Major Russian offensive in Donbas, state television rages against ‘potty Americans’

It is alleged that 40 Ukrainian villages have been fired on, where Russia has deployed aircraft, artillery, tanks, missiles, mortars and cruise missiles. Government buildings but also residential areas would have been hit. Seven civilians have been killed, Governor Pavlo Kirilenko told Telegram. “Every war criminal will be punished,” he added. This information cannot be verified.

The city of Shevyerodonetsk in particular appears to be an important target, according to the American war research institute ISW. “The Russians are destroying both Sheverodonetsk and Mariupol. There is fighting in the outskirts of the city,” a local driver reported via Telegram. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky confirmed on Ukrainian television last night that the situation in the Donbas is “extremely difficult”. According to him, the Ukrainian army is holding out not only in Shevyerodonetsk, but also in Slovakia, among other places.

In the Russian-occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine, the local government yesterday accused Ukraine of killing three civilians and wounding ten people in the town of Biloserka. The authorities have not disclosed how the victims fell on Telegram. This information cannot be verified either.

Columns of Russian military vehicles have been sighted in the Zaporizhzhya region of southern Ukraine. Zaporizhzhya is located northwest of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, now occupied by Russia, on the Sea of ​​Azov. In Moscow, the Defense Ministry reported firing Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian targets from ships in the Black Sea. In the Zhytomyr region west of Kiev, weapons supplied from Europe and the US are said to have been destroyed. In addition, a military training camp near the port city of Odessa was bombarded with rockets and artillery.

Fire has broken out again at a Russian military factory, this time in the Moscow region. Images of it are circulating on social media. It is the sixth fire on sites of the Ministry of Defense, reports The Insider, an independent Russian online newspaper specializing in investigative journalism. The fires are said to have been caused by ‘non-compliance with safety rules’ but there are strong suspicions of sabotage. In recent weeks, 12 recruiting offices across Russia have also been set on fire by soldiers, mostly with Molotov cocktails.

The presenters on Russian state television last night went wild against American professor Timothy Snyder, who in his latest article had identified ‘fascist tendencies’ in Russian propaganda. Russian presenters sighed that they couldn’t understand that ‘such idiots are allowed to teach at Yale University’. Most Americans are ignorant, another said, “even after they graduate.”

A remarkable statement by the Russian transport minister Vitaly Saveley: ,,Due to the sanctions imposed on us, the export logistics in our country is virtually flat. We have to find new ways.”

Prominent Russian politician Leonid Sluzki has said Moscow is considering a possible exchange of Ukrainian fighters imprisoned in Mariupol with pro-Russian politician Victor Medvedchuk. The latter was arrested in mid-April and is considered an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is charged with high treason and embezzlement in Kiev. Weeks ago, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky suggested that he be exchanged for Ukrainian prisoners.

However, after the capture of Mariupol, several politicians in Russia spoke out against a prisoner swap and called for criminal prosecution of the Azov fighters.

In response to the latest Western sanctions, Russia has extended the travel ban on US citizens and Canadians. The State Department in Moscow has released a list of 963 American citizens who are now banned from entering Russia, including President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Former President Donald Trump and his family and close associates remain welcome.

From Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Trudeau, and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland’s husband, Graham Bowley, are now also on the so-called ‘stop list’. The travel bans appear to be a clear response to Canada — like the US — adding two adult daughters of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin to its sanctions list. Their assets in Canada are frozen and they can no longer do business there. Putin’s daughters work for Russian government agencies.

Footage of a pop concert last night in St. Petersburg is circulating on Russian social media during which a large part of the young audience is said to have chanted ‘Fuck the war’.