Ukrainian troops dig in at new front line in bid to stop Russian advance:

As artillery fire booms nearby, Dmytro looks up and listens.

“That’s ours,” notes the 28-year-old, deputy commander of his infantry unit, perched on the edge of a deep earth bunker covered with logs and sandbags near the road to the frontline town of Siversk in eastern Ukraine.

“This sound calms us down,” he says. “Right now it’s more of our artillery than theirs, so it’s good. But there might be incoming soon.”

Light machine guns are at the ready atop an embankment, as the unit, which recently pulled back from the now-occupied city of Lysychansk, prepares to defend a new frontline in the fight for the Donbas.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made capturing the industrialised region on behalf of separatist proxies a main war aim after an abortive assault on Kyiv beginning on Feb. 24.

The troops say a nearby artillery piece, firing from a field but hidden from view, is a U.S.-donated M777 Howitzer. Soviet-era rocket systems are also used nearby.

American instructors in other European countries have been training groups of Ukrainian artillerymen since April on the Howitzers. It is hoped these and other foreign weapons will help Ukraine turn the tide and push back Russia’s advance, but troops doubt the current commitments of long-range weapons and ammunition will be enough. —>READ MORE HERE

Putin’s stooges threaten to reclaim Alaska from US, Gov taunts, ‘Good luck’:

Russian lawmakers loyal to President Vladimir Putin have threatened to claw back Alaska from the US if Western countries continue to impose sanctions as punishment for the war in Ukraine.

Russia’s most senior lawmaker Vyacheslav Volodin warned Wednesday that Kremlin could claim back the state, which was sold to the US in 1867.

“Decency is not weakness,” said the speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, during a parliamentary session. “We always have something to answer with. Let America always remember, there is part of its territory… Alaska.”

He warned: “When they start trying to dispose of our resources abroad, let them think before they do so that we also have something to reclaim.”

He urged other members of the Duma to “keep an eye on Alaska.”

The US purchased Alaska from Tsar Alexander II for $7.2 million — or $142.2 million in today’s money — as part of an unpopular treaty orchestrated by then-Secretary of State William Seward, which was ridiculed in the press as “Seward’s folly.”