WW3? Ukraine/US vs. Donbass/Russia

[Bill Ryan]

Here's a speculative future Ukraine map posted by Alex Christoforou (from The Duran, but on his own channel) in a video update yesterday. I'd suggest it's likely to be pretty accurate.

Russia definitely wants to take Odessa, but is not interested in Kiev (Kyiv) and the west of the country where Russians and Russian culture aren't so well liked. But I'd guess they may well progress into Lviv simply to topple the Bandera statue, which would be very symbolic of the denazification goal. But then they'd withdraw again, leaving the EU to pick up the pieces of what remained of Ukraine, at a huge cost of hundreds of billions of euros per year.

[Bill Ryan]

Here's a detailed and exhaustive presentation by Sputnik News (an excellent site, much better than RT), that may need a VPN to view. I can see it all fine in South America.

It may be well worth it for those who can gain access. It contains 33 articles which (unfortunately!) are way too much to copy here.

• https://sputniknews.com/donbass-genocide-2014-2022

Donbass. Genocide. 2014-2022

This special project was launched to shed light on what has happened in Donbass over the past eight years, with the aim to show not only episodes of crimes by the Kiev regime against the civilian population, but also to explore the roots of the disaster occurring in the region.

[Bill Ryan]

And, light relief here: (clearly referring to Victoria Nuland, and whatever the heck is in the biolabs, and/or deep under the Azovstal steelworks)

[Bill Ryan]

This short video shows what modern high-tech remote targeting can do, the missiles presumably launched hundreds of kilometers away. (Don't miss the second one, which impacts precisely where the first one did.) You should be able to view this without having a Telegram account. The caption reads:

A perfect double arrival of Kalibr missiles at a large logistics center in Lviv, where Western weapons were brought. April 18, 2022.

• https://t.me/anna_news/29509

[Ravenlocke]

About the Canadian officer is it Rumor.....??


https://twitter.com/Cyberspec1/statu...88990364778502

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/pueblopatriota/s...00972824174593

https://twitter.com/RavenMurmur/stat...93344110751745

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/davidpugliese/st...50685103841280

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...now-in-ukraine

Retired Canadian lieutenant-general under police investigation for alleged sexual misconduct is now in Ukraine


A retired Canadian Forces lieutenant-general under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct is now in Ukraine.

Trevor Cadieu left the Canadian military on April 5, according to the Department of National Defence. He travelled to Ukraine shortly after with the intention to volunteer for that country’s military which is battling a Russian invasion, multiple defence sources confirmed to this newspaper.

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service which is investigating Cadieu originally had difficulty contacting the retired lieutenant-general but has since established communication with him.

Senior Canadian military leaders were briefed about Cadieu’s decision to travel to Ukraine, according to sources.

Cadieu did not respond to requests for comment from this newspaper.

But Cadieu’s alleged victim said she cannot believe that an individual under police investigation was allowed to leave the country. “I find it shocking,” the woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said in an interview with this newspaper Thursday. “What is going on here?”

She alleged the Canadian Forces hid Cadieu’s retirement from the public. That retirement was only revealed by CBC on Wednesday.

Cadieu has strenuously denied any wrongdoing. The investigation into Cadieu centres around his and another officer’s alleged actions at the Royal Military College in 1994.

Cadieu, in a statement to the CBC, portrayed his decision to retire from the Canadian military as being for the best. “I have opted to release (from the Canadian military) and am exploring other opportunities to contribute to the greater good,” he noted.

DND spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said Cadieu’s release from the military followed proper procedures. “As he is now a private citizen, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further on his personal plans,” he added.

The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service released a statement noting that “ member’s release has no bearing on investigative work, nor does their personal travel. As the investigation is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.”

Cadieu was to have taken over command of the Canadian army last September but that was derailed after military police began an investigation into what they termed “historical allegations.”

Cadieu is a popular army officer and the police investigation into his actions has prompted social media comments of support for him.

In contrast, his alleged victim has faced comments posted online about her mental state and her alleged motives. Similar comments have been made during official meetings at the Department of National Defence headquarters, this newspaper has confirmed through multiple defence

The woman said she is still trying to deal with the “institutional betrayal” she has faced from the Canadian Forces and DND. She pointed out that DND and the military originally distributed Cadieu’s statement to national news outlets in which he denied any wrongdoing. She took that as the military and DND leadership officially indicating their support for the lieutenant-general despite an ongoing investigation.

Foreign volunteers have flocked to Ukraine to help that country battle invading Russian forces. Ukraine has limited its acceptance of personnel to those with military experience.

Cadieu deployed to Bosnia in 1997 as well as Afghanistan in 2002 and 2006-2007.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has warned that any Canadian fighting for Russia will face severe consequences.


But the Liberal government has allowed Ukraine to actively recruit retired military personnel in Canada. Defence Minister Anita Anand has said the Liberal government views it as a personal choice if a Canadian wants to fight for Ukraine. But she has noted the situation in Ukraine is extremely dangerous. “It is certainly their own individual decision as to whether they wish to do so,” said Anand. “My responsibility, our responsibility as the Canadian government, is to make sure everyone knows that the situation in Ukraine is extremely dangerous, extremely concerning and that’s the information we are providing.”

Russia has labelled such volunteers as mercenaries. It has captured a number of foreign soldiers but it is unclear what will become of those individuals.


