Putin Recognizes Donbass Republics, Sends Russian Military to 'Denazify' Ukraine

[bjorb]

15K dead (and/or wounded) in the North during the blitz towards Kyiv.
Another 15K in Donbas and Lugansk
Russian MoD itself had already indicated that 50K have been taken out 2/3 weeks ago. Although they did not specifically state whether these were dead or wounded. I think both apply.

+ 20K Mariupol
=
50K eliminated so far?

I meant 30K, which makes sense since 15K was reported on both fronts. +20K Mariupol = 50K so far. From now on I will report the number of casualties from both sides as soon as I read them.

 

[bjorb]

Don't pay attention to the so-called ''withdrawals'' of the Russian army either. It is impossible to occupy the whole of Ukraine with 190K troops. That's also not the goal. Instead, the Russians will keep their army mobile and strike where the Ukie army is weak and needs to be taken out.

That said when the majority of the Ukie army is taken out. Russia controls the whole map.

 

[bjorb]

Although I don't the number of conscripts and volunteers but they will certainly be less effective.

Russia on the other hand has 16K volunteers. Many of them from the SAA (Syrian Arab Army) who thought alongside Russia against IS (Islamic state). If they are the Tiger Forces, (Syrian special forces) it will be a real boost.

Who fought...

 

[youlik]

Today it became known that a curfew has been announced in the city of Irpen. Let me remind you that this was happened in Bucha earlier, so this is a possible place for the next provocation.

A somewhat funny telephone conversation concerning the same Irpen was published. The conversation is in Russian and it is difficult for me to translate it verbatim, but I want to note the most significant place.
A local figure from Irpen complains to a certain figure from Kiev about what happened after the departure of Russian troops. And literally the following happened - on the second day, parts of the so-called territorial defense entered the city and immediately began to rob everything they could reach. There's nothing funny about it, it's funny how the Irpen figure talks about it. Almost literally: "after the Orcs left, on the second day the territorial defense came in and looting began". So while there were "orcs", there was peace and grace, no robberies, food was distributed to the locals, no one was offended. The "orcs" left, "their own" came in and then it started... He had to call Kiev, complain and beg for new strength to stop the lawlessness.
Rhetorical question: who are the "orcs" here? I wonder how these figures themselves fit all this in their heads? The question is obviously also quite rhetorical. Their brains are completely awry.

Spoiler: Russian spelling

Опубликован в некотором роде забавный телефонный разговор, касающийся все того же Ирпеня. Разговор на русском и мне трудно его дословно перевести, однако я хочу отметить наиболее значимое место. Местный деятель из г. Ирпеня жалуется некоему деятелю из Киева о том, что случилось после ухода Российских войск. А случилось буквально следующее- на второй день в город зашли части так называемой территориальной обороны и сразу начали грабить все до чего смогли дотянуться. В этом ничего забавного нет, забавно то, как ирпеньский деятель говорит об этом. Почти буквально: после того как ушли орки, на второй день зашла территориальная оборона и начались грабежи. Значит пока были "орки", была тишь и благодать, никаких грабежей, местным жителям раздавали еду, никого не обижали. Ушли "орки", зашли "свои" и тут началось... Пришлось звонить в Киев, жаловаться и выпрашивать новые силы, чтоб прекратить беспредел. Риторический вопрос: кто тут "орки"? Любопытно как у самих этих деятелей все это в голове укладывается? Вопрос очевидно тоже вполне риторический. Мозги у них совсем набекрень.

 

[bjorb]

Russia has 900,000 active military personnel across land, sea, and air of which 280,000 ground forces in active duty and 150,000 naval troops. 20K are marines. All of them are highly trained. + 2 million reservists.

I forgot to mention...

+ DPR Armed Forces = active personnel: ~44,000

Those are the Donetsk People's Militia and Lugansk People's Militia.

 

[Laurentien2]

Russian Forces Seize More Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems In Ukraine (Photos)

The Russian National Guard has captured at least eight Soviet-made 9K38 Igla MANPADs man-portable air-defense system (MANPADs) from Ukrainian forces....

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RUSSIAN FORCES SEIZE MORE MAN-PORTABLE AIR-DEFENSE SYSTEMS IN UKRAINE (PHOTOS)​

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File image.
The Russian National Guard has captured at least eight Soviet-made 9K38 Igla MANPADs man-portable air-defense system (MANPADs) from Ukrainian forces.
The MANPADs were reportedly captured along with other weapons, including a British-made NLAW anti-tank missile, in the village of Pologi in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. On April 7, Russian sources shared several photos of the captured weapons.
The Igla’s 9M313 missile, which is guided by infrared homing, has a maximum range of five kilometers. The missile is armed with a 1.17-kilogram blast fragmentation warhead.


