Donetsk News Agency reports

[Roger]

Donetsk News Agency reports
Donetsk News Agency

March 21, 2022

   DPR SEIZURE OF SPANISH GREANDE LAUNCHERS Donetsk, Mar 21 – DAN. DPR service members have seized Spanish grenade launchers abandoned by retreating Ukrainian forces, the deputy Chief-of-staff of the Republican Defense Eduard Basurin said.

"We keep seizing foreign weapons. As the members of the 54th brigade hurried to retreat they left a large bunch of Instalaza C-90 grenade launchers behind in Novomikhailovka, shipped from Spain in March," he said.

The People's Militia has also seized four IFVs and two armored vehicles, which will be used to defend Donbass.

MARCH 21 - ATILERY DEPOT AND GRAD system destroyed The servicemen of the DPR People's Militia have liquidated 36 Ukrainian militants and 11 of their fire positions on Monday, the deputy Chief-of-Staff of the DPR Defence Eduard Basurin said.

"Since the beginning of the day, our servicemen have destroyed 36 Ukrainian occupants, 11 fire points, one infantry fighting vehicle, one BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system, two armoured personnel carriers and a field artillery depot," Basurin said.

He said that over the past day six servicemen of the DPR People's Militia have been killed, and another 22 were injured.

EMERGENCY SERVICE WORKERS IN LIBERATED AREAS More than 140 members of Ukrainian State Emergencies Service agreed to continue working with the DPR, the DPR Emergencies Ministry said.

"As of today, 142 former members of the Ukrainian State Emergencies Service expressed willingness to continue their work within the DPR Emergencies Ministry," the report said.

Earlier emergency services workers in Volodarskoye, Mangush, Yalta decided to work in the DPR

DEFECTIONS TO DPR PEOPLE"S MILITIA DPR People's Militia has liquidated 44 members of Ukrainian armed formations over the last day, DPR Defence's deputy chief of staff Eduard Basurin said.

"Over the last day, DPR service members liquidated 44 Ukrainian occupants, destroyed one tank, two IFVs, three fire positions of MT-12 Rapira anti-tank guns," he said.

Two self-propelled Gvozdika howitzers, one IFV, two armoured vehicles and three trucks have been captured.

Nineteen service members of the 25th and 54th Ukrainian brigades have laid down arms and defected to the DPR

[Roger]

   DPR militia, Russian forces find "Azov" gunmen's secret prison at Mariupol airport
Donetsk News AGency

March 22, 2022


   Donetsk, Mar 22 - DAN. Donetsk People's Republic militiamen and Russian forces found a secret prison after capturing the Mariupol airport where gunmen from "Azov" (organization banned in the DPR) had tortured people, the DPR People's Militia press service reported on Tuesday.

"The allied DPR-Russian liberation forces succeeded in taking control of the Mariupol airport which Ukrainian nationalists had used as a military unit," the press service said. "Each terminal showed signs of military use of its premises. They kept large quantities of weapons, ammunition and food there."

Every room in the terminal was used for a specific purpose; there were makeshift barracks and food units. A prison was found where they had kept and tortured people; supposedly it was the notorious secret prison "Biblioteka" (Library).

"Iron doors with slots for passing food and conversations; there were several such rooms and an area for walks in the end of the windowless corridor, with barbed wire at high ceilings," the DPR militia said. "Ukrainian nationalists set up a veritable prison on the airport premises where they had tortured to death innocent people. At present, DPR law-enforcers are investigating these war crimes."

[Roger]

   Mariupol – strange attempt to evacuate AZOV officers by helicopter fails
Donbass Insider

April 2, 2022


   On 31 March 2022, several helicopters attempted to evacuate officers of the Azov regiment from Mariupol, where they are completely surrounded. The DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) anti-aircraft defense shot down two of these helicopters (one with a Stinger missile abandoned by the Ukrainian soldiers as they fled from the advancing Russian army), thus preventing this strange evacuation attempt from taking place.

And if I say that this attempt to evacuate officers of the Azov regiment by helicopter from Marioupol is strange, it is because two days before, Emmanuel Macron called Vladimir Putin and raised among other things the question of an evacuation of Marioupol. A request that makes no sense, since as we have seen for several weeks now, the Russian army and the DPR people's militia are helping civilians to evacuate the city as they advance.

A total of three helicopters were involved in the attempt to evacuate Ukrainian officers trapped in Mariupol. Two were shot down and the last helicopter returned to Mariupol. One of the downed helicopters crashed into the sea, but the second one crashed near the village of Rybatskoye, where two survivors were found, as well as several bodies of members of the Azov Regiment.

One of the survivors explained that the operation to evacuate the officers of the Azov Regiment from Mariupol was organized by the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Military Intelligence.

It should be noted that this is not the first evacuation attempt in Mariupol. On 28 March, the DPR People's Militia shot down a helicopter that was supposed to evacuate the Azov Regiment Commander Prokopenko and the 36th Brigade Commander of the UAF, Baraniouk. Then, on 30 March, another attempt was made but the pilot became frightened by DPR air defense fire and the helicopter turned back before it reached Mariupol.

Interestingly, it was between these two failed evacuation attempts that Emmanuel Macron made a phone call to Vladimir Putin to discuss this famous evacuation of Mariupol!

As a result, Russian journalists are lost in theories about the real identity of the people who justify risking so many helicopters to evacuate them from Mariupol. Indeed, it seems strange that Kiev would go to such lengths to evacuate the commanders of Azov and the 36th brigade of the UAF, while the option of retreat has always been refused by the Ukrainian general staff, who prefer their soldiers to become "martyrs".

