NEWS IN BRIEF – UKRAINE CONFLICT

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Ukraine Conflict Update – 01 May

Russia: Weekly Sanctions Update

This week the United States halted plans on sanctioning President Putin’s alleged girlfriend Alina Kabaeva over concerns it would be too personal and further escalate the Ukrainian conflict. The US, UK and EU have already sanctioned President Putin’s close friends, high profile oligarchs, and his two adult daughters Katerina Tikhonova and Mariya Vorontsova, but the US decision to pause sanctions on Kabaeva raises questions around the US sanctions strategy and where the line to avoid escalation is being drawn. Sanctions against Kabaeva would have been in line with the Russian sanctions policy the US has been following up until now, though Washington indicated he remains a possible sanctions target in the future. It is possible that over the coming days and weeks, the US may impose sanctions on Kabaeva if they gauge that it will not exacerbate tensions beyond existing limits. In the meantime, the US hesitation will likely influence other Western nations to hold off from imposing similar sanctions.

In other related developments, Russia announced it has blocked gassupplies to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay state-owned energy company Gazprom in rubles, rather than in euros as their contract stipulates. Russia’s decision will serve as a warning to other European nations that Moscow will not hesitate to weaponise gas and exacerbate energy insecurity across Europe if states defy their requests – even states that had enjoyed historically cordial relations with Moscow, such as Bulgaria. Russia’s hard-line response to Poland and Bulgaria is indicative that Western sanctions are effectively tightening their grip around Russia’s economic prosperity and therefore pushing Russia to inflict punitive consequences, likely aimed at dividing the Western response.

Cracks are already beginning to show within the EU as a number of major European multinationals and governments have indicated their willingness to pay in rubles, despite the European Commission stating that this would be in breach of sanctions. The markets are placing their hopes on a work-around compromise, which would allow companies to pay in euros that are then converted into rubles, with Austria, Hungary and Germany’s Uniper confident of a compromise. However, lack of clarity on what precisely constitutes a breach of EU sanctions will ensure companies with existing Gazprom contracts will be at risk of violating sanctions as policy divergence between EU national governments and private companies risks further confusion.

Over the next few months, Russia’s decision to block gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria will also act as a major catalyst for the EU to seek alternative gas sources, but diversifying away from gas remains a longer-term issue. In the meantime, the threat of further gas cuts will sustain the risk of major energy insecurity across the continent, and will threat different countries at different times as existing contracts run out. Italy has already announced plans to restrict air conditioning and heating in public buildings this summer, with non-compliance punishable by fines ranging from EUR 500 – 3,000, underscoring the mounting risk of energy rationing in the event of further gas freezes.

Finally, Canada and Poland proposed rebuilding Ukraine using funds from seized and sanctioned Russian assets this week. According to Pawel Jablonski, Poland’s deputy international minister, “the most primary precept is that Russia began this battle, and so they should pay for [reconstruction]”. Similarly, Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly revealed Canada will change its sanctions law to allow seized and sanctioned foreign assets to be distributed as compensation to victims of the Ukraine war or help rebuild the state. As Canada is one step ahead of the EU in introducing this sanctions law, it is highly likely that the European Union will monitor responses to Canada’s new initiative before fully adopting it over potential concerns over property rights and other legal challenges. (Source: Sibylline)

01 May 22. Hacking Russia was off-limits. The Ukraine war made it a free-for-all. Experts anticipated a Moscow-led cyber-assault; instead, unprecedented attacks by hacktivists and criminals have wreaked havoc in Russia. For more than a decade, U.S. cybersecurity experts have warned about Russian hacking that increasingly uses the labor power of financially motivated criminal gangs to achieve political goals, such as strategically leaking campaign emails.

Prolific ransomware groups in the last year and a half have shut down pandemic-battered hospitals, the key fuel conduit Colonial Pipeline and schools; published sensitive documents from corporate victims; and, in one case, pledged to step up attacks on American infrastructure if Russian technology was hobbled in retribution for the invasion of Ukraine.

Yet the third month of war finds Russia, not the United States, struggling under an unprecedented hacking wave that entwines government activity, political voluntarism and criminal action.

Digital assailants have plundered the country’s personal financial data, defaced websites and handed decades of government emails to anti-secrecy activists abroad. One recent survey showed more passwords and other sensitive data from Russia were dumped onto the open Web in March than information from any other country.

The published documents include a cache from a regional office of media regulator Roskomnadzor that revealed the topics its analysts were most concerned about on social media — including antimilitarism and drug legalization — and that it was filing reports to the FSB federal intelligence service, which has been arresting some who complain about government policies.

A separate hoard from VGTRK, or All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Co., exposed 20 years of emails from the state-owned media chain and is “a big one” in expected impact, said a researcher at cybersecurity firm Recorded Future who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss his work on dangerous hacking circles.

U.S. government and energy firms close ranks, fearing Russian cyberattacks

The broadcasting cache and some of the other notable spoils were obtained by a small hacktivist group formed as the war began looking inevitable, called Network Battalion 65.

“Federation government: your lack of honor and blatant war crimes have earned you a special prize,” read one note left on a victim’s network. “This bank is hacked, ransomed and soon to have sensitive data dumped on the Internet.”

In its first in-depth interview, the group told The Washington Post via encrypted chat that it gets no direction or assistance from government officials in Ukraine or elsewhere.

“We pay for our own infrastructure and dedicate our time outside of jobs and familial obligations to this,” an unnamed spokesperson said in English. “We ask nothing in return. It’s just the right thing to do.”

Christopher Painter, formerly the top U.S. diplomat on cyber issues, said the surge in such activity risked escalation and interference with covert government operations. But so far, it appears to be helping U.S. goals in Russia.

“Are the targets worthy? Yes,” Painter said. “It’s an interesting trend that they are now being the target of all this.”

Painter warned that Russia still has offensive capabilities, and U.S. officials have urged organizations to prepare for an expected Russian cyber-assault, perhaps held to be deployed in a moment of maximum leverage.

But perhaps the most important victim of the wave of attacks has been the myth of Russian cyber-superiority, which for decades helped scare hackers in other countries — as well as criminals within its borders — away from targeting a nation with such a formidable operation.

“The sense that Russia is off-limits has somewhat expired, and hacktivism is one of the most accessible forms of striking at an unjust regime or its supporting infrastructure,” said Emma Best, co-founder of Distributed Denial of Secrets, which validated and published the regulator and broadcast troves, among others.

While many of the hackers want to inform the public about Russia’s role in areas including propaganda and energy production, Best said a secondary motivation post-invasion is “the symbolic ‘pantsing’” of Putin and some of the oligarchs.

“He’s cultivated a strongman image for decades, yet not only is he unable to stop the cyberattacks and leaks hitting his government and key industries, he’s the one causing it to happen.”

The volunteer hackers have gotten a first-of-its-kind boost from the government of Ukraine, which endorsed the efforts and has suggested targets through its IT Army channel on Telegram. Ukraine government hackers are assumed to be acting directly against other Russian targets, and officials have distributed hacked data including the names of troops and hundreds of FSB agents.

“There are state institutions in Ukraine interested in some of the data and actively helping some of these operations,” said an analyst at security company Flashpoint who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his work.

Ordinary criminals with no ideological stake in the conflict have also gotten in on the act, taking advantage of preoccupied security teams to grab money as the aura of invincibility falls, researchers said.

Last month, a quarterly survey of email addresses, passwords and other sensitive data released on the open Web identified more victim accounts likely to be Russian than those from any other country. Russia topped the survey for the first time, according to Lithuanian virtual private network and security firm SurfShark, which uses the underlying information to warn affected customers.

The number of presumed Russian credentials, such as those for email addresses ending in .ru, in March jumped to encompass 50 percent of the global total, double the previous month and more than five times as many published as were in January.

“The U.S. is first most of the time. Sometimes it’s India,” said SurfShark data researcher Agneska Sablovskaja “It was really surprising for us.”

Russian government websites face ‘unprecedented’ wave of hacking attacks, ministry says

The crime business can also turn political, and it definitely has with the war in Ukraine.

Soon after the invasion, one of the most ferocious ransomware gangs, Conti, declared that it would rally to protect Russian interests in cyberspace.

The pledge backfired in a spectacular fashion, since like many Russian-speaking crime groups it had affiliates in Ukraine.

One of them then posted more than 100,000 internal gang chats, and later the source code for its core program, making it easier for security software to detect and block attacks.

Network Battalion 65 went further. It modified the leaked version of the Conti code to evade the new detections, improved the encryption and then used it to lock up files inside government-connected Russian companies.

“We decided it would be best to give Russia a taste of its own medicine. Conti caused (and still causes) a lot of heartache and pain for companies all around the world,” the group said. “As soon as Russia ends this stupidity in Ukraine, we will stop our attacks completely.”

In the meantime, Network Battalion 65 has asked for ransomware payments even as it has shamed victims on Twitter for having poor security. The group said it hasn’t gotten any money yet but would donate anything it collects to Ukraine.

