Thread by @TWMCLtd

We've reached 6 weeks of full scale war and arguably #Russia is in a worse position than after Day One in #Ukraine.

This is the daily thread on the major developments and my analysis after 20 years working in Ukraine and studying Putin.

Thanks to everyone for tip-offs. Read on!

Bombing and shelling continued in many Ukrainian cities overnight.
Late yesterday #Ukraine said that #Russia was preparing to surrender #Kherson, the only major city it controls.

The UK's daily intelligence update doesn't add much new information.

Following the horrors of #Bucha, the hints from #Borodyanka - I imagine we will get more from other settlements around #Kyiv today.

The capital's police says they've already recorded 1,200 alleged instances of war crimes committed by Russia.

The #UK's former Chief of Staff has said what's happening in #Ukraine "is looking like genocide plotted from the top." (Putin)

Lord Dannatt added "it looks like a concerted effort to reduce Ukraine's population.

In Novomoskovsk there were reports of explosions overnight and this morning #Dnipropetrovsk regional authority has confirmed damage.

An oil depot's been destroyed and a plant has caught set on fire. Emergency services are still fighting the fire - no one's reported to be injured

In #Lviv, near the Polish border, explosions too.
The local admin reported damage near Radekhiv, but no injuries here either.

#Russia's forces say it was also an oil depot and claim further hits on fuel storage at #Prosnaya and #Mykolaiv.

#StandWithUkraine

#Russia's daily briefing also reveals they finally shot down a drone over #Chornobaivka, the now famous airfield at #Kherson.

Russian command say they've downed over 400 Ukrainian drones and 218 aircraft.

#StopRussia

The US is preparing a whole new load of military equipment for #Ukraine.

Among the donations will be anti-tank drones known as Switchblade-600.

Meanwhile America's top military officer predicts the war will drag on for years.

#Ukraine is still concerned about things on the #Moldova border. Intelligence says that in self-declared state of Transnistria they are readying the airport for large arrivals. Ukraine fears an assault on nearby #Odesa from the puppet state as well as from the Black Sea warships

Russia claims it launched two Onyx missiles from the Black Sea at unnamed targets on mainland #Ukraine this morning:

t.me/bbbreaking/121…

#Ukraine is reported to have fired at Russian border guards late yesterday.

Russia claims it repelled the incident at Sudzhansky district in the state of #Kursk.

#Netherlands says it has impounded 14 Russian-owned yachts. They are all believed to belong to sanctioned oligarchs though registered with others.

Not #Ukraine, but interesting #Russia news.

Some may remember huge protests every week in the very far east of #Russia over rigged local elections. Covid stopped the protests.

Well now the guy stopped from becoming governor of Primorsky Krai, Andrey Ishchenko, has been arrested

Some more on the above tweet:
Ishchenko beat Govt candidate Tarasenko in election to be governor of Primorsky, yet somehow lost by 1.5%, it led to huge protests.
The election was re-held but he was barred from running. Now he's in jail for "fraud"
More protests in the far east?

Not sure if this is significant or not, but #India has been tacitly supporting #Russia despite the illegal war.

But now the nation's airline has cancelled flights on the Delhi-Moscow route.

Wow. Just read that #Russia's doctors, medics, even hospital janitors are being forced to donate to country's war chest.

Remarkably #Putin's quietly signed a new law to deduct cash from salaries of all employees of the Federal Medical & Biological Agency

thebell.io/rossiyskim-med…

There've been ongoing battles around #Rubizhne in #Luhansk oblast.

A few days ago the town's mayor Sergey Gortov was exposed as a Russian sympathiser.
#Ukraine intelligence now says the treason is far worse - he was revealing names of local activists

pravda.com.ua/news/2022/04/6…

Here's the daily update from #Ukraine on Russian losses in #PutinsWar.
Almost 700 tanks now and 285 aircraft/helicopters destroyed.

#StopRussia #SaveUkraine

#Berlin #Germany

#IAmBucha #StandWithUkraine

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1511478436589674501?t=LiY-bMSwD3AoZgR01t6hjA&s=19

Missiles reported to have landed in #Vinnytsia region.
No further details yet. State authorities say they are "assessing the damage"

#StandWithUkraine

#Ukraine has recaptured some villages in #Kherson region. It's still not clear if Presidential spokesman Arestovich was serious about Russia preparing to hand over the city itself.