However, given Emmanuel Macron's eagerness to launch an evacuation operation in Mariupol, there is speculation that French intelligence officers or trainers may have been among those to be evacuated from the city, while the areas where Ukrainian soldiers have taken refuge are shrinking and are now isolated (the cauldron has been split in two).

It is hoped that the remains of the helicopter that crashed near Rybatskoye, and the testimonies of the two survivors, will clarify the identity of all those who were to be evacuated.

In the meantime, with more than 90% of the city now controlled by the Russian army and the DPR people's militia, Denis Pushilin has already ordered the creation of a republican local and regional administration in Mariupol to replace the Ukrainian authorities who have abandoned the inhabitants to their fate.

Christelle Néant

[Roger]

Donbass – Mariupol port now fully under DPR and Russian control
Donbass Insider, Christelle Neant

April 12, 2022


   On 11 April 2022, the entire port of Mariupol came under the control of the DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) and Russia. At the same time, Russian and DPR assault groups underwent special training to eliminate the Ukrainian armed forces still entrenched in the Azovstal factory.

On 2 April 2022, we returned to Mariupol, bringing humanitarian aid to the civilians we had found in the eastern district of the city. We then headed to the sea, to meet Chechen soldiers fighting Ukrainian soldiers near the Azovstal factory and the port of Mariupol.

They told us how Ukrainian soldiers sometimes literally hide behind civilians to shoot at Russian and DPR armed forces, which considerably slows down their progress.

They also told us how, once cornered, both ordinary Ukrainian soldiers and the neo-Nazis of the Azov regiment try to flee by disguising themselves as civilians. This is not a very effective technique, especially for the female snipers, who are unmasked by the marks left by their rifle scopes! They also confirm that foreigners are fighting on the Ukrainian side, since they have confronted and found the bodies of several black fighters, who the Ukrainian soldiers send to be killed first in order to spot the Chechen soldiers!

See the report with French subtitles:

The Chechen soldiers also explain the help they are giving to the inhabitants of Mariupol, who lack everything, especially water. They also tell us about the terrible conditions in which civilians were held in the city by Ukrainian soldiers. The inhabitants continue to evacuate the city with the help of Russian and DPR soldiers. Currently, more than 135,000 inhabitants of Mariupol have already been able to evacuate the city. The testimonies of the Chechen soldiers confirm those of the civilians we interviewed in the western part of Mariupol on 31 March 2022.

See the report with French subtitles :

Several Mariupol residents confirmed that Ukrainian soldiers were sitting in flats shooting, that they did not provide any help to civilians, and that they even let a man die after being wounded in a shelling by taking his neighbors prisoner as they searched for an ambulance to take him to the hospital after the curfew. One of the residents even told us that the Ukrainian soldiers took a child as cover when they retreated from the AC2 bus station. We were also able to visit a school, which the Ukrainian soldiers had turned into their headquarters, making the building a military target.

Chechen soldiers also told us that the behavior of the Ukrainian soldiers they capture suggests drug use, as they are like zombies, indifferent to everything, even to pain.

The incredible discipline of the Chechen soldiers who follow their superiors' orders to the letter (to advance while protecting civilians as much as possible), despite the risks involved, clearly shows that the Russian bogeyman stories invented by Ukrainian propaganda (such as the story of the Bucha massacre) do not hold water.

In the meantime, hiding behind the inhabitants, but also behind the crews of the ships trapped in the port of Mariupol did not save the Ukrainian soldiers. The port is now fully under DPR control, and the assault on Azovstal is ready. Experience from the assault on the Ilyich Metallurgical Plant has shown that the use of flamethrowers is effective in the underground, so they will be used by the Russian and DPR armed forces in the attack on the last pocket of Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol.

Faced with the inevitable, many Ukrainian soldiers from the 36th Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are surrendering to the Russian and DPR armed forces in Mariupol. After a group of more than 250 soldiers, then a second group of 160 soldiers, a third group of about 100 Ukrainian soldiers has just surrendered. The crew of one of the ships taken hostage by soldiers of the Ukrainian neo-Nazi Azov regiment (the ship "Azov Concorda"), explained how the latter boarded the ship on 24 March, threatening the crew with weapons, before stealing their phones, computers, personal belongings and money. The Azov soldiers then destroyed the ship's radio equipment and navigation instruments, stole the food on board and threatened the sailors with reprisals if they tried anything.

The day after they took control of this part of the port, DPR soldiers boarded the ships and the day after they brought them humanitarian aid, and allowed them to call their relatives by providing their own phones (something many journalists also do to reassure the relatives of civilians stranded in Mariupol).

The battle for Mariupol is coming to an end, and the battle for Kramatorsk and Slaviansk will soon begin. The new municipal authorities, already appointed, will be able to start assessing the damage and determine which buildings can be repaired, and which will have to be demolished and totally rebuilt, in order to launch the reconstruction of Marioupol as soon as possible.

Christelle Néant

[Roger]

   Donbass Situation Update
Donetsk News Agency

April 13, 2022


   Mariupol: More than 1,000 Ukrainian servicemen laid down their arms in Mariupol, the Headquarters of the DPR Territorial Defence said.

"Another 1,009 Ukrainian servicemen laid down their arms in Mariupol, who decided to save their lives and surrender to the DPR troops," the statement said.

The Headquarters said that a designated telegram bot (@want_to_give_up_bot) is still available for those who want to surrender: using it the personnel of the Ukrainian army can receive all the necessary assistance in the process of defection to the side of the Russian Federation, the DPR and the LPR.

TASS reported: Over 1,000 Ukrainian troops, including 162 officers and 47 female service members surrendered in Mariupol, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.