In a July 11, 2021 email to his alleged victim, Cadieu acknowledged the harm he had caused her. Cadieu wrote that Chief of the Defence Staff Wayne Eyre had been informed by other officers about the victim’s allegations. “The CDS can’t ignore what he’s been told,” Cadieu wrote to the woman, a former Canadian Forces member. “Naturally, as painful as it is to write this, the CDS needs to makes (sic) decisions about my ability to continue to serve.”

Cadieu asked the woman if she would be willing to meet him in what he called a “facilitated engagement.”

“I’m not looking to challenge your claim,” Cadieu wrote to the woman. “It would allow me to acknowledge what you’ve endured and any harm I’ve caused in your life.”

In a previous interview with this newspaper, the alleged victim said she had been trying to move on with her life and originally had no intention to go to military

But when the alleged victim received the unsolicited messages from Cadieu and from another officer questioning what she intended to do about the allegations, she said she felt bullied and decided to contact an official in Eyre’s office. According to the alleged victim, that was done July 14, in a phone call that lasted several hours involving an official in Eyre’s office. The woman said her intention at that time was not to file a formal complaint against Cadieu but to raise her concerns about the officer since he was being considered as the new army commander.

The alleged victim later learned that Eyre was proceeding anyway to install Cadieu as the new head of the army. As a result, the woman went to the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service on Sept. 4, 2021 to provide a statement and file a complaint against Cadieu.

Story continues below

The Canadian Forces and DND insist that Eyre was never informed of any issues about Cadieu until his meeting with military police in September. Once he was told of the allegations on Sept. 5, then Eyre acted immediately, according to the DND.

Last year, this newspaper asked Cadieu to comment on his July 11 message to the alleged victim in which he informed her the chief of the defence chief had been told of the allegations. In addition, Cadieu was asked to comment on his message to the alleged victim that he had no intention of challenging her claim.

Cadieu responded to this newspaper that, “the information in your email to me contains inaccuracies and, to the best of my knowledge, is unrelated to the allegation that the NIS is investigating, which I learned about on September 5, 2021. At this time, it is important for all involved to respect the investigative procedures and allow due process to occur.”

https://twitter.com/davidpugliese/st...28044368318464

[Bill Ryan]

A new SitRep from The Saker, detailing the serious risk of a false flag incident designed to demonize Russia. It was posted yesterday. Here we see the Russian MoD's public response.

• http://thesaker.is/sitrep-urgent-bri...w-provocations

Urgent Briefing from the Russian Mod re New Provocations

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (https://t.me/mod_russia_en) held an urgent briefing, (https://t.me/MFARussia/12376) detailing a provocation against the Russian Federation prepared by the USA and NATO with the accusation of using nuclear, biological and chemical weapons💬 The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation possesses the information related to the preparation of provocations by the United States of America in order to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of using chemical, biological or tactical nuclear weapons.

There are three scenarios to be applied in order to accuse the Russian Federation.

1. The first one is a ‘staged incident under a false flag’ that is the most probable.
2. The second one refers to a ‘Maximally covert use of weapons of mass destruction in small volumes’ for neutralising the will power and the capacity to resist within the fulfilment of a particular operational task.
3. The third and the least probable one is the ‘overt use of weapons of mass destruction at a combat area’.

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation possesses the information related to the preparation of provocations by the United States of America in order to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of using chemical, biological or tactical nuclear weapons. This plan has already been developed and represents a response to the success of Russia in conducting the special military operation.

• Only in March and April senior officials of the Western countries have been making regular provocative ‘warning’ statements. The mass media propagate the points about the possibility of using weapons of mass destructions by Russia.

• For example, the National Security Advisor J.Sullivan has commented on Biden’s words that the USA “in kind” to the possible use of weapons of mass destructions by our country. And on February 27 the American permanent representative to the UN Greenfield announced an intention of Russia to use any instruments ‘under a false flag’, including chemical and biological weapons for intimidating the Ukrainian population and the international community.

• Against this background, the US State Department considered positively the transfer of up to 400 sets of personal protection equipment, 390 NBC reconnaissance devices and 15 ‘Stryker’ reconnaissance vehicles.

• Staged use of WMD is aimed at accusing Russia of using prohibited weapons with the subsequent implementation of the so-called "Syrian scenario", in which the state is subjected to economic and political isolation, as well as exclusion from international organizations, including the UN Security Council.

• A possible way forward is to put pressure on the countries loyal to and friendly to the Russian Federation, including India and China, to compel them to impose sanctions on our country.

• We would like to recall that the Russian Federation completely destroyed its chemical arsenal on September 27, 2017, which is confirmed by an OPCW certificate. In turn, the United States, with its strong financial, economic and technical potential, is the only country party to the Chemical Weapons Convention that still possesses an impressive arsenal of chemical warfare agents (672.5 tons).

• ▫️CIA Director Burns’ statement about Russia’s possible use of tactical nuclear weapons is absurd. With the current level of technical equipment of the international nuclear test monitoring system, it is impossible to conceal the use of such weapons. If the CIA director does not understand this, then he is either unprofessional, or he is being misled.

• ▫️The biological weapons programs in the USSR were completely phased out in 1972. At the same time, the number of U.S. biological laboratories is incomparable to other countries. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Washington controls 336 laboratories in 30 countries, which is of great concern.

