❗️Founder of PMC "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin said that after the end of the contract [with the Wagner PMC] and work in the zone of special military operation (SMO), more than 5 thousand former prisoners were pardoned

Translated by : Max, Slavyangrad

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The United States has imposed sanctions on the aircraft used by Lukashenka — US  department of Treasury

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❗️Ukrainian Nazis continue to encourage children's checkpoints in the war zone. There is a boy with a "machine gun", and joyfully shouts out Nazi slogans to the hooting of adult uncles, for whom the militarization of children is the norm.

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Erdogan said he had discussed with Putin the possibility of processing Russian grain into flour in Turkey for delivery to countries in need.

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🤡 France and Germany tried to prevent the conflict in Ukraine but failed to do so because Russian President Vladimir Putin did not believe in a strong response from the West before the military operation began.

—Former French President Francois Hollande in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping has refused to hold a phone conversation with U.S. President Joe Biden that the U.S. side proactively proposed — Reuters
 
President Joe Biden said last month after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon that he planned to speak to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the episode and clear the air between the rival superpowers.
Five weeks later, the call still hasn't happened.

Now U.S. officials are once again asking how to reset the world's most important bilateral relationship.

A Biden-Xi call would be an obvious first step. But despite the efforts of U.S. diplomats, sources said the Chinese have shown little interest in committing to such a call, which would be their first known interaction since a November meeting at the G20 in Bali.

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NYT : Stolen Valor: The U.S. Volunteers in Ukraine Who Lie, Waste and Bicker

They rushed to Ukraine by the thousands, many of them Americans who promised to bring military experience, money or supplies to the battleground of a righteous war. Hometown newspapers hailed their commitment, and donors backed them with millions of dollars.

Now, after a year of combat, many of these homespun groups of volunteers are fighting with themselves and undermining the war effort. Some have wasted money or stolen valor. Others have cloaked themselves in charity while also trying to profit off the war, records show.

One retired Marine lieutenant colonel from Virginia is the focus of a U.S. federal investigation into the potentially illegal export of military technology. A former Army soldier arrived in Ukraine only to turn traitor and defect to Russia. A Connecticut man who lied about his military service has posted live updates from the battlefield — including his exact location — and boasted about his easy access to American weapons. A former construction worker is hatching a plan to use fake passports to smuggle in fighters from Pakistan and Iran.

Such characters have a place in Ukraine’s defense because of the arms-length role the United States has taken: The Biden administration sends weapons and money but not professional troops. That means people who would not be allowed anywhere near the battlefield in a U.S.-led war are active on the Ukrainian front — often with unchecked access to weapons and military equipment.

'A Million Lies’
One of the best-known Americans on the battlefield is James Vasquez. Days after the invasion, Mr. Vasquez, a Connecticut home-improvement contractor, announced that he was leaving for Ukraine. His local newspaper told the tale of a former U.S. Army staff sergeant who left behind his job and family and picked up a rifle and a rucksack on the front line.

Since then, he has posted battlefield videos online, at least once broadcasting his unit’s precise location to everyone, including the opposing side. He used his story to solicit donations. “I was in Kuwait during Desert Storm, and I was in Iraq after 9/11,” Mr. Vasquez said in a fund-raising video. He added, “This is a whole different animal.

Mr. Vasquez, in fact, was never deployed to Kuwait, Iraq or anywhere else, a Pentagon spokeswoman said. He specialized in fuel and electrical repairs. And he left the Army Reserve not as a sergeant as he claimed, but as a private first class, one of the Army’s lowest ranks.

Still, Mr. Vasquez had easy access to weapons, including American rifles. Where did they come from? “I’m not exactly sure,” Mr. Vasquez said in a text message. The rifles, he added, were “brand-new, out of the box and we have plenty.” He also tweeted that he should not have to worry about international rules of war while in Ukraine.

He fought alongside Da Vinci’s Wolves, a Ukrainian far-right battalion, until this past week, when The Times asked about his false military service claims. He immediately deactivated his Twitter account and said that he might leave Ukraine because the authorities had discovered that he was fighting without a required military contract.

Mr. Vasquez said he had been misrepresenting his military record for decades. He acknowledged being kicked out of the Army but would not talk publicly about why. “I had to tell a million lies to get ahead,” Mr. Vasquez said in an interview. “I didn’t realize it was going to come to this.”

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NYT : Ukrainian officials initially boasted of 20,000 potential Legion volunteers, but far fewer actually enlisted. Currently, there are around 1,500 members in the organization, say people with knowledge of the Legion.

Some are experienced fighters working as part of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine. But there have been high-profile problems. A former Army private first class, John McIntyre, was ejected from the Legion for bad behavior. Mr. McIntyre defected to Russia and recently appeared on state-run television, which said he had provided military intelligence to Moscow.

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Video : Western section of Bakhmut (Artemovsk) , controlled by the Armed forces of Ukraine

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The Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, said that he agreed with the opinion of the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, who advocated the distribution of pirated copies of Western intellectual property on the Internet.

