₦airaland Forum

And Reno was using reverse psychology yesterday after Tinubu won Apc presidential primaries that it's now easy for Atiku to defeat APC and that present VP would have been harder for Atiku to defeat. ( I was just laughing because Tinubu is now the one to beat in the coming presidential election and Atiku and PDP knows this fact hence their quick meeting by reps representing Him North, Wike - South south, makinde -South west and the guy in cap - South east).

Nigeria as a Country and it's Citizens are going through a lot with inflation and bloodshed all over the place and as such, Nigeria need a president that will be fair to every region, every tribe, every religion, all age groups, businesses, all residents, a unifying one who will unify the National, put in place policies that will lower inflation, boost production, bring in huge foreign investors hereby creating huge employment opportunities for citizens; I did my research on all hopefuls and found Tinubu as the main candidate who fill these criteria beyond reasonable doubt.

Though I'm not a fan of Tinubu but the above is the truth which is bitter to swallow and for many people because of ego, animosity, tribal hatred, religion fantastics, selfishness etc ( it somehow Even for me that ain't a fantastic, i don't tribal hate, I don't have any animosity, I'm not selfish etc)

He Tinubu is a man who mix easily with everyone in respect of tribe, religion, position or belief. He is a man who can't be cowed by anyone as president; This he showed when they ganged up against him and previous history reveal the same from AD days to ACN to APC.

He Tinubu had always stood his ground and fought for and with other people whether Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, Fulani, Edo etc to hold/occupy political offices despite the obstacle and their religious beliefs like if their interest. ( What can we say of other presidential aspirants? Or to what extent?)

PDP had an agreement to pick a Southerner to run for president after President Buhari's tenure but they turned round to throw the agreement into the waste basket due to Atiku and several other Northern PDP strong men selfish interest thinking the South is 2nd class or that the South interest means nothing! Wike fought to reclaim it but some Southern PDP strong men worked against him not to talk of present Sokoto state governor Tamb.. whom Wike spent a lot of River's State money on his presidential aspiration few years ago but who lost to the same Atiku and the same man betrayed him Wike!

APC had it own too as several people who don't honor agreement tried to throw the agreement of giving power back to the South into the waste basket but Tinubu wouldn't have it and stood his ground and fought for the honor of the South to be restored and God helped him.

Let me say that power would have easily gone back to the North if the VP, Amechi or any other Southern APC excluding Tinubu had won or better still, Nigeria won't have gotten equity if they won as they would have no true say in running the Country.

I remember watching on New several years ago when the economy of Country was not as it should and Tinubu took his economic master plan to Abuja and presented it to the authority and he accepted it but none saw implementation of it!. Tinubu saying I don't want and will not step on the presidents toes has a meaning!!!!

Recently, Deborah was said to be killed due to blasphemy and Atiku put out a message against the killing but he quickly deleted it when one or 2 Northern youths threatened him that his future political ambitious is on the line if he doesn't delete it!!!! He quickly deleted it and some people sent a message against his action but his response indirectly was that he chose to do what he wants!

How many times has Atiku condemned the bad ones amongst Fulani herds men that are always killings of famers whether the famers be Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, Tiv, Edo, calabar, jukun, chibok etc in their farms as well destruction of farmland and crops? How many times has he condemned killings of Christians or visited those places where they were killed or the family of those killed?

What about bombing of Christian and Muslim place of worship? Not when in power as it mandatory to visit or send a delegation when in power but physical visit or send delegation now that Atiku is no longer in power.

If the Nation and it's Citizens want to move forward and the North and South, Christians and Muslim want their voices to heard and their rights upheld as well as live in Unity without fear, then Tinubu is the best choice as per this coming presidential election but if Nigerians want and like an escalation of what's happening or something that will quickly lead to probably a Civil war, then vote otherwise so that when it escalate, people who are already tensed up or feedup will quickly results to self-help and reprisals which will make people start running to neighbouring countries like Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin.

Me I done talk my own based on wetin I dey see, read, watch and hear from people but na you get your vote and you're free to cast it for whoever you like .

The truth is that all economies even that of United States and Europe to Japan are seriously hit due to Ukraine Russian war/Sanctions which is more glaring than that of COVID-19 the Biden administration and the west were trying to use as excuse for there countries economic downturn.

The Us and her allies with Ukraine are now saying it's negotiation between Ukraine and Russia that would end the war but that all they're now doing by supplying weapons to Ukraine and increasing sanctions on Russia is to strengthen Ukraine hands at the negotiation table against Russia when the negotiation will eventually take place.

However the below is OECD say on UK economy etc

Guardian Uk News

UK to be major economy worst hit by Ukraine war, says OECD
Thinktank forecasts UK growth to slow to standstill in 2023, as impact of conflict felt

Larry Elliott Economics editor
Wed 8 Jun 2022 10.11 BST

Britain’s economy is forecast to slow to a standstill next year as it suffers more than any other major industrial country from the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The UK will grow by 3.6% in 2022 before posting zero growth in 2023, according to the Paris-based thinktank the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), with inflation expected to average 8.8% this year and fall only slightly to 7.4% in 2023.

The predictions – contained in the OECD’s half-yearly economic outlook – represent a sharp downgrade from the estimated 4.7% growth this year and 2.1% next year made six months ago.

Laurence Boone, the thinktank’s chief economist, said the UK was being hit by a combination of factors, including higher interest rates, higher taxes, reduced trade and more expensive energy.

The OECD said the UK was expected to go from the second-fastest-growing economy in the G7 group of industrial nations after Canada this year to the slowest-growing in 2023. Japan, Germany, Italy, France and the US make up the other members of the group.

A UK Treasury spokesperson said: “Thanks to the support we provided during the pandemic, the UK had the fastest growth in the G7 last year, and our unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in nearly 50 years. But we recognise many people will be concerned by these forecasts.

“While we can’t insulate the UK from global pressures entirely, our economy is in a strong position to deal with these challenges. We have a plan for growth, and we are supporting people with the cost of living.”

Boone said the world economy was paying a “hefty price” for Russia’s invasion. “A humanitarian crisis is unfolding before our eyes, leaving thousands dead, forcing millions of refugees to flee their homes and threatening an economic recovery that was under way after two years of the pandemic,” she said.

“As Russia and Ukraine are large commodity exporters, the war has sent energy and food prices soaring, making life much harder for many people across the world.”

Boone said the OECD had cut its global growth forecast for 2022 from 4.5% to 3%, while inflation in the organisation’s 38 wealthy-country members would average almost 9% – double the forecast in last December’s Economic Outlook. Growth in 2023 is expected to be 2.8%, down from the 3.2% forecast six months ago.

“Elevated inflation across the globe is eroding households’ real disposable income and living standards, and in turn lowering consumption,” Boone said as she called for the burden of adjusting to a rising cost of living to be shared fairly between employers and employees and between profits and wages.

“Uncertainty is deterring business investment and threatening to curb supply for years to come. At the same time, China’s zero-Covid policy continues to weigh on the global outlook, lowering domestic growth and disrupting global supply chains,” she added.

The OECD is the second international body to cut its growth forecast in the past two days, with the World Bank warning in its global economic prospects of a return to 1970s-style stagflation – a combination of weak growth and high inflation.