"As a result of successful offensive operations by the Russian forces and militia units of the Donetsk People's Republic, 1,026 Ukrainian troops of the 36th marine infantry brigade voluntarily laid down their arms and surrendered in the area of the Ilyicha metals factory in the city of Mariupol. Among those who surrendered, there are 162 officers and also 47 female service members," the spokesman said.

A total of 151 wounded Ukrainian servicemen of the 36th marine infantry brigade received primary medical assistance at the scene, following which all of them were taken to the Mariupol city hospital for medical treatment, the general specified.

Criminal Case Against Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Arestovich: April 13, 2022 DPR Prosecutor General's Office has opened a criminal case against Ukrainian presidential adviser Alexey Arestovich on suspicion of engaging in extremist activity, the press office of the DPR Prosecution said.

"The DPR Prosecutor General's Office has qualified Arestovich's activity as criminal, falling under Art.325 P.2 of the DPR Criminal Code (Public Appeals for the Performance of Extremist Activity)," the report reads.

On April 5, Arestovich, speaking live on the air of the all-Ukrainian telethon of the "Ukraine 24 online" TV channel, called on Ukrainians to engage in extremist activity by committing murders motivated by bias against political views or ethnicity. *

[Roger]

Where the Russian Army Will Advance to After the Sweep of Mariupol
GrayZone by Ollie Richardson

April 18, 2022

   Azovstal — the last hotbed of resistance On April 16, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said that the destruction of the troops trapped in Mariupol "will put an end to all negotiations". This, according to a number of military experts, is proof that the militants of the "Azov" battalion and Ukrainian units who have been surrounded are on the verge of defeat, and the words of the President of Ukraine are the last attempt to manipulate the current situation.

The question of why the Russian army and the DPR forces took so long to capture Mariupol is gradually disappearing from discussion on social networks. The main achievement of the last few hours was the active advance of Russian troops in the north-east of the city. There, a large hotbed of resistance on the territory of the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works was eliminated. According to some reports, Colonel Andrey Gnatov, commander of the headquarters of the 36th Marine Brigade in Mariupol, was captured during the sweep.

In the case of "Azovstal", there is no longer any division between the nationalist battalions and the Ukrainian Armed Forces. After 1,350 servicemen of the 36th separate Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Navy laid down their weapons, the remnants of the unit moved to the positions of the militants of the "Azov" nationalist battalion, and Major Sergey Volyna took command of the new "formation". According to some reports, this could be the last personnel decision in the area — already on Friday there were reports that Volyna was captured after Gnatov.

According to the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, in Mariupol at the time of its encirclement on March 11, there were: the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, the 109th Territorial Defence Brigade, the 503rd Separate Marine Battalion, a company of the 53rd Separate Mechanised Brigade, units of the 17th Anti-tank Brigade, nazi formations, police and the State Border Service of Ukraine units, as well as foreign mercenaries.

Many reputable military officials, including Scott Ritter, a former US Marine officer who is well acquainted with US and NATO tactics, have spoken out about the fate of the militants trapped in Mariupol. According to him, Russia uses the only correct tactic that allows to save the maximum number of soldiers and resources in this operation and does not leave the enemy any room for manoeuvre.

The fate of the remnants of the nationalist battalions and soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces surrounded in the basements of "Azovstal" is a foregone conclusion — units of individual battalions of the advancing army, such as the "Sparta" Separate Guards Reconnaissance Battalion of the DPR forces, have already reached the sea and the city coastline, from where the plant's workshops are a few minutes on foot.

The next step, previously announced by the press secretary of the DPR military command Eduard Basurin, has already been taken — the nationalist battalion militants and the Ukrainian Armed Forces are beginning to cut off the way to the surface, after which Chemical Protection Troops with smoke and thermobaric weapons can join the case.

Ukrainian troops prefer to surrender to the Russian army and the DPR forces en masse — 50-100 people go into captivity, which, according to Major Kirill Latukhin, a veteran of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, simplifies the task of conducting a special operation: "Mass handing over brings a lot of valuable data, with which it's possible to adjust the course of the cleansing and avoid unnecessary difficulties. 130 people — this is a whole company, the dislodging of which could have taken several weeks. Every hundred surrenders — this is plus a week, or even two to the speed of progress."

It is interesting that when examining the basements that the Ukrainian military who remained at "Azovstal" are gradually coming out of, the DPR and Russian Army inspection teams find a large number of foreign weapons for "Soviet" calibers. Among the trophies found are dozens of anti-tank missile systems and hundreds of boxes of ammunition, which the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the nationalist battalions could not use due to heavy losses and high fire density. The vast majority of ammunition arrived in Mariupol from Poland and Bulgaria.

Where has the Russian army advanced in Ukraine? In addition to cleansing Mariupol in the southern direction, a safe area has been created with the help of Russian aviation and "Kalibr" cruise missiles. Thanks to the high coordination of actions, the Kherson–Melitopol–Mariupol line was quickly liberated from the Ukrainian army. Clearing out the Ukrainian army and restoring normal, peaceful life on the territory of the "southern line", where not only coastal cities are located, but also the city of Energodar, located near the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, make it possible to free up a significant number of military personnel and equipment for the general battle in Donbass. However, for the last, decisive defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, it's necessary to properly prepare.

There are many ways to use the southern dimension. The first is the continuation of the defeat of the Ukrainian army in the southern direction. According to some reports, in an attempt to create a "picture resistance" to the Russian army rushing towards Mariupol and the DPR forces, almost all combat-ready units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were ground up.

Some of them managed to retreat to Nikolaev and tried to regroup there. However, to the lack of fuel and the shortage of shells, another difficulty was added. According to unofficial information, in radio intercepts of the UAF command from the Nikolaev area, the phrase "depletion of personnel" is often found, which in translation into ordinary language means the physical elimination of most experienced Ukrainian officers and middle-level commanders. None of the surviving commanders were able to lead the units, so the UAF was left where they managed to escape, until further notice.

