Not only did the war in Russia not go smoothly, fires broke out in the country one after another, and the warehouse of the largest publishing house burned inexplicably for three hours; more and more Russians were dissatisfied with the war of aggression against Ukraine, and it was reported that some people were trying to contact the US intelligence services. In addition, Russia unexpectedly encountered an unprecedented wave of hacker attacks in this war, and was surrounded and suppressed by “three foreign hacker forces”. Russian soldiers on the front line destroy their tanks because they don’t want to go to battle. In contrast, the Ukrainian military on the Ukrainian and Kharkiv fronts both reported good news and made great gains.
The CCP has always refused to admit that Russia has “invaded” Ukraine, but the wording of official media reports has suddenly changed recently. Does Beijing admit it? The U.S. State Department issued its latest statement on May 3, accusing the Chinese authorities of making false propaganda about the Russian-Ukrainian war. Fearing international sanctions, the CCP has held urgent meetings to discuss how overseas assets can be exempted from sanctions.
Foreign media: Putin’s official declaration of war on Ukraine as soon as May 9 may fully mobilize Russia’s reserve forces
Russian officials have so far insisted that the Russian-Ukrainian war was just a “special military operation” for denazification, but European and American officials expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to formally declare war on Ukraine on May 9, CNN reported. May 9 is Russia’s Victory Day, commemorating the country’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
According to the report, although the fighting in Ukraine is still tense and the Russian army has suffered heavy casualties and progress is slow, Putin still decided to hold a grand military parade on May 9. Western officials believe Putin will use the symbolism and propaganda value of the day to announce military achievements in the war in Ukraine, a major escalation of operations, or both.
The report pointed out that the official declaration of war may bring a public opinion base for Russia’s military aggression, and allow Putin to mobilize the reserve force and recruit troops, which will be a big help for Russia, which is currently short of military power.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said it would be ironic if Russia did use Victory Day to declare war, because declaring war would allow them to increase their military strength, which would be tantamount to announcing to the world that they were here. The battle was difficult.
The report said that since the Russian army failed to achieve major results in the Donbas region as planned, and the victory day on May 9 is just around the corner, Moscow may also consider other propaganda options, including announcing the annexation of Udon by pro-Russian rebels. The Luhansk and Donetsk regions that were partially occupied by the army, launched a fierce attack on Odessa, a port city in southwestern Ukraine, or declared complete occupation and control of the strategic port city of Malibo in Uzbekistan.
Odessa in southwestern Ukraine was bombed and the Russian army opened another battlefield to invade Moldova?Form “Pro-Russian Corps” to name China
As May 9 is getting closer and closer, Russia’s Donbas war in eastern Ukraine has also entered a critical stage. According to “CNN”, the Ukrainian Armed Forces Southern Command pointed out that the southwestern port city of Odessa (Odessa) was attacked by Russian missiles on the 1st, and several infrastructures were damaged, including an Orthodox church and a dormitory. , the attack killed a 14-year-old boy and injured a 17-year-old girl.
“Why? Where do these children and dormitories threaten Russia?” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy questioned and said that since the Russian invasion, 220 Ukrainian children have been killed and at least 1,570 educational institutions have been shelled destroyed or damaged.
In addition, the “Times” reported that Ukrainian military sources pointed out that the Russian Kremlin has decided to open a new battlefield to invade Ukraine’s southwestern neighbor Moldova (Moldova) as a way to confront Ukraine.
There are various indications that Moldova, which has only 3,250 soldiers, may be under attack around Victory Day on May 9, sources said. If Russia successfully occupies Moldova, the Russian army can enter the Black Sea port city of Odessa in Ukraine from the western region.
The report mentioned that Putin may first recognize the independence of the breakaway area “along the Nestor River”, repeating the situation of the invasion of the Donbass in the east of Uruguay, posing a direct threat to Moldova’s territorial integrity. Sandwiched between the Nistru River and the Ukrainian border, the area along the Nestor River has a population of 470,000, mainly Russian-speaking. After Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union, this area was supported by the Russian army in 1992 due to the intervention of the separatists. Parted ways with Moldova after five months of war.
However, Western intelligence has assessed that Russia currently does not have enough capabilities to complete the new front, and will not risk the risk of the fighter jet being shot down by the Ukrainian air defense system deployed in Odessa.
