TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, in a column for The Telegraph, remarked, “We have transitioned from a post-war world to a pre-war world.” He highlighted the threats posed by Russia, China’s increasing aggression, Iran’s regional destabilization efforts through proxies, and North Korea’s nuclear provocations, noting that these forces are aligning against democracy.

Shapps called on NATO countries to bolster their defense capabilities and meet the commitment of spending 2% of GDP on defense. He expressed concern over some countries failing to meet this target, emphasizing the need to prioritize security.

Similarly, British Foreign Minister David Cameron conveyed a similar message during his visit to Brussels for the NATO foreign ministers’ summit. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also spoke about the shift in eras, declaring the end of a blissful peace and the onset of a new, potentially perilous era.

Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell highlighted Russia’s significant military recovery since its invasion of Ukraine, with defense spending reaching 6% of GDP in 2024. He noted support from China, North Korea, and Iran, though this assessment contradicts views from the Pentagon and US allies in Europe.

Overall, these statements underscore growing concerns about global security dynamics and the need for concerted efforts to address emerging threats.

Finland closes border with Russia indefinitely.

The Finnish government has extended "until further notice" the closure of the checkpoint on the border with Russia, reports the local publication Yle.

The proposal was made by the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs, explaining that Russia continues to use "directed migration" against Finland. Previously, the closure of the border was extended each time for two months. The last such deadline was supposed to expire on April 14. According to the newspaper, the decision to close the border is valid indefinitely "or as long as it is deemed necessary."

Finland closed its border with Russia in November 2023 amid a sharp increase in the number of migrants who tried to enter Europe from Putinistan. Last fall, migrants from the Middle East stormed the Russian-Finnish border.

@freerussia_report

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/joe-bidens-secret-weapon/55361/

Seven more Ukrainian children, together with their families, were returned home from the Russian-occupied territories in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on April 3.

At least 19,500 children have been confirmed as abducted by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and less than 400 of them have been returned home, according to the Children of War database.

"Some of the families went through true horror under occupation and became the witnesses of Russians looting homes of the locals, forcing (Ukrainians) to take Russian passports, abusing Ukrainians, forcing children to learn by 'Russia's world' canons," Lubinets wrote on his Telegram channel.

Lubinets also said that families with boys decided to flee from the occupied territories due to the risk of a future men mobilization to the Russian army.

"The children's parents said at our Centre of Children's Rights Protection that the perspectives of their future on the occupied territories did not fit their further view on their family's lives," Lubinets added. "So, they decided to move to the territories, which remained under Ukraine's control."

According to Lubinets, the returned families will receive the required medical, humanitarian, and psychological help. Later, they will also be assisted in further document restoration, job searching, and sending children to educational institutions, Lubinets added.

Previously, the ombudsman reported on March 22 on the return of nine children who were deported by Russia or held in Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories.

Kyiv ind.

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz

🔱 Operational information as of 06.00 on April 4, 2024 regarding the Russian invasion

❗️ The main summary:

🔵 During the past day, 65 combat clashes took place. In total, the enemy launched 6 rocket and 85 air strikes, carried out 88 attacks from rocket salvo systems on the positions of our troops and populated areas.

🔴 At night, the Russian invaders once again attacked Ukraine, using 20 unmanned aerial vehicles of the "Shahed-136/131" type. 11 attack UAVs were destroyed by the forces and means of air defense of Ukraine.

🔵 In the Kupyan direction, the Defense Forces repulsed 1 enemy attack in the area of Andriivka settlement of Luhansk region.

🔵 In the Lyman direction, our soldiers repulsed 5 enemy attacks in the Terna settlement of Donetsk region.

🔵 In the Bakhmut direction, our soldiers repelled 14 attacks in the areas of Belogorivka, Luhansk region; Spirny, Andriyivka, south-eastern Vyimka and Klishchiivka of the Donetsk region.

🔵 In the Avdiiv direction, our defenders repelled 15 attacks in the areas of Berdychi, Umanske, Yasnobrodivka, Pervomaiske and Nevelske settlements of the Donetsk region.

