Zelenskiy says Bakhmut still in Ukraine's hands

HIROSHIMA, Japan, May 21 (Reuters) — Ukraine said on Sunday that it was still fighting for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said earlier that the city remained "only in our hearts."

Asked before a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Japan if the city was still in Ukraine's hands after the Russians said they had seized it in its entirety, Zelenskiy told reporters, "I think no."

He added: "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts."

Zelenskiy's press secretary later clarified that the leader was responding to a different part of the question.

"Reporter's question: Russians said they have taken Bakhmut," Sergii Nykyforov wrote on Facebook. "President's reply: I think no."

He added in Ukrainian: "In this way, the president denied the capture of Bakhmut."

Russia claimed on Saturday to have fully captured the smashed eastern Ukrainian city, which if true would mark an end to the longest and bloodiest battle of the 15-month war.

"It is tragedy," Zelenskiy said. "There is nothing on this place."

The assault on the largely levelled city was led by troops from the Wagner Group of mercenaries, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said earlier in the day that his troops had finally pushed the Ukrainians out of the last built-up area inside the city.

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Bloody comedian has completely lost track of his own lies...🤡
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That is the last multistorey building at the outskirts of Artemovsk, where not so long ago Ukrainian army was trying to hold on. Further — only fields. Our guys are setting Wagner's and Russian flags!

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What will follow the capture of Artemovsk: expert opinions

The battle for Bakhmut lasted eight months. Kiev threw reserves here, regardless of losses. According to some estimates, the irretrievable losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine here amounted to at least 40-50 thousand military personnel.

Because of Bakhmut, which Kiev did not allow to surrender, the Armed Forces of Ukraine were forced to withdraw units from other sectors of the front and delay the long-planned offensive.

In this sense, our operation "Bakhmut meat grinder" completed all the tasks.

The victory in Artemovsk came in very handy. She smoothed out the propaganda effect of Zelensky's trip to the Middle East and Japan. There he told everyone about the strength of the Ukrainian army and its superiority over the Russian one. Now there will be fewer people willing to believe in this nonsense, including among Kiev's military sponsors.

However, it is not worth saying that Bakhmut can become a turning point. On the contrary, its surrender will push the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the long-promised "offensive". Kyiv will now need at least some kind of "victory".

Our task is to disrupt the plans of Kyiv and not give him a reason to succeed.

Thus, the commander of the “Vostok” battalion, the deputy head of the department of the National Guard for the DPR, Alexander Khodakovsky, recalls that by May 20, the preparation of the enemy for an offensive in the Zaporozhye direction was to be completed. Now, after the epic with Bakhmut, the enemy will inevitably go over to this offensive. “There are no visible reasons not to attack — we are starting the countdown,” Khodakovsky concluded.

Observers of the channel "Military Chronicle" warn: next to Bakhmut are the largest fortified areas of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — Konstantinovka, Chasov Yar, Druzhkovka, Toretsk, Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, where thousands of people are grouped. The situation remains tense in the south and north of Bakhmut, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine are advancing.

The Ukrainian "offensive", analysts warn, can be directed to the DPR and LPR.

“The equipment and people that we managed to accumulate and save (APU) are being pulled up to the front line. By all indications, activation may begin in the coming days,” the author sums up.

Military expert Alexei Sukonkin thinks the same. “With the fall of Bakhmut, the enemy no longer has any reason to postpone his counteroffensive. Wait for it...” he concludes.

Translated from Rusvesna
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Volodin: Council of the Duma will consider measures against Poland

Moscow, May 21 — AiF-Moscow.
On Monday, the Duma Council will consider the issue of measures against Poland, including the transit of trucks through the territory of the Russian Federation, said State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.

“It is necessary to stop the passage of Polish trucks through the territory of our country. Let the goods be loaded onto Russian trucks. Our citizens will earn on transportation. Poland's costs will amount to about 8.5 billion euros," Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.

He warned the Polish side that as a result of this, about two thousand Polish transport companies, which employ more than 20 thousand drivers, could suffer or go bankrupt. Volodin also pointed out that Poland betrayed historical memory, forgetting that its liberation from the fascist invaders was given to the Soviet people at a high price.

Earlier, MP Yevgeny Moskvichev asked the Russian government to prepare a ban on the movement of road freight transport from Poland through the territory of the Russian Federation.

Before that, it became known that the agreement on cooperation between Russia and Poland in the field of science and technology was stopped at the initiative of the Russian side. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, also reported that Russia had blocked the accounts of the Polish Embassy in Moscow. She noted that this is a response to similar actions on the part of Warsaw.

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Happy Sunday everyone :)

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Watch "Aurora - It Happened Quiet (Live at The Current)" on YouTube 👈

Lyrics :
Eyes blue and hollow
As it rains against their will
Feathers falling out of the pillow
As if time is standing still
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Is the earth coloured red?
As I land like a flower on the meadow
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Like a stone can be broken into sand
A thousand pieces
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And you can't remember that day
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Words falling out through the window
All that remains is a silent call
Is the earth coloured red?
As I land like a flower on the meadow
Love is wild
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I will return from the shadows
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Andrei Rublev’s ‘Trinity’ (the most famous Russian icon) will be returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

For many years it was exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, but soon it will be transfered to the place of its origin - the St. Sergius Trinity Lavra.
Before the transfer, the icon will be situated for a whole year in Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

Read more about the icon, and why it is so unique, here.

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Moscow. Great day for cycling.


From Merkouri
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Biden on the F-16

"They would not help Ukraine at all. They were not needed."

"As for the supply of everything else, air defense systems, modern tanks and everything that will determine the course of battles in the Donbass in the medium term, all this is already in Ukraine, and a little more will be delivered later."