In addition, the Ukrainian military and militants of the nationalist battalions could not quickly and competently withdraw from Mariupol due to confusion in documents. Eight years of active work to turn the Novoazovsk-Mariupol-Granitnoye triangle into a fortified area for various branches of the Armed Forces led to the fact that a single plan for all communications and positions did not exist in principle, and preparations for the March offensive on the LPR and DPR only worsened these problems.

This led to the fact that UAF troops fleeing from Mariupol stumbled upon ambushes arranged by the UAF and the nationalist battalions, after which the national battalions entered into skirmishes with the Ukrainian army while trying to separate their own from others. After the Russian army and the DPR forces approached the city, there were several more attempts to escape the Ukrainian military from the garrison, which ended in a fatal outcome. Some units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces that miraculously managed to escape from Mariupol a few days before the complete encirclement entrenched themselves in Nikolaev.

The plight of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, whose command in the southern direction is almost completely absent, opens up operational space for the Russian army, where it is possible to act both directly and not rush things. One of the likely outcomes may be the division of the southern group of the Russian Armed Forces and the DPR forces into two parts: the first may remain and control the southern flank in the direction of Nikolaev-Krivoy Rog-Energodar-Kherson. In the same direction, near Odessa, Russian air defence systems shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane delivering a large batch of weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western countries.

Map of military operations in Ukraine At the same time, the losses of Ukrainian servicemen during Russia's "Operation Z" do not correspond to official data. According to the statements of the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, they amount to "about 2500-3000 dead and 10,000 wounded". Veteran of the special forces of the Airborne Forces and commander of an intelligence company Anton Ryzhanov believes that these figures are understated several-fold: "These losses can only be attributed to some command or group of troops. Even if we simply analyse how the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to fight in Mariupol, we can conclude that the losses in this area on the Ukrainian side are about 4,000-5,000 just for those killed, and the wounded can be several times more."

According to the Russian Defence Ministry on the evening of April 16, the irrecoverable losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces amount to 23,367 people.

These guesses are also confirmed by the words of the Russian Defence Minister. At the end of March, Sergey Shoigu said that the main tasks of the first stage of the special military operation in Ukraine were completed, and during it the Ukrainian Armed Forces suffered significant damage: "The combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been significantly reduced, which allows us to focus our main attention and efforts on achieving the main goal — the liberation of Donbass."

In fact, with the fall of Mariupol, the entire flank of the UAF's defence built over eight years collapsed — the loss of a 50-thousandth contingent and a huge amount of equipment almost completely deprives the Ukrainian army of manoeuvre in this direction. Completing the picture is the regular destruction of military infrastructure facilities by cruise missiles: fuel storage facilities, repair shops and parking lots with equipment are destroyed by the Russian Army around the clock. This approach, according to the experienced military men, allows part of the southern group of Russia to move forward to meet the "northern group" and begin gradual preparations for the destruction of the UAF in the Donbass pocket.

Sergey Andreyev

[Roger]

   Donbass – the martyrdom of Mariupol civilians from 2014 to 2022, as told by its inhabitants
Donbass Insider

April 20, 2022


   On 16 April 2022, we returned to Mariupol, very close to the Azovstal factory where the last Ukrainian troops are located. We went to three different locations around the factory to talk to civilians, who told us how the Azov soldiers were shooting at them and their homes. Many of them also told us what happened on 9 May 2014, but also in January 2015, during the shelling of the Vostotchny district, which had been allocated to the DPR (Donetsk People's Republic).

For the martyrdom of the city of Mariupol did not begin in 2022, but eight years earlier, with the massacre of 9 May 2014.

In the courtyard of their building near the Azovstal factory, Valentina and Svetlana tell us what happened on 9 May 2014, Victory Day. One week after the Odessa massacre, and while Donbass rose up against the coup d'état that took place in Kiev, and is preparing for the referendum of 11 May 2014 proclaiming the creation of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, a new chief of police in Mariupol is appointed by the post-Maidan authorities, Valery Androchtchouk.

On 9 May 2014, while the Victory Day ceremonies were in full swing, Androchuk ordered the Mariupol police to arrest the demonstrators. An order they refused to carry out. Faced with this rebellion, the new police chief shoots one of his subordinates, barricades himself in an office, then calls in the National Guard. The latter, led by the Ukrainian deputy of the Radical Party, Oleg Liachko, attacked the police building and shot at both the policemen who had sided with the demonstrators and the civilians who had come to support their policemen. Two policemen and seven civilians were killed in the clashes.

Two days after the massacre, the population of Mariupol will vote en masse in the referendum of 11 May 2014, which will validate the creation of the Donetsk People's Republic, as Valentina and Svetlana, who voted that day, tell us.

Svetlana accuses the then mayor, Yuri Khotlubay, of having been "mysteriously absent" on that famous day of 9 May 2014. An absence due to the fact that, according to her, the mayor of Mariupol was aware of what was going to happen, just as he was aware in January 2015, that his city was going to be bombed, not by the DPR, but by the Ukrainian army!

In January 2015, when the Rada was preparing to declare Russia an "aggressor state", a similar vote was held in Mariupol in the city council, according to Svetlana. But the result was not what was expected. Khotlubay's raised hand was met with silence in the chamber of municipal deputies. According to her, it was as punishment for this failure that the bombing of the Vostotchny district was organized on 24 January 2015.

This eastern district of Mariupol was then subjected to intense shelling with Grad and Hurricane multiple rocket launchers, which resulted in 31 deaths and 117 injuries. Most of the victims were civilians, including children. According to Svetlana, the rescue vehicles stood by in a column far from the bombed area, and set off once the shelling was over. According to her, the mayor had been warned about what was going to happen.

