War in Ukraine: First civilians evacuated from Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol

Yahoo! News

War in Ukraine: First civilians evacuated from Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol

Dylan Stableford, Senior Writer – May 2, 2022

Evacuation efforts are underway for hundreds of Ukrainian civilians who have been sheltering for months inside the Azovstal steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol, officials said Monday.

The giant factory has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance — and a key target of relentless Russian bombardment since the war started in February. Approximately 1,000 civilians have been sheltering in the tunnel complex underneath the plant, Ukrainian military officials say.

Last week, Ukrainian forces said that Russian troops had bombed a field hospital in the plant, and about 600 people, including civilians, were wounded in the attack.

A steel plant employee evacuated from Mariupol hugs her son in Bezimenne, Ukraine, on Sunday.
A steel plant employee evacuated from Mariupol hugs her son in Bezimenne, Ukraine, on Sunday. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that more than 100 civilians from the plant were expected to arrive in the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday.

“Today, for the first time in all the days of the war, this vitally needed green corridor has started working,” Zelensky said.

Previous attempts to open safe corridors out of the strategic port city have failed, with Ukrainian officials accusing Russian forces of shelling agreed-upon evacuation routes.

Video posted online Sunday showed Ukrainian forces helping women and children climb over a steep pile of rubble at the steel plant. They then boarded a bus, part of a United Nations-backed convoy organized to assist in the civilian evacuation.

A woman is seen being assisted during an evacuation of the Azovstal plant, in a still image from a video released by the Ukrainian military on Sunday.
A woman is seen being assisted during an evacuation of the Azovstal plant, in a still image from a video released by the Ukrainian military on Sunday. (David Arakhamia/Azov Regiment/Handout via Reuters)
Ukrainian forces walk with civilians during an evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant.
Ukrainian forces walk with civilians during an evacuation of the Azovstal plant. (David Arakhamia/Azov Regiment/Handout via Reuters)

According to Reuters, Russian forces resumed shelling the plant after the convoy of buses departed.

Hundreds of civilians who remain trapped in the Azovstal complex are said to be running out of water, food and medicine.

“The situation has become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

According to the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 2,899 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Feb. 24, when Russia’s invasion began. But the agency believes the actual death toll is probably much higher.

The mayor of Mariupol has estimated that more than 20,000 civilians have been killed in his city alone. A Russian blockade has choked off food, water and other supplies from the once bustling seaport occupying a strategic position between the Russian mainland and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. The city is now reduced to rubble.

Ukraine formally closes seaports captured by Russia

Reuters

Ukraine formally closes seaports captured by Russia

May 2, 2022

FILE PHOTO: A view shows a port in Mariupol

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine has formally closed its four Black and Azov sea ports, which Russian forces have captured, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said on Monday.

The Azov Sea ports of Mariupol, Berdiansk and Skadovsk and the Black Sea port of Kherson were closed “until the restoration of control”, the ministry said in a statement.

“The adoption of this measure is caused by the impossibility of servicing ships and passengers, carrying out cargo, transport and other related economic activities, ensuring the appropriate level of safety of navigation,” it said.

All Ukrainian seaports have suspended their activity as a result of the Russian invasion in late February. Russian forces captured some ports and blockaded others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday Ukraine could lose tens of millions of tonnes of grain due to Russia’s control of Black Sea shipping, triggering a food crisis that will affect Europe, Asia and Africa.

“Russia does not let ships come in or go out, it is controlling the Black Sea,” Zelenskiy told the Australian news programme 60 Minutes.

“Russia wants to completely block our country’s economy.”

Russia calls its intervention in Ukraine a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say the fascist allegation is baseless and that the war is an unprovoked act of aggression.

Ukraine, a major agricultural producer, used to export most of its goods by sea but has been forced to switch to export by train via its western border or via its small Danube river ports.

The ministry said last week Ukraine’s grain exports had reached 45.709 million tonnes in the 2021/22, July-June season.

It said the volume included 763,000 tonnes exported in April but gave no comparative figures. Senior agriculture officials said this month that Ukraine exported up 300,000 tonnes of grain in March.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Russian attacks on Ukraine grain network a move to cut competition- German minister

Reuters

Russian attacks on Ukraine grain network a move to cut competition- German minister

May 2, 2022

FILE PHOTO: A dockyard worker watches as barley grain is poured into a ship in Nikolaev

HAMBURG (Reuters) – Russian attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure look like attempts to reduce the competition in Russia’s export markets, German Agriculture Minister Cem Oezdemir was reported as saying on Monday.