On March 11, a batch of Igla MANPADs, which were newly-delivered to Ukraine, was captured by the Russian military. Back then, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that it is working to determine which Eastern European state supplied Ukrainian forces with the systems.
The system is still in service with a number of Eastern European states which are now members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia and Slovakia.
NATO states acknowledged supplying Ukraine with thousands of Soviet-made 9K32 Strela-2 and 9K32M Strela-2M as well as US-made FIM-92 Stinger MANPADs. However, none of these states have publicly acknowledged sending Igla MANPADs to Ukrainian forces.
Russia warned against sending MANPADs to Ukraine, as this will create a long-term threat to civilian aviation in Europe and beyond. Despite this serious threat, NATO states continue to supply Ukrainian forces with these systems.

 

[Laurentien2]

Suspicious Exchanges Of Prisoners Of War. Testimonies By Russian POWs (Videos)

So far, several cases of exchange of prisoners of war (POW) between Russia and Ukraine have been confirmed. On April...

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SUSPICIOUS EXCHANGES OF PRISONERS OF WAR. TESTIMONIES BY RUSSIAN POWS (VIDEOS)​

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Ukrainian POWs returned to Ukraine
So far, several cases of exchange of prisoners of war (POW) between Russia and Ukraine have been confirmed.
On April 1, a prisoner exchange took place in the Zaporozhye region. Ukraine received 86 soldiers, including 15 women. The Russian side also reportedly received 86 servicemen, but the number was not confirmed.
Photos of the Ukrainian military who returned for the POWs exchange were immediately shared by the Ukrainian military. Judging by the footage, everyone is safe, healthy and well-fed.
In turn, the Russian side did not share photographs of Russian prisoners. This fact raised suspicions that Russian servicemen had been tortured.

Click to see full-size image

Click to see full-size image
On March 23, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed 2 other exchanges of POWs. However, it was not clarified what exact cases were confirmed.
Earlier, it was revealed that the mayor of Melitopol was changed to 9 Russian servicemen. Another exchange of 1 Russian soldier for 5 members of the so-called territorial defence was reported in the Sumy region.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported that the Kiev authorities had been disrupting exchanges of prisoners of war.
On April 6, another planned exchange of prisoners was disrupted by the Ukrainian side.

The Russian MoD reported: “The list of 251 servicemen declared for exchange was repeatedly clarified during the day, the number of prisoners of war was repeatedly reduced, the list agreed at the last stage in the amount of only 38 servicemen, this morning, by the Ukrainian side was also rejected without explanation.
At the same time, on the part of the Russian Federation, all of 251 Ukrainian prisoners of war were delivered to the initially agreed area.”

Taking into account the above, the Russian side has every reason to believe that there is something wrong with the servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces who are in captivity, the Russian MoD added.
On the same day, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation claimed that she had a list of Russian officers from the Crimea who, while being held captive in Ukraine, are allegedly not subject to exchange and can be executed. It was clarified that Russia would check this information and requests would be made to the Ukrainian side and international bodies.
Numerous cases of execution and torture of Russian POWs by Ukrainian servicemen had been confirmed. Some of them were confirmed by the footage shared by the Ukrainian Nazis. Following such cases, Kiev authorities prohibited to “share videos of murders of Russian POWs online”, but not to commit war crimes.
The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation claimed that Ukraine had officially informed its Western allies that it does not intend to comply with the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Such a policy of the Kiev regime, as well as new footage of tortures shared online, confirm the inability of Kiev authorities to control nationalist forces in the AFU, as well as numerous foreign mercenaries and thugs who came to fight in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation shared testimonies of Russian servicemen released from captivity in Ukraine, who confirm murders and violation by the Kiev regime of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

“They put us up against a brick wall and there were a lot of people with guns, and everyone offered to do something to us: shoot us in the legs, just kill us. They were just chatting among themselves at this point and offering their ideas. There was only one person who said we shouldn’t, because prisoners were needed for something. Since there were comrades who had their legs shot and couldn’t move fast, they were dragged, either pushed forward or beaten in order to get them to walk. We were kept in some kind of gymnasium, sleeping on the floor. It was cold at night. Constantly, when a shell came, we could hear the doors opening and the Ukrainian military beating the pilots. Two pilots were kept with us and they were constantly beaten, not allowed to sleep. At various times at night you could hear the phrase: “Pilots, are you sleeping?” and then they made them answer: “We are not sleeping: we are watching the sky. The military constantly mocked the pilots and said: “If pilots come back to Russia, they will only be invalids.”

