Date—April 27, 2022

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Stories

1. On the morning of April 27, residents of Kherson went to a rally against the occupation and the pseudo-referendum. The occupiers dispersed people with light and gas grenades. Two people were injured during the dispersal of the rally, according to the regional emergency medical center. There are also reports that the occupiers detained several more people. It was on April 27 that the occupiers planned to hold a “referendum” in the city. (Source: SPRAVDI).

Announcements

1. On April 27, at a meeting of the Council of Legislators with the participation of Vladimir Putin, the abolition of direct elections of governors may be announced. At a meeting of the council, which includes the chairmen of both chambers of the Russian parliament, their deputies, heads of committees of the State Duma and the Federation Council, heads of legislative assemblies of the regions, they can discuss in what format this year’s elections should be held on a single voting day in September, and whether carry them out at all. At the same time, we can talk about the abolition of direct elections only this year, and not about a complete rejection of this procedure. The interlocutors of the publication do not rule out that the governors will be formally offered to decide the issue of the election scheme at their discretion, but they informally recommend canceling the campaigns. (Source: Svoboda).

War

1. The Ukrainian Armed Forces shot down a “unique” Russian drone. “Hidden launch, high accuracy of bombing, silence and ease of use” – so described the device “Cube-UAV” propagandists. But just look at what he turned into after meeting with Ukrainian experts! Infantry in the Luhansk region disoriented the “analogue” with several accurate shots from small arms. “Don’t listen to propaganda, all their” unique “weapons are burning, falling and sinking very well,” the General Staff quoted our soldiers as saying. (Source: SPRAVDI).

2. In Transnistria, a shooting was reported near warehouses near the village of Kolbasna: drones were allegedly launched from Ukraine and then opened fire. There are no victims. The shooting took place near warehouses with Russian weapons and ammunition. At 8:45 a.m., “shots were fired from the Ukrainian side in the direction of the Transnistrian settlement of Kolbasna.” They stressed that “the largest ammunition depot in Europe” is located in the village of Kolbasna. Kolbasna (Kobasna) is a village in the Rybnytsia district of the Transnistrian region. (Source: UP).

Opinions

1. Rahmanin: Ten days ago, the serious possibility of supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine was not even discussed. The vast majority of countries did not even want to hear about it. Now the situation has changed radically, member of Ukrainian Parliament Serhiy Rahmanin says. There are already specific proposals and deliveries. Certain samples of heavy weapons have already appeared. However, while we are talking about units. In order to achieve at least an operational advantage, tens and even hundreds are needed. To my deep conviction, there were three circumstances that changed the position of the collective West. The first is Ukraine’s ability to defend itself and effectively use the weapons already supplied. Doubts that Ukraine could hold out were very serious. Most states sincerely believed that Russia could take Kyiv in 72 hours, and all of Ukraine in a week or two. After Ukraine withstood a month, the attitude towards it changed significantly. The second circumstance is the position of Great Britain. She expressed her readiness to supply certain types of weapons faster than the EU and the US than she pushed the rest of the states. The third circumstance is psychological. This is Bucha. A lot of politicians in the West, including German and Dutch ones, were very seriously affected by the situation in Bucha. Irrational evil made the war closer, understandable, and cruel in the understanding of Western politicians. It was a certain psychological breakdown. He finally convinced them of the need to defend themselves against this evil <…> Putin has an absolutely simple plan: he hopes to inflict the maximum defeat on the grouping of Ukrainian troops in the Donbas. He believes that after that Ukraine will be more accommodating, and expects to dictate its terms from a position of strength. If Ukraine manages to quickly achieve the supply of certain types of weapons and use them in the east in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, this may even out the situation in some areas. Then Ukraine will have the opportunity to dictate its positions in a more favorable way for it. <…> After that, they expect to exhale, restore the combat effectiveness of the battalion tactical groups, and plan a further offensive to the south. Zaporizhzhia, Nikolaev, blow in the direction of Kryvyi Rih. Now they are planning several strikes in the direction, possibly Kharkiv. This is tactical. They want to tie up a part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in order to prevent counterattacks and the transfer of reserves of the group that is fighting in the Donbas, and, if possible, improve their positions before the next offensive, before the assault on the south. While radical breakthroughs should not be expected. All the best, all the most combat-ready is concentrated in the Donbas. There is no way for them to spread. They are not able to simultaneously strike in several directions. I would just like to point out that at the time the invasion began, the completeness of the battalion tactical groups was approximately 80-85%. Today, some BTGs in the Donbas, in the Slobozhansky direction, that is, the area of ​​Izyum, Dergachi, Barvenkov, have completeness of 50-60%. They have big problems with staffing. Firstly, according to the original plan, the battalion tactical groups that fought in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy regions were to return to their permanent deployment points, and the fresh ones were to go to the Donbas. Due to problems with the configuration, the scheme was changed. Parts from near Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Sumy were taken to Belarus and the Belgorod region, where they were understaffed and sent to the Donbas. There they feel more comfortable for one simple reason: in the Kyiv region, in Chernihiv, Sumy, in Kharkiv, their rear was not covered. At the moment, their rear is covered, plus they use the railway much more actively. This simplifies supply chains. More ability to supply ammunition and personnel. (Source: Current Time).