• To date, the United States is the only state in world history that has used all three types of weapons of mass destruction.

• The dropped nuclear bombs during the Second World War on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the use of toxic chemicals in Vietnam and Iraq – all these crimes were not properly assessed by relevant international organizations.

• Thus, in an attempt to discredit the special military operation of the Russian troops, the Kiev regime, at the suggestion of the American administration, is able to implement scenarios in the near future that will lead to the death of tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens and cause an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe.

The various posts on the Mod Telegram channel starts here:
https://t.me/mod_russia_en/1059

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/EvaKBartlett/sta...30970179911680

[Ravenlocke]

https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1518213173383368705

[Vangelo]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
...
Russia definitely wants to take Odessa, but is not interested in Kiev (Kyiv) and the west of the country where Russians and Russian culture aren't so well liked. But I'd guess they may well progress into Lviv simply to topple the Bandera statue, which would be very symbolic of the denazification goal. But then they'd withdraw again, leaving the EU to pick up the pieces of what remained of Ukraine, at a huge cost of hundreds of billions of euros per year.
...

RE: Bandera statue (bolding added by me)
Not knowing who Stepan Bandera was, I found the following article from: https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/122778

Who Was Stepan Bandera?
by Norman J.W. Goda
Norman J.W. Goda is Braman Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Florida. His most recent book is Tales from Spandau: Nazi Criminals and the Cold War (2007), and is co-author of US Intelligence and the Nazis (2005).


On January 22, 2010 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko honored Stepan Bandera by posthumously bestowing on him the state honor, “Hero of Ukraine.” The Soviet KGB assassinated Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist-in-exile, in 1959. Many Ukrainians, including Ukrainian émigré groups in Canada, pressed Yushchenko to grant the honor, which, according to one statement, "would restore justice and truth about the Bandera and the...struggle for liberation that he headed." To this day, many Ukrainians view Bandera as a martyred freedom fighter.

As an uncompromising leader of the militant, terrorist branch of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), Bandera became a Nazi collaborator who lived with his deputies under German protection after World War II began. In preparation for the attack on the USSR, the Nazis recruited Bandera’s followers to act as Ukrainian-speaking policemen and to serve in two Ukrainian volunteer army battalions. By working with the Nazis, Bandera hoped to free Ukraine from Soviet rule and establish his own government there. An independent Ukraine, Bandera promised, would remain friendly to Germany.

Historian Karel Berkhoff, among others, has shown that Bandera, his deputies, and the Nazis shared a key obsession, namely the notion that the Jews in Ukraine were behind Communism and Stalinist imperialism and must be destroyed. “The Jews of the Soviet Union,” read a Banderist statement, “are the most loyal supporters of the Bolshevik Regime and the vanguard of Muscovite imperialism in the Ukraine.” When the Germans invaded the USSR in June 1941 and captured the East Galician capital of Lvov, Bandera’s lieutenants issued a declaration of independence in his name. They further promised to work closely with Hitler, then helped to launch a pogrom that killed four thousand Lvov Jews in a few days, using weapons ranging from guns to metal poles. “We will lay your heads at Hitler’s feet,” a Banderist pamphlet proclaimed to Ukrainian Jews.

The Germans intended to keep Ukraine for themselves. They arrested Bandera for his intransigence on the issue of independence, but released him in 1944 when it appeared that his popularity with Ukrainians might help stem the Soviet advance. But whatever their disappointment with the Germans, the Banderists never disagreed with their Jewish policy in Ukraine, which eventually killed over 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews.

This is a truth that many in Ukraine, particularly in its western parts, deny. In his book Erased (2007), Omer Bartov discusses the large bronze statue of Bandera that stands in a park in the east Galician town of Drohobych, most of whose 15,000 Jews were murdered. The park stands on the site of the town’s former Jewish ghetto, but there is not so much as a plaque in the park to memorialize the Jewish dead. This and other examples like it make a condemnation of Yushchenko’s step necessary.

But the rest of the story, much of which is revealed in CIA records released in 2007, reveals irony in Yushchenko’s award. After the war Bandera lived in Munich. British intelligence used him to help run agents into Ukraine to gather intelligence and to help the Ukrainian underground against the Soviets. The CIA used some of Bandera’s former cronies for similar reasons, but never used Bandera himself, owing to Bandera’s infatuation with his own legend. “Bandera,” said one CIA report from 1948, “is by nature a political intransigent of great personal ambition [who] has…opposed all political organizations in the emigration which favor a representative form of government in the Ukraine, as opposed to a mono-party, OUN/Bandera regime.”

Ukrainian sources confirmed that “fighting people in the homeland … [were] not prepared to accept [Bandera] as a dictator,” and that Bandera’s program “was unacceptable to the resistance movement inside [Ukraine].” In 1952 Bandera temporarily resigned as head of the OUN, pressured “by the growing opposition to his leadership among … top-ranking nationalist leaders who opposed him on the grounds of his totalitarian tactics….” Bandera’s subsequent petulance and his insistence on directing all facets of the Ukrainian underground at home and abroad led the British to drop him in 1953. With no high level contacts to listen to him, Bandera was now on the outside looking in.