The six of us were seen. My comrade was asked, “Where is the sixth man? He showed him standing on his knees. After that, the Ukrainian soldier fired a burst into the surrendered man. We were all already lying face down on the ground when they started taking us one by one to a car that pulled up. During this, one person’s nose was broken. They wanted to finish us wounded. One of the soldiers was shouting that he was ready to shoot us, so they wouldn’t have to deal with us in the future.
I was face down on the ground and they tied my hands with duct tape. When they lifted me up, they asked where I was wounded. I said my left hip. Then one of the Ukrainians kicked me there. I apparently cried out in pain. I was told to be patient. They dragged me. At this time my shoes were coming off my feet. I did not manage to sleep, as I felt badly. For two days I did not eat at all. They took us every day and made us record a video of their text. If anyone failed they were beaten, as was I, because due to a head wound I had memory problems. I couldn’t remember all the text to tell it. The first day we were in the gym, one person was brought there. The doctor who examined me said he wouldn’t live till morning. This man was beaten to death all night long. The impression was that you were lying there, a bandage over your eyes, and you could hear screams all around you. Soon they subsided and in the morning we were told we were sleeping with a corpse. It felt as if he had been beaten with sticks, because the sound of the blows was deafening.
Then we were transported in motorcars to the detention center of the Security Service. On arrival, I was beaten up very badly. I couldn’t sleep or breathe properly for three days. They took us to the floor, we had our hands behind our backs and bandages over our eyes. As soon as I started to enter the room I was immediately hit on the head. Because of the head injury I immediately lost consciousness. They started breaking my hands and fingers. They threatened to break my arms. I tried to get up, but they hit me on the head again. And everything repeats. They hit me with legs and hands. They also hit me in the stomach. Since there was nothing to eat, it was hard to bear the fact that all my organs were beaten off.
There were pilots there. I was lying next to one of them. As soon as a shell came in, some man came up and started beating him. They kicked him and beat him with their hands. The pilots were the only ones in the hall who were handcuffed, because when he turned over, you could hear the sound of iron. They were mocked very badly: they were not allowed to sleep, they were fed much less often, and they were not given water.
Before they took us to the Red Cross, we were instructed to say that the food in captivity was excellent, water was provided, conditions were excellent, and the wounded were cared for.

When we were lying in the gym, an officer, a major, was being beaten there. He was beaten for two days. On the third day they took him to the basement. Then the Ukrainians said that he died of blood loss.
The artillerymen were brutally beaten. When I was in the gym, they brought three people, one of them was an artilleryman. They beat him up very badly. The scouts were also beaten up.
Then we were sitting in the basement for 6-7 hours with our eyes closed. Then they made the first video of us being interrogated. All this was happening with the use of weapons. They were putting guns to our heads. Then they took us from there to the military police. We lived in the barracks, we were interrogated. When we did not give answers to questions, we were beaten.

​

​

 

[dredger]

A somewhat funny telephone conversation concerning the same Irpen was published. The conversation is in Russian and it is difficult for me to translate it verbatim, but I want to note the most significant place.
A local figure from Irpen complains to a certain figure from Kiev about what happened after the departure of Russian troops. And literally the following happened - on the second day, parts of the so-called territorial defense entered the city and immediately began to rob everything they could reach. There's nothing funny about it, it's funny how the Irpen figure talks about it. Almost literally: "after the Orcs left, on the second day the territorial defense came in and looting began". So while there were "orcs", there was peace and grace, no robberies, food was distributed to the locals, no one was offended. The "orcs" left, "their own" came in and then it started... He had to call Kiev, complain and beg for new strength to stop the lawlessness.
Rhetorical question: who are the "orcs" here? I wonder how these figures themselves fit all this in their heads? The question is obviously also quite rhetorical. Their brains are completely awry.

From whah you reported here we can now imagine the following which sounds logical :
Russian noticed that these cities are hostile to them, so they decided to let them learn the hard way.

Note that I assume that all local figures (mayors, politics) of towns and villages support the current regime (or were simply placed at these positions), thus, what the local figures declare publicly is not relevant to what the average population thinks about. But despite this fact, it must be bugging the hell out of some people's heads right now in these "liberated" ukrainian localities.

I wonder if Russian knew what would have happened after they liberate these towns & village ?
I was also wondering if some russian sattelites recorded what happened in these liberated places ? Do they have the mean to ?