Network Battalion obtained the state broadcast emails and other hoards and gave them to DDoSecrets, making it one of the most important of several hacktivist suppliers to that site, alongside a pro-Western group named AgainstTheWest and some who have adopted the branding of Anonymous, a larger, looser and recently resurgent collective that welcomes anyone.

In an April 3 interview with a researcher known as Dissent Doe who runs the website DataBreaches.net, AgainstTheWest’s leader said the group formed in October and was composed of six English-speaking hackers, all privately employed but with intelligence backgrounds.

The initial objective “was to steal state-secrets, government software (in the form of source codes), private documents and such. However, we also had the idea that we should act on China for attacking the west in cyberespionage campaigns over the years,” the hacker said.

After hitting targets in China, AgainstTheWest moved on to those in North Korea, Iran and Russia.

The leader said the group was not acting directly for any intelligence agency but declined to say whether it was being helped by any of them. “We’re doing our job in the hopes that it benefits western intelligence. We share all private documents with anyone from the government in the U.S./EU.”

The group has made other documents public through DDoSecrets. Best received one request from a U.S. military account for access beyond what she published but turned it down.

Painter, the former State Department and Justice Department expert, said he was concerned that some volunteer hackers might take a step too far and harm civilian infrastructure or trigger a major reaction, and he cautioned that others might be hiding additional motives.

“In the normal course of events, you don’t want to encourage vigilante hackers,” Painter said. But he then agreed, “We’re not in a normal course of events.” (Source: Washington Post)

02 May 22. Ukraine’s General Staff Operational Report: Russian Deployed Additional Anti-aircraft Missile Systems in the Occupied Territories.

The enemy continues to conduct full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine and offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone

General Staff has released an operational update on the state of warfare as of 06.00 on May 2, 202206.00 on May 2, 2022.

Key points:

In the Donetsk direction, the offensive is going almost along the entire line of contact. In the Lyman direction, Russia fired on the positions of the Armed Forces on the Lyman-Siversk border in order to push them back and create conditions for an attack on Slovyansk.
In the Sievierodonetsk direction, the main efforts of the Russians are now to completely capture Rubizhne and prepare for the attack on Sievierodonetsk.
In the Popasna direction, Russia tried to improve the tactical situation in the Popasna area — it strengthened its troops by moving one battalion tactical group from the Mariupol direction.
Russia has deployed additional air defense systems in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
The occupiers are trying to reach the administrative border of Kherson oblast, looking for weaknesses in our defense. In the area of Mykolayiv Russia investigates the positions of the Ukrainian military by drones.
Russia continues to shell Kharkiv, the village of Udy, and the village of Prudianka. In the Izyum direction, the Russian army is advancing in the Izyum-Barvinkove and Izyum-Slovyansk directions.
On the border with Ukraine, in Bryansk oblast, the Russians established a counterintelligence regime. Checkpoints are located on the main roads and near the settlements. (Source: News Now/https://en.defence-ua.com/)

02 May 22. Civilians evacuated from Mariupol, Pelosi meets Ukraine’s Zelenskiy.

Summary
U.N. confirms ‘safe passage’ operation under way from Mariupol
Pelosi says U.S. stands with Ukraine after meeting Zelenskiy
‘Our aim does not include regime change’ – Russia’s Lavrov
Moscow steps up assault in Ukraine’s south, eastern Donbas

Around 100 civilians evacuated from the ruined Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol were due to arrive in a Ukrainian-held city on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, after U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a surprise visit to Kyiv.

The strategic port city on the Azov Sea has endured the most destructive siege of the war with Russia – now in its third month – with Pope Francis, in an implicit criticism of Moscow, telling thousands of people in St Peter’s Square on Sunday it had been “barbarously bombarded”. read more

“For the first time, we had two days of a ceasefire on this territory, and we managed to take out more than 100 civilians – women, children,” Zelenskiy said in a nightly video address.

The first evacuees would arrive in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday morning, he said, after the U.N. confirmed a “safe passage operation” was in progress.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said hundreds of civilians remain trapped in the steelworks, a vast Soviet-era complex with a network of bunkers and tunnels.

“The situation has become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe, because people are running out of water, food and medicine,” Vereshchuk said on Telegram late on Sunday.

Footage from inside the steelworks showed members of the Azov regiment helping civilians though rubble and onto a bus.

One older evacuee accompanied by young children said survivors were fast running out of food.

“Children always wanted to eat. You know, adults can wait,” she added.

More than 50 civilians arrived at a temporary accommodation centre in Russian-controlled territory on Sunday after escaping from Mariupol, a Reuters photographer said. read more

A plan to evacuate civilians from areas of the devastated city outside the steelworks had been postponed to Monday morning, Mariupol’s city council said.

Russia’s military has turned its focus to Ukraine’s south and east after failing to capture Kyiv in the early weeks of a war that has flattened cities, killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 5 million to flee the country.

Kremlin forces were trying to take over the town of Rubizhne and prepare an assault on Sievierodonetsk, in Ukraine’s east, the general staff said on Monday, while further east, Dnipro Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said a Russian missile hit a grain silo, but caused no casualties.

Luhansk region Governor Serhiy Gaidai said three people had been killed by shelling over the past 24 hours.

Two explosions took place in the early hours on Monday in Belgorod, the southern Russian region bordering Ukraine, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the region’s governor wrote in a social media post. The cause of the blasts was not immediately clear and Gladkov said there were no casualties or damage.

With fighting stretching along a broad front in southern and eastern Ukraine, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged continued U.S. support for Ukraine “until victory is won” after she met Zelenskiy in an unannounced visit to Kyiv.

Footage posted by Zelenskiy on Twitter on Sunday showed him, flanked by an armed escort and dressed in military fatigues, greeting a U.S. congressional delegation led by Pelosi outside his presidential office the previous day.

“We stand with Ukraine until victory is won. And we stand with our NATO allies in supporting Ukraine,” Pelosi, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, said on Sunday at a press briefing in Poland.

Zelenskiy praised as substantive four hours of talks with Pelosi focused on U.S. weapons deliveries, adding he was grateful to all of Ukraine’s partners who visit Kyiv at such a difficult time.

U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he would add provisions to a $33bn Ukraine aid package to allow the United States to seize Russian oligarchs’ assets and send money from their sale directly to Kyiv. read more

Moscow calls its actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression.

Moscow is pushing for complete control of the Donbas region, where Russian-backed separatists already controlled parts of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces before the invasion.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow only wanted to guarantee the security of pro-Russian Ukrainians in the east and was not demanding that Zelenskiy “give himself up” as a condition for peace.

“We are demanding that he issue an order to release civilians and stop resistance. Our aim does not include regime change in Ukraine,” Lavrov said in a media interview published on his ministry’s website.

(Source: Reuters)

30 Apr 22. Serbia shows off new Chinese missiles in display of military power. Serbia on Saturday showed off its new Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles and other military hardware purchased from both Russia and the West, as the country seeks to perform a delicate balancing act over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Members of the public and the media were invited to the display at the Batajnica military airfield near Belgrade, where Chinese and French missiles were lined up beside Airbus (AIR.PA) helicopters, Chinese-armed drones and Russian MIG-29 jets.

Serbia is striving to balance its partnership with NATO and aspirations to join the European Union with its centuries-old religious, ethnic and political alliance with Russia.

The Chinese FK-3 surface-to-air defence system, similar to Russia’s S-300 or the U.S. Patriot system, was purchased by Belgrade in 2019 and delivered earlier this month.

Serbia is currently the only European country to operate the Chinese missile system and CH-92A combat drones.

President Aleksandar Vucic toured Saturday’s display flanked by military commanders and watched an aerobatics show featuring overhauled MIG-29 jets donated by Russia in 2017.

“I’m proud of the Serbian army, I’m proud of a great progress,” Vucic told a news conference.

“We’re going to significantly strengthen our fighter air force … Serbia is a neutral country and Serbia must find solutions enabling it to preserve its sky and its state.”

The delivery of the FK-3 missile system prompted several Western countries, including Germany, to warn Belgrade it expected the Balkan country to align its foreign policy with the EU if it wanted to become a member.

Belgrade has voted against Russia three times at the United Nations but stopped short of imposing sanctions against it.

Serbia’s military is loosely based on ex-Soviet technology and Russia is one of its main suppliers. Belgrade is also dependant on natural gas and oil supplies from Russia.

Vucic said Serbia expects to purchase 12 Rafale multipurpose fighter jets from France by the end of the year or early next year, a move seen by political analysts as a sign of Belgrade distancing itself from Russia.

He said Serbia is also negotiating to buy 12 Typhoon combat aircraft from Britain.

01 May 22. Russia strikes U.S. weapons at airfield near Odesa, defence ministry says. Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday it had struck at weapons supplied to Ukraine by the United States and European countries and destroyed a runway at a military airfield near the Ukrainian city of Odesa. The ministry said it used high-precision Onyx missiles to strike the airfield, after Ukraine accused Russia of knocking out a newly-constructed runway at the main airport of Odesa. Odesa regional governor Maksym Marchenko said Russia had used a Bastion missile, launched from Crimea. Reuters could not immediately verify the reports. Russia’s defence ministry also said its air defence systems had shot down two Ukrainian Su-24m bombers over the Kharkiv region overnight. (Source: Reuters)

The Patriot systems will contribute to the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS), a network of interconnected sensors, command and control assets, and weapons. These ground-based defensive systems will strengthen the integrated shielding of NATO’s borders and will protect Slovakia from missile threats. NATO Integrated Air Missile Defence (NATO IAMD) is an essential, continuous mission in peacetime, crisis and conflict, safeguarding and protecting Alliance territory, populations and forces against any air and missile threat and attack. It is an essential element of NATO’s deterrence and defence.

