Every NATO member has military personnel in Ukraine – Estonia

Western advisers and instructors are actively supporting Kiev’s forces against Russia, the defense minister has said.

Every NATO member already has military personnel in Ukraine, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur claimed on Monday. Under no circumstances, however, will forces from the US-led bloc take part in the hostilities against Russia, the minister insisted in an interview with Austrian media outlet Die Presse. 

NATO servicemen are operating in the embattled country as advisers and are involved in training Ukrainian soldiers in Poland, the UK, and Estonia, Pevkur told the outlet. Western defense officials are currently planning to set up training camps in Ukraine in a bid to avoid issues with border crossings and to speed up the preparation process, he added.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

At least nine wounded by Ukrainian strikes on Russian region – governor

Kiev has launched a major artillery and drone attack on Belgorod.

At least nine people were wounded on Monday by the latest Ukrainian attack on Russia’s border region of Belgorod, the local governor has said. More than 36 aerial targets were intercepted by Russian forces during the bombardment.

One man has received a serious chest wound, while his daughters were affected by a shockwave, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote in a Telegram post. All of the injured have been hospitalized.

The attack damaged several homes, with windows shattered in eight high-rise buildings in the city of Belgorod, with three smaller houses also sustaining damage.

A local school and three vehicles, one of which was completely burned, were damaged by the attack, the governor said. Several houses outside the city are also in need of repair, according to Gladkov.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

FSB nabs smugglers secreting explosives hidden in Orthodox icons from Ukraine into Russia

Without disclosing their identities or specific roles, the FSB pledged that all of the perpetrators of and accomplices to the crime, including foreign nationals, would be declared wanted and would be vigorously prosecuted under Russian law.

"In the process of inspecting a vehicle at the Ubylinka international automobile checkpoint (near the Latvian-Russian border in the Pskov Region - TASS), FSB officers uncovered foreign-made explosives that had been hidden inside a consignment of Orthodox icons and liturgical utensils and were being smuggled from Ukraine into Russia," the FSB said.

As many as 27 ready-to-use improvised explosive devices disguised as icons, 70 kg of a factory-made high-power plastic explosive, 91 electric detonators, and components for an RPG-7 rocket launcher were confiscated from a cargo shipment originating in Ukraine.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

Putin spoke at the board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Important statements:

- Only those who respect its traditions, language and culture should be able to come and live in Russia;

- It is necessary to radically update approaches to migration policy ;

- Those who ordered the terrorist attack at Crocus wanted to split Russia by provoking discord;

- It is necessary to improve the efficiency of the police service in the Russian Federation

- The recent tragic events at Crocus must not be allowed to provoke a rise in Islamophobia

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

No barbarian terrorist attack can intimidate Russian, Belarusian peoples — Lavrov

The Russian foreign minister stressed that "common difficult trials unite us even more, strengthen our determination to put an end to the evil emanating from the hateful ideologies of neo-Nazism and religious extremism".

"Please accept my sincere congratulations and best wishes on the occasion of our shared holiday: the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus," the foreign minister noted.

"No barbaric terrorist attack can intimidate and break the spirit of Russians and Belarusians, who are now forced to mourn on the same day the victims of the Nazi henchmen not only of Khatyn, but also of Krasnogorsk (site of the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack - TASS). On the contrary, common difficult trials unite us even more, strengthen our determination to put an end to the evil emanating from the hateful ideologies of neo-Nazism and religious extremism," the minister emphasized.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

US needs Ukraine as anti-Russian territory — top security official

The North Atlantic alliance "is de-facto a party to the Ukraine conflict," Nikolay Patrushev said.

"The United States and NATO nurture plans to keep Ukraine or at least part of it as anti-Russian territory wholly controlled by them [and] focused on serving the interests of the North Atlantic bloc," Patrushev said.

The North Atlantic alliance "is de-facto a party to the Ukraine conflict," he said.

It is NATO that "makes collective decisions on new deliveries of weapons with higher technical and longer-range capabilities" and trains mercenaries and saboteurs for anti-Russian operations, he pointed out.

"In this situation, the goals of demilitarizing Ukraine are high on the agenda," he stressed.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

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Kiev has lost more than 80,000 troops since January – Russian MoD

In excess of 1,200 Ukrainian tanks and other armored vehicles have also been destroyed, Sergey Shoigu has estimated.

Ukrainian forces have lost more than 80,000 troops since the beginning of the year, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Tuesday, adding that the Russian military is continuing to reduce “the enemy’s combat potential.”

