Moscow and Kiev hold major prisoner swap – Russian MOD
Moscow and Kiev have held a major prisoner of war swap, with each side returning 246 captives, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Saturday.
The freed Russian servicemen are currently in Belarus, where they are receiving all the necessary medical treatment and psychological support, the military said. The former prisoners will be transferred to Russia shortly for treatment and rehabilitation.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released a short video showing the freed servicemen boarding buses in an undisclosed location, apparently as they set off for the transfer home.
The announcement comes shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a temporary pause in fighting with Ukraine. The Easter truce is set to run from 6:00pm Moscow time on Saturday until midnight on April 21.
The Russian president has expressed hopes Kiev will agree to the truce, stating that its attitude toward the pause in fighting will demonstrate whether it is genuinely interested in resolving hostilities through diplomacy. At the same time, Putin instructed the country’s troops to stay on high alert and be ready to respond to potential violations of the ceasefire.
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Germany wants the UK to hold its hand while it starts WWIII
Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz doesn’t officially take office until May 6, but that hasn’t stopped him from hitting the press circuit like it’s demolition day. Apparently, he’s got some lost time – and infrastructure – to make up for.
In a chat with Germany’s public broadcaster, ARD, he floated the idea that Kiev, which seems to rank higher than Berlin on his priority list, needs to “get ahead of the situation” on the battlefield and “shape events” instead of playing defense. The event he seems most eager to shape? Oh, just the Third World War, apparently. Because he pivoted straight to the Kerch Bridge – mainland Russia’s lifeline to the Crimean peninsula – like it’s been living on borrowed time.
Merz said that “if for example, the most important land connection between Russia and Crimea is destroyed, or if something happens on Crimea itself, where most of the Russian military logistics are located, then that would be an opportunity to bring this country strategically back into the picture finally.” Cool, cool. Which picture would that be, exactly? The one labeled “Catastrophic Misjudgments of the 21st Century”?
Probably. Which is why Merz needs a useful idiot to ride shotgun alongside him in the doltmobile to share in any responsibility for the eventual mayhem when things inevitably go pear-shaped.
“You rang?” say the Brits. Or at least that’s what Merz is apparently hoping they say. “Our European partners are already supplying cruise missiles,” Merz said in an interview. “The British are doing it, the French are doing it, and the Americans are doing it anyway, this must be jointly agreed. And if it’s agreed, then Germany should take part.”
Merz’s fellow Christian Democratic Party MPs have been floating the idea in the Western press that he’s waiting for an official permission slip from London.
It would probably read something like this: “Dear Herr Friedrich, You are hereby authorized to partake in a highly coordinated, militarized pub crawl. First stop: a punch-up with Russia, followed by a wobbly march to a greasy spoon for black coffee, bad lighting, and a collective hangover.”
“Ah, wunderbar!”
Merz is just days away from grabbing the wheel, and he’s done pretending to be the guy in the backseat yelling directions at Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Scholz, for his part, always said that Germany wouldn’t hand Kiev the Taurus long-range missiles. Not that he had much wiggle room after last year’s leaked audio from Russian intelligence of German Air Force brass workshopping ways to hit the Kerch Bridge without leaving any German fingerprints. Kind of a bad look for a guy who keeps overtly declaring that he wants peace. So naturally, he was furious. Which is why, if Team Scholz suddenly turned around now and said, “You know what? Let’s try a few long-range missile strikes, just for funsies,” people might reasonably assume that he’d undergone a surprise lobotomy with a NATO letter opener.
As the coalition partners for Merz’s incoming government, Scholz’s Social Democrats’ support would be needed on any vote. And so far, they’ve shown no interest in greenlighting his WW3 passion project. You know, democracy and all that.
Minor hiccup, I know. If military ambition and musings alone were all it took, Merz would already be well on his way to having a Netflix original named after him and maybe even a seat with his name on it waiting at The Hague.
But hey, hear the guy out. What if it’s, like, a group project? Das ist gut, ja?
Nah, dude. Nicht gut. Nicht gut at all.