This recently released NATO Multimedia footage, captured last week, includes various shots of Dutch Patriot missile defence systems on route from the Netherlands to Slovakia and German soldiers performing checks on the Patriot missile defence system as part of NATO’s IAMD.

Soundbite translations:-

05:25 (German) – Colonel Jörg Sievers, Commander Of The German Air Missile Defence Wing 1 And Task Force Commander In Slovakia “We are deployed in the area of NATO integrated air defence under NATO command here, and we make sure that the integrity of Slovak airspace is not compromised. We can see if someone moves here into this airspace that has no business here, so that we make sure that the airspace over Slovakia is safe.”
05:43 (German) – Colonel Jörg Sievers: “The Patriot system is used for the protection of our own troops, for the protection of population, for the protection of cities, of critical infrastructure – that can be shipyards, it can be nuclear power plants – over which we spread a protective bell with the Patriot system and make sure that there are no unauthorised aircraft, missiles endangering this protected object and therefore ensure the security on the ground for these troops and objects.”
06:07 (German) – Colonel Jörg Sievers:“Yes, the Patriot system is a purely defensive system. This means we can only protect ourselves against approaching threats with it. This means I don’t have the possibility to attack an enemy with a Patriot missile. It’s a system that is exclusively built to act defensively. That means we can use it to protect a space, we can use it to protect troops, we can use it to protect a city – a purely defensive system that can really only be used against approaching threats. We don’t have any way to use it offensively.”
06:32 (Dutch) – Captain ‘Tommie’, Netherlands Patriot Fire Unit Commander: “Operators control the weapons system, fire the missiles towards the target and our radar system uses radar communication to guide the missile towards the target, ultimately destroying it to protect cities and other important assets. The weapons system is so effective because our radar is highly specialised and can therefore guide its targets very efficiently and accurately.”
07:06 (German) – 1st Lieutenant Elisabeth Meppelink, German Air Missile Defence Wing 1: “Slovakia acts as a host nation and supports us in terms of logistics, infrastructure, but also through technical expertise. The Germans are here as lead nation, providing part of the weapons system and the Dutch are also here with a unit and also providing part of their weapons system.”
07:29 (German) – 1st Lieutenant Elisabeth Meppelink: “Multinational cooperation is important because, of course, as NATO members, we present a strong image to the outside world, here on NATO’s eastern flank, as well as through the different expertise that each nation brings to this operation.” (Source: www.joint-forces.com)

29 Apr 22. Russia is running short of precision missiles in its war against Ukraine and its arms factories lack the ability to produce enough to keep up with demand, western officials have said. Limitations in Russia’s arms supply industry and the impact of western sanctions mean Moscow is having to transport missiles from other parts of the country to Ukraine, the officials said on Friday. “Their stock is limited, it is being run down, and we are seeing them having to move Kalibr missiles from other strategic directions where they may be stored,” said one western official, referring to sea-launched cruise missiles. “That brings you some indications that their stock of precision weapons is being reduced.” The assessment comes as the US and its European allies ramp up efforts to arm Kyiv and are girding for a protracted conflict, with the Biden administration looking to send $33bn more in military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. It also comes as the Kremlin continues to struggle on the ground in Ukraine, with the Pentagon saying it believes Russia is at least several days behind its goal to encircle Ukrainian forces in the Donbas. (Source: FT.com)

29 Apr 22. M777 Artillery Deliveries Should Help Ukraine in the Donbas, Says Official. Shipments of U.S.-made M777 155 mm howitzers continue to arrive in Ukraine, a senior Defense Department official said during a news conference with the press today.

About 60% of the 90 howitzers planned for delivery are now in Ukraine, the official said, along with 155 mm rounds.

“We do believe that these howitzers will be … very, very effective in helping in the Donbas fight, which we’ve already seen, is deeply reliant on long-range fires, specifically artillery by both sides,” the official said.

“We certainly believe that the conditions could be set for a much longer slog here inside the Donbas given both sides’ familiarity with the terrain,” the official said. “We’ve described it as a potential knife fight, and I think it’s beginning to shape up to be exactly that.”

The reason that it seems that the fighting in the Donbas could go on a long time, the official said, is because the Russians have shorter lines of supply and communications, as well as superior numbers. The Russians are also trying to learn from their previous mistakes and are advancing cautiously.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainians are putting up stiff and effective resistance as well as employing their own artillery, the official said.

In the next 24 hours, more than a dozen flights are expected from the United States and that will include more howitzers and 155 mm rounds.

Other items in this shipment will be Phoenix Ghost Tactical unmanned aerial systems and radars, the official said.

In the last 24 hours, there have been almost 20 deliveries via airlift from seven nations that have been received in the region at multiple locations. The shipments include mines, small-caliber rounds, 122 mm rockets, helmets and body armor, the official said.

Since Ukrainian forces don’t have M777 artillery in their inventory, the U.S. is training Ukrainians on the use of these weapons in undisclosed areas outside of Ukraine, the official said.

Other U.S. systems the Ukrainians will be trained on include the Phoenix Ghost Tactical UAS and M113 armored personnel carriers, the official said.

In the past, this official has noted that these are train-the-trainer sessions, which means they take their knowledge back to Ukraine to conduct their own training.

As for current Russian movements, the official said that the Russians are at least several days behind where they want it to be.

“We believe that they meant to be much further along in terms of a total encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the east and they have not been able to link north with south. In fact, they’re nowhere close to linking north with south as the Ukrainians continue to fight back,” the official said.

“One of the reasons why we think that the Russians are behind schedule because of the Ukrainian resistance,” the official said, noting that the U.S. and 40 other nations are helping the Ukrainians continue that defense. (Source: US DoD)

28 Apr 22. Congress passes bill to loan US military equipment to Ukraine and allies. Congress on Thursday passed a bill that would enhance President Joe Biden’s authority to lend U.S. military equipment to Ukraine. The House passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, introduced by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, by a 417-10 vote after the Senate unanimously passed the legislation earlier this month.

“Today, we send to President Biden’s desk legislation to revive the consequential Lend-Lease initiative that turned the tide of World War II and will ensure the efficient delivery of further supplies to Ukraine and other Eastern European nations,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement ahead of the vote.

The bipartisan legislation seeks to revive a World War II-era program that allowed the government to lend or lease military equipment to U.S. allies.

The bill would allow the Defense Department to lend or lease defense articles to Ukraine or any other eastern European country, such as Poland, impacted by the Russian invasion.

Biden can already use lend-lease authorities under the Arms Export Control Act, but the latest bill would exempt Ukraine and neighboring countries from several requirements mandated under that law.

Under current law governing the lend-lease program, the president must formally determine that the leased equipment is not required for U.S. military use. It also renders the recipient country financially liable for repaying the United States for any costs incurred, including if the items are damaged or destroyed.

The lend-lease bill would waive those – and several other – restrictions on loaning U.S. military equipment to Ukraine and eastern European security partners.

The bill would also waive a statutory time limit that caps the leases at five years, while requiring the president to establish expedited procedures for delivering loaned or leased military equipment to Ukraine within two months of it becoming law.

However, it remains unclear whether the Biden administration intends to make use of the president’s lend-lease authorities.

“These are not leases that we’re doing with our weapon systems at this point in time, so this bill is complementary – but not necessarily needed – but it’s going to be available if needed,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters during a press call on Wednesday.

The same day Congress passed the Ukraine lend-lease bill, the Biden administration submitted a massive $33 billion request to Congress for additional Ukrainian aid.

That funding request includes more than $20bn in additional Ukrainian military and security assistance.

Congress had already appropriated $3.5bn to backfill U.S. military equipment sent to Ukraine as part of the $1.5 trillion government funding bill that it passed last month. (Source: Defense News)

“These efforts build on the initial artillery training that Ukraine’s forces already have received elsewhere and also includes training on radar systems and armored vehicles that have been recently announced as part of security assistance packages,” Kirby said.

U.S. Army Europe and Africa is organizing the training in coordination with Germany.

Florida National Guardsmen — who were part of the Joint Multinational Training Group in Western Ukraine and were ordered out of the country as the threat of the Russian invasion intensified — have reunited with Ukrainians in Germany and are again working to give the Ukrainians the knowledge they need to defend their country.

“The recent reunion of these Florida National Guard members with their Ukrainian colleagues, we are told, was an emotional meeting, given the strong bonds that were formed as they were living and working together before temporarily parting ways in February,” Kirby said.

The United States is not the only country training Ukrainian service members. Yesterday, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said Canadian service members were training Ukrainians on the M-777 howitzer in Europe.

This training effort is in direct support of recent U.S. security assistance packages “designed to help Ukraine win their battles today and build strength for tomorrow,” Kirby said.

