Note: this is from a pro-Russian source on Telegram.

The Ukrainian got his leg blown off. The Russian guys are looking around for his leg

����⚡ the defeat of the tank group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Izyum, Russian soldiers are looking for the leg of a Ukrainian tanker

The rest of the tankers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were even less fortunate - they were destroyed along with the tanks.

Tu-22 strategic bombers have been sent to attack the Ukrainian military and militants of the Azov regiment, consisting of neo-Nazis, blockaded at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. A video of the aircraft flying has already appeared on the network.

The Russian army continues its offensive in the Kharkov region. Our troops are advancing towards Slavyansk in order to reach the rear of the grouping of the armed forces of Ukraine in the Donbass. The Ukrainian side is introducing new formations into battle.

The fighting in the Izyumsky district of the Kharkov region is large-scale. Both sides use artillery, aircraft and armored vehicles. An intense counter-battery fight is underway. Over the past day, our troops captured several dozen prisoners. This was reported by the correspondent of the telegram channel Older Edda, covering the battles near Izyum from the scene.

Our army has not participated in battles of this magnitude since the Great Patriotic War. The enemy, who understands the danger of breaking through his defenses in this direction, is trying to stop our offensive by all means. In particular, units of the 93rd mechanized brigade, released after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Sumy region, were thrown into battle.

After the Russian armed forces manage to break through the defenses of the Ukrainian military and enter the operational space, the road to Slovyansk will open for them, which will lead to the enemy grouping in the Donbas entering the rear.

�� The military administration of Kharkov is looking for a traitor.
According to our source in the General Staff, in the last two days alone, the Russians have destroyed several key defense installations. In particular, several commanders and dozens of personnel were killed. Ammunition depots and hidden stands of equipment were knocked out. This situation has already happened before. But then, according to our interlocutor, everyone wrote off the work of Russian UAVs. But now, the situation has repeated itself, so it was decided to look for a real traitor who leaks information to the Russian forces. As our source noted, the SBU believes that this is a fairly high-ranking figure, included in the highest circles of the regional civil-military administration

I am reading the statement
"The military administration of kharkhov"


Now that is interesting

owagbeba:
American mercenary killed in Ukraine

Another angle to this guy’s story.

——-
When Russian bombs started falling in Ukraine in late February, Cesar Quintana watched in horror.
His 2-year-old son, Alexander, was with his estranged wife in Ukraine, her native country. Antonina Aslanova had abducted Alexander over a year earlier, authorities say, in violation of a court order.

“I was frightened for my son,” Quintana, 35, told The Washington Post.
As Russian troops were amassing near the Ukrainian border in December, Quintana, who had traveled to Mariupol to visit his son, tried to take the child back to California, where Alexander was born. But the attempt failed as police intercepted Quintana and his son at an airport in Kyiv and forced him to return the toddler to Aslanova, who had accused Quintana of abducting Alexander.

Then the war broke out. As Aslanova and Alexander scrambled from basement to basement as bombs pummeled Mariupol, Quintana was back in Southern California, largely helpless, glued to the news.
Quintana hatched a plan to travel into the fray to find the boy, believing his son was at a refugee camp in eastern Ukraine. But now the situation has become even more complicated.
Aslanova, 35, told The Post this week that she has fled to Russia with Alexander and her parents. She declined to say precisely where in Russia she is staying, out of fear that Quintana will find them. In an interview, Aslanova expressed optimism that the custody situation will be resolved one day.

My hope is still that we can make some peace with him,” Aslanova said, referring to Quintana, “for the baby.”
International abduction cases and their legal proceedings are often complex and prolonged affairs. They can take months to resolve, and parents sometimes resort to unlawful tactics to reclaim their children. But what happens when a custody battle is complicated by a literal war?
“This is a very, very unique circumstance,” said Melissa Kucinski, a family lawyer and an adjunct professor at George Washington University who specializes in international abduction cases.
Ordinarily, when a child is abducted by one parent and taken to another country, the parent who was left behind can initiate proceedings under a 1980 international treaty called the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, Kucinski explained. It allows two countries to work out the return of an abducted child with an agreed-upon set of procedures. Some 80 countries, including Ukraine, work with the United States under the treaty.

