🇺🇦 (Pictured) For the nerds: On May 4th, a sharp-eyed viewer noticed Zelensky wearing this
🇺🇦 Russian forces continued ineffectual offensive operations without securing any significant territorial gains in the past 24 hours.
🇺🇦 Ukrainian officials confirmed that Russian forces have breached the Azovstal facility itself and confirmed that Ukrainian forces are losing ground.
🇺🇦 Ukrainian offensive operations around Kharkiv likely intend to push Russian forces out of artillery range of Kharkiv city, force Russian units to redeploy from the Izyum axis, and potentially threaten Russian lines of communication. (Institute for the Study of War)
🇺🇦 The Kremlin is establishing economic, governmental, and informational control over occupied Ukrainian territory, indicating that Russia may be preparing to create a series of Russian proxy “people’s republics” and/or to directly annex some occupied Ukrainian territory. (Institute for the Study of War)
🇺🇦 Russian forces are likely considering the use of chemical weapons to achieve battlefield advantages in the battle for Donbas. (Institute for the Study of War)
🇺🇦 The Kremlin likely intends to pin Ukrainian forces in the south to prevent them from reinforcing eastern Ukraine.
🇺🇦 The Kremlin continues to project economic confidence to its domestic audience despite a Russian Central Bank reporting massive economic constriction
🇺🇦 The Kremlin made an example out of Poland and Bulgaria by cutting off natural gas shipments in an attempt to coerce Germany, Italy, and other EU consumers of Russian natural gas to pay for their Russian gas imports in rubles, thereby propping up Russia’s sanctions-battered economy. (Institute for the Study of War)
🇺🇦 NATO and EU countries continued supplying Ukraine with military assistance, including high-end capabilities to counter Russian aggression,
🇺🇦 A Russian oligarch's $300m superyacht was seized in Fiji. This ship has a pool, incase people got tired of swimming in Fiji I suppose.
🇺🇦Russia lost 200 servicemen and 15 tanks in the past 24 hours.
🇺🇦Unsubstantiated reports that the Russian Navy frigate Admiral Makarov - Адмирал Макаров has been hit and sunk by a Neptune missile.
Israel:
🇮🇱 A few days ago, I wrote “Israel is finally deciding to assist Ukraine.” My friend took issue with this, as Israel has been providing humanitarian aid since the beginning. Let me provide more background:
🇮🇱 Up until the past few days, Israel has been neutral towards Russia’s invasion, refusing to send arms to Ukraine nor impose sanctions on Russia.
🇮🇱 Israel was neutral because they have built a military relationship with Russia, as well as an airspace partnership with Russia in Syria.
🇮🇱 However, that all changed in the past few days. The Kremlin has been taking a very anti-Semitic stance towards Israel, saying Israel supports nazis. If you recall, Russia manufactured justification for invading Ukraine by saying Ukrainians are nazis.
🇮🇱 There’s a reason Russia has started taking an anti-Israel stance. My friend said it best, when disagreeing with my statement that Israel is “finally” assisting: “An Israeli field hospital was open on the western Ukrainian border in the very first days of this war, and by now served 4000+ Ukrainians. Tons of humanitarian aid were also delivered all through the war time way before the armour etc., so it’s not really “finally,” this help has been provided. As for the Iron Dome it’s a highly sophisticated system that requires experts currently only available in Israel, which means “their” boots on Ukrainian ground…”
🇮🇱 Due to Russia’s anti-Semitic stance, we have started seeing a shift in Israel’s policy towards this war, and this shift will likely get bigger.
📢 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…
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