"I agree with Dmitry Anatolyevich. We are dealing with pirates—these are those who robbed us, those who seized our assets, those who stole our assets. The phrase "pirated content" should be perceived in a different sauce" , Peskov said

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A representative of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ignat, confirmed the use of new guided bombs by aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

"They have enough FABs (high-explosive aerial bombs)." They just add wings and GPS, and that's it. They are there, they just need to be upgraded. "The cost of the issue is much less than to produce missiles."

Recall that yesterday, Russian aviation launched massive airstrikes on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Sumy region, using a precision-guided aviation munition similar to the American JDAM.

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@Boris_Rozhin writes : There are reports of fighting in the central market of Artemovsk (the western part of the city, already behind the river). Earlier in the day, there were reports of fighting near the stadium. In the city, the front line slowly continues to shift to the west. Despite problems with communications, there are no signs of the collapse of Ukraine's organized defense system in the city yet.

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🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 PMC "Wagner" transferred reserves and conducted a powerful assault on the center of Bakhmut.

 Ukrainian military analysts report on the plight of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the ongoing heavy fighting along the entire front line. The assault units of the PMC do not abandon their plans and attack

 ▪️Fierce fighting continues in the area of the Central Market and along Bazarnaya and Nezalezhnosti streets. The command of PMC Wagner additionally deployed 7 assault groups to this area.

▪️ Along the streets of Mariupolskaya and Sadovaya, there are street shooting battles. The Russians are conducting massive artillery shelling.

▪️At the crossroads of Mariupolskaya Street and 1st Biryukovskiy Lane, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to counterattack.

▪️"It is especially difficult in the area of Korsunskaya Street." With great difficulty, it is possible to slow down the advance of the enemy.
The north directions of Bogdanovka, Khromovoe, and Minkovka are already traditionally difficult. but practically unchanged. "The fighting continues," another Ukrainian military analyst said.

▪️There is a massive invasion of "Wagners" in the Ivanovsky area.

https://t.me/RVvoenkor/41335

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NYT : The West is afraid of confiscating Russian assets because it might "undermine faith in the dollar" and make other countries less willing to hold money and invest in the United States. Europe also fears a further collapse of the euro and its debts

US treasury secretary Janet Yellen and others have argued that seizing Russia’s accounts could undermine faith in the dollar, the most widely used currency for the world’s trade and transactions. Foreign nations might be more reluctant to keep money in U.S. banks or make investments, fearing that it could be seized. At the same time, experts worry that such a move could put American and European assets held in other countries at higher risk of expropriation in the future if there is an international dispute.

There are also concerns that seizure would erode faith in the system of international laws and agreements that Western governments have championed most vocally.

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 Video :The departure of the Ukrainian military men from the fields near Artemovsk They often use the fields near the section between Khromovo and Krasnoye. The dirt roads and the fields between these settlements continue to be a critical area on which the transport and communication of the semi-encircled AFU garrison of the city depend.

Translated by : Max, Slavyangrad

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There is the uncomfortable realization that the cost of rebuilding Ukraine once the war is over will far outstrip the amount that even wealthy allies like the United States and Europe may be willing to give😏

The United States, the European Union, Britain and other allies have funneled billions of dollars into Ukraine’s war effort, as well as tanks, missiles, ammunition, drones and other military equipment. And this week the International Monetary Fund approved its biggest loan yet — $15.6 billion — just to keep Ukraine’s battered economy afloat.

But public support for continued funding is not inexhaustible.

“If it’s difficult to get funding now for maintaining the infrastructure or housing, why is it going to be easier to get funding later?” asked Tymofiy Mylovanov, the president of the Kyiv School of Economics and a former government minister.

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🔴 The command of the Armed forces of Ukraine massively and forcibly mobilizes residents of the Kherson region

Ukraine conducted a forced mass mobilization of the inhabitants of Snigiryov district of Kherson region into the ranks of the AFU. This was announced by the head of the district, Yuri Barbashov.

📝 "Now the main problem is that there is a mass enlistment of the male population into the army. There is a permanent conscription, and in the territories that are under our control, it is all-encompassing," said Barbashov.  

▪️ He noted that many mobilized men do not want to fight against the Russian army, but they are sent without training to the hottest spots at the front.

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The Biden administration is inviting around 120 countries to join its Summit for Democracy next week, but two of its NATO allies aren’t getting a call.

Turkey and Hungary have been left off the invitation list for the major summit, which Team Biden bills as one of its hallmark foreign-policy initiatives, meant to shore up democracies worldwide and stanch the rise of autocracies.

The spurning of two NATO allies, confirmed by three U.S. officials who spoke to FP, reflects a mounting concern with the degree of democratic backsliding in Turkey and Hungary, even though Washington is relying on both to support the West’s strategy against Russia

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has consolidated power and dismantled elements of the country’s democracy

Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has alienated itself within the European Union and NATO for its own democratic backsliding and Orban’s close ties with Russia, even after the start of the SMO

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