[Western Journal] Former President Donald Trump received a bleak warning last week from an unexpected quarter: Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer nicknamed the "Merchant of Death."
Bout is the man who was freed from a U.S. prison last year by President Joe Biden in a controversial trade for American basketball player Brittney Griner, who had been convicted in a Russian court of drug possession.
According to a video posted on Twitter by the BBC’s Francis Scarr, Bout said on Russian television that he had sent a telegram The Telegram reference is to the messaging software Telegram
to Trump, advising him that his life was in danger and offering him asylum in Russia — not to become a Russian citizen, but to "lead the fight for the American people, the rebellion against globalists, and for the bright future of the planet."
Bout wrote in the telegram that "the future of humanity and life is at stake" and implied that Trump is the man to save it.
#2
For some inexplicable reason, I feel an urge to watch Lord of War which is kinda sorta based on Bout's life. In addition to a great CGI intro, it stars Nic Cage who brings everything Nic Cage fans love and expect. I won't spoil the surprise twist/reveal at the end, although readers of the 'Burg are likely to be unsurprised.
[Simplicius76] Today, April 14, marks the one year anniversary of the sinking of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Flagship, the Moskva cruiser. Most people have long filed this event away as a closed case, that Ukraine destroyed the ship with missiles.
Significantly, for the anniversary of this event, Ukraine yesterday released what they claim to be the first ever footage of the firing of the Neptune missiles which purportedly sunk the Moskva. The video is claimed to be taken on April 13, 2022.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[LB] The occupiers also attacked Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kherson regions. In Kherson, the Russians shelled a park, as a result of which a civilian was killed.
by Iryna Lysohor
Last day, Russia hit the Novgorod-Siversky district of the Chernihiv region with artillery and mortars. There were two shellings, there were no victims and no destruction, according to the summary of the OVA.
The enemy fired mortars in the Sumy region - Bilopolska and Seredino-Budska communities - in the morning. 19 "parishes". According to preliminary data, without consequences. Yesterday, during the day, the Russians carried out three shellings of the border communities - Esmanska and Bilopolska. 22 "arrivals" from mortars, artillery and AGS were recorded. Fortunately, without consequences.
In Zaporizhzhya, the enemy launched 81 attacks on the demarcation line over the past day: one missile attack, seven air attacks, 68 artillery attacks, three UAV attacks and two from salvo missile systems. The enemy shelled Malynivka, Mala Tokmachka, Preobrazhenka, Zaliznychne and 14 other towns and villages. Fortunately, no one was hurt. So far, 18 damage reports have been received. The data is being verified.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, there were three shellings in the Nikopol district over the past day. With heavy artillery, the enemy aimed at Nikopol, Pokrovska and Chervonogrigorivska communities. There is destruction, the agricultural enterprise was damaged. A five-story building, 11 private houses and nine utility buildings, two gas furnaces and three power lines were also damaged. It passed without victims or victims
Yesterday, the de-occupied Nevsky of the Luhansk region came under fire again. As a result of enemy fire, eight private houses suffered varying degrees of destruction. Fortunately, no one was injured. Novoselivske, Stelmakhivka, Andriivka and Bilogorivka were also hit by artillery fire during the past day. The enemy conducted unsuccessful offensives near Dibrova and Bilogorivka.
In the Kharkivska on the Slobozhansk direction, the enemy shelled the settlements of Uda, Kozacha Lopan, Ternov, Staritsa, Gatishche, Mykolaivka, and Budarka. Krasne Pershe, Novomlynsk, Dvorichna, Zapadne, Masyutivka and Tabaivka came under enemy fire in the Kupyansk direction. Yesterday, the occupiers shelled Kucherivka of the Kupyansky district with "Grad" rocket launchers.
Shells hit the road near Iskra LLC, a fire broke out. Three men, aged 50, 51 and 23, were injured. All are hospitalized in moderate condition. As a result of shelling, a 47-year-old man was injured and hospitalized in the village of Dvorichna, Kupian district. Near the village In Lukyantsi, Kharkiv district, a 28-year-old tractor ran over an unknown explosive object in a field. The man was injured and hospitalized.
In Donetsk today around midnight there was shelling of the village of Novoukrainka of the coal mining community. Information about the victims is being clarified. During the day, the enemy used artillery and Grad anti-aircraft guns, shelling the populated areas of the region. In particular, the residential sector of Avdiivka and Chasovoy Yar and the Karlivka reservoir were under fire.
In Khersonska, the enemy carried out 68 shellings during the day, firing 280 shells from heavy artillery, UAVs and aviation. The enemy shelled the city of Kherson four times. As a result of enemy shelling, two people were killed, four were wounded. Russian artillery struck the Dnipro district of the city of Kherson. The enemy targeted one of the parks. A civilian was killed.
In addition, enemy aircraft struck the village of Zmiivka, Beryslav District. The Russians targeted the building of a local school with guided aerial bombs. A 62-year-old farmer, who was in an educational institution, died on the spot due to an enemy attack. Another man, a 55-year-old school guard, was wounded. 99 people were evacuated from the de-occupied territory of the region.
We will remind you that the Russians killed another person in the Kherson region yesterday during the shelling of the village . Four people were also injured.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Vesti] April 14 is the 415th day of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Briefly about the main thing that is happening in the country on this day, about the situation in the regions, the exchange of prisoners, losses, as well as all the relevant information from key departments - online Vesti.ua .
07:00 . The Russians do not stop trying to capture the east of Ukraine. According to the General Staff, they continue their offensive in the Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions . The fiercest battles continue for Bakhmut and Marinka. During the day, Ukrainian defenders repulsed 49 attacks.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed new leaders of the Sumy and Lugansk OVAs, as stated in the decrees on the President's website:
Luhansk Regional State Administration will be headed by Artem Lysohor. Previously, he worked as deputy head of the National Police Department in the Zhytomyr region.
Sumy Regional State Administration will be headed by Lieutenant General Volodymyr Artyukh. Previously, he worked as an adviser to the head of the Vinnitsa Regional State Administration.
08:00 . Kherson region. During the day, the Russians shelled the Kherson region 68 times, firing 280 shells from heavy artillery, UAVs and aviation. The shells hit residential areas, the territory of an educational institution in the village of Zmievka and a park area in Kherson. As a result of the shelling, two people were killed, four were injured.
09:00 . The speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yuriy Ignat, warned of a possible missile attack on Easter.
10:00 a.m. Ukraine returned the bodies of 82 dead servicemen .
12:00 . Zaporozhye region. Russian Su-35 planes hit Orekhov : private houses and the building of the Youth Sports School were damaged.
15:00 . Donetsk region. Residents of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Konstantinovka heard a series of explosions.
16:00 . Chernihiv region. Russian troops hit an industrial enterprise on the border with guided bombs . Buildings were damaged as a result of the impact. Initially, one worker was injured.
17:00 . Donetsk region. The Russian military from artillery shelled the industrial zone in Konstantinovka: two non-residential buildings were damaged, there were no injuries or deaths.
18:00 . Donetsk region. One person was killed, five were injured as a result of the shelling of residential areas of Slavyansk . Under the rubble of one of the houses there are people, including a child. The rescue operation continues.
18:40 Operational summary of the General Staff as of 18:00, main points:
During the day, the enemy launched six air and 19 missile strikes , 13 of them from the S-300 air defense system against the cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk . In addition, he fired about 20 shelling from multiple launch rocket systems.
Aviation of the Defense Forces inflicted 5 strikes per day on the areas of concentration of the occupiers. During the day, missile and artillery units hit one command post, three areas of concentration of enemy manpower, weapons and military equipment, as well as one enemy electronic warfare station.
The enemy continues to concentrate his main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions.
The fiercest battles continue for Bakhmut and Marinka. About 40 attacks were repelled per dayenemy. In the Liman direction, the enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive operations in the area south of Dibrova and not far from Belogorovka during the day. In the Bakhmut direction, heavy fighting continues for the city of Bakhmut.
The units of the defense forces repulsed about 15 enemy attacks on the indicated sector of the front. In the Avdeevsky direction, the enemy conducted offensive operations in the areas of Novokalinovoye and Pervomaisky, but was not successful. In the Maryinka direction, during the day, the enemy conducted unsuccessful offensive operations in the Maryinka region of the Donetsk region, where units of the Ukrainian defense forces repelled about 15 attacks.
In the Shakhtyorsk direction, the enemy did not carry out offensive operations during the day. In the Zaporozhye and Kherson directions, the enemy continues to conduct defensive operations.
19:20 President of Ukraine Zelensky discussed with British Prime Minister Sunak "accelerating the supply of weapons." Zelensky spoke about this, and not only about this, traditionally addressing the country at the end of the day.
20:20 The Russians cannot defeat Ukraine by military means, so they will try to destabilize the situation inside our country, warned Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Danilov.
21:30 According to the latest data, the death toll in Slavyansk has increased to eight people, 21 people were injured, said the head of the Donetsk OVA Kirilenko. Among the dead is a child who was pulled out from under the rubble, and among the victims there is a 14-year-old girl.
22:20 The Netherlands showed a list of military assistance to Ukraine. The list includes both units of equipment already received by Ukraine and those that are planned to be transferred.
23:20 Caesar self-propelled artillery units, transferred by Denmark, will be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks, since the Ukrainian military has already completed training on these self-propelled guns. This was announced by the Minister of Defense of Denmark.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] 22:34 The death toll as a result of the Russian strike on Sloviansk, Donetsk region, has risen to eight people, 21 are injured, five more are probably under the rubble , said the head of the OVA, Pavel Kirilenko. He clarified that the Russians fired at least seven missiles at the city, previously S-300s, six of them hit the residential sector, and one more hit the territory of the landscape park. Among the dead was a two-year-old child.
The blow damaged five high-rise buildings, five private houses, a school, a recreation center, an administrative building, a shop, an economic center and 12 cars. All information provided is preliminary.
21:39 Putin signed the law on the unified register of conscripts, which provides for the introduction of electronic subpoenas. The law, among other things, introduces a ban on leaving the country for citizens who have received a summons before their visit to the military registration and enlistment office, restricts the right to drive a car if the dodger has not come to the military enlistment office within 20 days. The Russian Ministry of Digital Development specified that the full register of persons liable for military service will be launched no earlier than the autumn draft.
21:35 Ukraine will not be satisfied with any decision of the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, except for real steps towards its membership in the alliance, Kuleba said: "If the allies decide that they will simply confirm the open door policy on the issue of NATO membership for the 130th time , then for Ukraine this is an unacceptable result of the summit."
19:43 Zelensky said in an evening video message that he held a meeting today on Euro-Atlantic integration - "on the inevitability of combining the potentials of Ukraine and NATO": "It is obvious that Ukraine's place is in NATO. A legitimate place. And I don't want outdated illusions to still hindered our joining the alliance, even now they continue to take the time of Ukraine and partners. We are developing appropriate steps."
The president also held a meeting on the reconstruction of the country after the hostilities: "We discussed infrastructure, the economy and many other issues that need answers. We work both within the country and with partners."
In addition, during the day, Zelensky held a meeting with the head of the SBU Vasily Maliuk, as well as with the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov: "The key is the constant destruction of the occupiers, this is minus their logistics, any potential in the occupied territories, this is the preparation of our active operations, this is a counter-assault Job".
19:29 All eight Leopard 2 tanks that Canada promised to Ukraine have arrived in Poland, Defense Minister Anita Anand said.