 

[Evan]

Well if the Russian army are the “Orcs”

I suppose that would make the Ukie army the “Goblins”

 

[Iggdrasil]

My translate of the subtitles.

 

[Laurentien2]

War In Ukraine Day 44: Overview Of Military Developments On Donbass Front Lines (18+)

The main battles in Ukraine continue on the Donbass front lines. Despite fierce resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine...

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WAR IN UKRAINE DAY 44: OVERVIEW OF MILITARY DEVELOPMENTS ON DONBASS FRONT LINES (18+)​

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The main battles in Ukraine continue on the Donbass front lines. Despite fierce resistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and their heavily fortified positions in the region, the DPR, LPR Armies supported by Russian forces continue to slowly advance in different directions, claiming victories on a daily basis.
On April 7, the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed that units of the Russian armed forces blockaded the town of Ugledar, where the mop-up operation was launched. The main forces of the units of the 54th Mechanized Brigade of the AFU were forced to retreat to the north. The major Russian assault on Ugledar is expected to begin in the coming days.

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On April 6, footage of strikes on civilian facilities in Ugledar was shared online. Civilian casualties were not avoided. So far, civilians have not been evacuated from the town. Ugledar risks to be significantly damaged after street fighting breaks out.

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In the south of the DPR front lines, main clashes continue between the towns of Velikaya Novoselka and Ugledar. The situation in the town of Velikaya Novoselka remains unchanged. There have been no reports about any progress of Russian troops in the area for about a week. The main clashes reportedly continue on the eastern outskirts, near the village of Blagodatnoye. Russian forces are yet to cross the Kashlagach River to advance in the direction of the Zaporozhye-Donetsk highway.
On the south-western outskirts of the city of Donetsk, Russian forces are advancing fast towards the town of Mariinka from the south.

Click to see full-size image
On April 6, Russian forces took control over the village of Sladkoe, located about 30 kilometers to the south Mariinka. The 11th unit of the DPR PM broke through the AFU defence after fierce clashes in the area. During the day they advanced more than a dozen kilometres and reached the village of Novomikhailovka.
On April 7, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed that the Russian armed forces completely blockaded the village of Novomikhailovka. The mop up operation against the AFU remnants in the village was launched.
The advance is slowed down by the heavily fortified positions of the AFU in Novomikhailovka, as well as by the artillery shelling from the AFU positions near the village of Kostyantinovka.
Battles for the control over the towns of Olexandrivka and Mariinka continue for more than two week. No side has claimed any significant successes in the towns so far.

DPR troops supported by Russian forces are pushing Ukrainian positions out of the city of Donetsk in order to end shelling on civilian areas which have continued for years. The pressure significantly increased after a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile hit the center of the city of Donetsk on March 14. As a result of the bloody and senseless attack dozens of civilians were killed and wounded.
The advance is slow, fierce clashes continue and the shelling on civilians continues. Dozens of civilians in the DPR and LPR are killed and wounded on a daily basis.

Another hotspot in the Donbass region is the area of Avdiivka. The last success claimed by the DPR troops was the capture of the village of Novobakhmutivka, north of Avdiivka. DPR and Russian troops avoid entering the streets of Avdiivka. They have recently imposed control over the smaller villages to the north of the town and have secured their positions in the area. The fortified positions of the AFU near Avdiivka are constantly shelled by the DPR artillery and the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are carrying air strikes almost on a daily basis.

Click to see full-size image

Avdiivka is an important stronghold of the AFU on the North-Western outskirts of the city of Donetsk, from where the AFU artillery constantly shelled the nearby areas, including civilian facilities and houses.
In the Donetsk region Russian high-precision air-launched missiles hit the railway stations Pokrovsk, Slavyansk, Barvenkovo. Weapons and military equipment of the Ukrainian troops who were destroyed.
Strike with high-precision ammunition “Krasnopol” on the AFU positions:

In the LPR, no significant advances on the main front lines have been recently reported. The main hotspots remain the town of Popasnaya and nearby areas and the Severodonetsk-Lisichansk agglomeration.
Fierce clashes continue in the town of Popasnaya. No advances were reported by any side for more than a week. Artillery shelling has significantly intensified from the both sides. Pervomaisk and Zolotoe are the main strongholds of the LPR Army in the region.

Click to see full-size image

To the north of Popasnaya, clashes continue on the approaches to the town of Novotashkivske, which is under the AFU control. On April 7, LPR forces took control of the 29th checkpoint on the road west of the town.
The fighting for this area has been going on since 2014. It was a fortified position of the AFU, which controlled the road to Lisichansk. It was difficult to approach the checkpoint in an open area and forces of the LPR were not enough for an assault. Today, LPR troops deployed their equipment in the area, preparing for the assault of the AFU in Novotashkivske.