These systems are necessary to counter Russia’s new push into the Donbas region of Ukraine.

This training package is just the latest in an effort that goes back to the break-up of the Soviet Union, but that intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and illegally annexed Crimea. “We’re here today talking about the Florida National Guard,” he said. “But as you all know, they were preceded by others of their colleagues going back over the last eight years.”

That training effort has been key to Ukraine’s stout defense of its capital city of Kyiv and the fight they are putting up in Donbas. The training helped transform Ukraine from a Soviet-style military to a more agile and deadly force. “They have better command and control,” Kirby said. “They have better battlefield initiative. They have a competent noncommissioned officer corps that is empowered on the field of battle to make tactical decisions. That didn’t happen by accident.”

The bulk of the training on the new systems Ukraine is getting will be performed by the Florida Guardsmen. They can, of course, call on Army units in Germany to assist if they need it, the press secretary said.

U.S. officials want to make the training useful and constructive, but not onerous — meaning the Ukrainians are fighting a war in their country and do not have the time for long training classes. As such, the Ukraine military chose artillery personnel to learn to operate the M-777 howitzer. They have the background needed to operate artillery and just need to learn the peculiarities of the American system.

The same is true of radar operators. While they will receive American systems, these soldiers have already learned about radar and just need to learn what buttons to push, or what pulses mean on American sets.

These Ukrainians soldiers will then go back to Ukraine and teach their fellow soldiers how to use the equipment effectively.

“As you might imagine, these soldiers are eager to learn these new skills, but they’re also eager to apply those new skills in the conflict,” Kirby said.

The press secretary was asked about Russian nuclear saber-rattling. He said the United States continually watches the Russia’s nuclear preparations, and officials believe U.S. deterrence is positioned correctly. He said the United States takes any threats seriously and is prepared.

“I’m not going to go into the psychology of Vladimir Putin,” Kirby said. “It’s hard to look at what he’s doing in Ukraine, what his forces are doing in Ukraine and think that any ethical, moral individual could justify that. It’s difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that. So, I can’t talk to his psychology. But I think we can all speak to his depravity(Source: US DoD)

29 Apr 22. Tank-killing mines that launch mini-missiles deployed by Russia for the first time. The PTKM-1R top-attack mine uses sensors to find its target, then leaps into the air to destroy its turret. A previously unseen anti-tank mine has been discovered in Ukraine that can leap into the air and attack the top of a turret. The Russian PTKM-1R top-attack mine was discovered on April 26. Although known to exist, it is the first time that the weapon has been seen deployed operationally.

Sensors on the mine listen for the sound of approaching vehicles and interpret vibrations through the ground to compare against a pre-programmed target list.

Civilian vehicles and less important military hardware should be ignored by the weapon.

The mine, which is understood to have been introduced into service by the Russian army in 2020, is similar to the US M-93 “Hornet” wide-area munition.

Armies around the world have been racing to develop so-called top-attack weapons in recent years as tank armour technology has developed at considerable pace.

Armour used to consist mainly of steel plates, which added weight to the vehicle, slowed it down and created suspension problems. However, modern ceramic armour can achieve the same protection, but for much less burden on the vehicle hull.

As with hand-held anti-tank munitions, researchers have been designing weapons to get above the vehicle in order to attack the less well-protected top of the turret.

This could kill the crew or cause the munitions inside to explode, or destroy the tank’s engines, rendering the vehicle inoperable.

Once deployed in position with eight legs to keep the weapon upright, the PTKM-1R’s four acoustic sensors “wake up” when a vehicle gets closer than 100m (328ft).

The upper portion of the weapon – which weighs almost 20kg (45lbs), including the 2.8kg (6.2lb) high explosive warhead – tilts towards the threat at a 30-degree angle.

The control unit compares the sounds and vibration with a pre-programmed list of potential targets. If the unit decides to attack, it expels a launching charge when the vehicle is 50m (164ft) away.

About two seconds later, at a height of about 30m (98ft), the warhead’s radar and infrared seeker scan the ground to find the target.

A metal slug, usually made of copper, is then blasted at extreme speed towards the tank. This explosively formed projectile travels so fast that it can penetrate 70mm (2.75in) of traditional steel tank armour and will rip through the thin plates on the top of the turret or the vehicle’s back decks.

It is not known whether any Ukrainian tanks have so far been destroyed by the mine. (Source: Daily Telegraph)

29 Apr 22. Ukraine warns talks with Russia may collapse as battles rage in east.

Summary
Ukraine says Russia’s ‘playbook for murder’ endangers talks
Russia says dropping sanctions key to peace talks
Russia preparing for new offensives in east, Ukraine says

Ukraine and Russia traded accusations over shaky talks to end a war now in its third month as Russia pounded areas in the east of the country and U.S. lawmakers vowed a massive new weapons package for Kyiv.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in remarks published early on Saturday, said lifting Western sanctions on Russia was part of the peace negotiations, which he said were “difficult” but continue daily by video link.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told Polish journalists that chances were “high” that the talks, which have not been held in person for a month, would end because of Russia’s “playbook on murdering people,” the Interfax news agency said.

Ukraine accuses Russian troops of atrocities in their withdrawal from areas near Kyiv. Moscow denies the claims.

After failing to capture the capital in the nine-week assault that has turned cities to rubble, killed thousands and forced 5 million Ukrainians to flee abroad, Moscow is now focussing on the east and south.

Russian forces captured Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson and mostly occupied the southeastern port city of Mariupol, where the United Nations is making efforts to evacuate civilians and fighters holed up in a large steel plant.

Lavrov, speaking to China’s official Xinhua news agency, said 1.02 million people had been evacuated to Russia from Ukraine since the invasion began on Feb. 24. Ukraine says thousands have been taken to Russia against their will. read more

Reuters could not independently verify the claims of either side.

Lavrov said the evacuees included 120,000 foreigners and people from Russian-backed breakaway regions of Ukraine – the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics that Russia recognised as independent just before President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion.

Moscow calls the war a “special military operation” to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine, defend Russian-speaking people from persecution and prevent the United States from using the country to threaten Russia.

Ukraine dismisses Putin’s claims of persecution and says it is fighting an unprovoked land grab to fully capture Donetsk and Luhansk, which form the Donbas region.

Britain and the United States have voiced support for Ukraine in the peace talks but say it is vital to keep arming Kyiv. On Thursday, President Joe Biden asked the U.S. Congress for $33bn in new aid, more than $20 billion of it in weapons.

The funding has received bipartisan congressional support. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hoped to pass the package “as soon as possible”.

Ukraine acknowledges losing control of some eastern towns and villages but says Moscow’s gains have come at a heavy cost to a force already worn down from its defeat near the capital.

“We have serious losses but the Russians’ losses are much, much bigger,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said, without elaborating. “They have colossal losses.”

Russia was pounding the entire Donetsk front line with rockets, artillery, mortar bombs and aircraft in part to stop Ukrainian troops from regrouping, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine’s military said Russia was preparing for offensives in the areas of Lyman in Donetsk and Sievierodonetsk and Popasna in Luhansk. In the south, it said, Russia was “continuing to regroup, increase fire effectiveness and improve position”.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had struck Ukrainian weapons storage sites, platoon strongholds, artillery positions and drones. Russia said a diesel submarine in the Black Sea had struck military targets with Kalibr cruise missiles, the first report of such strikes from a submarine.

Russia said its high precision long-range missiles had destroyed the production facilities of a rocket plant in Kyiv.

Ukraine says that attack Thursday struck a residential building, injuring civilians and killing a producer with U.S.-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The body of the producer, Vira Hyrych, was found in the building’s rubble, the broadcaster said.

“She was going to bed when a Russian ballistic missile hit her apartment in central Kyiv,” said Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko.

Western officials said Russia had suffered fewer casualties after narrowing the scale of its invasion but numbers were still “quite high”, while the British defence ministry said Russian gains had been limited and came at “significant cost”.

The bloodiest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe have been in Mariupol, reduced to a wasteland by two months of Russian bombardment and siege. Ukraine says 100,000 civilians remain in the city.

In parts of Mariupol now held by Russian troops, emergency workers were retrieving bodies from the streets. Among the blasted ruins, residents recounted the horror they had survived.

“We were hungry, the child was crying when the Grad (multiple rocket launcher) shells were striking near the house. We were thinking, this is it, the end. It can’t be described,” Viktoria Nikolayeva, 54, who survived the battle with her family in a basement, told Reuters, weeping.

One Ukrainian fighter holed up there was optimistic the injured and other soldiers at the plant could be saved and taken to safety. Previous evacuation efforts have failed.

