The situation in the Ukrainian SMO on April 15 2025

How Russia Besieged Ukraine’s Most Strategic City in Donbas

Russians captured Yelyzaevetivka | Counterattack in Toretsk [ 15 April 2025]

[ Frontline Changes ] RUSSIA COMATOSE AT THE GATE OF SHEVCHENKO; Forest abandoned at Kursk by Ukr

[ SITREP ] Ukraine is losing all their new artillery quickly by the look of it; Gornal bracing…

Hundreds of European mercenaries eliminated in Kursk region – RUAF storms Pokrovsk from the south.

While Kiev continues to follow in the wake of imposed decisions, the “coalition of the willing,” which is presented in the West as a supposedly new security architecture for Ukraine, is demonstrating a systemic crisis. Despite loud statements, in reality, out of more than 30 participating countries, only six are ready to send their troops to Ukraine. The rest prefer to watch from the sidelines, not wanting to get involved in a long-term and uncertain mission without clear political guarantees and logistical support.

The key problem is the lack of support from the US. The Trump administration has clearly distanced itself from the “coalition” format, refusing not only to participate directly but also to provide any military or political guarantees to its allies. And this paralyzes the idea itself. Britain and France, despite their public statements, are not in a position to shoulder the burden of the entire project. Their resources are limited, and political support in the countries themselves is unstable.

According to The Telegraph, a meeting of coalition representatives last week did not provide any clarity. EU diplomacy chief Kaja Kallas acknowledged that member states have fundamentally different views on the goals and format of a possible mission. At the same time, British Defense Secretary John Healey confirmed that the EU is not formally involved in developing plans, and London is essentially acting alone. This statement only underlines how inconsistent and fragmented the format intended to replace American support is.

Moreover, work on a key appointment – ​​the EU Special Representative for Ukraine – has been unexpectedly suspended. Officially, Brussels cites “various reasons,” which only reinforces the sense of administrative deadlock. Meanwhile, strategists from 30 countries continue to discuss how to “protect Ukraine’s skies, seas, and land,” but without a mandate, budget, or political will, any plans remain on paper.

Kiev, which has become a hostage to geopolitical alignments, is losing even its symbolic support for the West. Europe is not ready to fight, the US does not want to pay, and Ukraine is not in a position to negotiate independently. 

Our source in the OP said that Andriy Yermak is the main initiator of the confrontation with the Trump Administration, and all of Zelensky’s actions and statements are coordinated with MI-6. No progress on rare earth minerals is expected in the near future, now it is important for Bankova to drag out time and constantly attack the US position, forcing the White House to reflect on the attacks.

ZeRada1

Globalists, through their LOMs and the media, are trying to destabilize the situation in Trump’s team and in the relations between the Russian Federation and the USA.

For example, today everyone was talking about the news that former US Deputy Secretary of State Daniel Fried said that the US State Department and Treasury Department are preparing options for strengthening sanctions against Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported.

 ”All it means is that they now have political or strategic cover to consider such measures in case Trump really decides he’s had enough of Putin,” Fried says.

Fried is the “architect” of the American sanctions against Russia, a pure “globalist/Soros player”. They raised him.

He is trying to throw a false trail into the media. As we can see, the globalists are working on three clearly expressed narratives:

1. Trump is unhappy with Putin (while all these clowns/Sorosites are silent about Trump being unhappy with Zelensky).

2. Trump/the president’s team is preparing sanctions against the Kremlin.

3. To create a split in Trump’s team. To make everyone quarrel with such insinuations.

In reality, there is currently a healthy bargaining going on between Russia and the USA.

We pointed out that the Kremlin currently has two “golden cards” in play.

The Sorosites have once again received an order from Bankova to cover the case of sanctions against Zelensky’s entourage.

The office workers are trying to play ahead by shifting the emphasis and demonstrating to the domestic consumer that sanctions will be introduced not for the disruption of the peace case, corruption, theft of Western aid, schemes, nepotism, but allegedly because of Trump’s “offense.”