More than 14,000 units of military hardware have also been destroyed by Russian forces since January, including 1,200 tanks and other armored combat vehicles. During the same period, Moscow has liberated some 403 square kilometers of Russia’s new territories, Shoigu said, speaking during a conference call with the country’s military leadership.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

Just 8% of Ukrainians ready to take up arms against Russia – pollster

The lack of military volunteers is a “sensitive issue” ahead of mobilization reform, a leading Ukrainian sociologist has said.

Most Ukrainians expect their country to win in the armed conflict with Russia, but just 8% are willing to fight to further their cause, the head of a leading Kiev-based pollster said in an interview published on Tuesday.

Vladimir Paniotto, who leads the International Institute of Sociology in the nation’s capital, discussed how the worldview of the Ukrainian people is reflected in the research conducted by his organization with Ukrainskaya Pravda, a local news outlet.

They tend to wish for conflicting things, he mused, such as capitalist liberalization alongside robust social support by the state, or democracy as well as the strong arm of the government. The conundrum is present in what Ukrainians are willing to do to defeat Russia – an outcome that they believe will end the hostilities.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

The British newspaper The Guardian, citing representatives of Ukrainian military intelligence, writes that Kiev intends to attack the Crimean Bridge again.

The attack is supposed to take place in the first half of 2024, according to the publication, drones could be used for it

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

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Crocus City Hall terror attack traced to Ukrainian special services — Patrushev

As Nikolay Patrushev pointed out, "the perpetrators of this mass shooting and also their accomplices were arrested upon their attempt to cross the Russian state border where the Ukrainian side prepared a window for their escape".

"They are trying to impose it on us that the terrorist act was committed not by the Kiev regime but by supporters of the radical Islamic ideology, possibly, by members of the Afghan branch of ISIL [the former name of the Islamic State terror group outlawed in Russia]," Patrushev told the 19th annual meeting of top security officials of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) member states.

"However, it is far more important to promptly establish who is the mastermind and the sponsor of this horrific crime. Its traces lead to Ukrainian intelligence services. However, everyone is well aware that the Kiev regime is not independent and is fully controlled by the United States..."

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

Russia has all prerequisites for joining world’s top four economies — PM

According to preliminary figures provided by the country’s state statistics service Rosstat, Russia’s GDP grew by 3.6% in 2023.

"According to the World Bank’s estimation, Russia is one of the world’s five largest economies in terms of purchasing power parity. Not long ago in Address to the Federal Assembly President of Russia Vladimir Putin set a more ambitious task of becoming one of top four. There are prerequisites for it," Mishustin said in an annual report at the State Duma, adding that high rates of GDP growth persisted at the beginning of this year.

According to preliminary figures provided by the country’s state statistics service Rosstat, Russia’s GDP grew by 3.6% in 2023, he added.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

Ukrainian military leaders know they can't win on battlefield – Guardian

Their army’s weakness has prompted Kiev’s strikes on Russian infrastructure, senior officers have allegedly told the London newspaper.

Ukraine has no other option but to launch attacks inside Russia, including on its oil infrastructure, because its army faces continued setbacks on the battlefield, The Guardian has reported, citing the leadership of the country's military intelligence service, the GUR.

Officers who allegedly spoke to the British newspaper were candid about Kiev’s desperate military situation. GUR Brigadier-General Dmitry Timkov said his country was like a patient on life support.

”We are attached to a drip. We have enough drugs to stay alive. But, if the West wants us to win, we need the full treatment,” he admitted, referring to the dwindling quantities of military aid coming from Kiev's western backers.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

French, Russian defense ministers hold phone talks

"During the conversation, Sebastien Lecornu strongly condemned the terrorist attack that took place in the Moscow Region on March 22, and also expressed solidarity with the families of the victims," the statement said.

"During the conversation, Lecornu strongly condemned the terrorist attack that took place in the Moscow Region on March 22, and also expressed solidarity with the families of the victims," the statement said. "Lecornu stated France's readiness to cooperate in the fight against terrorism and called for expanding bilateral exchanges to maximize the effectiveness of countering this threat."

The statement said that France has no information that would establish a link between the terrorist attack and Ukraine. Lecornu called on Russia to "renounce any instrumentalization of this terrorist attack." He also said France will continue to support Kiev "for as long and as much as it takes."

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

Zelensky lying about Russian mobilization – Kremlin

The Ukrainian president claimed that Moscow was planning to recruit 300,000 new soldiers by June.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s claim that Russia plans to mobilize 300,000 additional soldiers by the summer is “not true,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated. Meanwhile in Kiev, Zelensky has expanded his connoscription efforts.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Wednesday, Zelensky told reporters that he could not say exactly how many troops Ukraine needs to connoscript, but that Russia “is preparing to mobilize an additional 300,000 troops by June 1,” according to multiple Ukrainian media outlets.

“This is not true,” Peskov told Russia’s TASS news agency later on Wednesday.

t.me/ForeignAgentIntel

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