Quintana had initiated Hague proceedings in Ukraine after Aslanova took Alexander there. But on March 9, about two weeks after the invasion, the Ukrainian government notified Hague officials that Ukraine might not be able to meet its obligations under the treaty because of the war. That meant Alexander’s abduction proceedings were put on hold.
So, in early March, Quintana planned to enter Ukraine through Poland as an aid worker, find Alexander and possibly “work out a deal” with Aslanova to get the child back to California, he told The Post. But the plan fizzled after Aslanova took Alexander to Russia.
Although Russia participates in the Hague abduction treaty, Washington and Moscow have not agreed to work together under it — meaning the chances of Quintana convincing a Russian court that he has sole custody of Alexander are “slim,” said Stephen Cullen, a family lawyer who specializes in international abduction cases.

While Quintana has a California court order granting him custody, “Russia is not going to pay any attention whatsoever to that order,” Cullen said.
“That was a long shot before the war,” he added. “And it’s an even longer shot now.”

The saga began in California. Prosecutors say Aslanova took Alexander on Dec. 16, 2020, during a scheduled visit at Quintana’s house in Aliso Viejo, according to a Sept. 8 letter sent by the Orange County, Calif., district attorney’s office to Ukrainian officials.
At that time, a judge had temporarily granted Quintana sole custody of Alexander because of Aslanova’s alleged struggles with alcohol abuse, the letter states. Quintana had allowed Aslanova to visit Alexander, then 18 months old, as Quintana recovered from gallbladder surgery.


But after taking a nap, Quintana awoke to find both Aslanova and Alexander gone. According to the district attorney’s letter, Aslanova had driven to Los Angeles International Airport with Alexander and boarded the first of two flights to Ukraine, having bought the tickets a day earlier.
Aslanova told The Post that Quintana gave her permission to take Alexander. “He kept on saying that if I wanted to live in Ukraine with the baby, I could do that,” she said, adding the permission was given “orally and via text messages,” although she declined to show those text messages to The Post. Quintana denies giving Aslanova permission to take Alexander to Ukraine.
Two days after the alleged abduction, a judge granted Quintana full custody of Alexander, according to court records. In May, Quintana filed a Hague application for Alexander’s return. He also traveled to Ukraine, first staying in Kyiv, then at a hotel in Mariupol, where Aslanova and her parents lived.

As the custody proceedings played out in Ukrainian court, Quintana and Aslanova managed to work out visits with Alexander, and the arrangement lasted about four months. Aslanova described the period as a relatively happy one, with the three of them together, going on outings to playgrounds and the zoo.
“I thought he was going to stay for some time so we could work towards resolving things,” Aslanova said. “I thought that he was genuine about this decision.”
Quintana said his intentions were always to bring Alexander back to California. His memory of the period was not as rosy, he said, noting that he always felt at Aslanova’s mercy. If he was overly possessive of Alexander, Quintana said, “I wouldn’t see my son.”

In November, Aslanova was hospitalized, and Quintana saw his opportunity. Aslanova’s mother brought Alexander to Quintana’s hotel room to stay with him alone for several hours. And, after having already called his lawyer to the hotel, “we just got in the car and left Mariupol,” Quintana said.
Quintana insists he did nothing illegal because there were no Ukrainian court orders granting Aslanova custody of Alexander at the time, he told The Post.
But legal experts and the U.S. State Department advise against such actions.
In a Feb. 15 letter to Rep. Luis J. Correa (D-Calif.), April Conway of the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues wrote that it had learned of attempts by Quintana to remove Alexander from Ukraine. Conway stated that a California court order “may not be valid and enforceable” in another country and that such an attempt could endanger the child, hinder future legal efforts, and result in arrest or imprisonment.

