Russia's Nightmare: NATO Ally Placing HIMARS Right on Putin's Front Door

ICC Issues War Crimes Arrest Warrant for Putin The International Criminal Court, ICC, has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with his actions during the Ukraine war, the first international charges that have been brought since Russia invaded the neighboring country more than a year ago. The ICC issued the warrant Friday, accusing Putin of being allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population, children, and that of unlawful transfer of population, children, from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. A similar warrant was issued for Maria Alexeyevna Vova-Balova, Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights, over her alleged involvement in the abduction of Ukrainian children and teenagers. Investigators in The Hague have been gathering evidence against Putin over the past year, but an ICC prosecution remains a challenging task because Russia does not recognize the court or its jurisdiction, making a trial unlikely. Moscow also does not extradite its nationals. At the same time, Ukraine is also not a member of the court. However, it has granted the ICC jurisdiction over its territory. Speaking about Putin's arrest warrant, Eleonora Tafuro, a senior research fellow at the Russia, Caucasus, and Central Asia Center at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, told Newsweek, obviously, this is a symbolic decision. She continued, As long as Putin remains in Russia, he's safe, and frankly, I don't see him traveling to Poland or other states that could enforce the arrest warrant and jail him. Because the warrant's execution will depend on the states that are members of the ICC, countries that are not members will not be under those obligations. For example, if Putin visited China, the Chinese government is not obligated to arrest him, Leila Sadat, the Special Advisor on Crimes Against Humanity for the ICC Prosecutor, told Newsweek. Notably, Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Moscow next week. Still, Tafuro said, the decision to issue an arrest warrant sends a very powerful message. No one, not even the leader of a permanent UN Security Council member, is untouchable. The warrant doesn't mean Putin will be arrested immediately, Jordan Gansmores, the faculty director of Northwestern University's Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies program, told Newsweek. But it is likely to have ramifications on Putin's foreign travel from now on. Gansmores said, it might also affect the steps Russia ultimately will have to take to get sanctions removed, although much remains to be seen. ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Kam, who has visited Ukraine four times since beginning his investigation a year ago, has previously indicated that abductions of Ukrainian minors were a priority for his team. Last month, a report published by Conflict Observatory found that Russia systemically relocated at least 6,000 children since the beginning of the war, taking them to camps and facilities that used pro-Russia re-education efforts on the kids. Conflict Observatory, which is supported by the State Department, is a program that tracks alleged war crimes in Ukraine. The report was done in partnership with Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab. The ICC investigation was launched during the early days of the war and has been focused on probing allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine. As defined by the United Nations, a war crime means serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, including intentional attacks on civilian populations, torture, hostage-taking, rape and conscription of children, among other atrocities. The ICC, which was established in 1998 by the Rome Statute, has jurisdiction in cases where individuals are charged with such crimes. Russia and Ukraine are omitted from the court's 123 members because while they signed the statute, they did not ratify it. However, these types of prosecutions can take years and can be difficult to argue because not only do prosecutors have to establish a violation, they have to prove intent and knowledge of the crime. In instances of crimes like targeting civilians, those facts could be hard to prove. Despite the warrant, the ICC does not have the authority to arrest suspects and can only exercise its jurisdiction with the court's 123 members. Since Russia is not a member, the court cannot send authorities to arrest Putin within his country's territory. And since Russia does not extradite its nationals and will be especially unlikely to do so with its president, Putin's arrest is not imminent. There are some noteworthy updates from the battlefield. A Ukrainian drone appears to have destroyed a Russian Murom-M autonomous long-range visual surveillance system. Though the device was installed on the roof of a residential high-rise, this