🔵 On the Novopavlivskyi direction, the Defense Forces continue to hold back the enemy in the areas of settlements of Novomykhailivka, Urozhaine, southeast of Vodyanyi, where the enemy, supported by aviation, tried 22 times to break through the defense of our troops.

🔵 During the past day, the enemy did not conduct offensive (assault) actions in the Orichiv direction.

🔵 In the Kherson direction, the enemy does not give up its intention to knock out our units from the bridgeheads on the left bank of the Dnieper. So, during the past day, the enemy carried out 7 unsuccessful attacks on the positions of our troops.

🔥 During the past day, the aviation of the Defense Forces struck 14 areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment and 1 anti-aircraft missile complex of the enemy.

🔥 Units of the missile forces damaged 4 areas of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment, 1 artillery system, 1 radar station, 1 EW station, 1 control point of an unmanned aerial vehicle and 1 other important enemy object.

Support the Armed Forces! Let's win together!✊
Glory to Ukraine!🇺🇦
AFU

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱

Russia and Arctic LNG 2 hit by Western sanctions

The project has slashed gas output in recent months.

Russia's largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), has suspended production at its Arctic LNG 2 project due to sanctions and a shortage of gas tankers, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The project had been hoping to start commercial deliveries in the first quarter of this year. But plans were complicated last year when it was included in Western sanctions over Russia's conflict in Ukraine, prompting foreign shareholders to freeze participation and Novatek to issue a force majeure.

The decision to suspend converting natural gas to LNG is a blow to Russia's goal to capture a fifth of the global LNG market by 2030-2035.

It is currently the world's fourth-largest LNG producer with annual exports of 32.6 million metric tons.

Novatek, which started tentative LNG production at the first of the plant's planned three trains in December, did not reply to a request for comment.

"Train one will remain shut until at least the end of June," one of the sources told Reuters, adding that construction activities for the project were still ongoing.

The sources said the main problem was a lack of specialist tankers capable of transporting LNG - which is cooled to minus 163 degrees Celsius (minus 261.4 Fahrenheit) - and cutting through thick sea ice.

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱

Source.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/russias-arctic-lng-2-suspends-gas-liquefaction-amid-sanctions-lack-tankers-2024-04-02/

What we know about the attacks, possibly on three russian airfields last night.

In the Rostov region, according to the Russian public, the military airfield in Morozovsk came under attack. The authorities of the region did not confirm this. But they reported about the arrival of the substation and the blackout.

It is noteworthy that this city, located at a distance of about 300 km from Ukraine, was the first to be hit at night. Eyewitnesses counted more than 60 explosions. It should be noted that there is a military airfield near Morozovsk, where the Russian 559th "Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment" is based.

OSINT researcher MT Anderson reported that on April 4, 24 Su-34 fighters and three Su-35 aircraft were deployed at the air base in Morozovsk, which launch aerial bombs over Ukraine.

According to data from open sources, Su-24 and Su-24M front-line bombers are also based at this airfield.

Hopefully some bombers have been destroyed.

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz

Engels.

In the Saratov region, they reported explosions in Engels (about 700 km from Ukraine), where the base of strategic bombers is located. Local authorities claim that "there were no hits". Eyewitnesses claim that around 05:00 they heard the sounds of gunfire, then a powerful explosion rang out. Then the siren turned on.

It should be noted that this is the main base of bombers and the only base of Tu-160 strategic bombers in the Russian Federation. The 121st Guards Sevastopol and 184th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiments, which are armed with Tu-160 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers, are stationed at the air base with the official name "Engels-2".

With the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, "Engels-2" became one of the Russian airfields used to launch missile strikes on the territory of Ukraine.

Ukrainian military-political leadership has explained that the destruction of the missile and bomb carriers themselves is an effective fight against Russian aerial terror, which the enemy has intensified recently.

Usually we await new satellite images to confirm damage to aircraft, unless russian sources admit something has been hit beforehand. Hopefully the results will be less attacks on Ukraine 🙏

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz

Yeysk information.

In the city of Yeysk in the Krasnodar region, which is 150 km from Ukraine, it was loud around 03:00. There were at least 10 explosions. Local Telegram channels write that "Russian anti-aircraft defense was working over the city."

