Ukraine Situation Report: As soon as the troops arrive, the Russians find a way out of the genocide

Ukrainian troops are said to have advanced north along the Belarusian border after the rapid withdrawal of Russian troops north of Kiev, but in doing so have discovered the bloody, dire consequences of Russian occupation.

By the time the Kyiv attack was over, for the time being, Russia had hit fuel storage tanks in Odessa with cruise missiles. Over the past few weeks, Russia has been deliberately destroying Ukraine’s energy supplies. It came with multiple indications and reports indicating that Russian forces should be restructured to consolidate control of the Donbass.

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Warning: There are graphic elements at the bottom of this story.

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The free towns of Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, north of Kiev, are active crime scenes as Ukrainians find growing evidence of atrocities at the hands of Russian occupying forces. A Ukrainian prosecutor Told AFP On Sunday, they found 410 dead civilians in a restored area of ​​the Kyiv region.

Two hundred and eighty people were reportedly dumped in a mass grave in Bucha, Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said in an interview. The Washington Post. Satellite images show the location of the tomb in a so-called church

The reports come a day after Ukrainian troops and observers literally had to weave in some graphic footage between civilian organizations on the streets of Bukhara since the start of the war. Many of the slain army-aged men were shot while their hands were tied. The remains are compared to an unofficial Russian military term, Zachistkar, associated with “mop-up” operations in the Second Chechen War.

There are even more alarming reports of torture, rape and murder at the hands of Russian occupiers in Bucha and Irpin, which Russia denies amid widespread Western condemnation. Terrible human toll is bad enough on its own, but there is also the risk of both unexploded ordnance (UXO) and Russian-read mines or booby traps to cover their withdrawal.

Perhaps the most haunting realization, however, is this satellite image from the occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, where Russian forces have reportedly dug up 800 new grave plots in the city’s cemetery. In the wake of the Bucha and Irpin incidents, there are concerns that similar massacres are taking place in the southern administrative centers of about 300,000 people detained by Russian forces for nearly a month.

The bomber struck shortly after noon in the Black Sea port of Odessa when cruise missiles struck several fuel storage tanks. It was not immediately clear what type of missile Russia used in the attack.

Russia has often targeted Ukrainian fuel supplies, the bright fire from the attack on Vasylkiv in the first few days of the war comes to mind. Sunday’s strike, however, could be seen as a convenient retaliation after a strategic attack to disrupt Ukrainian fuel reserves or a raid on a Russian fuel depot in Belgorod before the planned attack in southern Ukraine. You can read our coverage of that attack and its effects here. Russia has recently stockpiled similar fuels in central and western Ukraine to stifle the country’s energy supply.

The threat posed by a Russian amphibious operation to seize Odessa has reportedly prompted the UK to search for anti-ship missiles for Ukraine.

With the withdrawal of Russian troops, Ukrainian troops have reached the Belarusian border. Troops pose in front of the Cantonment Sarcophagus at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The first day of the war saw intense fighting in and around the boycott area of ​​the plant as Russian troops poured CCTV cameras into the border.

The Ukrainian advance comes when it appears that Russian forces are actually redeploying from the northern front. Satellite imagery seems to confirm this because a large number of Su-25SM2 frogfoot close air support aircraft have left Luninets Air Base in Belarus.

If these jets left Belarus in the true sense of the word, they would probably reappear in Donbass to support Russian troops.

In addition, there are reports from US intelligence that Russian President Vladimir Putin may soon announce the name of an independent commander for the Russian war in Ukraine, withdrawing from various commands overseeing operations for six weeks after the war.

Such a change could be effective in bringing operations under one control rather than multiple headquarters, and the move would likely provide more direct top-down control from Moscow. CNN reports that Putin is likely to be interested in finding some victories that Russia could claim to celebrate the annual May 9 Victory Day celebrations in Russia on the eve of the end of World War II.

Russia reached another milestone for its losses in Ukraine on Sunday, with forensic open-source investigators confirming that more than 400 tanks have been lost so far.

In that note of damage, the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces claimed to have killed a single-seat Su-35 fighter near Izumi. The video shows the plane crashing into the ground before troops later reached the wreckage. It is not clear if the SAM system landed the aircraft.

The pilot of the plane was reportedly detained by Ukrainian forces. This is the first confirmed killing of a Su-35 since the war began. Despite being essentially a fighter, earlier this month images showed Belarus’ Su-35s loaded with Kh-31P anti-radiation missiles to suppress enemy air defense (SEAD) role, possibly damaging the jet to target Ukrainian SAMs. . The country. We have written about how Russian air operations over Ukraine may change as the war progresses and you can read about it here.

We will continue to update this post with new information until we say otherwise.

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