Cullen, the family lawyer, told The Post that such a move is a “nonstarter.”
“If you engage in self-help, then you’re not only violating family law, you’re most likely violating that country’s criminal law,” he said. “So that’s a very dangerous proposition.”
On the way to Kyiv, Quintana and his son were intercepted twice by police officers who had received reports from Aslanova’s mother that Quintana and his lawyer had kidnapped the child. They were let go both times, Quintana said, but the second time, police officers confiscated Quintana’s and Alexander’s passports.
That meant Quintana and his son were stuck in Kyiv until Quintana could obtain new passports. A month later, they did. But as Quintana and Alexander were ready to fly out, they were again intercepted by police. Officers provided a document charging that Quintana took the child from Aslanova without permission and called for an investigation into whether Alexander could be legally taken out of the country, according to the Associated Press, which translated the document.
“I just figured, you know, this isn’t the hill to die on,” said Quintana, who returned the child to Aslanova’s mother.
Quintana eventually went home to Southern California. On Feb. 24, Russia invaded Ukraine.
In the following weeks, Mariupol would descend into crisis. With its roads closed, food and other supplies dwindled. Continuous shelling by Russian forces has destroyed civilian areas. Thousands of people have died there, the AP reported, and mass graves have been dug for children.
Aslanova told The Post that she and Alexander took shelter in the basements of friends as Russian troops bombarded the city. During periods of relative quiet, she and Alexander stayed above ground at a friend’s house. There was a fireplace, a hose with clean water and enough food, she said.
Two weeks ago, she said, she was faced with a decision: flee to another part of Ukraine — or Russia. “I picked Russia because I was safe,” she said, explaining that she feared she would only put herself and her son in more danger if they fled to another Ukrainian region.
Voices from the siege of Mariupol
Around that time, Quintana, uncertain about Alexander’s location, told several news outlets that he had plans to enter Ukraine and find his son. But in recent days, the State Department notified Quintana that Aslanova and Alexander had migrated to Russia, Quintana told The Post. Aslanova said only that she was staying with a friend, declining to specify her location.
Cullen, the lawyer specializing in abduction cases, said Quintana may have had a better shot at retrieving Alexander from war-torn Ukraine because the Hague obligations there seem to be suspended and Quintana could make the case he was reclaiming Alexander out of fear for his safety.
But now that Alexander is in Russia, the path forward is uncertain.
“Obviously, I’m devastated,” Quintana said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m not going to give up.”

The story get y branch

He said abducted a year earlier and this a year earlier is 2020

From.march 9 to February ke!

Which main story be this

From woman and child in Russia to kyiv ke?

Washington posts never post am well

���� The result of the work of the LPR artillery on the Ukrainian position.

����⚡Lisichansk oil refinery after yesterday's Russian strike.

DONETSK, April 17 - RIA Novosti. The people's militia of the Donetsk People's Republic reported the destruction of up to 50 members of Ukrainian troops during clashes in Mariupol during their attempt to break through on the night of April 11-12, including the commander of the 36th separate marine brigade, Colonel Volodymyr Baranyuk.
According to the people's militia, on the night of April 11-12, a group of servicemen of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian troops attempted to break out of the Ilyich plant in Mariupol . The forces of the Republic prevented a breakthrough. During the clash, up to 50 members of the Ukrainian troops were destroyed, another 42 surrendered.

RUSSIA CONTINUES TO GRIND DOWN THE UKRAINIAN MILITARY AND FUEL RESOURCES

I try to monitor Western media as one measure of how Russia’s war with the West is progressing. It is again a case of the dog that did not bark. The breathless, wall-to-wall reports that dominated cable news during the first two weeks of Russia’s “Special Military Operation” are gone. Instead, the media is only giving spot updates wrapped in continued hysteria about the bad and evil the Russians. But it is not producing popular support in America for getting involved in another foreign war.

Here are some of the latest headlines:

REUTERS–Russia says its forces clear most of Mariupol, strike Kyiv suburb

Explosions hit Kyiv in north, Lviv in west
Ukraine says situation in Mariupol ‘very difficult’
Russia offers to spare lives of Mariupol defenders who lay down arms
FOX NEWS–Mariupol warns Russia is preparing to shut down city to ‘filter’ all men for forced service, labor

Advisor to the Mariupol city mayor warned Saturday that Russian troops are preparing to shut down the city by April 18 and will “filter” all men for forced service, labor or “isolation.”
“Occupiers report that on Monday they will not only finally close all entries and exits to the city for everyone, but will institute a ban on movement across all neighborhoods for a week. During this time, 100% of the city’s remaining male population will be “filtered’,” Petro Andriushchenko said in a Telegram post translated by Ukrainian news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda.
CNN–Russia orders Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to surrender by Sunday morning

Russia has demanded Ukrainian forces still fighting to defend the besieged city of Mariupol lay down their weapons. The apparent ultimatum comes as Russia continues its relentless and devastating attack on the southeastern city.
Russian state media Ria reported that “without exception” all “Ukrainian armed units and foreign mercenaries” must exit from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Moscow time (same as local time) “without any weapons and ammunition,” citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence (a true oxymoron) continues to demonstrate pure incompetence and stupidity. Consider this “headline” from CNN–US assesses Putin may increase efforts to interfere with US elections. Here is the analytical bottom-line:

A US official made clear the assessments were not based on direct intelligence.