Owing to his self-promotion in print and on West German radio, Bandera remained popular with thousands of Ukrainian émigrés in West Germany. His superficial effectiveness prompted West German intelligence (the BND) to establish contact in 1956. By 1959 the BND was helping Bandera to run a new generation of Ukrainian agents from West Germany into the USSR. General Reinhard Gehlen, the head of the BND, had lead German Army intelligence in the USSR during the war. He and his subordinates were surely familiar with Bandera’s wartime record. They were less familiar with the fact that the BND was by now thoroughly penetrated with Soviet agents. On October 14, 1959, Bandera had lunch with senior BND officials to discuss the expansion of operations in Ukraine. The next day the KGB assassinated Bandera in his apartment building.

Because Bandera effectively promoted his own legend, and because the Soviets were behind his death, émigrés who did not know any better labeled him as the martyred leader of Ukrainians abroad. Fifteen hundred attended his funeral in Munich. US officials, on the other hand, noted that Bandera’s “strong arm tactics” and “competition with other émigré groups” meant that “many émigré figures clearly do not personally lament his passing.” His death meant nothing for CIA operations against Soviet rule in Ukraine, which depended on the very same émigré leaders who, though followers of Bandera during the war, had dumped their former chief as a self-promoting caricature. They continued their work under CIA tutelage until the USSR collapsed. Such is another story.

It is a sad comment on Ukrainian memory that the man declared a Hero of Ukraine in January headed a movement that was deeply involved in the Holocaust. It is more gratifying to know that by the time of Stepan Bandera’s death, most Ukrainian leaders had long rejected him as a dangerous charlatan who harmed his own cause. By the time of his death, Bandera was reduced to dancing with the Cold War’s most compromised intelligence agency, where the Soviets could watch his every move. Those who label him a hero today, in other words, are as foolish as they are offensive.

[Eric J (Viking)]

MAJOR FALSE FLAG ATTACK ALERT:

Urgent Briefing from the Russian Ministry of Defense regarding new provocations

Submitted by The Burning Platform
Via Vineyard of the Saker

The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (https://t.me/mod_russia_en) held an urgent briefing, (https://t.me/MFARussia/12376) detailing a provocation against the Russian Federation prepared by the USA and NATO with the accusation of using nuclear, biological and chemical weapons

💬 The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation possesses the information related to the preparation of provocations by the United States of America in order to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of using chemical, biological or tactical nuclear weapons.

There are three scenarios to be applied in order to accuse the Russian Federation.

👉 The first one is a ‘staged incident under a false flag’ that is the most probable.

👉 The second one refers to a ‘Maximally covert use of weapons of mass destruction in small volumes’ for neutralising the will power and the capacity to resist within the fulfilment of a particular operational task.

👉 The third and the least probable one is the ‘overt use of weapons of mass destruction at a combat area’.



The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation possesses the information related to the preparation of provocations by the United States of America in order to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of using chemical, biological or tactical nuclear weapons. This plan has already been developed and represents a response to the success of Russia in conducting the special military operation.

▫️Only in March and April senior officials of the Western countries have been making regular provocative ‘warning’ statements. The mass media propagate the points about the possibility of using weapons of mass destructions by Russia.

▫️For example, the National Security Advisor J.Sullivan has commented on Biden’s words that the USA “in kind” to the possible use of weapons of mass destructions by our country. And on February 27 the American permanent representative to the UN Greenfield announced an intention of Russia to use any instruments ‘under a false flag’, including chemical and biological weapons for intimidating the Ukrainian population and the international community.

▫️Against this background, the US State Department considered positively the transfer of up to 400 sets of personal protection equipment, 390 NBC reconnaissance devices and 15 ‘Stryker’ reconnaissance vehicles.




Staged use of WMD is aimed at accusing Russia of using prohibited weapons with the subsequent implementation of the so-called «Syrian scenario», in which the state is subjected to economic and political isolation, as well as exclusion from international organizations, including the UN Security Council.

▫️A possible way forward is to put pressure on the countries loyal to and friendly to the Russian Federation, including India and China, to compel them to impose sanctions on our country.

❗️We would like to recall that the Russian Federation completely destroyed its chemical arsenal on September 27, 2017, which is confirmed by an OPCW certificate. In turn, the United States, with its strong financial, economic and technical potential, is the only country party to the Chemical Weapons Convention that still possesses an impressive arsenal of chemical warfare agents (672.5 tons).

▫️CIA Director Burns’ statement about Russia’s possible use of tactical nuclear weapons is absurd. With the current level of technical equipment of the international nuclear test monitoring system, it is impossible to conceal the use of such weapons. If the CIA director does not understand this, then he is either unprofessional, or he is being misled.

▫️The biological weapons programs in the USSR were completely phased out in 1972. At the same time, the number of U.S. biological laboratories is incomparable to other countries. According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Washington controls 336 laboratories in 30 countries, which is of great concern.




To date, the United States is the only state in world history that has used all three types of weapons of mass destruction.

▫️The dropped nuclear bombs during the Second World War on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the use of toxic chemicals in Vietnam and Iraq – all these crimes were not properly assessed by relevant international organizations.



❗️Thus, in an attempt to discredit the special military operation of the Russian troops, the Kiev regime, at the suggestion of the American administration, is able to implement scenarios in the near future that will lead to the death of tens of thousands of Ukrainian citizens and cause an environmental and humanitarian catastrophe.

Link …
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2...-provocations/

Viking

[shaberon]

Posted by Vangelo (here)
But whatever their disappointment with the Germans, the Banderists never disagreed with their Jewish policy in Ukraine, which eventually killed over 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews.

