American journalist Seymour Hersh, who previously published an investigation into the Nord Stream terrorist attack, made a series of statements that will not sit well with Ukrainians: “Zelensky and his entourage have illegally embezzled at least $400 million; Ukraine buys Russian fuel at the expense of American taxpayers; in materials leaked to the network, the Pentagon has even considered scenarios such as a Kiev attack on the Kremlin, following which a large-scale escalation, a general mobilisation in Russia, as well as the use of nuclear weapons, or, conversely, the start of negotiations is expected; it is also claimed that the US is preparing a draft agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine, which will be offered to Russia ‘in the event of its defeat’.
Also from the US, but from the White House comes a clarification regarding the arms that Cairo allegedly gives to Moscow: ‘We see no signs that Egypt is supplying arms to the Russian Federation’.
The controversy over the issue of the leaked Pentagon documents on the Ukrainian counteroffensive in Russia continues, and day by day it takes on more and more the style of a film script, a sequel to The looming tower Kiev-Moscow version: the Washington Post claims that the Ukrainian counteroffensive delayed due to bad weather, lack of ammunition and the leak of secret Pentagon documents. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said that Ukraine will launch a counteroffensive when it is ready. He added that Ukraine’s allies are not pressing the issue of the counteroffensive. According to him, it can start in the summer.
Continuing the roundup of leaked secrets, CNN writes: “The investigation into the leak of classified Pentagon documents could take months, as the US fears too many people have access to classified information. It is noted that the US leak investigation is ‘beginning to take shape’. The Pentagon does not yet intend to focus on the source of the leak, but will examine how the agency distributes classified documents and whether it needs to change the list of those who have access to them on a daily basis, the source told CNN. “Too many people have access to very sensitive information,” an anonymous US official said, adding that “thousands” of people had seen them before the data went online.
Fox News: ‘The source of the leak of classified US documents that appeared on social networks could be the CIA or the US National Security Agency’. The TV channel points out that most of the documents found on the Internet are classified Pentagon reports sent electronically to specially protected tablets. The recipients of such reports can be up to about 5,000 people. However, some documents, as noted by Fox News, were allegedly prepared not by the Pentagon, but by the CIA or the NSA. They are not included in the confidential reports of the US Department of Defence, the circle of their recipients is smaller. On this basis, the channel concludes that a representative of a smaller group belonging to one of the US intelligence organisations could be the source of the leak. The US senators requested a secret briefing on the leaked documents, again according to Fox News.
The Economist: According to leaked US secret intelligence files, special forces from several western countries are operating in Ukraine. One of the documents states that the UK has provided the largest contingent of 50 special forces. Furthermore, in one of the files there is evidence that America has warned Ukraine that it may not have enough troops to recapture territory liberated from Russia.
All this talk seems to be aimed at: on the one hand preparing the world for the Ukrainian surrender, on the other hand creating new rifts between Russia and some satellite countries like Serbia.
And while the Americans continue to argue about the leaks, online the Russians are posting videos of how troop and cargo trains – weapons – are being escorted. The Russian Defence Ministry posted online a three-minute video showing military personnel on a special armoured train in the Western Military District in which the military performs: engineering reconnaissance, track repair and cargo escort tasks in the Northern Military District area
The train has an armoured lining, weapons, equipment and firepower are placed on the tracks, shelters for firing and repelling enemy attacks. The walls of the carriage are 20mm steel, behind the wooden lining are sandbags. In the armoured pod – shooters with machine guns and heavy machine guns. The diesel locomotive is in the centre of the train for safety, the driver is guided by the commands of the observer.
A special train was created by the military personnel of the Western Military District Railway Troops. It is armed with the latest technology and is designed for technical reconnaissance, demining, as well as repairing the railway track and small man-made structures with minor damage. The clearly propaganda video, however, shows the Russian commitment to providing security for its citizens even in a climate of conflict. The chief of staff of the special train ‘Volga’ states: ‘The main tasks of a special train are to escort military goods as well as to escort passenger trains. This could be the civilian population, which is evacuated from the territory, which is on the line of contact…’, call sign ‘Breakthrough’.