19:13 The Ukrainian military completed training on the Caesar self-propelled guns in Denmark, the country's Ministry of Defense reported. At the beginning of the year, the Danish government decided to transfer all 19 French-made CAESAR artillery mounts to Ukraine. This is a newly developed artillery system that has been introduced into the Danish defenses so far. This meant that a number of technical problems arose with the system, which had to be solved in cooperation with the manufacturer and the Ukrainians, the Danish Ministry of Defense noted. The cars are planned to be sent to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
19:02 They have been talking about the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for so long that the West is increasingly doubting the success of this operation. European officials involved in efforts to support the Ukrainian military told Bloomberg reporters that they are holding back their expectations and are considering intense fighting in 2024. Read more in the material Fracture not in 2023?
18:58 The Russians are trying to launch a narrative that supposedly the Ukrainian military command does not spare the lives of the military in Bakhmut, although their losses in this area are many times higher, said Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar. According to her, there are days when the difference in losses reaches 1:10.
"This is not the first time that the Russians take away our texts about them and pass them off as their own. The purpose of such Russian stuffing is to undermine confidence in the decisions of our military command and provoke discontent in the Ukrainian society. Those who give the command to attack our land and who concentrated the greatest efforts in Bakhmut to take control of the city at any cost. We defend ourselves and stop the enemy from moving deep into the territory," Maliar stressed.
18:38 As a result of the Russian strike on Slavyansk, five people were killed and 15 were injured. There is a possibility that seven people, including one child, are under the rubble, said Pavel Kirilenko, head of the OVA. According to preliminary data, the strike was carried out by S-300 missiles. Five high-rise buildings and five private houses were damaged.
17:42 The Russians fired at Slavyansk, Donetsk region, delivered several blows at once to the residential areas of the city, said the head of the OVA, Pavel Kirilenko. According to preliminary data, one person died, six were injured, the OP specified. One house was partially destroyed, fires broke out in two. The rescue operation continues.
Simultaneously with Slavyansk, the Russians attacked Kramatorsk and Konstantinovka - according to preliminary information, there were no casualties there.
17:19 Zelensky replaced the head of the Center for Special Operations for Combating Terrorism, Protecting Participants in Criminal Proceedings and Law Enforcement Officials of the SBU. Instead of Sergei Dusik, Evgeny Khmara was appointed to this position.
16:58 Russian aviation hit an industrial enterprise in the Semenovsky district of the Chernihiv region with guided bombs, one person was injured, OK Pivnich reported.
16:55 More and more Chinese components are found in Russian weapons, Vladislav Vlasyuk, Zelensky's senior adviser on sanctions policy, said in an interview with Reuters: "In weapons found on the battlefield, we continue to find various electronics. We find many different things made in China."
16:46 The Russians fired at a medical facility in Volchansk, Kharkiv region, one person was injured, Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA, said. Also, two people were blown up by enemy mines.
16:28 The Russians have already evacuated several hundred teenagers from the occupied cities of the Zaporozhye region, Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol, told Radio Liberty. According to him, the occupiers are once again going to recruit at least 200 children allegedly in the camps. "We clearly understand that this is not about recovery and not about education. Unfortunately, there are cases when not all children return," he said. Moreover, parents in most cases are not asked if they agree to let their children go.
16:02 Zelensky said that he had a telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: "We talked about the situation at the front, our defense needs and increased support, about planned international events."
15:41 If PMC Wagner continues to use the same tactics at the front as it is now, and given their problems with replenishment from prisons, "in the medium term, it will be possible to talk about the end of the inglorious history of this terrorist group," said Sergei Cherevaty, a representative of the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine .
15:18 Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki does not rule out that the war in Ukraine may last for several years: "We do not calculate any date, but simply observe what is happening at the front, on the battlefield. And in accordance with this, we try to adapt to the situation work through our diplomacy with our partners in Western Europe to support Ukraine."
At the same time, Morawiecki believes that Ukraine has the right to strike at the territory of Russia, and such actions do not violate Kyiv's agreements with Western partners. He also said that there is no need to worry about a possible NATO war with Russia, because Russia will lose it.
14:39 The Chinese company Quzhou Nova is buying copper from the Russian-occupied Debaltseve Metallurgical Engineering Plant, Reuters reports. Reporters found that from October 2022 to March 2023, Quzhou Nova purchased at least 3,220 tons of copper alloys worth $7.4 million. Western sanctions prohibit any international trade with the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. Quzhou Nova said that the company allegedly does not import and export copper at all.
14:17 Foreign Ministry Speaker Oleg Nikolenko called Orban's statement that Ukraine "financially does not exist" cynical, since Hungary itself receives a lot of money from the EU to maintain its economic stability. "We urge Viktor Orban to face the truth: supporting Ukraine is not charity. By supporting Ukraine, Europe invests primarily in its own security. At the same time, the Hungarian authorities should be grateful that against the backdrop of unprecedented Russian aggression, Ukrainians lives, keep a peaceful sky over Budapest and other European cities," Nikolenko stressed.
13:52 In the Zaporozhye region, the Russians attacked the settlement of Orekhov from Su-35 aircraft - private houses and the building of the Youth Sports School were damaged, the President's Office reported.
13:31 The Russians are preparing to block personnel at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, Energoatom said. The company explained this by the shortage of professional nuclear scientists needed to operate the station, as well as the expectation of a Ukrainian offensive. In particular, the invaders have already brought a large amount of provisions and water to the territory of the nuclear power plant. They probably won't let the station staff go after one of their regular work shifts.
Energoatom recalled that the invaders had already performed a similar trick at the beginning of a full-scale invasion, when they closed the shift of workers at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Then they did not let the staff go home for about a month, holding people hostage until the de-occupation.
13:26 A Russian woman suspected of corporate espionage was detained at an oil refinery in Gothenburg, Sweden, TV4 Nyheterna reports. The police have not commented on the case, as the investigation has not yet been completed.
12:57 The National Military Memorial Cemetery on Brovarsky Prospekt in Kiev will be opened at the end of autumn, at the same time the first burials of the dead soldiers will take place, First Deputy Minister for Veterans Affairs Oleksandr Porkhun said. He clarified that the process of completing the construction of the memorial complex will take place in parallel.
12:33 SBU urges Ukrainians not to attend any mass gatherings on Easter, to observe curfew, not to ignore air raid signals, not to linger in churches during the consecration of the Easter basket unnecessarily, and also to inform law enforcement agencies about suspicious objects and persons who may arrange provocations or pose a potential threat.
12:19 According to secret Pentagon documents, the GRU special forces of the Russian Federation lost about 90-95% of the fighters in Ukraine, it will take up to ten years to recover, writes The Washington Post. In the United States, it is believed that the Russian command overly relied on special forces and used them as part of advanced infantry formations, which suffered huge losses. As a result, four out of five special forces brigades suffered significant losses.
12:08 China will not supply weapons to any of the parties in Russia's war against Ukraine and will monitor the export of dual-use goods, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said at a press conference with his German counterpart Annalena Burbock. In turn, Burbock stressed that China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has a special responsibility in resolving the situation around Ukraine.
Qin Gang stressed that China would like to assist in finding a peaceful solution to this problem, but, in his words, "without recognizing the security interests of any particular party, crises and conflicts are inevitable."
12:05 Ukraine returned the bodies of another 82 dead defenders, the Ministry of Reintegration reported.
11:56 Shoigu announced the start of a surprise check in the Pacific Fleet, which was alerted in full force and began to be brought to the highest degree of combat readiness. The main goal is "to increase the ability to solve tasks to repel the aggression of a potential enemy." In particular, according to the head of the Russian Defense Ministry, during the inspection of the Pacific Fleet, it is necessary to work out actions to "repel enemy landings on the southern Kuril Islands and Sakhalin."
11:35 Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov planned to sabotage the war against Ukraine, writes DW with reference to secret Pentagon documents. So, they wanted to end the war on March 5, secretly from Putin, who was allegedly supposed to start a course of chemotherapy that day. However, later Gerasimov abandoned his plans.
11:28 Borrell warned that the position and actions of China in relation to the war in Ukraine is one of the factors that will determine the future relations between Beijing and Europe: "I am not going to lecture China or give advice, because I respect the independence and sovereignty of China. However, I must say in a friendly way: it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the EU to maintain a trusting relationship with China - which I would like - if China does not contribute to the search for a political solution based on the fact that Russia withdraws from the territory of Ukraine.
The chief EU diplomat emphasized that neutrality in conditions where there is a violation of international law does not inspire confidence: “We are not asking anyone to join our position. We only ask to recognize that in this case we are talking about a gross violation of international law. Therefore, I think that it would be good if President Xi spoke to President Zelensky and China provided more substantial humanitarian aid for war-torn Ukrainians."
11:14 According to secret Pentagon documents, Hungary could secretly help Ukraine with the delivery of weapons, writes Politico. Thus, one of them states that Hungary could allow its partners and Ukraine to use its airspace to move weapons. In the published data, it was said that Ukrainian pilots would fly on helicopters transferred by Croatia "through the airspace of Hungary."
Earlier in Budapest, they repeatedly stressed that they would not help Kyiv with weapons and would not be allowed to transport them across the country.
10:42 Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu will pay an official visit to Russia from April 16 to April 19, and will hold talks with the leadership of the Russian army, Russian media report.
10:36 In Mariupol, according to confirmed data, more than 20 thousand people died, Mayor Vadym Boychenko said in an interview with Radio Liberty: "According to our official confirmed data, more than 20 thousand people died. This is what we managed to count. We first tried and write it down. Then there was no longer such an opportunity, because there was a very dense fire - they used aircraft, and the ships entered the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. " Boychenko specified that this figure is "very cautious."
10:33 France informed Italy that the SAMP / T anti-aircraft missile system, which the countries agreed to jointly transfer to Ukraine, would be ready for shipment no earlier than June, Politico writes, citing secret Pentagon documents. It was previously assumed that the SAMP / T air defense system would be delivered to Ukraine in the spring.
10:26 Ukraine will attract world companies with advanced technologies in this area to demining its territory. The pilot project, initiated by the UN Development Program, will be implemented at one of the training grounds, remote from the war zone, in May, the Ministry of Economy reported.
UNDP approached companies and private entrepreneurs with experience in unmanned mine-clearing technologies to participate in the project. As part of the pilot project, companies are asked to survey and map an area of up to 50 hectares with mines (under the surface) and unexploded ordnance (UXO) on it (on the surface). The conditions of the project assume a difficult terrain with the presence of vegetation.
To date, about 174 thousand square meters. km of the territory of Ukraine are potentially contaminated, require non-technical and technical survey and, if necessary, demining.
10:08 Orban in an interview with Radio Kossuth called Ukraine "a financially non-existent country." According to the Hungarian prime minister, "we pay for Ukrainian pensions, salaries, health care - it is clear that this cannot continue indefinitely." He also believes that as soon as Europe and the United States stop "supporting" Ukraine, the war will end.
09:47 British intelligence reports that the regular army of the Russian Federation and PMC Wagner have improved cooperation in Bakhmut and resumed the offensive. In particular, the Wagner assault groups continue to advance in the central part of Bakhmut, and the Russian Airborne Forces cover them from the flanks - to the north and south.
Ukrainian forces are experiencing significant supply difficulties, but from the positions they were forced to cede, they retreated in an organized manner, analysts say. At the same time, intelligence clarifies that Ukrainian troops are still on the defensive in the western districts of the city, but in the last 48 hours they have been subjected to particularly intense shelling.
