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BREAKING: Kremlin shockingly admits for the first time to outside world that it’s suffered heavy losses: Kremlin spokesman Peskov has reportedly told Sky News, “We have significant losses of troops and it’s a huge tragedy”.
Sky News, went on to say: “His admission stood in stark contrast to repeated statements from Moscow that have sought to minimise estimations around the number of casualties its forces have suffered.” - Sky News
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NEW: A senior European official has called the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Baltic States, Lithuania and Latvia, a "major disruption" to Russia's intelligence, potentially a permanent one. - Washington Post.
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BREAKING: EU's embargo on Russian coal to start in August.
The fifth package of the EU sanctions also includes a ban on Russian vessels with several exceptions; a ban on Russian and Belarusian road transport with a number of exceptions; further export and import bans. - Kyiv Independent.
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JUST IN: President Zelenskyy reacts to train station missiles attack in Kramatorsk in which 30 civilians were killed, loads more injured:
“Lacking the strength and courage to fight with us on the battlefield, they (Russians) are cynically destroying the civilian population. This is an evil that has no limits. And if it is not punished, it will never stop.” Kyiv Independent.
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U.S Defense Secretary: Putin ‘probably given up’ on capturing Kyiv, shift focus to east and south.
Lloyd Austin said that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “thought he could rapidly take over the country of Ukraine, very rapidly take over the capital city. He was wrong.” - Kyiv Independent
BREAKING: Slovakia sends S-300 air defense system to Ukraine.
“We believe that this system will help save as many as possible innocent Ukrainians,” Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on April 8. - Kyiv Independent.
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NEW: Ukraine Minister of Defence pleads to allies for additional weapons, Olenskii Reznikov Says:
Quote:
Russia has failed to break through our defences in 3 or 30 days.Ukraine won the first round of the war, but it enters a phase of competition for resources. Which in Russia are almost endless, compared to Ukraine. To win, we need different help than what we have received before.
We need other weapons:
air defence systems and combat aircraft
Long-Range Artillery Missile complexes, MLRS and heavy artillery
tanks and AVs
anti-ship missiles
reconnaissance and strike drones.
Ukraine needs to get the weapons used by NATO countries ASAP. Cost of war for Russia will increase dramatically. This will strengthen NATO's eastern flank. Ukraine Armed Forces is quickly acquiring new weapons.
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UK imposes sanctions on families of Putin, Lavrov.
British assets of Vladimir Putin’s alleged daughters – Katerina Tikhonova & Maria Vorontsova – as well as the possessions of Sergey Lavrov’s daughter Yekaterina Vinokurova, are frozen.
They are banned from entering the UK.- Kyiv Independent.
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BREAKING: For the first time since 1994, Legendary Rock group, Pink Floyd release a new single as Humanitarian effort for Ukraine. They announced today via Twitter:
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Pink Floyd's new single, Hey Hey Rise Up - feat Andriy Khlyvnyuk - is out now worldwide.
Download / stream at pinkfloyd.lnk.to/HeyHeyRiseUp
All proceeds of the song will go to Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief.
Watch the full video with subtitles in Ukrainian and English below.
BREAKING: Slovakia sends S-300 air defense system to Ukraine.
“We believe that this system will help save as many as possible innocent Ukrainians,” Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on April 8. - Kyiv Independent.
Germany is scrapping hundreds of Marder light tanks as we speak, can think of better uses for them
No idea if these were the 'scrapped' ones, as quite a few are being/have been upgraded. Article does mention . .
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Because the tanks standing on the Rheinmetall grounds are largely decommissioned military materiél, they would have to be refurbished before being sent to Ukraine. One workaround could be to instead send identical models from the German army to Ukraine and later replace the army’s tanks with the refurbished ones.
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There are logistical problems, though: Germany would need to train Ukrainian soldiers to use these tanks, teach mechanics how to maintain them and ensure a supply of munitions and spare parts, the officials said.
Strack-Zimmermann warned that such steps could not be done on Ukrainian soil “because under international law, we would then be a party to the war.”
JUST NOW: Al Arabiya: Russia, Ukraine willing to hold talks in Turkey.
A Turkish official told Al Arabiya news outlet that “both Russia and Ukraine are willing to hold talks in Turkey, but they are far from agreeing on a common text” after Russia massacred Ukrainian civilians in Bucha. - Kyiv Independent.