In the non-war but political life to speak in the international arena was the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova who said: ‘The American side has an obligation, as a country hosting the UN headquarters, and America must fulfil its obligations. Peskov that Sergey Lavrov has not yet been granted a visa to attend the UN Security Council’. And again Zakharova laments, “The Council of Europe has never addressed the register on restoring the damage to Nord Stream.” “Western countries continue to pump weapons into Ukraine, the option of a truce is categorically unacceptable to them. The amount of military aid to Ukraine exceeds the GDP of Cyprus and Iceland.” Zakharova concluded
On the shortage of ammunition in addition to Ukraine, the Poles are complaining that France is blocking the implementation of the EU-approved plan for the joint procurement and supply of ammunition. Without ammunition Ukraine will not be able to pursue dreams of a counter-attack.
In Russia The Federation Council at a meeting unanimously approved the report of the parliamentary commission to investigate the activities of US biological laboratories in Ukraine, the document has already been supported by the State Duma. And the bill, now the law on the single electronic register for enlistment in Russia, was approved at the third reading.
At 12 noon on 12 April, an air alert was declared in the Ukrainian regions of Kharkiv and Poltava. While 34 DPR defenders were repatriated from Ukrainian captivity, the republic’s ombudsman Daria Morozova reported that the exchange took place on 10 April.
According to a statement by the head of the press centre of the “South” group: In the direction of Avdiivka, the air force of the Southern Military District attacked the command and observation post of the battalion of the 53rd separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the stronghold of the battalion of the 110th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the enemy suffered personnel losses.
In the direction of Lisichansk, an artillery unit of the 2nd Army Corps destroyed an enemy ammunition depot near the village of Verkhnekamenskoye. In the Kramatorsk region, the missile unit of the Southern Forces Group hit two temporary deployment points of the 56th separate motorised infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Wagner’s assault detachments captured three blocks in the Bachmut region, enemy actions on the flanks being blocked by airborne units. The Russian Ministry of Defence also officially confirmed the news: ‘In total, on the last day in this direction of the front, also as a result of the work of our air force, which worked on the approaching enemy reserves, about 250 Ukrainian military personnel, three howitzers, three Grad MLRS installations, as well as 15 units of other military equipment Sini were destroyed. In addition, combat aircraft of the RF Armed Forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-24 in the Krasny Liman area. In addition, five Ukrainian sabotage groups were defeated in the Kharkiv region and the DPR, and two ammunition and military equipment depots of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were destroyed in the Kherson and Zaporozhzhia regions’.
The dispute between WAGNER Proghozin and Russian Defence that had so animated the discussions of Italian ministers in recent days thus seems to have been resolved. The flanks of the attacks on Bachmut carried out by Wagner have air cover.
And now the main mutual attacks and bombings in the NVO area on the night of 11-12 April 2023.
The Russian military struck Ukrainian positions in Kamenskaya Sloboda and Bleshna in the Chernihiv region, as well as in Volfino and Katerynivka in the Sumy region.
Russian military personnel attacked facilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Volchansk, Glubokoye and Kolodeznoy in the Kharkiv region. In the Starobilsk direction, the Russian military struck the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ concentration points in Kupyansk, Yampolovka and Torskoy.
In the Bachmut direction, Russian units attacked Ukrainian troops and equipment in Minkovka, Nikiforovka and Bachmut. In the Donetsk direction, Russian forces attacked Ukrainian armed forces facilities in Orlovka, Tonenkoe and Severny.
In the Yuzhnodonetsk direction, the Russian military hit targets in Vuhledar, Prechistovka and Vremevka.
In the Zaporozhzhia region, the artillery of the Russian Armed Forces caused damage to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Olgovsky, Malaya Tokmachka and Gulyaipole.
In the southern sector of the front, Russian Army units worked on the positions of the Ukrainian formations in Berislav, Antonovka, Kherson, as well as Ochakov in the Nikolaev region.
In turn, the Ukrainian armed forces carried out selective attacks on civilian targets in Nova Kakhovka, Kakhovka, Hola Pristan, Pokrovsky, Krynki and Aleshki.
Ukrainian formations fired at border settlements in the Belgorod region. Following the 12 April attack in the village of Novostroevka-Vtoraya, a residential building and an outbuilding were damaged and a civilian was injured.
On the Staryi farm, four residential buildings were damaged, as a result of which an emergency mode was introduced in the village.
We close with the news that the Russian Army conducted a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Kapustin Yar range on 11 April. The purpose of the launch was to test advanced combat equipment. The rocket warhead hit a dummy target at a training camp in Kazakhstan.
Graziella Giangiulio