“I really believe that all the defenders of Mariupol – the troops that remained here, the wounded and those alive – that we will be able to save the lives of these heroes,” said Captain Sviatoslav Palamar. (Source: Reuters)

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Ukraine Conflict Update – 01 May
Russia: Weekly Sanctions Update
This week the United States halted plans on sanctioning President Putin’s alleged girlfriend Alina Kabaeva over concerns it would be too personal and further escalate the Ukrainian conflict. The US, UK and EU have already sanctioned President Putin’s close friends, high profile oligarchs, and his two adult daughters Katerina Tikhonova and Mariya Vorontsova, but the US decision to pause sanctions on Kabaeva raises questions around the US sanctions strategy and where the line to avoid escalation is being drawn. Sanctions against Kabaeva would have been in line with the Russian sanctions policy the US has been following up until now, though Washington indicated he remains a possible sanctions target in the future. It is possible that over the coming days and weeks, the US may impose sanctions on Kabaeva if they gauge that it will not exacerbate tensions beyond existing limits. In the meantime, the US hesitation will likely influence other Western nations to hold off from imposing similar sanctions.
In other related developments, Russia announced it has blocked gassupplies to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay state-owned energy company Gazprom in rubles, rather than in euros as their contract stipulates. Russia’s decision will serve as a warning to other European nations that Moscow will not hesitate to weaponise gas and exacerbate energy insecurity across Europe if states defy their requests – even states that had enjoyed historically cordial relations with Moscow, such as Bulgaria. Russia’s hard-line response to Poland and Bulgaria is indicative that Western sanctions are effectively tightening their grip around Russia’s economic prosperity and therefore pushing Russia to inflict punitive consequences, likely aimed at dividing the Western response.
Cracks are already beginning to show within the EU as a number of major European multinationals and governments have indicated their willingness to pay in rubles, despite the European Commission stating that this would be in breach of sanctions. The markets are placing their hopes on a work-around compromise, which would allow companies to pay in euros that are then converted into rubles, with Austria, Hungary and Germany’s Uniper confident of a compromise. However, lack of clarity on what precisely constitutes a breach of EU sanctions will ensure companies with existing Gazprom contracts will be at risk of violating sanctions as policy divergence between EU national governments and private companies risks further confusion.
Over the next few months, Russia’s decision to block gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria will also act as a major catalyst for the EU to seek alternative gas sources, but diversifying away from gas remains a longer-term issue. In the meantime, the threat of further gas cuts will sustain the risk of major energy insecurity across the continent, and will threat different countries at different times as existing contracts run out. Italy has already announced plans to restrict air conditioning and heating in public buildings this summer, with non-compliance punishable by fines ranging from EUR 500 – 3,000, underscoring the mounting risk of energy rationing in the event of further gas freezes.
Finally, Canada and Poland proposed rebuilding Ukraine using funds from seized and sanctioned Russian assets this week. According to Pawel Jablonski, Poland’s deputy international minister, “the most primary precept is that Russia began this battle, and so they should pay for [reconstruction]”. Similarly, Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly revealed Canada will change its sanctions law to allow seized and sanctioned foreign assets to be distributed as compensation to victims of the Ukraine war or help rebuild the state. As Canada is one step ahead of the EU in introducing this sanctions law, it is highly likely that the European Union will monitor responses to Canada’s new initiative before fully adopting it over potential concerns over property rights and other legal challenges. (Source: Sibylline)

01 May 22. Hacking Russia was off-limits. The Ukraine war made it a free-for-all. Experts anticipated a Moscow-led cyber-assault; instead, unprecedented attacks by hacktivists and criminals have wreaked havoc in Russia. For more than a decade, U.S. cybersecurity experts have warned about Russian hacking that increasingly uses the labor power of financially motivated criminal gangs to achieve political goals, such as strategically leaking campaign emails.
Prolific ransomware groups in the last year and a half have shut down pandemic-battered hospitals, the key fuel conduit Colonial Pipeline and schools; published sensitive documents from corporate victims; and, in one case, pledged to step up attacks on American infrastructure if Russian technology was hobbled in retribution for the invasion of Ukraine.
Yet the third month of war finds Russia, not the United States, struggling under an unprecedented hacking wave that entwines government activity, political voluntarism and criminal action.
Digital assailants have plundered the country’s personal financial data, defaced websites and handed decades of government emails to anti-secrecy activists abroad. One recent survey showed more passwords and other sensitive data from Russia were dumped onto the open Web in March than information from any other country.
The published documents include a cache from a regional office of media regulator Roskomnadzor that revealed the topics its analysts were most concerned about on social media — including antimilitarism and drug legalization — and that it was filing reports to the FSB federal intelligence service, which has been arresting some who complain about government policies.
A separate hoard from VGTRK, or All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Co., exposed 20 years of emails from the state-owned media chain and is “a big one” in expected impact, said a researcher at cybersecurity firm Recorded Future who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss his work on dangerous hacking circles.
U.S. government and energy firms close ranks, fearing Russian cyberattacks
The broadcasting cache and some of the other notable spoils were obtained by a small hacktivist group formed as the war began looking inevitable, called Network Battalion 65.
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“Federation government: your lack of honor and blatant war crimes have earned you a special prize,” read one note left on a victim’s network. “This bank is hacked, ransomed and soon to have sensitive data dumped on the Internet.”
In its first in-depth interview, the group told The Washington Post via encrypted chat that it gets no direction or assistance from government officials in Ukraine or elsewhere.
“We pay for our own infrastructure and dedicate our time outside of jobs and familial obligations to this,” an unnamed spokesperson said in English. “We ask nothing in return. It’s just the right thing to do.”
Christopher Painter, formerly the top U.S. diplomat on cyber issues, said the surge in such activity risked escalation and interference with covert government operations. But so far, it appears to be helping U.S. goals in Russia.
“Are the targets worthy? Yes,” Painter said. “It’s an interesting trend that they are now being the target of all this.”
Painter warned that Russia still has offensive capabilities, and U.S. officials have urged organizations to prepare for an expected Russian cyber-assault, perhaps held to be deployed in a moment of maximum leverage.
But perhaps the most important victim of the wave of attacks has been the myth of Russian cyber-superiority, which for decades helped scare hackers in other countries — as well as criminals within its borders — away from targeting a nation with such a formidable operation.
“The sense that Russia is off-limits has somewhat expired, and hacktivism is one of the most accessible forms of striking at an unjust regime or its supporting infrastructure,” said Emma Best, co-founder of Distributed Denial of Secrets, which validated and published the regulator and broadcast troves, among others.
While many of the hackers want to inform the public about Russia’s role in areas including propaganda and energy production, Best said a secondary motivation post-invasion is “the symbolic ‘pantsing’” of Putin and some of the oligarchs.
“He’s cultivated a strongman image for decades, yet not only is he unable to stop the cyberattacks and leaks hitting his government and key industries, he’s the one causing it to happen.”
The volunteer hackers have gotten a first-of-its-kind boost from the government of Ukraine, which endorsed the efforts and has suggested targets through its IT Army channel on Telegram. Ukraine government hackers are assumed to be acting directly against other Russian targets, and officials have distributed hacked data including the names of troops and hundreds of FSB agents.
“There are state institutions in Ukraine interested in some of the data and actively helping some of these operations,” said an analyst at security company Flashpoint who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his work.
Ordinary criminals with no ideological stake in the conflict have also gotten in on the act, taking advantage of preoccupied security teams to grab money as the aura of invincibility falls, researchers said.
Last month, a quarterly survey of email addresses, passwords and other sensitive data released on the open Web identified more victim accounts likely to be Russian than those from any other country. Russia topped the survey for the first time, according to Lithuanian virtual private network and security firm SurfShark, which uses the underlying information to warn affected customers.
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The number of presumed Russian credentials, such as those for email addresses ending in .ru, in March jumped to encompass 50 percent of the global total, double the previous month and more than five times as many published as were in January.
“The U.S. is first most of the time. Sometimes it’s India,” said SurfShark data researcher Agneska Sablovskaja “It was really surprising for us.”
Russian government websites face ‘unprecedented’ wave of hacking attacks, ministry says
The crime business can also turn political, and it definitely has with the war in Ukraine.
Soon after the invasion, one of the most ferocious ransomware gangs, Conti, declared that it would rally to protect Russian interests in cyberspace.
The pledge backfired in a spectacular fashion, since like many Russian-speaking crime groups it had affiliates in Ukraine.
One of them then posted more than 100,000 internal gang chats, and later the source code for its core program, making it easier for security software to detect and block attacks.
Network Battalion 65 went further. It modified the leaked version of the Conti code to evade the new detections, improved the encryption and then used it to lock up files inside government-connected Russian companies.
“We decided it would be best to give Russia a taste of its own medicine. Conti caused (and still causes) a lot of heartache and pain for companies all around the world,” the group said. “As soon as Russia ends this stupidity in Ukraine, we will stop our attacks completely.”
In the meantime, Network Battalion 65 has asked for ransomware payments even as it has shamed victims on Twitter for having poor security. The group said it hasn’t gotten any money yet but would donate anything it collects to Ukraine.
Network Battalion obtained the state broadcast emails and other hoards and gave them to DDoSecrets, making it one of the most important of several hacktivist suppliers to that site, alongside a pro-Western group named AgainstTheWest and some who have adopted the branding of Anonymous, a larger, looser and recently resurgent collective that welcomes anyone.
In an April 3 interview with a researcher known as Dissent Doe who runs the website DataBreaches.net, AgainstTheWest’s leader said the group formed in October and was composed of six English-speaking hackers, all privately employed but with intelligence backgrounds.
The initial objective “was to steal state-secrets, government software (in the form of source codes), private documents and such. However, we also had the idea that we should act on China for attacking the west in cyberespionage campaigns over the years,” the hacker said.
After hitting targets in China, AgainstTheWest moved on to those in North Korea, Iran and Russia.
The leader said the group was not acting directly for any intelligence agency but declined to say whether it was being helped by any of them. “We’re doing our job in the hopes that it benefits western intelligence. We share all private documents with anyone from the government in the U.S./EU.”
The group has made other documents public through DDoSecrets. Best received one request from a U.S. military account for access beyond what she published but turned it down.
Painter, the former State Department and Justice Department expert, said he was concerned that some volunteer hackers might take a step too far and harm civilian infrastructure or trigger a major reaction, and he cautioned that others might be hiding additional motives.
“In the normal course of events, you don’t want to encourage vigilante hackers,” Painter said. But he then agreed, “We’re not in a normal course of events.” (Source: Washington Post)