Yeye APC government.

2nd most useless government after Babangida's govt.

READ BETWEEN THE LINES TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING UKRAINE.

Russia-Ukraine war: what we know on day 102 of the invasion
Ukrainian forces push back in Sievierodonetsk and Kyiv rebukes Emmanuel Macron for saying Russia must not be humiliated
Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage
Maya Yang and Léonie Chao-Fong , with agencies
Sat 4 Jun 2022 20.47 EDT
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© 2022 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. (modern) All the day's headlines and highlights from the Guardian, direct to you every morning


NewsletUkrainian forces have been managing to
push back against Russian troops in fierce fighting in Sievierodonetsk despite Moscow “throwing all its power” into capturing the key eastern city , Ukrainian officials said on Saturday . In an interview aired online, the Luhansk regional governor, Sergiy Gaiday, said the Russian army has taken control over most of Sievierodonetsk, but that Ukrainian forces were still pushing them back. - ( No longer saying Ukraine has captured back 20% of territories earlier captured by Russia )

According to the Russian army, however, some Ukrainian military units have been withdrawing from Sievierodonetsk. “Some units of the Ukrainian army, having suffered critical losses during fighting for Sievierodonetsk, are pulling out towards Lysychansk”, Sievierodonetsk’s twin city, which sits just across a river, the defence ministry said in a statement.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said Moscow’s anti-aircraft forces have shot down dozens of Ukrainian weapons and are “cracking them like nuts” , in an interview that aired on Saturday. According to Reuters, Russian news agency RIA, which first cited the comments, quoted Putin as responding to a question about US-supplied arms by saying Russia was coping easily and had already destroyed the weapons by the dozen.

Kyiv has rebuked the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for saying it was important not to “humiliate Russia” . The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted in response: “Calls to avoid humiliation of Russia can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it. Because it is Russia that humiliates itself. We all better focus on how to put Russia in its place. This will bring peace and save lives.”

Western sanctions would not have an effect on Russia’s oil exports, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said.
Lavrov also predicted a significant increase in profits from energy shipments this year, Russian news agency Tass reported.
A EU decision to extend sanctions against Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko to his wife is “irrational” because she has never held Russian citizenship or resided in Russia, a representative for the couple said. The EU sanctioned Melnichenko’s wife on Friday as part of a sixth round of sanctions against Russia for waging a war against Ukraine.
The Ukrainian defence minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, said that while it was impossible to predict when the war would end, “my optimistic prognosis is that it is realistic to achieve this as early as this year” , Reuters quoted the defence ministry as saying.
Negotiations with Russia will only resume after new weapons arrive from the west and Ukraine’s position is “strengthened” , said David Arakhamia, a member of Ukraine’s negotiation group with Russia. Another negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, said there was no point in talks with Russia until Moscow’s forces are pushed back as far as possible towards Ukraine’s borders.
Ukraine’s intelligence services are in communication with hundreds of captured Azovstal steelworks fighters and Kyiv is doing all it can to ensure their release, according to Ukraine’s interior minister, Denys Monastyrskiy.
Ukraine wants the fighters to be returned in a prisoner swap. However, some Russian officials have said forces could be tried or executed.
The US expressed support for international investigations into war crimes committed in Ukraine, the US embassy in Kyiv announced. “ Those responsible for war crimes – including direct perpetrators and those who ordered them – must face justice,” the embassy tweeted on Saturday.
A famous monastery in eastern Ukraine, Svyatohirsk Lavra, caught fire after it was hit by Russian shelling. The monastery is affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, which is run by Putin’s ally Patriarch Kirill. There were reports that four monks were killed as a result of the attack .
The Ukrainian first lady, Olena Zelenska, and other officials commemorated 261 children killed by the Russian war against Ukraine by hanging bells near St Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv. The bells symbolise the voices of killed children, Euromaidan Press reported. Map
Ukraine / Russia-Ukraine war at a glance.

5Hrs ago Sat 4 June 2022

Ukraine announced death of foreign Military volunteers.

guardian News UK

Ukraine announces deaths of four foreign military volunteers
Ukraine’s volunteer brigade announced the deaths of four foreign military volunteers fighting Russian forces and paid tribute to “their bravery, their memory and legacy”.
The International Legion of Defence of Ukraine, an official volunteer brigade, announced the four men were from Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and France. They did not specify when or under what circumstances the deaths took place.
In a statement, it said:
We lost our brothers in combat but their bravery, their memory and legacy will forever inspire us.
A Dutch citizen, Ronald Vogelaar, was buried on 21 May in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, according to AFP. Colleagues said he had been killed several days earlier by artillery.
An Australian was reported killed in May and his death was confirmed by a foreign affairs department spokesperson. He was identified as Michael Charles O’Neill, 47, in a local Tasmania newspaper.
On Friday, Paris confirmed that a French volunteer fighter had been killed in combat in Ukraine, following reports that the man died in artillery fire in the Kharkiv region.
In a briefing on Thursday, the Russian ministry of defence said it had “eliminated hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine”, adding that 3,500 foreign fighters were currently in the country.
The ministry also warned that captured foreign soldiers would not be treated under the standards of international humanitarian law.

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. The Kiev authorities ordered the Armed Forces of Ukraine to mine containers with saltpeter and nitric acid with a total mass of more than 100 tonnes at an enterprise in Severodonetsk, Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russia’s National Defense Management Center, said on Saturday.
"Understanding the impossibility of further resistance and holding the industrial zone in Severodonetsk, the Kiev authorities ordered the combined tactical group <...> to mine containers with saltpeter and nitric acid, the total volume of which exceeds 100 tonnes at the Azot enterprise in Severodonetsk. According to the plan of the Kiev regime, blowing up these tanks with toxic chemicals will supposedly delay the advance of the Russian Armed Forces by creating a zone of chemical contamination," said Mizintsev, who heads the Russian interdepartmental headquarters for humanitarian response in Ukraine.
He stressed that civilians could suffer as a result, as happened on May 31 with the residents of Kremennaya and Rubizhny settlements when the nationalists blew up a tank with nitric acid at the same enterprise. According to Mizintsev, the Kiev authorities plan to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of creating a man-made environmental disaster with widespread dissemination of content in Ukrainian and Western media.
The Colonel-General added that during the battles for Severodonetsk, the Armed Forces of Ukraine retreat in the direction of Lisichansk and suffer critical losses, some units lost up to 90%.
On May 31, retreating units of the 79th Airborne Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine blew up a tank with nitric acid on the territory of the Azot enterprise in Severodonetsk, as reported by the Russian Defense Ministry. After the explosion, a poisonous orange cloud rose, which moved towards the settlements of Kremennaya and Rubizhnoye, as a result of which civilians suffered from toxic substances.
TAGS
Military operation in Ukraine

Igbofam2:
TASS the President of Propaganda themselves

No be only 400 nationalists na 40000 nationalist

What about Ukrinform? Ukraine propaganda far beyond what the world have ever seen.

Igbofam2:
TASS the President of Propaganda themselves

No be only 400 nationalists na 40000 nationalist

What about Ukrinform? Ukraine propaganda far beyond what the world have ever seen.