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On the outskirts of the city of Severodonetsk, LPR are yet to repel Ukrainian forces from the souther regions of Rubezhnoye. The town is heavily shelled by the AFU artillery, clashes on the streets continue. North of Rubezhnoye, the AFU have launched a counterattack, however any successes are yet to be confirmed.
While the southern outskirts of Rubezhnoe are yet to be secured, a big number of the T-80 tanks of the LPR were spotted heading to the firing line in Severodonetsk.
On April 8, a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile hit the railway station in the city of Kramatorsk. The bloody provocation of the AFU lead to at least 30 civilian casualties.

Recently, no changes were reported in the Izyum area in the Kharkiv region. Fighting continues for the villages of Suligovka and Dolgenkoe, from where Russian are expected to move towards the city of Slavyansk or Barvenkovo to surround the AFU groupings on the Donbass front lines.
An attempt of counter offensive of the AFU was reported in the village of Topolskoye, southwest of Izyum. Heavy fighting broke out, but the AFU reportedly suffered heavy losses and were forced to step back. They hold their positions on the outskirts and continue shelling on Russian forces in the village.

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Rare air raids by Ukraine aircraft and helicopters also continue in the area of Izyum.
At the moment, the both sides are reinforcing their positions in the area. The AFU are amassing forces in the towns of Kramatorsk, Artemovsk, Druzhkovka. Heavy machinery and trucks with Ukrainian soldiers are continuously driving along the highway through the city towards Konstantinovka.
The AFU is constantly shelling the town of Izyum, especially at night time.
Russian forces provide evacuation of civilians from the town. On April 8, the first Russian column with humanitarian aid came into the city.

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DPR, LPR and Russian forces are slowly advancing on several front lines in the Donbass region. Mainly positional battles and artillery duels continue in the region. It is expected that the major assault will begin after the AFU grouping in the city of Mariupol is destroyed. Some Russian and DPR troops have already been sent from Mariupol to the Ugledar region to support the advance on the southern front lines of the Donbass. The russian reinforcement also comes from the Kiev and Chernihiv regions. Some of these units were already deployed in the Kharkiv region.
At the same time, Moscow does not even announce a partial mobilization in the country to strengthen the grouping in the Donbas. Not so long ago, Russian volunteers were allowed to go to Ukraine. Earlier, it was announced about 16,000 military personnel wishing to join the Russian troops from abroad, including from Syria. However, the mechanism of their transfer to Donbass has not yet been worked out, and it is unknown whether they will go to Ukraine at all.
In its turn, Ukrainian troops are supplied with more advanced weapons and heavy equipment from the West. That’s why it is vitally important for the Russian Army to destroy the supply facilities, oil depots, roots and rail ways which are used for transfer of reinforcements to the AFU groupings in the Donbass. What is not an easy task.
Moreover, the third wave of general mobilization was launched in Ukraine. Reservists who graduated from military departments of universities, as well as those who were not mobilized during the previous mobilization waves will be conscripted into the Armed Forces.
Time is flying, and the advance of Russian troops, DPR and LPR forces must be accelerated in order to lead to any strategic successes in the East of Ukraine.

 

[thorbiorn]

Yesterday I came to March 31 at 10:45 in the record of Bucha Live.

Returning to the events in Bucha and nearby locations on March 31 and April 1. It is a mixed bag of machine translations from of the TG group messages, and I have put it all below a spoiler and given a summary afterwards of the most important finding.

Spoiler: More from Bucha and surrounding areas.

From 12:00 Irpin_b_ politik Ирпень | Буча | Гостомель | НОВОСТИ УКРАИНА which is a channel on "Ирпень | Буча | Гостомель | НОВ" News Ukraine, there are some statistics that show why the streets are empty:

They say
Irpen 3 % [There are almost no people left.]
Kiev 12 %
Central Ukraine 23%
Western Ukraine 37 %
The EU 17 %
Other locations outside Ukraine 8 %

At 17:16 This seems to be similar to the video message at 16:20 which however was for the whole region.
Bucha, Vorzel, and Gostomel are still under the control of the invaders, according to the head of the Kiev regional military administration Alexander Pavlyuk.

However, he confirmed that the Russians are beginning regrouping in the Kiev region. According to him," huge columns are going towards Russia " (more than 100 cars each).

