🇺🇦 (Pictured) After yesterday’s destruction of the Admiral Makarov warship, most Russian Black Sea Fleet warships have retreated back to the Sevastopol Bay, which is the southern-most point of occupied Crimea, and the furthest from conflict.
🇺🇦 Remember, Ukraine doesn’t have a navy, so the number of ships that Russia is losing is pretty significant.
🇺🇦 Russia’s foreign ministry stated that the country does not plan to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. I continue to hold the opinion that Russia is not actually a nuclear power.
🇺🇦 Follow up: US officials confirmed they gave Ukraine intelligence which assisted in sinking the Moskva. In response, the Department of Defense said something akin to “What!? Of course we aren’t giving intelligence to Ukrainians on how to locate generals and k1ll them”
🇯🇵🇬🇧 The Japanese PM met with UK’s PM and announced joint security assurances and disaster relief agreements. This is the first time this type of agreement between these nations has ever happened. And of course, the context and motivation is the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
🇨🇳 China responded by buzzing Taiwan airspace.
🇺🇦 A Russian soldier who was in Bucha during the executions was identified because he spray-painted his Instagram handle in a civilian's home
🇺🇦 After the Moskva sank, Russia is telling parents of conscripts that the cruiser didn’t actually enter the territorial waters of Ukraine, and that the sailors instead suddenly went missing during an ‘emergency incident’ on the high seas. Now Russia doesn’t have to pay out death benefits
🇺🇦 Videos of Russian filtration camps are shocking and disgusting.
🇺🇦 Men in Donbas will be used for slave labor, and some will be dressed up as Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner to be part of the May 9 Victory Day parade in Mariupol.
🇺🇦 Nearly 4 million Russians fled Russia this year.
🇺🇦 Putin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov argue that there is a potential threat to UA’s territorial integrity from Poland…so now Russia is saying it invaded Ukraine to defend it from Poland.
🇺🇦 More cracks are appearing in Russia’s diplomatic corps. The Russian Consulate General in Edinburgh has spoken out against the war and condemn this ‘special operation’
🇺🇦 The G7 is speaking together right now, in particular about Ukraine. Zelensky is providing updated reports on what’s happening in Ukraine.
🇺🇦 Lots of artillery and howitzer news in the past few days. Too much to detail here, but TL;DR: Ukraine is getting a bunch of long-range artillery from a bunch of different countries, and this allows Ukraine to bring the fight to Russia.
🇺🇦 Sending UA heavy weapons is new. Most countries had a policy of not sending UA heavy weapons. My belief is that 1) western countries recognize UA is not just containing the RU threat, but that there is an actual chance UA can win 2) Western countries have slowly increased the size and scope weapons, and have found out there are no consequences to giving big weapons 3) the more UA fights, the higher the ROI is. E.g., there’s no reason America would give $3b in heavy weapons if Russia took UA in three days, and all those weapons went to Russia instead.
🇺🇦 25 million tons of grain that is due for UA export is being blocked in the Black Sea by Russia, who has closed ports for exit of this grain.
🇺🇦 Russia has stolen 400,000 tons of grain from UA. This, and the above, will cause major food shortages around the world.
🇺🇦 UPDATE: after writing this post, Russia says there will be no Victory Day celebrations in Mariupol
📢 Countries apply to be in NATO. NATO doesn’t seek to expand. Saying NATO is encroaching on Russia is Kremlin messaging. Russia has three primary propaganda efforts directed at the West, and that’s the first
📢 Yes, Ukraine has a nazi problem, but it’s a very small percentage of the country, and not representative of the whole. Using a small group to smear the entire group is called “guilt by association.” Russia has three primary propaganda efforts directed at the West, and that’s the second.
📢 If you ever hear anyone say “What about America…” in an effort to redirect attention away from Ukraine and onto the west, that is called “Competitive victimhood” and the associated meme is *always* created by Russian-backed media. Russia has three primary propaganda efforts directed at the West, and that’s the third.
⚠️ Note: I got lazy with my citations and I apologize. My top sources are: Current and former military planners, singularly-focused pundits, and all manner of vetted open-source intelligence. Top cited open source pundits and sources include: CP Scott, Institute for the Study of War, Kyiv Independent, Aaron Parnas, Philip DeFranco, John Aravosis, Malcontent News, and mainstream news with high levels of journalistic integrity and track records. Sadly I can’t source private individuals, of course.
⚠️ These posts are not affiliated with my employer, nor done during my employer’s time. Every item I report is from my own research, my own opinion, and written during my own time.
⚠️ Note: War happens fast and even high fidelity news needs a ton of corrections after the dust settles. Also, I’ve been spoiled by social media’s format where I can update the final product every time I find a typo. That poses a problem because…
⚠️ I started a Substack newsletter to accommodate the individual emails requests. Feel free to subscribe!
The heading would be clearer if it said "Russia's Black Sea fleet retreats FROM a country with no navy"