What exactly does Team Merz think this would look like? Would the Brits and Germans sit side by side, fingers hovering over their respective missile buttons, doing a tense little “one, two, three, fire” and just praying that neither one flinches at the last second and leaves the other one with some very awkward phone calls to make?
If so, that would certainly explain why they’re talking about specifically needing Britain’s non-negotiable participation and not France – the country that trained a flagship brigade for the Ukrainian army, who apparently learned how to bail out before even seeing action. “Paris hailed it as a ‘unique’ initiative,” reported France24. Training 1,700 Ukrainians in France to fight who then just end up surrendering to the foie gras and rosé at the local café prior to deployment is ‘unique’, alright.
Britain isn’t exactly a great choice for a wingman either, though. If only because it says that its own participation in Ukraine is contingent on Washington holding its hand. “Europe must play its role, and I’m prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others, if there is a lasting peace agreement, but there must be a US backstop,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in February.
So for those keeping score at home. For deeper involvement in Ukraine, Merz would need the Brits. The Brits would need Washington. And what would Washington need? For them all to knock it off. But apparently that memo got lost in their inbox among all the world war fantasy fiction.
“Pentagon figures recently questioned one ally about why it was still supplying weapons to Ukraine – a challenge that was ignored,” The Economist reported on April 15. ”Diplomats in Washington also report that some Trump aides say privately that they are ‘fed up’ with Europe’s effort to strengthen Ukraine.”
Doesn’t sound like Team Trump is up for holding hands as part of the West’s human chain in its reckless playground games against Russia. “Red Rover, Red Rover, send Putin right over!”
It’s hard to believe that there was a time not too long ago that Germany wasn’t trusted with the sharp knives, like nukes. Oh wait, it still isn’t. Technically, the Bundeswehr is still supposed to be defense only, but Merz seems determined to assemble just enough multilateral hand-holding to justify pulling out the long knives – the 500-kilometer-long ones, to be precise. If this is the new leadership model, then someone better put all the launch codes in a childproof box.
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Americans split on whether Russia is ‘an enemy’ – poll
Americans are evenly divided on whether Russia is an enemy of the US, with the percentage holding that view falling to its lowest level since 2022, according to a new Pew Research Center poll released Thursday. The findings coincide with efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to negotiate a resolution to the Ukraine conflict.
According to the poll, 50% of US adults view Russia as an enemy, down from 61% one year ago, and 64% and 70% in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Another 38% describe Russia as a competitor, and 9% consider it a partner.
The poll also indicated a pronounced partisan gap on the topic, with Democrats more likely to view Russia unfavorably. While 62% of Democrats say Russia is an enemy, only 40% of Republicans agree. Among Republicans, 45% say Russia is more of a competitor.
The survey suggests that 85% of Americans see Russia very or somewhat unfavorably. Just 13% say they view the country favorably.
This is not surprising considering the vitriolic propaganda coming out against Russia over the past 10 or 11 years. Surprisingly, the numbers aren't worse. The disparity between the Democrat and Republican numbers suggests that the Republicans are more open to the truth and reality. Or, perhaps it has to do with Republicans being more Christian than Democrats. I'm sure most Americans would be amazed to know that Russian society seems to be more Christian than American society, at least in their attitude toward LGBTQs and wokism.
The Russian Orthodox Church is building and opening about two dozen churches every year in Moscow.
The poll surveyed 3,605 US adults between March 24 and March 30, shortly after a phone call between President Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on resolving the Ukraine conflict.
While both sides have praised the peace process, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has acknowledged that the talks over Ukraine are “difficult.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suggested that Washington could withdraw from peace negotiations if no progress is made within the coming days.
On Friday, Bloomberg reported that the US had presented its allies with a peace plan that would see the easing of sanctions against Russia, while eliminating Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO, one of Moscow’s key demands. Former Ukrainian territories that voted overwhelmingly to join Russia would reportedly remain under Moscow’s control.
Ukraine, however, has repeatedly rejected the idea of making any territorial concessions to Russia.
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