09:38 In Melitopol, an explosion occurred near the railway depot, where the Russians accumulate their equipment and set up a repair base, Mayor Ivan Fedorov said. Collaborator Vladimir Rogov said that it was a gas cylinder that allegedly exploded in one of the garages.
08:44 In the Kherson region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, two people were killed and four were injured. In the Kharkiv region, four were wounded, according to the OVA.
08:33 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of April 14.
personnel - about 181,090 (+500) people liquidated,
tanks - 3650 (+4),
armored combat vehicles - 7069 (+16),
artillery systems - 2784 (+7),
MLRS - 535 (+0),
air defense systems - 283 (+0),
aircraft - 307 (+0),
helicopters - 293 (+0),
UAV operational-tactical level - 2339 (+0),
cruise missiles - 911 (+0),
ships/boats - 18 (+0),
automotive equipment and tankers - 5640 (+3),
special equipment - 321 (+1).
08:25 The Russian army continues to focus its main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Avdeevsky and Maryinsky directions. The most fierce battles are for Bakhmut and Marinka, over the past day 49 enemy attacks have been repulsed, the General Staff said in the morning report .
In certain settlements of the Kakhovka district of the Kherson region, the invaders are forcing local residents to re-register vehicles in accordance with Russian regulations, for which the owners need to have Russian passports. Also, activities have intensified to speed up the issuance of Russian passports in the occupied territories of the Donetsk region - the departments of the migration service of the Russian Federation work seven days a week. Priority is given to civil servants and servicemen of the first army corps.
02:50 The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, Kirill Budanov, said in an interview with the ABC TV channel that Ukraine needs to show success in the counteroffensive, otherwise "questions will arise" regarding further support from the West: "The success of this offensive is extremely necessary ... Without victories, sooner or later questions will arise whether to continue support Ukraine.
At the same time, Budanov is convinced that the leak of secret Pentagon documents will not affect relations between Ukraine and the United States: "If there is a problem, it will be solved. If there is no problem, even better. This will not affect the real results of the offensive operation."
01:18 The Ukrainian military command has various scenarios for the development of events at the front, but everything will be decided at the last moment. Therefore, assumptions about a counteroffensive have no basis, said NSDC Secretary Alexei Danilov. "Our defenders have not one, not two, not three or four options for the development of events at the front, because it depends on many factors that are evaluated every day," he explained.
Danilov also acknowledged that now there are certain delays in the supply of weapons from Western partners: "We are waiting for the help that was promised and declared by our partners. I can see that, unfortunately, not all partners have responded yet. Deliveries are now underway - I can't say that they don't exist, but there are certain delays on certain issues. Let's assume that this is a temporary situation."
00:04 The Ministry of Sports banned the Ukrainian teams from participating in tournaments with representatives of Russia and Belarus. According to the published order, we are talking about Olympic and non-Olympic sports, as well as Paralympic ones.
Kindly note that several entries in this article may have been removed because they included discussions of the grand strategic level.
[NewsFrontInfo] 20:02 Video— 9 years ago, fascist Ukraine officially launched the “ATO”
On April 14, 2014, the Ukrainian war criminal, bloody pastor Oleksandr Turchynov, then the acting president of "Ukraine", signed a decree on the start of the so-called "anti-terrorist operation".
What was called “ATO” on the outskirts was, in fact, a punitive operation against civilians in Donbass who disagreed with the “Maidan” – an illegal coup d’état in Kyiv.
19:25 The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture drew attention, which is the so-called. The telethon, which has been zombified by Ukrainians for a year now, is losing views and popularity.
In response to this, the head of the department, Alexander Tkachenko, wrote a slander to YouTube and the Meta corporation. Wonder what you asked for? Chain Ukrainians to monitors?
19:20 It turned out who this surgeon who told that cuts out organs from the Russian military.
RT information was provided by the hacker group RaHDit. According to her, this is Andrey Dmitryshyn, originally from the village of Dzvinyach, Ivano-Frankivsk region of Ukraine. He's 37 years old.
Activists established that Dmitryshyn was a member of the so-called (Kyiv authorities) ATO and served in the National Guard of Ukraine in 2014-2015.
The man uses different names: in Odnoklassniki he is Ivan Klishch, in the video that went viral on the network, he introduced himself as Vladimir, not Andrey.
18:36 Another fact of how ukrofascists equip firing points in the homes of civilians, without thinking about the consequences -video
18:34 A monstrous explosion in Bakhmut: the blow of the PMC "Wagner" incinerated the positions of the enemy -video
Footage of the strike was filmed by spotters from the ground, judging by the huge column of fire, stones and dust - it can be assumed that they hit the ammunition depot of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, located in urban areas turned into fortresses by Ukrainian militants.
18:32 In Artemovsk eliminated Polish mercenary Mikhail Zurek. Shrapnel wound to the head.
17:21 The Russian Aerospace Forces an hour ago launched an airstrike on industrial objects in the border area of the Chernihiv region.
It is reported that the strike was also caused by planning bombs.
16:46 Near Artyomovsk eliminated American mercenary Chris Campbell, who previously served in the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army.
The guy went to success - no luck, no luck ...
16:40 Social networks draw attention that in the collective photographs of Ukrainian Nazis taken during the ATO, there are fewer and fewer militants who did not fall under denazification.
In the photo:
Marian Korchak, Right Sector (liquidated on May 25, 2018)
Yury Kapustyak, Right Sector
Dmitry Kotsyubaylo, Right Sector* (liquidated on March 7, 2023)
Dmitry Rubashevsky, Belarusian mercenary (liquidated April 12, 2022).
16:26 Five civilians became victims of Ukrainian aggression in the DPR in a week. During this period, 46 civilians were injured.
15:26 Highlights new Briefing of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation:
In the Kupyansk direction, the actions of five Ukrainian DRGs were stopped;
The troops of the Russian Federation destroyed up to 80 military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Krasnolimansky direction;
The losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kupyansk direction per day amounted to 60 servicemen;
In the Donetsk direction, the Wagner assault detachments are conducting high-intensity battles to capture quarters in the western districts of Artemovsk;
The airborne troops on the flanks in Artemovsk provide support to the assault detachments and stop attempts to deliver ammunition to the city and bring in reserves;
The total losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine per day amounted to 340 servicemen in the Donetsk direction;
Losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine per day in the Donetsk direction amounted to 340 servicemen;
Since the beginning of the special operation, the RF Armed Forces have destroyed more than 9,500 units of special military vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
The RF Armed Forces destroyed a depot with ammunition of Ukrainian troops in the Zaporozhye region;
Russian aircraft carried out 14 sorties to support assault detachments in the Artemovsk area;
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed up to 35 military and 122mm BM-21 MLRS "Grad" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kherson direction.
15:21 Ukrovoyaka says that their positions are being fired from all types of weapons, while saying that there are wounded and KIAs in the brigade -video
“... For yesterday, three wounded along our entire line, which is held by the brigade. And today, maybe half an hour ago, one KIA ... "
14:34 Video with a Finnish mercenary hiding in a hangar where Russian artillery is working —video
14:33 The network appeared to report about the moral and psychological state of one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In the report, the commander of the 123rd Troop Brigade complains about the decrease in the level of the morale and psychological state of the personnel. As the leadership testifies, the "zahisniki" began to leave positions more often, refuse to perform tasks at the forefront of defense, and also sabotage the orders and instructions of the command staff
14:31 Like American TV fooling around spectators
Marked the card on the Fox TV channel. There, the center of the Zaporozhye region is painted in a different color and marked as a territory where partisans operate.
This map was used to accompany an interview with the Prime Minister of Ukraine. The goal is to show that the money is well spent. Look, the partisans have already de-occupied almost everything
13:11 In Odessa, there are girls who stick stickers with the text “Why not sovereign?” on signs made in Russian. This is reported by local Tg channels -video
13:09 Polish mercenaries showed their combat work in Bakhmut -video
A group of Polish "volunteers" filmed and published these footage on their resources.
Recall that at the end of March, the country's authorities reported that in a week in battles with the Russian army, three Polish mercenaries who fought for the Armed Forces of Ukraine were killed.
12:58Wagner operators eliminated in Artyomovsk, an experienced intelligence officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
In Artyomovsk, the fighters of the PMC "Wagner" destroyed a veteran of the punitive operation in the Donbass ("ATO") and intelligence officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vitaly Kursov.
12:32 In the 35th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine frightened advancing soldiers threaten to brew in tanks
“Those who are afraid to go on the offensive, we will kill on the spot. There is no place for cowards in a new and strong Ukraine. We will weld the doubters in tanks so that they do not run away at a difficult moment. Time requires such actions, ”the Ukrainian brigade’s telegram channel says.
11:53 Another Ukrainian beggars from "23 Separate Mechanized Brigade" beg for money from the common people of Ukraine for a pickup truck and equipment -video
11:50 Situation in Artemovsk (Bakhmut): Wagner operators continue to hit the positions of the Nazis hiding in the buildings -video
10:23 RIA Novosti correspondents filmed an assault on a building in the industrial zone of Artemivsk, during which snipers of the Wagner group eliminated three Ukrainian shooters who interfered with the advance of the infantry -video
10:22 Russian sniper with a 12.7 mm rifle liquidated Ukrainian fire spotter and sniper in the Kherson direction, an officer of the Sokol volunteer battalion told RIA Novosti.
09:10 Russian calculations of the 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS invigorate the enemy in one of the directions of the NVO -video
08:25 Fighters of the national battalion "Azov" openly ridiculed in the social networks of the commander of the defense of Bakhmut, Colonel-General Syrsky.
While the Ukrainian general is preparing for another "breakthrough", the Nazis recommend that subscribers read the analysis of the situation from Russian military correspondents and get acquainted with the real state of affairs.
08:11 Residents of the Dnipropetrovsk region captured SBU for supporting Russia
A resident of Krivoy Rog posted anti-Ukrainian publications on her personal social networks. She called Ukrainian militants Nazis and waited for liberators.
A resident of the Kamensky district also spoke out in support of Russia's actions in his social networks.
There are already thousands of such people in the basements of the SBU...
Kindly note that several entries in this article may have been removed because they included discussions of the grand strategic level.
[NewsFrontInfo] 23:05 Fixed shelling from the VFU. 22:42 Fixed shelling from the VFU.
22:07 Another shelling at Yasinovataya by Ukrainian militants.
22:04 Footage of destruction ofenemy radar station in the Artemovsk area.
21:59 Video- M-113. Trophy
He will return to the front line, only against the Ukrainians, to help our troops.
21:56 Video "Good evening to us from the counteroffensive."
21:52 There are reports from Bakhmut that the strongest the battle goes to the western outskirts of the city.
Artillery work and shooting battle in the area of ??st. Liberators of Donbass, where the fortified area of the 127th and 241st territorial defense brigades is located. Yesterday, not far from this place, the fighters of the PMC "Wagner" advanced well.
21:36 Video- In the Kherson direction, Kyiv formations began to use German Leopard tanks. Of these, they fire at Russian checkpoints. As an officer of the Sokol volunteer battalion said, the Russian military had already drowned one of the "cats" in a swamp.
21:32 Video- The first destroyed of the old British Spartan armored personnel carriers imported by Poroshenko and Prytula. Filmed in Bakhmut.
21:17 Video- The Ukrainian military says that they are being shot at with everything they can, there are wounded and corpses.
20:53 Video- Covering the Ukrainian strong point in the forest belt near Kremennaya
20:43 Video- A self-propelled gun of the 132nd Brigade of the Donetsk 1st Army Corps caught and destroyed a Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicle with personnel inside in the Avdiivka direction.
