Guess he didn't fly so good, RIP Mr Prigozhin.

edition.cnn.com

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of Russian mercenary group Wagner who staged a short-lived mutiny against Russia’s military leadership in June, was on board a plane that crashed northwest of Moscow on Wednesday, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency said.

Zelensky hails ‘historic’ supply of F-16s as Ukraine seeks to counter Russian air supremacy

CNN — The Netherlands and Denmark will provide Ukraine with much sought-after F-16 fighter jets in an agreement hailed by President Volodymyr Zelensky as “historic.”

Kyiv has urgently been calling on its Western allies to provide it with the US-made aircraft, as its slow-moving counteroffensive is hampered by Russian air superiority.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Zelensky at Eindhoven airport on Sunday, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his country would “commit to delivering F-16 aircraft to Ukraine” once “the conditions for such a transfer have been met.”

Zelensky hailed the agreement as “historic” and “the most important” one yet. “The Netherlands became the first country to agree to provide Ukraine with F-16s after training. I am very grateful,” he added.

Even with the news it will take months until Ukraine will be able to use the jets.

On Monday, Zelensky said on X, the social network previously known as Twitter, that Ukraine would receive 42 F-16 from the Netherlands and 19 from Denmark.

However, the Dutch government has not yet publicly confirmed the number of jets it would provide. Rutte said his country, which is currently in the process of upgrading to the newer F-35 fighter jets, had 42 F-16s in its arsenal.

“At this moment, the Netherlands still owns 42 F-16s. Out of these 42, we need planes to help training in Denmark and later on in Romania,” Rutte said. He added that the Netherlands would look into whether all of the remaining planes could be supplied but stated that he could not yet give a definitive number.

The Netherlands, a NATO member, has been a strong ally to Ukraine since well before Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

In 2014, 196 Dutch citizens were killed when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukrainian territory held by pro-Russian separatists. Dutch investigators said in February there were “strong indications” that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the decision to provide separatists with the missile system that downed the plane.

The Dutch government has promised €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion) in support to Ukraine this year.

The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement published Sunday it had agreed to provide F-16s.

Conditions for the transfer include training Ukrainian personnel, setting up infrastructure and logistics, and receiving the necessary authorization, it said.

Zelensky traveled on to Denmark after visiting the Netherlands where he met Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

“Today we announce that we will provide 19 F-16 jets to Ukraine, we believe Danish fighter jets will help protect your skies,” Frederiksen said.

“The aim of this delivery is to protect Ukraine. We plan to provide the jets closer to the new year, about six of them, then eight in the next year and then another five.”

The meetings come after a US official on Friday said the US had committed to approving the transfer of F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine as soon as training is complete.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Saturday that Ukrainian pilots had begun training.

F-16s are single-engine, multirole jet aircraft, meaning they can be used in air-to-air or ground-attack missions.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/20/europe/netherlands-denmark-f-16-fighter-jets-ukraine-intl/index.html

IN PICTURES: Scenes from Russia’s Rostov-on-Don where Wagner forces have taken over key military facilities in an attempt to oust the military leadership.

An armoured personnel carrier is parked in a street as members of Wagner group patrol an area in the centre of Rostov-on-Don, on Jun 24, 2023.

Members of Wagner group sit atop of a tank in a street in the city of Rostov-on-Don, on Jun 24, 2023.

Members of Wagner group inspect a car in a street of Rostov-on-Don, on Jun 24, 2023.

Military vehicles of Wagner group are parked outside the headquarters of the Russian Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, on Jun 24, 2023.

Members of Wagner group patrol the center of Rostov-on-Don, -- a hub for Russia's Ukraine campaign -- where the rebellious Wagner mercenary force said it had taken over key facilities on Jun 24, 2023.

An armoured personnel carrier is parked in a street as a member of Wagner group patrols an area in the centre of Rostov-on-Don -- a hub for Russia's Ukraine campaign -- where the rebellious Wagner mercenary force said it had taken over key facilities on Jun 24, 2023

Putin in crisis: Wagner chief Prigozhin declares war on Russian military leadership

Vladimir Putin is facing a major military crisis after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared war on Moscow’s own defense ministry, claiming Kremlin officials had killed thousands of his soldiers.

In a statement issued Friday night, the FSB security agency said it had “legally and reasonably begun criminal proceedings” against the Wagner Group warlord “for the organization of armed insurrection.” Russian media outlet TASS reported Saturday morning that Putin plans to make an address soon.

Prigozhin claimed he had pulled his troops back from Ukraine and into the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, and vowed: “If anyone gets in our way, we will destroy everything!” The outspoken mercenary commander also threatened to move on Moscow if his demands were not met, and Russian authorities responded by saying the key highway from Moscow to the south was blocked.

