Apr 21- Morning Up-date

The Battle of Donbas & EuroFile@6

Via BBC- War in Ukraine- 11 am CET

1. Vladimir Putin orders his troops not to storm the Azovstal steel plant, where the last group of Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol is holding out

2. Instead, the president tells them to seal it up so even a "fly" cannot escape, and says Russia has control of the strategic port city

3. Some civilians trapped for weeks in the wider south-eastern city have been able to leave, but far fewer than hoped

4. In the east of Ukraine, where fighting continues a 300-mile front, Russia has not had any major breakthroughs, a think-tank says

5. Moscow secured "minor gains", including parts of some frontline towns, Institute for the Study of War analysis shows.

Via Nuno Felix…

Nuno Felix @Felix_Nuno

mapa situação

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EuroFile@6 this evening is OPEN MIC…

Our guests this evening are Olga Tokariuk & Vadym. Please bring your questions and comments and DM Scott Lucas if you would like the floor.

• Olga Tokariuk and Vadym - what is happening in Ukraine

• Olga’s new Spaces- what’s it about?

• Where is Putin going with this war?

About our guests…

Olga Tokariuk

Olga Tokariuk is an independent journalist in Ukraine. @CEPA non-resident fellow. Disinformation researcher. Ex @Hromadske. She is often a guest commentator on many international legacy media outlets. What few people know about her is that she is also an expert on the Italian info-sphere bringing to light Russian disinformation vectors and narratives.

Olga Tokariuk @olgatokariuk

Day 57 of Ukraine resistance. Russia is planning to hold a sham 'referendum' in Kherson on April 27 and proclaim a 'people's republic' there. Only 4 buses with evacuees left Mariupol yesterday. No one hiding in Azovstal basements - civilians and military - able to leave

Vadym

Vadym has a long career in international business. Owing to Russia’s war of genocide in Ukraine, he’s been reporting from Dnipro as well as assisting Italian journalists from national outlets navigate Ukraine and the war. He is currently writing for national Italian outlets and reports every morning in Livia’s Clubhouse room.

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Where is Putin going with the war?

Julia Davis @JuliaDavisNews

Meanwhile on Russian state TV: host Vladimir Solovyov and several angry pundits smoothly descend from bashing Tweets by @anneapplebaum into straight-up antisemitism. Judge for yourself—and remember, these are the same people claiming they're in Ukraine to "eradicate Nazism."

Anders Åslund @anders_aslund

I think we need to rethink Russia's war against Ukraine. Russia itself says that it is not a war against Ukraine, but against NATO (Simonyan & Solovyev on Rossia 1). OK, Russia has declared war on NATO, and that is NATO doing? Nothing! Think again!

Via The Guardian - Ukraine’s access to weapons could determine fate of Donbas offensive, Dan Sabbagh

Russia and Ukraine both declared that Moscow’s offensive in the Donbas region had begun this week – although, in reality, the air and artillery bombardment by Moscow’s forces over the past 48 hours is not yet the intensive attack signalled by the Kremlin when it abandoned its attempt to seize Kyiv….[continue reading]

Set your reminders…

6pm Rome, 7pm Kyiv, 5pm London, 12pm NYC

Thanks for reading…

Mo & Scott