"In recent days, we have realized how powerful and huge the group is in the direction of Kiev. While it was disguised, it was not so visible. Now we understand the force we are facing. But this force has lost its combat capability," Pavlyuk said.

18:14
Arestovich: in the north-western direction - Bucha, Gostomel - there are signs that the Russian troops are on the defensive and waiting for battle.
23:17
A video upload showing members of Odin, clearing the city of Irpin, a voluntary defence group with an office in Bucha. I could trace it back to 2015:

In One Ukrainian internet media there is an interview with a representative that explains the origin of "Odin", incidentally, he has a cap that says Misanthropic Division, an international neo-nazi organization.

If we wanted to organize a terrorist attack in Mariupol, we would do it 15.01.16
SBU and police detained a group of people with weapons who turned out to be former fighters of the 'Right Sector'.

In December, Donetsk Oblast Police Chief Vyacheslav Abroskin and the press service of the Security Service of Ukraine reported that a special operation was conducted in Mariupol, during which 17 people in military uniform and without documents were detained in a dormitory.

[...]

The security forces stated that the detainees did not belong to any of the units of the Ukrainian troops, were not in volunteer battalions and other patriotic associations. But what kind of people were in military uniform with a large number of weapons in the city, which is controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, was not reported.

As it turned out, the detainees belong to the special unit 'One', named after the supreme Scandinavian god who gives victory in the war. Danylo Morozov, deputy commander of the special unit, told TSN.ua that Odin's fighters used to be part of the Right Sector State Unitary Enterprise and are now being legalized. Also, according to him, the higher ranks of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service and the Armed Forces were aware of their weapons, and he called the 'detention' in Mariupol harassment of patriots by the authorities.

- What happened in Mariupol?

- On December 17, 'mask-shows' arrived at our location in Mariupol - the SBU counterintelligence, the military commandant's office and a special unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They confiscated weapons and ammunition from us.

As far as I understand, this is an interdepartmental showdown, because both the SBU and the ATO command, the General Staff, the Ministry of Defense, and Arsen Avakov personally knew that we have weapons. My commander [Ruslan Kachmala, commander of the Odin unit] met with him to discuss the availability of weapons and ammunition. Because we agreed on the entry of our unit into the Azov Regiment.

[...]

- Tell us about your special forces unit-where did it come from?

- The backbone of the unit is made up of people from the 7th battalion of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps "Right Sector". When the question arose last summer that he was being transferred to the reserve, we decided to continue our activities in the Donetsk region, left the 7th battalion, and decided to legalize ourselves in order to get more weapons, capabilities, and so on.

What he said about last summer, that is in 2015 when spoken in January 2016 and fits with the age of the FB and VK group formation in August of 2015 as we shall see.

[...]
- Why haven't you been legalized yet?

"What's the situation?" Our task is to form a whole division, because the guys are all well-worked, everyone knows who is capable of what. We've been through a lot together. But we were offered options to spread us out in formations, in companies. They do not want to preserve our sovereignty, because we can show a [high] level of combat capability, the level of training for other units.

Therefore, we are considering all possible options, looking for all possible people who will meet us halfway. After the incident in Mariupol, the situation seems to have cleared up, and we will be a whole unit in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But until the registration process has started, we will not say in what part.

- How did you end up with weapons in Mariupol, if you fought near Donetsk?

- At that moment, when they tried to escort us out of sector "B", it was already decided that we would be registered as a separate company in the special forces regiment" Azov " of the National Guard. We were promised that we would remain in our positions, since everything had already been done in sector B-Donetsk direction. But almost something did not work out, someone did not like us, they gave us an ultimatum-either we go, or...

[...]

The Azov regiment provided us with equipment [for transporting weapons], these vehicles with weapons and BC [from near Donetsk to Mariupol] were accompanied by the military law enforcement service, and directly the heads of the VSP sector " B "and sector G." were aware of what was happening.

No one was hiding, these weapons were not intended for any terrorist attacks, or for any actions against our state, against our people. If we wanted to organize a terrorist attack in Mariupol, I tell you directly, we would have done it.

The link to Azov is not fiction, several months before the temporary arrest in Mariupol, there was a small presentation where they claimed they were a part of Azov as is writte in this image from September 2015 even if Azov was incorporated in Ukrainian Armed Forces in September 2014:


I tried to find out more:
The FB of "Подразделение "Один" with more than 600 follower goes back to August of 2015. The same is the case for the VK account with 32 followers, maybe because VK became discouraged in Ukraine. The social media posts reveal indications of a group of ideological and militaristic neo-Nazis.
On the FB one finds a short introduction to a course that includes training in the cleansing of buildings including, shooting practice and assassination.