Meanwhile a Kherson councillor, Serhiy Maksymenko has been abducted by Russian soldiers.

167 Ukrainian children are confirmed to have died in #PutinsWar.

The real figure will be way higher, probably the true number will never be known. #Russia's goons have been "cleaning" #Mariupol of bodies, destroying evidence as well as forcibly deporting some families to Russia.

Speaking of #Mariupol' - the 'ckeaning' is the main reason why @ICRC, a Turkish aid mission + western journalists continue to be denied access

Evidence of mobile crematoria being brought in to the city to remove all trace of the 5000+ civilian dead

24tv.ua/rosiyani-prive…

#Putin sent not only young contract soldiers, not only conscripts, but students to fight his war in #Ukraine.

#Ukraine intelligence released documents showing
cadets from the Moscow Higher Military Command School were forced into the theatre of war.

pravda.com.ua/news/2022/04/6…

The Pope holds 🇺🇦 flag sent to him from #Bucha, describing a massacre

"Increasingly horrendous cruelty, even against civilians, defenceless women and children...Stop this war!
From Bucha they brought me this flag. It comes from that martyred city, Bucha

photo credit: AFP/Getty

Two people have died and 5 injured when Russian troops opened fire at a humanitarian aid point in #Donetsk region.

State Governor Pavel Kirilenko made the claim, releasing these photos.

#SaveUkraine #StopRussia
#StandWithUkraine

More torture, execution and war crimes to be revealed soon says US OSCE

https://twitter.com/usosce/status/1511660055493496841

#Ukraine has given short shrift to Victor Orbán's claim that #Hungary has been given the green light to host peace talks involving Ukraine and Russia as well as Germany and France.

Surely Ukraine will refuse the offer of "Normandy Format" talks again too. #USA + #UK needed too.

As expected, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on Putin's two (known) grown up daughters.

Following the massacre of #Ukraine civilians in #Bucha, the State Dept has also put Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's wife and daughter on the sanctions list too.

More sanctions news just in...

#Britain has finally sanctioned Russia’s largest bank Sberbank.

The UK has also committed to end all imports of Russian coal + oil by the end of this year.

#StandWithUkraine

Great idea 👏👏
Come on 🇩🇪
Do you want to give more to a terrorist state or more to its victim?

https://twitter.com/David_K_Clark/status/1511720097538314240?t=mBkp1bAQMhyDR6aJoxN8JQ&s=19

Journalists from around the world filing their stories and videos from #Borodyanka today after the press trip there.

#StandWithUkraine #StopRussianAggression

https://twitter.com/JamesAALongman/status/1511663552041525253

And Ukraine sent up a drone to capture the extent of the destruction in the small town around 30 miles out of #Kyiv

This is #Borodyanka

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1511675504428044288

In #Kharkiv region three people have died after Russia shelled residential complexes.

The invading army seems to have a particular dislike for the town of #Balakliia. Previously there they've hit a hospital and later buses waitint to evacuate patients.

#SaveUkraine #StopRussia

The reality of being a war reporter!Press bus to Borodianka.

Wonder if the cat is giving interviews too?

#StandWithUkraine

Just back home - playing taxi driver for my daughter right now as she attends recalls for drama courses.

Currently catching up on the news and my sources in Ukraine and it appears to have been a fairly quiet day with headlines still dominated by the crimes in N+W #Kyiv.

One more dark crime to be added to the gruesome list this evening - in #Hostomel.
Police found 11 corpses in a garage, locals say they were shot for "practice" by Russian snipers.

Warning: link includes a video contain bodies/faces unblurred of the dead.

pravda.com.ua/news/2022/04/7…

A 20 year Belarusian girl says she's been raped by Russian soldiers in her hometown.

There is audio testimony from the young woman from #Mazyr near the Ukraine border. She says she was abducted by 3 drunk soldiers with a machine gun.

24tv.ua/pyani-rosiyski…