video shows that the munition used appears to have caused no damage to the structure, as it has since 2014. When Russia first invaded Ukraine, counter-battery fire remains an important battlefield function. The Ukraine Weapons Tracker OSINT group shared a video of one such operation, in which a Russian BM-21 Grad 122mm Multiple Launch Rocket System, MLRS, was destroyed by Ukrainian counter-battery fire. And as Russia's all-out war drags on, ammunition shortages are plaguing both sides. In this case, Foreign Policy Research Institute senior fellow Rob Lee shared Russian griping about the lack of long-range Kornet anti-tank guided missiles forcing them to use shorter range variants. That puts them in closer range of Ukrainian fire. In another post of at UA Weapons, Ukrainian HMMWV M1151A1 was hit by a Russian ATGM strike in the area of Hashtag Bogmit Donetsk Oblast. According to the damage, the missile was possibly one with a thermobaric slash HEFRAG warhead. All crew members reportedly survived. Russian aircraft shot down in Bogmit district. Ukrainian soldiers shot down a Russian combat aircraft near the village of Berestov in the Bogmit district. The aircraft was struck by the soldiers of the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade Edelweiss. Soldiers said that the aircraft they'd managed to hit was the Su-25 jet. The Russian jet aircraft was struck with the Polish-made Piorun Manpads. The brigade said the range is 2-3 kilometers. We thank the Polish friends for their constant help. Ukraine received these Piorun Manpads from Poland in 2022. Piorun Manpads is a deeply modernized version of the Polish Grom missile system, which is produced by MESCO. Within this upgrade, the sensitivity of the infrared homing device was quadrupled. The man-portable air defense system has a warhead of 1.82 kilograms, and it is known to be able to hit targets at an altitude of up to 4,000 m and a range of up to 6,500 m. Piorun can strike small credible targets, such as UAVs, due to contactless undermining. In Ukraine, systems are used against Russian aviation and drones. Previously, in early March, in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region, a Russian combat aircraft fell. In another development, Russia has provided a truthful update from the battlefield, where they are launching a fierce attack against Ukrainian forces. Russian BMP-2 fired almost 100 shells at the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces in Marenka. Russia's aviation information website, avia.pro, has reported that video footage shows the moment when the Russian military launched an assault on a multi-story building previously held by Ukrainian forces. The position was strategically important as snipers and anti-tank missile complexes were firing from the upper floors, which made any advancement difficult due to the risk of attack from Ukrainian forces. Nevertheless, the Russian BMP-2 identified the Ukrainian position and fired nearly 20% of its ammunition, demolishing the already ruined floors of the building and leaving no chance for the Ukrainian military to counter. On the video footage filmed by Russian fighters from cover, you can see the infantry fighting vehicle BMP-2 firing almost 100 shells from its 30mm automatic cannon at Ukrainian military positions. The fire is directed not randomly, but specifically at the floors where the Ukrainian armed forces positions are located. Despite the fact that the caliber of the cannon is relatively small, you can see how partially destroyed floors and ceilings collapse, and in several windows, you can notice a fire, presumably from the ignition of Ukrainian military ammunition. Currently, most of Marenka is controlled by Russian forces, however, the Ukrainian armed forces continue to provide significant resistance. In Dnepropetrovsk region, suicide drones destroyed a warehouse containing Western tanks and armored vehicles. Those strikes are apparently continuing. Last night, multiple strikes were carried out using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, UAVs, across the territory of Dnepropetrovsk Oblast in Ukraine. The drones targeted the populated area of Novomiskovsk, with a major railway junction also being hit. Just a few hours before the mass attack, a train carrying Western armored vehicles arrived at the junction, including tanks, which were most likely delivered by Poland, such as the Leopard 2. On video footage shot by local residents, the aftermath of the attack can be seen. For obvious reasons, there is no mention of hitting any specific object, as the fire and subsequent small explosions suggest the possibility of detonation of ammunition. Furthermore, in another video, it can be seen that the attack hit the railway junction, as indicated by the railway tracks and nearby semaphore. Most likely, the armored vehicles had already been unloaded and placed in the warehouse, But such an unexpected attack clearly posed a