Ukraine could lose tens of millions of tonnes of grain due to Russia’s blockade of its Black Sea ports, triggering a food crisis that will hit Europe, Asia and Africa, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.

“We are repeatedly receiving reports about targeted Russian attacks on grain silos, fertilizer stores, farming areas and infrastructure,” Oezdemir was quoted as telling the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, a cooperation network of German regional newspapers.

Russia denies targeting civilian areas.

The suspicion is growing that Russian President Vladimir Putin is seeking “in the long term to remove Ukraine as a competitor”, Oezdemir was quoted as saying.

Russia and Ukraine are traditionally major competitors in global grains markets. Global wheat prices have risen about 40% since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine cut supplies available on world markets from the Black Sea.

According to International Grains Council data, Ukraine was the world’s fourth-largest grain exporter in the 2020/21 season, selling 44.7 million tonnes abroad. The volume of exports has fallen sharply since the Russian invasion.

“With the increasing hunger in the world, Russia is seeking to build up pressure,” Oezdemir told the network. “At the same time, the massive increase in market prices is coming in handy for Russia because this brings new money into the country.”

Oezdemir said he would raise the question of how Ukraine could be helped to boost its grain exports at a meeting of G7 agriculture ministers in mid-May.

“We must seek alternative transport methods,” he said. “Railway transport could be a method of exporting more grain, although with much effort and with limited capacity.”

Germany would seek to give assistance, he added.

Ukraine has been gradually expanding grain exports using land transport to the European Union. But the different rail track widths in Ukraine and the EU mean Ukrainian trains cannot automatically operate on the European rail network.

Moscow calls its actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression that threatens to spiral into a much wider conflict.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by Nick Macfie)

Ukraine morning briefing: Five developments as Russia loses 65 per cent of ground combat strength

The Telegraph

Ukraine morning briefing: Five developments as Russia loses 65 per cent of ground combat strength

Our Foreign Staff – May 1, 2022

Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol - REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
Civilians who left the area near Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol – REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Good morning. More than a quarter of the 120 battalion units Russia committed to Ukraine have now been rendered “combat ineffective”, said the Ministry of Defence.

The losses represent approximately 65 per cent of Russia’s entire ground combat strength and include elite units.

“Some of Russia’s most elite units, including the VDV Airborne Forces, have suffered the highest levels of attrition. It will probably take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces.”

Meanwhile, the first evacuees evacuated from the ruined Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol were due to arrive in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday morning, said President Volodymyr Zelensky, after the UN confirmed a “safe passage operation” was in progress.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said hundreds of civilians remain trapped in the steelworks in a situation that has “become a sign of a real humanitarian catastrophe”, as food, water and medicine becomes scarce.

Here’s what happened overnight.

1. Pelosi and other US lawmakers visit Kyiv with “Weapons, weapons and weapons.” in mind

Nancy Pelosi visited Kyiv on Saturday as the most senior American lawmaker to travel to Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion.

Accompanying her was Rep. Jason Crow, a US Army veteran and a member of the House intelligence and armed services committees, who said he was there with three things in mind: “Weapons, weapons and weapons.”

Ms Pelosi visit came just days after Russia launched rockets at the capital during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

RZESZOW, POLAND - MAY 01: Nancy Pelosi holds a press conference next to US members of congress after a visit to Kyiv in Rzeszow, Poland on May 01, 2022. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) - Anadolu Agency
RZESZOW, POLAND – MAY 01: Nancy Pelosi holds a press conference next to US members of congress after a visit to Kyiv in Rzeszow, Poland on May 01, 2022. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) – Anadolu Agency
2. Russian forces fire on Azovstal steel plant, CNN reports

Russian forces fired on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol again on Sunday night, breaking a ceasefire that has allowed around 100 people to be evacuated.

Speaking on local television, a Ukrainian soldier said the Russians were using “all kinds of weapons” to attack the steel plant, CNN reported.

The alleged attack followed the much-anticipated rescue of civilians from the besieged steelworks, where the last pocket of resistance remains in the city.

