WW3? Ukraine/US vs. Donbass/Russia

[Tintin]

Already mentioned on this thread but here's Maria Zakhorova's summarised comments concerning the repeated attacks on the Zaporozhia NPP:

Text:

🎙 FM Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s interview (https://telegra.ph/Foreign-Ministry-...l-8-2024-04-09) with Rossiya 24 TV channel (April 8, 2024)

Key talking points:

• The armed forces of Ukraine, using unmanned aerial vehicles, carried out a series of strikes (https://t.me/MFARussia/19806) both against the critical infrastructure of the Zaporozhskaya NPP and its grounds.

***

• The US, Britain and their satellites are behind this. Individually and collectively, they are providing the Kiev regime with the drones and shells that these drones are carrying, the money which is used to produce all of that, political support and motivation, and - most importantly - the information cover.

• The international community remains in the dark about the fact that in the centre of the “enlightened” Europe, which refers to itself as a “garden,” there are indeed genuine parasites <...> who are posing a threat to the entire planet because they are sponsoring the Kiev regime’s nuclear terrorism.

***

☝️ We expect the IAEA Director General <...> to provide public, exhaustive, and truthful information. <…> It should be a full-fledged, full-length, and exhaustive report by the head of a structural UN unit that deals specifically with this area covering everything that the Kiev regime has done during this entire period.

• The responsibility for everything the Kiev regime is doing lies with its sponsors. <...> The people from Bankovaya Street will also be held accountable, but we know perfectly well who is behind all of that.

***

• The world must wake up. <...> We will send letters and relevant information through our Permanent Mission to the UN in Vienna and our Permanent Mission to the UN in New York (https://t.me/russiaun), and use other avenues as well. We will hold ad hoc meetings. We will do this consistently on a daily basis.

❗️ Now is the time for the international community to start discussing really important things. <...> This is what the international community should be doing, not just Russia alone, which has been responsibly and systematically informing its partners using every available channel all along.

Read in Full, below:

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s interview with Rossiya 24 television channel (April 8, 2024)
• April 9 at 11:24
❓ Question: How does Russia view the Ukrainian forces’ attacks on the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant and the way Kiev, the collective West and the IAEA responded to the drone strikes against the NPP’s power facilities? We reported that the Foreign Ministry had classified it as none other than nuclear terror.

💬 Maria Zakharova: Good afternoon, I’m now in Beijing with the Russian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Answering your question, I would like to, first of all, draw you attention, as you accurately noted, to the facts, because we have been providing names and qualifications for these facts for more than 18 months now, since the Kiev regime began shelling the Zaporozhskaya NPP grounds that remain under its control. Starting literally with the first reports in 2022, we called it exactly that: nuclear blackmail and nuclear terrorism. Clearly, the international community - if we are talking about those who control the mainstream media - no longer perceives the ongoing developments that we are discussing as sharply as they did before.

So let’s go over issues at hand once again. This is more than a drone attack on a civilian facility that supplies a civilian infrastructure with water, light, and heat, which in itself is an act of terrorism. This is a nuclear facility, and damaging it would impact entire continents. It will not target a particular person of a particular religion, skin colour or tradition in any particular country or nation. No, it will affect the entire planet, precisely in terms of the inability to preserve the peace and security that the leading international organisations, primarily the UN Security Council, should be concerned with.

So, we are talking about the fact that the armed forces of Ukraine, using unmanned aerial vehicles, carried out a series of strikes both against the critical infrastructure of the Zaporozhskaya NPP and its grounds. Power Unit No. 6, the training centre, other infrastructure, and the cargo port area came under attack. Three employees were wounded. The facility’s guards repelled a Ukrainian attack on Power Unit No. 5.

The United States, Britain and their satellites are behind this. Individually and collectively, they are providing the Kiev regime with the drones and shells that these drones are carrying, the money which is used to produce all of that, political support and motivation, and - most importantly - the information cover. That is why the international community remains in the dark about the fact that in the centre of the “enlightened” Europe, which refers to itself as a “garden,” there are indeed genuine parasites (Borrell will not say that about himself, but this is exactly how he should be described) who are posing a threat to the entire planet because they are sponsoring the Kiev regime’s nuclear terrorism.

Above all, the IAEA should deal with this situation, and I will explain why. The fact is that on September 1, 2022, at the request of the IAEA Director General, Russia gave its consent to the presence of the IAEA Secretariat experts at the plant. What was the purpose, the objective and the rationale behind this decision?