In addition, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated that a newspaper “Nistria” was officially published on May 2 in Moldova, the pro-Russian Republic of Nestoria (Transnistria), with almost all content on Russia and Klin The decree of the Mlin Palace. Among them were reports of a terrorist attack in the Republic on May 1, which killed the elderly, children and women. In this regard, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense believes that this is a deliberate move by Russia to frame Ukraine and Western countries.
The most notable reports are the encouragement of foreign nationals to join the armed forces along the Nestorian River. The report mentioned that “in addition to mobilizing in Russia, there are also mobilization points in China, Belarus, Abkhazia and The Republic of Kazakhstan.” Citizens of other countries are also welcome to the countries listed above. The mobilization point sign up to join.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense believes that such recruitment actions not only give the Russian army a new springboard for aggression in Ukraine, but also pave the way for the next plan to occupy Moldova.
Regarding the establishment of recruitment sites in China, similar information was reported in early March. An article on recruiting volunteers appeared on Chinese social networks, and it was stated that the registration site was the Russian embassy in China. However, at that time, this news was classified as false information by the Chinese “Inspection Center” unit, emphasizing that it was the result of a spoof by netizens.
Russia’s largest publishing house warehouse inexplicably burned for 3 hours, CIA advised Russians to go to the dark web
Russia has recently stepped up its strategic propaganda, and it remains to be seen whether there will be major changes before the May 9 victory. However, explosions and fires have occurred from time to time in Russia these days. Foreign media reported that a fire broke out in the Prosveshchenie warehouse of a pro-Kremlin publishing house in Bogorodsky, eastern Moscow, in the early morning of May 3. The raging fire and the billowing black smoke kept escaping. The fire at the scene was quite fierce. The burning area was nearly 34,000 square meters. The fire was extinguished after 3 hours.
The report mentioned that Prosveshchenie is the largest and oldest publishing house in Russia. It mainly publishes educational books for Russian schools. The warehouse stores a large number of textbooks and printed materials. “Prosveshchenie” means “enlightenment” in Russian.
On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Prosveshchenie asked employees to delete as much as possible from textbooks about Ukraine and Kyiv, including relevant history, geography and literature.
In addition, more and more Russians are dissatisfied with the war of aggression in Ukraine. The Associated Press reported that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) revealed that these people may be trying to contact US intelligence services, suggesting that they can use the “dark web”.
The report pointed out that CIA officials said some concerned Russians were desperately trying to contact the CIA, but declined to disclose the exact number since the war, “It is not safe to have direct physical or virtual contact with Americans in Russia, and it is not safe for those who want to interact with us safely. For people, the dark web is the solution.”
The report mentioned that the CIA launched a dark web site in 2019, which can only be accessed through the encrypted Tor browser (the onion browser). Intelligence officials say potential sources would be better protected on the dark web from Russian snooping.
Paper tigers?Russia suffered an unprecedented wave of hacker attacks and was surrounded and suppressed by “three foreign hacker forces”
The Russian-Ukrainian war has entered its third month, and according to the Washington Post, Russia has encountered an unprecedented wave of hacking attacks, an online anti-Russian wave that combines government activity, political voluntarism, and criminal activity.
Hackers stole personal financial data in Russia, sabotaged websites and handed decades of government emails to anti-secrecy activists abroad, the report said. A recent survey showed that more passwords and other sensitive data from Russia were posted on the open web in March than from any other country.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s internet authority, was also unable to escape hackers’ hands. The computer caches of one of the agency’s regional offices were released to the world, in addition to disclosing the agency’s analysis. In addition to the social media topics that the teacher pays attention to, it is also revealed that the bureau has been providing reports to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), allowing the bureau to continue to arrest dissidents.
A group called “Network Battalion 65” under Anonymous, the world‘s largest hacker organization, exposed the Russian state-run “All-Russian State Television and Broadcasting Corporation” (VGTRK)20 year email content. An unnamed researcher at the information security firm Recorded Future told The Washington Post that he expects the data to be exposed and have far-reaching consequences.
Chris Painter, the former State Department’s first cyber issues coordinator, said a surge in such activity risks heightening and disrupting government covert operations, but so far appears to be helping the United States achieve its goals in Russia. “Are these targets worth it? Yes,” Pant said. “It’s an interesting trend, and they’re now the target of all this.”
