Ukraine - Tuesday, April 19
No progress in Donbas, Mariupol insurgency, and Russia corruption means wood blocks used as TNT
🇺🇦 Russia has made little progress in their renewed eastern offensive in the Donbas region
🇺🇦In Izyum, Russian forces tried to advance southwest again, and were once again repelled by UA forces. Intense fighting outside of Izyum
🇺🇦 In the past 24 hours, the Russian focus in the Donbas region has been in Luhansk and Donetsk, which is the eastern most part of Ukraine. They are trying to double-envelop the region. -- note, if it wasn’t apparent, Luhansk and Donestsk are collectively part of the Donbas region
🇺🇦Ukrainian forces started an offensive on April 16, advancing east out of Kharkiv, and they are starting to put pressure on RU supply lines advancing
🇺🇦 The commander of the Ukrainian 36 Marine Brigade, which is holding out in Azovstal in Mariupol has asked for supplies, adding they’re ready to fight to the last drop of bl0od. Both the 36th Marine Brigade and the Azov Regiment are conducting effective insurgence operations in Mariupol.
🇺🇦 Russia used a bunker-buster b0mb on the Azovstal factory in Mariupol. Ug
🇺🇦 Malcontent News believes that Russia started their offensive too soon, and have not reconstituted their forces nor resupplies adequately. Also, Eastern Ukraine is currently snowing in Ukraine….something about ‘never invade Ukraine during the mud season’
🇺🇦 Russian State TV is increasingly promising victory in Donbas by May 9th
🇺🇦 Ukrainian b0mb defusers discovered that some of the TNT sticks left by the Russians for boobytraps were just blocks of wood. This is likely due to common Russian corruption in the manufacturing process.
🇺🇦 Russia is using traditional Russian tactics: clear the area with heavy shelling, then move in with mechanized infantry
🇺🇦 Five Russian Kalbr cruise missiles struck the western city of L’viv. One struck an automobile repair shop. Why?
🇺🇦 The US State Department is looking into designating Russia as a state sponsor of terror
🇺🇦 The US has doubled the number of visas for refugees from 30,000 to 60,000
🇺🇦 Outside of Mykoliav, Russia accidentally attacked Russian-backed militias
🇺🇦 A Ukrainian millionaire found Russians using his newly-built home as a base, and got Ukrainian forces to get Ukraine’s army to b0mb his own house
🇺🇦 Russia accused American and the west for "doing everything to drag out Russia's military operation in Ukraine" (BBC)
🇺🇦 300,000 Russians have fled Russia since the start of the war. Due to simple human nature, a large plurality of that group are the highly educated. This is called “brain drain”. Stuff like this is why Russia’s advanced fighters use commercial GPS, why their drones are hobby grade, and why some of their TNT is nothing more than blocks of wood.
⚠️If anyone cares, I post updates in the afternoon, then immediately start writing the next update. That means some of the data is 24 hours old, some of it is minutes old.
⚠️ If you ever hear anyone say “What about America…” in an effort to redirect attention away from Ukraine and onto America, 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’m getting lazy with my citations and I apologize. It’s all the same sources as it’s always been…NATO planners, official statements, major news, other open source researchers, people who send me leads, reputable pundits like Aaron Parnas, Kyiv Independent, Institute for the Study of War, etc. Thank you especially to CP Scott, former Army and former NATO planner.
⚠️ These posts are not affiliated with my employer, nor done during my employer’s time. Every item I report is from my own research and my own opinion.
⚠️ 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. While that’s still the case, that poses a problem when…
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