POLITICO could not verify the claim that Wagner troops had entered Rostov and Prigozhin did not present evidence of the massive troop movements he claimed were underway. But in the early hours of Saturday morning, videos began circulating on social media that reportedly showed unidentified armed men dressed in camouflage entering Rostov-on-Don, the administrative center of the Rostov region, and seizing government buildings.

The feud between Prigozhin and Russia’s ministry of defense has been building for months but now appears to have boiled over.

According to Russian state media, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin is aware of the rapidly unfolding situation and “all necessary measures are being taken.”

“Prigozhin’s statements and actions are actually the calls for the beginning of an armed civil conflict on the territory of Russia and are a ‘stab in the back’ for Russian servicemen,” the FSB was cited as saying by the Ria Novosti news service.

The move comes after Prigozhin accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of having hidden “colossal” failings on the battlefield from Putin, claiming that 2,000 Wagner men were killed as a result of strikes ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

In a later statement on Telegram, Prigozhin called Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of the Russian Armed Forces and the overall commander of the war on Ukraine, “criminals” who had “destroyed around 100,000 Russian soldiers.”

In an audio recording posted just after 5 a.m. Rostov time, Prigozhin repeated his threat that his troops would destroy anything that stood in their way. “Once again I’m warning everyone: we will … destroy everything around us. You can’t destroy us. We have goals. We are all ready to die. All 25,000 of us.”

In response to Prigozhin’s allegations, Moscow issued a strong denial and a procession of generals have lined up to urge Wagner fighters to stand down.

In one video appeal, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseev, first deputy chief of the general staff of the armed forces, said Prigozhin does not have the authority to give orders. “This is a state coup,” he insisted, “come to your senses!”

Meanwhile, the Deputy Commander of Russian forces in Ukraine Sergei Surovikin — known as “General Armageddon” — urged Wagner to hold its positions and not to turn on its own allies. “Stop the columns, return them to the points of permanent deployment,” he pleaded.

Russia’s defense ministry issued a statement in the early hours of Saturday morning, warning that Ukrainian forces are “taking advantage of Prigozhin’s provocation” on the front lines around the key battleground town of Bakhmut, which Wagner troops previously held. Moscow’s top brass also said the 35th and 36th brigades of Ukraine’s Marine Corps “are on the starting lines for offensive operations.”

In a tweet in the early hours of Saturday, Ukraine’s defense ministry said: “We are watching.”

Rolling the dice

Earlier Friday, the Wagner Group founder questioned Moscow’s rationale for launching its invasion of Ukraine, saying that “the Armed Forces of Ukraine were not going to attack Russia with NATO,” and that “the war was needed for a bunch of scumbags to triumph and show how strong of an army they are.”

In a bombastic video statement, he called the Russian military leadership “evil” and vowed to march for “justice,” threatening anyone who stood in his way.

In a second message released on his Telegram channel in the early hours of Saturday morning, Prigozhin said that “at the current time, we are entering Rostov,” in Russia, adding that conscripts had been sent to turn Wagner Group fighters back. However, he went on to claim, those guarding the frontier had greeted his troops with open arms.

“If anyone gets in our way, we will destroy everything!” Prigozhin vowed.

In a post on his Telegram account, Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region, said: “The current situation requires the maximum concentration of all forces to maintain order. Law enforcement agencies are doing everything necessary to ensure the safety of residents of the area. I ask everyone to stay calm and do not leave the house without the need.”

Russian state media said checkpoints have been erected in Rostov-on-Don, close to the souther border with Ukraine. At the same time, unnamed officials told news agency TASS that security has been tightened in Moscow with national guard units deployed to keep the peace. Unverified videos purport to show armored vehicles parked on the streets of the capital.

Russian state media also said Moscow’s Red Square will be closed to the public on Saturday, claiming the reason for the closure was because an event was to be held there.

Speaking to POLITICO, Colonel Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer and ex-NATO planner, said that it was “too early to tell” if a coup was underway. “Clearly Moscow is worried and has activated a defense plan — Prigozhin is trying to push something focused on Shoigu, but it could be many things.”

According to Ian Garner, a Russia expert and author of a new book on the fallout of the war in Ukraine, the Wagner chief has overplayed his hand. “Prigozhin has rolled the dice, and now the state is going to do away with him for good,” he said.

“I suspect Prigozhin’s chances of launching a successful coup are slim. The state can offer everything he does — money, freedom, prestige — without him. Why would the Wagner fighters side with Prigozhin in a battle to the death?” Garner said.