But experts have warned that Russian hackers still possess offensive capabilities that could be used at the most critical moment, and U.S. officials have urged agencies to prepare.
The “Washington Post” analyzed that the biggest victim of this wave of attacks may be the myth of Russia’s cyber-attack dominance. For decades, this myth has shocked hackers in other countries and their domestic criminals, allowing them to I didn’t dare to launch a cyber attack against Russia easily, but I didn’t expect it to fall into trouble in this invasion of Ukraine.
Russian soldiers do not want to go to the battlefield to destroy their chariots
As for the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, the Russian army’s long-term lack of supplies, military equipment, food and medical capacity has led to low morale. There are often Russian soldiers who defected or surrendered on the battlefield in various regions. The Ukrainian National Security Agency posted an audio file on Twitter PO on the 3rd. The content is that a Russian soldier is telling his father that his comrades are destroying the troops’ chariots. Only 1 of the 10 chariots can be used normally. , so they could avoid fighting the Ukrainian army. “The SBU intercepted a communication proving that the Russian aggressors destroyed their own armaments in order not to fight the Ukrainian army,” the SBU said in a tweet.
On the Ukrainian side, the military and civilians are struggling to resist the Russian invasion. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced the latest statistics on the official Facebook on the 3rd, saying that from the Russian invasion on February 24 to May 3 at 6:00 a.m., the Russian army was killed in battle. 24,200 people, the Ukrainian army destroyed 1,062 combat vehicles, 2,567 armored vehicles, 475 artillery systems, 162 multiple rocket vehicles, 80 air defense systems, 194 military aircraft, 155 helicopters, 1,843 various vehicles & fuel tanks vehicles, 10 ships, 291 drones, and 38 special equipment.
In addition, the Ukrainian joint force operation also issued a document announcing the victory in the east of Ukraine. On May 2, the soldiers of the joint force successfully repelled 12 Russian attacks, and the defenders destroyed 6 Russian tanks, 5 artillery systems, and 22 Russian military vehicles. Armored vehicles and 8 vehicles of various types, and the air defense force shot down 5 Eagle-10 (Orlan-10) UAVs, a great success.
“Reuters” reported that the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine Osnat Lubrani said on the 3rd that they had successfully evacuated 101 people from the Azovstal steel plant in Malibo, Ukraine, most of whom were evacuated to Zaza. Zaporizhzhia, some of whom were wounded. “101 men, women and children have finally left the fortress under the Azov steel factory after two months and have seen the light again”.
“CNBC” reported that the U.S. Pentagon pointed out on the 2nd local time that the Ukrainian army had repelled the Russian army to 40 kilometers away from Kharkov in the past 24 to 48 hours, but the city is still under aerial bombardment by the Russian army. . The strategically important Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city just 32 kilometers from the Russian border, has been under constant attack since the end of February, although most residents have been evacuated. The Pentagon also mentioned that the Russian army fighting in Udong has made great progress and is suffering from low morale, lack of command and insufficient supplies.
The CCP’s denial of Russia’s “invasion” of the United States’ “Axis Law” makes Beijing admit it?
It has been more than two months since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. The Chinese authorities have always refused to identify Russia as an “invasion” of Ukraine, but instead called it a “special military operation” in Russian terms. However, perhaps seeing that the situation is not right, the “Reference News” sponsored by Xinhua News Agency published a report on May 3, which rarely used quotation marks to express “Russia ‘invaded’ Ukraine”.
The report, titled “How Zelensky Governs the Country in the Bunker?”, came from the “Reference News” sponsored by Xinhua News Agency and was quoted by “Guangming.com” and other media.
The article quoted a report on the website of the Spanish newspaper El Pais, saying that when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wanted to find a safe location for his press conference, in addition to the heavily guarded presidential residence, he had to choose the subway station in Kyiv.
“This is the third time since Russia’s ‘invasion’ of Ukraine that he (Zelensky) has left the government complex in the heart of the capital,” the article said.
Xinhua News Agency only published written interviews with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on April 30, focusing on the current Russian-Ukrainian war.
Among them, the exclusive interview with Kuleba made the CCP media rarely appear frank claims such as Russia’s “invasion” of Ukraine. Kuleba also made it clear that the current situation of the Russian-Ukrainian war is not escalating because of Ukraine, “we are exercising the right of self-defense”.