In addition to loud explosions in Yeysk, the sound of automatic rounds was also heard in the area of the local airfield and the military town. It should be noted that in the western part of the city there is a large airfield of the Russian Navy, where the 959th Bombardment Aviation Regiment, which is part of the 1st Guards Mixed Aviation Division, is stationed. The regiment's armament consists of Su-24 front-line bombers.

Back in October 2022, analysts showed that the airfield is intensively used by the Russian military and, thanks to its close location to Ukraine (located 150 kilometers from the combat line in the direction of Zaporozhye) - serves as an advanced air base of the occupiers - in the first year of the full-scale war, there were 10 Su-34, at least 7 Su-25, two Il-38, An-26, Su-30SM, Tu-134UBL, An-72, as well as one Be-200ChS.

The Yeysk airfield is used by tactical aviation units of the 4th Army of the Russian Air Force to perform combat missions. It is known that aviation bombarded Mariupol from this airfield.

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱 Liz

Russian oil companies are experiencing difficulties repairing refineries due to Western sanctions, and attacks by Ukrainian drones may exacerbate their problems.

Source: European Pravda; Reuters

When engineers at Russian oil company Lukoil discovered a turbine failure at its largest refinery on 4 January, they quickly realised that the problem was far from trivial, Reuters says.

Only one company knew how to repair the gasoline production unit at the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez oil refinery (NORSI), located on the Volga River. The problem was that the company was an American one, according to five sources familiar with the incident.

The company, engaged in oil engineering and part of the multinational concern UOP, left Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

"They (the engineers) rushed around to find spare parts and they couldn't find anything. Then the whole unit just stopped," a source close to Lukoil said.

Four other sources said the catalytic cracker, which is used to convert heavy hydrocarbons into gasoline, has not been operational since January, and it is unclear when it could be repaired due to a lack of experience in Russia.

🇺🇦@ukraine_report 🇺🇦🔱

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/04/4/7449666/

We wash our hands
Information about terrorist attacks does not fall within the competence of the Kremlin

Putin’s press parrot pesky Peskov about the US warning two weeks in advance that a terrorist attack was being prepared at Crocus: “This is not our [the Kremlin’s] competence, because such an exchange of information takes place through the channels of the special services.”

So, that is the upgrade from: I didn't know anything about the warning.

Remains the question which Kremlin appointed Seer has shown Putin the corresponding information, -possibly in the crystal ball or perhaps it was an ouija board?-, which he happend to comment, as published by state propaganda media on March, 19. Hmm... 🤡🤦‍♀️

@freerussia_report

At least 285 children taken from Donbas ended up in the All-Russian data bank of orphans - investigation by “Layout” and “Important Stories”

Hundreds of children who were taken from Donbas to Russia are stuck in the orphan system of Russia. Their fate is no longer reported by the Russian authorities. And Ukraine has not had full information about them since 2014. Journalists from Layout and Important Stories found 285 questionnaires of deported children in the federal orphan database of Russia, confirmed the identity of each child and talked to them.

On February 20, 2022, an announcement appeared on the website of the self-proclaimed Ministry of Education of the "DPR": 626 orphans are now in Russia. The Kursk and Rostov regions have become the largest hubs for orphanages and boarding schools removed from the territory of the Donetsk region. (Groups of children from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions also arrived in Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod in the first weeks after the start of the war, but we do not know the details of their evacuation.)

"Thank you to the Russian Federation for saving children's lives! We believe that the long-awaited peace will soon come to our Republic, and everyone will return home!", ends the announcement.

Four days later, Russian troops launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and orphans who believed they were leaving for a few days also became refugees.

The authorities did not assign these children to Russian foster families during the first six months of the war and sent them to orphanages, boarding schools and colleges in different parts of Russia.

The main points from the investigation:

The first profiles of children from Donbas appeared in the All-Russian data bank of orphans in October 2022 - just a week after Russia annexed the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine

At least 15 regions of Russia offered to adopt or take custody of deported orphans. However, the profiles of such children do not indicate that they came from Donbas.

In 20 cases, the status of the biological parents of Donetsk children changed in absentia through court: for example, from restriction of rights to deprivation.