20:37 Video— Vushnikov caught during the construction of a crossing in the Kherson region
20:20 Video- The work of UR-77 Wagners in Bakhmut
19:52 Video- Personnel of the use of UMPC 500 by the aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces at the facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Zaporozhye region.
19:33 Another S-300 Ukrainian air defense "knocked down" five-storey building in Slavyansk.
Stringer from Slavyansk showed a rocket that fell on the city, illuminating its markings. Yes, this is a Ukrainian rocket, which once again failed and fell in a residential area.
5B55 is the marking of old missiles of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system. The index can be checked by any user, a search engine is enough. The flight range of such a missile is 90 km.
We are waiting for stories from Ukrainian propagandists about the artillery attack of the city from the air defense of the RF Armed Forces. Classic
19:28 Video- Yakut fighters near Energodar showed how they confuse the enemy on the air.
A battalion formed from Yakut volunteers has been standing in Zaporozhye for half a year now. They serve together with the Airborne Troops from Ussuriysk as part of the Far East Brigade. The task of this unit is the all-round defense of the city of Energodar.
As it turned out, the Yakuts are excellent warriors - they are hunters, fishermen, and reindeer herders. According to the fighter with the call sign "Birch", the soldier's life for the Yakuts is largely familiar. Hunting and fishing are not exotic for them, but a normal part of life.
Here you can often hear pure Yakut speech. It's better than any encryption. No one will understand this data exchange, even if the conversation is intercepted. The Yakut battalion tries to communicate with each other in this way.
The commanders are not against such a "national flavor", because this affects the coherence of the battalion only for the better. Full mutual understanding, and hence the execution of orders will be clear and immediate.
19:03 "Smart bombs" hit the industrial object in Chernihiv region, - APU
At 16:00, the Russian Aerospace Forces attacked an industrial enterprise in the Semenovsky district of the Chernihiv region with guided bombs, reports the Sever Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
As a result of the impact, there is destruction of buildings.
The enemy notes that over the past 24 hours, the use of planning bombs has been noted in the Sumy, Chernihiv, Zaporozhye, Kherson regions.
The enemy still has nothing to report on cases of successful combat with planning bombs.
18:43 Video— A fiery tornado on the positions of the Ukronazis in Bakhmut
Incendiary munitions strikes on enemy lines of defense are inflicted constantly.
These ammunition make it easier to push the enemy out of well-fortified defensive positions.
18:23 Video- Aimed fire: combat work of tank crews of the Central Military District in the zone of the special operation
In the course of carrying out combat missions, tankers of the Central Military District destroy command and strongholds, equipment and manpower of the Ukrainian army, provide cover for assault detachments in the area of a special military operation.
Gunners and tank commanders, in cooperation with reconnaissance units around the clock, inflict defeat on the enemy with shots from 125mm guns from closed firing positions.
Tankers, using the terrain and forest areas, conduct aimed fire at a distance of more than five kilometers. This method allows you to hide the combat vehicle from the enemy and conduct targeted fire along a ballistic trajectory. Such measures provide high accuracy of fire, combined with a low level of danger to crews.
17:57 The consequences of the artillery attack of Sloviansk, which resulted in one dead and five injured
17:55 Video– A Wagnerian in Bakhmut was saved by a helmet from a Ukrainian sniper’s bullet
17:34 Video- In Slavyansk, it just flew into a residential building. As usual.
17:12 Video- The process of preparing and training replenishment for the front.
16:43 A new stash with weapon
In Berdyansk, investigators found a cache with weapons in the household of a Ukrainian policeman.
When checking operational information, police officers, together with representatives of other law enforcement agencies, inspected a non-residential building located in Berdyansk, owned by a 32-year-old citizen of Ukraine, who previously served in the Berdyansk regional police department of Ukraine as an inspector. Earlier, he left the territory of the Russian Federation and is in the territory controlled by the Zelensky regime.
As a result of the inspection, law enforcement officers found:
- Foreign-made AT4 CSRS anti-tank grenade launcher - 1 pc.,
- 5.45mm caliber cartridges for AK - 300 pcs.,
- F-1 grenade - 4 pcs.,
- UZRGM-2 - 4 pcs.,
- TNT checker 400 gr. - 1 pc.,
- Factory-made fighter - 1 pc.,
- Flags of Ukraine - 2 pcs.
All found ammunition and items have been seized.
16:18 Video- Naval Infantry of the 155th brigade are bombing the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the vicinity of Vugledar.
15:31 Summary of Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation (04/14/2023)
- In the Kupyansk direction, air strikes and artillery fire from the "Western" group of troops hit units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Stelmakhivka of the Lugansk People's Republic, Ivanovka and Dvurechnaya of the Kharkov region.
- In addition, the actions of five sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Olshana, Krakhmalnoye and Timkovka of the Kharkov region were stopped.
Over the past day, up to 60 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, three vehicles, and two 152mm D-20 howitzers have been destroyed.
- In the Krasno-Limansky direction, strikes by operational-tactical and army aviation, artillery fire and heavy flamethrower systems of the group of troops (forces) "Center" defeated enemy units in the areas of Serebryanka of the Donetsk People's Republic of Chervonopopovka and Chervonaya Dibrova of the Luhansk People's Republic.
Up to 80 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, two vehicles, and a 122mm D-30 howitzer were destroyed.
- In the Donetsk direction, the Wagner assault detachments are conducting high-intensity combat operations to seize quarters in the western districts of the city of Artemovsk.
- The units of the Airborne Forces operating on the flanks provide support to the assault squads and prevent the enemy's attempts to deliver ammunition to the city and bring in reserves.
- Aviation of the "Southern" group of troops to support the assault detachments in this area completely 14 sorties. Rocket troops and artillery carried out 62 fire missions.
The total losses of the enemy per day in this direction amounted to 340 Ukrainian servicemen, two tanks, five armored combat vehicles, four vehicles, a 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS combat vehicle, as well as 152mm D-20 and 122mm D-30 howitzers.
- In the South-Donetsk and Zaporizhia directions, operational-tactical and army aviation strikes, artillery fire of the Vostok group of troops defeated the enemy’s manpower and equipment in the areas of the settlements of Vugledar of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Marfopol, Zaliznichnoe, Novoandreevka and Kamenskoe Zaporozhye region.
During the day, up to 40 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, two pickup trucks, and two 122mm D-30 howitzers were destroyed in these areas. In addition, near the village of Chervonaya Krinitsa, Zaporozhye region, a depot with ammunition of Ukrainian troops was destroyed.
- In the Kherson direction, as a result of enemy fire, up to 35 Ukrainian servicemen, six vehicles, a 122mm BM-21 Grad MLRS combat vehicle, and an Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer were destroyed.
- Operational-tactical aviation, missile forces and artillery of groups of troops (forces) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation defeated the 93rd Artillery units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at firing positions, manpower and equipment in 136 districts in a day.
Air defense systems intercepted six rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system per day. In addition, six Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of Tambovka, Zaporozhye region, Velyka Lepetikha and Maslovka, Kherson region.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed: 407 aircraft, 228 helicopters, 3,753 unmanned aerial vehicles, 415 anti-aircraft missile systems, 8,672 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,084 combat vehicles of multiple launch rocket systems, 4,584 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 9,504 units of special military vehicles.
15:26 Video- "Brave" attack the enemy's trenches near Kremennaya
Strong footage of strikes on the enemy line of defense. The projectile flew straight to the Ukrainian militant.
After such artillery preparation, the trenches are in a dilapidated state and assault groups are advanced for cleaning. This helps to minimize losses on our part.
15:14 Video- Polish mercenaries showed their combat work in Bakhmut.
A group of Polish "volunteers" filmed and made public these frames on their resources.
Recall that at the end of March, the country's authorities reported that in a week in battles with the Russian army, 3 Polish mercenaries who fought for the Armed Forces of Ukraine were killed.
14:48 Video- The fighting in the Lisichansk direction does not subside.
Artillerymen of the 2nd Army Corps of the Russian Army from the LPR destroy the positions of the militants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during positional battles.
UAVs, as always, are indispensable when searching for targets and adjusting fire.
14:36 Video- Center of Artemovsk, Freedom Square.
“Listen, do you know that Zaluzhny entered the list of one hundred influential people in the world? And in "Time" on the cover of his photo was published ...
— Oh, there it is. We'll fix it now. There is just one cover here, let's go ... - the scout of the Wagner PMC leads us to a building with a graffiti portrait of the Ukrainian commander in chief. - Where is this Zaluzhny, where is it all? And we are standing here. That's the problem. He's a hat, in short.
14:03 Video- Pan Khokhl has another bout of bipolar disorder. For some reason, a farmer is poking at a destroyed British Husky armored car from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
13:24 My friend got into our kind hands.
12:24 Video— Field meeting of the working group of the Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation in Kolomna
12:17 Video- Storming of a building in the industrial zone of Artemovsk, during which the snipers of the Wagner group eliminated three Ukrainian shooters who interfered with the advance of the infantry.
11:54 Video- The Polish self-propelled guns "Crab" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were defeated by an accurate hit with precision-guided ammunition
11:34 Video— Kurganmash delivered a new batch of BMP-3s to the army
11:09 Chronicle of strikes and mutual artillery attack in the NVO zone during the night of April 13-14, 2023
- The RF Armed Forces carried out strikes against the targets of the Armed Forces in Galaganovka, Chernihiv region.
- In the Kharkov region, enemy positions were hit in Udy, Cossack Lopan and Gatishche.
- In the Starobelsk direction, the RF Armed Forces worked on the accumulation of manpower of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Novomlynsk, Masyutovka and Tabaevka.
- In the Bakhmut (Artemovsky) direction, Russian forces attacked the Ukrainian army's deployment points in Vasyukovka, Novomarkovo and Grigorovka.
- In the Donetsk direction, cannon and rocket artillery of the RF Armed Forces worked on targets in Maryinka, Avdeevka and Pobeda.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked housing estates in the center of Gorlovka. Residential buildings, a kindergarten and a substation were damaged.
- In the Yuzhnodonetsk direction, the RF Armed Forces struck at the enemy forces in Vugledar, Shakhtyorsky and Novoukrainka.
- At night, the RF Armed Forces launched several missile strikes on targets in Zaporozhye. Local authorities claim an attack on critical infrastructure.
- In addition, in the region, Russian aviation and artillery hit enemy concentrations in Olgovsky, Gulyaipole and Orekhovoe.
- On the southern sector of the front, the RF Armed Forces attacked the places of deployment of personnel and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Stepanovka and Antonovka.
Ukrainian formations fired over a hundred rounds at Novaya Kakhovka, Staraya Zburyevka and Sagam, killing one person.
10:44 Investigative Committee of Russia is investigating the facts of shelling inhabited points of the DPR
An 83-year-old man was injured during the artillery attack of the Kievsky district of Donetsk by Ukrainian armed forces.
Also, two women were injured as a result of rounds from the Ukrainian side in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk. In the city of Gorlovka, a kindergarten was damaged.
The investigation will establish the persons involved in the commission of these crimes.
10:23 RF Armed Forces destroyed enemy howitzers in the Kherson region
Yesterday afternoon, in the Kachkarovka area, our gunners destroyed a 152mm MSTA-B howitzer with ammunition - together with it, four APU militants were liquidated, three were wounded, emergency services reported.
At night, a 152mm 2S3 Akatsiya howitzer was destroyed in the Goncharny area and five Ukrainians were liquidated.
