Ukraine marks liberation of Bucha. Ukraine’s armed forces already use Joint Direct Attack Munition. Putin signs new foreign policy doctrine.
Four European leaders visit Bucha on one-year anniversary of liberation
On March 31, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and leaders of Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Moldova visited Bucha to pay tribute to the victims of the Russian war crimes committed during the occupation of the city.
The visit marks one-year anniversary of Bucha’s liberation. President Zelenskyi, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, and Moldovan President Maia Sandu visited the site of a mass grave near the church of Saint Andrew the Apostle where bodies of Bucha residents were found.
Ukraine already uses Joint Direct Attack Munition against Russia
Ukraine’s armed forces are already using Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force Command Colonel Yuriy Ihnat said.
“We are using JDAM,” Ihnat said on television. Ukrainian fighter aircraft employ the Western-made kits to conduct precision strikes against high priority targets, he added.
In December 2022, reports surfaced that the U.S. plans to send JDAM, a guidance tail kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurate, adverse weather smart munitions to Ukraine.
JDAM is compatible with various types of aircraft. The munitions’ tail section contains an inertial navigational system and a global positioning system guidance control unit.
The U.S. has previously used JDAM technology for 907-kilogram conventional bombs, dropped from bombers and fighters.
Putin signs new foreign policy doctrine
Russian President Vladimir Putin told a Security Council meeting Friday that he signed a decree, approving Russia’s new foreign policy concept.
He said he had to amend major strategic documents following “serious changes” in the international arena, Russian media quoted him as saying. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov presented Putin with an updated foreign policy doctrine.
Lavrov said the start of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine had ushered in “revolutionary changes” in world affairs that now needed to be reflected in the concept. The document names the United States as the main threat to international stability and driver of an “anti-Russian line”. It outlines how Russia could take “symmetric and asymmetric measures in response to unfriendly actions against Russia”. Russia will seek to create “conditions for unfriendly states to abandon their hostile policy toward our country.” Russia will seek strategic partnership with China and India, the concept reads.
Human rights situation in the occupied territories. Ukraine in Flames #386
russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was a violation of the UN Charter and an act of aggression, a crime under international law. russian forces conducted indiscriminate attacks resulting in thousands of civilian casualties, amid mounting evidence of other crimes including torture, sexual violence and unlawful killings. Attacks on civilian infrastructure also led to violations of the rights to housing, health and education. russia basically uses genocide in practice, trying to clean up any resistance in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Watch Ukraine in flames #386 to find out about the human rights situation in the occupied territories and the horrendous human cost of war.
Guests:
- Matilda Bogner, Head of UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine
- Volodymyr Chekrygin, Deputy Chair of Crimean Human Rights Group