02 May 22. Ukraine’s General Staff Operational Report: russian Deployed Additional Anti-aircraft Missile Systems in the Occupied Territories.
The enemy continues to conduct full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine and offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone
General Staff has released an operational update on the state of warfare as of 06.00 on May 2, 202206.00 on May 2, 2022.
Key points:
• In the Donetsk direction, the offensive is going almost along the entire line of contact. In the Lyman direction, Russia fired on the positions of the Armed Forces on the Lyman-Siversk border in order to push them back and create conditions for an attack on Slovyansk.
• In the Sievierodonetsk direction, the main efforts of the Russians are now to completely capture Rubizhne and prepare for the attack on Sievierodonetsk.
• In the Popasna direction, Russia tried to improve the tactical situation in the Popasna area — it strengthened its troops by moving one battalion tactical group from the Mariupol direction.
• Russia has deployed additional air defense systems in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
• The occupiers are trying to reach the administrative border of Kherson oblast, looking for weaknesses in our defense. In the area of Mykolayiv Russia investigates the positions of the Ukrainian military by drones.
• Russia continues to shell Kharkiv, the village of Udy, and the village of Prudianka. In the Izyum direction, the Russian army is advancing in the Izyum-Barvinkove and Izyum-Slovyansk directions.
• On the border with Ukraine, in Bryansk oblast, the Russians established a counterintelligence regime. Checkpoints are located on the main roads and near the settlements. (Source: News Now/https://en.defence-ua.com/)

02 May 22. Civilians evacuated from Mariupol, Pelosi meets Ukraine’s Zelenskiy.
• Summary
• U.N. confirms ‘safe passage’ operation under way from Mariupol
• Pelosi says U.S. stands with Ukraine after meeting Zelenskiy
• ‘Our aim does not include regime change’ – Russia’s Lavrov
• Moscow steps up assault in Ukraine’s south, eastern Donbas
Around 100 civilians evacuated from the ruined Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol were due to arrive in a Ukrainian-held city on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, after U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a surprise visit to Kyiv.
The strategic port city on the Azov Sea has endured the most destructive siege of the war with Russia – now in its third month – with Pope Francis, in an implicit criticism of Moscow, telling thousands of people in St Peter’s Square on Sunday it had been “barbarously bombarded”. read more
“For the first time, we had two days of a ceasefire on this territory, and we managed to take out more than 100 civilians – women, children,” Zelenskiy said in a nightly video address.
The first evacuees would arrive in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday morning, he said, after the U.N. confirmed a “safe passage operation” was in progress.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said hundreds of civilians remain trapped in the steelworks, a vast Soviet-era complex with a network of bunkers and tunnels.
“The situation has become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe, because people are running out of water, food and medicine,” Vereshchuk said on Telegram late on Sunday.
Footage from inside the steelworks showed members of the Azov regiment helping civilians though rubble and onto a bus.
One older evacuee accompanied by young children said survivors were fast running out of food.
“Children always wanted to eat. You know, adults can wait,” she added.
More than 50 civilians arrived at a temporary accommodation centre in Russian-controlled territory on Sunday after escaping from Mariupol, a Reuters photographer said. read more
A plan to evacuate civilians from areas of the devastated city outside the steelworks had been postponed to Monday morning, Mariupol’s city council said.
Russia’s military has turned its focus to Ukraine’s south and east after failing to capture Kyiv in the early weeks of a war that has flattened cities, killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 5 million to flee the country.
Kremlin forces were trying to take over the town of Rubizhne and prepare an assault on Sievierodonetsk, in Ukraine’s east, the general staff said on Monday, while further east, Dnipro Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said a Russian missile hit a grain silo, but caused no casualties.
Luhansk region Governor Serhiy Gaidai said three people had been killed by shelling over the past 24 hours.
Two explosions took place in the early hours on Monday in Belgorod, the southern Russian region bordering Ukraine, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the region’s governor wrote in a social media post. The cause of the blasts was not immediately clear and Gladkov said there were no casualties or damage.
With fighting stretching along a broad front in southern and eastern Ukraine, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged continued U.S. support for Ukraine “until victory is won” after she met Zelenskiy in an unannounced visit to Kyiv.
Footage posted by Zelenskiy on Twitter on Sunday showed him, flanked by an armed escort and dressed in military fatigues, greeting a U.S. congressional delegation led by Pelosi outside his presidential office the previous day.
“We stand with Ukraine until victory is won. And we stand with our NATO allies in supporting Ukraine,” Pelosi, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, said on Sunday at a press briefing in Poland.
Zelenskiy praised as substantive four hours of talks with Pelosi focused on U.S. weapons deliveries, adding he was grateful to all of Ukraine’s partners who visit Kyiv at such a difficult time.
U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he would add provisions to a $33bn Ukraine aid package to allow the United States to seize Russian oligarchs’ assets and send money from their sale directly to Kyiv. read more
Moscow calls its actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression.
Moscow is pushing for complete control of the Donbas region, where Russian-backed separatists already controlled parts of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces before the invasion.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow only wanted to guarantee the security of pro-Russian Ukrainians in the east and was not demanding that Zelenskiy “give himself up” as a condition for peace.
“We are demanding that he issue an order to release civilians and stop resistance. Our aim does not include regime change in Ukraine,” Lavrov said in a media interview published on his ministry’s website.
(Source: Reuters)

30 Apr 22. Serbia shows off new Chinese missiles in display of military power. Serbia on Saturday showed off its new Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles and other military hardware purchased from both Russia and the West, as the country seeks to perform a delicate balancing act over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Members of the public and the media were invited to the display at the Batajnica military airfield near Belgrade, where Chinese and French missiles were lined up beside Airbus (AIR.PA) helicopters, Chinese-armed drones and Russian MIG-29 jets.
Serbia is striving to balance its partnership with NATO and aspirations to join the European Union with its centuries-old religious, ethnic and political alliance with Russia.
The Chinese FK-3 surface-to-air defence system, similar to Russia’s S-300 or the U.S. Patriot system, was purchased by Belgrade in 2019 and delivered earlier this month.
Serbia is currently the only European country to operate the Chinese missile system and CH-92A combat drones.
President Aleksandar Vucic toured Saturday’s display flanked by military commanders and watched an aerobatics show featuring overhauled MIG-29 jets donated by Russia in 2017.
“I’m proud of the Serbian army, I’m proud of a great progress,” Vucic told a news conference.
“We’re going to significantly strengthen our fighter air force … Serbia is a neutral country and Serbia must find solutions enabling it to preserve its sky and its state.”
The delivery of the FK-3 missile system prompted several Western countries, including Germany, to warn Belgrade it expected the Balkan country to align its foreign policy with the EU if it wanted to become a member.
Belgrade has voted against Russia three times at the United Nations but stopped short of imposing sanctions against it.
Serbia’s military is loosely based on ex-Soviet technology and Russia is one of its main suppliers. Belgrade is also dependant on natural gas and oil supplies from Russia.
Vucic said Serbia expects to purchase 12 Rafale multipurpose fighter jets from France by the end of the year or early next year, a move seen by political analysts as a sign of Belgrade distancing itself from Russia.
He said Serbia is also negotiating to buy 12 Typhoon combat aircraft from Britain.