09:44 Kyiv regime continues terror civil infrastructure of the left bank of the Kherson region - emergency services
Yesterday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired 84 rounds from cannon artillery at the settlements: Novaya Kakhovka, Zabarino, Staraya Zburyevka, Sagi, Krynki, Aleshki, Solontsy, Peschanovka, Pokrovskoye.
At night, the artillery attack did not stop - the Ukrainians fired 46 rounds from cannon artillery at Novaya Kakhovka and Kakhovka, Gornostaevka, Tavriysk, Zabarino and Kardashinka.
09:22 Kherson direction
1. During the day, artillery fire in the area of the settlement. Kachkarovka destroyed 152mm howitzer MSTA-B with ammunition loss of four dead soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, three were injured of varying severity.
2. At night in the area of N. p. Goncharnoye destroyed a 152mm 2S3 Akatsiya howitzer with ammunition loss of five dead of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
09:12 Footage of the destruction of a Polish-made self-propelled artillery installation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Krab —video
After the discovery of a disguised firing position by self-propelled guns, unmanned aerial vehicle crews hit the self-propelled gun with precision-guided munitions. SAU Crab was destroyed by the first shot.
Accuracy control was carried out by the calculation of the UAV.
09:06 Official summary of Representative offices of the DPR in the JCCC from 00:00 04/13/2023 to 00:00 04/14/2023
Over the past day, the Representation reported 26 facts of firing by the AFU.
In the Donetsk direction, the enemy made 16 artillery attacks from 155mm and 152mm artillery.
On Gorlovsky eight artillery attacks from artillery 155mm and 122mm.
On Volnovakhskoye two artillery attacks from 155mm artillery.
Having fired 156 units of various ammunition.
Under enemy fire were areas of four settlements of the Republic: Gorlovka (Nikitovsky district), Panteleymonovka, the capital city of Donetsk (Kiev, Kuibyshevsky, Kirovsky, Petrovsky districts), Vladimirovka.
Over the past day, information was received about the death of a civilian - a woman, in the Central City district of Gorlovka.
Four civilians received injuries of varying severity in the Kuibyshevsky, Kievsky and Petrovsky districts of Donetsk.
Seven residential buildings were damaged in the Kuibyshevsky and Petrovsky districts of Donetsk, the Central City district of Gorlovka, as well as one civil infrastructure facility.
In the previous day, 18 artillery attacks were recorded from the side of the VFU.
09:05 Kherson direction
The Kiev regime continues to shell the civilian infrastructure of settlements on the left bank of the Kherson region, yesterday during the day the APU was released on the settlement.
New Kakhovka 12 cannon rounds.
At the settlement of Zabarino, 25 rounds were fired from cannon artillery.
At the settlement of Staraya Zburyevka, seven rounds were fired from cannon artillery.
n.p. Sagas fired eight rounds from cannon artillery.
Krynki fired six rounds from cannon artillery.
Alyoshki fired eight rounds from cannon artillery.
At the settlement of Solontsy, six rounds were fired from barrel artillery.
At the settlement of Peschanovka, five rounds were fired from barrel artillery.
At the settlement of Pokrovskoye, seven rounds were fired from cannon artillery. Civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure are being specified.
During the night, the Kiev regime continued to shell civilian infrastructure in the settlement. Novaya Kakhovka, settlement Kakhovka, settlement Gornostaevka, settlement Tavriysk, settlement Zabarino, settlement Kardashinka firing a total of 46 rounds from cannon artillery.
Civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure to be confirmed.
08:44 Militarysummary on the morning of April 14, 2023
PMC "Wagner" for the entire period of the fighting for Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) and Soledar destroyed 32,000 enemy, Prigozhin said. Fighting in Artyomovsk continues.
This night, in the Zaporizhia direction in Orekhovo, the Russian Armed Forces destroyed an ammunition depot with personnel. In the city of Zaporizhia - explosions in the Zavodskoy and Shevchenko districts.
In the Kherson direction in the city of Berislav, a warehouse of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was hit. In Kherson, the area of deployment of enemy equipment was covered. In the morning, artillery strikes on the enemy coast resumed.
In the Kursk region - five arrivals of enemy ammunition in the village. Krasnooktyabrsky in the Glushkovsky district.
In the LPR, under the fire of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the village. Rubizhnoye (12 HIMARS MLRS), Troitskoye (2 missiles), Svatovo (three3 M31 GMLRS missiles). In Svatovo, the boiler house of the Svatov Central District Multidisciplinary Hospital was destroyed, and the administrative buildings of the hospital were damaged.
The enemy fired 156 rounds of ammunition at the civilian population of the DPR. Near Gorlovka, Panteleymonovka, Donetsk, Vladimirovka. A woman was killed and four civilians were injured.
08:04 Frontline summary on the morning of 04/14/2023
In the Zaporozhye direction, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation fired on Stepnogorsk, Maly Shcherbakov, Novoandreevka, Orekhov, Novodanilovka, Charovnoye, Krasnoye and Olgovskoye. APU launched a missile attack on Melitopol.
Russian artillery was extremely active on the Donetsk front. With her support, units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation attacked near Novomikhailovka, Pobeda, in the western part of Maryinka and in the Severny region.
Massed strikes on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Georgievka, the city of Krasnogorovka, Karlovka, Netaylov, Pervomaisky, Thin, Avdeevka, Stepnoy, Keramika, Zhelezny and Druzhba. AFU fired at Vodiane and Donetsk.
Southwest of Bakhmut, Russian troops launched a ground attack on Predtechino. In the city itself, Wagner PMC, after heavy artillery attack and air strikes, continued assault operations in the central and southern parts. They also tried to advance to Chrome.
With the support of artillery, they attacked near Bogdanovka. APU hold the northern flank. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation fired on Novodmitrovka, Ivanovsky, Grigorovka, Novomarkovo, Orekhovo-Vasilyevka, Vasyukovka and Disputed. The Ukrainian army hit the positions of the Wagner operators in Bakhmut.
In the Lugansk direction, Russian troops, after artillery strikes, again tried to advance near Belogorovka, towards Torskoy and Nevsky. No success. In the Makiivka area, there are dense oncoming battles. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation fired at Novoselovskoye, Kondrashovka, Zapadnoye, Dvurechnaya, Novomlynsk, Krasnoe Pervoe and Topoli.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] The Ukrainian channel showed a documentary with threats to Kiselyov and Solovyov
The film "Payback" was shown on April 14 by the Ukrainian TV channel "2 + 2". In the film, the director general of the Rossiya Segodnya media group Dmitry Kiselev, the editor-in-chief of the RT television channel Margarita Simonyan and TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov are accused of torturing and killing the inhabitants of Bucha.
Threats were made against leaders and representatives of the Russian media. The stated purpose of the film is to show that they will be held accountable for alleged crimes. Any involvement of Kiselyov, Simonyan and Solovyov in what is happening in Bucha is not confirmed by any evidence, nor are numerous inconsistencies in the Ukrainian official version of events mentioned. However, the film states, "An important component is the promotion of crime."
"Incitement is sometimes worse than terrorism itself. Under instigation, I talk about propagandists of all kinds, these are their channels. All sorts of Simonyan and other propagandists are to blame," IDF officer and military analyst Yigal Levin said in the film.
Russian journalists in the film are threatened: "We will come for you, no one will be able to hide."
As REGNUM reported , in April 2022, the FSB of Russia detained neo-Nazis who were preparing the murder of journalist and TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov. Several members of the neo-Nazi terrorist organization National Socialism/White Power (an organization banned in the Russian Federation) were detained. All of them are citizens of Russia who carried out the task of the Security Service of Ukraine. After committing the murder, they planned to leave the country.
Last spring, the FSB announced the arrest of six members of the neo-Nazi terrorist organization National Socialism/White Power, citizens of Russia who, on instructions from the Security Service of Ukraine, planned the murder of VGTRK journalist Vladimir Solovyov.
As follows from the operational video footage released by the FSB, the detainees discussed the possibility of killing not only Solovyov, but also the general director of the Rossiya Segodnya MIA Dmitry Kiselev and the editor-in-chief of the Rossiya Segodnya and RT MIA Margarita Simonyan, journalists of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company Olga Skabeeva, Evgeny Popov, director Tigran Keosayan.
Kiselev, commenting on Kyiv's plans to kill Solovyov, called lies the only method of information work in Ukraine, and noted that the persecution of journalists in this country has become a routine that is not condemned by either the state or society. He recalled other cases of persecution of journalists, including murders with impunity - in particular, Oles Buzina.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] The head of the Kyiv Foreign Ministry, Kuleba, called for "turning the Black Sea into what the Baltic Sea has become - into the NATO Sea." The alliance itself is considering plans for a rapid deployment of forces to the region and is working on Turkey to revise the regime of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. But there is at least one obstacle to turning into a "NATO lake" besides, in fact, the presence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. On the other hand, at least one new threat cannot be discounted.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba made a statement that (including, according to the Kremlin) contained a logical contradiction.
"The time has come to turn the Black Sea into what the Baltic has become, into the NATO Sea," said Kiev’s foreign policy curator. At the same time, according to Kuleba's logic, the transformation of the Black Sea into a NATO-controlled military bloc should imply "demilitarization of the region." In July 2021, the same Kuleba stated that Russia is seeking to "turn the Black Sea into its own inland lake."
"There will be no NATO here. NATO has many other seas, let them swim there. And they can’t swim in the Black Sea, they can only sink," the head of the Crimean parliament Vladimir Konstantinov answered Kuleba on April 14 . He recalled that after the Russian troops liberated the coastal regions of the DPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, Ukraine lost access to the Sea of Azov, "the next stage is the loss of access to the Black Sea."
On the other hand, we note that out of the six Black Sea states, three (Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey) are members of the North Atlantic Alliance, and two - Ukraine and Georgia - are rigidly oriented towards NATO.
"Washington, after the collapse of the USSR, in the situation that arose, tried to find a way to turn the Black Sea into a NATO lake,” the Turkish edition Cumhuriyet noted a month ago , commenting on the White House statement: US aircraft will continue flying over the Black Sea, despite the incident with the American Reaper drone and the Russian Su -27.
"ALMOST NATO" SEA
The Black Sea is, of course, not a “NATO lake”, but the situation is strikingly different from the alignment of Soviet times, when only Turkey was part of NATO, the water area from Snake Island to Batumi was Soviet, and socialist Romania and Bulgaria were part of the Warsaw Pact.
After the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014, the fleets of NATO countries began to show themselves more actively in the Black Sea. Poseidon, Sea Shield and Sea Breeze maneuvers and other interaction exercises were regularly conducted.
In 2021, as part of the maneuvers, B-1B Lancer bombers of the US Air Force practiced strikes against the positions of the Black Sea Fleet, Forbes reported. At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: NATO is studying the possibilities for the rapid transfer of forces to the Black Sea region and the deployment of reinforcements there.
Before Turkey closed the Bosphorus and Dardanelles in March 2022, allied warships entered the Black Sea for the passage of warships of other countries, including the flagship of the US 6th Fleet USS Mount Whitney, the missile frigate of the French Navy D654 Auvergne, British Navy destroyer Defender. The latter, we recall, in June 2021 provocatively violated our border in the Black Sea, near the Crimean Cape Fiolent.
In March of this year, the Sea Shield 2023 maneuvers took place in Romanian territorial waters, in which 12 countries - members of the North Atlantic Alliance, several dozen ships of the Romanian and Bulgarian Navy, 14 aircraft from the USA, Turkey, Romania and France were involved.
