Apr 15: Saturday Stories
Day 416: Melitopol Bakhmut MiG29 RUtests Shangfu RUeco ROC 77.5K Allies RUembassy 100K Crimea Naftogaz USvisas Baerbock Shor Swiss A&Ps NYT Hendrickson KyivIndie Niland Gallop Cirincione FoxOnTrial
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Stories we’re following…
3 killed, 8 injured as Russia attacks 8 Ukrainian regions over past day. Russia struck a total of 102 settlements using various types of weapons, Ukraine's Defense Ministry media center said on April 14. Three civilians were reportedly killed, and eight more were injured.
At least five people were killed and 15 wounded on Friday by a Russian missile strike on Sloviansk, the regional governor said. Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram that seven more people remained under the rubble after S-300 missiles damaged five apartment buildings and five private buildings, among other objects.
Melitopol Mayor reports explosion near concentration of Russian equipment. A "powerful" explosion was heard in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on the morning of April 14, exiled Mayor Ivan Fedorov said on national television, cited by Ukrainska Pravda publication.
General Staff: 'Fiercest fighting' continues near Bakhmut, Mariinka in Donetsk Oblast. The "fiercest fighting" in Russia's war against Ukraine continues to be focused around Bakhmut and Mariinka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast where Russia, despite "major losses" is concentrating its offensive operations, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported in its morning briefing on April 14.
Over the past day, units of Ukraine’s missile forces hit three enemy control points and three manpower clusters, according to the April 14 update by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports. "Missile and artillery units hit three control points, three manpower, weapons and military equipment clusters, an ammunition depot, as well as a radar and electronic warfare station," the statement said.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, has noted that, although Ukraine is increasingly receiving weapons from international partners, it is still not enough for the Ukrainian forces to fully cover their demand. Speaking at the national telethon, Danilov commented on Poland's decision to transfer another batch of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.
NYT: Here's a look at the state of fighting on the ground in Bakhmut.
Reuters reports that Russia will conduct missile launches and torpedo tests as part of its surprise inspection of its Pacific naval fleet. Chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov said Russia’s naval forces would be put on high alert during the drills
China’s defence minister Li Shangfu will visit Russia from 16-19 April, and meet Russian military officials, Reuters reports the Chinese defence ministry said on Friday.
Confusion and indifference meet a law tightening military draft procedures — approved this week by the Russian parliament — and could amount to backdoor martial law and facilitate a second wave of mobilization. [continue reading]
“I think the reasons behind the amendments are the recent failures of the Russian army,” said Maksim Olenichev, a lawyer working for human rights project First Department. “In essence the authorities have, in this way, come up with a second wave of mobilization.”
Russia would need to attract as many as 1 million new migrants every year until the end of the century to maintain its current population levels, according to research cited by the RBC news website on Thursday. HSE’s worst-case scenario envisages Russia’s population dropping to 67.4 million people unless the country can attract 1.1 million migrants every year over the next 80 years.
Julia Davis: Here is Vladimir Solovyov’s first reaction to Jack Teixeira's arrest: blaming Biden for the lack of information security. His narrative will change in light of the “hero whistleblower” angle that is being pushed by Tucker Carlson & Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Russia's economy is worse than Moscow claims because military spending covers up how much the private sector is shrinking. Policy economist Hanna Sakhno told Insider that the dynamics of Russia's GDP figures reflect that war-time spending, and therefore paint an incomplete picture. The government's official data, she said, should be taken with "caution." [continue reading]
Russia’s ambassador to the US has suggested it might be time to cut the number of US journalists in Russia while speaking on television about the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Reuters reports Russian Ambassador to the US Antonov said he had had a “very harsh” conversation with US under secretary of state Victoria Nuland, who accused Russia of illegally detaining Gershkovich.
The State Duma on Thursday in the second, main, reading adopted a bill that exempts the Russian Orthodox Church from the requirements of anti-money laundering legislation. That’s because the Russian Orthodox Church is a RIS front.
The head of the Russian orthodox church in Ukraine (falsely calling itself "Ukrainian orthodox church of Moscow partriarchy") has obtained Russian citizenship by choice, Russian police database says. And after that they play offended victims for being called a Russian church
The Russian authorities are renaming the streets of Melitopol. Two streets have already been renamed in honor of the dead propagandist Darya Dugina and the former head of the "DPR," Alexander Zakharchenko. This was announced by the head of the occupation administration Galina Danilchenko. In addition, Ukrainskaya street was renamed into Sovetskaya street, Hetmanskaya street - into Lenin street, and Stepnaya street - into Rosgvardiya street. A total of 86 streets are planned to be renamed.