“We do not have any direct intelligence that Russia is looking to target state, local, or election systems more directly than before, but we are certainly anticipating the possibility. We will continue to actively share any intelligence about increased threats with state and local officials as we receive it,” the official told CNN.
Got that? All they have is an opinion not based on one damn fact or piece of intelligence. The pathetic U.S. Intelligence Community does not understand Vladimir Putin but that does not stop them from offering up banalities like this:

The intelligence community has made understanding Putin’s mindset a priority since early in the invasion, sources familiar with internal deliberations told CNN. Raw assessments have pointed to his increasingly unpredictable behavior, and US officials believe Putin is more willing to consider taking risks due to his anger over Russia’s failures in Ukraine – something his advisers, who officials say have not been telling him the full truth, did not prepare him for.
What truth is being held from Putin? The success in Mariupol? The successful missile strikes peppering key military and fuel sites across the breadth of Ukraine?

Despite U.S. and NATO stubbornly insisting that the Russian military is a clown show incapable of fighting competently, you only need to note that Russian military units, missiles and aircraft are moving freely around Ukraine. Take a look at the following video that shows a Russian field kitchen and laundry. Maybe this is just a sophisticated piece of propaganda, but if it is legit then it shows a capability not widely available in the U.S. Army. We have become accustomed to setting up static bases, mess halls and laundromats overseas that hire 3rd world folk to cook our food and wash our dirty underwear. Take note of what the Russian soldiers do when they enter the mess trailer (they remove their cover and hang it on a wall). This is not a picture of untrained conscripts grudgingly being thrown into battle.


Russian Chow and Laundry
Russian media sites are now filled with videos of thousands of Ukrainian military personnel surrendering and leaving behind large caches of NATO supplied weapons. There also are photos of the passports of two U.S. citizens who were part of Ukrainian units fighting the Russians. It is not clear if these men are captured or dead. The Russians claim they have captured a large number of Western mercenaries in Mariupol and their fate is not sunny. Because the Russians do not consider them legitimate combatants they will not be treated according to the Geneva Convention. (Sounds like the Russians are going to treat them like the despicable U.S. Department of Justice has treated the so-called January 6th insurrectionists.)

Unlike Ukraine, Russia does not seem to have a problem sending more vehicles to the fight:

Russia Ships BM-21 Grad Reinforcements to the Front
Here is video of Russian truck and tank columns moving around Kharkov. Where are the videos of the Ukrainian forces attacking and destroying these columns? Do you doubt for a minute that Ukraine would be sharing such material widely if it existed? That is the dog that is not barking. Russia is surrounding and ready to destroy the fragmented Ukrainian Army. Unlike Mariupol, most of these battles will be in open country where the Ukrainians will have little protection from drones, bombers and artillery. Tanks and troops will do the clean up once strongpoints are eliminated.


Finally, take a look at the British assessment of the situation on the ground in Ukraine.


Pay attention to the gold and black shaded areas. These are the locations where the Ukrainian Army in the east is located and where Russia will attempt to encircle and destroy. Unless Ukraine is able to send columns of tanks and trucks to the east to resupply the beleaguered forces, the Ukrainian Army may be eliminated by the end of May.

word on marble

Lavrov: "As Josep Borrell told me, ‘Better not work in Africa, because that place is ours’. That is exactly what he said"

���� Ural brigade in battle defeated the elite special forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the forces of the 79th brigade and captured NATO weapons

Hnmm

Some 6,824 foreign mercenaries from 63 countries came to Ukraine to fight for Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, the Russian Defense Ministry stated on Sunday. Of these, 1,035 have been “destroyed,” while several thousand remain. Four hundred foreign fighters are holed up in Mariupol, where nationalist forces, including the neo-Nazi fighters, have refused to surrender.