About 100 civilians were evacuated to safety on Sunday with further evacuations planned for Monday.

It is unclear whether the renewed attacks will hinder these plans, said CNN.

3. Russia strikes US weapons at airfield near Odesa, defence ministry says

Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday it had struck at weapons supplied to Ukraine by the United States and European countries and destroyed a runway at a military airfield near the Ukrainian city of Odesa.

The ministry said it used high-precision Onyx missiles to strike the airfield, after Ukraine accused Russia of knocking out a newly-constructed runway at the main airport of Odesa.

Odesa regional governor Maksym Marchenko said Russia had used a Bastion missile, launched from Crimea.

The reports could not be independently verified.

4. Jill Biden to meet with Ukrainian refugees during visit to Romania and Slovakia

First lady Jill Biden will visit Romania and Slovakia from May 5-9 to meet with US service members and embassy personnel, displaced Ukrainian parents and children, humanitarian aid workers, and teachers, her office said on Monday

On Sunday, celebrated as Mother’s Day in the United States, Biden will meet with Ukrainian mothers and children who have been forced to flee their homes because of Russia’s war against Ukraine, her office said.

The wife of President Joe Biden will meet with U.S. military service members at Mihail Kogalniceau Airbase in Romania on May 6, before heading to Bucharest to meet with Romanian government officials, U.S. embassy staff, humanitarian aid workers, and teachers working with displaced Ukrainian children.

The trip also includes stops in the Slovakian cities of Bratislava, Kosice and Vysne Nemecke, where Biden will meet with government officials, refugees and aid workers, her office said.

First lady Jill Biden attends the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, Saturday, April 30, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) - Patrick Semansky /AP
First lady Jill Biden attends the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Saturday, April 30, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) – Patrick Semansky /AP
5. Russia swerves to avoid default

Russia may have averted default as it announced it had made several overdue payments in dollars on its overseas bonds, shifting the market’s focus to upcoming payments and whether it would stave off a historic default.

Russia’s $40 billion in international bonds and the chance of a default have become the focus of global financial markets since it was hit with sanctions from the United States and its allies after its invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Dubbed a “special military operation” by Russia, the invasion has turned Russia into a pariah, including in financial markets, and has entangled its ability to pay its debts.

The chance of default dramatically increased in early April when the United States stopped the Russian government from using frozen reserves to pay some $650 million to its bondholders.

Russian rouble banknotes - REUTERS/Kacper Pempel//File Photo
Russian rouble banknotes – REUTERS/Kacper Pempel//File Photo

A Russian general who commanded electronic warfare units was killed in a strike that killed 100 soldiers, top Ukraine official says

Business Insider

A Russian general who commanded electronic warfare units was killed in a strike that killed 100 soldiers, top Ukraine official says

Alia Shoaib – May 1, 2022

Ukrainian soldiers stand on an armoured personnel carrier (APC), not far from the front-line with Russian troops, in Izyum district, Kharkiv region on April 18, 2022.
Ukrainian soldiers stand on an armoured personnel carrier (APC), not far from the front-line with Russian troops, in Izyum district, Kharkiv region on April 18, 2022.Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images
  • Another Russian general has been killed in Ukraine, authorities claim.
  • Maj. Gen. Andrei Simonov was reportedly killed in an attack on a Russian command post near the city of Izyum.
  • The general, who commanded electric warfare units, was among 100 Russian servicemen killed.

Russia has lost another general in Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to top Ukrainian officials, The Kyiv Post has reported

Maj. Gen. Andrei Simonov was killed near the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region, which is currently occupied by Russian forces, Ukrainian authorities said.

The Ukrainian military attacked a field command post of the Russian 2nd Army on Saturday, striking more than 30 Russian armored vehicles, including tanks, according to the paper.

Footage posted on social media appears to show the command post being bombarded by rockets, said the Kyiv Post.

The general was among 100 Russian soldiers killed in the attack, President Zellenskyy’s military adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said, according to The Kyiv Post. Arestovych said well-placed army sources had confirmed the death of Maj. Gen. Simonov in a YouTube interview, per the Mail Online.

The claims by the Ukrainian authorities have not been independently verified.

Russia has not as of yet confirmed the death of Maj. Gen. Simonov.

