Assassination Attempt to Zelensky
In shock news today, the Ukrainian Secret Service have arrested a woman over a plot to kill President Vladimir Zelensky while he was visiting Mykolaiv in south Ukraine. This area has recently been hit with floods. It's been alleged that the woman had planned to help Russia prepare for a massive airstrike in the region that Zelensky was visiting and had tried to gather intelligence about the Ukrainian president's itinerary ahead of his trip. The Ukrainian Secret Service, the SBU, said it had been monitoring her to try and get more information about her handlers and any assignments she may have been given. Ukraine claims that they caught the woman red handed as she tried to pass intelligence information to Russian secret services. They claim that she had photographed locations in Mykolaiv and had attempted to get information from her personal contacts in the area. If convicted she could serve 12 years in prison, while this particular individual could spend more than a decade in prison she actually isn't the only one. The Ukrainian security forces have also made a number of arrests of people that they believe were helping locate targets for Russian airstrikes. For his part, Zelensky confirmed that he had been told about the plot and that the SBU had updated him on the fight against traitors.
Philippines-China Tensions in South China Sea
The Philippines has accused China of excessive and offensive actions after the Chinese Coast Guard used a water cannon against a smaller Philippine vessel in the South China Sea on Saturday. The Philippine boat was attempting to deliver supplies to a garrison of Marines stationed on Second Thomas Shoal, which China claims sovereignty over. The shoal is home to a former World War II warship that the Philippines deliberately grounded there in 1999 to use as a makeshift military outpost in a bid to reinforce the country's sovereignty over the area. Unsurprisingly China doesn't approve of this and regularly calls for the Philippines to tow the grounded ship away while also working to block the Philippines resupply missions. Referring to the recent water cannon incident, China said it was a warning and added that its Coast Guard had demonstrated rational restraint at all times. No one was injured and the boat was not damaged. But Philippine officials said the boat did not complete its resupply mission. The country's National Security Council said it would do whatever is necessary to supply the outpost and urged China not to escalate matters by water cannons or military grade lasers, which places Philippines lives at risk.
Carcinogens Found in US Nuclear Bases
The US Air Force has today found unsafe levels of carcinogens at underground launch control centers at a Montana nuclear missile base. In a statement released on Monday, the Air Force Global Strike Command claimed that this is the first from an extensive sampling of active US intercontinental ballistic missile bases to address specific cancer concerns raised by missile community members. In these samples, PCB levels were shown at higher levels than the thresholds recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. PCBs have been identified as a likely carcinogen by the EPA. The commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command has directed an immediate cleanup process. Earlier in the year nine military officers who worked at the missile site had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare blood cancer. As a result the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine launched a new study to look at cancers across the entire missile community and to check the possibility of a cluster of the disease. The discovery of the high PCB levels were part of this wider investigation in which a health assessment team collected water, soil, air and surface samples from each of the missile launch facilities.
Elections in CAR
Voters in the Central African Republic have, according to the country's electoral authority overwhelmingly approved a change to the constitution that removes the two term presidential limit, meaning President Faustin Touadera could run for a controversial third term in office in 2025. The Elections Authority said that more than 95% of voters approved the new constitution, which also extends the presidential term from 5 to 7 years. But the vote, which took place on July the 30th, occurred without the participation of the main opposition parties and civil society groups, prompting opponents to call the result a joke that doesn't reflect the will of the Central African people. President Touadera came to power in the 2016 election following a civil war. He was re-elected in 2021 but faced a major armed rebellion that was eventually turned away thanks to assistance from Wagner group mercenaries who maintain a presence in the country. As such, Touadera is seen as an ally of Russia and continues to rely heavily on Wagner who helped provide security for the referendum. The deal has reportedly seen the Wagner group gain access to the Central African Republic's lucrative gold diamond and timber businesses.
Sources:
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/7/ukraine-detains-woman-over-alleged-plot-to-attack-zelenskyy
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66431839
- https://apnews.com/article/missile-bases-cancer-air-force-malmstrom-military-1999fad70393f0d141676b7faa587eda
- https://www.dw.com/en/car-approves-constitutional-changes-as-opposition-cries-foul/a-66465635
- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12382791/Pictured-Female-Russian-spy-detained-plot-assassinate-Ukraines-President-Zelensky-air-strike.html
- https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-repeats-call-philippines-remove-grounded-warship-2023-08-08/
- https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-central-african-republic
- https://www.ft.com/content/63aa513f-f812-46ec-8cb8-dd65df53e5c3
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/06/philippines-accuses-china-of-water-cannon-attack-in-spratly-islands
- https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/07/asia/china-philippines-coast-guard-confrontation-south-china-sea-intl-hnk/index.html
Excellent post and Ukrainian forces are extremely good at catching Russian intelligence assets. Because ironically Ukrainian and Russian intelligence officers know each other.
Thank you very much for another excellent addition!
She didn't succeed? Damnit...
No, it was not successful, but on the other side of the world, in Ecuador, they recently assassinated a presidential candidate. As far as I know, he was killed by drug barons.
You might be interested: https://peakd.com/hive-122315/@cronos0/ukraine-targets-moscow-with-drones-ecuador-assassination-hawaii-wildfires