Unsurprisingly, this shelling was attributed to the DPR, including by the OSCE, despite the fact that the DPR has never possessed a Uragana multiple rocket launcher (unlike Ukraine). I will not go back over the obvious partiality of the OSCE, which it was recently discovered by the two people's republics, that its ceasefire surveillance cameras were in fact used to spy on the soldiers of the people's militia and to correct the artillery fire of the Ukrainian army (which could moreover control the said cameras)!

Svetlana's testimony confirms that it was not the DPR, but the Ukrainian army that fired on Marioupol on 24 January 2015, warning the mayor in advance, who was thus able to put the rescue trucks under cover while waiting for the end of the shelling!

See the report filmed in Marioupol on 16 April 2022, with French subtitles:

Valentina, and other civilians interviewed at the various locations we visited, also told us about the crimes committed by soldiers of the neo-Nazi Azov regiment against civilians over the past two months. Azov soldiers have fired mortars at civilians fetching water, occupied the upper floors of a nearby hospital, thrown a grenade into a flat where two women pensioners were staying, and fired on buildings to destroy them when neither the Russian army nor the DPR people's militia were in the area!

Since then, Russia has repeatedly offered the Ukrainian soldiers holed up in the Azovstal factory to surrender, with guarantees that they will not be killed, and that they will be treated properly and with dignity according to the standards of international law. Despite this, the Ukrainian soldiers refused to surrender, before shouting everywhere that there would be a thousand civilians with them in the underground, and that humanitarian corridors are needed to evacuate them, once the assault on the factory has begun!

As some Russian commentators have pointed out, if there were civilians with them in the Azovstal basement, and they wanted to evacuate them, why didn't they let them leave the plant when Russia opened safe corridors for the soldiers to surrender? If they prevented these civilians from leaving, it means that they are holding them hostage to use them as human shields! This means that the Ukrainian soldiers in Azovstal are nothing more than terrorists!

Moreover, the videos supposedly proving their presence in the underground do not actually prove anything. As the Telegram channel "?? ? ?" (war on fakes) pointed out, the setting of the videos showing the Ukrainian soldiers, and those showing the civilians allegedly with them is different.

The women and children interviewed said they were in a basement but did not specify whether it was the Azovstal basement. Moreover, the basement shown is at most a hundred people, not a thousand, and its size is more like that of a typical building basement, rather than the (huge) factory basement. The video with the civilians shows a noisy basement, while the one with the soldiers is quiet, and the color of the walls is not the same either. The shelter with the civilians has green walls and grey plastic pipes, while the one with the soldiers has blue walls and white pipes.

Moreover, the few Azov soldiers captured recently have stated that there are no civilians in the factory, and even Zelensky in his recent interview spoke only of Ukrainian soldiers. And magically this story about civilians came out when the Russian and DPR armed forces began the assault and took control of the northern part of the Azovstal factory. I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to see that this is a sordid fake to try to prevent the complete elimination of the soldiers of the neo-Nazi Azov regiment in the basement of the factory.

But to make sure that it cannot be accused of crimes against civilians, Russia today organized new secure corridors and a ceasefire, so that those inside the Azovstal factory (civilians or military) can evacuate or surrender.

While no civilians (or soldiers for that matter) came out of the basement of the factory itself, this humanitarian corridor allowed more than 120 civilians trapped in the basements of the houses right in front of the main Azovstal checkpoint to come out, and finally be evacuated, as our colleagues from War Gonzo show.

According to a message published by Ramzan Kadyrov, Azovstal will be under Russian control very soon, which will mark the end of the battle for Mariupol, and the beginning of the battle for Kramatorsk and Slaviansk.

Christelle Néant

[Roger]

DPR questions Guterres' initiative on ceasefire in Ukraine
Donetsk News Agency

April 20, 2022


   Donetsk, Apr 20 - DAN. DPR Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova dismissed the calls of UN Secretary-General António Guterres for ceasefire in Ukraine as inexpedient, as Kiev will use it only to regroup and strengthen its positions.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine to allow delivery of life-saving aid as well as evacuations in Mariupol, Kherson, Donetsk and Lugansk.

"Ukraine has used ceasefires (within the framework of the Minsk Agreements) to regroup, to fortify positions. Every time, ceasefires ended up in reinforced barrages and civilian casualties and victims. We, for our part, doubt the efficacy of this kind of ceasefire," Nikonorova said, speaking live on the Russia-24 TV channel.

She said that all those willing to lay down arms or leave the conflict zone can use humanitarian corridors that are regularly opened.

"But a humanitarian corridor is one thing, a ceasefire along the line of conflict is quite another. These two concepts are matching, but not identical," Nikonorova said. Russia started a special military operation to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine on February 24. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the decision was made after the DPR and LPR Heads addressed him asking for help.

[Roger]

   U.S. Media Are Lying About Russian Atrocities in Mariupol, Says Embedded Reporter at Ground Zero
Covert Action Magazine, Sonja Van den Ende

April 23, 2022


   [This article is written by a reporter embedded in Ukraine with the Russian army. We believe that if people want to understand the war in Ukraine, they need to read widely about it, from different perspectives, including the Russian one, to try and discern the truth about what is going on for themselves.—Editors]

Where shall I begin?

Can a man endure so much suffering? Can you write about so much suffering without getting emotional?

Probably not.

Mariupol has been wiped out, buildings have collapsed mostly due to rocket attacks and, of course, there have been bombings as well.

The Western media, of course, blame the Russians for these bombings, but Ukraine also has planes that drop bombs, so how on earth can you say a few thousand kilometers away that it is the Russians?

