Russia Coordinating Cyberattacks With Military Strikes in Ukraine – Microsoft

"A handful of hacker groups aligned with the Russian government have carried out hundreds
of cyberattacks against Ukraine since Moscow invaded, U.S. tech giant Microsoft said in a report Wednesday.

It added that in "hybrid" warfare tactics, Russia often matches cyberattacks with military assaults on the battlefield." MT

Russia Says It Destroyed "Large Batch" Of Western Weapons With Ship-Launched Missiles

"Russia's Defense Ministry (MoD) announced Wednesday that its forces have taken out a large
batch of weapons and ammunition that had been shipped to Kiev by outside Western countries. 

Specifically, Russian warships launched Kalibr missiles from the Black Sea, targeting and destroying a military warehouse said to contain "a large batch of foreign weapons and ammunition, supplied by the US and European countries to the Ukrainian army," according to the MoD statement. While not acknowledged by the Ukrainians or US, it comes after the Kremlin vowed to target Western arms transfers into the country." ZH

 

Shots and drones from Ukraine reported near huge arms depot in Transnistria

"Several shots were fired from across Ukraine’s border with Transnistria into the territory of
the self-proclaimed republic and in the direction of a huge arms depot, its interior ministry said on Wednesday. Two drones were also sighted in the area.

“At 8:45 in the morning on April 27, shots were fired from Ukrainian territory in the direction of Kolbasna village,” the ministry’s statement reads. Transnistrian officials said that no casualties had been reported as a result.

In a separate incident preceding the alleged shooting on Wednesday, “several drones were spotted over the village of Kolbasna” overnight, according to the ministry. The Transnistrian authorities also claim that the drones “had been launched into Transnistrian territory from Ukraine.”

Since the predominantly Russian-speaking region became de facto independent from Moldova following a war in 1992, Russian peacekeepers have been stationed there." RT

Russian foreign minister warns ‘do not underestimate threat of nuclear war’

"There is a “real danger” that a World War 3 could break out over Ukraine, warned Russia ’s
foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, claiming that deliveries of western weaponry to Ukraine meant NATO was “in essence engaged in war with Russia”.

He added that the threat of a nuclear conflict was “serious… real,” adding that “we must not underestimate it." MS

Russia's Gazprom to halt to gas supplies to Poland, Bulgaria

 "Russia's Gazprom told Poland and Bulgaria it would halt gas supplies from Wednesday.
Polish officials had said Russia is suspending natural gas deliveries to Poland beginning Wednesday morning after that country refused a demand to pay for its supplies in Russian rubles." France24

Oil Depots in Russia ‘Blown Up’ As Blinken, Austin Visit Zelensky in Kiev to Tout U.S. Weapons Shipments

"Two oil storage facilities around 150km into Russia from Ukraine’s border went up in flames
early Monday morning, just hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev to tout some $713 million in new US weapons shipments and military aid. A fire broke out on Monday morning at an oil depot in Bryansk, a large Russian city around 150km from Ukraine, and 370km south-west of Moscow. Another fire was recorded in the Fokinsky district of the city, the causes of which have not yet been established, Moscow daily Kommersant has reported. Bryansk is home to over 400,000 people, and is an important regional hub.

Was this a deliberate provocation by the US or did the Ukrainian military stage it to try and draw the US even further into the war?" IW

im Jong-un Tells North Korea to Be ‘Fully Prepared’ for Nuclear War at Massive Military Parade

"North Korea celebrated the anniversary of the founding of its first military on Monday with a
massive military parade featuring “cutting-edge military hardware” and a speech by communist dictator Kim Jong-un in which he warned his soldiers to be “fully prepared” for nuclear war.

Kim’s call for using the country’s illegal nuclear weapons program to “decisively accomplish” any “unexpected second mission” against the enemies of communism follows weeks of rhetorical escalations out of Pyongyang, including sister Kim Yo-jong threatening South Korea with a nuclear strike and the debut of what North Korea called the “Hwasongpho-17,” allegedly a new model of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)." Breitbart

Azov Battalion Claims Video Shows Civilians Underground Who Have Not Seen ‘Sky Nor Sun’ In Weeks

"The controversial Azov Battalion has released a video which it says shows its fighters in

Mariupol, which Russia claims to have “liberated”, underground with sheltering civilians.