Simonov was a senior commander of electronic warfare, Ukrainian government advisor Anton Gerashchenko said on his Telegram account.

His death would make him the tenth Russian general to die in Ukraine, according to a count by The Kyiv Post.

Russia has suffered heavy losses since it began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, losing many of its top generals and commanders.

NATO estimates that Russia has lost up to 15,000 troops during the war, while Ukraine claims to have killed nearly 20,000.

Russia has put its official death toll in Ukraine at 1,351, which was last updated on March 25.

Pelosi pledges U.S. support on visit to Ukraine; civilians evacuated from Mariupol

Reuters

Pelosi pledges U.S. support on visit to Ukraine; civilians evacuated from Mariupol

April 30, 2022

KYIV/BEZIMENNE, Ukraine (Reuters) -Around 100 Ukrainian civilians were evacuated from the ruined Azovstal steelworks in the city of Mariupol on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, after the United Nations confirmed a “safe passage operation” was in progress there.

The strategic port city on the Azov Sea has endured the most destructive siege of the war with Russia – now in its third month – with Pope Francis, in an implicit criticism of Moscow, telling thousands of people in St Peter’s Square on Sunday it had been “barbarously bombarded”.

“For the first time, we had two days of a ceasefire on this territory, and we managed to take out more than 100 civilians – women, children,” Zelenskiy said in a nightly video address.

The first evacuees would arrive in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Monday morning, he said, adding that he hoped conditions would continue that allowed for more people to be evacuated.

With fighting stretching along a broad front in southern and eastern Ukraine, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged continued U.S. support for Ukraine “until victory is won” after she met Zelenskiy in an unannounced visit to Kyiv.

Russia’s military has turned its focus to Ukraine’s south and east after failing to capture Kyiv in the early weeks of a war that has flattened cities, killed thousands of civilians and forced more than 5 million to flee the country.

In Mariupol, Moscow declared victory on April 21 even as hundreds of holdout Ukrainian troops and civilians took shelter in the Azovstal steelworks, a vast Soviet-era complex with a network of bunkers and tunnels, where they have been trapped with little food, water or medicine.

Negotiations to evacuate the civilians had repeatedly broken down in recent weeks, with Russia and Ukraine blaming each other.

But on Sunday, more than 50 civilians arrived at a temporary accommodation centre after escaping from Mariupol, a Reuters photographer said.

The civilians arrived on buses in a convoy with U.N. and Russian military vehicles at the Russian-held village of Bezimenne, around 30 km (18 miles) east of Mariupol, where a row of light blue tents had been set up.

One of the evacuees, Natalia Usmanova, 37, said she had been so terrified as Russian bombs rained down on the plant sprinkling her with concrete dust that she felt her heart would stop.

“When the bunker started to shake, I was hysterical. My husband can vouch for that. I was so worried the bunker would cave in,” she told Reuters in Bezimenne.

A spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said a “safe passage operation” had started on Saturday and was being coordinated with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Russia and Ukraine.

He said no further details could be released so as not to jeopardise the safety of evacuees and the convoy.

Denys Shleha, commander of Ukraine’s 12th National guard brigade, speaking to television on Sunday from the Azovstal plant, said several hundred civilians remained in bunkers there, including about 20 children, and that one or two additional evacuation efforts of similar scale would be needed.

Russia’s defence ministry said 80 civilians had been evacuated from the plant.

A plan to evacuate civilians from areas of the devastated city outside the steelworks had been postponed to Monday morning, Mariupol’s city council said.

U.S. ‘STANDS WITH UKRAINE’

Footage posted by Zelenskiy on Twitter on Sunday showed him, flanked by an armed escort and dressed in military fatigues, greeting a U.S. congressional delegation led by Pelosi outside his presidential office the previous day.

“We stand with Ukraine until victory is won. And we stand with our NATO allies in supporting Ukraine,” Pelosi, the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, said on Sunday at a press briefing in Poland.

Zelenskiy praised as substantive four hours of talks with Pelosi focused on U.S. weapons deliveries, adding he was grateful to all of Ukraine’s partners who visit Kyiv at such a difficult time.

U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in New York he would add provisions to a $33 billion Ukraine aid package to allow the United States to seize Russian oligarchs’ assets and send money from their sale directly to Kyiv.