The only motive to let them stay at the Zaporozhskaya NPP was the expectation that the presence of experts from this international specialised organisation, its Secretariat, would make it possible to stop the Ukrainian attacks on the plant - a critically important facility - or at least that they would clearly indicate, on behalf of the IAEA, the direction of incoming attacks, the amount of damage caused by the Kiev regime, and, in general, share information with the international community.

That is why we have many times called on Mr Grossi, his colleagues, and everyone present at the station to provide clear descriptions of what they see, document and analyse. You may remember that the statements made by the Foreign Ministry, our Permanent Representative to the UN in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov, and our Permanent Representative to the UN in New York Vasily Nebenzya, indicated that Russia could not consider the statements made by the IAEA to be not only sufficient, but even consistent with the level of its functional responsibilities.

The main complaint - this is not just a complaint lodged by our country, but a cold hard fact - is that for so many months they have been unable to clearly state where the strikes were coming from. What is that but a cover-up and an attempt to divert the attention of the international community from this critical international situation?

We expect the IAEA Director General and his colleagues to provide public, exhaustive, and truthful information that will be the response of the specialised international organisation, which, by the way, is supported with the money of taxpayers around the world, the money of UN member states. We are looking forward to receiving a straightforward and clear response.

It should not be a minor piece of a sentence or a phrase, or some funny or not so funny picture posted on social media. It shouldn’t be in the form of a brief answer by Rafael Grossi to a question from a media member that was running by. It should be a full-fledged, full-length, and exhaustive report by the head of a structural UN unit that deals specifically with this area covering everything that the Kiev regime has done during this entire period.

The world must know its anti-heroes. This is a critically important situation.

Next, regarding who is responsible. Indeed, this is so. The responsibility for everything the Kiev regime is doing lies with its sponsors. The people from Bankovaya Street are sick in every sense of the word. They are drug addicts. The whole world is aware of this, just look at this footage. These videos cover more than one news conference or one interview. This footage is not taken out of context. These are the inarticulate grimaces of a deeply addicted person that are systematically shown to the world. So, yes, they will also be held accountable, but we know perfectly well who is behind all of that.

With regard to the UN Security Council, the systematic work of this body must be deployed. It is not just a gathering of 15 member countries, or gazing at some pictures on the screen. This is a practical systematic daily work that should be devoted to the awful situation around the shelling of the Zaporozhskaya NPP by the terrorist thugs who represent the Kiev regime.

The world must wake up. Countries and governments from all continents must understand what is going on. We will send letters and relevant information through our Permanent Mission to the UN in Vienna and our Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, and use other avenues as well. We will hold ad hoc meetings. We will do this consistently on a daily basis. To reiterate, we will do so on a systematic basis. Indeed, now is the time for the international community to start discussing really important things. Not some imaginary Zelensky formula that was invented to divert everyone’s attention from what really matters. Not some endless manipulations such as the “grain deals” just to let a number of US and British moneybags line their pockets even more. Not some made-up stories around a pseudo-environmental agenda. We need to start with the reality of today. This is where everything comes together. This includes security, the environmental agenda, and the real, rather than imaginary, peace formula. Should something happen, there will be no time for “peace formulas.” This is what the international community should be doing, not just the Russian Federation alone, which has been responsibly and systematically informing its partners using every available channel all along. This is indeed what is called the international community’s peace and security agenda. What, if not this?

[Tintin]

Communication from the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the Agency

IAEA document concerning Zaporozhskaya NPP

This is a little large to load in preview here even after compression but can be seen here:

https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/f...nfcirc1196.pdf

[christian]

Posted by Tintin (here)
Well, whatever one thinks of Arestovich I've always thought he was an intelligent fellow. Here in an interview I think from around 2019/2020 he shares particularly acute observations, and of course we all know what happened next....

Source: https://twitter.com/Glenn_Diesen/sta...41049436958943

He also said in the same interview that if Ukraine doesn't join NATO, Russia would absorb Ukraine within the next 10-12 years. So one way or another, according to Arestovich, Putin had designs on Ukraine. This is also evident from statements of Putin's advisor Vladislav Surkov since 2006. He was all about asserting Russian influence beyond Russia's borders, basically wanting to rival the US and NATO as an imperialist power. From what I can see, both the US/NATO and Russian leadership are all about more power for themselves and using smaller countries in their interest, but neither to bring democracy nor to liberate them.