The change in the words used in the CCP’s official media reports may be related to an “AXIS ACT” passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on April 27. The U.S. intends to investigate how the CCP supported Russia’s aggression against Ukraine during the Russian-Ukrainian war. , Beijing could be sanctioned for this.
The full name of the “Axis Act” is “Assessing Xi’s Interference and Subversion Act, AXIS Act”, and it is rare to include the name of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the name of the bill. Once the bill goes into effect, the State Department will have 30 days to submit reports to Congress on China’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and reports every 90 days thereafter.
However, it was too late for the Xinhua News Agency, the official CCP media, to change its wording. The US investigation has already been launched and the latest information has been released.
U.S. accuses Chinese authorities of making false propaganda about Russia-Ukraine war
According to the Voice of America, the U.S. government has accused Chinese authorities and state media of regularly amplifying or spreading false propaganda by the Russian government about the Ukrainian war, suggesting that Beijing is ostensibly neutral and in fact supports Moscow’s aggressive war against Ukraine.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement on the 3rd that the CCP’s propaganda for Russia, on the one hand, justified Putin’s unreasonable and unprovoked war on Ukraine, on the other hand, undermined the public’s understanding of the United States and other countries, as well as democratic institutions and independence. media trust.
The statement cited three tactics used by the CCP to influence public opinion on Ukraine.
1. The CCP’s official media reprinted unverified news and claims published by Russian officials, and the Russian official media quoted these reports from the CCP’s official media to show the illusion that Russia has broad support.
2. When the CCP’s official media reported the Russian-Ukrainian war and the atrocities of the Russian army, they cut and edited a lot of the words of officials from the United States and other democratic countries, as well as the reports of independent media, and censored the voices of opposition in China.
3. The CCP’s “Wolf Warrior” diplomats amplify and repost the posts of some fringe media, anti-NATO and anti-US public opinion influencers to provide support for Moscow.
The report mentioned that the US State Department’s statement also cited examples of Chinese officials and state media creating “pro-Russian” and “anti-American” public opinion before and after the war began, including referring U.S. officials to Russia’s imminent attack before February 24. Ukrainian concerns labelled as “fake news”; following Moscow’s narrative to call Russia’s war on Ukraine a “special military operation” and “Ukrainian crisis”; amplifying and spreading Moscow’s claim to U.S. in March Fake news to help Ukraine develop chemical and biological weapons.
The report pointed out that a poll released by the Carter Center, a non-profit organization in the United States in April, showed that the pro-Russian information environment in China has shaped people’s opinions, and Chinese netizens who support Russia have more access to the CCP’s official media and social media. The media gets the information, and most people view the Russian war in Ukraine through an anti-Western lens.
Most countries around the world have imposed sanctions or condemned Russia since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the report said. Observers say Beijing’s approach to Russia puts it in an increasingly awkward position, undermining China’s relations with Western democracies and undoing years of efforts to build a responsible power.
The CCP is worried about future sanctions by the United States, and has begun to look for ways to solve it. China’s banking regulator held an emergency meeting with major domestic and international banks in recent days to discuss how to protect China’s overseas assets from U.S.-led international sanctions like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing the Financial Times.
The internal meeting, held on April 22, included officials from the central bank, the People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance, as well as officials from dozens of domestic and international banks operating in China, the Financial Times reported on April 30, according to people familiar with the matter. High-level, such as HSBC and so on.
A senior Treasury official said at the start of the meeting that the Chinese government was alarmed by the ability of the United States and its allies to freeze the Russian central bank’s dollar assets, the report said.
Officials worry that the United States could impose the same sanctions on Beijing in the event of a regional military conflict or other crisis. Beijing has been a staunch supporter of Putin throughout the crisis of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China still does business with Russia, although Chinese banks and companies are wary of any transactions that could trigger sanctions.
Chinese officials and attendees did not mention specific circumstances, but one possible trigger for similar sanctions was thought to be China’s invasion of Taiwan, the report said. A person briefed on the live meeting said that if China attacks Taiwan, the decoupling of China’s economy from the West will be much worse than that of Russia, because China’s economic footprint travels to every corner of the world.
As for what measures can be taken to protect China’s overseas assets, especially its $3.2 trillion foreign exchange reserves. The report said no one at the scene had come up with a good solution. China’s banking system is not prepared for assets to be frozen or excluded from SWIFT’s international payment and settlement messaging system.
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