On day 61 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military has failed to make any significant breakthroughs in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian forces are putting up a fierce and clever defense in the Donbas, using counterattacks to frustrate the renewed Russian offensive.
Meanwhile, the siege of Mariupol continues, with the last Ukrainian defenders at the Azovstal steelworks plant fighting a last stand.
The War In The East
Over the past 24 hours, the Russian military has conducted several attacks, especially in the area of Donetsk and Luhansk, in order to break the Ukrainian defenses. However, the Ukrainians have repulsed the Russian forces and continue to hold the line.
“In the Mariupol direction, Russian [sic] invaders continued to fire and fight in the Azovstal area. The enemy inflicted air strikes on certain objects of civilian infrastructure. The occupiers carried out assault operations in the direction of the settlement of Vremivka, suffered losses and retreated to previously occupied positions,” the Ukrainian military stated in its daily operational update.
The Russian military is still regrouping its forces that fought in Kyiv and Chernihiv in the north of Ukraine. Their movement and refitting, however, is being frustrated by, yet, unexplained sabotage on Russian and Belarussian transportation infrastructure.
Over the weekend, the Ukrainian military intelligence claimed that the Ukrainian forces launched a targeted strike against a Russian command and control post near occupied Kherson in the south of Ukraine. In the strike, the Ukrainian forces claimed to have killed or wounded more than 50 senior Russian officers, including two generals, after hitting the operations center of the Russian military’s 49th Combined Arms Army.
Should the reports prove accurate, it would mean that the Ukrainian military has killed nine Russian flag officers, or approximately one every seven days. Moreover, should the reports prove accurate, it will be another example of poor soldiering on the Russian military’s part. Bringing so many senior officers together so close to the front line, especially near a town that is openly hostile, is a recipe for disaster.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed that as of Monday, Ukrainian forces have killed approximately 21,900 Russian troops (and wounded approximately thrice that number), destroyed 181 fighter, attack, and transport jets, 154 helicopters, 884 tanks, 411 artillery pieces, 2,258 armored personnel carriers, 149 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), eight boats, 1,566 vehicles, 76 fuel tanks, 69 anti-aircraft batteries, 201 unmanned aerial systems, 28 special equipment platforms, such as bridging vehicles, and four mobile Iskander ballistic missile systems.
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv in a landmark visit. The U.S. officials stated that the U.S. wants to see the military capability of the Russian military diminished so it will be unable in the future to commit similar acts of aggression.
Referendum in Kherson
In its daily assessment of the war, the British Ministry of Defense stated that the Kremlin is planning to stage a referendum in the Ukrainian city of Kherson in south Ukraine in an attempt to justify its occupation there.
“Russia is planning a staged referendum in the southern city of Kherson aimed at justifying its occupation. The city is key to Russia’s objective of establishing a land bridge to Crimea and dominating southern Ukraine. Russia previously held an illegitimate referendum on the accession of Crimea into the Russian Federation in 2014 to retrospectively justify its seizure of the Peninsula. Russia’s own domestic elections have been beset by allegations of vote rigging and have seen high-profile opposition blocked from running,” the British Military Intelligence stated.
It is pretty obvious even to the casual observer that any referendum held under duress—and it will be under duress if we were to judge by Moscow’s previous practice for political repression—will be invalid.
The Russian occupying forces are restricting the movements of Ukrainian civilians, the Ukrainian government is claiming.
Russian TOS-1. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Russian artillery firing. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
“In the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the Russian occupiers are introducing measures restricting the rights and freedoms of civilians, including freedom of movement. Ukrainian defenders hold the defense and inflict heavy losses on the russian [sic] enemy,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated in its daily operational update.
1945’s New Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Alex
April 25, 2022 at 10:21 am
Russia inevitably suffers only defeats, thanks to the propagandists. But here’s the reality:
There is the Donetsk People’s Republic. There is the Luhansk People’s Republic. Kherson applied to Russia for a referendum to establish the Kherson People’s Republic. God bless the Ukrainians of Donbass!
