Western supplied anti-missle’s shoot down ALL of the Russian missile’s sent at Kyiv…..
While the Russian seek to move people out of the path’s of the Ukraine Spring assaults?
Some balk….
The Ukraine Nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia is becoming a focal point for the coming fight….
While Russia is attacking Ukraine cities….Russia is not happy….
The battle for Bakhmut continues….
Russia is now looking for Asia migrants to be drafted into combat…..
Some Ukraine leaders are worried about how much is expected in the coming ‘Spring Offense’….
The Russian ‘Victory day’ that will be less of a victory…..(Putin will be there)
The US has approved $37.6 Billion for the Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict….
As fighting intensifies before an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russian officials in some occupied areas are ordering residents to leave.
Here’s what we’re covering:
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Few people in occupied Zaporizhzhia appear to be heeding Russian evacuation calls.
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Russia launched a large wave of attack drones over Kyiv, Ukrainian officials say.
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Ukraine complains of Russian delays in the grain deal, which is set to expire next week.
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Fearing attacks, and perhaps unrest, Russia plans a muted Victory Day.
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Zelensky pledges ‘a new victory’ on a key World War II anniversary.
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A ban on Russian flags at Victory Day events in Berlin is restored.
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The Dnipro River, vital to Ukraine, now serves as a front line in the war….
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Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
- The situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is becoming “unpredictable and potentially dangerous,” the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog warned over the weekend. “I’m extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. “We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment.”
- Zaporizhzhia evacuees have been temporarily relocated elsewhere in the area, the head of the Russian occupation administration in the southern Ukrainian region, Yevgeny Balitsky, wrote on Telegram late Sunday. Ukraine’s military accused Russian troops of stealing cars and looting goods from the front-line areas under the guise of the evacuation. The Washington Post wasn’t immediately able to verify the claims.
- The Kremlin called on Western leaders to condemn comments by Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, who appeared to condone attacking Russian targets beyond Ukraine’s borders with lethal force. “We will keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of this world until the complete victory of Ukraine,” Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, Kyiv’s military intelligence chief, told Yahoo News. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the comments on Monday as “monstrous.”
- Two people were hospitalized and a residential building was damaged by falling wreckage from a drone in Kyiv’s west in the early hours of Monday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Three others were injured in explosions elsewhere in the city, he said on Telegram.
- Russian forces also bombarded cities across Ukraine with 16 missiles strikes and artillery fire, according to Ukraine’s military early Monday. Targets in the Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odessa regions were among those struck in the volleys, Kyiv military officials said. The attacks killed and wounded civilians and damaged homes and high-rise buildings, the military said, but it did not immediately provide details. Across the country, military officials saidMonday that 35 Iranian-made drones were shot down.
- A large Red Cross warehouse storing humanitarian aid was destroyed in a missile attack on Odessa, Ukraine’s Red Cross society said Monday. The warehouse, covering 10,000 square meters (nearly 108,000 square feet), caught fire, destroying supplies inside that were intended for the Odessa region, charity officials said. As a result, Ukraine’s Red Cross said it has suspended humanitarian relief projects in the area.
- Humanitarian supplies for aid group Project HOPE were also destroyed in warehouse strikes in the Odesa and Khersons regions, the group said. Items destroyed included generators and health hygiene kits, Giorgio Trombatore, the organization’s country director in Ukraine, said in a statement.
- A top Ukrainian general said Russia has intensified shelling of Bakhmut, hoping to seize it ahead of Tuesday’s Victory Day holiday, which celebrates the Soviet Union’s role in the defeat of Nazi Germany. “Our task is to prevent this,” Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky wrote on Telegram late Sunday. Russia’s military claimed early Monday that it struck Ukrainian forces in the Bakhmut area, including a command post and ammunition depot, from the air, Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency reported. The Post wasn’t immediately able to verify the claims.
- Russia has apparently agreed to provide the weapons and ammunition needed for Wagner mercenaries to continue the bitter battle for Bakhmut, the head of the mercenary group said Sunday, in an apparent reversal of his previous vow to withdraw his troops from the besieged southern city on Wednesday. “We are promised to be given ammunition and weapons as much as we need to continue further actions,” Yevgeniy Prigozhin said in an audio clip posted on Telegram. Russia’s Defense Ministry has not commented on any arrangements with Wagner.
- Prigozhin has been engaged in a war of words with Russia’s Defense Ministry. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said that if his latest claims are true, he has “effectively blackmailed” Russia’s military command into allocating ammunition to his mercenaries, against the command’s apparent wishes to deprioritize that fight…..
Russian ‘Victory Day’……..
The war in Ukraine has prompted officials across Russia to scale back annual celebrations of Victory Day, the country’s most important national holiday, with more than 20 cities forgoing military parades and organizers calling off a popular nationwide march to honor veterans.
Security concerns were most often cited for the rash of cancellations of Tuesday’s events, but some analysts suggested that the unease had as much to do with fears about domestic disturbances.
It is an unprecedented step in a country where the parades, which commemorate the triumph of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in World War II, have become a signature event for President Vladimir V. Putin.
Over the years, he has cast the day not just as celebration of a historic victory but also of Russia’s present-day need to thwart the Western forces he says are still trying to destroy it. More recently, he has tried to wrap Ukraine into that narrative, falsely depicting it as a Nazi redoubt…
More US Money for the Ukraine….
The US is set to announce a $1.2 billion aid package to Ukraine as early as Tuesday, according to a US official familiar with the package, with Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces looming.
The package will include drones, artillery ammunition and air defense missiles, the official said, as well as other capabilities.
The package, first reported by The Associated Press, will fall under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which means it will be contracted and purchased from manufacturers instead of pulled directly from Defense Department stocks in a drawdown. Instead of supplying Ukraine with the weapons it currently needs, USAI packages are intended to create a medium- and long-term supply for Ukraine.
With the new package announcement, the US will have committed $37.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration, including $36.9 billion since the beginning of the war in February 2022.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in late April that the Ukrainian military is almost finished preparing for its counteroffensive against Russian forces. When it launches, it will mark a significant shift in the conflict.
Modern Western tanks, including German Leopard 2 tanks and British Challenger 2 tanks, have arrived in Ukraine, along with other armored vehicles like American Bradley and Stryker vehicles.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said two weeks ago that 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine have been delivered, a total of more than 1,500 vehicles and 230 tanks….