It is not like in the West where, when there was a terrorist attack, the perpetrators left their passports or IDs.

This is a war of destruction that I have seen before—in Syria, in Homs. Perhaps also like in Dresden, toward the end of World War II, although, of course, Dresden I cannot verify.

The West has turned it into a propaganda war. All the while it sponsors the Ukrainian army and its neo-Nazi battalions.

For years the media ignored the Ukrainian army assaults on the people of Eastern Ukraine, who were forced to survive in underground bunkers.

They act as if the war started in February, when it actually started in 2014 as a war by the Ukrainian government against its own people.

Eight years of destroyed villages and towns—why? Because eastern Ukraine is inhabited by a predominantly Russian-speaking population, who grew up in the Soviet system.

After the 2014 Maidan coup backed by the U.S., they were supposed to become part of the EU and the pro-European "puppet" government in Kyiv. All their values, norms, culture and language had to be thrown overboard.

In order to achieve these ends, first President Petro Poroshenko and then Volodymyr Zelensky, have carried out "special operations" which they called "fighting terrorists." Imaginary threat: in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine accused Russia of preparing a "full-scale military aggression" - Teller Report

The Ukrainians started bombing the Donetsk airport and then carried out attacks on the civilian population. A picture containing sky, outdoor, snow, plane Description automatically generated

When this did not go as planned, they recruited and made the Azov Battalion and other right-wing groups part of the regular army.

These battalions are indeed neo-Nazis, from father to son they are indoctrinated with the Nazi ideology of the Stepan Bandera cult.

You can compare them to jihadists of ISIS (DAESH), ideologically indoctrinated and fighting on speed or other drugs so, as many witnesses say, they kill civilians randomly.

This is exactly the same script that happened in Syria, where jihadists even cut out the hearts of the Syrian Army soldiers and hung their chopped heads on poles.

The "bombed" city theater

On March 16, 2022, the Donetsk Regional Drama Theater in Mariupol, Ukraine, was allegedly bombed. It was reportedly used as an air raid shelter during the siege of Mariupol, allegedly holding 1,300 civilians in the days before March 16, and at least 300 victims might have been killed.

According to Western media, the theater was bombed by the Russian forces. According to the Russian spokesman and many eyewitness accounts, who lived near the theater, they did not hear any bombardment in their neighborhood and the theater.

So, again, the Western media appear to be lying—blaming Russia for every atrocity in the war without proof, while failing to give any context for how the war started and who is responsible.

The goal is clearly to mobilize public opinion against Russia in support of regime change or even a full-scale war against them.

I was given a completely different story about the Mariupol theater "bombing" from a Russian army spokesman whom I interviewed. He said the following:

"According to eyewitnesses, there were about 300 people in the theater, but this cannot be verified, the Ukrainian army and battalions did not keep records of the attendance, so it could be more or less people. The cellars were used as bomb shelters for rocket attacks and bombs. On the day of the destruction, March 16, 2022, according to eyewitnesses, there were no bombings, but heavy rocket attacks. Ammunition and explosives from the Ukrainian army and its battalions were stored in the cellars. The Ukrainian army and battalions heard that the Russians were coming and detonated the explosives in the shelters, where many people still took refuge from the ongoing fighting. This is not new for the Ukrainians to perform such deeds, especially the AZOV battalion, who, just like in Syria at the time of the war, the jihadists were high on drugs, Captagon and speed, which explains their brutality and violent reaction. Same as for these neo-Nazi fighters who are highly infiltrated in the Ukrainian army."

The media in the West, in conjunction with politicians, sell stories to the public, at least half of which I dare to say are fabricated or used from other conflicts.

Mariupol is destroyed and most likely more than half of its inhabitants fled the city, either to the West, to Russia or surrounding villages and towns. Nobody knows at the moment. People are afraid and searching for their relatives, who might have been killed.

As I said earlier, food and water and other humanitarian help is distributed on a daily basis by the Russian army—every day in a different place because, when the Ukrainian army and its Nazi battalions know the place, they will try to shell it and kill the people.

It will take a while before the city can be rebuilt. The Azov steel factory is the last stronghold of the Azov Battalion. The Russian army, as of this writing, is fighting a heavy battle there whose outcome seems foreordained.

Everyone is anxiously waiting to see if the NATO command center, which is most likely under the factory, is being dismantled. Whether a biological (one of many) laboratory is really located under the Azov steel factory, we will soon see. I will definitely report on it again.

[Roger]

Pushilin: Dozens of bodies discovered under Drama Theatre debris
Donetsk News Agency

May 2, 2022
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   Donetsk, May 2 - DAN. Dozens of bodies have been discovered under the ruins of the Mariupol Drama Theatre, blown up by Ukrainian nationalists, the DPR Head Denis Pushilin told journalists on Monday.

"I hoped there will be different figures, not those broadcasted, but we have discovered several dozens of bodies. The debris removal is ongoing," he said.

The search and debris removal operation is impeded by the heavy presence of UXO and other technical obstacles.

The theatre was destroyed in mid-March as Ukrainian nationalistic units first turned it into their base with fire positions, and then a place where civilians were held hostage. When Ukrainian troops exploded the building, there were still civilians inside, some sources estimate their amount as up to several hundreds.

Mariupol is the largest city on the shores of the Azov sea. Founded in 1778, it has become an important industrial hub in Donbass and a major sea port.

On May 9, 2014 Ukrainian armed formations opened fire on a peaceful Victory Day celebration rally, killing many of the city residents. On May 11 same year a referendum voted massively in favour of an independent DPR. Kiev forces occupied the city on June 13, 2014.

After Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, the joint DPR-LPR coalition launched on February 25, 2022 its operation to liberate Mariupol.