Death knell for Wagner

The chaos amounts to a death knell for the Wagner Group, which has been active not just in Ukraine but also in Africa, according to one analyst.

“Whatever this is, it is definitely the dismantling of Wagner,” said Tatiana Stanovaya, a political analyst and founder of the R-Politik consultancy firm, on her Telegram channel.

“This is the end of Prigozhin and the end of Wagner. An important moment: many within the elite will hold it against Putin that things have come this far and that the president did not react sooner. That’s why this entire story is also a blow to Putin.”

In his increasingly unhinged voice memos on Telegram, Prigozhin also claimed a Russian military helicopter had opened fire on a convoy of his troops — and that Wagner had shot it down.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson on Russia Adam Hodge said: “We are monitoring the situation and will be consulting with allies and partners on these developments.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin published a pre-recorded video of President Putin in honor of Youth Day.

https://www.politico.eu/article/putin-in-crisis-as-wagner-chief-prigozhin-declares-war-on-russian-military-leadership/

Russian billionaires see wealth rise to over half a trillion dollars - Forbes

Russia's richest people added $152 billion to their wealth over the past year, buoyed by high prices for natural resources and rebounding from the huge loss of fortunes they experienced just after the Ukraine war began, Forbes Russia said.

Russia has 110 official billionaires in the list, up 22 from last year, according to Forbes' Russian edition, which said their total wealth increased to $505 billion from $353 billion when the 2022 list was announced.

Five billionaires renounced their citizenships

The list would have been longer had not five billionaires - DST Global founder Yuri Milner, Revolut founder Nikolay Storonsky, Freedom Finance founder Timur Turlov, and JetBrains co-founders Sergei Dmitriev and Valentin Kipyatkov - renounced their Russian citizenships, Forbes said.

"Last year's rating results were also influenced by apocalyptic predictions about the Russian economy," Forbes said, adding that the total wealth of Russia's billionaires was $606 billion in 2021, before the war began.

After President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24 last year, the West imposed what it casts as the most severe sanctions in modern history on Russia's economy - and some of its richest people - in an attempt to punish Putin for the war.

Putin said the West was trying to destroy Russia and has repeatedly touted the failure of Western sanctions to destroy the Russian economy, or even stop Western luxury goods - let alone basic parts - from ending up in Russia.

Russia's economy shrank 2.1% in 2022 under the pressure of Western sanctions, but it was able to sell oil, metals and other natural resources to global markets, in particular to China, India and the Middle East.

The International Monetary Fund this month raised its forecast for Russian growth in 2023 to 0.7% from 0.3%, but lowered its 2024 forecast to 1.3% from 2.1%, saying it also expected labor shortages and the exodus of Western companies to harm the country's economy.

The price of Urals oil, the lifeblood of the Russian economy, averaged $76.09 per barrel in 2022, up from $69 in 2021. Fertilizer prices were also high last year.

The three richest Russians

Andrei Melnichenko, who made a fortune in fertilizers, was listed as Russia's richest man by Forbes with an estimated worth of $25.2 billion, more than double what he was estimated to be worth last year.

Melnichenko could not be reached for immediate comment on the Forbes ranking.

Vladimir Potanin, president and biggest shareholder of Nornickel, the world's largest producer of palladium and refined nickel, was ranked as second richest in Russia with a fortune of $23.7 billion. Potanin could not immediately be reached for comment on the Forbes ranking.

Vladimir Lisin, who controls steelmaker NLMK and was ranked last year as Russia's richest man, was placed third in the Forbes Russia list with a fortune of $22.1 billion. Lisin could not be immediately reached for comment on the Forbes ranking.

Many Russian billionaires cast Western sanctions as a clumsy, and even racist, tool.

Building fortunes as the Soviet Union crumbled, a small group of tycoons known as the oligarchs persuaded the Kremlin under late president Boris Yeltsin to give them control over some of the biggest oil and metals companies in the world.

The privatization deals often propelled the tycoons into the league of the world’s super rich, earning them the enduring dislike of millions of impoverished Russians.

But under Putin, some of the original oligarchs, such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Boris Berezovsky, were stripped of their assets, which eventually ended up under the sway of state companies often run by former spies.

New Russian names in the Forbes list include billionaires who made their money in snacks, supermarkets, chemicals, building and pharmaceuticals, indicating that Russian domestic demand has remained strong despite the sanctions.

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-739952

Putin drafts up to 300,000 reservists, backs annexation amid war losses

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a partial military mobilization Wednesday to call up as many as 300,000 reservists in a dramatic bid to reverse setbacks in his war on Ukraine, including the recent humiliating retreat from the northeastern Kharkiv region.