The first post is from August 2015, but there has been not activity for two years.

Volunteers who have proved themselves in the operations of the 7th Battalion of the DUK PS decided to legalize in the regiment 'AZOV'.
At the same time, we are a separate battalion under the command of Remus, and remain in our previous positions in Sector B.
Currently, the staffing schedule is being reorganized and the unit is being reorganized to strengthen and increase combat capacity. As a result, there is an acute shortage of staff due to the expansion of personnel.

This page was created to support the soldiers of the special unit 'Odin' and to coordinate volunteer assistance.
We want to unite the efforts of volunteers who work with the unit to work more productively to provide our fighters with the most necessary.
A TG channel is only from March 2022 and has about 400 subscribers, so it is not that many.
They actually, both on TG and on FB call themselves "Штурмовий підрозділ Óдін" which means Odin's assault unit
Their logo on TG is:


This logo was actually uploaded to their FB in 2017 which is only a little changed from their original FB group logo.
Their logo is oddly similar to the entry on Bucha Live posted on March 31, at 16:56 that appears without comment:

Well, Odin is one-eyed, according to mythology, so even without comments it fits with the other logo.

From the posts on the TG channel it seems this group has a core in Irpen, but they apparently oversee both Bucha and Hostomel as indicated by the above logo. According to the map Irpen, is in the Buchansky district of the Kiev region.

On the Óдін TG channel, I found a picture from March 30, of the people that cleared Irpen,
19:40

Unit Odin after cleaning Irpen [...]

From their channel on April 1, 15:35

Ukraine Claims Some Battle Successes as Russia Focuses on Another Front

Ukrainians on Monday reported that they had pushed back invading Russian forces in fierce fighting around Kyiv and in northeastern Ukraine, while the Russians moved to encircle and cut off Ukrainian forces in the east.

Ukrainian counterattacks around Kyiv reportedly retook more ground, with the mayor of Irpin, a fiercely contested suburb on the northwestern edge of the capital, saying that most Russian troops had retreated. If Ukrainian soldiers can maintain control of Irpin, it would be strategically important to keeping their hold on Kyiv.

“Our Irpin is liberated from Moscow’s evil,” Mayor Oleksandr Markushin of Irpin posted on Telegram on Monday. But the deputy police chief, Oleksandr Bogai, offered a more skeptical account in a telephone interview, noting that fighting continued even as most Russian troops appeared to have pulled back, and that the Russians continued to shell the town.

On April 1 at 19:02 there are some pictures and the text

Photographer of the N New York Times showed the world the struggle of Ukrainians against the Russian invaders

Daniel Berehulak-Rodriguez, an Australian photographer and correspondent of Ukrainian origin, a regular author of the New York Times, took a series of vivid photos of the liberation of Irpen by the soldiers of the Odin assault unit.

There is a link to: "Ukrainian Military Fends Off Russia and Retakes Suburb of Kyiv" in The New York Times.

Between the evening of April 1 and April 4 at 20:46 there are no postings, however the posting number jumps from 109 to 119, what were the missing numbers about?

Back to the Bucha Live TG channel:
April 1
9:38

It's not safe to go back to Bucha yet!

This was announced in his address by the secretary of the Buchan City Council Taras Shapravsky.

Now the city remains under occupation, a lot of booby-trapped equipment, houses and even corpses. Therefore, please do not approach dangerous objects.

The liberation of the city continues, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, territorial defense are working to win back every meter of their native land.

Trust only official, verified information!

10:30

the situation in the Kiev region
BUCHA LIVE
Ра rashists continue to partially withdraw from the north of the Kiev region in the direction of the state border with the Republic of Belarus.
BUCHA LIVE
There is a movement of joint columns of equipment of different numbers of the Russian enemy. The convoys also include civilian vehicles (cargo, buses, minibuses, cars) that were stolen by the Russian invaders during the temporary occupation of the territories. In addition, the enemy seizes looted property.
BUCHA LIVE
Арод looting and violence against Ukrainians continues.
BUCHA LIVE
The most dangerous destinations:
localities along the Zhytomyr Highway
Bucha-Vorzel-Gostomel
Nemeshayevo
BUCHA LIVE
Makarovskaya and Irpenskaya communities - under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Гост gostomel community-the enemy left the village
Бу Buchanan community-the enemy is entrenched
Багато a lot of destroyed infrastructure

13:20

The Russian invaders left the city almost without a fight. This was announced in a video message by the chairman of the organization "unknown Patriot" Evgeny Strokan.

