Four Nordic countries have announced a joint air defense system to counter the Russian threat. Thousands of singers from choirs around the world sang simultaneously for peace in Ukraine. To prevent Moscow from evading sanctions, Kazakhstan tightened export norms to Russia.
The new wave of offensive failed. The Russian army is helpless against Bahemut. The small northern city may become the next “meat grinder battlefield”
Agence France-Presse reported that the Russian army launched a fierce offensive in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. The local town of Slavyansk was shelled on March 27, killing at least two people and injuring 29.
Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said that the Russian army hit the center of Slavyansk with two S-300 missiles at about 10:30 a.m. local time, and there were other administrative and office buildings, Five high-rise buildings and seven residential buildings were damaged.
Kiriranko also pointed out that another town in the state, Druzhkivka (Druzhkivka), was also attacked. Two S-300 missiles hit a local orphanage and almost completely destroyed it. There are no reports of casualties.
The Russian army has been trying to take the entire Donetsk region for months. The battle mainly revolves around Bakhmut, and the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group (Wanger Group) even spared their lives to fill the battlefield. As the Ukrainian army held firm and successfully counterattacked, the Russian army’s offensive power against Bakhmut has been weakened. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on the 25th that the situation in Bakhmut is gradually stabilizing.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces pointed out on the 25th that in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian army repelled more than 50 Russian offensives on the Eastern Front, including Bakhmut, Avdiivka (Avdiivka), Lyman (Lyman) and Marinka. Ukrainian military officer Yuriy Fedorenko (Yuriy Fedorenko) pointed out on the 25th that Bakhmut has a key supply road called the “Road of Life”. “Out of the fire control of the Russian army.
The “Guardian” reported that the British Ministry of Defense also mentioned in the analysis of the war situation on the 25th that Russia is currently helpless against Bakhmut, and the offensive has completely stalled, mainly due to the excessive consumption of the Russian army. also suffered heavy casualties.
The analysis pointed out that despite the heavy casualties of the Ukrainian army in the Battle of Bakhmut, the internal situation on the Russian side is even more pessimistic. The Russian authorities have recently had a tense relationship with the Wagner mercenary organization. Even if they are also fighting in Bakhmut, they cannot cooperate properly.
Ukraine has not released specific casualty data, but the U.S. political news website Politico reported on the 15th that according to U.S. officials, more than 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the war for more than a year, including the most experienced soldiers.
On the other hand, according to Ukrainian statistics, as of 9 a.m. local time on the 26th, the number of Russian military casualties increased by 660 in a single day, and the cumulative number has exceeded 170,000 (about 170,550). Thousands of people died.
The British Ministry of Defense continued to point out that Russia may then shift its focus to northern areas such as Avdivka south of Bakhmut and Kreminna (Kreminna), Svatove (Svatove), “Russia intends to stabilize the frontline made a priority.”
The report mentioned that the Russian army has tried to launch a full-scale attack on Ukraine since January this year, but judging from the current battle situation, the Russian army has obviously failed. It is expected that the Russian authorities will suspend the offensive and develop a more defensive strategy.
Avdivka is about 90 kilometers southwest of Bakhmut. It has recently become one of the targets of the Russian army’s attack. There are still 2,000 civilians staying there. The Ukrainian military has previously stated that Avdivka could become “the next Bakhmut”. The head of the local military administration, Vitalii Barabash, said on the 26th that the Russian army is stepping up shelling in an attempt to turn Avdivka into a “post-apocalyptic scene”. Difficult decision to evacuate city staff.
Ukrainian army soldier Maksym Morozov mentioned in an interview with Ukrainian state television that the Russian army used “meat grinder tactics” similar to Bakhmut’s locally. In Avdivka, the Russian army usually accompanied tanks and other heavy vehicles. equipment, and Avdivka was close to the city of Donetsk, and it was not a small threat at the beginning of the war.
To prevent the Ukrainian army from fully counterattacking, the Russian army has given up launching further offensives and plans to recruit another 400,000 new recruits this year
When the Russian-Ukrainian war was at a stalemate, Bloomberg quoted people familiar with the matter on the 24th as saying that the Kremlin has abandoned plans to launch further offensives due to the failure of the Russian army to seize more land, and instead focused on preventing a full-scale counteroffensive by the Ukrainian army.
