Global Thinker

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged the bodies of the fallen soldiers. 212 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to 45 bodies of Russian soldiers. The 3 past exchanges of the fallen soldiers now stand at overall 451 dead Ukrainians exchanged for 104 dead Russians.

For the US leadership and NATO Ukrainians are Russians from Ukraine who are killing the Russians from Russia just to be called Ukrainians. Of course they will support a war like this for as long as they can. A win-win situation. Nobody cares about Ukraine's losses.

The 4 terrorists that attacked the Crocus City Hall On 22 March in Moscow, killing 145 people. Today their detention was extended for 3 months.

Aleksey Dyumin, former Putin bodyguard was just appointed as Putin's personal aide. Dyumin once prevented potential encounter between Putin and a Russian bear in the mountains. According to Dyumin, President Putin was already resting when he was informed “via radio” that a bear was standing at the door: “The bear is at your entrance.” “At first I thought that someone was joking there,” Dyumin noted. But when I approached the door, which was glass around the perimeter, I realized that there was no time for jokes. “I, of course, am armed, the president is upstairs... So, the teddy bear and I looked into each other’s eyes, he retreated a little, I opened the door and unloaded the entire clip of the pistol at his feet,” says Alexey Dyumin, noting that he felt sorry to kill the animal. The beast turned out to be intelligent and slowly left the area of the presidential guard. When Putin learned about the incident, Dyumin says in conclusion, he praised him “for not shooting at the teddy bear.”

Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia's armed forces to hold drills with non-strategic nuclear weapons of the Southern Military District. While the district is right next to Ukraine, what some might not notice that it in fact now includes all the territories annexed by Russia as stated in the decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated February 26, 2024 No. 141, "On the military-administrative division of the Russian Federation." Republic of Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions as well as the city of Sevastopol are all part of the Southern Military District together with 13 other regions. It doesn't mean that Russian tactical nuclear weapons are already stationed there, nonetheless the proximity to the front lines is interesting. Full message from Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation: ''On behalf of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, in order to increase the readiness of non-strategic nuclear forces to carry out combat tasks, the General Staff began preparations for an exercise with Southern MD's missile formations involving aviation as well as the Navy. During the exercise, a set of measures will be taken to practise the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons. The purpose of the exercises is to maintain the readiness of combat units' personnel and equipment of non-strategic nuclear weapons to react and, in order to definitely ensure Russia's territorial integrity and sovereignty, in response to provocative statements and threats made by certain Western officials against the Russian Federation.'' There is certainly a subtle message here, considering Crimea as well as Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions are now included in the Russian constitution as Russian territories. Meaning they're also part of Russia's territorial integrity and if Ukraine attempts to recapture this territory Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons. The same district would be using them, that will be holding those drills. Southern Military District in the decree № 141 on the military-administrative division of the Russian Federation includes the following regions: within the administrative borders of the Republic of Adygea, Republic of Dagestan, Donetsk People's Republic, Republic of Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Republic of Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Republic of Crimea, Lugansk People's Republic, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Chechen Republic, Krasnodar and Stavropol Krais, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Zaporozhye, Rostov, and Kherson regions, city of Sevastopol.

''Moscow is warning Washington, London and Brussels that any aggressive actions against Crimea are doomed to failure and will be followed by retaliation strike,'' Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. According to her, Kiev is openly preparing for an attack on the Crimean Bridge with the support of the West.

All roads lead to Odessa. The US, UK and France all need it to remain inside Ukraine not allowing Russia to take over all of Ukraine's ports. Ukraine needs the ports to remain a functional state. Russia needs Odessa for the safety of Crimea and the Russian fleet there. The solution that is being discussed long-term by some experts can be a Russian base in Odessa region to guarantee the neutrality of Ukraine and free access to Transnistria to supply the Russian military base there. For this to be considered by Ukraine's backers Russia has to achieve big victories elsewhere in Ukraine and threaten where there is a credible risk Ukraine could lose Odessa and Nikolaev regions outright as opposed to a deal and negotiations about the future of the region.

First sign of Zaluzhny being alive in over a month? Ukrainian journalist Maryna Shashkova uploaded a photo on her Facebook account together with the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army with the message ''Let us go to Britain?'' Zaluzhny was replaced on 8 February. On 7 March, president Zelensky named Valerii Zaluzhny as the new Ukrainian ambassador to the UK. Zaluzhny still remains in Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged the bodies of the fallen soldiers. 140 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers to 36 bodies of Russian soldiers. The previous exchange took place on 12 April when Russia returned 99 bodies for 23 bodies of Russian soldiers. Overall now 239 to 59. Meanwhile in the media and on this site we keep hearing about Russian human wave attacks and how Russia has 5-10 times more casualties than Ukraine. Yet Russia is forced to give back 4 bodies of dead Ukrainian soldiers to return every 1 dead Russian soldier.

Kharkov television tower that was struck by Russia today. In 2022 on March 6 the same tower and the stations administrative building were struck by eight FAB-500 bombs from a Russian Su-34 fighter jet, the station's administrative building and the tower's self-supporting metal structure sustained heavy damage as the result. The fighter jet was shot down by Ukrainian armed forces right after the bombs were dropped. The pilot was captured and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was exchanged in May 2023 together with 2 other pilots, in return for 3 pilots Ukraine received 45 soldiers captured in Mariupol. More than 2 years later Russia is evolving. It struck the tower today right where it wanted to, the top snapped off, without any risk for Russian fighter jets and pilots.