[Bruce G Charlton]

@christian - "absorb Ukraine within the next 10-12 years"

Not "absorb", surely.

Russia has always stated that they want Ukraine as a separate de-militarized (de-Nazified) state - i.e. a "buffer state" between Russia and the West.

So far as I can tell; everything Russia has done so far is consistent with such statements.


NOTE ADDED 10th April 2024 - The advantages of a (not absorbed) Ukrainian "buffer state" for Russia are very obvious - and indeed this way of managing things has existed since ancient times; especially when there is no significant natural barrier on the border (such as the sea or a mountain range).

The fact that the Western media deny this common sense way of managing borders between different cultures/ nations is evidence first of all that those who control the media are lying (as always); and also indirectly implies that the West intend the eradication of the Russian nation and culture (which is pretty obvious, when the sweep of recent history is surveyed).

As so often: the evil intentions of which the globalist Western leadership/ media accuse others; are "projections" of their own actual motivations, intentions (and policies).

(Indeed, "projection" is the normal psychological process, since we use our own psychology as a model for understanding that of others. It takes unusual honesty and persistence genuinely to understand, and take into account, the diferrences between oneself and other people.)

The fact that Russia want a Ukrainian buffer state also explains why The West was so keen that Ukraine be utterly annihilated as an autonomous entity and why the April 2022 Istanbul cease-fire was blocked by NATO. If the war had been allowed by NATO to end in a few weeks, the Ukranian nation would have been intact, and Russia could simply have installed a friendly government, demilitarized and de-Nazified the country - and there would be the buffer state that Russia want.

Two years later, the Ukraine has been comprehensively depopulated of its working-age people - its infrastructure severely damaged, massive destruction of buildings, radioactively contaminated by the uranium shells NATO have used etc etc.

Although Russia probably still want a Ukraine buffer state, at present there is no viable "state" to form one. So there must be a significant period of direct administration, repair and re-building before Ukraine can be able to adopt an autonomous status.

(The "alternative", which won't happen, is that NATO won; and then the Ukraine would have been looted and asset stripped by The West - most of the place apparently having already been (in effect) "sold" to Western corporations and interest groups, as "repayment" for the "loaned" war materiel that NATO compelled and bribed the Ukraine regime to accept. Either way, Ukraine's population decimation - or more than decimation - and destruction was strategically engineered by The West in collusion with the "Kyiv" regime - in line with the Western leadership class's multi-generational loathing of Orthodox Christian Slavs.)

[shaberon]

Posted by Tintin (here)
Ukraine and Zionism are inseparable...,same thing/same mindset.

Now, attempting to lay that out in a mostly civil environment in a face-to-face situation presents a different challenge. Depending on the audience can be somewhat illuminating for them, or leading to increased dissonance. It doesn't stop one trying of course.

I was just paraphrasing one of the Russian statements from the past few weeks.

They live what I am attempting to say, which, yes, faces a challenge.

The most direct example is perhaps the word "Pogrom", defined as a loan-word into the English language around the 1850s due to news about events happening in Ukraine.

In actuality, it was pogrom-events that had driven the Jews out of England in the 1300s, and, in the following centuries, out of western Europe. By the 1600s, east Europe and particularly Ukraine had absorbed a new diaspora. At that point, as per your post of the other day, subsequently there is a Catholic attack on Orthodoxy. Eventually millions of people are living in "borderlands" provinces getting tossed around between states and bloody pogroms.

But in England you have a Jewish re-conquest via Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. Cromwell is the first known head of state to decide to use the Jewish diaspora for hegemony, and all British governments have continued this policy ever since.

So today is still like living in the 1600s. Same ideas, same places.

It's like exhibiting four hundred years of a lack of evolution.

If anyone tries to dissonate against this, that would be self-destruct mode.

I don't understand the use of a scripture, that would determine that a certain kind of people should be legally repressed, which gives expectation that naturally they would revolt. In some of those historical pogroms I probably would have sided with the Jews. It's complicated. Everything still has the character of the Salem Witch Trials. Looks different on the outside, maybe, but this is all a man-made pattern which is entirely unnecessary.