01 May 22. Russia strikes U.S. weapons at airfield near Odesa, defence ministry says. Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday it had struck at weapons supplied to Ukraine by the United States and European countries and destroyed a runway at a military airfield near the Ukrainian city of Odesa.
The ministry said it used high-precision Onyx missiles to strike the airfield, after Ukraine accused Russia of knocking out a newly-constructed runway at the main airport of Odesa.
Odesa regional governor Maksym Marchenko said Russia had used a Bastion missile, launched from Crimea.
Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.
Russia’s defence ministry also said its air defence systems had shot down two Ukrainian Su-24m bombers over the Kharkiv region overnight. (Source: Reuters)

28 Apr 22. The Dutch-German Patriot detachment deployed to Sliač Air Base, Slovakia, has undergone training drills to integrate with the NATO IAMD System. A Dutch-German Air and Missile Defence Task Force deployed Patriot surface-to-air missile systems near Sliač Air Base, Slovakia in April to reinforce defence capabilities on NATO’s eastern flank following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Patriot systems will contribute to the NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (NATINAMDS), a network of interconnected sensors, command and control assets, and weapons. These ground-based defensive systems will strengthen the integrated shielding of NATO’s borders and will protect Slovakia from missile threats. NATO Integrated Air Missile Defence (NATO IAMD) is an essential, continuous mission in peacetime, crisis and conflict, safeguarding and protecting Alliance territory, populations and forces against any air and missile threat and attack. It is an essential element of NATO’s deterrence and defence.
This recently released NATO Multimedia footage, captured last week, includes various shots of Dutch Patriot missile defence systems on route from the Netherlands to Slovakia and German soldiers performing checks on the Patriot missile defence system as part of NATO’s IAMD.
Soundbite translations:-
• 05:25 (German) – Colonel Jörg Sievers, Commander Of The German Air Missile Defence Wing 1 And Task Force Commander In Slovakia “We are deployed in the area of NATO integrated air defence under NATO command here, and we make sure that the integrity of Slovak airspace is not compromised. We can see if someone moves here into this airspace that has no business here, so that we make sure that the airspace over Slovakia is safe.”
• 05:43 (German) – Colonel Jörg Sievers: “The Patriot system is used for the protection of our own troops, for the protection of population, for the protection of cities, of critical infrastructure – that can be shipyards, it can be nuclear power plants – over which we spread a protective bell with the Patriot system and make sure that there are no unauthorised aircraft, missiles endangering this protected object and therefore ensure the security on the ground for these troops and objects.”
• 06:07 (German) – Colonel Jörg Sievers:“Yes, the Patriot system is a purely defensive system. This means we can only protect ourselves against approaching threats with it. This means I don’t have the possibility to attack an enemy with a Patriot missile. It’s a system that is exclusively built to act defensively. That means we can use it to protect a space, we can use it to protect troops, we can use it to protect a city – a purely defensive system that can really only be used against approaching threats. We don’t have any way to use it offensively.”
• 06:32 (Dutch) – Captain ‘Tommie’, Netherlands Patriot Fire Unit Commander: “Operators control the weapons system, fire the missiles towards the target and our radar system uses radar communication to guide the missile towards the target, ultimately destroying it to protect cities and other important assets. The weapons system is so effective because our radar is highly specialised and can therefore guide its targets very efficiently and accurately.”
• 07:06 (German) – 1st Lieutenant Elisabeth Meppelink, German Air Missile Defence Wing 1: “Slovakia acts as a host nation and supports us in terms of logistics, infrastructure, but also through technical expertise. The Germans are here as lead nation, providing part of the weapons system and the Dutch are also here with a unit and also providing part of their weapons system.”
• 07:29 (German) – 1st Lieutenant Elisabeth Meppelink: “Multinational cooperation is important because, of course, as NATO members, we present a strong image to the outside world, here on NATO’s eastern flank, as well as through the different expertise that each nation brings to this operation.” (Source: www.joint-forces.com)

29 Apr 22. Russia is running short of precision missiles in its war against Ukraine and its arms factories lack the ability to produce enough to keep up with demand, western officials have said. Limitations in Russia’s arms supply industry and the impact of western sanctions mean Moscow is having to transport missiles from other parts of the country to Ukraine, the officials said on Friday. “Their stock is limited, it is being run down, and we are seeing them having to move Kalibr missiles from other strategic directions where they may be stored,” said one western official, referring to sea-launched cruise missiles. “That brings you some indications that their stock of precision weapons is being reduced.” The assessment comes as the US and its European allies ramp up efforts to arm Kyiv and are girding for a protracted conflict, with the Biden administration looking to send $33bn more in military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. It also comes as the Kremlin continues to struggle on the ground in Ukraine, with the Pentagon saying it believes Russia is at least several days behind its goal to encircle Ukrainian forces in the Donbas. (Source: FT.com)

29 Apr 22. M777 Artillery Deliveries Should Help Ukraine in the Donbas, Says Official. Shipments of U.S.-made M777 155 mm howitzers continue to arrive in Ukraine, a senior Defense Department official said during a news conference with the press today.
About 60% of the 90 howitzers planned for delivery are now in Ukraine, the official said, along with 155 mm rounds.
“We do believe that these howitzers will be … very, very effective in helping in the Donbas fight, which we’ve already seen, is deeply reliant on long-range fires, specifically artillery by both sides,” the official said.
“We certainly believe that the conditions could be set for a much longer slog here inside the Donbas given both sides’ familiarity with the terrain,” the official said. “We’ve described it as a potential knife fight, and I think it’s beginning to shape up to be exactly that.”
The reason that it seems that the fighting in the Donbas could go on a long time, the official said, is because the Russians have shorter lines of supply and communications, as well as superior numbers. The Russians are also trying to learn from their previous mistakes and are advancing cautiously.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians are putting up stiff and effective resistance as well as employing their own artillery, the official said.
In the next 24 hours, more than a dozen flights are expected from the United States and that will include more howitzers and 155 mm rounds.
Other items in this shipment will be Phoenix Ghost Tactical unmanned aerial systems and radars, the official said.
In the last 24 hours, there have been almost 20 deliveries via airlift from seven nations that have been received in the region at multiple locations. The shipments include mines, small-caliber rounds, 122 mm rockets, helmets and body armor, the official said.
Since Ukrainian forces don’t have M777 artillery in their inventory, the U.S. is training Ukrainians on the use of these weapons in undisclosed areas outside of Ukraine, the official said.
Other U.S. systems the Ukrainians will be trained on include the Phoenix Ghost Tactical UAS and M113 armored personnel carriers, the official said.
In the past, this official has noted that these are train-the-trainer sessions, which means they take their knowledge back to Ukraine to conduct their own training.
As for current Russian movements, the official said that the Russians are at least several days behind where they want it to be.
“We believe that they meant to be much further along in terms of a total encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the east and they have not been able to link north with south. In fact, they’re nowhere close to linking north with south as the Ukrainians continue to fight back,” the official said.
“One of the reasons why we think that the Russians are behind schedule because of the Ukrainian resistance,” the official said, noting that the U.S. and 40 other nations are helping the Ukrainians continue that defense.

(Source: US DoD)

28 Apr 22. Congress passes bill to loan US military equipment to Ukraine and allies. Congress on Thursday passed a bill that would enhance President Joe Biden’s authority to lend U.S. military equipment to Ukraine. The House passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act, introduced by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, by a 417-10 vote after the Senate unanimously passed the legislation earlier this month.
“Today, we send to President Biden’s desk legislation to revive the consequential Lend-Lease initiative that turned the tide of World War II and will ensure the efficient delivery of further supplies to Ukraine and other Eastern European nations,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement ahead of the vote.
The bipartisan legislation seeks to revive a World War II-era program that allowed the government to lend or lease military equipment to U.S. allies.
The bill would allow the Defense Department to lend or lease defense articles to Ukraine or any other eastern European country, such as Poland, impacted by the Russian invasion.
Biden can already use lend-lease authorities under the Arms Export Control Act, but the latest bill would exempt Ukraine and neighboring countries from several requirements mandated under that law.
Under current law governing the lend-lease program, the president must formally determine that the leased equipment is not required for U.S. military use. It also renders the recipient country financially liable for repaying the United States for any costs incurred, including if the items are damaged or destroyed.
The lend-lease bill would waive those – and several other – restrictions on loaning U.S. military equipment to Ukraine and eastern European security partners.
The bill would also waive a statutory time limit that caps the leases at five years, while requiring the president to establish expedited procedures for delivering loaned or leased military equipment to Ukraine within two months of it becoming law.
However, it remains unclear whether the Biden administration intends to make use of the president’s lend-lease authorities.
“These are not leases that we’re doing with our weapon systems at this point in time, so this bill is complementary – but not necessarily needed – but it’s going to be available if needed,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters during a press call on Wednesday.
The same day Congress passed the Ukraine lend-lease bill, the Biden administration submitted a massive $33 billion request to Congress for additional Ukrainian aid.
That funding request includes more than $20 billion in additional Ukrainian military and security assistance.
Congress had already appropriated $3.5 billion to backfill U.S. military equipment sent to Ukraine as part of the $1.5 trillion government funding bill that it passed last month.
(Source: Defense News)