President Joe Biden asked Congress to approve the aid package on Thursday in what would mark a dramatic escalation of U.S. funding for Ukraine.

Biden spoke with Pelosi on Sunday about her trip, a White House official said without elaborating.

Moscow calls its actions a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was not demanding that Zelenskiy “give himself up” as a condition for peace.

“We are demanding that he issue an order to release civilians and stop resistance. Our aim does not include regime change in Ukraine,” Lavrov said in a media interview published on his ministry’s website.

EASTERN PUSH

In the east, Moscow is pushing for complete control of the Donbas region, where Russian-backed separatists already controlled parts of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces before the invasion.

On Sunday, Kharkiv region governor Oleh Synehubov warned residents in the north and east of the city of Kharkiv to remain in their shelters due to heavy Russian shelling. Reuters could not immediately verify reports of shelling in the area.

Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region, in a social media post, urged people to evacuate while it was still possible.

Ukraine’s military said Russian forces were fighting to push north from Kherson to the cities of Mykolayiv and Kryvyi Rih, and Zelenskiy said Russian troops continued to launch strikes on residential areas and had destroyed grain storage depots.

“This will only build up the toxic attitude to the Russian state and increase the numbers of those working to isolate Russia,” Zelenskiy said.

(Reporting by Hamuda Hassan and Jorge Silva in Dobropillia, Ukraine, and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Reuters journalists; Writing by Clarence Fernandez, Frances Kerry, Alex Richardson and Michael Martina; Editing by David Goodman, Alexandra Hudson, Angus MacSwan, Daniel Wallis and Diane Craft)

Ukraine is relying on its secret weapon in the war against Russia: Trains

NBC News

Ukraine is relying on its secret weapon in the war against Russia: Trains

Phil McCausland and Patrick Smith – April 28, 2022

KYIV, Ukraine — The passenger train from Kyiv to Sumy was running Thursday morning with just a six-minute delay. The 200-mile route crosses territory scarred by more than two months of ground battles and aerial bombardment since Russia’s invasion began.

Despite what appear to be concerted efforts by the Russian military this week to disable the vital Ukrainian rail network, this journey and dozens of others are providing a crucial means of military support and civilian escape through the country.

Rail also acts as a symbol of Ukraine’s defiance and the limits of Russia’s military power. After cities and towns were reduced to rubble, with thousands killed, the trains are still running.

Ukraine has one of the largest rail networks in the world, with 12,400 miles of track. Rail is one of the country’s largest employers, with more than 260,000 staff members.

Before the war, it played a minor role in Ukraine’s agriculture and mining industries, but it has become a crutch for commodity industries as Russia maintains a blockade on the Black Sea. The movement of grain now is essential to maintain the country’s reputation as “Europe’s breadbasket.”

But the trains are no longer just for commodities and long journeys, as the network now moves military ordnance, refugees and humanitarian aid. Increasingly, it is transporting families back to areas previously held by Russian troops.

It delivers foreign leaders, too: Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv on Sunday, arriving by train from Poland, as have several other Western officials.

Lviv Ukraine with Phil McCausland (Brendan Hoffman for NBC News)
Lviv Ukraine with Phil McCausland (Brendan Hoffman for NBC News)

Rail has played a pivotal role for both sides of the war, and it may help explain the failure of Russian forces to win control of the country. Russia was unable to fully use the railways in the early stages of the invasion, experts say, leading to logistical problems and images of Russian trucks stuck in winter mud.

“The railways have played a massively important role in the conflict so far, insofar as it’s the way the Russian motorized ground forces move their troops around,” said Emily Ferris, a Russia expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London. “All of the problems they’ve had in the north are because they weren’t able to control the logistical hubs.”

Until recently, Russian forces had stopped short of targeting railway infrastructure in Ukraine in the hope they would take control of it themselves, said Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, the CEO of Ukrainian Railways’ passenger trains business.

“The Russian military depends heavily on rail logistics, and one of the reasons why they’re rather inefficient is the fact that they don’t have reliable supply lines at the moment,” he said.

Seemingly unable to take control of the rail network, Russia instead now appears to be intent on trying to disable it.

“Two weeks back, it appears that there were more and more deliberate attacks on rail infrastructure,” Pertsovskyi said.

