If only there was peace

Victory Day over Nazism in World War II will be celebrated as a national holiday in Ukraine, said Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanik.

“Undoubtedly, this is a national holiday. Victory Day over fascism in the Second World War will also be celebrated in our country,” he stressed.

According to Motuzyanik, the holiday will be celebrated in the current situation.

“Russia needs to get some results until May 9. Because to date, Russia has not achieved any strategic goal,” he added.
 
Russia, lawful successor of Soviet anti-Semitism?

The Kremlin drastically reduced the use of the tern “denazification”, says the investigation platform Proekt.media, quoting sources in the Kremlin, because the Russians do not realize what this means. The investigators learned that most of the employees of the Russian government, the presidential administration and the members of the State Duma didn’t know about Putin’s plans to start a war against Ukraine. The officials didn’t have an action plan for this case.

Ahead of the Victory Day, Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar called on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to apologize for his recent remarks about Jews, neo-Nazis and Ukraine that strained relations between Israel and Russia, saying an acknowledgement would help everyone move on.

'Doomsday' plane seen flying

Vladimir Putin’s special 'Doomsday' plane which allows him to continue ruling Russia during a nuclear war has been seen flying around Moscow in recent days.

Video shows the Ilyushin Il-80 passing low over the outskirts of the city amid tension that he will resort to atomic weapons during the conflict in Ukraine.

But Russian officials have insisted the aircraft will be showcased with a low flypast at Monday’s annual Victory Day parade on Red Square, and is involved in 'rehearsals' for the display.

'Doomsday' plane hasn’t taken part in parades since 2010.

“We are gaining ground”

In an interview for The Wall Street Journal, Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had stopped Russia’s advance and pledging it would liberate its territory.

“We are gaining ground and we are pushing away the Russian army,” he said, noting he wants to drive Russian forces back to their positions before the February 24 invasion and would seek to regain control over all of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean Peninsula that Russia seized in 2014, by dialogue.

In another public speech, the Ukrainian President said his country will not accept a frozen conflict and such agreements as the Minsk ones.

Azovstal cannot be destroyed even with nuclear warhead

Azovstal Metallurgical Plant director general Enver Tskitishvili, in an interview for BBC, said that five bomb shelters on the territory of the enterprise are capable of withstanding a direct hit by a nuclear warhead.

He noted that the leadership began to think about bomb shelters back in 2014., when Mariupol came under heavy artillery fire. “We started rebuilding the bomb shelters that were left over from the Soviet Union. And we noticed that there were 36 of them, and at the same time 12,006 people could be in them,” he said, adding that 10,847 people worked at the plant. “We realized that we can call people from the city, who will come and save themselves,” Tskitishvili said.

Transnistria as a propaganda Ping-Pong ball

The Ukrainian Intelligence Service said the Russians are inflating the situation in Transnistria to use it as a psychological attack against Ukraine and looking for ways to disperse the Ukrainian army during a difficult defense campaign to protect the Ukrainian Donbas and the south.

According to experts, a number of able-bodied and motivated personnel of the unit of the task force of the Russian troops in the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova does not exceed 300 people, whose task is to protect ammunition depots in Kovbasna village. More than half of all ammunition in storage has expired and cannot be transported. Only 7-8 thousand tons are serviceable and can be used.

About two thirds of all military equipment in Transnistria is fully or partially is not combat-ready, and also does not have the material means and production capacity to repair and restore it.

Potentially, Transnistria could be used as a springboard to establish supply lines and ensure the deployment of a Russian group in the Republic of Moldova, but this will only be possible if a land corridor with Russia is created through the southern regions of Ukraine.