CNN, guardian News UK and all other pro western medias dey learn work.

Tass give you up to date info even before pro western medias acknowledge finally when the Ukrainians and there Western mercenaries can change the Tide.

Russia said Ukraine soldiers were withdrawing from Severodonestsk having suffered critical losses during fighting.

[Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters]
.
‘Critical losses’
Russia’s army said on Saturday that Ukrainian soldiers were withdrawing from the city.
“Some units of the Ukrainian army – having suffered critical losses during fighting for Severodonetsk – are pulling out towards Lysychansk,” Severodonetsk’s twin city, which sits just across the Siverskyi Donets River, the defence ministry said in a statement.
It added, however, some Ukrainian fighters were still in the city and the Ukrainian army sought to contaminate the area to “delay” the Russian military operation.
“The Ukrainian authorities – having realised that it was impossible to resist further and to hold on to the industrial zone of Severodonetsk – ordered a mixed tactical unit to mine the tanks containing nitrate and nitric acid in the Azot factory,” the ministry said.

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov on Saturday said Russia’s drones, army and tactical aircraft destroyed more than 400 Ukrainian nationalists and four Grad MLR systems.
"Tactical, army and unmanned aviation struck 54 clusters of Ukrainian troops and military equipment," he said. "A total of more than 400 nationalists were killed in the aviation strikes."
Russian aviation also destroyed 20 tanks and armored vehicles and four BM-21 Grad MLR systems, he said.

Russian Air Launched missiles struck foreign instructors training Ukraine soldiers on the use of United States 155-mm M777 Howitzers and 2 Command post.

MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov on Saturday said Russia’s high-precision air-launched missiles struck a Ukrainian artillery training center with foreign instructors outside Sumy, 27 clusters of troops and ammunition and two command posts.
"High-precision air-launched missiles struck a Ukrainian artillery training center with foreign instructors in the area of the Stetsovka settlement of the Sumy Region," he said. The spokesman said foreign instructors used the center to train Ukrainians on using operating 155-mm M777 Howitzers.
Konashenkov said a foreign mercenary based was destroyed by a missile strike in the Dachnoye district of the Odessa region.
"In addition, 27 clusters of troops and military equipment of the armed forces of Ukraine were hit, and two command posts of the armed forces of Ukraine, six depots of missile and artillery weapons, ammunition and fuel in the areas of the settlements of Vesyoloye and Bakhmut of the Donetsk People's Republic, Spornoye, Podlesnoye and Loskutovka of the Lugansk People's Republic were destroyed," he said.

Military Analyst Brian Berletic: Russian Ops in Ukraine – Ukraine Losing M777 Howitzers, Continues Losing Ground in Donbas
ussanews.comMay 21, 2022 12:55 PM

Update for Russian military operations in Ukraine for May 21, 2022:


1. Ukrainian militants in the Azovstal steel works have unconditionally surrendered numbering between hundreds (current Red Cross count) to thousands according to Russian sources;

2. Mariupol has been secured by Russia since mid to late-April – Ukraine finally admits however that its “combat operations” have fully ended;

3. Russia continues to make progress in the Donbas region – Ukrainian forces are being encircled in Severodonestsk and Lysychansk – the salient around Papasnya is expanding both west and north as part of this major encirclement;


4. Pentagon admits Russia still poses the majority of its combat power – possess a “numerical advantage” over Ukraine – and is making “slow, uneven” progress, but progress nonetheless;

5. Kharkov “offensive” has either stalled or is in the process of being rolled back;

6. US M777 howitzers have been found, tracked, targeted, and destroyed by Russian forces;

7. Additional attempts to send heavy weapons will face similar technical, tactical, strategic, and manpower challenges;

References US Department of Defense – Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby Holds a Press Briefing – May 20, 2022: https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcri…

US Department of Defense – Senior Defense Official Holds a Background Briefing May 19, 2022: https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcri…


TASS – Leader of Azov battalion transferred from Azovstal plant in armored vehicle – top brass: https://tass.com/defense/1454085

SouthFront – IN VIDEO: RUSSIAN DRONE, ARTILLERY DESTROY UKRAINE’S NEW M777 HOWITZERS: https://southfront.org/in-video-russi…

Military Analyst Brian Berletic: Russian Ops in Ukraine – Ukraine Losing M777 Howitzers, Continues Losing Ground in Donbas
ussanews.comMay 21, 2022 12:55 PM

Update for Russian military operations in Ukraine for May 21, 2022:


1. Ukrainian militants in the Azovstal steel works have unconditionally surrendered numbering between hundreds (current Red Cross count) to thousands according to Russian sources;

2. Mariupol has been secured by Russia since mid to late-April – Ukraine finally admits however that its “combat operations” have fully ended;

3. Russia continues to make progress in the Donbas region – Ukrainian forces are being encircled in Severodonestsk and Lysychansk – the salient around Papasnya is expanding both west and north as part of this major encirclement;


4. Pentagon admits Russia still poses the majority of its combat power – possess a “numerical advantage” over Ukraine – and is making “slow, uneven” progress, but progress nonetheless;

5. Kharkov “offensive” has either stalled or is in the process of being rolled back;

6. US M777 howitzers have been found, tracked, targeted, and destroyed by Russian forces;

7. Additional attempts to send heavy weapons will face similar technical, tactical, strategic, and manpower challenges;

References US Department of Defense – Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby Holds a Press Briefing – May 20, 2022: https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcri…

US Department of Defense – Senior Defense Official Holds a Background Briefing May 19, 2022: https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcri…


TASS – Leader of Azov battalion transferred from Azovstal plant in armored vehicle – top brass: https://tass.com/defense/1454085

SouthFront – IN VIDEO: RUSSIAN DRONE, ARTILLERY DESTROY UKRAINE’S NEW M777 HOWITZERS: https://southfront.org/in-video-russi…

TGN

Reality begins to overtake assumptions made by NATO during Ukraine war

Madhav Nalapat
Published : April 30, 2022, 11:46 pm | Updated : May 1, 2022, 7:35 AM

If Ukraine and its luckless people are ‘winning’, it is beyond imagination to fathom what defeat would look like.
NEW DELHI: Repeated efforts of the geographically diminished successor to the USSR, the Russian Federation, to enter the EU and even NATO were serially rebuffed by the North Atlantic alliance. Efforts at joining the EU and its trans-Atlantic partners in North America began even before the collapse of the Soviet Union, through efforts by CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev from 1986 onwards to enter into “our common European home”. These were continued under President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin (1992-1999) and from that period, with diminishing expectation of success, until 2006 by his successor, Vladimir Putin, who comes from St Petersburg, a city that has had, since the era of Peter the Great in the 15th century, a significant number of Europhiles. Unfortunately for Moscow, the love that has been present for Europe in much of its elites has remained unreciprocated. France, the UK and Germany have long had the not unrealistic apprehension that the admission of the vast Russian Federation into the formal structures of the rest of Europe would provide so much synergy to that country as to enable it to outstrip the three major European powers in not just what may be termed Gross National Resources (GNR) but in GDP as well, even if denominated in US dollar terms. At present, Russian GDP in USD terms is far below those of France, the UK and Germany, although Russia remains a giant in GNR, which is in many ways a more accurate gauge of geopolitical heft. India, to take another example, still has a smaller GDP in USD terms than either Japan or Germany, although our country’s human resources qualify India to be a far more consequential geopolitical player than either Japan or Germany. Judging by the cool reception given to the repeated efforts by Russia to integrate into Europe (despite comprising half the land area of not just that continent but that of Asia as well), it is obvious that the North Atlanticist policy since the close of World War II in 1945 of trying to constrain and diminish what was then the Soviet Union and which is now the Russian Federation continues in the shape of the war in Ukraine that has been smouldering almost unremarked by the “international community” (aka NATO member states) since 2014, but since the 24 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia in a very much more kinetic form.

