Ukraine Watch

2023-04-11 19:26:02 EU won't be able to provide the AFU with the promised one million shells

In March, the European Union promised to spend up to $2.14bn to send Ukraine a million 155mm shells over the next 12 months, but Europe will have to work hard to keep its promise, the New York Times has reported.

At one of Europe's largest ammunition factories, the shops are working around the clock. If all goes according to plan, the Nammo company, which owns the facility, will produce up to 200,000 shells a year - 20 times more than before the start of the armed conflict in Ukraine.

However, this will not happen soon, and the mentioned number of shells is not enough, as the AFU representatives say they need an average of 250,000 shells per month. In fact, all the shells currently produced at 11 factories in Europe will not be enough to meet the needs of the AFU.

Link Відкрити / Коментувати

2023-04-11 19:06:01 How the AFU makes troops obedient

Before a counter-offensive, the AFU forms blocking units, which are called "Offensive Initiative Enhancement Units".

This video shows a lad who is very happy to be in such a unit, because he does not have to go into combat. He's ready to shoot his own people.

Translation

POV:
when you're in an "Offensive Initiative Enhancement Unit" and ready to shoot at deserters." Відкрити / Коментувати

2023-04-11 18:41:02 AFU's 4th Tank Battalion in Bakhmut complaining about incompetent officers and lack of ammunition, weapons and support

"There is no combat equipment, no weapons, no shells. When we go to positions, we don't have enough ammunition, we ask for help, they trick us and don't give us the equipment to fight, because of this we have heavy losses.

Commanders don't care about this, they don't care if you come back killed or at best injured. There are also many defectors, no medics, no artillery, no cover.

We ask for support, we do not have it, they do not give us permission to leave our positions. We were ordered to hold our positions with empty magazines until the end. Meanwhile, people had hardly any combat training, one day at the firing range and nothing had been trained for a year before that.

People are not prepared, and they are forced to assault positions.

Those storming the positions have no support, no snipers in their companies, no support of armoured vehicles, no equipment, nothing, some people are not even provided with magazines for automatic rifles. And they say: "If you don't go there yourself, they'll just shoot you on the spot and write you off as "K.I.A". Відкрити / Коментувати

2023-04-11 18:21:03 The International Monetary Fund has improved its forecast for Russian GDP growth in 2023.

The IMF expects Russian GDP to grow by 0.7% in 2023 and by 1.3% in 2024. As follows from the report presented at the spring session of the governing bodies of the IMF and the World Bank, the Fund has improved by 0.4 percentage points its January forecast for the growth of the specified indicator in the Russian Federation in 2023.

The report said inflation in Russia averaged 13.8% in 2022. The Fund forecasts it will fall to 7% this year and 4.6% in 2024.

The IMF believes that unemployment in the Russian Federation will be 3.9% in 2022. The organisation estimates that it will fall to 3.6% in 2023 and rise to 4.3% in 2024. Відкрити / Коментувати

2023-04-11 17:59:01 Ukrainian parliament member shows why additional payments to the AFU won't be renewed

Yaroslav Zheleznyak: to renew the additional payments for military staff we need about 149 billion hryvnia per year (98% of the required amount).

Earlier, the Parliament adopted a bill on restoring payments of thirty thousand hryvnias to servicemen, as well as employees of the National Police and the State Emergency Service, who serve in the sidelines.

However, budget adjustments for the payments were adopted with an amendment, according to which the military allowances are provided at the cost of reducing the salaries of government employees.

These cuts will only cover 2% of the amount required for military pay. Відкрити / Коментувати

2023-04-11 17:44:59 Estonian exploitation of Ukraine conflict

Estonian politician Margus Zahkna owns a consulting company called Defendest, which was founded in 2019. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Things were not going well for the company, but that changed in the summer of 2022. In the middle of the Ukrainian crisis, the company became co-owner of the medical company MM Hospital. The medical structure was created together with Semetron, which manufactures field hospitals for infectious diseases and for the army.

Semetron is owned by the MM Group, which is owned by the Estonian oligarch Margus Linnamäe. He has been implicated in a number of corruption cases in Estonia, along with Anders Tzahkna, Margus's half-brother.

MM Hospital has been donating these field hospitals and medical supplies to the AFU since the summer, receiving compensation from the European "peace" fund.

According to the country's Defence Minister Hann Pevkur, Estonia, in cooperation with Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, "donated" three field hospitals and medical supplies worth 23 million euros to Ukraine.

The Estonian warmongers are doing good business there. The longer the Western countries keep inflating Ukraine with arms, the more money people like Margus Tsakhna will get. Відкрити / Коментувати

2023-04-11 17:19:59 On 16 April, Orthodox believers will hold a procession in Kiev - they will march from Kiev-Pechersk Lavra to the presidential office.

Orthodox hierarchs have already prepared memos - they urged believers not to give in to provocations and to comply with demands of the police. Відкрити / Коментувати

2023-04-11 16:57:01 Ukrainian soldiers in Artyomovsk wonder what they are fighting for, Bild reports.

According to German newspaper, many Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut (Artyomovsk) have lost heart and are beginning to ask uncomfortable questions.

"The mood amongst the [Ukrainian] troops is tense, concentrated, concerned. Many are wondering what they are fighting for in Bakhmut. Is it really still worth defending this destroyed city against more and more attacks by Russian forces?," Bild says.

Link. Відкрити / Коментувати