If I was a negotiator trying to arrange peace talks, with essentially the “Devil”, I’d set some pre-conditions before even confirming to commit to such a meeting:
Immediate ceasefire on all sides. Russia must stop its bombardments from Belarusian soil, Black Sea.
Release of Ukrainian Civilians reportedly kidnapped and taken to Russia, that it is if they are even alive.
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UPDATE: Death toll rises to 50, including 5 children killed in Russian attack on Kramatorsk train station.
According to Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, 98 people, including 16 children were hospitalized. - Kyiv Independent.
We all know Russia is crap one on one with Ukrainian military so the murdering cowards, go for easy targets instead.
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BREAKING: Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has just announced from 10 Downing Street, after a meeting with new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that he will send a further 100 Million pounds worth of military equipment to Ukraine, including Starstreak hardware. Boris Johnson decried: “The Europe we knew just 6 weeks ago, no longer exists.”
JUST IN: The United States will reposition one Patriot missile system in Slovakia to backfill the Russian-made S-300 air defenses sent to Ukraine today, U.S Secretary of Defence, Lloyd Austin said.
The US battery in Slovakia will be manned by US troops. The US has Aegis Ashore in Romania and soon in Poland. - Jack Detsch, Foreign Policy.
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Re: Russia has invaded Ukraine
So Ukraine is beginning to get the weapons it needs if it’s to press attacks against Russia in the occupied south and east. Many of the experts I’m reading are stating that comprehensive anti-air defence (much more than the low-altitude systems they have had so far) are what will be required if the Ukrainian army is to go on the offensive. The S-300 is just such a system, designed to defend against high-altitude fast jets. Meanwhile the UK is sending Starstreak, which can destroy jets and helicopters that try to avoid high-altitude defence systems by flying low.
U.S President Joe Biden responds to Train Station attack earlier today:
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The attack on a Ukrainian train station is yet another horrific atrocity committed by Russia, striking civilians who were trying to evacuate and reach safety.
We will continue our security assistance and weapons deliveries to help Ukraine defend their country. And, together with our allies and partners, we will support efforts to investigate this attack as we document Russia’s actions and hold them accountable.
Realistically Putin needs a face-saving reason to exist but at the same time any concessions will reward him for the invasion and encourage him to do it again. Ideally, we would keep sanctions applied but I see Russia demanding the most effective sanctions are removed and several EU countries being willing to remove them in return for an end to the war due to their own domestic concerns.
Russia probably has the resources to keep a low-level war going for years. They can't be totally defeated. Do we just keep this going until Putin dies or what?
Realistically Putin needs a face-saving reason to exist but at the same time any concessions will reward him for the invasion and encourage him to do it again. Ideally, we would keep sanctions applied but I see Russia demanding the most effective sanctions are removed and several EU countries being willing to remove them in return for an end to the war due to their own domestic concerns.
Russia probably has the resources to keep a low-level war going for years. They can't be totally defeated. Do we just keep this going until Putin dies or what?
I'm not sure Russia can keep this going for years, war is expensive, sanctions more so. It's not an economic super power like the USA.
Assuming Ukranian success, the question is whether Ukraine will be allowed to retain the the Crimea which Russia gained in 2014 and also the status of the nominally independent republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. I think previously Ukraine's line has been that the lives lost in regaining these territories would not be worthwhile, but that view could obviously change.
If Russia lost the Crimea, I can't see Putin surviving in power. So could there be pressure on Ukraine by the West to get this back?
BREAKING: Ukraine's General Staff: More than 80% of Russian troops in some units refuse to fight.
Russian commanders reportedly refuse to accept applications for the dismissal of military personnel, even from those whose contracts have already expired. - Kyiv Independent.
The EU's Commission President Von der Leyen visited Bucha today and she this to say.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a visit to Ukraine Friday that Russia’s Vladimir Putin “has to fail and Ukraine has to win.”
Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour after a visit to Bucha — a town just outside Kyiv where authorities discovered roads lined with civilians apparently tied up and shot at close range, as well as mass graves of local residents — von der Leyen said: “It is horrible. There are almost no words that can explain what I saw. There were still the bodies. Atrocious. Unbelievable. Shocking. This is the brutal face of Putin’s war.”
Von der Leyen said she had been discussing with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal “where we can step up, be it sanction, be it financial support, be it support with the refugees and the internally displaced and of course support for arms. … They will get more arms.”
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