CK
April 25, 2022 at 11:09 am
And there is the power of the imagination, which if we plugged Alex’s into the power grid, would produce enough electricity to power Russia many times over.
Yes Alex, and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania also re-applied to join the Russian Federation. In this reality, Putin has conquered his hemorrhoids, and you and Sveta live happily ever after.
It’s nice to sit back and daydream, isn’t it? ?
Jacksonian Libertarian
April 25, 2022 at 5:13 pm
If Ukraine can focus on getting missilemen deep into Russian territory to destroy supply dumps and cut supply lines, they can win this war. Attacks like those in Belgorod and Bryansk are worth more than killing 100 tanks.
Alex
April 26, 2022 at 1:57 am
Slowly, in order to avoid unnecessary casualties, but confidently and kilometer after kilometer, the people’s militia of Donbass liberates Ukraine from Bandera Nazis. And all because this is the “whole world” with the Ukrainian regime:
The West failed to turn much of the world against Russia after the military operation in Ukraine began, columnist Howard French wrote in an article for Foreign Policy magazine.
According to him, many states did not support sanctions against Moscow, including such large countries as India and China.
“In fact, when counting the population of these countries, it becomes clear that the states representing the majority of humanity have not taken a position in this conflict, seeing in it the familiar echoes of the former rivalry between East and West,” said French.
According to the observer, the international political system that took shape at the beginning of the twentieth century from the very beginning gave the countries of the “third world” the status of second-class states. As an example, he cited the colonization of Africa by European countries.
“It was the work of the enslaved millions of people who grew sugar and cotton in huge quantities, cleared the land and did all other unpaid work that made the American colonies profitable for Europe, and the so-called “Old World” new and rich,” the author emphasized.
French urged not to ignore the heightened sense of justice among the former colonized peoples.
CK
April 26, 2022 at 3:10 am
Well Alex, if that is the case, we wish you the best of luck with your new Chinese masters. I hear they are very kind to minorities.
Alex
April 26, 2022 at 4:43 am
If someone wants to know the truth about the civil war in the Donbass, about all the atrocities of the Bandera clean-ups and why Russia was forced to intervene, then it is better to watch films by independent journalists. There are already many such journalists who fight for truth and freedom. For example, a documentary by the German journalist Wilhelm Domcke-Schulz.
A documentary film about the war crimes of the Bandera Nazis during the period of Russia’s special military operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine is in production. It will be a real information bomb, where the war crimes of Bandera Nazis will be shown and proved.
The documentary “Remember Odessa” tells how the Bandera Nazis burned Ukrainians alive and other heinous war crimes.
The documentary “To Live and Die in Donbass” tries to fill this gaping information gap in the West. He looks into the tormented soul of the inhabitants of Donbass, who really want only one thing – to live self-determining according to their own rules and values. Not submitting to foreign forces and ideologies.
In the east of Ukraine, in the Donbass, a war has been raging since the beginning of 2014. A civil war that claimed more than 15,000 lives over the years, including several hundred children. They had to die, because the national-fascist coup government in Kyiv, funded by the West, trained and militarily heavily armed, would not tolerate any resistance to their illegitimate rule, no matter the cost.
Therefore, in April 2014, the putschists deployed the Ukrainian army, supported by dozens of right-wing extremist volunteer battalions, and have since bombed city centers, residential areas, schools, hospitals and infrastructure, killing civilians.
This perennial crime has gone completely unnoticed by the Western public. Politicians and the media avoid this topic and reports about how the devil pours holy water. Because a public discussion about the crimes of the Ukrainian regime would reveal only one thing – with what mass murderers and terrorists the so-called “west of values” in Ukraine has a common language, if only to defend their goals and interests.
CK
April 26, 2022 at 6:51 am
lol, an “independent” journalist with a piece called “Life in the beautiful GDR…” riiiight.
Also, two posts in one day Alex? You guys must really be starting to worry.