serious problem for the armed forces of Ukraine, as if the Western tanks were indeed destroyed, Ukraine would not be able to form tank battalions from Leopard 2 tanks. Operating as part of other units, they would be highly ineffective. Russian military forces have destroyed a Ukrainian MLRS with a pinpoint strike near Avdiivka. The rocket artillery system was providing cover for Ukrainian troops in the area and preventing attacks on their positions. To destroy the MLRS, a Lance Kamikaze drone was used, and just one hit was enough to completely destroy the Ukrainian position. On video footage, the drone can be seen rapidly approaching the target after the MLRS position was detected. Only a few minutes later, the artillery system was accurately hit, resulting in a massive explosion. Taking into account the limited capabilities of the Ukrainian troops to cover their forces in Avdiivka and the approaches to this town, the destruction of even one launcher creates serious problems for the defense of the Ukrainian army. As of today, according to the information available, Avdiivka is fully controlled by the Ukrainian armed forces. However, all approaches to this town are under Russian fire control. NATO ally placing MMRS right on Putin's front door. One of Ukraine's key allies in NATO plans to place rocket launchers on its shared border with Russia. On Thursday, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blazak said his country intends to place a number of MMRS rocket launchers at the Russian border. Blazak said the battery was acquired in 2019, and the announcement comes on the heels of Congress' approval of 500 MMRS charging modules for Ukraine's defense. On Friday, Blazak said, until the end of 2023, the U.S. MMRS rocket artillery systems will be at the disposal of the 16th Mechanized Division of the Polish Army, which is deployed near the border with Russia's Kaliningrad region, noting the success of the system in Ukraine's air defenses. The news comes one day after Blazak announced that the U.S. Department of State had approved the sale of 800 Hellfire missiles for use on a number of support helicopters. It also comes amid concerns that Russia could potentially escalate violence into NATO territory like Poland, which recently became the first member of NATO to provide Ukraine with defense-capable warplanes to offset Russia's aerial assaults, along with tanks, drones, and ammunition. Despite Poland's deployment of American MMRS systems near the Russian border of the Kaliningrad region being referred to as an attempt to demonstrate its strength, in reality, these systems pose a real threat to the entire region of Russia just four batteries are enough to strike any point on the territory of the Kaliningrad region. At the moment, it is known that Poland has expressed a desire to deploy similar systems near the Russian borders, and although the exact amount of deployed weaponry is not disclosed, additional batteries can strike any point on the territory of the Kaliningrad region using M-30 and M-31 missiles. It is highly likely that this is what Poland is hoping for. Considering that a nominal MMRS-MLRS battery consists of four launchers, Warsaw would only need 16 launchers to pose a real threat to the Kaliningrad region. It is highly likely that in response to such actions, Russia will deploy additional air defense assets and places counter-ballistic missile systems in the Kaliningrad region, which, given their range, will be enough to turn Warsaw into ruins within minutes if Poland attempts to attack Russia. In February, former Russian President and Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said the only way for Moscow to ensure enduring peace with Ukraine was to push back the borders of its allied countries as far as possible, even if it meant risking conflict with NATO members like Poland. Medvedev wrote on Telegram at the time, that is why it is so important to achieve all the goals of the special military operation. To push back the borders that threaten our country as far as possible, even if they are the borders of Poland. Russia, meanwhile, has begun to increase its own activity in Poland with the apparent intent to disrupt the country's aid to Ukraine. On Thursday, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said Poland had charged six foreigners from across the eastern border over an alleged plot to disrupt military and aid supplies to Ukraine on Russia's behalf. Last year, a Polish resident was accused of spying on NATO forces for the Russians. Kaminski said evidence indicates that this group monitored railway lines. Their tasks included recognizing, monitoring, and documenting weapons transports to Ukraine during a Thursday news conference. The suspects were also preparing sabotage actions aimed at paralyzing the supply of equipment, weapons, and aid to Ukraine. Thank you for tuning in to our video. 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