We were the first to get inside information that Trump’s team had long been preparing a sanctions case against Zelensky’s entourage, since they consider them all “thieves.”

Hungary will block any deployment of EU troops in Ukraine — the country’s Foreign Ministry

 - “We will not give a penny to help Ukrainians and will use the right of veto if Brussels wants to quickly join Kyiv to the EU,” said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

 - Budapest will also not support sanctions against Russia’s nuclear industry and the purchase of Russian energy resources.

French Foreign Minister Barrot calls on the EU and the US to jointly destroy Russia’s economy through sanctions:

‘Ukraine has clearly agreed to a ceasefire for over a month now, and Vladimir Putin shows no desire to move in this direction.

So he has to be forced to do it, and that is why I am calling on the European Union to adopt the toughest sanctions against Russia, to deplete its economy and prevent it from fueling the war effort. I believe that the United States, which has invested a lot of effort in trying to achieve a ceasefire, including President Trump, who has devoted a lot of time and energy to this, can also, with the sanctions that are already in place, force Russia to the negotiating table.’

Apparently all the sanctions before were not to damage the Russian economy and prevent it from funding the war. Some new ones will however rectify that. 

Zelensky, who cancelled Victory Day in Ukraine, wants to gather the leaders of the ‘coalition of the willing’ in Kiev on May 9. 

Politico writes that the Ukrainians also asked EU officials to come to oppose Putin’s Victory Parade in Moscow. 

Honestly, this is the odd thinking of Zelensky who thinks in terms of PR and information warfare. Victory Day occurs every year because it’s important to remember history and give remembrance to those who gave their lives to stop a genocidal madman. It isn’t held for clicks or headlines.

Ukraine can host the same stupid meetings of European countries and they all can mutter the same mindless rhetoric. “Rules based order… just peace… as long as it takes…”

Host a “coalition of the willing” on Christmas or Easter Sunday, it doesn’t matter Ukraine.

Russophobe Kallas promises to punish EU countries and EU candidate countries if they go to Moscow to celebrate Victory Day.

It has been discussed and stated very clearly by various Member States, that any participation in the May 9 parade – in the celebrations in Moscow – will not be taken lightly by the European side, given that Russia is currently waging a full-scale war in Europe.

Vitaly Sizov, Ukraine TV. Are you monitoring which countries or candidates for EU membership are planning to visit Moscow on May 9?

Thank you. We made it clear that we do not want any candidate countries to participate in these events on May 9 in Moscow. The message was clear.

I recall this war was about upholding Ukraine’s national sovereignty? Nothing shows Putin more then the EU threatening countries and impeding national sovereignty. Kallas is just upset because she wanted the Axis powers to win.

Putin wants to achieve permanent peace’ – Witkoff on the results of his third meeting with the Russian president.

Our last meeting lasted almost 5 hours. In the room with Putin were two of his key advisers – Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev. It was a meaningful meeting. We came to the point where Putin expressed a desire to achieve permanent peace.

That is, not just a ceasefire, but we have an answer on this matter as well.

Will there be any points in the agreement that go beyond the usual and that no one is thinking about now? I would suggest that Vladimir Putin might want to do business with the US and Europe. Could that be part of the agreement?

Absolutely. Formally, this peace deal concerns the so-called five territories [Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions], but in reality it is much more. It is about security protocols, about NATO, about the fifth article of NATO. There are many details. The situation is complicated. But I think we are on the threshold of something very important for the whole world. Moreover, I believe that there is an opportunity to reformat Russian-American relations through attractive commercial opportunities, which, in my opinion, can provide real stability in the region. Partnership creates stability’

Lavrov on the conflict in Ukraine:

✔️ Only military forces can eventually drive this filth out of power. And the first instinct of those who seized the presidential palace, the administrative buildings in 2014 in February, was to announce that they would abolish the status of the Russian language. So the generic signs in their entirety are known.