Alex
April 26, 2022 at 7:33 am
I am sure that smart people will understand where the independent journalists are, and where the propaganda of the arms barons and the screeching Bandera Nazis is. Glory to the Ukrainian Donbass!
The truth kills lies.
CK
April 26, 2022 at 10:45 am
It doesn’t, sadly. If it did, you and your ilk would be out of business and penniless on the streets.
Alex
April 29, 2022 at 9:12 am
If someone wants to know the truth about the civil war in the Donbass, about all the atrocities of the Bandera clean-ups and why Russia was forced to intervene, then it is better to watch films by independent journalists. There are already many such journalists who fight for truth and freedom. For example, a documentary by the German journalist Wilhelm Domcke-Schulz.
A documentary film about the war crimes of the Bandera Nazis during the period of Russia’s special military operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine is in production. It will be a real information bomb, where the war crimes of Bandera Nazis will be shown and proved.
The documentary “Remember Odessa” tells how the Bandera Nazis burned Ukrainians alive and other heinous war crimes.
The documentary “To Live and Die in Donbass” tries to fill this gaping information gap in the West. He looks into the tormented soul of the inhabitants of Donbass, who really want only one thing – to live self-determining according to their own rules and values. Not submitting to foreign forces and ideologies.
In the east of Ukraine, in the Donbass, a war has been raging since the beginning of 2014. A civil war that claimed more than 15,000 lives over the years, including several hundred children. They had to die, because the national-fascist coup government in Kyiv, funded by the West, trained and militarily heavily armed, would not tolerate any resistance to their illegitimate rule, no matter the cost.
Therefore, in April 2014, the putschists deployed the Ukrainian army, supported by dozens of right-wing extremist volunteer battalions, and have since bombed city centers, residential areas, schools, hospitals and infrastructure, killing civilians.
This perennial crime has gone completely unnoticed by the Western public. Politicians and the media avoid this topic and reports about how the devil pours holy water. Because a public discussion about the crimes of the Ukrainian regime would reveal only one thing – with what mass murderers and terrorists the so-called “west of values” in Ukraine has a common language, if only to defend their goals and interests.
Lend-lease is a commodity loan, and not cheap: for all the ammunition, equipment and food supplied by the United States, many future generations of Ukrainian citizens will pay. Zelensky is driving the country into a debt hole.
CK
April 29, 2022 at 1:43 pm
Ah, I see your tactic. You add a little shitty first paragraph so it doesn’t detect your duplicate post. Is this what it has come to now, you just posting the same exact post 2, 3, 4, 5 times per article?
Wow, did they run out of paper in Russia, Alex? You guys can’t print new material? Literally using the same lines, over and over again, and now in duplicate in every post!
Are you so defeated you can’t even come up with anything new? How sad. Now the idiot is talking about lend-lease at the end of his post, because he literally just copy + pasted it from another thread, with zero relevance to this one.
Here’s a reminder:
If someone wanted to know the truth about anything in Ukraine Alex, the last person they would go to is you.
Paragraphs and paragraphs of bollocks, dubious claims about “independent journalists”, random documentarians, conspiracy theorists, deluded claims that of course, have no backup, lie after lie after lie.
Classical Kremlin troll approach. Just flood the internet, the comments, the media, with tosh, doesn’t matter what it is, just make sure you write some old nonsense. Make sure to say the claim is supported by some dude in Germany, France, the states. If it’s a “documentary” (usually from youtube) then the better.
Anything that victimises Russia, always the victim, always the bullied, never the problem. It’s always the Nazis. It’s always some pseudo-historical point.
Anyone that has had the misfortune to study your “tactics” sees the forest for the trees, the pattern of lies, disinformation, blanketing of random claims, deflection, obfuscation, and other words beyond your vocabulary.
It’s hopeless Alex. Your lies are as short as your intellect. What a pathetic job, to sit in your government shed, spreading your pathetic, government lies.
A pathetic job for a truly pathetic man. A better match could not be made in heaven.