According to reports, the Kremlin is planning to recruit up to 400,000 new recruits this year to supplement its military strength in order to allow the Russian army to fight a protracted war, so as to avoid a repeat of last autumn’s announcement of the recruitment of 300,000 reservists into the army, resulting in as many as 1 million Russian citizens fleeing At the same time, it will avoid interfering with the re-election campaign of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which will be launched by the Kremlin in the second half of the year.
Even if the Russian army is blocked on the battlefield and there are many political challenges at the same time, Putin is still confident that the Russian army will last longer than the Ukrainian army. He believes U.S. and European support for Ukraine will dwindle as long as Russian forces prevent a Ukrainian breakthrough for months.
The Russian side has started to recruit new soldiers. Local officials are required to recruit a certain amount of staff. Retired soldiers and rural residents are the main targets. However, some officials bluntly stated that it is unrealistic to recruit 400,000 people this year, because this number is almost equal to the number of professional Russian soldiers before the start of the Russo-Ukraine War.
At the same time, with the return of Ukrainian officers and soldiers trained in Europe and the United States, and the arrival of tanks, chariots and other weapons aided by the West, Ukraine is preparing to launch a large-scale counteroffensive within months. U.S. officials speculated that authorities in Kiev may seek to breach Russian defenses and cut off the land bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland.
Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus Ukraine: “Scare people”, Belarus has become a “nuclear hostage”
The International Fax Agency (Interfax) reported that Putin announced on the 25th that Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. It would be the first time Moscow has deployed nuclear weapons abroad since the mid-1990s. The reason for this step, according to Putin, is the UK’s proposed supply of “depleted uranium bombs” to Ukraine.
Putin said Russia had helped Belarus retrofit 10 military aircraft so they could carry tactical nuclear weapons and handed over to Minsk the Iskander ballistic missile system capable of carrying such munitions.
Putin said that he would start training personnel on April 3 and complete the construction of a special storage facility for tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by July 1. He stressed that the move would not violate nuclear nonproliferation agreements and compared it to the deployment of U.S. weapons in Europe. Putin added that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko had long ago demanded the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on the country’s territory, though Moscow would not hand over control of those weapons to Minsk.
Putin said Russia deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus “because the British deputy defense secretary said they would supply Ukraine with depleted uranium ammunition.” He threatened that once Ukraine obtained depleted uranium ammunition from Western countries, Moscow would also deploy the same in Ukraine. of ammunition.
“It is no exaggeration to say that we have hundreds of thousands of these shells, but we have not used them,” Putin said in an interview with Russian television, adding that the weapons “could be classified as harmful to human… The most harmful and dangerous weapon for the environment.”
British military aid Ukraine a lot of equipment, confirmed on the 20th that the provided ammunition contains depleted uranium (depleted uranium, also known as decayed uranium). Because of its high density, this heavy metal can penetrate tanks and armor more easily than other ammunition. It is known as the world‘s strongest armor-piercing projectile. Among them, the Challenger 2 (Challenger 2) main combat vehicle supported by the United Kingdom to the Ukrainian Army uses depleted uranium armor-piercing bombs as its main weapon.
Putin has been making a big fuss about “depleted uranium armor-piercing bombs” recently, criticizing them as weapons with “nuclear components”. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on the 22nd that “depleted uranium armor-piercing bombs” only have the word “uranium” in their names, but they are not nuclear submunitions. They are purely conventional ammunition. The only country in the world currently discussing nuclear issues is Russia. But the depleted uranium armor-piercing bombs pose no threat to Russia, and are purely to assist Ukraine in self-defense.
The Ministry of Defense previously issued a statement emphasizing that the British Army has been using depleted uranium in armor-piercing rounds for decades, and that “Russia knows this but is deliberately trying to spread rumors”. Reuters reported that in addition to Britain, Russia also possesses depleted uranium ammunition.
Putin’s threat to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is worrisome, Reuters reported. Last September, when Putin signed the partial mobilization order, he threatened to use “all available weapons” to defend the country, which was then interpreted as possible use of tactical nuclear weapons. The United States has also warned that, according to Putin’s words, the world is facing the most serious nuclear weapons risk since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
In military terms, the use and purpose of nuclear weapons can be simply divided into “tactical nuclear weapon” and “strategic nuclear weapon”.
Tactical nuclear weapons refer to nuclear weapons used to achieve specific tactical results on the battlefield, rather than to destroy large cities. Generally speaking, the explosive power is small, and they are usually used on the battlefield to target enemy bases, airports, ports, or large troop vehicles. Give a precise attack. But academics and arms control negotiators still disagree on its definition.