[Roger]

Donbass Peoples Republic: Eternal Fire at Saur-Mogila lit with Fire from the Unknown Soldier Tomb in Moscow
Donetsk News Agency

May 9, 2022


   Saur-Mogila, May 9 - DAN. Representatives of the All-Russia People's Front have delivered a particle of the Eternal Flame from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow to the DPR, today it ignited the Eternal Flame on the legendary Saur-Mogila mound in the east of the Republic.

The event is dedicated to the 77th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War. According to the the patriotic action "The Fire of Memory" organizing, it is designed to bring a particle of the Eternal Flame from the very centre of Moscow to all remote parts of Russia and other countries, where this fire is a symbol of memory of the heroism of the participants of the WWII.

The fire is expected to be lit later today in the liberated areas of Donbass: in Mariupol, Volnovakha, Mangush and Urzuf.

Saur-Mogila is originally an ancient tumulus (kurgan) dating back to the 2nd millennium BC. In modern times, it is a strategic height in the Donets ridge. During World War II, Saur-Mogila was a place of intense fighting, and Soviet troops managed to retake control of it from occupying German forces in August 1943. A memorial with a 36-meter-high obelisk and a sculpture of a Soviet Warrior was opened here in 1963 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Saur-Mogila. During the war of 2014, the memorial was badly damaged.

The Head of the Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin lit the Eternal Flame at the monument to "Victims of Fascism" in Mariupol, liberated from Ukrainian occupation.

The ceremony was attended by representatives of the All-Russia People's Front (ONF), who brought flames from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow to the Republic.

The United Russia party has published the video of the event organized on May 9 to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The party took part in organizing the ceremony and spruced the place up together with local activists and members of other organizations.

Last night, as part of the Fire of Memory campaign, representatives of the ONF lit the Eternal Flame on the Saur-Mogila mound in the east of the DPR as they brought a particle of the Eternal Flame from the Unknown Soldier Tomb in Moscow.

[Roger]

Andrei Biletsky, the neo-Nazi father of Azov
Donbass Insider

May 9, 2022


   The supreme heroes of the West are the mostly neo-Nazi soldiers of the Azov regiment. These heroes, who smell of sulphur and swastikas, the Western journalists do not want to hear about them, they are only heroic fighters of the free and democratic Ukraine, a fabulous country where life was good before the Russian special operation. To counter this low propaganda broadcast by all the French public or even private media, it is necessary to understand who are the men behind this Azov regiment and first of all, their founder, whose story alone speaks for itself. The truth will come out, sooner or later, and all attempts to hide the thousands of Ukrainian neo-Nazi volunteers are doomed to failure. It was the same with the famous biological weapons that Iraq was supposed to have, and this lie was even attempted against Syria a few years later. Today, French and European journalists are painting a dream picture of this iconic unit, which, let's remember, was just one of many of its kind, the infamous retaliation battalions, that horribly illustrated themselves in eastern Ukraine and the Donbass, starting in 2014. So who is Andrei Biletsky, the founder of Azov?

From neo-Nazi militias and ratonades to racial cleansing of populations. Born in 1979 into an ordinary family, Biletsky had followed a university career as a history student. He had worked on a thesis on the Ukrainian army of collaboration with Nazi Germany, the UPA, which flew the black and red flag and the ultranationalist trident. It should be remembered that it was noted for the abominable massacres of the summer of 1944 in Volhynia (between 80 and 200,000 Poles massacred). After successfully defending his thesis, he worked as a teacher at the University of Kharkov (early 2000s), having been active in neo-Nazi and ultra-nationalist groups for a long time in his youth. This led him to support the Serbian cause against Kosovo, not out of Slavic solidarity, but to "defend the supremacy of the white race" and against the "Islamisation of Europe". He soon joined the Ukrainian National Socialist Party (2003, now renamed Svoboda), and founded a paramilitary organisation called Patriot Ukraine. This group, transformed into a militia, took part in hit actions, outside of any legality, to "clean up the cities of Ukraine of trafficking, tackle drug trafficking, migrants and undocumented migrants" (2005-2010). During these activities of beatings, undeclared demonstrations, and actions defined as "civic disobedience", Biletsky was arrested for the first time in a direct confrontation with the police (18 September 2008).

The ideas advocated by this sulphurous character are well known, so much so that it is difficult to believe that the West can hide their content. In addition to the supremacy of the white race, Biletsky claimed to defend the West, to want the destruction of democracy in Europe, the destruction of capitalism and of the "Zionist international", which would be replaced by "Nazocracy", which are his own words. As a historian, Biletsky, in addition to the conspiracy theory that was very much a part of his rhetoric, was also committed to revisionism, rewriting the history of the Ukrainian people, whose roots, according to him, lay in the Scythian civilisation, which he linked to the Cossacks, in an attempt to erase the real origin of the Kiev Rus'. Going much further than the Nazis, he went so far as to declare that the latter had not taken into account the need to racially cleanse the population, including the Aryan population, in order to eradicate degenerate subjects, such as alcoholism, drug addiction and others. His idea was to take into account "the biological character of each family". Going much further than American eugenics, he proposed the total and literal cleansing of the race, stating that the Ukrainian national culture was derived from the people, not from their history, religion, heritage, or language. He even declared that "the historical mission of the Ukrainian nation at this critical moment is to lead the white peoples of the world in the last crusade for its existence, and to fight against the sub-humanity led by the Semites".

