The howl of air raid sirens sounds every night as Russian drones and missiles pound strategic targets right throughout Ukraine. Kiev has been rocked by blasts that continued for several hours in an attack on the capital that the local military administration called “exceptional in its density”. And now Ukrainians are rushing to buy iodine pills following a devastating Russian raid on an ammunition depot containing depleted uranium shells that may have released deadly radiation into the atmosphere.
Russia first unleashed its Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles on Ukraine in March. They fly at Mach 10, ten times the speed of sound, and are virtually unstoppable, as the Ukrainians found out for themselves this week when their capital was hit by a wave of these deadly rockets. A radar station and five US-made Patriot air-defence missile systems were destroyed during the 16th May attack. Overall, the Russian missile strike against the Patriot system was a major blow to the US-led efforts to rebuild and enhance Ukraine’s air defences, which have lost most of their capabilities since the start of the Russian special military operation last year.
Meanwhile there’s been a run on iodine in Khmelnitsky, some 240 miles away from Kiev, following a huge explosion that left a black mushroom cloud of smoke hovering miles into the air above the town last weekend. A Ukrainian army warehouse packed with NATO munitions said to be worth over €200 million and 83 million euros worth of electronic equipment was destroyed in the blast that shook the city.
The Russians say the depot was filled with the depleted uranium ammunition recently shipped to the Ukrainians by the UK. There are fears that deadly gamma radiation which may have been released by the blast spread when robots were sent to put out the fires, and there are reports that patrols using dosimeters were seen moving across the city. The next day it was forbidden to use the tap water, allegedly because of its previously scheduled cleaning, amidst reports that radiation levels were rising in the aftermath of the strike – although this has been dismissed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
On the diplomatic front it’s said that some of Ukraine’s closest European allies now want to see an end to the conflict. According to Seymour Hersh, the usually well-informed American journalist, a Polish-led group of NATO states has called for a cease-fire. Citing anonymous US intelligence sources, Hersh claims that a Polish initiative supported by Hungary, the Czech republic and the Baltic states, has called on Vladimir Zelensky to end the fighting and even step down as president to begin the process of rebuilding Ukraine.
"The European leaders have made it clear that 'Zelensky can keep what he's got' – a villa in Italy and interests in offshore bank accounts – 'if he works up a peace deal even if he's got to be paid off, if it's the only way to get a deal'," says Hersh.
A "knowledgeable American official" told the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist that some in the leadership in Hungary and Poland were "among those working together to get Ukraine involved in serious talks with Moscow".
The Biden administration is not convinced. Hersh quotes an unnamed US official as saying that "Europe's problem… is that the White House wants Zelensky to survive while there are others" – in Russia and in some European capitals – "who say Zelensky has got to go, no matter what." According to Hersh: "It’s not clear that this understanding has gotten to the Oval Office."
"There are hawks, and there are those who are in favour of at least a temporary de-escalation of this conflict," he said. "Of course, we may assume that there are various conflicts and behind-the-scenes games in Washington. So, even if we take into account that Poland and other countries in the region are not independent players, it is possible that they may have received some advice or instructions from those political circles in Washington that prefer to freeze, for example, this conflict on for some time."
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