PUTIN AVOIDS GORBACHEV-YELTSIN ERRORS

The removal of the Russia-friendly Viktor Yanukovych from the Presidentship of Ukraine in 2014 through organized street protests in the Maidan movement was followed by the installation of a government that in effect excluded the Russian-speaking third of the Ukrainian population from playing any significant role in the governance of their country since it became independent of the USSR in 1992. Concurrently, the Russian language was stripped of its official status, while there was a heavy preponderance of mostly Russophobic Ukrainian-speaking “nationalists” within the administrations that were set up there. Not surprisingly, the territories (mostly in the east) revolted against such discrimination. This time around, unlike in the past when Gorbachev and later on Yeltsin had pocketed any move against the interests of the Russian-speaking people or Russia-backing states, such as Serbia, which was bombarded by NATO from 24 March to 10 June 1999, to silence from Serbia’s ally, the Russian Federation. From this point onwards, Yeltsin’s continuance as Head of State & Government of the Russian Federation became untenable, leading to former KGB officer Vladimir Putin being appointed Prime Minister in August 1999 and as President a few months later. Since his intervention in Georgia in 2008 as a response to Georgian troops being sent into South Ossetia to establish martial law there, and subsequently the retaking of Crimea back from Ukraine in 2014 after the installation of a Russophobic government in Kiev, it was clear to the North Atlantic alliance that Putin was not in the same accommodative mould as Gorbachev and Yeltsin had been, and that he had to go. Efforts at generating a Maidan in Russia having failed, there was need for a fresh toolkit if regime change in Moscow were to be ensured. Europe would indeed stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific, as visualised by Emmanuel Macron, but only after a pliable replacement for Putin was put in place in the Kremlin.

THE ATLANTICIST BAIT THAT WON OVER BIDEN

Since the takeover of the Ukrainian government in 2014, NATO spared no effort in building up confidence within the Ukrainian irregulars (who are collectively termed “Neo-Nazis” by the Kremlin) who now dominate the Ukrainian military. This has been almost wholly stripped of Russian-speaking or Russia-friendly elements, each of whom has been replaced by individuals committed to the recovery of the territories of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk by stamping out any Russia-friendly element in these territories through armed force. Disregarding the earlier example of Georgia, it was no secret that the newly installed President of Ukraine, the telegenic Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had or was in the process of signing off on a military operation designed to bring back the three “lost” territories into the control of authorities in Kiev. The expectation within NATO was that either President Putin would do a Yeltsin and not react, thereby sharply reducing the popularity within Russia gained by his being perceived as a resolute defender of Russian interests, or that the Russian military would enter into an Afghanistan-style quagmire that may reduce much of Ukraine to rubble, but also have the effect of so diminishing the global resonance of the Russian Federation as would make easier another effort at engineering a Maidan in Moscow and other cities. The hook offered to President Biden has been that a Russian defeat in Ukraine would prolong the security architecture set up after the defeat of Japan and Germany by the Allied powers in 1945. The three European powers would like not just the US but the US plus Germany, France and the UK to lead the security architecture that is under construction in the Indo-Pacific to combat attempts at invasion of sovereignty and territorial integrity, including within the global commons in the area, such as the South China Sea. While Japan, Australia and South Korea (especially under its new Head of State) have followed the US lead thus far, including by taking NATO’s side in the Ukraine conflict, it would be unrealistic to expect India, Indonesia and very likely South Africa to follow suit. In the Indo-Pacific, especially given the still dominant Europeanist strain in its security and foreign policy that is evidenced under Biden, the US can at most be “first among equals”, rather than lead the Asia-centric formation as Biden wants, especially if that involves accepting through his fiat the leadership of the very countries in Europe that had so ruthlessly colonised them in previous centuries. The post-1945 structure is over and done with, and in Asia and the Indo-Pacific, what is needed is an alliance between the US and anti-hegemonic Asian powers, just as in Europe the US has an alliance between itself and countries on that continent. The dream of the warriors now engaged in the Holy War against Russia on the territory of Ukraine for an expansion of NATO into the Indo-Pacific is an insult to the capabilities of the countries there. Countries in Europe would be welcome as associates, not as members, just as Japan, Australia and South Korea as de facto associates of NATO without being members. However, the dream of extending the dominance of Europe over Asia during the 19th century and part of the 20th century into the 21st century, if pursued seriously by the openly Euro-centric 46th President of the US at the upcoming Quad summit, would result in a division and a diversion that (exactly as US actions in Ukraine are) confer an advantage on the PRC. Shorn of some of the hubris that had enveloped him in the past, Xi Jinping is seeking a revival of the Russia-India-China triumvirate, ignoring the reality that under him in particular, the PRC has assertively and aggressively been seeking to trample on the territorial integrity of India and to challenge its interests in league with the Wahhabi International. As for Russia, US policy has left no option for Moscow but to follow in Beijing’s wake, although a policy centred more on US interests than that of sections of the European establishment may be capable of prising loose such a pairing. This in reverse is what took place during Cold War 1.0, when skilful US diplomacy ensured that Beijing became by far the most effective partner in US efforts at overthrowing the Soviet Union that Vladimir Putin had served for much of his adult life.

CLINTON ERA APPROACH TO RUSSIA REVIVED

The war in Ukraine that has been ongoing since February 24 is not a departure from the past as it is a continuation of the post-1992 policy signed on by both then US President Bill Clinton and his European partners to weaken the Russian Federation, including by ensuring a further breakup of its territory into smaller republics that would be easier to control than the unified country has proven to be since Putin drew the conclusion by 2006 that the North Atlantic alliance wanted not a partner in Russia, but in a weakened state or states, and soon afterwards reached the conclusion that his removal from the Kremlin was a key component of such plans. There has been a torrent of what may euphemistically be called information from news outlets in the North Atlantic alliance that are moving in lockstep with each other where reporting on the war is concerned. The primary purpose is to instill a confidence in the public of the key players against Russia, the US, France, Germany and the UK, that the Ukrainians are on the cusp of victory and the Russians are staring at utter humiliation. So enraptured by the essentially Frano-German-British goal of terminally weakening Russia is President Biden that he appears to have switched priorities from seeking Congressional approval for his ambitious social welfare plans to prosecuting the war in Ukraine, no matter what the cost to US taxpayers, plus the amounts taken from individuals who have passports other than Russian but have the misfortune of knowing Vladimir Putin or his daughters, both of whom have also come on the NATO sanctions list. The impact that such a suspension of due process and the rule of law (thus far uncontested by courts in the UK or in the US) on the moneys kept in the US and the UK would become clear over the course of the coming period. The accelerating sanctions on Russia and the transfer of armaments to Ukrainian forces are bringing closer the move by Putin that would probably end this war, which would be to call NATO’s bluff on Article 5 by taking military action against the Ukrainian army’s supply routes within member states of that alliance. Just as the repeated attacks by Soviet forces in Afghanistan during the 1980s failed to end that conflict so long as the supply routes in Pakistan, including in key urban centres, remained off limits to Soviet forces, the escalation of assistance to Ukraine is having the effect of prolonging the present conflict because of the absence of kinetic action against the supply routes feeding Ukrainian forces, including irregulars.