[Tintin]

Continuing the coverage of the Zaporozhskaya NPP plant situation I'll share this example of headline propaganda from Associated Press, I think published April 7th. Here one can see that if one doesn't read beyond the headline, you'd qualify as an inmate in a limited hangout. It's pretty blatant



Now, contrast that headline gibberish - the rest of that article is okay - with Vassily Nebenzia's measured and adult summary of the real situation. The radical Nazi element in Ukraine's military are truly the enemies of humanity and the most likely guilty party here undertaking these provocations, which threaten us ALL. A reminder for anyone, say, landing here as a viewing guest perhaps: Russia secured this NPP on March 3rd, 2022, as a priority; to ensure its security, and thus far, in concert with the IAEA, they've done just that. Grossi of course likes his job and wants to keep it which is why he's very neutral in any statements he makes.

Anyway, here's Vassily Nebenzia, in near perfect English, with an adult, grown-up real-life summary of the situation as at April 9th:

[Tintin]

I did catch this story yesterday and was a tad squeamish about posting any imagery associated with it. DD_Geopolitics posts a text summary of what was found in the Lugansk region, and believed associated with a foreign fighter, not necessarily a Ukrainian fighter: the above mentioned imagery I saw did show the young lad, back to camera, with the slogan tattooed as described:

🇷🇺 BREAKING! A phone with child pornography was found during the exhumation of the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers in Popasnaya, LPR.

The filming took place on the premises of a social institution, hospital, or military location.

The identity of the deceased is still unknown. In the Lugansk People's Republic, it is speculated that the individual could have been a foreigner.

The motto of the American Rangers, "Rangers lead the way," was written on the back of a child in one of the photos.
3:49 PM · Apr 9, 2024
·
90.7K
Views

[Tintin]

Two updates here from the current situation in Kharkov: is Ukraine's second city preparing for an imminent fall? My view is that perhaps even after over two years of relentlessly documenting this SMO, that we still haven't yet covered the most dramatic developments yet, and that's some statement, I know.

Firstly, Mark Feigin Russian Human rights activist and lawyer being interviewed very recently, certainly I think this week:



Secondly: Acting General Director of JSC "Ukrainian Distribution Networks" Artem Martynyuk who states almost all networks of the transmission system operator have been damaged:

[Tintin]

Date in History

#DateInHistory
📅 On this day, exactly 80 years ago, April 10, 1944, Red Army troops under the command of General Malinovsky, with the assistance of the Black Sea Fleet forces of Admiral Oktyabrsky, liberated Odessa from Nazi occupation.

☝️ During the offensive, the Red Army not only liberated one of the largest ports on the Black Sea, but also defeated the 6th German and 3rd Romanian armies, which lost 443 tanks, 952 artillery pieces, 26,800 soldiers killed and about 11 thousand more prisoners near Odessa.

🕯 6,882 Soviet soldiers gave their lives for the freedom of their Fatherland and the whole world from the ideas of Nazism, and about 25,751 more Red Army soldiers were injured of varying degrees of severity.

Sourced from: https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/107217



And a little more:

On April 10, 1944, in the course of the Great Patriotic War (WWII), Odessa was liberated from the Nazi forces.

The city was captured by the German forces on October 16, 1941. During the occupation, which lasted for almost two and a half years (907 days), 82 thousand residents of Odessa perished, and 78 thousand people were deported to forced labor camps in Germany.

On April 10, 1944, during the Odessa operation by the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front under the command of Army General Rodion Malinovsky, the city was liberated. Soviet troops received significant assistance from partisans and underground fighters.

For heroism and courage shown in the battles for the city, 14 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, over 2 thousand people were awarded orders and medals of the USSR. 27 units and formations were given the honorary title "Odessa".

On May 1, 1945, by the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Odessa was declared a Hero City.

Today, exactly 80 years later, Odessa is awaiting another liberation — this time from Ukrainian Nazis. There is no doubt that it shall be done.

[Tintin]

🇲🇩🇷🇺 Head of Gagauzia Evgenia Gutsul:: another obvious potential flashpoint that one is keeping a close eye on - the Transnistria and Gagauzia pocket on the Ukrainian border. NATO troops may attempt to use Moldova to launch provocations against the breakaway republic thus fomenting a Russian intervention. Russian intel are obviously all over this but it does have the potential to escalate. And one is also watching what happens in Serbia too.

