TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian Z fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2992. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine presented artificial intelligence Victoria, which will be an assistant in informing citizens about consular issues.
She is based on a real person — Ukrainian singer Rosalie Nombre. Victoria will be able to appear on television and radio during high-profile events abroad.
"My task will be to provide the public with operational and verified information," said Victoria herself.
As Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba noted, such an innovation will help save time and resources, and real diplomats will be able to work more efficiently and focus on other tasks.
The IMF predicts that Russia's share of world GDP will fall to a historic low.
Contrary to Putin's promises, the Russian economy will grow more slowly than the world economy over the next five years and will continue to lose its share of global GDP. This is the forecast of the International Monetary Fund in the April block of macroeconomic projections.
According to the IMF, by the end of 2023 the Russian Federation will account for 2.94% of the world's production of goods and services. Every year this share will decrease and in 2029 it will reach only 2.7%. This will be the lowest in the entire modern history of the country - lower than the low point of 1998, when Russia's share in the world GDP fell to 2.83% due to the default.
As for Russia's GDP, the IMF predicts a slowdown in growth rates to 1.8% in 2025 and only 1.3% in 2029.
The Associated Press showed an exclusive drone video shot on Monday of the ruined town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, which is being continuously attacked and attempted to be captured by Russian forces.
There is not a single intact building left in the city, houses and municipal offices are charred, and the town, once home to 12,000 residents, is now almost deserted.
The USA has announced a comprehensive package of sanctions targeting Russia's military-industrial complex.
This latest round of sanctions focuses on Russia's military-industrial base, along with its chemical and biological weapons programs. It also encompasses individuals and entities in third countries that facilitate Moscow's acquisition of components for weapon and defense production.
Furthermore, the sanctions extend to major Russian importers of cotton pulp and nitrocellulose, as well as crucial components. Two suppliers of these goods from China are also included in the sanctions.
Additionally, two Russian companies involved in gas infrastructure construction, "Neftegazstroy" and "VNYPYgazdobycha," have been subjected to further US sanctions.
Ukrainian MP Charged with Embezzling £220,000
Ukrainian authorities have charged a member of parliament with embezzling over £220,000.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) alleged the Ukrainian MP purchased assets far exceeding his official income.
While it did not identify the politician, the Interfax Ukraine news agency and other Ukrainian media outlets named Andriy Klochko as the accused.
Mr Klochko is a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People party.
In a statement, NABU said that between 2020 and 2021 the MP had acquired assets worth 25m hryvnas (£507,000), while he and his wife's combined declared income and savings at the time was just 14m hryvnas (£284,000).
That left an unexplained difference of 11m hryvnas (£223,000), prosecutors said.
- BBC News
(2/2)
CDS tracked a few dozen movements—including:
- Four Sukhoi Su-30SM fighters and four Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft moving from Eisk (100 miles from the front) to Privolzhsky and Armavir (respectively 500 and 250 miles from the front)
- Eight Su-25s from Taganrog (100 miles from the front) redeploying to Budenovsk (400 miles from the front)
- Four Mikoyan MiG-31BM interceptors from Primorsko-Akhtarsk (200 miles from the front) relocating to Privolzhsky (500 miles from the front)
- Two Sukhoi Su-35 fighters from Tikhoretsk (200 miles from the front) moving to Akhtubinsk (400 miles from the front)
- Five Su-30SMs from Krymsk (200 miles from the front) relocating to Privolzhsky (500 miles from the front)
- Four Su-25s from Millerovo (100 miles from the front) redeploying to Budenovsk (400 miles from the front)
- Five Su-30SMs and five Sukhoi Su-24M bombers from Saki (100 miles from the front) moving to Eisk, strangely—perhaps temporarily before staging father to the east
- Two Su-35s from Voronezh (150 miles from the front) relocating to Lipetsk (200 miles from the front)
- Seven Su-35s leaving Kushchevskaya (200 miles from the front)
The redeployments should get those planes out of range of ATACMS, although they remain vulnerable to the farther-flying Ukrainian strike drones.
The downside is that, since the Russian air force does not operate a meaningful number of aerial tankers, adding hundreds of miles to a jet’s flight path significantly reduces how much of the front line it can reach and how long it can linger there.
- David Axe
(2/2)
The Great Russian Jet Evacuation has Begun
The United States shipped at least a hundred long-range Army Tactical Missile System rockets to Ukraine starting in mid-March, right before Russia-friendly Republicans in the U.S. Congress finally ended their six-month blockade of $61 billion in fresh aid to Ukraine.
The Pentagon paid for the March shipment with $300 million in savings from a previously-approved U.S. contract for weapons for Ukraine; it paid for a possible second shipment of ATACMs, last week, with some of the recently-approved funds.
The Ukrainians wasted no time lobbing the rockets—which range as far as 190 miles and dispense hundreds or even a thousand submunitions, depending on the model—at Russian air bases across occupied Ukraine and in southern and western Russia.
An April 16 ATACMS raid on Dzhankoy air base, 100 miles from the front line in occupied Crimea, destroyed four launchers from an S-400 air-defense battery.
The Russians are spooked.
We know this because, on and just before Wednesday, the Russian air force—and possible the navy—began redeploying warplanes away from Ukrainian territory, clearly aiming to mitigate the risk from ATACMS and other Ukrainian deep-strike weapons, including long-range drones.
“The adversary's command has initiated the repositioning of operational-tactical and army aviation assets from forward air bases, including those situated deep within the operational theater, to the interior of Russian territory following the delivery of long-range strike capabilities such as ATACMS missiles to the Ukrainian defense forces,” the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies reported.
“The overall strength of enemy aviation units deployed directly at forward air bases has decreased from 303 to 305 units of combat and special aviation to 280 to 283 units,” CDS added.
(1/2)
Israel retires its Patriot air defense systems. But amid a very public clamoring in Ukraine for exactly such systems, analysts say it is unlikely the Israeli systems would be sent to Kyiv.
Israel would need America’s permission to sell the US-made system, but they could also be sold back to the US and then sent elsewhere.
Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defense, has asked countries which have Patriot systems to hand them over to Ukraine to strengthen its air defence.
"There are countries that have Patriots, and so what we are doing is continuing to engage those countries. I have talked to the leaders of several countries myself in the last two weeks, encouraging them to give up more capability or provide more capability," Austin said.
However, he did not specify who exactly he discussed the aid for Ukraine with.
https://share.newsbreak.com/6robaneh
@ukrainejournal
A rapist/murderer and a cannibal serve in the Russian army
https://mil.in.ua/en/news/za-nashikh-a-murderer-of-two-women-and-a-cannibal-serve-in-the-russian-army/
Trump has a plan to end democracy.
Joyce Vance
https://open.substack.com/pub/joycevance/p/frogs-continue-to-ignore-rising-temperatures?r=70k1h&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
The bomb maker has two 3D printers now.
I am a Democrat who supports Ukraine in their battle against The Russian Z fascist invaders.
I am a 73 year old Covid hermit who
lives on 10 acres in a sparsely populated area of the Ozarks. I heat with wood that is leftover by the lumber industry. When cutting oak for lumber only the trunk is used.
The largest town is population 2992. The county is 13k people scattered over 713 square miles.
Joined Dec 2022
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