President George W. Bush allowed key Al Qaeda (possibly including Osama Bin Laden) and their ISI associates to escape from Kunduz through a Pakistan Air Force airlift at the very start of the War on Terror he began in Afghanistan in 2001, thereby prolonging the war and bringing closer the humiliating surrender of the US to the Taliban that began 2020 and got concluded in 2021. It is unlikely that President Putin will follow the example set by President Bush and allow potentially numerous high value targets from multiple countries active in operations against Russia and pro-Russia forces in Ukraine to escape from Mariupol in the manner that President Zelenskyy is suggesting should happen. There is a distinction that was apparently unknown to President Bush, and this is between genuine civilians and those special operations staff in civilian garb who are actively assisting in the prosecution of hostilities in Ukraine. If it is found subsequently that such special operations staff were complicit in forcing civilians to remain in the Azov steel plant, they too would need to be investigated for possible war crimes. Unless, of course, President Putin does a Kunduz in Mariupol, and they escape to safety.

REALITY BITES INTO ASSUMPTIONS

Judging by election results in Hungary and France, it would appear that in spite of the ceaseless efforts of the New York Times, the Washington Post, Le Figaro, Bild, the Telegraph and the Guardian, reality is catching up with the spin about an “imminent Russian collapse” or “the fall of Putin”, not to mention “Victory Day” in Ukraine. Were Marine le Pen to emerge a few months later as the Prime Minister of France, that would upend not just Macron’s domestic strategy but much of his foreign policy. If Ukraine and its luckless people are “winning”, it is beyond imagination to fathom what defeat would look like. The country is being methodically drained of its territory, its population (through casualties as well as the efflux of refugees) and its infrastructure. President Zelenskyy seems unable to understand that the visions of a defeated Russia and a fallen President in the Kremlin notwithstanding, the only future that assures a stable Ukraine (or what is left of it after this war) would be to live in harmony with its eastern neighbour. Although this is a European war with Transatlantic partners, its impact is already global, a situation that would get much worse, once the ladder of escalation results in the kinetic conflict spilling over into other countries, possibly with a nuclear dimension. For President Putin, there is no “Off Ramp”. That may have been an effective strategy with a Gorbachev or a Yeltsin, but carries significant risks if applied to Putin. As for Biden, he has yet again followed the example of Europeanist predecessors such as Bill Clinton and sacrificed US interests to the interest of the Big Three in the non-Russian part of Europe to reduce an already diminished resources (GNR) superpower into a shambles. In the process, non-European countries that are essential allies of the US such as India and Indonesia are looking askance at the Biden White House. Supply disruptions caused by the impact of NATO sanctions are causing an economic slowdown even in countries within that alliance than could end in worse than a recession. The gainer is Beijing, which is watching delightedly as its principal foe, the US, lavishes its diminishing stockpiles of Javelins and other weapons on Ukraine, and gets the attention of the White House turned away from the Indo-Pacific into what for overall US interests is a secondary theatre, Ukraine. Meanwhile, the PLA is getting a close glimpse into the capabilities of NATO both in tactics and weaponry that may prove helpful, should Xi attempt to fulfill his goal of annexing Taiwan. The absence of anything other than symbolic “show the flag” operations regarding Taiwan has led to inner-party comment that the “Heir to Mao” seems bereft of the CCP Chairman’s boldness in action, even in Korea in 1950. This was despite Mao facing a nuclear-armed US with far more advanced weaponry and resources than the PLA then possessed.

4 - 5 thugs going to sabo to harass and fight Hausa and Yoruba people living there is total miscalculation! 4 to 5 going to fight hundreds is suicide.

If one must ask, Why the thuggery? Too much weed and little IQ might have lead to this incident.

"The bankruptcy will affect 26,000 mostly Dutch clients, who collectively hold several hundred million euros in ATB, Financiele Dagblad"

THE HAGUE, April 22. /TASS/. A court in Amsterdam has declared the Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB) bankrupt, the Financiele Dagblad newspaper reported on Friday.
The bank’s owners include Russian entrepreneurs Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven, who fell under the EU sanctions. Fridman and Aven own 42% of the bank's shares.
According to the newspaper, the bank suffered serious damage due to the sanctions imposed on Russia, as many counterparties and other banks have boycotted the financial institution.
Earlier, Financiele Dagblad reported that ATB ran into problems due to the fact that it fell under US and UK sanctions and was put up for sale but, according to sources, the negotiations were unsuccessful.
The bankruptcy will affect 26,000 mostly Dutch clients, who collectively hold several hundred million euros in ATB, Financiele Dagblad notes. According to the newspaper, depositors will be able to get their money back through a guaranteed return on deposits implemented by the Bank of the Netherlands. In accordance with this pattern, each depositor can count on a return of up to 100,000 euros.
TAGS
Sanctions vs. Russia

Guardian News UK

3h ago 12.10
Johnson: Russian victory in Ukraine a 'realistic possibility'
Kevin Rawlinson
The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, has been speaking to reporters at a press conference in New Delhi. Johnson was asked what pressure he has exerted on India – and what more he will exert – to stand up to Russia over its invasion of
Ukraine .
Johnson said India has “come out and been very strong in their language about what’s happened in Bucha”.
He acknowledged that a Russian military victory in Ukraine is a “realistic possibility”, adding:
Putin has a huge army. [But] he has a very difficult political position because he’s made a catastrophic blunder.
The only option he now has really is to continue to try to use his his appalling, grinding approach – led by artillery – trying to grind the Ukrainians down. And he’s very close to securing a land bridge in Mariupol.
The situation is “unpredictable” at this stage, Johnson said.
But what we’ve also seen is the incredible heroism of the Ukrainians and their willingness to fight.
And I’ll tell you something: I think, no matter what military superiority Vladimir Putin may be able to bring to bear in the next few months – and I agree it could be it could be a long period, he will not be able to conquer the spirit of the Ukrainian people.
He added:
We’ve got to look at what more we can do militarily. We’ve got to keep intensifying the economic sanctions. And that’s what we’re doing. We want to make sure that there is wave after wave of intensifying pressure on on Putin.
Updated at 12.29 BST

Russia’s Central Military District Major-General Rustam Minnekayev
"We did not start this war, but we will put an end to it,"

YEKATERINBURG, April 22. /TASS/. Russian Armed Forces’ control over Donbass will enable to establish a ground corridor to Crimea and to gain influence over vitally-important Ukrainian military facilities, Deputy Commander of Russia’s Central Military District Major-General Rustam Minnekayev said on Friday.
"This [control over Donbass] will enable us to establish a ground corridor to Crimea and to gain influence over the vitally-important Ukrainian [military] facilities, the Black Sea ports, which service deliveries of the agricultural and metallurgical products to other countries," the general said at an annual meeting of the Union of Defense Industry Enterprises of the Sverdlovsk Region.
Minnekayev added that the special military operation "must be successfully accomplished," adding that all set tasks would be achieved.
"We did not start this war, but we will put an end to it," he added.

