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[Strongpoint]

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov: “If Ukraine continues its provocations by attacking Russian cities, Russia will be forced to declare war"

[Telgin]

And what practical difference would that make?  Russia has been claiming that this was a "special military operation" or whatever, but do they even have any capability to deploy more forces than they already have?

I guess it makes more sense if it's just a propaganda tactic to deflect internal dissent.

[nenjin]

If this is what Russian "not war" looks like, what do they escalate to? The nukes?

[Quarque]

And what practical difference would that make?  Russia has been claiming that this was a "special military operation" or whatever, but do they even have any capability to deploy more forces than they already have?

I guess it makes more sense if it's just a propaganda tactic to deflect internal dissent.

That's what I was thinking. It could also be that this is a way for them to explain to their own people why there are so many soldiers dying if it is "not a war".

Then again, the Kremlin is lying so much that guessing their real intentions is like trying to read tea leaves.

[EuchreJack]

Russia swear revenge for alleged attacks on the Russian village of Klimovo.
Russia claims a Ukrainian attack helicopter attacked the village.

Ukraine denies, saying this is exactly what they warned for a few days ago, that Russia would attack it's own civilians to create more anti-Ukraine sentiment.

Russia says it will hit Kyiv with bombs and rocket attacks in revenge for the 'terrorist sabotage attacks on Russia'.

Frankly, I wouldn't put it past Russia to build up a village just so they could attack it themselves and blame Ukraine, but lets get back to the Junior Reporting.
Which means posting links from sources, then posting links from other sources, then fact checking the crap out of these things.

[brewer bob]

BBC reports that one more Russian general is dead.

Spoiler: from BBC live updates (click to show/hide)

Another Russian general reported dead

The deputy commander of the 8th army of Russia's armed forces, Vladimir Petrovich Frolov, has died in the war in Ukraine, the Russian news agency TASS has reported.

The news was confirmed by St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov. Beglov said: "Vladimir Petrovich Frolov died a heroic death in battle with Ukrainian nationalists."

The governor said Frolov "sacrificed his life so that children, women and the elderly in the Donbas would no longer hear bomb explosions. To stop waiting for death and leaving home, to say goodbye as if it were the last time".

But most of the shelling taking place in Ukraine is being carried out by Russia.

Throughout the war several Russian generals and high-ranking military personnel have been reported dead. It is unusual for such high-ranking officers to put themselves in danger by getting so close to the battlefield, and Western sources believe that they have done so in order to get some control over operations which have, in some areas, badly stalled.

[JoshuaFH]

ptw

[King Zultan]

How many generals is that now?

[brewer bob]

How many generals is that now?

Seven or eight.

[martinuzz]

One could say the war is starting to significantly affect Russia's general population

[Strongpoint]

Putin Decorates Army Unit That Ukraine Blames for Bucha Deaths

[brewer bob]

The anticipated assault on the eastern region is underway.

Battle for the Donbas now underway - Zelensky

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says the "battle for the Donbas" is now underway.

His comments follow warnings from other senior officials that Russia has begun its much anticipated assault on the eastern region on Monday.

"We can now confirm that Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, which they have been preparing for a long time. A large part of the Russian army is now dedicated to this offensive"
--President Volodymyr Zelensky

[EuchreJack]

One could say the war is starting to significantly affect Russia's general population

HA HA!

[brewer bob]

According to the Guardian, Russia has deployed ~20000 cannon fodder mercenaries in Donbas.

Russia deploys up to 20,000 mercenaries from Syria, Libya and elsewhere in Donbas

Russia has deployed up to 20,000 mercenaries from Syria, Libya and elsewhere in Ukraine’s Donbas region, sent into battle with no heavy equipment or armoured vehicles, according to a European official.

The official said the estimates of mercenary involvement on the ground in eastern Ukraine range from 10,000 to 20,000 and that it was hard to break down that figure between Syrians, Libyans and other fighters recruited by the Russian mercenary company, the Wagner Group.

“What I can tell you is that we did see some transfer from these areas, Syria and Libya, to the eastern Donbas region, and these guys are mainly used as a mass against the Ukrainian resistance,” the official told reporters. “It’s infantry. They don’t have any heavy equipment or vehicles.”

The mercenaries are being thrown into the Russian effort to capture as much as possible of eastern Ukraine, in what western defence officials have described as a rush to have some sort of victory that Vladimir Putin can announce at the 9 May military parade in Moscow commemorating the second world war.

The Kremlin is seen as having four objectives in this second phase of its war in Ukraine, the European official said:

• Capturing the Donbas.
• Securing a land bridge to Crimea, in which the besieged city of Mariupol is key.
• Seizing Kherson Oblast to secure the supply of fresh water to Crimea.
• Capturing additional territory that could be used as a buffer or a bargaining chip in negotiations.

[brewer bob]

Russia is allegedly using bunker-busters against the Azovstal plant, the Guardian reports.

Russia has been hitting the Azovstal steel plant, the main remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the city of Mariupol, with bunker-buster bombs, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has claimed.

“The world watches the murder of children online and remains silent,” Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

Mariupol’s city council said on Monday that over 1,000 civilians were sheltering in basement premises underneath the Azovstal plant.

Russia has denied targeting civilians.