News Update: What’s Happening In The Russian-UKraine War, March 5, 2:05PM

President Zelenskyy of Ukraine submitted an update regarding the War:

The main points of his message in the video:

1. He calls for a “NO—FLY—ZONE” in the region, and stated that 74 percent of Americans support the no-fly-zone. Yet we have not approved the request, a decision that will help significantly, Ukraine’s advantage in the war. 

2. The Armed forces of Ukraine hold all areas of defence and are counterattacking Russian invaders near: Kharkiv, and holding the line in Maykolaiv, Kyiv, Chernihiv region, Sumy region and Dobas. 

3. We (Ukraine) inflicted damages on the Invaders; the Russian Army has not reached planned frontiers and ten thousand (10, 000) Russian Soldiers many of whom are 18 - 20 years old were killed. 

4. Every Ukrainian is fighting and resisting the enemy even where they are advancing, but not for long. 

5. GLORY TO UKRAINE! 

Finally regarding My pro account features being blocked by Russia as the platform is Russian owned and developed; I was able to get this resolved. I had stated that since Thursday I haven’t been able to post in the feed since I’ve been posting against Russia and in support of Ukraine and providing updates about the war. 

I reached out to Blogspot and one of its developers “Vadim N. Petrov” replied. This was after several attempts at fixing the problem, and my tweets, podcast and posts about Blogspot an affiliate of Google and being owned by Russia and blocking my blogs, Mr. Vadim stated in an email that: 

“Blogger (ex Blogspot), developed by the American company Google. Our Blogg application (more than 3 years in the App Store) for the Blogger platform is being developed by 3 Ukrainian and 2 Russian developers. Hacking your account is technically impossible and why do we need it? You sent screenshots of resetting granted permissions upon re-authorization, as it should be - this is a Google requirement.

If you think we are evil Russian hackers, then we are not. Our team is against war. Now we are trying to solve your problem so that you have a good experience using our application. Let's try to solve your problem,” Vadim N. Petrov, Blogger Developer) March 4, 12:51AM).

I replied in a follow-up email: 

I deleted the app and reinstalled it and it’s still not working. It shows on my apple store that the app subscription is active. I have an annual subscription. The app states that it’s developed by Russia. Why is the app still not working how it’s supposed to? I can’t edit or add blogs to the feed. And the app is behaving unstable. This just started since I’ve been posting about the war. Please advise,” (March 4, 3:23AM).

After this, the problem was resolved and now I’m able to post in the feed and access the pro version. 

Vadim’s support and constant contact throughout the process must be commended. He utilized every means necessary to restore my account and was very responsive with his emails. However, it took several days for this issue to be resolved and not until my postings regarding this issue. Further, it still seemed suspicious that my blog would abruptly stop working properly and only to realize that it’s connected with Russia, which we understand is trying to control and suppress news about the war especially those that do put Russia and the progress of its war in a negative light, even though the advances and expectations are slow and unclear at the moment. So the timing of my account being blocked or behaving weirdly, Blogger being a Russian creation and Russia’s control of the news, would seem suspicious to anyone and speak volumes. This can lead to the conclusion of collusion. We must be careful that this is not the message and the appearance that Blogger is trying to promote. It’s reputation would suggest that it’s a free and fair platform that allows for diverse and free expression that is honest but perspectival. 

Other News Coming in: Russian Oil Giant Lukoil is calling for Russia/Putin to end the war. This is worrisome for Russia as Lukoil is their second biggest company which generated 78 billion dollars last year. It is also troubling for Lukoil whose revenues come from their outlets in the US which has a major gas company and is currently one of the cheaper gasolines. But the war is turning many people away from Russia including many of its customers whose business they may loose, therefore affecting their bottom line. 

Thousands of Russians are fleeing to Finland and other neighbours in the region stemming from the war. Many are against the war and are already feeling or bracing for the sanctions which are mounting by the minute. Blogger Developer Vadim Petrov states that “Blogger (ex Blogspot), developed by the American company Google. Our Blogg application (more than 3 years in the App Store) for the Blogger platform is being developed by 3 Ukrainian and 2 Russian developers, “ and that “our team is against the war.