Missiles rained down on five Ukrainian train stations and regional railway hubs Monday night, mostly in western and central areas, killing a railway worker and wounding four others, the Ukrainian rail authority said. The Russian Defense Ministry said in a briefing Monday that the railway station attacks were designed to stop the shipment of “foreign weapons and military equipment” to Ukrainian troops in the eastern Donbas region.

TOPSHOT-GERMANY-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT-AID-RAIL (John MacDougall / AFP via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT-GERMANY-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT-AID-RAIL (John MacDougall / AFP via Getty Images)

It’s there that Russian forces are now focused, with a crucial battle for eastern Ukraine that could be decided by Kyiv’s ability to mobilize equipment and weapons — much of which is being sent by allies to aid the defensive stand — by road and rail.

Russia wants to stop the inbound military aid from Western countries that are beginning to resupply the Ukrainians, said Gen. Philip Breedlove, a retired four-star Air Force general and former supreme allied commander of NATO, speaking by phone from Florida.

But that’s not the whole story.

“It’s also just another step in Russia’s ongoing war against the Ukrainian civilian population, on innocents,” said Breedlove, now the chair of the Frontier Europe Initiative at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

“I believe the Russians are attacking, on purpose, civilian structures that move people around and protect people,” he said. “They want Ukrainians to lose confidence in the civilian transportation infrastructure.”

The Russians are “scattering these little attacks around” to keep killing a “few people in this town, kill a few people in that town, kill a few people over here,” to maintain pressure and civilian fear, Breedlove said.

Other experts agree that the airstrikes on railway targets also underscore the slow progress of Russia’s campaign and signal that the conflict has entered a dangerous new phase. Perhaps the first glimpse of that was the deadly attack on a train station in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region on April 8, in which at least 30 people died and 100 others were injured, Ukrainian officials said.

TOPSHOT-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT (Anatolii Stepanov / AFP via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT (Anatolii Stepanov / AFP via Getty Images)

“In general, it’s part of a wider pattern to target Ukrainian infrastructure and civilians and to degrade their physical capacity to resist but also their morale — which doesn’t seem to be working,” said Ruth Deyermond, an expert in Russian security policy at King’s College London.

“Once it became clear that the Russian army wasn’t going to walk in and take Kyiv or Kharkiv or other cities, they moved to the second phase, which was trying to reduce parts of Ukraine to rubble, exactly as they did in Chechnya in the 1990s — it’s part of a long-standing pattern,” she said.

So far, every time a railroad is damaged, it just keeps getting repaired.

In some cases, Pertsovskyi said, damaged train lines can be fixed in a few hours. Destroyed or damaged bridges are harder to address, but “the bottom line is that even though the attacks are constant and intensifying, we still are able to run the system,” he said.

Actually destroying the rail infrastructure, he said, is “not an easy task, because the system is quite reliable.”

Damage caused by shelling close to the train station in Lviv this month. (@lesiavasylenko / Twitter)
Damage caused by shelling close to the train station in Lviv this month. (@lesiavasylenko / Twitter)

The railway system Russia has relied upon may not have proven so resilient.

Satellite pictures showed trains laden with military hardware making their way to the Ukrainian border in the weeks of buildup to the invasion — including through Belarus.

But the rail link from Belarus to Ukraine was severed, the head of the Ukrainian rail network said in March, leaving Russian forces even more reliant on their limited number of trucks, which were prime targets for small-scale ambush attacks, Ferris said.

“Controlling the railways is key here,” she said. “The Ukrainians know that, and they tried quite hard when they saw Russian advances on certain cities and villages … to bomb things like the bridges and cut off rail connections to stop the Russians where they were.”

The next logical step for Russia’s plan to create a corridor across Ukraine’s south is to take the Black Sea port of Odesa. A bridge linking the region with the rest of Ukraine and neighboring Romania was shelled twice this week, a possible effort to cut it off from military supplies.

But as in the north, Russian forces may find victory here easier said than done.

“The Russian army has done very badly and suffered tremendous losses,” Deyermond said. “Now they’re talking about the south and Donbas — but even there it’s very hard to see how they have the capacity to do that.

“Will they make significant military gains?” she said. “Possibly, but are they going to be able to hold them? That seems much less likely.”

Phil McCausland reported from Kyiv, and Patrick Smith reported from London.