In a national address broadcast Wednesday morning, Putin lashed out at the West, voiced his support for staged referendums that are being planned as a precursor to annexation of occupied areas of Ukraine, and hinted ominously that he was ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russian territory — as he defines it.

“In the face of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal,” Putin warned. “This is not a bluff,” he said, in a clear reference to Russia’s nuclear capabilities.

“I will emphasize this again: with all the means at our disposal,” he added.

Russia’s faltering military performance in Ukraine leaves Moscow relying on its nuclear arsenal to affirm its status as a global power. Brimming with resentment and anger, Putin called the war an effort by Western elites to destroy and dismember Russia, framing it as a confrontation between Moscow and NATO countries.

Those comments were reinforced in a separate address by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, although Western leaders — including President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — urged Putin not to invade and have put limits on military support for Ukraine to signal that their nations are not in direct conflict with Russia.

The plans to stage referendums from Friday to Tuesday in four occupied regions of eastern and southern Ukraine — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — pave the way for their illegal annexation by Russia, a step that will be rejected globally. But it could be used by Russia to claim that Ukraine’s attacks to liberate its own territory amount to attacks on Russia itself.

Putin’s blunt, uncompromising rhetoric underscored his growing international isolation. The war has dominated discussions at the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York, where world leaders condemned the violence and lamented the global hardship caused by soaring food and energy prices.

A lot more at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/21/putin-speech-annexation-ukraine-russia/

100,000 “volunteers” offered by North Korea to aid in the war against Ukraine, according to Russian state TV:

Ukraine war: Every bridge leading to key city Severodonetsk destroyed

All bridges to the embattled Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk have now been destroyed, the local governor says.

With the city effectively cut off, Serhiy Haidai says delivering supplies and evacuating civilians are now impossible.

Fierce fighting is taking place in the eastern city where Ukrainian officials said Russian artillery had driven its forces out of the centre.

For weeks capturing Severodonetsk has been a top military goal for Russia.

Taking Severodonetsk and the nearby city of Lysychansk would give Moscow control of the entire Luhansk region, much of which is already controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

All three bridges into Severodonetsk were destroyed, Mr Haidai posted on Telegram. Those residents remaining in the city were being forced to survive in "extremely difficult conditions", he added.

Former British soldier Jordan Gatley is among those to have been killed while fighting to defend the city, his family confirmed on Sunday.

Ukraine's President Volodomyr Zelensky described the human cost of the battle for the city as "terrifying". Ukrainian troops, he said, had been fighting Russian forces for "literally every metre".

Reports suggest that about 70% of the city is now under Russian control.

Ukrainian troops remaining in the city must "surrender or die", a military representative of the pro-Russian self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said.

Speaking to media in Donetsk, Eduard Basurin said, "Ukrainian divisions that are there [in Severodonetsk] are there forever."

A top Russian official said Moscow's objective was to protect the self-declared people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

"In general, the protection of the republics is the main goal of the special military operation," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti news agency.

When President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on 24 February he claimed Russia's goal was to "demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine". However, it soon became clear Russia was intent on seizing Ukrainian territory and it is now focused on controlling the industrial east.

Also on Monday, Ukrainian officials said weapons being supplied by the West were not arriving as quickly as they should.

A senior presidential adviser to President Zelensky said that to end the war Ukraine's military needed "heavy weapons parity", posting a list of military hardware he said Kyiv required.

Speaking to the BBC World Service's Newshour, an adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister said troops defending Severodonetsk would have been more effective if heavy weapons had been supplied earlier.

Troops are defending the city "with what we can" but would be "much more efficient at repelling the enemy and liberating Ukrainian land had we received more heavy weaponry by now", Yury Sak said.

He added that Russia's advantage was overwhelming - firing an average of 50,000 rounds a day and creating a "barrage of mortar shells, air bombardment, missile strikes" over Ukraine.

In recent weeks Western countries have committed to sending longer-range weapons to Kyiv, including the UK which for the first time said it would be sending multiple-launch rocket systems to help Ukraine defend itself.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61786949

Russia made £79.4bn in first 100 days of Ukraine war by selling oil and gas to the world

Russia made €93bn (£79.4bn) in the first 100 days of the war against Ukraine by selling its fossil fuels to countries all over the world.

This staggering total came despite a significant fall in export volumes in May as the international community tried to reduce dependency on Moscow's oil and gas.

According to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the EU received 61% of Russia's fossil fuel exports.

And even as Russian oil is being sold at a discount because of its origin, a global increase in demand for fossil fuel and soaring energy prices have still been lucrative for President Vladimir Putin's regime, helping to finance his invasion of Ukraine.