From the ultranationalist vendetta to the anarchy of Maidan. Its verbal and ideological violence only increased, until the arrest of the main leaders of its militia (August 2011), due to a shoot-out between its members (notably a certain Sergei Kolesnik). The ideological dispute turned into a fierce vendetta, and he was seriously wounded by a henchman of his group, who shot him several times with a revolver (19 November). In response, he organized an attack on the dissident group, and was arrested for assaulting Kolesnik, and sentenced to two months in prison (December 2011). His imprisonment led to a campaign of political agitation and demonstrations, crying political repression in several Ukrainian cities (Kiev, Kharkov, Lvov, Zhitomir, etc.) which led to the arrest and conviction of many activists for attempted murder, assault and robbery. The launching of the Maïdan operation by the American CIA gave him the chance to show his mettle and to finally emerge from the shadows and the sinister neo-Nazi agitations. The success of this colorful revolution had as a direct consequence, a law of the Rada of Ukraine, which pardoned all the members of his group, considered from then on as "political prisoners" having undergone the repressions of the pro-Russian regime in Kiev (February 2014). Highly visible, he became a member of the ultranationalist and neo-Nazi party Pravy Sektor (March) and was appointed head of the regions of Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk and Poltava (12 March). At the same time, his good services were recognized and he obtained an important position in the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior, with extended powers. It is easy to imagine the terrible repressions that took place under his aegis in the regions under his control.

From the Azov regimental command to the seat of deputy. It was then that the Azov Battalion was formed, mainly with members of the Pravy Sektor party, soon reinforced by neo-Nazis from all over Europe (including the French). Under his leadership the battalion took part in the Mariupol massacre (9 May 2014), and the ensuing massacres, rackets, kidnappings and political repressions up to and including assassinations. For this operation, President Poroshenko did not hesitate to decorate him with the "order for courage" (2 August), then with the rank of lieutenant-colonel and head of the Azov battalion (18 September). However, his extremism worried the liberal fringe, but despite political pressure to oust him, he ran as an independent candidate in the Rada elections and was soon elected (26 October). Now a member of parliament, he was integrated into the Commission for National Security and Defense, and was mostly absent from the Rada benches having participated in only 2% of the votes during his mandate! The little he presented as bills, ended up in the dustbin of history, his ideology going too far, and clashing with the capitalist social-democratic oligarchs in power in Ukraine.

He attempted a power grab, declaring that President Poroshenko was preparing a crackdown on Ukrainian ‘patriots' and organized a ‘day of rage' (9 March 2019). He also tried to expose the corruption of the oligarchs, saying he was ready to publish documents implicating the highest state officials (11 March). He was soon trapped by the SBU's political police, notably through phone tapping that implicated him in the illegal purchase of a point weapon, or the denunciation of the beating of opponents and troublemakers within the Azov regiment. Discredited and very cumbersome for Ukraine, anxious to get rid of such a standard-bearer, he nevertheless tried to get re-elected to his seat, in the ranks of the National Socialist Party of Ukraine (Svoboda), but could not succeed and became a simple citizen (August 2019). Subsequently, Biletsky became an opponent of the Zelensky regime, organising demonstrations ‘against the capitulards', including in front of his house, and that the Ukrainian president ‘could not be a spokesman for the national interests of the Ukrainian people» (It should be remembered that antisemitic ideology is an essential backbone of Pravy Sektor). It protested even more virulently during the evacuation by Ukrainian troops of a village in the Lugansk region (October), and then gradually disappeared from the political scene.

Three million dollars for his silence. Since then, his Azov friends have remained what they are and are still serving in the ranks of that regiment. Some have already been killed by the Russians, the rest will soon be taken in the coming surrender. Those who have been taken prisoner are systematically exposed on social networks. It's always the same story, talking tattoos, memorabilia to the glory of Nazi Germany and the "heroes of Ukraine", as well as phones full of pictures that deceive no one. Biletsky, since then, has been washed clean by a discreet and virtual disappearance of the worst information on the Internet. A skilful job by Western and Ukrainian services has eliminated the character's visibility. But enough remains to understand (especially in Russian). The question of his current fate has inflamed Russia, on the issue of the geolocation of the famous Ukrainian neo-Nazi. He is indeed under the law, both for his activities during the Maidan, as a figure of neo-Nazism in Ukraine and for the Mariupol massacre and the abuses during the ATO operation. However, he appeared on social media to make various irrelevant (and hostile to Zelensky) statements, and when asked about this, the head of the Azov regiment said he was not on the battlefront but on the political front. However, Russians believe that he has already fled abroad. This is interesting because Ukraine has no interest in him being caught by Russia. His exfiltration from Ukraine therefore seems very plausible. Yesterday an article appeared which revealed that Biletsky has made a deal with President Zelensky, the terms of which are a payment of three million dollars for the silence of the former MP and the neo-Nazis of the Azov Regiment, as well as a helicopter to evacuate the current head of the regiment, Denis Prokopenko. Criticism of the former Azov leader has effectively fallen silent for about 15 days. Prokopenko gave an interview published today, it is unlikely that he will be able to leave the Azovstal ruins alive except as a prisoner of Russia.

Laurent Brayard for Donbass Insider

[Roger]

   Ukraine uses extrajudicial detentions playing by the US, British book
Donetsk News Agency

June 3, 2022


   Donetsk, Jun 3 - DAN. Ukrainian authorities use US and British methods when illegally apprehend its citizens, the DPR Ombudswoman Daria Morozova said.

"Today we invited you to shed light on flagrant crimes of Ukrainian special services," she said, addressing a press conference at the DAN news agency.

"Since the beginning of the special operation, we have been receiving information on kidnapping of relatives of the DPR service members and public officials, and their confinement to special jails," Morozova said. According to available information, Ukrainian security forces use unlawful methods of investigation.

"The usage of extrajudicial detentions is within the US and British methodology," she added.

She said that according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner, from April 2014 to April 2022, up to 4,000 people were arbitrarily detained due to the conflict in Donbass. At the same time, 60 pc of these detentions are illegal.