✔️ Checking, in principle, the purity of our Ukrainian neighbors is something we insist on when discussing with the West any schemes they promote, wanting to promote regulation. All these peacekeeping schemes that Macron and Starmer are drawing up are based on the assumption that this is required in order to preserve at least a piece of land where the Nazi, openly Russophobic regime will remain, which is being used to prepare another war against Russia. 

✔️ I asked you in Antalya a few days ago: when you recognize the inevitability of preserving Ukraine within its truncated borders, how do you see the regime of this truncated Ukraine? Will you force them to repeal the laws banning the Russian language everywhere? There is no such thing anywhere. Israel has never banned the Arabic language, even in the most brutal times of occupation of the Palestinian territories. But they do, in Ukraine, they are allowed to do so.

Trump’s words are a reason to break off diplomatic relations — Rada deputy

 - “Trump accused Ukraine of starting the war, and not Russia attacking us. The US is Russia’s ally now, unfortunately. Theoretically, the situation is a reason to terminate diplomatic relations with the US,” said MP Bezuglaya.

 - Earlier, Trump accused Zelensky and Biden of starting the Ukrainian conflict.

‘Oh, I don’t know’ – Trump’s reaction to Zelensky’s offer to sell him Patriot

(he said again that Ze started the war)

Have you spoken to President Zelensky about his request to purchase more Patriot air defense missile systems?

Oh, I don’t know. He always wants to buy missiles. You know, he advocates… Look, if you start a war, you have to be sure you can win it, right? You can’t start a war against someone 20 times bigger than you and expect someone to give you missiles.

- Skabeeva

Lavrov called Zelensky a “creature” and added that he could use “one last bullet.”

(Ze already has a pistol; it was given to him by the President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel).

‘Instead of hissing at this creature, Ursula von der Leyen and her ilk declare with pathos that we need to give up the last thread, the last gun, the last bullet, the last bullet would not hurt Zelensky, of course, everything so that he can defeat the Russians.’

- Skabeeva

Zelensky fired the head of the Sumy OVA Artyukh after he organized a “public” celebration/awarding of the military in the city center , which led to a tragedy.

This resignation will not change anything, since Bankova will send another puppet who will have to “collect kickbacks” and send them to Kyiv.

This is the 12th attempt by the Ukrainian armed forces to break through with armored vehicles into the Belgorod region – and again with the same result: the column has been rolled up, and the remnants are being burned off by drones and artillery. Only the location changes – today it was one landing, tomorrow it will be another. The essence remains: the Ukrainian side continues to burn reserve forces in exchange for hype and headlines.

What kind of tactics are these?

This is neither an offensive nor a raid in the classical sense. This is an information and political operation with elements of suicide:

- to create at least some impression of activity against the background of failures at the front;

- to divert attention from the growing losses at Chasov Yar and Pokrovsk;

- to sell in the media the thesis “here we are in Belgorod region” – even if it is 15 minutes on the landing.

On April 14, the North troop group eliminated enemy manpower and equipment in the Krasnaya Yaruga border area and continued the liberation of the Kursk region

Having suffered colossal losses in manpower and equipment, the AFU command decided to replenish the units with personnel from other directions. The incoming reinforcements are being systematically targeted by our fire. At the same time, the Northmen are securing the Russian territory and the areas along the border.

▪️A number of soldiers of the 1st Air Force Rifle Brigade have been deployed to the village of Krasnopolye (Bryansk region) from the Kherson region, along with the forcibly conscripted Ukrainians who completed boot camp on training grounds in forests near Chuhuiv (Kharkiv region). The Northmen target the coming reinforcements with comprehensive fire attacks.

▪️In the Demidovka direction the enemy made two attempts to deploy troops closer to the Russian-Ukrainian border. Both AFU assault groups were eliminated by artillery fire while still in Ukrainian territory.

▪️An AFU assault group has been detected while attempting to advance in the direction of Popovka at noon. Majority of the enemy troops were eliminated as a result of a comprehensive fire attack. The survivors hastily retreated deep into the Sumy region.