This is a truth that many in Ukraine, particularly in its western parts, deny.

On this, I would suggest it is the "real Holocaust", where so many Jews were killed just for being Jewish. In other words, much more outright than the program inside Germany, which, for the most part, executed some in the general class of "dissidents", and then of course by the end of the war, conditions in concentration camps were deplorable, so such pictures and films were described as genocide and then a French company built a few things resembling gas chambers in 1956.

Most of the Israeli population was a relocation of Ukrainians.

So it is moreover that Ukrainian violence is really the "foot in the door" for Zionism. Germany would have been satisfied by deportation, to places other than Palestine. Then it is still Banderism which continues, the "Jew" having become "Russian", even though the Soviet system and the massive influence of Soviet Jews is no longer there. That is why we might see this issue as a small bump on the log of the Catholic crusade against Orthodoxy. As of today, I still see the lies and excess violence mostly on behalf of one side, which likes to say it represents the entire western world. Dismal.

[Bill Ryan]

The latest SitRep from The Saker's blog, published just now. As usual, I've not embedded the many videos and tweets.

• http://thesaker.is/sitrep-operation-z-14

Russia continues grinding down the Ukrainian infrastructure, and that has been the theme of the last few days. There has been a huge uptick in aerial assaults and missile strikes on various infrastructural objects all over. As of this writing a huge amount of missiles are recorded flying over Ukraine, and Tu-95MS bombers are said to be in the air to contribute their KH-101’s.

Pavlograd railways were hit:



Many objects in Dnieperpetrovsk, Kremenchug, Druzhkovka, Poltava, Kharkov, Odessa and elsewhere were all hit with very powerful strikes, multiple missiles at each location. Not only Kalibers from both submarines and ships in the Black Sea, but KH-101 Missiles from Tu-95MS’s as well.

“According to Russian military spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov, in the afternoon, “high-precision long-range air-launched missiles” hit a logistics terminal located on a military airfield near Odessa, where “a large batch of foreign weapons received from the United States and European countries was stored.”

Ukraine is extremely low on fuel to the point that secret trains have been discovered delivering enormous emergency fuel supplies from Moldova. Video:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/N8jsolmAY8ik

One note on this: sometimes it’s hard to quantity military success when we hear of these strikes because they seem ‘abstract’ and once they start adding up, the numbers begin to feel more and more abstracted and inconsequential. Each day the Russian MOD announces the destruction of hundreds of new AFU objects. And soon enough one’s mind naturally begins to question, ‘how much damage are these strikes really doing if Ukraine continues to operate?’ etc.

And it’s a good question, we know in military reasoning that you can’t win a war by airstrikes alone, boots on the ground need to make large strategic victories in the old fashioned way. There’s too many examples to list (most of them American) of vast bombing campaigns over long periods of time not doing much to eradicate a resolute insurgent force.

With that said, it’s often easy to fall into a trap of extremes where one begins to think that strikes are not doing anything at all. In fact they are doing a huge amount, but suffice it to say they’re not going to single-handedly make the AFU surrender.

Also, it only reinforces my position that the real Phase 2 has not really begun yet, and this big uptick in strikes is a continuation of a softening pre-phase. Other analysts like Colonel Cassad agree:

“Let me remind you that a few days ago Ukraine already announced that the Russian Armed Forces had launched a general offensive, after which the next day the Pentagon announced that the offensive had not yet begun and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine urgently began to change shoes.
So far, Russia has only announced the start of the 2nd phase of the operation in Ukraine, but has not announced the start of a general offensive."

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine warns of an imminent large-scale offensive by the Russian Armed Forces

The GUR says that the Russians are finishing the regrouping of troops and are now focusing on identifying the most vulnerable places of the Ukrainian armed formations. And in the near future will begin a “full-scale offensive”
Despite the absence of a general offensive, the RF Armed Forces nevertheless continue to conduct offensive operations in the Izyum direction (there is an advance in the direction of Slavyansk, the front is approaching Krasny Liman, Yampol and Seversk), as well as in the Zaporozhye direction east of Gulyaipol. But it is obvious that most of the forces have not yet been put into action.”

So the important distinction above is that Russia announced a 2nd phase, they did not specifically announce a new general offensive. The two are not necessarily interoperable. The fact of the matter is, there are still large regroupings being done and we are not seeing much large-scale offensive operations in most of the theaters on the Russian side – most of the larger advances are being done in the LPR at the moment.

Just yesterday, the Russian Naval Infantry / Marines detachment from Mariupol had only begun to redeploy, and were visible driving on the road north of Mariupol. It could be days before they reach their new positions – which we don’t know what they are yet.
https://twitter.com/200_zoka/status/1517879620384837638

And now we hear other confirmation such as the following:
“@anna_news
Regarding the general offensive of the RF Armed Forces, sources are coming out, citing British sources, that the offensive will begin within 72 hours.”

And: “The head of the administration of Krivoy Rog Alexander Vilkul said that Russian troops are preparing for an attack on Krivoy Rog.”

So these indications appear to point to a much larger grand offensive starting sometime soon.