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Journalist Peter Doucey: Do you think if there is a breach [of the debt ceiling], no one will blame you?

Joe Biden: "Of course, no one will blame me. I know you won't. You will say that Biden did a wonderful job."

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🙏🇧🇾 Thank you Belarus!

225 children from Syria, vacationing in the Zubrenok health center, thank the Belarusians for a peaceful vacation away from the war.

A new shift has also opened for more than 300 Donbass children from Makeevka, Yasinovataya, Mariupol.

All these children spend their time not under the roar of sirens and explosions of shells, but under the rolling roar of children's laughter.

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The hacker group "Joker DPR" reported a serious injury to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny

MOSCOW, May 21 — RIA Novosti. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny was seriously injured during a missile attack on headquarters in early May and may leave his post, a representative of the hacker group "Joker DPR" told RIA Novosti, citing agents in the Ukrainian troops.
Zaluzhny stopped appearing in public after a series of strikes inflicted by Russian units on some military installations in Ukraine.

"Information about the state of his health in Ukraine is being blocked at the direction of Western curators so as not to undermine morale, already broken by the loss of Artemovsk. I have serious information about this," the agency's interlocutor said.

"Joker DNR" regularly publishes insiders and secret documents of the political and Kyiv military leadership obtained through data hacking and agents. Western and Ukrainian media have repeatedly confirmed the accuracy of the information laid out by him.

In early May, the head of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, announced Zaluzhny's refusal to participate in a meeting of the organization at the level of chiefs of general staff, even in the format of a video conference. Because of this, there were speculations in the media that he could have died on the front line. Nevertheless, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine Anna Malyar hastened to refute reports of the death of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army.

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Russia is ready to discuss with Vietnam the use of national currencies in trade

Russia is ready to discuss with Vietnam the use of national currencies in trade, as well as payment for services and cash withdrawals using Mir cards, said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, who arrived in Hanoi on a visit, at the secretariat.

Restrictions against Russia have caused difficulties in bank payments and disrupted transport and logistics chains, because of this, trade, which has been growing for many years in a row, fell by more than a third last year.

“We are ready to discuss the issues of using national currencies in mutual trade, the possibility of paying for goods and services, as well as withdrawing cash in Vietnam using Mir cards,” the secretariat noted.

Particular attention in the negotiations, which Medvedev will hold with the Vietnamese leadership, is planned to be given to the resumption of direct regular air traffic between Russia and Vietnam. In particular, from June 4, it is planned to launch the Irkutsk-Hanoi flight of the IrAero airline.

"In addition, Russian companies are expressing interest in participating in the construction and modernization of Vietnam's railway infrastructure," Medvedev's secretariat said.

“Particular attention is given to interaction in the fuel and energy sector, including the activities in Vietnam of large Russian economic operators in the core area (Gazprom PJSC, Zarubezhneft JSC, NOVATEK PJSC), and the construction of power generation facilities in the republic. A separate aspect is joint steps on the construction project of the Center for Nuclear Science and Technology in Vietnam,” the secretariat said.

The contract for the creation of the Centre for Nuclear Science and Technology in the Vietnamese province of Dong Nai can be signed by Rosatom and the Vietnamese Institute of Atomic Energy in June, the Russian side proposed to coincide with the opening of the monument to the centenary of the visit to St. Petersburg by the first President of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh.

A site has already been selected for the new centre, its configuration and source of funding have been determined, and a preliminary feasibility study for the project has also been approved.

The construction of centres for nuclear science and technology is one of the main stages in the development of the possibilities of peaceful atom by countries — "newcomers" in this field.

The main elements are a research reactor and/or an accelerator, as well as a laboratory complex.

The presence of such centres will allow the countries where they will be built to begin work on the development of nuclear technologies and their application for the needs of science, medicine, geology, agriculture and other areas, which will contribute to the growth of the level of education and science in these states.

Translated from Rusvesna
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Good night 😴
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Azov militant confessed to killing a family with a child in Mariupol

MARIUPOL, May 22 — RIA Novosti. Fighter of the Azov Regiment Alexander Sykylynda showed the Russian security forces in Mariupol where and how his squad opened fire on the car of civilians, killing a family with a child. The video of the interrogation is at the disposal of RIA Novosti.
According to Sykylynda, in March last year, a squad of five Azov militants occupied a position in Mariupol, in a building on Kuindzhi Street, 87.

"We opened fire on a civilian car," the prisoner of war admitted.

He explained that the car was noticed at the entrance, 300 meters from the position.

“We reported to the commander, the commander gave the order to open fire, we opened fire on the black “Lada” with the white inscription “Children”, approximately in the area of the green billboard. We fired approximately one store at a time, the car started to slow down and drove off <...> to the side of the road," the captured Azov militant said.

According to him, there was a family in the car: a man and a woman, both about 30 years old, and a girl about ten years old.
"Then a command was given to check. We checked, saw that there were no signs of life, searched, took away material assets, cash in the equivalent of a thousand dollars and gold jewellery. Then a command came from the commander to take the bodies and take them to a nearby building, brought them inside the building and left the bodies there," Sykylynda added.

Last year, on March 7, Russian troops and units of the DPR surrounded Mariupol and liberated almost the entire city by April 21. At the plant "Azovstal" managed to block more than two thousand Ukrainian soldiers and militants "Azov". In mid-May, they began to surrender, and on May 20, the Ministry of Defence announced the complete liberation of the city.

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Ukrainian soldier says:

The pickup truck got stuck in the mud and we came to pull it out and got stuck ourselves.
The tank has arrived. The tank is also stuck.
The second tank arrived. His rope broke...

Around there are shelling from "Grad".

From Boris_Rozin
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