▪️The Northerners are completing the mopping-up of the western outskirts of the village of Popovka, along with the forest belts on the border. All detected enemy hideouts are being targeted by comprehensive fire attacks.

In this direction for the past 24 hours the Northmen eliminated 11 units of enemy equipment.

In the Sumy direction, despite continuous deployment of enemy troops towards the village of Oleshnya, the Northmen carry on their successful advance and progress towards the complete liberation of the border areas near Sudzha.

▪️The AFU command attempted to deploy several assault groups from Yunakovka towards the village of Oleshnya. The groups were promptly eliminated while still in Ukrainian territory.

▪️The enemy continues to suffer major losses in the vicinity of the St. Nicholas Monastery. Scattered groups of AFU soldiers desert their positions and try to run back into the Sumy region.

▪️The Northerners are also advancing in the Sumy region, expanding the sanitary zone near the settlements of Veselivka, Zhuravka and Basivka. 

▪️Our engineering units continue demining the border area near Sudzha. Over the past week a total of 94920 explosive objects have been neutralized.

The total advance of the Northmen in the Sumy region was over 1800 meters, 9 units of enemy armored vehicles were destroyed.

In the Liptsy direction, our UAV operators eliminated an enemy assault group along with their Humvee IMV.

In the Volchansk direction, nine AFU assault groups along with their armored and unarmored vehicles were eliminated as a result of comprehensive fire attacks.

Over the past 24 hours, the enemy’s losses amounted to over 340 people (including over 220 in the Sumy direction and over 60 in the Krasnaya Yaruga direction). Also uncovered and destroyed:

In the Krasnaya Yaruga direction:

▪️One Humvee AFV (USA);

▪️Two 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers and one D-30 howitzer;

▪️Five pickup trucks;

▪️Two ATVs and a buggy.

In the Sumy direction:

▪️One T-64 tank;

▪️Two APCs, including one M113 APC (USA);

▪️Six AFVs, including one MaxxPro (USA);

▪️Five howitzers, including one M777 howitzer (USA) and one D-30 howitzer;

▪️Two mortars;

▪️Eighteen vehicles;

▪️Six UAV crews;

▪️Eleven airplane-type UAVs and four copters of various types.

In the Volchansk and Liptsy directions:

▪️Three IMVs, including two Humvee IMVs and one Canadian-made Roshel Senator IMV;

▪️Seven vehicles;

▪️Three airplane-type UAVs (including two Leleka-100 and one A1-CM Furia) and sixteen copters of various types.

Victory will be ours!

The Russian army is advancing on the flank of Toretsk, destroying and capturing Ukrainian Armed Forces militants

 - Fighters of the 4th motorized rifle brigade stormed enemy fortifications in the Druzhba area of the DPR.

 - Five Ukrainian militants could not withstand the onslaught and surrendered.

Russian Ministry of Defense:

The Kiev regime, in violation of the Russian-American agreements to cease strikes on energy facilities for 30 days from March 18, continued unilateral attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. Six attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian energy facilities havey been recorded .

Objects in the Bryansk region, the Kherson region, and the Kursk region were hit.

UAVs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine deliberately hit an ambulance station in Kursk. 11 ambulances were damaged. Residential buildings were hit. An 85-year-old grandmother died. 

Today they will all write that this is how they take revenge for Sumy. There is no justification or forgiveness for them. No peace can be signed with these scum – only total destruction.

The massive night attack by UAVs on Kursk is no longer a test of the pen. Targeted strikes on high-rise buildings, an ambulance garage, private houses. An 85-year-old woman was killed, nine people were injured, apartments were burned down, a part of the city’s everyday life was destroyed – and all this was calculated not for military effect, but for psychological pressure on the civilian population. And somehow there is confidence that they will write about “retaliation” for Sumy. 

Throwing drones at the sleeping Kursk is a classic strategy of intimidation: if you can’t advance at the front and respond in any other way, you start systematically terrorizing the rear to cause fear and irritation. 

