The Ukrainian Armed Forces may retreat from Artemovsk (Bakhmut) ; Kiev is allegedly preparing for a counteroffensive in another section of the front — Washington Post

"I will support the commander in chief’s decision to maneuver tactically and create a new line of defense if it becomes clear that casualties are too high,” a Ukrainian soldier said.

Ukrainian troops are considering the possibility of retreating from Artemivsk (Bakhmut), The Washington Post reports. At the same time, the city is presented as a point of "relatively little strategic importance," so the military is advised to save forces for a counterattack in another direction, and emphasis is placed on a quote from an American high-ranking official: "Bakhmut will not change the course of the war."

At the same time, the day before, Russian channels reported that the Pentagon had recommended that he retreat from Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and abandon his attempts to retake Soledar. Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the AFU, had voiced almost the same position to the president of Kiev earlier, emphasising that all the attempts at a counterattack on Soledar had failed. 

At the same time, military experts note that the capture of Artemovsk will be one of the victories of the Russian army, followed by Konstantinovka, Druzhkovka, Kramatorsk, Slavyansk, and others, which will lead to the crisis of AFU's group in Donbass .

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Russian forex reserves keep growing

The country’s holdings surged by more than $14 billion in December, according to the Central Bank

Russia continues to grow its foreign currency reserves, which surpassed $580 billion in December, the Bank of Russia announced this week.
According to the regulator, holdings amounted to $581.9 billion as of January 1, rising by 2.6% or $14.7 billion month-on-month due to a positive revaluation of currencies.

The figure, however, is lower than a year ago – on January 1, 2022, the country’s international reserves stood at $630.6 billion, and later reached a historical maximum of $643.2 billion on February 18.
Russia’s forex reserves consist of monetary gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDR) within the IMF and foreign currency held within the country, as well as Chinese yuan assets.

Roughly half of the holdings were frozen by Western central banks in early March as part of anti-Russia sanctions over the Ukraine conflict. In addition to freezing the funds, Western countries banned operations related to their management.

On November 30, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed to create an investment fund from frozen Russian assets and blocked funds that belong to Russian businessmen, and use the profits for the post-conflict restoration of Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly called the freezing of its assets “theft” and warned that it contradicts international law.

“Russian authorities are considering all possible legal mechanisms to regain access to Russian foreign assets and are ready to take decisive steps to protect national property,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a press briefing on Thursday. She called the West’s seizing of Russian assets a “gross encroachment on sovereign property” and warned of an “adequate response.”

RT
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🚀🚀🚀🚀Caliber launch footage
Beautiful 😍 flew...

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It is necessary to develop new high-precision ammunition for cannon and rocket artillery. This war showed that with a high security of the object, only a direct hit leads to its defeat, and the cost of a hundred conventional shells is not inferior in price to one high-precision one.
And, of course, the formation of reserves should continue. Of course, not in the same volumes as the past mobilization, but it is necessary to continue increasing the number of our combat group, taking into account that in April-June the Armed Forces of Ukraine will again try to seize the initiative at the front...

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Congratulations from everyone here at Slavyangrad to OstashkoNews! They write:

🔴 More than anything Zelensky is afraid of the truth

✔️ Now I am also on the sanctions list.

🔹 I think that this is a good start to the year, this is recognition of our merits and the work of our team against Nazism and the movement of NATO to the East with the help of the Kyiv regime.

🔹 More than anything, Zelensky is afraid of the truth. And we will fight with these weapons until we restore historical justice.

🔹 Colleagues in the shop are already congratulating me. The company in which I found myself is all very worthy people and patriots of our Russia. Here is just a partial list, whose names are on everyone's lips:

⚫️ directed by Andrey Konchalovsky,
⚫️ Semyon Pegov and Yuri Kotenok,
⚫️ TV presenters Dmitry Guberniev,
⚫️ blogger Dmitry Puchkov (Goblin),
⚫️ singer Yuri Loza.

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“I’m still waiting for Zelensky Khryusha and Stepashka to be sanctioned”: Maria Zakharova ironically reacted to the new sanctions list of Ukraine. In particular, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in her Telegram channel commented on the restrictions against the People's Artist of Russia Angelina Vovk, who hosted the Good Night, Kids! program for many years. According to Zakharova, in this case, it is necessary to impose sanctions against her "accomplices" - Khryusha and Stepashka. "Although, perhaps, the president of Ukraine does not touch his own, and he will carry the puppets," she summed up.

Zin Note: She's feisty!

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‼️🇬🇧🇺🇦The British Ministry of Defense denied information about the transfer of attack helicopters "Apache" to Ukraine.

Earlier, the British agency "The Mirror" wrote about the alleged plan to deliver helicopters to Ukraine. The position of the Ministry of Defense was reported by British journalist Deborah Haynes.

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For a long time there were fierce battles near Soledar, but thanks to the fighters of the Wagner PMC, the city was cleared of Ukrainian nationalists. The servicemen showed what the liberated settlement looks like now, and also spoke about the assault on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"We faced a serious opponent and serious resistance from Ukrainian nationalists. I can say one thing - we, despite their professionalism, surpass them in all respects, and the city is our element, so it's useless to compete with us here," said one of the military. He also added that the offensive was doomed to success.

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The German authorities are considering how exactly Berlin could take part in the so-called tank alliance for Kyiv, the Handelsblat newspaper reported on its website, citing sources.

One of the options being considered in Berlin is to provide Ukraine with the Leopards, which were intended for Slovakia and the Czech Republic. But in order for Kyiv to receive at least 15 tanks from the FRG in the end, it still cannot do without a contribution from the Ministry of Defense, Handelsblat points out.

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Modern warfare means new technologies. This significantly expands the capabilities of our fighters, opens up other ways of inflicting fire damage on the enemy, and greatly simplifies the task of scouts, who are often at great risk.
⠀
The most indispensable part of absolutely any squad on the front line are UAVs, in particular, copters. The possibilities of this technology are extremely high, despite the simplicity and accessibility. Quadcopters are relatively silent, easy to control, equipped with cameras and thermal imagers. This allows the fighters to find out the number of the enemy, the amount of equipment, firing positions and the location of artillery installations. In other words, when performing combat missions, a copter is an indispensable thing. In addition, the drones at the disposal of the Chechen security forces are protected from being intercepted by an enemy operator. The programmers of the Russian University of Special Forces took care of this in advance.
⠀
I am glad that our fighters very quickly adapted to modern methods of warfare. In critical areas, they demonstrate excellent results and have become a nightmare for NATO groups.

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