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American officials report that Ukraine will start its counteroffensive in May.Source: The New York TimesQuote: "Ukraine is preparing to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces as early as next month, American officials say, in the face of immense risks: Without a decisive victory, Western support for Ukraine could weaken, and Kyiv could come under increasing pressure to enter serious negotiations to end or freeze the conflict."Details: It is stated in the article that American and NATO allies have supplied Ukraine with extensive artillery and ammunition for the upcoming battle, and officials now say they are hopeful the supplies will last.

Original text, Ukrainian:Історичне відео найбільшої морської перемоги після Другой світової війни, яке ми отримали від джерел, близьких до КБ "Луч". Рівно один рік тому, 13 квітня 2022-го року, о 14.10, рохрахунок протикорабельного ракетного комплексу РК-360 Нептун Збройних сил України здійснив залп двох ракет по флагманському кораблю Чорноморського флоту РФ ракетному крейсеру "Москва". О 14.17 дві ракети вразили крейсер. "Москва" загорілась. Увечері екіпаж крейсера залишив корабель та припинив боротьбу за живучість, під час буксирування крейсера зранку 14 квітня крейсер "Москва", майже 12 тисяч тон масою, з комплексом ракетного озброєнняч, затонув. Блискучий успіх українських воїнів та інженерний подвиг конструкторського бюро "Луч" та...

Americans trying to understand the current administration’s obsession with Ukraine will note a number of unanswered questions surrounding the crisis.Ukrainians, and many Europeans and Americans, are defining an envisioned Ukrainian victory as the complete expulsion of all Russians from its 2013 borders. Or, as a Ukrainian national security chief put it, the war ends with Ukrainian tanks in Red Square.But mysteries remain about such ambitious agendas.What would that goal entail?Giving Ukraine American F-16s to strike bases and depots in Mother Russia? The gifting of 1,000 M1 Abrams tanks? Using American Harpoon missiles to sink the Russian Black Sea Fleet?A huge...

What’s known is that $250 billion in capital has left, equivalent to 14 percent of its GDP. One expert guesstimates that Russia’s economy has shrunk from the size of Italy’s to Chile’s in the past year — you wouldn’t know this based on bogus figures fed to the media by Moscow. Economist Janis Kluge of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) calculates that Western sanctions alone have also “basically shrunk Russia’s economy by 10 percent”, bigger than what happened in the 2009 financial crisis. What is also known is that immediately after the invasion of Ukraine, an...

@mtracey Hannity opens his show tonight essentially berating Biden to launch World War III, accuses him of "emboldening" Putin if he doesn't retaliate for the drone incident, declares Russia, China, and Iran the new "Axis of Evil" Lindsey Graham warns, "We're gonna have World War III." Congressman Mike Waltz adds Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, Venezuela are "all on the march" This isn't run-of-the-mill crazy talk, this is something next level. They're really trying to will a World War into existence Video...

Russian fighter jet collides with US surveillance drone over Black Sea, forcing US to bring down drone, US military says This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Engineer units of the 24th and 93rd mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces began February 27 to blow up bridges in Artemovsk (Bakhmut). By destroying railway and road bridges, the Ukrainian army wants to slow the advance of Russian forces deep into the city. First, the enemy blew up the bridge over the Bakhmutka River in the northeastern part of Artemovsk. In addition, the automobile bridge over the canal northwest of the city, which served as a communication route with the surrounding area – Chasovy Yar, Bogdanovka and Kalinovka, no longer works. Another reason for the destruction of the...

A crowd laughed at Russia's top diplomat when he said the Ukraine war "was launched against us." An audience member at India's G20 summit shouted "come on!" at Sergey Lavrov during the event. He was answering a question about Russia's energy strategy moving forward. Sergey Lavrov, Russia's top diplomat and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a conference in India Thursday said that the war in Ukraine "was launched against us," prompting the crowd to erupt in laughter. Lavrov was a speaker at India's G20 Summit in New Delhi, leading a session that was part of a...

Moscow on Thursday (Mar 2) claimed that Ukrainians had crossed into southern Russia and killed two civilians, an allegation dismissed by Kyiv as a "deliberate provocation". Russia says its regions bordering Ukraine are routinely shelled by Ukrainian forces, but the alleged incursion, if confirmed, would be a rare instance of fighting inside its territory. Russia's FSB security service said in a statement that the "Ukrainian nationalists" had later been pushed back over the border and targeted with a "massive artillery strike".

Moldova's parliament adopted a declaration on Thursday condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine which has contributed to a rise in tensions between Moscow and Chisinau. A narrow majority of 55 lawmakers in the 101-seat assembly voted for the declaration, which stated that Moscow's invasion began with the seizure of the Crimea peninsula in February 2014 and demanded the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine. The declaration said Russia was waging an illegal, unprovoked and unfounded war of aggression in Ukraine that violated the principles of international law, and echoed calls by Kyiv for an international tribunal to prosecute war...