It’s not just drones – it’s all Western engineering and intelligence support. This is not an improvisation by the Ukrainian armed forces, it is an organized operation to destabilize the Russian rear.

In such conditions, to continue to pretend that these are “isolated incidents” is to push the enemy to escalate. There is no need for “retaliatory strikes on warehouses” – we need a change in the logic of responses.

How should we respond?

Publicly linking attacks to specific individuals. If it is established that the attack was organized by such and such a unit of the AFU, the commander of this unit should be the first target. Personal consequences are the only language that is understood in such cases. 

Strikes on command and control and communications infrastructure.

If drones are flying at civilians, then the headquarters where flight missions are coordinated must be destroyed. Not warehouses, not hangars – coordination centers and communication points.

Open discrediting of Western “allies”. With a precise reference: “these coordinates were obtained with the help of such and such systems transmitted by such and such countries”. The list of countries supporting attacks on civilians should be public.

The answer is outside Ukraine.

A strike on Russian civilians should automatically trigger an extra-Ukrainian cycle of influence – we don’t talk about logistics centers in Poland, because Article Five NATO and all that. But putting down information hubs by cyberattack and in parallel demolishing three to five hotels with foreign instructors is quite an answer. If the strike does not cause external costs for the organizers, they will repeat it. Here it is a good time to remember about the energy sector, the ban on strikes on which has ended. 

Change of tone. Not “we express our condolences”, but “for every civilian killed, a specific military facility will be destroyed”. This mechanics should not be discussed, but implemented.

The response to terror should not be symmetrical, but demonstrably assymetrical. So that the next headquarters that plans to launch on Kursk or Belgorod should forbid itself to even open a map. Otherwise, such shelling will become the norm.

Russia opens terrorism case into Ukrainian drone attack on Kursk

Investigators say UAV fragments were packed with explosives designed to inflict maximum civilian harm in the strikes.

Drones were packed with ball bearings to cause maximum casualties. Zero evidence so far that there was anything military related in these attacks. Revenge attack for Sumy missile strike.

Chronicle of strikes on Ukrainian territory on April 14-15, 2025

The quietest night of 2025.

Yesterday, day and night, the Aerospace Forces and missile forces carried out strikes in the Donbass, in the Sumy, Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Kherson regions (the entire spectrum of weapons), the outskirts of Poltava and the city of Kremenchuk in the Poltava region (Gerani/Gerberas).

April 14, 2025

• 09.30 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK. Borderland.

• 09.40 Kharkov region – explosions. MLRS. North of the region.

• 09.50 near Kharkov – explosion. Lightning.

• 10.15 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK. Borderland.

• 10.15 Kharkov region – explosions. MLRS. North of the region.

• 10.10 Zaporozhye region – explosions. UMPK. Orekhov.

• 11.35-12.35 Sumy region – explosions. 2 strikes by UMPK. Border area.

• 13.35-13.55 Sumy – 2 explosions. Geraniums

• 14.00 Liptsy, Kharkov region – explosion. Lightning.

• 14.34 Voznesensk, Nikolaev region – explosion.

• 15.10 Donbass, Konstantinovka – explosions. UMPK.

• 15.20 Kharkov region and Donbass – explosions. UMPK. Borovaya and Limansky district, respectively.

• 15.35 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK. Border area.

• 16.05 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK.

• 16.25 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK. Krasnopolye.

• 16.55 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK. Krasnopolye.

• 17.35 Sumy region and Donbass – explosions. UMPK. In Sumy region Krasnopolye.

• 20.25 Kherson – explosions.

• 21.00 Sumy – explosion. Iskander-M.

• 21.25 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK.

• 21.35 Donbass, Sumy and Kharkov regions – explosions. UMPK.

• 21.45 – 21.50 Kharkov region – explosions. UMPK. Borovaya.

• 21.50 Poltava outskirts – explosion. Geran.