Probably 76 children from those who managed to get into the data bank of orphans later ended up in Russian foster families. Four returned to relatives in the occupied territories. At least 187 children remain in the orphanage system of Russia.

“Layout” and “Important Stories” spoke with the children whose profiles were included in the data bank, with their relatives and guardians.

Read about what happened to them over the past two years in the joint investigation “I Want It-Yes mine ” (Russian) or (English translated)

@freerussia_report

If the FSB knew that Crocus was under attack and did nothing to prevent the terrorist attack, then it was interested in it.

The information transmitted by the US contained not only an indication of the potential terrorists, but also an indication of the specific target of ISIS - Crocus City Hall, Moreover, these were official documents, emphasizes lawyer and blogger Mark Feigin on the “Air” program.

“If the Russian special services knew the location of the terrorist attack, there are much more grounds for the version that the FSB had a direct connection to this.”

If not directing it, at least by negligence.

The authorities are using the terrorist attack for their own foreign policy purposes - to mobilize society, not against ISIS (which Russia allegedly defeated), but against a very real enemy, Ukraine. It is also used to intensify repression within the country. They are not looking for real terrorists, but “they take an old dissident for terrorism.” See the case of Alexander Skobov.

@freerussia_report

"We will produce everything ourselves." Putin promised to rid Russians of imported medicines, goods and equipment.

The Russian economy must independently supply citizens with the necessary goods, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

According to him, domestic products instead of imported ones should increase their share in all key segments. "In our domestic market, the share of domestic goods should increase: equipment, machine tools, vehicles, medicines, consumer goods," Putin listed, speaking at the congress of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia.

"We can and will produce all this ourselves, in much larger volumes than now," RIA Novosti quoted the president as saying.
Reducing imports to 17% of GDP will require the abandonment of a significant part of imported goods and services, says Dmitry Polevoy, investment director at Astra FM Dmitry Polevoy: for this, production chains and final output will have to be reformatted.

So far, import substitution is successful in agricultural products and food, but there is much less success with goods with high added value, Polevoy states. Last year, according to the Central Bank, $303 billion worth of goods were imported into Russia, which is close to record highs before the annexation of Crimea ($318-341 billion in 2011-13). Purchases of machinery and equipment abroad increased by 24%, and clothing and footwear by 21%.

Source

Great ideas, bunker dwarf. Perhaps you can start with designing agriculture machinery that doesn't require the user "to be at the same time a welder, a mechanic and an athlete in order to be able to work with it", as one of the farmers complaint who said that he had to go back to domestic machines. Or at least start with fulfilling the promises you made before throwing more around?

@freerussia_report

Putin's little helpers
The US Congress may postpone the vote on aid to Ukraine for several weeks. Bloomberg

A vote in the US House of Representatives on the allocation of aid to Ukraine will not take place until at least mid-April, Bloomberg writes, citing sources in the Republican Party.

They do not rule out that they will have to wait even more than two weeks, as House Speaker Mike Johnson is still looking for ways to soften the position of his colleagues in the hard-line party.

So far, his team has not shared a detailed plan for the aid package for Ukraine and what concessions it will demand from President Joe Biden in return. In this regard, the agency's interlocutors consider it unlikely that the vote will be held next week.

On April 1, Johnson said in an interview with Fox News that he would put forward new conditions for providing assistance to Ukraine.

Johnson also said he was going to hold the vote "immediately" after MPs return from the Easter recess, which is due to end on April 9. His spokesman, Taylor Haulsey, contradicted him and said the pledge was not intended to set a specific deadline and that the speaker was still "listening to the views of party members."

At the same time, two representatives of the Republican leadership did not rule out that, from a technical point of view, Johnson could approve the decision on the relief plan over the weekend and put the bill to a vote next week. But "such an accelerated regime" threatens the failure of the document.

The United States has not been able to agree on the allocation of a new aid package to Ukraine since last fall. On Feb. 13, the Democratic-controlled Senate approved a bill that would have given Kiev $60 billion, but Johnson refused to bring it up for consideration.

Source

In other words, Republicans are diddling since last fall, blocking with all might any bill, and not really in a hurry to even decide what concessions they want. Perhaps fearing that Biden might say, "okay, deal!" and then they would forced to approve the aid, although their goal is to avoid this at all costs? A bunch of irresponsible assholes and Putin helpers!