Military intelligence 'roughly knows' details of alleged beheading of Ukrainian POW. Ukraine's military intelligence agency HUR "roughly knows" the details of the alleged murder by beheading of a Ukrainian POW, the video of which was circulated on social media on April 11, according to Ukraine's chief ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.
The French embassy in Moscow has received a package sent from Crimea and containing some bones and a syringe, as reported by RIA Novosti and Baza. The sender’s name on the package is Pietro Notarianni, a reference to the celebrated Italian film producer who died in 2006. Notarianni made his name as the producer of Luchino Visconti’s “The Leopard” (1963) and other classic films.
National Resistance Center: More than 100,000 Ukrainian children transported to Russia for 'medical treatment'. Russian occupying forces have transported more than 100,000 Ukrainian children from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts for "medical treatment," Ukraine's National Resistance Center reported on April 12.
The Office of the Prosecutor General has already recorded 77,500 war crimes committed by the Russian forces in Ukraine, and will try to prove that this is in fact an ongoing act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.
According to the Crimean Human Rights Group, there are at least 155 Crimean political prisoners being held in Crimea or in the Russian Federation. Two died in February after medical care was withheld. Konstantin Shiring in a Russian colony in Orenburg Oblast, and Crimean Tatar Dzhemil Gafarov in prison in Rostov-on-Don.
Patriotic tattoos have become a way of showing defiance of the occupation, and the Russians are using censorship laws to suppress them. Ksenia Golubenko, a woman from Simferopol, was detained on charges of “discrediting” the army and forced to apologize on camera for her “Crimea is Ukraine” tattoo, Mediazona reported. The apology video was published by Crimean Smersh, a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, which urged followers to harass the tattoo artist responsible.
Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz on Thursday said Russia has been ordered by an arbitration court in The Hague to pay $5bn (£4bn / €4.5bn) in compensation for unlawfully expropriating its assets in Crimea, which the Russian Federation claimed to annex in 2014.
Border guards used Clearview AI facial recognition software to identify over 10,000 persons complicit in Russia’s war crimes. That’s according to the press office of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.
Monique: I hope April passes very quickly. Let’s invite the Russians to leave Ukraine.
Ukraine, Romania, Moldova met in Bucharest to discuss Black Sea security. Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova signed cooperation agreements in Bucharest on April 13 following trilateral meetings that addressed security issues and Russian threats in the Black Sea region, the Associated Press reported.
China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, on Friday said China would not sell weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Ukraine and would regulate the export of items with dual civilian and military use. Speaking at a news conference with his visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, Qin reiterated China’s willingness to help facilitate negotiations to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict and said all parties should remain “objective and calm.”
Poland is “sceptical” about French attempts to organise talks between Ukraine and Russia, Poland’s foreign minister Zbigniew Rau said. Rau, in a speech to parliament on Thursday, said:
We do not see any signs that Russia is ready to revise its policy of territorial conquests... the possible result of such talks cannot be any separate guarantees for Russia, apart from the observance of the norms of international law.
@GLandsbergis: “Unfortunately, our geopolitical blindness has not yet been cured. We chose not to see the threat of Russian aggression,& now we are choosing not to see the threat of Chinese aggression. We are on the verge of repeating the same mistake.”
The Norwegian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced on April 13 that it had expelled 15 "Russian intelligence officers" from the country for "engaging in activities that are not compatible with their diplomatic status." According to the ministry, they were employees of the Russian embassy and had been "monitored over time." The threat of Russian intelligence operating on Norwegian territory "as a result of the deteriorating security situation" is what led Norwegian authorities to expel them from the country.
Swiss banks have begun warning Russian customers that their accounts will be closed if they continue paying taxes to Russia, the outlet RBC reported on Thursday, citing two Swiss lawyers who work with Russian clients and a source from the country’s banking sector.
Ukraine's anti-corruption agency designates Chinese tech brand Xiaomi as 'international sponsor of war.' Ukraine's National Corruption Prevention Agency has designated Chinese tech brand Xiaomi an "international sponsor of war," according to an April 13 press release.