CREA's lead analyst Lauri Myllyvirta said of the current international sanctions against Moscow: "The progress to date is far too slow given Ukraine's urgent need for support. Much stronger action is needed to cut off the flow of cash to Russia.

"Globally, we need to speed up the deployment of clean energy to replace fossil fuel imports and ease the high fuel prices which are driving up Russia's revenues."

The EU has pledged to block most Russian oil imports by the end of the year although it is struggling to agree on how and when to end its dependency on Russian gas.

Still, Poland and America made the largest impact on Russia's income by dramatically reducing imports, along with countries like Lithuania, Finland and Estonia.

According to CREA's research, India, France, China, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia all increased imports, with India buying 18% of Russia's crude oil exports, and France the largest buyer of discounted liquid natural gas and oil cargoes on the short-term market.

Mr Myllyvirta said: "The exports of Russian oil to new markets are being enabled by Greek and other European shipping companies.

"As Russian oil is shipped to more distant markets, more tanker capacity than ever before is needed for the transport.

"80% of the tankers carrying Russian oil to India and the Middle East, for example, are European or US-owned.

"This should be the next focus of EU action."

CREA, which focuses on environmental and air pollution issues, carried out its research by tracking cargo ships, shipping data, gas pipeline flows, and by estimating the value of imports using its own pricing models.

https://news.sky.com/story/russia-made-79-4bn-in-first-100-days-of-ukraine-war-by-selling-oil-and-gas-to-the-world-12632810

Putin may declare war on May 9 and start conscription, US officials warn

Zaporizhzhia: Russian President Vladimir Putin could formally declare war on Ukraine on May 9, US officials have warned, as Russia moves to annex large swaths of eastern Ukraine.

May 9 is known as Russia’s Victory Day. As Putin’s long-term Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov doubled down on the claim that the invasion was a “special operation” aimed at “de-nazifying” Ukraine, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday there was “good reason to believe that the Russians will do everything they can to use” May 9 to justify the war.

“We’ve seen the Russians really double down on their propaganda efforts, probably, almost certainly, as a means to distract from their tactical and strategic failures on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Price said at a State Department briefing.

Price said it would be a great irony if Putin used Victory Day to declare war, which would allow the Kremlin to draft conscripts to reinforce its battered military force.

“I’m quite confident that we’ll be hearing more from Moscow in the lead-up to May 9,” Price said.

“I’m quite confident that you will be hearing more from the United States, from our partners, including our NATO partners, in the lead-up to May 9 as well.”

Separately, Michael Carpenter, US ambassador to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said that Russia would hold sham referendums in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics to attach the entities to Russia, while the captured city of Kherson would be declared an independent republic.

He noted that mayors and local legislators there have been abducted, that internet and mobile phone services have been severed and that a Russian school curriculum is soon to be imposed.

Ukraine’s government has said Russia has also introduced the rouble as currency there.

Russia’s Hitler claims

Russia’s foreign ministry accused Israel on Tuesday of supporting neo-Nazis in Ukraine, further escalating a row that began when Lavrov claimed Adolf Hitler had Jewish origins.

The Israeli foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador and demanded an apology.

“Such lies are intended to accuse the Jews themselves of the most horrific crimes in history that were committed against them,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.

“The use of the Holocaust of the Jewish people for political purposes must stop immediately,” he added.

Israel lambasted Lavrov on Monday, saying his claim – made when talking about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish – was an “unforgivable” falsehood that debased the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.

“Foreign minister Lavrov’s remarks are both an unforgivable and outrageous statement as well as a terrible historical error,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, calling for a Russian apology.

“Jews did not murder themselves in the Holocaust. The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of anti-Semitism.”

Leaders from several Western nations denounced Lavrov’s comments and Zelensky accused Russia of having forgotten the lessons of World War II.

The Russian ministry said in a statement thatLapid’s comments were “anti-historical” and “explaining to a large extent why the current Israeli government supports the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv”.

Moscow reiterated Lavrov’s point that Zelensky’s Jewish origins did not preclude Ukraine from being run by neo-Nazis.

“Anti-Semitism in everyday life and in politics is not stopped and is on the contrary nurtured [in Ukraine],” it said in a statement.

Lavrov made the Hitler assertion on Italian television on Sunday when he was asked why Russia said it needed to “de-nazify” Ukraine if the country’s own president was Jewish.

Israel has expressed support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February. But, wary of damaging relations with Russia, a powerbroker in neighbouring Syria, it initially avoided direct criticism of Moscow and has not enforced formal sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

However, ties have grown more strained, with Lapid last month accusing Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

Lavrov’s claims were condemned by Zelensky as proof “the Russian leadership has forgotten all the lessons of World War II”.

