Ukraine Has Opened Nearly 500 Cases Of Treason

In a war with a neighboring country that shares a language and history, Ukraine is particularly focused on weeding out potential traitors, often referred to as “Gauleiters,” a reference to Nazi officials.

Tetiana Sapian, spokesperson for the State Bureau of Investigations says Ukrai ne has opened hundreds of cases of treason and collaboration since the start of the war, with multiple investigations underway concerning individuals suspected of collaborating with Russian forces, Ukrinform news agency reports."In total, since the beginning of the War, almost 480 cases of treason and collaboration have been opened, more than 100 suspects have been handed over, four indictments have been sent to court, and the first verdicts have already been handed down," Sapyan said.

Polish President Compares Putin To Hitler, Says No Point To Negotiate With Him

Polish President Andrzej Duda sees no reason to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin and believes that Western leaders are wasting their time talking to the Kremlin leader. "I am shocked by all the negotiations with Putin now. Chancellor Scholz, President Emmanuel Macron. These talks are futile,” Duda said in an interview with German newspaper Bild.”

What are they doing? They are only legitimizing the person responsible for the crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine. He is responsible for that. He accepted. The decision to send troops there is under the command of Vladimir Putin, did anyone talk to Adolf Hitler during World War II, did anyone say that Adolf Hitler should be saved, and that we should act so as not to humiliate Adolf Hitler? I heard that, " Duda said, apparently referring to a recent comment by Macron about not humiliating Putin..

Death Sentence For Two British And One Moroccan Soldiers For Fighting For Ukraine

Two Britons and a Moroccan, captured while fighting for Ukraine, were sentenced to death Thursday by a court in the pro-Russian self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), report several Russian news agencies.

This comes after they were first sentenced to 20 years in prison for “mercenary activities and committing actions aimed at seizing power and overthrowing the constitutional order of the DPR”.

Former French Soldier Makes Ukrainian War Crimes Claims On Russian TV

Claims by Adrien Bocquet, a former French soldier, that he had witnessed war crimes committed by the Ukrainian army have been largely already debunked or ignored by French media. But this week, the 31-year-old retired soldier appeared on Russian TV channel Vremya to spread his stories.

Bocquet claims he traveled to the Donbas region in mid-April for a humanitarian mission and that he witnessed war crimes and torture perpetrated against Russian soldiers by the Ukrainians, especially the Azov battalion. During the interview, he commented on the video appearing on screen in which Russian soldiers are shot dead by Ukrainian ones, saying “I saw this man alive. And a few minutes later, his head exploded.”

However, there is no proof Bocquet was in Donbas at that time, and contradictions have been flagged as Ukrainian authorities are denying he entered the country. Also the would-be crimes came before the Russian army was occupying the region. Several media sources declared that he also lied about his past as a commando, which he wrote about in a book: He was only part of the commando training before suffering an injury and becoming paraplegic.

“Other” Slavs And The Russian Mindset

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, history has resurfaced in myriad ways. And the question of the Slavic people is on the minds of Slovenian-born writer Andrej Mrevlje, who retraced both his own relationship with Russians, and how others see a sense of “superiority” emanating from Moscow and Saint Petersburg:

“After a Russian discovered my identity, they would begin speaking Russian to me in most cases. They always wondered why I did not answer them back in Russian. If we got involved in more intense conversation, I observed that Russians often had an air of superiority toward other Slavs; they felt more intelligent than the rest of the world. They seemed convinced that they were right and were a chosen people since they belonged to an empire state, no matter if it was Romanoff or socialist.

They only showed an appreciation for us, their minor cousins, when they needed support for their imperial attitude. Why? Just because I or any other minor Slav should, if nothing else, they thought, understand the Russian way of thinking. According to this principle, Slavs are wired to the Russian mind, yet it was evident that no other Slav would ever be equal to them.

Read the full piece here.

Russia Exports Grain From Ukraine

According to Russian-appointed officials in the occupied south of Ukraine, Russia is exporting grain from Ukraine overseas. This claim comes after Ukrainian officials accused Russia of stealing 600,000 tons of its grain and exporting some of it.

Being able to access the blocked grain in Ukraine is becoming an urgency. But the Russian navy is blocking Ukraine’s Black Sea Ports and says Ukraine must de-mine waters off the Black Sea coast for corridors to export the grain to become operational.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the grain problem with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara on Wednesday, but there was no breakthrough.

$1.7 Billion In Losses For Ukrainian Retailers

It’s a different kind of civilian infrastructure that Russia has been targeting: shopping centers, the heart of Ukraine’s retailing business, has been particularly hard hit since the invasion.

According to the Retailers Association of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers, 295 Ukrainian retailers, represented by 28,549 stores, suffered a total loss of $1.7 billion since the start of Russia’s invasion n on Feb. 24 to April 23.