Text:

🇲🇩🇷🇺 Head of Gagauzia Evgenia Gutsul:

"I hope that it will not come to this. I hope for the common sense of our authorities. But if Chisinau reacts to the declaration of independence of Gagauzia by military means, the autonomy will appeal to everyone, including Russia"

Source: https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/107211

[Michel Leclerc]

Posted by shaberon (here)

Posted by Tintin (here)
Although the Anglo-American nexus does delegate amongst itself certain responsibilities at certain times depending on the task. or tasks to be undertaken, one of the reasons why I tend to stress that it isn't always "US this" and "US that" who are culpable; much of the work is gleefully undertaken by certain persons behind the scene in Britain. I know you know this, but others may not.

Yes, again, let us ask ourselves: what happened to the xenophobic United States that was friends with Russia?

America had no detectable "foreign policy" until around the Spanish--American War, 1896.

Being a breakaway part of an Empire, which was world-wide, somehow, they reverted to doing the Empire's bidding.

It's not an accident. Wall Street has been foreign collusion since its inception. It was held in check for a while, but has constantly pushed the envelope for laws in its favor, until this became the norm; now it is simply insatiable.

Amongst many *other things, including Rhodes' Rothschild financing, in the background of course - all the time - were the Zionists, who with Milner's zeal set the stage for WW1 and the destruction of the old European imperialist 'order'.

*Other may also include the horror of the Boer War and British concentration camp atrocities to include 26,000 women and children genocided. That's mirrored in Gaza, right now

Yes, here, the Boer War represents the first use of propaganda to sell a Capitalists' war to the public, which would not support it.

Ironic that South Africa is now one of the loudest dogs barking at Israel.

Ukraine and Zionism are inseparable, even if you do not understand the historical details, there are plenty of modern responses declaring them to be the same thing/same mindset.

The Rhodes Round Tables are fairly well-known, due to involving important persons. The Pilgrims' Society is similar, but much more insidious, due to its bland, non-descript, and basically silent participants. This one still continues today, I think it has over 400 members.

In almost all cases, it is not really the big, showy, Great Leaders who make the wheels turn, rather, it is the deeper ranks of the Petits-Bourgeoisie. All revolutions that successfully deposed an oppressive regime were effectively led "from the middle" like this, and, on the other side, same is true of most destructive death squads.

I just ran into something related that I'll post elsewhere, as it doesn't really refer to Russia.

But this is big, right? Almost everything we could possibly learn actually *is* explanatory towards the stupid exterminations we witness in Ukraine *and* Israel.

I could understand times past, someone might not believe me, or say there was no proof, that this is a matter of opinion, etc., but I cannot understand modern times where with instant information and Israel basically saying "We Are Genocide" and yet it could be ignored or talked around. I have absolutely no clue why anyone would believe in or support anything like that. It's a form of Flat Earth but much more dangerous. Maybe it is because I have no feelings of supremacy or of scripture mania.

Great Shaberon, thanks.

[Tintin]

For tech-geeks: Slavyangrad writes on a Sputnik article published April 9th concerning the "Scorpio" replacement to the "Scarab" UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) which appears to have proven particularly effective for demining purposes, with some further possible utility as potential "scouts".

Potential Use Cases for Small, Low Cost UGVs

An article appeared yesterday in Sputnik (https://sputnikglobe.com/20240408/pi...117810701.html) reporting on use of Russian combat engineer's Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) Scorpio in Avdeevka no. The Scorpio is a successor to the Scarab, first produced in 2015. The original Scarab featured a set of cameras and microphone to provide increased situational awareness in combat. Despite it's initial use as for greater situational awareness, the Scarab ended up being more useful for bomb disposal and mine clearance in Syria.

An introduction of Scarab's succesor, Scorpio was reported by RT (https://russian.rt.com/russia/articl...siriya-sapyory) in April of 2020. Several new feature were touted for the Scorpio which distinguish it from its progenitor. It boasted plenty of new features including optional remote controlled rearward rods and forward plow let the Scorpio climb stairs as well as set off trip wires. An increase of range from 300 m to 1 km and extended battery life of up to 4 hours from only 2 using the built-in battery, installation of more powerful batteries is mentioned for future upgrade potential.

Scorpio tops out at 10 km per hour on smooth pavement. Secure communication is also a key feature. And it can haul up to 25 kilos of explosives in "specialized cart."