Ukraine weapon switcheroos are flushing Soviet arms out of Europe

Defense News

Ukraine weapon switcheroos are flushing Soviet arms out of Europe

Joe Gould, Sebastian Sprenger – April 28, 2022

WASHINGTON ― As some Eastern European nations send their Soviet-era kit to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s attack, the new weapons those nations stand to get in return from the United States and its allies could shape the continent’s arsenal for years to come.

The tactic of backfilling donated tanks in Poland, air defense gear in Slovakia or armored trucks in Slovenia, for example, is meant to beef up Ukraine’s resistance while offering European Union members a way to remain out of direct conflict. The transactions, many of which go unpublicized, add a new dynamic to an already volatile military procurement pattern in Europe that clashes with the bloc’s lengthy plans for collectively developed weapons.

“When it comes to new equipment, the Eastern European partners will primarily turn to the United States,” said Matthias Wachter, chief defense analyst at the German industry association BDI. “Germany and France have unfortunately disqualified themselves in the eyes of many eastern Europeans by way of their reluctant stance on military support for Ukraine.”

For example, Poland is in line to receive an undisclosed number of Challenger 2 tanks from the U.K. to backfill its supply of T-72 tanks to Ukraine. That’s in addition to the planned purchase of 250 Abrams tanks from the United States in a deal worth almost $5 billion.

As a result, Poland, once interested in joining the German-French Eurotank development effort, will now be flush with modern tanks for decades to come, Wachter noted.

Washington has worked for years to get former Warsaw Pact countries to replace their Soviet-era equipment with NATO-compatible kit. A $713 million tranche of aid announced Monday, aimed at Ukraine and its neighbors, is meant to do just that.

With the new package, the U.S. stands to benefit both strategically — getting partners and allies off Russian equipment to improve interoperability and deny money for Moscow — and financially, thanks to the subsidization of American weapons abroad.

The aid does include Soviet-era ammunition, rockets and artillery for Ukraine to use for the fight now, but the Biden administration also foresees Ukraine and its neighbors using more Western equipment over the long term, according to a U.S. government summary obtained by Defense News.

The summary ticked off dozens of categories of Ukrainian military needs ― from night-vision devices to multiple launch rocket systems ― that could be fulfilled by the U.S. or other NATO allies.

The package announced Monday included, beyond Ukraine, more than $300 million divided between more than a dozen Central and Eastern European countries ― for equipment, training or both. Billed as backfilling supplies of weapons that countries are sending Ukraine, the State Department-controlled Foreign Military Financing is also meant to “enhance partner military integration with NATO,” the summary read.

NATO aspirant Georgia’s $35 million portion would support the fielding of “brigade combat equipment sets,” counter-drone technologies and the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System, which is a joint and coalition command-and-control fires support system.

Ukrainian servicemen install a machine gun on a tank during repairs following a fight against Russian forces in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, on April 27, 2022. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
Ukrainian servicemen install a machine gun on a tank during repairs following a fight against Russian forces in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, on April 27, 2022. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

Another $23 million would go to Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the Europe Recapitalization Incentive Program, which the U.S. State Department launched in 2018 to speed up the process of getting allied nations off Russian gear. The money would buy an additional two medium-lift helicopters in addition to four UH-1H helos delivered in 2021 through the program.

The package would provide:

The State Department fulfilled its obligation to notify Congress in recent days in order to get the funding in place, but not all of the specifics are finalized, according to a U.S. government official not authorized to speak about the matter on the record.

“We’ve been working for years, especially among the NATO allies, to get rid of the remainder of what Warsaw Pact material they’ve got because, No. 1, they’re NATO members, so we want that interoperability and we want to eliminate the potential for Russian leverage, if they’re dependent on Russia [for equipment],” the official said.

The announcement of the aid came as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held the inaugural meeting of defense leaders from over 40 nations to better coordinate efforts in support of Ukraine’s defense against Russia, which invaded its neighbor Feb. 24. Austin has been at the center of U.S. efforts to spur European nations to send their older equipment to Ukraine in exchange for Western gear.

Though this latest aid package includes so-called nonstandard ammunition Ukraine can immediately use, whether Kyiv ultimately turns to NATO-compatible equipment is not a given.