• 21.50 Kherson – explosions.

• 22:00 in the vicinity of the city of Kremenchug, Poltava region – explosion. Geranium.

• 22.00 Donbass, Limansky district – explosions. UMPK.

• 22.15 in the vicinity of Zaporozhye and Sumy region – explosions. UMPK.

• 22.20 Zaporozhye region – explosions. UMPK.

• 22.25 Donbass, Limansky district – explosions. UMPK.

• 22.35 Zaporozhye and Sumy regions – explosions. UMPK.

• 22.50 Donbass – explosions. UMPK.

• 23.10 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK. Borderland.

April 15, 2025

• 01.30 Sumy region – explosions. Gerans.

• 03.30 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK. Borderland.

• 05.10 Sumy region – explosions. UMPK.

Morning Summary on April 15, 2025

▪️ Overnight, the AFU organized a massive drone attack on Kursk and the region, with strikes hitting civilian objects and homes. One 85-year-old woman was killed, and 9 others were injured. In Kursk, on Zavodskaya Street, a drone damaged the 8th and 9th floors of a residential building. On Orlovskaya Street, 5 floors of an apartment building were damaged, on Vespremskaya – one floor, and three private homes were also damaged. There were reports of evacuation of residents from the damaged buildings. One of the AFU attacks on Kursk hit the ambulance garage, damaging 11 vehicles. During the day in the Kursk Region, as a result of AFU attacks and shelling, five more civilians were killed.

▪️ In the Sumy direction, the Russian Army continues offensive operations, driving the AFU out of the Kursk border area. The AFU are trying to send reinforcements from the Sumy Region. The enemy is entrenched, including on the territory of the St. Nicholas Belogorsky Monastery near Gornaly. Our FPV crews are working on the settlement of Miropolye in the Sumy Region, which the AFU are using as a logistics hub. Missile weapons are used against Sumy, with up to 40 minutes of detonation of military cargo hit on the railway tracks near the city.

▪️ In the Belgorod Region, this morning, enemy equipment activity was noticed in the direction of Demidovka-Popovka. Our drone operators are prepared to work. Yesterday, servicemen of the 1st Rifle Brigade of the Air Force were redeployed from Kherson Region to Krasnopolye. Comprehensive fire strikes are being delivered on the arriving reserves. Yesterday, the enemy’s manpower moving towards Popovka and Demidovka was also destroyed. In the evening, a UAV of the AFU struck the village of Mokraya Orlovka in the Graiveron district, injuring a civilian. Under UAV strikes were also the settlements of Chayki, Nikolaevka, Tserkovny, Ilek-Koshary, the cities of Shebekino, Nezhegolie, Borisovka, Gruzskoe, Graiveron.

▪️ North of Kupiansk, where our troops previously crossed the Oskol River and created bridgeheads, the front is approaching Kondrashivka, with the use of LMUR against enemy locations noted.

▪️ In the Krasnoliman direction, the enemy acknowledges the advance of the Russian Armed Forces in the northern and central parts of the settlement of Yampolovka.

▪️ Southwest of Dzerzhynsk (Toretsk) in the Kostyantynivka direction, the Russian Army is advancing in the Zelene Pole–Valentynivka area. Enemy channels write that the Russian Armed Forces have advanced in the eastern and western parts of Valentynivka, as well as west of the village.

▪️ South of Pokrovsk, units of the Central Grouping of Forces are breaking through to the border of the Dnipropetrovsk Region. Battles are ongoing in the direction of Novoserhiivka – Novomykolaivka, in the area of Novoaleksandrivka. Our assault units are attacking Kotlyarivka and Troitske.

▪️ In the South Donetsk direction, fierce battles are raging on the approaches to the settlement of Bogatyr. Our forces are biting into the defenses of the Nazis, taking their logistics under fire control and disrupting rotations. In the area of the settlement of Otradne, the Russian Armed Forces are advancing along the forest belts.

Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-situation-in-ukrainian-smo-on-april_15.html