29 Apr 22. U.S. Troops Train Ukrainians in Germany.
U.S. service members in Germany have begun training Ukrainian soldiers on key systems being used to defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion, Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said today.
“These efforts build on the initial artillery training that Ukraine’s forces already have received elsewhere and also includes training on radar systems and armored vehicles that have been recently announced as part of security assistance packages,” Kirby said.
U.S. Army Europe and Africa is organizing the training in coordination with Germany.
Florida National Guardsmen — who were part of the Joint Multinational Training Group in Western Ukraine and were ordered out of the country as the threat of the Russian invasion intensified — have reunited with Ukrainians in Germany and are again working to give the Ukrainians the knowledge they need to defend their country.
“The recent reunion of these Florida National Guard members with their Ukrainian colleagues, we are told, was an emotional meeting, given the strong bonds that were formed as they were living and working together before temporarily parting ways in February,” Kirby said.
The United States is not the only country training Ukrainian service members. Yesterday, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said Canadian service members were training Ukrainians on the M-777 howitzer in Europe.
This training effort is in direct support of recent U.S. security assistance packages “designed to help Ukraine win their battles today and build strength for tomorrow,” Kirby said.
These systems are necessary to counter Russia’s new push into the Donbas region of Ukraine.
This training package is just the latest in an effort that goes back to the break-up of the Soviet Union, but that intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and illegally annexed Crimea. “We’re here today talking about the Florida National Guard,” he said. “But as you all know, they were preceded by others of their colleagues going back over the last eight years.”
That training effort has been key to Ukraine’s stout defense of its capital city of Kyiv and the fight they are putting up in Donbas. The training helped transform Ukraine from a Soviet-style military to a more agile and deadly force. “They have better command and control,” Kirby said. “They have better battlefield initiative. They have a competent noncommissioned officer corps that is empowered on the field of battle to make tactical decisions. That didn’t happen by accident.”
The bulk of the training on the new systems Ukraine is getting will be performed by the Florida Guardsmen. They can, of course, call on Army units in Germany to assist if they need it, the press secretary said.
U.S. officials want to make the training useful and constructive, but not onerous — meaning the Ukrainians are fighting a war in their country and do not have the time for long training classes. As such, the Ukraine military chose artillery personnel to learn to operate the M-777 howitzer. They have the background needed to operate artillery and just need to learn the peculiarities of the American system.
The same is true of radar operators. While they will receive American systems, these soldiers have already learned about radar and just need to learn what buttons to push, or what pulses mean on American sets.
These Ukrainians soldiers will then go back to Ukraine and teach their fellow soldiers how to use the equipment effectively.
“As you might imagine, these soldiers are eager to learn these new skills, but they’re also eager to apply those new skills in the conflict,” Kirby said.
The press secretary was asked about Russian nuclear saber-rattling. He said the United States continually watches the Russia’s nuclear preparations, and officials believe U.S. deterrence is positioned correctly. He said the United States takes any threats seriously and is prepared.
“I’m not going to go into the psychology of Vladimir Putin,” Kirby said. “It’s hard to look at what he’s doing in Ukraine, what his forces are doing in Ukraine and think that any ethical, moral individual could justify that. It’s difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that. So, I can’t talk to his psychology. But I think we can all speak to his depravity(Source: US DoD)

29 Apr 22. Tank-killing mines that launch mini-missiles deployed by Russia for the first time. The PTKM-1R top-attack mine uses sensors to find its target, then leaps into the air to destroy its turret. A previously unseen anti-tank mine has been discovered in Ukraine that can leap into the air and attack the top of a turret.
The Russian PTKM-1R top-attack mine was discovered on April 26. Although known to exist, it is the first time that the weapon has been seen deployed operationally.
Sensors on the mine listen for the sound of approaching vehicles and interpret vibrations through the ground to compare against a pre-programmed target list.
Civilian vehicles and less important military hardware should be ignored by the weapon.
The mine, which is understood to have been introduced into service by the Russian army in 2020, is similar to the US M-93 “Hornet” wide-area munition.
Armies around the world have been racing to develop so-called top-attack weapons in recent years as tank armour technology has developed at considerable pace.
Armour used to consist mainly of steel plates, which added weight to the vehicle, slowed it down and created suspension problems. However, modern ceramic armour can achieve the same protection, but for much less burden on the vehicle hull.
As with hand-held anti-tank munitions, researchers have been designing weapons to get above the vehicle in order to attack the less well-protected top of the turret.
This could kill the crew or cause the munitions inside to explode, or destroy the tank’s engines, rendering the vehicle inoperable.
Once deployed in position with eight legs to keep the weapon upright, the PTKM-1R’s four acoustic sensors “wake up” when a vehicle gets closer than 100m (328ft).
The upper portion of the weapon – which weighs almost 20kg (45lbs), including the 2.8kg (6.2lb) high explosive warhead – tilts towards the threat at a 30-degree angle.
The control unit compares the sounds and vibration with a pre-programmed list of potential targets. If the unit decides to attack, it expels a launching charge when the vehicle is 50m (164ft) away.
About two seconds later, at a height of about 30m (98ft), the warhead’s radar and infrared seeker scan the ground to find the target.
A metal slug, usually made of copper, is then blasted at extreme speed towards the tank. This explosively formed projectile travels so fast that it can penetrate 70mm (2.75in) of traditional steel tank armour and will rip through the thin plates on the top of the turret or the vehicle’s back decks.
It is not known whether any Ukrainian tanks have so far been destroyed by the mine.
(Source: Daily Telegraph)

29 Apr 22.
Ukraine warns talks with Russia may collapse as battles rage in east.
• Summary
• Ukraine says Russia’s ‘playbook for murder’ endangers talks
• Russia says dropping sanctions key to peace talks
• Russia preparing for new offensives in east, Ukraine says
Ukraine and Russia traded accusations over shaky talks to end a war now in its third month as Russia pounded areas in the east of the country and U.S. lawmakers vowed a massive new weapons package for Kyiv.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in remarks published early on Saturday, said lifting Western sanctions on Russia was part of the peace negotiations, which he said were “difficult” but continue daily by video link.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told Polish journalists that chances were “high” that the talks, which have not been held in person for a month, would end because of Russia’s “playbook on murdering people,” the Interfax news agency said.
Ukraine accuses Russian troops of atrocities in their withdrawal from areas near Kyiv. Moscow denies the claims.
After failing to capture the capital in the nine-week assault that has turned cities to rubble, killed thousands and forced 5 million Ukrainians to flee abroad, Moscow is now focussing on the east and south.
Russian forces captured Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson and mostly occupied the southeastern port city of Mariupol, where the United Nations is making efforts to evacuate civilians and fighters holed up in a large steel plant.
Lavrov, speaking to China’s official Xinhua news agency, said 1.02 million people had been evacuated to Russia from Ukraine since the invasion began on Feb. 24. Ukraine says thousands have been taken to Russia against their will. read more
Reuters could not independently verify the claims of either side.
Lavrov said the evacuees included 120,000 foreigners and people from Russian-backed breakaway regions of Ukraine – the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics that Russia recognised as independent just before President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion.
Moscow calls the war a “special military operation” to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine, defend Russian-speaking people from persecution and prevent the United States from using the country to threaten Russia.
Ukraine dismisses Putin’s claims of persecution and says it is fighting an unprovoked land grab to fully capture Donetsk and Luhansk, which form the Donbas region.
Britain and the United States have voiced support for Ukraine in the peace talks but say it is vital to keep arming Kyiv. On Thursday, President Joe Biden asked the U.S. Congress for $33bn in new aid, more than $20 billion of it in weapons.
The funding has received bipartisan congressional support. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she hoped to pass the package “as soon as possible”.
Ukraine acknowledges losing control of some eastern towns and villages but says Moscow’s gains have come at a heavy cost to a force already worn down from its defeat near the capital.
“We have serious losses but the Russians’ losses are much, much bigger,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said, without elaborating. “They have colossal losses.”
Russia was pounding the entire Donetsk front line with rockets, artillery, mortar bombs and aircraft in part to stop Ukrainian troops from regrouping, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine’s military said Russia was preparing for offensives in the areas of Lyman in Donetsk and Sievierodonetsk and Popasna in Luhansk. In the south, it said, Russia was “continuing to regroup, increase fire effectiveness and improve position”.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had struck Ukrainian weapons storage sites, platoon strongholds, artillery positions and drones. Russia said a diesel submarine in the Black Sea had struck military targets with Kalibr cruise missiles, the first report of such strikes from a submarine.
Russia said its high precision long-range missiles had destroyed the production facilities of a rocket plant in Kyiv.
Ukraine says that attack Thursday struck a residential building, injuring civilians and killing a producer with U.S.-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The body of the producer, Vira Hyrych, was found in the building’s rubble, the broadcaster said.
“She was going to bed when a Russian ballistic missile hit her apartment in central Kyiv,” said Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko.
Western officials said Russia had suffered fewer casualties after narrowing the scale of its invasion but numbers were still “quite high”, while the British defence ministry said Russian gains had been limited and came at “significant cost”.
The bloodiest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe have been in Mariupol, reduced to a wasteland by two months of Russian bombardment and siege. Ukraine says 100,000 civilians remain in the city.
In parts of Mariupol now held by Russian troops, emergency workers were retrieving bodies from the streets. Among the blasted ruins, residents recounted the horror they had survived.
“We were hungry, the child was crying when the Grad (multiple rocket launcher) shells were striking near the house. We were thinking, this is it, the end. It can’t be described,” Viktoria Nikolayeva, 54, who survived the battle with her family in a basement, told Reuters, weeping.
One Ukrainian fighter holed up there was optimistic the injured and other soldiers at the plant could be saved and taken to safety. Previous evacuation efforts have failed.
“I really believe that all the defenders of Mariupol – the troops that remained here, the wounded and those alive – that we will be able to save the lives of these heroes,” said Captain Sviatoslav Palamar.
(Source: Reuters)

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