Mikhail Mizintsev, the head of Russia’s joint coordination headquarters for humanitarian response, has announced that nationalist battalions have planted explosives at a dam in a reservoir in the town of Karlovka, in the Donetsk People’s Republic. In the event of an explosion, six settlements and over 10,000 people will be in the blast zone, and their drainage and water treatment facilities will suffer damage.

This explosion will worsen the epidemiological situation, and lead to the spread of infectious diseases. This, Mr. Mizintsev pointed out, is only the latest evidence of Kiev’s indifference to human life.

Mr. Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Management Center of Russia, commented: “Despite the Russian Federation’s efforts to evacuate peaceful civilians from the Azovstal steelworks, the powers in Kiev have cynically prevented this humanitarian operation from being carried out.  As of 20:00 Moscow time on 25 April 2022, no one has been able to use the humanitarian corridor that we have tried to facilitate. Officials in Kiev are constantly and publicly announcing that there are currently workers from the Azovstal plant, as well as some women and children, in the plant’s underground facilities, while at the same time they are rejecting all humanitarian initiatives by the Russian side, and are taking no practical steps to evacuate these people.”

The Russian military, together with armed forces from the people’s republics, are liberating more and more settlements from Ukrainian nationalist groups. The advance of motorized infantry and tank units is ensured by artillery — they are not called the “god of war” for nothing. This artillery provides reconnaissance of targets from drones, and precise aiming, volleys, and changes of position. Correspondent Guseyn Guseynov went on a combat mission with one of the units in the Lugansk People’ Republic.

Guseynov explained that the artillery operates non-stop, to ensure that the enemy is under constant fire. In order to ensure that they do not come under fire themselves, Russian units constantly change their positions.

Sergeant Velimir Trigub and his incursion team discovered a base being used by the nationalists.  Our boys were outnumbered in the battle, but more than 20 radicals were killed. At one moment Velimir and five of his comrades were separated from the rest of the team but managed to successfully hold off the enemies until reinforcements arrived.

Lieutenant colonel Andrey Naidanov was able to get one hundred personnel and 40 vehicles to the target area without loss of life. The convoy covered two hundred kilometres. On several occasions Naidanov led the group out of enemy fire by performing counter-strike maneuvers.

Sailor Sergey Voshkov was wounded as he participated in the liberation of a village. When a vehicle carrying ammunition came under enemy fire, he immediately jumped into the burning car and drove it away from the rest of the unit. Sergey managed to get out of the vehicle before it exploded, and returned to his team. He has been awarded with a bravery medal.

Russian military units have destroyed a base belonging to the Ukrainian army where weapons were being stored. The Defense Ministry has announced that a large quantity of arms and ammunition was found at a warehouse.

In addition, the warehouse contained a workshop where damaged vehicles had been repaired before being sent back into battle. As they fled from the location, Ukrainian groups left behind all their equipment, belongings and other items, including personal documents. 

Vladimir, the head of the unit’s transportation service, commented: ‘We have seized this military equipment, and it is now in our possession. There are about a hundred items of various makes —  Tunguska and Shilka anti-aircraft weapons, radar systems, and equipment for servicing military hardware”.

Significant negotiations about providing Ukraine with military support are to be held at the Rammstein American airbase in Germany. Twenty countries have confirmed that they will take part in the talks, including some from outside NATO. All the attendees have been invited by the United States.

As the Pentagon has already announced, the parties want to discuss existing supplies of arms, and possible amendments to their deliveries to satisfy the demands of the Kiev authorities. The Americans have already been supplying Ukraine with weapons and ammunition for several months, totaling approximately four billion dollars. This is without taking supplies from other nations into account. 

On the eve of these negotiations, Poland confirmed that it has sent another consignment of tanks to Kiev. Great Britain will give self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, armored vehicles, and bouncing munitions. It is likely that almost a hundred more tanks will arrive from Germany, although German media reports that these tanks will not be new.

Outside of Ukraine, the arming of the country with weapons and equipment has gotten out of control. This was announced by foreign minister Sergey Lavrov before his appearance on the programme ‘The Great Game’. The Pentagon has previously openly admitted that it cannot keep track of how many weapons the United States has given to Kiev.

Some of the weapons that the West is equipping Kiev with are being used by Ukrainian nationalist groups and the Ukrainian army to destroy villages in the Donbass. But in the places where armed gangs have already caused damage, people are gradually settling back into a normal, peaceful life. 

Sergey Yailo, one of the volunteers, commented: “Someone has to do this, because this is my city, and I want to live here. And to be able to live here, we need to clean up. So everyone should come out and put things back into place. Everything is damaged right now, but it will be great again.”