The Alliance is also actively using the land infrastructure of its Black Sea members. Aegis Ashore anti-missile systems (which can be converted at any time to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles, including those with nuclear warheads), we recall, are deployed at the Romanian Deveselu base, which is used by the United States.
Last year, about 5,000 fighters of the US 101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles" were stationed at the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base near the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta.
In February 2022, Stoltenberg announced the deployment of a NATO battle group in Romania, the size of which should roughly correspond to similar groups in the Baltic states and Poland - about 1,000 "bayonets." We are not talking about the use of the same Romanian Constanta and the Bulgarian port of Varna for the needs of the navies of NATO countries - this has become a routine.
NATO aviation monitors Russian territory and monitors the activities of the Black Sea Fleet with the help of P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance and patrol aircraft, RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, RQ-4 Global Hawk drones and other aircraft. True, after the incident with the Reaper drone near Sevastopol, NATO is staying away from Crimea.
“What Bulgaria and Romania have on their own militarily can be ignored,” Captain First Rank of the Reserve Sergey Ishchenko told REGNUM . But, he added, Turkey's capabilities are another matter.
TURKISH DISSENTING OPINION
The country has the second largest NATO army (over 355,000 "under arms") and - which is important in this case - a fairly strong navy. The Turkish fleet has, according to open sources, 16 frigates, 9 corvettes, 18 fast attack boats and 34 landing ships. Another thing is that Turkey keeps naval forces in the Aegean Sea - to "balance" Greece, in the Mediterranean - where, among other things, it covers Northern Cyprus. So the Black Sea direction with naval bases in Sinop and Samsun is unlikely to have a special account at the fleet headquarters (sitting at the Geldzhuk base in the Sea of Marmara).
But the most important thing in relation to Turkey is the political position of its current authorities, headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, by virtue of which "the Turks will not let American ships into the Black Sea," Ishchenko believes. The oldest (since 1952) Black Sea member of the alliance is at the same time the least reliable US ally in NATO, and Ankara's relations with Washington have become especially aggravated on the eve of the presidential elections in Turkey.
“Turkey is unlikely to use its potential in the Black Sea against us, at least now and in the foreseeable future, and they will not let the Americans through,” - noteds military expert Alexander Artamonov.
Ankara strictly follows the restrictions of the Montreux Convention on the Black Sea Straits, adopted back in 1920. The document, we recall, establishes a different regime for the passage of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus for warships of the Black Sea and non-Black Sea powers (for the latter, restrictions on class and tonnage are introduced).
Despite the proposals of the allies to circumvent the provisions of the convention or completely cancel the document of confrontation with Russia, Erdogan is unlikely to benefit from the strengthening of the United States (as well as the strengthening of Russia) in the region, Ishchenko is sure.
"I think that with the current position of Turkey in the conflict and with their attitude towards the United States, they will not change the balance of power in the Black Sea. Because then, maybe, in general, it won’t seem enough to anyone if the 6th American fleet enters there - neither to us, nor to them," the military expert pointed out.
"Türkiye takes a strike-breaking position towards NATO. She, although she remains a member of the alliance, is increasingly behaving as, rather, the organizer of the “Great Turan”, Erdogan’s project," agreed Artamonov.
Another thing is that if Erdogan loses to Europe-oriented Kemal Kılıçdaroglu in the elections , Ankara will become more accommodating. But this by no means guarantees the transformation of the Black Sea into a "NATO lake", if only because of the presence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
BLACK SEA FLEET: NEW FORCES AND NEW THREATS
"In recent years, the Black Sea Fleet has been strengthened, two Project 23,900 helicopter carriers have been laid down and are under construction in Kerch, which are superior in terms of their tactical and technical characteristics to the French Mistrals that have not been acquired," Artamonov noted.
The Black Sea Fleet received new submarines with modern Lada-class missiles (the next generation after the Varshavyanka submarine, which replenished the fleet about ten years ago), the military expert added. The basis of the Black Sea Fleet are ships that were put into service in the 2010s: the new multi-purpose frigates of project 11 356 "Admiral Grigorovich" (2016), "Admiral Essen" (2016), "Admiral Makarov" (2017).
The loss of the Moskva missile cruiser did not affect the fulfillment of the overall strategic task of the Black Sea Fleet in the NVO - the blockade of the Ukrainian segment of the Black Sea coast, Artamonov believes.
"Everything in the Black Sea is in the shooting zone of Russian coastal batteries, in particular, mobile anti-ship systems “Bal,” so it makes no sense to talk about the possibility of setting up a blockade against Russia," the expert pointed out. The bases of the Black Sea Fleet are covered by: coastal complexes "Bastion" and "Bereg", air defense units with complexes S-400 and S-300, "Buk" and "Shell", silo-based coastal missile system "Utyos" - "ship killer", in the words American National Interest .
But this does not mean complete protection from threats, Ishchenko believes.
"Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine are working towards organizing an attack by drones on all the main bases of the Black Sea Fleet, including in Sevastopol,” the source said, according to whom the previous attacks on Crimea were reconnaissance in combat. “As part of the Ukrainian Navy, several units are being formed to control surface drones, similar to those that twice participated in the attack on Sevastopol," Ishchenko believes.
It is necessary to revise the security of the bases, the interlocutor is sure. At the same time, Ishchenko notes that measures are already being taken to protect against possible attacks by surface drones. “I recently observed that in addition to the boom, which was put up at the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay, another row of booms was put up at the entrance to the South Bay, and submarine parking lots were surrounded by separate booms. That is, at least three barrier lines have been created, ” Ishchenko noted.
THE BALTIC IS AN UNFORTUNATE EXAMPLE OF NATO CONTROL
Let us add in conclusion: Kuleba's comparison of the Black Sea with the Baltic, which supposedly has already become the "NATO Sea", also looks strange. Possibly, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry had in mind the entry of Finland into NATO and the possible accession of Sweden. But Kuleba for some reason ignored the presence of the Russian Baltic Fleet (both in Kronstadt and the ports of the Gulf of Finland, and in the Kaliningrad region - in Baltiysk and, in fact, in Kaliningrad). As well as the fact that the Baltic, unlike the Black Sea, is not so easy to "plug".
“The Kaliningrad region is still not in the far part of the Baltic Sea, but in close proximity to the maritime possessions of Poland, Denmark and Sweden. And we have a sufficient number of ships assigned to Kaliningrad, ” Artamonov recalled.
In the event that the NATO countries try to aggravate the situation, the Kaliningrad region, Russia's outpost in the region, will be reliably covered by the Russian Iskander-M operational-tactical complexes. Bastion supersonic systems are deployed in the Baltic, covering the forces of the Baltic Fleet - corvettes, small missile and anti-submarine ships. From the air, the region is protected by MiG-31I fighters (carriers of hypersonic "Daggers") and Su-30SM.
The new military equipment of the Baltic Fleet, such as small missile ships of project 22,800 Karakurt and 21,631 Buyan-M, carries high-precision and long-range Caliber. The Russian leadership understands the situation that has developed after the entry of the countries of the region into NATO, therefore, more attention will be paid to increasing the capabilities of the Baltic Fleet in order to protect national interests in the Baltic.
Commentary supposedly is by Wagner founder and CEO Eveginiy Prigozhin.
[Telegra.ph] PMC "Wagner" continues to grind the Ukrainian army on Bakhmut. Zelensky sends more and more units into this meat grinder, into a destructive funnel that sucks in the best units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and mercenaries. Why is Zelensky so rested on Bakhmut? Why, starting from December 20, when I challenged him with a comical challenge from the artillery guns of the Wagner PMC, did Zelensky behave like a boy and run into Bakhmut? And our intimate dialogue with him has been going on for four months. We both enjoy, but the orgasm never came. WHAT IS THE SECRET OF THE BAKHMUT MEAT GRINDER?
The strategic role of Bakhmut is not so great. Bakhmut is followed by Seversk, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka, Druzhkovka and Chasov Yar: settlements that are part of the so-called "Donbas ring" and form a fortified area. On the one hand, Bakhmut is part of this fortified area, on the other hand, the capture of Bakhmut itself will not ensure a short-term victory over Ukraine, the road to the Dnieper, or even the capture of Donbass.
The top leadership of Ukraine endlessly argues about the need to keep Bakhmut. They are trying to shake this city as a sacred symbol. In the morning, sacredness is shaken, in the evening they decide to retreat, and the next morning thousands of soldiers are again thrown in, and so on ad infinitum.
The Ukrainian army has gathered a sufficient number of forces. About 200,000 already sufficiently trained fighters, who have undergone two to three months of training and coordination, are ready to perform combat missions. The amount of weapons and ammunition is quite enough for these 200,000 to go on the offensive in various directions.
The troops ready for the counteroffensive are in the areas of concentration - they have enough of everything. In those tank wedges that they try to drive into the defense of Wagner PMC every day, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lose from 30 to 50 pieces of equipment every day, and they don't experience problems with it. And for people they have, as they say at the front, unlimited.
However, announced, first on December 20, then on January 1, then on the end of January, then on February 24, then on April 3-5, and now on April 15 - the offensive is postponed every time. The army of Ukraine is in the areas of concentration, they beat with a hoof and prepare to move forward. But, as they say, "a donkey that has stood in the shade will not work in the sun." If the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not go on the offensive in the near future, they will gradually begin to lose their combat potential. The war will reach a stalemate, and those territories that are now under the control of the Russian Federation may remain at the disposal of the Russian Federation for years.
POLITICAL ASPECTS OF BAKHMUT
Politically, Bakhmut is of little interest to the Kyiv regime, it is more of a destabilizing factor than a factor of holding its positions. Every cry on Bakhmut, every captured soldier, every hundred killed hit hard on Zelensky and the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine much harder than the benefits they get from holding the remnants of this city.
At the same time, the long battle for Bakhmut is extremely beneficial for Russian troops, because they have already squeezed a large piece of Ukrainian territory in 2022. If the special operation remains within these boundaries, plus or minus a couple of tens of kilometers, then this will solve many tasks of the NWO. Bakhmut makes it possible for the Russian army to build up strength, take advantageous lines of defense, deal with internal problems, prepare the mobilized and fully armed to meet any number of counter-attacking airmen.
Bakhmut is extremely beneficial for us, we grind the Ukrainian army there and restrain their maneuvers.
Any mid-level commander knows that if you have created tension for the enemy in some place and have enough reserves, then you need to make a maneuver and strike nearby - where the enemy is not ready and where he will break. The most logical step of the Armed Forces of Ukraine would be a rebound from Bakhmut and sharp flank attacks to try to break through our defenses. However, columns of equipment come and go from Chasov Yar every day, and every day, before reaching the front line, hundreds of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine die, littering the "road of death" and the surrounding fields with thousands of corpses and hundreds of burnt armored vehicles, going to the slaughter.
DRAMATIC PAUSE
As you know, the military operation on the part of Ukraine is tactically controlled by the Ukrainian military, and strategically by the so-called Western coalition led by England and the United States.
In early April, there was a leak of documents from the Pentagon. The documents themselves do not pose any strategic danger. They collected everything in a row from the world on a thread - most of it from open sources. However, the leak was widely publicized and immediately after it, active statements from sources close to the Pentagon began about the need to slow down the offensive announced on April 15 until the summer period.
