Posted on 04/16/2022 2:58:01 AM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
A Ukrainian policeman and municipal workers carry a body bag as they exhume two bodies from graves dug in the yard of a house in the village of Vabliya, near Kyiv, on April 14.
A Ukrainian policeman and municipal workers carry a body bag as they exhume two bodies from graves dug in the yard of a house in the village of Vabliya, near Kyiv, on April 14.
Blasts were heard early on April 16 in the cities of Kyiv and Lviv after warnings from Russia that it would intensify attacks on the Ukrainian capital after accusing Ukraine of targeting Russian border towns.
Air raid sirens could be heard in many parts of Ukraine through the early morning hours as the country braced for another day of fighting resulting from Russia's unprovoked invasion, launched on February 24.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address to the nation that its military successes and the impact of international sanctions against Russia will determine how long the war will last.
"The success of our military on the battlefield has been really significant. Historically significant. But it's still not enough to clear our land from the invading forces," he said.
"The sanctions against Russia are very serious, economically painful. But it is not enough to starve Russia's military machine. We need to promote stronger, more destructive sanctions. This will determine how long this war will last," he added.
Zelenskiy told CNN in an interview aired late on April 15 that between 2,500 and 3,000 Ukrainian troops have died so far, with about 10,000 more injured in battle. He said he had no count on civilian casualties.
Earlier on April 15, police said that the bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the Kyiv region after Russian forces withdrew.
"It is very difficult to talk about civilians, since south of our country, where the towns and cities are blocked -- Kherson, Berdyansk, Mariupol further east, and the area to the east where Volnovakha is -- we just don't know how many people have died in that area that is blocked," Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy estimated the number of Russian military casualties at around 19,000 to 20,000, well above Moscow's recent statement that it had lost about 1,350 soldiers.
None of the figures could be independently verified. Western intelligence estimates say several thousand soldiers have died on the Russian side.
Russia's pledge to inflict more damage on Ukraine came a day after it suffered a symbolic defeat with the loss of its Black Sea Fleet flagship, the Moskva, which sank while being towed to port on April 14 after suffering heavy damage under circumstances that remain in dispute.
“The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on Russian territory,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said.
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (RNBO) has rejected Russia’s accusations about the attacks on Russian towns, calling them "an attempt to ignite anti-Ukraine hysteria in Russia."
Kyiv did claim, however, to have hit the Moskva with Neptune anti-ship missiles early on April 14, while Russia said a fire broke out on the ship, causing an explosion.
Russia's flagship cruiser sank on April 14 while being towed to port following an explosion. (file photo)
The U.S. military agreed with the Ukrainian version.
"We assess that they hit it with two Neptunes," a senior Pentagon official said in a briefing with reporters on April 15, calling it a "big blow" for Moscow.
The strikes were believed to have caused casualties, but it was difficult to assess how many, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official added that the United States had observed survivors being recovered by other Russian vessels in the area. Russia said the Moskva's crew was evacuated to nearby ships.
In retaliation, Russian air strikes overnight on April 16 targeted a factory outside of Kyiv that is alleged to have made the missiles that were used in the attack on the Moskva.
Meanwhile, the United States and its Western allies continued to pile pressure on Moscow over its campaign.
The German government said on April 15 that it plans to release more than 1 billion euros in military aid for Ukraine.
The move comes amid criticism from Ukraine and some EU partners such as Poland and the Baltic states that Germany has not done enough to send armaments to Kyiv.
Ukrainian authorities continue to expect an imminent, stepped-up offensive by Russian forces in the eastern part of the country.
Efforts to evacuate people from the southern port city of Mariupol on April 15 continued. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iyrna Vereshchuk said 363 people from Mariupol were among 2,864 people who were evacuated from conflict zones.
Vereshchuk said nine humanitarian corridors have been agreed upon with Russia to allow for the evacuation of civilians from several cities, including Mariupol.
Vereshchuk said in a statement posted on her Telegram channel that five evacuation routes for April 16 lead from the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, an area that Russia has said it is now focusing on in its unprovoked war.
"Humanitarian corridors in the Luhansk region will operate subject to the cessation of shelling by the [Russian] forces," she said. She added that corridors from Berdyansk, Tokmak, Mariupol, and Enerhodar will be accessible only by private transport.
Ukraine says tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in Mariupol, a strategic city that has seen some of the worst fighting of the war.
In Russia, the Federal Security Service (FSB) has asked the government to increase funding for troop funeral services and tombstones.
The FSB asked for a 17 percent increase for funeral services, according to documents recently posted to a government website.
I’m seeing exactly the same thing. To me, it’s the same as being woke- just the opposite side politically.
Trudeau’s slave population of stupid socialists gets uppity with Americans while Trudeau steals their freedoms. Sad
Patrick Lancaster - a paid pro-Russian propagandist like your self.
To try and spin this that Russia is the good guy here, I mean you really
deserve a baseball bat to back of the head,
humanity and your family would be better off as you
bled out mumbling and whimpering
/
You sound like a real upstanding honourable compassionate guy.
I don’t love russia,
I am just gratefully they gave communism the boot,
something the dems and Rinos should do.
What I want, is the USA defending OUR boarder from OUR invasion.
Our chemical attack is fentanyl
Our war crimes are the “ rape tree”
. ymv’s.
Doubtless all of you erudite verbiage comes from well-scripted playbooks written in advance by the FSB
alt-right potbelly imbeciles.”.
I am going to steal that. What a wonderful phrase!
30 posted on 4/16/2022, 5:59:00 AM by Vermont Lt
/\
Alt-right.
Progs outing themselves, interesting.
According to the news this AM those blasts were UA S-300 systems shooting down 4 incoming cruise missiles launched by the VKF from Belarus airspace.
24 years of disseminating Russian propaganda, misinformation, and FUD.
Critical thinkers prefer
—
Hopefully your critical thinking reaches critical mass and your head explodes ...
That would probably result in Russia nuking the Ukraine.🙄
Obviously, the Russian Defense Ministry has denied the Kramatorsk missile strike as Russia has denied all the war-crimes committed against Ukrainian citizens.
Don’t denigrate other posters. Russian war crimes against the people of Ukraine are continuing to be documented & revealed.
“They have been there for months. The change is it is now publicly admitted. U.S. specops troops have also been in Ukraine for months as “trainers” (wink wink). The USA has not yet publicly admitted it.”
That has been my contention from the outset.
Ukraine is getting more than material assistance.
US/NATO have also compromised all the Russian tactical networks. Their farts are heard in DC and Brussels.
It’s gonna be a big deal if/when Russia parades some of these guys before the cameras.
“Contractors” in places like Ukraine are just “sheep-dipped” specops and or spooks.
It’s just a paperwork game for a layer of deniability, that’s all.
Expect more hits on the Ruskie Black Sea Fleet.
Their ship's exact locations are being down linked even as we speak.
Infiltration is invasion.
They will have to stand off so far from Odessa as to be ineffective and must retreat to the Sea of Azov area
“8 years of 24/7 shelling of the Donbas by Ukrainian militias that killed 14,000 ppl, over 250 of whom were children”
This is Russian propaganda.
They moved the part of their fleet near Odessa / Snake Island south right away after their “towing” mishap. As you said that part of their fleet is now ineffective. They will probably move it to Azov which is just outside of Neptune range.
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