According to the report, the number of tactical nuclear weapons in Russia far exceeds that of the United States and NATO. The United States believes that Russia has about 2,000 tactical nuclear warheads, 10 times that of the United States. Half of the U.S. B-61 tactical nuclear arsenal is deployed at air bases in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Tactical nuclear warheads can be loaded on various types of missiles, torpedoes and non-guided bombs (gravity bombs, also known as gravity bombs), and can even be detonated directly. At the same time, tactical nuclear weapons can also adjust their explosive power (variable nuclear equivalent) according to the characteristics of the target and tactical needs, such as “neutron bombs” that strengthen radiation and electromagnetic waves and reduce the destructive power of yellow gunpowder.
The report pointed out that Putin holds the final decision to order the Russian military to launch tactical nuclear weapons, and he may consult the Federal Security Council before ordering. However, since it is impossible to predict the response of the United States, Putin will order the submarine to dive into the deep sea before taking action, the missile force will be put on full alert, and the strategic bomber will also be on standby at the base so that it can take off at any time.
In this regard, Ukrainian officials condemned Russia’s deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on the 26th. Agence France-Presse reported that Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Affairs Committee, wrote on Twitter: “Putin placed tactical nuclear weapons in The statement by Belarus is tantamount to a step towards internal instability in the country … the Kremlin holds Belarus as a “nuclear hostage”.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak also commented on Twitter: “Putin is too predictable. The statement of putting tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus means that he admits that he is afraid of failure and that all he can do is Take out tactical nuclear weapons to scare people.”
On the 26th, a NATO spokesman criticized Putin’s statement as “dangerous and irresponsible”. An anonymous German foreign ministry official also said Putin’s statement was “another nuclear intimidation attempt by Russia” and Germany would not back down because of it.
To fight Russia’s ‘nuclear blackmail’, Ukraine calls for emergency Security Council meeting
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on the 26th that it was seeking an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to counter Russia’s “nuclear blackmail”, Agence France-Presse reported.
Western allies have called Putin’s claims “misleading” as Putin claims the move to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is similar to that of the United States, which for decades has stored such weapons at bases in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
EU Foreign and Security Policy High Representative Josep Borrell said the EU was ready to impose sanctions on Belarus if it allowed Russia to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory.
Putin made a “ball” for Xi Jinping, China and Russia jointly used “squid tactics” to resist the United States and Europe
Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a three-day visit to Russia on March 20. The high-profile interaction with Putin, the two emphasized the rock-solid friendship and promised to further strengthen cooperation, including in the military field, which is generally regarded as an open alliance , China and Russia joined forces to fight against the Ukrainian alliance headed by the United States.
According to the joint statement issued by China and Russia on the 22nd during Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia, the two sides not only reiterated that nuclear war cannot be fought, but also pointed out that “all nuclear-weapon states should not deploy nuclear weapons abroad and should withdraw nuclear weapons deployed abroad.” But Putin On the 25th, it suddenly announced that it would deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
In this regard, the Chinese website of Deutsche Welle reported on the 27th that Putin’s move not only intensified the confrontation between Russia and the West, but also made Beijing face widespread criticism for being friendly with Russia, and may make Beijing’s efforts to promote peace in the Russia-Ukraine war Efforts have become awkward, and the calculation of coordinating Russia-Ukraine peace talks has become more difficult.
Independent Russian observers believe that Putin’s plan to deploy nuclear weapons abroad is a “panicked response” to Western weapons shipments to Ukraine.
Abbas Gallyamov, a political scientist at the Foreign Policy Institute, an American think tank, said Putin has lost his footing and no longer has a strategy. “That’s why he’s vacillating.”
An observer of the Washington think tank “Institute of War” (ISW) believes that Russia’s plan has nothing to do with the risk of escalation to nuclear war, but Putin’s attempt to use the West’s nuclear fear to weaken Ukraine’s morale and Western aid operations , and refers to Putin as a risk-averse person who has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons and has no intention of taking action to break the determination of the West.
In fact, it is not the first time that Putin threatened nuclear threats when the Russian army suffered a serious defeat on the battlefield. In September last year, the Ukrainian counter-offensive was shattered and many lost territories were regained in Udon. Facing the defeat of the Russian army, Putin announced on September 21 last year the partial mobilization of 300,000 reserve troops. At the end of September, he announced the adoption of a “referendum” to include the four Ukrainian occupied areas in Russia’s territory, and threatened to use nuclear weapons to defend the “territory” “.