With that said, there were some good/significant battlefield updates and advances, mostly in the LPR direction:
https://twitter.com/GeromanAT/status...75384487428096

Novotoshkovske was captured, south of Severodonetsk (NE of Popasna).
https://twitter.com/AggregateOsint/s...64681466531840

Zarichne was reportedly captured as well, which is right next to Torske which we reported captured last time:
https://twitter.com/HN_Schlottman/st...60082659713024

And now there is reported fighting in Yampol which means it will soon fall as well. If you look on the map that means Lyman is being slowly surrounded, and that is the final large obstacle before Slavyansk itself.

Here’s a good overall map of this area:
https://twitter.com/Denyo666/status/1518255454106828800

We reported Lozove falling last time, but now the small settlement of Ridkodub just east of it has reportedly been captured as well, which creates a slowly enveloping unified front that’s pushing southward towards Slavyansk.

South of Izyum, it’s now being reported that Russian forces captured the small settlement of Kurulka, east of Barvinkove.



These are small, incremental gains but will add up soon, particularly if a larger offensive begins.

Here’s some footage of the capture of Kreminna a few days ago:
https://twitter.com/islamicworldupd/status/1518294606546411523
Alt link: https://www.bitchute.com/video/ubok2NtCSCQl

Also, in the far north, AFU attempted an offensive towards the Russian border. Another one of their psychological ops to try and keep morale afloat. It ended badly for them and photos/videos emerged showing the loss of several armored units and up to 30 KIA:
(18+) https://www.bitchute.com/video/DU7i1L9EXmUv
(18+) https://www.bitchute.com/video/lzpgcqAbP1dP

There’s even more gruesome photos of a few dead AFU in this escapade with their heads blown off, which are not included in the above.

Here’s what one analyst wrote of the attempt:

“The bloody failure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in this case will force them to draw conclusions and prepare the next such attempt more carefully.
She definitely will. It does not have any military purposes. The task is to invade the territory of the Russian Federation with infantry and equipment at least a few hundred meters at any cost and announce the “transfer of war” to the territory of the Russian Federation. Even if they are then driven back, it will not hurt to promote the victory in social networks to raise the morale of the troops.
Well, the fact that such PR will be expensive hardly confuses his customers. They have repeatedly demonstrated their real attitude towards the killed and captured UAF soldiers.”

On the southern front, no real advances but some interesting updates. Firstly there’s been a lot of troop captures, including some near Malinovka just east of Hulipole. 17 were captured, pictured here:



Reportedly 2 of them were Azovs, 1 a foreign instructor, and one Croat. What’s interesting is that more and more we’re seeing foreign fighters among the AFU troop compositions. There’s been 3 different new videos showing fighters with British flags, this being one of them:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/o1FbzFu0hRsa

I posted last time a British flag on a liquidated fighter. Now also in the north Russians recovered a chevron that is said to be of a Sergeant in the French Foreign Legion:
https://twitter.com/AZmilitary1/stat...40454096637953

Everywhere you look now on the battlefield there are foreign flags. Here’s an earlier video of the storming of Rubizhnoe, with American flags visible for some reason:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/X30y3VWkwNNZ

Now there’s reports that a Canadian General may be one of the high value targets trapped in Azovstal:
https://twitter.com/Cyberspec1/statu...88990364778502

There is no real details about him being in Azovstal, and this appears speculation partly stemming from reports he hasn’t been “heard from” in Ukraine. However his departure to Ukraine is a 100% confirmed fact reported in Canada’s own press:
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...now-in-ukraine

In fact the general was under fire for sex crimes and appeared to have “retired” and quickly fled to Ukraine to dodge repercussions. He’d make a good bedfellow to the Azovites in Azovstal. Some have even speculated that, since the alleged ‘American general’ who was purported to be trapped in Azovstal also has a similar last name that starts with a ‘C’ (Cloutier), that perhaps a mistake was made and all this talk of a trapped general is in fact this Canadian named Cadieu.

Now, a Turkish newspaper is claiming Macron abandoned over 50 French officers who are trapped in Azovstal:
https://twitter.com/iakfirat/status/1517549881015078912

“According to the source, these are high-rank French officers. They’re on the ground to ensure that Ukrainian military & neo-Nazis are able to use the weapons handed over by the Western countries. They are entrapped now and only way out to go through the corridor by Russian side.”

You can translate the article here:
https://www.aydinlik.com.tr/haber/ma...rk-etti-312526

On the topic of Azovstal, some interesting updates:

Firstly, more light is being shone on the insides of it, leaked pictures showing wounded Azov fighters and some of their milieu.
https://twitter.com/Cyberspec1/statu...07023502217216

A video has also emerged showing the rotting Azov wounded festering in their subterranean dwellings:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/QqAaXiVm6i0N

Some Azov fighters manage to sneak out and are caught by the allied cordon around the plant. Here’s one who points out his own dead commander to the Chechens who caught him:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/ecEJtPRZ8TBy

Here’s an Azov fighter captured by Chechens who begins showing them the maps of where the Azov group is hidden in the factory:
https://twitter.com/200_zoka/status/1518278965709922305

And a video of an ex-employee of the Azovstal who was once a shift supervisor there, who has volunteered his expertise to show the likely place where the main Azov group is hiding in the complex:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/YlQ47l42TFzR

“An underground pedestrian tunnel passes under the plate shop, right under it the exit goes inside the shop, two exits – in the TLC itself. If the workshop is hot, then there is a powerful water supply system for cooling equipment and metal, and then there are necessarily powerful reinforced concrete sedimentation tanks there,” Chuprin said.”