"Gostomel is ours! Personally checked. Now our division will continue to work in this city. The city was seriously damaged by the occupation.


P.S. "Our" means no visible enemy forces. To finally control it, we need some work, which is currently being carried out - searching for sabotage groups, building our positions, clearing mines, etc.," said Evgeny Strokan.

14:34

the Ukrainian armed forces entered Bucha, according to local council deputy Kateryna Ukraintseva.

Hooray! There are simply no words!

15:14

Bucha. I just had a conversation with a man who is currently in the city.

They confirmed that the Ukrainian armed forces did enter the city, but did not occupy it completely. I won't write any details.

The locals were told to keep their heads down while the sweep was underway!

We believe in our guys!

Above one notices that the surroundings of Bucha, like Irpen are declared free, but Bucha is delayed, and the people are encouraged to stay at home, or not return quickly if they lived outside but still nearby. Such a situation offers opportunities, and if only 3 % of the people were left, as was the case in Irpen, then the area has been empty indeed.

Most remarkable is the trace of the Odin neo-nazi military group, which appear to work from Irpen, just south of Bucha.

The Odin group grew out of the Right Sektor, Battalion 7 and assisted Azov but was not incorporated into the Ukrainian army in September 2014, as Azov. The Odin group was asked to either leave the ATO area near Donetsk in late 2015 or ... Apparently some did not like them!

The group brought with help from Azov the captured trophy weapons to Mariupol. In December 2015, 17 people were then temporarily arrested and a lot of weapons were discovered. The spokesperson of the group said in an interview to a Ukrainian news outlet in January that"If we wanted to organize a terrorist attack in Mariupol, I tell you directly, we would have done it."

The Odin group had VK and FB accounts opened in August 2015 that were active for a couple of years and then went silent. Among the posts is a short video intro to a course that covered house clearing including the elimination of occupants, at a time when this was still a private group. Add to this other posts with Neo-nazi material and military instruction material.

A TG channel using the same name, and the same logo, as posted on FB just before the group went silent or private in 2017, was opened in March 2022.

A Video with their logo showing drone footage of the area have also been uploaded to the Bucha Live TG channel.

On the TG channel of the Odin group, there is evidence they worked with a Daniel Berehulak-Rodriguez, a photographer often contributing to the New York Times. Two articles were published at the end of March showing members of the group: Ukraine Claims Some Battle Successes as Russia Focuses on Another Front and "Ukrainian Military Fends Off Russia and Retakes Suburb of Kyiv"

A logo resembling that of the Odin group but redesigned to include the names of three localities, Irpen, Bucha, and Hostomel appeared on Bucha Live on March 31. This group is clearly the one who has influence in the area, as also a couple of pictures on their TG channel showing how they taped some people accused of plundering to lampposts. So a good guess is that the Odin group will know more about what happened in Bucha. There may have been other groups active clearing the area, but this Odin group would know. In fact, what did the 9 posts that were removed from their TG between the evening of April 1 and the evening of April 3 show?

 

[thorbiorn]

From the satellite data pov, although there are cloud removal algorithms in satellite data processing, these work only for low cloud coverage (< 5-10%) and much lower spatial resolution imagery than what military ops require (< 0.5 m-1.0 m). So, go figure. RT ran today a short commentary about a 3rd party, the one and only private contractor company, that provides processed imagery for the dod. Sorry, I cannot remember the name of the contractor.

The question for me is, where is the DOD when the weather satellites are owned by Korea, China, Russia, the EU, etc, You can find a list here: Weather satellites or do you think they control them all?

WEATHER SATELLITES
A weather satellite is a type of satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. These meteorological satellites, however, see more than clouds and cloud systems. City lights, fires, effects of pollution, auroras, sand and dust storms, snow cover, ice mapping, boundaries of ocean currents, energy flows, etc., are other environmental information collected from weather satellites.
The table is sortable. Please click on the header for ascending/descending sorting.

 

[Sybil]

Sorry.
I didn't check.
Those pictures were there inserted as irony.
Oh, silly me.

That smirk makes more sense now. Nevermind.

 

[seek10]

Look at the second photo of the soldier sitting next to the two kids. There is an American flag patch on his shoulder.

True, US flag is in one picture. The word US in on one of bag in other picture. These people could be locally hired people working for US or their US representatives. It could even be the clothes they bought from second hand market( In poor/developing countries 2nd hand clothes from west has better quality and cheaper than local new clothes). The light from open windows, floor type, people's faces are typical of Middle East and surrounding region.

Any way, in the context of this Ukranian supporting telegram chat post, this is definitely not Russian or Ukraine.