Minister: UK to provide further $500 million in loan guarantees for Ukraine. U.K. Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said on April 12, as cited by Reuters, that his country was ready to provide Ukraine with an additional $500 million of loan guarantees, bringing the total this year to $1 billion.
Hungary will cease cooperation with the Russia-owned International Investment Bank following sanctions imposed on the financial institution by the U.S. Treasury, business news outlet Világgazdaság reported on April 13. Orbán was a close political ally of Donald Trump, and Fidesz maintains strong links with hardline US conservatives. This week, leaked Pentagon documents, based on intelligence, reported that the Hungarian prime minister had described the US as one of his party’s top three adversaries.
Swiss government pledges additional $17 billion to Ukraine in long-term aid. The Swiss government will provide Ukraine with another CHF 1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) in financial aid between 2025 and 2028, Swiss Info reported on April 13. These funds are in addition to the CHF 300 million ($337 million) in aid pledged by Switzerland in 2023 and 2024.
Swedish prosecutors charged a 52-year-old man with illegally possessing and spreading secret and sensitive information about a large number of military installations. “I consider this a gross crime as it concerns a large number of installations that are significant for Sweden’s ability to defend itself in the case of war,” Reuters reports senior prosecutor Lars Hedvall said in a statement.
In an exclusive interview with the Kyiv Independent, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov said that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has accelerated his country's effort to eliminate Russia's lingering reach.
Ukraine believes that there should be a permanent presence of NATO countries in the Black Sea basin for joint patrolling or demining. This was stated by First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzheparova on the air of the national telethon "United News", Ukrinform reports.
Jack Teixeira made his first appearance in a Boston federal court room 18 at 10 a.m. on Friday following his arrest yesterday in North Dighton, Massachusetts, by a handful of FBI agents. He was charged with unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents and materials, according to the US magistrate judge, Reuters reports. The US Attorney General of Massachusetts reports that Teixeira will be detained pending detention hearing set for Wednesday, April 19. Time TBD.
The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries will meet from April 16 in Japan, with the Middle East expected to feature on the agenda.
Fox ‘News’ on Trial, The Atlantic
The $1.6 billion Fox News defamation trial is about to begin. John Hendrickson asks, “Did Fox News act with “actual malice” in broadcasting a litany of lies about Dominion Voting Systems’ machines in the days and weeks after the 2020 presidential election?” On Monday, a jury in Wilmington, Delaware, will hear opening arguments in the landmark case.
The evidence against Fox is overwhelming. Some of the network’s biggest names, including Tucker Carlson, had their private text messages surface in the discovery process. “The software shit is absurd,” Carlson wrote to his producer. Even Murdoch, in his deposition, personally cast doubt on former President Donald Trump’s claims about a “stolen election.” He also acknowledged that several of his hosts “endorsed” the Dominion conspiracy theory.
The case may still settle before Monday morning. Fox has already suffered some behind-the-scenes exposure and may want to avoid any additional texts or emails becoming public. Murdoch, Carlson, and other household Fox names could also be forced to testify.
Former President Proves Russia is Pursuing Modern-Day Fascism
By Paul Niland, Byline Times, 11 April 2023
The claims of Dmitry Medvedev denying the existence of Ukraine remove all doubt about the Kremlin’s genocidal thinking. But what of its totalitarian methods?
On 8 April the one-time place holder president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, published a rant on his verified Twitter account where he has 1.1 million followers, a rant entitled “Why will Ukraine disappear? Because nobody needs it”.
In what can only be described as a genocidal screed, Medvedev resorted to the typical Russian language with regard to Ukraine and Ukrainians, describing that country and people as “Nazi” as well as “unterukraine” and “blood-sucking parasites”. He went on to describe Ukraine as an artificially cut territory” on which “millions of our [Russian” compatriots” live and those people have allegedly been harassed for years by the “Nazi Kiev [sic] regime”. He concludes by saying “nobody on this planet needs such a Ukraine. That’s why it will disappear.” Medvedev is openly advocating for genocide, and echoing the language of Hitler.
It is widely believed that Medvedev suffers from an alcohol problem, however it would be unwise to dismiss this as yet another drunken outburst, because the problem is that what Medvedev is voicing is not just his own (possibly vodka-induced) deluded musings, he is expressing the thoughts of not only Putin, who is directing this outrageous illegal war against Ukraine, but these opinions are also shared by the millions of ordinary men and women of Russia who both support and fight in this war. [continue reading]