The scorpio is essentially a stripped down battle bot with chunky tires. For years I've been awaiting a battlefield platform with capabilities similar to those of the Scorpio that can be operated in swarms, built with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS). I've imagined them in a myriad of scenarios. So, it should come as no surprise when I say the platform is being underutilized in its current, limited role.

In terms of the battlefield, several UGV swarms can be used simultaneously in different directions signaling threat of imminent attack, while limiting opposition forces ability to make informed decisions on where to send reserves. Hauling 25 kilos of explosives, if even a single UGV does advance to an enemies position it could punch a massive hole in their defenses. Using such swarms to clear minefields, misdirect opponents, and destroy enemy positions makes such UGVs a threat that must be dealt with.

Forcing the opposition to use their UAVs and munitions to destroy small UGVs, which are more difficult to hit due to size and profile . Secondly, it restricts the enemy's ability to conduct UAV strikes elsewhere. Hunting them effectively reduces casualties and more costly material losses. And forcing UAV operators to attack them assists Russian EW in location of those UAV operators.

There are two mainstays of Ukraine's UAV drones used for drop and kamikaze attacks. The Mavic-3 and the Switchblade 300 drones. Flight distance of a switchblade is approximately 600 meters. This limited range and flight time of UAVs put them at a distinct disadvantage in the hunt even with the low bar of 4 hours operational time for the current iteration of the Scorpio. And UGVs aren't required to be in a constant state of motion, which enables them to move into positions for recon and stay in position for longer periods of time.

The initial intent behind the the Scarab was to increase situational awareness on the battlefield. This use case went by the wayside in Syria due to the low priority and high bar of entry to the training large enough corps of operators. I'd love to see what Russia could do with the platform now with the applications I describe here.

And even if the Scorpio isn't the platform that creates a shift, I expect inexpensive COTS UGVs to be a major evolution in unmanned war fighting.

Pint-Sized Hero: Russia's 'Scorpio' Helps Clear Away Ukrainian Booby Traps
Sputnik Source: https://sputnikglobe.com/20240408/pi...117810701.html

[Tintin]

A short piece of film showing the effects of a FAB-1500 shockwave on what appears to be an empty premises in Konstantinovka, and captured by a CCTV monitor most likely, inside the building:

[Jaak]

[Vicus]

Disobedience Spree? Azov Militants Refuse to Defend Chasov Yar – Report 1 hour ago

Taking control of the Donetsk town is thought to be a matter of time for Russian troops, who recently approached the outskirts.

An Azov* battalion assault brigade has again refused to сomply with the Ukrainian command's orders, the Russian Telegram news channel Voenny Obozrevatel (Military Commentator) has reported.
According to the channel, the Azov brigade subverted an instruction by Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrsky to send them to Chasov Yar in an attempt to hold the town in the face of the Russian offensive.

The order was sabotaged because brigade commanders reportedly consider Chasov Yar to be lost for the Ukrainian military, amid reports that Russian forces entered the suburbs.

The Azov brigade earlier refused to enter the key city of Avdeyevka near Donetsk, which was liberated by Russian forces from Ukrainian nationalists in February.

Last week, Yan Gagin, an adviser to Donetsk People’s Republic head Denis Pushilin, said that “from Russian troops’ positions to the town itself there is about half a kilometer; sometimes this distance is more, but in principle it is about this.”
According to him, the enemy has built a rather serious fortification in the city itself, so the advance of the Russian military is carefully calibrated and the main task is to protect the soldiers.
"One should understand that the enemy had retreated to Chasov Yar after we [Russian forces] captured Artemovsk. The [Ukrainian] grouping in Chasov Yar has been being reinforced for over a month. They had about a year to prepare for this assault. This is a considerable period of time, and they have prepared. One should understand that there are engineering fortifications and minefields there," Gagin pointed out.

Pushilin's adviser also explained that the liberation of Chasov Yar could pave the way for a further offensive of the Russian military toward the key cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240410/di...collaboration2

[Vicus]

Bodies of American Mercs Slain in Ukraine Piling Up at US Cemeteries 8 hours ago



The Russian Defense Ministry earlier said that Ukrainian commanders are not held accountable for losses among foreign mercenaries on the front line, and that almost 6,000 of them had already been eliminated since the start of the special military operation.

US cemeteries are full of graves of American mercenaries who died in Ukraine - hirelings described by Western press as the so-called “volunteer soldiers.”
One of them is retired Marine veteran Grady Kurpasi, who died two months after the start of the Russian special military operation. According to a Sputnik correspondent, the 50-year-old is buried in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, the most famous in the United States, where politicians, astronauts and even presidents, including John F. Kennedy, are buried.