Other updates ( Russia Military is always giving out locations and what they hit/destroy)

Russian Kalibr cruise missiles eliminated up to a battalion of Ukrainian troops at the Meliorativnoye railway station, Konashenkov said.
"A strike by Kalibr long-range precision missiles eliminated up to a battalion of the enemy personnel with armaments and military hardware at the Meliorativnoye railway station," the spokesman said.
Russian air defense systems shot down seven Ukrainian drones and a Tochka-U missile near the settlement of Donetskoye, Konashenkov said.
"Russian air defense capabilities eliminated seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles near the communities of Staromayorskoye, Yasinovataya, Staromikhailovka and Kalinovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and also Aleksandrovka and Tokarevo in the Kherson Region. Also, a Ukrainian Tochka-U tactical missile was shot down by the team of a Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile system near the settlement of Donetskoye," the spokesman said.

One party keep supplying and the other kept destroying most of them...

Russian forces eliminate Ukrainian S-300 system, up to 80 troops overnight — top brass
The Russian forces also shot down a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle by an air-to-air precision missile
MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. Russian forces delivered strikes by precision weapons on three Ukrainian military sites overnight, eliminating an S-300 missile system near Novosyolka and up to 80 nationalists near Aleksandrovka, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said on Friday.
"Throughout the night, air-launched precision missiles of the Russian Aerospace Forces struck three Ukrainian military sites. A Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile system was wiped out near the community of Novosyolka," the spokesman said.
In the area of Aleksandrovka, the Russian forces eliminated a command post and an area of the amassment of Ukrainian military personnel and equipment, he stressed.
"Up to 80 nationalists and also 23 pieces of the armor and vehicles were eliminated," the spokesman specified.
The Russian forces also shot down a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle by an air-to-air precision missile, the general said.
TAGS
Military operation in Ukraine

Guardian News UK

Retail sales fall as consumers cut back on fuel and food spending in UK cost of living crisis
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the world economy and the financial markets.
In Britain, retail sales fell 1.4% in March, following a 0.5% drop in February, as people cut back on fuel and food spending amid soaring prices.
Overall sales volumes were 2.2% above their pre-pandemic levels in February 2020, the Office for National Statistics said.
Non-store retailing, such as online sales, posted the biggest decline, of 7.9% following a 6.9% drop in February.
Food sales were down 1.1% and have fallen every month since November. The ONS said this is because people are eating out more but also pointed to the impact of rising food prices on the cost of living. Petrol and diesel sales fell 3.8%, as people drove less because of record high fuel prices, which jumped 9.9% in March.
The proportion of retail sales online continued to fall, to to 26%, its lowest proportion since February 2020 when it was 22.7%.
UK inflation hit a 30-year high of 7% last month, while the war in Ukraine has driven oil prices well above $100 a barrel, amid supply disruption.

This ban is a response to earlier Us, Canadian etc travel ban on Russians.

People tend to say that 90% of those on Russia travel ban list have never been to Russia or intend to visit in future; What about Russians banned by Us and Canada? Have 90% or even more have ever visited US and Canada before or did they tell anyone they plan to Visit Us or Canada in future? NO too. (These bans and sanctions are a game of nerves and none of them likes it but they all pretend it means nothing to them)

In addition, Travel bans will prevent banned individuals from traveling through each others territories, increase flight time, prevent them from attending official and none official functions in banned country and make traveling more expensive as they have to travel longer distance through another country etc.

The news below shows US, EU etc did imposed travel ban First and Russia retaliated. Russia responses are always in phases.

Russia imposes travel ban on Kamala Harris, Mark Zuckerberg; Canadians hit too
Written by Shubhangi Gupta | Edited by Aniruddha Dhar, New Delhi
Russia on Thursday slapped a travel ban on US Vice-President Kamala Harris and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in response to sanctions imposed over the Kremlin's “military operations” in Ukraine. The travel ban also covers 27 other prominent Americans, reported news agency AFP. The Russian foreign ministry said the travel ban – which includes top Pentagon officials, US business leaders, and journalists – would remain in effect "in perpetuity".
Among others, the US list includes ABC News television presenter George Stephanopoulos, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, and the Russia-focused Meduza news site's editor Kevin Rothrock. US defence officials including Pentagon spokesman John Kirby and Deputy Secretary of Defence Kathleen Hicks also feature on the list, AFP added.
Russia had earlier banned Facebook and Instagram – part of Zuckerberg's Meta empire --, calling them "extremist" organisations.
Russia has also hit 61 Canadian citizens – including several officials and journalists – with the “indefinite” travel ban. The foreign ministry said the list includes those "directly involved in the development, substantiation and implementation of the Russophobic course of the ruling regime in Canada".
Russia's travel ban came after various countries including the United States, European Union imposed fresh sanctions to deter Moscow from its war on Ukraine, which entered day 57 on Thursday.
Britain Thursday set out 26 new sanctions targeting Russian military generals responsible for what it called atrocities in Ukraine, as well as individuals and businesses supporting the Russian armed forces. "Today's new wave of sanctions hits the generals and defence companies that have blood on their hands," foreign minister Liz Truss said in a statement
Russia had earlier this week announced the second phase of the war in Eastern Ukraine with the "Battle of Donbas" after failing to capture the capital Kyiv and being forced to withdraw from the north.
Russia calls its incursion a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for an illegal war of aggression.

My say, All those involved are trying to make the other look weak in the face of the World.

The Telegraph News

Russian forces capture 42 villages in Donetsk region but Ukraine could win them back, says official
By Poppie Platt ; Claudia Rowan and
Grace Millimaci
22 APRIL 2022 • 3:19AM
ussian forces captured 42 villages in the eastern Donetsk region on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said.
An aide of President Volodymyr Zelensky said the captured villages did not mean Russia had won, and Ukrainian forces could shortly regain control of them.
Olena Symonenko said: “Today 42 villages were added to the list of those that have been occupied. This is at the expense of the Donetsk region.
“This happened today and it might be that our forces will win them back tomorrow.”
It comes as Vladimir Putin claimed his troops had gained control of Mariupol following months of intense fighting.
Ukrainian soldiers had been trapped in the Azovstal steel plant in the port city, under constant siege by Russian forces.
​​

Days ago Ukraine said 30% of it's infrastructure has been damage or destroyed as at them and they need $100b to repair damaged ones and construct new ones that got destroyed.

What most people don't understand is that some of the weapons Ukraine is getting and some monies giving to them by several countries are loans which they will repay!!!!