“I don’t think Ukraine’s made a decision about that. And you can’t really expect them to have made a decision right now while they’re fighting for their lives,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday.

The U.S. is providing equipment to backfill allied countries because some are risking their own security by sending that equipment, and “it’s the responsible thing for us to do, to have conversation[s] with these allies and partners about what their needs are going to be going forward as well,” Kirby said.

Just as the Pentagon is using a stepped-up dialogue with the American defense industry to probe its ability to meet the needs of the U.S. military, its allies and Ukraine, Austin asked the assembled leaders to assess the “health and vitality” of their own defense-industrial bases, in light of a new reality in Europe, Kirby said.

“We know that whatever happens here, however this war ends, the security landscape in Europe has changed. Not ‘is changing,’ not ‘will change,’ ” Kirby said.

Former CIA Director Warns Of Putin’s Next Move In Ukraine

HuffPost

Former CIA Director Warns Of Putin’s Next Move In Ukraine

Lee Moran – April 28, 2022

Former CIA director John Brennan said Russian President Vladimir Putin knows his plan for invading Ukraine has “completely collapsed” and warned the Russian leader will resort to threatening the West.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” Brennan told anchor Nicolle Wallace that Putin is “clearly reacting to ongoing developments” in Ukraine, “many of which have been setbacks to Russia,” he said.

Putin has “been adapting on the military battlefield in Ukraine by consolidating and repositioning forces along the east and the south” because of “the pummeling” his forces have received, Brennan said. The Russian leader also is “reacting to the strength of NATO support and particularly the ongoing supply of weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian forces,” he continued.

Brennan envisioned Putin putting more pressure on other neighboring countries, such as Poland and Bulgaria, where he’s cut off natural gas deliveries.

Putin “realizes that his initial game plan has just completely collapsed and therefore he has to adapt and react,” said Brennan, who led the CIA from 2013 to 2017.

“It’s going to be a combination of saber-rattling and rhetorical flourishes, he’s trying to again threaten the West,” he added. “But also taking these types of steps to try to appeal to those sympathizers in Europe and also the United States, unfortunately, as a way to again split the NATO alliance and to weaken the resolve and the determination of NATO to continue to support Ukraine.”

Watch the interview here:

Why neither Russia nor Ukraine wants to discuss the mystery explosions at strategic Russian facilities

The Week

Why neither Russia nor Ukraine wants to discuss the mystery explosions at strategic Russian facilities

Peter Weber, Senior editor – April 28, 2022

Explosion in Belgorod, Russia
Explosion in Belgorod, Russia Stringer/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Russian media reported explosions Wednesday at an ammunition depot near Belgorod and two other storage facilities near Ukraine’s eastern border, in the latest instances of “unexplained fires and explosions at strategic locations in Russia, including storage depots, a sensitive defense research site, and the country’s largest chemical plant,” The Washington Post reports.

“All of the sites hit are likely involved in supplying fuel and ammunition to the troops engaged in Donbas and the damage may hinder Russia’s efforts to sustain its offensive there,” the Post reports, raising “suspicions that at least some may have been caused by sabotage or Ukrainian attacks.”

Local Russian officials blamed an April 1 explosion at fuel depots in Belgorod on Ukrainian attack helicopters, but as the incidents multiplied, it became “a subject which officials in Moscow prefer to avoid,” BBC Monitoring’s Vitaliy Shevchenko writes. “Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory would be an embarrassment to the Kremlin, which had been hoping to have control of Ukraine within days of invading it in February.”

For their part, “Ukrainian officials have hinted at some involvement in the incidents without expressly acknowledging them,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

“Karma is a cruel thing,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, wrote in Russian on Wednesday. Oleksiy Arestovych, a military adviser to Zelensky, suggested “you need to look for reasons inside Russia — for example, hiding the means by which money has been stolen from the Russian defense ministry.”

“It is clear why Ukraine would be reluctant to admit any cross-border attacks,” writes the BBC’s Shevchenko: “They would amount to a major escalation in an already bitter conflict.”

And there are plausible explanations other than sabotage or airstrikes. Thanks largely to negligence, Russia already “suffers from self-inflicted injuries in peacetime,” Russian security expert Keir Giles at London’s Chatham House tells the Journal. “When put under additional strain of an offensive war, it is no surprise that the rate of natural accidents should increase.”