Why the army, ready for the offensive, was again delayed at its borders and why the “last Nanai warning” on April 15, the deadline for the Ukrainian offensive again postponed to the summer? after all, it would be much more painful for Russia to start an offensive by Ukraine with inevitable reputational losses before May 9, in the event of at least some minimal success of a few meters in the nominal direction. And why does the Ukrainian army again “give a head start”? It is the Western coalition that takes “dramatic pauses”, it is this group that every time endures the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Perhaps 21-year-old Jack Teixeira leaked documents foolishly, perhaps he was used "in the dark", but if this leak had not happened, it would certainly have been invented the next day. I emphasize that the documents themselves are not strategic and do not pose any threat to the Armed Forces of Ukraine after their publication. This means that they cannot in any way add risks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the event of their occurrence.
There are a huge number of conspiracy theories about the events of the 90s, and then 2014 - the Maidan in Ukraine and the transfer of Crimea under the control of the Russian Federation. There are a huge number of different prophecies that tell about the meanings of these events. One thing is absolutely clear - the United States and the Anglo-Saxon group for a long time hatched a plan for the collapse of the USSR, as the main geopolitical competitor. In the late 80s and early 90s, they managed to overlay the ruling elite of the USSR with a huge number of agents of influence, give new meanings that changed the ideology of the existence of this ruling elite, put the population on a consumer needle and destroy the USSR. The collapse of the USSR was the most painful, the most difficult collapse of empires over the past hundreds of years,
The fragmentation of African states, the collapse of the former Warsaw Pact countries. The smaller the country, the easier it is to manage, the more financially dependent it is, the more obedient it is.
The basis of modern US policy is financial neo-colonialism. This is when even the richest countries in mineral resources do not process the wealth of their mineral resources, but are fully integrated into the production and financial flows offered by "Western partners" - becoming American satellites, subcontractors and puppets. Therefore, the final task of the United States in the Ukrainian confrontation is to launch powerful centrifugal impulses in Russia, weaken the power and national identity in society and force it to turn towards the West, as it was in the early 1990s. At the same time, of course, in order to exercise control over the political situation in the country, it is first and foremost to gain control over financial instruments within the system, over production capacities and over subsoil.
Today, when the special operation began, and the Russian Federation was not able to achieve the results that society expected, the United States has the opportunity to return to its original plan. The original plan, I repeat once again, was as follows: to destroy the Soviet Union, and then walk along the perimeter of the country and turn its former allies away from Russia. For 30 years, with many former republics, this has almost been achieved. We lost first full control, and then good neighborly relations.
"DEEP STATE"
The collapse of Russia by military means cannot happen. Forests, swamps, vast territories, climatic specifics reliably protect the country's territory, making it a huge fortified area. Always in history, the enemy who reached Moscow, as a result shamefully fled, turning the "road of victory" into a "road of death" on the way back.
Why are the Anglo-Saxons holding Zelensky back, arranging internal conflicts and slowing down the offensive? Just in order to break the main jackpot - the collapse of Russia into many principalities. The US does not need a quick war. They need a war that will lead to the deep state's persuasion and victory.
The Deep State is a community of near-state elites that operate independently of the political leadership of the state and have close ties and their own agenda. These elites work for different masters: some for the existing government, some for those who have been on the run for a long time, but, thanks to their connections, after the flight of the elder, they remain in their places.
A typical example of the "deep state" is the spitting of Khodorkovsky, Dvorkovich and so on. Dvorkovich, who fled abroad, whom I mentioned many times, left behind a whole tail of scum who were under him and above him, and who are elements of this "deep state".
The Deep State leaks information endlessly and is ready to side with any ally or enemy for its own interests. The Deep State is easy to approach because it is a sponge within a country that is red on one side, black on the other, white on the third, and green on the fourth. And from each side, having a connection with a part of the "deep state", you can get into its center. The Russian deep state is currently in a serious crisis.
Many of those who supported the special operation yesterday are now in doubt, or categorically against what is happening. The representatives of the deep state want to urgently return to their normal lives, old habits and comfort. The "Deep State" is cunning and dodgy, the conversation of Joseph Prigogine is a vivid example of this. They are ready to mimic anyone. This is our inner, affectionate, cunning, bloodthirsty chameleon.
At meetings they are silent, express their doubts. And when making decisions on bureaucratic procedures, certain actions aimed at winning this war are hindered. Since the bureaucracy in Russia today is at a transcendent level, within the framework of the "legitimate bureaucracy" it is possible to destroy any decisions of the top leadership aiming at winning. These are internal enemies. In the theory of Alexander Dmitrievich Beglov, this is called a "bureaucratic sieve" - a sieve that you can get into, but impossible to get out of.
SUPER GAME
For the authorities and for society as a whole, today it is necessary to put some fat point in the NWO. The ideal option is to announce the end of the NWO, to inform everyone that Russia has achieved the results that it planned, and in a sense we have actually achieved them. We have ground a huge number of fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and we can report to ourselves that the tasks of the NMD have been completed.
Theoretically, Russia has already received this fat point by destroying a large part of the active male population of Ukraine, by intimidating another part of it, which fled to Europe. Russia cut off the Sea of Azov and a large piece of the Black Sea, seized a fat piece of Ukrainian territory and created a land corridor to the Crimea. Now there is only one thing left: to firmly gain a foothold, to claw in those territories that already exist. But there is a slyness - if earlier Ukraine was a part of the former Russia, now it is an absolutely national-oriented state.
If before February 24, 2022, the European Union was greedy to give Ukraine tens of millions of dollars, now tens of billions are being turned off for the war. Of course, some of these funds please the pockets of the ruling elite of Ukraine, which benefits from the conflict. Many of those who were forgotten yesterday have received a new chance for self-realization and enrichment today.
UKRAINE NEEDS A VICTORY, THE US NEEDS A PROCESS
Although the Ukrainian leadership is getting rich, but due to the large losses of the population at the front and the general fatigue from the war, the political leadership needs a victory. For Russia, there is always the risk that after the start of the counteroffensive, the situation at the front may worsen.
Preserving the existing borders on February 24, 2023 is an exchange that the United States can offer the Russian leadership today as a negotiating position. For this, a "dramatic pause" is needed. If the government refuses, then the Armed Forces of Ukraine will go on the offensive. In this situation, there may be various options for the development of events. One of them is that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will run into the defense of the Russian Federation, suffer serious losses, after which a colossal counteroffensive of the Russian troops will begin to the borders of the DPR, or to the Dnieper, or even to Poland.
But, given today's dynamics and problems, such as a counteroffensive, to put it mildly, not very likely. The second option is that the Ukrainian army will launch a counteroffensive and somewhere will be able to break through the defenses.
In this case, in the army, which for years considered itself one of the best armies in the world, decadent moods may begin at first, and then the situation degrades, as it already happened after the defeatist wars of the early twentieth century - Finnish , Japanese - and the tragic events of 1917.
This can lead to global changes in Russian society. The people are already looking for someone to blame for the fact that we are not the strongest army in the world, and in this situation they will look for "extreme". And these "extremes" will, of course, be representatives of the "deep state". That is, those people who today, without putting any effort into a military operation, are as far away from the theater of operations as possible, trying not to lose their capital, to live a familiar life, and this is absolutely unacceptable for a people tired of the war and losing the taste of victory.
Patriots' craving for justice can be hard on that very deep state, mired in luxury and bureaucracy.
At the same time, nothing threatens the supreme power of Russia, since it is a symbol of national unity and resistance to the West, and this is the basis of today's existence and the main explanation for any problems for patriotic forces inside Russia.
The Deep State will push the supreme power to make serious concessions. And, according to the existing tradition of the "deep state", with any changes, try to improve their position by any means, including by betraying the interests of Russia. Their task is not a country or a people, their task is their own position in society, their own comfort and their own capital.
GET TO THE BOTTOM
If you fall down, if the load of problems does not improve your situation, but pulls you to the bottom, then there is an expression: "Go to the bottom, then push off and rise up again." This is what Americans are afraid of. They are afraid that excessive pressure on Russia and an increase in internal problems may pull her to the bottom. And if Russia reaches the bottom, pushes away from it, throwing off the burden of the "deep state", then it will float up like a huge sea monster, demolishing everything in its path, including the plans of the United States.
And there are many examples of this in world history. China in the middle of the 20th century, being one of the poorest countries in the world, under partial occupation, Germany after the First World War, Japan after the Second World War, Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. They are all surfaced, pushing off the bottom.
Radical national feelings will rise as after any military defeat, the Russian military industry will begin to work with a tenfold effort. Economic efficiency will crowd out sluggish, inefficient public capital. The state will get rid of bureaucracy, processes will become transparent, and Russia will step by step turn into a Bristling Military Monster, which the international community will have to more than reckon with, to bend so that with every deflection we see their parted buttocks .
And if we do not prove that we are strong militarily, no one will reckon with us and will turn us around as they please. America is extremely unprofitable for Russia to reach the bottom and surface. They need a slow process where they negotiate with the elites, with the "deep state", and then convince the country's top political leadership to make new concessions step by step.
In the event that soft agreements take place, then, according to the American principle of gradual humiliation, the Friedmans and Chubais will first be returned to Russia, then the Khodorkovskys and Dvorkoviches. Then the liberalization of the elites will gradually take place, and the “deep state” will accept them out of a sense of self-preservation, transform and turn from black or red to blue or pink.
Of course, such a development of events is unfavorable for Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky, they need to resist and fight. But if these processes happen quickly enough, within a year or two, then the liberalized, Americanized, Western-facing "deep state" will force the Russian authorities to make concessions and, under various pretexts, return to Ukraine those territories that are now under our control, and which the West considers occupied.
These processes with the question “Why did we fight then?” will certainly launch the mechanism of centrifugal forces in the regions. And the Americans will get their way. In this situation, the main plan of the United States will be implemented with, at first glance, a beautiful looking, "soft, calm agreement."
Russia cannot accept any agreement, only a fair fight. And if we come out of this battle battered, there is nothing to worry about. The fortified regions of Russia make it impossible to penetrate into its depths. And the Russian people have never broken down and will never break down. Therefore - Only Fair Fight! And the sooner it starts, the better.
I summarize. The Ukrainians are ready to attack. We are ready to repel the blow. The best scenario for healing Russia so that it rallies together and becomes the Strongest State is the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in which no handouts and negotiations will be possible.
And either the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be defeated in a fair fight, or Russia will lick its wounds, build up muscles and tear its rivals again in a fair fight. Therefore, I believe that the option of agreements is impossible for the future of Russia.
#1
Prigozhin says "No mas." Wagner has gone from occupying 90km of front lines to less than 5km now in Bakhmut. Even with that shrinkage, they need help from Russian regular forces. In another month, nothing will be left.
[Reuters] Ukrainian troops have been forced to withdraw from some territory in the battlefield city of Bakhmut as Russia mounts a renewed assault there with intense artillery fire over the past two days, Britain said in an intelligence update on Friday.
"Russia has re-energised its assault on the Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut as forces of the Russian MoD and Wagner Group have improved co-operation," it said, referring to Russia's defence ministry and its main mercenary force.
"Ukrainian forces face significant resupply issues but have made orderly withdrawals from the positions they have been forced to concede," Britain's military said in a daily intelligence update.
Wagner has taken the lead on the Russian side in the months-long battle, deadliest of the war for troops on both sides, but the mercenary group's leader had complained of poor support for his forces from the regular military.
"The Ukrainian defence still holds the western districts of the town but has been subjected to particularly intense Russian artillery fire over the previous 48 hours," the British update said.
It said Wagner units were now focusing on advancing in the centre of Bakhmut, while Russian paratroopers were relieving them in attacks on the city's flanks.