The most numerous group of foreign fighters (1,717) arrived from Poland, while around 1,500 came from the US, Canada and Romania. Up to 300 people each came from the UK and Georgia, while 193 arrived from the Turkish-controlled areas of Syria.

These figures were announced on Sunday by Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov. According to the general, 1,035 foreign mercenaries have been killed by Russian forces and 912 fled Ukraine, leaving 4,877 active in the cities of Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, Nikolaev and Mariupol.

Roughly 400 of these foreign fighters remain embedded with Ukrainian nationalist battalions in the besieged port city of Mariupol, Konashenkov stated. With most of the city under Russian control, these forces have dug in at the sprawling Azovstal metallurgical plant, a gargantuan Soviet-built factory complex spread over 11 square kilometers.

Most of them are citizens of European countries, as well as Canada,” Konashenkov stated, adding that Russian forces have intercepted radio communications from the plant in six foreign languages. After the surrender of more than 1,000 members of Ukraine’s 36th Marines Brigade at the Ilyich Steel and Iron Works in Mariupol earlier this week, which Ukraine denies, the Russian military offered the defenders at Azovstal a final chance to lay down their arms and surrender on Sunday morning, promising that “all who lay down their weapons are guaranteed the preservation of life.”

No such surrender took place, and the pounding of heavy guns could be heard near the plant on Sunday afternoon. “In case of further resistance, all of them will be destroyed,” Konashenkov said.

“Let me remind you that foreign mercenaries do not have the status of ‘combatants’ under International Humanitarian Law,” Konashenkov said. “They came to Ukraine to earn money by killing Slavs. Therefore, the best that awaits them is criminal liability and long prison terms.”

Within days of Russia’s military assault on Ukraine, the government in Kiev promised visa-free entry for foreigners willing to take up arms against Moscow’s forces. Potential recruits visited Ukrainian embassies across the West and signed up to fight – often with the blessing of their own governments – and made their way to the battlefield.

However, recruitment was narrowed in March to those with military experience, and paused entirely at the beginning of April. A spokesman for Ukraine’s so-called “International Legion” told Canadian media that sending untrained volunteers to the front was becoming more of a hindrance than a help, and supplies of firearms and ammunition were running low.

Some of those who made the journey shared horror stories online of being sent to the front lines with inadequate weapons and ammo, while recruitment suffered after a Russian missile strike leveled a training center for these foreigners near the Western Ukrainian city of Lvov. “Up to 180 foreign mercenaries and a large quantity of foreign weapons were destroyed,” Konashenkov said at the time.

https://www.rt.com/russia/554029-foreign-mercenaries-ukraine-mariupol/

����⚡Ukronazis from the 110th Territorial Defense Brigade note the advance of Russian troops along the Gulyaipole-Velika Novoselka line in the direction of Pokrovskoye.

�� deceased African American in civilian clothes near Azovstal Factory in Mauripol

����⚡Strikes in Lviv. Building is on fire near the railway junction of Lviv.

���� Another captured Ukrainian military near Izyum. And these are professional contractors. not mobilized

���� Russian troops occupied Kremennaya in the morning after the battle.

Ok

���� A bunch of captured Ukrainian soldiers

Ok!

owagbeba:
Russia continues to pump gas to Europe via Ukraine

I saw this on Reuters

����⚡Epic footage of missile strikes on the US and NATO weapons base in Lviv

���� A considerable number of the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed, some were captured, including a high-ranking SOF officer who owns many valuable information.

Weapons captured from them

����⚡ Special Forces from Russia and DPR took control of one of the sectors of Azovstal and are cleaning it up.

�� Russian President Vladimir Putin:

•The Russian Federation withstood the unprecedented pressure of sanctions from the West.

• After a short hype, demand in Russia has returned to normal.

•The attempt of the West to carry out the collapse of the banking system and the shortage of goods with the help of sanctions failed.

• It is important to support domestic demand, to avoid its contraction.

• It is necessary to support the Russians and cope with the inflationary wave.

���� Azovstal after Russian Airstrikes
FAB3000

����❗Russian troops have begun the battle for Donbass, which they have been preparing for so long - Zelensky

����⚡An air alert has been declared on the territory of all regions of Ukraine.