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Russia has made progress towards encircling Bakhmut but failed to capture it in time to deliver a victory for President Vladimir Putin to announce on Friday’s anniversary of his invasion. Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhii Cherevatyi has denied a claim by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia’s private military organisation Wagner, that Russian forces now control over 80 per cent of the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. From the day of the invasion until April 12, 2023, Russia has lost around 180,050 personnel and 3,646 tanks, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. One video discovered on V'Kontakte showed soldiers' graves at a cemetery north-east of Kostroma. The graves shown in the videos match the names of the soldiers we have collated.
Some are strong enough to shake the bunker, and she woke up screaming one night in fear. She posted her first TikTok video on February 23rd, a few hours before the invasion began. Did you know with a Digital Subscription to SussexWorld, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more.
Already one American filmmaker has been killed by the Russian invaders. In the video above, a Sky News team are attacked by Russian death squads, but manage to survive. What we are witnessing in Ukraine may well be dubbed as the first online resistance campaign of our time. Although none of these tactics are new, for the first time, we are seeing this multifaceted resistance develop in real time, online. Its viral nature comes with a host of benefits as well as potential pitfalls.
The forces - claimed to be among the best trained and equipped of the volunteer corps - enter a bunker dug into the ground and speak with allied soldiers. A fallen soldier is identified and one reflects, 'yes brother, that's how it is in war'. After months of intense fighting around the symbolically important city of Bakhmut, the end of winter is expected to mark a decisive turn in the war - though both sides have been reported to have challenges with equipment and replenishing lines.
The soldiers reportedly complained of a lack of weapons and coherent orders, claiming that some artillery strikes missed by several kilometres and that they suffered frequent ambushes due to a lack of battlefield intelligence. "Wagner assault groups continue to conduct the main advance through the centre of town while Russian airborne forces have relieved some Wagner units securing the northern and southern flanks of the operation," the British military said on Twitter. Military analysts have said that seizing Bakhmut would have public relations and tactical military value for Moscow but was unlikely to prove decisive in the war's outcome. The Russian Defence Ministry also noted the stepped-up fighting in western parts of the city on Friday. Russian forces have stepped up artillery bombardment and air strikes on the devastated Ukrainian city. In February, Russian soldiers started to speak out against the suicidal drives of Wagner Group's mercenary forces, pushing forward in human waves under heavy artillery fire in scenes reminiscent of the Somme.
In other words, drones have become a tool of the propaganda war that is being waged alongside the military conflict. Drones have also been used in relief operations and in delivering emergency medical aid. From bogus livestreams to video game clips being repurposed as on-the-ground footage of the invading forces, TikTok has come under scrutiny for its inability to police content. US non-profit Media Matters for America has highlighted numerous instances of the app being abused to amplify false content.
Relatively cheap and lightweight, it can stay airborne for 27 hours and carry a reasonable payload. Smaller than regular drones, they are stealthy and hard to pick up by anti-aircraft radar systems. Cheap to buy compared to other drones manufactured in the USA, Bayraktar drones are inexpensive but dole out massive damage and expense to the enemy. On a cost per damage basis, the Bayraktar drones have caused billions of dollars of damage for practically no cost.
Ukraine has launched an investigation into a gruesome video that purportedly shows the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier, in the latest accusation of atrocities said to have been committed by Russia since it invaded in February 2022. For now, most analysts still expect a smaller war than that – but the announcement this week that Russian troops had entered Belarus for joint exercises broadens and complicates the picture, making it easier for Russia to advance on Kiev from the north. Such actions, however, would also be broader strategic messaging – particularly to the Baltic states and NATO nations that protect them, an unmistakable warning that the Kremlin could do the same to them. It’s a message that has clearly already landed – witness request last week from Estonia for further NATO troops.
"The sheer scale of today's shelling clearly does not indicate that Russia has any special sort of specific military aim." Moscow showed no signs of pulling back, nearly 10 weeks into a war that has killed thousands, destroyed cities and driven 5 million Ukrainians to flee abroad. Ukraine said three missiles targeted the Odesa region and all were intercepted. He said the figure was the highest daily death toll in the region since last month. Notorious guns-for-hire from Russia's Wagner Group have been filmed by a drone clearing a Ukrainian army position in the battle for the strategically important town of Popasna in eastern Ukraine.
Senior Western security officials described to me how they believed that airstrike, exposing embarrassingly vulnerability in the heart of Vladimir Putin’s power, had been carried out. Russia launched 11 ballistic and cruise missiles at Kyiv at around 11.30am local time on Monday, according to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. At least two civilians were killed and three wounded in Russian attacks on Ukraine over the previous 24 hours, the Ukrainian president’s office reported on Friday. Unconfirmed local reports said Friday’s explosion in Russia’s southern city of Krasnodar, in the region of the same name bordering Crimea, was caused by drones.