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Sholugum4538 ||
04/15/2023 00:00 ||
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[WaPo] The war in Ukraine has gutted Russia’s clandestine spetsnaz forces, and it will take Moscow years to rebuild them, according to classified U.S. assessments obtained by The Washington Post.
The finding, which has not been previously reported, is among a cache of sensitive materials leaked online through the messaging platform Discord. U.S. officials attributed their assessments to Russian commanders’ overreliance on the specialized units, which have been put to use as part of front-line infantry formations. Those formations, like the Ukrainians, have suffered massive numbers of dead and wounded.
The hollowing of these units appears to be evident in satellite imagery featured among the leaked materials. Before-and-after photos — showing a base used by the 22nd Separate Spetsnaz Brigade in southern Russia, according to the document — reveal that "all but one of five Russian Separate Spetsnaz Brigades that returned from combat operations in Ukraine in late summer 2022 suffered significant losses."
The slide includes two overhead images, one taken in November 2021, months before the invasion began, and another captured a year later. The former shows a bustling motor pool teeming with vehicles; the latter reveals what U.S. officials concluded is a state of extreme depletion months after the brigade’s return home with fewer than half of the Tigr tactical vehicles it had before the deployment. The 22nd and two other spetsnaz brigades suffered an estimated 90 to 95 percent attrition rate, the assessments say.
Posted by: Helmuth, Speaking for Sholugum4538 ||
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#1
"Lies! All lies! I talk to people..."
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2023 7:45 Comments ||
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] Western publications assure that the upcoming elections will be "the most difficult test for Erdogan in the last 20 years." In doing so, they refer to the results of surveys conducted by various centers. Their accuracy depends on methods, coverage and other parameters. Because of this, there is a discrepancy in the results
Exactly one month later, on May 14, presidential and parliamentary elections are to be held in Turkey. They are held ahead of time. Initially, the elections were scheduled for June 18, and there is a lot of historical symbolism in their transfer.
"THE MAIN FEATURE OF THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN"
On May 14, 1950, the first free multi-party elections in the country were won by the "Democratic Party" by a wide margin and the 27-year-old monopoly of the Kemalist Republican People's Party was ended. The government was led by Adnan Menderes . His premiership was marked not only by a significant recovery of the country's economy, but also by the strengthening of authoritarian tendencies, nationalist rhetoric and the growing influence of Islam.
As a result of the 27 May 1960 coup organized by Cemal Gürsel, Menderes was removed from his post, arrested, found guilty of high treason and corruption, violating the Constitution, sentenced to death and hanged. Together with him, Foreign Minister Fatin Rüstiu Zorlu and Finance Minister Hassan Polatkan were executed . The day of their execution in Turkey is called the "Day of Shame" and "Black Day."
The current President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, believes that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) headed by him is the successor of the ideas of Menderes' Democratic Party, and declares that voters today, after 73 years, “ must once again say to the opposition coalition - enough!." Erdogan also alludes to the failed coup on July 16, 2016.
As the British magazine The Economist writes,
"This is due to the fact that in the West they began to transfer the fate of Menderes to Erdogan," pointing to the "fragility of Turkish democracy ”, the president’s desire to “ rewrite history for himself, turning it into a political weapon to achieve certain goals in domestic and foreign policy."
At the same time, it is emphasized that “ the execution of Menderes created a precedent: over the next four decades, the armed forces overthrew three more governments, and this process in Turkey has not yet been completed - if a civil coup does not succeed now, then an armed coup is possible."
It is no coincidence that the Turkish newspaper Milli Gazete compares Erdogan with Menderes, who " made an attempt to turn the country's foreign policy away from the West and was removed from his post ."
Of course, historical parallels are always arbitrary.
But Erdogan conducts them in order to evoke the necessary historical associations among the citizens of the country before the elections, which, according to many Turkish experts, is “the main feature of the current election campaign, which is being built by the ruling coalition according to the rules of political engineering.”
THE ALIGNMENT OF POLITICAL FORCES
On April 11, the Turkish High Electoral Commission considered the issue of compliance with the legislation of candidates' applications for participation in the parliamentary elections. Pre-election lists have been formed. Electorally, the country today is quite fragmented, so politicians are forced to form alliances in an attempt to consolidate the votes of voters on their platform as much as possible.
The main struggle, according to many experts, will unfold between the opposition Millet ittifakı (“National Alliance” or “People's Alliance”), otherwise known as the “Table of Six”, according to the number of parties included in it, and the pro-presidential coalition led by the ruling Justice and Development Party. Accordingly, in the presidential elections, the two main candidates between whom the main struggle is unfolding are Erdogan and the leader of the "Table of Six", the head of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
In addition to them, Muharrem Ince and Sinan Ogan were admitted to the elections. They have no chance of winning, but how many votes they draw for themselves will determine whether one of the race leaders will be able to score more than 50% (and, therefore, win in the first round).
Muharrem Ince was a CHP nominee in the 2018 presidential election, and then left the party and created his own political force - Memleket ("Motherland").
As for Ogan, a candidate for the so-called "Father's Coalition" (Ata Alliance), which includes five right-wing parties, he was previously a member of the Nationalist Movement Party, which is now part of the ruling coalition. He is fluent in Russian, defended his doctoral dissertation at MGIMO and studied Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus at the Turkish ASAM center.
Experts believe that those who refused to nominate their candidate, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the two leftist forces that joined it, may have a greater influence on the outcome of the elections. In the 2014 and 2018 elections, they nominated Selyakhattin Demirtas for president , and in 2018 the politician was already in pre-trial detention and campaigned from a prison cell. Right now Demirtas cannot participate, but about 10% of HDP supporters are very likely to vote for Kılıçdaroğlu. That's not a lot.
In Turkey, there is an opinion that the opposition does not so much want to take power as it seeks to continue to "oppose" the current leadership. Indirectly, this is also evidenced by the diversity of the opposition: nationalists, Islamists, supporters of European aspirations, pro-Westernists, Kemalists, Pan-Turkists, anti-Westernists, and so on, find themselves together.
Against this background, the “Erdogan coalition” looks like a more cohesive force.
Western publications assure that the upcoming elections will be "the most difficult test for Erdogan in the last 20 years." In doing so, they refer to the results of surveys conducted by various centers. Their accuracy depends on methodologies, coverage and other parameters. Because of this, there is a discrepancy in the results: there is an impression of a possible victory in the elections either by the opposition alliance or by the ruling coalition led by Erdogan.
Therefore, one can speak about the general trend of political preferences of Turkish voters only conditionally.
All sociological services, even openly sympathizing with one of the candidates, agree that there are many undecided voters. The Turkish electorate is emotional, and a lot will depend on the real steps taken by both the opposition and Erdogan's team at the finish line before the elections.
SOFTWARE BATTLE
Erdogan said the May 14 elections will be "a turning point in the history of the country" as the program he proposed will be vital to the implementation of the "Turkey Centenary" strategy. The main idea is to make Turkey one of the world leaders in political and economic terms.
So the president initially raises the political bar for the elections, linking them to the high international rating of the country and imposing discussions on the opposition in this direction.
Now the voice of Turkey in the international arena has become louder. It issues ultimatums to major powers, conducts military operations and, based on national interests, does not join Western sanctions against Russia. For an ordinary Turk, seeing such manifestations of the strength of his homeland is an effective enough emotional argument to be proud of, including the incumbent president.
The opposition does not demonstrate such geopolitical ambitions, stating that “ Erdogan is only conducting a dangerous geopolitical experiment on all platforms at once: in the Eastern Mediterranean, in Syria, Iraq, Libya and the Caucasus, without having the appropriate economic resources for this”, and “ exit out of the situation, including in solving acute socio-economic problems, only in returning to the West.
At the same time, the opposition considers the presidential system introduced after the 2017 referendum to be the root of all troubles, and raises the question of returning to the format of a parliamentary republic.
In order to bring down Erdogan's game on traditional values and geopolitical symbolism, the opponents of the incumbent president are trying to turn the discussion into an economic plane, pointing to high inflation and a drop in the living standards of citizens.
Erdogan is accused of "showing a weak response to the devastating February earthquakes that killed more than 48,000 people," that he "did not prepare the country enough for the cataclysm," although seismic Turkey is not the first to face such natural disasters.
But Erdogan, without entering into disputes with the opposition, did something that had never happened before: he publicly repented. He asked for a year to restore the housing stock, and the foundations have already begun in the provinces (promises to build 319,000 houses). At the same time, the president unequivocally hinted that the opposition, in case of victory, would not be able to deal effectively with this.
However, the Turkish leader does not have to worry much about this: the affected regions - with rare exceptions - traditionally support the president or the Nationalist Movement Party allied to him.
Ankara spent a record 1.4% of its budget on social assistance in 2022, including energy subsidies, a doubling of the minimum wage and a pension reform that allowed more than 2 million residents to retire immediately.
According to Erdogan, "the May 14 elections will also be Turkey's message to the West ." According to him, " we are now busy with our own affairs, in the defense industry, our level of self-sufficiency has reached 80%, and this is a success, a turning point."
In recent years, Erdogan's policy has been aimed at emphasizing Turkey's "special role" as a mediator between West and East, pushing its own agenda in the Middle East.
Surrounded by Kılıçdaroglu, they claim that if they win the elections, the opposition will "strive for equal relations with Moscow, but will remind it of Turkey's membership in NATO." Therefore, it is possible that the coming to power of the opposition will change the course of the state in the opposite direction.
Such thoughts are prompted by the statements of Foreign Policy Adviser Kılıçdaroğlu, Unal Cevikez , who claims that if the People's Coalition wins, Ankara can unfreeze the negotiations on the country's accession to the European Union, which were interrupted many years ago.
DEVELOPMENT OF EVENTS
It seems that the determining factor in the elections will be the leadership qualities of both Erdogan, his ability to hold the reins of power and control the situation, as well as the leaders of the opposition.
Personal positioning of candidates is very important.
Erdogan has accumulated vast political experience, he knows how to turn negative things to his advantage. He also makes good use of the current political chaos in the West due to the Ukrainian crisis, realizing, as the London edition of the Financial Times writes, that he is still "walking a fine line."
As for Kılıçdaroğlu, his position is not as strong as he would like, because he was not nominated as a candidate the first time, and a number of important opposition parties were not attracted to the coalition. In this regard, the opposition so far acts only as a political extra, a few steps late in its actions. It has no clear solutions to key economic and political issues, it ignores existing geopolitical realities and has no vision of Turkey's future.
But the election battle is only getting hotter, and lots of wild cards could be thrown onto the stage. New intrigues are also expected.
So, a third party joined the ruling coalition, the conservative renewed "Prosperity", which is able to play a role in the alignment of political forces.
The situation remains unstable, many things will be decided literally in the last days before the vote. Many factors will influence the results: the development of the plot with earthquakes, and new foreign policy maneuvers in relation to Iran and Syria, and the economic situation. So, a month before the elections, their results are still difficult to predict.
April 14, 2023
Stanislav Tarasov
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04/15/2023 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The suspect was relatively easy to find.
In a social media world that produces traceable digital fingerprints, it didn't take long for federal authorities and journalists adept at sifting through data to land on the name of Jack Teixeira.
Teixeira, 21, who served in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested Thursday in connection with the far-reaching leak of classified documents that have shaken capitals from Washington to Kyiv to Seoul with revelations of U.S. spying on allies and foes alike and the disclosure of sensitive military intelligence about the war in Ukraine.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2023 01:55 ||
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#1
"I prayed, and I prayed....."
No wonder he was so quickly captured. He refused to pray to the Government.
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