As you can see, the operation to root the Azovites out still continues despite Putin’s decree to not ‘storm’ the complex. They are abiding by the decree but are simply going about it the smart way, figuring out exactly where Azov is in the complex and then finding a solution to root them out.

In fact Alexander Sladkov continues to show the advances into the north of the complex, the “cement factory’ grounds:
https://twitter.com/Suriyakmaps/status/1518185847153176576
https://twitter.com/200_zoka/status/1518166203742699520
https://twitter.com/200_zoka/status/1518168031297425409
And here’s a map: https://twitter.com/Suriyakmaps/stat...05324633100289



The captured cement factory is the northernmost part of the Azovstal complex, with the orange dotted lines you see above.

Here’s how Azov is apparently eating down there:
https://twitter.com/CanadianUkrain1/...74778846609409

A few random updates:

Zelensky commented on the Bayraktar drones, admitting their futility against Russian AD: “But with all due respect, I will honestly say that this is a different war, experts say, it cannot be compared with any other in the 21st century. Those or other drones can help, but do not affect the result.”

In fact there’s one account on Twitter who is counting each day since Bayraktar’s last appearance in the form of any footage, and we’re somewhere past 36-40 day mark since the last footage of any kind of Bayraktar attack has appeared.

Advanced American Harris-Falcon encrypted battlefield comms systems were captured by Russian forces:
https://twitter.com/AZmilitary1/stat...78944292294656
(alt link) https://www.bitchute.com/video/b0P03XkrKNkn

Last time we mentioned how the corrupt OSCE was outed, its employee arrested for espionage. And I spoke of stories how OSCE was even doing artillery fire correction for the AFU.

Now: “the Ministry of State Security of the LPR found documents confirming the interaction of the OSCE SMM with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Among other things, a “list of infrastructure facilities in the Luhansk region that may be subject to fire damage” was found, indicating their location.”
“Information was collected by the head of the OSCE Severodonetsk team, a citizen of Poland, Yaroslav Kurak. The order to start collecting information was given
Deputy Head of the OSCE Lugansk Human Rights Team Pilar Castro Moto, a Spanish citizen.”

OSCE Employee Admits To Passing Information To Foreign Intelligence Services – LPR
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/world/o...t-1500886.html

“The Interior Ministry of the LPR has shown documents confirming that the OSCE special monitoring mission has been working for a long time in the interests of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.”
https://twitter.com/AZmilitary1/stat...80141985697795

Also it’s been discovered that France has been supplying ammunition to the AFU “by diplomatic mail possibly on board civilian aircraft. Boxes with cartridges of 12.7 mm caliber were found at one of the positions of Ukrainian security forces in Donbass, where the addressee is the French Embassy in Kiev.”

And a new poll has reportedly found:

“75% of Chinese residents support the Russian operation in #Ukraine. The corresponding data is provided by the U.S — China Perception Monitor study. 60% of respondents believe that #China should support the Russian operation in Ukraine. 16% were in favor of providing weapons for the Russian army, if necessary. 70% of respondents consider the information about American biological laboratories in #Ukraine reliable. #China has already said that the main culprit of all recent events is the United States and #NATO, and arms supplies to #Kiev will not bring peace to #Ukraine. 3/3”

https://uscnpm.org/2022/04/19/chinese-public-opinion-war-in-ukraine

First appearance of Polish suicide drones called Warmate in Ukraine:
https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status...84891766636546

By the way, some in the West are apparently slowly starting to come around to the reality, and new excuses are fast being forged:



A few last random videos:

Russian BM-27 Uragan MLRS in action again:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/SU3atvVPVAmz

Reporter infiltrates Manhattan, NYC pro-Azov rally to ask some searing questions:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/fr0p8gTOQ1vc
https://www.bitchute.com/video/8tyh9Pv3v8wy

Chechens now fighting in Popasna:
https://www.bitchute.com/video/AZSsVSJu7jdN

[shaberon]

That is pretty amazing how The Guardian headline attributes the "catastrophe" to "Putin's victory" rather than "our policies". Do they accept feedback or is it a monolith??

[Bill Ryan]

Three videos repudiating the western media propaganda: (only the last of which I can embed)

Mariupol locals call out Zelensky (MUST SEE):
https://odysee.com/@RT:fd/mariupol-locals-zelensky:d

Russian humanitarian aid delivered to Kharkov oblast:
https://rutube.ru/video/bffb91ed04733e52c59416b745df1285

Russian girls showing their support for the troops on the front:

Source: https://www.bitchute.com/video/9zg96e5AOm2y

[Gwin Ru]

...

... from Jim Stone:

MAJOR ATTACK ON AN ENORMOUS OIL DEPOT 100 MILES INSIDE RUSSIA

The story Ukraine is trying to front is that they got 2 helicopters in and blew it up. That's not likely, because Russia sounded the air raid sirens and that would not have happened for helicopters. That would be for cruise missiles or bombers. This attack came hours after a visit to Ukraine by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. This could result in a major response by Russia.

[Gwin Ru]

...

... Gonzalo Lira SPEAKS OUT About His Arrest in Ukraine 1:31:57

74,025 views
Apr 24, 2022

Richard Medhurst

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=AhjcVTCDLLI

[shaberon]

Historically today, the court martial of a general:


The woman’s lawyer, Ryan Guilds, said in a statement that Saturday’s ruling was “the first time an Air Force general officer has been held responsible for his heinous actions”.



