Shot in the back
"Shot in the back of the head" - evidence of Russia's war crimes in Ukraine. Photo report
On April 3, one of the main topics for the whole world was photographs of massacres of civilians in Bucha and other settlements in the Kiyv region,?Ukraine, committed during their occupation by?Russian?troops .?
The photographs show people, who were presumably killed, burned, or crushed by tanks right in their cars. Bodies were also found with their hands tied and with bullet holes in the back of their heads.?
The photos were first published by France Presse agency.?
NZZ: Die Bilder aus Butscha: Der ukrainische Fotograf Vadim Ghirda dokumentierte die Menschen, wie er sie vor Ort vorfand.-??????????
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Where is the?Russian Army??
by Ben Hodges, Lindley-French’s blog
?-??Therefore, Russia does not have many more regular formations Moscow can insert into to the Order of Battle.?There are small formations in Transnistria, Armenia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but they are not big enough to make a great deal of difference should they be switched to Ukraine.
Summary: Having reached their culminating point Russian ground forces have two options. First, go over to the defense and try and retain the ground they hold, whilst at the same time reorganizing, refitting and absorbing replacements and new conscripts.?Second, use the time to build up for another human-grinding Russian offensive.
It is the latter option which the UK Defence Intelligence Agency thinks likely. April 1st?marks the start of the new recruiting season for conscripts and it is clear from the narrative Moscow is peddling that the Russian people are being prepared for a longer war than anticipated.?However, given Russia’s grievous losses and the poor training and equipment of the conscripts any reconstituted units will be far less capable than those that began the campaign.?That is why the strategy is likely to rely increasingly on indiscriminate air attacks and long-range artillery and missile strikes to hammer cities and wear the will of the Ukrainian people to resist. It is also why the Ukrainians are seeking anti-air and counter-fires systems from NATO and other partners. Tragically, this next phase could become even uglier if recent tragedies in Grozny and Aleppo are any indication.?Apart from pondering the mobilization of reserves, and an even greater use of conscripts, Moscow is also considering the possible use of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical, biological, and even tactical nuclear systems.
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Baku Tribune
Azerbaijan, UK discuss cooperation in defense sphere
The Minister of Defense noted that the development of relations between the two countries is constantly in the focus of attention of the President of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev.?
The sides exchanged views on the prospects for cooperation in the military sphere and a number of other issues.?
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Blau-Gelbes Kreuz Deutsch-Ukrainischer Verein e.V.
Es ist schwer vorzustellen aber ganz nahe, nur zwei Flugstunden von K?ln entfernt, leiden die Menschen unter einem furchtbaren Krieg!
Die Ukrainekrise ist fast aus den deutschen Medien verschwunden, jedoch sind die kriegs?hnlichen Zust?nde in der Ostukraine allgegenw?rtig. Seit 2017 sind bereits über 14.000 Menschen gestorben, über 1,5 Millionen Bewohner der Kriegsregionen haben ihre H?user verlassen und sind auf der Suche nach dem Leben im Frieden als Binnenmigranten in der ganzen Ukraine verteilt.
Am meisten leidet die Bev?lkerungsgruppe darunter, die am wenigsten dafür kann – die Kinder. Jeden Tag steigt die bereits ohnehin sehr hohe Anzahl der Kinder, die ihre Familien verloren haben, zu Waisen oder Halbwaisen geworden sind, verletzt wurden oder mit den durch Krieg verursachten Behinderungen zurechtkommen müssen.
Der Blau-Gelbes Kreuz e.V. ist ein staatlich anerkannter, gemeinnütziger Verein mit Sitz in K?ln, der bereits seit 2014 die Entwicklung einer freien, demokratischen Ukraine unterstützt und Hilfe für die Opfer des Krieges, insbesondere für Kinder, Binnenflüchtlinge, verletzte und andere stark bedürftige Menschen aus den vom Krieg betroffenen Regionen leistet.
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Exhausted volunteers run low on supplies as Ukraine refugee crisis enters fifth week
Five weeks after the start of the fighting in Ukraine, Kamil Prusinowski and his small band of volunteers are exhausted at their refugee shelter over the border in Poland.
Supplies, funding and energy are all running low, Prusinowski said in a room filled with children’s toys, stuffed animals and footballs in the center housed in a former school in the village of Boratyn.
“We are just bleeding out,” the 37-year-old added. “We just require the proper institutional help to support all of these people.”?
More than 4 million Ukrainians have fled abroad since the start of what Russia calls its “special operation” in Ukraine, UN agencies say.
Almost 2.5 million of them have crossed into Poland and more are still arriving - though the numbers have slowed since the start of the war, according to Poland's border guard service.
With mattresses lying on the floor, children and their mothers waited for medical attention at the center run by the recently formed UNITATEM foundation.
Inés Jorge de Figueiredo, a 34-year-old doctor from Portugal, said she had ibuprofen and other basic supplies, but was desperately short of treatments for chronic conditions including hypertension and diabetes.
"The people need help. The need is changing, but we need to be here and our organization is struggling to get another team (of doctors to come through),” she said.
Aid groups need cash to pay their electricity, water, food bills she added. Staff there need “help to pay (for) our car to go from one center to the other center.”
Around a dozen aid workers in Boratyn, at the Przemysl train station and at the Medyka border crossing told Reuters they were tired and struggling with rain, snow, sub-zero temperatures and dwindling resources.
A Polish government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on requests for more state aid.
Agencies at Medyka said they were trying to get more volunteers, so they could give existing workers more time off.
Some said they had already started bringing in people for just a week or two weeks at a time, before giving them a break and flying in replacements from abroad.
Refugees hid under rain ponchos and dripping tents, venturing out occasionally to offer refugees pizza, fries and hot drinks.
“People are coming with really critical needs that need to be addressed,” Shabia Mantoo, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR, said.
“So it’s really important for the international community to support the national responses, humanitarian actors and others that are on the ground.”
Lillian Boulard, 49, who drove a car-load of supplies from his home in Bordeaux at the beginning of the conflict and now organizes regular aid convoys from France, said supplies would run out if bigger organizations did not step in.
“The events (in Ukraine) have overtaken the NGOs (non-governmental organizations). They’re not here. Or only very little,” he said.
Refugees said they were doing their part.
“We’re trying to help here with cleaning and keeping the place tidy,” said Kateryna Rogachova, originally from Velyka Dymerka in Ukraine’s Kyiv Oblast region.
Standing next to shelves full of clothes and plastic packs of water bottles, Rogachova said the work was helping her to adjust.
“We go to other similar institutions and help there as well. We paint the walls, fold cloths, help unload the groceries,” the 49-year-old said. “Little by little, we get used to everything.”
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