@freerussia_report

Most thinking women will NOT be voting for Trump. Ditto for men who feel empathy.

https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/this-has-the-trump-campaign-rattled/55355/

#CCD_explains:

⚡️ Enemy propaganda keeps trying to intimidate the population of Kharkiv. This time, the enemy's manipulations targeted underground schools being built in the city.

◾️ russian propaganda is spreading fakes that the underground schools will be used by the Ukrainian military as command posts. In this way, enemy propagandists threaten to launch missile attacks on underground schools in Kharkiv under the fictitious pretext of Ukraine's "military use" of these facilities. As an argument in favor of the "necessity" of potential strikes on these schools, enemy propagandists cite their "similarity" to command posts built by the Americans during the Cold War.

In this way, the enemy is trying to justify the terrorist attacks on Kharkiv with mythical military targets in schools.

❗️Threats of attacks on Kharkiv's underground schools are part of the enemy's disinformation campaign of "fear mongering."

@ukrainejournal

Ivan Fedorov head of Zaporizhzhya OVA:

‼️For the last two days, the enemy has been terrorizing the residents of Zaporozhye with rocket attacks.

▪️Yesterday, from 15:15 to 17:15, Russia carried out two series of missile attacks on civilian and industrial infrastructure.

4 people died - 2 men and 2 women. Two of them died in hospital.

23 people were injured. Eight of them, including two children aged 9 and 17, are in the hospital. Four out of eight are in serious condition.

According to preliminary data , more than 40 buildings were damaged, including 24 private houses, 9 high-rise buildings, a dormitory and a kindergarten.

▪️ Today from 5:30 to 6:00 the enemy struck industrial enterprises. There are no casualties.

🤝 City services, rescuers of the State Emergency Service, volunteers and charitable organizations promptly eliminate the consequences of shelling and help people.

@ukrainejournal

🚧The Russians are laying a track to Crimea: Ukrainian intelligence assessed the prospects for their efforts

Representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andrey Yusov assured that intelligence officers are monitoring this and will “adjust” the plans of the invaders.

According to him, the construction of the railway to Crimea is already at a “serious stage,” but “the plans are different from life.”

“In a few months we can see the result (of the construction of this railway). But there is nothing new here. Ukraine sees this and is preparing accordingly. We are talking exclusively about military supplies. This is a single track. They plan that way. But plans are different from life and, of course , the Ukrainian security and defense forces will adjust these plans... We will hear, we will see,”
Yusov commented.

@ukrainejournal

Zelensky's options for what to do about the war "range from bad to worse," the Washington Post writes.

A summary of the article:
The return of territories by military means "seems increasingly less likely." “The status quo is terrible. Currently, the fight has reached a dead end, Ukrainians are dying on the battlefield every day,” the article says.

Ukrainian and Western officials believe Zelensky is largely stuck and solidarity within Ukraine is weakening.

A senior Ukrainian official said: “Everyone wants quick solutions, but everyone has come to the understanding that there will be no quick solutions.”

Also in Ukraine they consider it “unrealistic” to reach the 1991 borders.

“Smart people know that this is unrealistic,” the Ukrainian legislator said, adding that the political leadership “at some point needed to correct this rhetoric.”

Attempts to correct the situation at the front are still in question. Measures to increase mobilization “split society.”

“Ukraine does not have the strength for a new offensive,” said a Western diplomat. In his opinion, there are two scenarios.

"One scenario is that they receive support to maintain defensive lines. ... In the second scenario, the support will not be enough, and Ukraine will still defend itself, desperately and with less manpower," he said.

But in this case, casualties and territorial losses will increase, “which will put Ukraine in a dead end.”

Now Ukraine and its partners must prepare for 2025 as “another year of war, not peace negotiations,” the diplomat said.

In Ukraine itself, opinions about how long the war can last are divided.

"A Ukrainian legislator has said that the country will not survive this status quo for another ten years. Others, however, believe that the fight could continue even longer," the article says.

“It's an unpleasant thought, but when some people say it could take decades, no one disputes that,” said former Economy Minister Timofey Milovanov.
@ukrainejournal