Report from Ukrinform

Kubrakov: Russians damaged 30% of Ukraine's infrastructure worth $100B
19.04.2022 12:51
Russia's invasion has damaged or destroyed up to 30% of Ukraine's infrastructure at a cost of $100 billion. The reconstruction could be achieved in two years using frozen Russian assets to help finance it.
“Practically all components of our transport infrastructure have suffered in one form or another,” Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Oleksander Kubrakov told Reuters.

He said that Russia’s invasion had affected 20% to 30% of all infrastructure with varying degrees of damage, with different levels of destruction.

Kubrakov said more than 300 bridges on national roads had been destroyed or damaged, more than 8,000 km of roads had to be repaired or rebuilt and dozens of railway bridges had been blown up.

The infrastructure minister said he expected Western nations to support Ukraine's reconstruction, adding that funds could be found from a range of sources to support the rebuilding effort.

"There are several sources that are being considered. The first is the assets of the Russian Federation, which are now frozen in almost all major countries," he noted.

ol.

Why lament? When you said your Ukraine is capable of fighting Russia for 10years, Russia military are inept, Russia are Orcs, Russian military personnel are cowards, Ukraine is winning and have killed 20,000 Russian Soldiers etc.

Aljazeera Update

Governor of Luhansk says Russia now controls 80 percent of the eastern region.

Russia-Ukraine live news: Russian forces ‘advance on Kramatorsk’
Volodymyr Zelenskyy laments ‘maximally cruel’ situation in Ukraine’s east and south, as UK says Russian troops are advancing towards city of Kramatorsk.

Kharkiv region April 20, 2022
By Sasha Petrova and Jihan Abdalla
Published On 20 Apr 2022
20 Apr 2022
Updated:
4 minutes ago
Governor of Luhansk says Russia now controls 80 percent of the eastern region.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian forces are being “maximally cruel” in southern and eastern regions of the country.
UK says Russian forces are advancing on the city of Kramatorsk and continuing “high levels” of air attacks on eastern Ukraine.

1 hour ago (05:42 GMT)

Russian troops advance on Kramatorsk amid ‘high levels’ of air attacks: UK
The British Ministry of Defence says Russian forces were now advancing from staging areas in the Donbas towards the city of Kramatorsk “which continues to suffer from persistent rocket attacks”.

In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said that “high levels of Russian air activity endures” in eastern Ukraine amid Moscow’s bid to capture the region.

It suggested that Russia may intensify attacks on Donbas as it “likely” wants to demonstrate significant successes in Ukraine ahead of its Victory Day celebrations on May 9.

Over 3,000 Ukrainian troops surrender since start of Russia’s operation — DPR official
It was added that five Ukrainian troops had surrendered on Tuesday at the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol
MOSCOW, APril 20. /TASS/. Over 3,000 Ukrainian troops have surrendered in Donbass since Russia’s special military operation began on February 24, First Deputy Information Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Daniil Bezsonov told the Soloviev Live TV channel on Wednesday.
"The total number of prisoners of war exceeds 3,000 in the two republics (the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics - TASS)," he said.
Bezsonov added that five Ukrainian troops had surrendered on Tuesday at the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol. According to the DPR official, it was the result of the DPR militia dropping leaflets calling for surrender.

UNITED NATIONS, April 20. /TASS/. Calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine are aimed at giving Kiev military units a chance to rest and regroup, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky told the UN Security Council session on Ukraine on Tuesday.
During the meeting, the Russian diplomat said that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, "instead of monitoring and recording all ceasefire violations, actually spied in Kiev’s interests."
The SMM also "shared feed from surveillance cameras with Ukrainians so they could do fire adjustment," he said.
Polyansky also noted episodes in which Ukrainian armed formations used OSCE armored vehicles.
"Such exposures undermine all trust in international organizations, where majority of officials come from Western states. Against this backdrop, calls to peace and ceasefire are perceived as two-tongued and disingenuous," the Russian deputy envoy continued.
"In practical terms, they only mean willingness to give a short break to Ukrainian nationalists and radicals, carve some time for them to re-group, receive new shipments of drones, anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), and in the meantime carry out more infernal provocations, launch more fakes about the actions of Russian soldiers," he added.
TAGS
Military operation in Ukraine

KIEV, April 20. /TASS/. The People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) announced that a battalion commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces had been killed in a precision strike near Donetsk on Tuesday.
"The military leadership of Ukraine is trying to conceal the fact that the 2nd mechanized battalion of the 54th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are suffering heavy casualties and surrender en masse," the official spokesperson of the DPR People’s Militia said in a statement.
"Also, I would like to inform that battalion commander Stets Sergey Olegovich was killed by a precision strike today," he said.
The DPR People’s Militia also rejected Ukrainian General Staff’s report that the Ukrainian military managed to regain control over the settlement of Maryinka, earlier taken over by DPR forces.

Aljazeera news update

1 hour ago (02:27 GMT)
Marine in besieged Mariupol says ‘maybe facing our last days, if not hours’
A commander for the Ukrainian marines fighting in the last stronghold of Mariupol said his forces were “maybe facing our last days, if not hours” and appealed for extraction in a Facebook post early Wednesday.
“The enemy is outnumbering us 10 to one,” Serhiy Volyna from the 36th Separate Marine Brigade said, sheltering at the besieged Azovstal factory.
“We appeal and plead to all world leaders to help us. We ask them to use the procedure of extraction and take us to the territory of a third-party state,” he added.

US, European allies to send Ukraine weapons amid Russian advance
US, Germany and UK promise military support for Ukraine as Russian offensive in eastern Donbas region escalates.

Seven planes carrying US weapons for Ukraine will be heading to Europe in the next 24 hours, a senior United States defence official has said, as several Western leaders pledged more military support for Ukraine against a Russian offensive in the east.
The weapons are part of an $800m weapons package that the Biden administration authorised last week and that includes artillery systems, artillery rounds, armoured personnel carriers and helicopters.

“None of these shipments sits around very long,” said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under rules set by the Pentagon, as reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday.
Kyiv has called for additional weapons and support to stave off Moscow’s new offensive in the eastern Donbas region, where Russian forces have been amassing after their withdrawal from the Ukrainian capital area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “ the battle for Donbas ” began on Monday, as Russian attacks in the region escalated, and promised that Ukraine would put up fierce resistance to Russia’s push there.

In a response to the intensified assault, US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders on Tuesday discussed increasing military, economic and humanitarian support for the Ukrainian government, and ways to hold Moscow accountable, the White House said.
Biden consulted with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, among others.
The purpose of the call was “to discuss our continued support for Ukraine and efforts to hold Russia accountable as part of our close coordination”, the White House said.
Scholz later said Germany intended to supply Ukraine with anti-tank and air defence weapons, as well as long-range artillery weapons, while the UK’s Johnson also promised more artillery weapons as the conflict moved into a new phase.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said Canada would be sending heavy artillery and promised to provide more details.
Meanwhile, Biden, when asked by reporters if he planned to supply Ukraine with more artillery, said he would do so. “We will continue to provide them more ammunition, as we will provide them more military assistance,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki also said.
It was unclear if those comments referred to the already announced $800m weapons package.
“I don’t have any future packages or shipments to speak to today,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters later on Tuesday afternoon.
Kirby said it was “certainly” possible that Ukraine will want additional artillery systems in the future, however, and he said Washington would discuss such a request whenever it may be made.

