[WonderMomma]

1. "President Zelensky said he had signaled through diplomatic channels that he wanted to talk to Chinese leader Xi Jinping

"I have not received an offer from China to mediate. I did not receive an offer to meet. I have also given a direct signal through diplomatic channels that I want to talk to the leader of China.""



2. (fyi, this is unverified but will update this post if I find more)
"Russia returns to defense plan after unconvincing offensive attempts

The Russian assault on the city of Bakhmut has largely stopped. This is likely the result of significant depletion of Russian forces - British intelligence."

[WonderMomma]

"Ukrainian Mechanized forces training on US-supplied Bradley IFVs and HMMWVs." (no sound)

[WonderMomma]

"Russia is about to unleash its most powerful tank on to the battlefield in Ukraine. The T18..."


"Gunners of the Presidential Brigade work with a homemade "Mini-Grad" on a pickup truck. Thanks to mobility, the calculation quickly changes positions"

[WonderMomma]

"A video of the "40 Defiant" patrol boats, which Ukraine received from the US Navy, appeared on social networks on the Dnipro."

[Roosta]

Originally Posted by WonderMomma ↗

"A video of the "40 Defiant" patrol boats, which Ukraine received from the US Navy, appeared on social networks on the Dnipro."

Not a fishing rod in sight

[kellyhound]

Russian President Vladimir Putin planned a “total cleansing” of Ukraine with “house-to-house terror” to subdue its people, leaked spy documents reportedly show.

Chilling emails from within Russia’s FSB intelligence service talk about orders “from the very top” for civilians to be taken to concentration camps in a bid to conquer Ukraine.

The emails were leaked by a source within the FSB to Russian human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin, who founded Gulagu, a website that highlights the conditions in the country’s prison system, the US Sun reported.

The leak comes a week after the International Criminal Court charged Putin with war crimes on charges related to an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that there have been over 16,000 forced deportations carried out by Russia.

The revelations came as Russian troops appeared to refocus their efforts in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow’s months-long push for the key Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has stalled, despite the leader of the Russian Wagner mercenary group’s claims that the city was surrounded by three sides in early March.

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said that the fight for Bakhmut is “stabilizing” and his troops’ “titanic efforts” have thus far held back Moscow’s forces.

Zaluzhnyi said his statement posted to Facebook on Friday came after he spoke with the Chief of Defense Staff of the United Kingdom, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, about strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses.

The UK Ministry of Defense said Saturday that Russia’s assault on Bakhmut has “largely stalled” and added that Moscow had probably shifted focus to the north and south of Bakhmut, which saw heavy fighting on Friday.

The agency’s daily intelligence update said the move suggests an “overall return to a more defensive operational design” after Russia’s bloody efforts to take Bakhmut failed.

[WonderMomma]

Originally Posted by WonderMomma ↗

Just found this video in relation to your question Honestly, he's been talking about nuclear weapons and making veiled threats almost since Ukraine started receiving aid from NATO countries.

I have no idea if this is just another case of him puffing his chest or not. He seems to be carefully stating that he's continuing preparations (training in a couple of months) for such an escalation should he need to. He's careful to say he'll remain faithful to his commitments made to his partners; perhaps to placate China specifically since they just made a visit to him.

Should we be worried? I don't think anymore than we were a year ago. I think he is only mentioning other countries using them first to excuse the fact they're preparing for it. But I think he's smart enough to know that using nukes will likely be a point of no return for him and his country.

I truly hope it does not get to that point but who knows how far he'd go.

Source: "Putin announced that Russian strategic nuclear weapons were placed in Belarus. He said that Russia already placed an Iskander complex there which can be a carrier of nuclear weapons?"

NO MEDIA

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council because of Russia's intention to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus.

The MFA appealed to Belarusian society to prevent the deployment of nuclear weapons on their territory in violation of its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry warned that such actions would further turn Belarus into a hostage of the Kremlin and have catastrophic consequences for its future."

[WonderMomma]

"Ukrainian dog handlers have started a specialized training course in Spain. The training will last for 4 months and will be attended by six border guards and two representatives of the customs service. The program will improve the methodology of training dogs to find weapons, ammunition and explosives."

[WonderMomma]

"ZSU managed to recapture a part of the E40 road near Bakhmut, - ISW. Analysts believe that our soldiers managed to launch a counterattack north of the city and regain control over part of the territories along the E40 highway. The defense of Bakhmut will go down in world history. Our soldiers did the impossible."



"Ukrainian defenders have completed training on the Challenger 2 tank, the British Ministry of Defense reports. The crews received a course on how to command, control and effectively identify and engage "

[WonderMomma]

"It has been decided to evacuate utility workers from the frontline Avdiivka, Donetsk region.

The head of the city's military administration, Vitaliy Barabash, said this and called on civilians to leave as well. According to him, mobile communications will soon be cut off in the city to prevent some locals from passing information to the Russians. There will also be problems with generators, as utility workers will leave.

About two thousand people remain in Avdiivka. The last time there was electricity was on May 14, 2022 (there is also no water or heat)."