‘A lot of people know’ who blew up
Nord Stream – Trump
US President Donald Trump has dismissed claims that Russia was behind the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines and suggested that the true culprit is widely known – without naming names.
Speaking at a White House press event, Trump said there was no need for a formal investigation to uncover who carried out the attack, which crippled a key energy route between Russia and Western Europe.
Three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Western Europe, were damaged by blasts at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in September 2022.
On Tuesday, a correspondent for libertarian financial blog ZeroHedge, which has been admitted to White House press events under the new administration, noted that Trump had previously rejected the Western narrative that Russia blew up its own pipelines, and asked the president if he was planning to initiate a probe to find out who was actually behind the attack.
“If you can believe it, they said Russia blew it up,” Trump responded. “Well, probably if I asked certain people, they would be able to tell you without having to waste a lot of money on an investigation. But I think a lot of people know who blew it up,” he added, without elaborating.
ZeroHedge suggested that Trump’s comment meant that “based on classified intelligence he knows exactly who was behind” the destruction of Nord Stream. It also “should put the ‘Russia destroyed its own vital and economically lucrative pipeline’ storyline to rest,” the outlet insisted.
In early February 2023, veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report claiming that then US President Joe Biden had given the order to destroy Nord Stream. According to an informed source who talked to the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, the explosives that were detonated on September 26, 2022 had been planted at the pipelines by US Navy divers a few months earlier under the cover of a NATO exercise called ‘Baltops 22’. The White House denied the report, calling it “utterly false and complete fiction.”
Senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have previously pointed the finger at the US as the possible culprit behind the Nord Stream explosions. They have argued that Washington had the technical means to carry out the operation and stood to gain the most, considering that the attack disrupted Russian energy supplies to the EU and forced a shift to more expensive US-supplied liquefied natural gas.
Patriot defense system headed for Ukraine
as cease-fire hopes dim
May 4 (UPI) -- An Israel-based Patriot air defense system is being moved to Ukraine to help in its ongoing battle against a 3-year-long Russian invasion, officials announced Sunday.
The system will be sent after it is refurbished, and Western allies have said Germany and Greece could also send an additional one.
The deployment of the Patriot system is a continuation of the previous administration's commitment to send more defense weapons to Kyiv. In September, Former President Joe Biden arranged a deal with Israel to send the missile defense system to Ukraine, before Donald Trump was re-elected.
Trump administration officials said "it continues to provide equipment to Ukraine from previously authorized" agreements, The New York Times reported.
Related
The Trump administration has said in recent weeks that it wants an end to the war in Ukraine but the chances of a quick resolution have taken a hit in recent weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a drone attack on key Ukrainian infrastructure on the eve of a proposed cease-fire.
Kyiv media reported that four people have been killed and at least 30 more injured in a barrage of drone attacks in recent days, including 11 children.
"Air defenses shot down 69 drones, while 80 vanished from radars -- likely used as decoys to overwhelm Ukraine's defenses," the Kyiv Independent reported. "The assault was countered with electronic warfare units, aviation, anti-aircraft missile systems, and mobile fire groups."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said "a real cease-fire is necessary ... to bring the war to an end."
Russia is calling for a cease-fire May 9, the Independent reported.
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