“You don’t want to flow everything you got, the whole kitchen sink, in there – and then have them have nowhere to put [the systems], nowhere to store them temporarily, nowhere to move them to,” Kirby said. “You have to do this smartly, and that means doing it in chunks and phases, based on what their needs are in the moment.”

Mark Kimmitt, a former deputy director of plans and strategy at US Central Command, said the $800m weapons package includes some valuable equipment, “but the numbers of pieces of equipment … barely [keep] up with what has been lost by the Ukrainians up until this point.”
It includes 18 155mm howitzer cannons for the first time, as well as 40,000 artillery rounds, 200 M113 armoured personnel carriers, 11 Mi-17 helicopters and 100 armoured multi-purpose vehicles. Washington is expected to train Ukrainians on the howitzers in the coming days.
“But there are no magic bullets in that aid package and candidly, with this [eastern] offensive coming up, I wouldn’t want to say, ‘It’s too little, too late’ … but it won’t make a significant difference on this upcoming battle,” Kimmitt told Al Jazeera.

Russia said on Tuesday that it had begun “another phase” of its invasion of Ukraine, which was launched in late February and has forced millions of people to flee the country amid heavy bombardments and shelling.

The Russian defence ministry said that “high-precision air-based missiles” had hit 13 Ukrainian positions in parts of the Donbas while other air raids “hit 60 military assets”, including in towns close to the eastern front line.
Russian forces also appeared to seize their first city in the region, Kreminna, after Ukrainian troops withdrew.

“Another phase of this operation is beginning and I am sure it will be a very important moment in this entire special operation,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during an interview broadcast by the India Today TV channel.
Moscow had warned Washington last week against supplying further weapons to Kyiv, saying in a diplomatic note that US and NATO shipments of the “most sensitive” weapons systems to Ukraine could bring “unpredictable consequences”.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

BERLIN, April 19. /TASS/. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday said the Russian armed forces shouldn’t be allowed to win in Ukraine.
He made the statement at a news conference following talks that Western leaders held by video link. The leaders included presidents Joe Biden of the US, Emmanuel Macron of France, Andrzej Duda of Poland, Klaus Iohannis of Romania, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

"Together with our partners in the EU and NATO we are completely united in the opinion that Russia must not win this war," Scholz said. The chancellor addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin directly, saying, "Stop shelling Ukrainian cities. Allow to establish an immediate ceasefire and withdraw your troops. Stop this horrible war".

I would like both Countries to end this military conflict as soon as possible.( People are going down more than medias are putting out)

Al Jazeera news update

Major Serhiy Volyna, commander of Ukraine’s 36th marine brigade, which is still fighting in Mariupol, appealed for help on Monday in a letter to Pope Francis.

“This is what hell looks like on earth … It’s time [for] help not just by prayers. Save our lives from satanic hands,” he said in the letter, according to excerpts that Ukraine’s Vatican ambassador posted on Twitter.

Things are getting interesting as they're are trying to demoralize each other.

Russia says destroyed large depot of US, EU weapons in Ukraine

Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English
Published: 18 April ,2022: 09:56 PM GST
Updated: 18 April ,2022: 10:11 PM GST
Russia’s army destroyed a large depot of US and European weapons recently delivered to Ukraine near the western city of Lviv, Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said on Monday.

“The Russian Armed Forces destroyed the logistics center and the large consignments of foreign weapons that were in it, which arrived in Ukraine from the US and European countries over the past 6 days,” state news agency TASS cited Konashenkov as saying.
He added that Russian planes conducted an attack on the depot using high-precision missiles.

“Missile troops and artillery hit 331 military facilities. Nine command posts, a warehouse of missile and artillery weapons, as well as 315 enemy manpower concentration areas in the areas of Popasnaya and Novomayorskoye settlements were hit. As a result of the strike, up to 120 nationalists and nine units of military equipment,” he said.

Russia’s Monday attacks come as Moscow continues to build up its forces in the east and south of Ukraine in preparation to launch its ground offensive on the Donbas.

WASHINGTON, April 19. /TASS/. The US sent four planes loaded with weapons to Ukraine over the weekend as part of a new $800 million package of military assistance, one more plane was to arrive on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told a briefing on Monday.

"There were four planes that arrived, of military assistance, over the course of the weekend. Another one is supposed to arrive today, if it hasn’t already," she said adding that this is the assistance from the $800 million package the President had announced earlier.

"So just to give you a sense of our efforts to continue to get more assistance in," she added.
On April 13, US President Joe Biden declared the decision to give Kiev another $800 million in military aid, including 11 Mi-17 helicopters, 200 armored personnel carriers, 18 155-mm howitzers and 40 artillery shells, 300 barrage munitions Switchblade, 500 missiles for Javelin launchers and thousands of other anti-tank systems.

Military operation in Ukraine

Other News

Britain has provided thousands of missiles, including anti-tank weapons, and is reported to be considering sending armoured vehicles which would allow Ukrainian troops to advance with better protection closer towards Russian-occupied territory.

The Czech government is reported to have been sending Soviet era tanks which Ukrainian forces are trained in using.
The US has already provided more than $2.3 billion (£1.7 billion) of lethal assistance to Ukraine since January 2021, including a a $100 million (£76 million) transfer of Javelin anti-armour missiles announced days ago, and was also reported to be training Ukrainian forces in the use of military drones.
Meanwhile, a fifth round of European Union sanctions on Russia, including a ban on coal imports, could be agreed by the bloc on Thursday or on Friday, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said.
“Maybe this afternoon, or tomorrow at the latest,” he said as he arrived at the Nato meeting.

Russia's Donbas offensive advances as troops
capture Kreminna

Russian troops have reportedly captured the east Ukraine town of Kreminna while local authorities have urged residents in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to evacuate .

“Currently, control over the city of Kreminna is lost, street fights are taking place,” Luhansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said in a
statement on his official Telegram channel on Monday night.
“Russians shot dead people trying to leave Kreminna,” he added, claiming four people had been killed as they tried to evacuate in their own vehicles on Monday morning.

Homes, buildings, a sports complex and other facilities were also destroyed as a result of shelling in the town as well as in the nearby towns of
Rubizne and Lysychansk.
In Lysychansk, the building of the regional patrol police department was destroyed, resulting in the hospitalisation of six policemen, Gaiday added.


I strongly urge people to evacuate ... There are no safe places left in the region - evacuate, we can still save you.”
The head of Kreminna’s military administration, Oleksandr Dunets, told Radio Donbas: “The fighting lasted three days and Russia used a large number of armoured vehicles to attack the city.”

Kreminna as well as nearby Rubizhne, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, have withstood heavy shelling from both sides for several days on the frontline. Rubizhne, which had more than 60,000 residents before the war began, came under intense Ukrainian artillery and mortar fire on Monday.

Kreminna, with a pre-war population of nearly 20,000 people, is around 50km (31 miles) northeast of Kramatorsk, the region’s administrative centre, and is a strategic target for invading Russian forces.