“Or perhaps they have never learnt those lessons,” Zelensky said in his nightly video message.

Hitler, Nazi Germany’s wartime leader, oversaw the systematic death of up to 6 million European Jewish civilians in a network of concentration camps his regime built. Nazism was premised on the supposed ethnic purity of the blood of the German race.

Mariupol’s misery

In bombed-out Mariupol, more than 100 people – including elderly women and mothers with small children – left the rubble-strewn Azovstal steelworks on Sunday and set out in buses and ambulances for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 230 kilometres to the north-west, according to authorities and video released by the two sides.

Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov told the BBC that the evacuees were making slow progress. Authorities gave no explanation for the delay.

At least some of the civilians were apparently taken to a village controlled by Russian-backed separatists. The Russian military said some chose to stay in separatist areas, while dozens left for Ukrainian-held territory.

In the past, Ukraine has accused Moscow’s troops of taking civilians against their will to Russia or Russian-controlled areas. The Kremlin has denied it.

The Russian bombardment of the sprawling plant by air, tank and ship picked up again after the partial evacuation, Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, which is helping to defend the mill, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Orlov said high-level negotiations were under way among Ukraine, Russia and international organisations on evacuating more people.

The steel-plant evacuation, if successful, would represent rare progress in easing the human cost of the almost 10-week war, which has caused particular suffering in the southern port city.

Previous attempts to open safe corridors out of the city and other places have broken down. Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of shooting and shelling along agreed-on evacuation routes.

Before the weekend evacuation, overseen by the United Nations and the Red Cross, about 1000 civilians were believed to have been in the plant along with an estimated 2000 Ukrainian defenders. Russia has demanded that the fighters surrender; they have refused.

As many as 100,000 people overall may still be in Mariupol, which had a prewar population of more than 400,000. Russian forces have pounded much of the city into rubble, trapping civilians with little food, water, heat or medicine.

Some Mariupol residents got out of the city on their own, often in damaged private cars.

As sunset approached, Mariupol resident Yaroslav Dmytryshyn rattled up to a reception centre in Zaporizhzhia in a car with a back seat full of youngsters and two signs taped to the back window: “Children” and “Little ones”.

“I can’t believe we survived,” he said, looking worn but in good spirits after two days on the road.

Child death toll

Also on Monday, Zelensky said that at least 220 Ukrainian children had been killed by the Russian Army since the war began, and 1570 educational institutions have been destroyed or damaged.

Thwarted in his bid to seize Kyiv Putin has shifted his focus to the Donbas, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Russia said it struck dozens of military targets in the region, including concentrations of troops and weapons and an ammunition depot near Chervone in the Zaporizhzhia region, west of the Donbas.

Ukrainian and Western officials say Moscow’s troops are raining fire indiscriminately, taking a heavy toll on civilians while making only slow progress.

The governor of the Odessa region along the Black Sea Coast, Maksym Marchenko, said on Telegram that a Russian missile strike on an Odessa infrastructure target caused deaths and injuries. He gave no details. Zelensky said the attack destroyed a dormitory and killed a 14-year-old boy.

Ukraine said Russia also struck a strategic road and rail bridge west of Odessa. The bridge was heavily damaged in previous Russian strikes, and its destruction would cut a supply route for weapons and other cargo from neighbouring Romania.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/ukraine-fighter-says-civilians-remain-trapped-in-mariupol-steel-plant-20220503-p5ahy7.html

Google has a message for its ad publishers regarding the ongoing Ukraine War:

Aftermath of a missile attack at a train station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, where more than 30 people were killed as they tried to escape the area:

Putin Spokesperson Admits ‘Significant Losses’ Of Russian Troops In Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted Russia has suffered “significant losses of troops” during its invasion of Ukraine and claimed in an interview with British media on Thursday that Russia’s pullback from Kyiv and Chernihiv was “an act of goodwill” to help with peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Key Facts

• Peskov said the loss of Russian troops in Ukraine was a “huge tragedy” to Russia, in a rare acknowledgement of the magnitude of Russian casualties. • Russia said on March 25 that 1,351 soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded in Ukraine.

• A senior NATO military official told the Washington Post on March 24, a month into Russia’s attack on Ukraine, somewhere between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian troops had been killed in the war, which Russia began with around 190,000 troops. ​​

• Peskov reiterated that Russia’s decision in late March to pull back troops from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv was “an act of goodwill” during peace talks with Ukraine, but military analysts have attributed it to Russia’s heavy losses and lack of progress on that front.