Joe Biden has two masters- Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Chinese Communist Party. Zelenskyy makes demands and Biden cannot accommodate them fast enough no matter the cost to this country. How we got here is pretty interesting and one needs to understand it. For a moment let's go back in time. It begins with Obama - and his henchperson Victoria Nuland (Funny how pretty much everything wrong with the country goes back to Obama) "The Ukraine Mess That Nuland Made"Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs “Toria” Nuland was the “mastermind” behind the Feb. 22, 2014 “regime change” in Ukraine, plotting...

If the cause of Ukraine is righteous, there is no reason to chill debate.It’s not exactly a sign of a healthy democratic discourse that it’s virtually impossible to ask a critical question about the United States’ role in the Ukraine-Russia conflict without being smeared as a Putin apologist or an “isolationist.” We’ve been bombarded with bromides about a civilizational struggle that pits the forces of autocracy and liberalism against each other. “It’s not just about freedom in Ukraine,” Biden tells us. “It’s about freedom of democracy at large.” Yet Ukraine — which, before the war, regularly slotted in somewhere beneath...

BERLIN — Nearly a month after Berlin gave European allies permission to send German-made tanks to Ukraine, the flow of tanks so many leaders vowed would follow seems more like a trickle.Some nations have discovered that the tanks in their armory don’t actually work or lack spare parts. Political leaders have encountered unanticipated resistance within their own coalitions, and even from their defense ministries. And some armies had to pull trainers out of retirement to teach Ukrainian soldiers how to use old-model tanks.The struggle to provide Leopard tanks to an embattled Ukraine is just the most glaring manifestation of a...

The situation in the city of Bakhmut, on the eastern frontline, is becoming "more and more difficult", Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. Russian forces have been trying to take the city for over six months. "The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions", Mr Zelensky stated. The Ukrainian leader's remarks came as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned China against arming Russia during a visit to Kyiv on Monday.

Here are a couple of big picture maps showing the current position of Russian and Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut and the surrounding area. As you can see the Russians (i.e., the Wagner Group) are making rapid advances after months of slow progress and appear to be on the verge of a tactical encirclement of the Ukrainian units. It is important to understand the terrain of the Bakhmut area. The photos below show a landscape that reminds me of the state I grew up in — Missouri. Rolling hills, farmland and light forest that surround small cities. The first photo is...

Some 10,000 to 20,000 troops comprising the Ukrainian army in Bakhmut are now trapped. Reports say that the city is operationally encircled with diminishing chance of a breakout. To the west of Bakhmut is a lot of open country and not much to prevent a Russian advance all the way to the Dnieper River. There is no hard evidence yet that the Ukrainian army has prepared a second line of defense. This means the way may be open for a possible major offensive by Russian forces. Whether that will happen and what Russia’s goals are remain to be seen. Most...

It has to count as one of the strangest PR campaigns in memory: using a pile of corpses to make your case to the powers that be. That’s what Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, appears to have done this week in an unusual public appeal for ammunition for his fighters in Ukraine. And in the process, he has cast a harsh light on his open feud with Russia’s military leadership on the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On Wednesday, Prigozhin posted a picture on Telegram showing the bodies of several...

President Vladimir Putin revoked on Tuesday a 2012 decree that in part underpinned Moldova's sovereignty in resolving the future of the Transdniestria region - a Moscow-backed separatist region which borders Ukraine and where Russia keeps troops. The decree, which included a Moldova component, outlined Russia's foreign policy 11 years ago which assumed Moscow's closer relations with the European Union and the United States. The order revoking the 2012 document was published on the Kremlin's website and states that the decision was taken to "ensure the national interests of Russia in connection with the profound changes taking place in international relations"....

The US Government has told i that it is “deeply concerned” by reports of a Kremlin-backed coup to overthrow the Government of Moldova. The message from Washington comes as fears grow that Vladimir Putin is plotting to take the capital city and use its airport to open a western front the war in Ukraine. “The United States firmly supports Moldova’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” a US State Department spokesperson told i. “We are deeply concerned by reports of a plot by Russia to destabilise Moldova’s democratically elected government. Russia has a long history of malign influence, both in Moldova and...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin responded to questions on what would constitute a victory in the Ukraine-Russia war and whether the U.S. would urge Ukraine to end the war, even if the borders were restored to where they were before the start of the war by stating that “Ukraine’s going to decide what victory’s going to look like,” and “we’re going to focus on what’s in front of us right now and put them in the best possible position to continue to be successful.” Host Ari Shapiro asked, [relevant exchange begins around 5:30]...