I saw this on our way to our family reunion today.🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

I looked out the window, and there the hail was coming.

A military officer who has settled in a high-rise building in the western part of Artyomovsk is watching how a package of "Grad" is laid down in a low-rise building across the road.

🇺🇸🇺🇦🇷🇺The United States believes that Russia should pay for the restoration of Ukraine, and is discussing with allies how to circumvent legal restrictions on the use of its frozen assets, US Treasury Secretary Yellen said in an interview with CNN.

The United States has already begun transferring to Ukraine the capital confiscated from Russian individuals, but so far it cannot do the same with state assets.

🇮🇳💰🛢🇷🇺India will explore buying Russian crude oil near or past the price cap imposed by the G7 as it navigates external risks it sees as the biggest economic threat. - Economic Times

“Yes, because otherwise I’ll end up paying far more than what I can afford,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in an interview Saturday in Washington, when asked if India would continue importing Russian oil beyond the $60-a-barrel price cap. “We have a large population and we also therefore have to look at prices which are going to be affordable for us.”

Happy Easter, friends!

I am on the road with my older brother. I look out the window, very interesting! The weather in Lugansk today is wonderful 😊

@HersonEnot and his brothers

🇷🇺🇨🇳Vladimir Putin held a working meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says

🇸🇰🇺🇦 Slovakia has handed over all 13 MiG-29 fighter jets it promised to Ukraine, the Slovak Defense Ministry said on Monday, Reuters reported.

South of Kremennaya, Russian infantry captured a UKR trenchline with the aid of a drone, tanks and, grenades and coordinated teamwork.

Training personnel for Russian Airborne Forces units in the Zaporozhye direction. The personnel, according to the instructor, are fully prepared for any combat missions.

⚡️💥 Shelling is ongoing in Belgorod Oblast. The local unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations has advised residents to shelter in place.

The Japanese government protested to Russia in connection with plans to conduct missile exercises from April 18 to 22 in the southern part of the Kuril Islands. This was announced by the Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers Hirokazu Matsuno.

According to him, the territory of the exercise includes the area that Japan considers its territorial waters.

The Russian side has repeatedly called inappropriate attempts by Tokyo to protest in connection with military exercises in the area of the Kuril Islands. The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the southern Kuril Islands are an integral part of the territory of the Russian Federation, and their Russian identity is beyond doubt.

China's defense minister Li Shangfu visits Putin in Moscow to discuss cooperation between the Russian and Chinese military.

During the Cold War, American policymakers made significant efforts to keep China and Russia apart, but current US policy is driving them closer together.

https://twitter.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1647664127777861634

@KanekoaTheGreat

Status update for the Bakhmut/Artyomovsk region: muddy

Словакия передала ВСУ обещанные 13 истребителей МиГ-29, — Reuters со ссылкой на министерство обороны Словакии
@rtrdonetsk

Slovakia handed over the promised 13 MiG-29 fighters to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, - Reuters, citing the Slovak Ministry of Defense
@rtrdonetsk

Oleksiy Reznikov apologized for comparing Ukraine's losses in the war with the number of victims of the earthquake in Turkey

“I sincerely apologize to everyone in Ukraine or Turkey who was offended by my comments.
Ukrainians sympathize with the Turkish people. We understand what it is like to bury thousands of innocent people - friends and neighbors.
I am grateful to our Turkish friends for their unwavering support and firm stance on Crimea since the start of the Russian invasion,” Reznikov said.

🇺🇸 American intelligence is monitoring the situation around Bakhmut, assuming that the city will be taken by Russian forces, this will be a "psychological blow" for Kiev - Newsweek

Необычно возвращаться в места, где еще недавно бывал во время активных боев. Едешь по селам, в которых прятался от обстрелов по подвалам, а это уже глубокий тыл. Условный тыл, потому что с продвижением штурмовых отрядов ЧВК «Вагнер» к западным окраинам Артемовска (Бахмута), все вероятнее становится опасность удара ВСУ по южному и северному флангам города, чтобы взять в окружение группировку «музыкантов». И пока «вагнеровцы» работают внутри Бахмута, контроль за украинскими войсками «по краям» осуществляют подразделения Вооруженных сил России. Ведут аэроразведку, наносят артиллерийские удары, «кошмарят» технику противника, которая концентрируется на самых опасных направлениях.

Сегодня противник формирует (или делает вид, что формирует) сразу несколько ударных группировок с прицелом на Артемовск. Десантники Тульской дивизии ВДВ прикрывают город с севера. Удар может быть нанесен одновременно с началом обещанного Украиной контрнаступления. И взятие Бахмута в кольцо стало бы для Зеленского большой политической победой. Судя по перехваченным картам, на восточном фронте Киев сосредоточил на Артемовском направлении сил больше, чем на Сватовском. А в случае падения Бахмута, Украина сможет развивать наступление в сторону Луганска, разрезая нашу группировку в ЛНР.

В российском командовании это прекрасно понимают, поэтому на прикрытие флангов выставили опытные подразделения. В том числе – артиллерийские.

Мой большой репортаж с северного фланга Артемовска

@sashakots

It is unusual to return to places where you have recently been during active battles. You drive through the villages where you hid from shelling in the basements, and this is already a deep rear. Conditional rear, because with the advancement of the assault detachments of PMC "Wagner" to the western outskirts of Artemovsk (Bakhmut), the danger of a strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the southern and northern flanks of the city becomes more and more likely in order to encircle the group of "musicians". And while the "Wagnerites" are working inside Bakhmut, control over the Ukrainian troops "along the edges" is carried out by units of the Russian Armed Forces. They conduct aerial reconnaissance, inflict artillery strikes, “nightmare” enemy equipment, which is concentrated in the most dangerous areas.

Today, the enemy is forming (or pretending to be forming) several strike groups at once with an eye on Artemovsk. Paratroopers of the Tula Airborne Division cover the city from the north. The blow could be delivered simultaneously with the start of the counter-offensive promised by Ukraine. And taking Bakhmut into the ring would be a big political victory for Zelensky. Judging by the intercepted maps, on the eastern front, Kyiv concentrated more forces in the Artemovsky direction than in the Svatovsky direction. And in the event of the fall of Bakhmut, Ukraine will be able to develop an offensive towards Lugansk, cutting our group in the LPR.

The Russian command is well aware of this, so experienced units were put up to cover the flanks. Including artillery.

My big report from the northern flank of Artemovsk

@sashakots