Currently there is the added provocation of Nazi assassins working for Kiev:


Neo-Nazis detained by Russian security services over a plot to kill television and radio host Vladimir Solovyev also planned to assassinate Sputnik and RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, television presenter and Rossiya Segodnya media group head Dmitry Kiselyev, and others, including political talk show duo Olga Skabeyeva and Evgeny Popov, as well as Tigran Keosayan, Simonyan's husband, an FSB video showing the suspects' interrogation has indicated.

Margarita Simonyan said she was unfazed by the appearance of her name in the kill list.

"All people are mortal. To die because you did not remain silent in a corner, but allowed yourself the luxury of telling the truth and defending your homeland in the way you think is right and possible - this is no worse than slowly fading away from an incurable disease or inevitable old age. I look at this philosophically and in a Christian-like manner", Simonyan said.

President Putin was briefed on the incident, and told officials from the Russian Prosecutor's Office that Moscow had the names of the CIA and other Western intelligence agency operatives believed to be curating the Ukrainian security services.

Several Ukrainians whose names have appeared on the site have been killed, among them writer Oles Buzina and ex-Rada lawmaker Oleg Kalashnikov. Andrea Rocchelli, an Italian freelance photojournalist who was machine gunned to death by Ukrainian troops while travelling through the Donbass in 2014, also had his name listed on the site.



Good catch. Something could have gotten ugly. Actual confessions without waterboarding available on demand. That sounds like the Censor saying that internet censorship is not enough. This is not like a safari! You have to threaten, hurt, kill, the following anybodys. It's dangerous and you might get caught.

Remember, U. S. Homeland Security could not do anything about Jan. 6 because, they had no experience, and, they were afraid to say anything.

[shaberon]

Also today, to us, what looks like a slow-moving grind that may or may not "be phase two" follows with more anti-personnel moves.


By air:

53 areas of concentrations of the AFU


On the ground:

929 strongholds and gatherings of manpower and military equipment


Almost every small overtaken area comes with piles of dozens of bodies--some of those being ones killed by their own forces, some destroyed by these attacks. So again today, likely hundreds if not a thousand or more people are simply gone. A few of them being:


Georgian militants from the “Foreign Legion” were also liquidated in Kremennaya. The British NLAW and AKS 74 as well as Georgian flag were found in a residential building, where the firing point of the foreign militants was located.


Curiously:

Another trophee of Russian forces in the area of Izyum was a German-made anti-tank mine PARM (Panzerabwehrrichtmine) of the DM 22 modification. It is capable of hitting armored vehicles at a distance of 5 to 100 meters with a cumulative 128-mm grenade with an acoustic or infrared fuse. The mine is capable of maintaining a combat position for up to 40 days. Officially, such mines are not supplied to Ukraine and are not in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.



Today there is also Erich Zuesse on Glen Greenwald who is explaining the following fairly accurate idea:


In short: he exposed that the money-power people won’t allow their control to be effectively challenged or weakened. He explained how fascism, and even nazism (racist fascism), can be liberal, and not ONLY conservative — can be leftist, and not ONLY rightist; can be far left, and not ONLY far right. (His presentation there includes also a brief summary of how he had switched from being a lawyer, to his becoming an investigative journalist — a profession that he describes as, and was attracted to on account of its being aimed at — “exposing the secrets and crimes and improprieties of the most powerful actors in society.”)

Greenwald, being the genius that he is, was able there quickly to expose — rip off the mask of — nazism, and to reveal it so deeply as to penetrate beyond and beneath the superficial level of the standard ideological labels, so that the public might ultimately become able to be freed from the lies by which the billionaire-class has captured and mentally enslaved the public — enslaved them into neoconservative-neoliberal beliefs and commitments that benefit ONLY the super-wealthy, such as are those billionaires themselves.

That masking is the phenomenon which has caused the publics in all of the U.S.-and-allied nations to think in terms of “us” versus “them” as being inter-ethnic, or inter-‘racial’, or inter-religious, INSTEAD OF as being inter-economic-class: the owners of mega-corporations, versus the employees and customers of mega-corporations — the super-wealthy versus all of the “ethnicities,” and all of the ‘races’, and all of the “religions.” (While the other partisan distinctions do play a role, that role is, in reality, vastly less powerful than that of the one distinction which is the same in ALL countries, and which actually controls almost all countries’ governments — the distinction between the rich versus the poor.)

Labor unions become crushed in this way (by the public’s having the wrong targets — targets that aren’t the billionaires). Consumers’ rights to safe products become crushed in this way. All protections of the weak against the strong become crushed in this way. All accountability (obligations that the owners have toward their employees and other agents, and toward their corporations’ customers) become crushed in this way. And “this way” can be liberal, and not ONLY conservative. Fascism and even nazism can be liberal, and not only conservative. (The only difference there, is the difference between liberal billionaires versus conservative billionaires, but rule by ANY billionaires is an aristocracy not a democracy. It doesn’t represent the public; it represents the super-rich.)


It goes on to the recent French election, but yes, this is a general way of explaining how something that appears ideologically different such as Zionism, is, at a certain level, attached to the same amorphous blob as many other influential regimes.