• Russia has pulled as many as 40,000 soldiers from Kyiv and Chernihiv and will likely send them to eastern Ukraine in the coming weeks, the New York Times reported, citing a U.S. official.

• Peskov disagreed with the characterization that the first weeks of the war didn’t go as the Kremlin had planned, though experts and think tanks have said Russia has focused on claiming control of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine after Russia’s initial plan to take over Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities fell through.

Key Background

Russia is having difficulty putting together a sufficient number of troops to move on to the next phase of the war, having devoted 75 percent of its forces to the initial offensive, the Times reported, citing American and other Western military and intelligence officials. Russian troops have faced logistics issues and heavy equipment losses amid strong resistance from Ukrainian troops. For reinforcements, Russia is turning to Russian and Syrian mercenaries, new Russian conscripts and regular Russian army troops from Georgia and easternmost Russia, the Times reported.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim/2022/04/07/putin-spokesperson-admits-significant-losses-of-russian-troops-in-ukraine/

Is Putin cracking? Voice analysis belies steely exterior

TOKYO -- With Russia now more than a month into its invasion of Ukraine and showing little sign of backing down, how has Russian President Vladimir Putin's mindset changed over the course of the conflict? The answer may lie in his voice.

Nikkei and Yokohama-based Risk Measurement Technologies looked at 1 hour and 19 minutes of voice samples from Putin from between Feb. 1 and March 18. An analysis of the audio suggests his stress levels were elevated starting in the days before the invasion and climbed sharply in early March, when Moscow responded to the tightening sanctions net around the country.

Changes in a person's mental state can affect their vocal cords, altering speech and potentially offering insights into their mentality that might be difficult to glean from their words or facial expressions.

Using Putin's comments at the U.N. General Assembly in September 2020 as a baseline, the analysis found a significant shift three days before the invasion, during a Feb. 21 meeting of the Russian Federation Security Council.

The president heard from top officials, including the prime minister, foreign minister and the heads of the two chambers of the Federal Assembly, on the question of whether to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

During the meeting, Putin's voice indicated swings between high and low levels of stress in a short time, a sign of wavering feelings. "We can conjecture that he was in a state of psychological instability," said Risk Measurement chief Kanji Okazaki.

Nikkei's analysis also looked at Putin's gestures. Ikuo Daibo, president of Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo and an expert on the relationship between body language and mental state, noted that Putin supported himself with his hands on his desk. "He felt determined to carry out something he'd decided on," Daibo said.

More at https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Ukraine-war/Is-Putin-cracking-Voice-analysis-belies-steely-exterio

Drone footage shows the extent of the devastation in Ukrainian towns and cities following the Russian invasion:

Utterly heart-wrenching to read.

edition.cnn.com

Dmytro and Tania Shvets spent the first 23 days of the war hiding in their cellar in Mariupol with their 7-year-old daughter, Vlada, and their parents. The family managed to escape the besieged Ukrainian city on Thursday, but their parents stayed behind.

At least eight people have died after Russian shelling hit a shopping center in Kyiv's Podil district late Sunday, Ukrainian officials said.

A building in Mariupol marked with the word “children” in Russian, where over 1,000 civilians were sheltering, was struck by Russian forces, officials say — and the death toll is unclear.

China Praises Ukraine Resistance, Pledges Economic Support

China's ambassdor to Ukraine has praised the strength of the Ukrainian people and promised to respect the choices of its sovereign government in a subtle move to balance its pro-Russia complexion.

At a meeting with regional authorities in Lviv on Monday, Fan Xianrong pledged to help Ukraine rebuild after the war. His message was a slight departure from the official line in Beijing, which still maintains general support for Moscow.

"China is a friendly country for the Ukrainian people. As an ambassador, I can responsibly say that China will forever be a good force for Ukraine, both economically and politically," said Fan, who relocated with his diplomatic staff from Kyiv toward the country's western border with Poland.

"We will always respect your state, we will develop relations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. We will respect the path chosen by Ukrainians because this is the sovereign right of every nation," Fan told Maksym Kozytskyi, a Lviv military official, according to Ukraine's state news service Ukrinform.

"China will never attack Ukraine, we will help, in particular in the economic direction. In one year, our country imports goods from around the world worth more than $3 trillion. We are ready to help you develop. In this situation, which you have now, we will act responsibly. We have seen how great the unity of the Ukrainian people is, and that means its strength," the ambassador said.