A cemetery in California has become the final resting place for another US mercenary, Bryan Young, 51, who was killed by "Russian artillery fire" in the Donetsk region in July 2023, according to American media. In a bizarre sight, the epitaph on Young's gravestone reads "On to the next adventure".
Another American mercenary who was buried in California is “Marine Corps veteran” Ian Tortorici. The 32-year-old fought for the Foreign Legion of Ukraine and was eliminated in an attack by Russian forces on a Ukrainian unit stationed in the city of Kramatorsk.
US citizen Dane Partridge, 34, who had served in Iraq, fought on the side of the Kiev regime immediately after the start of Russia’s special operation, but was then seriously wounded and died a few months later. Partridge, who is survived by his wife and five children, is buried in Idaho.
American mercenary Paul Lee Kim was also 34, when he was killed in Ukraine last year and was buried in a Texas cemetery.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that almost 6,000 foreign mercenaries, who came to Ukraine to fight on the side of the Kiev regime, have been killed since the beginning of the special operation. According to the MoD, at least 1,113 mercenaries came from the United States, 491 of whom have already been killed.

The Defense Ministry earlier stressed in a statement that the Kiev regime uses foreign mercenaries as "cannon fodder" and that "their lives are not spared by anyone in the Ukrainian command."

"Therefore, they have only one choice - to flee Ukraine or to die. The Russian armed forces will continue to destroy foreign mercenaries in the course of the special military operation, regardless of their location on the territory of Ukraine," the statement read.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240410/bo...collaboration2

[Vicus]

The Russian defense industry has mastered the production of gunpowder from wood

Enterprises of the Rostec state corporation make a huge contribution to providing the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with the necessary defense products, including ammunition. And now the Russian defense industry, most of whose enterprises are part of this structure, has mastered the production of gunpowder from wood.

About this in a conversation with journalists from the TASS news agency сообщил industrial director of the cluster of weapons, ammunition and special chemicals of the corporation Bekhan Ozdoev.

He claims that the new gunpowder, in its technical characteristics, is no worse than that produced using traditional technology based on the use of raw materials obtained from cotton. Now Rostec specialists have developed and mastered a method for producing gunpowder using wood and flax cellulose.

Ozdoev noted that the enterprises of the state corporation are constantly and continuously improving production processes. New technology for using alternative raw materials for gunpowder production has shown excellent results. This is evidenced by a set of tests and practical shooting. They showed that the new gunpowder fully complies with the requirements of the military, and there is no shortage of raw materials for it in Russia.

Earlier, representatives of the Western company Vista Outdoor, which produces, among other things, ammunition, said that a shortage of gunpowder is expected on the world market in the near future. This is largely due to armed conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, the African continent and the South Caucasus.

https://en.topwar.ru/239993-rossijsk...drevesiny.html

[Vicus]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=E_OfHlQgU3s

Massive Russian Advance West Of Avdiivka l Pervomaiske Has Fallen l 90 Percent Of Berdychi Falls 1 hour ago

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
disgusting find in #Popasovo #Donbass.Bodies in #Ukranian uniform found with western weapons appear to have been murdered. On them found child p... Filmed somewhere in Donbass when #Ukraine had access to the area. The kids were getting prepped for sale. #Mercenaries in Ukraine



https://x.com/ArthurM40330824/status...43795443904867

https://x.com/ArthurM40330824/status...99208210203037

https://x.com/ArthurM40330824/status...98200444776710

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
Video with English subs -> Fullscreen

🇷🇺🇺🇦 “If in our small village there are so many dead and missing, then what about all over Ukraine.”

The Deutsche Welle channel posted a video in which the village head of the village of Luzanovka (Cherkasy region) says that there are no men in the village. There is no one to even dig a hole for the dead or deceased. Before the war, 400 people lived in the village. 50 were mobilized.

There are old people, women and... although no, there are almost no children left.

Also, according to a resident from whom Zelensky took both sons to the front, the number of dead and missing (count dead) men from the village is enormous:

“If in our small village there are so many dead and missing, then what about all over Ukraine.”

This quote.

In neighboring villages... the same thing...
- ISZ reports

https://x.com/djuric_zlatko/status/1777569611321324010