Economy, Social life, and Culture

1. Klitchko: In Kyiv, a bronze sculpture of two workers was dismantled – part of the Peoples’ Friendship Arch, symbolizing “the reunification of Ukraine and Russia.” “It was not without symbolism – when they tried to lift the sculpture, the head of a Russian worker fell off. Then they tried to cut down the pedestal on which the figures were installed. It also turned out to be difficult. But the experts found a way out – they cut down the base of the monument itself. They literally uprooted and removed the sculpture! So we must wrest and drive out the enemy,” he wrote. The Arch of Friendship of Peoples is a landmark of Kyiv on the banks of the Dnieper, opened in 1982 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the formation of the USSR. The monument is a two-figure composition of workers – a Ukrainian and a Russian, who jointly raised the ribbon with the Order of Friendship of Peoples. On the pedestal in Russian and Ukrainian is written: “In commemoration of the reunification of Ukraine with Russia.” In addition, there is a multi-figured group dedicated to the Pereyaslav Rada of 1654. This monument, as Klitschko said, will be removed later. In April 2017, the Peoples’ Friendship Arch was repainted in the colors of the rainbow. In 2018, activists and human rights activists pasted an image of a “crack” on the archway in support of Ukrainian political prisoners who activists claim are illegally held in Russia and annexed Crimea. The Ukrainian authorities wanted to dismantle the arch back in 2016, but changed their minds due to the high cost of the work. Klitschko said that the arch would remain, but would be illuminated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and most likely renamed. (Source: Telegram).

Military Help

1. The US Department of Defense has established a control center to coordinate the supply and optimize the delivery of military aid to Ukraine in Stuttgart, Germany, in the area of ​​responsibility of the US European Command. The ECCU center is based at the headquarters of the US European Command in Stuttgart, and is headed by a US military general with two stars, the official said. The center works closely with the International Donor Coordination Center, or IDCC, which is run by a British general, the official added. “The center was set up to support the efforts of this security system,” the official said. According to the official, the management center, along with US personnel, includes employees from 15 other countries. The control center will also manage a network of more than 40 partner and allied countries that met in Germany earlier Tuesday at Ramstein Air Force Base to provide assistance to Ukraine. The new group of allies will meet regularly once a month, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said earlier on Tuesday. Austin also noted that the United States will “move heaven and earth” to support Ukraine. (Source: CNN). 

Foreign news

1. Transnistria has set a “red” level of the terrorist threat. Transnistrian authorities announced three terrorist attacks. According to the report, the Ministry of State Security building in Tiraspol, a military unit in Parkany, and towers of a radio and television center near the village of Mayak were damaged. The President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu, in connection with the incident, decided to convene a meeting of the Supreme Security Council. (Source: Current Time).

2. The justice of the peace of the judicial district of the Tagansky district of Moscow fined the Wikimedia Foundation 5 million rubles for not removing from Wikipedia (part 2 of article 13.41 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) articles about the war in Ukraine and the method of making gunpowder. This was reported in the telegram channel “Moscow Courts of General Jurisdiction”. The first fine of 3 million rubles was imposed for failing to remove five links to articles relating to the war in Ukraine, among them materials on the situation in Mariupol, Bucha and Kyiv. The second fine of 2 million rubles was for not removing two links to articles about the manufacture of gunpowder and another link to the material “about the events of March 9 in the city of Mariupol.” Meta was fined 4 million rubles under a similar article. Claims against the company, according to Interfax, are related to publications in which the Russian authorities saw propaganda of the LGBT community, as well as reposts in social networks of publications of the human rights project OVD-Info. TikTok was also fined 2 million rubles for “videos containing propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations.” (Source: Current Time).

Refugees

1. Denisenko: In the course of targeted killings, the total number is more than one and a half thousand people in the liberated territories. But this figure changes all the time, because every day we find new graves. The figure that I mentioned is without counting Mariupol. And there, as we understand it, there are thousands of people. What happened and is happening in the Kharkiv region, in the Kherson region has not been counted. Therefore, the figure that I mentioned is only what we can now talk about the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. Speaking of flashettes, yes, we find them in people’s bodies. These are special projectiles, which are generally prohibited, with which the Russian invaders killed our people. We know for sure that there are so-called filtration camps in Mariupol, Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which Europe has not seen since 1945. We know that people are being seized, we know that pro-Ukrainian activists are being tortured. And we know that they are being held in certain places. Plus, a lot of people are taken out of the borders of Ukraine and then they are deported to the Far East – farther into the depths of the Russian Federation. There are thousands of people, that’s for sure. (Source: Current Time).