Come this year, the analogous battle situation reappeared. When Ukraine was about to launch a major spring counteroffensive, while the Russian army had been in a bloody battle for several months but was unable to capture Bakhmut, and even lost a large number of troops. When Russia planned to recruit 400,000 new recruits again, Putin repeated his old tricks and issued a nuclear threat to intimidate some European countries that are afraid of nuclear weapons, in an attempt to once again block Europe’s efforts to unite and support Ukraine’s resistance against Russia.
Not only that, the day after Putin announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus on the 25th, Reuters reported that in a TV interview broadcast on the 26th, Putin claimed that Russia and China (the CCP) have not established a military alliance, and that the military technology cooperation between the two countries It is “transparent”, and seems to want to dilute the relationship between the two parties, making the outside world a bit foggy.
However, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will travel to Beijing this week to meet Xi Jinping, and French President Emmanuel Macron has invited European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to visit China next week or together, In order to urge Beijing to help curb Putin’s aggression against Ukraine, Putin’s overseas nuclear deployment plan is expected to become a new hot topic in this series of diplomatic visits.
Some analysts believe that at a time when Ukraine is calling on the West to speed up military aid, Putin’s nuclear threat may be a “ball” to Xi Jinping, while China and Russia jointly resorted to “squid tactics” in an attempt to blur the perception of the alliance between the two sides. To make the outside world look at the flowers in a fog, so that Beijing can “negotiate” with the European leaders who have visited successively, and show that Beijing can help “resolve” the nuclear crisis. Helping Putin finally win this war may be the intention behind Putin’s continuous statements in recent days.
Reuters reported on the 25th that the war between Russia and Ukraine has alerted the Nordic countries to the threat of Russian aggression. The air force commanders of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark said on the 24th that they have signed a letter of intent to establish a Nordic joint air defense system to resist Russia’s increasing threat. threaten.
The signing ceremony was held at Landstein Air Force Base in Germany last week and was attended by James Hecker, commander of NATO Air Force Command and commander of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa. The plan is to allow the Nordic countries to work together under the existing NATO approach.
The air chiefs of the Nordic countries discussed closer cooperation for the first time at a meeting in Sweden last November. Danish Air Force Major General Jan Dam said Russia’s aggression against Ukraine prompted four countries including Denmark to start integrating their air forces. “Our combined fleet is comparable to that of a large European country.”
Norway has 57 F-16s and 37 F-35s and has ordered another 15 F-35s; Finland has 62 F/A-18 Hornets and has ordered 64 F-35s; Denmark has 58 F-16s, and another 27 F-35s have been ordered; Sweden has more than 90 “Gripens” fighters. However, it is unclear how many of these fighters are operational.
Thousands of singers from choirs around the world sing for peace in Ukraine
Thousands of singers from choirs around the world sang for peace in Ukraine on the 26th, while nearly 300 singers gathered in the Spanish capital Madrid, where the event was launched a year ago, the Central News Agency reported.
46 choirs from Madrid, the capital of Spain, and surrounding areas gathered outside the Reina Sofia Art Museum (Reina Sofia Art Museum) in the urban area, and began to sing at noon. There were thousands of choirs across Europe and Latin America. People participate in activities simultaneously.
This year the choir came from 81 locations in 9 countries, including 1,000 singers from Ukraine, who sang alongside singers from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Venezuela.
The simultaneous event, which was broadcast live on YouTube, was organized by Choirs for Peace and launched a month after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. The first event attracted more than 25,000 singers.
To prevent Moscow from evading sanctions, Kazakhstan tightens export norms
Kazakh authorities said on Tuesday they would require exporters to submit additional documentation when exporting goods to Russia, following media reports that Russian companies have long used local intermediaries to circumvent Western sanctions, Reuters reported.
Kazakhstan is a former Soviet republic whose economy dominates Central Asia and Russia is its main trading partner. After Western countries banned the sale of thousands of goods to Russia due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, some Kazakh companies began buying such goods and reselling them to Russian companies.
The government of Kazakhstan, which had promised to abide by sanctions against Russia, announced on the 27th that new regulations on exports within the Eurasian Economic Union (Eurasian Economic Union), a Russia-dominated free trade group, which will take effect on April 1, will help reduce “underground “trading. The new rules have also “excluded the chance of submitting documents with bogus senders or recipients”.
Last year, Kazakhstan’s exports to Russia increased by a quarter. Kazakh businessmen say Turkey’s crackdown on Russian imports of “parallel imports,” or parallel imports, has sparked a new wave of demand from Russia for goods it cannot buy directly.
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