The readout, which was also published in Ukrainian by the Lviv regional government, contained no Chinese condemnation of President Vladimir Putin's actions or an acknowledgment of the many deaths caused by the ongoing Russian bombardment of major cities including Kyiv. But it's the furthest China has gone so far to offer rhetorical support for Ukraine and its choice to align with the West. In Beijing, meanwhile, officials continue to rail against the U.S. and NATO while calling attention to Moscow's security demands.

During a three-way call with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week, China's President Xi Jinping told his Western counterparts that they needed to help promote "a balanced, effective and sustainable European security framework." He called for equal dialogue between the EU, Russia, the U.S. and NATO, but failed to mention a role for Kyiv—a sharp contrast with the West's pledge never to discuss Ukraine without Ukraine.

This week's diplomatic move in Ukraine was also extremely understated. Fan's meeting in Lviv wasn't disclosed by the Chinese Embassy and is yet to be reported by Chinese media outlets or appear on the country's social media platforms in any official capacity. It reflects the Chinese government's outwardly pro-Russia and anti-American sentiment.

Beijing's posture contrasts with much of the world, with 141 countries at the United Nations having voted to condemn Russia's actions and requested an immediate withdrawal of its troops. China abstained at the vote in the General Assembly on March 2.

However, further outreach to Ukraine may indicate that China will not help sustain Putin's war by providing material aid to Moscow, a possibility over which U.S. officials had expressed concern after Beijing vowed to continue trading with Russia.

https://www.newsweek.com/china-praises-ukraine-resistance-pledges-economic-support-1688608

'Why? Why? Why?' Ukraine's Mariupol descends into despair

MARIUPOL, Ukraine — The bodies of the children all lie here, dumped into this narrow trench hastily dug into the frozen earth of Mariupol to the constant drumbeat of shelling.

There’s 18-month-old Kirill, whose shrapnel wound to the head proved too much for his little toddler’s body. There’s 16-year-old Iliya, whose legs were blown up in an explosion during a soccer game at a school field. There’s the girl no older than 6 who wore the pajamas with cartoon unicorns, among the first of Mariupol’s children to die from a Russian shell.

They are stacked together with dozens of others in this mass grave on the outskirts of the city. A man covered in a bright blue tarp, weighed down by stones at the crumbling curb. A woman wrapped in a red and gold bedsheet, her legs neatly bound at the ankles with a scrap of white fabric. Workers toss the bodies in as fast as they can, because the less time they spend in the open, the better their own chances of survival.

“The only thing (I want) is for this to be finished,” raged worker Volodymyr Bykovskyi, pulling crinkling black body bags from a truck. “Damn them all, those people who started this!”

More bodies will come, from streets where they are everywhere and from the hospital basement where adults and children are laid out awaiting someone to pick them up. The youngest still has an umbilical stump attached.

Each airstrike and shell that relentlessly pounds Mariupol — about one a minute at times — drives home the curse of a geography that has put the city squarely in the path of Russia’s domination of Ukraine. This southern seaport of 430,000 has become a symbol of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s drive to crush democratic Ukraine — but also of a fierce resistance on the ground.

In the nearly three weeks since Russia’s war began, two Associated Press journalists have been the only international media present in Mariupol, chronicling its fall into chaos and despair. The city is now encircled by Russian soldiers, who are slowly squeezing the life out of it, one blast at a time.

Several appeals for humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians went unheeded, until Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that about 4,000 passenger cars carrying civilians had fled Mariupol in a convoy. Airstrikes and shells have hit the maternity hospital, the fire department, homes, a church, a field outside a school. For the estimated hundreds of thousands who remain, there is quite simply nowhere to go.

The surrounding roads are mined and the port blocked. Food is running out, and the Russians have stopped humanitarian attempts to bring it in. Electricity is mostly gone and water is sparse, with residents melting snow to drink. Some parents have even left their newborns at the hospital, perhaps hoping to give them a chance at life in the one place with decent electricity and water.

People burn scraps of furniture in makeshift grills to warm their hands in the freezing cold and cook what little food there still is. The grills themselves are built with the one thing in plentiful supply: bricks and shards of metal scattered in the streets from destroyed buildings.

Death is everywhere. Local officials have tallied more than 2,500 deaths in the siege, but many bodies can’t be counted because of the endless shelling. They have told families to leave their dead outside in the streets because it’s too dangerous to hold funerals.

Many of the deaths documented by the AP were of children and mothers, despite Russia’s claims that civilians haven’t been attacked. Doctors say they are treating 10 civilians for every injured Ukrainian soldier.

“They have a clear order to hold Mariupol hostage, to mock it, to constantly bomb and shell it,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on March 10.

A lot more at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-ukraine-war-invasion-vladmir-putin-mariupol-siege-bodies-buried-rcna20229