Uploaded to the Azov Battalion’s YouTube channel and shared by the National Guard of Ukraine — which incorporates the battalion — on its verified Twitter account, the video purportedly shows Azov fighters distributing supplies to civilians holed up underneath the Azovstal steelworks complex, which remains under Ukrainian control. A girl in the video claimed she and her family had seen “neither the sky, nor the sun” since late February, with Mariupol having come under siege only a short time after the Russian invasion commenced. The city has been a point of interest throughout the conflict, in part because of its status as a stronghold of the Azov Battalion — formerly an unofficial paramilitary force with neo-Nazi links which the mainstream media do not deny, despite general dismissal of the Russian characterisation of their “special military operation” against a Ukraine led by a Jewish president and Jewish prime minister as a “de-Nazification” mission." Breitbart

 

Guterres Makes Controversial Visit To Moscow

"Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in the UN
chief's first visit to Moscow since the Russian invasion began, where he's also due to meet with President Vladimir Putin. The trip has been met with controversy given Guterres didn't go to Kiev first." ZH

Russia says it will halt hostilities to let civilians leave Azovstal

"Russia’s defense ministry said its troops would halt hostilities to allow civilians to leave the
besieged steel plant Azovstal in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol from 1400 Moscow time (1100 GMT) on Monday.

The ministry said any civilians trapped at the facility could leave in whichever direction they chose." MS

Ukraine angry at Austrian comments

"Kiev is “disappointed” by the “short-sighted” statements of Austrian Foreign Minister
Alexander Schallenberg who suggested that full EU membership might not be the best option for Ukraine.

On Saturday, Schallenberg, while admitting that deepening ties with Ukraine is necessary as the EU is exporting the “Western way of life,” said that models other than full EU membership should be considered for Ukraine. He mentioned joining the European Economic Area or an association agreement as among the options." RT

Sanctions Backfire as Russian Ships Clog Up French Ports, Cost Local Authorities Thousands to Move

 "Russian-owned commercial vessels trapped in French ports containing vehicles, chemicals

and other cargoes have become a major nuisance for local authorities, cluttering up dockyards and costing thousands of euros to move, France 2 TV has reported.

The TV channel cites the example of the Vladimir Latyshev, a Russian-flagged general cargo ship trapped in Saint-Malo, north-western France. The 141-metre-long ship is so large it barely fits into the Brittany region port’s pier, forcing workers to constantly move it around to make room for other ships. Nearly 50,000 euros have reportedly been spent moving around Russian ships to date, with Brittany forced to pick up the tab and requesting aid from Paris." Sputnik

Two Russian Oligarchs Die in Mysterious Circumstances 24 Hours Apart

"Russian oligarchs, both linked to gas giants, apparently murdered their wives and daughters before killing themselves—within two days of each other.

In both cases, the alarm was raised by the slain families’ surviving child.

Former Kremlin official and Gazprombank vice-president Vladislav Avayev, 51, was found dead in his luxury Moscow apartment alongside the bodies of his wife and 13-year-old daughter on Monday. It appeared he had shot them before turning the gun on himself. The bodies were found by distraught 26-year-old daughter Anastasia after she was unable to get hold of her family.

The following day former Novatek deputy chairman Sergey Protosenya, 55, his wife Natalya, 53, and 18-year-old daughter, Maria, were found dead at their Spanish mansion. The scene suggested the women had been stabbed, before Protosenya hanged himself in the garden. The alarm was raised by the couple’s teenage son, who was staying in France, after he was unable to reach his parents at their home in the coastal town of Lloret de Mar.

Spanish investigators are now reportedly trying to work out whether the Protosenya deaths were the result of a domestic murder-suicide or an organized hit.

According to Spanish website El Punt Avui, Protosenya’s estimated fortune was $440 million. Alongside Western pressure on oligarchs, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to target the billionaires too, during a rant about Westernized Russians last month.

He warned: "I do not judge those with villas in Miami or the French Riviera. Or [those] who can't get by without oysters or foie gras or so-called 'gender freedoms'…The problem is they mentally exist there, and not here, with our people, with Russia."

He went on to call for a "self-purification" of the nation and there were reports of an "exodus" of private jets, apparently fleeing Russia in the wake of his comments."

Newsweek

Switzerland Bans Berlin From Re-Exporting Ammunition for Combat Vehicles to Ukraine

"Switzerland has vetoed requests by German authorities to re-export to Ukraine ammunition
used in German Marder infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), a representative of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) told Swiss media." Sputnik

Pope Says Meeting With Russian Orthodox Patriarch Scrapped

"Pope Francis has announced that a meeting set for June with Russian Orthodox Patriarch
Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has been canceled so as not to sow "confusion." MT